Off an alligator opening up about her ordeal. I started punching its forehead. It still wouldnt let go. How she used a trick she used on a field trip to save her own life. And kicking it off in style. One of the biggest pop stars in the world, harry styles, takes over our plaza for our first summer concert for the season, and the crowd is massive. Todays tuesday, may 9th, 2017. From nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1 a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on a Tuesday Morning. Were going to need more adjectives to describe that crowd. Harry styles has a new solo album come harry, look outside. Things are going to be just fine. We have six city blocks of crowd for him. Lets get to our top story this morning. The possible expansion of the u. S. Military effort against the tall ban in afghanistan. This is a plan that calls for the addition of several thousand more troops there. Thats one of the things were going to talk with kand lee za rice about. Lets begin with two reports from the white house this morning. Reporter good morning. A Senior Administration official tells me this morning President Trump has not yet made a decision on the various options hes been presented. But after years of scaling back the number of troops in afghanistan, whats being talked about would be a shift. A military official says the consideration is for as many, possibly as many as 3,000 to 5,000 more troops in afghanistan to try to make headway in americas longest war. Of course in afghanistan as u. S. Military and foreign advisers are now proposing a plan to put several thousand more troops on the ground to try to take out the taliban gaining strength in the country. President trump has yet to authorize what would be a major shift in strategy after a sweeping policy review based on the president s desire to start winning again. I authorize my military. Thats why theyve been so successful lately. Reporter its weeks after the u. S. Dropped the mother of all bombs in afghanistan. The largest nonnuclear bomb ever deployed. Sean spicer was asked about the United States principles on afghanistan. He wants to win. Thats why he charged advisers to get a plan that gets us back in 2013 before entering politics, donald trump weighed in on the topic tweeting we should leave afghanistan immediately. No more wasted lives. If we have to go back in, we go in hard and quick. Reporter military Officials Say under this plan the pentagon other than the white house should be authorized to set troop numbers. Theres no time line yet, at least not publicly on when the president might make a decision in how to move forward in that country. Hallie jackson, thank you. President trump is slamming the investigation into russias mettling in the election. Now labeling it a taxpayerfunded charade. This after former acting attorney general sally yates testified on capitol hill on monday. Nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander has more on this. Good morning, peter. Reporter good morning. This was a dramatic day of testimony. Sally yates explaining there was an urgent danger which is why six days after President Trump administration about michael fli flynn, that he was putting the white house at risk by concealing his discussions with the Russian Ambassador. To state the obvious, you dont want your National Security adviser compromised with the russians. Reporter sally yates an Obama Administration holdover on the capitol hill hot seat. Detailing how she warned the White House Council during two meetings and a phone call in late january about then National Security adviser Michael Flynns conversations with the Russian Ambassador. The first thing we did was to explain that the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself. Reporter yates alerting the white house that flynn had not only misled the Vice President and other officials but that the russians knew. That created a situation where the National Security black mamailed by the russians. Reporter donald trump insisting the russian collusion story is a hoax on twitter. Ev even changing his twitter page. Nbc news learned president obama delivered his own personal warning to then president elect trump against hiring flynn less than 48 hours after the election according to three obama officials. At the time flynn was already a key adviser to mr. Trump. The Obama Administration fired him from his post as head of the defense agency. The white house suggesting that history prompted president obamas advice which mr. Trump essentially dismissed. Its true that president obama made it known he wasnt a fan shouldnt come as a surprise. Reporter President Trump defended his decision to hire by blaming the Obama Administration saying they gave flynn the highest security clearance. The clearance was renewed in 2016 but he was never granted that additional broader security clearance he would have needed to serve as National Security adviser. Still unanswered this morning, why 18 died between the warning from sally yates and President Trump ultimately firing flynn. Peter, thank you. Condoleezza rice served as secretary of state under president bush. Shes now a professor at stanford, university, and shes written a new book called democracy, tostories from a lo road to freedom. Theres a story on the front page of the washington post. Apparently senior advisers to President Trump are proposing a shift in military in afghanistan emboldened taliban. If you were secretary of state, would you urge the president to go along with it . I would urge him to look at how we can turn the tide in afghanistan. I know weve been there a very long time. The goal is to have a