look at the lineup tomorrow. >> fantastic. we'll see you here tomorrow same time, same virtual couch. >> sandra: we're watching for the eye of the hurricane. fox news alert hurricane laura has formed in the gulf of mexico. the storm now packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour but it is forecast to gain strength in the warm waters of the gulf and make landfall tomorrow between houston and new orleans as a major hurricane bringing storm surge, heavy rainfall and tornadoes. laura is pounding the caribbean with rain and strong winds and blamed for the deaths of 13 people. the latest on the storm's path when we get it. but first day two of the

republican convention getting underway later today with the theme of a land of opportunity. but last night some of the biggest names in the party made the case for president trump as the pro-america candidate and accused the democratic ticket of wanting to fundamentally change the country. good morning, i'm sandra smith. hello, trace. >> trace: good morning to you, i'm trace gallagher. melania trump and mike pompeo speaking tonight. president trump will be there. rnc speakers delivered a dark warning of the future of the nation if the president is not reelected. >> our side is working on policy. joe biden and kamala harris want a cultural revolution. a fundamentally different america. >> joe biden is the loch ness monster of the swamp. for the past half century he has been lurking around in there and sticks up his head every now and then to run for

president and disappears and doesn't do much in between. >> joe biden and the democrats are still blaming america first. donald trump has always put america first. and he has earned four more years as president. >> this election is a battle for the soul of america, your choice is clear. do you think america is to blame? or do you believe in american greatness? >> sandra: fox team coverage on tuesday morning. guy benson joining us with analysis and peter doocy is covering the biden campaign and kristin fisher is live at the white house. how is the white house and the trump campaign feeling night one of the rnc? >> the fact that the republican national committee and trump campaign were able to pull off this unconventional convention without technical snafus and not as much time to prepare as

the democrats is a victory. they're very happy about that. in terms of substance, going into this the trump campaign promised it would be much more hopeful and optimistic than the dnc. as you just heard in those opening sound bites there were some dark warnings but there were also some bright spots, too, especially when it comes to race relations in the united states. >> in much of the democratic party, it is now fashionable to say that america is racist. that is a lie. america is not a racist country. this is personal for me. i am the proud daughter of indian immigrants, people of south carolina chose me as their first minority and first female governor. >> the history of this country our family went from cotton to congress in one lifetime. there are millions of families just like mine all across this

nation full of potential seeking to live the american dream. and i'm here tonight to tell you that supporting the republican ticket gives you the best chance of making that dream a reality. >> that kind of outreach to black voters, plus the president's record on criminal justice reform was a huge focus for night one, sandra. >> sandra: now that that's in the books how about night two? what should we expect? >> one of the big speakers tonight will be secretary of state mike pompeo speaking in jerusalem. this speech is pretty controversial because you have critics accusing him of essentially violating the hatch act by using official diplomatic travel to make a political statement. the state department says he will be speaking in a personal capacity and that taxpayer dollars will not be used. then, of course, the closer tonight is going to be the first lady who will be speaking

from this newly-renovated rose garden. we know president trump will be joining her as well or don't know if he will make any comments but will be in the rose garden with her tonight. >> sandra: we'll anticipate all of that. kristin fisher live at the white house this morning. much more throughout the morning when senator marsha blackburn joins us at 9:20 a.m. eastern time. we'll ask her about the rnc's first night and the unrest in wisconsin. senator tom cotton will take the stage at the republican convention thursday. we'll get a preview of what he plans to say when he joins us live next hour. >> trace: the biden campaign targeting president trump's handling of the pandemic as former arizona senator jeff flake joins a list of more than two dozen former republican lawmakers endorsing the democratic nominee. peter doocy in delaware. will we see joe biden at all this week? >> trace, he doesn't have any events on his schedule for the rest of this week so far.

his running mate is planning tomorrow to host a virtual event targeting voters in michigan and we have a new idea about the general theme that the biden campaign will try to push as they try to steal some of the spotlight this week from president trump and the rnc. here is a quote from the biden campaign. what they will hear voters from donald trump this week are the last things our country needs. more lies and toxic division in vain attempt to distract from his mismanagement. what they won't hear is what american families have urgently needed and been forced to go without for over seven consecutive months. any strategy for helping with the pandemic. they'll roll out virtual remarks targeting voters in the middle from pete buttigieg and two former veep short listers, gretchen whitmer and val demings. >> trace: we mentioned jeff

flake from arizona. how did he decide to finally vote for joe biden, peter? >> trace, jeff flake did not vote for donald trump in 2016. all signs were pointing to him not voting for donald trump again in 2020. but he says that he settled on biden this time because he is biden. >> i've been asked many times over the past four years if i as a conservative could vote for a democrat for president. sure has been my ready answer if he or she were a joe biden kind of democrat. >> and throughout the last year plus on the campaign trail biden has long claimed that if he wins the presidency, there are going to be many republicans who are very eager to reach across the aisle and work with him. flake is one of more than two dozen former elected republicans that came out for biden this week. none of them are in d.c. anymore, trace. >> trace: peter doocy live in delaware. >> sandra: let's bring in guy

benson fox new contributor and host of the guy benson show. everybody has their reaction tonight one. what did you think? >> you know, sandra, i was curious to see how the republicans were going to carry off the show. that element of it. the democrats had more time to plan a virtual convention. they have the power of hollywood behind them. we saw what they were able to produce in terms of production values and continuity and so on and so forth. i thought it was very much an open question whether the republicans were going to be able to match it, let alone surpass it. we had mark lauder from the trump campaign on our show on the radio yesterday. we know how to make good tv. i said all right, we'll see. he was right. they i think won in a head-to-head. only one night. three more to go. but it was a compelling night of television. it was basically seamless, everything looked terrific. the show was very strong. in terms of the substance, it is that 10 to 11:00 p.m.

eastern hour that is viewed as the heart of prime time where you really want to put your very best foot forward. again, i have to give high marks to the trump campaign. it was really strong programming and the shining stars were two south carolinians. >> sandra: one of the speakers was kimberly guilfoyle. >> they want to steal your liberty, your freedom. they want to control what you see and think and believe so that they can control how you live. they want to enslave you to the weak liberal victim ideology to the point you will not recognize this country or yourself. from the beginning -- >> sandra: she is not one of the south carolinians were referencing but she was from the trump campaign. she is girlfriend of the president's son, donald trump junior, formerly with this network. but she came out guns blazing.

she was a big voice up there on that stage. but she, like many of the speakers last night, tried to effectively paint a picture of a joe biden presidency that would change the course of this country and fundamentally change america. how did they do trying to make that case? >> i would just note that our former colleague was certainly very high energy, which is something the president enjoys, high decibel. i got the sense that kimberly's speech may have translated better if there were a large cheering crowd instead of an empty auditorium. she was feeling the passion, no question about that. i think in that 10:00 hour we did hear that with a slightly lighter touch from nikki haley and from tim scott. i think in the entire night there were some arresting moments and some really emotional moments throughout the night. they did a good job balancing sort of the tempo of things. but tim scott i think delivered

the toughest body blows against joe biden not angry but sort of disappointed, and little bit of a twinkle in his eye. he was able to go to joe biden's record. not saying he is sleepy or he is, you know, too old and not up for the job or he is senile. he says let's look at what joe biden has said and let's look at what he has done over 47 years. i think it was a really well-crafted and well delivered by tim scott. he was overall the guy who stole the show. >> sandra: it is interesting, you and i spoke after the dnc and we talked a lot about how character was a focus for them. they launched a lot of attacks on president trump's character. jim jordan tried to focus on president trump's accomplishments last night but something else we heard from some of these republicans was focused on the president's character. we had talk of empathy. more from jim jordan. >> taxes cut, regulations reduced, economy growing, lowest unemployment in 50

years, out of the iran deal, hostages home from north korea, new usmca agreement and of course he is building the wall and rebuilding our economy as we speak. i love the president's intensity and his willingness to fight every day in washington for our families. but what i also appreciate about the president is something most americans never get to see, how much he truly cares about people. >> sandra: what we will see a lot of the president this week. you had what was supposed to be a surprise appearance from the president yesterday. we're told we'll see him every day at the convention. they're trying to make the case for his character, guy, and the president will make the case for his presidency every single day of the convention this week. final thoughts. >> and you had a bunch of speakers also sort of acknowledge trump's style that it sometimes rubs people the wrong way. he is rough, he is tough. herschel walker the former football star running back talked about how trump runs over people but gets things

done. hat tips to that perception of the president but you heard anect dotes like from jim jordan where the president spoke to a grieving family who just lost their son and andrew pollack who lost his daughter at the horrible school shooting in south florida. his personal experience with president trump. that definitely some counter programming to what the democrats were setting up last week. i think they're trying to strike that balance of not pretending that trump isn't something that he isn't, that no one is going to buy while saying there is another side. let's give you a glimpse. >> sandra: guy benson, great to talk to you this morning. thank you. >> of course. >> be careful, be careful, be careful. >> trace: anger spilling onto the streets of of kenosha, wisconsin for a second night as protestors demand justice following the shooting of a black man by police on sunday. peaceful demonstrations turned

violent last night. protestors defied curfew setting fires across the city and throwing objects of officers. the shooting of 29-year-old jacob blake was captured on cell phone video. police were trying to stop him from getting in his car. as blake opens the door and leans into the serve an officer grabs his shirt from behind and opens fire while black has his back turned. his son is paralyzed from the waist down. >> sandra: the death toll in california is rising as hundreds of wildfires burn throughout the state. now first responders are facing a new challenge. plus rnc speakers say president trump will stand behind police and stop the violence gripping major american cities. so will that message resonate with voters? senator marsha blackburn will be here next. >> democrats won't let you go to school but they'll let you go loot. >> president trump is the law and order president.

