A minnesota man confesses in graphic detail to the kidnapping and killing of an 11yearold boy. The victims heartbroken mother speaking out for the First Time Since her sons body was found, just days ago. For us, jacob was alive. To be found. And so we found him. This morning, the link to another crime that helped crack the case. And under pressure. Amid sinking sales, apple expected to unveil the new iphone 7 at a big event. How will it be different, and will it help the tech giant cook up big sales today, wednesday, september 7th, 2016. From nbc news, this is today with matt lauer, live from intrepid sea, air and museum in new york. And savannah guthrie, live from are rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on this wednesday morning. Im standing here at new yorks intrepid sea, air and museum along the hudson river. This is the site of tonights commanderinchief forum, the first joint candidate event of this general election season. Im going to tell you much more about what we have in store for the candidates here later on. But savannah is back in studio 1a a few blocks from here. Good morning to you. Good morning. What a setting you you have there, and voters consistently say the top of their list in importance. No question about it. Let me set the stage for you, savannah. During this hourlong event, clinton and trump will appear backtoback, taking questions on National Security, military affairs and Veterans Issues from an audience of active and veteran Service Members. Now, last night there was a coin toss. It was held to determine the order of appearance. Trump won the coin toss. And has chosen to go second. Hillary clinton will go first, savannah. Okay. And matt, what these candidates have to say when they get their turn is going to get a lot of attention. The election, of course, 62 days away now. And with that in mind, here is a first look at the state of the race today. Ahead of your forum, trump has stopped both here in new york and in philadelphia, where the republican nominee will also be addressing Veterans Issues and National Security. Chelsea clinton will be in the Battle Ground state of pennsylvania, as well, hitting the campaign trail for her mom for the First Time Since the birth of her second child, aiden, back in june. And the race in pennsylvania is tight. The latest poll Shows Hillary clinton leading trump in that state. But now just by four points, matt. Its a tight race. All right, savannah, thanks very much. A lot to get to in the president ial race, including another new toll significant to tonights forum. National correspondent Peter Alexander here with me on that. Good morning to you. Good morning. Not a bad backdrop for tonight. The issue of veterans, Foreign Policy and National Security. Of course, the most important responsibility for any president , their role as commanderinchief. But both Hillary Clinton and donald trump are actually facing some pretty skeptical voters. Our brand new poll out this morning shows nearly 60 of americans say they do not have confidence in trumps ability to head our armed forces. And 52 say they lack the same confidence in clinton. Facing their first fierce battle, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trumps test tonight to portray themselves as a credible commanderinchief. Clinton launching a preemptive strike onair, blasting her opponent as unfit to lead, targeting his controversial comments. John mccain, a war hero. Hes not a war hero. Hes a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured, okay . Still the poll shows trump leads clinton among veteran voters. The billionaire with 88 retired generals and admirals who signed a letter supporting trump to reverse the, quote, hollowing out of the u. S. Military. Not to be outdone, clinton this morning out with a statement saying she has 95 retired generals and admirals supporting her. The candidate also weighing in on global hot spots, like north korea. What i would do very simply is say, china, this is your baby, this is your problem, you solve the problem. Reporter on syria, ducking a question about whether he supports a regime change. Look, we have a problem. Its called isis. Isis is fighting syria. Reporter and on russia. Wouldnt it be nice if we actually got along with russia . Reporter even using Vladimir Putin to bash clinton. Putin looks at her and he laughs, okay . He laughs. And then he smiles. Boy, would he like to see her. Reporter clinton firing back. Were going to work with our allies, not insult them. Were going to stand up to our adversaries, not cozy up to them. Reporter in a tightening race, clinton is trying to get back on offense, hammering trump for refusing to release his tax returns. He clearly has something to hide. We dont know exactly what it is, but were Getting Better guesses about what it probably is. Reporter trump slamming clinton after the fbi revealed during its interview with her about her private email server she repeatedly couldnt recall key details. If she really cant remember, she cant be president. She doesnt remember anything. Reporter now back to the topic of tonight, heres another statistic that stuck out for us. More Americans TrustHillary Clinton to make the right decisions with the nuclear codes. 44 for clinton. Just 24 for trump. But 26 of americans say they dont trust either of them, and just to emphasize the importance of this National Security debate, remember this sunday marks the 15th anniversary of 9 11, and American Voters are already making up their minds. Early voting, including mailin ballots by active duty military, matt, begins in many states this month. All right. Peter, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Lets talk more about what we expect to hear from the candidates tonight. Lets bring in Nicolle Wallace and Steve Kornacki made their way to the intrepid with me. Good morning. Talk about this polling that peter just talked about. 