mr. president, in all due respect, you're making a very big mistake. >> i regret that took place. the president does have that authority. >> a whirlwind of developments in the wake of president trump's firing of fbi directo james comey. what's next and where does that leave on going investigations? >> more passenger turbulence with an infight flight and judge ruling on the situation that sent hundreds of passengers into a frenzy over canceled flights. >> the senate group tasked with health care reform is missing one huge component, women. why are none of the five female republicans asked to join? >> important new results from the latest automobile crash

test. >> is the country ready for shaq the sheriff? "early today" starts right now. good morning, i'm gigi stone woods. >> i'm frances rivera. explosive developments over the white house overnight and now fired, that's what's spread on headlines across the country. president trump making the abrupt and startling decision to terminate fbi director james comey effect thif immediately, installing andrew mccabe as acting director in the aim of, quote, restoring trust and confidence throughout the bureau. the news broke as fbi director comey learned of the firing from tv news reports blaring on the screens behind him. the president notified comey with a hand delivered letter. when asked of comey's dismissal this morning, attorney general sessions made a comment on the matter as he headed into work.

he made no comment. the reason given for the firing, comey's handling of the clinton e-mail case, the very same case trump praised on more than one occasion. >> it took a lot of guts. i really disagreed with him. i was not his fan. i tell you what, what he did, he brought back his reputation. he brought it back. he's got to hang tough. there's a lot of people want him to do the wrong thing. what he did was the right thing. >> not mentioned in the president's letter or in any supporting documents released by the white house, the fbi's investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 election and their nearly year-long investigation into trump associates. investigations trump's own deputy press secretary said should be shut down. >> a lot of the analysis concerns the russia investigation. how will the firing of comey affect that? >> i don't think it affects it at all in any capacity whatsoever. i think the bigger point on that is, my gosh, tucker, when are

they going to let that go? it's been going on for nearly a year. frankly it's kind of getting absurd. there's nothing there. we've heard that time and time again. we heard it in the testimonies earlier this week, heard it for the last 1 months. there is no there there. it's time to move on. >> the white house cited bipartisan criticism against comey as the racialization of his firing. overnight reaction against the ousting was swift and fierce. >> president trump, with all due respect, you're making a big mistake. >> comey was not fired because of hillary. he was fired because of the russians. >> this sent the message that this president believes he's above the law. >> the president of the united states just fired the chief investigator who has him as a target of the investigation. >> this administration who says there's no there there, in terms of our investigation, boy, oh, boy, there is so much smoke here, and we'll still have to determine how big the fire is.

>> nbc's peter alexander spoke to white house press secretary sean spicer regarding the blow-back. >> is this a coverup? >> of what? >> people are wondering if there's any coverup here? >> of what? the president made a decision that should be applauded by all members of congress. the public would agree that he had lost the ability to lead the fbi. >> former nsa contractor edward snowden is weighing in, this fbi director has sought for years to jail me on account of my political activities. if i can oppose his firing, so can you. several democratic and republican lawmakers issued a series of biting statement. one senator calling the firing a constitutional crisis. several others labeling the move nix nixonian. the nixon library overnight, not even nixon fired his own fbi chief. bill clinton was the first and up until yesterday, the only president to oust a director of

the fbi. we're joined by nbc's tracie potts. good morning. you're hearing unprecedented moves in the senate this morning. >> reporter: democrats have been told to be in their seats at 9:30 a.m. to hear what the majority has to say about this. they are meeting to figure out what their next step is going to be. they've been pushing for a special prosecutor, someone independent to oversee this russia investigation. now they think they've got the fuel, the ammunition to make that happen with the firing of director comey. democrats are saying, at least their leadership saying they will not support confirmation of a new fbi director. they'll try to block it with the votes that they have if a special prosecutor is not appointed to oversee this russia investigation. the white house says this was about the clinton e-mails here on capitol hill. lots of questions about russia. speaking of russia, russia's foreign minister, foreign minister lavrov will be here to meet with president trump today. first thing this morning,

supposed to be talking about syria and a number of other issues in what the president has described as a deteriorating relationship wean the two countries, but certainly if they have a public appearance today, there are going to be a lot of questions about russia's involvement in the campaign and now about who is going to be in charge of investigating that. >> certainly that coupled with the timeline of how we led up to the firing of comey in the first place. nbc's tracie potts, thank you. certainly lots of questions. nbc will delve into them with lester holt interviewing president trump on thursday with highlights on "nightly news" and right here on "early today." violent brawl caught on camera aboard a sweft fight from dallas to los angeles after it landed. it began when passengers started to get off the plane. the victim claims it started when 37-year-old chase cable made a comment about the woman behind him. that victim tried to help the won ma get off the aircraft when

