but if you're looking for you t "first look" is up next. if you want to hear the best case for hillary clinton, you want to hear the very real stakes in this election, i would advise you to link up to michelle's speech from earlier today in new hampshire. she was pretty good. i mean, she -- that's why you get married, to sbroouf your gene pool, so your kids end up being superior to you. >> it may have been one of those defining moments of the 2016 presidential campaign in a personal and powerful speech, michelle obama takes on donald trump. >> and trump, meanwhile, claims the attacks on him are

conspiracy. he's lashing out on his accusers, the media, and the clintons. plus, the state of emergency remains in place in north carolina as flooding continues across the state. waters are expected to peak in some areas today, but the extent of the damage is still unclear. good morning to you, it is friday, october 14th. thanks for joining us today, i'm betty nguyen, alongside alex witt and louis burgdorf. a defiant donald trump battled back against allegations of unwanted sexual touching of a string of women yesterday. trump suggested a conspiracy of lies is being leveled against him by the political establishment. he also singled out an accuser on twitter saying, "why didn't the writer of the 12-year-old article in "people" magazine

mention the incident in her story? because it did not happen." he also talked about the women and claims in general for thousands of cheering supporters. >> think of it, she's doing a story on melania who's pregnant at the time and donald trump, our one-year anniversary, and she said i made inappropriate advances. and by the way, the area was a public area. people all over the place. take a look. you take a look. look at her, look at her words. you tell me what you think. i don't think so. i don't think so. the claims are preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense, and logic. we already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time. very soon.

i will not allow the clinton machine to turn our campaign into a discussion of their slanders and lies. i knew these false attacks would come. i knew this day would arrive. it's only a question of when. this is a conspiracy against you, the american people, and we cannot let this happen or continue. >> campaigning in manchester, new hampshire, yesterday, michelle obama warned a very stark and personal terms against electing donald trump, referring to only to him as hillary clinton's opponents. calling his comments about women over the years cruel and frightening. mrs. obama said it would be dishonest and disingenuous, this is all just a bad stredream.

>> the fact is, in this election we have a candidate for president of the united states who over the course of his lifetime and the course of his campaign has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning, i simply will not repeat anything here today. and last week we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women, and i can't believe that i'm saying that a candidate for president of the united states has bragged about sexually assaulting women. and i have to tell you that i can't stop thinking about this. it has shaken me to my core in a way that i couldn't have predicted. this is not something that we can ignore. it's not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season.

because this was not just a lewd conversation. this wasn't just locker room banter. this was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turned on the tv. >> following michelle obama's speech, hillary clinton tweeted, flotus, i'm in awe, thanks for putting into words what's in so many of our hearts. clinton also had this to say in her field office in san francisco. >> i know there's a lot of negativity right now generated by the other side, but if you haven't seen it, i hope you will see michelle obama's speech today in new hampshire, and once again she had only a compelling and strong case about the stakes in the election, who we are as

americans, and we can't let this pessimism, this dark and divisive and dangerous vision of america take hold in anybody's heart. we have to keep lifting up this campaign. >> former president bill clinton was asked to weigh in on the allegations against donald trump during a campaign stop in iowa yesterday. >> i think my job is why hillary should be president. i think michelle obama gave the best speech of the campaign. i have nothing else to say. president obama also went after donald trump hard last night, but it was clear much of his focus was on down ballot races. in columbus, ohio, the president was campaigning for hillary clinton, but also for senate candidate ted strickland, who's currently trailing by double digits in the polls. >> i understand that ted's opponent has finally withdrawn his support from donald trump after looking at the polling. now that it's politically expedient, but he supported him

up until last week. i guess it was okay when trump was attacking minorities, suggesting that mexicans were rapists and muslims were unpatriotic, insulting gold star moms and making fun of disabled americans. i guess that didn't quite tip it over the edge. why was that okay? when finally the guy that they nominated and they endorsed and they supported is caught on tape saying things that no decent person would even think, much less say, much less brag about, much less laugh about or joke about, much less act on, you can't wait until that finally happens and then say, oh, that's