59 of people dont trust donald trump with the future of our military. 52 dont trust Hillary Clinton, and yet she is trailing with active military and veterans. They measure your toughness and if donald trump has one asset that wasnt damped by the post convention stress, its the sense he is still tough enough. I think that was one of the attributes that held up. What he has to prove tonight, he can also be measured and i think thats his test tonight. Steve, this is about that 3 00 a. M. Phone call, this is about National Security. What does donald trump have to say to prove to American Voters that he is, in fact, ready for the role of commanderinchief . Yeah, because the other poll number out there that always jumps out at me is temperament. She is beating him 21, 31. So i think he needs to display some competence here. But i think he needs to find a way to reassure people, again, its when he had those gut decisions. The poll about your finger on the button. They dont trust him right now with something that basic and that fundamental. Steve brings up a good point. Donald trump the word you hear more often than any other is temperament. When it comes to Hillary Clinton, you hear judgment and trust. What does she need to say to veterans and voters tonight that lets them understand that shes got the right judgment and they can trust her to make those key decisions . So theres a Hillary Clinton that actually did pretty well on that question, and who actually forged relationships across the aisle. And that was the Hillary Clinton who served in the United States senate as new york states representative. She was on the Senate Armed Services committee. She made many trips to the region. We were a country at war while she was a senator. She needs to this is sort of her weakness and her asset. Her weakness is there are different versions of her she showcases. Her asset is she has a lot of experience and thats the Hillary Clinton that needs to show up tonight. Im glad you said that. If you put their resumes side to side, steve, she has much more experience in this area. But resumes are doubleedged swords. On the one hand, youve got the experience nicole talked about. On the other hand, youve got to run on your record. Is it a problem for her . Thats the interesting thing. Remember n 2008 when she was running against barack obama at the beginning of that campaign, they thought maybe Foreign Policy and National Security would be the big trump card. It turned out it was the iraq war vote from 2002, the legacy of the iraq war. You have that interesting situation where donald trump, he had made comments in the run up to the iraq war on radio shows saying he was for it. But hes trying to run as a candidate who says i was against this thing from the beginning. It was a disaster. Hes trying to pin that on her. Well see if there is a back and forth there. Unscientific poll up into the event tonight. Whats the number one threat facing our National Security right now . Real quick. I think what people feel the number one threat is the lone wolf attacks where people are radicalized by internet and they can go out by themselves with a weapon which is pretty easy to get here in this country and wreak havoc. I think thats it. Self radicalization. Of we talk so much about the threats external coming in. But people here dont have to go overseas, dont have to meet anybody and things can happen. Steve and nicole, thank you both very much. Thank you for watching. Thank you very much. You can watch our forum, live tonight, 8 00 eastern time on nbc and msnbc. Lets go back to studio 1a. New fuel in the controversy facing the Obama Administration. Over payments it sent to iran earlier this year. The white house is now saying the overall total, entirely in cash, amounted to 1. 7 billion. Nbcs ron allen is traveling with the president in laos this morning and has the latest. Ron, good morning. Reporter under pressure, the administration admitted that it spent some 400 million using that money as leverage to help free four americans being held in iran. Now the wall street journal reports within a few weeks iran got another 1. 3 billion, all that money in cash. The timing raising new questions about whether all that money was ransom. The Obama Administration has said all that money, 1. 7 billion, was owed to iran. Settling a decadesold dispute about a failed arms deal, an agreement, they say, that coincided with the prisoner release and implementation of the iran nuclear deal. The president has insisted the deals were not connect and had were not ransom. We do not pay ransom for hodges. Reporter the administration has refused to reveal details about when and how the cash was sent and say hundreds of millions in cash could end up in the hands of terrorists iran backs and endanger americans. The white house insists it revealed the Cash Payments in august, when asked whether an additional 1. 3 billion had been sent to iran, just like the initial 400 million payment. We havent been as specific about the mechanism of the payment for the 1. 