a rollercoaster day in court. michael cohen's shocking admission in donald trump's hush money trial.

as the former president's keefs t defense defense team begins their case. a forceful response from prime minister netanyahu and the u.s. law enforcement launching a new search at the home of the alleged gilgo beach serial killer. raising her voice in the fight against a.i. why scarlett johansson is calling out open a.i. over its new chat gpt virtual assistant. and target takes aim at inflation. the retail giant's big plan to cut prices on thousands of items, including household staples like food and detergent. it's monday, may 21st, "early today" starts right now. good morning, thanks for being with me. i'm frances rivera. the criminal hush money trial of donald trump is nearing its end. the prosecution has rested its

case, but there is no shortage of drama as the cross examination of michael cohen wrapped up, the judge started to clash with one of the witnesses for the defense. brie jackson joins us now. and catch us up on what happened in the courtroom. >> reporter: it was another dramatic day of testimony. the defense got one more chance to grill michael cohen. during cross examination, cohen admitted to stealing from the trump organization, saying that he duped his former boss into reimbursing him more money than was owed to a tech firm. cohen said that he did this because he had not received a large enough bonus that year. cohen is the only witness to testify that the former president had advanced knowledge of a scheme to disguise hush money payments to stormy daniels. cohen testified that he has no doubt that mr. trump gave the final signoff, that is something that trump denies. >> it's marked down as legal expense. you have a lawyer. you pay him a legal expense.

and it's covered in the book as legal expense. i had nothing to do with that. the bookkeeper put it down as a legal expense. >> reporter: and the defense called robert costello to the stand. he was an attorney for rudy giuliani, and he advised cohen before they had a falling out. costello disputed cohen's testimony that trump knew about the payments. the judge had a problem with costello's behavior on the stand. judge merchan cleared the courtroom to scold him. according to the transcript, he said if you try to stare me down one more time, i'll remove you from the stand. and, if you don't like my ruling, you don't give pleme si eye or roll your eyes. costello will be back on the stand today. the defense says they don't plan on calling more witnesses, but that decision is subject to change. so there is a small chance that former president trump could still testify, but that's looking less likely. frances? >> the waves it will make if it does. thank you so much, brie.

in arizona, at least 11 so-called fake electors face arraignment in their bid to overturn the 2020 election results. among them, rudy giuliani, however, it's unclear whether he'll appear for arraignment today or if his lawyers have asked for a delay. on friday, another top trump ally, john eastman, pleaded not guilty to charges against him from the arizona case. mark meadows is set to be arraigned next month. democrats are reviving the battle over the border. senate majority leader chuck schumer says there will be a vote thursday on a bipartisan border security package that republicans blocked earlier this year. the bill would reform asylum rules and boost staffing at the border. schumer saying these are issues the gop wants to be addressed. but republicans say they will block the bill again, even senator james lankford, who helped negotiate the package, now says he would vote no. he's accusing democrats of

trying to score political points. israel is reeling this morning after the chief prosecutors for the international criminal court in the hague requested arrest warrants for prime minister benjamin netanyahu and defense minister yoav gallant over the war in gaza. netanyahu put out an angry video statement accusing the court of anti-semitism, for saying israel is deliberately starving palestinians. for the latest, let's get to claudio lavanga. the court did not just target israeli leaders, though. >> reporter: that's right, frances. good morning. well, the chief prosecutors of the international criminal court also requested arrest warrants for three leaders of hamas, the leader of hamas in gaza, the political chief and also the military leader of hamas, essentially saying that hamas and israel are equally responsible for war crimes, and crimes against humanity. let's take a listen to what the chief prosecutors said. >> the crimes include starvation of civilians as a method of

warfare. willfully causing great suffering. serious injury. to body or health or cruel treatment. willful killing or murder. and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population. as well as crimes against humanity, of extermination and/or murder. >> reporter: now hamas said in a statement on their telegram channel that they criticized the decision by the chief prosecutors to equate the victim and executioner. they drew criticism as you mentioned from benjamin netanyahu. let's listen to what he said. >> what a travesty of justice. what a disgrace. the prosecutors's absurd charges against me and israel's defense minister are merely an attempt to deny israel the basic right of self-defense. >> reporter: now the decision

also drew criticism from president biden, who said there is no equivalence between israel and hamas. for now, these are only requests for arrest warrants, as we said, but they need to be approved before they come into effect by a panel of three judges, an international criminal court, but even if that happens, of course, it is very unlikely that the leaders of israel and hamas will be arrested in their own territory, but it will certainly make their international travel very difficult. they could be arrested in any of the countries that are signatories of the icc, frances. >> claudio, thank you. the supreme leader of iran has announced a new presidential election will be held in late june after the country's president raisi was killed in a helicopter crash along with his foreign minister on sunday. here's keir simmons. >> reporter: the wreckage of the fiery crash that killed iran's president and its foreign minister in a region already rocked by instability and war. tv crews reaching the remote

scene. the hard-line leader of america's long-standing adversary dead suddenly, and it seems, by accident. in the streets of tehran, men openly o openly wept for raisi. at some iranian embassies in the west, opponents celebrated. the u.s. says there were no signs of outside interference and saying iran's government reached out for help during the rescue efforts. >> ultimately, largely for logistical reasons we weren't able to provide that assistance. >> reporter: hamas sending its sympathies. since the october 7 terror attacks, iran's proxies have launched multiple offenses, escalating the tension in the region, and from tehran, an advisor to the government telling nbc news not to expect policy changes despite the unexpected death. >> this is a big loss. but, whethern we're talking abo the general direction of the

