i'm very excited. i probably wasn't going to sleep tonight any way. please don't cancel. "first look" is up next. breaking overnight. it's a scramble to rescue survivors after a major earthquake rocked central italy. in the hardest-hit areas crews are searching through rubble trying to reach anyone who may be trapped. plus -- >> justice is supposed to be blind. it's never supposed to be for sale. hillary clinton thinks she's above the law. >> troubling questions are being raised about the clinton foundation as hillary released document fuel pay for play accusations. plus president obama tours louisiana's flood zone amid criticism that he should have come sooner.

good to be with you this morning. it is wednesday, august 24th. i'm frances rivera alongside louis burgdorf. a strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck central italy overnight. about five miles from the city of norcia in a relatively shallow depth of only 10 kilometers that's a little over 6 miles. several aftershocks have been reported. and there are reports of extensive damage. with one mayor saying his town, quote, isn't there anymore. many roadways are blocked, severely hampering rescue efforts. red cross officials tell local outlets that a bridge in the town of amatrice has collapsed. and at least 13 people are dead and officials expect that number to rise. one says the quake is similar in scale to the 2009 quake just 30 miles away which killed almost 300 people. nbc's lucy kafanov joins us now

on the phone. she is live on the scene. number one priority are those people who may be trapped in the rubble. >> good morning, frances. rescue workers and residents have been racing against the clock, trying to save the lives of those still trapped under that rubble. we're hearing now at least 20 people perhaps killed so far but the fear is, of course, that number could go up. this was a tremendously powerful earthquake. it struck at about 3:30 a.m. local time. powerful enough, frances, that it woke me up nearly 100 miles away in rome. now i am outside of a hospital here in amatrice, this is one of the areas that was most hard-struck by the earthquake. the building is still standing but you can see chunks of the plaster have fallen off. there is rubble all around. ambulances have been rushing in and out trying to bring in the wounded. we've heard on the radio officials pleading for people to donate blood as well as food, water, diapers, medicine. there's a lot of people bound to be affected by this and we don't

know the full scale of the destruction just yet. now, the area that has been affected are these very small village-like ancient towns. they're largely populated by older people. it would be much more difficult for them to move to try to escape. and of course, almost impossible to escape when the earthquake hits at 3:00 in the morning when they're sleeping in bed. it is a terrible time for this earthquake to strike, as well, because in summertime, people are likely to be visiting. there are tourists here, families returning to visit their grandparents, their relatives. so quite a few people affected by this. we're seeing people lined up outside of the hospital with their possessions. there's some donated sheets, some blankets, some food and medicine outside. people are dazed. they're shocked. in the early hours of the morning, even before the bulldozers arrived people were using their bare hands to try to pull people out of the rubble, to push that rubble aside to rescue those who are still trapped underneath. and we just simply don't know how many are still waiting to be rescued. and how many truly lost their

lives. frances? >> really so terrible in such a beautiful, idyllic community and village that we see there. nbc's lucy kafanov, thank you. donald trump might be moving away from his hard-line stance when it comes to dealing with the 11 million undocumented people in the united states. trump, who previously called for a deportation force and promising their complete removal tweeted as recently as june i have never liked the media term mass deportation. but we must enforce the laws of the land. but in an interview with sean hannity who says he is informally advising trump on his campaign, the republican nominee said he could see a softening of his policy. >> what about people that work hard, have been here a long time, they own homes, they have their property, and this is a question everyone's going to want answered, what about them? do they have to go back? or would you reconsider that? >> we are going to follow the laws of the country. >> that means they go back. >> we're going to follow the laws. is there any part of the law that you might be able to change that would accommodate those

