making news in america this morning -- hollywood mogul harvey weinstein is slapped with a civil rights lawsuit. accused of forcing his staff to manage his sexual encounters. this morning, what the lawsuit means for the half billion dollar sale of weinstein's company. president trump under fire for his response to the domestic abuse allegations against his former top aide, rob porter. this morning, porter's ex-wife fires back at the white house. controversy at the olympics. u.s. figure skater adam rippon finishes in third place. despite a flawless debut. this morning, the explanation for his score. plus, team usa with a historic first on the ice. also this morning, new details on two air disasters. a passenger jet crashes killing all on board. and a tour helicopter bursts into flames in the grand canyon.

later, the producers of "peter rabbit" apologize as they face a boycott. the scene that has parents so upset. and driven to distraction. the lesson one driver learned in this parking garage. good monday morning, everyone. we begin with a serious new legal fight for disgraced hollywood mogul harvey weinstein. >> now facing a civil rights lawsuit here in new york. that suit claims weinstein persistently sexually harassed female employees, forcing them to facilitate his sexual enopportunitiers. >> his attorney is responding. as the sale of weinstein's company is called into question. >> reporter: this morning, harvey weinstein now the target of a lawsuit. the new york state attorney general eric schneiderman filed the lawsuit against the weinstein company.

claiming it repeatedly broke state law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation, and discrimination. >> he held all the cards. >> reporter: zelda perkins was weinstein's former assistant at miramax. she claims weinstein tried to rape her colleague in 1998 at the venice film festival. a claim weinstein denies. during an interview with the bbc, perkins talked about the hostile work environment. weinstein allegedly created. >> he was a master manipulator. and his moods changed very quickly. you never knew whether you were his confidant or whether you were going to be screamed at. >> reporter: the suit cites violations of human rights and business laws, by the weinstein company, harvey weinstein, and his brother, robert. actress rose mcgowan, one of the first people to accuse weinstein of rain rain, says she believes the people around the media mogul enabled his alleged behavior. calling it a complicity machine.

>> everybody knew. >> you really believe that? >> i know that. i was there. >> reporter: the lawsuit now jeopardizes the sale of the weinstein company. expected any day now. schneiderman saying any sale of the weinstein company must ensure that victims will be compensated. in response to the suit, weinstein's attorney says a fair investigation will find that the allegations are without merit. if the purpose of the inquiry is to encourage reform through to film industry, mr. weinstein will embrace the investigation. if the purpose, however, is to scapegoat mr. weinstein, he will vigorously defend himself. the suit in new york is hardly weinstein's only legal problem. the district attorney in los angeles is considering possible charges and weinstein also faces a criminal investigation in both new york and london. turning to president trump under fire for defending a top aide who stepped down over a string of domestic violence allegations. the president said it's a tough time for rob porter and followed up with a tweet about people being falsely accused. now porter's ex-wife is responding. abc's serena marshall has more from washington. good morning, serena.

>> reporter: kendis, diane, good morning. she's firing back and firing back forcefully. writing in a "time" magazine op ed piece that the president will not diminish my truth. as he appears to side with his staffer over the women who accused him of domestic abuse. it was a tweet that appeared to question the accusers over the accused. the president writing, people's lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. there is no recovery for someone falsely accused. life and career are gone. is there no such thing any longer as due process? mr. trump now facing backlash this morning for praising and defender former aide rob porter, accused of domestic abuse. >> we absolutely wish him well. >> reporter: in "time" magazine, porter's second ex-wife, jennie willoughby, said, i was floored. my friend turned to me and said, the president of the united states just called you a liar. the white house insists porter misled them and they aktd swiftly after seeing these photos of porter's first

ex-wife, colbie holderness. the first wife claims that the pictures and information came up as part of porter's background check in 2017. it was suggested that the tweet was not about the president's aide. >> the tweet could be applied to a bunch of people that wondered if the president was talking about his friend, steve wynn. >> reporter: wynn faces accusation of sexual misconduct by dozens of women. and new york senator kirsten gillibrand reminding the constituents so does the president. telling "60 minutes" -- >> congress should hold him accountable. we are obligated to have hearings. >> reporter: the president has fundamentally denied those allegations. >> those accusers have had their day on your network and elsewhere for a long time. >> reporter: well, publicly, the president continues to defend porter. privately, the website axios is reporting he's called porter sick and says that that image doesn't line up with the man he knew, but he believes the women. kendis? diane? >> thank you, serena marshall, live for us from d.c. overseas, investigators have recovered at least one of the flight recorders from the

