. this is an nbc special report. here's savannah guthrie. everybody. good morning. as we come on the air, we await any moment now a public stement fromobert mueller, the special appointed to lookin interferencenelon his report in public for several weeks now. let's listen. >> thank you for being here. two years ago the acting attorney general asked me to serve as special counsel and he created the special counsel's office. the appointment ordered directed the office to investigate

russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. this includedng investigati any links or coordination between the russian government and individuals associated with the trump campaign. now, i have not spoken publicly during our investigation. i am speaking out today because our investigation is complete. the attorney general has made theep rt on our investigation largely public. we areormally closing the special counsel's office and as well, i'm resigning from the department of justice to return to private life. i'll make a few remarks about the results of our work. but beyond these few remarks, it is important that the office's written work speak for let me begin where the appointment order begins and that is interference in the 2016

presidential election. as allege by the grand jury in an indictment, russian intelligence officers who are part of the rsian military launched a concerted attack on our political system.r politica. the indictment alleges that they usedic sophied cybertechniques to hack into computers and networks used by the clinton campaign. they stole private information and then released that information throughliake on identities and through the organization wikileaks. the releases were designed andm ti to interfere with our election and to damage ati presid candidate. at the same time as the grand jury alleged in a separate indictment, a private russian entity engaged in a social media operation where russians citizens posed as americans in order to influence an election. these indictments contained

allegations and we are not commenting on the guilt or the innocence of any specific defendant. every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. th indictments allege and the other activities in our report describe efforts to interfere in our political system. they needed to be investigated and understood and that is among the reasons why the department of justice established our office. that is also a reason we investigated efforts to obstruct the investigation. the matters wee investigated wer of paramount importance. it was critical for us to obtain full and accuratefrnformation every person we questioned. when a subject of an investigation obstructsighat investion or lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government's effortf tod the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable.

let me say a word about the report. the report has two parts. addressing the two main issues we were asked to investigate. the first volume of the rort details numerous efforts emanating from russia to influence the election. thislume includes a discussion of the trump campaign's response to this activity, as well asur conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy. and in the second volume, the report describes the results and analysis of ourbstruction of justice investigation involving the president. the orderppointing the special counsel authorized us to investigate actions that could obstruct the investigation. we conducted that investigation nd we kept the office of the acting attorney general aprized of the progress of our rk.

as said forth in the report after that investigation, if we hadonfidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. we did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. theintroductiono the volume two of our report explains that decision. it explains that under long-standing department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional. even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that, too, is prohibited. the special counsel's office is part of the department of justice and by regulation, it was bound by that department policy. charging the president with a crime was, therefor not an option we could consider. the department's writtenpinion

explaining the policy makes several important points that further informed our handling of the instruction investigation. those points are summarized in our report and i will describe two of them for you. first the explicitly permits the explanation of a sitting president because it is portant to preserve evidence while memories are fresh and documents available. among otherha things, t evidence could be used if there were co-conspirators who could be charged now. and, second, the opinion says that the constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accused a sitting president of wrongdoing. and beyond department policy, we regarded by principles of fairness. would be unfair to potentially, it would be unfair to potentially accuse somebody

of a crime when the can't be no court resolution of the actual charge. so, that was justicear depent policy. those were the principles under which we ferated andm them we concluded that we would, would not reach a determination other abouthe whether the president committed a crime. that is the office's final position. and we will not comment on any other conclusions or hypotheticals about the president. we conducted an independent criminal investigation and reported the results to the attorney general, as required by department regulations. the attorney general then concluded that it was appropriatto provide our report to congress and to the american people. and what point in time i requested that certa portions of the report be released. the attorney general preferred to make thee entir report public

all at once. and we appreciate that the attorney general made the rept largely public and i do not question the attorney neral's good faith in that decision. i hope and expect this will be the only time i will spe to you in this matter. i am making that decision myself. no one has told me whether i can or should testify or speak further about this matter.er has been discussion about an appearance before congress. any testimony from this office would not go bond our report. it contains our findings and analysis and the reasonsonor the deciwe made. we chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself. testimony.port is my i would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before congress. pr addition, access to our

underlying work uct is being decided in a process that does not involve our office. so, bend what i have said here today and what is contained in our written work, i do not believe i is appropriate for me to speak further about the investigation or to comment on the actions of the justice department or congress. and it is for that reason, i will not be taking questions today, as well. now, befpe i ste away, i want to thank the attorneys, the fbi agents, the analysts, the professional staff who helped us conduct this investigation in an fair and indepnt manner. thesependividuals who s nearly two years with the special counsel's office are of the highesty. integrit and i will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictments that there were multiple systematic efforts to interfere in our election.

