missed the contents of what's been revealed? >> cnn's last reporting is that top u.s. intelligence officials are confident russia is behind those hacks. i am brooke baldwin here in new york, thank you so much for being with me. we'll send it to washington right now. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. right now hillary clinton must be thinking thanks, obama. "the lead" starts right now. donald trump's running mate, mike pence, facing bipartisan criticism today for refusing to use the word "deplorable." it's a word hillary clinton used to describe millions of trump voters, but he would not touch it. as hillary clinton takes a sick day today, president obama stepping up, rallying an enthusiastic crowd, but it's one in a traditionally very blue state. why start there? plus, show of force. the u.s. bringing out the big guns in a warning to kim jong un after what could be north korea's most powerful nuke test yet. what is is the next move?

♪ good afternoon, everyone. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. in eight weeks americans go to the polls to elect a new president of the united states. eight weeks! president obama today appearing in philadelphia, in battleground state pennsylvania, to make the case for hillary clinton, one that the recuperating former secretary of state was not able to make for herself on the stump today. >> do you mind if i just vent for a second? [ cheers and applause ] >> you know. you know, the -- you don't grade the presidency on a curve. this is serious business. and when we see folks talking about transparency -- you want to debate transparency? you've got one candidate in this

race who has released decades worth of her tax returns. the other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all. you want to debate who is more fit to be our president? one candidate who has travelled to more countries than any secretary of state ever has, has more qualifications than pretty much anyone who has ever run for this job, and the other who isn't fit in any way, shape or form to represent this country abroad and be its commander in chief. >> for his part mr. trump was in clive, iowa, at the same time with plans to head to pennsylvania to put forward what his campaign calls a plan to get worker moms six weeks of paid leave. vice presidential nominee mike pence was on capitol hill

earlier where one senator mike lee cautioned the indiana govern to call the racism of trump supporters such as david duke or others on the so-called alt-right. pence had refusing to indulge in what he called name calling. pence did say the republican ticket does not want david duke's support. >> right. he has said that repeatedly. look, at the end of the day, jake, you know this is a road that the trump campaign does not want to go down again. you remember how much criticism took after the interview he did with you months ago when critics said he wasn't quick enough to disavow david duke's support. at the time he blamed it on not understanding the question on a faulty earpiece. at this point, at the stage in this game, they want the folks to be on hillary clinton and that "deplorable" comment that she made. that was part of the focus at his rally here today.

donald trump is not letting hillary clinton off the hook for her basket of deplorables remark. >> while my opponent slanders you as deplorable, i call you hard-working american patriots who love your country and want a better future for all of our people. >> the gop nominee continuing to hammer his democratic rival for these comments on friday. >> you could put half of trump's supporters into what i call the basket of deplorables. right? the racists, sexists, homophobic, xenophobic. islamaphobic. you name it. >> these are not deplorable people. that i can tell you. >> trump bringing supporters on stage at his event in asheville, north carolina, monday night to drive his point home. clinton has said she regrets using the term "half" but she

and her campaign are not backing down from calling out what they see as racist and intolerant comments expressed by trump and his supporters, among them former kkk grand wizard david duke. gop vice presidential nominee mike pence on monday refused to call duke deplorable in an interview with cnn's wolf blitzer. >> we don't want his support or the support of people who think like him. >> you would call him a deplorable? >> no. i am not in the name-calling business, wolf. >> a comment welcomed by wolf who said it's good to see an individual like pence and others start to reject this absolute controlled media. pence passed up another opportunity to label duke as deplorable on capitol hill today. but he reiterated that he and trump have disavowed duke's support. >> my colleagues in the house of representatives know that i believe that civility is

