unleashing in a tirade of tweets. >> the shackles are some of the establishment people that are weak and ineffective people within the republican part y, senators and others and paul ryan. >> reporter: announcing he will no longer defend donald trump. >> the first sign of a little bit of difficulties he unendorses. i wouldn't want to be in a fox hole with a lot of these people. especially ryan. >> reporter: blasting senator john mccain for evoking his endorsement. >> john mccain who probably has the dirtiest mouth in all the senate. >> reporter: trump rejecting the idea about his comments forcing himself on women is a valid reason for his supporters to abandon him. >> locker room talk and most people have heard it before and i had a lot of women come up tame and say, boy, i heard that and i've heard a lot worse than that over my life. >> reporter: this as more republicans, particularly those in tight races, attempt to

distance themselves from the nominee. >> i have been openly very critical of policy positions that donald trump has taken. >> reporter: as others are sticking by his side and celebrating his intraparty attacks. >> we need a donald trump to show some authoritarian power in our country and bring back the rule of law. >> reporter: the clinton campaign moving swiftly to capitalize on the republican revolt. rolling out the democratic party's biggest names to turn out the vote. >> you can't repeatedly denounce what is said by someone. and then say, but i'm still going to endorse them to be the most powerful person on the planet. >> your vote really, really, really counts. you can consider me as an exhibit a of that truth. >> reporter: as trump's team pivots to a new strategy aimed at driving down clinton's favorability numbers.

in hopes of keeping democratic voters home. now, in a private fund-raise er yesterday in san antonio trump blaming republicans for not helping his campaign. reportedly saying they are getting in the way of his campaign and not defending him on tv. in the meantime, republicans are flatly worried that trump's unpopularity could drag down the rest of the ticket in key senate battleground states across the country. so, alisyn, we're already seeing the gop blame game start to play out less than a month before election day. >> we should be exploring that all throughout our program. thank you for setting that up. hillary clinton's chairman is accusing the russians of hacking his e-mail in order to influence the election. suggesting that the trump campaign had some advance warning that these e-mails were coming. cnn's suzanne malveaux is live in washington with more. what have you learned, suzanne? >> they continue to be dogged by this drip, drip, drip of e-mails now being published by wikileaks

raise more questions about the justice department. one in which brian fallen is communicating with the justice department in may of 2015 about a civil lawsuit that resulted in the state department releasing tens of thousands of clinton's e-mails. donald trump says this is collusion, corruption and supports his call for a special prosecutor to look into what he is calling clinton's crimes. the clinton campaign says fallon was relaying information that was completely in the public domain at the time. the second part is e-mails from john podesta. there are more than 5,000 now that reveal some of the inner workings of the campaign, the strategy dealing with bernie sanders and reporters they like and don't like among other things. podesta was asked, what does he think the impact of all this is and who does he think is behind it? here's the response. >> so, i think it's a reasonable

assumption to, or at least a reasonable conclusion that he had a warning in the trump campaign about what assange was going to do. >> wikileaks claims have more than 50,000 of podesta's e-mails that they'll be releasing piece meal. while they do not believe that there is anything really damaging here, it certainly is a distraction and they still don't know what else is coming, chris. >> that's always the intrigue, right? what will be next? and then it comes and we're kind of like. let's discuss right now. paul begala and cnn political commentator and trump supporter to say the least, kaylie. what do you say? do we have the ad? a new ad out from the trump campaign and an obvious message

about hillary clinton. let's play it. >> our next president faces daunting challenges in a dangerous world. iran promoting terrorism, north korea threatening, isis on the rise and libya and north africa in chaos. hillary clinton failed every single time as secretary of state. now she wants to be president. hillary clinton doesn't have the fortitude, strength or stamina to lead in our world. she failed as secretary of state, don't let her fail us, again. >> you like this ad? >> i think it was kind of clever because, look, he wove in kind of the health question subtly -- >> subtly? subtle as a heart attack. >> the broader message that will resonate is those were benghazi images. look, four americans died on your watch and they'd still be here today if someone who had the strength and the fortitude and the right judgments in that situation. so t was subtly woven in. i don't think the health issue

