Decades. And nightmare at sea. The vacation outrage. Well take you on board a cruise ship that passengers say felt like a floating construction zone. And good evening. And its great to have you with us on a busy friday night. Im tom llamas in for david and we begin tonight with the growing fears of a new trade war. The u. S. And china back and forth with threats of tariffs on one another. With american farmers, Tech Companies and manufacturers caught in the middle. After the first round of tariffs from each side, President Trump now threatening import taxes of 100 billion goods of china, and secretary mnuchin admitting a trade war could be real, and americans could feel some pain. The dow losing nearly 600 points. Jonathan karl starts us off from the white house. Reporter a brutal day on wall street. Stocks tumbling after President Trump escalated his threats toward china. Today, the president acknowledged his trade policy may cause pain. Im not saying there wont be a little pain. But the markets gone up 40 , 42 . So we might lose a little bit of it, but were going to have a much stronger country when were finished. Reporter Global Markets have been battered since the president first announced plans to hit china with 50 billion in tariffs. If they charge us, we charge them the same thing. Thats the way its got to be. Reporter this week, china fired back, threatening 50 billion in tariffs on american products, everything from soybeans to cars to airplanes. It could cost thousands of american jobs. American farmers could be hit especially hard. As markets tumbled, the president s new top economic adviser set out to calm nerves. Were not running a trade war. If you read this thing youll see, this is just a proposed idea. Reporter that reassured wall street, but just hours later, President Trump turned up the heat yet again, announcing 100 billion in additional tariffs against china. Enter today, the treasury secretary there is the potential of a trade war. And let me just be clear, it is not a trade war. The president wants reciprocal trade. Reporter so, what now . Well, just last month, the president himself said the United States had been treated so badly for so long on trade that, quote, trade wars are good and easy to win. Does the president think that trade wars are easy to win . Is that still his view . I think the president feels like if he is in charge of those negotiations, absolutely. And jon karl joins us from the white house tonight, and jon, the president s top economic adviser calls the tariff just a proposed idea, but youre not hearing that kind of language from the president himself. Reporter well, tom, it is true that tariffs have not gone into effect yet. The process could take a couple of months leaving time to negotiate, but the president sure seems dug in on this, and so do the chinese. As a Chinese Government spokesman said today, we are not afraid to fight a trade war. Tom . Jon karl starting us off tonight. Jon, thank you. Next to the white house, divided over the fate of epa chief, scott pruitt as a cloud of scandal is growing about him. He denied knowing anything about big staff raises and tonight, sources in the epa dispute that. But only one person can ask him to go, the president. And tonight, he is standing by pruitt. Abcs mary bruce is at the epa tonight. Reporter mired in controversy, epa administrator scott pruitt sat down with President Trump today in the oval office. But the white house refuses to say what comes next. No one other than the president has the authority to hire and fire members of his cabinet. Its a decision that hell make. Reporter tonight, new questions about why two of pruitts top aides got hefty raises, even after the white house refused to sign off. In a contentious interview with fox news, pruitt claimed he knew nothing about it. I found out about that yesterday and i changed it. So who did it . And there would be some accountability. A career person or political person . I dont know. I dont know. I dont know the answer. You dont know . You run the agency. You dont know who did this . I found out about this yesterday and i corrected the action. Reporter but now, epa officials tell abc news thats not true. They say pruitt knew about and supported the raises. One aide receiving a nearly 57,000 salary increase. No cabinet secretary in recent memory has been the subject of so many ethical concerns on so many fronts from his penchant for Luxury Travel on the taxpayer dime to spending 43,000 on a secure phone booth for his office, to questions about his relationship with a d. C. Lobbyist and that alleged sweetheart real estate deal that let him pay just 50 a night for this d. C. Apartment. Pruitt says the scrutiny is all part of an effort to sabotage the trump agenda. Any time you do transformational things, there are critics and there are people that come against you. Reporter tonight, sources familiar with the thinking inside the west wing, tell Us White House chief of staff john kelly wants pruitt out. The president is Still Standing by him. And mary bruce joins us from out in front of the epa, and mary, President Trump tweeting today that scott pruitt is doing a great job, but is totally under siege . Reporter tom, pruitt has long been one of the president s favorites. He is carrying out the tough work here that trump wants, rolling back regulations, but sources tonight tell us the president is growing frustrated with all this controversy, tom . Mary bruce with that new reporting tonight. Mary, thank you. Next, lets turn to weather and there is Severe Weather watches tonight, and were pr bracing from storms from coast to coast. Ground crews using snow blowers to clear the fields there, and heavy rain expected at yosemite. Campgrounds close to visitors, and the heavy rain as sub freezing windchills take hold of the country. Rob marciano is in washington, d. C. Where the Cherry Blossoms are under threat of snow. Good evening. Reporter good evening, tom. The same system that could bring snow here in d. C. Tomorrow is bringing it across the south to dallas and northern louisiana. We have a tornado and thunderstorm watches that are posted and they are up until midnight tonight. Watch as