An emergency hazmat incident at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove, California, has prompted evacuations in the area, May 22, 2026. (KABC)
(CALIFORNIA) — An “emergency hazmat incident” in California has prompted evacuations, with officials warning that a chemical tank at an aerospace facility is in “crisis” and will either fail or explode.
Firefighters initially responded to a leak at an aerospace manufacturing company in Garden Grove on Thursday, for vapor releasing from a 34,000-gallon tank containing methyl methacrylate, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
Officials updated Friday that there is no active gas leak or plume, but that the tank is “actively in crisis” and unable to be secured. Damage to a valve on the tank has “created additional operational challenges,” city officials said.
“There are literally two options left remaining: one, the tank fails and spills a total of about 6- to 7,000 gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot in that area. Or two, the tank goes into a thermal runaway and blows up, affecting the tanks that are around them that have fuel or the chemicals in them as well,” Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey said in a video update Friday.
“Most importantly, right now, there is no active gas leak, no plume in the area. We are setting up these evacuations in preparation for these two options — it fails or it blows up,” he said.
Authorities have issued evacuation orders for the surrounding area. Over a dozen schools have temporarily closed, and those adjacent to the evacuation area are canceling outdoor activities “out of an abundance of caution,” the Garden Grove Unified School District said.
Methyl methacrylate is an industrial chemical used in plastics and manufacturing.
ABC News has reached out to the aerospace manufacturing company, GKN Aerospace, for comment.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his office said.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said it is “closely monitoring the incident in Garden Grove and has deployed personnel to work alongside local partners.”
“Please heed all orders from local authorities — evacuation orders have expanded,” it said Friday.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) on the sidelines of a visit to Zhongnanhai Garden on May 15, 2026, in Beijing, China. Trump and other U.S. officials are finishing up a visit intended to address the Iran conflict, trade imbalances, and the Taiwan situation while establishing new bilateral boards for economic and AI oversight. (Photo by Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration’s $1.8 billion compensation fund to pay those who claim they were targeted by the Biden administration is now at the center of three federal lawsuits.
The nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on Friday asked a federal judge to halt the creation of the fund, calling it “a jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption.”
Earlier Friday, a coalition of nonprofits and individuals, including a former Jan. 6 prosecutor, filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging that the creation of the fund bypassed Congress’ authority over federal spending and violated the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on using federal funds “in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”
“Created following a collusive agreement between the President and his own administration, this Fund has no congressional authorization, no basis in law, and no accountability,” the lawsuit said.
The CREW lawsuit attempts to establish legal standing by focusing on the purported secrecy of the fund, which it says is in “defiance of federal records preservation and access laws.”
The new suit comes two days after former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges, who both defended the U.S. Capitol in 2021 during the Jan. 6 attack, filed a similar lawsuit in D.C. asking a judge to halt the creation and funding of the controversial fund.
The lawsuit filed early Friday was brought by a former federal prosecutor who brought Jan. 6 cases, a law professor who was acquitted after being charged for his actions during an immigration raid, the National Abortion Federation, the nonprofit Common Cause, and the City of New Haven, Connecticut.
“Since its inception, this fund has been on a collision course with the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit said.
The Department of Justice’s launch of the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” — in exchange for President dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and two other civil claims — has sparked accusations of “collusive litigation” and a bipartisan uproar over the possible use of taxpayer money to pay rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.
While Trump previously said he was not involved in the creation of the fund, he took to social media on Friday to defend the use of taxpayer money in that manner.
“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward. I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!” Trump wrote.
Friday’s lawsuit is also alleging that the use of the federal Judgment Fund — an unlimited appropriation used by the federal government to pay court judgments and settlements — to create the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is an unlawful end-run around Congress’ authority to appropriate money.
The lawsuits precede the establishment of the fund itself, which, according to the settlement agreement between Trump and the DOJ, is to be created by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche within 30 days. As part of the arrangement, Blanche is to appoint a five-commissioner committee to oversee claims.
Some legal experts have raised concerns about the viability of the lawsuits and if the plaintiffs bringing the cases — including officers who defended the Capitol and a broad coalition of affected parties — will be able to establish legal standing for the case to proceed.
