>> one of the principal people at the post-election meeting at camp david urging him to stay in was hunter biden. god, depend on that guy's good judgment.

look at his life, he's made lots and lots of good decisions. >> a lot of the policies being implement in limit -- implemented are anti-growth policies. >> i find this very much in line with the precedent in the history of our country as opposed to the ideas that the left is coming from, that this is some sort of crazy result from an activist court. >> for young people today, home ownership will probably never happen. they're probably doomed to rent for the rest of their lives. >> when the truth came out, suddenly the liberal media is rushing to cover up what we all saw with our own eyes. ♪ we're all a-american, in god we with trust ♪ ♪ living the dream and never giving up ♪ ashley: great song on a beautiful day in new york city. you're looking at the blue skies above midtown manhattan. it's just gorgeous, isn't it? it is 11 a.m. on the east coast

on this wednesday, july the 3rd. i'm ashley webster in today for stu varney. let's get straight to the market. as you can see, very mutedded. the dow slightly lower, with the s&p also slightly hire. the nasdaq touching -- higher. the a nasdaq touching an intraa day all-time high, but overall volume is light as a you would expect because the markets will be closing in less than two hours from now for the holiday. take a look at the big tech names if we can, see what a kind of movement we have there. apple up two-tenths of a percent but the others moving slightly lower including microsoft, alphabet, meta and amazon.com down. 1.5. if as for the 10-year -- 10-year treasury yield, down 8 basis points at 4.34%. generally good for those high growth stocks or big tech names in particular. all right. i want you now to take a look at this op-ed in the "wall street journal." it reads: the democrats deserve bind even9 if the country

doesn't. if -- biden even if the country doesn't. they've deceived and gaslit us for four years all in the name of democracy. that collapsed thursday. "wall street journal" editor at a large gerry baker wrote that, and he joins me now. great to have you. tell us what you mean by the democrats deserve biden. >> well, thanks, ashley. well, because they have, essentially they have misled us, let's put it as mildly as that. they've gaslit us telling this man was completely capable, these ridiculous stories we got that he was sharper than everybody, that he was, you know, solving quadratic equations at the same time as a doing, you know, bench pressing 3000 pounds or whatever. -- 300 pounds. they told us all that, and now the fantasy, the the fiction of that has been revealed for the whole world to see last thursday, and the whole world did see it. and they are now panicking

because of they've been exposed. and part of me, as i said in my column, part of me feels they should be stuck with it. this is their creation. they put the country in this position by promoting this fiction for four years. let them live with it. they made that bed, they should lie in it. i do think for the good of the country we really shouldn't have that choice of a candidate who, obviously, is not capable of serving another four years but, yeah. the democrats have created this mess. they have only got themselves to blame for it. they're desperately now trying to get biden out and get somebody else in. and the country, i think, will punish them for it. ashley: yeah. do you think he drops out, gerry? >> you know, if you'd asked me that, ashley, two days ago i'd have said, no. i think, you know, the power of political ambition, you know, john mccain famously used to say the only cure for presidential ambition is embalming fluid -- [laughter] and we're close to testing that, close to testing that, i fear, with president biden. and i would have said, no, you

know what? they will have to carry that man out of the white house. but, actually, it just seems in the last 24 hours, actually, we've seen these little drip, drip of people starting to say, nancy pelosi yesterday saying we don't know ifs this is an episode or a condition. we're starting to hear word out of the white house that maybe he is starting to ponder his own future. i think if the pressure -- look, if the polls look as bad as they're starting to look, ashley, i would say, yeah, in the next few days he probably does step aside. ashley: but, you know, nikki haley has been pounding the gavel here saying, look, watch out. joe biden could be replaced by a younger, more charismatic candidate that could really give trump a run for his money. >> he could. it's the old switcheroo. ashley: yeah. >> i think as it stands the favorite seems to be maybe if there's some sort of a deal being worked out that it would be kamala harris who would step into his shoes. that that's what everybody seems to be betting on, following the betting markets, she has now

moved ahead of joe biden as a favored to be the democratic nominee. i have to say, i do not see that as a huge threat to donald trump. i think, if anything, i think biden's, you know, weakness has been revealed. but kamala harris is a very, very weak candidate. how many primaries did she win in the 2020 presidential campaign? ashley: yeah. >> no, i don't think she's a winner. ashley: while i have you here, i wanted to ask you about a this. far-right politicians pulling ahead in france's election. we've seen somewhat of the same things happening in other countries which begs the question, is the populist left being rejected now? >> you know, it's interesting, we're going to see french elections on sunday, as you said, the second round. it does look as though the right-wing national rally will do well. the two other, the left and centrist parties, have combined to step down in a lot of constituency, so they probably won't get as many seats as they

