(WASHINGTON) — A bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could happen as soon as next week, according to a White House official.
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff returned from Moscow on Wednesday and relayed to President Trump that Putin would like to meet with him, the official said.
In response, Trump indicated he is open to that if Putin also meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the official added.
Witkoff met with Putin for several hours on Wednesday ahead of the Friday deadline imposed by Trump for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face sanctions.
According to a senior administration official, the meeting “went well” but secondary sanctions are still expected to be deployed against Moscow this week.
Trump has expressed increasing frustration with Putin over the conflict, shortening the deadline for a ceasefire from 50 to 10 days as he said he was “disappointed” in the Russian leader.
Trump, in a social media post on Wednesday, called the meeting between Witkoff and Putin “highly productive.”
“Great progress was made! Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,” Trump wrote.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Smoke from the Rosa Fire rises in Riverside County, California, Aug. 4, 2025. Cal Fire
(SOLVANG, Calif.) — The Gifford Fire, a wildfire burning in Central California that has destroyed over 83,000 acres in six days, continues to rage and is now the largest blaze in the state this year, according to Cal Fire.
Since it started on Friday afternoon, the Gifford Fire — which is situated within the Los Padres National Forest in Solvang, California — has burned 83,933 acres and has only reached 9% containment, prompting evacuation orders for those in the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, officials said.
While the flames have been centered around thick brush and rugged terrain, officials said over 1,000 structures are threatened by this wildfire.
Nearly 2,000 personnel have been dispatched to help fight the flames, with “great progress made on the west, north and east flanks of the fire” on Monday, according to Los Padres National Forest officials. Winds could potentially reach 20 mph on Tuesday, which could “test lines already constructed,” officials said.
On Wednesday, officials sad they would focus on improving “contingency and constructed containment fire lines.”
Warmer weather on Thursday and Friday could increase the “fire behavior” and pose a threat to the already raging flames, officials said.
On Tuesday, officials said they will deploy helicopters to “deliver very significant water drops” and will establish two new base camps to allow personnel to “more efficiently access the fire perimeter.”
An air quality alert in Cuyama, California, and an air quality watch for the rest of Santa Barbara County continues to remain in place “until conditions improve,” according to the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District.
The fire is also impacting those outside of California, with smoke from the flames filtering into the Las Vegas Valley, “reducing visibility and air quality,” according to the National Weather Service Las Vegas.
Officials expect smoky conditions in the Las Vegas area “for at least another couple of days.”
Along with the Gifford Fire, firefighters are now also battling two additional flames in Central California that began on Monday — the Rosa Fire and the Gold Fire, according to Cal Fire.
The Rosa Fire, which is situated within Riverside County, has prompted evacuation orders and has destroyed 1,658 acres as of Wednesday, according to Cal Fire. The Gold Fire, which is located in San Bernardino County, is centered around “steep, rugged terrain in the northern area of the Mountaintop Ranger District” and has burned 991 acres, Cal Fire said.
As of Wednesday, the Rosa Fire is 18% contained and the Gold Fire is 5% contained, officials said.
The cause of all three fires remains under investigation, officials said.
(FORT STEWART, Ga.) — A U.S. Army sergeant allegedly shot and wounded five other soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia, using his personal handgun, officials said.
The shooting at the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area was reported at 10:56 a.m and the suspect, automated logistics Sgt. Quornelius Radford, was apprehended at 11:35 a.m., Fort Stewart said. All lockdown measures have since been lifted, Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield commander, said at a news conference.
A motive is not clear, Lubas said, but the shooting involved the 28-year-old Radford’s co-workers and was at Radford’s “place of work.” He used a personal handgun, but it’s not clear how he brought it to his workplace, Lubas added.
Lubas praised the “brave soldiers” who he said “immediately intervened” and tackled the suspect. He said they, “without a doubt, prevented further casualties.”
All five victims are in stable condition and are expected to recover, Lubas said. Hospital officials said two of the victims were rushed to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, which is a Level 1 trauma center about 40 miles from Fort Stewart.
Radford has been interviewed by Army investigators and is in pretrial confinement, Lubas said.
Radford, who is from Jacksonville, Florida, has not previously deployed to combat, Lubas said. He had been arrested locally for a DUI, Lubas said, noting the arrest was “unknown to his chain of command until the [shooting] occurred and we started looking into the law enforcement databases.”
Lubas emphasized that although it is still early in the investigation, he said they are not aware of the suspect having any prior behavioral or disciplinary issues.
Lubas also said he remains “very confident in the security” of Fort Stewart.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on social media, “We are keeping the victims, their families, and all those who answer the call to serve in our hearts and prayers.”
