that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales, thank you for watching. [theme music] president trump sharpens his attacks on four progressive democratic congresswomen in a series of tweets he's calling the squad weak, insecure and incapable of loving the united states rvelg states. iran's revolutionary guard shows video of an oil tanker. former special counsel robert mueller will be in the hot seat on capitol hill this week. house judiciary chairman jerry nadler says the hearing will show substantial wrong doing by president trump.

good morning, everyone, it's monday, july 22nd. president trump is outright questioning the patriotism of four minority democratic congresswomen whom he told to go back to their countries, declaring them irredeamable. he said they should apologize to america and israel for the horrible hateful things they have said. they are destroying the democratic party but are weak and insecure people who can never destroy our great nation. president trump shared a defense of the send her back tweets from the far right british commentator who the in the past linked a rabbis work to a mass shooting at a synagogue, sharing a tweet by katie hopkins, send her back is the new lock her up.

after a terrorist attack in may at an ariana grande contest said we need a final solution. and the tree of life synagogue that left to 11 people dead, look to the chief rehabbi and h support for mass migration, there you will find the truths. it's unaware if trump was aware of the background of the hopkins. in a moouve reminiscent on s flip-flop statement, president trump pulled back from criticism of his rally goers for chanting send her back about congresswoman ilhan omar. the president declined to call it racist or stand by his claim that he was not happy with it. >> the chant, however, the chant

was just -- >> you know what i'm unhappy with, i'm unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can hate our country. that's what i'm unhappy with. those people in north carolina, that stadium was packed. it was a record crowd and i could have filled it ten times, as you know. those are incredible people. those are incredible patriots, but i'm unhappy when a congresswoman says i'm going to be the president's nightmare. she's going to be the president's nightmare. she's lucky to be where she is. >> is it racist, the chant send her home. >> you know what's racist to me, when somebody goes out and says the horrible things about our country, the people of our country that are anti-semitic, that hate everybody, that speak with scorn and hate, that to me is really is a very dangerous thing. >> and former first lady

michelle obama appeared to rebuke president trump's go back comments over the weekend, tweeting on friday, what truly makes our country great is its diversity. i have seen that beauty in so many ways over the years whether we are born here or seek refuge here. there is a place for us all. we must remember it's not my america or your america. it's our america. turning now to the latest in a series of aggressive acts by iran and the strategically important strait of his or horm. iran's revolutionary guard says it seized the tanker for violating international regulations and for crashing into a fishing vessel. that claim has been rejected by the british government which calls iran's actions a hostile act and the government of oman. releasing video from iran's revolutionary guard showing the seizure of the british oil tanker, including masked

commandos, repelled on to the vessel. and nbc news has obtained audio, revealing a member of the iranian navy demanding the tanker change course, if you obey, you will be safe. a naval officer responds warning about unlawfully attempt to go bard t -- to board the tanker. a senior official says the incident may have been in response to the uk's seizure. that ship is accused of smuggling oil to syria in violation of international sanctions. iranian state media says the powerful guardian council describing it as a resciprocal action. >> as you know, we have a very close alliance with the uk, and we always have. we heard that. the united states has very few tankers going in because we're

using our own energy now. we have made a lot of progress over the last 2 1/2 yearsme. we have a lot of ships there that are war sips and we'll talk to the uk. we have no written agreement but we have an agreement. they have been a great ally of us. they'll have a new prime minister which is a good thing. we'll be working with the uk. we have no written agreement, but i think we have an agreement which is long standing. i know that it's not americans ships, it's uk. we'll be speaking to them. they'll have a new prime minister coming soon and that's a good thing for the uk. >> fresh polls of the early contest in the democratic presidential race. in iowa shows joe biden has a slim 5 point lead over bernie sande sanders. elizabeth warren takes 17%, and kamala harris is at 16%. pete buttigieg is at 5th place

at 7th%. a amy klobuchar with 4%. warren is at 18% and harris comes in at 12%. buttigieg with 7%. tulsi gabbard and beto o'rourke at 2%. south carolina is the best state where he has 30% of the vote. kamala harris and elizabeth warren at 12% each. buttigieg at 5% followed by booker at 3% and o'rourke at 2%. in the delegate rich primary in california, bide skn and harris tied. sanders at 16%, and buttigieg way back at 6. and in texas, biden holds a 10 point lead over the lone star state's beto o'rourke. 27% for biden, 17% for o'rourke. elizabeth warren at 16%.

