fire. what he said that triggered a firestorm. this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. good evening. and thank you for joining us on this friday. that eleventh hour release of secret jfk assassination documents is offering fascinating new perspective on the events just before and after the murder of president kennedy including what the cia knew about lee harvey oswald and what the russians were fearing at the time. but even as historians, journalists and amateur historians sift through the trove of documents, it is what's not there that's causing the most intrigue tonight. the release of hundreds of additional pages blocked by president trump in the name of national security. pete williams has details. >> reporter: the documents offer more proof that the secret service was apparently never told lee harvey oswald might be a danger to the president even though the cia and fbi had him under surveillance for months as a potential communist threat. oswald was added to the list of threats to the president november 22nd, 1963. reason, quote, killed jfk. >> he was a misfit and sociopath who defected to the soviet union. that was rare enough so that the fbi and the cia should have made sure the secret service was aware of him. >> reporter: a just released memo shows that they thought it was a conspiracy on the part of the ultraright to start a coup and, quote, worried that some irresponsible general might launch a missile at the soviet union. j. edgar hoover was furious at dallas police when oswald was shot in the basement of police headquarters. >> he's been shot. he's been shot. lee oswald has been shot. >> reporter: the memo says the fbi washed police that he was in danger after a committee had been formed to kill him. hoover said it's important to have something issued, quote, so we can convince the public that oswald is the real assassin. historians say many u.s. officials worried it would start a war if the public thought the cubans or the russians were responsible. >> keep in mind the cuban missile crisis happened just a year before. we were all terrified of thousands of nukes hitting us. and johnson and a lot of people didn't want to go there again. >> reporter: conspiracy theories have abounded that oswald was actually a cia agent or informant. in one of the documents former cia director richard helms is asked in 1975, is there any information involved with the assassination of president kennedy which in any way shows that lee harvey oswald was in some way a cia agent or an agent, but the document ends there. another question still unanswered. pete williams, nbc news, washington. this is cynthia mcfadden. it remains one of the seminal moments in american history. >> it appears as though something has happened in the motorcade route. >> reporter: bullets fired on president kennedy's motorcade in dallas. an hour later the american people are told the tragic outcome. >> excuse me, chet. here is a flash from the associated press dateline, dallas. two priests who were with president kennedy say he is dead of bullet wounds. >> reporter: still, 54 years after that sad day, much of what happened remained shrouded in mystery. lee harvey oswald was quickly arrested. and just as quickly killed by a local nightclub owner, jack ruby. >> lee oswald has been shot. >> reporter: the mystery deepened. was there a conspiracy to kill the president? most americans today believe that there was. despite the fact the warren commission concluded in 1965 oswald acted alone. though in 1979 a house select committee concluded kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. over the years, there have been dozens of books written, many movies made, too. the best known of them, oliver stone's "jfk." >> once you conclude the magic bullet could not create all seven of those wounds, you have to conclude that there was a fourth shot and a second rifle. >> reporter: a good film, it won two oscars. but good history? >> there is no settled idea about who killed john kennedy and why and perhaps with what help, and what that means, i think, is that there's never going to be an explanation that satisfies everyone. >> reporter: we do know this, that day marked the end of an era. the end, as a grieving mrs. kennedy suggested, of camelot. cynthia mcfadden, nbc news, new york. we turn now to that rousing call to action from hollywood star rose mcgowan, making her first public appearance since she helped open the floodgates against movie mogul harvey weinstein and in the process triggered a national backlash against sexual misconduct. mcgowan said she's been silenced for decades and is calling on women to speak up. anne thompson has more. >> my name is rose mcgowan and i am brave and i am you. >> reporter: rose mcgowan giving voice to the fight she's waged on social media since the harvey weinstein scandal broke. the actress says she was raped. >> the triggering has been insane. the monster's face everywhere my nightmare. >> reporter: she never mentioned weinstein by name at the women's convention in detroit. mcgowan reached a $100,000 settlement with the once powerful movie producer according to "the new york times." weinstein denies any nonconsensual sex. >> the scarlet letter is theirs. it is not ours. we are pure. we are strong. we are brave. and we will fight! >> reporter: today, congresswoman jackie speier saying, me, too, when she was a capitol hill aide. >> the chief of staff held my face, kissed me and stuck his tongue in my mouth. >> reporter: now, several powerful men across many industries have resigned, been fired or suspended following allegations of sexual harassment. celebrity chef john besh leaving his restaurant group. nbc news political analyst mark halprain, off the air accused of lewd conduct while at abc news. some of the numbers are staggering. weinstein's accusers top 65 and more than 300 women accuse james toback of harassment, which he denies. and tonight more questions about the public behavior of former president george h.b. bush. a fourth woman says he grabbed her behind during a 2006 photo shoot. as more women tell their stories, advocates in detroit hope for real change. >> i'm thinking that finally that women will not be afraid to let someone know what's happening to them. >> you know, lester, tonight women are finding strength and power in the number of people coming forward with their stories. and they want men to finally take this issue seriously as well and remember that the targets could be their mothers, their sisters or their daughters. >> all right, anne thompson, thank you. tonight the man who would be at the center of any american military confrontation with north korea is just about as close as you can get to the threat. secretary of defense james mattis on the dmz between north and south getting a look at the other side and sending a strong message. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel reports tonight from seoul. >> reporter: arriving by helicopter under tight security, defense secretary mattis flew right to north korea's doorstep today and looked out on to the very hills where north korea has hundreds of rockets and artillery pieces ready to fire in the event of a war. >> behind that in the caves is where it is. >> reporter: seoul and its 20 million people are just 35 miles away. north korea has been practicing for this low-tech assault. missile defenses would be ineffective. the casualties enormous. at the border, mattis came within yards of north korean soldiers as, in a bizarre scene in this tense place, tourists in the north looked on. >> our goal is not war but rather the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the korean peninsula. >> reporter: north korea's leader, kim jong-un, says denuclearization is a nonstarter, but the trump administration is now trying to show that it's not asking. president trump arrives in asia next week with what is effectively an armada. for the first time in years three u.s. aircraft carrier strike groups are heading to the pacific in addition to the some 32,000 u.s. troops already in south korea. the navy says the deployment of the carriers was preplanned. still, it's a huge show of force to tell north korea if it attacks seoul with its artillery or worse uses its nuclear arms, the u.s. response will be devastating. lester? >> richard engel in seoul tonight, thank you. in a historic move opposed by the u.s., the catalonia region of spain declared its independence today from the rest of the country. but the spanish government immediately retaliated trying to keep the catalans from seceding. bill neely has the latest on what's happening in catalonia's regional capital, barcelona. >> reporter: wild celebrations in barcelona as spain's richest region declares independence. catalonia's flags raised. >> superhappy, superexcited. >> this dream is my grandfather's dream. >> reporter: history made by a vote in the catalan parliament. ♪ lawmakers singing their anthem in their own catalan language. but within minutes spain hit back. its parliament voting to strip all power from catalonia. spain's prime minister denouncing independence as a criminal act. the catalan leader now facing arrest. spanish riot police, sent in once this month to stop an independence vote, are standing by. amid today's tears, fears of violence. millions of catalans don't want independence. europe and the u.s. oppose it. the state department tweeting keep spain united. but it's a fractured country. spain tonight entering dark, unknown territory. bill neely, nbc news. the owner of the houston texans has apologized for a comment behind closed doors about player protests. robert mcnair reportedly said, quote, we can't have the inmates running the prison during a recent nfl meeting. according to reports, texan players nearly walked out of practice today over that statement. in a statement mcnair said, quote, i regret that i used that expression. i never meant to offend anyone. and i was not referring to our players. in florida tonight tiger woods has pleaded guilty to reckless driving in a deal that will keep him out of jail. it started with his arrest last spring when he was found passed out in his mercedes and police say with prescription drugs and marijuana in his system. as part of the deal woods will enter a diversion program and spend a year on probation. facebook today announced stricter rules for political advertisers after admitting thousands of ads linked to russia appeared on its platform during the election. this comes after twitter revealed that bots, bogus automated accounts linked with russia, also tried to influence the election. nbc's jo ling kent explains how bots work and how fast they can sway the conversation on social media. >> reporter: inside the intelligence lab at the institute for the future, sam woolly has been tracking how bots influenced the 2016 election. >> so-called fake news can have real world consequences. >> fake news. it's fake. >> reporter: bots are fake automated social media accounts that can post, retweet, like and share thousands of times faster than a real person. >> politicians, journalists, people that really spread and make news were actually sharing bot content online. they were sharing fake stories because, like us, they didn't really know what was going on. >> reporter: bots can add thousands of fake followers to a politician's account to make them appear more influential. they retweet posts to spread information quickly and widely. often using popular hashtags and trending topics to get more users to engage in a disinformation attack. it helps real people see that stuff and engage in it, right? >> exactly, yeah. it's more subtle. it's more insidious. it spreads better. >> reporter: nick monaco found that russians were buying armies of bots that were difficult to trace. for $25 i'm buying 10,000 retweets. >> the whole goal is to seed and fertilize the conversation. one of the things that the russians did, was they will use bots to gain momentum. >> reporter: in two hours the bots we purchased retweeted our headline 2,000 times. twitter says it catches 450,000 suspicious accounts every day and will continue to strengthen against attempted manipulation. experts say the 2018 election is already under threat as russian bots attempt to sow confusion among american voters. >> if the person who speaks the loudest is able to win we start to look like a very authoritarian country. >> reporter: in a cyber war bots against facts, the truth is at stake. jo ling kent, palo alto, california. fall is only about a month old, but it already looks like winter in parts of the midwest. the first major snowstorm of the season hitting with up to ten inches reported in parts of minnesota. the roads treacherous with state police reporting more than 100 crashes so far. two of them fatal. tonight temperatures are set to drop below freezing in spots. still ahead, storms, shark attacks and survival. the two women rescued after five months lost at sea sharing their dramatic story. also caught on camera. high speed chase that topped 100 miles an hour. but the biggest surprise is who was behind the wheel. back now with a remarkable story of survival. those two women