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with the xfinity sports zone everybody wins. now that's simple, easy, awesome. say xfinity sports zone into your voice remote today. >> trace: california supreme court overturning the death sentence for scott peterson and he may not even know it yet. peterson was convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife, lacey and their unborn son. the court tossed out his death

sentence with significant errors in jury selection. the murder conviction still stands. now the relatives say they haven't been able to tell him the news in person because of a massive covid-19 issue where he is being held in prison. he was found guilty of killing his wife and son and dumping their bodies in the san francisco bay. their remains washed up months later. more on this coming up next hour. >> sandra: rioters in kenosha, wisconsin. his family says blake is paralyzed from the waist down. speakers pitched president trump as the law and order candidate for the white house. let's bring in tennessee marsha blackburn who will speak at the republican national convention tomorrow. thank you for being here. first your reaction to the violence that we saw erupt again in kenosha, wisconsin overnight.

>> you know, it is a very sad situation. it is deeply troubling, all the unrest around the country is troubling. and we know that there is an investigation taking place and there should be more details on this coming within the next day is my understanding. >> sandra: vernon jones was one of the speakers last night. i want to play a clip of it and get your response to the pitch that was made on that stage for the president as the law and order candidate. watch. >> unfortunately democrats have turned their backs on our brave police officers. they call it defunding. and it's a danger to our cities, our neighborhoods, and our children. our police need more funding, not less. for frequent psychological examinations, for non-lethal remote restraint technology and

more de-escalation and use of force training. these are the common sense solution that president trump supports. >> sandra: that was democratic georgia state representative david jones speaking on the republican stage last night. he has aligned himself with some republican policies. how did he do making the case for the president, senator? >> he did a superb job making the case. and indeed he is correct. tim scott has worked on this issue for years. we want equal to mean equal. equal treatment, equal justice, and we want to make certain that reforms within the police mean more training, standards, the exams that jones is talking about. this is what you want. that thin blue line is vitally important. i talk to timothy every single

day about the issues, the safety and security in their communities, indeed, we have security moms that are very concerned about their children, that are concerned about their children in the neighborhood, and they want the make certain that communities are safe. at the same time they want to make certain that there is equal treatment and equal respect for each and every individual. >> sandra: senator, while you've been speaking about that unrest we've been watching videos back in portland, chicago, now kenosha. we've seen this in other american cities. as far as republicans addressing voters on this issue, were you surprised to not see democrats take this on during the dnc last week? >> i have to tell you, sandra, i was so surprised that they did not stand against rioting and looting and violence and say let's come together and

work on this issue. but you know, you have to remember when tim scott brought his police reform bill forward what did the democrats do? they left the room because they want the issue, not the solution. and president trump is committed to the solution. this is why he did this sentencing and the criminal justice reform. this is why you have seen him be so -- why there are so many individuals and leaders in communities of color that are saying we want a seat at the table. we want to talk about this problem and make certain that there is respect given from individual to individual equally. that there is equal treatment under the law. but we need that protection. and i really welcome that attitude and that input because

it is imperative that we work together on this issue. >> sandra: it was real essential to a lot of the speeches we heard last night. i want to ask you about the president making the case that when it comes to covid-19 it's about politics for the democrats. here is the president. >> president trump: what they're doing is using covid to steal an election. they are using covid to defraud the american people, all of our people of a fair and free election. they can't do that. >> sandra: did you think that was a fair message on the part of the president saying that they are just making this about politics? >> what so many people will tell you when you are out and about across the country is look, we know how to take care of ourselves, we've been having great experiences in our community. we know how to handle this. and that is what so many people believe.

look at how governor christie noems handled south dakota and they moved forward. they're smart people. tennesseans are smart people. people are being very careful and watchful. if they've been exposed they are getting a test, they're wearing their mask, they're washing their hands. and we are the american people. we can definitely get in behind this and support our researchers who are doing the research, finding antivirals and vaccines, taking care of our communities, making certain we're careful when we are going to the grocery store, wearing a pair of gloves when you go out shopping. those are things that people are doing because they know it's the smart thing to do. they know that is the way we're going to get past this virus. and what they want to do is

work locally on this. they don't want a lot of federal mandates and they do not want another nationwide shutdown. the american people want to go back to work. they want to get children back to school and they want to make certain that federal dollars that are going to be sent to the states are then sent to the community to address the lingering effects of covid-19. >> sandra: we will likely hear a lot more on that republican stage tonight and the next couple nights on that and more. senator, appreciate you coming on this morning. thank you. >> thank you. >> trace: president trump calling it a comeback saying the economy is recovering quickly from the coronavirus pandemic but a new survey paints a bleak picture for small businesses. maria bartiromo will have that coming up and hurricane laura moving closer to the gulf coast. how strong will this be? look at the number right before landfall next. >> we went through katrina and

doing the same thing we have to do again. >> should we stay or go? we have covid and storms. to have two storms back-to-back i just have never seen that in my lifetime. thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including trouble breathing, shortness of breath, cough, or chest pain. before taking ibrance,

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>> sandra: it is the bottom of the hour. time for some top stories on this tuesday morning. day two of the rnc. melania trump and mike pompeo among the featured speakers

tonight. the theme is land of opportunity. >> trace: delta airlines set to furlough more than 1900 pilots in october. the move is due to fallout from the coronavirus and the plunging demand for air travel. >> sandra: and protests turning violent for the second straight night in kenosha, wisconsin. bottles and fireworks thrown at officers after police shot a man in the back police were trying to restrain jacob blake who is black from getting into his car at the time. >> trace: hurricane laura powering up and taking aim at the gulf coast. laura is forecast to strengthen before making land as a major hurricane, potentially cat 3 by tomorrow night that's after tropical storm marco hits the area. charles watson live for us in baton rouge, louisiana. how are residents preparing for the storm exactly? >> many residents are taking the warnings about hurricane laura from state and local officials very seriously.

people across south louisiana are laying sandbags and boarding up windows ahead of laura that could bring several inches of rain and powerful winds. people are just hoping for the best outcome. >> a little bit worried. we never had to go through this before so they always seem to miss us. and so we just decided to board it up and just pray for the best. >> there are at least eight evacuation orders in flood prone areas between texas and louisiana. storm surge watch is in effect for parts of the gulf coast. the region could see life threatening storm surges anywhere between 2 and 11 feet. >> this has the potential to be the strongest hurricane to hit since hurricane rita. it happens to be taking, at least for now, a similar track to hurricane rita. so we should all be very, very

careful. >> the caribbean has already taken a beating from laura killing at least a dozen including a 10-year-old girl in haiti. the storm causing landslides and flooding. president trump has already approved emergency declarations for both mississippi and louisiana. so fema has resources on the ground and ready to go, trace. >> trace: a cat 3 is nothing to smirk at. charles watson live on the ground. thank you, sir. >> every number, now you look at it today, the stock market is just about set to break the old high record. your 401ks. all the things we're doing and to me that's like the leading indicator. everything follows. the economy will come back. next year we'll have one of the best years economically and other ways that we've ever had before. >> sandra: president trump saying the economy is quickly

recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. a new survey from the natural federation of independent business shows that 1 in every 5 small businesses will not stay afloat if conditions don't improve in the next six months. let's bring in maria bartiromo. that's a staggering amount of businesses that could go away. one of the things that the national federation of business is talking about is the change in consumer behavior as a result of this pandemic. that they have to so quickly adapt to to even survive. >> you're right. small business is now facing a very tenuous time. landlords at the beginning of this time were sympathetic saying you know, we'll give you a month or two months lee way. landlords want their rent. small business is facing a lack of foot traffic. when you look at the restaurant

business, we were talking about this this morning with "mornings with maria" and i have an important guest coming up tomorrow. balance sheets are getting destroyed with deferred rent. deferring rent to 2021. 50% of independent restaurants are going to close in the next 90 days partly because ppp money is treetd as taxable income. the issue is people want to go back to normalcy but they're afraid. we need the confidence to do so. many states will not allow indoor dining anymore. and they are talking about not bringing that back until 2021. make no mistake, if indoor dining does not come back, many restaurants will go under. they will not come back. that's part of the small business story here. we are going to need stimulus from the government. there is that fight going on between the republicans and the democrats. that's an issue. then, of course, we'll have to see when people -- after labor day how many people actually do

return home and return to some kind of normalcy in their jobs. it's questionable. so i do agree that small business is facing a very tenuous moment right now. we're going to need to see a recovery in terms of foot traffic and certainly some changes with regard to the closings and the shutdown going on across the country. these companies, sandra, as you know, they live on cash flow. there is none right now. there is no foot traffic and very little cash flow. >> sandra: you read through and their central concern is paying the bills. obviously keeping people on the payroll, you have to have the people there to keep the business going. this is a small business owner on benefiting from ppp, maria, listen. >> my company was one of the first to receive a ppp loan and praise god it has been a lifesaver. not only were we able to keep everything single employee but

we've been hiring weekly ever since. >> sandra: you look at what happened for the ppp so far, the emergency loans for those small businesses to stay afloat. 84% had already used the entirety of those loans. so what do you do for those businesses that have already spent that and they are already saying they'll need more to survive? >> well, you know that that initial cares package was a relief package. that was supposed to be relief. it was not seen as stimulus. yeah, they needed the relief initially and then we were expecting that we would see some return of business and that would get them through. but we are not seeing that because we continue to see closings across the country. look, i don't want to be all gloom and doom. there are a lot of green chutes out there. we just got number this morning. red book sales are better than expected. global trade numbers better

than expectation and an expectation we'll see a bounceback. 33% contraction in the second quarter and as companies open up we'll see a recovery there. we'll see a recovery second half of the year no doubt about it but there are some businesses that were unable to adapt. if you can adapt to a delivery mode of business, then you probably are okay or at least on a bridge to being okay. if you don't have an ability to adapt to what people are doing, it is going to be much tougher. and we will see many companies not make it. >> sandra: there is such a big difference. some of the small businesses trying to survive and some of the big corporations thriving through all this. the dow is down a little bit today the s&p 500 is on pace for a record close. you are looking at the dow up near records, 28,289. it has largely made a huge comeback. larry kudlow will be coming up and we'll talk to him about 20% growth in the last two quarters

of the year. big projections for economic growth. good to see you. thank you. trace. >> trace: some doctors now predicting the u.s. will see a second wave of coronavirus in the fall. is there a way to prevent that? dr. marc siegel with his take next. joe biden says he will only raise taxes on americans earning more than $400,000 a year but the tax hikes will impact everyone, we'll hear from an economics professor on that next hour. >> it boiled down to the fact that joe biden is a nice guy. let me tell you, raising taxes on 82% of americans is not nice. our agents helped make saving on insurance easy usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa

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>> trace: the number of new coronavirus cases in the u.s. has fallen to the lowest level in more than two months as the u.s. marks the ninth straight day with fewer than 50,000 new

cases, dr. marc siegel is a professor of medicine at nyu lan gone and fox news contributor. always good to see you. we know infections have dropped. apparently testing has gone down because of things like the wildfires out west and tropical weather along the gulf coast. we also know hospitalizations down, icu visits down and deaths are down. what do you make of this new trend? >> i like this trend and the number of cases over the last 24 hours about 34,000 is less than we've seen since june. and the overall trend over the last nine days is under 50,000 new cases. that's a very good trend. as you said hospitalizations down and deaths under 400, 400 deaths over the last 24 hours. trace, this is because we're getting some control in the hot spots that you and i have talked about. less than 2500 new cases in florida over 24 hours. texas and california are

getting much more control over this. we're seeing more spread out to other states. but the numbers of increase in those other states is way lower than it was in those big hot spots. that's what is actually happening right now. i think that that's a really good trend. >> trace: yeah. i want to play this sound bite. the initial hot spot new york city got hit the hardest. the infection rate really is dropping there. i want to play the sound bite for the governor there and get your response on the other side. >> the infection rate today is .66. that is the lowest infection rate that we have had since we started this. it's consistent with what we have been seeing all along. if you have been looking at our infection rate over the past couple of weeks, it has been below 1%. so it's not an anomaly. >> trace: he is also putting in testing stations in laguardia and jfk. the whole goal here is trying

to mitigate what some are saying could be the fall wave. what do you think about a second wave of the virus? >> well first our governor cuomo i want to make a point that maria bartiromo was just making which is a lot of the restaurants have not reopened in new york and new york city is still largely vacant. there is a huge cost to this .6%. having said that there is an advantage. i like testing at the airports a lot. a big loophole in the quarantine policy here, i need to tell you about it that no one is reporting. if you go to a hot spot and you come back here, under 24 hours you don't get quarantined. you could get exposed in under 24 hours. those loopholes should be taken out. in terms of the second wave you are talking about, that terminology comes from 1918 when we think that the virus mutated. the spanish flu mutated between the spring and fall. it is not a given that we are going to have a second wave in the united states. but i will caution that in the

fall and winter when it gets colder and this low humidity it is easier to spread a respiratory virus especially with people huddling indoors. physical distancing becomes more important in colder weather. it is not a given. if we keep the public health measures that are going now and the kind of testing we need. not to test 300 million people, it's to target tension and do surveillance testing to figure out as the governor of new york said, what's the rate of positivity? how many people in the region really have it? that's how we tell if we have control and get people out of the basic public discourse that have covid-19. if -- >> trace: it goes into the whole thing. we'll run out of time here. the whole idea is that people are saying they could not be a wave, just like a wildfire where it keeps going and tamp it down as it goes. 5 seconds. the outbreak at colleges across

the country, university of alabama, university of north carolina. what do you make of that quickly? >> i want those universities open. i want football but i want compliance. we can't have the frat parties and the drinking, we can't have 80% or 90% of the student's baig and the other 20% going crazy. that's the key. >> trace: the presidents of the universities are saying quit partying. tough to get compliance there. >> sandra: the death toll climbing as wildfires rage out of control in california. the fires are not the only thing making homeowners nervous. we'll have a live report.

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>> sandra: at least seven people have died from the wildfires burning up and down the state of california. almost a million half acres scorched and now looting is a concern. claudia cowan is live in california for us. are crews making any progress there? >> they are, sandra. the news on the fire fight is pretty good and with the weather improving now and some evacuation orders being lifted. property owners are looking to see what it is left. a heartbreaking scene at this house yesterday which the owners told me burned to the ground in just about 15 minutes. ken and marcy albers say they escaped with their two little dogs and virtually nothing else. they say they didn't find anything worth salvaging in the ashes. they shared photos of some of what they've lost including hundreds of toy trains and vintage dolls and 16 classic cars including eight corvettes

and all their parents' heirlooms. >> the house can be replaced, yes. the furniture and all that stuff. but both of us are, you know, 70 plus and we had a lot of stuff we collected over the years that can't be replaced. >> more than 600 fires continue to rage across california. the three biggest infernos stretch across seven counties and have burned an area 25 times the size of san francisco. along with flames, authorities are also dealing with looters taking advantage of evacuated areas to burglarize vacant homes. at least 13 people have been arrested so far. the weather is giving firefighters a break. calmer winds and higher humidity have helped them build containment lines. cal fire is talking about the czu fire around san francisco. >> we have a good set of control routes on the north end

of the fire throughout the entire north and then down on the coast some of the fires self-mitigating the fact that it is burning some lighter fuels and increased humidity and so forth the fire is actually extinguished itself. >> we just learned a few minutes ago this fire in santa cruz is 17% contained. good news there. still with all the smoke from these fires the air quality is so unhealthy officials are advising people to stay indoors if they can through tomorrow. back to you. >> sandra: our best to all those people there. claudia, thank you. >> trace: republicans kicking off day two of the convention. what we can expect today as speakers make their case for the man they call the pro-america candidate. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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it's helping you fix the rugs so you don't fall, and keeping you social, online or off. it's getting to know you, so you can be your healthiest. that's our superpower. that's human care. from humana. >> sandra: breaking news out of kenosha, wisconsin, protestors launching fireworks and water battles at police during a second night of violence. unrest following the shoongt of a black man. vehicles and buildings torched as rioters break a curfew. the governor calling on the national guard to curb the violence. >> some of the biggest names in the republican party making the case for president trump as the pro-america candidate on the first night of the rnc. >> supporting the republican ticket gives you the best chance of making that dream a

reality. >> we are blessed to live in america. it is time to keep that blessing alive for the next generation. this president and this party are committed to that noble task. >> major development in the case of scott peterson. the supreme court of california overturning his death sentence. >> sandra: those stories and more coming up. day two of the republican national convention is underway with another star powered lineup featured tonight including first lady melania trump, secretary of state mike pompeo and eric and tiffany trump. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm sandra smith. >> trace: good morning, i'm trace gallagher. today's program painting america as a land of opportunity featuring mrs. trump making the case for her husband's reelection from the white house rose garden. the president appearing several times yesterday as speakers pointed to his many

accomplishments and warned against the dangers of electing joe biden. >> believe in yourself, in president trump, in individual and personal responsibility. they want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear. >> this is an election between a party that wants to burn down the foundations of our country to the ground and a party that wants to rebuild and protect our great nation. >> there is more work to be done. if you love america and want to make it better, donald trump is your president. he is my president. and i'm blessed to call him friend. >> sandra: griff jenkins is live in washington griff, the official acceptance speech is not until thursday but we heard from president trump a few times yesterday including last night. good morning. >> good morning, sandra. you are right. he couldn't stay away. the president believes he is his own best spokesperson. as the rnc kicked off with

in-person delegates in a scaled-down format the room erupted as the president officially accepted the nomination. >> president trump: i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. you are incredible warriors with incredible strength. we have to win. >> the first night's lineup featured several gop stars including the president's son, don junior, former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley and senator tim scott. vice president pence made an appearance in charlotte. we were able to travel exclusively with him. i asked him about joe biden's criticism that the administration has failed on the handling of the coronavirus. >> i couldn't be more proud of this president's leadership in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. he put the health of america first. he stood up to white house coronavirus task force and mobilized probably the greatest industrial mobilization since world war ii. >> meanwhile biden taking a

page from the president' playbook tweeting at him in realtime saying the only person responsible for our failed covid response is donald trump and tweeting president trump saying it didn't have to be this bad. so we shall see what tonight exactly brings. >> sandra: another big lineup expected tonight and one that could make history. why? >> well, in addition to first lady melania trump we'll hear for the first time in modern history from a sitting secretary of state mike pompeo. it just simply hasn't happened before and drawing criticism from democrats who say it blurs the line between politics and official u.s. foreign policy. but we'll also hear from some other gop stars that include senator rand paul along with more members of the trump family. we'll hear from eric and tiffany trump and we'll hear from a young man nicholas sandmann you remember from

covington high school involved in an incident down here on the mall. >> the biden/harris campaign the running mates will get tested for covid-19 on a regular basis with the possibility of holding more in-person events. biden's team says he hasn't been tested yet. the campaign using the announcement to take a jab at the president quoting this announcement is another step demonstrating joe biden and kamala harris commitment to turn the page on trump's catastrophic mismanagement during the worst public health crisis in 100 years. >> sandra: violence erupting in kenosha, wisconsin for a second straight night. police firing tear gas at demonstrators as they deny a curfew and crowd the streets some setting buildings on fire. throwing fireworks at the police officers. protestors demanding justice,

at times chanting jacob blake, a black man shot by police there while they tried to stop him from getting into his car. republican south carolina senator tim scott weighed in on the case. the nation needs to get to the bottom of what happened. >> the good news is we have body cam ra footage to help us out. at least video footage to help us out. pray for the family most importantly. let's be patient for all the facts to come out so we make a strong and clear determination with all the facts. this is a hard thing to ask in this country today but it is necessary to know exactly what we're talking about first. >> sandra: jonathan hunt is live in kenosha. when it comes to the violence in the streets overnight will the national guard be out again tonight? >> it seems pretty certain the national guard will be deployed once again this evening here in kenosha, sandra. after a second night of protests turned into again a

night of rioting with parts of kenosha going up in flames once again. the rioters setting fire to several businesses, looting several businesses, too. it all began in front of the county courthouse around 8:00 p.m. the police were trying to impose a curfew. a crowd of several hundred here refused to leave. set fire to a couple dump trucks lined up to protect the courthouse. they then started throwing fireworks at the police lines. police replied firing tear gas at the protestors who then disbersed around the city and that is when some of those fires were set. this all is a result of the shooting of 29-year-old jacob blake on sunday. shot as far as we can tell from listening to the video seven times in the back by a kenosha police officer. we believe at least one police officer was firing those shots.

