At least one person killed, others injured, emergency evacuations under way and were live with the very latest. Heir to terror. Osama bin ladens son and the likely next al qaeda leader dead. How did he die . Did the u. S. Play a role . All that, plus sex offender Jeffrey Epsteins reported plan to father dozens of chdren. Slash, the first cut to Interest Rates in more than a decade, what it means for your credit cards, car payments and your mortgage. And living large. Weve got a plaza packed with fans for a special concert from country superstar Dierks Bentley, august 1st, 2019. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Hi, everybody, good morning, nice to have you with us on a thursday morning. It feels a little bit like friday if you look at our plaza. Always nice when you come into work early in the morning and hear music playing, great music, a sound check from Dierks Bentley. In the middle of his tour, stopping by with us. Doing a bunch of songs. We are starting this morning with round two of the democratic debate in detroit. This time, frontrunner Joe Biden Center stage and in the crosshairs of his rivals from the very beginning. Were going to break down the night and impact on the race. Start with Nbcs Kristen Welker. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning to you, savannah. There were fireworks here in detroit as candidates clashed for a second night. But it was the leading candidate who took the most heat, former Vice President joe biden. Overnight all eyes were on front runner joe biden. From the moment he took the stage facing attacks from nearly every other candidate, and ready to return fire. Everybodys talking about how terrible i am on these issues. Barack obama knew exactly who i was. Reporter locking horns with Kamala Harris over her medicare for all Health Care Plan which phases in over ten years. Anytime someone tells you youre going to get something good in ten years you should wonder why it takes ten years. You cant beat President Trump with double talk on this plan. Reporter harris hitting back on biden please which aims to expand obamacare. In 2019 in america for a democrat to be running for president with a plan that does not cover everyone i think is without excuse. My plan will cover everyone. Reporter biden accusing harris and his other critics of distorting his record. This idea is a bunch of malarkey. Cory booker hitting biden for sponsoring the controversial 1994 crime bill arguing it still has ripple effects today. We have a system right now thats broken, and if you want to compare records, and frankly im shocked that you do why did you announce in the first day a zero tolerance policy. Mr. Vice president , theres a thing in my community, youre dipping into the koolaid and you dont even know the flavor. Reporter why he personally tried to stop the deportations under president obama. Did you go to the president and say, this is a mistake, we shouldnt do it . Which one . I was Vice President , i am not the president. I keep my recommendation in private, unlike you. He moved to fundamentally change the system. Reporter the night was also a rematch between biden and harris, over that dramatic moment in the first debate when harris said biden was wrong to oppose bussing as a senator in the 1970s. This Vice President has still failed to acknowledge that it was wrong to take the position that he took at that time. Biden arguing their positions are actually the same, and tried to turn the tables. Attacking her record as attorney general of california. There were two of the most segregated School Districts in the country, in los angeles, and in San Francisco. And she did not i didnt see a single solitary time she brought a case against them to desegregate them. Reporter harris also found herself on the defensive from tulsi gabbard. There are too many examples to cite. She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana. Reporter harris insisting es proud of her record as attorney general. But the candidates saved sharpest words for someone not on stage, President Trump. We can no longer allow a White Nationalist to be in the white house. The first thing that im going to do when im president is im going to clorox the oval office. Reporter meantime, kristen, there was another moment last night that went viral when Vice President biden had a text number. What was this all about . Reporter thats right, savannah and willie, this happened during bidens Closing Remarks when he seemed to confuse his text donation number with his campaign website. Take a look. If you agree with me, go to joe 30330 and help me in this fight. Reporter so that was a moment that quickly went viral, and could fuel criticism hes not the right candidate for this moment. Bottom line, though, these debates were really critical because for so many candidates it is going to be determinative of whether they get into the next round of debates in the fall. Its going to be even tougher to qualify for those debates, savannah and willie. Kristen, thank you very much. We broke down the debates Opening Night with claire mccaskill. Shes back for more. Now we have night two. Senator, good morning. Good morning. We saw the former Vice President joe biden taking the shots. How did he hold up . Was his performance better than the first debate . Was it good enough . Much better. On style points he was strong, he was aggressive. He appeared comfortable and frankly, friendly. And, you know, i think sometimes we forget, when were picking all this apart, you know him saying go to joe, as opposed to text to joe, most voters could care less about