harris and sanders at 12% each, buttigieg and julian castro at 4% each. president trump could win 5 million viewers votes and still secure an electoral college victory. despite democratic changes in california and texas. both are growing more diverse at a faster rate than the rest of the u.s. that are trending towards the democratic party. despite the increase in voters, neither blue california nor red texas would play a pivotal role. trump's 2016 victory relied on michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin, all three of the ageing relatively white states have a high share of voters with degrees. a group trending over democrats over the long-term. as long as he still picks up every state he won in 2016,

would secure an electoral victory with less than 47% o. vote again. joining us, washington political reporter for the washington examiner, emily larson, how could trump's edge in the electoral map impact how the democrats run their 2020 strategy. >> certainly the electoral college is the biggest deal in the presidential election, and there are already candidates focussing on the states you mentioned that flipped towards republicans in 2016, those states, like wisconsin, like michigan, that have the share of lower income or white people with no college degree, some of which had not voted in previous elections for a long time, and have felt a little bit left out by the changing way that the economy was going, and so those are states that the democrats need to focus on in 2020.

and we're already seeing that with some candidates going to those states and reaching out to those voters. >> i want to turn back to the squad and here we are monday, not dying down at all. he continues to tweet and comment about four democratic lawmakers. there has been a reporting over the weekend about his own insidersmenti insiders wanting him to reel it in and pull it back. what is the reaction inside the white house. >> there were discussions. this has been that theme within the entire party, trying to tie the four progressive congresswoman. saying this is where the democratic party is going towards socialism, towards increased government, but trump just took it in a way that his aides were not wanting it to go

and turning it on to a negative gen against him. he has not been letting up with his attacks on the democratic progressive congresswomen, calling into question their loyalty to the question. >> the interesting thing is we know that prior to this escalation and the president going after the squad, there was some interparty tensions between the squad and the speaker nancy pelosi. we are expecting nancy pelosi to meet with alexandria ocasio-cortez later this week. what have they done for the dynamics and the tensions that existed there. >> certainly there are tensions between progressive vision for the new justice democrats, alexandria ocasio-cortez wing of the party, and they have been rubbing up against with nancy pelosi and democratic leadership and that's the theme despite what the trump tweet did to bring the democratic party all together and condemn his tweets and his sentiment and what

happened. there's still going to be those divisions within the democratic party after this all fizzles out, and nancy pelosi has kind of brushed off that little group of people saying that these are only four votes, but it's a movement that the republicans are going to say represents the entire democratic party. >> and it's the strategy of the president to make the face of the squad the party. still ahead former special counsel robert mueller expected to appear before congress this week. we're going to have a preview of what democrats and republicans want to see with his testimony. the heat wave in the midwest gets some record temperatures, but here's the thing cool weather is on the way. we'll have a check of the forecast coming up. y. we'll have a check of the recast coming up

welcome becomack, with two before robert mueller testifies about the findings of the russia probe, republicans are planning their strategies to best suit president trump's image in 2020. the most ardent voices are urging caution against an aggressive confrontation, others plan to go full throttle with trump's claims of a corrupt investigation. asking when did mueller know there was no coordination and no conspiracy by the president in hopes that mueller can deliver the conclusion that the investigation found insufficient evidence to charge trump with wrong doing. democrats are planning on mueller giving credence to the claim of an unlawful presidency. chairman of the house judiciary committee had this to say on fox news yesterday. >> i think there is very substantial, well, the report presents very substantial evidence that the president is guilty of high crimes and

