Media. Were they ever really friends . Gold medal day. Team u. S. A. Triumphant. The teen who went from last to first delivering under pressure as high winds postpone the mens downhill. Skaters deliver and dance. That moustache making headlines. Good morning. Paula is off today. Were lucky to have cecilia vega on set. Good morning to you. Good to be here. Well be talking about the latest president ial uproar, this one involving me too. But lets start with breaking news. This is breaking news out of russia. Just coming in right now. Reports of an airliner crashing. Abcs Jennifer Eccleston is monitoring the latest developments from our london bureau. Good morning jennifer. This news just reaching us here. A russian aircraft disappearing shortly after take off from russias airport. Russian media reporting the saratov airlines, with 65 passengers and six crew onboard vanishing from radar minutes after takeoff. The wreckage from the plane has been located and emergency and rescue teams are at the scene and are combing extensive debris field. But one emergency source telling local media that crew and passengers had no chance of surviving the impact. Investigators are reporting they opened a criminal investigation on the incident which may indicate terrorism is not involved and a news agency is reporting the plane may have collided with a helicopter. No word on what caused the crash and the number of casualties but the weather shows light snow and calm winds. A passenger plane crashed outside of moscow with 71 people onboard. Dan and cecilia. We turn to a Helicopter Crash in the grand canyon. You can see the horrifying images. The chopper going down in flames. At least three people dead and several others injured. Rescue choppers are arriving on scene but this is a very tricky rescue mission. More on the companys Safety Record as well as the difficulty of the rescue mission. Good morning. Reporter it is still unclear where that flight originated bud we know that tour company is one of many that operate tours from here in vegas. Right now the focus is on the four people who were injured. This morning images of that chopper in flames after a crash and a desperate operation to rescue the survivors. Seven people onboard and three killed. You can see rescue crews battling treacherous rocky conditions and these images from a tourist on a different helicopter exploring the canyon. A witness describing the scene. I saw a helicopter making a couple weird turns like it was getting ready to land. I never seen that type of landing before. Tilted. Went down between mountains. Tail broke off. It crashed. I heard one big boom and then probably about five explosions after that. It burst into flames. It happened sunset saturday. It was near Quarter Master canyon. The helicopter made by airbus. The tour Company Advertising a day of adventure touring the majestic sights of the grand canyon saying it flies 600,000 passengers a year. These images of the winding region showing how difficult the area can be to navigate. Because of the terrain you cant walk in to rescue the people. Or drive in. All rescues have to be conducted by aircraft. Reporter a search of their Safety Record revealed since 1996 at least 16 incidents in the region. Back in 2001 a helicopter returning to las vegas from the grand canyon crashed killing six with one survivor. Its still unclear what caused this crash. The faa and ntsb will investigate. Dan, cecelia. Thank you. A lot of questions still. Lets bring in steven ganyard, a former marine corp. Pilot who has flown in that area before. Steve, you were saying the conditions can be especially tough. Yeah. Ill state the obvious. Its some of the most rugged terrain in the world. That is why people go to see it. Until you fly there you cant appreciate how tough the flying is. The other half is the air is very thin since the altitude is quite high at the rim. Very challenging flying conditions. Looking at the impact here, you can see why its been tough to get in rescuers over night. Its in a ravine. The way were looking at the wreckage it doesnt look like a controlled crash. Just from what were seeing it looks like something catastrophic that happened. Just before impact. Given how tricky it is to fly in this area and given how tricky it is to send in a rescue mission, would you recommend tourists not take these chopper flights . Dan, people have to understand, when you go to these beautiful places youre in rugged terrain. If something happens to the aircraft or helicopter, youre being put in a tough situation. I think when people think about are we going to get on that helicopter, you need to do your due diligence. And you need to understand that its not a disneyland ride. There are risks. Steve ganyard, we appreciate your expertise. Thank you. Well move on to politics. President trump wading into the me too debate. The president defending the accused and expressing no sympathy for the accusers saying people are being brought down by quote mere allegations. Abcs david wright has more from the white house. David, good morning. Good morning. President trumps call for due process for men accused of sexual wrongdoing is drawing cat calls and boos from democratic members of congress, especially women. Some of them making the point the women who accuse trump need due process. Reporter in the aftermath of a scandal thats cost two west wing staffers their jobs, President Trump tweeted a fullon critique of the me too movement. Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old. Some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused. Life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as due process . This, one day after trump lavished praise on former white house staff secretary rob porter who resigned after two of his exwives accused him of Domestic Abuse. Porter denies the allegations. We absolutely wish him well. He did a very good job while he was at the white house. Reporter women democrats now slamming trump. Senator patty murray shot back womens lives are upended every day by Sexual Violence and harassment. Im going to keep standing with them and trusting them even if the president wont. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand went further reminding her constituents that more than a dozen women have accused trump of sexual misconduct. If he wants due process, lets have congressional hearings tomorrow. I would support that and my colleagues should too. When it comes to allegations of sexual misconduct, the president has tended to give allies like senator candidate roy moore the benefit of the doubt while calling out opponents like former senator al franken. Women are special. I think its a special time. A lot of things are coming out. I think its good for our society. I think its very, very good for women. Reporter one woman the president does stand by hope hicks, the white house communication director. Shes been on his team since trump tower. Hicks was known to be dating porter at the white house. Trump said to be less than pleased with her handling of the porter situation. Saturday he issued a statement saying hope is absolutely fantastic calling her smart, very talented and respected by all. Now republicans arent too happy about the president s comments either. Is theyve been hoping that he would stick to the message about tax cuts and the economy. Instead hes veering off and infuriating women voters. Many republicans worry thats not going to help them at the midterms. Cecilia and dan. David wright, thank you. A lot to talk about. So lets bring in george stephanopoulos. Hes going to be hosting this week later. Right here on abc. Good morning. Is there some political calculation on the part of donald trump given the fact there are people in the country that believe me too has gone too far . He has he believes i believe he believes gained from wading into these sorts of things. No question about that. I dont understand his strategy here, if there is one. I think its about impulse and instinct. When you look at the president s history, when one of his friends or allies get in trouble with accusations of Sexual Harassment or abuse, he defends the man, whether roger ailes, bill oreilly or Corey Lewandowski or himself when more than a dozen women came forward. Its what the president believes, where his instincts are and where he stands. Hes angry with all this coverage. So you get an angry tweet saturday morning. Saying something provocative and cue the rage machine . And let the democrats i suppose. Take David Wrights last point. This is not going to help his party with women voters as we approach midterms. If the president loses this house, hes much more vulnerable to impeachment. Maybe that is the president s calculation. Maybe thats the tactic hes deciding to take. I dont think its a longterm strategy. Its pretty short sighted. One of the Big Questions is how much john kelly knew and when he knew it. The president were told is furious with him, so much so theyve got a list of possibly replacements. Is this enough to do him in . I dont think the president would want to admit something has gone wrong right in the wake of what happened last week. Youre exactly right. Were hearing the president is very angry. Hes working the phones sounding out possible replacements and their relationship has been on the wane. For some time. As you know, you cover him every day. This is not the first misstep by john kelly in the last several weeks. He is on relatively thin ice i think. As for the timing, hard to know. Jon karl also reported he expressed a willingness to resign. Even though he didnt offer his resignation. You mentioned the midterms. Republicans would rather be talking about tax cuts. Were only hearing from Democratic Women on this one. Can republicans continue to sit this out . They dont like to be asked questions about the president s tweets. Theres no question about that. They would prefer as david wright said talking about tax cuts and the economy. Theyll try to duck these questions. If they can. Well see if they can hold on. George stephanopoulos, thank you. You dont want me to say this, yesterday was your birthday. Happy birthday. Thank you. As a reminder, george has a big show. Hell go one on one with kelly anne conway. On all the fallout from the white houses response to those Domestic Abuse allegations. Plus, the big power house round table weighs in on this week. Because im coming in. Its going to be great. Its huge. Not when im sitting on it. Fair enough. Also super awesome. Cecelia is part of the round table. George, thank you again. Thank you guys. We want to switch gears to the olympics. The u. S. Struck gold in pyeongchang giving the u. S. It first gold medal. So far. The man of the hour is apparently just a boy. Lets go live to pyeongchang. Abcs amy, good evening to you. Yes, it is evening here but good morning to you. Thats right his name is red gerard. Hes just 17 years old. He pulled off an unbelievable upset to win team u. S. A. Its first gold medal in the olympics games, going from last to first. Reporter this morning team usa no longer empty handed winning its first gold medal. Red gerard. Reporter red gerard who was in last place heading into the final run delivering when the pressure was on. The Young Athletes creativity on full displaying pulling out tricks and perfectly clean landings. Red gerard is your olympic gold medallist in slopestyle. Reporter the crowd pumped. Not at the highly anticipated mens downhill. The event postponed because of the very strong 45 mile an hour winds. Also canceled for the day the womens snowboard qualifying event. The games have been filled with finesse. But also several slips and falls. Even a wardrobe malfunction. From the home team. A little trouble there. Reporter the shibutanis from team usa skating into second place. In the short dance event. The biggest star of the games this norway ski jumpers moustache the athlete celebrating not