Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien will testify before the House Jan. 6 select committee on Monday, in a hearing that will focus on Trump’s decision to declare victory against Joe Biden on election night and knowledge that he was spreading lies of widespread election fraud.
Stepien will appear before the committee on a panel with Chris Stirewalt, the former Fox News political editor who was fired after defending the network’s early projection that Trump had lost Arizona on election night — a move that infuriated the former president.
A political consultant now advising Harriet Hageman, the Trump-endorsed primary challenger to Jan. 6 committee leader Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, Stepien will testify before the committee under subpoena Monday, his attorney confirmed to ABC News.
A second panel of witnesses in the roughly two-hour hearing will include Al Schmidt, a former Republican city commissioner in Philadelphia who repeatedly debunked claims of fraud in the state; veteran GOP election lawyer Ben Ginsburg, and Byung “BJay” Pak, a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Pak previously told Senate investigators he resigned in January 2021 after learning Trump sought to fire him over not doing more to amplify his false claims of widespread election fraud in Georgia.
In a Los Angeles Times op-ed after the Capitol riot, Stirewalt, who was fired from Fox News on Jan. 19, 2021, wrote that after the Arizona call, he “became a target of murderous rage from consumers who were furious at not having their views confirmed.”
On a briefing call with reporters Sunday evening, select committee aides said Monday’s hearing will explore Trump and his campaign’s actions in the days and weeks after election night, and the decision to push “the Big Lie to millions of supporters” and fundraise off claims that rioters later used to justify attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The questioning of live witnesses, along with clips of interviews the committee videotaped with other key witnesses, will show how Trump was told he had lost the election and lacked evidence of widespread voter fraud as he continued to claim the election was stolen from him, aides said.
“I think we can prove to any reasonable, open-minded person that Donald Trump absolutely knew, because he was surrounded by lawyers, including the attorney general of the United States, William Barr, telling him in no uncertain terms, in terms that Donald Trump could understand, this is B.S.,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, said Sunday on CNN.
The committee hearing, which will be guided in part by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, will show “how litigation to challenge elections usually works,” and argue that Trump had an “obligation” to “abide by the rule of law” when his dozens of lawsuits failed in courts across the country.
Nearly 20 million people watched the committee’s prime-time hearing last Thursday, the first of seven planned for this month.
Using never-before-seen video of the Capitol assault and testimony from Barr and Trump’s own daughter, Ivanka, the committee laid out the broad findings of its inquiry, placing Trump at the center of an “attempted coup” last year.
Hearings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday will explore Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department to investigate and spread false claims of widespread election fraud, and force Vice President Mike Pence to block the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 13, 9:26 am
Bodies of tortured men exhumed in Bucha
Another mass grave has been dug up in Bucha, uncovering the bodies of seven men who authorities believe were tortured and killed during the bloody occupation of the city in March.
Police told ABC News their hands were tied with ropes behind their backs and they were shot in the knees and head.
“They were killed in a cruel way,” police spokesperson Iryna Pryanyshnykova said. “These were civilian victims. The people here were killed by Russian soldiers and later they were just put into a grave to try to hide this war crime.”
It’s not clear why the men were killed, Pryanyshnykova said.
She said experts will analyze DNA to identify the victims.
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Jun 13, 6:24 am
Zelenskyy: Ukraine fighting for ‘every meter’ of Severodonetsk
Russian forces have pushed the Armed Forces of Ukraine out of the center of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian officials said.
“They are pressing in Severodonetsk, where very fierce fighting is going on — literally for every meter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address on Sunday evening.
Russian forces now control about 70% of the city, as intense shelling makes mass evacuation and the transportation of goods impossible, Sergiy Haidai, another Ukrainian official, said.
Around 500 people, including 40 children, are sheltering in the city’s Azot chemical plant, Haidai said.
While the Ukrainians try to organize their evacuation, authorities of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic have given an ultimatum to Ukrainian troops in the city.
“They have two options: either follow the example of their colleagues and give up, or die. They have no other option,” said Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the People’s Militia Department of the DPR.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd and Tanya Stukalova
Jun 12, 5:33 pm
Zelenskyy sends virtual message to Sean Penn’s CORE benefit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the annual Hollywood fundraiser for actor Sean Penn’s nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) Saturday night with a powerful video message urging people to continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“All of you have heard about the horrors that Ukraine is going through. Tens of thousands of explosions and shots, hundreds of thousands wounded and killed, millions who have lost their homes,” Zelenskyy said in his virtual speech. “All of this is not a logline for a horror film. All of this is our reality.”
