breaking news tonight. what did donald trump just say? controversy erupting as we come on the air after we hear what he said about clinton, the second amendment and justice. and babies i critical care being urgently moved after a potentially deadly bacteria is discovered. ferris wheel accident, children being hospitalized after a terrible fall raising questions about safety. who's regulating all those rides? and golden statement. an american champion caught in a cold war against a russian

in prime time tonight. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news with lester holt" reporting tonight from the olympic summer games in rio. good evening from brazil and from barra olympic park after another very good day from team usa. 'l the action here ahead. but we want to start here at home with donald trump and a potential new controversy simmering tonight, starting with what was alleged a joke, but implied violence. note that it comes as our new poll shows trump's efforts to regain lost ground have expose new weakness among what has been his stronger core of support. halle jackson has late

under fire for this. >> if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is, i don't know. >> reporter: the clinton campaign believes trump's suggesting violence. saying, quote, what trump is saying is dangerous. democratic senator chris murphy calling it an assassination threat. listen again. >> if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. al there is, i don't know. >> reporter: trump's team argued second amendment people are, quote, tremendously united which gives them great political power. a top advisor saying it's totally ridiculous that trump made an assassination request. and and trump is right, if hillary clinton gets to pick supreme court judges,

do. >> if he's suggesting violence against his opponent, i think most americans would say that's something we don't condone and you should not be president of the united states. >> reporter: a fire storm yet again for trump, new signs that the gop candidate is in trouble with his base. >> everything i'm thinking, i'm going to say and sometimes some things are better left unsaid. >> reporter: trump's lost support with white men over the last two weeks as they begin to back hillary clinton instead. our nbc monkey online poll now showing a double digit flip among white men without a college education, his most dependable source of support until now. and among all white voters with college degrees, it's clinton getting stronger in blue state battlegrounds. >> it's happening at a time when many moderate republicans are abandoning trump

that's not a coincidence. >> reporter: and one of those republicans, susan collins, now says she cannot vote for trump, which may open the door for other members of the gop to do the same. susan collins said she doesn't think that trump was trying to incite violence with his remarks, but is condemning him for his loose language. a hospital in maryland has moved its newborns in critical care to other hospitals after a potentially deadly discovered. and the hospital is looking into weather the deaths of two infants could be connected. nbc's pete williams has late details. >> reporter: all nine infants in a neonata intensive care unit in suburban washington, d.c. have been moved to other hospitals after the discovery of deadly bacteria for hospital newborns. the hospital says two infants in the unit have recently died.

that tells. >> reporter: three of the nine patients tested positive of the bacteria u but none of them showed symptoms of the bacteria. it can be deadly for newborns who don't have hearty immune systems. >> these infections can have grave consequences for the centers for disease control says clinics and hospitals report over 50,000 sud moan us in infections a year, 60,000 of them drug resistant. two newborns died from it ten years ago at a los angeles hospital and it killed four infants in 2012 in the uk. they believe the

hospital through an infected water pipe. there was no end to the nightmare for thousands of traveler s today as delta airlines recovers from a system outage. and today the airline cancelled another 680 flights. nbc's kerry sanders is at delta's hub in atlanta. >> reporter: tonight delta can't say how many flights have been delayed, but we do flow the number of delta flights cancelled in the few days now stands at 1,600. tonight there are frustrated and exhausted passengers here in atlanta and around the world still trying to get from point a to point b, including a woman wearing her wedding dress. delta airlines says it has narrowed the problem down to a power surge that took out a computer module and the backup system also failed. lester? >> kerry sanders in atlanta, thank you. new questions are being raised about the

after something went terribly wrong in a county fair in tennessee. two girls are in the hospital after plunging off of a ferris wheel and another boy was injured in kansas. >> reporter: a ferris wheel basket overturned at tennessee's greene county fair. >> we have had a major incident at the ferris wheel. there's been at least three fall out. >> reporter: three children plungin >> there's no rocking, i didn't think it was such a big deal. most people rock it anyway. >> reporter: this accident follows the death of a 10-year-old boy at a water park in kansas. the national consumer products safety commission estimates 7,000 people went to emergency rooms last year for ride related injuries. there are no federal regulations for amusement rides and specifics vary widely across the country.

