abc's tara palmeri is at the white house. >> reporter: just five days away from announcing his supreme court picktonight welcoming mil families to the white house fourth of july picnic. >> happy fourth of july. thank you, everybody. thank you. >> reporter: in the week since justice anthony kennedy announced his retirement, the president has already met with at least seven possible replacements. >> this is such an porment decision, and we're going to give you a great one. we're going to announce it on monday. >> reporter: republican leaders now jockeying to influence his choice. and tonight, some taking aim at one leading candidate, brett kavanaugh, a 53-year-old judge on the federal court of appeals and former official in the george w. bush administration. he has embraced chief justice john robert's edict that judges should be like umpires. >> don't be a jerk. i think that's important. to be a good umpire and a good judge, don't be a jerk. >> reporter: he's also said judges should be willing to change. >> it means having an open mind. it means a willingness to change your mind. that's

>> tara palmeri with that new reporting tonight. tara, thank you. >>> overseas in the uk, and a new twist in the poison plot that nearly killed a former russian spy and his daughter. police and counterterrorism detectives investigating a new major incident. two more people critically ill tonight after being exposed to that same nerve agent. abc's eva pilgrim on the scene in england. >> reporter: police at first thought this was a case of two people taking bad drugs. but this video capturing a first responder wearing protective gear, perhaps the first clue it was something more. tonight, we are now learning that a british man and woman, both fighting for their lives, were exposed to a potentially deadly nerve agent. >> this evening, i've received test results from port and down that show that the two people have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok. >> reporter: novichok is the same nerve agent that nearly killed a former russian spy and his daughter after they were poisoned in march. that happening less than ten miles from where

tara palmeri explains why the city is once again calling it a big hoax. >> reporter: president trump claiming the fbi was wrong to surveil his former campaign adviser carter page a month before the election. tweeting, quote, looking more and more like the trump campaign was illegally spied upon. a redacted fisa warrant released this weekend shows that the fbi spe suspected page was being recruited by the russians. >> i've never been a an agent of a foreign power by any stretch of the imagination. >> reporter: but trump says the fbi operation was politically motivated because the warrant references the doss area paid for in part by the clinton campaign. the fbi documents outline additional evidence to support the government's motion and disclose that they suspected the steele dossier document was politically motivated. >> if you read actually the documents themselves, it becomes clear exactly why they wanted this. remember, this is an application saying this is why we need more information. >> reporter: three other judges also approved different fbi requests to monitor page. this come

tom. >> tara palmeri traveling with the secretary of state tonight. tara, thank you. >>> now to the searing heat and high fire danger back here at home. a state of emergency issued in santa barbara county. take a look at that. raging wildfires destroying at least 20 structures. some 2500 people ordered out. sizzling temperatures and bone-dry conditions contributing to at least 30 large and uncontained wildfires across nine states. abc's will carr is on the fire line tonight. >> reporter: wildfires raging across the scorching hot west tonight. at least 30 fires burning in nine states. california's sun-soaked terrain, now a baking tinderbox. a dozen fires burning statewide prompting the governor to issue a state of emergency in santa barbara county. the holiday fire incinerating everything in its path destroying at least 20 homes and buildings. erratic winds pushing fiery embers from home to home, this entire neighborhood instantly engulfed in flames. thousands forced to evacuate in the dead of night. some returning home today to find nothing left. othe

tear with a tara palmeri, abc news. >>> in the meantime, the president is taking aim at robert mueller, renewing claims that the special prosecutor has multiple conflicts of interest that should bar him from leading the investigation. he tweeted that he and mueller had a nasty and contentious business relationship and a reference to an old dispute over fees at a trump golf club. he also said he turned mueller down to head the fbi and accused him of having too many democrats on his team. >>> we have new reports on the california wildfires. >> in northern california hundreds of homes are in ruins. flames are threatening thousands more and two people are under arrest, accused of looting homes that had been evacuated. >> fire crews say they expect to be battling flames near yosemite park for the next two weeks. the park will be closed until at least august 3rd. >> a firefighter working the front lines of that blaze has died. brian hughes was removing brush and debris when he was struck by a falling tree. paul williams joins us now with the weather hampering those firefighting efforts. >> t