people that contribute to society, have been law abiding, have kids here, would there be any room in your mind -- because i know you had a meeting this week. >> i did. >> with hispanic leaders. >> i did, great people, great hispanic leaders, and there certainly can be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people. we want people -- we have some great people in this country. we have some great, great people in this country. so but we're going to follow the laws of this country. >> trump is planning a meeting at his manhattan headquarters with new york-based latino and african-american activists tomorrow in an attempt at hispanic outreach. however, on the stump he is still focused on highlighting the violent crimes of undocumented immigrants,icallying the families of victims onto the stage with him in texas last night and standing firm on his signature pledge. >> we are going to build the wall! and who's going to pay for the

wall? [ shouting "mexico" ] >> mexico is going to pay for the wall. turning to the democratic side of things there are more troubling questions about whether private money influenced then-secretary of state hillary clinton's time and attention. the associated press had to sue the state department to release calendars from her tenure, and they show the level of access clinton foundation donors were granted to secretary clinton in her official capacity. according to the ap quote at least 85 of the 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with clinton while she led the state department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programs. combine those al donors contributed as much as $156 million. at least 40 donated more nan $100,000 each while 20 gave more than $1 million now the clinton campaign called the data, quote, flawed and cherry picked. they say it doesn't account for more than half her tenure and omits more than 1700 meetings with foreign and u.s. government

officials. they added it is outrageous to misrepresent secretary clinton's basis for meeting with these individuals. pointing to meetings with melinda gates and nobel peace prize winner mohammed downous saying it reduces him to a charitable donation once made to an organization he chaired. and last night in austin, texas, donald trump hammered clinton for, quote, corruption. >> if our secretary of state can be bought, or bribed or sold, look what's happening right now with government favors then the whole american system is threatened. it is impossible to figure out where the clinton foundation ends, and the state department begins. it is now abundantly clear that the clintons set up a business to profit from public office.

they sold access, and specific action actions by and really for, i guess, the making of large amounts of money. >> well, few people want the stories about clinton's e-mail server to end more than the clinton campaign well that is with a possible exception of former secretary of state colin powell. clinton reportedly told fbi investigators that she had gotten advice over dinner and separately in an e-mail from powell to use personal e-mail. well powell told buzzfeed yesterday, quote, i have no further comment. she was using e-mail long before the so-called dinner. and i'm not commenting about it. anymore. good-bye. the person who would like to see these stories continue, of course, donald trump who went through a litany of claims he dismissed as lies. >> -- about hillary clinton's e-mail scandal, make clear we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. she deleted 33,000 e-mails, and she got away with it sort of.

she never sent or received classified materials. that was a lie proved over and over again. she said she turned over all of her work-related e-mails. but the fbi found thousands she never turned over and now, just recently, found another 15,000 more. that was another lie. lie, after lie, after lie. hillary clinton is totally unfit to hold public office. >> while in california hillary clinton has been holding a series of high-profile fund raisers, events which cost $33,000 a ticket, took place yesterday at the home of justin timberlake and his wife jessica

biel. the couple posted this image, look who came over for lunch. also were actors jennifer aniston, jamie foxx and tobey maguire. a super pac backing clinton is out with a new campaign add using a device we've seen before, using trump's own words against him. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag -- >> they're bringing drugs. they're bringing crime. they're rapists. you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. blood coming out of her, whatever. oh, i don't know what i said. oh, i don't remember. i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters. get him the hell out of here. get him out of here. get out! >> powerful ad there and that ad has begun airing in ohio, florida, iowa and north carolina. still when it comes to ads there is little comparison between how both sides are choosing to play the game. hillary clinton and groups

supporting her have spent $114 million so far. donald trump and groups backing him by comparison have spent a mere $19 million. that is lopsided, 17-1. nbc news confirms a political report that marco rubio faced more negative ads in the primary than hillary clinton has in the entire general election by a large margin. rubio had 39 million spent against him while clinton had just $6 million so far in the general election. all right we've got some of the latest polling numbers to share with you and we start in missouri where hillary clinton is within striking distance in a usually reliable republican state. she trials by just one point in a new monmouth poll. she holds a 65% lead among minority voters while donald trump leads by 13% among white voters. but both are underperforming in those groups compared to barack obama and mitt romney in 2012. and a south carolina poll from the state democratic party there shows a tied race 39-39 between clinton and trump. that's when you include third party candidates.

