>> donald trump challenges the stage, itself. >> from a secret underground tunnel to the surge of special forces the battle for mosul heats up. an exclusive nbc investigation into the hacking of the u.s. election. >> plus, could cleveland be headed for another world title in the same year? "early today" starts right now.

>> i'm frances rivera. >> a lot of people will remember what happened last night. we are not in the sprint of the president campaign the likes of which the world has never really seen. this morning, front pages across the country really say it all, a defiant trump used a high profile moment to amplify one of the post-explosive charges of his campaign. >> that a quote in rigged election. refusing to say he would accept election results if he loses. f . >> what i have seen is so bad. >> sir, there is a prediction in this country, in fact one of the prides of the country is a peaceful transition of power and no matter how hard fought a

the campaign, that the loser concedes to the winner. are you saying you are fought prepared now -- >> what i am saying is i will tell you at the time. i will keep new suspense. >> an audible gasp spread through the entire auditorium through that very moment. clinton made sure to pounce on it. >> let's be clear about what he is saying and what that means. he is denigrating. he is talking down our democracy and i for one am appalled that somebody who is th one of our two major parties would take that kind of position. >> later in the evening, she also reacted to trump's comment on board her campaign claim late last night. >> what he said tonight is a part of this whole effort to blame somebody else for his campaign and for where he stands in this election, as i said. whenever he is losing, he says the system. whatever the system is. whether it's, you know, being

losing the iowa caucus the wisconsin prime arary or emmys for goodness sakes, he says it's ricked against him. >> here was trump's running mate said about that moment. >> the reality of voting fraud in polling places and some injuries digs around the country. i think he as a presidential candidate given those two factors that he'll take a wait and see approach. >> now, pence may be the elected official backing trump's skepticism as lawmakers, both democrats and republican versus pushed back against him. rnc chairman reince priebus refuting trump's own words. the presidential debate seemed for a lack of better words, at 35,000 feet, they watched as the candidates squared off on policy and substance from isis to the supreme court. but that soon went off the rails

here was clinton comparing her record to trump's. er record to trump's. >> in the 1980s, i was started schools in arkansas. he was borrowing money to start his businesses. in 1990s, i said human rights. he insulted alissa machado, calling her an eating machine. on the day i was in the situation room ju osama bin laden to justice, he was in the "apprentice." >> she has been outsmart and outplayed worse than anybody i have ever seen in any government. >> the debate quickly evolved into a war of word. here is one notable exchange of a record vladimir putin. >> look, from everything i have

>> well, that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president. >> no puppet. no puppet. are you the puppet. >> it's clear you won't admit you have engaged in cyber attacks. >> but it was this moment that lit up social media as the most combative of the night when the candidates were discussing entitlement reform. >> i am on record as saying that we need to put more money into social security trust fund. that's a part of my commitment to raise taxes onhe my social security payroll contribution will go up as will donald's, assuming he can't figure how to get out of it. >> such a nasty woman a nasty wn today trump head to ohio, ivanka heads to wisconsin.

president obama and joe biden will head to new hampshire and florida for clinton. first lady michelle obama goes to the new battleground of alabama. tim kaine goes to north carolina. clinton and trump will meet face-to-face again perhaps the last time as that headline an infamous dinner in new york tonight. breaking news overnight, who ready that turkish jets are striking in northern syria, they are happening northf as many as the 00 members have been killed a. kurdish member says the number is much smaller. they blame turkey for a deadly number of attacks over the past year. the iraqi special forces are leading a mo cull u sul offensive to lead isis fighters from the city. now, there are reports that refugees have been fleeing mosul by the thousands. meanwhile, the u.s.

mosul to launch terrorist attacks against the u.s. and its allies. nbc's matt bradley joins us from irbill. any indication on what advancing forces could reach mosul? >> reporter: we do know that this is a good thing right now, ayman. we don't know when we will be reaching mosul in this operation. but the engeneralment of the so-called kourntd terrorism force means this powerful operation is kind of going co now, that doesn't necessarily mean we know where they will be entering mosul. we know this is following a similar pattern in fallujah and ramadi and the engagements over the last year. now, i was with the counterterrorism forces if january, according to "wall street journal" and what i learned is this was a very small force. there are a lot of people that were trained in the united states and these people not only speak english.

