impeachment, a call from top gop house members to oust the man s overseeingpecial counsel robertmueller's russia investigation. >> the latest in the tale of the tape surround presidentrump. his former personal attorney and one time play boy play mate. >> our own lester holt goes in-depth with one of the nfl's most prolific players over of the anthem controversy. >> we've seens extreme from coast to coast. >> and the crazy lengths some will go to set a world record. "early today" starts right now. >> good thursday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein unders fire t morning. a group of republicans in the house have launched an effort to

impeach him. accusing rosenstein of impeding congressional oversight for special counsel robert mueller's investigatio into russian election meddling. house freedom caucus chairman mark meadows, oo congressman jim jordan, and nine co-sponsors have introduced articles of impeachment claiming rosenstein has withheld documents and misled congress. >> for nine months we've asked for documents and that's all we want are the documents. and what we found is not only have subpoenas been nored, but information has been hidden. the efforts have been stone walled. >> conservative lawmakers have accused the of trying to smear president trump through the russia investigation. mewhile democrats are blasting the impeachment efforts against rosenstein. lifornia congressman adam schiff tweeting that it shows the extraordinary langths republ will go to protect president trump. >> michael cohen's secret tape sparking very public firestorm on capitol hill this morning. the release of the recording from before theleion has

only furthered the rift between president trump and his long timeer la on the tape then candidate trump appears to discuss a payoff to silenc a former play boy model who claimed to have an affair with him. as nbc's hallie jackson ports, the question now is does that tape spell new legal jeopardy for the present? >> reporter: outside and inside, shouts drawing smirks in the oval office wit reporters pushing the president to talk abt that tape betweenim and his former attorney. >> did michael cohen betray >> thank you very much. >> reporter: no response repeatedly on twitter presidee trump mor talkative asking what kind of lawyer would tape a client? so sad. it's new fallout from a recently revealed recording in widch the present and michael cohen pear to casually discuss hush money payment to keep a play boy model quiet about an alleged o affair the president denies. >> we'll have to pay cas

>> no, no, i've got -- no, no. >> reporter: the president seems to know what cohen is talking about. those claims by model karen mcdougal of a relationship. it is that exchange raising questions aut whether the president broke any laws. >> this deal wasn't consummated so is there any criminal activity will? >> no, it's about >> reporter: so why is this tape significant? a legalident could face liability if he was trying to influence the election by covering up the story. the president's attulney rudy ni insists president trump wa not trying to cover his tracks, but former u.s. attorney chuck rosenberg says prosecutors would nd more context to figure out if the president violated campaign finance it makes no difference whether the hush money was actually paid out or not. >> i two people agree to do something that the law for bids, if they conspire, and either one of them takes a step in that direction, that's a crime. whether or not a payment was made actuallyr won't matr conspiracy law. >> reporter: cnn h said one of

its journalists was actually banned from an open event for asking those tough questions while acting as a representative of t rest of the media. the white house correspondents association is calling that kind of retaliati wrong headed, inappropriate, and weak. it sets a dangerous precedent, phillip. >> hallie jackson at the white housha ie, thank you. >> president trump easing tensions over trade with some of our closest alls. alongside the head of the european commission, mr. trump announced both sides will hold off on any further tariffs while the u.s. and the european union work on reducing trade barriers. however, thehreat of a trade war with china is still looming large over american manufacturers. nbc's tom costello has a look at how it all could hit your wallet. >> reporter: they make door hingesan for the jeep er on this michigan assembly line, a small company with 50 employees umat gets its parts from china. but president s tariffs on china has lucerne international considering layoffs. >> if it gets to th point whe

we can't afford these tariff us, we can't pass them alg, it literally puts us out of business. >> reporter: ford, gm andd chrysler warhat rising costs for steel and aluminum because of tariffs are cutti into their profits. just as president tru threatened additional tariffs on imported automobiles and parts. >> there are no 100% u.s.-built vehicles. the average vehicle in the united states has 60% u.s. content. so that means 40% comes from somewhere else. >> reporter: usually canada or potentially driving up the cost for every new car. experian calculates a jeep cherokee could jump to $2700. a toyota rav4 built overseas up to $9400 more. >> tariffs aren't tax on a foreign company. tariffs are taxes on u.s. companies that either consume or manufacture goods. >> reporter: importantly, most

international auto makers build cars here in the u.s.vi parts across international borders which puts the auto makers, employees and customers at risk. tomo, coste nbc news, bethesda, maryland. >> it was another career milestone for future hall of famer albert. he hit his 631st career home run last night passing the great ken griffey, jr. on the all time home runs list. it was his 17th year. 11-3 over the white sox. he sits in 5th place for all time in home runs between willie maze, barry bonds, huge nachmes there. >> states up and down the east coast continue to get slammed by torrential rain. in fairfax, virginia, violent flash floods swallow roads and nearly covered cars.n rescuers i hershey, pennsylvania going door to door taking residents out by inflatable boats. and flood waters causing hershey park to remain closed for a

