blayne alexander reporting. you, blayne. >>> now to the fraud trial of former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. the itprosecution's star wness rick fwagates has n wrapped up his testimony. his three days on the stand ended witom more courtro drama a day after he admitted he used money he stole from manaforo pay for an apartment and carry on affair in london. ayggests gates have had four affairs. and asked if hnfmed the special counsel's office. prosecutors objected. gates never answered the question. >>> new today, a fresh poll on the u.s. senate race in virginia. the survey of likely voters suggests incumbentim kaine has a commanding 23-point lead over republican challenger corey stewart by a o marge 49% to 26%. 20%el of l voters say they're still undecided. the poll from virginia commonwealth university shows kaine leading in most major demographic categories including women, men, minority voters and white voters. >>> now to a case that has ar- 15-yd charged as an adult with murder. >> in court today, a ju

blayne alexand thanks, blayne. the talk of pardons made us wonder if y can refuse a presidential pardon. nbc's pete williams tells us the question has actually come up twice. president andrew jackson pardoned a man convicted of robbery and the man turned it down for reasons not clear. in 1833, the supreme court ruled a pardon has to be accepted in ordero be valid. the court does not have the power to force a pardonn someone. the court reached a similar conclusion in 1915. president woodrow wilson a pardon newspaper editor who pled the fifth and refused to testify in a criminal case. wilson was trying to force the newsper man to testify. the court ruled the editor had the right to refuse the pardon and retain his fifth amendment protection. >>> in just a few weeks, a baby oy will celebrate his first birthday without his father. someon shot and killed his dad in prince george's county. tonight, as police hunt f his killer, family and friends gathered at the scene of the crime for an emotional vigil. news 4's meaganit

blayne alexander is following all the testimony, and she has the latestor us tonight. blayne? >> reporter: doreen, this afternoon, the defense is doing erything they can to try and discredit rick gates' testimony, including getting him to admit to an extra marital affair, but despite all of that, he spent two days now on the stand testifying to the fact that he committed crimes for, with and even against paul manafort in testimony that c hld landis former boss in prison for life. they once worked side by side. now face to facen a federal courtroom. paul manafort, president trump's former campaign mannd manafort's one-time deputy rick gas today taking the stand against his former mentor. >> paul manafort was staring bullets at rick gates, his former protege who worked f him for ten years, after all,te stas an intern, and gates was not looking at rmanafort. >>eporter: manafort facing the possibility of life in pfoson r charges of banknd tax aud in the first trial related to special counsel robert mueller's investigation. according to gates, manafort was motivated by greed orderi

wendy. >> blayne alexander, thank you, blayne.t tribute from lindsey graham is one example of how senator mccain was respected by his peers. to the at 5:00, the mother of a fallen sailo now talking about what the late senator meant to her. jim handl is in our newsroom with a look at what's news tonight at 5:00. >> yeah, the warship "uss mccn" was named aft the late senator's father and also the vessel involved in a deadly crash, you mayremember, last summer when ten sailors were killed, including timothy eckels. tonight his mother shares her special cnection to the senator with our meagan fitzgeraon and an investigati after the blue line train winds up on the wrong route sending riders to the wrong place. transportation reporter adam tuss is gathering new he'll join us live with the report at 5:00. we'll soon see you with those stories and a good deal more and more on this heat wave, too, that should have everybodyg keept indoors today. >> yes. >> thanks, jim. >> hugging the air conditioner. >> yeah. >> 55 years ago today, one of

blilne alexander on capitol for us. thanks, blayneget the latest on the timing araing those storms, doug. >> last night waiting for people to come home might have been a little longer than unusual. not going to be anss tonight. i don't think the storms will hit until later this evening but they're already hitting parts of our region now. most of us dry this evening back down towards culpeper county, fauquiernt c you can see this line beginning to form from harrisonburg towards woodstock.ow right overds warren county, virginia, right along 66. this whooi line is to continue to move towards the east. very r heavynfall. wind with this. a little bit in the way of lightning, tooer not s yet but it is a storm we're going to be traering for you very closely. on the wider view, this is just the first round of storms we have coming through our area. most of this should stay south of 66. most of it shoul stay south. thads up around fredericksburg later. we get into this area around 7:00, 8:00,th 9:00. 's when we think some of this is going to m