government thats stable in kabul that cant be assaulted by the taliban. But theyre going to have to look at all options, and i would certainly as secretary of state look at the options. If you send 3,000 or so more troops, do you worry about a collision course with russia . As you know, its been reported that the russians are sending arms to the taliban. Are u. S. Troops on the ground there going to be fighting russianarmed taliban troops on the ground there . One of the first conversations needs to be with Vladimir Putin to say do you want to get back in afghanistan after what happened before . Afghanistan . Theres no reasons for the rugs to be arming the taliban. That conversation needs to take im sure when Rex Tillerson means, that will come up. The president is going to have to look at a wide variety of things. What is the strategy now for increasing troops. It doesnt make sense just to increase troops to do the same thing. Im sure youre familiar with the controversy with michael flynn. You once held that position, National Security adviser. If the attorney general of the United States had come to you at the white house and said your National Security adviser is potentially compromised, that he lied about his contact with the russians and the russians know it, would you fire him right then and there . Thats not my decision to make. Lets say it were. I dont do speculatiospecula. I dont know what the president heard or didnt hear. I do know that eventually general flynn was gone, and they have now a terrifat and a Great Security team. Thats what matters. You said russian interference in our election was kind of a High Water Mark in efforts that theyve been taking on for decades. Can President Trump right now trust president putin . Well, i dont know that any president could trust president putin. You can trust putin to carry out his interests as he sees them. That means making russia a factor in International Politics and sometimes that means overrunning ukraine or threatening the baltic states. Or supporting president asaad. Or supporting president asaad or for that matter arming the taliban if thats whats happening. In these circumstances, youre always best to say what are the russians trying to do . There are areas of potential cooperation. I think north korea is an area of potential cooperation because the russians cant look on a north Korean Leader on a long range missile if it can reach how do you not be able to trust a guy because hes interfering in an election and then turn to help from the same person. Its not help. Its a matter of understanding what russian wants are. And when it comes to north korea not reaching the territory of russia, thats in their interest. Do you support the idea of a pretemptive strike . I support the president keeping that option on the table. No american president is going to allow a leader in north korea to acquire a Nuclear Weapon capable of reaching the United States. I hope the chinese will put the kind of pressure on the north korean regime that only they can put on the regime. But the president has to keep all of his options on the table. That i support. Caught my eye in the beginning of your book you pose a question. You say is democracy in retreat. I kind of wonder just by asking the question, are you sounding a little pessimistic. If i had to answer my own question, i would say no. Its just a really long, hard process, and all democracies are imperfect at their start, and they get a little bit better along the way. Its almost as if climbing a height, you get to a landing, you consolidate, take your breath and keep moving on. Thank you so much for being with us . Just curious. Do you miss washington . Would you go back . No. Im a very happy professor at stanford. You sure . Im sure. Just asking for a friend. Thank you very much. Nice to be with you. Now to the overnight chaos at a florida airport. Pushing j shoving, and a lot of yelling between passengers. Airline employees and police. Tom costello is on the case again. Good morning. Reporter good morning. This was an intense scene. Multiple Spirit Airlines flights cancelled. Fights in the airport terminal. The police got involved. Spirit blames it on a labor dispute with its pilots. Another day involving an airline. This time inside a passenger terminal. Cell phone videos posted capturing the wild scene at the Spirit Airlines ticketing desk after some nine flights were cancelled. The terminal at Fort LauderdaleHollywood International airport erupting in chaos. Fights breaking out. When the cancellations left hundreds of travelers stranded. Lines were two to three hours. I cried. Reporter the cancellations come during an ongoing labor dispute. The Airline Cancellations on the a slowdown from the pilots union. Spirit said the backlog of flights was caused by a lack of crews. The airline saying in a statement that reads in part, were shocked and saddened to see the videos of what took place at Fort Lauderdale hollywood airport. These pilots have put their contract ahead of getting the customers to their destinations. This morning frustrations flying high and spirit passengers firmly planted on the ground. The question this morning is whether this will continue today. Flight aware shows 28 more flights cancelled today. Spirit is the airline with the most cancellations worldwide. Big developments in a story weve been following more than a year. Police say the gunman who terrorized phoenix last year with a series shootings is behind bars. The 23yearold was already in Police Custody on an unrelated murder charge. He now faces 26 additional felony could wants. Police allege that he was responsible for a dozen