making news in america this morning, an impassioned plea. senator john mccain takes aim at the president and his supporters. >> we live in a land made of ideals. >> hear his warning about the direction the country is taking and the policy he calls half baked. growing backlash. president trump takes heat for his claim about phone calls to fallen soldiers' family. >> if you look at flaw that could

make them all vulnerable. a man rescued from a manhole. >> this is where i'm going to die. >> his incredible survival story. plus, the case of the sister bandit. nuns holding up banks. and the daredevil at yosemite. plunging 800 feet without a parachute. good tuesday morning to you all. we begin with a display of unity at the white house as president trump praises the republican leadership. >> praising mitch mcconnell declaring they're closer than ever but this morning the president is now under fire for making a false claim about his predecessors and also now in the crosshairs of senator john mccain speaking out about the direction of the country. >> abc's serena marshall has the latest from washington. >> reporter: that press conference that was hastily arranged in the rose garden yesterday was supposed to be about mitch mcconnell and president trump's outstanding

relationship but it was the comments he made about his predecessors and fallen soldiers that has some calling him a liar. it was a bold-faced comment about his predecessors and fallen too manies. >> if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. >> reporter: president trump responding to a question about why he had yet to say anything publicly on the four special operation service members killed in niger. two arriving home overnight. >> i've written them personal letters. they've been sent or they're going out tonight. >> reporter: but then he turned his response on soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice to former presidents even coco asked to clarify. >> how could you make that -- >> i was told that and a lot of presidents don't. >> reporter: former obama administration officials firing back calling president trump a liar. the democratic national committee said the jaw-dropping lie shows he has no problem using the troops as a political tool. it's something the president has been accused of doing before and comes the same day the man he said during the campaign was not

a war hero was being honored. john mccain slamming the president's nationalistic agenda. >> our duty to remain the last best hope of earth for the sake of some half-baked spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. >> reporter: president george w. bush and president clinton's office say those statements by the president are untrue and not only made phone calls but met with families of fallen soldiers. president george h.w. bush and president carter's office have yet to respond. >> great to see john mccain in such good form. president trump meanwhile, has agreed to recar his nom if i for the country's drug czar. tom marino pushed legislation signed by president obama clearing the way for the opioid crisis. it stripped the dea of key powers to go after companies that send drugs to the black

market. he allegedly received large campaign contributions from a political action committee representing the drug industry. >> as far as tom marino, so he was a very early supporter of mine, the great state of pennsylvania, he's a great guy. i did see the report. we're going to look into the report. we're going to take it seriously. >> the president also said he will officially declare the opioid crisis a national emergency next week. >> security experts are sounding a new wake-up call about the security of wi-fi networks. they've stumbled upon a major vulnerability in wi-fi connections everywhere that could put every device at risk of being hacked. the researcher says the flaw can be abused to steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, even e-mails and photos. the good news a potential hacker would have to be inside the range of the wi-fi signal. microsoft has already released a patch for the flaw and google says a patch is in the works.

a coast guard has suspended the search for a missing worker after a massive explosion near new orleans. the 44-year-old worker hasn't been seen since the rig burst foo flames. the crew searched more than 90 square miles. five other workers were seriously hurt. authorities say there are no signs of any oil spill. >> to the west coast where more than 100 people are unaccounted for in the california wildfires. a firefighter has become the 41st person killed in that disaster. he died after his truck overturned in napa county. now, fatigue may have been a factor in that incident. abc's clayton sandell is there on the scene and says crews are making progress but flames are still spreading and hard to reach areas. >> reporter: these water dropping helicopters are critical to the firefights effort because the terrain is so steep these narrow canyons it's hard for firefighters to get in. you can see from the smoke, there's a long way to go. >> that, indeed. our thanks to clayton. this photo shows how quickly familys had to evacuate. one woman had to load her pony

into the back of her honda. thousands of residents are being allowed to return to what's left of their homes. democrats on capitol hill are now pushing for tax relief to help puerto rico and the virgin islands recover from hurricane maria. this morning less than 15% of puerto rico has power. only about 70% has access to clean water. president trump says food and water have been delivered to puerto rico. but local distribution remains the problem. afghan immigrant will spend the rest of his life in prison for last year's bombings in new york city. a jury took less than four hours to convict ahmad rahimi of planting two holp made bombs in manhattan last september. one exploded injuring some 30 people. prosecutors say rahimi was inspired by isis. the u.s. is calling for calm on both sides after the iraqi government seized control of the oil rich city of kirkuk from american-backed kurds. iraqi forces took control of oil fields and facilities they abandoned three years ago and this comes amid rising tensions

