Today at the Olympic Games with matt lauer live from rio de janeiro, brazil, and Savannah Guthrie live from rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to a split edition of today on a friday morning. Savannah, its great to see you. We have reached the final hours of our countdown to tonights Opening Ceremony of the 2016 olympiga excited, im nervous, im all of the above. Youre nervous . What . You dont have to do a back flip, do you . No, you know what, thats actually right. You know, we are hosting the Opening Ceremony. What do we have to be nervous about . Were not competing in the Olympic Games. I have to tell you, savannah, youve been to the olympics, you know sometimes in the morning when the crowd gathers here at an olympic set, you have wonderful, little moments, unexpected moments. I had one of those a second ago. Some of the people who are here on copacabana beach, and i walked up to this guy right here, and i said, hey, love the tshirts, team usa, youve got the simone biles faces there. Who are you here to see . He goes, oh, shes my sister. Thats ron biles right there. Hi, everybody. This is his friend, brandon. Brandon, yes. Are you nervous . Yes, definitely nervous, but excited to be here finally in rio, so. Is she nervous . Not she said shes ready, more than ever, just excited to compete, so were looking forward to it. Its nice of you to come down. Thank you so much. Im going to steal that. Thank you very much. Simones one of those names thats going to be on everyones lips by the time this two weeks of the olympics is over. By the way, weve got some excitement here, matt. Weve got Blake Shelton in concert, and weve got a great crowd getting ready for that. And we have a lot of news this morning, politics, of course, including our today exclusive with governor mike pence. And his wife, taren. Their first sitdown together. Matt, back to you for now. Savannah, thanks. Lets begin with what you can expect to see tonight. Nbcs Peter Alexander is seven miles to the north of copacabana beach at that stadium. Peter, good morning to you. Reporter hey, matt. Good morning to you and welcome to the iconic maracana stadium. How do you like my portuguese . Weve been practicing for like 48 hours to make sure we get that right. This is where theyll be hosting tonights Opening Ceremony, al explosive celebration of brazilian culture. But in this country thats still in the midst of a political and economic crisis, the budgets going to be just a fraction, about onetenth of the opening in london four years ago. Still, its expected to showcase this countrys warmth and hospitality. The city of sombo welcoming the American Flag raised, something they expect to see more of. Now that youre here representing your friends and family, its about the whole country. A profound sense of patriotism that ive never felt before. Reporter tonight, the highly anticipated Opening Ceremony, expected to be watched by more than a billion people around the globe. Among its themes, tolerance. The ceremonys creative directors saying this years less about opulence and more about passion. We have social problems, but areas, you see that people start to smile and theyre friendly and are happy, and i guess the spirit is in the ceremony. I think there is something very special about brazil, which is, i call it this location for happiness. Reporter that happy nas now extends to 271 russian athletes officially cleared to compete. But in the wake of a doping scandal, more than 100 others the message is clear, there is no place to hide for cheats. Reporter hitting the court, nothing but net. The u. S. Mens Basketball Team eyeing another gold, headed up by fourtime olympic carmelo anthony. For us as players representing the United States, this is the best way that we can go out there and send a message is by winning a gold medal and showing the world that were united through all the turmoil thats going back on in our country. Reporter here in brazil, a country obsessed with soccer, the brazilian mens opening performance not sit [ booing ] some jeers from these fans. Reporter a scoreless draw against south africa for a team facing intense pressure to rebound after its disappointing silver medal finish in 2012. And tonight, 207 delegations will take part in this parade of nations. That includes the team of refugees. They will be beneath the olympic flag with no country and no flag event. And as for whos going to be lighting the cauldron tonight, still a tightly kept secret. A lot of speculation right now that it will be pele. But frankly, matt, we still dont know. And by the way, weve been there for two rehearsals, peter. We dont know. We have no idea. Thank you very much, peter. Here are my fellow hosts for tonights Opening Ceremony, hoda and meredith. Ladies, good morning. Good morning to you. Good morning, matt i think that refugee team wh theyre going to get an enormous response. It will be very emotional. Lets just try and tell people what else they can expect to see. Well, as they were saying in the piece, you know, they didnt have a lot of money for this olympics, so they went lowtech, which is actually a good thing, because nothing can go wrong. Theres no machine to break, except the projector. Lowtech, highheart. Big heart. Its all about the energy of the people. They are the heroes of the ceremony. And i think its fun. If you like dancing and partying and just to get up off the but sometimes you watch a show and scratch your chin and go, isnt that nice . This is a get up, get in it and almost participate. Its carnival. I feel lucky. My parents loved the bossa nova growing up, tom jobine, they played it in our house. I guarantee you after you watch this Opening Ceremony, youre going to want to download a lot of this music that gets stuck in your