thank you for being with me here. we'll be here all week. hope you have wonderful, safe fourth of july. let's go to washington. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. thank you. a powerful congressman facing appalling accusations. "the lead" starts right now. the breaking news, conservative republican jim jordan accused of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse. the fallout from the white house to the capitol and his response ahead. also, president trump issues a new threat to the most critical alliance in the west. and it plays right into the hands of vladimir putin. plus, how to get them out. that team of kids and their coach trapped full mile into a treacherous cave now facing one of the most risky rescue operations in recent memory. why some may have to dive to survive. even if they don't know how to swim.

welcome to "the lead." i 'm in for jake tapper. a top republican congressman and supporter of president trump jim jordan now accused of ignoring sexual abuse and molestation mo aaccusations at ohio state university. there's a claim that a doctor showered with and inappropriately touched student athletes and that then coach jordan did nothing about it. i want to bring in cnn's jayson carroll following this story. so tell us the details. just shocking allegations. >> reporter: absolutely. sadly, we have heard the type of allegations before. officials turning a blind eye to reports of sexual assault at a school. just past april, ohio state announced it was investigating abuse allegations against a man by the name of dr. richard strauss for allegedly abuses

students from the mid-1970s to the mid late 1990s. a former wrestler saying the doctor touched him inappropriately starting as a teen and sexually molested some other teammates, as well. that wrestler, michael desabato said it was common knowledge of team members about the doctor and what he would allegedly do during examinations. he said he and others spoke about it openly. openly about inappropriate dutching and he says staff including jim jordon who was a wrestling coach at the time, he says knew about what the doctor was allegedly doing. now, this wrestler spoke to cnn. he says the doctor was more prolific in his abuse and operated over a 20-year period. he was able to systematically

abuse students in over 15 sports and no one did anything. it should be noted that the republican congressman jim jordan strongly denies he ignores allegations of abuse. his office released a statement about the allegations which says, quote, congressman jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as coach at ohio state. he has not been contacted by investigators about the matter but will assist them in any way they ask because if what is alleged is true the victims deserve full investigation. congressman jordan is a staunch ally of president donald trump and frequently mentioned as a possible replacement for speaker of the house. ohio state says the university now has received reports of sexual misconduct allegedly committed by strauss from former athletes involved in 14 sports at the school, including football, cheerleading,

gymnastics and ice hockey. strauss died in 2005. the university called the allegations deeply troubling and says they're fully committed to getting the bottom of it. jim? >> well, appalling allegations against that doctor there and as you read a comprehensive denial of congressman jordan. i want to bring in legal analyst joey jackson and editor at large chr chris. he was an assistant coach at the time accused of in effect a sin of omission. failing the protect the student athletes from abuse s. that failure a crime? >> well, it could be. so let's parse this out here. it's not only an issue in terms of what he knew. it's about what he either believed or reasonably suspected, as well. if you look at the statute, it speaks to the issue of mandatory reporting and so what does that

mean? in the event that you're working with young men and you're a part of the administration or staff, you have a duty and an obligation should something be amiss of a criminal variety to say something about it. ordinarily and a standard circumstance, you know, we don't have any duty to be good samaritans but put in that special relationship of trust then you do. and so, therefore, the issue becomes not only whether there could be criminal exposure but also the issue of civil liability. so it's problematic. last point, jim, and that's this. in the event of an investigation and move forward and you are spoken to and you are under oath or some such thing and make a misstatement, that's problematic, as well. it is not only about these issues here which are significant but about the investigation moving forward in the event that the congressman says something that could be disproven and false and now you have a perjury and oath

potential issue. >> okay. chris, we should note that in the statement congressman jordan first of all denied any knowledge of this and said that he would offer to cooperate as the investigation goes forward. but looking at this from a political lens, this is big year for republicans and midterm elections in four month's time. how much of a problem for him individually, congressman jordan, and also for the party? >> for him, individually, at a minimum, a large-scale distraction. ohio state conducting its own investigation and a lot of what happens going forward is determined by the investigation. jordan denying it. jason mentioned it talking to you, jim. this is someone whether's a very high profile member of the house republicans. he was a former chairman of the house freedom caucus. the most conservative element of h house republicans. regular on our air waves and other cable tv and unapologetic conservatism and someone wheno'

