d-day in washington. the eyes of the nation and much of the world watching fired fbi director james comey before congress making his first public remarks since president trump terminated him. reaction to his prepared opening remarks. >> his statement reads more like a tom clancey novel than your usual garden variety congressional testimony. >> we'll tell you what's next and how the white house will counter the comey testimony. and today, the alleged national security agency leaker is expected to plead not guilty to providing a top secret document to a news outlet. new details on the isis-claimed attack in

waterlogged sunshine state of florida. and the cavs on the verge of being swept. "early today" starts right now. so good to be with you. i'm frances rivera. james comey's prepared testimony for today's hearing is heard far and wide with allegations against the president that he pressured comey to lift the cloud of the russia probe. president trump viewed the release as confirmation of his claims that comey assured him multiple times he was not under investigation. his personal attorney even said the president feels completely and totally vindicated. nbc news justice has more. >> a dramatic account ov in detail of five one on one conversations with donald trump. the first with president-elect trump january 6. a briefing on the investigation of russia's election meddling and claims about to become

involved with prostitutes in moscow, something trump denied. he thought about whether to give assurance mr. trump was not under investigation. that was true, comey says, we did not have an open case on er. comey says he decided right then to duck him at his conversations with mr. trump and began typing the notes on a laptop as he rode away from trump tower. next meeting dinner at the white house january 27. e white house january 27. comey says the president told him i need loyalty, i expect loyalty. comey says i didn't move, speak or change my facial expression in any way but later answered you will always get honesty from me. he told the thapt the fbi was not investigating mr. trump personally. in his interview with lester holt he said that comey requested the dinner. >> the dinner was arranged.

>> reporter: comey says mr. trump called him and he says he got the feeling it was an evident to have me ask for my job and create some kind of patronage relationship. next february 14 after an intelligence briefing, the day after michael flynn was forced to resign. he quotes the president saying i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he's a good guy. comey says i did not say i would let this go. adding i had understood the president to be requesting that we drop any investigation of flynn. and to whether flynn made false statements about his conversations with russia's ambassador to the u.s. comey says i did not understand the president to be talking about the broader investigation into russia or possible links to his campaign. comey says he remembers leaving the oval office through the door by the grandfather clock and he told only a few people about it because he didn't want to let the fbi investigators know about a request that the fbi had no intention of

attorney general jeff sessions to prevent any further direct communications with the president but he says sessions did not reply. march 30 comey says the president called him at the fbi and asked what we could do to lift the cloud of the russia allegations adding quote, that he had nothing to do with russia, had not been involved with hookers in russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in russia. comey replied he told congressional leaders the fbi was not investigating mr. trump who responded we need to get that fact out. and added if there was some satellite associates of his who did something wrong it would be good to find that out. two weeks later comey says the president called again and asked what i had done about his request that i get out that he is not personally under investigation. comey says the president added, i have been very loyal to you, very loyal, we had that thing you know. comey says he didn't ask what the president meant by that thing. comey never says in the prepared statement that he thought the

obstruction of justice and a former federal prosecutor says there is no sign of that. >> they create an inference of attempt to influence a pending investigation. that alone is not enough to make obstruction case. but that's a big piece of it. >> pete williams reporting. joining us this morning is the deputy news editor. what do you make of all of this seven-page prepared statement that was released and more so what we anticipate as hearing the words directly from comey adding another dimension? >> i think that it set the stage for his testimony today in that it is very revealing and it's the first public remarks comey made since he was fired. and i think that you know, it's important that he corroborates his previous claim or trump's previous claim he assured him three times he wasn't under investigation. i think today lawmakers and senators will need to know more evidence simply to sort of corroborate whether trump was invo i

