it's friday, august 5th. coming up on "early today," our post convention poll has hillary clinton doubling her lead over donald trump and barack obama weighs in. >> just listen to what mr. trump has to say and make your own judgement with confident you feel about his ability to manage things like our nuclear triad. >> it's a big day for thousands of olympic athletes hoping to strike gold in rio as we reach the start of the 2016 summer games. "early today" starts right now. good morning you to, everybody. thank you for joining us today. happy friday. all right. so the summer olympics in rio are finally here. festivities are set to start

sayer moan dwla includes the world's greatest sports starts including michael phelps. more on that in just a bit. we want to begin with the race for the white house. the country wakes up this morning with a new snapshot of where the presidential election stands. our latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows hillary clinton beating trump by nine points. 47% for clinton, 38% for trump. that is nearly double the lead last month before the political convention. and that margin remains in a libertarian gary johnson and green party nominee jill stein. this comes as headlines say republicans are panicked and in search for alternatives less than 100 days before election day. even house speaker paul ryan admitted trump's bid is strange since the convention. in an interview, ryan defends his endorsement but says the endorsement is not a blank

to sit by and say nothing. i think i have a duty as a republican leader to defend republican principles and our party's brand. none of these things are ever blank checks. that goes with any situation in any kind of race. but right now i think it's important that the voters -- you know, he won the delegates. he won it fair and square. it's that simple. >> trump made headlines this week saying he's not ready to back two republican party leaders. senator mccain of new hampshire's senator. yesterday was a weird turn for mike pence. he declined to endorse them when asked, he pulled a full 180 offering support for both senators. this is the second consecutive day that the vp nominee distanced himself from his running mate. i told a local virginia station well, of course, i support john mccain and kelly ayotte and all of our republican incumbents. then there is another

trump's wife. a new report raises questions regarding the time line of when malania immigrated to the u.s. and whether it was legal for her to work here. photos place her in the u.s. in 1995, a year before she and trump say she first arrived. but milana trump is firing back saying it's inaccurate reporting that is causing this controversy adding she has always been in full compliance of immigration laws. as the controversiea continues to gain steam. she enjoys a significant advantage among women in our latest poll. 51% to trump's 35%. among 69% to trump's 17%. in fact, clinton is now beating trump in a series of battle ground states including a double digit lead in the state of pennsylvania which is a must-win

president obama giving his assess ment on the battle against isis visiting the pentagon yesterday to meet with top officials before briefing the press. he vowed to maintain an aggressive fight against the terror group. issued another stark warning against donald trump's candidacy. and defended his administration's $400 million payment to iran. we have more. >> reporter: in a press conference at the pentagon designed to tout the obama administration's isis jumped into the 2016 race targeting donald trump. >> i obviously have a very strong opinion about the two candidates who are running here. one is very positive and one is not so much. >> reporter: the president asked about trump's repeated assertions the election will be rigged. >> that's ridiculous. that doesn't make any sense. i don't think anybody takes that seriously. >> reporter: he handed down a stunning warning when asked

for by law. >> if they want to be president, they have to start acting like presidents. >> reporter: but donald trump and republicans put the president on defense, accusing his administration of paying ransom for americans held in iran after revelations the u.s. sent a $400 million cash payment to iran in january coinciding with the release of the americans. >> we have a president who, frankly, is incompetent. >> reporter: the president firing back at his critics decade's old financial dispute. >> we do not pay ransom for hostages. >> reporter: nbc news, the white house. finally, good news on the zika outbreak in miami. thursday was the second day without a new case of homegrown zika in miami. the cdc says the affected area could be as small as 500 square feet. nevertheless though, the race is on to find an effective vaccine.

centers and the walter reed medical research is getting results from three animal trials. but for pregnant women in miami, using bug repel anlt and getting tested regularly is priority. >> reporter: mothers to be in florida have been promised free zika tests. this woman four months pregnant among the lucky first. at several health department offices, women were told no testing here. try another office. because this is my first pregnancy. i want it to be a successful one. >> reporter: rather than wait sfirt, tracy humphries went to quest diagnostics. her husband did, too. >> if i do see mosquitos and think i have any bites, i would get tested again. >> zika test results take two to seven days and may have to be repeated. president obama criticized