and that allegation deserves the attention of every american. thank you, thank you for being here today. >> special counsel robert mueller of the justicent departme giving his first and what he say will be his only public remark on the almost gation he nves conducted into russia's interference into the 2016 election. importantly, he emphasized the aspect of the report that dealt with whether or not president trump obstructed justice in this matter. he said and the report said, if they had evidence that the president did not commit a crime, that theort would have said so. he emphasized it didn't say so and he emphasized that he and the office were bound by long-standing department of justice policy that states a sitting president cannot be indicted. he indicated that the constitution provides for other means for dealing with the president in these circumstances and, most importantly, he hasrt asse that he will not

testify before congress. i want to go to pete williams who was in that om. he is on the seventh floor of the justice department this morning. pete, he didn't go outside the report. heelso has said h doesn't want to testify before congress. it may be that congress itself has a say in that. how do you expect this to play out? >> this was his victory speech. really, it was a forl end to the investigation. he decided he didn't want to make a public statement. most of it, you're right, was a ary of his written report. what he didn't say is nobody has told me whether or not i can or should testify before congress. so, that clearly is up to him. and he said if he does testify, though, don't get your hopes up. he is not going to go beyond what is in his report and he also said what was interesting, the special counsel office as of today ceas to exist. it largely exist several weeks ago when the report was turned

in but still doing some follbuing up work. now any discussion between congress and the justice department about whether and if the underliningls materia that his people gathered will be available, he's going to be out of that entirely. he is going back to being a private citizen. he's not going to be involved in that. i didn'tay hear him he's not going to testify. what i heard him to say, it is his decision alone and if he is, it's not going to be very spectacular. >> what he said is, i don't believe it would be appropriate to speak further. the fact of the matter is thatg the cons does have the power of subpoena. it may force the issue, but it's very car and turn to kasie hunt who covers capitol hill for us. robert mueller is trying to say to congress, you're barking up the wrong tree if you're trying to force this. i will not say anything outside of that report. you can fight over the underlying materials but i'm not your guy if you look to have me come up on capitol hill and

testify. >> savannah, this has been what we had been hearing from the committee in the leading up to this momentous statement today that robert mueller seemet reluctan participate in what would be most likely a public spectacle because, really, he has as he underscored in public r theirst time today that the report does speak for itself. any value of it wou be added coming before cameras would be dramatic as opposed to being bstantive and adding to the record that we already know here. savannah, you hit on exactly what is the big question and i already put this toes sourcn capitol hill to see whether or not the house judiciary dmmittee is going to sen robert mueller a subpoena. we have seen the trump dministration subpoenas left and right andrefuse to cooperate with congress. as we heard, robert mueller now a private citizen and also somebody who is a very careful

observer and follower of the rules and practices that govern how all of this is supposed to fold. he underscored that himself and we have been reporting it extensively throughout the course of is investigation. you heard him make reference to it, as well. describing how he made his decision about whether or not they could charge the president the united states with a crime. so, i do think you're going to see potentially a different set of circumsnces play outn the event that congress does send robert mueller a subpoena. so, again, we don't yet have an answer to this critical question but house democrats and democrats control the house of representives and they control the gavel in those committees and, frankly, our eyes are turned towards what they are going to do nexn terms of getting more answers, savannah. >> chuck todd with you there in washington. this is going to be a matter of analyzing what robert mueller chose to emphasize from his report. he gave a nine-minute statement and what he chose to highlight

is important. one of the things he mentions and goes out of his way to say that the doj opinion that says you can't indict and criminally charge a sitting president. says that the constitution requires the processther than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing. ng's without usi that word reminding folks that there is a process and it's called impeachment. >> savannah, i think that's the news out of here. ishat he, in case anybody wasn't sure how to interpret the introduction to part two of the mueller report, robert mueller now told you how to interpret it. report, simply, this it's up to you, congress. you're the only one that can make the decision about whether or not a crime was committed here. the constitution essentially doesn't permit the normal process. so, in some ways, this is a rebuttal to barr. and i think the single most important sentence he uttered is this. we chose the words carefully.

