abe is clinging to life at this hour our janis mackey frayer has the latest >>> the father of the suspected july 4 shooter sponsored a gun permit for him and heroes on the front lines. >>> and we have new information in the january 6 investigation as pat cipollone prepares to go under oath >>> relief at the gas pump good news that may help you get the motor running a little smoother on this friday. >>> and a look back at the incredible career of hollywood legend james caan as we kick off your july 8th. "early today" starts right now good morning, i'm frances rivera >> i'm phillip mena. former japanese prime minister shinzo abe has been shot and wounded. he was delivering a speech in nara when shots were heard he was airlifted to a hospital officials say his heart had stopped and he wasn't breathing. a subject is in custody. let's go right to janis mackey frayer good morning what do we know about abe's condition this morning >> reporter: phillip, there is no update on shinzo abe's condition. it remains unclear but he is fighting for his life. doctors are said to be trying everything they can

janis mackey frayer has more >> reporter: tonight, the body of former prime minister shinzo abe is back at home in tokyo. his wife riding in the front seat of his hearse, driven seven hours from nara, where he was assassinated. all across japan, mourners turned out to pay their respects i'm really shocked because i thought abe would continue his efforts to make the country better, she said the assassination caught on camera friday morning abe was giving a campaign speech when there was a shot fired. in another angle, you can see him turn briefly before a second shot hit him. abe collapsed as the suspected gunman was tackled. today, the nara police chief regretfully admitted to failures in security protocols. as more questions arise over what police described as a homemade shotgun, video shows metal pipes and tape lying on the street after the attack >> if the person's determined and they can access the materials they need, including gunpowder, some kind of improvised firing mechanism, then they just have to tie together some pipe and wood and tape and be willing to go out and use it. >>

janis mackey frayer has our report we must warn you, some of the images are graphic. >> reporter: it was 11:30 in the morning former japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, was giving a campaign speech when the terrifying gunfire rang out from another angle, you can see abe turned briefly after the first shot, then the second shot is fired abe collapses. you can see plumes of smoke. the suspected gunman didn't try to run and was tackled. what police described as a homemade shotgun seen lying on the street witnesses were stunned. "it was vital signs and died hours later. japan's longest-serving prime minister, shinzo abe, was popular and often polarizing he met dozens of world leaders and forged important ties with the u.s. the first japanese prime minister to visit pearl harbor >> he really led the effort to strengthen the process of reconciliation between our two countries. >> reporter: president biden signing a condolence book at the embassy today, calling his death a loss to the world. people have been placing flowers and candles on the street where it happened. abe's death is also p

joining us now live from beijing is nbc news foreign correspondent janis mackey frayer, obviously the shooting rocking the region. there what is the latest on how the former prime minister is doing? >> reporter: we have reports from ntv, a broadcaster in japan, that the hospital where they have been fighting to save shinzo abe's life will be holding a news conference shortly so we will update you about what they're saying about his condition. let me go through what we know at this point. this started unfolding around 11:30 this morning, japan time, when shinzo abe was giving a campaign speech. he is a very visible politician. perhaps the most visible politician, having been the longest-serving leader in japan's history. so he was out on the campaign trail, helping another candidate. and you played that video where those two shots are audible. they hit abe in the chest and in the neck area. he went down bleeding. he lost consciousness. and then was air-lifted to hospital in a state described as cardio pulmonary arrest. which means he had no vital signs. the secret service detail at the

we have janis mackey frayer with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, peter. the death of the former prime minister shinzo abe shocked japan and shocked the world. the investigation is raising questions about security and in a country unaccustomed to gun violence. the assassination was caught on video. a warning. some images are disturbing to watch. across japan, a nation in mourning, with growing memorials and questions around the assassination of former prime minister shinzo abe. a hearse carrying his body from nara to his home in tokyo where his family will hold a closed funeral. the assassination captured in real-time. abe was giving a campaign speech when there was a shot fired. from another angle, you can see abe turn briefly. then the second shot. abe collapses as the suspected gunman was tackled. what police describe as a homemade shotgun made of metal pipes and tape seen lying on the street. little is known about the 41-year-old suspect tetsuma. he wanted to kill abe because of a grudge. what is not clear is how he got close enough to kill him. shinzo

