costello. thank you for joining me. the donald trump campaign momentum stalls, frustration builds. just as national polls show hillary clinton recapturing the lead, where hearing inside accounts of growing divisions and plunging moral. trump is said to blame. the republican nominee responded earlier this morning. tweeting this, quote, there is great unity in my campaign, perhaps greater than ever before. but insiders say trump's tendency to become distracted and go off message is a big problem. magnified against prominent republican, and against the parents of a muslim u.s. soldier. here is what our sources tell john king. campaign chair, paul manafort is telling trump he must keep his promise to stay focused on the issues, and rnc boss reince priebus has talked to trump several times. one major flash point. trump ignoring senior staffers, and refusing to drop the fight against those gold star parents, the kahns. one aide said to us, he keeps snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. we have a lot to cover, again, this morning. let's begin with manu raju. good morning, manu. >> reporter: good morning, carol. remember, two weeks ago, republicans had left their nominating convention and insists they were more united than ever. but since then, we have seen controversy after controversy. and distraction after distraction. prompting another round of tension and hand ringing over the republican nominee. so all that unity that was projected in cleveland, just simply seemed to be papering over long festering tensions. >> i don't regret anything. i said nice things about the son. >> republican leaders and donald trump's own campaign staff, frustrated with their candidate. sources tell cnn even trump's campaign manager, paul manafort, is upset with trump. the tipping points, trump openly challenging the parents of slain muslim soldier, captain humayun kahn. >> this person is not fit for the office he is seeking. >> trump refusing to drop his fight with the gold star family. despite the urging of senior staff. failing to stay on message, and attacking hillary clinton. >> i was hit very hard from the stage, and you know, it is just one of those things. but no, i don't regret anything. >> this, as trump refuses to endorse house speaker paul ryan. in his republican primary. telling the "washington post," i'm just not quite there yet. i'm not quite there yet. >> trump thumbing his nose as ryan's delayed decision to endorse him back in may. >> i'm just not ready to do that at this point. i'm not there right now. >> trump also declining to back former gop nominee, arizona senator john mccain. who is in a tough reelection battle. i've always felt he should have done a much better job for the vets. trump's tension with mccain has been brewing, ever since trump criticized the war hero for being captured in vietnam. mccain telling me back in may he wants trump to apologize to pows. >> when he said i don't like people who were captured, then there is a great -- a body of american heros that i would like to see him retract that statement. >> the avalanche of trump's controversial statements, prompting several republicans to break from their party and back hillary clinton. president obama, using the weight of the office to slam trump, at a news conference with the foreign leader at the white house. >> republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. >> and blasting republicans for standing by their nominee. >> if you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him? this isn't a situation where you have an episodic gaff. this is daily. and weekly, where they are distancing themselves from statements he is making. >> trump, firing back. >> he is a terrible president. he'll probably go down as the worst president in the history of our country. he has been a total disaster. >> now, earlier this morning, trump did tweet that there is great unity inside his campaign, but really, the refusal to endorse paul ryan has prompted a lot of turmoil internally. actually, a source colors to rnc chairman reince priebus tells our colleague, dana bash, that mr. priebus was incredibly upset with donald trump for refusing to endorse paul ryan, given how close reince priebus is with paul ryan. they both are from wisconsin, long time friends. and also, somehow and senate republicans tell us that they believe trump is simply acting vindictive. so such remarks they believe will make it harder to stop more republicans from defecting and refusing to support trump this fall. carol. >> all right, manu raju, reporting live this morning. many republicans are in agony over the candidacy, some are going to vote for clinton in november. hewlett pack card chief, meg whitman, former chris christie aide, bush administrations. so i want to bring in trump surrogate and arkansas attorney general, leslie rutledge. welcome back, leslie. >> good morning. >> you told npr before you spoke at the republic national convention that republicans are extraordinarily unified. that the dysfunction within the republican party is dissipating quickly. in light of what we just reported, how can that possibly be true? >> republicans remain unified behind donald trump because we know that donald trump will put americans back to work. americans care about having jobs and having -- >> we just talked about all of this dis unity within your party. >> well, no, what we should be talking about is look at the dis unity at the democratic national convention in philadelphia. why is no one talking about that. why is no one talking about bernie sanders supporters walking out of that convention. why are the media not asking about that. >> i'm asking you about the dis unity within your own party and these prominent republicans saying they're going to vote for hillary clinton. as far as i know, no powerful democratic will vote for donald trump. let's stick to the issues at hand and talk about unity within your party. >> republicans and independents across the board supporting donald trump, because they know donald trump will put americans back to work. and that hillary clinton is the most corrupt politician. the supreme court matters. the issues at manned, whehand. hillary clinton worked for the american people when she lied and kept the e-mail server in her basement and ask someone who hillary clinton worked for, i would fire her too. i'm not going to hire hillary clinton. neither should the american people. >> okay, going back to donald trump and paul ryan and john mccain, if there is unity within the party, why doesn't donald trump throw his support behind those powerful republicans? >> donald trump is running a campaign to defeat hillary clinton. paul ryan is running a campaign. senator mccain -- >> they're both in primary fights right now. why isn't republican nominee helping them? >> the republican nominee is focused on defeating hillary clinton, because that is the fight that donald trump is engaged in. that's what he is focused on, being president of the united states. speaker ryan will win. he is a strong speaker. senator mccain will win. donald trump is focused on defeating hillary clinton. the most corrupt person that has ever run. >> many republicans say donald trump is not focused on defeating hillary clinton. he is letting all these side issues, like his fight with the chaired donald trump's convention. what will never having -- what is having done that, and not only is trump refused to -- it is really just incredible, and all of this is predictable. >> so, so nia, some are actually asking whether mr. trump is serious about winning. is he? >> well, he is certainly serious about winning in his own mind, and in his own way. he believes that he won the primary against all odds, against all of the predictions of reporters and pundits and folks who talk on television. so he is applying that same strategy to the general election. he believes he has realigned all of the usual political lines and party loyalties and essentially he doesn't need the party to win. because he didn't need the party to win in that primary fight. he doesn't believe he needs a huge infrastructure. he can certainly win by going on twitter, doing a lot of interviews, and that proved to be right in the primary, of course, the general election is very different. traditionally, you need massive infrastructure in swing states. you need the backing of the establishment and a party and you need to grow whatever your base of support is by pivoting toward the center. he is doing none of those things. but he has his own way of going about this, and there isn't any surprise that he is sticking to that script. that he believes got him where he is. >> so larry, there are all sorts of rumors out there. i mean, some within the republican party think that donald trump, i mean, they're thinking that he may drop out. there is no evidence that he