that's our report. thanks for watching. i'm john seigenthaler.  good morning, everybody. breaking news from the middle east. an israeli tank kills four palestinians hours after a 72-hour cease-fire had begun. well take you live with the latest. ebola in the usa. atlanta prepares to care for an infected american. >> this is the toughest ebola outbreak we've ever had to face. and ebola itself is a dreadful and merciless virus. the bendable flat screen tv goes on sale. a horrible accident involving a giraffe and a bridge. political arm twisting in washington. and katy perry rocks the white house. good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen.

hours into a cease-fire, reports of shelling, four palestinians killed by israeli tank fire. the three-day pause in violence meant no rockets fired, troops to stay in place. but hamas tunnels would still be targeted. let's get to tel aviv and martin fletcher. a troubling start to this fourth attempt at a cease-fire. >> that's right, betty. as you can imagine, israelis and palestinians. everyone's hoping this cease-fire will last. start of 8:00 local time this morning and supposed to continue until midnight sunday night. and enabling all the sides to meet in cairo and hopefully to hammer out the details of continuing the cease-fire beyond sunday midnight. but, and a very big but, this morning, there's been at least one incident in the southern part of the gaza strip. an israeli tank apparently reportedly opened fire on a

group of palestinians killing at least five palestinians and wounding several more. now, we're not sure why -- we're not sure why the israeli tank opened fire and what -- but apparently, it seems to be a military incident. that is what we're hearing. not sure what the motives of it is. either way, it's a big dent in the cease-fire that we're told it's heavy fighting at this moment in that area of southern gaza. and each side is hoping that it won't spread obviously beyond there. you know, with five dead palestinians, the next danger would be that the hamas responds to that by firing rockets at israel. israel responds and then the cease-fire would unravel. clearly, there's great attempt. great pressure on israel and hamas at the moment not to do that and allow the diplomats to meet in cairo today to begin those negotiations to end this, to continue the cease-fire and end the fighting. >> yeah. let's hope it doesn't unravel. we also have breaking news

in the ebola epidemic. one infected patient is returning to the u.s. it's unclear whether it's dr. kent brantley or nancy ritbol. both are in grave condition. one of the two will be taken to atlanta for treatment at emery university. now, an experimental serum had arrived in liberia, but only one dose. >> dr. brantley heard that he asked it would be given to nancy. and not to be given to him. >> virus jitters have forced a travel alert. people are asked to avoid ebola hot spots. the virus has killed more than 700 people. the cdc says it could take three to six months to stop the epidemic. well, they were just so close to the finish line. but instead of starting their first day of summer recess, congress is back in session in just a few hours in order to wrap up a deal on border funding. house republicans were forced to

pull their bill to deal with a number of unaccompanied children crossing the u.s.-mexican border. meanwhile, a similar bill backed by senate democrats also failed to move forward. the president is, however, set to sign off on the key pieces of legislation that were able to get through and they include a $16.3 billion measure to help veterans avoid long waits and fix problems at the v.a. and a transportation bill. just last night, outgoing republican house majority leader eric cantor told his hometown paper that he is leaving congress altogether on august 18th. cantor gave a heart felt farewell speech yesterday on his last day as house majority whip. in a statement, dave bratt who beat him in june's primary thanked cantor for his service. cantor's earlier than expected resignation could make way for a november special election that

could allow the winner to start immediately instead of the new congressional term, which is in january. all right. it has been caught on tape. republican congressman don young is now apologizing this morning after video captures a not so friendly encounter with a staffer in the capitol yesterday. the capitol hill producer frank thorp taped this short video of the alaskan congressman grabbing and twisting the arm of a staffer. check out the reaction of that staffer. he was trying to prevent young from using a front door to enter a house republican meeting. once a meeting is in session, the lawmakers are supposed to use a side door. in a statement, young says the staffer was unidentified and physically blocking his path. but nevertheless, he says he never should've put his hands on him. well, the cia says it is sorry for spying on senators. computers used by intelligence committee staffers were targeted.

they were working on a report on post 9/11 cia interrogation tactics. one u.s. senator is now calling for cia director john brennan to resign. and there is outrage after a stunning display of negligence and animal cruelty in south africa. drivers sat horrified watching two giraffes recklessly transported under a low highway overpass. then there was a loud bang that could be heard as one of the giraffe's heads slammed against the bridge. an animal rights group confirmed that giraffe later died and was being incorrectly transported. the giraffe's owner said this about what happened. the giraffe hit its head because it craned its neck. well, the animal rights group is considering pressing criminal charges. we're going to shift gears now to sports a s and francis rivera. let's bring you sports this

morning with a couple of notable trades ahead of baseball's deadline. and as expected, the red sox traded jon lester along with johnny gomes to the oakland "as" and in return they'll get cespedes. the tigers will acquire the cy young award winner. austin jackson finds out he's been traded to the mariners. and it happens mid game. >> really? he's still on the job and he's been trading. >> he gets a standing "o" as he was pulled from the seventh inning. rounding out the three-team trade. drew smiley from the tigers and rick franklin from the mariners. the rays. and ray rice spoke out for the first time since his two-game suspension for his physical altercation with his then fiancee. >> i let so many people down because 30 seconds of my life i

