power your day with megared. former white house adviser hope hicks to testify on capitol hill later today as the acting secretary of defense is pushed out and the president wakes up in florida after kick off his 2020 re-election rally in orlando. a billion-dollar cocaine bust the third largest in history new details this morning on the philly port arrests. a dramatic day in court for a u.s. navy s.e.a.l. on trial for war crimes with the prosecutors themselves coming under fire as the special ops team member's wife stands by his side parents behaving badly this time the adults taking over the field as fists were flying during a youth baseball game and dog lovers everywhere are debating a new study over those endearing looks called

puppy dog eyes "early today" starts right now good to kick off your wednesday with you i'm frances rivera >> and i'm phillip mena. the fight for 2020 is officially under way. president trump declared his re-election bid in front of a raucous crowd in orlando thousands of supporters greeted the news with cheers but the city's paper wasn't so kind the "orlando sentinel" released their 2020 endorsement early, narrowing the field down to "not donald trump." that's not the only sign of trouble for mr. trump in the battleground state according to a new quinnipiac poll, as of now six democrats would beat him in florida. joe biden is polling a full 9% ahead of him nbc's tracie potts joining us with the latest from d.c both sides are already throwing punches. >> no question about that, phillip. good morning, everyone so president trump in announcing his re-election campaign talked policy, but he really went in hard on politics

especially those top democratic opponents like joe biden and bernie sanders >> remember the statement from the previous administration? you'd need a magic wand to bring back manufacturing well, we'll tell sleepy joe that we found the magic wand. more than 120 democrats in congress have also signed up to support crazy bernie sanders' socialist government takeover of health care. >> reporter: well, democrats were quick to react, including democratic candidate bernie sanders. not impressed with the president's speech before this crowd. >> that was certainly something. an hour and a half speech of lies, distortions, and total absolute nonsense. that is quite an experience. >> reporter: and take a look here's the reaction from what right now is the front-runner for the democrats, joe biden, calling out the president on

fake news saying that's pretty much everything the president does not want to hear. so he wants to make sure that the real facts are on thack to washington today, where the big focus on capitol hill will be private testimony by former white house communications director hope hicks. she is expected to be asked by democrats whether she was ever asked to lie by president trump and pressed on questions of obstruction of justice by the way, a white house lawyer will be sitting with her in that testimony. back to you. >> all right tracie potts leading us off this morning. tracie, thank you. pandemonium in the pentagon this morning after another shake-up at the defense department acting secretary patrick shanahan is on his way out, withdrawing his nomination to head up the pentagon after allegations of past domestic violence surfaced. secretary of the army mark esper will now take over as acting defense chief amid-escalating tensions with nbc's peter alexander has more >> reporter: president trump speaking out about the sudden departure of his acting defense

secretary patrick shanahan >> it's a difficult time for pat. but he's going to take a little time off for family service and and for working things out >> reporter: the abrupt exit comes just as "usa today" reports the fbi has been examining a violent domestic dispute from 2010 between shanahan and his then wife kimberly as part of a background investigation where both claimed to police they had been punched by the other shanahan, a former boeing executive, told "usa today" "i never laid a hand on my then wife." and the "washington post" reports there was another domestic incident in 2011, this time between kimberly and the couple's then 17-year-old son, william. the "post" reports the teenager used a baseball bat to brutally beat his mother, leaving her unconscious with a fractured skull. two weeks later shanahan sent a memo arguing his son acted in self-defense, writing "will's mother harassed him for nearly 3 hours before the incident. shanahan now telling the "post",

