A good friday morning to you all. Im diane macedo. And im Kenneth Moton in for kendis gibson. E we begin with President Trump delivering stinging comments about former fbi director james comey. In an interview with nbc news, the president offered up his account of how and why comey was fired. Hes a showboat. Hes a grandstander. The fbi has been in turmoil. You know that. I know that. Everybody knows that. You take a look at the fbi a year ago. It was in virtual turmoil. Less than a year ago. It hasnt recovered from that. While the white house pinned the decision to fire comey on the justice department, the president made it clear that it all started and ended with him. Abcs janai norman has the latest from washington. Reporter the white house clearing up conflicting messages. From the press secretary to the Vice President , saying for days, the president s decision to fire fbi director james comey was triggered by the recommendation of Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein. Those claims directly contradicted by the commander in chief during an interview with nbc. Regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. Reporter acting fbi director Andrew Mccabe testifying before congress, offering more contradictions. To white house claims the fbi rank and file have lost confidence in the former director. Director comey enjoyed broad support. Within the fbi. And still does to this day. Reporter and white house claims the fbi investigation into russian meddling and possible collusion with the Trump Campaign was quote one of the smallest things of what the fbi is doing. We consider it to be a highly significant investigation. Reporter mccabe testifying that investigation is forging ahead. As this weeks developments prompted some who opposed an independent prosecutor to reconsider. This is in the best interests of the president. Reporter and during mccabes testimony, he agreed to notify the Senate Intelligence committee if the white house makes any moves to try to impede or quash the fbis russiarelated investigation. Kenneth and diane . Janai norman, live in washington, thank you. The white house is denying a new report that claims President Trump allegedly demanded james comeys loyalty. Sources close to comey tell the New York Times he was summoned to the white house weeks after the inauguration. The president asked him to pledge his loyalty to him. Comey offered his honesty instead. Its not clear if it was at the same time he asked about the russian investigation. I said, if its possible, would you let me know am i under investigation . He said, youre not under investigation. I know that im not under investigation, me, personally. Im not talking about campaigns. Im not talking about anything else. Im not under investigation. Now, Abcs Jonathan Karl pressed the white house, asking if thats an inappropriate question for a president to ask an fbi director. One of these conversations, the president said happened at a dinner where the fbi director, according to the president , was asking to stay on as fbi director. Dont you see how thats a conflict of interest . The fbi director is saying he wants to keep his job and the president is asking whether or not hes under investigation. I dont see that as a conflict of interest. And neither do the many legal scholars and others that have been commenting on it in the last hour. So no, i dont see that as an issue. During his Senate Intelligence hearing, acting fbi director mccabe would not confirm whether comey told President Trump he was not under investigation. And the white house is also under fire for allowing a possible Security Breach during a meeting with top russian officials. These photos of the meeting were taken by a russian photographer. Now, intelligence officials have raised concerns over that photographer and his equipment being allowed into the oval office. Given russias history of sneaking surveillance devices into u. S. Facilities. Meanwhile, the president is defending his decision to go through with that meeting a day after firing comey. Did you worry at all when you made the decision to fire comey when you did, the day before lavrov was here in the white house and the russian ambassador, did you think through the optics of the way this would look . I never thought about it. It was set up awhile ago. Frankly, i could have waited. But what difference does it make . The president said Vladimir Putin asked him to meet with the foreign minister when they spoke by phone. And the new yorker is getting some attention this morning for its new cover and a unique take on comeys firing. The artwork shows the former fbi director being dragged off a plane by a Security Officer who looks a lot like attorney general jeff sessions, accompanied by a pilot who has a bit of resemblance to President Trump. Now to breaking must in italy. An explosion if rome. It happened in a parking lot for a post office. It appears to be a basic explosive device that was placed between two cars. No injuries report sod far. In the past, similar explosions in italian cities have been blamed on anarchists. Now for a look at the weather. A severe storm system is now moving out of the plains into the deep south. But this weekend it will reach the northeast. The system brought strong winds, heavy rain, and lots of hail to texas, oklahoma, and here in arkansas. By this evening, the storms will reach the virginia coast. Saturday will be pretty much a washout for the midatlantic region. And mothers day, unfortunately, will be soggy for new england. Plan some indoor celebrations for mom if youre in that area. Unless mom really likes rain. Then party outside. Right. A young man who had a public audience with duchess kate wasnt exactly crying tears of joy. This happened when kate arrived in luxembourg. The little guy in the little hoodie had just