now. you mentioned nearly 100 million people, a bulk of that is happening today and then that includes the northeast by the time we get into tomorrow where the feels like temperature could top 109, 110 across portions of arkansas, oklahoma. here are your high temperatures, close to 90 degrees, feel much hotter over the next couple of days. >> especially there in kentucky where a lot of people are without power still. >> right. >> jennifer, thank you for that. "new day" continues right now. ♪ good morning to viewers here in the u.s. and around the world, it is wednesday, august 3rd, i'm brianna keilar and john berman is off and john avalon is here with us. >> good morning. >> good morning. great to have you. it is the morning after election

night in america where democracy was on the ballot. first a stunning rejection by voters in conservative kansas. voters defeating an amendment aimed at restricting abortion rights and the result wasn't close. kansas is the first state to vote on the issue since the supreme court decision to overturn roe v. wade. perhaps even more significant was the voter turnout here because nearly 700,000 votes were cast in tuesday's primary and that dwarfs the voter turnout in the state's 2020 presidential primary election. five states in all held primaries on tuesday, one other big take away here was a slue of election deniers backed by former president trump, they were winners. >> and here to break down the numbers is cnn's senior data analyst harry enten. >> hey, john. >> good morning. >> what we got? >> let's start in kansas which brianna was just talking b my goodness gracious, sometimes i get surprised by results and this is one of them. i did expect that no would win,

that is that they were not going to say that, in fact, there wasn't a right to a constitutional ban to abortion, that is that there is, but look at this, 59% of the vote. i thought this race would be within 5% and the thing that i think is important to note here, as brianna was saying turnout was well up but if you look at the democratic primary versus the republican primary for governor and you can compare the turnout in the two of them, democrats did much better relative to 2018 than republicans did and that is very much unlike any of the other primaries that we've seen so far this season across the nation. democrats were revved up to turn out to vote in this primary and this was the reason why, the right to make sure that there is a constitutional right to abortion. >> because there are really no other high stakes competitive primaries. so this really off cycle democrats turning out, upsetting conventional wisdom. >> yes, exactly right. if there was the idea that abortion would bring out democrats and democrats are hoping for that, this race at least is an initial confirmation

that have fact. >> all right. let's move on to the other big theme which is the trumpism election denial, specifically what happened to the republicans who voted to impeach donald trump. what do we know? >> we will start off in michigan, peter meijer goes down to defeat to john gibbs. there was a lot of democratic money backing john gibbs because the idea was that they thought that meyer was too strong in the general election. he does go down to defeat, the second republican to go down to defeat in a primary, tom rice was the other one in south carolina. >> that is a pretty narrow margin. 3,700 votes and change. that would indicate that that 400,000 spend by the dcc might have made a decisive difference. >> we will see if democrats come to regret that this fall. two other races in washington, dan knew house voted to impeach donald trump. right now he would finish in the top two. jaime herrera beutler over in

washington's third district she right now is in the top two but we don't have a call there. >> around 50% in. let's move over to arizona. >> arizona, right now none of these races have calls but the trump-backed candidates are leading in all of them. here the trump-backed candidates ahead, the secretary of state race the trump-backed candidates ahead. blake masters is well ahead, he was backed by donald trump and here down in the attorney generals race the republican that was backed by donald trump again ahead, but i will point out both the governors and the senate race will be races we're watching this fall. >> absolutely. and this one pretty narrow, momentum shifted overnight. >> correct. >> let's go to michigan gov. >> another trumped-backed candidate, this one we do get the check mark for, tutor dixon well out ahead, 40% of the vote. she was not ahead a little while ago but the fact of the matter is that trump endorsement very much helped her out.