over last month's kurdish vote for independence. president trump says the u.s. will not take sides in the dispute. army sergeant bowe bergdahl could receive a life sentence. a lug will determine his fate next week. bergdahl walked off his post in afghanistan in 2009 and was captured by the taliban. he also pleaded guilty to endangering the troops who searched for him. now, let's take a look at today's weather on this tuesday morning. we're keeping an eye on what's left of hurricane ophelia blamed now for at least three deaths in ireland. the weather conditions are being called the worst to hit that country in 50 years. powerful winds damaged a soccer stadium and caused widespread power outages. in this country the rain hitting the northwest could continue for days. sunny skies dominating most of the country but some rain expected in florida, cooler temperatures in the northeast.

it'll be 63 in washington. falllike in new york. 60 degrees and 86 in miami. there's a major new headline this morning about head injuries and youth football. we have that story coming up. but first new fallout from a fiery crash. a man caught on camera leaving the scene jumping into a cab while his passenger is right there trapped in those flames. a young girl dies after falling off the deck of a cruise ship. hear what her family is now ♪ music

guys, i'm good. say goodbye to distractions. now you can last longer with new k-y duration spray.

you were borne to travel... borne to rock... borne to piggyback... and you don't want anything stopping you from doing what you love. so if you're looking to give your immune system extra support... only airborne plus beta-immune booster is made with a crafted blend of vitamins and minerals, plus an added ingredient proven to boost your natural defenses. keep doing what you were borne to do. airborne plus beta immune booster. a car race at the anderson speedway ended up looking like a monster truck rally and boxing match. after being pushed off the track he chased down the responsible

driver and drove his car on top of that guy's car. the other driver got out of the car, chased him down, two of them started punching each other. finally the cops came in and subdued the second driver with a taser. both were led away in handcuffs. quite a show. >> quite a scene. we are hearing new details about that fiery crash here in new york city in which the driver left his passenger, a young female, in that vehicle to die. said ahmad was caught hailing a taxi while his car was engulfed in flames. behind that was a 25-year-old woman. he later told police he was on a date with that woman but police say he was speeding when he lost control of the vehicle. they caught up with him at a nearby hospital where he was being treated for burns. the woman inside the car died at the scene and now her boyfriend is speaking out. >> i really wish that he did make an attempt, you know. if he didn't make an attempt, then, you know, that's a

cowardly move and, you know, god will deal with it. >> ahmad is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. the family of a 8-year-old who fell from the deck of a cruise ship is demanding to see surveillance. she fell from the deck inside the ship's atrium. the family says other passengers were pushing and shoving to get off an elevator and may have somehow caused her to fall over the deck railing. the family will pursue family action. the weinstein company has been thrown a life-threatening by a los angeles billionaire. the production company co-founded by harvey weinstein has entered into an agreement with thomas bar rack's private equity firm to provide a cash infusion as they try to negotiate a sale. it comes as weinstein faces sexual assault allegations on both sides of the atlantic and has denied all of the allegations of nonconsensual sex. police say two women who dressed up as nuns to hold up banks in pennsylvania and new

jersey have now been captured. you can see some surveillance images there in this case the teller pulled an alarm scaring the nuns off. now, the suspects had been on the run since august. well, coming up right here the first ever case of a drone hitting a passenger plane in the air. here in north america. the faa taking action. a man rescued of anine days stuck in a manhole. hear how he survived. tom hanks taking on a new role. we're not talking about a movie. big news from advil,

advil liqui-gels minis. our first concentrated pill that rushes powerful relief. a small new size that's fast, cause it's liquid. woohoo! you'll ask, what pain? new advil liqui-gels minis. not for me, for you. aveeno® positively radiant 60 second in-shower facial. works with steam to reveal glowing skin in just one minute. aveeno® naturally beautiful results® outer layer of your enamel tooth surface. white, the thing that's really important to dentists is to make sure that that enamel stays strong and resilient for a lifetime the more that we can strengthen and re-harden that tooth surface, the whiter their patients' teeth are going to be. dentists are going to really want to recommend pronamel strong and bright. it helps to strengthen and re-harden the enamel. it also has stain lifting action. it's going to give their patients the protection that they need and the whiter teeth that they want. ♪

hey honey, good.as practice? must've been hot out there today, huh? yeah. yeah. why don't you go put that stuff in the laundry room right now? ok. do your athletes bring home big odors? tide sport is super concentrated to beat even... ...the toughest stains and odors. hey, buddy! hey. woo! somebody ran laps. yup the new tide sport collection. it's got to be tide. i said this is where i'm gonna die right here. >> that's jason courtney talking about the moment he thought he was going to die trapped in a manhole in houston for nine days. he says he was walking home from work when he cut across a park and fell into that open manhole. >> so he broke his ankle and lost his cell phone in the him.

