>> a double whammy for the white house. president trump's former lawyer striking a plea employee deal wnl minutes of the quon conviction of the campaign chairman. >> an undocumented immigrant is charged with murder in the mollie tibbets case. >> a destructive blast caught on camera. the wild video of an explosion rocking a georgia coffee shop. >> making sure his fans take care, the adorable moment drake surprised a young hospital patient in chicago. "early today" starts right now. good wednesday morning. i'm marlie hall.

>> i'm phillip mena. >> president trump. reeling from a potent one-two punch. >> first, the federal c jury convicted paul manafort on eight tourmaline counts. then michael cohen pleads guilty to eight counts of tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations including hush money payments he claims were directed by the president himself. "the new york times" editorial board alluding to watergate with the headline "all the president's crooks." it could get worse for trump. cohen's own attorney tellingal maddow his client is more than happy to tell robert mueller all he knows. >> mr. mueller is dedicated to telling the truth. now he has no shadow hanging over him. the uncertainty is gone. he stepped up to the line and he has admitted what he did wrong. is he now liberated to tell the

truth everythinging about donald trump that he knows. there's a cover-up here by our now president of the united states that is undeniable. >> nbc's chief white house correspondent halle jackson has more on cohen's plea deal. >> reporter: that bombshell plea deal means the man who used to fix donald trump's problems has now become one for the president. michael cohen implicating his former boss after pleading guilty to eight felony charges of tax fraud, bank fraud and campaign finance violations paying out hush money, telling a judge he broke the law because a candidate told him to. he doesn't name the person but he only worked for one, donald trump. >> worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believe would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign and the candidate and the campaign. >> that includes $130,000 payment cohen made days before

the election to important star stormy daniels to keep her quite about an alleged fair with the president which he denies. michael avenatti represents daniels. >> she feels very vindicated and she's going to continue to fight the good fight. >> the president said he didn't know about the payment at the time. >> did you know about the payment to stormy daniels? >> no. >> the president's attorney rudy giuliani tells us late tonight there is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president and the government's charges against mr. cohen. it is clear that mr. cohen's actions refrequent a bat esh of lies and dishonesty over a significant period of time. the president himself has suggested he's not concerned with what cohen might say. >> just want to know if you're worried. >> i did nothing wrong. >> cohen will not have to go to trial but faces 3 1/2 to five years in prison. he'll be sentenced in december. >> he can go to jail for a number of years. so he still has an eninsent tub

to help the government. the more information, the more truthful information he provides, the better off he'll be. >> reporter: it's a stunning development for two men whose relationship dates back a decade. cohen once said he would take a bullet for the president. this summer signs of a split when cohen declared his family and country come first. perhaps to the president a betrayal. >> is he still your friend. >> i always liked michael cohen. >> is he still your lawyer? >> no, he's not my lawyer anymore. but i always liked michael. >> our thanks to halle jackson for that ror. president trump's former campaign manager is awaiting sentencing this morning. jurors consisted paul manafort on eight counts in his trial, charges ha predated his time with the campaign. justice correspondent pete williams breaks down the case for us. >> reporter: the jury found pull

manafort of dodging taxes on millions of dollars he earned as a political consultant for the former president of ukraine well before he served as trump's campaign chairman. prosecutors say he stashed the money in overseas banks by wiring money directly from those accounts to pay his bills by passing ax collects. through 2014, manafort earned more than $30 million but reported less than half of it as income. when the ukrainian money dried up, prosecutors said manafort lied in applying for loans to maintain his lavish spending habits. in the all, manafort faced 18 criminal counts. the jury convicted him on eight but could not agree on the other ten. of those, the judge declared a mistrial leaving prosecutors free to charge him with them all over again though that seems

unlikely. >> the prosecution will be happy that the eight counts were spread out over each of the fraunchs of things was accused. they can argue the judge should consider everything. >> the conviction is a boost for robert mueller. manafort was the first person he charged after becoming special counsel to force his cooperation in the meddling investigation. mueller's lawyer thanked the judge and jury for what they said was a fair trial. >> mr. manafort is disappointed of not getting a completely hung injury. he is evaluating all of his options at this point. >> no sentencing date has been set yet for manafort. but he could face up 0 ten years in prison. next month he goes on trial in federal court in washington where he faces charges of failing to register as a foreign lobbyist for ukraine, witness tampering and financial fraud.

>> pete, thank you. despite that doebl does of bad news, president trump is digging his heels in. at a rally in west virginia last night, he kept up his attacks. once again declaring it a witch hunt. susan mcginnis joining us with more on the president's reaction to all of this. >> many here in washington are viewing this double bombshell surprising the walls are closing in around president trump. the president did not mention either man at that rally but he did slam the russia investigation with some familiar words. >> fake news and the russian witch hunt. we got a whole big. where is the collusion? >> ahead of the rally he did

mention paul manafort saying he was a great man but also saying it has nothing to do with me. most significant words by cohen, that his principal purpose was to affect the election. rudy guiliani says there's no allegation of wrong doing that would lead to any charges in mr. cohen's words. white house is concerned about impeachment. some experts say if democrats retake the house, they'll have that at the top of their agenda. some are worried this could give more fuel to the mueller probe. >> things already heating up now. an update in the serlg for student mollie tibbets. after she went for an evening jog. according to authorities, undocumented immigrant cristhian rivera was charged with first degrees murder hours after officials pound what they believed to be her body in a farm field. dan sheneman tells us more.

