is the worst behind us? and hillary clinton is going back to cali, hoping to make a full pivot to the general, but first she has to prevent another upset from bernie sanders. it's 5:30 on the east coast, it's 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." ♪ hey, there. good morning, it's tuesday, may 31st. i'm alex witt. the battle for california is intensifying. hillary clinton swept monday in chappaqua, but she's returning to california, for a sign of the rising stakes out west. and while it's possible she could secure enough delegates to shut the book on the nomination before polls even close there, bernie sanders is looking for a comeback. over the weekend he spoke at event after event with thousands of people.

here he is in oakland in front of what police say was 11,000. but the biggest crowd wasn't his. sanders showed up at halftime as the golden state warriors sought a miraculous game 7 come from behind victory against the oklahoma city thunder. he watched with actor and supporter danny glover. though he did not wear that free yellow t-shirt thousands of others did. but when the warriors won with confetti fluttering in the air, he took it as a metaphor for his own campaign. >> down three games to one, they turned it around. i think that is what our campaign will do as well. a very good ground campaign. >> reporter: earlier at a rally for animal rights protesters, one rushed the stage there. the event though continued on as planned. during the rest of the weekend sanders kept up the pressure on hillary clinton and what he calls establishment politics. >> what the establishment always does, they do it today and they did it 100 years ago is to tell

people that real fundamental change is impossible. what they tell you to do is to think small, not big. well, like one of my opponents, yes, that's true. [ applause ] no, i don't want to mention her name. but that's true. >> still, many are ready for him to exit the race. and to do so by putting things in perspective. >> senator sanders has the right to run, no question. he ought to be able to read the sign posts as well as anybody else. if he did that, he would know that it's all but over. i know the passion of a campaign. i know when you're in it and you just keep go go go until the last hour is there. well, the last hour is close by. >> the latest national nbc

news/"wall street journal" polling shows sanders up 15 points by comparison it shows clinton with a three-point lead over trump. but the nbc news political unit estimates her lead could be much larger if sanders were not in it. weekly standard editor bill kristol teased there would be a third party joining the race. just a heads up, there had been an independent candidate and an impressive one with a strong team and a real chance. donald trump wasted little time firing back an hour later. this preemptive party. the republican par he has to be smart and strong if it wants to win in november and he went after kristol called him a dummy. and warned if he managed to get an independent candidate to run, the republicans can say good-bye to the supreme court. he called on republicans to unify and kristol responded to the outburst yesterday, tweeting i'm traveling so i hadn't realized i had so upset donald

trump. i'm sorry the mere mention of an independent candidate has unnerved him. meanwhile, corey lewandowski weighed in on the possibility of a third party candidate. >> well, look, third party is a complete disaster and you're handing over the white house to the democrats which means four or five potential u.s. supreme court justices that hillary clinton would have a chance to appoint if she does that, you can say good-bye to the second amendment amongst other things. say good-bye to your rights. if mitt romney decides to get into the race, number one, he's failed candidate, number two, he's a two time failed candidate and he'll allow a democrat to appoint four or five supreme court justices that will be devastating long term to our country. if mitt wants to do that that's failu failure. donald trump is expected to give more details about how he'll dole out the thousands to the groups.

he pledged to support veterans though some of the comments generated controversy. >> we have to take care of our vets and in many cases illegal immigrants are taking much care -- really are much better care by this country. that's not going to happen, okay? thousands of people are dying. hard to believe of our vets, our most cherished people. thousands of people are dying, waiting on line to see a doctor. that is not going to happen anymore. >> at that same event, trump also managed to dip into politics taking a swing at his democratic rivals. >> i have 73 people on my staff. and i won. long ahead of schedule. you know how i was supposed to be going to cleveland and july and it was going to be a big fight. and they didn't know if i could win then. they talked about having a second convention in august,

stuff that nobody heard about. look what happened. we won and hillary can't even beat bernie. she can't beat him. and beating bernie would not be tough. now to the severe weather that marred the weekend out west. the latest victim who died, a woman who entered a flooded tunnel and never emerged on the other side. a 16-year-old boy was also killed northwest of houston when a tree limb broke and fell on top of him. there's also this video from peetz, colorado, of a tornado churning up parts of a dirt road in some fields there. no injuries have been reported but a barn was destroyed. 'll get the late -- we'll get the latest from bill karins. the cincinnati zoo is defending its actions after a gorilla was shot over the weekend. the zoo's director says the gorilla had to be shot so they could rescue that 3-year-old.

