>> reporter: good morning to you, brianna. the campaign really pushing back hard on this. trump saying no one in that room thought he was trying to incite violence in any way. once again, what donald trump says and what he says he means stirring up quite a bit of controversy. donald trump on the defensive again. >> there can be no other interpretation. give me a break. >> reporter: blaming media bias for the fire storm over this quip at his campaign rally. >> hillary wants to essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, and if she gets to pick -- [ booing ] if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although, the second amendment people, maybe there is, i don't know. >> reporter: trump doing damage control, claiming he was calling on the political powers of second-amendment voters to make their voices heard, not

advocating violence toward his rival. >> this is a political movement. this is a strong, powerful movement, the second amendment. hillary wants to take your guns away. she wants to leave you unprotected in your home. >> clinton's campaign quickly denouncing trump, saying he is dangerous and a presidential candidate should not suggest violence in anyway. other democrats echoing the same sharp rebuke. senator chris murphy calling it an assassination threat. elizabeth warren slamming him as a pathetic coward who can't handle losing to a girl. and gabby giffords says americans must draw a bright red line between political speech and suggestions of violence. republicans blasting trump as well. >> that's actually a very arresting comment. if someone else had said that outside the hall, he'd be in the back of a police wagon now with the secret service questioning him. >> reporter: trump blaming the desperate media for trying to distract from what he calls

clinton's anti-second amendment stance, even though clinton has never called for abolishing gun rights. the nra and running mate mike pence coming to trump's defense. >> donald trump is urging people around this country to act in a manner consistent with their convictions in the course of this election. people who cher i shall the second amendment have a very clear choice in this election. >> reporter: trump has taken heat for violent rhetoric on the stump before. >> i'd like to pump him in the face. knock the crap out of him. >> reporter: speaker of the house paul ryan once again issuing a tepid defense of trump. >> it sounds like just a joke gone bad. i hope he clears it up very quickly. you should never joke about something like that. >> reporter: well, former new york city mayor rudy giuliani coming to trump's defense, basically saying that this was clearly a case of media bias, nothing more. certainly got the attention of the secret service. shortly after trump's comments, the secret service sending out this tweet, saying the secret service is aware of the comments

made this afternoon. that was retweeted some 27,000 times. also this morning, new yorkers waking up to this headline coming from the new york daily news, which reads "this isn't a joke anymore." "the daily news" calling for trump to abandon his campaign, calling for the gop to abandon trump. should be noted, though, brianna and chris, as both of you know, "the daily news" never a fan of donald trump. >> all right. appreciate it, jason. let's get after this right now. cnn political commentator and political anchor of time warner cable news joins us, errol lewis. cnn political analyst and washington bureau chief for the daily beast, jackie kucinich, and "washington post" reporter philip rucker. we've all had time to digest this. isn't the simple proposition that you can't be sure what donald trump meant when he said it, and that is the problem, his

intentions aside. >> that link to the fact he never fully explains or apologizes for the outrageous comments. if you can't be sure, and he won't explain and won't apologize and he's got surrogates, by the way, who give you four or five, a menu of different options. some say it's a joke. some say it's misinterpreted. some say it's media bias. they kind of leave it out there and let everybody figure it out for themselves. what that does, among other things, is give everybody permission to put their own interpretation on it. so "the daily news" takes it one way, someone else takes it another way, his followers say it's media bias, and we end up with confusion instead of a focused message. >> should we play it again? >> i think we should. >> here's what he said. we'll discuss your interpretation. >> hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, and if she gets to pick -- [ booing ] if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.

although, the second amendment people, maybe there is, i don't know. >> jackie, what do you think. i heard michael hayden say something interesting. you're not just responsible for what you say, you're responsible for what people hear. it seems some politicians abide by that. there seems to be a different standard here, and we're seeing that over and over. >> and that's the problem with what he's said. this isn't a country without violence against politicians over the years. so if you're in a position like donald trump, you have an extra responsibility to watch what you say. i think that's why you see some republicans not comfortable with donald trump. in addition, you see these national security republicans coming out yesterday talking about donald trump is dangerous. what he said last night, you

can't say things like that. it's not political correctness at this point. it's basic safety and responsibility. you have to take these things seriously because of the position he's running for and frankly the position he's currently in. >> phillip, what did you make of our friend at "the new york times" creating an analogy between what donald trump was doing on the stump. the point being, words can become very dangerous. >> it is dangerous. i mean, donald trump is not out here entertaining a crowd. he's out here as a future president, as a possible commander in chief for this country. he has millions of followers who will do whatever he says and listen to whatever he says and believe in him. there's almost a faith out there at these trump rallies. for him to make a comment like this, whether he intended it to come across a certain way or not, really doesn't matter.

the fact is he made these comments and millions of followers are listening. that creates a really dangerous environment in this country, in this campaign. >> how is this worse than some of the other things he said, errol? he said, you know, i could shoot people on fifth avenue, is that what he said, and i wouldn't lose supporters. >> that's right. my first reaction when i heard it and i saw the fire storm begin, i was thinking, this is like the fourth or fifth worst thing i've heard him say. i thought it was much worse when people were being beaten at his rallies and then when approached about it in the calm light of day, a day later, he said maybe the guy should have been roughed up. i thought that was awful. it continues to be awful that at virtually every rally his followers chant "lock her up." we should keep in mind as well that the underlying discussion that he was involved in when this all started was based on a falsehood. hillary clinton has never said she wants to abolish the second amendment. you don't abolish constitutional amendments anyway. >> if you know that's something he's been saying for a long

time, that she's against -- not just against second amendment rights, but he's been alleging she wants to abolish the second amendment. >> abolish a constitutional right, which cannot be done. >> it gives more context to what he was saying. i think if someone isn't listening to his speechi ines a the time, you can hear his remarks differently. >> but it becomes this endless process of trying to fact check, interrupt, make clear to people, and then of course he himself won't do it. that's the fundamental irresponsibility that really people should be concerned about. hours after the fact, he'll tweet something out as opposed to looking into a camera and saying, look, this is important, people are misinterpreting me, the media is unfair to me. >> that's the test errol is laying out that's a real proposition for voters with donald trump, jackie, which is does he get it. does he get what leadership is about. he is very good at branding and at blaming and at doing different things that are politically helpful in a

campaign. i think that's a big reason we see him where he is as the republican nominee. but he doesn't get that saying abolishing the second amendment is impossible. he doesn't get that knowing your opponent's record matters. this all spawns from what hillary clinton was talking about with the heller decision, about d.c. and having handguns, and it wound up cementing the individual right to weapons here, which was a long evolution here in jurisprudence. no one wants to hear anything about that. they just want the conclusion. when you mix a faulty premise, which is what he's doing characterizing clinton's position, and incendiary talk, you have political dynamite. either he doesn't care or he's not aware. isn't that the proposition for voters? >> yeah, i think it's -- i don't know. i'm not going to crawl inside donald trump's head here. >> you must. get in there and tell us what's going on so we can move on from this and get back to policy. >> you know, it is hard to say

that he's not aware. donald trump's a smart man. it does seem like he's boiling it down to the most basic explanation, instead of saying, oh -- it's not fodder at a rally and it's not a very good applause line, or boo line, as it were, to say, oh, she might put restrictions on the second amendment. it has more effect if you say she's going to abolish second amendment. whether or not it's true, of course it's not true. errol is right. you can't do that. again, i just don't think donald trump cares. you know who does care, someone like mike pence, which is why he's constantly coming up behind donald trump and saying, oh, but what he meant was, no matter what the topic is. >> but there's a test for him too. mike pence is a guy who has some cachet within his party as being an integrity guy. people can always quibble with politicians' positions, but how many times can mike pence explain -- >> it's becoming routine. >> -- maybe it's a false

defense. maybe trump doesn't care if you take it as, you know, oh, do something terrible or not. for pence to defend him, that means he thinks he knows what trump means with all these things. how could he know if nobody else does? >> all right. and we're going to have more with our panel. stick around. we have so much to talk about. errol, phil, jackie, thank you. we want to turn now to the olympic games. what a big night, right. this was all about the gold for the red, white, and blue. michael phelps makes history again. katie ledecky clinching her second victory. the u.s. women's gymnastics team crushing their competition. it wasn't even close. cnn sports anchor coy wire has this all covered live in rio. what an amazing day and evening, coy. >> reporter: we can't have enough adjectives to describe. you said it. crushing, amazing performance by the u.s. women's gymnastics team, earning that gold. let's take a look, guys, how the medals are stacking up. we'll always keep you tuned up here on "new day."

usa leading the way, 26 in total. china in second with 17. japan is in third with 14. russia has 12. they're right there. but we have to talk about america's sweethearts, led by simone biles, winning by a jaw-dropping margin, proving without a doubt to be the best gymnastics team in the world. taking their place in olympic history, the u.s. women's gymnastics team securing team gold. simone biles catapulting her team to victory. she's now arguably the best female gymnast in u.s. history. team captain aly raisman captivating the audience with a flawless floor performance. young laurie hernandez dazzling on the beam. madison and gabby boasting two of the highest scores of the night on the uneven bars. >> we are the final five! >> reporter: these incredible ladies revealing their team name to the world. it'll be the last time a five-member gymnastics team will

ever perform at the olympics. michael phelps adding two more golds to his collection. he now has a whopping 21 in his olympic career. the world's most decorated olympian clinching two victories tuesday night, first in the men's 200-meter butterfly, winning it for a third time in his career, come fantly reclaiming the number one spot after losing to rival south african swimmer chad le clos in 2012. a short time later with his second gold of the night, the u.s. men's team cruising to their fourth consecutive gold medal in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay. it was also another big night for 19-year-old superstar katie ledecky, triumphant in the women's 200-meter freestyle, landing her a second gold medal here in rio. ledecky has never lost an individual final at a major international competition. all right, guys. 20 gold medals up for grabs here

in rio on day five. so what are we going to watch today? you have the men's gymnastics individual all-around competition. plus, we got to keep our eyes on the pool. the women's 4x200 meter relay. could we see ledecky grab another medal? we shall see. brianna, the 100-meter freestyle for the men also featuring defending champ nathan adrian. that'll also be one to see. >> it's going to be another amazing day. the gymnastics, just phenomenal. even knowing that it was sort of a foregone conclusion, it was still fantastic to watch. >> i love seeing america do well when it comes to swimming and gymnastics. it's all about the grind. it's about the grind. it's not like basketball where you can say, well, we just have the best athletes. it's the grind. you want to put in the work. you want to put in the time. that's what the pool and that gymnastics is about. boy, did they look great. >> sure is. we'll have more from coy wire coming up. we're also going to talk with the most decorated olympic gymnast in u.s. history. we're talking about shannon

miller. she's going to give us the skinny on the final five's big night. all right. we're talking about hard work in the olympics, and we're going to get to that as well in this election. donald trump and hillary clinton are grinding it out in the battleground states. you know them. florida, ohio, pennsylvania, iowa. big prizes in the race for the presidency. you've got to put in your time. you've got to be on message. who is on top in those states, next. eans. where we explore. protecting biodiversity. everywhere we work. defeating malaria. improving energy efficiency. developing more clean burning natural gas. my job? my job at exxonmobil? turning algae into biofuels. reducing energy poverty in the developing world. making cars go further with less. fueling the global economy. and you thought we just made the gas. ♪ energy lives here.

ssoon, she'll be binge-studying. now she writes mostly in emoji. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. today, the only spanish words he knows are burrito and enchilada. soon, he'll take notes en espanol. get back to great with the right gear. from the place with the experts. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. (vo) nutritional needs...og's all in one. purina one. healthy energy, all in one. strong muscles, all in one. highly digestible, and a taste he loves, all in one.

purina one smartblend is expertly blended... with 100% nutrition, 0% fillers, always real meat #1. lifelong smart nutrition. it's all in one. purina one. igoing to clean betteran electthan a manual. was he said sure...but don't get just any one. get one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque and rotates to sweep it away. and oral-b delivers a clinically proven superior clean versus sonicare diamondclean. my mouth feels super clean! oral-b. know you're getting a superior clean. i'm never going back to a manual brush.

