Begun to be opened up to the public, just ahead of the salute to america, which is the flyover and the aerial demonstrations that comes a little later today. Arthel we are going to go to ellison barber, shes live at the nationals all the details. Hi, ellison. A, arthel. Theres a lot of excitement here. Also a lot of criticism. Democrats and some other critics say that the president has turned an event, a day that is meant for all americans, into something partisan. More of a Campaign Political rally. There is a vip section down at the Lincoln Memorial. Republican party donors reportedly received tickets to sit in that area. Democrats are pointing to that as proof that President Trump in their view is using the fourth of july on the salute to america event for partisan purposes. The white house says there is not a political bone in the president s speech paid some protesters are here today. Weve seen some walk by carrying baby trump balloons, made famous in places like london and protests abroad. They say they are protesting the militarization of the fourth. Here on the lower we are, people started waiting by the gates around 9 00 this morning. We spoke to some people who say they drove over 14 hours to be here for all of this. Some say they are here for the fireworks, some say they came to support President Trump. Whether the error term support or not, most of the people we have spoken to today say they dont see anything thats happening here today as controversial. We spoke to one woman who said her husband was a military veteran. She was here with her two young children, she said they feel like they see the sort of thing that a lot of military events, military parades. So they were okay with it. They didnt go into their political leanings but they said they wanted to be here today because they moved to the area recently. They were excited about the fireworks. So far they liked what they were seeing. When it comes to the cost of all this, thats still a big question. We reach out to a number of federal agencies leaving and in charge of running and setting up most of us to ask exactly what the overall cost estimate is. So far those requests have gone unanswered. The white house, the department of interior, says that the fireworks were all donated and they are worth about 750,000. There are reports that National Park service had to divert 2. 5 million, money that is used to improve parks, in order to cover some of the costs associated with this event. Arthel . Arthel ellison barber, think you very much. Leland . Leland the heat index in washington, d. C. , is 99 degrees. Could get out of the afternoon. Slightly cooler in iowa where several 2020 democrats are taking part in their own july 4th festivities, trying to see which caucus goers they can convince. Many of the candidates, as we look at this wall of all of them, are slamming President Trumps salute to america celebration. Peter doocy live in des moines, iowa, with their complaints. Hey, peter. Leland, joe biden just said over in independence iowa that hes happy with the way he performed at the first primary debate in miami. He said, wildes new thing for them to be challenged on his record with race relations, he doesnt plan on doing anything differently while prepping for e next debate. Im the guy everybodys talking about. You know . If somehow anyway, im not going to go back and talk about the record of anyone from ten, 20, or 30 years ago. There is a lot of policy talk on this Independence Day because there are a lot of candidates marching in parades that are happening in early states. May Pete Buttigieg also here in iowa, and somebody asked him about the recent decision not to ask people filling out census paperwork, are you a resident of the United States, which President Trump apparently is trying to work around. This is a time when we should be as welcoming as possible. For so many people who lack a pathway to citizenship, weve got to fix that. The Citizenship Question is motivated by rachel don migration on partisan reasons. It has no business on something that supposed to be neutral, almost boring, like the senses. But its import for the way resources are shared and the way democracy is enacted in our country. The parades these president ial hopefuls are marching in our very small to what we expect to see in washington, but bernie sanders, who is a big draw here in iowa, attracting crowds as big as anybody else, since the more intimate approach the day is important. I come come from one of thet rural places in america, and i know people appreciate seeing elected officials getting out into the communities, which are not often visited. There are at least six democrats hoping to be the Party Nominee here in iowa today. That is a sign that this state is as important as any on the early calendar. Leland . Leland peter doocy there in iowa, we will try again on where Kamala Harris is after that first debate in a minute with the panel. Thanks, peter. Arthel . Arthel the other big news, michigan congressman justin amash announcing today that he is leaving the Republican Party, blaming the current state of partisanship in washington. Amash is only republican on capitol hill to call for President Trumps impeachment back in may, and the president not exactly sad to see him leave the g. O. P. Lets bring in emily larson, the political reporter for the washington examiner. Lets get to with the presence of the moment. First of all, lets talk about the congressman leaving the Republican Party. Hes from michigan. Citing that the Party Politics is in a partisan death spiral. Whats the impact of amashs departure . Well, the first impact obviously is that if justin amash goes into an election where there is a republican candidate, democratic