good friday morning. coming up on "early today," anthony weiner's mayoral campaign appears to be unraveling faster than you can hit send on your smartphone. your credit or debit cards compromised? 160 million card numbers were stolen. life without parole, plus a thousand years. a plea deal in the works for ariel castro. plus, the fun uncle harry speaks out about nephew george. nancy reagan's reaction to jane fonda plays her. and the cowboys' owner wants to make this building more popular than the white house. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for friday, july 26th. >> good friday morning. i'm richard lui.

anthony weiner's bombshell admissions keep oncoming. anthony weiner now says he sexted up to three women after similar behavior forced him to apologize and resign from congress in 2011. >> it is not dozens and dozens. it is 6 to 10, i suppose. but i can't tell you absolutely what someone else is going to consider inappropriate or not. >> were they sexual? how many conversations did you have with women after you resigned that were sexual in nature? >> i don't believe i had any more than three. >> well, this new admission comes on the heels of tuesday's press conference when weiner, with wife by his side, said he sexted a woman as recently as last year. all of this has taken a toll on his popularity. weiner has fallen behind city council speaker christine quinn. she leads weiner 25% to 16% right now. just a month ago, weiner edged

quinn by 5 percentage points in the crowded democratic field. the new poll finds a dramatic shift of registered democrats' impressions of weiner. 55% now have a negative impression of weiner. a spike of 19% since june. 30% see him favorably. a second juror spoke publicly in the wake of george zimmerman's acquittal. take a listen. >> george zimmerman got away with murder. but you can't get away from god. and at the end of the day, he's going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with. the law could improve it. but, you know, you know the world goes in circles. >> mattie, who is going by just one name to protect her identity was the only minority juror on the panel of six women. she told abc she fought to the end. ultimately she realized there was not enough proof to convict zimmerman of a crime. she says she believes she owes trayvon martin's parents an

apology. martin's mother, sybrina fulton, said in a statement, quote, it is devastating for my family to hear the comments from juror b-29. comments which we already knew in our hearts to be true. george zimmerman literally got away with murder, end quote. federal authorities are calling it the biggest data breach in our nation's history. the private information of millions of americans was stolen from major companies and big name stores. losses hit hundreds of millions of dollars. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington, d.c. for us. good morning to you. we got to ask, who was behind this? >> reporter: well, four russian nationals and one ukrainian according to the government. they have been indicted in connection with what -- the government says was the biggest scheme ever in terms of hacking and data collection. or extracting data from these companies. several major companies involved. take a look. wall street was hit. the nasdaq. 7-eleven, jc penney, jetblue, the dow. a number of companies that you'll recognize.

one you may or may not, harland, a big processing company. they are one of the ones that was hit the hardest. authorities say they believe it happened like this. that the numbers, the credit and debit card numbers were taken from these companies stored on servers all over the world and then resold to others to use for anywhere between $10 and $50. what they're not sure of this morning or what's not clear is where all of these suspects are. one has a court date next week. one's believed to be in europe. no word on the others, richard. >> international concern there. thank you so much, tracie potts. ju just a short distance away from where you're at u.s. park police are investigating a case of vandalism at the lincoln memorial. authorities say a visitor discovered green paint splattered on and around the lincoln statue around 1:30 a.m. local time. park police saying the chamber of the memorial will reopen once national park service crews finish cleaning the statue. no word yet on whether

surveillance cameras captured that vandalism. a ruling related to the 2010 bp gulf oil spill. halliburton pleaded guilty to destroying evidence in connection with that disaster. that blast killed 11 workers and caused millions of gallons of oil to spill into the gulf. if a court approves this, the company will pay the maximum fine of $200,000. halliburton will be on probation for three years. now, the company also voluntarily donated $55 million to the national fish and wildlife foundation. speed at the moment is at the center of a probe into the deadly train derailment in spain. by all accounts, the train was going too fast when it entered that curve in this breathtaking video. it derailed sending cars flying off the tracks, killing 80 people and injuring dozens on wednesday. the 52-year-old driver is detained and under a formal investigation. nbc news has learned a virginia

