with energy upgrade california. a massive manhunt, police officer killed. now the frantic search for the suspect as the reward for his capture grows. >> samantha bee made vile comments about the first daughter and wasn't fired rum her tv show. when roseanne sent an offensive tweet she was villified and fired. is there double standard? >> busy white house laying the ground work for a full-fledged global trade war issuing presidential pardons considerations for convicted reality tv stars. >> average iq of a black person is than average iq of a white person. >> i went to harvard. >> all right. you got a lot of white blood in you too. >> some white blood.

i'm african-american. >> that's where your intelligence is coming from. >> oh, boy, morgan radford, introducing us to white nationalists running for state and federal office across america. >> story that has everyone talking. social media suggestion led to a number one remake. and "early today" starts now. good morning, i'm phillip mena. >> good being with you. the fallout from samantha bee's comments about trump continues. two sponsors cutting ties with her late night show, "full frontal" over her slur against the president's eldest daughter. the controversy as the comedienne was to receive an award for advancing social change. it led the organization to bar the press from attending the ceremony. these comments are drawing parallels to comedienne roseanne barr's racist tweet which led to cancellation of her show. some question if bee's comments warrant the same.

nbc's anne thompson has more. >> reporter: comedienne samantha bee under fire. she still has the a show. while roseanne barr does not. is there a double standard in the media when it comes to slurs? on her tbs program full front tam, bee used the vulgar word to describe presidential adviser and daughter ivanka trump >> do something about your dad's immigration practices you [ bleep ]. he listens to you. >> in the wake of barr's racist tweet which got her fired, conservative critics pounced. including white house press secretary sarah sanders. who called bee's language vile and vicious and not fit for broadcast. >> liberal women took offense too. chelsea clinton saying it is grossly inappropriate and just flat out wrong to talk about >> bee apologized to ivanka trump. it was inappropriate and inexcusable. i crossed the line and i deeply regret it. tbs which ran the prerecorded show said those words should not have been aired. it was our mistake too.

and we regret it. >> but it did not cancel bee's show as abc did with barr's. >> samantha bee has a job tonight. roseanne barr does not have a job. roseanne barr has shown these offensive statements. and samantha bee quite frankly has not. >> barr asked not to be compared with others who have said horrible things. i only care about apologizing for the hurt i have unwittingly and stupidly caused. >> igniting a debate about what slurs deserve more than just condemnation. >> thank you. >> president trump expecting the north korean top diplomat to hand deliver a letter to him from kim jong-un. this after another day of talks between kim's right hand man and secretary of state mike pompeo in new york city. did they bring the u.s. and north korea any closer to a summit? nbc's tracy potts is with us live from washington.

good morning. >> closer, yes. done deal, no. president trump looking forward to getting the letter from kim jong-un personally hand delivered to the white house today. by his right hand man, the former spy chief, who has been in new york negotiating with our former spy chief secretary of state mike pompeo. see him there. pompeo says they're moving in the right direction, that they made progress in the last 72 hours, but still no deal on whether or not the summit will happen june 12. phillip. >> tracy potts, thank you. in tennessee, the manhunt for the suspected cop killer entering the third day. searching for steven wiggins. accused of shooting dixon county sergeant daniel baker. the 32-year-old was found dead in his car wednesday. police arrested wiggins' girlfriend, erika castro miles in connection with his death. charged with first degree murder. wig gins is armed and dangerous.

receipt ward for any information about wiggins stand at $46,000. >> to washington where the president's recent actions are calling into question just how he could respond at the conclusion of the russia investigation. this after mr. trump granted a full par done to a conservative commentator said he was strongly considering clemency for two celebrities, martha stewartened. with one long time trump assess yacht. roger stone saying presidential pardons are desand to send a message. stone telling "the washington post," it has to be a signal to mike flynn and paul manafort and robert mueller. indiet people for crimes. this could happen. the special counsel has the awesome powers. the president has more awesome powers. nbc's peter alexander has more.

