making news in america this morning, president trump denies having an affair with stormy daniels reportedly saying the porn star was not credible during her tv interview and she's not his type. this morning, the new legal battle in the case. plus, new potential trouble for the president's son-in-law jared kushner. russia threatens to retaliate after more than 100 of its diplomats are expelled from the united states and other countries. moscow calling the expulsions a provocative step. the rising tensions and questions about putin's next step. the founder of a self-help group for executives is arrested accused of running a secret society keeping sex slaves and branding women's bodies with his initials. the new charges and how he allegedly kept the women quiet. those stories, plus new research about adhd changing how

we think about the disorder. an uber driver mistakenly decides to take the stairs just as the company faces a new hurdle. and the reaction to one restaurant chain's controversial combo. a good tuesday morning to you all. i'm diane macedo. >> i'm kenneth moton in for kendis gibson. we begin with several new developments from the white house this morning. there's word that president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner is facing new scrutiny over $500 million in loans made to his family's business. >> meanwhile, there is a new legal fight in the stormy daniels saga. she's now suing the president's attorney michael cohen for defamation. and this morning "the washington post" reports president trump has said privately that he did not find daniels credible during her "60 minutes" interview. this morning the white house is pushing back against adult film star stormy daniels. >> the president doesn't believe

that any of the claims that miss daniels made last fight are accurate in the interview. >> reporter: daniels broke her silence on "60 minutes" about an alleged affair with trump in 2006. >> and had you sex with him? >> yes. >> reporter: more than 22 million people watched the interview, and according to a "washington post" report, the president was one of them. and while he's been publicly silent, the report says behind closed doors, the president is calling daniels' allegations a hoax. >> i will say the president strongly, clearly and has consistently denied these underlying claims, and the only person who has been inconsistent is the one making the claims. >> reporter: daniels said she also signed a nondiclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 paid by the president's personal lawyer just 11 days before the election. now experts say that payment could be considered an illegal campaign contribution. >> if michael cohen paid stormy daniels and it was done for the purpose of stopping her to talk about this during the election, then it was an excessive contribution by michael cohen, and the campaign should have reported it as a contribution by

cohen and as an expenditure by the campaign. >> reporter: the white house says the president himself didn't know about the payment. >> i can say categorically and obviously the white house didn't engage in any wrongdoing. >> reporter: the denial comes as a new poll shows 63% of people believe the women who have come forward with allegations of extramarital affairs with trump. at the same time that poll shows a 42% approval rating for trump, his highest in 11 months. meanwhile, there's new controversy surrounding members of the white house staff including the president's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner. the office of government ethics is now investigating $500 million worth of loans kushner's family business received after kushner held meetings with those companies, and "the new york times" reports that president trump has discussed rehiring his former staff secretary rob porter. porter resigned last month after being accused of abusing his two ex-wives. the case also prompted new scrutiny of security clearances in the west wing. and "the times" reports that the president has acknowledged that

he likely won't be able to bring porter back to the white house. the fbi's investigating several suspicious packages found at government facilities around washington, d.c. some evacuations were ordered monday after packages were delivered to at least four locations seen here. at least one package tested positive for black powder residue and had a fuse attached but was rendered safe. officials have increased screenings at all gates as they try to determine the source and whether they're connected. the scare comes less than a week after a van loaded with a propane tank ran through the gate of travis air force base in california killing the driver. the fbi said that attack had no apparent link to terrorism. russia is warning that it will retaliate after the u.s. and nearly two dozen allies expelled russian diplomats and intelligence officers from their countries. it's all in response to the recent poisoning of a former russian spy living in britain. the question now is, how will russia retaliate? abc's serena marshall is following this story for us. good morning, serena. >> reporter: diane, kenneth,

good morning to you, and it is the largest collective expulsion of russian diplomats ever, 3 continents, 20 countries and some of those diplomats are being accused of being spies. it's the largest expulsion of russian diplomats from the u.s. in history. 60 russians forced to leave. a russian consulate in seattle, shuttered, punishment for russia's alleged poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter with a nerve agent on british soil. >> together we have sent a message that we will not tolerate russia's continued attempts to flaunt international law and undermine our values. >> reporter: worldwide, more than 100 russian diplomats sent home, a coordinated campaign by two dozen countries. russia's foreign ministry called the global removal provocative and that they had nothing to do with the poisoning and warned they will respond. their embassy in d.c. mocked the move posting this twitter poll asking followers to vote on which u.s. consulate they should shutter. the trump administration claimed 12 of those kicked out were

