a courtroom clash. donald trump's defense team goes head to head with his former fixer, michael cohen. the heated cross examination in the former president's hush money trial. and the big-name republicans showing their support in court. a horrifying highway crash in florida.

at least eight people are dead and dozens more injured after a pickup truck slam flmed into a . president biden takes on beijing. we are live in d.c. with why the administration is slapping huge tariffs on chinese goods, from electric vehicles to steel and aluminum. look who's talking. artificial intelligence is ready to get real with you. the tech you'll need to hear to believe. and get ready to catch the feve f fever. wednesday is just tipping off as "early today" starts right now. good morning, glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. we start with the dramatic showdown in a manhattan courtroom. donald trump's defense team getting the chance to question michael cohen, a friend turned foe of the former president. cohen is a key witness for the prosecution. mr. trump's attorneys hitting him with questions to attack his

credibility. here's nbc's alice barr. >> reporter: the prosecution's star witness, michael cohen, put to the test. under blistering cross examination, former president trump's one-time fixer and personal lawyer sticking to his guns and rejecting the trump defense team's efforts to paint him as a lying, convicted criminal with an ax to grind. cohen's testimony ties together past witness accounts and documents, outlining payments right before the 2016 election to keep ex-porn star stormy daniels quiet about an alleged one-night stand all of which mr. trump denies. during questioning by the prosecution, cohen said he paid daniels $130,000, quote, to ensure that the story would not come out, would not affect mr. trump's chances of becoming president of the united states. asked at whose direction he paid daniels, he replied trump's. he said trump repaid him with

mont monthly checks that were falsely labeled as legal expenses. cohen expressed regret and said he ultimately, quote, made a decision, based on conversation with my family i would not lie for president trump any longer. the former president complaining that he can't publicly respond because of a judge's order protecting witnesses. >> the gag order has to come off. >> reporter: allies can speak on mr. trump's behalf. >> they have him tied up here in this ridiculous prosecution that is not about justice. it's all about politics. >> reporter: house speaker mike johnson joining the stream of republican lawmakers coming to court to back their party's presidential candidate. in washington, alice barr, nbc news. new this morning, another headache for boeing. the justice department says the company violated a deal, shielding it from criminal prosecution. it's over two deadly accidents involving 737 max planes.

the doj stating in a court filing that boeing had failed to design, implement and enforce an ethics program to prevent and detect fraud loss. they made the finding after the emergency door blowout in january. and in two separate crashes in indonesia and ethiopia six years ago, 346 people were killed. the finding opens up boeing to potential criminal prosecution over those accidents, blamed on the faulty flight stabilizing system. for its part, boeing said it believes it has honored the terms of the agreement with the doj. president biden is accusing china of cheating when it comes to trade. the president is slapping higher tariffs on $18 billion worth of products from china. nbc's drew petramoix joins us from d.c. one of the biggest products impacted by this move is hi electric vehicles.

>> reporter: yes. china is preparing to sell subsidized evs for as low as $10,000. the tax rate to import these cars will rise over 100%. there will also be hikes on other chinese products including steel and aluminum, lithium ion batteries and medical supplies. the trump campaign has floated the idea of a 10% tariff on all imported goods, not just from china. mr. trump has accused the president of not being tough enough. >> china's eating our lunch right now. >> he says china's eating our lunch. >> he's been feeding them a long time. >> reporter: president biden seems to be stepping up the personal attacks on his 2024 rival. here's what he said at an event last night. >> that other guy. that loser. i think he's having trouble. i'll never forget him lying about the pandemic, telling americans to inject bleach into

their skin. i wonder if he did it. might explain some things anyway. >> reporter: the trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on those remarks, but the former president does not have court today, so we could see a response soon. >> pretty much inevitable, safe to say. drew, thank you. eight tiktok creators are suing the u.s. government saying a new law forcing a ban or sale of the app is unconstitutional. among the creators are a banker, activist and rapper, all with big followings. last week, tiktok suedthe government citing first amendment issues. the doj defended the legislation, saying the china-owned app is a national security threat. a man is in custody for a crash that killed eight people and injured dozens more.

investigators say he was driving the pickup truck that crash flood a bus carrying migrant farm workers. sam blocksrock has the details. >> reporter: in florida, a deadly crash on a country road. >> obvious lly we're here becau of a tragedy. >> reporter: just after 6:30 in the morning, a retired school bus carrying more than 50 migrant workers to a watermelon farm sideswiped by a pickup truck. >> the bus traveled off of the roadway onto the grass shoulder where it struck a tree and overturned. >> reporter: 38 ambulances rushing people to hospitals. >> there's high probability this may be beyond eight fatalities. >> reporter: florida highway patrol identifying the driver of the pickup truck as 41-year-old brian mclean howard, with a lengthy criminal history, now

charged with eight counts of dui manslaughter. locals in this largely-agr largely-agricultural area say these back roads can be dangerous. >> this area has a lot of traffic incidence. over the past several years, it's been even worse. >> reporter: authorities say weather might have been a factor and promise a full investigation into exactly what caused the fatal crash but say that review could last six months. >> i'm confident we will have answers for the family, to be able to give them closure of why we have this crash. >> reporter: for now, this wreckage offers only sorrowful questions and inconsolable heartbreak. ocala, florida. the national transportation safety board is shining light on what went wrong aboard the dali. the containership crashed in march killing six workers. the ship lost power while docked about ten hours before setting off. then twice that night. the second time coming when the ship was just 350 yards from the

