Transcripts For WCAU Today 20180118 : vimarsana.com

Hope comes from their tragedy. Trying to turn this into something that could be magical. As their sons former classmate is charged in the case. All that, plus social media titans grilled on capitol hill. Our democracy is at risk here. Is your car too smart . Youll be stunned by what it knows about you. And the very talented, the very fabulous, Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, everybody our late night with jimmy fallon. Both what . What makes him a little groggy. Today, thursday, january 18, 2018. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And welcome to today. We appreciate you joining us on this thursday morning. Remember that time we were on the tonight show . I remember. Yeah and you know what . We told jimmy, if we get up late with you, youve got to come on the today show and he said he would. When were in korea. He paroay or so. So were going to lod hhold o that. Beginning with our top story. Those surprising comments from white house chief of staff john kelly about president Trumps Campaign promise and the wall. This morning the president is responding. Peter alexander is live at the white house. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Those remarks by one of the president s top deputies, a rare case where his chief of staff seems to be undercutting the president s own public statements. President trump, as you noted, and would imagine, had something to say abthis morning. It comes as the clock is ticking towards a possible Government Shutdown and the fight over immigration appeared stalled. This morning, white house chief of staff john kelly appearing at odds with his boss. According to a democratic congressman who attended a closeddoor meeting wednesday. Kelly said some of President Trumps hardline immigration potions during the campaign were uninformed. Kelly going on to say the u. S. Will never construct a wall along its entire southern border and that mexico wont directly pay for it. Overnight on fox news, kelly not denies the comments but appearing to soften his stance. Theres been an evolutionary process this president has gone through as a campaign and i pointed out to all members in the room they all say things during the course of campaigns that may or may not be fully informed. Reporter meanwhile, in the russia investigation, President Trumps attorney ty cobb, telling cbs news in an interview set to air friday that the president is very eager to speak with special Counsel Robert Mueller adding, active discussions are under way e, bu no formal request has been made. This as bannon prepares to come facetofais. According to a source close to bannon adding the president s former chief strategist plans to answer any questions mueller wants to ask. All miss amid a Government Shutdown. The deadline, tomorrow at midline. As i understand it, they have the votes and are fairly confident. Reporter and signaling most in the party are prepare togo pose the shortterm budget bill. They believe if we kick the can down the road well be back where we started from next time. Theres very, very strong support not to go along with their deal. Reporter the deal would keep the governments doors open another four weeks, and would renew the Childrens Health Insurance Program called c. H. I. P. , but ignores demming demand to help d. R. E. A. M. Ers, the younger undocumented immigrants, protected by the daca program. Both sides already playing the blame game. Weve been very clear, we want to see a daca solution, but a daca solution has got to be a balanced solution. It makes no sense for democrats to try and bring us to a shutdown. Reporter republicans control the white house and both houses of congress, still they need democratic votes in the senate to keep the government running. President trump making a trip to the hill wednesday as several Top Democrats and republicans whose plan he rejected in that contentious Oval Office Meeting last week pushed forward. Its a painful agreement for us because both sides had to give a lot. Its a true bipartisan compromise. Reporter still, its unclear where the president stands. Im looking for something that President Trump supports, and hes not yet indicated what measure hes willing to sign. Reporter as for that back and forth between the president and his chief of staff, this morning the president contradicting those comments on immigration by john kelly, tweeting, the wall is the wall. It has never changed or evolved from the first day i conceived of it. Parts will be of necessity seethrough and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water. President trump will travel to pennsylvania today where he will tout those new tax cuts as well. Hoda and savannah, back to you. Peter alexander at the white house. Thanks, peter. Another big story were following, this winter storm thats paralyzed parts of the south is now being blamed for at least ten deaths. We turn to al, watching it closely. Good morning. Thats right. Bitter cold is gripping a good portion of the country, and, in fact, snow. So much snow down in North Carolina its crazy when you see more snow in North Carolina than you do in new england. Some spots especially as you get into the outer banks. Upwards of 11, 12 inches of snow, especially around the mountains. Bitter cold to talk about. 30 Million People under some sort of freeze warning or windchill advisory lasting at least another 24 hours. Look at windchills. Feels like 40 in miami. 13 in tallahassee. 