Morning News NOW Plump Broadcast – April 16

right now on Morning News Now an unprecedented trial officially underway this morning former president Donald Trump now a criminal defendant as day two of jury selection begins in his New York hush money trial and we're not going to be given a fair trial it's a very very sad.

Thing we have Team coverage with why many potential jurors have already been dismissed plus what it could all mean for the November election also this morning fear and frustration across the US ahead of a potentially widening war in the Middle East what an Israeli official tells NBC news about plans to retaliate following Iran's aerial attack.

Plus workplace woses the new research that shows just how much your relationship with your boss could be taking a toll on your mental health and she's got the fever it's official basketball star Caitlyn Clark is heading to Indianapolis as the number one pick in the WNBA draft we'll bring you highlights from last night's big event.

And how this new class of Ballers is ushering in a new era for women's sports breaking viewership records along the way exactly no big surprise there but we'll dig into a lot of things that happen in the draft coming up in a little bit good to have you with us this morning I'm Joe frier and I'm Savannah sers we're going to get started today.

With the criminal trial of former president Donald Trump who is due back in a Manhattan courtroom for the second day of jury selection yesterday Mr Trump came face to face with some of the potential jurors who could decide his fate in the hush money case though on day one the judge dismissed nearly half of them Trump is charged with 34 counts.

Of falsifying business records they're related to an alleged payment made to silence adult film star stormmy Daniels about an alleged sexual encounter in the runup to the 2016 election Trump has denied any wrongdoing and criticized the trial following yesterday's proceedings it's a scam it's a political Witch Hunt it continues and it continues.

Forever and we're not going to be given a fair trial it's a very very sad thing we've got a team standing by to talk more about the legal and political implications of this historic trial we're going to start things off with NBC News National correspondent Yas suian who's outside the courthouse and our legal analyst Danny savalos who's here.

With us on set good morning to both of you so Yasmin let's start with jury selection lawyers get to pose questions to those perspective jurors about their views about their schedules what kind of answers did we hear yesterday and at what Point could we actually see jurors selection selected as opposed to just dismissed so we started with 96 started.

The day with a pool of 96 jurs by the time they actually got up and going we were about two and a half hours into the day um it was immediately reduced to 34 jurs um I believe and that was because of the two questions that were asked at the top um do you have any interferences that would keep you from showing up to trial over the next six weeks a lot of.

Folks raised their hands there and then subsequently can you be impartial a lot of folks raising their hand there saying they cannot be impartial and that is why judge Juan rashan um subsequently uh dismissed them so they started off with a jury pool essentially then of 34 they got through 10 jurors although now there are only nine seats because one of those.

Jurors was in fact excused and it was because of a question about whether or not they had strong opinions about Donald Trump it was juror number three at the time and was asked if they had strong opinions about Donald Trump the juror said yes and judge Juan rashan immediately then excused um that juror I will say uh that Trump's.

Attorneys Todd blanch actually took issue with excusing that juror and I was looking through kind of her because it was a female um profile as who she was she lives in Harlem um is from Texas Works in retail has an MBA um no children um and then also where she gets her media from Google Tik Tok Al jazer that was also a question that I thought.

Was interesting going into jury selection yesterday and I was taking a look at some of the jurors so far that they've gotten through all of them saying New York Times USA Today CNN I've seen a lot of New York Times and CNN as well so those were kind of some of the questions that they've been getting through so far and just to kind of give.

You a scope guys of how long this is going to take we're looking at a possible Runway of um two weeks with some possible days off there for for Passover but if you think about just how long it takes to get through just 10 jurors by 4:30 p.m. yesterday that tells you how much longer it could take to actually see a jury Danny Vos that's.

Exactly what I want to ask you about could we see this process take longer than usual given how high profile it is and what do you make of what happened yesterday yeah I was taking the over two weeks of jury selection I think that wasn't enough it might be more than 2 weeks the court isn't working every day but yesterday was a little unusual in.

That there were a lot of motions and arguments in the morning and we really didn't get to jury selection until well into the afternoon but just getting through 10 jurors gives you an idea of how tedious jury selection can be it's tedious even in a run-of-the-mill case involving a defendant you've never heard of in a case like this where everybody.

Has at least heard of the defendant uh it's going to be really tough to distinguish between people who know of him maybe have opinions about him but then also people who can set aside those opinions and decide the case on the facts and the evidence it's going to be a tough SLO so as Danny just mentioned it wasn't just jury selection yesterday.

So Yasmin let's talk about some of the rulings we got from the judge we know Mr Trump's attendance at the trial is now mandatory but it looks like the former president did get some maybe minor evidentiary wins concerning the infamous Access Hollywood tape and his deposition tape and the egene Carol sex abuse case real quick what can you tell us about.

Those yeah so so Maran had already ruled on the admission of the Access Hollywood tape but Stein glass um one of the attorneys for the people um brought that up again wanting admission of the Access Hollywood tape to kind of set the scene as to how desperate they were at the final days of the 2016 election and why.

They would um go through this hush money ordeal with both stormmy D and car Ken McDougall um judge Juan Maran decided that they cannot play the Access Hollywood tape for the jury however they can use the transcript um that was kind of one win um for the president the other is the one that you mentioned is the admission of his deposition for the.

EEG Caroll um case the judge also saying that was prejudicial to provide that evidence um to the jury so would not allow that evidence um to be provided so some minor wins for the former president yesterday when it comes to some of the um evidentiary hearing that that they went through um but nonetheless I'm sure we're going to see more of that and just.

One other date guys that we got to look out for and that is the 23rd that's next week Tuesday where they're going to be hearing as whether or not Donald Trump violated the gag order Danny let's bring you in on that so prosecutors are pointing to something that was posted on social media what could happen here judge is setting a gag order hearing for.

Next week a lot of folks have wondered why I it made a lot of sense to me if I was the judge I might have done the same thing and I don't know exactly his thinking but it probably went something like this if he set the hearing next week then he if he misbehaves between now and then you can kind of consolidate everything and do it all at once but I.

Think far more likely judge Maran by all indications wanted to get started we've got hundreds if not thousands of people here uh waiting to get to jury selection we want to get a move on we've been in motions and arguments all morning let's just table this and let's start picking jurors we have a lot of work to do folks I think that's probably why the judge.

Set this off put it to next week so he could at least start taking a bite out of this process that really could drag on for weeks and weeks if he doesn't get it under control all right Danny and Yasmin thank you both appreciate it let's now get to NBC News senior political editor Mark Murray he's going to join us on the political implications.

Of the trial Mark thanks for joining us this morning so Trump now required to attend the trial in person as we just heard a moment ago this could go on for at least six weeks of course this is during a time when Trump could be making his rounds and some Battleground States just continuing that campaign on the ground as we lead up to November has his.

Campaign indicated how they plan on navigating all this I mean we have also seen these courtroom appearances sort of turn into almost political campaign moments for the former president what do they make of this yeah Savannah on the surface this is a significant disadvantage for Donald Trump he's going to be seating the Battleground campaign.

Trail to President Joe Biden and even today President Biden heads to Battleground Pennsylvania where he's gonna actually spend three days in that crucial swing state um the way that Donald Trump and his campaign are going to navigate this is use the weekends to make their own campaign tracks and so just last weekend we saw the former.

President in Pennsylvania next weekend his campaign says they're going to be in Battleground North Carolina but as you mentioned Savannah uh the trials Monday through Friday allow for the former president to say his own peace and so I think that in addition to yesterday's brief comments that we heard from the former president we might end up hearing.

Extensive comments and press uh and q&as um before and after the hearings so Mark a recent New York Times Sienna College poll found views about Trump's guilt or innocence in the hush money case are divided along party lines well Independence views on the case are split down the middle perhaps no surprise that's what America looks like now itay.

What do you make of all that just how badly does Trump need to win over these independent voters and how could this trial impact their opinion of him yeah this trial could actually end up having a very very impact on those persuadable voters in the middle and Joe in addition to those Independents who were kind of in the middle between thinking that.

Donald Trump is guilty or not guilty 25% said that they didn't know enough information and so we're going to find out over the next six weeks or even longer uh What uh H how people might be able to make up their minds and so we I think kind of got caught in a system where well yeah Republicans and Democrats have both made up their minds.

About former president Donald Trump but that persuadable middle is worth watching over the next several weeks mark this hush money trial might be the only one that we actually see get underway or have any type of actual resolution by the point of getting to November is this a make or break moment for the former president in terms of his.

Political viability and what happens next yeah you know again we sometimes end up having these huge conclusions about make or break moments for Donald Trump but I do think this is big on how it ends up playing out and again going back to the point I was just making to Joe uh there are Independents who probably are persuadable on this.

Particular issue and Savannah it is worth knowing that we ended up seeing the legal drama end up helping Donald Trump with Republican primary voters uh in that in his successful uh campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination but now we're a different terrain this is general election voters and I think we all need to keep an open.

Mind on how this might play out when it comes to public opinion certainly smart and measured response mark thank you so much Israel is vowing to strike back after Iran attacked the country with hundreds of drones and missiles yeah an Israeli official is now telling NBC News a response could be imminent President Biden urged restraint.