blayne alexander is here to explain how all these things fit to,ther. blayne. >> reporter: yeah, doreen. angry indeed. you know, you could really tell that the j cge in thise was personally upset by this, not only did he take the rather unprecedented steps of ordering that plane turned around, but he also threatenegethe attorney ral of the united states personally. day the ongoin debate over who is aloud to enter and live in the uni new intensity.ing a d.c. federal judge taking the highly unusual step of stopping a deportation in progress, ordering a plane bound for el salvador turn around bringing a mother and daughtero backe u.s. >> this was a horrible situation. i can't even imagine theth fear were feeling when they were put on that plane. >> reporter: the two part of a class action lawsuit against the governmentfter the trump administration said those fleeing gangs or domestic violence could no longer claim ylum. >> and what we're trying do in this case is to get a court to look at whaty are doing, the way that they are changing the asylum standard a

blayne alexander js now to break it all down. er: leon, right now those two, omarosa manigault newman and john brennan are two of president trump's loude itics and they are renewing their promises that they will not be silenced. >> i want to begin -- >> reporter: president trump coioecting his dec to revoke the security clearance of foirer ciator and outspoken critic john brennan to the russia investigation. the president ignoring questions today but telling "the wall street journal" i think it's some ding that had to bee and that he holds brennan among those responsible for the, quote, russia witch-hunt. that in contrast t tos explanation given yesterday. >> mr. brennan has a history that calls into question his objectivity and credibility. >> reporter: brennan punching back writing in the "new york times" the president has become more desperate to protect himself. >> there are 13 reasons why you can revoke a clearance, and the president has cited none of them in his action on joh brennan. >> reporter: none of this drowning out a

blayne alexander joins us now with the very latest. blayne? >> it certainly seems clear there isore t come from both sides. after that extraordinary plea yesterday, today the president's team is pushing back, the white house saying repeatedly that p president trums not facing any charges as the president works to discredit his one-time confidant. michael cohen, the president's one-time attorney and clean man, already spilling a lot about his former boss and it appears he is not done yet. >> michael cohen has told me that he's going to tell the truth to whoever asks him, whether it be a congressional committee, a prosecutor or somebody in washington. >> reporter: cohen facing prison time for campaign finance violatio, admitting he was directed by donald trump to pay hush money to w twoen whose stories of affairs could have derailed his campaign. >> in american story, i don't know how many times a president of the united states sitting has been accused of a felony by prosecutors. >> reporter: the president today telling fox business he did not k

blayne alexander, nbc news, washington. >>> i want to get back to our breaking news now, that fire that we've been talking about the tesla factory in fremont. >> it's out now but the investigation just beginning. nbc bay area's sergio quintana arrived on scene just moments ago. he joins us live. sergio? >> reporter: you can see at this point it's mostly a whole lot of smoke. there is still quite a lot of smoldering at this fire. as you mentioned just a little bit earlier, the fire has been extinguished. it was quickly contained and then extinguished. they sent a whole lot of resources out here. at we know is that this fire started in some box areas, piles of boxes that are actually really close to the factory itself, the factory building itself and then also the test track. from there it went on to some other structure and then continued on to a grassy area. at this point, there is a whole lot of fire crews that are still here. as you mentioned a little bit earlier as well, investigators are here as well now trying to determine exactly how this started. but for the most part at this poi

here's blayne alexander with more. hi, blayne. >> reporter: and, you know, none of this will come to pass unless congress signs off on it, so that's certainly important to note. the administration says they are notutalking aboutding something completely new from scratch. they are talking about reshuffling people, scuffling programs, but critics of the whole idea say that it's all j expensive.fusing and for fans of the classic tv series "star trek" it's known as the final frontier. >> these are the voyages of the star ship enterprise. >> reporter: now space may be the new frontier in u.s. defense. the trump administration working to create a sixth military branch, the space force. >> it is not enough to merely have an american presence in space. we must have american dominance in space, and so we will. >> reporter: president trump pubically andeunced his seven weeks ago. >> i'm hereby directing the department of defense and pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary toes ablish a face force. >> reporter: at the

