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msnbc, speaker emerita nancy pelosi passed up a golden opportunity to say president biden should stay in the race. >> it's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. >> to be clear, the president already said he is still running, and now a democratic senator offers this warning. >> donald trump is on track i think to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide. >> michael bennett becoming the first democratic senator who publicly express doubt about president biden's chances. plus, this hour, president biden heads to a major union headquarters as he tries to shore up labor support to tamp down democratic anxieties, and then's back with nato leaders who are already fearful of a potential second trump term. e ae ♪♪ady fearful of a

good morning. thank you for being with us. it's 10:00 everyone. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with a very busy morning for president biden. this hour he'll travel from the white house -- e house -- is president biden the man who can beat donald trump in november? speaker nancy pelosi dodged when asked when he should stay in the race, this after colorado's michael bennett became the first democratic senator to say publicly that biden won't win. let's begin at the white house was nbc's aaron gilchrist. aaron, has the campaign responded to these bennett or pelosi comments? >> reporter: we have heard some response to the campaign from what speaker please he to say this morning.

we should note that the question that was put to you was very direct, do you want him to run, representing president biden, of course, and her response to that question with i want him to do whatever he decides to do, whatever he decides we go with, she went on to say, and the biden campaign has not been quick to respond directly to every comment, the comment that's been made by every member of the house or the senate, but the sports we did get today said this from one biden campaign official. regarding the of the president staying in the race he direct you to the letter to congressional democrats where he reiterated his commitment to winning this campaign. i am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race and beating donald trump. this list with those who support president biden has come out.

>> we know that president biden is split between domestic divisions and diplomacy. what's on his day this morning? >> reporter: a busy day. in this hour he's expected to travel to the headquarters of the afl-cio to meet with national union leaders. we're told there are about 60 union leaders that he'll be meeting with there having a conversation about the stakes, according to the biden campaign in this election. we also expect that he will make some remarks during his time there. we expect maybe 45 minutes to an hour. he will also answer questions from union leaders as he's been doing. he did that last night with mayors, democratic mayors from around the country. he spoke to governors last week and to different groups of congressional members as well. we understand that this is really part of his effort to try to rally the traditional coalition members, if you will, unions being something that president biden has always shown strong support for and unions have supported him number ways as well, and this is the campaign's effort to say that the president is going to continue to get out there, to talk to members of his coalition

and to talk to voters to make the case for why he is the person to beat donald trump in november and to make the case that he is going to beat donald trump in november, despite some of the other conversations and concerns that have been going on, ana. >> aaron gilchrist, thank you for that reporting. i want to bring in someone who spoke with the president in the last 4 hours, mayor lewis of kansas city. he was nearly 1 of 200 democratic mayors on that video call last night. mayor, good to see you this morning and, first of all, new congratulations. i know you have a new little one at home. i'm sure you didn't get much sleep, but we appreciate you waking up early to join us. what was the president's message on that call yesterday, and how did he come across to you? >> well, i was one of three mayors who had the chance to pose a question to him. we talked about my child. he talked about largely how he connects with the american people. i think forgotten in all of the discussion over recent weeks is that president biden is someone who does have that connection

instilled in black communities in america, with labor unions and in working class america. what i talked about with some of the time that he's spent in michigan, that i've been in places like kalamazoo, grand rapids and beyond, and the fact that people are still talking about real issues each and every day, and so i think what he shared was that he is firmly in the race. he shared that he does look to everyone for even more support, from mayors and others who are on the ground in america's communities, and frankly for a conversation that took place between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. he was vigorous, he was engaged. he was witty. he was funny. he was everything you would expect >> you mentioned you were one of three mayors who got to ask the question, and you asked how you can help with his campaign. what did he say? how should mayors, state democrats, local democrats, not only reassure voters, but win over voters for biden? >> you know, i think that much of it was how do you focus on the real issues that people talk about, and once you get past kind of some of the palace

