Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — A visitor at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park in Florida became unresponsive in the middle of a roller coaster ride and later died at the hospital, park officials said.
The incident took place on Wednesday night when the person, whose name hasn’t been released, was riding the Stardust Racers roller coaster at the Universal Orlando Resorts park and became unresponsive in the middle of the ride, according to a statement from Universal Orlando Resorts.
The person was taken to the hospital when the ride stopped and was later declared dead, park officials said.
“We are devastated by this event and extend our sincerest sympathies to the guest’s loved ones,” said Universal Orlando Resorts. “We are fully committed to cooperating with this ongoing investigation.”
As a precaution, Stardust Racers will remain closed while the investigation, which is being conducted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, is underway, park officials said.
The sheriff’s office has not commented on the investigation.
(YORK COUNTY, Pa.) — A shooting involving police officers has occurred in southern Pennsylvania, state officials said Wednesday.
“Please send prayers to the officers and those involved in the shooting in York County,” Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said on social media. “As we learn more, follow all guidance from police and stay away from the area.”
Two people are being treated at Wellspan York Hospital in connection with the incident, a hospital spokesperson confirmed to ABC News. It is unclear how many people total may have been injured, or the seriousness of the injuries.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he has been “briefed on the situation involving law enforcement in York County” and was on his way to the scene in North Codorus Township.
The state’s attorney general, Dave Sunday, said he is also en route to the area amid the “ongoing situation.”
All schools in the Spring Grove Area School District are sheltering in place “due to an officer-involved incident in our area,” the school district said in a statement while stressing the situation does not involve any of its schools or students.
“Local authorities have advised us to hold students and staff in our buildings as a precaution while several area roads are closed,” the district said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Susan Monarez arrives to testify before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. The committee is hearing testimony from fired CDC employees and the implications on children’s health. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez on Wednesday said she was fired by President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for “holding the line on scientific integrity.”
Monarez gave a detailed timeline before the Senate’s Health committee on the chain of events that she said led to her abrupt ousting.
A pivotal moment, she said, was an August meeting in which she said Kennedy told her to preemptively accept recommendations from a CDC vaccine advisory panel and to fire career officials overseeing vaccine policy.
“I would not commit to that, and I believe it is the true reason I was fired,” Monarez said. Monarez said Kennedy was “very upset” when she pushed back in the meeting.
Kennedy, in a hearing before a different Senate panel earlier this month, disputed Monarez’s version of events. He denied telling Monarez to accept vaccine recommendations without scientific evidence, and claimed she was fired in part because she told him she was untrustworthy.
“I told her that she had to resign because I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ And she said, ‘No,'” Kennedy replied. “If you had an employee who told you they weren’t trustworthy, would you ask them to resign, Senator?” Kennedy had told Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a fiery exchange at that hearing.
Republican senators pressed Monarez on Wednesday on that point. “Did you tell the secretary you were untrustworthy?” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, asked Monarez.
“He told me he could not trust me because I had shared information related to our conversation beyond his staff. I told him, if you cannot trust me, then you can fire me,” Monarez replied.
Monarez was referring to her outreach to Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the chair of the committee, whom she contacted in between meetings with Kennedy to alert him to the growing tension.
In one dramatic exchange, Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin accused Monarez of being dishonest in her characterization of her private conversation with Kennedy and claimed the meeting had been recorded.
Cassidy then requested if such materials had been provided to Mullin that they be made available to all of the senators on the committee. Cassidy also called on HHS to release a recording if it had one.
“If a recording does not exist, I ask Senator Mullin to retract his line of questions,” Cassidy said.
Moments later, Cassidy interrupted the hearing to say that there were reports that Mullin had told reporters he was “mistaken in saying that the RFK-Monarez meeting was recorded.”
“But in case he was mistaken that he was mistaken, if there is a recording, it should be released,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy, a doctor from Louisiana who was one of the key votes to confirm Kennedy, said Wednesday’s hearing was in the aim of “radical transparency.”
