look, he's a showboat, a grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil, you know that. i am a big fan of the fbi. i love the fbi. there is no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. >> lester holt's exclusive no holds barred interview with the president. plus detail how the story that james comey firing changed and reaction from some on capitol hill. >> he has absolute right to fire the fbi director for any reason. the problem is the inconsistent reasons offered. >> frankly, i'm offended at the president's comments. >> reports of sightings of up to 15

of this world. and, jillian michaels score. "early today" starts right now. happy friday. great being with you. i'm frances rivera. the world certainly reacting after new details from president trump throw the entire james comey firing ordeal into further chaos. headlines from "the new york times" and the guardian say it all. in the president's interview with lester holt mr. trump discussed for the first time his decision to fire the fbi director revealing the true motivation behind his decision even contradicting his own vice president and closest staffers as he offered new details on his conversations with the former fbi chief. he raised eyebrows develop delving into the russian investigation. his stinging and perm rebuke of the now ex-fbi chief.

grandstander, the fbi has been in turmoil, you know that, i know that. everybody knows that. you take a look at the fbi a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil. less than a year ago. it hasn't recovered from that. >> monday you met with the deputy attorney general rod rosenste rosenstein. did you ask for a recommendation? >> what i did is i was going to fire comey. my decision. it was not -- >> you made the decision before. >> i was going to fire comey. there's no good time to do it by the way. >> in your letter you said i accepted their recommendation. you made the decision. >> i was going to fire regardless. he made a recommendation, he is highly respected. very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him, the republicans like him. he made a recommendation. but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. knowing there was no good time to

and in fact, when i decided to just do it i said to myself, i said you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story, it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election, that they should have won and the reason they should have won it is the electoral college is almost impossible for a republican to win. very hard. because you start off at such a disadvantage. so everybody was thinking they should have won the election. this was an excuse for having lost an election. >> are you angry with mr. comey because of his russia investigation? >> i just want somebody that's competent. i love the fbi. i like the people of the fbi. i think that about the hillary clinton investigation? >> no, about the russian investigation, and -- >> as far as i'm concerned, i want that thing to be absolutely done properly. when i did this now i

probably maybe will confuse people, maybe i'll expand that you know, i'll lengthen the time because it should be over with, in my opinion should have been over with a long time ago because all it is is an excuse. but i said to myself, i might even lengthen out the investigation. but i have to do the right thing for the american people. he's the wrong man for that position. >> let me ask you about your termination letter to mr. comey. you write i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions i'm not under investigation. why did you put that in there? >> because he told me that. i mean he told me. >> told you you weren't under investigation with regard to russian -- >> i heard that from others. >> in a phone call? >> i had a dinner. he wanted to have dinner. he wanted to stay on. >> he asked for the dinner? >> dinner was arranged. i think he asked for the dinner. and he wanted to stay on as the fbi head. and i said you know i'll consider. we'll see what happens. but we had a very nice dinner and at that time he told me

which i knew anyway. >> one meeting. what was the other two? >> under investigation you are given all sorts of documents. i knew i wasn't under. and i heard it was stated at the committee, some committee level i wasn't. >> that didn't come directly from him. >> in a phone call and during another phone call he said it. once at dinner, and then he said it twice during phone calls. >> did you call him? >> in one case i called him. one case he called. >> did you ask am i under investigation. >> i said if it's possible would you let me know am i under investigation? he said you are not under investigation. >> but he's given sworn testimony that there is an ongoing investigation into the trump campaign and possible collusion with the russian government. you were the centerpiece of the trump campaign. >> all i can tell you -- i know -- i know i'm not under investigation. me. personally. i'm not talking about campaigns, i'm not talking about anything else. i'm not under investigation. >> did you

investigation? >> no. never. >> did anyone. >> in fact i want the investigation speeded up zblft any one from the white house ask him. >> no. >> any surrogates. >> not that i know of. look, i want to find out if there was a problem with an election having to do with russia, or by the way, anybody else. any other country. and i want that to be so strong and so good and i want it to happen. i also want to have a really competent capable director. he's not. he's a showboater. he is not my a man or not my man. i didn't appoint him. he was appointed long before me. but i want somebody who is going to do a great job, and i will tell you we're looking at candidates right now who could be spectacular and that's what i want for the fbi. >> what you said a moment ago about supporting the idea of investigation, a lot of people would find it hard to believe that the man who