too much. that's enough. and think that somehow you are showing any kind of leadership and deserve to be elected to the united states senate. you don't get points for that. >> the women in donald trump's family are defending him. melania tweeted a letter from a lawyer demanding a retraction and apology for the "people" magazine story accusing her husband of unwanted kissing and groping, a claim that trump denies, but in a statement online, "people's" editor in chief stood by the story. ivanka did not make any direct mention of the claims against her father, but did share what she's learned from the political process. >> nothing prepares you for having your parent run for president of the united states, but especially if you've never been in politics before, so the

whole thing is bizarre and vicious, vicious. i thought that i was, you know, had sort of cut my teeth in new york real estate and, you know, can take some punches, but this is a blood sport, politics. >> well, vice presidential nominee mike pence defended his running mate yesterday while also facing a difficult question about his running mate's comments about women at a local station in ohio. >> you know, it really is extraordinary. as the media spends so much time on unsubstantiated allegations against my running mate, allegations he has categorically denied, they deny the hard evidence or any coverage of the hard evidence of nothing less than the corruption and the deceit of the clintons and the clinton machine. >> there was a girl scout troop came to our station the other day for a tour and afterward there was an 11-year-old girl

said completely unsolicited, she said this, when i hear those words and look in the mirror, they make me feel bad about myself. again, she said that totally unsolicited. what would you say to that 11-year-old girl? >> well, i would say to any one of my kids and any children in this country, donald trump and i are committed to a safer and more prosperous future for their family. >> according to "the new york times" several of the republican party's largest finance ears are calling on -- at the same time likely voters to choose between democrat and republican candidates in their congressional district. democrats are up by six points, 48 to 42%. in a speech yesterday, paul ryan laid out the gop policy agenda and ignored the controversy surrounding trump.

newt gingrich, who still supports trump, lashed out at the republican nominee yesterday for his ongoing feud with ryan. >> one thing i'll say about trump, who i admire and try to help as much as i can, there's a big trump and little trump. donald trump has one opponent, hillary clinton, not paul ryan, not anybody else, it's hillary clinton. i think there's a big donald trump as a historic figure. this is the guy who riles the republican party, beats 16 other candidates, set a whole new series of national debates, the people thought it was impossible. every once in a while he reverts to this smaller figure who says things that make no sense. i think that if he could discipline himself to stay big, he would win this election by a shocking nar gin. >> during a fundraiser in san francisco yesterday, hillary clinton responded to the sexual assault allegations against donald trump and the negative turn of the 2016 campaign.

>> the whole world has heard trump brag about how he mistreats women and the disturbing stories just keep coming. but it's more than just the way he degrades women as horrible as that is. there's hardly any part of america that he has not targeted. now, it makes you want to turn off the news. it makes you want to unplug the internet. or just look at cat gifs. believe me, i get it. in the last few weeks i've watched a lot of cats do a lot of weird and interesting things. but we have a job to do, and it will be good for people and for cats. we have a job to do. >> who doesn't love a good cat gif? wikileaks has released its fifth batch of e-mails allegedly taken

from clinton campaign chairman john podesta. they have not been independently authenticated by nbc news. the clinton campaign and u.s. intelligence officials have blamed russia for the breach. the latest release includes 2,000 e-mails reveals as clinton was being prepared for a presidential run in 2014, the possibility was raised of removing former secretary of state's name from her foundation, suggests dropping her name from the foundation would be a smart political move ahead of her announcement. in a separate e-mail from 2012 an employee from the clinton foundation told several aids qatar wanted five minutes to meet with bill clinton in new york to give him a $1 million birthday president, saying qatar is looking for suggestions from the foundation to place its $20 million gathered to invest in haiti. another e-mail allegedly involved p podesta weighing in on the legal battle between apple and the fbi earlier this

