If it's Friday. With his presidency in peril and a campaign in crisis, President Joe Biden sits for his first network interview since last week's debate debacle as he hits the trail of battleground Wisconsin, telling supporters he is staying in the race. Plus, a landslide election in Britain, a new prime minister and a new era for America's closest ally as voters give the left leaning Labour Party a decisive mandate ending 14 years of tumultuous Conservative Party rule. And the record breaking holiday heat wave puts more than 100 million Americans on high alert with temperatures climbing towards 120 degrees in some places while fueling wildfires in California.
Welcome to the press now, I'm Kristen Welker in Washington. President Biden's allies have made it abundantly clear that he prove his ability publicly for voters to see if he wants to rescue his candidacy. Now that effort by the President begins in earnest today with his first network interview since last week's disastrous debate and a crucial battleground rally. Right now, President Biden is speaking to an overflow room of supporters in Wisconsin after telling crowds just a moment ago that he wasn't going anywhere while criticizing those who are trying to push him out of the race.
Had a little debate last week. Can't say it's my best performance, whatever. Since then, 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's he going to do? Well, here's my answer.
I am running and going to win again. I'm the nominee of the Democratic Party. I'm a nominee this party because millions of Democrats like you just vote for me in primaries all across America. You vote for me, you're nominated.
No one else. You the votes. The voters did that. And despite that, some folk don't seem to care who you voted for.
Well, guess what? They're trying to push me out of the race. Let me say as clear as I can, I'm staying in the race. I'll beat Donald Trump.
I will beat him again in 2020. The president's most definitive public comments yet that he is staying in the race. And also today, President Biden is sitting down with ABC News in an interview that will air in primetime. He'll have to answer directly for his debate performance, his campaign's lackluster response, and the growing number of voters, donors and supporters who fear his candidacy is no longer viable.
It comes as CNBC reports, that wealthy Democratic donors, including an heirs to the Disney family fortune, say they will no longer fund the party until President Biden ends his campaign. All while Democrats on Capitol Hill signal they're nearing a breaking point due to the campaign's failures. We needed a boost from Thursday. We didn't get it.
And the campaign has been very, I think, arrogant in their response. We want, we want to know what their plan is to win this election and turn these numbers around. If they run a plan, then I think we have to move in a different direction. So you're to be determined, but you're not saying you're absolutely supporting.
I don't think we can at this point. The point is win the election. Meanwhile, accounts of President Biden struggles behind the scenes continue to plague his campaign and his presidency. An anonymous senator told my NBC News colleagues, quote, the country saw at the debate what those of us who have had personal interactions with have all known for the last two and a half years.
Also this Massachusetts Governor Morgan put out a statement pushing the president to consider stepping aside if that's what voters want, saying, quote, over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump. NBC News White House correspondent Mike Memory is on the ground in Wisconsin where President Biden spoke earlier today. He has been reporting the story out since the debate. And also with me is CNBC political finance reporter Brian Schwartz.
Thanks so much to both of you for starting us off on a very busy Friday. Emily, I have to start with you. Look, this was a fired up Joe Biden. We heard his defiance.
The campaign is billing today's speech is the beginning of a July push. What were your key takeaways today? Well, I just found this be so fascinating because as you ended there with a new comment from Governor Healey of Massachusetts saying that the president should listen to those voices, to the American people that wanted to stay in the race. The defiant tone from not just the president but his whole team is he is listening to those voices.
He had an enthusiastic, energetic crowd here cheering him on, saying they support him going forward. He really basked in that adulation, staying out, shaking hands. He even came back after working at rope line to say he won't soon forget this day. And that really speaks to something of a disconnect, a clash really that's being set up here, at least as far as the Biden team is between sort of the party elites, those campaign donors who are frankly never have been true Biden believers to begin with, who now saw this moment of significant weakness.
And we can't understate that person. This was a devastating debate performance, and some of the polling is bearing that out already. But that he still sees a path to victory. He still sees, as he laid out in rather blunt terms, the voters of the Democratic Party across this country in primary after primary nominated him to be the nominee again.
And he's not just going to give that up. It was also, though word noting we heard some of the most really strong rhetoric directed at Donald Trump that we've heard from this president said so far, ending his speech by saying we need to exile Donald Trump politically, talking about what that immunity decision from the Supreme Court earlier this week might mean for the country, that Donald Trump were put back into the Oval Office. And so that speaks to another effort here on the part of the Biden team. When he struggled in his 2020 candidacy and that crowded Democratic Party, he would often try to raise the stakes by making this not about him versus the Democratic Party and the candidates turning against him in the primary hit him against Donald Trump.
