it's friday, august 5th. coming up on "early today" clinton doubling her lead over donald trump and president obama once again weighs in. >> listen to what mr. trump has to say and make your judgment with respect to how confident you feel about his ability to manage things. and hoping to strike gold in rio de janeiro as we reach the start of the 2016 summer games. good morning i'm alex witt. the summer olympics are finally

here. stoet kick off tonight with a torchlighting ceremony. we'll have more in just a bit. we begin with the race for the white house. the country wakes up with a new snapshot. the newest poll shows hillary clinton beating donald trump by some 9 points, 47% clinton, 38% trump. it is nearly double her lead before the political conventions. that margin remains in a four-way race that includes gary johnson and jill stein. they say republicans are panicked and in search of alternatives less than 100 days. he said his endorsement isn't a blank check. >> if i see and hear things i

think are wrong i'm not going sit by and say nothing. i think i have a duty to defend republican principals and our party's brand. none of these things are any situation in any kind of race. it's like it's important that the voters, you know, he won the delegates. he won it fair and square. it's that simple. >> he said he is not ready to back two republican leaders yesterday was a weird turn for the v.p. nominee vimike pence. he pulled a full 180 offers a full support. it is the second day he distanced himself. he told a station of course i all of our republican incouple

wants. a new report raises questions regarding the questions of when melania came to the u.s. they placed her in the u.s. 1995, a year and trump before she and trump say she arrived. they say it is inaccurate reporting adding that she has always been in full compliance of immigration laws. clinton continues to gain steam. she enjoys a significant advantage among women in our latest poll among african americans clinton nabs 91% of the vote to trump's 1%. clinton is now beating trump in a ser ri of battleground states including a double digit lead. president obama gave his assessment on the battle against

isis. he vowed to maintain an aggressive fight against the terror group and defended his administration's $400 million payment to iran. we have more from kristen. >> reporter: president obama once again jumped into the 2016 race targeting donald trump. >> i obviously have a very strong opinion about the two candidates that are running here. one is very positive and one is not so much. >> reporter: the president asked about trump's repeated assertio assertions. >> it doesn't make any sense. >> reporter: he handed down a stunning warning which both candidates are cleared now by law. >> if they want to be president they have to start acting like

president. >> reporter: donald trump and republicans have also put the president on defense accusing of paying ransom after revolutions that the u.s. sent a $400 million cash payment coinciding with the release of those americans. >> we have a president who frankly is incompetent. >> reporter: the president firing back. >> we do not pay ransom for hostages. >> reporter: nbc news, the white house. breaking overnight a cargo plane skidded into a highway. for the highway let's go to chapman. what a story. the pictures are incredible. what can you tell us about this? >> reporter: good morning. yeah, this boeing 737 backing up traffic on a highway after

skidding off the runway and into the road. a spokesman said in a statement that two crew members on board were uninjured and the plane appears to have overshot the runway. the airport was closed for about two and a half hours after the incident. some of the flights being divert today a near by airport. the agency opened an investigation into the accident. alex, quite a sight on a friday morning. luckily, as you said, no one was injured in this accident. >> it is extraordinary. there is the guy two went buy taking video. he is driving by and has the nose of a plane sticking into the lane he is driving in. no one injured. that's a miracle. >> the things you see on a friday morning drive. >> and we wribring them to you e on "early today." a sight as a southwest

airlines plane was departing its gate the front landing gear collapsed. the front of the plane wasn't damaged all 126 passengers and five crew were able to exit unharmed. finally good news on the zika outbreak in miami. the cdc says the effected area could be as small as 500 square feet. the race is onto find an effective vaccine. it is getting some striking results from three animal trials. from pregnant women in miami stocking up on bug repellant is priori priority. >> reporter: mothers to be in fl have been promised free zika tests. yolanda among the first.

