change at a moment's notice in this tender box town. we hope it stays peaceful and safe. good thursday morning. right now on "first look," new revelations that the u.s. military had attempted to rescue james foley and other hostages in syria. a calmer night in ferguson, missouri, as a jury convenes on the michael brown shooting. bank of america agrees to cough up $17 billion in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. plus the tragic moment a plane carrying a brazilian presidential candidate goes down. tempers flaring at the buffalo bills training camp. and an idaho woman's electrifying close call. good morning to you. i'm richard lui. following the death of james foley at the hands of isis militants. word now on an attempt to try to

save them. a special forces troop was sent to syria earlier this summer. he was part of a secret mission to save hostages like foley, but the hostages could not be found. meanwhile, the u.s. continues air strikes against targets in iraq and vows to be relentless to do what must be done to protect americans. brian mooar is in washington, d.c. what more do we know about this secret mission that you're hearing. >> richard, we're learning that commandos slipped over the border engaged in a bloody firefight with isis troops. one american was injured but none of the hostages were anywhere to be found the four radical islamists executed james foley. his participants had pleaded with the u.s. government to save him and others held hostage by the terror group isis. >> jim was a great american. and he believed in the very best of our country.

>> reporter: but president obama told the grieving family the pentagon is now revealing to the world american special forces try and failed earlier this summer to rescue foley and other american hostages. >> the united states of america will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. we will be individual lent. >> this is james foley, an american citizen of your country. >> reporter: in the same video that showed foley's beheading, they promised to kill another american. >> you're going to see a lot more air strikes than you would have had this not happened. >> reporter: meanwhile, celebrating the life that died while trying to ease the life of others. his parents are calling him a martyr for freedom and are praying for the safe return of other hostages.

>> thank you so much for that. more now from nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel on the isis threat beyond iraq and syria. >> reporter: security officials say isis has between 7,000 and 12,000 foreign fighters. hundreds from europe and one known american. >> we are coming for you. mark my words. >> reporter: he died carrying out a suicide bombing for a group considered more violent than al qaeda. >> even a group like al qaeda which has purpoerpetrated aroune world, they're far too brutal. >> reporter: it's so easy to get there. young men from all over the world come to turkey. they make their way to the border crossing and simply walk in. and turkish authorities are making no real effort to stop them. >> that was richard engel reporting from turkey for us. just two hours ago, encouraging words from captain ron johnson in ferguson, missouri. 11 days after the death of

michael brown. during his briefing he said while one officer was hit with a bottle last night, they responded to only a few incidents and made only six arrests. the quieter night perhaps because of stuff like this. the weather. lightning you see near the st. louis gateaway arch. nevertheless, wednesday was a big day. eric holder's visit began with a group of college students. then onto meetings with congressional lawmakers and the parents of michael brown. also the justice department confirming brown's parents were able to see his body for the first time since his death. then a grand jury meeting for the first time to hear evidence. the office saying it could take until the middle of october to present all of the evidence to the grand jury. all of that yesterday. nbc news' jay gray is in ferguson for us. as we look at some of these

mixed reviews, what will you hearing? >> reporter: well, richard, i think there are some mixed reviews. when you talk to a majority of the people on the ground here, they say they like the idea that the voices from the protests and people that are concerned are being heard. and that something's being done. so all in all i think it was a positive effect on this community. i know from a police standpoint, they're glad that the attorney general is here. only six arrests overnight. that's the least we've seen since last saturday. so that's a positive step in the right direction here. and it all comes only hours after holder's visit. and our first brief glimpse into the civil rights investigation and the criminal investigation here. lightning and rain slowed but didn't stop the protest overnight in ferguson. >> hands up! don't shoot! >> reporter: earlier wednesday

the cry came from outside a courthouse where a grand jury met for the first time to hear evidence in the case. >> i understand the public needs to know what's going on. >> reporter: as the criminal investigation moves forward, attorney general eric holder traveled to ferguson yesterday to check on the civil rights investigation that already includes more than 100 witness interviews and an independent autopsy. >> my hope is that will give people some degree of confidence that the appropriate things are being done by their federal government. >> reporter: holder met privately with michael brown's family after talking with members of the community, elected officials, captain ron johnson. the officer charged with trying to keep the peace along the front lines of the protest. >> i think it'll have a great impact. i think it will show the people of st. louis, the people of our nation that their voices are heard. >> reporter: voices in this grieving, angry community.