russian passenger jet seen here on surveillance video crashing outside moscow. it killed all 71 people on board. snow is making the search for clues extra challenging this morning. authorities have not ruled out terrorism. reports indicate they don't believe terror was the likely cause. everything from pilot error to weather is being considered. the pilot who they describe as experienced, never reported an emergency. it's a first crash of a commercial airliner in more than a year. back in this country, investigators are looking into the cause of a helicopter crash in the grand canyon. three british tourists were killed. three others and a pilot were critically injured. the rough terrain and high winds hampered rescue efforts. first responders had to hike to the crash site. and when they did, they found a horrifying scene. >> the tail broke in half. it hit the bottom. biggest explosion you ever heard. and flames like never seen. >> some of the injured are badly burned. it was more than eight hours

before the survivors could be air-lifted out of the canyon. other air tours over the grand canyon have been suspended. experts have complained about crowded air space in the area. puerto rico is trying to recover from yet another blow to its damaged power grid. an explosion and a fire at a substation caused a blackout in the northern part of the island, which includes parts of san juan. officials think it will take about a day for power to be restored. nearly 500,000 customers remain without electricity 145 days after hurricane maria devastated that island. time for a look at your weather on this monday morning. ♪ the flood advisories are expiring in tennessee. now parts of the state are waiting for things to dry out. heavy rain left roads flooded and the ground soaked near nashville. up to three inches fell in some areas over the weekend. looking at today's highs, temperatures won't get out of the teens in the northern plains.

chicago is digging out from a record nine consecutive days of snowfall. matching a record there. ♪ coming up, gas prices are on the rise. we'll look at what is causing the increase. and also ahead, the trump administration's plans to take the international space station private. and the american figure skater trending worldwide. why he's stealing the show and

we're back with video of an explosion on a highway outside of beijing. a truck carrying liquefied natural gas burst into flames sending a fireball down the roadway. two people in the truck were

taken to the hospital. but nobody else on the the highway was hurt. incredible. an explosion on a truck carrying hydrogen tanks caused quite a scare near los angeles. 500 people had to be evacuated in the city of diamond bar. the truck was carrying about 1,000 gallons of hydrogen. crews did not expect to let anyone back into the area until daylight. police in ohio have released the 911 call that led to the killings of two police officers. anthony morelli and eric joering were shot overthe weekend responding to a frantic call. the came from a woman in the columbus suburb of westerville. she told the dispatcher she was afraid for both her life and her daughter's. what's your emergency? >> please help, please help, please help. >> what's wrong? >> he shot the police officers. i'm hiding in the bushes. my daughter is the the house. she's 1 years old. please. >> 30-year-old quinton smith is charged in the murders. he's recovering after being shot in the incident. police had responded to the home three other times since

september on domestic calls, without making any arrests. smith's wife says he previously threatened to kill her. gas prices are on the rise. currently 34 cents a gallon higher than this time last year. and up seven cents over the last three weeks. analysts blame the hire costs of crude oil for the spike. we're expecting to learn more details today about a plan from the trump administration to privatize the international space station. it reportedly involves ending funding for the station in seven years, and then turning its operations over to the international and commercial para -- partnerships organized by nasa. part of a white house budget request that is expected to face stiff opposition in congress. the u.s. has spent nearly $100 billion to build and operate the space station. when we come back, a new indication that the u.s. may be ready to talk to north korea. history at the olympics. what this american figure skater did for the first time ever. and a car plows through a

wall and off a parking garage. the distraction the driver is now blaming. garage. the distraction the driver is now blaming. l help you save more with zero dollar copays on select plans and reward points on prescriptions. so no matter where you're going or who you are, it's worth the trip. we'll help you find low cost prescriptions including zero dollar copays on select medicare part d plans. walgreens. trusted since 1901. of being there for my son's winning shot. that was it for me. that's why i'm quitting with nicorette. only nicorette mini has a patented fast dissolving formula. it starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. every great why needs a great how.

every great why what are you doing?? i don't need all this. mucinex fast-max can handle pretty much every symptom. name one. how 'bout 9? even... yea--i can read. we're done here. mucinex fast-max. 9 symptoms. 1 dose. max strength. let's end this. we know that when you're spending time with the grandkids every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why we show you exactly when we'll be there. saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ this is food made to sit down for. slow down for. put the phone away, and use a knife and fork for. and with panera catering, it's food worth sharing. panera. food as it should be. and with panera catering, it's food worth sharing. ibut it doesn't always come naturally. this i can do, easily. benefiber® healthy shape is a 100% natural prebiotic fiber that's clinically proven to help me

feel fuller longer. benefiber® healthy shape. this i can do! vice president mike pence has a new message for north korea, saying, if you want to talk, we'll talk. he made the comments while flying home from the olympics. but he told "the washington post" the u.s. will continue to impose sanctions on kim jong-un until he takes clear steps towards ending his nuclear program. pence describes the policy as maximum pressure and engagement at the same time. a lot of talk about the olympic figure skating competition. you have the american adam rippon, who finished third in men's free skate. >> but he came in behind a russian who fell during his program. that set twitter on fire. rippon likely came in third because the other skaters attempted more difficult routines. but fans are not liking that explanation. his performance helped the u.s. win bronze in the team competition.

