this individual need to answer. >> all this as the president and his supporters playing defense, tried to accuse the mueller vest dwa gags of bias. >> those are the top stories, but with russia investigation still ongoing and control of the senate at stake, 2018 is sure to present unprecedented political headlines of its own. stay tuned. >> thank you so much for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. up next, president trump speaking just moments ago, saying he has quote sign ed mor legislation than anybody. we'll check the record. plus, michael flynn's brother makes a personal appeal to the president. will trump pardon flynn? and new evidence that north korea may have developed deadly biological weapons. could kim jong-un launch an anthrax attack? let's go "outfront." and good evening to you. i'm pamela brown in for erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, president

trump today touting a record for achievement in his office, saying he has quote signed more legislation than anybody. his claim coming just days after the passage of his tax cut plan, a bill that's recognized as the only piece of legislation signed by trump this year. but the president speaking a short time ago to a group of florida first responders painted a very different picture. >> i think they know the real answer. we have more legislation passed, including the record -- and we broke that record, so we have a lot done. >> so here's the problem with ta statement. it's just not true. in fact, trump has sign ed fewe bills in his first year in office than any administration in decades. trump has signed 96 laws. truman signed more than 200. about too, according to the truman presidential library. ryan nobles is is "outfront"

tonight in west palm beach near mar-a-lago and ryan, the president was there to thank the first respond eers and firefighters. which he did, but he quickly pivoted to his accomplishments. what are you learning? is he conflating bills he signed with executive orders? is what's going on? >> that's what we're trying to figure out, pam. we should point out this was a nice effort on the president's part to reach out to these first responders here in palm beach. he did it earlier in the week, he personally paid for a number of christmas dinners for the first responders putting in extra effort to take care of him and his family while they were in west palm beach. but thanking them at this fire station, he started talk b at his long list of accomplishments from this careyear. when he says he has passed more pieces of legislation than any president since truman, it's not true. the president has signed a number of executive orders. his administration has done a fair amount of regulatory action. they've had success with judicial nominations, but in

terms of bills signed into law, the raw facts are the president has signed in the fewest since the eisenhower administration. we're not sure where he's coming wup this figure, but speaking to these first responders, the president just isn't accurate. >> something he keeps repeating. also over the past few days, cnn has video of president trump golfing, but today, an unmarked white truck was blocking the view of cnn's cameras. what have you learned about why it was there and how is the white house responding? >> well so far, pam, nobody seems to want to take credit r for this unmarked box credit that showed up outside the trump international golf course. this is a public space our cameras have been positioned for the past couple of days and were able to catch a quick glimpse of the president while golfing. but today, this truck showed up out of nowhere. it moved at one point when our photojournalists attempted to try and get a different angle, to make sure to block the view

of whoever was golfing. we asked the secret service. a spokesperson said the secret service is in the business of protection and investigations, not in commissioning vehicles to block the media's view of the president's golf swing. the other thing we reached out to the palm beach sheriff's office, which is helping with the protection of the president. they, too, could not tell us where this box truck came from. but pam, it seems pretty clear that someone did not want us to get any pictures of the president on the links today. >> that's for sure. all right. ryan nobles, thanks so much. "outfront" now, former director of black outreach in the bush white house, paris dennard and former philadelphia mayor, michael nutter. gentlemen, great to see you. our discussion yesterday was any indication, i think tonight we're going to have a very lively discussion as well. i want to talk to you, paris, first. because as we were just talking about, look, no doubt the president has had

accomplishments in his first year in office, but he's saying repeatedly he surpassed truman for the most legislation signed in the first year. that isn't true. he has signed 96 bills, but that's behind several presidents. should he stop repeating this when the facts show otherwise? >> well, you know, i think if the president is saying this, r it's because he's probably been told this. i think that if white house staff has told the president that this is the case, then they should be able to back it up with the evidence supporting the claim. if they are including executive orders, if they're talking about things like that that go into that 96 pieces of legislation that he has actually signed, that might fakih r tor into it. again, that goes back to the staff. i believe the staff has told him that and they should clarify it for him. but i think it is true that the president should articulate the things that he has done and achievements he has signed because stilometimes that gets

missed. i don't care about the number. the quantity. the quality of what he's done in terms of deregulation and the sub u stance of the things that he has and especially this tax cut, which is going to impact middle class americans come february and already, that we've seen thus far is good for him to talk about. >> michael, you agree? >> no. i think it just shows continued incompetence and general default to lying by donald trump. he clearly doesn't know the d difference as any executive in public office should know between the piece of legislation, executive order, regulation. appointing someone or nominating someone then they get confirmed by the senate to some post, so donald trump continues to demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of government. and governing. and just you know, pretty much anything, i mean, lie about lying. he just lies.