>> reporter: more than a month after student mollie tibbets disappeared, the search for her came to an end. >> a body was discovered early this morning in a farm field southeast of brooklyn, iowa. the identity has not been confirmed. we believe it to be the body of mollie tibbets. >> authorities have a suspect in custody, 24-year-old cristhian bahena riviera who may have been in the country for seven years. video showing tibbets the day she disappeared provided a break in the case. the young woman's body was locked in a cornfield. the suspect's status of an undocumented immigrant caught the attention of the white house. >> you heard about today with the illegal alien coming in very sadly from mexico. and you saw what happened to

that incredible beautiful young woman. should have never happened. >> tibbetts vanished july 18th while running in her home town of brooklyn. her family and friends desperately searched for her and prayed for a happy ending. > i wake up in the morning, i'm thinking of mollie. i'm at work, i think of molly. it's true still to this day and will be pore years to come. >> the search is over but the heartache has just begin. deny sheneman, nbc news. hawaii preparing for a category 5 storm as an intensifying hurricane lane moves toward the islands. many residents have stocked up on food. >> is and water. the governor issuing an emergency proclamation. the officials are plan forth worst as the hurricane threatens the state with rains and monster flooding. >> nbc's bill karins is here.

give us an update. >> scary things. 106-mile-per-hour winds. the strongest hurricane ever recorded this close near hawaii. easily a chance this could be a billion dollar weather disaster. here's the latest. 160-mile-per-hour winds. the key to the forecast is how much of a northerly component this takes. 115-mile-per-hour winds category 3 only about 80 miles off the west coast confident big island. becoming very close to oahu as a category 1. they're saying the people amounts of rainfall will be over 24 inches of rain. pre single island is at least forecasted to get 10 inches of rain. on the big island, as much as 15 to

rain. intermittent showers later this afternoon. the heaviest rainfall will be later on in the day. slow moving powerful hurricane,m mountains up to 3,00 feet. >> a finnish inventor took a stab at his floating swan that. he sayed is 50 miles across the gulf of finland in 16 hours. it has a sauna for three, a sound system, a fridge, and a grill. just about everything you need. >> drake surprises a sick fan and a denial from the me, too

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. leading the news actress as you arab ar genitois responding to claims she assaulted an underage actor. she denies the allegation and says it was her boyfriend, the late anthony bourdain who made the payment. stephanie gosk has the story. >> reporter: asio ar genitosays they were just friends. her first response to allegation she's sexually assault aid 17-year-old minor in a california hotel room five years ago. writing i am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. i have never any sexual relationship with jimmy bennett. accusation first surfaced in a "new york times" article on sunday saying ar genitodid not respond to requests for comment kent for days. she admitted there was a paint to bennett and it was her then

boyfriend anthony bourdain saying he was a man of great perceived wealth and had his own reputation of a great public figuring to. >> the negotiation took place soon after ar genitopublicly accused harvey weinstein of wlacht year, a charge he denied. >> i met one extraordinary woman with a painful story and who introduced me to a lot of other women with extra stories. suddenly it was personal. >> the tv star took his own life in june. up till then, argent toe had been one of the most outspoken weinstein accusers. >> if we stop this conversation, we're really doomed. the one chance you've had in my life to advance the whole human species. >> the denials are now coming from her.

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these are dramatic images of a blast that destroyed that coffee shop there. one customer and two employees were injured whether he an explosion shook the shop here in

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welcome back to early today. morning heavy rain will lead to afternoon showers. we'll wait for the cold front to push off the east coast. behind it, instability of showers. hit and miss in the northeast. the heaviest rain this morning moving through areas of new england. today's he forecast looks enjoyable in the northeast. hot in texas. if you want great weather today, st. louis at 80. chicago 78. that's right in my comfort range. upper 70s. >> perfect. bill, thank you so much. facebook says it removed hundreds of accounts over propaganda efforts mostly linked to iranian state media. the giant banned 652 groups for

coordinated inau hen tick behavior. facebook says they tried to spread malware. several more accounts linked to rauchian intelligence were remove. from a separate announcement, basebook said it's making changes to its advertising company by removing more than 35,000 targeting options. change comes after a complaint claiming the plat for was allowing users to exclude certain demographics from seeing their eyes. pap smears may become a thing of the past for many women. only over 30 years old by opt for just the hpv test. that's because the virus causes most cervical kearnss. women between 30 and 65 should get an hpv test every five years or pap smear every three years

or both every five years. women 21 to 29 should get them every three years. >> a criminal investigation is under way after a major symbol of the confederacy came crashing down. statue was known as silent some. the unc board called the protesters actions unacceptable saying mob rule and the intentional destruction of public property will not be tolerat tolerated. >> a group of lawmakers want to an award the medal to aretha franklin. in a rare show of unity, democrats and republicans stood together to introduce lemlation in the senate. the congressional gold medal is one of the country's highest civilian honors. if there's anyone that could

make two sides come together, it's the queen of soul. >> she got the med of freedom in 2005. thanks for watching "early today." i'm phillip ad lib live picture

francisco welcome to wednesday morning. let's take a peek outside overlooking city by the bay, san francisco this morning. cars drifting across there. good morning to you. i'm laura garcia. >> we'll get to traffic in a moment. looks pretty good. still cool. we have clouds lingering across the bay area for a while. it keeps it chilly throughout most of the day. starts out cloudy once again. as we go through the temp trepd -- trend it looks like it doesn't