up our coverage right now. and good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm jose diaz-balart, breaking this morning, president biden's team says he raised a lot of money since announcing his re-election bid back in april. the education department says it has found a way to forgive student loans for hundreds of thousands of borrowers. meanwhile, prosecutors are talking with former white house employees, including a member of donald trump's family, about whether the former president knew his efforts to stay in power were built on a lie. the unrelenting heat wave gripping much of the country could get even more dangerous, especially for farm workers. but the warmup is not only happening on land. we'll look at what hot oceans could mean for your plans to cool off at the beach. and actors have now joined movie and tv writers on the picket lines. we'll look at the role artificial intelligence is playing in all of this.

and we begin this morning with breaking news on capitol hill. where a major defense bill has been turned into a debate over social issues. overnight, the republican-led house passed a series of amendments to nearly $900 billion defense policy bill. the amendments include overturning the pentagon's abortion policy, banning transgender health services for military personnel and other things. meanwhile, republican senator tommy tuberville continues to hold up military promotions over the pentagon's abortion policy, which defense secretary lloyd austin warned was a national security issue. >> this is a national security issue, it is a readiness issue, and we shouldn't kid ourselves. i think any member of the senate armed services committee knows that. >> joining us from capitol hill is ali vitali. also with us is brandon buck, an

msnbc political analyst. ali, what is happening with the vote at this hour? >> reporter: yeah, i believe, jose, the vote is not yet closed, but that the ndaa, the national defense authorization act, has passed. brandon knows this hallway well. i'm peering down into the chamber as i'm watching members leave, specifically looking out for the speaker who seemed to go away from our camera, but if he comes back, we'll try to engage him. what is notable about this vote, though, is the amendments that you talked about just at the beginning of the segment, by putting those things in, put the national defense authorization act, which is typically bipartisan into flux for democrats. many of them saying that because of what we saw from republicans on abortion-related expenses, trying to get the pentagon to change its policy there on being against transgender surgeries and healthcare in the military, on hormone treatment, things of that nature, these amendments made it so most democrats could not vote for it.

according to our friends, our producers in the chamber, i believe that there were two democrats that voted for this bill along with republicans as well as three republicans who voted against it, which means it was bipartisan in its passage. one of those democrats that did vote for it is a front liner in new mexico, gabe vasquez, just a reminder of the fact for a lot of the members, this is a district by district vote and it does really play back in their home state. you have to think about front line politics of this as well. now that this passed the house, it goes to the senate where the same problems exist there for democrats and some republicans who don't like some of the amendments that are more controversial in nature, that house republicans pushed to include. we don't expect many of these amendments to pass. i think this bill is going to look different inevitably when it comes back to the house. once again, it is an example of something that should be sort of a nonissue in terms of passing an ndaa through congress and just how tense and tough it is in this state of divided

government, especially with republicans pushing for so many hot button priorities to be included. >> so, ali, what is the process now for the bill? you're saying it goes into the senate and then into conference? >> reporter: that's probably what's going to have to happen here. brandon knows this process so well of what happens when these chambers can agree and they have to find commonality. you look at the way that senators who i've been talking to have been looking at the ndaa, many of them have priorities of trying to put more ukraine funding in there, where as house republicans ultimately this didn't get included but we watched many of them push to have less money for ukraine or to strip or pull money away from aiding the war in ukraine. just diametrically opposed, even among republicans, even within their own party, on how some of this military funding should go. and, again, this isn't just spending bill. we got that a few weeks from fou. this is instructive for how that battle is going to go. even the speaker, yesterday or two days ago, i'm told behind

closed doors with his conference, urged his members to only put things into this bill that were germane, directly relevant. many of them argued that abortion and the way the pentagon is saying that they will provide support and funds to service members who want to travel to access abortion care, they would argue that military and abortion access are now inextricably linked, which partially explains why we see that amendment in this bill. the speaker tried to avoid some of the more controversial things here, and any controversy that was avoided in the short-term, again, we're probably going to see it in the fall spending fight. far from the end. >> indeed, far from the end. brandon, how do you see it? talk to us about the ndaa, its role, its importance and how now the gop including all these amendments in the ndaa is changing things. >> i want to emphasize something ali said. the ndaa is typically one of the most bipartisan things that congress does all year. we pass one every single year, for 60 years we have never

