Watergate as President Trump prepares to nominate a new fbi director and meets with the Russian Foreign minister this morning. Our entire team is breaking it down, a special edition of gma starts now. Good morning, america. What a stunning decision from President Trump. Firing fbi director james comey only the second time in American History a president has taken that step. We are covering all the fallout this morning from the white house to the capitol to the fbi. The decision took comey by surprise. He found out from tv on a recruiting trip to los angeles. He thought it was a joke at first. Take a look at his plane landing in d. C. Hours ago after he got the news. We are covering every possible angle of this story. Attorney general Jeff Sessions is expected to soon name an interim fbi director to replace james comey and the president preparing to nominate a permanent replacement. The chair of the Senate Intelligence committee is Campaign Aides if they continue ignoring deadlines to turn over records of meetings with russian officials prior to the election and russias foreign minister is in washington meeting with President Trump and Rex Tillerson to discuss syria and ukraine. Surprising timing. The highest ranking russian official the president has met with. The only event listed on his schedule today but all day long theyll be consumed by the decision to fire james comey. Our chief White House Correspondent jon karl starts us off with all the latest. Good morning, jon. Reporter good morning, george. This firing has stunned washington and it came without any warning whatsoever. Comey first heard the news on tv while he was speaking to fbi agents in los angeles. While comey was in that meeting a letter from the president was hand delivered to fbi headquarters in washington. That letter from the president was read to comey over the phone. You are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately. The president wrote, you are not able to effectively lead the bureau. The president also addressed the fbi investigation into russian meddling in the election. I greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i am not under investigation. The reasons were outlined in a letter from the Deputy Attorney general who wrote that comey grossly mishandled the Hillary Clinton email investigation saying among other things that this july 2016 press conference exonerating clinton should never have happened. No charges are appropriate in this case. Reporter the Deputy Attorney general says comey was wrong to usurp the attorney generals authority by announcing that there would be no charges and then going on to criticize mrs. Clinton anyway. Its a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do, he wrote. Hours before news of the firing broke, a hint from the White House Press secretary sean spicer. Does the president still have confidence, full confidence in fbi director james comey . I have no reason to believe. I havent asked him so i dont i have not asked the president since the last time we spoke about this. Last time you speak about it you did say he had confidence but cant say that now . In light of what youre telling me i dont want to start speaking on behalf of the president without speaking to him first. Reporter democrats are crying foul. They fired sally yates. They fired Preet Bharara and now director comey, the very man leading the investigation. This does not seem to be a coincidence. Reporter the top democrat in the senate says trumps move could be an attempt to undermine the investigation into russias involvement in the election. This is part of a deeply troubling pattern from the Trump Administration. Reporter senator richard burr, the republican in charge of the Senate Investigation into russias meddling into the election, issued a Statement Last night saying, quote, i am troubled by the timing and termination. His dismissal further confuses an already difficult investigation by the committee. And senator burr is not the only republican expressing concerns this morning. John mccain says he is disappointed by the firing. Senator ben sash issued a statement saying the timing of this firing is very troubling. And senator jeff flake of arizona, republican, said, i spent the last several hours trying to find an acceptable, rationale for the timing of his firing. I just cant do it. We have not heard from Mitch Mcconnell and the democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged all to go en masse to confront him to see what he has to say. Reporter theyll call for a special prosecutor in the case. The president is responding to senator schumer issuing a tweet late last night saying, cryin Chuck Schumer stated recently i do not have confidence in him, james comey, any longer then theswamp. Meantime, that item on the president s schedule, a meeting with the Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Reporter this is something else. You know, its not unusual for the Russian Foreign minister when hes in washington meeting with the secretary of state to also come by for a meeting with the president. Thats happened under many, many president s but, george, it is striking that that is the only thing on President Trumps public schedule, a meeting with the Russian Foreign minister, the only thing on the public schedule. A light public schedule for several days, jon karl, thanks very much. Still so many questions about what happens next for james comey and the fbi. The search on for a new director and Pierre Thomas has the latest from washington. Good morning, pierre. Reporter good morning, robin. Now, i spoke to someone close to comey last night who said the director was caught flatfooted, stunned. No one saw this coming. Comey had only recently talked about serving out the rest of his tenure term which was supposed to end in 2023. T most dominant figures in washington is out. James comey was perhaps the most powerful fbi director since j. Edgar hoover and the most controversial. At the center of a political firestorm since the moment he held that unusual press conference last july to announce that charges would not be brought against then president ial candidate Hillary Clinton in connection with that email scandal. Despite the fact that no charges were filed, comey issued a sharp rebuke. There is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive highly classified information. Reporter republicans and then candidate trump cried foul that there were no formal charges. Its so sad that our system is, in fact, rigged. Its totally rigged, okay. Its corrupt, its rigged. Its disgraceful. Reporter then in october this time only 11 days before the election comey dominated the headlines again disclosing that he was reigniting the investigation after new emails tu weiner husband of clinton aide huma abedin. Now trump praising the fbi director and it was democrats who were outraged hearing that comey was injecting himself into the campaign at the last moment only to announce just 48 hours before election day that nothing of consequence had been found. Just last week comey defending his actions in what he described as a gutwrenching decision. Tell me what you would do. It makes me mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election. Reporter the Justice Department Inspector General was already investigating comeys controversial handling of those Clinton Emails when attorney general sessions and the new Deputy Attorney general decided they could not wait for the results of that probe. And concluded that comeys decisions had broken with Department Guidelines and tradition. The acting director of the fbi is now andrew mccabe, until recently comeys top deputy. The white house will now launch a search for a new director who will be hand picked by the president. Comeys firing is not without controversy. Se from any investigations regarding the 2016 election. That includes the russia probe and now Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein, the top prosecutor overseeing the russia case, has fired the fbi director who was leading that probe, robin. Andrew mccabe is now the new acting director. What do we know about him . Reporter mccabe is a veteran agent of roughly 20 Years Experience and worked corruption and terror cases in matters of National Security and been the subject of some controversy himself after it was disclosed his wife received Financial Support from close clinton ally Virginia Governor mcauliffe she ran for office in virginia. His actions involving the email investigation is part of a review too, robin. All right, pierre, thank you. George. We bring in senator tim kaine, Hillary Clintons running mate a member of the Senate Foreign relations and Armed Services committee. Senator kaine, thank you for joining us. You heard the rationale for firing comey. Do you buy it . No, i dont. This is a firin attempt to obstruct the investigation into ties between russia and the Trump Campaign and ill tell you why i strongly believe that, theres a pattern. Deputy attorney general sally yates went to the white house and said general flynn was compromised by and lying about russia and then she was fired. When flynns ties with russia were finally made available to the public, he got fired. Jeff sessions was caught misleading the Senate Judiciary committee about his ties with russia, he had to recuse himself and now the fbi director in the middle of an investigation into the trump ties with russia gets fired in a most unusual manner. There is a pattern here, theres more to come and we need a special prosecutor. Senator kaine, it sounds like you just accused the president of obstructing justice. The president s letter is very telling, george. Because its the