hello and welcome to a special holiday edition of "wolf." i'm jim sciutto filling in for wolf blitzer. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for spending our fourth of july with us. fired jeff sessions, hire me. that's what the embattled epa chief pitched to president trump despite being at the center of more than a dozen investigations. now we're learning the president's patience with him is at a tipping point. russia attacked the u.s., so says a bipartisan group of senate investigators. along with just about everyone

else. everyone except for the united states president and, of course, vladimir putin. so what is being done to prevent another election attack? and two people falling ill in the uk just miles from where a former russian spy and his daughter were poisoned. could this be another attack? we start with new denials of ohio congressman jim jordan. just moments ago we heard him respond on camera for the first time to accusations that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse while he was a wrestling coach at ohio state university. those allegations are coming from a former wreftsler who contacted jordan's office several times by e-mail. but a source inside jordan's office tells cnn the congressman never responded because he felt like he was being bullied. here's what congressman jordan said about those allegations just moments ago. >> we knew of no abuse, never heard of abuse. if we had, we would have reported it.

and if, in fact, there, you know, if, in fact, there's problems, we want justice for the people who were victims. and we're happy to talk with the folks who are doing the investigation. but nothing -- i mean, things they said about me were flat out not true. >> -- speaking about the conditions in the training facility, open showers, things of that nature. can you comment on any of that? >> it was a fact, yeah. >> do you remember dr. strauss? does any of this -- these allegations made against him, have any credence at all? >> i did know dr. strauss. he was there when we got to ohio state, and was continuing to work at ohio state once i left. so, yeah, knew the doctor. but there's no truth to the fact that i knew of any abuse. i talked to other coaches. they didn't know of any abuse.

that's just not accurate to say those things that we knew of it and didn't say anything. >> here with me to talk more about this, cnn political commentator lauren berg. and david chalian. so, david, this really comes down to who do you believe here because you have a former wrestler who says that everybody knew in effect about this doctor who i understand has now passed away, but his abuse. and jim jordan saying, listen, it's just flat out untrue. i didn't know anything about it. >> more than one former wreftsle wrestler. the former story had three. hard to imagine that everyone working there would have some knowledge. this clearly isn't over yet. you can hear the other thing congressman jordan was saying. this wrestler speaking out was contacting them in a way that he felt was in a bullying way and might involve the capital

police. you'll have a capitol hill investigation, the invest gation of what went on at ohio state. and jim jordan will be a part of that and more is going to come out. so, yes, it's a who do you believe but i don't think it ends there. more facts are going to be learned. >> what david mentioned there, this idea that now jim jordan's office is acknowledging that these wrestlers, or at leefts one of them reached out multiple times by e-mail. he can't say he didn't know about the allegation. he didn't first learn of it from the nbc story because this guy was contacting him. >> here's, i think, one quick step back we can all agree there's no tolerance for sexual harassment and our heart goes out to anyone who may have been involved in that and fully support any investigation into these allegations. that being said, jim jordan. we have two sides to this story. these athletes who say they told him and he knew about this and the congressman who is saying at the time he didn't see or hear

or know or have any reports of this activity going on. what we know of jim jordan, he is not a man to shy away from a fight. he had no reason to defend this doctor. and if he knew of any wrongdoing back then, i have every reason to believe he would have stood out and been one of the first people to be banging on the doors to put a stop to this. we need to let this play out further. as he said in this interview, the timing of this is, in my view, it's suspect. and that he is rising in the ranks in d.c. up for a potepntial speaker position and the person accusing him, he has a history of lawsuits with ohio state. so i think not to attack anyone's credibility here, but i say let's let all of this play out and, in my view, i trust the congressman. if he says he didn't know at the time, i believe him. >> to be clear, alice makes a point. and the congressman's denials

have been consistent since yesterday. and at the same time saying if anything went wrong here, i want to cooperate with investigators. they repeatedly said the same thing in written statements. we do know that jim jordan is a congressman who has often chased down allegations against others in other parties without perhaps giving them the time to wait and give their vrsi iversion of the. in any investigation, that's what you should, do but he has not always followed those rules. >> he's been a strident congressman to say the leefts. a member of the freedom caucus when it comes to investigating particularly members of the democratic party. we have to be very careful with these situations to wait to hear everything before we make a judgment. obviously, we might meet that critical mass when you have three or four people coming out. we only have one on the air saying he knew about this in realtime contemporaneously. with these types of stories, it's important to not only