will, or anything like that. but this is what -- this is what sources are telling cnn. the source says they believe if trump were to drop out before september 1st, they would be able to replace him on enough state ballots to mathematically get to 270. i wanted to get your take on that. that seems an impossibility. >> i think it is a pipe dream. look, i certainly can't get inside donald trump's head. but i can simply tell you this. that is ridiculous. that scenario is ridiculous. if anybody thinks they can put together a winning campaign at the last minute, given everything that has happened, given the near destruction of the republican party's unity in many respects, this fiction that's being promoted by some of the trump representatives, like the attorney general of arkansas that you just had on, suggesting that somehow republicans are unified, everywhere i go, i encounter nothing but dis-unity. bernie sanders is a pale shadow of what is going on inside the republican party. this is the story of 2016. the dis illusion of the republican party. i don't know if they can come back together after it's over. >> so nia, i want to get into one other thing that leslie said during that rather contentious interview. she said that the media, it is the media's fault. it is dis-unity within the republican party, we're exaggerating that and not -- i know larry touched on it a little bit, but we're not concentrating dis-unity in the democratic party, because there were more firings at the d inc. put it into perspective. >> again, it is their strategy. blame the immediate yeamedia. it is donald trump versus everybody. donald trump versus the media. donald trump versus paul ryan, sort of a remix of the m & m song. we're going to continue to see from this campaign, it is fueled his standing, again, in the primary. it is not working so far in the general. if you look at these polls, and again, we'll see where they end up a few weeks from now, but he really is bleeding support among independents, who have swung now towards hillary clinton's camp. we've seen high profile republicans do the same thing. he is also not doing very well among college educated white voters. he has a lot of repair work to do so far there isn't any indication that he is intent on doing that. and people in his circle obviously continue to be frustrated. they have been frustrated for some time now. and we'll see what that boils over into over these next couple of days. but he is certainly in the middle of a really bad stretch, and we'll see if he can turn it around. i don't think so. i don't think there will be any presidential pivot. if we're going to base on what he has been doing in the past, he doesn't seem to have it in him. again, he believes this is a winning strategy for him. >> all right, i have to leave it there. larry, nia, thank you to both of you. don't forget, anderson cooper moderates a town hall with the libertarian ticket, 9:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. still to come in the "newsroom," the u.s. election playing out on the world stage. want to wretch. get between you and life's dobeautiful moments.llergens flonase gives you more complete allergy relief. most allergy pills only control one inflammatory substance. flonase controls 6. and six is greater than one. flonase changes everything. ♪ seconds can mean the difference between life and death. for partners in health, time is life. we have 18,000 people around the world. the microsoft cloud helps our entire staff stay connected and work together in real time to help those that need it. the ability to collaborate changes how we work. what we do together changes how we live. they give awards for spelling but everyone knows cheese.s. cracker barrel has won awards for their delicious cheddar and they put that cheddar in a new macaroni & cheese. can you spell delicious? delicious. d. e. l... dubai airport. hours ago, an emirates plane. the plane flipped over, sending black smoke into the air. incredibly, though, all 275 people on board were able to get out safely. in a statement, the ceo of emirates say they don't know what happened and an investigation is underway. the state department pushing back this morning against a report that a $400 million payment to iran was made in exchange for four american hostages. the "wall street journal" is reporting the money was loaded on to a cargo plane and secretly given to them in january. the payment was completely separate from hostage talks. donald trump is doubling down on his support for russian president vladimir putin. reaffirming his support for warmer russia relations. this is what he said on fox news. >> wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if we got along with russia and worked out some kind of a deal where we go and knock the hell out of isis. wouldn't than wonderful, as opposed to fighting. >> trump's candidacy has alarmed some world leaders. not only his rhetoric on russia, but the attacks on the kahn family. the french president, france way hollande did not miss words, saying trump makes him want to retch. this is his direct quote. it makes me want to retch. should the american people choose trump, there will be consequences, because it is a global election. let's talk about this with cnn military analyst, retired lieutenant general, mark kirkling and clarissa ward. >> good morning. >> clarissa, the u.s. is a global election. what does the french president mean? >> i think a lot of americans often forget this, carol. it really is an important point. first of all, i should say for the french president to come out so forcefully like that is practically unprecedented. this is a big deal. it is a very important point that i think, assay i said, the world looks to the u.s. as essentially the leader of the free world. and so it is a huge concern to the rest of the world who the american president is. i think originally, when donald trump first appeared on the stage as a contender for the republican nomination, the rest of the world, you know, conversations that i've had with people in politics and laymen, the impression they had was this was a curiosity, sort of an american curiosity essentially, that people were disturbed by him on one level, but also intrigued by. now that we see donald trump as the official republican nominee for the president, there is a very real concern among many world leaders about what kind of a president he would be, what kind of a tone he would set. what kind of a free world in essentially he would envision. so you are to see a comment like that from the french president, france w francois hollande is indicative of that, but the entire world, in fact, carol. >> so general, when hollande says there will be consequences if trump is elected, what does he mean? >> i think he means a shake up of the world order and not in a good way, carol. just let me elaborate on what clarissa said if i may. i've spent a great deal overseas, both in europe and middle east and southwest asia. i've heard from many of my friends, members of government and militaries of foreign allies and partners and they are very concerned. as clarissa said, it was a curiosity at first. now there is out right fear. this is not the america they know. the america they know lives by values, tries to treat people well, welcomes people to their shore. they are not hearing that from mr. trump. and what i'm hearing from my friends and allies, they are very concerned, and you know, as mr. trump says, we need to be respected and feared throughout the world, truthfully, it is scaring most of the people of the world that he has gone as far as he has. >> so clarissa, you travel a lot. you go to war zones. what are the soldiers on the ground telling you? >> well, you know what's really interesting is with the number of isis fighters who i've actually talked to, they tend to be, and i'm being completely honest here, they tend to be some of mr. trump's biggest proponents, because in their mind, he plays into what they believe is the underlying reality in america, that america is somehow inherently aggressive or anti-islamic, and they believe if trump becomes president, that somehow we will see or the rest of the world will see the real side of america. now, obviously, that's -- you're talk about an incredibly small subsection minority. if you talk more broadly to people, i think the real concern that comes across is not that any one of his policies is necessarily ab hhorrentabhorrene didn't seem to be a principle behind them. they seem almost arbitrary or erratic. that's what is worrying so many people. the rest of the international community does not want from the u.s. is erratic behavior when it comes to dictating policies, or implementing policies that will have huge ramifications globally. >> one of the most powerful moments at the democratic national convention when john