: Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the Sunshine Summit opening dinner at Disney’s Contemporary Resort on November 12, 2015 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Tom Benitez – Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral will be held in Washington on Thursday, with several high-profile political figures set to be at the service for the man considered one of the most influential vice presidents in U.S. history.
Former President Joe Biden plans to attend, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The funeral will be held at Washington National Cathedral at 11 a.m. ET.
Former President George W. Bush, who Cheney served for two terms, will offer a tribute at the service. According to the cathedral’s program, Cheney’s daughter, former congresswoman Liz Cheney, and his grandchildren will also give remarks.
Cheney died on Nov. 3 at the age of 84 due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” the family said in a statement at the time. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The family of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who was reported dead while aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship on Saturday, says they will remember her as a happy, bubbly, straight-A student with a bright future ahead. (Kepner family)
(MIAMI) — Anna Kepner, a teen who died aboard a Carnival Horizon cruise ship earlier this month, was found dead under a bed, wrapped in a blanket and covered by life vests, according to a security source briefed on the investigation.
The 18-year-old cheerleader from Titusville, Florida, was reported dead while aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship on Nov. 8. The Miami-Dade medical examiner has not specified a cause or manner of her death.
Among the avenues investigators are looking at is whether there might have been some sort of altercation with her stepbrother prior to her death, the source told ABC News. Investigators are also looking at other possibilities, including a medical emergency or an overdose, the source said.
Investigators are poring over ship security records, including security camera footage and access-card swipes, to get a picture of who was where at the various times prior to her death, the source said.
A court filing in an unrelated family court matter noted Kepner’s stepsibling could face charges.
The filing said the FBI is conducting an investigation “arising out of the sudden death of 18 year old Anna Kepner.”
Shauntel Hudson — Kepner’s stepmother, who was also on the cruise along with her children and Kepner’s father — requested a delay in her custody hearing because one of her minor children may face criminal charges, according to the filing.
“The Respondent has been advised through discussions with FBI investigators and her attorneys, that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action,” the filing stated. “Any testimony the Respondent may give, either written or oral, could be prejudicial to her or her adolescent child in this pending criminal investigation, therefore the Respondent cannot be compelled to testify.”
The FBI declined to comment.
Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement after Kepner’s death, “Our focus is on supporting the family of our guest and cooperating with the FBI.”
Kepner’s family did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The 59th annual CMA Awards (Country Music Association/ABC)
Ahead of the 59th annual CMA Awards Wednesday night, winners of two categories were announced on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday morning.
Musical event of the year went to “Pour Me a Drink” by Post Malone featuring Blake Shelton, while music video of the year was awarded to “you look like you love me” by Ella Langley and Riley Green.
Ella, Megan Moroney and Lainey Wilson lead the nominations with six apiece. Zach Top follows closely behind with five, while Riley and Cody Johnson each have four.
The CMA Awards, hosted by Lainey Wilson, will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The event will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.
Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, during an interview in New York, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. Summers earlier this month warned that while financial markets have so far shown limited concern with regard to the Federal Reserve’s independence, the situation “could turn very quickly.” (Photographer: Victor J. Blue Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and the former president of Harvard University, has resigned from the board of the tech company OpenAI, according to statements released Wednesday.
“Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision. We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” a statement from the OpenAI Board of Directors reads.
Summers’ resignation came just two days after he released a statement saying he was “deeply ashamed” of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Summers’ email exchanges with Epstein were released last week by the House Oversight Committee.
No Epstein survivor has alleged wrongdoing by Summers and there is no public record evidence to suggest Summers was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.
“In line with my announcement to step away from my public commitments, I have also decided to resign from the board of OpenAI,” a statement from Larry Summers said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress.”
Larry Summers previously announced that he was stepping back from public life after his apparent communications with Epstein were made public.
Summers is currently a member of Harvard’s faculty, according to the Harvard Crimson newspaper. But there have been calls, including from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for Harvard to sever ties with him.
