Raised her. She loved me for 18 years. She cared for me for 18 years. Her message for the woman she says will always be mom only on gma. God bless america and the stage is set. The rising star about to wow millions at the inauguration joining us live. High school student, Jackie Evancho, performing the National Anthem for president elect trump amid a barrage of criticism and backlash. Why she says shes doing it revealed right here on gma. Here. And good morning, america. All eyes on washington, d. C. Today, just two days before the Trump Inauguration and president obama is going to give his final press conference at the white house today wrapping things up as speeds towards president elect trump. Heres what we know. Hell travel back to washington, d. C. For a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National cemetery, that, of course, to honor our military. In the afternoon there will be a welcoming ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial for trump and Vice President elect mike pence. Toby keith and three doors down set to perform and inauguration friday, the official oath of office will take place around noon. Both donald trump and mike pence were in d. C. Last night for the preinauguration dinner and pence tweeted this photo dancing with his wife saying, snuck in a dance with karen backstage tonight. Couldnt wait for the inauguration balls to begin. A little practice. Got the Party Started early. He did. More details on that in a moment. First the breaking news about former president george h. W. Bush, hospitalized in houston. Lets get right to our chief White House Correspondent jon karl. Whats the latest on his condition, jon . Good morning. Reporter good morning, robin. Just day b inauguration of the next president , americas oldest living president was rushed to the hospital with shortness of breath. The 41st president was rushed to houston Methodist Hospital this past saturday. The elder george bush was last seen in public a couple of weeks ago at a Houston TexansFootball Game he attended with his son jeb. He famously went skydiving to celebrate his 90th birthday but george h. W. Bush has had several Health Scares in recent years. In 2015 he fractured a bone in his neck at the familys summer compound in kennebunkport, maine, and in 2012 he spent two months in intensive care for a bronchialrelated illness. He has a form of parkinsons disease and uses a motorized scooter to get around but despite the Health Challenges his spirit remains strong. Just over a week ago he visited his old friend astronaut jean cernan in the hospital just days before cernan died. The spokesperson for comfortably right now. They hope that hell be released from the hospital within a couple of days. But he was already skipping this inauguration due to Health Concerns. That said, president bush was certainly to fan of donald trump, in fact, he was reportedly seen throwing his shoes at the Television Set during the republican primaries because he didnt like trumps attacks on his son jeb. George, michael, robin. We know he voted for hillary clinton. Thats what he said. Hope hes okay. We do hope hes okay. Absolutely. The latest now on the trump inaugural just two days away and kicked it off with a gala for foreign diplomats and Business Leaders last night as you see him with Vice President elect and protests too and cecilia vega has the details. Good morning. Reporter good morning, george. Protesters on the streets of d. C. And now the number of Congressional Democrats planning to protest his inauguration friday is growing. That number now up to 55 people who say they are staying home. Donald trump kicked off his inauguration festivities with running mate overnight. The room packed with nearly 200 foreign diplomats. For many their first interaction with the man who is about to become president. We have Great Respect for your countries. We have Great Respect for our world. Reporter the president elect center stage but shining the spotlight on his secretary of state pick, exxonmobil Ceo Rex Tillerson fresh off his capitol hill confirmation grilling. We have a man that i wanted right from the beginning, rex tillerson. I think its tougher than he thought. He figured he led this charmed life. Goes into the country, takes the oil, goes into another country. Its tough dealing with these politicians, right . Hes going to be so incredible. Reporter but just blocks away there were protesters outside of the trump hotel including a man who attempted to light himself on fire. Now just hours away from taking the oath of office, this morning trump is taking aim at the growing number of democrats planning to boycott his swearing in. One in four now say theyll skip the ceremony in protest. Thats okay because we need seats so badly. I hope they give me their tickets. Are they going to give us their tickets. Youre okay with them not going. Reporter also largely absent, alisters but americas first reality tv star turned president tells fox news, this inauguration is about the people, not celebrities. I read where some of them decided they told us theyre not going to sing. They were never asked to sing like who . All of these socalled celebrities were saying i dont want to go. One of them said, well, i have told them im not going to sing. They were never asked to sing. Many of the celebrities that are saying theyre not going, they were never invited. I dont want the celebrities. I want the people. And another declaration this morning in that interview from donald trump. He says, quote, i dont like tweeting. I have other things i could be doing. He says tweeting is a way to counteract the media, george, as you know, last year he said in hell still be tweeting as president if a lot of followers. More than 30 million followers. In that interview, you know, donald trump in a feud with the cia accusing them of nazilike tactics suggesting that the cia director john brennan leaked that controversial dossier on unsubstantiated claims and now hes trying to put this to rest. Reporter an awkward one at that. Donald trump is saying in this recent interview he accepts that john brennan was not behind the leak but says that the Intel Community should not have been behind that russian dossier, george, so this feud still ongoing, i think. Okay, cecilia vega, thanks very much. A fierce showdown on capitol hill today as four of his nominees go before congress. All eyes are on tom price, the nominee to lead the department of health and Human Services. Our Congressional Correspondent mary bruce has the latest on all that. Good morning, mary. Reporter good morning, robin. This is a big day here with some of trumps most controver democrats are bracing for a showdown over hhs nominee tom price. If confirmed he would be the architect of trumps plan to repeal and replace obamacare, but this morning democrats are raising concerns about his finances. Theyre questioning whether price made improper Health Care Stock trades while also serving on a Key Health Care committee. Now, the Trump Transition Team has launched a fierce defense but expect there to be plenty of fireworks later today. Also the hearing for scott pruitt, his pick for epa. He sued the epa 14 times and our brian ross is reporting there are likely to be Big Questions today about health care excuse me, about donations from Big Energy Companies that came to groups with ties to pruitt just as he was suing that agency. Robin. Mary, trumps pick for education secretary was also facing a lot of tough questions well into the night. Reporter yeah, lots of questions about her qualifications. Betsy devos is known as a and refused to rule out whether she would divert funding from those private School Options to public School Options. Now, the biggest thing getting attention this morning, though, is this exchange on guns in schools that came with senator chris murphy from connecticut. Take a look. You cant say definitively today guns shouldnt be in schools . Well, i will refer back to senator enzi and the school that he was talking about in wyoming. I think probably there i would imagine that theres probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies. Reporter now that comment getting a lot of people and gun control advocates talking this morning. Robin. It certainly has, thank you. More on this from the Senior Adviser of the president elect, Kellyanne Conway. Good morning. Thanks for joining us. Democrats that hearing for betsy devos, democrats complain they only got five minutes to question her. They want to have another hearing before they go these confirmation hearings are slowing down. Are you concerned youre not going to have a full cabinet in place when the president takes office . George, we certainly hope that president elect trump will have that cabinet in place the way president obama and president george w. Bush did. They had upwards of seven to nine confirmed on Inauguration Day so friday is coming quickly. We certainly hope and expect that well be able to have a peaceful transition of government which includes having a cabinet in place. Even george w. Bush who came into office on december 12th some five weeks after the actual election through a Supreme Court decision, there were a lot of people felt cheated, raw nerve, hurt feelings yet he had nine of his cabinet nominees confirmed in that week because the senate recognizes you need state and treasury and defense in place to keep us going. Yeah and i know there have been some issues with making sure all the fors are in. The president elect clearly not happy with that series of new polls showing that hell be the most unpul but the country clearly is divided so does he feel any need in this inaugural to reach out to those americans who dont support him . Well, we discussed the polls. He knows that the polls also show very important things to americans including your abc news poll like a majority saying that donald trump will have positive impact on the economy and jobs. They believe he will keep us safer. But more broadly outside of any one poll, if you look at this inaugural address and ive seen it, you do see a president who is making good on his promise from Election Night, george, to be the president of all americans and that includes the millions who did not vote for him. That theme will be carried over into his inaugural address. Its a beautiful, elegant, very strong, powerful message and, yes, it is America First, and, yes, he is a man of action but at the same time he recognizes that to move forward we need to come together. We hope that the democrats who say theyre not coming to the inauguration would reconsider. They are certainly invited. Were coming together to solve significant problems. Does the statement that he doesnt like tweeting mean that hell be tweeting less . Not necessarily. What he is saying is this is one of the only ways that he can actually connect and communicate directly with the american people. We are not treated fairly by many media outlets. Thank you for the platform here, george, as always, but this is the way that he goes around those who want to, i think, t toxify his message and distorlt his message. He is the most brilliant communicator i have ever met and saw with the diplomatic corps, a remarkable historic event to have 200 members all in a