In the hospital speaks out. Back in the spotlight First Lady Melania Trump taking center stage at the Republican Convention, making the case for her husbands reelection. This as two upcoming books put her marriage and private life under the microscope. Plus, secretary of state mike pompeos Unprecedented Convention speech violating protocol and sparking sharp criticism. Major testing change. The new covid guidelines from the cdc say even if you may have been exposed to the virus you dont need a test if you dont have symptoms. This as cases are rising at colleges across the country, and now Health Officials are warning about the dangers of flu season colliding with the pandemic. New fallout. Jerry falwell jr. s former pool attendant and Business Partner who revealed the sordid details of an alleged group affair, now lashing out, claiming that the couple pursued him and calling the top conservative evangelical leader a predator as Becki Falwell speaks out for the first time. Battle over Britney Spears fortune. After years of turmoil, who will control her money, and what the new twist means for the singers kids. And mission to the movie. Here we are. Global superstar tom cruise masking up for a trip to see one of the most explosive and highly anticipated summer blockbusters of all time. That part is a little bit dramatic. The action stars priceless reaction when the lights went up. And good morning, america. We want to get right to the three big stories breaking this morning including those deadly riots in kenosha, wisconsin. Also day three of the gop convention. First Lady Melania Trump center stage in the rose garden last night. And hurricane laura taking aim at texas and louisiana. Yeah, and we want to start by taking a live look right there. You can see the satellite of that powerful storm barrelling through the gulf, now a category 3 hurricane but rapidly graining strength and expected to become a category 4 storm in just a matter of hours. And also another image to show you now. This one from the International Space station. This shows you just how massive this storm is. Evacuation orders are in effect for more than 500,000 people along the gulf coast. Our team is on the ground in the expected storm zone. Ginger leads us off in port arthur, texas, where theyre expecting damaging winds at over 100 miles an hour. Good morning, ginger. Reporter a category 3 hurricane is spinning in the gulf of mexico less than 280 miles to my southeast. I will not want to be standing here in port arthur, texas along the water because storm surge could exceed 10 or even 15 feet. That is a wall of water and a lot of wind coming at us. The storm rapidly intensified faster than anything weve seen in the Atlantic Basin since irma in 2017. It is making a bee line for this texas and Louisiana State line. Thats where the cone has kind of centered in. That does not mean if youre in houston or galveston that you have nothing to worry about, by no means. Youll still have impacts but the worst is going to happen on the northeast quad dron. The timing, after midnight tonight, should make landfall between 1 and 3 00 a. M. You see the winds, some places 120 Miles Per Hour gusts. But it doesnt stop there. This is bad especially in shreveport or arkansas. This area has done it before, rita, harvey, ike. Theyre ready and preparing to take on the cecilia. Thinking of everyone in the storm zone. Thanks so much. A mandatory Evacuation Order in effect in galveston. Families racing to leave along the gulf coast and marcus moore has the latest on this side of the story, good morning, marcus. Reporter cecilia, good morning. That storm is just over 300 miles from where we are, galveston, under a hurricane warning this morning and there has been an urgent scramble to get people off of the island ahead of this storm. Nursing homes, loading residents onto buses and taking them away. Also people packing the highways. We saw heavy traffic backups on tuesday and officials here have actually staggered the evacuations to prevent the kind of chaos we saw back in 2005 during hurricane rita. It turned tragic. People died during the evacuation effort, and right now officials are saying time is running out for people to get off of this island ahead of this fast moving storm. T. J. . Marcus, thank you. We turn to lake charles, Evacuation Order in place there as well. There are fears the storm surge could reach as high as 15 feet. Rob marciano is there for us. 15 feet, rob. What kind of damage are we talking about . Reporter hey, t. J. Obviously that would be up and over my head here in lake charles, 30 miles inland, we expect at least a 10foot surge. Along the coastline, the surge plus the waves is going to be ripping homes apart unfortunately. This is going to be a devastating surge. We often say that you can hide from the wind but you have to run from the water. For that reason a number of parishes have been forced to evacuate including the one im standing in right now. Lets show you the shot from our drone to give you an idea of what lake charles is like. Its a relatively small city but much of the life is around the lake itself, between the infrastructure, the homes and the downtown, much of which is going to be flooded when this storm comes in. I10 slices right through town. The storm surge will extend north of interstate 10. That gives you an idea of how powerful this is going to be. This is a large circulation, takes that water from the gulf of mexico and pushes it up, the lakes, rivers, bayous, canals. 