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♪ ♪ a very good day to all of

you from msnbc world headquarters in louisville and new york. welcome, everyone to "alex witt reports". we are tracking three big stories at this hour. right now, the outer bands of beryl are bringing wind and tropical rain to texas. it is expected to become a hurricane before making landfall. any moment now, leader hakeem jefferies will convene a meeting of house democrats to take the temperature on president joe biden's postdebate candidacy. >> president biden will arrive in harrisburg for a campaign event as he takes his fight to stay in the presidential race to the swing state of pennsylvania. we begin with breaking news on the storm, our team of meteorologists of reporters here with the latest. we will go first to you, priscilla, in the field with the most recent update on beryl. what is the latest you are hearing from officials? >> reporter: that's right, alex. i just spoke with the mayor and he reiterated the advice that people who are elderly or sick

due to leave. he says this area could be without power for a number of days if this does come in as a category 1 storm. right now, they are prepared to have water, supplies and ice and things like that available for people. a lot of people in this community are planning to hunker down. we have seen these preps taking place across the texas golf course gulf coast over the last several days. in co-sell padre island in corpus christi 10,000 sandbags were distributed in less than an hour. we were in galveston earlier today where we saw empty grocery store shelves as people were stocking up on water, food and supplies. the sense really is that a lot of folks are going to plan to stay and ride this out. here in port lavaca, we see boarded-up businesses and homes. i spoke with one resident who owns about 20 properties here. she said she managed to get all of them boarded up and was

putting up the last few boards and plans to make a decision later tonight as she waits to see if this will really come in as a hurricane. she has a trailer in her front yard she is prepared to drive out of here, if she needs to leave. i asked her over time, if she has to leave, what does she expect to come back to? i want to play what she had to say. >> you never know. that is what happens when you live on the coast. we ruled out harvey. in that case, all of the apartments needed roofs and it blew everything toward air- conditioners, it tore up all the lighting upside outside and you don't know when you leave. that is what happens when you live on the coast. >> reporter: yeah, you just don't know. there are real concerns when you look at what this storm could be bringing in for port lavaca, looking at 4 to 6 feet

of storm surge and the potential for deadly flooding, particularly in some of these areas that have been saturated with relentless rain in the past couple of months. right now, there are mandatory evacuation orders in place in several counties across the coast. there is also a disaster declaration in place for 120 counties. we expect state officials to brief here in the next half hour, alex. >> priscilla thompson, thank you for keeping an eye on that for us. it is important as we see the waves and the current there, it is choppier than normal as we give you another look . this is south of where priscilla was just standing, water getting a little bit rougher there, as well. let's go call me now across the studio to nbc meteorologist angie lassman. what are the models saying? are there additional rounds after tropical storm alberto

hit that part of the area last month? >> yes. here's the deal. the forecast has mostly remained unchanged with the latest updates. we still have a tropical storm we are watching with winds at 65 miles per hour and we expect it to become a category 1 hurricane. dry air has helped it from strengthening even further over the past 24 to 36 hours. we will see you watch this continue to move north. right now just over 165 miles from the point of landfall or somewhere near there. we have a couple of things to note. there is still uncertainty and error with forecasting, even as we get close to 18 hours out. we will likely see a low end tropical storm or a high-end category 2. the national hurricane center has it as coming in as a category 1. those impacts will largely have

rain, the storm surge, winds and even a couple strong tornadoes we could see. we still see this system moving to the north-northeast as we get into the middle of the week. that will bring rain to others of the country. the flooding rain is what we are most concerned about, especially east of the centre there, 5 to 10 inches of rain, the outer rain bands are moving onshore. it could be upwards of 10 to 15 inches of rain. that will be problematic, especially for places like houston, which are really vulnerable to additional rain. avenue saturated ground so we have flood alerts up for 11 million people right now when it comes to the strong winds, they are getting closest to the center of the system upwards of 90 miles per hour is the higher end of what we see. minor to moderate wind damages what we are expecting, downed trees, downed power lines, damage to roof and homes. watch out for that.