president that made this firing decision, not anybody else. And in the letter he says, look, i have to let you go, but he inserts this thi poker player whose patient expression tells you what kind of hand they have. Thank you so much for telling me three times im not the subject of an investigation into russia. That is a tell. That shows that we have a deeply insecure president who understands that the noose is tightening because of this russia investigation and thats why i believe he has let jim comey go. Is he obstructing justice. I think there is an effort to stop this investigation in its tracks, that the president is engaged in along with other members of his team and thats what explains why all these unusual personnel actions are happening. The only thing that unifies them is theyre all about the ties between russia and the trump team. You cited the president s letter. He says he was told on three separate occasions he is not under investigation. To your knowledge has mr. Comey said that to the senate . No, i have no knowledge of that, whether that is in fact true or not, of course, mr. Comey would be the one who could verify that but it was clear in his the senate in the last two weeks that there is an active and Ongoing Investigation into ties between the Trump Campaign, transition and administration with russia and that investigation has been going on since last summer. New york times is reporting that attorney general sessions was charged with coming up with reasons to fire comey. Was it appropriate for him to be involved. It wasnt appropriate. He had to recuse himself from matters with respect to the russia investigation. He was forced to do that again because he was caught misleading the Senate Judiciary committee about his own ties with russia during the campaign. The fact that he ends up being involved in this decision to fire goes against that recusal but, again, lets not, you know, fool ourselves. This was a decision made by the president , others might have been asked to come up with reasons but this wasnt a Jeff Sessions season. It wasnt Rod Rosensteins decision. Senator, the Department Memorandum echoes it. You said comeys decision to reopen the clinton investigation will go down as probably the lowest moment in the history of the fbi. So, is there some justification for removing him . What i said was next to the wiretapping of mlk, that was the lowest moment but i think this was the Second Lowest moment. Look, i have been critical of jim comey but thats why the fbi director gets a tenyear term. I didnt say he should be fired. The tenyear term is to insulate him from making people mad, from political pressure, from congress or from the president so, yeah, ive been critical, but he has a tenyear term so he can do his job free from political interference and the president has interfered as part of a pattern because hes nervous about this russia investigation. Will you and others try to block a replacement for comey until a special prosecutor is named. Well, look, the key thing is as a member of the senate who will be v replacement, i can guarantee you this, anybody nominated to be in this position is going to get the most searching review by the United States senate probably that any nominee has ever gotten and thats appropriate because we want to make sure that this person will follow this investigation wherever it leads. Its premature to talk about how we might handle it. Our goal would not be to block anybody, but to ensure that the fbi director is not going to be afraid of a president whos trying to squash an investigation. Senator kaine, thanks for your time this morning. As we heard from senator kaine, major questions about how james comeys firing will impact the investigation into russian meddling in the u. S. Election. Both republican and democrat lawmakers are now calling for an independent body to investigate. Our chief investigative correspondent brian ross is here with those details. Good morning, brian. Reporter the fbi director was fired just as the fbis Russian Investigation was at a critical juncture and this morning there are growing calls for a special prosecutor to over the investigation that was clearly about to reach into the white house. With the fbis Russian Investigation finally picking up speed after almost a year, senior fbi Officials Say this morning the timing of james comeys firing stinks with democrats calling for a special prosecutor. The inescapable conclusion from the circumstantial evidence is that the president wanted to stop or stifle this investigation. Reporter officials tell abc news that the fbi is increasingly focused on trumps former National Security adviser general mike flynn. His former campaign manager, paul manafort, his former Foreign Policy adviser, carter page, and longtime trump friend, roger stone. All have denied any wrongdoing. But comeys testimony last week was hardly reassuring to the trump camp. Were conducting an investigation to understand whether there was any coordination between the russian efforts and anybody associated with the Trump Campaign. Director at the fbi appointed by President Trump could find subtle ways to undercut or even end the investigation. A new director could come in and ask that an inspection or review of the case be done and that review could cause the case to slow down. It may be closed. Reporter just two days ago the president posted this on twitter. The russia trump collusion story is a total hoax. When will this taxpayerfunded charade end . And last night on fox, white house aide Sara Huckabee sanders said the russia investigation should be shut down. My gosh, tucker, when are they going to let that go . Its been going on for nearly a year. Frankly its kind of getting absurd. Theres nothing there. Reporter there has been some praise for the president s actions. His former Foreign Policy adviser carter page who is one of the targets of the investigation said this morning, he is encouraged that President Trump dismissed comey and hopes that it will investigation into what he calls the false allegations about russia. Robin. Okay, thanks. Lets bring in dan abrams and Cokie Roberts as well and, dan, everybody is trying to wrap their heads around there and heard from carter page there but tim kaine saying flat out this is trying to block the investigation into russia. Now the question is what happens now. And you hear a lot of people saying, well, its time for a special prosecutor. The problem there is that typically a special prosecutor would be appointed by the attorney general. In this case thats not going to happen. He may say hes even recused from that decision then it goes to the Deputy Attorney general. Its pretty clear the Deputy Attorney general isnt going to order a special prosecutor so then the question becomes, can congress put enough pressure on the administration to appoint a special counsel, and thats going to be a political decision. It seems unlikely at this point that that is that Something Like that will happen but thats the way it would occur. So its not really a purely legal question in the end it becomes a political one. In some ways unchartered territory and, cokie, our resident historian, put this into context. Some are comparing it to watergate. Well, thats understandable that people are comparing it to watergate because, of course, what happened there is that president nixon fired the special prosecutor because he was getting too close. And here we have the president firing the head of the fbi. And the president s people saying its time to shut down this very important investigation as to whether the kremlin interfered in our election. And so this is something that is going to resonate in washington for a long time to come. We have more on this coming up. We have to go quickly to ginger. At least eight reported tornadoes, new mexico, that was santa fe, lots of hail and now this threat moves north and east today. Cloudy cooler late week w shower chances drier warmer for mothers day 80s return next week today mostly sunny becoming mostly cloudy this afternoon. Seasonable. Highs 7075 winds n 5 mph tonight mostly cloudy. Lows 4855 winds ne 5 mph thursday mostly cloudy. Showers. Highs 6468 winds ne 5 mph week w shower chances drier warmer for mothers day 80s return next week well of course have more on the firing of jaimgs. Emergency. A terrifying scare at the Largest Nuclear waste facility in the country. What caused this tunnel to collapse . And should the public be concerned . And new fallout at penn state after that student died in a fraternity party. Going to have what the 911 call reveals. 