would have thought a few days ago. our old country, our old mother ifland, great britain, is about to have a general election tomorrow in which the left-wing labour party is about to sweep into power with the largest majority probably any government has had in more than a hundred years. so it's a mixed picture. but i think what it does reflect is a great dissatisfaction with the way things are running in this country, in europe, in the united kingdom. across the world people are unhappy with their political leaderships, they don't trust their leaderships or where their countries are going. they want change, and people are voting for change. we're going to see that across the world. ashley: we are, indeed. great stuff. gerry baker, thanks so much for join us. we always appreciate it. >> thanks, ashley. happy fourth to you. ashley: yes, same to you. thank you a very much. now this, former president obama if shared concerns after biden's shaky debate. he also offered some advice. what did he say, lauren? lauren a lauren yeah. president obama wrote with: bad debate nights happen, trust me, i know.

but this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about a himself. between someone who tells the truth, who knows right from wrong and willive give it to the american people straight and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. last night didn't change that, and it's why so much is at stake in november. so i'll put obama, still in biden's corner, but privately he's concerned. this according to "the washington post." obama has long harbored worries about a his party defeating donald trump in november, repeatedly warning biden in recent months about how challenging it will be to win re-election. and reportedly, obama got on the phone and called biden after thursday night's debate. he said i'm here for you. look, he's worried that trump will erase much of what obama's accomplished through biden yet again. ashley: yes. lauren: and now the trump campaign, so organized, so

united, they've hit the ground running and right now they're ahead. ashley: you could argue that barack obama is in his third term right now, but that's another -- lauren: i've heard that before. ashley: interesting stuff, lauren. yeah, absolutely. thank you so much. let's get back to the markets, if we can. again, a shortened day of trading, closing at 1 p.m. today. as a you can see, the dow off very, very little, down about a tenth or so. but the s&p and nasdaq slightly higher. let's bring in heather zumarraga. great to have you here, heather. look, a.i. powered the stock market in the first half of this year, no doubt about that. but does that trend continue? is there a lot more room to run? >> yeah. well, definitely the reason a third of the market gains is pretty stunning, ashley, accounted for by one stock, nvidia. so if you're a portfolio manager if right now, you're thinking how do i generate alpha for my clients going forward. i mean, for the first half of the year the markets, s&p and nasdaq hitting all-time highs,

the dow is close to hitting all-time highs, and it's really difficult as an asset manager to remain diversified because if you're not in the magnificent seven, if you don't so nvidia and your with clients see the end of the q2 statement and you're not outperforming or meeting the benchmark indices, it's kind of like it's unacceptable. even if the excuse is, you know, well, you have a well diversified portfolio, mr. and mrs. smith. that's not good enough. people want to know that a you're meeting or beating the market. and this is really unprecedented. i mean, yes, we've had growth stocks in the past, during 2001, for example, that were up by hundreds, you know, double or triple, but nothing like nvidia where it's so big that it moves the entire market with us. and i don't think that run is over just yet. unfortunately, we're going to be talking about it until the end of the year. [laughter] ashley: well, heather, i hear you. thank you so much. listen, the good news is you're

here with us for the full hour, so we appreciate that. lauren, come back in here. you're looking at some of these movers. let's take a rook at amazon. lauren: yeah. jeff bezos has filed with the sec to sell $5 billion of stock as shares hit a record high yesterday, $200. he's been selling all a year. he's moving to miami, and he won't have to pay capital gains taxes on these sales, saving him hundreds of millions of dollars. we also have paramount global. they are surging. this is the name behind mtv and cbs, leading the market with a 6.6% gain on reports that a david ellison's skydance media, the deal to buy paramount is back on. price tag, a reported $1.75 a billion. archer aviation, the flying taxi people, their shares are spiking today too after stellantis, the automaker, says it's investing another $55 million into this

