breaking news overnight, deadly duel attacks in tehran as gunmen storm the iranian parliament and a major shrine. onslaught of he-said he-said headlines out of washington on the eve of blockbuster testimony expected from james comey. >> chaos in front of the world famous notre dame cathedral. >> drat make tick courtroom testimony from the would n ma accusing bill cosby of sexual assault. >> police search for the suspect in this random act of violence. >> babies make four for george and amal clooney. >> good morning, i'm gigi stone

wood. >> i'm frances rivera. two attacks in iran's capital. a local news agency reports five people were fatally shot and another 25 wounded. two of the attackers were reportedly armed with ak-47s while another carried a handgun, and there are unconfirmed reports they took four hostages within the parliament. >> in a separate reported attack that left two dead, shots fired at the mausoleum of ayatollah khomeini. terrorists there carried out a suicide bombing according to state media which released what appears to be stills of security footage from the incident. it was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks or whether they were coordinated. a flood of dramatic headlines overwhelming the nation's capital just before former fbi director james comey's testimony. "the new york times" reports that comey told sessions he did not want to be left alone with

president trump who, according to "the washington post," is now absolutely furious with the media coverage of comey. and he plans to publicly fight back during thursday's hearing. >> politico reports that the anger led sessions to offer his resignation which was refused. back in march the president reportedly asked director of national intelligence dan coats to get comey to back off from his investigation. these revelations come just before major hearing in d.c. where nbc's tracie potts is this morning. tracie, what can you tell us about the day ahead? >> reporter: gigi, i can tell you the big focus will be whether or not the president tried to get dan coats to shut down this russia investigation. people saying they were familiar with the conversation insisted that the president leaped on his top intelligence officer to try to shut this thing down. but coats is refuting that this morning in a statement saying he never felt pressured to either

influence intelligence or any on going investigation. coats isn't testifying alone. we'll also hear from the deputy attorney general who put a special counsel in charge of the russia probe. last time andrew mccabe was on capitol hill, he said no comment to any conversations between his old boss, then fbi director james comey and the president. we'll also hear from the head of the nsa, the national security agency. all of this is leading up to james comey's testimony tomorrow. the former and fired fbi director is expected to candidly answer questions about whether the president tried to pressure him into shutting down the investigation. >> we will all be watching that closely, that's for sure. tracie potts, thanks. >> the country's attention will be glued to james's testimony. businesses, bars and restaurants

are adjusting their schedules. nbc white house correspondent hallie jackson brings us up to speed. >> reporter: less than three weeks after reportedly calling james comey a nut job president trumple sending a more magnanimous message. >> i wish him luck. >> reporter: luck from the president to the fbi director he fired set to speak publicly for the first time since then thursday. comey likely to lay out a pattern of he believed were inappropriate conversations about the russia investigation according to sources close to him but not expected to accuse the president of obstruction of justice. the president who is consulting with counsel will counterprogram comey with a speech in d.c. thursday and maybe something more on line too. >> the president is expected to be tweeting on thursday in response to comey, not to stay quiet during the testimony because he himself wants to be the one driving the process. >> the president is the most effective messenger on his agenda.

>> reporter: that agenda seems jammed up for now with the capital consumed by comey. >> this is going to take all the air out of the room. >> reporter: the white house hoping to jump start movement on the president's priorities, health care and tax reform, meeting at the white house with gop leaders. >> now the senate i'm sure will follow suit and get a bill across the finish line this summer. >> reporter: that timeline striking some as ambitious. >> i think the president's agenda is at a virtual standstill because of all of these distractions. >> reporter: the uncertainty over when the senate might act on health care is leaving anthem to pull out of the ohio insurance market with more than 10,000 with no provider come 2018. >> we'll have more on james comey' testimony tomorrow. bars in d.c. will have the hearing on tv. shaw's tavern will open at 9:30 for what it's called the comey

hearing co-fif fee. it will feature a $10 fbi sandwich, fried chicken breast, bacon and iceberg lettuce on a bun. >> in a courtroom in philadelphia, bill cosby's accuser came face to fails with the man she says drugged and sexually assaulted her. andrea constand telling the court her account of what hatched that night. nbc's stephanie gosk was there. >> reporter: andrea constand arrived at court serious and determined. sitting across the courtroom from bill cosby, she described her initial impressions of him while working at temple university, a friend, somebody i trusted, a mentor. in january 2004 she went to cosby's house to talk about her career. the comedian offered her three blue pills saying these will help you relax. moments later feeling unsteady and panicking a bit, she said cosby moved her to the couch. with a shaky voice she told the jury, i was trying to get my hands to move and my legs to move but i was frozen.

