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block smishes drug -- suspicious drug shipmentsful. >> some of if criticism is just false, in fact, all of it is. >> reporter: utah republican orrin hatch defend marino and the law, but several of the law's co-authors say it may need to be revised. the senate's republican leader was non-committal. what's the best approach now? is it to repeal the bill, make changes to it? >> you'll have to ask the sponsors about it. >> reporter: this law sailed through congress last year. most lawmakers didn't give it a second look, partly because the dea itself never raised any red flags. whistle-blowers say that might be because so many top dea officials who would have understood the bill's impact left the dea, anthony, to go to the drug industry. >> mason: nancy cordes at the capitol. thanks, nancy. the opioid epidemic took more than 33,000 lives in 2015 alone. chip reid takes us tonight

one especially hard hit part of the country. >> reporter: sasha and kane wyatt are part of the cherokee nation in northeast oklahoma. they adopted luke. his birth moir was addictedded to opioids and so was he. >> i remember holding him and trying not to cry. it was so hard to see him go through something like that. >> reporter: and this was every night. oklahoma has one of the most severe opioid problems in the nation, and it's especially bad here in the 14 counties that make up the cherokee nation. >> it's devastating to our people. >> reporter: todd hembree is the cherokee nation's attorney general. earlier this year he sued america's three largest pharmacies and the three largest prescription drug distributors. >> they know what they're doing is wrong, and they need to be held defendantable. >> reporter: the complaint accuses the companies of regularly fulfilling suspicious de

which allowed massive amounts of opioid pills to be diverted from legitimate channels of distribution into the ill list celt black market. the lawsuit asks for billions in damages. >> my goal is to change the behavior of these corporations, and the way you do that is you hit them in the pocketbook. >> they begin to have withdrawal symptoms. >> reporter: nikki baker limore, says the recent increase in addicted babies is staggering. >> i can get emotional talking about it, but when you hear a baby give you a shrill and you can't do a thing about it, whether you swaddle them, you pat them, you love on them, it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: there are so many addicted babies that there are not enough foster and adoptive homes to take them all in, so two-thirds of those cherokee babies are being placed in non-cherokee homes. >> the children are our future. without our future, we can't go on. >> reporter: the companies willing to talk about pending

the lawsuit's claims are without merit, and they say they are dedicated to working together with the government to combat the illegal diversion of drugs. limore says drug users do share the blame for the cray sis, but what the cherokee nation really needs is for the glad of drugs to stop. >> it's like a tornado that never ends. it's proved into our area. it is destroying our community. and until someone stops that from happening, the devastation continues. >> glor:>> reporter: chip reid,s news, tahlequah, oklahoma. >> mason: federal investigators today said the pilot in the nation's deadliest hot air balloon disaster had valium, oxycodone, and the antihistamine benadryl in his system. 16 people were killed in july of last year when the balloon hit power lines and crashed near austin, texas. n.t.s.b. says the pilot, alfred nichols, should not have flown with clouds approaching and

decision-making. the gloves are off and no one is holding back. it started with senator john mccain blasting president trump's ideas with words like "half-baked" and "unpatriotic." the president today warned mccain to "be careful." the vietnam war hero shot back, "i've faced tougher adversaries." then former vice president joe biden jumped in. it was that kind of day in politics. here again is nancy cordes. >> it is absolutely bizarre. it's bizarre conduct. >> reporter: after holding back for nine months, the former vice president unloaded today for a scathing seven minutes. >> we have a president who does not understand governance. forget his policies for a minute. he doesn't understand how the government functions. >> reporter: he said the president's behavior and language -- >> get that son of a bitch o

>> reporter: -- are rapidly and perhaps irreversibly shattering societal standards. >> violating the norms of personal conduct generates more anxiety and fear than any policy prescription that this president has enunciated. >> reporter: still, he begged top officials not to abandon ship. >> all the people who are in our administration who are still there, they call me all the time. i say, please stay. please stay. there has to be some competence and normalcy. >> reporter: his note of alarm echoed comments made by republican senator john mccain, who described mr. trump's politics this way today: >> it's a reversion to the 1930s, the isolationism that breakthrough on world war ii. >> reporter: and this way last night. >> some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than

[cheering and applause] >> reporter: president trump was asked about that in a radio interview. >> you heard what he said yesterday, senator mccain? >> well, i hear it. people have to be careful, because at some point i fight back. you know, i'm being very nice. i'm being very, very nice, but at some point i fight back, and it won't be pretty. >> reporter: mccain insisted he wants the work with president trump, but vice president biden said he is done giving this president the benefit of the doubt. he told the audience today that he has heard from 14 different heads of state, anthony, all wanting to know what is going on in the united states. >> mason: nancy cordes again from the capitol where there has been a lot of news. thanks, nancy. it is perhaps the most solemn duty of an american president to comfort the testimony list of fallen war heroes. when president trump, without the facts, accused his predecessors of dereliction of that duty, the response was quick and angry.