Zelenskyy’s video message included footage showing missiles striking homes and apartment complexes in Ukraine, civilians dead in the streets of Ukrainian cities and children playing in parks amid the backdrop of bombed buildings.
Among those attending the CORE fundraiser, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angles, were Penn and CORE co-founder Ann Lee, former President Bill Clinton, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, singer John Legend, and actors Patrick Stewart and Sharon Stone.
The group said the event raised more than $2.5 million for CORE’s disaster relief and preparedness work, including its urgent humanitarian response in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy noted that Penn traveled to Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion and witnessed the atrocities firsthand. He thanked Penn and his group for the continued support for Ukraine.
“We have been resisting it for 107 days in a row,” Zelenskyy said of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. “We can stop it together. Support Ukraine, because Ukraine is fighting for the whole world, for democracy, for freedom, for life.”
Jun 12, 4:17 pm
Russia’s firepower superiority 10 times that of Ukraine’s in Luhansk: Military chief
Ukraine’s Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said Sunday that he told his American counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that Russian firepower superiority in the Luhansk region is far greater than that of Ukrainian forces.
Zaluzhny said that during a briefing he told Milley that Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the north of the Luhansk region, where they are using artillery “en masse” and their firepower superiority is 10 times that of Ukraine’s.
“Despite everything, we keep holding our positions,” Zaluzhny said.
Zaluzhny also said Russia has deployed up to seven battalion tactical groups in Severdonetsk, a city in the Luhansk region. He said Russian shelling of residential areas in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine has resumed.
Russian forces destroyed a second bridge leading into Severodonetsk and are now targeting a third bridge in an effort to completely cut off the city, Luhansk region Gov. Sergiy Haidai said Sunday. Ukraine’s army still controls around one third of the city, he said.
Haidai said that Ukrainian forces are still holding onto the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where around 500 civilians are taking shelter.
If Severodonetsk falls, Lysychansk will be the only city in the Luhansk region that remains under Ukraine’s control.
Zaluzhny said that as of Sunday, the front line of the war stretched 1,522 miles and that active combat was taking place on at least 686 miles of the front line.
Zaluzhny said that during his briefing with Milley, he reiterated Ukraine’s urgent request for more 155 mm caliber artillery systems.
Jun 12, 12:48 pm
Russian cruise missile attack confirmed in western Ukraine
Russia claims a cruise missile strike destroyed a large warehouse in western Ukraine storing weapons supplied to the Ukrainians by the United States and European allies.
While police in the Ternopil region of Ukraine, where at least one cruise missile hit, told ABC News that no weapons were destroyed, the region’s governor said part of a military facility was damaged.
Ternopil’s governor Volodymyr Trush posted a video showing widespread damage from what he said were four Russian missiles launched Saturday from the Black Sea. Trush said 22 people were wounded, including a 12-year-old child, in the missile strikes.
In addition to the military facility, Trush said four five-story residential apartment buildings were damaged. One of the missiles hit a gas pipeline, he said.
Russia’s defense ministry said Kalibr high presicion sea-based, long-range missiles struck near Chortkiv in the Ternopil province and destroyed a large warehouse full of anti-tank missile systems, portable anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery shells supplied by the United States and European countries.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 13, 6:24 am
Zelenskyy: Ukraine fighting for ‘every meter’ of Severodonetsk
Russian forces have pushed the Armed Forces of Ukraine out of the center of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian officials said.
“They are pressing in Severodonetsk, where very fierce fighting is going on — literally for every meter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address on Sunday evening.
Russian forces now control about 70% of the city, as intense shelling makes mass evacuation and the transportation of goods impossible, Sergiy Haidai, another Ukrainian official, said.
Around 500 people, including 40 children, are sheltering in the city’s Azot chemical plant, Haidai said.
While the Ukrainians try to organize their evacuation, authorities of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic have given an ultimatum to Ukrainian troops in the city.
“They have two options: either follow the example of their colleagues and give up, or die. They have no other option,” said Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the People’s Militia Department of the DPR.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd and Tanya Stukalova
Jun 12, 5:33 pm
Zelenskyy sends virtual message to Sean Penn’s CORE benefit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the annual Hollywood fundraiser for actor Sean Penn’s nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) Saturday night with a powerful video message urging people to continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“All of you have heard about the horrors that Ukraine is going through. Tens of thousands of explosions and shots, hundreds of thousands wounded and killed, millions who have lost their homes,” Zelenskyy said in his virtual speech. “All of this is not a logline for a horror film. All of this is our reality.”