woman, anna maria kcordova, is among the dead. five americans also injured. the accident is spain's worst in four decades. a life saving plea deal could be in the works for accused killer, rapist and kidnapper ariel castro. nbc news learned prosecutors will scrap the death penalty in favor of a guilty plea. he would get life in prison plus parole plus 1,000 years. that would avoid a lengthy trial and spare his three victims from the trauma of testifying. that deal could be announced today at a pretrial hearing. castro faces a 977-count indictment stemming from his decade-long imprisonment of amanda berry, gina dejesus and michelle knight. prince harry attended a photo exhibition on thursday and was inevitably asked about his new nephew. harry who's been an uncle for an entire four days shared his

plans for the little prince's first 20 years. >> fantastic to have another addition to the family. i only know my brother knows how expensive baby charges here. keep him out of harm's way and make sure he has fun. the rest of it i leave to the parents. >> prince harry babysitting. that's a vision for you, right? since prince george's birth harry has been bumped to fourth in line for the throne. he doesn't seem to be holding a grudge. bill karins, our nbc meteorologist right now. that thought in mind, prince harry babysitting. >> is there a cooler uncle out there right now? >> that's true. i'd want him to be babysitting if i was a kid, certainly. >> i'd want him to be my uncle. >> also quite wealthy. >> take you for a good time. the forecast out there for the west as we get ready for what should be a rather toasty weekend, especially interior sections of the west. yesterday medford, 106. this is day after day we're not getting a break for the medford area. much of nevada, southern idaho,

salt lake city once again pretty much the same. even vegas was 110. in vegas you lead the way this morning at a cool 91 degrees. middle of the night. that's crazy. temperatures rather comfortable in portland and seattle where we've been advertising some of the best summer weather in the entire country throughout this week. not a lot has changed. we did see a few showers pop up yesterday in arizona with some of that monsoonal flow. still very warm in the northwest. that snaking stationary front cooled off a few spots in montana, wyoming and colorado. a lot of the cool isn't going to head into areas that need it including boise, salt lake city and areas of the interior west. medford, we cooled you off today. showers in store for the desert areas today. they'll be hit and miss.

>> looks like a decent weekend shaping up in the west for summertime. very typical. details coming up. the head of the seattle shame be chamber of commerce, bill karins, thank you very much. >> if i'm getting endorsed i need a logo. straight ahead, spirit air jumps on the anthony weiner band wagon. and george and barbara bush speak out about a very personal issue that's close to their hearts. we got that, next.

welcome back to "early today." here are stories making news this morning. the ntsb saying the southwest airlines plane that crash landed in new york hit the tarmac not on its sturdier mainlanding gear. instead it hit first with the nose gear which is not designed for that. they say the plane slid for 19 seconds before stopping. north carolina lawmakers approved legislation requiring voters to present government issued photo ids at the polls. it also shortens early voting by a week.

opponents say it suppresses voter turnout among minorities and young people. this at attorney general eric holder saying thursday the u.s. justice department will take action against a new texas voter id law. holder blamed the influx of new voter id legislation on the supreme court's decision to strike down part of the voting rights act. seven women have now come forward accusing san diego mayor bob filner of sexual harassment. the democratic party is calling for filner's resignation. house minority leader nancy pelosi calling his behavior reprehensible. george h.w. bush sat down with granddaughter jenna. they talk about that striking photograph of him and a little boy with leukemia. >> one of the reasons you shaved your head because you wanted to see that little boy smile? >> that's right. and all the agents had done it and i wanted to show solidarity with them. >> it's a great conversation. make sure you don't miss it. tune into the "today" show this morning to see the full interview. turning now to business,

