Cell foep. T the tsa says it will make you safer. Will it mean longer lines . Angelina jolie getting candid about her divorce, and Justin Bieber slamming his truck into a photographer. The incident apparently an accident, but under investigation today, thursday, july 27th, 2017. From nbc news this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today on a thursday morning. Thanks so much for being with us, and weve got carson in for matt once again. Good morning, everybody. Weve got a lot to get to this morning. Were going to start with that tragedy at the Ohio State Fair. Its awful to wake up to this. The fireball ride malfunctioned last night tossing terrified riders into the air. In a moment well talk to a family whose two girls were next in line for that ride and saw it all happen. First, nbcs blake mccoy in columbus with the overnight developments in the investigation. Blake, good morning to you. What can you tell us . Savannah, good morning. One person is dead this morning. Seven others injured after this twisting and turning Amusement Park ride unexpectedly broke apart at a high rate of speed. We do want to warn you that some of the video you are about to see is disturbing. The Ohio State Fair, the whole ride just broke. People just fell out. Reporter overnight something went horribly wrong at the Ohio State Fair. A swinging ride called the fireball ripping into pieces, sending passengers crashing to the ground. The ride broke, and people went flying. I saw the person fly off. At least one individual has come off of a ride at the fairgrounds. What was supposed to be a night of fun instantly turning into chaos and confusion. Kaley bellamy says she was next in line and saw the whole thing happen. It was going for a minute, but it was at its highest point, and i saw somebody fall off of the ride. This is just a real tragedy. Reporter more than a half dozen injured riders were taken to nearby hospitals. Multiple passengers were thrown with high energy many feet. At least 20 or 30, if not more, into the air. Then crashed at a significant distance from the ride. Reporter ohios Governor John Kasich ordering a full investigation. Snoo what i want to know immediately is, first of all, what are we doing with rides . We shut all the rides down. Then beyond that, we want to know about whats the process for inspection . Authorities say the ride its been looked at about three or four times over the course of two days. The fair began wednesday with 11 rides closed because their inspectings were not complete, though some opened later on. This 2012 video shows how the fireball is inspected. The way this works is these decks drop. These center decks when this ride is in motion. They have to check the hinging. They have to check the structural soundness. Reporter it has to be sound because it spins and swings in a pendulum. Oh, my god. Shes bleeding. Reporter the combination creating an aggressive thrill ride that this morning is a deadly one. Records show the fireball passed inspection just yesterday and a few parts were replaced back in may. Governor john kasich is set to tour the fairgrounds here later this morning. Of the seven people injured, three are in critical condition. Savannah and carson. So many questions, blake. Thank you so much. In a statement the fair organizers said their hearts are heavy for the families involved. And brittany and kylie neil were in exin line for that ride when the accident occurred, and they are with us now along with their mom, christy. Good morning to you, guys. Im sure you did not have a restful night. Brittany, let me start with you. You and your sister were next in line. Just walk us through what you saw and what you heard. Well, the ride was going as normal, and then all of a sudden you see people flying out, and then the guy hit the emergency stop button, which then made the seat fly off and the other people flew off as well. And, kylie, what did you see . I can only imagine how terrifying this must have been. Me and my sister were waiting in line, and then the fireball was working normally, and then it swings to the left, and it looked like someones chair was kind of falling out, and then the guy put pushed the emergency stop switch, and the whole right broke off, and they went flying. Christy, let me ask you. You and your husband, tom, were at the fair at another part of it. I imagine your phone rings. Walk me through that when the girls called you. We were getting a backpack to put some of the things that we had gotten earlier that day, and i get a call. My daughter is hysterical. I cant even understand what shes saying. I knew something terrible had happened. I didnt know if her sister was okay. I just ran towards the direction of the rides. There were two state troopers beside me. I dont know if they had even heard anything at that point, and i said something terrible has happened. My daughters are i need to find my daughters. It was horrible. I didnt know where my girls were. I had actually gotten to the ride before i had gotten to my girls and seen the cart off, and there was just it was horrible what ibrittany, i am lu and your sister, and you are so young, and i know you saw some things that nobody should ever have to see. How are you both doing . How did you get through the night . How are you handling this . Well, i think we pretty much cried our eyes out last night until our heads hurt, and then we kind of passed out. Woke up really early just, leaving with you a live pic few hours of sleep, but trying to cope and trying to get over it, but we are truly traumatiz traumatized. Listen, guys, were glad is that you are okay, number one. Youre reunited with your parents. We appreciate your time this morning. Hope you get some rest. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Terrible tragedy. Cant even imagine. Imagine how good it must have felt to hug mom, to see your mom amidst all that chaos. Well continue to follow that story. Another one that were following this morning has to do with politics and the controversy over President Trumps declaration that transgender people will no longer be allowed to serve in the u. S. Military. This sparked immediate protests and speculation that theres more to this announcement than meets the eye. We have complete coverage from the white house. Then well talk to former secretary of the army eric fanning. Lets begin with kristen welker. Kristen, good morning to you. Hi, savannah. Good morning to you. As a candidate President Trump said he would be a friend of the lgbtq community, but now that community is accusing him of failing to live up to that promise. Mr. President trump reversing yesterday another obama era policy by banning Transgender Service members. All prompting anger and protests. Reporter angry protesters rallying in cities around the country. Outrageous. Including new york city, where a crowd gathered in front of the Army Recruitment building in times square. It was answer announcement the president made in a series of tweets, calling the tremendous medical cost a burden. This is prepostus. Its terrible. Christian served as a navy seal for more than two decades and came out as transgender after leaving the military. She calls the new policy down right disrespectful. For him to do this to all those people who are currently serving, who are in war zones right now, its a huge slap in the face. Reporter anger on capitol hill. I want a strong, vibrant military, but i want to be fair. The best way it do this is have a hearing, not a tweet. The pentagon spends five times more on viagra than it does for transitionrelated care. Reporter the white house says the president made the decision based on military readiness, but it comes as republicans were trying to pass a spending bill which included more money for a key trump priority, building a border wall, passage of the bill was held up by a fight over funds for medical care for transgender troops. Congressional sources tell nbc news house leaders ask the administration to intervene, but even they werent expecting an allout ban. Still, some lawmakers supportive. I am very pleased that well im very pleased that well be able to spend our precious defense dollars modernizing our military. While defense secretary, james mattis, was alerted, some in the military were caught off guard. And this morning, neither the pentagon nor the white house can say how or when the new policy will be implemented and whether current transgender troops will be immediately discharged. As a candidate, mr. Trump vowed to fight for the lbgtq community. I will do everything in my power to protect our lbgtq citizens. Now those words haunting him. Caitlyn jenner tweeting, there are 15,000 patriotic Transgender Americans in the u. S. Military fighting for all of us. What happened to your promise to fight for them . Reporter a recent study estimates gendertransition related medical treatment would only amount to 0. 13 increase in health care spending. Thats a small fraction of the overall defense budget. The military hasnt released exact numbers for Transgender Service members, but since last years ban was lifted, several hundred have requested medical care. But by some estimates, there are several thousand currently serving. So far, the defense secretary hasnt publicly commented on this new policy. Savannah . Kristen welker at the white house. Thank you so much. For more on this, were now joined by former secretary of the army, eric fanning, the first openly gay leader of any u. S. Military branch. Secretary fanning, good morning. Its good to see you. Thank you for having me. First of all, your reaction in your gut when you heard this ruling . Well, many reactions, i think. I was disappointed. I was angry, and frankly, i was shocked that the commander in chief would turn his back on thousands of patriotic americans who are serving today. Let me be devils advocate, because obviously you dont like this decision, but there are americans who might be thinking, well, wait a minute, why is the pentagon, why is the military paying for this kind of surgery, this kind of care . What would the response be to that . My response is that its a medical issue. And if someone is qualified to serve, raises his or her right hand, makes that commitment to possibly put their life on the line, one of the things they get as a part of that commitment is health care. And we should treat this like any other medical issue. The white house has not said anything about whether this applies right now to those currently serving. So if you are a transgender individual, for example, possibly serving in afghanistan right now, how does that person feel . What is that person supposed to do . What steps would you recommend they take . Well, first of all, many of us are asking questions about what this means and how you would implement what it might mean, which is one of the reasons we dont tweet policy. We think through it, thoughtfully, carefully, we explain what it is and we have a plan on how to implement it. But i think if youre a Transgender Service member, anywhere in the world, you were already nervous by what you were hearing. And now youre probably very confused and very frightened about what the future holds for you, when your commander in chief tweets a message like this, basically dismissing your service. The president spoke of the burden of these medical costs. We just spoke about that a little bit. Also, the disruption that transgender troops cause. That was according to his tweet. Can you address those issues . Well, first of all, ive never seen any evidence to support the numbers that are being used to explain how much this would cost. In the intro, it said a report indicated that this would increase costs by 0. 13 . Thats actually the high end. Its as low as 0. 