but again, it's from the democratic party. the republican state chair there not too impressed. he tweeted that internal polls show donald trump comfortably ahead. and tim kaine spent yesterday campaigning in arkansas, but he even acknowledged that bill clinton's home state will prove difficult for democrats to win once more. >> in arkansas i'm going to say the polling would suggest it's an uphill push for us. but this is a state where person-to-person contact matters and people know hillary clinton and we just feel like if we make our case, and we explain here's what we want to do and here's what the other guys want to do we've got a chance. >> and after former new york city mayor rudy giuliani said democratic nominee hillary clinton looked quote sick and encouraged people to quote go online and look up hillary clinton's illness, hillary clinton illness republican vice presidential nominee mike pence was asked about clinton's health yesterday and had this to say. le. >> the concern about hillary's health and rudy giuliani went

out there and dropped that little bomblet, how concerned is the trump campaign that hillary clinton's not up physically to the task of running for president or being president? >> well, hillary's in hiding and trump is everywhere. i mean, you know, it is remarkable for me, campaigning with donald trump, and for donald trump, around the country, to see the energy level that he has. being out with him, walking the streets of baton rouge last friday, seeing, you know, donald trump jump out of the car, walk onto the driveway of a family that's trying to piece their life back together, and seeing not only his strength, but also his capacity to encourage people in difficult times. it -- it is quite a contrast from hillary clinton, who i guess she showed up on a late-night show last night. but otherwise -- >> yeah, laughing. >> -- off the campaign trail. >> still ahead, a big shake-up for buzzfeed. plus president obama tries to push aside politics while getting a firsthand look at the flood damage in louisiana. we'll bring you those stories

and also a check of the weather.

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president obama's back at the white house this morning after visiting parts of flood ravaged louisiana yesterday. while there, he toured the damage around baton rouge and met with some of the victims. his visit came a week after historic flooding inundated parts of the state, killing 13 people and damaging more than 60,000 homes. during a news conference the president was asked how he felt about the disaster becoming politicized after a visit from donald trump. >> first of all, one of the benefits of being five months short of leaving here is i don't worry too much about politics. the second thing i have seen, historically, is that, you know when disasters strike, that's probably one of the few times where washington tends not to get political.

>> before leaving louisiana, the president visited with the family of alton sterling who was shot to death during a confrontation with police in july. and the president also met with the families of three officers killed in an ambush two weeks later in the wake of protests. all right, to see what is happening now to the country especially with this storm around the atlantic i want to get a check with nbc meteorologist bill karins. so if there was a gaston is it still a tropical -- >> gaston is going to be a hurricane later today. but that's the one that's further out in the atlantic. that's going to turn harmlessly. not even a concern. the one that's not named yet, right now a tropical wave, this is where all the thunderstorms are flaring up, bringing nasty weather to the northern leeward islands, and virgin islands and puerto rico today. looks a little more organized. the aircraft hurricane hunters will fly into that later on this morning and let us know if we're going to start officially tracking this. they have a 50% chance of formation in the next 48 hours. but over the next five days they give it a 70% chance and it's heading towards florida. so that means they're thinking

that florida, you have a 70% chance of dealing with a tropical system sunday or monday and so now is the time, no reason to panic, anything else, but if you don't have all your supplies for your hurricane kits in florida, now is the time to get it anyway. now, i'm sure a lot of people will be doing that over the next week. here's the formation zone. this is over the next five days. this is where they think the 70% chance of it forming is. also kind of gives you a general idea of the direction of where it's going to be heading. you know it should be near san juan as we go throughout the day tomorrow. north of the island of haiti and dominican republic and towards the bahamas, friday, saturday, then sunday heading somewhere towards florida, possibly south florida. now as we go throughout the next couple days we're going to start to track and watch carefully all of our different computer models. all the squiggly lines that we show you. for the most part they are tracking it in this cone which is the reason why we have this cone. and here's the view of those lines. and you can see they squiggle their way up towards the bahamas and they're in excellent agreement where near south florida through the upcoming weekend. the biggest question we have is what the intensity is going to