year on access of the iphone used by one of the san bernardino shooters last year. asked podesta if he would take a stance against the fbi, saying clinton and her campaign didn't seem to want to get involved. i think we're inclined to stay out of this and push it back to the companies and usg to dialogue and resolve. during a rally last night, donald trump looked to seize on the latest wikileaks release. >> the hillary clinton documents released by wikileaks just a little while ago make it more clear than ever just how much is at stake on november 8th. the corruption of the clintons knows no limits, and we've known that for a long time. there has never been anything like what's happening in our country. we've never had a thing like this before, and it's a

disgrace, and they ought to be ashamed of themselves. still ahead, for the first time since a dramatic shootout with the police, the man accused has been formally charged. plus, 25 days away from the election and a slew of polls show donald trump has a lot of ground to make up. those stories and a check on weather when we come right back.

americans are buying more and more of everything online. and so many businesses rely on the united states postal service to get it there. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you

now that i work there, i value dothe food even more. i feed it to yoshi because there are no artificial colors, preservatives and it's made with real chicken. i'm so proud to make dog chow natural in davenport, iowa.

the man accused in setting off bombs, ahmad khan rahami, has been charged, he was arrested after a shootout with police 24 days ago in linden, new jersey, and happen hospitalized since then. in a video rahami is sitting up in a hospital bed in newark. his public defender entered not guilty pleas to the charges. justice department officials say there are no plans for him to appear in court for his charges of setting off bombs in new york

and new jersey last month. the threat of massive flooding continues in north carolina in the wake of hurricane matthew. the death toll has risen to 22. yesterday nearly 44,000 people remained without power. the governor says the river is posing the biggest threats, will crest by today, but thousands are homes are already believed to be water logged and for many the biggest challenge will come with cleanup once the waters recede. let's get a check on your weather now with raphael miranda. i pulled out the scarf this morning for the commute to work. it's nice, fall-like. >> yes, good morning, everyone. we are tracking a major storm in the northwest, a parade of storms that will continue into the weekend, very heavy rain and gusty winds. here is a look at future tracker, some of it into northern california, that's good news, probably not much of a drought buster into southern california and the strongest storm moves onshore tomorrow, we could see winds gusting over 90

miles per hour. this storm has tropical originsers was part of a super typhoon. look at the rain we're expecting into the weekend, isolated amounts up to 15 inches in some spots. watching out for mudslide potential through the next few days. alex mentioned the chilly start. temperatures in the low 60s, breezy and sunny. looking good in southern california, 73 in los angeles. couple of storms are possible into the plains, oklahoma city and dallas, and chicago also looking good. lots of sunshine across the midwest. of course, keep in mind if you have travel plans in the northwest, there may be delays from san francisco up to seattle. san francisco maybe seeing its first measurable rain since may. good news in california, dry there. maybe getting mountain snows going this weekend, as well. alex, i know you love that. >> yes. several reasons to smile. rain in california, snow, and this, i cannot wipe the smile off my face. still ahead, nightmare for the nationals. the dodgers pull out all the

stops in game five of their division series. sports is next with louis. more and more of everything online. and so many businesses rely on the united states postal service to get it there. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework... wire... and plants needed to give my shop... a face... no one will forget. see what the power of points can do for your business. learn more at chase.com/ink

now that i work there, i value cadothe food even more.s. i feed it to yoshi because there are no artificial colors, preservatives and it's made with real chicken. i'm so proud to make dog chow natural in davenport, iowa.

americans are buying more and more of everything online. and so many businesses rely on the united states postal service to get it there. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you welcome back. time now for sports. decisive game five of the n.l. division series between the dodgers and the nationals, to our nation's capital. washington took an early lead, 1-0, hoping ace max scherzer could carry them the rest of the way, but ties things up, scherzer out of the game and the nats into a downward spiral.