seen as a replacement to petsper paul ryan or someone next and in the sort of top ten people as potential leaders in the republican party. regardless of anything that comes after it, it is certainly a major distraction for a party that is trying to rally behind a message of economy, democrats being loose on borders, those sorts of things. >> no question. there's more to find out here as we know. we know that in the past a whiff of trf like this political consequences particularly for leadership positions. now the politics lead. president trump is expected to meet with more candidates for the supreme court. he has already sat down with four candidates who he's described as quote impressive people and president trump meanwhile is as he often does firing off a series of tweets on other subjects. everything from the state of the u.s. economy to former president obama and harley-davidson and

finding a new open to attack democrats on ill inauguration. jeff zeleny is picking up the coverage now from the white house. >> reporter: president trump working to finalize his pick for the supreme court. as the white house is trying to keep the decision and names of the leading contenders under wraps. >> we're not going to comment on the names but i can tell you he's got a great list. >> reporter: white house press secretary sarah sanders said the president still on track for announcement next monday evening. after he interviewed four candidates yesterday and spoke to another potential con depender mike lee by telephone. >> looking for somebody with tremendous intellect, he'd like somebody with the right temperament and focused on upholding the constitution. >> reporter: while the president hopes to persuade democrats to support the nominee, this's hardly stopping him from exploitding a rift over immigration. the president seizing on a call for some liberals to abolish immigration and customs

enforcement. blasting democrats on twitter saying, when we have an infestation of gangs in the country who do we send to them get them out? i.c.e. third straight day he's injected himself in a brewing of the democratic party. with some in the party's left wing calling for the elimination of i.c.e. while others are warning of the political consequences of doing so. the president saying many democrats are deeply concerned about the fact that their leadership wants to abandon the great men and women of i.c.e. senator warren among the democrats leading the charge. >> the president's deeply immoral actions have made it obvious we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom. starting by replacing i.c.e. with something that reflects our morality and -- >> reporter: it's becoming a refrain among the party's most liberal voices.

>> i believe that it has become a deportation force and i think you should separate it. the criminal justice from the immigration issues. >> reporter: the official white house twitter page maintained by employees of the federal government also aggressively attacking senators like harris, warren and others by name. breaking the practice of previous administrations. now, not only is that breaking the practice of previous administrations by the official twitter page going after multiple members of congress and the attacks not accurate calling out senator harris for supporting the animals in the words of the white house of ms-13. does not live up to the facts. of course, she is a former attorney general of california who had a fairly tough record on gangs but separately, jim, what this is pointing out, the tweets i'm told with the president's blessing and directly into the issue of immigration which he politically speaking is exploiting for the benefit of

republicans here and perhaps doing a wise job politically of that because democrats indeed facing an identity crisis inside their party and a reminder, immigration front and center in the midterm elections of course as is that big supreme court pick. jim? >> wouldn't be the first time a tweet from the president not based on facts. jeff zeleny at the white house, thank you. it is not a majority of democrats going down this let's dismantle i.c.e. path. small number. harris, possible presidential candidate s. th candidate. is that the case of the extreme left of the democratic party pulling it too far left to their political disadvantage on this issue? >> on the facts i think that they're right. i.c.e. is a cruel, inhumane, rogue agency. you need to understand it's absolutely rogue and been that way for a long time. this way under obama. i wrote a lot about immigration in the obama years and they have been rebuked by the supreme court multiple times for

overcharging people so they can deport them and they've been slapped down repeatedly and completely out of control. but as a political issue, i'm not sure that it works great for democrats because i think swing voters in line with the democrats traditional position which is a more moderate position. but like i said, i think they're right on the facts. it's just a question of whether or not this -- >> i don't think these democratic senators are even serious about it. i think they found a good slogan but listening to gillibrand talk, warren talking, reimagine. like it's an art assign. . you are u.s. senators. write a bill and say how you would reimagine it because you are actually talking about abolishing a law enforcement agency that may be flawed but they have tools in the senate to hold hearings, write letters and to jump on the slogan because somebody won a race in new york seems shortsighted. >> i do think -- >> we should handicap the idea

of passing an immigration related bill through congress. >> on paper what they intend to do. >> we can handicap it quickly. it is not happening. i do think that what you have seen, and this is not just as it relates to abolishing i.c.e. and gillibrand, harris, warren, sanders. in the wake of the 2016 election, bernie sanders came out with a radical single payer, i remember the days when -- >> oh, i remember when folks told me ruining the republic! >> now he is running from this. >> hillary clinton afraid of it. now what did you see happen in 2017? gillibrand, harris, booker, warren. and yes. bernie sanders whose idea -- who pushed it. that was a radical idea. i do think -- there's a level of -- i don't put bernie sanders in this category and you can watch youtube clips of bernie sanders in 1987 talking about the similar stuff he is talking about now. there is among those people thinking of running for

