lester? >> the relief is steps away. stephanie gosk, thank you very much. so is there any relief in sight from these blistering temperatures, and how will the heat impact your family's july 4th? nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer is tracking the threat. good evening. >> reporter: lester, it is brutally hot for so many across the country. temperatures are warm enough, but the humidity makes it almost unbearable. for so many, it will feel like it's above 90 degrees as we continue into tomorrow. the temperatures themselves will be in the mid-90s, but it feels like we're closer to 100. we're going to see more of the same on the fourth of july with highs in the 90s. even as we continue through the end of the week, high temperatures will be in the 90s and feels-like temperatures will be in the upper 90s, close to 100. we will finally get some relief, but it takes until the weekend before temperatures cool down in the northeast and back through the midwest.ck down into the 80s. so we need that relief. i

as a reminder, "nightly news" is next with lester holt. stay with us. >> bye. >>> tonight, shock waves. from an extraordinary scene, president trump standing shoulder to shoulder with vladimir putin refusing to say he believes u.s. intelligence over putin's denials. >> he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> the president instead heaping praise on putin and blaming america. >> i hold both countries responsible. i think that the united states has been foolish. i think we have all been foolish. >> tonight, the former director of the cia calls the president's performance nothing short of treasonous and putin telling the world he wanted trump to win. >> translator: yes, i did. yes, i did. >> tonight, for the first time, how the russian leader answered this. >> do you -- does the russian government have any compromising material on president trump or his family? >> we have a flood of reaction and richard engel in moscow. what must the russians be thinking? >>> also, a lot of news back home. big

lester? >> hallie jackson at the white house tonight, thank you. >>> on another major front, a dramatic escalation of the war of words between the u.s. and iran. president trump taking to twitter and telling iran never to threaten the u.s. again after iran's president warned the u.s. of the quote mother of all wars. nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker has the story. >> reporter: it's twitter takedown heard around the world. mr. trump tweeting to the iran president never, ever threaten the united states again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. we are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death. be cautious. today the president pressed on his aggressive approach. the hardcore warning seemed to be prompted by iran's president who threatened america should know peace with iran is the mother of all peace, and war with iran is the mother of all wars. the president's tough tone highl

i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. >>> tonight, from helsinki, who now. good evening and >>> the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening, everyone, thank you for joining us. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm vicky nguyen. did you feel it? an earthquake hit the bay area. >> rob mayeda, not a large quake but a fairly large number of people felt it. >> where it occurred really important along the hayward fault, a 3.0 densely populated area. around the east bay. one of the more density populated areas. right before noon today. 11:52. a 3.0 earthquak smaller aftehock of 1.5 off to the north and east before noon today. keep in mind this area. >> light shaking, no damage likely from a 3.0. the next 25 years in the bay area, a greater than 72% ce

>>> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening. welcome to our viewers in the west. as we come on the air, 20% of the country is facing extreme heat or the threat of flooding. in the east, flood watches are posted from north carolina to new york, rising water, forcing evacuations and rescues, at least one person swept away, while blistering heat takes a deadly toll in the west, heat advisories and warnings from oregon to arizona taxing the power grid and fueling wildfires. we have it all covered with nbc's miguel almaguer. miguel, good evening. >>> that fire threat stretches across several states and going to get worse. in downtown los angeles behind me, the temperature hit 94 degrees a new record. tomorrow, it is only going to get hotter, and more dangerous. >> reporter: tonight the west faces a triple threat. fires, floods, and heat. 42 million are suffering through dangerously hot temperatures. in phoenix, a record 116. with first responders scrambling to calls of heat exhaustion. >> don't go out if you don't have to. >> reporte

lester? >> ron mott, thank you. let's bring in al roker in new york with more on the threat into the night and this weekend. which areas are you watching closely? >> reporter: lester, right now we're seeing activity firing up again. we've got tornado watches and severe thunderstorm watches and we've even got a tornado warning right now in kentucky as these storms are firing up you can see from ohio all the way down into kentucky and tennessee we're watching this very closely. here is the area that we're most concerned with. we're stretching from western tennessee all the way into parts of kentucky and southern indiana. 38 million people at risk, strong winds, hail, potential for tornados especially overnight tonight. so we're going to be watching that closely. the other big story, lester, is the heat. excessive heat. 80 million people at risk for heat advisory watches or warnings in texas we are looking at triple digit heat. dallas setting a record today. that's going to into the weekend, tri