And we're seeing that yet again right now. We certainly are, Mike. There's no doubt about that. Let's talk about the interview tonight, his first television interview.
The stakes of this interview, Mike, for all the reasons you just mapped out, could not be higher. Talk about how he's preparing what we can expect to see tonight. Well, that's what with the volley back from those who are really concerned about President Biden moving forward in left F M in November, would be that he gave that fiery speech off the teleprompt and that there is not necessarily concern that the president can't deliver a set of remarks with, you know, fire and energy when he's reading it from the teleprompter before a very supportive crowd. It's, what is he like in the Oval Office on a long day during a crisis?
Can he answer tough questions from a tough interviewer like George Stephanopoulos? So I think there are a lot more people are gonna be interested in seeing what that conversation is like and how the president is able to answer some of those tough, direct questions more than what he does on the campaign trail. And it goes without saying, Kristen, there are very few. There's very little margin for error for President Biden going forward.
It's not gonna be enough to just have one strong speech, one strong interview. Every misstep going forward is gonna be scrutinized. And that's where the Democratic critics of him at this point are concerned, that they don't want to see the focus on President Biden. They wanna see it on former President Trump and what they believe would be a catastrophe if he put back in the Olivia, you're absolutely right.
Every single word, every single move will be scrutinized of President Biden's. Brian, let me turn to you. You've been about donors. Mike, of course, talked about the polls.
That's one data point. But the donors are a major data point as well. I spoke with one Democratic ally to the president who said, look, if the money dries up, that's the ball game basically. Tell us what your latest reporting is as it relates to donors.
Well, Chris, listen, there has become this outright rebellion, the Democratic Party in some cases by major Democratic donors and financiers against Joe Biden. Let's just not, you know, miswords here. And one of them that emailed me on July 4th was Abigail Disney, the heiress to the Disney family fortune. She told me I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket.
If Biden is not stepped down, the Democrats will lose. Of that I'm absolutely certain the consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire. I mean, that is a stunning set of comments from Disney to me. And it was really one of the strong remarks I've from donors.
But again, it's just one step above some sentiment we've been hearing throughout the last few days. You're right. And the fact that it's on the record, the fact again, that it hits at the heart of the campaign that we're talking about the money and that really is the core of it. We also, of course, saw the reporting on Reed Hastings, who's another major Democratic donor.
What can you tell us about that? Well, you re Hastings is coming out and saying that it's time for Joe Biden to step down. But one of the things that was missing in his comments is exactly what does that mean for Mr. Hastings himself?
And that's the key here for Biden and the Democrats. You know, the truth is that, you know, donors can come out and say honestly or on the record to me that Joe Biden needs to go. But I'm touching on here, the key to this is that if the money is going to dry up, and that really could be a serious problem for both Biden the party at large. And there's only so many people who are willing to go on the record and tell us that.
And that is critical. But on the other hand, on the other hand, as Mike kind of just touched on here, here with the interview coming up on abc the donors are going to be watching that interview very, very carefully at every single public appearance going forward. And the way it's been described to me is that if it's anything short of a home run, both the interview and the statements by Joe Biden from now until the convention, they are going to continue to be concerned and that the actions which is key to this could start ramping up a little bit by many more donors if this continues for the president. And Mike, what, what are you hearing from your sources on all of this?
The fact that you have donors who are pulling out cash, drying up the concern about that. As Brian says, they're all gonna be watching this interview very closely tonight. Yeah, that's absolutely right, Kristen. As one prominent Democrat put it, somebody with new connections to the donor community.
He said there is concern they are going to make this decision not on emotion, but on data and on the money flow. And he said those are very often very much linked. The question is, is there this kind of grassroots support for the president that might sustain him in the absence of those high dollars? Remember, President Biden was the first Democrat to raise a billion dollars for the presidential campaign of any party to raise a billion dollars.
He was on track to potentially raise almost 2 billion when you combine some of those affiliated super PACs. The Biden campaign has been very careful in reading out some of these strong fundraising numbers in the last few weeks to try to give us the sense that the grassroots of the party is still with him. But we haven't gotten the kind of precision in delineating what are some of those big dollar events that were still on the books that they're using to pad the small dollars that are still coming in and what aren't. So that'd be an important thing for the Biden campaign to keep saying going forward.
And it is really striking for I was talking to some voters here. They do think that there is that same disconnect, that this is all a manufactured panic on the part of those who were never supporters of Biden to begin with, trying to get them out of the race and that they still stand firmly behind them. But are there enough of them going forward? That is fantastic reporting.
Thank you so much, Mike and Brian, really appreciate it. Joining me on set is Julia Manchester, national political reporter for the Hill, Democratic strategist Amisha Cross and Republican strategist Rick Tyler. He is also an NBC News political analyst. Thanks to all of you for being here.
