Bridetobe, as her fiance speaks out and reveals his agony over their final phone call. A starbucks customer takes on an armed robber. Man versus beast. The outcome and outcry over mike phelps race against a great white shark. And Jordan Spieths epic finish to win the british open. Today monday, july 24th, 2017. From nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everybody. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Nice to have you with us. We have carson in for matt today. Youre perfect. You know about the golf. Thats right. You can explain that extraordinary ending. I know youre a tennis person, savannah. But one of the greatest moments of golf history happened yesterday with Jordan Spieth. We thought he was going to collapse. But he came back in an epic victory. We cant wait for that. We start with politics. A lot going on with the russia investigation. Alleyes on the president s soninlaw and Senior AdviserJared Kushner. We now know what he will tell lawmakers on capitol hill today. Were learning more about the sudden and abrupt departure of White House Press secretary sean spicer. We have all of it covered. Were going to talk to the president s former Campaign Manager in a moment. Lets begin with nbc White House Correspondent, kristen welker. Kristen, good morning to you. Reporter hi, savannah, good morning to you. President trump will try to put the focus on his domestic agenda today, delivering a speech about health care this afternoon. But it is his soninlaw who is in the hot seat, Jared Kushner, who was captured just moments ago arriving on capitol hill, is expected to deliver a stronglywarded statement to Senate IntelligenceCommittee Staffers today, insisting he didnt collude with the russians. This morning, Jared Kushner, in his own words. As the president s soninlaw gets set to face tough questions from Staff Members with the Senate Intelligence committee. Nbc news has obtained his statement to congress. Kushner says directly i did not collude nor know of anyone else in the campaign who included with any foreign government. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on russian funds to finance my Business Activities in the private sector. In the 11stage statement kushner addresses two encounters that have become flash points, one with the russian am babassa and the other with a russian attorney. He said in april 2016, he met the Russian Ambassador. The encounter so brief, the day after election day, he had to ask, what is the name of the Russian Ambassador. And that trump tower meeting with a russian attorney in 2016, june, kusher er ier i er ier i received an email from donald trump jr. , asking for a meeting with no other attendees listed. And he didnt read the email chain forwarded to him. But after arriving late, he found the russian attorney discussing adoptions. And determined it was a waste of our time. After about ten minutes, he emailed his assistant from the meeting asking, can you please call me on my cell . Need excuse to get out of meeting. His meeting is behind closed doors today and he wont be under oath. The russian investigation, top of mind for the president. He tweeted on saturday, all agree the u. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when the only crimes so far is leaks against us. Mr. Trumps personal attorney and top aides dismissing the idea. Pardons have not been discussed. And pardons are not on the table. Why are we talking theres nothing to pardon. Theres no one to pardon. Why are we talking about president ial pardons when theres no president ial crime. Reporter but a different message from Anthony Scaramucci, the president s new Communications Director. Im in the oval office with the president last week, were talking about that. He brought that up. He doesnt have to be pardoned. Reporter as for kushner, hes also expected to address reports that he tried to set up secret communications with the kremlin. Saying i do not suggest a secret back channel. Those additions to his security clearance form, kushner says it was mistakenly submitted prematurely by his assistant who left out all foreign aforbes, not just those from russia. Congress has struck a bipartisan deal to impose sweeping sanctions on russia for its election meddling. And limiting president trumps power to. The white house was opposed to the bill. Over the weekend, the top aides sent conflicting signals whether trump will support the legislation. Savannah . Well see if we can get clarity on that. Kristen, thank you. Lets focus in on the dramatic shakeup of the communications operation. How it will change the message coming out of the white house and whats been a rocky relation nbcs chief White House CorrespondentHallie Jackson has that part of the story. Hallie, good morning. Hey, carson, good morning to you. That new Communications Director who is making a move from wall street to washington, is coming out strong against his own staff. Warning he will not tolerate leaks. Ant scaramucci tells me while the Communications Team is not working as well as it could be, hed like to keep everyone on but says if he has to get rid of everyone but his secretary, Sarah Huckabee sanders, he will, if he cannot get the leaks to stop. The man now in charge of the west wing message, delivering a very clear one for his own team. Tomorrow, im going to have a meeting with the Communications Staff and say, i dont like the leaks. So, were going to stop the leaks. If we dont stop the leaks, im going to stop you. Its really that simple. Reporter president trumps new Communications Director, starting the work week with a warning, a crackdown from Anthony