Bitter blast. Most of the country stuck in a deep freeze. 42 states with colder than normal temperatures, from the dakotas all the way to the northeast. The winter storm wreaking havoc on the highways. Pileups in ohio, michigan and pennsylvania. And with 25 million in the path of a winter storm today, it could go from bad to worse. Dylan is tracking it all. And a Charlie Brown christmas. A small tree might be in your future as those lush, green, full Christmas Trees might be harder to come by this year. Theyre all kind of short and not very full, so we had to really look hard to find a good one. The reason behind the tiny trees today, saturday, december 10th, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is today, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on this saturday morning. Im Sheinelle Jones. Glad to have you with us, im craig melvin. Dylan dreyer still here still plugging along, but this i have been saying goodbye for the last week. This is my final show. Heres the thing, because youre two days behind savannah. She and mike gave birth to baby charlie yesterday, of course. Hes so adorable. Since youre two days behind her, we decided to park an ambulance outside. Just in case. So make sure you watch every moment just in case. Should i stand in a kiddie pool or something . No, we hope it doesnt come to that. A developing story overnight as donald trump takes aim at the cia dismissing the Intelligence Agencys conclusion that the russians hacked the democrats, not just to cause confusion but to help him win the election. Nbcs kasie hunt is in d. C. This morning with more. Kasie, good morning. Reporter sheinelle, good morning. The election has been over for weeks, but this new report is raising questions about how the russian government may have interfered not just in general, but specifically to help trump win this election. Trump is fighting back overnight, but members of his own party are promising that theyre going to keep digging into it. By the way, i dont need the hat either, right . Who wants a hat. Reporter after victory laps in louisiana and michigan friday night, even calling off antiHillary Clinton protesters who chanted lock her up that plays great before the election. Now we dont care. Reporter this morning president elect donald trump is at war with the Intelligence Community. The Washington Post reported late friday the cia thinks the russian government interfered with the u. S. Election to help trump win, by hacking emails from the Democratic Party and Hillary ClintonsCampaign Chairman. The Trump Campaign reacting within minutes, dismissing the claims saying, quote, these are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the Biggest Electoral College victories in history. Its now time to move on. But members of trumps own party believe russia did interfere. Theres no doubt in m russians were behind that. Every republican needs to understand this is not about the Democratic Party, this is about america as a whole. Reporter senator Lindsey Graham wants to impose personal sanctions against russian president Vladimir Putin next year, and the Obama Administration has demanded to know more about what happened before the inauguration. The president has directed the Intelligence Community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election. Reporter trump has praised putin. Incoming National Security advisor Michael Flynn once had denner with the former kgb officer but theres december sent among other contenders. Mitt romney is still a potential pick of secretary of state and he once labeled russia americas number one geopolitical foe. Exxon xceo Rex Tillerson is als in the mix and Rudy Giuliani has taken himself out of the running. President elect trump promising hell make a decision for that critical post by the end of next week. More new details out this morning. The New York Times is reporting the russian government also hacked the Republican National committee, but that none of that information was released during the election season. Youll remember we heard a lot about democratic emails leaking out, Hillary ClintonCampaign ChairmanJohn Podestas hacked emails leaking just in the weeks leading up to election day, sheinelle. Kasie, were used to the Trump Team Going on the attack, but theyre attacking an Intelligence Agency that will be explicitly serving the president for the next four years. How unusual is this . Reporter its extraordinarily unusual, sheinelle. This is in many ways unprecedented. Trump will be relying on the Intelligence Community to tell him how to interact with the many threats around the world. We do know that trump had an intelligence briefing on wednesday, but hes getting fewer than many president select have in the past and fewer than his Vice President elect mike pence who is getting near daily briefings from this community that donald trump is now seeming to go to war with. Sheinelle. Kasie hunt, thank you. Meanwhile a crisis was averted in washington overnight when the Senate Approved a spending bill at the last minute to keep the government from shutting down. That vote came less than an hour wheth before the midnight deadline. Democrats had been holding out over longterm Health Benefits for coal miners. Tens of millions of people are waking up this saturday morning with one thought on their mind. It is cold out there, a blist blistering chill blanketing much of the country leaving snow, icy roads and a deep freeze. Kristen dahlgren is braving it all in erie, pennsylvania. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you, sheinelle. Yeah, a little break in the know right here right now. Its beautiful out here until you try driving in on it. A lot of the roads here arent plowed in erie. Interstate 90 going about 5 miles an hour right now. Couple that with these cold, cold temperatures and it could be a rough weekend ahead for millions. Bitter cold is the story this morning with much of the country seeing temperatures well below average. Its like alaska. Reporter even bringing a rare snow event to places like texas, where it wreaked havoc on the roads. In seattle some football fans had a bit of fun. But for others in the northwest, it meant headaches when that snow soon froze over. Its a sheet of ice with a thin layer of water. Its pretty much impossible to get out. Reporter from slippery sidewalks in utah to whiteout conditions in north dakota. But for snow removal workers in iowa, theres an upside. As far as the snow removal goes, its 50 of our business. Reporter the Great Lakes Region saw some of the worst of the storm, turning deadly on the roads in new york friday. One man died after losing control of his suv in whiteout conditions. Earlier the same system caused a series of massive and deadly highway crashes in ohio, michigan and pennsylvania. We have a reported 10 to 15car pileup. Reporter snow will continue to be a threat across the Great Lakes Region this weekend. So around here they could see another 5 to 8 inches today before all is said and done. Some places could see up to another foot of snow. Guys, can i just say as excited as i am about dylans baby, i have a feeling we are really going to miss her out here over the winter. What are you trying to say, kristen . Kristen dahlgren. I should apologize to all the reporters and correspondents who will get stuck in the snow because im not out there. How much worse is this going to get . The lakeeffect snow is going to continue throughout the day today because the air is so cold and the lakes are frozen at this point. These bands of snow will continue through the day today with an additional perhaps 2 to 4, 4 to 6 inches of snow possible, but you get into those heavier bands and you can see closer to 8 to 10 inches. Now, we also have another storm system thats already made its way onshore in the pacific northwest. Its going to bring most of the snow to the Higher Elevations which is where we have our winter storm warnings. The grand tetons could see up to 2 feet of snow possible. Then it makes its way to the midwest. As we go through later today and throughout the day on sunday, were looking for that to reinforce some of the lakeeffect snow off of lake ontario and lake erie. Heres this front moving eastward. By the time we get into the overnight hours, the snow starts to fill in across the midwest. Then well get lake ens chancement and that will reinforce the heaviest of the snow. Then it will make it to the northeast and transition into rain. We could see up to 2 feet of snow in some of the highest elevations but well see a widespread 6 inches of snow through the great lakes and where those heavier bands of lakeeffect snow set up, like where kristen is, we could see an additional 5 to 10, 12, 15 inches of snow. Well get your National Forecast in just a bit. It was an emotional day in a South Carolina courtroom on friday as jurors and witnesses heard for the very first time the chilling confession from the gunman who shot nine people to death at a historic africanamerican church there, hoping to start a race war. Heres nbcs gabe gutierrez. I do consider myself a white supremacist. Reporter dylann roof chuckled as he recalled the horror at charlestons Emanuel Ame Church last year. Well i killed him, i guess. Reporter now for the first time a look at what prosecutors show jurors on the third day of roofs federal trial where hes accused of 33 counts, including hate crimes. I think we all know im guilty. Reporter he told agents the Trayvon Martin case woke him up and prompted him to Research Black on white crime. What i did is so minuscule to what theyre doing to white people every day. Reporter this is security tape of roof entering. Minutes before the massacre, prosecutors said roof could be seen in this snapchat video. When the bloodshed was over, he quietly walked out, gun in hand. I was in absolute awe that there was nobody out there. Reporter adding that if officers had been waiting for him, he would have shot himself. Police arrested him during a traffic stop the next day, and he seemed surprised when he was told nine Church Members had died. You were under the assumption you killed four or five people . Right. Yes, thats true. But your numbers were doubled. It was nine. Reporter investigators found a journal in his car with a swastika scrawled inside and this entry. I would love for there to be a race war. The fbi agents asked him what he would tell the families of the victims. I probably couldnt even look at them. Reporter roofs defense team is not disputing the facts of the case. Their goal is to avoid the death penalty. On the witness stand an investigator said after roofs confession he told the then 21yearold that his plan to start a race war did not work, and the people of charleston were coming together. His last words to roof, you failed. For today, gabe gutierrez, nbc news. Turning overseas now, a humanitarian disaster is looming today in syria where the city of aleppo is close to falling to government forces. This as u. S. Diplomats try desperately today to find a way to stop the bloodshed. Matt bradley is in london with more. Matt, good morning to you. Good morning, craig. Russian officials saying today that 50,000 civilians have fled eastern aleppo in just the