breaking overnight, a routine traffic stop leads to a deadly shootout and a police officer slain in georgia. an urgent tip stopped what might have been america's next mass school shooting involving an armed 14-year-old boy. >> had they not made that call, there is no doubt in my mind that we would be having a much difference conversation here right now. a new investigation has emerged this morning into the $107 million trump inauguration fund as new details emerge about hush money paid to a porn star and playmate. are you ready for a thrill ride to the edge of space? and is 100 grand enough to

make you give up that smart phone for a whole year? "early today" starts right now. good friday morning. >> police in dekalb county georgia confirming that a traffic stop led to a loss on their force. >> i have sad news to report this morning. tonight a dekalb county police officer died in the line of duty serving the citizens of dekalb county. the officer conducted a traffic stop, the driver fled on foot, the officer pursued him and during that foot purr site, the suspect produced a handgun and shot the option. >> it happened in a grocery store parking lot near interstate 20. the officer had been with the force for less than two years.i suspect who shot a canine office. the suspect was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. a new bombshell for the

trump team. according to a "wall street journal" report, donald trump's inaugural committee is also under a federal criminal investigation for allegedly misspending 107 million dollar. federal prosecutors in manhattan are investigating whether some of the committee's top donors gave money in return for access to president trump and his administration. in an interview with fox news, white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders distanced president trump and the first head di from that committee. >> this didn't have anything to do with the president. the president was focused on the transition. the role that the president had in the inauguration was to raise his hand and take the oath. same thing for the first lady. >> president trump has yet to comment on that report. president trump meanwhile is breaking his silence for the first time since his fixer michael cohen was sentenced. in an interview with fox news mr. trump dismissed cohen's role with his company saying cohen

l n news that mr. trump was in the room with michael cohen and the national enquirer publisher when hush money payments were discussed. >> reporter: president trump on defense. >> i'm the only one this happens to. >> reporter: on fox news the president lashed out at former attorney and fixer michael cohen who's going to prison for crimes he says he committed at the president's direction. >> let me tell you, i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did, he did on his own. he's a lawyer. >> reporter: cohen admitted he facilitated payments to two women who claim to have had affairs with trump. david pecker admitted to making one of the nbc news confirmed that pecker, cohen and the future president met in august of 2015 to discuss ways to counter negative stories about his relationships with women. the president down played cohen's role as a trusted

confidant. >> he did very low level work. he did more public relations than he did law. >> reporter: the president continuing an onslaught that started on twitter decrying the russia investigation as a witch hunt. >> it seems like he's alarmed and he has good reason to be alarmed. >> reporter: the president has said for months he's not concerned about impeachment telling reuter this is week he hasn't done anything wrong and saying if that happened, the people would revolt. but privately nbc news has learned he's confided in those close to him that he is alarmed. the feds are racing to figure out who was behind the e-mail bomb threats that led to anxiety and evacuate waeions in cities from coast to coast. kerry sanders has the details. >> reporter: across the country, schools, businesses, hospitals evacuated, police searching for

explosives in at least 21 states and d.c. after a wave of bomb threats. the fbi now investigating what law enforcement sources tell nubs news appears to be a widespread hoax. in each case the threats came in an e-mail, later posted by some targets on twitter. i want to propose you a bargain. you pay me 20,000 in bitcoin, and explosive will notlooking f the threat overseas. each threat taken seriously but nofound. thisnot, all because of a quick-thinking tipster whose actions put an indiana school on

lock down. >> this world is something else for real. i do not understand this. >> reporter: in an indiana middle school a crisis averted. thanks to an early tip dennis intermediate school locks its doors. police confronted and hater exchanged gunfire with a 14-year-old boy before he could target students and teachers. officials saying the tipster saved lives. >> had they not made that call, there is no doubt in my mind that we would be having a much different conversation here right now. >> reporter: richmond police say they can't release the shooter's name, but many credit their rapid response and the school's activeer training for avoiding a massacre. gun deaths have spiked to their. 60% of those gun doeeaths are

suicide. >> as ugly as it is, it could have been way worse. >> reporter: and a sense of dread. >> i already think about this happening every day, so sending him to school is very, very hard. >> reporter: the next time might not be so lucky. matt bradley, nbc news. a waveis finally over in france. the manhunt for cherif chekatt ended in gunfire. as officers moved in to symptom him he opened fire. that's when police shot and killed him. >> reporter: french police say a nationwide manhunt for a terrorist is over. cherif chekatt killed in a shootout with police not far from the christmas market where investigators say he launched his deadly rampage. police say chekatt, a lifelong criminal turned isis supporter, was hiding out in a warehouse, that they spotted him by

helicopter with thermal imaging. when he came out, police confronted him. he fired and they fired back killing him. in the end police found chekatt in his old neighborhood. police may have set a trap to flush him out. hours earlier they searched the same area. police have cordoned off and are searching this neighborhood about a mile from where the attack took place. in france there's been criticism that chekatt, who had been on a terrorist watch list, was able the carry out his attack in the first place. leading the news, a familiar development in technology could dramatically change concert security all thanks to a taylor swift concert. facial recognition was used at a taylor swift concert earlier this year to stalkers. the venues set up kiosks

displayidisplay ing rehearsal footage. if the sky is clear where you are right now you may want to go look outside. the annual geminid meteor shower is back. you can expect to see about one shooting star per minute. in this case, that's the constellation gemini. the activity this time is expects to be at its highest around 4:00 a.m. eastern. >> good morning, everyone. we are watching just a soaking rein this morning coming on shore i florida, georgia and south carolina. ather too from jacksonville through the i-4 corridor.

9 people people at risk. wind damage is the greatest threat. with all the heavy rain, the ground is so soggy that we have flash flood watches for about 9 million doll chilly temperatures. we'll take a look at the rest of the weekend forecast coming up. all right this is crazy. it was not snow that was backing up a new jersey highway thursday morning. it was cold, hard cash, bills blowing out from a brinks armored truck during rush hour.

some drivers got out of their cars trying to grab owl thoall loose bills on the road. all this money mayhem caused several crashes. could rolling thunder be coming to an end in the nation's capital? plaque psoriasis can be relentless. tremfya® is for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. with tremfya®, you can get clearer. and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine.

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. it was a major battle for first place among two of the best teams in the nfl. thursday night football, the chiefs, this is patrick mahomes with another amazing play. touchdown to start off the game. kc is up by two scores late in the game. the bolts would come striking back. justin jackson has this run up the middle for the touchdown. eight seconds to go, philip rivers connects with mike williams for the touchdown. why not go for two?

they do. rivers steps back to pass. there is nobody around him- touchdown chargers. they stun the chiefs. leading the news one of the nation's most iconic displays of support for military events, those missing in action and prisoners of war is coming to an end. the annual rolling thunder has been bringing thousands of bikers to d.c. for years. the group announced their last ride will be in may of next year. organizers say it's over a lack of funding and cooperation from law enforcement. the vp says staging the event costs about $200,000 each year, but the group has been in the red for some time. rolling thunder back in washington, d.c. in 1987. lou ferigno is hospital recovering from complications of

a npneumonia vaccine. >> wow. forbes has announced the highest paid models of 2018. kendall jenner earned more than any model in the world making 22.5 million dollar in a year. >> chrissy teigen and rosie huntington whitely are tied. there was a lot of money and looking pretty and strutting your stuff there zmoo just ahead, are you ready for a

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the three-year sentence for president trump's former fixer and personal attorney michael cohen. he now says he covers up his bosses dirty [ bleep ]. >> it definitely looks like he knows he's [ bleep ]. >> i had a 300 pound guy walk to

me and ask me to [ bleep ]. >> i still remember you said i want you to come out and [ bleep ] my family. i remember thinking wow i've never worked with anyone who said that. i didn't know that was a thing. >> they're [ bleep ] in el paso. they're [ bleep ] in yuma. they're [ bleep ] in israel. >> what are they really saying? you know where our minds are going? >> we'll never know. i kind of don't want to know. >> it's fun that way. > a major step forward toward taking paying customers to the edge of space as billionaire richard branson's virgin galactic passed a critical milestone. nbc's tom costello on when tourists will finally get to go. >> reporter: take off from the mohave desert. virgin galactic was on its way, carried by its mother ship. at 50,000 feet, release.

