t settle for u-verse. xfinity is perfect for people who want more entertainment for their money. happening now, anti-american sentiment. cnn has learned that investigators are looking into the writings of the man who shot and killed five american service men in chattanooga. he opposed the u.s. war on terror and also opposed isis. could drug use and depression have sparked the deadly rampage? and the man convicted of setting a mansion on fire is in court. are there accomplices still at large? death in custody.

an african-american woman who spoke out against police brutality is arrested in a traffic stop and later found dead in her cell. police say it was a suicide, but her family doesn't believe it. will dash dam video shed new light? loose cannon donald trump leading in a brand new poll. and once again, driving debates stirring up controversy by insulting the parties former presidential nominee senator john mccain saying the former prisoner of war is not a hero. has trump gone too far this time? we want to welcome our viewers from around the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." we're following disturbing new details emerging right now about mohammad youssuf abdulazeez the 24-year-old man who opened fire on two u.s. military centers in chattanooga, tennessee, killing four marines and a u.s. sailor.

sources are telling cnn he was bipolar and depress and abusing drugs and a young man is revealing what he thought of isis. we are following the obama administration efforts to sell the nuclear deal with iran to skeptical lawmakers with the defense secretary ash carter in the middle east right now. he's trying to persuade israel and saudi arabia of the deal. and we're watching the latest political firestorm ignited by donald trump who's now the republican presidential front-runner according to a brand new poll. the controversial candidate is refusing to apologize to senator john mccain for saying that the former prisoner of war is not a hero. we're covering all of that and a lot more this hour. the state department spokesman john kirby, there you see him standing by live along with our correspondents and our guests. but let's begin with our national correspondent, joining us from chattanooga. and tell us what you're learning about the gunman, mohammed

abdulazeez. >> well he was struggle with drug abuse and bipolar depression and now writings could lead to a potential motive from a year ago. he was opposed to the u.s. war on terror. and held general anti-anti-american sentiments. this as investigators scour the writings of the man behind the deadly shootings in tennessee. one tells cnn they are consistent with someone having suicidal thoughts. cnn has learned that mohammed abdulazeez suffered from bipolar disorder and he abused drugs and could not hold down a job. there was white powder under his nose at the time of the dui arrest. toe. we are learning about his trip to jordan last year.

his parents told police they sent him there to get away from friends they said were bad influences. >> when those writings occurred is as relevant as the writings themselves. did they occur in proximity to a trip to jordan? and if so that's going to drive some of the investigation overseas to find out who he is in contact with during that time. >> reporter: the abdulazeez family expressed shock saying quote, the person who committed this horrible crime was not the son we knew and loved. in interviews with investigators his family said he was a gun enthusiasts and would go to a shooting range. four guns were recovered, two long guns was found on the scene and another, a long rifle at his home. >> what was his network, were there co-conspirators, people aiding and abetting him in some way, in the purchase of the weapons and the am knew in addition? >> reporter: and investigators are also looking into a text message that abdulazeez sent to a friend before the shooting.

it included a link to the islamic verse. investigators don't think that that message was a foreshadowing to the shooting but they say it was one piece to the complicated puzzle. wolf? >> thanks very much. and this story is developing we are getting more and more information by the hour. i want to bring in our senior investigative correspondent drew griffin. he's in chattanooga. you're learning some fascinating new information about mohammed abdulazeez. >> reporter: yeah but it is only making things more confusing here. i had an in depth conversation with one of his very good friends, a person who regarded mohammed abdulazeez as his spiritual adviser on his recent conversion to islam. james petty told me that his friend was more american than anybody he knew. and as for isis, he did talk about isis. he was opposed to it. >> it was a stupid group and it was completely against islam.

and not to even think about going towards them. and i felt like it wasn't kind of in the sense of i'm with their group, so i don't want you to do like me. it was more like just stay away, this is not where you should be going towards. >> you felt that he truly believed in his heart at that moment that what isis is doing was wrong? >> yes. >> and that any kind of radical islamic terrorism is wrong? >> yes, sir. >> and he discussed that? >> he did. >> reporter: wolf, despite what is said in the writings he saw a completely different picture. as for depression, he saw no signs of depression. he said his friend's biggest problem was pot. abdulazeez had a huge problem with marijuana. it didn't make him angry.

