in the world by a million miles. that does it for us tonight. good evening, lawrence. hillary clinton prepares for the benghazi hearings while bond trump and ben carson jockey for the lead in the latest nbc news polls. new images from the daily mail of lamar odom at the brothel before he was rushed to a las vegas hospital. but this morning, he is back in california. fresh details on just how a high school kid hacked the e-mail of america's top spy master at the cia. and find out what would of the planet's biggest and most lucrative entities are up to this morning to reach even greater heights of success. "first look" starts right now. good morning, everybody, and thanks so much for waking up with us today. i'm betty nguyen. the drama of the 2016 presidential race is building once again.

a brand-new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll is shifting the top contenders on the republican side. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. tracie, it's the big question, is donald trump still in the lead? >> well, he certainly is. and he's actually solidified that lead, betty. good morning, everyone. we've also learned this morning that doesn't trump and ben carson, the two top contenders on the republican side are asking for secret service protection. we typically see that when these candidates start to get more support. a new poll shows 25% of likely republican primary voters favor donald trump. >> i mean, it's number one. can you believe it? yeah, we're going great. >> i love his bluntness. he just tells it like it is. >> reporter: his numbers up from last month. >> trump's ceiling is right now limitless. >> hi there, thank you. >> reporter: ben carson's up, too. now in a statistical tie with trump. >> it's time for us to bring god back to our country.

>> reporter: carson's got the most support when you combine first and second choices. and far ahead among candidates republicans can see themselves supporting, marco rubio is a solid third. >> we can't have another four years like the last eight years. >> reporter: carly fiorina who got a bump after the first debate slipped four points. >> i will not falter. and i will not shrink from this fight. >> reporter: analysts say she failed to keep the momentum. as for the democrats, hillary clinton off the campaign trail for a few days preparing for the benghazi hearing, she's going to testify here on thursday. vice president joe biden, still waiting. betty? >> yeah, well we may hear something soon. that's what we hear. so, we'll be on watch. thank you so much, tracie. trump, he made no mention of 9/11 or george w. bush at a campaign rally in south carolina last night. meanwhile, though, a few democrats are being strategically quiet for joe biden perhaps that means the calm before the storm. two sources told nbc news yesterday that a decision could

come within 48 hours. and congressman boyle from pennsylvania says, quote, i have a very good source close to joe that tells me vp biden will run for prez. as for hillary clinton, she is keeping a relatively low profile ahead of her testimony in front of the house benghazi committee this thursday. her campaign released a mini documentary yesterday and it touts her experience as secretary of state, without specifically mentioning benghazi. clinton will be rachel's guest on the rachel maddow show friday night at 9:00 eastern on msnbc, and the campaign for jim webb announced the former virginia governor -- or senator, i should say, is considering running as an independent. he's holding a press conference today at 1:00 eastern. we'll get more information on that. one-time olympic hero oscar pistorius was released from prison last night. it comes a year after being convicted of gunning down his girlfriend in an incident he says was a herbal mistake. his release was a full day early. pistorius was secretly escorted

from prison under the cloak of darkness. nbc's jeff boston has more from johannesburg. >> reporter: he has served less than one year of his five-year sentence. pistorius was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for shooting and killing his model girlfriend, rieva steenkamp. the former olympian is at his uncle's mansion, a luxury compound, just a few miles away under house arrest. so much talk here in south africa, for the past year, about oscar pistorius getting special treatment by officials. this will certainly spark that debate again. in fact, sources close to reva's family saying it is insane what officials have done here tonight. >> nbc's jeff boston reporting from south africa for us. well new images this morning apparently taken just hours before lamar odom's frightening loss of consciousness. these pictures obtained by dailymail.com allegedly show the former nba and reality tv star the day before he was found unresponsive in a private suite at a nevada brothel.

