When he was found hanged in his prison cell. And what a drag. A bizarre scene in california. I dont know whats going on here. A car lodged in the back of a big rig barreling down a highway. The driver desperate for help. Hes not stopping giving the term truck stop a whole new meaning today, thursday, april 20th, 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 thursday morning. Weve got willie in for matt again this morning. I have been playing all my Barry Manilows greatest hits for you. Overdrive this morning. Barry manilow in concert for us. A light rain not keeping barry out of the shades for one thing. How cool is that man . And the crowd on the plaza, well have that coming up later. We have a huge crowd out there. But lets get right to our top story, and it is the stunning fall for one of the biggest stars in cable news. Amid damaging Sexual Harassment allegations, fox news has cut ties with bill oreilly and his popular show already has a new look and a new name. Cynthia mcfadden has been following this. Good morning to you. Good morning, savannah. Viewers tuning into fox last night saw a whole new factor. Now new questions on what happens for oreilly as the former king of cable news speaks out, even as he faces more accusations. Hi, im bill oreilly. This morning the king of cable news is dethroned. It is the end of an era here at the fox news channel. Bill oreilly is leaving this chair and this network after more than 20 years. The toprated cable news show bearing his name now simply the factor. Bill oreilly fired after Sexual Harassment allegations saying in part, it is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. But the reality is that more than a half dozen women have accused oreilly of Sexual Harassment. The New York Times reports that oreilly and fox news have paid a total of 13 million to five women. And more than 50 companies pulled their ads from the Oreilly Factor. Oreilly has denied all allegations against him. But its a stunning downfall for the man who anchors the most lucrative broadcast in cable news. Thank you for watching us tonight. The Oreilly Factor generated 178 million in ad revenue in 2015 alone. Five Major Players have left fox news in what has been a devastating year for the cable network. Among them, former fox chairman and ceo roger ailes. He resigned after former anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a Sexual Harassment lawsuit against him. The first domino in this dramatic turn of events. 21st century clfox settled with carlson for a reported 21 million. Ailes denied the allegations. With oreillys ousting, fox may have been trying to get ahead of other possible alleged accusers. I know more accusers. Some of them have now told me, well, theres really no point in coming forward now, hes been fired. Others may have lawsuits against him. And they may file those lawsuits. We have to break that down. Oreilly out of the country on a Family Vacation shook hands on tuesday with pope francis in the vaticans vip line. The stunning contrast to his firing, which came just hours later. Caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. This morning, the nospin zone is no more. This Morning National geographic and publisher henry holt say they have no plans to sever ties with oreilly who has projects in the works with both. Now, inside fox news wednesday afternoon, staff was stunned to hear oreillys firing, especially as the networks bosses seemed to praise him even as they pushed him out the door. Scynthia mcfadden, thank you very much. Gabe Sherman Brook is here and broke the news of the scandal. Earlier we heard about the settlements paid after a number of women claimed Sexual Harassment against bill oreilly, you have advertisers fleeing, theres a pending deal Rupert Murdoch is looking at in great britain. What brought this to a head so quickly . Really, this was a storm the Murdoch Family wanted to weather but realized they couldnt. Yesterday morning the firm paul wise presented their findings to rupert and the two sons, james and locklan, and they realized they couldnt save him and had to pull the bandaid off and make the decision to push him out. There was another shoe dropped and perhaps there was. There was. The other ticking clock was there was a Board Meeting for fox news taking place in new york today. And they wanted to have this resolved before the board of directors all come into new york. So this was a very fastmoving story. Gabe, was there inside fox, until the end, a prooreilly camp . Were there people arguing for him to keep his job . Really, i didnt hear a big ground swell of rankinfile of people. The president of fox news tried to shore up bill oreilly. Rupert murdoch was inclined to keep him, but there wasnt a ground swell of employees who wanted him. He was a very difficult person to work with. Its a tricky situation because fox viewers probably dont support this move. He was exceedingly popular. Oh, of course. This is going to be, in some ways, more complicated than the ousting of roger ailes last summer, because of bill oreillys personal connection to the audience. In the weeks ahead, it will be interesting to see if theres erosion in their ratings. And what does the future of fox look like . You can take this back to Gretchen Carlson, Greta Van Susteren leaving who joined us at nbc, megyn kelly, roger ailes, bill oreilly, is this a Different Network now philosophically . In a shortterm, no. They have aligned themselves with the Trump Administration. Megyn kelly is no longer in the primetime, this is