making news in america this morning, it's official. donald trump is the presidential nominee for the republican party. the billionaire officially clinched on the second day of the republican national convention with his children making the announcement. more fallout after melania trump's plagiarism allegations blaming hillary clinton and david muir goes one-on-one with donald trump jr. as questions surface over his own speech. severe storms over washington, d.c. cars are flooded. large hail and see where the dangerous heat is headed today. caught on camera a group of people flipping over a car rescuing a trapped driver. good morning, everyone.

wednesday morning donald trump one step closer to the white house officially, of course, winning the republican nomination for president. >> as the gop convention heads into day three another one of his children takes the stage after his sister and brother had glowing words about him last night. he had another unorthodox appearance popping up on the jumbotron to thank delegates. >> this as allegations of plagiarism continue to plague the campaign. stephanie ramos has the latest from cleveland. stephanie, good morning. >> reporter: kendis and diane, good morning. so one person, you can count on being here every night this week, is donald trump. making his appearance last night via satellite from new york on the night he officially clinched the nomination. >> nebraska cast their 36th bound delegates for the next president of the united states, donald j. trump. >> reporter: once this pumped up state by state roll call vote was over it became official donald trump the outsider

republican presidential nominee. >> it is my honor to be able to throw donald trump over the top. >> reporter: trump's four children appearing with the new york delegation during the vote that awarded him the nomination. >> congratulation, dad, we love you. >> reporter: trump's nomination came as it looked to rebound after a day of floor shouting matches and accusations that melania trump plagiarized first lady michelle obama's 2008 convention speech. >> please excuse me if i'm a little nervous. >> reporter: in her first address at any event tiffany trump, trump's only daughter with second wife marla maples took the stage. >> donald trump has never done anything halfway, least of all as a parent. >> reporter: and donald trump jr. making the case for his father and attacking hillary clinton's involvement in benghazi. >> it was a tragedy and one that would be repeated were she to win the election. >> reporter: he wasn't alone.

new jersey governor chris christie going after clinton on the iran deal, russia and her e-mails. >> believe me we're not done yet. the indictment is hardly complete. >> reporter: hillary clinton took to twitter soon after with a little word play tweeting if you think chris christie can lecture anyone on ethics we have a bridge to sell you. kendis, diane. >> all right. interesting words going back and forth. stephanie, what can we expect today? >> reporter: well, both trump and pence will host a welcoming event this afternoon. for his friends, for his family. this is not open to everyone except, of course, tear adopted family, the media, you know, will be there but mike pence last night won the republican nomination for vice president. instead of going through the whole roll call again last night, there was a voice vote. now he has to officially accept. both trump and pence will get together this afternoon but also today we'll detrump former rivals take the stage, ted cruz,

kid takes the mike, eric trump, the trump campaign really trying to show the american people a softer side to trump by having his family take the stage. >> yeah, they'll be joined by on stage by mike pence, of course, accepting that nomination, stephanie, there in cleveland behind you. thank you. and the trump campaign is denying allegations that parts of melania trump's speech was lifted from michelle obama's convention speech. >> trump campaign chairman paul manafort called it absurd saying it was totally blown out of proportion. the campaign says no one will be fired and donald trump jr. defended the speech in a one-on-one with abc's david muir. >> i know that you have now seen the comparisons side by side. melania trump's speech next to michelle obama's speech. >> a little bit. i've been a little busy today but i've seen it. >> you've seen the snippets. what do you make of the striking similarities. >> listen, you know, i don't think there was anything in there that was that novel in terms of those particular lines. when she talked about immigration and her son and

legally that was the stuff that was much more striking. >> you weren't bothered by the striking skim lairs. >> i saw pretty common words in there. honestly there was no novel thought in that. now, of course, when you work with speech writers perhaps something -- honestly what i was more concerned about and what i was more proud of her about was to be able to get on that stage, having never done this before and be able to deliver a speech with that much confidence, with that much emotion. for me 90% of this is about the delivery. >> who did write her speech. >> her, i don't know. i don't know who -- 234rs. >> does anyone in the campaign know. >> i don't know. i didn't go that far. >> manafort is placing blame on hillary clinton though accusing her of pushing the allegations about the speech. t they responded by saying blaming hillary clinton is not the answer to every trump campaign problem. the speech donald jr. delivered had familiar words that raised eyebrows but it was a false alarm. a couple resembled one by

