calls within his party for him to step aside. president biden issues a defiant statement vowing to stay in his reelection race against donald trump. a

parkinson's specialist met with president biden's doctor earlier this year. the topic touched off a heated exchange today in the white house press room, will get a medical opinion and concerns about a summer surge. covid cases are rising. we'll learn about the latest variants and the common symptoms you're watching. getting answers. i'm kristen zee, thanks for joining us. before we get to those interviews, first, we head outside for an update on our continuing heat wave. it has eased up for many of us in the bay area. the fog, the marine layer made its comeback, but not for everyone. and meantime, another heat wave will pick up later this week. let's get the latest from abc seven meteorologist drew tuma taking a look at your accuweather headlines today we are getting some relief inland, some slight cooling. >> 90 degrees will be our daytime highs in our warmest areas today and tomorrow. part of the reason why earlier this morning we had such a deep marine layer. it took some time to break it down. that slowed

the warming process and that is leading to that cooler afternoon both today and tomorrow. however we're going to lose that marine layer here midweek and that high pressure gives us another wave of intense heat inland starting on wednesday. and really peaking thursday and friday will go back above 100 degrees. and again, some of our warmest areas late this week could get close to 110 once again in the afternoon. so it's for that fact. the heat wave has been extended. it was set to expire on wednesday, but because this high pressure just won't quit throughout the end of the week, we've extended it. so if you're keeping track at home, this is day seven of an 11 day inland heat wave that we are tracking. so here is the heat advisory. you can see it encompasses pretty much all areas away from the coast until 8 p.m. friday. by the weekend, we should be able to break this heat wave and temperatures resort back to average in most areas, but we do have to talk about some warm temperatures today. you'll get highs versus average were anywhere from about 5 to 10 degrees above average. so not our hottest day under

this current heat wave, but still will be in the 90s in our hottest cities inland. we'll have 70s and 80s for a lot of us around the bay shoreline. the heat risk today it's minor to moderate. if you recall, last week inland we had a major to extreme heat risk. but today and tomorrow, because those cooler temperatures will be found in the afternoon, the heat risk is not as bad. it goes back to major and extreme later on. this week as those triple digits do return inland. highs today, day seven of our inland heat wave in the south bay, 91 in san jose with heat advisories in effect, 94 in gilroy. we'll go to 96 in los gatos, but santa cruz lovely at 69 degrees along the coast today for the peninsula, it's partly sunny, 60 for half moon bay in pacifica, but 82 san mateo the same in palo alto. redwood city, up to 86 degrees. we're getting sunshine breaking out across parts of the city right now. the afternoon will feature temperatures in the 60s for daytime highs in the north bay. we have 90 in sonoma, 102

in cloverdale, 103 in lakeport. but 86 in san rafael. bodega bay, only 64 degrees this afternoon. heat advisories are in effect in the east bay, but certainly not our warmest day. we've had underneath this heat wave. it still feels mild. 76 in oakland, 83 in fremont, 86. castro valley and inland. today we're about ten degrees above average, 93 in concord, 94 in pleasanton, about 98. the high in antioch overnight tonight we will see that marine layer surge back in and around the bay shoreline and even stretching into the delta. so that will bring overnight relief. maybe want to pop up those windows tonight inland, get some of that cooler air and will be in the 50s and 60s heading into tuesda. now future tracker showing you tuesday afternoon. very similar to today. our warmest areas are in the 90s. and then that heat takes off once again. temperatures really jump here on wednesday and then by thursday it is very hot inland will be above 105 in many areas, even around the bay shoreline, 80s and 90s for the east bay shoreline 94. in mountain view, 100 in sonoma. so here's the

accuweather seven day forecast. we get slight relief today and tomorrow inland. then we're heating right back up. thursday is going to be your hottest day. and then into the weekend we'll break this heat wave with temperatures closer to average for this time of the year. >> all right. so there you have it. so we'll keep an eye on the heat wave. in the meantime we're going to move to on today's interviews. i am firmly committed to staying in this race. that is the core message in a letter president biden sent to democrats and posted on social media today. biden's letter comes amid meetings and calls that have taken place all weekend, and today amongst democratic lawmakers and donors, some with the president, others without him to discuss his viability. after a poor debate showing in it, biden says he's the best person to beat donald trump. it echoes the message he sent on the campaign trail this past weekend. >> there's been a lot of speculation. what's joe going to do? is he going to stay in the