that stuff. What they want is someone that they feel comfortable with and that gets their problems and i think he did a pretty good job. Theyre going to pick him theyre going to pick his bones clean because hes way ahead. As long as hes ahead its going to be incoming for joe biden. No one should be surprised if folks are on joe biden. They need to knock him down a notch. Were you surprised on the attacks on the Affordable Care act, or on president obamas record on deportation. Getting to joe biden through president obama. Very dangerous strategy, i think, and if it continues i think it could come there could be some serious splashback on those candidates. Going after the Obama Administration in a democratic primary seems a little nutty to me and that was kind of what they were doing last night but i dont think joe biden did a good enough job explaining what the positives of obamas record as it relates to immigration. And i dont think he did a good enough job, frankly, explaining how badly this administration is trying to tear apart the protections that obamacare brought the United States. What about senator Kamala Harris . Most people felt like she had a breakout moment at the first debate, so lots of eyes on her. Now the attacks were coming to her as well, on these second debates. How did she fare . I think she did okay. You know, clearly it appeared that maybe she wasnt as used to being attacked. When you start getting attacked thats the moment you have to really stay calm and remain friendly and, i think that maybe wobbled her just a bit. Overall shes a very strong, smart woman. She will stay in this until much later in the process. You know what i want most of all, can we get rid of some of these candidates . Its giving me a headache. Do you think that these candidates have any incentive to get out of the race . Maybe at this next debate, winnows the field by the requirements, i think its a good thing our partys done that because id like to see us get down to seven or eight candidates Going Forward so people can focus on the differences and contrasts. Its a blur. Theres just too damn many. We always like you for being plain spoken. Breaking news overnight in kentucky, where a gas line ruptures, sparked a deadly explosion and a fire ball that was felt across the region. Nbcs ron mott has the latest for us. Good morning. Reporter Officials Say at least one person is dead a woman. Several have been hospitalized. This morning, still others are unaccounted for, all because of the blast overnight that is an emergency situation still unfolding. Authorities say the fire is out but the debris is still smoldering. Its so bright. Reporter overnight a gas explosion in kentucky, ripping through a Rural Residential area killing one woman and setting several houses on fire. A ruptured gas line was the cause of the explosion, crews shutting off the gas, authorities evacuating residents of a nearby mobile home park. The next phase of this effort will be to identify folks that are missing. I think theres five to seven persons that we dont actually know their whereabouts. Reporter the explosion, jolting terrified residents out of bed. It woke us up and it was a big roar and fire going all the way up in the sky, as far as you could see. Reporter witnesses said they could see flames from several miles away. It looked like an atomic bomb went off, basically. A big cloud of smoke go up and i could hear the thrust off of it. We actually thought it could have been an airplane crash because it was so the roaring was really loud. You could hear the ground just moving and tumbling and rolling. Reporter the terrifying moments causing some to flee their homes and the heat of fire without looking back. Dont know. We just left it. Didnt care. It was like it was just right in our front door. It was scary. Reporter this blast occurred about 2 00 in the morning. Officials tell us that a shelter has been set up at a local church for residents who were evacuated overnight. This fireball was very impressive. One meteorologist said it was so large it showed up on radar, flames shooting about 300 feet into the air. Guys . Ron, thanks very much. Now to a major story tied to the fight against terror, the death of osama bin ladens son eight years after u. S. Forces killed the al qaeda leader but this morning the circumstances surrounding his sons killing are not exactly clear. Courtney kube has more details. Good morning. Reporter osama bin ladens son was heir apparent to his father s t father s ts terrorem pyre. Officials are saying hes dead but little else about how he died and what role the u. S. Government may have played. He was being groomed to follow in his late fathers footsteps and to take over as the next generations leader of the terror organization. Replacing ayman al zawari. He was the most charismatic, religious and militant of osama bin ladens sons died sometime in the last two years but confirmation of his death came only recently according to three u. S. Officials. Its unclear what the u. S. Governments role may have been in his death. President trump not revealing any details. Do you have any intelligence of bin ladens son . I dont want to comment on it. I dont want to comment on that. Thank you very much, everybody. Reporter he was just 7 years old when his father declared holy war on the United States, appearing in an al qaeda video soon after the september 11th attacks, followed by a series of video and audio recordings after his father and brother were killed by u. S. Navy seals in may 2011. His rising influence noticed on a global scale. Saudi arabia revoking his