it made him mellow he said, never angry and not angry at the united states. it's a very confusing situation for those who are close to him. they just can't seem to find any answers either. wolf? >> yeah, they'll be looking and looking and investigators are looking as well. drew, thanks very much. meanwhile, the united nations security council today voted unanimously to endorse the iran nuclear deal and begin removing sanctions against iran. the international backing comes as the obama administration is trying to sell skeptics at home and abroad on the deal to contain iran's nuclear program. our global affairs correspondent lisa labette has more. what is the latest? >> reporter: well obama is hailing it as a sign that they're moving forward but the president's critics at home are saying not so fast. today, looking to reassure america's key middle east ally about the iran nuclear deal, the

secretary of defense toured the israel northern border. he said that they fund hezbollah, something that israel will only get worse after the sanctions are lifted. >> they also get cash bonanza to fund their terrorist and aggression against us, against the region. against america and the world. >> reporter: something that secretary carter said america will not let happen. >> make no mistake, this deal limits iran but it places no limits on the united states the department of defense or the u.s.-israeli defense relationship. >> reporter: even as the president sent surrogates to push the deal overseas today the job of selling it at home, especially on capitol hill got harder. after a u.n. vote to lift sanctions against iran including a controversial ban on arms and ballistic missiles passed. even democratic lawmakers are angry the vote happened before congress has had a chance to

discuss the deal. >> i think they should have gone to the united nations after the 60-day review. they don't gain anything by doing it earlier. >> reporter: a concern the president seemed to brush aside today. >> there is broad international consensus around this issue. and my working assumption is that congress will pay attention to that broad-based consensus. >> reporter: tonight, republicans are crying an end run, saying the president should have pushed for the u.n. to delay the vote. the administration says the rest of the countries who made the deal have no obligations to the u.s. congress and didn't want to wait. so it was a compromise the deal will be implemented in 90 days. that is after the 60-day congressional review period. >> see what happens, thanks very much, during the 60-day congressional review period. let's get some more on what's happening. joining us now, from the state department john kirby. thank you for joining us and i want to discuss this nuclear deal, but very quickly on the chattanooga shooter, abdulazeez. he went to jordan last year for several months.

he had also visited kuwait. do you know if he visited any other countries in the middle east? >> no i don't, wolf. actually you know this is under investigation right now. so we wouldn't want to get involved in that as they continue to work through this very troubling case. but no, we don't have any of this travel history. >> because there were rumors he may have gone to yemen, you don't have that, right? >> i don't. >> what about the jorurdain jordanians and the kuwaitis are they cooperating with the u.s.? >> i'll let the fbi speak to that specifically but they're close friends in the region. we certainly look forward to many different ways in which we can cooperate with them. i wouldn't get into a law enforcement official. >> i assume they're very good friends of the united states kuwait and jordan and i assume they're cooperately fully in this investigation. let's talk about the iran nuclear deal. there's a lot of issues i want to go through. the prime minister of israel benjamin netanyahu says the deal gives iran cover to fund their

terror machine, as he says. does he has a point? >> well nobody is turning a blind eye to the destabilizing activities, to the state sponsorship of terrorism that iran continues to pursue. we have ways of dealing with that. we have our own sanctions. we have a strong military presence in the region. we're going to work with our gulf allies through that process to try to boost their capabilities and their capacity to go after terrorism threats in the region. so we're aware of what iran is doing elsewhere. this deal was designed to actually remove one element of the destabilizing nature from this, a huge element and is that their ability to one day use nuclear weapons. >> but the $100 billion in unfrozen assets that i can do with that basically whatever they want. if they want to give money to terrorist organizations they can do so. >> well, certainly we can't rule out that they could use some of that money to further fund terrorist activities. but i would tell you this wolf.