be. some of our computer models have it being a low end hurricane near florida. some of them have it being just a tropical wave or a weak tropical storm. so those are the questions we know it's going to head towards florida, the question is at what intensity. and then, louis, as we go in through next week this should be in the gulf. it could intensify more there so our friends in texas, louisiana, north florida have to watch it carefully, too. >> seems like hurricane season is starting early this year. >> the peak of the season is september 10th. this is, things are usually bad right now is about when they start. and this is right on schedule. >> i also like the terminology a fish storm that means it doesn't hit any land. >> we like those storms. >> cool. let's turn now to business where an effort to solidify its dominance in digital video buzzfeed has announced yesterday that it will separate into buzzfeed news and newly formed buzzfeed entertainment group. cnbc's hadi gamble joins us live from london. hadley, hat does this mean for the future of the company? seems like it's an exciting time there at buzzfeed. >> absolutely, louis. this is a company that you have

to remember that our own parent company nbc universal invested about $200 million in last year. essentially what we know right now is that they're splitting up their news content and entertainment content. not just to dominate the market but to tap into this new generation of users so exciting times over at buzzfeed and some great news as well for best buy. yesterday shares in the company jumped 18% in late afternoon trade and that was all off the back of a second straight quarter of earnings that showed that their online sales had reached around 24%. this company came under a lot of fire over the last couple of years, they were trying to increase the online sales and show that they could really compete with the companies like amazon and it shows pretty clearly with the second quarter of great results that they can do it, louis. >> best buy making a comeback. hadley gamble live from london thanks so much. now still ahead the nfl might soon be facing a lawsuit from a group of fans very upset. plus it looks like former nfl quarterback tim tebow is hoping to get back in the game, just

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just a little. live business, powered by sap. when you run live, you run simple. hi mi'm raph. tom. my name is anne. i'm one of the real live attorneys you can talk to through legalzoom. don't let unanswered legal questions hold you up, because we're here, we're here, and we've got your back. legalzoom. legal help is here. welcome back. time now for sports where a breach of contract lawsuit has been filed against the nfl seeking compensation for fans who attended the hall of fame game earlier this month which was canceled due to poor field conditions. and the suit which was voluntarily dismissed from a federal court in ohio was refiled in california yesterday. this time with allegations based

on statements made by colts punter who said players knew about the cancellations hours before the decision was announced, and were told not to say anything online. the lawsuit argues that the nfl and hall of fame officials knew the game wouldn't be played, but let thousands of fans into the stadium anyway. and former nfl quarterback tim tebow will soon have his opportunity to show off what he can do on the baseball diamond. tebow who reportedly will reportedly showcase his talents for mlb scouts on august 30th in los angeles now the 29-year-old was reportedly been training for several months last played baseball on a regular basis in june -- when he was a junior in high school back in 2004. we'll see if he has what it takes there. and, like tim tebow we turn now to major league baseball where the texas rangers have placed injured slugger josh hamilton on unconditional release waivers with one year still left on his contract. it means hamilton, who underwent season ending knee surgery in

june is now a free agent the 35-year-old outfielder and former a.l. mvp will still earn $30 million next year and the club has left open the possibility of his return on a minor league deal in 2017. and while the rangers let go of one hamilton yesterday they were done in by a completely different hamilton on the diamond. check out the defensive prowess of cincinnati reds center fielder billy hamilton he sprinted the 123 feet at 22 miles per hour to make that spectacular dive and grab. steal away a base hit from the texas -- texas in the sixth inning the reds go on to beat the rangers 3-0. and i love that we had those stats there. >> yeah, even in slow mo i missed that one. louis thank you. still ahead we're following the very latest from italy after a major earthquake rocked the country and at least one mayor says his town, quote, isn't there anymore. we'll get a live report next. slept... you're not you. tylenol® pm relieves pain and helps you fall fast asleep and stay asleep.

