He did not go over those areas one time. They went over them four times. The tsa standing by the agent. What should you expect the next time you take your kids to the airport . And rokerthon rolls on. It was boomer sooner in oklahoma. [ gunshot ] all right. Wildcat pride at northern michigan. The largest game of freeze tag. And al is planning more fun at his newest stop, with lots of volunteers to help him out, today, wednesday, march 29th, 2017. From nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. Weve been having a lot of fun with al this week. The weather is a very serious story this morning. It is breaking news this morning. Got a new round of violent storms spawning tornadoes, large hail and very high winds in texas. Nbcs Tammy Leitner is in dallas for us this morning. Tammy, take it away. Reporter good morning, matt. Overnight, a line of storms swept across texas and oklahoma, unleashing high winds and hail. This morning three Storm Chasers are dead who were documenting the storm. Overnight, golf ballsize hail, pelting parts of texas, forcing families like Christy Copeland and her children to scramble to find a safe place to weather the storm. We were going to a storm cellar. And as soon as we stopped, a huge shattered noise happened. And we looked. And my back windshield was busted out. And it got glass all over my kids. And hit my daughter in the back of the head. Reporter windshields were no match for the strong winds and hail pounding cars in west texas. The severe storms causing 2,000 people to lose power in the dallasft. Worth area. Heavy rains flooding roads in moore, oklahoma. While people facing the dangerous conditions shelter in place, these stunning pictures of violent tornadoes touching down in texas and oklahoma were captured by Storm Chasers who raced towards the danger to document it. The storm comes as three Storm Chasers were killed after their cars crashed into each other while pursuing a storm in west texas. The Weather Channel identifying two of the victims as Kelley Williamson and randy yarnall. Saying in part, kelley and randy were beloved members of the weather community. We are saddened by the loss and our deepest sympathies go out to the families and loved ones of all involved. The third storm chaser was corbin lee jaeger. Police say one of the vehicles ran a stop here. Back here, texas and oklahoma not out of danger yet. More storms expected this afternoon. Matt and savannah. Tammy, thank you very much. Lots to talk about with al who has his eyes on Severe Weather with his latest stop at the roker thon tour at the university of tennessee. Good morning. Good morning, guys. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Storm Chasers families, a terrible tragedy. Unfortunatel weather today. Already on the radar things very active, strong storms firing up from kansas down into texas and into the panhandle as well as this slowmoving system, this upperlevel low pushes east. So far today, weve got 20 Million People at risk for damaging winds, hail, and the best chance of tornados, missouri and arkansas. Tomorrow, its even worse. The risk the stronger tomorrow. 30 Million People at risk with a strong risk from nashville, tupelo, memphis, all the way down into central mississippi. Were looking at strong storms, tornadoes from kentucky into mississippi, as this system, this surface low pushes to the east, the storms will redevelop from missouri to louisiana. And tomorrow, the impacts will be the southeast into the midwest. Very strong storms. Moving into friday, we push into the northeast, and along the eastern seaboard. The storms wont be as strong. But we will see heavy downpours. Guys, a very volatile situation over the next 24 hours, as these systems push to the east. Back to you. Al, thanks very much. Well check back with you in a bit. Also this morning, President Trump is making some surprising comments about the future of the health care fight in washington. As his rival in the election, Hillary Clinton, uses a latenight speech to blast the trump administration. We have two reports for you this morning and new jersey governor chris christie, who is taking on a new white house role, will join us live in a second. First, lets begin with nbc national correspondent, peter alexander. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you. After the Republicans Health care replacement plan flatlined last week, the president s team appears set to try to resuscitate it. Yesterday on capitol hill, the president wading back in on this issue, as his former rival took his own shot. Resist. Insist. Persist. Enlist. Reporter Hillary Clinton sharing her new mantra with the diversity conference on tuesday, offering some of her most politically charged comments since losing the election on topics like health care. When the disastrous bill failed it was a victory for all americans. These are bad policies that will hurt people and take our country in the wrong direction. Reporter at the same time, the president hosting senators and their spouses at a white house reception, seemed to reverse course on the topic. Telling the bipartisan crowd repeal and replace is not dead. I know were all going to make a deal on health care. Thats such an easy one. I have no doubt thats going to happen very quickly. Reporter it comes as the administration is dealing with mounting questions about the Trump Campaigns possible ties to russia. Press Secretary Sean Spicer in a Heated Exchange for april ryan, a