>> reporter: the president considering clemency for a pair of celebrities, martha stewart prosecuted by james comey in 2004 convicted of obstructing justice and lying to federal investigators. disgraced governor, rod blagojevich. found guilty of corruption in 2011. president trump arguing both with ties to the apprentice. and how she used to be my biggest fan. and he said something stupid many other politicians say. it comes after his latest controversial pardon, this one for conservative fire brand known for his inflammatory comments. d'souza. in 2015 posting this photo of president obama appearing to take a picture. with a selfie stick. writing you can take the boy out of the ghetto. pleading guilty to campaign finance fraud, complaining targeted by the obama administration for his conservative views. though the judge found no evidence of that. mr. trump tweeting, he was treated very unfairly by our government. >> what my case shows in miniature is the way that obama and hillary too have

gangsterized the u.s. politics. >> so is the president sending a signal to allies wrapped up in the russia investigation. >> no. each, each of the president's actions on pardons or other things should be judged on mare its. >> there is a pattern. >> president trump abandoned the vetting process that his predecessors have used to ensure that the pardon process isn't used just for political purposes. >> for president trump star power and potentially partisan push. peter alexander, nbc news, the white house. u.s. allies firing back this morning what is shape sg up to be a global trade war. the white house slapped several nations with massive tariffs on steel and alum numb, canada, mexico and european counterparts. it is outrage and condemnation from trading partners as they signal retaliatory strikes against the u.s. meaning the price of many things we buy is about to go up. >> the 30-year-old man who fought conviction from his parents' house in a new york court spending his last night at home. michael rotondo its packing up

putting things in storage with help from a cousin. he slept at home thursday night. by noon today he has to be out. >> after 515 students competed for the title. a new spelling bee champ. koinonia. >> that is correct. >> never heard of that word. the 14-year-old from mckinney, texas. the top speller in the national spelling bee. takes home the trophy and $42 in cash and prizes after he spelled that word. koinonia correctly. it means, the word, greek word means a christian fellowship or communion with god or christians. kudos to him. >> never heard of that. the kid is holding the trophy. >> use it in a sentence. forget it. never spell it. >> hot. i have a feeling that word is

coming up. >> works from texas. northwards. yeah, watching thunderstorms this morning. we haven't had too much in the way of severe weather reports. wind damage reports. that's it. memphis, storms on your door. nashville, for you. atlanta. storms have fallen apart. pushed to your south. so you are safe. today's forecast. mention hot weather. st. louis. 94. oklahoma city. southward. heat index, 100, 110 in most areas. showers and thunderstorms for the east coast. and, more of the same on saturday. unfortunately. dallas. 101. lubbock, one of the hottest spots in the country. predicted high, 107. >> weekend forecast coming up. >> all right, bill. thank you, sir. in to day's quick hits. serena williams, double duty. continues to dominate in her

comeback tour. french open. got past the second round. also nabbing a win in doubles with sister venus. >> the state of delaware will become the first in the nation to allow legalized sports betting. a full-scale games sports operation under way tuesday. >> youth football team. celebrated this morning after they, work together to pull a couple out of their car. following a violent crash in the oregon desert. whole thing caught on tape. the team lifting the vehicle, prying the passengers out. kudos to them. we'll be right back. crohn's disease. you're more than just a bathroom disease. you're a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn's, you've tried to own us. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis.

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>> ahead to curry. curry sets. fires, puts it up. bang. >> steph curry with the buzzer beater, tying the game at 56. on to the second half, the two teams locked in the dog fight. and came done to ape few k few positions. this is the one that curry was talking about. >> misses. goes to the cavs. and jr smith. bring it back out. and hill. hill's shot blocked. >> jr smith didn't know the score. he sent the game into overtime with that. and from there, it was all warriors. they cruised, taking game one, 124, 114. >> breaking news. moments ago. learned that 50,000 las vegas casino workers are on strike. culinary union tweeted contracts were not reached by midnight deadline. estimates, caesar's entertainment and mgm resorts will lose $10 million a day because of the strike. workers raised concerns about wages, training, sexual harassment by guests and also fear of losing jobs to robots or

automation. las vegas hasn't seen a large scale strike of this magnitude since 1984. >> we approach the 2018 midterm electi elections. surge in candidates with white nationalist messages signals a disturbing trend. eight identified so far. this is more than any other modern election. according to the southern poverty law center and o. that monitors hate groups. nbc's morgan radford, traveled across the country to talk with candidates who believe they can win on a platform of prejudice. we warn you some of the views you are about to see you may find offensive. >> hi. my name its art jones. >> arthur jones running for congress in chicago's third district all. tau do you think you have a shot at winning? >> listen, i wouldn't be in this if i didn't think i could win. >> one of eight white nationalists running for state, federal office this year acord to southern poverty law center. >> i kid myself a white racialist. >> jones member of the american m

nazi party who denies the holocaust happened. >> 6 million jews, ridiculous. >> campaigning to keep chicago's neighborhoods, 90% white. >> most white people want a white neighborhood all. tau do you th >> the average iq of a black person is about 20 points loper than average iq of a white person. >> i went to her vard. a -- harvard. >> you have a lot of white blood in you. >> some white blood. i'm african-american. >> that's where your intelligence is coming from. >> from my white side? >> i think so. >> 20,000 voted for him. ran uncontested. on the republican ticket in november. anti-hate groups say number of white nationalists running for office this year is higher than ever before. including candidates like patrick little. >> this monstrous nature of the jewish people must be known to the public. >> you think jews are monsters. >> as a group they are defending as a monster, 100%.