is going to sway a single voter, but i think the benghazi issue might. >> sunday night at the debate, one of the citizens can you say anything nice about your opponent? he said, she's tough' she doesn't quit. she keeps coming back and coming back. donald trump attested to her fortitude at the end of a 90-minute debate. now, 48, 72 hours after praising her stamina and now he is attacking her stamina. better to talk about the health of the american people. for once, he ought to break out of this narcissism and actually talk about voters. >> four americans died on her watch. >> i mean, i disagree with the ad. about trying to impugn somehow hillary's fortitude, strength, stamina, health. >> why to the trump team benghazi means so much. why doesn't the idea of how many

died under reagan's watch when you had all those marines go down and the exact kind of situation. why doesn't that ever give pause? secretary of state wasn't at fault at that situation and president wasn't faulted in that situation. there wasn't a single hearing about it. what do you think the difference is? >> ronald reagan isn't running -- >> he is going to go further back than that with the clintons. he's happy to go back. why isn't he going back to this? >> hillary clinton is running against donald trump. this is the clever trick that folks do. they try to focus on these when we talk about sexual assault, they try to focus on bill clinton's actions. they have nothing to do with bill clinton's actions and hillary clinton trying to silence sexual assault victims. >> one at a time. juanita broderick. what did she do? >> a deposition taken by a private investigator and said i was hired by hillary's lawyers to stalk these women and cause fear in them.

>> she doesn't make that claim herself. during a hand shake with hillary clinton many, many years ago she said she felt she knew and had a chilling effect. >> i am never going to question a sexual assault victim, i'm going talisten o listen to her. it comports with the story in an underoath deposition of a private investigator who went after these women. let's put that aside and look at the 12-year-old girl who was defended by hillary clinton against a man who had raped her violently. this girl could never have children again. hillary clinton went on the radio and all the viewers can go look up the clip and laughed. she forever lost her faith in lie detector tests because this man who raped a 12-year-old girl got off. >> who deserves a defense? only the people you like? they didn't teach you about hearsay. you proved that on our own set. you don't know what hearsay is. >> i was using the culochi-- lon

you defend someone who is guilty, you do it with a heavy heart. >> you think she's laughing about a person who murdered and raped and -- >> let me give you a direct quote from that interview. >> go ahead. >> he passed the lie detector test which forever destroyed my faith in lie detector tests and then cackled after. she went on and laughed. this girl can never have children, again. we should play it on the network. we play donald trump -- >> play it for yourself and then see if you agree. now, on the other side of the ball, wikileaks. you have brian fallon talking with the doj about information and podesta showing how the sausage is made. do you accept that there is a perception that comes out in these e-mails that hillary clinton, everything is

absolutelymicromanned. >> that's a fair point. hillary is someone who does all her homework and lines everything up. i don't think it's a bad thing in a president. i think it's a good thing, yes. but you do see that. it needs to be commented and this network is doing it. i have been complaining a lot about the press. this is a theft. this is a hack. this is a foreign power -- >> is it illegal to possess the wikileaks documents unless you're us. >> it is true that the press, it's been a bank robbery, right. the press is running around and scooping up picking up the bills on the ground rather than chasing the robber. >> we had to go with leaked information. >> the most important value. it is. even here. but he does have a right to private e-mail conversations. you know one thing we did learn his recipe for creamy risotto. >> what did you learn? >> we learned that the russians are trying to help donald trump.

they have not hacked the republicans. they have timed this. our own intelligence agencies say the russians are doing this. >> they believe it's russia. it's wrong for them to hack. it's wrong for them to man manipulate a campaign and wrong if they're doing it to help trump. fine. what do you see in there? >> i see if she had said what she had told private banks one year ago, bernie sanders would be the nominee. she was out there saying i have done everything i can and i have a public position and private position and moreover i see a double standard of justice. in a speech she gave information with regard to the bin laden raid. and we learned where bin laden was and there was a navy s.e.a.l. who did the same thing and gave information in a book. he was the subject of criminal investigation. and a double standard of justice. you, the viewers, american citizens, you get a whole other one. >> the bin laden raid has been the subject of so much reporting. all of that was in the public realm, including, on cnn, movies, books, rekraugzs, news

stories, tick talks. that was not a secret fact about how we found out where bin laden was. but what you see is a campaign working through a campaign's positions. a campaign's posturing. that stuff, nobody wants it. by the way, nobody wants to hear the private conversations in a newsroom either or in a law practice or in a medical practice. all of us in our professional settings sometimes we but heads and argue and what's upsetting tame is had my friend is the victim of a crime and the crime was perpetrated by russians trying to hack our election and steal it for donald trump. >> your friend is a typical politician. thats thit. get rid of the politicians and get people who are going to bring change to washington. >> they do say that trump never sent an e-mail in his life. >> very smart. i'm with you on that.

