this is pre-russia fever. i don't think my antennas went up. >> donald trump jr. speaks out following the release of the e-mails following the offer of information. did he break the law? the vice president appears to be distancing himself from the situation while cnbc reports the dollar is tanking and gold is rising. severe storms move east with over 30 million americans in the president of dangerous weather. federal investigators want to know if a teen died after

being electrocuted by her cell phone in a bath tub. a 70-person human chain of strangers rescues a a family from a rip tide. and we'll show you the most powerful super soaker on the planet. "early today" starts right now. good morning, breaking overnight the trump/russia story takes a sharp turn. it's being described as a category 5 hurricane engulfing the white house. donald trump jr. makes a startling admission and breaks his silence on the story battering the white house. his previously undies closed meeting apparently offering to provide damaging information on hillary clinton. and here's what the younger trump said to fox news explaining his motive for taking the meeting. >> things are going a million miles an hour again. wait a minute, i heard about this, but maybe this is something. someone sent me an e-mail. i can't help what someone sends me. i read it. i responded accordingly. if there was something

interesting there, it's pretty common. there was probably some bait and switch about what it was supposed to be about. there's nothing there. >> did you tell your father anything about this? >> it was such a nothing. there was nothing to tell. i wouldn't have even remembered it until you start scouring through the stuff. it was a wasted 20 minutes, which is a shame. >> the explanation comes after he releases a chain of e-mails filled with damaging messages. they breathe life into whether the trump campaign colluded with russian officials. trump's someplace came after e-mails that breathe new life into whether the trump campaign colluded with russian officials. the younger trump taking to twitter saying he did so in an effort to be totally transparent. the e-mails speak of a desire to provide, quote, official documents and information that would incriminate hillary clinton. part of what trump's contact says is, quote, russia and its government support for mr. trump. as for that attorney he met

with keir simmons tracked her down and she denied any connection with the kremlin. >> what was the purpose of that meeting? >> translator: i never knew who else would be attending the meeting. all i knew that mr. donald trump jr. was willing to meet with me. i could recognize the young gentleman who was only present in the meeting for probably the first seven to ten minutes and then he stood up and left the roo room. it was mr. jared kushner, ask he never came back, by the way. he was always looking at his phone. he was reading something. he never took any active part in the conversation. that was mr. manafort. >> they had the impression, it appears, that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc. how did they get that impression? >> translator: it's possible they were looking for such information. they wanted it so badly. >> have you ever worked for the

russian government? do you have connections to the russian government? >> translator: no. >> the question many are asking is this now concrete evidence of coordination or collusion with russia? peter alexander has a break down of how it all played out. >> reporter: what donald trump jr. knew and how he knew it in black and white. a trusted associate e-mails trump jr. that one of donald trump's former business partners had been contacted by a senior russian government official and offering the trump campaign information that would incriminate hillary clinton and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father adding this is very high level and sensitive information but is part of the support for mr. trump. minutes later, trump jr.'s reply, if it's what you say, i love it. june 7th, after trading several

e-mails, the associate suggests a meeting at trump tower with the attorney flying over from moscow for this. trump jr. agrees adding it's like will he will bring paul manafort and my brother-in-law jared kushner. that night after clinching the nomination, trump promises more dirt on clinton. >> you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting. >> reporter: the next day kushner and manafort are added to the e-mail chain. june 9th the men meet at trump tower with natalia vesel veselnitskaya. punctuated by this. where are your 33,000 e-mails you deleted? within a week the first of the flood of leaks believed to be the the result of russian hackers. there's no evidence the information trump jr. was promised was connected to that. the next month trump jr. attacks the campaign for suggesting a russian plot to help his father. >> it's disgusting. >> they will lie is and do anything to win. >> reporter: trump jr. who has offered shifting explanations posting the e-mail exchange on twitter earning praise from the

president. "my son is a high-quality person and i applaud his transparency." but the younger trump only shared after "the new york times" says it informed him they were about to publish them. >> this is moving into perjury, false statements and potentially treason. >> that was peter alexander. a statement from mike pence's office says he was not aware of the meeting and is focused on stories about the campaign and those pertaining to the time before he joined the campaign. for the first time, the defense department tested hits anti-missile system against a simulated intermediate range ballistic missile similar to the ones being developed by north korea. as part of the new test, the military released a target missile north of hawaii over the pacific. then a station fired its intercepter rocket shooting across the ocean towards the

incoming target missile and it was a direct hit, successfully destroying the target. this latest test gives a 100% track record for all 14 intercept tests conducted over the past ten years. we have new information on the military plane that crashed in mississippi. the pentagon says 15 marines and one navy corpsman were on board taking it the deadliest marine corps crash since 2005. they were based in north carolina. the flight took off near the base and was headed to california. at some point, it may have exploded in midair. >> if there wasn't a may day call or any kind of communication, that would suggest that whatever occurred in flight at 20,000 feet was sen instantaneous. >> mississippi's governor took to twitter urging people to stay away from the crash site and warning that anyone who takes debris will be prosecuted. any items found should bed over