cnbc's mary thompson. good morning, mary. >> richard, stocks posted small gains on thursday. the nasdaq had its best day in two weeks, thanks to facebook's strong earnings report. investors get data today on consumer sentiment. toyota holds on to the global sales crown. the japanese automaker selling 4.9 million vehicles in the first half of the year, outpacing general motors and volkswagen. toyota regained the number one spot last year after losing the top sales title in 2011. a day after announcing a promotion giving three free months of netflix, google is pulling the plug on the offer due to overwhelming demand. the chrome cast which sells for $35 helps you seamlessly move video from the web to your tv. back to you. >> it's really interesting stuff, that chrome cast is. now to business. spirit airlines is poking fun at new york mayoral candidate anthony weiner and his pseudonym carlos danger. the airline is offering $24

vacation packages to mexico's los cabos or cancun. you have to buy it by tonight. one of wall street's most successful hedge funds has been slapped with criminal indictment and civil lawsuits. s.a.c. capital accuse fd of earning h hundreds of millions of dollars from insider trading. steven a. cohen was not named as a defendant. next, $2 billion in potential waste, fraud and abuse in just the past three months. a new report in wire.com finds billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted, this according to to a government watchdog overseeing contracts, to rebuild afghanistan. the dallas cowboys will rename their billion dollar alter to football, that is. at&t stadium. the multi-year deal is believed to be worth up to $19 million a year. team owner jerry jones saying that he wants, quote, this building to be more familiar than the white house. i don't know about that one. straight ahead, all your sports highlights. you're watching "early today."

yeah. you get to meet belle, an adorable asian baby elephant born earlier this month at the ft. worth zoo in texas. nearly 10,000 people participated in an online contest with belle receiving 29% of the vote. belle is going to be a very big belle soon. to the latest in sports.

one player sleeping well last night. washington's bryce harper after this, a game winning homer. bam. that was his first ever. he breaks those nats' six-game losing streak. pirates lose, 9-7. another first. not this wild pitch from the rockies relief pitcher as the marlins beat colorado, 5-3. but with that the marlins are the first ever to keep colorado at hit friendly coors field to just two earned runs or below in a series. can we talk a-rod. the guy they traded away to get alex rodriguez almost a decade ago could be coming back. alphonfonso soriano. chicago says it's 99% done. the yankees hoping the 37-year-old brings them back some pop. did i say a-rod? the yankees are not. no play for you. he stays in the minors for another rehab game. why? when asked if he trusted his team, a-rod said, quote, i'd rather not get into that. former nfl star o.j. simpson pled with a nevada parole board. he wants out early on armed

robbery and kidnapping charges. thing is, he'd still have to serve time for other charges. to the team usa basketball camp. new orleans anthony davis steals an alley-oop pass. coast to coast for the score he goes as he runs down the court. it's all him. but hang on a second. how about nathaniel mills of the u.s. air force? a windmill slam. in uniform. combat boots and all. mills said you should see what i can do without fatigues. wow. taylor swift's $500 tip. amanda bynes' parents finally stepping in. plus, nancy reagan's surprising response to jane fonda portraying her in a movie, next.

welcome back. let me take you through your weekend forecast. should be a warm summer weekend for most of you. as far as the intermountain west, a few hit and miss storms. not enough to ruin any of your plans. today a little cooler in vegas. yesterday i mentioned it was 110. still very beautiful in the northwest. medford still above 100. many areas of the interior section getting a little bit of a break. knock off about five to ten degrees on saturday from boise to sections of nevada and salt lake city. every day seems to be about the same. haven't had many temperature swings in coastal california. an onshore flow throughout much of the month of july. it continues through the weekend. beaches will be relatively cool. once you go a little inland it does warm up significantly. >> true to what you said on monday, bill.

