From texas to canada. Flooding, a major concern with a new round of heavy rain on the way. All that, plus Monica Lewinsky talks metoo. How she say that is movement is redefining the clinton scandal. Caught on camera, the freightening moment a bag catches on fire in an overhead bin. And spectacular sendoff. A colorful closing ceremony filled with pomp and pageantry wraps up the olympics in style today, monday, february 26th, 2018. From nbc news, this is today, with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everybody. Welcome to today. Thank you so much for joining us. Monday morning, 7 00 a. M. Its 9 00 in pyeongchang. But who cares . Were home. Were so happy to be here. We are. A long trip of fun but its nice to be back. It was. Lets start with the news. The battle over guns starts our show. The debate is intensifying in washington and across the country, in the wake of the tragedy in florida. For the First Time Since that shooting, students have now been allowed to return to campus. Were going to go there live in a moment. But first, lets start with nbc chief correspondent, hallie jackson. Good morning to you. Reporter savannah, good morning. Think gun debate is taking center stage when the president meets with state leaders. Theyre not meeting eyetoeye on all of the president s proposals on gun violence, and that means Florida Governor rick scott. A white house official telling me, they may not be on the same page, but they both care deeply about this issue. After mingling with governors overnight, the president will meet with them today. School safety, is a top priority. I think well make that first on our list. Reporter those conversations could get confrontational. Some governors, like floridas rick scott, do not agree with the president to arm some trained teachers. It puts the power of the pocketbook against the nra, pushing a boycott of businesses linked to the gun rights group. Delta and united are adding their names to the growing list of Companies Cutting ties and ending benefits for nra members. The nra, in response to getting dropped, defiant. Quote, the loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single nra member from our mission, to defend gun rights. Some 5 million members back the groups second amendment. Some nra members call for a counterboycott, President Trump is asking for a narrow change of his own, raising the age to legally buy semiautomatic weapons from 18 to 21. It doesnt make sense to get a pistol. But, to get a gun like this maniac used in the school, you get that at 18. Reporter the nra is reiterating it does not support a new age limit for semiautomatic guns. Nothing has been supposed. Reporter thats dana loesch she created controversy after these comments lately. Many in legacy media love mass shootings. You guys love it. Im not saying that you love the tragedy. But i am saying that you love the ratings. Crying, white mothers are ratings gold. Reporter from parkland shooting survivor, david hogg, frustration and fury. They act like they dont own the politicians, they do. Its a republican controlled house senate and exec tef branch. They can get this stuff done. Reporter lawmakers start getting back to washington here today after a weeklong break. But even with that public pressure building from parkland survivors, like that young man, from parents, theres no guarantee congress will act and no timeline for when debate might begin. The likely measure to see action on the senate floor is a bill to strengthen federal background checks. As for a proposal to raise the age richlt for buying a semiautomatic, no bill has been formally introduced. Hallie jackson on capitol hill. Thank you. As for the investigation into the parkland shooting, theres controversial over potential warning signs about the confessed gunman and how officials handled them. And during the rampage, some sheriffs deputies did not act aggressively enough. Kerry sanders has that part of the story. Kerry, good morning. Reporter good morning, hoda. Broward county sheriffs deputy here, sat with me for a oneonone interview. And this morning he says theres an internal investigation into the missed warning signs by his department, as well as how the officers who responded to this crisis acted and reacted. This, as the Florida Governor launched an investigation from the state level. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement how to do it. Students and faculty return to the classroom later this week to what was a killing field. This morning, preparations under way at majory Stoneman Douglas high school. Parents and students returned to the school for the first time. Counselors and emotional support dogs on hand to help. I dont think theres any way to prepare for this. Were scared and emotional. Reporter as this community struggles to heal, troubling new details emerging that suggest two deputies may have missed warnings that confessed gunman nikolas cruz was a ticking time bomb. One caller said cruz planned to shoot up the school. Then there was this call, two and a half months ago. He could be a School Shooter in the making. How can anyone miss thats not a clue, thats a excuse me. All i can tell you, the caller, as you know, came from massachusetts. She told the deputy that the subject, the eventual killer, was somewhere in palm beach county. Reporter how is it that basic piece of information was not pursued . We are looking into, did he follow up . Did he send it over . Reporter and indications are . Indications are that he did not. Reporter Law Enforcement sources tell nbc news that police from another department witnessed three arriving deputies take defensive positions outside. Im not going to tell you that other broward sheriffs deputies didnt go in when