an explosive report shows the fbi is looking into whether the u.s. president was working on behalf of russia. we'll have details on that. the government shutdown breaks a record. it is now the longest in u.s. history, neither side budging and congress left town. the 13-year-old girl missing for three months found alive. we'll give details abts how she escaped her captor. >> the family is so, so glad to hold her in their arms. live from atlanta, i'm gnnatali

allen. >> newsroom starts next. 4:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast. we are learning that the actions the u.s. president, it was a question asked, was the u.s. president a threat to national security. "the new york times" says that question prompted the fbi to take actions. >> the fbi looked into whether donald trump, the sitting u.s. president was working on behalf of russia and against american interest. according to the times, the federal agency started the investigation because it was worried about mr. trump's behavior after he fired fbi director, james comey. it was triggered by mr. trump's own words, which he said he dismissed comey because of the russia inquiry. >> to be clear, we don't know if

robert mueller is pursuing that probe as part of his own investigation in the russia collusion. we spoke to an author of "the new york times" report. here is what he had to say. >> when the fbi started investigating president trump, the day comey was fired, there was two elements, one was the criminal element and the other was the counter intelligence part of it. you know, i think broadly people assumed that, you know, mueller was looking at whether the president himself had conspired with the russians. nobody played out what happened. that's what we saw. the way these things are supposed to work is we are not supposed to find out about it. the fbi investigates somebody. maybe they suspect the individual is working for russia, they investigate and it goes away. >> the white house was quick to

respond. press secretary sarah sanders called the story absurd. >> the attorney rudy giuliani says the fact that it goes back a year and a half and nothing came of it, it showed a breach of national security, they found nothing, according to the president's attorney. >> joining me now is steve moor, a retired special agent at the fbi. he has the tie on for the interview and steve hall, a retired cia chief. welcome to both of you. thank you for talking with us. i want to start with you steve hall. is this a potential bombshell. they are looking at whether the president of the united states perhaps was or is a russian intelligence asset. >> sure x by the way you phrase the question, it's a very big deal. from a counterterrorism

perspective, there were questions about people in the news because of the activities they undertook and they were brought to judgment after investigations. there was always a question, oftentimes raised by the white house themselves, yeah, but was the boss involved. did donald trump know what manafort was doing or flynn? now, what we have learned is the fbi is seriously asking that question. that, in and of itself is a big deal. yeah, for me, from a counter intelligence perspective, it's a big deal. >> same question to you, steve, then we'll break it down. your initial thoughts when you heard about this investigation. >> i agree, anytime you are investigating at any level, the president for possible

involvement for foreign power, that's an important investigation. i think, however, "the new york times" was not clear on how they explained what was going on. this was not a full investigation. this is called a preliminary inquiry, which is very limited in scope and can be opened simply on an allegation, which means it can be opened without any -- any evidence at all. it has to be closed, if nothing is found within six months. it's not a criminal investigation as people think of an fbi investigation. >> talk about what led to the investigation. it was apparently the interview that donald trump gave nbc about why he fired james comey. let's listen to that now. >> regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with

trump and russia is a made up story, it's an excuse by the democrats for losing an election they should have won. >> that's one of the things. the other thing is a letter president trump planned to send to comey, which he apparently didn't do. steve, what was it about the investigation and the letter that triggered the fbi? >> what triggered the fbi is he repeatedly wanted to get, at least on paper, some type of evidence to support the fact that comey allegedly told him he wasn't been investigated for involvement with the russians. he really wanted this on paper somehow. i can see why that would lead agents to be concerned. >> to you, stephen hall, could the president have unwittingly come under russia's influence?

>> sure. there's always the question to when somebody is associated with or the question is, was the person in this case, the president of the united states involved with russia, whether it was witting or unwitting. that's got important legal distinctions. from counter intelligence, a lower bar than legal bar, there's a lot of questionable activities on the part of the president. we mentioned a couple of them with russia and the 30,000 e-mails, i hope you find them. if you look at his performance in the oval office with lavrov, saying he got rid of comey that night. that is something every american official should know, you don't talk about that in front of an

adversarial country. it allows them to take advantage of you. there's a lot of hoops you have to jump through before this is serious. already, there's counter intelligence patterns that emerged over the past couple years and they are beginning to culminate. >> here we go again with comey. does that argument have any merit to you? >> well, here is the problem with that. i agree completely with steve about the counter intelligence aspect of this. the president is acting unwisely with this. when comey was fired, who was in charge and could have authorized an inquiry against donald trump? it would have been the acting director and so what you have

