Announcer from nbc news World Headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. Good evening. She didnt blink. Refusing to budge on issuing marriage licenses for samesex couples. But her subordinates issued them anyway and that was enough for a federal judge in kentucky today to free county clerk kim davis, who had been lokds locked up for contempt. While other workers in the Rowan County Clerks Office are issuing licenses to gay and lesbian couples, kim davis emerges from behind bars as defiant as ever, embraced as a hero by some on the religious right and making it clear the fight isnt over. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is in grayson, kentucky. Please help me welcome to the stage kim davis. Reporter kim davis walked out of the Carter CountyDetention Center after almost five full days behind bars as a rock star. I just want to give god the glory. People have rallied. And you are a strong people reporter a judge suddenly setting her free because her deputy clerks issued marriage licenses to samesex couples, complying with federal law. We are not issuing marriage licenses reporter davis had stood firm amid a National Firestorm after she refused to issue the licenses, citing her religious beliefs as an apostolic christian. Whose authority . Zblu under gods authority. Reporter last week a judge found her in contempt. Today just before her release republican president ial candidates ted cruz and Mike Huckabee came to show their support. Shes the elected rowan county clerk, so she cant be fired, only removed by impeachment. Her salary around 80,000 a year. Critics think davis should resign. If you do not want to obey the law and you think that is not right, then maybe you should not be in office. Reporter daviss attorneys now saying her deputies did not have the authority to issue the licenses. What does she plan to do tomorrow . The licenses that were issued were issued without the authority of the clerk of rowan county. And they are not valid. Reporter but today Governor Steve Beshear disagreed and said he would not call a special session of the legislature to debate the issue. Those marriage licenses are legal. Reporter this afternoon as kim davis headed home she was asked, was it worth it . Reporter daviss lawyers say she plans to be back at work later this week. Whats not clear is whether shell interfere with her deputies issuing those licenses. If she does, she could be back at square one, facing even more jail time and stiff fines. Lester . All right, gabe, thank you. Theres late word that the chairman and ceo of United Airlines is stepping down amid a corruption investigation. The feds are looking into whether the ceo tried to improperly influence the former head of the Port Authority by adding flights to a city where he had a Vacation Home in order to curry favor with him. Nbcs tom costello has the story. Reporter out of a job this evening, jeff smisek at united we take great pride in our global network. Were constantly exploring new routes for our customers. Reporter the man who ran the nations Third Largest airline. Smisek and two other top executives at united forced to step down amid a federal investigation into whether the airline tried to influence the head of the Port Authority of new york and new jersey David Sampson by adding twice weekly flights from newark to columbia, South Carolina where sampson owned a Vacation Home. Cnbcs phil lebeau covers the airline business. The question is whether united added flights between newark, new jersey and columbia, South Carolina as some sort of quid pro quo as part of the negotiations for extending its lease at newark airport. Reporter in a statement United Airlines says the departures announced today are in connection with the companys previously disclosed internal investigation related to the federal investigation associated with the Port Authority of new york and new jersey. Federal Law Enforcement sources tell nbc news tonight todays developments are an extension of the bridgegate scandal involving the Port Authority. David samson was forced out of the Port Authority last year amid that scandal. Uniteds flights from newark to columbia ended three days later. Smisek being replaced on a temporary basis for now by united board member oscar munoz, whos a former railroad executive. Lester . All right, tom, thanks. Now to the race for president and news tonight of a shakeup in the campaign trail. Hillary clinton issuing a new apology about that email controversy while nbc news has learned her campaign is deploying a new strategy. And on the republican side an outsider is surging in the polls though not the outsider you may be thinking of. We have two reports beginning with nbcs andrea mitchell. Andrea . Good evening, lester. Hillary clinton is apologizing for using a private server. Shes also rebooting her campaign after complaints from donors about the email controversy and polls now showing Bernie Sanders pulling ahead of clinton in new hampshire. And possible candidate joe biden doing better than clinton against donald trump. Thank you for being here. Thank you for wearing ellen blue. Ellen blue it is. Reporter Hillary Clinton tonight taping the ellen show to appear thursday. Its all part of a campaign reset prompted by falling polls and the email controversy pl trying to show clintons fun side with ellen. Along with a lighter touch on the campaign trail. And off we go, joy floy. Reporter and next week with jimmy fallon on the tonight show. After months of sounding defensive the server will remain private. Reporter or mocking reporters questions. Did you wipe the server . What, like with a cloth or something . No. Reporter even corralling reporters to keep them at bay. Now clintons decided to do interviews about the emails. First with us. I take responsibility. I should have had two accounts. One for personal and one for workrelated. Reporter refusing to apologize to the associated press. And now telling abc news david muehr she is sorry she used a private server. That is a mistake. Im sorry about that. I take responsibility. Reporter ever a campaign aimed at fixing the problems from her last campaign, its clinton 3. 