how president obama is bringing the troops home just in time for a new president. this is "way too early." ♪ all right, everybody. good morning, i'm thomas roberts. it's wednesday, may 28th. welcome to "way too early." a show putting together a collection to buy the l.a. clippers. right now, we're $2.5 billion short. thanks to jen's contribution here, we're up to $11 in the "way too early" cut. we'll be up to $13.50 by the end of the show. we'll see how it goes here. we want to start with the lead story, that is, after 13 years in the slog of war, president obama is ushering the beginning of the end of american operations in afghanistan. >> america's combat mission will be over by the end of this year. starting next year, afghans will be fully responsible for securing their country. i've made it clear that we're open to cooperating with afghans

on two narrow missions after 2014. training afghan forces and supporting counterterrorism operations against the remnants of al qaeda. the bottom line is, it's time to turn the page on more than a decade in which so much of our foreign policy was focused on the wars in afghanistan and iraq. when i took office, we had nearly 180,000 troops in harm's way. by the end of this year, we will have less than 10,000. >> u.s. troops trickled in during the nibble invasion after 9/11. but the footprint of american boots on the ground swelled to more than 100,000 by 2009. so by the start of 2015, fewer than 10,000 are expected to remain. the president noted major gains in bringing democracy to afghanistan improving life for women and eviscerating al qaeda. it's come at a cost. 2300 personnel dead.

nearly 10,000 times as many wounded. no matter how you feel about edward snowden, his impact on american espionage is undeniable. in an exclusive interview with nbc's brian williams, snowden describes him as a spy. shedding new light on work he did for some of nsa's secrets. >> were you trained as a spy? it seems to me spies probably look a lot more like ed snowden and a lot less like james bond these days. >> well, it's no secret that the u.s. intends to get more and better intelligence out of computers nowadays than they do out 0 of people. i was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the world in that i lived and worked undercover, overseas, pretending to work in a job that i'm not. and even being assigned a name that was not mine. but i am a technical specialist.

i'm a technical expert. i don't work with people. i don't recruit agents. what i do is i put systems to work for the united states. >> he talks about covert operations that he performed for the nsa, for the cia. you can see more of interview tonight on "nightly news." and also on the special that we air at 10:00 p.m. no one lets you know about edward snowden. does this new interview change anything about how you feel, when are sue see him as a patriot or traitor. you can tweet us using #way too early. police officials in pakistan say a 25-year-old pregnant woman was stoned to death in broad daylight. and her attackers were members of her own family. this kill happened outside of a court in lahore as dozens looked on. officials say the woman was beaten with bricks because she married the man she loved and

rejected a prearranged marriage to a cousin. the couple was in court to deny the family's allegations that the husband kidnapped her. the woman's father is in custody. police say the father admits killing his daughter because he rejected family wishes. 900 women were victims of so-called honor killings last year. more vigils are planned today for the six students slain at the uc santa barbara campus, the president janet napolitano spoke. as did one of the fathers of one of the victims. >> if you agree that the people in washington should hear that not one more person should have to die because of this ridiculous situation, then when i raise my hand, i want you to shout so loud that they're going to hear you.

>> not one more! not one more! >> so we're also learning more about the 20-year-old accused in all of this. his family spokesman said he'd been in theory since childhood. had a form of autism and had blown off medication that he'd been prescribed. they also said that his notes and videos were full of anger. in other news, it's time for a change in the state's fourth congress district. the oldest erving lost a tea party runoff to john ratcliff. they openly questioned whether the 91-year-old hall was able to defend that office. he was also one of the last world war ii vets serving in washington. the other is congressman john dingell who is planning to retire. >> the courts in wisconsin have dealt a defeat to marriage equality. the state supreme court refused

to hear a challenge on the band on same-sex marriages. the a couple argued the band violated the equal protection clause of the constitution. wisconsin supreme court did not give a reason why it would not hear the petition. and another challenge filed by eight same-sex couples is still pending in a lower court. first lady michelle obama is fighting back against republicans to overall new school lunch standards that she strongly supports. serving more food specials and whole grains. the first lady says no one should be playing politics with a child's health especially since there's progress in childhood obesity. >> unfortunately, despite these successes, we're now seeing efforts in congress to roll back these new standards and undo the hard work that all of you, all of us have done on behalf of our kids. and you know, this is