they are about 500 in numbers. normally they should be used for precision strikes. now they being used in all of the operations against ramadi, fallujah and now mosul. they are being overextended. new details are emerging about a gas explosion that rocked the city of portland, oregon. the mayor is being called a hero save lives. >> he went in on his own, pulled the fire alarm. which allowed those individuals to evacuate. had those steps not been taken, we would have been having a different conversation this afternoon. this man single handedly i believe saved the lives of a lot of sids today and a lot of firefighters. >> he is one of three firefighters, three citizens injured in the explosion. no one was killed.

calling on residents to help those displaced. still to come here, an nbc news investigation into the role russian hacking, wikileaks is having on our election. it's a cynthia mcfadden exclusive. >> it was a record day, bill karins has the weather and more on that historic and blazing day across the country.

>> all right, bill, thank you very much for that. is america going to pot? believe it or not a new survey takes the question afternoon. a rash of plane crashes on wednesday. what is going on? we w "early today" has the details next. day" has the details

>> today's quick fix, the cdc says sexually diseases have hit

>> an eyewitness says it burst into flames. the landing gear is under way. a different story for a pilot of this small plane, he and a passenger on board crash landed into a back yard of a house in southern new jersey. the pilot and the passengers trapped in the cockpit, it took

hospital. all the crashes are being investigate. >> a scary incident there. well, is america about to have a new sports capital? >> and officials say it's go caught the russian hackers.

h,z/ in the air, glory, the cleveland

series. >> cleveland fans were up really late. the toronto blue jays replace the series. it's been 19 years since they played in the world series. 68 since they won the championship. lebron james tweeted his fellow clevelandites, world series, here we come! congrats, boyz! >> now to an nbc news exclusive investigations in the presidential elections in the u.s. intelligence agencies are taking us inside the effort to stop the flow of e-mails hacked by russia and published by wikileaks. here's senior correspondent cynthia mcfadden. >> reporter: a high level u.s. intelligence source tells nbc news the u.s. is confident, it cut off the flow of election-related material hacked by the russians.

been behind the theft of a wide range of documents, many harmful to the clinton company t. highly praised intelligence official tells nbc news, new defensive measures taken by the u.s. and its allies are choking off the cyber past the russians have been using to steal e-mails from high profile democrats and other prominent americans. >> i think it's credible the u.s. government is doing everything possible to stop the cyber bleeding. officials also tell nbc news they are more confident than ever the russians used wikileaks founder to distribute the hacked material. telling him the u.s. considers assange a quote willing participant in the scheme. assange has been holed up in the embassy in london for more than four years. >> they're frustrated, because wikileaks has done damage in leaking classifieds information. >> reporter: and the u.s. is

multiple intelligence sources tell us that the u.s. quietly pressured ecuador to shut off julian assange's internet access, isolateing him from his organization. the state department next which door have publicly denied that there was any pressure. the reverb racings of russia's cyber assaults are being felt across the political spectrum. even political senator marco rubio came out swinging against wiki will ex. >> do we want to be a country agencies can blackmail our elected officials? >> nbc's cynthia mcfadden tweeting there. ahead, the most tweeted moment of the presidential election. that's next. election. that's next. at? is he gone?? finally, i thought he'd never leave... tv character: why are you texting my man at 2 a.m.? no... if you want someone to leave you alone, you pretend like you're sleeping.

ent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. tv character: taking selfies in the kitchen does not make you a model. psh psh lunch is ready! made for real, real life. thanks mom you know your heart loves megared omega-3s... but did you know your eyes, your brain, and your joints really love them too? introducing megared advanced 4in1... just one softgel delivers the omega-3 power of two regular fish oil pills...

more "sit" per roll. bounty is two times more absorbent. so one roll of bounty can last longer than those bargain brands. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty. the long-lasting quicker picker upper. every body is different, but everybody gets dry skin. feel moisturized without feeling your moisturizer with lubriderm. moisturizes for hours. lubriderm.