0. From the team of her longtime aides and president obama. Tv admakers Maggie Grunwald and jim margolis. Campaign chairman john podesta. Campaign manager robbie luke. Pollster joe bennington. Communications director Jennifer Palmieri and close adviser houma abedin plus husband bill. Fundraising next week, but so far not campaigning. But you know, she is who she is and she cant transform her personality overnight. She shouldnt try. Reporter looking ahead, whether joe biden jumps into the race. The fbi investigation into her email system and her testimony to Congress Next month. Andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. This is Hallie Jackson with the Ben Carson Campaign in san francisco. Hes not the loudest voice in the republican race, but carsons making plenty of noise. Standing alone as the only republican candidate who could win over frontrunner donald trump in a headtohead matchup. Second place nationally and in iowa. A close third in new hampshire. What makes you unique . How do you separate yourself from the pack . Im not going to be a traditional politician. So im not going to do things like traditional politicians do. Reporter raised in poverty in inner city detroit by a single mom, a third grade dropout, carson had bad grades and a bad temper. So troubled that at age 14 he tried to stab a classmate for changing a radio station. I tried to kill bob. I must be crazy. Sane people dont try to kill their friends. Reporter he calls that moment a turning point, when he turned to god, finding his faith and his footing academically. Eventually rising to a position as chief pediatric neurosurgeon at johns hopkins. A life story so compelling hollywood made a movie about it. Already a local celebrity in baltimore, carson rocketed to republican stardom at the National Prayer breakfast in 2013. Heres my solution. Reporter challenging obamacare just feet from the president and prescribing a tax plan based on the bible. When you pick up my bible, you know what i see . I see the fairest individual in the universe, god, and hes given us a system. Its called tithe. Reporter his credibility with evangelical voters and his antiestablishment voice, a more softspoken one than trumps, promoting a quiet surge. Ben carson has been sort of in the slipstream, avoiding the spotlight, avoiding the scrutiny, and moving up in the polls. Reporter carson does face questions about his lack of political experience and some of the controversial comments hes made, questions that also dog donald trump. Carson was asked today if he would consider trump as a running mate if he gets the nomination. His response, all things are possible. Hallie jackson, thank you. Overseas tonight, the desperate journey of refugees continues. Thousands of men, women, and children, most of them fleeing the war in syria. They make their way through turkey to greece, then north to germany and beyond. But the road is long and dangerous. And in hungary unfriendly. Our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel was there today as things boiled over. Reporter theyve been waiting for days, desperate to continue their journey north. Hungarian authorities refusing to let them go. So today hundreds decided to make a run for it. Completely frustrated that theres no place to put them, that theyre not being allowed to leave the country, some refugees and migrants have just decided to escape and try their luck in the bushes. Mothers with children. Babies carried like sacks. They ran from bombs in syria. Now theyre running again. Theyre refugees. And now with Police Chasing them theyre fugitives too. Abdullah carrying his 1yearold daughter, worried what would happen if they got caught. They can shoot at us. Im not going back, he says. But they dont know where theyre going, either. They stumble through ditches. At a clearing a mother stops to nurse her baby. They move on and split up. In one group we find 10yearold lava. She says back home in aleppo her entire neighborhood was destroyed. No school to go to. Cars pass but dont stop. Cyclists dont even look. Villagers say they wont help. Another Group Follows the train tracks, assuming theyd eventually lead out of hungary. But the police were waiting for them, in force. Exhausted and overpowered, theyre encircled and forced onto buses, which take them to a detainment camp as hungary and all of europe wonder how many more are coming. Richard engel, nbc news, rodske, hungary. Pope francis today announced another big shift for the church. The first significant change in the churchs marriage law since the mid 1700s. Making it easier for couples to have their marriages annulled. This coming on the heels of new church guidance about forgiving abortion. The latest surprise ahead of the popes highly anticipated visit to the u. S. Nbcs Anne Thompson has details. Reporter francis, building on his reputation as the pope of mercy, today streamlined the annulment process for divorced catholics. 