Verse written on his forehead when he was found hanged in his prison cell. And what a drag. A bizarre scene in california. A car lodged in the back of a big rig barrelling down a highway. The driver desperate for help. 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. Good morning. Welcome to today on a thursday morning. We have willie in for matt this morning. Ive been playing my greatest hits for you this morning from Barry Manilow. A light rain not keeping him on the plaza. Theres a huge crowd. Lets get to our top story. It is the stunning fall for one of the biggest stars in cable news. Amid Sexual Harassment allegations fox news cut ties with bill oreilly and his popular show has a new look and name. Cynthia mcfadden has been following this. Viewers pushing into fox saw a new factor. Now new questions about whats next for oreilly as the former king of cable news speaks out, even if he face more accusation. This morning the king of cable news is dethroned. Its the end of an era here at fox news. Bill oreilly is leaving this chair and network after over 20 years. The top rated table show now once bearing his name, now ju Sexual Harassment allegations. Says its disheartening that we part ways due to unfounded claims but thats the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. The reality is 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. He repeatedly denied all allegations against him. But its a stunning downfall for the man who anchored the most lucrative broadcast on fox news. They generated 178 million in ad revenue in 2015. Five people have left fox news in a devastating year for fox news. Among them, roger ailes. He resigned after Gretchen Carlson filed a Sexual Harassment lawsuit against him. The first domino in this dramatic turn of events. They settled for a reported 20 million. Ailes has denied the allegations. Fox may have been trying to get ahead of other possible alleged accusers with the ousting on oreilly. I know some of the accusers. Some of them have told me theres no point in coming forward now. Hes been fired. Others may have lawsuits against him, and they may file them. Reporter oreilly shock hands tuesday with pope francis at the van ttican. A stunning contrast to his allegations. The this morn done is no more. This morning henley holt says they have no plan to sever ties with oreilly who has projects in the works. Fox news the staff was stunned to hear of the fires especially as the bosses seemed to praise them even as they pushed him out the door. Thank you very much. Gabe sherman broke the story of oreillys exit for new york magazine. We got news earlier this month of the settlement paid out to women in claims of Sexual Harassment against bill oreilly. The advertisers were fleeing. Theres a pending deal that rue pert murdoch is looking at. What brought this to a head . This was a storm they wanted to weather, but they realized they couldnt. I learned yesterday morning a law firm presented their findings to the law firm. They more extensive than we know and realized they could not save him and had to push him out. That was the big question. Your reporting suggesting there was a shoe to drop. And there was a Board Meeting for the Parent Company of fox taking place today. They wanted this resolved before that. This was a fastmoving story. Was there inside fox until the end a pro oreilly camp . I didnt hear a big ground swell of rank and file people. The its important to note that bill shined the current copresident tried to save him. Rupert murdoch was inclined to save him. He was a difficult person to work with. Fox viewers probably dont support this move. Hes exceedingly popular. Of course. And this is going to be in some ways more complicated than the ousting of summer because of his personal connection to the audience. It will be interesting to see if theres erosion in the ratings. What does the future of fox look like now . You can takeolen it back to grn carlson leaving, bill oreilly, roger ailes. Is this a Different Network now . In the short term, no, because of their pro trump coverage. They aligned themselves with the trump white house. Long term, yes. Because the network was closely tied to roger ailes vision, hes no longer in the picture. Megyn kelly is no longer in their prime time. This is going to be a new network. Its too early to tell what it will be. The murdoch younger son would like to have it a more moderate position. This is more of a family struggle than a television one. Roger ailes got a big payout. Does bill oreilly get the same thin settlement. He had two and a half years on his contract. He earns upwards of 25 million a year. There was a provision now. I think they signed this contract knowing the allegations out there so there was a clause that allowed them to have an exit, but he did receive money. Gabe has been working this story for years and broke the last chapter of it. Thank you. Well have more on the departure in the last half hour including a claim from his attorney that he has evidence of a Smear Campaign against oreilly. 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 korea. We have two reports. Lets start with andrea mitchel. Good morning. Reporter good morning. The new administration, the president , facing multiple crises from north korea to aggressive maneuvers by russian jets off the coast of alaska. Now the u. S. Opening a new front with iran. 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 barack Obama Administration. They threaten the United States, the region, and the world. Reporter while the nuclear deal is in place for now, President Trump has 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 iran is complying with the deal, tillerson accused them of testing and developing missiles in defiance of u. N. Resolutionr. Arresting u. S. S with five other powers decided the nuclear deal was still worth doing. Others said scrapping it would give iran the a permission slip of developing a nuclear missile. The tillerson disagrees. Wont it send a message that the u. S. Cant be trusted to keep its end of the bargain . Its another example of buying off a power who has nuclear ambitions. We buy them off for a short period of time and someone has to deal with it later. Reporter tillerson says they may put north korea back on the list of state terror. All this as james mattis trying to clear up confusion over the aus carrier. They said the ship was heading to north korea as a show of force, even though it was heading toward australia. We are very powerful. Reporter mattis now clarifying. We dont generally give out ship schedules in advance. I didnt want to play a game and say we were not changing a schedule when we had. Reporter the its a confusing signal to adversaries and allies. Now moscow seems to be testing this administration. Twice this week russian jets flew too close to the coast of alaska, once norad scrambled fighter jets. President trump is facing off again against the u. S. District judge he accused of being biassed last year. Kristen welker has more on this story for us. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you. The first time President Trump clashed this the judge was over a Trump University lawsuit when he was a candidate. This time the judge will preside over an immigration case involving who was deported. The case putting him in mr. Trumps cross hairs again. Hes back in the spotlight in a new legal case involving President Trump. He the is the judge who candidate trump thrust into the headlines. Hes a hater. His name is gonzolo. Kureol. Reporter he became the target of trumps scathing and frequent attacks. The judge was appointed by bra barack obama, federal judge. He should recuse himself. I believe he happens to be spanish. Thats fine. Hes hispanic, which is fine, and we havent asked for a recusal. Reporter arguing he was bias because of his mexican heritage. He was born in indiana. Hes a mexican. The answer is he is giving us very unfair ruling. Reporter ultimately this march the judge approved a 25 million settlement between Trump University and students who claimed they overpaid for seminars. Mr. Trump never admitted any wrong doing. As for the judges current case, a 23yearold says back in february he was arrested and deported from a Southern California city for no reason when he tried to reenter the country again, he says he was deported back the to mexico. He has daca status. The department of Homeland Security says he violated it by leaving the country without getting the governments approval. In an interview with nbc overnight, his lawyer wouldnt respond to the flap over the judge but stressed her cli to this day he doesnt understand why he was deported even though he had permission to be in the country. Reporter the question now will President Trump take aim at the judge again in a case thats already become a legal flash point. How did the judge wind up overseeing the case in the first known dream tore get deported. The it was totally ranrandom. So far no reaction from the white house. No court date has been set yet. All right. We are learning more this morning about the apparent prison cell suicide of former informal star Aaron Hernandez. An investigation is underway as people close to him are raising questions about what exactly happened. Nbc National CorrespondentMiguel Almaguer is outside the prison. Reporter prison officials believe he hanged himself inside his single unit cell. They say he was not on suicide watch and showed no indion 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 on his head. It references eternal life. Prison officials call the death a suicide. But this morning friends and members of his 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. Reporter just six days ago the former football superstar already serving a life sentence for the execution of a friend in 2013 was acquitted of a double murder in 2012. Wiping away tears as the verdict was read. The victims family did the same. Stoic during the trial, he blew kisses to his foins and daughter. They say theres absolutely no chance he took his own life. Now they say theyll conduct their own investigation into hernand hernandezs death. For the families of those he w accused of killing, there is no justice. They take no joy in whats happened to him and to his family. Reporter on social media nfl players shared their condolences for a man who once scored a super bowl touchdown and a 40 Million Contract with the patriots inspe patriots. 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 with state police now launching their own investigation, we now know his pension says his family would like it to go to his daughter. As for his criminal record, his lawyers say because they were repealing his conviction, theyre asking that his record be wiped clean. All right. Miguel, thank you very much. Now back to the wild video from the top of the show. This incident happened on the 15th freeway in los angeles. A big rig dragging a car up the freeway path after the car somehow becomes wedged into the side of the truck. The witness who was recording the video pulls up alongside of him. The driver waves his hand out the window and pleads for help. The truck dragged that car for about four miles. Eventually it came to a stop. Thats when the witness confronted the truck driver. So far . Theres a guy on 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 . The california highway said the its not clear if anybody faces any charges. How do you go four miles dragging a car and not notice . Thats amazing. Apparently nobody hurt. Mr. Roker, what is shaking . A lot of Severe Weather to talk about. In fact, look at what happened yesterday outside of cleveland. They got dumped on with tons of rain, and they had to do water rescues from parking lots getting people out of their cars. Look at the burger king. The 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 these systems push across the heavy 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 showers and thunderstorms through cleveland, and the southern part of this storm brings in a more overnight storms with the warm front. The 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 into the east by saturday. From Oklahoma City into nashville, 3 to 5 inches with flash flooding possible through saturday afternoon. Well get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Good morning. A Little Thunder shower moving into parts of far western Montgomery County headed toward gaithersburg. Those rain drops are getting closer and closer to the topside of the capital beltway. Likely to have another round of rain showers maybe thunderstorms between 4 00 and 8 00 this afternoon into this evening. Two chances for rain today. Rain likely saturday night and sunday as well. Thats your latest weather. Al, thank you. Coming up, marketing the munchies. Why a lot of companies are rolls out deals just for today, 4 20. And prince ll he says still lingers 20 years later. First, this is today on nbc. Okay. Barry manilow is here. One of my favorites. He was not planning to do koe pa cabana. Can we convince him to sing it . We want you go to the get on twitter. Were going to pressure him into singing it. The hash tag sing kopa today. Were back after your local news. Then youre a couple. Think of all youll share. Like snoring. Does your bed do that . The dual adjustability of a sleep number bed allows you each to choose the firmness and comfort you want. So every couple can get the best sleep ever. Does your bed do that . Nd clearance prices on the cse bed. Now only 1399 save 500. Only at a sleep number store or sleepnumber. Com well, these have syrup. So, we drain it. Well, these dole fruit bowls are packed in 100 fruit juice. So, you dont drain it . No, we drink it. Dole. The only National Brand that packs its entire line of regular fruit bowls in 100 juice. Nothing can stop crizal® noglare lenses. Neither water. Nor smudge. Nor scratch. 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And they plan to hand out free joipts to congressional staffers. Theyre calling it a joint session. The rally is not happening on federal grounds. Right now police are looking for the same man in two Sexual Assault cases. First they say he groped a man twice on april 6th. The second incident was a few blocked away on april 15th. This happened to a different woman who says the man had a knife. If you know anything about the cases, call d. C. Police. Now lets check the traffic. A big problem here. Inner loop after 4. We are now having two left lanes getting by. This is a five mile backup this morning. You can see highlighted how bad it is. The rest of the beltway is looking normal here this morning. Taking a look here as well. 66 and 95, no problem. Southbound 234 crash with a tractor trailer there. Southbound lane shut down. Well check your forecast next. A round of thundershowers and more showers across North Western virginia. Another chance for rain late this afternoon and this ev