>> i want to thank the people that found me and very seriously strongly that they need to start putting some ladders or something down the manholes. >> courtney is now recovering after undergoing surgery and says he survived by eating ants and even a snake. a drone has collided with a passenger plane over north america. it happened in canada as it approached the airport in quebec city. the plane landed safely but the afaa is he can seeking more actions. the confusion inside the florida nursing home where several patients died after hurricane irma. workers made several calls as elderly patients endured sweltering heat out air-conditioning. none of the workers requested paramedics to hurry to the nursing home. one frustrated worker was unable to even provide vital

information. >> how old is the patient? trying to find her paperwork. one second. i'm coming. >> oh, my god. this is crazy. i'm trying to load up the computer. the computer is slow. i'm downstairs but the patient is upstairs with the nurse. >> okay. >> so kind of bear with me. >> the patients were eventually evacuated from the nursing home to a hospital which was right across the street. 14 patients have since died. a criminal investigation is under way. a new study highlighting the factors that could lead to head injuries in foung football players. researchers looked at players between the ages of 9 and 12 and found they may be taking harder hits to the head than previously thought and found high magnitude head impacts were stuffer issed by quarterbacks, running backs and linebackers. sports right now. plenty to get to. >> let's check in with espn. >> i'm scott van pelt.

a busy monday with the yankees and astros in new york and a monday night football game to bring you highlights from. the yankees tried to get on the board in this game. houston took the first two. todd frazier off the bat. i thought this was a bloop. it's not. it's a yankee stadium special. it's a three-run homer for todd frazier. speaking of three-run homers, aaron judge, 2-2 pitch. not a bad pitch at all but he turns on it. all eight yankee runs in this game came with two outs. that is magic stuff in the postseason and the yankees go on to win game three to make it a 2-1 deficit that they face against houston. the final score, 8-1. mentioned monday night football. the winner of this would get to 3-3 and tie for the lead in the afc south but a muddled picture there. 22 apiece. marcus mariota back after the hamstring injury. up top to taylor. beautiful pass there. makes it 29-22.

and with a minute to go in the game, the colts are out of time-outs so derrick henry here, a first down in the game is over and touchdown and it's really over and henry, the alabama star and they'll not catch him as he puts this one to bed and the titans get a 14-point victory over the colts to move to 3-3. busy tuesday, game three in the nlcs between the cubs and the dodgers and nba season opens as well. enjoy the day. >> all right, up next in "the pulse," tom hanks taking on a new role that has nothing to do with movies. plus, a true leap of faith. a jump at yosemite national park that this daredevil took without a parachute. why. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well.

it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. xeljanz xr can reduce the symptoms of ra, even without methotrexate. ask your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. my doctor says i havey, what's skittles pox. are they contagious? i don't think so. contract the rainbow! taste the rainbow!

i was wondering if an electric toothbrusthan a manual.s better and my hygienist says it does but they're not all the same. who knew? i had no idea. so she said, look for one that's shaped like a dental tool with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's rounded brush head surrounds each tooth to gently remove more plaque. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the only electric toothbrush brand accepted by the american dental association for its effectiveness and safety. my mouth feels so clean. i'll only use an oral-b. oral-b. brush like a pro. trust #1 doctor recommended dulcolax. use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. suppositories for relief in minutes. and dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax. designed for dependable relief. ♪ time now for "the pulse" and

we'll start with tom hanks getting rave review for his new book that debuts today called "uncommon type" a selection of 17 short stories. >> hanks collects vintage typewriters and a typewriter plays a role in each of those stories. >> the reviewers say the highlights include hanks' story about a world war ii veteran during the holidays and another about a billionaire who travels through time. >> oscar winner and pulitzer perhaps someday. the baseball season is long over for the oakland a's, unfortunately, for their fans but they're still making plenty of hits for some certain ones. >> lorden jaden smith of santa rosa is a huge fan of the team and he and his family lost their home in the wildfires. >> so the flames also wiped out his collection of a's memorabilia. so the loss left him heartbroken. >> my saddest things were my baseball collection, cards, my 17 jerseys and my ten hats. >> it breaks my heart just that