are two people who have been compromised. not compromised in the counter intelligence way, but the american people have a compromised trust in them because they were both marched out because of political biases, apparently. so, the problem is, you have the fruit of the poisonous tree. people are not going to believe an investigation opened by those two guys after their boss got fired. i think it should rightly go to mueller because she doesn't have that baggage. >> we will continue to watch it. it's a remarkable new development. steve moore and stephen hall, we appreciate your insights. >> thanks. >> sure. now to the partial u.s. government shutdown. it lingers on, carrying on. now, officially the longest

shutdown in u.s. history. three weeks of counting. for workers, it means working without pay. unemployment claims skyrocketed 400%. >> the collateral damage is piling up. house democrats have passed bill after bill to reopen the government and get people back to work. republicans ridiculed the moves as stunts saying they won't move on anything until president trump gives the okay. for more, jim acosta is at the white house. >> reporter: after hinting for days he may declare a national emergency to instruct the government to build the wall, the president said there may be cracks in that plan. >> if they can't do it, if at some point they can't do it, this is a 15-minute meeting. if they can't do it, i will declare a national emergency. i have the absolute right to do

it. i'll be sued. it will be taken to the ninth circuit and the supreme court. >> reporter: he presides over the longest government shutdown. 800,000 workers impacted, many going without checks this weekend. >> federal employees we are talking about. many of them agree with what i'm saying and the people in this room, the experts are saying. they don't want to see people killed because we can't do a simple border construction. >> reporter: democrats are accusing the president of putting the wall over the needs of federal employees. >> today is the first day they are getting pay stubs with a zero on them. their pay stubs say zero and bills keep coming in. we have the same question on the senate floor, why don't we do what is in our power to reopen the government? >> reporter: the president is continuing the hide the

situation on the border. >> a lot of people don't like the word invasion. we have a country being invaided by criminals and drugs. >> reporter: he tweeted the wall should have been built by previous administrations. they didn't get it done and i will. gangs, human traffickers and trouble can pour in. it can be stopped cold. one law enforcement worker said migrants are digging tunnels under areas where walls exist. >> this is a couple miles from where we stand. this is a tunnel. this is the second tunnel we have located. this is an area that we have walls. >> the president is being cheered on by republicans to take matters into his own hands. lindsey graham saying call a national security now, build a

wall now. when shielding immigrants, he was blasted by graham and other gop leaders. >> this is wrong and will do damage to fix a broken system. this is a tremendous presidential overreach. i will try to defund the effort to go it alone. we will challenge him in court. >> opposing him may seem tempting and serve him in the short term. he knows it will make an already broken system more broken. and he knows this is not how democracy is supposed to work. >> reporter: despite a government shutdown that is hurting american families and potentially damaging the economy, the president is joking democrats can give him his wall and call it something else. >> they can name it whatever they name it. peaches. i don't care what they name it, but we need money. >> reporter: the president

didn't say how long he's going to let this grind on or what will prompt him on the border. the president appears to let the shutdown continue until he gets his way. democrats can call the wall peaches, but at this point, parties are treating it like a lemon. jim acosta, cnn, the white house. >> the negative impact is felt by millions of americans. unemployment claims are skyrocketing by employees not being paid. >> many of the people say they are being unfairly punished through no fault of their own. we have more from scott mcqueen. >> reporter: the sign says it pays to live in ogden, just not these days. this panoramic former frontier town in utah is part of a battle waged in washington. ogden has one of the highest concentrations of federal

workers in the west. right now, it's hurting. whitney is one of 5,000 workers affected in ogden, alone. most work with the irs and most are furloughed. she is working without pay. no money, but bills to pay, a gas tank to fill and two kids to feed. >> i don't think we should be held captive, like our paycheck should be held captive just because of something that they need to brawl out. >> reporter: with no money on the way, she plans to ask the bank for a loan and the food bank for help. she's not alone. 50 workers a day are relying on their shelves. >> i've never done this before. >> reporter: she never imagined she would be here. >> i pay my taxes and do what i'm supposed to do. i shouldn't be without a job.

>> reporter: she is registering and lining up with the basics. she voted for president trump, but not for this. >> i agree with the wall. we are not volunteers. >> reporter: adding insult to injury, workers find themselves without pay in a city that saw the cost of housing rise in the last five years. >> they are part of the ecosystem that supports the businesses. >> reporter: a ripple effect? >> correct. >> reporter: the ripples are spreading. the federal building is in the middle of the normally vibrant historic downtown that is now almost empty. this bookstore says sales are down by half. this restaurant cut back their hours. other restaurants are scraping by. holly saw her tips drop by two-thirds.

>> i have to penny pinch. i have to decide, you know, which bills are prioritized, cut out all the extras. enjoy. >> reporter: president trump suggested workers are willing to sacrifice pay to secure the border. >> this has a higher purpose than next week's pay. >> reporter: she agrees. are you willing to sacrifice for it? >> i'm okay for the safety of this country, to do what needs to be done. >> we want to work. we want to work. >> reporter: that wasn't shared by furloughed workers. many say they are getting desperate. >> i have enough for one more mortgage payment. i have to go to carmax tomorrow and sell my car. >> reporter: you are going to sell your car? >> i have to. >> reporter: there's hardly consensus on who to blame but there is one thing -- >> we want them to make it

right. >> reporter: she wasn't able to sell her car. she asked the bank to defer her next mortgage payment, which they did. she found a temporary job. other workers applied for unemployment insurance. the irs is planning to require part of the work force to return to work to process tax refunds. that is the worst case scenario for many employees because they are not eligible for unemployment because they are working and their next paycheck is a long way away. >> you know, these reports that some employees are told to hold a garage sale or something like that, call creditors to say they will be late. that doesn't work. they say you are 30 days late, 60 days late, you are late. >> in 20 minutes i'll interview a furloughed worker and her

story of how she is trying to survive. >> the pain is real. we have breaking news ahead. the live video coming to you out of paris. a strong explosive has rocked central paris. we'll have the details on this breaking story, coming up. (client's voice) oww, it hurts...

(danny) ...that you're not using smarter tools to manage your business. you work too hard to work this hard! collecting receipts? is it the 80s? does anybody have a mixtape i can borrow? you should be chasing people's pets... ...not chasing payments! quickbooks gives you a sweet set of business tools... ...that do all the hard work for you. you may groom corgis, but you don't have to work like a dog. (vo) you earned it, we're here to make sure you get it. (danny) it's time to get yours. (vo) quickbooks. backing you.

welcome back. following breaking news this hour out of paris. we have live images to show you where police say a gas leak at a bakery caused a strong explosion that happened saturday morning. >> an official in paris tells cnn there were victims, but it is unclear how many at this time and the extent of their injuries. >> we have someone here, this is your hometown. you can tell us the neighborhood and what we know so far. >> this is paris, the ninth district, residential neighborhood, narrow streets, which is a problem when you have an explosion because more people might be impacted. as we understand, shortly before

9:00 a.m. local time, a bakery experienced some sort of a gas leak. that's the best we have right now according to french law enforcement. this is saturday morning. the bakery, i believe, is what you are seeing on the street corner, the shot we saw. there was a gas leak, an explosion. we just heard from somebody who lives in the neighborhood who spoke to our cnn affiliate in france. they were evacuated but the firemen were already on the scene to handle that fire at the time there was that explosion. >> when you look at this video, it looks like it was massive. >> yeah. >> you can tell there are other buildings connected to that building that look blackened as well. >> yeah, so the windows have been blown out over several buildings. that tells you the danger to the

number of people that may have been affected. shortly before 9:00 a.m. local time, people are in their homes. so, you can expect people to be injured. we don't have specific information on that. we know stretchers were carried into the perimeter. i would expect that's what law enforcement and first responders are doing, going door-to-door, planning who needs help and how many people were injured. i would be stunned if there were no injuries out of this. >> give us a sense of the timing, when this happened and how many people would have been out and about. >> yeah, that's a very relevant question. saturday morning, in a residential neighborhood in paris means people are walking out of their houses. that's a typical thing you do. a stable of french life, or doing your morning grocery shopping. that tends to be the tradition. so, you would have had a lot of

people, either indoors or starting to come out and mill around that neighborhood, which, again, is a very residential neighborhood. you don't have the benefit of this being a set of office buildings, which would have been empty at that point and time, that day of the week. on the contrary, full of people. >> again, we are looking at these images. a big explosion, officials say is caused by a gas leak. >> yeah. >> again, our reporter is on the way to the scene. as soon as she arrives, we'll have live coverage. again, this is a gap explosion in paris. thank you. 800,000 federal workers, the government shutdown is a nightmare. coming up here, my conversation with a woman who works for the smithsonian and how the shutdown up ended her life. i am a family man.