blayne alexander is tracking the developments on this for us. ayne,hat's the latest? >> reporter: doreen, you remember it was just a few weeks ago, the endas of month, that the white house first announced to was looking into taking this action. y it is official, at least in one case. and there could be more to follow. today an unprecedented announcement delivered in a statement from president trump. >> i've decided to revoke the security clearance of john brennan, former director of the central intelligence agency.a >> reporter: i statement read by white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders, p president trumnting to a constitutional responsibility to protect the country's classified information. >> mr. brennan has recently leveraged his status as a former gh ranging official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations, wild outbursts on the intisnet and teln about this administration. >> reporter: the announcement coming hours after brennan, an nbc news national security analyst whos often critical of pr

blayne alexander.hanks, blayne. >> omarosa will be chuck todd's exclusive guest on "meet the press" this weekend.'s thn sunday morning at 10:30 here on nbc 4. >>> well this weekend prepare to see shooting stars. the annual perseid meteor shower is back, and we're told this year it could be especially dazzling. plan to look up to the sky nday night around 10:30 local time wherever you are. exrts say t shower is the strongest or second strongest of the year. the other takes place in december. >> how much of that are we going to seehere? >> that's the question. unfortunately, it looks like we've got a lot of cloud cover the next couple of days so that's not looking very good. if it was clear i'd have myhe ks out t looking at it because we could see upwards of one an hour or one a minute, 60 an hour which is pretty good. every once in a whileou get big ones in there, too, so, unfortunately, not going to be the best weather. >> okay. we'll have to see it online. >>eah. you know, a lot of places in the count

blayne alexander reports on that >> reporter: from president trump the promise of a new deal with mexico a new name >> we'll get rid of the name nafta. it has a bad con connotation. >> they will call it the united states/mexico trade agreement replacing the 24-year-old nafta, a trade deal with all three north american countries notably missing from the talks, canada today's announcement made in the oval office with mexico's president on speakerphone. president trump says talks with canada will begin shortly. >> we'll give them a chance to probably have a separate deal. >> reporter: this deal not final without congressional approval, and would impact everything from agriculture to steel, aluminum and car parts. as the announcement wrapped up -- >> any thoughts on john mccain >> reporter: president trump ignoring questions about john mccain over the weekend president trump tweeting condolences to the mccain family but no praise of the man himself. late today a sharp about-face. the white house facing fierce criticism for returning its flag to full staff, keeping it lowered only over the we

nbc's blayne alexander has the latest on today's jury selection and what comes next. >> reporter: oncee of donald trump's presidential campaign -- >> paul manafort has done an amazing job. >> reporter: -- today paul manafort on trial. it is the first related to special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation, but not focusing on that but on millions of dollars urearned as a consultant for the ukrainian government. >> this will be the first time an official body, namely a jury, is going to decide, sort of give a thumbs up or thumbs down to the fact finding and evidence that mueller is presenting. >> reporter: prosecutors likely will not even mention the words russia and collusion during the trial, but today president trump is, tweeting this new twist on a familiar claim. collusion is not a crime, but that doesn't matter because there was no collusion. today the white house distancing itself from the trial. >> but, remember, it has nothing to do with the campaign. >> reporter: and the president himself recently downplaying the role of the campaign manager who helped him secure the

>> blayne alexander, thanks, blayne. >>> sorryial thieves have struck again inarlington. they are after air bags, and they have already stolen dozens in the last couple of months. news 4's aimee cho explains what's going on there. >> reporter: imagine coming out toour car to find this, the windows shattered and the air bag gone. this the is one of dozens of cars targeted in crystal city, anice say another 20 cars were hit in the past few days. >> part of rlife. orter: this man lives on a street that's been targeted before. though his car has stayed safe, some of his neighbors haven't been so lucky. >> i mean, it's going to happen again eventually, because once they see you ireplace, it mean, they will come and strike again. >> reporter: police say theal thefts uly happened hat night when no one is around. it's been an ongoing problem in the area. this video showing cars in alexandria whose air bags were stolen a month ago and they haven't yet figured out if the onses arected but they say the thieves tend to go offer newer modelda h you can see used honda air bags re liste

