right now on ana cabrera reports, the commander in chief and a dad, how president biden is balancing the challenges of his son's guilty verdict with

his day job, as hunter biden awaits his sentencing. and another trial in a separate case. plus, house republicans barrelling toward a vote to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt of congress, do they have the votes? then the secretary of state in the middle east, what he just revealed about the new demands from hamas. and a high speed bus hijacking during atlanta's rush hour, the wild scene caught on camera. ♪♪ good morning, thank you so much for joining us. it is 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york, and we begin with an unprecedented moment for a sitting president responding to the guilty verdict of his child. president biden making a last-minute trip to wilmington, delaware, last night to support his son hunter before traveling overseas this morning on another

high stakes diplomatic visit. the president says he will respect the legal process, as hunter biden now braces for his sentence in this case and prepares to return to court on separate tax charges in september. let's bring in nbc's mike memoli, also with us national correspondent for "politico," betsy woodruff swan, former federal prosecutor, temidayo williams, and danny cevallos. mike, what can you tell us about how hunter's legal trouble is affecting him and where this could go from here? >> reporter: president biden may not have been the everyday presence in the courtroom that the first lady, that other members of the biden family were during this trial, but he was in touch with his son on a daily, if not regular basis over the course of the trial through phone messages, phone calls, text messages and the like, but i was told it was critical for president biden to have this

opportunity to see his son in person. you see those powerful images as he greeted not just his son, his grandson and his daughter-in-law on the tarmac there here in wilmington before the president went to -- on his way to the g-7 summit. think about the meetings he's going to have this week not just with our close allies, but also pope francis. president biden and the pontiff have developed a close relationship since francis was elected in 2013. that's going to be a personal and important meeting on a leadership level later this week. yesterday we also saw the president as the verdict was just hours old still in washington giving at times an emotional address to a gun safety conference. he talked about how those in the audience who had lost loved ones to gun violence had turned their pain into purpose by advocating for stronger laws. that has been a watch word for the biden family throughout their career. we have seen biden touched by tragedy in the past. that's been how he has focused on the work ahead and people

close to the family have said they are defiant at this moment. they're very proud of their public service. as one put it, nothing is going to stop them. the president will be returning from italy and the g-7 summit traveling to los angeles for that fundraiser with president obama, with george clooney. it also happens to be father's day weekend and hunter will be at his home in malibu. >> i'm sure it will be a meaningful father's day weekend as they all are, after something so impactful to a family, thank you, mike memoli. so several jurors have already spoken anonymously about what led to their verdict, guys, the female juror telling usa today that she did not want to find hunter biden guilty because, quote, he needed help but the evidence led to this guilty verdict. juror 10 telling our own katy tur that he doesn't think hunter deserves jail time. take a listen. >> i do not think jail is what's the right thing for hunter.

if he's sober, staying sober, that should be his main focus. as far as what other punishments you could give him, i don't know. maybe house arrest. i don't know. but however the judge decides will be her decision. >> danny, what are you expecting with sentencing? >> in the last 18 or so hours, i'm starting to think perhaps hunter biden should prepare for incarceration. before that i was thinking, look, i calculated his guidelines at 15 to 21 months. someone else may disagree. the parties often disagree on the sentencing guidelines. assuming for the moment he's in the 15 to 21 month category, the judge can go below that sentencing guideline range. the guidelines are not mandatory, and there are -- hunter biden should get something like home confinement

or straight probation, which would be a stretch. but overnight i started thinking about some of the factors that the judge may consider. number one, this was not a white collar case. this was a firearm case, and it was a firearm case where someone really could have gotten hurt. the gun was disposed in a place where someone could have found it. someone did find it. that person happened to not be a child who set it off accidentally. it happened to be an adult, and there was no catastrophe that happened but it could have happened. hunter biden is a tragic figure, but he may not be a sympathetic figure. in this district of delaware, i practiced law close to but not in this particular district, there is a huge problem with guns and drugs and many of the people this judge probably sees are people who are disadvantaged, who are using guns and involved with drugs. hunter biden is someone who had a lot of opportunities. he had a lot of privilege. the judge may not take too kindly to that that someone like hunter biden with all his opportunities still ended up in front of this judge. so it's a possibility hunter biden may be looking at prison.