11 in mobile. Moving north, gets worse. It feels like 0 in atlanta, with an air temperature of 15. St. Louis 7, air temperature of 20. But you will start to see warming. Minneapolis at 38. 15 degrees above normal. Denver, 60 today. By tomorrow, washington, you start to warm up. Still a little cooler than average through the southeast, but as we get into the weekend and into early next week, temperatures get back to normal. Even maybe a little above with temperatures in the 60s, and even into the upper 40s by sunday in boston. Guys . All right, al. Thank you so much. All eyes are on the stock market this morning after another recordbreaking milestone on wednesday. The dow surged more than 300 points to close above 26,000, first time ever. Sparked by the release of stronger than expected Quarterly Results from some of the biggest u. S. Companies. The milestone comes just seven trading days after the dow hit the once unthinkable 25,000 mark. We talked about Russian Election meddling earlier, that was one of the topics that came up on capitol hill wednesday during highprofile testimony from some of the titans of social media, and nbcs Business Correspondent jo ling kent has more on that. Good morning. Reporter good morning, guys. Right. Facebook, youtube and twitter facing off with congressional investigators as pressure is mounting on these companies to make changes to their plat forms to better protect users from extremist content and foreign meddling in the upcoming midterm elections. An collusive interview, facebook is apologizing for what led to the run justify of t r run up in the 2016 election. And the threats posed by foreign governments, extremist groups and false information. Our democracy is at risk. We have to figure how to get it done, good et it done right and quickly or we may not have a democracy to have you guys up to hear you out. Reporter social media now a battleground used by terror groups like isis and al qaeda and governments like russia to peddle propaganda and sow confusion. We work on a daily basis with Law Enforcement, particularly with the fbi and will respond to any request they have. Reporter social media meddling is the greatest threat. How can we know youre going get to this right and before the midterms . Reporter facebooks head of Global Policy monica bicker sat down with nbc news exclusively. We have seen conduct that should not have been on our platform, things we should have caught earlier and are sorry that happened. Reporter that apology following our interview with three Silicon Valley insiders blasting the social network for not taking enough action. Facebook is a living, breathing crime scene for what happened in the 2016 election. Whats your response to that . Whatever people saw durings 2016 election from these russian accounts now removed was unacceptable. Reporter bicker says facebook hired 7,500 people to investigate suspicious content. But how they monitor posts on a platform filled with 2 billion users is being questioned. Former contractor sarah katz was part of a team examines posts flagged by users in 2016 and says she reviewed more than 10,000 a day. Thats too much content to keep track of. The more considered benign content such as news stories are not analyzed perhaps as closely as they need to be. Reporter how easy tore questi for questionable stuff to slip through the cracks . Incredibly easy. Reporter working on security measures regarding your news and that jumped to 20,000 people by the end of the year. An interesting perspective of the very person trying to keep track of this stuff. Reporter exactly. Jo, thank you. A lot more to get to this morning, including what will be a very rare sight during next months winter olympics. North and south korea agreeing to form a joint team and march under one flag. Nbcs chief global correspondent bill kneel hey tneely has that. Good morning. Reporter good morning, hoda. This is sports history in the making and will be a powerful, emotional moment for the two koreas. A united team at a time when theres very little unity here on anything, but there is worry, too, that all of this complicates a deep nuclear crisis. North and south korea marching together as they will next month under a joint flag. Theyve done it before at winter and summer games, but this time will be different. These handshakes sealing an olympic first, because after they march in the Opening Ceremony, theyll play together, too, in the united womens ice hockey team, normally they are bitter rivals. The souths coach will pick players from both sides. With 230 North Koreans cheering them on. [ cheers ] some southern skiers will even train on the north slopes at a resort we filmed last year. But some in the south and beyond fear the north will steal the show. Kim jongun hijacking the olympics. South koreas president says, a joint team will help reconcile old enemies. While many here in south korea welcome a united team, elsewhere, theres skepticism about what japan calls north koreas charm offensive. The u. S. And many allies at the summit to tighten sanctions are worried kim is gaining a p. R. Victory, and gaining time for his nuclear program. We will not accept a Nuclear Armed north korea. Reporter a united front here that north korea can play Olympic Games but not Nuclear Games with the world. After the winter games, how the north acts and how the Nuclear Issue is dealt with, thats when the real game will begin. Reporter President Trump telling reuters wednesday, id sit down with kim jongun, but im not sure that sitting down will solve the problem. The Olympic Games are coming here soon. These north korean athletes, the first of a delegation of over 