. . the president's revolving door administration is on a roll with the secretary of veterans affairs out while many remaining insiders are worried about hope hicks' likely last day being today. one of the hottest and most dangerous trends impacting teens across the nation. vaping and the serious health risks involved. apple ceo tim cook questions facebook ceo's leadership saying apple would never sell customer data. a second arrest in connection with the posting of a video showing a 16-month-old child smoking marijuana. and what drove one superfan on the ellen degeneres show to tears. "early today" starts right now. good to be with you on this

thursday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> i'm phillip mena. another cabinet shake-up. top trump cabinet official, veterans affairs secretary david shulkin is out after spending the last several weeks twisting in the wind. with headline after headline reporting him a dead man walking. president trump delivering the news where else but twitter. announcing shulkin's replacement will be his personal physician, navy rear admiral ronny jackson. >> with his firing, secretary shulkin becomes the latest in a long list of top white house officials who have left the administration. the question this morning is there another white house shake-up looming? let's bring in nbc's tracie potts in washington. can you tell us about the newly nominated ronny jackson? >> reporter: a lot of people may remember two months ago when he gave president trump a clean bill of health after his physical. here's what dr. jackson said then. >> in summary, the president's overall health is excellent. some people have, you know, just great genes. i told the president that if he had a healthier diet over the

last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old. he has incredibly good genes. that's just the way god made him. >> reporter: is he up for the job? veterans not quite sure. he's taking over the second largest federal agency. in a statement, president trump called him highly trained and qualified. but in "the wall street journal," the head of am vets said that shulkin may not necessarily be up for this big job specifically. he said looking at his background, we don't see anything that indicates that he's capable of rubbinning a $200 billion agency. the va is a lot more than just a medical system. meantime, shulkin, who is being replaced, that's been up for speculation for weeks, and it really started with an inspector general's report that found that he misused taxpayer funds when he took his wife on a business trip to europe. so shulkin out, jackson in pending senate confirmation.

>> just the latest. trace sooe, thank you. now to the ongoing battle between president trump and porn star stormy daniels. as the attorney for the adult film actress looks to depose the president and his lawyer, michael cohen, in their lawsuit against both men. looking to ask the commander in chief and his attorney about that $130,000 hush agreement paid out to ms. daniels just before the 2016 election, arguing that it violated campaign finance laws with michael cohen own lawyer insisting the president had no knowledge of the payment. take a listen. >> the president was not aware of the agreement. at least michael cohen never told him about the agreement. i can tell you that. and you asked a whole bunch of questions, so let me cover that. so you asked about 12 days before did. >> not aware about the agreement. what about the money? >> he was not aware of any of it. he wasn't told about it. look, michael was the fixer. so it could be anything. it's not that this man -- there were a ton of matters that took place that michael fixed, and donald trump wasn't involved in

every single matter, all right? >> the president's lawyer and the white house have previously denied any affair took place. tomorrow marks hope hicks' final day in the west wing. she announced last month she would be leaving the trump administration for good, bringing to a close a three-year journey by donald trump's side. the soon to be former communications director will leave behind a communications shop that is rife with division and shake-up after shake-up leaves staffers reportedly scrambling. this morning politico reports there is little urgency to fill hicks', leaving the president to fill the void. politico writing trump is poised to take greater control over white house messaging. and while the communications director position is still up for grabs, there's been at least one new hire in the west wing. former disney star caroline sunshine now serving as a press assistant within the administration. a nationwide teachers movement for better pay is growing. late last night, oklahoma's legislature passed a tax hike package aimed at generating revenue for teacher salaries

which haven't gone up since 2007. the bill increases oil, gas, and cigarette taxes and expected to bring in $450 million. governor mary fallin says she absolutely plans to sign the package, avoiding a planned strike. meanwhile, in arizona, thousands of teachers protested in phoenix demanding higher pay and more public school resources. though a strike there is not imminent, it is on the table. to facebook's ballooning data privacy scandal. apple's tim cook is slamming facebook ceo mark zuckerberg for profiting from its users' data. adding to the growing chorus of rebuke against the social media giant. in an exclusive interview with our sister network, msnbc, cook was asked what he would do if he were in zuckerberg's shoes. his answer? he simply wouldn't be in that situation. this as facebook is revamping its security and privacy settings. nbc news' jo ling kent has more. >> this is one that goes to the core. >> reporter: apple ceo tim cook