as we extend further north, south and west, we will likely see tropical storm force winds. when it comes to the storm surge, this is another concern, one thing to note, we will actually see landfall between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. falling between high tide and low tide time. the storm surge numbers, likely were you see 4 to 6, closer to 5 heat feet on i am. places like galveston and south padre island 2 to 4 fee. we will see the dangerous surf and rip currents but we will be watching for the storm surge to be somewhere around 4 to 5 feet on the higher end of this. additionally we have the chance for some of the strong tornadoes across parts of texas and oklahoma as a system moves north. houston, cameron, louisiana, including houston, from port lavaca, you see the rotation coming onshore, it is always something to watch for with spin ups for tornadoes. this is something we will watch , alex. >> thank you for keeping an eye on the disturbing part, 4:00 to

6:00 a.m. let's go from there to breaking news from washington, everyone. a meeting among top democrats. house minority leader hakeem jeffries is holding a meeting this hour to address questions about president biden's future. let's go to the hill with the very latest. how is this meeting going, has a got under way, do we know any details about who was on the call, what they are discussing? >> reporter: yeah, alex, as you can imagine, leaders in the democratic party, especially on capitol hill, are trying to keep their cards very close to the best, especially as lawmakers have not been in this room together since the debate. they will return tomorrow. of course, they have this

virtual meeting taking place that began a couple minutes ago between jeffries, members of his leadership team and the ranking members of top committees here in the house, that includes one of the members, with a five, i should say, that have called on biden to step aside . one of the problems you are seeing is that democrats are not speaking with one voice on this, right? they have different opinions, even if they are concerned of biden's debate performance, they don't think it is something that should be hashed out in the public sphere. at the same time, have those like seth moulton, who i know you spoke to last hour, he is one of the five, who calls on biden to step aside and says it is healthy for a democracy. he says it is healthy to contrast the difference between democrats, whether this is the right person to lead their party to victory in november versus republicans who stuck by former president donald trump, despite him being convicted in a criminal court. listen to what different democrats had to say all day, including seth moulton. >> i think most importantly now is it is not a beauty contest, it is not an emmy award. it is a contest of who stands with the vast majority of the people in this country, the elderly, the children, working class, the poor. that candidate is obviously joe biden.

>> biden did a very poor job in the debate, no doubt about it. it is not about the debate, it is about the wisdom of the experience, understanding international relationships and international leaders, around the world. >> this is a very open debate right now happening at a party which is a good and healthy thing for the party to have, just these discussions about what our future looks like. >> i have to say this, we have to stop talking about this. we spent the whole week. republicans are having a time. we need to get back to talking about donald trump and his performance on all the issues that are at stake and the contrast. >> i mean, certainly, alex, democrats or in an awkward position. >> reporter: there is no other word to describe it. myself and my colleagues have heard all week long from the

very worried democrats and different factions of the party and from minors who are vulnerable, safe seat members, those who have stood by biden for years and decades and served with him here and respect him. the bottom line here is, they don't know if they are being ghastly by the president and his administration if that debate performance was a one- off or if the president says he stays in the race, if he really has what it takes to take on trump in november. they see democrats as being able to mop the floor with trump, given his record and everything he has done in the 3 1/2 years since he has been out of office, indictments and so want. this really is a moment for democrats and they will be back in the halls tomorrow to have a lot to talk about and a lot to

decide. certainly, the next five days will be pivotal. >> julie tsirkin, thank you for staying on top of all of that because you get more information about the call, don't hesitate to come back on the show. i want to bring in aaron gilchrist in harrisburg, pennsylvania, following the president's campaign. welcome, front. we have biden and his team insisted he is not going anywhere. what are we seeing and hearing from them in this critical swing state? >> reporter: as we expect to see the president in harrisburg a little later this afternoon, this is effectively a picnic happening at a union all in harrisburg. we have seen a few hundred people gathered here already today. the president, we believe, is still in philadelphia. there was an error unplanned stop he made at a coordinated campaign office there to talk to some of the people helping to carry his campaign message in pennsylvania, critical battleground state, as you noted. he said at one point, this election will be about blocking and tackling, simple, basic politics. the president very much has been saying this week he intends to stay in the race and he is focused on the message we have heard from him over the last several months. we expect to hear more today. there is no podium set up here. we do not expect formal

remarks. it is likely he mixes it up with one on one conversations, like he did on that campaign stop in philadelphia, the campaign office there. one woman there so we need to see dark brandon. the president responded, dark brendan is coming back, a reference to a feistier, fighter joe biden. that is something we can expect to say we can see in the days and weeks to come. i want you do here what his campaign manager had to say on msnbc earlier today about why president biden is staying in. >> president biden does not believe this is about him. our whole campaign apparatus since the moment we have announced has been about democracy, freedom, the stakes of this election and what it means for real americans at their kitchen tables when they are making these tough decisions about to pay childcare. that is what this race is about and what the president was saying and i know what he meant, nobody will work harder than him to defeat donald trump.