missed one. it is almost always a huge big bipartisan vote. that has fallen apart now. this is -- to me, shows that nothing is sacred. this is now a defense bill is a battleground for the culture wars, and it is incredibly self-defeating. kevin mccarthy didn't want to go down this road for a number of reasons. one, he knows as ali said, these policies have no chance of surviving and becoming actual law. he's also putting a lot of his moderate members in a really tough spot. most of them voted for a lot of the amendments that are going to be very unpopular where they are. and it is only a four or five seat majority. some of these conservatives are being awfully cavalier with some of their more moderate members, making them walk the plank. one thing if they actually thought they could achieve a policy win, but this is just setting themselves up for failure, the bill is going to come back at some point, all of this stuff is going to be gone. it is hard not to look at this and go, that's part of the plan of the freedom caucus.

they know they're not going to get this. they're going to turn their anger once again to kevin mccarthy, blame him for coming up short, not being able to negotiate things that never had a chance. look at the reason kevin mccarthy was resisting this in the first place. he knows this is bad news and coming back and it will end up in his lap in a really bad way. >> and ali in the midst of this house floor debate on thursday, republican congressman eli crane of arizona made a derogatory statement that quickly drew the rebuke of his democratic colleagues. we're going to play what he said. >> my amendment has nothing do with whether or not colored people or black people or anybody can serve, okay? it has nothing do with -- >> mr. speaker, i'd like to be recognized to have the words colored people stricken from the record. i find it offensive and very inappropriate. >> can i amend my comments to

people of color? >> the gentleman wishes to amend his comments. is the gentleman asking -- >> i'm asking unanimous consent -- mr. speaker, to have the words stricken. i didn't ask for an amendment. >> is there unanimous consent to have the words stricken? without objection, so ordered. >> the congressman later said he misspoke about what he said, but what has been the response there on the hill today? >> reporter: well, look, we saw what the response was in the immediate seconds after he says he misspoke and used that slur. we then watched crane say that he would be willing to amend his statement, he would be willing to say it again without the slur included. for congressman beatty and for the top democrat hakeem jeffries, the way this played out seemed to be enough. this is what jeffries said just in the last half hour or so.

>> our view of the national defense authorization act is that it is woefully irresponsible that extreme maga republicans have hijacked a bipartisan bill that is essential to our national security and taken it over and weaponized it in order to jam their extreme right wing ideology down the throats of the american people. >> reporter: now that was, of course, the leader talking about the ndaa, which, of course, democrats were almost unanimously opposed to, i think four of them ended up voting for it. what he also said in those comments during that press conference was that this was the right way to handle what happened with congressman crane, that those remarks were stricken from the record, that's what congressman beatty asked for and that for jeffries and others seems to be enough right now. >> ali vitali on capitol hill and brandon buck, thank you both

very much. the biden campaign just released its first quarter fund-raising numbers. the campaign raised more than $72 million since the president declared his second run for the white house. campaign says nearly all contributions came from small donors with an average gift of $39. and the biden team also has $77 million in cash on hand. that's more than any previous democratic candidate at this point in the race. joining us now, nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli. mike, good morning. talk us through the numbers and what is the signal they're sending? >> reporter: yeah, jose, this is a really important demonstration from the biden campaign of the health of the campaign at a time when democrats are very nervous as they look at the president's low approval ratings, as they look at the republican field, as they're battling it out across the early primary states right now. the president is known for perhaps not always being the strongest fund-raising, but he was able to really generate this strong number because of the way his campaign has been closely

