are you saying you are not prepared now to -- >> what i am saying is i will tell you at the time, i will keep you in expense. >> he is deny owe greating -- >> such a nasty election crisis. >> from a secret underground tunnel on the surge of iraqi special forces on isis, the battle for mosul heats up. an exclusive nbc investigation into the hacking of the u.s. elections. and could cleveland be headed to another title in the same year. good morning. i am ayman mohyeldin.

maybe one of the final nights we will be up. >> a lot of people will remember what happened, folks, and we are in the sprint of the presidential campaign. the likes of which the world has never seen this morning, front pages across the country really say it all, a defiant trump, quote, a rigged election, refusing to say >> i will ask you here in the states tonight do you make the same commitment that you will absolutely accept the result of the election? >> i will look at it at the time. what i have seen is so bad. >> sir, there's a tradition in the country, one of the prides of this country is the peaceful transition of power and no

loser concedes to the winner. are you saying you are not prepared to stay with that principle? >> what i am saying, i will tell you at the time and keep you in suspense. >> clinton made sure to pounce on that moment. >> let's be clear about what he is saying and what that means, he is talking down our democracy and i, for one, am somebody, the nominee of one of the two major parties would take that position. >> and she also talked about the campaign late last night. >> what he said tonight is part of his whole effort to blame somebody else for his campaign and for where he stands in this election, as i said, whenever he is losing, he says the system, whatever the system is, whether it's, you know, being in court

for goodness sakes, he says it's rigged against him. >> here is what trump's running mate, mike pence, had to say about the same moment? >> the reality of voting fraud, i think he as a presidential candidate said tonight that given those two factors, that he will take a wait and see approach. >> pence may be the only official backing trump skepticism as lawmakers, both democrats and republicans pushed back against him and even the chairman, reince priebus, not backing trump's words. >> and they watched as the candidates squared off on policy and substance to isis, and then

trump's. >> in the 1980s, i was working to reform the schools in arkansas. he was borrowing $14 million from his father to start his business. and on the day when i was in the situation room monitoring raid that brought bin laden to justice, he was starring on the "apprentice." >> she has been outsmarted and out played worst than anybody in government. >> and then it quickly evolved into a war of words. here is one exchange over

>> that's because he would rather have a puppet than a president. >> no puppet. no puppet. you are the puppet. >> and this is what lit up the night. >> i am on record as saying we need to put more money in the social security trust fund and that's part of my commitment to raise taxes on th social security payroll contribution will go up as will donald's assuming he can't figure out how to get out of it. >> such a nasty woman. >> and clinton on the snap front is beating trump. and then trump heads to ohio,

wisconsin, and president obama and biden will head to new hampshire and florida for clinton and michelle obama will go to the new battleground of arizona, and clinton and trump will meet face-to-face again perhaps for the last time as they headline a dinner in new york tonight. breaking news overnight, word that turkish jets are having air strikes north of militia members have been killed although a kurdish member says that number is smaller. we will keep you posted as we learn more. iraqi special forces are leading mosul offensive to drive isis, up to 800 isis fighters from the city. meanwhile officials tell nbc

flee mosul amongst the terror tacks, and matt joins us now, and any indication on when advancing forces could reach mosul? >> reporter: we do know that this is a good thing right now, ayman. we don't know when we will reach mosul in this operation but the engagement means this whole operation is going to plan. th exactly we know when they are entering mosul, and this is like some of the other patterns of the engagements with the islamic state over the last year, and i was with the counterterrorism forces last january, and what i learned it's a small force and there are a lot that were trained in the united states, and these people, while a lot of them speak english, they are well trained and only about 500

battles far beyond their remitt, and now they are being used as the main poor -- point of the sphere. they are being very over extended. >> matt live for us there in northern iraq. and then a gas explosion rocked a portland >> went in on his own and pulled the fire alarms and allowed the individuals to evacuate. had those steps not been taken, we would have been having a different conversation this afternoon. this man, single handedly, i believe, saved a lot of lives of citizens today and a lot of firefighters. >> he is one of three firefighters, two police officers and three citizens injured in the explosion and thankfully nobody was killed.

displaced as the investigation into the explosion continues. and then still to come, the affect wikileaks is having on the election. over 50 record highs registered in parts of the country, and bill karins has the weather. >> even nashville hit 90 degrees, and this cold front is ending the heat wave all except through the southeast and the heavy rain here, and rain throughout the day throughout ohio, and western new york, and especially this evening and the rain on friday will begin to kick closer to the east coast and especially through northern new england. here's a closer look at your day ahead. >> today you can see the heat wave ended around new york city

around washington, d.c. and richmond and a few record highs possible in areas of the southeast and cooler in the northern plains and highs in the 40s and 50s. >> heavy rain over the next couple of days, and we need it in the northeast and has been a good drought over the last couple of months. is america going to pot? a new survey takes that question sky high. there was a rash of plane crashes on wednesday, so what is going on? we will try to explain all of that. "early today " has the details

today's>> quick hits, sexuay transmitted disease have hit a high in the u.s., and the biggest cases among those in their late teens and early 20s. 60% of americans support marijuana legalization. that number was 36% in 2005. and five states will vote on a