reporter for urban radio networks, accusing the media of falsely claiming collusion between Trump Associates and russian operatives. You have russia. You have wiretapping. We dont have that. The allegations on capitol hill if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow thats a russian connection. The facts are, every person who has been brief on this subject has come away with the same conclusion. Republican and democrat. Im sorry that disgusts you. Youre shaking your head. Reporter ryan responding on msnbc. These are real issues that a reporter will ask a white house. And unfortunately, i was road kill today. Reporter clinton last nye weighing in as well. April ryan was doing her job, just this afternoon, in the White House Press room. When she was patronized and cut off, trying to ask a question. Reporter with the House Intelligence Committees russia investigation paralyzed, growing calls for republican chair devin nunes to recuse himself. Theres been too many questions raised about the chairs relationship with the white house and the president. Reporter nunes dismissing those calls, refusing to reveal the secret source of classified documents he reviewed, or who signed him into the white house to review them. Were not going to talk about any of that. Reporter this morning, President Trump is facing new backlash to erase president obamas efforts to reverse climate change. Zbr this is not an executive order. This is a declaration of war. Reporter the president vowing to jumpstart the question, while rolling back environmental regulations. My administration is putting an end to the war on coal. Reporter mr. Trump ordering a review of the Clean Power Plan that restricts Carbon Emissions. And no longer requiring the government to consider Carbon Emissions in future policy decisions. During the campaign, President Trump told the New York Times he has a, quote, open mind about climate change. In the past, as you may know, he had called it a hoax. Were hearing from the former Vice President , al gore, who is is now weighing in describing this executive order as a, quote, misguided step away from a sustainable carbonfree future for ourselves and generations to come. Matt and savannah . Peter alexander. Thanks. Also at the white house this morning, new jersey governor chris christie. He is set to lead a new effort to combat opioid abuse. Good morning. Good to see you, sir. Good morning, savannah. Lets get to some of the headlines in the news. At the top, this issue of russia, the investigation being conducted by the House Intelligence Committee. Youre a former prosecutor. I want to call on that expertise. Given what we know about devin nunes, that he went to the white house, in the midst of an investigation of the white house, can he stay in that job . Does he need to step down and recuse himself to maintain credibility . Thats a judgment for him to make. I will tell you these Intelligence Committees on the house and senate side have been set up to be bipartisan. And they are bipartisan. And i think theyve done a great job over the years in investigating matters and overseeing the Intelligence Committee. But has he shot that by virtue of his actions . He goes to the white house in the middle of this investigation and wont even say who let him in. Savannah, i dont think he shot that credibility thats been developed over three decades on these Intelligence Committees in a bipartisan way. And everyone on the committee has a role in the investigation. Theyre going to conduct an appropriate investigation at the American People want. You see the senate cochairs, the chair and the ranking member, doing the things they need to do together. And i think that well get to the bottom of whatever issues are arised here and well get the job done over in congress. Governor, are we about 70 days in the new administration. Theres been highprofile setbacks for President Trump. Couple of executive orders have been blocked by federal courts. The debacle over health care last week. At this stage of this administration, give it a letter grade. You know, matt, i dont want to turn my College Transcript over or yours either. Im not going to give over letter grades. Is this a c performance . Is it a b. Its incomplete. Nine weeks down and 199 weeks to go in the first term of this administration. I would suggest that everybody take a breath. Ive never seen such breathlessness over nine weeks of work. The fact is, that the president has a number of initiatives hes working on. The Opioid Initiative is one thats incredibly important to every family in every corner of this country. And hes going to do the things over the course of his four years thats going to keep the promises hes made to the American People. You know what happens early on in administrations. Theres often times a shakeup, where some people in prominent positions leave, kind of a survival of the fittest situation. You had been talked about as possibly chief of staff or attorney general. For example, if the chief of staff position were to be available, do you want in . Im the governor of new jersey, matt. Ive made it clear to the president that its my desire to finish my time as governor of new jersey. Im able to do the Opioid Commission with him because we care passionately about this issue and we want to try to save lives. Thats what were going to do. Any speculation about that stuff is not something that im going to address because i have a job. I enjoy doing it and i want