Today, monday, july 18th, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is a special edition of today at the Republican National convention with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from cleveland. Thats right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a monday morning from cleveland, ohio. Were just down the road, just at the end of the block here from the q as they call it here. The quicken loans arena. Site of the Republican National convention on a rainy morning here in cleveland. You can see some rain behind us. It is not dampening it for the thousands of delegates. Theyre here for the fourday party leading to the formal nomination of deadly intent Donald Trumps official nomination. Its a big day that well follow here. Were also following the other big story down in baton rouge, louisiana. The shooter has now been identified as gavin long. Hes a former marine whose 29th birthday was sunday, the day of this attack. Police initially arrived at the scene after a 911 call about a man carrying a gun. Investigators are now saying the tipster was an accomplice to the attacker. Gabe gutierrez joins us in baton rouge, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. This is where police say it all happened where police say someone called of someone armed with a rifle. When police responded, the shooting started. Investigators are now pouring over the gunmans twisted digital history. Shots fired. Officer down. Shotted fires. Officer down. Got a city officer down. Shots fired. Reporter this morning baton rouge is grieving as we learn the identities of the officers shot down. Bradsheriffs deputy. Matthew gerald and montrell jackson. Jackson posted his feelings about being a Police Officer in baton rouge. I love this city but i wonder if the city loves me. In uniform i get nasty looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. Ive experienced so much in my short life and these last three days have tested me to the core. He said if anyone sees me and you need a hug and prayer, come talk to me. Reporter Police Received reports of a man dressed in black wearing a mask and olding an ar15 Assault Rifle at a gas station. When officers arrived, the gunman opened fire. Shots fired. Shots fired. Reporter this Morning Police say the gunman did not lure police by that phone call but carried out the ambush after a member of the public called 911. The lone gunman is gavin long, shot dead at the scene on his 29th birthday. On july 8th, long posted a message about warriors on his youtube page. Unclear if its related to shootings this weekend. The man knew he couldnt go home. Either he killed his enemy or he died. Reporter was this an ambush . We believe the individual that targeted these Police Officers was specifically targeting Police Officers. This comes two weeks after the shooting death of alton sterling by Baton Rouge Police and the killing of philando castile. Attacks on police are an attack on all of us. Reporter Alton Sterlings aunt making an impassioned plea for peace. We dont want no more bloodshed. Stop this killing. Stop this killing. Reporter a sheriffs deputy this morning is said to be fighting for his life in Critical Condition after being shot in the head and torso. The other two wounded officers are recovering from nonlife threatening injuries. Matt and savannah . Gabe gutierrez in baton rouge for us. Thank you. The gunman was a former marine sergeant. He was very active on social media. Nbc justice correspondent Pete Williams has more on what were learning about him. Pete, good morning. Witnesses say they thought officers were involved in the shooting but Law Enforcement officials now say they believe gavin eugene long acted alone. Overnight police and federal agents searched his house in kansas city, missouri, and now scouring his computers and Electronic Media for anything that would shed light on a motive. Witnesses say a man inside that house with the gun was taken into custody. Long had training with weapons. He served five years in the u. S. Marine corps as a computer specialist and was deployed to iraq for six months in 2008. On a website where he called himself cosmo, he described himself as a freedom strategist, mental game coach and nutritionist but last week he apparently posted a twitter message violence is not the answer, its a answer. At what point do you stand up so your people dont become the native americans, extinct. He said protest isnt enough and people have to fight back. He was also part of an offshoot of a moment called sovereign citizens who dont recognize the authority of federal government or state or local government either. Most followers are nonviolent. There have been deadly clashes with police in the past. Matt, savannah . All right, Pete Williams, thank you very much. That shooting and other violence across the country and around the world have heightened security concerns here in cleveland as this Convention Kicks off today. Well talk to Donald TrumpsCampaign Chairman and we have this convention covered from every angle beginning with Peter Alexander. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Layers of security just to get here to the arena. 