breaking news. wisconsin on the brink after police shoot a black man multiple times in front of his children. the national guard called in and the curfew about to take effect. plus trump promising a vaccine soon after his announcement about a plasma treatment scientists warned wasn't ready. all this just hours before his convention begins. jerry falwell jr.'s growing scandals. he just resigned from liberty university tonight after salacious revelations of an affair between his wife and a pool attendant as he allegedly watched. the spectacular fall of one of

trump's most ardent and early supporters. let's go "outfront." breaking news this hour, wisconsin on the brink the state calling in 125 members of the national guard to the town of kenosha just an hour south of milwaukee. protesters already gathering in the city tonight coming face to face with police officers, which is where officials say a 29-year-old black man named jacob blake was shot in the back at least seven times by police. tonight blake remains in the icu is what his attorney is telling us at this hour. local officials are prepared for unrest after protesters broke windows, torched cars, and started a fire at a county courthouse last night. now there is a curfew about to take effect in less than two hours and across the country you see protesters in the streets. the scene in new york city. hundreds protesting near times square. as you can see there. it all comes as blake's lawyer benjamin crump said jacob blake's three sons were just a few feet away in the back of the family car when their father was shot in the back.

>> it was a birthday party for his 8-year-old son. in that car when he was shot was his 8-year-old son, his 5-year-old son, and his 3-year-old son. it was supposed to be a festive, joyous occasion. >> omar jimenez begins our coverage from wisconsin. so, omar, you're there where this happened. what are you seeing right now a couple hours before the curfew? >> reporter: well, erin, right now there are hundreds of people who have come out to protest yet again over how this death unfolded. we are outside the kenosha county courthouse and you can see them right in front of the police, dressed up in riot gear at this point face to face as you mentioned before. while there is still a lot we don't know about what led up to the shooting, what we do know is there is a lot of pain in this community over what feels like an all too familiar story. the video you are about to see may be considered graphic.

two police officers with guns drawn in kenosha, wisconsin closely follow a black man, jacob blake, as he tries to get in the driver's side door of his car. one officer grabs blake's tank top and then -- seven shots are fired as blake is hit multiple times in the back. three of his children, ages 3, 5, and 8 were in the car as blake goes limp. shortly afterwards officers can be seen giving some sort of aid to blake. he was later flown to a nearby hospital and is in serious condition. police say they were responding to a domestic incident call, but it remains unclear what sparked the shooting and the video doesn't show the events leading up to it. there is no way to hear what is being said as the event unfolds. a blake family attorney benjamin crump says blake was leaving the scene after breaking up a fight between two women. it is not clear from the video if both officers opened fire. neither have been identified. the wisconsin department of justice's division of criminal investigation, which is leading

the probe into the incident, says both are on administrative leave. all officers are cooperating, the department said, and in a statement to cnn the kenosha professional police association says, as always, the video currently circulating does not capture all of the intricacies of the highly dynamic incident. we ask that you withhold from passing judgment until all the facts are known and released. overnight, violent protests erupted with angry demonstrators setting fire to vehicles. >> he held his shirt and shot that man. >> reporter: the anger spilling over into early monday morning as dozens from the community confronted sheriff's deputies at the scene. in a statement to cnn blake's uncle says the shooting is outrageous. who is he threatening? he had a tank top and shorts on. he had no weapon. he was going back to the car because the children needed to be checked on. the police were called for a domestic disturbance. jacob had nothing to do with the fight. this has got to stop. wisconsin's lieutenant governor echoing the anger. >> let me be clear. this was not an accident.

this wasn't bad police work. this felt like some sort of vendetta being taken out on a member of our community. >> reporter: as for jacob blake we do understand from the family attorney and from a family friend he is still in the icu fighting for his life with the support of a community behind him as you can hear and as questions remain over how this interaction ended with seven shots to the back. >> all right. omar, thank you very much. you know, the shooting sparking protests far from where omar is standing tonight in wisconsin, also here in new york city among others. we'll go live to new york. what's happening here? >> reporter: so we're now in washington square park in the village here in manhattan. you can see hundreds gathered here behind me. we stopped at this location for speeches. this is more than you would normally see. people have been out protesting almost every night here in new york city.

