good morning. coming up on "early today," target iraq. a new islamic militant organization considered radical an dangerous may cause the u.s. to consider air strikes. gop in turmoil. house members jockey for power as many republicans worry about the same fate as defeated majority leader cantor. secretary of defense chuck hagel facing tough questns over the p.o.w. release, but never wavering in defending his decision. the new york rangers live to fight another day. a dicey situation in texas. and get ready for the world cup. it's thursday, june 12th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm richard lui. militant violence is surging

across northern iraq and now one group even threatening it will spread south. radical militants seized two of the country's major cities so far. they appear poised to launch attacks against baghdad itself. u.s. officials confirm the iraqi government wants the u.s. to consider offering air support to slow renewed sectarian violence. nbc's richard engel has more. >> reporter: the iraqi government is losing control of a large part of northern and central iraq. some iraqi security forces are fighting. but most appear to be stripping off their uniforms, leaving them in the streets, and abandoning their posts, weapons and vehicles. they're retreating from islamic extremists who, today, consolidated control of iraq's second largest city mosul and advanced much further. thousands of civilians are fleeing the area, living in tents.

the u.s. fought a nearly decades long war, costing thousands of american lives and a trillion dollars for this not to happen. the radicals are from an al qaeda offshoot, many are the same insurgents u.s. troops battled for years. now they're allied with militants from syria, creating a single front. why is this happening? sunnis ruled iraq for 13 centuries until the u.s. invasion toppled saddam hussein, ushering in a shiite regime. the sunnis want their country back. they hate the shiite government, which has excluded them from power. and there are no u.s. troops around anymore to stop them. we could be witnessing the start of a long civil war in iraq. and this is not just a problem for iraq and syria. these militants are also very anti-american. one former top commander of u.s. troops in iraq told me what is happening is tragic.

richard engel, nbc news, istanbul. house majority leader eric cantor planning to step down on july 31st and a handful of gop lawmakers are already jockeying for power. a leadership vote is scheduled for next week following cantor's loss to tea party challenger dave brat. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. everybody still talking about it. the question is, if there is an identity crisis in the gop, will this slow progress yet more in washington? >> reporter: it could. remember, immigration was the issue for cantor. and a lot of republicans now looking at this less likely to want to compromise on anything. budgets, immigration or anything between now and the elections next fall because they don't want it to happen to them what happened to eric cantor. after losing his seat in congress, eric cantor says he'll step down as majority leader at the end of next month, backing the party's number three california's kevin mccarthy to replace him. >> i think he would make an outstanding majority leader.

>> reporter: two texans are also in the running, jeb hensarling and pete sessions. >> we'll see what happens. i think we work very well together. >> reporter: the party votes june 19th, next thursday. if mccarthy wins, republicans will also need a new whip. members are already throwing their name in the hat for that. cantor's announcement came after a tearful private meeting where house speaker john boehner called for unity. >> he's doing the right thing for the conference. he wants to keep us all united. >> he was held in high regard as a leader. so we're feeling the pain. >> reporter: still up in the air whether there is any chance for immigration reform. that's the issue that propelled cantor's opponent to victory. >> eric cantor saying he opposes amnesty is like barack obama saying he opposes obama care. >> any degree of even modest support for immigration can be effectively cast as pro amnesty. >> reporter: a shocking defeat, leading to a big political

shake-up and perhaps more gridlock. but one thing we do not expect to change, house speaker john boehner says he's not stepping down from his number one post. in fact, richard, he has said he plans to run again as house speaker next january. >> that's a long time away in washington, d.c. months. tracie potts live for us, appreciate that. more quick action for the nation's veterans. a senate bill passing wednesday would allocate $35 billion to hire new doctors, open new facilities in 17 states and pay for veterans to see physicians outside the va system. the bill aligns closely with the house measure passing unanimously earlier this week. this raises hopes that legislation will be settled and signed soon. more than 57,000 vets have waited three months or more to see a doctor. a defiant chuck hagel defends the obamaed asmr ed administration's bowe bergdahl swap. tough questions from lawmakers including why wasn't congress notified about the prisoner

exchange and whether the actions were against the law. hagel was forced to explain why the u.s. soldier remains in germany, weeks after his release in exchange for five taliban fighters. >> you're trying to tell me that he's being held at landstuhl, germany, because of his medical condition? >> congressman, i hope you're not implying anything other than that. the fact is -- >> i'm asking you to answer the question, mr. secretary. >> i'll give you an answer too. i don't like the implication. >> answer it. answer it. >> he's being held there because our medical professionals don't believe he's ready until they believe he's ready to take the next step to rehabilitation. >> have you ever seen a traumatically injured service member brought to the united states immediately upon being stabilized at landstuhl? we do it all the time. >> this isn't just about a physical situation, congressman. this guy was held for almost five years in god knows what kind of conditions.