unable to fight back she says, cosby molested her. i wanted it to stop, she told the courtroom. constand admitted she spoke to cosby several times after the alleged attack, and even attended one of his shows with relatives. she says, i did not have the courage at the time to tell my family, so i just went along with it. cosby is facing three felony charges of aggravated indecent assault. dozens of women have accused the once beloved actor of unwanted sexual contact. many say they were drugged. cosby denies all of the charges. >> constand faces cross examination from the defense when the trial resumes this morning. french authorities opened up a terror investigation after a man wielding a hammer attacked a police officer outs of the notre dame cathedral. police shot and injured the man who yelled this is for syria, during the attack. the man is believed to be an algerian student based on an id

card found on him. however, his identity has not yet been confirmed. the shot sent tourists running for cover. up to 600 people were blocked inside as police search forward possible accomplices. officials say it appears the man acted alone. this comes at the wake of the latest terror attack in london where three men killed at least seven people. at least two of the attackers were reportedly known to authorities. these new details revealed just ahead of elections in britain. nbc's lucy kafanov joins us from london. what effect do these attacks have on the upcoming election? >> reporter: good morning. british prime minister theresa may has come under some fire over police cuts in the wake of the attacks, the terror attack in london. the speight of violence is likely weighing heavy on voters mind. it's difficult to predict how it will affect the general election. as recently as last month mays conservatives led the opposition labor party more than 20 percentage points in the polls but that lead has slowly been

shrinking. and one of the three men behind saturday's attack, kharam butt was featured in a television documentary about british jihadists that came out last year. the manchester attacker was also known to authorities which raises questions about whether more could have been done to prevent this violence. instead of spending the last few days of campaigning talking about taxes or brexit or spending, the focus now is on police numbers and terrorism which very much does not bode well for the ruling party. frances, gigi. >> luis si cavanaugh, thank you. closer to home roads became rivers when flood waters in mip ep swept up a camper in forest county. they are expected to continue to rise but not reach flood stage. check out this atv water skiing in the florida everglades. most of the city is under water due to rains and dozens of roads are closed. >> let's bring in bill karins. will florida get any relief?

>> not this morning. it looks like as we go through the weekend. florida was this the drought, we had the fires. it took three days to almost erase the rainfall deficits. 8 million people under flood watches including south florida and a chunk of northeast florida. this rain over the last six hours, some areas in south florida picked up a foot of rain in the last 12 to 24 hours. changes coming to the west. this is the beginning of a big pattern change across the country. enjoy your last day of dry weather in the northwest. cooler and showery weather on the way starting tonht rigight day throughout much of the northern rockies through the northwest. tomorrow starts the cooling trend. >> frances, i'll show you how extreme the changes will be

across the country in the next four or five days. >> just ahead, what drove this guy to do this, jumping right on the hood of a car and stomping on a windshield. a shocking story coming out about the huge divide between white and black members of our military. i wonder who... . we're gonna need some reinforcements...quick. copy that. walgreens makes it easy when summer needs a little help. your summer base camp is just around the corner so you can get in, out and back to those summer shenanigans. walgreens. at the corner of happy & healthy®. this week, buy two and get a third free on sun and skin care. my friend susie cracks and hello sensitive bladder. ring a bell? then you have to try always discreet. i didn't think protection this thin could work. but it does. watch this. the super absorbent core turns liquid to gel.

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v8 or a powdered drink? ready, go. ahhhhhhhh! shake! shake! shake! shake! shake! done! you gotta shake it! i shake it! glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. police in atlanta are searching for a man who jumped on a woman's car, stomping her windshield for no apparent reason. it happened as she was leaving a grocery store parking lot. the woman says she doesn't even know the guy. police are hoping the dash cam video will help them identify the suspect. leading the news, a new study finds black service members face higher rates of military punishment than white comrades. advocacy group, protect our defenders, looked at pentagon data from 2006 to 2015. they found black troops faced court-martials or other discipline two times more often than white troops. some of the highest discrepancies in the marine

corps. black marines 2.6 times as likely to receive a guilty verdict in a court-martial. the pentagon says they will review the report. to a story about this woman in mcdonald's. she was very hangry and got into a brawl in iowa. she and another man have been arrested in the incident. here is a back story. valerie shepherd seen in that video got into a fight to mcdonald's employ when she became angry that her food wasn't coming out fast enough. that's what happened. she hops up. police arrested her tuesday along with jesse downs who was also at the mcdonald's. they had been charged with assault causing injury and disorderly conduct. >> i think she had other things on her mind as well. hollywood's most anticipated newborns have finally arrived. george and amal clooney welcoming twins, a daughter ella, a son alexander, they were born tuesday morning. clooney's publicist announced the birth saying the babies and

mom are happy, healthy and doing fine though he joked george is sedated and should recover in a few days. congratulations to them. i don't know george per se but i feel comfortable saying i think he is going to make a good dad. >> i think so, too. great parents as well. can't wait for the official photo to come out. a huge day for bruce wayne proposing marriage to whom. and planet of the app, it might be apple's next big thing. insut prenatal care. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done.

