Exclusive interview. Today august 18th, 2016. Talk about competing the most the first sweep in olympic history. Its over. The United States won the bronze. From nbc news, this is a special edition of today with the olympic lauer and savannah guthrie. Good morning. I have hoda here on the beach and we wake up and everybody is talk about this swimming korch tigs. Yeah, over night the drama at they were on the plane and taken off. Officials investigating their claims of being robbed with ryan and another steam mate. We talked to ryan last night, and we will tell you what he had the say. How about the team us skparks the team hurdles. A gold, bronze and silver. And then to carrie and them in Beach Volleyball. Yeah, they dominated the competition and whats left for the final five . We will find out when they join us live on the beach. Let us go back to new york. Unfortunately we are still covering the raging wild fire in california. How are crews going be able to get it under control. We will take you there live when you get it there in a couple of minutes. Back to you in rio. Savannah thank you very much. Brazilian authorities investigating. This is an odd. Its an odd story. Yeah, this is stunning and americans facing the Brazilian Police. Ryan is out home and watching these events unfold. The two teammates pulled from a team. Over night two american station and now the center of an embarrassing incident and refusing the answer questions. Ryan is sticking to the story. Are you . Hours before they have been dramatically pulled off the flight home and the lead detective said they moved quickly. Theyre all cooperating to the full extent. Are they protesting to way that the athletes are treating. All three rm with ryan when they say that they were robbed early at gun point on sunday. Having left hours before a brazilian judge ordered him to stay. Lochte say that he is sticking by his story and now some things have changed. Gas station to use the mens room when they were robbed. This video footage hours after the robbery say that is this looks like the swimmers are joking around. Matt says that they were in shock. The guy pulled out his gun, cocked it and put it to my my hands up and said whatever. They want the swimmers to explain. Early sunday morning matt recorded himself. That was posted nearly five hours later the swimmers arrived here at the Olympic Village. The question is what happened at that time. 6 56. Police believe that it was later. Is it really justified to pull olympic gold winning athletes from a plane . Well, there was a court order. A court order that we followed. Reporter i asked the detective how long this will take and thats up to the judge and saying that we have got access to evidence and all right. Thanks. Its a tricky leave situation and with that we have more with savannah. Okay. So many questions here. First of all is lochte in the clear . Is there anything that can bring him back to bra snil. Well, he might be in the this gets any thick er, it wont be liquid. Its hard to follow why its changed so much. That does not mean that theyre lying. In investigations you have discrept pen sis. If theyre major, thats going to be a red flag to the brazilian authorities. What about the two athletes that were yanked after the plane. Know . Theyre subject to the laws of b the United States would be subject to our laws and they do have a strong investigative format here not unlike what we consider in the United States with subpoenas where you can pull people. The decision to do it within the context of the olympics and no Greater Public evidence that were aware of does seem to be aggressive. Having said that, theyre subject to questioning and potential charges if there are false or misleading statements to authorities that could carry up to six months in brazil. Under the 1986 brazilian constitution they have a right to remain silent. They could actually with good lawyering stay out of most of this. That would raise potentially more questions if you were the victim of the crime, why would you need to be silent by explaining exactly what happened to you. As you said legally the soup is getting thicker. Thank you so much. Well send it back to you in rio. Savannah, thanks very much. As much as i respect ari, i dont think the story has changed a have changed. The basics of the story have remained the same. You talked to him first. One thing were hearing thats different is that he told me that the car was sideswiped and pulled over to gas station. When you spoke to him, it was not sideswiped. Car was standing still when people came up with guns and badges. He talks about the guy pulled a gun out and put it to his they agree on that. He embellished when he told the guy, look, im not getting down on the ground. If you got a gun, you can use it. He told me that. He never had that dirty harry moment. What was his demeanor when he was talking to you explaining it all . He was tired and shocked that it happened. He talked about the athletes. The surveillance tape of the village 7 00 a. M. The judge said they were joking and casual. We werent joking. We were in shock. I asked him pointedly, i said there are skeptics who think this story was concocted to hide some kind of other embarrassing behavior. Something you didnt want people to know about. Were you with someone you shouldnt be with . He was adamant about that. He said, no, that didnt happen. We wouldnt make this story up. We were victims and were lucky and happy to be safe. I would say this, its interesting to me. Or five hours after he got into Olympic Village. They had been out all night long. Hes not