isn't she cute? >> so cute. >> just going to stop right here. /s >> the white house reeling. president trump grapples with the political fallout from his w ex-lr's guilty plea and ex-campaign chair's conviction. >> tracking hurricane lane, the last-minute preparations as hawaii braces for the monster category 4 storm. >> bestowing the tion's highest honor inside the sto of john chapman's incredible val eras he is awarded the medal of honor posthumously. >> one last bazinga. when the show big bang theory will come to an end. "early today" starts right now. good morning, i'm phillip mena. >> and i'm. marlie ha a dark cloud hanging over the white house this morning. caw impd in campaign finance violations, president trump is looking to distance

himself from his long time lawyer and former fixer michael cohen. in an interview, he down played his relationship with cohen while praising former campaign manager paul manafort who was convicted this week on tax and bank fraud charges. >> democrats are seizing the opportunity by bringing the corruption scandals fro and center in the midterm elections. but party leaders have stopped shortorf calls impeachment. nbc's susan mcennis joining us live from capital hill. susan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, phillip and nar lmarlie. it is full denial mode. sarah sanders spokesman for the president said it is question after estion, the president did nothing wrong. he hasn't been charged with anything. the president is responding to this by distancing himself from cohennd by disparaging cohen. >> he was a lawyeror me for one of many, you know, they always say the lawyer, and then they like to add "ther. fi

i don't know if he was a fixer. i don't know where that term came from. but he's been aawyer for , didn't do big deals, did small dealy not somebhat was with me that much. you know, they make it sound like i didn't liv without him. i understood michael cohen vy ll. it turned out he wasn't a very good lawyer frankly. but he was somebodyhat was probably with me for about ten years and i would see him metimes. >> reporter: now, reaction among lawmakers here on capitol hill varies largeng a party lines. we have some gop senators basically ignorin cohen developments focusing on russia, anythingne of this has to do with russia collusion or election meddling. democrats takin this a little more dramatically saying we are on the threshold of a constitutional crisis and that the president is definitely potentially indictable. some democrats are calling on - calling for a delay on the hearings of supreme court nominee brett kavanagh because of this. question left now, phillip and

marlie, will the special counsel speak with coh and what else might he reveal. >> we will all find out soon enough. thank you, susan. >> while president trump maintains there was no collusion beeen his campaign and russia,th ere is mounting legal trouble in his inner circle. five of his n officials have either pled guilty or been convicted of various crimes. nbc's kristen welker takes a look at all the president's men in trouble. >> reporter: president trump's memorable mantra on the campaign trail, aliveg nd thrivin west virginia. >> lock her epup. orter: that infamous "lock her up" chant, candidate trump's attack on hillary clinton's controversial use of a private e-mail server. >> this is worse tn tergate. >> reporter: he also promised to hire only the very best once in office. >> i wt the best people. >> reporter: while clinton was never locked up, fivef the president's former confidant and top campaign aides could face prison time. former national security advisor

michael flynn pleaded guilty of lying to the fbi. one-time foreign policy advisor george papadopoulo plead guilty of lying to federal authorities. hairman rick gn gates pleaded guilty to financial fraud. his former personal lawyer michael cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasnd campaign finance violations. while his former campaign chairman paul manafort was found ilty of fraud and financial crimes. the press secretary on defense about that vow to hire only the top tier. >> he failed to live up t that promise? >> the president has employed thousands of people in h lifetime and had incredible successes both in business and in the public service. >> reporter: but could the optics of all the president's men impact the president's ability to govern? >> he always thinks he can survive. why? because he's been houdini in tht the question is this time is bob mueller and michael cohen and paul manafort enough to trump ways?oudini >> reporter: the president's

support among his base is still strong. he's planning t campaign in at least 15 states after labor day. >> our thanks to kristen for that report. >> hundreds of classmates and loved ones gathered at thesi univer of iowa to remember mollie tibbetts. the suspect charged with kidnapping and killing the 21-year-old made his first court appearance is being held on $5 million bond this as controversy swirls over whether the mexican immigrant was in the count legally. nbc's ron mott has more from brooklyn, iowa where it all unfomoed. ron, gooing. >> reporter: good morning, phillip. the smallown ofrooklyn, iowa is coming together to remember the life of 20-year-old mollie tibbetts. this is a community still reeling at the news, but the accused killer in this case was one of their neighbo >> do you have anything to s for yourself? >> reporter: 24-year-old immigrant cristhian bahen rivera in court facing a first degree murder charge in the death of mollie tibbetts, bot living in the same rural community. >> mr. rivera, you have been charged with murder in the first degree.