that's his thing. >> look, he's appointed the most appellate judges. he has issueded many executive orde orders. made several foreign policy changes. it make yous wonder why does he need to say he signed more bills than anybody as he said today. when he could point to other things that are true. it just raises that question. >> well i think if you look at the totality of his life of being a business man, he has been a very, very or was a very, very successful business man. in many cases, he was the first. he did lead. he was number one. i think that's important to him. when he talks about making america great again and wins and being number one, those are things that are metrics he looks to in terms of how he deems himself as being successful. so i think he wants to have those things. i think maybe somebody has told him, but again, he can't point like you said, pamela, he can point to some really tremendous things that he's doing for the country that are unique to his presidency and that are going to have a tremendous impact on the

nation both right now and in the future. so i think he should just, and it's not just the president. it's the white house. it's people like me. it's his supporters. the members on the hill. should go out and articulate what it is that administration has done because it's going to be very important going into the midterms, 2018, to say we have done the following things that are going to be good and he should say that. champion it. and i think he will and i don't know the congress will as well. >> let me talk to you about -- go ahead. >> yeah, the problem here is that you know, and i want to be respectful to paris. you know, he probably knows more about donald trump's record than donald trump does. so you know i think it's disingenuous to just blame it on the staff or what people told him or you know, maybe some kid running around mar-a-lago told him. he should know it. he's the president of the united states of america. the chief executive. these are noble things. it's not a mystery.

he should stop saying things that are not true. but that has been his history. and whether it's been sued for racial discrimination, whether the it's four, six, whatever the number is, bruankruptcies, whetr it's the birther movement, central park five, donald trump is a habitual, sociopathic liar. and we've got trucks trying to block him from seeing him play golf. badminton, tidly winks. do whatever you want to do. it's christmas time. it's holiday time. you're off. it's okay to do these things. what's not okay is to lie about them. >> i know, look, golfing is okay to do. lots of people are off for the holidays. the president tweeted on christmas day, paris, i hope everythione is having a great christmas, then tomorrow it's back to work in order to make america great again. since then, he's been back on the golf course i think every

day. again, nothing wrong with golf, but why didn't he just admit, hey, i'm taking a few days off to enjoy the holidays. why doesn't he just say that? >> i don't see that whether he said that tweet was wrong. i think the president -- >> he said i'm getting back to work, but yet he's going to the golf course, that's where it doesn't really square. >> well, right. >> nothing wrong with going to the golf course if that's what you want to do on your holiday. it's just the tweeting i'm going back to work, but then going to play golf every day. >> yes. so the point i was trying to make before i was cut off is that you have 24 hours in a a day so the president doesn't golf for 24 hours. so in the time he does have, he may golf for six, but there's a lot of other time that he has that he can do things. he can multitask. remember, president obama was sitting on a stage talking to, cutting jokes with the press corps, correspondents dinner when they were going after osama

bin laden. george w. bush was sitting in a classroom, sitting in a classroom during the 9/11 attacks then was on a plane while the things were happening and unfolding as lightning speed. where ever f you go when you're president, the staff goes with you so you can and you are able to govern, to do things that the president does even if he was sitting in the oval office. where ever f the president goes, the white house goes with him. but to say that just because he might be golfing for a period of time does not mean that he is not doing other things in that time there. >> i'm not trying cut you off except the president did say he wouldn't have time to play golf and he was repeatedly critical of then president obama about his golf outings. listen. >> obama ought to giet off the golf course. >> i'm going to be working for you. not going to have time to go play golf. >> he's played more golf than people on the pga tour. >> he played more golf last year

than tiger woods. >> was he being hypocritical? >> look, president obama said you could keep your doctor. that wasn't the case. the things you say on the campaign trail, during on the run up to something then it actually comes law or actually becomes reality for you as being president. i don't think the president fully understood all of the trappings that went into being the president in the sense that you can golf for a period of time and that the white house, the entire staff goes with you. they take the entire team. so anything happens, it's as if the president is literally sitting in the oval office and i don't think he realized it thep. he does now. that's why he's golfing and still going great things. when he comes back in january and goes back to camp david. we won't be at the white house. he'll be at camp david meeting, talking about infrastructure. so that could be seen as a reb laxing retreat setting or it could be seen as he's also working for the american people. so i don't think they're mutually exclusive. >> do you agree, michael?