by buckley but buckley is one of trump's speech writers so he tweeted last night that trump did not steal those words, they are his and he was the one who helped write the speech. >> he stole the words from himself when helping write the speech. all right, but, you know, the democratic national convention is only five days away so hillary clinton is poised to announce her running mate. >> clinton is hipsing that her decision on a vp pick could come as early as this friday. senator tim kaine of virginia and agricultural secretary tom vilsack are reportedly the leading contenders. much more live from cleveland on "gma" and don't miss our special report at 10 p.m. eastern time tonight. first to the severe weather creating chaos across the country overnight. three people were injured by a lightning strike at a county fair near colorado springs. one of them a woman who had just come out of the building took a direct hit and suffered several burns. and some extreme weather in the nation's capital. whipping winds and intense rain, those were the size of nickels pelting windows. this is time lapse that

the white house. as of midnight more than 100,000 customers were without power in that area. if you aren't already sweltering from the oppressive summer heat chances are you will be today. check out this map from salt lake city to new orleans. temperatures will range from the mid-90s into the triple digits with humidity making it feel 10 degrees warmer. high temperatures and extremely dry conditions helped spread this brush fire in the hollywood hills. it took more than 200 firefighters to bring the flames under control. fire officials say after five years of drought vegetation in the area is extremely dry. well, still ahead, george w. bush's surprising comments about the republican party. plus, breaking overnight a fast-moving fire is engulfing several homes forcing evacuation. new video in. remembering the creator of some of the biggest hits on tv and the big screen.

well, this is the after math of a crane collapse on a major bridge near new york city. several drivers on the tappan zee bridge received minor injuries as they tried to avoid the debris. the governor says it's a miracle no one was killed or seriously hurt. most lanes will be open for the morning commute. breaking overnight fire crews in utah have their hands with a fire. it's burning about half an hour west of salt lake city. witnesses say multiple homes and several other buildings have been scorched. some evacuation orders are in effect. reports say an explosion of some sort ignited that in a field. yet another community is mourning the death of a police officer killed in the line of duty. this time it's kansas city, kansas. a captain there, robert melton shot and killed yesterday while

drive-by shooting. the alleged shooter is in custody along with another person suspected in the initial incident. melton is the second kansas city officer to be killed on the job this year. we're getting our first look inside el centro college in dallas. police showed a vantage point showing the damaged drywall and ceiling tiles evidence of the explosive that killed the gunman. taff will return to the college today. students tomorrow. there are new images of debris that may have come from a missing malaysia airlines jet. the discovery was made on an island off the coast of tanzania last month. officials believe it's an outboard wing flap and now they're working to confirm that it came from a boeing 777. flight 370 disappeared in 2014. the working theory is that it ran out of fuel on autopilot then fell into the ocean. the entire russian olympic team is waiting to hear whether it will be allowed to go to rio for the olympics which start in only two weeks, mind you.

the international olympic committee says it's considering its options after investigators recommended barring all russian athletes. they found a state-sponsored doping program backed up by russia's intelligence service. russian president vladimir putin says the doping allegations are a dangerous return to politics interfering in sports. when we come back a dramatic struggle on a city bus between a kidnapping suspect and police. the passengers running for safety as officers move in. surveillance cameras capture a car crashing through a wall plowing right into a restaurant. r your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. be the you who shows up in that dress. who hugs a friend. who is done with treatments that don't give you clearer skin. be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before starting stelara® tell your doctor if you think you have an infection

