D. C. And good morning, everybody. Welcome to this special splitedition of today on a thursday morning. So glad youre with us. Its a big day here on capitol hill. Matt, youre back in studio 1a and the stage is set for some consequential testimony. This is the political version of mustsee tv. Millions of people are going to stop what theyre doing and watch from home or from their workplace. But what does it take, savannah, to be one of the lucky one toss actually get a seat in that hearing room . Well, you have to be an early riser, thats for sure. I can show you a live shot outside the hearing room in the Hart Senate Office building. People are already there. It will be filled with lawmakers, with staff, a lot of reporters, but also spectators willing to wait in line. Well take you what we think will be happening here today. This hearing gets underway, 10 00 a. M. Eastern, former fbi director james comey will begin his testimony before the Senate Intelligence committee. Hes going to begin by reading an Opening Statement, one that was, in fact, released ahead of his appearance yesterday. In that statement he recalls nine oneonone conversations with the president. He details five of them, three meetings and two phone calls, that happened between january and may. Now, according to comey, those conversations focused on the investigation into possible russian interference in the 2016 election. And he considered the interactions, everything from very awkward to inappropriate. Now, following those opening remarks, comey will then face two rounds of questions from a panel of eight republicans, six democrats and one independent. As you might expect, weve got every aspect of todays pivotal hearing covered for you. And well be talking exclusively to some of the lawmakers questioning mr. Comey in a matter of hours, including senator harris that you see right there, but let me start with nbc white house chief correspondent Hallie Jackson with more on what we are learning from comeys Opening Statement. Good morning to you. Reporter savannah, good morning to you. And this room is really the center of the political universe right now up. This is what it is all going to come down to where james comey will be seated in just a couple hours from now. Yes, were already getting a preview of what hes going to say in his Opening Statement, but its the questions coming from senators lined up here that could reveal new information as these photographers behind me here get set up early this morning. The white house, the president s allies, the rnc, already getting their counterpony strategy ready, emailing out talking points overnight to try to bat back some of the criticism the president is expected to get, particularly from democrats on this committee. But remember, some of this testimony that james comey has revealed so far does contradict what the president has said publicly. All of it setting up a kind of he said he said showdown. Not even james comey could wait until today to deliver his testimony, asking the Senate Intelligence committee to release his Opening Statement early. In vivid detail, the former fbi director outlines his meetings with the president who fired him, including the first, january 6th, at trump tower. Its where he says he told donald trump, we did not have an open counterintelligence case on him, comey writes. I offered that assurance. The president pointing to thatted a validation. His outside counsel says he is pleased that the president was not under a russian probe adding, the president feels completely and totally vindicated. Gop allies acknowledge comey said that it would be good to find out if satellite associates of his did something wrong. Still, other parts of comeys statement contradict what the president has said publicly, like when comey describes a meeting on february 14th, the day after then National Security adviser mike flynn resigned. Comey writes, the president began by saying, i want to talk about mike flynn. Adding later, he is a good guy. I hope you can let this go. Did you, at any time, urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape or form to close or back down the investigation into Michael Flynn . No. No. Next question. Reporter then there was a dinner in late january. Comey says the president called him with the invitation. Heres what the president told lester holt. That dinner was arranged, i think he asked for the dinner, and he wanted to stay on as the fbi head. Reporter at that dinner, another crucial moment. The president said, i need loyalty. I expect loyalty, according to comey, who writes, i didnt move, speak or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence. Later, he says he told the president , you will always get honesty from me. Is it appropriate for the president to ask for a question of loyalty for the fbi director . Yeah, no, obviously, i dont think that is. That position is treated e independently and he crosses that. Do you think james comey is credible . I dont have any reason to doubt his credibility. James clapper weighing in on the significance of the russia controversy. I have to say, though, that i think, compare the two, that watergate pails, really, in my view, compared to what were confronting now. Reporter comeys testimony will cap an intense 24 hours on capitol hill, which started wednesday when the nations top intelligence officials faced questions on reports that the president asked them to get involved in the fbis russia investigation. I do not ever recall being pressured to do so. I do not feel pressure to intervene or interfere in any way. Reporter when asked to share more, they declined. Im not going to discuss the specifics of conversations with the president of the United States. Im not going to answer any questions. Its inappropriate for me to share that with the public. Reporter the committees Top Republican shot this sharp warning. At no time should you be