Harvard has announced that it will begin a new investigation into Summers’ association with Epstein, according to the Harvard Crimson. The university reviewed its ties to Epstein five years ago, including donations he made to the university.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement on Monday.
He added, “While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”
It has been previously reported that Summers maintained a relationship with Epstein for many years, particularly during Summers’ term as president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006.
Summers flew at least four times on Epstein’s aircraft, according to flight records made public during litigation against Epstein, and he was the top official at Harvard during a time when the university received millions in gifts from Epstein.
All of those gifts were received prior to Epstein’s guilty plea in Florida in 2008 to charges of solicitation of prostitution with a minor, according to the university’s review of its Epstein connections.
(NEW YORK) — The global rise of ultra-processed foods in diets worldwide poses a major public health threat, according to experts who published a series of papers in medical journal The Lancet.
The authors cite studies that show ultra-processed diets are linked to chronic health conditions like increased risk of becoming overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, chronic kidney disease and overall higher death rates.
Common examples of ultra-processed foods include sugar-sweetened beverages, packaged snacks, instant soups, breakfast cereals, energy bars, mass-produced packaged breads, ready-to-eat meals, ice cream and pizza.
ABC News’ medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton investigated the state of America’s food supply including the consumption of ultra-processed foods and the potential risks to Americans’ health in a new “ABC News Live Prime” special “Gut Check: The Foods We Eat.”
Watch the segment on ABC News Live Prime on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 8:30 p.m. ET. Available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
Sutton participated in an experiment at a high-tech laboratory at Virginia Tech where researchers monitored his blood work before and after eating ultra-processed foods. He also visited an American grocery store, comparing the ingredient lists of common food products with similar ones overseas in a French grocery store.
The special also takes viewers to the world’s largest food and science exposition in Chicago, where ingredient makers pitch food companies on their latest innovations. It’s a notable time for the industry, as the Trump administration continues to push food companies to remove additives, like synthetic dyes, from their products.
The warning around the dangers of ultra-processed foods comes as the Make America Health Again (MAHA) movement, popularized by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., grows nationwide.
About four in 10 parents consider themselves supporters of the MAHA movement, with support higher among Republicans and white parents, a Washington Post-KFF poll finds.
An overwhelming number of parents, regardless of their support of the MAHA movement, supported increased government regulations on dyes and chemical additives, highly processed foods and added sugars, the poll found.
The authors of The Lancet paper, which was published on Tuesday, note that improving diets requires more than just a change in behavior.
Instead, they are calling for world policy reform with actions targeting the production, marketing and consumption of ultra-processed foods, as well as improving access to health food is needed, they note.
Americans consume over half of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods, on average, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Healthier eating should emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy and protein, the CDC says. Most Americans need to increase their intake of dietary fiber, calcium, vitamin D, and potassium, the agency notes.
(NEW YORK) — Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll and the Army’s top general have been sent to Ukraine by the Trump administration to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to restart discussions about potential peace talks with Russia, according to a U.S. official.
Driscoll is set to meet with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s prime minister and other top Ukrainian military officials to talk through a potential peace process and to discuss the United States’ position on the possibility of peace talks.
“Secretary Driscoll and team arrived this morning in Kyiv on behalf of the administration on a fact finding mission to meet with Ukrainian officials and discuss efforts to end the war,” Col. Dave Butler said in a statement on Wednesday confirming his trip.
There is the possibility that in the future Driscoll may meet with Russian officials, a U.S. official told ABC News prior to the team’s landing in Kyiv, adding that it is unclear if Driscoll was bringing a new proposal to restart the talks.
There are no plans for Russian officials to meet with Driscoll, said Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.
“No, as far as I know, there are no plans in this regard,” Peskov said on Wednesday in response to a question from journalists about Driscoll’s arrival in Kyiv and potential meetings.
Choosing Driscoll to attempt to restart the peace process emerged from a discussion last week between President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Typically, a secretary for one of the military services would not be involved in such an important diplomatic overture, but it is possible that sending a military may be seen favorably by Russia, the official speculated.