essential in a vibe rant democracy. >> tim kaine blasting pence for his comments. >> if you stand silent around it you are enabling it to grow. >> the clinton campaign hammering the point with a new tv ad featuring past comments from trump. >> they're losers. losers, losers. disgusting, stupid. you can't lead this nation if you have such a low opinion for its citizens. >> but trump says it's clinton's campaign that's a campaign of hate. >> hillary clinton has been running a hate-filled and negative campaign with no policy, no solutions, and no new ideas. >> and, jake, tonight the focus for trump will be on policy when he delivers a speech in pennsylvania. he will be unveiling his child care affordability plan. he told the crowd here in iowa

that his daughter, ivanka, who actually helped to develop this plan, really pushed for the plan. jake. >> all right. jason carroll in iowa. thank you so much. joining me now a national spokesperson for the trump campaign katrina pearson. thank you for coming on today. we appreciate it. >> great to be here. thank you. >> you heard what governor pence said last night on cnn and what he said today about using the word "deplorable," and david duke, who i think by any objective measure believes horrific, deplorable, racist, anti-semitic things. the campaign said they do not want his support or the support of people who think like him. why not call him deplorable? the critics say that not doing so makes it look as though the trump campaign is trying to not offend white sue prpremacists a nationalists. >> donald trump has denounced david duke on a number of occasions. on the exact first day the word

came out that he was supporting mr. trump. i believe cnn asked the question at the press conference and he shut it down immediately. the only reason david duke even has a platform is because cnn keeps talking about it. let me agree with something tim kaine said in that package there about if you ignore something it grows and gets worse. that's exactly right. that's exactly why we have isis today. for hillary clinton to call half of the people of this country deplorable, that's absolutely disqualifying her. it wasn't half of trump's supporters. she actually went after all of trump's supporters by saying half are those terrible names racist and sexist. she has essentially called out 100% of trump's supporters. but i will say this is typical of the elite politicians. and if you don't agree with them somehow you're a deplorable person and that's what hillary clinton thinks of half of america. >> she said she shouldn't have

said half but said there is a basket of deplorables that support trumps. pence's interview last night earned praise from white supremacists. david duke said it's good to see pence start to reject this absolute controlled media. the daily stormer, a neo naug s naughtsi website said trump chose a solid guy to back him up. doesn't it make you unable -- uncomfortable to hear praise from people like that? >> no. what is awful is when the father of a terrorist supports the nominee for the president of the united states. people who want to control immigration are labeled racists and bigots. people who -- i know hillary

clinton and a lot of her friends don't live on aa border state ad don't have to live with the impact of immigration like many of us do. to insult them based on insinuation is absurd. we can say look at people supporting hillary clinton. burning american flags. defacing public property. >> no one has called people who don't want isis to move into their neighborhood islamaphobic. that has never happened in the history of the world? >> that is absolutely what they are talking about. if you speak out against -- >> no. people call people who hate muslims islamaphobic. but people don't say that about people who don't want isis to move in. according to his office republican senator mike lee today spoke with pence and told him, quote, republicans must identify david duke's racism as

deplorable. and lee encouraged the campaign to be explicit in its denunsiation of the alt right movement. senator mike lee. a conservative. red republican. he thinks your candidates and your campaign are not doing enough to condemn these racist views. is mike lee wrong? >> he is also a never-trumper who has never had anything nice to say about mr. trump. really, this entire interview and all of these interviews based around this one word "deplorable" is because the trump campaign will not use hillary clinton's terminology. that's what we're talking about here. the campaign has disavowed, the campaign mr. trump as well as mike pence said we do not like the support or want the support of individuals like this but we can't control them. >> then don't use the word deplorable. breck out the thesaurus. is david duke vile? >> absolutely. that's exactly why the campaign wants nothing to do with him. we have said that a number of

times on a number of networks. and the only reason why david duke gets play is because the media keeps him out there, no the trump campaign. >> katrina pearson. thank you so much, appreciate your time. >> great to be here. with soaring approval ratings president obama hits the campaign trail for hillary clinton laughing off trump as a reality tv candidate who will do nothing for working class americans. if it's so funny how come obama is in a state that hasn't voted a republican for president since 1988. that story next. if you're searching other travel sites to find a better price...