in a position where you come to Congress Without an answer. Reporter so expect to get more questions today coming from this lineup right here, this is where the senators will be sitting. And here are the key folks to watch up here, number one, the Top Republican on the Senate Intelligence committee, richard burr, also senator rubio aggressive in his questioning question. And seated here is mark warner with a preview of his statement. Watch for him to say that this behavior from the president is simply unacceptable. Savannah, back to you. Hallie jackson, thank you. Senator harris from california is one of the democratic members of the Senate Intelligence committee, shes with us exclusively. Senator, youre one of the people sitting in those chairs asking questions today. You have read the statement, of course, from director comey. Youre a former prosecutor among other things. Correct. If you accept every single word of that statement as true, do you think theres a sufficient case for obstruction of justice . I think there are a lot more questions to ask of mr. Comey. Im looking forward to the hearing today, but theres no question we have to get to the truth in whats going on. Comeys statement, the written statement, validates some of the reports that we have been hearing that led us to this point, whether we are questioning if theres obstruction of justice. He outlines conversations initiated by the president that seem to be intended to interfere with the investigation, at least as it relates to flynn. His letter in terms of his written statement, comeys statement, validates that he was asked to take a loyalty oath. You know, when i think about that, i was a District Attorney of san francisco, the attorney general of california and then a United States senator. Ive taken the oath many times. The oath was to the constitution of the United States, not to an individual. Its completely inappropriate. But, on the other hand, there are aspects of this statement that do corroborate what trump himself said. The president said, i was assured personally three times by director comey that i was not personally under investigation. You were asked about this on an interview. You said, as a prosecutor, you would have never talked to someone who may have been in the zone of the investigation and tell them they are not someone were looking at. That just doesnt happen. Your words. It happened. Thats right. You are right. And so, at least it is inappropriate. But what it will say today is, were going to get more facts and more information and see whats there in terms of what should be the next inappropriate, next step for the United States senate and any investigator looking at this matter. Do you think the comey statement would be more of a smoking gun than what you see . I didnt have any expectations. I think theres actually about all of this, nothing that any of us could have expected when we think about the normal goingson of a president of the United States or a criminal investigation. But i will say that as we go forward, it is very important that we get to the heart of the matter and to the truth. What happened . Thats the most important thing. This certainly is taking on a proportion of drama, and everyone is watching it, but this is not a television show. This is about the office of the president of the United States. And it is critical that we find out what is going on, what has happened, to get to the truth and move on. But some people say, look, you look at these facts, if you put them in the light most favorable to the president , this is not a washington guy, this is somebody who came in and maybe did not fully grasp that its not appropriate, for example, to say, hey, do you need to get to this investigation . Or could you say publicly im not under investigation, the thing you told me privately . Why is it not a reasonable interpretation . Why is that not to give him the benefit of the doubt, why is that not credible . When you take the oath to be the president of the United States, the American Public has a right to expect that you know better. Period. Whats the number one question you have for comey today . I have lots of questions, including whether he spoke with Jeff Sessions about the investigation. Was that before or after Jeff Sessions recusal . What conversations were initiated by any other member of the staff about what was going on with the investigation . I have questions about whether there were any other conversations with anyone else initiated by the people of comey about the nature of the investigation or asking him to slow it down or stop . Kamala harris, a busy day for you, thank you for getting up with us. Thank you. We turn to chuck todd and our National Security analyst. Chuck, ill start with you. This is vintage comey because there are things that republicans will like and there are things that democrats will like. And, therefor, nobody is totally pleased by it. No, theres not. And its also very much written with a narrative. And that is something that, i think, if you are in the trump white house, youre really concerned about that because he knows how to wag the tail. We saw that. One of the things everybody sort of needs to take a breath is, theres another thing about james comey. He doesnt he doesnt put it all out there at first. So i have a feeling this is an appetizer as far as hes concerned. And that there is, look, there are three interactions he did not talk about at all or detail at all. He had nine conversations, were missing three. It will be interesting to hear the story behind those three. Jeremy, youre a lawyer, do you consider this document standing alone sufficient for a claim of obstruction of justice . Well, what struck me, savannah, is that the president made jim comey reaudition for the job. The statute says the fbi director serves for ten years to avoid this situation. So what the president was doing is