Julia, let me start with you. Set the stage heading into tonight. Mike Memley talked about the fact that the stakes could not be higher. Voters are going to be watching, donors are going to be watching very closely.
What does President Biden need to do in order to start to turn the page, if that's even possible? This is a make or break moment for President Biden. He needs to do two things. Number one, he needs to explain what's been happening over the past week.
We've seen a number of these stories since the debate come out talking about what the president's cognitive and mental abilities have been over the past two and a half years or so from Democratic sources. He needs to put those to bed if he wants to get through this. He needs to talk about some of the explanations he's given for his performance during the debate, including being jet lagged despite the fact he was traveling 12 or he got back from his overseas travels 12 days before the debate. So there's definitely a lot of explaining he needs to do.
But I think Mike Mullin talked about this in his report. This is the end for Biden. He's going to have to do a lot more to really make up for the damage that's already been done. Yeah, there's no doubt about that.
Rick, pick up on that point. You've been in campaigns. You know what it's like when you have that moment, that feeling of we're down, are we actually out? Is this recoverable?
I mean, as Julia is saying, he has to do more than tonight's interview. I don't have any happy news. Cognitive decline, number one, is not recoverable. It gets worse and it is sad.
If that's what it is. If that's what. If that's what it is and the moment does not come tonight. The moment already came.
It was in the debate. People are not deciding whether Biden can get through the next press conference or the next interview. They were deciding whether he can get through the next four years. That test came last week during debate.
He failed that test. I don't think it's recoverable. And the White House is acting, in my opinion, unseemly, undignified, as if Joe Biden was some sort of racehorse horse. And we're going to race in Wisconsin.
We're going to go do this and that. And some people are Democrats. Yes, we'll do town halls. Why don't we hike him up mount?
Who would jump out of an airplane like this is completely undignified and I just don't see that you're comfortable. And the final thing, as you are well aware, is that there's A phenomenon in the need called blood in the water. You watched it when Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned. It just was not going to go away until he resigned.
And this is not going to go away. This is going to dog Biden in the campaign from now until election Day. And I don't see how he can prove that. We didn't watch what happened in the debate and we should pick up on that point and specifically this idea of how the campaign, how the White House is handling it, because some Democrats have privately expressed frustration to me that there's a nothing to see here.
The polling numbers are dropping, but not by that much. And it was one debate. We could just turn the page on that. There's a frustration among some Democrats that the White House and the campaign is not being straight with them.
Well, I think that the moment is summation of it. It's not going to just eradicate itself by however the interview votes tonight. I think the president, his campaign team are aware of that. I do concede that in the days post the debacle of debate that we all watch, the campaign should have had him more frontal.
They should have been able to react more quickly. They should have understood that at that point the American people and millions of them watched, in addition to millions of people abroad as well, saw this as a really flailing moment for the president and that because it had been in there for a while, mostly from conservative sources, that this was a president who wasn't all there, that he has a cognitive decline, that this wasn't necessarily going to be helpful to a point that was made earlier. We don't have proof of, say, condition decline. All we have now is prove a really bad debate.
That doesn't mean that you should fall out. But if your campaign cannot get together and get together quickly, then we're going to have a different discussion. I think the campaign kinky currently has has proven them necessarily the most helpful to me at this moment. And that's a dangerous place.
Well, and that brings me to something that the economist, an editorial economist, let me read you all part of it. This was from yesterday. They write it was agony to watch a befuddled old man struggling to recall words and facts. His inability to land an argument against a weak opponent was dispiriting.
But the operation by his campaign to deny what tens of millions of Americans saw with their own eyes is more toxic than either because it's dishonesty that provokes contempt. Mr. Biden's claim that this election is between right and wrong is ruined by the fact that the existence of his campaign now depends on a lie. Julia, those are incredibly tough words.
Are you hearing amongst the president's allies them echo similar sentiments, which is, yeah, we're hearing that from Republicans obviously, but Democrats privately. And we get the sense that the number of Democrats that are going to come out and publicly echo that could be growing because, you know, it's one thing to talk about this in a political sense of the campaign. You know, the guy needs to win, Democrats need to win down ballot. But also, and then we should talk about this before an audience.
Our allies, our adversaries are watching. And there's a real question as to the America's strength under Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the choice we've been given. And there's a question about that cognitive, the questions over those cognitive abilities and whether that can be taken advantage of. Yeah.
Speaking of you take me to a sound bite from Jen Stoltenberg, who of course is the head of NATO. Let's listen to what he has to say about this. Do you truly believe that President Biden is mentally and physically fit enough to lead the biggest nuclear armed ally for now and for the next four and a half years? And in your dealing with him recently, have you noticed any decline in his condition?