-- should be turned over to authorities immediately. a family of a teen electrocuted by her cell phone says they hope their tragedy can save the lives of other children. she was in the tub of her father's home when she reached for her phone plugged into a charger and was electrocuted. first responders tried to revive her, but were unsuccessful. her grieving grandmother says she hopes to raise awareness to prevent this from happening to other families. >> this is such a tragedy that doesn't need to happen to anyone else. we want something good to come out of this. >> federal safety regulators say they are investigating. dozens of beach goers came together to save a family caught in a rip current. they began forming a human chain to reach the family, who was stuck about 100 yards offshore. one member says they became stranded trying to save her two sons. over 70 people linked arms

slowly making their way to the family. after about an hour, the chain reached them and brought everyone to safety. she's thankful for the strangers' act of kindness. >> as a mom, i'm supposed to be able to protect them and do everything and i couldn't do it that way. i had to have help, which i was etern eternally grateful for. that was there to be able to help me. >> her mother suffered a heart attack after the ordeal and is recovering in the hospital. 32 million americans at risk of severe weather today new video shows a tornado barrelling across a farm in iowa. it damaged crops, uprooted trees and caused minor damage to several structures. and on the left part of the screen, check out this firenado in california. more than 7,000 firefighters are battling 13 wildfires in california. let's go to bonnie snider for more on today's severe weather risk.

good morning. >> good morning. unfortunately it was are warming up across the country and it will get hotter the next few days. temperatures on the rise climbing at least 4 or 5 degrees above normal. many of these are locations wheres fires continue to burn. not the best news in the forecast there. tracking severe weather in the midwest. we run the risk for at least 33 million american for severe weather threat. that does include big cooler bu. if you want relief from the heat head to the northwest coast. as we can see, we've got chicago, grand rapids, all the way to des moines, grand isle looking at that threat for severe weather this afternoon. >> thank you very.

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>> jimmy kimmel having fun with the secrecy of the sexes of the twins. now to a turn here and the family of nelson ellis who says he died after trying to detox from alcohol. in a statement the family said the "true blood" star tried rehab so he tried to quit drinking on his own. that resulted in kidney failure, a blood infection and heart failure. he was only 39 years old. alcohol withdrawal can be severe enough to cause death ask safest when done under medical supervision. police are searching for four young pennsylvania men who went missing last week. foul play is now suspected as local authorities and the fbi scour a sprawling farm in bucks county. the 20-year-old whose family owns the farm was arrested on an unrelated gun charge. he's a a person of interest after receiving tips he was seen with the men shortly before they went missing.

>> it looks as though the russian news is too much for a life-long republican who has decided to leave his party, he's known as "morning joe." >> you have to ask yourself what is the republican party willing to do? how far are they willing to go, how far of their country and values are they willing to sell out? >> but aren't you a republican? >> i am a republican but i'm not going to be a republican anymore. i've got to become an independent. >> still ahead, it got ugly. and gold is up on the latest trump scandal. ...companies. ...solve problems. how? we eat. we eat almonds, strawberries, quinoa

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president macron as guest of honor for bastille day. later today wall street will be listening to fed chair janet yellen, but it's the latest trump scandal that has investors on edge. let's turn to jeff with the details. >> good morning, the big question here is is still did the trump campaign work with the russian government on trying to discredit hillary clinton and the democrats. and i think at the moment, these e-mails fall short of answering that question clearly, which is why even as we got markets lower in a knee jerk response to the publication of the e-mails, ultimately the traders say we don't see the smoking gun here, so we regained a lot of the losses that we saw early on in gold markets and the dollar. moving you along here, i want to talk about janet yellen's semi annual testimony. two issues, how high are interest rates going to go before the end of the year and when will tapering of the balance sheet begin. the markets listening for any comments on those two issues. i don't think we're going to get any real surprise, but you never know. janet yellen may let one or two things slip here. and the the iphone 8, will it be a september launch, november launch? the company is working around

the clock to fix bugs in its newest device called the iphone 8. i can only imagine the lines will be out the door. >> thank you. still ahead, a game changer in a super soaker water fight. that and much more coming up on "early today." in any light, transitions® lenses help protect from uv rays and harmful blue light. both indoors... and out. they seamlessly adapt. so you can live the good light™. find an eyecare professional at transitions.com. now, finance your glasses with no interest if paid in full within six months, and get up to $30 back when you combine select essilor® brand lenses. visit transitions.com for more details. what's the best way to get two servings of veggies? v8 or a powdered drink? ready, go. ahhhhhhhh! shake! shake! shake! shake! shake!

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