it's wednesday, june 8th. coming up on "early today." for the first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party nominated for president. >> hillary clinton acknowledges a historic achievement, while bernie sanders says it ain't over yet. donald trump judge comments grows, he makes an appeal to republican voters while receiving his first unendorsement. officials in rio try to ease zika fears saying the numbers are dropping fast. stunning video of a cop tasering a teen leaving him brain

a gruesome discovery in florida. "early today" starts right now. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. breaking news overnight. for the first time in america's 240-year history, a woman is at the top of a major party ticket. but while the democratic primary out of california is still too early to call, senator bernie sanders refuses to back down. the front page of the new york "daily news" says it all secretary clinton has clenched a majority of pledged delegates to become the presumptive democratic nominee for president. taking new jersey and south dakota and new mexico hillary clinton makes history in breaking the next glass ceiling. >> it may be hard to see tonight, but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now. thanks to you, we have reached a milestone. first time -- first time in our nation's history that aan

>> clinton also made some of her strongest points against her likely republican opponent donald trump. >> donald trump is tem rah mentally unfit. he is not just trying to build a wall between america and mexico. he is trying to wall off americans from each other. when he says let's make america great again, that is code for let's take america backward. >> meanwhile sanders held a final california rally after he won the state of north dakota. he won the montana primary. as the polls closed last night, sanders remained fixed on continuing his campaign, refusing to give up his fight. >> next tuesday, we continue the

washington, d.c. and then we take our fight for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice to philadelphia, pennsylvania! i am pretty good in arithmetic and i know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight. but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get. >> sanders will spend tomorrow in his hometown of burlington, vermont. "the new york times" reports his campaign, though, is planning for large staff layoffs. he has scheduled a rally in washington, d.c. for thursday where he will also meet with top democratic senator harry reid and a new statement from the white house says at sanders' request, the president and senator sanders will meet at the white house on thursday to continue their conversation about the significant issues at stake in this election that matter most to

the white house said the president spoke to clinton and sanders and congratulating both for their campaign and thanking sanders for fighting economic and inequality. donald trump last night used a teleprompter in an effort to stay on message and regain some shaky confidence. he reached out to supporters and the republican establishment. here is a little of what ed. >> i understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle and i will never, ever let you down. too much work, too many people, blood, sweat, and tiers. never going to let you down. i will make you proud of your party and our movement and that is what it is, is a movement. >> it was trump's best attempt to calm the political waters after what some are calling the worst 72 hours in his campaign. as measured as that speech was, it was remains to be seen if it was enough to drown out the

trump. yesterday, speaker paul ryan criticized trump for his comments presiding over the trump university case. >> claiming a person can't do the job because of their races is a textbook definition of a racist comment. it's absolutely unacceptable and do i believe that hillary clinton is the answer? no, i do not. >> my advice would be to talk about the issues that the american people care about and to start doing it now. in addition to that, it's time to quit attacking various people that you competed with or various minority groups in the country and get on message. >> trump also received his first unendorsement from illinois republican senator mark kirk. kirk o

after much consideration i have concluded that donald trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world. he urged fellow republicans to follow his lead. >> reporter: do you hope other members of your party do what you're doing now? >> i do. i think we should send a strong message to donnell that racist and bigotry will not be tolerated in our party. >> trump launched a website defending his university. 98 percent approval.com. he says it includes thousands of positive ratings from former trump university students. trump issued a longer than usual statement saying his words were misconstrued but did not apologize for his attacks on a judge of mexican heritage. instead he said the following. however he still

justified in questioning whether he is getting a fair trial based on prior rulings and he hit back against his republican critics last night. >> some of the republicans -- and in all fairness, there are some of the people that i went through war with and i won -- and there is a lot of anxiety there. there is a lot of, anger, i guess anger. they come back and can't get over it so they have to get over it ideally. whether or not they endorse me, they have to get over it and can't be angry for so long. >> let's bring in best author selling. let's talk about bernie sanders first of all. the senator is not backing down even hillary clinton has a majority of delegates. will this damage the party? >> will he utter the two scariest word in the clinton camp? fight on? it depend on what he means by fight on, right? if he is going to literally

no, that is very damaging to hillary. if he is going to get in there and try to effect a platform and push his issues, let that fight go on. let's figure out what the two words mean, first. >> he is meeting with the president later this week on thursday. also meeting with senator harry reid. the white house says that meeting with the president was at sanders' request. what do you think is on sander' agenda? >> he suggests a certain reaching out and peace making moment. i did detect in his tone last night. he wasn't quite as rough with hillary, right? he wasn't slapping her around the way he has the past couple of months so maybe he is looking for a gentler way out and we won't know that until thursday. >> can the president or senator reid play peace maker here? what happens if sander doesn't want to play ball? >> so far he doesn't seem to. he doesn't seem to have thought anything beyond i want to be the nominee. does he want to