they better just take it easy. >> our report from tara palmeri.time, as the trump administration faces calls to get rid of i.c.e., many immigration families are still waiting to get their children back. >> there was an emotional reunion nearly two months after they were taken at the border. the father is still being detained by u.s. immigration officials. >>> and turning now to the populist wave hitting mexico with voters electing an anti-establishment leftish firebrand. he pulled off a decisive victory in his third attempt at the presidency there, rising to power on widespread voter anger and discontent. he's now vowing to reshape the country by tackling corruption and the president here tweeted congratulations saying i look forward to working with him. >>> turning now to weather. we're only a week or so into summer, but it's feeling, well, feeling hot outside. really, really hot. temperatures are in the 90s or higher. >> it took a while to get here, but members of washington d.c.'s church handed out water and ice cream rather than hold services

tara palmeri has been covering that for us and that has so many european leaders anxious, tara. >> reporter: that's right, george. the european officials i spoke to this morning said they were shocked and outraged. it's unheard of for an american president to compare the european uon to russia and china. especially here in the baltic region they are extremely, extremely anxious as there's russian military operations happening all the time in the sea behind me in finland and they just want to make sure that president trump doesn't give any concessions to russia pugs -- publicly or privately. they see their own security linked to that in ukraine and want to make sure they can rely on u.s. military and nato forces to protect them. >> okay, tara, thanks. david muir here with me also. we want to go back to that footage we saw of the president and president putin there and, david, i was struck by the body language of the two men as we watched them in those minutes right there. president trump leaning forward in his seat, a very laid back vladimir putin kind of taking in everything the president h

tara palmeri is traveling with him in vietnam. >> reporter: tonight, secretary of state mike pompeo drawing a line in the sand. telling the north koreans if they think his demands for denuclearization are gangster-like, he's got plenty of company. >> if those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster. >> reporter: pompeo still insists that this weekend's talks had north korea reaffirming its commitment to complete denuclearization. this, despite that staggering statement released after his departure, calling u.s. talking points "cancerous" and "deeply regrettable." >> the road ahead will be difficult and challenging and we know critics will try to minimize the work that we've achieved. >> reporter: while the president has maintained extreme confidence in the deal he and kim signed in the historic summit, north korea has yet to deliver on its end. reports claim they have expanded their missile testing facility rather than dismantling them. and there was kim's pledge to return the remains of war heroes. >> he gave us the remains of our great heroes. they're giving them back. nobody

abc's tara palmeri is with the president in new jersey tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the president's legal team firing a warning shot to his longtime fixer and former lawyer michael cohen, attempting to silence him. >> we have complained to them that he's violating the attorney client privilege, publicly and privately. >> reporter: this breakdown comes as abc news has learned that cohen claims that then-candidate trump knew in advance about that infamous trump tower meeting with the russians in 2016. >> it is quite a bombshell if it's true and if it can be corroborated. it would mean that the president was willing personally to accept russian help during the campaign. >> reporter: something president trump has consistently denied. >> did you know at the time that they had the meeting? >> no, i didn't know anything about the meeting. >> reporter: the president's attorney, rudy giuliani, telling abc news by phone that they've ended their joint defense agreement. another sign of the striking divorce between the two. >> he's in grave jeopardy of being disbarred. >> reporter: cohen's lega

abc's tara palmeri leads our coverage tonight in helsinki. >> reporter: in scotland, demonstrators protesting president trump's visit on the ground and in the air. this paraglider flying over trump's turnberry resort with a sign reading, "trump: well below par." the president is in the rough on his golf course, staying out of the spotlight, as the clock winds down to his high-stakes meeting with russian president vladimir putin. >> i think i would have a very good relationship with president putin if we spend time together. i may be wrong. you know, other people have said that it didn't work out. but i'm different than other people. >> reporter: sources tell abc news trump will be winging his meeting with the russian president, comparing his approach to his lack of preparation for the g7. hanging over the summit, a federal indictment of 12 russians for hacking the 2016 election. u.s. officials saying the hack was authorized by putin himself. now, some lawmakers are calling on trump to cancel the summit. >> if he and his team are not willing to make the subject of this indictment of russian in

here's tara palmeri. >> reporter: president trump preparing for battle tonight over his highly anticipated supreme court pick. >> it's probably going to be vicious because the other side, all they can do is obstruct and resist. you know, their whole thing is resist. >> reporter: the president already has his shortlist of his top five contenders, but he may face resistance within his own party. resistance he can't afford with just a single vote majority in the senate. republican senator susan collins of maine, telling martha raddatz -- >> a candidate for this important position who would overturn roe v. wade would not be acceptable to me, because that would indicate an activist agenda that i don't want to see a judge have. >> are you going to ask your nominees beforehand how they might vote on roe v. wade? >> that's a big one. and probably not. they're all saying, don't do that, you shouldn't do that. don't do that. >> reporter: the president also attacking those calling to abolish and reform i.c.e., the agency in charge of detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants. >> you get rid of

tara palmeri is in new jersey tonight. >> reporter: tonight, president trump threatening to shut down the government if he doesn't get a border wall. >> we're gonna build a wall. it's gonna be a great wall. >> reporter: tweeting, "i would be willing to shut down government if the democrats do not give us the votes for border security, which includes the wall!" just 100 days from the midterm elections, congress scrambling to secure $5 billion for border security in the next funding bill. they need to lock in the votes before the money runs out september 30th. members of the president's own party speaking out against the shutdown threat. >> i certainly don't like playing shutdown politics. i don't think it will be helpful, so let's try and avoid it. >> reporter: when president trump signed the last $1.3 trillion spending bill in march he made clear it was a regret he would not repeat. >> but i say to congress, i will never sign another bill like this again. i'm not going to do it again. >> reporter: the president also waging an increasingly public battle with his former fixer and attorn

abc's tara palmeri is with the president in new jersey. >> reporter: tonight, the white house grappling with a security breach. an administration official telling abc news that this is in fact president trump on the phone on air force one thinking he's talking to senator bob menendez, democrat of new jersey. >> sir, your call is connected. >> hi, bob. >> hey, how are you? >> reporter: but it's not the senator. the call was a prank. former howard stern sidekick john melendez claiming to be behind it. he played the audio on his "stuttering john" podcast. here, they discuss zero tolerance on the border. >> well, bob, let me just tell you, i want to be able to take care of this situation every bit as much as everyone else. >> it really does raise questions about, well, what kind of security filter do we have on air force one? it's a very chilling thing to contemplate. >> reporter: the comedian at one point attempting to influence the president on his supreme court shortlist. >> i promise you, you will have my vote. will help you -- if you don't go too, too conservative. you know what i'm sa

tara palmeri is joining us as well. following the reactions of the allies to the meeting.after the tough meeting with nato and after the president called the european union a foe over the weekend. >> reporter: right. what they'ring looing for is what kind of hang waj the president uses when referring to european security. the annexation of crimea, and aggression in eastern yukraine. they want to know that the u.s. won't be pulling away troops in the region in exchange for russian troops to be pulled from syria. right now, we don't know what the leaders said one on one. what deals were made. any indication we get there this press conference is something that all of europe will pay attention to. >> right. and there hasn't been, the president hasn't had much time to debrief his own staff about what happened in the long one on one. they went directly from the one on one meeting between putin and the president into the work lunch. a bit of a delay now, we're told. several minutes ago we were told the presidents were ready to come out. we're having a delay. david muir, par for t

abc's white house correspondent tara palmeri, is in new jersey where president trump is spending the weekend at his golf resort. tara, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, whit and diane. the relationship between the two has really deteriorated since michael cohen started dropping hints last month that he's willing to cooperate with prosecutors. giuliani told me last night that they've ended their joint legal defense agreement, meaning that they don't share information anymore. and the trump campaign won't cover cohen's legal bills. overnight, the president's legal team breaking ties with trump's long-time fixer michael cohen, while sending him a strong message to keep quiet. the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani, telling abc news by phone -- >> we have complained to them that he's violating the attorney/client privilege publicly and privately. he's in grave jeopardy of being disbarred. >> reporter: after more than a decade, trump and cohen's relationship hitting a new low. cohen, who is under investigation in the southern district of new york for possible charges ranging from fra

tara palmeri is traveling with the secretary in vietnam this morning. >> reporter: secretary of state mike pompeo firing back after the north koreans accused him of being quote gangster-like in his demands for denuclearization. >> if those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster. >> reporter: calling the talks deeply regrettable. pompeo claiming the thort koreans were negotiating in god faith. saying they never pushed back. >> let me make clear, north korea reaffirmed its commitment to complete denuclearization. >> reporter: it's the first high level meeting since president trump and kim jong-un signed an agreement to denuclearize at his historic summit in singapore last month. pompeo was expected to meet with kim jong-un but left abruptly. >> it was never anticipated that i would meet with him. >> reporter: the white house expecting otherwise earlier this week. >> secretary pompeo will be leaving for north korea on july 5th to meet with the north korean leader and his team. >> reporter: back in north korea, this sitdown coming amid satellite images that show the north ko

and abc's white house correspondent tara palmeri is in new jersey where the president is spending theeekend at his golf club in bedminster. tara, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, dan. the president is playing up a key theme in his 2016 campaign, by accusing democrats of being anti-law enforcement. he's stoking fears of increased crime, which he sees as a political land mine for the democrats. [ chanting ] >> when do we want it? >> all: now! >> reporter: while thousands protest the trump administration's zero tolerance immigration policy, president trump from his new jersey golf course, defending the law enforcement agency in charge of detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants, tweeting -- this morning, the liberal left, also known as the democrats, want to get rid of i.c.e., who do a fantastic job. trump also warning on fox news that eliminating i.c.e. would translate into a surge in deadly gangs like ms-13. >> you get rid of i.c.e. you're going to have a country that you're going to be afraid to walk out of your house. >> reporter: some democrats are calling for

abc's white house correspondent tara palmeri is in new jersey where the president is spending the weekend at his golf resort. tara, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, whit. that conveniently timed economic growth is something president trump will be touting over the next few months before the midterm elections, but at the same time all of these domestic wins seem to be blunted by the ongoing developments in the russia probe. >> we're on track to hit the highest annual average growth rate in over 13 years. >> reporter: overnight the president celebrating a surge in economic growth. >> in the second quarter of this year, the united states economy grew at the amazing rate of 4.1%. >> reporter: up from 2.2% last quarter, it's the best quarter of growth since 2014. >> as the trade deals come in one by one, we're going to go a lot higher than these numbers. >> reporter: but economists are less optimistic. while the president engages in a trade war with china, they say the uptick is linked to farmers rushing to export products like soybeans before those tariffs hit. but while touting a, wi

tara palmeri has more. >> reporter: just days away from announcing his supreme court pick, the presidentto the picnic. in the weeks since justice kennedy announced his retirement, the president has already met with seven candidates. >> we're going to give you a great the one. we're going to announce it on monday. >> reporter: the republican leaders are jockeying to influence the president. some taking aim at kavanaugh who has embraced the edict that judges should be more like umpires. >> don't be a jerk. i think it's important to be a good umpire and a good judge, don't be a jerk. >> reporter: he said judges should be willing to change. >> it means having an open mind, a willingness to change your mind. that's something that judges have to do, to say, i didn't look at it that way a few years ago, but now i see it looks different to me. >> reporter: that has some republicans worried he won't be a reliable conservative vote on the court. tom cotton, rand paul and ted cruz have called the president expressing concerns. some groups are quietly pushing for amy coney barrett. they are hoping s

one supreme court vote could make the difference so let's go to abc's white house correspondent tara palmeriith much more on this. tara, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, dan. justice kennedy has been the swing vote that's upheld the affirmative action policy. but now, president trump has the chance to replace him with a justice who could overturn that ruling. as president trump approaches his self-imposed july 9th days interviewing and thinking about supreme court justices, such an important decision. and we're going to give you a great one. >> reporter: he's pushing forwarwi h conservative agenda. >> we're going to hit a home run here. >> reporter: rolling back affirmative action guidelines from the obama era meant to promote diversity at schools. the trump administration no longer encouraging admissions to take race into account. the retirement of justice kennedy, who upheld affirmative action amid challenges in the supreme court, gives trump the chance to choose a justice who could overturn the ruling. he's already spoken with seven candidates. included on the short list? two wome

abc 7 news reporter tara palmer i -- palmeri has the details. >> reporter: president trump tweeted, the democrats are making a strong push to abolish i.c.e., one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited group of men and women i have ever he said eliminating i.c.e. would translate into a surge of violent crime. >> you're going to be afraid to walk out of your house. >> i don't think i.c.e. today is working as intended. >> you think we should get rid of the agency? >> i believe that it has become a deportation force. >> reporter: others calling for reform. >> we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom, starting by replacing i.c.e. with something that reflects our morality. >> reporter: the president accusing democrats of turning their backs on law enforcement, what he sees as a politically risky move for democrats ahead of the midterms, as the administration struggles to implement its zero tolerance immigration policy while keeping families together. >> i hope they're thinking about the, because they're going to get beaten so badly. >>> memorial services for two of th