j.d. advances to the title of vice presidential nominee. we're live from milwaukee with what donald trump's new running mate had to say in the biggest speech of his career so far. president biden combats covid and continued calls to step away from the presidential race. we have the latest on the president's condition and the democratic leaders making their biggest push yet. coming soon to starbucks, a triple shot for you and your vehicle. the coffee chain is teaming up with an auto giant to bring ev charging stations to locations around the c county. >country. we have the biggest snubs and surprises. and the sharks come out to play. we dive into open water to find out what's behind the recent uptick in shark sightings. it's thursday, july 18th. "early today" starts right now.

hi there, good morning. i'm frances rivera. we begin in milwaukee where hours from now, donald trump will accept the nomination for president again. last night the republican party rallied around his recently-announced running mate. j.d. vance, a first-term senator from ohio speaking on the biggest stage of his career. brie jackson joins us from milwaukee. this was a chance for vance to really introduce himself to the nation. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's right. j.d. vance was once a harsh critic of former president trump, but last night, when he took the stage, it was clear how much he's changed his mind. the senator has aligned himself with mr. trump's hard-line policies when it comes to immigration pan oand opposing fn aid. he also spoke about his personal story, his mother overcoming addiction and sharing stories

about his grandmother. and it was clear that he was making a direct appeal to working-class voters in the background states here in the midwest. >> in small towns like mine and ohio, or next door in pennsylvania or michigan, in states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas, and our children were sent to war. we need a leader who's not in the pocket of big business but answers to the working man, union and non-union alike. [cheers and applause] >> reporter: the convention will come to a close tonight with donald trump's acceptance speech. the former president has said that his remarks have been completely rewritten after the assassination attempt against him. he told the washington examiner that he wants to take advantage of this historic moment and draw the country together. multiple sources told nbc news that the trump campaign has offered suggestions to the convention speakers to tone down the rhetoric. a trump campaign advisor says

that they also plan to reflect party unity. now tonight the campaign says when mr. trump takes the stage behind me, he will lay out his invest vision for a new golden age of america. >> brie, thank you. president biden has arrived at his home in delaware overnight where the white house says he will isolate and carry out all of his duties after testing positive for covid. the president's doctor says mr. biden does not have a fever and that he has already taken a dose of paxlovid. nbc's kelly o'donnell has more from the white house. >> reporter: a white house official tells nbc news, president biden has tested positive for covid, the symptoms are said to be mild. and he has not been hospitalized. that news following a new and prominent call for president biden to exit the 2024 race. from california democrat senate candidate adam schiff who writes, i believe it is time for him to pass the torch.

he told donors last weekend, i think if he is our nominee, i think we lose. schiff is the 19th democratic lawmaker to urge the president to step aside. those calls had grown quiet after the trump assassination attempt. the president does maintain support from progressives like bernie sanders and the congressional black caucus. but chuck schumer and hakeem jeffries together urged the dnc to delay its virtual roll call vote that would finalize president biden as the party nominee. party officials considered holding that roll call as early as next week. but now say they will act by august 7th. the president saying what would make him leave the race. >> if there was some medical condition that emerged. >> reporter: after pausing television ads following the assassination attempt, the biden campaign is going back on air on abortion rights. >> trump and j.d. vance don't care about women. >> reporter: through a young woman's personal story. the ad names mr. trump's new

running mate, who has previously spoken against exceptions for rape and incest but supports the trump position that states decide. vice president harris called out vance's views. >> this is a fellow in the united states senate participated in blocking ivf. >> reporter: kelly o'donnell, nbc news, the white house. democratic senator bob menendez is planning to resign from congress after being convicted on all 16 counts in his federal corruption trial. two sources tell nbc news he is notifying colleagues in the senate of his intention to step down. the resignation would mark the end to his three-decade career in congress. it would also prompt phil murphy to appoint a replacement to finish out menendez' term ending in 2025.

menendez did not respond to requests for comment. the department of homeland security's inspector general is opening a probe into secret service after the assassination attempt on donald trump. the probes coming as the agency, along with the fbi told senators that the gunman who fired at trump was reported as a suspicious person an hour before the shooting. that's according to three sources familiar with the briefing. senators were also told that the gunman visited the site last week. wyoming senator john barrasso has called for the secret service director to resign. the agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. new details in the international investigation into the six people, including two americans, found dead in a luxury hotel room in bangkok. thai authorities now saying the victims were poisoned. a preliminary autopsy revealed traces of cyanide in their blood and in used teacups in the room.

they also say the suspected poisoner is among the dead. police interviews discovered four of the six victims invested money together to build a hospital in japan and there may have been a dispute over debt relating to the investment. san dietaying overseas, eva gershkovich is currently in another court hearing in russia. he has been charged with espionage on behalf of the cia. gershkovich, the journal and the cia deny this and the state department has designated him as wrongfully detained in russia. for the latest, let's go to daniele hamamdjian. what's the hearing about? >> reporter: well, good morning, frances. the hearing was scheduled for next month in mid august. but, according to the russian court hearing the case, it was gershkovich's defense team that requested that the date be brought forward. the press was briefly allowed to film gershkovich last month during the start of the trial,

though today the hearing is closed to the media. the court said that the next time journalists would have access to him would be when the verdict is announced. a quick recap of the case. prosecutors there allege that gershkovich gathered secret information on the orders of the cia about a company that manufactures tanks for russia's wa war in ukraine. u.s. officials have repeatedly said that the charges of espionage against him are a sham. now russian courts, as you know, have a high conviction rate. in fact, it's over 99%. at a u.n. news conference yesterday, sergey lavrov claimed that there is quote, irrefutable evidence that evan gershkovich is guilty of espionage. if found guilty, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison, though russia has indicated it's open to a prisoner swap after the verdict. and lavrov also said yesterday american journalists were to blame for delaying talks with his u.s. counterpart about those

