this morning on "world news now." president trump starting his summer vacation off with a bang. >> the president holding a campaign-style rally in the heart of coal country where the governor of west virginia even switched from being a democrat to a republican. the party atmosphere is in stark contrast to the investigation brewing back in washington. we have the full story just ahead. and breaking news developing right now. one of the tallest residential buildings in the world, up in flames. the close call for the residents. and the young woman who texted her teenaged boyfriend, encouraging him to kill himself, sentenced to prison. the judge ordering her not to profit off the story, as we hear from the victim's family inside that courtroom.

up michael jordan. the nba champ not just playing golf for fun but playing professionally. we'll check out his space jamesque debut and wonder how lebron will counter. tennis, anyone? it is friday, august 4th. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> i bet lebron would be a pretty good tennis player. >> i think lebron could do it all. exactly, but steph curry is giving him a run for his money, he can dance, clearly. he can golf. >> he knows all the words to the moana song. >> yes. and we'll start with the president slamming the russia investigation as total fabrication. >> he was with a crowd of cheering supporters in west virginia last night saying democrats are

investigation into russian interference, he says it's because it makes them feel better about what he calls the greatest loss in american politics. >> what the prosecutors should be looking at are hillary clinton's 33,000 deleted e-mails. there were no russians in our campaign. there never were. we didn't win because of russia. we won because of you. we won because we totally outworked the other side. we won because millions of patriotic americans voted to take back their country. [cheers and applause] >> and the president is now pack at the white house after that rally, but leaves this afternoon to start his two-week vacation at his new jersey golf club. >> in the meantime, we're learning that special counsel robert mueller is progressing the investigation by conveni a

>> the white house says it's not aware of the panel convening but pledges to cooperate. jonathan karl has more. >> reporter: a sign the russia investigation has entered an entirely new phase. abc news has confirmed special counsel robert mueller has empaneled a grand jury, as "the wall street journal" first reported that grand jury has been secretly working for weeks as mueller investigates whether president trump or any of his associates colluded with the kremlin. the president's personal lawyer insists there's still no indication the president himself is a target. >> with respect to the empaneling of the grand jury, we have no reason to believe the president's under investigation here. >> reporter: the news comes amid growing questions about the trump tower meeting organize bid donald trump jr. with a russian lawyer who he was told had dirt on hillary clinton from the russian government. this week we learned the president himself dictated don jr.'s initial response to that story. a misleading statement, it said the meeting was primarily about russian

entire russia investigation as a witch-hunt, acknowledging it was on his mind when he fired fbi director james comey. >> when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> reporter: but the white house says they had quote, fully committed to cooperating with the special counsel. the president has told me he is even willing to testify under oath. >> so if robert mueller wanted to talk to you about that? >> i'd be twrad to talk to him. >> reporter: but he's also trying to discredit mueller. >> i can say that the people who have been hired are all hillary clinton supporters. some of them worked for hillary clinton. the whole thing is ridiculous if you want to know the truth from that standpoint. >> reporter: now in another sign mueller's probe is expanding, he recently hired greg andres, a former top justice department official and an expert on fraud and foreign bribery cases. as the

ramps up, there are two bills in the senate designed to make it hard for the president to fire mueller without cause. each has a democratic and republican sponsor. they are an indication that if the president were to try to fire him, there would be a major upheaval on capitol hill. that said, the white house insists that the president has no intention of firing the special counsel. jonathan karl, abc news, the white house. >> jonathan karl there trying to stay dry. the white house in the meantime is not happy with the latest leak of phone call transcripts between president trump and world leaders. they were published by the "washington post." first up, president trump talking with the mexican president kn president. saying that mexico will pay, and the mexican president saying completely unacceptable. and trump saying i have to have mexico pay for the wall. i have to, i've been talking about it for a two-year period.