>> hayleigh, paul, thank you very much. donald trump unshackled and deploying an unearthed strategy against establishment republicans. the chairman asked donald trump to abandon that strategy. how did that conversation go? we talk to the ohio chairman, next. sorry, ariana you gotta go. seriously? verizon limits me and i gotta get home. you're gonna choose navigation over me? maps get up here. umm... that way. girl! you better get on t-mobile! why pay more for data limits? introducing t-mobile one, unlimited data for everyone. get four lines just $35 a month. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine.

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early voting starts today in ohio. it's, obviously, a critical swing state and with less than a month until election day donald trump has decided to wage war on members of his own party. >> paul ryan, you know, open borders and amnesty and lots of other and bad budgets, by the way. very, very bad budgets. frankly, the only one that obama negotiateates well with is paul ryan. the shackles are some of the establishment people that are weak and ineffective people within the republican party. senators and others. and paul ryan led to a certain extent. i think we should get support and we don't get the support from guys like paul ryan. >> our next guest warns donald trump to tone down the political end fighting and focus on

hillary clinton. matt borgis is the chairman of the ohio republican party. he joins us now, good morning, chairman. >> good morning. >> on monday you had a conversation with donald trump in which you basically said this is not a winning strategy. do not fight with members of the gop. focus, instead, on hillary clinton. are you filing that under message not received? >> not quite yet. i'm going to have another conversation with him today and he needs to know that elections aren't about getting the same people to like you more. elections are about getting more people to like you. and we are in the closing argument phase now of this campaign. like you mentioned, the voting starts in ohio in less than an hour. and once those people have voted, their votes can't be changed. they can't go back and change their mind later. so, right now what he needs to be doing is defining himself and defining his ability to lead this country moving forward and why he's better than the

alternative, which, of course, we know that alternative is a liar and a disaster. >> but, matt, hold on a second here. you, obviously, share those thoughts with him. this is conventional wisdom that you're sharing. what are you going to say to him today about what your fellow republican politicians in ohio are begging him to do? >> well, this isn't about begging anyone. i don't know that anyone is begging him to do it. i think what i'm doing is trying to give him the best advice for him. i'm not out there trying to defend paul ryan. he hasn't asked me to and he doesn't need me to. i'm trying to give donald trump the best advice on how to carry ohio. something we in ohio know how to do very, very well. look at john kasich and rob portman and other elected officials who have one huge elections here by huge margins and the notion that we don't know how to win ohio is kind of crazy, if you think about it. we do know how to win here. i, myself, have run seven

campaigns, five statewide and i have never lost one. i am trying to help give donald trump the best advice on how to win here. he can't win this election without carrying ohio. >> why isn't he listening to you? >> well, again, this is an ongoing process and whether he listens to me or not, as a leader in this party, i need to give him the best advice i possibly can. i don't want to wake up on november 9th and say, i wish i had done x. i wish i had called him. i wish i had given different or better advice. i will give him the best advice i can and continue to give him the best advice i can until he asks me to stop and he has kept that line of communication open with me. i will get him back in the right direction. >> when you talked to donald trump on monday he assured you that there were no more embarrassing audiotapes or videotapes that could come out. what did he say? >> well, i asked him point

blank. there had been some stuff on the internet and some rumors swirling around over the weekend about other things that might be out there. and one of the things that i had read about that was possibly out there was just so far beyond the pail that it was going to make it impossible for any of us to continue to move forward. so, i asked him point blank about it. >> do you want to tell us what that was? >> yeah. it was the article that i had seen somewhere. i am trying to remember the publication that printed it. somewhere i had seen an article where perhaps there was an audio recording of him using a very, very foul word. something that candidly would have been worse than what we had seen on friday. what we saw friday was totally indefensib indefensible. and no one should try to dpefen it. what was out there that he had perhaps used a very charged word and something, a slur that is

