tonight robert mueller in the cross fire in hours of testimony on the russia investigation. the former special counsel knocks down key claims by president trump. >> the president has repeatedly claimed that your port found there was no obstruction and that it completely and totally exonerated him. but th cator irect.t that is not what the report said. >> as republicans try to dismiss the spectacle. >> this hearing is political theater. it's a hail mary attempt to convince the american people that collusion is real. >> the president's late response when all was said and done, who comes out ahead. our full coverage and analysis. in more breakg news tonight, word that north korea has fired two missiles into the sea. we have late details.

alsoonight facebook agrees to pay a record $5 billion fine for failing to protect the privacy of billions of users. why some say it doesn't go far enough. nbc news investigates the new warning about certain breast implants and their links to cancer. today the fda ks for a recall. what women need to know. >> a bison in yellow stone charges and attacks a young girl. how close is too close in the wild? >> announcer: this is "nbc nigly news" with lester holt. good evening. he was the reluctant witness, robert mueller who for two years had the country holding its breath went public today testifying about his russia rort. the former special counsel as promised didn't stray much beyond htten report, but none the less made headlines. dging w president trump was tentruthful in his writanswers to investigators, calling the trump caaign's

embrace of wikileaks problematic and firmly rejecting the president's characterization of e report as a hoax which is exactly what the president called it again late today. pete williams starts our coverage. mr. mueller, what's your message to the president? >> reporter: robert mueller arrived in hopes to the democrats that the message would io spread to mill that never heard it. mi the opening nutes appeared to show that promise with jer dler zeroing in on what president trump has said about it. >> the president repeatedly claimed that your report found there was no obstructionnd that it completely and totally emine rated him. but that is not what your report said. >> correct. it is not what the report said. >> the report did not conclude that heid not commit obstruction of justice? is that correct? >> that is correct. >> and what about total exoneration? did you actually totally exonate the president? >> no. >> republicans pressed mueller on just that issue and the report statement that while it, quote,s not conclude that the president committed a

crime, it also does not exonerate him. republicans said that sentence tk away his presumption of innocence. >> can you give me an example other than donaldrump where the justice department determined that an investigated person was not exonerated because their innocence was not rmonclusively deteed? >> i cannot -- this is unique. p >> donald trum not above the law. he's not. but he damn sure shouldn't be below the law whicis where volume two of this report puts him. >> reporter: but in two hearings mueller revealed nothing new, sticking to his pledge only lk abo what was in his report. democrats threatened to get him to read from examples t mueller more than 200 times declined or gave such short answers they did not amount to a cohesive narrative. >> no, yes, no, correct, true, yes, yes, generally yes, yes, that's accurate. >> reporter: but

reblicans said mueller was never prevented from doing s job. >> were you ever fired as special counsel mr. mueller? >> no. >> no. were you allowed to complete your investigation uncumbered? >> yes. >> mueller pushed back against legal team included hillary clinton supporters. i've been in this business 25 years and i never had an occasion once to ask somebody about their political affiliation. it is not done. what i care out is the capability of the individual to do the job and quickly and seriously and with integry. >> and he showed a spark when asked for his reaction to repeated statements about donald trump posting the emails it c stole from thnton campaigns. >> wikileaks, i love wikileaks. >> problematic is an understatement in terms of -- it displays in terms of giving some, i don't know, hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity. >> mueller said his investigation was no witch hunt and that russian acts of

meddling through phony social media and the hacked emails were al and dangerous. >> would you agree that it was not that the russians werea ho engagein trying to impact our election? >> absolutely. it's not a hoax. the indictments we returned against the russians, two different ones, were substantial in their scope using that scope word again. and i think one of the -- we have underplayed to a certain extent. >> reporter: mueller said as the report does that though he wanted to interview presidenump, the special counsel team decided not to put up a fight. >> the expectation was if we did subpoena the president, he would fight the subpoena andwe ould be in the midst of the investigation for a substantial period of time. >> reporter: the president did submit swers in writing though not to every question the special counsel team asked. >> where he did, his answered showed he wasn't always being truthful? >> i would say generally.

>> pete joins us now. pete, it's not lost on gsnyone who watched the hearinoday that director mueller seemed to be struggling at times. you covered him for years. what stood out to you? >> we last saw him testify six years ago and this was not the hard charging robert mueller we saw then whene was the fbi director. today he was halting and sometimes unsure of himself. he's older now. he turns5 in two weeks. and he clearly did not want to be there today. he appeared only because he was subpoenaed and he didn't want to say what's in his report. >> pete williams, thanks. the president spoke out late today celebrating the hearings calling them a disaster for and the democrats. it didn't take long for him to speak out publicly. >> reporter: not at l, lester. there's a palpable sense of vindication at the white house, the president triumphant over what he perceives as a good day for him. robert mueller raised