meaning about the report itself but that's also about mueller's statement today. he chose his words carefully. notice how he described part one. bill barr described it as a total exoneration. he id, insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy. right. how you cose to word something says a lot, if you will. this is bob mueller simply saying, there wasn't enough to charge a crime here that doesn't mean there wasn't behavior, perhaps, that we found suspicio suspicious. but i think the larger headline in this, bob mueller is making it crystal clear to congress. i did this report assuming t s was your call, not the justice department's call. this was your call. i think he basically said itpr ty straight forwardly. >> it's interesting because there had been some confusion, as you well know, chuck, about why this issue robert mueller chose not to make a prosecutorial decision. why he chose not to sayhether or not the president could be

charged with obstruction of justice. bill ba, the attorney general, when initially announcing the results of the mueller report said that he conc wded there no obstruction of justice case and he said that had nothing to doat with thepartment of justice rule that says you can't indict a sitting president. robert mueller had made crystal clear today that he wa in fact, bound by and guided by that department of justice rule that said a sitting president may n be criminally prosecuted. that is what he said in black and white. ss seemed like he wanted to make sure that that i had been settled. >> and not only that. i thought it was interesting how he chos where he chose to the attorney general. he said he largely released the report and we are glad he did that in that decision. it was basically ignoring part one of what barr did. but in some ways a i perhaps giving a hint of what i think you'll see a lot on cable

take bill barr and take robert mueller and basically put them side by side how barr interpreted the report r d how muellesically. it's a rebuttal. and this is the statement i think tt he thought a neutral attorney general would have ven, had they read the report the way mueller intended for the report to be read. >> let's go to peter alexander at the white house and, of course, peter, we recall that many at the white house were stating that the mueller report was a complete exoneration. now we're hearing from robert mueller. how do you think this is goingo to gver at the white house today? >> savannah, i think you put your finger on it right there. with every mega phone the president had through twitter and on podiums and for the cour of the last month and a half has tried to basically make that case. that this is a total exoneration. well, now, very clearly from robert mueller we heard, in effect, a different story.

byinot charg donald trump they're not saying he didn't commit crimes, but they're not going to pursue him for the potential that he committed any crimes. which now leaves it to congress. the president in the course of the last month and a half have tweeted robert mueller's name more than 70 times. on friday he said, it would be ridiculous that mueller would testify. so, i think the white house will be happy to hear that this may be the final word from robert mueller, but certainly not the word they were hoping to hear veday. my conation with aides over the course of this day. we got the indication that the white house was notified that mueller would make a statementy toda they learned about it last night. the president was notified, as well. eut no indication that they knew exactly what h would say. and the conversations going into this, they seem to indicate they thought he would resign from the depament of justice from special counsel office and shutting it down and that the focus would be heavily on that and fact that he wouldn't testify. they were, in effect, trying to steer clear of what seemed to be the real headline that cameofut

his today. the president has no scheduled public events today. he has a private meetis with the secretary of state, the vice president. so, there is no opportunity, at least to this point, for reporters to press thesident on his findings here. complicaertainly does the argument that he has been making. what he and his allies insisting the argument for the course of campaign. he has been totally exonerated here when robert mueller said, in fact, no exoneration. >> a lot to chew over here. let's talk to andrea mitchell who covers foreign affairs. the first part of mueller's statementlso can be interpreted to say he was justifying the whole purpose and genesis of the russia investigation in the first place. he td about the investigation establishing that an arm of the russian military and serces of russia have interfered in the election and had a hacking campaign and a private russian entity that had engaged in a social media influence campaign and he said these matters needed to be investigated and understood in a way it felt like he was trying