just absolutely not in any way going to be accepted by any of ous he us here and we immediately would have repudiated that and i asked him point blank about it. does it exist? he assured me it does not exist and i am taking him at his word. >> i ask because there are reports out there that there might be more tapes. maybe something from "the apprenti apprentice" and how donald trump could be so certain that nothing else was going to come out. >> what he told me about that specific allegation was that he has never used that word in his life. again, i am taking him at his word. and, therefore, we have an opportunity to move forward in this campaign. on sunday night, he breathed life back into the campaign by having an excellent debate

performance. so, now, we move forward and over the next 28 days as ohioans are casting their votes and many thousands are going to cast their votes today. if those turn out to be votes against donald trump, those are votes we can never get back. so, instead, we have some very good news in terms of the absentee applications that have been requested by republicans. many more in ohio from republicans than from democrats and now it's time to execute and now it's time to make that closing argument and time to take advantage of the registration advantage that we at the ohio republican party helped create in ohio so that we can deliver ohio's electoral votes. as you know, no republican has ever gone to the white house without carrying ohio. this wouldn't be the first time. >> chairman borges, are you going to vote for donald trump? >> well, of course, if what we continue to -- what he told me is, in fact, the case. and i did have some, as you know, some questions over the weekend because one of the things that we had heard about

that was swirling around was that perhaps he was going to withdraw from the race. >> yeah. >> so, i called him sunday morning and asked him point blank. are you going to do that? he said, absolutely not. so, moving forward, he's our nominee. of course, i don't want hillary clinton in the white house. and we only have two choices. so, of course, i'll support our nominee and i assured him when i spoke with him on monday afternoon that as long as the things that he told me were true and as long as we can move forward in a constructive fashion that the ohio republican party and i will do everything we can to make sure that he carries ohio in the fall. >> well, we look forward to hearing about your conversation with him today. chairman matt borges, thanks for sharing all that with us. >> thanks for having me. if anyone ever asks you whether you support me in any way, do not answer like that. okay. say yes, i like working with him.

not, well, he's the only choice i have right now. >> i do say that when asked. which i am often. >> that does not make me feel good if you do answer that way. >> well, i'm waiting to see if he answers the next thing right. >> day by day. donald trump, the american version of vladimir putin. what does that mean? well, there's a famous russian dissident who says that two men are frightening similar. who says that? former chess champion gary says it. why? next.

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so, the town hall sunday night between donald trump and hillary clinton got a lot of people talking. right, it could really be the most ugly situation we've seen in presidential history. one of the interesting reactions that went viral was this tweet.

okay. trump's president day one checklist. one jail opponent. two, media crackdown. three, support assad. coincidentally that was also putin's checklist. you see the name there. one of the smartest people you'll meet in your life. garry kasparov and a book you can get right now. mr. kasparov, great to have you. >> thank you. >> first, the question that many people will have this morning. why? why would you get involved in something like this? we know you're involved in humanitarian causes, but what is driving your desire to expose yourself to the fray? >> look, i think that trump's potential victory democracy in this country, but, democracy worldwide and it could be the gift for putin or others in the

world because they see trump as a perfect agent. that's what dictators need. that's what putin needs to destroy the system of global security and trump, from what he says and what he does even before being elected is a p perfect counterpart. >> an agent of phrase. maybe people can look at what he's doing here as disruptive and that could be an opportunity. but to liken him to putin, obviously, you understand putin and his ways better than many americans do unless they do a lot of homework. do you think it's fair to compare the two men favorably? >> i think it's fair because trump demonstrates time and again his disrespect for democratic proernls ii iic proc way he talks about global security. i mean, it just raises many questions and i think from what we know about donald trump his

life, you know, his demeanor. so, should raise these questions and the fact that he denies, you know, any involvement of putin and kgb into affairs like hacking dnc or other american institutions and, by the way -- >> there is a new commercial out where he's talking about hillary clinton's health. there is no mention of russia. >> so, that tells you that something sinister that he's hiding and he won't release his taxes. again, i feel very comfortable because many things that trump said and he's saying, i heard them before and, trust me, didn't sound any better in russian. >> you have an obvious gift for logic and strategy. when you look at what has propelled donald trump to this point, his success. why he is in a relatively tight race 27 days out, why is it

happening? >> again, it's unfortunately comes from many dictator's playbooks. they address real -- the issues that donald trump raised throughout the campaign, they're real. a lot of people in this country they feel his pain and then you hear. that's typically for every deckitator dec dictator. i am the one who can fix it. don't ask me how because i know it and i will tell you -- >> but politicians are often say they overpromise. how is he different? >> there are legitimate politicians that can make promises they cannot fulfill. trump is not making promises. he is trying to culler the big pi picture. it is so much against the procedures, you know, closing borders for muslims and, you know, again, debates.