now there's growing outrage. nbc's blake mccoy reports. >> reporter: outrage over an incident at the cincinnati zoo. when a 3-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure saturday. for ten agonizing minutes onlookers watched including the boy's mother who cried out to him. >> mommy is right here. >> reporter: at one point, the 420 pound male silver back named harambe dragged the boy through the water. >> mommy loves you! >> reporter: zoo officials opened fire, killing the gorilla and rescuing the boy. zookeepers defended their decision. >> naturally, we did not take the shooting of harambe lightly. but that child's life was in danger. >> reporter: on social media a firestorm. people upset the gorilla was killed. many blamed the boy's mother who runs day-care center. an online petition has 200,000 signatures urging she be charged with negligence. in a facebook post, the mother

defended herself. as a society we are quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes off their child. a subsequent statement thanked the zoo for its actions. >> it's just being a gorilla. unfortunately it paid the ultimate price for something that was not its fault. >> reporter: zoo officials say a tranquilizer would have taken too long. and agitated the gorilla more. they're reviewing how the child got into the enclosure. this file video shows a steel railing that's followed by four feet of vegetation before a 15 foot drop into the moat where the child gel. -- fell. the gorilla heard splashing and jumped in also. a vigil where organizers say something is being lost in the blame game. >> the middle of the fighting the victim is being forgotten. >> reporter: flowers surround a gorilla statue as the exhibit remains closed. >> that was nbc's blake mccoy

reporting. in a new report, edward snowden is getting praise from former attorney general eric holder. >> we can talk about the way that snowden did, what he did, but i think he performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we make. >> holder says that his actions were illegal and they harmed america's interests and he said that snowden should return to the u.s. to face trial. snowden did respond on twitter last night. it's treason, 2015, still technically it was unlawful, and 2016, it was a public service, but -- and 2017 is left blank. iraqi military forces have launched a major operation in fallujah trying to drive isis militants out of one of the last major strong holds. they see capturing the sunni

strong hold as key. a spokesman says they're less than three miles from the city itself and are backed from air cover from the u.s. led military coalition. this comes less than a week after a u.s. air strike killed a local leader in the air. the department of department affairs has been criticized lately. and now there are concerns that the integral watchdog responsible for keeping that agency in check is failing on the vets. according to "usa today," a senate investigation has found systemic failures in the inspector general's review of the medical center in wisconsin. the watchdog is discounting key evidence and witness testimony. the investigation claims that the v.a. inspector general razz no standard for determining wrongdoing. this comes as americans paid tribute to those who lost their lives and of president obama spoke of the obligation for

americans to care for the veterans. joe biden marked the memorial in virginia. the vice president's son died of brain cancer one year ago to the day of yesterday's unveiling ceremony. bo biden enlisted in the national guard in 2003, deployed to iraq five years later. he later served two terms as the delaware attorney general. his father the vice president addressed those gathered in major biden's honor. >> beau is feeling self-conscious right now. he said, dad, this memorial day, the day who honors those who gave their last measure for their families, a day, dad, you and i should be at the bridge and grabbing all the gold star mothers and telling them how much we appreciate all we've done. hey, tommy, i didn't see you

sitting there, i apologize. he was also a friend of beau's. he said, dad, not me today. maybe another day. not today. i whispered back in his ear as i was leaving that he's right. this memorial day. but everything -- everything here as everyone knows about beau was he devoted his whole life to his family and to other people. >> vice president biden remembering his son the late beau biden. when we come back, bill karins will have the latest on that severe weather. no rest for the weary in texas and extreme heat elsewhere. back in a moment. ♪

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from london. is this strike officially done and over with and what does it mean for verizon and the workers going forward? >> good morning, alex. i think it's fascinating outcome for the communications workers of america. this union effectively took the near 40,000 workers off the job seven weeks ago in this dispute over salary and compensation. what they have managed to wring out of manage here is a near 11% increase over four years. now, that's a pretty good deal when you look at some of the recent salary settlements in north america. and one analyst called this a rich deal by any standard. so the cwa will feel that that they have got what they need here and i think management basically accepting that they would have to increase compensation to get the workers back on the job. so the near 40,000 workers for verizon deciding to pick up the call and they will be back in their posts come tomorrow.