president, they understand the energy on the left. no debate about that. and they will immediately skew to that view because they don't want to be. >> let me ask you. >> i talked to senator gillibrand and senator warren and harris for that matter and to be frank senator gillibrand talking about i.c.e. the argument is that i.c.e. is not accomplishing the core mission anymore and need to separate the drug criminal activity, law enforcement, protocols and the positioning that i.c.e. has from the immigration responsibilities that i.c.e. has and she believes is -- i just want to caution that the senators popping out there for what's best for the base when i think there's thoughtful conversation around this. now is this -- >> let me -- >> in 2018, i don't know. >> wouldn't it be nice to have a thoughtful about immigration? it is a hot button issue. a poll of immigration the most

important issue in deciding how to vote this coming november. but quinnipiac also found that 58% of respondents disapprove of president trump's handling of immigration. it works for trump's base but if immigration is central issue in the midterms, who does that advantage? which party? >> quickly, kirsten i think hit on it. simone makes a fair point. on the merits it's a discussion worth having. what was the immigration debate broadly to a person who only follows politics sort of a little bit? two weeks ago. family separation at the border. which is a stone cold loser for every republican -- >> talking about now. no question. >> now we are talking about kirsten knows way more about i.c.e. than the average person and myself included and understands the nuance there. the average person says, that's a law enforcement agency. why are we -- donald trump beat that is drum saying, they want open borders. >> democrats open -- donald

trump -- >> add vvantageous. >> he didn't start the idea. are you saying in effect democrats -- turn the page. >> throwing it away. on the 58% disapproval rating on trump's immigration handling, that cuts into republicans, too. if you're a republican that voted for trump, you are seeing chaos on did border, no one likes the pictures coming out of there. and you still don't have the wall. still don't have a solution on daca and there's nothing -- not getting anything done. so that's the loser, too, on the republican side. >> that folks that disapprove of trump not just because of family separation but they haven't -- >> that are losing steam. >> well, and also to that point important to note while immigration creeped up as one of the top issues if you will that folks talk about, overwhelmingly people care about the economy and health care and overwhelmingly republicans are bad on the economy, health care and no one can forget the photos of children at the border that -- wants us to think that are -- well, that bill's not

popular. the tax bill. >> the economy's doing great. unemployment is down. people are getting -- >> i don't think so. that's why you're not running on it. >> bill is one thing. economic numbers are another. >> not complicated. family separation issue, that's the -- >> yep. >> people think of immigration, if that's what they think about, it's a disaster for republicans. if it's a fight over i.c.e. -- >> a loser for democrats. >> i don't think it's a loser but a way better -- >> there were republicans who were saying to me privately at the time of family separation at the peak that is katrina for trump. we are talking about something else right now. we will have more time to talk about this. turning to one trump administration member who seems to attract a scandal a day. >> i just wanted to urge you to resign because -- you're doing harm to the country. >> that's right. a woman calling out scott pruitt as a news scandal for the epa administrator surfaces.

purina one. natural ingredients, plus vitamins and minerals in powerful combinations. for radiant coats, sparkling eyes, and vibrant energy. purina one. 28 days. one visibly healthy pet.

it all started when donald trump tore thousands of immigrant children away from their parents. we the people challenged him in court and in the streets. then trump was forced to admit that his policy was wrong. and he caved. the court just ruled that trump must reunite every family he broke apart. (clock ticking rapidly) time is ticking. these children must see their parents again, and they're counting on us to act quickly. these children must see their parents again, let someone else do the heavy lifting. tripadvisor compares prices from over 200 booking sites to find the right hotel for you at the lowest price. so you barely have to lift a finger. or a wing. tripadvisor.

having mplaque psoriasise is not always easy. it's a long-distance run. and you have the determination to keep going. humira has a proven track record of being prescribed for over 10 years. humira works inside the body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults taking humira were clear or almost clear and many saw 75% and even 90% clearance in just four months. 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. join over 250,000 people who have chosen humira. ask about the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists. humira & go.

