. good morning. coming up on "early today" a mississippi political veteran delivers a knockout punch to a tea party favorite while a congressman fights to the end. >> bill clinton defends hilary's character and their wealth in a nbc news exclusive. >> if you can't beat them, bite them. a world cup shocker as the tournament thrills. >> plus can house speaker sue the president for not following the law? bob dylan's like a rolling stone sells for millions. and creepy or very cool? the latest androids. it is wednesday, june 25th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm dara brown. it was a wild primary day around the nation.

starting with the republican party and the battle many characterize as the establishment versus tea party. mississippi's six-term incumbent thad cochran has won the primary over tea party challenger chris mcdaniel. the race was nasty at times and ended with a big blow for tea party activists that poured millions of dollars into mcdaniel's campaign. with 99% of the precincts counted, cochran narrowly defeating mcdaniel. with about 51% of the vote. democrats face an old versus new guard battle, 22-term new york congressman charlie rangel declared victory hours ago despite no major observing agency, including the associated press, declaring a winner as of yet. with 99% of the votes counted, rangel leads with 47%, compared to state senator adriano espaillat with almost 44%. in oklahoma, james lankford won the gop nomination to succeed tom coburn. he avoided a runoff by defeating

six opponentrs including a tea party candidate with over 50% of the vote. former president bill clinton came to his wife's defense after critics said former secretary of state hillary clinton is out of touch. it all began when hillary clinton said she and bill came out of the white house dead broke. today business insider ranks bill and hillary clinton as the wealthiest of the living first couples at over $30 million. in an entire with "meet the press" moderator david gregory, mr. clinton said it is true they were several million dollars in debt at that time. >> do you understand as a political matter that that could strike people as being out of touch. >> yeah, but she's not out of touch, and she advocated and worked as a senator for things that were good for ordinary people and before that all her life, i remember, she was working on trying to -- believing in paid leave for pregnant mothers in the 1970s. >> the entire exclusive interview with former president

bill clinton airs this sunday on " meet the press." support for u.s. involvement in the iraq crisis continues to wane. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll finds nearly three quarters of americans surveyed believed the war in iraq was not worth it. 22% believe it was. half believe the u.s. is not obligated to help the iraqi government. more than 40% say the u.s. should intervene. meanwhile, the first wave of u.s. troops arrived in baghdad. iraq's prime minister is reportedly ready to concede large parts of the countries to the islamic insurgents but the government has regained some ground with the militants withdrawing most of their forces from one of the country's largest oil refineries. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel reports from iraq. >> reporter: iraqi troops retook a village from islamic extremist in western iraq, but capturing one small town won't change the tide here. isis now moves in full convoys

of u.s. made humvees flying their black flags, carrying weapons abandoned by the iraqi army and gaining recruits along the way. some of them just children. if there's anyone that can stand up to the isis advance, it may be the major general, commander of iraq's 17th army division. we rode with him south of baghdad to an area u.s. troops once called the triangle of death. the militants consider this a strategic place he said. they want to take these roads to cut baghdad off from the rest of the country. at 41, he is iraq's youngest two-star general. his father is shiite, his mother, sunni. he does not want a religious war. he does want american air strikes to confront the terrorists, he says. most of his 15,000 troops are u.s. trained but they don't have

u.s.-grade fire power. no tanks, no air support. in his ornate office, he says u.s. troops should have stayed to finish equipping us, to make us 100% ready. now the general and his men are all that stand between a violent insurgency and the iraqi capital. >> nbc's richard engel in iraq for us. house speaker john boehner could be readying a massive lawsuit against the president of the united states. the speaker has accused the administration of picking and choosing which laws it would enforce, often using executive orders to bypass congress. at issue, did the president exceed his contusistitutional authority. for instance, president obama used executive orders to raise minimum wages and extend benefits to same-sex couples under federal contracts. an announcement on a potential lawsuit could come from the speaker this week. $2 million may seem excessive to pay for a few pieces of paper with scribbled words and doodles but not when they are the original

handwritten lyrics to bob dillon's iconic song like "like a rolling stone." it's in pencil on four pieces of stationary from a washington hotel. it shat ears record from 2010 when john lennon's "a day in the life" sold for $1.2 million. wild weather wreaks havoc in the northwest. a tornado damages homes and uproots trees. thunderstorms ripped through the state leaving more than 2500 without power. large parts of southern minnesota remain submerged as rising floodwaters devastated communities destroying crops and closing major highways. this weather is taking a turn. nbc meteorologist bill karins is here to share more with us. >> that indiana tornado wasn't expected by many there. we didn't have a lot of big risks. the flooding, we knew that was coming and it will get better in the days ahead. a little storm coming into the west and, of course, it's been so dry. i mean the drought just continues to get worse. you continue hearing the stories

about towns running out of water, soon to run out of water. look how much rain we've had so far through the first almost four weeks of june and a little bit in the northwest and that's it. extremely dry june. it is a dry season. you expect it. it's rare to even get a storm moving through. look at this, underneath the weather channel logo a little storm taking a further southern route. is this going to bring rainfall to areas that need it. here's the rainfall prediction. not really. just a little. about a half inch of rain possible, areas of the southern cascades of oregon, medford northward, we do not get the rain where we desperately need it. getting dry in oregon but need it in areas of california. start to try to get some in the reservoirs going down and down. hot in the deserts, we're in for a hot summer. that's your national termountai

and storms tomorrow. >> i mean if you go on any major newspaper site in california, always drought stories one after another. >> let's hope they get rain soon. >> unfortunately doesn't look like it. >> i know. >> always next week. thank you, bill. a playboy interview gets an actor over hot water over supporting controversial mel gibson. the obama administration quietly okays u.s. oil exports and new revelations from a va whistleblower. we're back in two. m graveyard. if it doesn't work fast... you're on to the next thing. clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. one week? this one's a keeper. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair.

