Nbc news has learned Richard Simmons will file a lawsuit today against multiple publications for articles described as unflattering and hurtful. Will the fitness guru finally reenter the spotlight in court today monday, may 18, 2017. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. [ cheers and applause ] good morning, everybody. Welcome to today on a monday morning, im savannah guthrie, we have craig melvin in for matt and, shh, people are sleeping outside. Folks waiting for harry styles who kicks off our summer classic series. Well reveal the lineup we have for the summer. Are you impressed . Its quite the lineup. Something on the list for everyone. Stick around for that. Well get right to our top story. We start in washington. This muchanticipated hearing on capitol hill on russian interference into the president ial election. Acting attorney general sally yates. She was fired by President Trump. Nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander is at the white house to begin our complete coverage. Hi, peter, good morning to you. Reporter savannah, good morning to you. More than five months after the election the Trump Administration is still facing unresolved questions about russian interference with former acting attorney general sally yates expected to open up about what she told white house officials between contact between former National Security adviser Michael Flynn and the Russian Ambassador. Sharing her story for the first time publicly, sally yates, fired by President Trump less than two weeks after he took office for refusing to enforce his controversial travel ban. Today yates is expected to testify about warnings she delivered to Trump Administration officials concerning then National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Sources familiar with yates plan say shell discuss alerting white house aides in january that flynn was potentially Vice President mike pence and other officials about his contacts with Russian Ambassador sergey kislyak. While one republican official familiar with the white houses thinking tells nbc news the administration will argue yates is politicizing the issue, democrats argue the former Deputy Attorney general is a veteran prosecutor with an impeccable reputation. She is very widely respected and she apparently has some information as to who knew what went. Reporter President Trump again dismissing the russia investigation questioning when will the fake media ask about the democrats dealings with russia . But even Top Republicans arent disputing the facts. I think theres no question there was russian interference in our elections. Our politics remains filled with division and discord and at such moments courage is necessary. Reporter it comes as president obama is speaking out, defending obamacare late sunday while accepting the john f. Kennedy foundations annual profile in courage praising the lawmakers who voted for his signature achievement. Theirs was a profile in courage. Because of that vote 20 Million People got Health Insurance who didnt have it before. And most of them did lose their seats. Reporter as House Republicans are getting an fearful from constituents at town halls nationwide, idaho Raul Labrador under fire for this claim. Nobody dies because they dont have access to health care. [ boos ] reporter House Speaker paul ryan defending the bill. People expect their elected leaders that they run and campaign on doing something, they expect them to do that and thats what were doing. Were keeping our word. Reporter the bill now in the hands of the senate, with the president keeping the pressure on vowing republican senators will not let the American People down. Back to todays testimony on russian interference, this is just the beginning. Sally yates will be back again and again before Senate Intelligence and house intelligence committees and possibly before the house peter, thank you so much. Lets go to jeremy bash, former Defense Department analyst and now with nbc. Good morning to you. Good morning. Did Michael Flynn, the president s first pick for National Security adviser, have some kind of inappropriate discussion with the Russian Ambassador . Sally yates is a big piece of the puzzle. What does she know . Shes a career federal prosecutor who came under president bush 41. She rose to become u. S. Attorney and attorney general of the united states. She went to the white house on january 26 and said hey, we are investigating this matter, we interviewed Michael Flynn, he lied to us, he lied to you. Instead of firing Michael Flynn, the white house fired sally yates and then didnt fire flynn until 17 days later. Fired her in connection with the travel ban but nonetheless she was let go. Thats right. One of the outstanding questions continues to be was general flynn please acting on his own when he talked to the Russian Ambassador about these sanctions or was hec shes presumably seen these intercepts, might she be able to shed light on that question . It depends on what the white house told her. The question is, was Michael Flynn freelancing or did he have authority from someone above in the higher chain of command, possibly the president elect to do this deal, if you will, with the russians to basically say were going to give you a pass for your interference in the 