you tonight. captioning sponsored by cbs >> mason: the bluff stops here. >> did president trump record his conversations with former f.b.i. director comey? mason: the president admits he did not. also tonight-- >> american families deserve better. >> mason: senate republicans put out their health care plan and protesters are waiting. >> we can't allow cuts to medicaid. we can't. >> what the heck is going on with these people? >> mason: road rage sets off a chain-reaction crash. and... >> it's like dancing on the water. >> mason: night surfing-- riding a new wave of popularity. >> reporter: what do people say when you're out on the water with this? >> they're tripping. they think it's a u.f.o. coming

down the wave. this is the "cbs evening news." >> mason: good evening. i'm anthony mason. does the trump white house have a nixon-style recording system? for 41 days, the president kept us guessing after putting out a tweet that suggested he might be recording conversations, or at least those he had with then-f.b.i. director james comey. today, we got the answer-- it was a bluff. and it all began withw comey's claim and the president's denial that mr. trump had asked comey for a pledge of loyalty. julianna goldman is at the white house. >> reporter: president trump returned to where he started the controversy-- twitter, writing, "i have no idea whether there are tapes or recordings of my conversations with james comey, but i did not make, and do not have, any such recordings." his admission came nearly six weeks after he tweeted fired f.b.i. director james comey "better hope that there are no

tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" >> lordy, i hope there are tapes. >> reporter: the president's tweet set off a chain reaction. comey told congress it led him to leak memos he wrote about conversations with the president. >> because i thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel, so i asked a close friend of mine to do it. >> reporter: comey's gamble worked. now special counsel robert mueller is heading the russia investigation, which likely includes whether the president obstructed justice by interfering in the probe. >> you're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer. don't worry. >> reporter: president trump and his team stonewalled reporters and members of congress for weeks over whether any recordings existed. >> so when he's made raed to make that announcement i'll let you know. >> well, i'll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future. >> he's not waiting for anything. when he's ready to discuss it he will. >> reporter: at today's white house briefing, where cameras were not allowed, spokeswoman sarah huckabee sanders says sade today's tweet were clear but still did not explain why he

mentioned the tapes in the first place. >> reporter: later she explained: trump confidant news gingrich said he thought the president had been trying to rattle james comey. anthony, the timing of today's aniewment was in response to a request from the house intelligence committee where republicans and democrats say they still want an official statement not a tweet. >> mason: julianna goldman at the white house. thanks. the president said that when he fired comey last month, the russia investigation was on his mind. the f.b.i., congress, and now a special counsel, are looking into russian meddling in the u.s. election and whether anyone in the trump campaign was involved. it appears the president is still thinking about it. here's jeff pegues. >> reporter: the president, energized by republican success in special congressional elections, blasted the russia investigations again last night.

>> i mean, they have phony witch hunts going against me. they have everything going. and you know what? all we do is win, win, win. >> reporter: and he continued on twitter this morning. "former homeland security adviser jeh johnson is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between trump & russia." johnson, who left d.h.s. in january, told investigators he was only aware of what had been discussed publicly. since then, the investigation has expanded, and today, cbs news confirmed congressional investigators are interested in whether trump campaign associates obtained information from hacked voter databases. michael bahar was a democratic staffer on the house intelligence committee. >> if stolen data was used, then there's going to be a question of how it was used, how it was obtained, and with what level of knowledge did people use it. >> we have evidence of 21 states. >> reporter: just yesterday, a

department of hows of homeland security official said russian hackers attacked 21 databases. president trump zeroed in on the hacking in another morning tweet. "it all took place during the obama administration. why didn't they stop them?" congress pressed johnson on that yesterday, too. he said the democratic national committee, whose computer network was compromised, declined his agency's help. >> in retrospect, it would be easy for me to say that i should have bought a sleeping bag and camped out in front of d.n.c. in late summer with the benefit of hindsight. >> reporter: in a statement today, the d.n.c. said it was working with the f.b.i. long before homeland security reached out. anthony, complicating all of this is a record of denials by trump campaign officials that they were in contact with the russians, followed by evidence that, in fact, some of them

