Winners in the big d, als moved our Treasure Hunt to atlanta. Hes got more clues and another chance to win today, wednesday, june 4th, 2014. From nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. Gangs all here. Carsons in als seat because als back on the road for this Treasure Hunt. Al, otherwise known as the candy man giving out treasures across the land. Well check in with him in a moment. As well as some pretty Severe Weather hitting the mid section of the country. Well talk to him in a moment. Absolutely. They saw what happened yesterday on the Treasure Hunt. They are ready to win the magic envelope. Thats right. A chance to come see us on the today show plaza and a friday concert. Are you guys ready . Are you ready . Were going to get the first clue coming up at 7 30 to give an atlantan a chance to new york. Back to you guys. I wish al would get a little more into this assignment. Thats the only thing. All right, al, thank you very much. Lets get to todays top story, our first look at what appears to be Army SergeantBowe Bergdahls handover to the u. S. Military. While here at home controversy still rages over the deal that led to his release. Nbcs chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel is at the Landstuhl Medical Center in germany. Richard, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. It is not often that you get to see video like this. A tense, but controlled meeting of two enemies on the battlefield. In the new video purportedly from the taliban, the militants wait in a field in eastern afghanistan on saturday. They have Sergeant Bowe bergdahl. He looks thin and nervous. There are more armed men on a baron hill nearby for backup. American special forces arrive around 6 30 p. M. One helicopter comes in to land. Both sides have reportedly agreed to approach each other with just three men per side. They briefly touch hands. The americans wave as they back away. They want no misunderstandings. Bergdahl is frisked, loaded, and theyre up. A minute on the ground. Smooth, no violence. Back home, controversy and pent up anger over bergdahls disappearance continue with fellow soldiers and their families accusing him of walking off his base in afghanistan five years ago. Sandra andrewss son darren was killed in an attack allegedly during the manhunt for bergdahl. Hes getting the royal treatment. And our kids came home, the ones of us who lost our sons, they came home in the baggage part of an airplane and were rolled out in a box with a flag. Reporter now the u. S. Army is looking into his capture and the deaths of six soldiers allegedly killed in the search. It could eventually lead to charges, ranging from simple misconduct to desertion. We dont know bergdahls motivation or mindset, but we know he was not abducted, he was not abandoned by his platoon in combat. Thats part of the problem. Reporter another part is now on capitol hill, where the backlash over the release of five taliban detainees in exchange for bergdahl has exploded, with republicans and democrats both accusing the white house of breaking the law. I strongly believe that we should have been consulted, that the law should have been followed, and i very much regret that that was not the case. Reporter those five taliban leaders are now settling into exile in qatar. They are staying at a modest villa by qatar standards. They are waiting to be reunited with their families and some u. S. Lawmakers worry they will not be as controlled as the white house and qatar officials claim. And one more thing about that video. You saw the taliban militants were carrying a white flag. And this shows how coordinated this exchange was. U. S. Forces had asked the taliban to initially shine a green light to indicate that they were the correct forces that had bergdahl. The taliban militants said they didnt have a green light, can we wave a flag instead. And the americans accepted. Richard engel, thank you so much. Lets go to nbcs Jim Miklaszewski at the pentagon. This video is extraordinary to look at, mik. What more can you tell us about the circumstances of this exchange, it looks so smooth when you watch the video but could have been so dangerous. Well, it was complicated. The First Impression im hearing from people in the pentagon is that he actually looks in pretty remarkable physical condition. No idea how he is psychologically. But physically, they think he looks pretty good. Second of all, we saw in that video that they frisked the special Operations Forces frisked bergdahl not once, but twice. And were told that it was out of fear that the taliban might have planted a suicide bomb on that american soldier. Meantime, mik, as you well know, theres so much fallout about the circumstances of bergdahls departure from the army. So many former soldiers, platoon mates speaking out against him. They had signed these nondisclosure agreements, which apparently they now feel they are released from. How are the pentagon brass really reacting to this and the soldiers coming out and in some ways disparaging him . Quite frankly, they understand the rage and concern. And theres concern at the highest levels of the pentagon also, that if bergdahl voluntarily walked off the base as everybody reports, if he attempted to associate himself with the Afghan People or there are some reports he may have even tried to get in touch with the taliban. Thats a very serious charge. And theres nothing more serious in the military than abandoning your post in a war zone. Jim miklaszewski at the pentagon, thank you very much. As richard mentioned, the prisoner swap controversy is not going away for the president and the obama administration. Nbcs chief White House