sources close to odom tell our sister network e! the former laker was discharged from sunrise hospital in las vegas and taken to california by helicopter. his estranged wife, khloe kardashian has been by his side since arriving at the hospital. she was reportedly traveling with him. sources also tell e! doctors found multiple drugs in his system and that he suffered at least one stroke and potential brain damage. the extent of which is still unknown. so, did a high school student really manage to hack his way into the personal e-mail of one of the country's top spy bosses? well, both the fbi and the secret service, they are investigating that claim. nbc's pete williams has details. >> reporter: the apparent victim isn't just any american or government official it's john brennan, the drooi director since 2013 and a longtime key player in the u.s. intelligence community. a man who says he's an american high school student claims he hacked his way into brennan's personal aol e-mail account by fooling verizon, and aol, into

revealing enough information to reset the account password. hello, guys, this twitter account is going now, the apparent hacker says. posting what appears to be an actual spreadsheet of names and e-mails of current and former intelligence officials. the hacker blanked out their social security numbers. the hacker also says he found brennan's application for a security clearance. the hacker also says he got into the comcast billing account of the homeland security secretary jeh johnson. this was the personal e-mail account of brennan, not his government account, and it appears no classified information was compromised. this was first reported by "the new york post," which says the hacker, who was not identified, claims he did this to protest u.s. foreign policy. >> that was nbc's pete williams reporting. all right, so if you plan on getting a drone for the holidays, it could come wrapped in red tape. transportation secretary anthony fox announced plans to require all unmanned aircraft systems be registered with the department of transportation. now all of this is in response to what faa administrators call

a significant increase in close calls between drones and aircraft. fox says the registration permits are still being drawn up but would be similar to commercial drone regulations. the new rules could be in place as soon as mid-december. just in time for the holidays. star wars fans, they are even more excited this morning. why? well of course the much anticipated trailer for the force awakens is the number one topic on facebook and twitter. the hype for this movie is so colossal the start of ticket sales yesterday caused such a disturbance in the force, if you will, that several ticket sites crashed. and that was before the trailer even aired last night. here's our favorite part. >> the dark side. the jedi. >> they're real.

>> the force is calling to you. >> just let it in. >> that is going to be so good. do we really have to wait another two months? yeah, unfortunately we do. it's eight minutes past the hour. time now to get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. don't you think that's going to be a hit? it already is. >> it looks incredible. that's a tough act to follow this morning, betty. may the force be with thee. oprah winfrey planning to take a 10% stake worth more than $43 million in weight watchers. shares of weight watchers climbing on the news closing up 105%. it was the busiest trading day in the company's history. weight watchers hoping oprah's endorsement will revive the brand which has seen fewer subscribers as competition from mobile apps and fitness trackers climb.

and the first apple music subscriber numbers coming in. ceo said there are 6.5 million paying subscribers. apple launched a streaming music service june 30th, as of early june, rival spotify said it had 20 million paying customers. back over to you. >> all right. thank you so much. now to sports. and the alcs, royals up two games as the blue jays were forced to battle in game three. and battle they did. >> high fly ball to center, back, hit the wall. >> the bats were alive for the blue jays. three homers on the night as the blue jays outlasted the royals 11-8. today game four in the alcs with the first pitch at 4:07 p.m. eastern. in the nlcs game three at wrigley as the mets have a two-game to none lead on the cubs. monday night football, ugly win

in philly, 21 penalties, 7 turnovers. one bright spot was a short touchdown pass from eli manning to owe tell beckham jr. on their first drive. the eagles would capitalize on the multiple mistakes by the giants, including this interception by ryan who strips the ball. the eagles capitalize on that turnover with this sam bradford 32-yard strike to riley coop earp for the eagles' first first quarter touchdown of the season. then, manning telegraphing this play all the way, as eagles pick off the pass in stride. he goes all the way for the td. second pick of the game, second touchdown for eagles. it would get uglier. final score eagles 27, giants 7. ten minutes past the hour. just ahead, a leader of the north of the border i should say is taking over and we'll tell you who that is. plus things get all too real for emergency responders during what is supposed to be a rescue training exercise. we have those details in three. (vo) at the friskies playhouse, the cats and us are always busy.

