m.j. lee in new hampshire as well. >>> now to this. coast to coast, americans are celebrating our nation's independence and security is also very very tight. because of heightened security concerns this fourth of july. the fbi, the department of homeland security telling everyone be very very vigilant. i do want to note no specific threat has been identified by law enforcement. police departments are increasing their security embassies and consulates around the globe are briefing their security teams and in cities like right here new york city officials are not taking any chances. let's go live to our reporter near the brooklyn bridge where there will be a huge celebration tonight there for the fireworks on the east river. what are you seeing from the officers on the ground there? >> reporter: quite a large law enforcement presence in just the past couple minutes, we have seen an increase in police around this area. millions of americans are going to get together today, have a festive fourth of july and enjoy some fireworks. law enforc

. >> let's bring in cnn politics reporter m.j. lee and editor mark preston. i want to start from you, mark. what we heard from the special council, is that a distinction without a difference or is there an important difference pointed out? >> michael coe hencohen saying they want to get him out of the race. they want to see donald trump in the race. ta louse them to use him as a wedge against latinos. it is establishment republicans and certainly the other 16 or so candidates that are running for president that don't want to see him in the race. i think, victor there is an understanding, certainly, in the republican party, throughout the country that something needs tosh doneto be done on the border. when you have donald trump saying such hurtful, bombastic things that is not good for the growth of the party. >> what he is saying this continued narrative is in part what's garnering so much support in arizona. they have to change this venue. we expect there will also be protests outside of the venue, right? >> absolutely. he is expected to draw a very big crow

m.j. lee, appreciate it. >>> thank you.inmate david sweat, spilling details on his escape. now we're learning about major corruption. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern. leave early go roam sleep in sleep out star gaze dream big wander more care less beat sunrise chase sunset do it all. on us. get your first month's payment plus five years wear and tear coverage. make the most of summer... with volvo. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ if you want a paint with no harsh fumes. if you want a paint without harmful chemicals. if you want a paint that's safer for your family, and the environment... only this can. natura from benjamin moore. paint like no other. >>> all right. checking our stop stories, a source directly involve

m.j. lee is following the story for us. m.j. trump's immigration remarks have him angering a lot of people but at the same time his popularity he's rising in the polls, at least. and i understand you have some new information about who might be introducing him today in phoenix when he meets up with the sheriff. >> reporter: that's right. we've learned that jameel shaw sr., the father of a high school student who was killed years ago in los angeles by an undocumented immigrant will be introducing trump on stage in the phoenix rally today, fredricka. shaw was one of the family members of victims of crimes perpetrated by undocumented immigrants that trump met with in los angeles yesterday. shaw actually spoke about his meeting with trump earlier this morning. >> he told me that my son's life was not going to be in vain and that he was going to do something about it by enforcing immigration law, securing the border everything that we want. everything that people are asking for he's going to do it. >> this is an important reminder fr

and that's where we also find cnn's m.j. lee. are there, and there are two democratic candidates. what are they saying to voters? >> reporter: well this july 4th weekend is really a great opportunity for the presidential candidates to really get out there and mingle with voters. go to barbecues. march in these parades. it's a great way for them to do this retail campaigning that is so important, especially in the primary season. we've had a number of republican candidates as you mentioned, in various parts of new hampshire and iowa. we have jeb bush rick perry, lindsey graham chris christie marco rubio. all spending their yuljuly 4th weekend here. i'm in a northern town in the granite state. hillary clinton is also walking in the parade as we speak. a lot of people here are very excited to see hillary clinton in their town. i have had some sightings of people who are less enthusiastic about her candidacy, holding up signs, protesting the fact that she's running for president. but i think for the most part fredricka, people are ve

let's bring in cnn steven colinson and m.j. lee. steven.ortion of this speech, and then we'll talk about it. >> i cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie. and i voted based on those assurances that he made to each and every one of us. what we just saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every republican senator, but what he told the press over and over and over again was a simple lie. >> flat-out lie. steven, how often does something like this happen? >> it's very rare for it to be so public, there's plenty of aresentment among members in the senate but usually it's sort of dealt with behind closed doors. it's very consistent with what cruz did yesterday with his political philosophy and conscience as he came to washington. he's a champion of the tea party who wants to establish the establishment, but clearly, he's also playing a 2016 card here. he's set himself up as an agitator of this republican field. over the last few weeks since donald trump has taken all of the oxygen in this race. cruz had a little tro