Driscoll’s mission to Ukraine was first reported by the The Wall Street Journal.
Accompanying Driscoll are Gen. Randy George, the Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Chris Donahue, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, the Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer, and Lt. Gen. Curtis Buzzard who heads the U.S. military assistance program for Ukraine.
Ahead of his trip to Ukraine Driscoll had discussions with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, who has been the administration’s envoy who has worked on peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. Stopping in Germany, Driscoll and his delegation participated in additional updates prior to their trip into Ukraine.
Driscoll and George have often pointed to Ukraine’s successful development and use of battlefield drones as a model for how the Army should transform its acquisitions process and quickly produce weapons for a changing battlefield. In addition to their meetings to restart the peace talks the Army leaders will also meet with military and Ukrainian business officials about their drone and weapons development programs.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the senior military leaders trip to Ukraine since such a visit required his approval.
We now know when the The 2026 Emmy Awards ceremony will take place. The 78th annual Emmys will air live Sept. 14 on NBC. It will also stream on Peacock. The Television Academy will announce the date that the Emmy Award nominations will be released in the coming months. As for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, those ceremonies will take place on Sept. 5 and Sept. 6 …
The trailer for Kristen Stewart‘s directorial debut, The Chronology of Water,has arrived. Based on LidiaYuknavitch‘s memoir, the film tells the story of a competitive swimmer who wrestles with childhood trauma and addition and eventually overcomes it all through writing. Imogen Poots stars in the film, which will come to limited theaters in December before a wider release in January …
Twisted Metal has been renewed for season 3 at Peacock. Deadline reports that the renewal comes with a brand new showrunner. David Reed will serve as the new showrunner and executive producer as Michael JonathanSmith exits the show. Twisted Metal is based on the PlayStation video game and stars Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Seanoa and Will Arnett …
Andriy Bodak/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — NATO fighter jets were scrambled and ground-based air defense systems put on the highest level of alert in Poland and Romania during a massive and deadly overnight Russian attack on targets across Ukraine, military officials in Warsaw and Bucharest said.
One drone was reported penetrating some 5 miles into Romanian airspace before being lost on radar, the Defense Ministry in Bucharest said in a statement.
At least 20 people were killed in a Russian strike on the western city of Ternopil, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said, where two nine-story residential buildings were hit by Russian munitions. Another 66 people were injured, the ministry said.
“One is on fire, the other has destruction from the third to the ninth floor,” the ministry said of the buildings hit. “About five hundred rescuers and over a hundred units of equipment are working at nine active locations,” the ministry added.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 476 drones and 48 missiles into the country overnight, with Lviv, Ternopil and Kharkiv regions the focus of the attack. The attack was the largest of November to date, according to air force data, and the largest since Russia launched 705 munitions into the country on Oct. 30.
Defenders downed or suppressed 442 drones and 41 missiles, the air force said. Impacts of 34 drones and seven missiles were reported across 14 locations, it added, with falling debris reported in six locations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said attacks were reported all across the country, in regions including Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv and Dnipro.
At least 19 long-range drones attacked the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where local officials said nearly 50 people were injured.
“Every brazen attack against normal life indicates that the pressure on Russia is insufficient,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post to Telegram. “Russia must be held accountable for its actions, and we must focus on everything that strengthens us and allows us to shoot down Russian missiles, neutralize Russian drones and stop assaults.”
In Romania, the Defense Ministry said two German Eurofighters and two Romanian F-16s were deployed “to monitor the airspace at the border with Ukraine, following Russian airstrikes in the vicinity of the river border with Romania.”
One drone was tracked on radar penetrating some 5 miles into Romanian airspace, the ministry said. The drone reappeared on radar intermittently as it traveled along the Moldovan-Romanian border before being lost, the ministry said.
“No cases of impact with the ground of any aerial vehicle have been reported,” it said in a statement. “Teams of specialists are ready to begin field searches.”