intrigue, and i respect anyone with questions about the next president of the united states. it's an important issue, but people are talking about grocery prices. he referenced that with us. people continue to talk about public safety in their communities. it's those kind of meat and potatoes issues that i think he really asked us to focus on, so it wasn't us necessarily writing op-eds in "the new york times" or any publication. it was us continuing to say what we're already say and doing in many ways what mayors uniquely do each and every day which is answer real kitchen table issues which i think president biden is both trying to do in this campaign and has largely done as president. this is somebody who is talking about social security. he's talking about health insurance crises and beyond instead of actually just talking about politics in washingen to. >> you describe that the president is showing vigor. do you share any of the concerns about the president that we've heard from some democrats in washington, including senator bennett and several members of the house? >> you know, i don't. i recognize that there are

differences in all of us, but i'm a man who is still barely in his 30s. i have a 3-year-old child and a 3-week-old child, and i think president biden is the best candidate for the future of this country. i had the opportunity, i guess i'll call it, for a few minutes watch a president trump rally in part last night where he seemed to speak in complete gibberish. what we're forgetting is not actually the long-term governing record but the fact that president biden is typically providing substance to each and every issue that is raised. he gave us lots of substance last night as opposed to just kind of shouting about, i think president trump was mentioning about a beautiful woman and saying he can't call her beautiful. i mean, just these sorts of things where if you actually look at a real comparison, president biden is clearly someone who is not only more competent than president trump but is more accomplished in the presidency itself. >> well, mayor quinton lucas, thanks so much for offering insight and insight with you and the president's conversation. appreciate you joining us.

>> thank you. >> joining us now is a democratic strategist and let us hear about where nancy pelosi says she stands on president biden being in this race. we're still working on this sound. let me just read it for you. here we go. >> does he have your support to be the head of the democrat ticket? >> as long as the -- it's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. we're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. >> he has said firmly this week he is going to run. do you want him to run? >> i want him to do whatever he decides to do. >> so tara, you heard jonathan of press her to try to give her an opportunity to make her position clear, and that wasn't a ringing endorsement. what do you make of that?

>> it wasn't a ringing endorsement, but at the end of the day democrats are going to real around biden if he stays in this race, and right now he said he's going stay in the race. yes, there are some nervous democrats because there are some people running in some tough districts. can i tell you, but the democratic base will stick with joe biden just as the republican base will stick with donald trump, and the democratic base is energized by the fact that they think donald trump is dangerous and unfit and that's what's going to drive the turnout for democrats. >> susan, what's your sense of where independent voters are right now or the disaffected republicans who have been scared off from trump? what do they make of all of this? is it pushing them away from president biden? what do you think? >> well, those independents have been hesitant about joe biden since they voted for him in 2020. now they are more concerned from what they see, as most of us are, and the question is do they

vote for joe biden again in 2024, or do they stay home? joe biden needs every single vote he got in 2020. he won by thin margins, so those republicans who will never vote for trump but said i'll vote for biden in 2020, if they don't vote for biden in 2024 again, that's a problem, and to tara's point about the basic there for biden, yes, but they are not these ticket. we see numbers of voter enthusiasm in the 60s for joe biden among his base where it's in the high 70s for donald trump. so that shows you, again, that the couch is the worst enemy for joe biden. i don't think anybody who voted -- any democrat who voted for joe biden in 2020 is voting for donald trump, but they play stay home. >> tara, we have seen progressive like senator bernie sanders or congresswoman

alexandria ocasio-cortez come out and defend biden and throw their full support behind his candidacy, but it seems like it's more of the moderates or some of the centrist democrats that have expressed concerns or have even said he should step aside from his campaign. why is that? >> i think it's because they are in tough races, right, so if you're in a safe district you're less concerned, but one of the things we don't talk about enough. we talk about the throughs amp gap but we don't dogger talk about the disdain gap. there are people who absolutely hate donald trump and they will never vote for him. we don't talk about that. biden does not have that issue. he has people who are concerned about his age. yes, he's going to have to convince people that he's okay. he's also going to have to remind people that you don't just vote for a president. you vote for an entire administration. you vote for policy choices so he has some work to do, right, but at the same time i think that there's other factors at play besides just the enthusiasm gap. there's that disdain gap that we don't talk enough about.

