Senate Judiciary Committee advances Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general

(NEW YORK) — Rescuers are bracing for more treacherous weather at the Grand Canyon Monday amid a search for 14 people who “may be missing or unaccounted” in a deadly flash flood that slammed the national park over the weekend.

One person, a 46-year-old man, died and others ran for their lives when a flood swept through the floor of the Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon, wiping out campgrounds, structures, hiking trails and vital infrastructure, according to officials.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for the Grand Canyon through at least Monday evening, warning that “flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be possible” for all of northern and central Arizona.

Air evacuations continued on Sunday afternoon, a day after a “significant flash flood” swept through campgrounds and hiking trails at the bottom of the national park, authorities said.

The Grand Canyon National Park Service said in an update Sunday evening that one person was recovered from the Colorado River in the park. The identity of the deceased individual has not been released.

NPS said there are at least 14 other individuals “who may be missing or unaccounted” following the flash flood.

“The National Park Service is asking anyone who knows of hikers or backpackers who were in the inner canyon along the Bright Angel Creek corridor on August 29, as well as anyone who had a campground reservation in the affected corridor, to provide information to the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch (ISB),” the statement said.

Earlier Sunday, the National Park Service (NPS) officials said more than 20 were missing and 62 individuals were air evacuated from Grand Canyon’s Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail, “which was affected by a significant flash-flood event Saturday afternoon.”

Evacuees were being taken to the Maswik Lodge Cafeteria on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where the American Red Cross is coordinating assistance.

No injuries were immediately reported.

The latest National Park Service said the flash flooding knocked out the park’s water pipeline, prompting “significant water conservation measures” to be implemented. Those measures include: no overnight hotel stays allowed starting Monday, and only campground bathroom faucets will still run.

“Multiple campgrounds and trails are closed until further notice, and there is no estimated reopening date for the affected areas,” the Grand Canyon NPS said.

Grand Canyon National Park staff, in coordination with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, were continuing air evacuations on Sunday afternoon, officials said.

“Grand Canyon will possibly face additional thunderstorms and heavy rainfall today and Monday, which could result in flash flooding, debris flow, and rockfall,” the Grand Canyon NPS statement said.

Flash flooding unfolded about 2:30 p.m. local time on Saturday in the Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch area, both popular destinations for hikers.

“The flash flood resulted in significant impacts to infrastructure throughout Bright Angel Canyon. Nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, eliminating hiker access across the creek,” the Grand Canyon NPS said.

Videos of the flooding obtained by ABC News show a roaring Colorado River as mudflows and debris from metal structures are seen floating down the river.

Erica Viola, who recorded the videos, told ABC News she was camping at Bright Angel Campground when she and her husband, Scott Svedin, had to evacuate. Viola said that she lost most of her belongings in the flooding.

Viola said that she and other campers were told by park rangers to run as fast as they could to the nearest bridge for evacuation.

Svedin said that as they were headed for the bridge, people were scrambling to beat the rising water.

“We just heard people yell, ‘Run, run, run!’ And there’s 40 of us running through this deep, muddy water, trying to make it to the bridge,” Viola said. “Once we got to the bridge, that’s when this 15-foot wall of water came through the campground in Phantom Ranch and just wiped out all the bridges in the creek.”

Viola and Svedin said they witnessed bunkhouses, barbecue grills, ice chests, and even an excavator floating down the Colorado River.

ABC News’ Jennifer Watts and Lissette Rodriguez contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff made nearly $107 million last year from a holding company affiliated with World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency firm he cofounded with President Donald Trump and members of their respective families, according to financial disclosures obtained by a government watchdog. 

Witkoff, one of President Trump’s top negotiators working to broker peace deals in the Middle East and Ukraine, was at one point listed as a “co-founder emeritus” on World Liberty’s website, a title he shared with President Trump.

The firm is operated by Witkoff’s son, Zach Witkoff, and Trump’s three sons. 

Trump and Witkoff have both attracted scrutiny for their involvement in World Liberty Financial, which recently secured preliminary approval from the Trump administration to operate as a bank. Critics say their private enterprise presents the appearance of a conflict of interest. 

World Liberty has repeatedly brushed aside conflict-of-interest concerns. In May 2025, World Liberty wrote on X that Witkoff was in the process of divesting himself from the firm and “has no operational role, no financial interest in WLFI deals, and no influence on day-to-day decisions.” 

Trump himself has reported earning $526 million from the sale of cryptocurrency tokens through World Liberty Financial, according to financial disclosures filed over the summer. He earned another $65 million from sales of equity in WLF’s holding company.

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, told ABC News on Wednesday that Witkoff has now “fully divested from World Liberty Financial, and his prior commercial activities are completely unrelated to his efforts to end global conflicts on the President’s behalf.” 

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One day after a campuswide alert notified students about a reported rape at a Cornell University fraternity in 2024, the school’s police department received a tip from an anonymous caller saying that the Chi Phi fraternity’s leadership asked a potential witness to stay quiet because “the reputation of all involved and the frat would be ruined” if details of the incident spread across campus, according to the school records reviewed by ABC News.

Videos first obtained by ABC News showed that Cornell investigators in the following days began questioning witnesses about a potential coverup by the fraternity brothers.

“Chi Phi held a meeting essentially to get all of the men on the same page about what happened. I know for a fact there are [GroupMe] messages about the situation,” one female student told investigators. 

That student told investigators that the fraternity brothers described the incident as a “consensual orgy” but expressed concern that it “would be bad for [their] image.” 

The woman at the center of the case, an undergraduate student identified only as Jane Doe, originally made a complaint to campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the incident occurred, alleging that she had been raped by eight to 10 men at the Chi Phi fraternity house.

The case has now rocked the university and started conversations about treatment of alleged sexual assault on college campuses across the country.

On Tuesday, Cornell’s board of trustees announced it had tapped the law firm King and Spaulding to conduct an investigation, led by former acting U.S. attorney general Sally Yates, into the school’s handling of Jane Doe’s allegations.

In 2024, Cornell police officers interviewed at least two fraternity members about the incident and what communication took place within the organization, according to materials reviewed by ABC News. One of the brothers said the incident only came up informally during a meeting when the fraternity discussed their “brother of the week and idiots of the week.” 

“We didn’t have a meeting about it specifically,” he said. “It was our weekly chapter meeting. We got through a bunch of stuff.” 

ABC News also reviewed text messages from some of the fraternity brothers that appear to show a scramble to contain the fallout after Cornell suspended the chapter. 

“When was the last time you spoke to [Jane Doe]?” the fraternity’s president wrote in the messages to fraternity member Matthew Ingalls, who invited Jane Doe to the house before participating in the alleged assault. 

“Yesterday … what’s the plan of action?” Ingalls replied. “Should I call [her]? I don’t think she would have reported this.”

All seven of the accused fraternity members have denied all wrongdoing. Ingalls, who has not been charged with a crime, has not responded to requests for comment about the incident. According to records reviewed by ABC News, he later told investigators that he was too intoxicated to consent that night and portrayed himself as the victim in the incident. 

In an email to Cornell’s Title IX investigator in February 2025, Ingalls accused the school of “entrapment” and suggested he might file his own complaint against Jane Doe. 

“After all, you received information that I was sodomized by her while I was incapacitated back in November, and you never once thought to alert me of my rights under these procedures as a survivor of this assault?” Ingalls wrote in an email reviewed by ABC News. “The very fact that I had to bring this to your attention now in February confirms my worst fears: that this process is rolled [sic] with gender discrimination.”

Jane Doe has filed a civil suit in the case, and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, is conducting an investigation into the incident.

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