this thing makes its way across the cold front, and another three inches of spring snow, and across parts of virginia and more storms across the south. Behind this recordbreaking cold, windchills will be below zero in parts of the country on saturday, and much of the east, including the deep south below freezining mark, and with wind d rain, tom. Rob marciano for us. Rob, thank you. Next, professional fighter Conor Mcgregor now has a court battle on his hands. He was charged in a Brooklyn Court today for a violent attack on a bus load of other fighters. Take a look. Injuring two of them whose battles are canceled because of this. Abcs Adrienne Bankert on what might have set mcgregor off. Reporter tonight, one of ufcs biggest names in court. Facing a judge after a may lie outside the Barclays Center in new york. Police say mcgregor committed assault, tossing this hand cart into a bus full of other fighters, who are watching stunned. The glass shatters. You can see mcgregor try to get in, stopped while attempting to throw a metal railing. Whats wrong with conor . Reporter as another irish fighter throws a chair at the bus, and assaults an employee who tries to stop him. It stems from bad blood between mcgregor, his friends and a russian fighter trying to take the title mcgregor was stripped of prior to the incident. Whoever the argument was with, is not injured. Reporter he has been charged with three could wants of assault and one count of criminal criminal felony mischief. He now awaits consequences from the ufc. Two of the fighters on board that bus suffered cuts due to the broken glass. In fact, three of the matches scheduled here on saturday are canceled because of what went down. Tom . Adrienne bankert for us. Adrienne, thank you. And tonight, facebook announcing new transparency steps to let users know who is behind the political and issue ads they see on facebook and on instagram. Those posts will be clearly labeled and will show who paid for them. Posters of that ads will also have to prove their identity. At the time, facebook confirmed today they secretly deleted messages from the inboxes of people that Mark Zuckerberg sent to them citing corporate security. Thats raising new questions about breach of trust. On tuesday, zuckerberg is slated to testify on capitol hill. And the Treasury Department issuing a new round of sanctions on russian interest for meddling in the 2016 election. The oligarchs, the companies they own and 17 senior russian government officials. All of them close to vladimir putin. The treshty citing malign activity in crimea and syria as well as the election meddling. Next, an abc news exclusive from the russia investigation. New questions tonight about the testimony of eric prince, a major Trump Campaign supporter, about a meeting he had with a russian banker just before the inauguration at an exotic resort in the seychelles. The congressman said it was a coincidence, but there is evidence to suggest it was planned. Heres abcs pierre thomas. Reporter this is erik prince, the founder of the Security Company blackwater. He is also the brother of education secretary, betsy devos. He was also a lee sayson between the russian transition. Here, prince is leaving a closed session with congressional investigators clearly annoyed. Ive already wasted four hours of my life. Reporter but tonight, sources tell abc news the special counsel has obtained evidence that may conflict with princes sworn testimony. At issue, a meeting prince attended at this exotic seychelles resort just two weeks before the inauguration. Also there, a russian banker with ties to the kremlin. Prince has said his meeting with the russian banker was unplanned, a chance encounter while on business trip. I happened to be there, and i met a russian, some fund manager. I cant even remember his name. We didnt exchange cards. Reporter prince remembered the russians name when speaking to those congressional investigators several months later. Prince said he traveled to meet with some potential customers, and they, quote, mentioned a guy i should meet who is also in town to see them, a kiril Kirill Dmitriev from russia, who ran some sort of hedge fund. So i met him in the bar. We talked for 30 minutes over a beer, and that was it. But there is another version of this story. And it involves george nader, a lebaneseamerican businessman who sources say is cooperating with the special counsel. Interviewed four times by muellers grand jury. Those sources say he set up the seychelles meeting between prince and the russian banker specifically to launch conversations between the trump transition and russian government officials. People talk about there was a back channel or all of that . Youre saying no, off the table . Complete hogwash. Reporter prince has said he was not a representative of the trump transition and his spokesman told us he stands by his testimony before congress. But sources familiar with special counsels investigation tell abc news his team has obtained evidence from nader that suggests he met with prince at the pierre hotel in new york city a week before that seychelles meeting. Sources say that evidence documents that within hours of the new york city meeting, nader started sending messages to prince with the bio of the russian banker. Showing he was a powerful putin ally. Just a week later, prince was in the seychelles having a beer with that russian banker. A meeting he said was unplanned. He says he was not representing the trump transition and he says he stands by his testimony before congress. Tom . Pierre, thank you. The fbi and other federal agencies shutting down the classified ad website, ba backpage. Com. Authorities blocking access to this website. It has been under fire for years for allowing adult ads for sex workers, and for allegedly enabling the Sexual Exploitation of minors. Next, the Menendez Brothers reunited in prison. They made national headlines. The two seeing each other for the first time in more than 20 years. Heres abcs whit johnson. Reporter tonight, the Menendez Brothers convicted in the high profile slayings of their own parents reunited behind bars. Their 1996 interview with barbara walters, one of their last