going to be a new network. It is too early to tell. James murdoch would like to move it to a more centrist, moderate position. And this is more of a family struggle at this point than it is a television one. We remember roger ailes got a big payout as he went out the door. Does bill oreilly get the same thing . From what im hearing, he had twoandahalf years on his contract. He earns upwards of 25 million a year. He just resigned that, though. There was a provision. I think they signed the contract knowing the allegations were out there. So there was a clause that i understand that allowed them to have an exit, but he did receive money. Dave sherman has been working this story for years and broke the latest chapter. Thank you so much. Well have more on bill oreillys departure including evidence of a Smear Campaign against oreilly. And now to the white house and a new faux for the Trump Administration to focus on, iran. Rex tillerson now warning it could become the next north kor korea. Weve got two reports, well start with andrea mitchell. Andrea, good morning to you. Reporter good morning to you, savannah. The new administration, the president facing multiple crises from north korea to aggressive maneuvers by russian jets off the coast of alaska. And now the u. S. Opening a new front with iran. From the Trump Administration, a stark warning to iran. An unchecked iran has the potential to travel the same path as north korea and take the world along with it. Reporter secretary of state Rex Tillerson blasting the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama Administration, calling iran a Global Security threat. The evidence is clear, irans provocative actions threaten the United States, the region and the world. Reporter while the nuclear deal remains in place for now, President Trump has repeatedly vowed to rip it up. The iran deal made by the Previous Administration is one of the worst deals i have ever witnessed. And ive witnessed some beauties. Reporter after acknowledging tuesday that iran is complying with a landmark 2yearold nuclear deal, tillerson accused iran of sponsoring terrorism throughout the middle east. Testing and developing missiles in defiance of the u. N. Resolution, arresting u. S. Citizens. The Obama White House sanged iran for those abuses but with five other powers, they decided the nuclear deal was still worth doing. While experts say scrapping the agreement would give them permission to obtain a nuclear weapon. Tillerson disagrees. If you break out that deal, wont that send a signal to north korea and other rogue nations that the u. S. Cant be trusted to keep its end of the bargain . It is another example of buying off a power who has nuclear ambitions, we buy them off for a short period of time, and then someone has to deal with it later. Reporter tillerson says the u. S. May place north korea back on the list of state sponsors of terror, after having been removed from that list by the Bush Administration in 2008. All this as defense secretary james mattis is trying to clear up confusion over the location of that aircraft carrier, the uss carl vin vecentvincent. Both the president and mattis said the ship was heading to north korea as a show of force, even though it was heading to australia. We are sending an armada, very powerful. Reporter mattis now clarifying. We generally dont give out ship schedules in advance, but i didnt want to play a game and say we were changing when, in fact, we had. Reporter now moscow seems to be testing the new administration. Twice this week, russian jets flew too close to the coast of alaska. Once, in fact, norad scrambled fighter jets to intercept them. Scary stuff. Andrea mitchell at the state department, thank you. Meanwhile, President Trump is going to faceoff again against the u. S. District judge. He publicly accused last years of being biased. Kristen welker has more on this story for us. Kristen, good morning. Reporter willie, good morning to you. The first time President Donald Trump clashed with the judge was over a Trump University lawsuit when he was a candidate. This time the judge will preside over an immigration case involving a socalled dreamer recently deported. The judtrial putting the judge President Trumps crosshairs once again. Hes the judge who then candidate trump thrusted into the headlines saying i have a judge who is hater of donald trump. A hater. Hes a hater. His name is reporter the world first met judge curiel last year when he oversaw this pointed attack. The judge was appointed by barack obama, a federal judge. I mean, frankly, he should recuse himself. I believe he happens to be spanish, which is fine, hes hispanic, which is fine, and we havent asked for recusal, which we may do, but we have a judge very hostile. Reporter mr. Trump saying he was biased because of his mexican heritage. Judge curiel was born in indiana. Hes from mexico. The answer is hes giving us very unfair ruling. Reporter judge curiel approved a 25 million settlement between Trump University and students who claim they overpaid for seminars. Mr. Trump never admitted any wrongdoing. As for the current case, 23yearold kwon montes said back in february he was deported from a California City for no reason. When he tried to reenter the country again, he was deported back to mexico. Montes has status to shielden documented immigrants from being deported if they were brought here by their parents, but they say he violated it without getting the governments approval. In an interview overnight, montes lawyer would respond but