tweeted recently it's a total hoax, it's a taxpayer sher raid. >> i think that looking into me and the campaign, look. i have nothing to do, this was set up by the democrats. there is no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. the other thing is, the russians did not affect the vote. and everybody seems to think that. >> were you angry with james comey when he went public and said he can't support your unsubstantiated wire tapping. >> i was surprised but i wasn't angry. there is a big thing going on right now which is spying and you can call it anything you want. the unmasking, and the spying, and to me that's the big story right now. that's a very, very big story. >> you didn't take that as a sign of disloyalty. >> i don't think

loyalty. i want whoever the director is do the right thing. >> what about when he went public there was an investigation looking at your campaign and russia? i ask that because -- anger here. >> no, no, i know once in a while you'll see that in the newspaper, somebody will report or have false sources balls of the way the media is. i will tell you i think that i want very simply, a great fbi director. >> will you expect they would continue on with this investigation? >> sure. i expect that. >> fallout from that interview this morning including revealing reports that call into question many of the claims you heard by the president himself. we'll bring you those ahead. i want to turn to dangerous and severe weather including high winds that left a wave of destruction. downed trees, houses and damaged throughout the tulsa area. whs

mother's day weekend? let's ask meteorologist bill karins. how are we looking? >> we're tracking that storm. the storms last night are no longer severe. we go throughout the day today we'll watch these storms pushing into the southeast, a few strong storms maybe even couple severe, not widespread outbreak. by 8:00 p.m. you notice mississippi all the way through alabama, a lot of heavy rain through west virginia and also into northern portions of virginia. overnight heavier rains around washington, d.c., saturday very rainy from d.c. to baltimore to philadelphia to new york city. then through sunday into mother's day that heavy rain shifts into northern new england with a little improvement in the mid-atlantic area during mother's day morning. that's a look at the big weather story of the day. now a closer look at the day ahead. you can see where the stormy weather will be, we'll dry out in dallas and san antonio and houston. the storms through alabama and louisiana, mississippi and tennessee this morning, georgia this evening. and cool temperatures a

frances, we'll talk about the rest of the country coming up. >> after breakfast in bed you stay in bed in the jammies the entire day. >> that's what you get. >> my kind of day. thank you. have you seen a horse fly? that sort of happened when our rescue crew had to lift this horse to safety. the animal and rider slipped 300 feet down a cliff. crews had to sedate the horse. luckily it didn't seem seriously hurt. the rider only suffered minor injuries. stephen colbert's reaction to donald trump's tweet. the incredible evolving story and background to the firing of james comey. you're watching that here on "early today" on a friday. you help ensure that children in the u.s. and around the world are safe, healthy and educated.

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he-he. mr. trump, there's a lot you don't understand. but i never thought one of those things would be show business. don't you know i've been trying for a year to get you to say my name. and you were very restrained admirably but now you did it. i won. >> reacting in a way only he can to the president after mr. trump blasted the comedian in an interview with time magazine saying quote you see a no talent guy like colbert, there is nothing funny about what he says. what he says is filthy. they were going to take him off. then they started attacking me and he started doing better but his show was dying. back to washington, that's the headline from "the new york times" after the president's interview with lester holt. which contradicted several assertions from white house staff and the vice president including mr.

james comey all along. even the new yorker is jumping on board with this depicting president trump and attorney general jeff sessions dragging former fbi director comey off a plane, harkining back to the united airlines. the paper of record is demanding loyalty only for comey to decline telling the president he would instead offer honesty. while the president said that dinner took place at comey's request one official tells nbc news the meeting was at the request of the white house. now harvard1÷ professor who represented al gore in the 2000 election says president trump's actions are impeachable offenses. >> my loyalty is to the law and the constitution in which case again trump is guilty of attempting to subborn obstruction of justice. either way, as with the first rt

richard nixon, this is a series of high crimes and misdemeanors all by itself. >> this morning it is the shifting version of events the white house has been offering that has some worrying on capitol hill. nbc's hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: in this tale of two days, the story keeps changing. >> regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. >> reporter: flash back to tuesday night when the white house said the president acted based on the clear recommendations of the department of justice. >> no one from the white house. that was a d.o.j. decision. >> reporter: wednesday the vice president reiterated rosenstein's role. >> because of the actions that the deputy attorney general outlined to act on the recommendations, to take the recommendation of the deputy attorney general. >> reporter: later a shift. >> frankly he has been considering letting director comey go since the day he was elected. >> reporter: now, the white house deflecting questions on the revised rationale. >>ul

the president knew that director comey was not up to the task. >> he has absolute right to fire the fbi director for any reason. the problem is the inconsistent reasons being offered. >> reporter: mark warner alarmed that the president called comey a show boat. >> frankly, i'm offended at the president's comments. >> in a senate hearing the acting fbi director defended the man he replaced. >> director comey enjoyed broad support within the fbi. and still does to this day. >> reporter: at the white house a different story again. >> i heard from countless members of the fbi that are grateful and thankful for the president's decision. and i think that you know, we may have to agree to disagree. >> that was hallie jackson reporting. details about a plane evacuated because of a scorpion. then we'll tell you what led to a case of road rage caught on camera. and jillian michaels' multimillion legal score.