unacceptable. it's unacceptable to me not just as first lady, but as a mother. >> critics of the new rule say the costs make it tougher to make ends meet. and that many students do not eat healthier lunch which is lead to waste. well, donald sterling has not given up, even though his wife is pushing to sell his team by the end of the week. shelli sterling is looking to be the new owner of the clippers which could force her husband to sell off his half of the team. the they are saying they received multiple offers. donald sterling said it's my team and i'll sell it when and if i get around to it. sterling's lawyers say his client will fight to the bloody end and that the nba is violating his constitutional rights. wall street posted a solid day of gains across all three indices on the news of better

than economic reports. jeff is here to break it down. jeff, good morning. >> hey, good morning to you. i think those upbeat numbers in durable goods and housing took the market by surprise. we pushed on with the s&p. this morning, europe is treading water a little bit here. we've had weak earnings numbers. so it will be interesting to see whether you can maintain some momentum coming off our trading session. i think suspect it will be hard going early on. but traders still have the buy button pressed firmly down so there should be some support. i want to move you on, one of those data points was really about house prices and what we've seen in that s&p schiller report. that house prices don't to rise, but maybe not quite so strongly as in previous months here. if you are in las vegas, you have done well. the top of the list on the cities, las vegas and san francisco. up 21%.

cleveland at the bottom only 3.9%. but, hey, it was up rather than down. so i guess we'll take that. back to you. >> hey, geoff, real quickly, though, we got this news that google is announcing its own self-designed driving car. is this a dream or actually a serious product line for the company? >> yeah, look, no hands. that's ultimately what google wants us to do when it comes to getting in these cars. they won't have a steering wheel. they won't have pedals. basically, it will be an off/on switch. they've released their own design. it's a two-seater city car, so it's pretty small compared to most american automobiles. think fiat 500 rather than your regular suv. they're building 100 of them. they're just trialing them for the time being. maybe it's time to think about what you might want to do with all the long journeys if it actually comes into being. back to you. >> geoff, thank you, sir.

still ahead on "way too early," it may be in the running for the worst ceremonial pitch of all time. is it getting a bad rap here? 50 cent takes the mound for a total fail. and later, george clooney's wedding destination. more well-known than his fiancee. and the bid to buy the clippers, we're way off the mark $2.5 million but there is hope. ♪ ♪ is there life on mars >> these pictures of mars show what appear to be the frozen remains of the vast blue sea at the red planet south pole. scientists report there's enough water to fill lake michigan to the rim not once but twice. she keeps you on your toes.

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the spurs on the back of russell westbrook, he scored 40 points along with 10 assists, 5 steals. no turnovers then to roll on to a 105-92 win. that series is tied at two games apiece. tonight, the heat look to punch their title to the finals. >> come on, durant, we're close. >> nba game five in indianapolis. these are the longest conference finals ever. >> basketball takes a while. >> ever. all right. so speaking of playoffs, let's get to the stanley cup playoffs. rangers and canadiens. ray bourque to put the habs up 5-4. and then the canadiens get the

7-4 victory. rangers still lead the series. a show of generosity from the outgoing owner of the milwaukee bucks. herb coles sent each player checks for 500 bucks. cole is showing it as a gesture of gratitude who sold that team for $550 million. anyway. send them a ham. >> okay. have you seen this, fiddy cent he threw out the first pitch at the mets game. and before he did that, he had a prediction of what he expected? >> tonight, we get to throw out the first pitch. a little nervous, excited. >> excited. excited. you know what, i think i'm going to throw a strike. >> a strike? let's see how he did. i'm excited for this. we get the windup. and then there's the pitch. oh, just a bit outside.

yeah. >> did he purposely do that. i mean, the windup isn't horrible. he looked like he'd done that before. >> the guy in blue got a really good shot of that ball. >> he's a lefty. >> it's almost too fake, right? you can't be that bad. >> i don't know, he needs a little pine tar, right, barnicle? >> the ball doesn't slip out of your hand that way. >> do you believe this? something's up, conspiracy. >> conspiracy, yeah, i don't buy it. >> anyway, hopefully, he'll get invited somewhere else. let's get another check on weather. bill karins is back. >> thank you. >> you had a lot of nerve, you took off yesterday. i did not get the memo. >> you didn't get that? >> no, sorry. did you see the tornado video from north dakota yet? >> i did, it's really amazing. they were not prepared. >> right. literally, this mobile hometown.

nowhere to go. there's no storm shelters or anything. so they sit there and watch it, and then they end up looking straight up at it. it's amazing. how many times you have seen an angle like that in a tornado. did injure nine people. no fatalities, but pretty incredible footage. not the smartest footage, but pretty incredible. >> once you get that, you're almost paralyzed. >> they didn't know whether to go left or right so they stayed right where they were. houston has been getting nailed by storms. houston, severe thunderstorm warning now it's passing to the south towards galveston. houston picked up 5 inches of rain in the last two days. they've got flooding issues. we're going to get drenched from louisiana to houston, new orleans, baton rouge, lake charles. up to 3 to 5 inches of rain. if you noticed in new england, yesterday was 52 degrees in the afternoon in boston. 92 degrees, we call this a back door cold front, thomas.