500, will cross the border in exactly two weeks. So it looks like south korea will get kim jonguns athletes on to the slopes. The big question is, after the olympics, will south korea and the u. S. Get kim to the Nuclear Negotiating Table . Hoda, savannah . Bill neely. Thank you. Now to the deadly flu epidemic sweeping across the country. Texas School Districts had so many out sick it decided to close for a week. The Bonham School district says the decision came after nearly 300 students and staff called out sick on tuesday. That is almost five times the normal rate, and by the way, they are not alone. Its gotten so bad in alabama, the governor declared a Public Health emergency. The state of california has been hit the hardest. At least 42 people under the age of 65 have died from flurelated symptoms, and a medical tent was set up in the parking lot outside Loma Linda Medical Center for overflow patients. More later. New developments in the investigation of that house of horrors in Southern California where a couples accused of torturing their 13 children. We are learning even more about just how bad that alleged abuse was. Nbc National Correspondent Miguel Almaguer has the latest. Reporter investigators say some of the children were tortured for years subject to abuse unimaginable. Their parents, the suspects in the case, will be in court in a few hours, but a warning. The detailing youre about to hear are incredibly disturbing. As police returned to what we now know was a torture chamber, new details are emerging over how the 13 children who lived in this home were allegedly abused by their parents. A Law Enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation tells nbc news the victims were allowed to shower just twice a year, and fed only one rationed meal per day. Theyre not being fed and living in these filthy, dirty conditions. Thats going to take its toll. Reporter officials already confirming some of the children were shackled to furniture. We now know theyre so weak, theyre receiving antibiotics, vitamins and nutrition through an i. V. So malnourished they could go into shock. Its actually heartbreaking for the staff. Reporter the four bedroom, threebath home, a prison for the 13 children held here. The youngest, just 2, the oldest, 29. Their rooms said to be urinefilled. Theres a special place in hell for people like this. Reporter Police Credit dave and Louise Turpins 17yearold daughter for saving her siblings after escaping through a window and calling 911. Our source says the brave young girl so abused she said to have the mental capacity of someone well below her age. The children not physically well enough to provide detailed statements. Their parents arrested for torture and child endangerment, facing a judge today for the unspeakable crimes theyre accused of. David and Louise Turpin will be arraigned today at 9 00 a. M. We are told they are held on 9 million bail. Guys, back to you. That is unbearable toll hear those details, miguel. Thank you for continuing to report on it. Its important. We turn now to al, whos got the rest of the forecast. All righty. Well, lets show you whats happening around the rest of the country, and you can see we have a lot of wet weather coming into the Pacific Northwest. Well look at that in the next half hour. Flurries around the Northern Plains and a warming trend is coming with plenty of sunshine throughout much of the country. Well get to your l im on the new Weight Watchers Freestyle Program, and this is how i freestyle. This is how i freestyle ive lost 82 lbs. , and i can eat wherever i want. Im freestyling with dessert, and im down 46 lbs. The new Weight Watchers Freestyle Program has over 200 foods that are zero points®. Now you can count less and enjoy more. I freestyle any way i like. Join for free and get one month free hurry, offer ends february 1st good morning, im meteorologist bill henley. Bundle up if youre heading out. It is colds, and the wind will make it feel even colder. Bright sunshine, 36 this afternoon for philadelphia. Warmer than it was all day yesterday in the suburbs. 34 degrees. 36 degrees with clouds clearing in new jersey. A cold wind blowing in the Lehigh Valley, but even at 31 degrees and bright sunshine, some of the snow will melt during the day. Sunshine, 35 for delaware. Have a great day. And thats your latest weather. Guys . Al, thank you. Coming up, the parents o murdered College Student blaze bernstein are speaking out to nbc news about the death of their son and how their hoping to use this tragedy to help others. And is your car getting a little too smart . Youll be surprised when we show you the information it could be sharing with everyone from advertisers to police. But first, this is today on nbc. T comes to Cancer Treatment centers of america in philadelphia, shes coming for the multimodal therapy where the specialists form a treatment plan together. We were looking for a cancer team that would help us decide the best course of action. We have so many tools at our center. This is what attracted amy all the way from new york. These were people who were experts in their field. And for us that was the best choice. Learn more about our Breast Center at cancercenter. Com slash philadelphia. And still to come a new rossen reports you need to see before you head to the gym. You wont like it, but the machines youre working on are not so good. Busting out a germ meet are for this one. And will there be a sex and the city 3 after all . What Sarah Jessica way to test everything. But do they test their babys soap . This paper represents p