>> blayne alexander, thank you, blayne. >>> another topic on theid prt's mind today, the trial of his former campaign manageraul manafort on bank frau and tax fraud charges. >> the prosecution's star witness rick gates took to the stand late today. gates started as an intern at manafort's political firm back in the mid-'90s and worked directly with manafort in 2006. today gates testified that he committed crimes with manafort including failing to report offshore bank accounts and faifying tax returns. in a surprise gates also admitted that he embezzled hundred of thousands of dollars from manafort by submitting false expense reports. gates is cooperating with the prosecution in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. >> top stories tonight, an outbreak of violence in ccago. people ay more than 60 were shot over the weekend. a dozen people died. police say the shootings are gang-related a some innocent people were caught in the crossfire. >>> family a friends will say good-bye thio week t a 10-year-old girl who was killed by a fallen tree. visitation and funeral services for lydia gher

to >> blayne alexander, blayne, thank you. >>> theen press military parade has been postponed and white houseudget director nick mull veiny is blaming the d.c. council. e council that voted 70% or 80% against the president wouldn't want to help.he today council clapped back with tongue in cheek pointing out that 95% of district voters didot pick mr. trump but they say it's irrelevant calling opposition to a $92 million non-partisan.he and say they would oppose one of similar cost, even if it included the observe mass, chuck brown and statehood flos made of hemp. >> let's check our forecast. sst of are dry right now, but we're going to be in a weather alert mode by thi time tomorrow. >> it's going to get business on you, huh, amelia? >> exactly. tomorrow there's areas of rain an thunderstorms especially duringnihe afternoon and e hours and some of those could be strong to devere. take a look right now though. only a few sprinkles falling in parts of the area. mainly east of i-95 where i'm tracking some rain around thepe up marlboro areaar and p of anne arundel county. this activity is pu

. >> blayne alexander is here to break it all dn for us. >> reporter: let's start with the attacks frompresident trump. they came via twitter which set up a rathe interesting and unlikely split screen. muile he was using that platform to insultler and former cia chief john brennan his wife,ir lady melania trump, was speaking at aonference against cyber bullying. president trump intensifying his tack on the russia investigation and special counsel robert mueller calling him disgraced and discredited leading a teamf angry dems looking to impact the election. it comes as the "new york times" reports white house attorney done mcgahn spent 30 hours speaking to them voluntarily but not talking about it today. meanwhile, suort continues to grow for former cia chief john brennan, a vocal critic of the president whose security clearance he revoked more than 175 former officials their names to a list denouncing president trump's action as a tool to silence his critics. today on twitter president trump calling brennan the worst cia director in history. the president's online onslaught coming at fi

blayne alexander reports on that from the white house. >>eporter: leon and wendy, we're looking at a lot of people from the president's inner circle, now possibly giving information about president trump.n it's b very clear earlier this week, michael cohen is ready to talk and h is talking. now it appears another long-time trump confidant may be ready to joan him. today anotherss trumpiate apparently ready to talk. nbc news has confirmed "national enquirer" publisher david peck are has been granted immunity by prosecutors in the michael cohen case.ns th he is free to tell what he knows about a hush money yment to karen mcdougal. cohen admitted he paid money through pecker's company to squash a story about an alleged affair all at the direction of then candidate trump. the president complaining to foo news his former attorney taking a deal. >> it's called flipping and it ought to be illegal. >> reporter: this morning when asked about talk of his own impeachment. >> i don't know howan impeach somebody who has done a greai job. ell you what,

as blayne alexander reports, the white house continues to push back and is working to discredit the president's former attorney. >> reporter: michael cohen, the president's one-time attorney and cleanup man already spilling a lot about his former boss. e is not done yet. >> michael cohen has told me that he's going to tell the truth to whoever asks him, whether it be a congressional somebody in washington. >> reporter: cohen facing prison time for campaign finance violations, admitting he was directed by donald trump to p t stories of affairs could have derailed his campaign. >> in american history, i don't know how many times the president of the united states sitting has been accused of a felony by prosecutors. >> reporter: the president today telling fox business he did not know about the payments until later. >> my first question when i heard about it was, did they come out of the campaign? because that could be a little dicey. they didn't come out of the campaign. >> reporter: today on twitter comparing cohen to former campaign manager paul manafort, who was convicted on eight federal coun

