breaking overnight, a third person with ties to the united states has been arrested in connection with the assassination of haiti's president. hotel arsenal seized officials arrest four on gun charges in downtown denver at a hotel there near the sitof the major league baseball all-star game 128 degrees in death valley. one example of life-threatening heat across the west as scorching temperatures are fueling out-of-control wildfires. a straw poll held at the conservative political action conference revealed that 70% would vote for former president

trump if the 2024 election were held today but that's not all fresh out of a three-hour surgery ultimate fighting favorite conor mcgregor is blasting his opponent yet again. new details as we kick off your week "early today" starts right now glad you could join us this morning. i'm frances rivera >> and i'm phillip mena. we begin with that breaking news police in haiti believe that they have arrested one of the masterminds behind the assassination of their president. a haitian man who was living in florida is being accused of traveling to haiti in a private jet and contacting a private security firm to find people to carry out the attack so that he could replace jovenel moise as president. that suspect was identified as christian emmanuel sanon he is the third person with ties to the u.s. to be arrested in this case. according to haitian officials, 26 colombians were also involved in the assassination 18 have been arrested. three were killed. and five are sill on the run president biden is setting his sights on gun violence

today he will meet with the attorney general, law enforcement and elected officials about how to cut down on gun crime nbc's tracie potts joins us with more and trace jie, this is shaping up to be a major issue in the midterms >> reporter: a big political issue but also an issue now especially in big cities around the country. the biden demonstration says homicides are up 30% and they're also seeing an increase in gun crimes, particularly in those large cities today the president is sitting down with the attorney general and local leaders from around the country. law enforcement, elected offi officials. to talk about the biden administration's strategy that was rolled out last month that includes community interventions but also cracking down on the flow of firearms but we're seeing some pushback we saw it this weekend among conservatives about what they think is an assault on gun rights >> the same far left democrats who are defunding police are

also leading an all-out crusade to strip you, the law-abiding citizens of america, of your god-given second amendment rights >> reporter: meantime, we are seeing democrats, particularly the senate's top democrat, who is pushing back on the nra asking for justice department investigation. >> at the same time they're saying they're bankrupt they're spending millions of dollars in ads to stop universal background checks that demands an investigation by the justice department we all know the nra is morally bankrupt but they are not financially bankrupt that's the problem here. >> reporter: doj declined comment on whether or not there would be an investigation. and nra legal counsel accused chuck schumer of promoting a

false narrative. >> tracy, thank you. four suspects have been arrested at a host'll in downtown denver near coors field where the mlb all-star game will be held. staff at the maven hotel alerted police to suspicious activity and that led to the arrest according to officials three men and a woman were charged with weapons possession officers say they also found narcotics at the scene denver police have assured the public that the all-star game will be safe to attend former president trump is the proverbial elephant in the room for republican hopefuls for the party's voters he is still the top pick for the 2024 nomination but the question is will he even run? ali vitali is at the conservative political action conference in dallas ali, good morning. >> reporter: hey, frances. good morning former president donald trump back in front of the crowd at cpac and continuing to stoke that lie about the 2020 election being rigged against him but he's also topping the cpac straw poll it's a self-selecting group of conservatives.

but take a look at what the poll says if trump were to run again in 2024. he comes in at 70% of these few thousand voters that were polled here, trailed by florida governor ron desantis. but in the poll where trump doesn't choose to run again in 2024 desantis comes in with over 65% of the attendees here saying that he could be their preference it's interesting, even at this early point in the shadow republican primary before 2024, there is a lot of jockeying going on behind the scenes several of these potential lawmakers looking at a run, coming to conferences like these, trying to bolster their conservative credentials not going too far in saying they hope to run but having to toe that line between backing the former president and also pushing their own aspirations. >> ali, thank you. now to a billionaire's victory in the crowded space race sir richard branson rocketing to the edge of space along with a full crew on a virgin galactic plane. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: phillip, good

morning. picture perfect from start to finish here at the new mexico space port virgin galactic with richard branson on board planning for this day for 17 years. it went off without a hitch. under a blazing sun a new age of space travel lifted off from the new mexico desert. virgin galactic's unity, attached to the belly of its mother ship. inside virgin founder richard branson, three other employee passengers, and two pilots climbing to 46,000 feet. then 45 minutes after lift-off -- >> three, two, one release, release, release. >> reporter: a 2,300-mile-per-hour rocket ride. three gs to more than 53 miles high >> passengers in the back have been cleared to unstrap. >> reporter: then the moment that branson has beendreaming of since he was a teen the curvature of the earth and the darkness of space. >> looking down to our beautiful, beautiful earth >> reporter: after three to four minutes of weightlessness the