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welcome back. we are watching showers this morning rolling through areas of upstate new york and the adirondacks. still a little cool up there. but the warm air is on its way. there's a little bit of steady rain from boston up to portland. that will be exiting as we go throughout the day. otherwise the big story, the temperature warm-up out there. this morning as you head out the door, we are 20 to almost 30 degrees warmer right now than this time yesterday. so, yesterday had the hats, gloves and coat on. you can shed those layers as we go throughout the day today. the heat ridge builds from the middle of the country right across through the middle of the -- the mid-atlantic, even into the northeast over the next couple of days. high temperatures, even omaha gets in the 70s. st. louis, 80. cincinnati into the upper 70s by the end of this week. and the mid-atlantic gets a cool morning in the carolinas. one of the coolest spots in the country, then up to 70 in charlotte today. even new york city goes up mid 70s wednesday and thursday. there's really no rain in sight for this area of the country, either. so some beautiful, nice stretch of gorgeous fall weather. 83 in dallas will be appreciated. even towards tomorrow, you know,

the warmer air comes in. the only problem tomorrow is denver down to phoenix. betty, we had our little cold snap. now we get -- >> our reward for enduring that. thank you. well, this morning, canada has a new prime minister. 43-year-old justin trudeau. >> canadians from all across this great country sent a clear message tonight, it's time for a change in this country, my friends. a real change. >> trudeau's liberal party won a stunning majority of the candidate's 338 parliamentary seats yesterday. now this election win ends the conservative party's nine-year rule, led by stephen harper who conceded defeat. trudeau is the son of canada's fifth prime minister, the late pierre trudeau. welcome to the white house. i love astronomy night. >> well, president obama probably isn't the only one who loves astronomy night at the

white house. because 14-year-old ahmed mohamed was also in attendance last night where he met heads of state from around the world. mohamed gained national attention, as you may recall, when he was arrested last month after a teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb. emergency responders in texas were in the middle of a training session when someone actually needed rescuing. look at this trainee spotted a young boy struggling in the river after he was separated from his inner tube. an emergency responder reached the boy and reunited him with his parents. they're just in time. all right 16 minutes past the hour. president obama, he is riding high. and george w. bush's harsh words for ted cruz. "scrambled politics" is next. ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ [ birds squawking ] my mom makes airplane engines that can talk. [ birds squawking ]

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active management can seek to outperform. that's the power of active management. >> 19 minutes past the hour. time for your tuesday edition of "scrambled politics." joe biden fans may feel like they got the rug pulled out from under them. "the washington post" says a glitch caused the posting of an article declaring the j.p.'s presidential run, it's still on the google search results, but if you click it, the article says it was inadvertently published with an incorrect date. one of their congressional reporters implied on twitter that it was just in case -- it was a shell article there just in case he was going to run so they could get out the potential announcement faster. elsewhere on "the washington post," new poll has president obama's approval rating over the 50% mark. that is an 18-month high. he took time yesterday for a phone call with the international space station. astronaut mark kelly now holds the u.s. record for time spent

in space. but back here on earth, jeb bush released a video talking about fantasy football. he says rob gronkowski is his best player and invited gronk to the next bush campaign event in new hampshire. we'll see if he goes. meanwhile bush's brother made political headlines yesterday, george w. bush unleashes on ted cruz. i just don't like that guy. the former president tells donors. according to, quote, more than half a dozen donors who attended that sunday event, bush 43 was critical cruz's opportunistic relationship with donald trump. and democratic candidate martin o'malley was on the daily show last night. the former maryland governor and baltimore mayor talked about his vision for the country. >> our economy, trevor, isn't money, it's people. it's all of our people. and we need to start acting like americans again and investing in the skills of our people in our own country if we hope to give our kids a better future. that's the vision that i represent for our country.

>> i will tell you this. you are much nicer than you seemed in the wire. >> and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." 20 minutes past the hour. let's bring in political analyst and best-selling author ellis henican. good morning. >> good morning. we're all nicer than we seem in the wire. >> oh, yes. >> how are you? >> i'm doing okay. the question is how is joe biden? is he going to be jumping into this race? we keep talking about it. now we're hearing what 48 hours? that was yesterday. so could it be any moment now? >> yes. yes. >> is he going to run? >> well, it feels very imminent. >> yeah? >> and i would say the signs in the last 15 minutes are more encouraging than they were 45 minutes ago. so, yeah -- >> you think so? >> i think he wants to. >> but has this delay and we understand why, you know, especially with the passing of his son, he wants to make sure that his heart is in this, but having it been delayed so long, does it kind of send a message to the american people that even if he does jump in, his heart truly isn't in it?

