>> when you get knocked down, you get back up! >> whit: a stark contrast to last night, today president biden trying to reassure voters, acknowledging his age. admitting he doesn't debate as well as he used to. top democrats, including former president obama, rallying behind him. donald trump criticized for repeated false statements, taking a victory lap in virginia, seizing on biden's rocky night. rachel scott with the fallout. also tonight, the supreme court ruling potentially affecting hundreds of people prosecuted after the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. what the ruling might mean for the special counsel's case against former president trump as we await the decision on presidential immunity. terry moran at the supreme court. the images coming in. first responders on the scene of a horrific crash outside new york city. the car slamming into a building. the former uvalde school district police chief indicted on child .child endangerment, charges linked to the deadly mass shooting at robb elementary. a secondireya severe storms on the move this weekend from colorado to the northeast. heavy rain, damaging winds, and hail from washington, d.c. to philadelphia, new york to boston. the system threatening the start of what could be record holiday travel. a southwest flight from portland, maine, to baltimore taking off from a closed runway. the faa now investigating. boeing's troubled starliner now docked indefinitely at the international space station. what the company is saying about returning the spacecraft and its two astronauts back to earth. and "america strong" tonight. the surprise sendoff for a beloved teacher. the students making sure she retires in style. >> whit: good evening. it's great to have you with us on this friday night. i'm whit johnson in for david. we begin with the race for the white house in the wake of that first presidential debate. president joe biden's poor performance halting and stumbling at times. and former president donald trump's repeated false statements. the two men frosty with one another from the start. no audience in the room to break the tension. today, a very different joe biden showed up at a campaign rally in north carolina, acknowledging his age but in a fired-up defense, insisting he can do this job. at his own rally in virginia today, donald trump doubling down on his attacks, taking a victory lap. tonight, in public, democrats are rallying behind the president. but in private, there are major questions and concerns about whether their candidate is up for the job. abc's rachel scott leads us off tonight. >> reporter: tonight, before a cheering crowd in north carolina, president biden acknowledging his shaky performance on the debate stage but vowing to press on in his campaign. >> i don't walk as easy as i used to. i don't speak as smoothly as i used to. i don't debate -- debate as well as i used to, but i know what i do know -- i know how to tell the truth. i know -- i know -- i know right from wrong. and i know how to do this job. i know how to get things done. and i know, like millions of americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up! >> reporter: biden seeking to reassure his supporters and control the wave of panic sweeping through the democratic party after his repeated stumbles during the debate. >> making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what i've been able to do with the -- with the covid, excuse me dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if -- we finally beat medicare. >> thank you, president biden. president trump? >> reporter: donald trump piling on. >> i really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence, i don't think that he knows what he said either. >> reporter: today, the biden team admitting the president had quote "a bad night." >> listen, we've got 130 days -- i'm counting -- until election day. 130 days. and this race will not be decided by one night in june. >> reporter: publicly, top democrats declaring their allegiance. >> i will never turn my back on president biden. >> step down after the debate performance last night, should he step aside? >> no. >> reporter: privately, a different story. one democrat in congress calling biden's performance a "disaster." behind the scenes, questions about whether biden should quit the race so another democrat can run. late today -- perhaps trying to put that talk to rest, former president barack obama weighing in saying, "bad debate nights happen. trust me, i know. but this election is still a choice between someone who knows right from wrong and will give it to the american people straight -- and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. last night didn't change that." >> reporter: on the debate stage, trump's performance, an avalanche of lies and distortions. he continued to defend those convicted in the riot at the capitol on january 6th and repeatedly dodged questions on whether he would accept the results of the coming election. >> if it's a fair and legal and good election, absolutely. i would have much rather accepted these, but the -- the