candidate, and him running as an independent, that has complications for whether or not he is going to be reelected. He does have the incumbent advantage, but the Republican Party will not spend resources on m, obviously. They will spend resources and money on electing a republican. So hes losing that. Justin amash is already had very libertarian streak in him, when he sees the party going and getting weintraub, he has always put sort of his principles about politics. Its surprising but not that surprising to see him leave the g. O. P. Arthel of course, the president jumped in. He tweeted this morning at six zero five. He says, great news for the Republican Party as one of the dumbest and disloyal men in congress is quitting the party. No collusion, no obstruction, knew he could get the nomination to run again in the great state of michigan, already being challenged for his seat. A total loser. Emily, do most of the g. O. P. Agree with President Trump of the party is better off without congressman amash . I think the president s tweet when he was talking about loyalty shows he doesnt really understand where justin amash was coming from, a somebody who puts his principles over party. Trump is very into loyalty. So i guess other republicans are definitely they have looked to justin amash and think the parties better without them. One republican congressman did call on justin amash to leave the g. O. P. , but there might be some who are sad to see him go. They need an independent voice in the party. Arthel loyal to the party, or loyal to the country . Lets see what amash wrote in his oped piece in the washington post. He said, the Republican Party, i believe, stood for limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty. Principles that it may be making dream possible for my family. Listen, so, amash believes the g. O. P. Should look closer into potential impeachable offenses that are outlined in the mueller report. Do these alerts by a member of the tea party or House Freedom caucus raise any concerns and cause more conservative members of the g. O. P. To take a second look . Or does amashs own political pedigree raise suspicion . I think that amash has said that people privately told him and his party that they see where hes coming from, but there its very a very tough situation to be in. Its essentially become clinical suicide to be a republican who is very outspoken against the president and criticizing the president. Arthel then what happens to democracy if thats the case . I think that something the Republican Party needs to figure out. If the people in the party think that these are legitimate concerns that need to be investigated, than they are going to have to reconcile where the party goes from here. Is that the party of trump or the party that justin amash thought of . Limited government and freedom . But theres always the argument that constitutional issues that the president defenders of the president think that he cant that he didnt obstruct justice, the views are mostly political attacks. There will always be people in the party that agree with that point of view, and the question is, where is the party going to go . Arthel all right, we will watch for that direction. Lets talk about the parade. President trumps salute to america event, which the president said will be the show of a lifetime. Now former Vice President joe biden is saying that President Trumps military parade misses the whole point about why we are the country we are. He goes on to say that the u. S. Should lead not by example of our power, but by the power of our example. Meanwhile, emily, you got some military and pentagon officials concerned that this event will cast a traditionally nonpartisan military in a political light. What is your reporting on this . I think it will most likely depend on what trump says during his speech at the event today. And how he handles it. There are a lot of criticisms that i think he is getting about the cost of the event, spending so many resources on it, that republicans would just as quickly criticize a democratic president on. So this our concerns. Arthel im sorry, what was that point . That the republicans would criticize a democratic president . We are not talking about a democratic president right now. No, we are not, but im saying there are criticisms of President Trumps handling of this event, diverting so many resources to it, that democrats are attacking him. I believe republicans would attack a democratic president o. When it comes to palooka implications of the event, i think that will depend on how trump handles it in his speech. For one thing, hes going to criticize no matter what he does. He is a very political person in a very political office. When you talk about the rest of the country and what they are seeing and how the term presidency impacts them, this is really just sort of a drop in the bucket compared to what every day people are being impacted by, which is health care, immigration, the economy, and jobs. While this is definitely going to be something that people attacked the president on, its not going to be probably something that will determine the outcome of his presidency. Arthel so you are saying in Middle America they have bigger fish to fry, and on this day more hamburgers to grow. So its all good with impaired [laughter] you are looking good in red, emily larson. Thank you. Thank you. Weve been talking about this for the better part of 18 months, and the fact of the matter is that we need to fix our own immigration laws. Not to allow alien smuggling organizations to continue to exploit these legal loopholes on the backs of some of the most vulnerable populations in the world, particularly children. We have children