journey home >> the experience of a lifetime. >> reporter: safely touching down just over an hour after takeoff. >> a perfect landing >> reporter: on the ground -- [ cheers and applause -- jubilation, triumph and the famous branson champagne shower. finally, 17 years after starting virgin galactic -- >> the wings that are the virgin galactic wings ladies and gentlemen, this here is sir richard branson, astronaut. [ cheers and applause >> i'm never going to be able to do it justice. it's indescribably beautiful >> reporter: in an exclusive branson family interview with nbc news -- >> i've got to show it off >> reporter: -- sir richard could not contain his excitement proud of his wings >> i'm afraid nobody will ever be able to take them away from us once you're an astronaut you're always an astronaut. >> reporter: his kids grateful he's back on terra firma >> it's quite hard when your

dad's going to do something so pioneering that no one else has really done. >> reporter: branson the winner in the so-called battle of the space billionaires with blue origin's jeff bezos, after suggesting branson and his passengers would not be true astronauts because they don't go as high as bezos and his passengers will, bezos seemed to concede the win, writing "can't wait to join the club. >> i hope he has an extraordinary experience as we did. >> reporter: branson's hope that the quarter million-dollar price tag for a ride will soon come down, making the trip possible for those on smaller budgets and virgin is launching a sweepstakes with a maze for two tickets to space >> then you and a friend will be able to go to space. it's an exciting i think opportunity for people around the world, which has never existed before >> reporter: a lifelong dream fulfilled and a pledge to open space to everyone. so in nine days jeff bezos's blue origin is hoping to lift off from west texas. but they're still waiting for

faa approval the virgin galactic approval from the faa came two weeks before lift-off on sunday. we hear from sources that in fact the faa may give the bezos team approval early this week. phillip? >> the space race is fascinating. tom, thanks. >> what a high they must all be on, that crew after coming down from that. now to the relentless heat that is once again scorching the west coast with temperatures reaching 128 degrees in death valley. the region is facing a double disaster with wildfires spreading in & water reservoirs running dry. >> reporter: for more on this emergency we're joined by nbc's erin mclaughlin. erin, good morning >> reporter: good morning, phillip. this is the third major heat wave to strike the western part of the united states so far this year and we're not even halfway through summer it's making drought and fire conditions worse scientists are pointing to climate change extreme temperatures fueling infernos across the west

in california more than twice as many acres have burned compared to the same time last year, triggering evacuations in the northern part of the state the beckwourth complex fire doubling in size photographer craig philpon capturing the intense conditions as the small town burned >> it's just weeks and weeks and weeks dryer than it should be this time of year. >> reporter: the fire season not only prematurely ferocious but also deadly. in arizona retired fire chief jeff pichura and pilot matthew miller were killed in an air accident the scorching temperatures threatening nearly 30 million americans across the west. with thermostats soaring 10 to 20 degrees above average >> miserable >> reporter: on saturday utah tied its all-time hottest statewide record, a sizzling 117 in st. george. the same temperature as las vegas. also matching a sin city record. the extreme heat pushing the region's extreme drought to

historic levels. reducing water deliveries across the west with reservoirs hitting new lows in utah one reservoir has completely run dry >> this is something different this is something i've never seen before. >> reporter: forecasters say they expect the worst of the heat to be over by tuesday, and that relief cannot come soon enough these temperatures at nighttime are not dropping below 80 degrees, which experts say are bringing a whole host of further health problems and infrastructure issues. phillip? >> i can only imagine. erin, thanks >> we'll talk more about that relief and nbc meteorologist janessa webb who's been tracking the life-threatening heat for us janessa, good morning. >> hi. good orning. good morning, everyone you know, we hvisories and warnings that are currently in place. they have backed off this morning. so getting a little bit better as erin said they will expire by tuesday. 19 million people currently impacted across the pacific northwest into the desert

southwest. this heat has seeped a little bit deeper into the deserttoday. 90s for the upper plains into the midwest. man, we had some rough storms going to the northeast we'll talk about that coming up. >> they've already started janessa, thank you nbc universal and the army and air force exchange have teamed up to offer u.s. service members and honorably discharged veterans the chance to stream the tokyo olympics live from their personal devices all they have to do is visit nbcolympics.com or the nbc sports app and choose the exchange or their service provider to stream more than 5500 hours of the olympics from july 23rd to august 8th.

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president miguel diaz-canel pointed the finger at the united states claiming that trade sanctions have created economic misery in the communist-run country and those rallying cries, they were heard in florida from orlando to tampa to miami, hupdndreds of cuban-americans swarmed the streets in solidarity. it didn't come loam it went to rome. england suffered a stunning defeat to italy in the euro cup finals the game started off on a high note after england scored its first goal just two minutes in but it was a whirmwind of hard fouls and close calls as italy got a kick but doesn't make it pressure culminated in the second half after leonardo bonucci pounced on a rebound scoring for italy. that evened the score but the match ended with an extraordinary penalty kick tiebreaker the english players brought on just to take the shots ended up missing. it all came down to the team's youngest player, bukayo saka, who was stopped by ruma, giving italy a 3-2 win.