he says it will work out in the formula somehow, adding it had come out in the wash, and that is okay. and then there was the call with the australian prime minister, malcolm turnbull. president trump was furious about inheriting an obama-era deal to accept refugees from australia, telling the prime minister, this is going to kill me. i am the world's greatest person that does not want to let people into the country. he says the deal will make him look terrible, like a week and infective leader and a dope. he ends the conversation abruptly. that is enough, malcolm. i've had it. this is the most unpleasant call all day. putin was a pleasant call. this is ridiculous. the senate is officially on summer vacation leaving behind an angry president and a slim record of achievements. law makers headed out of town after approving more than 60 trump administration nominees, but the republican-led senate failed to hand the president any major lis

beyond the confirmation of supreme court justice neil gore shuch. the president is still upset about the new sanctions against russia and tweeted that our relationship with moscow is at an all-time low, adding you can thank congress, the same people that can't even give us health care. and breaking overnight, firefighters now have a massive fire at one of the world's tallest residential buildings under control. the early-morning flames in dubai sent residents of the86-storey torch tower as it's called, scrambling for safety. now plumes of smoke could be seen billowing into the air as burning debris fell to the ground. a resident told abc news that the fire started on the 65th floor and spread down. authorities say everyone was evacuated and no injuries reported. no word yet on how the fire started. this, by the way, is the second fire to hit that same skyscraper in two years. a massachusetts judge has sentenced a young woman to 15 months in jail after she sent text messages and c

encouraging her teenage boyfriend to commit suicide. michelle carter's attorneys argued that the then 17-year-old was struggling with detregs when she exchanged thousands of texts with conrad roy, urging him to follow through on his talk of taking his own life. hours after his last text, he was found in his truck, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. >> michelle carter exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn in her own well-being. she has not shown any remorse. the fact that my son was convicted, convinced, sorry, to kill himself makes his death unimaginable. >> carter is appealing her conviction for involuntary manslaughter, but the judge is allowing her to stay out of jail until those appeals are exhausted. he also ordered that she is not to profit in any way from this case. the violence in venezuela could reach a boiling point later today. opposition leaders are calling for a mass protest of presint

he's trying to install a new national assembly that will rewrite the constitution. now two people on a motorcycle attacked the spanish embassy already in kara cass with gasoline bombs. no injuries were reported and there is no apparent damage to the building. and back here in the oust, the state department is calling maduro's assembly illegitimate and refusing to recognize it. but even as the trump administration slaps maduro with financial sanctioning, maduro insists, they will not stop hess assembly. jim justice appeared at a rally in his state last night to announce he is becoming a republican, and he will officially change his voter registration today. justice has been friendly with the trump family. he ran as a conservative democrat and refused to endorse hillary clinton. his defection leaves democrats with just 15 governors out of 50. all right, so we all now steph curry is a very talented athlete.

doesn't just apply to basketball. >> the golden state warrior player had an impressive debut in a pro-golf tournament. he shot a 4 over par, 74 in the first round of the classic in san francisco. >> things got off to a rocky start though for the two-time mvp. he hit a hole in one in his first shot, but not that kind of a hole in one. check it out. it went right into the cup holder of one of the government carts. >> couldn't make it up. >> do it again. do it again. >> after his round, think, curry was uncharacteristically nervous. >> as soon as he said my name on the first tee, that's when i could barely feel my hands. i try to take a deep breath and still there wasn't anything to prepare myself for that moment. >> steph gets nervous. he was granted a sponsor's exemption to play in the tournament. he also finished a day ahead of the eight professional golfers. >> oh. >> that's not bad at all. >> who knew he

>> he apparently had a two handicap and finished fourth in the american century championship in lake tahoe in july at the pro-am level. >> played his dad and he beat his dad, too. >> he beat his own dad? that's wrong. >> he had, dad had to go into lake tahoe as a result. >> that's a good dad, actually. well, i was going to say, you should let dad win, but not if you get to see him jump in the lake. coming up, summer camp for social media super stars, forget about hikes and tire swings. we're checking out a camp that teaches kids how to get famous in the digital age. and the fire emergency on a runway, the side of a passenger jet bursting into flames. so what happened? you're watching "world news now."

