. oh! that was just one of several ornados to hit the virginia area. at least one person is dead and there could be more ahead today. >> judge kavanaugh is one of thl finest p that i've ever known. he's an outstanding intellect, an outstanding judg s ame time, we want to go through a process, we want to make sure everythingt,s perf everything is just right. >> the president delivering reassuring comments as the buildup to monday's hearings for judge kavaugh and h accuser are set to begin. the stars were out for the night of nights. and plenty of glam to go around.

and a big reveal from business mogul elon musk. "early tay" starts right now. good morning. i'm phillip mena. i'm francis rivera. a dramati showdown has been set for brett kavanaugh and the woman accusing him of assault. chuck grassley said to provide ampletransparency, we will hold a public hearing monday to give these recent allegations a full airing. kavanaugh denies the allegations. some republicans say the testimony could determine kavanaugh's fe. >> i may conclude afterwards shouldou know, that he go on and fill that seat. i may not. a lot will depend on that hearinav >> i'd a hard time putting somebody on the koth that i thought tried to rape somebody.

>> nbc's kristin welker has more from washington.or >> rr: president trump is standing by judge brett kavanaugh. >> judge kavanaugh is one of the fist peoplhat i've ever known. >> kavanaugh faces an allegation oflly assaulting a teenaged girl more than three decades ago at a high school party. he denies the accusation and according to the white house n.ys he was never at the party in quest >> he's an outstanding intellect, outstanding judge, respected by everybody. never had even a little blemish on his record >> reporter: the accuser, 51-year-old christine blasey ford says a stumbling kavanaugh was drunk when he pinned her to a bid aed and groped me. her lawyer on "today" says ford

is willing to testify publicly. >> does she consider this an attempted rape? >> she does.sh clearly considers this an attempted rape. >> reporter: kavanaugh says hs also willing to testify, adding this is a completely false allegation. i have never done anything like the accuser describes to her or anyone. i had no idea who was making this accus until yesterday >> i think this woman, whoever she is, is mixed up. >> reporter: senator orrin hatch says kavanaugh told him he was never at the party. the alleged third person in the room, mark judge, has called the accusationss. n still, he may have undercut that message by writing a 1997 miroir about t days at prep schoolit filled wh heavy parties and drinking. several top republicans say

think won't they won't be satisfied until they hear from kwaf nah and foavanau a public hearing. >> if judge kavanaugh hasie about what happened, that would be disqualifying. >> reporter: as for the president, he wants a thursdoro process. after huddling onheill, top r republicans say there will be a hearing monday. ford and b kavanaugh willte in kavanaugh's red eye ady to test early as today. a stunning twist in the ssia probe. president trump has ordered a secret cache of documents to be released without any he has ordered text messages relating to the investigation fromop former the officials in both agencies and ordered the release ev

release of documents into the investigation of carter page. tracy potts has more.te >> rep 20 pages, what did the government tell a judge to get that surveillanced? appro 20 pages unredacted, nothingbl ked out is what the president wants released. alsoext message between james comey, the former deputy director and other officials with the fbi, including a couple of agents that t says were out to get him. now this came somewhat by surprise. the president's request to release though information still unknown. will it be challenged here on capitol hill. some lawmakers are already calling it political. >> i thinkst it's f and fomost a waiy of donald trump helping his own team. he's conferred with hiss, lawy what information would be useful to you. >> this is really full

transparency for the american people. this will be all the information i thinkcahe ame people will need to see. >> reporter: the justice department and office of the director of national intelligence both say what happens here is when the president makes thi request, it sparks a review to see if reasing this information could threaten national security. and so they will start that process. no comment from the fbi. >> we'll know the outcome soone gh. >> the raging remnants of florence continue to wreak havoc now triggering a tornado outbreak. atne least person is dead after a building collapsed in maesterfield. has been reported across the area, including overturned vehicles and toppled trees. the nationalth w service says now tropical cyclone fortuna florence isn't done yet. tom costello has the latest. >> reporter: itd happeust at

afternoon rush hour began. a massive tornado moving across the ground in the greater richmond area. >>h! >> reporter: tearing the roof off this business, sending dangerous debris flying through the air.it at the unive of richmond, students tweeted they were sheltering in the kitchen as a tornado came close to the stadium. at the airport, rain and ominous low clouds as the remnants of hurricane florence sent bands of heavy rain and tornados out of the carolinas and into virginia. >> this is a dangerous day. >> we actually w t and hid in the closet. as we were in there, of course, we heard trees snapping and falling and debris flying and whatnot. knew something was coming through. and of course when we came out we saw the damage. >> reporter: at least one fatality in chesterfield, virginia as florence tears up the east coast. tom costello, nbc news, washington. >> florence is leaving behind a trail of misery as floodwateo continuerown out parts of north carolina. many areas are virtually cut off