>> finally missouri's senate, which eric won? >> okay. it was not eric estrada, he endo endorsed. eric schmidt getting 46% of the vote. the other eric did not go anywhere close. >> in third. >> in third. >> thanks for breaking it down. let's talk about this with republican strategist and cnn political commentator alice stewart and ayesha mills the democratic candidate for congress in new york's 18th district. let's zero in on kansas and this is a place where voters rejected by ballot -- and this is really the first test we have seen of this -- there was -- they said no to eliminating protections for abortion and it was resounding. alice, i'm curious what you think the take away for republicans is on that and

what's really become an enclave for people to get abortions in the plains? >> it's -- we need to really step up the game. if we really want to protect life and protect the unborn, we cannot take for granted that the successes we have had in the past with regard to getting republicans out to support the life issue as well as supreme court justice nominees. we need to really redouble our efforts. look, i know that the value them both campaign in kansas that has worked really hard to make sure that they protect the life issue, they've told me last night they are going to double down and continue their efforts to protect life, but we can't just assume that the efforts we've done to date are going to continue because this is really just a starting point and it's a good barometer. it's a wake-up call for republicans not to assume that the people that we have had out there supporting this issue are going to be galvanized unless we get out there. i know a lot of folks are working on bus campaigns and efforts to get votes out. we cannot just rest on -- >> let me press you on that point before we get to the democrats' take on this which is it's an issue also just what's a

majoritarian position, right? so, for example, gallup poll found that 63% of republican women believe that decisions about terminating a pregnancy should be between a woman and her doctor, sometimes it's a woman, a doctor, her family and her god. that 63% of republican women, that indicates that this is not a winning issue when always put up at the ballot box. it may be with activist judges, it may be in low turnout primaries but this was massive turnout and some trump voters statistically probably voted to keep abortion legal in kansas. >> right. which goes even more to the point many people who say that this decision should not be left in the hands of nine unelected justices, it should be put in the hands of the people. look, i'm not particularly thrilled with the outcome of this vote in kansas because i support life but i am thrilled with the fact that this is now in the hands of people, the hands of elected people. that's what our democracy is b important decisions like this are made best closest to the people. >> and we should say good people can disagree on this of all

issues. >> right. >> that's a very fair point. >> ayesha, democrats have to be cheering today because this has been their hope that in the wake of the overturning of roe that there would be this massive enthusiasm. hasn't shown up in all polls. election deniers did very well last night but at least in kansas nothing the matter with kansas from democrats' perspective this morning. >> the fact that the people are even weighing in on this i think is a big problem and a big issue that democrats see. this is an issue, abortion and i also was a leader in the marriage equality movement, issues around bodily autonomy, around health care, are best left to individuals and their doctors. the electorate, activist judges, lawmakers should not be deciding what women can do with our bodies. i think that that's the message that we see here. that's why i'm running for congress right now in the new york 18 is because i believe that we should have a government that is for the people, about the people, by the people, but that the people should have equality and they should be able to seek their own decision-making without the

government being in their way. and i believe that that's what we saw in kansas, more so than any ideological tent towards whether someone believes this in abortion or doesn't believe in abortion, we are talking about whether the constitution there should determine how people make medical or health care decision. that's really the key issue. >> if the legislature follows suit, if they follow what the voters want in kansas then where should that take them? >> if the legislators follow suit? >> if the legislature looks at what voters want where should that take them on abortion? >> it should take them nowhere. it should say women should be able to have abortions period, full stop. that's it. >> alice? >> that's the whole key. if they leave things as they are and the majority of people in kansas voted no, which in essence as ayesha said would leave things status quo and would not change the state constitution in kansas and would protect abortion rights for the people in kansas. >> before we go i've got to ask about peter meijer. i mean, his race last night he appears to have lost, but was

