At least four people killed. Hundreds of thousands without power this morning. Damage everywhere you look in the city of houston. Schools and businesses shut down. A live report and where that mess is headed next. Chaos in congress. A latenight hearing gets nasty and petty, set off by this remark from Marjorie Taylor greene. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up hold on, listen. And it goes downhill from there. How dare you express the physical appearance of another person. Are your feelings hurt . Oh, girl, baby girl. Oh, really . Dont even play. Just ahead how that ugly incident ended. And the question at the center of the hearing tied to the release of audio of President Bidens interview with the special counsel. Where that stands just ahead. And in sight, Donald Trumps hush money trial moving toward closing arguments after a tense showdown in court. The former president s attorney clashing with key witness, Michael Cohen, accusing him of lying on the stand. The latest and how soon that case could be in the hands of the jury. Money milestone. The dow crosses 40,000 for the first time ever. But with prices still soaring, what does it really mean for you and your wallet . Kansas city kicker harrison boettger. My life didnt start when i married my husband. Women inside all that plus flipping out. Simone biles had to take the next step in her journey to the paris olympics. Featuring two all around gold Medal Winners. A first ever for gymnastics. And were there live. And saddle up Lainey Wilson. Lainey wilson wins big at the academy of Country Music awards, taking female artist and entertainer of the year, a night filled with music, stars, and epic performances. And weve got all the highlights today. Friday, may 17, 2024. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb. From studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today. It is friday morning and it feels so good. Feels so good. Everyone rooting for Lainey Wilson. We are going to see lainey outside. She did so well. Artist of the year. Entertainer of the year. What a night. Well have the highlights. Take a look. This is a live shot from houston this morning, really hit hard by those powerful storms overnight. Officials were saying at least four people were killed. Houstons mayor was saying the city was hit by hurricanestrength winds up to 100 miles an hour. Nonessential workers have been asked to stay home today. Schools closed across houston. Millions are facing this weather today. This weekend the storms head east. Lets get started. Priscilla thompson in position, in houston for us, after a very difficult night. Priscilla, good morning. Savanna, good morning. It was a scary night for folks across southeast texas, as those severe thunderstorms rolled in. Were in downtown houston, parts of which look like a disaster zone this morning. Take a look at this building behind me. As you can see, the entire side facade has crumbled. And this is just some of the damage that people are waking up to today. Parts of texas and louisiana underwater this morning after an intense night of storms left communities drenched and claimed the lives of at least four people in the houston area. In east texas, the river reached major flood stage, spilling into surrounding areas. High winds toppling trees and damaging downtown skyscrapers, while knocking out power to more than 800,000 homes in houston. The rain even coming through the roof during an astros game at minute maid park. More than 20 Million People were impacted by the wet weather overnight. And with the soil saturated and rivers bursting in many areas, after weeks of relentless downpours, the latest rain has nowhere to go. Forcing some, like angie yarborough, to pack up the only home shes ever known. I cried and cried and cried about it. Its heartbreaking. Some 48 years ive been down here. And i cant i cant fight it anymore. I cant i cant do it. Reporter the threat prompting a rare high risk excessive rainfall warning from the National Weather service. Its quick but heavy downpours. Reporter from east texas to western louisiana. Houston mayor John Whitmire sending out this urgent plea. Stay at home tonight. Stay at home tomorrow so we have an opportunity to go into full recovery mode. Reporter residents in hardhit communities now wondering what comes next. What does the next couple of months look like in terms of trying to get back on track. We dont know. Reporter unfortunately this bad weather isnt over just yet. This storm is now moving east with millions at risk in louisiana, mississippi, and alabama. And parts of the gulf coast could see as much as a foot of rain by saturday. Savannah . Priscilla thompson leading us off in houston. Thank you. Dylan has more on where this is headed. Good morning, guys. It is moving east. We will get some reprieve in houston. I want to point out the temperatures. So many folks without power in the houston area, were going to see exceptional heat with your heat index values up near 100 degrees on saturday, sunday. Even on monday it will feel like 95. Hopefully we can get the power back on because air conditioning is a must. Heres where the storms are moving right now. You can see theyre just racing along the gulf coast. Well see another round redevelop today. We do have flood watches in effect for areas across louisiana, into mississippi, alabama, the panhandle of florida. We do have a chance of stronger storms today. However, not as strong as yesterday. Isolated tornados are possible, but its really wind gusts up to 50, 60 Miles Per Hour and large hail. That will be for this afternoon. Tomorrow, that threat pushes across northern florida through georgia into the carolinas too. Not a widespread risk of