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The full circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear.
Access to combat firearms on a U.S. military personnel on base is highly restricted, with guns kept stored in an armory on the base. Firearm use is limited to only when soldiers are participating in field training, and the guns are returned to the armory at the conclusion of that training.
Military personnel are allowed to have legally registered personal guns, but there are restrictions on how they can be brought onto a base.
The entrance to the state-managed immigration detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz/Joe Raedle/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Known for the eponymous reptiles that inhabit the nearby swamps, the migrant detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” faces the possibility of being shut down over concerns about some of the area’s lesser-known inhabitants — the Everglades’ bats, panthers, and storks.
At a hearing in federal court Wednesday, environmental groups have so far called two witnesses as part of their effort to prove that facility was built without the federally required impact studies.
Attorneys representing Florida officials have argued that the facility was initially funded by, constructed, and managed by the state and is therefore exempt from the National Environmental Policy Act – the main law being used to challenge the facility.
To counter that, the environmental groups called Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who testified that she understood that the Department of Homeland Security was the driving force behind the facility.
During a guided tour she took of the facility last month, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Kevin Guthrie allegedly told Eskamani and other lawmakers that Alligator Alcatraz was built at the direct request of the Department of Homeland Security and in compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“DHS made the request for a facility to be established, and this was the product of that facility,” she testified. “They kept asserting to us that they were following all federal and state guidelines, and ICE inspects our facility.”
Alligator Alcatraz has so far operated in what immigration advocates have described as a jurisdictional gray zone — with the facility funded by the federal government but run by the state of Florida — that they allege allows officials to skirt some legal requirements.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has previously argued that the state of Florida is “implementing” the federal government’s immigration policy with the expectation that the state would be fully reimbursed for the costs of Alligator Alcatraz, but local and federal officials have so far been unable to tell the federal courts who is actually in charge of the facility.
The hearing — at which federal, state, and tribal officials are testifying — comes amid heightened scrutiny of the facility, which was once touted as a “one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.”
Located 50 miles west of Miami in the heart of the Florida Everglades, “Alligator Alcatraz” was quickly constructed over a matter of weeks, utilizing hundreds of tents, trailers, and other temporary facilities to potentially house more than 3,000 detainees.
The facility was built on the grounds of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a sparsely used piece of tarmac owned by Miami-Dade County.
Alligator Alcatraz also neighbors land leased to the Miccosukee Indian Tribe, including villages, a school, traditional hunting areas, and sacred sites. The Miccosukee Tribe joined the lawsuit last month, arguing that the facility threatens to damage nearby tribal villages.
The environmental groups and the tribe that brought the case allege that the sprawling facility was built without the federal or state government conducting an environmental impact statement, which is required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), so the public and lawmakers can understand the impact of a project. They also argue that the government failed to get public input on the project.
The Department of Justice has also argued that the environmental groups cannot prove irreparable harm and that NEPA does not give a court the power to block the use of the facility.
Attorneys representing the Florida officials tried to cast doubt on Eskamani’s testimony by arguing she has publicly opposed the policy, including saying at one point that the facility was a “half-billion-dollar anti-immigrant grift.”
“I can definitely see myself saying that on social media,” she told the court about the comments.
Eskamani also testified about the environmental impacts of the facility, which she said was described to her by state officials as an “active construction site.” Miles of barbed wire, tons of freshly laid asphalt, and hundreds of high-power lights peppered the facility.
Eve Samples, the executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Everglades, which brought the lawsuit, testified before Eskamani on Wednesday and argued that the environmental impact has already been felt at the site. The construction of the facility brought increased traffic to the sensitive area, and high-power lights have made the facility visible at night from miles away.
The facility sits next to the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Big Cypress Area, ecologically sensitive and protected areas that house threatened species, including the Everglade snail kite, Florida panther, wood stork, and Florida bonneted bat.
Jesse Michael Panuccio, a lawyer representing Florida, tried to blunt her testimony by highlighting that the facility was built on a preexisting airport, where hundreds of planes take off and land daily.
While Wednesday’s hearing is limited to environmental issues — including impacts on the nearby Big Cypress National Preserve — the testimony is expected to shine a light on the operations of the facility and could result in a federal judge ordering the facility to be shut down until the required environmental impact studies are conducted.
Immigrant advocates have alleged that detainees have endured inhumane conditions, including flooded facilities, spoiled food, and sweltering heat — and that they have limited access to their attorneys and are effectively housed in a jurisdictional “black hole.”