>> and we are hearing from donald trump again. it's been a while since he's been on campaign trail. we've seen president biden and his campaign really hit him for all the time he spent at golf courses, but he was rallying his supporters last night in florida, and amid the speculation over his vp pick, the former president has recently been ramping up attacks on biden's vice president kamala harris. in fact, it was one of the first things he addressed at last night's rally. watch. >> he picked kamala harris as his vice president. no. it was brilliant because it was an insurance policy, maybe the best insurance policy i've ever seen, me co. if joe had picked even someone halfway competent they would have bounced him from office years ago. >> susan, your reaction to that? >> it's donald trump being donald trump. he's done worse. he'll say worse in the future, but, again, what's concerning is

that nancy pelosi's comments this morning are what's going to lead the news cycle instead of donald trump's rally, and that's the problem right now. as someone who is voting for joe biden in 2024, i -- i -- i am concerned about who happens down ballot as tara mentioned. those people who spoke out softly against the president, they are worried about their own races are, but nancy pelosi, there's no one smarter or more dedicated to protecting a democratic majority in the house of representatives, and my guess is she's still playing this game because she knows that the only way, if trump does win, the only stop gap against him is a democratic house. >> real quickly, if you will, tara, how much sway do you think nancy pelosi has and given that she hasn't been more definetive, what's the impact of that? >> i think nancy pelosi clearly has a lot of respect and influence within the party but

the overwhelming majority of democratic majority have supported joe biden to come out publicly to do that and has been very vociferous in that fact and the piece that gets forgotten is there's an ardent form of the base, if i said something bad about biden right now i'd have a million messages so the notion that there's no throughs amp and kamala, trump is clearly concerned about her. he wouldn't be mentioning her and attacking her if he didn't have concerns about her. >> tara, susan, ladies, thanks so much for the conversation. up next, president biden's international high wire act. his push to smooth out fears among world leaders about nato's future while also trying to tamp down those concerns in his party about his ability to win in 2024. i'll talk to congressman adam smith, one of the defectors. plus, opening statements starting this hour in alec baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial. and later, why are two

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welcome back. the world's eyes are on washington, d.c. this morning. president biden getting ready to greet world leaders for day two of the nato summit, the first such summit since finland and sweden joined the alliance. the president using this to

build confidence on the world stage despite troubles at home. joining us to discuss is "new york times" correspondent and add miller james savridas. >> what are your thoughts? >> president biden is totally committed to nato and the trans atlantic alliance and america's commitment to the alliance sun wavering and he's proud of what nato has accomplished in the past several years as it's kind of found a renewed sense of purpose in standing up to russian aggression but, of course, there's also a message

here which is that he is capable of remaining the democratic nominee, continuing on as the president of the united states and saying that america will be year under my leadership. people are counting me out, but i think he had a pretty good performance by most accounts yesterday. did much better than he seemed in that last debate, so he's also sending a signal about his own vitality and viability. >> admiral the president has vowed to uphold this alliance, and he called defending ukraine a sacred obligation. trump doesn't share shows views. moments ago the white house confirmed that the white house will be sending f-16s to ukraine to help at home. >> it's extremely fragile if donald trump comes back in. he's been so overt about his criticality and negativity of the alliance but also his

seeming affection towards vladimir putin, so he says, and i'm quoting, that he will solve the ukrainian war on day one, in one day. that will not happen, in my view. but it's got to make the people in kyiv pretty nervous because it implies asking them to accept a very bad set of terms. i'll close with this. what's the value proposition for the nato alliance which i hope is what trump advisers will make if he comes in, and it's kind of money, guns and lawyers, and what i mean by that is money, you're looking at the leaders of over 50% of the world's gross national product. guns collectively, that is the second largest defense budget in the world after the united states, larger than china, and lawyers, i'll use the shorthand for values. we stand together for rule of law. i think the value case can be

