Answer to the question so many are asking. Tackling the issue. Nfl players and owners set to meet today to discuss those Controversial National anthem protests. Will the league try to force players to stand, or can a compromise be reached . All that, plus florida declares an unusual state of emergency over a planned speech. An intentional crash on a racetrack . Leads to a dangerous brawl. A tasing and arrests. And morning exclusive. Chip and joanna gains will be here, live, to explain why theyre leaving their hit show, fixer upper, today, tuesday, october 17th, 2017. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Its tuesday morning, and were glad to have you with us this morning. Its a busy tuesday morning. We have a lot to get to, starting with President Trump sounding off on a number of issues that are facing his administration. Hes also igniting a new controversy with former president s and gold star families. Weve got two reports, and well start with nbcs chief white house correspondent, Hallie Jackson, who is on the hill for us this morning. Hi, halley, good morning. Reporter today the president may have even more to talk about at another News Conference after that surprise show of solidarity with Mitch Mcconnell in the rose garden. It seemed meant partly to show there is no family feud inside the Republican Party. But now new comments from one of the senates most familiar faces make for a real rebuke of the president at a time when the gop needs every lawmaker it can get to get something done. Overnight, one of the president s frequent foes, firing a thinly veiled shot. Senator john mccain, after accepting the prestigious Liberty Medal award from former Vice President joe biden, and without mentioning President Trump by name, condemned people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. To fear the world we have organized and led for three quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe. To refuse the obligations of International Leadership and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth for the sake of some halfbaked, spurious nationalism reporter senator mccain going on to call that nationalism unpatriotic. It comes as the gop faces civil war with the president picking both sides. At the white house monday, a tale of two photo ops. My relationship with this gentleman is outstanding. Has been outstanding. Reporter President Trump side by side at times handinhand with Senate Majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, at an impromptu press conference, a show of solidarity. We have the same agenda. Weve been friends and acquaintances for a long time. Contrary to what some of you may have reported, we are together totally on this agenda to move america forward. Were fighting for the same thing. Were fighting for lower taxes, big tax cuts. The biggest tax cuts in the history of our nation. Reporter but just hours earlier, a more frustrated tone. I have great relationships with actually many senators. But in particular, with most republican senators. But were not getting the job done. And im not going to blame myself. Ill be honest. They are not getting the job done. Reporter that white house whiplash also extending to the president s former top strategist, steve bannon, calling for a season of war against the republican establishment. Were going to win, and theyre going to lose. Reporter the president at first seeming to endorse that. I can understand where steve bannon is coming from, and i can understand, to be honest with you, john, i can understand where a lot of people are coming from. Reporter later suggesting he would steer steve bannon away from targeting republican incumbents. Steve is doing what steve thinks is the right thing. Some of the people he may be looking at, im going to see if we talk him out of that, because frankly, theyre great people. Reporter Mitch Mcconnell firing back, suggesting Steve Bannons picks wont have broad appeal. My goal is to keep us in the majority. You have to nominate people who can actually win, because winners make policy and losers go home. Reporter President Trump and the Senate Majority leader trying to turn the page on past legislative failures. Optimistic tax reform will turn out differently, as both work to get it across the finish line. I really believe that we have a very good chance, and i think mitch feels the same way, of getting the taxes done. Hopefully fairly long before the end of the year. The goal is to get it done this calendar year. Reporter so that side by side appearance coming, of course, after months of President Trump tweeting about Mitch Mcconnell and specifically the inability of lawmakers here on capitol hill to do something on, for example, health care. You hear them sound a little more optimistic on tax reform. Plenty on the plate for President Trump and the Republican Party when it comes to legislative action. But dont forget, theres still that National Emergency on an opioid crisis. The president promised more than two months ago. Hes now hinting at a major announcement on that next week. Savannah . All right, Hallie Jackson on capitol hill starting us off. Thank you. As we mentioned, the president is taking heat for Something Else he said in that rose garden appearance. A false claim that most former president s did not call the families of Fallen Service members. And this morning, officials and some of those families are firing back. Nbc national correspondent, peter alexander, is at the white house, with that part of the story. Peter, take it away. Reporter hey, matt, good morning to you. It, of course, is one of the president s gravest obligations, contacting the families of Fallen Service members. But for President Trump, that sober responsibility was the source of an apparent swipe at his predecessors, defending his delay in responding to recent Army Green Beret deaths in niger. President trump deflected before we pressed him on it. On the steps of the rose garden, President Trump responding to questions about why he had not commented yet on the deaths of four u. S. Soldiers in niger, nearly two weeks ago. I actually wrote letters individually to the soldiers were talking about. And theyre going to be going out. Reporter the president saying he would call the families this week, adding this claim. That his bred predecessors did call families of Fallen Service members. If you look at president obama and other president s, most of them didnt make calls. A lot of them didnt make calls. I like to call when its appropriate, when i think im able to do it. Reporter nbc news pressing him on that. Earlier you said that president obama never called the families of fallen soldiers. How can you make that claim . No, no. I was told that he didnt often. And a lot of president s dont. They write letters. You were told that based on what . Excuse me, peter. I do a combination of both. Sometimes its a very difficult thing to do. But i do a combination of both. President obama i think probably did sometimes, and maybe sometimes he didnt. I dont know. Thats what i was told. Reporter the president s assertion igniting a firestorm of criticism. Overnight, former attorney general, eric holder tweeting, stop the damn lying. Youre the president. I went to Dover Air Force base with 44 and saw him comfort the families of both the fallen military and dea. President obamas former deputy chief of staff immediately blasting President Trump on twitter. Tearing into his claim as an expletive lie. A spokesperson for former president george w. Bush says he wrote all the families of the fallen during his presidency. And called or met with hundreds, if not thousands. One woman whose brother was killed in iraq says, quote, president bush listened while i screamed at him and then held me as i sobbed. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders later defending President Trump saying he wasnt criticizing his predecessors, but, quote, stating a fact. Adding, former president s, such as their bosses called each family of the fallen are mistaken. Press secretary sara sanders said like past president , President Trump has called, sent a letter or met with families of the fallen since taking office. As for the four green berets, i asked the white house again this morning whether the president s letters have been maeld or calls to the families made but so far no new update. Peter alexander at the white house. Thank you very much. Now we go to florida, where governor rick scott has declared a state of emergency ahead of a speech by a White Nationalist leader. Its planned at the university of florida. The governor says that order will free up resources to prepare for possible violence in response to the speech by Richard Spencer on thursday in gainesville. Spencer is the person who helped to organize the august rally in charlottesville, virginia, that led to violent street clashes with counter protesters. In a video message, university of florida president , kent fox, told students to stay away, deny spencer attention and ignore his, quote, message of hate. Fox said he was required by law to allow spencer to speak. Also this morning, though, there is more to get to, including those catastrophic wildfires in california. Theyre now being blamed for yet another death. This as some evacuees are being allowed to return home to see if they actually still have a home. Nbcs joe fryer is in santa rosa, once again, for us. Joe, good morning. Reporter matt, good morning. Firefighters say they are making progress and hope some of these major fires will be fully contained by weeks end. But for this region, the Recovery Process is just beginning. The fires tearing through Northern California have taken another life, a contract firefighter driving a water tanker that overturned on a steep roadway. Its a tragic set back in a battle now entering its ninth day. Were not out of harms way yet. But we begin to get an upper hand on this. Reporter in Sonoma County, authorities are still investigating 88 reports of missing people, a list that has been whittled down from hundreds. Search teams are looking for some of the missing at burned out homes. The longer the time goes out, the more that gets a little bit more sensitive. Reporter the hope is that many are simply out of touch. I dont have a best guess where they are, were trying to find them. Reporter the National Guard is helping with the search for victims, and in the process, salvaging valuables that will be returned to their rightful owners. Over a week has passed since the fires erupted. Body camera footage from that night shows Sonoma County fire sergeant getting people to safety as embers rain down. I look back, and i dont know how we didnt catch fire. Were not wearing protective clothing. We were getting hit with those embers. Our house is burning no reporter in neighborhoods decimated by fire, its hard to know what the future holds. Find some clothes. Reporter they lost their house, and theyre not alone. Park says about 20 of the kids at their school are now homeless. I mean, we can find places, but we dont want to drive 40, 45 minutes. We have kids in school, we have all of their activities. It doesnt make sense. Reporter yet beneath the smoke, youll find a thick layer of kindness. Lets have you walk the parallel bars again. Reporter she is getting new prosthetics after her old ones were robbed by the fire. With my legs i feel powerful. Reporter a gift donated by Hanger Clinic and associates. I hope they truly know how much they have given back to a little girl that all she wants to do is walk again. Reporter this morning, 40,000 people are still evacuated, and those in the hardest hit neighborhoods may not be able to return for days or even weeks. No one can go home until the neighborhoods are safe, and utilities are restored. Matt and savannah . Joe fryer in santa rosa, thanks. Now to a new interview with a former hostage of taliban linked extremists. Just days after being released. That hostage now explaining why he and his wife had children in captivity. Nbcs Kelly Cobiella with more on that. Kelly, good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. Joshua boyle described just horrific conditions in captivity, being shuffled between three different prisons, violence and beatings. And now hes explaining why he and his wife brought children into that world. This morning, new answers to a question many people had about former hostages joshua boyle, Caitlyn Coleman and the children they had in captivity. Boyle telling the ap in a written exchange, when it came to having more kids, they decided, quote, hey, lets make the best of this and at least go home with a larger start on our dream family. Boyles american wife, Caitlyn Coleman, was already pregnant when they went backpacking in afghanistan and were abducted five years ago. As hostages with, quote, a lot of time on their hands, they decided to try for more children. We always wanted as many as possible, and we didnt want to waste time, he wrote. Adding kaits in her 30s, the clock is ticking. Honestly, we always planned to have a family of five, ten, twelve children. Were irish. H ha ha. They revealed they had killed an infant daughter and raped his wife during the years they were held. The stupidity and evil was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter and the subsequent rape of my wife. Reporter boyle told nbc news exclusively, the family lived in an underground dungeon, just 66 square feet, dripping water. Their food and beds covered in mold. The family now adjusting to life out of captivity. Boyle saying his three sons have reached the first true home they have ever known. Adding that one of his boys has started raiding the first refrigerator of his life. Boyle also said their children are now 4, 2 and somewhere around 6 months old. He said the children were asking whether each new airport they were in was their new home. As they were traveling back to canada last week. Matt, savannah . Breaks your heart. Kelly, thank you very much. In other news, were expecting new developments today tied to National Anthem protests before nfl games that have led to heated debates nationwide. The issue is taking center stage at the fall meeting of league owners, taking place here in new york. Nbcs ron mott is there. Ron, good morning to you. Reporter hey, matt, good morning. You know, these nfl owners meetings dont usually attract widespread Media Attention but todays gathering is different as owners and players try to find some Common Ground over whats become a thorny, touchy topic. And, of course, thats the National Anthem. In a few hours, nfl players and owners sitting down to discuss standing up for the National Anthem, an issue that has largely overshadowed football itself this season. At todays regularly scheduled owners meeting players and Union Leaders will aim to reach consensus on how the league should tackle ongoing National Anthem protests and the social issues important to players. The goal is to try to solve the anthem issue once and for all. Not with an hedic, not with a mandate, but with some sort of an offer to the players. A platform, separate from the anthem. Reporter President Trump took aim at the nfl last month, prompting large demonstrations beyond the handful of players who had been quietly kneeling. Wouldnt you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now . Hes fired. Hes fired reporter mr. Trump has kept the issue alive with tweets and comments discussing the protests again on monday. When you go down and take a knee or any other way, youre sitting, essentially, for our great National Anthem. Youre disrespecting our flag, and youre disrespecting our country. Reporter colin kaepernick, who last season initiated the protests against racial inequality and Police Brutality this week filed a grievance, accusing the league of colluding to keep him out of the game since he became a free agent. In an open letter to fellow players, l. A. Chargers Russell Okung defended the protests. Ass message has now been d distorted, we as players have a responsibility to come together and respond collectively. Richmond, a democrat from new orleans and head of the cbc, sent a letter to roger goodell, nfl commissioner, saying the issue is not black patriotism but racial inequality and brutality and stand with players, trying to call attention to that. Guys . Okay, ron. Just a couple blocks from us here in new york city. Al is here with a first check of our weathe