Savannah Guthrie’s friends speak out amid search for missing mom Nancy Guthrie
Savannah Guthrie attends the Project Healthy Minds World Mental Health Day Gala at Spring Studios on October 09, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds)
(NEW YORK) — Savannah Guthrie’s friends and colleagues are offering their support as the search continues for the “Today” show host’s mom, Nancy Guthrie, who investigators say appears to have been kidnapped from her Arizona home.
The 84-year-old was last seen Saturday night, and investigators believe she was abducted in her sleep early Sunday morning, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said. A motive is not known, with Sheriff Chris Nanos saying Tuesday, “We’re looking at all leads.”
Savannah Guthrie’s “Today” co-anchors and fellow journalists are speaking out on social media to show their support and share photos of Nancy Guthrie.
Authorities said Nancy Guthrie suffers from some physical ailments and could die without access to her medication.
Savannah Guthrie said in a statement Monday night, “Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant. … Bring her home.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
(NEW YORK) — A major winter storm is making the post-Christmas travel extremely dangerous in parts of the Northeast, and the storm is set to bring the most snow to New York City in years.
The storm is also impacting flights. Nearly 800 flights have been canceled so far on Friday, with New York City’s three airports and the Detroit Metro Airport hit the hardest.
The storm first hit the Midwest. People in Wisconsin and Michigan are waking up to a layer of ice on the roads, so drivers should use extra caution.
On Friday morning, the freezing rain moves east into Pennsylvania and will cover the entire state throughout the day, making the roads extremely treacherous. An ice storm warning is in place for nearly 1 million people in parts of western Pennsylvania.
On the north side of this storm, where temperatures are cold enough to create snow instead of ice, heavy snowfall is expected in parts of New York, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, western Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The snow will begin in western New York on Friday morning and reach New York City by 5 p.m. Friday.
The snow will be heavy at times and will greatly reduce visibility, making travel treacherous.
The snow will continue overnight, ending in New York City around 9 a.m.
New York City is forecast to get about 7 inches of snow — the most snow in nearly four years.
A winter storm warning in place for the tristate region. Six to 9 inches of snow is possible in upstate New York, with 10 inches possible in the Hudson Valley. Five to 8 inches is forecast for northern New Jersey, while Hartford, Connecticut, could get about 4 inches.
Philadelphia can expect 1 to 3 inches of a sleet and snow mix, along with a glaze of ice, making travel challenging on Friday night. Baltimore can also expect icy roads.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) addresses the crowd at a Democratic “People’s Town Hall” in Bethlehem, PA on March 20, 2025. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Rep. Jamie Raskin sent a sharply worded six-page letter to President Donald Trump on Sunday following new information his committee received from a whistleblower alleging that Ghislaine Maxwell is preparing a “commutation application” for the Trump administration and receiving preferential treatment while incarcerated.
Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, accused the Trump administration of allowing “a corrupt misuse of law-enforcement resources” and demanded that Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche testify before the Judiciary Committee immediately to “answer for this corrupt misuse of law enforcement resources and potential exchange of favors for false testimony exonerating you and other Epstein accomplices.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement about Raskin’s letter: “The White House does not comment on potential clemency requests. As President Trump has stated, pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell is not something he has thought about.”
Asked in July about a possible pardon for Maxwell, Trump said no one had approached him, though he reiterated his power to grant one.
The Justice Department has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee who has led the minority on the panel’s Epstein investigation — released a statement on Monday calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump to “publicly oppose a commutation or pardon by President Trump” after the Judiciary Committee Democrats released their whistleblower information.
Johnson has resisted calls to swear in Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election in September to succeed her father Rep. Raul Grijalva, who died in March, and said he would after the House reconvenes following the Senate passing a government funding bill.
The speaker sent the House home after it passed the funding resolution four days before Grijalva’s election.
The speaker has denied that his decision is related to her intent to become the 218th signature on a discharge petition forcing a vote to release the Department of Justice’s full Epstein file.
“This is a White House cover-up, and Speaker Johnson is now complicit. Seat Adelita Grijalva, and release the Epstein files, now,” Garcia said.
Raskin’s letter is a follow-up to an August 12 letter he and other Democrats sent to the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons about Maxwell’s transfer to Federal Prison Camp Bryan, a minimum-security facility that he said was an “apparent flagrant violation of BOP policies, including one that explicitly prohibits the placement of sex offenders in such facilities.”
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking and other offenses in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, the former financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019.
FCI Tallahassee in Florida, where Maxwell had been held, is a “low security” prison for men and women, while FPC Bryan is a “minimum security” camp just for women.
The transfer followed Maxwell’s two-day meeting in July with Blanche in Tallahassee, where her attorney said the two discussed “about 100 names” associated with Epstein, after the Trump administration promised to release additional information about the deceased sex offender.
Donald Trump during the signing of executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, September 19, 2025. Trump signed a two executive orders establishing the “Trump Gold Card” and introducing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas. The “Trump Gold Card” is a visa program that allows foreign nationals permanent residency and a pathway to U.S. citizenship. Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The State Department is freezing immigrant visa processing for 75 countries in an effort to clamp down on applicants it deems likely to become a public charge.
The directive instructs embassies and consulates to halt decisions beginning Jan. 21 while the department reassesses its vetting procedures under existing immigration law, according to an internal memo first reported by Fox News Digital.
The effort comes months before the United States is set to co-host the 2026 World Cup with nearly 2 million tickets sold to fans around the world. The Trump administration previously said “any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling to the World Cup” would be exempt from travel bans.
The suspension of immigrant visas will not apply to applicants seeking non-immigrant visas, or temporary tourist or business visas, who make up the vast majority of visa seekers, the State Department said. As such, the suspensions announced would not apply for those seeking to travel to the World Cup in the U.S. this summer.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed the agency is pausing immigrant visa processing for the 75 countries.
“The Trump administration is bringing an end to the abuse of America’s immigration system by those who would extract wealth from the American people,” State Department principal deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott said in statement Wednesday. “The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge on the United States and exploit the generosity of the American people.”
Countries affected by the pause include Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand and Yemen, according to the internal memo. The full list of countries was not immediately available, but ABC News has reached out to the State Department for more information.
“Immigrant visa processing from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits,” Pigott added Wednesday in the statement.
Notably, Somalia has drawn scrutiny from the Trump administration in recent days following reports of fraud in Minnesota’s social services system. A self-proclaimed independent journalist posted a video last month alleging child care fraud in Minneapolis’ Somali communities. Several state and local officials have disputed the accuracy of the video, and authorities said at the time none of the centers featured in the video were accused of fraud.
Federal authorities are investigating the allegations in the state’s social services system, while Minnesota officials have disputed the claims of fraud.
President Donald Trump recently criticized Somali immigrants, describing them as “garbage” and saying he doesn’t want them in the United States during a Cabinet meeting last month.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in March, effectively forcing as many as 2,400 people out of the U.S., despite the president’s remarks last month that Somalia was “barely a country.”
In November, the State Department circulated a cable to consular offices worldwide directing staff to apply stricter screening measures under the “public charge” provision.
Under the guidance, officers are required to deny visas to applicants considered likely to depend on public assistance.
