>> melissa will played a limited run on the hit show through gust 4th. bye. breaking overnight, a rescue diver is killed during the cave rescue of the trapped soccer team. new details just ahead. >> this morning u.s. exports are frozen overseas as a trade war with china begiam. id a multi billion dolla tariffs and the high stakes at this time ftit for tat. >> a form ecer co-industry lobbyist. >> mother nature with extreme messagesncluding massive fires, record high tempetures and even a giant haboob. >> a real-life mom who pulled a gun on a jacker threatening to take her kids. >> a very close call for one

wedding day couple. heads up. "early today" starts right now. >> good friday morning to you. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. breaki overnight, a former thai navy seal has me the ultimate sacrifice trying to rescue the young soccer team trapped in a flooded cave nearly two weeks now. >> authorities inay thailand s suman kunan ran out of oxygen placing tanks throughout the cave for a potential rescue mission. this as rescuers race against time before monsoon rains bring even more nbc's bill neely brimgsz us the latest from the cave. >> reporter: the world is watching them, but they want out. a dozen boys with brave faces, their rescuers with one huge soblem, flood water. diversuggling to fight it. the boys still too weak to cross it. they can't swim, and it's six hours to the cave entrance. but getting a crash course on diving, but the risks are

deadly. the narrow passage ways a trap even for the experts. >> it's quitehallenging obviously. zero visible, it's confined space, so it's a challge. >> reporter: rescuers are drilling and digging and it's desperate because it's a race against tim getting rid of water before the monsoon rains fill the caves again. they are pumping millions of gallons of water out of the caves every day. meanwhile up on the hills, up to 30 teams are looking for holes or shafts they could use to winch the boys out. with no rain for three days, commanders are now tempted to try a fast rescue. i there's 90% safety, saysg the rnor, we're ready to bring the boys out. two of them had birthdays thwe . no celebrations here. just preparations for a rescue that can't come soon enough. and the rescuers know the clock

is against them. rain forecast this weekend. so little time to strengthen those boys, train them in under water masks, and then tak the rithe risk. antors are clear those boys aren't up to it yet. philip, frances? >> bill, thank you. >> the epa head is out. scott pruitt resigned from his post ami ethic scandals the last few months. pruitt faces separate ethics investigations. it wasn't just environmental activists and democrats calling for hisuster. it was republican members of congress as well. ev as president trump continuously defended him. the agency will now be led by interim chief and former coal industry lobbyist andrew wheeler. nbc's peter alexander has the latest. >> reporter: for epa administrator scott pruitt, it's the political climate that got too hot. facing mounting legal and ethics scandals, pruitt, one of the most controversial original trump cabinet level picks is out. president trp aboard air force

one tweeting, i've accepted the resignation of scott pruitt. adding, scott has done an outstanding job a relaxed pruitt spotted here at the white apartments 4th of july picnic. but under siege from 15 federal ethics in inquiries many zeroing in on spending including unprecedented securit detail, frequent first class air travel and a $43,000 soundproof phone booth installed in hisfice. >> much of what has been targeted towards me and my team ts been halfths or at best stories that have been so twisted they do not resemble reality. >> reporter: just this week a school teacher confronting pruitt at a d.c. restaurant. >> so, i would urge you to resign before your scandals push you out.or >> rr: in his resignation letter pruitt acknowledges the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are akprecedented and have a sizeable toll on all of us. pruitt, a hero among conservatives for aggressively rolling back obama-era

environmental protections undercutting the cleern water act, and stalling tougher fuel economy standards. e president praisingim just last month. >> scott pruit is doing a great job within the walls of theep we're setting records. >> reporter: this morning the president says there was no fina s straw thattt pruitt first came to him a couple of days ago and chose to still, his departure will not change the agency's direction. pruitt's replacement, his deputy andrew wheeler, a former lobbst for the coal industry. phillip? >> all right, peter, thank you. >> president trump is waking up in bedminster, new jersey this morning after riling up his base at a make america great again rally in great falls, montana. in a wide ranging speh he spoke about the supreme court pick and his relationship with russia. he alsoaid against his critics including senator elizabeth rren, reviving the name pocah tas and challengi the massachusetts senator. >> i here by -- i want to apologize i'll useonight,

pocahontas, i apologize to you. i apologize. to you i apologize. to the fake pocahontas, i won't apologize. i will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity paid forru by if you take the test and it shows you're an indian.re >> senator w fired back on twitter saying, you obsess over my jooerngenes, your admin is t dna of kids you ripped from their mama. just after five journalists were killed at the "pital gazette" newspaper in maryland, president attacking nce aga the media. >> fake news, bad people. they say, a source within the administration. they make the sources up. they don't exist in many cases these are really bad people. >> and fox business

