growing calls to pull back from the brink. world leaders urging restraint after iran's unprecedented attack on israel. we have team coverage on the

efforts to avert a wider war in the middle east both abroad and here at home in the u.s. donald trump's campaign collides with the courtroom for the first time ever a former president will face criminal charges in court today. we are live with who is expected to take the stand and how the case could reshape the race for the white house. breaking overnight a gruesome discovery in the search for a pair of missing moms in oklahoma as four suspects face murder charges in the case. tax day is here. if you still haven't filed, we will have last minute tips ahead of the deadline later today. and an incredible journey home, a california family reunited with their beloved dog after he was found thousands of miles away. it's monday, april 15th. "early today" starts right now. good morning, glad you are with me, i'm frances rivera. today marks a new phase in the legal troubles of donald trump. the first criminal trial for the

former president will begin within hours. jury selection is about to get under way in new york and in mr. trump's hush money case. nbc's jay gray joins us now from lower manhattan. jay, the anticipation has been growing for this trial to get started. >> reporter: hey, good morning, frances. yeah, it certainly has. look, the barricades are up around manhattan courthouse now, there will be high security and high drama expected as well as the first of three felony cases against the former president gets under way in just a few hours here. it is a controversial and complicated case. >> allegations that someone lied again and again to protect their interests and evade the laws. >> reporter: former president trump facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from american voters before and after the 2016 election. specifically a six-figure payoff to silence an alleged mistress,

former adult film star stormy daniels. trump continues to deny the affairs and any legal payments calling the case politically motivated with a, quote, crooked judge and partisan da. >> they found nothing which makes me perhaps the most honest guy almost in the world, i think. they found nothing. but like all true communist show trials, this is what you call a communist show trial. >> reporter: the list of potential witnesses reads like a cast of characters from a soap opera, including daniel, michael cohen, trump's former attorney and fixer convicted on campaign finance charges for paying the porn star money reimbursed after the election. michael avenatti, daniels' ex-lawyer in federal prison for stealing clients' money and former trump aides including hope hicks. the drama playing out against the drama of the 2024 campaign. the defendant, mr. trump, the

presumptive republican nominee in the race for the white house. look, this trial could go on for months. here today potential jurors will be asked about their political beliefs, they will be asked about prior knowledge of the accusations and whether they can be impartial in this first of its kind case. frances? >> jay, thank you. now to breaking news out of the middle east. all eyes are on israel after iran carried out its first ever direct military assault on the country after years of hostility. iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards the country in response to israel's deadly air strike on the iranian embassy in damascus, syria, two weeks ago. israel says it destroyed 99% of the incoming fire before it entered their air space. claudio lavanga joins usright now. what can we expect next? >> reporter: good morning, frances. now that the alert is over it looks like that israel is just going back to its regular normal

life. children are going back to school and a ban on public gatherings which was introduced as a precaution ahead of iran's attack has now been lifted. now the only question that remains under answered is will israel counterattack. well, now according to an israeli official we spoke to, nbc news, it's not a matter of if but when and how. even though a retaliation doesn't seem to have the backing of either the united states or the united nations during or after an emergency meeting at the u.n. security council. the u.n. secretary general antonio gutierrez said it is important to avoid any confrontation on multiple fronts in the middle east. during that same meeting israel's representative to the united nations said it is in israel's legal rights to

retaliate and used colorful language to emphasize that message. he said that israel is not a frog in boiling water, it is a nation of lions. back to you. >> claudio, thank you. overnight president biden shared a video of himself praising the u.s. troops who helped protect israel from iran. the president spoke with members of fighter squadrons who helped defend against the aerial attack. he called them the best in the world and said their incredible skills potentially saved a lot of lives. for more on the u.s. response we're joined by nbc's brie jackson in d.c. hi, brie. there are concerns that the u.s. could be drawn into this conflict. >> reporter: good morning, frances. the administration has been trying to down play that possibility. president biden is urging restraint. he met virtually with g7 leaders. the members all condemned iran's actions and demanded that iran end their proxies, stop the attack. president biden spoke saturday to prime minister netanyahu and according to senior administration officials

president biden said u.s. support for israel is ironclad, but the u.s. will not participate in any counteroffensive by israel. the white house insists it does not want to see an escalation of this war. >> the hope is that we can deescalate the tensions. that's really what the president has been trying to do. he doesn't want to see major war in the middle east. he doesn't want us -- not looking for a conflict with iran. the president doesn't believe to have another war in the middle east where you've got thousands and thousands of american troops involved on the ground. >> reporter: last night president biden spoke with the leaders of the house and the senate. an administration source says the president stressed the importance of passing foreign aid for israel and ukraine, calling on the house speaker to hold a vote as early as this week. now, the senate already passed a bipartisan deal that stalled in the house. on sunday house speaker mike johnson said he does want to try again this week, but he says the house is still working out the details of their own package.