comprehensive government inspection programs. and nine states have partial oversight and six states have no regulations. >> we need consistent regulations, consistent standards across the board. we need these protocols and we need them now. >> reporter: the international association of amusement parks and attractions tells nbc news safety is it's top priority, saying there's no evidence federal oversight would safety of the industry. third party inspectors were brought in today to look at all the rides. >> it looks at this point that it was mechanical failure that caused this. >> reporter: tonight the rest of the fair is open, as investigators try to piece together what went wrong. a representative for the company that owns this ferris wheel says its thoughts are with the family of the girls who were injured, they range in age from 6 to 16 years old and tonight the

lester. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you very much. let's move to rio de janeiro and it has been a big day for team usa here, it could be a spectacular night as the americans look to make even more history. we're not going to report any results that haven't already been widely reported. but ahead of our prime time action, we can tell you, as expected, the american women's gymnastic's team was golden. this as the biggest names in u.s. swimming are getting set for giant >> reporter: the american women keep setting the bar. >> it's critical, this combination. >> reporter: team usa led by simone biles, the smallest athlete with the biggest impact. today the first ever back to back team gold. moments ago, simone biles on the win. >> i felt like i would cry, but i'm too happy to cry right now, but

like a dream. >> reporter: with the russians fighting to make the podium, there's backlash from their doping scandal every day. >> and you're hear boos as team russia comes out. >> reporter: the backlash came to a head last night. >> she is one controversial figure along with an entire country. >> reporter: swimmer yulia last night. king exploded through the water and off the wall. the american beating the russian. striking gold, making the statement in thewater and taking a stand out of the pool. >> we can still compete clean and do well at the olympic games and that's how it should be. efimova called it

the duel in the pool, the tension with rival south african chad le clos. >> le clos still continues to look over at michael phelps. >> reporter: both men easily qualified for the 200 meter butterfly, le clos, the defending champ, phelps, the greatest ever. tonight gold is on the line and history is at bay. with manco security getting into the venues, ticket sales haven't a problem. and once people get inside, they're witnessing the best athletes on the plant. we're getting a rare look this morning at striking images inside a city under siege. fighting as escalated in syria's largest city between the rebel coalition there and government forces and now the u.n. is warning of a humanitarian disaster with some 2 million

we get the latest from nbc's bill neely. >> reporter: in a city of ruins, the most intense fighting in five years. it's rebels against the regime, neither able to win, neither willing to give up. and caught in the middle in aleppo, more than a million people. like this man. screaming, where is my son? his child buried, dead. the u.n. today called for a cease fire, warning of a the last full day of running water here was a month ago. but the u.n.'s plea may fall on deaf ears because rebels in regimes aim to encircle and destroy each other. they each control half of aleppo. rebels broke a regime

but a russian air strike is relentless. this teacher sends updates every day. it's slaughter without mercy, this man's wife lies dead before him. then he raises his arms for the body of his baby son. babies are born into a world of dust. aleppo's only miracle is that anything is left standing. syria's oldest city, dying like the people in it. biee and there's more to tell you about as we continue here tonight. some say she may be the best of all time, we're at home with a superstar american gymnast, simone ? ? the ford freedom sales event is on! our biggest event of the year just got better! ? ? announcing zero for seventy-two across the entire lineup of ford cars, trucks and suvs.