coordinating with the democratic national committee. because of that coordination, he's been able to raise individual amounts of to 928,000 from max donors. that's been able to really help pad the number. you mentioned what the campaign is really touting, which is the small donors that they're also benefitting from. 30% of the donors to his campaign so far did not give to him in 2020. a significant number, 90% of the contributions, are coming in amounts under $200. this is something that the biden campaign feels very strongly about. and also consider that cash on hand number of $77 million. why is that important? republicans who so far have raised far less in terms of total amounts are also spending a lot more. they're going to head to head with each other right now, including former president trump, while president biden's campaign is a very bare bones operation right now. only a handful of staff, they don't have a headquarters, working for now out of the democratic national committee and the president is still able to travel around the country and carry what is effectively a

campaign message through these official events that he's been doing. so, this all speaks, jose, to the benefits of incumbency, the biden campaign feeling strong about this early test for their campaign. >> and mike, separately, the education department announced today it is forgiving $39 billion of student debt. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. this speaks to what will be certainly a major issue in the campaign, and when we think about the idea of debt forgiveness, of course, everyone thinks of what we just saw the supreme court strike down. the president's plan to forgive 10 or $20,000 of individual student debt, using that pandemic-related emergency law. this is a separate track. this is the department of education making the changes to income-based repayment programs, they say they have corrected a mistake in which people who have largely made those individual payments, monthly payments over a period of up to 20 to 25 years who should have gotten forgiveness did not do so and now up to 800,000, perhaps more than that, are going to receive

up to $39 billion in total forgiveness. this is one of many steps that the biden administration says they are making to try to deal with this significant issue of crushing student loan debt, that real limits an individual's ability to have mobility and employment, to start a family, to purchase a home and it is one that the administration says there will be additional steps to come. >> and, mike, those additional steps to come, we can know that as of right now that is something that people won't have to register and request, but rather will happen automatically? >> reporter: that's right. those who qualify this will be notified by the department of education and it is also something where they have to work through some of the private loan servicers. one issue here, jose, is that private loan servicers perhaps put somebody into forbearance if they missed a payment or did not make a full payment, when the department of education says they should not have done so, which made them eligible for this forgiveness. >> mike memoli, thank you very much. coming up, a walkout in

hollywood, the first of its kind in more than 60 years. how new technology played a major role in spurring actors to take to the picket lines. as extreme heat breaks records across the country, ocean temperatures are also soaring. this is really dangerous. we're going to talk about that with my dear friend john morales in just 60 seconds. don't go anywhere. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. i'm mark and i live in vero beach, florida. my wife and i have three children. ruthann and i like to hike. we eat healthy. we exercise. i noticed i wasn't as sharp as i used to be. my wife introduced me to prevagen and so i said "yeah, i'll try it out." i noticed that i felt sharper, i felt like i was able to respond to things quicker. and i thought, yeah, it works for me. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists taking photos that are analyzed by ai.

so researchers can help life underwater flourish. - the will states that mr. marbles will receive everything he needs in perpetuity. thanks to autoship from chewy. - i always love that old man. - and he gets the summer house. - what? - [narrator] save more on what they love and never run out with autoship from chewy. 15 past the hour. communities across our country are enduring days and days of brutal heat with no relief in sight. this morning, the temperatures in the south and in the west are soaring. 82 million people under heat alerts. and nearly 50 record highs are expected to be set just this weekend alone. el paso set a record of 28 consecutive days of triple digit temperatures. phoenix has seen 13 days in a row at 110 plus degrees.

that's not feels-like, that's actual 110 degrees. here in miami, yesterday marked 33 days straight with a heat index above 100 degrees. this extreme heat is taking a toll on our oceans as well. nasa says they absorbed more than 90% of the warming caused by climate change. the daily average surface temperature off the florida keys was just over 90 degrees on monday, according to noaa. john morales with nbc miami, nbc 6, is with us. always a pleasure to see you. we have been talking about this, but what is going on and why? >> well, so the -- the background for all this is indeed climate change. we're starting from a base of hotter temperatures, which have been warming because of what you said. 90% of the heat that we have trapped in the planetary system is going into the oceans. so we start off already with hot