A Romanian Defense Ministry spokesperson told ABC News they could not confirm whether the drone was Russian in origin.
In Poland, the Armed Forces Operational Command said fighters were scrambled and air defenses “reached a state of maximum readiness” during the attack.
The alert lasted for around four hours, the command said, with no reported violations of Polish airspace. Polish, Dutch, Norwegian and Spanish fighters were involved in the allied response, it added in a later post, as were German Patriot air defense systems.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed 80 Ukrainian drones overnight into Wednesday morning.
The latest exchanges came as U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George visited Ukraine to meet with Zelenskyy and other top officials.
The White House’s peace push has stalled in recent months. A U.S. official told ABC News that this week’s visit is intended to revive talks and discuss the U.S. position on the possibility of negotiations with Moscow.
Ahead of the trip to Ukraine, Driscoll held discussions with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff.
U.S. Army spokesperson Col. Dave Butler told ABC News on Wednesday that Driscoll and the accompanying team “arrived this morning in Kyiv on behalf of the administration on a fact finding mission to meet with Ukrainian officials and discuss efforts to end the war.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate is expected to receive the House-passed version of the Jeffrey Epstein files and pass it along to President Donald Trump Wednesday morning.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Senate agreed to unanimously approve the bill the House passed earlier in the day. When it arrives from the House, it will be deemed immediately passed by the Senate.
The unanimous action by the Senate means there will be no amendments or changes to the bill as House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of his Republican leadership team had urged.
The measure compels Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein within 30 days of its enactment.
If the legislation is signed into law, it could compel the release of federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings,” according to the legislation text. Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the House-passed bill.
ABC News has not received a response from the Justice Department to questions about whether and how it plans to comply with the bill once it has been signed by Trump.
On Friday, Bondi announced the Justice Department was initiating a renewed investigation into the files and potential ties between high-profile Democrats and Epstein just hours after Trump ordered her to on his Truth Social account.
It’s unclear whether the DOJ will seek to cite that announcement as exempting much of the files from public disclosure due to their relevance to the new investigation, despite DOJ and FBI stating unequivocally in a July statement that it uncovered no evidence in a review of the files that would support a predicated investigation against any uncharged individuals.
It’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Trump said on Monday that he will sign the bill should it reach his desk.
“I’m all for it,” Trump said.
But in a post on his social media platform Tuesday afternoon, the president said he doesn’t “care when the Senate passes the House Bill, whether tonight, or at some other time in the near future,” and that he wants Republicans to stay focused on his agenda.
“I just don’t want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we’ve had, including THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, Closed Borders, No Men in Women’s Sports or Transgender for Everyone, ending DEI, stopping Biden’s Record Setting Inflation, Biggest Tax and Regulation Cuts in History, stopping EIGHT Wars, rebuilding our Military, being RESPECTED by every Country in the World, having Trillions of Dollars INVESTED in the U.S.A., having created the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World, and even delivering a HUGE DEFEAT to the Democrats on the Shutdown,” Trump said in his post.
A senior White House official later told ABC News that the bill will “be signed whenever it gets to the White House.”
Trump did not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
At a vigil on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon, a group of House Democrats and Epstein survivors broke out in loud cheers upon learning that the Senate unanimously approved the bill.
After New Mexico Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez made the announcement from the podium, the group broke out in loud cheers, claps and smiles — some of them tearing up.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Blues 2, Maple Leafs 3 Kraken 2, Red Wings 4 Devils 1, Lightning 5 Islanders 3, Stars 2 Blue Jackets 2, Jets 5 Flames 2, Blackhawks 5 Rangers 2, Golden Knights 3 Mammoth 2, Sharks 3
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Warriors 113, Magic 121 Celtics 113, Nets 99 Pistons 120, Hawks 112 Grizzlies 101, Spurs 111 Jazz 126, Lakers 140 Suns 127, Trail Blazers 110
