Allegation at his confirmation hearing. I was devastated as a human being. And i was scared. The nominee with a forful denial. Nothing happened ever. Will this derail his confirmation . E live on capitol hill. Those stories psat were le violent pt of a teen accused of killing a Police Officer in italy. An ugly scene in cincinnati overnight as the bench is cleared. And suspensions areureo follow. Plu lifesaving catch. The moment a toddler falls from a sixth floor bance copy and is caughtoo by onlkers in the ght place at the right time today wednesday j, y 31st19. Announcer from nbc ne, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hodkotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Morning, everybody. Weome to today. Nice to have you with us on wednesday morning. Were at the Halfway Point in the democratic debate. 20 candidatesou have to split it up in two nights. A lit what w saw in miami. Its the top story. This heated Opening Night to the democratic debate in detroit. It exposes key differences between the candidates on ste. Well break it all down this morning. Well start with Nbcs Kristen Welker who is in detroit for us. Kristen, good morning. Reporter hey, savannah, good morning to you. Tonight is round two of the democratic debates when ten more candidates take the stage here in battleground michigan. If last night was any indication, a battle for the heart and soula of the democtic rty. This morning, a clear divide, as moderates and liberals clashed over the direction of the Democratic Party and who can beat President Trump. Folks, we have a choice. We can go down the road that senator sanders and senator warren want to take us, which is with bad policies like medicare for all, free everything, and impossible promises that will turn off independent voters and get trump reelected. It don understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the unittates just to talk about what we really ct do and shouldnt fight for. The moderates trying to make the case that progressive senalirs ebeth warren and Bernie Sanders are too extreme. So, again, i think if were going toorce americans to make racal changes, theyre not going to go along throw your hands up, but you havent reporter the sharpest disagreements over mheedicare for all plan backed by warren and sanders which expands the vernmentrun program from 65 and oldero all citizens and lawful permanent citizens. Why do we have to be the party of taking something away from people . We are thecr demoats. We are not about trying to take away health care from anyone. Thats what the republicans are trying to do. Reporter ohio congressm tim ryan pressing sanders on whether his plan would be bettei than health care plans. You dont knowthat, bernie. I do. I wrote the damn bill. Reporter there were heated moments on immigration. I expected people who come here to follow our laws, and we reserve the right to criminally prosecute them. Repter to gun control. When steve bullock, who didnt qualify for the first debate, struck a personal note. 11yearold nephew, jeremy, shot and killed on a playground. We need to start looking at this as a Public Health issue, not a political issue. Repter in the crowded field, many candidates hoping for abreakout moment. Author Marianne Williamson gon if you think this will be the taste this president is bringing up in this country, im afraid the democrats are going to see very dark days. Reporter also on display, the generational divide. 37yearold buttigieg arguing age doesnt matter. We can have great president s at any age. What i will say is we need the kind of vision that will rwin. Orter all the candidates making the case they are the most electable. The reason we are going to beat trump and beat him badly is he is a fraud and a phony, and were going to expose him for what he is. I get it. Theres a lot at stake and people are scared. But we cant choose a candidate we dont believe j int because were too scared to do anything else. Reporter now, one candidate who wasnt mentioned last night, the front runner, former Vice President joe biden. Hes going to be on sge night. Hell have a bit of a rematch with senator Kamala Harris after she landed a fewes punch against him during the first round of debates. Will he have a stronger performance tonight . Well know in just a fews. Hour savannah and willie . Kristen, thank you very much. Lets turn to our nbc news politicalnalyst former senator Claire Mccaskill of missouri. It was kind of the debate the party has been having. Th actually came out on the stage. Moderates, the pragmatists, verse the progressives. What did you think last night . Ooerall, it was gd for our party. First of all, i think a lot of people watching the debate finally figured out that bernie and elizabeths plan means no more insurance at work. No choice. I think what the moderates did last night is point out that we can do better on health care. Its the number one issue. We can do better on Health Care Without taking away peoples choices. So i thought that contrast, overall, got our party back to a little bit still left of nt ce, but a little closer to center which, for electability, you cant underestimate how important that is. I al ask you question. When you served in the uted states senate, some of the candidates went at it in a backhanded way, but can medicare for all, the Program Proposed by sanders and warren, pass through the United States senate . I think people need to remember, the 60 vote margin in the senate is stopping all kinds of crazy town right now in the senate. The fact that the republicans have to have is really a safeguard for the values that my party cares about. That 60 margin is not going away. Ssume the t democratse the senate, theyre not getting 60 votes. Doesnybody think were going to take away everyones private insurance with a 60vote margin in the senate . There is a disconnect between the inspirationalnd the realistic. Thats one of the huge debates going on within the party right now. It ais. Leto talk about the candidates. Who in your mind had a standout night . Who is seeming to fall by the wayside . Lizabeth is good at this. She kws h tow taking complex problems and simifying em. That can also be a doubleedged swor she had a good night. She and bernie made a decision not to go after eachother. Theyre going to try to corral all the very, very left votes in the party. I thought, frankly, that governor bullock and mayor pete had pretty good nights. I think governor bullock did a good job introducing himself. Hes from a very red state. He won in a very red state. Thats mic to the ears of democrats across the country. I thought they both did well. Lets turn the corner and look ahead to tonight. The front runner, joe biden, comfortable margin in most polls. Kamala harris will be on stage next to him again night as she was in miati. Who you expect to see tonight . I expect kamala will talk about her plan h forlth care which involves choice, not doing away with private insurance. I expect that joe biden will be morerepared to pivot and punch, as we say in the debate world. If he isnt . I think it is a problem for him. His delivery i important tonight. Hes got to come from a position of strength. If hes Strong Enough to hold ehis nomination, he needs to show it on th stage tonight. Senator mccaskill, always good to get your perspective. Thank you very much. Now a new act of defiance from north korea. The second launch of missiles in less than a week. Chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel joins us with now with the latest. Good morning. Reporter good morning, willie. This is what north korea does when it is angry. It is clear north koreas leader, kim jongun, is frustrated that his last meeting with President Trump did not yield the results he was hoping for. North korea fired a new pair of shortrange missiles overnight, the second launc in a wee. Missiles flew about 150 miles toward japan, but u. S. Officials say they dropped in the sea and were never a danger. But why . Just a month ago, be it trump and north koreas leader kim jongun met for a friendship summit. The preside even symbolically crossing intoth korea. Back then, all the talk was about reducing tensions. Wastepping across that lin a great honor. Reporter since then, there have been issues. The s bordermit was supposed to restart negotiation. Negotiation which north korea hopes will lead to lifting sanctions. But the talks havent started yet, and with the launches, north korea is showing it is losing patience. Secretary of state pompeo said the talks should get under way soon. Wed like those to be start ed before july. Reporter the u. S. Military announced it will resume military exercises with south korea in august, exercises President Trump had promised to stop and which north korea claims are a tredress rehearsalr an invasion the u. S. Military says it is monitoring the situation. South korea called the latest launches unhelpful. Richard engel, thank you very much. President trump is launching new attacks on Elijah Cummings. Hallie jackson has more on that story this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning. This is another escalation by the president who, in a new interview this morning, is brushing off criticismes racist, arguing that word has been thrown around so often, its effectively watered down. President trump defiant and digging in on the divisive attacks against congressman lijah cummings and the city of baltimore in a new cspan interview. When Elijah Cummings calls you a racist, your reaction is what . The words overused. It is a disgrace. Im the least racist person there is in the world, as far as im concerned. Reporter for him, no strategy to the attack, he says, and no apology. No strategy. It is simple, people livin in baltimore are very happy that im bringing out the fact that it is like living in hell. Reporter its the fourth straight day ofsc eating insults, cite size criticized ay the president s opponents,nd during a speech in jamestown. The demonstrator, a Democratic State legislator. Elijah cummings, mostly quiet so far, issued subpoenas for top trump administrion officials, like the attorney general and chief of staff. Why are you so angry about the city . Is it because you subpoenaed im not angry. Im telling you the facts. Reporter the president is focusing instead on the prae he insists hes getting. Without naming names, describing the calls he received thanking him. All of the things ive done foram africanericans, of all of the things like criminal justice rm, like opportunities, i think i do very well with the africanamericans. Reporter butes not doing well with most africanamerican voters, with his support sitting at just 6 . A new poll also Shows Nearly Half of all voters, 51 , believe the president is racist. Hey use it almost when they run out of things to criticize you. They say, hes a racist. Hes a racist. But with me, they have a hard time getting away with it. They dont get away with it. Ep rter as for congressman cummings, hes mostly stayed out of the spotlight since the president s attacks startd ed. In a tweet he said hell do what he is dutybound to do, help iv constituents l their best lives and serve as a check on the executive branch. Hank you. Now to tense moments at a confirmation hearing. The man tapped by the president to be the vice chairman of the int chiefs of staff. He and his accuser appeared on capitol hill. Kasie hunt has the rstory. Orter this morning. President trumps pick to be the second highest ranking military officer in the country facing llplosive aations from an officer under his command. Bottom line is, he lied about sexually assaultingme. He did it. He did it multiple times. There was corroborating evidence. Reporter army colonel catherine didnt tell anyone generaleighten sexually assaulted her until he was nominated to be the joint chief of staff. I want to say these aallegationsre false. Reporter she worked as a top ai, sitting feet behind him aton the crmation hearing, putting focus on the militarys struggle to address the persistent problem of Sexual Assault within the ranks. She revealed her identity in the New York Times over the weekend, ngdescri in graphic detail his unwanted kissing, touching, and rubbing against her. Somebody who almost had been raped that evening, i was just devastated as a humanbeing. I was scared. Reporter the air forces office ofspecial investigation reviewed her allegation. They couldnt substantiate her claim and hieeighten wasever referred for marshall. Mcsally, who revealed her allegation of being assaulted in uniform, said in this case, s believes the general. These are false allegations, and he is innocent of these charges. What do you say to his accuser . I pray she finds the peace that she is looking for, butou cannot do it by destroying another person. Reporter stosur and heighten testied behind closed doors at the Senate Armed Services committe confirmation. Now, she wants a chance to make public. In with his adamant denial. Did that incident happen, general . That never happened. Reporter general heighten seems on track to be confirmed by the senate this fall. For toiey, kashunt, nbc news, the capitol. We have a lot more to get to this morning, iluding the wild base brawl that broke out in cincinnati last night. Happened in a game between the reds and the pittsburghte pira and now theres some serious chirping coming from the prates dugout. Garrett is on his way to the dugout, and here we go. Oh garrett goes in there punching. This is not a good scene at all. That is reds pitcher ameer garrett, singlehandedly taking half of the pie rrates team. Backup eventually arrives. Chaos erupting on the field. Players throwing punches, pushing, shoving. The managers got into the fray, as you can see. What started , a pitch got a little too close to a reds players head. A feud has been simmering all season. Suspensions and fines will be announced in the coming days. This goes back to inside pitching back in april, but i love baseball, but the thing where you throw at people as payback, you have to get rid of it. It is not good for the sport. Lets get a check of the weveher. Al is o at his spot. Good morning. Good morning, guys. Im going to alrighty. Were looking at 31 Million People at risk. Storms from gtwashin. Well be watching that very closely. The cold front and the pitch. re watching this system push in, strong stormsg alon i95 stretching norfolk all the way up ntoboston. Delays possible. Its going to be a mess thats going to push on through. We are looking for some places picking up to 3 to 4 of rain. Here is what we expect as far as the commute. Especially strong storms boston, new york, d. C. Thes airport problem. I95 from bangor to richmond, harrisburg to i91 and boston and cleveland along i90. Were goingt t to your local forecast comin good morning. Severe weather storm team4 weather alert day. Easy for me to say. The highlighted zone in yellow here, highest likelihood forer severe weathtoday. Right now just a few raindrops up in the mountains of West Virginia as thatmp little ise arrives here during daytime heating were likely to see strong to severe storms developing at 2 00, then affecting d. C. Metro area between 4 00 and 7 00. Stay weather alert with nbc washington today. Kind of stormy for the rest of the week. Thats your latest. Guys. Just ahead delopment of o u. S. Teens arrested in the death of a Police Officer. What were learning about one teens violent history with fight club. Controversy tied to College Admissions. You will not believe what some families are doing to get Financial Aid for their children. But first this just ahead, anor extranary group. Survivors of shark attacks are here to share their stories. Then a special treat if youre among the millions e bingwatching the new season of queer eye. The fab five is get to kffls. And take 25 our best active brands plus everyone gets kohls cash save on womens nike separates. Boys under armour justhls 14. 99. Ac save on adidas bkpacks. Separates. And converse for the family plus free amazon returns now at all kohls stores this weekend. At kohls. only tylenol® rapid release gels aser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. 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