allen got up on stage and he absolutely she slammed trump. he went a step farther last night on wolf's show, saying if he was still on active duty, he would refuse orders from trump to water board or torture. listen. >> i have an obligation to the constitution of the united states, which i swore to defend with my very life, that's about the rule of law. it is about who we are as an american people. i would disobey that order if i were given the order to torture detainees in my possession or to attack the families of alleged terrorists and murder them as well. i would be forced to. i have no choice. >> so general, donald trump has called general allen a failed general because he wasn't able to defeat isis. so what is your take on all of this? >> well, first of all, i would say that general allen getting into the fray at the democratic national convention was in my view not the right thing to do. it politicizes the civilian military relations, and knows correct. what he said last night in terms of disobeying orders, i've said that many times myself. many months ago about mr. trump's orders to water board. the american military does not execute illegal, immoral or unethical orders. we have a conscious to abide by. if an order comes like that from a commander in chief. we have two requirements. number one is to try to talk him out of illegal orders, and if that doesn't work, our requirement is to resign. i think that's what general allen was talking about. as for him, not contributing to the fight against isis, i think general allen has proven his ability on the battle field ands had done extremely well not only in iraq but in afghanistan and i consider him a good friend and terrific military leader. >> i have to leave it there. general mark hertling and clarissa ward, i'll be right back. liberty. it means having the freedom to act as you choose-to pursue your goals, and live the life you envision. so i knew that i had a house. and that's all i knew. but, i didn't know how i could retire with just a house. we considered doing a regular refinance. we even considered selling. but, those things were not 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happy to recommend liberty to anyone who wants to get a reverse mortgage. get the facts about reverse mortgages: call today to request your free information kit. including a booklet and dvd, there's no obligation. we've been reporting about dis unity all morning long. our sources revealing that reince priebus, the rnc chair is incredibly upset with donald trump for refusing to endorse the house speaker, paul ryan in his primary race in wisconsin. dana bash has more insider information to share with us now. dana, what can you tell us? >> well, just as you said. the republican party chair, reince priebus, is upset and not just because he is the chair of this party. and paul ryan is the speaker of the house. and he feels that as the -- one of the heads of the party now, donald trump should be, you know, supporting fellow leaders. it is not just that. it is very personal. for those who may not know, reince priebus is from wisconsin. he is good friends with paul ryan. he even ran paul ryan's -- excuse me. he chaired his first congressional race. it was described to me, paul ryan is like family. so he is taking this personally. he has made that clear to people insidehe trump campaign. and you know, as sources described to me, reince priebus feels like he has taken on a lot of water to be there for donald trump. even as a lot of people within the republican party were not so sure this is the right thing to do. reince priebus has said look, he was elected by the vast majority of republican voters, and now he just feels like donald trump, it is a personal front to him, that trump has not decided to endorse paul ryan. again, because for reince priebus, it is not just as a party chair. it is personal. >> so there are all sorts of rumors out there, dana. one rumor that we keep hearing is donald trump may drop out of the race. is that true? >> well, we have no reporting to suggest that's true. what i can tell you, carol, there is a lot of speculation as to what donald trump is trying to do, if anything. basically people trying to crawl into his brain and his decision-making process or his actions, meaning this. people are having a lot of discussions within the republican party about whether when donald trump talks about the system being rigged, whether the fact that he is even stepped up his attacks on the media, whether that is all a way to lay the groundwork for saying i'm not being treated fairly, i'm out of here, before the election, or whether he is laying the groundwork for the scenario of him potentially losing the election in november, and laying the blame elsewhere. it is unclear if either of those are true, or none of them is true. but i can tell you is there is a lot of discussion of high levels of the republican party trying to figure out if either of those is actually something that's going on inside donald trump's brain right now. >> all right, dana bash, thank you for digging for us this morning. i'll be right back. beyond has a natural 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lot of this is about cooperation. there was another man inside the home who mrs. were trying to serve a warrant on him. exited the home peacefully and taken into custody without incident. that's when the stand -- when the stand off occurred is when she refused to leave the house. you can see her 5-year-old son was in there with her. a lot of the things people are talking about is there were parts posted to instagram where the 5-year-old is heard talking to his mother. she says what are they trying to do. and he says they trying to kill us. now, it's -- the boy hesitates when he answers. he is talking softly. it is hard to hear. you can see we've blurred his face. so that's why we're not -- we're not playing the sound. but you know, there is a lot of different facets to the story. clearly, she did not cooperate with police. there were shots that were fired first by police, then she fired back at them. she had been threatening them. shots were exchanged between the both, the police are continuing to investigate this morning, but the really interesting thing here, how police have now begun to request that these facebook lives come down so it doesn't compromise their negotiations, carol. >> all right, sarah ganim. i want to bring in tom fuentes. this hostage situation is ongoing and the woman and 5-year-old, it was her son, she is attempting to stream this whole episode on facebook, live and in real time. she even interviews her 5-year-old during the situation what do you make of this. >> the worst thing about this, carol, is the police are actually trying to save her life. they're trying to take her into custody, peacefully, which would then guarantee the survival of the son as well in the room with her. they even bring her parents to the scene to try to talk her into complying, and sure rend renderirendeand surrendering. she said she'll kill them and she is pointing a shotgun out the door. in the meantime, because she is streaming live, people are encouraging her to not comply. encouraging her to resist the arrest, and interestingly, the warrant that they were trying to serve included the charge of resisting arrest on a prior occasion. so she is being encouraged by people and followers of her facebook to not comply with the police. and this goes on for seven or eight hours. what exactly causes the shots to be fired, we're not exactly sure but the mere fact originally when she pointed the gun out the door at a police officer trying to serve a warrant, they had the right to take her life right then and there. i think the hesitation was if they saw the child, no to the have gunfire in the situation that would endanger the child. >> well, here is something that might surprise some people. gaines is the suspect in question, the woman who was killed her facebook was de-activated. some might say that's actually not a good thing, because, you know, everybody has a right to film anything, and she had a right to live stream what was happening on facebook. so everybody would know exactly what happened. >> well, the problem with that is that she is then being told to not comply with the police. so there is an obstruction there, which is actually going to affect her life, whether she likes it or not. and that's the situation they're faced in. they don't want that streamed out any more if it is causing people to be on her side or take the wrong side in this case, which is noncompliance, which is ultimately going to cost her her life if she continues it, or if she gets encouraged to actually shoot at the police. we don't know who shoot first or what. but you know, it is not going to end well. the other person that had -- they had a warrant for, he complies, he is arrested, alive today. the 1-year-old he was carrying is alive today. but gaines chose to not comply to resist and to point a shotgun at police officers, and threatened to kill them if they attempted to serve the warrant. now, in that situation, if you have a barricaded subject, you can put teargas into the room, gas her out or something, but because she had the little boy and they knew it, that complicated everything. essentially, she is holding her son hostage. is there a second party in the apartment that has nothing do with this, and could get harmed in the operation. that causes them to delay, to try to negotiate, to talk her into surrendering. they're trying to talk her into surrendering, and the people on facebook are talking her into not surrendering and not complying. >> tom, thank you for your insight. i'll be right back. the number of locally spread zika cases in south florida hits 15. this morning, state health officials are spraying a ten-mile area near miami in an effort to contain the virus. adding to local cases in florida alone 336 others have zika because of travel. 