remember that but that he is, in fact -- he would be someone accused of facilitating. >> that's something we said repeatedly. let's be clear. this is about a sin of omission. no one should mistake that he's accused of any abuse. >> since the story first came out, we've had several people that have known jim jordan for many, many years who have come out and said he would not turn a blind eye to this. i trust his credibility. he's a man of honor and integrity. those stories, my understanding from his office, will continue to come out, standing up for him. and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. so far we've really heard a lot from one side and -- >> this is a lot like the elizabeth etsy story. the accusation that you allowed bad behavior to happen. >> joe paterno or harvey weinstein. >> two things. as a communications professional, i'm curious, his

handling of this so far. he's known about this, as jim was poipnting out, for months. i'm a little surprised for such a pro on capitol hill, didn't get out ahead of this in some way and is now responding this way. would you have advised -- >> i think my understanding talking with his office yesterday, as well as this morning, they provided a lot more information to the original news outlet that put this story out that was not included in the story. we have to take that into consideration. since this has come out, they have done a good job in my view of pushing back and getting other stories and sources out there. it was good with the congressman being in his district, speaking to the press. didn't hold anything back and let them ask questions until they were done. at this stage of the game, yes, full disclosure. answer any and all questions. it's important. but getting out ahead of it -- >> it's dangerous because it gets you involved in a story that could become a scandal. that's always a risky strategy. >> you don't want the story to

come out, but it's early in this investigation. what we'll do as a network is follow up. we can't make any conclusions. there's a lot of other news. the forth of july fireworks in washington could potentially include a firing at the white house. a senior administration official says epa chief scott pruitt is inching forward to the tipping point. pruitt is facing more than a dozen federal probes into his actions. and it was revealed this week his staff kept a secret schedule to hide meetings from the public that might potentially embarrass pruitt. jeff zeleny at the white house today. jeff, the president, to this point, has expressed a lot of confidence in pruitt but now you're learning he may be running out of patience. >> it certainly seems at this point the voices from all sides, from conservatives, republicans on the hill, even from some former supporters of scott pruitt is that time is up. he is a big distraction for this white house. we've seen the president fire

cabinet secretary after cabinet secretary. other aides and advisers dismissing them. scott pruitt has had a repeated opportunity to stay on board, despite all these investigations. but we are learning interesting information that it was scott pruitt himself who, in the spring, tried to go to the president to offer an exit strategy to be the acting attorney general to replace jeff sessions temporarily. the president didn't take him up on that but we're also learning a senior administration official says they believe this is at a tipping point with the president. he knows that all of these investigations are swirling around. jim, the one reason -- the question we've all had is, how has scott pruitt survived this long? the answer comes because oil and gas donors and other major contributors and friends of this administration have been happy with the policies of the epa. they've urged the president to not fire him up until this point. but we do get a sense that the president likely losing his

patience. but, of course, many thought that months ago. so we'll have to wait and see when the president makes this decision himself. no question, scott pruitt at the epa has been the biggest black eye on the president's cabinet. >> as you say, it's given the president a lot of what he's wanted. you have, in effect, a champion of the energy industry who is running the agency that supposed to keep them in check. the president, of course, upcoming announcement on potential supreme court nominees. learned more about the white house strategy on the pick. >> we have, indeed. the president is out at his golf course, not far from the white house here in virginia. possibly a sign that he is essentially done with this decision phase of the supreme court pick. we know he's had seven possible contenders in for interviews and i'm told he's likely to make up his mind either tomorrow or friday. and that's to give people who are working in this newly min ld

war room time to get ready for the onslaught and bruising summer confirmation fight. the president i'm told is going to keep this decision essentially under wraps. people also on the list who this team is going to get ready for that announcement on monday. they hope it will not leak out because it will be a list of either two or three finalists. no question at all that there is a -- an ongoing lobbying effort. you have senators that are calling the president. other conservative activists calling the president trying to make their choice. essentially it boils down to religious conservatives and social conservatives who really have that as their top issue versus legal conservatives who believe that it's better to appoint a justice who believes in the rule of law and principle of law and does not want extensive government regulation.