taking his most direct shot yet at facebook. the social media giant under fire after a data firm allegedly accessed the personal information of 50 million unsuspecting facebook users. now in an exclusive interview on msnbc, cook is questioning facebook ceo mark zuckerberg's leadership, saying apple would never sell customer data. >> the truth is we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer. if our customer was our product, we could make a ton of money. we've elected not to do that. >> reporter: zuckerberg and his team behind the scenes still deciding whether he will answer questions from congress. he says he's open to it, but still has not accepted invitations from three committees. >> it's best for zuckerberg himself to start appearing in front of congress. >> reporter: now at least three facebook users suing the company for tracking phone call and text message data on android phones through facebook messenger. facebook saying users had to opt in to that feature.

the social network doing damage control, unveiling a new centralized way to find out exactly what you've shared and ways to delete it. but facebook has not committed to changing how much data it's collecting. even though back in 2009, zuckerberg promised users would have control over their content. >> this is their information. they own it. >> and you wouldn't sell it? >> no, of course not. >> new this morning, nbc news partner channel 4 discovering some of the user data harvested by cambridge analytica back in 2013 and 2014 that sparked this entire privacy scandal is still circulating. cambridge analytica denies it's responsible and facebook saying again this morning it is very sorry. frances. >> jo, thanks. legendary buffalo bills quarterback jim kelly is on the road to recovery after having surgery yesterday for oral cancer. doctors said they successfully removed cancer from kelly's upper jaw and lymph nodes and they also reconstructed his jaw. the surgery lasted 12 hours. kelly's wife, jill, shared these

pre-op photos on instagram. kelly all smiles there, giving the thumbs up. and in a nod to his career, his computer there was number 12, the same number he wore as a player. >> it's going to be a big next couple of days when it comes to holidays and easter egg hunting. let's see if the weather is going to cooperate. >> good morning frances and phillip. we are looking at a little rough weather unfortunately for texas. what we're seeing now, lots of lightning in houston and all this energy working its way into louisiana. so watch out for heavy rain and even the risk for severe weather in terms of the risk for tornadoes. 6 million at risk for that severe weather in the south. heavy rain will extend all the way through the mid south so into tennessee through charleston, west virginia, and even lower sections of ohio. it will be a little bit wet on the roads there. temperatures over the next few days are cooling down depending on where you are. look at this. detroit on easter, 43 degrees. also cooler down in greensboro. we'll see a slight cooling trend, but it's interesting as

we transition into april, we're still saying cool in manybit co. some highs are only in the 30s today. that cool air is plunging further to the south and many in the central parts of the u.s. will be feeling it for the holiday weekend. >> thanks, bonnie. fast forwarding into thursday, today is national vietnam war veterans day. a wreath laying ceremony will be held at the vietnam war memorial in washington, d.c. to honor veterans and their families for their sacrifice and service. the new york international auto show opens tomorrow. suvs will be front and center this year. suvs account for 43 brs of all u.s. auto sales. and america's pastime is

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now with 10x the cleaning power. tide, america's #1 detergent. leading the news, a canadian woman marked her 18th birthday with some sparkling wine and a million dollar winning lottery ticket. officials at lotto quebec say it was the first time that charlie le guard had ever played the lottery because a person has to be 18 to play. after winning, she decided not to take the lump sum and instead will receive $1,000, that's about 774 u.s. dollars, every week for the rest of her life. she says she plans to use that money to travel and learn photography. >> how is that for a welcome to adulthood. cheers to you. >> right out the gate. north carolina police have charged a second person after a video surfaced last week on facebook showing a 16-month-old child smoking marijuana.