. >> lester holt also in helsinki covering this summit for us. lester, good morning. obviously the presidents are now at that working lunch after spending more than two hours in a room together. we'll hear them at a press conference and i guess that's the first time we'll get some sense of what actually took place in the room between the two men. >> reporter: yeah, according to the two men. we noted they were in there alone except for the translators. the fact that it went past two hours, hard to read into it because there were translators, that conversation would not cover as much ground as if you and i were in the room together but it's worth noting they spent that kind of time. perhaps they were able to get in a number of topics the president had just came today they would talk about china, nuclear arms. beyond that we don't know what was on the agenda. >> set the bar for us. what is at stake when these two men walk out and face the cameras? >> reporter: well, as i said. it's hard to know because they didn't have an agenda going in. clearly nuclear arms control and

lester? >> just amazing. nothing left there. miguel almaguer, thank you. >>> now to the big news on the american economy growing at the strongest pace in four years and president trump promising it's just the start of an even bigger economic upswing. but there are also concerns about possible speed bumps ahead, including the president's trade war. we get details from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: from the atlantic to the pacific, more evidence today of a strong economy. the 4.1% gdp growth the strongest since the 5% quarter in 2013 during the obama administration. president trump today was quick to take credit. >> these numbers are very, very sustainable. this isn't a one-time shot. i happen to think we'll do extraordinary well in our next report next quarter. >> reporter: in chicago real e skate technology company trust started a year ti hiring. why the optimism? what's happening on the ground of chicago? >> it's a vibrant economy and i think people are positive about how it's going to tu

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lester. >> miguel almaguer in l.a. let's bring on al roker monitoring oall of this for us. >> reporter: that's right, lester. no relief out west and no relief in the east om all this rain. basically we are looking at wet weather making its way up the i-95 corridor already saturated ground and 32 million people at risk for a flashflood or warning, up to 5-8 inches of rain by friday. streams will remain slow. the greatest risk for flash flooding like we saw in pennsylvania toda pennsylvania, new york and new jersey. then, out west, the heat continues as well, stretching from the pacic northwest all the way to the southwest, triple heat, possible records tomorrow in phoenix and tucson. you see los angeles flirting with 100 degrees. look how long this goes. right into the weekend me see temperatures in the to upper 90s to the triple digits. that will stretch, lester, all the way to the beginning of next week with almost no relief in sight and certainly no rain. the fire is a big problem in the wesil flooding continues i th

. >> lester holt joins us next with "nightly news." thanks for tuning in. >>> tonight, >>> tonight, president trump blasts michael cohen, lashing out at his former lawyer, after the release of that explosive recording. >> why finance it? >> we'll have to pay. >> trump and cohen, weeks before the election, appearing to discuss a hush money payoff to a playboy model. is there legal jeopardy? tonight, inside the tale of the tape. >>> a new twist on the second summit with putin in washington. >>> rescues and homes destroyed as flash floods go from bad to worse. >>> and california in flames. parts of yosemite closed. thousands forced to evacuate. >>> new hope in the battle against alzheimer's. a drug that may slow down the progression of the disease affecting so many families. >>> a wild road rage brawl caught on camera. >>> and my revealing conversations with an nfl superstar. some players have taken a knee, others have held up a clenched fist. has that held course? >> i think it's starting to shift. >> malcolm jenkins on making a differen

i'm lester holt. thank you from all of us for watching. good night. "nbc nightly news" is always available and on streaming. follow the latest cover on the nbc app. >> you have to see this to believe. now: good evening and thanks for joining >>> the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening, thank you for joining us, i'm janelle wang. >> and i'm raj mathai. moments from now, the president will address the nation with his announcement for his supreme court pick. this is a live look at the white house where president trump will announce his nominee. this comes after justice kennedy announced husba announced his retirement last month. >> pete williams confirmed brett kavanaugh is the president's pick. >> we'll send things over to lester holt. again, president trump will be addressing the nation from the east room of the white house with his nomination of the supreme court. and again, it's mr. kavanaugh, nbc news is reporting that he'll be making this announcement a short time from now. >> judge kavanaugh is a couplju graduated from yale and serves on t