some women were told no testing here. try another office. >> i'm concerned. this is my firsting pregnancy. i want it to be a successful one. >> reporter: she went to a private lab for testing. her he has did too. >> if i think i had any bites i would get tested again. >> test results take two to seven days and in many days may have to be repeated. >> zika is a serious threat to americans, especially babies right now. so once again i want to urge the american people to call the members of congress and tell them to do their job. tonight is the night for the opening ceremony in rio. it has reportedly taken five yea years. the torch has been winding its

way through and yesterday it was accompany bid music and dancing. it all comes amid the backdrop. they have announced how many will be allow today compete. michelle is in rio with those details. >> for team russia a split decision for many athletes after a widespread doping scandal. >> there is no place to hide. >> russian volleyball players and swim team given the all clear to compete. while rio is iconic for its incredible views what's most stunning is heavily armed soldiers even along the sands

of copa ka ban that. >>. >> security remains tight. today few problems in the city of sand and surf. the torch one wave closer. >> pretty exciting there. you don't want to miss a might be. coverage starts at 7:30 right here on nbc. let's go to bill for a check of the weather in rio and a look at the friday forecast. >> it is always a fun show. every year they try to top the people that did it four years before. it should be wonderful tonight. the weather will play the part. it will be an a plus forecast. 73 degrees, clear and mild, no problems. forecast looks nice through much of the upcoming weekend. we are still dealing with a lot of the same problems. we are heat advisories in the

area. much of arizona is clear and much of colorado and new mexico. we have a lot of bad flooding but we did get some isolated today. getting a little warmer. 100 in phoenix. 90 in salt lake city. beautiful in the northwest but it is getting a little warmer. over the weekend we'll cool you off. saturday about 76 and area. it is all the way back up to the northwest today in the 70s and 80s. >> okay. not as much fuchsia. i'm liking that. >> yeah. we settled down a bit. >> thank you for that. just ahead, why apple is

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it was with the caption happy 55th bar rack, a best friend for me. it is time to get down to business. good morning. landon. >> happy friday to you. the big economic news. the july jobs reports and stocks were mixed on thursday ahead of the report. it is expected to show another solid month of hiring. it is unemployment seen taking down 4.8% and wages taking up.

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this morning on today the u.s. womens gymnastics team sits down as they all get ready to go for the gold in rio. finalizing new orleans as the host of the all-star game an announcement expected some time. it is due to the anti lgbt law. rustle westbrook is speaking out about kevin durant.

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katie perry released the video to her olympics anthem, rise. it features her attempting to fly a par parachute. ♪ >> that's fun before jet setting to brazil.

it was in their version of karao karaoke. and the screen actors guild will aworld with a lifetime achievement award. it currently kcostars. it looks to become the third super hero to become an opening breaking hero. jimmy fallon shared his favorite wishes for president obama's birthday. >> a lot of people wrote some nice messages. michelle obama wrote happy birthday. i feel so lucky to have you in my life. >> i'm alex witt and this is early today. is early today. ♪ the sun'll come out tomorrow... ♪ for people with heart failure, tomorrow is not a given.

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>> >> leading the news in the new york times, pilot of malaysian flight. minister says the transport chief was the first time it confirmed such a flight path was found. he stressed it was one of many paths and no conclusions could be drawn just yet. scientists found a connection between excess weight which allows different parts of the brain to kplun kate with each other. more research does need to be done to understand the correlation. an ohio police sergeant is lucky to be alive this morning. some will find this disturbing.

a traffic stop started off just like any other when suddenly very scary. fortunately they were not life threatening. they poetssted this of passing traffic stops carefully. that is really hard to watch. a mysterious light. >> a local news station. an employee looked at the security footage. they saw the same light i guess and recreation direct says he doesn't believe in ufo's. there is something weird with that one. >> and a creepy clown is on the loose. there were reported sightings tuesday morning. i don't know what that is. they are all going viral on

facebook. it apparently has almost 8,000 shares. >> police are saying they have received calls. >> you're scaring the kids. >> yeah. >> clowns in general do creep me out ever so slightly. tonight is the opening ceremony. >> you ever met him before? >> yeah. i have. >> our exclusive coverage begins on nbc and it kicks off thousands of hours of wall to wall coverage. you can watch our exclusive coverage on the networks of nbc universal. and happy birthday to marie mccormick. she is looking good. . i don't know how she does that. they both look good. thanks so much for watching

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firepower tucked away under a bench at the largest b.a.r.t. station in the system. now a critical question is left for investigators, how did the unattended rifle get there? and zika in the bay area. a nationwide health concern that's now hitting a lot closer to home. the bay area seeing the first baby born with birth defects from the zika virus. plus, is rio ready? the olympic ceremony kicks off in a matter of hours and we are live from brazil with all the action. our very own jessica aguirre is there live previewing the opening ceremony. one of course that's fit for champions. "today in the bay" starts right