i am a techie dad. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

welcome back to viewers in the u.s. and around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom," live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george howell. reporting the fbi looked into whether the u.s. president was working on behalf of russia. according to the paper, investigators were worried about mr. trump's behavior, his actions after he fired james comey. it's unclear if special counsel robe robert mueller is looking at that probe. an explosion at a bakery. police say it was caused by a gas leak. an official tells cnn there were victims, but it's unclear how

many at this time. police are saying the explosion is not terror related. the united states starting to withdrawal military equipment out of syria. the pentagon spokesperson says the u.s. is working with allies and partners to ensure a deliberate and coordinated withdrawal and they are fighting isis in the meantime. >> the partial shutdown of the u.s. government is entering the fourth week, the longest in u.s. history. a federal employee union reports unemployment claims among furloughed workers spiked 400%. those who are required to work without pay are not eligible for those benefits. joining me now is whitney brown, a curator at the smithsonian. whitney, thanks so much for talking with us. >> you're welcome, nice to be

here. >> nice to have you with us. first of all, i want to ask you straight up, how are you doing? how are you feeling right now? >> honestly, i'm tired. it's indescribably tired to be in limbo, figure out how to finance credit cards and cash, how to pay for the mortgage and my neighbor who brings firewood who doesn't take credit cards. i don't know if i'm going back to work next week or in 2020. >> the limbo, we can appreciate that. so many people in this country work paycheck-to-paycheck or have so many obligations, so trying to decide, who, what, where, when has to be taxing. i know you are a contract federal worker. does that mean when the government opens, you will necessarily have a job when you come back and are you assured to have back pay if you get your

job back? >> my understanding is there won't be back pay. i don't have that from the smithsonian who holds my contract. i don't have information yet. there's no one i can ask. most people i have contact with are federal workers who are on furlough. my contract was up for renewal on december 31st. i believe that paperwork was put in. i don't know if there will be a delay in processing that. i have little information. we have been told to not watch the news. >> that's not comforting. >> i don't hold my direct supervisors responsible for this, they have been wonderful. >> what have people been saying to you. i have been reading shutdown stories, people talking about this. some sago get another job, you need to do something. easier said than done when you

have a job and you are waiting for one decision by the u.s. government to get you back working. >> exactly. gosh. it's very frustrating. i'm seeing the best and the worst of humanity right now. i have a lot of friends and family who reached out without my having solicited. we have money saved up, please let us know if you need help. we are sorry. let us know if you need help. i also participate in twitter. have been said i have been furloughed, i filed for unemployment. i'll be able to eat, but you have bills to pay. other people, if you share that sentiment, i have been attacked by people who said why don't you have more money saved? why don't you get a job delivering pizza. i have a lot of reasons. i live in a rural area.

i don't live in washington. i go to washington when i need to be there for work. this is not an easy play to get a job anytime of the year, let alone now. >> how long are you prepared? are you thinking beyond a day or two or week or how long you are able to hang on? >> i think when the initial news broke, i expected it might be three or four weeks. it's difficult to guess now. this is not a president who is predictable in terms of presidential norms. my understanding is after today, we are in the longest shutdown in u.s. history for the federal government and i don't feel hopeful. there's not a lot of signs for hope, despite the fact people on both sides of the aisle said can't we have this discussion after we get the border reopened. i'm lucky to have family to fall back on. i don't have dependents i support. i'm not a super sad case

compared to what i have read. it's not easy. my credit will take a hit result of this. >> do you blame either party? the president? are you going there or trying to stay away from that? >> i have a lot of heated opinions i have shared with family and friends. i'll say i don't -- i mostly feel the president is responsible for this. i hold mitch mcconnell responsible for refusing to have a vote in the senate unless he knows trump won't veto it. this is not something they pursued when the republicans had a majority in the house and i don't know why it's a hot button issue now. i'm angry about being a political pawn. i think it shows how out of touch they are with working americans. they don't seem concerned at all for anybody's welfare. it's hard. >> we are thinking about you, appreciate your time and coming

on to talk to us about this, whitney. whitney brown, a curator at the smithsonian. we wish you all the best. >> thank you. now, the republican congressman from iowa, steve king. feeling the burn after making racist comments with many colleagues condemning his support of white nationalism. it started after he spoke to "the new york times" and had this to say. >> white nationalists. white supremacists. western civilization. how did that language become offensive. why did i sit in classes teaching me about the merits of history and our civilization. >> white nationalism and white supremacy. why is that offensive? really? those comments prompted democrats to censure king. he insisted he is not a racist. let's listen.