this summer, t-mobile's throwing a galaxy free for all. get a free samsung galaxy for everyone in the family. that's right, free and get 4 lines for just 30 bucks a line. don't miss the galaxy free for all. two sets of new battleground state polls show hillary clinton building on her lead over donald trump, except for the biggest prize, florida. clinton locked in a statistical tie with trump in the sunshine state 46-45 in this quinnipiac university poll. and in ohio, quinnipiac has clinton with a four-point lead over trump.

the nbc/"wall street journal" poll has clinton ahead by five points. in pennsylvania, a very different story. clinton with a commanding lead, ten points in one poll, 11 points in the other poll. that is a whole lot of numbers. so what does it all mean for the clinton and the trump campaigns? joining us now, we have ron brownstein, senior editor at "the atlantic." ron, you look at all of those polls, all of those numbers, what does that tell us about where the state of this race is right now? >> well, the key state of the ones you mentioned is pennsylvania. pennsylvania is part of what i call in 2009 the blue wall, those 18 states, democrats have one, in at least the past six consecutive elections, it's probably the loosest brick in the blue wall. if donald trump can't contest pennsylvania seriously, that gives hillary clinton probably 242 lelectoral college votes pretty safely in the bank. she's doing well in diverse

states like colorado. you have those two and new mexico, which is not part of the blue wall but not really contested anymore, you're there. you're right at 269 at that point. any other single state would give you an electoral college majority. donald trump needs to win ohio, pennsylvania, and probably florida to have a chance at winning this. the polls show him, as you saw, behind in ohio and significantly behind in pennsylvania. >> ron, as you like to say, when you get into these tight battleground state, that's when election moments matter. arguably, we had one yesterday. donald trump on the stump talking about the second amendment. he is going after clinton for wanting to abolish the second amendment, which is of course impossible. it's a constitutional amendment. but also clinton would argue a gross misstatement of a position on the heller case and what restriction should be on the second amendment. then he says, well, maybe second amendment people, maybe you can do something about it. he says the media is going after him wrongly and it's bias.

other people say it was a suggestion of assassination. what did you hear and what does it mean? >> i didn't hear it to be quite as threatening as others did. i understand there have been so many inflammatory comments from donald trump, especially with a kind of escape hatch of plausible deniability about what he really meant, that it is understandable that people would taking it that way. and i really think beyond the question of violence, there are really two key points about this. the first one is this goes to exactly the kind of criticism of trump that you heard from former cia director michael hayden and the 49 other republican national security officials who said on monday in this extraordinary letter that they would not support him, which is the idea they feel that he is simply not disciplined enough, that he's too reckless to execute the job of president, particularly in national security. i think this goes to that core concern about his temperament among many of those white-collar suburban voters who, by the way, are the reason he's trailing so

badly in pennsylvania. his big deficit among college whites, especially compared to other republicans. the second point is leaving aside this issue of whether he was inciting violence or not, those remarks about the second amendment, that kind of absolutism on gun control, really reflects a kind of doubling down on a strategy of mobilizing nonurban, noncollege, culturally conservative voters at a time when he is really struggling in these big populous suburbs. mitt romney won three-quarters of the counties in america and lost by 5 million votes. how did he do that? he lost 86 of 100 largest counties. donald trump is not on a path to improve on that. if anything, you're likely to see that widen even further with him doing better outside of urban areas but facing potentially even bigger deficits, insurmountable deficits in some states in the metropolitan areas. >> both candidates have been characterizing themselves. bill clinton certainly characterized his wife as a change maker. part of this is because you look

at this polling about whether you think the country is on the right path. i know you think that the picture there -- because when we look at, for instance, this poll about how are things going, 46% say well. 54% say badly. but that's not the whole picture. you're looking at the president's approval rating to tell us even more. >> i think the president's approval rating is a better predictor of the vote. the problem with jumping too far on the right track, wrong track question is lots of people say the country is on the wrong track for lots of different reasons. in the abc/"washington post" poll that came out sunday, almost half of democrats and half of liberals say the country is on the wrong track. the fact that obama's approval rating is now at 50% or above in most polls is probably the more relevant number historically. if you look again at that abc/"washington post" poll on sunday, 89% of the people who

approved of obama said they were going to vote for hillary clinton. 85% of the disaprovers said they would vote for donald trump. it is almost certain you'll have an over 80% correlation on election day. if i had to follow one number on an attitude toward the country and how it affects 2016, it would be that approval of the president. that has been rising, i should note, particularly among these college educated, white voters who right now loom as the biggest obstacle to donald trump and the white house because he's significantly underperforming other republicans among them, even as these latest battleground states show him regaining i h ining his strengt. he's back to 60% among blue-collar whites in basically all thee of those states. that's coming back together for him. the problem is the suburbs of philadelphia, the suburbs of columbus, the i-4 corridor in florida, the suburbs of denver, northern virginia, places like that where he's running well behind previous republicans. that is a growing segment of the electorate, while the blue collar side is somewhat steadily

declining. . >> historic shift we're seeing there. ron, thank you so much. really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> that's why we call him the professor. >> the prof. >> so a big topic, a big story line in this country has been policing in baltimore. now, the protests are largely over, but that doesn't mean the story is. a scathing justice department report just came out. it accuses the city's officers of excessive force. now, the question becomes, what can be done about it? we have a closer look ahead on "new day." what i love about the tempur-breeze bed is it's cool. so you're not too hot, too cold, you're just perfect. sleep cooler, wake more refreshed, discover the new tempur breeze. learn how you can change your sleep by requesting a free sample of tempur material. call or click today. and i'm michael howard.

we left on our honeymoon in january 2012. it actually evolved into a business. from our blog to video editing... our technology has to hang tough with us. when you're going to a place without electricity, you need a long battery life. the touch, combined with the screen resolution... a mac doesn't have that. we wanted to help more people get out there and see the world. once you take that leap, that's where the magic happens. ...one of many pieces in my i havlife.hma... so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid.

breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for 12 months free at mybreo.com. by finding a policy to fit your budget. [ coughs ] sorry, tickle in my throat! water would be nice, but that would go right through me. ghost problems.

let's take you to ferguson, missouri. a scary moment for protesters gathered there in ferguson. they were there to mark two years since the police shooting death of michael brown. a man stepped into the middle of the street and was hit by a car. we're not going to show it because it was graphic, obviously. but it was believed to be an accident. the driver who hit him is cooperating. now, witnesses heard shots fired shortly after the crash. it is unknown if the incidents are connected. brown's death set off a series of violent protests in ferguson, as you remember. multiple investigations ended with officials saying that the

officer's actions in that case were justified. >> in just a few hours, the justice department will release a blistering indictment of the baltimore police department. they will cite racial bias by officers, including unlawful stops and excessive force. cnn's jean casarez is live in baltimore. what are we expecting from this report, jean? >> reporter: it's 163 pages. it's voluminous. but the report states there is reasonable cause that the baltimore police department exhibited conduct and exhibits conduct that is unconstitutional and violates federal law toward the community of baltimore, especially toward the african-american community. now, i really think there are probably four headings of this very large report, and they are as follow. unconstitutional stops, searches, and arrests, discriminates against african-americans, excessive use of force, and retaliating against people exercising their first amendment rights.

now, the report talks about that the real cause of this is a lack of policing of the police, that they are not police, that there is not accessibility to training or understanding of the proper procedures, but there's also an aura of personality responsibility saying in regard to discriminating against african-americans, they do not do things the way they do to the white community. they cite specific examples. here's one. an african-american man in his mid-50s, he was stopped as a pedestrian more than 30 times, but he actually was never arrested or cited, and it was unconstitutional behavior toward him. so today at 10:30, this is where, at the baltimore city hall, the department of justice will announce their findings in a live press conference. chris? >> all right, jean. thank you very much. we'll stay on that. appreciate the reporting. up next, we're going to take a closer look at one of the key battleground states, virginia. why? well, it's the home of hillary clinton's running mate tim

kaine. question is, this is a red state in all likelihood. will tim kaine be able to turn it blue? we're going to look at that battle next. well she loves to say, "well, fantastic!" a lot. i do say that, you see... i study psychobiology. i'm a fine arts major. nobody really believes that i take notes this way, but they actually make sense to me. i try to balance my studying with the typical college experience. this windows pc is a life saver! being able to pull up different articles to different parts of the screen is so convenient.

i used to be a mac user but this is way better.

[ hip♪ olympics 2016, let ] me get you on my level. ♪ ♪ so you never miss a moment, ♪ ♪ miss a minute, miss a medal. ♪ why settle when you can have it all? ♪ ♪ soccer to wrestling. track and field to basketball. ♪ ♪ fencing to cycling. diving to balance beam. ♪ ♪ all you have to say is, ♪ "show me," and boom it's on the screen. ♪ ♪ from the bottom of the mat, ♪ ♪ to the couch where you at? ♪ ♪ "show me the latest medal count?" ♪ ♪ xfinity's where it's at. ♪ welcome to it all. comcast nbcuniversal is proud to bring you coverage of the rio olympic games.

all right. this election is going to be about battleground states probably more than any other in recent history. we're going a series on it to show you what may matter most in november. republican donald trump is going to campaign in virginia today. why? well, it's the home state of the democratic vp nominee tim kaine. it is a state that is often red by could go blue. president obama turned that state blue for the first time since '64. he repeated it in 2012. hillary clinton needs to do that now to win. cnn's athena jones is live in alexandria, virginia, with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, chris. that's right. hillary clinton wants to keep virginia blue. two polls in early july had her lead in this state in the high single digits, but there hasn't been much reliable polling since the party convention. so we'll have to wait and see new numbers to see where the

race stands. what we do know is both campaigns are fighting hard for this battleground state's 13 electoral votes. the battle for virginia is being waged by volunteers like these. >> are you planning to support hillary come november? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: working to identify and recruit supporters to help turn out the vote in this swing state. >> thank you, northern virginia! >> reporter: and with three months to go until election day, neither side is taking anything for granted. >> virginia is absolutely critical. the road to the white house running through the commonwealth, and we're committed to making that happen for our republican nominee. >> it's a very competitive state, and we're going to do everything we can to win this one for clinton/kaine. >> reporter: the clinton team has had staff here since april and has 28 field offices with more opening this month. much of their focus will be on turning out voters in northern virginia counties close to d.c., an area with a large college

educated population that has grown more diverse in recent years. loud >> there's a lot of swing voters there, a lot of people who can be persuaded. >> reporter: once reliably republic, loudon county vote the twice for president obama in 2008 and 2012. >> how's it going, leesburg? >> reporter: helping him stop a decades long republican streak dating back to 1968. now it's a top target for both clinton and trump. >> we have to get everybody out. >> reporter: the real estate mogul has already won over some loudon county voters. >> he basically says things like it is. i feel more that you can trust him more than hillary. >> it's mainly a never hillary vote. >> really? >> yes. because i think she has way too much baggage to be president of the united states. >> reporter: but clinton

supporters here are just as committed. >> i think competency is important. and she clearly has a lot of experience and seems to know what she's doing. >> she's the best candidate for the job. i've been a supporter of hers for a long time. in this particular case, i think that she is certainly the better choice. >> reporter: and the clinton campaign hopes tapping former governor and current virginia senator tim kaine as her number two will help her in the state. >> do you want a trash talker president or our bridge builder president? >> reporter: the national rifle association has spent just over $260,000 on behalf of trump. the trump campaign hasn't spent any money on the air waves, but that doesn't mean republicans aren't fighting hard to win here. >> we're working right now with our volunteers to identify as many republicans as we can and then as we move forward in the campaign, that will become persuasion, motivation to get

out the vote. >> reporter: trump's campaign is leaning heavily on the republican national committee for its get out the vote efforts. the rnc has been on the ground here since the beginning of 2015. >> my name is jacob. i'm with the trump campaign. >> reporter: they now have some 40 paid staffers working with hundreds of volunteers to woo voters, particularly in southwest virginia, the shenandoah valley, and south side virginia look the north carolina border. and they're not conceding loudon county, where recent college graduate cameron is hoping the debates will help him make up his mind. >> i'll be watching them to see how the candidates distinguish themselves from each other. >> reporter: now, given recent history, hillary clinton may have the edge here, but rnc teams are taking a page from the obama campaign playbook. they've divided the state into more than a hundred neighborhood areas that they're organizing from the ground up. that means that this year the person knocking on the doors of potential gop voters is more

likely to be a friend or a neighbor rather than a stranger dispatched from some distant gop headquarters. it's more persuasive and something the rnc folks say the obama teams did well here. brianna? >> we'll see if that works. athena jones in alexandria, virginia, thank you so much for that report. they are america's new golden girls. young, fierce, and crushing it at the rio olympics. is this the best u.s. gymnastics squad ever? we have shannon miller, the most decorated american gymnast ever, joining us next. (wolves howling) when heartburn comes creeping up on you. fight back with relief so smooth and fast. tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. tum-tum-tum-tum-tums smoothies, only from tums.

