Hammers away at House Speaker nancy pelosi for holding up his impeachment trial. This as the president faces new heat for tweeting an article that allegedly named the anonymous whistleblower in the case against him those stories plus desperate search a rescue operation underway in hawaii this morning for a missing helicopter carrying tourists on a sightseeing trip touching tribute the fiancee of the espn reporter reveals new details about his final days and the circumstances surrounding his death. And footbrawl eastern michigans quarter ejected for throwing punches the wild weekend today friday december 27th, 2019. We start this morning the full forecast for us in just a moment and the worlds busiest airport. Hartsfield Jackson International in atlanta and its still go and already piling up and with the hoopts coming to a close millions are headed home and into a potentiae punch of flooding, strong winds and heavy snow, shutting down parts of busy interstate 5 in los angeles. There was a lot of traffic. We were stuck together couldnt get out so basically, been her travel nightmare c plan aaa is estimating a record 115 million travelers on the road and in the sky by new years day. That is 4 million more than last year and on the roads the same story where the flood of holiday drivers could double even triple drive times in some cities my husband drives and we all sleep in the car. Reporter in new jersey, some drivers already have a game plan get out early so you can get there early and avoid most of the traffic. Reporter but in chicago, a different kind of strategy you know, 60 outside and you dont want to be wearing a winter coat. Reporter recordbreaking High Temperatures have residents trading snow boots for shorts and jet skis at least for now enjoy it while it lasts because next week it is going to be the same, like Winter Weather. Reporter and guys, we have some good news, if you are traveling today, things are looking a lot better than yesterday. We just checked the latest numbers. About 250 delays, and less than 50 cancellations the airports with the biggest problems, las vegas, denver, and San Francisco. Craig . Blayne alexander for us there in atlanta, thank you. Dylan is in for al once again with more on what we can expect, as that winter storm starts its march across the country. What are we looking at a good way to describe it, craig. It is starting its march and we are seeing Winter Weather advisories winter storm watches and warnings from the southwest all the way into the upper midwest we have the snow falling in the higher elevations. Weve got rain in phoenix. This is going to continue to strengthen and become the storm that makes a mess across the country. On the north and northwestern side of the storm, thats where we will see mostly snow. One to three inches in denver before it really starts to rank up across the dakotas and also in northwestern minnesota, too on the eastern side of this, from minneapolis, to chicago, to st. Louis, it is mostly rain but stretching down into mississippi, we could see some severe storms. Because temperatures have been more springlike so we could get that springtime Severe Weather out ahead of this cold front and then as we go into sunday night and monday, the heaviest of the rain reaches the east coast, we will see a lot of rain, up and down the east coast, with some heavier snow possible across central and Northern New England so how much snow will we see the highest elevations back to the rockies will see the bulk of the snow going through today and then into tomorrow, up to a foot of snow and blizzardlike conditions across the dakotas, and as far as rain is concerned, we could see one to three inches of rain, and again, the possibility of some isolated Severe Weather dylan, thank you for that. Now to breaking news overnight. A deadly plane crash in kazakhstan, it went down shortly after takeoff, slamming into a building and a fence but miraculously more than half of the 100 people on board survived nbcs molly hunter joins us now with the very latest molly, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. The death toll stands at 12 right now, including the experienced pilot, but authorities warn that number could rise the deputy Prime Minister has said the tail of the plane actually touched the Landing Strip twice during takeoff and just think there may have been trouble before it was ever airborne after the disaster, passenger meryl yerman walked away from the wreckage she says a secure car picking up children, no other help, no ambulance, no medical personnel. 