55 people are pregnant, they're women. that's included within those cases. despite this, new polling finds only 23% of americans worry they or someone in their family could become infected. those u.s. fears coming as disease detectives in brazil zero in on the epidemic. more now from dr. sanjay gupta. >> when trying to solve a medical mystery, it helps to start at the beginning. and that is why anna, this adorable little girl with the eyeglasses and the too small head may be so important. at ten months old, she is the first, the first known child to be born with micro cephaly here in brazil near the epicenter of the epidemic. every day, her head circumference is measured. it's a frightening new ritual for thousands of parents all over brazil. their hope, that their child's head will suddenly start to grow. but why anna, why brazil and why has the northeastern coast of this country been hit so terribly hard. >> perfect setup for an epidemic. >> reporter: for the past two years, neurologist has walked the slums of salvador searching for clues. in many ways, this has been an epicenter. why is it so bad in northeast brazil? >> the socioeconomic conditions are worse in this part of the country and they're more closely packed dem graphically so they have less access to case, sanitary conditions. >> and the nutrition is poor as well which he believes could be a factor in the micro cephaly. it is a zika paradise. the disease spreads quickly here. with terrible consequences. as bad as conditions are, look down there. when it rains all the way goes down into the valley. of course that means more mosquitoes. any of you guys have zika? everyone knows about zika here. no surprise that as hard as we looked we saw lots and lots of kids but not a single pregnant woman. this boy tells me his aunt is pregnant but she stays inside all day using repellent. did you pray? this woman was lucky. her baby is fine. >> she prayed to god so the mosquitoes wouldn't bite her and not affect the children. >> many of the unlucky children never make it to the clinic set up to help those with micro cephaly. their parents ashamed to be out in public with them. never receiving the type of therapy these children are getting to stimulate their growth. this is julia. notice her eyes. in addition to the problems with her gaze, she also has significant sensitivity to the light and clearly diminished vision. a clue as to where the infection is most likely to strike. >> you see the brain severely distorted. >> peering deep inside her brain, the doctor looks for clues. the hope, that what they learn here will help similar babies being born throughout the americas. >> i think with stipulation that these children are getting from the group, we see actually better outcomes than we expect from look at the scans. >> that's a good grip. they're getting all sorts of clues here, carol. we know a lot about zika. we know what is happening in florida. we know it's not likely to spread widely or quickly in the united states. that's obvious now. some of those clues came from brazil. we also know people who are younger when they get pregnant, people who get the infection earlier in their pregnancy, tend to be more affected. again, common knowledge for people who have been following the story. but those clues came from those slum-like areas here in brazil. >> all right, dr. gupta reporting live, thank you. still to come in the "newsroom," the deadly dangers of distracted driving. is phone addiction to blame? (alert from the mom's phone.) everyone loves the picture i posted of you. at&t reminds you it can wait. most people will admit texting while driving is bad, yet an alarming number of people still do it. one psychiatrist argues our phones have power over us, an addiction that most people behind the wheel are unaware of. more now from kelly wallace. >> i got in my car and thought, i'm going to drive distracted and hit somebody day. that's not what i was out to do. >> reporter: looking at that text would cause her to crash into a tractor here in rural iowa, taking the life of a 75-year-old man. >> the reason why she answered that ping is because she felt co compulsed or felt a compulsion to answer it. >> reporter: this doctor says most of us would probably have done the same thing and looked at that text. >> i think that conservatively 60% of people are probably doing it with some frequency. what does that mean? that means that it's just russian roulette. that some of those people are going to have accidents. some of those people are going to be killed. some of those people are going to kill or hurt somebody else. so is that a huge problem. i think it is. do i think it's a public health issue. yes, i do. >> reporter: our smart phones are affected our brains without us even knowing it. when we hear the ping of an incoming text, social media update or e-mail, our brains get a hit of dopamine, a chemical that leads to an increase in arousal, energizing the reward circuitry in our brains. >> the dopamine reward centers are the same centers that have to do with pleasure from eating, pleasure from sex and procreation, pleasure from drugs and alcohol. this reward circuitry is old as time, and if we didn't have it, we probably wouldn't exist as a species. >> reporter: when our brains get that hit of dopamine, something else also happens. it overrides access to the part of the brain that controls reasoning and judgment. the part of the brain that would say is this text or is this social media update worth killing someone, you don't have access to judgment and you make dangerous decisions. >> every time my phone dings, i want, i mean, i want to look at it, compelled. >> it's like the cocktail party effect. it's rude if i'm talking to you. if someone taps you on the shoulder, i can't help but turn around. the same with the phone ping, you can't help but check it out. >> an important topic, thank you. kelly's special "driving while distracted" airs saturday afternoon, 2:30 eastern, only on cnn. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts now. happening now in the "newsroom," disarray. >> donald trump lurching from one controversy to another. >> this person is not fit for the office he's seeking. >> trump's top aides concerns he's off message. >> donald trump has been the ultimate disrupter in this political campaign but now he's moving into the area of self-sabotage. >> i think my whole life has been about handling pressure. i know how to win. >> how does he get back on track? let's talk live in the "cnn newsroom." good morning, i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. donald trump facing new fury today. it comes from the very top of his own party. it comes just hours after trump refused to endorse two party leaders, house speaker paul ryan and senator john mccain. today, we're learning rnc chair reince priebus is furious, especially at the snub of ryan, the top republican in congress and a close personal friend. dana bash broke the story, broke the priebus story. she joins us now to tell us more. good morning, dana. >> good morning, carol, and that's right, it's one thing according to the source close to reince priebus for donald trump to, you know, lash out at various republican figures even at priebus himself in the past, but the feeling inside the rnc, specifically reince priebus, is this was a bridge too far. when i say this, it was donald trump actively declining in an interview with "the washington post" yesterday to endorse house speaker paul ryan in his republican primary for his congressional district which takes place next week. as you said, the reason is multilayered but most importantly that it's really, really personal for reince priebus. paul ryan and reince priebus are both from