see me. see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance. do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur... ...tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms... ...such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to.

if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. see me. see me. see me. on my way. find clear skin... and a clearer path forward. for a different kind of medicine, ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. ssoon, she'll be binge-studying. get back to great. this week sharpie singles now twenty-five cents. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great.

stay at over 1000 americas and canadas best value inns stay at over 1000 americas and canadas best value inns room discounts instant rewards and a home town touch team usa's women's gymnastics team has done it again. he's very into this. so the final five as we learned, that's what they're called, they won team gold for america. they dominated russia. they got silver, of course. >> beat them by eight points. that's huge. it's like five touchdowns. >> this is a sport where it's fractions of points. that's gigantic. joining us know is the most

decorated gymnast in history. shannon miller joining us again today. you were there. you were watching this. i know you wouldn't have missed it, former member of the magnificent seven, watching the final five. this was staggering. they had the highest total score on each apparatus. >> it's amazing. this team, they've been hyped so much. they're the next dream team, they're the best ever. they walked into that arena and showed it's absolutely accurate. they really just took command of the competition. they did it in a way that was so nice for the audience. in the arena, you felt like they were giving this wonderful exhibition of what true gymnastics can look like at the absolute top of the game. >> final five. we finally figure out the name of the team. what's the significance behind it? >> so this is the -- the final five talks about basically this is the last time we'll have a five-member team at the olympic games. so in 2020, it'll go down to a

four-member team. that's kind of where the final five came from. >> also, it's the last games for martha karolyi. it's sort of a sea change for american gymnastics. >> it is. and martha karolyi evolved it into a more centralized system where these athletes train more together. the centralized system is working. it's been great for the young athletes coming up. it's really built this feeder system. we're seeing the fruits of that labor now here in 2016. these women are just absolutely dominant. and it looks like there's really no stopping them for years to come. >> so brianna's been telling me about this signature pass that we saw last night. >> the biles. >> we'll show it. let's show it to people. you tell us, what makes this so special? >> well, i think number one, the

power. you watch simone biles on floor, and she makes it look so easy. oh, that's a nice skill. but the power involved in getting two flips around and a half twist at the end and sticking a landing blindly, it's incredible the amount of difficulty, grace, composure, all that goes into sticking this skill. she makes it look so easy. >> it's really unbelievable. >> just the bounce up off the butt i could never imagine. >> i loved her ending. i know she says, simone says the guys, her guy friends in gymnastics, they try to land that and can't. the pass where she does the half twist. it's called a blind landing. how difficult is that, shannon? >> it's really difficult because you're coming around to the floor, and you don't get to see the floor and place your feet. you have to kind of guess to some degree. you have to feel your way along and feel where that landing is going to be. so your timing has to be absolutely spot on. you have to know where you are

in the air at all times and have the exact power, the exact rotation that you need to stick that landing. she seems to do it every time out. >> you remember from your experience sometimes the u.s., people try to mitigate, people try to reduce the significance of our wins, saying, oh, it's such a big country, there's so much great athleticism here. but isn't gymnastics about the grind and the work and even something like that, a blind landing, where that's just practice and practice and practice. otherwise, who knows what happens when you go out. >> absolutely. when you're out here and you're watching these athletes, the medal, the gold medal, it's not won on the day of competition. it's won with the years of hard work and dedication that leads up to the competition. all of that hard work you did before you even step out on the floor. that's what these girls have done. so when they walked into the arena, there was less anxiety, there was less pressure. not that they didn't feel some pressure to do well, but they knew they had done their job every single day leading up to

the competition. i think internationally, that's so respected. we respect that with other teams. they respect that with us. because we know how hard we all worked to get to that point. >> shannon, tell us what you've been up to. it's been -- i can't believe it. it's been 20 years since the '96 olympics. seems like it was just a few years ago. i know you've been staying very busy there in rio. >> absolutely. i'm excited to be here in rio. i'm here with hershey's as an ambassador. today is actually national s'mores day. >> where are our s'mores? >> made some at the house last night. didn't even know it. >> you got a head start. >> thank you. all right, shannon. thank you so much as always for joining us. what a great night. we're so happy to have you with us. >> thank you. >> and we're going to be talking about amusement park safety ahead. this was really pushed into the national spotlight after the

death of this little boy, 10-year-old caleb schwab, who died on a giant water slide. who's in charge of making sure rides are as safe as they are thrilling? we'll have the answer for you, and it may surprise you. ♪ ♪ ♪ only those who dare drive the world forward. introducing the first-ever cadillac ct6. "are you okay?" "yeah, i just got charged for my credit monitoring. that's how i know it"s working." "ah. you know you can go on creditkarma.com and check it out there. it's completely free." "really?" "yeah"

"oh, that didn't hurt at all." "yeah, completely painless." "credit karma. give yourself some credit." (vonutritional needs... dog's all in one. purina one. healthy energy, and a taste he loves. purina one smartblend is expertly blended... with always real meat #1. all in one. purina one.

a kansas city water park reopens this morning, three days after a 10-year-old boy was killed on a water slide nearly 170 feet tall. that slide will actually remain closed indefinitely, we've

learned. in tennessee, a mechanical failure is blamed for a ferris wheel accident that left three girls falling to the ground. >> it's a patchwork of oversight. safety advocates say it's creating a dangerous loophole. this morning, a child is in intensive care in johnson county, tennessee. it's the second amusement park accident in just two days. the concern now, there is no set standard for safety regulations at these parks. >> i've got three kids that have fell from the ferris wheel. >> reporter: monday, three girls fell about 45 feet from an amusement park ride in tennessee, one of them severely injured. >> the inspectors have found there is a mechanical issue with this ride behind me and that they believe led to the incident at hand. >> reporter: and just one day earlier, 10-year-old caleb schwab died from a neck injury

after riding this 168-foot-tall water slide in kansas city, kansas, a foot taller than niagra falls. it's dubbed the world's largest water slide. >> what we do know about water parks is there is very little federal oversight or regulations. they're not required to report their injuries. and that much of this is handled at the state and local level. >> reporter: there are more than 400 amusement parks in the united states, attracting more than 330 million visitors per year. no federal agency is responsible for oversight. it's up to the states to regulate, and some are more strict than others. but the trade group that represents amusement parks tells cnn, quote, serious incidents are extremely rare. the most recent data from 2014 shows of the millions of visitors to amusement parks in the u.s., there were more than

1100 reported injuries. but that number does not account for water parks or traveling parks like the ferris wheel incident in tennessee. that data is harder to come by. it also doesn't account for close calls like this. a texas father forced to hold his 6-year-old son mid ride after the safety restraint came loose. and fatal incidents like the woman who fell out of a roller coaster car and plummeted to her death at six flags over texas in 2013. >> she goes up like this and then when it drops to come down, that's when it released and she just tumbled. >> reporter: all raise questions about why there isn't one standard to ensure the millions of riders are safe. >> they're expecting to have a safe ride. we need to make sure that all of the work on the design, maintenance, and oversight and inspection is done so that there is a safe ride for everyone. >> reporter: well, there is some

federal oversight for temporary fairs and carnivals, but 35 years ago legislation was revised preventing the federal government from regulating amusement parks and water parks. we do know senator ed markey blames that on lobbying pressure from the amusement park industry. he's been trying since 1999 to restore that federal oversight, but it hasn't happened yet. back to you guys. >> so important they're held accountable. rené marsh for uses in washington. thank you. we are following a whole lot of news. let's get to it. hillary wants to abolish the second amendment. nothing you can do, folks. although, the second amendment people, maybe there is. >> fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me. >> that was more than a speed bump. >> donald trump is urging people to act in a manner consistent with their convictions. >> that stuff sells, but it

doesn't stick. >> red, white, blue, and gold. >> the world's most decorated olympian clinching two victories. >> katie ledecky winning her second gold medal in rio. >> this is the greatest gymnastics team in history. >> team usa is on fire. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> we got the best of news coming out of the olympics, and we've got the worst of news coming out of the election. good morning. welcome to your "new day." alisyn is off. brianna keilar here with me this morning. donald trump is not backing down. he's igniting another controversy. the issue is whether he is aware but simply doesn't care about the impact of some of the things that he says. this time suggesting that second amendment supporters could do something to stop hillary clinton. he says he was not calling for violence. >> well, people on both sides of the aisle are condemning trump's comments. trump is now blaming the media

for twisting his words. did he cross the line? we want to begin our coverage with cnn's jason carroll live in virginia. jason? >> reporter: and good morning to you, brianna. this is a bit of two steps forward, one step back. many of trump's supporters thought he took a step forward when he delivered that economic speech in detroit on monday. now he's taken a step back. trump's critics say he has no one to blame but himself. donald trump on the defensive again. >> there can be no other interpretation. give me a break. >> reporter: blaming media bias for the fire storm over this quip at his campaign rally. >> hillary wants to essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, and if she gets to pick -- [ booing ] if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although, the second amendment people, maybe there is, i don't know. >> reporter: trump doing damage

control, claiming he was calling on the political powers of second-amendment voters to make their voices heard, not advocating violence toward his rival. >> this is a political movement. this is a strong, powerful movement, the second amendment. hillary wants to take your guns away. she wants to leave you unprotected in your home. >> clinton's campaign quickly denouncing trump, saying he is dangerous and a presidential candidate should not suggest violence in anyway. other democrats echoing the same sharp rebuke. senator chris murphy calling it an assassination threat. elizabeth warren slamming him as a pathetic coward who can't handle losing to a girl. and gabby giffords says americans must draw a bright red line between political speech and suggestions of violence. republicans blasting trump as well. >> that's actually a very arresting comment. if someone else had said that outside the hall, he'd be in the back of a police wagon now with

the secret service questioning him. >> reporter: trump blaming the desperate media for trying to distract from what he calls clinton's anti-second amendment stance, even though clinton has never called for abolishing gun rights. the nra and running mate mike pence coming to trump's defense. >> donald trump is urging people around this country to act in a manner consistent with their convictions in the course of this election. people who cherish the second amendment have a very clear choice in this election. >> reporter: trump has taken heat for violent rhetoric on the stump before. >> i'd like to pump him in the face. knock the crap out of him. >> reporter: speaker of the house paul ryan once again issuing a tepid defense of trump. >> it sounds like just a joke gone bad. i hope he clears it up very quickly. you should never joke about something like that. >> reporter: and chris, trump supporters have given vaurious explanations for his comments. take former new york city mayor rudy giuliani who said it was very clear donald trump was

joking, but he also said it was a call for political action. certainly got the attention of the secret service. that department says they are aware of trump's comments. also got the attention of bernice king, the daughter of martin luther king. she tweeted shortly after trump's comments, saying, as the daughter of a leader that was assassinated, i find trump's comments distasteful, disturbing, dangerous. his words don't #liveup, #mlk. new yorkers are waking up this morning to "the daily news" headline, which reads "this isn't a joke anymore." "the daily news" saying trump's comments were offensive and reckless, but we should also note that in the past, "the new york daily news" has referred to donald trump as a clown, a racist, and at one point comparing him to hitler. chris? >> all right, jason carroll. let's discuss. we have cnn political commentator and former trump campaign manager corey lewandowski. as you know, he's still

