In the travel ban are rarely implicated in u. S. Based terrorism as the white house takes aim at the press as they tried to get senior members of congress to fight back of reports of Trump Campaign ties to russia. And the son of boxing legend muhammad ali saying he was detained for hours at the florida ierairport. Now threatening to sue. And wild ride. Up and over. A massive crash during the truck race at dato daytona. Several trucks caught up on the last lap of the race. Everyone walked way and they are thankful for their seatbelts today. Saturday, february 25th, 2017. Announcer from nbc news, this is today live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today. Im sheinelle jones. Glad to have you with us. Im craig melvin. A lot to bring you. Including the Trump Administration tried to get senior members of congress to push back of ties to russia. We will talk to a man who hopes to be the next leader of the Democratic Party. Lelts get to the top story. The deadly winter storm after wreaking havoc. Indra peterson is here. This storm will bring the possibility of Severe Weather on the east coast. It comes the day after it slammed million notis in the mi of the country. Hail in michigan outside of detroit. In wisconsin, several inches of snow concealed a slick layer of ice last night. A small plane trying to touchdown in extreme conditions landed short of the runway in wahshah. You could smell it and see it. In the western part of the state, buried under a foot of snow. Pretty bad. It was just as bad in iowa. Digging out from more than 10 nch inches of snow. Similar slippery conditions in minnesota where heavy snow had drivers sliding off the highways. Four people died on the roads as the same storm passed through utah. Semi versus a vehicle. Reports of the vehicle under the semi. A dramatic contrast to the northeast. New yorkers treated to springlike temperatures in central park. I cant believe it is so nice outside. Especially it was snowing two weeks ago. Here you go. Continuing to watch the line of storms. Easy to see pushing the squall line through the ohio valley. We will see this in the east coast. It is warm. We have the Severe Weather threat. Philadelphia, washington and new york city, a slight risk. Mostly strong winds, a thunderstorm possibly and hail. A very small risk for tornado. Also keep in mind, toward the northeast, the snow on the ground. Now you have rain in february. You are looking at the threat for flooding. Especially with ice jams where you get runoff. Flood advisories. Here we are looking at this in the northeast. The major cities in the Late Afternoon through the overnight hours. Exiting out of here quickly. That is the good news there. As far as rainfall totals. Thunderstorms. Not the steady rain. Most of you not seeing a lot out there. The bullseye maybe 1 inch in upstate new york. The rest scattered showers. With a thunderstorm, it could be a heavy downpour. Craig and sheinelle, we will monitor because it takes a few seconds for things to change. Thank you, indra. Lets. Translator lets turn to washington with the president facing another headache with a travel ban and the new report claiming the white house tried to get the heads of the house and Senate Intelligence committees to throw cold water on the stories of the ties to russia. Kelly odonnell is live with more. Reporter good morning, craig. One of the themes is President Trump is doing what he said he would do. That is a repeated attempt to discredit media stories about him. This comes at the time when the white house is expected to release this coming week a new version of the president s travel ban. Just as a report from inside the government appears to under cut the president s plan. A fired up President Trump stirred a conservative audience defending the travel ban. We are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. Reporter but a threepage draft document from the department of Homeland Security, the Agency Responsible for enforcing the travel ban, appeared to under cut the rational targeting seven mostly muslim countries. Stating citizenship likely an unreliable indicator of terrorist threat to the united states. And citizens of the seven countries are rarely implicated in the u. S. Based terrorism. I will never apologize for protecting the safety and security of the american people. Reporter but white house dismissed that document as incomplete. Officials said a comprehensive report is coming that will be driven by data and intelligence and not politics. The president himself went after fbi leaks on twitter. The fbi is totally unable to stop the leakers. Classified information is being given to media. We are fighting the fake news. Fake. Phony. Fake. Reporter as the president once again lashed out at his favorite target. The media. The white house defended chief of staff Reince Priebus saying he did nothing improper when he asked the fbi to publicly discredit a damaging New York Times story after the bureau told him privately it was inaccurate. The story alleged Trump Campaign officials had contact with russian intelligence. They assured me that New York Times story was grossly overstated and inaccurate and totally wrong. Reporter Top Democrats jumd to accuse the white house chief of staff of attempts to pressure the fbi. Calling it outrageous breach. A Law Enforcement source said fbi did not consider lines to have been crossed. The Washington Post citing reports the white house sought to enlist members of congress, including the heads of the senate and house intelligence committees to knock down the russia stories when the fbi would not. Another distraction over media coverage. The president decried the use of unnamed sources. They shouldnt be allowed to use sources unless they use somebodys name. Reporter