with isolated three quarter inch amounts. christmas eve making news in america this morning, late night rant. donald trump going off on twitter about his latest feud with hillary clinton and that sexually derogatory term blaming the media as other candidates break their silence on the comment. we're live in washington. wild weather on one ofofhe busiest travel days of the year. heavy rain moving through the south. plus, summerlike storms shaping up. tornado warnings overnight. where the biggest risk is today. caught on camera, a bright lilit blazing over severer states. experts this morning talking about what it likely was, and it's not a meteor. drone danger. look at this. on the slopes, a skier nearly taken out during a race.

morning, everyone. we're going to start with the race for the president. the front-runners in both political parties showing no signs of blunting their attacks against each other. >> theheatest volley between donald trump and hillary clinton is trump's twitter rant trying to explain what he meant when he used a sexually derogatory term while attacking clinton. >> abc's kenneth moton is following it all from washington, d.c. he's here with the details. good morning, kennetet >> reporter: good morning, kendis and reena. no surprise, donald trump is not backing down. he says the, quote, dishonest mainstream media has it wrong. donald trump fired back at the media overnight for his use of a vulgar term to describe hillary clinton's 2008 loss. >> she`was favored to win and she got [ bleep ]. she lost. i mean she lost. reporter: that bleeeed word refers to the male anatomy on urban dictionary it's described as a sexually degrading act. last night trump tweeted saying he meant clinton got beaten

he then blamed the media. >> that's why it's important to stand up to bullies wherever they are. >> reporter: clinton didn't respond directly to trump dururg her iowa rally but bernie sanders did. >> donald trump is very upset, it's very hard for him to deal with. i don't know what his relationship with him has been in his life but he has discovered that women go to the bathroom. >> reporter: sanders making light of trump's attack on clinton after her bathroom break during the abc news democratic debate. it's not the first time trump's comments have insulted women. his public battling with fox news host megyn kelly and gop rival carly fiorina made headlines earlier this year. >> it's the mark of a man who i believe has no respect for women, whatsoever report female supporters are sticking with trump. >> i don't think he's insulting to women. i think there's a lot of women out there that are very insulting to other women and to men out there.

poll has trump still at the top with 28% of gop voters. but quinnipiac university says six in ten women voters say they would be embarrassed to have trump as their commander in chief. reena d kendis. >> looking at that feme vote very important. well, kenneth moton live in washington, thanks, kenneth. we're going to turn our gears and switch to our other top story this morning. a record-breaking travel day colliding with record-breaking weather. >> 40 million americans are in the storm zone facing violent storms, high winds, torrential rains and feet of snow. take a look. this is what philadelphia international airport looks like at this hour where during this busy travel week, the weather has been having a domino effect canceling hundreds of flights and delaying thousands more. >> and the weather radar, take a look, shows the whole picture for the eastern half of the country. a couple of powerful fronts marching easasard. one in the mididst, the other blanketing just about everything south of pennsylvania. severe storms are hitting the deep south, even triggering

mississippi and louisiana. abc's rob marciano tracking where the severe weather is expected today. >> reporter: the severe weather threat that starts in the arklatex and expands throughout the day across the midsouth, a wide spread from new orleans a a the way to indianapolis with memphis in the bull's-eye. maybe tornadoes, this is spread by extreme warmth. better above normal. 62 in chicago. that's with rain and christmas eve over 70 in new york and d.c. records are going to be blown out. the easterhalf will see wet interstates, the western half,he mountain west especially will see snow covered roads so be safe and travel slow. >> thank you so much, rob. and breaking overnight weather may have played a role in a plane crash in the san francisco bay area. officials have found the wreckage of a small plane in castro valley with a body inside, however, the terrain is too rough and the body has not been recovered. in fact, two firefighters receed minornjuries while trying to reach the wreckage. recovery efforts will l sume