operating under the guise of diplomacy. eliminating the ability of russia to spy on americans and conduct covert activities that threaten america's national security. >> reporter: it's the toughest action against the kremlin to date and the move highlights the disparity between the administration's words and actions. two weeks ago the president said this on the poisoning -- >> it certainly looks like the russians were behind it. >> reporter: but last week avoided condemning vladimir putin for the attack when he called to praise him for winning re-election. >> we will probably get together in the not too distant future. >> reporter: the white house has said said there is no discrepancy. that the president would like to russia but sometimes their actions don't allow it. kenneth, diane. >> all right, that's serena marshall for us live in d.c. thanks, serena. there's a new mystery in the showdown with north korea. the arrival of a train in beijing is fueling speculation that kim jong-un may be meeting with the chinese. a heavily guarded motorcade was seen in beijing after the

train's arrival. if kim is visiting china, it would be his first trip outside north korea since he took power in 2011. abc's bob woodruff is in beijing. >> reporter: it's interesting that kim's visit to beijing is happening just as u.s./china trade relationships are worsening just days after president trump proposed new tariffs against china, so this could give kim the chance to show he has china's support, strengthening his position when or if he meets president trump in may. bob woodruff, abc news, beijing. >> that possible meeting between president trump and kim jong-un is supposed to happen by may. no word yet on a potential location. and now to a new development in the u.s. gymnastics sexual abuse scandal. a former dean at michigan state university has now been arrested. william strampel was dr. larry nassar's former boss. charges against strampel were not disclosed overnight, but the university has been working to fire him amid the investigation into how the school handled complaints against nassar. strampel is scheduled to be arraigned today. nassar is in prison for assaulting allegedly hundreds of

women and girls when he was a sports doctor. time now for a look at your weather for this tuesday morning. a hailstorm near wichita falls, texas, was strong enough to shatter windshields. the severe storms also caused power outages in northern texas and southern oklahoma. today the extreme weather will extend from the mexican border up to indiana. more large hail is expected along with thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. flooding is possible in the southern plains, but some good news, the threat of tornadoes today remains low. coming up, new fallout for facebook as major companies pull their ads. also ahead, a setback for uber as one state put the brakes on self-driving cars. and a former nfl cheerleader says she was fired because of an instagram post. we'll have the details of her gender discrimination lawsuit now filed. gender

we're back with this incredible video from the scene of a home explosion in claremont, california. as you can see, not much left of that house at all. thankfully, nobody was inside at the time. investigators are trying to determine what caused the explosion, which was powerful enough to send debris flying 150 feet away. a judge in the orlando nightclub shooting case has rejected a defense request for a mistrial. lawyers for the widow of the pulse nightclub gunman made that request after the government disclosed that the killer's father was an fbi informant for more than a decade. but the judge ruled that was not relevant to noor salman's case and whether she helped her husband carry out the attack. the city of atlanta is reporting slow progress as it deals with the effects of a

cyberattack. the mayor compared the cyberattack to a hostage situation. some city services are suspended including bill payment sites, but officials say there is no evidence any personal information has been compromised. the mayor isn't saying whether a ransom will be paid to the hackers or when the city's computers will return to normal. at least three major companies are now pulling their ads off facebook as the federal trade commission investigates how the company handles data. 37 attorneys general have written to ceo mark zuckerberg demanding the company update users with easier ways to control their accounts. and a senate committee is now calling on zuckerberg to testify on april 10th about how the consulting firm cambridge analytica allegedly misused data from millions of profiles. there is new fallout from a deadly accident involving a self-driving uber car near phoenix. a woman died this month after being struck by the car which was being tested on the road. now arizona's governor has suspended further testing from uber's self-driving vehicles. the state had welcomed uber and

other companies promising new regulations during that testing. meanwhile, an uber driver says he was using the company's app when it sent him down these stairs at a supermarket in san francisco. no one was hurt. the driver says the store should redesign its parking lot. >> he says he just followed the gps that way. i'm not sure it's the parking lot that's the problem. >> exactly. but when we come back, the new discovery about kids diagnosed with adhd. but first the leader of a self-help group for executives is under arrest accused of sex trafficking. what one member of the group says about sex slaves and women being branded. and later, the life-saving surgery for a snake after a very unusual meal. for a snake after a very unusual meal. our bodies grow babies. we run marathons, companies, solve problems. how? we eat. we eat strawberries, almonds, and protein; chocolate, whole grains, and iron. we eat food that's made for us to power us,

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fentanyl in his system when he died. now, at that time the report only said the singer died of an accidental overdose. well, the leader of a secretive self-help group called nxivm is set to appear in a texas courtroom today on sex trafficking charges. >> keith raniere is accused of running a secret group within his upstate new york organization where women were allegedly treated like slaves, forced to have sex with him and were even branded with his initials. last year abc's "20/20" interviewed a woman who left the group after that branding ordeal. >> the woman on the table screamed out in pain, you know, twisted and turned and yelled, and the woman i was with holding her legs down, we looked at each other, and we just wept. >> why didn't you let go and run out of there even naked? >> it didn't seem like a choice at the time. >> you're stamped as property of somebody? >> i am not cattle. i am not owned by keith. >> mexican authorities sent raniere back to the united states after he was found on

sunday in a luxury villa in puerta vallarta with several women. a waterparke executive is in court facing a murder charge in the death of a 10-year-old boy who was decapitated on a ride. jeffrey henry was arrested. monday, two years ago caleb schwab died riding what was billed as the world's largest water slide. henry's indictment claims he had no engineering credentials when he helped design the ride. just last week a grand jury in kansas indicted the waterpark's former operations director and the park itself in connection with the boy's death. doctors and parents may be forced to think differently about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder because of a new study that's out this morning. researchers say they found brain abnormalities in young children with the disorder including structural changes in the brain that can be recognized by the age of 4. experts say this study shows that adhd is not just a behavioral disorder but is a neurological disorder as well, one that needs far more research. a former nfl cheerleader is

suing the new orleans saints after she was fired over an instagram picture. bailey davis is accusing the saints of gender discrimination. she said the saints told her posting this picture violated the club's rules against inviting attention from players. davis says if a player were to contact her, they would not face any discipline. >> they told me over and over perception is reality. perception is reality, so how they perceived the photo was immediately calling my character into question. >> neither the team nor the nfl is commenting on the suit. davis says she wore a similar outfit that she wore in that picture on a team calendar, and she did not face any discipline for that. an x-ray tells the story of a hungry carpet python in australia. the reptile swallowed a slipper. the wild python apparently slithered into the home of the slipper's owner while the man was sleeping. he noticed it was missing the next morning. a snake catcher then brought it to -- brought the animal to a vet who performed surgery to

recover the footwear. the snake is now recovering after this slippery snake incident. >> so, the vet said this was the most important -- impressive x-ray they've ever seen. but the owner of the slipper said he didn't even need the x-ray. he said just looking at the snake from the outside, you could see the perfect outline of the slipper in his body even without -- look, he's comparing the actual slipper to what he can see in the snake's body. >> in the other -- >> they knew right away the snake ate the slipper. >> the big question is, was it the left or the right foot? i think that's important to know. >> i don't know. they said it came out in one piece, but it was a little slimy. may not want to put that back on. >> no, you can have it. up next in "the pulse," we'll show you the new mess-free ketchup. also ahead, former president george w. bush getting down on the dance floor. go, w. plus, an owl causing some chaos at a wedding going after the best man. we'll see how this one ended. see how this one ended. manage m, then i learn type 2 diabetes

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♪ it is time to check "the pulse," and we're going to start things off with former president george w. bush keeping it moving, busting a move. >> that's right. 43, president, potus 43, the 71-year-old tore up the floor, the dance floor, over the weekend at his nephew's wedding in colorado springs. the moment of the night was when he joined the bride jamming to dead or alive's "you spin me round." ♪ right round like a record baby ♪ >> look at him. >> w. >> another couple had a different idea for their wedding. >> yes, they wanted an owl to help them out at the wedding ceremony, but that quickly backfired. >> yeah, so they hired a handler to get the owl to fly down the owl with the ring. so, it lands on the groom's arm

as planned, but then it goes rogue and attacks the best man sitting nearby. you can see he falls to the floor. he's got his legs in the air. the bird and the best man apparently were not hurt. >> that wedding photographer -- >> i'm guessing he was really terrified. >> that wedding photographer getting a really good image right there and called it one of the -- the bride apparently called it one of the best moments she's ever seen. >> oh, well, i'm not sure if the best man would agree, but we're glad everybody else was entertained. maybe he had some birdseed in his pocket or a mouse. all right, well, a father in nevada made his daughter's proposal quite memorable. >> yes, alison barron posted this picture on twitter of the moment her boyfriend proposed. >> oh, that's really sweet. >> and then she posted this picture showing her father standing in the distance with the sign, say no. >> she then went on to clarify. one, she says she is the future mrs. bliss. that's the boyfriend's last name and she says, by the way, my dad really does like him. >> he does. it's just a joke. okay, so we turn to food now and two potential new trends in the industry. >> yeah, forget chicken and waffles. how about lobster and waffles.