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humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist. this is humira at work. he's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. sage. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. he's not a serious adult. i can't vote for donald trump given the things that he said. trump should not be supported. i believe he's disqualified himself to be president. i just cannot support donald trump.

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wait - where's tina? doing the hand thing? yep! we are all in for our customers. ally. do it right. welcome back to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. staying with politics. hillary clinton, her campaign says, is feeling better as she recovers from pneumonia. today a rather high-profile supporter campaigned on her behalf. president obama. with 56 days until the election, is hillary clinton potentially losing ground by being off the campaign trail? cnn's senior washington correspondent joe johns skwoijoe now. when is the next time we're expected to see the democratic nominee? >> no word yet.

we do know she was supposed to be in california today and nevada tomorrow and that bill clinton is stepping in for her at those events. but while she took the day off today, her old boss, president obama, made a solo appearance on the campaign's behalf today with an enthusiastic speech in philadelphia. >> president obama giving hillary clinton's presidential bid a lift tonight, as the democratic nominee recuperates from a bout of pneumonia. >> can i just say, i am really into electing hillary clinton. [ cheers and applause ] >> this is not me going through the motions here. i really, really, really want to elect hillary clinton. >> clinton tells cnn she had hoped to be able to avoid taking a break from her campaign schedule. >> like a lot of people, i just thought i could keep going forward and power through it, and obviously that didn't work out so well. >> but the decision to wait to disclose her illness until after video surfaced of her stumbling

while leaving a 9/11 ceremony sunday is raising new questions about clinton's lack of transparency. >> i just didn't think it was going to be that big of a deal. >> that as they say trump isn't being held to the same standard. >> compare everything you know about me with my opponent. i think it's time he met the same level of disclosure that i have for years. >> trump's campaign manager. kellyanne conway, suggesting today that candidates should be entitled to privacy when it comes to health records. >> i don't know why we need such extensive medical reporting when we all have a right to privacy. >> it seemed to suggest medical privacy doesn't apply to clinton in this case. >> the question remains, if this is about transparency and medical records and health conditions, then why -- why did she -- why was she so feurtherie in the business of concealing.

>> president obama calling out trump on another matter. tax returns. >> you want to debate transparency? you have one candidate in this race who has released decades' worth of her tax returns. the other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all. >> trump's campaign deflecting questions about trump's refusal to release his tax returns and also failing to provide specifics in terms of his charitable giving after running mate mike pence told cnn monday that trump had given away tens of millions of dollars. >> part of the reason we want to know is so that we know how much he himself has given to charity. will you or the campaign release exactly what that number is? the reason i ask -- why do you doubt it? >> this is like badgering. i don't see it as journalism. i see it as badgering. >> the takeaway is that both of these candidates have major transparency issues, but at the

moment health is the big issue. the clinton campaign says additional medical records on the candidate will be coming out this week. and donald trump reportedly will discuss his medical records on the dr. oz show on thursday. >> joe johns. thank you so much. the u.s. answers with a sonic boom or two after north korea claims it conducted another nuclear test. how will kim jong un respond to american bombers in the air? stay with us. i've from nature's bounty to support my heart. eating better, keeping healthy. so that no matter what happens in the future,

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♪ >> texas governor rick perry on "dancing with the stars," one year and one day before the former texas governor suspended his second campaign for president. last night he and his partner performed a texas-themed cha-cha. and on that note i am joined by our political panel. david chalian and rebecca burke. i'm not going to ask you to weigh in on governor perry's whatever you call that. david, let me ask you, president obama, in philly today, in pennsylvania. pennsylvania, a state that has not voted for a republican for president since 1988. does the fact that he went to pennsylvania suggest that that state is in play? >> well, it definitely suggests that. there is no doubt about it. also, where he went specifically in philadelphia is with a task at hand because there are certain parts of the obama coalition that right now hillary clinton is underperforming with in a lot of battle ground state