he is not going to be back here screaming and yelling, home runs that he hit over the fence with the whiffle ball to the neighbors. >> the letter eventually made it to the a's front office. the club's president says everyone in the smith family will receive the athletics gear and get to meet the team sometime this week. next a surprise for a little girl who's missing her father. >> the villegas family lives in san antonio. she just turned 5. dad isn't there because he's at army's basic training. >> she gave her a teddy dressed in army fatigues and the surprise didn't end there. >> daddy loves you so much. i can't wait for you to be in my airports again. i love you. >> oh, my god. that's daddy! >> it was actually her father's voice recorded in the bear. mom says ileana has never been away from her father that long

and having that recording really helps. >> that's very cute. so if you have friends who jumped off a cliff, would you do it as well? >> well, we found the friend now who would jump off the cliff. this is in california. and this daredevil has figured out how to make this jump without a parachute. >> so this is ryan jenks who jumped off that cliff 800 feet by the way, yosemite national park with fog but a single rope to keep him from plunging to his death. >> he says he planned it for a year so he urges people to stay safe. do not try this on your own. as we head into retirement. it's why brighthouse financial is committed to help protect what you've earned and ensure it lasts. introducing shield annuities, a line of products that allow you to take advantage of growth opportunities. while maintaining a level of protection in down markets. so you can head into retirement with confidence. talk with your advisor about shield annuities from brighthouse financial established by metlife.

start the interview with a firm handshake. ay,no! don't do that! try head & shoulders instant relief. it cools on contact, and also keeps you 100% flake free. try head & shoulders instant relief. for cooling relief in a snap. get an instant pot or air sale fryer - just $99.99 cuddl duds sheets or throws - $29.99 plus - take an extra 20% off when you spend $100 or more! you'll get kohl's cash too. right now - at kohl's. mom i dropped my ball. got it. ewwww oh eat it! lysol kills 99.9% of bacteria on soft and hard surfaces. one more way you've got what it takes to protect.

>> hello everyone, i'm matt o'donnell. it is 4:27 a.m., tuesday october 17th. time to get "action news" ready to go. you're waking up after the coldest night so far this season and accuweather says don't put away the short sleeves just yet, uh-uh, neighbors found themselves out in the cold last night when flames ripped through their cherry hill mid rise. see the rescue firefighters had to make. google is getting personal with pictures of your pets. we'll check out the new feature the company is showing off in this week's business report, all next and traffic. the south it's the coldest morning of the season so far in the northeast. well, finally from us this half hour when mickey, minnie

and the little mermaid make an appearance in the ballroom it can only mean one thing, it was, of course, disney night on "dancing with the stars." >> standout performances, the first perfect score and what some are calling a shocking elimination. abc's george pennacchio shows us. >> reporter: sasha and gleb. >> reporter: sasha pieterse and gleb savchenko had their last dance monday night. the fourth couple eliminated this season. sasha says she will treasure her time here. >> this really has been an amazing experience. i'm bummed. really bummed. it's like a home for as many weeks as you're on the show so a part of me is just sad that i'm not going to be able to do that every day. >> i feel like sasha has -- went away too soon. the show was amazing for her and did a great job. >> shocking elimination. we did not expect this tonight. we thought that at least a couple of more weeks. >> reporter: this week we saw the first perfect score of the season. during this disney themed night

of dances, jordan fisher and lindsay arnold foxtrotted their way to 10, 10, 10. >> i don't know what to say. i'm in awe. it was the last thing i expected. i'm just grateful honestly. >> reporter: frankie muniz who may be the season's wild card was one point shy of perfect for his argentine tango with partner witney carsonen. he stunned himself. >> i never thought i would see 10s. like literally i'm not a dancer. i came in here hoping i wouldn't embarrass myself. the fact we got 10s i'm happy. >> reporter: so is terrell owens who got his first 9 of the season. what does that do to your drive to get a 10. >> anything else would be uncivilized. >> reporter: the remaining teams return next monday when "dancing with the stars" goes to the movies. in los angeles, george pennacchio for abc news. >> woo, goes to the movies. >> interesting. always a fun night as is disney night. gleb says it was a great me

>> ♪ >> "action news." delaware valley's leading news program. with matt o'donnell, tamala edwards, karen rogers and meteorologist, david murphy. >> ♪ >> good morning everyone, it's 4:30 a.m. on this tuesday october 17th. tam is off. jeanette reyes joins us. >> breaking overnight, people rush out of their apartments as flames break out at a south jersey apartment complex. >> president trump touches a nerve with former white house officials when he says other presidents did not contact the families of fallen american troops. >> and senator john mccain speaks out while accepting the liberty medal in philadelphia. >> david and karen. >> yes. >> chilly, hm. >> yeah. >> i packed the us