surface temperatures and deep temperatures that are very warm in the ocean. then after that, the el nino, which warms the surface of the tropical pacific and it is going to be a moderate to potentially strong el nino. add that in the atlantic we have meteorological conditions, not necessarily driven by climate change, okay, these are just conditions that weaken high pressure in the atlantic, weaken the trade winds, and those are leading to a marine heat wave in the atlantic. there are pockets in the florida keys around the florida keys, florida bay to be specific, where water temperatures are 95 to 98 degrees. >> give us an idea of what -- how unusual that is. what is the average temperature? it is always warm in the florida keys. one of the great parts of south florida to go into the ocean. this is not normal. >> this is not just miami in july hot. this is off the charts. the chance of the atlantic

seeing the temperatures that are average across the atlantic right now, the chance of that are .02 of 1%. so, i mean this is really off the charts. >> how is this affecting sea life, the corals, et cetera? >> noaa has a forecast for coral bleaching across the caribbean, florida, the bahamas, and that there 100% chance of coral bleaching. >> 100% in. >> 100%. and the bleaching doesn't necessarily kill the coral, but the stress on the coral is immense and we continue to lose a lot of coral in the caribbean and atlantic of florida. >> this is so fundamental for the whole ecosystem. >> totally. it changes the ecosystem in all those locations that i just mentioned. plus, you know, it is a bellwether for what is going on in the oceans. between ocean acidification and the fact they're warming, we have that concern.

in addition there is other concerns, right? you have a hot sea surface temperature what is that going to mean for hurricane season? >> we're right in the beginning of hurricane season. june through november. how worried are you about this season? >> so, it is going to be a tug of war between the hot sea surface temperatures in the atlantic and the wind shear that normally an el nino brings to the atlantic. those are strong winds aloft that cut the heads off on hurricanes. the water is so hot, jose, and we're already up to the fifth storm this year because of -- very early this morning we had dawn form in the atlantic. normally we don't get our fifth storm until august 22nd. so we're way ahead of schedule and there is concern for this hurricane season. >> john, i want to thank you, always, for coming in and giving us this explanation. as this hurricane season progresses, i hope to be able to count on your wisdom. >> of course, jose. >> thank you, john morales, for being with us. hollywood is coming to a halt this morning as actors join screenwriters in a strike for

the first time in more than 60 years. what exactly they're asking for and what the strike will do to the entertainment industry next. plus, we're learning more about the attempted uprising from the wagner group as putin makes new claims. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart repos"rt on msnbc. when you smell the amazing scent of new gain flings... time stops. ♪ (music plays) ♪ and you realize you're in love... steve? ...with a laundry detergent. new gain flings. seriously good scent. ♪ i gotta good feeling about this, yeah ♪ ♪ i'm with it ♪ ♪ i gotta good feeling about this ♪ ♪ yeah, ♪ ♪ so let's get it ♪ ♪ i'm feeling good vibes ♪ power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options 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.

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why did the democrats vote no. technically it is a bipartisan vote. four democrats vote with us. are the rest of the democrats against the pay raise for the veterans? are they against deterring china for a safe future. are they against rooting out wasteful spending because they all voted against it today. they can claim a lot of things. but the issue they claim why they voted against, they voted for it just last year. it is a good thing the reasons are in the majority, but it is more important that we keep our promises to america and to our men and women who serve to defend us. and, today is exactly what we did. with that, let me call up our leader, leader steve cleese. >> thank you, mr. speaker. good to see all of you here. today was an important victory for our men and women in

uniform, who risk their lives to keep us safe. it was also an important victory for every american in this country that wants to see our military focused on our enemies abroad, not on wokeness and all of the indoctrination attempts you're seeing within the pentagon. and there was a massive rebuke of that far left ideology and the push that we have seen under the biden administration. these aren't things that barack obama did when he was president. joe biden has tried to change the focus of our military. and what you saw today, and over the last week is republicans and democrats coming together to say let's focus on our enemies all around the world. there are still bad actors out there that want to do us harm. there are countries like china who are investing in a different kind of military that we need to be focused on. and as the speaker pointed out,