polls. specifically with latinos and young people. so going to a minority heavy community like philadelphia where it also has a lot of young people, he is there to actually turn out the coalition. but more broadly to pennsylvania and your point, i think pennsylvania may end up being one of the keys to this election. donald trump's path, as we've talked about, it is narrow. it's a tough climb to get -- >> he has to run the table really. >> he does. pennsylvania is a trigger for him. if he can't make an inroad there and actually convert that state, his ability to get to 270 becomes much more complicated. he has to put like seven other really competitive states on his side. pennsylvania, if he can woo it to his side, opens up a path to 270. >> i agree it's key. he is going there this evening to present his plan for paid maternity leave. rebecca, i wonder, other republicans in the past, everyone always talks about going after pennsylvania the same way democrats always talk about missouri. and at the end of the day,

three, four weeks out i think he means it. mr. trump i think will be campaigning there until the very end. >> the reason he is doing fairly well in pennsylvania and maybe better than we would expect is because, as you know, the white working class -- there is a higher proportion than in other states. that's why trump is doing well in iowa which obama won by five points in 2012. because he was able to win over the white working class in a way hillary clinton is not. donald trump is completely consolidating this demographic. in states with a higher proportion of white working class, a lower proportion of college-educated voters, he has a really good chance. with the new message he is looking to bring new voters in his fold. suburban white women. with the paid maternity push. it's not a conventional republican position. it's one some of trump's supporters in the past like laura ingram and sean hannity have mocked. >> it's a democrat position, basically to have six weeks paid

maternity leave for moms. david, let me ask you, the attempt to go around the collar of philadelphia and winning over the moms. when mike pence refuses to use the word "deplorable" to talk about david duke and it comes in the context of a lot of rather deplorable people being very vocal trump supporters, not a majority, not half, but a lot of them. and i just wondered, does that hurt that attempt to go into the collar, to go into montgomery county and the other suburbs outside philly and to other women? >> it's why we see -- you know, when donald trump was out courting the african-american vote, going -- you remember he went to michigan, he went to other places. even though he was talking to largely white crowds initially before the detroit trip, he was talking about his wooing of the african-american vote and how well he thought -- we talked

then, it wasn't about just trying to dig into hillary clinton's enormous advantage with african-americans. part of that was to appeal to white suburbanites as a more tolerant person than they think he is. that he is willing to do the outreach. that was a critical component of what he was doing. when mike pence doesn't want to use the word "deplorable" and won't use that and say david duke is deplorable and the clinton campaign makes hay of that, the first place that will be felt is in these suburban areas. then all of a sudden people who may be on the fence, if they think the trump/pence campaign is tolerant of this hatred, it becomes a huge turnoff. >> you don't want to use the same word as hillary clinton. why not just say it's disgusting, racist, i hate it, i don't want to have anything to do it. we've seen this donald trump retweeting white supremacists,

people with the name "white genocide" in their handle. explain to me what you think is going on. >> it's a little confusing because mike pence will go out there and say we don't want his support, we don't want the support of people who think the way that david duke thinks. but then going one step further to say deplorable is a line he won't cross. part of this calculation, i think, is that they recognize their core supporters are comprised, in part, by these alt-right people, but people who have these white nationalist views. and they don't want to turn off any core supporters in the last 55 days of this election. but i think it's also just an admission by the trump campaign that this is not turf that's favorable to them. they want to move the conversation in a different direction. that's why i am really interested by this tactic, focusing on the basket of deplorables comment. because trump seems to think that this is a good -- it's a good piece of turf for him, that he can energize his supporters,

say hillary clinton was insulting you, get them riled up a little bit. but at the same time, then the conversation is, how many of trump's supporters are in the basket of deplorables? >> it's not half. is it a third, a quarter? >> as you said, they have disavowed david duke. donald trump has done it on multiple occasions. your interview with him back in february, it was, i guess, was the kickoff of that no doubt. but they have disavowed it as you've said. they say we are not interested in the supporters. i think it's a pure political. they want the word "deplorable" to be completely owned by hillary clinton now because of her mistake. >> tune into cnn tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern for "almost president, the agony of defeat." they were in charge of hillary clinton's private e-mail servers

and now they are not saying a word to congress. one didn't even bother showing up on capitol hill today. that story next.