Thank you. I worked with the President Biden for several years also before he became president. That has been very good cooperation. I met him just a couple of weeks ago.
We had good meetings in the whole office. Misha, that was a little bit of a dodge, but it proves the point that Julia is talking about. Our allies are watching very closely. Oh, absolutely.
And that was an exclusively poor response. The president has more than proven himself. We saw his reactions with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We've seen his reactions.
And his pushback against Israel's invasion of Gaza. We've seen those conversations with him being on the front lines of some of what I consider in the modern era some of the biggest issues of our time. One big performance does not eradicate his decades worth of experience or his experience serving in this present day debacle. We've seen across the globe when it comes to the rise authoritarianism.
However, I do think that the honor is on him to prove that he is up to the job for the next four years and his campaign has to do much better job of ensuring that people have faith in that. And Rick, I mean the Biden campaign has made the argument, the president has made the argument from the beginning, frankly, going back to 2020, that Donald Trump is a threat to the country's democracy. That that's how high the stakes are. And so it does raise the question, is he the strongest person?
If you look at the polling right now, Vice President Harris is in striking distance of Trump. She's about two points out. She actually does better than Biden. This is what former President Trump had to say about the vice president.
Take a look. Is that right? Yep. I got him out of the way.
And that means we have Kamala. I think she's going to be better. She's so bad. So the Biden campaign fireback talked about how disrespectful those comments were to the vice president.
What I see in those comments is that he might be a little bit nervous about running against a Kamala Harris. It gets more complicated. All of a sudden, it's all unknown. Look, we've never seen this before.
I've never attended an open convention on either, either side. I have to say, I would love to see one. But, you know, this is, it's right now Biden is a known, known Kamala Harris is a known unknown. So what I do know is right now, currently, this race is outreach.
Biden will not be Trump as of this moment. And I don't see that changing. And the Democratic Party has got to face up to that reality that they're not going to change those numbers. And if Donald Trump is an existential threat, and by the way, I've applauded Biden's achievements of foreign policy.
I don't agree with domestic policy, and he should be allowed for that. But he's going to suffer the identity of losing because he's not able to campaign effectively. The Democratic Party is going to have to decide that. And then they got to decide if they do replace him, are they going to place him with someone who can actually win votes and beat Trump.
And that's going to be tough because the convention is controlled by the progressive way of the party, and that's not going to attract people in the middle. And Misha, that's what's so fascinating. I mean, you do have some of the president's out. Congressman Clyburn, for example, very clear he does not want to see the vice president jumped over if, in fact, President Biden does make that very difficult decision to step down.
No, absolutely. I think that it would be historical to see a vice president get stepped over in this process. First and foremost, a lot of the all the fundraising goes forward automatically be heard. We're also talking about the fact that, like the entire finish the job campaign is essential to also have the vice president finish that job.
And as a black woman, it would be quite frankly disgusting to see the first sitting vice president who happens to be black pushed aside for these candidates who have not been tried, tested at all. And I think that, you know, former chairs of the cdc, correctors of the cdc, other black elected officials and non black elected officials should fully understand why this is important, specifically because the black community is the largest base and voting block that is consistent for the Democratic. All right. Well, we'll have to see how it all unfolds.
Unfortunately, we're out of time. This is such a fantastic conversation. Thank you so much, Julia, Amisha and Rick really appreciate it. Coming up, millions across the US are under heat alerts with temperatures forecast up to 120 degrees in the west and near 100 in the Mid Atlantic and Southeast.
We're tracking the very latest holiday forecast ahead. But first, from a heat wave to a landslide, Conservatives in Britain are out of power for the first time in 14 years after a wipeout in yesterday's election. My Sky News counterpart, Sir Trevor Phillips, joins us to break down the results and to tell us what it means for America's closest ally. Stay with us.
You're watching THE PRESS now. Welcome back. It was a day filled with pomp and celebration after Labor's landslide victory in yesterday's UK General election. Labor leader Kirstar began his day meeting with King Charles at Buckingham palace, where he formally accepted the role of UK Prime Minister, officially ending 14 years of the Conservative Party in power.
He then traveled to 10 Downing street, where he was met by a crowd of supporters as he delivered his first remarks as prime minister in front of that famous black door. Earlier today, President Biden spoke by phone with the new prime minister and congratulated him for his victory. The two leaders will meet in person in just a matter of days when President Biden hosts world leaders for the annual NATO gathering. Join me now is NBC News international correspondent raf Sanchez outside 10 Downing street little late there, so it's a little hard to see that famous door rap.
But thanks so much for joining us. So this was really a landslide victory for Labor. What did we hear from the new prime minister and what were your takeaways? Okay, talking to voters here over the last couple of days, it was very, very clear people wanted change.
They were exhausted. They were frustrated with the Conservative government, which, as you said, had been in charge for the last 14. But the last eight of those 14 were a period of unprecedented political chaos in this country since that 2016 Brexit referendum when the UK voted to leave the European Union. Since then, the Conservatives cycled through five different prime ministers in eight years.
You'll remember Boris Johnson forced to resign after that scandal where it emerged he broke his own COVID lockdown rules and attended illegal parties here at 10 Downing Street. So the public wanted change. Keir Starmer is not a man who is brimming with charisma, but he does project competence. And he made very clear he understood the message and he understood the mandate from the British people.
Take a listen. You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it. And now it has arrived. Change begins now.
Today, we start the next chapter. Begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country. And Chris. And the new Prime Minister, speaking outside Downing Street a little earlier today, said the work of change begins immediately.
And he wasn't kidding. Within an hour or so, we started to see his new cabinet ministers walking down this street, the new Foreign Secretary, the new Defense Secretary, the people who will be shaping policy coming here and getting their marching orders from the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Just extraordinary. And you're there watching it all unfold.
Thank you so much. Really appreciate great reporting. For more on this historical action, I'm joined now by Sir Trevor Phillips, presenter of Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips and our sister network, Sky News. Thank you so much for joining me.
I really appreciate. Kristen, it's a great pleasure to be with you. And I heard you say that, you know, it's a sister break. I regard you as a big sister here.
Oh, that's so nice. Well, listen, I am honored to have you on the program. It's really fantastic. This was an historic victory for Labour.
Tell us about it. Well, Rash says it was an extraordinary moment. And to give you an idea of how remarkable this achievement is, Keir Thomas is only the fifth Labour leader in history to win an election of this kind from opposition. It is an unfamiliar experience.
The last time this happened was in 1997. Tony Blair won in a landslide. So you have to be at least 45 years old in this country to have voted in an election where this happened. And of course, the scale of it is extraordinary.
We have 650 members of parliament. Keir Starmer now has 412 of them under his control, so he can pretty much do what he wants. And for the Conservatives, it's a disaster. It is their worst performance, bar none.
And this is a party that has existed for over 200 years. Well, as Raf said, he's wasting no time getting to work. But obviously the agenda is robust. The people there want to see him change and deliver on the economy, certainly at the top of that list.
What are you going to be watching for? What are the top issues that he's poised to tackle there? Well, the top issue, of course, is always the cost of living. And that will be the business of his chancellor, a lady called Rachel Reed, who is the first female chancellor in the United Kingdom's history.
And she's going to have to tackle the economic problems that we have. Debt is about 100% of GDP. Inflation has fallen recently, but of course, that doesn't mean that prices aren't going up. Unemployment is okay, but it is still on the line.
And of course, the issue of immigration, we have rather you have at the southern border across our channel, small boats bringing refugees, asylum seekers and others who are not, who pretend to be asylum seekers and so on are from France. And that has caused a great deal of anxiety in Australia. Indeed, it's partly responsible for the result because a third party led by a man called Nigel Farage, you will be permitted to some America to spread it to. Donald Trump is really the person who's responsible for this astonishing result because what he did was to divide the conservative vote largely on the issue of immigration.
And that is why we are where we are. So Keir Starmer is going to have to attend to all of those issues and there will be no Hyman. It's worth saying that he won this landslide on only 34% of the vote, which is the lowest, I think, share for some time by a winning party. You know, it's interesting because he is obviously set to meet with President Biden in just a few days for the NATO summit.
The two have spoken by phone, the president congratulating him. I don't have to tell you, we are in our own election year here. How, how much is riding on this visit, this NATO summit for the new prime minister? Well, he has to show that he is a prime ministerial material.
Bear in mind he has never occupied office. He only became a member of Parliament in 2015. Before that, he was the director of public prosecution for the United Kingdom. I got to know him very well because I occupied a similar office and we work together a lot.
But politics is a new game to him. So he first has to show that he can do politics, that he can be a statesman. And I think that the NATO summit will be an opportunity to do that. Of course, as you say, Kristen, you have your own troubles.
And I suspect that Mr. Biden will probably want to see Mr. Zakir Starr as an ally. All over the Western world, politics is moving in the opposite direction from the center left.
So actually, these two men right now are probably the only or the most prominent representatives of center left politics in the developed world. It's such a fascinating and important point, particularly when you think about the fact that President Biden is running against former President Trump, who is conservative, considered to be a representative of the far right movement in this country. Certainly. How do we you think a Prime Minister Starmer would work with Mr.