several issues today like acknowledging the president wasn't always truthful in his written answers to the special counsel. for the prident's part he says he has no regrets about not sitting for an interview with mueller and repeatedly blasted ci the former s counsel. >> the performance was obviously not very good. he had a lot of problems.t at he showed more than anything else is at this whole thing has been three years of barrassment and waste of time for our country. and do you know what? the democrats thought they could win an election like this. i think they hurt themselves very badly for 2020. >> reporter: bottom line, the president's allies hopes this turns the page on something tt's loomed over this white house for more than two years. but with democrats continuing their invest kbagss on capitol hill, that seems unlikely. >> hallie, thanks. our political director and moderator of "meet the press" chuck todd was watching the hearings. where does this go from here? >> is today going to be an epilogue to the mueller report and a

final quota, mueller's public explanation for what was in the report, or will this do what some democrats in the ouse and committee hoped it would do which is both convince speaker pelosi and the public at large that more needs to be done. but ultimately this is going to be in speaker pelosi's hands. does she believe the politics of impeachment are so lethal in a negative s direction that decides not to do this or does she roll the dice, open the n nquiry, and t suddenly it's katie huar the door? >> c todd, analysis, thank you. more breaking news tonight, reports that north korea has fired missiles into the sea. andrea mitchell is here with us. andrea, what do we know about this? m we're learninge about these two missiles, lester. two apparent short-range missiles launched by north korea. 26he missiles travelled about miles into the waters in between north korea and japan. in may north korea launched two short range missiles alarming south korea

and japan and violating un resolutions. president trump down played those launches because they didn't .threaten the u.s he went ahead with the surprise visit to meet with kim jong-un at othe end last month at the dmz and ep stping into north korea. kim may be flexing hissc mus in anger as the u.s. and south korea plans next month. tonight tech giant facebook is facing the biggest fine the u.s. government has ever imposed agreeing to pay $5 billion for widespread privacy violations. the company is being forced to make big changes in how it operates. but some critics say the move dsn't go far enough. here's tom costello. >> it's a giant find for the giant of social med $5 billion for failing to protect the personalnformation of 2.3 billion users worldwide. even after facebook ceo mark zuckerberg

promised it uld. >> facebook betrayed the trust of its users and deceived them about their ability to control their personal information. >> the government accuses facebook of sharing users' ma personal infortion with third party apps in numbers and whether they liked certain postings. some shared with cambridganalytica, a political nsulting firm that worked with the trump campaign. an optionalac f recognition technology turned on by default. facebook is not admitting guilt though it's agreeg to government oversight ewor 20 years. also andependent privacy committee. and mark zuckerberg himself will have to certify every quarter that the company is adhering to privacy agreements. zuckerberg today. >> we're going to change the way that we operate across the whole company from the leadership down and the ground up. we're going to change how we build product. n'd if we dot, then we're going to be held accountable for it. >> reporter: facebook the first silicon valley company t have

imposed on it. >> i think facebook has the opportunity to be the first company to do this correctly. i do hope theyake it. >> reporter: critics say facebook got off easy, buying blanket immunity for ha everything ts happened and no restrictions on what happens in the future. now to a major development in the story we first brought ab you last year t an emerging health risk for women. a today the fdked a maker of textured breast implants to pull them off the market after more evidence they're linked to cancer. here is investigative and consumer ceant vicky win with what paties need to know. >> reporter: tonight this cancer survivor is celebrating. >> i'm speechless. it's going to save lives. >> reporter: she's had cancer twice. after a mastectomy, she got textured implants. , five years later those implants caused bia alcl, a cancer of st the immune syem. >> i don't want anyone else to go through

what i've been through. >> reporter: the fda revealed there are 573 dwases of this cancer worlide including 33 deaths. most involved textured implants made by lergan. they issued a voluntary recall and said in a statement it's takin this action as a precaution after seeing the latest research. patients and doctors co have raised erns for years. >> they actually can come, point. >> reporter: pointingtw ks on social media to warn women. >> the textured surface is like a tiny velcro. it grows into e man's body. i believe that's the source of the lymphoma ctecause there's an interaion between the woman's body and implant. >> reporter: last november, nbc news in atonjunction with the internional consortium o investigative journalists found the disease could be more dangerous than previously thought with rates as high as one in 1,000 with women with implants.