made for nato, but with donald trump it's going to be an uphill struggle from what we know now, ana. >> admiral, when we talk about it being a fragile moment, have we ever seen anything like this moment in the history of the alliance? >> no, and throughout my lifetime, my long 40-year career in the military, certainly there were conversations about burden-sharing and making sure that our nato partners paid more. that's an active conversation, and they have gotten better at that in the last four or five years spurred on by vladimir putin frankly. but there has never been a moment extreme acrimony like this, and previously the biggest moment of the alliance was the activation of article v, the defense of the united states following the attack on 9/11, a very dark day for the alliance having to respond to an attack, but one of real unity and

strength. i don't think there's been a moment previously where you could talk about that trans atlantic bridge breaking. it's creeked a little bit from time to time. i've never been more worried about it. >> 30 plus nato countries now, michael. the president, we know, has significant foreign policy experience. he's got a great history of building relationships and international did i ploem sis. he's got these partners and something he really prides himself n.how much does this summit play to president biden's strengths at this pivotal time in the world and domestically for him? is the president in his comfort zone right now? >> absolutely. comfort zone, sweet spot. i think, again, this is a president who came of age in the cold war. he was very involved in sort of strategic doe baits about how to stand up against the soviet

union, the nato expansion debates of the 1990s. he's had close relationships with many european leaders and diplomats. he likes them. you know, i've studied his foreign policy record, and i really think that this is the subject that has animated him the most over decades, so this is his comfort zone, and so it's no surprise that he would be doing well here this week. you know, how much that says about how well he's going to run a national campaign, that's for others to decide, but i think that if you're going to showcase president -- by the way, it's also one of his great success stories. you know, nato really has -- president biden has helped nato unify, show impressive strategic thinking, unity within the alliance, and i think he's rightly proud of the record of nato in fending off the russian invasion of ukraine up to a interpot. of course, there's still -- russia is still occupying

ukraine. this is a great showcase for the white house and frankly for his campaign right now. >> michael and add miller, thank you very much. i always value your expertise and appreciate you taking the time. up next on "ana cabrera reports." democratic defections could. we see more lawmakers calling for president biden to step aside, and if he's not leading the ticket who should? i'll talk to democrat adam smith who is pushing for a change ahead of november. for a change ahead of november. ♪♪ herbal essences sulfate free is now packed with plant-based ingredients your hair will love. like pure aloe and camellia flower oil. and none of the things it won't. hair feels deeply nourished, soft and lightweight. ♪♪ plant power you can feel. herbal essences sulfate free.

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just when it seemed democrats were getting back in line with president biden's insistence that he was staying in the 2024 race, there are new signs of fracture within the party. the first senator, colorado's michael bennett, warning biden can't beat trump, and now new jersey's mikey sherrill joining the ranks of house democrats calling on president biden to

step aside. joining us from capitol hill is ryan nobles. yesterday we were moving towards acceptance. is that how you would feel the framing on the hill this morning. >> reporter: definitely there's no sense that democratic party is ready to accept joe biden as their nominee. you're right, ana. for a good part of monday it felt like he stopped the bleeding and democrats were ready to rally around his candidacy and then the house democrats were together tuesday morning and the senate democrats tuesday afternoon, and when they emerge from the meetings it was clear that there was not a consensus as to the path forward and that there remains a great deal of anxiety behind the scenes with house and senate democrats about whether or not joe biden has what it takes to beat donald trump. most of those concerns were voiced privately, but some that have information leaked out of those meet, including comments that senator michael bennett met in the democratic meeting. once that information came out, he went on tv to explain his thinking.

