Mariah careys team blaming the superstars epic new year eve meltdown on everything from the faulty equipment to the producers. The team saying dont blame us, so what happened . And homecoming. Oh, my god. Good morning. Katies back cohosting for the week. Reion yoon 10 years in the making. Is it like riding a bike . Were about to find out monday, january 2nd, 2017. Announcer from nbc news this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning everyone. Welcome to today on a monday morning, 2nd day of january, 1997 apparently. This is flashback monday. It really is. Hello. Hi. Hello. Katie couric. Matt lauer. Glad to meet you. This is the first time katies not back to the show but back to cohost in a decade. I know. Its really exciting. Im so happy to see all of my friends, to see everyone in tv land. Does it feel like i like that, matt. Its great. Well look back and look ahead. Im happy to help out for savannah. So happy with her with her new baby charlie, so cute. Weve got a lot to get to this morning. I want to start with breaking news, that search for the gunman who opened fire on a new years celebration at a popular nightclub in istanbul. Nbcs Richard Engel is there. Good morning. Reporter good morning. We spoke to an american who survived the attack which took place in that nightclub down this street. He said when the gunman opened fire those who could escape did, others tried to hide or just drop to the floor and pretend to be dead. Isis has claimed responsibility for this, the first terrorist attack of 2017. A drag net has been set up across turkey to find the terrorist who rampaged through one of istanbuls ritzy nightclubs on new years eve killing 39, and injuring dozens. Among the injured american jake raak, a defense contractor from pennsylvania. He was recovering at a hospital this morning from a gunshot wound. I was shot in the hip. The bullet travelled to my knee and lodged in my knee. Probably the luckiest person in the whole thing. I find myself fortunate. I was with dying people, seven of us were shot. Reporter he was among hundreds at the club reina popular with 14 tourists, a lone gunman stormed in around 1 00 a. M. Somebody said there were shots fired and i did not believe it. And till i saw the gunman. Started shooting up the place. Rfrnlts as the gunman moved victim to victim, raak dove under a bench, pretended to be dead as the terrorist stood above him. He was walking on a bench above my head where my head was underneath. When he shot me i didnt move. I just let him shoot me. Reporter he struggled not to flinch so the gunman wouldnt shoot him again. Police released this blurry image of a suspect, the militant managed to escape as survivors were fleeing the scene. With each hour that passes its more difficult to catch this suspect, if he was in fact isis, theres a concern here that he could try to leave turkey, cross into syria, parts of which remain isis territory making it more difficult to be apprehended. Richard, i know you have more information about the american who was inside that nightclub. What can you tell us about him . Reporter well, he was here to celebrate the new year, he came with some high school friends. They were sitting at a v. I. P. Table, they were having what they call bottle service, having a good time. And then suddenly people started shooting and some decided to run away, he didnt really believe what was going on until he saw the gunman. He dove underneath a bench, and as he described in that clip, he was half under the bench with his head underneath, his legs sticking out. The gunman standing on top of him and he had to wait until the gunman fired into him, he said he couldnt scream, couldnt make noise, because he wanted the gunman to think he was dead. Luckily he survived, he will be heading back to the states soon later today or soon after. Richard engel in istanbul, a city he knows quite well. Thank you very much. In other niece president elect donald trump is gearing up for a busy week, he returned to new york last night after spending the holidays in florida, and with just 18 days to go until his inauguration, this is a lot on his plate. Were going to talk to incoming press secretary shawn spicer, but first Nbcs Kristen Welker is down the block, kristin, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. President elect donald trump will hold more transitionrelated meetings and it comes amid fresh scrutiny of his latest comments about russia, and what it may all mean for future relations between the two countries. President elect donald trump landing in new york late sunday after a starstudded black tie celebration saturday to ring in the new year. But the backdrop to the glitz and glamour, mounting confusion about what may come next for u. S. And russian relations, on sunday a plane carrying 35 expelled Russian Diplomats left the United States, their ouster retribution by president obama who announced sanctions against russia for Cyber Attacks in attempts to influence the u. S. Election, but when speaking to reporters over the weekend mr. Trump again questioned the u. S. Intelligence. I know a lot about hacking, and hacking is very hard thing to prove so it could be somebody else. Reporter and even hinted at potential revelation in the coming days. And i also know things that other people dont know and so they cannot be sure of this situation. Reporter when pressed to clarify mr. Trump would only say hell offer more information tuesday or wednesday after intelligence briefing this week. But mr. Trumps incoming press secretary turned up the heat questioning whether president obamas response to the russian hacking was over the top. You look at 35 people being expelled two sites closed down. The question is, is that response in proportion. You have to think about that. Reporter disconnect over the outgoing and incoming president s creating confusion across the globe and on capitol hill where signaling there is bipartisan support