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Not just to the fbi but well beyond and honestly as between really bad and catastrophic i said to pie team weve got to walk into the world of really bad. Welcome back to gma. Thats james comey, now the former fbi director describing last week the difficult decision he faced about whether to go public with that renewed investigation into Hillary Clintons emails. That was just 11 days before the election. The Trump Administration is now saying that the way comey handled the Clinton Emails is the reason hes being fired. As you heard senator tim kaine say on our program hes not buying it. The search is on for a new fbi director after comey was fired yesterday sending a letter to fbi headquarters saying comey was, quote, not able to effectively lead the investigate possible ties between the Trump Campaign and russia. Now lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are kuehling for an independent body to oversee that investigation. This comes as President Trump and secretary of state Rex Tillerson meet with russias foreign minister in washington today. They are expected to discuss ukraine and syria. That is the only Public Meeting on the president s schedule but he is up and tweeting so we want to bring in jon karl this morning. Jon, the president watching the news this morning. Not happy with what hes saying and saying the democrats have said some of the worst things about james comey including the fact he should be fired but now they play so sad. He then goes on to say comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in washington, republican and democrats alike. When things calm down they will be thanking me. Reporter yeah and another one, george, that they keep coming, the president says in a tweet, just a moment ago, james comey will be replaced by somebody who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the fbi. And it is true as controversial as this decision is that democrats are in a tough spot here because comeys harshest critics have been democrats, most recently Hillary Clinton herself who gave that dramatic speech last week essentially blaming comey for the Election Results for her defeat in the election, so democrats now who have been harshly critical of comey have to explain why they are so deeply upset by the president s decision to fire him. One of the surprising things here, though, the timing from the president. This comes after he had that victory last week on health care before one of his biggest foreign trip, first foreign trip to saudi arabia, israel and the vatican. Why would he want to inject this issue back into this news environment when he seemed to be on a little bit of a roll . Reporter its a great question and, frankly, its puzzling. What i am told by people close to the president is the thing that really was the catalyst for this was comeys testimony last week before the the president did not like the tone, did not like what comey had to say and has been stewing about it ever since. Okay, jon karl, thanks very much. The democrats have said theyve been critical of him as tim kaine said but that doesnt mean they wanted him fired and in a position as fbi director youre not supposed to be liked by either side. Number two, you cant avoid the fact that right now comey was leading the investigation into the Trump Campaign and russia. If everybody likes you youre probably doing a good job. Thats the problem. And now that main scare at the Largest Nuclear waste complex in the country, workers at the Hanford Nuclear reservation in Washington State were evacuated after part of a tunnel collapsed. The site houses a large portion of some of the most Radioactive Material in the world and abcs matt gutman is on the scene with more and good morning to you, matt. Reporter hey, good morning, michael. There are huge crews monitoring the site 24 7. Now, at first we were told it was just a dip in the ground then that it was the size of a kiddie pool, hours after that it grew to the size of a large swimming pool. Now overnight we were told that the hole itself does have radiation but so far its not spreading. Respond to the purex tunnel for a possible collapse of the tunnel. Reporter hundreds of workers at the Hanford Nuclear site 200 miles from seattle were forced to take cover after a portion of a tunnel collapsed where Radioactive Materials are stored. They told us to take cover to make sure we were safe and accounted for. Reporter in these aerials you can see right into the tunnel holing that Radioactive Material now a gaping hole triggering fears of a radioactive leak. The cavein taking place where two tunnels link to a facility called purex, plutonium was extracted for Nuclear Weapons here until 19780. Hanford has been closed for 30 years, the only work there, the cleanup of enough radioactive debris to fill the superdome. Its going to take a significant federal wo the enormous mess left by the weapons production process. Reporter the Energy Department says while the cleanup there is ongoing, there was no indication of a release of contaminant at this point. Crews are still testing the area. There was contamination at that site, yes. It didnt spread beyond that. Reporter disturbingly the cause of the cavein remains a mystery. Too early to know what caused the roof to cave in, may not know that for some time. Reporter now were told that those tunnels were constructed in the 50s out of wood and concrete. There is a threat, however Officials Say if there is a storm or windstorm of some sort it could blow that radiation miles around and that could threaten the public. Also there are 42 miles of trenches stuffed with Radioactive Material all around so officials dont want to do anything rash to try to ameliorate the p guys. Very sensitive situation. Thats right. To amy with the mornings other top stories. Another fight on an airline. Its pretty incredible. Yes, another fight, robin. A passenger now facing assault and battery charges for a brawl. Look at in that broke out on this Southwest Airlines flight that had just landed in burbank. You can see the Flight Attendant caught in the middle of it all. It reportedly started when the man made a comment about a woman messing with his chair. Well, the victim then suffered an eye injury and a chipped tooth. Meanwhile, there is no fallout from the near riot at the ft. Lauderdale airport this week when Spirit Airlines canceled several flights there. The airline says pilots had refused to work overtime during contract talks. Well, now a federal judge has ruled those pilots cannot collectively turn down overtime but everybody, take a deep breath. Police in North Carolina say they have foiled a School Massacre plot. They say they found knifes, a shotgun shell, flammable liquid and a hit list in the 16yearold suspects backpack after getting made a threat in a chat room. And there is a new warning this morning about common painkillers and their effect on your heart. Researchers say nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs like advil, aleve and motrin can increase a persons risk of a heart attack within the first week of using them. Higher doses could pose an even greater risk and Scientists Say more research is needed. Finally a backyard showdown in southern california. Take a look as a dog comes facetoface with a bear, 250pound bear and guess what, the staredown works. The bear runs away and the dog gross right after him climbing a fence to get over and away from the dog. Apparently he was hungry and not looking for a dog fight. Earlier he broke into a home nearby and raided the fridge. You got that one. I got that one. Second day, three bear stories. Wait till tomorrow. Dont you love how brave dogs are. Fearless. Smart. When the bear stopped and turned around he went the other way. You saw that too. Yes. [ laughter ] coming up in just two minutes ne hazing death. The newly discovered text mess angs between Fraternity Brothers that are raising questions about a possible coverup. Introducing coppertone whipped. New Sun Protection like youve never seen or felt. It absorbs quickly. And leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth while helping to prevent sun damage. New coppertone whipped. Because protection matters. 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Eight more students arraigned tuesday over the death of a Fraternity Pledge during a heavy a night of heavy drink and now newly discovered Text Messages between the brothers are raising questions about a possible coverup. Gio benitez in state college, pennsylvania, with details. Good morning, gio. Reporter george, good morning to you. Penn state has one of the largest greek communities in the nation. 8,000 students in fraternities or sororities and now this morning prosecutors say this tragedy here was just bound to happen. Eight more members of penn states now banned Beta Theta Pi fraternity appearing in Court Tuesday officially charged in connection with the death of 19yearold sophomore tim piazza. My client has been charged with a crime and were here to defend him. Reporter the charges ranging from reckless tampering with evidence as he fell down a flight of stairs during a night of alleged hazing and forced heavy drinking. If you dole out that alcohol and a person dies, you are on the hook for that. Thats your fault. Reporter a frat brother finally calling 911 nearly 12 hours after piazzas initial fall. The District Attorney says the frat house had a very sophisticated surveillance system. Eight or nine high quality cameras one for nearly every room of the house. Those cameras allegedly capturing much of what happened in the 12 hours after piazzas initial fall down the stairs. Prosecutors say the surveillance cameras show the pledge turning gray 40 minutes before 911 was called. During those crucial minutes students allegedly tried to dress piazza up in clean clothes. We have a friend whos unconscious. Hes he hasnt moved and hes probably going to need an ambulance. Reporter penn state calling the details sickening and difficult to understand and since the incident has implemented new greek life restrictions including stronger enforcement to drinking and no kegs at social events. But prosecutors say greek hazing is a persistent problem at penn state. In fact, Beta Theta Pi was disciplined twice before over alcohol violations. A toxic level of alcohol was planned to be handed out to these pledges and it had happened semester after semester and this was bound to happen. Reporter and now this morning investigators say that theyve discovered Text Messages between the students showing that alcohol and hazing were ongoing problems here at this fraternity. The students charged will now face a judge again next week. George. Okay, gio, thanks very much. Dan abrams is back