25 of american catholics are divorced. And almost half of the annulment cases in the church are from the u. S. Father dave dwyer, a radio host on the catholic channel, says divorce and annulments make the phone lines light up. Why is this such a hot topic . Sam so many people feel that they are away from the church, cannot participate in the sacrament, cannot receive communion until they get an annulment. Reporter but if they get an annulment and remarry they can southeast sacrament. Under the new process the mandatory Second Review of an annulment decision is eliminated and bishops can now quickly decide cases when both spouses seek the annulment or no one contests it. Lisa duffy got a divorce and started the annulment process in 1994, eventually writing a book about it. The charge for the annulment process was 600. And it was steep for me. The whole process was right around two years long. Reporter now the process should take a year. And pope francis wants it to be free. This is going to help more catholics come into full communion with the church. And that is a wonderful, beautiful thing. Reporter while the process is simpler, the criteria for granting an annulment has not changed. Trying to make sure when couples separate they are not separate from their faith. Anne thompson, nbc news, new york. The city of baltimore has agreed to pay the family of freddie gray 6. 4 million. The proposed settlement pending the approval of a city spending board comes five months after gray suffered a fatal spinal injury while in police custody, sparkispark ing days of unrest. Separately Six Baltimore Police officers Face Criminal Charges stemming from his death. Baltimores fraternal 0rd of police calls the deal obscene and urged the board to reject it. Still ahead tonight for the first time were hearing from a Police Officer accused of gunning down a fleeing man. His defense claiming theres more to that now infamous video that you havent seen. Also, Serena Williams has one of the crowning achievements in all of sports in her sights, but first she has to get past her own moderate to severe Crohns Disease is tough, but ive managed. Except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. And when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe Crohns Disease. And that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. And many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. New citracal pearls. Dedelicious berries and cream. Soft, chewable, calcium plus vitamin d. Only from citracal. For the first time tonight we are hearing from the now former officer in a video that shocked the nation. Michael slager is facing murder charges for gunning down walter scott as a bystander captured it on his phone. Now slagers attorneys say there is more than meets the eye in that video and in documents filed just hours ago theyre giving us a first look at his defense. Nbcs craig melvin has the details. Show me your license. Reporter when walter scott was stopped for a broken taillight last april he took off running. Former North CharlestonPolice OfficerMichael Slager gave chase and about a minute later the two men are captured on cell phone video by a bystander. In a recent Video Conference with his attorney andy savage slager defended his actions. Just that three seconds of that video came out and everybody thought i was racist and got out of my car and just shot him in the back for no reason. Reporter in documents filed today savage argues the states own evidence shows officer slager did not commit murder. In neverbeforeseen fbi analysis of that video obtained by nbc news blurry frames are rotated and enhanced. Attorney savage says it reveals a scuffle. They were both on the ground. It wasnt just firing a shot at the distance. It was a closein physical confrontation. Reporter the attorney also says the state found scotts dna on slagers taser. They say this supports slagers claim that scott used it against the officer. He took two fivesecond bursts, scott toward slager, before he gave up the weapon. Rpt. Reporter and the Attorney Says state investigators found gunshot residue on Walter Scotts hands. Whats more, the state toxicology report showed scott had cocaine and alcohol in his system when slager shot him. Why did he take his pistol out and shoot . Because he was threatened. Reporter but scotts family says whatever the evidence before and after the shooting might show, slager murdered a man running away from him and should stay in jail. The context to this situation is already caught on tape. Everything else weve seen is distraction information, trying to make people think that whatever transpired before is actually relevant and important. But its not. Reporter today the Prosecutor Says she will not join the media sideshow and her focus remains on presenting the evidence in a proper way and time. Craig melvin, nbc news, North Charleston, South Carolina. Were back in a moment with a thermometerpopping heat wave at home and the deadly sand storm of Epic Proportions overseas. When i started at the shelter, i noticed benny right away. I just had to adopt him. Hes older so he needs my help a