This is the cbs evening news with norah odonnell, reporting from the nations capital. Odonnell good evening, and thank you for joining us. Were going to begin tonight with breaking news on that bombshell federal indictment against steve bannon, President Trumps former chief white house strategist, who was once described as the president s ideological soulmate. Well, tonight, bannon is out on a 5 million bond after pleading not guilty to charges that he used a charity designed to bolster one of President Trumps signature policy goals to line his own pockets. Federal agents arrested bannon aboard this 152foot luxury yacht earlier today after prosecutors filed a damning indictment, accusing him, along with three other associates, of sealing more than 1 million from a Fundraising Campaign designed to build a portion of President Trumps Mexican Border wall. Well, tonight, the president is distancing himself from the former architect of his 2016 campaign, saying he hasnt dealt with bannon for a long time. Well, the explosive charges come at a major moment in this years campaign, just hours before joe biden will take the stage on the final night of the Democratic National convention to accept his partys nomination for president. Sources say biden will use hiscs handling of the coronavirus and the economy, but to layis vision for how hed handle the twin crises now affecting our country. There is a lot of new reporting to get to tonight, and we have a team of correspondents standing by to cover it all cbs ben tracy is going to lead off our coverage tonight at the white house. Good evening, ben. Reporter noragood evening. The president is trying to distance himself from bannon and the wall project saying he never supported it and he was not involved but the president does have close tie ties to those whu were. Law enforcement sources tell cbs ws sannon was rested onaris called th the lady may. Bannon apparently was a frequent visitor on the 28 billion boat. Bannon was President Trumps former campaign c. E. O. And chief strategist in the white house, someone he often praised. I like mr. Bannon. Hes a friend of mine. Reporter prosecutors say bannon ripped off donors who gave to an Online Fundraising effort called we ilthe support of one of the president s chief policy goals. But prosecutors say bannon and three other defendants orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors. Ban on is accused of taking more than 1 million himself. Prosecutors say the groups founder, brian kolfage, a triple amputee veteran, took more than 350,000 innns afterrsould not take a penny of compensatin. Kolfage told cbs David Begnaud last year that his operation was clean. If we were doing anything wrong, gofundme would shut this down in a heartbeat. Reporter prosecutors say tens of thousands of dollars were paid to kolfage through his wife who flaunted their extravagant lifestyle on social media, cosmetic surgery, a luxury s. U. V. And a brand new boat. He once railed against the washington swamp on 60 minutes. The swamp is a business model. Reporter but hes now the sixth close associate of ost of the people in this room know. Reporter today, President Trump distanced himself from bannon and the border project. I was not involved in the project. I have no idea who was. Reporter but several of the president s key supporters were on the groups aboard. Eric prince, the brother oftrum, betsy devoss. Former milwaukee sheriff david clarke, and kris kobach. And his own son, donald trump jr. , helped raise funds for the wall project last year. This is private enterprise at its finest. Reporter in another legal setback for President Trump today, a federal judge has ruled that he must turn over tax documents to the manhattan district attorney. Now, the president s lawyers say they will once again appeal that ruling, which means those documents likely wont be made public before the election. Norah. Odonnell ben tracy at the white house. Thank you. Tonight, were getting a sense of what joe biden plans to say when he acche democratic nomination for president without the traditional big crowds at the partys virtual convention. Senior advisers tell us bidens focus will be the battle for the soul of america. Heres cbs ed okeefe. Reporter on the biggest night of joe bidens political life, there wousan of cheering democrats celebrating his nomination because of the pandemic. But hell take the mantle in his home town of wilming torn the highlight of his near50year quest for the white house. His acceptance speech will look ahead, rather than back, at President Trumps tenure, outlining what he would do as president to beat back the pandemic and rebuild the economy. Hell be joined by his family, some by video, including son hunter, who has been the focus of g. O. P. Attacks. And hell get a boft from long range. N. B. A. Great stef curry will endorse his candidacy. Running mate Kamala Harris acceptance speech included frank remarks about the pandemic and racism. This virus, it has no eyes. And, yet, it knows exactly how we see each other and how we treat each other. And lets be clear there is no vaccine for racism. Reporter the sharpest attacks on President Trump came from barack obama inaise scathing assessment of his successor, unlike any delivered by a former president. For close to four years now, he has shown no interest in putting in the work, no interest in finding common ground, no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves. Reporter the president