. >> i'm frances rivera. breaking overnight attorney general of maryland in washington, d.c., plans to sue president trump. they called it a, quote, major lawsuit and could be filed as early as today. while they have not disclosed the focus, the attorney general said they will release a statement this afternoon. "the washington post" claims the president violated anti-corruption restrictions by accepting payments from foreign governments. meanwhile attorney general jeff sessions will be in the hot seat this week. nbc kelly o'donnell with more. >> reporter: branding in the rose garden. >> he's a leaker. >> from his home, comey again. i believe the james comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone thought possible. totally illegal? very cowardly. cowardly in quotes. a shot at comey's own confession thursday. he told the president he would see what the fbi could do, after the president asked him to back off michael flynn. >> a slightly cowardly way to tell him we're not going to do that. >> his persistent

i'm frances rivera. breaking overnight, the white house delivering a stern warning to herian -- syrian president bashar al assad, saying the they would pay a heavy price and matt bradley is following the details from london. what more do we know? >> thanks, frances. middle eastern observers are calling this an unprecedented step in u.s. foreign policy, so rare to fire a shot across the bow like it did last night. the president's statement was pretty vague. the white house said they're seeing movements on the ground that they say are similar to those that led up to the chemical attack in western syria back in april. that attack killed 100 people and injured hundreds more. in response, 60 cruise missiles at the syrian government air base that he said had been the staging ground for attacks. that was the first time the u.s. forces attacked the syrian regime. remember, the u.s. says it's fighting in syria only against isis. just in the past week, things in syria have become so much more complicated. the u.s.

i'm frances rivera. >>> today president donald trump's travel ban finally goes into effect. restricting entrance from those six predominantly muslim countries and flying into the u.s. becomes that much harder for everyone, with new security in place affecting all flights coming into the country as they try to stay ahead of potential new terror plots. tom costello has details of. >> reporter: the new security steps being phased in this summer will affect 2,000 flights every day coming from 105 countries. every flight to the u.s. from abroad. the new procedures could include more thorough carry-on back chec checks, more bomb-sniffing dogs and next generation bag screening technology. >> unless we all raise our security standards, terrorists who seek commercial aviation as the greatest take down will find and attack the weakest link. trip to new measures come as isis found a way to smuggle explosives into laptop computers. since march, they have been required to bag check any electron being device larger than a cell phone. the u.s. would expand all flights globally but flights

i'm frances rivera. the uk is recovering from yet another horrifying attack. seven people died and nearly r50 were wounded in a rampage saturday night. while all the suspects were fatally shot by police officers authorities continue to investigate. they said 12 people have been arrested and law enforcement was searching for a number of addresses in london. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel has more on this latest attack. >> reporter: just before 10:00 p.m., a van began to speed across london bridge jumping on and off the curb, swerving into pedestria pedestrians, coming to a halt on a street filled with bars and restaurants. >> just, you know, an accident. >> so the van came to a crashing stop? >> yeah. >> reporter: this group of lithuanian londoners out for a birthday celebration, then saw the three men jump out of the van that nearly hit them armed with knives. >> i think the bar manager, stabbed him like ten times. >> he stepped in? >> yeah. >> reporter: this cell phone footage shows the men walking calmly through the market looking for their

i'm frances rivera. all eyes on former fbi director james comey's high-profile testimony with headlines across the country detailing his allegations against president trump. reaction was mixed. more conservative media rallied around the president criticizing comey's performance. nbc news received new information about attorney general jeff sessions, a source says after his public testimony, comey privately told senators about a possible third interaction between sessions and russian officials. sources also tell us that this month president trump son-in-law jared kushner is expected to meet with and provide documents to staffers from the senate intelligence committee as it conducts its russia investigation. chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has more on the blockbuster hearing. >> reporter: commanding a spotlight entirely his, james comey turned it on to the president, describing donald trump as not truthful and not credible. >> i was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our mee