one well a know about it, and two, we'll be able to deal with it. whether it's through diplomacy, certainly through economic sanctions, the united states and none of the sanctions are coming off the books by the way. plus as secretary carter made very clear out there, we have military options available to us, if and when it ever came to that. >> if there are activities that the iranians pursue in the coming months and years for that matter, for example, supporting houthi rebels in yemen or supporting shiite forces in iraq or supporting bashar al assad's regime that the u.s. doesn't like, does this current agreement prevent the u.s. from seeking new sanctions against iran? >> no. it does not. there's no limit about the kind of u.s. unilateral sanctions that we have in place now, which are going to stay in place. or that we could pursue in the future should we feel we need to. >> so if you feel that they're doing something bad, the u.s. can unilaterally go ahead and

impose yet more sanctions against iran can? >> absolutely. >> i wanted to clarify that. because there had been confusion on that front. a bunch of democrats out there, including dianne feinstein of california the jury is still out if they can support the numbers and not override the presidential veto. where does it stand from your perspective? >> well, we certainly look forward to the debate and the discussion on the hill. as you know secretary kerry will be going up to capitol hill this week on a couple of different occasions. wednesday and thursday, to talk and the brief and to discuss this with concerned members of congress. and he looks forward to that discussion. because he believes this deal is the right deal. this deal prevents the overarching worry of iran obtaining nuclear weapons capability and it's a solid deal which allows for unprecedented verification. not just 10, 15, 20 years, but permanent through the protocol that iran agreed to sign up to. it's good for our national securities and the national

security interests of our allies and partners to include israel in the region and the secretary looks forward to having that discussion with members of congress. >> what happens if members of congress rejects the deal and that happens? >> well, the president i think has been very clear that he'll veto it. >> well, what happens if the veto is not allowed to go forward? in other words more than two-thirds of the house, more than two-thirds of the senate vote against the president's deal? >> well, then what happens, wolf, put simply is the fears and worries about iran become a tomorrow problem instead of a problem later on down the road. because if the -- if we don't cooperate, if we pull out of this deal then our partners will have no reason to stay with it and certainly the iranians won't have any reason to stay with it. all of the activities, all the nefarious nuclear activities they'll be free to pursue tomorrow. >> we have a lot more to discuss. i want you to stand by. john kirby, the state department spokesperson. we'll continue our conversation

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we're back with the state department spokesman, john kirby. we are following an isis terror plot. we have video showing the moment of the blast and i want to warn our viewers and warn you, the following images are very disturbing. watch. [ chanting ] [ bomb blast ]

>> this happened at a rally in a turkish town very close to the syrian border. a group had gathered calling to more help to rebuild the syrian city of kobani which had been devastated in the battle to free it from isis. could this attack be a sign that isis is now ready to expand its attacks inside turkey a nato ally? >> we don't know who is responsible for this but i have seen reports that isil is and we're watching that carefully. as you pointed out, certainly their ability to conduct these kinds of attacks, whether they're responsible for this one or not, certainly is very concerning to us. and this is a group that tries and has in some ways metastasized themselves outside iraq and syria. so yes, this is something that we're concerned about and we're working with all of the coalition partners to try to stem it and get ahead of it. i want to mention too off the top, our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and the families and we wish all those injured a speedy recovery. the other thing i would say,

whether it was isil related or not, only reaffirms our strong alliance and partner with turkey and continuing to enthem to battle against terrorism forces. >> there's been some criticism against the government they're not odoing enough to fight isis for example, not allowing the warplanes to take off from the airfields to attack the bases. are you satisfied with what the turks are doing? >> every member contributes what what they can and we're grateful for the contributions that turkey is making. they're dealing with millions of refugees from syria and doing it ably and nobly i might add. they have a significant issue with their border they're trying to get after. so the cooperation with them is good. we're always looking for ways to make it better with all of the members of the coalition. >> do you have any reason getting back to with the iran

nuclear deal, do you have any reason to believe that the iranians might release the four americans being held hostage to help sway the vote in the house and the senate? >> well, we certainly hope that they'll get released. i mean this is something that secretary kerry raises every single opportunity that he meets and met over the course of these negotiations with his counterpart, it's something we raise routinely on the sidelines of those discussions and will continue to raise them. we're hopeful as he said last week that that could come about. but obviously we're looking to iran to make that decision and to do it. >> there are these four including robert levinson, the iranians don't claim they know where he is although he did disappear in iran. you want all four freed and freed immediately. >> we would like the three released being detained and we would like more information -- information about mr. levinson's whereabouts. we do believe that tehran has some information about him and we very much would like it. >> how concerned are you that the nuclear deal could in the