but this is probably the biggest crowd i've seen since the george floyd protests. no doubt a lot of the people here sadly energized by what happened in wisconsin yesterday. seeing a lot of the same faces i was seeing out here when i was covering the george floyd protest. a lot of them very upset. they can't believe this is something that has happened again and again they are calling for unity and peaceful protests but they still say change needs to come and they are hoping at some point something can happen so that there is change. erin, many of them can't believe they're out here protesting what they've been protesting really for the last several months and it happened again, erin. >> thank you very much. joining me now on the phone is rayshaun white. you just saw that name on the screen. he is the man who took the video of the shooting. i appreciate your time. look, i know this is hard and as omar warned i warn again this

video is really awful to watch. jacob blake walks to the driver's side of the car as you're filming. two police officers are following him with their guns drawn at that point. he leans into the car, an officer grabs the back of his shirt, and you hear several shots fired. obviously you started recording at some point. what made you start? what did you see before you started recording? >> i seen -- i went to the window and i seen these officers wrestling him. before that happened, jacob pulled up and he seen his son outside and told his son to get in the car. his son proceeded to run toward the car and jacob walked into the apartment. i stepped away from my window. i came back to my window and i seen the police wrestling jacob. one had him in a head lock and was punching him in the ribs and

the other had a head lock on the other side of him and was pulling his arm. after they proceeded to punch him in his ribs the female officer tased him and jacob kind of leaned on the car. they proceeded to wrestle him toward the back of the car and he went on the other side of the car. i just had to pick up my camera so i could record. >> did you hear anything that he said or that the officer said to him before the actual shots were fired? >> i didn't hear jacob saying anything at all but i heard the officers screaming, drop the knife drop the knife but from my view i didn't see a knife in jacob's hand. he pulled his pants up with both hands. >> okay. obviously that could be very significant. so then what happened? after the shots were fired? >> after they shot him, the officer that shot him pulled him out of the car and laid him on

the ground and got on his knees and i guess he was trying to help him, like resuscitate him. >> you are narrating what you saw here and obviously you saw a lot that happened before that was so disturbing you decided to start filming it. your video is the reason tens of millions of americans now know about jacob blake and what happened here. i mean, how does it make you feel as a black man yourself to actually see this happen? where you were, to be the one who was able to pick up your phone and film it? >> it is disturbing to actually look out my window where i live and see this man get shot by the police seven times. it is highly disturbing for me. but i'm pretty sure jacob's kids were more traumatized than anybody during the whole situation. they were in the car. after the shooting the mom of one of the children pulled jacob out of the car and that was very

disturbing to look at. he's that close to these shots. he sees his dad in that condition. a 6-year-old child. it is highly disturbing. >> extremely so, and of course we want to emphasize to everybody we don't know the full condition. we do know that jacob is still in the icu. i appreciate your time. thank you very much for talking to us about what you saw. >> no problem. >> i want to go straight to joey jackson now criminal defense attorney and cnn legal analyst. so joey, you hear rayshaun talking about what he saw, what he filmed, right, discussing that and also what he saw before and what he heard before. obviously the police are still saying all the intricacies of a highly dynamic incident, you don't know what you don't know but we know what rayshaun saw and told us. what do you hear? >> we know more than that, erin. we know what we see. i know the narrative is oh, we don't know what happened specifically before, what the

interactions were. you attack the credibility of witnesses. but should we not believe our lying eyes? i mean, we know what we know. we know what we see. irrespective of any witness to take us through the context or the dynamic. when you look at that you look at the tactics and they're flawed with regard to what the police did -- drawing a gun and just following around the car. with regard to the strategy, with regard to the humanity or lack thereof, with regard to the morality or lack thereof, you ask yourself the question, did it need to happen? and so when you put your legal hat on and you talk about what would make this justified, you look to the three things -- the immediacy of the threat. you see a person walking away from the police. you see a person turning his back going into a car. you see shots to the back. i don't see the immediacy of any danger. i do not. in terms of the proportionality of the force which you get to, multiple shots in the back. what was the struggle? what was the dynamic that led to that? finally, erin, with respect to the reasonability or lack thereof, of the officer's

conduct. how is that reasonable? and so here we are back in that place. right? that, you know, is the cause of protests throughout the country. that's the cause of so much concern throughout the country. that's the cause of all the issues as they relate to defunding the police and what we can do and relations between the police and the community. this does nothing to further, you know, to bring this together and it is a tough scenario all the way around. >> i want to ask you something else. he said he heard the police screaming, drop the knife drop the knife. he did not hear jacob respond. he also said that he saw him pull up his pants with two hands and he didn't see a knife in his hands. this is a witness, right, an eyewitness but ther yaelg at him to drop a knife and he is saying not only did he not see one but he was able to obviously pull his pants up with two hands. >> so we as lawyers when we approach juries always say to exercise your common sense and good judgment. again, you evaluate the