race? is he going to drop out? what are you going to do? well, here's my answer. >> i am running and going to win again. >> but will he and does any other democrat have better odds? joining us live now to discuss the latest in the presidential election and the turmoil within the democratic party, stanford hoover institution fellow and former republican candidate for california state controller lonnie chen. lonnie, thanks for joining us today. >> hi, christine. good to be back with you. >> all right. so what do you make of biden's letter? what does its tone and content suggest to you about how he's feeling right now, whether there's even an inkling of an idea that he's someone, you know, remotely considering stepping aside? >> well, every indication we have is that the president has no interest in stepping aside, that he intends to fully see this race through. and i think that the conventional wisdom all along has been right, in the sense that he's the only one who can make the decision to step aside. there really is no forcing an incumbent president

out of a race. there is no forcing him out of being the democratic nominee. i think the question is whether enough pressure could be brought to bear on him to change his mind. and the early indications are that he has no interest in doing so. and i think the reality is that there's no indication, at least in the polling data we've seen. so far, that other candidates would necessarily run more competitively against donald trump in the long run, it might be the case that there's a bump that a different candidate would get that would boost their numbers for a few days or even a few weeks. but once we get to november, i think probably the factoring that we're hearing from from democratic sources is that they'd rather choose the devil they know versus the devil they don't. and that's why ultimately, joe biden looks set to remain in this race for some time to come. >> although those who might be open to the devil that they don't know, that seems to be a growing camp, even though it's still not the majority by any

means. from what we're hearing, you know, from and people are kind of unnamed saying this, saying that, and for political reasons, we all understand why. but let me just ask you, why are the lawmakers, the democratic lawmakers, so concerned? how does this impact them? >> well, they don't want to get on the wrong side of an incumbent president from their own party. and there is a little bit of a herd mentality in the congress. you know, they've been out of session for the 4th of july holiday. they are back now. and so the talk is that once they get back together, they'll be safety in numbers. you might hear more members come out and ask the president to step aside. but so far, you know, we haven't seen that sort of mass movement away from president biden. you still have a number of members of congress expressing support for him. now, that could very well change as they spend more time together this week or as additional stories come out, for example, about the president's health. we saw some reporting for the new york times today that was potentially very troubling in that regard. and so i do think that some of this could potentially change as the

week goes on. but at least as we sit here monday afternoon, monday evening in washington, there's no indication that there is a mass exodus away from this president amongst members of congress who would be the first line of so-called political elites. you know, biden came out and bashed political elites this morning. that would be the first indication that his support is really slipping amongst democrats, who could potentially be in a position to convince him otherwise. >> yeah, he did sort of attribute this effort, if you will, to wealthy elites, although i think that is a debatable point, right? because even back a few months ago, when you had that new york times siena college poll that showed perhaps a generic democrat would do better against trump than than biden. you know, there was talk then, but as you said, there isn't a clear front runner. so there you have it. we are where we are today. i want to ask you, though, as a republican and a strategist, why do you think there aren't calls within the party to consider replacing the top of the ticket there? right? i mean, surely trump being a felon is an

albatross around him as well. >> well, the republican side at least, you know, donald trump is somebody who has garnered an extraordinary amount of loyalty amongst republicans. you know, there are a lot of republicans who had their doubts, particularly after january 6th or even after the party's relatively poor showing in 2022. there were some who were calling for a new a new voice, a fresh face that movement has largely fallen by the wayside in the wake of what was really a barely competitive primary. i mean, certainly nikki haley got a few people excited. there were some indications that she might be able to garner some significant amount of support, particularly after many of her opponents dropped out. but the reality is, in the republican party, donald trump is really the sole heir to the throne right now. and so it does not appear as though there is any likelihood that there will be any effort to, you know, to, to move away from trump at least as far as this election cycle is concerned. all right.

>> real quickly, the project 2025, the blueprint put out by the conservative think tank heritage foundation for policy goals under a republican administration. by the way, many of the authors are former trump officials. key points include mass expansion of presidential powers, potentially firing federal employees who don't have the same conservative values, banning abortions. let me ask you, from what you know, is that the gop platform or is that a fringe thing? >> well, look, there's a debate this week. actually, it's interesting. the republican party decides on its formal platform a week before the convention that the conventions next week in milwaukee this week, the platform committee will meet and that is the formal statement of where the republican party stands. and by all indications, there are efforts that are being made actually to make that platform more moderate. now, on the other side of this, you have these you mentioned project 2025, which has a number of former trump officials involved, in which donald trump himself has recently disowned a few times publicly. it's hard to say, you know, the transition effort and the effort to formulate policy, at least for a second trump term

