♪ let it shine, let it shine, let it shine ♪ a late night vigil in charlottesville seeking calm, and corporate ceos abandon president trump. >> >> n symbols inside the u.s. capitol may be next, as a watch of confederate statues continue to be removed. a black hawk goes down as the search for crew members continues. a suspected car thief falls to his death. and a record-setting snowflake. "early today" starts right now. good to be with you. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena.

overnight, hundreds upon hundreds of mourners gathered at the university of virginia in charlottesville. and with candles in hand, the peaceful crowd chanted and broke into song honoring the lives lost on saturday with white supremacist groups clashed with counter protesters on their campus. marchers say they walked the same path as those white nationalists to take their town and campus back. more on that in a moment. plus, the emotional tribute to 32-year-old heather heyer. >> but it is the president's reaction that continues to dog the white house. america's top business leaders issued a stunning rebuke, walking away from president trump's advisory councils, forcing him to pull the plug on them. nbc's kristen walker starts us off this morning. >> reporter: facing a full-scale rebellion by the ceos he once called colleagues, president trump announced he's disbanding two of his advisory business councils, rather than putting pressure on the business people of the manufacturing council and strategy and policy forum, i am

ending both. thank you all. the president trying to get ahead of a mass exodus from both councils. eight of the business leaders previously announced they were out because of the president's reaction to charlottesville. after president trump again equated white supremacists with counter protesters. >> not all of those people were neonazis, believe me. >> reporter: the latest controversy resulted in a decision to disband. they called the white house with the news. the president dumping those business leaders publicly, before they had the chance to announce the decision. the ceos releasing their own statement, intolerance, racism and violence have no place in this country. jpmorgan's ceo jamie dimon writing, sit a leader's role in business or government to bring people together, not tear them apart. the nation's top labor leader also lashing out. >> we believed that the

symbolism of being soeassociate with that spirited defense of bigotry was unacceptable. >> reporter: it's a punch in the gut to mr. trump, a billionaire former ceo who ran as the jobs president. >> he needed corporate america to back his claims that he was a businessman president who could get thing doens with their help. now they have turned their backs on him. >> reporter: the president's surrogates largely silent. the vice president rushing to his defense. what is happened in charlottesville was a tragedy. and the president has been clear on this tragedy and so have a. >> reporter: both former bush presidents saying, america must always reject racial bigotry, anti-semitism and hatred in all forms. >> pathetic, suspect it? the president of the united states needs to condemn these kind of hate groups. >> reporter: a cascade of criticism that could further stall the president's agenda. >> i think the entire legislative agenda is in peril

by calamities all of donald trump's making. >> reporter: this morning, some senior administration officials are still fuming after the president's comments on tuesday. and in a sign his inner circle may be getting smaller, hope hicks will serve as his interim communications director until a permanent replacement can be found. frances? >> kristen, thank you. we've learned this morning that vice president mike pence will be joining president trump at camp david, cutting his south america trip short. but it's internal strife within the administration leading head looins, with "the washington post" reporting that john kelly has been rocked by the president's lack of discipline, including his charlottesville response. as reuters writes on white house aides looking for an exit strat jich y -- strategy and steve bannon opens up, vowing to fight democrats on race. with more is edward lawrence.

>> reporter: there's a lot of soul searching going on right now inside the white house. so many executives resigned from the business councils that the president disbanded two of them, as you heard. kristen welker say. the president also seems to be on an island with his remarks that both sides were responsible for the violence in charlottesville, virginia. those comments energized the alt-right. the president learned that chief of staff john kelly was displayed and frustrated at the remarks and comments that were made there. not one republican lawmaker would go on tv to defend the president's statements. >> our booking team, and they're good, reached out to republicans of all stripes across the country today. we couldn't get anybody to come in here because we thought in balance someone should do that. >> we invited every single republican senator. we asked a dozen house republicans, and we asked half

dozen former republican elected officials and none of them agreed to discuss this issue. >> reporter: it's being reported that staffers are looking for an exit strategy within the white house. however, we have not seen any mass resignations related to that. one aide, steve bannon, who is reportedly rumored on his way out, told a progressive news outlet he welcomes the fight with democrats over the race issue, saying that they will counter with economic nationalism. phillip, frances? >> edward lawrence, thank you. this morning, one senator is taking a stand against those confederate statues that seemed to spark the initial protest in charlottesville. this time, taking aim at those standing in washington's capitol. democrat cory booker saying he would introduce a bill to remove several of the statues, adding this is just one step. his move comes as work accelerates across the country to take action. crews in baltimore took down four confederate markers,

avoiding violent protests like those in charlottesville. >> on monday morning, i spoke with the president's city council. i said the climate of this nation, that it's important we move quickly and quietly. >> workers in birmingham, alabama, boarded up the confederate tower there. the mayor of richmoar richmond,, says he wants to see the removal of his city's monuments. the governor of virginia also called for the removal across his state. in charlottesville, a thousand people attended the memorial for heather heyer, the woman fatally hit on saturday. many honored her by wearing purple, her favorite color. and heather's father praised her as a loving, passionate person. >> she loved people. she wanted equality. she wanted to put down hate.