severe storms, but we could see large hail and damaging wind gusts. Sorry. Muscle memory. Dylan, thank you so much. A high profile case involving President Biden back in the spotlight. The white house invoking executive privilege over audio recordings from the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents. Well, the fallout from that led to some fireworks on capitol hill overnight. Nbcs chief White House CorrespondentPeter Alexander joins us with the details. Peter, good morning. Reporter good morning. Fireworks may be an understaumt here. This thing got ugly quickly, petty and personal. What was supposed to be all about the written transcript of President Bidens interview with the special counsel has been out since march. We already know what the president said. What we do not know is how the president said it. For their part, House Republicans have been pushing to get those audio recordings, arguing the white house is trying to protect the president politically. Chaos on capitol hill overnight. Order. Reporter a hearing about the justice departments handling of President Bidens special counsel interview devolving into personal attacks and shouting. Youre not youre not you dont have enough intelligence. The chair recognizes mr. Perry. Move to strike i move to strike. I move to strike order. Reporter the opening insult coming from far right republican Marjorie Taylor greene, attacking democratic congresswoman jasmine crockett. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up your vision. Hold on, hold on. Order. Mr. Chairman regain order of your committee. Reporter democrat alexandria ocasiocortez coming to crocketts defense. That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person. Are your feelings hurt . Move her words down. Oh, girl, baby girl. Oh, really . Dont even play. Crockett eventually hitting back. Im just curious, just to better understand your ruling, if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebodys bleach blonde bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct . A what now . Reporter the contentious hearing was called as the gops push to hold attorney general Merrick Garland in contempt of congress. Earlier yesterday, President Biden asserted executive privilege to deny House Republicans the recording. Garland had recommended that, warning the recordings released would damage future Law Enforcement efforts. The special counsel who interviewed the president as part of an investigation into classified documents discovered at mr. Bidens delaware home and at an office space, found the president did nothing legally wrong. But in his report referred to the president as a wellmeaning elderly man with a poor memory. The white house counsel, in a letter to House Republicans, say they only want the recordings released to, quote, chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes. House Speaker Mike Johnson accused the white house of being afraid for americans to hear the president on those recordings. We should note the news organizations, including nbc, are part of a lawsuit seeking the release of the audio under the freedom of information act. Peter with the real housewives of capitol hill. Thank you very much, peter. The end is in sight at former president trumps hush money trial. The judge telling both sides to prepare for closing arguments after a day of tense examination of Michael Cohen. Trumps attorneys trying to paint him as a spurned former employee looking for payback. Laura jarrett has been on this story since the beginning. Michael cohen has been nearly unflappable on the witness stand, as the defense tries to show the jury hes changed his story big and small. The word lie used in court more than 50 times. This jury may not remember every attack line, but the defense only needs one person not to buy his story. This morning Donald Trumps hush money cover up trial inching toward a final conclusion after a bruising crossexamination of his former fixer, Michael Cohen. The defense team trying to portray him as a serial liar, someone whos misled congress, prosecutors, a federal judge, and now this jury. Todd blanche digging in to a piece of cohens testimony from earlier this week where he said he informed mr. Trump by phone in october 2016 that his payoff of Stormy Daniels would be handled. Cohen told the jury he called mr. Trumps body card who passen for the october call, that schiller was helping cohen cope wi the phone to the former president. Blanch raising his voice thursday saying, that was a lie. The jury shown never before seen Text Messages suggesting a completely different explanation for the october call, that shiller was helping cohen cope with a teenage prankster at the same time, blanch returning to a log showing the call in question lasted less than two minutes. Cohen appearing caught off guard saying, i believe i also spoke to president and told him everything regards the Stormy Daniels matter. Blanche shooting back. We are not asking what you believe. This jury does not want to hear what you think happened. Cohen then later saying, i dont recall telephone calls on a specific date going back to 2016. It was a fascinating day. Reporter nearly all of the cross exam this week focused on cohens credibility, as he is the one who paid Stormy Daniels 130,000 on the eve of the 2016 election. And the only witness who has testified the former president directed cohen to do it to protect the campaign, which mr. Trump denies. Cohens motive for lying about that now, according to the defense, payback. His own words on podcasts episodes played for the jury. Revenge is a dish best served cold and you Better Believe i want this man to go down and rot inside for what he do me and my family. So, different