fraud and everything else was ridiculous. >> reporter: tonight in virginia -- mocking biden's debate performance. >> joe biden spent the entire week at camp david resting, working, studying. he studied very hard. he studied so hard that he didn't know what the hell he was doing. >> reporter: but today, the president insisting -- >> i would not be running again if i didn't believe with all my heart and soul i can do this job. >> reporter: there in north carolina, the crowd was with him. >> yes, you can! yes, you can! >> reporter: yes, you can, they chanted. yes, you can. >> whit: rachel scott joining us now. top democrats standing behind president biden, but behind the scenes some serious discussions about the way forward? >> reporter: dwhit, there are real concerns within the democratic party tonight and questions about whether president biden should step aside. but sources close to the president tell me tonight there's only one man who can make that decision, and that is the president himself. and so far, he's showing no signs of backing down. in fact, i'm told he's eager to get back on the debate stage in department, whit. >> whit: all right, rachel, thank you so much on the campaign trail for us. now to that major supreme court ruling limiting what charges can be brought against defendants accused in the january 6th attack on the capitol, the decision potentially affecting hundreds of cases, including charges against former president trump. >> reporter: tonight -- a potentially big win at the supreme court for the january 6th defendants -- including donald trump. by a 6-3 vote, the court significantly limited the reach of one the charges brought against many january 6th rioters in a ruling that could impact the election interference prosecution against trump. the case was brought by former pennsylvania police officer joseph fischer who stormed the capitol on january 6th and was charged, in part, with obstruction. the specific law used by the justice department makes it a crime to alter or destroy documents and records to be used in official proceedings -- or "otherwise obstruct any official proceeding." that law, passed after the enron scandal, was originally written to prosecute business and financial crimes. the question at the court, could it be used against those storming the capitol, who were trying to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election? the court's answer, no. chief justice john roberts writing for the conservatives and liberal justice ketanji brown jackson ruling that prosecutors went too far and cannot transform "this evidence-focused statute into a one size fits all solution to obstruction of justice," adding that prosecutors must prove a defendant somehow tampered with documentary evidence. justice amy coney barrett, who joined the liberal justices in dissent, pushed back -- acknowledging that the law was written in the business-crime context, but writing, "admittedly, events like january 6th were not its target. who could blame congress for that failure of imagination? but statutes often go further than the problem that inspired them." trump heralded the decision on social media, calling it "big news" for the january 6th defendants he celebrated on the debate stage and whom he's vowed to pardon as president. >> those people have been treated so badly. so we're asking, based on the decision, they should immediately be released, immediately, the january 6th hostages. >> reporter: tonight, the justice department says today's decision will not affect the "vast majority" of january 6th defendants' cases, and it will take "appropriate steps to comply with the ruling." of the more than 1,400 january 6th defendants, 52 have been convicted on this charge. 27 are currently serving time. no one, including fischer, was only charged with obstruction. two of the four charges in the election interference case against donald trump rest on this law, but special counsel jack smith says they're still valid because of trump's efforts to use fake electoral certificates, documents, in his alleged scheme. but it all may be moot on monday when the supreme court is expected to hand down its ruling on trump's claim that he is immune from prosecution. whit? >> whit: that major decision next week. terry moran, thank you. we have breaking news outside of new york city tonight. first responders are on the scene of a horrific crash in suffolk county, new york. authorities say at least four people were killed, nine hospitalized, when a minivan crashed through a nail salon late today. the images just coming in. here's abc's phil lipof. >> reporter: tonight, a deadly crash into a building on new york's long island. first responders racing to the scene in deer park where a car slammed into this nail salon. at least four people were reportedly killed. >> requesting a rush, multiple patients, car into a building. >> reporter: it happened just after 4:30 this afternoon at hawaii nail and spa. at least nine people were injured, several critically, and reports of victims trapped inside. >> give me whatever extrication tools you have. i have