mr. president, do you now know who the whistle-blower is, sir? >> well, we're trying to find out about a whistle-blower we have a whistle-blower that reports things that were incorrect. >> raising the stakes on capitol hill president trump sets his sights on the whistle-blower as the house peachment inquiry threatens to engulf more of his top cabinet officials along with his personal lawyer. >> amber geyger's fate in the hands of the jury. dramatic closing statements in the trial of the dallas police officer accused of killing a man in his own home. >> no more beef with red meat. a medical journal raises questions about the health benefits of cutting back on

things like steak and pork >> halloween is going to the dogs a san diego woman gives her pups their own haunted mansion. "early today" starts right now good tuesday morning i'm frances rivera >> and i'm phillip mena. the trump administration now fully embroiled in the impeachment inquiry this morning. nbc news has confirmed that secretary of state mike pompeo was among the officials listening in on that july call where president trump asked the leader of ukraine to do him a favor, and look into his rival joe biden. that disclosure casting a harsh new spotlight on the state department in the house's probe. attorney general william barr is also under intense new scrutiny this morning over his contact with foreign officials about the origins of the mueller probe nbc's tracie potts joining us with the latest from d.c tracie, good morning so, how did the attorney general get wrapped up in all that >> reporter: so, turns out he was in contact with several foreign officials, but specifically asked the white house to connect him with

australia's prime minister as they tried to figure out investigation part two after the russia mueller investigation how all of that got started. that request to connect him ended up with president trump making an introduction between barr and the australian prime minister, something that's inappropriate. some of the president's supporters on capitol hill saying there was nothing wrong with that. barr was doing his job so now he's wrapped up in all of this meantime, president trump is focusing on that whistle-blower yet unidentified who revealed one conversation that the president had with ukraine's president, talking about joe biden and whether or not that country might be digging up some dirt on him. here's what the president is saying about the whistle-blower. >> we're trying to find out about a whistle-blower we have a whistle-blower that reports things that were incorrect. >> across the board people have

said whistle-blowers need to be able to speak truth to power my feeling is the president has gone completely against the notion of that statute and that critically important program >> reporter: democrats say they want to protect the whistle-blower's identity if he or she ends upcoming to testify here on capitol hill and, by the way, they are also issuing a subpoena for documents from rudy giuliani, the president's attorney, about his contacts with ukraine. >> things really heating up in washington tracie potts, thank you so much. >> meantime, rudy giuliani is firing back after that house subpoena looking for his text messages, phone records, and other communications last night he was on fox news and asked whether he would agree to testify before congress >> i'm weighing the alternatives i kind of might go through it. i'll get my evidence together, i'll get my charts i don't know, if they let me use videotapes and tape recordings that i have. if they let me get some of the

evidence that i gathered i gathered all this evidence before the mueller probe ended, so it was clearly under my responsibility as the lawyer for the president of the united states >> well -- >> nbc's kristen welker has more on what's next for the president's personal attorney. >> reporter: rudy giuliani's push for an investigation in ukraine is putting him at the center of the impeachment firestorm with that new demand for documents from giuliani by house democrats. giuliani is mentioned in the whistle-blower complaint more than 30 times, alleging the president's personal lawyer was in frequent contact with ukrainian officials as giulian spearheaded the effort to investigate hunter biden's businessactivities in ukraine while his father joe biden was vice-president there is no evidence of wrongdoing by biden. at one point giuliani contradicting himself during a recent interview >> did you ask the ukraine to investigate joe biden? >> no. >> so you did ask ukraine to look into joe biden?

>> of course, i did. >> reporter: giuliani has told nbc news the state department asked for his help and sent us text messages, including this one that he says was from the state department's former special envoy to ukraine, curt volcker. volcker resigned last week giuliani defiant, slamming house democrats and congressman adam schiff >> i would really love to challenge the illegitimacy of this committee i can't see how you can have a committee run by a guy who has judged the case already. >> and that was kristen welker reporting. >> now that the trial that has captivated the nation, a former dallas police officer accused of murder after shooting and killing her unarmed neighbor inside his own apartment the jury is now weighing the fate of amber geyger nbc's gabe gutierrez is at the courthouse where closing arguments took place >> jury deliberations are set to continue here later today after seven days of testimony. if convicted of murder, amber geyger faces up to 99 years in prison