the kind that can weave a brilliant tale when he hasnt been out all night long. Pardon me. The fact he told this story makes me think he could not have invented the whole thing. Its not over. I can tell you that. Definitely isnt. Billy, thanks. Lets move on now to the competitive action here in rio. Day 12 was another big one for team usa including history making performances on the track. Natalie is here with all of the details. What a great u. S. Women winning first gold medals of these games on the track. The 100 Meter Hurdles. Highlights from another busy night in rio. For team usa, an olympic first. A clean sweep in the womens 100 Meter Hurdles. [ gunfire ] three americans shutting out the field. Brianna rollins taking gold. Castlin, bronze. Im so excited. Were blessed. We came out here and did our best and came out here and sweeped. Reporter on the other side of the track, american women took the top two spots in the long jump. Bartoletta edging out britney. The teammates ecstatic after their win. In womens 200 meter final, usas start settling for bronze. Thompson stride for stride. And thompson stride for stride reporter jamaican Elaine Thompson won the second gold here in rio. At the same time on copacabana beach, the u. S. Womens Beach Volleyball team was back in the spotlight. Kerri Walsh Jennings and april ross defeating brazil for the bronze medal. Its over reporter just one night quest for the gold. Im so honored to have won this. This was an as an athlete, i swear to god, this was the hardest match i ever played in my life. Reporter in water polo, the u. S. Womens team beat hungary, 1410. Now theyre preparing to face italy, the americans hoping to win their second consecutive gold medal. Back on the track, american evan yeager took silver in the steeple chase. The First American man to do that since 1984. Sights on his second gold. Eaton had a full schedule wednesday, running the 100 meter dash, leaping over the bar in the high jump. Taking first place in the long jump and finishing the night with the 400 meters. Hes now in the lead gearing up for the second day of competition. Of course im trying to win. You know . If a record is there, ill try to go for it. Right now its about getting the w. Fastest man looking to add to his legacy. Usain bolt finishing alongside canadas Andre De Grasse sharing a smile as they finish the 200 meter semifinal. Bolt holds the world record in the event and will go for Third Straight gold in the 200 finals tonight. Got to love that shared smile. Between usain bolt and Andre De Grasse. U. S. Dominating the medal count. 93 through the first 12 days of the games. China in seconll there. What should you look forward to today . More track and field action including usain bolt in mens 200 meter final. Thats going to be a big one. The gold medal match in mens Beach Volleyball as well, guys. Signature smile. I love it. Total finger waive, right . Guess what . Coming up well talk to the final five about their dominance in gymnastics right here in rio. And dont forget, natalie all the olympic action tonight 8 00 p. M. 7 00 p. M. Central time on nbc. Lets go back to savannah in new york. Guys, thank you so much. In the news this morning, that massive out of control wildfire raging in Southern California is only getting bigger this morning. More than 40 square miles have now been scorched. An untold number of homes there destroyed. Lets go right to nbcs joe lin kant with the latest for us. Jo, good morning. Reporter good morning. Its the blue cut fire that continues to rage it is now more than 31,000 acres and counting. Among the devastation, this is a route 66 popular diner, popular among celebrities including Elvis Presley and clint eastwood. Overnight, out of control flames fed by dry brush and whipping winds. Fire crews unable to keep the fast moving blue cut fire in check. In my 40 years of fighting fire, i have never seen fire behavior so extreme. Reporter San Bernardino county is about 60 miles east of disaster zone in a region battling wild fires fueled by a brutal heat wave and fiveyear drought. Firefighters attacking from the air and on the ground. More than 82,000 evacuees, many rushing to get out. Scary. I just left. I got my pictures, my dogs and left. Reporter on wednesday we got a firsthand look at the devastation. Unfortunately this fire came upon us so quickly with little to no warning that the possibility does exist that somebody was not able to escape this fire. Reporter there is some good news this morning. Interstate 15, the main thoroughfare that connects Southern California and nevada now reopened but only in one direction the northbound direction. Meanwhile, there is still a lot of flames lot of smoke, this fire is only 4 contained so far. Tough times there. Jo, thank you so much. We move to the president ial race. Donald trump hitting the trail for the First Time Since the shakeup inside his campaign. Aim at trumps new team. Nbcs Hallie Jackson is at trump tower for us this morning. Hallie, good morning. Reporter good morning. And this morning with that new team in place, its a return to an old motto, let trump be trump after that de motion for his former top aide, today trump heads to a swing state for the First Time Since the shakeup, North Carolina, after installing new campaign ceo breitbart ceo stephen bannon. Theres still time to turn around trumps slipping poll numbers. Senior adviser tells nbc news that means well see the notoriously off the cuff candidate on script more often, reading from a teleprompter more frequently. Hillary clinton, by the way, pouncing on trumps new team saying he can hire or fire whoever he wants, hes still, in his words, shown us who he is. Shes taking aim at him this morning with a new ad looking at his taxes arguing he should release them as trump gets ready own ads. Savannah, he has his first tv ads of the general election set to air starting tomorrow in four battleground states. Savannah . Hali, thank you so much. Its 7 16. Back to the guys in rio. All right, savannah. Thank you very much. Mr. Roker, a little cooler here today. Not so in parts of the u. S. Thats right, especially where they dont need the heat. Were talking about out west where the fire danger continues high. You can see we have red flag warnings and fire weather watches stretching from california all of the way to the Pacific Northwest. 