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another day, another problem on a plane. this time passengers in houston had to be evacuated from a united airlines plane after a scorpion crawled out of a customer's clothes. the passenger was not stung but crews were unable to find the creature. united said they put passengers on a new plane. this comes a month after another passenger was actu

also flying out of houston. remember that story, up in the bin and fell on top of his head and stung him. it was a chilling sight off the coast of california. a chopper spotted a bunch of sharks along the surf line. >> attention in the water. you are paddle boarding next to 15 white sharkings. >> that's the announcement. you see shadows of the 10-foot long beasts. the swimmers were urged to exit calmly and quickly. thankfully the sharks were not aggressive and everyone was cleared from the coast safely. biggest loser trainer jillian michaels has come out as a winner after a 2-year legal battle. the fitness expert sued the entertainment company for posting her workouts on youtube for free viewing. michaels argued that offering the videos was driving fans from buying her content later on. she was

landmark ruling. road rage on camera. a pickup truck slams in front of a car, moments after police say the drivers got in a fight in the parking lot. the driver tells nbc he was just making a u-turn. >> then there he was right in front of me. i don't know if i hit the brake instead of gas. >> police however say this was no accident and blankenship used his car as a weapon. he was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. still to come steve harvey telling staff to keep out, stay away from him. and remember this sensation. how can we forget. he's back with a brand-new single. that and much more next here on "early today." who's stared down the best in her sport. but for both of them, the most challenging opponent was...

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now at 4:26, take a good look at your screen. this morning an amber alert is underway for an infant under our way. who else police want you to be on the lookout for. first outrage, now a lawsuit. former students who claim howard university failed to help them after they were raped. i said if it's possible, would you let me know, am i under investigation? he said, you are not under investigation. >> and just hours after president trump sits down for an nbc news exclusive, we're learning more news about the firing of the former director of the fbi james comey. >> "news 4 today" starts now. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun ya

you made it to friday. here we are. >> feels good, doesn't it? >> it really does. i'm ready. >> we'll get a look at the roads with melissa. we'll start off with chuck and sheena. the rain has stopped. is that a good thing? >> there's a question mark at the end of that. >> exactly. it's not raining all that hard now. >> yeah. >> if you have stuff to do friday night, maybe dinner and movie on the couch night? >> i think if you're going to head out this evening, you need an umbrella. rain is returning for tonight. weather outlook, commute, wet roads from yesterday. not much rain around right now. if you're exercising, wet pavement out there. recess doesn't look chilly. dinner out, that's when the rain will return. radar, sprinkles near charlottesville. cloudy skies, a few spots of drizzle. temperatures in the low 50s for the most part. it's still a cool

closer look at the timing tonight and leading into your weekend. that's straight ahead. let's check the roads with melissa on this finally friday. >> finally. inner loop before connecticut avenue, we have some road work there that's hanging around here this morning. outer loop at little river turnpike, might see a little slowdown if you're headed out sometime soon. have a medical emergency there. we do have fire and rescue there on the scene. two problems in northern virginia have just cleared out of the way. want to tell you also about one thing that is happening here outbound 4 afterward road, all southbound lanes are blocked because of wires being down there. hopefully they get back up and remedied here. northbound and in bound is unaffected. eun? >> 4:28. erika gonzalez is at the live desk with new information about an amber alert. >> i'm sure this is probably something already

your social media feed. authorities are looking for an 8-month-old girl. khloe johnson was taken april 30th from the hampton area. now an amber alert has been informed. johnson is missing as well. police think that they may have been kidnapped. the pair may be in johnson's car, which would be a 2013 black kea optima with virginia tags. family members say it is very odd for them to have been gone this length of time without notifying anybody. if you have seen them, please contact police. back over to you. >> erika, thank you. >> no. no means no. >> more than a year after hundreds of howard university students marched protesting the alleged rape of two female students,

legally responsible. this is a story that has a lot of you online outraged. the lawsuit says howard failed to help current students. it happened between 2014 and 2016. in one case a woman says a male resident advisor was allowed to stay on the job after a woman reported that he had raped her. you embarrassed your family by doing that. the victims felt like the university failed them at every turn. some report the suicidal. >> these young women came to us after they had made lots of efforts on their own and with advocates trying to help them, going to the administration, first reporting the sexual assault. >> that resident adviser is also accused of raping another student. in anma