Zelenskyy’s video message included footage showing missiles striking homes and apartment complexes in Ukraine, civilians dead in the streets of Ukrainian cities and children playing in parks amid the backdrop of bombed buildings.
Among those attending the CORE fundraiser, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angles, were Penn and CORE co-founder Ann Lee, former President Bill Clinton, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, singer John Legend, and actors Patrick Stewart and Sharon Stone.
The group said the event raised more than $2.5 million for CORE’s disaster relief and preparedness work, including its urgent humanitarian response in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy noted that Penn traveled to Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion and witnessed the atrocities firsthand. He thanked Penn and his group for the continued support for Ukraine.
“We have been resisting it for 107 days in a row,” Zelenskyy said of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. “We can stop it together. Support Ukraine, because Ukraine is fighting for the whole world, for democracy, for freedom, for life.”
Jun 12, 4:17 pm
Russia’s firepower superiority 10 times that of Ukraine’s in Luhansk: Military chief
Ukraine’s Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said Sunday that he told his American counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that Russian firepower superiority in the Luhansk region is far greater than that of Ukrainian forces.
Zaluzhny said that during a briefing he told Milley that Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the north of the Luhansk region, where they are using artillery “en masse” and their firepower superiority is 10 times that of Ukraine’s.
“Despite everything, we keep holding our positions,” Zaluzhny said.
Zaluzhny also said Russia has deployed up to seven battalion tactical groups in Severdonetsk, a city in the Luhansk region. He said Russian shelling of residential areas in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine has resumed.
Russian forces destroyed a second bridge leading into Severodonetsk and are now targeting a third bridge in an effort to completely cut off the city, Luhansk region Gov. Sergiy Haidai said Sunday. Ukraine’s army still controls around one third of the city, he said.
Haidai said that Ukrainian forces are still holding onto the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where around 500 civilians are taking shelter.
If Severodonetsk falls, Lysychansk will be the only city in the Luhansk region that remains under Ukraine’s control.
Zaluzhny said that as of Sunday, the front line of the war stretched 1,522 miles and that active combat was taking place on at least 686 miles of the front line.
Zaluzhny said that during his briefing with Milley, he reiterated Ukraine’s urgent request for more 155 mm caliber artillery systems.
Jun 12, 12:48 pm
Russian cruise missile attack confirmed in western Ukraine
Russia claims a cruise missile strike destroyed a large warehouse in western Ukraine storing weapons supplied to the Ukrainians by the United States and European allies.
While police in the Ternopil region of Ukraine, where at least one cruise missile hit, told ABC News that no weapons were destroyed, the region’s governor said part of a military facility was damaged.
Ternopil’s governor Volodymyr Trush posted a video showing widespread damage from what he said were four Russian missiles launched Saturday from the Black Sea. Trush said 22 people were wounded, including a 12-year-old child, in the missile strikes.
In addition to the military facility, Trush said four five-story residential apartment buildings were damaged. One of the missiles hit a gas pipeline, he said.
Russia’s defense ministry said Kalibr high presicion sea-based, long-range missiles struck near Chortkiv in the Ternopil province and destroyed a large warehouse full of anti-tank missile systems, portable anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery shells supplied by the United States and European countries.
Carrie Underwood finds musical inspiration everywhere — it can be a line that pops into her head when she wakes up, or an off-hand comment from one of her kids — but the #1 surprising place she gets ideas is in the shower.
“I feel like I think a lot when I’m in the shower,” she tells Jimmie Allen during a new interview between the two country stars for Entertainment Tonight.
“I feel like I have to stop what I’m doing and grab my phone, all sopping wet, and type something down,” she continues.
“And then you need a new phone,” Jimmie jokes. “Not anymore! They’re kinda waterproof,” Carrie shoots back.
The two artists aren’t just interview buddies and mutual fans — they’re also future tourmates. Jimmie will be the opening act on Carrie’s Diamond & Rhinestones Tour, which launches this October and runs into spring 2023.
For People magazine‘s June Pride Month issue, Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts opens up about coming out to an important member of her family.
She recalls telling her sister Dorothy she was gay and the support she received as a result of speaking her truth.
“I decided to tell my sister Dorothy [when] I was in my 20s. I knew I had to tell her,” she said before delving into details of that moment. “We went out to lunch. I’ll never forget it. We’re sitting down, I’m working up the nerve, over sweet tea, to ‘spillthe tea.’ And right when I say to her, just like out of the movies, ‘Dorothy, I’m gay,’ the server put down our lunch. Then he fiddled around for what felt like five minutes.”