janis mackey frayer, and victor cha, thank you so much. >>> on capitol hill this hour, pat cipollone, donald trump's former white house counsel testifying before the january 6th committee behind closed doors. recent testimony placing cipollone at the center of those day's events, january 6th, trying to get the former president to stop the violence and warning the president and his team that attempts to stay in office or try to go to capitol hill that day were unlawful. joining us now, nbc news national reporter sahil kapur and robert gibbs, boston globe columnist, kimberly atkins, and betsy woods. welcome all. so, cipollone arriving in a suburban earlier this morning, a critical witness. they've been trying and trying to get him. they really publicly shamed him as liz cheney did so emphatically at the other hearings to come in because he was resisting testimony. so, what are they expecting to get from him today? >> that's right, andrea. those images you played were of pat cipollone arriving on capitol hill for his deposition around 8:30 this morning. our team caught him taking a brief

janis mackey frayer, nbc news, beijing. >> bay area japanese-american committees are also morning and in shock after learning about that assassination. we saw flags in san francisco flying at half staff and people there say they were simply stunned when they heard the news. >> japan is known to be a safe country. they have stricter gun laws and the fact that there was even a gun accessible is unbelievable. >> i am just in shock. i feel very sorry for his family and people of japan as well as the u.s. >> regular people react and now we go to our world leaders including president obama. obama writing "former primary minister shinzo abe served an extraordinary alliance between united states and japan." >>> part of yosemite is closed because of a wildfire. the fire now burning near the lower portion of mariposa grove and it has grown to at least 70 acres since it started yesterday. mariposa grove is closed until further notice. we are tracking the forecast and it seems a lot of folks are headed to yosemite on the weekend. >> reporter: you do want to call ahead to see what's going on there

today as investigators scrutinize a churc with ties to the suspect's mother we get more from janis mackey frayer. >> reporter: tonight mounting questions around the shockin assassination of shinzo abe the former prime minister's body arriving at a tokyo temple for a private wake outside, hundreds of mourners paying respect to japan's longest leader. i think he gave the japanese something to be proud about, this woman said i hope he will rest in peace. secretary of state antony blinken making his way to japan, sharing condolences from president biden >> we're friends when a friend is hurting, other friends show up. >> reporter: tonight police are investigating their own security failures. there were two shots fired. you can see abe turn around after the first, but security doesn't subdue the gunman who's able to fire a second time before he's tackled. police say the suspected gunman confessed to killing abe and that he believed the former prime minister was tied to a religious group widely known as the unification church, which he says his mother was obsessed over and eventually caused her financ

for the news, i'm janis mackey frayer. >>> jackie robinson is one of the most iconic athletes of allbaseball's color barrier back in 1947. he's celebrated as a civil rights pioneer who had an incredible hall of fame career. now an entire museum honoring his life and legacy just opened in new york city. it's been a long time coming, too. after 14 years of planning and construction, the museum hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony today. it's set to open to the public in september. the jackie robinson museum features a one-of-a-kind collection of his jerseys, photos, trophies and memorabilia, but his family insists the museum is about much more than baseball. >> the issues in baseball, the issues that jackie robinson challenged in 1947, they're still with us. the signs, white only, have been taken down, but the complexity of equal opportunity still exists. >> several sports stars attended the ceremony today. former yankees pitcher cc sabathia and the tennis legend, billie jean king, both spoke about how jackie robinson's trailblazing career inspired them and so many others. i would not be a

>> janis mackey frayer for us on this breaking story.an executive order today in an attempt to safeguard access to abortion and other reproductive health care. peter alexander tells us how the order plans to achieve those goals. peter, what do we know? >> reporter: good morning. president biden has been under pressure from abortion rights advocates to act, to do more after the supreme court reversed roe v. wade. today's action marks key but limited steps. he's going to direct the federal government to work to protect access to abortion and other reproductive services like contraception. this order that he's going to sign later this morning, it also instructs his administration to expand access to contraception. among the white house's efforts here to try to help ensure the safety of patients and providers, by sending mobile clinics to borders of neighboring states where abortion is now or soon to be illegal. privacy a key priority here as well, moving to protect against digital surveillance related to reproductive health care services so

killed and at least three were critically injured after gunfire caused a panic in copenhagen janis mackey frayers following the story for us janis, good morning. what do we know about the suspected gunman in this case? >> phillip, good morning police are still trying to piece together this attack that sparked absolute panic at one of denmark's largest shopping malls. three people were killed in the attack, two of them teenagers. several were injured there are three said to be in critical condition the suspect is a 22-year-old man. he was arrested and charged. police say they have not ruled out the possibility of considering this an act of terrorism. the attacks started at 5:37 p.m. when the mall was busy he started shooting. people were running out of fear. they went to the bathrooms and hid in the bathrooms what isn't clear right now is a motive police say that the suspect has now criminal record. he was said to be in possession of a rifle and ammunition. they're asking shop owners to turn over security camera footage so they can try to piece together what happened but at this point, they don't

nbc's janis mackey frayer is following the story for us what have police revealed about the suspected gunman >> reporter: phillip, good morning. police are still trying to piece together this attack at one of denmark's largest shopping malls that sparked absolute panic. three people have been killed, two of them teenagers. several others were wounded. at least three are said to be in critical condition police have arrested a 22-year-old suspect, and they are not ruling out the possibility that this could be considered an act of terrorism the attack started at 5:37 p.m. when the fields mall was busy. the gunman started shooting. witnesses say they just ran. many of them were hiding in the bathrooms. the suspect was arrested 11 minutes after the incident started, according to police what isn't clear is any motive at this point. the suspect does not have a criminal record. he was said to be in possession of a rifle and ammunition. police are asking shop owners to please turn over any security camera footage they might have so they can start. they believe at this point anyone else was inv

joining us now, nbc news correspondent janis mackey frayer. what is the latest and the reaction in japan? >> reporter: well, former japanese prime minister shinzo abe was assassinating giving a speech on the campaign trail. shot twice. doctors say he was hit in the neck and the chest. he was airlifted to hospital where they tried to resuscitate him but he died a few hours later. what is striking is that the assassination was captured on video. you could hear the two shots and from another angle see smoke billowing above the crowd. the suspected gunman, 41-year-old was tackled at the scene. said to have a military background and police seized what they described as a home made shotgun. police just having a news conference confirming that their investigation is now shifted to a murder investigation. they have 90 personnel working on it and they say that they would like to send their heartfelt condolences to the family of the prime minister. and this attack is profoundly shocking in japan. a country where gun violence is almost nonexistent becaus

nbc's janis mackey frayer finished the research base of giant panda in the country to see how facialg used to track panda populations in captivity and in the wild. >> most of them live here in china. about 1,80 are in the wild and more than 600 in captivity where they have a rock star sort of popularity. >> it's very cute. >> reporter: they look adorable and pretty much everything they do is cute. >> there's a mother and baby here. >> but to the human eye, telling those furry faces apart, it's not so black and white. to know which panda might be bebe. >> is this the same panda? >> no, a different one. >> reporter: so researchers at the panda base are looking deeper developing facial recognition technology for pandas. the researcher behind a degreeing database of panda images and videos using computers to analyze slight slight differences in how they work. their mouth, nose, markings and ears, we can distinguish their features through deep learning. being able to recognize each bear can help with kobs vags because they can no panda populations better, their habitats, health and how th

janis mackey frayer has more details from tokyo. >> reporter: this is a shocking attack having ripple effects across japan and the world. former japanese prime minister shinzo abe assassinated while giving a campaign speech and western japan. he was shot twice in the neck and chest and airlifted to the hospital with no vital signs, pronounced dead a few hours later. the suspected gunman is tackled at the scene by the secret service detail, all captured on video. we will have the latest coming up on today. >>> it is 5:34 for you this morning. the san francisco district attorney set to be sworn in. jenkins is that to replace chesa boudin that was recently recalled. we are live in san francisco with more on what comes next. >> reporter: good morning. brooke jenkins will be officially sworn in as the san francisco new district attorney today at noon at city hall. this happened a month after the recall election when san francisco voters chose to oust chesa boudin. she will have to hit the ground running to prove she is equipped for office. just hours after mayor london breed made her annou

nbc news correspondent janis mackey frayer has more. >> reporter: a private funeral will be held fore anthony blanket paid his wrist tax. meanwhile, investigators are probing the motive of the suspected gunman who police say confessed it wasn't politics that drove him to target abbe. as japan mourns the loss of a longtime leader, mounting questions around the shocking death of shinzo abe. overnight , his body arrived at a tokyo temple, the site of a private wait for the former prime minister. u.s. secretary of state anthony blanket made his way to japan sharing condolences from president biden. >> i shared with our japanese colleagues the sense of loss and shock that we all feel, the american people feel that this horrific tragedy and killing. >> reporter: japanese authorities are now a complex motor investigation as they came together. over the weekend, the 41-year-old suspect tetsuya yamagami was transferred from a local jail to a prosecutor's office. police say he confessed to killing shinzo abe and he believed the former prime minister was tied to a religious group that he says h

, to lose such a prominent figure in such a violent way is quite jarring. >> yeah. >> nbc's janis mackey frayer reporting for us in beijing. janis, thank you so much. we greatly appreciate it. gene, it is -- again, we are obviously the united states, not just news but culturally, we focus far more, obviously, on what is to the east of us in britain and europe. not quite as much with japan, despite their extraordinary power. but talk, if you can, for one minute, just for americans waking up who may not have as much of an understanding of what a massive figure he was in japanese politics, just the influence that he's had on japan. not only himself but his father as well as his grandfather. >> right. we tend to think of -- we tend to forget about japan. japan is the third largest economy in the world. an extremely important country. of course, our foreign policy, we talked for 20 years about a pivot toward the pacific in order to deal with china's rise, rise to becoming a rival of the united states. arguably, the biden administration is finally executing that pivot, and he has emphasized his relat

joins us live from beijing, foreign correspondent janis mackey frayer. e funeral is being held in tokyo, where antony blinken showed condolences today. police say the gunman confessed that it wasn't politics that drove him to target abe to kill him. as japan mourns the loss of a long-time leader, shocking revelations around the death of abe. overnight, abe's body arriving at a tokyo temple, the site of a private wake for the former prime minister. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken making his way to japan, sharing condolences from president biden. >> i shared with our japanese colleagues the sense of loss, the sense of shock that we all feel, the american people feel, at this horrific tragedy and killing. >> reporter: japanese authorities are now facing a complex murder investigation, as they piece together the shooter's plan of attack. over the weekend, the 41-year-old suspect, tetsuya yamagami, was transported from a local jail to a prosecutor's office. police say he confessed to killing abe and he believed the former prime minister was tied to a re

janis mackey frayer reporting from beijing. so much. >>> a spokesperson for mark meadows is denying any attempts to influence testimony for the january 6th hearings. we will dig into the allegations of witness tampering, as well as what comes next in the panel's investigation into the attack on the capitol. "morning joe" is coming right back. it's still the eat fresh refresh, and now subway's refreshing their italians. like the new supreme meats, topped high with new italian-style capicola. that's one handsome italian. uh... thanks. not you, garoppolo! ♪♪ subway keeps refreshing and refreshing and refres- fishing helps ease my mind. kinda like having liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. woah! look out! [sfx: submarine rising out of water ] [ sfx: minion spits bobber ] minions are bitin' today. [ sfx: submarine hatch closes, submarine dives ] ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ hello! minions: the rise of gru, only in theaters. hey! to help prevent bleeding gums, try saying he

. >> and here to bring it to us, nbc's janis mackey frayer, we're so excited to see you. here thanks for having me. >> good to see you. >> and everybody loves panda bears, and now facial recognition is being used to track these adorable creatures, both in captivity and in the wild we recently visited the chengdu research base of giant panda breeding in southwest china to see how it works giant pandas are revered around the world, and most of them live here in china. about 1,800 are in the wild, and more than 600 in captivity where they have a rock star sort of popularity >> it's very cute and lovely. >> reporter: they look adorable, and pretty much everything they do is cute >> there's a mother and baby here >> reporter: but to the human eye, telling those furry faces apart, well, it's not so black and white. to know which panda might be bebe or ikeo or blai >> is this the same panda? >> no. >> reporter: or a different one? and so researchers at the chengdu panda base are looking deeper, developing facial recognition policy for pandas. the researcher behind a growing data

janis mackey frayer following all of this for us.d morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. a private funeral will be held for shinzo abe in tokyo where secretary of state antony blinken paid his respects today. meanwhile, investigators are probing the motives of the suspected gunman who police say confessed it wasn't politics that drove him to target abe to kill him as japan mourns the loss of a long time leader mounting questions around the shocking death of shinzo abe. overnight, abe's body arriving at a tokyo temple, the site of a private wake for the former prime minister u.s. secretary of state antony blinken making his way to japan sharing condolences from president biden. >> i shared with our japanese colleagues the sense of loss, the sense of shock that we all feel, the american people feel at this horrific tragedy and killing. >> reporter: japanese authorities are now facing a complex murder investigation as they piece together the shooter's plan of attack over the weekend, the 41-year-old suspect was transferred from