these two defining pillars of the republican party now at odds here as the president makes his choice. but we do think he's only hours away from doing that. of course, he'll announce it on monday night. jim? >> with real issues hanging in the balance, roe v. wade among them. jeff zeleny, thanks. the panel is back with me. scott pruitt has done what the president, what the energy lobby wants. maybe above and beyond the call of duty here. presumably, the president could get another loyalist who could carry that out. why does the president stick with scott pruitt through whatever sbembarrassing scandal through an election year? >> we know enough about president trump's sort of outlook on these kinds of moments to have insight into what might be going on here. i think the president has a ton of respect for taking all that incoming and standing strong and surviving it. he sees a little bit of himself in that. that has some appeal to not give

in and cave to your critics. other people could, indeed implement and execute on the policy agenda but scott pruitt is doing it quite effectively. the white house has said that perhaps they've reached a tipping point. the president has said he doesn't love all these headlines and stories. i don't know that we've come to the final moment of trump's fate. >> they are clear breaches of ethics rules and yet -- >> although the president is probably more concerned about the headlines than the stories. >> i think both of you are right. you don't have to go far in gop circles or anywhere to find someone just as loyal to the president who would be just as effective at the job but without all these ethics violations. i was a big supporter of him with regard to how strong he was enforcing the federal government regulations policies and

environmental and paris accord. but one after the other of these issues coming out is quite a distraction. he's gotten to be the walter mitty of the white house. a job not quite so jazzy but then this secret life of secret calendars and luxury travel and sound-proof rooms. from a communications stand point and a policy standpoint, this white house needs to say enough is enough. we've reached a tipping point. we can't continue to say we're reviewing that or looking into it. they have to do something. >> michael cohen. we took notice today about an hour ago that michael cohen changed his profile on twitter to take out the phrase personal attorney to president donald j. trump. that's how it appeared before on the left. this is how it appears now. lauren, what is he trying to say there? we broke up via social media? >> looks like he's inching closer and closer to being the guy that might flip. obviously the stephanopoulos interview and now this. his pronouncement of loyalty to family over everything else may

indicate that we're seeing the -- he's in huge trouble, obviously, legally. he's going to have to save himself. whether that means flipping on trump, we don't know. trump is throwing every signal that he would throw a pardon. >> a lot of lawyers who represented folks in dire legal circumstances who see michael cohen throwing his trial balloon up for a pardon as well. thanks lauren, alice and david. just in, a senior administration official is telling cnn the president asked about the possibility -- wait for this -- of invadesing venezuela during a meeting about sanctions against that country. we'll have details on that story next. plus, a bipartisan group of senate investigators backing the intelligence community that russia attacked the u.s. and wanted the president to win. so will president trump finally acknowledge that assessment? my day starts well before i'm even in the kitchen.

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welcome back. breaking news. cnn can now confirm that trump asked a number of his top foreign policy advisers last summer about the possibility of invading venezuela. trump aides vigorously pushed back against the idea as did fellow latin american leaders who allegedly told trump they did not want to see a u.s. invasion. cnn white house reporter jeremy diamond joins us with more on this. i remember this moment last summer when the president, in public, said that military options were on the table and that was enough to -- for some people to be taken aback. military options for venezuela? here you have, even, this is quite a military option. >> absolutely. so that was in bedminster back in august.

standing alongside the u.n. ambassador haley, tillerson, openly talking about the possibility of a military option. not taking it off the table as he was considering additional sanctions. the president was in a meeting with several top foreign policy advisers. including h.r. mcmaster. he asked them about the possibility of invading venezuela, whether that may be an option to consider. the senior administration official who confirmed this to me emphasized there were no iminent plans for any kind of a military strike on venezuela and characterized it really as the president thinking out loud. he didn't just do it one time. he was doing it with his advisers talking about the possibility of a military invasion of venezuela and then also probed several latin american leaders about it in the subsequent month. the colombian president and latin american leaders. >> if you take that idea to latin american leaders, that sounds like the prpresident was

seriously considering this. >> he was doing a focus group session with these latin american leaders about invading venezuela which would be a serious escalation of the u.s. response. this administration has been tough on venezuela imposing numerous sanctions but this would be taking it to a whole new level. >> jeremy diamond, thanks very much. for more context on this, let's bring in intelligence and security analyst and former cia operative bob baer. so the white house is saying he was just thinking out loud here but the president took it seriously enough to go to other latin american leaders and raise the idea of a u.s. invasion of venezuela. you've been around government awhile. how unusual for a president to raise that in this context? >> very unusual. it's very sensitive in south america, of course, jim. u.s. troops operating there overthrowing a government is beyond the pail. then again, venezuela is a mess. its oil production has fallen off a cliff. chaos.