to keep it. Lets talk about the new role youve been given, the opiate epidemic. You look at the numbers, its shocking. In 2015, more people died from overdose than from firearms or car accidents. What can you really do about it . And when you think about the Health Care Bill that the republicans put forth last week, it wouldnt have done anything for addiction treatment. Where do you start with this . Youre right about the numbers. In new jersey last year, four times the number of people died of a Drug Overdose than died from murder. And three times the number of people died of an overdose than died from or automobile accident. What we need to come to grips with is addiction is a disease. Addiction is a disease. And no life is disposable. We can help people by gets them appropriate treatment. Our charge on this commission is to look both what the federal government is doing and what the states are doing, and say how can we do this better to help people not start taking drugs right off the bat . And then, move on to say, if people fall victim to this disease, what can we do to give them appropriate treatment to help them to reclaim their lives . Were doing that in new jersey in a very aggressive way, which is one of the reasons why the president has called on me to run this commission. And i look forward to working with him. I know its an issue he cares deeply about personally. We spoke a lot about it over the years. And its something that were going to work hard to try to help the American Family get a grip on this problem. Governor, i need to end with the subject, while youre there in the washington, and in a courthouse in new jersey, two of your former associates are going to be sentenced for their roles in the bridgegate scandal. Theyre asking for probation. The prosecutors say there will be no leniency. In your opinion, do they need to serve some time . The judge will do what the judge believes is appropriate, matt. Its not my role or anybody elses role, other than the judge in that courtroom, to pass sentence on people who have committed crimes. All right. Governor chris christie. Thank you for your time, sir. Appreciate it. Former Trump Campaign member Paul Manafort is a key figure in the investigations in possible ties to russia. And nbc news has exclusive information on some of his business dealings that are raising red flags. Nbcs Richard Engel has that part of the story. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, matt. Specifically, were reporting on some offshore Bank Accounts and companies linked to manafort that are now being looked into. Hes a focus of multiple investigations into President Trumps inner circle and the possible ties to russia, Paul Manafort. And long before he was Trumps Campaign chairman, manafort was paid millions by a Russian Oligarch close to vladimir putin. According to one report, manafort promising to greatly benefit the putin government by influencing politics and media coverage. Nbc news has learned u. S. Treasury Department Officials are now following manaforts money trail. An investigation thats led them and us, to a small island in the mediterranean. To find out more, we came here to cyprus, to the city to the of limassol, which has a reputation for its beaches and a hub for money laundering. This is where some of the money manafort got from the russian tycoon went. Banking sources with direct knowledge of the transactions tell nbc news, at least 15 accounts were opened in cyprus for more than ten companies. All linked to manafort. The sources say in one case, a Million Dollars landed in one of these accounts and left it on the same day. Movements of large amounts of money, very quickly in and out of account, is very similar to what money launderers do. Reporter there was a lot of money involved. Including 18. 9 million to buy a ukrainian Media Company for this man, who according to wikileaks, two to three oligarchs that putin turns to on a regular basis. Paul manafort played a Critical Role within the Trump Campaign. And was involved in potentially receiving payments from Russian Oligarch close to putin. This raises a lot of serious questions. Reporter manafort said he never worked for the russian government. On tuesday, deripaska took out an ad in National Newspapers strongly denying the Associated Press report that he fired manafort to help the putin government, calling it fake news. But in cyprus, who has tightened controls over the last few years, manaforts accounts raised suspicions. In 2012 the audit system at laiki bank flagged the accounts for possible money laundering. According to sources that when the bank asked for more information, manafort chose to close accounts. In a statement to nbc news, a spokesman said, all of manaforts companies were legitimate entities and established for lawful ends. Adding, mr. Manafort has no specific personal recollection of the shutdown of his cyprus accounts, which he said took place during a banking crisis on the island. The attorney general in cyprus tells us his office has provided information about manafortlinked businesses on the island to u. S. Investigators. Matt . Savannah . Richard, thank you very much. Lets check in with al. He is spending day three of rokerthon at the university of tennessee. Al, good morning. Good morning, guys. Were at neal len stadium, trying to fill in the Worlds Largest human letter, the power t here in tennessee. Before we get to that, lets show you whats happening around the rest