5,500 Law Enforcement officers. Some from as far away from california. All coordinated by the secret service. Law and order in effect is going to take the floor here at this Republican Convention. In the wake of those shootings in baton rouge, donald trump said this country is divided and out of control and the theme for the first day here, make america safe again. With the curtain set to open inside on cleveland streets an unprecedented show of force including lastminute security changes in the wake of recent attacks. Responding to the violence in baton rouge and president obamas comments condemning it, donald trump again on the attack arguing the president doesnt have a clue. Adding our country is a divided crime scene and it will only get worse. Hillary clinton calling the shootings targeting officers an assault on all of us. The head of clevelands police union urging the governor to declare a state of emergency. Governor kasichs office insisting no can do. All of it the backdrop to an unpredictable convention with a gop ticket trying to show a united front on 60 minutes. Trump slammed clinton for supporting the iraq war insisting mike pences vote for it doesnt matter. Your running mate voted for it. I dont care. What do you mean you dont care that he voted . Its a long time ago. Hes entitled to make a mistake every once in a while. Reporter trump making clear hell be the attack dog if pence prefers to stay away from insults. Shes crooked hillary. He shouldnt do it. Its different for him. Hes not that kind of a person. Were different people. Donald trump, this good man, i believe will be a great president of the United States. I love what he just said. Reporter true to form, trump concluding his vp rollout focusing on himself. I won in a landslide. This wasnt close. Reporter before introducing pence and leaving him on stage alone. This weeks convention lineup has many republicans staying away. There will be two soap opera stars and five trumps. Besides the candidate himself. Among those actors speaking today, scott baio and Antonio Stefan jr. And mike flynn once considered a vp pick with trump. And headliner, mill ana trump. We began by asking about that 60 minutes interview last night and all the things trump and pence disagreed on. They dont disagree on all of those issues. First of all, i remember when Ronald Reagan picked george bush and that relationship ended up with two president s. More fundamentally as far as governor pence and donald trump are concerned, on a number of issues its margins. Its not disagreement on issues. Donald trump says he was against the war in iraq from the very beginning. Governor pence voted for that war. The real problem is when obama became president and obama and clinton withdrew troops without plan for iraq which allowed for isis to grow. Thats the fundamental problem in iraq and middle east right now and destabilizing everything and thats attributed to clintons years as secretary of state and obamas presidency. Can we talk about the process itself . A lot watched the process of picking the Vice President. Its the first president ial level Decision Making process. There are multiple reports that donald trump wavered until the last minute hoping to have chance to pick someone else. Thats because nobody wants to believe donald trump when donald trump does something. I was the one he was talking to. I know what was going on. He picked governor pence out of a process because he thought his record as governor was the record he needed in washington. Pence says he got the call from trump to be his vp wednesday night. On took it upon himself to call into tv shows, cable shows and says i havent made a final decision and he was also reportedly calling the other contenders saying i havent made a decision. Donald trump called saying that because he hadnt announced his final decision yet. The only thing that happened was that untruthful . It wasnt a true statement . The only thing going on thursday night was he was so upset by what happened in nice and the carnage that he saw on tv, that he called me and said we cannot announce our Vice President tomorrow. This is just not appropriate. He did announce him at 11 00 a. M. Via twitter. Well, im talking about the event that were going to doing a formal event announcing him, and so the only conversations that were going on were between he and i in between an event he was doing in california and getting on a plane and flying back and then the conversations totally focused on how do we move from friday to saturday. Thats it. Big victory for this campaign over the last couple of days. The rules committee basically shut down this vote your Conscience Movement to delegates cannot abandon trump on the floor of the convention. Doesnt mean they cant make a lot of noise in the streets of cleveland. You have that in optics and you have key republicans who are simply not going to show up. Most notably the sitting republican host governor of ohio, john kasich. How do you deal with those optics coming out of cleveland . First of all, you identify it correctly. There are very few delegates in the convention who are part of the never trump movement. Its very small. They were elected for other candidates and their passion hasnt left them yet. Most delegates in the hall will be for donald trump and youll see that. The people who are outside of the hall, those are paid people for the most part. This is not spontaneous volunteers coming here to hang out in cleveland. Many of them are being paid, and theyre here to make mischief. Thats true at the democratic convention, too. Ill be surprised if it has any impact at all. As far as people not at the convention, there are more people are at the convention. There were 16 candidates running. Most of them will have a presence at this convention including all of the finalists except for kasich who frankly was invited to participate. I cant answer for it. It makes no sense. Hes embarrassing the state, frankly. But the party is going to be unified, well come out of the convention a strong team. Selection of mike pence has brought the party together. Were going to come out of the Convention Even in the polls and well come out of the convention ahead in the polls. Good to have you with us in cleveland. Good luck this week. Thank you. Take care. Our conversation a bit earlier. Lets bring in two people. Chuck todd on my right. Nicole wallace on the left. Which is not actually a sign