a critical news conference on the world stage. president biden fiercely defends his fitness for the job, while fielding questions from reporters for about an hour. but the big question this morning, did he do enough to fend off calls for him to end

his candidacy? and on the other side of the ticket, donald trump is reigniting his fight against his hush money conviction. we're live as the former president calls on the judge to toss the guilty verdict. courtroom drama in the "rust" case. why alec baldwin walked out of his own trial as a key witness prepares to take the stand later today. a win for wallets everywhere. for the first time in four years, consumer prices are finally falling. we'll look at whether the trend could continue. and a big city girl meets small town boy. christmas is coming early for hallmark fans. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm frances rivera. president biden is fighting to reignite his presidential campaign. hoping his performance at a high-stakes press conference was enough to reassure his supporters. he defended his decision to stay

in the race, even as more than a dozen democratic lawmakers ask him to step aside. nbc's kelly o'donnell has more from the white house. >> reporter: the president facing reporters and defending his decision to stay in the race. >> a long way to go in this campaign. and so i, i'm just going to keep moving. keep moving, and because, look, i got more work to do. we got more work to finish. >> reporter: while he spoke at length on foreign policy, a mistake early caught attention, mixing up the vice president's name. >> look, i wouldn't have picked vice president trump to be vice president if i didn't think she was qualified to be president. let's start there, number one. the fact is that the consideration is that i think i'm the most qualified person to run for president. i beat him once. and i will beat him again. >> reporter: after alarming his own party and stoking worries

about his wellness to run at 81, at last month's debate, the president addressing his stamina and schedule. >> i always have a inclination, whether i was playing sports or doing politics just to keep going, i just got to pace myself a little more. pace myself. >> reporter: several close biden allies, including three involved in the reelection effort tell nbc news they no longer see a path to a biden victory. one campaign official with this stark assessment. he needs to drop out. he will never recover from this. mr. biden's response to the growing number of calls urging him to step aside. >> the best way to assure them is the way i assure myself. and that is, am i getting the job done? am i getting the job done? can you name me something who's got more major piece of legislation passed in three and a half years? i created 2,000 jobs this last

week. so if i slow down i can't get the job done. that's the sign that i shouldn't be doing it. but there's no indication of that yet. none. >> reporter: facing a range of questions on foreign policy and how he would face adversaries like china and russia, and dealing with the war in gaza. >> china has to understand that if they are supplying russia with information and capacity, along with working with north korea and others to help russia in armament, that they're not going to benefit economically, as a consequence of that, by getting the kind of investment they're looking for. >> reporter: the dramatic turn in this campaign placing the vice president in a different spotlight. >> the way she's handled the issue of freedom of women's bodies, to have control over their bodies. secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board. this was a hell of a prosecutor. she was a first-rate person and in the senate she was really

good. i wouldn't have picked her unless i thought she was qualified to be president. from the very beginning. i made no bones about that. she's qualified to be president. that's why i picked her. >> reporter: on the campaign trail in north carolina. harris spoke to democrats' doubts. >> one thing we know about our president, joe biden, is that he is a fighter. >> reporter: the nato summit has dominated the president's week, with its series of meetings, pageantry and hosting a wednesday night dinner. at a session on ukraine, president biden vowed to continue support, but also had a verbal slip, introducing zelenskyy as putin. before catching himself. >> ladies and gentlemen, president putin. [ applause ] president putin? he's going to beat president putin, president zelenskyy. >> reporter: all before the high-stakes test, the president's first solo press conference of the year. >> i'm not doing this for my legacy. i'm in this to complete the job

i started. >> our thanks to kelly o'donnell for that report. now let's turn to the latest on the republican presumptive nominee. in a court filing, donald trump has asked the judge to throw out his guilty verdict in his new york hush money trial. good morning, brie. what is the former president arguing in this case? >> reporter: good morning, frances. donald trump is revising hisclh his claim of presidential immunity. his lawyers argue the conviction should be invalidated. they say the trial was tainted by evidence that should not have been allowed. the trump team argues jurors should not have been allowed to hear about conversations that happened with former white house staffers, saying that evidence should be considered off limits after the supreme court ruling on immunity. the same argument was used to get the sentencing date postponed. the judge is allowing more time