>> under any fair political definition, i am simply an american nationalist. i regret the heart burn upon congress and this country and my state and my congressional district. the people who know me know i wouldn't have to make this statement because they do know me. >> those are king's comments on friday. king's past can't be ignored. he has a long history of controversial comments and actions, comments like these. >> for everyone who is a value dick attorney, there's 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and calves the size of cantaloupe because they are on marijuana across the desert. we have growing elements in america that want to destroy western civilization. this argument that diversity is our strength, i wonder if anybody questions that. >> questioning whether diversity is our strength. king tells cnn, he isn't worried

about the latest comments. however, a senior aide says king's comments are a tipping point. whether his party will take action is not sure. the only black senator, kim scott of south carolina had this to say in an op-ed in the "washington post." when people with opinions similar to king open their mouths, they damage the republican party and the conservative brand and our nation as a whole. some wonder why republicans are accused of racism. it's because of our silence when things like this are said. ohio democrat, tim ryan is considering a formal resolution that censures king for his history of racially insensitive comments and remarks. coming up here, a 13-year-old girl escapes to freedom.

t-mobile knows dancing is better when you include a partner. singing is better when you include a friend. and unlimited is better with a phone included. it's true. forty bucks with the other guys, doesn't include a phone. so, start the new year right. join t-mobile and get unlimited with a phone included for just forty dollars per line.

we continue to follow the breaking news out of paris, france where police say a gas leak at a bakery caused a major explosion. melissa bell is live in paris following the latest on the story. what are you learning from authorities? >> reporter: what we have heard is we have the confirmation from police this was, indeed, a gas explosion. we have been hearing more from eyewitnesses. you can see behind me, emergency services are trying to get that fire under control, a fire caused by an explosion in that bakery. what we have heard from eyewitnesses is an hour before that explosion took place, the firemen had been out here, a team of eight people were coming to inspect the street. the eyewitness we spoke to couldn't confirm why they had come. an hour after they left, the

explosion took place. so powerful said the man working the hotel opposite of the bakery. he was propelled by the force of it. now, we don't have any official word yet on casualties, the number of those injured. there were a number of people who were injured, some of them sustaining substantial injuries. >> for our viewers around the world, set the scene here. if we can show the map of exactly where this is taking place. melissa, if you could explain the timing as well, how many people might have been out and about on the streets in this neighborhood. >> reporter: this is the heart of paris, the ninth district, restaurants, bars. it is also residential. these are flats in the streets. a lot of people live here. there would have been people around the street, out to buy their bread and to have morning coffee. given the strength of this

explosion and what we have heard, this would have been very chaotic. we heard the blast was such the windows were blown out and a number of buildings surrounding the one in which the explosion took place. they have confirmed it was a gas leak. that is what they have confirmed to cnn. of course, when it first took place, you can imagine the chaos and panic amongst people who did not know what caused this explosion. given the size, really, even if it was not as the authorities told us not terror related, you can imagine the scenes in what was a very busy part of town, a busy street. people close by heard and some witnessed the damage. smoke continues to billow out. it was a bad fire that followed the explosion and emergency services trying to put that out. of course this comes as paris, you know, on saturdays is really

gridlock, waiting to see what will emerge. there are tens of thousands of policemen and women on the streets of france to keep an eye on the situation and under control. there would have been a lot of questions when this first took place. we learned from authorities it was a gas leak, not terror related. >> that city rocked by so many terror related incidents. in the early moments of the explosion, on the minds of many people. authorities saying it was caused by a gas leak. we'll continue to stay in touch with you. the yellow vest protests are taking place. we continue to follow that on cnn. thank you for the reporting. >> now, to a story many people here in the united states are following, brave and courageous. that's how police describe a 13-year-old girl in wisconsin. she escaped captivity after three months. >> jayme closs went missing the

day her parents were murdered. she led police to her suspects kidnapper. we have more on the story. >> reporter: after 88 days, 13-year-old jayme closs alive, after escaping captivity. >> the suspect had specific intentions to kidnap jayme and went to great lengths to take her. >> reporter: jayme identified the man that kidnapped her and killed her parents three months ago, 21-year-old jake patterson. he's charged with two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping. police are searching for why. cnn has not been able to reach patterson or confirm whether he has an attorney. >> nothing in this case shows the suspect at the closs home or at anytime in contact with anyone at the closs family. >> reporter: patterson worked at the same plant as her parents for a day or two, but didn't