were. >> mason: jeff pegues, thanks, jeff. the airport attack in flint, michigan, yesterday, could have been much worse. the f.b.i. said a man tried to buy a gun recently but was turned down because he is not from the u.s. he is accused of stabbing a police lieutenant in the neck while shouting, "god is great" in arabic. the officer is in stable condition. investigators do not believe he is part of a wider terror network. senate republicans today rolled out their alternative to obamacare, and to the plan approved by house republicans. here's chief congressional correspondent nancy cordes. >> reporter: within hours, the senate g.o.p. health care bill went from being a secret to being a lightning rod. >> this current draft doesn't get the job done. >> reporter: four senate conservatives quickly announced their opposition, including kentucky's rand paul. >> we cannot support the current

bill. we're open to negotiation, but we want the bill to look more like a repeal. >> reporter: the 142-page bill eliminates obamacare's insurance mandates and its new taxes on the wealthy. but it retains a good chunk of obamacare's tax credits to help lower income americans buy insurance. >> i'm going to go back and read the bill. >> reporter: many senate republicans said that's an improvement on the house version, which president trump recently described as mean. south carolina's lindsay graham: >> it leaves pre-existing illnesses alone, so you'll never be denied coverage because you're sick. that's a pretty good place to start. i have to run it by south carolina and see how it will fix us on the medicaid side. >> reporter: the senate bill would roll back obamacare's expansion of medicaid. >> no cuts to medicaid! >> reporter: that drew dozens of disabled protesters to senate leader mitch mcconnell's office today, and it's a sticking point for several moderate republicans.

>> i have a lot of concerns. >> reporter: so republican leaders must now find ways to appease both wings of their party, in the face of universal opposition from democrats like oregon's ron wyden. >> senate republicans are going to keep telling americans they're fixing their health care right up until the second when it gets taken away. >> reporter: on facebook, president obama called the g.o.p. plan a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in america. simply put, he said, if there's a chance you might get circ get old, or start a family, this bill will do you harm. the survival of his signature achievement now depends on the inability of republicans to work out their differences. they can only afford to lose two senate republicans, anthony, and as you can see, there are far more holdouts than that right

now. >> mason: nancy cordes on capitol hill. thanks. cindy lost tropical storm statue staus today but it's still plenty dangerous. the storm rumbled across the deep south, bringing heavy rains, strong winds, and at least one tornado. david begnaud is tracking cindy. >> reporter: in fairfield, alabama, the sirens sounded as the tornado, which was captured on a cell phone, touched down just seven miles from downtown birmingham. the twister ripped apart several buildings, but it left those bottles untouched, sitting on a store room shelf. the powerful windses toed this truck right through a chain link fence. emergency crews report several people were injured but no one was killed. the tornado was likely spawn from the remnants of tropical storm cindy. that storm system has dumped several inches of rain from louisiana to the florida panhandle. in southwest louisiana, creeks and bayous flooded many low-lying neighborhoods. some areas on the gulf coast got up to 10 inches of rain, forcing drivers to abandon their cars.

>> i was going to drive through it, but it was a little too deep to go in there with a car. >> reporter: missians along the coast performed a well-rehearsed routine-- neighbors checking on neighbors. larry jones took us by boat down what is his driveway to show us the area that's flooded dozens of times in the 49 years he's lived here. life on the river. >> yes, sir. wouldn't trade is for nothing, though. >> reporter: anthony, the biloxi river has risen 13 feet because of tropical storm cindy. the water has over-topped the banks of the river and has flooded areas that are at least a quarter mile from the biloxi river. the good news is, the river is cresting, and the water will only go down from here. >> mason: david begnaud in mississippi. thanks. inspectors are checking buildings all over britain for external panel panels that burn quickly and produce poisonous fumes. the panels may have played a role in the high-rise fire last week that killed 79 people. jonathan vigliotti is in london.