misdemeanors and we have to present or let mueller present those facts to the american people and see where we go from there. the administration must be held accountable and no president can be above the law. >> robert mueller is set to testify in front of both the house and judiciary and intel committees beginning at 9:00 a.m. on wednesday. hope hicks is standing by her house testimony last month that she had no involvement in a hush money deal to keep trump's alleged former mistress quiet before the 2016 election. her denial comes after previously sealed documents show she was in close communication with trump's former attorney, michael cohen, weeks before the election while he was negotiating payments to daniels. hicks quotes stands by her truthful testimony that she became aware of the issue in early 2016 as the result of press inquiries. democrats demanded that hicks return for a second round of questioning to clarify her quote

inconsistent testimony on the hush money payments. we're waking up on this monday morning, meaning we made it through that heat wave, more than brutal. let's check with meteorologist janes janessa webb to see when heat is on the way. >> it was like a brick wall this weekend. >> it was heavy breathing. >> heavy breathing for millions of people across the plains to the northeast, even the mid atlantic. and we're still seeing heat index slightly cooler this morning for the upper midwest but still new york city, the feels like temperature currently at 83 degrees. but we do have this cold front and that's going to change the game here throughout the afternoon. it's a canadian flow. it's going to bring in that cooler air. look how it splits our temperatures in half. boston, going to be 17 degrees cooler this afternoon. 83 for a high for new york city. so finally going to lose all of that humidity, but it does come with a price. look at our satellite composite

radar. these storms are already starting to pop across the tennessee valley. it will make its way into the northeast early this morning, then you'll kind of see a lull in the weather pattern, another round and it's under an enhanced risk for your evening commute. this includes washington, d.c. to philly, new york, could see torrential rain here up to 3 to 4 inches and it's going to come down pretty fast, even for the mid-atlantic, and this is through wednesday afternoon. as the front makes its way through, we'll see calmer air, but definitely some cooler conditions. now that warm front will continue to lift, but unfortunately it does come with wet weather from lexington to west virginia. so would you rather the cooler air, but it comes with a price. rain back in the forecast. >> on the other side of it, get better and cooler. >> hopefully so. a new class of baseball royalty as six former players are inducted into the hall of

fame. we'll tell you who they are. we're back in a moment. you who. we're back in a moment

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these folks, they don't have time to go to the post office they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again! . welcome back, everyone, president trump said he spoke with sweden's prime minister about jailed rapper and offered to personally vouch for his bail. asap rocky will be treated fairly, like wise i assured him that asap is not a flight risk

and vowed to vouch for his bail or an alternative. the prime minister warned the rapper will not be getting special treatment and stressed the independence of the swedish judicial system, and it is worth noting the swedish system does not use bail. many celebrities, including kanye west have called for the president's help. the rapper has been behind bars while swedish -- justin bieber is calling out president trump over family separation policy at the border. the singer brought up the topic on a tweet on saturday, after thanking the president for helping asap rocky, i want my friend out. i appreciate you trying to help but while you're at it, can you also let those kids out of cages. last week a new report from the white house oversight committee staff said the trump

administration's zero tolerance immigration policy was quote more harmful and chaotic than previously known. enter sandman, mariano rivera takes his rightful place among one of six newly enshrined at cooperstown. he is arguably the greatest closer of all time as the mlb career saves leader with 652, and he is the first player to be unanimously voted into the hawaii during his speech, rivera opened up about his struggles to learn english early in his career. >> my second year in professional baseball, i went to greensville, north carolina, where not too many people spoke spanish, and i used to at times go to bed crying because i couldn't communicate, couldn't communicate with my teammates. i was frustrated, trfrustrated

