d-day in washington. the eyes of the nation and much of the world watching fired fbi director james comey before congress making his first public remarks since president trump terminated him. reaction to his prepared opening remarks. >> his statement reads more like a tom clancey novel than your usual garden variety congressional testimony. >> we'll tell you what's next and how the white house will counter the comey testimony. and today, the alleged national security agency leaker is expected to plead not guilty to providing a top secret document to a news outlet. new details on the isis-claimed attack in iran. more rain is headed for the

waterlogged sunshine state of florida. and the cavs on the verge of being swept. "early today" starts right now. so good to be with you. i'm frances rivera. james comey's prepared testimony for today's hearing is heard far and wide with allegations against the president that he pressured comey to lift the cloud of the russia probe. president trump viewed the release as confirmation of his claims that comey assured him multiple times he was not under investigation. his personal attorney even said the president feels completely and totally vindicated. nbc news justice has more. >> a dramatic account ov in detail of five one on one conversations with donald trump. the first with president-elect trump january 6. a briefing on the investigation of russia's election meddling and claims about to become public that mr. trump was

involved with prostitutes in moscow, something trump denied. he thought about whether to give assurance mr. trump was not under investigation. that was true, comey says, we did not have an open case on him. i offered that assurance. comey says he decided right then to duck him at his conversations with mr. trump and began typing the notes on a laptop as he rode away from trump tower. next meeting dinner at the white house january 27. comey says the president told him i need loyalty, i expect loyalty. comey says i didn't move, speak or change my facial expression in any way but later answered you will always get honesty from me. he told the thapt the fbi was not investigating mr. trump personally. in his interview with lester holt he said that comey requested the dinner. >> the dinner was arranged. he wanted to stay on. >> reporter: comey says mr.

trump called him and he says he got the feeling it was an evident to have me ask for my job and create some kind of patronage relationship. next february 14 after an intelligence briefing, the day after michael flynn was forced to resign. he quotes the president saying i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he's a good guy. comey says i did not say i would let this go. adding i had understood the president to be requesting that we drop any investigation of flynn. and to whether flynn made false statements about his conversations with russia's ambassador to the u.s. comey says i did not understand the president to be talking about the broader investigation into russia or possible links to his campaign. comey says he remembers leaving the oval office through the door by the grandfather clock and he told only a few people about it because he didn't want to let the fbi investigators know about a request that the fbi had no intention of granting. after that he says he asked

attorney general jeff sessions to prevent any further direct communications with the president but he says sessions did not reply. march 30 comey says the president called him at the fbi and asked what we could do to lift the cloud of the russia allegations adding quote, that he had nothing to do with russia, had not been involved with hookers in russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in russia. comey replied he told congressional leaders the fbi was not investigating mr. trump who responded we need to get that fact out. and added if there was some satellite associates of his who did something wrong it would be good to find that out. two weeks later comey says the president called again and asked what i had done about his request that i get out that he is not personally under investigation. comey says the president added, i have been very loyal to you, very loyal, we had that thing you know. comey says he didn't ask what the president meant by that thing. comey never says in the prepared statement that he thought the president's remarks amounted to obstruction of justice and a

former federal prosecutor says there is no sign of that. >> they create an inference of attempt to influence a pending investigation. that alone is not enough to make obstruction case. but that's a big piece of it. >> pete williams reporting. joining us this morning is the deputy news editor. what do you make of all of this seven-page prepared statement that was released and more so what we anticipate as hearing the words directly from comey adding another dimension? >> i think that it set the stage for his testimony today in that it is very revealing and it's the first public remarks comey made since he was fired. and i think that you know, it's important that he corroborates his previous claim or trump's previous claim he assured him three times he wasn't under investigation. i think today lawmakers and senators will need to know more evidence simply to sort of corroborate whether trump was involved in politically motivating this investigation.

