11 million undocumented immigrants. Would that new strategy help win back minority voters or is it too late . Wild weather. Damaging tornadoes in the midwest. A new round of devastating flooding in the south. While in california, a raging Wildfire Forces new evacuations and now threatens the historic hearst castle. Were getting a new puppy with a purpose raising a service dog for a deserving veteran. Our new friend is in that litter and youre about to meet him, today, monday, august 22nd, 2016. Announcer from nbc news this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Our first day back all of us in studio 1a. Wait, what . I hug you and you get new puppy smell. Were so happy to have you guys back. Its boring around here without you. Yeah. [ speaking portuguese ] i brought you a little puppy. I had to give you a welcome. I cannot wait to meet this little critter. It will be fun. Meanwhile, we have a lot of olympic news to talk about. Its kind of the closing ceremony. After all the headlines that led up to these games, all th of rio pulled it off. It was a spectacular ending. Nbcs Peter Alexander in rio. Peter, good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning to you. Where did everybody go . You guys leave and the storm clouds move in here in rio. Over the course of these games coming in, there were serious worries about the citys preparedness, about the zika virus, about toxic water, the games went off with only a few minor hiccups and after these exhilarating last couple weeks, this city came together. Epic carnivalelike party. Christ the redeemer arms outstretched. Reporter the closing ceremony as colorful as the games themselves. Simone biles, americas 49 gymnastics giant. The most stunning athlete i have ever seen. Reporter leading the way for team usa. With four gold medals in rio, she was given the honor of carrying the american flag. The final celebration a culmination of olympic the u. S. Mens Basketball Team reigning supreme, earning its third consecutive gold medal. The United States has won the gold. Reporter blowing out serbia, a 30point win. It was a special moment for me. Reporter nba star Carmelo Anthony overcome by emotion. Announcing his olympic retirement. Despite everything thats country, we got to be united. And im glad i did what i did. I stepped up to the challenge. Reporter so did brazil earning the gold medal this soccer crazed country so badly wanted. And scores brazil strikes olympic gold reporter captain neymar brazils biggest sports star filled with joy and relief after knocking home the game winning goal aga g adding to its medal count commanding in the ring. She knows shes closing in on the gold. Reporter Claressa Shields punching her way to the podium. Golden again reporter her second straight boxing gold. The First American ever to do it. 20yearold kyle snyder becoming the youngest wrestling champion in u. S. Historic history. Mens marathon got their medals including american galen rupp who took home bronze. Stealing the show, japans Prime Minister paying homage to super mario. Tokyo will host the next summer olympics in 2020. With the olympic flame extinguished, the rio games have come to a close. Here is the medal count one final time. Team usa crushing the competition. Dominant in these games. 121 total medals. 46 golds way ahead of china, Great Britain and russia. This is the most medals for the u. S. In more than three decades. The most medals ever in a nonboycotted olympic games. You can see behind me. Three folks came out. Them that everybody took off. Probably still having a good time. Thanks very much. There were other stories that came out of these games like the embarrassing incident that involved four american swimmers including ryan lochte that became a blemish on the games. He originally said that he and his teammates were robbed at gunpoint but Surveillance Video from a rio gas station paints a different picture. Over the weekend we sat down with lochte exclusively to get his side of the story. In the bushes. The way its been described to me is a metal framed poster of some kind or advertisement of some kind. And you just ripped it off the wall . Yeah. And i have no idea i mean, i was very intoxicated. I have no idea why. It was immature. It was childish. It made a big noise. It made a big noise. And we continued to walk out and damage or destroy or vandalize anything in that gas station that night . Im not speaking for them. You were with them. Do you know if they also did things like that . No. You dont know or they didnt . No. No. It was me. Im taking full responsibility for everything. I mean, it was childish and immature. I just want to make sure the bathroom side of this. You heard the police. The police say the damage in that bathroom. That a door was damaged. I think they said a mirror was damaged and soap dispenser was damaged. At any point did you enter the bathroom and damage those things . No. You never went in the bathroom . We never went in the bathroom. Did you kick the door of the bathroom . Like i said, i was very intoxicated. I dont remember. So is it possible you damaged the door to the bathroom, perhaps even kicked it International Olympic committee has set up a Disciplinary Commission to investigate that incident. U. S. Olympic officials promise further action. Well have more with our exclusive interview with ryan lochte in our next half hour including his description of that confrontation with the Security Guard at the gas station. We move now to politics and the president ial race and an indication this morning that donald trump may be looking to change his tone on one of his most controversial proposals. Nbcs Hallie Jackson is at trump tower for us this morning. Good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. Those new indications on immigration arent coming from the candidate himself but from his new Campaign Manager who insists even after a tumultuous seven days that donald trump