chairman rogers and all of the members of the house armed services committee spent weeks and months putting together a bill that refocuses our military on their core mission. the mission that under the constitution we as a congress have an obligation to go out and fulfill and protect and fund and that's what this ndaa does. it refocuses on the real threats to america as a free nation and as the leader of the free world and allows us to get back focused on that role. yes, a shame that democrats walked away from that. it is a shame that democrats walked away from a 5% pay raise to our men and women in uniform who deserve it because they wanted to defend a far left woke indoctrination ideology? that's not the focus of the department of defense. i am proud of what our members did, coming together, in a difficult time, to say let's get that focus back where it needs to be, on defending america and

protecting our friends around the world and standing up to the bad actors, which there are and they're getting more and more aggressive. we need to be more and more focused. that's what today's vote produced. and the gentleman who put together that vote coalition is our whip. >> thank you, steve. first, i want to thank -- >> we heard the leadership of the gop at the house talking about their decisions behind the amendments they included in the ndaa, which just passed the house of representatives. it now goes to the senate and forward. movie and tv actors are heading to the picket lines today, striking alongside writers guild for the first time since over 60 years. sag-aftra union is demanding more protections for actors as artificial intelligence transforms the industry. union president fran drescher slammed media executives over the failed contract talks.

>> basically, the entire business model has changed and there is still just thinking that we're going to be satisfied with incremental changes. >> joining us now, cnbc correspondent kristina partsinevelos and nbc news technology correspondent jacob ward. why are both actors and writers concerned about the rise of ai? >> well, for anybody who has spent any time on tiktok or anything else that can automatically change the look of your face in a video, they know how incredibly life-like it is. at this point, the writers strike has already been all about ai and the worry that things like chatgpt could wipe them out and with actors, it is similar. one thing offered was something about a background actor ai agreement, if you're a background actor, a person who would sit in the background of a

scene, you would be offered a single day's pay and be scanned in for use by ai from then on. it would be the end of your work is what these actors are saying. they're pushing back against a future in which you could ask ai to make you a buddy movie set in the renaissance period with mel gibson and tom hanks. it is that kind of future they're trying to negotiate against and worth pointing out the workers guild of america just concluded talks and their new contract prevents generative ai being used to replace them. it locks like the writers and actors are looking for the same thing. >> how could all of this -- how much could all of this cost? >> well, roughly 16 years ago there was a 100 day writers strike and they lost 37,000 jobs and cost an estimated $2 billion. this time around, we have writers and actors. the human toll is real. i have makeup artists struggling to find work.

they work part time here. if the writers and actors aren't speaking, they're not spending money in the economy and it could hurt smaller businesses. the writers guild of america is estimating this costing california's economy $30 million a day. bob iger, the ceo of disney was on our network just yesterday and said the strikes have unrealist expectations. there could be more of a standoff between studios and actors over the long-term. speaking of long-term, if this continues, viewership could also shift away from tv shows and towards sports and reality tv. and nfl season what is that? two months away. we could see content spend start to slow down with a lot of studios, which means less spending on jobs, lower salaries, more competitive environment. and then more specifically right now today we focus on markets here at cnbc, we're seeing certain stocks like paramount

down 4%, warner bros. down 3%, comcast, netflix, walt disney down 1.4%. there is some selling and loss in the market. it makes me think more personally should i be negotiating ai, things in my contract now too, given that we -- i research and write my own stories, i could easily be replaced too. >> that's a question for a lot of people. kristina partsinevelos and jacob ward, thank you very much. there are new claims today from vladimir putin, weeks after the failed uprising by the wagner group. and what the pentagon is now saying about the forces involved in that effort. plus, reports of testimony before a federal grand jury about former president trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. e. that's why the new titan turkey is proffered by pros like me. and by pros who can actually dunk, like me. and if we proffer it we know you'll proffer it too.