to consider legal briefings from both sides on this question of immuneit. t the new sincsentencing is set f september 18. the judiciary committee says they will look into whether new legislation is needed to impact the decision. lawmakers would work on a bill to classify some of mr. trump's actions related to lelection interference as unofficial acts so that they would not be protected by immunity. frances? >> brie jackson from d.c. thank you. an investigation by the israeli military has found what it calls serious flaws in the army's response during the october 7th attacks. the report focussed on kibbutz beeri near the gaza border. it was overrun during the invasion and nor more than a hud were killed. the report was presented to the

kibbutz leadership before it was made public. good morning, claudio. what does the report say? >> reporter: good morning, frances. the report essentially says that after hundreds of israeli soldiers were sent to the kibbutz beeri as the attack was still ongoing and people were still stbeing massacred there, many did not enter the kibbutz as they came under fire. instead the investigation says they were concentrating on evacuating wounded soldiers. in some cases they did not help the civilians who managed to escape by themselves. also the report says in certain cases, soldiers left the kibbutz without informing their commanders, and that it took more than six hours for reenforcements to arrive, which already was, of course, too late because the massacre and kidnapping had already occurred. now the residents say they welcome the report but also they want to know why so many soldiers did not enter the kibbutz beeri as people were still being massacred there.

now let's stay in that region and just flag another story. now jake sullivan, the national security advisor for the white house said that the temporary pier built by the united states at a cost of more than $230 million to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid into gaza is going to be permanently shut down after the military did not manage to reanchor it after it broke loose and washed ashore following stormy weather back in may. back to you, frances. >> claudio, thank you. there are new developments in a story we brought you yesterday about devonte' mitchell. he is a black man who died after being restrained by guards outside a hyatt regency hotel in milwaukee. the employees involved have been fired. police said mitchell fought with security after causing a disturbance. his family says he was having a mental health crisis. there was drama in the courtroom in the alec baldwin

trial in santa fe. he left after the prosecutor accused him of lying. the gun went off, killing halyna hutchins. firearms experts testified that the gun could not have fired on its own. the armorer on the fatal film is set to testify as well. she is already serving a 18-month sentence. baldwin could face the same if convicted. at least two people were killed in vermont after torrential flooding. a 33-year-old man was identified, as he was sweps swe while ldriving an all-terrain vehicle. the national guard was called in to help with over 100 rescues. in texas, more than a million are still without power. the houston heat index, with the heat index, climbing up to 102

degrees. the dangerously hot weather causing a spike in heat-related emergencies as several hospitals are relying on ngenerators. and centerpoint telling nbc news that 500,000 will still be without power into next week. >> finally friday we still have no relief from all of that heat we've been dealing with for the whole week, essentially. 39 million people under heat alerts. parts of texas, including houston metro area still included in that. we have a heat index value of 98 in houston. 104 for new orleans, 100 for augusta and tallahassee many the heat and humidity is going to be in place across the southeast. las vegas is expected to hit 113. not quite as warm as what we've been in the last couple days but still doesn't feel great there. we don't see a lot of relief even as far south as phoenix. you're still going to hit 110 plus.

that goes for the plains, too. 102 in wichita. pueblo, 103 on sunday. we keep the heat going into nashville into early next week. we have a flood threat from the stationary front. we'll see the rain still in the picture here as we get into tomorrow across the east coast and a couple severe storms. plenty of sunshine through most of the mid section of the country and record highs are not going anywhere any time soon. we've got them in place across the southeast. little bit of rain to track across the gulf coast, sttching down intore ork city wi in the forecast for boss son. showers and thunderstorms for washington and philadelphia. plenty of sunshine for columbus. and that's a look at your forecast, back to you.

coming up, your chance to stream a hallmark moment, and back with good news in the fight against inflation. why the worst could finally be behind us. worst could finally b behind us. you overdid it on the loaded fries and now your gut is in the gutter. undo it with pepto fast melts. so you can keep on rolling. [bowling pins knocked down] when you overdo it, undo it with pepto bismol. hey hon. hey dad...(sniffs) that smell could be 8,000,000 odor causing bacteria. good thing adding lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of bacteria that detergents leave behind. clean is good, sanitized is better. ♪ ♪ [audience laughing] worried you'll laugh so hard you'll leak? well always discreet can hold your biggest gushes with up to zero leaks and odor. so you're not just dry. you're laugh until you cry dry. we've got you, always. always discreet. i thought i was sleeping ok... but i was waking up so tired. then i tried new zzzquil sleep nasal strips. their four—point lift design opens my nose for maximum air flow.

so, i breathe better. and we both sleep better. and stay married. a welcome relief for wallets everywhere. new inflation data shows sky high prices finally cooling off. households seeing a drop in everything from groceries to gasoline. it was the first dip in consumer prices since the start of the pandemic. arabile gumede is here to break it down for us. >> you're quite right. the month on month figure is the one you make note of. the negative 0.1% looking like deflation, but it actually points to the broader disinflation trend we've been seeing out of the united states. over all, the inflation is 3%. that is a good significant mark. because it means we're finally headed in the right direction. we have seen the data continue to do so, even though it had been a little bit bum at py.

2% is the mark that the federal reserve is actually looking toward. and they would want to ultimately get there. but they've also said that they don't have to see inflation reach exactly 2% before they start cutting interest rates, of course, which are significantly higher at this stage. so they're trying to find a place in order to cut interest rates. seems like the market is pricing in a start in the cut of interest rates for september, giving that a 90% chance. wanted to make note of another story. delta airlines seem to be pointing toward $100 billion hit in revenue, then, as we head toward the paris olympics. why? they're the biggest airline to have a corporation and flights toward paris then. in the united states. and because people will be choosing other destinations instead of paris, it could impact their revenue quite heavily. >> hmm, okay.

arabile, thanks so much for the breakdown. still to come, it is christmas in july. new details on hallmark's streaming service. and got a couple million dollars lying around? maybe a bit more than that. you could be in the market for bennifer's old sftomping ground. to. it's in your nature to stand strong. supplement your bones with high-absorption magnesium. nature's bounty. it's in your nature. pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go. it ain't my dad's razor, dad. ay watch it! it's from gillettelabs. this green bar releases trapped hairs from my face... gamechanga! ...while the flexdisc contours to it. so the five blades can get virtually every hair in one stroke. for the ultimate gillette shaving experience. the best a man can get is gillettelabs.

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california. it's so tough. when all these divorce rumors have been swirling, i actually watched that greatest love story never told. i mean -- >> don't hold back, frances. >> it's tough knowing what's going on. oh, gosh, they wanted it to work. and people were rooting for them this time around, right? >> you can see they have such different approaches to how they deal with being famous and publicity and forward facing for the public. so we wish them the best. we'll see what happens with that. >> just in time for christmas, a name synonymous with the holidays is entering the streaming wars, hallmark announced hallmark plus will launch in september. for $8 a month, viewers will be given access to two decades of hallmark movies and new content, including new unscripted series as well as a new holiday themed women in holidays. we know there are so many

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with the firefighters about what this means to them. >> it feels pretty amazing to be able to have this for our little community, is amazing. >> reporter: alisha's son was diagnosed with autism last year. and as a firefighter, she wanted to make a difference and be able to help others like lucas. >> the biggest importance was i'm a mom of four children. and my middle son, lucas, is autistic. so it's really close to home to be able to be trained and provide the community and other children and adults like him with our knowledge, and it's amazing. >> reporter: becoming a certified autism center allows the fire department to learn best practices when dealing with children or adults with autism. >> it gives us a better understanding of how to cope with that with them and approach them correctly, without any type of violence or not understanding

what they're thinking or doing. >> reporter: through a two-hour course they learn different risk factors and way to communicate with someone with autism. >> everyone is different. everyone with autism is different. to be able to communicate with them, with dignity and to be able to be empathetic is the biggest thing. >> reporter: and some who took the course learned something new. >> i didn't understand or i didn't really recognize the statistics of autism, the one in 36 of the children and stuff like that. i didn't understand that. i didn't understand the symptoms that autistic children have. different hand motions, different silence behavior, not wanting to talk when they're in that stage. and it gives us a better understanding of how to approach them. how to talk to them and understand them. >> reporter: with these certificates, the fire department is an even safer space for everyone. >> making a difference as a

firefighter is a given. we do this as a job to protect our community. but, for me, making a difference in my son's name is, means a lot. coming up this morning on "today", las vegas is saying good-bye to a sin city icon. the mirage is set to close with a new resort. they will say good-bye to the iconic hotel. it's all coming up on "today". thanks for ending the workweek with "early today." i'm frances rivera. stay cool out there. enjoy, we'll see you back next

r watching this special edition of "top story," goodnight. " goodnight. a critical moment. president biden defending his fitness for office, fielding a range of questions on age, health and