And why wasnt simpson allowed to watch the tv series about his murder case. And miley mania. Miley cyrus grew up before our eyes and became one of the biggest stars of music and tv. . . . We cant stop . . We wont stop . . Now shes taking her talents to the voice. I want you on my team so bad. But not before she makes a live stop righte studio today, friday, september 16th, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. What a pretty day. Good morning, everybody. It is friday. Weve got willie ending the week for us with matt off. Hell be back next week. Another busy morning in politics. Head again as donald trump is asked whether president obama is born in the United States and will not answer the question. There is a lot more to get to. Starting with the battle for the white house. The election, by the way, 53 days away. This is the state of the race. Hillary clinton beginning her day of campaigning in washington, d. C. Shes speaking at the black womens agenda symposium. And Michelle Obama will attend an event for Hillary Clinton in virginia. Donald trump starts off with an event at the heading down south for a rally in miami. Frump now leads in likely voters nationwide, a onepoint advantage, 46 45 . Lots to get to on a friday morning. This is our decision 2016 team. Starting with nbc national correspondent, peter alexander. Peter, good morning. Reporter hey, savannah, good morning. Donald trump will be here at his hotel in washington, d. C. This morning for a campaign event. Publicly say that he believes that barack obama was born in the United States. Hes refused to say so as recently as this week. Hes refused to say so repeatedly over the course of this campaign. He was one of the nations most prominent birthers. It actually launched him into national politics. His campaign is hoping with its new statement on his belaugh theyll help put this issue to rest. With donald trump fanning the flames of the Birther Movement for years, his campaign, over night, t fires. The trump team issuing a reversal saying, mr. Trump believes president obama was born in the United States. The statement also crediting trump for a Great Service to the president and the country by getting president obama to release his birth certificate and falsely accusing Hillary Clintons 2008 campaign of first raising the issue. Notably the statement comes from the campaign, not from trump himself who in a Washington Post interview just 24 hours earlier still refused to say u. S. Ill answer that question at the right time, he said. I just dont want to answer it yet. With the race tightening, trump is trying to seal his biggest deal yet. You better make sure i win on november 8th because im going to have wasted a hell of a lot of time, energy and money. Reporter even as trump touts new momentum, a new polls shows 61 of likely voters believe the insurgent outsider is not qualified to be president. A majority say trump rival. Thursday night in New Hampshire the billionaire ditching reporters arriving before the press plane. They called us and said, could you wait . I said absolutely no. Lets get going. Reporter in an economic speech, the businessman promising to create 25 million jobs. But offering few specifics. Late thursday, trump also standing up for his adult children. Boy, the press likes to hit them and theyre such good kids. But they can take it. Reporter that just hours after son donald junior came made about clinton. The media has built her up, theyve let her slide on every indiscrepancy, on every lie, on every dnc game trying to get Bernie Sanders out of the thing. I mean if republicans were doing that, theyd be warming up the gas chamber right now. The antidefense Nation League demanding an apology. Don junior tells nbc news the remark he was referring to capital punishment. This morning the white house is declining to comment on the statement but this birther issue was always viewed as a rishlly charged insinuation. In that new interview out this morning, donald trump says that his support among africanamerican voters has come up like a rocketship. In fact, his support with africanamericans stands at just 6 . Exactly what mitt romney got four years ago. Peter, thank you very much. Hillary clinton was quick to hammer trump over the birther trail for the First Time Since taking a few days off to recover from that pneumonia. Nbcs Kristen Welker is in washington for us. Kristen, good morning. Reporter willie, good morning to you. With her poll numbers lagging, Hillary Clinton is aiming to get back on message today but shes also wasting no time pouncing on trumps latest controversy. Reporter hillar Hillary Clinton back on the trail and taking aim at donald trump for again refusing to say president obama was born in the United States. He still wouldnt say america. When will he stop this ugliness, this bigotry . Reporter and Clintons Campaign lashing out after the Trump Campaign released a statement trying to walk back trumps comments. Clintons spokesperson tweeting out overnight, tweet needs to say it himself on camera and admit he was wrong for trying to delegitimatize the countrys first africanamerican conclusively in november in an election that sends a message that even he can hear. Reporter clinton also poked fun at one of trumps surrogates. If you do something about it, youre going to have