bridge. the crew alerted authorities immediately but did not have time to anchor the vessel or get tugboats to steer it to safety. a billion dollar lottery jackpot has turned into a messy lawsuit for one family. an anonymous winner in maine even has his parents turning against him in a legal dispute. the winner, who got about $500 million after taxes sued the mother of his child, accusing her of violating an nda by telling family members about the win. in new court documents obtained by the daily beast, the winner's father says that's not true. he says his son told him about the money himself. the father also says the son made promises about how he would share the money, and now they are not speaking. the rain is going to put a damper on the morning commute for millions across the east. nbc meteorologist angie lassman is tracking that system for us. good morning, angie. >> we do have some rain especially across the mid atlantic this morning. but strong thunderstorms happening across florida.

we do have the tornado watch in effect until 11:00 a.m. potentially even more strong storms into the afternoon. here is the wet weather we're expecting for the early morning commute. you're going to have a couple rounds of that. umbrella handy would be a good idea over the next couple days. a couple trouble spots. 21 million people included in this. the biggest threat is winds, 70, 75 miles per hour, but hail and an isolated tornado can't be ruled out. as we get through today and tomorrow the showers will linger across the northeast. heads up about that. hence the reason we want to keep the umbrella handy. as we look to the south, we're going to look to the potential for flash flooding concerns, especially on the areas that have already had really saturated grounds with repeated rounds of rain over the next couple days. expected. no surprise if we see flooding. especially considering we have the chance for 1 to 3 inches in some o 60s, too,

for new york. mid-60s in philadelphia and rain from washington to boston. and that's a look at your forecast, back to you. now an emotional moment here in new york when a new top dog won her crown. >> the best in show winner at the 148th annual westminster kennel club dog show is a miniature poodle. [cheers and applause] >> look at the handler there. so emotional. and the winner is sage, the 3-year-old pup from houston, texas, the fourth miniature poodle to take home best in show. her handler and breeder has been competing at westminster for 45 years. he said this is his last show. coming up, case lynitlin cl

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unusual happen recently? >> yes, actually. >> reporter: the company demoing a variety of uses, from coding to tutoring, and even real-time tr translation. [speaking in a global language] >> hey, i've been good. just a bit busy here preparing for an event next week. >> i really want maximal emotion. >> reporter: another key development, picking up on and using an emotional cue. >> let's amplify the drama. >> once upon a time, in a world not too different from ours -- >> reporter: sam altmann dropping a single-word hint at his source of inspiration. "her", a reference to spike jonze' film about a man who falls in love with his a.i. assistant, voiced by scarlett johansson. google with with aaaannounceme

th announcement of their own, previewing project astra, a project they're billing as the future of a.i. assistants. do you remember where you saw my glasses? >> yes, i do. your glasses were on the desk near a red apple. >> reporter: google says their assistant will be available to users later this year. >> just amazing. >> reporter: but the new, exciting generation of a.i. chatbot is raising eyebrows among watchdogs. >> we have here a very intense multi-billion dollar, if not multi-trillion dollar arms race between some of the biggest tech companies on the planet. so they are taking no prisoners. they are not waiting for anyone. they are release, release, release. >> reporter: the founder of true media.org. >> i don't view this as revolutionary. i view this as one more step towards our all-a.i., all the time. >> reporter: but whether we're

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the knicks can close it out on friday. and nikola jokic dropped 40 points on the timberwolves in the win. denver can clench a berth in the fi finals with a win on thursday. caitlin clark made her pro debut with the indiana fever on tuesday, but despite the incredible hype, it wasn't the best night for women's hoops' phenom. clark struggled in the season-opening loss to the connecticut sun. she didn't get points on the board until halfway through the second quarter, but no amount of opening night quijitters can dan the hype. . >> reporter: as caitlin clark gets ready to play her first regular season game in the wnba in front of a sold-out arena, there is a buzz among the fans. scale of one to ten. how excited are you to see her

play tonight? >> ten out of ten. >> reporter: ten out of ten. >> reporter: and among the players. >> everyone's pumped. >> reporter: while the star herself is as cool as ever. what does it feel like to be in this sold-out crowd tonight? >> i think it will be good. i don't think it's any different than college. >> reporter: the preseason game drew huge crowds. since she joined the fiever, ticket sales have skyrocketed. it comes as the wnba announces the addition of a new team, the golden state valkyries. and teams have started flying private charters to games. fans are sticking around to see what the 22-year-old can do in the pros. hoping for a few more of those logo threes. what's a logo three? this is the logo in the middle of the court.

she shoots from here, all the way to there and makes it all the time. clark went first in the draft just last month. >> the indiana fever select caitlin clark. >> reporter: her pro career officially begins, bringing in new fans and transforming the league. stephanie gosk, nbc news, connecticut. >> can't wait to see her back in indiana, too. thanks for starting your wednesday with "early today." i'm frances rivera. hope you have a good one. see you back here tomorrow. back. hi, i'm katie. i live in flagstaff, arizona. i'm an older student. i'm getting my doctorate in clinical psychology. i do a lot of hiking and kayaking. i needed something to help me gain clarity. so i was in the pharmacy and i saw a display of prevagen and i asked the pharmacist about it. i started taking prevagen and i noticed that i had more cognitive clarity. memory is better. it's been about two years now and it's working for me.

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