separate shootings which led to nine deaths. Officials say there appears to be no connection between the suspect and his victims. There are new developments this morning in the horrifying murders of two engaged doctors. It happened in their luxury boston condominium. The suspect who was shot by police has now been arraigned at his hospital bed. This investigation is far from over. Morgan ratford is in boston with the latest. Reporter new details this morning shedding light on a possible motive. In fact, senior Law Enforcement officials telling nbc news that the couple slain in this penthouse condo may have been targeted by the suspect. Although they do not believe that the suspect and the a first look at the accused killer in the double murder mystery. The man lying motionless in a boston hospital bed. His eyes closed for most of his arraignment. Charged with two counts of murder. Law enforcement Officials Say the 30yearold excon killed lisa bla lisa blaun notice and her fiance. Slitting their throats and posting a message in blood about retribution. There is nothing to indicate he had a personal relationship with either of the doctors. Reporter this morning investigators scrambling to connect the dots revealing new details about the crime scene where they found a knife and black backpack. In that black bag was some jewelry. Reporter while the District Attorney says its too early to speculate whether robbery was the possible motive, the murders are left neighbors stunned trying to figure out how he allegedly gained access to the doctors exclusive penthouse which hires a key to use the elevator. I used to have to get buzzed in even if i knew the door guy. Reporter theyre also looking into his past. Court documents show he was homeless. An incident report from his 2016 conviction shows he once worked security for the building right next to the crime scene. The gruesome details and mysterious motive adding to the heart break. Police initially believe he had a gun when they arrived to the scene but yesterday in a late breaking press conference, waking up for a second day in the hospital still being held without bail. All right. Morgan in boston, thank you. Want to show you a bizarre incident in australia. A ceo of an airline had been on stage less than two minutes when this happened. Its been six months since ive been here to announce i dont know what that was about. Excuse me. Im going to take a break for a second and clean up a little bit and ill come back. That took placehis morning during a business breakfast with about 500 people in attendance. The man behind the pie attack was arrested and led away by security. He didnt give any indication why he did it. After cleaning up, joyce returned to the stage and joked he needed the number of a good dry cleaner. Maybe better security. Thats a little bit scary to let someone get that close and now the weather. I see rain . Severe stuff. Yesterday in colorado just outside of denver, this is southeast of denver on i70, folks had to take shelter. So much hail. Some of it golf ball sized. More Severe Weather to talk about again today over a wide swath. Strong storms firing up from the rockies today. Moving into the plains. Nebraska into the texas panhandle. Tonight into tomorrow its a slowmoving system. A continued threat of strong storms, and as we move into thursday, were looking at more heavy thunderstorms from the plains into the midwest. Were talking about anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of rain stretching from colorado all the way into roanoke, virginia. Thats whats going on. Well get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. A chilly start to the day. Youll want a jacket this morning. 48 degrees in the district. Plenty of sunshine through the afternoon staying nice and dry. Manassas at 36. Frederick 36. To the west we have freeze warnings until 9 00 a. M. Frost advisories north and west of the district. Many areas in the mid to upper 30s, low 40s. Today 68 for a high. Tomorrow around 70. Run returns by the end of the week. Thats your latest weather. Coming up, more members of the Penn State Fraternity set to face a judge today on charges tied to the hazing deat the first time. And then the tenyearold girl who saved herself from an alligator attack reveals her story and tells the story she learned at a theme park that helped save her life. First, this is today on nbc. In my future, im twice as likely to have a stroke. Im at higher risk for depression. Im 26 more likely to develop an irregular heartbeat. I have a 65 higher chance of developing diabetes. These diseases can be managed or prevented when caught early on. Because with better research, the right medicine, and with doctors who help keep me healthy to begin with, we will thrive. Coming up, harry styles live on the plaza. After your local news. When you have allergies, it can seem like triggers pop up everywhere. That can be triggered by over 200 different allergens. Live claritin clear. We rbut we are not victims. Ack. We are survivors. We are survivors. We are survivors. And now we take brilinta. For people whove been hospitalized for a heart attack. We take brilinta with a baby aspirin. No more than one hundred milligrams. As it affects how well brilinta works. Brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. In a Clinical Study brilinta worked better than plavix®. Brilinta reduced the chance of another heart attack. Or dying from one. Dont stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor,. Since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent,. Heart attack, stroke, and even death. Brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily,