Just ahead how that is playing here at home and in the middle east. Richard engel is live inside syria. Breaking overnight, out of control, a fast moving wildfire explodes in Northern California, high winds fanning the already dangerous flames, evacuations now under way. All that, plus caught on camera, never before seen video of a Police Officer shooting a fleeing teenager near a Daycare Center, sparking outrage. Out of the shadows, inside savannahs night at a special event alongside michelle obama, and tom hanks honoring our nations military caregivers. The greatest privilege of my life to support you all. Thank you. And d. C. Dominance. This one is rocketed out to right. The Washington Nationals crush houston, putting them in the drivers seat of the world series. But its simone biles first pitch that has america flipping out. Today, thursday, october 24th, 2019. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with savannah guthrie, live from washington, d. C. And hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Hey, everybody, welcome to today on this thursday morning, and my gosh, what cant simone biles do . She did that crazy flip on the diamond, she pitched it, it looked like a strike from here. The only good news for the astros. There she goes, and boom. Its incredible. Right. Worlds colliding, gymnastics and baseball, i love it. A lot to cheer about with the nats. You are there in washington after an inspiring event last night. It was worlds colliding too. Tom hanks was here, michelle obama, celebrating our veterans and the people who care for them, shining a light on this issue, a very inspiring night. Cant wait to tell you about it. Lets get right to our top story this morning and well start right here in washington. The impeachment investigation. And what happened yesterday, furious with the process a group of House Republicans barged into a secure room at the capitol and then refused to leave for several hours. That delayed testimony from a top pentagon official. We got the very latest. Well start with nbcs chief White House Correspondent hallie jackson. There is a bit of a break in the action in what has been the relentless pace of this impeachment inquiry. Elijah cummings will be laid to rest, so they are pausing to honor him. Democrats and republicans are not letting up on making their case. After some of the president s allies made moves quite literally to back him up. Still, in what may be a warning sign for the white house some in the gop are showing signs of concern about what this impeachment investigation has revealed so far. The president back in washington this morning after a pennsylvania pit stop spent decrying the democrats and their impeachment inquiry. I say whats the witch hunt this week . Reporter on capitol hill his republican allies setting up a sitin of sorts, streaming into a secure room to delay witness testimony for five hours, protesting the private process, even with some gop colleagues allowed to be inside. By golly, if theyre going to do it, do it in public. Its finally reached a boiling point where members said they are so frustrated at the idea they cant be a part of this. Democrats scoffing at what they describe as a stunt meant to spook witnesses. We had a group of members who attacked the Committee System of congress. And you may wonder why is it happening now . Because bill taylor gave a devastating opening statement. Reporter that reference to bill taylors explosive testimony this week, hes a top diplomat to ukraine who in a deposition with impeachment investigators said he was told President Trump wanted ukraines president in a public box, announcing investigations into the bidens and the 2016 election before key military aid was released. Now the Number Two Senate republican is signaling alarms. The picture coming out of it based on the reporting that weve seen is, yeah, i would say is not a good one. Ashd the president taking heat for these comments. Were building a beautiful wall. You cant get over it, you cant get under it, and were building a wall in texas. And were not building a wall in kansas, but they get the benefit of the walls that we just mentioned. Colorado, hundreds of miles away from mexico and the construction of any wall, overnight the president tweeting he was kidding and referencing people in the very packed auditorium. Wire the were also starting to see glum impeachment strategy including Lindsey Graham. Simply said yes and walked away before adding hed like to see a more coordinated push to fight back. Well see how the white house takes that criticism and whether they start to shift. Back to you. Hallie jackson leading us off, thank you. There is worldwide reaction to the president s speech in which he took credit for the ceasefire in syria. The invasion began when mr. Trump suddenly withdrew american troops from that region. Richard engel is in syria for us once again. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah, that speech did not go well here. People thought it just added insult to injury. The kurds are shouting to anyone who will listen that they ed help. They are watching american troops leave whove been protecting them and theyre watching the russians move in. As Russian Forces set up shop in syria establishing outposts, even going on foot patrols this morning, President Trump says hes the power broker in syria and a peacemaker. For convincing turkey to stop its assault on kurdish areas. An assault he effectively allowed to happen. By announcing it would take place in advance, and pulling back american forces. Countless lives are now being saved as a result of our negotiation with turkey. An outcome reached withoan outct spilling one drop of american blood. Reporter President Trump lifted sanctions on turkey just after his own envoy to syria said the u. S. Has been watching Turkish Backed militias commit atrocities u. S. Officials also saying those militias include former members of isis and al qaeda. Weve seen several incidents which we consider war crimes. Reporter turkish troops and those militias now raising turkish flags over kurdish positions while american troops have orders not to help their former allies who fought with them against isis. What a great outcome, congratulations. Reporter that great outcome is what was a peaceful kurdish region protected by the United States, is now being carved up by turkey and its radical militias, russia and its allies. Widely accused in the past of using chemical weapons, ar so hundreds of thousands of kurds, tens of thousands of them children, are now fleeing their homes, just as the winter rains and cold set in. Kurds here are saying that they need help as they watch the u. S. Forces leave and the russians move in. Richard engel for us, thank you, richard for that and the impeachment showdown we turn to Nbcs Kristen Welker for more analysis. Good morning to you. Good morning. Lets go back to impeachment for a moment a dater the president told fellow republicans you guys got to get tough that they go and storm this secure conference room, an extraordinary moment on what was capitol hill was this orchestrated by the white house . What was the thinking behind that the sense is theyre taking direction from President Trump as you point out he wanted them to get tougher this was remarkable in terms of the optics, it was a delay tactic but the bottom line, and you heard this frustration with Lindsey Graham, this tactic is about essentially the process, not about countering what is coming out on capitol hill republicans are saying they want to see these hearings take place in public, well, theyre going to get their wish. In midnovember democrats are signaling this is going to start to be happening out in the open. The question is, how are they going to counter some of these revelations that are problematic from the president s perspective . Thats whats interesting about what Lindsey Graham is saying, he wants to see the white house have more substantive response to take on the facts here i mean, this whole thing, impeachment, removal, it rises and falls on republican senators and whether they stick with the president. Are you starting to get any indications that that wall of support that he has enjoyed is cracking at all . One of the president s close allies said they are watching it very closely the remarks by john thune essentially saying the testimony this week has been problematic for President Trump, the fact that you have Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell laying out how hes going to conduct a senate trial signifies this is seous and its not getting swept under the rug. They want to see the president show more discipline so that they dont have to defend him on other controversies. They want to have a Clear Strategy as it relates to this impeachment inquiry. Well that leads me quite well to the final point here which is whats going on with syria thats another area where republicans, some of his staunchest allies have come down hard on the president s actions there, hes announced a ceasefire, the lifting of sanctions, he had a triumphant news conference, but what about his critics . They are taking a wait and see approach, giving him a little bit of a leash on this coming out and saying well, lets see if this ceasefire holds. But theres no guarantee, savannah, and the president acknowledged as much the real concern, will isis be resurgent . As the United States essentially ceded its role to turkey and russia and the president promised he was going to withdraw troops from syria thats not happening entirely, the president saying hes going to leave a small residual force to man the oil fields there, the bottom line, the sense is that those troops will be doing more than manning the oil fields. Lots to watch, kristen, good to see you well send it back to new york hey, hoda. Craig is here joining the table, more breaking news. Theres a dangerous situation unfolding in Northern California, a wildfire has exploded overnight threatening homes, forcing evacuations nbcs sam brock has been following this one sam, whats the latest reporter those images terrifying craig, good morning. The kincade fire erupted in Sonoma County, an area thats been battered by Deadly Wildfires in recent years and this one fueled by wind gusts as high as 50 miles an hour, going through about 2,000 acres every half hour. Video shows flames and thick smoke blanketing a rural road and making its way toward a small town called geyserville. Giant cones of orange rage on hillsides. Latest stats we have, the fire at 10,000 acres and 0 containment. Wind conditions and low visibility at the moment making it very tough on First Responders right now, craig, there are no reports of any injuries but several areas are under mandatory evacuation a nearby casino river rock was evacuated last night and im told firefighters have been spraying it down in case an ember gets lifted from the swirling winds we know that the states largest utility, pg e, preemptively shut down power yesterday to large portions of sonoma this appears to be near such a shutoff region but the maps have not always been accurate i learned people downtown in santa rosa, 20 or 30 miles away, see the flames of this fire, a harrowing reminder of the tubbs fire in 2017 that came roaring down hillsides, jumped a highway and devastated coffey park. We hope firefighters can get a handle on that soon. Mark