police acted illegally. two-time nba mvp and three-star recruit steph curry has some advice for the underrated that can't be overstated. and what did the head coach of the san antonio spurs do to get kicked out of the game just 63 seconds after tip-off? "early today" tips off right now. good thursday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. is there more than meets the eye to the mueller report? there's new insight this morning into how some of the special counsel's team may feel about attorney general bill barr's four-page summary of the 22-month investigation. according to "the washington post" and "the new york times," some of the investigators are frustrated, claiming their findings are more damaging to the president than what's been revealed thus far. the papers cite government officials and others familiar with the investigators' thinking. one source told the post, quote, there was immediate displeasure from the team when they saw how the attorney general had characterized their work instead. the president's team has defended barr's decision to release an initial summary, and mr. trump's attorney, he's shrugging off the reports. >> they're a bunch of sneaky, unethical leakers, and they are rabid democrats who hate the president of the united states. and i can't tell you how much false information they leaked during the course of the investigation. >> nbc new has not independently confirmed the reporting. meanwhile, the house judiciary has authorized a subpoena for the entire report, though they have not yet used it. committee chairman jerry nadler says they will work with the attorney general for the time being but will issue subpoenas if they don't get the special counsel's full findings. president trump and his secretary of homeland security are set to visit the front lines of the border battle. today secretary kirstjen nielsen will meet with immigration officials in yuma, arizona. and tomorrow the president is scheduled to tour a new section of the border fence in california. nbc's tracie potts joins us with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: hi. good morning. as they head west to take a look at the border and the border fencing, here in washington, president trump is getting pushback from his own party from republicans who are concerned if he shuts down the border, the economy will take a hit. we're talking about $1.7 billion a day in goods crossing the border back and forth from mexic mexico. everything from agriculture to auto parts. and now the president is taking some political heat for shutting down -- or considering shutting down the border for any period of time. the white house says the president is looking at a possible plan that would shut down the border to migrants but keep those truck lanes open. frances? >> all right. we heard about the economic impact if that happens. but i want to talk about this new investigation into the president's tax returns this morning. >> reporter: yeah. the ways and means committee has now made its formal request to the treasury department to get six years of president trump's tax returns. there are three different committees here on capitol hill that are considering that. this is one. the treasury department says it will review the request and if provided, make sure there's privacy as they would for any other taxpayer. president trump, when asked about it, seemed to brush off the request saying he was surprised they didn't ask for ten years of back tax returns, which is typical. >> tracie potts for us, thank you. meanwhile, joe biden is breaking his silence and addressing the latest accusat n accusations against him. the former vice president released a video pledging to be more mindful of people's personal space. this after three more women came forward telling "the washington post" of encounters with him that made them uncomfortable. amidst these damning new developments, the question now is is biden's video enough to get him off the hook? our andrea mitchell investigates. >> reporter: his would-be campaign on the line, joe biden tweeting this video. >> today i want to talk about gestures of support and encouragement that i've made to women and some men, and i made them uncomfortable. >> reporter: at home, deliberately informal, responding after four women said he had physical contact they felt was inappropriate, not a sexual advance but making them uncomfortable. >> social norms have begun to change. they've shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset, and i get it. i get it. i hear what they're saying. >> reporter: the two newest accusations in "the new york times," one of them d.j. hill telling nbc news what she says happened when she met the then vice president at a fund-raiser in 2012. >> mr. biden's hand went from my shoulder and started to descend down my back, and it was one of those things where i'm going, oh, okay. this is making me feel uncomfortable. >> reporter: nbc news has not verified all of the accounts. but they are already fodder for president trump, who has denied accusations of sexual misconduct by multiple women, now mocking biden to republican donors. >> i said, general, come here. give me a