President Donald Trump's lawyers were never seriously worried their client would be accused of a Russia conspiracy, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Martin and Jane Raskin, married former prosecutors with decades of experience battling the Justice Department, believed the real threat was obstruction of justice — by the time they arrived on the team in April, special counsel Robert Meuller's office was rarely asking probing questions about Russia, the sources said.

The prosecutors wanted to know what Trump was thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey and what he intended by denouncing the Russia probe on Twitter, according to the sources. They made several formal requests for a sit-down interview with Trump, with an implicit threat of subpoena. 

But that subpoena never materialized, and when the lawyers got the news on Sunday that the attorney general decided there wasn't an obstruction case against Trump, they high-fived one another, seeing it as a total victory.

Police are investigating a social media threat made against Windham Middle School on Tuesday, marking the second threat made against the school within the last week.

School officials said they learned about a rumor on social media that indicated a threat against Windham Middle School on Tuesday morning. Officials did not release specifics about the threat.

All students in Windham Middle School and Windham Early Childhood Center are safe inside the building, school officials added.

Police are on site at the middle school and preschool and are investigating. Officers are expected to remain on site until the matter is resolved.

"We take this matter very seriously and are working with the Willimantic Police Department," school officials said in a statement.

Last week, a juvenile was arrested after a threat was made against the same school.

Willimantic Police said that threat appeared to be a hoax and it was not as viable as it was originally considered.

Officers were contacted around 10 p.m. last Friday about an Instagram post that was threatening and targeted the school, police said.

Police have not released information about if the two threats are related to one another.

American Airlines said Tuesday that a computer system it uses for checking in and booking went down, affecting multiple air carriers.

There were widespread reports on social media of passengers inconvenienced by the issue, with long lines at airports across the country.

The airline said in a statement that Sabre Airline Solutions "is currently experiencing a technical issue that is impacting multiple carriers, including American Airlines. Sabre is working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."

American later said that the issue with Sabre's system "has been resolved."

NBC has reached out to Sabre about the apparent outage and what might have caused it.

The company tweeted to several people who took note of the outage, "We are aware of the issues facing some of our customers. Recovery is in progress. We apologize for the inconvenience."

The start of this week is chilly, but temperatures will be warming up and could approach 70 degrees by this weekend. 

The high temperature for today will get up to between 40 and 45 degrees for most of Connecticut, according to NBC Connecticut First Alert meteorologist Bob Maxon. 

After a dip in temperature tonight, Wednesday will be warmer, with temperatures around 50 degrees and it could get up to 55 to 60 degrees on Thursday. 

Friday will be warmer, getting up to near the mid-60s. 

Saturday should be even warmer, with temperatures getting into the mid-60s to 70 degrees.

Get the full forecast here.

NOTE: NBC Chicago will offer a live feed when Smollett and his attorneys speak after court. Watch live in the player above.

All criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped Tuesday and the "Empire" actor's record will be expunged, his legal team said, nearly two months after Smollett reported suffering an alleged hate crime attack in Chicago.

"Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him," attorneys Tina Glandian and Patricia Brown Holmes said in a statement. 

"Jussie was attacked by two people he was unable to identify on January 29th. He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgement."

"Jussie and many others were hurt by these unfair and unwarranted actions. This entire situation is a reminder that there should never be an attempt to prove a case in the court of public opinion. That is wrong. It is a reminder that a victim, in this case Jussie, deserves dignity and respect. Dismissal of charges against the victim in this case was the only just result," the statement continued.

"Jussie is relieved to have this situation behind him and is very much looking forward to getting back to focusing on his family, friends and career," the attorneys' statement ended. 

Smollett and his lawyers were expected to speak Tuesday morning after an "emergency" hearing in which a judge agreed to drop the charges and expunge the case.

"After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollet’s [sic] volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case," a representative for the Cook County state's attorney's office said in a statement.

State's Attorney Kim Foxx recused herself from the case in February, with documents obtained earlier this month via Freedom of Information Act request showing that Foxx had asked Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson to turn the investigation over to the FBI. 

Smollett pleaded not guilty to multiple disorderly conduct charges earlier this month. He was initially charged with one felony count of disorderly conduct in filing a false police report in February, with Chicago police alleging that he staged a hate crime attack on himself the month before because he was "dissatisfied with his salary."

A Cook County grand jury then indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts in connection with his reporting of the alleged attack he claimed to have suffered in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood.

Smollett reported the alleged attack to police on Jan. 29, claiming to have been beaten by two men who shouted racist and homophobic slurs, beat him, put a noose around his neck, and poured bleach on him, according to the indictment.

Initially investigating the incident as a possible hate crime, Chicago police said new information "shifted" their approach to the case, leading them to allege that Smollett orchestrated the assault by hiring two brothers who worked on "Empire" to execute it.

The lawyer for the brothers, Obabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo, said the pair had evidence backing their claim that he orchestrated the attack. Smollett's lawyers said "misinformation" had been reported in the case and said they planned to prove a lack of evidence in the case.

A representative for the brothers' legal team said their attorneys were reviewing the developments in the case. 

Smollett's family said in a statement that the actor "is an innocent man whose name and character has been unjustly smeared," saying that "truth has prevailed and he has been vindicated." 

"The painful incidents we’ve witnessed him endure over the past 7 weeks have been heartbreaking and unjust to say the least," his family's statement continued. "While many were quick to rush to judgement before hearing the actual truth, we are grateful that the truth about Jussie has come to light. We look forward to bringing the real perpetrators to justice. We thank God and our village for standing by us during this trying time."

State police have identified the three people who were found dead in a home at 63 O’Neil Road in Oxford after a fire Saturday night.

Officials said emergency crews received a dozen 911 calls around 11:20 p.m. on Saturday and found the home engulfed in flames.

While firefighters were extinguishing the flames, they found three adults dead in the home.

Police have identified the occupants of the home as 53-year-old Christopher Maseizik, 54-year-old Karl Maseizik and 71-year-old Nanci N. Southwell and said the medical examiner will release the cause of death.

The single family home is considered a total loss, according to fire officials. There was no damage to any surrounding homes.

Oxford police are investigating and are being assisted by the State Police Major Crimes unit and state fire investigators.

Daily attempts by undocumented immigrants to cross into the United States from Mexico over the past month surpassed daily averages not seen since fiscal year 2006, according to Customs and Border Protection data obtained by NBC News.

The surge has maxed out the capacity of existing detention centers, and the Department of Homeland Security is now in negotiations with the Department of Defense to detain and care for the overflow on U.S. military bases, according to a DHS official and two other U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.

On March 19, CBP officers and agents stopped or apprehended 3,974 immigrants, the highest single day since the beginning of the Trump administration. Six other days since mid-February have topped 3,595, surpassing the daily average of 3,530 in fiscal year 2006.

Those seven days are the highest on record since President Donald Trump took office, a DHS official told NBC News, and they have all been recorded over the past six weeks.

West Haven Police are asking the public for information after a man died following an assault earlier this month.

Officers were called to Campbell Avenue near Brown Street on Sunday, March 17, around 8:40 p.m. after getting a complaint of breach of peace and assault.

An initial investigation revealed that one person involved, later identified as Anthony Carlucci, was injured in the incident, according to police. Carlucci later went to an area hospital to be treated for his injuries.

Several days after the incident, Carlucci was pronounced dead by an agent from the hospital, police said.

Detectives are working with the State Medical Examiners Office to investigate the incident.

Anyone with information or who witnessed anything is asked to call the West Haven Police Department Detective Division at (203) 937-3924.

UPDATE: Police said Sport and Medical Sciences Academy in Hartford is clear and this appears to be a swatting incident. They said there is a police presence out of an abundance of caution. 

Students will remain in school for the rest of the school day, police said. Anyone who wants to take their children home will have to follow the appropriate protocols.

Previous story: 

The Sport and Medical Sciences Academy in Hartford is in lockdown after a threat was made through a computer-generated app, according to police.

There is a large police presence at the school and the Emergency Response Team is working on clearing the building, according to the Hartford Police Twitter account.

According to police, the call indicated a student was inside the building with a weapon and intended to do harm to him or herself.

The school was placed in code red, in which students are confined to classrooms.

Hartford police were called to the scene and are investigating. The school is located at 280 Huyshope Ave. and police are asking people to avoid the area.

Police said the Emergency Response Team is thoroughly clearing the building, from the basement to rooftop and everything in between.

They are working with school administrators.

“We don't take chances and will treat every school threat as a critical incident until proven otherwise,” a Tweet from police says.

No additional information was immediately available.

Check back for updates.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has waived arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty in connection with the soliciting prostitution case in Florida.

Kraft has also requested a jury trial in the case, according to court documents.

More to come.

As the weather warms up, police in Waterbury are concerned about ATVs and dirt bikes hitting the city’s roads illegally and causing danger for other drivers and pedestrians.