wisconsin. they grew up together in politics. priebus was the chairman of paul ryan's very first race for congress. and i'm told that he just feels that after all that priebus has tried to do to try to maintain as much of the calm within the party and try to kind of push things along and help donald trump, that this was, again, a bridge too far, too much for him to take, and he's expressed his frustration and disappointment to the trump campaign about trump's refusal to endorse ryan. >> the other thing hanging out there this morning, we all know because donald trump has said so that he hates to lose. there's some speculation donald trump may drop out of the race. is that real? >> who knows. i think the answer to that right now is no, it is not real. however, i was just talking to an official from the republican national committee who on his own is working on the what ifs. because this official told me that he believes donald trump is so mercurial, you know, who knows, maybe by him talking more and more in the past few days about the system being rigged, attacking the media more than before, perhaps he is laying the groundwork to withdraw from the race. so what this official who i talked to said he is doing is trying to figure out what the rules are if that happens, with the republican nationally committee rules to replace a vacancy. now, this is a lot of what ifs, a lot of speculation, and we'd have to underscore really firmly this is not based on any hard reporting that donald trump is considering doing this at all. this is just republican officials seeing what's going on, getting more and more worried about the unpredictability of the race and of the candidate at the top of their ticket and just trying to prepare, kind of do their due diligence to prepare the what if scenario. >> all right, dana bash, thanks for your fine reporting. let's break this all down with our panel. do douglas brinkley. cnn political commentator and donald trump supporter kayleigh macanaly. kayleigh, i want to jump right into this, you know, the speculation that donald trump may drop out of the race, and here's why people kind of think that's possible. remember when donald trump said this, listen. >> if i don't beat crooked hillary clinton, she is as crooked as the three dollar bill. if i don't beat crooked hillary clinton, i will consider this a tremendous waste of time, energy and money. >> so kayleigh the polls came out and of course hillary clinton got that bounce after her convention. is it possible that donald trump could drop out? >> no, it's not possible. that seems like a far-fetched conspiracy theory. when you look at national polls, he's trailing hillary clinton, degs spite this bounce, just trailing her by 5 points. so there's that. and you look at state by state. he's within striking distance in pennsylvania and michigan in state polls. it's absurd to suggest donald trump will drop out. voters put him there and he respects the voters who put him there. i think this is the never trump movement floating rumors. >> so robert, dana bash said this came from a source of hers who is a republican. but democrats may be out there floating it too because it would be kind of a delicious rumor for them. >> look, i'll bet my money on dana bash's sources more than republican sources. so i would -- i think obviously it's something people have to be speculating on. i think it's telling about the state of the republican party. it wasn't the fact donald trump attacked a gold star family that was the tipping point. it wasn't the fact that donald trump offended veterans and prisoners of wars and demeanoed people who were disabled and women. what finally moved the needle for republicans was the idea that now he's actually criticizing paul ryan and attacking paul ryan. it speaks to me about how politically and morally bankrupt the republican party has become. and they've cowered in front of donald trump despite all of the obscene and hateful and racist rhetoric. but now, because it's the internal politics of paul ryan, you see the republicans saying let's rethink this. this says a lot about what the republican party is about. >> i want kayleigh to respond to robert. >> with paul ryan, i respect him. i think donald trump respects him. who donald trump respects more than paul ryan are the voters. and forever we have seep republican voters be side lined for the interest of the establishment. we saw when trump got to 1237 which we were told is the rule and the effort to change the rules. we saw when he became the nominee with more votes than any other nominee in republican history. paul ryan refused to endorse him and not only that undermined him every step of the way. that is a tremendous act of disrespect to the voters who make up this party. without republican voters, the republican party does not exist, and it's fine in paul ryan wants to differ from the nominee -- >> without independent voters, no candidate is going to be a credible candidate for president. donald trump succeeded in a republican party where 44% think the president is a secret muslim. donald trump won't even recognize that president obama is an american citizen. so it says to me -- it tells you a great deal about just how bankrupt donald trump is ethically and morally and how extreme the republican party has become. that's real here. >> i think that's insulting to half of americans who profess conservative values -- >> it's not about conservative values, it's about the -- >> okay, so i'm going to stop this argument for just a second because i do want douglas to come in. he's a presidential historian. as you sit back, you know, i've asked you this before, douglas, as you sit back and watch this election unfold, this is unprecedented in american presidential history, isn't it? >> well, look, donald trump is going to be the republican nominee. i mean, he is going to be running in the fall, we're going to be watching him debate hillary clinton. he's not quitting. he's not going anywhere. so i think this rumor is something from the "anybody but trump" movement, and it has no value. yes, we've never had a candidate who seems to want to be so unhinged as donald trump, if you want to call it speak his mind or speak his gut. but there seems not to be a filter there. often when we think of somebody who's president, we think of them being a diplomat and having to do with world affairs and having to kind of filter their thoughts often and donald trump's refusing to do that. in that way, he's an incendiary kind of revolutionary figure. it's not about paul ryan. it's about making a brand-new republican party based on economic populism. if trump's able to win in november, it will be almost a revolution that occurred in america. he wouldn't mind me saying that. >> i want to get into, kayleigh, donald trump, he keeps saying "the election might be rigged, the election is rigged." he says judges in wisconsin, texas, north carolina and texas who threw out restrictive voter i.d. laws would lead to widespread voter fraud. does he have evidence of that? >> cbs just reported, i believe it was a few months ago, that there are hundreds of dead people on the rolls to vote in los angeles. i mean this happens every single election. elections that can come down to a few hundred votes as we saw in florida with gore and bush. this is really important. not only that, we've seen democratic institutions who are purportedly unbiased like the democratic national committee, come out and not be nonpartisan. in fact, was advocating for a personal candidate and using another candidate's religion, bernie sanders, to try to malign him. that's completely wrong. when you start to question democratic institutions, i think trump has every right to put the spotlight on this election to make sure it is fair and it is free. >> just to clarify because in my mind facts do matter, the 2014 study by justin levet at the loyola law school in los angeles found 41 cases of voter fraud in 14 years. so, just follow up, why keep pounding this, voter fraud has never been a big problem in the united states. >> it has been a problem. >> it hasn't. >> it has happened across the united states. has it tipped an election? no, probably not. can it tip an election? yes it certainly can. definitely in an age where you don't have to have a piece of identification in order to vote, basically anyone can show up and vote -- >> go ahead, robert. >> kayleigh's response is typical of the trump campaign and ultimately demeans our entire democratic process because she's living in a fact-free world void of fact, documentation or any intelligent analysis. the result of that is we have world leaders who look at the trump candidacy and wonder about the state of our country when he's advocating dismantling nato. or other countries like saudi arabia getting nuclear weapons. or, in fact, in our own