yeah. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. look, oh, my god! >> racing a deadly tornado, major damage overnight in north carolina. thousands without power. but mother nature also unleashing wildfires in oklahoma and snow in the midwest. >> from crime boss to slime ball. fired director jim comey and donald trump. >> on the heels of a military strike in syria, the u.s. to propose more sanctions on russia later today. >> 2 million eggs over salmonella fears. >> fallout over the arrest of two black men at philly starbucks. >> and the ama awards.

"early today" starts right now. >> good monday morning. i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. mother nature is blasting large chunks of the country with deadly spring storms, padraig harringtoning -- packing a punch with heavy winds and tornadoes. two people have been killed including a 2-year-old girl in louisiana. she was sleeping when a tree collapsed on the family's vrv, nearly tearing it in half. it spawned several tornadoes including in north carolina. it damaged homes and knocked down trees and power lines. schools across the region are closed today due to extensive damages. and over 100,000 customers across the southeast are without power. in parts of the midwest it's still looking like winter. minnesota is digging out from over a foot of snow. and blizzard conditions are wreaking travel havoc. hundreds of flights are grounded. all this as more severe weather could be on the way. >> nbc meteorologist bill karins is tracking these storms for us. bill, good morning. >> good morning. what an incredible storm over the weekend. the classic spring storm system we're done with the severe weather threat.

we're almost done with all the snow. we still have to deal with a lot of heavy rain. flash flood during the morning commute and hundreds if not thousands of flights canceled in majorly delayed in the northeast today because all the heavy rain is now over d.c., coming up over philly, new york city and right through southern new england dougal the day today. here is the timing of it. 7:00 a.m. this morning heaviest rain over philadelphia arriving in new york city. strong gusty winds. through the day the heaviest rain is over the top of new york . shifting this afternoon over the top of boston by 5:00 p.m. so, for the evening ride hope new york city, philadelphia, south wards will be okay. it doesn't clear out of new england until early tomorrow morning. so, expect a lot of travel delays in the northeast today, but we won't get the tornadoes and severe weather that came with the storm yesterday. >> all right. silver lining there. all right, bill, thank you. former fbi director james comey is firing back at president donald trump. it was his first interview since being fired by mr. trump back in may of 2017. in the explosive interview with abc's george stephanopoulous,

comey blasted president trump saying he is morally unfit to be president. >> a person who sees moral equivalence in charlottesville, who talks about and treats women like they're pieces of meat, who lies constantly about matters big and small and insists the american people believe it, that person is not fit to be president of the united states on moral grounds. our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country. the most important being truth. this president is not able to do that. he is morally unfit to be president. >> comey also revealed that he believes it's possible russia has material that could be used to blackmail mr. trump. >> you can't say for certain that the president of the united states is not compromised by the russians? >> yeah, it is stunning and i wish i wasn't saying it but it's the truth. it always struck me and still strikes me as unlikely and i would have been able to say with high confidence about any other president i dealt with, but i can't. it's possible.

>> during the hours-long interview comey explains the thought process behind his highly contested decision to publicly announce a further investigation into hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state. a decision that many critics say cost secretary clinton the election. i >> i was operating in a world where hillary clinton was going to beat donald trump. i'm sure it was a factor. i don't remember spelling it out, but it had to have been. she's going to elected president and if i hide this from the american people, she'll be illegitimate the moment she's elected, the moment this comes out. >> comey says he would make the same decision again. >> if you knew that letter would elect donald trump, you'd still send it? >> i would. down that path lies the death of the fbi as an independent force in american life. if i ever start considering who is political fortunes will be affected by a decision, we're done. just we're another player in the tribal battle.