take a listen. >> donald trump is on track i think to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the senate and the house, and so for me this isn't a question of polling. it's not a question of politics. it's a moral question about the future of our country. >> make no mistake, ana. there have been quite a few democrats that have come out emphatically state that had they believe joe biden should be the nominee. that the party needs to unite and move forward, but it's far from an overwhelming number within the congressional democratic ranks, and to a certain extent they are leaving the president to twist in the wind here as they try and figure out a path forward. the most obvious example being speaker emerita nancy pelosi on "morning joe" this morning given the opportunity to say do you support president biden as the nominee, and she said he she would support every decision that he makes despite the fact that he seems to have already made that decision, ana. >> seems interesting what is

happening with democrats now because in recent years the democrats have shown a united front, are especially in the house, much more so than republicans. is that unity cracking? >> reporter: i think it's been a while since democrats were forced to confront a problem as big as the one that they are dealing with right now, and what we're starting to see is that we've known for some time that there are significant and different factions within democratic party. there are progressives. there are moderates. there are liberals. there are people that come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and each one of them come to this conversation with a different perspective. it's one of the things that the democratic party has often pointed to as a point of pride. right now that's creating a lot of fissures within this conversation, and it's preventing them from coming together in a unified stance. the problem is they really don't have a lot of time to come to a conclusion here because the longer they allow this to fester the more damage it does to joe biden if he were to remain the

nominee. many of the democrats i talked to are pointing to this press conference that will take place on thursday, the nato press conference. it's a solo press conference, just joe biden alone taking tough questions from reporters. there's a feeling that if he's able to ace that press conference and bide some time if that unity comes, but if it continues on it could be a disaster. >> we just got some comments from senator blumenthal about the questions around jbd and his candidacy. >> i am deeply concerned about joe biden winning this november because it is an existential threat to the country if donald trump wins, so i think that we have to reach a conclusion as soon as possible, and i think joe biden, as the democratic nominee, has my support. >> ryan, give me your reaction,

and how are they going to ultimately reach that conclusion he discusses? >> reporter: yeah. what's remarkable about what senator blumenthal there is that he supports joe biden. he's never wavered. he's been someone who right after the debate even said that he was still believing that he should be the nominee, so the idea that in the same breath that he says he supports joe biden as the nominee, that he also says he has real concerns that donald trump could win in the fall. it shows this kind of murky position that congressional democrats are leaving the president in and why there is this necessity, as he rightly points out for him to figure something out and do it sooner rather than later. you know, ana, it sometimes feels as if they send the president a subtle message that he's just not getting in order for this dam to break. you get the sense that they will have to stop being subtle and just come right out and say what they are actually thinking, not trying to allow the president to read between the lines. >> ryan nobles, thank you. >> one democrat who has done

just that has come out and says what he thinks, has called for president biden to step aside is the ranking member of the house armed services committee congressman adam smith of washington. congressman, thanks for being here. in the last couple of days the president has been making phone calls, he's done some interviews and held rallies and meeting with nato leaders. i know you've had meetings with colleagues on the hill. has anything changed your mind about the president's candidacy and his ability to serve of another four years? >> no, and i think that's a great summary of what you just saw there. too many people in our party right now are basically saying we are deeply concerned, but what are you going to do about it? and i'm like that's just very frustrating given the stakes here. you know, if we're deeply concerned, then the choice is obvious. look, we would all like the choice whereby we don't have to do anything difficult, and -- and the president decides, look, great four years, done a terrific job. i'm not up for this fight, and

the fight is too important. we have other candidates who could do a better job and step aside. that's what i wanted, okay. the day after the debate i called the white house and said i think he should step aside, burke you know, i'm not going to make a snap judgment. i'll give you some time and some space, you know. 11 days later it was clear that wasn't going to happen, so what i would ask of democrats at this point is you're either all in or you're deeply concerned. you can't be both. all right and the illogic of position is very frustrating to me. i see this clearly. i think we have a substantially better chance of winning this election in november if we have a different nominee, and i think the stakes are so high given that reality we have to do everything in our power to try to get to that different nominee. you say it's just that. >> you stay there's clarity for you and the choice should be clear. i spoke with a democratic mayor

