And at first, i took cover. I felt a burning sensation. I went to go lift my pant leg up. And i saw the blood. Why he says its the one and only time he will share his story. All that plus the American Woman held hostage for years, suddenly rushed to the hospital. Two officers involved in this ugly Airline Incident fired. And epic comeback. Into the gap. And two runs are going to score. The yankees pull off a late rally to tie up their series with the astros. And the dodgers beat the cubs, moving one win away from their first world series in 29 years. Today, wednesday, october 18th, 2017. 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 wednesday morning. We arent as blearyeyed started at 5 02 in the afternoon. Thank you for our schedules. Were going to start with the headlines coming out of washington this morning. The new controversy facing President Trump. He is taking heat for an insensitive remark to the widow of a slain army sergeant. We have two reports, beginning with nbc white house correspondent, kristen welker. Kristen, good morning. Reporter matt, good morning to you. President trump is starting the day on defense again today. With a florida congresswoman saying the call to one of the widows of the four soldiers killed in niger was insensitive. Its a back and forth over the families of the fallen between mr. Trump and his predecessor. Some democrat s accusing the president of taking a political fight into sacred territory. This morning, honor and heartbreak. The pregnant widow of a fallen u. S. Soldier weeping on his flagdraped coffin. With her two Young Children openly grieving her husband. Sergeant johnson was one of four american soldiers killed in niger. His body arriving tuesday in his hometown of time. This morning, President Trump is facing a firestorm over his phone call to johnsons widow. The democratic florida representative, said she was riding in a car with johnsons widow, en route to the arrival of her husbands body, when he called. She was telling the miami station basically, he was saying that he was sorry that she had his sympathy. But he was hoping that even though her husband gave his life for this country, sarcastically, he said, but you know he must have known what he signed up for. Like, how can you say that to a grieving widow . Reporter the congresswoman said the call lasted three to five minutes and the widows only response was thank you, at the end. The white house confirmed the president spoke to all four families of the fallen. But a white house official tells nbc news, the president s conversations with the families of american heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private. Its the latest chapter in the controversy surrounding President Trumps escalating criticism of former president barack obama. I think ive called every family of somebodys thats died. Thats the hardest call to make. As far as other representatives, i dont know. You can ask general kelly, did he get a call from obama . Reporter in a radio interview tuesday, mr. Trump invoking john kellys late son, robert kelly, a marine killed in afghanistan in 2010. A white house official telling nbc news, president obama never called kelly. But the kellys did attend a breakfast for gold star families, sitting at Michelle Obamas table. It all started when mr. Trump made this claim on monday. You look at president obama and other president s. Most of them didnt make calls. A lot of them didnt make calls. Reporter former Vice President , joe biden, defending his old paboss. I spent every christmas day, at walter reed. The president went over regularly. I cant explain President Trump. Reporter the root of all of this, the president was criticized for not making public statements about the four Service Members killed in niger sooner. A senior official tells nbc news, the white house did not receive detailed information from the Defense Department about the soldiers until october 12th. And the vetting of that information was not completed until wednesday. Kristen welker at the white house. Thank you. To this flurry of activity on capitol hill, with the countdown on to tend of the current session. Lawmakers are facing a massive todo list. Kasie hunt covering that for us. Good morning to you. Reporter savannah, good morning. Theres a rare sign of progress on capitol hill this morning. The president signaling he might be willing to support this bipartisan deal that could help lowincome americans afford their obamacare insurance. And thats one small achievement on a long list of unmet promises. And congress is running out of time. With winter coming, a rare bipartisan thaw on capitol hill. Chairman alexander and i were able to find Common Ground on a number of steps to stabilize the markets. Reporter the makings of a shortterm deal to prop up the obamacare insurance markets, after President Trump ended payments that help lowincome americans pay outofpocket costs. The solution will be a year or two years, and will get us over this intermediate hump. Reporter but its short of the repeal that President Trump promised and that congress spent most of the year trying and failing to pass. Im not going to blame myself, to be honest. Reporter with the new year fast approaching, congress is quickly running out of time to tackle a daunting todo list. The senate has 30 work days left this year. The house, just 28. To pass a major budget deal. Agree on the Health Care Market changes. Potentially fund a border wall and try to protect 800,000 undocumented kids. Im not planning on going home from washington for any holiday until we take care of the dacca and d. R. E. A. M. Er issue. Reporter thats before they get to a rewrite of the tax code, the top priority. If we fail on taxes, were dead. Well lose the house. And the senate is very much at risk. From my point of view, if we dont cut taxes, thats probably the end of the Republican Party as we know it. Reporter after nine months