No President Ever Tried This. Trump Just Did — On Live Camera

 

8 people, including 6 children, found dead in Michigan house fire incident: Authorities

Fire personnel who responded to a Michigan house fire found eight people, including six children, dead inside the residence, some with gunshot wounds, authorities said Friday.

Ottawa County Sheriff's Office Capt. Jake Sparks called the scene "complicated" and "complex" amid the ongoing investigation into the deaths

The incident occurred Friday in Grand Haven Township, located on Lake Michigan west of Grand Rapids.

Fire personnel initially responded to the area Friday morning following reports of the smell of smoke, though they were unable to locate a house fire, according to Sparks.

Several hours later, fire crews returned to the area following calls of white smoke at a residence and went inside the home to battle a fire, Sparks said.

When they got inside, they noticed that there was several, numerous people deceased inside the home," Sparks told reporters.

Eight people in total were found inside, including six children believed to be between the ages of 5 and 15, according to Sparks, who said not all have been positively identified yet.

Two adults were also found dead inside the residence, he said.

All those found dead are believed to be from one family, Sparks said.

Some of the victims had gunshot wounds, according to Sparks, who said it is unclear how many people had been shot.

Investigators are considering the possibility that the fire was set intentionally, and that this could be a murder-suicide, Sparks said, though stressed it is early in the investigation.

Authorities are not considering any suspects from outside the home at this time, he said, noting that that could also change.

"I don't want to jump to any conclusions at this point," Sparks said. 

Arson investigators from Michigan State Police are assisting at the scene, Sparks said. The fire is believed to have started inside the home, though the exact origin and cause remain under investigation, he said.

Trump's hunt for leverage over Saudi Arabia fuels nuclear proliferation concerns

 

U.S. officials say the historic nuclear energy deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, signed by both governments this week, presents the possibility that uranium enrichment could eventually happen on Saudi Arabian soil while omitting a requirement for expanded oversight. 

Opening the door to enrichment in Saudi Arabia without specific international safeguards in place has raised concern from nuclear proliferation experts.

And as President Donald Trump hunts for ways to expand on a landmark diplomatic breakthrough from his first administration, revelations about the contents of the deal are also sparking speculation that Riyadh's enrichment capabilities may ultimately be decided by its willingness to establish a diplomatic relationship with Israel. 

On Thursday, President Trump seemed to throw a wrench into the newly struck energy deal -- which sources say doesn’t explicitly mention Israel --  by conditioning it on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords, a series of bilateral agreements between Israel and Arab states that were initially signed during Trump's first term in office. 

Trump wrote in a social media post that the deal with Saudi Arabia "will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords.

The president also wrote in the post that there would be "no enrichment of material." 

Both of the president's claims, that the Abraham Accords and a Saudi promise not to enrich were part of the deal, are not elements of the signed agreement, sources told ABC News.

Officials anticipate both matters could be resolved down the line. They say the nuclear cooperation agreement stipulates that the future of Saudi enrichment will be decided only after the U.S. carries out a two-year study to explore the possibility of its commercial viability compared to importing nuclear fuel, and that the administration can still decide against transferring enrichment technology while cooperating with Riyadh on building nuclear energy plants. 

"It's just notable to me that we're making contingent Saudi enrichment ... on recognition of a relationship with Israel," said Richard Nephew, a former State Department and National Security Council official. "Maybe that works, but I don't know. It just seems to me that we're adding more complexity there, and I am at least a little bit suspicious that that will be harder to pull off."

Trump administration officials told ABC News they believe the contours of the agreement could give it more leverage over Riyadh.

The two-year study is set to wrap shortly before Trump's term expires, which administration officials say could give them an adequate runway to broker a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

"It could also be [that] the issue of normalization could also be shuttled into this supposed two-year ... discussion on the actual need for enrichment," said Simon Henderson, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and expert in Gulf affairs.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated on Thursday conversations with Saudi Arabia would continue. 

"The president is always the final dealmaker," she said. 

Saudi Arabia has not yet publicly responded to Trump's assertion about the Abraham Accords, but U.S. officials said they did not anticipate that it would derail the energy

Riyadh came close to normalizing relations with Israel under the Biden administration, but that progress was derailed after Hamas' attacks on Oct. 7, 2023 and Israel's subsequent campaign in Gaza. 

Since then, Saudi Arabia has consistently indicated that it would not sign onto the Abraham Accords unless a clear pathway to an independent Palestinian state is established, which Israel says would be an existential threat to its security. 

Whether the Trump administration can overcome the impasse is unclear. 

Why the deal is sparking proliferation concerns

The energy deal with between Riyadh and Washington is the product of months of negotiations, and Saudi Arabia managed to come away with several favorable terms that were once seen as non-starters by the U.S., sources said. 

In addition to refusing to rule out uranium enrichment, officials say the Saudis also rejected what is known as the "Additional Protocol"-- a legal agreement that grants the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expanded inspection and monitoring authority. 

The IAEA must approve the safeguards agreement struck between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to ensure it is in compliance with the Nonproliferation Treaty, to which both countries are parties.

In response to a question from ABC News, the IAEA said it is "aware" of a "plan to ask the IAEA to implement verification measures in relation to this bilateral agreement."

The Agency's Board of Governors will then consider authorization for the safeguards agreement to be implemented, it said. 

Riyadh's resistance of nuclear inspections in the Additional Protocol "is a red flag for future concerns and problems," said Kenneth Brill, the former U.S. ambassador to the IAEA's headquarters in Vienna.

"The U.S. should never have agreed to enrichment without a really strong inspections regime with the IAEA," he said.

The prospect of a covert weaponization effort undertaken by Saudi Arabia, Henderson said, "is the most glaring problem of the agreement."

