Good morning. Im pat lawson news. We start on capitol hill where we are keeping a close eye on republican efforts in the house to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act. Procedural votes and the date related to the bill is happening right now. The final vote is expected to begin about 1 30. Todays vote comes after weeks of negotiations by Republican Leaders to get a majority of their members to back that bill. And its a sign that leaders have the numbers to pass it. Weve broken down the key changes to the plan. So here are four things to know about it. It aims to protect people with preexisting conditions. Yesterday house members added the measure to get more lawmakers on board. Itll cost 8 billion. States would be able to opt out of the requirement that ensurers cover benefits like maternity care, Mental Health care, and hospitalizations. States that do opt out could charge people with preexisting conditions much more. Those folks would go into high Risk Insurance pools. And the b
Incidents . The tone of the town hall stayed positive. Issues like this will continue to happen in the future. Not just here at au, but around the country as well. Now we have the opportunity to be proactive and to help create a procedure so that members of our community can have a level of transparency and support that is necessary when dealing with biasrelated incidents in the future. Reporter of course prompting the town hall meeting today, the banana incidents on monday, those hate crimes. This is Surveillance Video from Campus Police of the person of interest in this case. They are still looking for that person. Theres a 1,000 reward. Coming up, wendy, tonight at 6 00, whether students at the town hall meeting found it to be productive. Back to you. Thanks, kristin. Congresswomen who are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority are strongly denouncing this incidentnd joined that group on capitol hill this afternoon. The group noted the symbolism of hanging fruit, recalling the dark p
Students, staff and alumni, packed into a town hall meeting at American University today. Coming together for a common goal, to fight racism. The Student Government organized the meeting after racist displays were found on the campus. Kristin wright talked to students. Did they feel like this meeting was productive . Reporter yeah, students told us they felt like the twohour town hall was productive. The Student Government association said it will not be the last. I believe this was a Tipping Point that officially caused everyone to say, enough is enough. The outcry at American University. Reporte i never imagined i would become the president or the target of a hate crime. Reporter Taylor Dumpson called this town hall meeting, students want stronger defined campus protocols on hate crimes and other biasrelated incidents. They want au police to track the number of hate crimes and they want to know what happens during and after an investigation. Im really glad that we had this open forum
The president today would be dancing in the streets. Reporter perhaps more controversial the timing as the fbi investigates possible ties between russia and the trump campaign. Sources on capitol hill tell that comey asked for more money and more power for that investigation just days before his firing but the Justice Department says thats not true. That has democrats crying foul and demanding an independent prosecutor. There is a clear and present danger of a coverup. It certainly appears that the president is trying to frustrate this investigation, trying to upend it. Reporter the white house insists Rod Rosenstein recommended comeys firing. The president over the last several months lost confidence in director comey. The doj lost confidence in director comey. Reporter for President Trump today an Oval Office Meeting with russias top diplomat and russians u. S. Ambassador center. Reporter in a tweet of his own the president lashing out at critics of comeys termination promising when
Reporting that a Current White House official is a significant person of interest in the investigation. Up until now, most of the focus had been on former officials, like mike flynn and paul manafort. Minutes before that story broke, this headline from the New York Times. Trump told russians that firing nut job comey eased pressure from investigation. The president reportedly made the comments during his meeting in the oval office earlier this month. Press Secretary Sean Spicer did not refute the times report. He said comey politicized the investigation and put unnecessary pressure on the ability to negotiate with russia. Now in terms of the Washington Post report, spicer would only say an investigation would only prove there was no collusion. All of this as the president is on his way to saudi arabia. Wendy . Thanks, chris. Now, we have new information about a string of unusual events that caused such a scene in the middle of the morning rush rims. The tires were shot. On the streets