>> and do you agree with that? do you think a prison sentence is likely, temidayo? >> i think it's -- i don't think it's likely. i mean, everything danny said is accurate, but i think looking more broadly at the history and characteristics of this defendant, which are in what we call the 35, 53 a factors. so the judge is looking at who is hunter biden. that means here he's a first-time offender in this offense here. it was a matter of 11 days. it's inescapable that this is not the kind of crime that the doj charges by itself. it's not the kind of crime that any individuals in any district are facing real criminal penalties for. he was in my opinion treated differently, and whether or not that's explicit in the guidelines, i think the judge is going to be considering that more broadly, i think that's leaning towards more leniency. at least in my opinion. this offense happened years ago. when you're looking at

sentencing, one argument you typically will make is what is the purpose now of a prison sentence? he is as far as we can tell, he's clean, he's not on drugs. he's leading a productive life. he's back with his family and others a productive member of society. >> signal to reporters who cover this case from wilmington, myself included that he's not going to ask the judge to throw the book at biden. what he said in remarks after the conviction was handed down was on the one hand, no one including hunter biden is above the law. at the same time, he said hunter biden should not be held more

accountable than anybody else would for the crime that he's been convicted of. that seems like a pretty clear sign that weiss is very much opening to recommending a sentence that could be at the lower end of the guidelines or even below what the guidelines suggest. however, there's also a piece of bad news for hunter biden. the judge recently sentenced a man who pleaded guilty to lying about his address when he bought nearly 20 guns in delaware. now, this man appeared to be part of a gun trafficking scheme, and he cooperated with prosecutors as they have been investigating other people involved. as a result of that, the justice department asked the judge to only sentence him to six months in prison. again, a crime that's similar to what hunter was convicted of, lying about his address. nor rye ka gave this defendant 12 months in prison. she gave him twice as much

prison time as prosecutors recommended. as they gear up for a sentencing hearing which is expected for october. >> then of course there's still this other case facing hunter that's the tax charges in california being brought by the same special counsel david weiss. let me play part of what he said yesterday about attorney general merrick garland. >> i want to thank attorney general garland for providing the support necessary to fulfill our mission ensuring that we have the independence to appropriately pursue our investigations and prosecutions. >> betsy, that was a keyword there, independence. how significant is it that he said he had this independence? >> yeah, that's right. that's just weiss reminding listeners that the national and international audience he knew he had in that moment, that garland was not involved in his bringing this case. of course that stands in stark contrast to some of the claims that we've seen on the right that garland was somehow trying

to work with weiss to distract the public from the other alleged biden crime family crimes, this is very much weiss himself saying i got this. this is my decision, there was not involvement from people who are political appointees of the biden administration. going into september into this tax trial in california, there's no question that it's even much more legally risky for hunter than this gun case was, and those jurors comments without a doubt will really concern biden's legal team. what those jurors made clear is that they were really, really sympathetic to hunter biden. they're from his home state. they found him to be sympathetic. they worried about his drug addiction. they didn't even think he should go to prison and they still convicted him unanimously. california's going to be different. it's a crime involving more than a million dollars. he doesn't have that home field benefit. this is a concerning day for biden and his lawyers. >> given what she just laid out there related to this tax case, do you see hunter biden and his

attorneys maybe switching strategies and going for a plea deal now? >> they might, but the time to consider a plea deal was before this trial, and yes, i know they explored that and it fell apart last year, but that was a good deal that fell apart. i'm not calling it a sweetheart deal. i don't want to imply there was coziness, but it was a fantastic deal. i'll tell you how fantastic it is, and it doesn't reflect well on me -- it was an offer of diversion. i candidly wasn't even aware it existed in the federal system. in the state system it exists all the time. people always plead out to diversionary programs. they should have considered an ongoing dialogue or maybe even pleading straight up to the indictment, which sometimes there are reasons for doing that but just because a really, really good deal fell through, i am curious why they didn't continue to explore something that wasn't as good as the original deal but something that would have avoided this trial