that he can play golf and do work in a day? >> he can do what have hemt wan. he's chief executive. as i said earlier, it's not that he's doing these things. there's nothing wrong with golfing or playing tennis. skydiving. do whatever you want to do, just don't lie about it or try to deceive the american people as to what's going on. i don't think president bush actually knew that some lunatics were going to fly planes into the twin towers in new york. you know, president obama was doing whatever he was doing. example that you laid out. that's not the issue. donald trump lies. all the time. about what he's doing. versus what he tells the american public that he's doing. that's why it's an issue. not the what. it's how he talks about it and he just lies. >> okay. thank you, gentlemen. >> lied about trying to make america great again because he's doing that and that's a fact. thank you so much. >> you guys are both going to

want to have the final word. not going to let you do it. thank you for coming on. thank you. up next, michael flynn's brother has a public message for trump. is the president listening? plus, a gop congressman not backing down about his comments about the fbi and justice department? did he use the word, purge? and brutal cold clobbering large parts of the country. tens of millions of people in the path of back-to-back arctic blasts. prz

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. new tonight, michael flynn's brother urging the president to pardon. responding to the tweet claiming the fbi is tainted by writing quote, about time you pardon general flynn who has taken the biggest fall for you. that was later deleted, but that was not the last we heard from flynn's brother. jessica schneider is here joining us. what else is his brother saying about a possible pardon from the president? >> well, that first post deleted after about 15 mincutes, but thn joseph flynn took to twitter again with this. say iing mr. president, i personally believe that a pardon is due to general flynn. given the apparent and obvious illegitimacy of the manner of the so-called crimes he pleaded

guilty to were extracted from him. i ask for quick action on this. thank you and keep up the good work. joseph did tell news weick he tweeted that after he tweeted about the dossier being bogus. of course president trump has brushed off questions of a flynn pardon before as he did on the south lawn on december 15th. >> would you consider a pardon for michael flynn? >> i don't want to talk about pardons for michael flynn yet. we'll see what happens. let's see. >> so the president there not exactly dismissing the idea of a pardon and joseph flynn, michael flynn's brother, he has been fairly vocal about his brother's legal battle. in fact, he's organized a legal defense fund for michael flynn. and of course, flynn did plead guilty to lying to the fbi on december 1st and his conversations during the transition with the russian am

bass dorr. and we know the michael flynn has also disclosed he is cooperating with the essential counsel's office. >> thanks so much for that report. and "outfront" now, former white house ethics lawyer for president bush, richard painter and former white house counsel for richard nixon, john dean. great to see you both. >> thank you. >> richard, if president trump would pardon a cooperating witness like michael flynn as his brother is requesting, could that be seen as an attempt to keep him quiet? >> yes. if the president were to pardon general flynn at this point, that could be perceived as an attempt to interfere with a testimony. it likely would not be very effective because general flynn is probably already given bob mueller and his team a significant amount of testimony and information in interviews in order to get such a good plea deal. he only pled golt to one cougui

one count of lying and had eck poe sure to multiple. he's already likely given up the information, but it would look terrible for the president to do that. if the president wants to give pardons in connection with the russian investigation, the appropriate time to do so is when the investigation is completed and really, the best time is after all the criminal proceedings have been completed. and if he feels that something was not fair, he has that power under the constitution to either reduce the sentence as president bush did in the case of scoot e libby or to issue a complete pardon. but that ought to come later n.. at this point, i think it would be viewed as obstruction of justice and would be a bad idea for the president. >> john, you look back at the president's rhetoric through all this. he has gone out of his rayway to praise michael flynn, saying he's a good man, he's been