who are being used as virtual passports. Leland President Trump firing back at democrats over conditions at Migrant Detention Centers on the southern border. The president is treating that migrants have it better and safer in those facilities than the countries they fled, and if they dont the conditions, just tell them not to come. Anita vogel following this from los angeles and are west coast newsroom. Hi, leland through the battle over the border continues with democrats complaining the conditions are inhumane, and now the Border Patrol is also fighting back. In a video release yesterday, the chief patrol agent of the tucson sector gave a mini tour of the Detention Center showing people a plethora of supplies, toiletries, and food. And yes, water that is good enough to drink. Ball of water. There is nothing with this water we are not forcing aliens to drink out of the toilet. This after some democrats complained migrants were being forced to drink out of a toilet inside these Detention Centers, and were calling for the facilities to be shut down. There is abuse in these facilities. There is abuse. This is them on their best behavior . And they put them in rooms with no Running Water . And these women were being told by cbp officers to drink out of the toilet. Meanwhile, the court battle over the border has also a new development, with the ninth Circuit Federal Court of appeals yesterday dealing a blow to President Trumps border wall. The courts saying using military funds was a violation of the constitution, so now the president is increasingly turning to mexico to help curb the flow of people across the border. But its debatable how much of that is making an impact. Late yesterday, u. S. Border patrol agents in arizona arrested a truck driver for human smuggling after they found 33 illegal aliens hidden in his trailer, including 12 juveniles from the age of the trend to 17, a pregnant female, and a convicted felon. As far as the link facilities go, they say they are bursting at the seams. Acting dhs secretary Kevin Mcaleenan is scheduled to testify later this month before congress about the conditions in those facilities. Leland, back to you. Leland more questions in terms of when all the money is going to get there, those billions that were just off the race. Anita vogel in los angeles. I need that, thanks so much. Arthel . Arthel leland, thank you. Tensions with iran not letting up. Next, the latest Nuclear Threat from the islamic republic. And President Trumps toughtalking response. Plus, the president insisting a Supreme Court ruling will not stop them getting a question about u. S. Citizenship on the n. So how could he make that happen . Houses, youre not allowed to ask whether somebody is a citizen . Like salonpas patch large. Its powerful, fdaapproved to relieve moderate pain, yet nonaddictive and gentle on the body. Salonpas. Its good medicine. Hisamitsu. Our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy whoohoo greattasting ensure. With nine grams of protein and twentysix vitamins and minerals. Ensure, for strength and energy. And twentysix vitamins and minerals. Front slams on his the hbrakes out of nowhere. You do, too, but not in time. Hey, no big deal. Youve got a good record and Liberty Mutual wont hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. You hear that, karen . Liberty mutual doesnt hold grudges. How mature of them for drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Who used expedia to book the Vacation Rental which led to the discovery that sometimes a little down time can lift you right up. Expedia. Everything you need to go. Leland welcome back. The iranian saying theyre going to now increase uranium enrichment to any amount we want. President trump responding on twitter, telling president rouhani of iran, be careful what you wish for. With that, we bring in retired army colonel davis. Nice to see you, sir. We appreciate it. Happy fourth of july to you and yours. Happy fourth to you, too. Leland think about this if you are iranians, know the enemy. The armenians are sitting here looking at the United States is not having done anything series in venezuela. We didnt do anything to them when they shut down our drone. Any reason for the iranians to take this latest threat seriously . Ill tell you, what you see here, if you look a little bit below the surface, is a predictable and understandable result of too much maximum pressure. We keep talking about wanting to use maximum pressure to retain outcomes, but pressure is only useful insofar as they could the other side to do what you want them to do. If you push too far, these are the kind of things you want to where they shoot down a drone, take more provocative action. Leland so youre saying we should take our boot off the next neck . We should use a carefully targeted release of pressure to get outcomes want. If you keep the boot on the net, so to speak, it prompts them to take action that would inadvertently result in a war. Thats not an interest. We need a calculated relief of pressure where that makes sense. Leland how do you relieve pressure on the iranians and not look like youre rewarding them for bad behavior . What weve done so far as we had an agreement to where they were severely limited on these nuclear issues. Now that weve gotten out of it, they are saying as a result they are going to go into it. They dont want a nuclear bomb. They dont want to even go to it, especially not something open like this. They are going to use this to pressure us to go back to negotiating, which trump says he wants to do. Thats what i think is the right answer. Leland i think the Israeli Intelligence apparatus may disagree whether they want a nuclear bomb or not. It seems like deja v