(FORT STEWART, Ga.) — Five soldiers were shot in an active shooter incident at Fort Stewart in Georgia on Wednesday, the base said.
The shooting at the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area was reported at 10:56 a.m. and a suspect was apprehended at 11:35 a.m., Fort Stewart said.
“There is no active threat to the community,” the base said.
Victims are en route to the regional trauma center, Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, hospital officials told ABC News.
Fort Stewart is about 40 miles southwest of Savannah.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on social media, “We are keeping the victims, their families, and all those who answer the call to serve in our hearts and prayers.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The St. Charles Police Department said they responded to a report of a bomb threat at the Q Center hotel outside Chicago. No device was found, authorities said.
“St. Charles Police and Fire departments and the Kane County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad conducted a thorough search and no device was found. In response to the threat, 400 people were immediately evacuated and the area was secured as bomb squad units conducted their investigation,” the department said in a statement.
According to authorities, all guests and staff were able to return safely to the premises and the investigation is ongoing.
Several Texas Democrats released statements on the threat and said they won’t be deterred from trying to block the new congressional map that would heavily favor Republicans.
“Early this morning, a bomb threat forced us to evacuate our hotel. Thankfully, no one was harmed. But this is the kind of danger that comes from reckless rhetoric. When the Attorney General tells people to ‘hunt us down,’ it’s not just politics — it’s a threat to our safety,” state Rep. Ann Johnson said in a statement.
“We’ve been threatened by the Governor, the Attorney General, and our colleagues in the House,” state Rep. John Bucy said in a statement. “This harmful discourse emboldens bad actors and encourages violence. It’s unacceptable and needs to end.”
Bucy added that Texas Democrats are “determined” still.
“We will push through the threats and the noise to keep fighting for our constituents, our democracy, and our country. This is a fight worth having,” Bucy said.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu and state Reps. Ramón Romero and Barbara Gervin Hawkins said in a statement that their cohort in Illinois is safe.
“This morning, a threat was made against the safety of the members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus. We are safe, we are secure, and we are undeterred. We are grateful for Governor Pritzker, local, and state law enforcement for their quick action to ensure our safety.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has been a vocal supporter of Texas Democrats, said in a social media post that he was aware of the reported threats made against Texas officials in the state and that he’s been in touch with state police.
“Threats of violence will be investigated and those responsible will be held accountable,” Pritzker wrote on X.
The redistricting fight continues to escalate after dozens of Texas House Democrats fled the state on Sunday to prevent Republicans from moving to enact the new election map, which could impact which party controls the U.S. House after the 2026 midterm elections.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has ordered the Texas Department of Safety to find and arrest the Democrats who fled the state, an order which will remain in effect until they are “accounted for and brought back” to Austin.
Grant Gardner has been missing for over one week after leaving for a three-day hike at the Big Horn National Forest in Wyoming, according to the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office. Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office
(BIG HORN, Wyo.) — A Minnesota man has been missing for over one week after leaving for a three-day hike in Wyoming’s Big Horn National Forest, according to the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office.
Since Friday, officials continue to search for Grant Gardner, who had planned on a three-day hike “through the Misty Moon Lake area, eventually summiting Cloud Peak,” which is the highest peak within the Big Horn National Forest, the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Monday.
Gardner had contacted his wife on July 29 saying he had made it to the summit, but “since that time there has not been any contact with Gardner,” officials said.
As of Tuesday, Gardner remains missing, with search and rescue efforts actively continuing, officials said.
Officials discovered Gardner’s vehicle in the parking lot of the West Ten Sleep trailhead — where he began his journey — and also learned via the hiking log at the trailhead that he had entered the area “as he had indicated in his hiking plan,” officials said.
Phone records also revealed that he had reached the summit at Cloud Peak — which is around 13,000 feet — at approximately 7 p.m., which was concerning to officials due to the “lack of visible trails through cliffs, timber line, boulder fields and other hazards that had to be navigated after dark before reaching clear trails and safe terrain,” officials said.
A text Gardner sent to his wife also indicated that the climb was “more taxing than he expected and he was tired,” the sheriff’s office said.
Officials said they have extensively searched for Gardner using helicopters, planes, foot teams and canines, but “conditions are extremely challenging,” with at least two rescuers suffering from “medical conditions” and needing treatment.
“In addition to high altitude and terrain challenges, difficult weather patterns including winds, thunder and lightning storms have made search efforts difficult at various times of the day,” officials said.
Big Horn National Park is over 1 million acres, with 191,000 acres dedicated to the Cloud Peak Wilderness area, which is where Gardner is believed to have been traveling, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Officials said their “hearts go out” to Gardner’s family and are asking for the public’s “thoughts and prayers on their behalf, and for the searchers who are risking life safety in this beautiful but unforgiving wilderness area.”