company. ashley: all right, very good. thank you very much, lauren. coming up, as we know, it's the fourth of july tomorrow, and people concern lucky them -- heading to the beach. but guess what? there's a shortage of lifeguards, so how is that being handled? we're going to ask a spokesperson from the american lifeguard associate. despite a wave of criticism, fed chair powell says he's not focused on what might happen if trump is reelected. we've with got his full meants. and during the debate, president biden claimed zero service members have died on his watch. remember that? if congressman darrell issa met with the gold star families of those service members who died during that botched withdrawal from afghanistan. the congressman is here to respond to president biden next. ♪

the moment i met him i knew he was my soulmate. "soulmates." soulmate! [giggles] why do you need me? [laughs sarcastically] but then we switched to t-mobile 5g home internet. and now his attention is spent elsewhere. but i'm thinking of her the whole time. that's so much worse. why is that thing in bed with you? this is where it gets the best signal from the cell tower! i've tried everywhere else in the house! there's always a new excuse. well if we got xfinity you wouldn't have to mess around with the connection. therapy's tough, huh? -mmm. it's like a lot about me. [laughs]

a home router should never be a home wrecker. oo this is a good book title. ashley: during last week's debate, president biden claimed no troops have died under his watch. but 13 service members lost their lives in afghanistan in 2021 after that botched withdrawal. lucas tomlinson is at the white house. how is the white house trying to cover up biden's false claim? >> reporter: what's notable, ashley, that the president says he's going to sit down with abc's george stephanopoulos this friday, that's what the white house is saying. remember, just before the final withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan in august a of 2021, president biden also met with stephanopoulos and did that interview where he denied that his senior u.s. military commanders told him to leave troops behind, about 25000 to keep bagram air base. the president says the commanders never made that

recommendation, and a month later we heard from jenkin si and general milley on capitol hill they did recommend to leave some troops behind. what's going on here at the white house though, ashley, is we're about an hour away from the all-hands call here at the white house hosted by chief of staff jeffrey xience, and then we're going to have the governors from around the country including gavin newsom attending a meeting here at the white house at a 6:30. earlier one of the governors who's coming, kentucky governor andy beshear, spoke about a why they're coming. >> i think the governors just want a direct and candid conversation with the president. we want to make sure he's doing okay. we all know him. he has formed a personal relationship with us, and he says he is, and we take him at his word. but it's always good to see somebody in person. >> reporter: at the debate thursday, former president obama and clinton posting encouraging messages on social media. bill clinton was elected over 30

years ago to be president and is younger than joe biden. now "the washington post" is reporting obama's saying something else privately, saying biden's re-election campaign is much more challenging after that debate. other democrats are also concerned. reuters reporting there are 25 democratic members of the house of representatives preparing to call for biden to step aside if he seems shaky in coming days according to one house democratic aide. here's another democrat, former house speaker nancy pelosi, asking the following question: >> i think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition. and so when people ask that question, it's legitimate. of both candidates. because what we saw on the other side was a line of just -- >> reporter: president biden told donors at a fundraiser outside the nation's capital that he was tired the night of the debate because of all his overseas travel. it is notable that president biden returned from europe 12 days before the debate and spent about a week at camp david to

prepare. ashley? ashley: interesting stuff. lucas tomlinson at the white house, lucas, thank you very much. joining us now, congressman from california, darrell issa. listen, congressman, you've met with gold star families in the past, i know that. what did you think when you heard joe biden claim, hey, no troops have died under my watch. >> you know, i felt joust like those gold star -- just like those gold star families had to. he wouldn't talk to them at, when the bodies were brought with home. he talked about his son, beau, dying in combat, which he didn't. he then went on to lie about the withdrawal itself and the fact that he should have left bagram air base and this wouldn't have happened, and now he's denying the loss of 13 men and women, you know? and those pictures you're showing, i carried those in when i jumped at normandy on june 7th along with world war a ii vets

because i thought their sacrifice was just as much part of our history. ashley: certainly. listen, former white house press secretary jen psaki apparently is going to sit for an interview about the afghanistan withdrawal. i mean, what answers would you like from her? >> well, she'll be under oath, and we're going to ask why she lied and said that there were only 100 or 200, these small numbers of americans left behind, when we now have evidence just like president biden's lie, we now have evidence that isn't the case. and then when she talks about the successful airlift, the 100,000, we're going to ask quite straightforward now, where are the tens of thousands of people that were unvetted, that were taken to military bases, kept away from any outside influence including members of congress and then disappeared? we're going to want to know where those unvetted people are, many of whom were undoubtedly released from bagram prison just

