Those stories, plus, secrets out a shocker from the business world. Victorias secret sold for a fraction of what it was once worth. Highway hero the new mom who helped rescue a truck driver caught in that fiery crash and saved his life and the boys are back in town the kpop stars bts are here bts just dropped new music, where . On our plaza and the crowd goes wild. Today, friday, february 21st, 2020 announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza good morning, everybody. Welcome to today. Thank you for being with us on a friday morning we say hello to you, and 1,000 of our closest friends here for bts. Theyre watching new music on our plaza. It just dropped. They just dropped that music video, yall i dont know if you know how popular this group is. Listen to this twitter, 23. 9 million followers. Instagram, 22. 5. Youtube, 25. 3 million. They are on our plaza. People have been lining up for days sleeping out there. I must say, a very cold night here in new york city. Well have that. We have a lot to get to. Including this report sending shock waves through washington this morning here it is that the intelligence officials warned a group of house lawmakers that russia was trying to interfere in the u. S. Election this year, with the goal to help reelect President Trump. Now, the New York Times reporting that President Trump was so angered by that briefing, that is what actually may have cost a key intelligence official, the director of National Intelligence, his job all of this upheaval, of course, comes one day before the nevada caucus for the democrats we have complete coverage this morning. Well start with Peter Alexander on this breaking story out of washington peter, good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. The president s response abruptly forcing out the nations spy chief, causing serious concern within the Intelligence Community one official telling nbc news, that the office of the director of National Intelligence, that oversees the cia and 16 other agencies, is, quote, nearing a meltdown all of it the fallout after a recent briefing that russia is at it again with plans to try to tip the upcoming 2020 election in the president s favor this morning, new revelations that u. S. Intelligence officials warned lawmakers about russian efforts to interfere in the 2020 election, to help reelect President Trump that according to a former intelligence official briefed on the matter the news first reported by the New York Times. The briefing infuriated the president , who, according to the times, fumed about the briefing in the presence of adam schiff the democrat who spearheaded the impeachment effort against him schiff, a frequent target for President Trump. These people are vicious. Adam schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Reporter the Washington Post reports, according to people familiar with the matter, that the president was angry with his acting director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, and gave him a dressing down over what the president perceived as disloyalty from the staff. He thought the information was given exclusively to schiff and it could be used against him by democrats. All of it, a senior official, costing maguire his job. He has been replaced by richard grenell, a fierce trump advocate with no intelligence experience the president overnigh thanking grenell in a tweet, adding he will be nominating a new candidate for the job soon President Trump hints he is prepared to pardon a key figure in the 2016 russia investigation. His longtime friend and forme adviser, roger stone i want to see it play out to its fullest. Roger has a very good chance of exoneration, in my opinion reporter those comment hours after a federal judge sentenced stone to more than three years in prison, for witness tampering and lying to congress judge amy bermen jackson praising the prosecution saying the case against stone was not political. Quote, you were not prosecuted for standing up for the president , the judge said. You were prosecuted for covering up for the president this morning, some of the president s advisers it will tef President Trump decides to pardon stone, they want him to wait until after the election so he doesnt risk turning off undecided voters in key swing states lets go back to whats happening in the intelligence committee. And the president has indicated who he is considering to be the permanent director of National Intelligence can you tell us about that reporter the president aboard air force one overnight telling reports he is considering georgia congressman doug collins as his permanent spy chief. He was one of the loudest and fiercest republican defenders in the impeachment hearings collins is speaking out, saying he is not interested in the job, and he would not accept it because he is currently running for a seat in the u. S. Senate. Back to you. Peter alexander leading us off. Thank you. Were just hours away from a nevada caucus. The state is desperate to avoid a repeat of the problems in iowa and in the meantime, Michael Bloomberg is looking to turn things around after, shall we say, a lessthanstellar debate debut. Andrea mitchell has more on that andrea, good morning reporter good morning, savannah here in nevada, volunteers have been training with software to calculate the vote they ditched the app that caused a debacle in iowa and are hoping to avoid it here the other question is, how did that fiery debate here in las vegas the other night affect the race for the first time in nevada, there was early voting this week more than 77,000 people showed up to cast paper ballots more than half firsttime voters those ballots will be added to the caucus voters tomorrow nevadas democrats hoping