it's thusdoday october 22nd. coming up on early "today," preparing with top advisers. all week long hillary clinton is facing what might be the most grueling day of her political career today. testifyiog before the benghazi committee. with joe biden out of the race, clinton's poll position has already risen to an almost unstoppable status. new arrests in the load rage case that ended in the shooting death of a 4-yeto-old girl. plus firefighters held hostage at the scene of an j ohio fire. and the new york mets, they are headed to

early "today"letarts right now. good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. in a matter of hours hillary clinton will appear before the colcmmittee on benghazi. whether it's a drilling for answers or a political witch hunt, the next few hours could be the most significant of her campaign. andrea mitcher reports. >> reporter: with his bill, her lawyers and former aides. clinton's game plan unlike last time -- >> at this point what difference does it make? >> reporter: this time she'll try to stay cool and play up republican mistakes.a>> it is a partisan vehicle as admitted by the house republican majority leader mr. mccarthy to drive down my poll numbers. big surprise. >> reporter: but the benghazi controversy could still drag on. >> we are overrun. >> reporter: a movie coming soon

a grieving mother whose only son shawn smith was among those killed also blames clinton. >> it was her department. how come she let my son be kill snd how come? she knew this was happeninth >> let's bring in tracy potts who is live in washington for us today. what is clinton's strategy today? >> her strlaegy is to try to set e record straight from her perspective yet again.mpshe's been before yet another committee. this will be the first time she's testified before this select committee that's only looking at the benghazi attack. we're expecting eight hours of testimony. sops this could go very long to, day. one of the things the committee wants to know is why weren't the requests for more security in benghazi heeded earlier. they now have 8,000 pages of e-mails from ambassador chris stevens who was one of the four killed in that attack.

before much less her own e- mmails. she is expected today to push for more diplomacy in risky areas and ask congress for money for a diplomatic training facility that so far they have yet to fund. >> it is going to be interesting. tracie, thank you so much or that. joe biden's decision to stay ou dt of the presidential race is making waves. in a new poll trump is seen as st likely to win the gop nomination. p democrats had nice things to say about biden on twitter. but bernie sanders was a bit motire critical. >> w need a political revolution. we need to mobilize tens of millions of people to begin to stand up and fight back and reclaim the government which is now owned by big money. do i think that was the work --

was that the goal of the presiden and the vice president? i don't think so. so i think we've got to go further. >> for the latest on biden, we go to kristen welker. >> i believe w 're out of time -- >> reporter: and with those words, vice president joe biden closed the door on his life-long goal of running for president. bowing out but delivering a call to action and taking a swipe at hillary clinton who has moved away from some of obama's policies. >> this party, our nation will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo the obama legacy. >> reporter: biden said the grieving process over his late son beau was pivo l. >> i've said all along what i've said time and again to others. that it may very well be that that process by the time we get through it closes the window on

for president. that it might close. i've concluded it has closed. >> reporter: but biden said he won't sit on the sidelines. >> but while i will not be a candidate, i will not be silent. >> reporte clinton called biden after his speech and tweeted the vice president is a good friend and a great man. today and always inspired by his optimism and commitment to change the world for the besttter. in tde rose garden it was clear he came to this decision reluctantly nowing that t 72 this was likely his last chance. one of paul ryan's conditions to run for speaker of the house has been enet almort. yesterday members of tn he freedom caucus said they have a supermajority to suppo his bi because it failed to reach 80% they will not formally endorse him. a source says john boehner convinced ryan to move forward.