to justify why it was that the special counsel was appointed in the first place. >> he fikt l not enough attention was paid to that first session with all the repor fr he president, of course, specifically saying no collusion. that he wanted to emphasize that. every american should be concerned about this attack. he went into more detail than one might expect in thisst ement about that original indictment against the russians a year ago june. i also think it's very important to empha hze that said i hope and expect that this will be the only time that i speak to you in this and he is saying that the report is his testimony. he is saying to the congress as you' noted that he did not want to appear and that he will not go beyond the four corners of his report. it is now going to be conflicting pressure, of course. a lot of people in the democratic pa in particular,

are going to be demanding that they force a subpoena to force him to appear to push this as far ashey can. but others will say that this is an unnecessary piling on and that, in fact, he will not gobe nd it. it will just be the political spectacle that he is certainly saying he does not want to participate in. i think it is very significant that he spoke solearly about saying that he did not find that the president did not commit a crime. he's just sayingy that t did not conclude anything because of those regulations and that practice that the psident cannot be indicted and it would be unfair to have a field indictment. that the onlyav reason to he the investigation, plenty of reason to have the investigation to preserve the testimony while it is still fresh and to preserve the possibility of using it against co-conspirators, savannah. >> he went one step further, andrea. if we could have dconcludend cleared him of a crime, we would have done so. but we didn't do that. let's play a little bit of robert mueller's speech a few minutes ago.

take a listen. >> in the report after that investigation, if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. we did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. the introduction to the volume two of our report explains that decision. it explains that under long-standing department policy a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional. even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from pthlic view, , too, is prohibited. the special counsel's office is part ofarhe depent of justice and by regulation, it was bound by that department policy. charging the president with a crime was, therefore, not an option we could consider. >> let's go to pete williams,

our justice correspondent who made his way outside of the department there in washington, d.c. pete, as you had a cnce to marinate in this statement, what are you reflecting on? what do you think are the take aways? >> well, couple of things. first of all, talking to some members of his staff who were in the room to hear this speech by mueller, it's quite clear that he had no intention, just to be clear. i think you picked this up. he had no intention of testifying before congress. he said this report is my testimony. and he said i hope and expect this is the only time i will speak about this matter. so, no question. he does not want to testify before congress. u may have heard there was a question shouted to him as he walked away, what if you're subpoenaed and he said no questions. secondly, fundamentally there is nothing in his remarks here that goes beyond what the report says. so, all of the discussion you have been having about the fact that mueller said, you know, we

can't say the president didn't commit a crime, that's in the report. so, that remark does not go beyond the report. the only thing that i think is new here is and this gets a little bit processy, but the only t thingt is new is when the special counsel staff made the decision that they would nor say whether o not the president committed a crime. that they would not reach a conclusion about that. and the answeis, from the ginning. he said that because it would be unconstitutional to charge a president with a crime, charging the president with a cme was, therefore, not an option we could consider. one of the puzzles to us has been, what they do? did they assemble all the evidence and then say, okay. let's decide whether the president committ a crime? oops. we can't do that because we're not allowed to. that didn't come at the end. that came at the beginning. nonetheless as the report said, we concludedn' we could do this

investigation because, in essence, the president is a president forever and if there were a crime, someone theaur thauretically could be charged after they left office. they knew they couldn't charge the president with a crime, if they had found the evidence to indicate that he did so. they never did that calculus but on the other hand, he said e today, as theport says that they also aren't saying they couldn't, they can't say that he didn't commit a crime. they couldn't exone te hi >> that is interest. they knew from the get go we are never going to render a prosecutorial decision against the president because we're forbidden for doing so. we're employees of the justice department is essentially what he said. then he went on to say you could investigate because we need to preserve evidence to your point because the president is a president forever. if there is a criminal case perhaps to be brought. then he mentioned, pete, this is