The sheriff’s office said updates will be provided regarding the search for Gardner “as appropriate.”
Anyone who may have had contact with Gardner is urged to contact the Big Horn Sheriff’s Office or the Wyoming Missing Person Tip Line.
The Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Peter Braunstein is escorted on a perp walk by NYPD detectives as he is brought back to New York City to face justice in December 2005. WABC
(NEW YORK) — Nearly two decades after disguising himself as a firefighter to commit one of the most twisted sex crimes in New York City history, Peter Braunstein is days away from his first parole hearing and the prosecutor who put him in prison contends he’s still a “danger to society.”
Braunstein, a 61-year-old former fashion magazine writer who was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison, is scheduled to have his initial parole hearing the week of Aug. 18, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Corrections told ABC News. But prosecutors claim that his nearly 20 years of incarceration have done little to reform him.
“He has shown himself to be a determined, angry and vengeful man. Time and again he has demonstrated that he is a danger to society, and he has clearly and repeatedly stated that should he be released from prison he will continue to be a danger to society,” Maxine Rosenthal, senior counsel for the Special Victim’s Division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, wrote in a July 25 letter to the Parole Board, urging the panel to reject Braunstein’s bid for parole.
The assistant district attorney who prosecuted Braunstein added, “In sum, this defendant is not a worthy candidate for release.”
Rosenthal noted that in a series of media interviews following his conviction, Braunstein never expressed remorse, and in several interviews said, “I regret the choice of victim, but not the crime itself” and that he believed “the crime was justified.”
The prosecutor also said that even after being convicted and sent to prison, Braunstein violated court orders by continuing a “campaign of harassment and intimidation” of an ex-girlfriend until at least 2014 by sending letters or attempting to call her, her employer and her relatives from prison. Braunstein pleaded guilty to menacing the ex-girlfriend, a magazine beauty editor, and was placed on probation just three months before committing the infamous sex attack.
“In response, letters were sent to the prison superintendent requesting that a negative correspondence order be issued prohibiting the defendant from having any further contact with the former girlfriend,” Rosenthal wrote in the letter to the Parole Board.
The ex-girlfriend, who testified against Braunstein at his trial, died in June from cancer.
Braunstein, who is serving his sentence at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, has not replied to a letter from ABC News requesting comment.
His former defense attorney, Robert Gottlieb, told ABC News that Braunstein should be set free.
“Peter was and, I’m sure, still is very smart and enormously creative and talented. I can only hope that the Parole Board will give him the chance to enjoy life and to enjoy it beyond the walls of a prison,” said Gottlieb, who used an insanity defense at Braunstein’s 2007 trial that was rejected by the jury.
‘The crime stood out then, and it stands out now’
In 2007, Braunstein, a former writer for the fashion magazine Women’s Wear Daily, was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison after a Manhattan jury convicted him of first-degree sexual abuse, kidnapping, robbery and other crimes tied to the infamous attack on Halloween night 2005.
During his sentencing, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber told Braunstein that by committing the crime as a fake firefighter, he had not only terrorized the victim, but “every woman living in New York who might trust a fireman or a policeman in a similar situation,” The New York Times reported.
According to prosecutors, Braunstein sexually tormented a then-36-year-old woman for more than a dozen hours after staging an elaborate hoax to coax her into opening her door by pretending to be a firefighter responding to a blaze at her apartment building in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan after he set off smoke bombs in the hallway.
The victim was a former colleague of Braunstein, who had worked closely with his ex-girlfriend at W magazine, a sister publication of Women’s Wear Daily. In a series of media interviews he did from prison after his conviction, Braunstein said he targeted her after becoming obsessed with her as a symbol of what he hated about the fashion industry and blamed for his downfall after he was fired from his magazine job.
“She was the one I took it out on,” Braunstein told ABC’s “20/20” in a 2007 post-conviction interview. “I was thinking really primarily in terms of revenge and suicide at this point in my life.”
In the interview, he described entering the victim’s building, changing into his firefighter gear, igniting two smoke bombs and banging on the victim’s door, yelling, “Fire Department.”
He told “20/20” that once the victim opened her door, he pulled a gun on her that he said was a replica Baretta and ordered her to “get on the floor if you don’t like want me to blow your head off.”
Braunstein said he put a chloroform-soaked rag over her face, rendering her unconscious, stripped off her clothes and tied her to a bed, placing a pair of high-heeled shoes on her that he found in her closet. Over the next 12 hours, he admitted in the “20/20” interview to touching her sexually, but said he did not rape her.