close, 3,700 votes. that democratic dccc spend, some 300,000, $400,000 to meddle in his primary nd boost the name idea of his opponent might have been decisive. alice, know that frustrates you as a republican, this is a republican who voted to impeach trump, someone who supported the gun bill. are you ashamed that democrats did that? >> it is disappoint to go me that democrats are funding anybody who is right wing, okay? it is very disappointing and as someone running in a race right now where i am not the establishment-backed candidate it is frustrating when democrats want to try to determine the outcome as opposed to let the people determine the outcome and then get in and support someone who i believe is fundamentally against our values. now, there is a political cat includes around that, i don't necessarily agree with it. >> the saingt moan yus bull crap to put hard earned money of democratic supporters behind republicans who are election

deniers is ridiculous. the hypocrisy behind this is so disgusting because what they are, they are a tool for donald trump's grievances on past elections. so the fact that meyer didn't do well in this is bad for so many reasons. you have democrats who are taking money away from good candidates like ayesha that could help good democrats and they are putting it behind a bad republican who not only is an election denier but also supports trump and a lot of the things that he has done to really be an affront to the confidence that we should have in our election process. >> thank you so much for your perspectives, we appreciate it. so there is evidence this morning that the justice department probe into january 6th is going from simmer to boil. a grand jury has subpoenaed former trump white house counsel pat cipollone and he has already testified before the house select committee as you may be aware of about his old boss' efforts to overturn the 2020 election. now the doj wants to hear from him. this is a major step that

reaches deeper into trump's inner circle. cnn's senior crime and justice correspondent kaitlan polantz is joining us now on this. this is a big deal that they will be hearing from him. >> brianna, it really, really is. and for them to go after pat cipollone to try to lock down what he knew about january 6th just shows how serious, how significant this criminal investigation is into january 6. my colleague pamela brown was able to confirm last night a story first reported by abc news that former white house counsel pat cipollone has been subpoenaed by the federal grand jury that is investigating january 6th out of washington, d.c. and this sort of fact-finding step, it would be the sort of thing where prosecutors would want to talk to cipollone probably about what he spoke to the house select committee about, but also what he was witnessing, what he was hearing in the west wing, maybe things that the house select didn't ask him about, other things he may have witnessed. part of this, too, that pam had

learned when she was doing this reporting is that cipollone and his attorneys are in discussions over access, over executive privilege and whether prosecutors can actually get to trump's statements themselves. that's something that we already know is a brewing fight and a very important one at that because people have the office of the vice president, marc short, greg jacob, they have already been into the grand jury and everything that they said the only thing that they stopped at was being able to share what trump himself was saying. so the justice department is about to go and have a fight over possibly getting access to trump's statements. that is something that could bubble up with cipollone as well. and if we remember back at that house select committee hearing what we've heard of cipollone saying before is that the key thing he had said was that trump was the only person in the white house who didn't want to tell rioters to leave the capitol on january 6th. the house select committee made a very big deal about this, but even when cipollone was

testifying to that at the house select committee he was very hesitant to say exactly what trump said and even to name trump in that circumstance because he kept citing executive privilege. so this could be something that brings us to another court fight, but it really is an aggressive step by investigators to want to bring him into the grand jury and lock down his testimony. >> it was clear that unburdened by what he perceived was that executive privilege he would have talked about it so he will have a lot to say there. thank you so much for the great reporting. first on cnn, court filings show the department of defense wiped the phones of top defense and army officials at the end of the trump administration. deleting any texts about the events surrounding the january 6th attack on the capitol. cnn's whitney wild is live in washington with the story. >> john this, all surfaced when

a government watchdog group american oversight tried to get january 6th records from the former acting secretary of defense christopher miller, former chief of staff kash patel and former secretary of the army ryan mccartney. this reporting from my colleagues shows that this watchdog group filed an initial request for those records just a few days after the capitol attack prior to when some of the officials they were requesting records from left, miller, patel and mccarthy have been viewed as crucial witnesses to understanding the government's response to the january 6 capitol assault and for understanding former president trump's reaction to that capitol breach. all three were involved in the defense department's response to sending the national guard troops to the u.s. capitol as this riot was under folding. certainly a lot of questions. the assumption is that they had substantive information on their phones. that's why this group was suing to seek those records.