bowe bergdahl, the army sergeant held by the taliban for five years, made a brief appearance before a military judge. in his dress blues, this is s e first lookke've actctlly had of bergdahl since he was handed over in a controversial prisoner swap in 2014. he's facing charges of deserting his unit. he did not enter a plea and makes another court appearance next month. we're learning more about the six americans killed during a suicide bomb attack in afghanistan on monday. among those killed was major adrianna vorderbruggen, a 38-year-old gay rights activist t and mother from minnesota. the others included four staff sergeants and a technical sergeant. they rank in ages from 28 to 45. the taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. we're also getting new details about the san bernardino shooters from the wife's immigration file. syed farook, we're learning, was born in chicago and first connected with tashfeen malik on the internet before meeting farook's pilgrimage to mecca and

met. her file doesn't appear to support charges from some republicans that immigration officials failed to catch errors in her visa application. the woman charged in the deadly hit-and-run crash on the las vegas strip makes her first court appearance this morning. lakeisha holloway is facing charges of murder,r,hild abuse and leaving the scene of an accident. her defense attorney says he expects her to plead not guilty. she told police she was stressed before intentionally driving onto the crowded sidewalk. just a few years ago she was honored in oregon for turning her life around. several people injured in the crash remain hospitalized. here in new york city an alleged hacker to the stars is facing disciplinary action. the 23-year-old from the bahamas was busted for trying to sell movie scripts as well as personal information and sexually explicit videos of celebrities. such script hawkers are a common sight on the streets of new york but in this case u.s. immigration agents stepped in after getting a tip from an

still ahead, another mishap for the u.s. secret service. this time items stolen from an agent's car. and falling fromhe describe,, drone nearly hits a world cup skier. streaking across the night sky spotted from las vegas to southern california, so what exactly is this? automated voice: to file a claim, please state your name. carnie wilson. thank you. can you hold on? hold on for one more day really? hey, i k kw there's pain. why do you lock yourself up in these chains? this would be so easy if you had progressive. our mobile app would let you file a claim and help you find one of our service centers where we manage the entire repair process. things will go your way if you hold on. [ sighs ] someday somebody's gonna make you wanna turn around and say goodbye. say goodbye

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just head around the corner to walgreens when you're searching for that perfect little something. walgreens has great gifts like toys, beauty gift sets, and photo gifts, and d 's all just a hop, skip, and a bark away. right now, save 50% on the gift of the week. people from the california coast to las vegas and arizona saw this mysterious bright light qn the sky last night. the image going viral on social media. a christmas miracle? experts say, it was likely a piece of space junk from a russian rocket. all right, another

a member of the presidential protective division had his gun, badge, radio and handcuffs stolen from his personal car. the vehicle was parked not far from secret service headquarters in washington, d.c. the agent could face disciplinary action. new census figures are out. can you guess the state with the biggest population growth? well, if you guessed in the south, you'd be wrong. north dakota is number one thanks to a booming oil industry. in fact, the population there is just over 756,000. colorado, the district of columbia, nevada, florida and >> so we're moving to north dakota. >> pack your bags. the new york city partment of conmer affairs finds women are paying more for everyday report, this scooter, take a look, the male version, $25 less and these razors, $3.50 more for and the same shirt here, as well, $30 more for the female rsion.

women's products carried higher price tags 42% of the time. so you need a last-minute gift? starbucks has your back. they predict to break a record and expect to sell more gift cards than ever as last-minute gifts beating last year's 2.5 million cards sold on christmas eve. more than half of us say we'd like to receive a gift card and starbucks has sold $25 billion rth of them in theheast 15 ars. hint, hint, partner, on this shift. >> oh, that's no problem. >> every bit of caffeine. >> a $2 starbucks gift certificate for you. >> you can't even get a coffee for $2 there. >> true. you got to see this a college basketball player with one arm with an amazing accomplishment overnight. and miss colombia, new