approximately three people trapped underneath the vehicle inside. >> it appears a motorist drove through the building, all the way through the building. >> reporter: authorities say all the victims who died were inside the nail salon. the driver, rushed to the hospital, barely conscious. the minivan still inside that building at this hour, and the investigation into how this happened just getting under way. whit? >> whit: all right, phil lipof with those breaking details, thank you. in florida tonight, a boater is hospitalized after a shark bite off the atlantic coast north of jacksonville. the nassau county sheriff's office saying its marine unit responded to a distress call from a vessel near a port around 11:00 this morning, finding a man in his 40s suffering from a shark bite to his arm. the victim airlifted to the hospital, his injuries reportedly are not life-threatening. now to the big holiday travel rush under way ahead of gel fourth. record numbers expected at the airports and the roads. 80 million americans from the midwest to the northeast bracing for severe storms that could disrupt those travel plans. abc's alex perez is at chicago's o'hare airport. >> reporter: tonight, it's go time for millions of americans taking off for the fourth with record-breaking numbers of people packing airports from coast to coast. here at o'hare and airports across the country, some 32 million people are expected in all this holiday stretch. the airports are jam-packed. 3 million people expected today alone. the busiest day ever. and it's looking like a record-breaker on the roads, too. aaa says some 60 million will take their vacations by car. the national average for a gallon of regular, $3.50, about the same as this time last year. but of course, the wild card for travel, both in the air and on the road, is the weather. >> are we watch along tornado form right there? >> reporter: these drivers in jacksonville spotting a twister as it flipped a truck this morning. >> oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! >> reporter: overnight, a confirmed tornado in melbourne, florida, destroyed multiple homes. in moab, utah, flash floods turned this highway into a waterfall, debris raining on drivers. the person who shot this video says it came out of nowhere. whit, thunderstorms could impact crucial east coast airports all weekend long. the advice is to fly early. thunderstorms tend to formulary in the day. check the weather not only where you are but also where you're will go. >> whit: an important reminder, thank you. meteorologist lee goldberg is joining us from our new york station wabc. these severe storms are moving in overnight? >> indeed, and they're traveling along a highly populated path. we start out from the plains into the midwest tonight. all the way from north platte to des moines. actually, kansas city has the highest risk for a tornado. keep your mobile alerts on, get to a place of safety did you see that warning come through. as these move along, you might not need the alarm clock in buffalo or cleveland with storms in the morning. they'll be moving eastward to be just west of albany down to harrisburg bit evening hours. the real severe threat for the i-95 corridor, that comes on sunday. basically over the weekend, you're looking from columbus to scranton on saturday. on sunday, basically this will squash the humidity before it comes back on july fourth. whit? >> whit: lee goldberg for us, we always appreciate it, thank you. next tonight, more than two years after the school massacre in uvalde, texas, parents of the victims are reacting to the first criminal indictments. former school police chief pete arredondo and one of his former officers now charged for the delay in confronting the shoot history killed 19 students and two teachers. abc's mireya villarreal in texas tonight. >> reporter: tonight -- the first criminal charges stemming from the massacre at robb elementary school in uvalde, texas that left 19 children and two teachers dead. former school district police chief pete arredondo facing ten counts of abandoning and endangering a child, one for each survivor, for "intentionally, knowingly, recklessly" placing them in danger back this may 2022. >> shots fired, get inside! >> reporter: for 77 agonizing minutes, teachers and students waited for help -- while arredondo, seen here outside the classroom, and other officers, swa swarmed halls but delayed breaching that classroom where an 18-year-old gunman was "hunting and shooting" children. students calling 911, begging for help. >> please hurry, there's a lot of dead bodies. >> reporter: court documents saying "after being advised that a child or children were injured in a class," arredondo "failed to respond as trained to an active shooter incident." >> people are going to ask why we're taking so long. >> reporter: also charged tonight, former officer adrian gonzales, one of the first inside the school. >> there were failures of cops. >> reporter: uvalde families, including the parents of 10-year-old tess mata, still haunted by those police failures. >> i just want them