>> it was exciting to watch. heart stopping right across the way there in london novak djokovic pulled off a historic win in the wimbledon final. his victory secured him a 20th grand slam title, tying roger federer and rafael nadal for the most ever for men. he's now won all three grand slam tournaments this year if he wins the u.s. open this september, he will be the first to win all four in more than 30 years. on saturday the top-ranked women's player ashleigh barty beat karolina pliskova in three sets, becoming the first australian woman to win wimbledon since 1980 still to come on "early today" -- "black widow" spins a web of success at the box office pe> and mamma mia. sur mario shatters the record for the most expensive video game ever sold the walls are closing in. i'm freaking out! ugh, relax yellow. just take a deep breath. (muffled) let's not do that again. at last, m&m's mix. super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin,

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♪ one thing's for sure i'm done running from my past. >> marvel's "back widow" caper crushed expectations, netting $80 million at the box office in its first weekend. it also brought in more than $60 million on disney plus "f9" came in a distant second just shy of $11 million. a super mario game just sold for an unbelievable price. a sealed copy of the nintendo 64 classic was auctioned off for over $1.5 million. so that breaks the record for the most expensive video game ever, which was set only two days earlier on friday a sealed copy of "the

legend of zelda" sold for $870,000 so the mario price tag nearly doubled that record. it is amazing to hear the stories of who got this and what they're going to do with it. they've got to put it in a shadow box, frame it, display p. >> you wonder who it is that held on to it. because anybody that wanted those back in the day immediately busted it open, immediately played it. maybe somebody forgot about it who knows? interesting how that comes about. there's a budding romance from comedy royalty. jasmine lawrence, who is the daughter of martin lawrence, and eric murphy, the son of eddie murphy, are officially dating. the couple have made their romance public they shared some photos on social media using the l word around each other. no word yet on how long they have been dating but both eddie and martin, they've been in a couple movies together, notably "boomerang" and "life. and now their lives are kind of together intertwined >> can you imagine dinner with all of them? it's goot to be great to just be a guest at that table and listen to how that banter goes. >> that's a lot of pressure, though, both of them

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in today's top stories, the death toll in surfside continues to grow. 90 people are now confirmed dead and 31 are unaccounted for some of the international rescue teams have already started departing. on sunday the mayor of miami honored the israeli team with medals and a key to the city they were given a hero's farewell by members of the community and victims' families. so far more than 14 million pounds of concrete have been hauled away from the site. but officials say teams investigating the collapse will sift through nearly 40 million pounds of debris to determine what caused the disaster a lingering reminder of the january 6th siege on the capitol

is finally gone this morning crews finished removing the fence around the capitol building over the weekend more than six months after the deadly riot however, the building itself is still closed to most visitors. in a statement capitol police said it chose to remove the fencing based on the current threat environment and enhancements to security nma fighter conor mcgregor underwent a three-hour surgery after breaking his leg at ufc 264. mcgregor's injury happened after he threw a punch and stepped backward he then was carried out of the ring on a stretcher, resulting in a loss to dustin poirier. in a video posted to social media shortly after his operation mcgregor said the surgery went excellent and he was feeling tremendous as he was always poirier's, quote, illegitimate win his agent said he is expected to make a full recovery >> it was a pretty ugly sight having to see that on saturday night. prices at the pump continue to rise here in the u.s. the average gallon of gasoline is now $3.21 that's almost a dollar more than

it was at this time last year. but the most expensive city to fill up in right now is san francisco, where gas is $4.39 a gallon the cheapest, baton rouge, louisiana. that'll cost you $2.65 per gallon industry analyst troeby lundberg of the lundberg survey says gas prices should hold steady now that crude oil costs have stopped rising former president barack obama is carrying on a tradition he started in the white house, sharing his summer play list of songs he's been listening to lately it includes a wide range of music spanning different genres and generations from stevie wonder to rihanna. some other artists that also made the cut include masked wolf, j. cole, her, erykah badu. you can see the full list on mr. obama's social media and there's also a spotify playlist. every year he brings it out. going from decades back. giving every generation a chance to find something new. >> i always think i'm p going to be that interested in it and then every time i want to read it, what is he up to what does he listen to

>> we love it all. thanks for waking up with us i'm frances rivera >> and i'm phillip mena. coming up on the "today" show billionaire sir richard branson will talk about his historic feat in the new space race yesterday he strapped in for the

we begin the week with dangerous life threatening heat in the west. 120 degrees in death valley more heat on the way and that is fueling the growth of wildfires. today president biden will turn his aention towards gun violence four arrested for weapons charges just outside the stadium hosting baseball's all-star game. breaking overnight, thousands take to the streets of cuba in rare protest over hunger, pandemic restrictions and the lack of covid vaccinations. more pain at the pump as gasoli