just days after an attempt on his life, former president trump officially take his place at thetop of the gop presidential ticket. we're live in milwaukee, with a full run down of the day's events, including trump's newly-minted running mate. it comes pass we'reas we're lea details of that shooter. another legal shocker in the trials of former president trump. a federal judge dismissing his charges in the classified documents case. how the special counsel and president biden are responding to the new developments. it's the prime of the season. and take a look. it's in a 24th century book. how the best books of the last 24 years are ranked. it's tuesday, july 16. "early today" start right now.

good morning. thanks for being up early with me. i'm frances rivera. the delegates at the republican convention got a surprise from their party leader last night. former president donald trump making a surprise appearance on the convention floor, walking in to thunderous applause with a bandage on his ear. this is his first public event since that assassination attempt. let's turn to brie jackson who joins us from milwaukee. tell us more about the big moments from day one of the convention. >> reporter: good morning, frances. republicans made it official. for formally declaring donald trump their nominee after a roll call vote. then, mr. trump joined his family and newly-announced running mate, j.d. vance, the 39-year-old senator from ohio used to call himself a never trumper, but he's become one of

the former president's most outspoken supporters. mr. trump is expected to formally accept the nomination later this week. and he says he threw out his planned speech, describing his new remarks as more unifying. in a conversation with lester holt, the president was asked about a recent comment to his donors that it was time to put trump in a, quote, bull's eye. here's how he defended that language. >> you said it's time to put trump in the bull's eye. there's some dispute about the context, but i think you appreciate -- >> i said cross hairs. i was talking about focus on. the truth of the matter is at the time was there's very little focus on trump's agenda. >> the term was bull's eye. >> it was a mistake to use the word -- i didn't say cross hairs, i meant bull's eye, focus on him, focus on what he's doing. >> and president biden has returned to the campaign trail,

landing in las vegas overnight. where he'll speak with several groups over the next two days, including the naacp. back here in milwaukee, we'll be keeping a close eye out for more surprises here at the republican convention. frances? >> brie jackson for us, thank you. and let's turn now to the investigation into the assassination attempt. we are learning more about the shooter, his background and familiarity with firearms. stephanie gosk has the latest. >> reporter: grainy video shows the shooter, thomas crooks moments before he fired a ar-15-style rifle at donald trump. he does not go unnoticed. according to senior officials, local police officers saw crooks on the rooftop but couldn't stop him before he opened fire, injuring former president trump. 50-year-old corey comperatore was killed. david dutch and james copenhaver

were critically wounded before a sniper shot and killed crooks. among the many unanswered questions, how did the 20-year-old get on that rooftop? and why wasn't it better secured? he had a vantage point just 148 yards from the podium where trump was speaking. snipers took up positions nearby, but the secret service says the rooftop was outside their security perimeter. crooks' father, who according to the fbi, has been cooperating with the investigation legally purchased the rifle his son used. and nbc news has learned crooks purchased ammunition at this store near his home just hours before the rally. senior officials say more than a dozen firearms were found while searching the family's home. after the shooting, they say his father called police, worried his son and a ar-tilestyle rifl were missing. crooks was a member of a shooting club at a firing range.

>> he was a normal kid to me, walking around the neighborhood. i mean, he was just a bit odd, that's all. >> reporter: but authorities still have not identified a motive, even after analyzing crooks' cell phone, according to a senior law enforcement official. while the small, rural town of butler struggles with what happened here. >> right now i think it's more the feeling of numbness in the city. >> reporter: the fbi says it has conducted over a hundred interviews and continues to pore over the shooter's electronic devices. it's also looking at photos and videos from saturday's rally and calling on the public to come forward if you have any information that could be helpful. back to you. >> stephanie, thank you. now to another legal win for the former president. the judge in his florida classified documents trial has dismissed the case. judge aileen cannon saying the appointment and funding of special counsel jack smith was unlawful. here's nbc's laura jarret. >> reporter: it was already indefinitely on hold, a federal judge in florida handing donald

trump a sweeping, unexpected legal wind fall, dismissing the charges he'd faced for hoarding classified documents at his mar-a-lago estate after leaving the white house, and then allegedly obstructing the government's efforts to get them back. >> violations of those laws put our country at risk. >> reporter: judge aileen cannon finding the appointment of that top prosecutor, special counsel jack smith, improper. cannon, a trump appointee concluding in a 93-page decision that smith's appointment violated the constitution, he wasn't nominated by the president or confirmed by the senate. the former president pleaded not guilty to the charges last summer. mr. trump described as very happy with the court victory, according to a source who spoke with him. as he called for the dismissal of his three other pending cases. lester asking president biden to weigh in on the ruling. >> judge cannon dismissed the