ABC News Legal Contributor James Sample noted that the case filed earlier this week might struggle to establish that the two officers have been directly injured by the proposed creation of the fund.
“There’s no question that they’ve been subjected to threats and harassment, and who knows what else from a security perspective, for the manner in which they’ve spoken out about Jan. 6 since then,” Sample said — but added that “all of those are past injuries that are not fairly traceable to the judgment fund.”
A still from a video released by the Fort Wayne Police Department of an incident at a Tim Hortons in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on May 13, 2026. (Fort Wayne Police Department)
(FORT WAYNE, Ind.) — The family of a 75-year-old woman who died following a physical altercation with an employee at a Tim Hortons in Indiana will be able to see the full, unredacted surveillance footage of the incident, officials confirmed on Friday.
The full video will not be released to the public at this time, the Fort Wayne Mayor’s Office told ABC News.
“The Grayson family will be able to see the entire video,” a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said in a statement. “There are no plans to show additional video to the public/media beyond what was shared earlier this week.”
The incident occurred on May 13 in Fort Wayne, police said. The customer, Anita Grayson, entered the Tim Hortons that morning to “address an issue” with a drive-thru order, at which point she got into a physical altercation with the store’s 20-year-old shift lead, according to the Fort Wayne Police Department.
Police said the shift lead intervened when Grayson “began berating a 17-year-old female employee” by stepping between the two and repeatedly telling Grayson to leave. When Grayson appeared to move toward the teen, the shift lead “placed her hands” on Grayson, who police said then “forcefully shoved the shift lead backward” and struck her in the nose. The two continued to struggle, with police saying Grayson scratched the shift lead’s face, knocked off her glasses and pulled her to the ground by the hair, pulling out a chunk.
An officer responding to the location found Grayson unresponsive, and paramedics arrived and attempted life-saving measures, police said. She was transported from the scene and later pronounced dead by medical personnel, police said.
Fort Wayne police released surveillance footage of the incident on Tuesday due to what it called “significant public concern and misinformation” in the wake of Grayson’s death, citing a “poor-quality video circulating publicly.”
The three-minute video released by police showed the physical altercation and moments of Grayson then walking around and sitting, though not the entire aftermath or emergency response. The video has no sound.
Grayson’s family has called for the release of the full video.
“I need it to be released publicly because the world is waiting for what happened to her,” Grayson’s daughter, Tawnda Grayson, said during a press conference outside of the Tim Hortons location on Friday.
Carlton Lynch, a pastor in Michigan and former community activist in Fort Wayne who spoke alongside Grayson’s family members at the press conference, said they had been informed Friday that the “mayor and the city police have agreed to allow the family to see the entire video.”
“We don’t know the extent of what took place in that restaurant,” he said.
The family continued to urge police to release the full video to the public.
“I need it to be released publicly, because the world is waiting for what happened to her,” Tawnda Grayson said.
“My whole entire family loved our mom, that was the matriarch of our family,” she said. “So what’s been taken from us is irreplaceable.”
Tawnda Grayson told ABC Fort Wayne affiliate WPTA her mother had congestive heart failure and was wearing a heart monitor a week before the altercation.
The cause and manner of death remain pending, police said Tuesday.
The Allen County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing the case.
“At this time, no decision regarding this matter will be made until the Prosecutor’s Office has received and reviewed all evidence related to the investigation, including the complete report from the Allen County Coroner’s Office,” the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Wednesday.
The coroner’s findings may not be available for another four to eight weeks, the office noted.
Tim Hortons offered its condolences to Grayson’s family.
“The health and safety of our guests and team members is our highest priority and the local franchisee has been cooperating fully with the police,” the company said in a statement.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrives for his first check-in at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Baltimore Field Office the day after a federal judge ordered his release from a detention in Pennsylvania, on December 12, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday dismissed the criminal human smuggling case brought by the Department of Justice against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw granted Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss, finding that the federal government failed to rebut Abrego Garcia’s “presumption of vindictiveness.”
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March of last year to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, after which U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis released him from ICE detention while he was awaiting trial.