about how congress, excuse th, constitution has another process to deal with the president in these circumstances. let's go to mimi who is our legal analyst for nbc news. pete is very correct there. mueller didn't go outside the four squares of his report in anything that he said. on the other hand, it is a matter of emphasis and what he chose to highlight. what do you make of what he chose to single out today in his final and only comments on the matter, if he can help it. >> yeah. i mean on the one hand he didn't go outside the report. on the other hand, what he did is so valuable. i think shows why it would be valuable if he testified before congress, even if he only talt abou what is in the report. the report is dense and he's walking us through it. here he did it in eight or nine minutes. he highlighted, first of all, something that we know because we read the report, but maybe not everybody does because it's been sort of by allies of trump

himself.p russia attacked our election. they interfered in a systematic way. bo that's important and he's telling americans, pay attention to that. don't let that go by. send, he said here's why obstruction of justice is important to investigate. it strikes at the heart of our justice system. you cannot let those crimes go unattended, uninvestigated. third, he said without saying in exmrit explicitly the way we said, the president was not charged with a crime because he couldn't be but there is substantial evidence of obstruction of justice. he also said with respect to the trump campaign that he didn't find evidence to charge a prosecutable crime against members of the campaign with russia's interference. he didn't say anything about no collusion. that's important. because, remembar, after 's letter came out before the

report came out. the talking point became no collusion. mr. mueller did not say that he didn't find collusion because that is not what he was looking all these points are really important that he chose to emphasize and even if they're in the report, it shows the importance of walking the american public through these very basic points. and i hope that now congress picks up and does it in a more effective way and that's what mueller was asking them to do. >> that brings the expert in the law to expert in politics which is chuck todd. end, chuck, what do democrats do now? thssue is whether they want to force it with muelmuelleroul. had no desire to testify before congress. he has said there is nothing to see here. the report speaks for itself. the report is my testimony he said today. but congress does have the power to subpoena and can try to it.rce >> well, they can. but i think the larger issue they're going to deal with is

this. doesn'tlosi politically want to do impeachment. she is trying to buy time and get to the end of the summer and say, you know what, the presidential campaign is too far along. this is not healthy for the country. we'll sort this out. except she has a problem now politically, savannah. that is this. yesterday you had a republican member of congress, granted it's somebody who is seen out on his own island at times, justi amash making the clearest case of impeachment and it happens to be a republican and now robert mueller. right. who speaks for the first time who, again, what everybo has noted here. what he chose to point out. his basic direct rebuttal to bill barr's characterization of everything bill barr has done to this point and him plicitly saying he believes only congress could make this decision. so, now, there isn'tue aion of did mueller intend congress to do it. mueller said, i intended you to

make this decisionnd now you have nancy pelosi facingha the fact tshe has a growing chorus of democrats who say it's time to impeach and the person ubking the clearest case publicly is a repcan member of congress. i think the political pressure now on the leadership of the house to open impeachment inquiry is only going to increase. >> that brings us to pete williams at the justice partment. i know you want to get in on this issue of impeachment. mueller didn't flat out say, congress, it's up to you. but he did point out that the constitution provides a remedy and it's over congress which refers to the impeachment process. >> process is the word he used. i'm looking at the text of his remarks now. the opinions, this is quoting now. the opinion says that the constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing. i think it's interesting that ht puhat sentence in.

yes, this was an eight minute or so thing, but a lot he didn't say. at he chose to say. in essence, a line and a footnote in this 400-plus page report. so,ehe fact that h chose to say it i think is interesting. it's an insight that it was very much on the mind of mueller staff. the only other point i wanted te ma savannah, and i want to be as careful about this as i can. i have covered robert mueller since he was the fbi director held for over 12 years and kept tabs with him in t past. we have all aged since then. he's now 74. and i did think todathat, you know, that may be a question on his mind, as well. you know, t ats point in his life, at this stage in his life. he finished his job as special counsel. he wants to put it beyond him now and move on. >> well, he certainly has been at the red hot center of political lif for the last

couple of years and he said he wants to return to private life. we'll see if congress lets him. robert mueller this morning at the justice department for the first time addressing his almost two-ar russia investigation. talking about what his report concluded, what it found and what it could not fin a he has now by his remarks set off anher round of speculation about whether or not congress will pick up where he left off. that question also regards his testimony as well. he has said he does not want to testify before congress and that it would be fimitless for h to do so. but now we will hear from members of congress and expect to hear later f todaym the democratic chairman of the house judiciary committee about what his next move will be and watching all of this from the white house,nt the presidewho, obviously, has a stake in all of this. we will continue to follow this. i'll be back with full detail tonight on nbc "nightly news." for now i'm savannah guthrie. we'll returnou to regular programming.