Michael Cohen on the podcast than what jurors are seeing on the witnessen stand now. Lets go back to this phone call. The defense obviously believes they caught Michael Cohen live and direct lying on the witness stand to the jury. How big a deal is that . What relevance does it have for the case . The states case doesnt rest and fall with this entire phone call. He says he had a number of phone calls and meetings with the former president. The problem is now theyve given the defense ammunition to say on closing arguments if he lied about that phone call, ladies and gentlemen, you heard him on the stand. He cant quite be sure. If he cant be sure about that, what else can he not be sure about . Thats what theyve given him is that ammunition for the closing arguments. He lied right in court to your face. Is responding to a report in the New York Times in 2021 he had an American Flag hanging upside outside his home. Acco to your face. Supreme Court Justice samuel alito is responding this morning to a report to the New York Times that in 2021 he had an American Flag hanging upsidedown outside his home. According to the report, this was the photo taken on january 17, 2021. The upsidedown flag was a symbol associated with former president trumps false claims of election fraud. During the january 6th attack at the capitol, dozens of rioters were carrying similarly inverted flags. Alito said this, i had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was briefly placed by mrs. Alito in response to a neighbors use of objectionable and personally insulting usage on yard signs. The times record is raising concerns about alitos impartiality. We move now to middle east, the war in gaza. This morning israel says its military is preparing to send more troops into the Southern City of rafah. In the meantime, the first shipment of humanitarian aid using a temporary pier put in place by american troops, that aid arrived in gaza overnight. Richard engel is watching it for us. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. The u. S. Military maritime aid corridor has opened. And while defense secretary austin has acknowledged that u. S. Troops will not be going ashore, they will be in harms way and have the right and means to defend themselves. With an american pier now anchored off the coast of the gaza strip, u. S. Central command said this morning that trucks contain containing humanitarian assistance began moving ashore in gaza but that no american troops set foot on the ground. The aid is being shuttled from the pier to the coast in trucks, on landing craft. American troops remaining on the pier. The Israeli Military is coordinating the effort and has land, with trucks. But convoys are increasingly being blocked, and secured the landing area. Humanitarian groups say there are faster, more efficient ways to send supplies into gaza, by land, with trucks. But convoys are increasingly being blocked and sometimes attacked by Israeli Settlers and extremists. They say, as long as hamas holds hostages, gaza should not receive aid. Some of the trucks come from neighboring jordan, and senior jordanian officials tell nbc news that the israeli army has failed to address the problem. In gaza, palestinian american doctor adam says aid of all kinds is urgently needed in rafah in southern gaza, where hes volunteering. When we talk about civilian population, specifically the children who are really innocent. I see little kids running around that are basically skin and bones. Food becomes an issue where everyone is basically having a minimal meal a day if anything. Reporter the u. N. Says more than 630,000 palestinians have been forced to flee from rafah since israel intensified military operations in the city a week ago, despite warnings from President Biden of the risk of civilian casualties. Israels defense minister said more troops are heading into rafah and that theyre, quote, wearing hamas down. The u. S. Military expects to deliver around 90 trucks per day from the pier with the number growing to 150, as operations move forward. Savannah . Richard, thank you. 7 17. Lets say good morning to craig. Were talking economy. We are. Good morning, good morning to you as well. Concerns over inflation and consumer prices, theres been an encouraging sign for the economy on wall street. The dow made history yesterday. It briefly crossed the 40,000 threshold for the first time ever. Weve also seen nasdaq and s p set records this week as well. What does it all mean for your wallet . Christian will mans is nbcs Senior Business correspondent. Good friday morning to you. The milestone, big deal or purely symbolic. These nice round numbers are a time to look at whats happening. Companies are doing very fine. Theyre doing very, very well. Remember, wall street and stock markets, these reflect how companies are doing, how theyre earning, what their prospects are. Companies are doing great. Their profits are strong. Theyve passed the higher costs on to you and me, right, and only recently have we started to balk at that. Youve got companies doing great and thats reflected in the stock market. What about 401ks. Companies are doing well. If you have a 401k, maybe youre doing better too. You are. Most of us have stocks in the portfolio reflect s p 500, its up 29 over the past year. It has doubled over five years. So, this is the case for the boring investor. We talk about mean stocks, ipos. If you just buy boring stocks and hold them and look at your 401k twice a year, you are making a lot of money as ain investor. 70 million of us have 401ks. There are a lot of americans this is their retirement nest egg. We worried about a recession that didnt happen. We had a pandemic and we worry about inflati