for stiffer sanctions. Wur going to see democrats and republicans like mccain and graham and others come twog a strong sanctions package. Reporter the current commander in chief president obama is on his way home from his winter vacation in hawaii and announced earlier today hell deliver thinks farewell address in chicago next tuesday, but later this week he heads to capitol hill to strategize with fellow democrats how to save obamacare with mr. Trump vowing to repeal it. Kristin, thank you very much. Shawn spicer will serve as president elect Donald Trumps press secretary. Happy new year. Good morning. Welcome back, katie. Thank you, shawn. What does donald trump know . He knows how hard it is to prove, he knows things other people dont know and may reveal those tuesday or wednesday. What does he know . You know, well wait until tuesday or wednesday but he has been briefed by his team, by his National Security team, by outside interests and others as to the severity of the situation. I think as was noted in kristins package what were trying to figure out is how certain are they of the intelligence, one, number two, how proportional is the response to what happened. As i noted before, 2015 in april the chinese stole millions of personal documents, classified or information on individuals who have and are serving in our government. And yet there was not a single statement from the white house then. So in this case you have 35 people being expelled, 12 degrees of sanctions imposed, two sites being happened, is this a political response or diplomatic response. That was the office of Personnel Management in 2015, shawn. Do you think that is as serious as attempting to tamper with the democratic process and the election . Lets be honest. They stole millions of peoples information, things that they put on security clearances, most Sensitive Information about who they are, where they live, their Family Members. And not a single statement was issued by the white house. In this case frankly, we have to wonder whether or not this is a political outcome. In september of this year the president revealed he met with president putin and quote told him to knock it off. It what happened . Nothing. They didnt act then. Only until Hillary Clinton lost the election did they suddenly decide this was a major thing. I want to go back to maybe it was. I want to go back to the president elect saying he knows things that other people dont know. Has he shared this information with the cia, with the rest of the Intelligence Community . Because he would be talking about information that would be vital to National Security if it involved the hacking of our national election. Has he shared it . If not is he holding it out there like some tease for a reality show . I think look, the president elect is briefed by his security team, by the current security team, and Intelligence Community. I think he does know things. Thats why hes the president elect, he is informed of things that americans that arent clear to get thation kno. I think what he is trying to get at is there is a degree of certainty to which this happens. This the report that everyone sees is taken as gospel truth right now is not even final. Its not supposed to be final idesed until later this week so there are questions why were taking the actions were taking and the proportion that we are without the report even being finalized. So its not a question of if, the president elect will be briefed by senior members of the Intelligence Community later this week and at that time be able to determine whether or not he believes that the response was proportional to the actions taken. Is there a chance once he becomes president he reverses the obama administrations reaction to this hacking and allows the 35 diplomats back in the country . No, i think whats going to happen the president elect is going to wait until the information is final, till he can make the clearest judgment what to do and the best interests of this country. What hes not going to do is politicize intelligence and decide to shoot from the hip before he has the complete picture of whats happening. Let me answer the question, katie. He is going to make sure that he makes the best possible decision in the best interests of this country and not rush to judgment. What hes doing is making sure he is fully briefed by the most senior members of the Intelligence Community to make the best decision what he will do once he becomes president. Should he be fully briefed before he continues to praise and some suggest fawn over vladamir putin . No look what happened the other day. The president of the United States made a decision to expel 35 diplomats, close two sites, impose 12 areas of sanctions against the russian government. The russian government immediately announced that they would do what we thought, which is retaliate and match in step the thing. Putin decided he would wait until President Trump became president. I think that shows the power he is going to have in restoring americas place. The fact of the matter until we have the information and that he can make a complete and full disclosure what needs to be taken next, he is going to wait. All right. Shawn spicer, thank you. We appreciate your time this morning. Happy new year. We want to move to another story the in coming president has to deal with, kim jung understanding hinted that the test launch of a Ballistic Missile could be coming soon. In his new years address kim said preparations have reached the final stage. Kim threatened to boost his countrys military capabilities further unless the u. S. Ends war games with south korea, but he said efforts must be made to diffuse the possibility of another korean war and stressed the importance of building his countrys economy. Meantime, Severe Weather is creating major headaches for millions of americans trying to get home after the long holiday weekend. Janet is at dallas ft. Worth international