treattrea treated unfairly. listen. >> general flynn is a wonderful man. i think he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media. this man has served for many years. he's a general. he's, my opinion, a very good person. i feel badly for general flynn. i feel very badly. he's led a very strong life and i feel very badly. >> so as you heard there, trump is praising flynn even after it was announced he's helping robert mueller's investigation. what do you make of that? why do you think he's doing that, john? >> well, i think he's trying to stay friendly and throw out feelers that are warm and friendly. whether it will work or not, as richard said, this man has unloaded in front of the social counsel. he's told them everything he knows to get the deal he's gotten and at some stage if trump thinks that he's giving

too much or has too much information, they're going to start roughing him up. that's inevitable. >> do you think you agree with that, richard? >> well, that's the usual strategy. in criminal trials. is that the defendants who did not plead guilty turn on the others who did plead guilty or turn in state's evidence that accuse the evidence of lying in order to get a reduced sentence or charges. that's standard procedure for criminal defense lawyers in these cases. it's really tragic though that we are talking about the president of the united states possibly deploying a strategy used by criminal defendants in conspiracies and mob trials and other contexts. we would hope our president would focus on being president and not the worries of a typical criminal defendant. >> i can assure you, presidents do it. i experienced it. one who testified against

president, i can tell you, the white house is a formidable institution when it starts trying to discredit witnesses and make life difficult for witnesses. they'll have all their surrogates. the people on the hill and it will be relentless if it starts. >> and to be clear, we have no indication at this point there's any strategy from the white house to go after michael flynn and other witnesses or other people who have been charged in this case, but i want to ask you, john, president trump, the white house, they have also faced questions about whether there may be a party for paul manafort or campaign aide, rick gates. they have dodged that question for them just like flynn. listen to that. >> thank you. >> what's your reaction to george papadopoulos. >> i haven't had conversations with him about that. i think we should let the process play through before we start look iing at those steps. >> what does that tell you, they're refusing to roll out

pard bs? >> it tells me they're playing it safe. they doen't want to throw out negative csignals, so they're keeping them friendly. and that's a smart strategy. i think that they recognize that if the president were to pardon a slew of people involved in this, that he would be in real hot water and that this would be likely obstruction. this is what happened to knicks en. the fact he promised pardons to people. hinted at them. they were all over the tapes. having err lihis top domestic gd out signals to people that he would consider them and that later came back to haunt him with the house judiciary and impeachment bill that was prepared. >> to be b clear here, ty cobb, the lawyer in the white house, insisted there's no consideration for a flynn pardon. he's also said the same about manafort and gates. he told "the washington post,"

quote, no, no, no, that's never come up and won't come up. do you take him as his word, richard? >> i think the president's going to make that decision and it's very difficult to predict what president trump is going to do. he's very much driven by his emotions. and even a respond of his emotionally, he's already pardoned this sheriff in arizona. sheriff joe, who's a really pretty crazy guy. so he is, going to use the pardon power the way he wants to and i don't think any lawyer is going to be able to limit that. so i wouldn't take any white house lawyers at their word. we'll just have to see what happens. >> we sure will. richard, john, thank you so much. and up next, a republican congressman explaining and standing by his call for a purge at the fbi and the justice department. plus, a report that anthrax

antibodies were found on a north korean defector is stoking fears about a bio chemical attack. so how worried should the world be? we'll be back. ♪ ♪ohhhhhh, ou! guess what i just got? uh! ♪i used to be spellbound hello again. ♪i used to be spellbound hi. ♪i used to be spellbound that's a big phone. ♪in your arms. [screams] ah, my phone. ♪you built the flame ♪that warms my heart, ♪but lying and cheating ♪has torn us apart

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new tonight, doubling down. a republican congressman defending his call for a quote purge at the fbi and justice department. his comments come after messages emerge after two fbi agents part of robert mueller's team, criticizing president trump during the campaign. >> are you sure you want to be throwing a word like purge around? >> well, it might be a pretty strong word. i'm not maybe the most nuanced political person in the world coming from a career the in business, but i'm pretty frustrate. as an american citizen, i'm nervous and discontent that people would have those kinds of lack of impartiality and bad an mouse as displayed in those e-mails. >> so "outfront" with us tonight, democratic congresswoman from california, karen bass. she sits on the house judiciary committee. great to see you, great to have you on. >> thank you. >> bottom line, what do you say to your republican colleague, congressman rooney and his call