From Israel but also reaffirmed his administration's commitment to the country in its war with Hamas as the White House seeks to prevent a wider war in the Middle East we're committed to a ceasefire that will bring the hostage his home and preventing conflict from spreading beyond what it already has but as the.

Humanitarian crisis worsens in Gaza protesters are demanding the US specifically stop supplying weapons to Israel a group of demonstrators shut down the Golden Gate Bridge for 5 hours Monday that was just one of a series of protests that took place across the country in Chicago police arrested about 40 people for blocking traffic at O'Hare.

International Airport for more we're joined by NBC News International correspondent Matt Bradley who is in Beirut so let's start by talking about that warning that an Israeli response to Iran's attack could be imminent what are you hearing and do we have any idea what that response could actually look like yeah guys I'm not hearing anything.

Additional to what we heard from that response which was predictably quite ambiguous as you'd hear from any operation of a military nature especially something like this uh they mentioned that there was the Israelis uh that they would want to respond in proximity to the Iranian attack now again that's pretty ambiguous what does.

Proximity mean that could be in terms of timing so they want to do it sooner rather than later that could be in terms of geography that they would want to strike Iran itself but we have been hearing in addition from the Israelis that they may be using their attack to strike other Iranian proxies throughout the region rather than Iran itself now.

That was what made this attack by the Iranians so unprecedented that it was fired for the first time from Iran proper not from Hamas has the huis or the hashash shabi in Iraq all these Iran back proxy groups so it seems as though Israel might be attacking proxy groups instead of Iran itself clearly a bid to avoid an escalation that the entire.

World is dreading but that if they do that could put places like this where I am now Lebanon in the firing line Hezbollah on the southern border of Lebanon with Israel is by far Iran's strongest uh operator against Israel and could become the subject of its attack guys Matt we've seen some interesting things happen within the region as a.

Result of this growing conflict we have countries like Jordan coming to Israel's defense while also being critical of Israel's military assault on Gaza tell us more about how Arab countries in the region are dealing with this recent escalation well I think the short answer is here that they're not really because they're not going public about this.

They're not discussing this to their populations to their own domestic uh you know public who are going to be very very angry because uh anger against Israel has spiked over the past 6 months ever since Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip that has now killed well more than 30,000 Palestinians but the country among those three there's Jordan there's.

Saudi Arabia and there's the United Arab Emirates the country with the most skin in the game by far is Jordan it shares a border with Israel its airspace was used and we don't know exactly how because there's been differing in accounts um by Foreign governments by the United States France and Britain to shoot down some of these Iranian missiles and drones uh and.

There's differing reports but it sounds as though Jordan may have participated in shooting down some of these projectiles themselves but now the jordanians are coming out and trying to say that this was a defense of Jordanian sovereignty this wasn't necessarily them protecting the Israelis which would be deeply deeply unpopular within Jordan.

But now we just heard on CNN yesterday the Jordanian foreign minister said that no matter where a projectile was coming from if it crosses over Jordanian territory the jordanians are going to shoot it down now that could be a major problem they said that even Israel if Israel fired over Jordanian territory the jordanians would shoot down their.

Missiles and drones um depending on how or whether Israel decides to retaliate that premise that notion by the Jordanian foreign minister which again was public on CNN that's about to be tested in a very very real way the Jordanian foreign minister says they're going to shoot down an Israeli Counterattack against Iran they may have.

To actually be held to that they may have to actually turn their guns against the Israelis the analysts I've been talking to say that is very very unlikely guys all right Matt Bradley Matt thank you so much for more now on the Biden administration's response to the Iran attack on Israel we are joined by NBC News chief White House.

Correspondent Peter Alexander hey Peter so Israel's allies including President Biden are urging restraint here but it does look like Israel plans to move forward with some kind of response what are you hearing from the White House and what do we know about that response at this point well let's start with what we heard the president say to Benjamin.

Netanyahu in their last conversation over the weekend effectively trying to urge this idea of restraint saying take the win here the damage could have been much worse in Israel this could have escalated quickly into a wider War the US according to multiple officials excuse me that we're speaking to right now is expecting this response to be as.

They describe it to us Limited in scope and among the most likely options right now is that there would be strikes against Iranian the Iranian military or more specifically its proxies outside of Iran perhaps in Syria but not in Iran which really would sort of raise the stakes here and escalate this much further to this point those are among.

Some of the options right now us officials tell us they have not been briefed specifically on what the Israelis are considering doing at this point they say the options could have changed in the time since but among the considerations for the Israelis according to these us officials was sort of a wide spectrum from on one end no.

Military action whatsoever uh and on the other end something that could include strikes inside Iran again something that the US has largely been counseling Israel to avoid all together right now but this is a a very delicate situation the White House has has been engaged very heavily from the very start of this they do not expect according to these.

Officials that whatever strikes the US takes would focus on senior Iranian military officials you'll remember that strike that first hit that Consular building the embassy complex in Damascus in Syria where all of this began just a couple of weeks ago that did kill several senior Iranian commanders so Peter we know the US won't take part in.

Any offensive actions against Iran is the White House expected to do anything else to sanction Iran for Saturday's attack what can be done well it's a good question and we have been posing those questions Administration officials we just heard yesterday from the National Security Council spokesperson John uh spokesperson John Kirby on this very.

Conversation on the alliances that have fortified in support of Israel and its effort to try to deter Iran from any further attacks and here's part of what John Kirby told us take a listen much of the world today is standing with Israel when the president spoke to the G7 leaders yesterday they were unified in their condemnation of.

Iran and their determination to hold Iran accountable at the president's Direction our teams are now following up with G7 capitals on new multilateral sanctions to Target Iran's missile and other nefarious programs G7 countries that had yet to designate the irgc a terrorist organization are now considering doing so and going.

Forward we will be working to further isolate Iran internationally and increase economic and other forms of pressure again John Kirby yesterday speaking to reporters here the the the main words to take away from that are a desire to further isolate Iran during this time the next several days are going to be worth watching we're going.

To be keeping a close eye on the deliberations here behind closed doors as well back to you absolutely we know you will Peter Alexander thank you so much across town on Capitol Hill House speaker Mike Johnson says that he plans to advance the stalled military funding for Israel and Ukraine in a vote this week the Republican controlled House of.

Representatives is also expected to send the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security secretary Alejandra mayorcas to the Senate today this is over his handling of the situation at the southern border lot to cover joining us now for more in both stories is NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali Ally good morning so let's start.

With what could be a break in that long mons long stalemate over foreign aid funding due to divisions really within the speaker's own party the house now expected to take up separate bills to provide aid for Israel and Ukraine so what do we know about these bills how soon could this happen look this was already a me messy.

Situation guys the way that speaker Johnson is now trying to attack it has multiple different prongs to it and what one Republican member told me is the sense they got from the speaker in a closed door meeting yesterday was the reason they're breaking it up is because it's just important that some form of this military aid pass now when you do.

It in chunks like this Ukraine Israel Taiwan and then a fourth bill that is sort of filled with other Republican foreign aid uh priorities including the potential for something that we've talked about a lot which is not outright giving Ukraine aid but instead giving it to Ukraine in the form of a loan specifically through Frozen Russian.

Assets that's one of those bills that might be in that fourth Trum that we endend up seeing the House vote on but look this is still a tricky situation for the speaker because it wasn't just the question of how they voted on the aid but the aid itself that could alienate key members of his conference and trigger a motion to.

Vacate so all of the foreign policy politics are still very much muddled with the house Republican politics and I got to tell you we're still hearing from people like Congressman margorie Taylor green who say she doesn't like this the question is does she not like it enough to actually trigger that to vacate that hangs over all of this even as urgency.

Mounts for this Aid to actually get out the door Ally let's also now talk about Homeland Security secretary Alejandra mayorcas as I had mentioned so house Speaker Johnson is expected to send these articles of impeachment later today but this came after Senate conservatives asked for a delay last week walk us through what we've seen so.

Far why did they delay the process and what do you think we'll see happen yeah it's a little bit of Groundhog Day when it comes to actually transmitting these articles of impeachment against the sitting Homeland Security secretary initially you're right this was supposed to happen last week and then after pressure from some.

Conservative hardliners on the Senate side the house side said okay we'll wait a few days we'll do this next week the key from the Senate conservatives that I was talking to was a to make sure that this wasn't a trial that started on a Thursday which it would have yesterday which it would have last week and Thursdays are typically days that.

Senators like to go all right we're getting out of town and we're going home instead doing it on a Tuesday allows them the rest of the week to apply pressure on Senator Schumer but that pressure isn't taking them anywhere and frankly that's one of the questions that I asked the Senators I said hey have you guys talked to anyone who's going to be.

Voting differently on Tuesday than they would have on the prior Thursday I got a little bit reamed out in the room for that one because the reality is they don't have the votes for an actual conviction in this trial but instead they're just pushing for the trial itself yeah I mean Schumer is already said he plans to move to dismiss the.