>> reporte authorities say rivera is from mexico and was in the country illegally. he worked at small-run dairy firm run by a prominent republican. they checked his documentation in a government verification system but learned he had given them a name. >> what we learned in the last 24 hours is that our employee was not who he said h was. >> reporter: lane said he noticed no changes in ba her a's behavior and said he continued to show up for work on time after mollie's disappearae. >> this gtayed around 35 days after he did this. nobody noticed anything different. >> reporter: rivera's attorney says his client was working in the country legally and criticized president trump for weighing in. >> you heard about today with the illegal alien coming in very sadly from mexico. and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautoung woman. shouldhaave never ened. >> reporter: in a facebook post,

mollie's aunt wrote, please emember evil comes in every color. in mollie's homown people debated whether rivera's immigration status was important. >> he could be in his own country. >> i don't think him being an illegal immigrant had anything to do with what he did. >> reporter: along with this prayer ser held at the university of iowa where mollie was to begin her sophomore year at this time. sadly, shebviously is not here. her family again as we said thanking the world for membering her in their prayers. phillip? >> all right, ron mott for us.ha ron, you. >> hawaii is on alert bracing to get lashed by a major hurricane. lane now a category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of45 miles a hour. hurricane hunters flying into the eye of the storm and forecasters now say the islands are set to get socked with torrenti rain as the storm skirts by up to 20 inches of areas.n some officials are preparing for a major flooding and rescue

operations. all hawaii public schoolsill belosed today and tomorrow. the storm is not expected to make land fall as it slis by. >> all right. let's turn it over to nbc meteorologist bill karins who is now tracking that monster storm. goodd orning. >> gmorning. slow-moving hurricane, mountainous terrain, recipe fora strophe. the storm is still approaching, 200 miles from the southernmost tip of haii. that's 240 from kona. they still have a beast of ast m. it will slowly weaken from here on out but it is still going to have a huge rain shield with it. enhancement wit the topography, that's why we're going to have such problems with the rainfall. you can see how it goes and weakens the next 72 hours just to the south and especially juse to the sou of all the island chain. here is the story ofan 10 to 20 inches of rain. widespread for each and every island. it's like it's not like it's going to be one island that will get hit thef hardeste all of them will have their difficulties. that's a look at the big weather story of the day. now here's a closer look at your

day ahead. we also have a slight risk of a few storms in the central plains. keep an eye on that for hail ani da winds. dallas looks like 100 easily in san antonio today. take a look at that weekend forecast coming up. >> that's what we like to hear, bill. thank you. you know whathey say, right? whatever you put out into the world always comes back. in tras cases second base man ozzie fouled off the pitch at the top of ae 7th. after brief pause, itf bounced ofhe netting and falls bac down. gravity got him, hilts him on the head. hended up laughing it off. he didn't see it coming. he ended up striking out, though. you could probably blame it on being dazed afterwards. there you go. >> that's why they wea helmets. just erahead, did vizon try to cut the cordon calornia firefighters? plus punishment for the ohio state coaching scaayal. "early t you're watching

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new this morning, ohio ste head football coach urban meyer is keeping his job, but he will miss the g first threees of the season over his handling of domestic abuse allegations against a former assistant. osu's board of trustees met for 12 hours to discuss an independent investigationnto the matter. the report found that although meyer and athletic directo gene ith failed to adhere to the precise requirements of the contracts, they did so based upon a good faith belief that they did not have sufficient informationo trigger a reporting obligation. meyer had been on paid administrative leave during the investigation and will now be suspended without pay for those three games. smith wl also serve an unpaid suspension. meyer spoke to reporters after the announcement. >> i want tgi apo to buckeye nation. i followed my heart and not my head. i fell shortn pursuing full information because at each juncture i gave zk smith the benefit of the doubt. i wish i could go back and make

the different decisions but i can't. >> urban meyer will be eligible to return to the side september 22nd. >> verizon admits to throttling the wireless speeds. at o first reported b tech any ka, the santa clara county chief sa haver slowed down his department's data plan significantly impacting their abity to provi emergency services. this even despite being informed of the cemergency. thims filed this week are part of a federal lawsuit seeking to block the fcc's overhaul of an obama-eraty net neutrarule. verizon admits it made a mistake but claims it had nothing do do with the robot, calli it a customer support esmistake. a spn for santa clara county rejects that and says it had everything to do with netanyanet

