Weve got the new audio, first obtained by the washington post, in which President Trumps own sister allegedly describes him as a liar and a phony. The change of stories, the lack of preparation, the lying. Why niece mary trump said she recorded it. Does it back up her accusations that the president had someone else take his s. A. T. S . New this morning more from that abc news exclusive. Our own Robin Roberts and david muir sitting down with joe biden and Kamala Harris. It was an easy decision to make, although theres an enormous number of really qualified women. Why he says he picked harris to be his running mate. And school setbacks. College students returning to their dorms, hearing the news about escalating outbreaks. Hundreds placed in quarantine. With random testing required. Plus, the fears for teachers in School Districts about returning to work. Good morning. The coronavirus toll hitting sad, new highs overnight. 23 million cases globally and more than 800,000 deaths. All the latest on the pandemic ahead. Thats coming up. But we start here with the dangerous weather situation in the gulf of mexico, marco and laura both forecasted to hit the u. S. As hurricanes, one right after the other. And hurricane warnings are already in effect on parts of the gulf coast as people in new orleans prepare for the possibility of a onetwo punch. Our rob marciano is there watching the track. Rob, good morning. Reporter good morning, whit. Boy, did we see a in the forecast of marco which at this time yesterday was going to go into texas on tuesday. Now looks like louisiana tomorrow. This as we approach the 15year anniversary of hurricane katrina, and we all know what that did to this city. We could very well have two hurricanes hitting the state of louisiana. Heres what laura did to puerto rico yesterday. That u. S. Territory taking wind and heavy rain. At one point, over 100,000 people without power. Laura is the bigger storm. You see on the satellite picture, over the dominican republic. Marco, the smaller storm, but small storms can often intensify quickly if they have the right conditions. Marco doesnt have everything going right for it, so we dont expect it to become a category 1. It will likely make landfall near new orleans tomorrow afternoon, going into much of louisiana. Laura heading across the spine of cuba, not intensifying until it hits the gulf of mexico, tuesday, wednesday, at which point it will be favorable for strengthening, and were looking for a category 1, 2, maybe 3 across louisiana or texas later in the week. Tracking both these potentially historic storms, whit. We know youll be watching it very closely, rob. Thank you. We do want to turn now to the desperate battle against some of the largest wildfires in californias history. A new milestone, more than a million acres burned. Tens of thousands of people forced out of their homes. Abcs Kaylee Hartung joins us, from felton, california, and kaylee, more dangerous weather expected again today. Reporter good morning, whit. This is all thats left of a home. That appears to be the kitchen right there. This is the nightmare scenario for so many, and now it is a race against the clock for fire crews. This morning, dramatic new images. Homes engulfed in flames. As two of the largest fires in californias recorded history burn more than a million acres across the state. Mes and rs strikes expected today. Ramping up the danger for firefighters. Nearly 12,000 strikes in the past week, responsible for sparking hundreds of fires. We do have some incoming weather thats very concerning to us. Reporter hot spots like th ancis heat ere. Thsme is incredibly thick. Crews working to put it out before theajor fires pull crews in all directions. The erratic winds, the steep terrain, the heavy fuel, the trees that are falling, thats one of the biggest hazards out here. Reporter new rescue video showing harrowing conditions for those on the front lines. Im going to get you out of here, okay . Okay. Reporter a sheriffs helicopter saving two firefighters trapped north of san francisco. Using a hundredfootlong line to reach them. Flames just 75 yards away. Thick smoke blanketing most of northern california. And this view from the sky showing just how vast these fires are. More than 100,000 evuad. Noin b it possible. Reporter this is the scene were seeing throughout this area. Look how hot the fire is burning. This glass from the front of this rv is melted like laffy taffy, and the twlhreat is not over, dan. Kaylee hartung, thank you. Please stay safe out there. We move to politics and President Trumps response this morning to report of a secret recording in which his own sister reportedly says the the president has no principles and cant be trusted. The story first appeared in the washington post, and abcs rachel scott is in washington with much more. Rachel, good morning to you. Reporter dan, good morning. This newly released audio comes just hours before the Republican National convention is set to kick off. The president s own sister reportedly describing him as a cruel, phony liar who cannot bee rebuke of President Trump reportedly from his own sister. Describing him as a phony and a liar who only cares about himself. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy [ bleep ]. I mean, what theyre doing with the kids at the border. Reporter in this audio obtained by the washington post, Maryanne Trump Barry allegedly said that the president cant be trusted, saying her brother has no principles. None. Donald is out for donald. Period. Reporter taking aim at his controversial zero tolerance immigration policy. Claiming all he wants to do is appeal to his base. At another point saying, its the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel. The reported 15 hours of conversation havent been verified by abc news. The post reports that it was secretly recorded by the president s niece mary trump in 2018 and 2019. Her recent book accused the president of cheat of life. You do have one potentially explosive allegation in the book, at least one, and you write that when the president was trying to transfer from fordham to penn he had someone else, a man named joe shapiro take his s. A. T. S . Yes. This was 1964. How do you know that . I have been told this by people in my family. I am absolutely confident that its true. Reporter the audio appears to reveal that Maryanne Trump Barry was one of those relatives. He was a brat. He went to fordham for one year and then he got into university of pennsylvania because he had somebody take his exams. No way. He had somebody take his entrance exams . S. A. T. S or whatever. Oh, jesus thats what i believe. I even remember the name. I did his homework for him. Reporter in a statement, a spokesperson for mary trump said, she felt it prudent to tape conversations in order to protect yourself, anticipating litigation over a family inheritance dispute. The trump family rift now deepening, just days after the president held a Funeral Service for his late Brother Robert at the white house. President trump has responded in a statement to abc news saying, quote, every day its something else, who cares. I miss my brother and ill continue to work hard for the american people. Not everyone agrees but the results are obvious. Our country will soon be stronger than ever before. The white house has previously that s. A. T. Allegation absurd and completely false. Dan . Rachel scott reporting in from washington. Thank you. One programming note abc news will provide gavel to gavel coverage of the Republican National convention monday through thursday starting at 7 00 eastern on abc news live and 10 00 eastern on abc. Eva, over to you. The democratic National Convention proved to be a boost for the candidates. Joe biden seeing his favorability rating gain to 45 . According to a just released abc ipsos poll. Senator Kamala Harris also seeing her favorability rise six points to 41 among americans. In an exclusive abc news interview with Robin Roberts and david muir, robin asking the democratic nominee about why he chose harris as his running mate. Theres a connection there that im going to talk more about where it comes to beau and other aspects of family. You alluded, mr. Vice president , about the fact you made it clear early on that you were going to select a woman to be your running mate. You selected a woman of color. Did you do that to rally your base . Did you feel pressure to select a black woman . No. I didnt feel pressure to select a black woman. What i do think, and ive said it before, and youve heard me say it. Ive probably said it on your show. The government should look like the people, look like the country, 51 of the people in this country are women that, as that old expression goes, women hold a path to sky. In order to be able to succeed, youve got to be dealt in across the board. No matter what you say, i cannot understand and fully appreciate what it means to walk in her shoes, to be an africanamerican woman with an indianamerican background, a child of immigrants. She cant assume what its like to walk in my shoes. What i do know is we have the same value set, and i really mean that, so it was easy for me. It was an easy decision to make. Although there were an enormous number of really qualified women. I spoke to every single woman that was on the list before and as the day i made the choice. Before anything was announced, i called every single one of them. So what was the Tipping Point . The Tipping Point was there were several things, but it just seemed to fit the closest and the best. I thought i understood. I think i understand where she comes from, what her instincts are, her character. I watched her take on the big banks. I watched her take on the gun lobby. I watched her the way she was a prosecutor. I watched her as a United States senator, you know, shes an incredible woman who just and on the Judiciary Committee which i used to chair for years. I watched her insist on getting the answers and not relenting until she got the answers, and so i just it just seemed to fit. And you can watch the rest of robin and davids exclusive joint interview with joe biden and Kamala Harris on a 20 20 special airing tonight right here on abc. We do want to move on to the mounting concerns about mailin voting. Congress convening this weekend in the middle of its recess to boost funding for the Postal Service to help handle the expected influx of ballots. Abcs alex presha has more. As reporter this morning, with thblelock the Postal Service, returning from its summer recess in a rare, weekend vote. Looking to protect mailin voting. A move criticized by the president as a moneywasting hoax. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi firing back. Look. Dont pay any attention to what the president is saying because it is all designed to suppress the vote. Reporter louis dejoy, the new postmaster general appointed by donald trump, has come under fire for costcutting measures that have slowed mail delivery. Critics on both sides worry it could put mailin ballots in jeopardy. The bill will prioritize all electionrelated mail. It includes a 25 billion grant to help cover what will likely be the largest mailin ballots in history. With the senate refusing to take up the bill, the package may be dead in the water. We serve everybody no matter who we are, where we live, we process and sort in delivering mail to 160 million addresses a day. Nobody wants that jeopardized. Its not a political issue. Reporter Speaker Nancy Pelosi said this would be a bipartisan bill. It was. 26 republicans going along with democrats to pass it. But make no mistake. This issue cuts along party lines. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell has called post office concerns overblown conspiracy theories. Louis dejoy will testify in front of the House Oversight committee tomorrow. Dan. Alex in washington. Thank you, alex. Well move on now to the pandemic and troubling reports this morning from several major american universities. Were talking about hundreds of new cases on campus, with some students under quarantine. Abcs trevor ault is here with more. Trevor, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, dan. A lot of these universities are only a few weeks into their school year and these announcements seem to keep coming. A Georgia Tech Fraternity with 17 cases in a single house. North carolina with nine separate clusters in residents halls and greek buildings, and now, millions of College Students who are paying rategies at tryingarngap rges. Es to slow it down. Reporter at texas a m, hundreds of students from two sororities have been told to quarantine. After 14 of their members tested positive. The university of notre dame responding to its 372 cases by rolling out random student testing and the controversial Instagram Account has been removed after promoting hoax 19 parties at Arizona State university. Thats a very easy wa ruin it for a whole lot of people who, like, worked hard to come here. Reporter as many school districtk tisaying some districts arhediours fm g posive tests to the p instead, having them announced through the health department. If covid is in the school and were relying on department, potentially many more children can be exposed. Reporter and some teachers continue to push back against inperson learning. This woman lost her mother to covid19, but says she has no choice but to work. I dont feel safe at times with this and after my mothers death its just im really afraid. Reporter now that President Trump has classified teachers as Critical Infrastructure workers, School Districts could potentially hold asymptomatic teachers exempt from quarantine even if theyve been exposed. What theyre literally saying is that we dont care youre a carrier, get in there anyway. This is just not worth it. Reporter of course, the School Districts turning into virtual learning. They are running into their own problems. An Associated Press investigation found there is a shortage of millions of laptops at those districts that desperately need to keep their students connected. Eva . Students definitely need those laptops. Thank you, trevor. Now to antigovernment protests in belarus, thousands of people taking to the streets right now, demanding the resignation of the man whos been in power for 26 years. Abcs ian pannell had an exclusive interview with the Opposition Leader. And joins us from neighboring lithuania. Good morning, ian. Reporter yeah, good morning, eva. Thats right. Were seeing incredible scenes from the belarusian capital of minsk right now. Tens of thousands of people have come out of their homes and flooded onto the streets, protesting and calling for change. What were seeing is remarkable. Remember that belarus may be in europe, but its the last soviet style authoritarian state on the continent. Alexander lukashenko is the last dictator and hes won his sixth election apparently with 80 of the vote, and thats why people are on the streets, but hes telling the police to crack down, and hes blaming the United States for starting the protests. Ian, you have an interview with the Opposition Leader who is actually in hiding in lithuania where you are right now. Reporter yeah, thats right. A teacher, a wife, a mother and one incredibly brave woman. Shes been thrust into the limelight as the leader of the opposition, and this is her first interview with u. S. Tv. When the protests began, she was forced to flee the country with her kids and come here to lithuania where she now lives in secrecy. I want my children to grow in a country where people are respected, where the rights of people are respected, and now the russian people, belarusian people look up and they are ready to change all of the system. Reporter and thats why tens of thousands of ordinary citizens are breaking that barrier of fear to go onto the streets right now even though were hearing theres a heavy security presence, and theyre looking to america, to the president and to congress at least for moral support, dan. Ian pannell, thank you for covering it. Well switch gears and come back to the u. S. Right now, and talk about weather. Lets go back to rob who is in new orleans, covering these twin storms barrelling toward the gulf coast. Good morning once again. Good morning, dan. With a shift in the forecast speeding up marco, they have prepared here. They have issued evacuations for people who live outside levees because wee expect a significant storm surge. Hurricane warnings have been posted now for parts of louisiana and mississippi. Tropical storm watches have been posted for florida because of laura. Marco expected to come on shore during the day tomorrow and through tomorrow night with heavier rain, 2 to 6 inches and could see strong winds, and thad hopefully much of the marshlands will take it, but the pumps will be going in overdrive, and the levees will be tested for sure. The keys and south florida, they have issued warnings for those in the keys and in mobile homes. Across this isnt the only weather story. The fires continue to plague the west, and the northeast this week, well talk about that. Guys . Rob, thanks so much. We appreciate it. Day six of the nba playoff bubble and some might say no big surprises in whos taking the lead. Janai, good morning. Reporter hey, guys. Good morning. While this years nba playoffs are absolutely like none we have ever seen, one thing remains the same. The l. A. Lakers and lebron james are absolutelebron james and an brought the lakers to their first series lead of the first round saturday defeating the portland trail blazers, and king james a