Charges 43 Senators wrote a letter to him urging him to hold a full impeachment trial what is Schumer required to do well look he's going to do this as quickly as possible within the rules though those conservative Senators say that the rules are that you need to hold a trial that the defense Witnesses need.

To be in there that the person who's actually being impeached needs to be subpoena and thusly in the room all of those things are not happening we don't expect the the defense attorneys for May orcus to be there certainly not May orcus himself and I think the reality of this is just important to point out here in order to convict Alejandra mayoras.

And actually impeach him you would need a 2third majority 67 votes you definitely do not have that you don't even have all 49 Republicans on board with the idea of impeaching him instead to dismiss these charges which is what we're going to see happen most likely it only takes 51 votes that's what we're going to see Schumer do and that's what.

It's going to look like on Tuesday all right Al Vali thank you so much let's turn now to weather we've got a chain of severe storms that's going to continue moving AC across the plains this morning and some of the storms could spawn large hail and even strong tornadoes a lot to look out for Angie lasman here with the forecast Angie good morning hey good.

Morning guys the storm system is going to be problematic for a couple of days for us with multiple impacts so let's start with what's going on right now and what we have to look forward to through the day today notice we've got quite an active morning already across parts of the Plains moving into the Midwest that's where we're going to see the best.

Chance of some of these stronger storms here through the day today but right now we've got a tornado watch that's in effect for parts of Nebraska Iowa and stretching down into Kansas we're going to continue to see these long lines of thunderstorms working their way farther uh to the north and east over the next couple of hours and we even where we.

Don't see the watches and warnings right now we still have some uh quite a lot of lightning and some active weather going on could potentially slow you down for that early morning commute in this region this is why we're dealing with this we've got a storm system that's going to continue to intensify through the day today and then move to the east.

As we get through today and tomorrow today the main impacts are going to be across parts of the Midwest we'll have the potential for some really heavy rain impressive rainfall rates at some points uh across this region so the isolated flash flooding potential will be there we'll be keeping a close eye on that but more importantly 25 million people at.

Risk for these stronger storms that means places like Cedar Rapids to Quincy down through Springfield and Little Rock have the chance to see all impacts on the table but really concerning uh we'll watch for the ingredients to be there for some of these stronger tornadoes to develop that means ef2 or higher and the bullseye has places like De Moines Cedar.

Rapids and Quincy in it that's going to last through this evening as well and by tomorrow the system's still on the move so it works across parts of the Midwest the Ohio Valley here for the early parts of the day and then the East Coast gets in on the action as we get into the later parts of our afternoon for tomorrow but once again we'll have that.

Risk of severe weather Detroit to Louisville has the best chance and all of those same impacts are going to be on the table I mentioned some impressive rainfall rates and we will have that 1 to 2 Ines per hour in some of these spots so Minneapolis to Omaha that's where we'll look at the highest the highest rainfall totals by the time we.

Get through midweek guys right looks sweet yeah indeed a lot going on thank you much more to come here on morning news now later this hour We're flipping the script country style with a successful songwriter who's been in the business for decades while she says the time is finally right for her newest project celebrating African-Americans in.

Country music at first though after the break the armorer in the deadly rust movie shooting now faing her fate more from her sentencing when we come back we are back with the latest on the rest movie shooting in a New Mexico courtroom armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed was sentenced to the maximum penalty of.

18 months in prison for the 2021 death of cinematographer Helena Hutchins Gutierrez Reed was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month during the hearing the presiding judge cited Gutierrez Reed's lack of remorse which was introduced into evidence in recorded jail house phone calls where she called jurors idiots and complained.

About the amount of time they deliberated the trial of actor Alec Baldwin on involuntary manolder charges in this case is set to begin in July he has denied any wrongdoing the FBI is now investigating what went wrong aboard the cargo ship that caused the collapse of a Baltimore Bridge killing six workers last month NBC News Now anchor Tom yamas.

Has the details the FBI opening a criminal probe into the catastrophic Baltimore bridge collapse that left six construction workers dead federal agents boarding the container ship Dolly the 985 ft vessel that slammed into the Francis Scott Key bridge last month sending it plunging into the Patapsco River the.

Investigation which was first reported by The Washington Post will look into the critical events leading up to the disaster a key question according to two senior law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation did the crew have prior knowledge of any potential mechanical problems that would have made the vessel unsafe for the.

Harbor the moments after it left the Port of Baltimore captured on this live stream showing the lights flickering on and off minutes before the crash in a court filing the owner and manager of the dolly seeking exoneration in connection to the crash writing in part the casualty was not due to any fault neglect or want of Care on the part of.

The petitioners the families are very happy and appreciative to the federal criminal investigation that was announced attorneys representing two of the construction workers killed in the bridge collapse and the sole survivor announcing their own investigation they died while pursuing the American dream but this was all preventable that is why.

We've been brought in to investigate and find out what has happened and give these families a voice because the thing that's getting lost right now is the voice of the victims revealing harrowing new details about how they say Julio vant Suarez the sole construction worker who survived that fall to the water made it out alive he survived because his.

Window was manual he was able to roll down the window and Escape you can imagine how frightening that is and then he was able to hang on to some drifting steel and survive all right thanks to Tom yamas for that report coming up a consequential case heading to the Supreme Court when we come back the ARG set for today that.

Could impact hundreds of prosecutions linked to the capital riots and prayer and peace the new research that shows going to church could be good for your mental health your weekly check-in is next on Morning News Now welcome back later today the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could impact hundreds of.

Prosecutions in the January 6th rot at the capital that issue is whether a law written to prosecute White Collar criminals with evidence tampering is being appropriately applied to those involved in January 6 NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent Ken delanian joins us to help break this down Ken good morning so help us.

Understand how a law enacted actually this came after the collapse of Enron it's being used to prosecute the people who stormed the capital on January 6 walk us through that good morning Savannah and Joe yeah that's right this law was updated after the 2001 Enron Scandal to cover electronic records uh because there was a lot of shredding.

Documents uh in that Scandal and the current laws did not cover all of what happened but there's a debate about actually how far it goes for example Andrew Weissman an NBC News legal contributor who was involved in the helping the Senate write the update says that actually it was designed to cover all kinds of obstructive behavior and in.

Fact it's been used to charge more than 350 people who participated in the January 6 riots and also former president Trump uh with obstructing congress's proceeding to count the electoral votes that day and there's a debate about whether it actually applies and that's what the court is going to decide ultimately after it hears.

Arguments today so the man at the center of this case is Joseph fiser so who is he and how could a ruling throwing out this charge of obstruction of an official proceeding against him how could that not only help him but perhaps former president Trump and some others there you go well Joseph fer uh was at the time he he participated in.

The January 6 riots a police officer in Pennsylvania and he he was charged with obstructing an official proceeding the case against him is on hold while this proceeds through the appell courts and the Supreme Court but as I said more than 350 other January 6 defendants have been charged some convicted some imprisoned on this charge and it could.

Impact all of their cases if this uh particular provision is ruled unconstitutional and of course this is one of the charges one of several levied against former president Trump in that Jack Smith special counsel indictment accusing Mr Mr Trump of trying to steal the election now it wouldn't it wouldn't throw out the entire prosecution of Mr.

Trump if this law is ruled unconstitutional but it would significantly impact it so a lot of eyes on these arguments this morning Ken while we have you I also do want to ask about something else here the Supreme Court's decision to allow Idaho to enforce its ban on gender affirming care for transgender youth what's next in.

That legal fight and does it impact that 22 other states with similar banss well as of now no the court is going to hear that case but right now what it's done is it's suspended the enforcement of that law for the plaintiffs in the case but allowed the state to continue enforcing it for the rest of the state and interestingly it's.

Not about the law the justices were arguing about this thing called Universal injunctions how broadly a judge can rule in a case that affects thousands of other people an entire state or in some cases an entire country the conservatives uh decided that this was the time they were going to take a stand against this practice which is.

Becoming increasingly common across the country it also has an impact though uh because transgender people in Idaho now are prohibited or M minors will not have access to gender affirming care even if their parents approve under this law in Idaho all right Kendall lanan thank you very much time for our weekly mental health check in we're kicking things off.

By taking a closer look at a report that suggests that your manager might have a bigger impact on your mental health than your own therapist I believe that I think we're also heading to church this morning for a closer look at how places of worship can improve your well-being joining us now to help break those stories down is psychologist and.

Licensed marriage and family therapist Dr George James Dr James good to have you with us as always so let's Jump Right In got a report that surveyed 3400 people across 10 countries and it found 69% of those employees say they managers have just as much of an impact on their mental health as their spouse 51% say managers have more of an impact than.

Their own doctor uh what's I don't know the solution is the answer here but what what do we do about this and what can people do just to make sure that their minds are healthy at work especially if they don't have the best relationship with their manager yeah good morning Joe what this is really saying is that uh at work.

We're really stressed and overwhelmed and when we go further into the study it's not only employees are stressed but also sometimes they managers and leaders and and what it says that it they're that their job can be more stressful or impact their mental health more than their therapist because they're only seeing their therapist maybe once a week.