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i have cervical cancer. from an infection. human papillomavirus. who knew hpv could lead to certain cancers? who knew my risk for hpv would increase as i got older? who knew that there was something that could have helped protect me from hpv when i was 11 or 12, way before i would even be exposed to it? did you know, mom? dad? i was infected with hpv. maybe my parents didn't know how widespread hpv is. while hpv clears up for most, that wasn't the case for me. maybe they didn't know i would end up with cancer because of hpv. maybe if they had known there was a vaccine to help protect me when i was 11 or 12. maybe my parents just didn't know. right, mom? dad? what will you say? don't wait. talk to your child's doctor today.

arn more at hpv.com. you're looking at a wall of dust rolling across southern arizona last night. it was first spotted covering the city of casa grande and made its way northeast blanketing the phoenix metro area. the weather service says more of the same is likely today. well, today monsoon style rain likely to greet you on your morning commute in the southwest. also be prepared for flooding around the great lakes, wet roads across the northern tier and from the carolinas to the texas gulf coast. if you're flying stormy weather is likely to cause airport delays in chicago and minneapolis. indiana governor mike pence gets his turn as he accepts the vice presidential nomination at the gop convention tonight. >> trump thanked delegates by video last night after officially becoming the republican presidential nominee. his eldest son donald jr. and youngest daughter tiffany vouched for him in their

dad. well some concerning words for some from former president george w. bush. he reportedly told former aides he is worried he could be the last republican president. according to politico president bush made the comment at a gathering of his old staffers when the primary was down to donald trump and ted cruz. there are new developments in surround roger ailes. there are reports this morning that ailes is negotiating his exit following a sexual harassment lawsuit and another leading female fox anchor reportedly is coming forward with similar claims now. here's abc's rebecca jarvis. >> reporter: according to a newly released article in "new york" magazine, megyn kelly, one of the network's biggest stars -- >> welcome to the kelly file. >> reporter: told investigators that ailes made unwanted sexual advances toward her about ten years ago. >> for her to level these allegations is devastating against ailes. >> reporter: attorneys for ailes

abc news the 76-year-old has never sexually ha rationed megyn kelly. 21st century fox denied he's been fired. the possibility of an ailes departure comes on the heelgs of a lawsuit filed against him by gretchen carlson. allegations he vigorously denied. rebecca jarvis, abc news, new york. and happening overnight garry marshall who was one of hollywood's most prolific personalities passed away. marshall wrote, produced and directed some of the most popular sitcoms including "happy days," "laverne and shirley" and, of course, "mork and mindy." he was also successful on the big screen with smash hits like "pretty woman" and "runaway bride" as well as "beaches." in 1999 he sat down with our own diane sawyer. >> she runs into the bathroom, has to go over a bathtub out the window. so after a couple of times i could see she was not always -- i said, all

whisper and now she runs and this is what happens. we had it as she goes in the bathtub. get out, oh, she's running -- >> aaagh! >> actors who owe their fame to him twoeted their condolences including henry winkler who says, thank you for my professional life. your loyalty, friendship and generosity, marshall died of pneumonia after suffering a stroke. he was 81 years old. surveillance cameras captured some frightening moments on board an oklahoma city bus. in them you can see a kidnap suspect hop on the bus trying to escape from police. the bus driver pulls over and orders riders off the bus then police move in, guns drawn but the bus driver is still there. the officer and the suspect struggle, one shot is fired almost hitting the driver. another officer then rushes in shooting and killing the suspect. prosecutors are now investigating. in quincy, massachusetts, an elderly man lt

hitting three members of a family visiting from california. they're in the hospital with several broken bones. the driver was also slightly injured but everyone expected to recover. the driver actually says he doesn't remember much about the crash but says he's devastated that people were hurt. police say he'll likely lose his driver's license. in south carolina an incredible scene when strangers came together to rescue a man trapped beneath his flipped car. one of the good samaritans said it was leaking gas so had to work quickly. the group was able to pull the driver free even before the paramedics arrived. the driver was shaken up but is going to be okay. and in toronto the only thing probably missing was the lettuce when a truck carrying salad dressing and mayo overturned. it sent green and white sludge through the streets. the driver given a ticket for careless driving. and wasting some good stuff. >> yeah, probably good salad dressing before it all came together. up next in "the pulse," science rea

make idea pets and it might be a surprise. >> plus, so long social media. a "ghostbusters" star explains why she left twitter. when i have a headache, i don't want to put my life on hold. i've got a big night planned with my friends. and i want to enjoy every moment of it.