margaret brennan. >> reporter: president trump's claim yesterday that past commanders in chief did not call the families of the fallen created a firestorm. >> the traditional way, if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. >> reporter: staffers for presidents clinton, bush, and obama quickly refuted mr. trump's claim, saying that theyd each called, written to, and met with gold star families. today president trump went further, invoking one of those families to make a political point. he put the spotlight on his chief of staff, john kelly, urging reporters to ask him whether he'd received a call from president obama after his son robert, a u.s. marine, was killed in 2010. >> i mean, you could ask general kelly, did he get a call from obama? you could ask other people. i don't know what obama's policy was. >> reporter: white house officials claim to be unaware of whether mr. trump had spoken to kelly before making the remark. the retired marine corps general

attention to his son's death, making it clear he does not want it to be exploited, but on a memorial day trip to arlington cemetery, president trump called attention to the family's loss. >> robert died fighting the enemies of all civilization in afghanistan. >> reporter: today, despite the president's prodding, kelly declined to comment. but a white house official, who requested anonymity, told cbs news, "i can tell you obama did not call general kelly after the death of his son." but white house records show that kelly and his wife did attend a closed-door breakfast with mr. and mrs. obama to honor gold star families a year after their son's passing. obama staff told cbs news that the kellys were seated alongside the first lady but could not confirm a prior call. >> you have sacrificed nothing and no one. >> reporter: it is not first time mr. trump has stirred controversy over a gold star family. as a candidate, he sparred with

khan, killed in iraq in 2004. they had spoken at the democratic national convention. >> if you look at his wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say. maybe she wouldn't allowed to have anything to say. >> reporter: late today the white house said president trump did speak with all four families of the green berets killed in niger and thanked them for their sacrifice. anthony? >> mason: margaret brennan at the white house, thanks. all of this happens as americans mourn the loss of those four service members killed in niger earlier this month. this evening the body of one of the green berets was flown to miami. sergeant johnson was 25. he leaves a pregnant wife and two children. our holly williams was one of the few western journalists to witness the celebration yesterday as u.s.-backed forces pushed the last isis fighters from raqqa. today the militias declared victory in the city.

isis once considered its capital. holly reports it came at a terrible price. >> reporter: we walked into the heart of raqqa today, once the pride of the so-called islamic state. now reclaimed after a four-month battle by these u.s.-backed fighters, who took it to al naim circle. it's a place where isis showcased its brutality. this photo of a jihadi's young son captures their depravity. what isis did here in al naim circle was designed to terrorize, not just the people here in raqqa who witnessed it in person, but anywhere where people saw the photos and the videos on the internet. to get rid of the extremist, they've destroyed the city, leaving hardly a building unscathed. u.s. coalition air strikes have flattened many of them and

according to survivors. buried beneath the rubble, we may never know for sure how many died here. a commander of the raqqa offensive told us this city will be rebuilt. but the extremists did damage that can never be repaired. ahmed hamdi escaped raqqa two months ago, he told us, but as he evacuated the city, an isis bomb tore off both his legs and killed his wife. "i want the kill hundreds of them," he told us. at a gave yard north of raqqa, they come to pay their respects to the hundreds of u.s.-backed fighters who have died in battle, a war that's cost people here the lives of their sons and daughters. three years after the u.s.-led coalition began its bombing campaign against isis, the group is coming close to losing all of

and iraq, but that doesn't mean the end of isis, and as far as we know, the strikes haven't killed the group's leader, abu bakr al-baghdadi. anthony? >> mason: holly williams reporting on the devastated but now-liberated city of iraqa. thanks. coming up next on the "cbs evening news," new pressure on ford to recall more than one million explorers. and later, high school students try their hands at real-world politics. hey, are you taking the tissue test? yep, and my teeth are yellow. i mean i knew they weren't perfect, but, ugh. oh well, all hope is lost! oh thanks! clearly my whitening toothpaste is not cutting it. time for whitestrips. crest glamorous white whitestrips are the only ada-accepted whitening strips proven to be safe and effective. they work below the enamel surface to whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste.