10 to 15 feet of surge expected and 500 miles of coastline under a warning and rainfall is going to go well inland as well. Water is going to be huge. Cecilia . Okay, rob, thanks so much. Hurricane laura is expected to impact houston which was hit hard three years ago. Now theyre battling a major covid outbreak. More than 100,000 cases there alone. Matt gutman is there at houston Methodist Hospital with a look on how theyre preparing for this storm. Good morning, matt. Reporter good morning, cecilia. The feeling at houston methodist and really across houston, the fourth largest city, is not one more thing. Now, houstons achilles heel is flooding. Its low, flat and full of tunnels. Thats why the mechanics will push closed this massive floodgate which they hope will seal the entire tunnels and garage where people have died in previous storms. Ive spoken to officials here and in beaumont and theyre concerned about their Covid Patients and staff, how to feed them, how to house them during the storm, and have social distancing. Also there will be thousands of hurricane evacuees staying with family, friends and in shelters and trying to get them to social distance is going to be concerning. Also there are fears of additional outbreaks because of the storm. George . We are worried about that. Okay, matt. Thanks so much. Well follow the storm all morning long. Right now we want to turn to the Republican Convention and a big night for the trump family. Both Tiffany Trump and eric trump addressed the convention making the case for their father warning his defeat would be a disaster for the country. First Lady Melania Trump breaking tradition by delivering her speech from the rose garden, and mary bruce has the highlights. Good morning, mary. Reporter good morning. Weve never seen this before. The white house, the peoples house, used for a political convention. Last night the first lady giving her highest profile speech yet. At times it was personal. Melania trump sharing her own immigrant story, but she was also defiant in making the case for her husband to serve another four years. Overnight the first lady stepping into the redesigned rose garden and into a political spotlight she often tries to avoid. Before her husband and a somewhat socially distanced crowd, Melania Trump trying to reassure americans that her husband has the pandemic under control. Donald will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this terrible pandemic. Reporter and making a direct appeal to women as the president has been losing their support in key battlegrounds. To mothers and parents everywhere, you are warriors. In my husband, you have a president who will not stop fighting for you and your families. Reporter she was uncompromising in her defense of her husband, defiant in the face of the president s critics. Hes what is best for our country. We all know donald trump makes no secrets about how he feels about things. Total honesty is what we as citizens deserve from our president. Reporter the night, a Family Affair. Tiffany trump saying her father puts the countrys needs ahead of his own. Fighting for america is something he will sacrifice anything for. Reporter and eric trump with a direct message for his dad. Im proud of what you are doing for this country. Im proud to show my children what their grandfathers fighting for. Im proud to watch you give them hell. Reporter it was a night of firsts. Never before has the white house been used as a backdrop for a party convention. Critics say it crosses an ethical line and even raises questions of legality, using the power of the presidency for political gain, but the president , eager to use the trappings of the office to boost his reelection bid, leaning in to the pageantry. Raise your right hand. Reporter hosting a naturalization ceremony swearing in new citizens. Congratulations. Reporter and granting a president ial pardon to convicted bank robber jon ponder who devoted his life to helping other former prisoners reenter society. Thank you, sir. Reporter in another sharp break with tradition, secretaries of state normally avoid partisan events, but now hi, im mike pompeo. Im speaking to you from beautiful jerusalem. Reporter the nations top diplomat delivering a political speech at a convention while on a Diplomatic Mission abroad, violating his departments own policy not to engage in political activity to back a candidate. The way each of us can best ensure our freedoms is by electing leaders who dont just talk, but who deliver. Reporter House Democrats now investigating if he violated federal law. And one slated speaker who did not appear last night, mary ann mendoza. She is a socalled angel mom whose son was killed by a drunk driver who was in the country illegally. She was pulled at the last minute after she was spreading an antisemitic Conspiracy Theory on twitter. She did later apologize but it speaks to the broader spread were seeing of some of these fringe theories. George. Mary, thanks very much. Lets bring in chris christie, former republican governor of new jersey, friend and adviser to president trump. Thanks for joining us this morning. Were seeing the trump family deployed in a way we havent seen before in political conventions, basically every night, some of the speeches quite political. Is it working . Well, i thought the first ladys speech worked really well last night, george, because she was authentic. She was honest and they were her words. You could tell they were her words. She talked at length about the racial crisis in this country, at length about the covid crisis in this country and made the pitch for her husband being the best person to solve those problems. So i think it worked very well last night for Melania Trump and i have no doubt she was the star of the show. For the the president and the white house taking heat for using the white house and mike pompeo on a Diplomatic Mission. Sure seems like the president is basically embracing that despite the criticism and possible investigations. Yeah, george, listen, i think everything changes because of the covid crisis. Theres no doubt in my mind that the president would much rather be in charlotte, north