Roberts said her sister responded by crying, but not because she was upset at the news. “I look at her and she goes, ‘Oh, oh, I’m not crying because you told me you’re gay. I’m crying because you love me enough to tell me that.'”
The 61-year-old TV host came out publicly in 2013, revealing Amber Laign as her longtime girlfriend in a Facebook status update about her health after a bone marrow transplant. “I was just thanking everybody. I thanked my doctors, my parents. But then, was I not going to thank this woman who had been by me through this illness?” she said of the social media post. “I did it because I love Amber.”
Roberts says she was afraid to tell the world her secret “because I was afraid people couldn’t think I could be a Christian and gay.”
“To see how the public was so supportive, that really opened my eyes,” she said.
Not surprisingly, the 15-track collection is packed with revved-up rock anthems and tunes influenced by 70 glam rock. However, the group takes bit of a sonic detour on two tracks — “This Guitar” and “Lifeless” — melodic ballads that feature frontman Joe Elliott teaming up with Robert Plant‘s favorite duet partner, acclaimed country/bluegrass artist Alison Krauss.
Bassist Rick “Sav” Savage tells ABC Audio that the band decided to ask Krauss to contribute to the songs because they thought her voice would be perfect for the tunes, while also knowing that she was a longtime fan of the group.
“Well, she’s just got the voice of an angel,” Sav notes. “And we’ve known her for years and years and years. She actually interviewed Joe back in ’96 for Q magazine in England…So it was like, ‘Let’s just ask her,’ you know, guessing that she’d just say yes…And obviously, she was delighted to be involved.”
Elliott, meanwhile, tells ABC Audio that when the band sent Krauss the two songs, they initially intended have her just choose her favorite to sing on, but things worked out differently.
“[S]he says, ‘I can’t pick. I don’t know which one I want to do,'” Joe recalls. “So we just said, ‘Well, you want to do ’em both?’ And she was like, ‘Really? I would love to.'”
Elliot adds that he was impressed with how creative Krauss got with her vocal parts.
“[S]he comes back with not just the harmony vocal, but all these little counter melody arrangements of herself doing three-part harmonies,” Joe enthuses. “It’s like, what great work, you know?…[She] just colored it up really well.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
NY Yankees 18, Chicago Cubs 4
Houston 9, Miami 4
NY Mets 4, LA Angels 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cleveland 6, Oakland 3
Toronto 6, Detroit 0
Tampa Bay 6, Minnesota 0
Baltimore 10, Kansas City 7
Texas 8, Chi White Sox 6
Boston 2, Seattle 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta 5, Pittsburgh 3
Milwaukee 4, Washington 1
Arizona 13, Philadelphia 1
Cincinnati 7, St. Louis 6
Colorado 4, San Diego 2
San Francisco 2, LA Dodgers 0
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Chi 88, New York 86
Seattle 84, Dallas 79
Phoenix 99, Washington 90 (OT)
Indiana 84, Minnesota 80
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
New England 2, Sporting Kansas City 1
(NEW YORK) — At least six mass shootings have occurred across the country since Friday night, making this the fourth consecutive weekend in which U.S. law enforcement officers have responded to multiple incidents involving four or more victims shot.
Shootings this weekend have left at least three people dead and 23 injured in six cities, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a site that tracks shootings across the country. The website defines a mass shooting as a single incident involving four or more victims.
The string of consecutive weekend mass casualty incidents began over the Memorial Day holiday, when at least 17 shootings left a total of 13 dead and 79 injured in cities across the country, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn. Last weekend, at least 11 mass shootings erupted, leaving a total of 17 dead and 62 injured across the nation.
Since a May 14 suspected racially motivated attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket left 10 Black people dead and 18-year-old white teenager charged with multiple counts of murder, there have been at least 63 mass shootings nationwide, an average of two per day, including the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Adding to the carnage, were mass-casualty shootings this weekend in New Orleans, Detroit, Louisville, Kentucky; Decatur, Georgia; Antioch, Tenn., and for the third straight weekend in Chicago.
The shootings this weekend came as a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators announced Sunday that they have reached agreement on the framework of a plan to curb what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., described as “the gun violence epidemic that has plagued our country and terrorized our children for far too long.”
4 injured in New Orleans street shooting
At least four people were injured when a shooting erupted on a street in New Orleans early Sunday, authorities said.
The shooting unfolded around 4 a.m. at an intersection in the Mid-City section of the New Orleans, leaving four men with injuries to the neck, knee, elbow and hand, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement. The victims were all taken to hospitals in private vehicles, police said.