>> reporter: part of that effort the campaign has explained to us, will be president biden, along with the vice president and the second gentleman and first lady hitting the battleground states over the course of the month of july. the president making the stop you're in pennsylvania, obviously, he was in wisconsin last week. the first lady is making stops in georgia and north carolina in the weeks to come. we talked to voters here, democrats in this crowd, many of them say they still support president biden. they want to see him go forward. they fully intend to vote for him in november. at the same time we talked to one person that said she believes it is time for him to step aside and the time for the ticket to step aside, both president biden and vice president harris, someone else should stay in but if they stay, she will vote for

president biden in november. >> aaron gilchrist, thank you very much. we will check in with you again. let me just say, the president talking about dark brandon coming back, i find that ironic. it was trump supporters who gave him that moniker, trying to be a detrimental moniker and he turned that around for good. let's talk about more breaking news. we have holes in france i closed months ago after record turnout in the second round of a high-stakes election. let's go to paris. josh, welcome to you. when will we see the results and what could france's government look like after that? >> reporter: alex, we are just getting in the first results from the exit polls and they are a shocker. heading into this race today, the expectation was that the far right national rally would likely pick up the most seats, that was the case in the first round of voting, in the recent parliament elections. in the last few minutes we started to get projections each party will win, based on the exit polls my. these tend to be very accurate projections. there are 588 seats at play,

sorry, 577. at of those seats, the leftist alliance is now projected to come in first place with somewhere between 172 and 215 seats. president emmanuel macron's more centrist alliance is expected to come in second place with between 150 and 180 seats, narrows second by the love. the national rally, appearing to be on really solid ground heading into tonight's results, now appear to come in third place with just 115 to 155 seats. the clear surprise winner in today's results is the french left. they need 289 votes here in france, 289 seats, to win the absolute majority and get to essentially lead the next government. and no party or coalition has met that threshold. that means there is not an

outright winner here but it does mean that the next prime minister of this country is likely to come from the left. it will be up to president macron to to someone likely from that french leftist coalition to be the next prime minister. this will be a real surprise here in france, really pushing back on the narrative that the far right was so cemented they were destined for victory in this election and, in fact, the french left, which had essentially been counted out, appears to be resurgent once again. >> josh, there were concerns with the paris olympics starting at two and half weeks that paris was going to have to potentially bring in a new parliament as they also host the world games there. what you are saying is it won't have a completely the radical effect, this vote, on barr lake

parliament, there will be some adjustment, yes, but it is not what it could have been as expected in earlier voters? >> reporter: what it essentially means, alex, france will have a divided government for the foreseeable future. they will not have a clear victor with an absolute majority so nobody will have the power to pass laws they want on their own. what we will likely see is deals being made between the centrists and the leftists to pass one off legislation but it means it is a new period of potentially some political chaos but a lack of certainty for france, just as they are heading into those olympics. there are concerns about security, potentially political unrest. we know 3000 police officers have been dispatched to the streets. today i have these results in case there is unrest. many more than that will be out for the paris olympics. this is a real period of political has not been seen for a long time.

>> extraordinary times ahead. thank you very much for ironing it all out for us. we appreciate that. with eight days to go before the republican convention, donald trump has been mostly quiet but his vice presidential hopefuls have not. back in 90 seconds. seconds.

♪♪ right now, donald trump and republicans are counting down to their national convention just eight days away. focus is growing on when trump will name his running mate and

who that might be. let's go to nbc jillian frankel joining me now what does trump have planned for the week at? >> reporter: alex, and has been a relatively quiet holiday weekend for the former president with no campaign events of the last few days but his campaign is expected to ramp up headed into this week. he has rallies scheduled for tuesday in florida followed by another in pennsylvania on saturday. we see this big type of public campaign events happening as the former president is expected to announce his vice presidential running mate any day now as we draw closer and closer to the republican national convention which kicks off on july 15th. top contenders hit the airwaves this morning but they were careful to avoid specifics when they were pressed about vice president and the vetting process going on behind-the- scenes. here is j.d. vance and marco rubio this morning. take a listen.