because now they've gone to trial. they lose the bonus points they would have gotten for pleading and that's going to -- once he gets sentenced, he has a criminal history that will launch him into another category if he gets convicted in the tax case in california. he's going to have a criminal history and the sentencing guidelines jumps up to a different level your entire sentencing framework. >> what about an appeal, temidayo, do you see avenues hunter biden's attorneys might take? >> i think that's unlikely. one big issue he has is acceptance of responsibility. if he does appeal on talks of the probation department about what he's done, he's not going to be able to admit to this conduct because he might want to preserve issues on appeal. when he goes to sentencing, the judge is going to be looking at that. there's a bit of tension there. >> thank you all very much. it is a busy news morning.

the terrifying images out of atlanta of a bus hijacking and a rush hour police chase that turned deadly. plus, the house gop pushed to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt. the critical vote we could see today, but do republicans have the votes? and later, primary battles across the country, does trumpes endorsement still carry weight? we'll break down the results and what it signals about the race for the white house. we're back in 90 seconds. for the white house. we're back in 90 seconds ean ultra foamy magic eraser? it's more magic than ever. with the scrubbing power of magic eraser and the cleaning power of dawn. watch it make soap scum here... disappear... and watch how sprays can leave grime like that with up to 10 times the cleaning power, foamy melts it on contact. magic. it makes this ring a thing of the past. it makes you forgetti about baked on spaghetti. new ultra foamy magic eraser. clean with more magic [introspective music] recipes.

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we're back with a terrifying scene in atlanta last night that seemed like something out of a movie. a man hijacked a bus with passengers on board forcing a driver to speed through rush hour traffic at gunpoint. it set off a police chase through that city. it left one person dead. nbc's priya is a ree that are has all the details. >> reporter: as you mentioned this did seem like a scene from an action movie. the terror was real, a man took a passenger bus hostage creating a terrifying scene not just for the passengers who were on that bus, but also for everyone who was watching on live tv. a high speed chase through rush hour caught on camera, a man hijacking a public transit bus and its passengers in atlanta tuesday, forcing the driver to drive at gunpoint. leading police in pursuit

through rush hour traffic. one passenger later died. it started, authorities say, when police responded to a report of gunfire on a bus and a possible hostage situation. >> units start for 45 ivan allen jr. boulevard, have shots fired, shots fired, person shooting on the bus. >> reporter: the bus then fled the location with more than two dozen police vehicles chasing. the passengers on board terrified. johnny gilbert says his wife called him at work. >> she called me and told me that a guy, one guy shot another guy on the bus. >> reporter: after waiting for more than an hour in agony, gilbert said he finally confirmed his wife was safe. during the chase, the bus seen hitting multiple cars before police used a bear cat vehicle to stop it. multiple passengers seen getting off the bus with their hands in the air, upon clearing the bus,

officers say they found an adult victim with a gunshot wound who was rushed to the hospital in critical condition later dying. police say the suspect, 39-year-old joseph grier was taken into custody without further incident. >> seems like the movies. this day is not indicative of all the days of the city of atlanta, but this is a day we'll never forget. >> reporter: and authorities say that the suspect is a convicted felon who's not allowed to legally have a firearm. he had also been arrested previously 19 times. ana. >> wow, what a wild story. thank you so much, priya sridhar. right now on capitol hill, house speaker mike johnson and republican leaders are holding their weekly press conference where they're planning for a vote today on whether to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt of congress for refusing to turn over audio recordings of president biden's interview with the special counsel investigating his handling of classiied

documents. nbc's ali vitali is on capitol hill for us. when can we see this vote and do republicans have the votes to pass it? >> reporter: that is the question that we're asking here, ana, because they can afford at this point to lose two republicans in this vote based on where the margins are right now in the house. that's seemingly large for a house that usually hinges on one-vote margins, but here we are once again waiting to see how some key republican moderates are ultimately going to vote on something that could be politically problematic. there's a reason that house republican leadership have held off on this vote for several weeks now. you'll remember this passed out of two key committees several weeks ago. the house oversight and house judiciary committee. those members wanted urgency behind this full house floor to hold full house floor vote to hold the attorney general in contempt. you see the speaker of the house there on your screen speaking about this vote.