>> reporter: investigators suspect the plastic core of the exterior cladding of grenfell tower was the reason the fire spread so rapidly, engulfing the 24-story building in less than an hour. british authorities are now rushing to test the cladding on at least 600 other high rises. known in the trade as "aluminum composite material," or a.c.m., the cladding encases a polyethylene core that is flammable. it is banned in the united states and parts of europe on any building over 40 feet that firefighters can't reach with ladders. but britain has not followed suit. residents booed prime minister theresa may over the government's handling of the fire. today, she announced that seven other high-rise towers have been found to have the same cladding. >> shortly before i came to the chamber, i was informed that a number of these tests have come back as combustible. >> reporter: when the pooly

ethylene core burns, it produces cyanide fumes. three survivors at kings college hospital were given a cyanide antidote. the cladding manufacturer, new york-based arconnick, said today it fully supports the british investigation. its own brochure says this type of cladding never should have been used on any building more than 32 feet high. anthony, police are now looking at how it came to be installed in this high-rise building. >> mason: jonathan vigliotti, thanks. the pentagon put out photos today of what it calls an unsafe intercept of a u.s. spy plane over the baltic sea this week. a russian fighter jet came within five feet of the american plane's wing tip, then flew under the spy plane and came up on the other side. the russians insist the u.s. is to blame for making a provocative move. an apparent case of road rage triggered a frightening crash yesterday on a southern california freeway. jamie yuccas has the cell phone

video which plays like a scene from an action movie. >> reporter: in this video, you see a motorcyclist kick the driver-side doofer a nissan sedan. the sedan then swerved and hit a cement divider, bounced out into traffic, and slammed into a pickup truck, causing it to flip over on this busy southern california freeway. >> i have a gouge up in my head somewhere woarpt the driver of that truck, 75-year-old carolis benavidez, was rushed to the hospital. >> i saw my world coming to an end, to be honest with you. when i felt the impact, and my truck spun out from beside me, and i started to roll. i saw nothing but asphalt and-- and sky. >> reporter: you thought you were going to die. >> i honestly did. >> reporter: we reached chris traifer, the man who shot the video from the passenger seat of another car by phone today. he says he began recording when he saw the freeway fight over a lane change suddenly shift into

high gear. >> yeah, it was like, what the heck is going on with these people. i don't know if the driver of the car got scared or freaked out "what am i supposed to do now?" or intentionally try to run him off the road. >> reporter: according to the latest figures from the national highway safety transportation administration, fatalities from aggressive drive having increased 60% since 2011. about two-thirds of highway deaths are caused by aggressive driving. joshua greenguard is with the california highway patrol. >> whatever they did for this incident to occur doesn't warrant them fighting in the middle of the freeway. >> reporter: officers are trying to track down the motorcyclist who could face a felony if he's charged with a hit-and-run for what happened on this california freeway. as for carlos, he's already survived cancer, heart disease, and now this crash. anthony, after rewatching the video, he really can't believe he walked away. >> mason: maybe he should buy a lottery ticket. jamie yuccas, thanks very much. coming up next on the cbs evening news, a disconnect between women and their doctor

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>> mason: heart disease kills more american women than cancer, yet many don't discussing the dangers with their doctors. in a new study, 74% of women reported having at least one risk factor for heart disease, but just 16% were told by their doctor that they were at risk. mireya villarreal has more. >> reporter: when casey maurer was hit by a sudden pain in her chest and shortness of breath, she waited hours before deciding to go to the hospital. >> it felt like somebody had taken their knuckle and rapped me in the middle of my chest. >> reporter: at 40 years old did you think this is a heart attack? >> no, absolutely not. . >> reporter: turns out it was a heart attack. heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the united states, and yet maurer's