Judge Crenshaw, in his decision Friday, wrote that the timing of a DHS agent’s decision to reopen a closed investigation of a November 2022 traffic stop, and that “now unrebutted public statements tying the reopened investigation to Abrego’s successful lawsuit taints the investigation with a vindictive motive.”
“Because the presumption of vindictiveness remains unrebutted, the indictment must be dismissed,” Crenshaw said.
The criminal charges in Tennessee stem from a 2022 traffic stop that was disclosed in an April 2025 press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which said it had a “bombshell investigative report” regarding the stop, alleging that Abrego Garcia was a suspected human trafficker. The release included a screengrab of body camera video from the traffic stop.
Abrego Garcia was not charged or arrested during the traffic stop, which lasted for more than an hour. Body camera footage showed Tennessee troopers — after questioning Abrego Garcia — discussing among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling in the vehicle without luggage.
“Instead of investigating the November 2022 traffic stop to identify who was responsible for the human smuggling, Blanche started the investigation to implicate Abrego,” Crenshaw wrote, referring to now-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “He did so to justify the Executive Branch’s decision to remove him to El Salvador.”
A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement following the order, “Another activist judge has placed politics above public safety. The judge’s order is wrong and dangerous, and we will appeal.”
“Justice is a big word and an even bigger promise to fulfill, and I am grateful that today, justice has taken a step forward,” Abrego Garcia said in a statement released by CASA, an immigrant advocacy group that represents him.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department,” Abrego Garcia’s criminal attorneys told ABC News in a statement. “We are so pleased that he is a free man.”
In Friday’s dismissal order, Judge Crenshaw mentioned the involvement in the case of high-ranking DOJ officials including Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh, who called the case a “top priority” in emails to prosecutors. He also mentioned a Feb. 5, 2025, memo from then-Attorney General Pam Bondi warning DOJ staff of potential termination if they refused to advance the administration’s goals.
Judge Crenshaw concluded that while there was insufficient evidence to prove actual vindictiveness, the government could not justify its sudden shift from wanting to deport Abrego Garcia to prosecuting him.
“The evidence it labels as newly discovered was available to be obtained with due diligence long before April 2025,” the judge wrote. “Even more, it does not explain the Government’s change in position to remove Abrego and not prosecute him to then prosecute and not remove him.”
In his order, Crenshaw quoted former Attorney General Robert H. Jackson: “Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.”
Abrego Garcia had been scheduled to go to trial on the Tennessee charges, to which he pleaded not guilty, in January.
He is still fighting his deportation case in Maryland, where U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has blocked the government from re-detaining him.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks at an event with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on May 21, 2026 in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Al Drago for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — President Donald Trump said on Friday he will not be attending his son Donald Trump’s Jr.’s wedding this weekend, and that he will stay at the White House instead.
“While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
“I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time,” Trump added. “Congratulations to Don and Bettina!”
Trump previously said he would “try” and make his son’s wedding this weekend, which is reportedly taking place in the Bahamas — though he said the event is “not good timing” for him given his responsibilities surrounding the war in Iran.
During an event in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said his son wants him to come his wedding with fiancée Bettina Anderson but that the president has “a thing called Iran — and other things.”
“He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small, little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it,” Trump said. “This is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things. That’s one I can’t win on.”
“If I do attend, I get killed. If I don’t attend, I get killed by the fake news,” Trump said. “Hopefully they’re going to have a great marriage.”
Donald Trump Jr. is the eldest son of the president who has five children with his ex-wife, Vanessa Trump.
Vanessa Trump announced on Instagram Thursday that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
A medical staff member disinfects a quarantine room in an Ebola treatment center in Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 21, 2026. (Str/Xinhua via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is “spreading rapidly,” the head of the World Health Organization warned during a press briefing on Friday.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the U.N. health agency has upgraded its risk assessment for spread at the national level from “high” to “very high.” At the regional level, the risk remains “high” while the global level is still “low.”
There have been almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths from Ebola in the DRC, the WHO said in a post on X.
So far, at least 82 cases of Ebola have been confirmed in DRC as well as seven deaths, but Tedros said “we know the epidemic in the DRC is much larger.”