words of the saudi prince bandar the former saudi ambassador here in the united states, wreak havoc in the middle east? >> look, i think this removes a capability of iran to have obtained nuclear weapons and pushing back on an iran without nuclear weapons. i think we can all agree is -- we have a better chance of success. certainly a better option than pushing back against an iran either on the threshold of nuclear capability or actually in possession of it. so again, as i said earlier, this deal which takes away that capability from iran is safer for the region. it makes the region more secure. and it's better for the national security interests of the allies and partners. >> historic day here in washington. today and in havana for that matter. secretary kerry welcoming the cuban foreign minister to the state department and cuba raising the flag after more than 50 years at the cuban embassy i should say, here in washington, d.c.

but senator bob menendez he's a cuban-american. he says the u.s. accepted dictatorial conditions saying that cuban flag should not have been raised in washington when cubans are still not free. your reaction? >> well look human rights remains a priority. nothing will change our focus on that. and in particular in cuba. this is an issue that was raised today in the meeting with the foreign minister and secretary kerry and we'll continue to raise it. the secretary believes that the best way to deal with those kinds of concerns is to engage rather than to be es stragabled from the government in cuba and the cuban people. so what this restoration of diplomatic relations gives us is an opportunity to actually make that case stronger and more effectively by having diplomats on the ground who are able to move around. and speak to authorities there and to talk and to engage with the cuban people. >> one final question john before i let you go. as you know donald trump has questioned if senator john mccain was in fact a war hero, saying -- he's saying i like

people that weren't captured. your boss the secretary of state john kerry, made a strong statement immediately over the weekend in support of john mccain. you yourself you just spent almost 30 years serving in the u.s. navy, retired as an admiral. when you heard what donald trump was saying about john mccain, what went through your mind? >> well, we're trying to stay out of the politic, of the campaign in the state department but i had the same visceral reaction that secretary kerry did. you don't grow up in the navy the way i did, through the cold war and just retired this year without knowing about the proud legacy of the mccain family and senator mccain, his father and grandfather served in times of war. so there's great respect. for senator mccain inside the military and it troubled me as well. >> well said. john kirby, retired u.s. admiral now the spokesman at the state department, thank you for joining us.

>> my pleasure. just ahead, new dna evidence missing ransom money. they're emerging right now as the suspect in the d.c. mansion murders appears in court. will a new independent autopsy shed light on a new mysterious jail cell death? police say it was a suicide and the family says no way. across america, people are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes... ...with non-insulin victoza. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza. he said victoza works differently than pills and comes in a pen. victoza is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once a day, any time. and the needle is thin. victoza is not for weight loss

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dramatic courtroom developments for a man accused of killing a wealthy washington, d.c. family and setting their mansion ablaze. tom foreman was there. and tell us what happened? >> reporter: the most dramatic headline is this a couple of months authorities are still suggesting that other people were involved even though they haven't arrested anyone else. and for the first time today, we heard the defense talk and they suggested the case against this man is not as strong as we were led to believe. a dautionghter of murdered couple stared down the man accused of killing her parents, her 10-year-old brother and housekeeper. daron wint did not look her way, but sat in shackles. target one assistant to the father. police say jordan wallace picked up $40,000 and delivered it to the family home even while the

victims were being held and tortured inside. the defense noted that wallace had a picture of the money inside a red bag to a friend a text that appears to have been posted before the money was in wallace's hands. and when the defense said the red line bag was never recovered the detectives said that is correct. what's more -- police admitted they have no explanation for a backpack found with wallace, containing his checkbook, a passport and the registration for one of savopoulos' sports cars valued at more than $300,000. prosecutors say they now have daron wint's d na not only on pizza inside the house, but also on a vest found inside one of the cars burning after the crime. >> so we have a clear association between wint and this home invasion. this is very strong evidence that he was present and he was involved. he may have touched the vest.