holding a threat over his head saying, if you dont pledge loyalty to me, if you dont shut down flynn, if you dont lift the cloud, i will fire you and he made good on that threat. So i think there is at least a very reasonable basis for bob mueller to proceed here. We need other witnesses. We need to ask other people involve in the comey firing what was discussed. And thats where the white house could exert executive privilege to shut down those witnesses. Well see because theres a lot more to come here. But, chuck, i know you picked up on an interesting did tidbit in this statement. If there was a satellite person, someone in my orbit, some staffer who did something wrong on, with regard to russia, that would be good to know. It comes very close to acknowledging that perhaps something did go on. He just wants to be clear he himself didnt do it. Look, theres been by some investigating this, one of the assumptions is, trump himself would not have been told the details. Would not have been told much other than, you dont want to know where we got this information or that sort of mindset. And then here is now the president almost confirming his own suspicion on that. At a minimum, that to me is striking news. Theres a number of questions if i were a senator up there that you suddenly want to ask when you ask director comey. He said that, did you immediately take that to the investigation or thes . Is that a new line youre pursuing . That could be the most important nugget that comey has shared. Just about out of time, but jeremy, is director comey liable for that allegation. If this is so bad, why didnt you do something . Why didnt you raise it right away . Yes, he is. But lets not forget the gravity of the situation. He was an investigates an adversarys attempt to interfere in our election. Thats about as big as it gets. Chuck and jeremy, thank you. Coming up, well have a lot more on what to expect when mr. Comey arrives. And yes, well take a look at the watch parties being held across the country. And chuck, lester holt and i will have special live coverage of the mornings hearing starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern right here on nbc. For the moment, mat, back to you. Well get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you very much. A lot to talk about here as well including new developments in a desperate search for a military plane from myanmar that disappeared with 120 people on board. Nbcs Kelly Cobiella has that story. Kelly, good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning. They think they found the wreckage of that plane that disappeared midflight with 120 people, soldiers, their families, including 15 children on board. This happened off the Southern Coast of myanmar. The plane was heading north when it vanished. The aircraft, a chinesemade y8 transport plane took off wednesday afternoon local time, lost contact just 29 minutes into flight while at cruising altitude over open water. The military sent out search planes and they are still out this morning. They now have spotted several bodies, including a woman and a child along with some debris. Life jackets and debris 15 miles offshore. No reports of a mayday call. They are still hoping to find survivors. Kelly cobiella, thank you very much. Theres another big story were following, a new Court Appearance today for reality winner. Shes the 25yearold nsa contractor accused of leaking a highlyclassified document about russias election meddling into an online magazine. Gabe gutierrez is at the courthouse in augusta, georgia. Gabe, good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning. The government says reality winter admitted to leaking classified information, but her lawyer says he has not seen the proof. Today her family hopes shell be released on bail while she fights the charges. Shes the first leak arrest of the Trump Administration and today reality winners lawyers say she plans to plead not guilty. The bigger issue is why the government has put so much effort and resources into prosecuting the lowlevel Government Employee as opposed to the bigger question, was russia involved in an attempt to interfere with our election . Reporter prosecutors say winner admitted to leaking a topsecret document to an online news site targeting local Election Officials in a company that provided software for the 2016 election. The 25yearold Yoga Instructor was an air force vet who worked for an nsa contractor in a georgia military base. She would not jeopardize anybodys safety. She would not. I can tell you that for certainty. Reporter the white house says any disclosure of classified information could threaten National Security. If shes convicted of violating the espionage act, winner could face up to ten years in prison. Matt . Gabe, thank you very much. A lot of people up late last night because of a big game. The Golden State Warriors now just a win away from the championship after knocking off the cleveland cavaliers. The final in that was 118113. Game three of the nba final, the warriors ended the game on an 110 scoring run. Kevin durant led his team with 31 points. Golden state has not lost a single game in the playoffs so far. They will try for the sweep and another nba title on friday night. And dont forget, game five of the stanley cup final is tonight. Pittsburgh penguins and National Predators are all tied up, two games apiece. You can see them at 8 00 7 00 central time right here on nbc. A lot happening. I love when you do sports. I love sports, you know that. Dylan is in for al with a check of the weather. A lot of rain down through florida. Take a look at some of the flooding we saw in plantation, florida. Cars trying to drive through what was about 11 inches of rain all said and done with this storm system. Thats still continuing. But look at this, entire neighborhoods under water, horses out in the fields just trying to survive all o