alex stone has more from pyeongchang. alex? >> reporter: kendis and diane, good morning. after a slow start, team usa is now pulling in the medals. and there could be many more on the horizon. team usa won the bronze in the team figure skating with a strong showing from the shibutani siblings, maia and alex. beating out the italians. a canadian took the gold. and silver went to russia. in the women's free skate portion of the event, mirai nagasu became the first american woman to land a triple axel in the olympic games. finishing second in her first olympic appearance since 2010. chris mazdzer making u.s. olympic history. becoming the first american man to ever medal in the singles luge. winning the silver. >> you obviously want that win. but to know you solidified a medal for your country is just incredible. >> reporter: on the slopes, 17-year-old red gerard coming back from last place in the snowboard slopestyle event to steal the gold. gerard, now the youngest american man to win a gold medal

in 90 years. jamie anderson taking gold in the women's snowboard slopestyle, defending her 2014 title. and american chloe kim, at 17 years old, is the heavy favorite to win the women's gold snowboard halfpipe event leading after two qualifying runs. mikaela shiffrin has to wait till thursday to go for the gold in the women's giant slalom. dangerous winds caused a second alpine skiing event in two days to be canceled. because of those delays, organizers are being asked if they might have to extend the games. they say it's too premature to think about that right now. alex stone, abc news, pyeongchang. >> alex, thank you. in the medal race, norway leads the way followed by canada. >> the united states sits in fifth place behind the netherlands and germany. we're getting there. >> slowly but surely. >> yep. >> we hope. >> we're like the sloth. former nfl quarterback johnny manziel is talking about a possible comeback. he talked about his former hard-partying lifestyle with

abc's t.j. holmes saying he was cut by the cleveland browns two years ago. now he says his heavy drinking led to his depression and worse. >> i was self-medicating with alcohol. that's what i thought was making me happy, and help me get out of that depression to a pointy i -- to a point where i felt i had some sense of happiness. what did that get me? where did that get me besides out of the nfl? where did that get me? disgraced? >> he credits his fiance with forcing him to focus on football again. you can see that full interview this morning on "good morning america." tennis superstar serena williams is back, but not all the way. she and venus lost in doubles in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, at this competition in asheville, north carolina. it was serena's first competitive match since giving birth five months ago. she's been away from tennis for more than a year. she said she felt better than expected. the u.s. had already clinched a tie at the fed cup tournament there. a top drag racer is in the

hospital after a terrifying crash in the first race of the season. you see it there. brittany force suffered no major internal injuries but suffered bruising of the lungs. her 11,000-horsepower dragster veered to the right just off the start and then slammed into the wall. force is the defending champion in drag racing after winning four races last season. check out this accident caught on camera at a parking garage. you can see the car bursting through the wall, flipping over, and crashing on to the ground two stories below. this happened in china. amazingly, the to people inside the car survived with no serious injuries. the driver says he was distracted after dropping the cable for his cell phone and accidentally hit the accelerator as he reached for it. >> ah. at least it wasn't sending out a snapchat or something like that. >> that would be embarrassing. up next in "the pulse," the vote by lawmakers to give sliced bread its day. >> all right.

also ahead. kensington palace releases some details about the royal wedding. including when to set your alarm for the early start. why there are calls to boycott the "peter rabbit" movie. and pause. not even in your vocabulary. so when a cold sore tingle strikes you act on it. only abreva can heal a cold sore in as little as two and a half days when used at the first sign. it starts to work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. nothing heals a cold sore faster. and because abreva acts on it... you can too. act on it, with abreva. essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling

and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. needles. a must for vinyl. but for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. an "unjection™".

feel the power of thenew power...smax. ...to fight back theraflu's powerful new formula to defeat 7 cold and flu symptoms... fast. so you can play on. theraflu expressmax. new power. time to check the monday "pulse" starting with new details of the much anticipated royal wedding coming together. now three months away. >> prince harry and meghan markle will take a carriage ride through windsor after their ceremony. in an effort to share their big day with the public. they're set to exchange vows at noon at st. george's chapel. you'll have to set your alarm for 7:00 a.m. eastern time. to watch the ceremony. 4:00 a.m. on the west coast. they'll be married by the archbishop of canterbury.