los angeles gets a three-run lead. while washington burns through six different pitchers, but the nats storm back, plating a pair of runs to cut the deficit to run. dodgers weren't taking any chances after that, sending in closer kenley jensen early. clayton kershaw, with two on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, the ace making his first relief appearance in seven years gets the job done, striking out the final washington batter and closing out the 4-3 win to send the dodgers to the n.l. conference series. l.a. will visit chicago for game one saturday night. i know alex is very happy about that. turning now to the nfl and the chargers hosting the super bowl champion broncos on thursday night football. the san diego quarterback philip rivers aired it out for 178 yards and a touchdown in the game. four field goals and a safety for a score of 21-3 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. the broncos finally found the

end zone after that, then tack on a field goal and recover the ensuing onside kick for the shot to tie things up. san diego nearly squanders away another game in the fourth quarter, but the hail mary is incomplete, the chargers hang on, snapping the broncos' record of 15 straight divisional road victories. final score is 21-13. finally we turn to pittsburgh and the nhl where the stanley cup champion penguins raise their title banner before hosting the washington capitals in last night's season opener. as for the matchup, 2-2 stalemate at the end of regulation continued through overtime, setting up a shootout to decide the game. pittsburgh was the first to strike. marc-andre fleury, who made 39 saves in regulation and o.t. block, pittsburgh begins its championship defense with a 3-2 win after the shootout. nice to see hockey back on tv.

>> that time of year. >> my rangers. still ahead, much more from michelle obama's powerful speech on the campaign trail yesterday. plus, donald trump revives his attacks on hillary clinton's health, wondering out loud what would happen if she faints on a foreign trip. with less than a month until election day, growing concern in some swing states about paperless voting machines. we have the details on that one coming up next. of everything online. and so many businesses rely on the united states postal service to get it there. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even mer-mutts. (1940s aqua music)

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i knew these false attacks would come. i knew this day would arrive. it's only a question of when. this is a conspiracy against

you, the american people, and we cannot let this happen or continue. >> donald trump defends himself against allegations of inappropriate touching, claiming that he's never even met some of his female accusers. plus -- >> and i can't believe that i'm saying that a candidate for president of the united states has bragged about sexually assaulting women. and i have to tell you that i can't stop thinking about this. it has shaken me to my core in a way that i couldn't have predicted. >> michelle obama takes on donald trump, putting in very personal terms why she says he should not be elected president. plus, the state of the race with 25 days until election day. some new polls out this morning. we'll bring you the headlines.

hey there, good morning, everyone, it's friday, october 14th. i'm alex witt along scythe betty nguyen and louis burgdorf. and we begin with the speech many people can mark a turning point in the election, campaigning in new hampshire yesterday, michelle obama warned in stark and personal terms against electing donald trump, referring to only to him as hillary clinton's opponent. the first lady called trump's comments about women over the years cruel and frightening. she said she couldn't just continue with the normal campaign speech after the developments with trump after this last week. >> i have to tell you that i listened to all of this and i feel it so personally, and i'm sure that many of you do, too, particularly the women. the shameful comments about our bodies. the disrespect of our ambitions

and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. it is cruel. it's frightening. and the truth is, it hurts. it hurts. it reminds us of stories we heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how back in their day the boss could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office and even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough. we thought all of that was ancient history, didn't we? and so many have worked for so many years to end this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect, but here we are, 2016, and we're hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail. we are drowning in it. and to dismiss this as everyday

locker room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere. the men that you and i know don't treat women this way. they are loving fathers, who are sickened by the thought of their daughters being exposed to this kind of vicious language about women. they are husbands and brothers and sons who don't tolerate women being treated and demeaned and disrespected. and like us, these men are worried about the impact this election is having on our boys who are looking for role models of what it means to be a man. >> president obama also went after donald trump hard last night, but it was clear that much of his focus was also on down ballot races. campaigning at the ohio democratic party state dinner in columbus last night, the president heaped praise on hillary clinton and on democratic senate candidate ted strickland, who's currently

trailing senator rob portman by double digits in the polls. >> i understand that ted's opponent finally withdrawn his support from donald trump after looking at the polling. now that it's politically expedient, but he supported him up until last week. so i guess it was okay when trump was attacking minorities, suggesting that mexicans were rapists and muslims were unpatriotic and insulting gold star moms and making fun of disabled americans. i guess that didn't quite tip it over the edge. why was that okay? we don't even think that most republican politicians actually really believe that donald trump's qualified to be president.