In her letter to the Parole Board, Rosenthal said Braunstein threatened the victim during the ordeal with a serrated knife.
Asked in the “20/20” interview why he sexually tormented the victim, Braunstein said, “I guess to humiliate her.”
Before leaving the apartment, Braunstein stole a Gucci fur coat, a Louis Vuitton carry-on luggage bag, the victim’s driver’s license, resume and $800 cash, according to prosecutors. With lipstick, he scrawled a departing note on the victim’s bathroom mirror: “Bye — Hope things turn around for U soon.”
The New York Police Department launched a nationwide manhunt that lasted six weeks. Braunstein was captured in Tennessee when a witness recognized him from the show “America’s Most Wanted” and alerted police. As officers approached Braunstein, he attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the neck with a knife, according to Memphis police.
“The crime stood out then, and it stands out now, not only because it was exceptionally violent, but also because the perpetrator impersonated a firefighter. That really creates a ripple effect for the public because people have to wonder now if it’s safe to trust someone who is dressed as a police officer, a firefighter, given that this horrific crime was perpetrated by someone impersonating a member of those services,” Jane Manning, director of the victim rights advocacy group Women’s Equal Justice and a former sex crimes prosecutor, told ABC News.
Manning said one of the most important responsibilities of the Parole Board is to protect the public.
“Based on everything we know about this case, women in New York City are a lot safer with this perpetrator behind bars, and I hope the parole board will make a decision to keep him behind bars,” Manning said. “There are some cases that are a difficult call; this is not one of them. This is not a person who belongs out on the streets.”
‘Sickening and heartbreaking’
Angelo Barela, a former neighbor of Braunstein’s victim, told ABC News the crime jeopardized the lives of him and other residents of his building.
“Let’s put it this way: the man endangered the lives of many people who lived in 45 apartments,” Barela said.
Barela, who has moved out of the state since the crime, recalled noticing the thick smoke filling the halls of his building on the night of the attack.
Barela said he and his partner began banging on doors to alert neighbors, several of them elderly with mobility issues.
“It made me feel that if there was a fire, that certain people were not able or did not want to leave,” Barela said.
He recalled knocking on the door of the victim and getting no answer.
Barela said he learned after the fact that the smoke was a ruse that enabled the perpetrator to get into the victim’s apartment. He said he still feels guilty that he couldn’t help the victim.
“It was sickening and heartbreaking,” Barela said in a phone interview. “I think most of the people in that building felt like we didn’t help her, or couldn’t help her, because we had no idea what was going on.”
Barela said he hopes the Parole Board will keep Braunstein in prison.
“Despite what he might have done to one person,” Barela said, “he affected the whole building and he made women in our building feel bad.”
A Department of Corrections spokesperson said the Parole Board will likely release a decision on Braunstein’s parole within three weeks of the hearing, which is closed to the public.
Sevier County Sheriff’s Office released a photo of David Wright from Washington Utah who went missing in September, 1997. Sevier County Sheriff’s Office
(SEVIER COUNTY, Utah) — Remains of a human foot found inside a hiking shoe on the shores of a lake in Utah belong to a man who went missing in 1997, according to officials.
The remains were found on the shores of Fishlake Utah in May, according to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators determined the hiking boot was made in 1996 for only one year. Investigators were able to tie the boot to a cold case disappearance from September 1997.
David White intended to go fishing with some friends and had rented a hotel room nearby. When the plans with friends fell through, White went fishing anyway, according to the sheriff’s office.
His boat was later found trolling across Fishlake with no one onboard, according to officials.
“A shoe and hat were found floating in the water giving a possible indication where White was believed to have fallen in. There were no witnesses at the time. All of this was a mystery until now,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
The original search for White lasted five days and no further evidence was found at the time.
“This case has been on the mind of every one of the SAR members who were involved in the search 28 years ago. It is good to finally have some closure for the family and the searchers,” Sheriff Nathan Curtis said in a statement.
The medical examiner’s office directed investigators to collect DNA from the foot and DNA from a daughter and sent to Bode Cellmark Forensics.
Testing revealed a parental match with 99.9994% certainty.
“We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office, SAR’s, Detective Sgt Pearson, Detective Sgt Larsen, Sheriff Curtis, and Gary (Moulton) from Fishlake Lodge for their incredible support and tireless efforts. We are also deeply grateful to the individual and his dog who found the shoe – without them, we would not be where we are today,” Stefanie Bennett, the daughter of White, said in a statement released by officials.