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find that playful kid's home. they received a 911 call after the toddler was spotted on the streets alone. >> he's loving this right now. >> he had wandered off while his mom was sleeping, and then they were reunited with his mom when she called and reported him missing. listen to him. >> whee! >> i think as a child you have this -- as a parent you have this image of your child, and it's whee! we are getting the first look at the moment a packed jet caught fire. it had just started down the runway in chicago last fall when a fan disc broke apart, the whole thing ignited the right side of the plane, and we're also seeing this video from the chicago fire trucks as he rushed to the rescue. one passenger

injuries. and young research credited with averting a global cyber attack is accused of designing malware designed to collect bank account passwords and sold it on a forum. his quick thinking derailed the spread of the wanna cry ransom wear attack that crippled 500,000 computers worldwide. now to the dangers of not wari wearing a seat belt, if you're in the back seat. >> a surprising number of adults fail to buckle up, especially on short trips. eva pilgrim with the video that shows the dangs ir. >> reporter: dramatic crash video a warning to passengers riding in the back seat. buckle up. watch the unbelted woman on the left slam into the car

and another passenger. and, in this crash, a family, not wearing seat belts, the father and son violently thrown from their seats. according to a new survey from the insurance institute for highway safety, adults in the back seat are far less likely to buckle up than when they sit in front. >> we've been telling people for years it's safer in the back seat and we should put our children back there, but people have got and misunderstanding about the safety the rear seat. >> reporter: and in this crash test, the unbelted passenger in the back seat crushes the driver into the steering wheel. many of the surveys say they would be more likely to wear the seat belt in the back if it was the law. only20 states allow police to pull you over if someone in the back isn't wearing a seat belt. eva pilgrim, abc news, new york. coming up, who needs arts and crafts when you've got snapchat. hun. >> we ha

summer camps, social media. that's up next on "world news now." one bottle has the grease cleaning power of three bottles of this other liquid. a drop of dawn and grease is gone. make the most of a few minutes with instant moisture from k-y ultragel.

as you know, there are all kinds of summer camps for kids to attend, acting camps, adventure camps, sports camps, we can go on. >> and usually kids are forced to unplug when they get there, but now there's a new camp creating quite a bz.

question is, is it actually good for your kids? abc's kayna whitworth takes a look. ♪ >> reporter: a truly unique summer camp, straight out of hollywood. parents from around the world send their kids to southern california in the hopes that they will become the next social media star. and it's not cheap. the ten-day immersion camp costing more than $2,000. some kids are well on their way to internet stardom. so you want to be a singer? >> i want to be a singer, like big. >> reporter: sisters caitlyn and kylie from rural idaho are just beginning their journey. >> we have like 16 subscribers. >> reporter: how many would you like to have? >> i'd like to have a

♪ i am in misery >> reporter: what are you hoping to learn? >> how to market myself better. >> reporter: instagram, a favorite of most of the campers, youtube a close second. >> i want to blog my acting journey. >> reporter: studying under michael buckley, kids are schooled on how to master social media. >> i thought that parents would have such an adverse reaction to this. that really does not seem to be the case. >> there is a disconnect sometimes between the parents and the kids and why is my kid spending so much time online, and i always tell the parents, screen time equals learn time. >> reporter: experts caution parents about letting their kids have an online identity. >> they should worry about only popularity. i want kids to be helped to cultivate a healthy online identity. i

and be creative, not just about how many followers and how much money can they make. >> that is just baffling. how many followers do you have? >> two.

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small. even you can eat one on >> number two? >> what do you think, frank? >> chips deluxe, keebler, number three was chips ahoy. >> did you just secretly eat a cookie? >> i really did eat. >> something else i might eat, pumpkin spicy tems are back on the shelf. pumpkin spice cheerios, oatmeal, the list goes on and on. what do you think? is it too early? or are you pumped for pumpkin? >> only if pumpkin beer is available. >> i'll make a few phone calls. >> and for the polka. >> with a theme. >> bunnies. ♪ ♪ politics and foreign wars ♪ all the weather, all the scores ♪ ♪ that's world news polka ♪ tapes that roll in way to slow ♪

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♪ it's the world news polka ♪ da, da, da, this morning on "world news now." rallying against russia. president trump slamming the probe, just as we learn more about how that investigation is intensifying. meanwhile, a new leak of transcripts details some moments during president trump's phone calls with other world leaders. so president trump, what he asked the president of mexico not to say about the border wall. and new developments this hour in the global terror fight. >> two men with ties to isis have been arrested in australia, charged with trying to blow up an airplane. we have the late-breaking details ahead. and sean spicer, might have danced around some questions from reporters, time to time. but what are the chances that he'll be showing us his moves in