i'm frances rivera. we start with breaking news in london, a massive fire has completely destroyed an apartment complex in west london. police have confirmed six fatalities but the number is expected to rise. about 200 firefighters are on scene battling the blaze that raged on through the night. the fire was reported around 1:00 a.m. local time. crews tried to evacuate the 27-story building. residents say many may have been trapped inside. >> people were still sleeping on the highest floors so they didn't know what was going on. i'm not sure if half of them got out, to be honest with you. there was kids out the window, flashing their phone lights for help. >> nbc's bill neely is near the scene. bill, what's the latest? >> reporter: good morning, frances. it's pretty clear this is a catastrophic tragedy with multiple casualties. within the last hour london's police saying the death toll so far stands at six. but right now, and you can see the building still smoking behind me, up on the 24th floor already

i am frances rivera. millions of people are at risks of severe storms. the part of the gulf coast is under a state of emergency as tropical storm cindy makes rainfall. jay gray is in new orleans, what's the latest? >> reporter: hey, frances, new orleans is getting a break from a rain now. we are seeing it coming through along the central gulf coast, while the storms have made land fall, we are being told by frastefras forecasters it is not over yet. >> reporter: tropical storm cindy with high waves and floods. it is the rain that defines this system. flooding is already a problem and before it is over, some areas could see a foot of water or more. >> we cannot stress enough of the importance of boarding high water. >> the storm becomes deadly. >> a 10-year-old boy on vacation with his family was hit by debris and thrown from a huge wave as it crashed against the shoreline. >> it is a tragic event and a tragic day. damages from sidney stretches from houston through the florida handle. >> it was pretty rough, severe conditions putting a damper for summer v

. >>> good friday morning, i'm frances rivera. >>> a few of the bipartisan terms used in response to president trump's twitter tirade. a personal shot aimed at morning show co-host mika brzezinski. a new poll finds an astounding 71% of the public are against the president's tweets saying they hurt the agenda. nbc's kristen walker reports. >> reporter: president trump touting his energy policy but drowning out his own message with a tweet this time lashing out at "morning joe" for criticizing him. how come low i.q. crazy mika along with joe came to mar-a-lago on new year's eve and insisted to join me. while the show does consistently take aim at him. >> he's covering his hands here. >> he doesn't know his own positions on a health care bill that he's passing. he seems confused. >> reporter: it was the president's very personal shot at mika brzezinski that prompted condemnation from democrats. >> it's blatantly sexist. >> reporter: and top republicans many taking to twitter themselves calling mr. trump's tweet beneath the office of the presidency. >> tweets like this are inconsistent w

i'm frances rivera. new found rage over the death of otto warmbier after a year and a half of captivity. warmbier's family slammed north korea over what they called awful, torturous treatment. >> it's a brutal regime and we'll be able to handle it. at least we got him home to be with his parents. >> senator mccain said "murdered by the kim jong un regime. north korean officials say he contracted botulism, took a pill and slipped into a coma. three americans remain detained by the north korean regime. >> we are just hours away from voting in the sixth district court. jon ossoff goes up against karen handel. mr. trump tweets this morning "karen handel for congress, she will vote for lower taxes. and says jon ossoff, who will raise your taxes, doesn't even live in district. it's the most expensive house race in history. the repercussions could be massive. it would deliver a demoralizing blow for democrats. for the democrats, it would act as a warning shot against republicans pursuing health care and give th

. >>> good friday morning, i'm frances rivera. sexist, divisive, vulgar and uncivil, just a few of the bipartisan terms used in response to president trump's latest twitter tirade aimed at "morning joe" host mika brzezinski. the response is titled, "the president is not well", noting that mr. trump is not mentally equipped to even watch their show. first nbc's kristen welker tells us how it all unfolded. >> reporter: president trump touting his energy policy but drowning out his own message with a tweet this time lashing out at "morning joe" for criticizing him. how come low i.q. crazy mika along with psycho joe came to mar-a-lago on new year's eve and insisted on joining me. she was bleeding badly from a facelift. i said no. >> he's covering his hands here. because they're teensy. >> he doesn't know his own positions on a health care bill that he's passing. he seems confused. >> reporter: it was the president's very personal shot at mika brzezinski that prompted condemnation from democrats. >> it's blatantly sexist. >> reporter:

i'm frances rivera. the country wakes up with sadness and newfound rage this morning over death of otto wa warmbier, the 22-year-old tuned just released after spending a year and half in captivity and a year in an undisclosed coma only a week after coming to the u.s. for treatment. president trump blasted the rogue nation. >> it's a brutal regime and we'll be able to handle it but at least we got him home to be with his parents. >> senator john mccain didn't withhold his anger saying warmbier was quote murdered by the kim jong-un regime" echoed by other lawmakers like marco rubio. they said he contracted botch lum, took a sleeping pill and sentenced to 15 years labor. he showed no signs of botch youlism. >>> we are just hours from voting in the georgia district. jon ossof goes head-to-head aikens karen. president trump tweeted. hitting ossof in another post saying karen handel's opponent can't even vote in the district he wants to represent. it will be the most expensive house race in u.s. history toppin

. >>> i'm frances rivera with the hour's top stories.the aftermath of saturday's terror attack in london, british prime minister trees a may wants to tighten security in cyberspace. may says that international agreements can help prevent the spread of extremists and terrorism planning on the internet. >>> isis has claimed responsibility for the attack that killed seven people and injured nearly 57 others. nbc news has not been able to verify the isis claim. london will have a vigil for the victims later today. now back to "lockup." >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >>> at hillsborough county jail in tampa, florida, inmate david link has discovered a creative way to spend his time. >> i'm about to color this picture. i'm doing it with m&ms because we don't have anything else in here. i put them in water on the spoon. and it melts the color from outside of the m&ms. i wait for the color to come off that. i use the water just as a paint. i have a pencil without any lead in it and folded it over as wood, and i d

. >>> i'm frances rivera. the world waits with bated breath as the president of the united states finally makes his decision on the obama era paris accord perhaps fulfilling a long held campaign pledge. >> we're going to cancel the paris climate agreement. and scrap the $5 trillion obama clinton climate action plan and the clean power plan. >> overnight the president who referred to climate change as a hoax tweeted saying a decision had been reached and announcement will be made on the non-binding pact that includes every nation in the world. every nation except two, nicaragua and syria. tracie potts is following it all. good morning. should we be looking out for surprises from the president today? >> reporter: maybe not. he said he wants to get rid of it according to sources he seems to be leaning that way. there is pressure from all sides, take a look. people very close to the president lobbying for him to remain in this deal including his daughter ivanka, son-in-law jared and members of his add min triggs,

i'm frances rivera. we begin with breaking news in london. >>> a massive fire has completely destroyed a high rise apartment complex in london, sparking fears the building could collapse. officials say there are fatalities but could not confirm how many. the fire was reported around 1:00 a.m. local time. crews try to evacuate the 24-story building but residents say many may have been trapped inside. >> people were still sleeping on the highest floors so they didn't know what was going on. i'm not sure if half of them got out, to be honest with you. there was kids out the window, flashing their phones for help. >> nbc's bill neely is near the scene. bring us up to date on the latest. >> reporter: good morning. i'm looking at the building now and it is still smoking eight hours after this fire started. as you say it was just about 1:00 in the morning and it started in the lower floors but it spread very, very rapidly. people talking about people upstairs waving flashlights from the top floors of the buildi

i'm frances rivera. we begin with breaking news. three u.s. service members are dead and a fourth wounded after an attack by an afghan soldier. authorities are calling it an insider attack. the incident took place in nangarhar province. they are fighting extremist factions in the area. reports say the afghan soldier was a taliban militant who infiltrated the afghan army. in march, another afghan soldier was killed after he opened fire and wounded three u.s. soldiers. courtney kube is following the latest. what do we know about this insider attack and that infiltration? >> that's right, frances. so three u.s. soldiers were killed and one wounded in this attack by what appears to be an afghan commando. the afghans are saying the commando was in turn shot dead after he shot these americans, but u.s. officials, u.s. military officials are not yet confirming that. what we know is this happened in eastern afghanistan in nangarhar province. that's an area that's really been overrun by isis in the past year or two but the u.s. and afghans have taken t