blayne alexander is covering it all for us. blayne? >> reporter: yeah, doreen, we really saw kind of a three-fold pushback today, president trump himself and therump campaign and the white house all pushing back on these allegations eachy in vifferent ways as this battle of tweets and tapeso continues heat up. >> the first white house briefing in nearly two weeks dominated by talk oforr aide omarosa manigault newman. her new book claiming that president trump repeatedly used the "n" word, and it's o tape. >> i can tell you that the president addressed this yestion directly. i can tell that i've never heard it. >> reporter: president trump not only denying the claim but launching a personal attack o twitter. >> this has absolutely nothing to do with race and everything to do with the president calling out some lack of integrity. >> reporter: now the trump campaign is firin back a manigault newman taking legal action claiming she is violating a non-disclosure agreement by releasing another secretly recorded conversation. here heard with

blayne alexander, nbc news, washington. >>> let's bring in the deputy head of the u.s. and america's program at chatham house good morning to you. i want to start off by asking the question on everyone's mind today. whether or not the president is implicated from this directly. the lawyer for mr. cohen said if those payments were a crime for michael cohen, why wouldn't they be a crime for donald trump? what is your take? >> well, the charging document for cohen doesn't specify trump as a co-conspirator, he's not named but clearly indicated, individual one to be president of the united states that doesn't leave a lot to the imagination. the issue is more what cohen said in court under oath that he was directed to make the payments by the president and for the purpose of preventing the release of information which could damage his electoral prospects in the election that was a few days away at that point. that's easy to interpret as a commission of a crime or conspiracy to commit a violation of federal electoral law the tricky part is that the department of justice long h

today he sharpened his attacks and blayne alexander is here to break it all down for us. 's beyond heated today, blayne. >> reporter: jyeah,. today we saw the white house and the trump campaign and president trump himself allin respo in very different ways to those allegations as the battle of tweets and tapes continues to heat up. the first white house breflg ie dominated by weeks talk from former aide omarosa manigault newman claiming that presidentrump used the "n" word and it's on tape. i can't guarantee anything. i can tell you i've never heard it. >> reporter: president trump not only denying the campaign but launching a personal attackal o twitterng manigault newman a dog. >> this has absolutely nothing to do with race and everything ac do with the president calling out someone's of integrity. >> reporter:ow the trump campaign is firing back at emn m -- manigault newmanin cla legal action violating a non-disclosure agreement by releasing another tape here with two other a ican-american advisers on how to spin the president's alleged "n" word use if it ever became pu

blayne alexander has the details on that story. >> reporter: google says today that their search results are not politically biased, but the president is the calng this a serious situation and pthmised it will be address. president trump. today he's attacking the giant head-on. the issue is when you -- no -- they have it rigged so almost all stories and new are bad accusing google of suppressing conservativevoices. >> google and twitter and facebook, they are really treading on very, very troubled territory ando have careful. >> reporter: google responded saying we never rank search results to motivate politicalnt ents. now, democrats are pumping the brakes. >> i don't think we should be racing. he focusing today on and it w includds from one of his closest friends, lindsey graham. >> i d not cry for a perfect man. i cry for a man who had honor and waslways willing to admit to his imperfections. >> reporter: earlier today on the "today" show graham raising more questions aut the fate of another former senate colleae, attorney general jeff sessions, doubling down on his predictiont that p

i blayne alexand tracking this for us this afternoon. >> reporter: president trump is away from the white house this week. he's spending time at his g new jersf club and spending plenty of time on twitter. no news cameras allowed but the white house tweeting this photo. president trump reinstating tough sanctions against iran. >> i think our goal should be as a nation to drive this regime into the ground without firing a shot. >> reporter: iran declaring the u.s. is showing that it canno trusted and critics say president trump has scrappedea nu dealhat was working. >> and what i fear is that what he's done todaytill make more likely that either iran acquires a nuclear weapon because they decided we violated the program or we'll have a conflict with iran. >> reporter: meanwhil the president is conflicted with a statement abo 2016 meeting between a russian lawyer and don jrla initially eed as a meeting about foreign adoption. now he says it was a meeti to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time but legal experts disagreet >> it's agains law. >> reporter: on a rad