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34 past the hour, now to the latest developments in the investigations into former president donald trump. "the new york times" reports trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, was among several witnesses to testify before a federal grand jury in recent weeks about the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. this comes as special counsel jack smith responds to trump's efforts to indefinitely delay his trial on charges he mishandled classified information. with us now to talk more about this, michael schmidt, "new york times" washington correspondent and msnbc national security

contributor, and danny ceballos, legal analyst. >> we know he went in last month, he went in without anyone seeing him. they were able to sneak him into the courthouse. he testified before the grand jury for several hours. the most significant thing that we took away from our reporting and understanding of what happened there was that they had asked kushner whether trump said in the days and weeks after the election that he knew that he had lost. and that would be significant because it would help show trump's potential corrupt intent in when he undertakes this effort to overturn the election. basically the notion that he knew that he lost and despite that, pushed false claims to try and stay in power.

that type of evidence would be extremely powerful if used at a trial if they were trying to win a conviction against donald trump. >> so, danny, talk to me about that intent. why is that so important to determine? >> it is everything in this case. and trump may be able to insulate himself somewhat by simply doubling down on his claims that he won the election. which is why he continues to do so. the more he insists he won, that goes against the idea he was intentionally perpetrating a fraud. and he knows that. so he's probably been pretty consistent, i would expect. i would expect witnesses testifying before the grand jury including jared kushner are testifying that, no, he always said that he won. but if there are witnesses testifying that as an aside he said, look, i know i didn't win, but i'm pushing this forward anyway because i think i can fool everyone, well, that would be some pretty damaging evidence. >> how would that change things? if let's say there is somebody that says, yeah, he was -- just

kidding, but won't say it publicly, what would that change? >> that shows that he knew what he was doing was wrong, and that's key to almost every crime that both state and federal prosecutors are looking at with donald trump, and, jose, i have to say this too, in the normal run of the mill case with the defendant you never heard of, prosecutors don't worry that much about intent. if a gun or some drugs are found, maybe a couple of feet from where the defendant is sitting, they won't worry that much about intent. they'll indict. they'll say he knew he possessed. in this case, prosecutors know this is the most significant, most important defendant should they choose to charge him. they need to make sure they have their case made. absolutely airtight. so that's why they're going from all of this witness testimony to really flesh out whether or not the requisite criminal intent is there, and they can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. >> do we know who else has been questioned in connection with this case other than kushner? >> so, we know of two witnesses

who speak to this issue, who have been questioned. one of them is the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, mark milley. the other one is the white house communications director in the days after the election, alyssa farah griffin. and we know from their testimony to the january 6th committee last year that trump said to them that he knew that he had lost. mi milley testifying about how trump said, well, we'll have to leave this to the next guy, acknowledging that he lost and someone else was going to come in. we know milley has been questioned. we know alyssa farah griffin has been questioned. trump said to her, can you believe i lost to this guy. so that type of thing helps show

that trump knew that he lost, and if you sort of look at the timeline, there are these examples of trump saying this in november and early december. but by the middle of december, he seemed completely convinced or at least was saying that publicly and privately that he thought the election was stolen, and you see how you get on the path to january 6th. >> danny, as expected, special counsel smith is opposing trump's request to delay his trial and the classified documents case. how do you see things for both sides there? >> my view may be biased because umm a criminal defense attorney. i may have a different take than a former federal prosecutor. i don't think the request to delay the trial is that unreasonable. the government does make some good points. for example, the statute really seems to require and this is typically the case federal judges must set a date certain. that is virtually required. so, the defense asking an indefinite delay is really not allowed by the statute. the government has a good point. the judge should set a date certain. if that is in 2024, that's

another issue. >> is it usually common for defense people to say, hey, let's delay this forever? >> yes and no. if they need -- if it is a case that is unusually complex and the interests of justice, that's the language in the statute, require a delay, then, yes. it is an interesting thing. we have a speedy trial act. this case is a classic example of why it to the benefit of the government. that's why the government is pushing for the speedy trial act. the government is ready to go to trial probably tomorrow. they have been investigating this case for months and months and months. they didn't indict until they were sure they could prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt against the most important criminal defendant in federal criminal history. the defense is getting a lot of this information for the first time. so you have kind of a switch, where the defense doesn't want the protections of the speedy trial act and the government does. >> thank you, both, for being with us this morning.