state, it goes beyond any individual. >> reporter: lester holt sat down with raisi last year in what was among his last interviews with western media. raisi telling lester the billions of dollars unfrozen during a deal with the u.s. in exchange for five american prisoners were tehran's to use as it wanted. >> do you believe you have the right to use that money in any way that you see fit? [speaking in a global language] >> translator: if money belongs to the islamic republic of iran and naturally, we will decide, islamic republic of iran will decide to spend it wherever we need it. >> reporter: riceaisi crushed internal dissent, including over women's human rights. >> especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of iran. that said, we regret any loss of life. >> reporter: elections are set

to take place at the end of june. only then wheill america know which iranian they will face in the years to come. new york state police returned to the long island home of the suspect in the gilgo beach killings to execute a search warrant. according to the attorney for rex heuermann's wife, teams fanned out across the property looking for new clues. 60-year-old rex heuermann was arrested last july for the murders of three women. in january of this year he was also charged with the fourth murder. the murders happened between 1996 and 2011. heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges. the central u.s. is facing a barrage of severe storms that brought tornados, heavy rain and baseball-sized hail. that coming after at least 13 tornados were reported sunday night, tearing through colorado, kansas and oklahoma. several people were injured. meanwhile, in hard-hit texas, nearly 150,000 residents are still without power, as

blistering heat blankets the state. the death count rising to eight after this weekend's powerful storm. and the threat continues as another dangerous system barrels toward the midwest this morning putting millions on alert. angie lassman is here with the latest. good morning, angie. >> good morning, frances. another chance for strong storms today, and for a big chunk of the country. we've got already an active morning with severe thunderstorm watches and warnings. you can see how expansive those thunderstorms already are this morning. they'll ramp up and we'll see the potential for stronger storms to pack a punch. wind gusts over 90 miles per h hour. specifically, davenport, kansas city, springfield, chicago, green bay and minneapolis. and we're not done as we get into tomorrow. notice, we'll see another day where severe storms are

possible. all the impacts are on the table. they'll mainly be focussed across parts of the southern plains. but, from texas to ohio, we'll have that chance to see stronger storms. as we get through the next couple days, too. heavy rain is expected. to washington, d.c. and philadelphia. tracking the 90s for cleveland today with mostly sunny skies. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. "early today" is back in a minute with good news for your wallet. how target is setting its sights on inflation. plus the new breakfast bargain that won't break the bank. '6 that won't break the bank. '6 the bare minimum. anti-dandruff shampoo made with only nine ingredients - no sulfates, silicones or dyes

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but first, target sets its sights on inflation. charlotte reed is tracking it all for us. good morning, charlotte. >> good morning, frances. indeed, target announcing it would lower prices on 5,000 grocery staples like meat, milk, fruit and vegetables and diapers. it will be across national ga brand.ells their and 've ady pricn coitionclu from gh art ttraash-strapped customers who are facing high food prices and high borrowing prices. they are also rolling out new offers. wendy's is offering a $3 breakfast deal that will include seasoned potatoes and a choice of english muffin breakfast. mcdonald's announced a $5 breakfast. the fast food industry is facing declining traffic. if you want to know why customers are cutting back, here is a stat. according to the the burea of ll statistics, the cost of dining out is nearly four times the cost of dining at home. president biden is set to pick a successor to the fdic chair. the chair said he will step down once the senate confirms a successor. in a report, employees accused him of bullying and verbal abuse. he said he takes full responsibility and has apologized. now, to a difficult truth for donald trump's media

company. trump media, the parent company of truth social lost over $320 million in the first quarter of the year. with the revenue of less than 800,000, according to the earnings report. trump media filed with the sec on monday. it's one of the first measures of the company's true financial health since debuted as a public company on the stock exchange in march. still to come, black widow is unleashing her venom. why is scarlett johansson calling out open a.i. n calling out open a.i. so if you're frustrated with occasional bloating... ♪♪ [stomach noises] gas... or abdominal discomfort... help stop the frustration and start taking align every day. align probiotic was specifically designed by gastroenterologists to help relieve your occasional digestive upsets. so you can enjoy life. when you feel the signs,

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are you leaving me? >> we're all leaving. >> we who? >> all of the u.s. is. >> open a.i. is in hot water after getting under the skin of one oscar nominee. on monday, scarlett johansson

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addition to their k-9 unit. thing is, they couldn't find a place for him. they called prince georges county and it gave boomer a new leash on life. >> the ability to add another resource to our department, when anne arundel called to don'ate the dog we were excited. >> reporter: he went through training, like placing him in a dumpster with bottles, for noise. >> he basically went from a kennel dog that was not very sociable to a working dog, as you can see, he can be around people. very sociable. and just a good working dog. >> reporter: the tradition of dogs in the fire department goes back to the days when the fire apparatus was horse drawn. they used dalmatians. they kept the horses calm and guide the horses on the street and clear the way ahead of them. that's changed, and technology's changed. but there's still a place for

k-9s. >> we'll utilize him on suspicious package calls. special events in the county. >> reporter: prince georges county is one of several jurisdictions where the bomb squad operates under the aegis of the fire marshal. he will be going home with his handler to be part of a pack of four other dogs. and at work he's part of an adopted family of first responders. >> he's excited to work every day. and just living life to its fullest now. >> great for boomer. great for those officers, too, who get to work with him. and our thanks to derrick ward for that report. thanks for kicking off your day with "early today." have a hi, i'm eileen. i live in vancouver, washington and i write mystery novels. as i was writing, i found that i just wasn't sharp and that doesn't work when you're writing a mystery and i knew i needed to do something so i started taking prevagen. i realized that i was much more clear,

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