>> announcer: "news4 midday" starts now. good morning and welcome to "news4 midday." i'm erika gonzalez. and we begin with that breaking news from the justice department. a statement fromobert mueller himself regarding his investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. these are the first public comments regarding the high-profile prane he was appointed to lead two years ago and he said he's leaving the justice department now. that he concluded his russia ob e. he also talked briefly about his findings in the report.>

>>welcome back, everybody. we've got some cloud cor out

there. you could see from our live tower camera. and it is not looking too bad. it is a live on the warm s out there. and might as well just go ahead and call it hot or avera temperature for this time of the year is 79 degrees and we pastt thafore 8:30 this morning. now nothing on the radar right now. you could see we're dry and you have a few clouds moving in from the south and west but for the most part we have sunny skies out there. with some veiled sunshine at times. a little on the breezy side and the southwest winds are kicking up the humidity as well. so you could see a littlefit o storm activity to the west of us. but look up by cleveland area. we're going to be watching thes ems come together and we've got a little disturbance moving out of the lake michigan area and will stink down to the south and east and that will bring us another chance for showers and thunderstorms as we go through the afternoon and into the evening. now not everybody will see them. but we'll have a chance to see them. but if you are flights or

traveling that takes you into kentucky or southern portionsof indiana or ohio, that is where we're seeing that rain right no r. and heavn right now. that will break up at the mountains. but then we'll see a little rain get here. and we've got to keep a chance of storms. look at that temperature right now. we're not even at noon yet. we're already up togr 87 s here in washington. 86 in frederick. also headed towardat 90 quantico marine base, annapolis at 89. so very warm across the area and we'll continue to stay warm throughout the day. we're expected a high -- 94 degrees. we have a record 97 that was set back in 1941. so it is a warm day out there. don't think we'll quite make it to 97 butev i do beli some areas may make it into the mid to upper 90s as we continue through the day. now at noon, the tilperatures wbe already in the upper 80s and then some storms to the west as we get through about 2:00, 3:00at the temperres will be in the low to mid-90s at that point. and then at 5:00, we'll have about a 40% chance of some

stronger storms crossing over the area. and i don't think everybody will see them, at least that is the way it looks right now. but you're going to want to keep a weather eye to the sky. mainly because we're weather alert out there todayllecause weave a chance for some strong storms. so again a look at temperatures out there. and over the nextur 12 ho those temperatures will shoot into the 90s. now after, w 9:00, 10:00, start drying out but the humidity sticks with us. so we are going to see possibly some heavy rain and some winds. some heavy rain and some winds. or'll talk m ♪

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now to a developing story. a young prince george's county police officer killed in a cash. officer devonmckenzie was riding off duty on his motorcycle on the beltway near arena drive last night and struck and killed in a chain-reaction crash. news4 megan mcgrath is live at the district 1 station insv hyattle where he worked.

megan? >> reporter: well, this was just a terrible crash involving several vehicles including a street sweeper. officer devin mckenzie was kised when one of the car slammed into his motion and threw him into oncoming traffic. black bunting is placedov ab the door at police headquarters in honor of the officer mckenzie. over mckenzie joined the prince george's county police department two years ago and assigned to the bureau of patrol and work as a school source officer at william middle school. last night hiscu career was short by a freak off-duty accident on the beltway there largo. just before 11:30 a car hit a street sweeper and veered out of control and hit the motorcycle mckenzie was driving. >> reporter: now police chief released a statement saying in a

t, the prince george's county police family is broken hearted at the loss of this young officer and only son. he was well-respected and loved by his fellow officers. i should also mentio that all of the drivers involved in this accident did stay on the scene. >> megan mcgrath, thank you. we have sad news to share this morning. a decorated u.s. marine from fairfax, virginia died today in australia from injuriesin susta during a military training accident. the marine, lancel corporans sandov sandoval pereya was a 21-year-old technician and had received onnors including the national defense service medal and the global war on terrorism service medal. one other marine received minor injuries have the accident. the cause of that accident is still under investigation. also new thisme morning, ro warning commuters about delays.