i'm frances rivera. >>> today president donald trump's travel ban finally goes into effect. the administration will begin implementing its travel ban. it comes as flying into the united states becomes that much harder for everyone. the department of homeland security announced it will be putting new security mers into place affecting all commercials flights in the country. security officials try to stay ahead of potential new terror plots. tom costello has details of. >> reporter: the new security steps being phased in this summer will affect 2,000 flights every day coming from 105 countries. every flight to the u.s. from abroad. the new procedures could include more bag check, more generation bag screening technology. >> unless we all raise our security standards terrorists who seek commercial aviation as the greatest take down will find and attack the weakest link. trip to new measures come as isis found a way to smuggle explosives into laptop computers. infancy detector. the u.s. would expand all flights globally but flights and foreign governments complained. >> official

frances rivera. a flood of dheadlines ahe of formerth new york times repo comey be left alone with the preside absolutely fcomey. r led sessions to offer his ingn oateedly asked director of to get comey tovestigation. these come just before maj trac potts is this you tell us ass gg to be asked if "the washington post" r asked him to off this investigation to get thecoates to influenceinveigations or int. so we have maybe. also t fy deputy attorney generalel for t comment on what the behind closed doors.bi director testifies tomorrow. it is much anticipated the fbi has given him the clearance to talk about essentially whatever he wants that's not classified. >> right. a lot of people will be watching that. tracie potts thanks. >> certainly the country's attention will be glued to james comey tomorrow. bars and restaurants are even adjusting schedules for the hearing. we'll have more in a moment. first nbc hallie jackson brings us up to speed. >> reporter: less than three weeks after reportedly calling

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good friday morning, i'm frances rivera. the pentagon is sending more troops to afghanistan putting another 4,000 americans in harm's way. that would put the total number of u.s. service members to 12,000. this is the largest deployment under president trump so far. these additional troops are being cents in order to break the stalemate in the 16 year war. most will train and advise afghan forces some will be assigned to counterterrorism operations. >>> house majority whip steve scalise remains in critical condition after being shot in the hip after a baseball practice. yesterday he had a second operation to address internal injuries and a broken bone in his leg. he is improving but will require further surgeries and will be in the hospital for sometime. matt mika also remains hospitalized. his family said he was alert and communicating through notes. despite the shooting lawmakers proceeded with the annual bipartisan baseball game at national park last night. jay gray has more. >> reporter: pre-game players knelt at second

i'm frances rivera. breaking overnight, the white house delivering a stern warning to syrian president bashaud saying the white house has spotted his forces preparing for another potential chemical weapons attack and said they would quote pay a heavy price if they proceed with such an attack. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley said any further attacks to the people of syria will be blamed on assad. nbc's matt bradley has breaking details from london. what more do we know? >> thanks, frances. middle eastern observers are calling this an unprecedented step in u.s. foreign policy, so rare to fire a shot across the bow like it did last night. the president's statement was pretty vague. the white house said they're seeing movements on the ground that they say are similar to those that led up to the chemical attack in western syria back in april. that attack killed 100 people and injured hundreds more. in response, 60 cruise missiles at the syrian government air base he said launched the attacks. that

i'm frances rivera. house majority whip steve scalise is in critical condition this morning after a gunman opened fire on a republican baseball team. according to the d.c. hospital where he's being treated the bullet fractured bones, injured internal organs and caused severe bleeding. scalise has already received multiple pients of blood and doctors say he'll need further surgeries. several others were also injured during the shooting. matt mika a lobbyist for tyson foods was in critical condition. congressional aid zachary barth was also shot but posted a facebook and said he's okay and recovering in the hospital. his boss representative roger williams from texas suffered a sprained two capitol police officers on scalise's security detail were hospitalized. one of shot in the ankle but in good condition and the other was released after sustaining a minor nongunshot injury. last night president trump visited the wounded officer in the hospital as well as representative scalise and his wife. he said ska s