>> we have a lot of ec work to do bse there's thousands of women with the implant so we need to make sure they're informed. >> rayline is cancer free. doctors say if the cancer icaught early, it can be treated successfully. >> so, what should women do if they have these implants? >> the message from the fda is if you have these implants you don't have to have them removed unless you're showing symptoms. that being said, watch out for rash, swelling, pain. if that's the case, call your doctor. the uk has a new s rime minister. borihnson took over today from theresa may sealing the transition of power with a handshake under a looming cloud of brexit.bi neely is in london. >> reporter: a new job, a new home, and new protests. his car blocked by climate protesters as he went to meet the queen. it's her 14th prime minister. then broke the rules by telling his new staff what she said, reportedly, i don't know why anyone would want the job.

more protests at his speech, johnson vowing to pull britain out of the european union by the halloween deadline. >> the british people have hadnough of waiting. >> reporter: president trump said he'll be great. johnson quoted truman. watching his girlfriend, 24 years his junior. johnson is leader because theresa may failed, brexit crisis broke her. it's now his to solve. tonight it's ruthless boris. he's fired more ministers than any british leader in history. next it's talking trade withresident trump. lester. >> all right. bill, thank you. new developments tonight in the massive man hunt for two teens wanted in the deaths of three peoe cluding a young american woman. the suspects on the loose and considered armed and dangerous. nbc miguel almaguer now onhe new discovery. >> reporter: in the rugged mountains of fritish columbia, a man hu two teenagers who police now suspect of three

murders. but thousands of miles, awday investigators confirmed they've recovered the torched car they were using, the duo believed to be on the run, perhaps in disguise, may be me ar and dangerous. >> this is a complex ongoing investigation involving multiple jurisdictions. orter: first feared to be missing, the teens are now suspects a week after china diess and her a boyfriend lucas fowler were found dead. on a road cross canada, police say the couple was quietly shot on quiet highway. >> none of this will bring my sister back and no will bring lucas back, but we hope they can find who did it. >> reporter: the bodies of diess and fowler were recovered 300 miles away from another remote canadian road where police discovered an unidentified bod investigators have found two burned out vehicles left by the suspects. they have not reased a mote.

i hope they get caught and i hope this never happens to anyone else like this. >> reporter: tonight a murder mystery turned man hunt in the canadian woods. miguel almaguer, nbc news. just ahead the ocking video, a girl lucky to be alive after a charging bison launches her into the air. the new warning this evening for visitors to nation's parks. he offered to pay off thousas of dollars in lunch debts for students but this ceo says he was shocked when the district told him no. ♪ did you know you can save money

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massive bull bison. then suddenly it charges plowing into a year-old girl launching her several feet into the air. the shocking video taken close to old faithful geyser where wild bison graze in clusters. >> bison can be aggressive. they can move quickly and they can get a bothered in ment's notice. >> reporter: the girl rushed to a nearby clinic. rangers say she was lucky she was not seriously injuried. although bison attacks are rare, it's not the first time tourists have gotten too close. rangers say stay at least 75 feet away from animals like bison or moose and more than 300 feet om bears or wolves. >> they're wild animals and they're huge. they can kill you. >> reporter: according to park officials, 50 people were standing just feet from the bison bere it started charging. o >> getting close t wild life is not a smart idea. i know everybody likes get that selfie, likes to get that great photo, but safety needs to come first.

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a major victory today for a music star rapper meek mills, 2008 conviction on drug and firearm charges has been overturned. a pennsylvania appeals court apted mill a new trial citing new evidence of alleged orruption but said he would likely be acquitted if retried. mill who i interviewed hours after e was released from prison last year for probation violation has become a symbol for criminal justice reform. there's growing reacon from a story last week on a school district that threatened families with lunch dts at school. nbc rehema ellis talks with a ceo who offered to help but says the

district refused. r >>orter: todd carmichael has lived the american dream. he grew up poor but built a successful coffee company based in philadelphia. my mother needed help raising the kids after the death of my father. that included different programs including lunch programs and food stamps. >> reporter: so when he heard a sylvania school district was struggling to collect lunch money, he offered to pay o 2,000 in debt. to his surprise during a phone call, the school district said no thanks. >> ultimately the person on the other end of the line hung up on us. there was really no room to negotiate. >> reporast week the wyoming valley west school district sparked outrage sending letts threatening pares who owed lunch money that their kids could be put in foster care. >> it's borders on criminal if you ask me. >> reporter: officls cked off and apologized to parents. like today they

changed their minds about carmichael's offer and accepted his donation. of the students getting school lunches, a majority of districts had unpaid bills. go samaritans stepped up in other communities. >>e call that being a decent person or being a good neighbor. >> reporter: now ach an agreement before the children go backo school next month. rehema ellis, nbc news. up next more on this historic day on capitol hill. chantix can helpu quit slow turkey along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye.wh en you try to quit smoking, with or wiout chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking,si aggres, hostility, depressed mood,

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(announcer) you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit now. a final thought as we end our broadcast tonight. for a final thought as ca we end our bro tonight. for two years this country has marked time around robert mueller, his 448-page written report pleased some and disappointed

others. if recent history is a guide, today's testimony will offer the same, maybe even reinforce the separate n niverses which we ofteexist. but the matters at a hand viewed fr angle remain too important to turn ouck s on. that's "nightly news" for this wednesday. i'm lester holt from all of us at nbc news thank you for watching and good night.

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