of kansas city, missouri who also spoke with clarity that he believes joe biden is the best candidate for this country. >> and good for him, by the way. and that's fine, and i -- i disagree with that position, but it is a position. what is not a position is i'm deeply concerned. i think we're going to lose. i'm not going to do anything about that. that -- that -- and, look, and i completely respect, you know, people -- i don't know who the mayor of kansas city, is but good for him. if you say i've looked at it and, you know, we don't have another choice and by the way, right now if you told me it's august whatever and he is officially our nominee, okay, because right now he's not. he's the presumptive nominee. official nominee, i'll come on this show and i will make the argument for why joe biden is the best candidate in this field and i'll make it with great

passion and 100% commitment because i believe it, i do, of the existing field, joe biden is the best candidate, but there are a whole host of other democrats that would give us a much, much better chance at winning in november, and i think we ought to pick one of those other candidates. >> you're coming out here and sort of sticking your neck out to say what you're saying publicly repeatedly, and yet speaker emerita nancy pelosi was on msnbc this morning suggesting your process here is the wrong one. listen. >> let's just hold off. whatever you're thinking, either tell somebody privately but you don't have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week. >> help us understand, congressman, your calculation to put it out on the table. >> i understand what nancy said,

and i strongly disagree with her. i think the white house strategy became very clear after the debate, and that strategy was nothing to see her. ignore the problem. run out the clock, and then make everybody live with it. like i said, i -- i tried the speech -- i think of her as the speaker, always will. i tried, you know, the speaker's strategy for 11 days, for 11 days, okay, iffy with ear just quiet, we don't say anything, we're nice about it, you know, they will come to the right decision. it was blindingly obvious by two days ago that that was not what was going to happen, that we had to force it forward. look, it's an aspect of my personality. i'm -- you know, when i think there's something that's trying do i'm fairly forceful about it. i think it's served my constituents well to not, you know, to not not do what needs to be done in a given situation to accomplish it. if i thought that the speaker's

strategy would work, if i thought for just -- i had background conversations. i spoke to several people on the campaign, several people at the white house, i did all of that. i think at this point, and i would -- and i'll -- i'll have this conversation with nancy when next i see her, maybe there's stuff going on behind the scenes that i'm aware of that's distinctly possible, but i don't think so. >> you've said you're 1,000% confident that another can date would have better odds of beating trump in november. if you could hand select that alternative nominee, who would it be? >> two things, number one, i wouldn't because i don't want to presume that somehow i'm going to make the choice instead of the delegates who have been picked to make that choice. that's our process. that's who they are, and those kell gates should make that choice. if they asked me my opinion, i would say we should nominate kamala harris. i think the vice president has done an outstanding job, particularly the last couple of years. she's a former prosecutor. she's clear, articulate.

i've used the phrase during many of my conversations here. we need someone to prosecute the case against donald trump and for the democratic message and the democratic agenda. i think we've got a powerful argument, and that warnings you know, the debate was incredibly frustrating. we got an incredible arts and president biden was incapable of making, it any part of it. i think kamala harris can do that, and we also have the added benefit that because she's his vice president during all of those primaries, it was the biden/harris team that people were voting for, and i think that's a factor. i don't agree all those people voted for joe biden. all those people hadn't seen the debate yet or the experienced the questions raised about the president's health, but nonetheless it would help that vice president heart is had been on ticket. i think she would give us a better choice, and there are others. it's really not complicated.