receivi receiving severance from the campaign. and we have christine quinn. we have two very good demonstrations of the perceived weakness of both candidates. this one is the obvious one with trump right now. we also have these e-mails that just came out that show an overlap between hillary clinton's operations at the state department and the clinton global foundation. i want to get to both of these this morning. let's start with trump. it seems to be so clear. this is a pattern. we've seen this like ten times in a row, whether it's him making calls as his own press guy a bunch of years ago or the star of david or whatever he says about muslims. the pattern is he says something that shows he's unaware of the sensitivities he's provoking or he just doesn't care. then you come out as an army and blame it on us or blame it a hundred different ways and he never apologizes. does this have to stop? >> look, i think in this particular issue, what you have is exactly what paul ryan said. this was a joke that he made during a rally. this wasn't something serious. he wasn't inciting violence. what he was talking about was

the people who support the second amendment, and mike pence talked about this as well, have a clear choice in this election. they can vote for someone who supports the second amendment and will appoint judges to make sure their second amendment rights will stay in place, or you can support hillary clinton, who would be anti-gun. >> pence is right. you're right. except that's not what he said. let's forget about the fact you can't abolish the second amendment. we'll write that off as political hyperbole. that's what politicians do. can't get rid of the second amendment. clinton hates people who have guns and is going to take them from them. that's for the voters to decide. she can defend her own position. is he unaware that when you say, you people can do something about this, you second amendment people, that it will trigger a reaction, no pun intended, even of one of the men sitting behind him who looked at his wife. this is something he should be aware of or is he aware and he just doesn't care? >> look, i think you have what

is donald trump talking stream of conscience. he understands what he's saying. there's no question about it. what he was asking for specifically was those people to unite. the nra has endorsed donald trump to ensure the second amendment stays in place. he was trying to bring those people together. this election is very critical. the second amendments issue you care about, make sure you're at the ballot box. >> what did he mean when he said, well, maybe those second amendment people, maybe there is something you can do? >> i don't know what he meant. >> isn't that a problem? if you don't know where he's going when he says something as president of the united states, is that really of no concern? should that will be of no concern? >> i think the larger issue is what he was trying to do was to rally those people who believe in the second amendment in saying, look, your job right now f you care about this election, if you care about the second amendment, if that's your issue, you have to make sure you're united, you are together, and you go to the ballot box and stop hillary clinton. that's what he's asking for.

>> so the clinton people are unsatisfied with this. you're using it as a rallying point, saying we don't care what he was trying to do, it's how he was trying to do it. what's your case? >> well, i don't think we're using it as a rallying point. i think we're responding to something that was said. >> i got flooded by your people for 15 hours yesterday. >> it's a day of the week in your life. that's probably happening from candidates somewhere anyway. but we're responding to something that was said by someone running for president of the united states. with all due respect to corey, the presentation by trump supporters that this was meant to get out the vote does not at all jive with what donald trump said. he specifically said, if hillary is elected, when she picks her judges. so in that scenario, he's lost the race. >> i can feel people say, that's not what he said. let's play it again. here's what it is. then you'll know the complete context of what we're discussing

right now. >> hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, and if she gets to pick -- [ booing ] if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although, the second amendment people, maybe there is. i don't know. but i'll tell you what, that will be a horrible day. >> so look, christine, i'll give you the point. he wasn't talking about voting up into the election. once she gets in and gets her judges. so why don't you accent tccept a he's just trying to rally them? >> because it's not what he said. he didn't say, if you don't want hillary clinton to pick these judges, then get out and vote. that's not what he said. and words matter, particularly from those folks who want to be president of the united states. and particularly when you add them into a long line of other

times, some we just saw on the show, where donald trump has said things like, i want to punch somebody in the face, beat them up, things of that nature, i'm paraphrasing. it's been documented. those kinds of things unfortunately have happened at some of his rallies. then you add into that the other kinds of statements he's made, which put people like corey in a position where they have to spin it around like they're having to do with this comment where he's, you know, called a distinguished judge who happens to be of mexican heritage, said he can't rule in my cases, where he said things like pregnancy in the workplace is an inconvenience, where he said things that are not at all in line with what who wants to be president of the united states should be saying and really makes it clear that he is unfit to be president. what we don't want is international leaders to have to go, gee, i better call corey because i don't think he said what he meant. if he meant what he said, we have to get it changed. >> what's the other side? why is this all okay? >> look, i don't know if it's

okay or if it's not okay. but what he's talking about is -- look, he's tapped into something and it's talked about hillary clinton and her honesty. it's talked about her e-mail scandals. it's talked about the fact the report today did not release all her e-mails like she was supposed to. this goes to the heart of the clinton campaign. it's talked about the fact that yesterday in florida, hillary clinton had the father of a mass shooter sitting behind her at a campaign rally where she is talking about praising the police and the emergency response individuals who helped at that nightclub and the father of the perpetrator is sitting behind her. the campaign says, we knew nothing about this. >> turnabout is fair play. this matters too. >> absolutely. >> how can the clinton campaign say we didn't know the father of the orlando shooter was going to be there? >> the campaign has made it clear he wasn't invited by the

campaign. the clinton events are open events. anyone can come in. >> do you think it's wrong he was there? what if the campaign had invited him? >> they would never have invited him. no campaign should invite someone who said those things to an event. they say they didn't. i know they didn't. they would not have invited someone like that. and the campaign has disavowed him and him being there. if you have an open event in a democratic way, anyone can come in. does the campaign need to go back and look at, you know, once people get in, vetting, things of that nature, the advanced setup? absolutely. campaign didn't invite him, and the campaign has disavowed him being there. but i want to go back to the trump comment for a second. you know, i used to run a crime victims assistance agency. i work with victims of crime there, i work with victims of crime now in the homeless system. to think joking about any kind of violence could be funny, to make comments about violence

that can, even if you don't mean them to, be misinterpreted, to say things like beat him up, punch him in the face, to make references that can be clearly or misconstrued as violence, simply reflects a disregard for the impact of violence on america and on individuals. it just -- you can't have someone who has no sense of the reality of violence and crime in people's lives be the commander in chief. >> that point is unimpressive to you. why? >> because when i look at the clinton campaign, i look at what she's done with her e-mail scandal and the fact she didn't even know there were classified markings on e-mails that could very well jeopardize individuals and leaked national secrets out to somebody -- multiple servers sitting in someone's bathroom. i'm more concerned about that. you want to talk about what's bad for america, you've got a secretary of the state who has classified documents being held outside the state department, who's not been honest about this, who's continuously said

she was honest. maybe she was honest to the fbi, but she was clearly not honest to the fbi. that's more of an egregious example of a lack of leadership than somebody trying to incite people to come together to stop someone at the ballot box. this is a serious breach of classified information where the fbi director said he was concerned. >> one general point that captures both of these, this is why voters feel they have such a terrible voice in this election. you have such loomi ining negat out there. trump doesn't care what comes out of his mouth and the implications are all lost because the justification is often that hillary is even worse and that's what election has come down to. let's take on the e-mail thing. one fair point. this is not about hillary clinton hiding e-mails. according to the state department and the review that's been done by many different outlets so far, these are e-mails we're talking about, about 44 so far, that were released by the state department that do not include hillary clinton on the chain. so they would not have been part

of the 55,000 e-mails that came out as part of her disclosure on what she was doing. fair point? fair point. so let's deal with what's in these 44 e-mails. clear cases of people from the clinton global initiative, the foundation, asking the state department to do stuff for donors and employees who want jobs. semblance of impropriety is the standard, as you know, christine, which means outward appearance of stink. this has that in scores. why do it? >> look, i can't speak to why people did or didn't send e-mails. but i think the clear point here on what corey has talked about is very different than what he is saying. director comey of the fbi, someone who's really above reproach by both republicans and democrats, i believe put this to bed. >> no, he ducked it about the foundation. he was asked twice in the hearing, and he would not answer as to whether or not they had looked at the foundation. >> at the hearing, he was clearly asked, could hillary clinton have known -- >> you're talking about the

classified information. >> which corey brought up before. >> that's fine. that's an issue. but this is an issue too. this foundation has been largely ignored. it's private. it's hard to get information out of the foundation. cro comey ducked it at the hearing twice. these 44 e-mails come out, and they don't say anything. they show clear coordination between the two sides. isn't that wrong? >> first of all, we can't say the clinton foundation has been ignored by the media. i'm not criticizing the media for covering. >> it's hard to get as deep in there. >> it has received tremendous coverage. numerous front page stories in "the new york times." it's received coverage, as it should. i'm in the begrudging the media. >> it's hard to get as deep down. it's like trump and his taxes. it's a private organization. i can't get in there. >> i think there's the statement that it hasn't been covered isn't accurate. >> we're covering it more right now. these 44 e-mails, you know, many of which show coordination

between staffers of one and staffers of the other, it's wrong. she said in 2009 she wouldn't do it anymore. and it continued after that. >> well, what we're seeing here is e-mails she wasn't on, requests from individuals at the foundation or cgi, and we're not seeing those e-mails, any evidence that they were responded to by hillary clinton, that anything was done wrong. we can't control what people send to people who work for us. >> you don't think hillary clinton had any idea that the staffers were working with the foundation? >> doug band hasn't been in the foundation for quite some time. i want to be clear. hillary clinton said in 2009 that wouldn't happen. >> but then it did. >> no, e-mails were sent, not with her on it. there's no evidence that action was taken. >> so you give her no responsibility for what the people underneath her do. >> i don't see any evidence to say she instructed them, she knew about it. again, we're going to see here that other people did things.

you can't control -- as you know, somebody on your staff sends an e-mail to somebody, that's not something you can necessarily control. >> if they work for me and it's done as something that would be seen in the vein of what i want done, of course it's going to come back to me. i don't even want to think about it. corey, what's your take? >> this is typical washington, d.c. bought and paid for. this is everything that's wrong with washington, which is it's not what you know, it's who you know. how much money can you give, who do you know in a position of power, what favors can you curry, what can you do while you're in a position of power to then help afterwards? this was direct coordination, it looks looks, it looks like, to do fairs for people politically connected. this is everything the american people are upset about. this is why campaign finance reform has to happen. this is the problem with donors who donate millions of dollars to these super pacs. when it's all said and done, they have access to people that nobody else does. the foundation should be held

accountable. the buck stops at the top. >> i want to be clear. we see e-mails sent, we see no action taken. corey is clearly calling for more transparency in politics, which i could we would all agree with. let's start with donald trump putting his taxes out there. >> this is an official government e-mail account receiving these e-mails from a foundation asking for a favor from an official government official. donald trump is not in any type of official capacity. >> if we're going to talk about transparency, then what's good for the goose is good for the gander. america knows donald trump is holding back his taxes. maybe for no reason. although, other people who are billionaires or millionaires who are getting audited said that's not a valid reason. so maybe he's just nervous, but whatever it is, it raises big questions about what he's hiding and why. i want to go back to an earlier -- >> no, hold on a second. i want to wrap it up. we've take an lot of time to discuss these two issues, and it's been productive, but there's a lot on the table for

voters. corey, christine, thank you very much. i appreciate it. brianna? >> well, chris, donald trump's latest controversy, which we've been talking about, suggesting that the second amendment supporters that he hassing do something to stop hillary clinton from appointing judges. trump says he was not inciting violence. how do trump supporters hear what he said? joining us now is j.d. vance. he's the author of this new book "hillbilly elogy." you are now a 31-year-old investment banker, but you came from a poor down in eastern ohio in the rust belt where certainly donald trump has a lot of appeal. you talk about your upbringing in this book. a very fascinating book. you also take a bit of an anthroto logical approach to the experience in general of this region. i want to talk to you about what some of his supporters.