>> ahead of the highly anticipated interview, president trump unleashed a twitter rampage aimed at comey calling him slippery james comey and slime ball. in comey's book he scorches the president's character and in a counter punch the white house attacks comey's credible. >> james comey is a self-admitted leaker. the guy knew exactly what he was doing. he thought hillary clinton would win and he thought that this would give him some cover. >> but comey whose ten year term was not up until 2023, the election outcome was not expected to affect the job which is were he was the official who briefed president trump about the salacious unverified dossier. i was staying on as fbi director. we knew the information and the man had to be told. >> former first lady barbara bush is surrounded by family this morning following a recent series of hospitalizations. a spokesman says the 92-year-old has decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort

care. it will not surprise those who know her that barbara bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health. the statement continues, worrying not for herself, thanks to her abiding faith, but for others. mrs. bush, of course, holds the dits tink of being the wife of former president h.w. bush and the mother of former president george w. bush. >> the u.s. is preparing to impose even more sanctions on russia for backing syrian president bashar al-assad. u.n. envoy nikki haley said the sanctions are meant to send a message. assad is believed to be responsible for suspected chlorine gas attack that killed dozens in a suburb of damascus. leading to retaliatory strike by the u.s. late friday night. targeting suspected chemical weapons sites, russian president vladimir putin is now warning those strikes could lead to global chaos. nbc's bill neely is in beruit with the latest. bill, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, phillip. it is business as usual for syria's president assad. his war planes are back in action, bombing rebel areas.

the u.s. is warning him, don't use chemical weapons. the russians are offering to re-arm him with new missile defenses. the smoke has cleared on the u.s.-led air strikes. the impact cleared, too, in new satellite images. president trump repeated the raid was perfect. this chemical research center certainly perfectly destroyed by 76 missiles. but syria denies it produced or used poison gas. >> translator: we developed medicines at this site, he says, especially to combat cancer. but a defector from syria's chemical program says there are poison stocks in scattered warehouses. >> translator: the airstrikes were limited, he says. syria can still produce more and use them. the u.s. plans to punish russian companies link today syria as revealed on cbs face the nation.

>> you will see that russian sanctions will be coming down. secretary mnuchin will be announcing those on monday. >> reporter: syria's president met visiting russian lawmakers. russian troops now in control of the suburb where last week's gas attack killed dozens. the chemical inspectors who will investigate that now in syria. the airstrikes came before their report. the u.s. threatening they'll be repeated if assad strikes with gas again. the french president emmanuel macron says he persuaded president trump to keep troops in syria after mr. trump said he would withdraw america's 2000 troops. mr. macron said he persuaded the president that he had to stay long term. phillip? >> all right, bill. thank you. >> in oklahoma uncontrollable wildfires are raging across hundreds of thousands of acres of land and thousands are forced to evacuate. 52 counties devastated by the

level of destruction. and under imminent threat remain in a state of emergency through tuesday as four major blazes scorch the state. according to the national weather service vicious winds are whipping through the area. extreme drought and low humidity mean critical fire damage is forecast to happen. authorities say the fires have resulted in two deaths and seven fire related injuries. they warn that the disaster could continue for a few more days. >> all right. a lot going on here. let's check back in with nbc meteorologist bill karins. see a lot going on in the northeast, bill. >> we're going to focus on the heavy rain threat. the biggest danger with the freezing rain overnight in northern and central portions of new england. you'll be scraping ice this morning. unbelievable to say that, but when you talk about a foot of snow in minneapolis and 2 feet of snow in green bay we can deal with a little bit of ice this morning. as far as rainfall total go 1 to 2 inches will be highlighted for areas from new york to boston of. of course the boston marathon is today, too. people spent all that time training. how ugly is that going to be? there's that forecast in oklahoma and texas.

hot,ry and dll very chilly. unbelievable, 2 feet of snow near green bay over the weekend. look we'll take a look at the ice forecast the rest of the morning in new england. >> bill, thank you very much. in case you missed it this weekend, the 33rd class was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in cleveland this year. the included the moody blues, dire straits and bon jovi. ♪ ♪ >> guitarist reunited with frontman bon jovi the first time in five years. the godmother sister roset