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this is probably one of the last places you'd expect to see a coyote. it was spotted inside a terminal at the myrtle beach airport in south carolina, it ran across the ticket check-in area before animal control stepped in, subdued it with a taser. now for a look at your morning road conditions. roads wiwi be wet across the pacific northwest. heavy snows will make for slippery driving across the inner mountain west and nearly the entire eastern half of the country will be blanketed by rain and even flooding conditions in the south. and if you're flying,

memphis, new orleans, atlanta, charlotte, the district of columbia, new york -- just everywhere. just take a look. it'll be bad. panicked shoppers ran for cover when gunfire erupted at a mall on new york's long island. >> police say the suspect tried to rob a high-end watch store at the roosevelt field mall when struggle broke out with a security guard. the suspect's gun went off striking an employee. when people heard that single shot, they feared a terrwr attack. >> it was like pure pandemonium. evevybody was running. tell you the truth, once i seen everybody running, i started running. >> the suspect was quickly taken down with the help of an off-duty new york city polici officer who happened to be shopping. the injured mall employee is expected to be okay. robert durst will return to los angeles this summer for a trial on murder charges. the al estate heir is accused of killing a writer to keep her r from cooperating with an investigation into the disappearance of his wife. his attorneys say he didn't kill

did but first his trial on federal weapons charges has to be wrapped up in louisiana. we've got some dramatic images as a worker is pulled from the rubble 60 hours after being buried by a massive landndide in china. rescue workers say the man was able to give his name before being rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery. the survivor had been trying to escape when a door panel fell creating a space for him to survive. amazing. 70 people are still missing in all of this following the landslide which was strong enough to knock over a multistory building. >> wow. well, the nfl is denying a report that it's backed out of funding a study about brain injuries. espn had quoted sources reporting that the league is withholding millions of dollars of funding for research being done at boston university. according to the report, the nfl had raised concerns about the objectivity of a professor who would be leading the research, but a new statement says the nfl is willing to pay $16 million for ththstudy.

for its handling of concussions. okay, staying with sports i guess a little bit, it was a very close call for an alpine skier during a race in italy. austria's marcel hirscher on the slalom there was nearly struck by a drone that fell out of the sky. look at it. >> it was carrying a tv camera and was being used for the race broadcast when i icrashed on the snow. wow. hirscher wasn't affected by it afterward called the incident horrible. new york giants wide receiver odell beckham jr.'s appeal will be heard. it stems from his actions on the field against a carolina panther last sunday. as for last night college hoops action, we get the highlights now from espn. >> good morning. weweome to our "sportscenter" set in los angeles. along with neil everett, i'm stan verrett. >> yeah, he's got the better sweater. i got the better story. >> 2 chainz gave me this. >> that's cool. >> the rapper -- really, true story.y. >> check this kid out,

one hand, about half an arm, a walk-on the florida gator basketball team. bucket. this is so great, man. look at this smile. look at the fellas. see that. man, that's just awesome. prior to this he was 0 for 5 in his gator career. basket and the foul. missed thehereebie. still, you'll remember that. you're getting ready to go to work and talk to the people at the water cooler and say, man, did you see that kid from florida? that's cool, man. all right, michigan state taking on oakland. oakland has a great player, kahlil felder. he can do some things. less than 30 seconds to go, oakland down four. knocks dowowthe three. oakland down by just one, michigan state playing without denzel valentine. going to be out for a couple of weeks with a knee injury. deyonta dadas with the putback.. michigan state up by one. bryn forbes made sure that sparty finished the job, 32 for

state takes it, 99-93. so, they got some options you can see if -- well, valentine is out. >> yeah, and oakland is pretty good too so they gave them a good game. >> exactly. all right. that's it from here. hahay holidays to you. back to you. >> how do i get my 2 chainz sweater? i like that. >> i know. he has pull somewhere i guess. by the way, the holiday spirit was lacking last night when the blues and bruins got together on the ice in boston. >> so announcer jack edwards did what he could as two players dropd the gloves. we wishou a merry christmas we wish you a merry christmas >> that's funny. >> jack edwards of the new england sports network singing along to this and kind of fits. tyler randell of the bruins battles ryan reaves of the blues. both received five-minute penalties for fighting and the blues won the game, 2- >> i guess thadoesn't work when talking about pitics, right? can't be singing that between donald trump and hillary