because no english, no relationship with my teammates, with my manager, my pitching coach, and i made one of the biggest decisions and the greatest decision i made, i asked them, guys, please i need to learn english. and whatever i do, whatever things that i said that it's not right, please, you can laugh all you want, but please teach me. teach me the right way, and they did. they never laughed. they never laughed. and they teach me the right way. >> a tearful moment at yesterday's ceremony as the wife of hall of famer roy halladay spoke on behalf of her late husband. >> i know how honored roy would

be to be sitting here today with such accomplished men who have represented this game so well over the course of all of your careers. thank you for being such a good example to him, and supporting him in his career and all of his efforts. this is not my speech to give. i'm going to do the best i can to say the things i believe roy might have said or would have wanted to say if he was here today. >> so many powerful and emotional moments there at that santa moni ceremony too. what vice president pence has to say about the send her back chant. what he says the president might do about it in the future. and kamala harris is planning to ramp up her campaign schedule over the next democratic debate. we're going tell you where she's headed coming up next. g tell yos headed coming up next.

welcome back, everyone. alongside frances rivera. vice president mike pence is weighing in on the send her back chants that broke out at president trump's rallies. he said the president was not pleased about the chanting but suggested far short that the president would speak out if it happens again. >> were those chants appropriate? if you're unhappy with them, do you want to see them repeated, is this part and parcel of the 2020 echo of the trump campaign? it's a simple question. >> well, no, major, the

president wasn't pleased about it, and neither was i, the president has been very clear about that. what we're also not pleased about is the fact that there are four members of congress who are engaging in this outrageous -- >> as close as anyone has had in american politics. this could all go away with one simple word or a phrase or something. you have a chance to say it right now. don't do it again. is that your message. >> the president was very clear that he wasn't happy about it, and if it happened again, he'll make an effort to speak out about it. that's what he's already said. >> amid the president's trumps go back tweets, house oversight committee chairman elijah cummings said yesterday that no doubt the president is a racist. >> do you believe president trump is a racist? >> i believe that he is, yes, no doubt about it, and i tried to

give him the benefit of the doubt but i got to tell you, george, let me tell you, when i think about what he said to these young ladies, who are merely trying to bring excellence to government and trying to make sure that generations yet unborn have an opportunity to experience a true democracy, when i hear those things, it takes me back, like i said, and i can still remember bleeding from my forehead when people were throwing bottles and these were adults throwing bottles and saying go home, and it just -- and again, the president has to set the tone. he needs to be a role model. >> on the other side, congresswoman, liz cheney said that the send her back chant was inappropriate, and absolutely wrong. she also argued that the president's criticism toward the

four democratic congresswomen isn't about race or gender. it's about policy. >> it's not about race. it's not about gender. it's not about religion. these members of the house of representatives, more, it's not just these four, it's also some of the candidates running for president believe in policies that are dangerous for this nation. this is about policy -- >> that's not what the president is talking about. >> the president every single day talks about policy. >> people who are loving our country. >> the president talks about the tremendous economic growth we have seen since he's been in office, the tremendous job growth. >> loving our country has nothing to do with jobs. >> you are making my point for me right now. >> do you agree with the president or disagree with them. >> the president has said they should not have chanted send her back. our concern and opposition to what these women are saying and many other members of the democratic party in the house of

representatives has to do with the fact that they are advocating for policies that will destroy this nation. >> president trump is accusing four democratic house members of having hate for the united states but he's making false claims in an attempt to back up that allegation including this reference to congresswoman ilhan omar of minnesota. >> they can't talk about evil jews, which is what they say. >> yet, omar never said evil jews, and those are the words tweeted by rnc spokesperson, who highlighted an omar tweet during the deadly 2012 conflict in which omar called the violence, the evil doings of israel. omar has deleted that tweet, and others that were condemned for the rhetoric. saying she was learning about the painful history of anti-semitic trope and made this