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♪ ♪ oh, her eyes ♪ her eyes ♪ make the stars look like they're not shinin'. ♪ ♪ her hair, her hair, ♪ falls perfectly without her trying. ♪ ♪ she's so beautiful, ♪ and i tell her every day. ♪ you're amazing, just the way you are. ♪ don't miss all the latest amazing stories right at your fingertips. people love people. we are back and talking about dozens of whistleblower accounts on the va scandal. one from the phoenix va says she was forced to hide records of long wait times. this whistleblower also saying records of patients that died waiting for care for recently altered. tracie potts has more from washington. >> i feel horrible for what i've

done and i cannot erase my role. >> reporter: paul lean dewinter said a manager forced her to keep a secret waiting list with more than 1,000 veterans. >> she came out and did say, if you do not do it my way, i will personally buy you a bus pass to the bus. >> reporter: she alleges it's still happening her notes about seven patients who died waiting to see doctors were recently altered or erased. sally believes her father-in-law's case forced her to come forward. thomas died after waiting two months for an appointment. >> i cursed at her, screaming, crying, that he was dead already. >> in a statement, the va said the allegations are, quote, completely unacceptable and must be investigated. the office of special council is reviewing 50 cases where patients claim waiting made them sicker. >> we think it probably is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of complaints that

may be out there. these are just the complaints we know about. >> reporter: senator tom coburn claims a thousand vets may have lost their lives waiting. >> when i hear we need more providers or more money, i go nuts. >> this is ludicrous. >> reporter: lawmakers fear it could cost $50 billion to allow veterans to see private doctors. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> j some other stories, back track, actor gary oldman apologizes after comments in a playboy interview on mel gibson's 2006 anti-semitic remarks. mel gibson is in a town that's run by jews and he said the wrong thing because he's actually bitten the hand that i guess fed him and doesn't need to feed him because he has enough dough. yesterday he apologized. upon reading my comments in print i see how insensitive they may be and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. the girl allegedly to leave

kfc because of facial scars is insisting it's not a hoax. kfc says there's no evidence. the eiffel tower celebrates its 125th anniversary with a 125th scale of itself. people had to stand to take photos because there was nowhere to sit. the 42-foot mini me made of 324 red garden chairs. and time to get down to business with cnbc's courtney reagan. good morning, courtney. >> good morning, dara. the obama administration has opened the door to the first major exports of u.s. oil in more than four decades. "the wall street journal" says the government has told companies they can legally ship a type of unrefined oil that's plentiful due to a boom in form of shale formations. u.s. banned exports following the opec oil embargo in the '70s. am ma zon plans to use drones to deliver package has been grounded for now. an faa document out this week cites amazon's proposal as an

example of what's barred under rules of drones for recreational purposes. and the fda may soften its stance on weed. it's reviewing medical evidence on the safety effectiveness of marijuana that could lead the fda to downgrade the drug from its most dangerous list. i'm sure that will make plenty of headlines if and when it does happen. back to you. >> thanks, courtney. two life-like androids were introduced at tokyo's national museum of emerging science and innovation made with silicon skin and artificial muscles one will act as a news reader for young visitors and the other will be museum communicator. all your world cup highlights including did the bite seen around the world help send the italians home. which nba teams have the bank to afford free agent lebron james up next. huh...fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. mmmhmmm...everybody knows that.

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all this week on "today," a special rossen reports series exposing the dirty truth about your summer vacation. today what you need to know before getting too that pool or hot tub. let's get the latest in sports from our own richard lui. good morning, richard. >> yeah, good morning to you, dara. >> mike tyson's spirit taking a bite into the world cup. watch uruguay's luis suarez banned twice for biting opponents.

his opponent pulls down his shirt saying get a hamburger man. this is the third biting since for suarez in the last four years. former boxer evander holyfield tweeting this, quote, i guess any part of the body is up for eating. part of his ear was bitten off in the ring by mike tyson in '97. uruguay had an appetite to win eliminating italy 1-0 and advancing to the round of 16. something that the ivory coast could not do. tied with greece in stoppage time, minutes from a draw, advancing ivory coast draws a penalty, greece converts the kick for the win. the unlikely greeks advance. ivory coast has to spec tate. the u.s. men's soccer team has a 77% chance of moving into the round of 16, says bloomberg sports. here's how the coach wants to do it. >> we want to beat germany. we want to be first in our group, so we're not thinking about a tie.