welcome back. we are back now with our political panel. continuing the conversation. teeing off with scott pruitt, you might have heard a scandal or two related to him. we have new once. former aide says that he directed her to help him wife land a $200,000 or six-figure job and kept a secret calendar including a meeting with cardinal pell. kohl's ceo might be interesting to know if he's meeting with the coal ceo. why does the president stick with scott sfloopruitt? >> i'd love to know. we can go through the various scandals back do the trip to morocco for 4 days with 8 staffers. makes no sense why he needs to do that. you know, all through all the other scandals and only thing to think of is this is the swampiest swamp creature that

you have ever seen. right? this is exactly what donald trump said he was going to get rid of. and it's just an endless -- maybe, amanda, you help us understand this. it's really astonishing, like, does he have something on donald trump? >> or just doing what donald trump wants? environmental -- >> he can find another person to do this. >> scott pruitt is a walking, talking ethics violation and talking to republicans who are sticking by him they just say, he's getting the job done and crazy to me. no one else? pick a random staffer from the office and get the same result. >> right. >> so, i would bet the democrats take the house he resigns. >> right. >> guess what happens then. hearings, hearings, hearings. >> does the president dig in sometimes on staffers like this just for the sake of digging? >> i think that's one theory and that he sees in pruitt a kindred spirit. >> a fighter. >> he believes pruitt to be sort of being bashed unfairly. i also as an avid "simpsons"

watcher, stick with me. the tycoon goes to the doctor. the doctor says after a physical you're healthy. that's great. and he says, well, can i go? what it is is you have every disease known to man and blocking one another from getting out so you're weirdly healthy. i don't know if there's so much on scott pruitt now at this point it's all sort of balled up into -- believe that you could be -- i believe this. people including trump don't believe that you could do this many things that are at best ethically questionable. >> he has actually done them. documented on the record. we don't have even so much as a hearing from the republicans in congress who are in control -- >> oversight committee please? >> yeah. for folks upset about the abuses and the insider things happening

in washington, they need to hold the republicans accountable 2018 at the midterms because they have done nothing and -- >> last thing to know, like, the young person that he made put the hotel on the card, fire me. as a former young staffer. i don't play those games. >> the idea that the means justify the ends is a dangerous road. doing the job and therefore however you get from point a to point b is meaningless. >> not the first time in washington. >> donald trump operates like that. if the end is what he wants it doesn't matter how he got to the end. i would argue it does matter particularly if you're the head of a political party. >> standards, and norms matter. rules in place for a reason. trapped a mile deep into a cave, why a group of children, some who have never scum at all may need to learn to scuba dive to survive.

a new threat to the most critical military allies. pay up or else. ♪ (electronic dance music)♪ ♪ ♪

dear foremothers, your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands... ...commanded armies... ...yielded to no one. when i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. my name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. now with 2 times more geographic detail than other dna tests. order your kit at ancestrydna.com. booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline. crisp leaves of lettuce. freshly made dressing. clean food that looks this good. delivered to your desk. now delivering to home or office. panera. food as it should be.

these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com

i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. welcome back. world lead now, president trump threatening to up end the decades old nato alliance over military spending. in letters to the countries, urging them to spend more or else he may withdraw u.s. forces

from europe and europe is facing an aggressive russia. this comes ahead of next week's key nato summit in brussels after which president trump sits down one on one with russian president vladimir putin. nato's chief adversary. cnn's bah bra starr kicks off our coverage from the pentagon. >> reporter: president trump sending scathing letters to america's closest allies demanding they increase military spending to at least 2% of their economy, the nato standard. trump has been relentless that u.s. allies are not pulling their weight at nato. >> if all nato members spent just 2% of their gdp on defense last year we would have had another $119 billion. >> reporter: mr. trump's letter to german chancellor had an especially frosty warning. it will, however, become increasingly difficult to

justify to american citizens why some countries don't share the burden while american soldiers continue to sacrifice their lives overseas or come home gravely wounded. a senior german official points out that in afghanistan germany is the second largest contributor of foreign troops. to norway, a not so subtle reminder of norway's risks. since it remains the only nato ally sharing a border with rodriguez, that doesn't have a plan to meet the nato spending target. nato spending might be one area where there is agreement with former president obama. >> everybody's got to step up and everybody's got to do better. >> reporter: spending estimate shows the u.s. is well above the 2% spending standard at more than 3.5% of the u.s. economy going to defense. the uk is just over 2% while norway, canada and germany are all under. but trump could go too far in criticizing nato at the upcoming