>> but in looking ahead and knowing what we heard from him in these statements how best can that happen? as far as his mind-set, getting into his mind and what kind of questioning will come from the committee and being able to attain that? >> i think they are going to ask for more specifics about his interactions with trump. we have some in this document but we need more than that. we need the totality of the evidence to prove obstruction of justice which i think is not happening and also you know we need more than just his actions were inappropriate or made comey uncomfortable. we need proof he did something illegal or it was an inappropriate encounter. >> do you think we can expect more complete answers from comey given that he's no longer there in government and that he's in front of actually hearing from him, hearing from him directly in his own words? >> that's a great point. it could go one of two ways, say i'm no longer a government official i have nothing to lose unlike dan coats yesterday.

but he could also say we have robert mueller as a special counsel to this investigation so i defer more information to him and i defer this investigation to him so i'm not saying more than the public statement. >> it's interesting to see the compared to what we heard yesterday with the committee hearing. let's take a listen with the top intel officials there speaking. >> i'll ask both of you the same question. why are you not answering these questions, is there an inthe vocation of executive privilege? is there or not? >> not that i'm aware. >> why are you not answering? >> i feel it's appropriate. >> what you feel isn't relevant, admiral. what you feel isn't the answer. >> trying to squeeze thens as out of the officials there. >> i'm sorry? >> really trying to squeeze those answers out of the intel officials there, to no success. no avail. >> right. well, i think it's also important to note that according to an abc news poll from yesterday, 61% of americans think trump fired comey to protect himself so i think that

senators and americans alike need more answers than we have now and because comey released his public remarks ahead of time he is giving them an opportunity to formulate questions ahead of his testimony today. if he simply said i don't feel comfortable answering that then that would look bad on his part. >> are we going to hear more from donald trump via tweets or the rnc? >> yes. the rnc released talking points last night to their allies to sort of help them prepare counter arguments to comey. i think we've seen donald trump's penchant for tweeting so i would not be surprised if he tweeted. >> don't see it different. alexi, thank you so much. appreciate it. this morning a special edition of "the today show" with savannah guthrie live on capitol hill leading up to james comey's testimony. and nbc news will bring you live coverage of the hearing beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 pacific. i want to switch gears to mother nature where the rain

soaked sunshine state may get relief following three days of rain and thunderstorms. nbc meteorologist bill karins, timely in the weekend smd sunshine for them? >> mixed with a couple storms. not perfect but more typical instead of the deluge the last couple days. the storm is also affecting the coastal carolinas today. not great beach weather. there is fantastic weather through the middle of the country, the humidity is low, temperatures are warm, nearly perfect. same with the southeast today, temperatures unusually cool but beautiful though because there is little humidity. you know that's not going to last. even friday the great weather continues, you notice the heat begins to build good morning, i'm erika martine with a look at your temperatures. we are trending a lot warmer by today and tomorrow. a mix of sun and clouds for the suburbs. trending in the 80s on saturday.

but on sunday we're going to. top out in the 90s for many. a heat wave already on track. back to you. all eyes on the bill cosby trial. a circle of prayer for a boy caught in the cross fires. now police say they are close to making an arrest. >> also convenience store takedown. we'll hear from the good samaritan who took on an armed robber. and going smoke free, another beach town bans lighting up on the boardwalk. plus the powerball jackpot jumps dwen. weather, traffic and the news you need to know before you head out the door at 4:30 after "early today." and bill cosby's team goes after his accuser. neutrogena® ultra sheer. no other sunscreen works better or feels so good. clinically proven helioplex® provides unbeatable uva/uvb protection to help prevent early skin aging and skin cancer

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court today. an attorney for reality winner tells nbc news she will enter a plea of not guilty. south korean officials say north korea fired several projectiles off of its east coast today. the south is reportedly suspending deployment of the thaad missile defense system pending environmental assessment. former president obama and canadian prime minister trudeau met for dinner at a trendy montreal restaurant. mr. obama was in town for a speech. you've seen that photo circulating around. leading the news, the islamic state is claiming responsibility for twin attacks in iran's capital. gun men stormed parliament in tehr tehran, a suicide bomber attacked a shrine. 42 people were hurt. nbc has not verified isis claim that iran's guard blames saudi arabia for their alleged support of militants. navy ships have found wreckage and victims from a

military plane that went missing with at least 120 people on board. the plane was headed from the port city of myeik to yangon. the aircraft lost contact 29 minutes after takeoff. it was carrying mostly military members and their families. officials are investigating the incident. for a second day the woman accusing bill cosby of sexual assault was on the stand in his trial in pennsylvania. cosby's defense continued cross-examining her focusing on what it believes are inconsistencies in her story. cosby has repeatedly denied all allegations. stephanie gosk has more on the testimony. >> reporter: at times bill cosby seemed relaxed, joking with security while his accuser faced tough questions from defense attorney who tried to pick apart her story. constand alleges the comedian drugged and sexually assaulted

her in 2004, pointing out that constand's statements to police changed, specifically the date of the assault. she focused on two private dinners at cosby's home. at one point saying you hadn't told the officers that you had wine and brandy and sat by a fire and put your legs near one another. constand said police never asked. she questioned her, you knew he was interested in you romantically. constand replied, no, ma'am. the district attorney hit back hard after she highlighted phone records, line by line to show constand called cosby 53 times after the alleged assault. asked was he on the board of trustees a at the place where you were employed? yes. so when he called you, you called back. yes. the prosecution also called constand's mother to the stand. she tearfully told the jury that cosby apologized to her and andrea on the phone saying i'm a