of accomplishing next to nothing, they have one month to achieve everything. We have been told not to make plans for december. We havent. I live closer than most. Im planning on being around. Reporter to kick it all off, the senate has to pass a budget blueprint this week. It wasnt clear they could get that far. Senator john mccain is signaling he could vote in favor of that, to make the path easier. All that really does is start a process they hope is going to end with the first major rewrite of the tax code. Thats a steep hill to climb for this congress. Kasie, you got your work cut out for you. A quick programming note, tomorrow on today, we have an exclusive live interview with the former c eer cia director, brennan. He will join us in our studio tomorrow to talk about a lot more. We want to turn to a new milestone on wall street. The dow topped 22,000 on tuesday for the first time ever. What does that say about the economy . And what does it mean for you . Stephanie ruhle is here with some answers. Good to see you. Its gained about 16 since the start of the year. 3,000 points. As i just mentioned, topped 23,000 briefly on tuesday. Whats driving this . Its a big positive. The economy is humming along. Its about corporate iearnings. President trump has a probusiness agenda. This is not a new rally. This has been a steady climb since the financial crisis. One thing thats a positive for stocks but a negative for us, is wages. Normally when unemployment is so low, companies have to pay out to higher workers. But they dont have to anymore. With globalization or outization, they dont have to pay anymore. It is bad for us that want raises. Its what happens in politics, affects the market. Does that mean the economy likes President Trump . People are going how come the chaos in washington is not playing out in the market . Part of it is because its noise. President trump does say a lot of things that scares us. But he doesnt necessarily do them. He says things about immigration, about trade, geopolitics. But his team walks it back. The market brushes it off, unless it actually gets put into play and it hasnt so far. Thank you very much. Good to have you here. This morning, new developments surrounding the hostages that were rescued in pakistan last week. Joshua boil, said his wife had to be rushed to the hospital on monday. Coleman is showing signs of exhaustion, dehydration, ma malnourishment and fatigue. The couple was rescued last week, five years after they were abducted in afghanistan. According to the new york times, member of the navys s. E. A. L. Team six. A popular athlete comes forward with a disturbing claim. Miguel almaguer has that story. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning. The world has been stunned about accusations of sexual abuse coming out of hospital. Now, hearing from the world of sports. A gold medal olympic star coming forward. Overnight, shocking allegations from a gold medal winner, set to rock the world of gymnastics. U. S. Gymnast mckayla maroney, after the sexual abuse scandal, now speaking out with allegations of her own sexual ordeal. Saying she was, quote, molested for years by the former doctor of the u. S. Womens National Gymnastics team, larry mass nas. This is happening everywhere. Where there is a position of power, there seems to be potential for abuse. I had a dream to go to the olympics. And the things i had to endure to get there were unnecessary and disgusting. Dr. Nassar told me they was receiving medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for nearly 30 years. It started at one of my First NationalTeam Training camps in texas. And it didnt end until i left the sport. In the harrowing, intensely personal account, she details the alleged abuse, including what she calls the scarier night of her life. Hes given me a sleeping pill for the flight. And the next thing i know, i was alone with him in his hotel room, getting a treatment. I thought i was going to die that night. Rising to fame as a member of the fierce five team in london, maroney won gold as part of the u. S. Team, and silver in the vault, leading to this not impressed face, that went viral. She recreated the face with president obama during a white house visit. Dr. Nassar is awaiting trial on separate sexual criminal charges. He is being sued by over 100 women. As for maroney, he says its never too late to speak up. Our silence has given power to the wrong people for too long. We reached out for comment. But no immediate response. Savannah and matt . Miguel, thank you very much. Now, to the controversy over athletes and the national anthem. Today, National Correspondent craig melvin is here with the latest. Reporter good morning, guys. The league and the Players Association are calling the meeting itself productive. But it was another sport in the spotlight last night. Oh, say can you see reporter the nbas regular season tipping off tuesday night. But before the first shot, all eyes were on the anthem, to see how players would react. Unlike the nfl, nba rules say players, coaches and trainers must stand and line up in a dignified posture along the sidelines or foul line during the anthem. Lebron james and the Cleveland Cavaliers stood in locked arms. He is also had the word equality on each of his sneakers. The defending champion Golden State Warriors squared off with the houston rockets. The rockets players, also linking arms in unity. It comes as the nfl owners and players are meeting in new york, amid their own anthem controversy. A topic President Trump recently brought back into the spotlight. It is very disrespectful to our country, when they take a knee during the national anthem. Reporter and whiles its a hotbutton issue, no change in the nfls policy. The league not seeking commitments from players to stop kneeling. Instead, vowing to help them focus on political activism. Their commitment to addressing these issues is really