for a purge at the fbi and doj? >> well, i actually think it's very frightening. we're on the foreign affairs committee and when i get back to congress in a couple of week, i want to sit down and talk to him about the mccarthy era because i'm not shif he remembers the cd war. he's old enough to have, but the type of purges he's talk iing about goes back to the cold war when there was a purge by mccarthy to find communists that were hidden in the federal government. it sews distrust and maybe he needs a history lesson. maybe that's what would be helpful. >> to the congressman's point, there are members of robert muell mueller's team that have contributed to hillary clinton or other democrats. nine out of 15. there are agents who temporarily worked for the investigation, who chanexchanged messages, tex that were critical of president trump. do you think it's fair to

question the objectivity of this investigation? >> well i don't think it's unfair to question the objectivity, but i will say that when there was inappropriate contact, text messages, et cetera, mueller took action. he took action right away. i think when you become an fbi agent, you don't lose your right for freedom of speech or to participate in terms of giving contributions. i think my republican colleagues, what they are doing is laying the foundation, they are clearly very afraid that indictments are going to come and so they're laying the county dag for there to be mistrust in the process. i think that's very sad. i think we should allow the process to move forward. >> so by attacking the fbi and individuals such as deputy director fbi director andrew mccabe, do you believe trump is committing on struck of justice or witness intimidation? >> ooii'm not a lawyer, i can't speak to that, but it certainly seems as though he is very frighten pd and one thing we know.

we've all had an experience with the president now for a year. and his behavior is very predictable. so when things get close or when he is criticized, he reacts and he tries to divert the attention and i think that's exactly what he's doing now. sewing essential ly concern and disbelief and maybing people doubt the validity of the investigation. but mueller has a very long reputation and i think he's fulfill iing that reputation in this investigation. >> but you say they're trying to sew sort of distrust in the investigation. >> yes. >> but president trump if you've noticed, he has largely avoided going after special counsel robert mueller. what do you make of that? >> i think what he's doing is all about that. and i think the thing that has been different and again, i sit on judiciary, so i've watched this whole process. in the past, there hasn't been a number of republicans that have stood up and really defended him.

but this is their way of defending him now. when we have the head of the fbi, when we have the assistant attorney general come before our committee, the entire republican side of the committee was asking questions along the same lines. their talking points were the same. they're clearly doing this in conjunction and collaboration with the white house and they are in the white house as well as in the house laying the foundation when indictments come to say they're not valid because the investigation wasn't valid. i don't think -- >> but you say -- coordination with the white house. what makes you say that? is there evidence? >> no, it's not the tweets, it's sitting and listening to hours and hours of questioning by my colleagues. where they're talki tear their with in sync with the white house. it is raising questions about the investigation. instead of allowing the

investigation to move forward on its own, and let the chips fall where they may, they are attempting to influence if not the outcome of the investigation, they're attem attempting to influence the public opinion about the validity of the investigation. >> all right, let me just quickly ask you, president trump is preparing to turn his attention to infrastructure after his victory on tax reform legislation. legislation that not one single democrat support nd the house or senate. but trump seems to think democrats will work with him on infrastructure. he recently tweeted in part, quote, at some point and for the good of the country, i predict we'll start working with the democrats in a bipartisan fashion. infrastructure would be a great place to start. do you agree? >> i think infrastructure is a very critical issue. he wanted to do that in the beginning of his presidency and he declared infrastructure month and i think that lasted for about two days. so i don't think that is a genuine interest.

we just finished blowing a huge hole in the deficit. something that the republicans religiously say they're against. and so a few days ago, they talked about entitlement reform as a way of filling that hole. so if they plan to do infrastructure in a way that kobt to blow a hole in the deficit, i don't know that there would be an opportunity for much unity. the devil is always in the details. democrats want to do infrastructu infrastructure, but want to do it in the right way. >> all right, congresswoman, thank you so much for coming on the show during the holiday week. we really, really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on. up next, north korea's biological weapons threat. is the regime planning an an tl anthrax attack? plus, millions bracing for winter weather that's already dumped record amounts of snow in some spots. we'll be right back. well, it's earnings season

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well tonight, a north korean soldier who defected to south korea had anthrax antibodies in his system sparking new fears that kim jong-un has access to biological weapons. this according to a south korean television report.