>> i will let the media know if i ever get the call but most importantly, we are just working to elect donald trump. whoever his vice president is, he has a lot of good people he can choose from, it is the policies that work and the leadership style that works for the american people. we need to bring that back to the white house and i am trying to do that. >> i know nothing. you probably know more than i do about it. donald trump has a decision to make and he will make a good decision. i know for certain i will be out there over the next three or four months, working on behalf of his campaign in some capacity. >> reporter: as for north dakota governor doug burgum, and other top vice presidential contender and a major trump surrogate, i reached out to major members of his team to see if he would stay in north dakota until the convention kicks up in milwaukee but i have yet to hear back about those details. >> let us know if you do. thank you, jillian. let's bring in the head of crooked media, along with the

senior political correspondent at the hill and senior political correspondent for the "wall street journal". good to see all three of you. while republicans are speculating on a vp, democrats are still questioning the top of the ticket altogether. let's take a listen to representative seth moulton, who i spoke to in the last hour, one of the democratic lawmakers calling for president biden to step aside. he said this could be good for the party. take a listen. >> democrats are showing we are a much more vibrant party. we are willing to question ourselves. we are willing to change strategy, if that's what it takes to win. at the end of the day, because we understand the stakes are so high, so high, what if eating donald trump and literally saving our democracy, we are going to be united behind our nominee, whoever he or she is. >> what is your reaction? >> he has his opinions, whether or not joe biden should step aside, i think his analysis of

looking there needs to be a strategy spot on, something i really insist on, i think about the volunteers we work with who are mobilizing to elect joe biden, polling should be what dictates what we are doing, not telling us the answer right now. we do still have four months until election day. i think the strategy can change but polling results are very important. it is also really important for the campaign to understand that even if polling hasn't shifted a ton since the debate, joe biden should be beating donald trump by a lot. it is disheartening it is this close with someone we know is a convicted felon, who has multiple allegations of sexual assault and has actually been found liable in them.

i think seth moulton actually hit a lot of things on the head except i did not agree with him about that. i think he is overlooking vice president harris. >> okay, i should say you were echoing the sentiments earlier from adam schiff with regard to what he was saying. let me ask you, amy, you reported on senator mark warner, an influential senator, is pushing biden out. so far, you have public calls for him to exit the race. you know the added concern on down ballot candidates. where does that concern fall? what are the reasons for lawmakers asking biden to step aside? >> that's the thing, alex. i think when this meeting can convene amar and congress is backing code session, the senate will actually hold a lot of power. it is the president's former chamber. he has a lot of tight friendships there. he goes back a long ways. i think he is counting on that chamber for a lot of support. i do think that right now, five house members doesn't really make a lot of difference, but

that is a big one, when everyone comes back tomorrow, when this call happens today, with the house minority leader and people start to hear more from each other on where they are and where they stand, that could all shift. i think that is sort of where a lot of the biden allies feel like the dam could break. right now you see the dam holding, for the most part. the president is digging his heels in. i think that could all change very quickly this week. >> the down ballot concerns, how much does that way against the top of the ticket? let's face it. these people want to get reelected and keep their jobs. >> yeah, it is a major concern. i am hearing that from a lot of donors who are close with these people running down ballot in down ballot races. they think as soon as the polls start to shift there, they have told me all along, since the night of the debate, as soon as

that starts to happen, that is where it really begins. >> molly, you wrote about the interview showing it showed a president in denial. biden shows no signs in changing the signs that got him to this point. that was biden's public stance we saw in that interview. privately, where's the balance between understanding the reality about concerns about his age and confidence he can beat trump and deliver a second term in office. do you have a sense of how honest his team is being with him? >> you know, the message most people have gotten from his team and others in private is very similar to the one he delivered in public and the concern i wrote about on the part of many top democrats is

if the president doesn't really realize how bad it is and he doesn't realize the crisis that many democrats forsey around his candidacy and around the ticket and around him being at the top of the ticket, in particular. they are very concerned that is going to make it impossible to do anything to get to him and make him understand. there is a concern he is in a bit of a bubble, you know, the supporters he meets out on the trail, of course, are going to be relatively loyal supporters. he is not necessarily hearing, if it is true he doesn't believe the polls that show his approval rating that show him losing the election by growing margins in the national popular vote, there is some conflicting information in some of the battleground holes we have seen but overall, there is really no question that the president, if the election were held today, would likely lose. if he does not believe that is the case, democrats are concerned that it will just