just before 9:00 this morning the transit system said shuttle buses were experienng delays to 15 minutes. the delays come after problems tsday when bus drivers, some of them, were getting lost. otro hired several tour bus drivers fromtside of the area to help people get around the six closed stations. we learned many of them, as i mentioned, were not from here. they were from places like texas and georgia. the six stations south of the reagan national airport will be closed until september. we have a list of alternative ways to get down during the tautdown in our nbc washington app. s with

graduation season is officially underway. and it is a great timehe for students, their families and teachers to celebrate all of their accomplishments. and right now in prince george's county the young men and women graduating from crossland high are getting a special surprise at their ceremony. justin finch joins us live from the show place arena with details on this. justin, what is this all about? >> reporter: hey there, erika. real big surprise for the senior class of the high school here at the show case arena. the cat is out of the bag but the special guest was r&b singer tank. i wouldn't bother to sing his ngs but he wanted to come back and inspire the classes behind

him because he is a crossland grad and said beinre for graduation he did feel a bit of vu. today more than 150 crossland high school seniors made that big transition at the show place arena in upper marlngro. turni their tassels toward futures of colle, careers and more. but first a celebrity surprise.h thoot so easy to spot in a cap and gown, r&b singer and crossland high grad best known as tank. not there to sing but to speak. >> i sang at my high school graduation. and now i'm a professional singer. you know what i mean? so if it started here, if it is growing here, then it could still blosevm into what you want that to be. >> reporter: we asked tank what he hoped the seniors today would take from his words and he said that anything is possible. that is if you work for it. because not even his life turned

out quite the way he thought it was when he was 18. >> i didn't know this was possible. i had never really seen this before, i'm a first generation at what i do. so i knew i wanted to sing. i thought i would play basketball and i tried growing and football, i could do that, that is cool. but music just took on a life of its own. >> reporter: from crowds of lodded ones in the stands to the graduates on the floor, so many hopes and dreams, tank hopesdhe coul help inspire each and every one of them to come true. and i'm pretty sure that he was able to do just that. turns out this had been a surprise in the works for severalonths. turns out prince george's county school staff met tank out in l.a. and expressed an terest to come out here and be the commencement speaker and he also has a deep roots here in the county, he moved here as a kid and his brother also a teacher at a prince george's

county school. live in upper marlboro, justin finch, nbc4. back inside to you. >> how wonderful that as big of a life that he leads, he has not forgotten his roots and where he comes from and how important it is to give back to the community that started it all for him. >> reporter: absolutely. >> justin finch, thank you very there are ten tuskegee airmen still around to share stories and lucky for us one of them lives in our area. this morning we're honoring 99-year-old colonel charles mcgee as we prepare to close out militaryon appreciati month. nbc4 treated them to breakfast at his bethesda ho. molette green has his inspiring story. >> reporter: okay, colonel mcgee, 99 and a half years old. just got youres l recognition from joint base andrews. getting in and out of a steerman, what was that like for you? >> it was wonderful. to be back in there.

that was the first aircraft i flew. >> and you've flo many fferent aircrafts as you have participated in over 400 air combat missions across three wars. world war ii, korea and vietnam. >> that is right. it is good to do something you enjoy. > and you're still going strong at 99 1/2 and the oldest living tuskegee airman pilot wit us today. that is wonderful. >> well, indeed. i'm pleased to be able to sha the story with the young folks of today. >> and quickly, john mcca hill withtory alive is here and what do you have on. >> this is the class winner olonel would the have worn 75 years ago. >> vincent mickens with the national business aviation associatmen, as we look at so of the medals that the colonel has, what do you want to say about why this is so important t talk about? >> well i important because it is inspiration for the next generation. >> that is what it is all about.