17 minutes after takeoff, her flight crashing, the fuselage broken apart bek air flight d 29100 was carrying 93 passengers and five crew members in kazakhstan losing altitude quickly. And smashing through a twostory building near the airport. Emergency responders on the scene immediately, frantically searching the wreckage for survivors. The plane, a small dutchbuilt aircraft, introduced into the 1980s, went bankrupt and ceased production in 1996 bek air only had eight aircraft in its fleet and all flights have now been suspended. The Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted we have received with deep sadness the tragic news. The u. S. Embassy offering deepest condolences. Dozens treated for injuries in the hospital Authorities Say the passengers in the front of the plane suffered the most. Tomorrow has been declared a national day of mourning while the investigation continues. The black boxes have been found. And authorities are now looking at everything, including possible breach of Flight Operations and safety rules, as well as the heavy fog in the area guys an unbelievable tragedy, molly, thank you for that report. Also breaking overnight, a search and rescue operation in hawaii, for a missing helicopter, that was carrying tourists on a sightseeing trip. Nbcs joe fryer is following this one and what is the latest. Reporter the u. S. Coast guard is searching by air and in the water for a tour helicopter that disappeared on the island, it was due back last night, from a tour of the islands na pali coast, but it never returned this morning, a desperate search for seven people aboard a tour helicopter in hawaii the u. S. Coast guard responding on the island of kauai, looking for any signs of the green and white aircraft and those on board reportedly including two minors the owner of the helicopter alerting authorities thursday evening, after the aircraft carrying one pilot and six total passengers never returned from its tour of kauais coast. Officials say no signals have been received from the helicopter which is equipped with an electronic locator in a statement overnight, a coast guard official saying, the weather conditions are challenging. We have trained crews responding and on scene, searching for any signs of the helicopter and those aboard the helicopter is owned by safari helicopters according to an unnamed employee. And they offer a deluxe waterfall safari and a deluxe ecotour on the island, which is mostly uninhabited the headline says celebrating 30 years of perfect Hospital Safety the coast guard tells us more searches are scheduled at first light. More windy weather and scattered rain showers are in the forecast for today. Joe, thank you. Meantime, with negotiations over a Senate Impeachment trial at a standstill, President Trump is taking aim at democrats, and blames for holding up the process. And he says the issue of impeachment is now making it more difficult to do his job nbcs hans nichols joins us with the latest, traveling with the president. Hans, good morning. Reporter good morning, the president is on vacation mode, down in palm beach, with Nothing Official on his schedule, but that hasnt stopped him from taking to twitter, weighing in on the world, on politics, and yes, impeachment and per usual, the president isnt shying away from any fights with congress on winter break, President Trump is hitting Speaker Pelosi on her home turf. Saying that crazy nancy should focus on her own district, and help her incompetent governor with the big homeless problem. The flurry of tweets coming after the president acknowledged that impeachment is taking a toll on his presidency it makes it much more difficult to deal with foreign leaders and others when i am having to constantly defend myself against the donothing democrats trumps twitter activity coming as a republican ally in the senate, john kennedy of louisiana, dismissed the potential defection of senator Lisa Murkowski on impeachment as only one vote. Well, the senator is entitled to her opinion and senator mcconnell is entitled to his. Insisting most senators actually have no interest inn ss secretly dont want to hear this taking up an impeachment trial. It is all very odd, nine out of ten senators, secretly dont want to hear this case, and the tenth is lying kennedy responding to comments by murkowski criticizing the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell for pledging total cooperation with the white house on impeachment. When i heard that, i was disturbed. Murkowski never shy, responded to comments from the Senate Majority leader last week. I will take my cues from the president s lawyers. The single crack in the republican support, a potentially troubling sign for a president who has celebrated gop unity on impeachment, as congress is deadlocked on how to proceed. We had 196 or so republicans voting, 100 we didnt lose one republican vote in the house. Reporter now, for the first time the president has i. D. d the whistleblower that started off this entire process. He did it indirectly, he retweeted something from the Campaign Account which linked to a Washington Examiner article that did publicly name the whistleblower back in december. Now, a gop congressman did do something similar earlier in december as well but remember, whistleblower protections, one of the cornerstones, is having your i. D. Remain anonymous. Nbc news is not naming the whistleblower hans nichols in west palm beach, thank you. Also this morning, were learning more about the sudden death of a beloved espn reporter who caught pneumonia while working the ohio state Michigan Football game. The 34yearolds fiance