make it that much harder to do something, whether it is getting to step off the ticket or just getting him to change the campaign that has gotten him to this point. there is a feeling that if nothing else, the debate ought to have been a wake-up call to change the course of the campaign, not to merely batten down the hatches of the bunker and just power through it. >> shaniqua, how quickly does this have to be resolved? if biden does not step aside and certainly there are no indications he will, how quickly must the party rally behind him and focus on defeating donald trump? >> i mean, yesterday. this, you know, it has been over a week since the debate

and we are still having these conversations. it seems a part of that is because a lot of democratic leadership did not hear from joe biden fast enough. they were going to get questions from the media either way and they had to start answering those questions. it definitely needs to be resolved before the republicans had their convention next week. this will be the center of what they talk about. they will have a field day with it if it is not wrapped up. i think it is really important for the campaign to continue on as steady footing as possible and for them to figure out very quickly. >> amie, as we turn to the trump campaign, the "washington post" reports he is starting to review language for the 2024 republican platform which may not include a strong abortion language, essentially abandoning the party's call to amend the constitution. this has caused so much tension that sums conservative leaders have warned of a split within their coalition. republicans are in between a rock and a hard place. they know abortion is a losing issue but could they not anger some of their base and make them stay home on election day? >> i think they are a little bit fractured. i think that has been the case for a long time on this issue, particularly. i think that will be interesting to see how they resolved this. everyone i have spoken to this week has just enjoyed, i know that representative dingell made this point earlier, she was interviewed, but i think they are enjoying this so much

right now on the democratic side, which is another big reason why the democrats need to figure this out quickly. because these issues like abortion, they are just moving into the backdrop. they are unified behind their candidate and pointing fingers at democrats saying you guys are the ones who are fractured. this all needs to be resolved very quickly so these issues can be at the forefront. i think that is one of the big reasons why democrats are trying to find answers quickly before the convention begins. >> do you really think folks will take abortion over the threat to democracy, is that kiefer democrats? >> perhaps. i'm not here to give anyone political advice. i will say to shaniqua's point, every minute the democrats are talking about splits in their party and the questions surrounding their nominee is a minute they are not talking about these issues, whether it

is abortion, project 2025 and the threat to democracy they argue that donald trump poses, there are other things that could be talking about whether or not joe biden is fit to serve as a nominee going forward. this has become a protracted sort of stalemate within the party. i think in part, that is on the white house and the biden campaign for not having moved very swiftly to address this and satisfy everyone's concerns . they thought they could simply ride it out. that has not been enough for many democrats. sources i heard from over the last week got more anxious and frightened and even angry over the course of the week, not less. as those lawmakers come back to washington, there are going to want to get some answers or

they are going to seek a change. that is going to be the conversation that really consumes us here in washington until it is resolved and it will be at the expense of putting some other message for but the campaign. >> on that note, shaniqua, amie and molly, please standby. we will talk about vice president kamala harris in her potential chances against former president donald trump instead of joe biden. that is next. at is next.

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♪♪ i am back with my panel. shaniqua, we will start with you. i want to talk about kamala harris. if biden were to exit the race, she is almost guaranteed, not completely, but am is guaranteed to be the nominee. adam schiff was asked about her on meet the press. take a listen. >> i think the vice president would be a phenomenal president. i think she has the experience, the judgment, the leadership ability to lead and ordinarily. >> should she win over womanly?

>> i think she could win over women lay. before we get into a conversation about who else it should be, the president should make the decision on whether or not it will be him. >> do you think it would be a relief to have a different choice for donald trump versus joe biden right now? >> yeah, we have heard that since the selection started that, you know, as people started to realize we would have donald trump over joe biden again, really questioned whether we had to have the same two candidates over again. vice president harris has been in the spotlight recently, especially since the debate and the campaign, the white house has put her out there more. you know, some of the recent polling that has come out is not that far down. you know, there are no candidates who people are talking about that have actually run for president yet. vice president harris did. although her showing wasn't that great, she has been on the national stage. she has been working with the president, supporting his

policies. she is younger. that is the thing upsetting a lot of people with joe biden's age, she completely get rid of the concern he is to all. i also think it is important the party be really careful about skipping over vice president harris as they are having these conversations. ultimately, it will be up to joe biden if he steps down. i think it is really risky to, you know, anger the most reliable group of voters, black women, by saying this woman we thought was qualified to be vice president is no longer qualified to be president. >> interesting point. molly, those here at msnbc say that harris could be a stronger candidate than people leaving give her credit for, for reasons, including the lessons learned from running for president before and a shorter campaign could have advantages. she is the campaign lead advocate for abortion rights. has she been underestimated?

