chuck cruz. >> so the brazos county sheriff's office kept investigating chuck, even communicated with d.a. about possibly convening a grand jury. chuck and his lawyer spoke to the detective on many occasions, and the detective continued to think chuck's behavior was suspicious. and that he still seemed nervous. did you ever think that maybe the reason that chuck cruz was acting this way was that you guys were coming down pretty hard on him, and he's lost his girlfriend. i mean, is there a way to act? >> i don't know, but he had several things going against him, and we just couldn't walk away from him. we either had to prove that he did it or prove that he didn't do it. >> but chuck says he should have been cleared almost right away. so even though the dna didn't match -- >> there was no match but they insisted on targeting me as the main suspect. they were trying to build a case that wasn't there. >> while chuck's life had been on hold for a year, kristen was starting to feel like her old self again. in the six months since her attack, she had taken up running, had a new boyfriend, an

cruz of texas. democrats are still smarting over the senate's refusal two years ago to even consider president obama's final nominee, garland. center chuck schumer says it would unify the country. the choice will be revealed monday night at 9:00 p.m. at the white house. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> now to the race against time at the flooded cave in thailand where a boy's soccer team has been trapped now for nearly two weeks. officials are about to make a critical decision, do they attempt a dangerous rescue mission before monsoon rains return. nbc's bill neely is at the cave with the latest. >> reporter: the world is watching them but they want out. a dozen boys with brave faces, their rescuers with one huge problem, flood water. divers struggling to fight it. the boys still too weak to cross it. they can't swim and it's six hours to the cave entrance. they are getting a crash course on diving but the risks are deadly, the narrow passageways are trapped, even for the experts. >> it's quite challenging, obviously. it's zero visibility. so it's a challenge. >> reporter: rescuers are drilling and digging and it's desperate beca

cruz of texas who says lee'sm would be a sure thing. democrats are still smarting over the senate's refusal two years ago to even consider president obama's final nominee merrick garland. senator chuck schumer says nominating garland now would unify the country. the choice will be revealed monday night, 9:00 p.m., at the white house. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >> unrelenting weather is assaulting much of the united states with heavy flooding on the east coast, ravaging wildfires in the west and the first major dust storm of the monsoon season rolling through the phoenix area. experts are calling the massive blazes out west the worst in decades during an unusually active season. in colorado the spring creek fire, the largest in the state, burned 16 acres every minute. in wine country, the county fire is jeopardizing over 1500 homes and structures and in pittsburgh people there are suffering the onslaught as are stranded as th head out in the rains and doors extreme record flooding. the dust whippin across the state. temperatures shattered a record 115 degrees. >> wow. for some of us we're going to get a good drenching. let's check in with meteorologist bill karins. it's goi

chuck grassley, to up the quotas essentially for using biofuel. >> ethanol in our gas. right. and refiners hate the mandate or many dislike it deeply, so allies for refiners including senator ted cruz and other oil at a time senators are pushing pruitt in the opposite direction. it came to a head recent weeks over policy changes are late to this bifuel program. senator grassley said he would call for pruitt's reignation if he didn't support this mandate strongly in office and, meanwhile, senator cruz through aides said he would alsoall for pruitt's resignation if he didn't back off from chang refiners tinted like. what i think is interesting about this is we tend to thinkio about alleg against pruitt being very personal in nature, and here is a case where they are being used politically and they are inluencing policy decisions or at least being used as leverage by people who wish d just that. >> jennifer dlouhy, bloomberg news, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we turn now to syria, and its ongoing civil war. the uprising there was sparked in 2011 in the southern city of deraa, and since then it has been largely held by rebel forces. but now, the assad regime, backed by