>> the u.s. coach jurgen klinsmann. here's how the u.s. can get to the round of 16. scenario we beat second ranked germany, scenario two, we tie germany, scenario three, portugal or ghana lose and we score. the games are at noon eastern tomorrow. oh, the nba offseason rumor mill. will free agent lebron james have another epic, quote, decision and leave miami as he did cleveland. spot track estimates only six teams can put the cash on the barrel head, phoenix, dallas, utah, l.a. lakers and the heat, have the cap space to pay $23.7 million per year. and in game two of the college world series, virginia was able to stay alive to force a grand finale there, taking game two, outscoring vanderbilt 7-2, deciding game three will be tonight. dara, back to you.

just ahead, which pop star did veep joe biden invite to the white house. billy joel to the rescue of a damsle in distress. details after mees messages. mm-hmm. i'm just comparing car insurance rates at progressive.com. is that where they show the other guys' rates, too? mm-hmm. cool. yeah. hi. final boarding call for flight 294. [ bells ring on sign ] [ vehicle beeping ] who's ready for the garlic festival? this guy! bringing our competitors' rates to you -- now, that's progressive.

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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. let's talk about the heat for a second because today about mid 100s, las vegas 106, phoenix 107 today. as we go throughout the day tomorrow, more of the same, even into thursday.

looking out we don't see much changing here. we're kind of stuck right now. it's going to be hard to get cool air to enter into this region. phoenix 105 through the weekend. contrast that with portland who has the storm coming in today with light rain and showery weather after this. highs are going to be in the upper 70s, low 70s to upper 60s hopefully we'll clear it out for a nice tail end to your weekend. lot of contrast in the west. not a lot of rain. >> thank you very much. entertainment news. hillary clinton at a book signing and now vice president biden, katy perry's instagram tour of democratic big wigs continued and the singer in d.c. for her world tour when the veep, a fan, invited her to the white house. who made perry call her grandmother to thank her for her baby blue eyes. around east hampton new york on his motorcycle when he saw a woman fall on the street. the music legend pulled off on to the road and waited until the ambulance showed up.

and actor eli wallic died. his career spanned more than 60 years with roles in everything from the 1960s "the misfits" to "the godfather iii." he said his role in "batman" tv series generated the most fan snil you were a fan of that, right? >> the batman. >> the '60s and '70s. >> i remember more of the new versions. >> really? >> he was 98 years old. >> that is an amazing career, amazing life span. >> putting all that toxic makeup all those years playing mr. freeze. >> he was certainly somebody in the industry that people really did adore. >> lot knew him but didn't know his name. >> exactly. >> i'm dara brown. this is "early today," we hope just your first stop of the day on nbc. ♪

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leading the news from msnbc.com, methodist pastor re-frocked after performing gay son's wedding. the church stripped him of his credentials in november. that decision was overturned by an appeals panel yesterday. schafer says he's likely accept a position at a church in california. and in minnesota's saint hall pioneer press, burglar busted after failing to log off facebook. the suspect allegedly stole cash, credit cards and a watch, but left his profile up on the homeowner's computer screen which lead police right to him. some other stories, a rare moment in congress yesterday. ♪

>> rare, indeed. however do you see john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid holding hands. lawmakers took a break from their normal dysfunctional to sing a bipartisan rendition of "we shall overcome" meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act of 1964. elsewhere on the hill. >> over the course of the 5 1/2 years of the administration. >> oh, goodness. >> okay. >> the woman that fainted there, a white house intern. it was her first day. she had been standing for nearly an hour. the white house briefing ended rather abruptly after that. >> nobody helping her. >> they did catch her and brought her back up. >> here's one. who says cats and dogs don't get along. meet the cheetah and the puppy. paired together after the cheetah's mother rejected him, safari park zoo decided to join the two together for companionship. still under the supervision of their trainers, the zoo does say that the two are fast friends

and crowds gathered to see the duo play on their first debut. >> i would see those two to play. >> it's a genius idea. the cheetah's mother eroo jektsed her and the puppy has its hands full. >> just babies playing. for a look ahead and back. homeland security secretary jay johnson visits the u.s. border with mexico. he will get a firsthand look at the response to the influx of unaccompanied children across the southwest border. can you believe it, five years ago today we learned of the passing of the king of pop. >> on this night when we were preparing a remembrance of farrah fawcett, word arrived from southern california jackson had been rushed to the hospital, grave reports about his condition, and now confirmation he has died. >> happy birthday to supreme court justice sonya sew ta mayor who is 60, carly simon 69 and june of "lost in space" is 89. i'm dara brown.

thanks for watching "early today."

breaking news. that breaking news right now in san francisco, investigators are on the scene of a horrific overnight crash. good morning, everyone. it's 4:30. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. that crash has shut down freeway on-ramp and the 5th street exist from west bind interstate 80 shut down after a car reportedly driving extremely fast crashed. steph, you learned officers were chasing that car? >> reporter: yes, good morning to you both. we spoke with one of the pursuing officers who said this began in oakland. i want to show you, you can see the wreckage here, that bmw, completely wrecked, bounced off of k-rail off the off ramp,