as swollen rers and creeks overtake the roads and it has been blamed for 32 deathscrs three states. >> reporter: it's been several days sce florence made landfall. all of that rain is spilling into these neighborhoods. the rain iov , but the disaster is not. rivers are rising after the rainiest hurricane on record. this tour boat operator in florida found a pregnant woman and her family, dperately clinging to a tree after the raging floodwaters swept them away. >> oh, my gosh! >> reporter: the small town of lumberton was ravaged by hurricane matthew two years ago. now it's inundated. julie lamm and her twins escaped

her home. >> we thought everything would be fine, b it's worse. >> reporter: rescuers areti frcally searching for people and pets. this good samaritan sav six dogs trapped in a kennel. theumber river swelling to near record level and staying there until later this week. the largest, the cape fear river in fayetteville. water up to 10 feet had choked off wilmington, no way in or out. gas lines sed for hours, so did the trail of destruction. >> we're from the south side of lumberton. it's not over. >> no. it's just the beginning. >> reporter: some of those rivers are eected to cre today or tomorrow. but they're also predicted to stay at floodtage until saturday. francis? >> thanks for the report. >> julie chen is apparently

leaving "the talk." she will announce her departure today from the cbs talk show after nine seasons. she was absent monday and sat out last week's season premiere. after her husband was fired at women accusing him doubled from six to 12 with n accusations in a new yorker article. she says she was takg time off to be with family. usa today reports chen is expected to remain as a host on "big brother" through its finale. the stars were ali the emmy awards. instead o the red carpet, the bastions of tv walked a gold ce one. brities were dressed to the nines. and some took the time to make a statement. >> inside microsoft theater, it kicked off with a musical number poking fun at hollywood's ongoing diversity problem. colin jost and michael che were

the hosts. >> and the big winners included henry winkler, aka, the fonz, after more than 40 year and fivs nominatilater, he is finally taking home the trovephy. bill hader won best actor. >>nd rachel brosnahan won. and another show that wracked wasgame of thrones," took home seven of them. and peter dinklage's win. >> regina cain was nominated for "seven seconds". and darren criss. >> and glen weiss. you wonder why i don't like

to call you my girlfriend? cause i want to call you my wife. >> that's a pretty boss mov there. proposing to his girlfriend with the whole worldatching. pressure, right? fortunately, she said ges. himself an emmy and a fiance. >> she got a niceig rock. >> winners, both of them. >> you talked a whole bunchou the florence problems. we have some developing overnight. in the southern tier of new york we had one home with water surroundin i water on top of highway 79. we're not completely we'll see tropical downpours throughout the northeast. even baltimore as the thunderstorm rolled through. during the day today, we'll tch this heavy rain in the northeast. have the umbrella for this morning. you'll carry home this loternoon. here's ar look at your day ahead. well, a very warm, humid air mass and those tropical downpoes from florence will

with us on the i-95 corridor. and look how hot it's going to be. st. louis, 94 degrees. looks like the september heat's going to stay with us for much of this week. >> all right, bill. that's the way it's going to be. the brewer's christian yell itch has done it ain. that means you hit a single, a double, a triple and a home r in the same game. the last one was august 29th making him the first player ever to record a cycle twice against e same time in the same season. new signs of thawing tensions on the korean peninsula. plus, some of hollywood's biggest stars reveal that we're saying their names all wrong. >> what? and your sister-in-law's... tennis partner's... chatty coworker's...

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trump administration is cutting the number of refugees the u.s. will admit. it will accept no more than 30,000 refugees next fiscal year after this year's l record of 45,000. immigration hardliners hshe for a clamp down claiming national security threats. however, some say it conflicts with american vues. a summit with kim jong un and moon jae-in is under way as the two countries look to promote peace on the craykorean peninsula. the two lears embraced as thousands held flowers and waved flags. moon will be being looking to settle some lof goals. just ahead, over thewh moon. spacex will send on its first lunar expedition. you're watching "early today." to

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chrissy teigen, she went on instagram and says my name is actually chrissy tie-gen. her mom says that'srue.

it's tan-gen. you told me this. that ariana grande is grand-y. and somebody said rihanna's not rihanna. >> her name's >> a really relatable moment with jimmy fallon. the truth is finally out.ch ssy teigen pronounced this fun tag thfact that her name is pronounced ty-gen. ariana-y gran is the way she anpronounces it. this is philip mna. hey've had a long time to correct the record. >> and those names have been famous for a very long time. >> i'm wondering why that would happen after all these ars, now it's ty-gen.

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just about 4:00 m. this tuesday morning. >> some of you may have been kept up last night by thunder and lightning. >> woke me up thisg. morn

it was rough too, melissa is standing by. she'll have a look at the coute for us. it's another storm team 4 weather alert day. >> yes it is. not only did we get heavy rain o or threeours ago but it left a lot of high standing water. floor watches remain in place. that is a flood warning. be on the look out for high water this morning. aosbility of more heavy rain coming later today. localized amounts of 1 to 2 inches possible. ouds overd.c. here this morning. circulation w, the with what was florence will move through here later today. that's the reason rain chances remain high. 80% chance you'll get rained on