1,300 people on that blue cut fire. The big problem going to be the winds. Look at these winds. Gusting up to 40 miles an hour. Southern california, 35 miles per hour. And the temperatures are going to be 5 to 20 degrees above average with record low humidity and were looking at record heat not just in california but also up into the Pacific Northwest. It goes into the latter part of the weekend with temperatures into the 90s. Look for record setting temperatures throughout the were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Trusted brand. And best overall brand. avo love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Get zero percent on select subaru models during thats your latest weather. Guys . Al, thanks so much. Coming up, kerri Walsh Jennings and april ross bouncing back to win bronze in womens Beach Volleyball. This morning theyll celebrate right here with us on copacabana beach. There they are. Also, the most dominant womens Gymnastics Team ever. Whats next for the final five yes, the americans behind a historic sweep of the 100 Meter Hurdles. Great job. Were going to talk to them but get your tshirt game on at kohls. Its all about tees. This thursday to sunday at kohls. Awesome deals on graphic tees, character tees, striped tees and more plus, friends and family. Yup, thats you. Get an extra 20 percent off and everyone gets kohls cash too. Now thats the good stuff. Kohls. At pure leaf, we know that the best things in life are real. So we wouldnt use anything other than real, brewed the way you make it at home. Pure leaf. A delicious, real leafbrewed iced tea. 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With the laughing cows nine flavors of creamy cheese, well she loves to say, well, fantastic a lot. I do say that, you see. I study psychobiology. Im a fine arts major. Nobody really believes that i take notes this way, but they actually make sense to me. I try to balance my studying with the typical college experience. This windows pc is a life saver being able to pull up different articles. Dana good morning. It is 7 26 on this thursday morning and the bluecut fire, about three half hours from Las Vegas Conn morning, sending up a lot of smoke into the skies above southern nevada. Well get to that in just a second. If youre headed from las vegas to los angeles this morning, youre going to have to take an alternate route, interstate 15 southbound is shut just past victorville so go to victorville, just past it, look for signs that say highway 18. Youll get on highway 18 heading to the west, that is the red line youre looking at. Highway 18 will take you to highway 14. Drop you into los angeles, so there is an alternate route northbound lanes of interstate 15 are back reopened this morning. Kelly curran, we are seeing some smoke out there, not as bad as 24 hours ago, but still, some haze in the air in las vegas this morning. And still poor air quality, in fact, an air quality advisory has been issued for clark county so with lung issues, asthma or respiratory issues, stay indoors as m on the Technical Academy area camera, the air looks a little dirty, that is the best way to describe it as we see more smoke in the air. In addition for that, well be dealing with a chance of storms and thunderstorms this afternoon, a slight chance but something well continue to monitor, 104, the high and dry conditions over the weekend and monday, a chance of rain and 98 for the high. A little trouble on tropicana curve with another vehicle here so traffic squeezing up the middle, not there is much traffic. So take a look another look in the spaghetti bowl, looking busy, that time of the day, rush hour on the roadw a month after 9 11, i got a call from david and he told me he was going into the national guard. He was sent to iraq to be a gunner on a humvee. A car pulled up in the driveway and three soldiers got out, you have moments when you really dont want to live anymore, its a fate that i would not wish on anybody, not anybody. When i saw donald trump attack another gold star mother, i felt such a sense of outrage. Wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say, she probably. I would like to tell donald trump what it feels like, the sense of emptiness, that only losing a child can bring. And i dont think that donald trump will ever understand that. . . Were back now on a thursday morning. Its the 18th day of august, 2016. Its another great o along copacabana beach. 13th day of the summer Olympic Games. A chant of usa in the background for good reason. Every now and then we have gold, silver, bronze. Were going to tell you about this little setup here in the photo were recreating in a second. Lets look at headlines. Ryan lochtes teammates expected to talk to Brazilian PoliceDepartment Today about that group. Two swimmers were taken off plane and detained at rios airport before being rel