And the opening salvo of the 2024 campaign. Good morning its march 8th this is today. President biden addresses a divided congress and nation, laying out the fight for democracy abroad. I will not bow down and at home, taking on donald trump. Heres the simple truth you cant love your country only when you win. Just ahead, the high stakes for the president S Performance as he confronts the elephant in the room. I have been told im too old. Well break it all down, the reaction, the fallout and what it means for the 2024 race. Shooter under way, officials revealing hes been caught making dramatic start. The closely watched trial of the father of a Michigan School shooter underway officials revealing hes been caught making threatening statements from jail the latest in the live report from the courthouse. A bill a crackdown on tiktok moving quickly through congress. Some users sounding off and calling lawmakers. I will write in a different candidate. What it all means for the future of the popular app. Look out below a frightening moment caught on camera a united planes tire falling off during takeoff smashing into the cars below inside the investigation now underway those stories, plus message sent the new commercial calling out hollywood and the people who take weight loss drugs for the wrong reasons. For the smaller dress or tux tux, for a big night. And you may be surprised who is behind that campaign. Plus, springing forward. Most americans set to lose an hour of sleep but gain more daylight this morning. Inside the new debate over changing those clocks and why were still doing it, today, friday, march 8th, 2024. From nbc news, this is today with savannah guthrie, live from washington, d. C. , and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza hi, everybody good morning its friday. Welcome to today, the end of the week so glad to have you along with us hoda, you are there in the studio holding it down we had the state of the union last night. Yeah. Thats where were going to start, the final state of the union before the election. The major themes as a policy matter, immigration, the economy, womens reproductive rights the president also spending much of his time drawing a sharp contrast between him and donald trump. He mentioned trump at least 13 times but never by name, only referring to his predecessor weve got it all covered Peter Alexander starting us off. Peter, good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. The president s address represents the starting gun for the general election donald trump, even though he never mentioned his name, was a repeated target. President biden delivering energy, combativeness and plenty ad libs. Reporter from President Biden, a feisty state of the union address. I will not bow down reporter relishing the back and forth with republicans. I know you know how to read maybe you dont want that money in your districts. Just let me know. Reporter the president looking to demonstrate he has the vigor and vision to serve another four years and sharply critiquing his likely republican challenger. You cant love your country only when you win. Reporter without ever mentioning former president trumps name on russia reporter tells putin, quote, do whatever the hell you want. Thats a quote. Reporter on the Capitol Attack my predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about january 6th. President biden vowing to restore roe v. Wade if he has the votes in congress. And in a rare moment admonishing the Supreme Court justices in attendance for their role. With all due respect, justices, women are not without electoral power. Excuse me. Electoral or political power you are about to realize just how much im right about that. Reporter facing low Approval Ratings on the economy, the president delivering an optimistic view, touting strong job growth and unemployment at a 50year low. Turning setback into n, with a Record Number of migrants entering the country since he took Office President biden blamed republicans for rejecting a bipartisan Border Security bill that mr. Trum comeback thats what america does. Reporter and immigration with a Record Number of migrants, President Biden blamed republicans for rejecting a bipartisan security border bill that mr. Trump opposed. We can fight about fixing the border, or we can fix it. Reporter even holding up a button given to him by republican Marjorie Taylor greene who demanded he acknowledged the death of laken riley. Laken riley, an innocent young woman killed by an illegal. My heart goes out to you, having lost children myself. Reporter still a senator delivering the republican rebuttal, slammed the president s handling of the border President Bidens border policies are a disgrace. This crisis is despicable. And the truth is, it is almost entirely preventable. Reporter the president acknowledging his age. I know i may not look like it, but i have been around a while. Reporter and using it to deliver a political point. The issue facing our nation is that how old we are, its how old our id is. Reporter trying to reframe the issue while contrasting himself with mr. Trump. My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. Other people my age see it differently. The american story of resentment, revenge and retribution. Thats not me. Reporter and one note, a man who heckled President Biden last night was a gold star father whose son, a marine was among 13 service membered killed in the withdraw from afghanistan in 2021 that father was arrested for his outburst last night. It went a long way to ease democrats about his age on a 33minute walk out of the democrat told the president nobodys going to call you cognitivety impaired now. Savannah. Peter, thank you. And also with us here in washington, kriste chamber. A senior democrat said to the president , nobody is going to call you cognitively impaired