lester, that's been most striking from the president. sort of cozyrelationship, his language as he speaks with russia and vladimir putin this morning just predicting that the president, the u.s. in efft and russia would have an extraordinary relationship is what he says is far askew from what we've heardho thro his administration. the director of national intelligence dan coates recent days said we saw the blinking red lights after the indictments came out about the russian military intelligence interfering ng in, in the u.s. election. what's been striking to hear from this president, among other hings, is what he has said has been out of step with traditional presidents. he's focused so muchn having is good relationship, but as you look at the live pictures, lester, i'll send it back to you. hallie. go to >> let me explain what's going on in the room. the journalist from the nation is being forcibly removed. he said he was told he had a sign, a malicious item as he described i and then held up a piece of paper that said nuclear weapon b

lester. >> on capitol hill tonight. thanks. >>> a dramatic capture, a suspected serial killer under arrest tonight after authoritie the scene of the crime. among the witnesses, an eagle-eye'd jourli gabe gutierrez has the details. >> reporter: tonight, the in police custody, a suspected serial killer, 46-year-old jose rodriguez. rodriguez who has a lengthy criminal history had been a person of interest in a violent crime spree in and around houston including three murders, attempted murder and home invasion. detectives released this surveillance video believed to show rodriguez walk through a mall. investigators say he was on parole and cut off his tracking monitor. >> we're very relieved because we feel that he was possibly casing the area looking to score his next victim. >> reporter: cesar martinez a photojournalist with nbc's kprc says he was shocked to see rodriguez drove right by him near a crime scene. >> he pulls right up next to me and i'm thinking, this looks like our suspect. >> reporter: police say rodriguez

lester. >> an amazing drama. we wish them all the best. thank you, janis. to >>> back homhe holiday heat wave stretching across this country, some 90 million under heat advisories as americans get ready to celebrate july 4th. now these sizzling temperatures turned deadly. we get more from nbc stephanie gosk. >> reporter: broiling, h.aking, better head to the be when did you decide to come to the beach? >> this morning. >> reporter: why? >> it's hot. >> reporter: more people means more la vie from lifeguards in new jersey. >> there was a significant nuer of rescues, i'd say 40 in the last couple of days here. >> reporter: 90 million in the northwest and mideast are under heat advisories and excessive heat warnings and a roller coaster was left in its tracks and this congressman had to be escorted from a press conference today, suffering from heat exhaustion. no water and no ac, and the temperature felt lik to the north in burlington, vermont, 's a struggle. >> not really set up in burlington, a lot itf homes don't have air-coning. >> reporter: for the holida

of this summ >> it's not good, lester. the president came to helsinki with a low bar, a low challenge really. just challenge vladimir putin for the election hacking. instead he showed he was not willing to stand up to the russian leader. tonight, foreign diplomats are saying for the fst time in 70 years they cannot depend on an american president. that creates a real crisis for american foreign policy. it is profndly demoralizing to american intelligence professionals and diplomats around the world. one top career diplomat who served presidents of both paies said that press conference was thet single m embarrassing performance by an american president on the world stage that he had ever seen. >> pretty strong reaction. >> yeah. exactly. >> thank you. >>> president trump again today whanding with putin criticized the special counsel's investigation calling it a witch hunt and saying it damages our n y. those words, despite a slew of indictments by mueller. our justice correspondent pete williams now on where the investigati

lester? >> miguel almaguer tonight in california, thank you. >>> there is fallout for one of the most powerful men in hollywood, ceo les moonves. after those bombshell allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment. speculations of his fate as cbs met behind closed doors and on live television his wife tv host julie chen coming to his defense. we get all of it now from nbc's morgan radford. >> reporter: tonight, cbs" board of directors taking no immediate action against ceo les moonves. now calling for an independent investigation seeking outside counsel following the bombshell "new yorker" report accusing him of sexual misconduct. the article details six women's accounts, four on the record that include accusations ranging from forcible touching or kissing to physical intimidation between the 1980s and the 2000s. moonves' wife, long-time tv host julie chen, reiterating support of her husband on cbs' "the talk." >> i issued the one and only statement i will ever make on this topic on twitter