how ever his dna got there it's there. >> reporter: one person said he saw someone driving the car erratically at the time and that man had short hair. the defense said there's no way he would have had that hair cut and the detective responded to the best of my knowledge no. >> this was not the best day for the prosecution. and the defense is clearly building the case that if this man was involved at all, he was a bit player in it. as long as that keeps going on and the weeks keep adding up the question is if there are so many other people involved, why have they not rounded them up? >> good question. thank you. meanwhile, the family of the civil rights advocate who was found dead in a texas jail cell is now calling for an independent autopsy, rejecting the police claims she killed.

sandra bland was arrested and became confrontational. the trooper was told to put out her cigarette and she said why, since she was in her own car. the subsequent was captured on cell phone video. >> i haven't even -- do not care about that. i can't even hear -- he slammed my [ bleep ] to the ground. [ inaudible ]. >> let's dig deeper with criminal defense attorney joey jackson. the former fbi assistant director our cnn law enforcement analyst tom fuentes and don lemon. as you know sandra bland, she was found dead in her jail cell only three days after that video was taken. she was arrested for assaulting a police officer. let's take another look at the video.

>> slam my head to the ground, do you not care about that? i can't even hear. he slammed my [ bleep ] head to the ground. >> don, the county district attorney says a plastic bag was found over her head in the jail. she asphyxiated herself basically. that's the claim. her family and friends say there's no way she would have killed herself. what's your analysis? >> well, it is tough to have an absolute on just what happened. we saw the video. and you don't see a lot of -- you can hear most of it because one of the officers comes over and says, you know, you should leave -- you need to leave and the person filming said i'm on private property. i think it's an investigation needs to happen.

which is happening. there is video inside the jail not inside the jail cell but inside the jail and according to the d.a. the video does not show anyone else going into the cell and the d.a. says if this is indeed -- if she didn't commit suicide, then it means that someone else had to do it and so far the video doesn't show that. so i think we have to wait for the investigation to play out, but the video does not look good nor the circumstances. >> tom, as you know, you can hear her yelling that the officer slammed her head to the ground. would that be excessive force in that particular case? she was stopped for some routine traffic incident she was smoking a cigarette. the cop said get rid of the cigarette, she said, why, i'm in my car and then we saw what happened unfold. >> well that's a tricky one. if the police officer slammed her head in the ground, yes, that's excessive. if she was resisting, we don't see it in the video, but if her head happened to hit the ground that's a difficult determination. but yes, it would be excessive

force. >> joey, the family is having an independent autopsy performed. a lawyer for the family says additional dash cam video not released so far shows what led up to the arrest and according to that lawyer the state trooper who pulled her over asked her to put out that cigarette as we said. what's your sense what's going on over here? >> well there's so much to unpack wolf. initially you want to look at the predicate for the stop. why was the stop, okay it's a traffic infraction. what they used to teach u.s. a prosecutor -- as a former prosecutor is what's the nature of that? we understand here it was failing to signal. there are so many other things to which police are concerned, like reckless driving. like speeding like so many other things which caused motorists to be dangerous to others. so you'll look and say was that a pretext, just giving the officer an excuse to stop, we don't know that. then when you approach the person in the car, you want to talk about were they cooperative, license and registration were given.

he comes back to the car and he asks her to put out the cigarette and it then went bad. what would have given the officer the basis to pull her out of the car, well, i shouldn't have to put out my cigarette, we see the video. what we don't see is how he pulled her out of the car. what mechanisms or other things that he used to get her there. and then of course what's the basis for the arrest, what's the probable cause for the arrest and then you get back of course to the jail and how is it that she ends up dead? did they make checks on her like they should have half an hour checks, hour long checks, et cetera, et cetera. so many things to unpack. apparently they didn't do that. >> they did not. >> and don will have more coming up 10:00 p.m. on cnn tonight. thanks very much. just ahead, a brand-new poll puts donald trump out front in the gop race for the white house. can he stay there amid the latest controversy? t. this summer, challenge your preconceptions and experience a cadillac for yourself. ♪