country, we have this -- >> robert, kayleigh does have a point about the dnc, right, because more people have been fired over those leaked e-mails and what was going on -- right? so that's not a good thing. >> it's a terrible thing and they should have been fired. here's the point, carol, there's no evidence that's come forward, even remotely. even bernie sanders has not said the materials come forward showed the election was rigged or, in fact, he would have won were it not for these e-mails. so it's important to put this in the proper perspective. i just want to add, i'm such an admirer of doug brinkley. makes the point about -- >> i was just going to ask that, as a capper to this discussion to put everything into perspective for us, will we make it to november intact, douglas? >> yes, donald trump's going to be there on the ballot and people are going to vote for him, not vote for him. i think the key thing to focus on is voter registration. can hillary clinton get some enthusiasm with young people in, say, a state like ohio, young people at ohio state or kent state, bowling green, oberlin, can there be a massive voter registration drive for young people with hillary clinton? right now, it's tepid. they're not that excited. sanders people might stay home. i do think you're going to see the libertarian and green party get some voters this cycle because people are sick of both the democratic nominee and the republican. meeting ross perot got 19% back in 1992. i wouldn't be surprised if you see third-party candidates getting 10%, 7%, maybe up to 15%. so that could be a factor in the fall. where those voters come from that are voting third party. >> all right, douglas brinkley, robert zimmerman, kayleigh, thanks. calls to dump trump get louder. why some lawmakers are getting a backlash for supporting the republican nominee. she spent summer binge-watching. soon, she'll be binge-studying. now she writes mostly in emoji. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. today, the only spanish words he knows are burrito and enchilada. soon, he'll take notes en espanol. get back to great with the right gear. from the place with the experts. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. donald trump: i could stand in the middle of 5th avenue i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters, okay? and you can tell them to go f--- themselves! you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever... you gotta see this guy. ahh, i don't know what i said, ahh. 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(vo) get nfl sunday ticket - only on directv. and watch live games anywhere. did you know people can save over $500 when they switch to progressive? did you brush your hair today? yes, mom. why? hmm. no reason. donald trump gives the cold shoulder to senator john mccain while his running make mike pence huddles with the senator. pens says he and mccain shared a very friendly meeting. after mccain issued a scathing statement about trump and his ongoing feud with the gold star family the khans. in it, mccain accuses trump of disdaining the fallen soldier's father. that's why mccain was grilled at a town hall this week on why he's still backing trump. >> i support the nominee of the party and, i tell you what, when -- any time from now on when that question is asked, if i change my mind, i'll let you know. >> what would you say to the families of service men and women -- >> i already -- that's what i said in my statement. that's exactly what i -- that's exactly what i said in my statement. did you not read my statement? did you not? then that's my position. >> i talked to several veterans today and they're wondering, you know, they were very upset about this -- >> i was upset about it too, that's why i made the statement that i did. >> -- kind of using this whole issue -- saying that you should push back and denounce mr. trump and his comments. i mean, he's saying -- he's using that against you, saying you are weak and you should do that and it's the right thing to do. >> i will leave that to the judgment of the voters. i've been called a lot of things. weak not one of them. >> all right, so let's talk about this. senior writer for the daily caller jamie weinstein with me, online editor for the weekly standard michael warren. and andre bauer, the former lieutenant governor of south carolina. welcome to all of you. andre, i'll start with you, donald trump says he can't support or can't endorse john mccain, why? >> well, you know, some parties -- some state parties have prohibitions. i don't know what the law is in arizona. but i'm not sure it's healthy in a republican primary for a presidential candidate to be endorsing. he doesn't want to alienate part of the republican party in that state. so it's probably in his best interest to stay out of that fight within the family. >> so it has nothing to do about unity, he just doesn't want to interfere in a local or state election? >> well, it's not unity across party lines, it's unity within a party. and so i don't know how you're unifying if you have another republican that may be a great individual. i don't know him. >> donald trump has said great things about nallon, is that different? >> well, he may like both candidates in the race. so to take a side, he's going to alienate part of his base within the republican party, so it's probably in his best interest to stay out of any republican party primaries while he's in this election. >> michael, does that make sense to you? >> no, i mean, the idea that donald trump is sort of observing some convention of political decorum by not getting involved in a republican primary is kind of ludicrous, given all the things he said over the last year and a half that have and tag nitzed fellow republicans. look, i think that both with refusing to endorse john mccain and refusing to endorse paul ryan. if you look at that "washington post" interview, he goes out of his way to make point. he's trying i think to antagonize. ultimately trying to send a message that, look, nobody in this party owns me, i have no loyalty to the party. that's kind of his prerogative. he doesn't have any reason to be loyal to the republican party except for the fact they gave him his nomination. the question is why do these others, who supported him that trump continues to denigrate or slough off, continues to support him as well. what are they getting out of it? >> jamie what are they getting out of it, if anything? >> well, i don't know, look, this is the reality. donald trump is not an expert in policy. what he is an expert in is stealing people's dignity. we saw that with chris christie when he endorsed him. now reportedly he fetches burgers for chris christie. now you get paul ryan and mccain who reluctantly get behind trump i think for constitutional and political reasons. what does trump do the first time they don't stand with him on an issue, in this case, not attacking the mother of a fallen veteran, he goes out there and takes their dignity even further by refusing to get behind them. you know, this is like a national dumpster fire. there is no protocol a presidential candidate doesn't get involved in a primary. george w. bush got involved in primaries he thought were important. of course donald trump you would think would get behind the speaker of the house. and john mccain, the sitting governor of arizona who have both endorsed him. you saw that video of mccain. that is a man who seems like donald trump has taken a piece of his dignity there. you know he doesn't want to stand behind donald trump but he almost seemed forced to. >> why doesn't john mccain say i unendorse donald trump? >> i think he feels he has to stand with trump in the republican primary. donald trump, remember, won the republican primary in arizona. john mccain is in a republican primary right now. he probably feels he has to do it for political reasons. i think he should be a maverick and unendorse donald trump. >> okay. so andre dana bash is reporting a source close to reince priebus is upset with donald trump for refusing to endorse the house speaker paul ryan. because reince priebus has been publicly supportive of donald trump. he's trying to unify his party. now donald trump comes out and says i'm not sure about paul ryan. is reince priebus right to be upset? >> i'm sorry to step over you, in a family fight, i'm not sure you're unifying the party. i ran for re-election as lieutenant governor and my governor in the same party endorsed my opponent. republicans are independent thinkers. they don't always sing kumbaya. these are fights within a family. and we'll prevail in the end. but a lot of times the leader of the party doesn't endorse the person -- >> didn't paul ryan, you know, to him it was a really difficult choice. whether to come out and support donald trump -- >> but he didn't endorse