president trump ordered his first military strike over a year ago in syria. now, on the heels of a reported chemical attack that's killed dozens, how and when will he react? a looming tit-for-tat trade war with china is heating up with billions at stake, and millions of americans about to pay the price. bill cosby is just hours from hearing opening statements in his retrial for sexual harassment. but this time more alleged victims will be allowed to testify. no sprinklers at the trump tower fire. we're learning more about the man who died there and his connection to andy warhol. and did rapper cardi b. just enjoy the biggest weekend of her personal and professional life? "early today" starts right now. good to be with you on a

monday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. we begin in syria, outside of damascus. >> groups in opposition activists say at least 40 people were killed including several children. many found suffocated inside their homes. the syrian american medical society said more than 500 were brought to medical centers with signs to exposure of a chemical. nbc news hasn't verified it. >> this comes as reports of military air strike against syria overnight. >> cal, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. that air strike coming in the middle of night seven hours ago, an airfield in central syria, the u.s., pentagon putting out a statement they did not carry out

the air strike. so, we can point a finger at this point the likelihood is that israel carried out this attack. second time they have hit this airfield in less than three months. they hit it earlier in february. that horrific chemical attack, the video of that chemical attack coming out saturday evening. trying to avoid these crudely manufactured barrel bombs. packed with explosives. in this case, including some kind of a chemical agent, a number of children amongst the dead there in that attack. the question the next 12 to 24 hours, what will the u.s. response be? you referenced those tweets from president trump, perhaps boxing the military into some kind of attack we'll see what happens. >> thank you so much, cal. now to washington, there's

talk of yet another top trump official on the way out. reports published this weekend chief of staff john kelly could be next. following incidents in which kelly grew so frustrated with the commander in chief that he threatened to resigned. abc's jeff bennett with more from the white house. >> reporter: president trump ripping the latest report that he and his chief of staff john kelly are at a breaking point. tweeting story on john kelly, isn't true. just another hit job. repeated threats to quit and fading white house influence. while the president publicly defends him -- >> i think general kelly has done a really great job. >> reporter: he's frustrated with kelly. mr. trump considered firing kelly last month and weigh essentially acting as his own chief of staff. >> you cannot run the white

house the way the way you run 26th trump tower. >> reporter: while kelly's future appears in question, epa chief scott pruitt seems safe for now, despite escalating ethics scandal. so far, the president has pruitt's back. >> scott has done a fantastic job. i think he's a fantastic person. >> reporter: all this as the president gets ready to welcome a trio of new hard-line advisers who will help guide u.s. to approach hot spots around the world. >> including john bolton, mike pompeo and gina haspel. all this ahead of president trump's summit with kim jong-un,

talking about denuclearization if and when that meeting take place. president trump has vowed friendship with chinese president xi jinping despite their trade differences. in a tweet president trump says he and president xi will always be friends no matter what happens with our dispute on trade. china has vowed to counterattack with quote, great strength if the president slaps on another $100 billion tariffs. nbc's jan mackey is live for us. >> reporter: good morning, phillip. also in that twitter message, president trump said china will remove trade barriers because it's, quote, the right thing to do. the pattern we have seen with the president. calling out china on trade on one hand and then talking up his personal warmths with xi jinping but china is not backing down on

this. xi jinping is directing a tougher stance against the u.s. china has vowed to counterattack with so-called great strength if president trump makes good on his threat to make good on the tariffs. how could china up the ante? it could slap tariffs on the services trade, where the u.s. actually has a big surplus or against u.s. multinationals that are being business here. this is the world's largest consumer market. china at this point, negotiations are impossible. the editorials in the newspapers are ramping up the nationalist rhetoric. painting the u.s. as a public enemy of free trade. on tuesday, xi jinping will give a speech at a global forum of business leaders, first public address since the trade threats have started. unlikely he'll mention president trump by name. phillip. >> thank you.

breaking overnight, dozens of high school students are injured after a business returning to long island from a spring break trip struck on overpass on a new york highway. police say the 38 students from various long island high schools, ranging in age from 16 to 18-year-olds all sustained injuries. according to authorities the driver is being evaluated and didn't seem to be familiar with commercial vehicle restrictions on the highway. now to our meteorologist with a look at our day ahead. >> we're seeing warm water in the southwest. also, windy, helping to bring that warm, dry air, finally a reprieve on the moisture on the west coast for a while. temperatures in the 90s in many spots today. monday and tuesday. before we see a break by

wednesday. san francisco, today, looking good. 73 degrees. comfortable there. further to the south, 86 degrees in los angeles with sunny skies. 95 in phoenix with that warm wind as well. as we look towards tomorrow, temperatures even warmer than that indicates temperatures in the 09s, 95 in phoenix and 97 in tucson. all right, warm weather in the southwest. we'll see that tomorrow and some rain returning with cooler temperatures >> thank you, michelle. at the movies this weekend "a quiet place" landed in the top spot.

the horror flick took in a whopping $50 million. after two months at the movies "black panther" surpassed another milestone. it topped "titanic's" box office record, $659 million, and has now become the third-highest grossing film of all time in domestic ticket sales, and it is not done yet. >> all right, plenty more ahead including the start of bill cosby's new retrial. a live report next. thou hast the patchy beard of a pre-pubescent squire! thy armor was forged by a feeble-fingered peasant woman... your mom! as long as hecklers love to heckle, you can count on geico saving folks money. boring! fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. well, here's to first dates! you look amazing. and you look amazingly comfortable. when your v-neck looks more like a u-neck...