they can't get them now, however, at this point there's no suggestion that these officials themselves erased the records, rather when they turned the phones in they were wiped. here is a quote from the government's filing in this case, dod and the army conveyed to the of plaintiff, american oversight that is correct when an employee separates from dod or the army he or she turns in the government-issued phone and the phone is wiped. for those custodians who are no longer with the agency the text messages were not preserved and, therefore, could not be searched, although it's possible that particular text messages could have been saved into other record systems such as email. there are so many unanswered questions here but at this point what's very clear over the last few weeks is that record retention problems are a pattern across government. american oversight is now joining senator dick durbin who heads up the senate judiciary committee, he's calling on doj to investigate the loss of records at other agencies like the department of homeland security, like the secret

service, american oversight wants to see merrick garland take up an investigation into the dod issues here. >> looks like we're going to need a forensic scientist if one of our earlier guests has anything to say about it if any of that data can be retrieved. thank you very much. and joining us now is former defense secretary under president trump, mark esper. sir, thank you so much for being with us. >> thanks, brianna. good to be with you both. >> i do want to get your opinion, your perspective first on these deleted texts. having been someone in that position, knowing about records retention, what is your reaction to learning that these things have gone poof? >> you know, my offense is that the headline is dramatic but when you dig into it you find that it is probably a process that was just executing itself. i mean, your previous report acknowledged from a filing that the department -- under the

biden administration reported it was a normal process to wipe the phones. that's always been my understanding as well. there was reporting elsewhere this morning that a defense official, again, in the biden administration said this was a normal process. look, i think it needs to be looked into, but i think what we will find is that this was just a circumstance of people leaving government two weeks or so after january 6th and their phones being wiped and cleared for the next person to take them. >> the one reason i think there's concerns that this isn't just normal business as usual, normal process, is there's nothing normal of course around january 6th and indeed freedom of information act requests were placed a week after january 6th, well before the transfer of administrations. so, i mean, you as secretary of defense i assume you were acutely aware of presidential record acts and the need to preserve records for the american people who they belong to, weren't you? >> yes, of course you're aware but the bureaucracy largely handles this. this report comes in the wake of

what we've learned, you two reported about the text messes analogies missing from the dod and secret service. i have to tell you from working five times in that building sometimes it takes a request weeks if not months to get to the people that actually end up doing these things. again, i'm not -- i'm not jumping to any conclusions, it needs to be looked into, but my sense is at the end of the day it will come out to be normal process. look, on top of this, too, there was a hearing last year on this topic, i think at least mccarthy and miller have been interviewed by the january 6th committee, this he need to get to the bottom of this as well. we need to let this process play out. >> why considering that we have recent examples of documents that should have been preserved, i mean, this played out during the 2016 election with hillary clinton's emails and a lot of people who didn't know about records preservation became keenly aware and interested in it and it seems like something

that everyone knew these things need to be saved. how do we get to this point where they're just being deleted at dod still? >> yeah, i think that needs to be looked into and probably an update to the legislation that governs this and the rules and regulations in each of the departments. >> by doj? >> i would begin with congress of course. that's the body at the end of the day that's going to have to change the law, but immediately to get to the bottom of this latest report i think the dod ig should look into this fairly quickly and should. >> if you can stand by for us, we will have more with the former secretary here in just a moment, but first those who play with fire will perish, that is a quote china's foreign minister lashing out at house speaker nancy pelosi for her trip to taiwan. after a lengthy fight the senate has passed the bill to expand health care benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. and alex jones taking the stand as parents of sandy hook victims seek damages for his