>> well, look, she is certainly not popular right now, if you look at just her approval rating. we are starting to see polls, that show her doing better than joe biden in a hypothetical matchup against donald trump. and, you know, she is relatively untested at the national level and i do think that, you know, as she was saying, that so many voters have been so annoyed about the rematch feature of this election, the fact they are voting on the same two candidates they did four years ago, i think it is quite conceivable that she would give a fresh burst of energy to the campaign. it will be controversial, of course, to change the ticket at this late date after the primaries and i think there would be a lot of conversation about that, too.

the democratic sources i am in touch with our of two minds over this question, should we rip off the band-aid and start over or should there be an orderly secession, as envisioned by the constitution is the way to go here. but certainly, she would get a fresh look if she were suddenly to become the nominee. that is always an opportunity to reset peoples perceptions about any political candidate. >> to that point, amie, she faced a lot of criticism during her early term as vp. the "new york times" is reporting those close to harris noticed a change in her, letting her guard down, letting her personal story be more comfortable and still speaking her mind while supporting the president. could this be enough to erase those early views of her? >> i think there has been a new kind of narrative in recent months. she has overcome a lot of those early weaknesses. you know, someone made the point to me, alex, someone who knows her very well, she learned a lot the last couple of years and her mistakes on the

2020 campaign in 2019. they are hoping, i think internally and the people around her, because she has learned and has been tested, she would be a different kind of candidate this time. i think that is sort of the narrative a lot of people around here are trying to bill. she might not have been the right person then but she will be now the big question is, i think she will rally the base in a lot of ways the president has not been able to do, but will she be able to speak to those independent voters who are still unsure whether she is tested and whether she is ready, that remains to be seen. >> okay. shaniqua, amie, molly, thank you so much. i appreciate you all. the legal limbo after the supreme court's ruling is right ahead. ahead. e time... it wasn't easy. (lady) 35. (store customer) you're gonna be here forever. (man) i know. (employee) here is your wireless contract. (man) do i need a lawyer for this? those were hard days. representative. switch! now that i got a huge storage and battery upgrade... i'm officially done switching.

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♪♪ we have breaking news.

major evacuations are in place as the lake fire in california's santa barbara county is spreading today. crews are working to get that fire under control as the west coast deals with severe heat under triple digit temperatures. liz, how are the relief efforts looking over there? >> alex, firefighters are working around the clock right now to get this fire under control. it has exploded in size overnight. now there are homes in that path, and michael jackson's famous neverland ranch is in the path and it comes as several firefighters are several fires are burning across the state in triple digit temperatures. >> reporter: wicked winds and blistering heat and another massive fire in california. the lake fire in santa barbara county exploding to more than 12,000 acres with no containment, prompting evacuation warnings in the popular winetasting region, flames seen a half-mile away

from the famous neverland ranch. the fire is among 18 burning statewide. the national guard rescuing a firefighter who got trapped battling the basin fire outside fresno. all this happening amid a dangerous coast-to-coast heat wave, palm springs hitting a record high of 124 degrees. >> the temperature just keeps going up. week is increasingly worse year after year. >> reporter: nationwide, historic eat scorching places like las vegas, which could tie its record of 117 degrees on sunday. raleigh, north carolina just reached its record high of 106. back in the west, death valley set to hit an astonishing 128, the hottest place in the country. >> you step out in extreme temperatures and that is dangerous. >> reporter: sweltering temperatures of 118 baking phoenix. >> it will feel like we are on the barbecue cooking. >> reporter: so far this year, there have been 175 suspected heat related deaths. the phoenix fire department saying they are working around- the-clock. how busy is your fire department right now?

>> we are extremely busy during the day. we have a lot of heat related emergencies but they give us every resource to go out and safely operate. >> reporter: alex, no relief in sight right now these excessive heat warnings are expected for the next several days. there are some cities in california and across the west coast that could see 25 degrees above average for this time of year through friday. alex? >> one, 175 suspected maricopa county heat related deaths. that is a stunning number. thank you, liz kreutz, for that report. new reaction on the sunday talk shows to the supreme court's immunity ruling. urt's .