him in a primary. >> but he's supportive of donald trump now -- >> -- he didn't endorse him in the primary. well, he's supporting him now because he's the nominee. >> but he didn't have to. >> i'm sure paul ryan when he's the republican nominee -- >> carol, this is really interesting, this is sort of the way that trump and i think those around trump and who support trump view politics that it's all kind of tit-for-tat. i'll help you if you help me. scratch my back and i scratch yours. i think there's something that's quite revealing about trump's world view of politics. the real issue here is he's the leader of the republican party now and it's sort of the duty of a leader to help those who are supposed to be helping them. paul ryan is the speaker of the house. if he wins, the house remains in republican hands, he'll be the speaker in donald trump's presidency. it would be in donald trump's interest to have somebody -- >> i would argue what if his opponent wins? let's be very clear -- >> well, he's not going to be house speaker, i tell you that. >> donald trump is not staying out of this because he doesn't want to get involved in an interrepublican fight. he not getting involved behind paul ryan and john mccain because they criticized him and when someone criticizes donald trump, he can't stand that. so he is making a point saying unless you get behind me 100%, even stand with me when i'm criticizing the mother of a fallen u.s. soldier, you're not going to get my support. so that's what he's saying here. he's not trying to observe some protocol or trying to maintain unity within the republican party. he's giving back for being criticized. >> so andre, is it personal? >> i don't know it's personal or not but if i had somebody that i thought was not treating me fair, i'm not sure i would get involved to help that individual either. i'm speaking purely from andre bauer's behalf. again, these fights happen within the party all the time. there may be a lot of his core supporters supporting their opponents within a republican primary so why would you engage in that fight? i don't know there's an upside there. >> all right, i have to leave it there. thanks to all of you. all right, i have to get right now to breaking news out of the nation's capital. a d.c. transit cop has been arrested for allegedly trying to help isis. justice correspondent evan perez with more. take it away. >> this is the first u.s. police officer arrested and charged with supporting isis. this is arrest made this morning by the fbi after more than a year of investigation. his name is nicholas young and he worked for the washington metro police, the transit police here in washington. and according to the investigation, according to investigators, that he has been trying to provide material support, money, to isis overseas. according to the investigators. there's been no plot or no threat to the metro tan sit system here in washington. this is all focused overseas. this police officer, nicholas young, again, is his name, was apparently trying to send money to isis. again, this has been under investigation for over a year. and now he's been arrested early this morning. we expect him to appear before a federal judge in federal court in alexandria, virginia, this afternoon. >> do we know anything more about nicholas young? >> we just know that he is a police officer with the transit police. we're trying to get more background on him now. again this is the first time in the united states we've now had over 100 arrests of isis supporters in this country. it's the first time we found one that was an active -- a real police officer with the transit police here in washington. again we're trying to dig up more information about him and his background. >> okay, so i'll let you get to it. evan perez, thank you. still to compae in the "cnn newsroom," fueling frustrations. . see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance. do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur... ...tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms... ...such as fever, sweats, chills, 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free quote today at liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. good morning, i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. donald trump, the republican's nominee and standard bearer, now facing anger at the very top of his party. it's over his public refusal to endorse two gop leaders, house speaker paul ryan and senator john mccain. today, we're learning rnc chair reince priebus is furious, especially at the snub of ryan, the top republican in congress, and a close personal friend. cnn senior political reporter manu raju is here with more on this. good morning. >> good morning, carol. what has really irked republicans here in washington is not just trump's refusal to back paul ryan and john mccain, but how he outwardly criticized them during his interview with the "washington post." this is what trump had to say about ryan yesterday. he said, quote, i like paul. but these are horrible times for our country. we need very strong leadership. we need very, very strong leadership and i'm not quite there yet. and of course that sounds a lot like paul ryan talking about trump with our colleague jake tapper in may when he initially declined to endorse him when he said i'm not ready to do that at this point, i'm not there right now. now with john mccain, he was even tougher. mccain himself actually endorsed trump because he's the republican nominee. but trump sharpened his attacks on mccain in the aftermath, criticizing trump's comments about the khans, the gold star family who lost their son fighting in iraq. this is what trump had to say about mccain. he said, he has not done a good job for the vets and always felt he should have done a much better job for the vets. so i've always had a difficult time with john for that reason. now, mccain told me in an interview in may he would not appear alongside trump on the campaign trail unless trump retracted his criticisms of p.o.w.s, something that trump has not done so far. so far, carol, neither mccain, nor ryan, have retracted their endorsements of donald trump. as our colleague dana bash has been told, reince priebus has told donald trump in no uncertain terms he did not appreciate those comments about his close friend paul ryan, and it does not bode well for the party if they're not united heading into november, carol. >> manu raju, thank you. just last month, the rnc chair, reince priebus, had a positive tone, explaining to abc's george stephanopoulos that trump has plenty of room to grow. >> he knows the po s the pivot important, and i think he's going to do great moving forward. >> with me, inside politics contributor and white house correspondent with the associated press, cnn political commentator anna navarro and john avlon, editor and chief at the daily beast. julie, we're talking a lot about donald trump this morning because a lot of the things that have happened in the past couple of days are just plain unprecedented. so can you make sense of it for us? >> i wish that i could but i'm not sure anyone can right now. it feels like there's this endless cycle and we keep using these words like "extraordinary" to describe so many things he's done but i do think this idea that he is not able to support someone like paul ryan should really put his neck out there for donald trump, it is extraordinary. and it's unclear what that means for trump going forward. we're not seeing a rush among republicans to pull their endorsements from him. we're not seeing a rush to campaign for him or back his proposals. i think the idea that republicans came out of this convention as a united party has really been undermined by the last couple of days. >> is there any indication in your mind the republican party is unified in any way? >> no, of course not. i don't think this is a moment of mediating stathsis where people are figuring out how to keep their distance. this is a time of real panic because the republican party thought they could effectively channel donald trump's populist anger and turn it into a quasi responsible competitive general election candidate. guess what, donald trump's going to be donald trump. this is unprecedented in america but this is not unprecedented in a broader tablieu of politics. this is a dictator who the party seelizing they cannot appease. people with character need to company out and condemn it. >> anna, through all of this, we're not talking about hillary clinton and some of the trump supporters on air this morning have said that's wrong. but because what donald trump is doing is so unusual, it's hard not to talk about it. >> the reason we're not talking about hillary clinton is because we can't stop talking about this train wreck that is donald trump. what we are watching right now