and took down a passenger jet carrying 295 people. all 295 are confirmed dead. now, to find out who did it. and make them pay. ed henry is our chief white house correspondent and live for us there this afternoon. ed? reporter: good to see you, shep. bottom line, you ve heard from the president earlier today in delaware. he was at an event pushing more highway funding. now landed in new york city a short time ago, going ahead with a couple of fund-raisers there tonight. democratic fund-raisers. vice president biden was giving a speech to a liberal organization in detroit and he topped off his remarks as well about the situation. he had just gotten off the phone with the new ukrainian president and said that the u.s. is pledging assistance. that s a broad statement obviously. what does that mean specifically. i think one thing that is interesting is that the vice president said the u.s. is sending its own law enforcement team that s headed to the region now, to help determine the facts
another 18,000 reserve troops have been called up, bret, bringing that total number to 58,000 troops. many of which are now on the ground fighting here in gaza city. bret? john huddy live in gaza city early friday morning. john, we ll check in with you in just a bit. thank you. today s takedown of that malaysia airlines flight further complicates an already full foreign policy plate for president obama. chief white house correspondent ed henry has that part of the story from the white house. reporter: president obama went forward with his planned schedule of two fund-raisers in new york tonight, calling the ukrainian president aboard air force one on the way. earlier the president was pushing for more highway funding in delaware where he stopped in at a barbecue joint. i hear the burgers are pretty good. reporter: and paused for 28 seconds to note the downed jet. it looks like a terrible tragedy. right now we re working to determine whether there were
afternoon? was in good spirits today. he said he doesn t like photo ops and he looked like he was having a good time. i think his problem is people who put photo ops ahead of other priorities. last week the president was trying to make the point, this is about substance, not photo ops that s why he didn t go to the border, today wendell was referring to the fact that the president was in this self-driving car, a chance for him to get behind the wheel at some technology exhibit, and that was a photo op as well. but the president thought that was okay, because it enabled him to make a point about how he wants more highway funding, republicans are not doing enough. when there s a chance for the president to use a photo op that will help him, that s what he s going to do. last week, though, he didn t like the fact that if he did a what might be seen as a photo op on the border it might
afternoon? was in good spirits today. he said he doesn t like photo ops and he looked like he was having a good time. i think his problem is people who put photo ops ahead of other priorities. last week the president was trying to make the point, this is about substance, not photo ops that s why he didn t go to the border, today wendell was referring to the fact that the president was in this self-driving car, a chance for him to get behind the wheel at some technology exhibit, and that was a photo op as well. but the president thought that was okay, because it enabled him to make a point about how he wants more highway funding, republicans are not doing enough. when there s a chance for the president to use a photo op that will help him, that s what he s going to do. last week, though, he didn t like the fact that if he did a what might be seen as a photo op on the border it might blow up in his face, the crisis
yourself in lakes like this around the country. never go in if it s overcrowded. when you get out, wash your hands and never drink the water. officials tell us horseshoe lake should be open again before too long. matt gutman, abc news, miami. new questions for general motors this morning after documents suggest the company kept silent about the causes of some fatal crashes. the new york times reports the automaker knew more about the detective ignition switch than it told government agencies. the times says gm avoided answering when it asked if it knew what was causing those crashes. president obama got a rare chance to drive a car, even if it was a virtual drive. he used a visit to an automatic research facility to push for new technology that will allow cars to talk to each other and actually prevent accidents. he also said he supports highway funding bills pending in congress.