claim about alexandria ocasio-cortez. >> when they call our country garbage, think of that. that's worse than deplorable. when they call our country garbage, i don't care about politics. >> but aoc didn't call the united states garbage. here she is back in march talking about why she says her policy agenda is not extreme. >> we've strayed so far away from what has really made us powerful and just and good and equitable and productive, and so i think all of these things sound radical compared to where we are, but where we are is not a good thing, and this idea of like 10% better from garbage shouldn't be what we settle for. >> but on fox news sunday, white house aide steven miller insisted the congresswoman was criticizing the country despite

a direct comparison to what president trump said. >> she's talking about policy. she's not talking about the country and the people. is garbage a horrible word. >> she's saying america in her view right now is garbage. >> i want to put something up on that regard because i want to put up a tweet from donald trump from 2014. he wrote, the united states under president obama has truly become the gang that couldn't shoot straight. everything he touches turns to garbage. that isn't aoc, that's donald j. trump. >> you're continuing to conflate donald trump's criticisms of president obama versus aoc's deep and systemic criticisms of the country itself. >> so as the 2020 democrats race to collect delegates, nbc news, and survey monkey teamed up to look at how voters view the presidential race.

in georgia, joe biden is ahead with 31% of the vote. kamala harris with 15%, pete buttigieg, andr yang. in alabama, biden has 31%, harris with 13%, buttigieg gets 5%. other in tennessee, where biden's lead is stronger but in the double digits, 33%, warren at 18%, sanders at 13%. and finally in mississippi, biden nearly takes the majority in this crowded field, 47%, sanders way back at 21%. harris at 8 and warren at 7% respectively. >> senator kamala harris plans to take her campaign to iowa after the second presidential

debates. harris will begin a five day bus tour of the caucus state, marking the first in several planned campaign events throughout the country through early fall. harris announced she will make stops across the state from sioux city to davenport, and will include stops in three of iowa's congressional districts. after her performance in the first primary debate, her retail operation in iowa has begun to intensify, her campaign has more than 65 staffers in the state. and a campaign stop in orange city, iowa, senator elizabeth warren had her town hall crashed by an unexpected visitor. >> we have an extra. hi sweetie, are you looking for mama. it's okay. oh, sister. it's all right. it's okay. here we go. bye bye. >> not intimidated at all by that crowd, right. >> joining us now, politico

reporter for the washington examiner, emily larson. great to have you back. let's talk about this strategy from kamala harris or more effort if you will, she's stepping up her presence on the campaign trail. could we see other candidates follow suit as we qualify for the fall democratic debates intensifies. >> certainly this is really the time for especially the candidates in the lower tier who have not had the traction and fundraising and in the polling to get out there and try and get something so they do not miss out on being in the next rounds of democratic primary debates which a lot of strategists tell me would essentially spell doom for their campaigns and even going into the debates next week, that's going to be a make or break for a lot of people to try and have a breakout moment. i'm thinking about some candidates like montana governor steve bullock who didn't make it into the first round of debate,

kirsten gillibrand, struggling to get the required number of donors. they will try to emulate what julian castro did when he kind of had a breakout moment and a big surge of fundraising. >> joe biden maintains that double digit lead on his fellow democratic competitors in the south. given the paths and the back and forth of the se re segregationi comments. >> biden is playing a different primary than a lot of competitors who are also seeking the presidency. he is looking at a democratic primary which he thinks is more conservative than, not necessarily conservative but not as progressive as some of his other candidates may think it is. and is older than candidates other voters are talking to. he is betting on the democratic primary electorate thinking that

his more moderate policies will be better for the country than people like bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, and to even some extent, kamala harris who advocates for medicare for all. he's been playing up not tearing down obamacare lately. that is a strategy, and something that southern voters respond to. >> what comes ahead of this debate, this second one. talk a little bit about their strategy knowing that when they are going to be on the debate stage, they're not going to be sharing that stage and the platform along with the other people they have the first time around. how is that dynamic going to be when it comes to the strategy leading up to it. >> certainly, and who you are on the debate stage with definitely matters. we will see a match up between joe biden and kamala harris again as we did last month and that should be interesting to see if some of the issues from the last round of debates come up again and if joe biden responds to her directly on the debate stage or tries to sort of