tweeted his rage as mr. Obama spoke, and today, he laid into biden on a visit to pennsylvania, just 15 minutes jen is a pult hat seeks to destroy the american way of life. Reporter but today, more than 70 National Security officials from the reagan, bush, and trump administrations turned their backs on the g. O. P. And endorsed biden, saying that mr. Trump has demonstrated that hes dangerously unfit to serve another term. Norah. Odonnell ed okeefe from wilmington. Thank you. And this programming note cbs news live coverage of the, 0 ag. Tonight, ther there is breakings in california. Deadly wildfires are raging through the northern part of the state. More than 100 homes are destroyed, and some 50,000 more are threatened. And tonight, the state is asking other states to please send help. Heres cbs carter evans. Reporter tonight, 21 California Wildfires are threatening comty ity,undreds of thousandseen be ready to leave. In the mountains above santa cruz, 20,000 were ordered to evacuated last night. There, firetornadoes ravaged scores of home. There are people that are unaccounted for. Reporter much of the greater San Francisco area now haas the worst air quality in the world. This smoke is thick, and the wind is blowing it acrossefights try to extinguish the flames. From nais, nasa shs most of california, nevada, and Southern Idaho covered with sickening smoke. As flames approached zach galvins neighborhood, police had more bad news. Nobody is going to be on that i sonsno fire department, noll. Hiked up the hill behind his home and started cutting a fire break by themselves. Good job, guys. Reporter they worked through the night and the flames worked right up to their fire break. All i can say is we did this, we stopped this. Reporter well, the flames brned this home to the ground. Its one of many in this area. Firefighters still dont have a complete count. There is some goo thino come down a bit. Its 15 degrees cooler today than yesterday. Norah. Odonnell that sliver of good news. Carter evans, thank you. And now to the coronavirus pandemic, and new evidence of its toll on the economy. More than 1. 1 million americans sinceach to nearly 57. 5benefitst million. Also tonight, colleges and universities in at least 17 newd cases. Heres cbs mola lenghi. Reporter deifying covid guidelines, large maskless parties last night at pen state university. Oh, my god. Reporter and at syracuse, that university responding to these videos, saying, the students who qatherred on the quadlast night may have done damage enough to shut down campus. Today, North Carolina staannoun. Undergrads are now being sent home. Cases of covid are now on College Campuses in at least 17 states. As an alarming study published today in the journal of pediatrics, children up to age 22 are much more likely to be silent spreaders than briefly believed. And infected children had significantly higher levels of the virus than even Adults Hospitalized in i. C. U. S. This as schools across the country face challenges about reopening. In detroit, teachers protesting going back to the classroom and threatening to strike if forced to return. Resistance from teachers in arizona. They know its not safe for my kids to be in class. I trust them with my kids life. Reporter now, new york city, the nations Largest School district, is preparing to u open a school, you start to see covid cases rise. I dont want to see people catch covid before we say, oh, that was a bad idea. Reporter well, potentially adding insult to injury, thousands of new york city educators are facing layoffs due to city and state budget cuts. Fallout from the struggling economy. Citywide, more than 20,000 jeopardy, thanks to theurrently pandemic. Norah. Odonnell mola, thank you. Joining us now is Professor Joseph allen from harvards khan school of public health. His team wrote a playbook on how to safely own schools. Professor, thank you so much. In our backtoschool series, we have talked to teachers, bus drivers, custodians, all concerned about safety. How do we get our children back in the the classroom. Yes, thanks for having me on. And i understand that anxiety. Im a parent of three kids myself. I undd this iallyt. It cant ss usualy bak en control, and when aggressive riskreduction strategies are in place within the four walls of the school. Odonnell so lets talk about, then, those ways to mitigate risk. Number one, should mask wearing be mandatory for everybody in the school . Without a question. Even masks that imperfect. Lets say its 50 efficiency, well it goes through my mask first, and then it goes through your mask first, 50 and 50 will give you a 75 reduction. All of these other strapt geez matter but the one that drives down risk the most is universal mask wearing. Odonnell one of the things you focused on is healthy what can schools d to make sur e that arec tk of airborne transmission. You bring in more outdoor air to dilute whats in the classroom. The other is you want to clean the air through filters. Odonnell but youre talking about thuz intricate air filtration systems, ultraviolet lights. Can schools afford that. I think theres a bit of a misnowhere that the healthy building strategies have to be expensive. Even something as simple as opening the windows and creating a crossflow. Any air thats recirculated has to go through a highefficiency filter. Its that simple. Odonnell lori from new york city asks, what should we look for as a warning sign that our school isnt prepared to open. You should be getting communication from your school right now about what strategies are in place. My harvard healthy buildingsteor parent and teachers. 