“Part of our responsibility today is to ask ourselves, if someone is fired 29 days after every Republican votes for her, the Senate confirms her, the secretary said in her swearing in that she has ‘unimpeachable scientific credentials’ and the president called her an incredible mother and dedicated public servant — like what happened? Did we fail? Was there something we should have done differently?” Cassidy said.
Cassidy told Monarez and Deb Houry, the former chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at the CDC who also sat for testimony, that “the onus is upon you to prove that the criticisms leveled by the secretary are not true.”
Houry was one of four top CDC officials who resigned in protest after Monarez was ousted. The high-profile departures raised alarm over Kennedy’s vaccine policy agenda, which the public health officials said they were being asked to endorse without adequate science.
“How did Dr. Monarez go from being a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials, who had the full confidence of Secretary Kennedy into being a liar and untrustworthy in less than a month. That is quite a transformation. Well, I think the answer is fairly obvious. Dr. Monarez was fired because she refused to act as a rubber stamp to implement Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous agenda to substantially limit the use of safe and effective vaccines that would endanger the lives of the American people and people throughout the world,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said on Wednesday.
Kennedy stood by the recent shakeups at CDC, saying they were “absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world’s gold standard public health agency with a central mission of protecting Americans from infectious disease.”
Monarez on Wednesday expressed concern on Kennedy’s changes to HHS, including his replacement of all members on the CDC vaccine advisory committee.
The CDC advisory committee is scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss vaccine recommendations more broadly, including the measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (MMRV) vaccine, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).
“Based on what I observed during my tenure, there is real risk that recommendations could be made restricting access to vaccines for children and others in need without rigorous scientific review. With no permanent CDC director in place, those recommendations could be adopted,” Monarez said.
According to Monarez, Kennedy told her the childhood vaccine schedule would be changing in September and “I needed to be on board with it.”
“To be clear, he said there was not science or data, but that he still expected you to change the schedule?” Sen. Cassidy asked.
“Correct,” Monarez said.
HHS officials pushed back against Monarez’s testimony Wednesday, saying it contained “factual inaccuracies and left out important details.”
In a statement, a spokesperson also accused her of acting “maliciously to undermine the President’s agenda,” alleging that she limited badge access for Trump’s political appointees and removed one of Kennedy’s appointees without telling anyone.
ABC News has asked for more details about the specific allegations.
(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director Kash Patel faced questions about his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files when he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for a roughly five-hour hearing Wednesday — sparring with lawmakers calling for answers about unreleased documents in the investigation.
Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and Patel argued over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The Trump administration has been dealing with blowback it received from the president’s supporters for its decision to not release more materials related to the investigation into Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019.
Raskin asked why Patel hadn’t “released the names of Epstein’s co-conspirators in the rape and sex trafficking of young women and girls.” The FBI and prosecutors investigated Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators — even after his death. That investigation resulted in the 2020 indictment and subsequent conviction of Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. Prosecutors otherwise have not made public statements about any particular individual they suspect of conspiring with Epstein.
Patel fired back at Raskin that “we have released more material than anyone else before,” adding that the FBI has released “everything the court has allowed us.”
Earlier this month the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released tens of thousands of records related to Epstein, provided by the Department of Justice. A review of the documents released by the committee indicates they consist of public court filings and transcripts from Maxwell’s trial, previously released flight logs from Epstein’s plane, already public Bureau of Prisons communications the night of Epstein’s death and various other public court papers from Epstein’s criminal case in Florida.
On Tuesday, the committee’s Chairman James Comer said it received additional documents from the Epstein estate, which he said it plans to release to the public at some point.
Raskin responded to Patel, saying that the FBI’s release of documents has “nothing to do with what those courts have,” accusing Patel of going against comments he made before becoming FBI director where he suggested that the federal government was shielding information regarding the Epstein case and that the FBI director has direct control of the Epstein files.
“Do you know how the law works?” Patel asked, later adding “I’m not going to break the law to satisfy your curiosity.”
Raskin said Patel’s answers were “all misdirection.”
Later, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who filed a discharge petition for the release of the Epstein files, challenged Patel on the FBI director’s claim — which he made before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday — that there is no credible information that Epstein trafficked women to anyone other than himself. In doing so, Massie noted that alleged victims of Epstein have provided interviews to the FBI which detail allegations, according to Massie, against at least 20 men.