you know, i know, because i talk to them. they are all like, man, this is really bad. we're just trying to get through this. so the problem is not that all republicans think the way this guy does. the problem is, is that they've been riding this tiger for a long time. they've been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years. primarily for political expedience. >> a defiant donald trump battled back against allegations of unwanted sexual touching from several women yesterday, making his case at a string of intense rallies in florida and ohio from the afternoon into the night. trump suggested a conspiracy of lies as being leveled against him by the political establishment. he also singled out an accuser on twitter saying, "why didn't the writer of the 12-year-old article mention the incident in her story? because it did not happen."

trump also spoke about the woman and the claims in general before thousands of cheering supporters. >> think of it, she's doing this story on melania, who's pregnant at the time. and donald trump, our one-year anniversary. and she said i made inappropriate advances. and, by the way, the area was a public area. people all over the place. take a look. you take a look. look at her, look at her words. you tell me what you think. i don't think so. i don't think. the claims are preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense, and logic. we already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time very soon. i will not allow the clinton

machine to turn our campaign into a discussion of their slanders and lies. >> hillary clinton responded to a lawsuit about her use of a private e-mail server yesterday, submitting formal answers under penalty of perjury, saying 21 times in response to request for information that she did not recall, which are similar to her previous statements to the fbi. at the same time, donald trump continued to hammer the issue of her handling classified materials and suggested the fbi will also be looked into over it. while he also made an unusually detailed prediction when attacking clinton's stamina. >> she should be locked up. she should. and if i win, i am going to ask my attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to look into her crimes. and we're also going to look

into the investigation. in other words, we're going to investigate the investigation, because what happened is a disgrace. she doesn't have the strength. she doesn't have the aptitude. she doesn't have what it takes. and you know what, she's over in china, if she goes down in tiananmen square, they'll just leave her there. they are tough people. they are just going to leave her there. they are not going to help her up. they'll say, let her come up when she's ready. these are tough people. with 25 days to go until the election, new national polling shows donald trump with a lot of ground to make up. the fox news poll taken the three days after the debate shows hillary clinton with a seven-point lead, 45% to trump's 38%. gary johnson is at 7%, jill stein coming in at 3%. in a two-way race, clinton is

nearing a majority at 49%, trump at 41%. trump passing a double-digit loss since last week, 12 points with women over 45, 11 points with senior citizens, ten points among suburban women and eight points with regular church goers. a total of 68% say clinton is qualified to be%, 49% saying not at all, 54% say clinton is a good role model for children, 43% say she is not. 20% say trump is a good role model, 77% he is not. about two-thirds say clinton, just 23% say trump and that is a swing of 20 points in clinton's direction in just a week. but donald trump has a different take on the polling, citing an outlier on the campaign trail. >> the polls are showing us in a dead heat. don't believe what you say. the new highly respected

rasmussen poll just came out this morning, just released, shows up nationally two points ahead, trump. >> that's a look at the national race. now let's look at some of the latest polling from battleground states. donald trump has a slight edge in the state of ohio, according to the nbc/"wall street journal" poll, 42% to hillary clinton's 41%. while clinton has the advantage in north carolina, 45% to trump at 41%, johnson is taking up double the margin with 9 points, but a closer race in the tar heel state, clinton 45 to trump 43, johnson with 5. looking to new hampshire, clinton has a six-point lead, 45% to 39%, johnson at 9%. headed out west, a poll taken in nevada hands clinton the advantage 45% over trump's 39%.