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recall of all 2011 to 2017 ford explorers comes just days after ford said it would offer a peace of mind safety repair for the s.u.v.s. >> what they should have done was put out a recall. >> reporter: jason levine runs the center for auto safety. >> consumers know a recall is serious. a safety repair program might or might not be serious. >> reporter: since last summer, the national highway traffic safety administration has been investigating more than 2,700 come police of exhaust which contains carbon monoxide leaking into the cabin of ford explorers. those reports include claims of three accidents and 41 injuries. so far it says it's found no actual evidence of carbon monoxide poisoning, but hours after henderson, louisiana, police officer brandy sickie crashed her explorer, doctors diagnosed her with carbon monoxide poisoning. >> i think ford needs to take care of the problem and of course it. >> reporter: this california police officer says he passed out behind the wheel of an explorer due to carbon monoxide and crashed. he's now suing ford. texas resint

gaston says she gets fume in her 2013 explorer. >> every time you were in that vehicle, you started it up, ac was on, blowing, that smell was there. >> reporter: ford insists the s.u.v.s are safe, but it's known about the issue since at least 2012, and according to arbitration document, a company representative acknowledged it was likely a design issue. after austin, texas, police pulled more than 400 explorers in july, ford began a nationwide effort to fix police s.u.v.s, blaming those issues on after-purchaseics thatlation of emergency equipment. ford is responding to this recall request indirectly, saying it's always looking for ways to improve but it is confident in its processes. what ford is not agreeing to, a recall. anthony? >> mason: kris van cleave in atlanta, thanks. still ahead, now "harvard memes for horny bourgeios harvey weinstein's brother bob is accused of sexual harassment.

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judge in hawaii temporarily blocked president trump's third attempt at a travel ban. hawaii had sued, arguing the ban on citizens from syria, libya,, iran, smallback yes, yemen, andd is an unlawful attempt to exclude muslims from the u.s. hawaii did not challenge restrictions involving north korea or vens venezuela. the trump administration plans to appeal. harvey weinstein resigned today from the board of the film company he founded. more than three dozen women have accused him of sexual harassment or assault. his brother bob weinstein remains on the board, but today a former executive producer at the spike tv network accused him of sexual harassment. spike tv says it is investigating. a spokesman for bob weinstein denied the charges. still ahead, they're not old enough to vote yet, but they're running for governor.

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>> mason: it's 55 weeks until the 2018 election, and we have our first campaign story. dean reynolds now with four candidates who have a very good chance of graduating. >> you have to work through it. >> reporter: these four high school students are smart, politically active, forward thinking, and running for governor, of kansas. i mean, governor, come on. >> why not? >> reporter: why not indeed? it seems the 19th century state leaders never thought to include age requirements to run for governor or any requirements. >> you can live in spain. it wouldn't matter. >> reporter: last year when he was 15, jack bergeson filed to run as a democrat. >> i want to go and fight for

what the people want and i think when you give people that true honest choice that is very rare in american politics, they're more likely to vote for you. >> reporter: tyler ruzich is a republican. >> of course there is a chance we can win. no matter how big that chance is, what matters is the four of us have a chance of winning this election. >> there's really no chance of one of these kids becoming the give of kansas. >> reporter: none? >> no. >> reporter: neal allen is a political scientist at wichita state university. none. >> none of these teenagers has any experience, but our president didn't have any experience in elected office until he was elected, so maybe we're seeing a trend. >> reporter: governor sam brownback is leading office, and the race to succeed him is crowded with conventional candidates, but republican dominic scavuzzo is undawcted. a youthful view in a field of career politicians could be good for topeka.

surprised he's running for governor. >> ethan, yeah, that's something he'd do. it's not crazy. >> reporter: their positions vary. >> i would decriminalize most every drug. >> transparency is one of my main messages. to cut taxes, you have to cut spending, as well. >> reporter: campaign willing have to be an extracurricular activity, but they all say they can adjust their schedules to study and stump. >> you may say we're in the serious, we fit those legal requirements. if we're run, we're in it to win it. >> >> reporter: why not run for class president? >> i already did that. >> reporter: the party primaries are next august. election day is november 6, 2018. dean reynolds, cbs news, wichita. >> mason: a 15-year-old governor. why not? that's the "cbs evening news." i'm anthony mason in new york. thanks for watching. good night.

for years, i've been taking on the drug industry. >> it's a people problem. compassion is what brought me out of my meds. >> we need to make whoever is responsible for this accountable. >> anyone who thinks i steamrolled on this bill is either ignorant, or misinformed. >> i think they wield too much power in washington, d.c. >> before you could memorize his name, president trump's pick to be the next drug czar has withdrawn his name from consideration. it wasn't his idea. this comes after 60 minutes and "the washington post" reported that a law he