is much more diffuse than you would traditionally see amongst republican policymakers or republican nominees for president, where there is a much more unified voice coming out of a potential transition effort. my guess, kristen, is over the next couple of weeks, once the convention is over and trump is formally crowned the nominee, you'll see a little bit more clarity about what his policy plans are for a second term. but for now at least, there's a little bit of fracturing in terms of what each side or what the different groups that are claiming to be. trump's policy advisers, the different kinds of policies out there. so there's a lot of noise right now. i think a lot of that will settle down after the convention. >> all right. lonnie chen, appreciate you joining us to talk about the biden trump 2.0 that i think many people wouldn't have thought possible four years ago or expected or perhaps even wanted, but thank you very much, i appreciate it. >> thank you. kristen >> all right. concern about president biden's health, which lonnie alluded to, goes beyond his mental fitness. ucsf doctor peter chin-hong joins us

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president biden's doctor at the white house earlier this year. >> has the president being treated for parkinson's? no is he being treated for parkinson's? no he's not. is he taking medication for parkinson's? no. so those are the things that i can give you full blown answers on. but i'm not going to i'm not going to confirm a specialist. any specialist that comes to come comes to the white house out of privacy. >> joining us live now to talk about the potential medical concerns ucsf infectious diseases specialist doctor peter chin-hong. doctor chin-hong,

thanks for joining us. you watched the debate right? yes. any questions regarding cognitive or neurological issues with either candidate based on what you saw? >> i think it's really hard to say, christine, certainly i think there are constellation of signs and symptoms that might make people want to have further testing. for example, if a patient of mine had any of these symptoms, movement, instability or, or gait, you know, i may want to get certain kinds of information, but i can't really speculate, given that, you know, we can't really examine either candidate at this point. yes >> but you you would recommend, tests if that were your dad or if those were your dad's or you know, if that was your patient or. that's what doctor sanjay gupta from cnn also, you know, wrote a piece on as well, urging that doesn't seem like that's going to happen, you know, could those things that people all saw

be potentially harmless and unimpactful in any way to them doing the job? >> i think there are two things that, you know, when i look at this, i think about one is, the effects of age in general, regardless of, neurological diagnosis. and the second is, of course, whether or not there is a neurologic diagnosis. both of them have different kinds of, natural histories and something that i'd want to follow up on if you're thinking about natural, you know, conditions associated with aging, you think about something called frailty, which just means that if somebody had lack of sleep one night, if they were traveling long, it may just take a little bit longer for them to get up, the second condition, of course, is neurologic disease. including what, a whole constellation of symptoms associated with movement disorders, parkinson's disease, all right, so this new revelation today, just to remind our viewers, was based on white

house visitor logs, a top parkinson's specialist, a neurologist at walter reed visited the white house eight times in eight months. >> three times this year, including one time with the white house physician. you know, who typically takes care of the president, maybe 1 or 2 other top people. but you know, we don't have any confirmation what that was for or if biden was the one being, you know, treated or seen because of that. but i will ask you if you think overall there is this reluctance, this stigma to talk about it, to kind of is there any sort of embarrassment and do you think that needs to be normalized? what is your thought on that, >> you know, i think, there is, of course, ageism, ageism in our community and in our society. and, you know, to that end, i do think that all of these kinds of conditions associated with aging should be normalized, should be talked about, should not be kept in the closet, and, you know, because our society is aging, we all have, we're all going to be

at risk for these things. there are treatments to mitigate the effects of all of these issues associated with aging. >> okay. and i wonder, you know, if someone did have, you know, neurological condition for example, or cognitive decline, can these things happen quickly? because, you know, the white house press secretary did note that in the neurological exam that president biden had back as part of his physical, normal, physical in february, everything checked out that the tests were negative. i'm not saying it's the case with him, but, you know, could declines happen within five months and something noticeable. >> yes. i mean, there is oftentimes a lead up period, every person is different, but there's a range in which, declines can occur. you know, if you're thinking about parkinson's, for example, some people can progress in months. some people may take longer. generally, the older you are when you have the symptoms, it's a faster progression than if you got the symptoms when you were younger. >> all right. so let me just ask you, when do you think, you