No additional information on the shooting was released.
4 shot, 2 fatally, at Tennessee pool party
Two men were killed and two others were wounded when gunfire broke out at a pool party in suburban Nashville, Saturday night, police said.
The shooting occurred just after 10 p.m. at the Hickory Hollow Apartment complex in Antioch, Tennessee, roughly 11 miles southeast of Nashville, police said.
Police sources told ABC affiliate WKRN in Nashville that an exchange of gunfire broke out during a birthday party that was going on at the apartment complex’s swimming pool.
Officers responding to calls of shots fired found one victim, whose name was not immediately released, dead at the scene and others wounded, according to police. A victim, identified by police as 20-year-old Kalem Burford, was taken by private car to Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, where he was pronounced dead.
The two wounded victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Homicide investigators were working Sunday to identify a suspect or suspects and a motive for the shooting.
5 injured in Chicago drive-by shooting
Five people were injured, one critically, in a shooting Saturday afternoon on the South Side of Chicago, authorities said.
The episode unfolded in an alley in the Gresham neighborhood, where a group of people were gathered, according to an incident report from the Chicago Police Department. Around 3:20 p.m., a car drove up to the group and at least one occupant opened fire, police said.
One victim was shot multiple times and was taken to a hospital in critical condition while three men ranging in age from 24 to 42 were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
No arrests have been announced.
5 teenagers shot near Louisville bridge
Five teenagers were injured Saturday when a barrage of gunfire was unleashed on a group of people gathered near the Big Four Bridge in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The shooting occurred just after 9 p.m. and arriving officers found three teenagers suffering from gunshot injuries, including one critically wounded, LMPD Maj. Brian Kuriger said at a news conference Saturday. Two other teenagers with non-life threatening injuries were taken to a hospital in a private vehicle, he said.
Two teenagers later arrived at the hospital for treatment in their own car with non-life-threatening injuries.
No arrests were announced.
4 shot at Detroit bachelor party
At least four people were shot Saturday during a bachelor party at a short-term rental house in Detroit, police said.
The shooting erupted around 12:25 p.m. in the Davison-Schoolcraft neighborhood on the west side of the city. Police said they are searching for a black SUV that witnesses said drove up to the front of the home and at least one occupant opened fire.
All of the victims were treated at hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
No one has been arrested in the incident.
1 killed, 3 injured in Georgia restaurant shooting
A 48-year-old man was killed and three other men were injured when a shooting broke out in a restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, according to police.
A preliminary investigation indicates that a fight over a woman escalated into a shooting at about 11:30 p.m. Friday at Fletcher’s Place, a restaurant in the Gallery at South DeKalb shopping mall, according to the DeKalb County Police Department.
All four shooting victims were taken to area hospitals in serious to critical condition, including the man who was pronounced dead, police said. The slain victim was identified by police as Daletavious McGuire.
Police told ABC affiliate station WSB-TV in Atlanta that they suspect the shooting started when an intoxicated customer got into an argument over a woman with either another customer or employee.
(FURNACE CREEK, Calif.) — Tens of millions of residents in the Southwestern U.S. are experiencing dangerous heat, with triple-digit temperatures blanketing much of the region.
The most brutal heat is concentrated over Texas, where recording-breaking temperatures are expected in Amarillo, Abilene and possibly Dallas, near 105 degrees.
In California, Furnace Creek is expected to hit 118 degrees, while Phoenix is predicted to be 113 degrees, and Las Vegas 109 degrees.
While the heat is expected to ease in the coming days across the Southwest, fire danger in the region will ramp up as strong, gusty winds replace the blistering temperatures.
Red flag warnings will begin on Sunday from southern Nevada to northern New Mexico. Fire watches have also been issued for portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.
More than 85% of the West is experiencing drought conditions, making the fire danger even more of a threat.
The scorching heat will then move east, with the brunt of it focused over the center of the country on Monday. Widespread hot air temperatures and humid conditions will produce triple-digit heat index values across much of the Plains and into the South Monday afternoon. It will be feeling like it’s 105 to 110 degrees in some cities from Texas and into the Plains as far north as Nebraska and Southern states like Alabama and Tennessee during the peak heat on Monday.
On Tuesday, widespread temperatures in the 90s in the Midwest and much of the Southeast. Daily record highs will likely be challenged from Michigan to North and South Carolina by midweek.
ABC News’ Daniel Amarante and Dan Peck contributed to this report.