correspondent charles gasparino, just heard potus claimed sources.s this is complete b.s. he knows it. >> simmering tensions over tariffs erupting in a full-blown trade war between the u.s. and china overnight. the trump administration slapped tariffs on $34 billion worth of chinese ports at midnight eastern. china's commerce ministry slammed the decision issuing a statement that accuses the u.s. of launching the larrade war in economic history to date and it appears china is already taking countera. the port of shanghai has reportedly put a hold on clearing u.s.ts imp through customs. nbc's chris pollone has more. good morning, chri >> reporter: good morning, phillip. this trade war is on and as you said, it started a 12:1 eastern time. the president said he would

expand theseiffs to another $16 billion worth of goods soon. chinese media repts say the country has already responded imposing tariffsn $34 billion worth of u.s. goods. poultry, corn, soybeans, pork, things that hit the american bread basket hard. now, people even in the president's own party feared that the tradeat be could raise prices for u.s. consumers and for businesses and slow down economic growth. but the psident says that this is necessary to level the playing field for u.s. businesses. live in washington, i'm chris pollone, philip, let's go back to you. >> chris, thank you. >> the clock is ticking as the president narrows down the list for the supreme court seat.am a sourceiar with the process says kavanagh of washington, amy coney barrett of michigan. and raymond kethledg

pete williams tells us more. >> reporter: president trump has apparently narrowed the list to three federal appeals court judges. a source familiar with the process tells nbcews it's brett kavanagh of washington and raymond kethledge of michigan, both formernthony kennedy clerks and amy coney barrett a rmer antonin scalia clerk. >> we can't under estimate how importantenhe second dment is to the president's base. judge kethledge is an avid outdoors man and hunter. >> reporter: kavanaghac some conservative opposition over his time serving in the bush white he says that's a plus. >> be i believe my white house experience made me a more knowledgeable judge essential and also a more independent judge. >> reporter: and barrett a devout catholic is seen as likely to overturn roe v. wade. mike lee despite an endorsement from senator ted cruz of texas who saysee's conservatism would be a sure thing.

democrats are still smarting over the senate's refusal two yes ago to even consider esident obama's final nominee merrick garland. senator chuck schumer saysti nomi garland now would unify the country. the choice will be revealedig monday, 9:00 p.m., at the white house. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>eanrelenting wer is assaulting much of the united states with heavy flooding on the east coast, ravaging wildfires in the west and the first major dust storm of the monsoon season rollinge through hoenix area. experts are calling the massive blazes out west the worst in decades during an unu ally active season. in colorado the spring creek fire, the largest in the state, burned 16 acres every minutein in country, the county fire is jeopardizing over 1500 homes andtructures and in pittsburgh people there are suffering the onslaught as immense rain caused flooding. drivers are stranded as they head out in the rains and

rivers. they knock on doors due to the extreme record flooding. the dust whipping across the state. temperatures shattered a record 115 degrees. wow. for some of us we're going to get a good drenching. let's check in with meteorologist bill karins. it's going to get wet. >> ending the heat wave in areas of the northeast. we took d.c. out of the flash flood watch. good news for u. still new york city, philadelphia, boston, providence, everyone has a chance with storms dumping rain in a short period of time. between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. new york to boston to providence and hartford by about 2:0 or 3:00 p.m., that is gone and shifts further to the south. later this evening we have evening plans aroundnashville, ashville, raleigh, charlotte, memphis, you will ber dodging shand storms. that's a look at the big weather story of the day. now here's a closer look at your day ahead. well, behind the cold front isome beautiful air. look at grand rapids today.

detroit 79 and sunny. the humidity much, much lower. so that's the enjoyle air that will be coming down even to the mid-atlantic over the>> weekend. and over the weekend, some people are going to see some of the best summer-like conditions they've had in a while. >> we've been waiting for this. definitely been hot. bill, thanks. >> wld war ii veteran is going viral after throwing the opening pitch before a minor league baseball game. 104-year-old frank andson invited to toss out the ceremonial first pitch for the memphis red bir on 4th of july. here comes the pitch. winding h up. that throw is trending this morning. 104, my goodness. >> still ahead, a citizenship set back for immigrants in the u.s. army. keep it right here. this is nbc "early today." >> on a friday. ♪

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s after they were sneaking around a south african game reserve earlier this week. unice and an anti-poachi found an axe, three pairs of shoes, gloves and human remains near pride of lions when they arrived on the scene. to morerica is home than 80% of the world's rhino population, but that number is quicklynk declining t to poachers coming from vietnam and china where rhino horns are used for traditional medicine. a police forensic team continues to investigate the area m fore clues. >> sad news this morning about one much our former colleagues here at nbc. the host of the e sho on msnbc for six years has died. ed schultz's son told the p associatss his father died of natural causes thursday in washington. schultz began as aposcaster in fargo, north dakota. he worked in radio as a conservative talk show host before cnging his political views and becoming a liberal. after leaving msnbc in 2015 he joined rt america in washington. ed schul was 64 years old.