know, does a normal person who's not running for president, but when should a normal person go for some tests, perhaps, like when they notice something or when they're at a certain age, >> when you notice something is usually what brings, these movement disorders specialist and they include things like, shuffling gait, you know, lack of expression in the face. speaking more softly. taking, having some difficulty in turning or making corners, writing in a very small, font. these are all symptoms, that something may be amiss, some people, you know, figure it out while driving, and they may have a jerking motion of one hand, that was different from before a tremor when you're not, doing something. these are all symptoms. of specific kinds of movement disorders, >> okay, before we finish this topic and bring you back for

other topics coming up in the next segment, i wonder if you think, presidents in general. right. and not necessarily this one or the last one or the future ones, but should maybe be treated by not a doctor of their own appointment, but maybe by, you know, a panel, an independent panel and everything be made fully available to the public in a way that it isn't for, you know, a normal citizen. >> well, certainly in modern medicine we don't do things individually, but we work in teams. and i know that the current white house, physician lead for president biden is working with, several specialists. but particularly as you get older, you know, you don't see a specialist one on, one off. but you, as you mentioned, kristen, have a team of folks that meet together, multiple times over the course of a you know, evaluation of a patient, not just, you know, wheel and spoke. >> right. all right. by the way, just one more time. worth

reiterating that we do not know, because they also did not say why that parkinson's specialist was at the white house, there's also at the same time, some policy issues being worked on. so could have been for that as well. so a lot of unknowns but certainly a lot of talk. so doctor peter chin-hong, thank you very much. we'll bring you back in the next segment [phone beeping and vibrating] ♪ ♪ ♪ when your bedroom has everything you need... it's okay to give everything else a rest. welcome to the goodnight club. find your dream bedroom at ikea.

the latest santa clara county wastewater samples. they are an indicator. and take a look. and we see to be seeing a spike, not quite as high as last december, but high. right. tell us about the case rate. >> yeah. so right now we're in the middle of a lot of cases in the community, but if we saw this level, say a year ago, we civilizations. so not as many hospitalizations as the level of covid and the wastewater and the number of people just getting

sick in the community. but, you know, whether or not that's going to last for a few weeks, or longer, i think time will tell. but because we're starting a month earlier than last year, my hope is that we'll end a month earlier than last year. >> hope so. but if we're not seeing a lot of hospitalizations, number one, that's great. and does that mean whatever variants going around now causes, you know, lighter symptoms? >> no, actually in some people, depending on when you were last vaccinated or when you last got covid, these symptoms can be quite, debilitating, even if you don't go to the hospital, so i'll give you an example, there was somebody, for example, who, had a vaccine, the last vaccine in 2022, got covid. some few months after, but didn't get any vaccine or covid until 2024, when they got this new variant. they had very, very serious symptoms. so it's not just a matter of when or, you know, how

many times you've gotten covid, it's when did you get it last? so when did you get the vaccine last? because a lot has changed in the world of covid since a few years ago, so some people are still getting serious symptoms. >> all right. so what is the next vaccine that's coming out? when is it going to come out and does it target a particular strain. >> yes. so the next vaccine will be out, at the end of august, likely early september. it's going to target, for the pfizer and moderna shots. cp2. which is the flu variant, the one that's circulating right now. the novavax is going to target jn1, which is a very related, variant, which we had last winter, but they're different by only about 2 or 3, proteins. all should be available at least september. but, most people should get it, sometime in october to prepare for winter. >> you think most people should get it? is that your recommendation? let's say you're

a healthy person, young person, middle aged person, and you've had covid once or twice. you've had your, you know, boosters. would you still get it? >> so the cdc says everyone over six months will be, eligible to get the vaccine. but you're right, kristen, i think the highest priority groups are those who are older than 65 or those who are immune compromised. i think for everybody, though, the way i think about it is just normalizing it like a flu shot. yeah, and in fact, in next year, you'll get two shots in one needle. >> oh, next year, not this year. i was hoping it'd be this year. >> 2025. >> okay. hey, we almost are out of time. just real quickly, though. i just want to point out the news about another possible benefit to weight loss drugs like ozempic reduced cancer ris. is that part of it? >> yes, there was a actually a huge study in jama. really recently, 1.3 million people found that it decreased the risk of ten out of 13 obesity related

cancers, things like gastric cancer, gallbladder cancer, and this was not just in ozempic. but remember, this class of drugs has been around for more than ten years. so they're able to look at a lot of people. so it really does look promising. >> leave

tonight, several major stories as we come on the air. the hurricane slamming into the u.s. tornado watches and warnings right now. rain and wind all the way up to detroit, then into the northeast. also breaking tonight, president biden defiant, saying