you talk about these folks who he has appeal with. i want to talk about what they are seeing and hearing in these remark he's just said. let's listen to them. >> hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, and first base sif pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although, the second amendment people, maybe there is. i don't know. but i'll tell you what, that will be a horrible day. >> j.d., how are his supporters receiving this message? and also, they're receiving it as we talk to them in a very different way than certainly, say, democrats, even republicans in washington are receiving it. >> yeah, i think that's absolutely true. so if you think about their lives, they feel beset, i think, by two separate crises. one is an economic crises that

makes it harder to find good paying jobs, jobs that you're proud of. another is a social crisis where they're seeing folks die of heroin doses in record numbers and seeing family breakdown. i think in some ways, the remarks he made, while i certainly find them unacceptable, i think a lot of people honestly feel that it's not that big of a deal because compared to the crises in their lives, whether donald trump, you know, what he actually said and the official chatter and i think the concern over what he said strikes a lot of people as a bit of a distraction from the real issue. >> supporters of donald trump are at times derided for their support of trump. i know you are not a supporter of donald trump, but you also have insight. you say that you understand really what is motivating people and their appeal for donald trump. you say, yes, there is anger, but there is also a lot of frustration. >> yeah, absolutely.

i think to live in these people's lives, you wake up every morning, you open the paper, and you see new stories about jobs going overseas, factories closing down. you see obituaries with kids that are too young to die, and they don't list the cause of death because when the parents put them in the newspaper, they're too ashamed to tell their friends and family and neighborhoods what their kids actually died of. so what i think that causes is this real sense of extraordinary crisis in their lives. they're frustrated at political elites who they feel are not listening to them, who are not concerned about them. ultimately, a lot of the political conversation strikes these people as besides the point. whether trump says something that's offensive or inoffensive, i think that conversation is just a little bit too far detached from what they're actually concerned about. >> you tell a very real story of your upbringing. raised by a mom who was struggling with drug adierks.

eventually you and your sister were raised by your grandparents who had a tremendous impact on you. sounds like your grandma was tough as nails. but when you look at your upbringing and then you talk about going to yale law school and feeling like everything was very culturally foreign, now that you're sort of -- you have a foot in each world, what do you think maybe people who do not understand donald trump supporters need to know? >> well, i think what they need to understand is that for many of the people who are watching donald trump, they don't see him primarily as this existential threat to american democracy. they see him as the first person in a long time who's actually addressing their concerns. if you think about that social crisis that i talked about and you think about the republican party where these people call their home, the response of the republican party has been, well, what you need is more tax cuts, more deregulation, and more free

trade. whether those policies are ultimately good or not, they feel a little tone deaf to people who are really struggling. what donald trump has been able to do by showing some real sympathy and compassion for these people is really find a foothold in their hearts and minds and frankly, i don't think that he's going to lose that, at least not over the next few months. >> i think some people look at donald trump, and they say, how is it that a billionaire, someh showman businessman is connecting with people who have these very real kitchen table concerns that you are talking about. but it's something that really doesn't matter to his supporters. >> yeah, well, i think not just that it doesn't matter, but it actually enhances his support. if you think about the way people talk about politics, at least the way that people back home talk about politics, it's around the kitchen table. it's at a bar. people are off the cuff. they're not afraid to offend someone. at the end of the day, that's

how donald trump talks about politics. yes, he is a billionaire. yes, he inherited a lot of money. but he talks about politics in a way that's very relatable. if you think about the way, let's say, that barack obama or hillary clinton talk about things, they're very filtered. they're very neutral. they're almost very afraid of saying anything that offends someone. that's just not the way that people back home talk. i think there's almost a fear that to be part of the political conversation, you have to be like hillary clinton or barack obama, these very well-educated, elite people, but donald trump is relatable. i think people on the coasts often see somebody who's offensive. i think rightfully so. but people back where i'm from see somebody who talks and thinks like they do. >> j.d. vance, it is a great book. a really, really interesting read and a look into life in the rust belt through your eyes with your memoir.

thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for having me. all right. let's get back to the election on a different level. donald trump is trying to expand his base. minority voters are a big target for him. up next, a new rnc senior strategist joins us to talk about their plan to win over minority voters. ♪ across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, creative business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships, and the lowest taxes in decades are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state for business to thrive. let us help grow your company's tomorrow- today at business.ny.gov

this car is traveling over 200 miles per hour. to win, every millisecond matters.

both on the track and thousands of miles away. with the help of at&t, red bull racing can share critical information about every inch of the car from virtually anywhere. brakes are getting warm. confirmed, daniel you need to cool your brakes. understood, brake bias back 2 clicks. giving them the agility to have speed & precision. because no one knows & like at&t. at safelite, we know how busy life can be. these kids were headed to their first dance recital... ...when their windshield got cracked... ...but they couldn't miss the show. so dad went to the new safelite-dot-com. and in just a few clicks, he scheduled a replacement... ...before the girls even took the stage. safelite-dot-com is the fast, easy way to schedule service anywhere in america! so you don't have to miss a thing. y'all did wonderful! that's another safelite advantage. (girls sing) safelite repair' (girls sing) safelite replace.

america at her best and at her worst is a melting pot. you cannot avoid that. in order to become president, donald trump and hillary clinton will have to appeal to white and nonwhite voters. this is a specific concern for trump in his campaign to try to expand the base beyond what he has right now. so how are they going to do that? well, maybe with this man's help. ashley bell has just been appointed of national director of african-american engagement and senior strategist for the rnc. we should note the rnc hired him, not trump. obviously you're working for the

rnc, the nominee is trump. good luck to you with your job. it's good to of you on the show. what do you think the pitch is to minority voters, african-americans, latinos, that trump should be their man? >> you know, all politics is local. at the end of the day when we look at the cities in america, the urban areas where there are many democrats that run these cities, there are no republicans to blame, and in these areas, there's too many failing schools and not enough jobs. we think people are prime for change in these urban areas. we look at more rural areas, we think you see more social conservatives that are minorities who are looking for the republican party to offer solutions. i think with the right messaging, talking about job creation and talking about ending a failed criminal justice system, i think this candidate, and i think our party has a great chance. >> so i get the argument that situations in urban communities, they have been stagnant in many cases. they've been under democratic leadership during those periods of stagnation. so why don't you look at the other side. is trump the right change agent

given all the controversy that he's spawned, especially with minorities? >> you know, i think when you look at his economic plan, that's a good point. he talks about entrepreneurship. who are the number one entrepreneurs? you see big spikes in entrepreneurs and african-americans. why? because many times in many of these cities, the '90s gave us a failed criminal justice system. we have ex-felons who don't have any way of getting back into the system but create their own job. and who gave us the '90s? that's a gift of the clintons. so my prior role before joining this was advocating for a new criminal justice system that's fair for everybody. that is primarily to undo the '90s. if you look at entrepreneurship, minorities benefit the most in making it easier to be a business owner and to have that gift of american entrepreneurship. that's what i think donald trump is going to appeal to many of those people. >> i hear the message. the question is going to come down in an election largely to the messenger. as you know right now, current polls have trump somewhere like,

what, 15% to 20%, 18 in this poll with nonwhite voters. some suggest he's going to get less than mitt romney did, that he's done so much damage with the latino and hispanic community that he might not do as well. how flawed is your messenger when it comes to courting this group? >> we have work to do, and it's work we're willing to do. it starts with having a republican party to do the investment to make sure we have people on the ground. i'm excited about seeing the campaign hire coalition directors in these battleground states. these are going to be people to make sure we continue to press the message and put local messengers in these communities to deliver our message of freedom and opportunity. that's going to get this campaign local. that's going to give people options. we cannot afford to allow the democratic party to take the black vote for granted another cycle. the republican party wants to be a viable option. weapon wa we want to create marketplaces of ideas and not talk about the

rhetoric and let each person decide which solution is best for their community. >> part of the proposition is going to be, i would suppose, convincing nonwhite voters that the rnc is a home for them. i want to the play for you some really disgusting video, frankly, but it's instructive, from "the new york times." they had those reporters embedded in these different crowds at trump rallies all over the country for months and month ps. here's just a small sample of what they came up with. >> build the wall! >> [ bleep ] islam. >> our president has divided this country so much. >> [ bleep ]. >> now, how do you explain to a nonwhite voter that that atmosphere that's often, not once, not twice, not three

times, is often in place at trump events, that that's nothing for them to be worried about, this is your home. >> you know, i've been in this race for a while, monitoring like everybody else. in the beginning in the democratic primary, i was at plenty of rallies where i saw many frustrated, young black voters, members of different movements upset at the clintons because of the failed criminal justice policy of the '90s. i heard a lot of them frustrated, saying a lot of awful things. but that's not a reflection of hillary clinton's campaign as much as it is the frustration of america. the frustration on both sides, black and white, are frustrated with the system. it's a reflection of the frustration. the reason he's our nominee is because people are frustrated. they don't want another insider, another second stair of the stat us can quo. they want someone different to come into washington and change it. >> so ashley bell, your task will be not just to convince what is obvious, which is we want something new or different.

that's always the story in politics. but that it is something that is better, especially for nonwhite voters. good luck with the job. thank you for being on "new day." look forward to having you back. >> see you soon. >> brianna? let's turn to this tragedy in kansas. up next, we'll talk to two people who were there when a young boy died after plunging down a water slide. we'll hear what they saw next. she spent summer binge-watching. soon, she'll be binge-studying. get back to great. this week sharpie singles now twenty-five cents. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. glad forceflex. extra strong to avoid rips and tears. be happy, it's glad. then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness,

liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. just one of the many features that comes standard with our base policy. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

one day, the worlde wonder came together. games. a dog, talked. we're decedent from the mighty wolf. a voice was heard. if you build it, he will come. a girl discovered magic. a revolution began. welcome, to the wonders that happen, everyday. welcome, to it all.

comcast. the kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy died on a water slide is set to reopen today, but the slide where the accident happened will remain closed. police are blaming caleb schwab's death on a neck injury, but they're still investigating what exactly caused it. joining us now are two people who witnessed this deadly accident. we have jess sanford with us and melanie gokey. they had ridden this water slide earlier in the day. jess and melanie, thank you both for being with us. there are a lot of details we don't know. so i want to ask you what you saw. you were sitting near the slide when this happened. what happened? >> i saw most of what happened.