Tedros described the situation in Uganda as “stable” with two cases confirmed in people who traveled from the DRC, with one death.
The epicenter of the current outbreak is in a “highly insecure” area — the DRC’s eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri — where ongoing armed conflict has sparked a displacement crisis, according to Tedros.
The WHO chief also acknowledged a “security incident” that took place Thursday in Ituri in which “medical tents and supplies were set on fire.” He noted that building trust in the local communities is “critical.”
The WHO’s representative in the DRC, Dr. Anne Ancia, who appeared from the field via video link during the press briefing, said Thursday’s incident “significantly jeopardized” the Ebola response operations her team is trying to initiate in the hotspot area.
She noted that there is still very low contact tracing in Ituri, particularly the city of Bunia, but that there was better contact tracing happening in North Kivu.
So far, one American has contracted Ebola in relation to the outbreak. Dr. Peter Stafford tested positive after treating patients in the eastern DRC.
He was evacuated to Germany and is currently being treated at Charite University Hospital in Berlin in an isolation ward, the hospital said.
Stafford’s wife and children, who are considered high-risk contacts, are also at the hospital and are currently in quarantine in a separate section of ward. The family is symptom free, according to the hospital.
The hospital said that Stafford does not currently require intensive care but is “severely weakened” from his illness.
Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, following a prime-time address to the nation in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from her post, a source familiar confirmed to ABC News on Friday.
The news was first reported by Fox News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The U.S. Department Of Homeland Security logo is displayed at a Citizenship and Immigration Services office on January 16, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration on Friday issued a sweeping policy directive requiring most temporary visa holders and humanitarian parolees living in the U.S. to return to their home countries to apply for and complete their green card applications.
“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement. “From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A fuel pump at a Wawa gas station in Aston, Pennsylvania, US, on Thursday, May 21, 2026. (Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Gas prices stand near their highest level in four years as millions of Americans ready themselves to hit the road over Memorial Day weekend.
The national average for a gallon of gas on Friday stood at $4.55, which amounts to a roughly 42% rise from this time last year, AAA data showed. Gas prices surged in recent months as the Iran war choked off global oil supply.
Six states boast average gas prices above $5, including Washington and Alaska. California, the state with the nation’s highest gas prices, offers drivers an average gallon of $6.13, according to AAA.
Roughly 39 million people are expected to travel by car over the Memorial Day holiday, exceeding last year’s total, AAA forecasted.
“Travel demand remains strong, and despite higher fuel prices, many people are prioritizing leisure travel,” Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA travel, said in a statement.
Americans will spend about $2 billion more on gasoline over the four-day Memorial Day weekend compared to a year ago, amounting to an added cost of roughly $22 million per hour, Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, said in a post on X on Friday.
Nineteen states are expected to post record-high Memorial Day gas prices, among them Colorado, Ohio, Missouri and New Mexico, De Haan said.
Crude oil is the main ingredient in auto fuel, accounting for more than half of the price paid at the pump, according to the federal U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Middle East conflict triggered a historic oil shortage, driving up crude prices and hiking the cost of auto fuel.
The surge in oil prices came about after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global crude supply.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures price — a benchmark of U.S. oil prices – has soared 50% since the outbreak of war on Feb. 28.
The U.S. is a net exporter of petroleum, meaning the country produces more oil than it consumes. But since oil prices are set on a global market, U.S. prices move in response to swings in worldwide supply and demand.
Oil prices have fallen slightly this week, however, as negotiations have given rise to hope among traders about a possible resumption of normal tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
As a result, De Haan said, gasoline prices may drop over the weekend, falling to an average below $4.50 by Memorial Day.
Roughly one of every 10 low-income households is spending more than 10% of its monthly income on gas, Bank of America said in a research report shared with ABC News last month, citing internal data. For middle- and upper-income households, the share spending that much on gas drops stands at about one of every 20.
Oil prices remain well below the highs reached after some previous economic shocks. In 2022, the price of Brent crude surged above $139 per barrel in March, just weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. oil prices shot up as high as $147 a barrel.