now. Savannah. Peter, thank you. Also here in washington with us, kristin welker, moderator of meet the press and Christine Romans good morning to both of you. Well talk substance in a moment but thiS Performance issue, the one peter raised, the age, all of this, the elephant in the room, how did he do . What are you hearing democrats are breathing a sigh of relief one democrat told me thiS Performance was a total 10 because the president was strong, because he was energetic, because he took on donald trump within the first four minutes of starting this speech, savannah what are republicans criticizing him on this morning . They say hes too partisan theyre not criticizing him for a lack of energy that was the point he took on the age issue head on. We saw him taking on the age issue. Were going to talk about economy in a minute. But immigration is a big issue many voters are putting that on the top of the list as the issue they care most about over the economy. And he had some moments there where he kind of tried to say, look, republicans, stop playing politics lets go. Hes trying to cast republicans as the do Nothing Congress because they had this bipartisan immigration bill that republican senators praised as being a good deal. But this is significant, savannah, because this is the type of moment that throws out red meat to the base and appeals to the nikki haley moderate independent voters, so it allows again, i think this will be a rallying cry out on the campaign trail. Hes trying to flip the script republicans who have owned the issue of immigration hes trying to headache it as his own. Its always the economy, christine. You are not second fiddle here but it was interesting because there are so many markers that show the economy improving then when you look at consumer confidence, i know it might be trending up right now, but generally, people are not feeling this economy that the president is saying is so much better than where we were. And his lowest Approval Ratings are on the economy yesterday a day when the stock market was hitting record highs, the president was not on wall street the president was at the Kitchen Table on main street trying to show people, i know you feel like you have been nickelled and dimed. Look, lets talk about tax fairness maybe these people that make 100 million a year or more should be paying a higher tax rate than you are, and he really dug into this, there are two team hs here and im on your te. Im on your team thats what the white house was trying to get him to do because the poll numbers have been so low. One thing thats interesting, in this town, a lot of people were telling me they think that immigration and abortion could be the two really important things that drive people to the ballot box maybe it wont be the economy. Maybe this will not be an economy election after all as more time passes, people are feeling a little better about things. Well, if you look at the structure of the speech, you can see not only what he thinks is most important, but what are his winning issues he started in the defensive democracy abroad then goes directly january 6th election lie saying we have to defend democracy at home and the next item is reproductive rights that shows you where the white house is for 2024. Absolutely. We have already seen the Vice President and the president talking extensively about this and look at the Election Results and the midterms and special elections all across the country. It has energized the Democratic Base and democrats have beat expectations on this issue, savannah katie brick in her response tried to take on the issue of ivf, obviously a big issue in alabama, her home state, but this will be a big battleground. All right we will continue to speak about it thank you so much. And, of course, kristin will have a lot more reaction from both sides of the aisle and the latest on the 2024 race sunday morning on meet the press. Ist the first day of testimony at the trial of a michigan father charged in connection with his sons School Shooting. James crumbley is accused of making threatening statements while in jail. His outside communications now largely cut off, nbcs maggie vespa hoda the courthouse for us. Hey, maggie, good morning. Reporter hey, hoda good morning the local sheriff not telling us who these alleged threats were against. Or when they happened. Just that James Crumbley can only now communicate at the jail with his attorney. The father facing the same charges that his wife was convicted of last month, setting a new precedent for prosecuting americas Mass Shootings this morning, a jawdropping twist in the trial of a michigan father charged in his sons School Shooting after Officials SayJames Crumbley made threats from inside the jail telling nbc news crumbleys access to a telephone and electronic messaging has been limited due to threatening statements he made on the phone and in electronic messages, adding hes limited to communication with his lawyer. Nbc news has reached out to his attorney the prosecution is under a gag order. So far no response. He was the adult out of anyone in the world in the best position to prevent these kids deaths. Reporter the order capping day one of testimony in the manslaughter trial with prosecutors arguing back in 2021, crumbley ignored warning signs his son was struggling with his Mental Health and failed to secure the gun he used to kill four classmates. The 47yearold using headphones as hearing aids listened as prosecutors played his frantic 911 call from that day i dont know whats going on. Im really freaking out. G on. Im really freaking we find the defendant guilty. Crumbleys case comes one month after a jury in this same courtroom found his wife jennifer guilty of the same charges after she testified james was in charge of securing the gun. I just didnt feel comfortable being in