2016 election. And craig and savannah, it goes a larger question which is what leverage did russia have over u. S. Foreign policy Decision Making in those early days of the Trump Administration and quite possibly what leverage does russia have even to this day . And what leverage does russia believe it has in any event. What about the white houses response . They say look, this is a person who is politicized, shes a democrat, she was let go by the president in connection with her refusal to enforce the travel ban and shes gotten a ax to grind . I dont think thats the case at all. Shes very credible. She is a career federal justice department, spent her entire career as a public servant. She was doing her job when she told the white house counsel, hey, look, we have a situation on our hands that needs to be addressed and instead they kept him in position for 17 days. Jeremy bash. Always good to have you. Thank you, guys. Now to a president ial election in france thats been closely watched by the white house and other world leaders. 39yearold Emmanuel Macron became the countrys youngest president elect ever and President Trump was quick to offer his congratulations. Nbcs richard edge is with us from paris. Richard, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. Hell be sworn in in a week. He is the youngest french president ever, the youngest before him was napoleon, in fact, and he won with a message of optimism. In a resounding rejection of the far right, french voters overwhelmingly elected the young former banker emmanuel mr president. Liberty, egalite, fraternite. Reporter he told supporters i will serve you with our motto. He won with 65 of the vote, 30 more than his rival marine le pen. Le pen, who offered her concession, promised to close frances borders, leave the eu, drop the euro and was an opened a mirer of President Trump. In a tweet, President Trump congratulated macron, his aides told nbc news they were disappointed trump didnt call. European leaders were down right relieved. Macron wants to stay in the eu, is a big supporter. The euro hit a sixmonth high against the dollar. While the polls had expect macron to win, his victory was never certain. An isisinspired terrorist the first round election two weeks ago and on friday a huge cache of documents hacked from macrons campaign was leaked. But the terrorism and hacking did not have much of an impact on the election. Today people in france are commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the allied victory over nazi germany in world war ii and there is a feeling in paris once again that europe has been saved. Back to you. Richard engel for us this morning in paris, richard, thank you. Also this morning, new tension between the u. S. And north korea after the regime announced it has detained a fourth american citizen. Nbcs chief global correspondent bill neel bill neely has the latest for us, good morning. Reporter good morning. Every few days the relations between the u. S. And north korea seem to nose dave. Well, here we go again, with a second american citizen now arrested in as many months and the suspicion growing that the regime of kim jongun is Holding Americans as pawns in a nuclear crisis. The latest american detained worked at pyongyangs university of science and technology which was founded by christianed. Name as kim hackson, he was arrested for what the state fuse agency called hostile acts against the republic. The government, it said, is conducting a detailed investigation of his crimes. He joins three other americans held in north korea, professor tony kim, arrested last month, kim dongchu, serving ten years for alleged spying and virginia student Otto Warmbier serving 15 years hard labor for removing a political sign. There could be, of course, politics to it as well that north koreas looking for some breakthrough in the relationship and theyd be willing to release these citizens in the context of what they would call improved relations with states. Reporter relations have rarely been worse. North korea is test firing missiles at an unprecedented rate. Three last month alone. Its threatening to carry out a sixth nuclear test. Furious at that the u. S. And south korea have been holding huge military exercises. Its even accused the u. S. Of a plot to kill leader kim jongun with a biochemical weapon. President trump last week offered to meet him. If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him i would absolutely i would be honored to do it. Reporter that scenario seems more remote after this fourth arrest. In the past, americans jailed by north korea have been released after a visit by an american envoy, a very senior official or politician but with a dire state of relations between the two countries today, any such visit by any american seems highly bill neely, thank you. Reporter Texas Governor greg abbot signed a law that bans socalled sanctuary cities and bans people with jail time if they dont cooperate. He signed that bill on facebook with no advanced notice the law allows police to ask whether someone is in this country illegally during routine traffic stops. Opponents are vowing a court challenge. To southern georgia where a wildfire at a wildlife refuge has forced nearby residents to evacuate. The fire has burned 130, acres since it