Or twice a week versus do you at job you're at your work all the time so what people can do is practice good mental health practices maybe see your therapist more breathe in exercise but also recognize that you might need to distance yourself from some of the things at work so that you can have more work life balance with the things that.

You do at home let's also now talk about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable this fear of uncertainty can impact a lot of people so there's something that researchers call this scale the tolerance of uncertainty it can expose how good or maybe not so good you are at dealing with the unknown if you're a.

Person that struggles with the unknown struggles with big questions of what if walk us through how that can impact you and what you can do to try to stay healthy with with this scale of the intolerance of uncertainty is really saying that we all struggle with un certainty on some level we are somewhere on the scale but if we are high on the.

Scale we really struggle with any level of uncertainty so even part of being anxious is the unknown is the what if what if this happens or what if that happens but part of this is then being able to be more comfortable somewhere in the middle where most of us are with uncertainty with the I don't know what's going to happen and that might mean.

Being able to say it will be okay or I have resources or I done this before being able to do things like that or say things like that that can help you tolerate that uncertainty a little bit more because life is full of uncertainties no kidding we got to get used to that all right it's Tuesday let's take a trip to church anyway.

Growing research shows there's a link between attending places of worship churches synagogues mosques and then mental well-being but we have to keep in mind these findings come during a time when we know research shows Church attendance across several religious groups in the US is actually declining so first of all talk about the.

Connection here between faith and mental health and for those who don't consider themselves be religious don't want to go to one of those places what can you do to still maybe reap some of the mental health benefits that we're seeing in some of these places this was often a topic that wasn't always talked about combining.

Mental health and Faith but in doing this research they recognize that people find a sense of community and belonging when they have a a place of worship when they go to a place of worship or have shared Faith being able to be with others to share to commune all these things to help people to feel actually better and have more strategies to deal.

With mental health challenges but for those who might say hey I don't go to a place of worship or I don't really have a place I don't have a particular Faith you can find also community and belonging because that that is also helpful in reducing isolation and and loneliness so that might mean joining a group or joining a league or connecting.

With others so that you don't feel alone and by yourself having community and belonging is part of what happens for people with faith so important in so many ways all right Dr James as always thanks for joining us appreciate your time this morning back now with some Financial headlines starting with a potential lawsuit.

Against entertainment giant Live Nation that's right cnbc's Pippa Stevens joins us with that another news hey Pippa good morning good morning Savannah sharers of Live Nation are under pressure following a Wall Street Journal report that the justice department could file an antitrust suit against the company as soon as next month Live Nation which.

Owns Ticket Master has long-faced complaints it has too much influence over Live Events the justice department has been investigating the company's practice for several years but the probe picked up after Ticket Master site crashed in 2022 due to high demand for Taylor Swift's AOS Tor boing is pushing back on a whistleblower's allegations.

Over the safety of two of its planes the trip 7 and 787 dream liner warning panels on the outside of the 787 could eventually break apart mid-flight during a media briefing yesterday two Boeing engineer Executives described how the panels are fitted together suggesting the 787 carbon composite skin is nearly impervious to metal fatigue found on a.

Conventional aluminum body The Whistleblower a former Boeing engineer is set to testify at a senate subcommittee hearing tomorrow and Doc Martins is getting dinged today shares of the maker of the iconic Steel Toad boots losing a third of their value in London the company's us business is struggling so much it has to spend even.

More for additional storage space for inventory it cannot sell doc Martin's warning in a worst case scenario it will earn just a third of what it did last year that's pretty surprising I thought uh you know the kids still like Doc Martins I like Doc Mar I love doc Marts I'm still breaking in a pair that I got 10 years ago because it takes some time.

But I do like them they're great jeo yeah I'm surprised to hear that hopefully they do better all right Pippa thank you so much well after a historic night at this year's WNBA draft the top talent in women's basketball are preparing for their big league debut fans lined up in Brooklyn yesterday for the League's first sold out event.

Following the biggest season in NCAA tournament history we've got the top first round picks on tap for you this morning no surprise Caitlyn Clark was picked first overall of course heading to the Indiana Fever and she had this to say on the heels of her historic night every sing single time you step on the floor um it's going to be a rivalry.

I think so many teams are loaded um with so much talent and this is the most competitive league in the entire world less than 100 44 spots so uh you better bring it every single night joining us once again is kab Davidson she's a sports writer and the co-author of loveing sports when they don't love you back dilemas of the modern fan kav.

Thanks again for being here so Caitlyn Clark joins an elite list of all stars who hold the honor of being tap number one overall by the way she did it looking absolutely fabulous and head to toe Prada tell us how big are the shoes she has to fill here I mean they're they're pretty large obviously Caitlyn Clark comes in you know with uh probably.

The most hype of any number one pick that we've ever had um and that's saying a lot because we've had Diana daasi and some others um some other Gang Busters in years past but she is joining Aaliyah Boston who was last year's number one pick uh and was rookie of the year last year as well um she has said that she knows that she will have to adjust her.

Game to the level of defense that she'll face uh but she also mentioned that you know she believes her passing is highly underrated and that's where she can make the most immediate impact coming into the pros so last month we saw LSU Reese in South Carolina's Camila cardoso battle it out head-to-head in the SEC tournament of course one won the NCAA.

This year one won it last year now they're going to be teammates in Chicago how exciting is this for Sky fans how do you see these two competing together now on the court I cannot wait to see Camila cardoso and Angel ree on the same team in a market like Chicago in a basketball town like Chicago this is going to be incredibly exciting to see don't make.

Too much out of you know the on court rivalry these are two competitors um and they will play they will play nicely quite quite fine when when they're on the same team I will say that the game uh the game changer here is that they will both be playing under Teresa Weatherspoon a liberty Legend shout out um who who will be in her first year.

Coaching and that's really you know that's kind of the best case scenario for both of these players to develop parts of their game that they still do need to develop so three of the top 12 picks were actually players from abroad countries like France and Australia what does that tell you about how the draft is evolving in the popularity maybe of.

WNBA even reaching overseas yeah I mean we know that basketball is a global game men's and women's and that's something that the NBA and the WNBA continue to stress and we saw that with this year's draft absolutely Carla light and Lela Lon and uh nio pouch uh coming coming from from overseas now I will say that these are.

Young players with a lot of upside and we might not actually see them in the WNBA this year the WNBA has a a thing called draft and stash where you can draft international players and they'll continue to play in their domestic leagues until they are ready for the league um but but this is actually very exciting to see and uh it's a youth.

Infusion from abroad we also got some news about a potential expansion of the WNBA what do we know about that so far well so we already knew that uh there will be a a 13th team next season that will be owned by the Golden State Warriors over on the NBA side um but yesterday commissioner Cathy Engelbert told reporters that she expects there to.

Be 14 teams by 2026 and up to 16 teams by 2028 so this is just showing you how rapidly this league is expanding we haven't had an expansion draft since 2008 um and it shows you how much talent there is out there and how much fur further there is for these athletes Kaba Davidson we've had so much fun talking with you through this process thanks for.

Joining us this morning welcome back we're about to see the great keano Reeves transformed from the brooding acrobatic Hitman that is John Wick to a hedgehog that's because Reeves has been cast a shadow in the upcoming movie Sonic the Hedgehog 3 fans were already excited when the long-running franchise announced it would add the antonic.

Character but with his dark hair and villainous Aura the casting seems pretty fitting Reeves will star alongside franchise regulars like Jim Carrey who voices another villain Dr robot Nick and comedian Ben Schwarz as Sonic the film is scheduled to hit theaters on December 20th it's kind of fun an animated film for him no kidding feels like a good.

Choice that is going to do it for this hour of morning news now don't go anywhere the news continues right now good morning thanks for joining us this Tuesday I'm Savannah cers and I'm Joe frier right now on morning news now gabbling in to history the Striking first images of a former president in.

Criminal Court as we enter day two of jury selection in Donald Trump's high-profile hush money trial involving adult film actress stormmy Daniels we're going to take you inside that Manhattan courtroom prospective jurors weeded out and the judge deciding they won't be able to watch a notorious piece of footage from Mr Trump's past in the.

Middle East the global guessing game continues as Israel weighs its options to retaliate against Iran we'll bring you what top us officials say they know about a potential response with protests flaring up across the country in the wake of more Violence new developments in that deadly Baltimore bridge collapse a fourth body reportedly trapped inside.

A construction vehicle is has now been recovered from the wreckage the news comes as the FBI opens a criminal investigation into the tragedy while the doomed ship's owner looks to limit liability for the disaster with a Civil War era law we are covering it all his questions Mount over what was known in the moments before the crash and it was.

A big night in Brooklyn last night a historic WNBA draft took the big apple by storm but where did Iowa Powerhouse Caitlyn Clark and in the pecking order and what about the other standout players from this Whirlwind NCAA season we're going to bring you all the highlights coming up later in the app loving all the attention that were.