they should have. But im not going to say the opposite, either. Were going to investigate. Were going to do it thoroughly. Reporter the sheriff says he has video proof that shows 54yearold Deputy Scot Peterson did not pursue the gunman. Sources tell nbc news, internal Affairs Investigators believe before Deputy Peterson arrived at the building where the shooting was taking place, ten people had been killed and nine wounded on the first floor. But, in the crucial four minutes while peterson was outside, six more people were gunned down on the third floor. We know peterson knew there were shots fired and chose not to go in. Reporter peterson resigned eight days after the shooting. Nbc has tried to reach him for comment. Now, sheriff israel is under increasing pressure to resign. Nearly every republican on the Florida House of representatives has signed a letter to the governor, calling for sheriff israel, an elected democrat, to step down or be removed. I dont think theres a man or woman in this county who could keep Broward County safer than i can. Im proud to be the sheriff and i plan to continue on being the sheriff. Reporter in the wake of the investigations, theres a little good news for the folks here in parkland, specifically for the marjory Stoneman Douglas students. Theyre now the state champs, winning over the weekend, that title, on the ice. As you will see, the players not only celebrating, but their hair died yellow. That was for one of the victims, joaquin oliver. Some good news amid some tragic, painful difficultly here. Thank you so much. This morning, new fallout over the long awaited release of a controversial democratic memo connected to the russia investigation and fbi surveillance. Nbc white house correspondent, Kristin Welker is following this one for us. Good morning. Reporter hi, savannah. Good morning to you. President trump begins the week on defense yet again over the russia investigation. This time, over the dueling memos over whether the fbi crossed the line in ordering surveillance of a Trump Campaign aide. The president is defiant, while democrats insist their memo proves there was no wrongdoing. This morning, new fallout, following the release of that democratic memo, rebutting republican claims that the fbi abused its powers in conducting the russia probably. Mr. Trump calling into fox news over the weekend, to once again insist, he never colluded with the russians. I had no phone calls, no meetings, no nothing. There is no collusion. Reporter and while the president acknowledged there was interference in the election, he blamed a familiar target, his predecessor, for russian meddling. Obama was the president. Hes the one that was supposed to take care of this, and he didnt. Reporter earlier, attacking the democratic memo on twitter, as a political and legal bust. Still, the democrats heavily redacted memo, challenges an earlier memo from house republicans, who accused Justice Department officials of political bias when they asked a fisa court to order surveillance on former Trump Campaign aide, carter page. Democrats calling the memo, an effort to undermine the Justice Department and fbi. Insisting officials carefully outlined for the court a multipronged rationale for surveilling page. Its important that they see the facts that the fbi acted appropriately. Reporter and while the republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee said in a statement that despite the new information, its still clear the fbi used political dirt paid for by the Democratic Party to spy on an american citizen from the republican party, democrats insist officials accurately told the fisa court that former british spy Christopher Steele was hired by politicallymotivated persons. All this as the russia investigation shifts into high gear with special Counsel Robert Mueller bringing 100 charges against 19 people and three companies, to date. Five of the people have pleaded guilty, including three trump associates, rick gates, George Papadopoulos and michael flynn. Over the weekend, the president called for democrats to be investigated for quote unquote bad things that happened. Saying, quote, somebody should look into that. And by somebody, im talking about you know who. That, of course, a reference to another frequent target, his own attorney general, jeff sessions. The president is still frustrated by sessions decision to recuse himself in the russia probe. Its a complicated backdrop while the question still remains will the president and Robert Mueller meet facetoface . Savannah . Hoda . Kristin welker at the white house, thank you. On this busy monday morning, the search is expanding for a missing cdc scientist who left work sick two weeks ago and hasnt been heard from since. Sheinelle jones has more on this mystery. It is quite the mystery. Good morning. As investigators look for leads, timothy cunninghams parents are searching for answers of their sons lastknown whereabouts. Nbc news sat down with them in their atlanta home. A mystery at the cdc, after a rise zing official at the nations top center to prevent the spread of disease goes missing. Timothy cunningham vanished without a trace 14 days ago, leaving behind his wallet, keys, cell phone and his beloved dog, beau. According to his father, cunningham, who has worked on ebola and zika outbreaks, told a supervisor he was not feeling well and heading home. We are not aware tim making contact with anyone since that time. Reporter his parents were concerned after having what they described as unusual phone and text conversations with him the night before. I will say that we, as a family, were aware of some personal issues that were going on with tim. There was also some work issues that had occurred. Reporter the