04 . So i dont know where these larger numbers are coming from. But the on but the only disruption i can think about in this entire conversation is the disruption of taking thousands of already Trained Service members, who are deployed, working, performing their duties with distinction, and discharging them. Thats going to be disruptive to the force. Thats going to be very disruptive to readiness. And finally, i have to ask you. The way this all happened, on twitter, in realtime, the president had one tweet that said, after consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised, the United States will not accept or allow dot, dot, dot. Then nine minutes passes before the next tweet, which states what this was actually going to be. If you were still in your old job at the pentagon, what would you have thought, waiting for that second tweet . We believe i woull, i wouldn. I would have been very concerned. I wouldnt have imagined it was going to be about the transgender issue. I was have imagined it would be something about geopolitical in the world. Lucky for me, i saw the whole tweet in one fell swoop so i didnt have to imagine what the president meant or what this tweet meant. Secretary fanning, thank you for being with us. Another tweet tied to the white house came from the president s new communications z nola length i hhi lenghited chief of staff, rooueince prieb a private feud now spilling out into the public. This morning, the man tasked with taking on leakers at the white house suggesting he was the victim of one. After politico released newly appointed White House Communications director Anthony ScaramuccisFinancial Disclosure forms, announcing that he has assets worth as much as 85 million, scaramucci calling the leak a felony, sending a tweet thats now been deleted. In light of the leak of my Financial Disclosure info, which is a felony, i will be contacting the fbi and the Justice Department swamp. He then includes the twitter handle of white house chief of staff, Reince Priebus, leading many to question whether scaramucci was accusing priebus of the leak. Scaramucci later following up with another tweet overnight, reading, wrong tweet was Public Notice to leakers that all Senior Administration officials are helping to end illegal leaks, including priebus handle once again. Earlier this morning, getting relationship when calling in to cnn. Some relationships like cain and abel. If reince wants to explain hes not a leaker, let him do that. The yays are 45, the nays are 55, the amendment is not day greed to. Reporter their latest pitch to overhaul obamacare by repealing major parts of it without any replacement, failing. Today, republicans will try to rally support for a socalled skinny repeal. Eliminating the Obamacare Mandate that individuals buy insurance and Large Businesses provide it. As well as erasing a tax on medical devices. But that falls far short of republicans promise to repeal and replace. And now the nonpartisan budget scorekeeper estimates the plan would mean 16 million more uninsured americans within a decade. Despite criticism from democrats, accusing the gop of working in secret, republicans insist theyre moving forward. This as the president keeps hammering away at his attorney general, even as Jeff Sessions arrived a to the white house for a National Security meeting wednesday, though aides say he didnt see the president. The latest tweet target sessions and the fbis acting director. Asked why mr. Trump doesnt simply fire his ag if hes unhappy with him . He can be disappointed in someone, but still want them to continue to do their job. Republicans rallying to sessions defense. Lindsey graham calling the attacks a sign of weakness. Hes trying to get sessions to quit and i hope sessions doesnt quit. And if the president wants to fire him, fire him. I cant imagine my friends on the republican side would be complicit in creating a constitutional crisis. Reporter and on that topic this morning in a new oped in the washington post, ken starr, the special counsel who investigated president clinton in the white water and Monica Lewinsky cases is criticizing the president for his latest assault on the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, writing in part, mr. President , please cut it out. Tweet to your hearts content, but stop the wildly inappropriate attacks on the attorney general. Also this morning, President Trumps 2016 opponent, hillary clinton, has now said she has a new book due out in september, where she gets candid. She revealed its title this morning, what happened. Savannah and carson, back to you. All right. Peter alexander at the white house, thanks so much. That leads us to al. Whats going to happen in the weather . Were going to show you what happened yesterday with a lot of heavy rain and theres more coming. Look at this. This is in alabama, just outside birmingham. Cars swamped, one on top of the other, a real mess. There were high water rescues. The waters finally starting to recede, but weve got more strong storms coming in. And theyre going to be making their way into the Midatlantic States. Look at the radar right now, firing up, kansas city, all the way into indianapolis. For tomorrow, a risk of strong storms for 24 Million People down to d. C. , charleston, atlanta, knoxville. These are fastmoving storms. And as this system develops tomorrow afternoon, severe storms ahead of it for pittsburgh, washington, new york city, and then its going to develop along the coast and cause a lot of heavy rain. And in fact, some areas could pick up to 6 inches of rain from the appalachias all the way into the delmarva peninsula causing some urban flooding. Well be watching this very carefully going into the weekend. Could be a bit of a washout for much of the northeast this weekend. Were going to get your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. To homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you good morning piem