i'm frances rivera. rumors swirling around the white house that president trump is considering firing special counsel robert mueller, just as the russia investigation turns to attorney general jeff sessions. the ag will be in the hot seat today testifying in front of the senate intelligence committee. nbc's peter alexander has more about the testimony as well as details on president trump's bizarre cabinet meeting. >> president trump face-to-face with jeff sessions. >> it's great to be here. >> reporter: the attorney general preparing to break his silence on russia testifying in public before congressional investigators days after james comey addressed his role in the controversy. >> we were aware of facts i can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a russia-related investigation problematic. >> reporter: will the white house invoke executive privilege. >> it depends on the scope of the questions and to get into a hypothetical would be premature. >> reporter: sessions l

i'm frances rivera. breaking overnight president trump's travel ban could be heading to the supreme court. before midnight east coast time the news broke that the white house is looking for permission to immediately enforce their executive powers on preventing travel from six muslim countries. nbc's tracie potts is in the capital. where do we go from here? >> reporter: we go straight to the supreme court which is exactly where president trump said he was going to take this when the lower courts turned down his initial travel ban and his revised travel ban. bans traveling to the united states for people from six mostly muslim countries. that was the issue. the courts have said because of what the president said during the campaign about banning muslims, they believe this travel ban is unconstitutional because it is religious discrimination. what the justice department late last night asked the court to do was two things. they want to see this travel ban in place while the legal issues are being worked out

i'm frances rivera. the justice department has filed charges against a 25-year-old government contractor for allegedly leaking a top secret nsa document on russian hacking. the charges came barely an hour after the intercept published the document. it raises the possibility that russian hacking may have breached parts of the u.s. voting system. however t document does not say the hacking changed any votes. tracie potts is in washington, d.c. and good morning. what's the latest on this leak and the russian investigation? >> reporter: what is interesting is it's recent, this report, this allegedly leaked report from the nsa just from last month and it details phishing attempts and a cyber attack on an election software vendor according to that report. bottom line, it's a lot more detail than we previously knew about, just how far russia may have gone to hack this election. while you were at the polls last november russia wasn't just trying to influence your choice with fake news. they were literally trying

i'm frances rivera. the leader of isis may be dead as the russian defense ministry issued a statement saying they have information that abu bakr al baghdadi was killed in one of their air strikes. nbc's lucy kafanov is in london for us. lucy, what more do we know? >> reporter: good morning. the russians claim on may 28th, 30 high-level isis commanders and about 300 fighters gathered to plot their escape from raqqa, the group's de facto capitol in syria, also a city currently under assault by the u.s. and its allies. the russian defense ministry claims baghdadi was at this meeting, and dispatched a group of bombers and fighter jets to strike the gathering. in a statement the russian defense ministry said, quote, isis leader abu bakr al baghdadi also attended the meeting and was killed in this air strikes. the ministry adds that it had warned the u.s. of the strike in advance. there's been no confirmation from the americans. a spokesman for the u.s. dough ligs fighting isis could not confirm whether baghda

happy friday to youment i'm frances rivera. breaking overnight president trump's travel ban could be heading to the supreme court. before midnight east coast time the news broke that the white house is looking for permission to immediately enforce their executive powers on preventing travel from six muslim countries, tracie potts is in the capital and what's the latest on this case? >> reporter: the latest is we wait to see what the supreme court is going to do at this point frances, this is not unexpected. after the justice department lost in a federal appeals court last week, they said that they were going to take this and the president would take this all the way to the u.s. supreme court. what they are asking for is to allow the justice department to enforce this travel ban against six mostly muslim countries until the court gets a chance to hear the the case. they are also asking to have it fast tracked which opens up the possibility that the court can hear the case before their term starts next fall. this has been a long