by the way, the good thing, we've never seen putin in debates. he could avoid them in russia. but trump in debates, you know, his behavior there shows he's not capable of learning and this dictator inclination to deflect criticism. so, you know, he doesn't want to give criticism and he's getting very, very annoyed. >> foreign minister of russia sits down and he says, i don't have to deny it because the u.s. has not proved it. what do you think? >> that's basically a confession. by there way, the same was said by putin when he said it doesn't matter who actually released this, these e-mails. what mattered was the substance. you know, in one of my tweets i said that anyone can, but only

kgb. while certain things that are hurting hillary and other democrats the fact it has its hands on it. >> you're completely confident. >> and attacking u.s. political system can happen only with a direct order from putin. nobody in russia would do it without no dictator's permission. when he's dealing with evidence. the rest becomes irrelevant. the fact that trump keeps relying on this data and inviting foreign power tells you about some kind of sinister plan because you know from kgb playbooks trump was a person to recruit. look at his biography, financial problems, bankruptcies, you know. his behavior and this innate sense of impunity and he keeps,

you know, telling us that his taxes were released because and then many other reasons. i don't buy them. and i just also know so much, you know, that brings trump and putin together. so, for those who would like, i can address them to the website, the new website putintrump.org because many more stories coming out. and for americans that, you know, that are planning to vote for trump/pence they should realize they're voting for putin/trump with putin on the top of the ticket. >> people should go to the website and see the basis for it. garry kasparov, pleasure to meet you. a father sent to prissen for decades convicted of abusing his son, but was it all wrong? >> do you think jeremy was charged because of that lie? >> i do. yes. of course.

>> could new evidence prove no crime was ever committed. the fascinating details ahead the fascinating details ahead for you. healthy, free, the world re me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me. are you ready?? you gotta be ready. ♪ oh, i'm ready i mean, really ready. are you ready to open? ready to compete? ready to welcome? the floors, mats-spotless. the uniforms, clean and crisp. do your people have the right safety gear? are they protected? i'm ready! you think your customers can't tell the difference between who's ready and who's not? of course they do. ♪ i'm ready for you

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♪ prepare for challenges specific to your business by working with trusted advisors who help turn obstacles into opportunities. experience the power of being understood. rsm. audit, tax and consulting for the middle market. u.s. military commanders in iraq say isis is turning small drones into flying bombs.

the terror group had been using drones for surveillance, but is now rigging the devices with explosives. two kurdish fighters were killed after they shot one down. u.s. officials warning troops to view any small aircraft as a possible bomb. the fbi and ntsb are investigating whether a deadly small plane crash in connecticut was intentional. according to the "new york times." the surviving pilot reportedly telling investigators it was not an accident. faa records show the 28-year-old passenger who died was certified to fly a single-engine plane. the crash happened on a street near an airport in hartford. two people in a minivan also suffered minor injuries. >> mysterious. as is this next story. did tim tebow perform a miracle during his minor league baseball debut? some people think so. tebow was signing autographs after an arizona league fall game when a fan apparently had a seizure and collapsed. witnesses say tebow comforted

the man, said a prayer and the fan immediately came to. tebow then chatted with him until paramedics arrived. what do you think, chris? >> i think that seizures are really frightening and that there's a whole range of what they call an aura when people are having a seizure. and some people go into it and stay there and some people go into it and come right back out or it was a miracle. >> yes, we will never know. but tim tebow certainly his manners was very calm. whatever he did helped, basically. >> it was good that he reserved his powers for the man and not the game because he didn't play that great. all right, so, a father convicted of abusing his infant son sentenced to 70 years in prison. but is that the truth? new evidence could not only prove his innocence, but that there was never even a crime.