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while china has stood in the way of taiwan participating and going to certain meetings that they understand that they will not stand in the way of people coming to taiwan. house speaker nancy pelosi defying the chinese with her historic trip to taiwan. pelosi and her congressional delegation left the island this morning, but how significant was her visit and how will it impact long-term u.s. relations with beijing? kaylee at wood joins us now. kylie, what's your read on the diplomatic impact of this trip? >> i think that is yet to be determined because we really don't know how this is going to impact u.s.-china relations but what we are seeing right now is that the increased rhetoric that we saw from china surrounding

this visit, the warnings that there was going to be a response are actually manifesting and the question is what do these military exercises that china is now staging around the entire island of taiwan, how far do they go? because according to taiwan's government they are irrational and what we have seen in terms of these planned exercises is that they are actually going to go into taiwan's territorial waters and that's what we're watching for over the course of the next few days and hours as they carry out these military exercises. do they go closer to taiwan than they have in the past? that would be the escalation. that would be the escalation that secretary of state tony blinken has called for china not to do. so pelosi obviously felt like this was an incredibly important trip for her to make, she didn't mince words while she was visiting with these taiwan leaders, defending taiwan's democracy, but the fallout of the trip is what we are still watching incredibly closely. >> that picture we are seeing of

what china is doing around taiwan, if we can put that back up, it's extraordinary. this looks like a rehearsal for a blockade, right? >> right. and you see at the bottom there just how close some of these exercise right side to taiwan. i mean, there is the expectation that they could come as close as 10 miles to taiwan's coastline. what that would mean is that some people living in taiwan might be able to hear these exercises. so that of course would be incredibly intimidating. it's also something that taiwan would actually do if they were going to invade -- excuse me, china would do if they were going to invade taiwan. so that's the concern here. are they preparing for that eventuality? >> and that sense of intimidation may be the feature not the bug of these exercises. kylie atwood, thank you very much as always. mark esper former defense secretary during the trump administration is back with us. sir, when you look at that, then circling of taiwan and you were

recently back from taiwan yourself, what do you see and how should the u.s. be looking at this and responding to this? >> well, first of all, i give speaker pelosi credit for doing what she d i think she defended a very important principle that the chinese communist party is not going to dictate where american officials travel to. you know, this will be momentous in that regard. and keep in mind, you know, three, four days ago we were talking about the chinese shooting down her airplane or a war starting over that. none of that has happened or likely will happen. i think a week from now this will all be behind that. that said, to your question, brianna, what that looks like is a blockade of taiwan and that is of course what the taiwanese defense officials are calling t when i've talked about this, i've talked about one of the things that the chinese could do at some point down the road is implement a blockade against taiwan, which would be, you know, tough for us and others to deal with. they could basically strangle

the taiwanese economy and compel them to come to the negotiating table to figure out what reunification looks like on their terms. so this is one of the scenarios we always talked about and prepared for when i was secretary of defense. >> and indeed in your memoire which i have right here you write two of the flash points you were most concerned about were china's attempt to go seize taiwan and sort of a blockade or conflict in the straits. i want to ask you to take a step back because, you know, five months or so ago at the beginning of the russia-ukraine conflict the conventional wisdom seemed to be that china would learn, take a note, if you will, from ukraine's resistance and the international community's condemnation and isolation of russia and that maybe they would revert to a more cautious tone with china, more long-term vision which had been the case previously. instead the rhetoric seems to have ractcheted up under xi. what do you think their thinking

is that accounts for that. >> >> when i was in taipei and met with the taiwanese leaders the topic at the time was lessons learned from ukraine. this is important to understand what taipei has learned and what beijing is learning. look, china took a darker turn when xi jinping came to power in 2013. he wants a moderate military from 2035 and by 2049 wants to d displays united states as the world's leading power. i write about this in my book, i talked about the need now to, you know, relook our one china policy because i don't think it's credible enough, durable enough, principled enough to stand up and bear the weight of some heavy decisions we are going to have to take in the coming years. >> i'm sure you saw former president trump met with hungary's prime minister viktor orban yesterday ahead of orban giving a people at cpac.