lester. >> pete williams at the supreme court. thanks. >>> hours after announcing his pick to the court, president trump left for a 7-day trip overseas for a stop at brussels where he will meet with nato allies after leveling a new round of public attacks on them today, all of this leading up to a high stakes summit with vladimir putin. kristen welker has more from brussels. >> reporter: president trump coming out swinging, touching down in brussels late today after raising tensions with the very allies he's poised to meet here at the nato summit, calling them delinquent on twitter from air force one, before leaving accusing them of failing to pay their fair share on defense. >> we pay far too much and they pay far too little. >> reporter: while only 5 of 29 nato nations have met their spending commitment set for 2024 the rest still have years to meet the target. today, the president of the eu firing back. >> dear america, appreciate your allies. after all, you don't have that many. >> reporter: a bitter backdrop for the president

i'm lester holt. all of us at nbcne ws, thank you for watching and good night. >>> ghts, cera "access."s >> this my daughter, hailey. >> look. they are now engaged. but who is hailey baldwin? we have all

hallie, good evening. >> reporter: good even, lester. with those confrontational moments, president trump ultimately did back in agreement that reaffirmed the strength of the alliance and praised the u.s. relationship with germany but only after a day of diplomatic drama that has critics concerned how the rest of the trip will go. at a summit that is supposed to symbol wise solidarity, president trump's tough talk went over like during this tough talk went over like a lead balloon, a policering breakfast. >> germany is totally controlled by russia. >> reporter: characteristically combative president had a germany and russia. >> germany as far as i'm concerned is captive to russia because it's getting energy from russ>> reporter: m responded germany is in control of their own decisions. the president also demanded allies double what they pay into their own defense budgets from 2% to 4% not even the u.s. hits that goal. >> pledge increasing to 2% and let's start with that. >> reporter: joining the president, his team of top advisors like c

>> it's just amazing, lester. my big takeaway after a remarkable 24 hours is that it is very rare for two top officials in law enforcement and intelligence to stand up to the president of the united states. both chris wray and dan coats are putting their jobs on the line, frankly, making it clear they will not compromise national security or let intelligence be politicized despite politics. they agree that russia is a danger, as coats told me today, they are the ones, russia, who are trying to undermine our basic values. they are the ones trying to wreak havoc with our elections, and, he said, eigit's critical that we call them out on that with the elections coming up. >> andrea mitchell in aspen, thank you. >>> now to the immediate fallout, a day after the white house said trump was considering putin's proposal to have russia question americans. we get all of it from chief white house correspondent hallie jackson. >> reporter: brushing off backlash to his one on one, plans now for part two between donald trump an

. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening. the spt between president trump and his one-time fixer andwy couldn't be more glaring tonight after michael cohen's release of an audio recording he secretly de of mr. trump before the election. on the tape mr. trump appears to discuss a payoff who claimed an affair wit the question tonight is does the tape spell new legal jeopardy for the president? our hall jackson has details and reaction. >> reporter: outside and inside shouts thdrawing smirks i oval office with reporters pushing the president to talk about that tape between him anhis former attorney. >> did mhael cohen -- >> thank you very much. >> reporter: no te response repeay but on twitter, president trump more talkative asking what kindf a lawyer would tape a client? so sad. it's fallout from a recently revealed recording in which the president and michael cohen appeared to en casually refer a hush money payme two nths before the election to keep a playboy model quiet about an alleged affair, one the present denies. >> we'l

lester? >> it is an amazing part of the world, miguel almaguer, thank you. >>> the social media giant losing tens of billions in values, sliding 20% for the biggest loss sustained by a company in stock market history. but a story behind facebook's route that is being watched closely in the silicon valley tonight. slowing growth and fewer daily users, as the company grapples with lingering privacy and security scandals. our tom costello has details. >> reporter: the sell off was staggering and unprecedented. facebook losing $119 billion in ever for a u.s. company after this profit warning from ceo mark zuckerberg. >> we're investing so much in security it will impact our profitability. >> reporter: zuckerberg lost $15 billion after two years of scandals and investigations. >> it seems you turned a blind eye to this, correct? >> congressman, i disagree with that assessment. >> reporter: from russian election meddling to 87 million users whose private information was compromised by cambridge ana

i'm lester holt.f us here at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. . - i never fle. - oh, that's good. you'll love it. - actress uzo aduba... oh, my god. [screams] - joins me in the pyrenees mountains in spain on a heart-stopping two-day adventure. - [screams] oh, my god. - uzo burst onto the scene playing suzanne "crazy eyes" warren on the megahit netflix series "orange is the new black," receiving two golden globe nominations and winning back-to-back emmys. but it wasn't easy turning her dream into a reality. - i am the product of the american dream. and if i had not had dreamers in my own life, i would not be sitting here with you. - tonight, we'll take on the pyrenees mountains in spain... - bear? - get a good grip. home to the steepest cliffs... [thud] - ooh! and deadliest predators... - [screams] oh, my god. no! - and the most punishing weathr imaginable.