started last month, 11,000 in the last two days, wind gusts and dry conditions are making the fire difficult to contain. We are learning more about a double murder that rocked the city of boston. Two wellknown doctors who were engaged were killed inside their penthouse apartment and police now say the couple most likely nbcs Morgan Ratford has the latest on that information. Good morning. Reporter new detail this is morning in the double homicide that has this south Boston Community shaken. Two respected doctors, one surviving suspect and police are trying to figure out how theyre connected and why. A house of horrors. We just ran in as the shots were being fired. Reporter police rushing into a luxury boston penthouse friday night where they say they found a lone gunman, a 30yearold man, firing shots from the doorway. Well need at least two shields and a long gun for cover. Reporter after exchanging rounds with police, the gunman went down, injured but alive. Inside the apartment, two dead doctors, 38yearold lena belanos and her fiance, 49yearold richard field, both abc thesologists. Field sent a desperate text to a friend in his final got a message from his friend saying theres a gunman in the house. Reporter according to the boston globe, when police arrived, they found the couple already dead, their hands bound, throats slit, a message about payback written on the wall. We believe clearly the victims and the individual, the suspe suspects knew each other. We dont know a motive. Reporter authorities believe couple was linked to teixeira who, according to prosecutors, served nine months after being convicted of two Bank Robberies in the past three years. The gruesome murder sending a chill through south boston. Really surprising to hear Something Like that would happen here. Everyone is devastated and shocked. Reporter both practices where each doctor worked releasing statement of sympathy calling their death a senseless tragedy that left an inescapable void. A void leaving more questions than answers. Prosecutors tell nbc news they against teixeira this morning. He wakes up in Tufts Medical Center and is expected to be arraigned as soon as he is released. Craig, savannah . Morgan radford in boston. Thank you. A courageous 10yearold girl is recovering after she was bitten by an alligator while swimming in shallow water. This happened saturday in a designated swimming area at a like in orlando, florida. Get this, she was in just two feet of water when a ninefoot gator clamped down on her leg. The girl tried to punch the animal in the nose to get free. When that didnt work she pulled down on the gators bottom jaw. Somehow she was able to escape, she was taken to a nearby childrens hospital. She is expected to survive. She has some injuries. I have to say shes my hero. I cant imagine ten years old. Having the courage to do that. Bonked him right in the nose. Mr. Roker, you continue to draw the ire of your colleagues. I wouldnt expect that because you know im just the messenger. Just the messenger. As you recall on theres nothing moving. Its like the greek letter omega so were its cold it will stay cold wherever its cold. So we have frost freezes and watches and warning for 57 Million People from wisconsin into pennsylvania and as far south as virginia but look at the middle where the ridge jumps up to the north. Omaha upper 80s to upper 70s, memphis mid80s, new orleans all week long into the low 80s and dallas the same. Head out west, not a lot of great news. Upper level lows, scattered showers through the southwest. Temperatures in the 60s in san diego. Low 70s in phoenix. Denver on the cool side, same in salt lake but hopefully well break this thing toward the end of this week. Well get to your local forecast coming up cant even hide her disgust. Good monday morning, temperatures are on the chilly side. 49 in the district, 44 manassas. In Higher Elevations in the west we have temperatures in the 30s with some areas of frost but as we go through the day today, plenty of sunshine, by lunchtime low 60s, by the afternoon getting close to the mid60 eyes but overall a cooler pattern. Dry wednesday, rain chances return thursday and potentially a rainy and chilly saturday. And thats your latest weather. Al roker, thank you so much, sir. Coming up, disturbing new information in that case of hazing. 18 members of a fraternity charged in connection with a pledge members death. And later, Richard Simmons taking on the tabloids. How the fitness guru is fighting back against what he considers a hurtful campaign against him. First, this is today on nbc. Well its a perfect nespresso hold on a second. Orge. Mmm. [mel torme sings comin home baby] hey there. Want a lift . Where are we going . No dont tell me. Let me guess. Have a nice ride. How far would you go for coffee thats a cup above . I brought you nespresso. Nespresso. What else . A pi. Just just ahead, is prince harrys relationship heating up . The kiss that has everyone talking. And two words, i can top this. Jennifer lopez will be here live to talk about her new show and something she needs your help with. My help . Yes, you, craig. While hpv clears up for most, that wasnt the case for me. Maybe they didnt know i would end up with cancer because of hpv. 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