now you might remember this shocking video of a soldier escaping last month, dodging gunfire and getting shot before being dragged to safety across the border. it's unclear if he's the soldier referred to in the report. the service could not confirm to cnn. "outfront" tonight with us, cnn intelligence and security analyst, bob baer and james spider marx. how significant is this what does it tell you about kim jong-un's access to anthrax? >> thank you for having me on. we're really not surprised. we have known for the longest time that the kim regime has access to chemical weapons. they now have access and they've developed nuclear weapons and they certainly have biological weapons. all those are put together into a budget. we shouldn't be surprised by this fuinding. i think it's premature and maybe inaccurate for us to think this

would be a cape bability kim would use. that he is now leaning forward in an effort to use anthrax or other forms of wmd. in an attack against the south. i see this as a defensive measure on his part and his soldiers, we can also assess, that they're organized for anthrax, that means they are now capable of operating in contaminated environment were they to choose to use it. >> you have this incident and the attack on kim jong-un's half brother as you'll recall this year. that attack was with a chemical agent. so what do you think, bob? spider seemed to say he didn't think this means t going to be weaponized on a larger scale. do you agree? >> i totally agree. he's absolutely right. we have to know what kind of strain the ricin is. if it's weaponized strain in

this man's system, that tells us a whole story. we'll be able to find out what wr that was weaponized. we suspect they may have an offensive capability, but no one is sure. that would involve for instance bursting a ricin you know, explosive that would protect the ricin because it's killed by heat over something like seoul and you could close the city down, but that's the nightmare scenario. we do not know whether they've done that. but agree with general, they're so advanced on the chemical, nuclear, sort of anything is possible at this time and it's something that makes it very difficult for us to do a preefforttive attack against north korea. >> that's sort of frightening. just this week, more sanctions were placed against two north korean leaders and trump has escalated his rhetoric. here's what he said just a few weeks ago. >> as part of the campaign of maximum pressure on the vile

dictatorship of north korea, we have imposed the toughest ever sanctions passed by the united nations and a lot of other sanctions, but i don't know that sanctions are going to work with him. we got to gi it a shot. we'll see. who knows. i'll just tell you, folk, you're in good hand. >> what do you think? do you think knowing kim jong-un has access to a biological agent will deter him from making a presemptive strike against north korea? >> i think as bob indicated, certainly, that goes into the calculus about what we want to try to do. our partner in the south woul want to try to do to get our arms around this developing capable thety. the fact that he has established a nuclear capable the ility, th that we have acknowledged that he has both chemical and biological weapons is not new. this is not a new red line.

kim jong-un has been and the kim regime, they've been living across that red line for years. >> right. >> so this is nothing new. this is nothing new. >> so i mean then it brings you to the question of how prepared is the u.s. military for something like this? are they immunized and equipped to handle this? spider? >> yes, they are. absolutely. the united states military understands what the threat looks like. and the soldiers that are potentially going to be involved in a conflict on the peninsula have reached a level of readiness and preparedness for this kind of environment. >> all right. final word to you, bob. >> the question is what would it take for north korea to give up its nuclear weapons and right now, i don't see anything and threatening them has done no good at all. and sanctions at the end of the day, probably is going to do very little. >> yeah. it seems like every time we impose sanctions, then north korea has another test and you know, it's just an ongoing cycle.

so gentlemen, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you. and up next, tens of millions of people in the grip of bone chilling temperatures and record breaking snow. we have the latest forecast. and 2017 in one word. remember that word? like which came first, the egg? or the chicken? how would i know? but i do know that first, qualcomm connected the phone to the internet. and now, everyone is posting and scrolling and sharing everything. yessir. qualcomm invents, then the world innovates on top of their breakthroughs. invention comes first. and a whole lot of it starts at qualcomm. so we know how to cover almost almoanything.hing even a swing set standoff.