This week the Waterbury Police Department is urging residents on social media to call a tipline set up specifically to report ATV and dirt bikes on public roads and parks. The city passed an ordinance in 2016 that made driving these vehicles on city roads and property illegal.

TIPLINE: 203-573-6662
Email TIPLINE: atvtips@waterburyct.org

“Not that were against ATVs but we don’t want them in our public roads we don’t want them in our playgrounds or our city parks,” explained Lt. David Silverio of the Waterbury Police Department.

Silverio said residents should speak up when they see the vehicles out on city streets, and that the problem has led to accidents in the past.

“They’re kids that are driving them on our roads that are not trained they don’t know the traffic laws, they’ve been involved in accidents and it’s pretty upsetting to the citizens when the ATVs, motorcycles are driving in and out of traffic not obeying our laws,” Silverio said.

Brenda Fuegen has been driving in Waterbury for decades and recently seeing ATVs on the roads makes her nervous behind the wheel.

“They just pass you like you’re not there like you don’t exist. I don’t want somebody slam into me,” she said.

She hopes the tipline discourages ATV rivers from going out on the streets.

Some people who ride and sell these vehicles spoke with NBC Connecticut and said illegal riding is a problem, but there also aren’t currently many places in the state to ride them legally.

“Other states like Pennsylvania NH Maine they have trail systems and people take big vacations just to go down there and ride we have the land here in the northwest corner northeast corner we just don’t use it,” Nick Ferguson pointed out.

If you’re caught driving an ATV or dirt bike on public roads in Waterbury, police can issue a misdemeanor summons, which means going to court. Your vehicle can also be impounded.

A man has been charged with murder in a deadly Manchester shooting.

Police said 45-year-old Joseph Swan was shot in the head on Eldridge Street on January 21, 2019. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators have identified 27-year-old Millard Jackson as the suspect. He was charged with murder, criminal use of a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm and criminal possession of ammunition during an appearance at Superior Court in Manchester Tuesday for another case.

Jackson was held on a $1 million bond.

A day after the apparent suicide of a father of a Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim, there is an important conversation taking place in Newtown and all around Connecticut.

Suicide and what is being done to prevent it are topics that a lot of people are now saying must be discussed. Monday's apparent suicide of Jeremy Richman, 49, the father of one of the victims in the December 2012 shooting, is spurring a new and potentially life-saving conversation.

"I think it's so important that we're talking," said Hilary Blumberg, Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. Blumberg points to statistics that show that, on average, there is one suicide every day in Connecticut.

What is it that could push someone to the point of taking their own life?

Blumberg said it can be feelings of isolation, hopelessness, someone feeling like they are a burden to others, a past traumatic experience or any combination of those factors.

"Some kind of a major stressor or a trauma can have long-lasting consequences," said Blumberg.

On Monday, Newtown Police Chief James Viadero told NBC Connecticut that shortly after the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012, mental health professionals were warning that the impacts of the shooting could and would be seen for years.

Details around Richman's actions are unknown, and maybe always will be.

Blumberg said, despite what happened Monday, she finds hope in her research. For instance, the team at Yale is using special scanning methods to identify brain circuitry in young people who suffer from bipolar disorder or from depression, which are the disorders most common in people who die by suicide.

"I think it's so important that we're having this conversation and I would really encourage people to be talking about this," said Blumberg. "It's important to talk about it. It can really help people."

If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting 'Home' to 741741.

Mahoghany Chambers thought Clarinda Academy would be a fresh start.

The residential treatment facility, a cluster of brick buildings planted between corn fields, is a home of last resort for at-risk teens from Iowa and nearly two dozen other states, NBC News reported.

Chambers, 20, was sexually assaulted twice as a young girl. Her anger grew as the years wore on. She started getting into trouble with the police, sometimes because she fought with her mother.

A construction company in New Britain celebrated its 85th year in business by giving back to the community.

On Tuesday there was a big announcement at Downes Construction Company in New Britain.

“I think it’s going to bring about togetherness,” John Downes, Downes Construction Company president, said.

Downes unveiled an expanded community giving program as the company marks 85 years in business.

We’re told the initiative was modeled after the “Ana Grace Project,” which was founded after the Newtown tragedy and has a motto, “Love Wins.”

“It’s all about love. There is so much hate and negativism in the world today. So we just wanted to emphasize the love of life,” Downes said.

On Tuesday, the company opened its heart and handed out big donations.

Downes is writing $1,000 checks to each of the 12 elementary school in the New Britain school district.