it's an >> blayne alexander joins us now to break it all down. , blayne. >> reporter: yeah, doreen, in addition to that long list, he's also firing back at nras co on an upcoming white house departure. it's that of white house counsel don mcgahn. it's not unexpected and i comes after reportedly speaking with special counsel robert mueller. president trump on a twitter tear, targeting everything from the media, calling out cnn nbc by name to the justice department and james comey, the ps director he's seemingly responding to specific news and white ut himself house departures one day after announcing white house counsel don mahn is leaving this fall. >> a lot of affection for don, and hll beoving on, probably the private sector. >> reporter: that presidential twitter storm coming on the same day as this "washington post" headsne. winter i coming. highlighting reported concerns that the white house is notpr ared for possible legal troubles at a potentially crucial time with mid terms just around the corner. >> they have no idea of the onslaught tha might be coming if the democrats take t

blayne alexander reports on that from the white house. >>eporter: leon and wendy, we're looking at a lot of people from the president's inner circle, now possibly giving information about president trump.n it's b very clear earlier this week, michael cohen is ready to talk and h is talking. now it appears another long-time trump confidant may be ready to joan him. today anotherss trumpiate apparently ready to talk. nbc news has confirmed "national enquirer" publisher david peck are has been granted immunity by prosecutors in the michael cohen case.ns th he is free to tell what he knows about a hush money yment to karen mcdougal. cohen admitted he paidon

. >> blayne alexander, thanks so much. well, right now traffic is back to normal on the beltway in prince george's county, but check this out. if you took it toork this morning, maybe you got caught in this traffic mess caused by truck crash. >> nooer allentown road, prince george r county fire andcue officials tell us two people were taken to the hospital. >> onenerson listed i serious condition right now. the other in critical. >> aca s seen on i-395 around noon, d.c. firefighters returned to the scene after an suv caught fire near the c streetst e in southwest. fights say no one was injured, but it's not clear exactly what caused this suv to catch fire. >> chopper 4 also over the scene of a ddly construction accident at the height school in potomac. mo rgomery countycue officials say crewser w lowering this portable structure when he became trapped. he died as crews worked to scue him. we're still working to learn more about h exactlyow it happened or what typ of safety asures were in place. >>> budding football player,

blayne alexander joins us with l new de >> reporter: the fall departure of don mcgahn, the white houset unexpected and that came reportedly after he spent hours w talkingith special counsel robert mueller. president trump on a wide-ranging twitter tear, targeting everyone from the media, calling out cnn and nbc by name to the justice j department aes comey, the fbi director he fired. at points seeminglyesponding to specific news reports about himself and white house departures one day after announcing white house counsel don mcgahn is leaving this fall. don, ot of affection for and he'll be moving on probably the private orse >> reporter: that presidential twitter storm coming on the same day as this "washington pos headline. winter is coming. highlighting reported concerns that the white house is not prepared for possible legal troubles at a potentially crucial time with mid terms just around the corner. >> they have n ideaf the onslaught that might be coming if the democrats take the house. >> reporter: and questions about what will be included in special counsel robert mueller's rep

blayne alexander is here to break thi down for us. >> this is somebody who has worked for the trump organization for more than half of his feme. president trump himself would go back decades. nbc news thconfirming anoer presidential ally, long-time trump organization cfo alan wweisselberg raising questions ndout what he could say about the organizationhe president himself. >> gallons to squeeze from weisselberg and not just the accountant, he is the cfo and all the going on. >> reporter: a growing team of talker. long-time trump friend and publisher of "nationa enquirer" also granted a weisselberg signed off for legal services that wasactually reimbursement for hush money paid to adult film actress stormy daniels. >> you don't goodive the cfo of a corporation or any sort of business entity immunity in order to prosecute the who worked for him. you're going for bigger fish. >> reporter: the associated press reporng h kept a safe filled with negative stories on celebrities, including donald trump. >> the publication would basically pay for dirt that it did not intend to use. >> reporter: "the enqu