frances? >> so much business ahead. brie, thank you. breaking overnight, oklahoma authorities recovered two bodies in the search for a pair of missing moms from kansas. the bodies have not yet been identified. investigators expected to give an update on the case later this morning. the discovery coming just after four arrests in the case. here is george solis. >> reporter: there are new developments in the desperate search for missing kansas moms veronica butler and jillian kelley. authorities arrested these four people saturday in connection to the women's disappearance. butler and kelley vanished on march 30th somewhere near rural west oklahoma. they say they left to pick up their children but never made t their car found abandoned near the kansas/oklahoma border. >> we are still looking for these women and we cannot confirm that they are dead, however, based on the evidence we did believe that it is necessary and appropriate to charge all four suspects with

first-degree murder. >> reporter: in custody tad callum, tiffany adams and colin coratwamly. court documents obtained by nbc news show vern da butler and the father of her children had been in a custody battle and at least two of the suspects arrested were known to butler. a retired fbi agent weighing in on the case. >> why the first-degree murder charge and is that significant? >> i think it is because something in this investigation has really led them to it being premedicated. >> reporter: it's not clear if the four suspects hired attorneys. as the mystery deepens heartache in the women's hometown where loved ones are tying yellow ribbons hoping for answers. >> i see those yellow bows and think, well, maybe today, maybe we will know today. >> reporter: george solis, nbc news. now to a pair of mass shootings that left communities reeling over the weekend n dallas a shooting at a party on sunday killed a 21-year-old woman and injured eight others.

investigators have not made any arrests in the case. and a tragic end to a family gathering in chicago. the mass shooting on saturday night killed an 8-year-old girl and injured ten other people, including several more children. investigators believe it was a targeted act of gang violence. police are still searching for the gunmen. the estate executer for o.j. simpson says the notorious football star will be cremated in the coming days. they say requests to study simpson's brain for possible cte are a hard no. cte is a degenerative brain disease often studied in football players, it's associated with repeat head injuries and linked to behavioral and cognitive issues. the executer says there has been one request to studies his brain since he died of cancer last week. a massive brush fire shut down traffic and shows up on weather radar just outside of miami. fire crews are still working to get the blaze under control. as of last night the fire stretched of stretched across

150 acres. the florida forest service are expected to monitor the fire overnight. residents are urged to avoid the area and stay indoors. severe weather will impact millions of americans today. nbc meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking the areas at risk. good morning. >> good morning. we're watching an intensifying storm system that will bring the threat for severe weather today from the southern plains all the way to portions of the dakotas. we are looking at enhanced risk for parts of kansas, nebraska. damaging hail, larger than 2 inches. we are looking at winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour, could see a few tornadoes as well. by tuesday we will see the storm system move to the east, the mississippi valley into portions of the southern plains into the great lakes. 24 million people at risk. the same things on the table, really large hail a few tornadoes are possible, winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour. the threat stays in place for wednesday for parts of the ohio valley into the tennessee valley. pad paducah, cincinnati, bowling

green, nashville, 6 million people at risk for winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour, also hail. a few tornadoes possible as well. we have a storm system that's bringing snow to portions of the rockies, really gusty winds as well. on the warm side we are watching the chance for late day storms, developing from texas to the dakotas. it will move off to the east on tuesday, bringing widespread storms to the northern plains and also the midwest, damaging winds, hail and tornadoes are all on the table there. by wednesday we are looking at the storm system heading to the east coast. severe storms are possible in mid-atlantic, philadelphia today we're looking at 78 degrees. 83 in d.c. all right. that's your monday forecast. >> thanks so much, michelle. coming up, caitlin clark's

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plus odor protection. try for under $5! we have some bad news for procrastinators across the country. today is the deadline to file your taxes, but there are some good deals to spend your refund money on. let's get to cnbc's arabile gumede. good morning, arabile. >> good morning, frances. look, certainly a tough time really for a whole host of tax people across the country. of course, april 15th being the key significant date for their tax deadline. 100 million if not more hundreds of millions of americans have certainly filed their taxes according to the irs but it also estimates that 19 million people will actually be asking for a little bit of an extension when it comes to their tax -- tax filing then as well in today's deadline. but interestingly enough you're quite right, there seems to be a few deals at play that you could

get whether you've filed your taxes already or about to file them, need an extension or the like. that's really just because the likes of hooters as well as krispy kreme have put out a few deals that one could be a part of. let's take a look at some of these. you might just want to get in on a bit of doughnut. krispy kreme saying that you can purchase an original glazed or assorted dozen in shop and receive a second original glazed dozen for just the price of sales tax in that state. or in the state that you're in of course. the company said in a news release. if you are one that would fill out their taxes and would like a doughnut for it, that would certainly be a hole in one considering, yesterday was masters. >> that, too, and a plus considering the taxes we pay. arabile, thank you. still to come, a high ken-ergy edition of "snl."