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the nation's highest awa v foror was given out wednesday in a white house ceremony president trump presented the award to dowch of cal air force serviceman.

he was left on theattle field. nbc's lester holt sat down with his wife to talk about chapman's heroism. >> in his 36 years, john chapman lived by the creed, god, family, country. >> this is when he decided to join the air force. >> a husband and father of two. >> john w one of those teammates i cld trust and rely on. >> on march 4, 2002, chapman was part of a joint special ops team on a msion to establi a mountain-top observation post in enemy territory. airt chapman's job call i strikes as needed. but little did his team know they were landing in aet ho nest. >> they were ambushed and they were in a pitch battle. >> their aircraft was hit. navy seal kneel roberts was thhown from theer which was driven away. regrouping, the remaining teamc ing sergeant chapman flew back to the mountain to rescue their teammate. chapman charged uphill through deep snow, attacking not one,

but two enemy bunkers, killing a pair of fighters before he was cut down by enemy fire. >> it's notur aise that john chapman was leading the charge with a single purpose to defeat the enemy, to try to rescue his comrade. >> valerie nestle, apman's wife, was at home. what do you remember about that day in march? >> put the girls to bed about 30, 8:45, someone rang my doorbell. i looked outside, there were three men, you know, champe l and two dressed in blues. >> i remember her asking me, please tell me that he's just hurt. > i sai john had gave himself courageously saving others in battle. >> but what no e e knew at th time was just how courageousch man was. his team driven off the mountain by heavy fire, unable to retrieve chapman who they believe was dead. ow years later, advance

technology reveals chapman was, in fact, still alive. enhancement of predator drone video and other data from the battle allowed experts to go back and intify chapman and track his movements. the wounded air man killing tewetwo more enemy fighters and a chopper carrying reinforcements including major gabriel brown. > as long as he had breath in him he was still fighting. >> absoluinly. he's thi at any moment, how can i impact this battle. >> but before the team could come to his rescue, this time chapman was fatally wounded. >> i knew he would sacrifice himself f the betterment of the team. >> he was left with the thought he was dead a was alive and continued to fight. that's a lot to process. three plus feet of snow. getting shot at in everyre ion. i never in my heart felt like he

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♪ oh, we love to see you every day now's the time we get to say ♪ ♪ you don't get chemo any more >> just heard the doctors and nurses singing the special song for hadley gray who is now cancer gray. at 3 years old hadley battlac ute leukemia. she was finally given the all-kear to go b to her home in tennessee. he sounds like t oscar meyer song, but -- >> it's better. >> that is the best sounding song to hadley and her family they could ever s imagine. happy for them. aiken ken police department is welcoming some new recruits. they shared a photo ofce eight of posing with their newborns all under a year old or so. and it's a response t the viral photo from may of firefighters in glenn, poklahoma with

their seven newborns. the cops posted theirs with the message, we got you beat. must be something in the water at those police departments. >> we reproduce more frnly than you. we hate to be the brer of bad news, but all good things have to come to an end. cbs announced their big comedy big bang theory will run until 2019. the show focuses on scientists and friends. more than 5emmy nods. joint statement between cbs and warner brothers television, then thanked for the support while also promising an epic tive close. the final season will premiere on september 24th. but that show will go on and live on in syndication and netflix and everywhere else. >> that's right. the end of an era. >> just ahead, "america's got talent." judge high monday cosimon cowel hollywood. we'll be right back.

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today is throwback thsday. >>oh, come on. >> maybe a haircut. we have th haircut. >> this was in. >> and theng yt member of the big boys, our very own chuck bell. you were a believer before. >> how about this one?