summit just before he meets with russian president vladimir putin. >> if he wants to skutd l the western alliance and there's a lot of supposition to do that then, of course, that could very well play into the hands of the russians. >> reporter: the president also making additional national security claims tweeting just out that the obama administration granted citizenship during the terrible iran deal negotiation to 2,500 iranians and government officials. it's a claim by an iranian cleric that a former obama national security official is pushing back on saying the allegation is false and based on a fox news report. mr. trump also tweeting on what he sees as success with north korea. if not for me, we would now be at war with north korea. even though the pentagon says there is no evidence kim jong-un is giving up his weapons. and at that summit next week, as you said, jim, president trump's

relationship with the allies, with vladimir putin and progress with north korea is expected to be front and center. jim? >> barbara starr at the pentagon. my panel with me now. phil mudd, nothing wrong, it is very justified for a u.s. president to meet allies that meet this level of spending. on the other hand, a president has not threatened to withdraw troops and serve not just their security interests but american security interests. >> there's a couple of differences here that are crucial. we should not discard this one. you're right in terms of criticizing the president. look at the predecessors saying, look, europe isn't paying the bill. two things different here. you come out of the g7 and the european leaders watching saying style is different. the president's going to show up in europe and doesn't like what he says he'll try to embarrass us in public. previous presidents wouldn't do that. more significant point is substance. if you think the president or

they think the president doesn't back up the talk, he shows up in singapore. watch about tariffs, republicans in congress say, no. he says, i don't care. i'll slap on tariffs. >> that may feel good to withdraw u.s. troops from germany to punish germany but does that serve u.s. national security interests in europe when russia is aggressive militarily? >> if you look at russia moving into syria and crimea, interfering in ukraine, the europeans are going to say this is the front doorstep and you say you're going to withdraw the troops in advance of the meeting with putden and putin says i got the message. the president wants to deal with me like the european allies. >> you worked in the obama administration. as we saw there in the piece president obama expressed similar frustration with european allies a couple of years ago. why aren't the countries, we saw canada, germany, why aren't they meeting the limit? >> there's an actual perception gap here, as well. we have five countries right now meeting the goals.

eight more online at the end of the year and technically have until 2024 so they have years to get there. that's the factual side of things. trump is playing to a feeling of the base with a raw deal. and in particular, in bailing out europe. unfortunately, the bulk of our defense spending has been in iraq and afghanistan which is not necessarily a nato approved or nato caused mission. and that's post-9/11 and the president himself asked for a 10% increase in the military defense budget and we are spending a lot on the military and that's something discretionary upon the president and the united states itself. >> phil, there's a line in the letter to merkel that caught not only my eye but i'm sure caught the eye of angela merkel, as well. this dig our troops are fighting and dying in these wars and iraq and afghanistan principally. with the implication being german troops are not and in fact they're the second biggest contributors in terms of personnel there. how much of a dig is that for a

treaty ally to make that kind of comment? >> i think it's a dig because you have to look at read boog the letter and what he is going to do as i mentioned coming out of the meeting. if i'll merkel, you can't trust him in a meaningful conversation and then not come out on air force one and hammer you. he's also embarrassed merkel in terms of comments about the immigration policy which is hugely sensitive in germany. so if you go into the meeting, one on one even, germans say be careful. he's going to tweet it out. >> watch out for flying starbursts, as well. the president tweeted today, we don't know the source of the story. looks like the fox news story. the obama administration granted citizenship during the terrible iran deal negotiation to 2,500 iranians. how big and bad is that? you worked in the obama administration. we have spoken to officials in the obama administration saying it's not true.

do you have any knowledge of this? >> it's unequivocally false. you had rudy giuliani almost as a surrogate and not an official of the administration advocating for regime change and hard liners in iran advocating to overthrow the government and potentially make it more extreme. and so that seems to be who donald trump allies himself with in countries around the world. right? lepen types in france. putin in russia and north korea. he likes allying himself with people who are not really pro democracy and iran is just a latest example of that. >> not necessarily allying himself with the facts on this particular claim here. phil, nayyera, thank you. they survived ten days and might be months before a boy's soccer team trapped in an underground cave could be rescued. imagine that, more than a month.