Giving the draft this year just all looked so fabulous obviously the fashion is what I'm focused on I just can't get over how great they all looked it's so much fun good for them we'll bring you that in a little bit of course we're going to begin with former president Trump's historic hush money trial now in its second day of jury selection here in.

New York yeah and that is not going to be an easy task about 200 New Yorkers were summoned for the first day of jury selection but day one wrapped without any jurors being seated former president Trump was in the courtroom for it all watching on from the defense table alongside his lawyers outside the courtroom he was more vocal slamming the.

Judge overseeing the trial for not letting him attend his son's High School graduation calling the case a scam NBC News senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett has more from the first day in court hey there it was a surreal moment Donald Trump had fought to avoid a former American president confined to a No Frills courtroom getting a preview of.

Some of the most salacious evidence prosecutors plan to offer at this trial and a first glimpse of some of the lives of the everyday New Yorkers who will soon sit in Judgment of him this morning the heavy lift of selecting a jury to hear what's likely to become one of the most high-profile cases in history labors on Donald Trump.

Seated in a Manhattan courtroom coming face to face for the first time with some of the men and women who could ultimately determine his fate the former president is accused of falsifying his internal business records in order to bury evidence he had an adult film actress paid off just days before the 2016 election an allegation he denies.

Nothing like this has ever happened before 200 New Yorkers summoned for jury duty slowly questioned in batches on day one of trial many Raising hands to Signal they could not be fair those were quickly dismissed one woman overheard walking out of court saying I just couldn't do it prospective jurors only hearing a brief outline of the 34 felony.

Counts Mr Trump faces as the judge ticks through a who's who of names from Trump World that could come up or serve as potential Witnesses the solemn painstaking vetting process inside the courtroom a contrast to what's been happening outside with the presumptive GOP nominee railing against the timing of the state's case I'm not in Georgia.

Or Florida or North Carolina campaigning like I should be it's perfect for the radical left Democrats the judge publicly warning Mr Trump his attendance at trial now mandatory and if he doesn't show up a warrant will be issued for his arrest but was non-committal about granting Mr Trump a day off next month to attend his son's High School.

Graduation at the same time some evidentiary wins for the the former president's team heading into trial including the judge barring prosecutors from playing the infamous Access Hollywood tape for the jury though they can reference what he said another issue to keep an eye on right now possible violations of the gag order prohibiting.

Mr Trump from attacking trial Witnesses prosecutors have asked the judge in this case for a $3,000 fine from Mr Trump's recent posts about people online that issue will be heard next week while jury selection continues on today back to you all right Laura thank you so much for more on this let's bring in NBC News legal analyst Angela cadella Angela good.

Morning always great to have you with us so just your reaction so far to this process that no one has actually been seated so many have been dismissed is this a tougher uphill climb than in other cases that are less high-profile yes I mean quite absolutely just given the divide in the country in the city over politics but I am going to say that.

I have faith in this process I see a judge here who's trying his hardest to make sure it is fair to give the most exhaustive survey of questions that has ever been given to these jurors to try to weed out people with bias also to a lot at least two weeks to this process he is not rushing it so I have faith that we are going to find it's only 18.

People at the end of this there are going to be 18 people who I believe can be impartial enough regardless of their politics to give the former president of fair trial let's talk about this ruling from yesterday the judge basically saying prosecutors can't play the infamous access Hollywood tape they can't play Trump's deposition from the.

Egene Carroll uh deposition from that lawsuit how but they can discuss it so how significant is that it is significant and this is what judges have to do they have to make These Fine Line decisions almost off their gut and you can't really quantify the difference between a transcript and a video and how that would Prejudice the jury but that's.

The judge's role to allow things that are relevant to the jury so in this case the prosecution is allowed to bring it in because they're claiming that it's related to motive so they say it's instrumental to their case but you also know that you can't just have a jury convict someone because they think he's an awful person it has to be based on.

The facts that are in front of them so the judge here had to make this feline decision and it's one that could possibly be appealed but look at this time he tried his best this is what judges do all day long we also just heard at the end there from our colleague Laura Jarrett about this what we're going to see next week regarding.

The gag order walk us through the options that the judge has after some posts on social media from the former president so he could Institute of fine he could also expand the gag order there's a lot that he could do here but the fact that he waited a week for this hearing is significant if his primary purpose here is to protect the safety of.

Everyone in the courtroom of the witnesses of his staff of the council Etc it is likely something that he would have pushed up immediately safety is Paramount but no judge here wants to walk into this constitutional just swamp of trying to figure out well what about the First Amendment rights of a campaigning president we've never had.

This before so I think it's significant he's waited a week I think he's trying to see well what else is Trump going to do is he going to push the line further or is he going to leave it as is see what actually happens here in the with getting the jury sat first of all because that seems to be first priority absolutely a l to do Angela sadella.

Thank you so much not of those growing tensions across the Middle East and here in the US as the world awaits Israel's response to Iran's weekend drone and missile attack here at home protesters calling for a ceasefire disrupted City's Nation wide yesterday shutting down major roads and snarling traffic but Iran's attack has renewed efforts on.

Capitol Hill to increase financial support for Israel Speaker of the House unveiling a new plan for a vote on that long stalled Aid package NBC's Chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has the latest from Jerusalem Israel's war cabinet is meeting yet again today for the third day in a row to discuss a possible.

Military response against Iran but Israeli official officials are being very tight lipped about how that might take place where or to what extent Israel says it will retaliate to Iran's unprecedented and unsuccessful missile and drone attack while touring a base that was lightly damaged the chief of staff of the Israeli Army gave no.

Hints Iran will face the consequences for its actions four us officials tell NBC news they expect Israel response to be limited in scope and most likely involve strikes against Iranian forces and Iranian back proxies outside of Iran Iran controls well-armed militias in Lebanon Syria Iraq and Yemen striking them would not be seen as provocative as.

Hitting Iran directly but could also trigger a violent response especially in Lebanon home to Hezbollah the world's most powerful non-state military but as of now it's all a guessing game us officials stress they have not been briefed on Israel's final decision which may change last night Iran's foreign minister saying its response to Future.

Action from Israel will be quote immediate and severe Israel and Iran have fought a shadow War for decades which burst into the open earlier this month when Israel bombed the Iranian Consulate in Damascus killing senior Iranian military officials the Amir of Qatar working to broker a ceasefire in Gaza overnight called it.

All a distraction from the war in Gaza where many of the 2.3 million people according to eight agencies are on the brink of starvation in multiple American cities yesterday Pro Palestinian protesters took to the streets blocking traffic from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to Seattle to the airport.

Chicago's O'Hare Airport and New York to demand a ceasefire Israel is trying to strike a difficult if not impossible balance of reestablishing deterrence with Iran showing strength at home without provoking a wider War but what Israel does and what Israel thinks won't be escalatory is very unlikely to be shared.

By Iran all right Richard thank you for more now we're joined by Hagar sh mly she's the host of oh my world on YouTube and former NSC director for Syria and Lebanon car good to have you with us so the ball really does seem to be an Israel's court right now Netanyahu has faced pressure from allies to lower the temperature but then some of his.

Far-right cabinet members are saying the opposite what are the options Israel has for a response right now thanks well thanks for having me uh Israel has a few ways they could respond if you want to put them simply in categories of low medium and high low could look something like for example cyber attacks and maybe some Commando.

Raids in certain areas especially where you have irgc units in Syria in particular uh that's neighboring it's easy it's not within Iran's borders something medium could be more uh more Iranian bases across the Middle East for example in Iraq and and and Syria in multiple areas um where you get major M something more major is is within Iran's.

Borders but but even within that you have scales of major they could they could do something like hitting their air bases that are along the Persian Gulf um or they could go into further and and hit some bases that are more Inland but they'll likely they're if they go inside Iran's borders then they'll stick to something that are more.

Military facilities uh either way that is as major as I would expect it to get I don't expect something that would harget anything like civilians or or or city infrastructures or anything like that because Israel is aware that they have the US backing and alliances for defense Ive measures but not to go start a war Hagar Iran has never openly.

Attacked Israel in these four decades since the revolution but there's been this sort of not so secret shadow shadow War that's been going on between the two countries now that we've seen this actually play out in the open an attack like what we saw over the weekend what does that mean what's the significance of that and how that could potentially.

Play into a wider conflict in the region well on one hand it's very hard to put the genie back in the bottle especially in the Middle East unfortunately it takes time and I'm not trying to deviate from this topic but I do believe that a ceasefire if it were reached just even a temporary ceasefire which I think is more likely than a.

Permanent one a temporary ceasefire would cool the Jets all around because nobody would want to disturb that Iran is trying to pretend as well that they did this on behalf of the of the Palestinians which by which doesn't make any sense but they are trying to communicate that publicly as well and so it would cool things down but but as you.

Said this not so secret shadow War it's now out in the open and it it just it elevates tensions all around and what happens is that when you have a situation like that it makes any maneuver like a match that could be lit very easily so Hagar looking at the Middle East what can we take away from the fact that Arab countries like Jordan.