And on Tuesday they honored teachers from three of the schools.

“I was in shock. I was very grateful and very humbled,” Cathy Scanlon, Gaffney Elementary School, said.

“We work with students who are in need. So as a district this will give us a great opportunity to provide education and incentives for them,” Tamika Anderson, New Britain Transitional Center, said.

The money will help buy supplies for the kids.

Downes is also writing a $5,000 check for the next five years to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Hartford and helping with a training program at The WorkPlace of Bridgeport.

Decades of hard work are now helping to raise future generations.

“Rather than us celebrating our accomplishments what we thought was it would be a good opportunity for us to give back to the community,” Joe Desautel, Downes Construction Company CEO, said.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is joining 20 other states in an effort to prevent the Affordable Care Act from being ruled unconstitutional.

A Federal Judge in Texas ruled earlier this year that the law was now unconstitutional because the penalty for not carrying insurance has been effectively eliminated, nullifying the rest of the law.

"This isn't about national issues. It's certainly not just about Donald Trump and the Trump administration and its cruel attack on Connecticut,” said William Tong, a Democrat. “Residents and families and American people. This is about families in Connecticut who depend on the Affordable Care Act for life."

The Trump administration had initially stayed out of the legal battles surrounding Obamacare, as the law is known. But the Justice Department announced Tuesday morning that it supported the effort to dismantle the law.

In Connecticut, Republican State Sen. Kevin Kelly, (R – Stratford), stopped short of calling for the law to be scrapped, but he did advocate for efforts to rein in some of the high premiums consumers have to pay for coverage.

"What we need to do is get better ways to solve the cost problem,” said Kelly, who is the ranking Republican on the Insurance Committee in the Connecticut General Assembly.

If the law were to be ruled invalid, Connecticut has a lot to lose. The state received about $6 billion in federal funds relating to Obamacare from 2011 through 2017. There are also more than 260,000 people who receive Medicaid coverage as a result of an expansion of the program.

Tong says the answer to the question at the heart of the case, whether the law can exist without a penalty for not carrying coverage, has already been answered.

"There's no reason to think that the federal government can't enact a comprehensive law about health insurance. They have. It's called Medicaid and Medicare,” he said.

A federal appeals court will hear the case, and then it is possible it could go to the US Supreme Court for a second time, on the question of constitutionality.

Tong says he’s optimistic that the high court will rule the same way it did the first time it decided that the law met constitutional muster.

"They can be thoughtful about the Affordable Care Act,” he said. "They know how huge of an impact this law has had on the people of Connecticut."

The mass amounts of gypsy moth caterpillars and drought over the last handful of years have left widespread damage—especially in the eastern part of the state—leaving trees severely compromised or dead.

Now the towns hit the hardest are left cleaning up the damage.

About 600 trees on town roads will need to be removed because of the gypsy moth caterpillar, said Canterbury First Selectman Chris Lippke. Already, 250 have been chopped.

Lippke called the severely compromised or dead trees a “public safety issue.” The town has dipped into Town Aid Road grants for the removal. But that means the money is not being used on other road repairs.

In the neighboring town of Brooklyn, First Selectman Richard Ives said they’ve taken “over 400 trees down at our own expense which was about $71,000.”

Ives said he will easily need that much money to do it again. This time, he plans to budget for it. He used some state money the town had in reserves for the recent work.

Ives said the town realized hundreds, if not thousands, of trees were dying because of repeated defoliation due to the gypsy moth caterpillar back in 2017.

The town put a heavy focus on trees on the sides of town roads. Specifically, the side without electrical wires since Eversource will handle those, according to Ives.

“Safety both from a personal thing of dropping on top of somebody or something, as well as wires and power outages,” Ives said.

Connecticut Department of Transportation crews have been out in force taking down compromised tree, too.

DOT spokesperson Kevin Nursick said the estimated cost is tens of millions of dollars.

According to Nursick, DOT crews have been working on this for the last couple of years and will be addressing this for years to come. Crews are prioritizing imminent threats.

Between the gypsy moth caterpillar and emerald ash borer, the department estimates at least 50,000 trees are affected, Nursick said.

As the season picks up and the damaged trees are identified more easily, there will be an increase in tree work. The DOT relies on private contractors for certain equipment when it comes to tree removal. Nursick said they’ll likely be competing with utility companies and towns for those contractors.

There’s stump after stump in front of homes on Buck Hill Road in Canterbury from trees cut down by the town.

