Groping her. Did her testimony help or hurt . Those stories, plus the driver behind the wheel in this sevenstory plunge. The Police Officer who survived this shooting caught on camera. And the scholarship surprise you wont want to miss. Today, friday, august 11th, 2017. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a friday morning. Thanks for joining us. And that scholarship story is just what the doctor ordered for this friday. Cant wait to tell you about that. It certainly is. Lets start this morning with our top story. Some new developments in the north korea crisis. While President Trump toughened his message to kim jongun, his defense secretary appears to be stepping back from trumps dire warnings. We have complete coverage starting with nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander. Peter, good morning. Reporter matt, good morning to you. Now one week into his working vacation, President Trump is clearly in a talkative mood. Yesterday when his press secretary held up a sign that said one more question, the president just plowed ahead and took one after another for minutes more, defying his critics, stepping up his rhetoric against north korea, and calling Senate Republicans failure to repeal and replace obamacare disgraceful. President trump delivering another ominous warning, doubling down on his fire and fury threat against north korea. If anything, maybe that statement wasnt tough enough. Later, sharpening his words for kim jongun. He has disrespected our country greatly. He has said things that are horrific. The president s response, his first comments since north korea upped the ante, threatening to strike the u. S. Territory of guam. He does something in guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before what will happen in north korea. Its not a dare, its a statement. Reporter late thursday, defense secretary james mattis with a far different tone than the president s tough stance, arguing american diplomacy is working. It is gaining diplomatic results, and i want to stay right there right now. The tragedy of war is well enough known. It doesnt need another characterization beyond the fact that it would be catastrophic. Reporter the president at his golf club in bedminster meeting the press not once, but twice, unplugged and unfiltered, saying he has no plans to fire special counsel robert mueller. Im not dismissing anybody. I mean i want them to get on with the task, but i also want the senate and the house to come out with their findings. I didnt win because of russia. Reporter on Vladimir Putin expelling 755 american diplomats at retribution for the latest u. S. Sanctions. I want to thank him because were trying to cut down on payroll. Reporter on banning transgender people from serving in the military. Its been a very confusing issue for the military, and i think im doing the military a great favor. Reporter but the commander in chief saving his toughest dig for the senates top republican, mitch mcconnell, who hes repeatedly blasted for the failure to repeal and replace obamacare. Im very disappointed with mitch. But if he gets these bills passed, ill be very happy with it. Reporter that following this from mcconnell. Our new president of course has not been in this line of work before, and i think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen. Reporter the president here also waging war on the opioid epidemic, declaring it a National Emergency which could direct money and resources to a crisis thats now blamed for the deaths of nearly 100 americans every day. Back on north korea here, the president is expected to meet this afternoon with his u. N. Ambassador, nikki haley, at his bedminster property. Okay, Peter Alexander on the story for us. A lot to cover. Thank you very much. Lets look more closely at this crisis with north korea. One of guams top government officials is issuing a call for calm now amid north koreas threats to attack that u. S. Territory. Miguel almaguer is in guam this morning for us. Good morning to you. Reporter here in guam, the streets, even the beaches can be busy at this hour, many taking those ominous threats from north korea in stride. Many of the locals say there is nothing they can do but sit and wait. Ballistic missiles said to be aimed some 20 miles off the sunkissed beaches of guam could be coming within a week according to the latest threats from north koreas military. Today after another day of fiery rhetoric maybe it wasnt tough enough. Reporter its business as usual on an island dependent on tourists. Im not really too worried about it. Im pretty confident that the u. S. Will protect us. Reporter but 20 miles offshore where those missiles could fall, tour boat owners worry even a threat hurts business. Theyre grateful the military is close by. Nearly 7,000 u. S. Service members are stationed here. The air force, navy and coast guard all have facilities on an island only 30 miles long. The stronghold is known as the tip of the spear. The most western military base on u. S. Soil. Also protecting the island, thaad, a sophisticated incoming Missile Defense system that in testing has a 100 success rate. Our motto is ready to fight. Our mission is to provide President Trump with any options, to provide air power across all the spectrums of the battlefield. Reporter this morning its not just guam under threat. Im bill neely in seoul where people are relooifd the u. S. Wont act against north korea without consulting them but theyre debating whether they shouldnt have their own nuclear weapons. Theres no panic here but theyre desperate for all the tough talk to stop. Reporter back in guam, there are new concerns for many who live in this u. S. Territory. I dont know whats going to happen and im scared. Reporter there is no new Warning System in place. For now, guam relying on 15 sirens like these. Alerting those in lowlying areas like beaches they must quickly