i didn't see all of it, but i heard the noise. i looked over immediately and i saw his broken neck and him sliding down the slide, leaving a blood trail. >> he was behind the raft that goes down the slide? >> yes. >> yeah, the raft went before him. >> so jess, tell me what you saw. >> i didn't -- i was facing kind of the other way, but i turned around when i heard like a noise that didn't sound like it was supposed to come from that kind of ride. that's when i turned around and i kind of -- i didn't really like understand what was going on, so i only kind of saw caleb slide down like the last half of the slide. then i saw the blood. we both kind of stood up. >> and -- >> sorry, go on. >> we saw his friend screaming and crying about it. >> his friend was screaming for help. then i think that's when staff members and medics and stuff started running. >> how quickly did that happen? how quickly was the response and

that they got to him? and was there any attempt to try to revive him? >> i don't so. >> nobody went to try and revive him. one of the people that was at the water park went up to the slide to see if he was okay, and i guess they saw that he wasn't. the medics immediately went to the other two people on the ride. >> i think they just kind of realized that he was dead. so they didn't -- i don't think they tried to revive him. >> are you sure that they didn't go to him, they weren't checking his vital signs or anything? they seemed to think he had passed away. >> we didn't see anybody up close to him or anything. >> okay. now, you both had ridden this slide earlier in the day, right? >> yeah. >> and what did you notice? had you ridden it before then? what did you notice when you were riding the slide? >> i noticed that there was

velcro seat belts keeping you in. i realized before it went down, i tried to wiggle out of it to see if they were safe. i got out of the straps pretty easily. before the ride went, i strapped myself back in, of course. they weren't very secure. >> yeah, we kind of got up there, and it was kind of surprising to see that it was only velcro straps. >> show me, where were the straps? was it your arms, your waist? where? >> there was one that connected from the top of your shoulder over to kind of a bottom one. they velcroed together. then two velcroed over your waist. >> so you were able -- when you tried, melanie, to sort of shimmy out of it, was it just to see if the velcro would come unstuck? is that what it was? >> yeah, i wanted to see how secure it was because it didn't look very secure to me. >> and what was the -- were there signs that said you need to be this tall, you need to weigh this much, and i'm sure

there were, you know, some small kids. obviously caleb was a smaller child. but was there -- did there seem to be attention paid to that by the person -- or you tell me if there was a person at the top of the slide. >> yeah, the -- you had to be 54 inches to ride the slide. there was a life guard at the top. my little sister rode the ride with us, who's the same size and age as caleb. she just buckled everybody else in like normal. >> they don't really look into it, i guess. if you pass height limit, it doesn't matter how close you are, as long as you pass it. >> when you rode down the slide, does it stay adhered to the track pretty well when you went down? or is there sort of a jostling or a bumping or ever where the slide catches a little bit of air? >> when we went, we didn't get airborne. >> when my dad and my sister

rode the ride right after us, they said they got airborne. >> at what part of the ride? we know with caleb, he'd gone down the first slide and then there's another -- there's sort of another hill the slide goes over. >> yeah, with you come up the second hill, that's when. >> that's when they went airborne? >> that's right, melanie? that's when they say they got airborne? and we know now that the park is back open today. this slide is not open. what do you think should be done, and how do you think this is being handled? >> i think they definitely need to fix the straps on the ride because you'd think for something that's supposed to be known for being the tallest slide in the world, they'd have a little bit more secure straps than velcro. i think they definitely need to figure that out before they open back up the slide. >> i think they need to fix the jostling around. your neck gets pretty shooken

around really good and you hit your head a lot. >> they tell you to keep your head against the seat. even then, my neck was kind of all over the place. >> her neck hurt after she rode down the ride. >> jess and melanie -- and it'll be -- i think it will be surprising if it even does reopen. we will see. but thank you so much, jess and melanie. we really appreciate you being with us and telling us about your experience. chris? >> all right, brianna. thank you very much. let's turn now to the other big story of the morning, the olympics. a strong niepght for team usa. huge expectations and huge delivery. we have the big winners and why the u.s. gymnastics women's team is being called historic. stay with us. who switched to sprint. i used to ask if you could hear me now, but it's 2016 ...and sprint's network reliability is now within 1% of verizon. and sprint saves you 50% on most verizon, at&t and t-mobile rates.

that's why millions have switched. make that millions plus one. can you hear that? don't let a 1% difference cost you twice as much. switch to sprint today. what's that? the number of units we'll make next month to maximize earnings. that's a projection. no, it's a fact. based on hundreds of proprietary and open data sets folded into a real-time, actionable analytics model. nine. eight. three. five. two. you're not gonna round that up? you don't round up facts. powerful analytics driving decisions for the world's most valuable brands. hewlett packard enterprise.

just checking my free credit score at credit karma. what the??? you're welcome. i just helped you dodge a bullet. but i was just checking my... shhh... don't you know that checking your credit score lowers it! just be cool. actually, checking your credit score with credit karma doesn't affect it at all.

are you sure? positive. so i guess i can just check my credit score then? oooh "check out credit karma today. credit karma. give yourself some credit." sorry about that.

let's talk olympics. this is all about the gold for team usa, as michael phelps and katie ledecky, each swim to victory in the women's gymnastics, crushing the competition. coy wire has it all covered live in rio. this was a night and a day, coy

that i'm jealous. >> reporter: brianna, i'm not taking this for granted, trust me. this is incredible being here and watching the women's gymnastics team, who picked up the world competition and dropped it on its head, earning the gold in bold fashion, adding to what has become a run away train for the u.s. let's check the medal count here on "new day." total 26 in all, china in second with 17. japan in third. russia has 12, but we have to talk about the sweethearts, the american u.s. gymnastics team. simone biles, winning by a jaw dropping margin, leading the way, proving without a doubt, they are the best gymnastics team in the world. taking their place in olympic history, the u.s. women's gymnastics securing team gold.

simone biles cat putti, team ca raisman, with a flawless floor performance. young, lori hernandez on the beam. two of the highest scores of the night on the uneven bars. these incredible ladies revealing their team name to the world. it will be the last time a five-member gymnastics team will ever perform at the olympics. michael phelps adding two more to his gold collection. the world's most decorated olympian clinching two victories tuesday night. first in the 200-meter butt

butterfly, after losing to chad le clos in 2012. the second gold of the night, the u.s. men's team, cruising to their fourth consecutive gold medal in the 4 x 2 freestyle relay. it was also another big night for 19-year-old superstar, katie ledecky, earning her a second gold medal. she has never lost an individual final at a major international competition. >> we have cnn sports analyst, christine brennan joining us now with coy wire. i wonder, christine, as we look at that amazing performance by michael phelps, do you think this is his most important moment of the games, this shot at redemption that he just seized? >> reporter: absolutely, bre an nevada the 200-butterfly is his baby. the one event in all five of the olympics. as a 15-year-old he finished fifth. he wanted to win it the most and get back, after losing it so closely in 2012.

also, the most amazing thing i think of the night was the 70 minutes that michael phelps had. as a 31-year-old guy, he is going to get teenagers and 20 something, he had the swim and then came back and anchor the u.s. relay. at the end of it, he sat down on the blocks and looked like an old man. the kids are jumping up and down. he sat there slummed over. he was spent. it was a fabulous 70 minutes and weighs done. >> he has those bruises from the cupping, all the suction stuff they're doing to increase his blood flow. hey, coy, top athlete yourself, proved it so many ways, as an athlete, what blows you away what you're seeing on in the pool and gymnastics? >> reporter: well, i think we'll get to something you mentioned earlier, but specifically to phelps, the great one, they have ability, but then as christine has mentioned, the sustain ability. what are you doing every single day to keep the consistency at a

high level. phenomenal what he has been able to do. you look at someone else like katie ledecky, who is also dominating at her young age, already four medals in her young career, stacking them up. i talked to her coach last week and he said her focus, her discipline, we're talking about a girl, she doesn't even have her driver's license yet at 19 years old because she that focused about her trade and craft. you're seeing why and hearing why these athletes are elite and the best in the world. those two specifically, the best we've ever seen doing what they do. katie ledecky, i said the quote she said last night. she has exerted herself in the race. she said it was the first time i ever felt like i was going to puke in the pool. >> oh, goodness, that would have been an olympic moment you wouldn't forget. one that you really can't forget is the biles. we have to show this. is the move on the floor program

by simone biles. unbelievable pass here in tumbling, where she lands facing outwards. this is something nobody does. unbelievable. and christine, i think there wasn't a lot of suspense for team usa, when it came to who is going to win the all-around, but that shouldn't take away from what their amazing achievement was by blowing away the competition. >> reporter: oh, you're absolutely right. i mean, americans love winning, and i think americans love dominance. there is nothing wrong with that. and so the fact that this is team basically had won the moment they entered the a recent and won by eight points, that's a whole, what, length of the pool for katie ledecky. >> a blowout. >> this could decide first, second or third. they just were so dominant. you know, what i thought was cool about this, here we've been talking about this team over and over. there is only one thing they could have done yesterday, screw up. they didn't screw up.

they did exactly what they had to do at the moment they had to do it. it is so rare to see that in sports, where you have your best moment at the biggest moment of your life. >> you know what, that's -- >> you know what i liked about them, guys -- >> go ahead, coy. >> the thing i like about them is that just a few days ago, before the finals, they were in the team, in the athletic olympic village. they were laughing, joking. laughing so hard during a team meal that their manager came over and said guys, this is the olympics, you need to focus. they go out and slay it. what i love is they're loose, relaxed, confident, enjoying this moment. it is showing up in a major, major way. >> deliver with the weight of expectations on your shoulders, not easy. do it in epic fashion makes you a great one and now we have five. >> so fantastic. soon to be four. the final five, what a performance. so great. >> thank you, you great people yourselves. you are our cnn olympic coverers

of this olympic action. >> the best gig. >> 17th olympics for this girl. >> i was in kindergarten. >> oh, my goodness, christine. >> that's weird. she is only 26 years old. what have you been doing the rest of your life, brennan? >> trying to hang out. >> learning by osmosis. this is my first and i'm in good, good company. >> you certainly are. thank you, guys. a lot of news this morning. a huge question in the election. did donald trump know what he was saying when he seemed to incite action against hillary clinton. let's get to it. >> hillary wants to abolish the second amendment. nothing you can do, folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is. >> fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me. >> it was more than a speed bump. >> he is urging people to act in a manner that is consistent with

their convictions. >> that sells, but doesn't stick. >> team usa is on fire. >> michael phelps, adding two more golds to his collection. katie ledecky, triumphant, landing her a second gold medal. >> u.s. women's gymnastics team, crushing the competition. >> all about the gold for the red, white and blue. >>announcer: this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn c. good morning. alisyn is off. brianna keilar joins me this morning. >> great to be here. donald trump unaware of what he says, or does he not just -- he just doesn't care about what comes out and how it is influencing people who are listening. the latest one, second amendment supporters, he says to them, they can do something to stop hillary clinton. trump says he wasn't calling for violence. but a lot of people took it differently. >> in his remarks have been

condemned. they were condemned quickly by officials. not just democrats, but republicans again as well. and trump is blaming the media for twisting his words. did he cross the line. let's begin with jason carroll, live in virginia. jason. >> reporter: well, brianna, the trump campaign really wants to move beyond this. they're having a terrible sense of deja vu. once again, having to explain what the candidate said versus what he meant. donald trump on the defensive, again. >> there can be no interpretation. give me a break. >> reporter: blaming media bias for the firestorm over this quip, as his campaign rally. >> hillary wants to abolish the second amendment. by the way, if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is.

i don't know. but. >> reporter: trump doing damage control, saying he was calling on the political powers of second amendment voters to make their voices heard, not advocating violence toward his rival. >> this is a political movement. this is a strong, powerful movement, the second amendment. hillary wants to take your guns away, she wants to leave you unprotected in your home. >> reporter: clinton's campaign denouncing trump, saying he is dangerous and a presidential candidate should not suggest violence in any way. other democrats echoing the same, sharp rebuke. chris murphy calling it an assassination threat. elizabeth warren, slamming him as a coward. gabby giffords, rebuking violence. >> if someone had said that outside the hall, he would be in the back of a police wagon now

with the secret service questioning him. >> reporter: trump blaming the desperate media for trying to distract what he calls clinton's antisecond amendment stance. even though clinton has never called for abolishing gun rights. the nra and running mate mike pence coming to his defense. >> he is urging people around the country to act in a manner consistent with their convictions in the course of this election, and people who cherish the second amendment have a clear choice in the election. >> reporter: trump has taken heat for violent rhetoric on the stump before. >> i would like to punch him in the face. not the crap out of him. >> reporter: speaker of the house, paul ryan, once again, issuing a tepid defense. >> i hope he clears it up quickly. you should never joke about something like that. >> reporter: chris, we've seen various explanations for trump's comments, one coming from new york city's former mayor, rudy giuliani, who said simply trump was joking.

but also saying that this is simply part of clinton's spin machine at work. certainly got the attention of the secret service. the secret service saying they are aware of trump's comments. got the attention of bernice king as well. she tweeted as the daughter of a leader that was as ssassinated, the new york daily news weighing in, with a headline that reads, this isn't a joke any more. the daily news calling trump's comments offensive and reckless. certainly, a number of people within trump's own camp, including his die hard supporters, say regardless of trump, whatever he said, they are still squarely behind him. chris. >> jason, the proposition is can donald trump really be unaware of the impact of his words, or he just not care about the impact of his words.