kiss. i felt like joe biden. >> reporter: 2020 candidates have been piling on. >> i'm glad that people are willing to and have the courage to step up. >> i believe him. >> reporter: notably, biden did not apologize and is not backing down, signaling he will be joining the race. phillip? >> andrea mitchell, thank you. drama in a federal court in boston where actresses felicity huffman and lori loughlin faced a judge along with ten other parents. they're accused of paying top dollar to cheat their kids into elite universities. loughlin and her husband are accused of paying half a million dollars. prosecutors say huffman paid $15,000 for a professional test taker to take her daughter's s.a.t. both did not enter pleas during their separate appearances. u.s. attorneys tell nbc news more charges and arrests are expected. urgent efforts are under way to find an american tourist kidnapped during her dream vacation to africa. richard engel has the latest. >> reporter: the brazen abductions unfolded in one of uganda's most beautiful and most popular national parks, officials are searching for a 35-year-old american woman and her local guide, kidnapped and now being held for a half million dollar ransom. authorities say they were on a safari trip with two other tourists when the group was stopped by armed gunmen. the two other tourists, an elderly couple, were robbed but released. >> the kidnappers were armed. they were four in number. >> reporter: so far, police have not identified the suspects, who used the american woman's cell phone to make their ransom demands. authorities are searching the national park and have sealed off the nearby border with the democratic republic of congo. the state department has not released the american woman's name. a family in illinois is anxiously waiting for more answers after a teenager in kentucky tells police he is a boy who went missing when he was only 6 years old, and that kidnappers held him captive for nearly eight years. >> he was a very smart boy -- is a very smart boy. he knew his name. he knew his address. he knew his grandmother's phone number. he knew his grandmother's address. he knew many details that he would have been able to keep. >> reporter: timmothy pitzen's aunt tells the media that the family expects to learn the results of a dna test later this afternoon. for more on this case, we go to nbc's ron mott. >> reporter: timotmothy pitzen chicago was just 6 years old in may 2011 when his mother checked him out of school early, then took him on a road trip including visits to water parks. three days later, amy fry-pitzen killed herself at this illinois motel. the note she left behind saying her boy was safe but that he would never be found. >> we still do not have any solid leads as to where timmothy may be. >> reporter: there also was blood found in her car which tezed positive as timmothy's. but a possible major development. according to an ohio police report, a 14-year-old named timmothy pitzen told investigators he had just escaped two kidnappers that have been holding him for seven years, running from a red roof inn motel in the cincinnati area across a bridge into kentucky. the boy described his captors as white men with bodybuilder-type build, one with a spider tattoo on his neck, the other a snake tattoo on his arms. police in his hometown said they are working with the fbi on a missing persons tip but would not confirm if it's timmothy. his grandmother hopeful. >> we've never forgotten, never stopped thinking about him every day. >> reporter: ron mott, nbc news, chicago. family, friends, and colleagues gathered to say their final farewell to the university of southarolina student who was killed after police say she mistakenly got into a vehicle she believed to be an uber. 21-year-old samantha josephson was laid to rest on wednesday. her funeral was held in princeton junction, new jersey. the suspect, 25-year-old nathaniel david rowland has been charged with kidnapping and murder. her father has vowed to dedicate his life to improve the safety of rideshare services. 29 people including firefighters were hurt after a fire ripped through an apartment building in brooklyn, new york. it started on the sixth floor of the building and there were 40-mile-per-hour wind gusts, which made things more dicey. the fire completely gutted the apartment, leaving severe damage and at least 54 families without homes this morning. let's say good morning to meteorologist janessa webb. >> good morning, everyone. we're still dealing with those fire concerns across the northeast. boston under a fire watch. those winds are still going to be gusting throughout your morning, up to about 25 to 30 miles per hour. then it really starts to depart. composite radar, we're watching this morning this real feisty line across oklahoma into little rock. potential for severe weather throughout your afternoon with temperatures this warm, we have 6 million under southeast. daytime highs, 75 to 80 degrees. so what comes along with this severe weather risk is warmer temperatures that are really going to stay in place, but flooding across the south. >> we got the bad with the good there. janessa, thank you. what has gotten into san antonio spurs coach gregg popovich lately? for the second time this week, he was ejected, this time it was just 63 seconds into the game against the nuggets. >> he was upset. he thought that aldridge might have got fouled by millsap. >> he was arguing a missed foul when this happened. that was the fastest a coach has ever been kicked out of a game. still ahead, can you guess how big those pay bonuses are for the final four coaches? bob kraft fights back against charges. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. making wrinkles look so last week. rapid wrinkle repair® pair with new retinol oil for 2x the wrinkle fighting power. neutrogena® i am proud of you, my man. making simple, smart cash back choices... with quicksilver from capital one. you're earning unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. like on that new laptop. quicksilver keeps things simple, gary. and smart, like you! and i like that. i guess i am pretty smart. don't let that go to your head, gary. what's in your wallet? 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[boy gasps] for real cold and flu protection with lysol, you can help protect them from a real cold. lysol disinfectant spray kills the #1 cause of the cold and clorox wipes don't. lysol. what it takes to protect. friends & family sale - the savings add up!... with an extra 20% off! save on women's tops - $15.99 comforter sets... and jumping beans tops - just $6.40. plus - take an extra $10 off your $50 or more kids' sale purchase!... plus - get kohl's cash! right now... at kohl's. the ncaa final four is set and fou it's time to hit the road. on wednesday the auburn tigers and michigan state spartans departed for a chance to take home the championship. both teams were sent off in style by their cheering fans. so the next stop, minneapolis. this is auburn's first trip to the final four while it's the spartans' tenth appearance. virginia and texas tech are the other two teams vying for a chance at the national championship. it's no secret that the ncaa men's basketball tournament makes a lot of money. it's also a cash cow for the coaches. according to forbes, the final four coaches all stand to gain bonuses from wins in the sweet 16 and elite eight. virginia's tony bennett is already close to the million dollar mark in bonuses while auburn's bruce pearl has earned $100,000 for each regional victory. texas tech's chris beard has claimed $600,000 in bonus money, and michigan state's tom izzo could claim $200,000 if his team wins the national championship. but if the players get a free meal -- >> that's it. >> they're going to get in trouble. >> crossing the line right there. leading the news, the supreme court has swiftly ended a legal battle over the death penalty in texas. the court ruled that the texas death chamber will not allow clergy or anyone but prison security and staff inside effective immediately. so that means an inmate's execution cannot be stopped if the state fames to provide a religious adviser. it comes after prisoner patrick murphy tried to stop his execution when he was denied a spiritual leader. attorneys for robert kraft are going after police saying officers violated the constitution. this is according to a report by espn. kraft's lawyers submitted a court filing claiming police misrepresented evidence to obtain a search warrant that allowed them to install secret video cameras inside the orchids of asia day spa. police say those cameras recorded kraft paying for sex twice. now the attorneys want all the evidence in the case thrown out. kraft was charged with solic soliciting and has pleaded not guilty. still ahead, country industry brad paisley strums up a new kind of grocery store. and jon snow knows nothing about what "saturday night live" has in store for him this weekend. you're watching "early today." te around down dirt, dust and hair? 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>> yeah. it kind of -- it's pretty obvious. there's phillip and i right there. the thing is -- >> it's 30 feet tall. >> right now it is gone, like that. we come in this morning, and the crews are all breaking it down. no evidence that that was even there. >> yeah, i know. i was excited to see it again. glad we have picture evidence. >> yeah. >> a lot of hype. >> the whole team. country star brad paisley has broken ground on a special project. the musician is teaming up with his alma mater, a food bank to create a free grocery store. nonprofits and agencies will refer families in need this. they can visit the store and go shopping. no money is exchanged. here paisley hopes this takes the sting away from the embarrassment a kid should feel. it's hard enough if you're in a tough way to come up with that money. the last thing you want is to have to, you know, expose your kids to that sort of struggle. so it's nice to see brad paisley not only doing something good, but he's going a step further and making them feel better about themselves. >> and collaborating with everybody else. i love it when artists do that, you know, when they go all out. they're so busy. they've got so much going on and they're like, nope, this is my way of giving back. >> good dude. just ahead, janessa is going to break down our thursday forecast for us. and the ultimate alley-oop. how basketball superstar steph curry is giving young underdogs a leg up into the league. their 14 different hotel brands, so i get the right hotel for every member of my family. like a doubletree for my cousins who love their warm chocolate chip cookies. a homewood suites for my uncle who likes a long stay. a hampton for my sister and her kids. that's a lot of syrup and the waldorf astoria beverly hills for me. but i thought your family vacation was in miami? 