can't take back. i never planned on appealing any kind of punishment. whether it was two games, four games, six games, i was going to own my actions and be a man about it. >> and the nfl kicks off the preseason with sunday's hall of fame game between the new york giants and buffalo bills. a lot of football fans excited the season's around the corner. in akron, the bridgestone invitational is underway. the follow-up shot, he'll birdie that one in. and he will finish two under tied for ninth. and open champion rory mci'll rm mcilroy ties for 14th. and kansas city, unique first pitch delivered from a man born with no arms and uses his foot. looks good, right? still a whole lot better than this. oh, of course, we've got to play that one. poor 50 cent. >> he is never ever going to live that down. >> nope. >> it's fun to watch, though. >> live on. well, a new tropical storm

has formed and headed for the caribbean. bill karins is here with much more on that. rain for the weekend. >> yeah, not associated with bert bertha, but rain on top of it. a bad weekend for the east coast that we've had all summer long. one after another, it's been gorgeous. let's talk about bertha first. new advisory from the hurricane center. cruising at 20 miles per hour, has about 24 hours before it gets to the islands right around st. lucia and heading up toward puerto rico. doesn't look like this storm has much of an opportunity to become a big powerful storm. a lot of wind shear. 40, 45, maybe 50 miles per hour. never becoming a hurricane. but it would bring some really epic rains, though, to areas of dominican republic, especially in the mountainous areas. and all of our computer models take a turn away from the united states. a couple days out. we're not going to forget about it yet. if you're in the outer banks to

florida. at this point, you do look safe. as we mentioned the weekend, a lot of rain down through virginia, north carolina, and as we head through your weekend forecast, not a lot changes. chance of showers and storms pretty much from florida to new england right through sunday. i know. >> get out those umbrellas. >> we're not going to complain. it's been really nice. >> this is the first one. well, the chilling comments from bill clinton about osama bin laden hours before the 9/11 terror attack. plus, the next big thing in flat screen tvs is here. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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all right. let's get down to business with jackie deangelis. well, the futures a little bit lower after stocks saw a broad selloff on thursday. the dow falling 317 points. its worst day since february. the worst monthly decline since january. now, traders pointing to several factors here, including

argentina's debt default and geopolitical tensions in russia and israel. also fear that recent economic data may prompt the fed to raise interest rates sooner than expected. today's focus is on the july jobs report. the best stretch since 1997. unemployment seen holding at 6.1%. the lowest level since 2008. and automakers reporting july sales, as well. their forecast to rise about 10%, which would be the strongest july since 2006. chrysler could lead the pack here with sales expected to jump 22%. have a great weekend. back to you. >> all right. you, too. thank you, jackie. samsung's bendable tv could go from flat to curved with the press of a button. sells for about $59,000. and it does go on sale today. but only in south korea. some other stories we are following for you. at last, after two weeks, the destruction of malaysia airlines flight 17.

an international team of investigators successfully reached the crash site. they had to break mortar fire to get there, though. experts fear the scene could have been compromised. they retrieved victims' items and dna samples. and authorities say up to 80 bodies are there. a sudanese woman wis back i the u.s. she'll make her home in new hampshire. and the l.a. times, california breaks drought record as 58% of state hits driest level. we want you to take a look at california's drought map. this is what it looked like last week. and here it is this week. exceptional drought in dark red now covers 58% of the state. that's up from 36% just seven days ago. and singer katy perry performed her hit "roar" at a white house celebration honoring the 46th anniversary of the special olympics. 7,000 athletes from 177 countries will compete in los angeles next year.

so bob dole on fixing the gridlock in congress and bill clinton's pre9/11 opportunity to kill osama bin laden. scrambled politics is next. and thank you for your bravery. thank you colonel. thank you daddy. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance can be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life.

former republican senator bob dole sat down for an exclusive interview with the "daily run down's" chuck todd. he was a little stumped when it

comes to solving this current atmosphere of gridlock. >> the senate may not be broken, but it's badly bent. and this is going to take some strong leadership in both parties. i wish i had an answer. i don't have an answer. >> you can watch more of the interview later this morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern on msnbc's "the daily rundown." well, a stunning revelation from former president bill clinton. sky news australia released a tape that allegedly captured eerie comments clinton made to a group of businessmen on the eve of 9/11 about osama bin laden. >> i nearly got him once. i nearly got him. and i could have gotten -- i could have killed him. but i would had to destroy a little town called kandahar in afghanistan and kill 300 innocent men and children, and then i would have been no better than him.