videotape. and when he is walking you ask a juror or any viewer do you see a knife in his hands at that point? when he is walking to the car do you see a knife in his hands at that point? from the officers' vantage point or reason to observe, would they have been in a position to observe and see a knife so you wonder whether it is made up to justify the conduct or whether there was a knife that was ever there? and so it begs that question. but you look at it and you look at it in terms of justifiability and lack thereof and i understand the narrative. there will be an investigation. we don't know exactly what happened and what led to it, etcetera, but what you see is troubling and disturbing and that is why so many people are out there calling for justice and calling out the inequality. it has to stop. another african-american man dead and what is the reason? i don't see any. >> we know nothing. we certainly have not been given one at all. joey, thank you so much. >> thank you, erin. next the president playing

politics with covid. new questions about why emergency blood plasma use was suddenly okay'd by the fda when days before they said they weren't ready to do it. plus the convention lineup about to kick off. america the land of promise is tonight's theme. why is trump telling people to be very afraid? breaking news. liberty university says jerry falwell jr. resigned as president tonight after a stunning admission about his wife and affair with a pool attendant. falwell helped deliver the evangelical vote to donald trump in 2016. he was early, a staunch defender. what now? discomfort back there? instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders. try the cooling, soothing relief of preparation h. because your derriere deserves expert care.

try new soothing relief. as business moves forward, we're all changing the way things get done. like how we redefine collaboration... how we come up with new ways to serve our customers... and deliver our products. but no matter how things change, one thing never will... you can rely on the people and the network of at&t... to help keep your business connected.

thinking about your fi...so are we... prudential helps 25 million people with their financial needs. with over 90 years' of investment experience, our thousands of financial professionals can help. go to prudential.com or talk to an advisor. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait. because when caught early, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers

even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it. that's a step in the right direction. i'm on it. that gives me cash back onesome new aeverything.akuten that's ebates. i get cash back on electronics, travel, clothes. you're talking about ebates. i can't stop talking about rakuten. pretty good deal - peter sfx [blender] ebates is now rakuten, sign up today. tonight the president kicking off the republican convention be by playing politics with coronavirus, pushing for treatments and vaccines that may not be ready or safe in order to help his re-election. >> the pandemic goes away. the vaccines are going to be, i believe, announced very soon. yesterday night we did it last evening we announced a very,

very big therapeutic. it is something that really has been an incredible thing. this would have taken i wouldn't say years, maybe not many years, but it would have taken a long time to have gotten it approved. we got the fda to do it very quickly. >> but the president shouldn't be getting the fda to do anything, right? this is just the bottom line. the fda should be doing all of that based on the data and scientific evidence. instead, the president is potentially putting more american lives at risk because he just wants these approvals, right? that is good for him. he admitted last night when he announced the fda haddish uni i emergency authorization for convelescent plasma to treat coronavirus >> i think there might have been a holdup but we broke the log jam over the last week to be honest. i think there are people in the fda and actually in your larger department that can see things being held up and wouldn't mind so much. that is my opinion, very strong

opinion. that is for political reasons. >> the political reasons are his own even when some of the nation's top scientists including the nih director, dr. francis collins and dr. anthony fauci have both been skeptical there is enough data to justify doing this with the plasma. jim acosta is out front at the white house. so, jim, here's the bottom line, right? he has been complaining about the fda on this issue and saying they should do it. they didn't do it. they didn't have the evidence. they didn't do it. a few days go by. today is the beginning of his convention and the announcement comes. is it a coincidence? >> reporter: i don't think there are many coincidences around here not during election time and not during convention time, erin. but one of the things you have to look at, you just played this a few moments ago, the president was saying earlier today vaccines could be coming out very soon. i talked to a senior administration official about this a short while ago who said despite what the president is saying the timeline remains the same for a coronavirus vaccine either at the end of this year or early next year.