people aren't being fed. the countries around venezuela are -- they are scared. let's put it this way. a lot of refugees coming across the border. and i do know this has been in the air for a while, a couple years about a possible coup d'etat against maduro, the head of the government in venezuela. you know, so the president has got wind of this. i understand that mcmaster pushed back on this early on. stay out of venezuela. it's a mess. it looks like this has come back around. and the situation is ripe for a change there. let's see where it goes. >> mcmaster is gone now. we've seen a history of this president saying good-bye to advisers who challenge him, right, on some issues. looking at this, you mentioned this might have come from inside the country? what was the idea of this proposed to the u.s. perhaps by factions inside venezuela? >> the way it usually works is exiles living outside of

venezuela will get wind of this or claim the generals want to move against maduro. they'll try to transmit those messages to the president and national security council. whether, in fact, there's a movement under way to get rid of maduro in venezuela, nobody knows for sure but certainly not a lot of noise about it. but it's public as well. but a lot of people would like to get to this president and say you've got to do something about venezuela. it's only going to get worse. it's going to destabilize the countries around it. and he's listening, clearly. >> you talk about exiles encouraging invasion. think about iraq. it's worked before. >> yeah, great. >> bob baer, thanks very much. >> thanks. happy fourth. coming up -- breaking with the president. a republican-led panel sides with the intelligence community's confident assessment that russian president vladimir putin wanted trump to win the 2016 election. i'll get reaction from republican congressman tom reid.

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to findings from republicans on the house intelligence committee siding with the president. following all of this has been saraha murray. so walk us through these findings which were really quite strongly worded. not a lot of -- no wishy washy in this. very direct. >> the intelligence community wasn't very wishy washy on this. they're saying, yes, russia did meddle in the 2016 election and their preference was donald trump. they did it to try to benefit trump. but the committee says they did this to try to hurt hillary clinton as well and this was not something that was a one-off effort. this was done under the direction of russian president vladimir putin. now as the senate was looking at how the intelligence community came to this assessment in january 2017, it decided that the intelligence community reached these conclusions in a

professional and transparent manner. there didn't seem to be any political pressure for them to reach these conclusions. that when they disagreed about an issue, there was a debate about it and it was transparent. they're saying all these conclusions we saw from the intelligence community in 2017 that the president has doubted, they were sound. >> so senate intelligence investigation one of many intelligence agencies made their own confident assessments. russia's interference has been greater than they initially realized. what are the various findings in the senate report. >> let's start with who kind of believes what when it comes to this. we talked about the senate report and found they agreed with the intelligence community. there are a few people who are not on the same page as the senate. it's a pretty small group. basically president trump. basically russian president vladimir putin. and a number of investigators in the house who are not agree with these conclusions from the senate report, the same conclusions the intelligence community put out in january 2017. now let's look at the people who

do believe russia meddled in the 2016 election and they did it to help trump. special counsel robert mueller who brought a number of charges against russian officials as well as companies. the bipartisan senate committee as well as democratic house investigators. president trump is in pretty slim company when it comes to doubting this issue of whether russia tried to meddle in the election for his benefit. >> the facts don't seem to support that position. i want to talk more about this with a member of the house. republican congressman tom reid of new york. congressman, thanks for taking time on the july 4th holiday. >> happy 4 tth to you, jim. >> do you side with your republican colleagues in the house to doubt the assessment that russia interviewed in part to hurt hillary clinton and help donald trump or do you agree with the senate intelligence committee, the various intelligence agencies? >> well, look, i do agree that

russian meddling into our election did exist. they, obviously, tried to influence the election like they've done for decades before and other countries have done previously. at the end of the day, the most important factor was the integrity of the election process was secure. the outcome of the election and the people's voice was heard in 2016. from my perspective, we need to wrap this investigation up and move forward because the country has problems that need to be solved. >> why is the president then still just as recently as last week expressing doubt that russia was behind the interference at all? >> well, because there's no collusion. who knows what -- >> but that's not what he denied. to be clear, he did -- >> who knows what a russian mind is. >> he questioned whether russia interfered in the election when the intelligence agency, senate intelligence committee are reaching very confidence conclusions that that's exactly what russia did. why is the president doing that? >> well, i think because there