cnn's gripping months long investigation, next. but, first, arising digital artist but even getting raves on youtube he was quietly suffering from bipolar disorder and he turned his life around. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has his story in this morning's turning point. >> not easily discouraged. >> i went to the dean of my department and told her i was going to create a youtube channel. she told me the worst decision that i could make for my acting career. >> it wasn't. >> i started my youtube channel in 2011. >> he set out to make people laugh. >> i would reenact what it was like to live in a middle eastern household. >> but deep down he was struggling. >> i became aware of my depression probably in college. >> after gaining success on

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next monday could be a life-changing moment for a man in central florida. his name is jim duncan. he is in prison serving 70 years

for a crime he says he did not commit. prosecutors disagree. they stand by his conviction, but there may be new evidence that could not only show that jim duncan is innocent, but that a crime was never committed by anyone. cnn's jean casarez is here with this fascinating story. jean, you have been following this story for months. what have you learned? >> jim duncan was convicted of aggravated child abuse 21 years ago. prosecutors say he broke the bones of his infant son but duncan has maintained his innocence from the very beginning, even shooting down any possibility of a plea deal when his case first went to trial more than two decades ago. now with a new lawyer and what could be new medical science, duncan is hoping he will get a new trial. his lawyer is taking the case to the court of appeal next week. it is a story of broken bones that ultimately shattered many lives. >> we were in a waiting room, and then some doctor comes in

and starts screaming at both of us, and saying that we hurt our child. >> the conclusion was that this was definitely abuse. >> all i could think about was oh, my god he's going to die in there, never see his kids. neither one of us hurt him. >> my name is james duncan. i was convicted of 13 counts of aggravated child abuse. i did not do this. i am innocent. i did not harm my son. >> the relentless florida sun beats down on the avon park prison for another day. for inmate james s. duncan it may as well be eternity in hell. >> the whole prime of my life is gone. i spent all --

>> reporter: duncan, imprisoned at 29, is 21 years in a 70-year sentence, convicted of aggravated child abuse upon his infant son cody. in the early '90s the duncans were a happy family. 24-year-old jim and his wife rhonda, just 21, were living in st. petersburg, florida. ♪ they had a 2-year-old son name kevin. two years later, cody duncan was born, february 8th, 1993. but as the weeks went on, rhonda realized something was very wrong. with cody. >> i kept bringing him to the doctor. and saying, you know, my baby is crying all the time. >> reporter: he wasn't using the left side of his body. >> so i called jimmy and told him that the doctor said, take him to the emergency room. he goes, okay, i'll meet you there. >> reporter: it was there, life

came crashing down when a doctor delivered some gut-wrenching news. >> he threw up these x-rays, and said cody had 13 broken bones and a skull fracture. and they told me the police were coming. so, there was a detective, and there were police. i really didn't know what was going on. i was a young kid. and -- these people ruined my life. >> reporter: jim's mother celeste remembers it well. so there were three people

designated as suspects. lo were they? >> me, my son, and rhonda. >> would you say what happened to cody? >> oh, yeah. i always thought i failed as a father to protect my son. because i didn't know what happened to him. >> reporter: a mystery to the family, especially since cody didn't have any bruises or internal injuries to his soft tissue. what no one knew at the time, one person had stepped forward to police. that person, doris kibby, rhonda's grandmother. she told authorities she was an eyewitness to jim harming his son. >> want you to start from the beginning of when you first had contact with cody. >> reporter: this is 1994 police video obtained by cnn, where doris describes to detectives what she saw jim do. >> i walked in, he took the baby, and did this with it. >> reporter: two days later police charged jim duncan with 13 counts of aggravated child

abuse. there was only one problem, doris wasn't telling the truth. do you think jimmy was charged because of that lie? >> i do. yes. of course. >> reporter: members of the family say doris made up the story in a moment of panic to protect rhonda, and keep the kids from being put in foster care because police would have their man. in an interview with cnn, doris now 87 admits jim never touched cody. >> i said i'll swear on my grave and everything else, jim did not hurt him. >> reporter: doris later recanted her statement to law enforcement. it was never used in the case. but the damage was already done. prosecutors moved forward to trial. jim was convicted on all counts, and sentenced to 70 years in prison. and that baby, at the heart of it all, had his bones heal and he grew up.