>> and they'll have two receptions, including a private one hosted by prince charles. >> of course. and the people behind a children's movie are apologizing for being insensitive. >> okay, so there's a scene in "peter rabbit" where a character says he's allergic to blackberries. so the rabbits throw the fruit at him. that triggers an allergic reaction. it's triggered calls on facebook and twitter to boycott the movie. >> the movie unfortunately sent the wrong message to children that it's something to joke about. and it's not. you could say to your children, in the movie, they joked. but in our family, it's not a laughing matter. >> well, now, "peter rabbit's" creative team and studio admit food allergies are a serious issue and they should not have made fun of it. they didn't say anything about taking the scene out of the movie itself. >> mm-hmm. lawmakers in missouri are considering a bill to declare july 7th as sliced bread day. >> the first commercially sliced

bread was apparently sold in northern missouri in 1928. >> and the bill's sponsor says a special day would be the greatest thing since sliced bread. so since 1928. >> they're apparently trying to increase tourism to the city that first sold sliced bread. >> their claim to fame. and finally, goats trained to be caddies. >> with a special harness, they'll carry your gear at a golf course in oregon. their boss says they even carry your drinks. >> best part? they work for peanuts.

you're more than just a bathroom disease.. you're a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn's, you've tried to own us. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before or during treatment, always tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop any new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion, and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. we're fed up with your unpredictability. remission can start with stelara®. talk to your doctor today. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options for stelara®.

ialmost everything. you know, ke 1 i n 10 houses could get hit by an expensive septic disaster. but for only $7 a month, rid-x helps break down waste. avoid a septic disaster with rid-x. olympic downhill skier...as an ...you can't let spills slow you down. that's why i use bounty, the quicker picker upper. (vo) bounty picks up spills quicker... ...and is two times more absorbent. bounty, the quicker picker upper. mom'#stuffynosecold #nosleep #mouthbreather just put on a breathe right strip it instantly opens your nose... up to 38% more than cold medicine alone go to breatheright.com today to request a free sample. there'that only uses 100% american oranges.and simply orange and tropicana ship in juice from overseas. only florida's natural grows all of our oranges in florida. great taste. naturally.

good morning on this monday. it is 4:27. the gang is all here. you guys were sick last week. now you're just kind of sick. >> hopefully not contagious anymore. don't want to get anybody else sick. not my fault. here's a look at the wind on live doppler 7. 13 in oakland, 16 at sfo 21 at hf moon bay. kreis breezy in spots. we'll still be breezy today. temperatures in the 40s about everywhere. we have cooler weather. fairfield, napa, clear lake. los gatos in the 30s. half moon bay around 50. the accuweather 12-hour planner next. hi sue? >> let's go outside to the oakland area where we have this

overturned accident. it is eastbound 580 before grand. we have fire crews blocking the two right lanes to try to get this vehicle uprighted and out of lanes. avoid the area if you can. it will be a few more minutes. we'll check back. >> thanks, sue. we're waiting to here what consequences the 49ers may have for a player accused of domestic violence. >> rueben foster is out of jail this morning. these are the most serious charges he's faced but not the first time he's been in trouble. matt keller live at levi stadium for us. matt. >> reporter: good morning. foster is the second 49ers player arrested in a case related to domestic violence since the new management took over last year. this latest arrest took place at his los gatos home yesterday. >> calling saying her boyfriend beat her up. two weapons, an ar-16 and a knife inside the house and we're still getting further.

we have history here. >> reporter: officers arrest foster at the property on shannon road. one was surprised to see the police activity on his street. >> i saw five or six police cars in the driveway as we drove by. people were outside roaming around. foster had no comment while leaving jail yesterday after posting $75,000 bail. last month he was arrested in alabama for marijuana possession. last year, the nfl scouting combine foster submitted a diluted urine sample and was september home after a run-in with a hospital worker. in a statement, vice president of communications bob lang said we take matters of this nature seriously and are gathering all pert nept information. reporting live at levi stadium, matt keller. matt, thank wind blew over this

construction fence on people crossing street in the mission. a 68-year-old man is in the icu. the woman hit has minor injuries. police say a public works approved that construction fencing. the building department is investigating the incident. yesterday was the windiest day in san francisco in ten months. the wind also caused trouble in san francisco's pacific heights neighborhood where gusts knocked down temporary construction fencing. it happened at steiner and washington streets. the park is undergoing a renovation project. mike nicco has a look at our weather. >> the gusty winds will be around for the morning hours and they'll let up in the afternoon hours. we have an inside slider you can see bringing snow to the sierra. unfortunately, 3 to 4 inches at the most. a very dry system. what it's going to do is keep us