it's friday, november 13th, coming up on "early today," breaking news, u.s. counterterrorism officials tell nbc news that jihadi john was directly targeted by a u.s. air strike. donald trump doubles down, talking about ben carson and a pathological temper and gets specific about fighting isis. >> i would just bomb those suckers and blow up the pipes. i'd blow up every single inch. there would be nothing left. and acquittal for a good

fella that leaves no convictions for one of the biggest cash heists in history. plus breezy blasts around the nation. and much, much more on a busy friday. show starts "early today" starts right now. and good morning everybody. we start with breaking news from over night. a u.s. air strike targeting the isis terrorist, jihadi john. it happened last night in northern syria in the isis strong hold of raqqa. he's a british born militant in videos that show the execution of westerners. and right now a counterterrorism official says there's no definitive proof yet that he was killed. andd here's more. >> reporter: so, the man is mohammed emwazi and he's better

known as jihadi john. he's known for his particularly brutal behavior against western hostages and hostages held by isis. they telll us a u.s. drone strike today, november 12th, near raqqa targeted jihadi john. what they don't know is whether they got him or not. it's one of the inderring problems they have with these strikes in places like syria, where there's no ground troops. there's no one on the ground that can do dna or after battle assessment to find out whether they've gotten him or not. they generally have to rely on intercepts or some sort of chatter amongst isis after the fact, talking about whether he's dead or not, whether he's been struck. so, we do know that they targeded him and he's been such anh elusive figure for more than a year.

inli summer of 2014 when he executed journalist james foley. and he was this enduring figure that we all saw with this british accent standing with a knife as his victims kneeled in front of him. someone that the u.s. has been looking for for more than a year. and as we learn more about jihadi john in syria, america and its allies are engaged in major operation in iraq. they're pushing to retake the strategic town of sinjar, between the islamic states biggest strong holds. tracie potts joins us now from washington. >> reporter: we understand those kurdish fighters were able to enter the town of sinjar this morning.r

this has been going on for the last 24 hours.ho this is a northern iraqi town that isis had taken over and as of this a morning, the kurdish peshmerga forces have entered the town and cleared it of all isis fighters. in fact, in that area we're told they've taken about 58 square miles back from isis and they're setting up positions along a highway that's a major supply route from raqqa. into mosul, into iraq. they're trying to push back isis in this northern part of iraq. experts say as this happens, the operations in syria and the operations here in northern iraq, that isis may change its strategy as they lose ground in iraq and syria, they may start looking at other targets outside those two countries. tracie, thank you.

now to the race for the white house. occasionally aggressive, sometimes outrageous comments don't come as a surprise. butrp he may have out trumped himself. and trump appeared in this one on one interview and that's when it started, a bold attack on ben carson with a controversial comparison. >> he saidovmp he's pathological, somebody says he has patholog klg ical disease. he has a pathological temper or temperament. that's a big problem because you don't choose that. that's like, i could say they sayhe -- as an example 8, child people. you don'tpe cure a child molester. there's no cure for it. pathological, there's no cure for that. >> but trump wasn't done. speaking to a crowd of about

1500 in iowa, he had a no holds bar assault on ben carson. >> he took a knife and he went after a friend and he lunged. he lunged that knife into the stomach of his friend but low and lbehold, it hit the belt and thend knife broke. give me a break. how stupid are the people of iowa? how stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap? what the hel have we come to? what have we come to when we have to believe this kind of stuff and o we're going to put somebody in office who considers himself to have pathological disease. >> well, the response from the carson campaign simply, the campaign has no comment. carly fiorina got into it on facebook.

you would know something about pathological. how was thatog meeting with putin or wharton? anybody can turn a multi-million dollar inheritance into more money. but his tirade on his plans for isis. >> isisla is making a tremendous amount of money because they have certain areas of oil they've taken away. i would bomb the shut out of them. i would just bomb those suckers. and that's right, i'd blow up the pipes, i'd blow up the -- i'd blow up every single inch. >> and this morning, ben carson is dealing with a much more personal issue about his close friendship with a convicted felon. >> reporter: ben carson calls alfonzo kosta his very best

owner of an italian resort where carson often vacations and he's also a convicted felon. working out of his office as a oral surgeon he pled guilty to scamming more than $40,000 to insurance companies. >> because the insurance companies to finance the expansion of his business. >> reporter: as first reported by the associated pres, in a bid for leniency, he wrote a letter to the judge saying next to my wife of 32 years, there is no one else i trust more. our value systems were almost identical. adding, "i love him." >> he pleaded guilty to fraud. >> but he got three years probation, including a year of house arrest and even that was reduced because of his work with carson's charity.

but four years after appeali for ppleniency, he argued the opposite for everyone else. a saudi arabian slugds olution for fraud. kosta, through his lawyer, de declined comment. in a statement, said of costa, i know his heart. i am proud to call him my friend, i have always and will continue to stand by him. that's what real friends do. after nearly two years an aging mobster is waking up a free man.ma yesterday afternoon, a jury in new york found 80-year-old vincent asaro not guilty. the robbery netted $6 million in cash and jewels and became part of pop culture in the movie "goodfellas."