possibly they came from two guns. it is not entirely clear from that video. we're hearing this morning from jacob blake's father telling a chicago newspaper that his son, who is in serious but stable condition in the hospital, is in fact paralyzed from the waist down. although the father does not know whether that paralysis is permanent. the mayor of kenosha had a message both for the blake family and for the people of kenosha, listen here. >> our heart goes out to jacob blake's family. i cannot think of anything that is harder than what just occurred to them and how that impacts them and so the commitment that i make to everyone to their family and officers and everyone else is justice will be served. people will be held responsible for their actions and we'll know the truth. >> obviously the search for the truth is what is paramount now.

as we understand it to contradict something senator scott was just saying, sandra, there were no body cams being worn by those police officers. we understand that body cams were in the budget for the kenosha police department, but ultimately they were never bought and therefore those officers were not wearing the kind of body cams which would clearly give us so much more information about exactly what happened on sunday afternoon here in kenosha, sandra. >> sandra: we await more details to come in on what happened. jonathan hunt, keep us posted. thank you. another riot overnight in portland after protestors set two fires near the city's police union building. officers made several arrests and used tear gas to break up the crowd. some demonstrators chanted jacob blake's name echoing the protests in wisconsin.

>> we will seek justice for her and connor and make sure that person responsible for their deaths will be punished. >> trace: the story made national headlines 17 years ago, the disappearance of lacey peterson who vanished from her home an christmas eve in 2002 while she was 8 months pregnant. her husband, scott peterson, broke down in tears after being told the body of lacey and her unborn son connor were found in san francisco bay. how deceptive it turned out to be. a jury convicted him of killing his wife and the judge sentenced him to death. a stunning development in the case, california's top court has overturned his death sentence but peterson might not even know it yet. his family and attorney saying that covid-19 restrictions have prevented him from telling him the news. laura engel joined us. we spent months in redwood city

covering this. i want to explain the california supreme court's decision saying there were errors made in jury selection. >> right. it was such an involved case and back then when we were covering the trial and the decisions came down, a lot of trial experts, legal experts, reporters thought there would be an issue eventually with a couple of things that happened in the trial. one of which was a jury experiment. when the jurors got into the fishing boat that scott peterson took out the day his wife vanished and was later proved that he had disposed of her body that way. that actually walls not the issue. this is about jury selection. the california supreme court making the stunning rule yesterday saying the trial judge made a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection not giving scott peterson his right to an impartial jury at the penalty phase. nothing to do with the guilt part of the case. the decision was how some

perspective juries were questioned and release before the start of the trial during jury selection. some people said they were against the death penalty and some of them were automatically dismissed. >> trace: you spoke to jurors last night. a couple of jurors about this ruling. what did they say? >> well, they weren't exactly thrilled with this decision. this was an arduous process for these jurors who went through the trial and had a separate penalty phase. they made this very difficult decision. the two i spoke to didn't understand saying how can you overturn the death sentence but not the other part of it? but when you dive deep into the judge's ruling on this, the justice's ruling on this it had to do with that jury selection. they of course are disappointed but know that scott peterson will remain in prison most likely with life unless the prosecutors decide to retry the penalty phase to get another shot at the death penalty if they choose to do so.

>> trace: you mentioned it has nothing to do with the guilt part of the trial. scott peterson's attorneys have long side they have new forensic evidence and new eyewitness evidence they would like to get into a trial. is it possible -- you covered a lot of these things that they could sneak it into a penalty phase case? >> sure. if they get this trial, if they get a penalty phase to go again, they would have a shot at that most likely. but a lot of people looking at this case, it just happened. a lot of the main players in this are saying we need a second to go through this very large decision that was made yesterday. if they go back to a penalty phase you are talking about impaneling a new jury, you would be able to bring some of that back in if allowed. or the prosecutors could say we'll keep him in prison with life and keep him right there at san quentin. >> trace: thank you, laura.

>> sandra: texas and louisiana bracing for a major hit as hurricane laura heads toward the gulf coast intensifying as it gets closer to land. officials urging people to take this threat seriously. >> trace: residents across harris county and the region should be making preparations for landfall of a hurricane. we don't have the luxury of time. the time to prepare is right now. >> sandra: those preparations are well underway but also concerns the severe weather could impact coronavirus response efforts in the region. >> trace: deadly wildfires burning hundreds of homes. >> it is pretty much total destruction. i've seen every house destroyed on this road thus far up in the deep fire zone. it's a real tragedy. >> trace: it is indeed. california firefighters today getting help from mother nature as reinforcements arrive to give them a hand. republicans are warning taxpayers will get hit hard if joe biden is elected.

austan goolsbee with that next. to fix the economy we have to get control over the virus.

i'm releasing a plan to save lives in the months ahead. we need to increase federal support for testing, doubling the number of drive-thru testing sites. we absolutely need a clear message from the very top of our federal government that everyone needs to wear a mask in public. every single frontline worker

should have the personal protective equipment that they need to be safe. we need to support schools and childcare programs so parents, if and when they can return to work, are confident that their children will be safe and cared for. and finally, we need to protect the populations most at risk: our seniors, vulnerable populations with pre-existing conditions. we need real plans, real guidelines, with uniform nationwide standards. it's a simple proposition folks, we're all in this together. we gotta fight this together. we'll emerge from this stronger because we did it together. i'm joe biden and i approve this message. simon pagenaud takes the lead at the indy 500! coming to the green flag, racing at daytona. they're off... in the kentucky derby.

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let me tell you why i'll do that. about time they start paying a fair share of the responsibility we have. the very wealthy should pay fair share. corporations should pay a fair share. i'm not punishing anybody. this is about everybody paying their fair share. >> sandra: joe biden promising tax hikes aimed at the rich if he is elected in november. some experts are now warning one way or another just about everyone would see their taxes go up. austan goolsbee is an economic professor and former chairman of the council of economic advisors. thank you for being there. they would see their tax burden go au pair and take home income go down. what did you think when you heard joe biden's proposals there? >> well, i agree with those proposals. the trump administration cut taxes $2 trillion for high income people and big corporations and we did not get a massive magic bean stalk

beans boom from that. they promised at that time that it would raise the wage for the average worker by $4,000, which did not happen. so i had no problem with what joe biden is saying there. i think that they should have a more equal distribution of who is paying their fair share. >> sandra: so the nonpartisan groups including the tax foundation, the tax policy center, they are the ones saying the burden goes up for just about everyone if joe biden was to implement these changes during a biden presidency. in fact, the tax foundation found that while 3.2 trillion and 3.8 trillion in revenue would come through the door between there, the gdp would go down by 1.51% over the long term and you would see nearly 600,000 fewer full-time jobs over the long term. does that concern you? >> well, that is the tax foundation implementing what they call dynamic scoring.

that is not -- i appreciate you made the distinction. that is not in any violation of what joe biden said there. that is not actually their taxes going up, that's going to be on the rate of return on their investment. now, i find it hard to believe that the trump administration is really going to hang their hat with this -- >> sandra: let me put this up on the screen. i'll let you give your full answer. the tax foundation after they dug through all the policy changes that biden laid on the table. he hasn't put out his formal tax plan on his campaign site but they came to the conclusion, while biden's tax plan would make the tax code more progressive it would reduce after tax incomes for filers across the income spectrum by reducing the incentive to work and invest in the united states. it concluded that on average taxpayers would see a 1.7% reduction in after-tax income

on a conventional basis. by 2030 ranging from .7% decline for those on the bottom to 7.8% for the top earners. they did come to that conclusion. >> they came to that conclusion and they came to exactly that same conclusion to rationalize the tax cut that donald trump passed in 2017 saying when he said that it would raise wages by $4,000, when they cut taxes for high income people by $2 trillion. only it didn't. so that's why i don't think that that dynamic scoring model is appropriate. and i find it hard to believe that the trump administration is really going to hang their hat on your family makes $45,000 a year but what about those $45,000 a year people who have large offshore bank accounts in the cayman islands? won't they be hit by the provisions joe biden is putting in to raise taxes on foreign

earnings in those bank accounts? i just think this whole trickle-down theory was disproven by the tax cut that donald trump passed and big majority of democrats and republicans. >> sandra: raising the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28% is what he is proposing. we've seen the benefit to u.s. corporations with that corporate tax rate cut that we've seen under this presidency. he was pressed in that interview, joe biden was -- >> i don't agree with that. >> sandra: at a time when you're seeing so many of our american businesses burdened by the coronavirus pandemic. doesn't that concern you? >> well, those are two different issues. on the coronavirus pandemic, if you are not making a profit you don't pay any taxes. that's how the corporate income tax system works. if they're losing money because of coronavirus then this would have no bearing on them. on the -- should we go to -- therefore, they wouldn't pay

any higher corporate income taxes because the corporate income tax only -- you only pay it when you are making a big profit. >> sandra: i'm saying they could be profitable but their profits are down. >> the large corporations of the united states you've got almost half of them paying zero corporate income taxes. joe biden has identified that that doesn't make sense. that we ought to have a more equal burden and that cutting taxes by $2 trillion didn't work. it's the most unpopular tax cut in the history of polling. >> sandra: make the case. why is what he laid out so far as far as tax policy proposal, raising taxes on those earning over $400,000, raising taxes on businesses, make the case on why that's a good thing for the american economy. >> okay. it's coupled with what he wants to use the money for obviously. but the reason that it's good for the american economy is we just cut taxes by $2 trillion for those same people.