appreciate it. the pentagon confirms u.s. cluster munitions are now in ukraine. that's less than a week after president baden prov president biden approves sending them. vladimir putin told a russian newspaper that he offered to let wagner forces keep fighting, but wagner chief, yevgeny prigozhin, said no. and pentagon says it does not appear wagner mercenaries are participating in any significant capacity of combat in ukraine. joining us now from kyiv is nbc's kelly cobiella. good to see you. you were just hearing air raid sirens. what's going on? >> reporter: yeah, jose, that's fairly common here. we hear them usually once a day at least. the post four days in a row russia has targeted ukraine with those iranian attack drones. three of those drones were targeted at the capital, kyiv. but usually in the later hours

of the evening. last night, it was the south and the east that was targeted. the ukrainian military said they shot almost all of them out of the sky. intercepted almost all of those attack drones. one did manage to strike a utility plant in president zelenskyy's hometown in the south, in the zaporizhzhia area overnight. there was some damage there. and one person injured. but typically when we hear something like that, if we don't hear an explosion or the buzz of drones nearby, it is usually safe for the time being to continue reporting. jose? >> kelly, how do all the developments regarding cluster munitions afecting the front lines there? >> reporter: yeah, so, we know, of course, the pentagon has confirmed that those munitions have made it to ukraine. what we don't know is whether or not they have been used in battle yet. the defense minister of ukraine has been very open in saying

that he thinks that these weapons will be a game changer and help the ukrainian forces breakthrough those defensive lines, which have been built up over several months, layers as we have talked about before of mines, trenches, razor wire, et cetera. so they're hoping that they will be a game changer, but it is not clear whether we'll actually hear from ukrainians on where or when they plan to use them. they want to hold on to that strategic element of surprise in terms of how they use them. jose, we haven't heard about a lot of developments on the battlefield over the past couple of days. of course, we have been focused on the nato summit. the ukrainians say that they are consolidating their positions in the south and making some progress in the east around bakhmut. but no big change just yet, jose? >> kelly cobiella in kyiv, thank you so much. republican candidates are

courting cuban-american voters in florida as they try to lock in the gop nomination. talk about that next. also, a job that comes with 35 times the risk of dying from heat related illnesses. one researcher's quest to keep farm workers safe as temperatures hit record highs. these men and women are doing some of the economy's most critical work. we'll talk about that next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. online wity was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. we just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. start for free at godaddy.com subway refreshed everything. and now, they're slicing their meats fresh. that's why this pro proffers the new grand slam ham. so does this pro. i just love a grand slam... ham. and if we proffer it, we know you'll proffer it too. i knew he'd love that sandwich. for too long, big pharmaceutical companies have bought off politicians so they can get away with ripping us off.

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decade. 11 sets of human remains were found along gilgo beach after police started searching for 24-year-old shannon gilbert back in 2010. and now to the 2024 republican presidential primary, where three florida residents are running for the nomination. donald trump, governor ron desantis and now miami mayor francis suarez. each has, well, campaign that is laying the ground work to win florida's 125 delegates. and key is the state's cuban-american vote. it is playing a bigger role than ever before and nbc news correspondent and news now anchor morgan radford joins us this morning. first of all, it is great to see you. >> great to be back with you. >> we shouldn't be talking about things like -- it is an important story, but your 5-month-old baby daughter just -- she is the most amazing little girl. >> sorry, let's go back to the

story. i haven't seen you in a while. the cuban-american vote in florida, how important is it and how is it tracking? >> important role, right? bigger than ever as we have seen recently. but this is interesting because we talked to people there on the ground, put simply, this race is not close. we spoke to voters, political experts, campaign surrogates for all three candidates and the runaway favorite among cuban-american voters in florida is not the cuban mayor of miami, not the governor, former president donald trump, the man who only got 17% of the cuban-american vote in the state's 2016 primary. now, he is the runaway favorite among cuban-american voters. and the polling, well, it backs it up. one recent poll shows the 20-point gap between trump and desantis now state wide across all ethnic backgrounds. but when you take just a little bit closer of a look, trump has an almost 39 percentage point advantage among hispanic residents of the state. cuban-americans make up the single largest hispanic or latino ethnic group in florida, more than a quarter of the