taco trucks every corner. Reporter who warned of taco trucks on every corner if clintons immigration plan is enacted. I personally think a taco truck on every corner sounds absolutely delicious. Reporter her opening act thursday president obama who also had harsh words for the gop nominee. Weve seen this anger and vitriol before. We cant let that brand of politics win. Reporter clinton resetting her campaign thursday. . I feel good . . Reporter following three days off the trail after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Even i had to admit that maybe a few days of rest would do me good. Reporter clinton also trying to reverse these damaging optics by touting her strength. Quitting. And i will never give up. Reporter and president bill clinton giving her an assist, defending secretary clinton when she was criticized after calling half of trumps supporters deplorable, a statement which Hillary Clinton retracted herself. She did what any grownup would do. You cannot be in a president ial campaign where you, your family, your friends have been debased, demeaned, vilified, called crooked. Reporter clinton is also trying t democrats who are nervous over those tightening polls yesterday telling reporters she always expected this race to be close. Today she will be here in washington, d. C. On monday she heads to philadelphia to court those allimportant millennial voters, some of whom are veering toward third party candidates. Willie . Savannah . Kristen welker, thanks. Mark halperin, steve head again. But in some ways it never went away because trump has been asked repeatedly over the course of this campaign, do you still have concerns, do you still think maybe president obama is not an american citizen. And he always dodges the question. And now you have the campaign saying, oh, no, he does. I mean whats going on here . Is he trying to have it both ways, i guess is the question . He has been up until now but i think weve reached the point where he has to say it himself. Hes made the point in the past, other people dont speak for me. I think he will. He risks alienating those who liked him for his posture. He has been given an opportunity over and over again as recently i guess as yesterday. Two reasons. He doesnt want to alienate people who still believe president obama was not born in the United States. The other thing is what is Trumps Campaign about fundamentally . Strength. This would be the biggest admission of being wrong about a very important thing for his political arc that hes ever made. I think he just doesnt want to do it. I think he will. You talk about a day of mixed messages from the campaign, Kellyanne Conway comes out and says, yes, donald trump believes president obama was born in the United States. Donald trump says, im not going to answer that question right now. Ill answer it when the time is right. Later a statement from the campaign said, actually, donald trump should be given credit because he forced president obama to produce that birth certificate. What is the answer . Will we get clarity on that today from the candidate himself . Lets be clear on what happened here. When donald trump made that campaign on the birther issue a few years ago produced a birth certificate, donald trump didnt stop. He kept talking and tweeting for years after the fact saying that he was turning up new information that the certificate the president produced was false. So this narrative they are trying to put out there this was donald trump trying to do some sort of Public Service he took something happening sort underground in 2008, 2009, 2010 and exploded that on to the mainstream. Address this today how exactly he will phrase this. This is not something at all he seems happy or eager to do. No matter what donald trump says, whether he acknowledges what his staff says on his behalf or not, it is going to be another test for the country and the media what can he get away with. Lets talk about the polls. They are tightening significantly. I think thats the trend in every poll, whether it is a battleground poll or a national poll. You have a lot of democrats who are saying, do we prematurely celebrate here . Trump can really win this thing. H even some republicans who dont like trump at all saying that. Some prominent columnists. Hillary clinton came out yesterday and was very good. Were not talking much about it because of this birther thing. After three days of reflection, she realized i can lose this. The only way i can win is i have to fight for it. That is a reality for democrats. Watch to see in the next few days is she consistently fighting to win this . Because if she doesnt consistently fight to win it, she could lose. Who does she have to convince that getting very close . This is the new dynamic now. The name of the game for trump is flip blue states. He now leads in the average of all polls in florida, ohio, iowa. Thats not enough to get him to 270 but he is closer to that number than he has been this entire campaign. Things getting very interesting again. Well wait to see what trump says today on the birther issue. A Major Development this morning to tell you about involving those Samsung Galaxy note 7 phones that unexpectedly commission is now issuing a formal government recall saying the devices pose an immediate risk and should not be used. Nbcs tom costello on the story for us this morning. Tom, good morning. We cant even get our hands on one to demonstrate because theyve all been recalled. Over 1 million phones involved in the recall. The government now telling customers nationwide, return reporter for the biggest cell phone manufacturer. Just wanted to post this and share what just happened to my note 7. Reporter what began as a big black eye is now an official government recall. Roughly 1 million galaxy note 7s in the u. S. , 2. 