>> but in looking ahead and knowing what we heard from him in these statements how best can that happen? as far as his mind-set, getting into his mind and what kind of questioning will come from the committee and being able to attain that? >> i think they are going to ask for more specifics about his interactions with trump. we have some in this document but we need more than that. we need the totality of the evidence to prove obstruction of justice which i think is not happening and also you know we need more than just his actions were inappropriate or made comey uncomfortable. we need proof he did something illegal or it was an inappropriate encounter. >> do you think we can expect more complete answers from comey given that he's no longer there in government and that he's in front of actually hearing from him, hearing from him directly in his own words? >> that's a great point. it could go one of two ways, say i'm no longer a government official i have nothing to lose

but he could also say we have robert mueller as a special counsel to this investigation so i defer more information to him and i defer this investigation to him so i'm not saying more than the public statement. >> it's interesting to see the compared to what we heard yesterday with the committee hearing. let's take a listen with the top intel officials there speaking. >> i'll ask both of you the same question. why are you not answering these questions, is there an inthe vocation of executive privilege? is there or not? >> not that i'm aware. >> why are you not answering? >> i feel it's appropriate. >> what you feel isn't relevant, admiral. what you feel isn't the answer. >> trying to squeeze thens as out of the officials there. >> i'm sorry? >> really trying to squeeze those answers out of the intel officials there, to no success. no avail. >> right. well, i think it's also important to note that according to an abc news poll from yesterday, 61% of americans think trump

protect himself so i think that senators and americans alike need more answers than we have now and because comey released his public remarks ahead of time he is giving them an opportunity to formulate questions ahead of his testimony today. if he simply said i don't feel comfortable answering that then that would look bad on his part. >> are we going to hear more from donald trump via tweets or the rnc? >> yes. the rnc released talking points last night to their allies to sort of help them prepare counter arguments to comey. i think we've seen donald trump's penchant for tweeting so i would not be surprised if he tweeted. >> don't see it different. alexi, thank you so much. appreciate it. this morning a special edition of "the today show" with savannah guthrie live on capitol hill leading up to james comey's testimony. and nbc news will bring you live coverage of the hearing beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 pacific. i want to swit

soaked sunshine state may get relief following three days of rain and thunderstorms. nbc meteorologist bill karins, timely in the weekend smd sunshine for them? >> mixed with a couple storms. not perfect but more typical instead of the deluge the last couple days. the storm is also affecting the coastal carolinas today. not great beach weather. there is fantastic weather through the middle of the country, the humidity is low, temperatures are warm, nearly perfect. same with the southeast today, temperatures unusually cool but beautiful though because there is little humidity. you know that's not going to last. even friday the great weather continues, you notice the heat begins to build in the heartland. now a closer look at your day ahead. you can see how you don't get many days in june, 77 in charlotte, 77 in nashville, that's gorgeous type weather. saving the air conditioning bill. the heat's building,

and billings at 93. all right, frances. if you play the powerball lottery good news and bad news. the bad news is you didn't win last night's jackpot worth $380 million. that's because there are no winners. that's the good news. the grand prize for saturday night's drawing is estimated $435 million. that's $273 million in one lump sum. i feel good because i had zero numbers last night so i'm due. >> we'll get our office pool going. plenty more ahead including a day in court for alleged nsa leaker. and bill cosby's team goes after his accuser. neutrogena® ultra sheer. no other sunscreen works better or feels so good. clinically proven helioplex® provides unbeatable uva/uvb protection

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♪ ♪ need a fast absorbing try nivea in-shower body lotion. wash. apply. it absorbs fast. for 24 hour moisture. quickly rinse for smoother skin. ready to go! nivea in-shower body lotion. also available with cocoa butter. in today's quick hits the nsa contractor accused of leaking a classified report about russian

court today. an attorney for reality winner tells nbc news she will enter a plea of not guilty. south korean officials say north korea fired several projectiles off of its east coast today. the south is reportedly suspending deployment of the thaad missile defense system pending environmental assessment. former president obama and canadian prime minister trudeau met for dinner at a trendy montreal restaurant. mr. obama was in town for a speech. you've seen that photo circulating around. leading the news, the islamic state is claiming responsibility for twin attacks in iran's capital. gun men stormed parliament in tehr tehran, a suicide bomber attacked a shrine. 42 people were hurt. nbc has not verified isis claim that iran's guard blames saudi arabia for their alleged support of militants. navy s

wreckage and victims from a military plane that went missing with at least 120 people on board. the plane was headed from the port city of myeik to yangon. the aircraft lost contact 29 minutes after takeoff. it was carrying mostly military members and their families. officials are investigating the incident. for a second day the woman accusing bill cosby of sexual assault was on the stand in his trial in pennsylvania. cosby's defense continued cross-examining her focusing on what it believes are inconsistencies in her story. cosby has repeatedly denied all allegations. stephanie gosk has more on the testimony. >> reporter: at times bill cosby seemed relaxed, joking with security while his accuser faced tough questions from defense attorney who tried to pick apart her story. constand alleges the

drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2004, pointing out that constand's statements to police changed, specifically the date of the assault. she focused on two private dinners at cosby's home. at one point saying you hadn't told the officers that you had wine and brandy and sat by a fire and put your legs near one another. constand said police never asked. she questioned her, you knew he was interested in you romantically. constand replied, no, ma'am. the district attorney hit back hard after she highlighted phone records, line by line to show constand called cosby 53 times after the alleged assault. asked was he on the board of trustees a at the place where you were employed? yes. so when he called you, you called back. yes. the prosecution also called constand's mother to the stand. she tearfully told the jury that cosby apolod

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championship in three years. now to the brits heading to the polls for the uk's third major nation wide election. it was called by theresa may hoping to boost the hold in parliament. the labor party has closed the gap in the polls. the election on the heels of terror attacks in london and manchester as well as last year's shocking brexit vote. lucy, what were corbin's messages? >> reporter: good morning. polls open just over two hours ago but the last final day of campaigning saw the prime minister theresa may switch to a brexit pitch saying her conservative party will help build a stronger, fairer and more prosperous britain. opposition labor leader corbin framed it as a choice between hope and fear. this is a rather borg election, frances, when theresa may called for the snap poll in april, bac

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now on "news 4 today," former fbi director james comey heads to capitol hill. what's expected to happen during the hearing that's being called washington's super bowl. neighbors are worried it would create traffic. we're live from mgm national harbor as the casino marks six months. good news if you bought a powerball ticket. you may find yourself stopping at a convenience store the next few days. "news 4 today" starts now. 4:26 is your time right now. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. our team is working for you this

meteorologist chuck bell. chuck, i had to turn on the defrost this morning when i got in the car. >> the defrost? >> it wasn't frost, it was fogged over. >> sol moisture that has created a sheen that i couldn't see through the windshield. >> if you were talking about frost, i'm leaving. >> maybe we should call it the defogger. >> okay. it's not hot outside is what i'm saying. >> you've got that right. a nice, cool, comfy start for the day. mostly clear skies. clouds around this morning. nothing major. no real rain chance for the day. lingering showers. this is showing no real signs of coming in our direction. we have a dry forecast starting for today and going on through the weekend. you are right, aaron, it is nice and cool this morning. 49 now in

48 in frederick, maryland. 48 in winchester, virginia. 41 in manassas. national airport down below 60 degrees this morning at 57. cool and comfy this morning. plan on a nice, dry day. a mix of clouds and sunshine staying cooler than average for today. that will not be the case for long. we'll talk about the weekend warmup. let's go to melissa mollet and see if she is cool. >> i am always cool. >> you're the cool mom. >> yeah, for now. we'll see. outer loop university boulevard, have a truck fire from earlier. right now it is on the right shoulder. inner loop after 395 had some work happening there this morning. the right lane was getting by. the work zone there this

looking good here in virginia, westbound 66. getting by the work zone there. aaron? >> melissa, thank you. this could be one of the most important days of the trump administration. just a matter of hours former fbi director james comey will take a seat before lawmakers and tell his story. this will no doubt be one of the most closely watched congressional hearings in years. >> it will get the attention of people in this country and around the world. here's a live look at capitol hill where things are quiet now. that will not be the case at 10:00 a.m. when james comey starts to speak. we're already getting a look at some of what he plans to say. >> news 4's kristen wright continues our coverage from the newsroom. kristin? >> reporter: we have a copy of comey's prepared testimony. in it he describes his conversations with president trump in great detail. let's walk you through two key parts. his first meeting with mr. trump is on january 6th. that is

president-elect about salacious claims about trump and a so-called doccier. comey, also, assured trump he was not under investigation. quote, that was true, comey says. we did not have an open counter intelligence case on him. i offered that assurance. but it is the portion about michael flynn that is expected to lead to a lot of questions today. on february 14th, the day after flynn was forced to resign, comey quotes the president as saying, i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. comey says, i did not say i would let this go, adding i had understood the president to be requesting that we drop any investigation of flynn. so a lot of interesting detail in this. it was after that conversation that comey asked attorney general jeff sessions to prevent any direct communications with the president. aaron, back to