so let me bring in politics reporter m.j. lee, senior media correspondent brian stelter and political reporter sarah murray. we're looking through this but this is a new number m.j. >> this is a new number. what he about h so far before this filing came out and we should clarify we don't actually have the s.e.c. filing what we have is a press release from the trump campaign summarizing what we can expect to find. until we see that we won't be able to see the full details, but that being said the press release says that trump's net worth is now in excess of $10 billion. that's compared to $8.7 billion that they had previously reported in his summary, and that was as of june 2014 so over the course of a year it sounds like his net worth probably went up by about $1 billion if i'm doing the math correctly. >> what's $1 billion among friends? >> exactly. >> sarah, i want to bring you in because there was some doubt as to whether he would in fact release this form and he talks about that in his statement and the press release, you kno

i want to bring in cnn's m.j. lee, our political reporter at the event.know if you heard me at the beginning. "the des moines register," one of their reporters is tweeting they actually do have a reporter now on the floor and that the trump staff is being polite. >> right. i guess they were able to get in somehow. i know the campaign was doing media checks and making sure that all the reporters getting in were on the list. but this is a campaign that loves to get media coverage. they've been getting a lot of it over the last month. maybe they decided that you know having the iowa -- the biggest paper in iowa to not be here would be a mistake. i think it is interesting to point out that this is is a pretty unusual move for a presidential campaign to make to ban a publication because its editorial board wrote something critical. i think it sets an interesting precedent going forward. a lot of candidates get very critical things written about them. going forward, will donald trump decide that this is something he wants to do with everyone that writes somethi

m.j. lee. all right, so donald trump and his people are saying his comments are being misinterpreted. so as he visits vegas and then onto phoenix, how much will this be about clarifying his comments or reiterating his comments? >> reporter: i think donald trump is expected to only reiterate his comments today, fredricka. i don't think there is going to be a clarification or an attempt to take back anything that he has said so far, even amid all this controversy. when i spoke with trump officials earlier today, they made it clear that the main message that he is going to be driving home is how do we stop illegal immigrants who come into the country from killing u.s. citizens. that was the exact words that campaign officials used when they were trying to describe what mr. trump's message would be in arizona today. i think that to say that this has been just a controversy would be an understatement. i think that there are many immigrants in the country, particularly those of latino background who

. >> we have on the phone with us, cnn political reporter m.j. lee. m.j., what are we expecting today at the rally? >> reporter: good morning, victor. as you mentioned, we are expecting a very large crowd in arizona according to his campaign i campaign. they were expecting as many as 4,000 people and then heard a number of 7500 people. so we are sure this is going to be a massive turnout on 7 the concept of trump's speech -- we'll hear him doubling down. this is not a situation where we have heard mr. trump take bag anything he has said or retract his information. he will continue to talk about immigration in the way he has so far. he has talked about building this wall along the southern border of the he believes people coming into the country are going to cause problems. >> i think for sure we are going to see protestors show up to this arizona event as we did yesterday in los angeles. i think their presence will certainly be noticeable. they are standing outside of this event holding up signs and telling him that his signs are extremely offensive. t

let's bring in cnn's politics reporter m.j. lee, at the event which has already gotten under way. what is he talking about right now? >> there's a very full auditorium. the audience is incredibly excited. you can hear a lot of clapping and cheering. they actually started the event by mentioning the register made a joke that "the des moines register" is standing outside and he got a lot of cheering for that. he then went on to talk about hillary clinton and the e-mail investigation that came out yesterday. that is something people here were very excited to hear about. he also talked about his trip to laredo, texas, earlier this week where he visited the u.s.-mexico border. >> your audio competing with donald trump's audio there. we'll try and check back with you later so we can hear a little bit more clearly what's happening. thanks so much. >>> straight ahead, the louisiana theater shooter had legally bought a gun despite a history of mental problems. will this be the case that moves the washington discussion on gun control? our expert joins us next. over 20 million kids everyday