moment and focus onnish issues? i don't know if he has thought about that yet. >> in thinking about this as a whole, hasn't sanders really won here? he has made hillary clinton a better candidate, wouldn't you say? >> he's had a huge impact on the party. i would predict the future nominees are going to look like bernie. maybe not as old but from the progressive wing of the party. we have learned this year, betty, that is dui where the energy and passion is in the democratic party. >> let's switch over to the republican party, because trump seems to have taken a bit of a hint from inside his party, right? we saw him give that speech. had he a teleprompter and he was very on point and message and measured and all of that. here is the question, though. will it last? >> you know, history tells us to be very skeptical about that. there is a little bit of a caged animal in donald, right? he is there speaking in that measured way. how is he going to be tomorrow or the day after? i don't know. i have the sense that the

>> the backlash is growing. senator mark kirk as we just mentioned is his first unendorseme unendorsement. >> i like that word. >> is this beginning of a maximum exodus, possibly? >> i think a lot more republicans are probably where paul ryan is or mitch mcconnell, expressing their disagreements and trying to distance themselves a little bit. but, you know, hillary clinton is the great unifier of republicans this year. >> okay. ellis, thanks so much. i appreciate it. five bicyclists are dead and four injured after they were run down by a pickup truck in kalamazoo, michigan. the driver of that truck originally fled the scene but later was arrested. charges are filed later in the week. all victims are adults and two of the injured are in critical condition. witnesses tell nbc station wood the driver was swerving across multiple lanes before the crash. concern about the zika virus

to reassure 500,000 people expected to attend the olympic games this summer. health experts argue we have seen a steep decline in new cases. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: two months before the olympic torch finally makes its way to rio, bristlian health authorities sought to reassure athletes and spectators worried about the zika virus insisting infection rates are dropping fast from nearly 4,000 new cases in early march to fewer than 100 now. bristlian researchers now predict just 16 case during the games. south america's winter being cool, dry air and less hospitable conditions for mosquitoes. >> lower the risk of mosquito-born infections for visitors such as zika virus. >> reporter: but zika is linked to 1400 cases of microcephaly in babies in brazil and health experts continue to warn pregnant women or women who with might become pregnant to avoid the country. >> are

well, yeah, i am pregnant! >> reporter: the "today" show savannah guthrie's surprise announcement says she will skip the olympic coverage in rio. >> i will not be going to rio. the doctors say i should because of the zika virus. >> reporter: tejay garderen is also not going to the olympics for cycling competition. how is the forecast looking today? >> other areas dry and high. we are watching the mid-atlantic and through much of the southeast drying out after the rainstorm we dealt with tropical storm colin there. the tail end of this. a frontal boundary set up over florida and stationary boundary and spark additional storms and the wet spots in the country. a minor flood

see isolated storms from naples to ft. myers and ft. charlotte and tampa i think it's to your south. isolated conditions for flooding and looks like the soil is so saturated. next 24 hours only an inch or two is possible south of ft. myers and across alligator alley and lake. cool weather with you in chicago one more day. the warmth is spreading your way and watch out in new england for showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and cool air mass. that is your national weather. now a closer look at your day ahead. well, it's not going to rain all day long but see a period of showers and storms over areas of pennsylvania heading through new england as we go throughout the day. the heat is beginning to build. wichita, kansas, up to 93 today! starting to look like summer in a lot of wa. a

thank you. straight ahead, a bizarre story of an alligator was something very suspicious in his mouth. plus the biggest professional sports league in america hacked. details next. next. ♪ if you have allergy congestion, next. muddling through your morning is nothing new. ...your nose is the only thing on your mind... ...and to get relief, anything is fair game. introducing rhinocort® allergy spray from the makers of zyrtec®. powerful relief from your most frustrating nasal allergy symptom* ,all day and all night. hasn't your nose been through enough already? try new rhinocort® allergy spray. muddle no more® every ingredient is the main ingredient. the strawberry poppyseed... romaine, mandarin, pineapple, blueberry, strawberry, strawberry... strawberry... salad with chicken. at panera. food as it should be. are you ready to take the gel envy challenge? revlon colorstay gel envy with diamon top coat