lester, ice seized more than one million pounds of heroin, fentanyl, and other dangerous drugs.lishing ice would mean more trafficking. lester, 518 human trafficking 1000 child more than victims. -- last year there were more human trafficking victims and more than 1000 child victims. because of the work of ice, i truly do believe the men and over thethis agency last 15 years have played a critical role in assuring that no major terrorist attack occur and you deserve to be credited. andrecord speaks for itself it is a record of accomplishment . every day, ice makes american safer and more secure and every citizen is better off and safer because of the work that you do. so today, today i want to make it to all of you and all of those looking on. under president donald trump, we will never abolish ice. as the president said, we will never feel to applaud and expand and empower this agency with the resources that you deserve. as the president said recently, we are not abandoning ice, infected is just the opposite. working with our republican majorities, i am proud to report we are g

lester? >> all right. andrea mitchell in aspen, thank you. >>> to the immediate fallout from presitrnt p's planned invitational to putin and another about face from the president today, a day after the was considering he putin's proposal to have russia question americans. we get all of it from our chief white house correspondent hallie jackson. f >> brushing backlash to his one on one plans now for part two between donald trump and vladimir putin. >> were you aware of that, just want to >> based on my reaction, i wasn't aware of that. >> the news surprising the president's own director of national intelligence on space a spen. >> would you recommend there be a one on e without note takers? >> i would look for a erent way of doing it. >> it would be putin's first visit to the u.s. since 2015 and the first since his country interfered in the 2016 election. president trump on defense a third straight day of muddled messaging. >> look at the sanctions i've put on. look at the diplomats i threw out. look at alh

. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening from on a very busy day where president trump was hosted by the queen at windsor palace while rejected by protesting masses a heback at home the lid was ripped off over what the government says was a russian conspiracy to election.e american major new indictments by robert mueller's team announced today naming names and bombshell details charging 12 senior russian military intelligence officer with infiltrating democratic committee commuters among others leaking damaging e-mails. the indictments announced just hours after the president once again blasted the mueller inion as a witch hunt. some of putin's top people charged just three daore he's set to meet face-to-face with president trump. our justice correspondent pete williams has been digging thh the indictment. >> reporter: as n hillary clinto stumped for votes in march 2016, russian intelligence was burroing into computers ofer campaign and the democratic national committeeting more than 300 people. the charges say it was the work of 12 officers of rus

lester, this just in, initial reports from the u.s. government say there were no americans on board and so far the mexican rn gont has said there are no reported fatalities. >> tammy litner tonight, thank you. >>> let's tu to the latest development what some say this is the next gure at. 3d knockoffs hard to detect. the technology is accessible and so are the guns. tonight, a federal judge has just blocked a release of blueprints f the guns after several states took legal action to stop their release. tom costello hasate teails. >> rep they almost look like plastic toys but experts insist so-called ghost guns are very lethal. nine have tried to stop this man, wilson, from putting the 3d instructions online. a federal agreed to an injunction. >> make no mistake about it, this is the doing of the trump administration, part of a long pattern letting the gun lobby get whatever they want. >> reporter: this morning, president trump tweed i am looking into 3d plastic guns being sold to the public. already spoke to the nra. doesn't make much s