is the wheels coming off. listen, hillary clinton had a disastrous interview on fox on sunday. we should be talking about that. but the trump surrogate, mr. trump himself, have chosen to continue a fight with the gold star family and parents of captain khan. and that has put all my focus, all my outrage. i have no more outrage to give this week. i am so offended by the idea of an attack on the mother and father who buried their son because of service to country and sacrifice to country. i'm so outraged by the quite of trump surrogates comparing his failing marriages or the building of a building to the sacrifice of losing a child, the sacrifice of serving your country, that i really can't even focus on hillary clinton. yes, in the back of my mind, i know she had this horrific interview. i will tell you, i am seeing republican after republican. i get facebook messages. from friends of mine. people who have been in the trerjs. loyal republican soldiers for decades who have walked the walk, not just talked on tv, who actually have done the work for decades. i get e-mails and open -eds say they're leaving the party or not voting for trump. it's not panic. it's sadness. it's resignation. it's heart break. it's excruciating to be a republican and feel this party has been taken over. a person who does not represent the party of reagan. does not represent republican values. >> but still julie, i would say that trump does have a core group of very dedicated supporters. they don't like establish ed republicans, right. they don't care if he endorses mccain frankly. they like he's this firebrand kind of guy. >> absolutely. this is the broader question that republicans have to grapple with after this election. this split in the republican party isn't going to stop after the november election. there is a segment of the republican party that no longer feels like republican leadership in washington represents there interests on issues like trade, on issues like immigration. and so you do see republicans who are on the ballot in november feeling like they need to appeal to these trump supporters because they are part of the party but it's very unclear going forward whether trump wins or loses, whether the republican party as we know it can stick together, given how divided the voters are. >> carol -- >> go ahead. >> yeah, i mean, you know, just building on that, i think what's really develrelevant is primari. what people in congress are terrified of is they will be primaried by a small group of folks who are extreme. the issue now is becoming, though, for most folks, what kind of a drag can trump be on a general election ticket if you're in a sweeping state. that game of footsee is becoming topic. how it plays out will be fascinating. already last night we've seen something fascinating happen. a pro-gay marriage navy s.e.a.l. won the republican nomination for governor in missouri. tim hillcamp, a very conservative guy who challenged john boehner lost prize matter to a self-described moderate in kansas. the deep divisions in the republican party are real. there's a train wreck going on with donald trump. there's something positive going on among the center right in some of the states right now. >> all right, i have to leave it there. >> let me just say, john is right, that john mccain, paul ryan, you know, even kelly ayotte have tough elections. those are all swing states. as a friend of all three of them, thank god trump is not endorsing them. that means they don't owe him a thing. once this is over, they can be free of those chains that bind them. they can be free of trump. they can speak their mind. they can speak their conscience. so as far as i'm concerned, trump not endorsing paul ryan, not endorsing john mccain, attacking kelly ayotte, good for them. badge of honor. >> all right. i really have to go. julie, anna, john avlon, thanks. anderson cooper moderates a town hall with a libertarian ticket. tonight on cnn. still to come in the "newsroom," the olympics just a couple of days away. for one u.s. olympian, win, lose or draw, she will end up in the record books. her story next. and i quit smoking with i'm chantix. i decided to take chantix to shut everybody else up about me 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>> nightmare. i mean, tsa is a nightmare. i'm sure it's a nightmare for everyone. always randomly selected for a special search, always. >> reporter: always randomly? >> always randomly selected for, like, special screening. and when you travel as much as i do as an athlete, that can be frustrating. >> reporter: the correspondent political environment also frustrates muhammad, driving her to do something most olympic athletes usually avoid, talking politics. specifically she's taken on republican presidential nominee donald trump. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> reporter: starting with his call in december for a temporary ban on muslims entering the u.s. tweeting friends don't let friends like trump. i say the words donald trump and you say? >> i don't know what do you say. where do you start. >> reporter: you think he's dangerous? >> i think his words are very dangerous. when these types of comments are made, no one thinks about how they really affect people. i'm african-american. i don't have another home to go to. my family was born here. i was born here. we've, you know, i've grown up in jersey. all my family's from jersey. it's, like, well, where do we go. i'm hopeful in my efforts, you know, to represent our country well as an athlete that they change the rhetoric around, you know, how people think and perceive the muslim community. >> reporter: that's one of the reasons she was invited to the islamic center of baltimore this year for president obama's visit. >> i told her to bring home the gold. >> reporter: and much to her surprise, being different has now made her one of the celebrities of the u.s. olympic team. with a stream of profiles, photo shoots and lucrative endorsements. >> i'm solely focusing on, you know, just preparation. >> reporter: train, train, train? >> train, train, train, yeah. >> reporter: and, hopefully, gold. >> i always say that, you know, if i'm blessed to win a medal this summer that it will be icing on the cake. >> cnn's jamie gangel joins me now. she's impressive. >> she is very impressive. you know what, words do matter. when she walks down the street, people yell at her. sometimes people follow her. she's been scared. it's really rough. i think it's very nice though for young girls coming up. when she was growing up, there were no role models like her at the olympics. now there will be one. >> anushay hussein was on my show yesterday and she talked about the khan family being what is needed, does she feel the same? >> we reached out to her about the khan family and she doesn't want to comment on it now. she's getting ready to compete in just a couple of days. but from everything she said when we talked to her, i can't imagine that she wouldn't feel this way, and she felt, look, athletes do not like to go public and talk about politics at a time like this. so i think that by saying these things and doing these interviews, she's really hoping that whether it's her story or the khan family's story, that it will put a face to muslim-americans. >> thank you, jamie. i'll be right back. and i couldn't wait to get my pie chart. the most shocking result was that i'm 26% native american. i had no idea. just to know this is what i'm made of, this is where my ancestors came from. and i absolutely want to know more about my native american heritage. it's opened up a whole new world for me. discover the story only your dna can tell. order your kit now at ancestrydna.com. 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 insurance if you have to pay even more for using it? 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"at this hour" with berman and boulden right now. frustration inside the trump campaign. >> you can get the baby out of here. >> refusing to endorse house speaker paul ryan. >> he's not supporting senator john mccain. >> campaign stuffers, quote, feel like they're wasting their time. >> turn into something of a game of name calling. >> i' think the republican nominee sun fis unfit. >> -- release his transcripts or -- >> corey, in this answer -- >> no. >> boy, bye. hello, i'm kate bolduan. >> i'm john berman. i'm going to say something that will shock you. donald trump was on twitter this morning. he wrote, there is great unity in my campaign, perhaps greater than before. because, you know, nothing says unity like the republican nominee. not endorsing the highest ranking republican in the country. nothing says unity like republicans telling cnn that trump campaign staffers are increasingly frustrated with the candidate they're working for. with unity like that, who needs muz