and it did not generate additional growth. it did not raise wages for workers. and so the argument. >> sandra: i think it's an important distinction. >> we did not see an increase in growth before covid. there was no massive increase in investment as was promised and nor $4,000 increase in the average workers wages as was promised. what you saw was a massive windfall hand-out. increased share repurchases and large dividend pay-outs. to the extent a $40,000 a year family has large offshore foreign tax credit positions or receives large dividend payments they will be worried about their investments from this tax increase. >> sandra: we're out of time. are you suggesting that we were not seeing robust economic jobs growth pre-pandemic in this country? >> we saw significantly slower job growth than the last three years of the obama

administration. >> sandra: that's a debate we'll continue to have. thank you. >> check the numbers. >> sandra: we'll continue when we see the biden tax plan come out. >> trace: fox news alert. as the second day of the republican national convention gets underway tom cotton giving up to take the stage and hit joe biden on his record with china. he joins us with a preview of what he is planning to say next. t we're doing. we put our arm around the veterans. when i think of the veteran out there that needs to refi his home, he may want to purchase, we can help them and provide that financial solution for they and their families. it's a great rewarding feeling. everybody in the company, they have that deference and that respect and that love for the veteran that makes this company so unique.

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>> sandra: it is the bottom of the hour. time for some top stories. massive wildfires burning up and down california killing 7 people and forcing thousands from their homes. firefighters say resources are spread thin as the flames scorch more than 1.4 million acres. >> trace: german doctors are confirmed that a vocal critic of vladimir putin was poisoned. his wife and colleagues believe he was poisoned from flying from siberia to moscow last week. doctors are keeping him in an induced coma while being treated. >> sandra: a 33-year-old man tested positive for covid-19 for a second time. researchers say the man showed no symptoms suggesting his immune response helped keep the virus in check. >> trace: parts of texas and louisiana bracing for impact as hurricane laura heads toward the gulf coast. laura strengthened to a hurricane earlier this morning. forecast to become even

stronger before making landfall tomorrow night. let's bring in our senior meteorologist janice deans. the thing is getting bigger and uglier. >> yes, absolutely. it is getting bigger. marco was a very strong storm that disintegrated because upper level winds tore it apart. this is not the case with laura. we expect a clear sail as it heads toward southeast texas, southwestern louisiana and the threat for rapid intensification is already happening now. the pressure is dropping very quickly and that indicates the hurricane hunters are flying in and out of the storm that we are indeed going through rapid intensification in the gulf of mexico. 75 miles per hour sustained winds makes it a hurricane. we get a new advisory at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow is when we expect landfall. tomorrow night into thursday morning. and there it is as we go

through time becoming a category 3 as it makes landfall. sometimes that's even more impressive or more dangerous if the storm is actually strengthening as it makes landfall. it looks like that is certainly the case. i also want to point out that even though the center of this cone goes towards port arthur, the models we're getting now are trending westward so houston, i want to stress that you could now be involved with a very dangerous hurricane. this is the rpm model. we lost it. but the center of circulation comes right on top of houston with this model. the last time you had a hurricane was harvey. that was a cat 5. this will be a major hurricane. the tropical advise re has houston in a tropical storm watch. i think it will become a

hurricane watch as he go through time. not a lot of time to get your preparations completed so you want to do so today if you live in southeast texas. category 3, 111 to 129 miles per hour sustained winds. a major hurricane. hurricane katrina when it made landfall and obliterated parts of the gulf coast was a cat 3. it can do incredible amounts of damage. these computer models are trending westward. galveston will be in the track. hurricane force winds in the orange and trace, i can't stress this enough. the computer models are trending westward. we need to put houston in play as we go further out. back to you. >> trace: they're still rebuilding from all that damage from hurricane harvey a few years ago. back to you as the news and weather breaks. thank you.

>> sandra: the democratic ticket may be a tough sell for a key voting block in the battleground state of iowa. beef farmers there not taking kindly to a comment kamala harris made last fall before becoming joe biden's running mate. here is what she said. >> would you support danging the dietary guidelines? >> yes. >> to reduce red meat. >> yes, i would. >> sandra: garrett tenney is live in iowa with more on all of that. good morning. >> the trump campaign is hoping beef will be an issue that helps them win iowa in november. cattle industry is a big part of the state's economy contributing 6.8 billion and supporting more than 28,000 jobs. as of 2017 according to the iowa bev industry council. joe biden hasn't called for changes at a dietary recommendation at an event in des moines vice president mike pence made it clear where the trump administration stands.

>> senator kamala harris said she would change the dietary guidelines of this country to reduce the amount of red meat americans can eat. we're not going to let joe biden and kamala harris cut america's meat. >> meat producers have already been hit hard by the pandemic. in iowa many are recovering from the storm that devastated the state this month. they are concerned how a biden/harris white house could further hurt their business. >> this part of the world, this is what floats the economy and the gas man will tell you that, the local convenience store will tell you that, lumber companies, construction. i mean, it literally trickles down from here. >> we spoke to the clinton county democratic chairman. he doesn't dispute that folks

eating less meat with hurt producers but he argues there is a lot of economic opportunities for iowa. >> we'll find other markets. there will be other things. there will be other parts of the economy that will be picking up to replace that. so maybe more specialty, more grass-fed beef, you know, so that when you do eat red meat you eat a higher quality of meat as well. >> president trump won iowa in 2016 by 9 points but only leading joe biden by 2 in the real clear politics average and both campaigns are putting a lot of time and resources into the hawkeye state. >> sandra: we'll be following it. garrett tenney, thank you. >> trace: joe biden tearing into president trump over his response to the coronavirus pandemic. that narrative about to get some major pushback when senator tom cotton takes the

stage at the republican convention on thursday night. he will give us a preview next. >> president trump: if he gets elected china will own our country. there has been no country that has ripped us off more than china.

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>> sandra: senator tom cotton gearing up for the national spotlight as he is set to speak at the republican convention on thursday night. fox news learning he plans to hammer joe biden over his record on china among other major foreign policy issues. the republican senator from arkansas joins us now. we're talking about you as if you aren't there, senator cotton. thank you for being here this morning. give us your message and how you plan to counter the dnc message from last week in your big moment this week. >> sandra, thanks for having me on. i think barack obama's own secretary of defense put it well when he said joe biden has been wrong on nearly every

major national security decision in the last 40 years. let's take china. joe biden said that china as recently as last year is not our competitors and not bad folks. he toasted the rise of china consistent with more than 40 years of failures to stand up to the chinese communist party. he voted to give china most favored nation status and supported their asession to the world trade organization. terrible trade deals that shut down our factories and sent our jobs to china. he stood eyedly by in the obama administration as -- they did nothing as china created military bases out of rocks in the sea to bring more of america's troops and citizens and our all aisles at greater risk from their missiles, bombers and fighter aircraft. joe biden has done nothing for 40 years to stand up to the chinese threat. president trump has been standing up to them for 3 1/2 years. with another four years we'll

insure that america remains the world's dominant power. not the chinese communist party. >> sandra: a big part of the president's tough stance on china has been during this pandemic, of course, and the spread of this coronavirus, senator cotton. democrats use this opportunity to really hammer the administration on its handling of that crisis and the spread of this disease. how do you counter that? >> so far as i think we got a glimpse of the contrast between president trump and joe biden back in january. the very beginning of this pandemic president trump acted quickly and decisively to shut down travel from mainland china into the united states. a decision that at the time joe biden called racist and xenophobe i can. if joe biden had been in office there we would have still had more than 20,000 chinese nationals landing on our shores every day wasting critical time that we used to help build ventilators or develop ppp stockpiles in the winter. the other thing the president has done is led a massive national effort. almost manhattan project level

effort by our government to develop new treatments like identified. incredible progress towards a vaccine on record breaking time lines. joe biden that's no real proposals he would do that president hasn't already done in addition to know joe biden wouldn't have confronted china. >> sandra: he lifted the tariffs on china in more recent interviews. nikki haley dug into foreign policy and launched her attack on a possible joe biden presidency. >> joe biden is a very good guy. i know him. he is just as nice as they come but that's just the problem. we saw what happens when you try and be nice at the united nations. basically everybody was running over america when obama and biden were in there and biden, he is weak on foreign policy.

>> sandra: senator cotton, what will your message be on a joe biden presidency and foreign policy when you take to that rnc stage thursday night? >> joe biden is weak and wrong for america. he will not stand up to defend america and he will exercise the same terrible judgment he has been showing since 1973 when he first got to washington the voting against almost every major weapons program that we have today whether it's stealth fighters or advanced missile systems or missile defense systems. rolling over and letting iran rampage across the middle east. opposing the mission to kill osama bin laden. this is the kind of terrible judgment that will put americans at greater risk if joe biden wins in november. that's why it is so essential that we reelect the president to another four years. >> sandra: that's what this week is about. hearing republican side of the story and lifting up the president. we heard from the democrats last week and we'll hear from you thursday night. senator tom cotton, thank you.

>> thank you, sandra. >> the father of a parkland school shooting victim taking stage last night in support of president trump saying the safety of our nation's children depend on his reelection. andrew pollack joins us next. >> it was president donald trump and he took action. i truly believe the safety of our kids depends on whether this man is reelected. i like liberty mutual. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car

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>> trace: gun violence stood out as a central them at the republican national convention. andrew pollack was one of many to speak out supporting president trump and praising his commitment to keeping america's children safe. he joins us now. pollack is the founder of the school safety grant which funds security technologies for schools across the country. i found your speech very compelling last night. appreciate you joining us this morning and i think a lot of people forget that nicholas cruise, the parkland shooter had aggression, threats and allowed to stay in marjory stoneman douglas high school because of liberal policies that were put in place.

>> you hit it right out of the park. it is very true. the media didn't want to cover that side of the story. just like they didn't want to cover what president trump did for school safety. and that's why i thought it was important for me to speak out telling the country what the president did and what happened in parkland. it was very important to me to get that story and that message out. >> i want to say for balance i want to play the sound bite one of the parkland parents who lost a child at the dnc last week and get your response to his statement sir. >> when my daughter was murdered in parkland joe biden called to share in our family's grief. i also learned about his toughness and how he has beaten the nra. together with the other victims of gun violence and our nation's youth joe biden and kamala harris will take on the nra and win. let's win back our freedom to live without fear. >> trace: there is the side it

believes it's about gun control. you believe differently. tell me why you support president trump on that front. >> because he took a step back and looked into the facts of what went wrong in parkland. i formed that commission that did over 10 months of research into what went wrong and they came out with the best practices. and he sat with me and we went over it and he rescinded those policies. they hurt kids. they set them up for failure. this kid never should have been allowed in the public school system but because of those policies he slipped through the cracks. he threatened to shoot the school up, okay? they don't cover that. it was called into the broward sheriffs office. he should have been arrested for threatening other students and threatening to shoot up the school. he was skinning animals. there was a lot of red flags before this even happened and the gun laws were in place to stop it. the gun laws didn't fail, it was the people, these leftists

that controlled broward and they want to put these policies back into the public schools throughout the whole country. other parents lost kid. if you go by my track record, senator scott, governor desantis, they all made the right decisions in florida to make our children safer. >> trace: when you bring these up i want to say when you talk about skinning animals and listen, this is a guy who made threats against the school. this is all documented. it has been very well documented. they are all facts. i just finally want to get your thoughts on defunding the police, which would take police officers out of schools. your thoughts on that. >> it's ludicrous and that's part of why i'm out defending the police. it is ludicrous to think that our children would be safer without police officers. now is the time we need to support the police, fund the police, have them in our

schools, have them mentoring our kids that are going down that wrong path. that's why i started school safety grant.org to help police departments and fund them with software to better respond to an active shooter situations. >> always good to see you, sir. best to you. >> thank you. >> sandra: fox news alert. president trump expected to focus on america's bottom line at the republican convention laying out an economic plan for his second term. so what will the goals be? we'll speak to white house economic advisor larry kudlow. he will join us live next hour.

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that's over fifty-seven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. it's time to find new roads, again. >> sandra: we begin with a fox news weather alert. hurricane laura is on the move in the gulf of mexico taking aim at the texas/louisiana coast. forecaster say it could make landfall tomorrow night as a major cat 3 hurricane that could mean storm surge and destructive winds. we'll have fox coverage live from the gulf coast. welcome back tuesday morning i'm sandra smith. >> trace: i'm trace gallagher. another hour of "america's newsroom" starts now. >> sandra: we begin this hour with the rnc gearing up for day two promising we'll see some firsts for a presidential convention aside from the president's expected prime time

appearance, we will also hear from mike pompeo marking the first time a sitting secretary of state has ever addressed a convention in modern times. >> trace: tonight's theme land of opportunity and mike pompeo will be speaking from jerusalem while on his mideast trip. we will also hear from the president's family first lady melania and eric and tiffany. the dangers of a biden presidency and what it would pose is what we heard last night. >> biden's entire economic platform seems designed to crush the working men and women. >> they want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear. >> they'll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite ms-13 to live next door. the police aren't coming when you call in democrat-run cities. they are already being defunded, disbanded. >> sandra: we have team fox coverage for you now with peter

doocy live with the biden campaign. first to kristin fisher live at the white house this morning. good morning. >> sandra, good morning. the big speaker tonight is going to be first lady melania trump and we just got a preview of what her speech will be like. moments ago from her chief of staff. she says it will be one of the longest speeches that melania trump has ever given. she expects her to touch on some of her favorite moments as first lady and also what she would do if her husband wins a second term. what she would do specifically with her be best campaign. the campaign to end cyberbullying. tonight melania trump will be speaking from the rose garden. the newly renovated rose garden i should say. the location has been an issue for some who say it's not an appropriate place to deliver a political speech. grisham explained why melania trump disagrees. >> this is -- it's the people's house but also their home. she thought it would be nice to

deliver tonight's speech from their home. she is also not subject to the hatch act. with covid right now it's really difficult to safely get out there and travel. >> this issue what some people see as blurring the lines between political activity and official government business will come up a second time tonight when secretary of state mike pompeo delivers a speech from jerusalem while on a taxpayer funded trip to the region. the state department says he will only be speaking in a personal capacity and that no additional taxpayer dollars were spent for him to make this speech on night two of the rnc. as for night one there were a lot of moments but one of the moments that really stood out was this speech from republican senator tim scott. >> in the history of this country, our family went from cotton to congress in one lifetime. there are millions of families just like mine all across this nation full of potential seeking to live the american

dream. and i'm here tonight to tell you that supporting the republican ticket gives you the best chance of making that dream a reality. >> that kind of outreach to black voters was a big focus for night one of the rnc and that line from cotton to congress in one lifetime, sandra, that may have been the line of the night. >> sandra: kristin fisher, thank you. >> democratic presidential nominee joe biden has no public events this week but he is ramping up virtall campaigning and picking up support from some big named republicans. the former vp is staying in delaware. what is biden doing to counter the gop messaging during the party's convention this week? >> biden himself, trace, is keeping quiet. as you said no public events on his schedule. he is also putting his surrogates and running mate to

work. tomorrow kamala harris in michigan. she is will be on a youth town hall. >> no question you guys know that. we're at an inflection point, which is exactly why our opponent nationally and at every level of government are trying to make it harder for young people to vote. through suppression, misinformation campaigns, and even messing with the mail. >> harris and biden are now set to begin regular covid-19 testing. the biden campaign said this weekend they were sure he has never had covid even though he had never been tested and that's even though bullet point number one on his campaign website plan to respond to covid stresses the importance of testing. the biden campaign is contrasting how they would handle covid with trump saying this after last night's program

at the rnc, quote. we were once again reminded donald trump is in over his head at michelle obama said, cannot be the president we need. two dozen former republican lawmakers apparently agree coordinating their endorsements. democratic nominee with his convention. the head of the group jeff flake. >> i've been asked many times over the past four years as i as a conservative could vote for a democrat to president. sure has been my ready answer. if he or she were a joe biden kind of democrat. >> it's worth noting flake did not vote for trump in 2016 and after butting heads with him for a year half while still in congress all signs were he wasn't going to support him in 2020 either and that's the case. >> trace: peter, thank you. >> sandra: now to the president's economic plan at the rnc. he is expected to focus not

only making the 2017 tax cuts permanent, but also slashing payroll taxes. it's sparking a warning from the chief actuary of social security steven goss saying in those taxes are eliminated the social security trust fund would be depleted in three years. larry kudlow this morning. we have a lot of questions. first can you react to that? >> there is no plan to eliminate social security taxes. i don't know where that idea came from. it is not true. president trump is, however, proposing to defer payroll taxes between now and year end. let's say september 1st through december 31st. that would give wages -- that would give middle income workers about an 1100 weekly wage increase, okay, over the period. $1100. that will be replaced in terms

of the social security trust fund. we'll bond that out and we will exchange notes with the trust fund. they are called non-marketable securities. it happens all the time. democrats who cut the payroll tax in the past went through exactly the same exercise. here is the key thing. cutting the payroll tax will affect over 140 million americans who were able to continue to work. they are like heroes during this pandemic and it will provide an incentive not only for them to work but for others to come back to work because of this big wage increase. so i completely disagree. i don't know all these outlandish ideas and extensions and extrapolations. it is a very straight forward pro growth, pro job, pro wage increase for little mcworkers. >> sandra: you say there is no plan to cut payroll taxes. >> no, none, zero. that is a different subject. the president has said a million times he will protect -- he will protect the social

security system. he said that a million times. but he would like a permanent deferral. in other words, he would prefer and will do everything he can to find ways and means to do this, to forgive the deferral. so therefore those employees and employers won't have to worry about added tax liabilities in the future. president wants to give 6 1/4% payroll tax cut for higher wages and will defer the payback permanently. that's his goal. i'll bet he will get it after the election. >> sandra: the president's words on that. we will be on the assumption i win. i'm quoting him directly. we'll be terminating the payroll tax after the beginning of the new year. how is that different? >> i'm sorry, i understood that to simply mean that we will permanently defer the payback of that tax cut. that's all that meant. he wasn't talking about a

generalized social security tax cut. he wants to protect social security. i understood that perfectly well and i think most people did, too. he wants payroll tax deferral to become permanent in the sense of the payback will be forgiven. let me repeat. the payback will be forgiven so it's a complete, full tax cut and we need that. look, sandra, we're coming out of a rough pandemic contraction. the economy is rebounding beautifully but still a lot of hardship out there. we have much work to do. this would absolutely help middle income, lower middle income folks the most. >> sandra: okay. austan goolsbee just joined us from the obama administration and now a professor at the university of chicago. he is making the case that what the president has done as far as cutting taxes isn't working. here he is in his own words.