documents case, as you may have heard, in mar-a-lago. can i first get your reaction to that? >> i'm not surprised. >> now our thanks to laura for that report. the withohite house is plan to tackling rising housing costs. president biden will call on congress to pass a law that would require landlords to cap increases at 5% or they would lose out on federal tax breaks. the law would apply to landlords that own more than 50 units. the administration also wants to sell extra federal land to be used for affordable housing. ukrainian president zelenskyy is planning a peace summit in november. it would be the followup to his summit held in switzerland last month. zelenskyy said monday he is preparing all the necessary elements for a peace plan and urged russia to attend. but a kremlin official said no russian representatives would be present. for the latest, let's go to danielle hahomogenizen.

do we know any details of the peace plan? >> it comes on the heels of that nato summit last week. the first summit you mentioned tackled three of ten points that are part of this peace plan or peace formula. they focus on food security, on nuclear safety and on the release of prisoners of war and children. ukrainian officials have said that the second summit would discuss a plan devised by, in advance, by a number of countries, all split in various working groups. zelenskyy said the officials would likely meet in qatar by the end are the month in july or early august. and they would tackle the issue of energy security. a meeting on food security would be held in turkey at some point in august. and finally, canada would host a meeting in september. and on the agenda there would be the issue of prisoners of war and children.

decisions on peace talks are up to ukraine whenever ukraine is ready, but it's never been clear whether or not the kremlin is ready for actual diplomacy. on the russian side, last week, a deputy foreign minister stated moscow would not attend a followup summit, but, as is often the case, what individual politicians say is not always reflected in the official government position. the kremlin has been less categorical. a lot can happen until then. >> a lot to be weighed until then as well. danielle, thank you. texas governor greg abbott is demanding answers with over 140,000 customers still without power this morning. it's been more than a week since hurricane beryl knocked out electricity. he threatened action. >> centerpoint is showing us by its repeated failure to provide power. they seem to be just incapable

of doing their job. as a result, we will have to consider, the state will have to consider whether or not we should be reducing the size of the territorial region. >> centerpoint energy expects to have nearly all power restored by tomorrow. a father and his adult daughter from wisconsin died friday while hiking in utah's canyon land national park. county deputies say the 23-year-old daughter texted authorities in the afternoon. the two were lost and had run out of water, with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. a search and rescue helicopter crew responded. and after hours of searching, they found the pair dead. rescuers say they were on the most-challenging trail in the region. thosesky-high temperatures still bearing down on parts are the u.s. while the midwest is seeing more severe weather. nbc meteorologist bill karins is watching it all. good morning, bill. >> good morning to you, frances. what a night in the chicago area. under tornado warnings last

night and numerous reports of 80-100 mile-per-hour wind damage. this will likely be a derecho, a long wind event, and this also about half a million people without power because of these winds that gusted through. those storms have finally fallen apart and the severe weather threat has ended. areas from kansas to nebraska, a sliver of oklahoma and texas and the northeast where it's hot and humid. this is where we'll deal with more wind damage reports likely later on today. and the heat is pretty intense from philadelphia to d.c. little rock to memphis. it will feel like 102 today in washington, d.c. all these purple areas here, that's where we have what we call an extreme risk of heat hu

spark numerous storms in the afternoon from north florida all the way to the southeast. and frances, when it's this hot and humid, you're happy when you get the rain in the afternoon. you just need it to cool off. >> hopefully we'll get that, too. thank you. this morning, bl hollywood learning an actor from the '80s and '90s, james sikking, lieutenant howard hunter on ""hill street blues."" he was dr. david hauser on "doogie howser, m.d." he was 90 years old. atwh to know about the best digital deals from amazon. it's more magic than ever. with the scrubbing power of magic eraser and the cleaning power of dawn.

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macy e's ends talks with a group for a buyout. but get ready for prime savings at amazon. good morning, steve. >> frances, a forlorn task when you nail down the best deals. amazon prime. two days of deals, 16th and 17th. they are expecting sales to be up as high as $14 billion. big 10% rise on prime day lastlast year as well. ring doorbells, down. other big ticket items, x box series eight. they all look like they're on big discount as well. you mentioned the story of macy's. the shares fell quite aggressively. there's a troubled retailer ending talks with brigade.

they've been trying to sweeten the deal a couple times to buy macy's. it hasn't worked out. this is a company restructuring its business, trying to boost growth and profitability and announced plans in february to close stores. good luck on your shopping. >> it's not what you spend, steve, all about what you save. thank you. still to come, we have a new look at the fifth and final season of stranger things. and timothee chalamet is going tor a ping-pong paddle. it's from gillettelabs. this green bar releases trapped hairs from my face... ...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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hey. you seein' this? wait... where's the dish? there ain't one. you're tellin' me you can get directv — the good stuff — and you don't need a satellite dish? oh, i used to love doin' my business on those things! you're one sick pigeon. them dishes kept the rain off our beaks! we just have different priorities is all. satellite-free directv... never thought i'd see the day. well, our lifespans are quite short... stream directv without a satellite dish. i'm going to do this thing with my neck, just for a bit. we're about halfway through filming now, and it's exciting. so much going on. ladies and gentlemen, welcome to stranger things, season five. >> that is if you can recognize

him after all this time. but you've got to get ready for that one last trip to the upside down. on monday, netflix shared a behind-the-scenes look at the fifth and final season of stranger things after the show reached the halfway point of filming. it features glimpses of the cast, as well as new additions like linda hamilton. i remember when it ended. we watched it with our kids. it's going to be forever to see this thing come back. and here we are. >> my daughter abandoned me in the middle of like season four. i watched the end of it by myself. >> you got to get her back in. >> i'll watch it with you. >> there's been so much time, your daughter, they're older. she's older. >> i know. after conquering rackets, timothee chalamet is setting his sights on theworld of table tennis? variety reported that he is in talks to star in marty supreme. the project is said to be

inspired by pro ping-pong player, marty reisman. you can't fake table tennis. that's a skill. >> just like you can't fake being bob dylan, too. that's the role he's currently filming. and i'm sure the research and practice and training for pong p ping-pong. he did wonka. he's got the range. when we come back, krispy kreme is taking it to paris. and the olympic torch relay kethe final rounds through paris ahead of the opening ceremony. ♪♪ an all-in-one cleaning tool that gives you a mop and bucket clean in half the time ♪♪ our cleaning pad has hundreds of scrubbing strips that absorb and lock dirt away, ♪♪ and it has a 360-degree swivel head that goes places a regular mop just can't. so, you can clean your home, faster than ever. ♪♪ don't mop harder, mop smarter, with the swiffer powermop.

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the only one on the planet whose bones are green. the coloration comes from a mineral which usually destroys buried bones. the olympic torch continue its journey through paris. it passed by the eiffel tower, carried by a parisian bmx athlete. and krispy kreme is adding parisian flair to the menu. it announced the passport to paris in honor of the summer games. can you now grab a creme brulee, double chocolate eclair or raspberry and cream ugutdohn for a limited time. we'll be right back. hing time b? try dawn powerwash dish spray. it removes 99% of grease and grime in half the time. dawn powerwash has 3 cleaning boosters not found in traditional dish soaps that remove food and grease 5x times faster. and, because it cleans so well... you can replace multiple cleaning products for counters, stoves, and even laundry stains.

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the "new york times" has compile add list of the 100 best books of the century so far. >> reporter: almost a quarter century's worth of stories and characters, ranked one through 100, taking the "new york times'" top spot. "my brilliant friend", which was turned into a hit hbo series and follows the lives of two friends in the outskirts of naples in the 1950s. it's the first book in a four-part series and has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. it's been translated in dozens of languages. >> it's rather a dynamic, deep story, and at times, surprisingly philosophical. >> reporter: also gripping readers is the realize at this of the author. it's unknown. they are using a pseudonym. the list's runner-up "warmth of

other suns" by isabelle wilkerson which she calls the great migration where nearly 6 million african-americans moved away from the south to other part of the united states. >> this is in some ways a universal human story of longing and fortitude and courage. >> reporter: and rounding out the list's top three, "wolf hall", chronicling a fictionalized version in the courts of henry viii. the "new york times" taking in legendary authors, poets, essayists and journalists hike jenna bush hager. >> finish it in one reading. >> reporter: and with iconic authors like stephen king submitting a ballot. a business owner in georgia is trying to bring his community together over coffee. caleb fulsome ordered free

coffee all day long. he offered it to his customers. he said he wanted to cheer people up and encourage respectful conversations after the violence at donald trump's rally. >> to see that event, i think it kind of focussed everybody in on the fact, okay, this is, this is the nation that we're living in right now and the political climate is pretty tense. and heated. and we don't want that. >> and fulsome says people can come together and focus on similarities instead of differences. maybe some bars should follow suit and dot same. thanks for watching "early today." i'm frances rivera, have a great tuesday. see you back here early tomorrow morning.

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