Correspondent chuck todd is traveling with the president in warsaw. Chuck, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. Did the white house truly think this was just going to be a celebratory moment, the release of Sergeant Bergdahl . Did they not see any of this backlash coming . Were they caught flatfooted . Reporter they were caught flatfooted. Every aide ive talked to said they expected there to be controversy involving the decision to release five members of the taliban from gitmo, and the fact that this would then escalate that debate, which has been simmering for a good five years, which is what to do with those detainees, how do you release them, where do you release them. They did not expect this backlash on bergdahl himself. Ive had a few aides describe it to me as we didnt know that they were going to swift boat bergdahl. And thats a reference to that political fight back in 2004 over john kerrys military service that was so controversial in that campaign. So theres some fighting words there. How could they not have seen it coming when there was an investigation a while back, perhaps incomplete, but it concluded that bergdahl most likely walked away from his unit. There was that Rolling Stone article a couple years ago that included some emails he sent to his parents saying he was ashamed to be an american and had lost faith in the military. I dont understand how they couldnt have thought this was going to happen. Reporter because there were so many republicans on capitol hill that were urging the Defense Department to do whatever it took to get Sergeant Bergdahl. You had opeds in memorial day by republican senators including one in new hampshire. John mccain three or four months ago saying he actually would be open to an idea of some sort of exchange to free Sergeant Bergdahl. The initial euphoria in that first 12 hours. The surrounding the president with the parents of Sergeant Bergdahl. They really assumed thered be a rally around the flag moment, not just for the country, but on capitol hill. Obviously they had no idea that there would be no member of Sergeant Bergdahls unit that would go public and praise him or support him. So yes, they were caught off guard. Chuck todd traveling with the president in poland. Thank you very much. Another big story here at home, a Severe Weather outbreak damaging homes across the midwest. We find nbcs dylan dreyer in blair, nebraska this morning. Dylan, good morning. Good morning, savannah. It is 65 degrees here in blair, nebraska, and there is still ice tucked into this corner here. The remnants of softballsized hail that fell from yesterdays storms. That hail caused extreme damage to windows and buildings and cars all across this area. In omaha, they ended up with 5. 3 inches of rain yesterday, an alltime record high for june 3rd. Between the torrential downpours and massive wind gusts up to 100 Miles Per Hour, it was a wild day of weather in the nations heartland. Hail the size of golf balls. And devastating winds clocked at 80 Miles Per Hour causing major damage in yuling, nebraska, shredding the siding on homes and shattering windows. It sure was noisy when it was hitting my house. I recorded sirens sounding at about 4 00 p. M. Within minutes, all hail broke loose. The tornado sirens went off and we had to go into shelter and we were down there for a good hour. Omahas airport closed due to flash floods, reporting more than an inch of rainfall in just eight minutes, a rate of more than eight inches per hour. That much rain falling so fast flooded streets, stranding drivers. Emergency crews in lifeboats rescued families trapped in flooded homes. The high winds snapped trees and tossed grain silos. This truck driver was happy to get out of his flipped semi alive. I was afraid this window was going to break. For Stacy Sullivan visiting from oklahoma, this is one business trip she wont soon forget. Took my briefcase, covered my head and rolled up in a ball. The hail did horrendous, terrible damage to the vehicle, knocked out the entire back glass, shattered the front windshield. It was horrifying. Now luckily, stacys car was a rental and she actually bought the insurance. Im sure there will be a lot of insurance claims across this area today. Now, there are some strong storms right now moving through illinois and indiana. We are looking at a much lesser threat of storms today than yesterday. Thats good news. Well check in with al on the weather as well in just a moment. Meantime, there is a new development in the nearly threemonthold search for Malaysian Air flight 370. Overnight, scientists released an audio recording of what they say could be that plane hitting the water in the indian ocean. Nbcs tom costello has been following this investigation the very beginning. Tom, good morning. Hi, matt. These are microphones used to listen for Nuclear Tests or passing whales. The Scientists Say they only heard something suspicious when they went back and checked the recordings after flight 370 disappeared. Then they had to speed up the audio clip before they heard anything. The question this morning, is this recording the sound of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 slamming into the water . Scientists from Curtin University in australia and ctbto of vienna say their microphones picked up a lowfrequency noise in the indian ocean on march 8th. The same day flight 370 disappeared with 239 people onboard. But the sound is thought to have originated off the southern tip of india, 3,000 miles from the current search zone and in an area the size of texas. Underwater acoustics, you never really know what youre listening to in many cases. So this is another