Were live at the white house. Surprise loss. Chris cornell, a driving force in grunge rock, dies unexpectedly. Black hole sun wont you come the soundgarden lead singers death following a concert in detroit. His family and fans shocked. An investigation underway. And concussion controversy. Nfl star tom brady facing serious questions this morning after this revelation from his wife giselle bundchin. He had a concussion last year. He has concussions. But the nfl has no record of them. Did the patriots quarterback hide injuries to stay on the field . The nfl saying it wants answers today, thursday, may 18th, 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. 7 00 on the west coast on a thursday morning. Savannah will join us in just a couple of minutes, but we want to start with this breaking news. Roger ailes, the man who started fox news and then built it into a lucrative powerhouse before a scandal forced him to resign is dead at the age of 77. Nbcs Stephanie Gosk is here with the latest. Stephanie, good morning to you. Hey, good morning, matt. Fox news has dominated the headlines this year. That Sexual Harassment scandal led to roger ailes being fired. This morning that man who made fox news what it was has died leaving behind an enduring legacy and plenty of controversy. Reporter roger ailes, dead at 77 years old. Ailes founded the Cable Network that would go on to change the media landscape in 1996, coining the now infamous motto fair and balanced. The broadcast pioneer brought together a lineup of conservative cable hosts, including bill oreilly and sean hannity, that many say provided a conservative voice lacking in television news. In the last year Sexual Harassment allegations surfaced against ailes that ended in him being removed as head of the network. While he denied the accusations, the scandal cast a shadow on fox to this day. Ailes was born in ohio in 1940 where he began his Television Career in in cleveland. His first foray into politics came in the 1960s when Richard Nixon asked for his help in navigating the new world of television. His Political Consulting career continued with both republican president S Ronald Reagan and george h. W. Bush. In 2016 former fox news host Gretchen Carlson accused ailes of firing her for rejecting his sexual advances. The allegation led to others. Within a month 21st century fox removed him. Ailes denied the charges. Throughout his life, ailes suffered from poor health. Today his wife released a statement saying, in part, during a career that stretched over more than five decades, his work in entertainment and politics, and in news affected the lives of many millions and so even as we mourn his death, we celebrate his life. We do not know a cause of death at this point. Reporter gabe sherman who wrote a biography on ailes tells us he had struggled for years with poor health. He was a hemopheliac and kept hidden surgery for his prostate. Thank you very much. Speaking of politics there are new bombshells. Reports that despite a warning with President Trumps Transition Team, Michael Flynn, or that Michael Flynn, was under federal investigation. He was still named National Security advisor. That news came just hours after former fbi director Robert Mueller was appointed as a special prosecutor in the russia investigation. We have complete coverage and were going to talk to republican congressman Jason Chaffetz who chairs the House Oversight committee in just a moment. First, lets begin with nbc correspondent Peter Alexander. Peter, good morning to you. Good morning to you, matt. Early this morning President Trump complaining about that announcement about a special counsel in back to back tweeted writing, with all the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton Campaign and Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed. He adds, this is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in american history. All of this as Robert Mueller, former fbi director, immediately takes over the department of justices russia investigation with a broad mandate to focus on meddling in the investigation and also possible collusion between Trump Campaign aides and russian operatives. Reporter new this morning, yet another bombshell. The New York Times reporting Michael Flynn told President Trumps Transition Team weeks before the inauguration that he was under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for turkey during the campaign. Despite the warning, mr. Trump made flynn his National Security advisor before firing him 24 days into his presidency. It comes as the department of justices russia investigation is now under new management. Former fbi director Robert Mueller taking over as special counsel. The president who recently ripped into the investigation as a taxpayerfunded charade, releasing a measured statement insisting a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know. That there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. Adding, i look forward to this matter concluding quickly. Muellers appointment blindsiding the white house that only learned about it after the order was signed by Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein. Rosenstein writing that he concluded, its in the Public Interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a special counsel to assume responsibility for this matter. Late wednesday democrats and republicans praising the move. This is i think a positive thing for the american