third day this week. in florida, many beaches are at risk for treacherous rip kurnlts. >> on the west coast 35 million people from washington state to arizona are battling a sweltering ht wave. temperatures reached record highs in california's death valley hitting a scorching 127 degrees. the heat is fueling the massive wildfires that are ripping through the regions and burning through hundreds ofands of acres. a fire near yosemite has forced rangers to evacuate the park and shut it down. the national weather service says some relief may be in sight with temperatures expected to be moderate by friday. >> let's see what som means and moderate. >> exactly. >> meteorologist bill karins, gat does it mean? >> it's notng to be perfect but not as extreme. he heavy rainfall that really drenched areas of pennsylvania yesterday, washington, d.c., baltimore, really bad flash i floodi quickly on the move racing now through central and northern new england. thin are rapidly improving new york city south wafrd. that the' good. during the day there will be hit and miss showers in new england but not t concentrated rains that will give us a lot of

problems. in the west we mentioned the 35 million at risk. we have the excessive heat warnings in effect for much of southern calornia, desert areas. phoenix and tucson are no longer in the excessive heat warnings. the heat wave continu in southern california. it is getting hot again in texas. how hot will it be today?n 118 palm springs. we cooled you down 3 degrees in the last three days.oo that's aat the big weather story of the day. now here's a closer look at your day ahead. so we'll still have a chance of showers and thunderstorms today in areas of new england, but especially in the morning ho ws, the afternoon wel see things improving. a lot of areas will see tsunshine, begin to dry out. the heat returning to texas all the way to houston with high humidity also. we continue all these extremes, but into the weekend we settle a little bit. >> sounds good. finally can maybe get outside because you cannot go outside when it's like that, miserable, bill, thank you. house lawmakers plan to introduce bill prohibiting federalin agents hsex with

people in custody. >> president trump travels to due buick kwa whe uick, iowa. he'll reopen steel production line. >> ufc fighter connor mcgregor will be back in a brooklyn courtroom on criminal mischief. plea is underway for an involvement in a melee back in april. you got it from your pare. and they got it from theirs. it's your skin, and it can protect you from millions of things. so we're here to help you protect your skin. walgreens pharmacists and beauty consultants are specially trained to know what works for the health of your unique skin. walgreens. trusted since 1901. now all walgreens brand sun care products are buy one get one half off. your hair is so soft!s brand sun care products did you use head and shoulders two in one? i did mom. wanna try it? yes. it intensely moisturizes your hair and scalp and keeps you flake free.

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happy anniversary dinner, darlin'. can this much love be cleaned by a little bit of dawn ultra? oh yeah one bottle has the grease cleaning power of three bottles of this other liquid. a drop of dawn and grease is gone. talk about arriving in style. pittsburgh steeler star wide receiver antonio brown making a grand entrance for his 9th training camp. this is not the first time hefl ed for cameras. in 2016 he showed up in a steelershemed rolls royce. last year he pulled up in a 1931 lls royce phantom convertible. he had a chauffeur with him. awesome. new face of madden is looking to continue leading the league ing receivinards and overall being the bestec wide reiver in the league.

>> what's he going to do next year, come iin aarachute? >> he has flare for days. >> nfl players head to camp this week. national anthem protests are once again front and center. jerry joneselling his players they will not be staying in the locker room for the anthem. >> our policy is you stand for the anthem, toe the line. >> that is despiten off season agreement allowing players to remain in the locker room rather than face fines for kneeling on the policy has been temporarily suspended and ongoingti neions. >> president trump has long been outgoing about the issue even suggesting players who kneel should be fired. jones said the president's stance is troublesome for the league i >> hiserest in what we're doing is problematic from my chair, and i would say in general the owner's chair. everybody would like for it to go away. >> ban players believe there is room for activism in football.

philadelphia eagles safety alcolm jenkins spoke exclusivitily with nbc news's leer holt about the issues as well as the nfl in general. >> malcolm jenkins will go the epdistance. >>ter: malcolm jenkins knows a good opening. so when colin kaepernick took that infamous knee during the anthem, jenkins saw an opportunity to talk. >> i think that motivated a ton of us or at least opened o eyes to see the potential that we have as athletes toross all of these different boundaries and bring people to the table. >> reporter: rather than take a knee, jenkins raised a fist and that extended a hand to law enforcement. initiating heart to heart conversation about police brutality. >> i'm not afraid of a toughon conversa but want to get an understanding of what are their challenges and how do they view this issue. >> reporter: hed immerse himself in criminal justice issues, becoming a powerful voice for reform. >> it's been proven that mass incarcerationnd dealing