5 million worldwide. Samsung says it has 92 reports of the phones overheating. Dozens of reports of fires. Including a garage that burned to the ground in south carolina. And a jeep that was charred and gutted in florida. Because such a serious fire hazard, i am urging all consumers, all consumers to take advantage of this recall right away. We apologize, especially to those of you who were personally affected by this. And we will work every day to earn back your trust. Reporter samsung blames the fires on a defect inside its lithium ion batteries which operate at a very high 4 volts. Lot of energy is stored inside a tiny little device. Reporter samsung says the replacement phones arriving wednesday will come with new batteries made by a different supplier. Meanwhile, concern this morning about other samsung models that may also catch fire. In new york, a 6yearold suffered first degree burns when a samsung core allegedly caught fire. In florida tuesday night, a car gutted by fire after another galaxy phone allegedly exploded. Meanwhile, a california man h second and third degree burns on his leg when his s7 edge caught fire. The cpsc says it is now looking into those reports as well. Samsung declining to comment on those cases but tells me it is really only defective batteries in the note 7, which again is on the recall. Customers can either exchange the note 7s for replacement or get a full refund. Tom, the airlines had asked customers dont turn on the does that change now that there is an official recall . Could it be airlines say dont bring them on at all . I think so. The faa now expected to ban the use of the note 7 onboard commercial planes. Thats no longer voluntary. Banning the use of them. The fear is that a runaway fire involving batteries onboard a plane is just extremely dangerous. Terrifying to even contemplate. Thank you so much. Now to the frightening scene here in new york city on thursday. A man attacked an offduty Police Officer when a meat it happened near penn station at the height of the evening rush hour. Police say officers confronted the man when they saw him trying to remove a boot from a car he apparently was living in. This video was taken moments before police confronted the 32yearold. When they approached him, he pulled out an 11inch meat cleaver and ran. After a brief chase, the suspect hit one detective in the face with the cleaver. Three Police Officers opened fire wounding him. He is in critical condition. The detective who was hit with serious condition. Also this morning, the House Intelligence Committee is urging president obama not to pardon former nsa contractor edward snowden. A Committee Report accuses snowden of leaking information that caused tremendous damage to u. S. National security. The report says snowden is not a whistleblower as he claims. A bipartisan letter sent to the president says that snowdens claim that he disclosed information to protect americans is undercut by his actions. Snowdens att a genuine american hero. A School Bus Driver in new jersey is out of a job this morning after dramatic video surfaced showing the driver swerving across the yellow line into the wrong lane to get ahead of a slower moving fedex truck. The bus company said it fired the driver wednesday night after seeing the video. There were no students on board at the time. Fedex says it is looking into the incident and police are check of the weekend weather. The weekend is looking 50 50 . For this morning, most of the heavier rain is up near green bay. Des moines seeing some of the heavy rain as well. It will approach big cities of chicago and st. Louis later on today with isolated stronger storms, though nothing looks all that severe. We still will have heavier downpours, you could see a gusty wind or clears out back through the midwest. But then showers move into the ohio river valley stretching down into western kentucky and western tennessee by saturday evening. As we go into sunday, thats when the rain is going to make its way up and down the east coast. It is actually much needed rain because weve got extreme drought conditions, especially across parts of eastern new england. We could see as much as a halfinch, up to an inch of rain. Again, that is much needed and and thats your latest forecast. Dylan, thank you. Coming up, a day in the life. A revealing new look at how o. J. Simpson spends his day behind bars. On rossen reports, hackers using your computers webcam to spy on you. What the fbi director does to protect his privacy and says you ought to be doing, too. But first, this is today on biggest stars on the planet live in studio . . . . . And off you go, . . . . And off you go, . . . . And off you go, . Energy of 100 whole grain quaker oats. And off you go. What it cant do. Your calculus homework. 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