after the first attack. >> i think the president is misguided in his last statement. >> if you disagree with the president, he's going to show his rath. >> the president has not yet been annual to demonstrate the stability and competence he needs to be able to demonstrate. >> the president's emotional and mental health is going to become an increasingly important focus of this story. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning and welcome to your "new day." up first, the death toll rising to 14 victims in the terror attacks in spain. 13 of them died when a man in a van plowed into a crowd of people in the city's popular district known as las ramblas. a third suspect arrested overnight. police are still searching for the driver of that van. there is word of a second deadly

attack 70 miles away in the city of cambrils, thwarted by authorities. five terrorists there were killed. police say they're working under the assumption that the incident is linked to the one in barcelona. >> back at home, president trump under fire responding to the tragedy by tweeting out a debunk story about general pershing killing muslims over a century ago with bullets dipped into pig's blood. it is a fact-free tale that he also told during the campaign. the trump's presidency in peril as republican lawmakers questioning his fitness for office and his stability. before that, let's remember the victims as we begin our coverage this hour with arwa damon in barcelona. arwa. >> reporter: hi, poppy. one of those victims, to give you an idea of who these people were, was a father of a 5-year-old boy and a baby that was just a few months old. they were here on vacation.

while this is an attack that has shocked spain to a certain degree, although the country was bracing for this kind of violence, it has also reverberated with people across the globe, people from 24 different nations among those who were killed and wounded. here is a look at how the horrific events unfolded. it was just hours after a white van plowed through crowds of pedestrians on one of barcelona's popular streets. decat land police foiled an attack 70 miles south. it injured six civilians and one police officer. authorities fatally shot the driver of the car. the late night incident is believed to be related to the terrifying earlier attack in barcelona that killed at least 13 and injured more than 100. >> i saw people flying over the

vehicle, and it was just a really, really horrific scene of immediate carnage. >> witnesses say the driver of the van who remains on the loose accelerated to 50 miles per hour before zigzagging down the boulevard, attempting to hit as many people as possible. >> he was just plowing people down, swerving left and right. and it was -- my taxi driver stopped and we just froze. he kept saying oh, my god, oh, my god. to say the word terror, you just can't even imagine that fear when it comes over you. >> reporter: it was shear panic and total chaos. frightened survivors ran for cover. the famous promenade was covered in blood by bodies. one woman documented the carnage from her window overlooking la ramblas. >> it was crash, crash, crash and screams and cries.

>> reporter: investigators are now desperately searching for the driver who abandoned the van before fleeing on foot. spanish authorities are calling the assault an act of jihadi terrorism and isis is touting the attackers as soldiers of the islamic state. police arrested multiple suspects in separate cities, one connected to this house explosion in catalonia that killed one woman the night before the attack in barcelona. in the square behind me, placa decatalunya, a moment of silence and then the crowd that gathered here started chanting "we are not afraid." this has sadly become the norm here. it's the six th time that terrorists have used a vehicle as a deadly weapon. >> arwa damon, thank you so much for that reporting. a tragedy back here at home, president trump first quick to condemn the terror attack in barcelona, but his second response is sparking a whole lot

of controversy, this as more republican leaders come forward slamming his comments on charlottesville. athena jones is live in bridgewater where the president is this morning. >> reporter: good morning, poppy. in the face of on going criticism over his defense of white supremacy, we're seeing a pattern with the president, refusing to back down. instead he's inserting himself deeper into the racially charged debate over con federal memorials and sparking new criticism over his reaction to the horrific terror attack in barcelona. president trump spreading fake news while condemning barcelona's deadly van attack, telling his followers to study what general pershing did to muslim terrorists in the philippines, reviving a story he told on the campaign trail. >> he took 50 bullets and dipped them in pig's blood and they shot 49 of those people, and for 25 years there wasn't a problem.