>> zika is a serious threat to americans, especially babies, right now. so once again, twint urge the american people to call their members of congress and tell them to do their job. >> reporter: kelly sanders, nbc news, miami. a fight at a baltimore washington international airport last night. take a look at this. a southwest airplane was departing the gate and the front landing gear collapsed. airport fire and rescue workers raced to the scene. the front of the plane was damaged, all 126 five crew were able to exit unharmed. in a statement, southwest said passengers are being accommodated on another aircraft for the flight to atlanta. bwi tweeted status updates saying there was noim pact on overall airport operations. a southwest team is trying to determine what caused that collapse. tonight is the night for the opening ceremony in rio. it has reportedly taken five years to produce. the festivities include 300

the torch has been winding the way through rio in recent days and yesterday accompanied by music and dancing at one of rio's famed somba schools. this comes amid controversy over past backed cheating by rush yachlt the ioc announced how russian athletes will be allowed to compete. we are in rio with details. >> reporter: for team russia, here in rio, a split decision for many athletes ban after a widespread doping scandal. >> the message is clear. there is no place to hide for cheats. >> reporter: russian boxers, volleyball players and many members of the swim team given the all clear to compete. >> i think i would be naive to think that i haven't ever competed against somebody who has, you know, done something that was against the spirit of sports. >> reporter: while rio is iconic for the incredible views, what is most stunning here is security.

along the beaches, police looking for threats big and small. >> robberies is the biggest crime? >> yeah. >> reporter: security remains tight along the olympic torch route. after days of protests, today few problems in this city of sand and surf. the torch one way closer to the called ron. >> do you not want to miss a minute to have night's opening ceremony. coverage starts at 7:30/6:30 central on it's friday. let's get the latest on the weather outside. talk about the weather in rio since the ceremonies are starting. >> i like the show. the opening ceremony than a lot of the events. it's a huge, huge event. thankfully it shows this region of the world for this -- for a reason. great weather this time of year is wonderful. 73 degrees. clear and mild tonight. they couldn't ask for a better forecast for all of the, you know, the pageantry of what is going to happen this evening.

we're still extremely hot in louisiana and memphis to little rock. 4.5 million people in the heat warning. 10.7 million are in heat advisory. still a threat of flash flooding. the threat has plenty of moist available for the showers and storms. even into central colorado, areas like breckenridge. the forecast for today, there is great weather out there today. minneapolis is very nice. we're looking pretty good in new there will be a cold front with showers on it and storms through areas of the ohio valley and into areas of the great lakes and that will snake its way back through missouri and into areas of kansas. as far as the weekend goes, that front is going to be right along the mid-atlantic up in into the northeast on saturday. there is a period of showers and storms for boston, new york city, philadelphia, and d.c. by sunday, that threat of showers and storms is down here in the southeast. that's your national weather. now here's a closer look at your

front is located today. green bay, much cooler. showers and storms ahead of that front. detroit and toledo and more of the garden variety afternoon down pours in area of florida and right along the southeast coast. doesn't look like a horrible weekend for anybody. >> perfect, to tell you the truth. okay. thank you so much. just ahead, why apple is offering to pay big money to hackers. plus, pan nick a subway station. the ceiling comes crashing down. you' see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance.

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spontaneous attack and that victims were selected at random. >> the city remains on alert for terrorism with beefed up security, flowers have been laid at the sidewalk where 64-year-old darlene horton died at the scene. a man wounded in the truck attack in nice, france, died of his injuries yesterday. it brings the massacre's death toll to 85. the man had already lost his wife and son after an attacker rammed his truck into a crowd. he leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter who is still in hospital. a terrifying moment caught on camera. watch as the ceiling of this underground train station collapses. fortunately, commuters were able to make a narrow escape. officials say damp weather and winds corroded the ceiling. look at. that the scene last night whether a crowd surprised