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. welcome back to "the lead." two witnesses today, members of the i.t. crew that helped to run former secretary of state hillary clinton's private e-mail server lined up in front of a congressional hearing and invoked their right to remain silent. the technician who actually set up the server, he ignored the subpoena and skipped out on today's hearing. joining me general eric snyderman. he has endorsed hillary clinton and raised money for her campaign. i know you want to talk about trump university.

we'll get to that. i want to ask you. several people involved in setting up and maintaining the clinton's server, e-mails sent to the firms. platte river networks, asking to reduce the number of her e-mails that would back up. that act led a platte river imploeee to speculate this whole thing is covering up some shady blank. as an investigator, would you not be alarmed, intrigued, want to investigate further e-mails such as those? >> i suppose so. it's hard to say taken out of context. i am not really familiar with the full exchange. i think this has gotten a tremendous amount of scrutiny and will continue to get scrutiny. i'm not sure it amounts to much. i'm not sure what actual counter-terrori criminal statutes will be at issue. some attorneys take cautious

approaches. >> david axelrod yesterday criticized hillary clinton for her penchant for privacy. he called it stealth. do you think it would be better for this candidate you support, hillary clinton, to embrace the kind of transparency that you are always talking about? >> i think that the degree to which you can be transparent, it's always better to be. that's why there is the concern that mr. trump won't release his tax returns. if you look at the relative transparency, i think mrs. clinton has disclosed a lot more than mr. trump. but certainly more transparency is always a good thing. >> let's talk about the topic you came here to talk about this afternoon. democrats on the judiciary committee called on loretta lynch to investigate donald trump's $25,000 contribution to a political group backing the florida attorney general pam bondi. democrats say the contribution may have influenced her decision not to join new york state's lawsuit against trump

university. do you think that should be pursued or is money in politics just a regular occurrence? >> i won't speculate on the motives of another attorney general for investigating or not investigating. i made a determination and sued trump university and mr. trump in august 2013 because, as set forth in great detail in the papers we filed with the court, he -- trump university was a scheme to fleece thousands of people all over america out of millions of dollars, including a lot of people in florida. i am the only state actor so far to sue trump university. so attorney general bondi is not alone. but we -- my interest in the -- this issue really is in my capacity as regulator of non-profits in new york state. we've been concerned that the trump foundation has engaged in impropriety in that way.

we've been looking into the trump foundation to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in new york. >> were you surprised when florida didn't join the lawsuit? >> i can't say i was surprised because neither has anybody else. you know, this is one where mr. trump has a class action -- two class-actions pending against him, private parties represented by class-action attorneys in california, but the only law enforcement officer to pursue him is me. it was purported to be a new york university, and we do have pretty strict rules about what you have to do to be a university in new york state. the new york state department of education was after trump university, telling them to stop calling themselves a university. so there were additional problems they had with new york that they didn't have in other states. >> when you started the lawsuit it didn't cross your mind that donald trump would be the next president of the united states or at least the republican nominee. knowing what you know about your

lawsuit against trump university, what do you make of that? >> i would have -- i found it -- would have found it incredible in august of 2013, if i had come on your show and told you he was going to be the republican nominee you probably would have never invited me back. seemed far-fetched then. i did get a preview of some of the tactics we've seen from mr. trump. he set up a website to attack me. put out preemptive hits in different newspapers to discredit my lawsuit before i even filed it. filed his own suit against me for $100 million. filed phony ethics complaints against me. i had to hire a lawyer to defend me in front of the ethics panel. all this stuff has been dismissed and discredited and my lawsuit is proceeding. but before there was little marco and lying ted. it was me as the malcolm mcdowell character in the clockwork orange.