but, of course, there are lots of questions to be asked about whether or not the timeline is being politicized. you mentioned the case of convelescent plasma. over the weekend the president was not only pressuring the fda but accusing the fda of being part of this deep state. lo and behold sunday evening we have a press conference at the white house where the president announces the fda has approved emergency use authorization for convelescent plasma. i tried to ask the fda commissioner whether or not he had been pressured into this. he didn't answer the question at the press conference but later on gave us an on the record statement saying that is not the case. back to this vaccine and the idea of pressure or racing against timelines we reported earlier today, sources telling us that on july 30th mark meadows the chief of staff over here at the white house gave the impression to the house speaker nancy pelosi and the senate majority leader chuck schumer that the white house was optimistic about moving ahead with a vaccine before all of the trials are completed. that obviously concerned people inside the democratic party on

capitol hill. the speaker told mark meadows no cutting corners here. this is part of a theme that the president wants to carry into this convention. that is why we're hearing from campaign officials that you'll see speakers tonight praising the president's record on the coronavirus even though most americans don't feel the same way, erin. >> thank you very much. across the country, cases rising on university campuses as schools start to reopen. erica hill is outfront tonight in new york. >> the truth is that fall in tuscaloosa is in serious jeopardy. >> reporter: bars in tuscaloosa closed for the next two weeks. the university of kentucky retesting its 5500 greek life students. a cluster at a georgia tech fraternity forcing all residents of that house into isolation. >> once we found out about the first exposure we did prioritize keeping people not part of that living community outside of it. >> reporter: cases on campus raising concerns especially in areas making gains. much of the south is among the

25 states reporting a decline over the past week while areas of the midwest are seeing numbers creep up. cases in three states have now been linked to the sturgis motorcycle rally in south dakota earlier this month. nationwide, average daily deaths finally under a thousand for the first time in nearly a month. yet even in areas doing well a reminder that things can change quickly. the mayor of danbury, connecticut says travel, barbecues, and youth sports are fueling a spike in his town. >> this is a good time to pause, get our numbers down, and then we can maybe look at reopening if at all possible. >> reporter: as more children return to the classroom the w.h.o. says kids under 5 shouldn't be required to wear masks. a global zoom outage today hitting atlanta public schools on their first day back. a florida judge handing teachers there a win granting a temporary injunction on the state's order that all schools must reopen for

in-person learning this month. staggering numbers out of north carolina tonight, erin. unc chapel hill reporting its positive tufty rate, 31.3% according to the data website there. it was just 13.6% last week and you may recall the school of course moved under grad classes online last week after some 130 students tested positive. that number now up to more than 450. >> erica, thank you very much. 31% just everyone knows the w.h.o. line is 5%. that is incredible and doubling. all right. erica, thank you very much. i want to go straight to william hazel tin a groundbreaking hiv/aids researcher also a former professor at harvard medical school and school of public health. i appreciate your time as always. you heard the president say, his words, quote, we broke the log jam. then he said people at the fda were holding things up, quote, for political reasons. the director of the fda said in a statement to cnn that the decisions that scientists at the fda are making are done on data

only. of course they didn't have the data a few days ago. the president was complaining. then suddenly they did give this authorization. do you think this was really about the data? >> this is not about the data. it was clear from my reading of the data as well as the national institutes of health and the statements from the fda that this was not ready for primetime. we're in a situation where we have a president who from -- wants to give false assurance for his own purposes. he's given false assurances that this would go away early on, and it didn't. he gave false assurances that you didn't need to wear masks. he gave false assurances that we needed to reopen the economy. and now he's given false assurances we have drugs like hydroxychloroquine which didn't work. and this drug which barely works if it works at all. we really don't have the data. i am afraid he is about to give

false assurance we'll have a vaccine. this is not trivial. this is really serious because he is dealing with the agency which protects us from snake oil salesmen and patent medicine that have plagued us in the past. you need to know for yourself and your family that a medication you take is safe and will do the job. if it is subject to political influence, rather than based on the facts, which this certainly appears to be, we are in dangerous territory. there is no way as anybody who's developed vaccines, as i have and many others have, that we can by november know that a vaccine is safe and effective. it can't be done. if it is approved as it was in russia and china, do we want to join that? do we want to be russia and china and put the lives of our people at risk? i don't think so. this is dangerous stuff. >> i want to play something the

director said about the plasma treatment and give you a chance to explain it. here he is. >> let me just put this in perspective. many of you know i was a cancer doctor before i became fda commissioner and 35% improvement in survival is a pretty substantial clinical benefit. what that means is, and if the data continued to pan out, a hundred people who are sick, with covid-19, 35 would have been saved because of the administration of plasma. >> just on a pure data interpretation, 35% improvement does not mean 35 people out of a hundred, correct? >> no. it's a gross exaggeration of the facts of that study. most people who took that convelesce convelescent sera had no effect. that is because they took it three days from the time they were diagnosed. the vast majority of people do not get to the hospital where you need to be to get this drug within three days of feeling ill.