10 for johnson. while in utah, a different candidate is stirring up the race, trump has a six-point edge over clinton 34% to 28% with independent evan mcmullin 20%, gary johnson with 9%. two big events on the financial calendar today, new comments from the fed and earnings reports from the big banks. nancy hungerford joins us live from london. bring us to speed on what to expect today. >> well, it's going to be a busy trading day for investors, despite it being friday, because we have wells fargo, citigroup, and jpmorgan among banks reporting earnings before the opening bell today. expectations are rather muted with analysts declined in eps for all three lenders, part due to slower loan growth, a lot down to the low interest rate environment and what that means to profitability, but look for heightened attention around wells fargo, of course.

we've been looking quite closely at the recent departure of the ceo for the cross selling scandals, so it will be interesting to see what the bank has to say about that one today around their earnings call. elsewhere, fed back in focus, we're expecting comments from janet yellen, so look out for any indications of the fed's rate hike time line. again, markets have been priced in at least one rate hike expected to come in december. you'll also want to keep an eye on verizon and yahoo shares today, because verizon has said it has a reasonable basis to withdraw from its $4.8 billion bid to acquire yahoo. they are saying legally that could reopen talks, so even if the deal doesn't crumble, you may be looking at renegotiation of the terms and value on that one. plenty to keep investors busy today. back to you for now. >> nancy hungerford live from london, thanks so much.

still ahead, donald trump is already talking about possible voter fraud, so what happens if there is a need to recount the vote? we'll take you to one of the 15 states that does not keep a paper trail. plus, keeping an eye on the rising water in north carolina after hurricane matthew. records have already been broken and some rivers haven't even crested yet. we'll be right back. americans are buying more and more of everything online. and so many businesses rely on the united states postal service to get it there. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service.

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americans are buying more and more of everything online. and so many businesses rely on the united states postal service to get it there. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you the donald trump campaign is focusing its attention on key battleground states, including pennsylvania, which is one of 15 states where there are concerns about the machines voters will cast ballots on should the vote be very close. cynthia mcfadden has more. >> hello, pittsburgh! >> we love the state of pennsylvania. >> reporter: polling experts say pennsylvania is critical to this year's election. >> both the trump campaign and the clinton campaign know if donald trump wins pennsylvania he's almost certainly going to be the next president of the united states. >> reporter: clinton is currently leading in the state, but donald trump has not given

up. campaigning there this week at a massive rally. >> we have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us and is not taken away from us. >> reporter: the seeds of doubt he started spreading this summer, though he's never come forward with any specific evidence of fraud. >> the only way we can lose pennsylvania is if cheating goes on. >> reporter: experts say large scale fraud is unlikely, but if there are claims of cheating or other irregularities in pennsylvania, that could be a big problem. because pennsylvania is one of 15 states that uses some electronic voting machines without a paper record of the vote, which means if challenges are raised, there are no way to do a recount by hand. >> i think it's intelligence for a secretary of state, anywhere in the country now, not to have a paper trail for their votes, not to have some back-up system. >> reporter: marian snyder is in charge of pennsylvania voting.

she says she has not been told of any specific threats by homeland security. if donald trump does raise concerns about the vote in pennsylvania, what are you going to do? you can't go back and recount in two-thirds of the state. >> i think that he would have to have some evidence -- i think that those concerns would be unfounded, because the risk of that happening is very low, as i've described. >> reporter: is that a satisfactory answer to you? these machines need to be swapped out at some point, don't they? >> there's a lot of legacy systems in use in the united states, and they will all probably reach the end of their useful life at the same time, and that's why we need to invest in the election's infrastructure, so i still think that voters can have confidence in the outcome of the election. >> reporter: that's not what she said as a private lawyer a decade ago, when she sued the state of pennsylvania on behalf of a group of citizens, claiming machines without paper backups

violated the pennsylvania constitution. the pennsylvania supreme court disagreed. >> at the risk of being gloomy and doomy, if you end up in a close election and you have a jurisdiction where there is no paper ballot record, what do you do? what do you do? decide we're not going to count that jurisdiction? i don't think that's going to go over well. >> reporter: no one would disagree about that. >> our thanks to cynthia mcfadden for that report. louis? now let's get a check on your weather with raphael miranda. rafael, more trouble for a state ravaged by hurricane matthew. >> north carolina can't catch a break, hasn't rained in five days, but the damage already done with the flooding and will continue to some spots in the middle of next week. so we're going to be tracking that over the weekend and throughout probably monday, tuesday, wednesday. major flooding will continue. thankfully we're not seeing real rain today across the carolinas. it will be a beautiful day in