cable allegedly threw a sucker punch and the brawl began. flight attendants and another passenger would eventually break up the fight. afterwards cable was arrested on suspicion of battery. the victim suffered only minor injuries including a facial cut and chipped tooth. we have an update on a melee from the ft. lauderdale airport yesterday after hundreds of spirit airlines flights were canceled. spirit blamed the cancellation on a labor dispute with the pilots who the airline accused of an illegal work slowdown. now the federal court ordered the pilots back to work at a normal pace and the pilot's union says they'll fully comply with that order. charges dismissed against two louisiana police officer ending with three people on fire. the november incident was caught on police body cameras. we have to warn you, the images, as you continue to watch, will be disturbing. >> can i talk to you? >> get out of here. >> get out of here. the newly released video

shows police checking on a 75-year-old man whose face was blurred by the department. police say he was armed with a knife. they're seen knocking down the man's door and tasing him. watching, not knowing he was holding a cup of gasoline. that happened, ignited into flames. the sparks set the man ablaze along with two other officers. deputies rushed to save the man but the house was a total loss. a grand jury indicted two officers for negligent injury. the district attorney threw out the indictment citing lack of evidence that the officers intended to hurt the man. >> horrifying to watch. more severe weather spawning texas-size hail, windshields paying the price. cracking under the barrage of hail for the storm chasers. as part of the same weather system, darkness descended in the same area of texas with funnel clouds with multiple tornadoes. >> nbc meteorologist bill karins is tracking the storms impacting

millions today. a lot of the storms carryingover through the mother's day weekend. >> this is the same storm that impacted california over the weekend. a slow mover, still dealing with strong storms in north texas pushing into oklahoma. if we're going to get the bad storms today, most likely it's this little section of western oklahoma and north texas. these extend into areas of the midwest and into the ohio valley, a slow mover even tomorrow. anyone traveling across the country in the middle of the country has problems now. for many of our friends in denver, cool and cold behind the storm system, but not bad, salt lake city, boise and seale doingtt temperature there as it is in areas of oregon and washington state. coastal areas a little cooler than that. >> we'll give you a little peek

of what we expect of the storm system coming up. >> thank you very much. former nib star shaquille o'neal said he may run for sheriff in the year 2020. >> it's about bringing people closer together. when i was coming up, people loved and respected the police. >> shaq is currently an on rare deputy in clinton county, georgia. he didn't say if he would run there or in florida where he's also a resident. plenty more ahead including a multimillionaire pro athlete forced to apologize to his teammates. plus new information on america's most contaminated nuclear site and the alarm bells that sent workers scrambling. "early today" will be back shortly. contrave is an fda-approved weight-loss medicine that may help adults who are overweight or struggle with obesity lose weight and keep it off. contrave is believed to work on two areas of the brain: your hunger center... (woman) i'm so hungry.

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morning, and i put myself in a bad place to be ready for showing up for a ball game that is my responsibility. >> new york mets pitcher matt harvey apologizing to his coaches, teammates and fans for not showing up to saturday's game against the miami marlins. the team suspended him for three games. according to the "new york post," harvey will receive counseling. the u.s. energy department says it is closely monitoring a washington state nuclear site after a tunnel collapse sent some 200 workers scrambling for cover. it happened at the remote hanford nuclear reservation. the energy department declared the emergency when employees discovered a partial collapse over train cars holding toxic waste. workers there were cleared to go home hours later with hanford officials saying they are safe. >> there's been no evidence of a radiological release. the precautions being taken are purely precautionary.

>> hanford is one of 17 cleanup radioactive sites across the country. it's estimated it could take decades and more than $100 billion to fully clean up the site. an amtrak engineer involved in a deadly train derailment will not face criminal charges. prosecutors say there's not not nefd evidence that brandon bossian acting with criminal intent or recklessness when the train he operated jumped the tracks in philadelphia nearly two years ago. eight people were killed, more than 200 injured. federal investigators say the train was speeding at nearly twice the limit. a doggy adoption you'll be talking about, plus the trump firing of the fbi director is cooling off stocks and sending the dollar lower, but that's not all. i sneeze...

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turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. don't stop now, it's easy to add to the routine. join energy upgrade california and do your thing. in today's quick hits, president obama was in milan for his first speech abroad since leaving office. he called on citizens to get more involved in the democratic process. >> but, as i saualways tell peo, you get the politicians you deserve. if you don't vote and don't participate and don't pay attention, then you'll get policies that don't reflect your interests. >> he took advantage of his sense of humor. mr. obama also joked about his life post presidency. >> now i'm only captive to

selfie selfies, which is almost as bad. i can walk anywhere as long as i'm willing to take a selfie every two steps. >> new crash test results from the insurance institute for highway safety reveal those guards on the sides of tractor trailers could save lives. the guards pre vented cars from crashing underneath. currently no regulations requiring them. after a massive adoption campaign at a michigan animal shelter, only one dog was left, eastwood. he has a leg deformity and vision problems. stan van gundy and his whole family came to the rescue giving eastwood a forever home. win, win on both sides. >> thank goodness. we were all worried about eastwood. how are markets around the globe reacting the the president's firing of fbi director james comey? that is the question right now. cnbc's landon dowdy is keeping track of it for us.