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championship in three years. now to the brits heading to the polls for the uk's third major nation wide election. it was called by theresa may hoping to boost the hold in parliament. the labor party has closed the gap in the polls. the election on the heels of terror attacks in london and manchester as well as last year's shocking brexit vote. lucy, what were corbin's messages? >> reporter: good morning. polls open just over two hours ago but the last final day of campaigning saw the prime minister theresa may switch to a brexit pitch saying her conservative party will help build a stronger, fairer and more prosperous britain. opposition labor leader corbin framed it as a choice between hope and fear. this is a rather borg election, frances, when theresa may called for the snap poll in april, back then her party enjoyed a

20-point advantage over the labor party. she thought that a land slide victory would give her a mandate to do the brexit negotiations the way she wants. they want a clean break, the opposition party is likely to maintain some ties with the eu, but that lead has narrowed in recent weeks and a victory for may with a small margin could be a big embarrassment because of the surprise snap poll. for the ordinary voters it's about bread and butter issues, health care, jobs, the economy and of course security on the heels of those three horrific terrorist attacks striking britain in the past three months. >> thank you. coming up, how ariana grande continues to raise money for the victims of the manchester attack. a room with a view but no roof? details next. the sun'll come ot tomorrow... ♪ for people with heart failure, tomorrow is not a given.

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in manchester. the pop star releasing an album "one love manchester" 39 songs performed live at her benefit concert. it is now available on spotify title and apple music. how would you like a room with a view of the rolling hills of switzerland. here is the catch. you go out there, you got the view but there is no roof. this zero-star hotel part of an art project to reimagine the country's hospitality. they give an open view of the landscape. the hotel opens tomorrow. you can book your stay for $300 per night. i'm sure that would come with their own meteorologist. >> i would need a bug net. >> you know, i would stick with the meteorologist, see if rain is coming. >> it's the bugs. >> keep it here. this is "early today." gone, pe. and one of us used up all the sunscreen! i wonder who... .

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james comey will take center stage today. legal slug fest. bill cosby's accuser spends hours on the stand ask her mother claims cosby confessed during a phone call. and the top prize is rolling over once again after no one hit last night's jackpot. which means there's time for you to become a million marry. good morning. i'm tracy davidson. >> and i'm vai sikahema. it continues to remain cool this morning. let's get to erika martin with the most accurate forecast in town. >> good morning, a good reason to wake up is this weather that's developing ask also to play the e mega million.

current temperature is 55 degrees. dew point is at 50. so a really nice start to the day. a little chilly. but temperatures are going to climb nicely. we'll be seasonal for today. look at the bottom of your screen for the most am rat forecast. philadelphia neighborhood temperatures right now seeing plenty of 50s across the board. upper 40s for park side. graduate hospital. port richmond at 71. and current temperature is 52 degrees for you. and jersey shore, a lot of us will be there by this weekend into monday. summers point, current temperature of 50 degrees. here is your temperature trend for the next couple days. i'm tracking a heat wave. here's jessica with traffic. watching the expressway right now. approaching the vine, here at the bottom of the screen, you can see the signs and flashing lights. we're seeing some of the ramp restrictions from the expressway

closure and that lasts until the 5:00 mark. so another half an hour or so before we see everything clear out of the way. east and westbound on the vine, that's still closed this morning. we're7c[ñ watching a crash arou church street. they are diverting traffic. that intersection is closed. route 202 looks good. ten minutes in both directions. today former chief james comey takes center stage in a hearing in washington, d.c. he will tell his side of the story and clear the air with president trump and what happened inside the white house before he was fired. katie is live for us in the digital operations center. we got a look at comey's prepared statement and now the anticipation is building for this hearing. >> that's right. i've been going through it this morning. here's the sme