that's the whole story. the story is that if you have taken the drug within three days of feeling ill you have a slight benefit. if you don't take it, you take it afterwards, you have no benefit. that's the vast majority of patients. that is a gross over simplification and statement of the efficacy of this treatment. i am not saying it is not effective. it could be effective for a short period of time. we just don't have the data to prove it because there was no control. >> right. >> definitely not what the fda commissioner just told us it was. >> just on a pure mathematical basis what he said there would be inaccurate. thank you very much. i appreciate your time always always. next the republican national convention has barely started and we'll see what tone the president is setting tonight. breaking news. liberty university says jerry falwell jr. has resigned after an admission involving sex and a claim of blackmail. he made it okay for evangelicals to support trump in 2016.

an ardent defender of the president. will that change now? ♪ sometimes you want to go ♪ where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ and they're always glad you came ♪

applebee's. now that's eating good in the neighborhood. thinking about your fi...so are we... prudential helps 25 million people with their financial needs. with over 90 years' of investment experience, our thousands of financial professionals can help. go to prudential.com or talk to an advisor.

where you can find games, news and highlights. all in one place, right on your tv. the xfinity sports zone.

use your voice to search every stat and score. follow the teams you love. and, even get notifications with breaking news alerts and more. with the xfinity sports zone everybody wins. now that's simple, easy, awesome. say xfinity sports zone into your voice remote today.

tonight be very, very careful. president trump kicking off this week's rnc with a warning about democrats and some false claims about stealing the election. >> what they're doing is using covid to steal an election. they're using covid to defraud the american people, all of our people of a fair and free election. be very, very careful. this is going to be, and i really believe this, this is the most important election in the history of our country. don't let them take it away from you. >> so president trump said the rnc would be very uplifting and positive. obviously not the tone that he was expressing there. >> erin, it was not. those are the same conspiracy theories and inflammatory rhetoric the president usually

does and were extemporaneous off the cuff remarks earlier today in charlotte, north carolina. that is a question talking to so many republicans who are watching this national convention very carefully. they do not hope the president takes that tone at the convention this week. they believe this is a moment for him to reset his presidential campaign, his presidency, and change the narrative on his handling of the coronavirus to talk about the economy. other things, he did not do that this morning in charlotte. the question is what will he do this evening? his campaign points to a variety of speakers. tonight for example we'll see a new generation of leaders speaking here. it is what the president does himself that is going to dominate all of this. he is going to appear every evening here in some shape or form so what he does is going to matter. we'll see if he seizes the opportunity to rebrand joe biden, try and make this a campaign about him not a referendum on the president. but it is all up to what the

president himself does if he follows the script or if he doesn't. erin? >> thank you very much. i want to go now to our political director, amanda carpenter the former communications director for republican ted cruz. she says she'll be voting for joe biden and scott jennings special assistant to president george w. bush who is supporting president trump. let me start with the reporting. he says republicans he talked to today said this isn't what they want to hear. they don't want to hear about the conspiracy theories on mail-in voting as one example. is it a missed opportunity for him if he keeps going there? clearly he feels it works. he is going to it again and again because that is his gut. >> it feels good in the feedback loop when he is talking to some folks but it would be a missed opportunity and i don't know if that is what donald trump plans to do. i certainly agree with what was reported that he is going to be the dominant force here.

how donald trump handles the week will dictate a lot of how the american people perceive what happened here. erin, this is the cleanest shot and clearest shot at a reset president trump has since the covid crisis began. so this is a real opportunity. everything the american people have been hearing about donald trump over the last five, six months has been related to the coronavirus and it has not been welcome news for him. so this is the best opportunity. he is programming he and his team a whole week to tell stories, have real americans speak up about their experiences, and really try to reset not just on coronavirus which he has to change the perceptions of how the american people are judging him on that very important issue but also on whether or not this entire election is going to be a referendum or if he can successfully make it a real choice with joe biden. >> amanda, one thing he has been saying, one of the phrases stuck in my mind, abolish the suburbs, right, these kind of mobs and