Quickly moved in seemingly to help defend Israel earlier this morning Matt Bradley said well Jordan's saying no Jordan was defending Jordan but what's the takeaway here yeah well listen on one hand you have that this is Jordan's airspace by the way also Saudi Arabia helped and that's their airspace sure so on there.

On that end of course they don't want foreign objects flying in their airspace that that are that are uh aggressive in any manner but that said they could have also they could have chosen not to cooperate they could have chosen not to help the fact is that Iran's assault showed two major things one that that Israel is very well capable of Defending.

Itself that it's defenses are strong especially in partner with Partners but more importantly at a moment when Israel was seeming increasingly isolated that in fact its alliances are quite strong and that there are these countries including Arab allies that are ready to stand to at least to make sure that there is no Regional Wide War it may not.

Be in favor of Israel but they do seem to believe that aggression of this kind that ballistic missiles and cruise missiles and drones of this kind that this should not happen all right agar shamali thank you so much as always appreciate your expertise let's get you over to weather now a severe storm system is stretching from Texas to South.

Dakota and it's going to continue to move East throughout the week we will get a check on your forecast yeah Angie lman is here Angie good morning hi good morning guys you're exactly right storm system that's going to work across the country here over the next day or so and leaving us with the potential for some heavy rain as well as those strong.

Storms already seeing some of that come to fruition this morning with some of these tornado watches that are in effect extending from parts of Kansas into Nebraska and out towards Iowa we've got some lines of thunderstorms that are quite strong and robust this morning even farther north of that of that tornado watch still pretty active.

Morning stretching into parts of the Midwest and this is one of the spots that we're going to be watching closely through the day today here's the storm system we're tracking it'll strengthen as we go through the rest of your morning and it'll be on the move through the day that means that line of thunderstorms likely will shift to the.

East here and we're talking at strong storms across the Midwest but also some really impressive rain associated with that with some rainfall to with hourly rainfall rates rather from 1 to 2 Ines impressive by the time this is all said and done we could pick up some upwards of three Ines in some of these spots we're also Al concerned about the chance.

For some strong storms developing into severe storms uh those potentials for some strong winds the hail all out there but we're also going to be watching closely for a couple strong tornadoes to develop the ingredients will all be there you can see where we're looking at the the largest uh tornadoes possible from De Moine to Kirksville down through.

Quincy up through Cedar Rapids that's the bullseye of where we have that best chance of seeing the tornadoes through the day today but it's quite expansive even as far south as St Louis rala Effingham going to see the potential for this up into portions of Illinois as well so keep an eye out for this not just through the morning hours and into.

The afternoon but even as we get into this evening that storm system works its way to the East and brings the potential for some active weather to the Ohio Valley tomorrow along the east coast you'll see that rain working in by later in the day but it's the the Ohio Valley that I just mentioned that'll see that once again chance for some strong storms.

19 million people will be at risk of this hail tornadoes wind gust all possible into tomorrow tomorrow meanwhile have you noticed that it feels like summer for some spots across the eastern half of the country uh I have it was quite warm in New York City yesterday today we'll do kind of a Repeat Performance but we've got that.

Warm tropical air kind of working its way North thanks to our atmospheric setup that means the temperatures are running way above normal Indianapolis going to hit 81 degrees today running 17 degrees above normal Nashville into the mid 80s we've got Charlotte near 90 New York once again into the 70s today we keep that going especially for parts of.

The southeast here as we get through the rest of your work week 90s for Jacksonville on Friday mid 80s for Raleigh on Friday it's going to be quite warm it doesn't last uh for all that much longer Beyond Friday but we will be anywhere from 10 to 15 degrees above normal through that time period by the time we get into the weekend though guys.

Of course cool air arrives and summer is not here summer is not here yesterday was fabulous it was we have you to thank Andrew lonk you so much we've got much more to come this hour morning news now including a headline performance from basketball great Caitlyn Clark at last night's WNBA draft right here in New York but first under investigation the.

FBI launching a criminal probe into that deadly Baltimore bridge collapse as a fourth body is recovered from the wreckage our Tom Costello is covering it all next we are back now with new developments about that bridge collapse in Baltimore last month the FBI is now joining in the investigation into the.

Cargo ship that slammed into the Francis Scott Key bridge investigators are looking into what the crew knew as the massive container ship left Port it comes as a fourth victim has been recovered NBC News senior correspondent Tom Castello joins us now with the latest Tom good morning hey Savannah so we're told this is a criminal.

Investigation looking into what the crew knew before the crash was there any evidence that the ship might lose power and become uncontrollable while still in Baltimore Waters it comes as the owner operator of the ship are invoking a privil war law to limit their liabilities photos from The Washington Post capturing FBI agents climbing up.

The side of the massive containers ship Dolly executing a search warrant the ship still trapped in the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key bridge a month after the ship crashed into the bridge at 130 a.m. late Monday word that a fourth body has been recovered law enforcement sources tell NBC news the FBI is focused on whether any member of.

The crew had prior knowledge of the ship's mechanical problems that would make it unsafe maritime law attorney James power understand a crew is still aboard so they'll interview the crew they'll probably I would I would assume coordinate with the notes of the Coast Guard and the NTSB for any investigations the NTSB tells NBC News.

Its investigators are looking into reports that alarms were going off on the ship while it was still in Port suggesting a potential power problem before the ship left Port they needed the assistance of Hyundai who is the manufactur of equipment in the engine room to download data from the electrical power system and look at the.

Circuit breakers attorneys for two of the bridge repair workers who died and one Survivor say the men were sitting in their cars on a break when they were suddenly thrown into the water below without warning two remain missing Baltimore has temporary rily lost a bridge but six families have permanently lost Irreplaceable loved ones the mayor.

Of Baltimore now promising legal action against the ship's owner the manufacturer and operator but the owner and manager have already invoked a law dating back to 1851 that limits their liability only to the value of the damaged ship not the victim's families or the destroyed bridge this law was used to protect the.

Owner of the Titanic that's how ridiculous this is okay there is an exception to that 173 year old law if the owner of the ship knew the ship had problems before it left Port then the law may not apply so this FBI investigation could be critically important all companies involved have declined to comment Savannah Tom I know.

We're also learning how the Lone Survivor manage to get out of the water of that team of construction workers tell us about that yeah that's right he is Julio sentes and he survived falling off the bridge of his in his truck and down into the freezing water he doesn't swim he said he rolled down the windows and climbed out and then clung to a.

Piece of debris until he was rescued but thankfully his car didn't have electric windows he could roll them uh down in order to get out Savannah wow all right Tom Costello thank you so much the weeks long search for two missing Kansas mothers has ended tragically police say both of the women are dead after they found two bodies in Oklahoma court.

Documents now reveal a custody battle may have led to their deaths NBC News correspondent Sam Brock joins us now with the details on this Sam good morning Joe good morning it took state and local law investigators and also the FBI Joe more than two weeks to find the missing moms who had just traveled down here about 45 minutes from their small.

Town in Kansas right now we are awaiting confirmation from the medical examiner's office but police here do believe the bodies they found were theirs as for police also talking about what the motivation might have been for the grandmother they say was behind this holding on to her grandkids at all costs the desperate search for.

27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jillian Kelly appears to have come to a sobering end this case was tragic you have two people um who are who are dead um and four people that committed an an an absolutely brutal crime Texas County officials charging these four suspects with murder conspiracy and kidnapping authorities.

Say Butler was driving from Kansas to Oklahoma to pick up her kids for a birthday party with Kelly there to supervise when they were intercepted by a group that included Tiffany Adams the children's paternal grandmother police say Adams has been waging a custody battle with Butler over her grandkids for years and allegedly resorted to.

Violence it has certainly been a tragedy for everybody involved according to a court affidavit the teenage daughter of one of the women charged told police the suspects were part of an anti-government group that had a religious affiliation with State investigators learning they call themselves God's Misfits and met on a regular basis further in those court.

Documents the teen says her mom confessed that they were involved in the deaths of Butler and Kelly telling investigators they used burner phones to communicate and block the road to stop Butler and Kelly and divert them to where Adams and several others were waiting police ultimately tracing five stun guns and three prepaid cell phones.

Back to Adams the investigation starting with Butler's abandoned car found by a family member after the women didn't show up at a party the evidence that was discovered inside of that abandoned vehicle and around it um we're able to help our investigators determine that there was Foul Play involved now some closure but not necessarily healing for.

This community absolutely devastating they were both young and vibrant and they deserved more according to that teenager Joe Who provided all this information to police in the affidavit this was not the first attempt on Butler's life she says the group had actually traveled to Kansas back in February and had planned to.

Throw an Anville through her windshield to make it look like an accident but it didn't work because Butler never left her house all four suspects are still here at the jail so far they have not been assigned any sort of representation back to you all right Sam thank you so so much let's get to International headlines now starting in Copenhagen.

Where a landmark building went up in Flames NBC's Claudia lavanga joins us from Rome with that and Otherworld headlines claudo good morning good morning guys that's right earlier today a fire broke out at the Old Stock Exchange Building in Copenhagen the one of the most iconic buildings in the capital of Denmark now.