>> nbc news previously reported there was a planned attack on bin laden before 9/11. governor scott walker of wisconsin is one of the republican governors. well, during a hearing, the only voter fraud in the state was committed by a supporter of governor walker. known for being brutally candid about her opinions, supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg told katie couric how she feels about her male counterparts on the high court. >> you do feel these five justices had a bit of a blind spot? >> in hobby lobby? yes. >> and "house of cards" fans, you know the motto of vote your district, vote your conscience, don't surprise me. kevin mccarthy is accusing kevin spacey of stealing that for the

show. he says that's how he gets his fellow republicans to fall in line when the actor was shadowing him ahead of the filming for the popular political series. and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." as always on friday, i'm now joined by the hill's kevin. happy friday. >> happy friday, betty, how are you? >> i'm doing well, but folks in congress might not be too happy this friday. many think it's bad enough that gridlocked congress gets a five-week vacation. >> five weeks. >> even that delayed by one day. they can't agree on border funding. how nasty is this fight over the bill? >> it is nasty and coming down to the wire. last night, meetings going on. votes delayed. no one knew what the timetable was going to be. this morning, 9:00 a.m., big meeting on the border bill. rick perry, republican 2016 presidential contender urging

his republican colleagues in congress to get something done, betty, on this border before they head into the recess. >> here's a question. is the battle really over the border bill? or is who could ultimately gain a political advantage from all of this? is this just politics? >> oh, it is definitely just politics because i think what you're seeing here is a couple of months before the midterms, you're seeing, i think, some tea party conservative group trying to get the upper hand. you've got more centrist republicans wanting to get something done ahead of the midterms and democrats trying to also politic here ahead of the midterms. this is all about midterms, midterms, midterms. >> someone's not wasting any time. eric cantor is actually resigning early. that was just announced overnight, in fact. he's going to retire on august 18 or resign, that is, instead of in january. are you surprised by this move? >> am i surprised? a little bit. and here's why. yesterday, he gave his final speech on the house floor as

majority leader. and i think what he's looking for is to give mccarthy more time. look no further than the border bill. i think the republicans need a bit of leadership now and i think, perhaps, this might be able to smooth things over. we'll see. maybe he just wants some more vacation time, you know. >> we could offer you more vacation time. except for congress, of course, they've got work to do. >> they do. "first buzz" is just ahead. and we're talking about the most unlikely friendships. you have to see this. plus, the headline in "time" says it all. ice cream genius makes treat that changes color when you lick it. we'll explain next. ♪ ♪

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all right. let's get into our first buzz. i'm joined by bill karins and francis rivera. and sometimes we see things on the internet and television that just looked too good to be true. too spectacular. >> yeah. this is a go pro video of a stunt man. chicago, illinois. you be the judge. a lot of debate if this is real or fake. he's roof jumping. >> wow. that looks like something out of a movie. >> that's edited. he slows down. he actually shows it. right after this part here, he'll actually show it in real speed. >> whoa. >> oh, my goodness. >> and when he gets to the bottom. he put padding on his legs because he knew he was going to slide down the shingles on the roof and you can see his pants down there, which were tore up. >> you think this was real? >> i don't know. i'm so skeptical of all of that now. >> yeah. we have to wait. somebody's going to go through

every little thing. >> if you read the comments, everyone's 50/50 on it. >> we'll find out. it'll come out. it'll come out. >> this might be a little unbelievable. but it's true. a dog and a duck are best friends. no, seriously, they are. they've been best friends since they were wee little right there. look how cute they are. and here they are today. they haven't changed, except for the dog had the duck's head in his mouth. but he's not chomping down. this is friendly play. and it's just the cutest little combination. we see this sometimes -- >> that's it. i'm getting a golden retriever. that seals the deal. >> the duck thinks it's another dog. >> what do you got today? >> let's talk about this. i'm going to one up your ice cream that doesn't melt yesterday and talk about ice cream that actually changes colors when you lick it. this came from a spanish physicist. so he has a special ingredient he's waiting for the patent. but it causes the ice cream to start out purple, changes colors all through the time.

you know how we were worried about the ingredients. he says this is all natural. >> oh, yeah. >> what's causing it? >> that happens in nature all the time. you lick weeds and they change colors in nature. >> of course you do. thanks for joining us today, "way too early" with thomas roberts starts now. >> happens all the time in nature. congress, though, has a lot to get done before their summer recess, which is going to start, oh, now. now. >> the border bill. >> a highway funding bill. >> emergency unemployment insurance. >> student loan relief. >> comprehensive immigration reform. >> if we don't do something to fix that, then by the time we leave here for the august recess, we will have failed. >> stop. stop it. don't be so hard on yourself. when you guys suck, it is not failure. it's just you living up to our extremely low expectations. congress is the sharknado 2 of

government. >> why be so hard on sharknado. the new gop leadership is not, and at the last minute pulls its own border bill before a vote. what happens to congress's august recess? john kerry helping to broker a three-day cease-fire between israel and hamas. but a short time ago, one side accused the other of killing more people. and on a much lighter note, julia roberts has a ball with jimmy fallon on the "tonight show." wait until you see the actress respond to a not so friendly fan. this is "way too early." hey, everybody. great to have you with us. good morning, i'm thomas roberts, it's friday, august 1st. welcome to "way too early," the show also afraid to meet julia roberts. we met her twice and she was very nice. we'll talk about that coming up. but we want to begin in the midd e