example of that. We havent given up on it. But its not at all clear the noise is from flight 370. That part of the indian ocean is a heavily traveled shipping zone with lots of marine life and seismic activity. The truth is, they could be detecting a lot of things. Theres lots of noise in the ocean. There are whales. Theres earthquakes. Theres volcanic eruptions. There are a lot of submarine volcanic eruptions. Search commanders say theyre not moving assets, instead continuing to focus west of australia in the area identified by the planes satellite pings along a southern arc. So far, though, the underwater search has turned up nothing. I think at some point, the airplane may be found, but it could be an effort like the titanic, where it could be years, not months. The australian professor we just heard from said this morning he thinks theres only a 10 chance that the noise he heard is, in fact, the plane. But that still needs to be checked. Keep in mind, the current search zone off the coast of australia is the size of west virginia. The area where the sound came from is the size of texas. Guys, back to you. Tom costello, thanks very much. Theyre going to have more on this. We are. Go to our Facebook Page and weigh in. Do you think well ever know what happened to flight 370 . Well have some results here quickly. Carson, thank you very much. Natalie is here with some primary results from states across the country. They are still counting the votes across the country this morning after tuesday nights primary elections, especially mississippi, where a sixterm senator is in serious danger of losing his seat. Senator Thad Corcoran and his Tea Party ChallengerChris Mcdaniel appear headed to a runoff, with nearly 98 of the votes in, mcdaniel held less than a 1 lead. But if neither candidate has 50 of the vote when the full vote is in, then corcoran and mcdaniel will face off again in three weeks. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and there is heavy security in central beijing. As tanked rolled in on june 4th, 1989, chinese troops opened fire on student protesters, more than a million demonstrators had gathered in central beijing in the leadup to the incident. Video of a lone protester standing in front of a line of moving tanks became one of the 20th centurys most powerful symbols. The death toll is widely believed to be in the hundreds. This morning were hearing from Donald Sterling for the First Time Since his team was sold. In an exclusive interview with knbc in los angeles, sterling said he is ready to move on. I feel fabulous. I feel very good. Everything is just the way it should be, really. It may have worked out differently, but its good. Its all good. Meantime, a new york man has been charged in the assault of sterlings onetime girlfriend v. Stiviano. She was allegedly punched in the face outside a hotel in new york over the weekend. It was stivianos recordings of Donald Sterlings racist remarks that led to his lifetime ban from the nba. And an update now on a story we told you about tuesday on today. Hall of fame quarterback dan marino says he inadvertently became a plaintiff in a concussion lawsuit against the nfl and is withdrawing immediately. In a statement, marino said he authorized a claim to be filed just in case he needed future medical coverage in case he suffered from the effects of head trauma. He said he did not realize, however, that he would be automatically listed as a plaintiff in the case. Marino said he doesnt suffer any effects from head injuries. A High School Principal in california probably couldnt wait to go home from work tuesday after being the target of a senior prank. Take a look. Got to love that. The principal arrived at work to find a mariachi band in his office. This was only the beginning, however, because you see then the band followed him all around the school, hallway to hallway, classroom to classroom, for more than an hour. He was a good sport about the whole thing. But might be reconsidering that trip to matzatlan. I love that theyre singing. Dont get us started with the spanish singing. Some salsa. Here we go. Lets check in with al. Hes down in atlanta. Al, good morning. Good morning, guys. Were going to get to our Treasure Hunt in just a bit, but first, we want to give you the weather. We do have more Severe Weather to talk about. In fact, weve got a severe thunderstorm watch now in effect for parts of missouri and on into illinois, until 11 00 a. M. Central daylight time. This system riding along, and you can see it holds together right into the northeast by early tomorrow morning and on up into new england. We call this a derecho, a long line of storms. For today, weve got that risk of strong storms from springfield into lexington into indianapolis. Tonight it moves a little further to the south. Were continuing to watch that. More showers, more thunderstorms, risk of Severe Weather, and it goes on into tomorrow. The risk of the strongest activity is going to be along the southeastern Atlantic Coast from raleigh, all the way down into central georgia. And in fact, were looking at heavy rain with this as well. Rainfall amounts approaching upwards of 3 inches of rain as you get into the central Mississippi River valley. Thats whats going on. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Kitchen could study you, what would it learn . What improvements would it make . At ge, youve inspired us to reimagine the kitchen. With innovations like the first dishwasher featuring 102 spray jets. The kitchen is now thinking more like you. And. Stop. No . Nothing . [ male announcer ] ge. Reimagining home. 7 19 good wednesday morning to you. Overcast start in