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lie after lie after lie. it is impossible to figure out where the clinton foundation ends, and the state department begins. it is now abundantly clear that the clintons set up a business to profit from public office. they sold access and specific actions by and really for, i guess, the making of large amounts of money. >> donald trump hammers away at his democratic rival amid new

questions about the connections between the clinton foundation and the state department under hillary clinton's leadership. plus the benefits of being your own landlord. this morning the trump campaign is explaining why its paying five times the rent at trump tower now that they're no longer self-funding the campaign. and breaking overnight an earthquake hits central italy collapsing buildings on top of residents as they slept. we'll have the latest on the ground there. good morning it's wednesday, august 24th. i'm louis burgdorf alongside frances rivera. we'll have the latest from the campaign trail in just a moment. >> first we want to get you caught up on the big story we're following out of it italy. a strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck overnight. several significant aftershocks have been reported.

the mayor of amatrice says his town, quote, isn't there anymore. and red cross officials tell local outlets that a bridge in the town has collapsed. at least 13 people are dead and officials expect that number to rise. one says the quake is similar in scale to a 2009 quake just 30 miles away which 295 people were killed. rescuers now are frantically trying to get countless people trapped under the rubble rescued. want to bring in lucy kafanov. so many challenges from trying to get rescue and relief supplies to that area also not knowing how many people may be trapped. >> absolutely, frances. this is definitely a race against the clock, rescue workers and residents themselves have been desperately trying to save those trapped under the rubble. we're hearing that at least 20 people may have been killed so far. in these early moments this number is likely to go up. this is a tremendously powerful earthquake. it struck at 3:35 a.m. local time. so powerful francis that it woke

me up nearly 100 miles away in rome. i am outside amatrice and right at the entrance where the hospital is. the building is still standing but chunks of it have fallen to the ground. the rescue workers and hospital workers have set up triage areas outside with cots, medication, ambulances. we spoke to one of the doctors here. he told us that the most serious case -- bigger hospitals in nearby towns. but they're treating people who are absolutely in shock. of course the big danger and bigger question is those who are still trapped under the rubble. all morning we've seen trucks racing up the hill trying to bring bulldozers and various rescue equipment. this isn't the only town affected and some of these very windy, narrow roads have been blocked because of rubble in the earthquake. it's difficult for rescue crews to get there. it's difficult to get people out to get the proper medical treatment. and the other issue, these towns, ancient towns. the population is older.

it's harder for those folks to move around. so they might be the ones who are really trapped and in need of medical care. because it's summertime, a lot of tourists here. families visiting their relatives, their grandparents, and so the population is much higher. devastation, shock, and grief here in italy. frances? >> tough to see that devastation in such a beautiful, beautiful town and community. nbc's lucy kafanov, thank you very much. there are more troubling questions about whether private money influenced then-secretary of state hillary clinton's time and attention. the associated press had to sue the state department to release calendars from her tenure. and they showed the level of access clinton foundation donors were granted to secretary clinton in her official capacity. according to the ap quote at least 85 of the 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with clinton while she led the state department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programs.

combined those 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. at least 40 donated more nan $100,000 each while 20 gave more than $1 million now the clinton campaign called the data, quote, flawed and cherry picked. they say it doesn't account for more than half her tenure and omits more than 1700 meetings with foreign and u.s. government officials. they added it is outrageous to misrepresent secretary clinton's basis for meeting with these individuals. pointing to meetings with melinda gates and nobel peace prize winner mohammed younas which says it reduces him to a charitable donation once made to an organization he chaired. and last night in austin, texas, donald trump hammered clinton for, quote, corruption. >> the specific crimes committed to carry out that enterprise are too numerous to cover in this speech. justice is supposed to be blind. it's never supposed to be for sale.