3,900 delegates. it's an election. 3,900 people. let's pick a person. look, the talent in the democratic party, this myth that only joe biden could have beaten donald trump, you know, chuck todd, i think it works for you, i could be wrong. he wrote a great column that said it's always been about trump, and i've said this over and over. joe biden was not picked in 2020 because he was the only person who could beat trump. he was picked because he was the only person that could beat bernie sanders, rightly or wrongly, and for the sanders fans out there i'm not judging, but that conclusion was made, okay? oh, my gosh. coming out of nevada, bernie sanders is going to be the nominee and people just like they are now back then said yeah, i don't think that's going to work so they were looking for an alternative and tip of the hat to joe biden, he had the record, eight great years as vice president, you know, 30 whatever years as a very able united states -- he was the right person at that time, and that's great. he's not the right person now.

this idea -- you get the point. i think we can do better. i hope we'll have a serious conversation about it. >> congressman, adam smith, thanks for joining us and for spending about the time of offering your thoughts this morning. >> thanks, ana. opening statements set to start any minute in alec baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial. the big legal gamble his team could make. the big legal gamble his team could make tomizable option chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley power e*trade's easy to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans can help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley ♪ me and my friends ♪ ♪♪ ♪ it's feeling right, ♪ ♪ we're loving life when we're together ♪

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welcome back. any moment now opening statements are set to get started in alec baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial. he's facing up to 18 months in jail for the fatal shooting of cinematographer halyna hutchins during production of the western film "rust." twelve jurors and four alternates were keith seated yesterday. most of the jurors including five men and 11 women has seen some coverage of the case.

nbc's dana griffin has the latest. what can we expect in opening statements? >> reporter: we can expect the state lay out its case where they did try to prove that alex baldwin pulled the trigger, something he denied from the very beginning and the defense are try to put the blame on the armor err, hannah gutierrez reed for taking live roads on set and loading the revolver that eventually resulted in the death of halyna hutchins. many are wondering will alex baldwin take the stand, and some legal experts say that's very unlikely because he may have made a pivotal mistake but talking about the case before he was even criminally charged. december 2021, two months after that fatal shoot being, he gave that interview with abc news, and he said that i feel someone is responsible for what happened and i can't say who that is, but i know it's not me. he also went on to say that he cocked the hammer of the gun, never pulled the trigger, and

then he says he lets go of the hammer and the gun simply goes off. by taking the stand, that opens him up for several questions which is something the defense is likely going to avoid, and if they can convince just one juror he did not pull that trigger, keep in mind, there's no video of the actual shooting because they were doing a block. they were just staging the shot show there was not active filming going on at the time, so if the prosecution can bring on witnesses who can say they saw him pull the trigger and can convince the jury he could be convicted. if so, he faced up to 18 months in prison. if not, if the defense can brief that he did not pull the trigger or, you know, sow some doubt, he may be acquitted. >> dana, thank you. we'll be watching very closely. meantime, closing arguments are continuing this morning in the bribery trial of democratic senator would be menendez. his defense lawyer said they got through half of their planned five-hour closing yesterday. menendez's team urging the jury

to acquit, arguing the prosecution failed to prove that the gold bars and the $500,000 in cash found in the senator's home were the result of a bribe. in their closing, prosecutors argued that menendez had engaged in wildly abnormal behavior in response to bribes, including attempting to interfere in criminal cases handled by the top state and federal prosecutors in new jersey. menendez has pleaded guilty not guilty to all 18 charges. next on "ana cabrera reports" "trexans facing brutal heat and power outages entering its third day or beryl's destruction. beryl's destruction. oh whoa. here you go, kiddo. thanks. hi honey ready to go? yup. there it is, there it is... ahhh...here we go. i guess it also has some disadvantages. yes it does.

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state. joining us now from houston is nbc's kathy park. kathy, what's the status of the cleanup there in texas this morning? >> reporter: ana, good morning to you. well, they are making some progress on the cleanup, but as you can see, there is still a lot of cleanup ahead. probably will take days or weeks to get all of these large trees off the roadways as well as off of property as well. we made our way to a hard hit community here in houston, they're entering day three without power. it is already pretty hot now. it will climb into the 90s today and residents who don't have power right now, they say inside their homes, it feels like a sauna. as texans clean up from the destructive hurricane beryl, in houston, the heat index expected to soar to the triple digits again today. >> even though i opened up all the windows, you get the breeze, your hot is still hot. >> oh, wow. >> reporter: dangerously hot for nearly 2 million texans still