for more on this as well. We know prosecutors are taking this seriously and now we know they also have a lot of evidence starting with Text Messages. Talking about hundreds of charges against 18 people. And the Text Messages are comparetively minor in the sense that probably goes to tampering with ev lesser charges but when youre talking about Involuntary Manslaughter which is the big charge against eight of them, you dont have to have shown someone tried to do it or someone did it on purpose, the question is what was their conduct that led up to it, not what happened after the fact. Surveillance camera, will Say Something about that. Yes, absolutely, the fact that there were surveillance cameras with these very welldefined pictures is unquestionably going to become important evidence in the context of this case. It may be able to show exactly what happened, who was where when. The sorts of things that you typically will need eyewitnesses or other evidence to say, wait, i wasnt there, i was there, if a lot of this is on camera, those questions go away. And the complication though as you were saying to me before we came on camera this is not one case, this is several different cases. Thats right. I think people are lumping this together ensaying, well, there are eight charged with this and 18 charged with that. Its going to be a prosecution against each one individually them, of course, will have their own attorney defending in their own way saying, wait a second, even if you think people should be charged here, it shouldnt be me. I wasnt responsible for this. I didnt do that. So, its really important that we look at these cases individually and not just sort of lump everyone in together. Quickly, ho you about the university . Well, look, the university, i think is in trouble both from the pr perspective also potential civil lawsuits and criminal. Okay, dan abrams, thanks very much. Lets go to robin. Coming up, an abc news exclusive. Dance moms star Abby Lee Miller speaking out as she braces for a year behind bars. Come on back. To lose weight . 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Were back with our exclusive with dance moms star Abby Lee Miller, speaking out after being sentenced to a year and a day in prison for bankruptcy fraud. Abcs linsey davis sat down with her and joins us now from pittsburgh. Good morning, linsey. Reporter good morning, good at coming up with ideas to make money but shes really bad at counting and keeping it but still she insists that her actions were not malicious, she says they were all a mistake. No cry babies, none. Reporter shes the dance instructor known for her no nonsense teaching style. Why are you laughing . Because i think youre ridiculous. Reporter and pushing her students to the limit. Save your tears for the pillow. Reporter this morning dance moms star Abby Lee Millers reallife off screen drama has her on her way to federal prison. I feel relieved. I feel peaceful. Reporter miller has been sentenced to a year plus one day behind bars along with a 40,000 fine and 120,000 money judgment charged with bankruptcy fraud and bringing an unreported 120,000 in foreign currency into the United States. A year and a day. Does that seem harsh . A year and a day, it sounds reporter miller spoke exclusively to gma overnight in pittsburgh not too far from the studio that made the 51yearold famous. From chapter 11 what is the next chapter for you. To be a smarter business woman and also to worry about myself. I have spent so much time and so much energy making other peoples children stars, i didnt have any children of my own. These were my kids. And i raised them like they were my kids. Reporter you love those kids. I do. Reporter miller was originally indicted with fraud charges in 2015. Allegedly hiding 775,000 in income from bankruptcy creditors. She pled guilty to this charge in 2016. To hide the 755,000. I know. I dont want to hear that number anymore. Because just a yes or no. You were not trying to hide. No, not intentionally, no. And i wasnt ever trying to hurt anyone. Reporter the u. S. Attorneys office told abc news after our interview this defendant seeked and structured profits that she derived outside the United States from performances by children. Adding that her actions undermine our justice system. Shooting a movie and were on set and im there for ten months and thats the way its going to be. How do you plan on spending your days . Reading and i want to learn to speak spanish and im already working on a new book. Reporter miller must report to prison in the next 44 days, but for now shes working on future projects and taking some time to reflect. If you could do it all over again, whats the one thing you would change . Bankruptcy, ever. I do not recommend it. Reporter miller will likely end up spending a total of ten months in prison either in West Virginia or california where she currently lives, right now she is staying busy. She has big plans for a new book and new show. We have certainly not heard the last of abby miller. That is apparently. Linsey, thank you. Coming up, shark tanks daymond john is here. Hes revealing his secret Health Battle. How it changed his life and his Important Message youll hear only on gma. Whoa youre not taking these. Hey, hey, hey youre not taking those. Whoa, whoa youre not taking that. Come with me. Youre not taking that. Youre not taking that. Youre not taking that. Mom, im taking the subaru. Dont be late. Even when were not there to keep them safe, our Subaru Outback will be. Can you hear it . This ice cold coke is calling you. Im just a dollar. At mcdonalds. Come get me. Dont let the ice cold, deliciously refreshing coke down. Its waiting for you. And the clock is ticking. So go now like, right now and get any size soft drink for just 1. Only at mcdonalds. Essential for him, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, dont start xeljanz xr 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 xr, 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. Needles. Fine for some. But for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. Ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. An unjection™. nathan Secondhand Smoke caused measthma attacks, infections and lung damage. And i never smoked. announcer if you or someone call 1800quitnow. This mothers day, every kiss does begin with kay. Where, for the first time ever, everything is 30 off. Like bolo bracelets for layering. Her soontobefavorite new earrings. And a stack of rings for her to mix and match. 30 off everything, may 4th14th, only at kay. The numberone jewelry store. For mom. Every kiss begins with kay. Back here on gma, unreal video coming out of florida and georgia. Thats that west mims fire. Now 140,000 a only 12 contained. Theres a county in georgia thats been evacuated. Folks in florida telling them to get prepared to be evacuated. Look at this. More than 700 firefighters working on it right now. I wish i had better news but nearing record highs. 96 orlando today. 95 gainesville. Not just the heat, though, look at the humidity. In florida still only 24 . Anyway you have that all brought Good Morning America is brought to you by blue buffalo. You love your pets like family, so feed them like family with blue. Anchor good morning washington. Im melanie hastings. Here is a check of your stop stories. A new comment from ptsd after he fired fbi director james comey. In the last 15 minutes he tweet ed james will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job bringing back the spirited and prestige of the fbi in another Early Morning tweeted , trump attacked democratics critical of his firing. He was let go yesterday in the midst of the bureaus investigation into whether the Trump Campaign was connected to russian meddling during the election. This will be the warmest day of the week. Lets check in on the forecast with veronica. Reporter some of you might need a light jacket this morning starting out in the 50s. By lunchtime, 70. Lore 70s this afternoon so sun classes on, jackets off. Now, were going to be cooling down wit in starting thursday. Big chance friday, especially saturday morning. Temperatures very cool saturday, just a high of 59 degrees but for mothers day, the rain is gone. The high 72. Little breezy but awfully nice. Next week in the 70s and even up around 80 degrees by mid week reporter motorists are in delays three tysons corner, we discovered accident activity on the inner loop close to leesburg pike. Traveling on the dulles toll road, youll run into eastbound delays closer toward 495. And if youre on the George Washington parkway, got southbound slowing near particulary run park. A live look outside you can see the slow pace on i270. Earlier crash at falls road, all lanes are open. But still going to cost you about 50 minutes from clarksburg to the beltway and 66 cleared the crash at sudley road, eastbound delays. Melanie. Anchor thanks. You can well see you in 30 minutes. Now back to Good Morning America. Theres work to be done. Its not going to be easy but theres grit inside of you. And if you need extra motivation the grad fund at Strayer University can help push you forward. Because up to your last year of classes could be on us. Thats right. On us. Today is the day. Strayer university. Lets get it, america. Good morning, america. Its 8 00 a. M. No warning. President trump abruptly fires the head of the fbi right in the middle of the criminal investigation into ties between Trumps Campaign and russia. He blames comeys handling of Hillary Clintons email investigation. The president s team is speaking out. Both democrats and republicans stunned by the decision. The fbi director taken totally by surprise. Now calls for a special prosecutor and comparisons to watergate as the president prepares to nominate a new fbi director and our team breaks it down ahead. Also this morning, parenting alert. The new Public Health warning about using benadryl and your kids. Dr. Ashton is here live. Aint no mountain against great odds. I kind of woke up one day like wanting a better life and for me that was going into the United States army. One veterans story of success chasing her dreams of a College Degree and helping her fellow vets. Gmas class of 2017 this morning. New this morning, the rock for president . The worlds biggest movie star stre speaking out. Could rock the vote be it . And weve got the Golden Ticket. Many are anxious to see the new musical to open on broadway. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory live right here. I never thought theyre here to say. All good morning, america. Good morning, america. Welcome to all of you this wednesday morning. It is a newsy wednesday morning following all the latest after President Trump fired james comey last night. That was a surprise. And daymond john is here. The shark tank star is opening up about his private Health Battle. Hes sharing his hopes of helping others. We want to get right to the latest on james foley and amy has that. Beginning with questions surrounding President Trump this morning after he fired fbi director james comey, we are learning more about how he was fired as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raise concern about the timing of it all. President trump is already on twitter today saying, quote, comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in washington. Republican and democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me. Our chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl joins us with the latest. Jon, good morning. Reporter good morning, amy. The firing of james comey has stunned washington and surprised nobody more than comey himself who learned of it when he saw the news on television. The white house insists that comey was fired at the recommendation of the Deputy Attorney general who wrote a threepage memorandum eviscerating comey over his handling of the clinton email investigation during last years campaign. But democrats are crying foul. They are accusing the president of with the fbis investigation into russian interference into last years election. Several key republicans have also expressed concern including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee who was leading that investigation into the russia issue who says that comeys firing is, quote, a loss for the fbi and the nation. Amy. All right, jon, thank you. This morning, President Trump promised comey will be replaced by someone would will bring prestige back to the fbi and our senior justice correspondent Pierre Thomas has the reaction there and whats next for that russia investigation. Pierre, good morning. Reporter aim, good morning. Its not an overstatement to say the entire fbi this morning is stunned. No one saw this coming including comey. The investigation into russia at least should continue being overseen by Rod Rosenstein because Jeff Sessions had to recuse himself after it was disclosed he met with the russian official. The agents in the field this theory should continue to investigate but make no mistake, th will be the one making the assessments in terms of whether there should be any prosecutions. He will also have to decide whether there will be a special prosecutor. Amy. All right, Pierre Thomas in washington, thank you. President trump is meeting at the white house with russias top diplomat. Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is trumps highest level contact with the russian government so far in his presidency. The two are expected to discuss the fighting in syria. Earlier this week President Trump approved the arming of kurdish fighters in syria angering turkey. In Washington State investigators are trying to figure out what caused the partial collapse of a tunnel containing radioactive waste. They say no one was injured or contaminated at the Hanford Nuclear reservation. The collapse created a large sinkhole and workers are now trying to stabilize it. And there are new questions about safety this morning following the death of a young girl who fell from a water ride at a popular theme park in england. The ride reportedly hit a rock tossing the 11yearold overboard. That park is closed United Airlines facing new criticism after reportedly forcing a passenger to urinate into two cups at her seat during a flight. Nicole harper, a nurse and mother of two says she has an overactive bladders but Flight Attendants refused to let her use the restroom because of turbulence. In a statement the airline said it is trying to better understand what happened. And finally one college grad who is standing very tall. Take a look at sam bridgeman. Being helped there on stage at the university of south florida. He has a genetic condition that has left him in a wheelchair but he challenged himself to walk across the stage to accept not one but two masters dregs. He said he was determined to do it on his left wrist is a tattoo, one that his family got, they all got matching tattoos that read seek a miracle. Impossible is nothing. How is that for inspiration. Needed that. We needed that right now. Thank you so much for sharing that, amy. How about pop news, lara. Love the news this morning. Good morning to you guys and good morning to you. So, you heard us tease this. Remember the slogan rock the vote. Well how about vote the rock. As in the highest paid movie star dwayne the rock johnson and this is not a story line, this is very real. In the june finish of gq magazine he tells katie weaver he is seriously considering giving up all the glory for a life in politics and it started to come up more and more about a year ago with a real sense of earnestness. Ron meyer vice chair of nbcuniversal says he thinks its a terrific idea and tells g there isnt anything the rock cant do and another hollywood insider says his level of commitment and care for people would translate immediately. The issue with johnson rocking the cover comes out nationwide may 13th. Maybe you dont want to have that video when youre talking about possibly running for president. Im in charge of didnt he talk to you about that. I talked to him the last time i talked to him. Hes serious about it and cares about people. He really wants to give back and make a mark on the world and that could be his chance. Stranger 24ithings have happened. Moving on, Calvin Harris has new music on the way not doing it alone. His new album features, get this, nicki minaj, john ledge gemdz, pharrell, big sean and katy perry, a singer who reportedly has bad blood in taylor swift, harris previously teased the release of ten new songs this year kicks things off with slide. Then heatstroke with pharrell. Ariana grande and young thug. This guy has got serious friends. Good connections. His big hit youll remember this is what you came for cowritten by swift. No collaborations for them this time around. Calvins starstudded new album set to drop june 30th. Good for him. A lot of star power. A lot of star power. The song slide a good start. I love that. Is that in your workout. Come in the dressing room and listen afterwards. Party at michaels. Finally, everybody, one small habit can make big changes in your lives especially when it comes to your happiness. According to a study in the brain and behavior journal, i was leaving through it last night and came across this study. Light reading. As i often do. Having a mantra, words or phrases that affirm your values can spark major positives including lowering your cortisol level, that stress hormone. Nice. Improving endurance, reducing pain during physical workouts, the study shows choosing a mantra repeating it can lead to a quieter mind making it much easier to have happy thoughts. Mine is i love you, rose. Somehow i knew it [ applause ] i know youre a big believer in a mantra. You will not reveal what yours is. I wont youre not supposed to reveal your mantra for meditation but my other mantra is you got to change the way you think in order to change the way you feel. Change the way you think. Change the way you feel. Meditation, thats just a sound. Youre not allowed do you have a mantra you live by . No pressure. Wow i do but i cannot reveal it. Oh, yes. All right. Well, everybody think about it. Anything to make you just a little bit happier is good news for us. Rose does that. Thank you, lara. Coming up we have that parenting alert about using benadryl to help your kid stephanopoulos to sleep. The pizza parlor pregnant women are rushing to. The pizza parlor pregnant women are rushing to because of their secret sauce and well tell you why when we come back. Brought to you by chickfila. 