find safer ground. But if north korea launched four ballistic missiles, a threat they are examining, they could hit guam in just 14 minutes. Still, the governor says no need to panic. Do you sleep well at night . I sleep very well at night. Reporter this morning, a plea to stay calm for a small island in the crosshairs of a serious global threat. With tourists hitting restaurants and bars, some hotels, including our own, are testing internal paging systems inside guests rooms. They are looking for a way to notify the public in the event of an incoming threat. Savannah, back to you. Im sure thats unnerving. Miguel almaguer in guam this morning. Thank you. This morning there are also some new developments with the investigation into what could have caused u. S. Diplomats in cuba to suddenly lose their hearing. Now the canadian government is saying that some of its staff may also have been victimized by whats being called acoustic attacks. Nbcs Kerry Sanders is in miami with the latest on this. Kerry, good morning. Reporter well, good morning. This morning there are more questions than answers. In the strange case of the mysterious hearing loss among some u. S. Employees at the u. S. Embassy as well as others who have complained of feeling nauseous. This morning its unclear how many staff at the u. S. Embassy in havana have lost their hearing, and if the damage will be permanent. We dont know exactly where this came from, okay. We cant blame any one individual or country at this point yet. An investigation is under way. We take that very seriously. Reporter former spies and Intelligence Officers tell nbc news it sounds like a misuse of cold war technology, ultra High Frequency sound waves that can cause people to lose their balance and feel ill. This sounds like something where our diplomats inside cuba were being harassed by cuban intelligence and the Technology Just got out of their hands a little bit. Where the intent was not necessarily to harm american diplomats, it was to make them feel uncomfortable, to feel nauseous, to feel dizzy. Reporter on staterun tv, the cuban government announcing it is not responsible and is also now investigating. How is it someone might be targeted but not hear the attack . If you can hear this tone, raise your hand. Reporter by age 10 we begin to lose our ability to hear ultra high frequencies. Its why Adriana Enriquez can hear what i can not. Even though i couldnt hear that higher frequency, were i exposed to it it to cause it could cause hearing loss and loss of balance. Reporter amid suspicions the constant sound waves were triggered by a third country, some have suggested even russia, with a recent history of painful harassment against u. S. Diplomats. We actually did kick out two cuban diplomats. That was supposed to send a message that this is not supposed to happen again. More than likely it wont. This seems like a horrible mistake on the part of cuban intelligence. Reporter this morning u. S. Investigators and canadian investigators are sharing notes back and forth to see if perhaps there may have been some sort of listening device that also sent out an ultra High Frequency and over a period of time that frequency may have unintentionally harmed people in its path. Matt. As you said, a lot more questions than answers right now. Kerry, thank you very much. A lot more to get to this morning, including new orleans under a state of emergency this morning. The citys water pumping system is malfunctioning and with more rain in the forecast, Officials Say some neighborhoods are at risk of serious flooding. New orleans is still recovering from last weekends heavy rains. The city has only one working turbine, which provides power to drainage pumps, so schools are closed today as a precaution. There will be more testimony today in the criminal case tied to the alleged hazing death of a Fraternity Pledge at penn state university. This follows a Stunning Development on thursday when a detective suggested someone intentionally erased key Surveillance Video from the night in question. Nbcs Kristen Dahlgren is at the courthouse. Kristen, good morning. Reporter good morning to you, matt. An attorney for the Piazza Family is calling this a monumental coverup and the District Attorney tells me that additional charges related to it could come soon for one of the defendants expected any minute here for todays hearing. On day four of the hearing, a courtroom shocker. A detective claiming the Surveillance System from the basement of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, previously characterized as malfunctioning, was intentionally destroyed two days after timothy piazzas death. On the stand the detective was asked what happened to the footage in the basement, responding, it appears to have been deleted, adding the unidentified suspect is one of the defendants already in the courtroom. The fbi is now analyzing the security system. The big question becomes what could be so bad on it that it needed to be deleted versus the video weve seen, which naturally was pretty horrible. Reporter video from other cameras on the first floor of the house has been the crux of the case, alleging they urged him to drink in excess and then ignored his injuries after he fell down the stairs into the basement. Its a gamechanger if we see on the videotape the kinds of things that we see in the first floor. Well know what happened to tim piazza. Well know what happened during the second fall. Reporter charges for 18 Fraternity Brothers range from Involuntary Manslaughter to evidence tampering. In a case spotlighting the darker side of greek life. Penn state is conducting its own investigation and has already announced reforms to the greek system. The contentious preliminary hearing now entering its fifth day. The defendants at the hearing have denied all charges. Defense attorneys argue any new footage would show nothing more than a tragic