people. There wont be any reason to think that theres a conflict of interest from the hill, from the white house, or from within the Justice Department. Reporter and this morning a potentially explosive report that could strain the relationship between the president and republican leaders. The Washington Post reporting House Majority leader Kevin Mccarthy told republican colleagues during a private conversation last summer theres two people i think putin pays. California congressman rohrabacher and trump. When some lawmakers laughed, mccarthy quickly added swear to god. The comment captured in a recording the post says its listened to. Paul ryan interrupts immediately saying no leaks. This is how we know were a real family here. Ryans office dismissing the talk as an attempt at humor. Mccarthy echoing that line Late Wednesday to nbc news. If you listen to it, everybody laughs. You know its a bad attempt at a joke, and thats all there is to it. No one believes it to be true. The president leaves for his first foreign trip tomorrow. President trump is expected to take questions from reporters during a brief News Conference. His first time answering questions since we learned details about him sharing highly classified information with russian officials, those memos by former fbi director james comey, and now the appointment of a special counsel. Matt and savannah, back to you. Peter alexander starting us off. Thank you. Lets dive deep you are into Robert Muellers appointment as special counsel to run this investigation into russias attempt or alleged attempts to interfere in the president ial election. Pete williams is nbcs justice correspondent. Pete, as i say good morning, this all broke about 12 hours ago. Tell me whats the reaction to mueller and can he truly be independent . Very positive reaction from capitol hill and elsewhere. Matt, the Justice Department wanted somebody with instant credibility, had prosecutorial experience and knowledge of how the fbi works. He has it all. Now, it will take him a little while to get up to speed on this, but its hard to think of anybody who could do that more quickly. He will have all the powers the u. S. Attorney would. He can approve avenues of investigation, authorize getting subpoenas for witnesses or documents and even file charges. The last independent counsel was kenneth starr. He was the whitewater prosecutor in the clinton administration, but the law allowing the appointment of independent counsels like him lapsed in 1999 partly because congress was concerned that their investigations could be too freewheeling. As special counsel, as you might guess, he has less independence. For example, if mueller wants to expand the investigation, he will have to get permission from the Deputy Attorney general, the person who appointed him. And a special counsel can be fired by the Deputy Attorney general for misconduct or violating Justice Department policies, but congress has to be told why, matt. All right, Pete Williams in washington. Peterson, thank you. That brings us to republican congressman Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight committee. He has invited james comey to testify before that committee next week. I know its early there. Thanks for getting up with us. We appreciate it. Sure. Let me ask you about the appointment of director mueller. Do you have confidence in him . Do you expect to accept his results, whatever he finds . I think he will be broadly supported. He has impeccable credentials, a storied history. Ten years leading the fbi in both the bush and the Obama Administration. It couldnt be a better choice. He is at the latter part of his career. He has nothing to prove. I think he will do a fabulous job. Is this a textbook case of when you need a special prosecutor . I dont know that i would have necessarily done that. I mean, i have not seen evidence of actual collusion, and so it does beg the question, why did they need a special prosecutor . What are they actually trying to prosecute . The department of justice made this case. There are a lot of people that wanted to see it. Particularly in the democratic side of the aisle. Now its in place, and i think he will do a good job. I mean, just, isnt it fairly straight forward if there was an investigation going on by the fbi and then the fbi director gets fired by the person who is at the center of the investigation, his campaign, isnt that a pretty clear case of needing a special prosecutor . Some have made that case. I disbelieve that there are thousands of fbi agents, men and women, who also have impeccable credentials. What i like about the selection of director mueller is he used to run that organization. He will get a running start. He wont lose the benefit of the work that has been done over the last several months. He will be able to take up that baton and continue on. Congressman, i got to ask you about the story thats breaking overnight. The New York Times reporting that Michael Flynn goes to the Transition Team for trump before taking office and says, look, im under federal investigation for possibly secretly working for turkey during the campaign and despite that information being given to the trump transition, he is made the National Security advisor and given access to the most sensitive secrets of this government. Does that make any sense to you . Well, i think one of the questions that also needs to be asked along that way is the white house itself does not make a determination