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fast forwarding into monday, the 122nd boston marathon, the world's oldest will be held today. this comes one day after the 5th anniversary of the boston marathon bombings that killed three and wounded hundreds more. the family's victims laid wreaths at a city wide moment of silence. >> have you filed your taxes yet? not to worry. since april 15 fell on sunday, the deadline is file extensions is ends tomorrow. >> a federal judge wants to know about cohen's client list. he paid stormy daniels $130,000 on the eve of the presidential election and was the target of an fbi raid last week. >> speaking of michael tcohen, judge is asking for a judge to

give cohen and trump access to files seized by the fbi last week to determine what material is privileged. in a new court filing a court called the raid disquieting. she said the fever around the case makes it unreasonable for prosecutors to assess which materials must be kept private. a judge did not immediately rule on the request but he is expected at a hearing later today. >> two black men were arrested for allegedly refusing to leave. protesters carried signs outside the starbucks before going inside. they say the men should have never been arrested for not buying anything. they said people do all the time. starbucks has issued an apology saying it will investigate. nbc's morgan radford is in philadelphia with the latest. morgan, good morning. >> reporter: frances, this morning calls to boycott starbucks amid growing controversy after two black men were arrested inside while waiting for their friend. now the philadelphia police are speaking out and so are the people.

>> no longer, no longer. >> reporter: protesters calling for justice. after the arrest of two black men at this philadelphia starbucks on thursday. >> what did they do? >> reporter: this video captured by witness' cell phone shows police talking and later handcuffing the men while they were waiting for a friend. the men wanted to use the rest room but the manager said per store policy they couldn't since they didn't buy anything. when they wouldn't leave, she called police. >> a group of males refused to leave. >> reporter: some witnesses said the officers over reacted. >> they were chatting on a phone like everyone else. >> reporter: the police commissioner said the officers didn't do anything wrong. >> they followed policy and did what they were supposed to do. >> reporter: the men who don't want to be identified for name were held in custody eight hours before they were release the. prosecutors didn't file charges but their defense lawyer said this wasn't about the law. it was about bias. >> a lot of people are saying

this issue is about race. do you think this would have happened if your clients were not black? >> i would love to hear the 911 call in this case. but what's the 911 call you're never going to hear? hi, this is the starbucks at 18th and spruce. there are two white women sitting in here. one of them asked to use the bathroom and she didn't order a coffee. come quick. >> reporter: starbucks in damage control. >> what we need to do as leaders, we own this situation. we are responsible for this situation. and we'll take accountability for making the necessary changes. >> reporter: meanwhile, video of the arrest has gone viral. many on social media calling it a clear-cut case of racism. >> we should not be going through this. >> reporter: one protester say went too far. starbucks says the manager who called police no longer works at this store. but the criminal defense attorney representing those men who were arrested, she wouldn't yet say whether or not they were considering filing charges of their own. frances? >> morgan, thank you. we'll be right back.

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the people here in lags and a las vegas are healed through the power of music. >> friends, family and fans, we celebrate the music tonight. >> in las vegas the 53rd annual academy of country music awards opened with that emotional tribute to the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in u.s. history. the night of healing was also

filled with celebrations for country music's biggest starsz. if was a record breaking night for miranda lambert. she won female vocalist of the year for the 9th straight year. and song of the year or finish man. the most decorated act in acm history with 32 wins. chris stapleton who turned 40 had a very happy birthday to say the least. the country star won male vocalist and album of the year but he was not there to receive his a war. he and his wife were in nashville to receive something much bigger. >> you know chris couldn't be here because morgan is expecting twins. we just found out that those little rascals came a little bit early. [ cheers and applause ] >> congratulations to the new father of those twin rascals. carrie underwood made her long awaited return to the stage since is suffering a injury to her face after a fall in november. her powerful performance of her cry pretty earned her a standing ovation and jason aldean was named entertainer of the year for the third consecutive time. aldean was performing on stage