room, ambassadors, diplomats, ministers and to a person they were so excited to be included. You have president obama fancies himself some kind of globalist, never did an event like this. Donald trump coming in as the new president getting off on the right foot, cross religious, cross cultural, Cross National internati president elect says he has the goal of insurance for everyone even those who cant pay for it. You said under mr. Trumps plan no one who has coverage will lose it, the Congressional Budget Office said the repeal could cost 18 Million People their insurance right away so how will President Trump guarantee everyone who now has coverage will keep their coverage . What were saying people who are relying on insurance currently will not go without coverage during the time of transition. He has made that clear. I think he said it at his press conference or sometime last week. Secondly its just a more patient centric free market system of buying and having health care. Why . Because youll have a Health Savings account with your name on it where you own it and you why in the most intimate purchase that you can make as an american for your health care would you not be able to do that . So he wants to make sure its truly affordable and accessible. There are americans who have been helped through the Affordable Care act. They will not be harmed but Many Americans feel they had great benefits and their premiums have skyrocketed. Their choice, their quality and their access has been diminished. We want to help those people. Kellyanne conway, thanks very much. Thank you, george. And tomorrow night our coverage will continue. Well have an inside look at americas new first family as the trumps head to washington, a special edition of 20 20 and friday, it begins at 7 00 a. M. On gma and continues all day through the inaugural parade. Now, george, to the president obama. His commuting of the 35year sentence of chelsea manning, the former Army Intelligence analyst who leaked hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents to wikileaks. Now, that founder, julian assange, saying he welcomes the decision and that manning is, quote, should be applauded. The president s decision provoking strong reaction on both sides of the aisle. Abcs chief Global Affairs correspondent, martha raddatz, has more. Joins us from washington. Good morning, martha. Good morning, robin. As you can imagine the strongest negative reaction coming from republicans, veterans, john mccain and tom cotton, both highly critical and speaker of the house, paul ryan calling it outrageous. Manning leaked 700,000 documents that revealed all kinds of american secrets. Manning has already served seven years of the 35year sentence, the longest sentence ever imposed in a leak case. She tried to commit suicide twice last year. One of her lawyers saying her release was a matter of life and death, robin. And also, martha, we saw the president pardoning a retired general and there were some other pardons that raised a few eyebrows. Tell us about those. Reporter exactly. Retired general james was a key member of the National Security team, but last year cartwright pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about conversations with journalists involving classified material. In explaining that pardon a white house official said that in those discussions with journalists, cartwright was actually trying to prevent publication of classified information, robin. All right, martha, thank you. All right, thank you, robin. Now to the major storm thats hitting the west and Neal Karlinsky is in portland, oregon, with that information. Good morning, neal. Reporter michael, good morning. Portland cant catch a break crushed by several heavy snowstorms and now this, this ice storm. Take a look at this video. Can you see a truck sliding out of control, one semi just narrowly misses it then another one cant stop or get out of the way in time. It smashes into that truck. The roads are so icy, i84 partially closed because of the at the airport here but the weather is now warming up. The rain is coming down. That ice is melting and the concern all up and down the west coast, in fact, now turns towards possible flooding. Guys. All right, neal, thank you very much. Were going to talk to ginger about that in a moment. Now amy has the mornings other top stories with earthquakes in italy. Three earthquake, robin, hit central italy with tremors felt in rome. The first a magnitude 5. 3, less than an hour later a slightly stronger quake hit followed by another aftershock. No reports of any serious damage so far. Quakes, though, you may remember in the same region last year killed nearly 300 people. Accused cop killer in orlando has been captured after a nineday manhunt. Police say Markeith Loyd was wearing body armor when they arrested him in a vacant house after tracing his text messages. He is wanted for the murder of Master SergeantDebra Clayton in a walmart parking lot and for the shooting of his exgirlfriend. Settled a 24 million discrimination lawsuit. The case was brought by 100 black agents who claimed their less qualified white colleagues repeatedly received promotions. The secret service did not admit any wrongdoing in that settlement. Finally some things are just meant to go together. Bacon and eggs, Peanut Butter and jelly and beer and yoga. It is gaining popularity in europe. Fans say pairing yoga philosophies with drinking beer allow you to reach your highest level of consciousness. Im sure thats okay as long as you dont reach a level of unconsciousness. Thats probably not good but they say this is both are centuries old therapies