february 8th, 2019. newlyua released court transcris providing brand-new insight aboutw the special counsel gag and specifically the alleged lies that former trump campaign chairman paul manafort told robert mueller's mateam. according to the redacted document, federal prosecutors told ado judge this week that manafort may have lied in order to increase his chances of s getting a pardon for his crimes. in the transcripts prosecutors sayip manafort lied about d interactions with his former colleague rick gates in regard to an extremely sensitive issue. thens details of which have bee redacted. prosecutors say manafort may have lied because telling the truth would have negative consequences in termsve of the other motive that mr. manafort had which is to augment his chances for aen pardon. onlyrd the president can pardon somebody convicted of a federal crime. >> and there's more. we learned that manafort continued working for a political client in the ukraine eventh after he had already bee indicted in the mueller probe. the redacted document shows the prosecutor referred to 2018 words that manafort did with respect to pulling in ukraine. according to the transcript prosecutors say t one of manafort's alleged misstatements related to his discussions with konstantin kilimnik a long time business associate. prosecutors say discussions with konstantin kilimnik occurred in august of 2016 and continued through winter a of 2018. prosecutors said manafort and konstantin kilimnik had a k discussion that referenced a back door. the details of the discussion are redacted so it's unclear what the polling was about or what back door means. transcript does not say anything about theyt back door being related to the trumpbe campaign russia or hacking or interferenceor efforts that occurred in the 2016 campaign. >>e matthew whitaker will testy before the house judiciary committee this morning after a day long standoff over a subpoena that concerns house t democrats that matthew whitaker wouldat follow a pattern of tru administrationfo officials invoking privilege. yesterday a subpoena was issued to compel whittaker's testimony if necessary. buty if you appear before the committee tomorrow morning and m if you're prepared to respond to questions from our members i rs assure you there will be no need for the committee to issue a subpoena on or before february 8th. in light of that the justice departmentth responded whittake looks forward to his voluntary appearance. >> president trump tweeted about house democrats t revamped russn investigation yesterday morning and new reports are giving contextne to what he meant. the president tweeted democrats are even stealing people who work at white house, a a continuation of witch-hunt. "the washington post" reports that among house intel committee chair adam schiff new committee staffers is abigail c. grace who served as an asia policy staffer on theli national security counc during the trump administration until departing last spring for a washington think tank. an aide for the house intelligence committee declined to name specific staffers to the post however the person did say this.di although none of our staff has cometa directly from the white house, we have hired people with prior experience on h the natiol securityn council staff for oversight of the agencies and will continueof to do so at our discretion. joiningr us now from washington is senior political correspond for the "washington examiner" david drucker. there was this back and forth between the judiciary committee and justice department, theee , white house as well. four and a half hours away from when this hearing is supposed to start. how contentious will it be between the judiciary committee and matthew whitaker. >>ma pretty contentious, dependg how whut when it chooses to handle the hearing and the he questioning. this is the first time meeting this year that we've had a democratic run committee and a democratic run chamber of congress questioning the president and conducting oversight. so for the past couple of years it's been a republican senate, republican house. there's been a lot of deference to the administration. some people coming up to testify about all sorts of issues and democrats will get a crack at that questioning. but now you have democrats running investigations into the white house into the 2016 t campaign and into all the things that have concerned democrats and othere people quite frankl about how the president conducted his campaign and has been conducting his administration. what movesct he might make regarding the mueller investigation so i think you're going i to see some heat and i think it's understandable and obviously we've seen from both parties over the past ten to 20 years a sort of relaxed sort of oversight when o it comes to overseeing their own party in the white house. whenevern it's not their party you know, all bets are off and willing to be as aggressive as the institutionre intend or allows, and i think that what's interesting about this we're ab beginning to see this really for the first time and as we're seeing with the president he's beginning to understand what that anmeans. >> i think the president