what's going on? >> good morning to you as well. the global markets and u.s. futures appear to have a muted reaction today to president trump's firing of fbi director james comey. traders say the move will likely not impact stocks as investors focus more on earnings reports to gauge whether indices such as the nasdaq can push past record highs we've seen recently. however, they say comey's firing could raise concerns that the president's pro growth agenda including stacks reform could slow further. meanwhile, the world's most valuable company is now worth even more. apple stock closing at all-time highs pushing the market cap above $800 billion. that's a first for any u.s. company. shares have been boosted by news of a big investment by warren buffett and anticipation for the tenth anniversary iphone expected later this year. you want do watch shares of disney today. shares are down in pre market trading, the media giant reporting quarterly profit that beat wall street forecasting to

box office success of beauty and the beast. revenues missioned on programming costs and continuing subscriber losses as more people are dropping cable packages or what's known as cutting the cord. >> we know all about it. landon dowdy, we'll look for those earnings. thanks. just ahead, the hoet of late night responded to the firing of fbi director james comey. forbes has ranked costco at this year's best employer. the wholesale retailer has been at the top three for the past three years. also google, rei, memorial hermann and usaa earned spots in the top fooichlt much more on "early today." keep it right here. "let life in

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good thing because stopping never crosses your mind. band-aid® brand. stick with it™ trump fired the fbi director. you can't just fire the fbi director. i mean, if he's gone, who is going to investigate russia's ties to -- oh. >> that shows no gratitude at all. did trump forget about the hillary e-mails comey talked about. thanks for the presidency, jimmy, don't let the door hit you where the electoral college split you. >> this is outrageous. when something outrageous happens, i don't just sit on my hands. that's why i'll from here out be selling these "comey is my homey" t-shirts. if you are one of the millions of americans angry about this shameful and disgraceful move,

send me $29.99, and i will use some of that money to send a very nasty letter directly to the oval office. >> wouldn't you love to be in the writer's room with these guys where there's huge breaking news like this? they had to print the shirt out and come up with this stuff so quick. >> quick on their feet. >> should be interesting to see what comey does next. this is fun, about prom season. it's all about making an entrance. here is a high school student who decided to ditch the typical stretch loim mow. meagan flaherty decided to arrive in a hearse stunning classmates. she does want to be a funeral director when she grows up. all in good fun or maybe a strange memory. still ahead, ellen degeneres dethroned as a retreat kweet. this is "early today." for dad" per roll

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tropical storm adrian formed yesterday, a little early for our pacific hurricane season. a weak storm at the current time. it may have indirect impacts in the u.s. over the next couple days it will be near the mexican coastline by the time we get through the end of the weekend. then some of this moisture will get picked up through the gulf and the middle of the country. it will add fuel to the thunderstorms beginning to middle of next week. for today, another severe weather threat in the middle of the nation. calm weather east coast and west coast for any business travelers today. >> house speaker paul ryan visited a harlem charter school, greeted by a line of protesters angry over the health care bill the house passed last week. >> paul ryan, shame on you.

>> how do you sleep at night? >> growing backlash on capitol hill as the group tasked with health care reform met for the second time. all 13 members on the core group are men. none of the five women republican senators were asked to join. democrats pounced, arguing many of the thorny issues uniquely impact women. the republicans pointed out that senator shelly morning pete dough attended the meeting. and republican senator mitch mcconnell worked this. >> the working group that counts is all 52 of us. we're having extensive meetings. >> republicans senator susan collins said she was surprised there were no women on the working group. listen to this. a little girl honored in florida for keeping cool under pressure and saving a light. 8-year-old skyler sullivan jumped into action when her great grandmother got pinned to the ground. she quickly called 911 keeping her cool, even if she didn't

feel it on the inside. >> i'm freaking out because my grandma got hurt, and i think he should die or something. but they got her out. >> first responders honored the girl at her school telling her she did a fabulous job. you never know how you're going to act under pressure. but skyler did the right thing. >> great example for all of us, young and old. a love for chicken nuggets made history. carter wilkerson, the nevada teen on a mission to receive 18 million retreats in exchange for a year's supply of wendy's nuggets. he shattered ellen degeneres' record for a the most retweets of all time. carter will receive the nuggets and will donate $100,000 to the dave thomas foundation for adoption. >> hopefully he'll add some vegetables, something. we're happy for you carter, you did it. i'm gigi stone woods. >> i'm frances rivera,

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bridge this morning... it is the midpoint of your week. a live look right now at the golden gate bridge as we're working our way to the weekend. aren't we always? today in the bay starts right now. good morning. thank you for joining us. i'm sam brock. >> we do that on monday morning. good morning. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> pretty much. >> it's cool out there this morning. >> you'll need a jacket. it will be cooler through the day as well. of course, yesterday was the peak of the heat. as we go into the next several days, it will be getting cooler. as we look outside, you can see the fog is back. it's fairly thin at this point. but we will see some of the fog rolling across the golden gate