cdc issued a statement, saying that cunningham is a highly respected member of our cdc family. When he didnt return his familys repeated calls and texts, his parents frantically drove from out of state and foupd his car in the garage and the windows to his home wide open and his dog locked inside. Where im really praying that something would jog his mind and whatever state hes in, he would come back to us. Reporter his family wants him to know that whatever has happened, he can always come home. Nothing ever stops the love of a parent. We are hopeful that our son will be found. So far, police have not given any indication there was foul play involved in the disappearance. But Crime Stoppers is offering a 10,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest in this case. Sheinelle, thanks. Heartbreaking for the parents. Thank you. We have more to get to this morning, including a big, spectacular closing ceremony to end the 2018 Winter Olympics. And nbcs Miguel Almaguer is in pyeongchang for us. Hi, miguel. Good morning. Reporter hey, savannah. South korea is still abuse after a closing ceremony on sunday. The 23rd Winter Olympics coming to an end, but going out in style. We bid farewell to the Pyeongchang Games and the celebration gets started. Culture and pageantry on full display in pyeongchang. Mystifying lights captivating the crowd. Fireworks lighting up the sky. Athletes from nearly 100 nations soaking in the spectacle. Ivanka trump onhand representing the u. S. Delegation. For the olympians, a chance to reminisce on a remarkable experience. Its so much fun to see the enthusiasm and the success our teams had. Im happy to be a part of it. Reporter enthusiasm became the calling card for a historic u. S. Mens curling squad. The americans bumping off topranked sweden over the weekend for their firstever gold in the event. The pinnacle of coaching is to be able to watch athletes achieve their dreams. I got to do that today. Thats a pretty great feeling. Reporter out on the big air ramp, snowboarder kyle mack snagged silver. I was really excited to land my two runs and be up here on the podium. Across for duvev. He shoots he scores reporter meanwhile, an epic mens hockey final, ending in controversy. The olympic athletes from russia defeating germany and making their voices heard. The russian players drowning out the olympic anthem during the medal ceremony, belting out their countrys national anthem, which was prohibited because of the massive doping scandal that forced russians to compete as neutral athletes in pyeongchang. Those russian sanctions, also an apparent catalyst for a cyber attack during the Opening Ceremony, citing u. S. Intelligence, the Washington Post reporting, Russian Military spies hacked several hundred computers, used by authorities in pyeongchang and tried to make it appear north korea was to blame. The hacking reportedly disrupting broadcast systems, the internet and the olympics website. Some fans were even unable to print their tickets to attend the Opening Ceremony itself. Heres our final look at the medal count. Norway finishing on top with a record 39 medals. The usa finishing in fourth place with 23. And we should point out that the Paralympic Games are set to start in a week and a half. The u. S. Announcing its team today. Back to you guys. Miguel, thank you so much. Coming up in our next half hour, were going to hear from ivanka trump, exclusively in a wideranging interview. Experience to the president s controversial idea to arm teachers, as well as the crisis with north korea. Lets get a check of the forecast. Al, its shaping up to be a busy week for you in the weather department. It actually is, guys. And of course, the big problem has been the flooding throughout parts of the midsection of the country. This is louisville, kentucky. The ohio river flooding its banks. 35 feet above flood stage. It normally would be about 12 feet. Now, the good news is, the heaviest rain has moved through. Weve got this dry area, stretching from the great lakes all the way down to texas. These areas in red, these are river flood warnings. However, we have an area we have to watch as we get into the earlier part later part of this week. Rain returns in the saturated area. A risk of severe storms and flood watches throughout this region. It continues to push to the north. A secondary storm will form off of the southeast atlantic coast. Were going to be looking at snow in the northeast. This is where were concerned about, tuesday night into thursday, locally up to five inches of rain, already on top of those really soaked areas. That could cause some more flooding. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Now, you have more power at your fingertips than entire generations that came before you. But its not really about what technology can do, its about what you can do with it. We are living in the future we always dreamed of. We have mixed reality that changes how we see the world, and ai empowering us to change the world we see. So what will you do with it . Good morning, im meteorologist kari hall. Rain now moving into san jose, while weve seen the rain in the east bay, the peninsula and San Francisco for over an hour now and it is starting to clear in the north bay, so we will have this round of rain quickly moving from north to south, San Francisco about to get a round of some heavy rain around the Richmond District and that will continue to extend to the south as we go into the next hour or so. Then over the next couple days a bit of a break and more rain in the forecast for the middle of the week. I got to catch my breath. That was a long walk. All right, al. Thanks so much. Just ahead, Monica Lewinsky speaks out. Her new take on the clinton stand