>> reporter: the problem, historians have repeatedly said this never happened. this latest falsehood coming as president trump's support base continues to crack over his defense of white supremacists. >> you had a lot of people in that group who were there to innocently protest, and very legally protest -- i don't know if you know. they had a permit. >> reporter: the son of fox ceo rupert murdock, one of president trump's close informal advisers denouncing the president in a scathing e-mail writing, when we watched this last week in charlottesville and the reaction to it by the president of the united states concern all of us as americans and free people. the president's behavior also wearing thin with a growing list of his republican allies who were calling him out by name. >> the president has not yet, has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor

some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. >> what we want to see from our president is clarity and moral authority, and that moral authority is compromised -- >> reporter: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell releasing a statement throwing his full support behind senator jeff flake after president trump went after the arizona republican and senator lindsey graham on twitter. the controversy also taking a toll on the president's bottom line and his business relationships with three charities backing out of scheduled events at mar-a-lago, all of this as mr. trump ends plans for an advisory council on infrastructure. despite the backlash, the president digging in, calling it foolish to remove statues of confederate icons, lamenting the beauty that would be taken out of u.s. cities. the president has a much different view when asked about the removal of the confederate flag during the campaign. >> do you think it needs to go?

>> i think it probably does, and i think they should put it in the museum, let it go. >> reporter: now, the president leaves bedminster for a quick trip to camp david later this morning, only his second visit to the presidential retreat since taking office, but this is not a leisure trip. he'll be meeting with the national security council to talk about strategy in afghanistan and south asia. vice president mike pence cut short his trip to central america to return for the meeting. one thing that's not clear yet is whether another topic will come up like north korea. chris? >> athena, thank you very much. let's get back to barcelona. we have two witnesses of the attack there. juwa and liam. can you both hear me? >> yes. >> yes. >> first, thank you for being with us. we trust that you two are okay and is everybody that you knew, loved ones, anybody affected by

this? >> fortunately i'm okay and all my friends and family whom i speak with a few hours ago are okay. >> i'm the same. my friends and family are safe, my friends in the city are safe. >> many are not, liam. we know that. please help us understand what this was like to witness. liam, what did you see? >> i was coming down the road next to la rambla, i was skateboarding and listening to music. i heard banging noises and screams. in front of me, i saw everyone from the bars and restaurants start running, looking absolutely terrified, to which i did the same. we all ran into a theater next to where the van had stopped, and shortly after we realized

that, i kind of -- it hit me. it was quite a shock to be that close to what had happened. >> obviously the intention of the driver of that van was to hit as many people as possible. what was it like inside that theater with the unknown and the fear of what was happening outsi outside? >> first, i don't think anyone really knew what happened because it was like mass panic. all we knew is there was a van that had gone down la rambla. i originally thought it had come on the curb earlier than it had, then i learned from the news it had gone halfway down la rambla. inside the theater, everyone was scared and crying, people were upset of course. it was a pretty tense moment. >> juwan, your radio station is

right in the center of barcelona there. you didn't see the attack, but you know what is going on now and you saw the aftermath and the people running for their lives afterwards. what was that like? >> i was running with my motor bike to go on the radio. and in catalunya square, i see people running in different directions. a policeman stopped me and was shouting terrorist attack, please leave, leave, leave and i managed to park my motor bike and i didn't know where to go because all the people were getting inside shops. shops closing. other people was running through different directions. it was a panic situation where you don't know what's happening. i knew there was an attack down la rambla, but not there. it was the thing -- the feeling of the situation on going with panic and everything. to see in your own city where

you live and you do your own life daily, i bike through here every day, to see that scene, it's really, really schohocking. >> we know that the moment of silence was a powerful response to show that life will go on and that the people there are united against terror. what does something like this do to the hearts and minds of people in that area? what are you seeing today, joan? >> speaking with my friends, for example, maybe just a little thing but shows how here in barcelona there are a lot of people in a traffic jam through the whole city because everything was full of policemen and people took like eight hours to get away, and people living

there, just go down the street and offer them water, food. it's the sensation that unfortunately this has happened here in barcelona. everyone was texting me, everyone is okay. yes did several moments ago a moment of silence and we're all united. we've seen the response of the people, my friends and family and everyone here, it's like the feeling of we're a really nice city and we won't let the things that has happened here fear us. >> keep living and don't let the terrorist wins by changing how you live. gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. the best to you going forward. liam, joan, thank you. poppy? >> let's bring in our panel, cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank, phillip mudd and

david sanger. paul, we were covering the terrorist attack in 2015, you were there. that was a big cell. this is strikingly similar in that it seems like a pretty big cell with what may have been a bomb making factory. >> we're hearing extraordinary details that this cell could have been as large as 12 individuals. that puts it on the scale of the paris attacks. there may well have been a bomb factory. there was a huge house explosion near barcelona the night before. they're doing the forensics there. according to spanish media, according to other information, that could have been a bomb factory which brings up the scenario that they might have been trying to build explosive devices. there was some kind of mishap in the assembly and then they moved to plan b a vehicle attack or they're planning all these things at once. multiple attacks both in

