an easter day mas ripping a killing 300 people. questions whether the government knew an attack was coming. >> the mueller report is still weighing on the white house. the controversial new defense from the president's attorney as lawmakers prepare to get a better look at the findings. >> a zookeeper fighting for her after a terrifying tiger attack at the topeka zoo. happen again.der way to make >> new depth to an easter egg hunt. we will dive into a tradition in florida. early today starts now.

>> i'm richard lui. >> i'm marley hall. an easter suspected turned deadly afters detonated in sri lanka. a wave of explosions tore apart three churches and three luxury hotels. the coordinated attacks seemed to have targeted the christian communit which makes up less than 10% of the population. 290 people are dead with several americans among them. 500 have been seriously injured. those numbers are expected to rise. here with the latest is nbc's sarah harmon. >> the blast shook churches in the holiest day on the christian calendar. it started before 9:00 a.m. packed easter services shattered. when it was over, chaos and c f moment one blast ripped through st. anthony's shrine.

this is what the inside looks like now. the near simultaneous blast targeting three churches across the country and in the capital, three luxury hotels popular with tourists. later two more explosions reported in the city. witnesses described the horror. >> i could see a lot of people with people and a lot of chefs with white aprons on that was almost painted red. that was from the guests or themselves. i don't know. it was very tragic. >> amonged dead, two u.s. citizens. president trump tweeting we stand ready to help. the state department condemning the terror attacks. the prime minister acknowledging there was intelligence on possible attacks and pledging a full investigation. the government placed the under

country under curfew and blocked access to social media. sri lankans wanted to celebrate easter with their families are now planning funerals. >> president trump is back in washington, d.c. and on the offensive in the wake of the mueller report. he railed against it on twitter, tweeting about it five times on easter sunday calling it the worst and most corrupt political witch hunt in the history of the united states. a small group of lawmakers will get their first look at a copy of the report with fewer redactions. ranking members of the house and senate committees and the gang of eight will be able to see everything outside of grand jury information. kelly o'donnell has more now. >> in the sunshine of palm beach, president trump headed to church. >> happy easter, everybody. have a good day. a lot of great things happening for our country. >> his easter message stopped short of answering questions about the outcome of the russia

investigation. back in washington, leaving an easter service, robert mueller who has spoken through the 400 plus page report declined to engage. >> can i ask you a couple of questions. will you testify before congress? >> no comment. >> for the president's defenders, mrs. plenty to say. disputing the description of president trump's intentions. >> the president wanted to fire bob mueller, he would have. he has the authority to do that. >> why members of the trump campaign showed a willingness to receive russian help. rudy giuliani said this. >> it is now okay for political campaigns to work with material e is nothing wrong with aries? taking information from russians. >> the former u.s. attorney distanced himself. >> probably wouldn't. i would have advised don't do it. >> for over pursuing impeachment.

>> we're may get to that and may not. >> it is our job to go through the evidence. >> do we go through impeachment because to do otherwise would signal this conduct is okay? >> next steps for congress calling key witnesses to testify publicly. that could include robert mueller himself or former white house counsel don mcgahn who provided many behind the scenes details about interactions with president trump that are detailed in the mueller report and were reviewed for possible obstruction of justice. richard? >> thank you. >> a tiger at the topeka zoo is back on display after being involved in a frightening attack on its trainer this weekend. we are learning that the zookeeper's condition is improving as the zoo launches an internal caused the incident. we are joined by kathy park. good morning. >> richard and marley, good

lasted several er injuries. the tiger is back to his normal routine. a star at the topeka zoo is back on display after a harrowing attack on his long time handler. >> we have a staff getting attacked by a tiger. >> the lead tiger trainer suffered cuts to the head, neck, back, and arm and is still recovering at the hospital. >> i am just thankful that our staff person survived. >> all happening as the park opened to the public. >> the tiger is still next to them. still attacking. >> the zoo director entered the exhibit for normal housekeeping. >> the tiger should not be there when that occurs. that was the difference. >> park guests witnessed a ackl

when staff lured the animal away with staff this is part of the conservation program. only 500 sumatran tigers are left in the world. >> he's a great tiger and i can't stress that enough. it's a horrible situation, but he was just being a tiger. >> procedures are under the ani safe. >> this attack is the first for the zoo. we learned that he was in his enclosure where he was supposed to be when he attacked. richard and marley? >> thank you. >> this flu season is one for the history books evidently. the cdc said it's one of the longest flu seasons in decades. the current season began the week of thanksgiving and has beenoi in a row. experts say it's due to the u.s. being hit with a surprising second wavemid-february. longest recent flu season was 20 weeks which was in

2014 to 2015. the cdc said this is not as bad as last season's 19-week season which was the deadliest. >> christians gathered to celebrate easter. pope francis delivered his address and took the opportunity to issue a heart felt appeal for peace. during his remarks he condemned the cruel violence of the attacks in sri lanka and prayed for the resolution in war torn parts of the world. queen elizabeth had two things to celebrate. easter and her 93rd birthday. members of the royal family including prince william and kate middleton. prince harry is solo because meghan is expecting their first child this month. easter means a fashionable parade and incredible hats. thousands of people and pets put

on their best easter bonnets. the tradition dates back to the 1800s and did not disappoint this year. >> bill is here with us. the man of thunder is what we will call you. >> that's a song, isn't it? >> we will start singing. >> hope you had a nice easter weekend. we will not see a lot of bad weather. the severe weather season, one outbreak a year. the area of slight risk late this evening into overnight. large hail late tonight. as far as the timing on this system, we go through this evening to watch the rainfall. like the severe weather should be too bad. the rainfall totals will add up with threats to wednesday. finally on thursday, texas clears out as they push the storm system intould

when we come back, we will look at the forecast and many will like it. a warm week, too. >> we will take that. thank you so much. on easter sunday, snorkelers in the florida keys went to a great depth for a unique egg hunt. a dive captain wearing a bunny suit hid brightly colored eggs. egg sploerers went to the bottom and he handed eggs to younger swimmers. they it baskets of goodies. any ideas there? >> sorry, not sorry. where do you get a bunny dive suit? just ahead, terror on the tracks