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i'm going to cabo! [ music plays ] don't settle for u-verse. xfinity is perfect for people who want more entertainment for their money. donald trump now the clear front runner in the republican race for the white house, according to a brand new abc news/"washington post" poll. it shows him at 24%, far ahead of scott walker and jeb bush. but his latest controversial remarks talking about donald trump's remarks could potentially take a toll. he's facing sharp criticism for an insult to senator john mccain whose son -- trump's remarks

reprehensible. briana keeler is working the story for us. the latest numbers though for donald trump are pretty impressive. >> that's right. they are. and this is what we know. he leads in this "washington post"/abc news poll. it's a national poll looking at republicans. but here's the thing that's raising eyebrows, keep this in mind. this is a poll that was conducted before and after trump made the comments and there was a sharp dip on the one night that voters were questioned following his remarks. donald trump touching off a political firestorm by insulting former presidential nominee, john mccain. >> i supported him, he lost, he let us down. he lost. i never liked him much after that because i don't like losers. let me -- he's not a war hero. >> he's a war hero. >> he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people who weren't captured. i hate to tell you. he was a war hero because he was captured. okay?

you could have -- i believe -- perhaps he's a war hero but he said bad things about a lot of bad people. >> reporter: almost immediately, it drew scrutiny. >> i respect the people who don't get captured and those who get captured. >> reporter: mccain was shot down held prisoner and beaten for more than five years in hanoi. even refusing early release. still, trump has not backed down claiming in a "usa today" op-ed his comments were misconstrued by the media. trying on the "today" show to turn his criticism to issues like the v.a. scandal. >> i'm not a fan of john mccain. he's done a terrible job for the vets. >> reporter: john mccain took the high road. does donald trump owe you an apology? >> i don't think so. but i think he owes an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the

prison experience in serving their country. >> reporter: but trump's republican opponents jumped at the chance to denounce his comments. jeb bush -- >> this is a legitimate hero that has served his country in lots of ways and mr. trump knows that. he should just apologize. i think that will move it on to the next thing. next week there will be another one. >> reporter: marco rubio -- >> it's not just absurd but it's ridiculous. i think it's a disqualifier as commander in chief. >> reporter: lindsey graham who is joined by mccain at an event in new york this afternoon. >> to anybody who suggests that john and his fellow p.o.w.s are somehow lacking in the title of being called american hero you shouldn't be your commander in chief because you don't know our military. >> reporter: ted cruz who stands to benefit if trump gets out of the race would not take a position. >> i recognize that folks in the

press love to see republican on republican violence and so you want me to say something bad about donald trump or bad about john mccain or bad about anyone else. i'm not going to do it. >> reporter: cruz like trump courts the more conservative side of the gop. he recently met with trump, but establishment republicans are not fan of trump. they're hoping this is the beginning of the end for him. >> he's doing so well in the public opinion polls. stand by. i want to bring in gloria borges and ron bronstein, editorial director of the national journal. you wrote an op-ed on cnn.com. candidates are figuring out what works for them including trump. that's oa short term issue. the party primaries are about the candidates yes, but the republican party itself is also a brand. if the brand gets tarnished it's bad for business. just ask donald trump. some are suggesting this is the beginning of the end of trump's

race for the republican presidential nomination. you say -- >> or it could be the end of the beginning. you know, who knows, wolf. as brianna was talking about, we don't have conclusive polling with large enough samples at this point. there's no denying that donald trump taps into the most conservative, older voters in the republican party who like his brand of truth telling, his brashness. they like what he said about immigration. i don't know what they think about what he said about john mccain. but it's clear that trump has a bunch of staying power here so i wouldn't -- you know, i wouldn't count him out yet. i think the republican establishment would like to see trump gone. but i don't think you can say that's going to happen any time in the near future. >> what's your analysis, ron? >> i think the real key here is when you look at this polling, donald trump has in this national poll he has broader

ideological support than in state polls but the one thing that's consistent is that he's overwhelmingly stronger noncollege than college. he is a blue collar alienation candidate. he's getting about a third of noncollege republicans in this poll. only 8% of those with a college degree. which means that ultimately, he is speaking to the portions of the party that are most alienated not only from the gop establishment, but from many of the cultural and demographic changes going on in america and that is a real challenge for the party. it is a biggest challenge i think for the candidates other than jeb bush scott walker rick santorum and mike huckabee who are looking for the same voters but ultimately that part of the party has been very energized and managing that as the gop goes forward as gloria is saying in terms of the brand is going to be a real challenge. >> brianna, you mentioned it in your report this "washington post"/abc news poll it's pretty amazing when you think about it. there are the numbers, trump at 24%. scott walker, the wisconsin governor, 13%. jeb bush, 12%. everybody else in