days before. ashley: yep. >> all of these things are still unanswered. but worse than that, they've told us lies and now under oath they've got to explain when they knew and how they knew because they clearly knew that what they were saying wasn't true at the time they said it. just as the other night on that a debate the president, if he had his faculties, would have known that 13 men and women died and that he had never said their name, that he'd never met with the families to this day. ab a ash all right -- ashley: all right, next one, congressman. let's talk about jack smith's january 6th case against donald trump. what happens now, do you think, that the supreme court has ruled in favor of presidential immunity the on official acts? how does that play out? >> well, look, the special prosecutor's been after a him forever. he conjured up a way to prosecute him. now that that's in shambles, he's going to to be probably come up with some new theory to

keep it alive. but it's going to be taken exactly as it is, an outright attempt just to keep a dead case alive, one that never should have been brought. you know, the only regret i have is that 6-3 decision, if those men and women had really looked properly, they would have done 99 9-0 because it's not a close call that the president has to be able to execute his or her duties without worrying about constantly some prosecutor somewhere going after them. a. ashley: right. all right. we'll have to leave it there. congressman darrell issa, thank you, sir, for being with us today. we appreciate it. okay. now this, a moderate house democrat writing an op-ed arguing that donald trump is going to win the election. who's saying it, lauren? lauren: it's congressman jared golden of maine, a democrat. he wrote an op-ed in the bangor daily news, donald trump is going to win the election, and

democracy will be just fine. while i don't plan to vote for him, donald trump is going to win, and i'm okay with that. he's accepted what may be inevitable, and he's telling his party stop wetting the bed, guys. trump will not destroy the american democratic system s. and, guess what? we're going to have to work with him to also focus on the economy. here's the deal. it's not just the presidential election in november. the house is up for re-election. golden's district, the cook political report considers it a toss-up. trump carried it by 6 points 4 years ago so he's coming around, saying this might be the new reality. it might not be that a bad. we're going to have to work with it. ashley: playing both sides of the fence a little bit. lauren, thank you very much. let's bring heather brach back into this. heather, do the markets want to see a donald trump win in november? >> yeah, well, i mean, if you look at a what the markets did under president trump, up about a 70% across the board and under biden we've had a pretty good

market as a well thus far. over -- ashley: yeah. >> -- almost 50%. so i think what will continue is spending regardless of democrats or republicans being in office. but historically, an election year has been a positive for for stock market returns. they usually start slow in q1, stall in the summer and then finish the year up about 7%. now, we've already done that. we've exceeded -- ashley: yeah. >> -- most election cycle market returns. but i think if you're looking forward to a trump win, energy policy key very generals is clear, of course. biden wants clean energy initiatives and trump favoring domestic drilling which would be a positive for the energy markets. ashley: very good. heather, thank you very much. coming up, believe it or not new york city is apparently a buyer's market because of an excess of apartments still up for sale. we're going to break down the numbers for you. jennifer save has a clothina

clothing brand dedicated to empowering women and tiktok just banned one of her ads. watch this. >> it's not mean to believe in women's equality. we deserve our own sports, privacy, safety. we deserve a chance to compete and win. ashley: so what the heck was so fencive about that? i have no idea with, but jennifer will be here to explain next. ♪ ♪ everywhere but the seat. the seat is leather.

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ashley: all right, the markets will be closed in about an hour and a half from now. the dow slightly lower but the s&p up a quarter of a percent and the nasdaq also up now half a percent. lauren, you've been keeping an eye on all of this. let's begin with tesla. lauren: how could you not look at this one? not only is it up 4 plus percent now, it's up 22% this week. it's only wednesday. second quarter delivery numbers were better than feared. wed bush's dan ives said this stock could absolutely go to $400, and there's also the chance that e monomusk -- elon musk announces the model 2 this quarter and launches next year, so that's further momentum.