let it go. but definitely there will be people who -- progressives and more moderate candidates will be sparring about medicare for all, and health care. there have already been some swipes going back and forth at each other over this past weekend between beto o'rourke and bill de blasio, but also between bernie sanders and joe biden, so we'll definitely see that on the debate stage. >> emily larsen, we appreciate it very much. a group of democrats speaking out after visiting detention facilities along the southern bor southern border. and what the puerto ricogovernor plans to do amid protest. ricogovernor plans to do amid protest. these folks don't have time to go to the post office

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it makes me want to be better. to be able to connect with the people's stories that i'm listening to. that's inspiration. it's on during my commute, it's on all the time. doing the dishes. working out. while i'm in the car. at bed time. an audible listener is someone that wants to broaden their mind. people who are tired of listening to the radio, or music. to hear her speak those words. it was incredible. it was unbelievable. with audible originals, there's something for almost every taste in there. everything you ever wanted to hear. i signed up for getting a credit every month, and i started exploring books that i normally wouldn't read. our ability to empathize through these stories, with these stories, can be transformational. it's my own thing that i can do for me. see what listening to audible can do for you. just text listen20 to 500500. welcome back, a group of

democratic congress people are speaking out about the quote awful conditions they saw at a border detention center. the group of 12 senate democrats led by minority leader chuck schumer visited the facilities on friday in order to see firsthand the treatment of the undocumented immigrants being there. schumer said after that, the conditions and the way those inside are being treated is awful. and those inside are being treated like criminals, and adding that 400 people were taken out of the facility the previous day to quote make things look better. senator chris coons tweeted that quote the water they are drinking here which i tasted is barely drinkable. schumer tweeted a short video of a child telling senators he has not been able to brush his teeth, adding quote these are human beings, children, families, fleeing violence, this is not who we are. president trump has taken to twitter to respond writing in part that is a quote great thing

that the group went to the border and that since schumer says he wants to meet trump, quote, we'll set up a meeting asap. after tens of thousands marched the streets of puerto rico demanding the resignation of ricardo, he will not resign but step down as head of his party and will not seek reelection in 2020. the decision comes after a week of public demonstrations over corruption investigations and the leak of a profanity laced online chant between rosario and protesters said they were not satisfied by the concessions and are expected to take over the island's main highways later today to demand his resignation while lawmakers decide whether to begin the impeachment process or not. it's going to feel different as you head out compared to the heat wave over the weekend. >> the break down of the weather pattern is starting to happen here. it comes with a different pattern and that entails rain.

now we do have a few alerts involved for the coastal areas of the carolinas into west virginia and those are not set to expire until 8:00 tonight. and that's associated with the cold front so that's why those alerts are still in place. now, the current temperatures, look how the game has really changed in the last 24 hours. upper midwest, currently at 67. when we were sitting at daytime highs of nearly 100 degrees for chicago over the weekend. so this is a very complex cold front, and it's very strong here. it's contending with hot air, and man, these storms are really going to spark this afternoon. so highs very much cooler from cleveland to pittsburgh r, high back in the 70s. you can see the radar right now, just a few storms. this will continue to rev up throughout the afternoon. take note, from washington, philly, to new york, even boston, 43 million under the risk of storms. right now, it's just a slight

risk. i think this could go to enhance in the next few hours, due to torrential rain. also with this front is the damaging wind gusts. throughout the day, we're going to be watching for these storm reports to really pick up for areas of the northeast. when you have that cold front clash with hot air, man, it's going to make things dicey for the northeast, throughout the afternoon. we're going to continue to see the flood threat increase here, possibly up to 3 to 4 inches from north carolina up to northern new england. >> we'll be ready for it. at least we get a little tradeoff on the other side of these storms, bringing much more comfortable air. thanks. new documents are shedding light on the kind of treatment wealthy sex offender jeffrey epstein received when he was serving time more than a decade ago. we're going to have that reporting coming up next. g to ht reporting coming up next