Scaramucci and a teardown on twitter, deleting all his old tweets, including ones that opposed some of the president s positions on things like gun control, border walls and climate change, announcing it all with a message, full transparency, he writes. Past views evolved and shouldnt be a distraction. When i made the decision to take this job, my politics and my political ideas do not matter at all. What matters is that im subordinating all of that to the president s agenda. Reporter scaramucci seeming to relish his new role, pushing the president s message on tv, but absent from the air waves, sean spicer, who plans to officially walk out of the white house sometime in august. I think i have a pretty good compass. I made a decision, in the best interest, not just myself, for the president and for this administration. Was to step aside and let anthony and sarah lead the team. Reporter Sarah Huckabee sanders now the incoming press secretary, just the third woman to hold that role, though this direction from her new boss had some scratching their heads. The only thing i ask sarah, if youre watching, i love the hair and makeup person that we had on friday so id like to continue to use the hair and makeup person. Reporter scaramucci responding to that dustup on twitter writing for the record, i was referring to my hair and makeup and the fact that i like the makeup artist. I need all the help i can get. Humor. Scaramucci says he will do some tv if he wants. But sanders will be handling the podium regularly at the briefings. Telling me, he is not a ball hog. Carson, savannah, back to you. Got it. Hallie, thanks so much. We need all the help we can get in that department. Corey lewandowski served as one of president trumps Campaign Managers. He joins us now. Good morning. And my question to you is, apparently Jared Kushner is going to say, i got pulled in late. I got out as fast as i could. Does this come back to donald trump jr. . Was it a mistake for him to not only schedule that meeting but to bring others into it and put them in that position . I think what jared is talking about, if you looked at his calendar and what his memory now is, the meeting he was asked to attend was at the request of his brotherinlaw. It was not uncommon for him to pop in and out of meetings. Theres no indication of who that meeting was with or what it was about. Thats why im asking about donald trump jr. Is he kind of the original actor here . Was that a mistake of him to do that . Clearly donald trump jr. Is the one who initiated the meeting and is the one who brought the other individuals into the meeting. I think in hindsight, if you were to go back and look, he probably wouldnt have done it the same way. I think he said that very publicly. But the notion these meetings dont occur, across campaigns all the time, when individuals are trying to get Opposition Research on their opponents is a fallacy. But from a foreign government, adversarial government, you were a Campaign Manager. Would you have taken that meeting . Be honest. Would you have . I was obviously the Campaign Manager at the time. I did not participate in that meeting. And what i can tell you is that if i thought it was a meeting that would have been relevant to the outcome of the campaign, i potentially would have been there, but it was not something that i thought was relevant, and look, i dont know the individuals that were involved. It was a friend who asked donald trump jr. To take the meeting. He took it as a courtesy. And looking back on it i think donald trump, jr. , would tell you that it probably wasnt the right thing to do. But nothing came of the meeting. The Senate Passed overwhelmingly tougher sanctions on russia. We have a now white house Communications Director who is casting suspense on what the president might do. Do you think he will sign it . I havent talked to anyone in the administration what the president is going to do on that piece of legislation but lets be very clear. The president has said that if theres an opportunity to work with russia, and eradicate isis in syria, thats a good thing for us, and for our country. If were adversaries and we cant work with russia because theyre punitive against us, the president will be tough on russia. If we have to put sanctions in place, this president has been very, very clear. His priority is america first. That hasnt changed from the day he was elected. Un do you have any information about that . I have been public in my criticism of the administration and the leaks that come out of it. What weve seen over the weekend is that Anthony Scaramucci, the new Communications Director said he will find the leaks. He will eradicate those leaks. If that means that individuals who are working inside that building are fired because theyre not on the president s agenda, i think thats the right thing to do. If youre working in that administration, the guy that opens the door or the chief of staff, if youre not on the president s agenda, you shouldnt be there. I have full confidence that Anthony Scaramucci is going to go inside that building, find who those leaks are and get rid of them. Thats what the president deserves and what the American People deserve. Are you going to take a job in the administration . I havent been offered a job in the administration. I like being on the outside so i can come on your show without any problems. Are you still advising the president , corey . I have been a steadfast supporter of the administration. Any time if i have the privilege of receiving a phone call from members of the team or the president , i will take that call and give