Patel claimed in response to Massie — who asked if he had decided that these allegations that were not credible — that it wasn’t his assertion, but it was the assessment of three separate U.S. Attorneys from separate administrations.
In another testy exchange, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell said he “called b——-” on Patel’s claims about courts preventing the release of documents. Swalwell also repeatedly tried to get Patel to answer “yes or no” to a question about whether he told Attorney General Pam Bondi that the president’s name appeared in the Epstein files. Patel never answered directly and the whole exchange ended up in a shouting match between the two.
“I’m going to borrow your terminology and call b——- on your entire career in Congress, which is a disgrace to the American public,” Patel said to Swalwell.
When Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman went after Patel for not releasing the “full Epstein files,” Patel said the FBI is “releasing as much as legally allowed.”
“You are hiding the Epstein files! You are part of the cover up,” Goldman claimed.
Patel’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday was also marked by explosive interactions with Democrats. During his appearance, he feuded with Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff and Cory Booker — at one point calling the California senator a “political buffoon” and an “utter coward.”
Schiff hit back as the two yelled over each other: “You can make an internet troll the FBI director, but [he] will always be nothing more than an internet troll.”
In a shouting match with Booker, the New Jersey senator said that Patel was making the country “weaker and less safe.”
Patel fired back that Booker’s comments do “not bring this country together.”
Charlie Kirk shooting investigation
Patel defended his work leading the agency and touting the quick arrest of the suspect in the shooting of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk last week.
Patel used his opening statement to highlight the work he has done in his first few months leading the FBI — including putting out pictures of the suspect in the Kirk case, which he said “led to his apprehension.”
“Because of the video that the FBI released under my direction, because of the photographs that they released, they identified their son,” Patel said of the details of the apprehension of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the alleged shooter in Kirk’s killing last week.
On Tuesday, he said the FBI is investigating if others are involved after the online messaging platform, Discord confirmed reports that before the shooting the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, posted messages to a small group of friends on the platform that allegedly said, “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all … It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this.”
“There are a number of individuals that are currently being investigated and interrogated, and a number yet to be investigated and interrogated, specific to that chat room. So we are very much in our ongoing posture of investigation,” Patel said, adding that other people could be involved.
Police sources say a decomposing body was located in a Tesla in a tow yard in Hollywood, California, Sept. 8, 2025. KABC
(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — The body found in a towed Tesla that was registered to the singer D4vd has been identified as a 15-year-old girl, according to officials.
A decomposing female body was discovered in the trunk of the Tesla on Sept. 8, two days after it had been towed from a Los Angeles street, police sources said.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner identified the victim Wednesday as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas. The teen, from Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, was reported missing last year and hadn’t been heard from since, investigators confirmed to ABC News.
The circumstances of how she died and ended up in the front trunk are unclear, investigators told ABC News.
The cause of death is still being determined.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division is leading the investigation. No arrests have been made.
Police responded to an impound lot in Hollywood on Sept. 8 “for a foul odor coming from a vehicle,” Los Angeles police said.
Authorities located a body in the front trunk of the Tesla that was in a state of decomposition, LAPD sources said.
The victim was about 5-foot-1 with wavy black hair and was wearing a tube top, black leggings, a yellow metal bracelet and metal stud earrings, according to the medical examiner. She also had a tattoo on her right index finger that said “Shhh…”
The victim appears to have been dead for some time, adding to the complexity of the investigation, sources said following the discovery.
The Tesla had been at the impound lot for two days after being found abandoned on a Hollywood street, investigators said.
The vehicle is registered to 20-year-old David Anthony Burke, known professionally as D4vd, according to a senior LAPD source. It is one of several vehicles owned by the musician, with many different people using any of the vehicles at any given time, the source added.
ABC News reached out to his representative and lawyer for comment but did not receive a response.
D4vd, who first went viral on TikTok, where he has 3.8 million followers, released his debut album in April. The singer, known for his indie, R&B and alt-pop sound, is scheduled to perform in Los Angeles on Saturday as part of his “Withered” world tour.
Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Susan Monarez testifies before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. The committee is hearing testimony from fired CDC employees and the implications on children’s health. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — In August, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told then-CDC director Susan Monarez that changes would be coming to the childhood vaccination schedule in September, according to Monarez’s testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Her comments allege Kennedy had already decided to make changes to the childhood vaccine schedule prior to an analysis of data by the CDC’s independent advisers.
Monarez also said she had a conversation with Kennedy on August 25 in which Kennedy said President Donald Trump had been briefed on those plans.
“In that morning meeting, he did say that he had spoken to the president. He spoke to the president every day about changing the childhood vaccine schedule,” Monarez testified.
The CDC’s advisory committee on vaccines, called ACIP, will meet later this week and consider different vaccines that are recommended for children.
According to Monarez, Kennedy asked her to promise to sign off on any forthcoming updates to vaccine recommendations without giving specifics about what those plans would be.
“He did not have any data or science to point to,” Monarez said. “As a matter of fact, we got into an exchange where I had suggested that I would be open to changing childhood vaccine schedules if the evidence or science were supportive, and he responded that there was no science or evidence associated with the childhood vaccine schedule. And he elaborated that CDC had never collected the science or data to make it available related to the safety and efficacy.”
“To be clear, he said there was not science or data, but that he still expected you to change the schedule?” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, asked Monarez.
“Correct,” she said.
ABC News has reached out to HHS for comment on Monarez’s testimony.
Kennedy is a longtime vaccine skeptic who has promoted false information about the harms of vaccines. With Kennedy at the helm of HHS, major medical organizations have expressed extreme alarm about restrictions to COVID-19 vaccines that have already taken place and warned of potential further restrictions to routine childhood vaccines.
Monarez says she was ousted because she held the line and refused to endorse vaccine policies not supported by scientific evidence.
Routine childhood vaccines have prevented more than one million premature deaths from vaccine-preventable illness, according to a CDC analysis of 117 million children born between 1994 to 2023.
According to Monarez, Kennedy also asked her to meet with Aaron Siri, a lawyer who previously worked for Kennedy and has pushed the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.
Monarez testified she was concerned that more children would die of vaccine preventable illnesses.
“I believe preventable diseases will return, and I believe that we will have our children harmed for things that we know they do not need to be harmed by polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, I worry about the ramifications for those children in illness and in death. I worry about our school systems. I worry about our medical institutions having to take care of sick kids that could have been prevented by effective and safe vaccines. I worry about the future of trust in public health.”
Air Force One is seen, February 16, 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — An air traffic controller admonished a Spirit Airlines pilot to “pay attention” as the plane flew several miles from Air Force One, according to audio of the exchange.
The incident occurred Tuesday morning as President Donald Trump was flying to the United Kingdom aboard Air Force One. Spirit Flight 1300 was heading to Boston Logan International Airport from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the time.
As the Spirit flight was beginning its descent into Boston, an air traffic controller became frustrated with the pilot while the plane was about 8 miles from Air Force One, according to audio captured by LiveATC.net.
After the controller told the Spirit pilot to turn 20 degrees right, he repeated the instruction multiple times.
“Pay attention. Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right,” the controller says, according to the LiveATC.net audio.
“Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right now,” the controller repeats, sounding increasingly frustrated.
“Spirit wings 1300, turn 20 degrees right immediately,” he sternly says.
The pilot eventually acknowledges the instruction, saying, “20 degrees right, Spirit wings 1300.”
“Pay attention,” the controller says, then tells the pilot that Air Force One is off the Spirit plane’s left wing by 8 miles.
“I’m sure you can see who it is,” the controller says.
“Keep an eye out for me, white and blue,” the controller adds.
Later on, the controller scolds the Spirit pilot, “I gotta talk to you twice every time.”
“Pay attention, get off the iPad,” the controller adds.
The exchange was first reported by the Bluesky account JonNYC.
In a statement on the incident, Spirit Airlines said the flight “followed procedures and Air Traffic Control (ATC) instructions while en route to Boston (BOS) and landed uneventfully at BOS.”
“Safety is always our top priority,” the airline added.