welcome back, everyone, jail records revealed privileges for jeffrey epstein in palm beach county during an 18 month sentencing that started back in 2008, kept in an unlocked cell with liberal access to an attorney room with a tv. epstein, according to the post, "the washington post," was allowed to leave the county's detention center for 12 hours a day, six days a week for a work release program. the post reports sheriffs deputies assigned to monitor epstein allowed him to enter his

palm beach estate on nine occasions between the end of his sentence, one unattended and one four hours. records show epstein was monitored the entire time he was out as the wealthy financier paid almost $130,000 for what one deputy wrote his job was to provide security for epstein. despite the recent surge in market expectations, the federal reserve is planning to cut rates, fed officials are not ready to take bolder action as they consider the uncertainty in trade policy and possible reduction in inflation and slower global growth. although the bigger debate will focus on how to sill their plans and skrout -- signal their plans and output, larger cuts seem unlikely because the united states has not signalled a major downturn. president trump and the taiwanese production giant struck a costly deal to bring a

factory to the town of mount pleasant, wisconsin, what came with the promise of jobs has left residents feeling betrayed. jole jo ling kent reports. >> reporter: it was heralded at a great deal. >> this is the 8th wonder of the world. >> president trump announced a massive plan for fox con, the taiwanese manufacturer, breaking ground in mount pleasant, wisconsin, last year. the plan, build a $10 billion manufacturing hub to make lcd tv screens, creating 13,000 blue collar jobs. in return, fox con secured more than $4 billion in tax breaks from the state. >> so it started out, i think, people were very excited. >> reporter: community activist kelly gallagher has been tracking fox con since day one. to make the plant possible, mount pleasant has ended up borrowing money to buy up the land. >> mount pleasant is on track to

spend close to $900 million in land acquisition and infrastructure. that's 38 times our annual budget. >> the town's credit rating has been downgraded because of that. fox con has also changed the scale of the project telling reuters it's too expensive to make tv screens in the u.s. >> then they said it was going to be a technology hub, and then they said it was going to be an ai institute. >> reporter: the drama has homeowners furious too. this is prairie view drive and this road used to lead into an entire neighborhood of houses. foxconn has cleared out. the residents are asking was it worth it. . kim mahoney is one of them. she built her home this this subdivision with a dozen neighbors. mahoney's is the last house standing, her neighbors took offers to move out and raise their homes. she says she received a lowball

appraisal so she stood her ground. >> i think this project was a scam. i don't trust anything our president says. he is not looking out for the residents of mount pleasant. he's looking out for himself. >> reporter: nbc news requested interviews with foxconn and the village of mount pleasant. both declined. foxconn said it is pouring a concrete foundation, and is thrilled to move into the next stages of construction. the company looks forward to beginning production in late 2020. they remain optimistic and the deal includes strong taxpayer protections. >> have residents been taken for a ride here. >> there's a real fear that we have been taken for a ride. our only hope is that they build something. >> our thanks to jo ling kent for that report. coming up, a look at new polling that shows how the democratic presidential race is playing out. president trump misses an

opportunity to condemn the send her back chant that broke out at one of his rallies. i'll show you what he's saying instead. keep it right here. s saying instead. keep it right here

president trump sharpens his attacks on four progressive democratic congresswomen in a series of tweets, he's calling the squad, weak, insecure, and incapable of loving the united states. plus, squad weak, insecure and incapable of loving the united states. new video and audio shows what happened before the ship was seized. and special counsel mueller will be in the hot seat. saying the hearing will show very substantial evidence of wrongdoing by president trump. >> good morning, it is july 22. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside francis rivera.