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still be open to interpretation. >> well, i think what the supreme court take a minute clarified what the law is. that is you can't go after presidents for official acts and the presumption of immunity for quasi-official acts. >> what the supreme court did in that decision is give the next occupant of that office nearly dictatorial power. >> joining me now is kathryn christian, former assistant d.a. in manhattan. good to see you. we heard about those two positions, are they both right? >> i would say somewhere in between. to may, when you read a decision, it says that the president of the united states has complete authority over the department of justice. they are investigated and the

prosecutorial functions and officials. that is a lot of power. the facts in the january 6th case is that donald trump weaponize the department of justice. they were, you know, claiming the election was a sham. the supreme court said that is okay. he has absolute immunity over that and you cannot prosecute him for that. so that means forget donald trump, the next occupant is right. i think that is what the congressman should have said. under this decision, any president would have enormous power, especially when it comes to the department of justice. >> the aclu said the court handed presidents a loaded word weapon to break the law. what is the worst case scenario you can envision? >> well, it would have been nice if the majority of the decision had say, of course, the president can't get a navy s.e.a.l. team to assassinate a political rival. they did not say that. it was an example of what could happen under this decision. justice roberts, in his majority decision, said that the dissent was a tone of

chilling doom. whether it is chilling or not, it is a very powerful position for the current president, quite frankly, and all presidents in the future to use the department of justice, the department of defense, all the cabinet offices to his or her, you know, pleasure, quite frankly. >> you have donald trump threatening retribution, certainly after his hush money conviction. what could that look like? what official acts could he use to accomplish this? >> the concern is, he or his advisors will see that decision and say, doj, the president has complete authority over the investigations to prosecute rival officials. the president is the one who points to 93 u.s. attorneys around the country in guam and

puerto rico. those u.s. attorneys report to the attorney general in the department of justice. the president, under this decision, has a lot of authorities for those investigations and prosecutions that will be done by the department of justice and those united states attorneys. >> let me get this question in. why did juan mershon's hush money case say the sentencing will take place on a date tbd, if necessary. >> he had to. he is a fair judge. he said, i am not going to say this is a ridiculous motion and set aside the judgment. he will review the motion to set aside the judgment, which is, by the way, motion to set aside the verdict, i am sorry, which is allowed under new york state law, anytime before sentencing, a defendant may do

that on limited grounds. one of the grounds is what trump's defense attorneys have done. he is a fair and impartial judge. he will hear them out and hear the prosecution response and make his decision. he had to say sentencing. clearly, if he agrees the motion should be granted, there will be no sentencing. i have confidence in the new york court that they may find that even if there were official acts that were allowed into evidence and the supreme court says they are not allowed to, they are not overly prejudicial that the conviction should be reversed. i don't have confidence this conviction is upheld by the new york appellate courses. the supreme court will see it the same. >> you're live. that is a lie to take in. catherine christian, thank you so much. 3 million people are trying to do the same thing today and it will break records. that story is next.

a record number of travelers are heading home today as the holiday weekends come to a close. that includes millions of americans hitting the road and the tsa cough is part, expects

its busiest day ever with 3 million passengers passing through airport security today. we are at chicago's o'hare airport. adrian, how packed is it at the terminal? how are travelers dealing with the crowds? >> reporter: all right, i will start with your first question, alex. so many people are traveling by air, there are additional tsa agents and additional security lines across the country. where i am standing right now is where some people were waiting earlier today to get on the other side. take a look at your screen. i want you to look at the video we shot just hours ago, people waited in line so long, they were able to finish their

morning coffee before they got to the front of the tsa security checkpoint entrance. normally, you are trying to guzzle your drink down before they make you throw it out. that was not the case here today. as you mentioned, nearly 3 million people are expected to be screened at airports across the country. we caught up with one woman who is traveling with a group of students heading to summer camp. here is what she said about the travel. >> it is pretty crazy today. there is a lot going on. the line has never been this long. 40 people in our group so, it makes it a little bit harder. trying to calm. >> reporter: one thing, that group arrived early, in case i had to deal with any delays. fortunately, for them, everything went smoothly but that was not the case for all travelers we spoke with today. one couple was trying to get back home to texas and their flight was canceled. they were trying to find a flight on another airline. one woman wanted to get home to her baby. her baby.