amber geyger's fate is in the hands of a jury, eight women and four men must decide whether the shooting death of botham jean amounts to murder >> now this jury will make a determination whether or not his life mattered. >> reporter: in dramatic testimony on friday, geyger, a former dallas police officer, apologized >> i wish he was the one with the gun that killed me i never want to take an innocent person's life. >> reporter: during closing arguments, they argued his belief she was killing an intruder inside her own home was an entirely reasonable mistake >> a wonderful human being has lost his life, but the evidence shows it's just a tragedy, a horrible, horrible tragedy >> reporter: prosecutors meanwhile hammered home the point that geyger missed crucial signs she was on the wrong floor, including this bright red door mat outside of jean's apartment. >> whether or not you want to accept responsibility forced

upon you >> reporter: the jury can also consider a lesser charge of manslaughter, but the verdict must be unanimous. phillip? >> all right, gabe, thank you. >> the justice department is now sharing the results of an elaborate fbi sting operation. a man in california has been arrested and charged with working as a foreign agent for china's intelligence service the multi-year probe is providing a new look at u.s. efforts to crackdown on spies living and working among us. nbc's cynthia mcfadden had this report >> reporter: edward pong is in custody, a naturalized american citizen who worked as a tour guide in san francisco despite receiving a degree in mechanical engineering in china. >> the chinese are the number one intelligence threat to the united states right now. >> reporter: no question >> no question the russians are up there for sure, but the chinese are number one. and they are also the number one threat in the political espionage context. >> reporter: the criminal complaint reads like a spy thriller, complete with dead drops and code words

beginning back in march of 2015, when the fbi launched an elaborate sting operation, planting a double agent inside a ring of chinese intelligence operatives in china. to string the chinese along, the u.s. double agent filled sd cards with nonharmful secrets carefully curated from the u.s. government put the sd card in a book. wrap it in a bag mark the package "to ed" and leave it at the front desk of a hotel located in newark, california edpong came to collect the package in a silver mercedes this is pong hiding $20,000 in exchange for american secrets. this went on for three years why so long? >> we don't want to watch one dead drop. we want to get a sense of is this the way they operate and practice in this case you can because the information you're giving them is carefully curated >> reporter: one more piece in a very complex and dangerous puzzle cynthia mcfadden, nbc news, new

york >> he was one of the first republican members of congress to endorse donald trump for the presidency and now new york congressman chris collins has resigned collins is expected to plead guilty today to charges related to insider trading he allegedly used his position as an early investor in an australian biotech son to tip off his son and other family members about a failed drug trial to help them avoid over $750,000 in losses speaking of gop exodus, congressman matt thornberry announcing his retirement, making him the 6th republican to retire ahead of the 2020 national election. he served in the 13th district of texas for 25 years. >> overseas, beijing is marking 07 years of communist rule as hong kong braces for a day of mass protests. police there say they anticipate hard core violence as the city enters 13 consecutive weeks of mass demonstrations. the protests started in june

sparked by a extradition bill. the fight for democracy continues. today the chinese president celebrates 70 years since the founding of the peopleless republic with a massive parade showcasing china's military. >> california governor gavin newsom is paving the way for college athletes to profit 0 of their name, image and likeness newsome has signed the first in the nation bill called the fair pay to play act. he did it while appearing on lebron james's hbo show, the shop uninterrupted: new regulation starts in 2023. newsome said colleges reap billions from student athletes, but block them from earning a single dollar. that's a bankrupt model. >> the northwest is getting an early taste of winter, an unprecedented snowstorm in montana, up to 4 feet of snow. look at this temperatures dropped to the teens and 20s, wind gusts reaching 35 miles per hour while montana got the brunt of the storm, the system dropped a

lot of early snow across the northern rocky mountains on areas of oregon, idaho and washington >> it seems impossible when we're flirting with 90 degrees in new york city janessa webb, good morning tell us what's going on. >> doesn't that look fun >> it does >> a little bit later on in the season >> a look at temperatures for montana, this really hurts here. the feel-like temperature, upper teens this earn montgomerie. hopefully we'll see warmer air by this afternoon. also watching the storm system from western new mexico, this will cause a lot of rain for the plains we're going to see accumulation up to about 3 to 4 inches with 12 million under flash aral stas with highs, look at that, upper midwest in the upper 30s