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fast forwarding into wednesday, president trump travels to cincinnati to meet with what the white house calls victims of obamacare. he will then deliver a speech on infrastructure. congressman al green of texas plans to draft articles of impeachment against president trump for obstruction of justice over the firing of fbi director james comey. >> and batman is popping the questions. big news in the comic book world. >> finally. we deserved on both parts. the united states is poised to hit a new record for oil, apple's next big thing involves some of hollywood's stars. cnbc's landon downing is

watching these stories. >> reporter: good morning. the highest annual average ever in oil production. the number of active oil rigs have doubled over the past 12 months, a sign that drillers will staking advantage of higher oil prices after a three-year downturn. sears is reportedly shutting 66 more underperforming sears and kmart stores on top of the 150 closures already announced this year. reports say liquidation sales should begin later this month and the stores will close by september. apple has debuted its first original show featuring jessica alba, gwyneth paltrow and will i. am. designing and showing off apps that help people shop, exercise or look after friends. the first episode is available now for free. back to you.

>> even more to watch. amazon prime, hulu, netflix and now this. >> we have a new class of astronauts welcomed to nasa in an out of this world way, plus a cringe-worthy scene unfolding on the red carpet. it's trending this morning next up on "early today." i never joined in. that wasn't fair to any of us. i was covered. i tried lots of things over the years. but i didn't give up. i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. that still works. now? see me. see me. i found clear skin that lasts. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you- cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms.

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i hope everyone in the great lakes, ohio valley is ready. we have a heat wave as we head towards the weekend, this on the heels of unseasonably cool temperatures. yesterday it continues today with 60s and 70s. it will quickly change. as it exits, the heat will build in and a major warmup. by the time we get into sunday, chicago 90, d.c. 91. this will last well into next we week. a new report says russian hackers may be behind the diplomatic crises between qatar and other allies in the persian

gulf. u.n. officials believe russia planted a fake story on qatari's news site. it claims they made friendly statements about iran and hamas. arab nations have severed ties with the country. major gulf carries suspended flights stranding passengers. some grocery store shelves are nearly bare. the country relies on gulf neighbors for 80% of its food imports. heads rolling at uber, the ride sharing company fired at least 20 employees firing an investigation into allegations of harassment, bullying and inappropriate behavior. uber hired a law firm to look into 215 total claims. so far 100 have resulted in no action while 57 cases were still under review. a source says several senior staff members have been dismissed, though no names were given. a florida woman is under investigation for purposely letting a snake bite her baby. we've got to warn you here. you might find this video

disturbing. watch. the woman filmed the incident. you see the woman jumps up and bites her daughter. the mom is heard laughing as the toddler starts to cry. she says she wanted to introduce her daughter to wildlife and that the snake bit her and her son several times without leaving a mark. she's not been arrested but authorities are looking into the incident again. it makes you really think, were they not thinking or what were they thinking? >> so bizarre and hard to watch. one woman thought she was coming home to a burglary. instead she found a furry intruder. this black bear got into the colorado home, stepped right up to the piano to play a few notes before he got away. i guess that's what happens when you live in certain parts of colorado. this baby gorilla is the newest member of the philadelphia zoo. after a difficult labor, 17-year-old kira delivered the healthy five-pound baby boy. that is the cutest way to start your morning. >> sweetness right there. >> thanks so much for watching.

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it is smack dab in the middle of your week. kicking off wednesday with a live look outside at the bay bridge. some clouds, a little haze outside, as conditions remain nice and comfortable. today in the bay starts right now. good morning. thank you for joining us on this wednesday. i'm sam brock. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's get straight to the forecast. a little cool out there this morning. >> it will be cooler as we go through the day. an increase in cloud cover, especially this afternoon, as we get ready for a chance of rain for tomorrow. as you get ready to head out the door now, it's all clear even though we have seen coastal fog in the peninsula and temperatures in the low to mid 50. it's dropped down to 49 in the north bay. you can see the fog in san francisco. here's a look at the high tempur