as to whether or not somebody gets a security clearance. That goes to the office of the director of national intelligence. But you are putting him in that position where he has access to all those secrets, and you know he is under federal investigation for secretly working for another country. Well, thats why it wasnt necessarily a secret. If he is actually disclosing that. Our committee, the oversight committee, has made a reference a referral to the secretary of the army for final determination because general flynn should not have taken money from turkey, nor should he have taken it from russia, but the person or the group that actually makes the determination is to whether or not they get a security clearance is the office of the director of National Security. Hiring him as the National Security advisor, does that sound like good judgment in your opinion . Well, look, they took that into consideration, but they also look at the odni as to whether or not he has the proper security clearances. I do think that donald trump did make the right decision in that he let him go 24 days into it, and i think the president did make the right decision. Should he have been hired in the first place, i guess, is the question. You can argue that he probably shouldnt and maybe in retrospect knowing what we know now, he probably shouldnt have. Nevertheless, he did hire him. He was there for just over three weeks, and then he did dismiss him. Congressman Jason Chaffetz, thank you so much, and keep us posted if you hear from director comey whether he will testify. Yes. Thank you. Lets bring in our nbc news analyst, nicole wallace, hosts deadline white house on msnbc. Jeremy bash serve as chief of staff for both the Defense Department and the cia. Good morning to both of you. Nicole, well talk about Robert Mueller in a second, but this appointment of a special counsel happened on the 119th day of this administration. A lot of those days have been very rocky. If you are the president or youre a surrogate, how do you put the best face on what is happening right now . Listen, everything i know from trump confidantes inside white house and outside the white house is that they have gone from tense to something a little more dire in the last 72 hours. I think at some level i know jeremy described this as a darker cloud over the white house. This is sort of when people call it lawyering up. People retain private counsel to protect their own equities, everyone including the president maybe in that situation. I think in some ways being able to turn this over to someone bob mueller is a national treasure, and to be able to turn this whole sort of case file over to someone bho is trusted by both sides is in some ways the first turchlt the white house has to begin to turn the page on this story. To you, jeremy, about director mueller, we hear pete talking about this issue of i understand pensi independence. Is there any question in your mind that bob mueller will be able to conduct this investigation independently and go wherever it leads him . No question at all. I know bob mueller. I have worked with him and his team in the past. He is fearless but fair. He is the triple threat. He has independence, credibility, and the experience to not only lead the case agents, the fbi agents who are running this matter already, but he also under the rosenstein order has a very broad mandate. Theres no time limits set on it. He can investigate not just ties between russia and trump, but any other matters that arise. Thats a very expansive phrase, savan yark as you know as an attorney. That gives him broad mandate to investigate obstruction of justice and other matters. Thats an important point also. Do you think as part of this investigation he might subpoena Donald Trumps tax returns . Secondly, can he control leaks because leaks coming out of an investigation can undermean the credibility of the person conducting that investigation. I think he will subpoena not just tax returns, but any banking or financial records that show connections between the Trump Organization and russian officials, whether in the putin government or private sector. I think thats an elementary evidentiary issue in this case. I think he will be able to control leaks. He has shown he has been able to do that in the past. Let me turn to you, nicole. The reaction from the white house and the president himself is notably measured. He released a statement. We havent seen a tweet on this. Do you think the message has gotten through to him that not only does what he say carry political significance, that in this context potentially it carries legal significance as well. I think the message started to get through to him early yesterday. I know that was the effort underway at the highest levels of the white house. Again, inside and out. They were trying to make clear to him that this question that hangs over him is going to prevent him from doing anything else he wants to do on a legislative agenda, on the world stage, or anything else he wants to communicate will be impossible until he starts to lift this cloud and these questions. All right. Nicole and jeremy, thank you so much. Nicole, show plug. We will have more on msnbc at 4 00 p. M. Deadline white house. Check it out. We want to get to the sad news for music fans. Rocker Chris Cornell has died. He was best known as the front man for soundgarden and later audio slave. Cornell died in detroit wednesday night after performing