>> trump administration cut taxes $2 trillion for high income people and big corporations and we did not get a massive magic bean stalk beans boom from that. i just think this whole trickle-down theory was disproven by the tax cut that donald trump passed. >> sandra: i'll let you respond to that. is president is still getting high marks and support on his record on the economy. how do you respond? >> yes. well, with respect to my friend austan goolsbee actually the biggest winners of president trump's 2017 tax cut were middle income, the blue collars and lower middle income. sandra, they had the largest increases in wages. in fact, the bottom group had the single largest increase in wages, much greater than the so-called top 1%. now, people bickered with kevin

hassett and i proposed it but that's how it turned out. lower corporate taxes, small business taxes, income taxes, let's not include things like childcare credits which are so very important. the biggest gainers in wages were the middle income and lower middle income. look, we had before the pandemic a 3 1/2% unemployment rate. it's incredible. no inflation. and strong growth, almost 3%. and employment was rising substantially. very few economists predicted that. that's exactly what happened. it was across the board. not only the blue collar boom but african-americans, hispanics, asian, women. they all had record low unemployment rates. you can't do much better than that. >> sandra: i want to get your response to joe biden because this is what we are speaking with austan goolsbee about and joe biden talking about people paying their fair share, the rich he said those that are

earning over $400,000 will see their taxes go up. listen to the interview first and then we'll talk. >> i will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000 and i'll tell you why i'll do it. about time they start paying the fair share of the responsibility we have. corporations should pay a fair share. corporation is making close to a trillion dollars and pay no tax at all. i'm not punishing anybody. >> sandra: he wants to raise corporate taxes and he makes it very clear he wants to raise taxes on anyone earning over $400,000 in this country. >> first of all, i don't want to raise taxes on anybody and neither does president trump. corporate tax cuts, as i said. help the middle class the most. i don't want to raise taxes at all. the top 1% pay the bulk of the taxes. i don't think these people know that. roughly 40% of the taxes paid in this country come from that

tiny is sliver at the top. second point we're coming out of the tough pandemic contraction. we still have to deal with a lot of hardship and get people back to work and get the economy booming again. i think it will grow 20% in the second half. forget supply side, demand side, whatever, democrat, republican. who in their right mind would want to raise taxes? people would say spend more and tax less. what do you want to pick the pockets of taxpayers in order to support unbelievable dreams and government spending? when i look at mr. biden's numbers i see $4 trillion in tax hikes which is extraordinary but i see over $6 trillion in spending. so beware when you hear this idea only the top rich will pay, the only way you can make up those taxes is by taxes the middle class and incidentally mr. biden will increase payroll

taxes on the middle class. this thing doesn't add up and doesn't make economic sense. i'm being practical here. why go that way? show me -- >> sandra: the foundation and tax policy center came up with the same conclusion that you just did when looking at raising the taxes on those over $400,000 and the corporations, larry. we'll have you back to talk about it and we'll see the economic message coming on the stage at the rnc and we always appreciate it. >> trace: hurricane laura now churning in the gulf of mexico and could make landfall as a major hurricane. new forecast coming out minutes ago. we'll have the details straight ahead. the republicans panning democrats for their depressing tone at the dnc. much of the first night rnc turned a bit dark as well. how is their messaging resonating with american voters? former arkansas governor mike huckabee joins us next. >> while this election is

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>> trace: democrats launched a counter attack saying the gop is painting a dark and depressing picture of america. president trump's john donald got right to it in his opening remarks. >> anarchists have been flooding our streets and democrat mayors are ordering the police the step down. small businesses across america are being torched by mobs. >> biden supporters ripping the gop message as a downer. take a look at the washington examner. by and large the republican party's strategy for winning the election has focused less on their own positive agenda and much or the -- former arkansas governor mike huckabee joins us now and also a fox news contributor. always good to see you. the critics are saying the theme of this last night is

donald trump is not the right man for the job but joe biden would be disastrous for the country. what do you think? >> well, i think the democrats wrote all of their press releases about the convention before it ever started. i did not see that dark, dark picture. i saw something very different. i'll tell you why. last week democrats presided over the funeral of america. what i heard last night were people optimistic and hopeful and also grateful for what america has been and what it will continue to be. i will give you an example. when tim scott spoke, senator from south carolina, that was a masterful speech spoken by a person who understands what it is to grow up with prejudice and bigotry toward him but he did it because america is a great place to live. herschel walker is brilliant. there were so many hopeful and optimistic messages in it. i'm sorry some people missed that. i thought it was pretty good.

when i was a high school speech student it was to construct your speech the need, plan and give the benefits. you establish need. in many ways what the republicans did last night. they set up the need. why do we need to keep donald trump? they did it very well. >> trace: it is interesting because the panel last night i was watching the coverage on our network and across the board they agreed tim scott's speech was just wonderful. herschel walker, he is a great guy and speech was very compelling. interesting. they had nikki haley, the child of indian immigrants and senator tim scott there. i want to play a little bit of tim scott's speech and we'll talk about it afterwards. >> joe biden said if a black man didn't vote for him he wasn't truly black. joe biden said black people are a monolithic community. it was joe biden who said poor kids can be just as smart as

white kids. and while his words are one thing, his actions take it to a whole new level. >> >> trace: pretty good swipe at joe biden concerning race. >> it was. kamala harris busing freed her as a little girl. it was consistent and what you are pointing is that is there a need to reject joe biden and keep donald trump? the republicans established that need last night. i think you are going to see more of the plan and the benefits. i thought they were looking through the windshield, not the rearview mirror last nie. it was a very hopeful and optimistic evening. uplifting. >> trace: i want to play this sound bite. senator marsha blackburn talking on newsroom earlier about what the democrats left

out, what the republicans are trying to implement. watch. >> i was so surprised that they did not stand against rioting and looting and violence. and say let's come together and work on this issue. president trump is committed to the solution. this is why he did the sentencing and the criminal justice reform. >> final answer, governor, is the rnc doing what it needs to do tone, tenor, tempo-wise to sway the undecided? >> i think they are. one of the things it was the pace and the flow of last night that was great. i loved kimberly klacik from baltimore and her vision for changing that city which has had some real problems. but what i also believed was very, very striking was that the republicans offered up the first of many things. the contrast. i think three issues that are going to drive the election are

the covid virus, the economy for average working class people, and also whether or not we are going to be -- our cities and suburban areas are going to be run by mobs or law and order. those three things were starting to be set up last night and i think you will see that theme continue through the week. >> trace: very good to see you, sir, thank you. >> thank you, trace. >> sandra: protests turning violent in kenosha, wisconsin last night. this is a video of a turn store that was set on fire as demonstrators demand justice in that shooting of a black man who police were trying to stop from getting into his car. jacob blake's father now telling the chicago sun times that his son is paralyzed from the waist down. meanwhile violent protests continue in portland. police declaring another riot as protestors set fire to a police union headquarters building and threw rocks and

bottles at officers. police arrested at least 23 people and used tear gas to disperse the crowd. >> undecided voters helped president trump win the white house in 2016. will they deliver for him in november or vote for joe biden? we'll talk to juan williams about the all-important group and fox news alert now as millions along the gulf coast brace for hurricane laura. we're tracking the path of a storm that could be cat 3 at landfall. >> i've always said our strategy should never be to hope for the best. we don't have the luxury of time. so the time to prepare is right now. >> tech: at safelite, we're committed to taking care of you and your car. >> tech: we'll fix it right with no-contact service

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>> trace: top headlines at the bottom of the hour. first lady melania trump speaking at the second night of the convention. she has spent days on her speech. set to speak from the rose garden that she recently renovated. something of a do over from 2016 convention when the first lady's speech writer admitted to plagiarizing michelle obama. >> sandra: another soldier missing from fort hood. sergeant fernandez seems to have left the base on his own. it happened shortly after he reported being sexually abused. it is not known there is a reason why he was at the hospital. it is the sixth person to go

missing from fort hood this year. all five have been found dead. >> trace: hurricane laura getting stronger as it khurns over the gulf now. forecaster say it could hit as a major hurricane bringing dangerous storm surge and devastate pg winds as well. we have team fox coverage. janice dean with the latest on the storm track. first to charles watson live for us today in baton rouge. charles. >> hurricane laura is expected to make landfall near the louisiana/texas border. here in south louisiana folks are taking the extra precautions they need to to prepare for what is expected to be a powerful hurricane. >> this has the potential to be the strongest hurricane to hit since hurricane rita and it happens to be taking at least

for now a very similar track to hurricane rita. we should all be very, very careful. >> and people are taking the governor's warning seriously. folks are boarding up windows, laying sandbags and making sure they have essential items before laura arrives. forecasters say the storm will be several inches of rain and hurricane-force wind. two dozen evacuation orders in flood prone areas between texas and la la. a storm surge watch is in effect for parts of the gulf coast. the region could see life threatening storm surges between 2 and 11 feet. >> laura comes in at a cat 2 and we are on the eastern side of it. if it hits west of us like lake charles we'll be on the wet side. not only the wet side but on the tidal surge side.