but it is a story i think that maybe some of the telecommunications industry will scratch their head about because it indicates more for the workers, less for the shares at this point. >> thank you so much. i'm sensing victory for the union workers. it's time for sports and the nba western conference championship, to oakland. warriors and thunder to decide who goes on to play the cavaliers in the finals. golden state fought back to get here and as in the series they trailed for much of the game. oklahoma city held the warriors to 42 points in the first half and the fewest at home all season in first half for golden state by the warriors had a flurry of three-pointers. they take over midway through this the third quarter and never looked back. league mvp curry scored 36

points with seven three-pointers in the game to lead the warriors to the win sending golden state on the return trip to the finals in a rematch against cleveland in the title. steve kerr had an answer for anyone still questioning curry's toughness. >> why do these questions keep being raised about steph's toughness? >> because he looks like he's 12. >> game 1 is on thursday in oakland. now to the ice, in pittsburgh san jose playing in the championship round debut. erase a two-goal lead by the penguins in the first period, netting two of their own in the second. but the penguins win it 3-2. game 1. and finally, major league ballparks paid tribute to the armed forces on memorial day, but a special celebration in seattle before the mariners

hosted the padres as 92-year-old world war ii veteran burke waldman threw out the first pitch. he was jogging on to the field before delivering the toss. >> south roy. >> we're talking awesome. and the mariners win it. >> he's probably doing crunches watching the show. >> did you like his navy sailor outfit? >> he was jogging, no problem. knocked out a couple of miles. >> what up with the weather? >> texas is still a concern this week. we had the thunderstorms and the flash flooding and they have to work their way into the river system. all the rivers are still flooded. we'll see more of this too unfortunately this week. but this system is setting up. in the mid-atlantic it wasn't pretty either dealing with bonnie.

what's left of bonnie still off the south carolina coast. slowly it will be exiting. all that rain is exiting in the delmarva. only cape cod and the islands are being clipped. less humid air will work into the northeast too. so that will be enjoyable. still some rain this morning. minneapolis to rochester. st. paul, as we go through the quad cities, some light showers and heavier rain in wichita and almost in northern oklahoma. texas as of now is pretty clear. as we go into the next three days, that will stall. three to four inches top of the swollen rivers won't help things. but we won't see widespread flooding. dallas, abilene, austin areas. as far as the warmth goes, last week was so hot. unusually hot. one more warm day in the east. this is probably the warmest we'll be for the week or two as temperatures settle back for the beginning of june. >> i wish we could do something about the humidity. >> today in the northeast, a lot

less humid than the weekend. >> thank you so much. what are the chances you're choking and dr. henry heimlich, yep, that heimlich, is sitting right there? we'll have that story next on "way too early."

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>> lord god help that boy. they're going to make him dead. >> so powerful. in 1977 the eight-part series "roots" left an imprint with 100 million people turning in. let's start on the new take on the classic tv show. >> thanks so much. now, the original is still one of the highest rated programs in history. the first part of the epic re-imagining debut last night. it stars malachi kur by as kunta. one person won't be tuning and that's snoop dogg. he had strong feelings against the remake. similar films today about american slavery. >> i mean, i don't want to

understand america. we see the abuse we take hundreds and hundreds years ago and we're taking the same abuse. >> snoop asked others to boycott the new series in question. when a movie about the successes of african-american successes would be made. you catch it on a&e and lifetime at 8:00 p.m. >> let's change gears for a second. dr. henry heimlich, the creator of the heimlich maneuver has taught in the technique. it was put to the test when he saved a choking woman sitting next to hi him in the retirement home. >> i said god put me in this seat next to you because i ordered a hamburger and the next thing i know, i couldn't breathe. >> i did compressions and a piece of meat came out and she

started breathing. >> unbelievable at 96 years old. he said he felt wonderful about saving another person's life. now, according to dr. heimlich this is the first time he actually performed the maneuver on an actual choking victim. all right, finally, baseball fans might recognize this iconic image of bill spaceman lee pictured on this cover dressed like an astronaut. his antics both on and off the field got him black listed from professional ball clubs who didn't want to deal with his eccentricity and now the ace from space is taking a different trajectory. a mission to become the governor of vermont. >> lee is running for governor of vermont. >> i want to be the robin hood of vermont. >> his platform -- tax the rich, give to the poor. legalize marijuana. and create a canadian style health care system. in the spaceman, the liberal union party sees a candidate who

will attract the voters. >> i'm a liberal with a gun. >> not afraid to speak his mind -- >> no, i won't accept any money. >> and not influenced by powerful lobby groups. >> alex lee said he would dissolve the border between vermont and quebec. see how that campaign goes there. >> see what howard dean has to say about this. coming up on "morning joe" new numbers in the battle for the white house show donald trump gaining ground on hillary clinton. we'll have the new poll positions. plus, the most powerful senator in washington, republican majority leader mitch mcconnell joins the conversation. that and much more coming up on "morning joe." in a world that's trying to turn you into someone new...

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beau is feeling a little self-conscious, for those who know him. he said, dad, this memorial day, a day honor those who have give their last measure for their families, a day, dad, you and i should be at the bridge and grabbing all