>> new details have emerged about sergeant bergdahl's past. military officials say he joined the coast guard back in 2006. that was two years before he enlisted in the army. but was dismissed after just 26 days after failing to make it through basic training. surveillance video captured tense moment at a new york city gas station. it shows a gas pump exploding into flames after it was hit by a car. look at that. authorities say the accident was caused by a 70-year-old man who was having a diabetic emergency and lost control of his vehicle. an off duty police officer who was pumping gas at that time managed to pull the elderly driver from his wrecked car. in all, six people were hurt and four cars were damaged by the blaze. look at that. in a must-win game for the new york rangers against the l.a. kings, the suspense to stay alive came down to the final minute and a few inches. take a look. >> lundquist, everyone's at the net, a big pileup. >> you hate to see this. bill karins here with me right now. >> look how close that was.

>> the puck stopping short of the goal line, short of a kings tie. with a little bit of luck and the 40 saves by goalie henrich lundquist who ranger were able to hold a 2-1 lead and avoid a slee sweep, they head back to l.a. for game five. a house in texas teetering on the edge of a 75 foot cliff. want to talk about this before we get to weather. pieces of the million dollar home began crumbling into the water on tuesday, a year after local authorities noticed a massive crack in the cliff below it. luckily no injuries. the owners moved out two weeks ago. and bill karins, all this is happening in texas. >> yes. not where you expect it to happen. >> this happens every tuesday in california. >> million dollar house falling down into the ocean. >> yeah, come on. >> texas makes the headlines. >> exactly. >> how is that happening?

texas? >> didn't know they had cliffs like that. let me tell you something very interesting, the second major hurricane this early in the season. it is very unusual. this is major hurricane christina, safely off the coast of mexico. it really fired up in the last, tell you, about 12 hours or so. it is peaking in intensity. will stay safely out to sea. will not go anywhere near cabo san lukas or anywhere near the baja of california. june has been amazingly dry. we end that today. rain is moving into the pacific northwest for the first time in, like, two weeks, it is ridiculous. we need the rainfall in many areas. we're going to see a little bit of it, not a lot. there is the weak storm coming into the northwest during the day today. have your umbrellas handy from portland, olympia, seattle. not a ton of rain, but seattle northward, maybe a half inch to an inch. not a ton, but we're giving you a tiny bit. california, nevada, arizona, you remain dry. that's your national forecast.

>> so temperatures cool off a little bit in the west. very hot this early in the season. >> not bad. bill karins, thank you. just ahead, an american space hero goes under the knife. and starbucks wants to charge you up. she's back, y'all. paula deen plots her comeback. so i get invited to quite a few family gatherings. heck, i saved judith here a fortune with discounts like safe driver, multi-car, paperless. you make a mighty fine missus, m'lady. i'm not saying mark's thrifty. let's just say, i saved him $519, and it certainly didn't go toward that ring. am i right? [ laughs ] [ dance music playing ] so visit progressive.com today.

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replacement. the soon to be 93-year-old was the first american to orbit the earth as a member of the mercury 7 program. his fellow astronauts scott carpenter once famously radioed in 1962, godspeed, john glenn. oregon police wednesday identified the gman in a reynolds high school shooting as gerald michael pagett, a freshman. his attack on the second to last day of school included riding the school bus heavily armed. he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound no word on possible motive of the attack that killed one student. flames and thick black smoke engulfed a boat in canada on wednesday. nearby ships including a whale watching vessel jumped to the aid of the passengers. two men and a dog. no reported injuries. down to business with cnbc's sima modi. good morning. >> richard, starbucks wants to help you recharge your battery. the coffee chain is teaming up with duracell to offer free

phone charging nationwide. you must have a wireless charging capable phone. amazon will reportedly launch a streaming music service possibly today. amazon prime members will have access to thousands of songs free of ads, but mostly new releases won't be included. at&t defends its plan to $48 billion takeover of directv in a filing with the s.e.c. at&t says the acquisition is the only way the companies can compete with a proposed comcast time warner cable merger in bundle video and broadband internet service. richard? >> all right, sima, thank you so much. just ahead, some live pictures of the corinthian stadium in sao paolo, brazil. the globe about to be mesmerized as the world cup gets under way. and sports headlines. want a fiber that's clearly healthy?

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well, this morning on "today," jenna bush hager's exclusive interview with president obama, his candid conversation about fatherhood, and raising two teenagers in the white house ahead on "today." now to sports. first to rio where crhrist the redeemer was lit up to welcome the arrival of the soccer teams for the world cup. the opening match today with

brazil and croatia. the u.s. men's national team is getting ready for their first game against guiana on wednesday. the japanese team arriving in a pokemon decorated plane. it was tweeted out by the fifa world cup twitter account. in their words, how awesome is that? kicks away from left center field, the throw-in and they'll get it again. you got to be kidding me. >> yeah. oakland's jonas does it again, fires a missile, makes a play at third. this after his incredible throw to home plate. he leads the league in the most outfield atissists, nine of the from the last ten games. a prayer needed against st. louis, scoreless the last three games. st. louis strikes first, though. javier molina to right field allowing alan craig to score

barely, just missing the glove. st. louis up 2-0. after 32 scoreless innings, skies open up, tampa bay finally scores two. st. louis' peter bore nails one for a possible comeback, but, nope, kevin heemire dives for the catch. tampa bay's prayers are answered, winning it 6-3. a little tricky during a high school regional final game between beale city and muskegon catholic. the pitcher pretends to throw the ball towards second base to catch the runner off the bag. the runner thinks he can go to third, oh, no, you don't. quickly finds out he's been fooled. umps call the out. "early today" is brought to you by touch of gray mustache and beard. get the look you want. just ahead, paula deen is back in the saddle again. and barbara walter has a major hollywood crush. a rare story about twins born 24 days apart. a medical miracle coming up.