>> chris wallace >> chris wallace asked donald trump if he would accept the results of the election on november 8th and trump had this to say. >> are you saying you are not prepared -- >> what i am saying is i will tell you at the time. i will keep new >> oh, oh, suspense. the mockscy will end with a cliff hangar. i do not envy his campaign manager kelly anne conway. i am told we have her taking questions from reporters about it in the spin room. >> what is it with this campaign this whole election has been like. >> a head turning moment for a lot of people. people were tweeting up a storm

the top three moments were when trump and clinton discussed the treatment of women. when trump refused to say he will accept the election result. . s and when trump called putin his puppet. clinton gained 13,000 in followers compared to trump's 6,000. overall, trump has 12.6 million compared to clinton's 9.9 million. it's amazing to see how much social media played inhi election. from people online. we saw facebook helping out registration. that's within the next positive if you will. >> not only are you watching the debate. you have to sit there. exactly. they are putting in their two cents. dozens weighed in. including josh gad who tweeted this -- "snl" at this point is

trending for many, though, bill maher was concerned about the lack of questions of climate change especially when it comes to a lot of heavy celebrity weighing in on that. >> that's kind of disappointing. moving on, the boss is also weighing in, he's taking on the donald. when bruce spring steen was asked about his rise. take a >> when donald trump was talking about a rigged election and he's not -- he has a ceiling he will lose now, of course, he is going to lose. he's such a flagrant toxic narcissist that he wants to take down the entire democratic system with him if he goes. h wao clean better than a manual... he said sure, but don't just get any one.

oral-b's rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque and rotates to sweep it away. and oral-b crossaction delivers a clinically proven superior clean vs. sonicare diamondclean. my mouth feels super clean! oral-b. know you're getting a superior clean.

>> this is 7news now. >> christa: good morning, everybody. we're good to go here this morning. >> christa: here are some top stories we're world on. one person in critical condition after a person was shot in roxbury. the victim was shot in the head. noor have been made. >> christa: fire officials are investigating a car fight. investigators say the car caught fire on route 9. the accident caused some traffic delays, but this morning the lanes are become open. >> christa: a wig show of support to honor boston police officers shot in the line of duty in east boston. we'll tell you more about a special blood drive that's expected to bring in some good results. >> christa: police say a butt

the student was not seriously urt, thank goodness, but investigators are trying to figure out exactly what happened here. >> kris:>> christa: bri eggers a look at your forecast. >> bri: wasn't it amazing yesterday? looked like fall but felt like summer. beautiful picture from bob. today will feel a little more like fall, starting out with partly cloudy skies. we've cleared out those skies, and not for temperatures to really drop back last night. 56 in boston. a little more mild there. 53 in worcester. this is much closer to where we should be for this time of the year. but look at the direction the wind is coming from. yesterday morning out of the southwest, today out of the northeast, and off of that cool ocean water, it will keep things fairly cool into this afternoon. so much cooler than yesterday. a possibility for a late-day sprinkle, but i think that doesn't arrive until we hit after the evening commute.

we start with a little bit of sunshine, but here are the clouds moving in, and you can see all of the greens and the yellows and oranges that are showing up here. some rainfall that's on the way for us, much-needed rainfall, looks like the the heaviest of it holds off until friday into saturday. so maybe for the weekend, we'll have the take a closer look at this. certainly fall making a comeback for us. we'll have to break it down in the time line for you hour by hour and talk about highs in the upper 40s for the beginningf all of those details coming up as "today in new england" starts right now. >> christa: now at 5:00, the presidential candidates clashing in their final debate, and donald trump stunning the political world with his answer to one question in particular. >> kris: police searching for the gunman who opened fire in a chelsea neighborhood. the bullets hitting a child who was in bed. >> christa: and breaking overnight, a danger us are drive that happened in wellesley when

breaking it in half. >> kris: and police making an arrest in a violent home break-in in new hampshire, a family helping track down one of the suspects. >> this is "today in new england." >> christa: good thursday morning. i'm sarah french. >> christa: and i'm christa delcamp. it is going to be tough to top yesterday's weather. >> christa: it was a nice day, bri. tell us more about today. b gasp? it was more summer-like than fall-like. today it's back closer to normal for us. we will see clouds increasing as the day goes on, as well. look at the wind direction. coming off the cold water, ocean water right about 60 degrees, and so that will add a chill to the air today. much cooler than where we were yesterday. your warmest temperatures will be inland away from the coastline and also down near buzzards bay, down near the south coast. could even flirt with 70 degrees in new bedford, but keeping