20 questions every parent should ask observer you send your kid back to school. Hopefully everyone is wearing a mask. They muck wearing a mask. The things that is harder to evaluate is Something Like ventilation air cleaning. Its invisible. Whats going to be cheer is the schools are going to have to communicate effective what strategies are in place, and if theyre not communicating it, its on us as parents to ask those hard questions and get answers to them. Odonnell professor josalle. I appreciate it. Od rnial figveig. This began when the state switched flints water supply to the flint river but did not treat it adequately. Michigan is proposing a 600 million settlement with most of that money going to children. Lead exposure in children is linked to brain damage. Tonight, this incredible story. The most Prominent RussianOpposition Leader is in a coma or a ventilator. Y lami to faim poisoning. And there may be a connection to the growing protests in neighboring belarus. Heres cbs chris livesay. Reporter the voice of russias opposition silenced and on life support after drinking a cup of poisoned. Alexei navalny became desperately ill aboard a flight forced to make an emergency landing. Groaning can be heard in this unconfirmed cell phone video. Navalny has gained widespread support as an anticorruption advocate. Vladimir putin, notorious for allegedly using radioactive nerve agents to target double agents, defectors and others who fall afoul of the kremlin. Navalny once warned the odds of him winding up dead were high, speaking to cbs news in 2017. Willbeiller her killed i neighboring belarus, where president Alexander Lukashenko recently accused navalny of protests against Police Brutality and recent elections widely seen as rigged by a longtime ally of vladimir putin. Chris livesay, cbs news, minsk. Odonnell and there is still much more news ahead on tonights cbs evening news. Dr. Anthony fauci temporaly sile by surgery. Ent alth you wans Infectious Disease expert. And double trouble. Were tracking two developing tropical storms. Will they strike florida, louisiana, and texas . With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin, and, had significantly less itch. Dont use if youre allergic to dupixent. Serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. Tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. If you take asthma medicines, dont change or stop them without talking to your doctor. 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Odonnell tonight, dr. Anthony fauci is at home recovering from surgery today on his vocl chord. The inactions top Infectious Disease expert, now 79 years old, had a polyp removed and has been advised by his doctors to limit his speaking while his voikal chords recover. According to the cleveland clinician vocal word legions are usually benign and fauci saidhea nit ople in florida, louisiana, and texas are nervously tracking two potential tropical storms. The first is expected to strengthen into possibly a hurricane. The second may impact parts of Central America and mexico before potentially targeting the u. S. Gulf coast next week. Tonight, new body cam footage is sparking charges of Police Racism toward a prominent black sports executive. The video shows a sheriffsng ts pridensaujiri as h weam afterint year. Now, the deputy claimed ujiri punched him and has sued. Tonight, ujiri is countersuing saying he is saddened by the ordeal and will continue to fight for racial justice. 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Im Catherine Herridge in washington. Thanks for staying with us this morning. Facebook, twitter, youtube and tiktok have all taken steps to rezrikt content from believers on an on line conspiracy called qanon. They hope to limit the violent rhetoric on its platform. Qanon pro note theory that theres sex traffickers inside the u. S. Government. The president says hes glad to have support from voters who share those ideas and some of them may soon be in congress. Nancy cordes reports. Reporter hes warned that conspiracy theories like qanon could fuel a rise in domestic terrorism and yet some believers may soon be serving in congress, and President Trump had nothing but praise yesterday for people who adhere to these disturbing claims. Ive heard these are people that love our country. Reporter much was asked point blank wednesday does he believe in qanon, the socalled prophecy that claims he is secretly hupting down thousands of satanic deep state pedophiles and cap balances. Is that supposed to be a bad from ob wil t dodhing . S not the first time President Trump has leptd credence to a fringe theory. This one first emerged on the website forchan. The idea was that this anonymous poster, who people refer to as q was giving secret clues about becoming, quote, great awakening. Reporter Political Science professor joe studies conspiracy theories. Its almost an incitement to violence. There isnt anything worse you can say about your political competitors than that they are satanic, sex traffickers who molest and eat children. Reporter this sounds like something out of a bad scifi movie. It has a lot of floorts make it more like a cult. Reporter qanon signs are seen. Some are seeking office with them. I stand with president President Trump. Thank you anones. Reporter this Senate Hopeful in oregon is one of