"i have never believed will's atta an act of self-defense or justified i don't believe violence appropriate ever." in a statement saying continuing in the formation process could wo force my three children to relive a traumatic chafrptd in our family's life. their safety and well-being is my highest priority. the president saying he just learned of the incidents monday and defending the white house vetting process. >> we have a great vetting process. but this is something that came up a little bit over the last he short period of time and as you know, pat was acting. and so acting gives you much greater flexibility, a lot easier to do things. >> reporter: president trump now moving on to his thirds pentagon chief in six months, tapping army secretary mark esper as acting defense secretary at a critical moment amid tensions with iran whom the u.s. accuses of a series of attacks on oil tankers but in a new interview the president's downplaying them, saying "so far it's been very minor. >> our thanks to peter alexander for that report. breaking news this morning

out of the middle east police in iraq say a rocket landed near the city of basra near the headquarters of several major oil companies. authorities say two iraqi workers were wounded when a short-range missile landed near an operations center used by exxonmob exxonmobil there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. it is one of the largest drug busts in u.s. history federal authorities seizing over $1 billion worth of cocaine. that's nearly 17 tons found hidden in cargo ships in a port in philadelphia. it is the alarming sign of a cocaine comeback in america. nbc's pete williams has the stden on this ship docked in philadelphia federal agents say was a huge stash of cocaine in seven shipping containers just over 17 tons of it with a street val krewe, u.s. officials say, of over $1 billion. court documents say crew members have told investigators that the drugs were loaded onto the ships from boats while it was under way, then stuffed into

containers some of it may have been intended for sale in the u.s., investigators say, but most was to be shipped on to europe it's the third largest u.s. cocaine seizure in history, another sign that cocaine is making a comeback. just three months ago drug agents found nearly two tons on a ship in the port of new york and new jersey >> it does show that cocaine is a threat, it is coming back to us and what we're seeing, we're noticing now is that we see the mixture between cocaine and fentanyl on the streets. >> reporter: for now that ship in philadelphia isn't going anywhere members of the crew are under arrest, charged with drug trafficking. frances. >> pete williams for us. pete, thank you. a dramatic day in court for a navy s.e.a.l. on trial for alleged war crimes special operations chief edward gallagher is accused of murdering a prisoner and shooting unarmed civilians in iraq it's a case that's even caught the attention of president trump himself. here with the latest is nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: on trial for war crimes, special operations chief edward gallagher is facing the

fight of hise. the highly decorated navy s.e.a.l. platoon leader stands charged with murdering a wounded isis fighter captured in mosul, iraq in 2017 and with shooting two unarmed civilians, a school-age girl and an elderly man, from a sniper's nest. who prosecutors say posed no threat gallagher denying all charges. his wife standing by his side. >> the truth has always been our best defense we said from day one that these allegations are shameless. >> reporter: with prosecutors making their opening arguments, a navy s.e.a.l. under gallagher's command has said he watched the chief stab a teenage isis fighter to death who was already detained prosecutors presented the jury a photo of the body, telling them gallagher texted friends the picture, saying "got him." but the defense arguing the navy s.e.a.l. didn't kill the captive, that he in fact treated his wounds >> the defense plan for the next days and weeks is to annihilate the government's case, to show that these witnesses are lying

>> reporter: prosecutors will argue gallagher, who served eight deployments, became mberof his own platoon reporting him. but the case has challenges. the lead prosecutor was just removed for tracking the defense team's e-mails, and they have little physical evidence with gallagher facing life in prison, the president has alluded he may pardon service members convicted of war crimes. >> our thanks to miguel almaguer for that report. now to the latest fallout in phoenix after police drew guns on a family and yelled profane comments, all because their 4-year-old allegedly stole a doll from a dollar store last night hundreds of concerned citizens attended a community meeting where the phoenix mayor and police chief once again apologized for the incident. >> i'm deeply sorry for the events that led us here today. >> i do extend my apologies to the family who has gotten less than professional service from the phoenix police department as well as others of you here in the audience who may have gotten less professional service. i know we're better than that. i know we can do better.