is a fine line here between meddling and trying to influence by putting information out there and trying to sway the outcome of the election to a russia conclusion that they want to achieve. but at the end of the day, the biggest threat to the election process was the collusion or lack of integrity of the process. the president has been very clear and i support the president's findings or conclusions on this. i see no evidence of collusion. no evidence of integrity of the election being broken. this election stands, and we should move forward and need to be smart that people are going to try to meddle with our election process but i trust the people in making sure they filter that information and make the conclusions they feel best for their future. >> isn't the president doing putin's work for him when he undermines his own intelligence agency's assessment about russian interference? of course, russia is going to deny it. isn't he doing putin's work by expressing those doubts? >> no, i do not believe that's

the case. i think what the president is dealing with is a rehashing of issues where people are threatening collusion and the outcome of the election was persuaded, not by the people but some outside force. the people spoke in 2016. it's time to move forward with this election that has occurred and embrace the opportunity this administration has for us to bring change to washington, d.c. >> let me ask you this. i've been following this story for more than two years now. even prior to the election, looking at election interference. i speak to republicans and democrats. both republicans n democrats have been prbriefed on the information. the evidence is that russia is still performing probing attacks on not just social media, et cetera, but on election systems. that those attacks continue and in fact, they expect russia to interfere in 2016 and 2020. why isn't the president showing leadership on this issue to defend future elections from russian interference? and aren't you as an american,

disappointed by that? >> well, no, i believe the president does respect the election process and wants the election process to be secure, just as we do. just as i do because that's critical to the functioning of our democracy. but to think that russia and other countries across the world are not going to try to influence our election is just to live in denial. this has been going on for decades. >> the question is -- >> that is just the reality of the situation. >> the question is what -- but the question is what are we doing about it? i'm sure you watched the hearing two months ago when the chiefs of the intelligence agencies, mike rogers of the nsa, dan coats of odni, they were asked by senators whether they've been instructed by this president to do something about election interference, to take action to prevent those attacks, and they all answered no. how is that presidential leadership? >> oh, i think there's leadership there in making sure the ballot box is secure. >> but the intelligence chiefs

said they're not told -- >> fraud and abuses are outlined, too. >> they have been told they've been given those specific instructions by the president. you, like me, want the system to be the integrity to be unchallenged there. but doesn't that disappoint you as an american? >> well, let's just be clear. each state controls its election process and making sure the integrit the. we in the federal want to make sure the election process is secure. there have been resources given to the states to make sure that the process is secure. and the fact is, you know, people filter this information. people are not stupid. people get this information and they come to their own conclusions. that's one of the troublesome things from the other side of the aisle that somehow the people are duped by this information. they are not. people are very smart in my humble opinion. >> let me ask you, if i can, and i appreciate you taking the hard questions on that topic, about another topic. you're aware of the various scandals engulfing the epa

administrator scott pruitt. cnn reporting administration officials believe the president is losing patience with him. it's inching toward a tipping point, one administration official told jeff zeleny. do you think oit's time for scot pruitt to go? >> obviously, i have some serious concerns about the epa director and the activity going on. i'll leave that to him to make that determination as well as the president who the director serves at the directive of. so i think at the end of the day this will take its own course and we'll have a conclusion that makes sure these individuals are -- no one is above the law. everyone is held accountable. >> would you do the kind of things or accept the kind of things scott pruitt is accused of doing? keep a secret calendar? take trips that cost a lot of money for taxpayers? would you find that acceptable yourself? >> no, i try to, obviously, engage as a representative of the people.