social media and honor of his last birthday in office. joe biden was perhaps most notable. he tweeted an image of the bff bracelets the president made for them earlier this summer with the caption, happy 55th, barack, a president and best friend to me forever. apple is offering bug bounlties for people that find flaws in the products. the largest $25,000 to hack into customers data. $50,000 to hack into i cloud. and a whopping $200,000 to expose vulnerabilities in the spy ware. they donate the money to charity, they'll match it. and move over london, new york city is the world's most expensive city for companies to locate staff. a new study says the total cost to live and work in the big

sincening glanld voted to leave the eu, london dropped to third place behind new york and hong kong. all right. so just ahead, the nba is finalizing a new location for next year's all star game. and we have the details. plus, a friend or foe? russell westbrook with fighting words for former teammate. sports is next. at hillshire farm, spice is the spice of life. that's why our craftsmen season every sausage perfectly. so you can coax out great flavor effortlessly. hire farm, there's a reason our slow roasted turkey taste so fresh seconds after carving, we not only seal every slice, we double seal it. the results are something to savor.

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this morning on" today," the u.s. women's gymnastic team sits down with hoda as they get ready to go for gold in rio. the nba is saying new orleans will be the site for the all star game. they decided to move the game out of charlotte due to north carolina's anti-lgbt laws. russell westbrook is speaking out about now former teammate kevin durant. you may recall durant chose to johe instead of resigning with oklahoma city. after signing a big contract extension yesterday, westbrook took a shot at durant saying, "loyalty is something i stand by." the giants got smo sm pay back in philly last night after losing in extra innings on wednesday. the two teams battled into extras again last night. this time though san francisco was able to come out on top of this one. span did a homer there in the top of the tenth. the giants overpowered the phillies 3-2.

into extras. boston needed 11 innings to come out on top in seattle. they win 3-2. in los angeles, the oakland a's down the angels 8-6. you guessed it in extras. long night for some folks. just ahead, the latest actress to receive a lifetime achievement award and the u.s. swim team put their vocal cords to the test. you don't want to miss this. let's feed him to the sharks! squuuuack, let's feed him to the sharks! yay! and take all of his gold! ya! and hide it from the crew! ya...? squuuuack, they're all morons anyway! i never said that. they all smell bad too. no! you all smell wonderful! i smell bad! if you're a parrot, you repeat things. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. squuuuack, it's what you do. mr. clean gets tough on dirt and grime and grease in just a minute

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now for some entertainment news. katy perry released a video to her 2016 olympic anthem. it features her attempting to fly a parachute and finally rise together challenge. perry says the song released last month serve aces a reminder to rise above the fear. ? hands up playing my song ? ? the butterflies fly away ? ? nodding my head like yeah >> i love it! they have moves to go with it. before jet setting off to brazil, the u.s. swim team belted out this tune in their version of "car pool karaoke." it is clear their talent extends way beyond the water. the screen actors guild announced they'll award lilly tom wl tom wlin a lifetime achievement

netflix series "grace & frankie." and warner brothers suicide squad looks to premier in over 4200 theaters nationwide making it the widest august release of all time. it stars jarrod had leno, will smith and others. >> i had a chance for $150 million the first week. >> then there is. this jimmy fallon shared his favorite wishes for president obama's >> i thought that a lot of people wrote nice messages on huz facebook page. first, michelle obama wrote, happy birth day. i feel so lucky to have you in my life. and milana trump wrote, happy birthday, barack, i feel so lucky to have you in my life. and finally, obama's dog wrote --

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summer

you'll be watching today. good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us. we made it to friday. i'm sarah french. >> and i'm christa delcamp. there are some rumors about you wearing fleece yesterday. >> okay, wait, now, it was dark outside. i have to say, i did go to a neighbor's pool yesterday and the weather was amazing in the afternoon. >> it was amazing. i don't mean to give you a hard time, because we are friends. definitely not fleece weather. manageable amount of humidity, 83 to 89. the weekend forecast, split 50/50. i wouldn't cancel any of your plans for saturday. we need to keep an eye to the sky, expecting the scattered storms to work through midday into the afternoon hours until probably early evening when that storm threat leaves us. high pressure keeps things nice and dry and sunny. here is the next weathermaker. a cool front. you can see the storms rolling