Trump if he were to be reelected? Would that be a challenge? Well, it's a great question. And Kieran has answered this question in the way that you would expect a politician to answer it by saying that he can't decide who the American electorate decides to put in the White House and he will work with whomsoever.
And in any event, the relationship, the special relationship is one between states rather than persons. And in that sense, he is correct. However, let's be clear. His foreign secretary, who is a man called David Lammy, again, our first ethnic, our first black, I should say foreign secretary, a man whose parents hail from Guyana and who attended Harvard actually, and is a friend of your boss, Thomas, at one point said some very rude things I'm not going to repeat on the Family Channel about Donald Trump.
And Mr. Trump knows that. Now, you know, there may be Trump 2.0, who is a guy who doesn't do vengeance and who doesn't do coming after his enemies. But if he is true to fall, that will be a little bit of a difficulty.
Having said all of that, the truth of the matter is there are bigger issues than the personalities here. There is pigeons. There is the Middle East. And I suspect that actually if there is a President Trump and Prime Minister Starmer, they will find ways of holding their noses and getting along.
And I do have to ask you about one of the biggest headlines that we've been discussing here in this country, of course, that debate performance by President Biden raising questions about his ability to serve another four years. I'm curious if you can take us inside your conversations there in the UK how, how much do people there care about what we all saw on the debate stage last Thursday? We care about it a lot. Your election is the most important election in the world.
It's, by the way, not the only important election that ours. On Sunday, France will elect a new parliamentary majority. It is expected that the largest party there will be the party Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Hard right National Rally. They may not form the government, but like Farage, they will be extremely influential and whoever is in government will have to to some extent dance to their tune.
So your election is very, very important to us. We pay a lot of attention. I'll be absolutely frank with you. I think most people here were pretty stunned at the performance of President Biden.
It is very hard to see from here what exactly what this means, but I heard some of your discussion and I say it is it becomes pretty clear from here that it's hard to see how unless he somehow gets past that evening and I don't see how that happens that we will be contending with a President Trump unless Democrats decide to do something dramatic. Yeah, it is day by day, minute by minute, that is for sure. Sir Trevor Phillips, we cannot thank you enough for your insights and for joining us. I do hope you will come back soon.
Really enjoy talking to you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Christine.
By way, say hi to Raph, who's no friend. I will. I absolutely will. He did a tremendous job setting this whole conversation up.
Appreciate it very much. Thank you. Well, after the break. Millions across the country are facing potentially record breaking heat wave.
How the heat could impact the wildfires blazing in California next. You're watching Eat THE PRESS now. Welcome back. Parts of Texas are racing for Barrel.
It's now a tropical storm with 70 mile per hour winds. Forecasters warned that it could intensify again to hurricane strength after moving back over the Gulf and parts of Southern Texas. Meanwhile, 125 million Americans are under heat alerts nationwide with scorching temperatures expected through the weekend. Death Valley could reach 130 degrees next week, which will be near the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded anywhere in the world.
NBC News meteorologist Bill Cairns joins me now. So Bill, Barrel has continued to weaken throughout the week. Is there any concern it could strengthen in the coming days? What are you tracking?
You never give up on these storms, Kristen. We've been through enough of these things. And the water in the Gulf of Mexico, just so warm. So conditions set up just right.
This could explode right before landfall. And that's, you know, that's what we're nervous about right until Monday morning when it finally makes landfall. So it's over the UK Right now. We're waiting for the new update from Hurricane center that comes out literally minutes from now.
So this has been it's about to head over the water out into the water of the Gulf. Looks like the circulation is regenerating a little north of that line. So that could adjust the forecast ever so slightly. And then we're start talking about all these little movements over the next two days with the slightest wiggles and wobbles is the difference between Corpus Christi getting here to Victoria, getting closer to Houston or maybe down to Brownville.
So that's why we care about these little things that I'm talking about. It's still moving pretty quickly. It's only gonna have roughly about 48 hours to intensify over the very warm water of the Gulf of Saturday. It's trying to get attacked back together.
Then on Sunday it should have attacked together enough to start increasing in intensity. There's a big difference. If it goes further to the north towards say Houston or Victoria has a more time over the water, probably a stronger storm to head more for Brownsville South Padre island is more likely a weaker storm. That's the big key to the forecast.
And this trend is more to the north. Right now we're pinpointing Corpus Christi, Victoria. That's probably where the new forecast is going to be, the hurricane center. And they're likely still not making landfalls in category one regardless of the intensity in the winter wind damage.
We are going to have a lot of rain from this. This is going to be a problem with inland flooding Monday right into Tuesday. And these heat headlines are beyond ridiculous. This is easily the hottest we've been on the west coast and the east coast.