graduating from college last year. cody duncan is now 23 years old, and says he knows his father was wrongly convicted. did you father abuse you when you were a little baby? >> no. i don't believe so. >> reporter: and you never had a doubt? >> i never once had a doubt that he hurt me. i don't believe it. >> reporter: if so, why, then, did infant cody have so many bone fractures? more than 1,000 miles away, in springfield, illinois, radiologist dr. david ayoub researches metabolic bone disease. the family believes he has the explanation of what happened to cody. >> the healing had already started at this point. >> reporter: he's one of the main authors of a study. in the peer reviewed paper he and his colleagues looked at previous studies of infant fractures determined to be from abuse.

their findings, those fractures very likely came from bone disease. these are the x-rays of cody's fractures from 1993. can you say to a degree of medical certainty that cody duncan had metabolic bone disease? >> absolutely. no question he had metabolic bone disease. >> she was a great mother -- >> reporter: ayoob believes cody had infantile rickets, a disease of early life in which bones do not mineralize properly. >> that's the exact description of fractures in children with compromised bone strength. many of their bones are weak. they're not fragile for a day or two. they're fragile over a period of time. >> reporter: he says babies with the disease have bones so fragile, that even regular handling can cause a break. and those fractures, he says, are often misdiagnosed as abuse. this is a case of a wrongfully convicted man. there's no victim. there's no crime. >> reporter: florida defense attorney elizabeth frier is working to get jim's conviction overturned. she says dr. ayoob's research is

new science and will prove cody's fractures were medical in nature, not criminal. so you petition the court. what do you want the court to do? >> look at this new evidence. hear the testimony of the doctors. learn about the new diagnosis, and the new science, and find that this would have made a difference in the trial, and grant mr. duncan a new trial. >> reporter: cnn reached out to trial prosecutor diane bailey morton. she declined our request for an interview. in 1996, florida pediatrician dr. mark morris was the head of the local child protection team. he examined cody and testified for the prosecution that cody's fractures were caused by abuse. he stands by his testimony. >> no alternative explanation, no history consistent with accidental injury, and then the type of injuries themselves. so, so if you put all those factors together, then you get the diagnosis of child abuse. >> all right. love you. >> love you, too. >> all right. bye-bye. >> bye.

>> reporter: this is all cody has known for 20 years. two phone calls a week with his father. >> i wish i could talk to him in person. you know -- it hurts, because i don't -- i just wish i could see my dad. >> cody duncan is leading the crusade to get his father's conviction overturned. jim duncan is now appealing to the second district court of appeal in florida, asking for that new trial. that appeal will be filed within days. >> jean, this is an incredible story. i mean, you can't help but feel for every single person involved. so once the father was out of the home and put in prison, then did cody continue to have bone fractures? >> that's a great question. he went to a medical foster family, taken away from both parents originally. did not have any more fractures. now, i cannot confirm as we're sitting here that they took more x-rays at that time.

because it was designated to be abuse. i mean from day one. but, dr. ayoob would say that as a baby gets stronger, then the vitamin "d" comes in, the cartilage forms strong bones, it is a disease of the infant itself. >> so in other words modern medicine has advanced since then. so that pediatrician who was sure back in 1993 that this was abuse, can he look at the new evidence now? >> it is still the prevailing gold standard that when you err on the side of caution, in 2008 an article came out peer reviewed saying that some say it can be abuse. but the fact is you have to err on the side of caution, because it most likely is abuse. 2014 peer reviewed article said wait a minute let's look at these x-rays in depth right here. there's metabolic bone disease. >> jean, we can't wait to see what happens next with this case. thanks so much for brigitte to us. >> thank you. >> we're following a lot of news this morning so let's get right to it. >> i wouldn't want to be in a

foxhole with a lot of these people. including ryan. >> come on, people! this isn't an audition. this ain't a show! >> let's focus on what's really important in this election. >> wikileaks is amazing. the stuff that's coming out. >> the russian government seems to be trying to interfere in this election and favor mr. trump. >> we do not deny this. they approve it. >> we have to investigate hillary clinton and we have to investigate the investigation. >> guess piet all of the terrible things he has said and done, he is still trying to win this election. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, everyone. donald trump going nuclear on his own party declaring himself freed from its quote, shackles, the republican nominee says he's better off without the support of house speaker paul ryan or senator john mccain. >> but trump's not just going after his own party. he's also rene