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whoa. whoa. >> did you notice that? >> that's from "star wars," mrs. obama, not "star trek." >> correct. >> and the hand motions are not quite "star trek"-like. >> no, not doing the "v". >> no. >> here's the thing. she gave a little smile at the end so some people are asking maybe she was in on the joke and meant it -- >> yeah. i don't know. meant probably to do that. >> not everybody can do that by the way. some find that really hard to do. >> all right. who knows. she's forgiven. okay, so next the growing outrage over a case of celebrity online bullying. >> leslie jones one of the stars of the new "ghostbusters" movie says she's quitting twitter after online trolls sent her a bra raj of racist tweets. >> she tweeted, here you see it "i leave twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. all this cause i did a movie. you can hate the movie but the blank i got today wrong. >> now thanks to "ghostbusters" direct

the #loveforlesliej, other celebrities including margaret cho and william shatner are showing their support for her on twitter. >> yeah, it was trending quite a bit. twitter, by the way has banned a conservative blogger accused of leading the online abuse. >> maybe she'll come back to see all the nice messages. >> yeah. we apologize in advance to dog and cat people out there. a new study i finding those beloved animals, they just don't make the best pets. >> blame the dutch. researchers there ranked 90 species on their suitability as animal companions and topping the list is the sika deer, a sweet deer native to japan. >> can they be potty trained? soy the next were two types of wallabies followed by a llama and despite the study even researchers don't expect dogs and cats to be replaced in our affection any time soon. they forgot bunnies. >> that's what you got.

lightning, and rain that caused some flooding even at nats park. this morning we have trees down - and power is m-out to thsouands. so what's in store for this wednesday, july 20th -- sunny skies but temps the three digits will be coming back. good morning washington. toss to eileen today: mostly sunny. low humidity. highs: 85-88 winds: n 5 mph tonight: partly cloudy. lows: 63-70 winds: s 5 mph thursday: partly cloudy. a touch warmer and bit more humid. highs: 89-92 winds: s 5 mph no big issues to start off your morning commute expect you may see a few areas with some road spray. eileen, we had some rain really come down last night in areas so just be

rain really come down last night in areas so just be careful. no accidents right now. metro safetrack surge number 5 begins today so coming up in a few minutes, we'll detail what you need to know. more on those storms breaking overnight.

crews throughout our area are working to restore power, after last night's storm - that caused trees to come down and flooded streets. this is just one of those trees on dalecarlia parkway in upper northwest dc. right now about 46-hundred pepco customers are without power. dominion virginia power has 556 customers in northern virginia without

customers in our area are experiencing outages. some breaking news.. police are investigating an overnight shooting in southwest d.c. it happened shortly after midnight on "l" street.. near delaware avenue. police are looking for a black toyota corolla with heavy tint. there's still no word on the condition of the victim or victims. it became official last night -- donald trump is now the g-o-p nominee for president. the republicans held their vote on the convention floor followed by a series of fiery speeches. chris welch is in cleveland with the latest. trt 1:29 out standard donald trump 23-28 (r) presidential nominee donald trump, jr. 41-47 donald trump's son gov. chris christie 52-57 (r) new jersey rep. paul ryan 112-116 (r) house speaker source: py-21tu but there were moments of

last night's roll call vote. delegates from d-c and three states that trump did not win in the primary tried to have delegates recorded according to the primary results. they were overruled, and all their delegates went to donald trump instead. trump failed to win a single delegate in d-c's march 12th primary. stay with abc-7 for your convention coverage. we're streaming all the convention events online at wjla.com. and each night at 7 on our sister station newschannel 8 -- catch an hour-long special look at the convention - including analysis from political insiders. on the democratic side... hillary clinton spent tuesday ralling supporters at a union conference in las vegas. she compared trump's convention entrance to the wizard of oz.