the digital divide is splitting this country. we have parents who are trying to get their kids off of too much social media and computers, and then we have parents who would only hope their children have access. middle school is a really key transition point, right. the stakes start changing. students begin to really start thinking about their futures. what i like about verizon's approach is that it's not limited to just giving kids new tools, it's really about empowering educators to teach in different ways, and exposing kids to more active forms of learning. giving technology is not a total solution. teaching technology, now that is.

mitzi: psoriatic arthritis tries to get in my way? watch me. ( ♪ ) mike: i've tried lots of things for my joint pain. now? watch me. ( ♪ ) joni: think i'd give up showing these guys how it's done? please. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are changing the way they fight it. they're moving forward with cosentyx. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. it's proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. don't use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx you should be checked 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 of an infection. or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen.

serious allergic reactions may occur. mitzi: with less joint pain, watch me. for less joint pain and clearer skin, ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. like concert tickets or a new snowboard. matt: whoo! whoo!

jen: but that all changed when we bought a house. matt: voilà! jen: matt started turning into his dad. matt: mm. that's some good mulch. ♪ i'm awake. but it was pretty nifty when jen showed me how easy it was to protect our home and auto with progressive. [ wrapper crinkling ] get this butterscotch out of here. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents. there's quite a bit of work, 'cause this was all -- this was all stapled. but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. a hotel can make or break a trip. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. ♪ add-on advantage. discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. only when you book with expedia.

in your world lead now, rescue teams working around the clock to find a way to save the 12 boys and soccer coach trapped in a thai cave. they have been underground for now ten days a mile deep into the cave system and could be waiting there for months no. clear way to get them out and with monsoon season, the waters inside that cave could rise. cnn's anna cornyn on the ground covering the live updates. i want to bring you cnn's tom foreman working on sort of a layout of this operation. why is it so tricky and dangerous? >> finding the boys in this cave was incredibly tough but actually extracting them could involve more maneuvers and time and could prove more difficult. >> reporter: darkness, cold, rushing water and time. rescuers will have to overcome all those elements to bring the boys to sunlight and right now it is not clear how or how

quickly that can happen. with substantial portions of the passage to safety flooded, the idea of underwater is fraught with peril. authorities have not specified how long to be submerged to make it through but it appears substantial. in addition, some of the boys reportedly don't know how to swim. rescuers speculated that they could be trained to dive while in the cave and then one by one led out. but skilled divered note that's a strong risk of panic and where it's so densely filled with debris visibility is a few inches and the currents are strong and where narrow passageways prevail. >> it's an incredibly dangerous activity for those experienced doing it an now you're looking at taking people who have no experience or very little experience of diving and putting them into a complete blackout situation and rely on the regulator and the tanks with them to breathe and losing that

regulator even for a minute or two could be fatal. >> you're very strong. >> reporter: the boys are hardly in great shape for such an attempt. authorities report they spent more than a week with no good huddled on a chilly, cramped ledge but the options are limited. rescuers could potentially drill an escape route as they did in chile in 2010 who were about as deep down. but that took more than two months with potentially catastrophic failure haunting every day. officials could send supplies to the boys, move them to a wider, safer platform and wait but that could take even more time. the monsoon season here in thailand only just started. it's torrential and they could be stuck in there for four months. >> amid all the worried waiting, there's still hope for a fourth option. the idea that somehow another path can be found through the maze of passageways which might allow the boys to walk out as

they walked in. if that path exists, jim, no one's discovered it yet. >> tom foreman, thank you. anna is live on the ground outside that cave in thailand. anna, this prospect of the kids stuck for many weeks or months, is that dangerous? >> reporter: oh, absolutely. and what sort of imspakt that goi going to have on them psychologically? thai authorities doing everything possible to minimize that. there is a doctor and a nurse both navy s.e.a.l.s who are part of the team with the boys. they have not left their side so they're assessing them, looking after them. providing them with food and for the first time last month, jim, slept with blankets. so it's just gone 3:45 in the morning here. let's hope that they are still sleeping but we also have to remember that these kids, some of them as young as 11 so they

have been in the darkness now, we are entering day 11 of the saga so i mean, that would be incredibly scary but they're also very resilient and they have each other. this is a team that has been together for many years. and their coach, 25-year-old, critical and crucial in keeping them together, keeping morale high. we know that they've been resourceful in collecting rainwater seeping through the ceiling of the cave. natural filtration system and not resorting to the filthy floodwaters lapping at their feet. they spoke to the coach's aunt saying this is a man that loves the boy, dedicated to these boys and that he will do whatever it takes to protect them so we certainly know there's a team of between seven and ten navy s.e.a.l.s there with those boys as we speak. they're not going to leave their side, jim, until they get out.