throngs are going to come and take away the spushan way of life in this country. that is one of his messages. and you think trump is trying to obviously scare voters into believing biden is a threat to their way of life, their actual where they live but you think that could turn on him and help biden. why do you think that? >> erin, we've had the last six months of american life robbed from us because of donald trump's failed leadership on coronavirus. things are already scary. kids can't go to school. people have lost their jobs. we have no idea when this will ever end. people are already terrified. i don't want to hear speakers come on stage and tell me how scary joe biden is because i am already scared about what has happened so far. what -- this isn't just about donald trump and what is going to happen over the next four days but about the republican party and all the people who

have enabled this madness to continue over the last four years. so i am really looking for people like nikki haley who i want to respect to look into that camera and tell me from your heart why you really believe donald trump deserves another four years given what's happened. does she really believe that? or is this just the politically convenient thing to do for herself? because she is angling for her own run? i have questions about donald trump but i have questions about the future of the party based on what happens tonight, too. >> he has an opportunity here, david is talking about resetting, scott, but he had an opportunity to say what he is going to do with another 40 years and he has been given this opportunity and very kind and general ways, sean hannity among them. hey, what is your plan? he has not answered it. here is how he has answered the question what are you going to do with the next four years in three different interviews. >> well, one of the things that will be really great, you know, the word experience is still

good. i always say talent is more important than experience. i never did this before i never slept over in washington. i was in washington i think 17 times all of a sudden i'm president of the united states. i will tell you it is very simple. we're going to make america great again. we are doing things nobody could have done. our country will be so strong at the end of our first term, at the end of the second term it is going to be at a level nobody will ever have seen a country. we've done a lot but we have a lot of things we can do >> i want to take where we left. we had the greatest economy in the history of the world. woo he were better than any other country. what i want to do is take it from that point and then build it even better. >> so build it even better. we've done a lot. a lot we can do. we're going to make america great again. okay. this is an opportunity for him to be specific. is he going to be able to rise to that? >> i hope so because a couple of those clips you played were whifs. no doubt about it. and this opportunity that he has this week is to say for the next four years i plan to follow

these policies. i plan to implement this program. if you let me do that this is how the country is going to benefit from that. if you go back to 2016 this campaign did have a pretty clear message. it had a mission statement. you could pretty well articulate why he was running why he wanted to occupy the chair. that hasn't come yet. this convention gives him that opportunity. i suspect a lot of that messaging is going to revolve around getting the economy back to where it was before coronavirus, which everybody basically agrees was good, and also public safety. i think you see public safety creeping up now and the polling is an important issue for americans for obvious reasons because several american cities are under siege. i think those two issues this week are going to be high profile for him to begin to define a specific second term agenda. >> all of you please stay with me. i want to ask you about the jerry falwell jr. news. salacious and really important for the president. liberty university says that falwell has just resigned as president after revelations of a sordid story about his wife and a pool attendant. falwell was crucial and helped deliver the evangelical vote for

trump. he was early and loyal. so what now? and remember this couple, the ones who arm themselves with guns and confronted black lives matter protesters. they will be speaking tonight at the rnc.

do you know how it feels to live with schizophrenia? i am a good parent. jared? i'm hearing the most awful things, people shouting at me. it's ok. when you live with schizophrenia like us, it can feel like you're living in a different world.

you should definitely talk to your doctor and ask about fanapt. ok. fanapt is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults. in clinical trials, fanapt significantly improved symptoms of schizophrenia compared to placebo. cynthia, are you ok? i feel like everyone's out to get me. fanapt may change your heart rhythm which could elevate risk of sudden death. your doctor will consider this when deciding among treatments and may prescribe another medication first or may instruct you to take a smaller dosage of fanapt. remember you're not alone, there is help. call 8557 fanapt it's not going away. covid-19.

more than ever, california needs rapid coronavirus testing. robust contact tracing. support for community health clinics. masks and ppe for those saving lives... for teachers and school personnel educating students. these heroes are doing their jobs. now government must do theirs. keep working through a special session to combat this crisis right now and provide the revenues to solve the problems we know are coming.

breaking news. conflicting reports tonight about jerry falwell jr.'s fate at liberty university after the school originally told cnn falwell was planning to resign falwell jr. is now disputing that. falwell jr. is embroiled in controversy after today admitting his wife had an affair with a man they met when he was a pool attendant at a miami hotel. falwell jr. alleges he was black mailed after the man threatened to go public with the sordid details. athena jones is outfront. >> i'm going to vote for donald trump because i believe he is the best qualified to be president of the united states. >> reporter: jerry falwell jr. lending a helping hand to then candidate donald trump in october, 2016, after the "new york times" reported allegations trump touched women inappropriately without their consent. a claim trump denied. >> i am one of the 85% or so of

evangelicals who supported him. >> reporter: one of trump's more prominent evangelical supporters standing by him again in 2018. tonight the president of liberty university may be in need of his own defenders. a man confirming to cnn he had a years long extra marital affair with falwell's wife after the couple met him on a trip to miami eight years ago and that jerry falwell enjoyed watching from the corner of the room while the pair had sex. jerry falwell admitting his wife had an inappropriate personal relationship in a lengthy statement to cnn but denying being involved at all let alone having watched. becky had an interpersonal relationship with this person something in which i was not involved. in a statement that referred to a, quote, fatal attraction type situation and included multiple references to scripture, falwell said the affair led to stress, weight loss, and reflection. he said he has forgiven his wife and is seeking professional help to address the emotional toll. reuters first reported the story

also supplying texts supplied by granda who told reuters the liaisons happened at multiple times per year at hotels and the falwells' home in virginia. a june 2020 text published showing how the relationship deteriorated sometime after the couple and granda invested together in a local property granda allegedly writing to falwell it really as shame because i wanted to reach a peaceful resolution and just move on with our lives but if conflict is what you want then so be it. jerry falwell allegedly replying you should by now understand i will not be extorted. i have always treated you fairly and been restrained in response to your threats because i did not wish to ruin your life. going forward stop contacting me and my family. granda denied the blackmail accusation. >> we must unite behind donald trump and mike pence. >> reporter: falwell whose january, 2016 endorsement of trump helped him win the support of white evangelicals a key voting bloc had already been on

an indefinite leave of absence from the staunchly conservative university after posting this photo on instagram with a woman he says is his wife's assistant which he later said was meant in good fun. a troubled moment for an influential conservative voice who nabbed a coveted speaking slot on the final night of the republican convention in 2016. >> thank you. >> reporter: he told outfront in 2018 -- >> we're all sinners. nobody understands that better than evangelicals. that is why we're christians because we believe we all need forgiveness. >> reporter: it is important to know this is not a criminal matter still it is noteworthy to see yet another important ally of the president dealing with these unflattering allegations or unflattering situation. it is a far cry from a year ago when jerry falwell had a prominent speaking slot at the rnc. >> thank you very much, athena. everyone is back with me. david, look. this is a bizarre story. okay? let's just start with that. then let's get to the politics

here. falwell endorsed donald trump a week before the 2016 iowa caucuses, right? stood by the president amidst the controversy. came on this program and said we're all sinners so you should forgive him and evangelicals need to get onboard. you know, does this change at all how evangelicals view the president? is there anything, because of the significance of falwell's original endorsement and influence? >> yeah, i doubt we'll see any change because of this story. i mean, the president went through the access hollywood tape and stormy daniels and other episodes that have come to light since he had the rock solid support of the white evangelical community, and none of that caused them to drift away in their support of the president and so it's hard to imagine how jerry falwell's personal circumstances would rub off negatively on the president. at this point that is a pretty well formed relationship the president has with those voters

as sort of complex as it may be as you noted in your interviews with him. >> scott? >> yeah, i mean, i have a hard time to believe any republican is going to go into the voting booth and say well i was going to vote for donald trump but because jerry falwell likes to watch his wife have sex with the pool boy i guess i'll vote for biden. it sounds crazy to say out loud but i doubt anyone is >> amanda, let me ask you, falwell did -- this is a question we ask of evangelicals when you believe these things in your personal life you were okay with donald trump. maybe now we know why falwell was, because his personal life was not what it looked to be. he again and again defended trump on issues of morality and infidelities, sexual assault allegations and when i spoke to him in 2018, he was very specific and here is what he

said. >> when the "access hollywood" video kacame out, i believe it s said donald trump is a different person than 2005. i believe that. i think he's had a change of heart. i think he's changed in the positive way. >> what do you make of that, amanda? >> i mean, this is all sad. i know liberty university graduates, i know parents sent their kids to liberty because they really believe in the christian values that jerry falwell said he did. we know a lot more than we did in 2016. daniel's story wasn't fully uncovered. we have trump's record and what i see now, i watch all these videos roll in through republican voters against trump and when you watch those videos, a lot of them are from real faith and freedom type of voters, the type of voters that would send their children to