what they have to do first, though, and the reason we're saying it's expected to happen this afternoon is there is one procedural hurdle they have to clear in the next 15 or 20 minutes or so that would allow them to vote on the rule and then later this afternoon they would be able to vote on the actual contempt referral itself. again, we don't know what that margin or that tally is going to look like. you've got to imagine if republicans are bringing this, they want good enough. >> this comes before president trump is set to meet with house and senate republicans on the hill tomorrow, mitch mcconnell among them, and he and trump haven't even talked since 2020, the day after the electoral college declared biden the winner. ali, this isn't going to be awkward at all. >> reporter: not at all, and as usual, look, to be a fly on the wall in these meetings because of some of those dynamics, right, ana? the fact that mitch mcconnell is going to be in a room with the former president for the first time since that president lost his re-election in 2020.

that of course is critical. but there's also some republican senators who are saying that they won't be able to be there. for example, senator lisa murkowski of alaska, certainly no fan of donald trump, who told me that she doesn't see herself being able to vote for him. that was back during the primary when murkowski endorsed nikki haley. murkowski says she's got a scheduling conflict. she won't be able to there with senate republicans and prior to that house republicans. but by and large, this is going to be a meeting where trump is well-received by the majority of both the senate and house conferences because he is the presumed standard bearer of their party once again despite those convictions. >> ali vitali, thank you so much for being on top of all things on the hill. we have our eyes on america's top diplomat in qatar this morning as hamas responds to the u.s.-backed cease fire proposal. ahead, where these delicate negotiations stand. and then still the king

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welcome back. right now, new urgency in the middle east where secretary of state antony blinken is meeting this morning with qatar's prime minister looking to build momentum around a cease fire deal. we're still looking at a long road ahead of negotiations with

hamas finally responding and seeking changes to the offer that's on the table. the secretary of state address addressed that this morning. >> hamas could have answered with a single word, yes. instead hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions that had previously taken and accepted. >> nbc's matt bradley is in israel with more now. matt, bring us up to speed on where these negotiations stand right now. >> yeah, just as antony blinken said, this is a situation that is still in flux. i got to tell you, ana, this is the first time since that last deal we saw in november that saw an exchange of prisoners, an exchange of hostages, and a quiet in the fighting for about a week. this is the closest it looks like we've been to some kind of deal, but you're right, there still is a lot left to do. we heard that from antony blinken just now.

it looks as though it's been taken for granted that the israelis have accepted this plan. we heard that from blinken. we saw that from that u.n. resolution that was passed almost unanimously a couple of days ago that this was manager that israel had already accepted. now, we can kind of take that for blinken's word. at the same time, we saw that back on may 31st when joe biden presented this plan and said this is israel's plan and the israelis kind of walked that back over the course of the next week. so there are negotiations, hamas still hasn't succeeded. they have demands as we heard from blinken, but we still haven't heard that much from the israeli side saying they have signed onto the plan. that's something we're still kind of waiting for a very public answer, an endorsement of the plan from the israelis that goes beyond the assurances from blinken, from the u.s. administration, what we saw from that u.n. resolution. there is a lot to go here, and we still haven't heard the final word on this deal.