let's bring in senator susan collins of maine. senator collins is the most senior republican senator to announce that she is not going to vote for donald trump. senator, you know, this is a pattern that we've seen where donald trump says something that is maybe unintended by lack of thought or strategy by him, and then everybody says it is the media's fault, you're taking him out of context, it is just a joke. you're making too much of it, it is political correctness. how do you see the situation of what just happened on the stump? >> donald trump has made so many disparaging and reckless comments that it is not surprising that this one has been misinterpreted. it is very rare for me to come to his defense, and as you know, i do not support him to be our next president, but in this case, i truly interpreted his

comments as saying that there are second amendment advocates in every state, that they have a lot of political clout, and they could work together to prevent hillary clinton from becoming president. i really did not see it in any way as inciting violence or as a call for violence. >> right. >> but i think in many ways, the fact that it is interpreted that way reflects a constant stream of inappropriate and reckless comments that donald trump has made. >> you know, i'll tell you, you know, in full openness and candor, i was not shocked by the words when he said it. maybe i've become conditioned or saw it as you did. then, because of the job, i had to go back and look at the context and see where the concern was coming from. you know, in context, he winds up saying if she wins, if she gets to pick her judges, there is nothing you can do. well, maybe you second amendment

people, maybe there is something you can do. in the context, it was talking about if she is president already, and i think that is what made people concerned, even now that famous man in the red shirt behind him, who looked at his wife and made the oooh face to her. why do you think people pick up on it if it is not what he intends to say? >> because donald trump has such a history of making remarks that denigrate people, that mock the vulnerable, that are so inappropriate for a presidential candidate, and thus, when he makes a remark like this, which i interpreted as not in any way inciting violence, people leap to the conclusion that he is trying to send some sort of message. so in many ways, even though i don't think it was intended in

any way to be inciting violence, donald trump has himself to blame for the fact that people leap to that conclusion. it is because he has had this constant stream of a attacks on people that people assume the worst. >> does it matter? you know, if you hear his surrogates, senator, they'll say, listen, he is tapping into the anger out there that is real, you in the media and the washington elite want to avoid. he speaks the way regular people do, and you don't like it, because you're bunch of snobs. do you agree with that? >> no, i don't. it does matter. because we should treat each other with respect in this country, and appeal to people's better natures. what donald trump does is he inflames prejudices against

ethnic and religious minorities, and he coursens the debate in our country. now, i certainly agree that a lot of what he says about the economy resonates with people who feel that they've been left behind behind an unbalanced and uneven economy. but he has yet to offer any solutions. particularly from the highest office of the land, where that person is a symbol for our country, is to lift us up and make us better. not make us fearful and suspicious of one another. >> on the same day we have this going on, with this intrigue around trump once again, we have a couple of other developments. one, you could argue is a little smaller. you have the father of the

orlando shooter, shows up at a clinton event. he is behind her, which to many, suggests a privileged position. the campaign denies it, says they didn't invite him. they don't know how he got in. that's one thing. then these e-mails come out. 44 so far from the state department, that show pretty clear overlapping between what was going on at the clinton global initiative and what was going on with secretary clinton at the state department, even after 2009, when she had said she would be much more mindful to stop any conflict of overlapping. how does that weigh in on your suggestion of what the country needs in terms of leadership? >> well, it is part of the reason why i find myself in the very difficult position of being unable to support either of our major party candidates. i have been troubled by the fact that secretary clinton's answers

on her e-mails did not match up with what the fbi director comey found. and she kept insisting that they did match up, when it is so obvious that they did not. now, we hear that there are suggestions that those who donated money to the clinton foundation were given special access to the state department, and its decision makers. that's troubling. that is a legitimate issue for us to be discussing. >> so what are you telling your constituents, whether maine or people, you know, people come to you. you're a senior senator, you are known as a straight shooter, maybe something about maine, you and angus king. people see you as straight shooters. what are you telling people, who is less bad? what are you telling people? >> well, i can't tell you how many of my con ststituents have

said that to me, they're struggling with the choices that we have. and they're surprised that the country this large, that we've ended up with the choices that we have. and it's been a struggle for me to decide what to do. i am a lifelong republican, and i've always supported my party's nominee. and i just can't this time. because he lacks the temperament, the judgment, and the self-restraint to be our president. and yet, i'm troubled by the ethical issues that have been raised around secretary clinton. despite the fact that i worked with her well as a senate colleague. so for my part, i first looked at the libertarian ticket, and if it were switched and governor bill wells of massachusetts were on top it, would be an easy choice for me, because i've known him for many years and think very highly of him.

i don't know gary johnson, governor gary johnson, but i'm troubled about what i've read about his extensive drug use. so i probably many going to end up writing in the name of someone. and i never would have guessed i would be in that situation, and i think a lot of americans are also struggling with what to do this year. >> so, senator, who are you going to write? are you putting susan collins down? who are you thinking of writing? who are the options? >> well, i have thought of jeb bush, because he is the person i first endorsed, and i believe he has the temperament, experience and judgment to be president. so he is certainly an option. condoleezza rice, i've always been a fan of, and she would certainly know how to handle the dangerous world that we're living in a way that donald

trump does not. so she is another option. i haven't decided yet. but those are two names that would be at the top of my list. but i never envisioned that i would find myself in this dilemma, when the primary season first started. >> well, senator -- >> this has been the most unpredictable year ever. >> you're telling me. senator collins, thank you for being a straight shooter, as always. appreciate your voice, and guidance on "new day." >> thank you, chris, and happy birthday a day late. >> thank you very much. i'm only 19. i don't know how i got this job. take care. brianna. chris, we're wondering how clinton supporters are responding to trump's second amendment comments. up next, we'll talk to a former governor about why the comments are dangerous.

donald trump is standing behind his comment about the second amendment people who could stop hillary clinton, and here to discuss, we have former michigan governor, jennifer granholm, a senior advisor to the super pac, correct the record. thank you for being with us. i want to start by playing what donald trump and having you react. here is what he said. >> hillary wants to abolish essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, if she gets to pick,

if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although the second amendment people may be there is. i don't know. but i'll tell you what, that will be a horrible day. >> and we see that man in the red shirt going -- >> wow. >> yeah, seemed to pick up certainly the impression that many people got from that donald trump saying i wasn't inciting violence. was encouraging political advocacy of folks who believe in the second amendment. your reaction? >> well, i mean, all you have to do is listen to it. people are not stupid. i know he was trying to say it as a joke. if you are running for president, you do not joke about assassinations. this is back in the primaries, at his rallies, i mean, a couple of examples, you know, that he -- when protesters were getting beaten up at his rallies, this is what we should have been doing to the other side for the last seven years,

or he was complaining that in another rally, we're not allowed to punch back any more. in the old days, they would be carried off in a stretcher. part of the problem, no one wants to hurt each other any more. if you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them. i offered to pay for the legal fees who cock-blocked one of the protesters. this is a pattern he is engaged in. it is not presidential. it is, in fact, dangerous for the country. michael hayden, here, i think on cnn, had a very, very telling comment, when he said that not only are you responsible, when you are president. you're not only responsible for your words, but you you are responsible for how people receive those words, words matter. words can launch battleships, words can launch nuclear weapons. this not is not fit to lead our nation.

>> michael hey did he knayden d on cnn. republicans seem to be in agreement with democrats. this is not good, this is not good for the country. i wonder if it is good for hillary clinton, when it comes to politics. she is fundraising off of his comments. her campaign sent out a letter last night, sent out another letter to supporters this morning online. this is something that for her, is a vehicle to rile up folks that she wants to be on her side, and not on donald trump's side. >> well, every candidate for office, obviously uses what the other side does as a way of making the point that they are more fit to govern. and i'm certain that there are more people who are coming over to her side as a result of the recklessness of donald trump, everyday, there are more even republicans who are deciding to endorse her as a result of it. bottom line is this man is not worthy of the office that he seeks. he is not worthy of this great nation. and his statement yesterday is

just another on a pile of statements that shows that his temperament is not fit. >> she is using it obviously to make a point, but she is also using it, her campaign is using it to distract from something else that is going on. that has to do at least, the lettest thing has to do with clinton, the clinton foundation, e-mails between top aides at the cl clinton foundation. let me give you an example. doug band, at the time top aide to bill clinton, helped found the clinton initiative. we need to speak to the substance person re lebanon. he is talking to two of -- or a. huma abedin. is that really appropriate when one of the promises of hillary clinton was going in as

secretary of state, there is essentially going to be this fire wall that she was not going to have overlap between the clinton foundation and the state department, and the u.s. government because it is unseemly at best. >> so number one, the person who wrote that e-mail, doug band, wrote it in his capacity as a personal assistant to president clinton. he wrote it on the president clinton.org e-mail. it was not foundation business. this person is somebody the clintons had known since long before the clinton foundation had been established. and all he was asking was that this person who was of lebanese decent be put in contact with someone. it was not for state business. there was no official action taken on the part of the state department on his behalf. it was just to set up a meeting. >> but ifs so unseemly. i understand he might have been wearing two hats, but it is not as simple as just taking one off. this is a top aide to bill

clinton, talking to a top aide, the top aide to secretary clinton at the time, about an active u.s. -- >> about setting up a meeting. about setting up a meeting. it was not -- >> would have you done that? >> well, i mean, he wasn't in the state department at the time. but i do flow that she has abided by the ethics agreement she signed at the beginning, which was not to take any action on the part of the state department that mixed foundation business. this was not on behalf of the foundation. >> real quick. >> yeah. >> before i let you go. dnc chair, is this a job you want? >> no, no, no. >> you definitely -- >> i'm hoping they can convince donna brazile to stay on. >> we'll see. governor granholm, thank you so much. >> i didn't hear granholm say not in any situation, no matter what happens. so maybe we'll have to stay on it. donald trump, blaming us, of course, for twisting his words, for overanalyzing what he said about the second amendment followers. certainly, he is not going to

apologize. what does his campaign say this is really about. are they concerned at all. next. soon, she'll be binge-studying. get back to great. this week sharpie singles now twenty-five cents. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great.

hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is. i don't know. >> bad joke? reckless? trump aware of it? does he care about it? he is facing a firestorm, that's for sure, about what happened at the north carolina rally. what does the campaign say about this, about why it does or does not matter in their opinion. sam clovis, national co-chair, chief policy advisor for the trump campaign. friend of "new day" joins us. sam, thank you for making it in to talk to us. appreciate it. for context on this, when i heard it, i was like, you know, i think he made a bad joke, but i get there is probably a different standard for somebody

who wants to be president. senator susan collins, no fan of trump, no fan of clinton either. and you know she is a respected republican. here was her take. want your take on her take. here it is. >> donald trump has such a history of making remarks that denigrate people, that mock the vulnerable, that are so inappropriate for a presidential candidate, and thus, when he makes a remark like this, which i interpreted as not in any way inciting violence, people leap to the conclusion that he is trying to send some sort of message. >> so sam, she says i don't think trump was trying to incite violence on this. but this is what he does, and that's why she thinks he is unfit. what is your take? >> well, i think she is certainly entitled to her opinion. she served her state very well.

for a long time. and would never say anything against senator collins. i think she is a respectable person who has done a great job in the senate for her people. i think that the issue that we're with here, she hit the nail on the head, and that's when mr. trump speaks, it is not as artful as a lot of people might think. the other aspect of this is that when i heard what he had to say, i didn't take it as inciting anything. i thought he was talking about the hundred million gun owners in america that own 300 million guns. i mean, this is, you know, i count myself among those. and so i didn't have any trouble understanding exactly what he was saying. that's a lot of votes. and that's what is at stake, protection of the second amendment, frankly, protection of the first amendment, protection of the fourth amendment. these are -- and we would like to see empowerment in the tenth amendment as we go forward.