never mind before president , mr. Trump cited an incredib incredibly credible source for the birth certificate of barack obama. They routinely asked to use information and quote senior administeriration official or we house official. That goes against the president s request. Another example of the tension with the white house and the press sean spicer, the press secretary, had an invite briefing, but disincluded some organizations. Kelly odonell at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. Now update on the son of boxer muhammad ali. We have Morgan Radford with more. Reporter that happened on february 7th. That is when muhammad ali jr. Was traveling home from jamaica with his mother when they say immigration officials not only detained them, but also questioned them about their muslim religion. For more than two hours immigration officials questioned muhammad ali jr. I am the greatest. Reporter son of muhammad ali at the Fort Lauderdale hollywood airport. According to a friend and spokesman. Ali jr. , returning from jamaica with his mother. Muhammad alis first wife in jamaica to give a speech. She showed immigration officers of a picture with her late exhusband who died last year. Was not detained. Her son did not have a similar picture. 44yearold ali jr. , with no criminal record, was born in philadelphia and traveling on a u. S. Passport was asked where did you get your name from and are you muslim. U. S. Customs and Officials Say they cannot discuss individual travelers. However, all International Travelers arrives in the u. S. Are subject to cbp inspection. So through a family spokesperson, the ali family indicated they are considering a lawsuit based on discrimination. They are fired up. They are looking to speak out about that incident. Craig. Morgan, thank you. The democrats are looking for a new way forward this morning after the loss in the election. Today, the Democratic National committee will elect a new chair in atlanta. Ill talk to a candidate in a moment. First, lets get the latest from nbcs sarah dallof. She is live in atlanta where the democrats are gathering. Sarah, good morning. Reporter good morning, craig. The dnc has not been in the position to elect a chair for years. With democrats no longer in control of the white house, that time has come. In a field of candidates, it is competitive. Its tough to be a democrat these days. Hillary clinton suffering a stunning loss in the president ial election. This is not the outcome we wanted. Reporter president obama flying off into retirement. Republicans in control of the house, the senate and most of the nations governorships. Today, the stakes are high as Democratic Leaders are preparing for a new chairman. Seven candidates are hoping to become chair and lead the party out of the wilderness. The frontrunners . Tom perez. Backed by former Vice President biden. We need a leader to communicate our optimistic vision of hope and inclusion. Reporter and Minnesota Congress member keith ellison. Favored by the left wing of the party. Including Elizabeth Warren and bernie sanders. The tool we have is to win elections. We go to 3,143 counties all over the country that means we turn on during the off year. Reporter plus a dark horse candidate. South bend, indiana mayor. Supported by former dnc chair howard dean. Why wouldnt you put in somebody from the millennial generation running in a red state like indiana . Reporter Hillary Clinton not leaving the spotlight yet. In a video released friday, she urged democrats to regroup. Let resistance plus persistence equal progress for our party and country. Reporter for the winner, a heavy inheritance. Getting the Democratic Party back on track. One of the pressing challenges. Transforming waves of liberal protests on the streets and in town halls. Into longterm political gains. And political analysts are split on how quickly the vote will go when it begins midmorning. Some think we may see a winner after one expedient round. Others believe this is a multiround battle. Craig. Sarah, thank you. Now lets talk to one of the candidates for the dnc chair. Mayor pete budachech. Good morning. Good morning. Dcan i get your thoughts on Reince Priebus and his contact about the russian issue . I think it is a huge concern. In my reserve unit, i got to know a lot of fbi professionals. These are people who put professionalism above politics. Somebody from the political side putting pressure on the fbi for convenience is something we should be concerned about. Lets talk about your race today. You are taking on keith ellison. The frontrunner Congress Member from minnesota. Tom perez. Two well known names in democratic circles, as you know. Why would someone vote for mayor pete . Well, this is a chance for the dnc to show it is ready for a fresh start. Everybody running in the race is a good democrat and there certainly some more established names better known in washington. This might be a time for the party to look outside washington. I have the perspective of mayor and running and winning and helping others do the same in indiana. Right in the industrial midwest that the party struggled to connect with. It is a good moment for a fresh start. Lets talk about what happened on friday with the President Trump addressing the cpac audience. He reminded the awudience that Hillary Clinton referred to them as the basket of deplorables. How do you win those people back . We have to speak to voters where they are. Last year, we got wrapped up in the politicians. Our message was about him. People at home are saying who is talking about me . He was seen as talking to voters. If it was all nonsense, he was addressing people directly. We have to do that. We have to do it without con condescencion. There are people who voted for obama and then voted for trump. We have to make sure we communicate with everybody. We have to get back to the 50state strategy. It doesnt mean we should write it off. Howard dean understood that when he was chair. Im pleased he is a former chair backing me for our candidate today. Mayor, before we let you go, the video of Hillary Clinton. Im sure it will be shown today in philadelphia. She noted the Grassroots Energy with the protests and marches. Is Hillary Clinton the person that democrats want to be hearing from right now . Look, every democrat has a voice in the process. I think whats most striking about these grassroots movements, the womens march or airport protests or other things going on, they are bottom up. They have not been driven from the party or led by politicians. Thats okay, by the way. The key from the organizing perspective is how to make sure that the dnc and the party is an authent authentic partner. We will need them down the line when election day comes around. Mr. Mayor, thank you for your time. A busy day for you. A quick programming note. Former president george w. Bush will be in studio 1a with an interview with matt on life after the presidency and wounded warriors. And on tuesday, coverage from capitol hill. President trump gets set to make his first joint address to congress. To the murder mystery in malaysia that is getting more bizarre by the day. It turns out the deadliest chemical in the world was used to kill the reclusive leaders brother. Now with the list of suspects growing, speculation is rising this was a hit ordered by the north korean government. Nbcs matt bradley is live in london with details. Matt, good morning. Reporter good morning, craig. Another twist in the tale of kim jongnams death. A north korean diplomat to the list of suspects. North korea denies involvement. It is making the dispute between the countries even worse. Today, malaysian authorities hunt for a north korean diplomat as Police Search an apartment in kuala lumpur. New details pulled from the pages of a spy thriller after issues of kim jonguns half brother was killed by vx nerve agent. Two women wiped it on kim jongnams face at the kuala lumpur airport. One thought she was getting 90 for a tv prank. That person gave her round 400 rupees. Reporter this is called the most deadly chemical weapon ever produced. It is a weapon of mass destruction. It causes convulsions and anand anand naseau and death. The chemical could kill many more. It would not be on the bounds of the possibility to weaponize the missiles we have been seeing. Reporter south korean experts warn that north korea could have as much as 5,000 tons of the deadly agent. Complicated to produce and weaponize. It has been done before. Iraq thought to have made 50 tons of it and Saddam Hussein may have used it to attack rebels. A gas from the poison used to murder a man in 1994. Here, this man nearly died when the same cult attacked him in 1995. Future victims may not be so lucky. This alleged assassination as well as north koreas test firing of the Ballistic Missiles may be hurting issues with the u. S. The state department denied a visa to a top north korea diplomat. Matt bradley in london. Thank you. Lets look at the morning top headlines. Police in connecticut are trying to reunite a little girl with her family after a massive multistate amber alert and highspeed chase. The 6yearold was taken by her father, a convicted felon from el salvador. Police say Oscar Hernandez stabbed the girls mother and friend and grabbed the girl and leading them on a chase before crashing into a tractortrailer. He is now in custody this morning and his daughter is recovering from minor injuries. A rescue caught on camera. Take a look at this. Flooding in peru dragged this bus into a raging river. Rising water forcing passengers to climb out of the windows to try to escape the flood. Residents of the Mountain Town panged e managed to rush in to help. The passengers all managed to survive. A multivehicle crash in the last lap at nascar camping world truck series. More than a dozen trucks caught up in the sliding and smashing that sent one vehicle airborne. Flipped completely and landed on its wheels. You see the flip from the camera on board one of the other trucks. Incredibly, no major injuries reported. Incredible is the right word. You look at Something Like that and everyone walked away. Without a scratch. Super bowl of racing. Daytona 500 is tomorrow. Yeah. Indra peterson is back. Is a little groomloomy. Look how spoiled we are. It is rain and we are complaining. A change to warm temperatures. Now a threat for Severe Weather. A lot changing out here. Watching that squall line make the way to the east. You can see it effecting ohio valley. Remember, it is warm in the afternoon. You combine the events there with the major cities. Philadelphia, washington, new york with a little bit of a slight risk. You will not see much. If a storm pops, we have the threat. Even for an isolated tornado. Watch out for that. The other story is the temperatures. Look at this. 60 degrees. Possible record heat in the eastern half of the country. Hello, instagram shots. We are warmer than good morning. Im first alert meteorologist krystal klei. Take a look at your forecast. The forecast will be very warm making it to the low 70s for philadelphia but thunderstorms and strong winds will start to move through late through the day into the early evening. Mid60s to upper 60s in the Lehigh Valley and berks county. 70 for the shore. Some of the storms passing and spot areas, low 70s as well in delaware. Remember, it is february. Most of the time people on the west coast are sending photos of how warm. Pay back today. One day to change it. You mentioned photos. You are a fan of a selfie. How far would