The historic renaissance building also serves as the headquarters of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce local media aired live video of what looks like people carrying paintings out of the building to save them from the fire the building was under renovation when the fire broke out there are no reports of injuries let's go to Pakistan now where.

Authorities say at least 39 people have died after lightning and heavy rains buttered the southwest of the country for days some of the victims died in flash floods other others in landslides and some were even killed by lightning images posted online show large areas of Farmland engulfed by water while flash floods disrupted power lines and.

Transportation networks Pakistan's National disaster Management Authority warned that with more rain expected in the coming days there could be more flash flats and landslides and let's end the story of the world in Olympia in southern Greece where the Olympic Games were born in 776 BC that's where today the Olympic flame was lit in a.

Spectacular ceremony among the ruins of the 2,600 year old Temple of Hera the Olympic torch will then officially set off on the relay they will take it all the way to Paris actresses dressed as ancient presses brought the flame into life with the help of a parabolic polished mirror this is the first time the ceremony goes back to its full.

Tradition after the last two editions were tone down because of covid back to you guys all right Claudia thank you so much very dramatic all right when we return you could call it a z rating for many Americans and their precious sleep new numbers show nearly half are not getting the shut eye that doctors recommend but why and how can that.

Impact your long-term Health First after the break though the government Crackdown that's Brewing this morning on those seemingly convenient travel credit cards are you really getting all the benefits that you signed up for we'll dig into it up next welcome back next month the government is holding a hearing to see.

If Airline loyalty programs are really giving customers all the savings that they were promised it's an issue that affects millions of Americans according to nerd wallet 41% of us currently have a travel rewards credit card with an average balance of more than 55,000 miles here with more on what you need to know about travel rewards is NBC News.

Senior business correspondent Christine Roman so what exactly is the government looking into here and why yeah it's a hearing they're not alleging big examples of wrongdoing although they do refer back to something that happened last year where they find Bank of America for offering some of these rewards based credit cards and then not.

Giving the rewards to everybody uh and so they did find Bank of America for that but just trying to make sure that it's not a bait and switch the government this is you've heard this from this white house before this Administration trying to make sure people aren't nickel and dime if you are a promis some of these rewards on your.

Credit card they want to make sure you're getting them so this if we have these in our wallet right now what should we know about these travel cards what should you look out for what questions should you ask I mean you really do have to keep on it because you need to keep track uh of the points are you getting the the points that you're.

That you're offered at the beginning um are you making sure that you're paying the card in full because guess what you could be offered points when you open up a new card or points for for flying or points for purch purchases but if you're carrying a balance the 30% interest rate more than makes up for the perks so you have to be really careful about whether.

It's the right card for you as well for some people cash back cards are actually better if you're spending a lot for people who travel a lot and and fly you want to make sure you're using that credit card you're using it for purchases but you're also using it uh for travel uh don't leave points on the table you just read that statistic.

55,000 is what an average person has on their on their bank account or on their credit card balance that is real money you can use that money and you need to figure out the best way to use it and then pay the balance I you've heard me say this a million times at 30% 20 to 30% interest rates every balance you keep on a credit card is ruining your.

Financial life it it it just negates the whole benefit of the points if you're carrying a balance do not carry a balance very bad news for those who do want to get a travel credit card what are some of the tips especially for those who might be doing this for the first time yeah so look for the uh Annual fees some of them are very very.

High shop around sometimes the smaller banks have lower aprs interest rates rates and they have lower Annual fees again consider cash back I'm a real mileage miles person this is just the way I am I like it I understand how it works I use it for my family of five to make the big travel a little bit cheaper but some people say you should consider.

Cash back if you're using a lot of purchases you can get 5% cash back on some of these um some of these cards with no or very low um annual fee and that might be better for some people it just it's up to you there's no one siiz fits-all and it's one of those things in in finance with your money you just have to do do the homework but this hearing.

Will be interesting because this this Administration is trying to to show Americans we know you feel nickeled and dimed we're going to continue to make sure we shine a light on it that you're getting what you deserve all right Christine some good advice you good advice great to see you well if you feel as though you didn't get enough rest.

Last night you're not alone sleep seems to be evading a majority of Americans these days new polling from Gallup shows 57% of people say that they would feel better if they could get more sleep but catching those Z's it's easier said than done and stress could be playing a major role in why so many are struggling to sleep let's bring in Dr enar morrs for.

More on this she's a Pediatric Sleep Medicine physician at gu singer Medical Center she's also the spokesperson for the American Academy of sleep medicine doctor good to have you with us so just 26% of people say they get eight hours or more of sleep a night how serious is this problem and why is it that we think Americans are sleeping.

Less so we know that this is a a really quite a critical problem in fact the challeng is is that it's not a new problem in 2014 10 years ago the CDC declared Sleep Disorders in the United States an epidemic in a major Public Health crisis and we realize that this reeks absolute havoc on all individuals who are not getting the right duration.

Of sleep so we at in 2014 it was one in five adults were having sleep issues most recently it was one in three and now we're seeing it approximating one in two people not getting right duration of sleep and stress is definitely going to play a major role and unfortunately has a bidirectional relationship with the type and quality of sleep that you get.

Yeah I mean especially younger women seem to be reporting the highest levels of stress talk more about how stress is linked to this lack of sleep sure so we see that when a person is not sleeping well number one you're going to wake up already on the wrong side of the bed pun completely in ended you're not going to have the same degree of attention the.

Same efficiency that you normally would have your cognition is going to feel slowed that's going to make you feel stressed now that you were less productive during the day how do you think you're going to fall asleep during during that night you end up laying in bed ruminating on all the things that you hadn't gotten done and now are being.

Piled up for the next day and so we recognize that the two are very much intimately related many times one of the best strategies that can be implemented is actually evaluating your time management and it can be a key to success for Stress Management as well as for getting those right number hours of zase how does not sleeping impact our.

Physical and mental health so we recognize that when we're not sleeping well it negatively affects the front part of our brain our frontal and prefrontal cortex this is where our executive function is our decision-making it also is where a lot of our judgment impulsivity is and so therefore we do find that when we're not.

Getting the right quality duration timing of sleep we tend to be more impulsive more reactive our mood is more labile we recognize it does put us at a greater risk for depression anxiety and many other mental health conditions and in fact individuals who have pre-existing mental health conditions like depression sleep disord such as not.

Getting the right number of hours of sleep have been shown to greatly enhance the likelihood of people having suicidal thoughts and even attempts so it's not a nicity this is really something that is critically important to overall physical mental uh wellness and well-being what's your best advice to folks who aren't getting.

Enough sleep what is the number one thing you tell them they need to work on so I think first and foremost understanding why isn't that that you're not getting the right number of hours of sleep many people are trying to get eight hours of sleep but only laying in their bed for six that math doesn't work so first really looking at what is your.

Challenge is it a challenge in falling asleep staying asleep waking up too early not feeling refreshed by really being understanding of what it is that you're challenging with spe specifically that allows you to partner with your physician to be able to create a tailored plan that is personalized to the challenges that you have there is no.

On siiz fits-all that is a quick fix for your sleep it really is a matter of making sure you're re habilitating what it is that you've developed maladaptive responsive to so the wrong kind of behaviors in response to not sleeping well for people who are trying sleep aids like melatonin or zil or those types of things do you recommend against.

That or is that okay here and there if you think you need some help to fall asleep so I think that the major distinction when we're looking at the use of sleep aids is that if you find that you are habitually using them you're using them for more than even if it's once a week this is a call to action that you need a.

Further evaluation as to why are you having this regular difficulty if it's the once off I'm traveling and I just am having a difficult time sleeping sure I think that that's a reasonable thing melatonin might be an okay strategy to utilize however if you're finding that you're chronically using it that's telling you that you have a sleep.

Disorder not just a one night off of a problematic sleep all right Dr andar Morris really important information thank you so much thank you I appreciate the time absolutely coming up well we all saw it com in the goat herself Caitlyn Clark naing that number one pick in last night's historic WNBA draft but where.

Did all those other superstars land we've got all the highlights with the upcoming season tipping off just weeks from now stay with us that's next we are back now with a look at the new faces of the WNBA and a new era for women's sports last night sold out WNBA draft in Brooklyn was one of the most highly anticipated events in league.

History thanks to Rising Stars like Prodigy Caitlyn Clark and her College rival Angel Reese the hype is only growing NBC News senior National correspondent Stephanie gos was in Brooklyn for the big night and had a chance to talk with some of the rookies who are hoping to take the game to even higher levels What a Night yeah it.

Definitely was guys you know the WNBA draft was the hottest ticket in town last night 1,000 fans stamping up all those seats in just 15 minutes last season was the most watched WNBA regular season in 21 years and it looks like with this class of super rookies the sky is the limit with the first pick in the 2024.

WNBA draft the Indiana Fever select Caitlyn Clark it was a surprise to no one that college Superstar Caitlyn Clark was at the very top of the new WNBA class I was just excited to get here and get it started the former Iowa standout guard known for her Stellar three-point shooting says she's ready for the next chapter of her career with the Indiana.

Fever I'm 22 years old and this is something new to me this is a new challenge um and that's something I'm excited for at number two Stanford shop blocker Cameron Brink is joining the LA Sparks and rounding out the top three the Chicago Sky selecting Camila cardoo the 6'7 Center helped South Carolina win this year's National Championship 2024's.

Star started WNBA draft class is already put pushing women's basketball to new heights even before they reach the pros win or lose like we're growing the games playing in environments where you're having sold out Arenas I mean I think it's honestly unbelievable I'm surrounded by a bunch of powerful young women and um you know it's just great to.

Be a part of this group Kaitlin Clark helped drive this year's record-breaking College attendance and viewership including a historic 18.9 million people tuning into the national championship game the League's commissioner hoping to keep that moment momentum going Kathy it's about time yes it's about time this is what I've been waiting for women's.

Sports too long has been undercovered undervalued um and this is our moment ahead of Monday Night Celebration in New York City the wnba's future rookies visited the Empire State Building former LSU star and Chicago Sky draft pick Angel ree posting this selfie writing whole lot of buckets outside the draft I bought tickets for the first time ever.

The excitement for the upcoming season undeniable I'm happy to be here to support women the WNBA season tip off is just a few weeks away Caitlyn Clark will make her debut with the Indiana Fever against the Connecticut sun and you as an just just an idea of how excited fans are go onto the internet right now and try to buy a Caitlyn Indi fever Jersey.

No way it's GNA be tough so a great problem to have love it Steph thank you so much you're welcome some Financial head now Google is set to go all in on new AI technology Pippa Stevens joins us with that another money news hey Pippa good morning hey Savannah the head of Google's AI business says the company will spend more than a 100 billion.

Overtime to develop new technology the CEO of Google Deep Mind was asked at a Ted conference yesterday about a potential 100 billion supercomputer reportedly being developed by Microsoft and open AI That's the maker of chat GPT he says Google is spending a lot more than that and it has Superior computing power to Rivals including Microsoft.

Meantime meta threads app has been described as a rival to X but users have pointed out it isn't a good source for realtime information the algorithm often shows old posts and a new trending topics feature only shows five at a time but now threads is testing a tool to let users filter search results by how recent they are while sorting by recent.

Posts isn't the same as chronologically it could help people find posts about breaking news or other timely topics and Starbucks is jumping on the sweet Heat vanwagon starting today customers can get one of three new Spicy lemonade Refreshers based on the scey or sweet and spicy Trend the sweetness of the beverages dragon fruit pineapple or.

Strawberry are being paired with a spicy chili powdered blend and Lemonade Starbucks is also introducing a spicy cream cold foam that can be added to any coffee or tea drink I'm really not sure how I feel about that one especially at like 5 in the morning like I don't like spicy in general but today I saw at Starbucks downstairs like the big a I.

Was like it's an interesting W up yeah thank you this morning a new report is renewing concerns about the impact of social media on children and the American Psychological Association just released that report saying some social media features are particularly risky to young people now the organization is calling for greater steps to be taken to.

Protect their mental health NBC News correspondent Emily aeta joins us with more on the report Emily good morning good morning to you the American Psychological Association says change is needed soon adding they believe the responsibility for that change falls on the social media platforms the new report names quote particularly risky.

Features that the APA say capitalizes on the vulnerabilities of young people's developing brains this morning the American Psychological Association demanding change from social media platforms and head turning report detailing what it's says are psychological threats to young people the highly respected group.

Writing in part platforms built for adults are not inherently suitable for youth youth require special protection the APA calling out features like endless scrolling likes and follower counts and push notifications that it says capitalizes on developing brains that are more sensitive to impulses social feedback and distraction.

According to a recent survey noted by the group more than half of teens reported atast One symptom of clinical dependency on social media something families described in today's Deep dive into the impacts of screen time last fall it can be really addicting they can begin to really hinder your life more than they do help it instead of liking.

Yourself it's how much everybody likes you the report also noting how the freedom to scroll around the clock has been cited as the predominant reason why adolescents are getting less than the recommended amount of sleep it comes nearly a year after the US Surgeon General issued a landmark Health advisory on social media use in.

Adolescence we see rates of depression and anxiety and suicide and loneliness going up among young people and I'm concerned that social media is an important driver of that youth Mental Health crisis uh this is the defining public health issue of our time the APA writing there's been few meaningful changes since then but some social media.

Companies disagree including meta the company behind Facebook and Instagram which recently launched nighttime nudges to push young people to close the apps and now also allows parents to schedule breaks for their kids on the platforms without laying out specific changes the APA says there must be a comprehensive approach to fully address the dangers of.

An increasingly screen Reliant world and the APA says the onus falls on social media companies to protect their youngest users but parents can help too its Chief science officer recommends all devices in a household go on top of the fridge around 9:00 p.m. to really uh impact that sleeping habits and hey it could help adults as well I have to.

Charge in the kitchen exactly y same yes I looking back I'm glad I did yeah absolutely Emily thanks so much thank you well Arkansas's first black rodeo queen is taking the publishing World by The Rains she has released a new children's book inspired by her love of horses tysa Hampton of our little rock affiliate has that.

Story it's in every Barn a cowboy finds his purpose good girl but for this cowgir jadaa kersch it's right here with these animals she found hope so when I was six I was sexually assaulted and my mom put me in counseling my counselor had invited us to her Ranch and she introduced me to a horse the horse a mirror of her soul she sat me in a.

Saddle and she handed me the reins to my freedom riding competitively until she made history at 18 being crowned Arkansas's first black rodeo queen before I even knew I was making history I was just doing what I loved now at 2 before she's creating something special I'm the creator of the cowgirl J and the Magical asso books hoping to inspire.

Young people just really pushing cowgirl Jay and diversity and representations and so that the kids can see themselves represented in this industry because there's so much more space for all of us wanting young kids to know your past does not define you statistically I'm not supposed to be half the woman I am today my mom had me as a teenager my.

Dad's been in federal prison my whole life because in the face of adversity I'm like ah I can't do it let me show you it's down this dirt road Juda hopes to leave a path for kids always show up for yourself and just keep thriving and keep going and you never know who you you might wake up and be coming up an olympic size cleanup.

Effort now underway in the city of lights after the break how officials are making sure paris's River sun is ready for its summer closeup that's up next welcome back grab your tissues children and parents alike are feeling a little teary eyed following the season finale of Bluey popular cartoon is known for.

Taking on hard topics and this latest episode definitely delivered titled the sign the episode showed Bluey and his family navigating a number of major life events including a wedding and moving to a new city superai season 3 finale clocked in at a whopping 28 minutes that is the length of four regular Bluey episodes.

Fans say it was time used well it even has pro wrestler Johnny Gargano crying calling it an Avengers endgame level season finale well as the 2024 Summer Olympics inch closer the City of Paris is working overtime one of the most memorable elements will be when Olympic swimmers race for gold in the city's famed River Sun NBC Chief International.

Correspondent Kier Simmons got a deep dive on the preparations winding through Paris famously separating the left and right Banks the sen is set to be the centerpiece of the games for the first ever opening ceremony outside of a stadium and hopefully the swimming leg of the.

Triathlon Olympic hopefuls braved its Waters at a test event last summer President mcon says he plans to dive in along with Olympic officials I already did it last year and I all did it before the games uh with the mayor Paris oh look a major cleanup operation began 7 years ago a more than1 billion project but tests carried out for NBC News this.

Past weekend found high levels of bacteria in the water caused in part experts say by recent flooding when there is no rain for several weeks let's say two or 3 weeks without rain you can actually reach really good water quality conditions these kayakers volunteer to find garbage in the river every week say water is safe and you in the water yeah.

And you're okay yeah do you think I'm I'm good about hopes hinge on the soon to be completed $100 million ellich Basin designed to catch rainwater and relieve the stress on the city's sewage system competitors in the Five Mile through Paris if it works then this Olympics will turn back time to when parisians.

Would call off in the river and while swimming in the sen by the public was banned in the city in 1923 the year before the last Paris Olympics the rule was not always followed I'm relying on you a little Upstream in a peaceful Village just outside Paris last year I met up with a friend from French TV who lives by the.

River and swims in it I guess you just do it chance to truly test the water it's actually really really lovely out here peaceful beautiful huh quintessentially French the life is good here I can say I swam in the S thanks to K Simmons for that report.

The city is hoping that fans just like Kier can also enjoy the S with plans to reopen the river to the public for swimming once again after the games as a legacy of Paris 2024 are you jumping in well I'm not going there so I guess not but what do you think now that Kira's done it sure maybe we'll see how I just wonder if it rains or anything like that.

How that you know affects everything but I guess we'll have to wait and see so it's a pretty neat project it is it'll be fun to watch I'm so glad they're doing it it's you didn't seem thrilled about jumping in he did it so there you go would you no I would not want to do that there you go oh K you're braver than all of us.

Thank you for taking the chance to know for me that is going to do it for this hour morning news now stay with us though the news continues right now thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media

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