>> we are one! we are one! >> reporter: that refuse to go silent. as they march, they continue to call for the arrest of the officer involved in the shooting here. as you said earlier, it may be the middle of october before grand jury makes a decision on that. we also know the ferguson police department now facing two civil lawsuits from the death of another person here in ferguson two years ago that officers used a taser on. so a lot going on down there and a lot to deal with. >> jay gray, thank you so much. bank of america is paying over. it's a record-breaking deal to tell you about. $17 billion. the justice department accusing them of giving out shoddy home loans in 2008. it will pay in assistance for homeowners.

it was a messy marriage. that's what virginia's former governor wants a court to believe. >> it's always better to be on offense than defense. >> bob mcdonnell testifying in his corruption trial wednesday and he blamed his wife maureen saying she turned on him after he won in 2009. he also added they became so estranged they could not even have collaborated together to get thousands in gifts from a businessman for promoting his company. if convicts, the mcdonnells could face decades in prison. let's get you to sports right now. a scary moment in boston is where we start. angels pitcher awkwardly falling trying to cover first base. he was on the ground ten minute before being taken off on a gurney. the angels did go on to beat boston. more than 34,000 fans at the little league world series wednesday. many eyes on philadelphia pitcher mo'ne davis. she struck out six batters in

just over two innings. but the play of the game, this right here. a big hit to right field in the first. nevada's alex barker makes the diving catch. they don't look back. nevada dominates 8-1 advancing to the championship game saturday. pennsylvania faces illinois thursday. the winner there also goes to the championship too. and intense fight to tell you about breaking out at buffalo bills training camp. yeah, they're on the same team. brian johnson ripping off center eric wood's helmet. then playing two punches on him before the team intervened. the head coach, not so happy. >> it hurts the integrity of our game the more we talk about it. that's how i feel about fighting. >> no words on any potential penalties or punishment. the entire tennessee titans team taking on the als bucket challenge. jim shaw nominating all of them. shaw, by the way, revealing just tuesday he was diagnosed with that disease.

michael jordan also taking the challenge. not only nominated phil jackson and his dream team teammates to take that challenge, but to donate some cash. donations to the als association have topped $32 million. and a lot of ice cubes rolling off a head just like that. nba teams taking to twitter with the #nba movies to spoof movie photos. the philadelphia 76ers with beetlejuice. a lot of creativity on the internet. a woman taking pictures of a storm is nearly zapped by a lightning bolt in idaho. it missed her by just a foot. the woman and her daughter who was also outside lost their hearing for about a minute. you can hear the microphone zapping out there.

both are okay there. don't do that. get close to a tree. >> no, you're not supposed to go under trees either. indoors. a lot of storms yesterday. especially in areas of the northern plains, down through chicago. that continues this morning. the northeast isn't so bad. we still have some showers to deal with. new york is getting it right now. out in minnesota thunderstorms are big and a ton of lightning early. mankato into st. cloud, into the minnesota area. hot weather conditions all day today right into the weekend. it was 101 in san antonio. kansas city to st. louis, 95 to 100 today. notice the northern states are warm with thunderstorms. the southern states, it's plain old hot. and if you're lucky you'll get storms there. 97 is hot for atlanta. really toasty.

the other story out there is what's going to happen through the upcoming weekend. we're watching the tropics carefully. this will be between florida and the bahamas some time tuesday to wednesday next week. the gulf coast is looking a little bit safer. for the southeast coastline, we still have to watch this for the beginning of next week. a lot of questions on what the intensity will be. but it's still five, six days away. >> thanks, bill. still ahead, a warning for some u.p.s. customers. bowe bergdahl says he's ready for the next chapter of his life. plus a deadly cash caught on camera.

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in business the stock market rising for the third straight day. it shows a growing core of officials willing to raise rates sooner. some users of the u.p.s. store may have had their info

stolen. it includes credit card numbers and e-mail addresses. a new report shows a growing number of car and truck owners struggling to make their monthly auto loan payments. experian says the rate of repossessions jumped more than 70% in the second quarter. some other stories we're following, new video of the brazilian plane crash that killed presidential candidate eduardo campos. the black box was recovered but didn't record any of the data. right now bowe bergdahl is being investigated. the army wants to know how he fell into the hands of the taliban in 2009. seaworld has decide not to appeal a ruling there after a trainer was pulled under and died.

get ready, set, wait. that's the word from aaa. over 34 million will hit the roads and skies this labor day weekend. sarah palin wants "snl" royalties and bush royalty and rob forward get in on the ice bucket challenge. scrambled politics coming up. will mean making it lighter. one day, factories will work with the cloud. one day... is today.

now here's your thursday morning dish of scrambled politics. governor rick perry has formally pleaded not guilty to felony

charges against him. this a day after taking this mugshot. a spokesperson says he will now be paying for his legal fees with campaign funds. his use of taxpayer money is legal since his actions in question occurred during his time in office. same-sex couples wanting to get married in virginia were supposed to start applying for licenses this morning. they'll have to wait awhile longer. the supreme court has agreed to delay an appeals court ruling striking down the gay marriage ban. the justices are expected to take up the issue next year. can you believe sarah palin wants comedian tina fey to compensate her for portraying her on "saturday night live"? you bet ya. in her book she says fey should at least pay for her kid's braces or something after playing her. >> to you all who have challenged me, i do not think it's presidential for me to be splashed with ice water, so i'm simply going to write you a check.