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[ male announcer ] if you can clear a table [ sneezes ] without lifting a finger, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. ♪ zyrtec®. muddle no more™. [ female announcer ] and now introducing children's zyrtec® dissolve tabs for full 24 hour allergy relief. if you're heading outside over the next half hour to hour, you do look dry for most part. showers are showing up in the olympics and few showing up over in the cascades. down around the puget sound, we're dry for now. that will change later on this afternoon as we bring the rain in first time in two weeks. a long time for the next. medford south, no beneficial rain. the temperatures will come down. we're 102 in vegas. 107 in phoenix today.

it is still very hot in a few spots. but, you know, the northern rockies, june is one of the wettest months and some of the driest junes they had. >> consistent isn't it? bill karins, thank you. now for entertainment news. paula deen with a new announcement about her network launching in september. >> guess who's gone digital, y'all? >> can she recapture the fans she lost over her racial comments? that's the question. miranda lambert's album platinum earned her first number one on the charts. she beat the popular frozen soundtrack. shakira sang wakawaka at the world cup in 2010 and is bringing on the spirit again. she's urging her 3 million instagram followers to post world cup flag selfies with the #daretodream. barbara walters dished about a missed romantic opportunity with clint eastwood. >> one clip that showed you and

clint eastwood and he was really flirting with you. >> you would drive me nuts and i would drive you crazy because i would be saying, you know, didn't you, or haven't you, or -- >> we could try it and see if it worked out. >> you know, awkward silence, like -- >> well, flirtatious encount irs with eastwood, they reminisced about her golden years at nbc spent with johnny carson as well. >> what if? >> what if? >> why not? >> very interesting. >> the two -- >> yeah, yeah. putting on a little bit -- for the camera. >> macho. >> yeah, maybe. i'm richard lui. this is "early today." we hope it is just your first stop of the day right here on nbc. want a fiber that's clearly healthy? benefiber is clear, taste free, and dissolves completely. and unlike other fibers, you'll only know you're taking fiber

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leading the news in a las vegas sun, video shows last moments of could be killers' lives. the grainy footage showing jared and amanda mill, guns drawn, lying on the floor during a shootout with police on mondsun morning. some other stories we're following for you, medical miracle involving twins born 24 days a part. doctors forum a rare and risky procedure after a boston woman went into early labor delivering one baby, alexander, and leaving the other, reynaldo to develop for more than three weeks. the babies are getting stronger and expected to go home soon. cute little couple of identical twins there. kim jong-un not happy about the weather. he paid a visit to the local weather service demanding better weather forecasts. no word yet -- have you got the call yet, bill? >> i may pass on that job

opportunity. >> if you get a call, let us know. bad weather will postpone the launch of the new flying saucer. they want to test the ship which could be used to land on mars. from the saucer to the enterpri enterprise, this theoretical technology could travel faster than the speed of light getting you to places in weeks instead of centuries. would you eat something described as a nuclear bomb going off in your mouth. people ate ghost pepper, said to be the third hottest in existence. even though milk was provided, it brought many to tears, some lost their lunch, everybody sweating a lot. it is like 100 to 150 times hotter than a jalapeno. >> you're into this stuff. >> love it. >> i don't like jalapenos. >> well, if you don't like jalapenos, you're not going to like the ghost pepper.

harvest time at the white house. the first lady will join students and school nutrition directors to harvest the summer crop from the white house kitchen garden. 20 years ago today, ron goldman and nicole brown simpson were murdered outside simpson's l.a. home. >> the body of 34-year-old nicole brown simpson, ex-wife of o.j. simpson, was found after midnight on the sidewalk outside her west los angeles home. next to it, the body of an unidentified 26-year-old man, both had apparently been stabbed. simpson told police he was in chicago at the time of the killings, he arrived at the home 12 hours after the bodies were discovered. police escorted him to the rear of the building and then simpson was seen in handcuffs. >> o.j. simpson was acquitted of the killings but held liable in a civil case. happy birthday to kendra lee wilkinson, 29. the nation's 41st president, george h.w. bush, 90. rockefeller family patriarch, david rockefeller, 99. i'm richard lui with bill karins and the entire "early today" team.

thank you for watching. have a great one ahead.

and a very good morning to you, it's 4:30 right now. i'm laura garcia-cannon on this thursday morning. let's check that forecast with meteor also christina loren. good morning to you. >> we like to call it friday eve around here. so close to that father's day weekend at this point and it is really comfortable out there. now, this morning, some wind to tell you about, especially if you're waking up with us near vallejo or anywhere surrounding the delta. we're dealing with the fierce wind all day long and then the warm up comes in. not too hot, though. first, let's check your drive, here's mike. >> delta wind stronger than a delta breeze. over