citizenship, the u. S. State department announcing a 1 million reward for information about his whereabouts. And still no word on whether anyone is actually eligible for that reward. The news comes as u. S. Officials have warned that al qaeda is trying to reconstitute. Savannah, willie . Courtney, thank you very much. We are watching wall street very closely. The dow jones lost nearly 334 points yesterday after the Federal Reserve cut Interest Rates. What does it all mean for your money . Nbcs tom costello joins us. As a rule wall street likes lower Interest Rates. What happened yesterday . Reporter a lot of folks wanted to see a half point rate cut rather than a quarter point and then the fed suggested this is not the beginning of a long series of rate cuts. So a lot will depend on whether the u. S. And china can end their trade war. Kicking off the dog days of august volatility on wall street, after the Federal Reserve cut Interest Rates by a quarter point wednesday. The goldilocks question was it too much, not enough, or just right to keep the economy humming . President trump has been demanding a rate cut after nine rate hikes over four years. The fed moves, in my opinion, far too early and far too severely. Reporter the fed chairman said it was not in response to president ial pressure. We never take into account political considerations. There is no place for that. Reporter the president tweeted disappointment that the cut wasnt bigger. Powell let us down but at least he is ending quantitative tightening or rate hikes which shouldnt have started in the first place. No inflation. The deadlocked trade war with china was a big reason for the feds cut. Meanwhile, bankrate. Com has calculated how this latest rate cut could affect you and me. Mortgage rates have dropped to below 4 . On a 200,000 loan the savings averages about 130 a month. On a 25,000 new car loan the lower rates would work out to about 3 a month savings. But on a 5,000 credit card balance your minimum Monthly Payment would drop just about a dollar. Thats about it. The fed suggested this is not the beginning of a series of rate cuts but that doesnt mean another one could not be down the road. Quite a few experts believe the chinese are in no rush to negotiate an end to the trade war. Guys . Well be watching the numbers today. Tom costello, thank you. Time to get a check of the weather. Als here with the check of the forecast. Good morning. Tucson, arizona, savannah, had flash flooding going on. We have been talking about the monsoonal moisture. They actually had to use a cherry picker to get folks out of that car. Turn around, dont drown. Do not drive into high water. You dont know whats going to happen. More flood warnings going on right now, up around kansas, the eastern border of kansas, also got heavy rain down in florida. Two main areas right now, two separate systems. First we start in the plains. This front is meandering west of kansas city. Its a flood threat that will just continue due to rounds of storms today into tomorrow, quick rises on streams and, in fact, rainfall amounts looking like this. Were talking about anywhere from three to five inches of rain along the kansas missouri border. It could be upwards of six inches as well. Down in florida theyre saying, you know weve been talking about that tropical system, that wave down there, well the moistures increasing ahead of it. Gusty winds. Locally heavy downpours today, right on into friday, especially as this gets closer, the threat for waterspouts offshore will be great as well and were talking about rainfall amounts, anywhere locally, four to six inches, especially as you get into southern florida. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Theres a company thats talked to even more real people than me jd power. 448,134 to be exact. They answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. And when they were done, chevy earned more j. D. Power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. So on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say thank you, real people. Youre welcome. Were gonna need a bigger room. I am meteorologist, kari hall. We have a little sun and clouds and feeling cool temperatures. As we start out with our cool temperature today, a nice day ahead with lower 80s in the south bay. Palo alto, a high of 70 degrees, and 87 in antioch. Our inland temperatures will be heating up as we get into the weekend. By saturday we are peaking at 93 degrees and cooling down early next week while San Francisco stays in the 60s. And thats your latest weather, savannah . Al, thank you so much just ahead, a bizarre turn tied to the Jeffrey Epstein case, the sex offenders reported plan to father dozens of children. Plus, a new health risk for teens who vape, the potential hidden danger of ecigarettes revealed in a new study and why juul is faced with a new investigation this morning but first, this is today on nbc coming up, the irishman, the first look at Martin Scorseses new mob movie. It reunites robert de niro, al pacino and joe pesci Dierks Bentley, a special live concert, his fans cannot wait a lot of them out there on the plaza. Theyre going to have to hold on but first, your local news and weather. [upbeat music ] you got this. You got this. You got this. You got this. Youre searching for a simple snack no gluten, dairy, soy but cherries, dates and almonds thats our recipe for joy. Larabar food made from food imagine if we we would be such good friends. Best friends. Advantage ii, kills fleas through contact all month long. 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