>> george w. bush getting dumped with ice water there by the former first lady. who did he challenge to get in on the event? president bill clinton. rob ford also taking the challenge this week. and that's your scrambled politics. we're joined by bob franken. good morning to you. let's talk about what we just learned about. that is the efforts by u.s. special forces to recover some americans from isis who are being held captive. one of the questions that bubbles up here, why release information on this secret mission that was not a success and then release it the day after that that video of american james foley came out of him being killed? where's the sense in that? what's the strategy, do you think? >> well, politically it could be a reaction to criticism that the white house had not cared enough about the capture of james foley and the other americans. and had not gotten as involved

as it should. so that might be a response. in addition to which, why not release it? it's the kind of thing that quite frankly there should be more of from an administration that promises transparency. >> you've got u.s. special forces and the data being released. they're the country's elite, we both know that. the reports are they sustained some injuries decide being well armed. one has to ask, is the administration understanding how daunting isis actually is as time goes by? >> well, certainly by putting the special forces into very, very difficult missions of course we all remember osama bin laden, that is what special forces are trained to do. the injury to the one american was fairly slight. but of course that is a very potentially deadly situation. >> now, what's been talked about since the story came out about foley, the unfortunate situation that it is, we not only have

other americans that could be at risk. isis asking for millions in ransom, evidently "the new york times" reporting that. but the u.s. saying no. then you've got europeans saying yes. and some op-eds saying did this asymmetry in policy cause or help to lead to foley's death? >> well, certainly the inconsistency in responses would probably have contributed to it because as "the times" article points out, the isis people are extremely aware of other ransom situations and how they were resolved. but the united states rationale is all you do when you pay these big ransoms is encourage the hostage takers and terrorists to pursue that as a line of way of making money. >> and they are earning a lot of money through this ransom strategy. >> hundreds of millions, yeah. >> bob franken, thank you so much. >> thank you. first buzz just ahead, but first some breaking news. we're hearing the ft. worth doctor who became infected with

the ebola virus will be released from an atlanta hospital later today. that's according to the hospital itself. dr. kent brantley was given an experimental medicine that had never been been tested on humans. he then showed a remarkable and sudden improvement. we'll have the latest on his statement when that happens. hard it can be...how ...to breathe with copd? it can feel like this. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled... ...copd maintenance treatment... ...that helps open my airways for a full 24 hours. you know, spiriva helps me breathe easier. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide

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all right. time for first buzz. stories that we are kind of finding interesting. bill kairns. >> this is a cringe one. i have a fear of the whole public spaces and not so much

germs but bugs. this is lodi, california, in a movie theater. they're closed because of a bedbug infestation. that is just horrendous. the lodi stadium 12 theater there. now, reportedly they were told about -- >> so they knew about this. >> they were told about it beforehand, didn't deal with it immediately. but now they have closed down to exterminate and clean. >> how many people is the question. >> there are cloth seats in a lot of places. when you go to the movies, are you conscious of this? you travel a lot. >> i'm always worried about that. that's why in some mass transit systems here in new york they don't have cloth seats. great gopro video here. folks that are actually trying to get down into a drainage ditch. they are kayaking down this. this is in british columbia. you know this is not in southern

california because there's actually water in it. and they are going about 45 miles an hour. >> how do they go up on the edge with that? >> this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" with thomas roberts starts right now. ♪ the entire world is appalled by the brutal murder of jim foley by the terrorist group isil. >> appalled and now just learning that president obama did approve an operation to save james foley. the details behind the failed mission. fewer arrests in ferguson overnight, but if the officer is cleared of wrong doing by the grand jury, will it just reignite the suburb with more dire consequences? and we've all watched as the ice bucket challenge has grown. now it's a presidential situation. this is "way too early."

♪ now, that is a classy ice bucket challenge. i'm thomas roberts. it is thursday, august 21st. welcome to "way too early" that is not over the ice bucket challenge videos. and wait until you hear who president bush has challenged. we'll wait to see if that person accepts within the next 24 hours. we want to start off with the developing news we have overnight in the american murdered, james foley. troops unsuccessfully tried to rescue foley and other u.s. hostages earlier this summer in syria. foley and the other americans were not at the targeted location. officials say one u.s. commando was injured and several militants were killed. the u.s. had refused to pay a ransom for foley