on the other side we have a heat wave. we'll talk about that coming up. >> extreme it is janessa, thank you time now for today's quick hits the first cannabis cafe in the nation is set to open today in west hollywood offering food slow hosts, they'll help customers figure out which strain of weed is best for them. >> stranger things has been renewed for a fourth season. netflix dropped the trailer, we're not hopkins any more no word on a release date. >> famed architect frank lloyd wright is going on the auction block. the home is in arizona construction started i19n 59, but lloyd wright died before it was done anything! at the end of a long day, it's the last thing i want to do. well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. it's an all-in-one so it's ready to go when i am. the cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. and the pad absorbs it deep inside.

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♪ ♪ ♪ all i want for christmas is you ♪ ♪ >> can you believe it? it has been 25 years since mariah carey dropped her christmas album. to celebrate she is kicking off an "all i want for christmas" tour it starts december 22nd in vegas. the album on november 1st, so now more than ever when it comes to the holidays, you hear that just everywhere even more so this year.

>> we were talking, i was wondering if it was the most popular christmas song it's among them at least >> it's way up there maybe too much >> more surprising in 25 years it's been, it's christmas music we're talking about here in october, which is here, by the way. welcome to october so that means it's time to get ready for halloween and these dogs here in san diego, they're already ahead of the game. their owner victoria has completely transformed her backyard, and take a look at the inside they call this massive two-story doghouse barkington palace it has been turned into a haunted house this season complete with portraits, cobb webbs. people take halloween seriously. just for dogs. >> man, shs going to leave the pumpkins there, bring it over for thanksgiving, and then get the tree and everything else for christmas as well in the holidays might as well. she has the space for it >> sure does san diego, no less nice >> all right

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we are back with new developments in a story we told you about last week. the 12-year-old black student who claimed three white students pinned her down and cut her hair has now admitted her story was false, according to her school in virginia. in a statement the family said they sincerely apologize to the three young boys she accused >> billboards are usually a great way to advertise products, but police in michigan are investigating after a highway billboard advertised porn. authorities say the two suspects broke into a building and accessed the billboard's computer to change the display to pornography police say the video played for about 20 minutes before it was removed. officials released this photo

here of the suspects wearing glasses and hoods over their face during that alleged break-n. >> probably thought it was funny. depth thi didn't think it was illegal, but it is. >> found out it is >> a high school student asked his girlfriend to home coming was so heart warming it's been shared by millions here's nbc's kevin tibbles >> reporter: david cowan was on a mission. with balloons, flowers and a sign marching down the sidelines to ask cheerleader if she'd be his sunshine at the home coming dance. her answer >> yes >> reporter: straight from the heart. on bended knee, the perfect gentleman said, i love you and my, how the crowd responded. >> for the world to see it and promote awareness of down syndrome and share the story and share their joy, i am very proud mom. >> the two florida students, he's 19, she's 18, have down

syndrome and have known each other since childhood. the couple, the picture of style, cheered once more as they made their grand entrance to the dance. [ cheers and applause >> reporter: memories custom made for any year book sweethearts whose smiles brighten any day after all, she's his sunshine. kevin tibbles, nbc news. >> that is a sweet couple right there. they have prom to look forward to at the end of the year. >> good looking couple happy as they could be good for them. enthusiasts were showing off their jousting skills in berlin. rather than mounting their trusty skis, they battled it out on bicycles this time. this year was the 8th annual berlin pedal battle. this was the first year that women were allowed to compete on the battle field equality in jousting >> there as it should be anywhere else. >> good to see that.

thanks for waking up with us on this tuesday i'm phillip mena >> and i'm frances rivera. coming up, elizabeth hurley joins the third hour of today to discuss breast cancer aweness. yourar

welcome to tuesday morning. also the first day of october, and you can feel it as you walk out the door. a live look outside overlooking the city by the bay, you can see clear skies out there, makes for a chilly morning. >> it does. >> good morning to you. thank you for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. mike is going to have a look at the commute in a bit but first let's talk about the weather, kari. >> you need a jacket headed out the door. it's a chilly start to the day, as we take a live look in san jose, skies are all clear, as we go into the morning, we have upper 40s that will stay with us through about 8:00 and then it will start to warm up as we head through the day,