without power. the storm already blamed for at least nine deaths in the u.s. with power outages entering a third day, some residents are prepared to leave to find relief. >> got a portable fan that is chargeable battery operated, so that helped last night, but we probably won't stay another night. >> reporter: generators working overtime, and gas stations packed, to keep up with fuel demands. houstonians aren't the only ones dealing with impressive heat. more than 120 million people baking on both sides of the country. heat records shattered in las vegas where it climbed to 119. new york now on its fifth consecutive day in the 90s. in northern virginia, residents at this apartment complex had to endure 90 degree temps inside their units for days, after a cooling tower went down. >> i wake up with my heart racing. >> reporter: as beryl makes an exit, a final blow in the midwest, spawning a destructive tornado in indiana.

a summer of extreme weather with powerful storms and sweltering heat. and with the heat advisory in effect until later on this evening here in houston, the lieutenant governor dan patrick is urging center point energy to restore power as quickly as possible. he's actually vowed evaluate whether the utility did what they could, everything they could before the storm arrived. right now it is still unclear when everyone will have the power back on. >> kathy park, thank you so much for that update. up next on "ana cabrera reports," boeing's starliner has turned a minor mission into a space saga. when will two veteran astronauts come back to earth? we could get a hint in the next few hours. k to earth we could get a hint in the next few hours. the world might not be ready for them... ...but at $3 a pop? your wallet definitely is. sure, i'm a paid actor, and this is not a real company, but there is no way to fake how upwork can help your business. search talent all over the world

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this morning, we could get a better sense of what in the universe is going on with boeing's starliner and its crew. we will hear from nasa, from

boeing, and veteran astronauts butch wilmore and suni williams set to speak from the international space station, where they were only supposed to be for a week. they have now been there over a month. as nasa and boeing inspect propulsion issues and helium leaks on the spacecraft. tom costello stayed on top of all the developments. nasa and boeing insist of the astronauts are not stuck, they're not stranded, so, what's been going on? >> so, the bottom line is nasa says if we had to bring them home because of an emergency, they could come home in their spaceship. however, they're trying to troubleshoot still the thruster problem. you may recall that as the starliner, boeing spaceship, was approaching the space station, it was using the thrusters to dock. well, five of those thrusters went offline. these are little mini rockets that help maneuver the spaceship. four came back online. one of them didn't. so, nasa wants to understand, okay, what happened to those five, could that happen again,

and what about that other one, the last one, that is not coming up at all? here's why they need it. this was a test flight. they want to make sure they understand anything and everything related to the ship before future missions also use the starliner spaceship. but also for these astronauts coming home, they need those thrusters, those mini rockets to maneuver as they approach re-entry. and here's the problem, ana, these thrusters are attached to the service module portion of starliner. and that service module is designed to burn up on re-entry. so, this is their only chance to really understand what happened, try to troubleshoot it in orbit, but also replicate the thruster problem on earth in new mexico. so that's what engineers are doing right now. as a result, they don't yet have a return date for suni and butch. they left on june 5th, supposed to come back on june 15th and we're now looking at at least a month past that date, maybe

longer. >> so do they have enough supplies to just stay up there indefinitely? >> they do. so they're docked at the space station, the space station has plenty of supplies, plenty of water, plenty of o2, plenty of food, they have other people up there of course as well and they're helping out the crew on the space station with various jobs. and they're trying to help engineers on the ground better understand what is happening to their spaceship, to starliner. listen, nasa has also insisted we are not looking at a possibility that spacex would have to come up and rescue the starliner crew. that's not in the cards. they simply want to better understand how this has happened with the thrusters so that when they re-enter the atmosphere, if one of them goes bad, then they can calculate how they make up for that bad thruster. >> important decisions to be made. tom costello, thank you very much, my friend. that does it for us today. i'll be back tomorrow, same time, same place. for now, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york.

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