>> and it doesn't sound good as it continues to linger, matt bradley, thank you. now to some breaking and sad news this morning out of the world of basketball. jerry west, the inspiration behind that nba logo itself has died. west was one of basketball's most accomplished contributors dominating as a player mt. '60s and '70s for the lakers, and later he was inducted into the basketball hall of fame. according to the los angeles clippers, the nba legend passed away peacefully this morning with his wife by his side. he was 86 years old. next on "ana cabrera reports," a primary test of power, how trump endorsed candidates fared last night and what it means for november. plus, the cascading legal drama hitting the campaign trail. donald trump the first former president convicted of felony crimes. and president biden now grappling with his son's guilty verdict, but how much does it matter to voters. voters cent! it's scientifically formulated

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one major takeaway from last night's republican primary races, donald trump still holds the midas touch for the gop. in nevada, sam brown got a late nod from the ex-president sunday and won his senate primary. in south carolina, congresswoman nancy mace got trump's endorsement and fended off a challenger backed by former speaker kevin mccarthy, and in north dakota's governor's race,

congressman kelly armstrong won the gop armstrong without current governor doug burgum's support. joining us now nbc news political correspondent vaughn hillyard. how are last night's results ripping through political circles this morning, and what could these fights look like in november? >> look, this only underscores and cements the fact that this continues to be donald trump's party. the presidential primary results bared that out. sam brown was somebody donald trump was in nevada for a rally on sunday and he didn't endorse formally sam brown until literally he was on the plane ride back to mar-a-lago after that campaign event, but sam brown won handily. he was a purple heart recipient, was injured serving in the army in 2008 from a roadside bomb in afghanistan. this is going to be a big general election senate race. democrats have consistently won the senate races in nevada. if you recall in 2022, incumbent democratic senator only won by 7,000 votes here.

republicans see this as a pickup opportunity, and for sam brown having that endorsement and that head nod from donald trump is significant in the general election. then you also look at nancy mace, right? in the republican primary there were questions, there were many republican voters who were skeptical of her just two years ago when she narrowly won the general election to maintain her seat. after the january 6th capitol attack she came out against donald trump saying there needed to be a new direction of the republican party. suddenly she realized that the republican base of support likes donald trump so she quickly ran back and has become a close ally of his. the results yesterday handily winning. >> and of course that wasn't the only thing on the ballot. there were these other types of amendments or initiatives. north dakota did something unusual that could set an upper age limit for candidates this. >> this is a first. this could be challenged constitutionally. the voters by 60 to 40% determined that if you are

running for the u.s. senate or the u.s. congress seat in north dakota, you cannot turn 81 years old while your term is ongoing, and the question here is, of course, the u.s. constitution has some very specific guidelines when it comes to ages, but it has to do with how old you must be. you've got to be 25 to run for the u.s. house and 30 to run for the u.s. senate. and the question here is whether there will be a challenge because the u.s. supreme court has maintained in the past in a decision in the '90s that states are not able to add on qualifications to serve in the u.s. congress, but of course this is a new u.s. supreme court, and this really would be an untested first kind of challenge to set an age maximum for somebody running to serve in the u.s. congress, ana. >> very interesting, vaughn hillyard, thank you. now from the ballot box to the jury box, questions remain about just how much hunter biden's felony conviction could sway voters who were convinced

the doj has been weaponized against republicans. some trump loyalists say hunter's guilty verdict says nothing. matt gaetz calling the gun conviction kind of dumb. while democrats say it is proof positive politics have nothing to do with doj investigations and prosecutions. let's turn to our political analyst, democratic strategist basil smikle and republican strategist susan del percio. thank you so much for coming on here. we're hearing a lot of different reactions from republicans specifically, susan, from that kind of dumb comment, to some calling this accountability, to others saying it's a distraction. why not a unified voice? >> because the republican party actually is never that unified on something that has so many nonsensical parts to it, and that's what's so hard here is that you have some republicans, there are a few who still say we

believe in ourjudicial system, law and order, we believe in the jury process. great. then there are those who are trying to process and somehow turn it around as it's part of biden's cabal against trump and somehow -- i can't even follow the train of craziness there. then you have those -- and ironically i can't believe i'm going to say this, congressman matt gaetz is kind of right on this. >> he's usually on the extreme side. >> and i won't say it's dumb. what i think it's more in line with are what some members of congress like lindsey graham have said is that if not for his last name being hunter, these charges would not have been pursued, which fair enough, you can say the same thing about donald trump. >> politicians haven't said that, but a lot of legal experts have said just that, that he was maybe treated more poorly by the judicial system than other people would in his same situation if his last name weren't the president's last