“We’re going to see in a few more weeks when the leaves start coming back out what is actually left,” said Ivan Kennerson who lives on Buck Hill Road.

He guesses over 100 oak trees in his Canterbury yard have succumbed to the gypsy moth caterpillar.

Already he’s marked trees that need to be taken down, he’s removed others and even invested in a log splitter.

A picture from his yard in July 2016 showed trees as far as the eye could see with no leaves.

Police searching for suspects after a shot was fired at a man in a Massachusetts hotel, prompting an evacuation, have released surveillance footage from the incident.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Natick was evacuated early Tuesday morning as police responded to a report of an active shooter. Police say multiple suspects followed a man into the Route 9 hotel's front lobby and shot at him.

The victim only suffered a minor injury that was not believed to have been caused by gunfire. The suspects fled from the area, according to Natick Police Chief James Hicks.

State and local police responded around 2:40 a.m. and set up a perimeter and evacuated the hotel.

At the scene, responding officers encountered a victim who said he was followed into the hotel by multiple suspects unknown to him when a shot was fired, according to Natick Police Department Chief James Hicks. 

"As he was entering the hotel. persons unknown to him followed him into the hotel at which shots were fired inside the atrium of the hotel," Hicks said at a press conference Tuesday morning.

Hicks said one of the suspects opened fire at the victim, but the victim was not injured. The victim ran away and the suspects left in an unknown direction.

As their investigation developed, officials determined no one entered the hotel following the victim.

The suspects were initially believed to be inside the building after the shooting, according to state police. Out of an abundance of caution, the hotel was evacuated. About 75 guests and employees were sheltered at the Natick Mall cafeteria, while other patrons stayed in their cars.

"They were exceptionally courteous," hotel guest Angeles Salas said. "They have these enormous, large scary guns and managed at the same time to say things like 'we're very concerned for your safety and your warmth and we’re going to arrange for shelter for you, please come this way.'"

Hicks said officials do not believe the suspects are in the hotel at this time and that they fled from the scene in a car. He added authorities don't believe there is a danger to the public, and that investigators believe "this is a specific incident on a specific individual."

Officials are working to determine how many people were involved in the shooting. The investigation is ongoing, and investigators are interviewing the victim and going through surveillance video.

Hotel guests were eventually allowed back into the premises three hours after the evacuation.

In addition to state and Natick police responding the active shooter report, police officers from Framingham, Wayland, Wellesley and Ashland were at the scene.

Anyone with information is asked to call 508-647-9520.

Hartford police have arrested two parents accused of abandoning their 6-week-old baby on a city sidewalk during an argument.

Police said officers were called to the area of 716 Maple Ave. around 7:30 p.m. Friday for a reported domestic argument. According to police, the two suspects, identified as 22-year-old Kenya Anderson and 54-year-old Eddie Stevens, got into an argument and chased each other up Maple Avenue on foot, leaving their 6-week-old baby behind in a carrier on the sidewalk.

A witness saw the baby and brought her inside a laundromat. Police said it was 34 degrees outside at the time.

According to police, around a half hour later Anderson came back and told the Good Samaritan to keep the baby because she didn’t want to “Catch another DCF case.” Anderson, who police said appeared intoxicated, was arrested. Stevens was found at his mother’s house several blocks away and also arrested.

The Department of Children and Families responded and took custody of the baby.

Both Anderson and Stevens were charged with child abandonment, risk of injury to a minor, second-degree reckless endangerment, and second-degree breach of peace. Both were issued $10,000 bonds and later released on a promise to appear after their arraignments Monday.

Simsbury police have arrested a woman accused of prostitution in connection with a local massage parlor.

Police said they started an investigation into the Green Reflexology massage parlor on Farms Village Road in February when they received a call from a concerned citizen.

“He said he went in for a massage. During the massage the woman offered several services to him for a fee," explained Sgt. Greg Samselski of the Simsbury Police Department.

Samselski said after surveillance of the business and other investigation, police decided to send in an undercover officer.

“We had video surveillance of the building. We were watching it for a couple of weeks. We saw there was a lot of traffic going in and out there. So eventually we determined we needed to send someone in there to actually see if these services were actually being performed.”

Simsbury police said the officer was propositioned for sexual favors by an employee.

That employee, identified as 50-year-old Miae Park, of Whitestone, New York, was arrested and charged with prostitution.

Police said they do not believe there is a human trafficking aspect to this case, though the investigation is ongoing. More arrests are possible.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Simsbury detectives as 860-658-3145.