Stock image of dental chair. (Zhenjin Li/Getty Images)
(PHILADELPHIA) — Health officials in Philadelphia are recommending certain patients of a dental clinic accused of following “unsanitary practices” get tested for hepatitis and HIV due to potential exposures from April 2025 to May 2026, the city’s Department of Public Health said in a statement this week.
Officials on Wednesday identified the dental clinic in Center City Philadelphia as Smiles at Rittenhouse Square, also called Smiles on the Square, and said it is now closed due to the dentist’s temporary suspension.
James Garrow, Philadelphia’s deputy health commissioner, told ABC News the risk is believed to be low to patients at this time because they have yet to identify any associated cases of hepatitis or HIV linked to this dentist office.
“We don’t have any known reason to say that the risk will be potentially high, but the fact of the matter is, when you are in a dentist office that’s unsanitary, unsafe, the risk always exists,” Garrow said. “So that’s why we’re really pushing folks who are patients there to get tested and make sure.”
The sole dentist practicing at this office has since had their license temporarily suspended, state records show.
“On May 15, 2026, the State Board of Dentistry suspended Dr. Kirti Chopra’s professional license in Pennsylvania because her continued practice of dentistry presents a clear and immediate danger to public health and safety,” a Pennsylvania Department of State official said in a statement to ABC News.
The alleged sanitary problems in the clinic were discovered during an unannounced site visit, the suspension order, reviewed by ABC News, said.
According to the order, the dentist allegedly admitted to investigators that used injectable medication vials were occasionally set aside for reuse on other patients and IV saline bags intended for single use were reused between patients.
Investigators said they identified multiple issues with sterilization and sanitation practices during the site visit that include finding dental instruments that were not properly sterile, handled with potentially contaminated gloves, and packaged in potentially contaminated pouches.
They also reported finding dental handpieces that came into contact with blood and saliva left attached to patient equipment after use that should be sterilized between patients.
The dentist’s temporary suspension order concluded that these findings “place patients at risk for transmission of hepatitis C, hepatitis B, Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as outbreaks of viral, bacterial or fungal infections.”
Hepatitis viruses and HIV are spread through contact with infected blood or body fluids. Garrow said exposure at a dentist’s office is “exceedingly rare” but it is possible to get infected if exposed through contaminated dental equipment.
“The fact of the matter is, if someone who is a patient there was exposed to one of these diseases… these are potentially life-changing chronic conditions,” Garrow said.
Doctors tell ABC News potentially impacted patients may need multiple blood tests, depending on the timing of a potential exposure.
“If it’s a recent exposure it would be a minimum of two or three blood draws to establish a baseline and then follow-up testing to determine seroconversion,” Dr. George Diaz, a spokesperson for the Infectious Disease Society of America, told ABC News.
Doctors say hepatitis B is considered one of the more transmissible bloodborne viruses in healthcare settings when sterilization procedures aren’t followed or if contaminated instruments are reused.
The hepatitis B vaccine offers the best line of protection for a person who is exposed to this virus.
“In this case, vaccination against Hepatitis B would be protective against exposures such as this,” Diaz said. “Risk is virtually zero for those that are vaccinated.”
There are no current vaccines to prevent HIV or hepatitis C. Treatment options vary for each virus, based on timing of exposure or infection.
According to Garrow, the health department is working to finalize a list of patients potentially at risk but due to the timeframe of potential exposure, he estimates that number “could be in the hundreds.”
Garrow also said that there is another dental clinic in the same building with a similar name, Rittenhouse Smiles, that is not under investigation, and they are working on messaging to minimize patient confusion.
Officials say people who are unsure about potential exposure or patients of Smiles at Rittenhouse Square should call 215-685-5488, a hotline the health department set up that is open between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.
“Dr. Chopra is cooperating with the Department of Public Health and the Pennsylvania Department of State,” a lawyer representing Chopra and Smiles at Rittenhouse Square said in a statement to 6ABC Philadelphia on Wednesday. “Dr. Chopra will continue working cooperatively with public-health officials regarding patient notification, testing recommendations, and any required infection-control remediation.”
Mark Abdelmalek, MD is a medical contributor and investigative reporter for ABC News. Jade A. Cobern, MD, MPH, is a fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit.