A preliminary investigation shows the aircraft maintained the required separation, an official told ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, opting for its first interest rate cut this year in an effort to revive the flagging labor market.
The central bank delivered a policy long-sought by President Donald Trump, though the size of the rate cut all but certainly fell short of Trump’s desired outcome. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), a policymaking body at the Fed, projected two additional quarter-point rate cuts over the remainder of the year.
Five meetings and nine months have elapsed since the Fed last cut interest rates. The federal funds rate stands between 4% and 4.25%, preserving much of a sharp increase imposed in response to a pandemic-era bout of inflation.
The Fed is guided by a dual mandate to keep inflation under control and maximize employment. In a statement on Wednesday, the FOMC indicated greater concern for slowing employment growth than for rising inflation.
“The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment have risen,” the FOMC said.
The high-stakes announcement marks a flashpoint in the monthslong pressure campaign directed at the Fed by Trump.
In recent weeks, Trump has moved to fire one member of the Fed’s board of governors and secure Senate confirmation for another. Both officials were on track to be among the 12 policymakers who cast votes on the interest-rate decision, though their status remained uncertain days before the Fed meeting.
Stephen Miran, a top White House economic advisor who joined the Fed board this week, cast the lone dissenting vote. Miran voted in favor of a larger half-point rate cut.
The race to reshape the Fed comes after Trump railed for months against the central bank and its Chair Jerome Powell for declining to heed his call for lower interest rates. In July, Powell stressed the importance of political independence, saying it allows central bankers to make “very challenging decisions” based on “data.”
In a social media post on Monday, Trump reiterated his criticism of Powell, saying the Fed chair “MUST CUT INTEREST RATES, NOW, AND BIGGER THAN HE HAD IN MIND.”
In recent months, the economy has suffered a sharp hiring slowdown alongside an uptick of inflation, setting the conditions for what economists call “stagflation.”
The economic conditions have put Fed policymakers in a bind. If the Fed raises interest rates as a means of protecting against tariff-induced inflation, it risks tipping the economy into a downturn. On the other hand, if the Fed lowers rates to stimulate the economy in the face of a hiring slowdown, it threatens to boost spending and worsen inflation.
Last month, Powell said the central bank faces a “challenging situation,” putting pressure on both sides of the Fed’s dual mission to maximize employment and control inflation.
Still, Powell said, the “balance of risks appears to be shifting” in light of a hiring slowdown made clear in a weak jobs report earlier this year that included sharp downward revisions of job gains over recent months.
Trump recently moved to fire board member Lisa Cook, who sued Trump over her attempted ouster, saying the decision violated her legal protections as an employee at the independent federal agency. Trump said he removed Cook over mortgage fraud allegations against her.
Federal law allows the president to remove a member of the Fed board “for cause,” though no president has attempted such a removal in the 112-year history of the central bank.
Last week, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Fed to let Cook continue serving in her role as a governor of the Federal Reserve System as her lawsuit moves through the courts.
Days later, the Trump administration filed a request with an appeals court asking to remove Cook by Monday, before the scheduled vote on interest rates. That day, an appeals court rejected Trump’s bid, clearing the path for Cook to vote at the Fed meeting. Trump may appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Last month, Trump called on Cook to resign on the same day that Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, posted on X part of an Aug. 15 letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi accusing Cook of falsifying bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, “potentially committing mortgage fraud,” the letter stated.
In a statement provided to ABC News at the time, Cook said she learned from the media about Pulte’s letter seeking a criminal referral over the mortgage application, which predated her time with the Federal Reserve.
“I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet,” Cook said in the statement last week. “I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”
The Senate voted 48-47 on Monday to confirm White House economic adviser Stephen Miran’s nomination to serve as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, paving the way for Miran to cast a vote on interest rates.
Miran has vowed to safeguard central bank independence but said earlier this month that he does not plan to resign from his position within the Trump administration. Miran is filling a vacancy created by the early retirement of Fed board member Adrianna Kugler, whose term was set to end in January.
Miran said he plans to take an unpaid leave of absence from his current role. Miran reached the decision after “advice from counsel,” since his term on the Fed board would last four months, Miran said at a Senate hearing this month.