airport. Nice to see you again. Reporter katie, good morning to you. Welcome back. Severe weather here at dfw already impacting travelers, lightning and strong storms moving through and you know how that goes, its a Ripple Effect at airports across the country. And the weather is going to worsen throughout the day, with the possibility of tornados, hail and ice in several cities. So this travel day could go from bad to worse. This morning not a happy new year for many travelers trying to get home after the holidays. Wintry weather making the first days of 2017 tough going in some places. In seattle, for the first time in nearly a half century, a blanket of white covering the city on new years eve. A cool way to ring in the new year for some, but slippery surfaces creating hazardous driving conditions, and slowing operations to a crawl at seatac airport. The storm moving east with the possibility of near blizzard conditions in the Northern Plains. In the upper midwest they expect freezing temperatures and a wintry mess of snow and ice. And the south is in for a soaking. Up to five inches of rain possible in some places. In minnesota, terrifying moments for these drivers. One car stranded on the side of the road, a second skidding out of control. Forcing those in the first car to run for their lives. Reminder from state troopers on the dangers of winter driving. With the flights running 100 full as people try to get home and cancellations are going to be difficult to reschedule. Matt, katie, back to you. Thanks, janet. Al has his eyes on storms and much more. He is in pasadena getting ready for the rose parade. As you look in the monitor is it just bizarre . Wait a second. Hi, al. Quhatsyou and i look horribl she still looks fantastic. Oh, shucks. All right. I cant wait to see you back in new york tomorrow. They must have vaseline on the camera lens, al. Not sure where you were going with that. But lets nothing changed. Lets show you lets show you whats going on. I mean, where janet is they are under severe thunderstorm watch and you can see weve also got Severe Weather to the west also heading into parts of louisiana as well, severe storms really firing up. And in fact, weve got a risk of Severe Weather for over 20 million people, 70 Miles Per Hour wind gusts could be tornados as this pushes east its going to cause problems. Severe storms likely into tonight. And heavy downpours, rainfall amounts basically going to stretch from 2 to 5 inches but locally could be upwards of 7 to 8 inches down through the gulf coast. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Even a rodent ridealong. [dad] alright, buddy, dont forget anything [kid] i wont, dad. [captain rod] happy Tuesday Morning captain rod here. Its pretty hairy out on the interstate. Traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. Getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. December 14th, 2015. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum good monday morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Weve had some spotty light rain moving across the bay area. Also some snow for some of our peaks. As we go through the day in San Francisco expect the a high of 50 degrees. Times of rain all day. Also more rain in the forecast for tomorrow as well as wednesday. Early on thursday morning, there will still be some rain but it takes a break between late thursday and friday. More heavy showers moving back in for the weekend and the same for the inland areas. Thats your latest weather. And a little later this morning, 11 00 a. M. Eastern, 8 00 pacific time, were going to be hosting the 128th rose parade here on nbc. Hoda kotb joins me. And the reason its today on january 2nd instead of january 1st, theres a never on sunday rule. Dates back into the 1890s when horsedrawn carriages would be disturbed by the parade. They said never on sunday. Its only happened 15 years in 128. Matt and i were there for the first time. It was unbelievable. In 1890s when you started anchoring the today show. I knew you were going to say it. The best offense is a good defense. Good luck with that, al. Thank you very much. Lets turn to Mariah Careys new years eve performance. People cant stop talking about this. It was marred from problems from the very start. Critics to the pop superstar. Chanel jones weighs in with the latest. Good morning. And nice to meet you. Everyone agrees that Mariah Careys performance didnt go as planned. But theres dispute as to why. Carey and the team say it was faulty equipment. And the sound producers said the only issues she had were nontechnical. 2017 has its first controversy. After being called a disastrous new years eve performance, that went viral, back and forth over what caused the mariah carey mishap. All right. Reporter the main dispute, whether or not careys ear pieces and monitors were working. We cant hear. But ill just get through the moment, okay. Reporter a rep for the singer says, they werent. Carey can be seen taking out her ear piece as emotions started playing. Later saying the monitors were off. Get these monitors on, please. Reporter the rep said the shows producers knew she was having problems, but sent her on stage as planned rather than trying to fix the problem. Im trying be a good sport here. Reporter Dick Clark Productions released a statement, saying, in part, an initial investigation indicated that dcp had no involvement in the challenges associated with ms. Careys new years eve performance. And claims as deflamtory and absu absurd. Earlier, carey said he had problems hearing ryan seacrest. Remember when beyonce admitted to lipsyncing at the president ial inauguration. Or when Ashlee Simpson was caught on saturday night live in 2004. That was amazing. Reporter as for this incident, abc would not comment. But just about everyone else did. One viewer tweeting, mariah carey gave 2016 the ending it deserved, tbh, to be honest. Carey took it in stride, tweeting with an