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. from prlaying the president on tolens won in a landslide. he's in a show about a presiden his video against corruption gaza viral and life-imitating art. he received 73% of the vote. a rebuke to the president who led for the past five years. the ratings were good, i guess. >> well liked. while leading the news, terrifying moments captured on camera in san francisco. a woman is dragged under a moving train after getting her hand caught in a door. a warning, the video is

disturbing. >> new video shows a come reaching for the subway door in san francisco. >> there is a special call location embarcadero station. >> the door closes and her hand is stuck. she can't keep the operator. >> she was hospitalized with serious injuries. the city's transportationstte o dollar upgrade. the sensors designed to trigger the train doors to reopen don't always work. back in december, a .me in a statement to nbc new, the city's transportation spokesman said the doors are safe and operate as designed. even before the latest incident, muni added a second safety sensor to seven of the 68 trains and not the entire fleet. >> the additional had help. >> the testing shown here to reporters was inconsistent and

after the incident earlier this month, the state is now investigating. molly hunter, nbc news. >> the sensors were not working. >> caught on camera. >> just ahead, an easter tradition rolls on to the white house lawn and a deportation dilemma. how u.s. citizens are getting caught up who's got the time to chase around down dirt, dust and hair? so now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters.-treach pla. redust in one swipe. and sweeper heavy duty cloths lock away twice as much dirt and dust. it gets stuff deep in the grooves other tools can miss. y'know what? my place... is a lot cleaner now. stop cleaning. start swiffering. ♪ here i go again on my own ♪ goin' down the only road i've ever known ♪

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fast forwarding into monday, president trump and the first lady will host the annual easter egg roll on the south lawn of the white house. it dates back to 1878 when the first easter egg roll was held under the administration of rutherford b. hayes. >> queen elizabeth's 93rd birth day continues. a 41-gun salute will be there. >>or this earth day, a law limiting plastic straw use goes into effect in los angeles. customers with 26 employees or more will only be given a plastic straw if they ask for one. >> the trump administration policy created a dilemma for thousands. what happened when one parent is deport and the spouse or child has a legal right to stay in the u.s.? 1 allen reports. >> in a rural mexican town, this family is starting over. >> did you think this would

happen? >> no, no. from one day to another, everything changed and we never thought living over here in mexico. >> their new home, nothing like the chicago neighborhood where they lived until geronimo got and stayed 3 four girls all u.s. citizens followed dad to mexico. their van still has illinois plates. >> i miss my home. my whole life over there. >> you understand the law is the law. that's tough to accept.>> as th of thousands of undocumented immigrants, an untold number of mixed status families must decide whether to separate or stay together. including activists say hundreds of thousands of u.s. citizen children. neither the u.s. or mexican

government keeps track of how many american citizens especially children follow a relative here. activists say that's a huge part of the problem. as americ invisible here. >> we air grass roots organization. >> the other dreamers is a nonprofit that helps those just arriving in mexico. >> many after a year or two of trying and hitting obstacle after obstacle they send the u.s. kids back. >> they're hope things work out in mexico. geronimo is looking for work and nelly helps the girls adjust for a new school and emily has special needs. >> when your dad came, you wanted to come, too. why? >> because i miss him and it's hard without him. >> in an era of enforcement laws, many more families with american citizens will face the same emotional choice. ron allen, nbc news, mexico. o b.

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neutrogena® thousands gathered for easter mass miles from notre dame cathedral. they are dedicatining it to the firefighters. the famous pipe organ may have been spared and suffered severe water damage. it's the largest in france with over 8,000 pipes. the choir may have been left with no church and no organ, but

it's not stopping them from lifting their voices. we have that story. >> many in the choir worried after more than 850 years, the music had also stopped. this concert may only miss a few >> it's like this see for a>> the timber roof per the blaze. they were given special access to that attic last year. >> when are we saw it was burping, almost everyone call and they said you remember when there was silence. this is gone. ♪

note redam was the choir's home. we think it's just sick. the choir is not sick. it will continue to live. the group sang at the historic church. easter sunday service at the nearby churchs faved their cathedral.>> it sounds kind of hime-like, but like to turn the music to the world. >> i hope we get to travel to tragedy into opportunity to take america. that would be lovely. >> matt bradley, nbc news, paris. >> sounds so beautiful. >> it was. >> it was flight and might for teams competing in the world indoor skydiving championships. >> indoor? >> yes. national crews got in france to see who pulled off the most mind bending flips and tricks in the

wind tunnel. the americans dominated, walking away with three gold medals. i always wanted to try it. it seems safer than jumping tha today. >> the newss.

easter celebrations take a tragic turn. bombs rip through churches killing nearly 300 people. now, there are growing questions whether the government could have prevented those attacks. going on the offensive. the white house gets to work trying to clear the cloud of controversy over the mueller report. terror on the tracks. the horrifying moments a woman gets dragged under a moving train. no funny business here. a comedian who plays the president on a hit tv show lands the job in real life. "early today" starts now.

a good morning to you. i'm richard lui.