just his bronze medal but also his well groomed best friend. Since weve been here weve gotten three emergency alerts on our phones all in korean we had to get them translated. One for a shallow earthquake. In the eastern part of south korea. One for fire dangers and then a third warning everyone to bundle up because of the dangerously cold temperatures. Tomorrow its supposed to feel like 13 below zero. I want to see if you guys can let sam know i was thinking of him today as we drove by a shirtless marathon in those brutal conditions. It looks like hes set off an international trend. Was it the cold or the shirtless part . That had you thinking of sam . It was the shirtless part. I should explain. Just by way of context, yesterday we showed instagram pictures of sam shirtless and largely pantless. Check his instagram account. Bathing suit weather. Reminder, its bathing suit weather. Thanks for bringing that up, amy. I also want to point out sam is filling in for rob. We are so happy to have you here. I was ready to give amy some stats because tomorrow those winds are going to be like 40 miles an hour again. Shes right. Those windchills well below 10 below. In that area. Youre not talking about the shirt. I wasnt going to swimwear or anything like that. Hi, everybody. Good morning, everybody. On your sunday lets get you rolling. So much weather to talk about. Theres a lot of rain and flooding and ice. And sliding. Well start with indiana. Youll see a spin out here to remind you, like i44 in missouri was shut down. Theres been a lot of freezing drizzle. Theres two tenths of an inch of ice on the road. On i44 right now. Youre saying two tenths is not a lot. That makes sure your tires dont touch the pavement and you have no control. Its not all wheel stop. Its all wheel drive. That means youll slide all over the place. Heres another problem going on. This is in tennessee. All these flooding. Two three inches of rain. These creeks swell first. Then they feed the rivers. The Cumberland River is up in some places like 18 feet. Theres real time flooding going on. See this rain, its not leaving today. It goes from the deep south i also want to mention in the Florida Panhandle theres been tornado reports. Please in south georgia and florida keep up with your local abc stations. Theres some big time storms in the area. Look how much pink. Thats how much ice in texas, missouri, illinois, michigan all the way to maine. And new york state. If youre driving, please be careful. Thats this is the 30 again. Good sunday morning im lisa argen. Cooler today and this morning 30s in the north bay. 40s here. And partly cloudy and along the coast gusty. A possible shower along the coast and in the santa cruz mountains, otherwise were looking at typical temperatures frs february forred to and tomorrow. 63 palo alto and if you wanted swimwear weather, its 82 in miami. Just knowing sam is here to pick on, makes me happy. Its incredible to see you. Youre a good sport. Speaking of shirtless, hey, ron. Hi. Interesting transition. Ace, good morning to you. Good morning to you, dan adrienne and sam with the shirt. Thank you. Well begin in ohio where two Police Officers were shot and killed saturday afternoon just outside of columbus, ohio in westerville, ohio responding to a potential domestic situation. Men and women in uniform paying their respects as the bodies of 39yearold eric joering and 54yearold officer Anthony Morelli were transported. A suspect is in the hospital injured. President trump tweeting saying his thoughts and prayers are with the slain officers. In los angeles a Security Breach at lax airport. Police taking into custody a man after he made his way on to the runway. They say he got through a fence and ran up to a southwest airplane about to take off and pulled a fire extinguisher from the planes wheel well. Which set off a cockpit alarm. Some flights delayed. That airplane returned to the gate. For extra security checks. In florida jayz joining marchers for the peace walk. And peace talk rally. The gathering honors victims of gun violence including trayvon martin, an africanamerican teen who was shot during a walk. Jay z called him a beacon of hope. Convicted former u. S. A. Gymnastics larry nassar has been transported to a high security prison in arizona to begin serving his 60year sentence. On federal child pornography charges. Nassar also sentenced up to 175 years on Sexual Assault charges. In two state courts. He has to first serve that 60year federal sentence before the state sentences. As the flu epidemic spreads in the u. S. A japanese drug maker is claiming it has developed a pill that can kill the flu virus in one day. If true, its faster than any drug on the market. The drug is in late stage trials. The drug likely wont make it to the u. S. Until next year. At the earliest. Finally you never know when you have the urge for a frozen treat. When its going to hit you. Check this out. A woman in fox chapel, pennsylvania, thats near pittsburgh, riding her horse through a wendys drivethru to get a frosty. The clerk was maybe surprised. What did the horse . The horse had a burger. That doesnt make any sense. It was a joke. Their bacon cheese burger is to live for. Im just saying. To die for. To live for. We should explain your microphone wasnt working so well, which is why sam gave you his. Ron was so involved he didnt know. I just slid my mike in there. Thank you, man. So engrossed in the horse. I didnt know what was happening. Teamwork. Thank you, ron. Coming up on gma an International Parental child abduction. Why a dad has hope getting his son back. From brazil. How a death in the family led to a nasty and public fight between two sex and the city stars. Sarah Jessica Parker and kim cattrall coming up. Good morning america brought to you by trivago, the hotel surge, hotel, trivago. I can do more to lower my a1c. Because my body can still make its own insulin. 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