and also joined by m.j. lee. m.j. first to you.ort of set the stage with the divide within the go. over trump and sort of how they respond to him. >> the republican party is clearly trying to figure out just how to respond to donald trump. you saw lindsey graham referring to him as taking a wrecking ball to the party. and then we have others like ted cruz who has been more eager to come to donald trump's defense. i think it's clear that the last thing republicans want going into 2016 was to be dealing with this when they were trying to respond to hispanic voters. ic that thei think that the take oraway was trump represents that from the republican party. >> no doubt about it, trump has sparked the conversation on the campaign trail about immigration. in that sense 45shas he had a big from you? >> no doubt. there is an internal war going on inside the republican party and credit we saw rupert murdoch who owns fox news send out a very strongly worded tweet that basically called trump wrong. and that to me was a message that he was se

. >> joining me right now, m.j. lee. tell us who are aboutmore about what's expected as the donald makes his way to vegas and phoenix? >> good morning. i have spoken to some of trump's campaign officials. i asked them what will he say at this big rally? they said his message will be this. stopping illegal aliens from killing u.s. citizens. that means that trump will be doubling down on his original comments which obviously were controversial, speaking about folks coming over in mexico that they are most often criminals or rapists or drug dealers, has created a huge bash lash. we are expecting him to say those comments again today repeatedly. we are expecting protesters to show up at his event to send him the message that his comments are not appreciated. >> mr. trump is speak very confidently about his position here and then you look at the polls and he continues to stay on top. what are his people, so to speak, saying about how he is managing to do this and at the same time offend so many? >> look i think it is certainl

cnn politics reporter m.j. lee is joining us this morning. what is in store for the states today?ning. it is a tradition on july 4th weekends for small towns to have parades, festivities and barbecues. as you mentioned, a lot of the presidential candidates will be partaking in the festivities. i'm here in new hampshire, a northern town in the state, today where hillary clinton will be walking down in the streets you see behind me here in the parade sometime this afternoon. there are a couple other parades in the state of new hampshire today. we have jeb bush rick perry, lindsey graham. in meramec, we'll see other candidates. i wouldn't be surprised if some of the candidates end up bumping into each other given so many of them are here today. >> and speaking of hillary clinton clinton, her main opponent is bernie sanders drawing large crowds. does that worry hillary clinton? >> reporter: yeah hillary clinton spoke at dartmoth college yesterday and then visited a local ice cream store where she was asked that very question. reporters wanted to know, are you worried about the fact th

. >> joining me now to discuss all this cnn political reporter sarah murray and m.j. lee. you were there in person for that interview. what was that like? >> i was struck by how unapologetic donald trump ererson was pushing him to answer these questions about the hotel site in washington, d.c. he was totally unapologetic. i think that if any national republicans think he is going to tone it down -- you mention that the head of the rnc had a phone call with donald trump. that is not going to happen at least not any time soon. that is something that the republican party is going to have to contend with and figure out how are we going to deal with someone who is making a big part of the electorate -- that's really starting to make the party nervous. >> what you see is what you get with donald trump. sarah, we just heard trump say he can't even guarantee he doesn't have ill heelegal imgrants working for him. is he being a hypocrite here. >> yeah you could say he's being a hypocrite on this. i think the reality is h when he says look i can't attest to who all is working on my h

. >> m.j. lee, thank you so much. >>> all right.10-month-old baby drifting out to sea for half a mile before her parents even notice she's gone? the shocking details about what happened next. ♪ i'm the biggest threat your business will ever face. your size, your reputation mean nothing. because tomorrow, i'll be your competitor. and i was born to disrupt everything you think your business is about. see you soon. the next wave of the internet is bringing the next wave of competition. we're ready. are you? >>> all right. checking our top stories the faa and ntsb are investigating the crash of a mel helicopter moments after takeoff. witnesses describe seeing the relatively new helicopter spinning before it crashed. the pilot was killed. two other crew members are hospitalized. >>> shocking video of a 10-month-old baby girl drifting out to sea by-her of her parents page forgot they placed her in a floating crip. they weren't even aware of daughter had reportedly drifted half a mile away from the turkish coast. the coast guard was able t