to avoid the chaos that unfolded in iowa the party deploying a caucus calculator, with volunteers using ipaipads and a googlebasd software to count the ballots tomorrow not on any ballot here, Mike Bloomberg. The billionaire trying to regroup, after taking a bruising in wednesdays contentious las vegas debate the former new york mayor suggesting the onstage fighting only helped the president. How was your night last night . The real winner in the debate last night was donald trump. Reporter overnight, Elizabeth Warren ramping up her attack on bloomberg, over his alleged history of sexist remarks. Again calling on him to release women from nondisclosure agreements i used to teach contract law and i thought i would make this easy i wrote up a release and covenant not to sue. And all that mayor bloomberg has to do is download it ill text it and then the women or men will be free to speak and tell their own stories reporter but with bloomberg spending 7 million a day on political ads, and Bernie Sanders leading several National Polls, the other candidates are hoping to slow their momentum before super tuesday in less than two weeks, when 14 states vote the top prize, california, with 416 delegates. A new Monmouth University poll, showing Bernie Sanders with a big advantage in the state and joe biden, no longer with the status of frontrunner, perhaps with the most to prove here in nevada, its a caucus. Weve seen what happened in iowa how confident are you that they can do it better im not im hoping they can do it better for example, theres been a lot of early voting. People waiting in lines, im told, up to four hours in some cases to vote. You walk in, i dont think people know how it works nevada is tomorrow after the South Carolina, and a lot of people are observing that, for the first time, youll see the electorate full of africanamerican voters an latino voters. I know you have a new poll about that very issue. Reporter we do, indeed its a National Poll its an nbc news wall street journal poll out this morning it shows that Bernie Sanders has gained significant ground with africanamericans across the country on joe biden just barely behind joe biden now. That could be significant in South Carolina, where africanamerican voters make up 60 of the democratic primary voters the same poll shows that Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg who had strong showings in p predominantly white new hampshire, and were hoping to gain some steam entering into the more diverse states, such as nevada and South Carolina, next week, they barely make inroads with minority voters Going Forward. It shows a strong showing for sanders and could spell trouble for joe biden in South Carolina, who is really counting on a big win there. A key sign of things to come. Andrea, thank you very much. Craig joins the table. An update on the coronavirus that involves a lot of panic hoda, savannah, good morning. Good morning to you, as well as worries of an epidemic spread across the globe, the panic has taken a violent turn in ukraine. Protesters are furious that evacjooneva evacuees from the epicenter of the outbreak, wuhan, china, are arriving on their doorstep Janis Mackey Frayer has the latest good morning to you. Reporter good morning. With more cases of coronavirus in other places outside china, singapore, even here in japan, there are mounting concerns about how easily the virus appears to be spreading. That fear turning violent in ukraine. This morning in ukraine, riots breaking out over coronavirus fears. Protesters furious that 70 ukrainians evacuated from chin are being allowed into the country, even though none are sick theres concerns of a wider outbreak in japan, where the diamond princess cruise ship is still under quarantine but hundreds of passengers are walking away, alarming experts who question a lack of controls on the ship that allowed the virus to spread so rapidly american passenger geri jorgensen, now in hospital, says she followed the rules and has no idea how she got infected it was very surprising because im never sick i havent had a cold or a flu in probably 30 years. Reporter with mounting concerns of a global pandemic, experts are looking to clusters of infection in south korea, singapore, and on the cruise ship here in japan south korea with more than 100 cases has now put a city under quarantine after 77 cases at a local church with restrictions crippling much of china, and schools still closed, hundreds of millions of kids are living largely indoors, with lessons done online and parents like david trying to juggle it all. Trying to stay healthy. And were trying to stay upbeat with our lives reporter tourism is feeling the impact, too. Some of asias biggest attractions, now relatively empty. In the heart of beijing, the temple of heaven closed down and deserted no one allowed at the great wall or at theme parks like Shanghai Disney even at tourist areas like tokyo, crowds appear thinner, with Chinese Tourists staying home and people here urged to take caution japanese officials are admitting theyre entering a new phase for containing the virus they had planned to keep the crew of the cruise ship onboard, under quarantine, along with people who had shared rooms with those testing positive for the virus. That plan has now changed. They announced today that everyone will come on to shore thats 1,000 people, including americans. They will be housed in a government facility and quarantined for the next couple of weeks craig . Janis mackey frayer, thank you. Yo yokohama, japan, for us. Another story were following this morning the idaho mother of two children, who have been missing since september, was arrested thursday in hawaii nbc national correspondent, miguel almaguer, has