hillary clinton thinks she's above the law. come november the american people will show her that she is not. >> and a "usa today" editorial board weighed in writing the only way to eliminate the odor surrounding the organization is to wind it down and put it in moth balls today to transfer its important charitable work to another large american charity such as the bill and melinda gates foundation. >> the trump campaign's trump tower has hit an all-time high. the rent for donald trump's own campaign headquarters nearly quintupled last month to nearly $170,000. that's five times as much as they paid before. the dramatic jump from april when the campaign paid just over $35,000 for the office space. well that's when the campaign was still largely self-funded. for its part the trump campaign says the rent hike came as it added two more floors to its existing space last month. even though the campaign had

fewer people on its payroll compared to march. and they claimed they still pay $40,000 less than the clinton campaign. democratic vice presidential nominee tim kaine slammed the move during a campaign stop in colorado. >> so once donors were writing checks to the campaign, trump said wow i can get more money personally out of this. the campaign is kind of being run in a little bit of a you know, not ask what your country can do for -- not ask what you can do for your country, but hey what can this campaign do for me. and that's not a business practice, frankly, that should make us feel too warm and fuzzy. >> donald trump might be moving away from his hard-line stance when it comes to dealing with the 11 million undocumented people in the united states. trump, who previously called for a quote deportation force and promising their complete removal tweeted as recently as june, i have never liked the media term mass deportation. but we must enforce the laws of the land. in an interview with sean

hannity, who says he is informally advising trump on his campaign, the republican nominee said he could see a softening of his policy. >> what about people that work hard, have been here a long time, they own homes, they have their property, and this is a question everyone's going to want answered, what about them? do they have to go back? or would you reconsider that? >> we are going to follow the laws of the country. >> that means they go back. >> we're going to follow the laws. >> is there any part of the law that you might be able to change that would accommodate those people that contribute to society, have been law abiding, have kids here, would there be any room in your mind -- because i know you had a meeting this week. >> i did. >> with hispanic leaders. >> i did, great people, great hispanic leaders, and there certainly can be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people. we want people -- we have some great people in this country. we have some great, great people in this country. so but we're going to follow the laws of this country. >> trump is planning a meeting

at his manhattan headquarters with new york-based latino and african-american activists tomorrow in an attempt at hispanic outreach. however, on the stump he is still focused on highlighting the violent crimes of undocumented immigrants,icallying the families of victims onto the stage with him in texas last night and standing firm on his signature pledge. >> we are going to build the wall! and who's going to pay for the wall? [ shouting "mexico" ] >> mexico is going to pay for the wall. >> kind of awkward exchange on the campaign trail for mike pence. he decided to get a hair cut at a barber shop outside philadelphia yesterday. as it wrapped up the barber had one important question for the governor. >> perfect. >> all right. good. >> now your name were?

>> mike pence. >> mike pence. >> yes, sir. i'm the governor of the state of indiana. i'm running for vice president of the united states. >> oh, man! oh. vice president? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. >> oh, boy. >> i'm running with donald trump. so i'm his running mate. >> okay. all right. >> just tapped me a month ago. we're just in town doing a rally, campaigning and i heard you were the place to come for a hair cut. >> oh, boy. >> kind of a moment, what's your name again? pence isn't the only indiana politician trying to move past the uncomfortable moment on the campaign trail in the past week. democrat evan bayh, who is running to reclaim his old senate seat had this to say on saturday while trying to disprove claims that he no longer lives in indiana. >> 42 d can't bury court, indianapolis, indiana. it's on my driver's license. >> right there you heard bayh say his home address was canterbury court in indianapolis. but according to an independent journal review which examined