18-year-old alan maldonado is charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two counts of simple possession of marijuana. he claims he's not the father of the child. the child's mother was also arrested last week on several charges. maldonado is being held on a $5,000 bond. he is due in court in april. today mourners will be arriving for a funeral in sacramento to grieve the death of stephon clark. the armed man who was shot dead by police officers in his grandmother's backyard. at the emotional public wake, some attendees wore black shirts calling for justice while others cried and hugged each other. the reverend al sharpton is scheduled to deliver the eulogy at today's funeral that will be open to the public. protests continue to erupt from coast to coast. the latest held in new york city where nearly a dozen people were detained by police after flooding the streets demanding justice for clark. two new jersey police officers are suspended after what's being called a hangry situation. this is what happened.

they stormed a domino's pizza chain in jersey city over an undelivered pizza, and cameras were rolling. they're there confronting the manager, appearing to push him against the wall. an employee says one officer noticed people were recording and suggested they take the situation outside as the other officer tried to break it up. the officers have been charged with harassment and disorderly conduct. they are due in court in april. coming up t is the trend that has parents for teens up in arms. talking about vaping. we've got more information on this growing habit next. harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line, and if you're not taking care of your gums, you're not taking care of your mouth. so now i use this. crest gum detoxify. introducing new crest gum detoxify... it works below the gum line and is clinically proven to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. new gum detoxify, from crest. gums are good. so is my check up! crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life.

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open the pod bay doors, hal. >> i'm sorry, dave. i'm afraid i can't do that. >> what's the problem? >> i think you know what the problem is just as well as i do. >> what are you talking about? >> classic scene. creepy too. the treacherous hal 2000 in cube rick's masterpiece. 2001, a space odyssey. if you haven't seen it, you're in luck. now is the time to do it. the film will be returning to theaters in may for its 50th anniversary. i have to say i've never seen it. now's our time. >> i'm embarrassed to say that too. i call myself such a fan of all things space, and i haven't seen it either. >> now here we go. now to a warning this morning for parents. even though it's banned in many places like bars and restaurants, a new type of

e-cigarettes is turning up in schools. health officials say this device carries addictive nicotine but looks harmless. >> reporter: it's a vaping device called jewel, but it looks like a regular computer flash drive. slick, slender, and the newest craze among kids. >> i think that's part of the appeal to people is it just looks so cool. it looks so high-tech. >> a jewel consists of two parts. >> reporter: it was the subject of emily lynskey's high school journalism project. >> i see a ton of kids doing it. it's a lot in the bathrooms. >> reporter: some districts warning parents the jewel can be hidden in school markers. the amount of nicotine in a jewel pod is equal to a pack of cigarettes. >> is it addictive? >> 100% addictive, absolutely. for most people. highly addictive, especially children are more vulnerable. >> reporter: it's legally sold to adults 18 and over with flavors including fruit medley and creme brulee. juul lab says it strongly

condemns the use of its product by minors and is working with lawmakers, educators, community leaders and its business partners. >> seems like it's just as bad as smoking a cigarette. just kind of packaged prettier. >> reporter: a health concern about an e-cigarette that parents say is too easy to hide. rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. still ahead, fans of the office may have reason to celebrate. plus proof you are never too young to be a die hard ellen's fan. stay with us. any object. any surface. if you've got a life you gotta swiffer

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i want ellen. >> you want to watch ellen? >> yes. >> the news is on now. >> i don't want to watch it. i want to watch ellen! >> we know toddlers throw tantrums, but ellen degeneres has got to love it because he's crying because ellen's not on. so he's got to be ellen's biggest fan. so he's there really in that sad moment for this little kid. it's drawing a ton of laughs on social media. you see him stomping his feet just because ellen is not on. >> you see what's on instead? the news. i don't want to watch the news. i want to see ellen. >> let's have him in front of the two of us. not so much. >> the parent is smart because they put this online. you know what's going to happen. that kid and the parent.

