just everyon rela ad> a new twist in the murder of a color mother and her two children. why the husband accused of killg his family is changing his story this morning. >> a deadly alligator attack stuns a south carolina community andai rses new questions of safety near swamp lands. >> the pit falls of perjury, president trump sheds new light on why he hasn't agreed to sit down with special counsel robert mueller ithe russia investigation. >> an explosive night at the mtv music video awards. the biggest winners and losers at this year's vmas. "early today" starts right now. good tuesday morning. i'm marli >> and i'm phillip mena. an interview with the special counsel in the russia investigation seems further out of the question for president trump this morning. in a new interview with reuters,

theresident said he is worried any statements he makes under oath to robert mueller could be used to bring perjury charges against him. the interview just his latest attack on the mueller probe following a report that a key staffer is cooperating with investigators. nbc's susan mcennis i joini us now from capitol hill with the very latest. susan, good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning, phillip and marlie. this is a hastily arranged interview soon after the administration learned white house counsel don mcgahn spent 30 hours talking with special prosecutors involved in the russia investigation and also amid increasing attacks by the president agaves mueller in the t probe. presidump said he could involved in the investigation instead choosing not to. he told roit ers i could go in and runt if i nt. but i decided to stay out. one federal prosecutorold nbc news a person cannot really be in charge of his own investigation. buthe president isefinitely getting involved on twitter, upping his attacks, calling special counsel mueller on monday disgrac and

discredited. the investigation once again a rigged witch hunt. also being asked if he will interview with robert mueller, he agrees with his personal torney rudy giuliani that any statements he makes could be used against him in perjurth comes after the president removed the security clearance of former cia director john brennan. he wouldht not say if he m remove the security clearance from robert mueller. also, the presidentefused again to blame russia for interfering in the 2016 election, but he did say that he believes mueller's teams trying right now to impact the elections.vember we'll find out if he has anything more to say on any of these issues when he holds a rally tonight in west virginia. marlie and phillip? >> i have a creeping suspicion he will have something to say about that. susan, thank you. ew now to shocking revelations from a triple murder that has gripped the natio according to a newly released arrest affidavit, the colorado man charged with murder in the deaths of his wife and two p

daughters tolice he saw his wife strangling their daughters after he told her hete w to separate. 33-year-old christopher watts claimse thenent into a rage, ultimately strangling her to death, but prosecutors don't buy that explanation. the affidavit also reveals that watts was having an affair with ork colleague which he denied to police. watts is due in court to be arraigned today. nbc's miguel almaguer has more. >> reporter: officially charged with murdering his pregnant wife and two children, chris watts could now face the death penalty. court documents confirming the remains were dumped on the oild fi where he worked. 3-year-old celeste and 4-ar-old bella left in a well filled with crude oil for four days. the documents raising the question, were the girls strangled. thei mother shanann found nearby in a shallow grave. >> and keep the prayers coming r ourfamily.

>> reporter: to many, wattsed appear to be the loving family man, seemingly thrilled when he learned shanann was pregnant with their third childes >> that's awe. ess when you want to, it happens. >> reporter: but just weeks later police say he murdered his wife and his little girls at home, then calmly told the world they were missing. er i want back so bad. i want those kids back so bad. >> reporter: cou make it unclear if the children were murdered before their mother arrived home. investigators have offered no motive. >> i can't believe that they're gone. i can't believe chris would do this. >> reporter: a growing memorial for a family that will never come home. miguel almaguer, nbc news, frederick, colorado. >> som o possible news relief for a city rattled by deadly violence in recent weeks. two suspects wanted for questioning in a series of shooting deaths in nashville are now in police custody. police say the two m may have knowledge of a rash of unsolved

murders and armed robberies. all with a mysterious bla sedan in common. nbc's gabe gutierrez has the details. >> reporter: police took de ntre and cory into custody. they are wanted for a string of murderhat rocked nashville. >> officers in the city are on the look outor two cold blooded killers. >> reporter: investigars hadio prly released this grainy surveillance photo of a dark sedan and looking to see whether vicious crimes all bhwithin a 14-mile radius are related. august 8, -ya 39r-old woman shot in the back while walking her dogs. she survives but is paralyzed. august 12 a new incident now part of the investigation, a man tells police two men car jacked him and at leasted one was a with a rifle. august 14th, 31-year-old kendall shot and killed while waiting for a bus. are same night, two people robbed nearby. then on friday, police say two