But we're getting close to about half the population of the country under some kind of heat numbers. And it's been insane today from Raleigh to Washington D.C. raleigh hit either 105 or 106. Why is that important?
Well, the all time hottest sector, Raleigh is 105. We may have broken that today. We're waiting for the official word and at one point in the shade it felt like 118 degrees in North Carolina. That's insane.
Right now it's 112 in Phoenix and we're waiting to see how hot we get. Northern California, we couldn't put that all time record high in ready? And you just get the idea because it's just day after day of this. The thing we'll watch Sunday, Monday, Tuesday for Vegas.
Can they break their all time hottest temperature? 1 7, 17. 118 would do it. I mean this is crazy.
I mean coast to coast and DC's no treat today either, as you know. I know. I was gonna say it was hot here, but looking at those temperatures, my goodness, we got it easy. Joe, Karen, thank you so much.
I know you can continue to Track that for us. Really appreciate it. Well, the intense heat is fueling wildfires that continue to burn in California right now. This is the French fire.
Americosa county authorities say it has burned more than 800 acres and is just 5% contained. The Thompson Fire in Northern California is about 50 contained, although it has already burned through nearly 3,800 acres since Tuesday. In all, crews are battling more than 3,200 wildfires that have burned more than 145,000 acres in California alone right now. That's according to state authorities.
Meanwhile, in Hawaii, rebuilding efforts are finally beginning in the Haina, 11 months after the deadliest US fire in more than a century ravaged that historically town, killing more than 100 people. For the bigger picture, I'm joined now by Jennifer Greg Thompson. She's the CEO of After the Fire usa, which supports communities rebuilding after wildfires. Thank you so much for joining us.
We really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. So give us the big picture here. Your organization's work has expanded in recent years.
How much and why has that been happening? So we actually started in 2017. I live in the North Bay of San Francisco and we lost 8,900 structures in 24 days. And 43 people died in October, October 2017.
And that kind of fire behavior had never really been seen before. We thought we were sort of like the only ones without happen to. We soon learned that we had opened the era of megafire about 13 months today, actually. Exactly as when the campfire happened in paradise, which is in Butte county, by the way, if people are not catching how much that county has actually undergone in the fire they're currently experiencing.
And the Wolsey fire happened as well in Malibu also on the same day. Became really evident, especially in 2020 when we had the worst wildfire season on record, that something more had to be done. We had been doing work already, helping every new community sort of learn. We were teaching our lessons forward.
We were sharing all of our whatever we had learned because FEMA international systems are really set up for wind and rain and Megafire was new to them too. And so we had a long journey over the past nearly seven years and we've had to then expand into Oregon, Colorado, California. I'm consulting in Texas and of course I've been working in Maui since. I've been consulting since two days later.
But I've been on the ground there for several months. Do you at this point in time feel as though the response from the federal government has been robust enough? What more would you like to see? Well, you know, it does a complicated question because it depends upon the fire in many ways.
You know, they were on a learning curve as well. And so what they knew in 2017 is completely different from what they knew when they had to encounter the Maui Fire. The Maui fire was really fortunate to have the most experienced FEMA administrator, Bob Fenton, to actually go in there. He's ours as well in California.
So he had already had a lot of experience with megafires and had a very robust response. But you know, for people on the ground, when you've never been through it before, nothing can ever, ever feel like enough. But I have actually been very impressed with FEMA's willingness to sort of bend to the will and the needs of the people in Maui we don't normally see. And I've been very impressed by that.
And I'm hoping that it actually helps our mega fire communities that come after. Should insurance companies be doing more to help people rebuild to help these communities that are still dealing with the devastation in the aftermath of these fire? Well, you know, my, I consider my constituency every mega fire survivor, every mega fire leader. And so I'm always going to say yes, there are things that can be done and there's like the IBHS is a nonprofit actually funded by the insurance companies.
And we know scientifically that if people actually clear out 0 to 5ft from their home, change out the vents, they have a much better chance of surviving a mega fire. Nothing is fireproof, but there are innovations coming out that can help with not only fire, but really addressing a lot of the multi climate peril issues that we're all facing and often in unexpected areas. That Texas had a fire of over a million acres in February was very unexpected that they've been in a mega drought. And we just came out of ours in California two years ago.
All right, Jennifer, Ray Thompson, thank you for joining us and thank you for the critical work that you're doing. We really, it appreciate, appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Coming up next, it's the economy.
We're breaking down today's jobs numbers. You're watching now. Welcome back. We got some fresh economic data today that investors are hoping will help pave the way for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates.