coleel mc talks to children all of the time and your many accomplishments receiving your wings43 in 19george w. bush the president in 2007 gave yu a congressional gold meddle and you'rin shrined in the national aviation ofall of fame in 2011 and performed over 400 air icmbat missions and thank you for your serv and mission to our country. >> that is very kind. thank you. >> reporter: back to you. >> what aec spl treat. for the first time in nearly two decades every public college in virginia is freezing tuitionh the riond times dispatch reports that longwood university became the last school to approve a tuitionre fe. lawmakers included nearly $58 million in this year's state budget for colleges that agreed to freeze their tuition to share. every school took them up on that offer. a stronger than expected state economy hrsped give lawmake the additional funds to spend this year. right now in prince george',

county hundreds of young spellers are competing in this year's scripps national spelling bee at national harbor. many of them told us that making it this far a dream come true. this morning a few spellers from our area took on round two etof the comption. so take a look at that. >> mobiliary. >> correct. >> fallible. >> correct. >> thank you. >> it is spelled -- >> it is spelled -- >> correct. [ applause ] >> that last speller was anaa gotem and no more than 50 spellers will advance to the finals. we're rooting for all of local spellers from d.c.,

maryland and virginia. america's got talent is back with a brand-new season. last night's premiere kicked off with a bang. full of stellar performances and one of them even brought the judges to tears. ♪ [ singing ] >> that young star on your screen is 22-year-old kodi lee. last night he won the first golden buzr of the season. which isal basic an express ticket to the live shws in hollywood. codi captivated the crowd with his voice and inspirational story. he's blind and on the autism spectrum and can also sing and play the piano. his mother said music saved his life. and helped him with stand living in this world. he could catch america's got

talent this summer right here on nbc4. but after that, i don't know what else they'll do. we're going to send things over to lauryn because it is hot, it is steamy and with that, are in weather alert mode expecting some severe storms. >> we a going to have some severe storms. but that is a tough act to follow. i got goosebumps just listening to that. ve listened to several times today. no goosebumps outside because it is hot. we have plenty of sunshine and n clouds fill in off to the west. still veiled sunshine in the shenlodoah valley. at temperatures. not even at noon yet and at 90 degrees in some spots. now our average temperature for this time of the year is 79 degrees. so we're w tll aboveat. 94 is the predicted high today. so again we'll take the temperatures into the90 mid-s today. about a 40% chance seeing stronger storms between about, would you say 3:00 p.m. and about 9:00 to 10:00 tonight. look at this. 4:00, 5:00, you see them roll in here. and given theeat and humidity, these will contain rain and

lightning and gusty wind as well. and even the threat of some small hail. so this continues to roll through here as we go through the evening. of course summertime, we're not quite there yet but e unofficial start to summer was last weekend so you seero them around during the evening commute. clear by about 9:00, a few isolated sprinkles but clearing ndies overnight hours as you our t the dayomorrow. so i don't think we'll be quite as warm. temperatures low 90s tomorrow and another chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon into tomorrow evening. so the main impacts today will be the heavy rain andds win now amelia and doug will have information on what to expect. right now i'm calling for abou a 40% chance that it will happen in your neighborhood and they may have to upper down or that percentage based on new information that is coming.he just in t early afternoon. so keep it here and keep it with our social media and they'll update you and but weather alert because any of the storms, again, could pack a little bit of a punch.

so storms tomorrow, friday, saturday, gorgeous. we will have the sunshine on your friday and saturday with low humidity and temperatures in the low to mid-80s. by the time we get into sunday, we'll have those temperatures back in the 70s and some rain showers throughout the day but we d out time for monday and tuesday. high pressure builds in through wednesday. next chance of rain after the weekend>> thursday. lauryn, thank you so much. that is it for nbc4 midday. thank you for joining us. we're back on the air first at 4:00. get the latest news and weather updates any time and there will be a lot of them today. you could find them in the nbc washington app. have a great deal and we'll see you this afternoon.

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we're live in five, four, three, two, one. >> look at that. >> take that picture in, everybody. incredible. that's the largest class of african-american women ever graduating from west point. >> 32 women will be graduating next saturday. that's the largestarroup in the 216-yeistory. this is incredible. congratulations to everybody. it was really very cool. when women look at this photo, they want them to realize the ility and fortitude to be a force to be reckoned with. >> that is awesome. think about west point. wh incredible. big day here on this