>> a roadblock in the path to citizenship for u.s. military members. the associated press is reporting that the ay is quietly discharging immigrant recruits. imgration attorneys say i more than 40 minutes and women who enlisted through a special recruitment program have been kicked out of the army. the program allows immigrants with legal status to enlist and earnenship after receiving an honorable service designation. a pentagon spokesperson told the a.p. they couldn't explain the discharges because of pending litigation. >> the deepening mystery behind the poisoning of aleritish coup. and of course it's the really tough stains that nobody ever does ready? really? i didn't do it so when i heard they added ultra oxi to the cleaning power of tide, i knew it was just what we needed so now we can undo all the tough stains that nobody did dad? i didn't do it huh, he didn't do it introducing new tide ultra oxi; it's got to be tide

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in today's quick hits, the re in lexington, virginia is reopened for business. the restaurant came under fire for refusing toerve white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders last month. the reopening day dre both protesters and a house full of customers. >> two weeks after its birt the dallas zoo's newest baby gorilla finally madets debut. it is spending time with its parents. he're saying he or because the animal's gender and name will be t announced in coming weeks. the first gorilla born in the zoo in 20 years. >> and overseas in madrid, dozens strutted their stuff or tried to at least in the high-heel race. you see the large crowds there. some competitors are required to wear heels a minimum of

6 inches. one of the events celebrating pride week. >> new at nbc.com, the mystery is deepening over the couple in the u.k.. the same powerful nerve agent that almost killed a former russian spy and his daughter,in stigators now believe they ow how the toxin was transmitted in the most recent case. but u.k. officials suspect it is more than just a coincidence and are calli for an explanation from russia. nbc's matt bradley has the latest on the investigation from london. matt, good morning. >> reporter: good morning,nd francesphillip. it seems that the question here that everybody had was just answered by britain's counterterrorism force. they're housed hereew at scotland yard behind me. they said this their hypothesis that they'reorking on is that these tua tacks were linkett the novichokk that a stacked the skripals, the former in march uble age and his daughter, and this one that was just recently this past weekend in the salisatry area afflicted this couple, those two, they n believe, were linked. they believe that this couple salisbury might have infected

themselves somehow by picking some object that was smeared with residue from the substance that afflicted the skripals back in march. now, this could bring up a new round of diplomatic criminations between britain and russia, but it could also lead to a lot of questions from among the british public because back in march, british medical officers and police said that that whole area i salisbury where the skripals had been infected was cpletely clear and everything was fine. they sai the same thing just in the pas couple of days. so it's aqu big tion. can the britiublic trust that the area around salisbury is, in fact, clear and safe? that's a question that's going to have a lot ofit pal implications in the coming weeks. frances? phillip? >> matt, thank you. >> just ahead, bill has our weekend forecast and an armed texas mom leaps into action after a carjacker threa to take her kids. i need to shave m. ekends are my time.

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good friday rning, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> friday morning coming as welcom relief for many of you who found it hard getting back to work after the fourth of july holid holiday. also, the rescue happening in thailand this morning. there is an effort still under way, but there has also been a death. details are still ahead. and a heat wave's finally coming to an end,guys. getting a cancer diagnosis is difficult. getting an appointment with a specialist shouldn't be. at cancer treatment centers of america n philadelphia, you e a cancer specialist in as little as 24 hours. you'll meet with a physician who will discuss treatment options, answer your questions and recommend next steps for your personalized care plan.

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eun yang. maybe this is your work weekend or maybe you're relaxing for the long weekend. >> the heat wave may be ending in a couple hours, but there might be rain on the radar. melissa mollet has your commute, but first, sheena parveen is here to talk about the forecast. hey, sheena. >> hey, guys! we had seven days in a row of 90s. we hit the low 90s yesterday, but today thet h wave will be coming to an end. we don't have any rain locally right now. we hadov some showernight, but if we take a wide view out, look at the showers and thunderstorms off to our west and northwest, some of these will try to swing through as we go past about 7:00 to 8:00 this morning, andhe then through afternoon scattered showers and storms in the forecast with a coldront that will actually be cooling us down this weekend, so relief from the heat isinally here. it's 81, though, this morning and still very warm and humid as e.u walk outs 82 in annapolis, 80 degrees quantico s all the usuts over the past several days that had been in the 80s this hour still in the 80s. suburbs about the mid-70s. y here's wha can et