>> day after day. >> play it again and again. i do keep track of what you say believe it or not. >> it's dangerous. the wolverine sequel is expected to claw its way into the top spot in this weekend's box office race. analysts predict the film will gross over $60 million. yeah. a california judge may apply some parental control to amanda bynes' state in the wake of her psychiatric detainment. the actresses' parents will be in court today asking for contemporary conservatorship of her business and personal affairs. taylor swift knows how to spread the wealth. on top of an $800 tab, the singer threw down a $500 tip and concert tickets for the staff after dining at ralph's italian restaurant in philadelphia. wish i was there. >> that's the first pr we heard. good move by taylor swift. >> tip big. give away tickets. >> that's right. throw your money around. >> jane fonda. the actress formerly known as hanoi jane comments on nancy reagan's reaction to fonda playing the former first lady in

a movie. fonda saying, quote, i happen to know she's not unhappy that i'm playing her, end quote. here's a look at fonda's turn as mrs. reagan. >> i'd like to invite you to the state dinner next week. >> i'm going to be here, miss reagan. >> no. not as a butler. i'm inviting you as a guest. double negative, not unhappy. finally the poster for "enough said." that's been released. the film is said to be one of james gandolfini's last starring roles. bill, as you and i both remember when he told that story back in june of him passing away at the age of 51, great to see this. i'm sure everybody wants to see this. >> right. looks like a small budget film. many people probably weren't going to see it. now a lot will want to. >> leading role there. romantic role. looking forward to that. i'm richard lui. this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day on nbc.

leading the news in this morning's "washington post," senate bill authorizes sanctions on russia or any other country offering snowden asylum. this proposal, which has cleared the senate appropriations committee, ratchets up the pressure here as moscow weighs edward snowden's request for permanent asylum. and from the bbc news, arctic methane time bomb could huge economic costs. scientists say the release of gases from perma forecast could have a cost of $60 trillion. nbc news has learned prosecutors in cleveland are offering ariel castro a plea deal, scrapping the death penalty in favor of a life sentence without parole plus 1,000 years. castro is accused of kidnapping three women and holding them captive for one decade. during a massive rio

dejannero post prafrancis urged young catholics to shake up the church. spreading the faith. the former police officer who sprayed students is appealing for workers compensation claiming he suffered psychiatric injury from the 2011 incident. john pike was fired eight months after an investigation found that his action there was unwarranted. a company in california has found quite an interesting way, shall we say, for pet owners to show their love for their favorite celebrities. >> marilyn, right? >> yeah. if you're a pet, do you want this? >> lady gaga. katy perry. >> they created pet wigs. you're getting ahead of my story. they have created the celebrity dos. these looks cost around $30. the website -- keep them going there. >> i have no idea who that is. >> they also sell pet cot tostu and accessories. >> who's that? >> pink. >> that's a tough one. >> i'm not good at that.

>> i could do this all day. keep going. >> you were stealing my thunder. >> you were reading the story? sorry. i was looking at pictures of animals with wigs on. >> i'm going to lose my job. chicago holds a stop the violence summit today. lawmakers and experts will talk about ways to halt the outbreak of shootings that have killed almost 200 people this year including more than 70 shootings over the fourth of july weekend. president obama, he hosts a cabinet at camp david today. the president wants to energize his second term and refocus on improving the economy. happy birthday to actress sandra bullock who is 49. ice skating champion dorothy hamill turns 57. mick jagger is 70. nothing's going to stop that guy. they're going to keep ongoing. here's what's coming up later on the "today" show. matt lawyuer talks to the fathe of nsa leaker edward snowden about his son's action and search for asylum. emmy award winning band train, they perform live on the plaza. keep it live here for more news, weather and sports. i'm richard lui with bill karins.

you guys have a great weekend.

. still on the run. police looking for the person behind a violent home invasion robbery in fremont while we're hearing from officers next. plus a new call to end the violence in oakland days after a senior citizen was gunned down in her own car. and crews working through the night after this large mudslide on interstate 80 on tahoe. we'll tell you whether it will affect your weekend plans. a much smoother scene from the south bay. that is san jose as we await the sun's arrival on this glorious day. glorious because -- >> it's friday. >> it is friday, july 26. this is "today in the bay."