and three other states will consider medical marijuana. and all pregnant women who recently visited florida to get tested for the zika virus. new details about the air accidents across america. first, watch this. look at the rough landing in oklahoma city. the pilot was forced to land with malfunctioning landing gear, and the unharmed. the next one is where eyewitnesses say this twin engine bursts into flames on a crash landing on a run way, and the investigation of the plane's landing gear is under way. a different story for the pilot of this small plane. he and a passenger crash landed in the backyard of a house in southern new jersey. first responders found the pilot and passenger trapped in the

to free them and took them to the hospital, and all accidents being investigated. and then intelligence officials say they stopped the russian hackers, and nbc news

in the air in foul territory, the cleveland indians

late or waking up with a smile to they beat the blue jays. it has been 19 years since they played in the world series and 68 years since they won a championship. and you can imagine the celebration will continue. now to an nbc news exclusive investig a continues to play a role in the u.s. presidential election. here is the senior investigative correspondent. >> a high-level u.s. intelligence source says the u.s. is confident it cut off the flow of the election material being hacked by the russians,

has been behind the theft of a wide range of documents, many of them harmful to the clinton campaign, and new defensive measures taken by the u.s. and its allies are choking off the cyber paths the russians are using to steal e-mails from high profile democrats and other prominent americans. >> i think it's credible the u.s. government is doing everything possible to stop the cyber bleeding. >> they are more confident than ever, saying they consider him a willing participant in the russian scheme. >> they are frustrated

>> the u.s. quietly pressured ecuador to shut off the internet. the reverberations of russia's cyber assault are being felt across the spectrum, and even marco rubio came out against wikileaks. >> do we want to be a where foreign agencies can blackmail our elected officials? next, the most tweeted moments of the debate. tweeted moment of the presidential election. that's next. at? is he gone?? finally, i thought he'd never leave... tv character: why are you texting my man at 2 a.m.? no... if you want someone to leave you alone, you pretend like you're sleeping. it's what you do.

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chris wallace asked donald trump if he would accept the results of the election on november 8th, and trump had this to say. >> are you saying you are not eppredarow n to -- >> what i am say something i will tell you at the time, i will keep you in going to end with a cliff-hanger. >> i do not anger his campaign manager. i am told we have footage of her taking questions in the spin room. >> yeah, a head-turning moment for a lot of people.

when donald trump discussed women, and trump refused to accept the election results and when clinton called trump putin's puppet. clinton gained 13,000 new followers compared to trump's 6 million followers. it's amazing to see how much social media played a role in the facebook bringing out registration. >> it makes for a later night, too. >> celebrities are putting in their two cents. dozens weighed in including josh gad who tweeted snl is literally considering re-airing the

this. and many tweeted, and they were concerned about the lack of questions about climate change, and you see especially when it comes to a lot of heavy celebrity weight being on climate change. >> yeah, it was disappointing it has not come up in any of the debates. the boss is weighing in and taking on the donald. and take a listen. >> donald trump, who is talki not -- he has a feeling he's going to lose now, which, of course, he is going to lose, and he's such a flagrant toxic narcissist, he will take down the whole democratic system he wants to take down with him if he goes.

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your early today travel forecast has rainy weather today, tennessee, kentucky, ohio, western pennsylvania and western new york, and a storm coming in from the northwest. the long race for the white house is winding down with 19 days to go untille >> the new question popping up is whether donald trump would accept the election results if he loses, and that's just one of the headlines from last night's third and final presidential debate. and for more we are joined by tracie potts from las vegas. >> reporter: good morning. of all the stuff we are watching overnight, the tag line, nasty woman, or bad hombres when he

is getting more of a reaction than when trump suggested the long election might not be settled. >> he declined twice to accept the results if he loses. >> that's horrifying. >> are you serious? you think if somebody is committing fraud they should accept the results? give me a break. >> you remember >> if the vote is fair i am confident we will accept it. >> it's the debate on guns and abortions, and overturning roe v. wade. >> i do not think the united states government should be stepping in. >> there were moments of confusion. >> i am not -- >> and contention on russia's president. >> that's because he would

president? >> no puppet. you're the puppet. >> they hit sensitive subjects like leaked e-mails. >> the russian government has engaged in espionage against americans. >> and sexual assault allegations. >> i didn't do anything. i think they want fame or her campaign did it. >> and trump claimed the latest offensive against isis is political. >> the only reason they did it is because she is running for the office want to look up. >> clinton brought up trump's still unreleased tax returns. >> we have undocumented immigrants in america paying more federal taxes than a billionaire. >> and thank you for that. i am ayman mohyeldin, thank you for joining us.

we will see you back here on

now on today in iowa: the third and final face off. the last debate filled with tension, confusion and a surprise. plus -- a fire tears through a home -- and now leaves a mother grieving. up to the plate to make sure kids don't have to worry about school lunch. i'm jerry gallagher. let's check on your weather now with storm track 7 meteorologist eileen loan. good morning. temperatures are cooling into