carolina, in front of an arena of 20,000, you know, fans who were, you know, cheering him on. But we all have had to make adjustments because of this crisis. You saw the big difference in the Democratic Convention last week, as well. The white house is the safest, least expensive place for the president to be doing this. Hes taking advantage of that and so i think these are very different times. My guess is youll never see it again. Halfway through this convention whats the big Unfinished Business . Laying out the agenda for the next four years. I think the president has to do that tomorrow night. He has to lay out what he wants to do for the country and how that contrasts with what joe biden and the democrats want to do. That serves two purposes. One, to lay out a framework for the final 69 days here, george, and, two, an attempt to force joe biden to start being more specific. Last week we saw the democrats made the case that joe biden is a good, decent person. I believe that. Ive known him for 35 years, but there were not many specifics at all about what joe biden would do as president from a policy perspective for the country. The president needs to draw him out, george, and the only way to do that is not to insult him, not to attack him personally, but to go after his policies and by laying out your alternative. Start that new debate. Chris christie, thanks very much. Our full coverage of the Republican Convention continues tonight at 7 00 on abc newslive and ill be anchoring our primetime coverage on the network starting at 10 00. T. J. . We have to turn to kenosha, wisconsin, the streets of kenosha, wisconsin turned deadly overnight. This was the third night of protests there after jacob blake was shot multiple times at point blank range in front of his kids. Alex perez there for us in kenosha with more. Alex, good morning. Reporter hey, good morning, t. J. Another long night of protests here. Like the others, things started relatively peacefully but then quickly turned violent. Now despite the curfew, protesters took to the streets clashing with officers who were trying to clear the area. Authorities say there was some sort of confrontation between demonstrators that turned deadly. A shooting left two dead, another injured. Meanwhile, the family of jacob blake says hes still in the icu. Hes paralyzed from the waist down, and theyre calling on protesters to end the destruction and to remain peaceful. T. J. . All right, alex, thank you so much. We will have much more on the situation in wisconsin and well hear from jacob blakes uncle. Hes joining us for an exclusive and it is also a hopeful update this morning, cecilia. We turn to the latest on the coronavirus emergency and that shift by the cdc over when and if you should get tested. This as cases in colleges across the country are now climbing, and there are new worries about patients becoming reinfected. Abcs trevor ault has the latest and this is all happening, of course, as flu season is now approaching. Reporter of course, cecilia. It is a lot to juggle at the same time and there is some good news this morning that across the country in the past week the number of new cases and deaths decreased substantially, but the cdc made this big change to its guidelines saying people who dont have symptoms dont necessarily need to get tested even if they have been exposed and thats a bit of a jarring shift as a number of schools and universities report big, new outbreaks. Overnight, a major change to the cdc covid19 guidelines saying if you have no symptoms, you dont necessarily need a test, even if you may have been exposed. A direct shift from what director Robert Redfield told abc last month. Anyone who thinks they may be infected independent of symptoms should be and should get a test. Reporter the update comes as cases rise at american colleges and universities. More than 530 at the university of alabama, nearly 160 at the university of missouri, and even at the university of Southern California where classes are mostly online, School Officials are warning of an alarming increase of 43 cases in offcampus housing. People are throwing parties. Im hoping students come to their senses. Reporter in Many School Districts across the country, students are going into quarantine putting pressure on parents. They have no idea what to do. Reporter jennifer is the mother of a mississippi fourth grader whose entire grade of more than 200 students is now in quarantine after multiple teachers tested positive. Jennifer is a teacher herself. Shes now having to coach other parents through the Virtual Learning process. Parents dont understand how it works. Weve had a lot of frustrations. Reporter with the world approaching 24 million confirmed cases, scientists are studying the possibility for patients to become reinfected. In hong kong a patient is believed to be the first person to become reinfected with covid19 and other cases in europe are being investigated. This as Health Officials prepare for a full flu season lurking just around the corner. Weve had delays. Before returning those covid tests, that is not going to go away during the flu season. Reporter and manufacturers are trying to make combination tests that would check for covid19 and the flu at the same time. Those are not on the market yet, but the flu shot is. George . Trevor ault, thanks. Lots more coming up including as t. J. Just said that exclusive interview with jacob blakes uncle and that hopeful update. Also the latest on the fallout over that Jerry Falwell jr. Sex scandal. His former Business Partner now lashing out against the couple but first we head back to ginger. Cecilia, im standing in the hurricane warning but the impacts are going to go well beyond the Golden Triangle and the southeast louisiana. Youll have Tropical Storm warnings from south of houston to shreveport, texark