more on this story miguel, good morning reporter good morning. The search is on for the two missing children now, their mother, lori vallow is behind bars in Hawaii Police arresting vallow for refusing to turn over her children and tell investigators where they are overnight, police in hawaii, announcing the arrest of lori vallow, as officials investigate the disappearance of her two children last seen months ago are your children still alive . Reporter charges include two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children being in custody, i suspect, be put some kind of pressure on her to come up with some kind of an explanation reporter authorities looking for vallow to explain what happened to 7yearold Joshua Vallow and 17yearold tylee ryan last seen in their home in id o idaho. Police say the 47yearold mother misled authorities on her childrens whereabouts according to court documents, vallow used to live with her kids and previous husband, charles vallow, in arizona in july 2019, after the couples divorce, police say loris brother killed charles a new months later, vallow got remarried to chad, just weeks after his wife was found dead. Evidence led police to call her death suspicious vallow and her husband moved to eastern idaho, where her kids were last seen after extended family notified Law Enforcement they couldnt get in touch with the children, idaho investigators ordered the couple to bring the kids to police by the end of january last month, joshuas grandparents pleading for information. We love you j. J. And we love you tylee. Please come home reporter the couple ignored their pleas and later showed up in hawaii without the two kids the bizarre case growing more troubling, as family expressed concerns about the couples extremist religious views and their alleged involvement in the group focused on preparing for doomsday on wednesday, the attorney issued a statement, saying that lori daybell is a devoted mother we look forward to addressing the allegations once theyve moved beyond speculation and rumor. Vallows husband was not in custody. Law enforcement told nbc news vallow is being held in hawaii on a 5 million bail and does not yet have a kroucourt date shell have the opportunity to waive or fight her extradition to idaho a lawyer did not immediately response to our request for comment. Miguel, thank you this morning, a truck driver in indianapolis is lucky to be alive, after his tanker truck, filled with fuel, overturned on an interstate. Look at that burst into flames. Nbcs kathy park tells us how several Good Samaritans including a brandnew mom put their own lives at risk and pulled him to safety reporter stunned drivers on a busy indianapolis interstate capturing the fiery wreckage from all angles, as smoke and flames poured from an overturned semi, hauling 4,000 gallons of jet fuel massive amount of fire. Reporter investigators say the man driving lost control, hit a retaining wall, and split the tanker wide open two explosions triggered a massive fire ball, engulfing much of the ramp the driver barely getting out. He was standing near the truck when it exploded that caused injury to him. Reporter Holly Mcnally was leaving a nearby hospital after visiting her 4dayold baby boy in the nicu, when her week took another dramatic turn. I slowed up to see what was on fire, and it was an actual semi, a tanker as im looking, i see a man running out of it. Reporter she says the truck driver was in flames, and she took off running to help, along with two others. There was a fire. I said, we have got to go or were not going to make it 30 or 45 seconds after we got him off that ramp, that seconds explosion hit and we could feel it without question, the Good Samaritans saved that drivers Life Reporter this morning, the driver remains in critical condition, while the strangerturnedgoodsamaritan is now rooting for his recovery. I just left my baby that i brought into this world. And i didnt want to see a life go out of this world if i could do anything to help. Reporter kathy park, nbc news thats a remarkable mom moms are amazing. Had the baby 1 30 in the morning on monday. Wow and saved a life a few days later. Thats incredible. Our hearts are with the truck driver lets say good morning to al roker. Were going to get a check of the weekend forecast hey, hon hey, guys heres the deal. Its snowing in South Carolina and North Carolina we have nothing almost here in the northeast. A real mess with all kinds of snow, bringing upwards of 2 to 3 inches the good news for the carolinas, its moving away quickly its out of here and hugging the coast, around the cape and then gone the temperatures will be below average for a good portion of the southeast, into the midatlantic states. All the way to the northeast 8 degrees below average, for boston 46 in atlanta, thats 13 degrees cooler saturday, we start to see a warmup from denver all the way to chicago but the cold air from orlando, where it will be 68 to houston, 60 degrees the good news, well see a warmup into next week look at the temperatures by tuesday, charleston, 68 boston, youll be 53 on monday double nickels through tuesday for washington, d. C. And warming up to 64 in atlanta. Well get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. That was actually a professional headshot. Im sure thats it, yeah. I, uh, i think ive lost a few pounds recently too. Im actually doing a juice cleanse. Wait you dont. glass breaking gasp ah oh. with geico, the savings keep on going. Just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. Good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Take a look at this beautiful sunrise over palo alto this morning. Well enjoy more sunshine and temperatures reaching into the lo