>> it might. and there are also some practical problems. you've got to get on the ballots. you've got to raise money. you've got to create a campaign -- >> is this going to hurt him? >> it's a little bit of a disadvantage. think about what he's got, including that poll that you just mentioned. the president's approval rating being up above 50%. that's good for joe biden. he's the veep. and also this is a year, betty, where authenticity is something that voters do seem to be looking for. >> and that's something he has? >> oh, listen, i mean, particularly compared to hillary clinton. let's just say it, right? >> speaking of hillary clinton, so if joe biden does jump into this race, who is he a bigger threat to? hillary clinton or the gop front-runners? >> well, she would be the tougher of the two. i would say. i mean, she has so many advantages, in the money, and the support, and all that time that you mentioned. but, listen, i think that if you stacked him against any of those republicans right now, i think he would probably win. but he's got to get through her to get there. >> right. hey, we'll see if it happens. and before we go, though, i have to ask you about this, because we don't hear from former

president george w. bush too often, and definitely he doesn't trade too many blows when it comes to others on the political scene. but he does not seem to be a fan of ted cruz. were you surprised by these comments, especially since cruz isn't even a front-runner on the gop side? >> oh, betty, you know those texans. let's be honest here. yes. he is the guy. cruz worked for him in the 2000 campaign and turned on him and said a lot of trash about him in his book. it has been -- >> but it's revenge time? >> it's revenge, and it's also family, right? he's looking out for his brother. >> all right. we'll see if it works. >> watch those texans. >> yeah. you got to watch those texans, let me tell you. all right, thank you, ellis. coming up we've got some new poll numbers on the gun control debate. plus, prince william takes his plea for wildlife protection right to the chinese people. details next.

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leading the news in the chicago tribune, saudi arabia hajj stampede death toll at least 2,110. saudi officials held a meeting sunday night about the disaster. the country's official tally has not been updated since late last month. the investigation into the cause of the tragedy is still under way. and from nbcnews.come, planned parenthood from the medicaid program. yesterday's move follows the controversy surrounding an undercover video that discussed the sale of fetal tissue. governor greg abbott says the decision shows, quote, unyielding commitment to both protecting life and providing women's health services. in the wake of this month's deadly campus schotting in roseburg, oregon, a new gallup poll finds the percentage of americans in favor of stricter gun laws has risen sharply. it is now 55%.

an increase of 8 points from last year. in a speech to be televised on chinese state tv, britain's prince william made a direct appeal to the chinese people to stop bullying illegally traded -- or buying, that is, illegally traded wildlife products like ivory to help protect elephants, rhinos and other animals. >> we have to accept the truth, the consumers are driving the demand for animal body parts. for art, for trinkets, or more medicine. only we as consumers can put the wildlife traffickers out of business, by ending our demand for their products. >> his plea comes as china's president is set to begin a four-day state visit to the uk. now a look ahead, house republicans they are reportedly holding a special meeting today. they'll be discussing their october agenda. but also, hanging over their heads, the need to pick a new speaker to succeed john boehner. and then, of course, a lot of people talking about that star wars trailer.

did you see it? >> i -- it was the first time i saw it was about an hour ago and it looks really good. >> oh, really? . >> two months away. >> that's the problem. everyone's so excited about it now. and we have to wait. you don't have to wait for "way too early," because it starts right now. >> jeb said, we were safe with my brother. we were safe. well, the world trade center just fell down. now, am i trying to blame him? i'm not blaming anybody. but the world trade center came down. so when he said we were safe, that's not safe. >> okay. okay i'm sorry to say this, but strictly, within the factual confines of that sentence, donald trump is -- donald trump is -- he's not wrong. he's not wrong. >> republican front-runner donald trump hits a new high in

the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. but ben carson is right on his heels. this morning, there are new clues as to why. and we're waiting, joe. new numbers show the longer joe biden waits, the longer the slog will be if he wants to become president. is the veep really less than 48 hours away from a decision? >> and -- ♪ >> they're real. >> the force. it's calling to you. >> the force awakens in a big way as the new star wars trailer becomes the biggest nfl halftime show since the super bowl. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, and this is "way too early." ♪