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her sport, making the 4'9", 19-year-old a little uncomfortable. >> i just don't feel like i'm up to the expectation yet, so i kind of just blow it off. >> reporter: what makes her even more remark is her story, simone's mother struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and her father was never really there. by age 3, she was in foster care. >> i got a call from child services and said that my children were in a foster home in ohio. so i said send them to me. >> reporter: not long after adopting them, simone was jumping off the walls, the furniture and just about everything else. >> she was so tiny and it scared me to death, but it did not scare her at all. >> reporter: there was no other option, at age 6, she started

cart wheels and stuff like that, but i could always do them on the playground, so i thought that was pretty cool. >> reporter: simone and her sister are both gymnasts so they are extremely close. family meals are a chorus of giggles. like most teenagers her bedroom is her sanctuary, lots of trophies and lots of medals. she has a poster of zack efron. >> you come in and give him a little kiss? >> yeah, it's a little strange. >> reporter: that playful spirit is a big part of who simone is. watch as she outruns a bee at the 2014 world championships. even facing the pressure of rio, she manages a laugh. the bar is high for rio, thanks to yourself, is that inspiring or

terrifying because i don't want to let anybody down, but exciting just to know that i have done and accomplished so much. hopefully i can continue to do that. >> reporter: simone biles has four more chances to win gold, she's heavily favored to win all of them, if she does, she's got the record. >> certainly one of the most talked about athletes here at these games. we're my belly pain and constipation? they keep telling me "drink more water." "exercise more." i know that. "try laxatives..." i know. believe me. it's like i've. tried. everything! my chronic constipation keeps coming back. i know that. tell me something i don't know. (vo) linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation, or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass.

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there is grim news from chicago tonight, a 10-year-old boy playing with his twin sister was the ninth person shot as that city marked its deadliest day in 2016. 19 people were shot at, nine killed. it's is most violent day there in 2016.

southern california has now exploded in size, burning more than 1,700 acres, the flames have forced thousands to evacuate and shut down a number of area schools, thousands of homes now threatened there. an incredible sight caught on camera, video showing a massive dust storm moving through phoenix, strong winds dropping visibility at the airports to just a fraction of a mile. it was triggered by av away in tucson, where away in tucson, where flooding water forced rescued flooding water forced terry bradshaw? what a surprise! you know what else is a surprise? shingles. and how it can hit you out of nowhere. i know. i had it. c'mon let's sit down and talk about it. and did you know that one in three people will get shingles? (all) no. that's why i'm reminding people if you had chickenpox then the shingles virus is already inside you. (all) oooh. who's had chickenpox? scoot over. and look that nasty rash can pop up anywhere

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24 hours. zero heartburn. finally tonight. we bring you one here in rio, the usa rugby team which scored a big win today and takes the field against tomorrow. our ron mott talks with the man who has been called the fastest in the sport. >> reporter: it's a big part of what still motivates him today at age 26. >> if i quit, then they win. >> reporter: growing up, he had good reason to think he didn't

enough to eat, couldn't read. a bleak start for certain. >> i had a picture i wanted to paint for myself and my life and i wasn't going to let anybody dab my paint brush in their paint because then it would become theirs. >> reporter: now a run away sensation in a sport few americans know, not just pretty good, fastest in the world good. in rio, he and an upstart american team hope to go home with a respectful showing if not a medical a-- of course the reminders

tattoo that didn't go over so well with his mom, who adopted him and his sister when they were 7. >> i was like, what are you doing? and it's a big old necklace that says focus, but that was his words of determination. he's a hard worker and when he wants to do something, he goes for it and he doesn't give up at all. >> reporter: that drive and rare athletic tam lent left one gym awe, he paid for his training. >> reporter: the pitch is his canvass and carlo nils is ready to create a masterpiece. >> it didn't matter how much money you have, no matter how many parents you have, you don't have to be your circumstances. you can change your picture how you want

>> ron mott, nbc news, rio. that's going to do it for us on this tuesday, it will be a big night for swimming and gymnastics, i'm lester holt, for >> the bay area is tracking down some thieves. plus, more rain, more flooding. when will our weather get back to normal?

>> right now on newschannel8 at 7:00. >> good evening. south tampa has a burglary epidemic with 22 break-ins