seems to forget there was definitely a some aggressive oversight when it came to the obama administration as well. it's happenedon before.'s bill clinton as well. it's happening cnow. part of ourni government.rt part of the process. part of the checks and balances that we rely on. we're learning more about paul manafort's motivation to lie to investigators, the timeline and the fact that he was doing work with ukraine through 2018 and this possible pardoning he's looking for from the president. what could be the fallout? >> look, i think it's important for everybody to under that, and i asked ken starr about this a couple of months ago that nobody knows what mueller knows. we find out things in bits and pieces, a transcript like this, partiallyis redacted. we have more of an understanding of what is going on. fats fascinating about this bit of news is that they believe ve that president trump's possible willingness toos pardon people involved in this investigation could have an impact on their testimony and we'vect seen over the past couple of years that this president seems to have a wider view of the pardon powers than his predecessors. often presidents will use pardon, even controversial pardons that are not widely accepted by the public at the end of time in their office. president trump has been willing to use it early and often. he has a liberal view of his of pardon powers. he likes using this executive authority. it couldex have an impact on current investigations. this one among them. >> david, stick around. we'll talk to you in just a bit. amazon ceo is excusing the parents company of the "national enquirer" of extortion and blackmail for threatening to publish scandalous photos and texts from him. jeff bezos released emails to show the company ami threatenedi to release the information if hn didn't stop an investigation into how the enquirer got text messages that had photos revealing his extramarital affair. nbc news has not independently reviewed the emails. to keep the information from getting out, bezos said ami demand he stop "the washington post" running. bezos writes if in my position i can't say enough to this kind of extortion how many people can? of course i don't want personal photos published but i won't participate in i their well-kno practice of black mile, political favors, political attacks andti corruption. bezos adds i prefer to stand up, roll this log over and see what crawls out. amazon spokes the person confirmed the authenticity of that blog post. amazon ceo's allegations is a long feud. pecker hasng been accused of buying controversial stories ofn trump to keep them private. a spokesperson for ami decline to comment. top republican virginia lawmaker is nowpu embroiled in controversy involving blackface. state senator majority leader tommy norment saw the 196 yearbook publication which has a host of racist photos and slur. 1968 is the first year the t school became desegregated. he helped create the yearbook which showed students appearing in blackface and the use of the n-word and anti-asian slurs.as he said in a statement as one of seven working on a 359 page yearbook i cannot endorse or associate myself with every photo entry or word on each page. he also noted that he's not in ' any of the racist photos in question which heph called abho rent. he went on later to add that he was not surprised those want to engulf republican which involve the governor, the lieutenant governor and theor attorney general. >> now tohe the latest on the political turmoil upending the virginia seat. the black caucus has continued calls for only governor ralph northam's resignation as they weigh the futures of the next t two men in line. the caucus notes this, blackface is mockery and therefore it is anre insult. in reference to a recently unearthed photo on governor northam's yearbook page p depicting a man in blackface and another in a kkk outfit northam denies being in the photo. as for the sexual assault allegation levied against lieutenant governor justin fairfax, first in line for the governorship if northam resigns the caucus continues to investigate the quote troubling accusation that he sexually ex assaulted a woman during the 2004 democratic national convention. the caucus went on to note attorney general mark herring's candor for disclosing that he once d dressed up in blackface r a college party and wait for him to reassure virginians for his fitness h for leadership. governor northam was briefed on routine tasks yesterday like the state's budget. he reached out to lieutenant governor fairfax and attorney general herring to express concern for their families and their well being. his wife pam texted their wives inex support as well. the post reports north has hires a private investigator as well as a african-american owned crisis management firm as he continuesrm to prove his innocence. democratsis have been caref not to rush to judgment over the sexual assault allegation against lieutenantal governor o virginia. justin fairfax denies that he forced dr. vanessa tyson to engaging oral sex inside a hotel room in 2004. he said the encounter was consensual. asked to respond, senator tim kaine said he's giving fairfax thegi same treatment he gave justice brett kavanaugh and his accuser telling reporters i got to watch both individuals testify and judge their credibility. we're not at that point yet. what we have is a compelling and detailed statement of a serious charge by a respected professional. we also have a very unequivocal deny all of that charge from somebody who we know real well. don beyer said i'm inclined to believe that herli statement is true,s she seems very credible. meanwhile butterfield of north carolinabu appeared more skeptil of the allegations telling "the washington post" quote this was 15 years ago and it's mighty suspect it would come out now. i think that we should not dismiss the allegations of the young lady but they should be fully investigated, adding fairfax should be afford the presumption of innocence. still ahead remembering the longest serving member ofin congress,rv condolences are pouring ins for the family of former congressman john dingell. later one more week until another possible government shutdown. we'll haver the latest on negotiationsat taking place to keep the governmentin funded. those stories and of course a check on your weather when we come back.ec (vo) only verizon was ranked #1 by rootmetrics. #1 in 3 opensignal mobile experience awards. #1 in video streaming according to nielsen. and #1 in network quality according to jd power. and that's why the only network to win in all four major awards is the one more people rely on. experience america's most reliable network on the best device: iphone. get iphone xr on us when you buy another, and apple music on us, too. acidic foods can your enamel is very precious. wear away your enamel. your tooth is going to look yellower, more dull. i recommend pronamel because it helps protect and strengthen your enamel. it's pro enamel. it's the positive thing. ♪ but in my mind i'm still 35. that's why i take osteo bi-flex to keep me moving the way i was made to. it nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long-term. osteo bi-flex because i'm made to move. 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(ringing) ( ♪ ) the future only happens with people who really know how to deliver it. the future only happens a business owner always goes beyond what people expect. that's why we built the nation's largest gig-speed network along with complete reliability. then went beyond. beyond clumsy dials-in's and pins. to one-touch conference calls. beyond traditional tv. to tv on any device. beyond low-res surveillance video. to crystal clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. gig-fueled apps that exceed expectations. comcast business. beyond fast. when you come back from break the best way to start is go to bill karins. get a check of your weather. get it out of the way. >> i don't know why i don't start the show. >> baby steps. >> whole 24 hour show with bill karins. it's called the weather channel. >> i'm more talented than just that. all right. here we go. yesterday we had the extreme weather across the country. we had severe weather. we had the extreme cold. when he the record highs in the east. now winter is trying to settle back in and dominate the maps. it's almost there. the cold front made its way into the northeast. it will slice through the southeast today. one more warm day in coastal areas of the southeast and florida and then you'll cool off. much colder back in the midwest. when i say much colder almost dangerously cold. wind chill warnings from north dakota, much of minnesota, little piece of iowa. wind chill advisories go into central plains and sneaking into the nest. let's see who our lucky person is the coldest this morning. earlier it was glasgow at minus 46 wind chills. still on the map. fargo negative 37. chicago is even negative 12. everyone on the east coast has been saying how warm it's been. your friends in the midwest or northern plains agreeing with you. negative 1 in minneapolis. 15 in chicago. after a warm morning on the east coast the winds will kick in and get much chillier as we go. the weekend a lot of winter. chilly in the south. cold in the great lakes. no snow on saturday but on sunday a little bit of light snow breaks out in the midwest. when we come back we'll talk about snow in seattle. one of the biggest snowstorms they've had in a long time is coming today and tomorrow. dames ahead. the longest serving member of congress former michigan democrat john dingell has passed away. the 92-year-old entered hospice care and diagnosed with prostate cancer last year. congressman dingell represented t the state of michigan. he played a key role in several pieces of landmark legislation during his time on capitol hill. kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: not just a witness to history, john dingell lived history. the michigan democrat served in congress longer than any other lawmaker ever. spanning 11 presidents. >> presidents come and presidents go and john dingell goes on forever. >> reporter: instrumental in the passage of the civil rights act and medicare. he spent decades fighting for health care reform. >> entirety of the american people want this changed. and we are going to give to it them. >> reporter: dingell called the affordable care act which he helped author the highlight of his career. known as a champion for social issues from clean air to workers rights, dingell was also powerful as the congressman for motor city. an imposing figure. standing at 56'3", big john was sometimes considered a bully. >> it may not embarrass the author of the amendment but surely embarrasses me. >> reporter: dingell was the last of an era, world war ii veterans iran congress. >> i learned in the service the value of comradeship. i learned about patriotism. i learned about duty. >> reporter: in 1955 dingell was elected to the house. following his late father who had served is in 1933. after a record 29 terms dingell announced his retirement in 2014. wife debbie dingell won the seat. awarded the national medal of freedom in 2014. >> his life reminds us that change takes time, takes courage and persistence. >> reporter: stopped by age he never shrank. he enjoyed the title decent of the -- dean of the house. >> even in his last days he had a sense of humor. >> i interviewed him a few times. wickedly very funny. still ahead the latest on the 2020 democratic field and what we're hearing about a potential white house run by former vice president joe biden. we'll be back in just a moment. t take your razor, yup. alright, up and down, never side to side, shaquem. you got it? come on, get back. quem, you a second behind your brother, stay focused. can't nobody beat you, can't nobody beat you. hard work baby, it gonna pay off. you got this. with the one hundred and forty-first pick, the seattle seahawks select. alright, you got it, shaquem. alright, let me see. got it. ran out of ink and i have a big meeting today. and 2 boxes of twizzlers... yeah, uh...for the team. the team? gooo team... order online pickup in an hour. and, now save big at the buy 2 get 1 free event. at office depot officemax. with my bladder leakage, the products i've tried just didn't fit right. they were too loose. it's getting in the way of our camping trips. but with a range of sizes, depend® fit-flex is made for me. with a range of sizes for all body types, depend® fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. woman 1: i had no symptoms of hepatitis c. man 1: mine... ...caused liver damage. vo: epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. vo: whatever your type, ask your doctor if epclusa is your kind of cure. woman 2: i had the common type. man 2: mine was rare. vo: epclusa has a 98% overall cure rate. man 3: i just found out about my hepatitis c. woman 3: i knew for years. vo: epclusa is only one pill, once a day, taken with or without food for 12 weeks. vo: before starting epclusa, your doctor will test if you have had hepatitis b, which may flare up, and could cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. vo: tell your doctor if you have had hepatitis b, other liver or kidney problems, hiv, or other medical conditions... vo: ...and all medicines you take, including herbal supplements. vo: taking amiodarone with epclusa may cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. vo: common side effects include headache and tiredness. vo: ask your doctor today, if epclusa is your kind of cure. welcome back. time now for sports where we begin with some sad news out of major league baseball with the passing of the first hall of famer frank robinson. robinson was the 1956 national league rookie of the year and is the only player to win mvp in both the american and national leagues. in 1966 he earned the triple crown and the honors for world series mvp, 14 time all-star. robinson's 586 career home runs puts him at number ten on the all time list and he became the majors first african-american manager when the indians hired him for the 1975 season. robinson who had been suffering from bone cancer was 83 years old. what a remarkable career. let's turn now to nba where while most make comparisons to michael jordan involve lebron james. westbrook took a bite out of the legacy. westbrook who nochd his eighth in a row during last night's 117-95 win against the grizzlies holds longest. he's on fire. we go to the floor in boston with the lakers trailing the celtics by a point in the game's final seconds. take a look at this. >> he scores! buzzer. >> former seceltic got l.a. the 129-128 victory. let's take a look at that again. can we see it? right there. he just pulls right up. bang. that's unbelievable. >> nothing like scoring that point there right on the buzzer. >> got a look of disapproval by mike barnicle. >> what's in that coffee cup this morning? do we have a shot on barnicle? anyone? no. he said no. the >> one week left to reach an agreement on immigration and border security. what nancy pelosi is saying about that and the prospect of another government shutdown. >> the latest on the charisma in venezuela. humanitarian aid has arrived but military force has blocked the bridge. we'll be right back. ack. i'm 53, but in my mind i'm still 35. ack. that's why i take osteo bi-flex to keep me moving the way i was made to. it nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long-term. osteo bi-flex because i'm made to move. got it. ran out of ink and i have a big meeting today. and 2 boxes of twizzlers... yeah, uh...for the team. the team? gooo team... order online pickup in an hour. and, now save big at the buy 2 get 1 free event. at office depot officemax. so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards the new johnson's® choose gentle you should be mad they gave this guy a promotion. you should be mad at forced camaraderie. and you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade, who's tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. don't get mad. get e*trade's simplified technical analysis. welcome back, everybody. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top toers. congressional leaders are racing to cobble together a deal on border security and government funding. a government shutdown approaches one week away. president trump met with the top senate republican on the panel trying to hammer out a deal. senator richard shelby at the white house yesterday for a briefing on the negotiations. following that meeting, the president suggested that it's quote not an option for congress to fail to provide security on the southern border. watch this. >> i hear they are working on something. we'll see what happens. i certainly here that they are working on something, and both sides are moving along. we'll see what happens. we need border security. we have to have it. it's not an option. let's see what happens. >> how confident are you that he'll sign whatever it is you come up with? >> i don't know he'll sign with whatever we come up with. but the president had a very positive conversation with the president and the vice president earlier today, and i believe he was very reasonable with us. he stated explicitly he wants us to on the appropriation level to conclude this, to fund the government as he wants some things funded. absolutely. i think that we're on a positive trajectory course now. the next 72 hours probably are very important on the staff level because i see some sunshine. >> of course, we won't know necessarily until that deal hits the president's desk. house speaker nancy pelosi is predicting that republican leaders won't allow another shutdown to happen. in an interview with politico pelosi says the gop won't venture down that road again saying i have a club that i started. it's called the too hot to handle club and this is a too hot to handle issue. quite a club. pelosi adds that the bipartisan panel work on a deal will reach one before next friday's deal and she will get behind any deal that emerges while remaining steadfast there won't be money for trump's wall. january was the worst month of donald trump's presidency in terms of job approval. a record low of 40% of voters approved of trump and record high 55% disapproved. trump's net approval declined in 43 states. majority approving in only 12 states. >> former vice president joe biden is working closer to deciding on whether he will run for president. politico reports that biden has spoken with his former capitol hill colleagues about his chances in 2020 and what it would take for him to compete in the crowded democratic primary. biden has spoken with at least five senators about his potential bid and has been in regular contact with house majority whip, a key figure in early voting state of south carolina. now senator majority whip dick durbin told politico about biden's potential decision i wouldn't rule it out. every month or so i get a phone call from him. he speaks in a general way about weighing the option. after weighing the democratic response to president trump's state of the union, stacey abrams says she's not ruling out joining the crowd democratic presidential field. take a listen to this. >> everyone is already getting ready for 2020 and a lot of people are talking you up as a potential candidate. is there any chance you're thinking about throwing your hat in the ring? >> as i said, i'm thinking about everything. i gave myself a deadline to ten of march to make a decision about what i'll do next and that means i think about all things. >> we're watching for that. liberal democrats introduced their new green deal plan that intends to define the debate on climate change. according to the bill drafted by congresswoman alexandria occasio-cortez and senator ed markey the plan seeks to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transmission for all communities and workers in an effort to answer demands combat climate change. the legislation calls for a ten year infrastructure plan that would convert 100% of the power demand in the u.s. to clean renewable and zero emission energy sources to upgrade all existing buildings to meet energy efficiency requirements and to expand high-speed rail. >> in an interview, house speaker nancy pelosi signaled potential hurdles, saying it will be one of several or many suggestions we receive. the green dream or whatever they call it nobody knows what it is but they are for it. right? alexandria occasio-cortez respond to nancy pelosi's comments during a press conference. >> are you offended that speaker pelosi called this the green dream. >> no, i think it's a green dream. it is. it is. and i think that, that all great american programs, everything from the great society to the new deal started with a vision for our future. and i don't think that, you know, i don't consider that to be a dismissive term. i think it's a great term. >> joining us again david drucker. good to talk to you once again. we got these liberal democrats introduces their new green deal, alexandria occasio-cortez leading that. could the fight over this plan when you hear what nancy pelosi is calling it, the green dream would that divide feasibly the democratic party on capitol hill >> in theory it could divide a lot of lawmakers. it's a resolution. they are not introducing this as legislation heading to the floor, at least not any time soon. it's important to under, democrats generally are on the same place when i comes to tissue of climate change being important and something that needs to be dealt with. i think the differences will be over tactics and ambition and practicality. there's plenty of democrats especially many elected to the house in 2018 and swing districts who will look at this and say it's great to be aspirational but we need to be political and from a policy perspective practical so we don't turn off voter and make them think in a sense we're kokky on what we want to do about this. it depends on whether or not the democrats that are for this want to press this or whether they are trying to set the tone for where they want the party to go. what's interesting here you have democrats running for president that are signing on to this and it's being driven by a member of congress who has been in office for less than two months and never produced any piece of legislation. that's a credit to congresswoman alexandria occasio-cortez influence on the party. i think democratic presidential candidates may have to answer for this in states like michigan, ohio and iowa. >> i know kamala harris, i know elizabeth warren is on board with this new green deal. i'm curious to see how much it will drive the presidential politics in the run up to 2020. >> how much that green dream is shared. let's turn our attention back to the immigration conference committee. the president's approval rating a record low in january. senator shelby sees some sunlight. he thinks there will be a deal. given those low approval ratings, given how close we are to another government shutdown do you think the white house will risk the politics of a government shutdown so close to the 2020 election? >> i don't think the white house has any cal can you laws. whatever the president is feeling at any given moment. what i thought was notable about senator shelby's comments is he's talking about his conversation with the president. and the president is responding positively. but so what? the president does this all the time. negotiations are proceeding, seem to be getting somewhere. republicans go to the white house. brief him. feel like the president is on the same page as they are. but you never know where the president is until you have a deal. even until he tells you he accepts the deal five minute later he'll reject at the deal. i don't think the president is looking at the politics of the shutdown like the rest of the country is. while it was damaging for him and his party, i think the president has decided that this is the way he wants to govern. so i think the issue for republicans is if they have a deal with democrats that they think is very good and the president rejects it what are they going to do? they don't want another shutdown but you never know where the president is until the last minute and he finally agrees and puts his signature on the dotted line. >> like in december when they thought they all had a deal and no government shown then we went into the longest government shutdown. >> they walked the plank and then he changed his mind. >> we'll see what happens. thank you. still ahead new evidence linking saudi arabia's crown prince to the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. >> the latest political upheavy value in venezuela as nicolas maduro keep drastic steps from letting aid in the country. >> bill karins has details on your weekend forecast. forecast. 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available now. learn more at cancercenter.com. seaonly abreva cany to help sget rid of it in... ...as little as 2 1/2 days when used at the first sign. abreva starts to work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. abreva acts on it. so you can too. trump administration is expected to miss today's congressionally mandated deadline to determine if the kingdom of saudi arabia is responsible for the murder of "washington post" columnist and legal u.s. resident jamal khashoggi. in anticipation of the administration's inaction a bipartisan group of senators yesterday reintroduced a bill which holds the accountable for the murder and the catastrophic war in yemen. cia assessed with high confidence that saudi arabia crown prince mohammad bin salman was responsible for khashoggi's murder back on october 2nd. president trump has rejected and dismissed that assessment. instead agreeing with the continuously evolving saudi explanation that now claims the killing was done during a rogue operation while trying to force khashoggi back to riyadh. >> it comes as a "new york times" report details the most direct evidence to date connecting the crown prince to the killing. wording to communications intercepted by u.s. intelligence agencies back in september of 2017, mbs told a top aide if khashoggi could not be enticed back to saudi he should be returned by force and if neither of those methods work, mbs said he would go after khashoggi quote with a bullet. september 2017 is the same month that khashoggi began writing opinion columns critical of the kingdom in the "washington post". that's all according to current and former american and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence reports which were produced in early december. around the same time president trump told reuters this. the fact is, you know, he denies it while citing arm sales as an example that the kingdom is a quote very good ally. >> under orders from nicolas maduro venezuela's military is currently blocking a major highway connecting the country to colombia in an attempt to prevent much kneed foreign. aid including food and medicine from entering the country. venezuela has been enduring food shortages and crippling inflation. npr reports economic conditions are so bad that if you can even find a job, a day's wage is not enough to buy two eggs. millions of venezuelans have been forced to flee to neighboring countries while important than 50,000 others cross into colombia on a day-to-day basis to pick up the essentials such as diapers, medicine, toilet paper and food. it's unclear what effect this show of defiance by maduro will have. convoy trucks have not started towards the border and there are other places it could cross. let's take a turn now and get a check on your weather with meteorologist bill karins. >> we mentioned earlier about the snow heading for the pacific northwest. let's do a little comparison. boston is in one of the biggest snow drought winter storm. only 2.3 inches so far. seattle had 2.7 inches. blot below average. they've had two snow days so far in seattle. boston lie had four winter storm with less snow than this. so let's go to the northwest. we have winter storm warnings for seattle area. also northern california. we'll get another huge amount dumping of snow in areas of the sierra nevada. the low elevation snows from seattle to tacoma down i-5 under winter weather advisory. winter storm warning in seattle our models thinking around the range of four inch snowfall. they average five inches per winter. i was looking at the pictures. milk, bread, vegetables, store shelves are empty because they are expecting snow over the next 24 hours and spread throughout the west. if you like the warm air in the east. today is it. this morning the colder air and winds will gust later today and imuch colder back in the midwest. this is the year that it will be in the east this upcoming weekend. for our friends in boston lie two inches of snow and no big snowstorms anywhere in sight. >> extraordinary. >> all over. seems like we were going back to cold. nice run. little 60 degree weather in january. >> bill karins thank you very much. series getting another shot of life after a judge approves a plan to keep the company afloat. >> more on jeff bezos stunning accusations of blackmail by the magazine publisher with close ties to president trump. sher wi ties to president trump. 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"the washington post," it's yet to be seen whether they will be deemed to have done anything on the criminal front. we haven't heard from the president yet but a lot of political stories here to contend with. >> a bankruptcy judge has green lit a plan to keep the iconic retailer alive. will this be enough to save it? >> big question. yesterday we did find out a bankruptcy judge did allow for the sale of sears to go ahead to a hedge fund owned by the sears chairman, eddie lamb part for $ $5.2 trillion. it will save 45,000 jobs. the bigger question is whether or not the creditors who are owed $3 billion by sears will get paid the money they are owed. there are examples of other companies like radio shack, who filed for bankruptcy on to file for bankruptcy again shortly afterwards. >> okay, joanna, live from london, thank you very much. >> coming up, jonathan swan has a look at this morning's "1 big thing." >> and much more on accusations by president trump that intel chair adam schiff is stealing people from the white house. >> and representative eric swalwell will weigh in. and discuss this moment, at the state of the union of him rallying behind his female colleagues. 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"morning joe" starts right now. >> marty baron will tell you this is a super important point. when he meets with the journalists, i say it myself when i meet with journalists at the "washington post." marty says we are -- the administration may be at war with us; we are not at war with the administration. just do the work. just do the work. that's marty's saying. >> that is jeff bezos speaking last year. today, this morning, he is at war against the publisher of "the national