head, and it really gets you in the spirit. And the people here are just you know, the news has been for months about the negave deet, you know . Havent seen a mosquito until this morning, one in the car when we were on the way over here. Exactly. It was in the van, actually we almost died in the van. But you get here and the people are lovely, the spirit is fantastic. We talk about pressing the restart button tonight on brazil and the olympics, and i think its going to be a wonderful moment. You know whats funny . It reminds me, kind of oddly, of when new orleans was in the super bowl, and it was after katrina and everyone walked up to everyone from new orleans and stage, in front of the world, they won the super bowl, and everyone saw it. And you sort of feel that way here, right . People are concerned and worried, but you hope at Opening Ceremony, the game will begin. Great dancing. Huge names like Michael Phelps walking in with the American Flag, leading team usa. Another major superstar will be involved in the show tonight. Major. Well tell you a little bit more about that in our next half hour. And matt will be wearing a speedo throughout the o no, under my jacket. Thats fantastic. And more fun like this begins tonight at 7 30 eastern and pacific right here on nbc. And coming up in our next half hour, we will have that exclusive sneak peek at what youll see involving one of the worlds biggest stars. Savannah . Okay, looking forward. Guys, thanks. Here at home, Hillary Clinton is expanding her lead in the president ial race. Take a look at the latest nbc news wall street Journal National poll. It shows 47 for clinton and donald trump and his running mate, mike pence. It has been a rough week for the republican ticket. Almost daily missteps, some fiery criticism from Republican Party leaders, and yes, almost daily jabs from president obama. Weve got two reports this morning, starting with nbcs hallie jackson. Shes on the campaign trail this morning in wisconsin. Hallie, good morning. Reporter hi, savannah. Good morning to you. And this morning, donald trump is now responding to president obamas latest rema overnight the twez should ask the dnc how they rigged the election for bernie sanders. Trump leaned into his controversial rigged system critique as president obama leans into his own attacks, too. On the president s birthday, no surprises. I dont even really know where to start. Reporter as he tears into donald trump yet again, this time for these comments im afraid the elections going to be rigged. I have to be honest. Of course, the elections will not be rigged. That doesnt make any sense, and i dont think anybody would take that seriously. Reporter the president in disbelief, the gop in disarray, to some. House Speaker Paul Ryan now saying out loud what many republicans have been whispering about trump. Hes had pretty strange run since the convention. You would think we ought to be focusing on Hillary Clinton, on all of her deficiencies, and it is distressing that thats not what were talking about these days. Reporter even after trump refused to endorse him, still supporting the candidate, as is trumps running mate, mike pence, of course, some calling him the clarifier in chief, trying to show a different side of the trump ticket. My name is matthew and im 11 years old. Reporter but even the youngest politicos wonder about pences purpose. Ive been noticing that youve been kind of softening up on mr. Trumps policies and words. Is this your role is this going to be your role in the administration . I couldnt be more proud to campaign, my friend. Reporter now, this morning, signs that loyalty among trumps staunchest supporters is starting to slip. For the First Time Since january, clintons leading trump with men, long considered his base. And while he has the edge with white voters overall and those without a college education, his advantage with those key demographics for him is shrinking. Trump hopes staying on attack will help close the gap. Hills mistakes in every way. Reporter but in new web video sparking its own mini firestorm, look at what the Trump Campaign spells out over clintons words. We are going to raise taxes on the middle class but shut your eyes and listen again. Does she say are or arent going to raise taxing . We are going to raise taxes on the middle class the clinton team calls it clear, she says arent, policy and remarks. Whats in a word . In this case, everything. A trump aide tells me this morning the Campaign Stands by that video. And in the meantime, the clinton camp is taking aim at trump on something else. When asked what women he would put into a cabinet in a potential trump administration, they named only two, the one interviewing him, jokingly, and apparently more seriously, savannah, his daughter, ivan next hour, governor mike pence and his wife, karen, will join us for their first interview together since he joined the ticket. Thats a today exclusive next hour. In the meantime, the Clinton Campaign is picking up new support from a former top official at the cia. He is making the case for clinton and against donald trump in a strongly worded op ed in todays the New York Times. Nbcs Andrea Mitchell has more on that. Andrea, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. With the candidates attacking handle national security, a former top cia official has endorsed Hillary Clinton with the startling charge that donald trump has let himself become the unwitting dupe of russias president vladimir putin. Donald trump attacking Hillary Clinton thursday for her private server, saying she shouldnt receive the classified briefing to be given to both candidates. Hillary clinton, furthermore, can never be trusted with national security. You cant brief lets protest. Reporter asked if trump should