>> there is a lot of concern, lester. ople i talk to say despite the president's latest explanation, these current former intelligence officials say his shifting statements have undermined his own dv intelligenceor's warnings about the russian threat. they say his comments this week and throhout his presidency have damaged administ's ability to counter russia's aggression at a time when the white r house fired the cy coordinator and the state department today said despite the kremlin's claims, there were no agreements between the president adimir esutin in helsinki and the spman called putin's proposal that russia questioned 11 u.s. citizens adncluding former u.s. amba michael mcfaul who is a contributor is absurd. >> good to have you re. thank you. >> we're looking forward to your interview with the president's point man orn the russian threat, diref national intelligence dan coats and my interview with the fbi director a re tomorrow evening on nbc night lie news. >>> a woman accused of being a secret russian agent is bi

lester asked chris wray about mueller. >> we're big boys and girls.we get criticized by all sorts of people. i come back to the answer i gave lester before, which is my focus is not on what the people affected by our work think. i do not believe special counsel mueller is on a witch hunt. it's a professional investigation conducted by a man i've known to be a straight shooter. >> so mimi, do we think that the mueller probe is safe from, you know, rod rosenstein being fired or mueller being forced out? what is your bottom line? >> well, i don't put anything past this president at this point. although i think that really what they would try to do is undermine it, which they've been doing, not try to do, that's something they've been consistently doing, try to undermine it, sort of their own information warfare on the mueller probe, kind of equivalent to what the russians did in our election. i think that's the tactic that trump and his allies are taking, not actually something as bold as firing mueller or rosenstein, because that would create more of a

holt for us, thank you so much, lester. lester anchors nightly news live from helsinki tonight on nbc, so make sure to join him there. >>> i'd like to bring in david ignatius, the "washington post" foreign columnist and molly mchugh. we also have the authors of "russian roulette," david corn and chief investigative correspondent michael isikoff. david ignatius, i'm going to start with you. ahead of his meeting with putin, trump sent out these tweets today. if i was given the great city of moscow as retribution of all of the sins and evils committed by russia all of these years, i would return to criticism that it wasn't good enough. what would be an outcome that would be seen as a victory from your perspective for president trump? >> well, victory doesn't really fit my sense of this meeting. i think the fact that president trump is meeting with vladimir putin at a time when we have new overwhelming evidence of how aggressive russian behavior has been is -- to me the headline is that trump is sitting down with somebody who's

i'm kate snow in for lester tonight. it was announced by president trump on twitter late this afternoon, he has accepted the resignation of his environmental protection agency administrator. scott pruit was under fire for months facing more than a dozen separate ethics investigations and not just activists calling for resignation but republican members of congress, as well. inside the administration, president trump was one of pruit's biggest supporters publicly defending him and tonight the president said pruit made the decision to step down because he didn't want to be a distraction. we begin with peter alexander at the white house. >> reporter: tonight for pruit, it's the political climate that got too hot facing legal and ethical scandals, one of the original trump cabinet picks is out. president trump tweeting i accepted the resignation of scott pruit adding scott did an outstanding job. a relaxed scott at the white house at the fourth of july picnic but under siege from at least 15 separate federal ethics inquiries

lester, good morning. >> willie and hoda, good morning. president trump and vladimir putin about to hold their historic talks. both arrived a short time ago at the presidential palace a few blocks from where we are. there's the room. john bolton standing there, national security adviser. we're waiting to see the presidents appear for the first time. they will hold a bilateral meeting, 90 minutes, just the 2011 them, and interpreters, speak among themselves and will later broaden out to bring other staff members in for a working lunch. this is a meeting highly anticipated. in fact, the tone and some of the topics on the table may have been changing even as the president has been on the road on his european trip. i'm joined in our coverage by kristen welker, our nbc news white house correspondent also ambassador michael mcfaul, who was u.s. ambassador for a couple of years under the obama administration. good to have you both here. kristen, let me start with you. set the scene for what we know is about to take place. >> this is remarkable, p

here's lester holt. >> good day from new york. we're coming on the air to take you to the east room of the white house where president trump is holding a joint news conference with prime minister conte. equal minds on the issue of illegal immigration and they're speaking about that in their opening statements. president trump reiterating something that broke over the weekend. his sense that there could be a government shut down. he would be willing a government shut down if some deal of immigration could not be worked out. that caught republicans by surprised and we want to go right down as we wait for them to take questions, which should be any moment now. let me quickly go to jeff bennett, our correspondent at the white house. jeff, how has this news filt erd capitol hill? >> with senior members of his own party on the other side of pennsylvania avenue. i can tell you that two senior congressional sources told me that when house speaker paul ryan and mitch mcconnell met with the president here last week, they walked away from th