accident. Im not really concerned because i suspect that it will just show young people having a party. Reporter so this morning four more Defense Attorneys get to cross examine that detective. If they can wrap it up today, matt and savannah, the judge will rule on whether or not this will go to a full trial. Kristen, thank you very much. There is new fallout connected to that controversial memo questioning googles diversity efforts. The tech giant was set to hold a companywide meeting to discuss gender discrimination but it was cancelled at the very last minute. Jolene kent is here and youve got a lot more this morning. Yeah, guys, this was a very sudden change. Just minutes before it was scheduled to start, the ceo of google suddenly cancelled an all hands meeting. It was a town hall that was scheduled for last night citing the safety of employees. The meeting was scheduled to address the controversy around an internal memo written by a former engineer who said women are underrepresented in tech due to, quote, biological differences and that diversity is bad for business. Demore was fired earlier this week for violating googles code of conduct and advancing harmful gender stereo types. He has filed a federal labor complaint and told us here at nbc news he plans to sue google now. Since then some altright groups upset with his firing have named individual employees on social media and various websites, threatening to go after them. Now some google employees became concerned about openly asking questions at this town hall and the event was cancelled. Now the ceo plans to hold conversations in smaller forums to get to the bottom of this. All right, jo. Interesting, thank you. Now more on that shocking video. We showed you this at the top of the show, that near disaster at an austin, texas, parking garage when a womans car plunged seven stories to the ground. Jacob rascon has that story for us. Jacob, what happened . Reporter it happened a couple of weeks ago behind me in this alleyway. If you look on the seventh floor, the cables dangling there, a woman driving a bmw hit the gas instead of the brakes, narrowly missing another driver parked below. Terrifying moments caught on camera. Surveillance video captured a car slamming into the ground moments after falling seven stories from an austin, texas, parking garage last month. It narrowly missed an suv parked in an alley directly below. The suv driven by william birch. I take it you didnt see anything coming . No, but i heard it. Reporter the noise he heard turned out to be a bmw careening off one of the top floors of the garage. The sedan crashing into the pavement before clipping the back end of his suv. I was on the speakerphone with my mom at the time when this happened. I could just imagine what she was thinking. I said a car just landed on me. Ive got to go. Reporter the bmw then came to rest on its roof. Bystanders franticly coming to the aid of the driver. It is a little scary. Luckily nobody got too hurt. Reporter Police Believe the woman driving the bmw mistakenly hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing the car to break through the barriers. Almost a year ago a similar incident happened at the same garage. A 24yearold man crashed through the barriers on the top level. But in that case a wire wrapped around his tire and left the suv dangling on the side of the garage. According to our nbc affiliate, the garage was issued a violation after the first incident for unsafe barrier cable systems. After the second incident, the owner of the garage installed plastic barriers filled with water. Were told that the driver of the bmw suffered serious injuries after the crash but amazingly she survived. Guys, back to you. Jacob, thank you very much. Seven stories is a long way to fall. Scary. In a car. Im glad that she survived but it sounds like dealing with some injuries. Lets turn to al. Nice to have you with us. Well, its nice to be had. Weve got some showers and thunderstorms to talk about, especially for our friends out west, especially stretching from oklahoma all the way into the southeast. 10 Million People under flash flood watches and warnings stretching from Oklahoma City all the way into atlanta. Heavy rain will be falling. Weve got this frontal system pushing down, going to bring showers and thunderstorms especially down through the gulf coast. New orleans will be looking at heavy rain and with those turbine failures thats going to be a big problem. As we look to the midwest and the east, as this front moves that way were looking for heavy showers and thunderstorms to the northeast, new england, Midatlantic States moving all the way in. Gusty winds will continue into sunday and press back down into the southeast causing more heavy rain there. So through sunday were looking for anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of rain along the carolina coastline and back into the plains from amarillo into paris, texas. Locally 4 to 6 inches of rain. Well get to your local forecast in the next 30 seconds. Good friday morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Its still going to be cloudy in San Francisco and also some drizzle at times. Temperatures reaching into the mid60s and 66 degrees tomorrow and for early next week it does get cooler with some lower 60s in the forecast. The inland areas will be in the upper 80s today. Well see some sun by late morning and early afternoon. Expect it throughout the weekend to be very nice with some comfortably warm temperatures and cooer to start next week. Ys . And thats your latest weather, guys. All right, al, thank you very much. Coming up, her side of the story. Taylor swifts unflinching testimony against the dj fired for allegedly groping her. And then on rossen reports, a new warning about lithium batteries after that purse explosion at a crowded City Council Meeting. First on a friday morning, this is today on n