we first told you about last night found alive and rescued with their dogs after months drifting at sea. tonight they're telling their story for the first time, how they made it through. here's nbc news national correspondent miguel almaguer. >> reporter: lost at sea five agonizing months, the improbable rescue came with little time to spare. >> we saw them. and we were just like, yes! >> we honestly did not believe that we would survive another 24 hours. >> reporter: today safely aboard the "uss ashland," their rescue ship, jennifer appel and natasha fuiava, with dogs zeus and valentine, say after three treacherous storms their engine flooded and their mast failed. >> we had winds between 50 and 72 miles an hour and waves that were up to 35 feet in height. >> reporter: drifting at sea, they say a swarm of tiger sharks stalked their un-seaworthy boat, thrashing the vessel, nearly capsizing it. >> they taunted us and popped up on the left-hand side and the right-hand side. when they decided they wanted to attack, it was extremely calculated. >> reporter: with a year's supply of food and a water purifier for their trip from hawaii to tahiti, the women spotted several ships during their 176 days in the pacific. firing flares, issuing maydays, but no rescue until this week. >> and i could see vessels and watch them get closer. when they would turn or keep going, yeah, it was kind of sad. >> reporter: tonight the duo is headed back to port, a story of survival from two mariners who say they can't wait to set sail again. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. coming up, she beat all the boys to win the tournament, but why is she being denied a trophy and a shot at the state championship? he was cool hand luke, but the battle over his wrist wear was red hot. take a look. it's well worn, nicked up, decades old rolex and it just smashed the record for the most expensive watch ever sold at auction. $17.8 million for a watch, but it's not just any watch. it's paul newman's rolex daytona given to him by his wife joanne woodward and made so famous by the late actor it was eventually nicknamed the paul newman daytona. outrage in massachusetts after a 16-year-old, emily nash, who scored the best at a boys team golf tournament was denied a trophy and advancement to the state individual competition because she's a girl. the rules say girls can play on boys fall teams but can't enter the boys individual tournament. nash says she's disappointed and questions why the rule exists. the trophy instead went to the male runner-up. a wild police chase caught on camera in cleveland. a driver putting the pedal to the metal flying down the ohio turnpike at speeds up to a hundred miles an hour with cops hot on his trail when it finally comes to this -- an end. get this, behind the wheel a 10-year-old boy who cops say took the family car on a joy ride. he's now facing felony charges. when we come back, hurricane harvey stole their home, but for these opera performers, the show must go on. nbc "nightly news" is brought to you by edward jones, where attention and sound advice is a big deal. next at 6: what doctors can learn from the brain of that killer. plus how the big surprise from marshawn lynch at a high school could now sideline the coach )s season. right now at 6: we )re following breaking news: finally this evening, all eyes are on houston as the world series moves there for game three. winning it all could mean so much for that city still reeling from hurricane harvey. but even in the aftermath of disaster, the texans you're about to meet embody that old saying, the show must go on. here's catie beck. >> reporter: tragedy on stage in houston, a city still healing from a real life tragedy, hurricane harvey. the unspoken story is what happened behind the scenes of the houston grand opera. after harvey destroyed their theater in august leaving them stageless. several in the company, like katherine mcdaniel, displaced twice. your home and your workspace that you love. >> both gone at the same time. ♪ >> reporter: their need to make art greater than ever. so they transformed space inside the houston convention center into an opera venue. part of the same space that once housed harvey victims. >> it's about rebuilding the people because the people are the theater. >> reporter: people like stage manager kristen burke, a mom who lost her home to harvey. >> this has made us feel like we're moving forward, both my family and my work family. >> reporter: the company had just 13 days to build the opera's new home. now opening night. emotional at what this once was. >> in a way we couldn't have imagined -- sorry. >> reporter: backstage, the costumes, the lights and the curtain. ♪ voices powerful and grateful. >> that is houston, texas. that is what has been going on since hurricane harvey hit. >> reporter: a tragic opera that ends in triumph. catie beck, nbc news, houston. we appreciate you spending part of your evening with us. that is "nightly news" for this friday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night smoke surrounding right now at 6:00, we are following breaking news. you can see it there. huge flames and thick black smoke surrounding homes in east san jose. live on the scene. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening and thanks for joining us. jessica aguirre. >> i'm raj mathai. we've backup tracking the story on air and online the past 90 minutes. >> sky ranger was the first over the flames. this is the area of pleasant acres drive and klein road near valuey vista elementary school. initially it started asset a backyard fire when the trailer caught fire. this is the firefighters beating back the flames. there's a lot of debris in the backyard they've been doing a good job of protecting homes. >> propane tanks cars trailers and boats. we saw it all all. even if you're not near the fire. you're likely to see in the south bay the thick black smoke can be seen for miles. let's take you live to the sky ranger. and this is the dramatic difference. crews have the upper hand. mostly with white smoke. firefighters have successfully protected the surrounding homes. nbc bay area sergio quintana has been watching it unfold. and joins us now from the ground level. a big difference from an hour ago. >> reporter: a big difference. the firefighters worked quickly. this was a four alarm fire we're told. about 100 firefighters mobilized out here. let me show you right now there is still a pretty consist -- persistent plume of smoke. but firefighters have a good

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