(LONDON) — President Donald Trump kicked off his state visit to the U.K. on Wednesday by traveling to Windsor Castle to meet with King Charles III.
Trump is the first elected political leader in modern times to be hosted for two state visits by a British monarch, having already been hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
The president and first lady Melania Trump will attend a state banquet with the royal family in Windsor on Wednesday evening.
Trump arrived at Windsor Castle aboard Marine One on Wednesday, having spent the night at Winfield House in central London. He and Melania Trump were greeted in the castle’s Walled Garden by Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton.
After being welcomed by the king, Trump and the first lady were taken by carriage to Windsor Castle, where they observed a ceremonial reception.
A crowd gathered in central London to protest Trump. Many of the protesters held anti-Trump signs and Palestinian flags.
The protest, which was organized by the Stop Trump campaign, planned to march towards Parliament later in the afternoon.
The Trumps explored Windsor Castle with the king and queens and viewed historical items from the Royal Collection.
Laid out across five tables were a collection of artifacts symbolizing U.S.-British relations, such as 18th-century watercolor paintings, transatlantic messages between Queen Victoria and President James Buchanan and a hot dog picnic in the 1930s that young Queen Elizabeth wrote about.
Trump walked around the displays, marveling at them as a guide explained what they were.
“That is so amazing,” Trump said.
Following the tour, the president and some of his key advisors, Scott Bessent, Marco Rubio, Susie Wiles, James Blair, Steve Witkoff and Stephen Miller, visited St. George’s Chapel for a service.
A choir of small children performed for the audience.
The Trumps laid a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II during the service and spoke with the children before taking a tour of the chapel.
Following the service, the two couples, seated in red chairs, watched the Beating Retreat musical performance.
This was the first time the Beating Retreat had been performed at a state visit. At least 200 military personnel were involved in the ceremony, according to U.K. officials.
The roughly 30-minute musical performance ended with a flyover from the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force display team. Red, white and blue smoke came out of the plane’s engines, filling the sky with colorful smoke.
Thursday will see Trump meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers, the prime minister’s official country residence in Aylesbury. The two men are expected to hold a press conference before Trump begins his journey back to the U.S.
During a background call on Monday with reporters, White House officials said that this visit will highlight what they called the deep ties between the United States and the United Kingdom.
“This historic second state visit is set to highlight and renew the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. At the same time, the visit will recognize and celebrate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States,” a White House official told reporters during a background call previewing the trip.
Trump will be greeted by a joint U.S.-British flypast of F-35 fighter jets. Around 1,300 members of the British armed forces accompanied by 120 horses will be involved in the ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle.
The guard of honor at Windsor will be the largest ever organized for a state visit to the U.K.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart, Zoe Magee and Joseph Simonetti contributed to this report.
(COHOES, N.Y.) — Officials in upstate New York are searching for a 53-year-old homicide suspect who has been on the run since his girlfriend was found dead, according to the Cohoes Police Department.
Anthony Bechand, 53, has been missing since his girlfriend, 41-year-old Amanda Rodriguez, was found dead in her home in Cohoes, New York, on Sunday morning, according to investigators.
When Rodriguez was found, the Cohoes Police Department contacted New York State Police to assist in the investigation.
Officials said they determined that Bechand “fled in an unknown direction and was wearing an unknown outfit at the time of his departure.”
Rodriguez resided in “the single family house with her boyfriend,” police said.
As of Wednesday, Bechand, who “may be armed and dangerous” is still on the run, Cohoes Police Chief Todd Waldin confirmed to ABC News.
The suspect was believed to have been traveling in a white 2024 Chevrolet Suburban, but officials located the vehicle on Sunday “on County Route 60 at the intersection of County Route 86 in the Town of Brighton, Franklin County,” New York State Police said in a statement.
Bechand is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighs approximately 180 pounds and has hazel eyes and brown hair, police said.
Police said the public’s assistance is “vital as this investigation continues.”
Anyone who may have seen Bechand or has information on his whereabouts is urged to contact New York State Police at 518-897-2000.