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 masthe lindor truffley smooth. From the lindt master chocolatiers. Hard outer shell. Smooth, luscious center. Unwrap. Unwind. With the lindor truffle master chocolatiers. [boy] cannonball [girl] dont. [man] not again [burke] swan drive. Seen it. Covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum back now with that warning for parents about using drugs like benadryl to help your babies go to sleep. Connecticut is now issuing a Public Health alert linking at least four recent deaths of children to these drugs and our senior medical contributor dr. Jennifer ashton is here with us and, doc, most people associate benadryl with allergy season but, you know, what should we know about it as a sedative. This is a drug we use all the time in the hospital, of course, its available over the counter, the brand name is benadryl, the generic is diphenhydramine and has its benefits and is a strong sedative and like any drug it has its risks when you talk about the risks of benadryl, youre talking about respiratory depression or breathing problems with potentially high dose, a rare but potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythm dosing especially when youre talking about children. So these deaths make it seem like its just improper dosing, parents may be using a little too much, not knowing exactly what to give their child. Exactly. In medicine and pediatrics we have a saying kids and babies are not just small adults. When you talk about the medication theyre given its always dose based on their body weight and the smaller the baby, the less margin of error you have for making a dosing error. Thats why weve been hearing warning after warning from the academy of pediatrics about overthecounter meds making sure the right doze is given. Take a look at the recommendations specifically for benadryl and babies under the age of 2, really not recommended when youre talking about kids 2 to 12 then you want to dose based on the weight and over the age of 12 in general, they can tolerate an adult dose. The most important thing for any caregiver or parent, have a question about the dose check with the pediatrician or pharmacist. Absolutely. We reached out to told us this, we advise that parents and care givers only use medicine as labeled and that they talk with their Health Care Provider as you just said if they have any questions so what other tip do you have for parents. Well, look, were both parents. Any parent can relate to that frustration or panic that sets in when you want your child to go to sleep, need your child to go to sleep or theyre agitated. I think you have to find what works for you and that child. But i like to take a five senses approach. If you start by what that baby or child is hearing or seeing, maybe a soothing music or video will help. Movement, my daughter would fall out cold if you put her in the car so a lot of parents are familiar with that. Rocking mechanism or massage. Warm tea or warm milk can help but i think the most important thing, michael, you have to ask why. In medicine as in life, dont just put a bandaid on something. If your child is agitated or wont sleep ask why before you start treating hit. What about earplugs. That works too. Just checking. Doc, thank you very much for all that advice and parents out protect your children. Everybody, coming up, shark tanks daymond john, hes here sharing his Health Battle and how hes trying to help others. Well be right back. One of many pieces in my life. So when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my longterm control medicine. I talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. Oncedaily breo prevents asthma symptoms. Breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Breo wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Breo is specifically designed to open up airways to improve breathing for a full 24 hours. Breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. Breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Do not take breo more than prescribed. See your doctor if your asthma r gets worse. Ask your doctor if 24hour breo could be a missing piece for you. Learn more about better breathing at mybreo. Com. Say no to this because of my bladder . Thanks to tena. Not anymore only new tena intimates has Proskin Technology designed to quickly wick away moisture. To help maintain your skins natural balance. It goes beyond triple protection from leaks, odor and moisture. To get as close as you want. Only tena, lets you be you. 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. More than 60 years ago inside an abandoned chicken coop. Where our founder discovered a retired teacher living. No home. No healthcare. So she said no to this injustice, and yes to transforming lives. Its this drive, this compassion, that inspired aarp. Today, we empower people to choose health and financial security. We strengthen communities everywhere. We are aarp. Creating real possibilities. Moms know their kids need love, encouragement and milk. With 8 grams of natural protein, and 8 other nutrients to provide balanced nutrition. Moms know kids grow strong when they milk life. Back here on gma time for your gma moment. We celebrate you and the finch you have. Positivity for your moment. Lincolns 4th birthday. Thats right. They got him balloons and he was not very pleased because of the static electricity. He kept it was stuck right to the back of the poor dogs head and he was like, then barking at it. Unhappy. Ah, so sweet, though. You know what, that would annoy me too having it on my mane. I think so. Send me your gma moments by going to my facebook page. We want to tell great low 70s cloudy cooler late week w shower chances drier warmer for mothers day 80s return next week today mostly sunny becoming mostly cloudy this afternoon. Seasonable. Highs 7075 winds n 5 mph tonight mostly cloudy. Lows 4855 winds ne 5 mph thursday mostly cloudy. Showers. Highs 6468 winds ne 5 mph week w shower chances drier warmer for mothers day 80s return next week we are here now with entrepreneur motivational speaker and our dear friend shark tanks daymond john. Hes exclusively sharing his personal story about a medical journey that has transformed his life. Would you please welcome mr. John here back to gma. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you. All right. Thank you. I like this look. Usually youre i cant wear this on the show so i had to wear it here. You had a physical and discovered something. I had a very extensive physical and they discovered that there was a nodule on my thyroid and said, you can take it out or you cant. Maybe could be something. They remove it and it was stage 2 cancer on my thyroid. You hear the reaction from people here. Yeah, you know, you should have seen the reaction from me but you know what, i didnt skip a beat. I went to when i got early i had a challenge and if i would attack it now, then i wouldnt have let it attack me and i had that removed. I didnt miss anything. I was out partying and dancing, you know, two days later, thought that i should have but i wanted to share this information with people because what would i had went through if i decided to just stick my head in the sand and go, you know what, im not going to check into stuff. It happen, it happens. It happens to everybody else, i would have really been, you know, i would have really had big problems. The one thing the medical community can agree on is that Early Detection really increases your chance of having a success. Not a guarantee but it increases your chances. How are you now . I am absolutely great. I mean, you know, i have to monitor it for the rest of my life. You know, i have another half of my thyroid still in. And in the event that it comes back ill be able to fight it Thyroid Cancer is a very slow growing cancer and, you know, you really, you know, inspired me a lot because of your Public Awareness about how we should look at these things and take grateful. Dont send me any twinkies or baked alaska. Well, maybe twinkies. Im good and want to share this with people. Thats what success is. Its staying in your familys lives, its being around and thats what success is. Because you enjoyed the birth of your third child last year. My third child. Little baby jacob. Right. [ applause ] is that a factor in wanting to make sure youre around. Absolutely. I have three beautiful daughters and i wanted to be around. I want to be here to walk them down the aisle and be there to protect them and be there for them to keep yelling at me and ignoring me and this is how it happens by going out and people getting mammogram, colonoscopies, endoscopies, pap smears and all the things to find out whats going on because you can prevent it and stay around in your familys lives. You say this. This afternoon im having my mammogram and sonogram just so happens im scheduled for today. Absolutely. But im glad you said this and that you want to go Public People because in a lot of communities especially in the africanamerican community, there is a sense of, okay, im going to bury my head in the sand. Im not going to deal with it and you say you cant do that. You know, if my calling was to put me on the stage to know why im here, theres a saying that, you know, a man with his health as a thousand dream, a man without his health only has one and you have to understand thats what success is. Its being able to get up every single day and be happy. Make your mess your message and youre doing that. How is everything going with the show. The show is great. Our finale is this friday. Kevin oleary is still a bad, mean person. Not nice to you after all this. No, not at all. No the at all and you, you know, were making people hopefully rich and or their dream come true and theyre going on and hiring other people and, you know, its really been a good run. Shark tank has been so good to me and so many others. 