barcelona and also last night after the south of barcelona. the worry is there may be several individuals still at large that could get ahold of other vehicles and could move forward with other facts of terrorism. was isis directly connected to them? they seem to be kind of claiming that, but no evidence of that has come to light. this was a big conspiracy. if they managed to get hold of c other weapons, you could have seen death tolls as large as the terror attacks. >> phil, do you account for this as copycat, do you think this is a strategy shift? >> i think a lot of it is copycat. there's a couple reasons why, chris. when we were looking at post 9/11 plots 15 years ago, typically you're looking at people who want to build, for example, complicated devices,

backpack bombs like we saw in attacks in london in 2005. they want to access areas like airports or airplanes that are now hardened. if you wanted to get on the news internationally with a major attack, you're going to avoid a hardened target and some of these people aren't going to have the capability to build a sophisticated backpack bomb. you come down to, why not just have a truck and mow down people in the ways we've seen in europe in the last year or two. i suspect what happened here is this cell accelerated what was to be a truck bomb attack. when that bomb went off a couple nights ago, they realized they had to move quickly, because otherwise the police would move in on them. that would have been more lethal i think. >> david sanger, on president trump's response to all this. the first message on twitter was what you might expect from any president, condemning it. this is the second one, though. he said after this, we should

study basically this made-up story about general pershing more than 100 years ago and how he countered terror in the philippines. it is a fact-free story, one he pushed and was debunked during the campaign. he does it again, and the question becomes why would you do that, and a bigger, much more important question, is it dangerous to do that? >> i think the big issue out of this, poppy, is he knows the story was debunked. he wrent through the experience during the campaign. it's where his mind first takes him back, as if there is an opportunity here to simply go out and kill all the terrorists. obviously that isn't the case. in the spain case, there was first a large intelligence failure, and secondly, the kind of techniques that might have worked for pershing if he had done it, and he didn't, would have very little relevance to

today. so it makes you worry about whether or not after years of putting together a fairly sophisticated counterterrorism strategy and one in which you try to get to some of the roots of the terrorism as well as improving the intelligence and sort of focusing on a myth about an act of retribution that's supposed to strike fear throughout the radical islamic world. i just don't think that's the world we're in. >> look, taken on face value, what the president seems to be doing when he says study -- >> look into this. >> -- he seems to see dipping bullets in pig's blood and killing muslims who may be radicalized terrorists as a way to stop terrorism. that's what he's suggesting to the american people. take it at face value, why else would he say to study it. >> clearly offensive to a

billion people on the planet. >> and also well received by a specific group of americans. >> they're inflammatory, and i can tell you there's a lot of concern in u.s. counterterrorism circles that this could paint a target on the back of americans overseas starting in the military, americans abroad on holiday, inflaming people, encouraging them to see the united states in a negative light is not the way forward here, is not helpful, and it could lead to very bad consequences. >> gets big al applause at rallies. gentlemen, thank you very much. appreciate your perspective on this very important incident. now, what have we seen since charlottesville? everything was slow, the president was slow to condemn what was obvious about why those hateful people were down there in the first place. his party was slow to call him out for that. now it's happening. you see someone who is a

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president trump immediately tweeting his condemnation of the attack in spain. moments later, he put up a different tweet. study what general pershing of the united states did to terrorists when caught. there was no more radical islam terror for 35 years. let's talk about that with republican congressman lee serl din, he's on the house foreign affairs committee, a veteran that served this country. he's from my home district. good to see you. >> great to see you, chris. >> this seems to be a reference to the pershing story about dipping the bullets in pig's blood and killing the terrorists

and that scared everybody for several decades. the story has been widely debunked. it's not true, but the president likes it. what i want to ask you, as someone who knows well what works and doesn't work in the war against terror, what proper moral instructions are in that capacity, what do you make of the idea of the president of the united states asking people to study the idea of dipping bullets in blood and killing people in bunches to send a message to other terrorists? >> well, i don't know for america's own best interest it's important to be studying that particular example. i do know that overseas, and this is maybe a hard truth when we're at war, there are environments where -- whether you have a group that might be preventing your convoy from completing a mission and you