3 billion in interest. Reporter the administration insists the details must be kept secret and sanctions against iran. Still republicans on the hill want to introduce legislation that bans any payments to iran, and demands billions from the regime to compensate victims of terror. Savannah . Ron allen traveling with the president , thank you. New developments this morning in the bill cosby Sexual Assault case. Lawyers now saying that the comedian is the victim of racial bias. They complain that a barrage of new accusers has gone public while cosby supporters have been silent. Attorneys took particular aim at gloria allred, a lawyer who represented some of cosbys accusers. The statements came after a Court Hearing in pennsylvania at which a judge set a june 5th trial date for cosby, charged with drugging and molesting a former Temple University employee at his home in 2004. And now to a chilling confession in a minnesota courtroom to a murder mystery that has haunted that state for a nearly three decades. A man finally admitting to the 1989 abduction, assault and killing of an 11yearold boy. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is in minneapolis for us with more on this. Gabe, good morning. Reporter savannah. For 9,827 mornings, this young boys mother had woken up wondering in agony what had really happened to her son. Today she no longer has to wonder after that chilling confession in this courthouse. We should warn our viewers some of the details of this story are disturbing. For us, jacob was alive. To be found. Until we found him. Reporter this morning, Patty Wetterling finally knows what happened to her son, jacob. Confessed killer Danny Heinrich now providing answers in terrifying detail. This small minnesota town of st. Joseph in shock. Nobody should have to go through this. Reporter in 1989, the case brought National Attention here, when 11yearold jacob, his younger brother and a friend were forced from their bikes by a masked gunman. Told me to run into the woods as fast as i could. And then grabbed jacob. Reporter now in that confession, according to reporters in court, heinrich told the judge jacob asked what did i do wrong and also started to cry and said take me home. Instead, heinrich told the court he sexually abused jacob and then executed him at the edge of the woods. At the time, heinrich was questioned about the boys disappearance, but never arrested. A break in the investigation came last october, when new technology linked heinrichs dna to another unsolved Sexual Assault case. Police searched this home, leading to an arrest on child pornography charges. Heinrich later told police where he buried jacobs body in exchange for prosecutors dropping murder charges. Hes not getting away with anything. We got the truth. Reporter jacobs parents signed off on the plea deal. This morning, the search for their son is finally over. Their pain is not. I want to say jacob, im so sorry. Reporter heinrichs sentencing now set for late november on the child pornography charge. The u. S. Attorney here says he expects the 53yearold heinrich will go to prison for at least 20 years. Savannah . Gabe gutierrez, thank you. Some other news. Big news on the education front. Itt Technical Institute is going out of business. The forprofit College Chain is setting down all 130 of its u. S. Campuses, because it says it can no longer operate under new rules set up by the government. It has been under investigation for allegations of fraud and deceptive marketing tactics. In august, the u. S. Department of education bans the college from enrolling students who get federal aid. That shut down 40,000 students and 8,000 employees. A big event happening in San Francisco today. Tech giant apple expected to unveil the newest version of its popular iphone, and nbcs jolene kent is there. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning, savannah. Whenever apple has an event like this, it is veiled in secrecy, that doesnt stop the rumor mill from churning online and here in San Francisco. Were expecting a new iphone 7 this morning and its all about what feature could be missing. The headphone jack. Apple, under Major Pressure to make a big splash. The most valuable company in the worldwidely expected to unveil a new iphone 7 today. The company that made white ear buds a fashion statement now rumored to be eliminating them. According to websites that focus on apple products. Introducing new wireless ear buds that may connect via bluetooth. Whatever they do with that space, it better be good, because users are used to plugging in their headphones. If if you want to change our behavior, it better be for a great reason. Reporter getting rid of traditional headphones could allow the phone to be thinner and potentially waterproof. These photos posted purport to show the device, including possibly a more advanced camera. Apple watchers also anticipate the company will issue a new and improved watch, with a new gps feature, plus a longerlasting battery to satisfy. Still, the apple watch has disappointed. Apple currently lagging behind fit bit in the wearables category. And apples new products announcement unfolding amid a smartphone war with samsung. Samsung recalled 2. 5 million galaxy phones because of fires linked to its battery. We have one more thing. Reporter but as for todays big announcement, analysts say anything could happen. Apple is known to keep a surprise until the very last minute. Apple staying mum on all of this and not commenting this morning. But, you know, ceo tim cook has been the head of this company for about five years now. A lot of critics say is hein aggravating enough. And today is another chance for him to prove those critics wrong, savannah. Jo kent up there early to get it. Lets get our first check of the weather from al who probably already has the iphone 7. I do not, but im very, very, very exciting. I know you are. I can feel the energy. Christmas morning anyway, lets show you unfortunately, not like christmas in the upper midwest. Heavy thunderstorms