The economy created about 206,000 new jobs. That's according to the June jobs report. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1%, topping 4% for the first time since November of 2021. The slowing job growth combined with cooling inflation is fueling speculation that the Fed could begin cutting rates as early as September, which could boost economic activity and ease housing costs.
NBC News senior business correspondent Christine Romans joins me now. Christine, so great to see you. Thanks for being here. So let's talk about that.
It seems like we're starting to see signs of a cooling jobs market. What are the implications, especially as the Fed considers whether or not to cut rates? Yeah, cooling is a good thing. I mean, the job market has been so strong, it's been too strong, almost really sparking concerns that those, all that job creation, that tight labor market, there'd be more jobs created if you had more people to fill them.
That was even fueling the inflation story. So there's 206,000 you can see down from last month. That was an important little moderation that so many people wanted to see. And that 4.1% unemployment rate finally ticking above 4% for the first time in just months and months, also showing potentially that things are cooling off.
These are still very good numbers. These are still enviable numbers for any kind of job market, but they're not too hot. And that is exactly what folks want to see, especially because the Fed has had interest rates high here for a very long time, trying to slow things down and moderate things. And so it looks like these numbers speed into that idea of the Fed maybe, maybe can start thinking about cutting rates later year this.
All right. Well, we will have to see everyone waiting with bated breath as a voice. Christine Romans, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Good to see you. Coming up next, we have new details about the latest round of ceasefire and hostage release talks with new signs of promise. We'll explain. You watching me?
The president. Welcome back. After months of little progress and stalled talks, a senior Biden administration official now says there has been a, quote, breakthrough in efforts to negotiate a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The official says a new response by Hamas to the negotiations allowed the process to move forward after the militant group appears to have shifted its position on a ceasefire.
Yesterday, during a phone call between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu, the two leaders discussed the details of that agreement. Key negotiators are expected to meet in Doha in the coming days. The first phase of the deal would mean a pause in the fighting in Gaza and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas, in particular, women, those who are ill or injured, and men over the age of 50. That includes Americans Hirsch Goldberg, Poland, and Keith Siegel.
Administration officials are cautioning the deal is not done and they are doing everything they can to finalize an agreement. NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley is in Tel Aviv and filed this report. So it is another round of hostage negotiations that looks like we're starting to see here. There's a lot of optimism coming from Washington.
We heard from Washington people in the Biden administration saying there was a breakthrough. The Hamas had softened their position on that same proposal that the Biden administration had been promoting at the end of May, calling it Israel own proposal. And that was later enshrined in a United Nations Security Council resolution that passed last month almost unanimously. Well, now it looks like according to Israeli authorities and the US And Hamas who spoke with Hezbollah today, Witters quoted has Hamas saying that they actually had already agreed to this deal.
But I spoke with two Israeli officials this morning. They said that we should temper our optimism. And they said specifically that this wasn't a breakthrough. This is actually the beginning of a process that could last for several weeks.
Now, if there is a deal, that would be a massive breakthrough, it could free those remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip. There are thought to be about 120 of them. Many of them are already thought to have died. It would also free many Palestinian prisoners who are currently in Israeli prisons.
Those numbers have yet to be decided. And it would also, perhaps most crucially to the entire world has been watching this situation bring a measure of peace to the fighting in the Gaza Strip. That remains the main issue. Hamas has said from the beginning they will not agree to any hostage negotiation deal that doesn't include a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and full withdrawal of Israeli troops.
The Israelis, particularly led by Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, have said that they will not compromise on their intention of totally destroying Hamas and its military capabilities. They will not leave until Hamas is completely destroyed. Of course, that's something that Hamas is very unlikely to sign on to. But this is the central fulcrum of this disagreement and it's one that hasn't wavered ever since the last time there was a successful deal, all the way back in November.
So now we've reached a familiar impasse. There's high expectations on both sides and it's going to be up to the Israelis now to decide whether or not they're going to agree to the proposal that was just issued by Hamas. Our thanks to Matt Bradley for that report. We will be back on Monday with morning the Press now.
And if it's Sunday, it's in the press. On your local NBC News station, I'll be joined by potential Trump VP pick Senator JD Vance and Democratic congressman and Senate candidate Adam Schiff. We hope you'll join us. NBC News now coverage continues with Hallie Jackson.
Right now, everyone, I'm Dylan Dryer, co host of the third hour of Today and mom to three wild boys. I've learned a lot my years as a parent, mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet. And I'm not the only one. This is my new podcast, the Parent Chat.
Each week I sit down with someone new for honest conversation and real world advice about parenting. I am over here just, like, winging it. Hey, I'm trying not to do my own kid. If I'm gonna give you advice on how to screw yourself, search parent chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.