in a sudden free fall, virgin's two pilots fired their rocket. within seconds climbing to 51.4 miles beyond what the faa calls the edge of space. >> welcome to space. >> million dollar view. >> reporter: a stunning view that future space tourists may enjoy. then a perfect landing back on earth where virgin's richard branson promised the first of 700 customers who paid $250,000 could start flying in six months. >> i can't think of any experience that will be more wonderful, extreme than going to space. >> reporter: fellow bills jeff bezos and elon musk are also in the space tourism business as a new space race takes off. tom costello, nbc am so in. >> so cool. out of this world, but so out of our budget. >> ten years from now it could be a lot cheaper.

>> there's always groupon. >> that's right. kfc is trying out a new tradition for the holidays with a log they say smells like fried chicken. when lit, the log will smell like the chain's famous fried chicken. kfc hopes it will result in a craving for fried chick. . it is available online at kfcfirelogs.com. it retails for $18. just ahead one young boy's unique way to help dogs find a home.

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it was a red carpet mosquito-borne moment to remember. jason momoa let his cast members in a dance. emma watson unveiled the first look at an upcoming reboot of "little women." it hits theaters next december. the copyright battle is finally over. a judge hasrder thicl williams ga gaye's estate. now to a little boy on a big

mission to save the lives of dogs and find them loving homes using an irresistible sales pitch. here's kristin dahlgren. >> a nice big hug. >> reporter: they say there's nothing like a boy and his dog. >> this is my little snuggle bug. >> reporter: roman mccann has had over a thousand. >> this is my pal. >> reporter: the 7-year-old and his mom started project freedom ride to rescue dogs from kill shelters. >> december 6th of 2016 we transported 31 dogs. that was it. like that was it. >> that was going to be our only transport, but then we just kept going. >> reporter: roman's mom jen started videotaping her son with kid frsier to just answer it wi him making the videos. >> reporter: roman was a natural. >> it takes a little while for her to get used to. very soft too, i should tell you. >> reporter: people couldn't help fall in love with the little boy and the dogs who just needed a chance.

>> like running in circles. it was hilarious all right. >> reporter: good dogs and a great little boy, spreading his love and saving lives. >> those are my shoes! >> reporter: kristin dahlgren, nbc news. >> you're not going to turn down that little guy's sales pitch. >> not at all. here's a question for you, would you ditch your smart phone for a whole year if the price is right? vitamin water is offering $100,000 to a lucky individual longing to go green free. to enter you submit a post ironically on twitter and instagram detailing what you would do if you weren't tied to your smart phone. the winner will get a flip phone from 1996 to make calls the only. there will be a lie detector test at the end of the year. the deadline to enter is january 8th.

this little home of mine, ♪ i'm gonna let it shine. ♪ it's energy saving time, ♪ i'm gonna reduce mine. ♪ californians all align ♪ to let our great state shine. ♪ let it shine, ♪ the power's ours to let it shine! ♪ [ ding ] now that your tree is decwhoa! wow! and your presents are wrapped.stea.

in and good friday morning to you. taking a live look out at san jose and look at that tree go. >> a little crazy. >> a great way to start the friday morning for you. thanks for starting your morning here with us on "today in the bay." i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez. laura garcia is off. they need morning patterns, a little bit slower and that in the afternoon. >> trying to get you on the go. >> speaking of the afternoon, you might need your umbrella later today. >> later this afternoon. we've got a system that's incoming. you could see this live shot of san francisco right now. we have some areas of patchy fog, but it's not as dense. we have the cold front expected