charge of that it was more his thing. Crumbleys attorney pushing back. James crumbley did not know what his son was going to do. Reporter now hearing from the same witnesses, including a teacher who testified james shot her. I could start to feel blood rolling down my arm. Reporter the question is whether or not James Crumbley will follow his wifes lead and testify in his defense meanwhile, back to those alleged threats, the local sheriff hasnt said who they were against, but it is worth noting that officials have told us in the past James Crumbley has not been able to contact directly his wife or son from inside jail they told us the three, this entire time, have been held separately so we are working to learn more about this in the meantime, hoda, court here is set to resume at 9 00 a. M. All right. Maggie vespa for us there in pontiac. Thank you. A new battle arrested over tiktok a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban is now advancing on capitol hill. This morning a lot of tiktok users are speaking out against it brian cheung has that story. Good morning, hoda. Congress could move quickly with a vote scheduled in the house next week that would force tiktoks company to sell the social media app but tiktok is fighting back calling on millions of its users to let their voices be heard the government is currently trying to ban tiktok reporter its an allout blitz. If she does vote yes, i will not be voting for her in the primary. I will write in a different candidate. E rallying cry coming directly from tiktok itself, popups on the app urging users to speak up now and warning if passed the proposed bill would destroy the livelihoods of countless tiktokers taking to their cell phones to take on congress. The rallying cry coming directly from tiktok itself popups on the app urging users to speak up now and trying to get passed the bill that will destroy the livelihoods of countless creators hannah jones sells handmade metal works in tiktok and says shes going to call. What are you going to ask your congressman to do advocate for the small businesses. With democrats and republicans on the same page in a 500 vote advancing a bill on wednesday that will force byte dance to sell tiktok within months. China is at war with us and they use tiktok as a weapon. Tiktok concerned about being able to divest that quickly. While in a statement, about being able to divest tha characterizing the legislation as a total ban the chief concern, critics say, protecting u. S. Data from the Chinese Government, which tiktok has repeatedly denied. Byte dance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese Government it is a private company. For creators like anna jones, the concerns are real. I just feel like losing tiktok will kind of it will have everything go downhill, and i dont want to lose my business. If the bill passes both the house and the senate, the white house indicated support for it, but the National Security council calling it a welcome step. Yeah, really hitting the nerve this one all right, brian thank you so much. We have a lot more to get to, including a United Airlines flight forced to make an Emergency Landing after a tire fell off the plane moments after it took off. The incident was all caught on camera so it happened in San Francisco. The boeing 777 had only been in the air a few seconds when a emg in los angeles without incident, united said the plane is designed to land safely whether its missing a couple of tires. The tire fell off the aircraft and crashed on the ground. It landed, thankfully, in an employee parking lot it did damage to a couple of cars, but nobody was hurt. United said the plane is designed to land safely, whether it is missing a couple of tires. The faa is investigating that. All right. It is 7 17 dylan is tracking a storm. She is in for al a lot happening in your department. Yes, it has been. I feel like i have been tracking storms all week. We have heavy rain right now exiting arkansas and moving through mississippi, just north of jackson we also have a line of storms developing in dallas and moving down towards austin. It is out ahead of this frontal system with this area of low pressure that will increase the risk of severe storms redeveloping into this evening we could see overnight tornadoes possible, along with damaging wind gusts and some hail as well were also looking at a lot of rain the ground is really saturated from recent storms, so that could lead to some flooding. Tomorrow in the northeast, we start off dry, but then this rain from the carolinas and the virginias will move through the mid atlantic and produce heavy rounds of rain from pennsylvania into new york and new jersey moving into new england by sunday morning then it clears out except for the great lakes where we could end up with lake effect snow, very windy and much colder back behind the storm system. Thats a look at the weather across the country well get to your local forecast in the next 30 seconds [sound of airplane overhead] even the ground is moving for me yall seeing this . Wild and i dont even have to activate anything. Oooooohhh. Automatic sashimi earn cash back that automatically adjusts to how you spend with the citi custom cash® card. [mind blown explosion noise] good friday morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Were starting with sunshine as you step out the door, but its also kind of chilly and we will see our temperatures warming up, headed for the upper 60s today. A really nice afternoon and a great way to kick off the weekend. Clouds return tomorrow in parts of the bay area and well see scattered showers in the forecast. Not only tomorrow, but then again late sunday evening. Then well see and thats your latest forecast. Thanks, dylan. Still ahead, the new commercial from the maker of a popular weight loss drug aimed directly at hollywood,