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[boy gasps] for real cold and flu protection with lysol, you can help protect them from a real cold. lysol disinfectant spray kills the #1 cause of the cold and clorox wipes don't. lysol. what it takes to protect. friends & family sale - the savings add up!... with an extra 20% off! save on women's tops - $15.99 comforter sets... and jumping beans tops - just $6.40. plus - take an extra $10 off your $50 or more kids' sale purchase!... plus - get kohl's cash! right now... at kohl's. nbc interrupts its regular program schedule to bring you the following special report. >> martin luther king jr. was killed tonight in memphis, tennessee, shot in the face as he stood alone on the balcony of his hotel room. he died in a hospital an hour later. >> on this day in 1968, martin luther king jr. was assassinate the at his memphis hotel. he was shot and killed by james earl ray, a fugitive from the state penitentiary. police arrested him several months late zbleer one of the best players in the nba knows what it's like to be an underdog. now warriors superstar steph curry has a camp for young players with big hoop dreams. it provides the tools and the mentorship that could help propel them into professional basketball careers. nbc's joe fryer takes us inside the program. >> reporter: like an undervalued stock, these high school basketball players feel there's room to grow. >> i'm underrated and resident to play. >> a lot of people say that i was overlooked or i wasn't really noticed in a crowd, and i'm here to make a difference. >> reporter: they've come to a basketball camp that's part of the underrated tour launched by a player -- >> what's up, dog? >> -- who was once in their sneakers, steph curry. >> everybody sees the finished product and us as nba players, but they don't get to see or hear about or understand the journey. >> reporter: in high school, curry was a scrawny, undersized kid, barely made a blip on the radars of top college programs. as a recruit, he was given three stars on a scale of five. yet curry kept pushing, becoming a two-time nba mvp, leading his golden state warriors to three titles. >> you know what you did right there. >> reporter: through these camps, he's now guiding other players rated three stars or below. >> you can see and set goals for yourself and really block out all the noise and the people that tell you what you can't be. >> reporter: advice that for the underrated can't be overstated. >> nice! nice! >> reporter: joe fryer, nbc news. >> i love that idea. not only are there girls, but there are so many camps for all the gifted players, the really talented ones. these guys are going to get a chance. >> they hear that kind of stuff all the time but when it comes from steph curry, a huge difference. here is one lucky puppy in scottsdale, arizona. 3-month-old latte managed to make her way back home after being snatched by an owl and taken almost a mile away. the attack happened early in the morning when she was let out for a walk. her foster mom went to bring her back in, and she was nowhere to be found. the owl had taken latte to a golf course. golfers there found the pup badly injure skbd took her to an animal hospital. from there the her picture ended up on a lost and found website where a neighbor saw her and brought her back home. latte is home. >> you think latte looks bad, you got to see the owl. >> this is "early today." >> this is "early today." >> kp it right here.ee at air wick, we know that in nature, scent comes in waves... gently and beautifully... air wick essential mist is an expression of nature. transforming natural essential oils into a fragrant mist. simply adjust your setting for the perfect balance... and it gently fills the room. pausing, when it's just right. take in notes of nature... and experience the fragrant mist with air wick essential mist. so let's promote our spring ftravel deals, on choicehotels.com like this: (sneezes) earn one free night when you stay just twice this spring. allergies. or.. badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com. ad lib live picture of san rafael. . a good thursday morning to you. we're taking a live look outside at san rafael. the s-curve as we get through this week. more of a curve, all week long. >> a little bit. >> thanks, so much for starting your morning with us, i'm marcus washington. >> let's get to that forecast. a little clear right now. >> clear now, when we will be tracking another storm system set to move in. look at storm ranger showing not a whole lot is going on except for a light