every day to remember tess' name. i want them to look at her face every single day and realize what they didn't do was protect my daughter. they didn't protect her friends and her two teachers. i want them to live with that for the rest of their lives. >> reporter: whit, pete arredondo's attorney declined to comment on these charges, but i just heard from adrian gonzalez's attorney who tells me his client's position was he did not violate school district policy or state law, and the use of this application is actually unprecedented in the state of texas. whit? >> whit: still so heartbreaking to hear from those pham families. mireya villarreal for us, thank you. next tonight, former trump adviser steve bannon must report to jail on monday. that's after losing an emergency appeal to the supreme court. bannon is due to serve four months on his contempt of congress conviction for refusing to cooperate with the january 6th investigation. today, the supreme court refused to take up his appeal. tune into "this week" on sunday morning. steve bannon speaks with abc's jon karl in an extended interview. we we come back, the southwest jet taking off from a closed runway. the faa now investigating. news tonight about boeing's troubled starliner spacecraft. what we're now learning about the delay in its return home. and they can show off clearer skin and less itch with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, that helps heal your child's skin from within. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your child's eczema specialist about dupixent. this charmin ultra soft smooth tear is soooo soft and soo smooth. charmin ultra soft smooth tear has wavy perforations that tear so much better for a smooth more enjoyable go. charmin, enjoy the go. you are bountiful. your skeleton can support two times your weight. it's in your nature to stand strong. supplement your bones with high-absorption magnesium. nature's bounty. it's in your nature. when dry eye symptoms keep... coming... back... inflammation might be to blame. over-the-counter eye drops can provide temporary relief. xiidra can provide lasting relief. it targets inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. xiidra? 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"america strong." at mary e. baker elementary school in brock ton, massachusetts, south of boston, they are cheering for their p.e. teacher, mrs. kathleen lizenski. mrs. l, as they call her, has taught at baker elementary for 25 years. devoted to her students for decades, mrs. l retired this year to care for her husband gene, who is battling cancer. she was right there by his side when he died just weeks ago. and her school was there for her. this is mrs. l in a white stretch limousine. she had joked over the years she wanted to retire in tistyle, an her school made it happen. the limo picking mrs. l up and driving her to school. >> oh my god. >> reporter: her daughter nicole recording the whole thing. >> oh, i love you guys! >> reporter: her students lining the way. >> mrs. l! >> reporter: 700 in all waving good-bye. mrs. l waving back. high-fiving and hugging her students as they chanted "mrs. l." >> mrs. l, mrs. l, mrs. l! >> reporter: tonight, this celebrated teacher filled with gratitude and thinking of her husband. >> if my husband, gene, were alive, he would say, congratulations, kathleen, you did it. and give me a big kiss. >> reporter: mrs. l and her message to her students. >> what i would like my students to take away with them is, be kind to others and be a good sport. >> whit: some advice we could all get behind. thanks so much for watching tonight. i'm whit johnson. ha i think the right thing to do. the practical thing to do is to give people options. you don't solve homelessness by simply making it illegal. >> that is. san jose mayor matt mehan, one of the local leaders, responding to today's supreme court ruling that clears the way for cities to enforce bans on unhoused people who are sleeping outdoors. good afternoon. thanks for joining us. i'm larry beil, and i'm kristen sze. >> the high court's decision is the most significant ruling on the issue in decades and comes as a rising number of people in the u.s. are without a permanent place to live. >> this case centered around an outdoor sleeping ban in grants pass, oregon. in a63 decision along ideological lines, the justices found that such bans do not violate the eighth amendment. reaction from state and local leaders has been mixed. >> governor gavin newsom issued a statement saying this decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities. >> another city that's been grappling with the issue san francisco. abc seven news reporter suzanne phan joining us now with reaction from leaders on both sides of this debate. suzanne. >> so, larry, kristin, some san francisco city leaders and concerned residents say this is a step in the right direction when it comes to tackling the homelessness crisis. the mayor says this gives the city the ability to take more aggressive action to keep streets clean and clear. >> as a result of this decision, we