be trusted with the classified briefing, the president saying if they want to be president , theyve got to start acting like president. Reporter in a searing the New York Times column endorsing clinton today, mike morell, former deputy cia director, says trump would make a poor, even dangerous commander in chief, citing traits including his obvious need for selfaggrandizement and his overreaction to perceived slights. The former intelligence official president obama alleges vladimir putin, a former highranking kgb officer, played upon mr. Trumps vulnerabilities by complimenting him. He responded just as mr. Putin had calculated. Trump often bragging about praise from the russian president. And you know, putin called me brilliant. He said donald trump is brilliant and donald trump is the leader and he said nice things about me. Reporter morrell writes in the intelligence business, we would say that mr. Putin had unwitting agent of the russian federation. Trump also blasting president obama and Hillary Clinton for a controversial decision to return 400 million to iran on the same day iran was releasing four american detainees. However, clinton was long out of office, and the president said it was not ransom. We do not pay ransom for hostages. Reporter trump is drawing fire himself for claiming he saw video of an unmarked cargo plane delivering that cash to iran. The tape was made, right . Coming in . Nice plane. Reporter in fact, the only known video is of a smaller plane bringing the prisoners home. This morning trump tweeted an acknowledgement, it was the prisoner plane. The former cia officials startling accusation comes even as russia is trying to swing the election to trump by allegedly hacking Democratic Campaign websites. Weve reached out to the Trump Campaign, which so far has not responded to this column. Savannah . Andrea, thank you so much. Other news thi Health Officials say there are at least two new cases of travelrelated zika in miami but no new homegrown cases have been reported, this as the president weighs in on that outbreak, calling the need for funding critical. Nbcs kerry sander has the latest on that. Kerry, good morning. Reporter well, good morning, savannah. Health Officials Say the zika carrying mosquitos here can be traced to an area thats about the size of a new york city studio apartment, 500 square feet. Still, for women in the state racing to get tested for the zika virus. This morning Health Officials in florida are bracing for thousands of women expected to want zika tests. Florida governor rick scott touring the center of the zika outbreak in miamis wynnewood neighborhood pledged free tests will be given to any pregnant woman who wants one. Well do everything we can to get as many test kits as we can and make sure we can meet all of the demand. Reporter but the rollout is slow. At several Health Department offices, women were told no s i am concerned. Reporter expectant mother yolan baptiste is one of the lucky ones. Thought it was very important for me to get tested, just in case. Reporter tracy tolhumphrey decided not to wait and went to a private lab instead. I was concerned about zika, since i live very close to the area where the outbreak is, and they said no problem. Reporter federal funds to fight zika are stalled in congress. President obama is urging action. The situation is getting critical. Reporter the head of the cdc as long as there is zika spreading anywhere, pregnant women should take steps to protect themselves from mosquito bites. Reporter it was about this time yesterday morning that a plane was flying overhead, spraying a chemical insecticide over the city. Mosquito control Officials Say while its a little early, theyre getting positive results. They believe it has been effective. Savannah . Lets hope so. Kerry sanders, thank you. Turn now to al. And boy, new orleans really got it yesterday. Ill tell you, its very rare for tm but a waterspout came onshore. It became an ef0 tornado in new orleans 7th ward. The area is still affected by katrina and the treme yea area. This thing was on the ground for about a half mile, 80mileperhour winds, and you can see the damage from it was fairly extensive. Luckily, no major injuries reported, but big problems now in the cleanup as that continues. Week into the beginning of next week. You can still see showers and thunderstorms, especially off the florida nature coast. Theres a meandering low pressure system, deep tropical gulf moisture, no steering currents, a High Pressure system thats setting up off the southeast coast. So, next three days, some areas could pick up 5 to 7 inches from cedar key down to tampa. But look at what happens over the next seven days. There could be 10 to 15 inches of rain in Central California rain all along the gulf coast. Once again seeing some showers along the coast. The rain chances ramp up as the showers push from the coast inland. Over all a 50 rain chance with a high of 88. Weekends. Through the woondz. Through the weekends. Through the weeken and thats your latest weather. Savannah . All right, al. Thank you. Still ahead, how can Donald Trumps campaign right the ship after a rocky week . His running mate, indiana governor mike pence joins us, along with his wife, for an exclusive, live interview. Matt . All right, savannah. Selfiefest here in rio along the beach. And coming up, hoda catches up with the u. S. Womens Gymnastics Team to talk about the pressure they feel going for gold and what theyre doing to unwind here in rio. In florida, people are working hard, just to get by. But in washington republican senator marco rubio has the worst voting record in the u. S. Senate. Marco rubio stopped showing up for work. Let us down. Im Patrick Murphy and enoughs enough. Im proud to work with president o