and the big, new snowmaker tonight barrelling from the midwest through new england. motive for murder? the fiance accused of killing do new court documents shed light on why he may have done it? plus, the fight for the last isis stronghold in syria. the devastating human toll. our team taking us through the scarred towns that make up this battlefield. and good evening. thanks for joining us on this saturday. i m tom llamas. we begin tonight with the breaking news as we come on the air. the major developments in the alleged attack on actor jussie smollett. sourcing now telling abc news police are investigating whether smollett made the whole story up and they urgently want to speak to him and that new information has shifted the trajectory of their probe. officials today, letting go of the two men first spotted on surveillance images saying they
you can hear overhead now that is the sound of aircraft approaching because they think that isis bikes are now on the horizon. when we did arrive, the coast was clear. every building destroyed. massive craters from u.s. airstrikes every few hundred meters. there is no life here. over 15,000 coalition bombs were dropped on syria during this anti-isis campaign and you have to ask, have these towns been liberated, or eliminated? in the next town, life is creeping back. families try to rebuild what they once had. but this will take years. isis may be gone, but not much else is left either. when u.s. troops do go home, as president trump has promised, the so-called caliphate will have been defeated. but large parts of this country have been so badly destroyed, that the roots of extremism may easily take hold once again. tom? james, thank you. now to historic move by pope francis, defrocking former cardinal theodore mccarrick for sex crimes against minors and adults. even soliciting sex
mexico border is a necessity. tom. tara, thank you. and this programming note the latest reaction to the president s emergency declaration tomorrow on this week with abc s martha raddatz. overseas now, we turn to the desperate fight for the latest isis stronghold in syria. the human toll, high. the images coming in. abc s foreign correspondent james longman taking us through the scarred towns that make up this battlefield. reporter: rubble and dust the isis legacy. it once spanned two countries and attracted thousands of extremists from all corners of the globe. tonight, the so-called caliphate is reduced to about 7,000 square feet of freezing mud in southeastern syria, where 1,000 or so isis fighters are in a standoff with coalition forces. today, we drove out to the towns nearest the frontline. we saw why victory can t be called just yet.
has had no reluctance whatsoever to push back when he has felt it is appropriate. telling russian officials. pushing back an assad and i want to say one more thing. you had president obama whispering in a hot mic that he would have more flexibility after the next election. you have this president as transparent as can be on going over there. that s a much better way to be president. bill: to have a summit like this you have to get a win/win. what is the win/win for each? is it a deal on syria and where the ground could move? the win/win is having the conversation to begin with. another win would be the president s vision with respect to syria. this president has pushed back on assad twice when he has gassed his own people with support of russia. continuing the conversation about nuclear capable north korea, nuclear capable iran. this president is so active around the globe to not involve russia in some of these
moment. syria is the toughest problem on the internation scene by far. a raging civil war for six years, 9 to 10 million people displaced from homes. human catastrophe to be sure. the russians and the iranians have successfully propped up the assad regime despite all of our claims. bill: what would president trump give vladimir putin? is there a deal to be made on this? i think what he would do is what he has in his pocket is the fact the united states eventually will leave syria. and for that he wants something in return. i don t believe we should be leaving syria until we re finished with isis completely. we haven t finished with it completely. they re still down in southeastern syria. i think that s what the president is carrying in his pocket and he wants something in return for that. he would likely take the iranians pulling out of there. but why would they leave? they scored a major victory