his motor vehicle records his address is 1142 canterbury square. the address bayh gave is several blocks away from his home. meanwhile in arizona the straight talk express made a return as senator john mccain met with the scottsdale chamber of commerce. mccain who is fighting for re-election may have been a little too straightforward according to politico telling the crowd this one of the sad things in american politics today is that you can't tell any ethnic jokes except irish jokes. now why that should be, i do not know. i have never understood it. >> frances, a name we haven't heard in a few weeks bernie sanders is set to launch his new group our revelation an organization intended to continue the progressive agenda he spearheaded during his presidential campaign. but it's already in turmoil as first reported by politico and buzzfeed eight out of 13 staffers quit the organization when the campaign manager jeff weaver came on board to lead. their vision a group funded by small grassroots donations whereas weaver wanted to

supplement its online organizing with tv advertising, and checks from large donors. former volunteer manager cecilia hall wrote quote i cannot in good conscience continue to work with thousands of volunteers and guide them towards an inevitable failure under his direction that is how strongly i feel that jeff should not be involved in our revolution. bernie sanders is set to give a speech tonight for the launch. >> still ahead, tanks roll in to syria from the turkish border as part of a major offensive against isis. the operation launched just hours ahead of a planned visit to turkey by vice president joe biden. we'll get a live report. ♪

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turkish and u.s. coalition warplanes have carried out four air strikes in the town so far. turkish military sources tell reuters that 63 isis targets in northern syria have been fired at more than 200 times with artillery and shelling. turkish special forces have entered syria as part of the mission and turkish state media reports that tanks have crossed the border. joining us now from london nbc news correspondent kelly cobiella to keep us up to date on the situation there. kelly, good morning. >> good morning, frances. this is really turkey's first big operation against isis in nearly a year. about nine months' time. and it comes just as vice president joe biden is touching down in turkey for a one-day visit, a tense time between the nato ally, and the u.s. word is this battle started to get out early this morning, a private tv station in turkey saying as many as 20 tanks are in syria, and that there's fighting at the border. the government has not yet confirmed that. there you see video of joe biden

arriving. the operation is in support of moderate syrian opposition fighters. they're conflicting reports about whether those fighters have actually crossed the border and entered the town this morning. turkey's interior minister said the goal is to free the town from isis, and to protect turkey's own security. the country not only worried about isis, they're also trying to counteract the strength of u.s.-backed kurdish forces in syria. those forces were preparing to move on jabablus on syria as well. turkey moving before they could. the battle coming just days after that attack on the wedding party in gaziantep close to the turkish syrian border. the worst attack so far this year with more than 50 dead, many of them children. and turkey and many others believing that that attack was carried out by isis. frances? >> nbc's kelly cobiella for us from london. thank you. want to turn now and get a

check of our weather from bill karins. you're watching two storms that could possibly affect the atlantic maybe in florida and some gulf states? >> yeah it's an unnamed storm at this point. it would be our eighth named storm once it does develop and we are watching it this morning. the probability of this developing is probably about 70% in the next five days. this is the five-day formation zone. somewhere in puerto rico, possibly, toward the bahamas or maybe florida. all of our computer models have converged on usually you don't get this much agreement in the track. but whatever this entity is. whatever it turns into, we know it's heading in the general direction of the bahamas saturday, florida sunday. the question is what will the intensity be. and once it gets here towards florida, where is it going to go after that? let me give in to a little bit about we have numerous computer models. we have our long range ones. we have the european computer model, and our american what we all the gfs model. we've got both of these on the same map to show you where they dive earning. as we go throughout wednesday's forecast then we'll fast forward just a little bit and go in to areas on thursday into friday.

both of them have it somewhere near the bahamas as we go friday into saturday, both of them keep it kind of a weak type system, nothing that would be, you know, a horrible storm coming towards florida, or the bahamas. but regardless, still rainy weather, still squally weather. then by the time we get saturday into sunday the models completely separate and diverge. the european model takes it over south florida intensifies it into a rather significant hurricane in northern gulf of mexico where our american computer model kind of stalls it over florida as a weaker storm system. so big difference in the long-term. gone we have about seven days before we have -- five days at least until we get to florida that we have to watch this. all residents from texas to louisiana, florida, all eyes are on this and now is the time to prepare and have your preparations in store. >> thanks so much, bill. as we go to break, a quick look at some of the stories that we are not covering today. i stress not covering. a seal off vancouver island escapes a pod of killer whales by jumping on a guy's fishing boat. very cute. but we won't be covering that.