times together. Im just a normal kid. Oh, erik, youre a normal kid who killed your parents. Reporter back then, a detective arguing the partners in crime might conspire to escape. Now prison officials allowing the infamous brothers to both live inside this san diego prison. Lyle burst into tears, and erik burst into tears, and they hugged each other for several minutes. Reporter lyle and erik testifying they were molested by their father. He would fonded me. Reporter but prosecutors would argue they were desperate for their parents fortune. Their only communication over the years, letters. Its marvelous they are able to look at each other and love each other. Reporter lyles move to be reunited with his brother in san diego comes after five failed attempts, tom. Thank you. Much more ahead on world news tonight this friday. Misery at sea. Passengers posting pictures of their two weeks at sea complaining their cruise ship was under construction the entire time. Tonight, the cruise line responding. Plus, the driver crashing into a Police Station. Why Authorities Say it was no accident, and what they allegedly found inside that car. And high school teenagers, the anxious moment that could change their lives. Its america strong. Stay with us. The day after chemo might mean a trip back to the doctors office, just for a shot. But why go back there, when you can stay home with Neulasta Onpro . Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. Neulasta helps reduce infection risk by boosting your white blood cell count, which strengthens your immune system. In a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 , a 94 decrease. Applied the day of chemo, Neulasta Onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to neulasta or Neupogen Filgrastim . Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. 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Claiming they smelled the chemicals used to resurface multiple decks, covered their faces to protect themselves from thick dust and then theres the noise. But remember to smile. Youre on the norwegian sun. Reporter some of the 2,000 passengers even creating a facebook group, detailing the ordeal and the aftermath. Like this post, im still coughing. My lips with still cracked and sore and im still getting some nasty stuff out of my sinuses. They could have simply stopped work and accepted the fact they would lose four or five days or six or seven days of construction on that vessel. Reporter and in a statement to abc news, Norwegian Cruise Line apologizes to the passengers and is offering them a free cruise, but some of the passengers say what they really want is a refund. Tom . Gio benitez for us. Gio, thank you. When we come back, the driver crashing into a Police Station. What police have now revealed skpnkts the Police Officer accused for beating a man stopped for jaywalking. 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He settled for 550,000. The deal also includes a series of police reforms. And a fiery collision on a highway in dallas. Take a look at this. The driver of a tractor trailer killed in this trash. An explosion on interstate 30. His rig dangling from a bring. Police say several vehicles were involved in that crash. A hazmat team was called because of a fuel spill. Part of the highway closed for hours. And when we come back. How times have changed. High schoolers about to open the email that could change their lives. Tbs america strong. Stay with us. Stay with us. America strong. Stay with us. I america strong. Stay with us. T america strong. Stay with us. america strong. Stay with us. S america strong. Stay with us. Of your retail business. Art so that. If your customer needs shoes. Hes got wide feet. With edgetoedge intelligence, youve got near real time inventory updates. Hell find the same shoes in your store that he found online. 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In washington state, a friend clicking for him. A celebration, going nuts because he just got into harvard. Across the country, its becoming an annual tradition this time of year. And its not just teens. Colleges getting in on it too. Asking High School Counsellors to surprise their students and record it. Some of these videos even going viral. Millions watched from harvard and stanford. In houston, senior michael dame brown jr. s life is about to. Change. He got into every school he applied to, but his top choice . Stanford. Lets watch. A rite of passage with the world watching. And a big congrats to all those seniors. So much to be proud of. Thank you so much for watching on a friday night. Im tom llamas. I hope to see you right back here tomorrow. For david and all of us here, good night. We are tra tra tra storm on live doppler 7, you can see the rain represented by all that green, still coming down and more is on the way. We want to give you a live look from our mt. Tam and Golden Gate Bridge camera. Its great. We do like the rain, so theres great news there. Rain is pummeling the north bay, roadways are flooded in west marin. In the fire zone, theres real concern of mudslides. Roadways that werent flooded over are really hard to see. People had to use their windshield wipers just to see through the mist there. Drivers need to be careful, theres been dozens of accidents all over the bay area this afternoon. We have team coverage. Lets begin with Spencer Christian with a look at whats expected tonight, spencer . You already mentioned the drenching, the north bay is getting rain in san rafael, his rain gauge measured six inches between last night and this afternoon. Most of what is falling has been light to moderate rain, theres been numerous reports in the north bay as heavy rain and localized flooding, this storm ranks 3 on the storm impact scale, its a strong storm and through tomorrow morning its expected to deliver heavy downpours, flooding a possibility, winds will gust 30 to 40 miles an hour. Forecast animation starting at 5 00 this afternoon, shows an area of surge of moderate to heavy rain will occur just before 8 00 p. M. , and that will continue through the midnight hour, into the Early Morning hours, and that means the evening commute is likely to be a hazardous