all the cold air, all the people up around they send it our way. it makes us chillier. >> we'll take it. it goes the other way. >> what goes all other way? all the hot air's down here? >> yeah. thank you so much, coming up on "morning joe," nbc's exclusive interview with edward snowden. what he says about his experience with american spy services before he leaks sensitive information. then when we come back here, we're going to huddle around the water cooler with bill murray who spouting life's words for any bachelor about to pop the question. we're back after this. ♪ why don't you just let me be ♪ who do you want

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welcome back, everybody. earlier in the show we told you about president obama's plans for the pullout of afghanistan and the president may have ended two wars. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends u.s. special operations deployments have increased 123% since president obama took office. according to covert forces operated in about 60 forces in '08. that number jumped to 134 nations. that's nearly 70% of all the countries on earth.

let's lighten things up and huddle around the water cool. the gopher's dancing has earned us $100 for the offer to buy the clippers. i love the caddyshack reference. bill murray giving advice to young men celebrating a bachelor party down in charleston over the weekend. [ laughter ] >> bachelor parties are not for the groom, they're for the party. if you have someone you that think is the one take that person and travel around the world. buy a plane ticket for the two of you to travel all around the world and go to places that are hard to go to and hard to get out of. and if when you come back to

jfk, when you land in jfk, you're still in love with that person, marry that person. >> if that's not a story, thomas. i don't know what is. that's good advice from the "caddyshack" star. murray originally denied the request to come say a few words. apparently changed his minds a few minutes later. that person received some advice from bill murray in the past as you can see there, and it's always been sound. now, the world's most eligible bachelor appears to be one step closer to going off the market. "times" reporting george clooney and his girlfriend are planning to tie the knot at a calf in

"downton abbey." the couple reportedly plans to marry in september. what do we know about the lucky lady. she's an attorney and actress who lives in london. her most famous client, wikileaks founder julian assange. >> that's interesting. >> congratulations to george clooney. off the market. i hear women weeping across the country. >> as well as men. >> let's get to one of those videos you need to see to believe. >> there you go. hey! good job. no, it's my turn. all right.

>> wow. the cat going for the hard move. >> i know. in case you're not sure what you're seeing here thomas, that's a cat playing jenga. he seems to be doing better than the majority of anyone i've seen play jenga. >> i thought jenga was just a drinking game, but obviously, it's not, right? >> no, next time, i'm going to look for the cat to be on my team. >> that guy needs more friends. earlier on the show, we asked how brian williams' new interview with edward snowden whether you see him as a traitor. our producer has responses. >> our audience seems to be torn. madeline says, no, snowden is still a patriot in my eyes. #america. a guy says, he's a traitor. he didn't have any other means

of reporting what he found. he really is a traitor. >> nbc will have more on the interview. coming up on "way too early," a look at the stories we're talking about in the day ahead. and "morning joe" is just moments away. stick around. [ male announcer ] we're the names you know in the places you want to be. where you can explore super destinations and do everything under the sun. 12 brands. more hotels than anyone else in the world. save up to 25% and earn bonus points when you book at wyndhamrewards.com. save up to 25% and earn bonus points what's your favorite kind of cheerios? honey nut. but... chocolate is my other favorite... oh yeah, and frosted!

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welcome back. let's get a check on the day. president obama will head to west point to deliver the commencement address. yesterday, the president announced how many troops will stay in afghanistan. it's a topic he's expected to expand upon in his speech today. he's also expected to further details on foreign policy plans. the house committee on veterans affairs will hold a hearing on wednesday about the scandal that might have left to deaths of dozens of vets. the committee threatens subpoenas if people fail to attend. the executive congressional officer are set to speak. and meeting today nba to discuss the ongoing donald

sterling sell. the sterlings say they have received multiple offers for the clippers in excess of $2.5 billion. all right. that's going to do it for this edition of "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ first of all, i just want to point out how important this venue and this audience is to mike barnicle, he wore his best athletic socks. [ laughter ] >> thank you. thank you very much. and i'm sure many of you appreciate the fact i get them for free. >> yes. >> mr. modell. >> hey, i'm just happy he wore socks because god knows what's going on around this table this morning. good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, may 28th. look at that -- what is that? a spider? it's a s