and for my part, we just need to stop all this stuff and forgive each other. >> heather's mother also spoke optimistic at the legacy her daughter leaves behind. >> they tried to kill my child to shut her up. well, guess what? you just magnified her. this is just the beginning of heather's legacy. i would rather have my child. but by golly, if i've got to give her up, we're going to make it count. >> and on friday, there will be another memorial service for the two virginia state troopers who died in a helicopter crash that saturday. the u.s. coast guard continues its search this morning for five army soldiers missing since their black hawk helicopter went down in hawaii. the marines and honolulu fire department are also taking part in the search. officials say the helicopter went missing tuesday night during a training mission. a debris field was found a short

time later, but no sign of those on board. officials say the effort is first and foremost a search and rescue mission, but the cause of the crash coming secondary. hurricane girt is creating dangerous cons on the northeastern coast, in new jersey, a powerful rip current nearly pulled a young girl out to sea. the girl's mother and grandmother watching in panic, as lifeguards made that rescue. they say the riptide struck suddenly and caught them off guard. let's turn now to meteorologist bill karins with a look at our day ahead. >> yesterday, we had nine reported tornados in southern minnesota. those thunderstorms continue thunderstorm, trolling all the way down through southern portions of oklahoma and northern arkansas. later today, 10 million people at risk of severe weather. one area in the northern dwrgre lakes portions of indiana,

michigan and ohio. isolated severe weather reports, wind damage, maybe small hail. it's still hot and humid in the southern half of the country. @ñ you have to say.

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[ laughter ] here's at the iowa state fair, the annual cow chip throwing contest. the winner threw his chip 105 feet, taking home the cow chip crown. so hope there's a lot of purel there afterwards. >> the things that people throw, good for them. congratulations. leading the news, a horrific crash along a major highway caught on tape in kansas. footage released by police shows a semi truck ramming into a wall, bursting into flames. police say the driver was briefly trapped inside the cabin, but other motorists stopped to help him out. he only suffered minor injuries after that. a medical issue with the driver may have caused that accident. it's the third trash in just five weeks. what started out as a police chase ended in tragedy when a suspected car thief fell off of

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the smash and grab robbery straight out of the movies, as the moped riding thieves used slj hammers to knock off a jewelry store. what is can you tell us about this heist and what they got away with? >> reporter: that's right, frances. a brazen daylight smash and grab robbery in one of london's most expensive neighborhoods. and the gang of six men on mopeds were wielding sledge hammers, raided a high-end jewelry store, smashing the display cabinets and ransacking the place.

video footage shows the gang outside the store, smoke pouring from the front door. you can see the suspects, all dressed in black and loot in hand, make their getaway on mopeds. one of them casually slinging a hammer over his shoulder. the value of the jewelry stolen hasn't been revealed, but a spokesman confirmed a manhunt has been launched by the police. the exclusive jewelry store, popular with the rich and famous, is located next to the harrod's department store. it appeared in a documentary showcasing their jewelry, with a necklace worth $1.3 million. >> we're real curious to hear what they got away with. just ahead, the hottest food on a stick at this year's texas state fair.

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take a look at this. ♪ [ laughter ] >> wow. always on camera. >> and a look may say it all. >> that's right. the state fair of texas has announced ten food finalists for 13th annual big tex choice awards. they included the fat and smooth, it's three deep fried cream puffs drizzled with sugar, chocolate and caramel. a bacon burger, sandwiched between two funnel cakes. and fried fudge crowny sheet cake, topped with dr pepper icing. kettle corn dusted with powder. and deep fried froot loops.

and marshmallows topped with glaze. and fried chickle noodle soup on a stick, served with chicken broth on the side. i don't know how they do that. but the winner will be crowned on august 27th. >> good eats. >> it is. >> amazing. here's a case where, you know, carrots are more important than others. a woman lost her diamond ring in the garden 13 years ago. but this week it turned up on a carrot. 84-year-old mary brown says she replaced the ring without telling her husband who died five years ago. a case where carrots are important when it comes to rings, but even more so in this case. >> incredible story. >> this is "early today." 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage,

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we had some emergency construction here on the westbound side of the expressway. here is the expressway. right underneath you can see some of these lane restrictions here, not seeing a lot of

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