>> show up on ellen. >> they will end up on ellen. the infamous internet hot v felon. that made him famous. he is now an expectant father. his name is jeremy meeks. you may remember him from that mug shot. it went viral back in 2014. now he and his girlfriend, top shop billionaire chloe green, they are expecting their first child together. that is according to us weekly. while this is green's first child, he has already a kid and two stepchildren with his ex-wife. they aren't shy about showing their love on social media. what a message this sends to the world. >> you know, you get busted. you get a mug shot. there you go. you end up with an heiress. it may be only march but the office star, john krizinsky is giving fans a little hope for the holidays.

earlier this week krizinsky said while he doesn't want to see a revival of the show, there's one we he would have the gang unite. in a christmas special. he said he'd be totally down doing a holiday special one year and another two or three years down the line. much like the uk version of the show, he said i love that idea coming back finding out where everybody is. we see how huge this is come. will and grace, roseanne. it could happen with the office coming back, even just for the holidays. >> so many big stars. it is going to be, i imagine, a struggle to get them back. i want to see if pam and jim had a kid or what happened with that. >> it would be nice, right? >> don't tease us, guys. just ahead, would you let the internet decide if you should shave your unibrow. that's what this gnanba star is doing. we'll tell you more when we come back on "early today." shawn evans: it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day

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this monk new developments in special counsel robert mueller's russia probe. "the new york times" reports that the president's former lawyer, john dowd, raised the possibility of pardons for michael flynn and paul manafort with the attorneys representing the two men. the times cites three people with knowledge of the discussions writing, quote, the discussions came as the special counsel was building cases against both men, and they raised questions about whether the lawyer, john dowd, was offering pardons to influence their decisions about whether to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation. mueller has already indicted paul manafort on several charges of financial fraud. he has pleaded not guilty. that's a far cry from michael flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to investigators and is now cooperating with mueller.

in a statement, white house lawyer ty cobb said no pardons are under discussion or under consideration at the white house. authorities are searching for three missing children after the vehicle their parents and siblings were in plunged hundreds of feet off a clip in westport, california. officials recovered the bodies of two married women and three of their six adopted children but are still searching for the remaining three. according to the associated press, authorities say there were no skid or break marks leading up to the clip, but there's also no evidence that the crash was intentional. huff most out with a revealing report that details the environmental protection agency's talking points that reportedly show workers had to down play indictment change in an internal e-mail obtained by huff post-but not independently verified by nbc news. the memo notes while human activity impacts are changing climate in some matter the degree and extent of that impact and what to do about it are subject to continuing debate and dialogue. while also claiming clear gaps

remain, including our understanding of the role human activity plays and what we can do about it. an epa spokeswoman, while confirming the memo to huff post disputed the news website's characterization of the e-mail. nba star anthony davis has one of the most recognizable features in all of professional sports, but is he ready for something new? the pelicans center who is best known for that long unibrow took to social media to ask his followers should i shave my brow? the post was immediately an internet hit and got over 500,000 votes in less than 24 hours. sports outlets even got in on the fun by sharing their opinions on twitter. so what do you think? should he cut it? those polls close tomorrow. i think that he should keep it. by now, if he's kept it his entire life, that's his thing. >> if that's your thing, that's your signature right there, it's a little bit different. that's how people are used to seeing you. >> just ask james harden what some hair will do for you. thanks for waking up with us this morning.

i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. check out this video of a dutch speed skater here reaching speeds of nearly 58 miles per hour on her skates yesterday. the

good morning. it is thursday morning. let's look out at the bay bridge this morning. it is a beautiful start to the day. a little cool. it is going to be very warm, though. the south bay is already getting there. thank you for joining us. i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia who is still recovering from laryngitis. >> and i'm marcus washington. >> it's going to be really warm and yesterday it was quite cozy for the afternoon, and it's going to be even higher today as we reach into the low 80s. here is a live look outside in san jose. we start out with the mid-50s. let's go to campbell. we'll be in the 50s throughout 9:00 and reaching quickly into the upper 70sy