is now opening up for the First Time Since his sudden loss. Nbcs ron mott has more on this story. Good morning. Reporter a very sad story indeed Edward Aschoffs fiance posting a series of statements to his twitter feed, thanking everyone for their sympathy and providing new details on the circumstances of his death when Edward Aschoff passed away on Christmas Eve, his 34th birthday, he was engaged to be married. His final instagram post, a heartbreaking tribute to katie, his young fiance, having pneumonia is pretty terrible, but it helps having this sweet angel taking care of you now she is writing movingly about the man she loved. I couldnt be more proud that the one thing people are talking about was his ability to lift them up with his energy, light, and that allencompassing smile. She posted a series of family photos writing, he also loved christmas so much that even from the icu, he was coordinating with my friend about wrapping my presents so i could be surprised. He was the brightest light in everything we did. Friend and espn colleague chris lowe says aschoffs talent was obvious from the very start. This guy, he is something special, hes got something, theres something about him. Bruce described him as an athletic young man who didnt vape or smoke. He ran. Played soccer. Always doing something so active. This this morning, new clues how such a seemingly healthy young man could succumb to a fairly common infection. His fiancee revealing after additional tests a diagnosis of hlh a rare disease sometimes triggered by pneumonia where the immune system doesnt work properly and can attack itself according to aschoffs social media, he got sick covering last months game between michigan and ohio state on december 5th, he tweeted i had a virus for two weeks, fever and cough, and the doctors think it turned into this multifocal pneumonia recently he was admitted to the hospital but his condition did not improve. Im Edward Aschoff. Espn. Posting a final image on one knee, the two of them laughing thank you all again for loving him as much as he loved you. Aschoffs fiance says theyre still working on the details for his funeral but a small memorial in oxford, mississippi and in atlanta, where he used to live. Ron mott, thank you. Lets turn to College Footballs bowl season it kicks into high gear this season with five games today and four more games tomorrow but a lot of folks are still talking about an incident from thursday nights game between pittsburgh and eastern michigan check this out this is the quick lane bowl. Getting a little ugly in the final seconds. The eastern michigan Quarterback Mike glass gets tackled and when he gets up, he slaps a Football Player in the face and accidentally makes contact with the referee, dropping the ref to the ground the ref would be okay. A brief scuffle ensues glass gets ejected from the game pittsburgh by the way held on to win, 3430 that video is unbelievable he hit the ref. You cant hit the other guy, either. You especially cant hit the ref. A reminder of what not to do when you head into a busy football weekend. Busy weather weekend, too. So quiet for so long and now there is a system that is producing snow in the southwest and rain on the eastern side of it this will make a mess for travelers going into saturday and sunday and later in the day sunday up and down the east coast. In the meantime, it is really kind of light right now. We also are a little bit unsettled in the northwest were still hanging on to mild temperatures for this time of year highs in the 60s and low 70s in the southeast. Thats a look at the weather across the country well get to your local forecast in the next 30 seconds [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. A. Good friday morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. The big story is how cold it is. Weve had temperatures dropping below freezing in the north bay as well as south county and the trivalley. The inland valleys starting out very cold but we will warm up today and reach into the mid to upper 50s. Nice recovery there. Were going to see the same thing again tomorrow, but then on sunday, more clouds and a chance of showers movin the controversial case against navy seal Eddie Gallagher. This morning, the chilling video of his time on the battlefield being shown publicly for the first time and what members of his own platoon told investigators about his conduct. Also, the eyeopening results of an exclusive nbc news investigation into the safety of the food that were all scarfing down on those planes what we found that you will want to see before you board your next flight. But first, this is today on intermittent fasting was googles most searched diet of the year but do benefits go beyond weight loss new results that show it could add years to your life, after your local news. Take a minute to clear your head because that was really bad oh, no, yeah and the worst part is, you just started calling him dad the best part of wakin up is folgers in your cup i am not for ignoring the first sign of a cold. 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