zuckerberg was on capitol hill yesterday where he faced tough questions about the social networks face checking policy nbcs Business Correspondent jo ling kent was there for that. Reporter Mark Zuckerberg came to capitol hill to defend his attempt to get into cryptocurrency, call lra what ended up happening is he faced a Skeptical Congress with a long list of problems. Mark zuckerberg feeling the heat on capitol hill. Why should American Voters trust facebook Going Forward reporter the facebook founder grilled for six hours by lawmakers. Have you learned that you should not lie reporter the billionaire ceo trying to convince members of congress that facebooks attempt to start a Digital Currency called libra similar to bit coin is a good idea. Im sure there are a lot of people who wish it was anyone but facebook helping to propose this. Reporter both sides of the aisle pouncing. Youre creating a whole new currency that could potentially be anonymous and hide all types of criminal activity, a huge concern to the safety of americans. Reporter zuckerberg admitting facebook has a ways to go to win over doubters. I understand that we have work to build trust on this. Reporter but it was this Testy Exchange that raised the most eyebrows, alexandria ocasiocortez hammering zuckerbergs recent decision to not fact check political ads do you see a problem here with no Fact Checking on political advertisements congresswoman, i think lying is bad, if you run an ad with a lie, that would be bad. You wont take down lies, or you will simple yes or no reporter zuckerberg defended the policy with lester holt. I believe that it is important for people to be able to hear and see what politicians are saying that speech will be heavily scrutinized other journalists and other people reporter zuckerberg did promise, too, that he will not make that Cryptocurrency Libra available until all u. S. Regulators approve it but zuckerberg is not out of the woods yet. He now faces 47 state attorneys general who are launching their own antitrust investigations into facebook. Hoda jo ling kent, thank you. Elijah cummings will lie in state at the u. S. Capitol today, a celebration of life ceremony was held for cummings at Morgan State University in baltimore on wednesday. He died last week at the age of 68 due to complications from long Standing Health issues. Today, cummings body will lie in the National Statuary hall, a formal ceremony open to members of congress, the Cummings Family and invited guests will be held this morning followed by a public viewing. Now to heart stopping moments in phoenix involving a red light runner and a family crossing the street with a stroller this frightening close call was captured by a Traffic Camera so watch this. The family starts to cross the street, moments later you can see an suv speeding through the red light. But another car comes out of nowhere, slams into that red light runner at the last possible second, literally saving that family Phoenix Police tweeted out the video calling the car an angel in the form of a chevy cruze the driver was arrested on dui charges. That is an angel. Never seen anything like that how about we talk baseball for a moment i thought you might want to. Game two of the world series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals. The pitcher catcher combination has been clicking. Heres one hammered into left. Off the bat and gone nationals catcher kurt suzuki breaking that 22 tie with a long ball over the wall, and washington would never look back, went on to win 123. 123. 123. The bats were ringing, look at that. Whats that theyre in the drivers seat, is that what that is . I have not seen that until this moment. They win two in houston and come back to washington now. Now the astros did have something to cheer about lets talk about what happened before the game. Olympic gymnast simone biles asked to throw out that first pitch. Does it like nobody else can ready, get it girl, perfect flip, then she throws the ball, and it is a it was a strike. Of course it was a strike. Perfect tens all the way around. Look how little she is. So teeny when shes up against those baseball players. How about we check on the forecast right now mr. Roker is standing by weve got different stuff happening today, starting out west, you can see golden, colorado massive snowstorm going on right now, folks stranded, i70 getting closed off, a real mess out there and more on the way. Lets show you whats happening and this is why were going to see such a volatile situation. Weve got a tropical disturbance in the gulf. Whats that mean for the weather . Its going to push up all this moisture, opening up all the spigots, tropical moisture coming into the system, snow in colorado, heavy thunderstorms down in oklahoma, this system dives down to the south. As it does it brings heavy snow from colorado into the texas panhandle. The good news is, that heavy rain will bring drought relief for texas. Tomorrow, heavy rain, potential flooding along the gulf coast, unseasonably cool temperatures, saturday it pushes up into the Mississippi River valley bringing heavy rain and the possibility of flooding and then sunday, up and down the eastern seaboard, heavy rain, possible rain delays and travel problems, three to four inches of rain with rainfall rates up to two inches per hour into the Mississippi River valley in the northeast, a little bit less rain, maybe an inch or so, and back to the west, snowfall, talking in the texas panhandle, upwards of eight inches of snow, lighter amounts back into the rockies, getting to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds teetime savers. And especially med d savers. Select a Medicare Part d plan with