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tonight, bone-chilling cold and snow gripping large swaths of the u.s. national guard troops put on active duty in pennsylvania as the state digs out of record-breaking snow. a disaster emergency declared in erie, pennsylvania, where more than 5 feet of snow has fallen and more is expected tonight. cnn meteorologist allison chinchar joins us with the incredible pictures. >> that's right. on top of that now you have to worry about the incredible cold air that's in place. the concern with that is how much frostbite could sunset and quickly. now, in most of these areas you're talking 15 to even 20 minutes of being outside if you are uncovered. take a look. again, we've got from west virginia all the way up to maine, these folks under a windchill advisory or windchill warning. you have to keep in mind, we've got folks out there enjoying that snow. this gentleman going out in very little clothing to enjoy the

snow that was there, diving in. after he did this, i think he thoroughly regretted that decision. you start to notice he jumps back up and will make his way over towards a hot tub. again, that's also not necessarily a great recommendation because of that contrast, temperature contrast against your skin. but folks are trying to get out there andy j-- and enjoy the snw that they had. notice all of the snow that falls on top of her. the problem is being outside for long periods of time as these temperatures get cold is not good for your skin, again, because frostbite can set in. we have the first round of arctic air that retreats a little bit before returning yet again as we go into the weekend. here's the concern with that. the good news is it may actually help prevent lake-effect snow going forward. the first point we are about 9% of lake erie covered. by monday, by new year's day we should be at 40% covered. pam, believe it or not, this is actually good. the more frozen lake erie is,

the less likely those folks are to get more snow. >> hmm, okay. that's good to know. but several areas have already received over 50 inches of snow. how much more is on the way? >> right. so we talked about that being a good thing. the problem is that won't occur until at least monday. we have more snow in the forecast before monday. widespread across areas of the midwest and the northeast, you're talking up to, say, about 4 inches. notice these purple areas here, including erie, pennsylvania, where we could see an additional 8 to 12 inches, pam, of having some extra snow on top of what they have already had. this is an image, by the way, one of the satellite images showing all of the snow. we call them cloud streaks. you really have a hard time of seeing the lakes. now as we said, pam, you're going to be adding more snow on top of what these folks have already had. >> allison chinchar, thank you so much. up next, this wednesday jeanne moos and covfefe. er cabl.

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well, tonight a look at one of the most memorable and viral moments in trump's first year as president. that baffling late-night half tweet involving, you guessed it, covfe covfefe. >> reporter: jibberish goes presidential. it wasn't even a complete

sentence tweeted out by president trump just after midnight. despite the constant negative press -- what's that word? >> covfefe? >> covfefe. >> reporter: professionals could only guess how to pronounce it. >> that is hilarious. >> but how do you say it? >> covfefe. >> reporter: we're pretty sure the president meant to type negative press coverage but the covfefe tweet stayed up almost six hours. it was then deleted and the president then tweeted who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe? enjoy, which the internet kid. it was turned into a wheel of fortune puzzle. a make america covfefe mocked-up t-shirt. eventually the white house press secretary confused things more. >> the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant. >> reporter: hillary clinton probably wasn't part of that group. >> i thought it was a hidden

message to the russians. >> reporter: tweeted one joker, are you suffering from small dysfunctional hands? ask your doctor is covfefe is right for you. tweeted another, i thought covfefe is what you say when someone sneezes. >> it sounds french. >> reporter: covfefe was turned into an ivanka fragrance. a california man bought the license plate as soon as he noticed the nonword trending. >> what is a covfefe? >> a yiddish term for i've got to go to bed now. >> reporter: franken enemy, ted cruz, tweeted covfefe hard to say, but i hear al franken's new book is full of it. many assume president trump just fell asleep. >> like eeeeeee. >> reporter: midtweet. >> i know words, i have the best words. >> reporter: the best nonwords too. >> covfefe. >> you say that with such assurance. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn. >> covfefe. >> reporter: new york.

>> everyone seems to have their own take on it. well, thank you so much for joining us on this wednesday. don't forget, you can watch "outfront" any time anywhere on cnn go. "ac 360" with jim sciutto starts right now. good evening, jim sciutto here sitting in for anderson. we begin tonight keeping them honest. even as the white house tries to play hide and seek. for a second straight day the president went to his golf course near mar-a-lago. unlike yesterday, though, when we managed to get exclusive video of the president playing a rounding instead of getting back to work as he promised, we got a very different view today. apparently in response to our footage, someone put a big truck between our camera, which was on public property, by the way, and the links. when we moved, the truck moved. the secret service says it wasn't behind it. the palm beach sheriff's department also denying responsibility. remember, during the campaign mr. trump said he would not have time as president for go