past two days. Its not enclosure clear if thas true but many of those civilians will be jumping from the pan into the fire. Take a look. Syrias largest city is about to fall. Government forces say they have retaken more than 90 of aleppo. An ancient city now nearly levelled by years of war. Just this week tens of thousands of civilians fled the rebelheld east to the relatively calm of the governmentheld west. Their nightmare isnt over. The United Nations has reported claims that hundreds of men and boys disappeared once they crossed into west aleppo. Human rights workers warn that the harsh treatment of civilians could get worse. What is the worry among human rights workers once aleppo falls completely . You would have a huge number of people who may be exposed to reprisals of different kinds, including being picked up and held in detention centers, interrogated and tortured. Reporter far from syrias horror, negotiations continue. Theyre struggling to save the estimated 100,000 civilians still trapped in the citys east. What is happening in aleppo is the worst catastrophe, whats happening in syria is the worst catastrophe since world war ii itself. Its unacceptable. Its horrible. Reporter so far talking has accomplished little. Syrias government and its russian allies say theyre determined to see a full military victory in aleppo. That victory will come at an even greater human cost. Aleppo is a problem that donald trump will inherit when he takes office next month and its one in which u. S. Troops have been increasingly involved. The outgoing secretary of defense announced today that hes nearly doubling the number of american soldiers fighting isis on the ground near the syrian city of raqqah to 500 special operations troops. Matt bradley for us this morning in london. Matt, thanks. Breaking overnight, at least five people were killed today when a tanker train derailed and exploded. It happened in bulgaria. 150 firefighters raced to the scene to search for survivors. 20 buildings have also been destroyed. Police say the train was carrying propane and butane. The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in texas last july was taking medications that should have disqualified him from flying. Thats according to federal investigators. The balloon crashed into power lines near lockhart, texas, killing the pilot and 15 passengers. The ntsb that pilot, alfred skip nichols had at least a half dozen prescription drugs, including oxycodone, in his system at the time of the crash. He also had four convictions for drunk driving and served time in prison twice. High drama is playing out in a florida courtroom in the retrial of a woman who was accused of hiring a hit man to kill her husband. At the center of it all, this hidden camera video of an undercover officer trying to catch her setting up the hit. But was she the victim of a Police Department looking to make a big splash on tv . Nbcs scott cohen has more. All right, counsel, you may be seated. Reporter its a case thats testing the line between reality and reality tv. How soon could you do it . I could do it wednesday morning. Wednesday morning at the house. Reporter police have Dahlia Dippolito on video seemingly casually taking out a hit on her new husband with an undercover cop. I was going to get 3,000 from you today. Reporter so juicy, boynton beach, florida, police shared the story with the tv show cops and staged this crime scene to make her think her husband really was killed. Her lawyers say the Police Departments quest for publicity, including posting the videos on youtube compromised her rights. The departments Public Information officer grilled on the stand friday. Do you believe that is good police practices, yes or no . I cant answer that. Reporter the defense says the police set dippolito up to make the department famous and that she never really intended to have her husband killed. Im positive. Reporter they accused the Police Department of corruption. This case is bigger than Dahlia Dippolito. Its about Holding Law Enforcement nationwide accountable for following the rules. Reporter but prosecutors say the undercover video speaks for itself. Whats great about this case is it is based 100 on miss dippolitos words, her actions and her intent. Reporter this is Dahlia Dippolitos second trial. Convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 20 years, the verdict thrown out on appeal. As soon as monday shell have to decide whether to take the witness stand or leave the jury to decide the tale of the tapes. For today, scott cohn, nbc news, miami. At this hour nobel prizes are being awarded in oslo, norway. The peace prize is going to colombian president for his efforts to end that countrys civil war. The prize for literature, you might remember its being awarded to bob dylan, a songwriter, but dylan wont be there. He says he has, quote, preexisting commitments. What would that be . Its bob dylan. Its bob dylan. I would have been stunned if bob dylan ld been there. All right. Lets talk about the forecast. The northern half of the country is dealing with most of the snow and miserable weather. Heavy rain falling through northern california. You can see the dividing line south of the center of the united states. We are enjoying lots of sunshine. Temperatures, though, are going to continue to cool off the next couple of days. This morning it is bitterly cold with windchills down to 25 to 30 degrees below zero across the dakotas. Its only 13 for a high in minneapolis st. Paul today, 20s across chicago but the coldest is still to come. Next week the siberian express is moving in and thats