first cardiologist couldn't figure out how to make things better. >> he said, "i don't know what to do with you. most of my patients are geriatric and male. you're young and female and i don't know how to help you." >> reporter: a new report by the women's heart alliance pinpoints a communications gap between women and their doctors. while most women got a routine physical, just 40% received a heart-risk assessment from their physicians and almost half said they canceled or postponed a doctor's visit until they lost a few pounds. >> and that's a very dangerous thing. >> reporter: dr. holly anderson directs education and outreach at the perlman heart institute. >> women all too often wait if they think there's a problem with their heart. and all too often they could die waiting because sometimes the first symptom of heart disease is sudden death, and that's why prevention is so important. >> reporter: maurer now takes prevention to heart, focusing on sleep, healthy eating, and exercise. she's lost more than 50 pounds, and has hashtag on to run three

marathons. this new report also identified a knowledge gap when it comes to heart disease in women. a majority of the women surveyed said they never discussed the top wick their doctors because they figured if it was that important their doctors would bring it up. anthony. >> mason: mireya, thanks. still ahead, robocalls that look like they dprm your area code. p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein. abdominal pain... ...and diarrhea. but it's my anniversary. aw. sorry.

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>> mason: there were cheers for u.s. capitol police officer crystal griner last night as she threw the ceremonial first pitch at the congressional women's softball game in washington. griner was shot in the ankle defending congressional republicans who were attacked during a baseball practice. she's expected to make a full recovery. house majority whip steve scalise remains in fair condition. call on line 1 for adrian abramovich-- it's the f.c.c.. the commission said today itt wants to fine the miami man a record $120 million for tricking

people into buying vacation packages. the f.c.c. said his company's made nearly $97 million robocalls late last year, faked to appear as if they came from local year codes so folks were more likely to pick up. up next, something new under the moon. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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calm to the breaking surf, but when the moon is full, a different breed of surfers hit the water. >> when you take off, you can see just the reflection of the water and the moon on it. you kind of get a rhythm. it's like dancing on the water. >> reporter: in his 50 years of surfing, helmut igle has seen the sport explode in popularity, now with an estimated 35 million surfers worldwide, crowded waves are common. but not at night, as i found out on my first surf session after dark. if it were light out here, there would be 100 guys out there. >> 100 guys, and everybody runs into each other, but here it's like-- >> reporter: we had the whole places to ourselves. >> yeah. >> reporter: although we may not have been entirely alone in the water, a concern not lost on j.p. pereat. >> there have been a tremendous number of shark sightings down south this year. do you think about that at all? >> at night i do. i like to keep my feet up and out of the water.

>> reporter: at night, though, you're not going to see it coming. >> maybe that's the whole thing. i don't want to see it coming. >> reporter: night surfing isn't entirely new, but new technology is making waves. sean johnson rides a board with built-in l.e.d.s. >> the lights really help you get into that other world of just having a blast out there and feeling the wave. >> reporter: get a few surfers in the water and it becomes a tapestry of light, not just to signal their positions to others, but to make an impression back on shore. >> it's like a painting out there. >> reporter: it's like the ocean is your canvas. >> oh, absolutely. >> reporter: still, helmut igle prefers to keep it old school. >> i feel like i'm at halloween or something. it's a little bit disco, but i think i'll stick with my glow stick and the moon if it's out. >> reporter: either way, sport or arct when the night falls, the surf is still up. >> ya-hoo! >> reporter: carter evans, cbs news, malibu. >> mason: disco surfing in the moonlight. that's the cbs evening news. i'm anthony mason. thanks for

tonight, our george clooney exclusive. only we can tell you how he's following up his billion dollar payday. and when we may finally get a glimpse of those twins. >> plus i don't want that and that creates drama. just how real is reality tv? we're pointing out the tricks that will change the way you watch. ♪ i'll tell you what i want then, whatever happened to the spice girls reunion? baby spice gives us to scoop. from backstage at tv's newest singing competition. >> ashton kutcher on his 2-year-old speaking three languages. kelly clarkson helps a fan propose, and bad chad back again. >> here i am again. >> his new plan for finding love. >> >> i got to wake up and remind myself, it's okay to be perfect. >> now for june 22, 2017, this