cnn politics reporter m.j. lee, joins us now for more.d or saw a rick perry, jeb bush meeting happen today. are are that's right, allison. we are hearing that rick perry and jeb bush rendezvoused in amherst. this is bound to happen when you have so many candidates coming to new hampshire and iowa to partake in the july fourth weekend celebrations. i'm here in the northern new hampshire town of gorham. i am seeing some of the town's residents setting up their chairs and getting ready to see hillary clinton participate in the town parade later thisafternoon. >> i hear that hillary clinton's main opponent, bernie sanders, is drawing big crowds. how much does this worry her? >> reporter: she was asked about that at a local ice-cream store near anhanover. take a listen. >> reporter: some of your opponents have been drawing big crowds. bernie sanders. >> we have our own campaigns. i always said this was going to be competitive. i want to have a great debate around the primary caucuses around the country. that's what i am looking forward to. >>

i'm joined by cnn's senior politics reporter chris moody and cnn politics reporter m.j. lee. you. earnest using harsh words, race-baiting when referring to trump. it seems like at least democrats would like to keep the focus there. >> well no surprise there. donald trump and the way he characterizes immigrants that are in the united states illegally, it makes him a bit of a gift horse to democrats. he is a caricature of what they would love republicans to be because it allows them to promote the caricature of the republican party, and it really sets back a lot of republicans that have worked very hard over the past couple years to try to do outreach into especially latino communities. it's not just happening on the republican party but also conservative groups have been going into states around the country, and they've told me over this past week this really does not help their efforts, but it does help democrats who like to paint republicans with a broad brush, and they point to trump as an example. >> it does seem like the issues of race of immigration, whether we're talkin

joining us is m.j. lee who is in iowa. what has been the response there in iowa to this decision?ictor. that's right. the des moines register said yesterday that its journalists will not be allowed to get credentials to attend the rally in iowa today. this after an editorial that was very critical of donald trump. the editorial basically called on the candidate to drop out of the race called him a feckless blow hard. the trump campaign wasn't happy and they are responding by denying journalists at the des moines register credentials to the event. every event i have been to with donald trump there is a media check-in process. even if they tried to come i don't know if they could get in. we know the paper has asked the trump campaign to reconsider the decision. it sounds like that's probably not going to happen. donald trump tweeted about this. i will read it to you. the ultraliberal and seriously failing des moines register is begging my team for press credentials to my event in iowa today, but they lie. this is typical donald trump doubling down. probably won't change his decision

let's bring back dana bash and cnn politics reporter m.j. lee and patrick healy. patrick, donald trump is at 40%. is it time for the pundits and the media and gop establishment to take him seriously? >> i think so. he's someone with real traction it seems like in iowa and new hampshire. even more so he's going to be a big factor in the debates. going into that first debate he's going to be the person that jeb bush is preparing for, that some of the others are preparing for. the question is is he going to talk about policy? when we say take him seriously, i don't think it's so much he's putting through ideas of dealing with islamic state. he's not going away. he's a one-man show. the challenge is you never know what he is going to say. it's about self-interest. it's not necessarily about going into a republican field and saying this is how we make the country better. it's how can i get my message out and talk about myself? >> dana and m.j. let's take a beat on the poll and see what we put together with cnn, a poll of polls. this index they will use to get and pick

. >> m.j. lee, thank you so much in south carolina. let's continue with a representative wonderful to have you on. >> thank you so much for having me brooke. >> so you have endorsed donald trump for president and as we were just discussing and you are watching all of this back and forth, sir, words like jackass and idiot are now being hurled between two presidential candidates. it's getting a little childish would you say? >> well i believe that donald trump is somebody who is not going to back away from any kind of a fight and i think that's why people are endorsing him and supporting him and getting very excited about him. >> if we're talking about being a leader of the country and this goes towards any of these folks running for president, should these words be used? >> whether the words are used or not, what we need is a leader. and right now we haven't had that and we need to turn this country around and we need somebody who is going to lead it. and who is not going to take anything from any of our enemies or any of the special in