asked what he thought of velenti. >> youve really don't want to know, honey. >> with yesterday's verdict, the heist remains unsolved. 50 miles per hour gale forced winds are causing intense waves on lake michigan with swells as high as 20 feet. they advised people to stay away from the coast. officials warn flooding and power outages may occur across the area. good morning to you rafael. we're still tracking all the winds. they're still howling in chicago. gusts round 30 miles per hour and even higher in upstate new york. 45 miles per hour in water town. and la guardia, boston, up to 20 miles per hour. and from the great lakes to the northeast, the windy conditions

willit continue throughout this friday. and in the northeast,, temperatures in the 50s ahead of that cold front. we're tracking another stormy day in the pacific northwest. there. 80 ande. sunny in los angeles. for your saturday, chilly in the northeast. a blustery start to the weekend there but looking good in the midwest. and back to 62 in d.c. and starting to dry out a bit in the pacific northwest. now a closer look at the day ahead. those intense winds finally dying down a bit across the midwest. still breezy in chicago. and winds gusting up to 50, even 60 mip miles per hour possible. >> i like the sound of that.. >> the weekend is looking not too bad. >> thank you. straight ahead, rex ryan

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a utah judge has ordered the removal of an infant from her home because her foster parents are gay. he felt the child should be raised by a het sexual couple. they've been raising the 1-year-old for the past three months and were shocked by the ruling. >> we knew he didn't like same-sex couples but we didn't expect this to happen. >> well, now they and the division of child and family services are challenging the judge's decision. michael middleton was tapped after the previous president resigned following protests over his handling of racial protests

and three missouri students threatened to shoot others at college campuses throughout missouri mo. one of them, hunter park was in court yesterday and was denied bond. and students like these in philadelphia, rallied against a number of issues, including rising tuition and student debt. some are calling for aballishing tuition all together. and records were being broken world wide yesterday. in japan, the fastest 100 meters running on all fours. and in new deli, the most lit candles in his mouth, with 15 candles and this, the most match sticks extinguished on your tongue in one minutes. he got to 30 in a minute. so, theria e ia you have that.

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all right, and thursday night football, the nfl taking their new color rush uniforms to a whole new level as the christmas ornaments looking bills and jets faced off. a number of jets turnovers and later, devyn smith coughs up the ball. and williams manages to race into the end zone for it touchdown. in the end, the former jets coach managed a win and revenge on his former team. final score, 22-17 and if you didn't see his reaction -- there it is.

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now i've mn e it official, david hon ff. >> he's now officially david hoff, even though he's been known as the hoff for years. one california judge has told the person accusing taylor swift of a stealing the lyrics and he the judge quoted the singer throughout the ruling with the last line, at least for the moment defendants have shaken off this lawsuit. and missy elliott released her new song, wtf. and it means, where they from. no word on if she's working on a new album. ellen degeneres celebrated her 2000th show yesterday and had surprise visits from nnifer aniston

and have justin timber lake. her first and second guests ever on her show. christie brinkley spoke to windn williams aboutader new book. she says she wouldn't be able to work as a model today because they're getting thinner and thinner. ben carson wrote a column last year where he compared america to the class of the roman empire and our decline is because we're too arrogant. said the man who owns a painting of himself and jesus. we're too arrogant. >> i almost feel like their jobs are too easy this time around. >> and they have a whole year of this to look forward to. >> and so do we. all right.

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leading the news in u.s.a. today, defense secretary's aide fired amid allegations. he quote learned about allegations of misconduct. in a brief statement announcing the removal of army lieutenant ron lewis, the inspector general of the department of defense will conduct the investigation. and in the washington post, establishment worried carson or trump might win. they fear dominating ben carson

or donald trump will have a negative impact on the republican ticket. some strategies have been suggested and they're even considering mitt romney again. a moving ceremony at the white house thursday. captain groberg says his instincts kicked in when he saved lives of soldiers and sustained an injury in the process. >> he grabbed the bomber by his vest and kept pushing him away wp . all of the training came together in those few seconds. he showed his guts, his training, how he put it all on the line for his teammates. that's an american we can all be grateful for.

it's why we honor, captain florent groberg. >> he's just the 10th living resip znt of cipient of the nation's highest award. well, it's finally happened, bag pipes in space. it's a first as far as we know. nasa astronaut brought bag pipes with him to the space station. he did to to honor a former astronaut instructor who died. one family built a massive death star from "star wars" atop their home. it's 23 feet tall and weighs in over 400 pounds, lit with strategically placed leds to look like the empire's super weapon. >> that is so neat. do the neighbors like it? >> i think rits it's a little bright

happy birthday, gerard butler, and whoopee goldberg and cris knox from sex and the city. thanks for watching "ear breaking news. in the hunt for one of the most