single digits. it's a significant poll. >> when you look at polls that look at iowa he's doing very well there. he is second. the issue i think with this poll and what we want to see more of is other polls. there was a small sample size. but it's statistically significant when you look at the final day of polling that donald trump took a sharp dip. so you want to see other polls to see if that backs up. because voters take time to hear what happens happened to understand it to make a call. it's only monday. their opinions may change in the coming days. >> he has been a candidate for more than a month. he had other controversial comments, including about mexican immigrants. he has really gone up in the polls. you can't ignore 24%.

>> right. you can't. first of all, trump is famous. he started out with a higher name but he has tapped into something that we can't dismiss. if we were able to dismiss it he would plummet like a rock. what we are seeing is really not the case. i don't think you can dismiss this as just sort of, okay, it's donald trump, he's here for five minutes and then he's gone. he has been here for more than five minutes. >> this is a problem the republican party has. >> this poll though -- this poll could be showing us something though. i think it just needs to be tested to see -- that's what you want to see if there are more polls that support what we're seeing in this final day of this "washington post" pole. >> the key to understanding is the -- if you think about the last several republican races, 2008 john mccain, mike huckabee was the blue color tea party

evangelical candidate. 2012 mitt romney is the upscale candidate. he beats rick santorum is the blue collar more conservative candidate. this is the divide that's showing up. donald trump in the poll is winning one-third of republicans without a college degree. 8% with a degree which is jeb bush's natural audience. the question is we saw in 2012 a rotateing succession of favorites for the party from sarah palin before settling on rick sar rick santorum. whether he can ultimately prove and this vote moves on to a more electable candidate like scott walker. >> stand by. we have more to assess. more with our panel when we come back.

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[ music plays ] don't settle for u-verse. xfinity is perfect for people who want more entertainment for their money. we're back with our political panel. ron, i want to play a clip for you. an exchange that dana bash had with scott walker on gays in america. >> do you think that being gay is a choice? >> i mean i think that's -- that's not even an issue for me to be involved in. the bottom line is, i'm going to stand up and work hard for every american regardless of who they are, no matter where they come from no matter what their background. i'm going to fight for people. no matter whether they vote for me. >> what do you think about this

issue, this whole issue that is now coming up especially for some of those conservative republicans? >> i think scott -- what you just saw is an indication i think of why scott walker is the candidate with the most at risk from donald trump's rise. when scott walker started this campaign his potential strength was that he could bridge the party divide. he was acceptable to social conservatives, the more blue collar but because he was an economic conservative he could reach into the white collar part of the party. talking about legal immigration, signing a ban on abortion and backing an amendment to overturn gay marriage that are designed to strengthen his appeal to the blue collar side the evangelical side of the party but limited upscale. the problem is he has donald trump landing with a thud in those -- in the same pool of voters that he is seeking. he made choices that limits his appeal and he has this competitor down scale.

he is the one who gets the most squeezed if donald trump can maintain a share of the vote moving forward, which we will see. it matters trump is vulnerable to attack based on the right. >> gloria as you know public attituded edds s eds are shifting. >> he is playing for the primaries and for iowa. i also think his answer to dana shows his inexperience as a candidate. he said i don't have to have an opinion on every single question out there. when you are running for president, you do. >> all these questions come up. thanks very much. finally, i want to welcome the newest member of our situation room family, lea gellis who was born saturday morning weighing in at just under six points. her father is our senior broadcast producer. we send him, his wife lia's big brother max our warmest congratulations. look how sweet and beautiful lia

gelles is. congratulations to the family. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." join us every day if you can't watch us live, dvr the show. erin burnett "out front" starts right now. tonight, number one, donald trump now at the top of a major new national poll even after saying john mccain is no war hero. tonight, presidential candidate and john mccain's best friend lindsey graham tells me don't trump is a jackass. in tonight, details about the new york prison sweat. how sweat worked on his escape and not a single person seemed to notice. shark attack again. a pro surfer battles a shark, all of it caught on live tv. let's go "out front."