>> laura has left its mark on the caribbean killing at least a dozen people including a young girl in haiti. the storm causing landslides and flooding. laura could bring with it here winds of up to 110 miles an hour as it moves closer in the next couple of days. trace. >> trace: that would be devastating. charles, thank you. hurricane laura expected to gain strength as it moves through the gulf of mexico. the storm is threatening to drench coastal areas from texas to mississippi. our senior meteorologist janice dean tracking the path. she is live in the extreme weather center. what are the models showing, j.d. you heard the guy in new orleans saying they're afraid nola could be on the dirty side of the storm. >> right. the right side of the storm is typically where we see the worst storm surge, the worst of the heavy rain and the winds. so yes, if you are on the right side of where that center comes ashore that's typically where you get the worst of the

results. the cone of uncertainty is still pretty smack dab in the center of texas and louisiana right on the border there. so we'll go with what the national hurricane center is saying, the computer models some were showing a shift towards the west. the hurricane center has stayed steadfast and thinking that it is going to come on shore between the border of texas and louisiana. listen, all along the gulf coast you'll feel the results of this storm. it is a very big storm. a strengthening storm and going to be strengthening as it makes landfall. not a great case scenario. you would prefer the storm in weakening as it makes landfall. that's not the track. the latest track as of 11:00 a.m. category 3 major hurricane as it makes landfall between the border of southeast texas and southwestern louisiana. cameron and port arthur is where they think the center will come ashore. the results will be widespread. heavy rainfall and storm surge

7 to 11 feet will cause some major damage and potentially deadly destruction. remember, it's the water from these storms that is the number one killer. we have hurricane warnings now in effect, including galveston where we have mandatory evacuations up toward cameron, louisiana and the tropical storm warnings in effect. the storm surge, the watches and warnings now in effect were in some cases 7 to 11 feet. it will put things under water unfortunately, trace. back to you. >> trace: back to you when the news warrants, janice, thank you. >> sandra: undecided voters could determine the presidential election. the headline of a "newsweek" article summing it up this way. undecided voters were key to trump's win in 2016. will they deliver again? one rnc speaker making a pitch to voters, even democrats. >> i stand here tonight calling on all americans to joins. it doesn't matter what you look

like, who you love, how you worship, your gepder or job. if you're a disillusioned democrat. stand with us. >> sandra: juan williams, co-host of the five. i was looking forward to talking to you this morning. what is your reaction to what you saw and heard last night. >> i think i was a little surprised. they had advertised it about uplift and set a different tone than what they described as the dark tone of the democratic con vefjts >> sandra: what was dark about that tone. was that dark, sean parnell? >> i thought you were asking me overall. overall the president began by, you know, expressing grievance and suggesting democrats will steal the election. using the covid virus to steal the election and all that. in terms of what sean parnell and some other speakers spoke about, it was about grievance

largely. if it's the mccloskey's of st. louis talking about the guns, it's people talking about the country is going to be taken over by socialists and communists, i think charlie kirk of turning point even said he saw president trump as a guardian of western civilization. a guardian against, i guess, the barbarians on the democratic side. >> sandra: let me put this on the screen. reminder when you look at the fox news exit polls from 2016 how many of the undecided voters made up their mind in the last few days before the election or the weeks leading up to the election. you can put it up on the screen and i'll ask you the question that "newsweek" is asking. will those undecided voters deliver again for donald trump this year? >> well, it's a smaller group this time around, sandra. last time 2016 it was about 20% of voters and i think a lot of that was driven by the fact

that people had a negative opinion of both candidates and so they were kind of up in the air which one of these two am i going to choose. this time in 2020, it is down to about 10%. most people have made up their minds already and of that 10% it's a very interesting group because they the end to be younger people, they the end to be female, uneducated, a lot of hispanic people. and they want to make their own decisions. so for that reason, they reserve their decision until the last moment. so a lot is going to come between now and then. the debates obviously. the remainder of the republican convention. so i think it has to be an appeal that speaks to their circumstance and number one issue, of course, for everyone, jobs and the coronavirus. >> sandra: all right, juan. i'll throw up the latest real clear poll particular average between president trump and former vice president joe biden.

it is 50% polling for joe biden to 42.4%. we'll continue to watch that and juan we'll continue to talk to you as we get closer to election day. thank you, juan. >> i always look forward to talking to you. >> trace: president trump accusing democrats of playing politics with the postal service while his lawyers point to a landmark supreme court ruling to help the president's case against mail-in voting. how the 2020 election could look a lot like the year 2000. judge andrew napolitano joins us next on this plus fast food giant kfc dropping its famous slogan. why the company says finger lickin' good doesn't feel quite right these days. attention veterans with va loans. record low mortgage rates have just dropped

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>> president trump: they'll mail out 80 million ballots. it's impossible. they have no idea. who is mailing them? mostly democrat states and democrat governors. what they are doing is using covid to steal an election. >> trace: president trump going after mail-in voting at the rnc and his campaign ramping up the legal battles against states sending mail-in ballots to every voting citing the decision of bush versus gore. andrew napolitano is the host of fox nation liberty file and the campaign argues that the states mail-in voting procedures are -- they vary too widely to be considered equal protection under the constitution. is that a fair assessment?

>> yes. so the trump campaign is using that very famous case, which you and i remember, bush versus gore, for two propositions. one is however you count the ballots in your state, it must be the same mechanism throughout the entire state. doesn't have to be the same mechanism between new jersey and new york but, for example, within new jersey it has to be the same in all 21 counties. so if any part of a state is using a different procedure for counting ballots, than any other part of the state there is a constitutional violation. the other argument from bush versus gore. again new jersey comes into play. in new jersey, 4 million paper ballots, vote by mail ballots were ordered, printed and mailed out by the governor. guess what under bush versus gore it is the state legislature that sets the mechanisms for voting and not

the governor. so the governor stole power from the state legislature and that is being challenged in the courts. >> trace: of course democrats say it's a set up to say he will challenge the election. a former trump appointee who said the quoting. my worry is that bush versus gore will look like child's play compared to what this president might do if he feels like he has a shot at delegitimizing the election, judge. >> i think what he meant was bush versus gore was one litigation involving one state. this person, a very well respected former dhs official, is giving an opinion on the way the president thinks and he is suggesting the president, if he loses three or four key states, will challenge all of those states. so instead of one trump versus biden or biden versus trump, whoever files the complaint

first, there will be a half dozen of them. i think that's what he is saying his fear is. nobody wants an election to be decided by the courts. in bush versus gore it was the middle of december. the electoral college was getting ready to meet and the court had said enough is enough. wherever you are by 10:30 tonight on the night the decision came out, that's where the state is going to go. at that point george w. bush was ahead and therefore he won florida and therefore he was elected president. i hope we don't have to go there again. i hope the voters get to choose and not the judges. >> trace: i just want to quickly i'm out of time put this on the screen. not to say there aren't problems with the mail-in ballots. the gop is suing nevada because the ballots were mailed to 1.3 million registered voters. 90,000 of those people never got to vote. i'll give you five seconds to wrap this up for us.

>> people need a choice between voting in person and voting by mail. so if they don't get the ballot they show up at the polls. in 2016, 40 million people voted by mail. there were no complaints. >> trace: great advice as always, sir. thank you. >> pleasure, trace. >> sandra: new coronavirus cases falling to their lowest level in months. the nation reporting around 34,000 cases sunday. that's the lowest since june. it is also the ninth straight day there were less than 50,000 new cases. meantime a man in congress hong -- hong kong is the first person in -- >> trace: kentucky fried chicken fast food chain is blurring the words finger lickin' goods on billboards and packaging. their 64-year-old slogan doesn't feel quite right these

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>> sandra: wildfires raging in california have burned nearly 1.5 million acres there. to put that in perspective, that is the size of 1,660 football fields. claudia cowen in california this morning. claudia? >> sandra, good morning once again. well after more than a week the fire crews are making progress. they now have double digit containment on the three big wildfires burning around the bay area. but that is cold comfort to

people who lost everything. including the couple who lived in this home here in solano county and what was a beloved family home filled with cherished collections and momentos. ken and marcy albers say the three-story tudor burned to the ground in 15 minutes and they barely escaped with their dogs. they are trying to fathom the loss of hundreds of high tems passed down through generations including 16 classic cars housed in a special garage down the hill. the walls are standing but the heat from the fire melted everything inside. >> it's hard to believe. all the parts. we have one more corvette that is in body shop right now. it got saved. but the seats and the rest of the interior is in that pile somewhere. >> such a tragedy. better weather on tap today and crews coming in to help from other states. smoke from the fires making

the air quality so unhealthy. officials are advising people try to stay indoors through tomorrow. if they can. sandra? >> sandra: tough situation there. claudia, thank you. trace? >> trace: five people were pulled to safety after the boat capsizes in gulf of mexico. video of their dramatic rescue is next. ♪ five dollar, ♪ five dollar footlong. now, only in the subway® app or online, any footlong is a five dollar footlong when you buy 2. even the new bbq rib. subway®. eat fresh. did you know liberty mutual customizes your car insurance even theta-da!bq rib. so you only pay for what you need? given my unique lifestyle, that'd be perfect! let me grab a pen and some paper. know what? i'm gonna switch now. just need my desk... my chair... and my phone.

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county. pasco county sheriff department hem helping five people after the boat capsized. one asked how the sheriff was doing and he replied "better than you." great stuff. >> sandra: good stuff there. night two of the r.n.c. tonight. we'll be here tomorrow to cover it. >> trace: we will. looking forward to it. >> sandra: "outnumbered" starts right now. >> harris: fox news alert. chaos in the streets of kenosha, wisconsin, for a second night. >> melissa: the police fighting with protesters who defied a curfew. vandals setting fire to several buildings across the city and damaging property. all of this after viral video showed kenosha police shooting a black man sunday and after county officials set an 8:00 p.m. curfew. wisconsin's ever called out mormoreial -- wisconsin's governor call out the national guard troop