. >> nbc's blayne alexander has this report from washington, d.c. >> reporter: today a final farewell for senator john mccain in the place he served for more than 30 years. the capitol rotunda packed with the senator's family including his 106-year-old mother along with the senator's staff and his congressional colleagues. >> i will miss a deer friend whose smile reminded us that service is a privilege. >> reporter: vice president mike pence, himself a former member of congress, honoring senator mccain for a life of service. >> the had the asked me to be here on behalf of a grateful nation to pay a debt of honor and respect to a man who served our country through isout his life in uniform and in public office. >> reporter: a show of unity, the bipartisan leaders of the house and senate each presented a wreath in mccain's honor. >> what stands out about john mccain is what he stood for. the rich blessings that only freedom can bestow. >> reporter: senator mccain will lie in state at the capitol rotunda, an honor given to only 30 others in the country's history including president abrah

blayne alexander, nbc news, washington. >> and one further note on former cia director john brennanchuded major counterterrorism operations, and he was in the situation room during the s.e.a.l. raid that killed osama 011.laden back in brennan strongly urged president obama to approve that raid when other cabinet members thought it was too risk. tonight the add miller who oversaw the raid is coming to brenn's defense. in a new op-ed in the "the washington post" the retired admiral writes in his wordsamew icans have done more to protect this country than brennan and hee writesuld consider it an honor if the president revoked his security clearance a well. >> three women around the same age disappear from th same neighborhood in the same year. police now call this a homicide investigation, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. the women's remains were foundh earlier year in southeast washington, and tonight we're hearing from a man who knew one. victims. news 1's nicole jacobs has the story. >> reporter: new attention today on a murder mystery more than a decaden the making.

let's g right to blayne alexander for the latest details. blayne? in reporter: we're conti to learn more about this fast-moving development. these breakg news this afternoon. we understand that reportedly michael cohen is agreeing to plead guilty to a number of charges that could bring possible jail time, but that he hasot struck deal toer coopate and testify against asesent trump, his one-time boss. president trump's former attorney and fixer michael cohet surrendered t fbi this afternoon, nbc news reporting he was ready to plead glty to federal charges, including bank fraud and a campaign finance violation. there were also widespread reports cohen was negotiating a deal with prosecutors raising questions about what he might tellm t about president trump. >> you cannot pick and choose who you cooperate areinst. if youoing to cooperate, you need toe b all in, and you need to tl us everything you know about everyone. >> reporter: the lawyer who once declared he would take a bullet for donald trump secretly recorded his former boss. >> financing. >> l

here's blayne alexander with the late e. >> reporter: michael cohenoday unexpresident clinto gdly pleadiuilty to charges including campaign finance violations for actions aimed at helping his form boss. >> what he did isay worked to money to silence two women who had information who he believed to be detrimental to the 2016 campaign. >> he also pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion. from the courtroom today, nord n whether cohen struck a deal to cooperate and testify against the president. >> mr. cohen disregarded that training, disregard that had tradition. and have decided that he's above the law and for that he is going to pay a very, very serious price. declareawyer who once he who take a bullet for donald trump secretly recorded his rmer boss. >> financing. >> what financing? >> last month news organizations obtained a conversation about hush money from "playboy" model karen t mcdougal silence her story of an alleged affair. >> don't pay cash? >> no, no, no, no. >> aegations of another affairth adult film actress stormy daniels and back in february federa investigators raided cohen's

alexander. thanks, blayne.rao sebusiness owners in theçó area. not all of them are planning to closeq up shop when those protesters.Ñi arri wendy rieger is in the newsroom with moreko on that part of thl story new at 5:00. hi,ok wendy. >> all theset( restaurants and shops,i] a lot of them where the demonstrations are expected to occurc$x so we talked with a he wan!çÑ to stay open. we're in the height of the tourist season here. also, we have aÑ] story ofs< generosity, a story you'll see only here'enorws 4. >> a okd.c. landlord isving3wp more than a dozen homeless families a free place to ve. ut in t store, and boy does it bug a lot of people. we're going to talk about that and hear about the chattero ine about this, because it riledçó upxd every year. >> yeah. when we're in the 90s. >> or christmas in august. >> thanks so much, wendy. >>> there's an opportunity this thexd perseidxd meteor shower reaches its peak overnightq sunday and mond ty.çó wi weather cooperate? amelia is here @r(t&háhp &hc% >> that's th