is having his best week. A new week and a new tone for Donald Trumps team. Seeming to soften his stance supporting a socalled Deportation Force to remove the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the force . To be determined. Reporter the candidate himself still silent about it. His immigration policy Still Standing online with trump still struggling to win over minority voters. Not just latinos but africanamericans from whom he has about 1 support. Youre li i you have no jobs. 58 of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose . Reporter that argument to black voters delivered to mostly white communities. His comments are for all americans, and i live in a white community. Im white. I was very moved by his comment. In other words, he is trying to tell americans that we can do better. Reporter now as trump tries to stay on message for another week and on attack against Hillary Clinton, one of his top surrogates is raising eyebrows raising questions about clintons health. Go online and put down reporter clintons team has shot down what they have called deranged conspiracy theories about her physical fitness. She is off the campaign trail. She is facing questions now about why the Clinton Foundation will stop accepting corporate and foreign donations if shes elected but didnt do so while she was secretary of state. What the foundation is saying is that they dont want to become a distraction. They want to go as far as they interest. Reporter and this morning clintons email controversy is again in the headlines as colin powell pushes back against a report clinton told the fbi he advised her on the use of private email. The former secretary of state is telling People Magazine that clintons people have been trying to pin it on him. His office acknowledged to nbc that powell did send a memo detailing his use of private email but only after clinton all right. Hallie jackson at trump tower. Lets bring in james carville, the mastermind behind bill clintons run to the white house in 1992. Hes out with a new book. Its called, were still right, theyre still wrong. James is still blunt. How are you . Lets pick up where hallie left off. Colin powell now saying to People Magazine reportedly th trying to pin this on him. That he had recommended she have her own email. Lets pretend youre in your old job working for Hillary Clinton. What should she do about this email issue that continues to dog her . Maybe documentary evidence. A memo. If they have that, they should get that out and show that. I would stop there. Well see what it is. Paper floating around there somewhere. Do you think they handled this issue well . You can go back to anything in politics and say could you have done this better at this time and done that but right now theyre up in the polls and theyre ahead and anything that you do in politics you could say that we handle the Gennifer Flowers story well. Theres always something you could have, would have, should have. Theyre ahead but a reboot on the trump side of things. A softer side of him. Hes walking back some of his most controversial policy issues including this mass deportation. How worried should the clinton to actually help him . We dont exactly know if hes apologizing but not sure for what. I read a story this morning and his Campaign Manager says that hes going to redo this. Its not trump himself saying that. I think that everything that i doing things that a campaign does. They dont have the organization. Some people doubt that hes trying to win. I dont know. Reince priebus said by labor day this will be an even race. Would you like to take that bet . I would like to take that bet but its not labor day that counts. Its election day that counts and i think shell be way ahead by then. On friday donald trump went to louisiana. You have family in baton rouge. A lot. Its a mess down there. He goes down there and looks at the damage firsthand and talks to people before president obama. It wasnt until after his visit that Hillary Clinton picked up governor there. Did he appear more president ial in the wake of that tragedy than Hillary Clinton . I think the time line is that she and the governor spoke. The governor had said he would prefer that people come later because they have particularly the president come. Im grateful that he came. He gave 100,000 to a church in the area. Im sure the president is going to come on tuesday. The one thing everyone agrees on has been really good. Thats the total agreement. I want to ask you a question about the book. You say elections may be won in the center by converting independence, but they are lost by the base. Right . Thats why i wrote this book. If people dont understand that theres been a clear performance differential between the two parties, they will think theres not a stake in there. I think democrats have a large stake in there. Weve had two successful democratic presidencies with a disastrous republican president in the middle. As democrats we have to remind our own people of that. Thats part of this book is more a book for the converted than anything else. Worried about overconfidence and democrats say why bother show up . In 92, we have a very negative view of the world. We never get overconfident about anything. Knowing mrs. Clinton and knowing and all of that, theyre not going to suffer from little confidence. Thats one thing im not going to worry about. The book is called, were still right, theyre still wrong. Available on amazon and bookstores tomorrow. To new developments in the battle against zika we want to tell you about this morning. Texas and louisiana could be the next states where the mosquito borne virus could spread. Dr. Anthony fauci from the says flooding in those states expanded the mosquito breeding grounds. He said zika will hang around in the u. S. For up to two years. Infections traced to local mosquitos have been found in two parts of south florida including in miami beach. Now to the Severe Weather impacting millions across the country. There were at least 16 reports of tornadoes over the weekend. Most of them in ohio, indiana and michigan. Emergency crews spent much of the day on sunday clearing trees and power lines that came down on roads there. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses had power knocked out. Meanwhile in central struggling to keep a raging wildfire there away from historic hearst castle. The socalled chimney fire has burned more than 27,000 acres and at one point was about two miles from the castle. Farther south evacuation orders have been lifted after a massive fire destroyed more than 100 homes in San Bernardino county. Meanwhile, people in texas are cleaning up after a weekend of flash flooding. Hardhit louisiana, expecting more rain today. Again, president obama will head there tomorrow. Mr. Roker, theres a lot going on. Thats right and that rain that you were just talking about, its still going to be coming down in parts of texas and louisiana, looking at more heavy rain and then it moves to the north. You can see heavy showers and thunderstorms firing up between Corpus Christi and san antonio. Activity also firing up along the stationary front into louisiana and arkansas so lower we look for flooding possible later on in the next several days as we move further up into the Mississippi River valley from peoria, des moines, quincy, we could look at severe storms and anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rain. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Yeah. I wish theyd name an event after me. Same here. But the model year end becky event . Thats just vandalism. Whatever you want to call it, dont miss the volkswagen model year end event. Hurry in for a onethousand dollar volkswagen reward card and 0 apr on a and thats your latest weather. Coming up, more of our exclusive interview with ryan lochte. What he now says happened during that confrontation with a Security Guard at that rio gas station and his message to the people of brazil. Start of a special rossen report series. This one is all about saving you money. This morning do you really have to spend so much to get a great tasting cup of coffee . But first, this is today on nbc. Just just ahead, the marathoner the celebration. Did we mention were getting a new puppy with a purpose. Hes one of these guys. What about this guy . This guys. Been through a lot. Dogs bring out the good in us. Pedigree brings out the good in them. Feed the good. The things that i consume on a daily basis, a lot of it is very acidic. The enamel on my teeth was actually weakening. Wasnt there as much. My teeth didnt look as healthy as others. My dentist said that pronamel would help fight against that erosion that foods and drinks were causing. So it was really important to start using the pronamel. Itll be one less thing you have to worry about. Pronamel is now giving me the confidence to know that im doing the right thing. So its nice to know that its as simple as that. Hi, im the honorary real trix rabbit. General mills wants me to let you know that we use real cereals tasty, and these guys for awesome colors. That means no artificial flavors or colors. Nice. And now for the moment ive been waiting for. I get the trix. Silly real trix rabbit, trix are still for kids. Hmmm. Rookie mistake. Josh, dont you have friends coming over . Yeah, so . Lets wash it with febreze. For all the things you cant wash, use febreze. Fabric refresher whoa hey mrs. Walker inhales hey, it smells nice in here and try pluggable febreze, with up to 4 times the freshness. In one refill. Pluggable febreze and fabric refresher. [inhale exhale mnemonic]. Two more ways to breathe happy what makes a lipton meal . First you start with this. Then add this. And this face. Wait, we can do better. A lipton meal is what you bring to it. And the bright refreshing taste of lipton iced tea. If you have allergy congestion, muddling through your morning is nothing new. . . Introducing rhinocort . Allergy spray. Powerful relief from nasal allergy symptoms, all day and all night. . . Try rhinocort . Allergy spray. Muddle no more . Sara, could you come in here. Yep, coming. Oh wow, what kind of underwear are those . Guys. Theyre breathable underwear from fruit of the loom. Yes, they have these tiny holes to let the air through, can you help me . Wa wa weewoo look at those. Can you feel this . [blowing] turn around for me. Seriously . Yeah. Slow. Slow. Slower. Slower is that okay. I dont think you should get that dress. It doesnt fit. Stay cool with breathable underwear from fruit of the loom. Technology is useful. Fi just bought a book. And while i was telling you about the book, i downloaded a song. About that song thing, someone arranged a date. Guilty. The point is, life is digital. So, carmax, created a site where you can reserve a car online. Come in when its convenient, your car will be waiting. Just another thing to make buying a car better for you. Reads this tweet that i just posted. Oh, that appears to be trending. Were back at 7 30. Its monday morning, august 22nd, 2016. Gang is all back together. So happy to have a crowd out on our plaza. Two awesome weeks in rio or so i hear. Look at todays headlines as the games came to an end with last nights closing ceremony celebrating the beauty of brazil. Simone biles won five medals including four gold. Team usa by the way took only 121 medals in all. Thats the most in a nonboycotted olympics in 112 years. In other news, at least eight people were injured last outdoor dance party. It happened near cleveland. The driver hit the gas by mistake instead of the brakes. Police are investigating and say charges could be filed. President obama arrived back to the white house late last night after a vacation in marthas vineyard. Tomorrow the president travels to louisiana to view the devastation from that states historic flooding. We want to begin this morning