The kingdom "seem[s] curiously averse to the Additional Protocol ... which rather suggests the Saudis have got something to hide," he said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in the Philippines on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia would not be able to convert the civil program to a weaponization effort.

"Suffice it to say that any agreement that we're going to make with any country in the world on civil nuclear energy is going to be one that will have safeguards in place to ensure that it can't be turned into a weapons program," Rubio said.

Members of Congress have said that any nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia should meet a so-called "gold standard" by which Riyadh makes a commitment to forgo enrichment or reprocessing of fissile materials. Republicans, including Rubio when he was in the Senate, have made legislative efforts to attach strings to any such deal.

Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in November that the gold standard "has to be" included in any finalized deal.

In a statement to ABC News Thursday, Risch said he "look[s] forward to seeing the details of the agreement and working with the Administration to review it."

"I have talked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about this on a number of occasions and both of us have been in agreement that an appropriate nuclear agreement would be in the best interest of both of our countries," he said.

Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director-general for safeguards at the IAEA, said other countries, including South Korea, would likely follow Saudi Arabia in pursuing uranium enrichment and seeking "nuclear latencies."

"The original [Nonproliferation Treaty's] nuclear disarmament takes a break," Heinonen said, referring to the global pact barring the proliferation of nuclear weapons. "These are realities."

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Trump lobs insults at political opponents, press during rescheduled White House correspondents' dinner

President Donald Trump addressed reporters and other guests Friday at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, which was rescheduled after ending abruptly three months ago when shots rang out, seesawing from a tone of working together with the press to lobbing insults against his political opponents and some journalists.

The speech, which lasted more than an hour and received an at-times muted response from the attendees, ended with the president donning a red cap reading "Trump 2028" after joking that he was running for another term, which is barred by the Constitution.

Trump began his remarks reflecting on the previous event that was disrupted by gunfire.

As I said three months ago, the show must go on," Trump said at the top of his remarks.

"Tonight we come back together to answer that heinous attack with unwavering resolve," to show that "in America we do not yield to political violence," Trump said.

Trump said his speech planned for the initial dinner was "going to be a doozy."

"I was so psyched. I was going to rip people, and I don't know. Just something changed," Trump said. "It's really for the better, but I just wouldn't want to do that. But we'll do a little ripping if you don't mind."

Trump touched on his White House ballroom and other projects, defended the war in Iran and even offered some praise for the work of the White House press corps.

"I have tremendous respect for the people in this room," Trump said. "Sometimes I don't feel you treat me fair. Maybe you do. I don't know. I don't feel that, but sometimes you treat me very fairly, and I have a lot of respect for your profession."

But Trump also criticized some reporters by name and also attacked his frequent Democratic targets -- including former President Joe Biden, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and California Sen. Adam Schiff -- often using offensive nicknames.

At the end of his speech, the president whipped out a "Trump 2028" hat as he jokingly announced, in a "scoop" for the crowd, his intention to run for another term, before thanking those in the room for having the courage to be there.

"Most of us went through a period of trauma from just a short while ago, and you know, some people said they wanted to come, but they were afraid to come, and you people weren't afraid to come," Trump said.

Ahead of the event, the White House promised that the president's speech would be "unifying yet vicious."

"The president's speech will be a combination of unifying yet vicious, and serious yet hilarious, all at the same time, if you can imagine that. One thing I can assure you, it will be entertaining," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to ABC News on Friday ahead of the event.

The dinner in April devolved into chaos after authorities say Cole Allen opened fire inside the Washington Hilton hotel, where thousands of journalists and guests gathered for the annual celebration of the First Amendment. The president and top government officials were also in attendance.

Secret Service officer Victor Gonzales was shot in the incident, but the bullet struck "his protective vest and [he] continued responding to the threat," the Secret Service said.

Trump commended Gonzales, saying he "engaged the attacker without hesitation." He saluted Gonzales and other law enforcement and military in the room, as the crowd gave a standing ovation.

The White House Correspondents' Association presented a special award, the President's Award for Exceptional Service, to Gonzales and the staff of the Washington Hilton during Friday night's dinner.

"Officer Gonzales played a significant role when he ran toward danger so that thousands of others could make it home safely," Weijia Jiang, who presided over the April dinner as WHCA president, said in a statement. "His courage stemmed from a dedication to service, which we are looking forward to honoring this week."

Jiang said the Hilton staff was recognized for their "professionalism and commitment to service" by continuing to "take care of guests" after experiencing the "harrowing situation" themselves.

Friday's dinner is taking place at a different Washington, D.C., hotel -- the Waldorf Astoria on Pennsylvania Avenue -- than the April event.

Sean Curran, the Secret Service director, said in a briefing on Wednesday that the agency measures worked in April and that prepared for Friday's rescheduled dinner with an advance team at the site.

There was an increased and "visible" security presence at the hotel, according to the chief spokesman for the Secret Service.

 We are confident that our robust security plan will ensure the safety of our protectees and attendees, just as our plan did in April," the spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said in a statement on Friday. "Our agency grows and adapts from every event we secure, and we have engaged with [White House Correspondents' Association] to ensure attendees are given timely information in the unlikely event of an emergency during the event."

The shooting at April's dinner took place before the scheduled program that features the presentation of journalism awards, remarks from the president, and entertainment from an invited headliner.

This year's entertainer was mentalist Oz Pearlman, who came back for the redo dinner.

The association added that it was determined "to finish the program that was interrupted."

Vice President JD Vance, who was at the spring dinner, is not expected to attend Friday night's event, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News. His absence follows news of him and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, welcoming their fourth child on Sunday.

ABC’s Nicholas Kerr and Luke Barr contributed to this report.

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