we'll talk with the person who started that in a second and first up m.j. lee broke the news on the split. today donald trump is saying no no no i'm one who severed ties with macy's and the other side saying the reverse. right. which is it? >> who knows. i think trump will probably never acknowledge when he's in the fault and he has caused harm to him self-. look i think it's interesting that the guy who loves to say the words you're fired is being fired left and right. you mentioned nbc cutting ties with trump. you also mentioned that he will no longer have a part in the miss usa pageant. i think that the macy's news really goes to show that when you say disparaging things and racially offensive things and things that really hurt a wide spectrum of people that does not sit well with corporate america, when you have hundreds of thousands of people petitioning macy's and saying look why do you sell stuff that this guy makes? it's really hard for a company like that to ignore that? >> when you look at the businesses the money he's lose is this backfiring? >> yeah

. >> we're going to leave it errol lewis and m.j. lee>>> coming up here the grateful dead playing their final shows this weekend at chicago's soldier field after 50 years. hear from some of the dead's founding members, next. listen up... i'm reworking the menu. mayo, corn dogs... you are so out of here! ahh... the complete balanced nutrition of great tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein... and 26 vitamins and minerals. ensure. take life in. no artificial flavors, colors sweeteners preservatives, and no artificial smiles. because clean dressings, taste better. panera. food as it should be. if you take multiple medications, a dry mouth can be a common side effect. that's why there's biotene. it comes in oral rinse spray or gel so there's moisturizing relief for everyone. biotene, for people who suffer from dry mouth. you pay your car insurance premium like clockwork. month after month. year after year. then one night, you hydroplane into a ditch. yeah... surprise... your insurance company tells you to pay up again. why pay for insura

i have m.j. lee with me here in new york. we're going to keep the picture up live in the corner of the screen to see when donald trump gets off the plane. why the said tour guides this union, these agents that were supposed to take him to the border they backed out. why? >> it seems that this union representing the border agents were not interested in getting tangled in politics. trump obviously is a political candidate now and is running for office and has talked about the problem of illegal immigration using pretty colorful and some people consider offensive language. you mentioned that he has referred to some mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals. a group that is not supposed to endorse political candidates the decision was, let's not get involved in this. let's not have the optics and making it seem like we're endorsing a political candidate when initially the goal was to facilitate a conversation about illegal immigration and i think they wanted to steer clear of politics. >> who is giving him the tour? do you know

here to talk about this, cnn politics reporter m.j. lee and cnn political director david chalian. welcome to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. so david, what does trump mean by being treated fairly by republicans? >> i don't think it's completely defined just yet, carol, but clearly the republican national committee when he made the comments last weekend about john mccain sort of issued a statement and put their thumb on the scale a little bit trying to make sure to keep the debate in the manner that they think will best suit the eventual nominee with the goal of winning back the white house. that is the republican national committee's mission. listen donald trump has never ruled out, not to anderson cooper in interviews or others, has never ruled out the notion that he could potentially run as an independent. what is so interesting here is sort of the threat in the interview with "the hill" to the rny. rnc. we haven't seen that before to say, hey, i want to be treated fairly. what that means is don't step in the way here. don't get involved in the intraparty battle t

so let me bring in politics reporter m.j. lee, senior media correspondent brian stelter and political reporter sarah murray. we're looking through this but this is a new number m.j. >> this is a new number. what he about h so far before this filing came out and we should clarify we don't actually have the s.e.c. filing what we have is a press release from the trump campaign summarizing what we can expect to find. until we see that we won't be able to see the full details, but that being said

joining us is dana bash here and m.j. lee.now you're waiting to hear if this trip to the border is going to happen. what is the problem with this? >> reporter: well, the problem with it possibly would be the fact that he is a polarizing political figure. and if it is accurate wouldn't be the first group to try to separate themselves from donald trump. and the aflcio does traditionally back democratic candidates in general, but assuming he finds a way to come here to the border i think what you heard from what he said to anderson is very telling. that his whole message has been that mexico has been trying to push immigrants illegal immigrants, across the border. and they are trying to send the worst in society. and that he can prove that when he comes down here. so that's obviously going to be a question that we'll ask is are you asking that question and are you finding evidence of that claim? >> he actually says he has proof, he's just not going to tell anderson what it was was his response. it will be interesting to see what