i didn't have any issue with it at all. but you know, of course, i've been around mr. trump a long time. i've been with the camp for a year. so i didn't have any issue with it at all. i could understand how people leap to this, and certainly, the media. chris, i think you would have to agree, there is certainly the people that hang on every word. they parse every word. as perhaps they should. but the issue is that a lot of times, we try to incite the media tries to incite more than the candidates do. >> well, sam, as you know there are good politicians and bad. there is good and bad media. we're talking about being president of the united states. >> right. >> whose words are weighed and measured in a way that no other individual in the face of the planet is. so the simple question is, even if it is a mistake, even if it is innocent, even if it is benign, doesn't he have to do better? >> i think that this is all part of the, you know, one of the things that chris, as you know, i am a college professor in my day job, and one of the things

we try to teach our students in business school is about learning organizations. and if an organization is able to learn, it will learn and become a better and more effective. and i think we're still going through some of those aspects of this, about learning what we have to do as an organization. i heard ed rollins on another network this morning, gave an incredible analysis of where we are in the campaign. i don't need to regurgitate that here. it really struck me that that was the point that i wanted to talk to you about this morning, about organizations need to learn. if you don't learn, you're not going to be successful. we need to learn as an organization. >> sam, look, as you know, right now, trump has me blacklisted. he doesn't want to come on or like my style of interviewing with him. that's his decision. but this keeps happening, sam. you've been very good to me, because the voters need the access to the campaign. that's what it is about. it is not personal.

but you know, this isn't about your system. this is not the organization. this is him. this keeps coming. even if it is something silly like were you good i that sounds just like you making phone calls about your pr 20 years ago that only you would make, and he denies it. is the star sheriff, no, it is the star of david. he doesn't own the mistakes. he doesn't apologize, which is what leaders do. is that a learning curve or a character flaw? >> no, i think, i really want to go back and i would take issue with you, chris. >> please. >> that's what i do for a living. and i do think the organization has to learn and what that means is the people that we have around, people in the campaign, the advice that's given, the temperament, the discipline on the message, all of these factors are all part of that, and as we go on, we have plenty of time. i mean there is still plenty of time this summer. we're not to labor day yet.

we're not to the first debate yet. i see these issues talking about the polls, and i query on that just last night about the polls, and my response to that was, it is a good thing that the election isn't held today. that's a good thing. the good news is, we still have a long ways to go. >> sure. >> and frankly, we've seen a lot happen. you know he in my own personal experience, if i had believed the polls, i would have gotten out of my race, and i'm glad i didn't. it sure changed my life and the ability for me to stick with it. i just want to make one point. >> please. >> this is a movement. one of the things that's important here, no matter how the things end up here, this is a movement that will last long after donald trump is a candidate or president of the united states. because we're seeing a transformation in this country, the political landscape in both parties. i think that this is something that's really significant, and chris, i hope we don't miss

this. i think this is the best and the biggest story to come out of this election cycle. >> look, sam, i'm with you 150%. that's part of the tragic irony here, is that people who are motivated by what trump caught on to early on in this process, their anger, their frustration, they're having to forgive constant shortcomings of the candidate in ways like we just saw in this stump, because of how real their enthusiasm, their desperation, their desire is, for something better. that's why we're bringing this up. the movement is real. the people do deserve a voice. that voice has to be responsible. >> well, i do think also, chris, i've talked about this many times on this program, about the issue you and i can talk about. we drove down to the fourth decimal place, you and alisyn do a tremendous job on the analysis, you've been extremely gracious and fair and professional with me. but the issue is, you and i can

get down to the fourth decimal place and i'm not sure the person that goes to a rally or ends up at a roolally really ca about you and i think at the end of the day. how they feel and do they think they're going to be better off with hillary clinton or with donald trump. right now, i think you're going to see a lot of this undercurrent that will flow to donald trump. i really think this is what is going on, and we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out. like i said, we've got a long time to. >> >> we're here for the duration. invite your candidate to come on, because he is the one they wants to hear. sam clovis, thank you for being with us on "new day" as always. >> thanks, chris. appreciate it. >> i appreciate it as well. brianna. chris, a list of states that usually go republican. utah is reliably at the top of the list. but with mormo mormons not sold donald trump, could they turn blue.

trump's trouble attracting mormo mormons, next.

do i love the mormons, okay. do i love the mormons.

>> but do they love him. it does not appear so. donald trump, this is the question. will the favor be returned. mormons make up the majority in utah and can the state turn blue perhaps, when the votes are cast in 90 days. here to discuss, robert gerkey, and robert, this would be very unprecedented. utah has gone for a republican all the way back now decades. 1964 was the last time it went blue. why is donald trump, who came third in the utah caucuses, having such a hard time attracting this reliable republican lock? >> right, well, in the mormons are the most reliable voting group, but he has style and substance. he has got obviously, i'm not breaking any new ground here, but he has a brash swagger about him, and you know, he is outspoken, he says things that

are some, seen as abrasive. it doesn't fit well with the more genteel political attitudes we have here in utah. you know, he has the personal baggage, you know, the past marriages and things like that. there is some positions on social issues that the mormons are uneasy with. >> his past support for abortion. >> yeah, but the two biggest ones, really, are that he has got this issue where mormons have been sort of chased from state to state throughout their, you know, since their foundation. there was an extermination order put on them by the governor of missouri back in the 1800s. so there is this issue that is sort of engrained in their psyche. when you have donald trump talking about prohibiting muslims from entering the country, when you make blanket statements like that, it is hard for them to swallow. the second thing really is that a lot of mormons serve two year

missions in latin america and mexico. so they go there and meet these people and they, now owe, pr prosthlesize. they don't see mexicans as this dire threat that we need to build a wall to keep them out. they see them as friends, neighbors, and fellow human beings. so the pronouncements against immigration, they don't see it as sorts of inherent dire threat that donald trump is -- >> yeah, there are also large mormon populations in mexico as well. i want to play something -- >> that's right. >> from senator mike lee. he is one of a number of prominent republicans raising issues about donald trump. here is what he said. >> he has made some statements that some have identified correctly as religiously intolerant. we can get into the fact that while the unpopular in my state in part because my state

consists of people who are members of a religious minority church, a people who were ordered exterminated by the governor of missouri in 1838, and statements like that make them nervous. >> so to your point there, this is something that bothers mormons, this idea of religious intolerance, but we've also seen, and we spoke yesterday to evan mcmolman, a candidate from utah, throwing his hat in the ring. he has an uphill battle, but specifically in the state of utah. is there enough of an appeal that he could be a write-in candidate, maybe siphon up enough votes from donald trump and potentially hillary clinton could win utah? >> yeah, i mean, it is kind of hard. he has only been in the race for 48 hours, so we have to wait and see how much traction he gets. there is a good chance that he can get on the ballot here, because the deadline is not until monday and it is a low threshold to do that.

we've seen in utah, gary johnson had 16% when he was on the ballot four years ago, he got about 1%. there is 15% of people who are basically looking for somebody else. they are dissatisfied with donald trump. donald trump is polling at 37%, four years ago, mitt romney got 73% of the vote in the state. obviously, that was an anomaly, because he was a mormon candidate. but you can see, mormons are chilly toward the republicans. they're not coming around to the trump campaign, so there is probably some inroads for he have -- he have vevan to make i state. >> that's an open question. we'll see if it changes the game. i think it will change the breakdown, if not the actual outcome of utah.

robert gehrke, we certainly appreciate you being with us. thanks. >> thanks. brianna, the election is ugly, but the olympics have been beautiful. lilly king, making americans proud. taking home a gold from the rio games. up next, we're going to ask lilly's parents about their daughter's success and anti-doping message. they join us from rio. look at those sniemiles. nobody as proud as parents like this on this morning. then your rates go through the roof. perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. and if you do have an accident, our claims centers are available to assist you twenty-four seven. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

u.s. olympic swimmer, lilly king taking home the gold. a record smashing win in the women's 100-meter breaststroke. she is making headlines for another reason as well. she is so anti-doping, she says that's what it is all about. she is making headlines by going after other u.s. team members. joining us now are lilly's parents, let's deal with being parents first. congratulations, mom and dad. what is it like to see the 19-year-old that you probably still remember in diapers bringing home the gold in epic fashion? >> it is fantastic. you know, just a dream come true for her. any time your kids are happy, that makes you happy. >> she has worked incredibly hard and it is nice to see her reap those rewards.

>> when it comes to swimming, years and years, thousands and thousands of hours of dedication, mark, i'm sure you both swapped off bringing them to the pool. jenny may have done it more. when did you know this kid, this kid isn't just good. she could be great. when did you know? >> i don't think that moment came along until very recently. she has climbed the ladder very steadily and we're very dedicated the idea of just very slow progression, and letting herb involved in other things at school and with her friends, other sports we didn't rush her to the top in any fashion. we were just, you know, she got really kind of into the elite level when she was about 17 or 18. we didn't rush it. >> wow, great point. a lot of parents struggle with that, how much do you focus on a sport if they show talent. how did you do it with ginny, finding her way to where she is now.

>> we let her make her own decisions. early on, we encouraged our kids to be involved in something. didn't matter whether it was sports or music or some other kind of activity. and we gave them a lot of options and you know, exposed them to different sports. she played volleyball and ran track and cross-country. but swimming was always her number one. it was the thing she always came back to. >> mark, where does the passion come from to anti-doping weec. t we would assume every athlete wants to do it fair and clean, but why is she so passionate about this? >> it is hard to say, but you know, once you get to a certain level in this sport, you go into the drug testing protocol and she has been in that protocol for a couple of years now, once she got to a certain ranking in the world, and she takes it very seriously. in fact, we were joking about it earlier that even coming up there were times she would take a pass on a poppy seed bagel, because she didn't want to get

popped on a drug test. it is not something ginny and i talked with her about it. she is outspoken about following the rules and doing it the right way. >> this had an obvious implication when the russians have their own scandal, that's one of the obvious contexts this would come into play. she also made comments about other u.s. team members, noticeably, justin gatlin, who would serve a suspension time for using peds. what does she want to achieve with this kind of level of activi activism. >> she didn't comment about other american athletes. she commented about other athletes who had been busted for doping, whether they're american or russian or it doesn't matter. the you know, everybody should be judged on the same playing field, whether they're, you know, regardless of their nationality. >> so what do you do now? where is your head now, on what's next for lilly?

what are you looking for here at the olympics? this changes everything. >> well, right now, we're thinking about the 200-meter breaststrokes that are going on this afternoon. we're living in the moment, day-to-day people, and we're looking forward to the next races and we're looking for the medally relay when she swims with her teammates and wears the stars and trips on her cap. >> i'll tell you, we will be watching. her life will never be the same. she is living in the moment right now. she is a gold medal winner. she smashed a record. she is letting her voice be heard on what matters to her. let's face it. it all comes back to the credit of her parents. so ginny and mark, thank you very much. it is great to meet you. con groot legratulations to the family. >> thank you so much. >> all right, look, doesn't get much better when you're dealing with an olympic gold medal. that's good stuff, by

definition. guess what, we have more for you, next.

get between you and life's dobeautiful moments.llergens by choosing flonase, you're choosing more complete allergy relief and all the enjoyment that comes along with it. when we breathe in allergens, our bodies react by overproducing 6 key inflammatory substances. most allergy pills only control 1. flonase controls 6. and six is greater than one. with flonase, more complete relief means enjoyment

of every beautiful moment. flonase, six is greater than one, changes everything. ♪ today's good stuff. >> so ready. >> the best day of jenny stepian's life. what, that's what we all say when we get married. >> we have to say that. >> this excitement, though, was special. it stemmed from something more than just her wedding day. >> thank you so much. >> are you kidding? >> me, listen -- >> why is she so grateful. that man is not jenny's father. her father passed away in 2006. a man she is thanking is arthur

thomas. he is the man who received her father's heart. >> wow. >> what greater honor could a person have than walking the daughter of a man whose given his heart to him. >> jenny and arthur met on the eve of her wedding. he walked her down the aisle, so a piece of her father could be there on her big day. >> that's gorgeous. amazing. >> right. a beautiful gesture by him and amazing connection for her. >> it sure is. so important. >> time for the "newsroom" new, with carol costello. >> that was really nice. >> gets you right here. >> yes, it does. thanks, chris. have a great day. "newsroom" starts now. >> she gets to pick her judges. nothing you can do, folks. the second amendment people, i don't know. maybehe