them my best advice. That sounds like a yes. Thank you very much. Our Nicolle Wallace is the host of msnbcs deadline white house. Nicolle, good morning. What do you make of the shakeup in the Communications Team . And there are a lot of rumors that was the first shoe to drop and there may be other big resignations. Its the president s prerogative to hire and fire whomever he wants. This is someone who communicates more consistently with the way the president sees himself communicating. Hes a street fighter. The president has made no secret to friends and confidants that he has been dissatisfied with the lack of aggression in terms of fighting back about stories with russia, claiming they are a hoax. Anthony scaramucci said the russia investigation is a hoax. He has someone in line of the thinking of these things. You hear corey say there about scaramucci wanting to crack down on the leaks. I saw him yesterday saying he wants to change the culture. Inside the Communications Division of the white house. How does he go about that . Im guessing you dont really boost morale by saying youre going to fire everybody. And anyone that covers this white house, knows its not difficult to get folks on the phones at the high e levels of this white house to talk about whats going on, to talk about one another. And one of the most stalwart defenders of the president said the addition of scaramucci is one more person, you know, in the swirl. And what the real problem is in this white house, they dont have a functioning chain of command as a staff. They dont have a powerful chief of staff that keeps everybody out of everybody elses lane. The chaos is largely a product of a weak chief of staff. This was a decision he lobbied against. He opposed with all of his might. And the president made it anyway. You talk about other shoes to drop, i think all eyes are on steve bannon and Reince Priebus who were publicly against the move to hire scaramucci. Chief of staff and his senior staff, nicole, appreciate it. A lot more happening this morning. And federal charges are expected against the driver of a tractortrailer, involved in a deadly and disturbing case of human smuggling in texas. Dozens of undocumented immigrants were found inside the back of a sweltering 18wheeler. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is in san antonio for us with the latest on this. Gabe, good morning. E conditioning. The suspected driver of that tractortrailer is expected to be formally charged later today. This morning, federal investigators are trying to unravel how a human smuggling operation inside this tractortrailer turned deadly. Something out of the movies. You dont expect to see that kind of thing around here. Reporter the gruesome scene, sweltering walmart parking lot in san antonio. Temperatures reached 101 degrees there on saturday. Someone climbed out of the back of the tractortrailer parked near the store and begged for water. A walmart employee called 911. Police found 39 suspected undocumented immigrants found inside. Eight were dead. Another died at the hospital. They were very hot to the touch so these people were in the trailer without any type of water. Reporter investigators say the suspected driver, 60yearold James Bradley jr. Out of clearwater, florida, will be formally charged later today. Some blame the political climate. The harsh rhetoric is what is responsible for tragedies like what happened in san antonio. Reporter but Human Trafficking has been big business for decades. Its reminiscent of a 2003 case in victoria, texas, when 70 people were trapped in a semitruck. 19 died. Last year, Homeland Security officials investigated 2,000 cases of Human Trafficking, making 3,000 arrests. Its a broken immigration system that congress has refused to fix. These deaths are preventable. Reporter late sunday, a vigil for the victims. Theyre willing to risk themselves and willing to risk their lives for their kids and for their family members so they can have a better future. Reporter 30 undocumented immigrants remain in the hospital, 17 in Critical Condition as the immigration debate rages in this country. What happened in this parking lot is a haunting reminder of whats at stake. Savannah . Just awful. Gabe gutierrez, thank you very much. Now, back to the dramatic finish at the open championship. Golfs third major of the year, Jordan Spieth overcame what looked like a meltdown in the making to claim the coveted clarett jug. Win that puts him amongst the greatest to ever play the game. Champion golfer of the year, right there. Call him the comeback kid. 23yearold Jordan Spieth, the youngest american to win the british open after one of the most roller coaster tournaments ever. How would you explain how difficult it was for you to win today . More difficult than it probably even looked. And it probably looked pretty difficult. Reporter after finishing ahead of fellow american matt kuchar on saturday, spieth got off to a rocky start on sunday. On the 13th hole it all seemed to go terribly wrong. This is way right. I mean, this is way right. His drive, so far off, that he took an unplayable penalty and spent 20 minutes looking for a place to drop his ball. That was one amazingly poor drive. But he soon recovered and made bogey in whats being called one of the most unforgettable holes in golf history. He got lucky. Just short. From there he continued his streak. Right at it. Oh, yes making masterful putts like this. A little bit to the right and comes back at the hole. Just, bam. And earning his third major championship. Once i started to go, the roof was off and the can was huge. Spieth jo