i'm frances rivera. james comey's prepared testimony for today's blockbuster hearing is being heard far and wide with allegations he pressured comey to lift the cloud of the russia probe. president trump viewed the release of confirmation of his claims that comey assured him multiple times he was not under investigation. his personal attorney even said the president feels completely and totally vindicated. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has more on his testimony. >> james comey gives a dramatic account in detail of five one-on-one conversations with donald trump. the first with president-elect trump in new york january 6th. a briefing on the investigation of russia's election meddling and claims about to become public that mr. trump was involved with prostitutes in moscow, something trump denied. comey says he thought about whether to give an assurance about whether trump was under investigation. that was true, comey says, we did not have an open intelligence case on him. i offered that ass

i'm frances rivera. >>> delayed. that's the groundbreaking news spreading across the nation this morning. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell was dealt a massive blow, forced to scrap his long-held plan to ram through his health care plan by week's end after he was faced with defection upon defection from his own party. it is a stunning defeat for mcconnell and the president for a plan many republicans refused to rally around after just five days of scrutiny. still, dems say the fight against the bill isn't over. they're urging constituents to lobby their senators as they head home for their july 4th recess. here's nbc's kasie hunt on how it all played out. >> reporter: after seven years of promising to repeal and replace obamacare, a stunning delay and a major blow to president trump and his republican party. they don't have the votes in the senate. >> we will not be on the bill this week, but we're still working towards getting at least 50 people in a comfortable place. >> reporter: republican leader mitch mccon

i'm frances rivera. the justice department has filed charges against a 25-year-old government contractor for allegedly leaking a top secret nsa document on russian hacking. the charges came barely an hour after "the intercept" published the document. it raises the possibility that russian hacking may have breached parts of the u.s. voting system. nbc's tracie potts is live for us. what's the latest on this leak and the russia investigation? >> reporter: first of all, it's pretty recent, this document from just a month ago and it claims the russian military tried to launch a cyber attack on our election software, that phishing e-mails were oent out to more than 100 elected officials here and all this happened just days before americans went to vote. while you were at the polls last november, russia wasn't just trying to influence your choice with fake news, they were literally trying to hack your vote, according to a leaked document from the national security agency published by the online news website "t

. >> i'm frances rivera. two attacks in iran's capital. a local news agency reports five people were fatally shot and another 25 wounded. two of the attackers were reportedly armed with ak-47s while another carried a handgun, and there are unconfirmed reports they took four hostages within the parliament. >> in a separate reported attack that left two dead, shots fired at the mausoleum of ayatollah khomeini. terrorists there carried out a suicide bombing according to state media which released what appears to be stills of security footage from the incident. it was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks or whether they were coordinated. >>> a flood of dramatic headlines overwhelming the nation's capital just before former fbi director james comey's testimony. "the new york times" reports that comey told sessions he did not want to be left alone with president trump who, according to "the washington post," is now absolutely furious with the media coverage of comey. and he plans to publicly fight back during thursday's hearing. >> p

. >> i'm frances rivera. a flood of dramatic headlines overwhelming the capital ahead of forme comey schedule testimony on thursday. the new york times reports that while still director comey told attorney general jeff sessions he did not want to be left alone with the president who according to "the washington post" is now absolutely furious with media coverage of comey. and he plans to publicly fight back during thursday's hearing. >> politico reports that the anger led sessions to offer his resignation which was refused. back in march the president reportedly asked director of national intelligence dan coates to get comey to back off from his investigation. these come just before major hearings in d.c. where tracie potts is this morning. good morning. what can you tell us about the day ahead? >> reporter: dan coates is going to be asked if "the washington post" report is true whether or not the president asked him to help and to back off this investigation to get the fbi to back off the investigation. co s

. >> i'm frances rivera. breaking overnight attorney general of maryland in washington, d.c.,