nbc -- nba star james harden's new shoes they got as much blowback as steph curry's dad shoes but we don't have time for that story either. kfc comes out with chicken scented sunscreen i'm sure it's finger licking good but story that's not making it either and the last one -- >> i do not -- >> starting today npr won't allow comments on any of their stories online anymore frances, that we simply say no comment. frances instead much more importantly when we come back the incredible recovery of a little boy who made medical history with a double hand transplant. we're back right after this.

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a quick update on a breaking story we're following out of central italy. we now have a confirmed death toll. that death toll stands at 37 people after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit the area of amatrice. we know a lot of people are still believed to be trapped there as you see in that video the rescue efforts there. we know the bridge is out and there is trouble getting rescue and relief efforts there we'll continue to watch it with now that confirmed death toll at 37. now to a truly inspiring update to a story we first covered a year ago at that time. zion harvey was 8 years old and became the first child to receive a double hand transplant. well since then he's been

working hard to increase his mobility and doctors are excited about his progress. but as nbc's rehema ellis reports, zion now has a new goal. >> repr: when we first met zion harvey last year, at 8 years old, he was unstoppable. even though he had lost both his hands, and legs to an infection as a toddler. >> keep monitoring things. >> reporter: and even after groundbreaking surgery to attach new hands, his energy was drained, but not his determination. and take a look at him now. oh, my goodness! his new hands are growing with him. >> when i got my hands, it was like, here's the piece of my life that was missing. now it's here. now my life is complete. >> reporter: now he can cut. look what you can do. color and play, beating me at

jenga. you are not giving up! he can do nearly all the things most kids take for granted. cuddled up to his mother patty, his hands can feel hers. >> like right now, her hands are cold. and sometimes they're warm. sometimes they're hot. seven -- >> reporter: it's taken a year of gruelling rehabilitation. zion had to reteach his brain to communicate with his new hands. chief surgeon dr. scott levin side zion's success has inspired the teams at the children's hospital of philadelphia and penn medicine. >> we have learned so much. we are grateful to him, and our whole team now is energized. >> reporter: zion's mom is relieved her son has a new freedom. >> one of the major concerns that i had for him was him growing up and being able to do certain things. and as the independence and not need me forever.

>> but i need you. without you i wouldn't remember to do everything. that's why i have you. >> reporter: zion talked about his hopes for the future. >> convince mom to let me play football. >> i knew that was coming. >> reporter: one remarkable boy. >> before you quit and say, i give up, try everything first. >> reporter: learning to grab hold of his world and sending a message to the rest of us. >> what a story. i'm sure hugs with those arms and hands are even more special. our thanks to nbc's rehema ellis for that report. up next we'll have a look at the stories happening in the day ahead. using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the fruit... veggies... and herbs needed to create a pop-up pick-your-own juice bar

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pro golfer patrick reid hitting the gavel at the new york stock exchange a little too hard. he tweeted quote they told me to give it three good hits, so i did. look at that. >> toss it over to "morning joe" i want to get the stories happening in the day ahead. attorney for bowe bergdahl will

be in court today trying to get the case against him dismissed. the army sergeant was captured by the taliban after walking off his post in 2009. he was freed two years ago. and classes begin at the university of texas today,begin university of texas where it is now legal to carry concealed handguns into buildings. on monday a federal judge denied their request. that does it for us on this wednesday. hope to see you back here tomorrow. "morning joe" starts right now. >> lie after lie after lie. it is impossible to figure out where the clinton foundation ends and the state department begins. it is now abundantly clear that clinton set up business to profit from public office. they sold access and specific