>> so far no charges have been filed. the coupleis suing the city fo $10 million, alleging the officers violated their civil rights s out at a little league game in colorado fists were flying near home plate. police say the brawl was all over a call. parents getting upset after an umpire said one of the 7-year-olds batted out of order. police are now looking to i.d. the man in the white shirt and teal shorts seen knocking a guy to the ground. so far four people have been cited for disorderly conduct authorities in alabama are searching for a man who they say was feeding meth to a squirrel sheriff's deputies in limestone county were serving an arrest warrant at mickey polk's apartment when they found a caged attack squirrel. deputies say they were informed he was feeding the animal meth to keep it aggressive. polk wasn't home but they arrested another man who was there, ronnie reynolds, on drug charges. the squirrel was rescued and released into a nearby wooded

area strong storms are once again bringing heavy rain to the heartland. wichita, kansas was battered by a hailstorm, which is followed by flash flooding. as vehicles became stranded in high water and conditions there became dangerous police were forced to barricade some roads and firefighters in louisville, kentucky shared this video of crews trying to remove a flooded car. the department reminding drivers to turn around when they see roads like this. >> let's say the water's going to keep on rising with more rain on the way here's nbc meteorologist bill karins good morning >> good morning. it needs to stop raining, right? so many areas from oklahoma, texas to the east coast. dealing with rain pretty much every day it seems this spring now we're watching this line of severe thunderstorms we've had wind reports of 60 do 70 miles per hour in oklahoma. these storms are racing toward mcallister later on today we're going to do it all over again we're going to see new areas of storms even possibility of an enhanced rhys frk dallas to fort worth that's where we could see some significant wind damage with storms and this whole region

from little rock to nashville to paducah, lexington, louisville, f erywhere has a our flash flood watches will be expiring early this morning. the ohio valleys the concerns today for flark floodinsh flood. >> ed sheeran revealed the collaborators for his new project titled "number 6 collaborations project." he posted the star-studded track list on instagram which includes bruno mars, cardi b., justin bieber and a whole lot more. the "game of thrones" prequel is under way filming for the pilot has begun in northern ireland, which also served as the production hub for the entire run of "game of thrones. adam sandler and jennifer aniston's netflix film "murder

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a group of fishermen got a great big surprise when they encountered a great white shark off of new jersey. they were fishing for much smaller sharks when this 16 to 18-footer was captured on camera it took the bait but avoided the hook and swam off after a few minutes. yikes. now let's go over to frances with our special series "my big idea." >> we are chugging right along with these we are exactly one week away from the first 2020 democratic primary debate right here on nbc. and we're giving each candidate a chance to tell voters their big idea today former texas congressman beto o'rourke tells anbc's harr voting in america. >> we've got to fix our democracy, ensure it works and guarantee that every single one of us can be counted in to the solutions, to the challenges that we face >> reporter: beto o'rourke, the viral media darling of the 2018

midterms he's taken the momentum of his almost successful challenge against senator ted cruz to mount an even more ambitious campaign >> i count myself lucky to be one of the contenders. >> reporter: we met the former texas congressman in dallas. >> my idea is to ensure that we have a new voting rights act same day an automatic voter registration we're in the process of gerrymandering whereby members of congress choose their voters instead of the other way around. >> reporter: o'rourke also wants to get rid of pacs and big money in politics. >> as it sits right now that's not a bill that's going to get passed >> it is and i'll tell you why. because the issues that we're talking about are almost universally popular throughout the rest of the country. people want to have direct access to their representatives, their elected officials. anything that we want to do as a country is only made possible when our democracy works it's the greatest mechanism humankind has ever devised and we should be supporting it, fixing it and making sure it

involves every single american in its success >> reporter: giving power back to the people. that'so'rourke's big idea. harry smith, nbc news, dallas. next up, amy klobuchar talks about her big ly ns. and don't miss the first democratic debate in miami on june 26th and 27th on nbc, msnbc, and telemundo and with klobuchar just like all another democratic contenders here polling in single digits. they really need to do what they can to break out of the pack so my big idea and the debates they're hoping they can do that. >> yeah. we saw that collage of faces just now hard to differentiate. thanks, frances. up next, why you can tell your boss that working one day a week is a perfect schedule so you can enjoy it even if you're sensitive. delicious. now, i've heard people say lactaid isn't real milk. ok, well, if it isn't real then, i guess those things over there can't actually be cows.