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look, they even sent my debut on the show. you two really don't know that you look like beavis and butt head? >> i've heard rumblings that i look like someone from tv, but maybe it's just this beavis person, i don't know. >> and the laughs weren't limited to just the audience on "snl" this weekend when ryan gosling returned for his third go around as host. the oscar nominee found it hard to keep a straight face during many of the night's skits sending himself and cast members into repeated fits of laughter, breaking their characters, too. gosling was joined by special guests including kate mcanyonen. then there's caitlin clark who got her chance to dunk on weekend update anchor.

turning now to the multiplex where the battle for audiences field add decisive victor. >> we are moving to d.c. today. >> we need to go down there. >> every instinct in me says this is death. >> the thriller "civil war" took the top spot at the box office. the film debuted at $25.7 million. it marks the biggest opening so far for studio a 24. godzilla x. could think and ghost busters rounded out the top three taking home 15.4 million and $5.8 million respectively. when we come back caitlin clark is leaving the college court to go pro and later allen iverson is seeing bronze. we will check out his new statue next.

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we're back with what you need to know "early today." the wnba draft takes place tonight and basketball star caitlin clark is in place as the number one draft pick. clark is expected to be selected by the indiana fever just a week after her collegiate career in iowa came to an end. the city of columbia honored coach dawn staley and the south carolina gamecocks with a parade to celebrate their national championship win. the celebration comes after the team defeated iowa 87-75 to win the ncaa women's basketball tournament. the gamecocks are now the tenth undefeated national champion. nba hall of famer allen iverson unveiled a statue of his iconic crossover, the statue was revealed at the 7 6ers practice facility. he played 12 seasons in philly and now the tenth player to have a statue on legends walk. the number one golfer scottie scheffler won the 2024

masters tournament coming in four strokes ahead of sweden's ludvig aberg. scheffler is the 18th player to win multiple green jackets and the fourth youngest to be crowned masters champion more than once. and as we get closer to the start of the olympic games, the olympic torch will be lit tuesday at the sight of the first olympic games. after that the symbolic flame will make its way from olympic i can't, greece, to paris for the opening ceremony. "early today" will be right back. [birds singing] for nourished, lightweight hair, the right ingredients make all the difference new herbal essences sulfate free is now packed with plant-based ingredients your hair will love. like pure aloe. and camellia flower oil. and none of the things it won't. hair feels deeply nourished, soft and lightweight. plant power you can feel. new herbal essences sulfate free. nature's bounty hair growth. clinically shown to help grow thicker, fuller hair

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off your week. >> reporter: when you think of stepping up to the plate, this southern california little league team knocks it out of the park. that's the braves coach pete more moreno handing out jerseys to his players. watch as he gives the last to mikey, who has down's syndrome. now an honorary player. here is a reunion one california family thought might never happen. they're overjoyed finally getting their dog back after she went missing last summer. >> there she is. >> she was microchipped and wearing a collar with id, she was finally found more than 2,000 miles away in michigan.

and in florida, that's 99-year-old world war ii army veteran sydney surprised by school kids in palm beach county. ♪ o, say can you see ♪ ♪ by the dawn's early light ♪ >> reporter: this celebration planned by the honor flight organization. ♪ at the twilight's last blebl gleaming ♪ >> i noted that not only they sang the "star-spangled banner," but you sang along with them. what did that mean to you? >> breathtaking. the kids, their shining faces. >> have you surprised that this

video has touched so many people? >> i think they need it. i think they really need it. to get up and understand the value of living in this country. it's freedom. >> and our thanks to josé diaz-balart for the smiles he brought us to start off our week. we are just over 100 days until the summer olympics. coming up on the "today" show team usa hopefuls from men's and women's gymnastics are live with how they're preparing to go for the gold in paris. something you don't want to miss. thanks so much for watching "early today." i'm frances rivera. have a great mda

breaking news. tensions at peak levels in the middle east after iran launched its first direct attack on israel. ho