>> little is running against dianne feinstein and blames jews for america's problems. >> foreign power, terrorist attacks. >> he claims president trump is speaking to people like him. >> dog whistle add but globalists. didn't understand he was talking about joouz until after the election. >> state and national republican parties want nothing to do with him or jones. >> should be a wake-up call. if the types of candidates are going to come out from under the rock, they need to be repudiated at the ballot box. >> their supporters say they're not going own where. >> it is not because we are racist. it's because we feel marginalized and we are being oppressed. >> now they're going up for of a battle. >> put america first. >> on the ballot. morgan radford. nbc news. plenty more still ahead including what might be the song of the summer. already wracking of millions of hits. got to hear it.

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today, please don't [ bleep ] the squirrels. >> three other networks pulled re-runs of roseanne off the air, abc, [ bleep ] a -- >> look, i can smell a [ bleep ], believe it or not. got a lot of [ bleep ] in this one. >> laura logan can bottle field a baby rhino, but can she

[ bleep ] one. >> when you take out vowels. there are some word. unnecessary censorship. >> every time. >> looking for the, sign of summer. there isn't one. may have found it. adam levine and maroon five gave the ladies something to groove to maybe over the summer. and maybe your song of the summer. ♪ ♪ ♪ girls like you >> i know you recognize those faces. with adam. the brand new video for girls like me. you saw cardi. b. jlo. tiffany haddish. millie bobbi brown. the tune trending at 2 on youtube. over 6 million views. ellen also is in there. my favorite. >> 6 million views. just came out yesterday. >> yeah. >> yeah. going to be. until somebody takes it down. that's song of the summer. >> for all of you out there

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daddy! i hope this is not a dream. >> it's not a dream. >> not at all. it is very, very real. that's the moment the first grader had been waiting for. 234 days to be exact. finally came. surprised by her dad at school returning from afghanistan. he was only fitting he would return to the place where he last hugged her to finally hug her again if you can thing that. >> cannot get enough of the feel good friday. something else to make you feel good. few rock stars able to make teenage girls dreams come true. if it sound like it is the luck of the draw. because it was. mary quinn convinced aye idols

cover her song using the power of social media. here's joe fryar. ♪ ♪ >> in mere second that keyboard sound will take-up to 1982, toto, released africa. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> though it hit the charts, 21 years before mary was born, she took a liking to the song, especially after hearing it on the netflix show, stranger things. ♪ sunset i passed the waves down in africa ♪ >> in december she created a twitter account, devoted to convining her favorite band, weezer to cover the song. >> thought it would be funny. people would get a kick africa. >> creative renditions already abound. last week, the rock band finally responded to mary's challenge performing the toto tune, rosanna.

♪ meet you all the way rosanna, yeah ♪ >> days later the group unveiled this. ♪ i bless the rains down in africa ♪ >> version of africa that quickly reached number one on the itunes charts. >> that does blow my mind. i didn't think they would end up covering it. >> toto had a message for mary with help from a special guest. >> mary, thank you so very much for putting this whole crazy toto, weezer thing together u.n. were one. can't believe it. me and the guys are flipped out. >> that's insane. >> victory for a quiet ohio teenager who found her voice in a retro classic. joe fryar, nbc news. >> my favorite. love it. >> the cover. i never knew i needed. >> now we all do. >> right there. loves s ws w s ws we ezer and . thank you for joining us. kick off friday and month of june with us. >> tune in to date line for kate snow's exclusive interview with

andrea constand, first woman to pursue charges against bill cosby that ultimately led to his conviction. your news contues right here in maybe you could save energy by weaving your own shoes... out of flax. or simply adjust your thermostat. do your thing, with energy upgrade california.

a live look oracle arena right now-- looking quite different than it did last night. good morning. looking quiet. it was a different story last night. >> you can see the fans going wild there. we are going to break down all of the moments coming up for you in just a moment. >> thank you for joining us. >> yeah. it was one that kept everybody up late. >>