stressed her client would be vindicated. To this day he doesnt understand why he was deported even though he had permission to be in this country. Reporter the question now, will President Trump take aim at the judge again in a case thats already become a legal flashpoint. So how did judge curiel wind up overseeing this case . According to californias Southern District court, it was totally random, simply the luck of the draw. So far, no reaction from the white house. No court date has been set yet. Kristen welker at the white house this morning, thanks, kristen. We are learning more about the apparent prison suicide of former nfl star Aaron Hernandez. An investigation is now underway as people close to him are raising questions about what exactly happened. Nbc National CorrespondentMiguel Almaguer is outside the prison in shirley, massachusetts, for us. Miguel, good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. Prison officials believe Aaron Hernandez hanged himself inside his singleunit cell. They say he was not on suicide watch and showed no indications he would want to harm himself. That is why some are asking, was this really a suicide . Aaron hernandez was discovered hanging from a bed sheet tied to a window inside his maximum security cell. This morning multiple news outlets say john 3 16 was scrawled on his head, a biblical verse that references eternal life. Prison officials call the death a suicide. But this morning friends and members of hernandezs legal team are raising questions about that. Its very hard for me to accept the fact that he may have committed suicide. We are keeping an open mind. Not guilty. Reporter just six days ago, the former football superstar, already serving a life sentence for the execution of friend odin lloyd in 2013, was acquitted of a double murder in 2012. Wiping away tears as the verdict was read, the victims families did the same, stoic during the trial, hernandez blew kisses to his daughter and fiancee. His former agent says, there is absolutely no chance he took his own life. Guilty of murder in the first degree. Reporter now they say they will conduct their own investigation into hernandezs death. For the families of those he was accused of killing, there is no justice. They take no joy in whats happened to him and more particularly to his family. Reporter on social media, nfl players past and present share their condolences for a man who once scored a super bowl touchdown and a 40 Million Contract with the patriots. On the day his body was discovered, his former teammates were celebrating their most recent super bowl win at the white house. Just a few years ago, Aaron Hernandez seemed to have it all, fame, money, incredible success. But his life now coming to an end in a prison cell. With state police now launching their own investigation, we now know that Aaron Hernandezs pension says his family would like it to go to his daughter. As for his criminal record, his lawyers say because they were appealing his conviction, they are asking that his record be wiped clean. Savannah . Miguel almaguer, thank you very much. Now back to that wild video we showed you at the top of the show. The incident happened on the 15 freeway northeast of los angeles. And here you see it, a big rig dragging a Nissan Maxima up the freeway pass after the car somehow becomes wedged into the side of the truck. The witness who was recording this video then pulls up alongside of him, the driver of the car waves his hand out the window and pleads for help. Wont stop hes not stopping the truck dragged that car for about four miles. Eventually, did come to a stop, and thats when the witness confronted the truck driver. Why were you driving so far . Far . The guys on the end of your car. I didnt know it. What do you mean you didnt know it, dude . Hes on your truck he said, what do you mean you didnt know it, dude . California Highway Patrol said its not clear if anybody faces charges. I had the same question as the witness there. How do you go four miles and not notice . You dont look in the side mirror . Thats amazing. Apparently nobody hurt, thank goodness. Yeah. Mr. Roker, what is shaking . Well, weve got a lot of Severe Weather to talk about. In fact, take a look at what happened yesterday just outside of cleveland. I mean, they got dumped on with tons of rain. And they actually had to do water rescues from parking lots, getting people out of their cars. Look at the burger king. I mean, its under water. It is a mess out there. And theres more on tap for today for the same area. Its our top weather story. As thee systse systems push acre great lakes, well have more rain and thunderstorms. In fact, we have a threat of Severe Weather from cleveland to indianapolis up to detroit. 25 Million People at risk for this system as it pushes to the east, strong storms, wind, heavy rain, another round of heavy rain and thunderstorms move through cleveland. And then the southern part of this storm brings in a more overnight storm for this warm front. A risk of heavy rain through tomorrow into parts of the central plains. Look at the rainfall amounts were talking about, anywhere from three to five inches of rain. This system moves all the way into the east by saturday. From Oklahoma City into nashville, three to five inches with flash flooding possible through saturday afternoon. Were going to get to your local good morning im meteorologist bill henley. Tracking some showers this morning, but this afternoon the showers move out. These clouds will be out of here. We get sunshine a