liberty university. you can see the crosses in their living room. they will tell you with tears in their eyes, voting for donald trump is the biggest mistake i ever made. i'm so sorry. they want to fix it this time around and so i can't draw a straight line between this event and the effect it will have in november but it will certainly play into that environment. >> i guess it raises the conversation yet again. those who you surround yourself with. thank you-all three very much. i appreciate it. next, a high profile couple is set to address the rnc tonight. what will they say about pointing guns at protestors outside their home? that's next. ta-da! did you know liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? i should get a quote. do it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

what do you look for when i want free access to research. yep, td ameritrade's got that. free access to every platform. mhm, yeah, that too. i don't want any trade minimums. yeah, i totally agree, they don't have any of those. i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. do you just say yes to everything? hm. well i say no to kale. mm. yeah, they say if you blanch it it's better, but that seems like a lot of work. now offering zero commissions on online trades.

we charge you less so you have more to invest. ♪ these days, businesses are adapting to new ways of working. and innovation is at the heart of it. verizon 5g ultra wideband is the fastest 5g in the world, with speeds up to 25 times today's 4g networks. its massive capacity and ultra-low lag time is already available in parts of select cities around the country. which means businesses both large and small

can innovate like never before. where you can find games, news and highlights. all in one place, right on your tv. the xfinity sports zone. use your voice to search every stat and score. follow the teams you love. and, even get notifications with breaking news alerts and more. with the xfinity sports zone everybody wins. now that's simple, easy, awesome. say xfinity sports zone into your voice remote today.

remember this, we all saw this picture. the couple from st. louis that pointed guns at black lives matter protesters outside their home will be speaking tonight at the republican national convention. kyung law is "outfront". >> reporter: from the front lawn of their st. louis home, two center stage of the republican national convention. attorneys patricia and mark rose

to social media fame articlmed weapons in front of their house as black lives matter protesters marched. >> we wasn't coming to your house. we was coming to your mayor's house. >> i'm 12 feet away from them. >> reporter: he was one of the leaders of the protests that day. the golfs to reach the mayor's house in a gated community. you can see protesters walking through the gates open next to the gate is the home. that's reverend gray's voice on the bull horn. >> saying to them, we're going to keep moving. we're not here for confrontation. we were close enough to see she had her finger on the gun. >> reporter: what do you think about the invitation by the republican party to speak? >> you're telling people that it is okay, it is okay to put people's lives in danger. it is okay to jeopardize

people's safety because this is the reward that you get. >> i'm not the face of anything opposing the black lives matter movement. i was a person scared for my life who is protecting my wife, my home. >> reporter: shortly after the confrontation, they said they feared for their lives. claiming the protesters broke the metal gate. the couple and their attorney said they supported black lives matter. >> my clients are completely behind and endorsed the message of blm. >> reporter: less than one month later. >> black lives matter is not about blacks and lives. it's an organization that wants to transform the united states. >> reporter: tonight, the couple steps into the spotlight as part of the gop theme honoring the great american story. >> in a nutshell, what are you going to say? >> you know, just that we have a god given right to defend ourselves. you cannot have freedom and an opportunity to advance unless you have basic safety and

security and it's not just limited to big cities. they're bringing it to a neighborhood near you. >> reporter: reverend gray fears what this message will lead to next. >> you open the door for other people who will think that this is okay because our president said this is okay. it is not okay. and our president knows it's not okay. the republican party knows it's not okay and i believe that most people in america know that it's not okay. >> reporter: so even though they have this high profile speaking slot tonight. it doesn't mean their legal troubles are over. in their home state of missouri, they have been charged with unlawful use of a weapon. that is a felony. the prosecutor said in leveling that charge that their actions risk creating a violent situation amid non-violent protests. those words caught the attention of national republicans including president trump.

erin? >> we'll hear from them tonight. thank you very much. thanks to all of you for joining us. our special coverage of the republican national convention continues now. tonight, republicans defend the trump presidency and their grip on the white house. it's time for their convention. president trump in a starring role every night. we're learning what he has planned for two appearances tonight. welcome to cnn special coverage of the republican national convention. i'm anderson cooper. we're about to find out how his president and allies respond to the takedown of his record and character. as always, i'm joined by wolf blitzer. it begins about half an hour from now. >> it does. the headline speakers are expected to