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same -- seven men and five women. some big changes inside this courthouse. >> mr. cosby, how are you feeling? >> reporter: he faces the same charges in the same courthouse. but his sexual assault trial could be much different the second time around. the judge has ruled that jury will hear from five more cosby accusers in addition to andrea constand. the additional testimony is widely considered a pretrial win for prosecutors. but the judge's also ruled in favor of the defense, allowing them to call a former co-worker who said constand could get money by making false allegation against a celebrity. the witness wasn't allowed to testify during the first trial. >> if she's believed then that

evidence is devastating to the credibility of the complainant ms. constand. >> reporter: mr. cosby did reach a financial settlement with constand. this one plays out during the me too movement. something potential jurors were asked about during the selection process. and, all but five said they had heard or read about the me too movement. the cosby defense team has changed dramatically, five attorneys. frances. >> jay, thanks. north korea said it's ready to discuss denuclearization with mr. trump. the message from pyongyang comes ahead a potential meeting

between president trump and kim jong-un. according to the washington post, some u.s. officials are warning that north korea has broken agreements in the past. a date for the meeting has not yet been confirmed. adult film actress stormy daniels is continuing her legal battle against the president, trying to get the president to ask her attorney's questions directly under oath. asking for sworn statement from mr. trump and his personal lawyer michael cohen about the $130,000 hush agreement made to daniels just before the 2016 election. it's all part of a nondisclosure agreement that daniels is trying to invalidate. just last week, mr. trump said that he didn't know where the $130,000 came from. more pain at the gas pump, we'll tell you what it means for

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yet at ron howard's star wars vision yet. >> all right, parents this is for you. have you had a "fortnite" conversation with your kids or spouse? plus, there are gas prices to talk about as we start the week. let's check in with leslie. good morning, frances. wall street is set to open up higher this week after stocks sold off on friday. it ended the week in correction territory on the potential trade war with the u.s. and china. earnings season officially gets under way. prices at the pump are rising. new survey shows average price of regular unleaded jumped eight cents in the past two weeks to 2.74 a gallon. increase is being driven by higher oil prices. gas costs about 30 cents more

than this time last year. it may be free to play, fortnite was just released on ios devices last month and it's already collected more than $50 million from in-app purchases. the game has racked up more than a million downloads since it launched. highest grossing game on the iphone. back over to you, guys. >> all right. we're hearing about it for the first time over on this end. >> still playing angry birds over here. >> thank you. >> thank you. in today's quick hits, the monster energy nascar territory traveled down to texas, kevin harvick. johnny manziel returned to competitive football, he saw action in spring league and even threw for a touchdown, his first in over two years. his football rights are

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mexico is sending caravans full of immigrants toward us. and i've seen these caravans. truck after truck, barreling across the desert. the trucks are covered in metal and spikes with a guy strapped in front just wailing away with a flaming guitar. there are guys shimmying on skinny little poles. >> mr. president, i believe you're describing "mad max: fury road." >> lot good stuff coming out of "snl" this weekend. including mruz call guest cardi b. she had a banner weekend. not only did the rapper reveal that she's pregnant while gracing the stage of studio 8h, she also released her debut album, "invasion of privaci." that shot straight to gold in less than 24 hours. the album includes her smash-hit "bodak yellow" which reached number one on the billboard charts in the fall. the rapper immediately received an outpouring of love including this special shout out from oprah with the caption, "listening to that new cardi b. album."

once you get the oprah stamp of approval, you're good. >> you knew oprah was such an cardi b. fan. this is her first official album and that's all anybody has been talking about this week. >> think about all the hits yet to come. take some pro wrest ling. ronda rousey, she faced stephanie mcmahon in a tag-team match down in new orleans for wrestle mania 44. soldout crowd. rousey won her very first match still ahead -- we'll have the top stories. >> too much frustration she's taking out on stephanie mcmahon. any object. any surface.

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this morning when you get on facebook you could see a big change. the company is now showcasing a link that will let users to show which apps are connected to their facebook accounts and which apps are allowed to collect it comes after a fierce backlash against the company that cambridge analytica was able to obtain the information of 50 million users. now we're learning the data of 87 million users could have been harvested by cambridge analytica. >> is it possible -- do you believe the number 87 million is

the high end or do you think that's still possible that number is much higher? >> i think it could be higher. absolutely. >> and facebook has one less user this morning, apple co-founder steve wozniak announced that he would be leaving the app. >> an update on the fire in trump tower that destroyed an apartment and killed a man who lived there. firefighters said when they arrived the apartment on the 50th building was completely engulfed. more than 200 firefighters responded. six were hurt with nonlife-threatening injuries. the fdny commissioner confirmed that the residential floors of the building don't have sprinklers. this morning we're learning more about the resident who died in the blaze. todd brasner was a prominent art

dealer and a friend of andy warhol. mr. trump, first lady melania and son barron were not in trump tower during the incident. overnight the canadian town of humboldt, saskatchewan, remembered the lives lost when their bus crashed. 15 killed and 14 others injured. let's get another check of our forecast. >> timely getting a break in the west from all that rain last week, we're getting a break today. but that returns as we head towards tuesday and also wednesday. also watching very warm air, 90 in some spots. 95 degrees in phoenix. it gets warmer as we head towards tuesday. >> all right, thank you, michelle. >> can't wait for that warmth to

head this way. thank you for being with us. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip

/s i wouldn't take anything off the table. these are horrible photos. we're looking into the attack. >> count down to retaliation, the u.s. and our allies are right now planning a response to a heinous gas attack that killed dozens in syria. >> an overnight vigil in canada for the 15 members of a junior hockey team who perished in a school bus crash. >> high drama at the white house, syria, tension with chief of staff, new stormy daniels legal challenges and a looming trade war with china. >> late breaking details of a packed bus hitting an overpass on a busy new york freeway with multiple injuries. and ultimate fighter rhonda