of anything at all. Chuck, let me start with you. Lets set the table for this convention. There are a few big moments in a president ial campaign. The convention is one. Do you have high hopes . Im interested to see. Look, this is a jittery nation, jittery party. Trump has two things, two opportunities, and i think two charges. Opportunity is this is four days to reassure the country that he can be this guy. All this uncertainty thats out there, youre unsettled and you feel insecure, this is his opportunity to do that. The other thing hes got to do is reassure republicans he can win. I cant tell you how many professional republicans that are already in town that are so depressed and think its already over. Hes got work to do just to make them come out of this going, oh, the party can win. Lets talk about the kinds of things well hear from the podium over the next four days in the wake of shooting of Police Officers in baton rouge and dallas. The president spoke out and basically said, look, we have got to turn down the inflammatory rhetoric. In the same time period you have donald trump calling the president clueless and saying the nation is a divided crime scene. Are we going to hear more of that in the Convention Hall behind us . Absolutely. I agree with the two nations. I dont think trump will go far to soothe the jittery nation but i do think he has a chance to bring out that jittery party. The decision of pence really does send a signal he was acutely aware of the need to signal that hes a republican. Jeb bush did an interview last week where he said the conservative movement is dead. Donald trump is trying to breathe life in it and reassure the people gathered in cleveland this week. This week. You mentioned governor pence. On substance, a choice that republicans are happy with. In terms of process and the rollout, the reports that trump was vacillating until the end and then the bizarre speech and rollout on saturday, what do you make of it . Were going to say this a lot. Missed opportunity. Its the nicest way to put it. How did they blow this . This is not a hard thing to blow and they have totally blown it. Im still just stunned that they have yet to campaign together. This is crazy. Do you want to defend them . The interview last night was uncomfortable to watch in a modern age. The dynamic between them is lacking because there is no dynamic between them yet. They barely know each other. I was asked to give a grade last night. A t for trumplike. I guess this is how trump rolls. Its chaos. Its mayhem. We disagree but i think this convention will help trump. I think hell come out of this ahead or even in the polls. A boost in the polls . I just think its impossible to get a bump out of conventions anymore when you have them back to back. Theres no time even if its a Great Convention for him, democrats immediately start there. I think it mutes it. I think theres no movement after this. You wouldnt give it a t for trump . Ill give it a t for trump. Vp rollout any hint of how this is going to go, the republican jitters may be worse. Lets not prejudge. Well have more from here in cleveland just ahead. By the way, you can catch live coverage of the convention tonight 10 00 eastern, 7 00 pacific right here on nbc. We got an email this morning from our friend al roker that said going to rain, guys. Baton down the hatches. Whats it looking like . We may see a few more scattered showers and thunderstorms. I worked here for five years. I love the city of cleveland. 1978 to 1983. East 4th street is restaurant row. Gorgeous. Lets show you whats going on right now. We do have again some Severe Weather to talk about. You can see the line of showers and thunderstorms stretching from buffalo back on into Central Indiana and on into Central Illinois as well. We do have a risk of strong storms. 21 Million People at risk for Severe Weather, damaging winds, heavy rain likely as this pushes to the east. What youre going to be seeing later today for cleveland for rnc for first day, sunny breaks. Chance of storms by the afternoon and by evening we are looking at chamber of commerce weather tonight right on through the rest of the convention. Thats whats going on. Well get to your local forecast good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Now its 59 degrees in the east bay. We see a lot of clouds pretty much everywhere as you head out the door. At least temperatures are nice and cool. Well stay there, especially in San Francisco as we go through the day. A high of 65s expected there. Up to 76 degrees in the north bay. We will have some sunshine and 70 degree in the east bay. 75 in the peninsula. The south bay and the trivalley will reach into the low 80s today and cooler weather as we head into tonight. A little cleveland history for you. Thats the arcade. Built in 1888. The first enclosed Shopping Mall in the United States. Want to do a little shopping, nice little place to go. Thank you for the tip. Coming up, well have a lot more on that ambushstyle attack on Police Officers in baton rouge and the trail of disturbing social media posts left by the killer. Politics, passion and the police. What you can expect over the next four days here in cleveland at the Republican National convention. Is the city ready . Well talk to the mayor. First, this is today on nbc. Just ahead on a monday morning, Donald Trumps wife taking center stage at the convention tonight. Convention tonight. whispering what are you doing up . whispering mom said i could have a midnight snack. Well, i say its late, and you need to go to bed. Why . Because i am the boss. Youre not the boss, moms the boss. Well, technically, we are cobosses. Technically, moms the boss. Mmmm. Shhh. The family favorite. Yoplait. Wish you could nourish your hair dove oxygen moisturelat . With oxygen fused