making sure that they are always listened to, we're always accessible to them and to do things in a way that always bring -- to be beyond that type of discussion and approach. >> on north korea, if i could ask you as well because there are a lot of topics and stories in the news. you are aware secretary mike pompeo is heading to north korea tomorrow. continuing these discussions with the kim regime over their nuclear program. i'm sure you're aware of reports, including a defense intelligence assessment that north korea is not denuclearizing. in fact, may be making efforts to hide some of its nuclear program. what's your assessment of the status of negotiations with north korea. have you seen anything from the north korean side that gives you confidence they're serious about this? >> obviously, i was very hopeful and took kim jong-un at his word when he met with the president at the summit that he was going to commit to denuclearization. as i stated at the time in my public statement, i know the

history of dthis dictator. i'm very concerned. if kim jong-un does not commit himself to peace and denuclearization, military options really will become at some point in time the only option able to take out this threat to our american coastline and millions of americans who could be clear inside a nuclear holocaust. >> congressman tom reed, appreciate you take something time out of the july 4th holiday. >> thanks for having me on. >> enjoy the day. coming up, mystery in the uk. two people collapse just miles from where a former russian spy was poisoned. could this be another poisoning? we'll go live to scotland yard for the latest on that story. and their discovery brought relief and elation, but now really an impossible choice. how to get them out safely. the new efforts to free a team of young soccer players trapped in a pitch black cave.

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right now, british counterterrorism officers are invest gaigating a case with striking similarities to the poisoning earlier this year of a former russian spy and his daughter. here's how police describe what happened to 45-year-old charlie rowley and 44-year-old dawn sturgis. >> they have declared a major incident after two people were hospitalized following their potential exposure to an unknown substance in amesbury. it was initially believed the two patients fell ill after potentially using contaminated illegal drugs. however, further testing is now ongoing to establish the

substance which led to these patients becoming ill. >> one reason the incident is concerning is its close proximity to salisbury where sergei skripal and his daughter were found slumped on a bench in march. they were poisoned with a suspected military nerve agent and the suspicion is russia was behind it. nick paton walsh is outside scotland yard. what have we been learning about this today? >> well, jim, the striking similarities here. the biggest one frankly is the geography, so close to where sergei skripal and his daughter julia were struck down by that russian nerve agent. also the response of british officials and police. they are, of course, on hawaigh highest alert after what happened to the skripals. the terrorism police have been trying to work out what this unknown substance is and the

government is dealing with this with the utmost seriousness. that's where the similarities end. those two individuals, 45 and 44 years old respectively, are locals to wilshire. and it's still unknown at this stage exactly what the substance is, meaning that a long time has elapsed now with british police on higher alert than they were before for them to identify what the substance was. and it took for them to identify the novachuk nerve agent. this is an incident that seems to have happened on saturday where this couple were at home. the younger of the two, dawn, was made ill in the morning. charles fell ill later in the day. ambulances came on both occasions and in the hours after that the contamination began to be dealt with. we saw police in protective clothing. still at this stage they don't know what that substance was.

bear in mind the psychology here, a real sense of fear in britain but also a big question. so little connecting this to russia. doesn't look like replication of the skripal incident. >> certainly taking care with this one. nick paton walsh, thank you. coming up, new urgency for teams racing to save a group of young soccer players trapped deep in a cave. heavy rain about to move in. and a rescue there needs to happen fast. perfect! who is this? you don't always use it to share something. he's doing it! but when it matters most, you count on tracfone to keep you connected, for less. can you send that to me? yeah. our new smartphone plan gives you talk, text and data with unlimited carryover starting at $15 a month, no contract. all with nationwide 4g lte coverage. get top smartphones or bring your own phone. tracfone. for moments that matter.

welcome back. there is a nation wide manhunt under way right now for three men accused of kidnapping and raping two teenage sisters in ohio. the victims, they were just 13 and 14 years old. they were held against their will at a motel before they eventually turned up in an

emergency room. kaley hartung joining us now. what do we understand there's a fourth suspect now in custody? >> that's right, jim. one man is already in custody charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. there are still three other men who were r on the run. we're told by bowling green police that in detectives' investigation of the case, they have found that all four of the men, though, have fraudulent paperwork in regards to their immigration status. thomas, the man in custody, he's from guatemala. juan, a deal on the left, as well as david contreras, from mexico. the fourth, country unknown. bowling green police tell us that their focus remains on the alleged sexual assault, but with the information of the men's immigration status, i.c.e. is involved in the manhunt, as well. the police were first made aware