given the duchess some flowers. When she tried to thank him, he burst out crying. She tried to calm him down but that didnt work either. His mom said the little guy was just shy. I think i know a lot of grown men who would cry if she came near them. I would cry. Shes beautiful. Still ahead, the change all the big candymakers agreed to. And what mechanics did that put air force one at risk of catching fire midflight. Plus, a rare look at the white house after hours. The president s new tv and how hes adding his own personal touch. Today there is only one park for every 14,000 americans. Connection to nature is a right that the trust for public land is fighting to preserve. From boulevards to ball fields and ponds to playgrounds, together we have saved over 3 million acres of land. A park is a gift that is worth protecting. Help support the trust for public land and the gift of parks today. Breathing becomes a struggle. Copd is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. You may have heard of it as chronic bronchitis or emphysema. Over time, you feel like youre breathing through a straw. Its the 4th leading cause of death in the u. S. , and it took my grandmother. If youre over 35 and have ever smoked, you could be at risk. The good news is, you can improve your symptoms. Im danica patrick, and i drive4copd. Join the movement at drive4copd. Com. Take our screening questionnaire today, and talk to your doctor. Breaking overnight, a united flight had to be delayed for hours for a rather unusual reason. That flight to ecuador had to return to the gate in houston last night after a scorpion climbed out of a passengers clothing. The plane was evacuated. But they didnt find a scorpion. Someone said they had seen it, though. Passengers boarded a backup plane and arrived in the country about three hours late. And recent damage to a plane that serves as air force one could have caused a fire. Thats the finding of an air force report of a botched cleaning by boeing mechanics. The report says three mechanics contaminated the planes oxygen system last month, doing 4 million damage. The plane has not yet returned to service. Charges are still possible in the deadly amtrak derailment in philadelphia. The crash two years ago killed eight people and injured nearly 200 others when it was going twice the speed limit. Investigators found the trains engineer was to blame. Philadelphias District Attorney declined to file charges against him. Now, a judge has approved the filing of a private criminal complaint. Chase banks Online System is back up and running this morning after a nationwide outage lasting about three hours. During that time, customers were unable to make online payments or mobile payments. No word on what triggered the outage. New evidence this morning that Department Stores are struggling to compete with online retailers. Macys saw a drop in sales for a ninth straight quarter. For kohls, the fifth straight quarter of loss in sales. Highend Department Stores are falling short, too. Nordstrom reported weaker than expected sales. Causing its stock to drop. Jc penney releases its earnings today. The powers that be in the world of candy are having a meeting of the minds focusing on making sweets better for you. Executives from mars, nestle, ghirardelli and other companies are joining forces to provide more choices for consumers, including smaller portions. They plan to have calorie information on 90 of their most popular products within five years. But will you Pay Attention . Im not sure i want to know. I just dont think ill flip over the candy bar. Right. When we come back, people in one American Community told to stay inside. The massive manhunt for an accused killer. And the delicate rescue after a horse falls into a 300foot ravine. Love is what inspires me. Love is being awakened by a kiss. Love is finding calm in your partners arms. Love is intimate. Love is everlasting. Love is a diamond. If theres one thing i know, its couples in love. From the runway to the wedding aisle, to the most romantic day of their lives, im there. Each piece of my jewelry collection is designed with lovers in mind. The vera wang love collection, at zales. The diamond store. Fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. Got any ideas . Ting you . Not all products work the same. My owner gives me k9 advantix ii. It kills all three through contact. No biting required. So they dont have to bite . Thats right. No biting required. K9 advantix ii. Wise choice. Listen, sugar, were lettin you go. Its that splenda naturals gal, isnt it . Coffee look, shes sweet, shes got natural stevia, no bitter aftertaste, and zero calories. All the partners agree . Even iced tea . Especially iced tea. Goodbye, sugar. Hello, new splenda naturals. Your body was made for Better Things than rheumatoid arthritis. Before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz is right for you. Xeljanz is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz can reduce joint pain and swelling in as little as two weeks, and help stop further joint damage. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Xeljanz can reduce the symptoms of ra, even without methotrexate, and is also available in a oncedaily pill. Ask about xeljanz xr. Rescuing a horseback rider from a 300foot ravine was relatively easy. In los angeles county. But getting the horse out . A little more difficult. The 1200pound animal had to be sedated and blindfolded before a helicopter could airlift it. Both the horse and rider with only minor injuries. Now for a look at morning road conditions. Drivers are likely to find wet roads in practically all of the south, the ohio valley, and a lot of the east. There may also be some puddles in the Pacific Northwest and northern rockies. If youre flying, airport delays are most likely in memphis, atlanta, charlotte, and new orleans. Well, a manhunt is under way in northern massachusetts for a shooting suspect Police Describe as quote armed and extremely dangerous. S. W. A. T. Teams are swarming the streets of lowell, where that gunman, identified by police as ross elliott could be hiding. Investigators say elliott is suspected of shooting and killing an exgirlfriend and they say he has a long history of violence. An arkansas sheriffs deputy and two women are dead after what possibly started as a domestic dispute. Lieutenant Kevin Mainhart was shot and killed after stopping a vehicle he thought was involved in the dispute. Police say the suspect then barricaded himself inis side a house for five hours. After he surrendered, the bodies of two women were found inside. Another deadly standoff is over. After 35 hours. U. S. Marshals tried to serve a warrant on a man in trenton, new jersey, the suspect then allegedly opened fire, killing one of his neighbors. S. W. A. T. Teams put the neighborhood on lockdown using a bull horn. Trying to talk him into surrendering. Well, that took a day and half. He was taken into custody without incident. More than two dozen great white sharks have been spotted off california beaches just in this week. Some paddle boarders were surrounded by more than a dozen sharks but didnt know it. They found out when a crew in a sheriffs helicopter gave them a call from above. You are paddleboarding next to approximately 15 great white sharks. There were advisories posted on the beach. Authorities say the sharks were not aggressive. Interested in fish, not people. Los angeles officials are showing the International Olympic committee around town, as l. A. Bids for the 2024 games. L. A. And paris are battling to host the games for a third time. The winner will be announced in september. Go usa. Time now for sports. Another team has been eliminated from the nba playoffs. Lets go to our friends from espn with the highlights. Good morning, america. Im sweating profusely. Hes stan. Im neil. Starting off with tmi. And spurs and rockets. This is game six. The spurs up, 32. Houston was at home. James harden, just wasnt ready. If he was ready, thats even worse. Six turnovers in the game to go with just seven assists. Didnt take his first shot until 6 19 of the second quarter. Wound up with 10 points, 2 for 11 shooting. Lamarcus aldridge. Meanwhile, 34 points and 12 rebounds for the spurs. Murray, kyle anderson. Murray with the dunk. Spurs win it. They win the series. They take on the warriors next. This is houstons baseball team. Man, they better be better than the basketball team. That wasnt hard. Im getting up and walking off this good morning. Carlos correia. Off michael pineda. Former seattle mariner. His fifth. Astros up, 20. Sportscenter with stan and neil, Carlos Correia did an impression. Pretty funny. This game ended in awhile. Bottom nine, yankees are down two. They get one. Not two. Ellsbury not wearing the flyers. Jake throws him out. Houston, 32 winner. Anything else . Thats all we got. Have a great day. All right. Well take it. Up next in the pulse doctors are sending out a warning over the rising number of injuries called avocado hand. And the best mothers day present. What a football coach told this mom right here about her son that received this reaction. And check out our Facebook Page for this story getting a lot of shares. A baby, nearly 14 pounds at birth. Thats on atmfans. Com. The sunll come out tomorrow. For people with Heart Failure, tomorrow is not a given. But entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. Tomorrow, tomorrow. I love ya, tomorrow in the largest Heart Failure study ever, entresto helped more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading Heart Failure medicine. Women who are pregnant must not take entresto. It can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. If youve had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, dont take entresto. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure. Kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. Tomorrow, tomorrow i love ya, tomorrow ask your heart doctor about entresto. And help make tomorrow possible. Youre only a day away. Working on my feet all day gave me pain here. In my knees. So i stepped on this machine and got my number, which matched my dr. Scholls custom fit orthotic inserts. So i get immediate relief from my foot pain. My knee pain. Find a machine at drscholls. Com. Atmore than one flavor, oruch texture, or color. Ing. A good clean salad is so much more than green. And with panera catering, more for your event. Panera. Food as it should be. The toothpaste that helpstax, prevent bleeding gums. If you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. Help stop the journey of gum disease. Try new parodontax toothpaste. Its clinically proven to remove plaque, the main cause of bleeding gums. For healthy gums, and strong teeth. Leave bleeding gums behind. New parodontax toothpaste. Time to check the pulse beginning with a rare, afterhours look at the trump white house. Behind the scenes. Yes, the president escorted a Time Magazine crew, showing off an enormous flat screen tv where he catches up on the days news clips recorded on tivo, which he calls one of the great inventions of all time. They checked out his favorite meal. Diet coke. Chick within extra sauce. And two scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream with chocolate cream pie for dessert. Two scoops for the president. Ill take some Vanilla Ice Cream and chocolate cream pie. Good combo. I wonder if that screen is as large as the one behind us. Maybe not. I dont think so. Would the president like this . I think he would. Doctors are warning about a surge in the injury they call avocado hand. Avocado hand . Apparently, this is what happens when people cut an avocado in their hand. They cut all the way around it. Instead of cutting the avocado only, they end up slicing their hand. It may sound funny. Apparently, it can cause serious nerve and tendon damage. Doctors are not calling for safety labels. They simply recommend slicing avocados on a cutting board, like you see there, and using some common sense. It always come down to that common sense thing, doesnt it . It really does. Especially when youre dealing with knives. No sledge hammer. Thats not recommended . Thats not the way to get into an avocado. Noted. A College Football coach has found a very special mothers day gift for the mom of one of his players. East carolina head coach Scottie Montgomery paid a visit to tia chapman. At her job. Her son, kiante anderson, is a walkon for the pirates. Watch as the coach hands her an envelope. He tells her its a nice mothers day gift. When she opens it, she finds out its a full scholarship for her son. Look at that hug. And heres another twist. Her son didnt know. She told him over the phone. Thank you so much, wow. Im here with coach mo and, some cameras and people. I just got presented with the best mothers day gift ever. Youre on a full scholarship for ecu. And your name and number is on this letter its like two gifts in one. Not only does she get this amazing news, she gets to be the one to tell her son about it. And he thanked his coach over the phone. Then he took to twitter. And he tweeted to his coach and the team, saying thank you for the blessings you have given me. He also says hell continue to be the best player he can be. He says, i will continue to grind. To grind on the football field, in the classroom. Kiante anderson, congratulations on that scholarship. Thats amazing. Mom, she hugged him tight, didnt she . I have a feeling mom is going to remember this mothers day gift for quite some time. I think she will. More news coming up. After this. After this. More news coming up. After this. Hey, honey. Dad, wheres the car . Thought wed walk. Hes counting steps. Walk, move and earn money. Goal dad. Hey, we wanna welcome everyone to the father daughter dance. Look at this dad, hes got some moves money you can use on outofpocket medical expenses. Hes ok, yeah unitedhealthcare hes got the cash. Hes got a condo. Hes got a car. Hes got a career. But that still doesnt mean he gets you. Time to shine. Orbit. Find fast relief behind the counter allergies with nasal congestion . With claritind. [ upbeat music ] strut past that aisle for the allergy relief that starts working in as little as 30 minutes and contains the best oral decongestant. Live claritin clear, with claritind. They only gave me one. Are you serious . Wait mama, youre going to be an abuela your face yeah, this is how she tells me new Sun Protection like youve never seen or felt. Introducing coppertone whipped. It absorbs quickly. And leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth while helping to prevent sun damage. New coppertone whipped. Because protection matters. Americas favorite cookie delicious european Chocolate Candy introducing new oreo Chocolate Candy bars look for them wherever you buy Chocolate Candy. Good morning, bay area. Lets get up and get going. This is abc7 mornings. Friday, may 12th. Welcome at 4 27 in the morning. It has been a long week. I dont know if it has been long but it has been hard. Mothers day on the way. Sunshine and cool and breezy. About the same as today. We have a little stretch of below average temperatures. When you step outside grab a heavier coat possibly. A few clouds hanging around, and almost a full moon. 41 to 52 degrees. The breezes will start to kick in and that will hold us at 56 to 54. And then if you are headed out this evening, look at it already in the 50s by 7 00. Heres a look at your commute. Maybe folks turning their heat on in their car, but overall we are not seeing anybody out there especially on the westbound side of 580 for the Richmond San Rafael bridge. And we have green all the way around as well. We have a couple overnight Construction Projects that we still have in the works here and i will talk about those coming up in less than ten. Breaking news from the abc7 live desk. We want to start with breaking news. A serial arsonist may have struck again, two more car fires in the east bay bay, and this marks seven cars burned in the lat five days. We are working on getting you video and images from the scene. But walnut creek, giant were coming from that car and the second car in lafayette, two miles away on krau sepb tau court. Both locations are close to highway 24. Those fires follow five others, as i mentioned, in the two cities we had fires as well as inmartinez. We have a reporter on the way to the scene and a live report will be coming up. Back to you. Progress is coming down the tracks this morning in the north bay. For the first time you will for the first time you will see and hear testing their passenger routes. Amy hollyfield is live. Reporter they are now forming an schedule, and they think they are going to start the trains rolling at 5 00 a. M. , and the smart trains will connect Sonoma County to marin county. Officials estimate it will take 67 minutes to get from Sonoma County airport to downtown san rafael. They determined that peak time is a window from 5 00 t and they are going to Start Testing the trains this morning so dont be surprised if you see a smart train rolling through san rafael or marin county this morning, and they are going to start at 5 00 this morning, and dont try to hop on, this is only a test. Reporting live in san rafael, amy hollyfield, abc7 news. The chp is asking for help this morning in finding suspects in a wine country driveby shooting. Somebody in a truck opened fire on two people on a honda accord in hillsboro. Minutes earlier a person