200 episodes now . Coming up on our 2 thank you. Thank you, thank you for sharing this very, very Important Message. If you have a loved one out there, just not you, tell your parent, tell your kids, make sure you go out there and get yourself checked. Thanks so much. [ applause ] well be right back. Much more gma. Come on back. Anchor good morning, washington im melanie hastings. Here is a check of your stop stories. President donald trump taking to twitter this morning defending his firing of fbi director james comey. He said just about an hour ago that comby will be replaced by someone who will, quote, do a far better job. He, then, said comby lost the confidence of almost everyone in washington and people will thank President Trump once things calm down. Comby was abruptly fired yesterday afternoon. As we celebrate moms week on good morning washington, tune in tomorrow when well be giving away a dinner cruise for 2 on on the potomac. Youll set sail on an odyssey cruise and see the dc monuments from the river. Watch good morning washington during our 6 00 a. M. Hour tomorrow to win. We have the way, here is veronica johnson. Some of you might need a light jacket. Starting in the 50s. Lunchtime, 70. Lower 70s this afternoon. Sunglasses on, jackets off. Well be cooling down, wet weather moving in. Starts thursday. Big chance comes friday, especially saturday morning. Temperatures very cool saturday, high of 59. Mothers day, the rain is gone, high of 72. Breezy, but nice. Next week in the 70s. Even up around 80 degrees by mid week. Reporter on the roads, we have major gridlock down in brandy wean junction, northbound 301 approaching shortcut road, branch avenue. We have accident cleanup on the big picture map, you can see the red on 395. Of course thats going at a cost you a lot of drive time this morning, over 30 minutes from the capital beltway to the southeast southwest freeway. Live look at the delays on the capital beltwa past interstate 66 on the outer loop weve just reopened 3 chevy is the most awarded car Company Three years in a row. Past interstate 66 on the outer loop weve just reopened 3 really. Lets see how quickly you can read through all their awards. 2017 motor trend car of the year. Kelly blue book 2016 best resale value. U. S. News best cars for the money 10 best blah blah blah only about 90 more to go 2017 iihs. Top safety. 2017 north american car of the year thats a lot of awards get 20 below msrp on all malibu lt models. Thats 5,200 on this chevy malibu. Welcome back to gma, everybody. And as you can hear, oh, dont tell them to be quiet. We got a great audience this morning. [ cheers and applause ] we have a great topic to talk about. Who here likes pizza . [ cheers and applause ] universal. Well, there is a pizza place called hawthornes in charlotte, North Carolina, that people are driving for hours to go visit. Its not just because they have a great deep dish either. Theres a pie there that is rumored to induce labor. Expectant moms are flooding in to get a slice, hawthornes owners michael and john adams and Carla Martinez are with us as well as new mom Ashley Fleming joining us all right now with the magical pie as you can [ applause ] and clearly it works. You can see right there weve got proof positive. I want to start with john. John, were hearing that five women last week alone went into labor after eating this buffalo wing pizza. And theyre not the only ones this. Is happening a lot. When did you first realize this was a thing . Its a great story. It all started with a facebook alert to our hawthornes pizza account from one of our mom, henley and she wanted to let us know an report after four hours of having our pizza she went into labor and had the baby and its just a great story. Ah, wow. I know. You heard that part of it. Ashley, id love to ask you a question. When you went to labor with riker, it was less than 4 hours after eating the pizza so how did you hear about it and how far did you go to get it . It was. Me about it. She had seen it on facebook and so we came and ate it about 40 minutes away in gastonia and here he is. Ah. Beautiful. Thank you. Ah, yeah. [ applause ] so, guys, whats the secret . Why do you think this is happening and are you going to change the name of the pizza, michael . Yes, so were going to be reprinting our new menu with the opening of our new story. Still the buffalo wing pizza in parenthesis the inducer with all the publicity weve been having so its pretty awesome. Nice. [ applause ] pizza sounds so intimidating. Its okay for even if youre not pregnant and want people to know you can still order the pizza. Its a good pizza. Im a little afraid, actually. I want to ask jen. What do you make of this . Why do you think its happening . The secret sauce. I think its coincidence, the italians invented a lot of things. They didnt invent the induction of labor and theres a lot of myths about spicy, full moon, getting busy, none of them have been really conclusive. Wait a second. It worked for us. Both our girls, both our girls, ali sent me out for the exact same thing, chicken burrito, extra spicy both times. You got i would say a scientific mind. You know in medicine we need a little more than two. Maybe 2 million. I knew that was coming but we proved the point. Proved the point. Well, listen, you guys, congratulations on the inducer. And all of the happy babies that have been born because of it. Thats a great story if nothing else and it looks really good. It does look good. We have no pizza supply think they were worried for us. That was a great story and now we have a great guest, very special guest were going to bring to the table. This guy has won two world series, busiest retired guy ever. Okay, not only is h with the stars and semifinalist, he also has a new book out called teammate my journey in baseball and a world series for the ages. Please welcome david ross. [ applause ] how are you . Great. Love you on dancing with the stars. Good to see you. Whats up, man . Good to see you. How are yall doing . Good. Thanks for having me. This is awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here. Oh, my god. Isnt that nice . Huge. Awesome. First time ive worn it so figured id bring it out and show people. Youve got one of these. Let me see that one. Dont take it. Robin, dont ask for it. That, man, thats like carrying around a weight. This is the first time ive worn it. Had no reason to wear it. Here you go, world series champion, now youre a semifinalist on dancing with the stars. Did you ever think did out no, i had no you know, i went in with the expectation just do Something Different and be outside of my box and have some fun, figured id be a couple of weeks in but its a lot of work. Five hour, six hours a day, i mean youre training everybody talks about how much. Its a lot of work. Its a blast and each week like tuesdays a little frustrating because youre learning something new and trying to get the steps down but the rewarding feeling when youre done with the dances is so much fun and feel so happy. So good, man. Look at you. Yeah. Who would have thought . Seriously, i cant believe all of america has to watch that. And time to write a book. Anybody try to talk you out of it. I tried to talk myself out of it, i think. I didnt want to embarrass myself in front of all those people but im having the time of my life. Its such a great experience. My family is loving it. My wife is loving. I planning on dancing for the rest of my life and have lessons wither had. You feel great when youre done. Is it as good a workout as training for the world series. Its better. I mean its like i thought i was in good shape a about 11, 12 pounds and my partner, my partner puts me through the wringer every week. Its fun. She shes great. You found time to write this book. Im excited. I joke with people who would have thought a guy who cant read wrote a book but my story is really unique and with the team and what they have done for me and theyve changed my life forever, that team, that city and i couldnt be more thankful for all the people that affected my life and got all this great credit for being this great teammate and great person and such a product of so many other people that wanted to give some credit back to others. Wonderful. You talk about during the world series your teammates put you on their shoulders and carried you off the field. And you say youll remember it for the rest of your life but you didnt know what to do with your hands. Yeah, i wrote in the book, you know, you get lifted up and i never expected that and im carried off the feel and all i could think was i didnt know whether to wave or blow kisses, i think i did one and put up a number one finger for a minute. It was just i dont know what to do with my hands. Who is going to play you in the movie . I have no idea yet. Theyre still doing this really is going to become a movie. Yes. They bout the rights to the book. My life is i dont even know where i am right now but i met chris pratt. He like had a huge effect on me. I can see that. Maybe if he shaves his head and a little more gray. Hes buff a little bit. I have no idea but he was a nice guy so i love that casting. I think thats right on. I met him and he really stuck out to me so maybe him. I dont know. One more quick question. When youre going down the street more people recognize you for winning the ring or for dancing with the stars. I got to wear this all the time. Everybody is like, hey, dancing with the stars, old guy, you know. All the time. [ applause ] you are a good teammate. Teammate is out now. Make sure you go check it out, everybody. Well be right back. Thank you for coming in. [ cheers and applause ] back here on Good Morning America, i like this. No, we are not triplets but he said these friends are from georgia and theyre best friend, right . Thats really good. Fifth grade, fifth grade, third. Guess what. Tropical storm adrian started in the pacific. Its headed toward mexico. The next couple of days well be week w sht as it should become mothers day 80s return next week today mostly sunny becoming mostly cloudy this afternoon. Seasonable. Highs 7075 winds n 5 mph tonight mostly cloudy. Lows 4855 winds ne 5 mph thursday mostly cloudy. Showers. Highs 6468 winds ne 5 mph all that brought to you by aarp. Robin. Great crowd with you, ginger. Time to celebrate our graduates with gmas class of 2017 and this morning, we have an incredible story of resilience. This graduate is a veteran of the military. Shes a mother of two who wanted to get a degree and create a Better Future for her children and she rediscovered her passions along the way. Meet her. Hi, im danielle joliet, class of 2017, graduate at penn state and this is my story. I kind of woke up one day like wanting a better life and for me that was going into the United States army. Reporter 34yearold danielle career spanned a decade enlisting at 17 to escape a troubled youth. My identity very much got wrapped up in alcohol and drugs and then as i went into the army, i started to gain a little bit of confidence with the structure of the military and really started to flourish. It was the first time that i saw that i could be a lot more. Reporter but her struggles with Substance Abuse continued and then she became pregnant at 18 with son randy. It was a wakeup call. I knew when i would look at him that i had to do better. Reporter and she did. Danielle deployed to baghdad in 2008 but suffered an injury that ended her military career. When they first medevacd me out i thought i was going to go back, not being able to come home with my unit was painful. Reporter danielle met and married fellow soldier brendan and together they welcomed patrick in 2011. A new chapter for her young family. When i look at my two kids i education. Its why it was important for me to come back and get an education. She chased her dream of a College Degree, enrolled at Penn State University and thrived once again finding structure in her life and discovering her passion for helping others, especially her fellow veterans. We are still a reputation of the men and women that still serve and bring honor to them by the service that we do as veterans. Reporter danielle is also an advocate for the collegiate recovery community. Hearing how these students had overcome their addictions that i learned how to maintain recovery over my own. Reporter she was honored as a 2017 outstanding adult student. Danielle joliet. Reporter graduating as student marshal with a 4. 0 gpa. The 17yearold version of myself could see me today and someone told her that you would be graduating the top of your class at penn state, i would have neverel reporter soaring against great odds and her family could not be more proud. It is definitely like super inspiring to go to college now that i know that my mother has done it. Give me a hug. Ah. Ah. I love you. Give me a hug. I like that little one. Group hug. Group hug. Please welcome danielle. Danielle. [ cheers and applause ] proud military brat so this really hit close to home what you have been you just graduated on sunday, right . I did. So whats next . Well, im wasting no time. I start grad school in a week. Ive been hired on at the university as a collegial Recovery Program assistant. Wow. And i dont plan to walk away from my veterans at all. Ill remain a mentor to them. Its great what shes doing. [ applause ] veterans, you cant forget about them. W around . We watched your story but to know the path that you were going down and you turned it around. The ability to reframe my story is a true gift and its just by grace and that grace came from looking at my family and knowing that they believed in me so i began to believe in myself. Yeah, your family and part of your family is right here. Look. Oh, look at your son. So proud of you. And your hubby. Yes. Well get a group hug after this like how you asked before. What has it meant to you to model for your children to show them to never give up . You can reframe your life. I want those boys to know the ability to reframe their story will always be there. They can take what is negative and turn it something positive and that theres always a lesson to be learned. Always a lesson to be learned. [ cheers and applause ] now, dont you like broadway . Dont you like broadway . Are you big into the different shows and stuff like that. Yes, i absolutely love acting and i love plays and its amazing. Oh, my goodness. Well, since you said that, you want your Golden Ticket . Youre going to go to charlie and the Chocolate Factory. [ applause ] four tickets, so come on up here. I want the family to come up here. Yes. So you give this to four family. Four tickets. Can we bring the beautiful roses. You know, mothers day is coming up. Come on up, both of you. [ applause ] come on. Daddy. So, weve got the play to go to. The afternoon show and then were going to go to carmines. Come on. [ applause ] early, early mothers day gift. Thats amazing. And, again, i have to say the military im a proud military brat, thank you for your service then, thank you for your service now. We appreciate it very much. [ cheers and applause ] thank you. Yes. You know, hey, ah. And stick around because i think everybody has got than wonka bars because the cast of charlie and the Chocolate Factory, theyll be performing announcer theres more to life than the climb. Theres the view. Youve gotta stop and look around a little. Come, shed lifes layers in asheville. Let the child inside you out to play. Remember who you are. Life is for the taking, not for taking it easy. Im at higher risk fore as depression. Ave a stroke. Im 26 more likely to develop an irregular heartbeat. I have a 65 higher chance of developing diabetes. No matter who we are, 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 are so excited to be back with the stars of the brandnew music everyone is talking about, charlie and the Chocolate Factory based on the beloved roald dahl tale and now on broadway at the Lunt Fontanne and heres believing. Skwhoet what an amazing thing Willy Wonka Willy Wonka cause ive got a Golden Ticket ive got a golden twinkle in my eye Willy Wonka Willy Wonka beyond the store is a factory begat from just a bean beyond this door surprises in store but it must be believed to be seen beyond this doors invention where mind meets with machine beyond these gates astonishment waits but it must be believed to be seen no magic spells no potions forswear legerdemain my kingdoms created from notions all swirling inside of my brain beyond this doors a banquet of wonka made cuisine a lucky few will get to pass through but it must be believed to be seen beyond this door is music come dance betwixt and between beyond this waltz is a World Without faults but it must be believed to be seen beyond this doors a puzzle youll find out what i mean beyond this gate is the world but it must be believed to be seen your lifes about to change now so dont get left behind things appear quite strange now imagine the wonders youll find beyond this door is chocolate so tasty its obscene so follow me and i guarantee that this world i conceived and all i achieved must be believed to be seen Golden Ticket beauregarde, salt, bucket. Do come in. [ cheers and applause ] well its a perfect nespresso hold on a second. Orge. Mmm. [mel torme sings comin home baby] hey there. Want a lift . Where are we going . No dont tell me. Let me guess. Have a nice ride. For coffee thats a cup above . I brought you nespresso. Nespresso. What else . Good morning america is brought to you by milk life. Help nourish youre childs potential with milks balanced nutrition. How great was that . Pretty great. Yes. The cast of charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Thank you, guys. Checking top stories, playoff fever taking over washington, a huge day for dc sports fans. Talking double playoff action. Game 7, win or go home. Almost guarantied to be a trial er tonight. The wizards on the road in boston tonight, game 5 against the celtics, that is tied up 2 of 2. And as we celebrate moms week on good morning washington, tune in tomorrow when we give away a dinner cruise for 2 on the potomac. Youll set sail on an odyssey cruise and see the dc monument from the river. Watch during our 6 00 hour to win. Now here is veronica with your forecast. Reporter some of you might need a light jacket. Starting in the 50s. Lunchtime, 70. Lower 70s this afternoon. Sunglasses on, jackets off. Well be cooling down, wet weather moving in. Starts thursday. Big chance comes friday, especially saturday morning. Temperatures very cool saturday, high of 59. Mothers day, the rain is gone, high of 72. Breezy, but nice. Next week in the 70s. Even up around 80 degrees by mid week. Reporter weve got volume delays on interstate 95 in virginia, headed into newington. Northbound. Southbound we have a medical emergency at the Fairfax County parkway costing some time. We are in the red, dc295, north and southbound traveling near the 11th street bridge. We continue to see delays on the capital beltway from 66 outer loop, earlier accident. Melanie. Anchor thank you. More news, weather and traffic updates rate now on good morning washington on news channel 8. Have a are you actually about to scratch it rich at Mgm National Harbor . Because everyone who plays is an instant winner. So before you win your share of 1. 5 Million Dollars in prizes and free slot play. Take these last few seconds to remember what life was like as a normal, everyday person. Because in an instant, that all could change. Join mlife rewards and play scratch it rich for your share of 1. 5 Million Dollars in prizes and freeplay®. This is monumental. Announcer its live with kelly and ryan today, actor turned playwright matthew perry, and check out the latest trends in eyewear in our special report. Plus, your comments and questions on another edition of the inbox. All next on live and now, here are kelly ripa and Ryan Seacrest [cheers and applause]