what do you think of this? what message does this send? >> well, you know, the hungarian leader is an outlier, if you will, within nato in terms of his nationalistic views and things he's said. you know, i don't understand why he would be there and what that means. i think it's important, again, in the context of europe that we stand up to russia. i write again about this in my book, about the need to push more forces further east toward the russian front line. it's important that the western democracies stand up against the autocracies of the world and the autocracies led by vladimir putin and xi jinping and that's why, again, i give speaker pelosi credit for going and asserting that principle and drawing the lines. this is important. what's happening right now, i think, john, you asked this, so much this have latest flare-up with china is all about domestic politics in china where xi jinping is now seeking an unprecedented third term as general secretary of the party. so in my talks in taipei this was the other big item of concern for them is what happens

in november at the 20th party congress and then in the months following that once xi jinping is reaffirmed as chinese -- china's leader. >> all right. mark esper, thank you so much for being with us this morning. >> thank you both. great to be with you. the parents of two -- the parents of students killed in two school shootings, sandy hook and parkland, making emotional testimonies in court. >> we have an empty bedroom in our house. there is an empty chair at our dining table. >> i can't even describe the last nine and a half years of the living hell. research shows that people remember ads with young people having a good time.

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today testimony continues in two key trials where families of school shooting victims are taking the stand. in florida loved ones of the victims killed in the 2018 shooting at parkland high school describing their sorrow to jurors who will decide the

gunman's fate. and in texas parents of children murdered in the 2012 sandy hook elementary shooting testifying that right wing conspiracy theorist alex jones has tortured them for years. >> there's records of jesse's birth, of me. i mean, i have -- i have a history and there's nothing that you could have found because it doesn't exist that i'm deep state. it's just not true. i know you know that. that's the problem. i know you know that. and you keep saying it. you keep saying it. why? why? for money? >> when it's stated that jesse's was fake, that is an indication that he didn't exist and he didn't -- he did live. i was blessed with him for six

and a half years. >> joining us now is cnn anchor and national correspondent erica hill. erica, it still -- you know, when you hear a father say i was blessed to have him for six and a half years, it just guts you every time. what's at stake in these trials isn't obviously -- there is no way to bring those children back, but the fact that the lies and the monetizing of lies and misinformation was compounded the family's pain. >> right. i'm sorry, go ahead. >> and i just want to get your sense of what happened yesterday and then i want you to respond to a judge really calling out his persistent pattern of lying. >> so in terms of that, and i think we do have that sound if we want to play it from the journal, to your point -- and i will get to that in just one second but your point to what these trials are about as we heard from scarlett lewis, jessie lewis' mom on the stand yesterday and spoke directly to alex jones, she said she wanted to speak directly to him. she said we've asked you to stop

lying. we've asked you, implored you, and you haven't and you continue to repeat -- obviously i'm paraphrasing here, but you continue to repeat these lies. we're hoping that maybe, maybe by having a large financial judgment maybe that will finally compel you to stop telling these lies. that's how we got to this point, right, where we're hearing this testimony. but you're right, it wasn't just scarlett lewis who was calling out alex jones, it was the judge as well and i think we have that sound. >> it seems absurd to instruct you again that you must tell the truth while you testify, yet here i am. you must tell the truth while you testify. this is not your show. >> and an interesting note there on her saying this is not your show. you testimony we heard yesterday was from jessie louis' parents, they both testified but separately. in the morning his father neil heslin was speaking and the attorney played part of alex

jones, he didn't show up until after lunch, but played part of his show during that testimony. just saying, look, they are here testifying. he's doing this. and when scarlett lewis had the opportunity after lunch to speak directly to him one of the things she said to him is she said i'm real. my child was real. i gave birth. there are records to all of this. she said i want you to stop doing it to him and directly said to him you're going to do this again and he shook his head no and she said but you just did it this morning. you just did it today. >> when she's talking about the pain of being -- having a child shot in the forehead and then the pain compounded by someone saying it's a hoax, it's unbelievable to hear her have to say that. >> yeah. >> you just can't get away from this stuff but the parkland shooter's trial is continuing today and we heard tearful testimony from grieving parents. this is some of it. >> i still look over at the passenger's seat and reach over

and pretend i'm touching his cheek or putting my hand on his shoulder. >> our hearts will forever be broken. we will always live with excruciating pain. >> she was supposed to get married and i was going to -- my father/daughter dance. >> the jury here is deciding if he gets the death penalty or if he gets life. >> right. this is the third week of the penalty phase here and the jury will decide -- they have to be unanimous, though, in that decision and they will make the recommendation to the judge, up to the judge, whether or not he wants to follow it. the prosecution is asking for the death penalty. defense wants life without parole. these moments, though, while the gunman who pleaded guilty, right, did not show any visible emotion in court, a defense attorney at least two jurors

were seen wiping away tears as these parents talked about the lives their children had led and the lives that they would not be able to lead. >> the defense attorney? >> yeah. how can you not? how can you not? if you have children the pain these families have gone through, the thought of losing a child that way, shakes you to your heart and soul. >> yeah. i mean, yes, we are all parents and it utterly guts you as a parent, but you look at this and you listen to these moments, if you are not impacted by that, i have to say personally it just raises questions, right? >> the pain of listening to it and then you think of the pain of living it. >> every day. >> you know? >> unimaginable. erica, thank you very much. all right. ahead, we're going to be joined by congressman adam kinzinger on the latest developments in the justice department's 2020 election probe. and the senate finally passing legislation to expand health care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. we will speak to the veterans'

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and so last night i fulfilled my promise to him and i know he's looking down so proud of me, but there's nothing in this bill that benefits our family, except the satisfaction of knowing we won't have to watch any other families suffer like we did. this morning a bill to expand health care for millions of veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins during their military service is finally headed to biden's desk. the billed was held up last week by republicans but passed

overwhelmingly yesterday by a vote of 86-11. joining us now on this is the secretary of veterans' affairs denis mcdonough. this is a big day and veterans have been waiting for this for a while. when is the president going to sign this? when does implementation start? >> well, brianna, thanks so much and i know you personally given your own -- [ inaudible ] troopers across the country. the president wants to sign it as quickly as he can, we're working through that now. he called for this, as you know, as the central part of his unity agenda in the state of the union earlier in year. urged congress to get it done, put aside our differences to get it done as quickly as possible and i think 86 votes in the senate is a pretty good sign on that. as it relates to implementation, we've been getting ready for this over the course of the year so we will be ready just as soon as the president -- making sure that we [ inaudible ] -- access

to health care with the dispatch and with the urgency that this situation demands. >> president biden he called in over the weekend to speak with folks who were protesting outside of congress, but he's largely been pretty hands-off with this. it means a lot to him personally, though. he has said he believes his son beau died from glioblastoma which is covered now because of this bill from his service near a massive burn pit in iraq. have you spoken to the president about what this means to him? >> yeah, brianna, thanks so much. i mean, the -- called for it in the state of the union, it was a central plank of his agenda and i think frankly without the president demanding it i don't think it would have gotten done. but, yeah, i have talked to him about this and, do you know what, the bottom line is

obviously as we have all witnessed as a country, beau biden, major beau biden is front and center in the president's thinking all the time but this bill overwhelmingly in the president's view was about others, about what moms like the one about spouses, about kids, and about vets themselves. and so this was, obviously, something that the president had beau in mind on, but at the end of the day, the most important thing he always underscored to me, including just last night, is that this was about all the vets across the country who, you know, for 30 years now have had to wait for this. that's just too long. >> senator rand paul, who has touted his family's history of military service at veterans events, but has not himself served, voted against the bill and said this on the senate floor yesterday.

>> we must take care of our veterans and keep our country strong. this bill puts our economy, though, at risk by creating presumptions of service connection for the most common of ailments. >> he mentioned hypertension for vietnam era vets. he mentioned asthma for global war on terror era vets. what do you say to that? >> the president calls what we do at the department of veterans affairs our one truly sacred obligation as a country. you have to prepare and equip our troops and we send them into war and we care for them and their families when we get home, full stop. and so i don't see how it puts our economy at risk. i do see that this bill has everything we do at va with a world class providers, world class team we have there. as a manifestation of our part of that sacred obligation after our troopers, like your husband, by the way, when they raised their right hand and swear an

oath to defend this country, we owe them this at the very least. we owe them, their families, their caregivers, their survivors. that's what we're going to do at va. >> secretary, thank you for being with us. we'll be watching here in the coming days to see when this officially crosses the finish line. thank you. >> thank you so much, brianna. >> we'll also have some more on last night's primary races and one key race that is still in play. we have john king and david axelrod joining us ahead. i'm no, but i invest in invesco qqq, which gives me access to wearable training optimization tech. become an agent of innovation... i'm done. with invesco qqq. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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wherever you may be. >> reporter: vin scully, the revered face of the dodgers, worthy of a yearbook cover. flip inside and see the school boy who always wanted to become a sportscaster. >> we had a big old radio on four legs and i would crawl underneath the radio so that the speaker was directly over my face. and i would be listening to a game that meant absolutely nothing to me. alabama, mississippi. but what intrigued me and thrilled me was the roar of the crowd. >> reporter: the captivated youngster went on to play center field at fordham university, graduating with a degree in radio. scully broke in as an announcer with the brooklyn dodgers in 1950 as the yearbook shows. mentored by legends connie desmond and especially red barber. >> he was indeed another father and eventually, many, many years later he wrote in a column, maybe i was the son that he had never had.

maybe the red hair had something to do with it, but we were that close. >> reporter: scully would make any father proud. lauded by critics, including the author of voices of the game. >> i think anyone who really has studied baseball broadcasting or indeed heard vin scully would agree that scully is the roy hobbs of baseball broadcasting, the best there ever was. he converted more casual fans into more hardened fans and nonbaseball fans into baseball fanatics than virtually any any broadcaster i can think of. >> reporter: what words can describe scully's words, lyrical, poetic, master storyteller. >> that 75 club which bowed finally to the big red machine. >> reporter: but scully thinks he made his mark with silence, by not overannouncing the moment. >> she is gone! >> reporter: when kirk gibson hit the dramatic home run to beat the oakland a's in the world series, scully didn't say

a word for more than a minute. then -- >> in a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. >> reporter: scully called the new york mets comeback against the red sox in the 1986 world series -- >> first, behind the bag! it gets through buckner! the mets win it. >> reporter: he also delved into football, calling the catch, montana to clark, in the 49ers' famous playoff win over the cowboys. >> throwing in the end zone! clark caught it! >> reporter: scully's popularity often exceeded the players. he served as grand marshal of the rose parade in the bowl game. in 2016, he signed off for the last time as a regular broadcaster after 67 seasons calling dodgers games. weeks before hanging up his mic, scully riveted a crowd at the reagan library. >> if i have a trademark, it would be to call the play as quickly and as accurately as i

possibly can, and then shut up. and listen to the roar of the crowd. and even to this day, when that crowd roars, i'm that little 8-year-old kid curled underneath the radio back in new york city, listening to alabama/tennessee. good morning to viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. it is wednesday, august 3rd. i'm brianna keilar with john avlon in for john berman this morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. overnight, what is being called a political earthquake, a resounding win for abortion rights in the state of kansas. voters overwhelmingly rejecting a ballot measure that would have allowed lawmakers to ban abortion in the state. it was also a win for election denialism. in several key primary races. in arizona, kari lake is leading karrin taylor robson for governor.