yeah. >> i don't know about this. >> well, red lobster has introduced lobster tail served on a waffle made with the same batter used in their biscuits, all of it topped with maple syrup. >> one critic says red lobster is tampering with southern comfort food, and i think i agree. >> would you eat it? >> i would not because i'm allergic to seafood, so that would kill me. >> okay, good to know. here's another new food idea. forget bottled ketchup. how about slices of kemp cup. >> a company has started a fund-raising campaign saying the slices would be perfect. >> yum. yum. surprising facts about type 2 diabetes. so you have type 2 diabetes, right? yeah. yes i do. okay so you diet, you exercise, you manage your a1c? that's the plan. what about your heart? what do you mean my heart? the truth is, type 2 diabetes can make you twice as likely to die from a cardiovascular event, like a heart attack or stroke. and with heart disease, your risk is even higher. but wait, there's good news for adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease. jardiance is the only type 2 diabetes pill

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a driver leads police on a high opinion speed chase across the bridge and they stop him in an east bay neighborhood. >> good morning on this tuesday, march 27. it is 4:27 in the a.m. you're never more than seven minutes away from your accuweather forecast. it should be bright and warm today. >> temperatures jumping into the 70s in many areas except for the coast. you'll get your turn. i'll show you when in the accuweather seven-day forecast.. bone-dry on live doppler 7. you didn't put that umbrella away yesterday, do it today. you don't need it. temperatures running milder. mid-40s to mid-50s out there. morgan hill about 41, 42 there in ukiah. the bay bridge looked clear right there but when alexis and

i were coming across -- >> about half of the morning show team got stuck, coming from the east bay this morning, if you are already one of those who is in san francisco you probably got caught on it, too. we had a disabled semi blocking all lanes between treasure island and san francisco, and here is some video from one of our co-workers. you can see the flashing lights there all the way off on the right-hand side. i'm not sure why we had so many lanes blocked off maybe to get the tow truck into position. they have a heavy duty tow on the scene. that was a big issue until a few minutes ago so everything has cleared, all lanes are back open, and that backup is unwinding very quickly. we have a three-car crash on the fremont off ramp into san francisco. we'll talk more about that coming up. alexis, thank you. new this morning, a suspect is in custody after leading officers on a chase from san francisco to pleasant hill. it continued through alameda county into contra costa county. it started when the suspect sped

through a construction zone. they were setting up traffic control devices when he entered the enclosure. >> he, in fact, did endanger the workers in the zone and almost collided with our officer's patrol car. >> that was sergeant jay brazil. he says the pursuit ended in pleasant hill when the suspect had nowhere else to go and hit a dead end street. to the north bay where chp is looking for a driver they say drove off after hitting and killing a motorcyclist. this happened around 10:15 on southbound highway 101 in tiberon. the chp says the motorcyclist died at the scene. all lanes reopened after nearly three hours. >> the man who tried to buy a gun at a sporting goods store in san mateo and said he would shoot up a school is in protective custody. the man in the score in el

camino real on friday night. employees did not sell him a gun and asked him to leave. police managed to track him down yesterday. he told officers he was joking and apologized. he's undergoing a mental evaluation. if you're just waking up at 4:30, welcome. a look at weather and traffic. we start with mike nicco. live doppler 7. i overlaid the visibility, no fog to contend with. maybe a little bit of haze around half moon bay. let's jump into my 12-hour planner. mid-to upper 40s. no 30s like yesterday. 58 at the coast. by noon the rest of us around 62 to 63 degrees so even warmer if you're going to be outside during the lunch hour. 4:00, look at that. 62 at the coast. 70, above average. we go from below average to above average in the 24-hour period and a delightful evening. this is one of those evenings you're glad we have daylight savings. when we get home temperatures in the low to mid-60s before the sun sets at 7:28. we'll see what else alexis is