>> anna coren, poor kids and parents, thank you. the u.s. government has three days to make sure that separated children talk to their parents on the phone. the children separated at the u.s. border. is there a plan in place to make that actually happen? we've seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. even a "cactus calamity". (man 1) i read that the saguaro can live to be two hundred years old. (woman) how old do you think that one is? (man 1) my guess would be, about... (man 2) i'd say about two hundred. (man 1) yeah... (burke) gives houseplant a whole new meaning. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen

during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. this condition has not been reported with entyvio. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's treatment isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach.

we are days away from a deadline of children torn from their families at the border to at least phone contact with their parents but as the deadline looms, most important question remains, does the administration have a plan to finally reunite these families? cnn's miguel marquez joins us now. miguel, you've been in texas covering this for weeks. have you seen any signs that the families will have at least that contact with their parents any time soon? >> reporter: yeah. they may be one of the best things to say about what's happening on the ground right now is that a lot of families say that they have had at least

one phone call with their loved ones. not all of them. it is not per feck. some haven't heard from their loved ones at all. the deadline for everybody to be in contact with the families by this friday and there are more serious deadlines ahead. the clock is ticking under order by a federal judge, the trump administration has until next tuesday to reunite children under 5 with families and all kids must be reunited by july 26th. >> i just got off the phone with a mother we represent. she has spoken to her son or daughter once since being separated in may and no news about eminent reunification or anything of that sort. >> that's what you hear? >> that's what we're hearing. none of the clients reported that they were notified to be i reunited in a few days. >> reporter: representing nearly 400 separated families saying

families are reporting they're being pressured to drop their asylum claim and agree to faster deportation in exchange for quicker reunification with their children. >> they have an option of choosing removal and being reunited with their children as part of the process. >> reporter: in another set back for the president's zero tolerance immigration policy a judge in washington ruled the trump administration cannot detain those seeking asylum. in a sharp rebuke, the judge wrote this opinion does no more than hold the government accountable to its own policy which recently has been honored more in the breach than the observance. all this as the pace of families seeking asylum in the u.s. continues as it has for years. sister says her catholic charities helps 50 to 200 families every day. >> all of them have been processed by border patrol.

and they determined that this family needs us, meets a family profile to continue their legal immigration process at another point in the united states. >> reporter: the department of homeland security we asked for information about this claim that families are being pressured to give up their asylum claim to get the kids back more quickly. they have not responded to that. we have also just in the last few minutes heard from hhs, health and human services. they're responsible for the kids that are in detention. they're now tweeting out pictures sort of showing some of the work that they're doing saying they're working around the clock to make these reunifications happen. of course, this is all work that wouldn't have been necessary had zero tolerance not happened or thought out to begin with. yim? >> miguel marquez at the border, thank you. just in, more responsible supreme court nominees interviewed today by the president at the white house. the white house announces how

many. that's next. and forced to flee the country of your birth. but you started a new life in a brand new world. when i built my ancestry family tree, i found your story... then, my dna test helped me reclaim the portuguese citizenship you lost. i'm joshua berry, and this is my ancestry story. combine our most detailed dna test with historical records for a deeper family story. get started for free at ancestry.com. crisp leaves of lettuce. freshly made dressing. clean food that looks this good. delivered to your desk. now delivering to home or office. panera. food as it should be.

it all started when donald trump tore thousands of immigrant children away from their parents. we the people challenged him in court and in the streets. then trump was forced to admit that his policy was wrong. and he caved. the court just ruled that trump must reunite every family he broke apart. (clock ticking rapidly) time is ticking. these children must see their parents again, and they're counting on us to act quickly. these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com (door bell rings) it's ohey. this is amazing. with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay? even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart.

so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts. so you can experience few or no symptoms. 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. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, control is possible. booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline.

happening now, breaking news, pruitt's appeal. cnn has learned that embattled epa administrator scott pruitt asked president trump to fire attorney general sessions and give him his job. clear manipulation. the republican chairman of the senate intelligence committee says that u.s. intelligence agencies were right about russian interference in the 2016 election. did the committee uncover more evidence of moscow's meddling? congressman cover-up. an investigation says that a lawmaker knew of allegations of

college