latino population. we spoke to some of those voters directly. here's what they told us. >> you kind of, like, can't say you support desantis, they will go after you. they feel you're a traitor to trump if you do this. so, that's why i said, there is a silent majority people who whe and say i support desantis, i'm going to vote for him. i just don't want to say it out loud. >> donald trump, to me he has been one of the best person the united states had so far. economy, freedom, religion freedom, any kind of freedom. of course, desantis would be number two in case anything against trump. >> donald trump's support among cuban americans is so strong. >> there you have it. the primary date is march 19th.

a lot can happen between now and then. >> what about mayor suarez? he is cuban american. what is his -- what do his chances look like? >> he wasn't included in the poll. his campaign says the fact that he has cuban roots is noteworthy. we can't tell at this point. we spoke to cuban american voters on the ground. they didn't view him as a conservative. several voters noted he butted heads with governor desantis over covid restrictions. only time can tell. >> morgan radford, it's great to see you. thank you so much. as temperatures surge around the country, so do the risks for people working outside in the heat. one woman is working on life

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56 past the hour. millions of people across the country grapple with this extreme heat. one group that's disproportionately affected, farm workers.

they are 35 times more likely to die of heat than other workers. joining us now is roxanne na chicas who has been studying the impact of heat on farm workers. she's an assistant professor. thank you for being with us. what does your research tell us about how heat is taking its toll on farm workers? our research is showing they are disproportionally suffering from heat-related illness symptoms. they are suffering from kidney dysfunction, from acute kidney injury over one work day. we have these heat-related deaths. but the long-term affect of elevated core body temperatures we still don't understand very well. >> these are men and women who are doing such important, critical work. they are doing it on an average day under very difficult

circumstances. but add the extreme heat waves that we have been living through, what is it that employers, the government could be doing to help protect them? >> one thing is that we do not have federal heat protection standards. right now, osha is working to draft some federal heat protection standards. but that's going to take many years. what we would like to see is growers in the agriculture industry working with researchers, with advocacy organizations to come up with solutions to protect workers while they are working. for far too long, there's been this idea that if you work outside in the heat, that's just what it is. you can't do anything about it. but there are ways to protect these workers and for them to not be dying because they go to work or suffering from kidney dysfunction. >> they do such critical work for our economy. i'm wondering, what are the

kinds of things that could help mitigate this real health crisis? >> one of our research studies that we did was looking at interventions, looking at a cooling bandanna and cooling vest. the cooling bandanna around your neck has the potential to -- for workers not to go over the core body temperature, to not have high temperatures. it keeps them cool. these are very affordable bandannas. they are $5. they don't weigh very much. they are easy to wear and reusable. there are devices out there that could be used that growers should implement to try to protect workers, because we don't just need water, rest, shade, we need additional devices to keep them cool, especially in these extreme heats. >> i can't thank you enough for the research that you are doing and for helping us shine a light on this important subject and issue that is affecting so many

people. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. before we go, one of soccer's biggest stars, one of the biggest sports stars in the world arrived here in south florida to sign as the newest player for inter miami. lionel messi will make his debut on sunday. he struck a deal that's expected to revitalize major league soccer in the united states. it's doing that. here in miami, murals in his honor have been popping up all over the place. i'm probably going to see one outside my house soon. some honoring his world cup win last year. fans are seeing him around town. look at this. this is one of my favorites. here he is just a regular guy in publix. that's lionel messi in miami. he was taking pictures with people. really cool.

no problem. just having a great, great day. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. see you tomorrow night on "nbc nightly news." reach me on twitter and instagram. watch highlights from today's show online. thank you for the privilege of your time. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. right now, hollywood superstars walk off the red carpet of the "oppenheimer" blockbuster premiere. actors join the writers in strikes that could impact the fall season and beyond. >> it's a huge deal to be here. it's a huge deal to be in lockstep with my peers. also this hour, the critical defense authorization bill now loaded with an abortion ban and other far-right social amendments gets through the republican led house despite outcries from