friends, jameis and bartly were robbed and shot dead outside the cobra bar. >> he was loved by a lot of people. this affects people very deeply. >> reporter: shannon said he was a talented musician who was celebrating his 33rd birthday. >> everybodys really hurt, it's d. >> reporter: the first victim's distraught husband is a crewor member f the band one republic. the band is now raising funds for her care. >> their life has been changed permanently because of this act of violence. >> our thanks to gabe for that report. >> a south carolina woman is dead after an alligator attacked her while she was walking her dog. investigators say t 45-year-old was near this lagoon on hilton head island when the nearly 8-foot-longator grabbed her and pulled her under wa sr. nbc's kerrders tells us more. >> reporter: a deadly attack close to home whe hilton head woman was killed in her own neighborhood by an witnesses tell police

45-year-old cassandra klein was walking her dog near this lagoon when she was pulled under water. >> alligator attempted to attack her dog in an effort to se her dog, the alligator turned on her. >> reporter: the deadly attack occurred in a residential neighborhood sea pines in hilton head island. the alligator said to be almost 8 feet long was later captured and killed. this latestt incid comes just two months after a near identical attack involving a woman in floridse witness say they saw a 47-year-old walking her dogs near the water in a park rightt before she w missing. miami zoo's ron miguel says warmer climates and more development in the swamp land makes for a dangerous combination. >> we don't want to blame the victim, but is there something here that set this off? >> the circumstances of walking a small animal, even a small child along a freshwater body of

water is a disaster. >> reporter: it's the second farylity in the state's his kerry sanders, nbc news. >> in chicago, strong winds aree causing dus waves on lake michigan. the extreme conditions prompted a warning f beach goers to stay out of the water. three peoply, drowned over the weekend. waves are expected to reach up to 10 feet today according to national weather service. lathe daunting reminder toit safe. >> nbc's meteorologist bill karins is here. bill, tell us more. >> good morning. on this tuesday we are going to trac storms. we have heavy rain you'll wake up to early this morning going to the great lake a lothe red on this map. a lot of convection this time oi t. thunderstorms with heavy downpours. this batch will move to the north, a bit of a break and redo it this afternoon. roanok t to pittsburg buffalo under slight risk. damaging wind, heavy rain, biggest threat tornado threat pretty low with this. of course if we get stormsan

this a of the country, we're going to get airport delays today. especially washington, d.c. late today we could at dulles and rebegan have possible delays. clev dandinitely, chicago maybe a few storms early. should get better as the day goes on. tomoow we'll have to watch the storms early in new york and boston as we go throughout the middle of the day. that's a look at theeather story of the day. now here's a closer look at your day ahead. re t's all the coolish type temperatures and clouds aroundr from the system in the ohio vladimir i. it's a little humid. that's why the showers and storm. h if you want t summer like conditions you have to travel to the far south. temperatures in the 90s in florida and 100 near o. weioould see san ant being one of the hottest spots in the country the next couple days. >> it's their turnnow. bill, thank you. >> in today's quick hits, hillary clinton is stepping back into the spotlight to help raise money for the democratic national committee with a series of fund-raisers. she's also planning fund-raisers for women run for congress in keyes rac

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this argentinianfi police r is being hailed as a hero. the mother of a newborn herselfe officer cel ayala breast fed a malnourished infant hospital after hearing the infant's cries. her colleague captured her, quote, gesture of elove. iral post even grabbed the attention of the minister of security who then promoted the officer to sergeant. that's aotr's love. >> sure is. pope francis has issued a letter to catholics around the world condemning the decades of sexual abuse the 300 predator priests inflecd on over a thousand children. this marks the first time a pope has addressed the letter to the

entire catholic population on the topic of sex abuse. nbc's ann thompson has the details. >> reporter: a remarkablero confession f pope francis, admitting the leaders of the catholic church failed their people on priest sex abuse. we showed no care for the little ones. we abandoned them, writing in a letter to the world's 1.2 billion catholics. we were not where we should have been, that we did nota act i timely manner realizing the magnitude and the damage done to so many lives. sean dockerty said -- >> there is a lot further he needs to go. hat eporter: the catalyst horrific pennsylvania grand jury report detailing sickening abuse byts 300 pries over 70 years, victimizing more than 1,000 children. in pittsburgh, the anger visible.