so there was clockwork eric before any of these other crazy nicknames. north korea conducting its fifth and possibly most powerful nuclear test. now the united states is responding with its own show of battle-tested military might. state republicans firing back at the ncaa over a decision to withdraw from north carolina over the state's controversial bathroom law. why they say the athletic organization's move is an assault on female athletes. s stay with us. let me introduce you to our broker. how much does he charge? i don't know. okay. uh, do you get your fees back if you're not happy? (dad laughs) wow, you're laughing. that's not the way the world works. well, the world's changing. are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management, at charles schwab.

i know more about isis then the apprgenerals do. age. john mccain, a war hero. he's not a war hero, he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured ok. donald trump compared his sacrifices to the sacrifices of two parents who lost their son in war. how would you answer that father? what sacrifice have you made for your country? i think i've made a lot of sacrifices, built great structures. i've had tremendous success, i think... those are sacrifices? and you're talking to youro doctor about your medication...

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ly . welcome back to "the lead." turning to the world lead. all right. north korea. you have the pentagon's attention. b-1 bombers flying over south korea in a show of force days after north korea's fifth and possibly most powerful nuclear weapons test. a development that could hugely increase the danger for u.s. allies in u.s. territory. elise labott brings us the developments. >> super sonic b-1 bombers fly over south korea escorted by south korean fighter jets. they skirted close to the demilitarized zone with the north. a dramatic show of force and

solidarity after kim jong un's latest nuclear test. as a top u.s. enjoy arrived in seoul to offer assurance to a nervous ally. >> let me be clear. our commitment to our allies is absolute. >> the north korean peninsula is at a fever pitch after north korea's fifth and most powerful nuclear test. kim jong un declared a, quote, quasi state of war. his propaganda machine warned public anger was exploding like a volcano over the latest display of u.s. air power, threatening a, quote, flood of reckless nuclear attacks. next door in south korea, the president ordered her military to annihilate kim's regime if he fired a nuclear-tipped missile as lawmakers called for south korea to have nuclear weapons of its own. for the u.s. a call for action at the u.n. security council. >> -- to secure the strongest possible resolution that includes new sanctions as

quickly as possible. >> but north korean watchers say, for kim jong un, that's a flimsy threat from a weak playbook. >> from a north korean perspective, they have seen this all before, and it doesn't appear to have any impact on either the growth of their nuclear program or any concerns on their part about moving forward despite all the diplomatic isolation. >> the north korean nuclear test has become an election weapon in the u.s., while donald trump is blaming the former secretary of state. >> north korea, like so many other things, is one more hillary clinton failure. >> hillary clinton is drawing a line in the sand. >> our message to the north koreans and everyone else listening, they will not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon that has a deliverable capacity on a ballistic missile. >> this week a north korean official told the japanese lawmaker his country's nuclear program is not aimed at japan but the u.s. as the u.s. and its allies wait

for what they fear is another nuclear test. >> they want to demonstrate to the world that they are an established nuclear weapons state and try to deal with the next u.s. president from a position of strength. >> elise labott, cnn, washington. syrians today nervously hoping a ceasefire holds and desperately needed humanitarian aid can get in. the united nations says there has been a significant drop in violence in the past 24 hours but the syrian foreign ministry says it's holding up supplies from getting to hard-hit cities like aleppo. arwa damon is live on the border. when will the trucks be able to move to the areas where aid is so desperately needed? >> we don't know, jake. it really is in a frustrating holding pattern at this stage. what the syrian government is saying is that all aid delivery has to be coordinated through damascus. especially, they are are