within the criminal justice system doesn't make our communities safer. >> reporter: with the new season approaching the nfl has putn hold the policy that would have required protesting players remain in the locker roomthor national anthem. a policy that disappointed jenkins. >> they went back to tking about the flag, the anthem and having respect when for a year and a half they've been hand in hand with us seeinghat they've been doing in the community. >> reporter: do you think it's o stand of athletes for social issues? >> who better? that's what i ask people who bette to do it? we're trained to work colltively with the team for people from all types of backgrounds, socioeconomic backgrounds, racial. we know how toeal with conflict and we work to win for everybody's sake. >> reporter: t critics of th anthem protests who call it unamerican? >> i think at the end of the das pr and fighting back is the american way. that is the most american thing

you can do, is use your vo >> reporter: but is all this good for football? >> that's not my concern. i mean, we can talk about social issu and still hav a great game. we talk about domestic violence for a whole year. we talk aboutt cancer for a whole month. every year we wear pink on the field, no issues with that. we start talking about black issues and issuesowf race, all of a sudden we just want football. we don't want the extra stuff. we just want to watch the game. >> can't have it both ways. >> no, you can't. >> some players have taken knee. others like yourself held up a clinchedfist. has that run its course? >> i think it's starting to shift. i don't think it is as important. the purpose of all of the demonstrations was to create dialogue. it's moreno about the wor >> reporter: in addition to his social activism, jenkins spent part of his off season running camp for kids including this football camp at his old high school. >> i want to make sure that they

don't see me too, ke, far off, that they can see themselvesn me. >> reporter: as athletes, and if they wish, involved citizens. i hope what i do off the field long -- lives way longer than wha i do on the field. >> great player, even better advocate. that wasester holt reportin >> when we come back, today a looming deadline that will reunite separate families. what actually happened? you're watching "early today." ride with this crew. do the wave with these guys. and hang with this little one. that's because move free ultra is clinically proven to keep my joints moving better than glucosamine chondroitin. which means i'm free to rock on with this gang. move free ultra. movement keeps us connected. starttake an extra 20% off! friends & family sale your choice kitchen electrics - $63.99 luggage - $63.99

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all bgarian made a splash and reclaimed his place in the guinness book of world records. he swam with both hands and feet tied up. that was voluntary. he wasn't going dn without a fight. he spent nearly three hours in the water and swam two miles and bagged the victory. >> so fascinating to come up with exactly how these categories and what to do. >> wt's the closest to death i can get and get recogniti? wow. >> right there. today marks the court appointed deadline for the trump administration to reunite separated migrant families. with the clock ticking some critics described the process as, quote, incrediblch tic. despite the concern the administration said on tuesday it wouldreconnect roughly 1600 parents deemed, quote, eligible with their children by the end of the y. nbc's tracie potts joins us with

the latest on that. good morning.r: >> reporhi, frances, good morning. let's talk about what eligible means to the government. this it means they know where thfamilies are, they've done a background check, cleared them, and they're ready to reuni them with the kids. government says it can get it done for all of the 1600 plus families by today's lide. the judge calls that a remarkable achievement. but one democrat who represents xas, the area where a lot of these families landed, he's skeptical. >> the government, the trump administration, blew past the first deadline. as of tuesday, the government has only reunited about 879 children. it's inconceivable that they'll be able to reunify the remaining children by the deadline. >> reporter: now, there are some issues here. almo half,n fact, just over half of those eligible parents also have final deportatior rs. so as soon as they get their kids back, they may be sent back

over the border. th aclu is asking for a week so they can consult legally with those families inasmuch as some of the may wan to seek asylum here. the other thing is what about ineligible?e in other words, the ones that the government's lost track of? we know thatearly 500 were deported without their .ki the government says some of them waived their right. others according to the aclu had no idea what they were signing off on. three minutes s without any consultation to make that decision. and so they are asking a judge to get involved with that, too, trying to get those families back together. >> well some gray areas there need to be cleared up. tracie, thank you. >> just ahead, mattel takes a jor hit after the demise of toys r us. how facebookeo mark zuckerberg lost more than $16 billion yet. howas your day? 77

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ow "news 4 today" starts >> oh, my god. >> the weight of water, following hours of heavy rain. the ceilg at a local

restaurant came crashing down. just one example of the damage yleft behind days of storms. across the region, we've seen trees down, flooding on roadways, roads that were closed because of all that. plus, there's good news today. >> we're going to look at day's commute. first, chuck and sheena are here with a look at the forecast. we like the green moving over the water behind you there. >> we like to see the green going away fromhe area. > when talking about green, i thought he meant erika's dress. she's not moving over twater, no, she's not. a tiny chance to catch some eded breaks in the rain. storminess going back up into new enand. it will be mostly dry today, a 10% or a 20% a most chance