a school sign bearing washington cardinal donald wuerl's named vandalized. wuerl under fire for the grand jury's finding that he protected predator priests when heas bishop of pittsburgh. wuerl insisting the report is not accurate. anguish emory university theology professor dr. susan reynolds heard at sundayte mass the priest's sermon. >> in that moment a father rose to his feetnd simply called out how, how do we reform the chch? what do we do? tell us how to begin. >> reporter: reynolds one of 2800 catholics signing an online lett urging american bishops to submit their resignations on mass to the pope as chile bishops did. notre dame professor kathlee mmings echoed the call for radical change. >> the bishops created this crisis. people who create the carsis 't going to be the people who are going to lead you out of it. thompson nks to ann for that report. >> just ahead, goats run wild on

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sh gave birth. you know who that is, cardi b opening up the 2018 v video music awards with that prank that had some viewers gasping. we thought it was something else, right? the last note did not stop there. ffany haddish and kevin hart teamed up on stage poking fun at the people in the audience, even throwing a couple jabs at p. president trum but all jokes aside, radio music city hall was set on fire by several performancesean mendez, nicki minaj, that was great. aria grande. of course logic. he senty a ver powerful message by bringing out kids who were affected by the recent immigration policies. and w then it j-lo's turn. she lit it up with a medley of ngs that reminded everyone that she's still jennie from the block. she became the first latin artist to win the michael jackson video vanguard award. >> it has been an incredible journey of dreaming my wildest

dreams and then kind of watching them come true, which -- >> a-rod in the audience the. she was out of breath because she had just finished that performance. and some other big winners of the night included cardi b and nicki minaj and the guy with all the tats on his face on the right that is post malone. camila cabello took home a big award. the moon man artist the year as well as video of she beat out some pretty heavy competition. and of course the show would not have been complete last night without a tribute to the late aretha franklin. it was a controversial s given by madonna, though. she reminded fans of the path the queen ofoul paved for everyone sitting in the audience including her, some pple took umbrage to the fact that madonna tended to gon more about herself than aretha franklin. >> it was a greaton show, eve buzzing about j-lo's performance. >> she brought out jarule. he was into t. >> me, too. any new york city commuter knows theway is notorious for

service delays and interruptions. but this was a new one even for them. the transitee system d out these photos of two very baa-aa-aad boys. >> that's my impersonation. a pair of goats somehow made their way onto the tracks in brooklyn. trains had to be diverted while police spent two hours trying to wrangle them.ly eventualhey were tranquilized it taken to a nearby shelter. transit police said they dkn't where the goats came from, but there are slaughter house in thearea. but these kids won't end up on anyone's dinner plate. comedian john stewart later picked up the goats and took them to a farm san uary upstate. >> that was only the 37th weirdest thing to happen wvolving the new york subway system thisk. just ahead, they could be hazardous to your health. how one man out the hard way. when we come back. any object. any surface.

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news 4 today starts now. >> we begin this tuesday morning with a live look outside. a calmmorning. but that could change this afternoon with the potential for storms.

again. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> we want to get right toutour co and the forecast. >> let's start with storm team 4's chuck bell and t a look forecast. what do you have, chuck? >> i have it allse by . sheena will be working later in the day today. right now, we're watching light rain across the shenandoah valley. thisg, morn no severe weather threats this morning. there's rain drops down through strasbourg. i did need the wipers for a couple of swipes on my way in. future weather has a hit and miss chance here later on in the day with daytime heating. i think thest thundms after, this will be later than normal. probably after 5:00 or