. >> reporter: lester, good evening. as fire moves closer to yosemite, we can smell the smoke in the air and see it in certain areas. the park has now been evacuated. this, as in other parts of the state, homes are going up in flames. as scorching heat fuels massive fires in the west, california is getting burned. flames from the ferguson fire now threatening a national treasure. >> i don't think it's a very good visitor experience right now. >> reporter: for the first time in 28 years, a wildfire is forcing the enclosure of yosemite. thousands of tourists suddenly forced to evacuate. >> visibility is severely impacted. you've got the air quality issues. >> reporter: with flames two miles away, smoke is shrouding the air. the air quality worse than polluted beijing. from the front lines to the coastline. no relief. 39 million across the west facing dangerous

i'm lester holt., thank you for watching and good news, thank you for watching and good night. z2vpbz z16fz y2vpby y16fy >>> lits, camera, access. >> kylie, watch out, mark zuckerberg,

that is fbi director christopher wray talking to lester holt. on monday donald trump took the side of an adversary over his own, our own, really, intelligence committee. walked it back. today he again under cut. requiring another tortured explanation that the president meant no more questions. not no to whether he believes that russia is interfering. some republicans are saying these explanations suffice. joining me now. you are a popular guy in a safely republican state. why do you think that was a sufficient explanation. it is not going to hurt you say what you thought. you heard the president say it and most people didn't believe it. >> i think he made a mistake when he was speaking the first time and he corrected that. and i am happy with his explanation. >> you don't really believe that he made a mistake, right congressman? i got to know, because it is not really plausible the way he said it. there was a whole press conference where he reiterated the same sentence over and over again. >> where i come from, a man's word is his bond. consiste

lester? >> its an amazing part of the world, miguel almaguer, thank you. >>> to president trump hitting the road for n oversial trade policies after announcing a truce with the european union but the trade war with china has ng a negative impact with u.s. companies including big-name brands and you may pay the pric nbc news chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has the story. >> reporter: president trump on a tour detrade defending his controversial tariffs. >> the u.s. steel is back. >> reporter: that's easy to do in front of this group, ste workers helped by his steel and aluminum tariffs but many more industries use metal than make and they are feeling the pinch from measures other countries are slappi on the u.s. including coca-cola, which says it's raising soda prices. >> it flows through the supply chain in all sorts of different ways and ultimately thanks will have to ugh. th >> reporter: it's not just manufacturers hurting despite the promise to make farmers great again, many

of'm lester holt.c news, thank you for watching and good night. >>> lights, camera, access. i >> will see you on the carpet. >> it's good news and some bad nomination day.s us emmy breaking down so many other sur frightssur surprises. >>:y

. >> our own lester holt goes in-depth with one of the nfl's most prolific players over of the anthem controversy. >> we've seen extremes from coast to coast. >> and the crazy lengths some will go to set a world record. "early today" starts right now. >> good thursday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein under fire this morning. a group of republicans in the house have launched an effort to impeach him. accusing rosenstein of impeding congressional oversight for special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russian election meddling. house freedom caucus chairman mark meadows, ohio congressman jim jordan, and nine co-sponsors have introduced articles of impeachment claiming rosenstein has withheld documents and misled congress. >> for nine months we've asked for documents and that's all we want are the documents. and what we found is not only have subpoenas been ignored, but information has been hidden. the efforts have been stone walled. >> conservative lawmakers have accused the justice department of trying to smear presi

i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. i called my mom, and she didn't answer. i pretty much knew in my heart that something was wrong. >> a mother vanished. >> i cried myself to sleep. it was just awful realizing that your worst nightmare had come true. >> a family anguished. >> she's gone. do you have any idea how hard that was? >> now the questions begin. in a southern, gothic mystery. >> the case is puzzling. >> we didn't really know what had happened. >> who would ever have imagined you'd have a murder in your family? >> soon, there'd be secrets. >> we were dealing with a person that was leading a double life. >> and one of them would prove deadly. >> have you ever said i know that you did this? >> it hurts too much for me to say it out loud. >>> suppose for a minute you were sitting in your car, smack-dab in the middle of tuscaloosa, alabama, and you kept an eye down highway 69 and kept a close eye. you rolled into a town called moundville. been around for a long time, has moundville. but it's a sad truth as the sheriff says, even here, where everybody use