name. >> here's where part of the confusion is with the republican response, we all know -- i shouldn't say we all know -- republicans and a lot of folks out there know that this won't have any play on the election. i mean, we're going to have a debate in less than -- 15 days from now. i promise you we're going to say hunter who? >> we'll see if we get there because it's not the only case that hunter is facing obviously. before you respond, bbasil, let me play some of what we are hearing from democrats. >> apparently when a republican is convicted, it's weaponization, but when a democracy is convicted the the president's son no less, that's justice? the divide here is stunning, and it's a great reminder that one political party remains committed to the rule of law and the other doesn't. >> basil, what do you see as the impact perhaps on the 2024 election? >> you know, i don't know that it has any significant impact on the election. democrats will go to support joe biden and continue to support

joe biden. i think actually independents have found a way and will find a way to separate what the president -- you know, the president and his governing -- his ability to govern in the united states versus what his son has done, which the president himself has created that clear line. so i do think independents will kind of bring those two things together. they'll clearly separate them. republicans will continue to use it as a rallying cry for their supporters. to susan's point, what you're seeing is them finding a way to try and reconcile what they feel versus the reaction from donald trump and how they're going to have to navigate that. it's them trying to contort themselves into some kind of language that walks a line and because they can't do it well, it looks very clumsy. that's i think what you're seeing. but the reality is that democrats are saying the right things here, that this was -- this was his son. you can see that the father, joe biden as a father is clearly upset.

he's clearly grieving, and we'll give you -- you know, we'll give you that sort of -- to be able to be the father but we understand that he's still doing his job as president of the united states. >> which just to follow up on that, that is one place where republicans can really overplay their hands and it could affect the election is if they go too far. i know it's shocking to hear that republicans may push an issue too far, but this is one place where i think it would turn off independent swing voters, if donald trump in the general election goes after biden, especially on his son and using the legal system as a way to prove himself being a victim, i don't think that will sit well with independent voters. >> there's also this other major difference between hunter's case and trump's case and that is hunter is not a candidate. his father is, but donald trump is the candidate, and of course hunter's cases deal with some

gun paperwork, some tax crimes. but donald trump's convicted for what is connected to an election interference scheme and then he's charged with, you know, interfering in the 2020 election. do you think voters understand or recognize or care about that distinction, basil? >> i do think they care and they recognize it. 34 guilty verdicts makes a very big difference and creates an extraordinary contrast against what we're talking about with respect to hunter biden. donald trump tried to change the outcome of an election and engaged a larger sort of conspiracy to do it. this hush money case is just one cog in that large wheel, and i think a lot of voters are quite aware of that and are looking forward to hearing more about how that spills out in the public -- in sort of public discourse. very quickly, the one thing that republicans are weaponizing and our colleague talked about this, is hunter biden's addiction, and

that to me going to your point about overplaying i think will have stronger ripple effects because the ways in which they've talked about hunter biden's addiction i think resonates with a lot of people, a lot of families who have to deal with members who are engaged in the same kinds of troubles trying to fight that. when they look at republicans with this sort of strong arm of someone who's clearly suffering from a disease that could backfire. one of the things that susan discussed. >> thank you both so much. susan del percio and basil smikle, good to have you. up next on "ana cabrera reports," a one-two punch to the economy, a brand new inflation report and a critical fed meeting today, what it means for your summer budget. t it means fr your summer budget if advanced lung cancer has you searching for possibilities, discover a different first treatment. immunotherapies work with your immune system to attack cancer. but opdivo plus yervoy is the first combination of 2 immunotherapies for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread, tests positive for pd-l1,