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so police in florida got a scary call tuesday afternoon. people at a senior home reported seeing an alligator swimming a human body in its mouth. the lakeland police department was able to retrieve the body of an unknown male but said he was not freshly killed. the area is known to have an aggressive gator according to police. there are no reports of missing people. authorities are working, though, to track the reptile. shocking dash cam video released by a u.s. district attorney shows a frightening traffic stop. independence, missouri, police officer tased a man in the chest when y

and threw the teen to the ground face-first. the young man suffered a severe brain injury. the now former officer was sentenced to four years in prison. shocking reports of roger goodell's death was the work of hackers. the commissioner is alive and well but the nfl's official twitter account tweeted the commissioner had passed away. the league's pr department responded and assured the responders that the commissioner was not harmed in any way. ahead, epic drama at the college softball championship. and this fight is on. that is next on "early today." why am i so devastatingly handsome, i'm in a fragrance... ...ad, and my sweethearts gone sayonara. this scarf, all that's left to remember. what! she washed this like a month ago! how's a guy supposed to move on! the long lasting scent of gain flings.

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in sports, what started with the college softball championship, oklahoma up 1-0 in the best of three series. they are looking to put away auburn. the final inning. game tied at 7. emily hits a game winning walkoff grand slam! they now have a deciding game three. camden yard. lorenzo cain makes an amazing grab! robbing pedro alvarez of a home run. the royals pitcher clocked manny machado with a 9 mile-an-hour fastball and the fight is on! both benches quickly charged the field and both players were ejected and the orioles won the game 9-1. just ahead, celebrities, they weigh in on

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special night for women in this country. 240 years later, it's about time. elizabeth banks is emotional about hillary clinton securing nomination. historic moment for american women. stephen colbert discussed the historical significance of hillary clinton making the nomination last night on "the late show. >> >> this actual tape of clinton's speech is all over the nation right now. take a listen. >> we feel that for too long our leaders have viewed politics in the art of the possible. the challenge now is practice politic as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible. >> now she has done it. she has made the impossible possible. she is a woman who has clenched the presidential nomination. that is something you could only see in a sci-fi novel or any other country in the world. sir, this alien life form is growing at an alarming rate. growing fast, you say? we can't contain it any long...

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that breaking news, two people dead in a fiery crash in montgomery county. >> angie goff is following the latest from the news desk. >> reporter: take a look at this video we've gotten into the newsroom. they are looking at what is left after the deadly crash. a truck crashed into a tree as you mentioned, eun. after that it burst into flames and two people have died. one person is in critical condition being treated right now. and part of burnt hill road where this happened is closed off as investigators look into what happened. kristin wright is on the scene right now as this story is

i'm angie goff at the live desk. thanks to you we have reached a milestone. >> thank you all! the struggle continues! i'm going to fight for you, the american people. like nobody has ever fought before. >> we are stronger together. let's go out and make that case to america! thank you! god bless you! and god bless america! good morning, everybody. it is wednesday, june 8, 2016. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. the big news this morning, hillary clinton claiming victory after last night's primary and is now accepting being called the presumptive presidential nominee. >> we'll look at

hitting stands this morning. the cover of "the new york times" here, we'll show you also the cover of "the new york post" that uses the headline "the first lady." a play on words there, obviously. >> and more on decision 2016 in just a moment. but first we'll go to storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. chuck, a noticeable difference this morning. i had to grab my light jacket once again. absolutely. sometimes that hint of a chill in the summertime feels oh so nice. hold on to your hat, it will be a blustery day. but a day to certainly open up the windows and say thank you, canada. we love canadian air in the summertime. there will be a slight chance for a shower today, but primarily across northern maryland and southern parts of pennsylvania. temperatures, though, you noticed it for sure. we are back down into the 50s and the 60s. i can hardly contain myself. 64 in leesburg. we'll time it all out

this morning we are watching the orange and silver line between falls church and falston. 66 eastbound we have a crash along the right side of the roadway. watch for flashing lights. not a big delay this morning. good news from the big crash on loudoun county on 15, all lanes have been reopened. at one point throughout the night, traffic was detouring around. now virginia state authorities are saying all travel lanes are back to normal. back to you. we have reached a milestone. first time in our nation's history that a

major party nominee. >> for the first time hillary clinton claiming the title presumptive democratic nominee for president with wins nearly across the board last night. clinton now has a majority of delegates. >> and that is without california. as of right now, it's still too early to call the race here. 57% of the vote is in in california with clinton leading 57% to 42% there. we'll take a look at the results we do have. clinton won by a large margin in new jersey. but senator bernie sanders came close in new mexico and south dakota. the results overnight show sanders with victories in both montana and north dakota. >> now clinton says the real race begins. she's focused less on senator sander last night and set her sights instead on the fight against donald trump. >> our children and grandchildren will look back at this time at t