have to figure out how to break through, and it's one of those situations where deadly force is authorized, you look for the highest ranking person and you kill them and other people watch you kill them and it sends another message and you continue on with your mission. that's an experience thousands of miles away that you have to make sure you're doing it legally, not in violation of international law, rules of engagement. here at home, after what we saw in barcelona, i don't know -- that's not the first story that pops up. the first thoughts that come to me would be certainly the reflection that what happened in barcelona was terribly unnecessary and tragic and that americans stand with barcelona. and we also want to be able to bring whatever capabilities as far as our intelligence network and other resources to help them solve what they are going

through. as far as what to do about barcelona, that's where my reflections are rather than that particular question you asked me. >> i get this puts you in a difficult position, being in the president's party. the idea that what he's suggesting is you study a method whereby you would essentially disrespect the islamic threat, pig's blood would be offensive to them, right? because they see the pig as a filthy animal, offensive to their faith, kill a big bunch of them and maybe that's what we should do in the war against terror. don't you think that's something you should call out directly and tell the president of the united states not to suggest in no uncertain terms? >> well, if we're talking about here in the united states -- >> anywhere, lee, anywhere, where you would line up a bunch of terrorists, dip bullets and

blood and shoot them, that's going to make the situation better. >> that particular tack take is not one the united states uses. >> should we? >> not one we will either. >> you don't think we should, not something to study? >> no. that's not a tactic that we have or should be using. i would say that when we're overseas in the conflicts we're involved in there are other tactics that are perfectly legal in those situations that are a little bit different than that example that here at home as we look at it and reflect on them, they're not pretty. they happen possible legal and allow us to accomplish the mission. the particular example, the question that you're asking me is a little different than that. >> it's a lot different i'd suggest, congressman. it kind of leads to what you hear from senator corker, questioning the competence of the president. corker, no enemy of president trump. he was considered his vp, he was

considered as secretary of state, not some kind of fire brand critic. he's questioning his competency. what do you make of that criticism? >> well, you know, i would disagree that -- senator corker is making a statement that can be interpreted a little broader than i would necessarily agree with, senator corker might have a disagreement on, for example, what we just had happened in charlottesville where -- speaking for myself, for sure, there was zero -- i'm jewish. i have zero tolerance for any individual who associates themselves with kkk and naziism and the hatred, bigotry, intolerance, evil that is filled within their ranks. it's unwelcome. it's un-american, it's wrong and there's no moral equivalency between those who associate with the kkk and naziism and the other side.

the president made a statement and statements that you could say are raw, rough around the edges, politically incorrect. you can take exception with some of what he said and make the claim that it's inaccurate. other parts of the statement are raw truths. but in saying what he said, we also have to make sure that there's no ambiguity, that there's an important message to be sent of zero tolerance whatsoever for those who associate themselves with the kkk and naziism. i don't think that makes the president an incompetent president. there are people watching the show that won't be happy with anything a republican says as long as president trump is in office. i know while we can call out the president where we disagree with the president of our own party, i know there are people out

there that no matter what we say -- i'm not trying to undercut the president. >> you're trying very hard not to. you're burning a lot of calories trying not to call out the president. i understand that as a member of the party. as a proud member of the jewish faith and somebody who served this country, the idea that there were some good people down there marching along with the kkk, do you accept that? that's what the president said. the president says there were some good people down there who just want to keep the confederate statues up, they're good people, they just happen to be with the kkk. do you accept that notion? >> i don't know of anyone there part of the protest that were good people. i don't know any of the people there protesting. >> there are no reports from the ground that we've heard of where there was some separate march or a group putting out information that they reject white

supremacy, they just want to talk about the statues. but the president says that there were. what does that mean to you as a member of the jewish faith who is specifically targeted by these people, who never talked about a statue. they talked about you never replacing them. >> there should not be anyone who is a good person, who is participating in any type of an effort in any way, shape or form that is associated with the kkk and naziism and all the evil that they represent. as i pointed out in a previous answer here, there are parts of what the president said that you can say are factually inaccurate. there are other parts that are hard truths. as far as the factually inaccurate piece, i don't know of anyone who would be there, who would associate themselves with that particular protest who are good people. and if there was, the moment that they show up as the protest

and they realize it's something other than what they thought it was, they should disassociate themselves completely and disengage from that protest and not be connected to it in any way, shape or form. >> congressman, i know these are not easy conversations, but that is the mantle of leadership. you are a congress person and we appreciate you coming on "new day" to talk about this. there aren't many members of your party who will. thank you, sir. >> thank you, chris. >> be well. poppy? >> president trump increasingly isolated following his comments in the aftermath of the violence in charlottesville. we'll discuss the fallout ahead.

the republican party pushing back against the president. senators like bob cosher, tim scott questioning not only what he said but his ability to lead, his moral authority. what is the impact of this as the president is increasingly isolated. let's bring in ron brownstein

and chris cillizza. gentlemen, nice to have you hear. let's take a moment to listen to senator corker because this is someone who has taken pains to not call out the president. he was considered for vp, secretary of state. he didn't hold back yesterday. listen. >> the president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. he also recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation. >> chris cillizza, this was the point in your newsletter last night. that's a big deal, those words. >> i think they are. i think poppy, the source matters. this is not lindsey graham, john mccain, both serious senators, but people who have never been close to trump fans. this is bob corker, someone who

has worked hard to keep a line of communication open with this white house. when you hear anything critical of trump or him, i think you pay attention. i think the critique is even more important. this is not, well, the president has said some things he shouldn't say. that's sort of what lee zeldin was saying earlier in the show. this is a fundamental question of whether or not the president of the united states is up for the job he currently holds. corker uses the word stability twice, he uses the word competence twice. when a sitting republican senator who is not a trump hater questions the stability and competence of the president of the united states, it's, number one, not an accident, and number two, something we need to pay attention to. >> there are a lot more zeldins, ron, than corkers. i said he was burning a lot of calories, not to disrespect the

senator, the idea of dipping bullets in pig's blood and slaughtering muslims and trying to disrespect their faith while we do it, is not an effective mode of anti terror we're studying now, that is about as generous of an assessment of a bs story that you can offer. there are a lot more people doing that kind of speaking out about the president than what corker just did. what does that mean? >> sure. first of all, the argument from most republicans that you hear privately is we can't criticize the president more forcefully while our base is still with him, while our own voters are still with him. as i said in the last hour, if you look historically, that has not been a disqualifying dynamic for earlier generations of leaders. basically every time when people in congress have stood up to a president from their own party, from william fulbright in vietnam in '66, that was overwhelmingly popular. leadership matters.

leadership can shape public opinion. i think, also, it's really important for republicans in congress to understand what the trajectory of this administration is. steve bannon kind of came out of sec collusion with e-mails and comments to several news organizations in the last few days saying if they want to talk about race every day, we'll win talking about commission. in fact, i would argue the sequence is exactly the opposite. it was only after the health care bill and the erosion that that created in the president's report among blue collar and older adults, two cornerstones of his coalition when he moved away from his promise to protect them economically during the campaign. only after that have we seen the administration turn sharply right on a series of cultural and racial issues, culminating in charlottesville. i think that's what republicans can probably expect more of in the months and years ahead. they've got to decide are they willing to stay on that ride. >> poppy, quickly to add to the

trajectory point. where if you're a republican elected official, where do you think this goes? i heard someone last night say what's needed -- i think it was jack kingston. what's needed is donald trump needs a course correction. this is donald trump. he's a 71-year-old man. we now have two-plus years of him as either a candidate and now as president. the idea that donald trump is suddenly going to become someone other than who he is seems to me a little bit of a fantasy. >> it's not only the personal kind of qualities. there's clearly a political calculation. from the beginning president trump and his team have believed that the way to win is to mobilize the elements of the republican coalition first in the primary and then in the country that are the most uneasy about demographic change, whether it's blue collar, older,

evangelical, non-urban whites, mobilizing that base and feeding that base has been the most consistent political vote. the question for republicans, do they believe that's enough in a diversifying, urbanizing country. it's not only moral, there's a political calculus for them as well. >> gentlemen, appreciate it. thank you for the perspective as autz. >> what we've seen with the president, it's very clear what his strategy is. will it work for the country? we'll see. u.s. college basketball teams caught in spain during that deadly terror attack. how did they fair? what did they do? we have the details in ""the bleacher report."" experience uncompromising performance at the lexus golden opportunity sales event

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i know people back home are concerned, but i don't think they understand the gravity of what occurred here today. >> several other schools including arizona and clemson are in barcelona on similar tours. chris, luckily every team that was in spain has checked in as safe after the attack. >> scary situation for all involved. andy, thank you very much. appreciate it. terrorists struck one of the biggest tourist destinations in spain. that wasn't by accident, and they are using a weapon that we're seeing more and more now that makes it even harder to protect what's called soft targets. we have a former homeland security adviser with what this means for the fight against terror next. ♪ when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites.

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. the death toll in spain has risen to 14 victims that were killed and scores injured after the string of terror attacks throughout the country. the latest case of van truck mowing down people in popular tourists des then nations. let's discuss with the former homeland security advise er. good morning. if you've been to barcelona you've had bunlunch and walked n there. you've argued this attack looks more and more like the big paris terror attack in 2015. why? >> it's starting to look like that. we now have reports of back-to-back vehicle terrorism attacks, both in las ram and the

other. we have the report of explosion in the night before. all of this comes together and looks like a complex attack. it's still early and we have too see what the authorities recover. we've seen islamic state media claim responsibility. >> there had been no terrorist attacks in spain since 2004 since the train system attack. they had been doing a very good job of this prevention effort. the fact it now sits spain tells you what? >> it tells us that the perpetrators of this are at least adhering to direction that has come from the islamic state. we'll see if this is directed by isis leadership but even if it was merely inspired by, they're using the same tactics that isis has told its followers to use. >> and the weakening of isis on

the ground in syria and iraq says something as well because to drive a vachb inn into a gro people takes no training. this house that exploded may have been the bomb factory. but that aside this is the weaponization of vehicles that isis is pushing and it's terrifying. i'm about to fly with our daughter to europe on saturday. it's terrifying for americans. the what are they supposed to think? >> it's deeply unsettling for these people to see types of everyday items to be used as a weapon of terrorism. the this type of carnage is deeply unsettling. i think what individuals have to do is understand that these attacks are meant to instill fear. terrorists want us to change your lives.

they want tous change what we do as we go about our business. the and we can't do that. that then the terrorists win. we've seen government try to but barriers around these attractions. of the problem is we can't barricade ourselves off. >> the president was quick to condemn this as he hedged on charlottesville and he followed up yesterday's remarks on twitter call this aterror attack by pushing a fact-free story about a general more than 100 years ago in spain dipping bullets into big's blood and kulg muslim terrorists etcetera. not only insulting to the m us lem faith but with no basis in fact. he toad t told the american people to study it. >> it's absurd and it's a

dangerous. it's absurd not only because fact-free, it's -- it's absolutely without any basis. it's been debunked by historians for years. it's put forward basically claiming we should use an atrocity, in essence, a war crime, in response to terrorism. >> does it embolden -- some made the point it would just further embolden those who were enemies of americans overseas to hurt them. >> well any time you play into, with rhetoric of the kind we saw yesterday, you play into the isis message that we are in a war with islam. that's what they use to recruit individuals to their fight, to come and become radicalized. any time you use rhetoric like the type we saw yesterday, you're playing into that message and helping their recruitment and indeed making -- feeding

their message that u.s. citizens should be a target. >> i know you are not advising this president but you did advice president obama on things like that. the what would you tell president trump? what does he need to say, do next. >> the u.s. should be doing in the after math of a horror like this, of course spain's a nato ally, is showing steady strength and reinvolve, and solidarity with our spanish partners. and sending out a message of resilience and strength and hope, and solidarity that we are with them that el we'll provide any assistance we can and we should all stand strong as allies against this type of terrorism. >> heard that more from the vice president in his remarks than you did from the president. his first tweet condemning it but the second one of course pushing something not true is

what has everyone questioning what he was thinking. appreciate your analysis thank you. chris? a second attack coming hours after the worst act of terror in spain in over a decade. >> so much chaos and everyone just screaming and yelling. >> he was just plowing people down. >> president trump under fire this morning for the response to the tragedy, retelling a debunked mythical story about shooting muslims. >> terrorists know the united states and our allies are resolved. >> just when he couldn't get any worse, he quadruples down. >> moral authorities compromised. >> also recently has not demonstrated he understands the character of this nation. >> this is a party that's is in crisis and it couldn't happen at a worse time. >> this is new day with chris cuomo and.

>> good morning. august 18. poppy harlow has been here all week and there's been a lot of news. >> sure. >> up first, the death toll rising to 14 lives lost. 13 of them taken when a van plowed into a crowd of people in the city's popular district known as la rambla. many police just arresting a fourth spect. the search continuing for the driver of the van. the latest victim die canned d second attack. the five terrorists were killed at that scene. the police say they're working under the assumption that the incident was linked to the one in barcelona. >> president trump responding by tweeting a debunked story about a general killing muslims over a century ago with bullets dipped in pig's blood. the republicans this morning calling out the president