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with fastsigns, create striking custom visuals that inspire pride district-wide. ♪♪ fastsigns. make your statement. we have breaking news this morning on america's economy, annual inflation cooled in may with prices overall unchanged from april to may, it's a welcome sign of relief for americans as we also watch for a big decision this afternoon, what the federal reserve will do on interest rates, and nbc news senior business correspondent christine romans is here with more on what all of this means. help us make sense of this inflation report. >> last year there was rapid improvement on the inflation story. every month was cooling from that 9% all the way down into the 3 range, and then that movement just stopped at the beginning of this year. we were worried. we were worried that inflation was going to be really hard to break. this little bit of improvement

is i guess reigniting some optimism that the fed might be able to get inflation under control, and maybe the fed might be able to eventually cut interest rates later this year. >> they're supposed to have a decision today. do you expect any moouchltd movement there? >> i think 3.3% inflation rate is much too high for their liking. this is now moving again in the right direction. that's good news on the fed inflation fighting front. >> and you know, the world bank just called the u.s. economy impressive. they talked about growth here being exceptional. all signs pointing the right direction in terms economy impr. they talked about growth here being exceptional. all signs pointing in the right direction in terms of the big picture. when you look at the polls, a lot of americans don't feel like they're benefitting personally. >> the u.s. economy is the strongest of their peers in the world. the world bank talked about how it's holding up everybody else. it's remarkable when you talk to

people, especially in swing states, who say they feel rotten about the economy. even though they feel fine about their personal economy, they feel that something is not right in terms of the overall national economic picture. it's an interesting paradox. i wonder if company's keep cutting prices as we've seen at the supermarket and clothing prices are starting to fall, if companies keep cutting prices, gas prices are lower, maybe people will feel it better. >> you say this could be the summer of value. explain. >> i think so. last year, last two summers, were the summers of sticker shock. we saw starbucks coming out with their new value meal. a lot of retailers are cutting prices. you'll see good prices maybe go back. service prices are still high in part because we're traveling

like crazy. we're spending like crazy on experiences. there's the covid hangover. people are spending money on those parts of the economy. >> christine romans, thank you. a moment of hope in baltimore. nearly three months after the francis scott key bridge collapsed, the shipping channel into baltimore's port has just re-opened. the port of baltimore, one of our country's busiest, processed a record 1.1 million containers and $80 billion in foreign cargo last year. chris jansing will talk to transportation secretary pete buttigieg later today on msnbc. 20 million americans under heat alerts. are you in the hot zone? speaking of boiling, where's the beef? the undisputed king of nathan's hot dog eating contest no longer

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has millions set to boil. the southwest looking at another week of red hot temperatures. nearly 20 million under dangerous heat alerts from california to texas. on the east coast more than 7 million floridians remain under a flood watch. we're talking about one city seeing rainfall so rare it's only expected every 500 to 1,000

years. joining us now our report in sweltering las vegas. when can folks expect relief from the heat, liz? >> reporter: good morning to you. it's already hot here. it's going to get hotter. potentially up to 109 in las vegas, 14 days straight of triple digit heat. it's been 100 or higher every day since may 30th. the hope is after the next few days they'll get some relief as the heat wave moves east towards you. here's what officials in vegas are saying. >> i would always say our children and our seniors are most vulnerable. children because they just want to be outside. they don't think twice about the rosy red cheeks, but also our seniors because so many of them take a lot of medications that play into that, don't really drink as much water as they

should. they're very vulnerable as well. >> reporter: dehydration is a big issue here. so far las vegas said they've had no deaths from heat this summer, but many calls from heat-related illnesses. experts say drink a lot of water, hydrate and stay in air conditioning if you can. there are cooling centers open in vegas, and other cities in phoenix, 24 hours there. >> go find that ac, my friend. thank you. in an impossible turn of events, joey chestnut, a 16-time champion of nathan's eating hot dog event is out. he got himself into a pickle after partnering with impossible foods a plant-based company. the company doesn't let competitors deal with competing

companies. he said, i was gutted to learn i'm banned from the nathan's hot dog eating contest. to my fans, i love you. i appreciate you. rest assured you'll see me eat again soon. stay hungry. chestnut was on a roll having consumed 62 hot dogs and buns at the last contest. he's the world record holder with 76 in 2021. definitely something for you to relish. that's a whopping 22,800 calories. hot diggity dog. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. ♪♪ ♪♪ good morning. it's 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm