Exclusive. Maybe i can sound a bit crude but this is 100 bull [ bleep ]. Democrats and republicans demanding answers today. On capitol hill. Summer scorcher. The first major heat wave of the season taking hold from the midwest to the east coast. Record highs expected in the south. The full forecast straight ahead. Firing back. The st. Louis couple who went viral for aiming guns at protesters. Get the hell out of my neighborhood now defending their actions. Coming right at the house. Why they say demonstrators left them with no other choice and the investigation into the confrontation caught on camera. Game off. Just one day before Training Camps reopen, the star players who wont be a part of baseballs return. Why they say theyre opting out. Those stories, plus snap, crackle, pop. A surprise Fireworks Show lights up the new york city skyline as macys kicks off its annual fourth of july display with a series of sec retoshows. Today, tuesday, june 30th, 2020. Announcer from nbc news this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And morning, everybody. Welcome to today. Its nice to have you with us on a tuesday morning. Hodas off this week. Craig is right here. We get to be together which is nice. Social distanced. Yes. Socially distanced and how exciting to see the fireworks. Nobody saw that coming. It was a surprise show last night over the east river. This is macys fireworks reimagined. This was the first of six nights. Theyre going to do this every night so each of the boroughs here in new york city can enjoy. Theyre not announcing the location until just before so folks cant gather. They can all look up and see. Its all leading up to your big special saturday night on fourth of july. Lots to get to this morning. Lets start with the coronavirus. At least 16 states have now paused or reversed their plans to reopen. The latest is arizona where gyms and bars and movie theaters are being closed for 30 days. Meanwhile, los angeles is joining florida closing county beaches over the fourth of july weekend. We also learned the World Health Organization will go to china next week to investigate the original source of the pandemic. We have correspondents across the hot zones once again this morning. Lets get started with sam brock in miami for us. Sam, good morning. Reporter savannah, craig, good morning. Beach closures for the july 4th holiday now stretching coast to coast from miami where i am out to los angeles as leaders are trying to get out in front of a potential holiday spike. For businesses like these hotels behind me that stretch up and down miami drive that thrive on tourists, a stinging setback. But public leaders say that is far better than further inflaming a Public Health crisis. In a matter of days, beaches on both sides of the country will closed. They dont have the right to tell people that you can or cannot go. Reporter now los angeles with the county putting the clamps on the july 4th weekend this year we have to think about saving lives. Reporter after recording its singlebiggest daily total, nearly 3,000 new cases, l. A. County now climbing past 100,000. The numbers not nearly as daunting as the reality for the guerri family. My last words to my dad was i dont know if im going to make it i thought maybe my dad was like, hey, son, if youre going, im going, too reporter heartbroken after losing his dad to covid19 28 members of his family diagnosed with the virus their patriarch dying the day before fathers day. The last thing my dad saw was me suffocating and i have no chance of telling my dad of saying, hey, dad, im okay reporter now governors in states strained from rising cases are trying to prevent future pain. Including arizonas head of state who just pulled the plug on bars, gyms, and pools for a minimum of 30 days we cant be under any illusion that this virus is going to go away on its own. Our expectation is that next week our numbers will be worse reporter 26 states are already seeing a rise in cases with 11 looking at a sharp jump of 100 or more by the last 14 days that includes florida. Rocked by five fold increase in daily cases. Prompting the Holiday Beach closures that caught hotels like the famed ocean drive clevelander off guard. Our hotel guests come to go to the beach so now, you know, most of our hotel guests have canceled their reservations Reporter Hotels like this spend months planning their fourth of july celebrations. In other news, jacksonvill just passed a mandatory requirement on masks in indoor spaces that could potentially impact the Republican National convention in august savannah, back to you. All right sam brock leading us off sam, thank you from florida to texas now and the spike there where doctors are issuing a stark new warning to young people especially as nearly 4,300 new cases of covid19 were reported there on monday alone. Nbcs joe fryer is in houston for us once again this morning joe, good morning to you reporter craig, good morning. Texas once again shattered its record for hospitalizations. Nearly 6,000 patients statewide are now in hospital beds with fears that number will only grow in the coming weeks. [ sirens ] this morning the coronavirus surge continues in texas infections statewide now topping 150,000 with just over 2,400 deaths doctors are sounding the alarm as infections skyrocket. We are definitely seeing this affect young people and theyre getting quite ill. Reporter at houston methodist, eight hospitals, about 60 of the covid19 patients are now under 50. On the front lines in houston, dr. Brad lembeck is seeing an increase in young adults weve had a Broad Age Group even in 20s that are on life support in our intensive care unit the other thing thats concerning are those young individuals live with older people reporter texas bars remain closed and restaurants are limited to half capacity for thousands of students hoping to return to ut austin this fall, any inperson classes will be capped at 40 masks will be mandatory. People that are denying the virus even being real is absolutely insane to me. Reporter 23yearold law student peyton is recovering from covid she said stopping the virus is everyones responsibility. Reporter Wearing Masks if you feel bad, dont go out. Its not all about one individual its about everyone. Reporter this 36yearold was hospitalized for 12 days pretty scary. I had never been hospitalized before reporter her parents and brother were also sick with covid. They all recovered even though im a 21yearold, it still hit me pretty hard. Reporter but curtis and betty did not survive the virus. Together for 53 years they died within an hour of each other holding hands. They walked themselves into the emergency room and then thats it, you dont see them again. Reporter tims last words to his mother were sent by text just said that, you know, she was a great mom, but shes going to be a better angel reporter dr. Lemke told me if cases peak in july even at the end of july, he thinks hospitals will be okay but if cases continue to increase after july, that could be a bigger problem. Craig . Joe fryer there in houston. Joe, thank you we have a lot more ahead including new jerseys governor will join us live. New jersey pausing its reopening now. Well talk to him about the pause next hour. First, breaking news out of washington this morning and has to do with the story that russia allegedly paid bounties on the lives of u. S. Troops overseas. This morning, there are reports that the white house was aware of that intelligence as early as last year. Weve got reaction from the Trump Administration and russia. Lets start with Nbcs Kristen Welker at the white house for us this morning kristen, good morning to you reporter good morning to you, savannah. The white house will brief democratic members of congress about the russia plot today after briefing republicans monday its unusual to have two separate ones for members of different parties. It does come amid calls about what the president knew and when he knew it reporter this morning, the fallout intensifying over that explosive report the russians offered the taliban money for killing u. S. Soldiers in afghanistan the New York Times reporting overnight that american officials provided a written briefing to President Trump about the alleged plot in february citing multiple officials familiar with the matter the times says the investigation has, quote, focussed on an april 2019 car bombing that killed three marines as one such potential attack the Associated Press saying the president was briefed on the issue as far back of march of 2019 including by thenNational Security adviser john bolton but that undercuts the central argument of the white house that the president has not been briefed on the issue a point echoed by his National Security adviser in a statement overnight. Robert obrien writing in part, because the allegations in recent press articles have not been verified or substantiated by the intelligence community, President Trump had not been briefed on the items White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany asked earlier in the day about whether the information was included in one of the president s written briefings. He was not personally briefed on the matter. That is all i can share with you today. Reporter top officials also blasting the leaked information including cia director gina haspel writing overnight, leaks compromise and interrupt the agency work to collect, assess, and ascribe culpability. It all comes as calls for answers bipartisan in just hours adam schiff will be among nine democratic lawmakers briefed on the matter at the white house is this another situation where the president either was told and just rejects it or his people are too scared to tell him because it contradicts this narrative of Vladimir Putin being his buddy . Reporter now, overnight a spokesperson for john bolton said no comment when asked by nbc news about the reports that bolton had briefed the president on the russia matter last year meanwhile, veteran reporter Carl Bernstein who helped break the watergate scandal reports based on hundreds of highly classified phone calls with foreign leaders President Trump was so, quote, consistently unprepared for serious discussions that a number of his former senior officials believed he posed a danger to National Security. Now a white house official fired back at that saying, quote, President Trump is a world class negotiator who has consistently furthered americas interests on the world stage. Savannah, back to you. Kristen welker at the white house. Kristen, thank you a top russian official is now responding to those bounty allegations in a new interview with today correspondent keir simmons. Keir, good morning to you. Whats moscow saying reporter hey, craig. Good morning to you. President putins spokesman denying to me that a secretive russian Intelligence Unit was involved in these allegations saying the kremlin has received no complaint from the white house and not for the first time russia using President Trumps own tweets to underscore its case president putins spokesperson telling nbc news that President Trumps tweets claiming u. S. Intelligence didnt find credible information absolves russia of blame. And those statements indicate indicate that those reports actually arent were not so valuable and not so trustful so thats why speak to the president of the United States reporter Dmitry Peskov using forceful language. If russia was paying money to reward members of the taliban for the killing of american soldiers, would you consider that to be an act of aggression by russia . Would you see it as serious as that i dont think the situation is possible ever maybe i can sound a little bit crude, but this is 100 bull [ bleep ]. Its a nondiplomatic thing, but its bull [ bleep ]. As simple as that. Reporter its not the first time russias military intelligence has been named in reports of secret Russian Operations overseas. 12 gru officers were indicted during the mueller inquiry on charges they hacked computers belonging to democrats in order to impact the 2016 election. And in 2018 the British Government accused gru operatives of carrying out the attempted poisoning of one of their own, sergei skripal. Former officer and his daughter in the uk. That led to the expulsion of Russian Diplomats by more than 20 western allies, including the u. S. Now there are calls for action over the afghanistan claims. In general america is introducing socalled sanctions once in awhile this is a joke this is a joke reporter this week russians are voting on whether to allow the russian president to stand for election for 12 more years craig, it means president putin could be in office leading his country for 36 years whatever america decides to do now could have longterm consequences, craig. Keir simmons for us this morning in london, thank you much more to get to this morning including the u. S. Supreme court expected to hand down more decisions this morning. As it works towards the end of its term it comes on the heels of yesterdays major ruling on abortion chief Justice John Roberts serving as the man in the middle once again nbcs justice corresponden Pete Williams with more on that. Pete, good morning reporter savannah, this last day of june would normally be the final day of Supreme Court rulings but because of the pandemic ten cases remain and the chief justice could furnish more twists as this normally conservative court issues a string of surprising decisions the latest surprise, mondays ruling on abortion rights striking down a louisiana law that would have required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. But challenges said it was medically unnecessary and would have left the entire state just a single doctor to offer those services had to pause everything and run down the hall to yell at the staff we won, we won had we lost this case, two of the three clinics currently providing abortion care probably would have had to close. Reporter chief Justice John Roberts joined the more liberal members in the 54 decision. He said the law was identical to one from texas that the court struck down four years ago, even though he dissented in that texas case, he said its now binding precedent, so louisianas law cannot stand roberts has been key to some of the biggest surprises this term casting the deciding vote to save the daca program that allows unundocumented people known as dreamers to remain in the u. S. And joining the courts 63 majority in saying that existing zil rights laws ban discrimination on the basis of Sexual Orientation and gender identity what does that mean for the last Big Decisions to come . On efforts to get president congress and prosecutor to get President Trumps taxes and financial records . There is precedent two previous rulings said president s nixon and clinton were not immune. To Court Demands for documents and testimony. But the trump case seeks president s personal records from his bankers and accountants, potentially big differences. The chief justice has shown himself to be enough of a centrist the white house has reason to be worried even with President Trumps two appointees now on the court, savannah Pete Williams in washington, see you later. Meantime a california woman is in the hospital because she was gored by a bison at Yellowstone National park. The 72yearold woman was reportedly trying to take photos of bison at the time park Officials Say she approached it within ten feet multiple times and the bison most likely felt threatened the park urges people to keep a minimum of 25 yards away from animals like bison and elk that woman was air lifted to an idaho hospital her condition is not known we do not know if that was the bison in question. No. That may have been could have been file footage. Right we dont know that was the bison that actually gored. We dont. Craig, lets turn to the weather. Shall we its almost 18 minutes after the hour dylan, what you got . Good morning, guys. Nice to see you on this tuesday morning. Weve got some heat. In fact, washington, d. C. , in the middle of its first heat wave of the season weve had several days of temperatures at 90 degrees or higher we do have some heat advisories through the middle of the country where the heat and humidity will combine to make it feel like its well over 100 degrees. Oppressive heat. Temperatures themselves will be around 101 in lubbock, texas also 104 farther to the north there. But the heat index is a little lower because humidity isnt as high in the western part of the state but you move to the east and thats where it will feel like its about 100 to 105 you go further north and we are looking at temperatures in the 80s and 90s. Itll feel like mid90s with the humidity and the heat is very high especially through florida where the heat index feels like its above 105 degrees. And well likely break records in florida this heat will continue through the next couple of days. Were looking for highs to stay in the mid to upper 80s and lower 90s through the end of the week thats a look at the weather across the country well get to your local forecast in the next 30 seconds good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. As we take a live look outside in the sou