of the incident on june 28th when the girls' mother took them to the hospital following the alleged assault. otherwise, the details are largely unknown. police telling us this is a personal and difficult investigation for many of them. >> they're 13 and 14-year-old girls. they're your daughters. obviously it's very emotional. it's difficult for us as officers because we have to stay objective to investigate the case. however, a lot of us have children. >> three of those men, as we've said, continue to be on the run. jim, i.c.e. involved in the manhunt. when we reached out for comment, they said they would have no comment for us today. the last sighting of one of them, contreras, was saturday at a walmart in holland, ohio. otherwise they're on the run. police say they're dangerous. >> thank you very much for following the story. coming up, a fox news

contributor called a report about the iran deal totally made-up b.s. so why did the president himself blast it out to 50 million followers? we're tracking the dubious story that went all the way to the president's twitter feed next. this is important for people with asthma. yes. it's a targeted medicine proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, and lower oral steroid use. about 50% of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. fasenra™ is designed to work with the body to target and remove eosinophils. fasenra™ is an add-on injection for people 12 and up with severe eosinophilic asthma. don't use fasenra™ for sudden breathing problems or other problems caused by eosinophils. fasenra™ may cause headache, sore throat, and allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to.

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it seems like it's swinging back from staying there for weeks potentially until the rains are gone to getting them out sooner. do we have any more clarity? >> reporter: well, i'm not sure i can offer clarity, jim. but you know, it just wasn't a very attractive option to have the boys stuck until the monsoon ended at the end of october. there's a sense of urgency here now, and there seems to be an effort to try to get the boys out the way they came in. except now unlike whenny that entered the -- unlike when they enterd the cave, it's pretty much submerged. they've been training the kids to use scuba gear, and hopefully there will be this window of opportunity offered by the weather. there's been another rain-free day, merciful because it's allowed them to practice evacuations. there are 47 divers down there right now. the cave opening is 200 yards

behind me here. there are teams going up and down and four divers going into the cave constantly putting supplies in of food and medicine. the boys are in reasonable condition. i think the hope is that they will be strong enough to get out soon. >> let's hope so. it's been a long time in there. thanks for following the story. is the president pushing fake news on twitter? trump attacked his predecessor saying, quote, just out that the obama administration granted citizenship during the terrible iran deal and negotiation to 2,500 iranians. that bold claim coming a day after fox news published an article claiming the same thing. problem -- fox news cited an iranian news agency that cited an iranian newspaper that quoted a single iranian cleric. and immigration data from the department of homeland security does not show an uptick in iranian immigration during the obama presidency. cnn senior media reporter oliver darcy has been looking into the

story and joins me from new york. it seems pretty clear this was a false story. how do we get here with the president tweeting this out to 50 million people? >> it's unnerving and seems to be another example of the president looking to right-wing media and consuming right-wing media and then using what he consumes to stoke a political conspiracy theory about one of his political opponents. in this case he took a fox news story that was published on monday, a very thinly sourced story, and he just effectively tweeted out the thrust of the article without fact checking it. after the story was tweeted, obama officials spoke about it on tv, saying it's not true. the director of the national security council under obama told cnn this is false. he shared with us the department

of security numbers that show there was no uptick in naturalizations of iranians before and after the iranian nuclear negotiations. it remains relatively consistent through the bush and obama years. nevertheless, the president went out there on twitter and posted this false information and here we are. >> yeah. don't let the facts get in the way of a good tweet. and yet, the symbiotic relationship between fox and the white house may be getting closer. trump hiring a former fox news executive, bill shine. what's his job going to be? >> we are told at cnn that he's going to be overseeing communications. i don't think his official title has been announced yet by the white house. it's going to be in a communications capacity is what cnn has reported. it's going to be interesting. he is a former co-president of fox news in charge of communications at the white house. he's a buddy of sean hannity. it's going to be interesting to see what the white house's communication strategy is going

forward. >> of course accused of at least covering up possibly or not addressing accusations of sexual assault at the network. thank you very much for digging in on that story. that's it for me, i'm jim sciutto in for wolf today. the news continues on cnn right now. thank you very much. hi and happy fourth of july, everyone, welcome to a special holiday edition of "cnn newsroom." breaking news, republican congressman jim jordan defiant and unequivocally denying the explosive accusations that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse while he was the assistant wrestling coach at ohio state university years ago. the university announced in april it was investigations allegations that dr. richard strauss abused several wrestling team members. this goes book back to the -- goes