in a statement ryan said, i'm grateful for the support. the vote for speaker is scheduled for next thursday. a person of interest in the road rage incident that killed a 4-year-old girl is now in custody. yesterday. he t's accused of shooting at a pickup truck carrying lil ing ing lilly garcia and her family. she was killed. more e-mail trouble for the >> cia director. wikileaks is spilling some cont ts from his accounts days after hackers bragged abou stealing it on social media. pete williams has details. >> reporter: through twitter messages, the hackers themselves left behind some of the best clues to their identity as the e-mails they stole show up elsewhere. in a memo drafted in 2007, john brenna advising the obama

t the next president tone down the rhetoric on ahmadinejad and have a direct line with iran. that's stolen from his aol e-mail account by hackers. including one that called himself cracka and compares himself to edward snowden. the hacker tweeted, hey, russia,igif you're reading this, was wondering if you could help us out with a place to stay. and he tweeted what are those ashing lights. the hackers had already revealed some of those. including names and social security numbers of s e officials and claimed they got into a comcast account of jeh johnson. >> the one thing i'll say is don't believe everything you read in the newspaper because a lot of it is inaccurate. >> rep anorter: the hackers say they used a phony verizon

to reset the password on his aol account and take it over. computer security experts say the cia director of all people should have known better. today president obama is expected to issue a rare veto of the annual defense policy bill. the $612 billion measure authorizes defense spending and meets spending levels the president requested. but the president claims it skirts spending caps without increasing domestic spending first. republicans accuse im of playing politics with national security. >> the bill provides our troops with the resources they need to keep america safe. and it meets the funding levels that the president requested. yet the president has vowed to to it. it's time to put our troops first. it's time to stop playing political games. >> this will be the fifth veto of the obama presidency.

hostage situatio in ohio last night. after arrivingthn the scene, authorities found a man burning leaves. he was ordered to stop. that's when he pulled out a anfle. two were held hostage. made demands forlcohol and prescription medication. he surrendered after two hours. lamar odom and khloee rdashian are giving their marriage another chance. it can be refiled at a later date. right now odom is recovering in an l.a. hospital. he was found unconscious at a nevada brothel last week with multiple drugs in his system. a source close to the couple say there are no immediate plans for him to be discharged although he is more coherent. them. they brought the chicago cubs back from to the future prediction that really didn't happen.

today's reality is they are not going to the world series. it was strong pitching and a record sixth home run in six consecutive games by daniel murphy. the mets, they have swept the cubbies in wrigley. >> and strike three called. they haven't been to the world series since 2000. and the mets are on their way back. >> the new york mets will face either the royals or the blue jays. congratulations to them. you can still hear people in new york city so excited about that. in eastern parts on new mexico, not excited about this. heavy rain, powerful winds. motorists traveling through treacherous conditions. let's get the latest on the weather. bill cairns is here.

we're going to go five days of this. already this morning flash flood warnings are up. we have a squall line heading across the state of texas right now from san angelo to wichita falls.s odessa under flash flood warnings this morning from the slow moving storms. as far as the flood watches go, we have a fmood-watch which is huge and also a tornado watch. we haven't really had any, but an isolated one or two is possible. this tornado watch will continue until about 4:30 local time. as far as the flood watch goes, it goes from carlsbad through dallas, ft. worth. lwe're going to have rounds of thunderstorms for the next three days. widespread 2 to inches of rain. levels could head up to 10 inches of rain. our three-day rainfall totals, notice e ftcus the heavy rains back towards san angelo and lubbock. that's the focus point if we get major flooding. that's where we could see it.

now here's a closer look at the day ahead. obviously showers and thunderstorms widespread throughout the deep south all the way into oklahoma. dry from little rock at least today. your rainfall, better hancd of that over the coming weekend. also a cooler, chillier rain towards colorado. and betty, also yesterday our government announced that september on the globe was the warmest we've recorded. >> ever in the history? >> yes. it goes back 1600 months. 1880 is when the records began. >> that's a long anme. thank you. is >yoarijuana use among american adults has doubled, but that is just the beginning. plus a brazen smash and grab at a california jeweler. details next. you're watching early "today." ay." ta 3 a look at these bbq trophies: best cracked pepper sauce... most ribs eaten while calf roping... yep, greatness deserves recognition. you got any trophies, cowboy? whoomp there it is uh, yeah...

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ptured six people in connection with el chapo guzman's escape in july. guzman's brother-in-a w who supervised the construction of the mile-long tunnel he used to escape from beneath his jail cell. a police officer in albuquerque, new mexico, was shot multiple times last night during a traffic stop. the eight-year veteran was injured and had to undergo surgery this morning. the suspect's identity has not been released. according to a recent report from the nih, adult marijuana usage has doubled in the last decade. ov30% of users meet the criteria for addiction. video. a dramatic smash and grab at a jewelry store in california. four thieves smashed cases and stole jewels nd watches during e minute-long heist yesterday.

from a car on the freeway. the stolen watches reportedly had tracking devices. time tc get down to business. a lego shortage at christmas? say it isn't so. the reason? demand is so strong that there wills,ikely be a lego shortage in european countries. get ready for youtube red. what is it? well, it's an ad-free subscriptionial ed service that launches on october 28th for $9.99 a month. it will include access to original shows and movies and much more. making its debut on the new yomyrk stock exchange, ferrari, the ultra hot and luxury car maker raised about $893 million. finishing the day 6% from its initial price. beauty of a car. just ahead, two teens with opportunity to punch a ticket to the world series. only one took advantage. plus grip it and rip it. the world's longest drive competition. next in sports. ts.

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this morning on "today," wr angler's hitting the road as part of his guide dog abing. anald today he's taking the lone star state by storm. follow awe paw-some adventure.

r jets. started with the second inning score to get on the board. at the world long drive championship in oklahoma, $150,000 on the line. it started with 64 contenders. then each has just under three mi gunutes to grildit and rip it. longest drives win and advance. in the end tim burke's drive was denough for him to grab his second belt and big check. in ak fn, ohio, lebron james was joined by michelle obama at a reach higher rally. thousands of students and parents from the lebron james family foundation for education is part of the promotion for college education. just ahead, find out who the highest paid comedians are. plus it is life imitate ing art.

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adam levine and maroon 5 are in talks to play the half-time show of the super bowl next year. sesame street is introducing an autistic puppet. there she to. and "back to the future" wr i'iter explains this e hotel was based on trump. and nicki introduced the self-lacing sneakers. michael j. fox was given the first pa . he laced them up on jimmy kimmel live last night. they arrive in 2016. >> 2015 kind of sucks. >> yeah. apparent apparently the technological

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leading the news in the new york daily news, he should not have been on the streets. tyrone howard charged in the shooting death of nypd officer. he has a 16-year rap sheet and was wanted for previous crimes. his next court appearance is later this month. disputed nasa study finds 99.9% chance l.a. will soon face a major earthquake. that's not good. relysearchers predict the massive quake will occur b aween now and

it's expected to be 5.0 or greater in magnitude. all right. big newsdfrom the irs. it will recognize same-sex marriage's in the u.s. regardless of whether states have legalized them. in which marriage is a factor including filing status, standard deductions, and employee benefits. a man was found dead in a florida state park on monday. the injuries were from a gator attack. the 12 foot gator was later trapped and killed. this is the first alligator attack at the park in 23 years. the secret to a happy marriage is "thank you." that's it. gratitude, it's got to be honest and genuine gratitude though. it influences a level of commitment in a partner. appreciation for a spouse is more significant than financial well being and communication style.

now, that says a lot. >> thank you, betty. thank you for telling me this information. >> thank you, bill, for everything you do. >> we'll get along now. >> genuine is the key. pumpkin fever is high in this toln. 100,000 pounds of pumpkins and gourds. the last day to catch the festivities is saturday so you don't want to miss it. now here's a look ahead. sohillary clinton is expected to testify before the house select committee on benghazi. the former secretary of state will be the star witness in the republican-led investigation into the deadly 2012 attacks. it will be a marathon. a grueling eight-hour grilling. she is expected to turn the tables that this is a political witch hunt. i want to say happy birthday to jesse tyler ferguson who is 40. jeff goldblum, 63. and christopher lloyd turns 77.

happy birthday, everybody. now, keep it here for more news, weather, and sports. i'm betty nguyen. have a great day, everyone. right now, a first look at the man accused in the murder of