in the opposite direction, walgreens. it's down 7% this week, down 3% now. ubs cuts its price target from 17 to 12. look, walgreens is struggling. the consumer's pulling back, and their pharmacy business is struggling too, ashley. ashley: interesting. and also this one, lauren. federal reserve chair jerome powell has said, look, i'm not focused on the possibility that trump is re-elected. does he say why not? lauren: well, you know, it's funny because trump gave him a really hard time when he was his fed chair, he called him a more bitter enemy than xi jinping, powell says, look, i'm just focusinged on my -- focused on my job. he did not comment if on trump-friendly policies like tax cuts. here's my question. let's say trump is reelected, does he fire powell, clean house strategy, or does he just let his term expire which is in the spring of 2026? ashley: well, whatever comes

first. come back in here, heather. i mean, look, i think jerome powell, if he was honest and wanted to speak publicly and say, you know what? if it'd probably be easier for me if donald trump is not reelected, but i'm not surprised he's not saying anything about it. >> that's why it really matters, because if you remember, president trump was comparing him to president xi of china and the power that he had as fed chair. that's because the president wants the federal reserve to keep interest rates low and/or cut rates especially headed into an election cycle, and the same goes for this year. biden has not had a lot of conversations with fed chair powell, and he should remain, the fed should remain an independent boy. -- body. historically, it has been, and it's very dangerous if they were not independent, so i think powell is ultimately doing the right thing, and he should not succumb to political pressure on either side. ashley: very good. heather, thank you. now this, an ad launched by the pro-women's athletic brand

xxxy went viral on tiktok last month. it has since been banned from the app. if here's a clip. >> from a global point of view, i would say that a stronger president is usually more acceptable -- ashley: obviously, that is not the clip. but we did play it earlier. xx/xy founder jennifer sey joins us now. sorry about that, jennifer. let's get into that. why did tiktok ban your ad? i saw it as we went to the commercial break. i couldn't see anything wrong with it. >> yeah, i don't see anything wrong with it either. it's a really uplifting ad that we paid for to run on tiktok. it encourages women and girls the stand up for themselves. it states that a women and girls deserve fairness, safety and privacy. and somehow this violated their advertising policies and was banned for offensive content. we've not gotten any more

information than that, but, you know, i guess standing up for women and girls in today's world is considering to offensive? that's the best i can glean. the irony is in the ad we also ask women and girls to stand up for themselves even if they are called names, even if they are told to be quiet. and that is exactly what happened to us as a brand in being banned from advertising on tiktok. ashley: have you challenged it? if have you gotten anything else back other than what you just told us? >> you know what? we have not appealed it yet. we've been so busy because, i'll tell you this, the business has been on fire since we were banned. you know, consumers, i think, are tired of it. they see -- ashley: yeah. >> -- how hypocritical this is, how wrong it is. the voices from only one -- that voices from only one side are banned, and they've leaned in. our business has been really good since we were banned from the app, so we simplyn't haven't had time, but we will appeal. ashley: that's a good thing.

we do have that clip now. let's play it so our viewers can see it. >> it's not mean to believe in women's equality. we deserve our own sports, privacy, safety. we deserve a chance to compete and win. ashley: again, i just, you know, it defies logic, to me. it seems like you bent over backwards to just make a very straightforward comment about a empowering women, right? >> yeah. and up until, you know, a few minutes ago this probably would have been fine, but we're basically saying women deserve their own sports and spaces free from males. we're not against anyone, we're for women and girls. but in today's upside down world, that is considered offensive. ashley: right. anyway, before we say good-bye, i guess the up, you know, participant of this story, jennifer, is business is good, right? >> yeah, business is great. june was do our month ever which

was the month we were banned from tiktok. i will say 50% of young people under 30 are on tiktok. that is the most popular app for young people. so, you know, our business, ultimately, will be really handicapped if we're not able to get back on. but with, you know, hopefully -- hopefully we will when we appeal. ashley: well, we will continue to follow it and, hopefully, have you back on the show. jennifer, thank you so much for joining us to tell us your story, remarkable. thank you so much. coming up, a a aa says this will be the busiest fourth of july week for travelers ever. we're going to tell you just how bad that travel is going to be. you're going to have a lot of company, in other words. a new law is in effect in florida letting people more easily get rid of squatters. a full report on what powers are being given back to homeowners. that's next. ♪ ♪

♪ ashley: florida's anti-squatter bill is now in effect. that bill gives more power a back to homeowners. steve harrigan joins me now to talk about it and, steve, how exactly does the bill protect homeowners? >> reporter: the goal here so to try and tip the balance back to homeowners in part by letting local law enforcement get involved sooner. they've had a real hard time doing that, in some cases in some very high profile incidents both in georgia and in florida with where those new laws now in effect just this week in florida. last year there was a home, a million dollar house in fort lauderdale, that actually had ten squatters inside. one of them had fake documents showing he was the owner. so local law enforcement was really handcuffed in their ability to oust them. the governor of florida, ron desantis, said that people are

simply gaming the system, that it was time for criminals to stop being allowed to squat. here's the governor. >> you are not going to be able to common deer -- commandeer somebody's private property and expect to get away with it. we are, in the state of florida, ending the squatter scam once and for all. >> reporter: the penalties for squatters now could be much stiffer. in florida it could be a felony. in georgia it could be up to one year in prison depending on the amount of damage done. for one woman who had to deal with squatters though in her house in georgia, this law comes a little too late. she says she actually had to try to pay squatters to leave her house. here she is. >> we offered her $750. we explained to her that this is our house. we are not a property management company, it's just us. this is the house that i lived in and offered her the money x

she said that's not enough to put a roof over my kids' head. so i'm not going to take it. >> reporter: so no dice on that $750 offer. in georgia now accused squatters will have three days to show proof of either ownership or a rental a agreement. ashley, back to you. ashley: all right. steve harrigan, good stuff. thank you very much. let's bring back in heather. of course, you're from florida. you must be pretty happy to see these laws put in place. it's insanity, that someone can do this, but this law, hopefully, will make it a lot easier to get your house back. >> i hope so. i mean, ashley, we love governor desantis down there, right? if he's like, hey, this should be a crime. protection of private property is a pillar of the founding fathers, and at least now they've redefined the law to call these squatters what they are, which is trespassers. they can be convicted of a crime, and i think this should be a template for every other state, especially new york and california. and how to get these people out

of your house, i don't even know how this is allowed. ashley: i know. amen to that, heather. now this, manhattan is considered a buyer's market? as prices drop and inventory soars to a 10-year high, i don't believe it. lauren: no, we neither. ashley: the numbers, lauren. lauren: look, it was the tough spring in manhattan. apartment prices are down 3.3% versus last year with the average price of $22 million. more good news -- $2 million. inventory up, more than 8,000 apartments in manhattan are for sale, more than a 1010-year average of -- 10-year average of 7,000. that suggests a buyer's market. and some new yorkers are taking advantage. you have so many people renting because mortgage rates are so high, prices were so high that this pushes some of those renters off the sidelines and say it might just pay for us to buy instead of making our landlord richer. [laughter] ashley: i love it that the prices are down, lauren, and the average now is $2 million.

lauren: just $22 million. [laughter] -- 2 million. you get 800 square feet. ashley: exactly. if you're lucky. next one for you, bob stores just announced they're closing. lauren: their locations are mostly connecticut, massachusetts, the northeast. they're going to liquidate their inventory. so if you want a good deal, stop into bob's over the weekend. you can find one. i thought this was bob's furniture but it's actually bob's clothing store which i didn't even know existed, arleigh. ashley: and there is -- ashley. and there is the problem. you and a lot of other people, apparently. [laughter] okay. let's move on. let's take a look at the 30 stocks, if we can. i was going to say, the market is going to close in about an hour and 15 minutes from now. the dow off now 74 points. the markets will close at 1 p.m. eastern, they'll be closed tomorrow and we'll come back on

friday with the big june jobs report. so as a you can see, more red than green, for sure. at the bottom there, amgen and merck. well, saying there's the beach. beautiful picture, is it not? tomorrow, of course, is the fourth, and many people will be heading to the shore. the american lifeguard association wants to make sure that people are staying safe and aware of rip currents that can be deadly. we're going to bring you all of that next. ♪ oh, sweet freedom, may you stay in our land along the way ♪ if

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♪ ♪ ashley: tomorrow is independence day, of course. millions of people are going to be traveling to celebrate. aaa says this is going to be the busiest with fourth of july week ever. yikes. jeff flock joins me now. he's driving down the pennsylvania turnpike. do you have a lot of company there, mr. jeff? [laughter] >> reporter: we're headed for the shore, ashley.

yeah, we gotta get to the jersey shore. we're just getting onto the turnpike right now, and we're about to reveal to you what it looks like. maybe daniel gives us a shot out the window there. hey, look, it's clear. hey, earlier, you know, we saw a lot of traffic but, you know, not so bad at the moment. and this is going to be an all-time record travel holiday. take a look at the numbers, ashley. 70.9 million people will travel over the fourth of july holiday. that's more than ever before. 5 percent more than last year, almost 9 percent more than pre-pandemic. on the road it'll be 600 million. that's an all-time -- 60 million. and in the air, 5.74 million, an all-time record. all of this according to the folks at aaa. and aaa tells us that people now, they just willing to spend on travel, big bucks on travel. maybe they're pulling back on other things because of inflation but not travel. here's what they said. >> the desire to travel is there, and we just haven't seen

any pullback yet. ask and i don't know when the bubble's going to burst. maybe in 2025, i don't know. we'll see what happens this holiday season, at the end of 2024. but at least this summer, memorial day and july 4th, the numbers are big. >> reporter: speaking of big, well, i don't know, maybe not that big, ashley, when it comes to gas prices. we're, you know, pretty stable on gas prices. $3.511, the average gallon of regular for america right now. that's about a couple pennies more than it was last week, a couple pennies less than it was last month and about the same roughly as it was this time last year. you remember back to 2020 we were at $2.17 then. not that low right now, but we're a lot better than we were in 2022 which was $4.80. so stable gas prices and look at the road. yeah, pretty clear sailing for the shore. that's where i always go --

ashley: i love it. [laughter] enjoy yourself and be careful out there. jeff flock, as always, terrific stuff, jeff. thank you. and, by the way, as people head to the beach for the holiday, forecasters and lifeguards have a warning, watch out for deadly rip currents. joining me now is wyatt westerner from the american life farred jr. lifeguard associate. i mow that down on the gulf coast in the panama city area, we've had five, six people die from rip currents in a short amount of time. how do you spot these things? >> well, first, let's spot me. i can't see ya -- [laughter] ashley: there you go. >> yeah, happy summer. let's enjoy our independence. absolutely, let's talk about rip currents, that's our number one problem on the beach. but for you at home, it's most important that you swim many front of a lifeguard. your chances of drowning in front of a lifeguard are 1 in 18 million.

we're out here to make sure you have a safe day. i'll give you a quick tip. if you're coming to the beach and you sit down and the water surges up alongside of you or on the other side, that's a rip. that keep water is coming all the way in. so avoid getting into that channel. it's like a little ditch. you have a sandbar on each side. you want to stay away from that. your best bet is find a lifeguard and swim in front of that lifeguard. ashley: what do you do if you get caught in one? >> that's a great question. the number one with thing to do is prepare before with you go to the beach. know before you go. find out where the concern what the conditions are on the beach. find out where the lifeguards are. also there's flag conditions, red, yellow, green obviously like a stoplight, red being high hazard, yellow caution. green, not so much. you want to always know and prepare. we also a want to recommend that people take a floatation device. we actually enacted a project here on the coast that a we have, and we put these floatation devices up.

if you want to know where that safety is, you want to prepare before you go to the beach, know before you go. also assign water watchers to look after the little ones. can't hurt. ashley: and, wyatt, before we say good-bye, there is a shortage of lifeguards. how do you address that problem? why the shortage? >> well, we can unpack that one all day. the number one thing to really think about lifeguards and how important they are, once a year. it really is a full-time year in a lot of places around america. and we need to do a better job in recognizing the lifeguards as professionals. we've got to pay 'em better, give 'em incentive with the same thing that you get from the're 911 is services, fire, police and ems. they're highly regarded, heavy got a great career path. not so much for lifeguards. so we need to take care of them so they're there when we need 'em. ashley: thank you very much, wyatt. great job, by the way, and enjoy the beach, my friend. thank you so much. it's time now for the

wednesday trivia question, and it's a good one. who wrote the pledge of allegiance? francis scott key, francis bellamy, john phillip sue is saw or henry holcomb bennett? hmm. think about it. the answer when we come back. ♪ (♪) car, this isn't the way home. that's right james, it isn't. car, where are we going? we're here. (♪) surprise!!! the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. car, were you in on this? nothing gets by you james. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com

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ashley: we asked who wrote the pledge of allegiance. my wife just took her citizens test and scored one hundred so i just texted her, what the answer, she goes they didn't ask me that question. you are first? lauren: i'm embarrassed to say i don't know. i know it's not number one, i go with number 2 or 4. ashley: heather? what do you say? >> process of elimination. lemonade number one and as patriotic as i may be embarrassed to say i don't know. ashley: number 3. i was going to go with number 2. the answer is karma survey says, number 2. francis ptolemy wrote in 1892. we are out of time. adam: shaken but when it comes