the southeast, atlanta, parade of storms moves into the northwest, rain and damaging winds, especially tomorrow. that's our monster storm moving onshore. we could be seeing winds gusting over 90 miles per hour. anywhere from seattle down the coast, even light rain in san francisco. planning your weekend in the northeast, looking fantastic tomorrow, temperatures warming up a bit, lots of sun there. showers and storms in florida and looking milder in chicago. by sunday we're in the mid 70s in chicago. warm up there. 80s in st. louis, dry in the northeast, drought continues here. you guessed it, rain and wind continue in the pacific northwest. alex? >> thank you for that. still aheed, iraqi forces try again to take back its second largest city from isis. we'll bring you a live report. d. d. are you entirely prepared to retire? plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement with e*trade.

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welcome back, everyone. iran's military has sent two of its warships to the coast after retaliatory strikes against rebels there. according to iranian state media, while the ships are being sent to allegedly protect the country's vessels against piracy, it also coincides with u.s. air strikes. the u.s. destroyed two radar sites yesterday after navy ships in the red sea were fired upon twice earlier this week. the pentagon said it will not tolerate attacks against its tors forces. >> those who threaten u.s. forces should recognize we will

not tolerate threats to our people. we will respond if our forces come under fire. we have taken swift action in this case and should we see a repeat, we'll be prepared to take appropriate action again at the appropriate time. >> the pentagon also stressed that the air strikes were in self-defense and not the beginning of a new campaign by the u.s. in the region. in iraq the country's army is deploying more forces around mosul while it prepares to try to retake one of the islamic state's last strongholds in that country. military vehicles were seen taking positions. iraq's prime minister has previously promised mosul would be liberated from isis control by the end of this year. joining us from london, foreign correspondent, good morning to you, lucy. okay, two and a half months to go until the end of the year. is there an indication when the military is going to carry out a strike on mosul? >> well, that's the million dollar question. we did hear from a spokesman this morning who said basically all the iraqi forces expected to participate in this fight are

ready to go, waiting for the green light from the iraqi prime minister and the u.s. coalition there. there's some 6,000 american soldiers on the ground. they've been helping the iraqis set up the infrastructure for this fight that's been in the making for months and weeks now. mobilizing troops, mobilizing just south of mosul at the airfield. our producer on the ground had seen convoys arriving there as recently as yesterday. not clear at this point when the actual operation would start. it could be days, it could be weeks. the one thing we do know for sure is the significance of this operation. this is the very last largest stronghold that the islamic state has inside iraq. the stakes could not possibly be higher. unclear at this point how long this operation could last and we are preparing for a protracted fight. it really does depend how the islamic state responds to the strikes once they do begin. it's a complicated military,

700,000 iraqi civilians either going to be trapped in the city or trying to flee, potentially isis fighters amongst them and also keep in mind this is an uneasy, fragile alliance of curdish forces, iraqi forces, all who have different objectives in iraq fighting against isis, so it's not going to be an easy operation to carry out. alex? >> complicated to say the least. thank you for that. when we come back, a look at the stories you'll be hearing about in the day ahead. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you

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so before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's get a check on the stories you'll be hearing about in the day ahead. the trial of martin skrelly is set to take preliminary steps today. a pretrial conference will be held on allegations of securities fraud. he's accused of taking $11 million from the pharma company he was heading to pay off investors from a previous hedge fund. the richard nixon library is set to open today, 70 exhibits and more than 300 original artifacts. on the campaign trail, donald trump holds two echbventn north carolina, mike pence will be in florida for two events

there. bill clinton will be making two stops in ohio and his daughter chelsea will be in pittsburgh. >> and that's a wrap for us on this friday, i'm alex witt alongside betty nguyen and >> it reminds us of stories we've heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how back in their day the boss could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office and even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough. we thought all of that was ancient history, didn't we? and so many have worked for so many years to end this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect, but here we are in 2016, and we're hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail. we are drowning in it. >> if you want to hear the best case for hillary clinton, you nt