know them. jaime escaped while her kidnapper was away and approached a woman walking her dog in gordon, wisconsin. >> she said i'm lost. i don't know where i am. i need help. >> the middle school student says she was held in a cabin, in a row mote area 65 miles north of her hometown. >> did she run away? did somebody dump her off here? she didn't have coats or gloves. when she told me who she was, i figured she left in a hurry. >> reporter: patterson doesn't have a criminal record in wisconsin. investigators believe he carefully planned the kidnapping on his own. >> things like not leaving trace evidence by changing his appearance, like shaving his head, not to leave hair behind. >> neighbors kept her safe until police arrived and arrested patterson minutes later, pulling

over his car, based on her description. she's been reunited with her family. >> she looked really tired. like she's been fighting a battle for weeks. >> reporter: the fbi and local authorities have been searching for jayme since mid october. that's when they discovered the bodies of her parents. the sheriff's office responded to a 911 call to their home. no one spoke, but the dispatchers were yelling in the background. police believe she was in the house when her parents were murdered. they recovered a shotgun at the home where jayme was being held. we are very close to that home, 30-40 local state and federal law enforcement officers have been executing a search warrant. the initial appearance in court will be monday. the looming question remains, how was jayme closs found? why was she targeted? how did the suspect find his way

to her parent's home? jean casarez, cnn, gordon, wisconsin. >> what that young woman has been through. a major snowstorm is creating problems and it's going to stick around for the weekend. derek van dam will join us next.

seen here that it's january. a deadly snowstorm bearing down on the central u.s. in missouri. the state high way patrol warns people, stay home and off the road as conditions become more dangerous. >> that is a lot of snow. to talk more about what is expected, meteorologist derrick van dam. derek? >> thaings are going to look different as people wake up across the central u.s. the snow is spreading to the mid-atlantic states from eastern colorado to kansas, missouri, illinois, indiana, ohio, virginia as well as district of columbia, the capital there. under a winter storm warning. i's not just snow. there's potential for significant icing. here is the story on our radar. it is very active.

the steady stream of moisture coming in helping fuel the cloud cover and the rain. just to the north, where temperatures are below freezing, that's where the snow is extremely heavy, particularly in and around the st. louis region where they have reported eight inches of snowfall. let's take you to st. louis and you can see what drivers are having to deal with this morning. stuck vehicles. roadways that can't be maintained quick enough. over an inch an hour in some instances. it is going to pile up through the course of the early morning hours and last into the afternoon today before spreading eastward. get to the graphics again and you can see where the storm is headed, how much snow we are expecting. there it is to peoria, 6-8 inches possible. 4-6 inches, a half foot of snow. you better believe that i-70

corridor is going to be congested, very difficult to travel around. could this be a top five contender for snowstorms in st. louis? the potential exists but it's going to be tough to beat that 15 inch total from 1912 back in thapar tick lar area. you can see the snowstorm moving across the atlantic. it's going to cause problems at airports. washington dulles airport will have problems. north carolina, up to a quarter to half inch of ice. friends in national this weekend. they are going to have trouble getting around if you ask me. >> my goodness. stay away from that. stay off the roads. >> derek, thank you. the top stories are just ahead. thanks for watching this hour, i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george howell. another hour of news after the break, stay with us.

insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything ...only about 80% of your part b medicare costs. a medicare supplement insurance plan may help cover some of the rest. learn how an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company might be the right choice for you. a free decision guide is a great place to start. call today to request yours. so what makes an aarp medicare supplement plan unique? these are the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp because they meet aarp's high standards of quality and service. you're also getting the great features that any medicare supplement plan provides. you may choose any doctor that accepts medicare patients. you can even visit a specialist. with this type of plan there are no networks or referrals needed. also, a medicare supplement plan... ...goes with you when you travel anywhere in the u.s. call today for a free guide.

i am a techie dad.n. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience.

my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. a bombshell report by the "new york times" reveals the fbi opened an investigation of president trump to see whether he had worked on behalf of russia. plus, making history. the u.s. government shutdown now becomes the longest shutdown in u.s. history. what life is like now for hundreds of thousands of american workers working without pay. also ahead this hour, missing for nearly three months. you can imagine people might have given up. but this teenage girl escaped captivity. she