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jerry seinfeld is hitting the road again for an all new season of "comedians in cars getting coffee." the veteran funny man's netflix series returns next month. and now we know who made the list to ride shotgun with jerry. joining seinfeld would be seth ro broderick, jamie foxx, and the biggest name on the list, the reclusive eddie murphy seinfeld posted the yun coupcomg season's guest list on instagram. friday july 19th every single one of those episodes seems like it's going to be amazing. >> it's the perfect length they're 20 to 30 minutes tops and he always has a superstar on it or someone worth talking to >> and it's classic jerry in that car >> it's always good. here's one workout forwarding to your boss. according to researchers at the

university of cambridge, one day of work a week is the most effective dose for improving your mental health they found no evidence that working more than eight hours per week benefited your mental well-being but don't quit your job just yet. the study also indicated that working at least once a week was better for mental health than unemployment all of that makes sense. no surprises there >> we're a lost cause, man we work six days a week a lot of times around here. mental health blown, shot right there. this might make it all better, though, especially if you love dogs the surprising discovery about those irresistible puppy dog eyes >> they owhath'rdog.kn wt eye in ♪ ♪

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skin problems; and severe boneo are you ready? ask your doctor how prolia® can help strengthen your bones. welcome back a little bit of the rainfall still left but a lot of it is over with. the air mass is still so super humid, especially south of the stationary front that's where we're going to see the areas of rain later today. watch out for flash flooding all the way from illinois through indiana and even a little piece there around pittsburgh. >> thank you, bill when we come back, bunting practice goes rrlyrohoib wng right there. we'll show you the rest. >> ooh but now... it's thursday. good thing they discovered gain flings. the only detergent with concentrated gain, oxi boost, and febreze odor remover. smelling is believing. and gain flings can hiya karate stink too. try new improved gain flings.

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troops arrived in galveston, texas with the news that the civil war had ended and all remaining slaves in texas were free it's an event celebrated to this day as juneteenth. later this morning actor danny glover and writer that me hisi coates will testify on capitol hill before a house subcommittee on reparations dog owners know it's hard to resist the puppy dog eyes. a woman says her dog waffles smiles when she pets his paws and then gets serious when she stops. so if you have any examples like this of your pup, here's a chance to share them with us on facebook or in the meantime nbc's gadi schwartz explains the science behind puppy dlike you could red like when you look at those little face that's say hey, you goi didn't eat tha this and it turns out there is some evolutionary science behind these puppy dog eyes and it has to do withr eyebrows

a new study by a team of evolutionary psychologists showing dogs have perfected the after the eyebrow raise, developing stronger muscles above their eyes than their cousins the wolf, whose same facial muscles are pretty weak and over centuries of breeding humans have subconsciously favored dogs with expressive eyes and while you might have seen some dogs online trying to take their conversations with us to the next level -- >> i love you. >> i love you. >> good girl >> i love you. >> reporter: others are making do with the slightest little twitch so the next time your dog looks at you and asks i'm a good boy, right? or hey lester, when are you coming home? >> oh, okay. kisses >> reporter: you can thank thousands of years of dogs learning to speak silently and literally evd.olng gadi schwartz, nbc news. >> i love that there's science backing what we already know >> yeah, totally makes sense, right? it's all part of domestication we're constantly manipulating our environments and dogs are no different. batting practice went very

wrong for one of the before the pitchers in baseball three-time cy young award winner max scherzer, he was practicing bunting on tuesday and on the second pitch -- >> ooh >> that ball ricocheted right off the bat and right into his face the washington nationals ace ended up breaking his nose on that wednesday but now the nationals are saying his status is to be determined that exact thing happened to me in high school when i played baseball i was practicing bunting just like that in the cage. ricocheted except right off my eye. >> how long did it take to recover off that >> bleeding everywhere when the swelling went down i was able to come back. i didn't break my nose, but been there. >> recovered from it, though years later. >> thanks for waking up with us. i'm phillip mena >> and i'm frances rivera. coming up on theed if td show a live interview with a 10-year-old girl who is the 10-year-old girl who is the youngest thanks to move free ultra i keep up with this little one. see the world with this guy. and hit the town with these girls.

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good wednesday morning, taking a live look outside. a nice cool start to our wednesday. thanks for joining us. >> already >> of course it's it will be a slighter cooler day. that's a live look outside. the fog near the coast will cool us off a few more degrees than