you may remember in las vegas when that deadly shooting occurred in october. >> it's been a rough year and i just want to say thanks to everybody that reached out to us, that showed us love and support over the last six months. it meant the world to us. to my route 91 people, you guys are in our hearts always. i love you guys. [ cheers and applause ] >> and we love las vegas. vegas strong, baby. >> coming back just like that. >> powerful moment. >> still ahead, beyonce blows them away with a show stopping performance at coachella. this you have to see. , but the challenge remains the same. and the generation may be different, but the color needs to endure. and the toughest stains come with their own rewards. we've re-engineered tide because no matter what life brings, our commitment to clean remains the same. now with 10x the cleaning power.

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bounty the quicker picker upper. welcome back. we talked a lot about the rain, the severe snow. how about the ice storm that is ongoing in areas of new england? that cold air is holding tight and the ice forecast in blue is a quarter inch up to a half inch in the high country. in new hampshire and also portions of western maine, may even cause power outages. here you are in the middle of april getting school cancellation and delays because of an ice storm in the northeast, new england especially. and america today, feel bad for this. 40 degrees, wind gusts up to 25 miles per hour. imagine trying to run a marathon heading into that head wind. maybe some of it at least will be at your back. the heavy rain continues into the afternoon so not a lot of good chance of getting that baseball game in in these weather conditions. sorry to the runners, but you'll have a great memory when you're done. stay with us.

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according to a recent federal filing, 1/5 of his spending was on legal bills. he spent 9 million with 20% of that used to pay legal bills. this spending comes amid an ongoing legal battle between mr. trump and adult film store stormy daniels. >> double dose of food safety concerns, first recall involving more than 200 million eggs over salmonella fears. e. coli outbreak spreads and linked to contaminated lettuce. the fda is disclosing the largest recall of eggs in the united states since 2010 following a cluster of salmonella outbreaks in multiple states.

this deadly strain of the bacteria puts young children and the elderly at risk. investigators tied the contamination to an egg farm in hyde county, north carolina. and traced distribution to nine states. and health officials also warning that people in 11 states have been sickened by chopped romaine lettuce from arizona. out of the 35 reported cases, 22 have been hospitalized, three with life-threatening complications. consumers are advised to avoid eating lettuce that may have been contaminated. >> major league baseball celebrated jackie robinson day on sunday. robinson's widow and children were at city field where jackie robinson foundation scholar threw out the first pitch. all players around the league wore the number 42 in honor of robinson who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947. and nfl free agent colin kaepernick shared his own tribute tweeting a quote from robinson's autobiography. i cannot stand and sing the anthem. i cannot salute the flag. i know that i am a black man in a white world. >> well, she came, she saw, and she slayed.

all hail the queen of coachella or should we say beychella. >> coachella, thank you for allowing me to be the first to headline the show. >> african selling last year's performance because of the birth of her twins, beyonce came back with a cultural vengeance setting the coachella stage on fire. she took us back to her roots giving us a taste of southern flavor to historically black colleges and universities with black fraternities, stepping, dancing to a national negro anthem lift every voice and sing. ♪ let us march on till victory is won ♪ >> the performance caused a flood of tweets from people who were amazed at what they were witnessing. to top it off he brought out a

few gifts including destiny's child, sister solange and jay z joining her later this

you can't say for certain that the president of the united states is not compromised by the russians. >> it is stunning, and i wish i wasn't saying it, but it's the truth. >> the fired fbi director versus the sitting president in a war of words with both sides hitting the other where it hurts most. then to motherature's fury seen here ripping the roof off of a house, with more nasty weather on the way. we'll have an update on the health of former first lady barbara bush. today stormy daniels may come face to face with president trump's attorney, michael cohen, in a courtroom. and beyonce's blockbuster performance at coachella still has people talking. "early today" starts right now.