admirable. And something i think our owners looked at saying, we want to help support you. It starts with having tough conversations and moving forward. Thats where we started today. Reporter outside the nfl meeting, demonstrators took a knee of their own to show players their support. President trump is tweeting about that meeting this morning saying, quote, the nfl has decided it will not force players to stand for the playing of our national anthem. Total disrespect for our great country. Meanwhile, an attorney for colin kaepernick, the first player to kneel for the anthem, said his client was not invited to that meeting but he is open to joining future talks. This week, kaepernick filed a grievance against the league, saying that all 32 owners have colluded to keep him out of the nfl. The story goes on. It does, craig. By the way, just mentioned the nba. Speaking of that league, there was a frightening moment in the cavs celtics game. Boston forward, gordon hayward, had a horrific injury just moments into his debut. This happened during an alleyoop attempt. Ard collided james. Dislocating his ankle and breaking his leg. It left players on both teams stunned. His teammates huddled together, as medical personnel rushed to his side. Lebron james checked on hayward afterwards before he was wheeled away on a stretcher. The cleveland crowd giving a standing ovation. The injury is a big blow to the celtics. They signed hayward to a fouryear deal justice u. S. This season. Forget the contract, for get everything. Thats a great player and hard to watch. Send him our best, for sure. First check of the weather, al. A chilly start to the morning. 13 million folks from new york city to asheville, looking at chilly conditions. However, 190 million of us will be looking at aboveaverage temperatures. For today, boston, ten degrees above average. For tomorrow, you see the temperatures really rise again, from Salt Lake City all the way to new york city. Wichita and st. Louis. And moving into friday, the heat is on. Philly, 74. Thats eight degrees above average. Good morning. Im meteorologist krystal klei. Another great day ahead of you. Low humidity, light winds, plenty of sunshine. Today, warmer than yesterday. 70 in center city. Around 70 for westchester. 69 at lansdale. 70 doylestown, and easton 71 degrees. New jersey, near the low 70s. Same deal over the jersey shore. In delaware, 70 for the forecast high in smyrna. Wilmington at 70. And thats your latest weather. Savannah . Al, thank you. Coming up, the Security Guard shot by the las vegas gunman, breaking his silence. What he is revealing about that encounter just minutes before the massacre. And Harvey Weinstein dealt another blow, tied to his Sexual Harassment scandal. While his brother faces a new allegation of his own this morning. First, this is todayn nbc. O sweet 4k tv, mr. Peterson. Thanks. Im pretty psyched. Did you get fios too . No, was i supposed to get fios . Mr. Peterson. Fios is a 100 fiberoptic network. Its like it was invented to stream 4k movies and shows. How do you know so much about tv and internet . The internet. Right. Streaming is only as good as your internet. So get the best internet with the 100 fiberoptic network get fios now just 79. 99 per month for fios gigabit connection plus tv and phone. Just ahead, well tell you about a bulls daring dash for freedom. Weve taken you around the world. This morning, we reveal the happiest city in the united states. You want me to tell you right now . Is that a picture of it . You h im a migraine sufferer and im an emt. When i get a migraine at work, its debilitating. If i call out with a migraine, thats one less ambulance to serve a community. I just dont want to let these people down. Excedrin migraine. Relief that works as hard as you do. And then the people go inside. Do you understand charlie . Mom . Yeah . Can i have a Peanut Butter sandwich . Yeah, you sure can. Can charlie have one, too . Charlie can have one too. And one for charlie. gasp look mom charlie took a bite. with full mouth unbelievable. Feed his imagination, with the fresh roasted peanut taste he loves. Where theres jif, theres love. With the fresh roasted peanut taste he loves. Good starts with g. Gloriously great tasting whole grains. Theyre whole every gram glistening with genuine golden honey. Its true real cocoa, Peanut Butter and cinnamon too. [glass breaks] oops sorry just gearing you up for good mornings and good afternoons. [cheers] [laughing] these whole grains will get you going good. Speaking of good. Try new Apple Cinnamon toast crunch. Hey grandpa. Hey, kid. Really good to see you. You too. You tell grandma you were going fishing again . Maybe. vo the best things in life keep going. Thats why i got a subaru, too. Introducing the allnew crosstrek. Love is out there. Find it in a subaru crosstrek. That one. This. That one. Breaking news, trouble on i95. Lets get right to Jessica Boyington whos keeping an eye on the crash. Jess . Rosemary, were watching 95 now. All lanes have been closed for at least 45 minutes or so now. Probably a little more than that because of a tractortrailer accident. Now a few things going on here besides that all lanes are blocked in the northbound side, approaching 413. A tractortrailer is involved here. You see another truck involved with a trailer hitched on the back with a vehicle stuck completely underneath it. This is another view from other side. Were seeing southbound delays moving by and traffic not moving again on the northbound side. Now, if you are trying to go over the burlington bristol bridge and head over to the jersey side, my suggestion for you is to get off right around the tacony palmyra bridge or route 1 to get to new jersey because theres already more than a fivemile backup behind the scene. Well be watching it. Thanks. Now a check of the forecast with meteorologist krystal klei. Cool start, but we will warm up. Yeah. Its chilly agai