emphasizing, aid that wants to come in from turkey. we do know that organizations like the world food program and others do have trucks at the ready at the turkish border waiting in no man's land to try to get that authorization to then make their way on to rebel-held aleppo, the area that's been under siege on and off for quite some time now. why do they need the approval from damascus? well, because it's under siege, it means the aid has to cross through not just rebel checkpoints but regime checkpoints as well and aid organizations not only want the guarantee that the assad regime will let the trucks through, they also want security guarantees to be in place before they get the much-needed aid to the people who need it most. >> arwa, there have been reports of violence since the ceasefire took effect. what do we know about the violence? >> jake, when it comes to syria, everything is really relative. the incidences that are being

reported are things like artillery strikes, tank strikes, small arms fire and other sorts of clashes that are taking place. but when it comes to what is arguably perhaps the deadliest of the violence in syria, the air strikes, the barrel bombs, that we're not really hearing reports of. residents we've been speaking to in aleppo say they're not hearing the incessant buzzing of fighter jets overhead, that terrifying sound. they're not having to suffer through the constant aerial bombardments. children have been able to go out into the streets and laugh. one resident said for the first time in months he was able to properly sleep for a few mours. the situation is so dire in syria that people will take whatever they can, whether it's a few hours or few days or even, all will hope, a few weeks. >> thank you so much.

appreciate it. stay safe. the ncaa is the latest organization to pull out of north carolina over the state's controversial transgender bathroom law. state republicans are citing a rape case and they're firing back. it's a very specific moment, the launch window.

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we're back. the sports lead now. divided reaction after the ncaa's stinging decision to yank seven tournaments out of north carolina over the state's bathroom law. the ncaa calling the law disc m discriminato discriminatory. today two of the state's biggest athletic powerhouses duke university and the far superior university of north carolina praised the ncaa's decision but others describe it as a double standard.

martin savidge joins me jwith both sides of the debate. a huge financial hit for north carolina. >> and the nba pulling out the all-star game and the other financial impacts. some suggest tens of millions. they say the total impact dollar-wise is up to $100 million for the state of north carolina. the ncaa says, look, it's not about money. it's not about collegiate sports or championships. this is about fairness. let me read you their statement. we believe in providing a safe and respectful environment at our events and are committed to providing the best experience possible for college athletes, fans and everyone taking part in our championships. well, it didn't take long for the gop of north carolina, their state spokesperson, to fire back in a blistering attack. here is what cami mueller says. i wish the ncaa was this concerned about the women who

were raped at bailylor. perhaps they should stop the political peacocking and focus their energies on making our our nation's collegiate athletes are safe. this is an issue close to the hearts of many in north carolina. it used to be said that there are only two things in north carolina that aren't political, basketball and barbecue. now it seems they're down to just barbecue. >> we'll see what happens after today. martin, this is playing out in this battleground state in the upcoming elections. what will the political fallout be? >> yeah. that is a serious question on a number of fronts. let's talk about the gubernatorial race. pat mccrory is in a very tight race for re-election. he's taken house billion two as sort of the centerpiece, the focal point, of his campaign. he put out a statement later

today talking about the fact that this is going to be decided in federal court and urging all sides to wait before they take any rash decisions. the ncaa already acted, of course. he says, sadly the ncaa, a multibillion dollar tax exempt monopoly fared to show this redetectir respect of our students b student athletes and hard-working men and women. north carolina is a key swing state. we've already heard from hillary clinton on this matter. she said the ncaa is right to pull toormeurnament games from h carolina because of the hb-2 law. discrimination has no place in america. we haven't heard from donald trump on this. these are the passionate issues that will bring people out to the voting booths. the impact politically could be very big. >> thank you so much.

tune into cnn tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern for "almost president, the agony of defeat" gloria borger talked to the men who have survived the most public failure in america. tweet the show @the lead cnn. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper, turning you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." president obama gives hillary clinton's campaign a shot in the arm. with a rally in a key battleground state, he calls clinton the most qualified candidate ever and calls trump unfit to be president saying he used vladimir putin as his role model. debating deplorables. but he won't call the former klan leader deplorable. hillary clinton says she is the most transparent candidate after