possible prisoner, about that possible prisoner swap. frances? >> daniele hamamdjian, thank you. storms rumbled up the east coast bringing heavy rain after tearing across the south and the midwest. on tuesday, an elderly couple died in illinois after their car got stuck in floodwaters. the dangerous day eluge impacti parts of missouri and arkansas. guad venegas has more. >> reporter: rushing waters in the arkansas ozarks. >> the whole town of yellville is flooded. >> reporter: creating a flash flood emergency. more than 80 seniors evacuated from this assisted living facility and the city of y yellville. the creek rising in minutes. the water rose and residents were told to hold onto mattresses. roads and bridges left torn apart. >> you don't realize how scary it is until you are in that moment. >> reporter: the fast-moving

waters moving this home off the foundation and crushing this carport. for business owners like glen adams, the cleanup is under way. >> it was just a wall of water. >> reporter: the rain part of a heat-breaking cold front that triggered storms across the south and leaves 54 million at risk of severe weather. a rare tornado in rome, new york knocking the steeple off this church and into the building's roof. cars crushed. one man died as he was swept away by floodwaters. >> we just was out there living life as one does and unexpectedly swept from us. >> reporter: as a summer of severe weather leaving millions bracing for another round. guad venegas, nbc news. >> those storms also bringing relief from the heat. violeta yas is tracking the latest for us. >> good morning, frances. yes, we're seeing the more comfortable air settle into the great lakes and northeast for today. so, you'll notice a little bit of a cool down. it's actually not going to be

all that drastic. new york getting up to 86. which is relatively seasonable. it will be much cooler to the west with highs into the 70s from chicago into pittsburgh. not so hot this weekend. temperatures do start to t do s tick up a little bit. here we have that line of storms from last night. no current watches or warnings. but guy once again expect scattered storms across the southeast and into parts of the mid atlantic then for tomorrow. we'll have lingering storms across the deep south with localized flooding possible. the comfortable weather settling in here is allowing for the heat to shift into the west as we head into this afternoon. so expecting triple digit heat here from reading into boise. and this triggering some red flag i-95 corridor and a cool

down across the interior extending to the great lakes and midwest. that's a look at your regional weather, frances, back to you. >> time to play catchup with all the things we've put off because of the heat. thank you violeta. coming up, a major change for the las vegas strip. and starbucks offers a new way for customers to refuel. new wa for customers to refuel. your tracks... ...vapofreeze your pain away. penetrating pain relief... ...with vicks vapors. (granddaughter laughing) vapofreeze your pain away. now at walmart. we're in a limestone cave, letting extreme residue build up to put finish jet dry to the test. dishwashers are designed to use jet dry to defend against tough residues for a practically spotless shine.

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but this is off a very low base. we did see a pickup in refinancing demand last week, as those mortgage rates dropped to their lowest level since march. the level on the 30-year fixed down from 7% to roughly about 6.87%, enough to trigger some interest. but, again, when it comes to the home buyers, they seemed largely unimpressed, staying on the sidelines. we saw applications to purchase a home loan down 3% for the week. it really is just in that refinancing part of the market and recharging with mercedes and starbucks. the german auto maker has teamed up with the coffee giant to roll out charging stations at some locations. it will target interstate 5 from canada to mexico. you can refuel with are your latte while your ev does the same. the mirage will soon vanish from the las vegas strip.

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setting a new single-game record for the league. new ballet noance announced deal with wnba as they join joa n others as a partner. ea sports' college football 25 game is arriving, the first since 2013. "early today" will be right back. e right back. we're in a limestone cave, letting extreme residue build up to put finish jet dry to the test. dishwashers are designed to use jet dry

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shark week may be over, but sightings seem to be up at many u.s. beaches this summer. so, are there actually more sharks in the water? emilie ikeda explains. >> reporter: summertime on the east coast means hot weather, packed beaches and a growing number of sharks lurking just offshore. >> this morning we got an inno notification there was one 20 yards off that beach over there. >> reporter: data revealing how close they are. on long island, new york, a beach was temporarily closed to swimming after a seven-foot shark was spotted 25 feet offshore. another spotted by a drone over the weekend. modern technology is allowing more people to capture a glimpse of the ancient species. >> in terms of shark sightings, we see increasingly more, because many more people have drones. and so people are much more aware of animals in the water.

>> reporter: while experts say estimating population numbers is difficult, there are signs populations are rebounding. are people around here a little bit more aware of the sharks? >> oh, yeah, i think so. >> reporter: while in florida and along the gulf coast, black tipped reef sharks are thriving. >> he's out there lurking around, and i says oh, i'm not going any further than knee-deep today that's for sure. >> reporter: it comes after several high-profile attacks in the pacific, including the death of a hawaiian surfing star killed by a shark off the island of oahu. and caleb adams who survived being bitten while swimming off del mar. >> there was a strong hit to my body. i knew i had been hit by a shark. >> reporter: in southern california, researchers found juvenile great whites swim near people 97% of the time with no attacks. shark attacks are incredibly rare, scientists say, especially

when you consider the millions of people in the water every day. >> if sharks wanted to target people, we'd have 10,000 shark bi bites a day. people would be such easy targets. sharks are actually trying to avoid people to the extent that they can. >> that's a little bit reassuring, but it's still so scary. every time it happens it is so terrifying. our thanks to emilie ikeda for that report. before we go, here's sheinelle jones with a look at what's coming up this morning on "today". >> this morning on the third hour of "today", celebrating 50 years of hello kitty. plus our series life lessons. the importance of me time. and alley love is helping us improve our summer wellness routine on the third hour of "today." thanks for watching "early today" on this thursday moing. i'rn