>> nothing merry about that. coming up next in "the pulse," the new list showing the most overpaid actors. and new this morning, details emerging about steve

universe after his epic fail. all right, let's check "thth pulse,""hall we? and new developments in the mess at the miss universe pageant. >> well, believe it or not steve harvey is set to host the pageant for at least three more years. "entertainment tonight" says he signed the contract a few days before his embarrassing mistake when he crowned the wrong winner. >> signed it beforehand.

miss colombibi is weighing in on being miss universe for only a few minutes. she thanked people for their messages of support and says the goof has brought attention to her country, , and she says, quoting here, her deep thoughts, life continues and in the future we will find out why things happen the way they happen. >> i love that. you know, i said this yesterday, i thought both handled it with such ace, theseright. great thing, spotlight is still on her. great things will happen for her. >> perez hilto said the things we didn't see off camera, she was a diva. >> yeah and that she was giving the side eye to her translator throughout the entire evening throwing serious shade -- >> i have faith in those two women. johnny depp being considered the most overpaid actor in hollywood according to forbes list of overpaid movie stars based on the magazine's calculations, the actor's movie returned $1.20 for every dollar

depp was, you remember, box office gold as captain jack sparrow in "pirates of the caribbean" franchise butut i i recent movies not so much. >> followed by denzel washington. he brought in $6.50 for every $1 he was paid and coming in third is funny man will ferrell. >> all right. and jennifer lawrence the most underpaid actress out there. this is shaping up to be one seriously weird christmas in the northeast. record high temperatures andow robotic reindeer. >> the work of boston dynamic which make robots. subsidiary. santa only needs three of them to pull the s sigh not eight and you don't have to clean up after them either. >> maybe you should leave a battery charger with santa's milk and cookies. >> those just look odd. which one is rudolplp >> i think thehe last one with the red nose. >> more news after this. i'm mary ellen, and i quit smoking with chantix.

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our top ststies, donald trump says he meant hillary clinton was beaten badly when he used a derogatory term for her campaign loss in 2008 without mentioning trump by name clinton told iowa voters it's important to stand up to bullies. army sergeant bowe bergdahl held by the taliban for five years has made his first appearance before a military judge. he did not enter a plea on desertion and other arges. onon of the busiest travel days of the year. nearly half the nation blanketed under two storm systems bring heavy rains, flooding and in the south the threat of tornadoes. looking at today's weather across the nation, feet of heavy snow for the inner mountain west and from eastern texas to maine, heavy rains with flooding in the south, some areas could see 7 inches orain. on what was one of the longest nights of the year, the skies lit up over florida with a milestone for private space travel. >> you might say one small step for man, one giant leap towards

story. >> two, one. zero. we have liftoff. >> reporter: thi is spacex's return to flight after itsast rocket blew up but this mission was to prove more than delivering 11 small satellites to space. this was about returning the main rocket, the first stage, to earth and land it to be reused. >> the first stage is returning to land. >> reporter: finally spacex workers at the california headquarters and at cape canaveral c/uld see it returning. >> the falcon has landed. >> that was so awesome. >> reporter: spacex's ceo and tesla magnate elon musk called the reusable rockets one of the keys to g gng to mars. he got an up close look shortly after the falcon 9 first stage landed. but musk is not alone. there is a new space race, a private company space race under

billionaires. a month ago this blue origin rocket stage landed after a test launch. a victory for that company's founder, amazon a jeff bezos. the time musk needled him tweeting congratulations but adding there is a, quote, difference between space and ort. the back and forth continued with bezos offering congrats to musk adding welcome to the club so the battle continues but for the first time rockets are reusable making reaching space even more affordable. david kerley, abc news, washington. >> very big accomplishment. >> yeah, billionaires and their toys. >> well, that's what's making news in america this morning. >> stay with us for "good morning america."