this this morning on "world news now," top democrats are now raising the prospect of impeachment as the president's legal troubles grow. behind the scenes, a setback. the president's pick to be his next chief of staff announces he's leaving the white house. stocks are having their worst start to december in a decade and the markets could be in for another rough day. new tensions with china are to blame for some of the uneasiness after the arrest of a top chinese executive. and new this half hour, a former beauty queen is in hot water. >> yeah, one-time miss kentucky, who is now a teacher, is facing charges of sending nude photos to an underage student. and the jonas wedding was so last week. >> so last week. >> so last week.

another couple is about to claim our made up title of wedding of the century. among the guests, the queen herself, beyonce. all the details in "the skinny.h "world news now." how do you get -- >> you're writing down all the questions we have? >> we have so many questions about this massive -- >> how did the queen get to this wedding? what role did she play? >> what role is she playing? how much did it cost her to get to this wedding? >> why would she upstage the bride in what she wore? >> exactly. we'll break it all down in "the skinny." but there is a lot of drama happening at the white house. what had happened was, there was supposed to be a new chief of staff announced. >> right. >> that's not happening. the man widely seen as the leading contender said i'm out. >> nick ayers who now runs vice president pence's office said he will be leaving the adnistration all together to head up a o ump supepa

congressman mark meadows and treasury secretary steve mnuchin are reportedly on the short list. >> the new chief of staff will have his hands full with democrats raising the prospect of impeachment as they prepare to take control of the house. >> now that prosecutors have linked the president to illegal hush money payments, democrats say he could face charges once he leaves office. here is abc's david wright with more. >> reporter: president trump could be in legal jeopardy, that's the conclusion even some republicans are drawing from the case in new york against trump's longtime lawyer michael cohen. >> if you read the sentencing memo the southern district filed in cohen's case, it's clear that trp or documled frayn federal cot recommends jail time for cohen because of crimes he committed allegedly in coordination with and at the direction of trump himself. >> they would be impeachable offenses.

whether they are important enough to justify an impeachment is a different question. >> reporter: those crimes related to the hush money cohen paid adult film star stormy daniels and former "playboy" playmate karen mcdougal. the incoming chair of the house judiciary committee said the democratic-led congress will investigate that and other alleged efforts to influence the election but said it's too early to tell whether impeachment is warranted. >> an impeachment is an attempt to in effect overturn the results of the last election, you should do it for only very serious situations. >> reporter: president trump insists he has nothing to fear. >> according to everybody i have spoken to -- i have not read it. there is absolutely no collusion, which is very important. >> my takeaway is there is a very real prospect that on the day donald trump leaves office, that the justice department may indict him. he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time. >> reporter: trump's former campaign chair paul manafort is facing the prospect of serious jail time.

republican marco rubio cautioned president trump to think twice about pardoning manafort. >> not only does it not pass the smell test, i just -- i think it undermines the reason why we have presidential pardons in the first place and i think, in fact, if something like that were to happen, it could trigger a debate whether the pardon powers should be amended given these circumstances. >> reporter: in the short term, the president needs to find a new chief of staff now. many people had thought the front-runner was going to be the vice president's chief of staff, 36-year-old nick ayers, but he is eager to take his young family down to georgia. unwilling to commit to the president to serve that job long term. so now the president is said to be considering four other possible contenders. he'll have until the end of the year to name a replacement for outgoing chief of staff john kelly. david wright, abc news, the white house. well, from the firestorm in washington to the snowstorm that is slamming the southeast.

as much as 20 inches of snow in an area that rarely sees that much. here is the radar. the remnants are still bringing snow and rain from georgia all the way to delaware. >> and the results, more than 300,000 customers without power. the heavy snow and ice bringing down power lines. look at those scenes there. a tree that fell on to a car is also blamed for one death. >> thousands of weekend flights were cancelled from atlanta through the carolinas and up into virginia. the delays and cancellations in that same area are already mounting this morning. >> accuweather's paul williams has a very busy day on tap. paul, good morning. >> good morning, kendis, janai. now, although the storm is winding down, it's still packing a delayed punch, so to speak, with icing and freezing rain throughout the carolinas and the northern slice of south carolina. that low pressure system still causing problems. so we're looking at widespread snow showers. even reaching into portions of virginia. we could see a total of 24 inches in some areas before it's all done being tabulated. cold lingers and holds in th dry spell throughout the northern center part of the country. patchy snow in the northeast. janai?

kendis? >> why do i find it funny, the patchy snow part? packy snow? i don't know. all right. thank you, paul. overseas, china threatening grave consequences against the u.s. after the arrest of a top executive. the tough talk comes amid sensitive trade talks between the u.s. and china. the uncertainty is sending asian markets down overnight and wall street could be in for another rough day. abc's stephanie ramos reports. >> reporter: all eyes now focused on a very jittery market and the growing tensions with china are not likely to help. china is outraged over the detention of tech cfo meng wanzhou, calling it extremely egregious, demanding the u.s. cancel her arrest order or face further action. wanzhou was arrested in canada on december 1st at the request of the u.s. she's accused of using her tech company to cover up sanction violations with iran.

tensior wanzmo th 1,500 p 6drop since its high on monday. >> we keep having rhetoric going back and forth, u.s., china, who is flexing their muscles more. the unknown of how this is going to play out is weighing on our markets. >> wanzhou is the daughter of the founder of the huawei company, china's largest cellphone maker. in the past they've been accused of using the phones for spying. a charge huawei denies. >> it's frightening that any one of those cellphones can have a listening device for the chinese government. >> reporter: the fear now, the detainment could derail the already tense tariff negotiations as the deadline looms. >> at the end of 90 days, these tariffs will be raised on $200 billion from 10% to 25% if we don't get a satisfactory solution. >> reporter: china is demanding the u.s. ambassador challenge the arrest of meng wanzhou and is expected to be extradited to the u.s. in washington, stephanie ramos, abc news. all right. so the federal government has a

new "just say no" campaign against raw cookie dough. >> no! >> the cdc says holiday traditions such as eating dough or licking the mixing spoon can lead to e. coli. the problem is the uncooked eggs agency has issued a say no to raw dough warning. it rhymes. more than 60 people became ill in a dough-related e. coli outbreak two years ago. >> what a shame. just before the holidays. >> yeah. turning once more to that massive snowstorm. a special sighting in north carolina. it was so bad that even mr. grinch had to plow his way out. >> huh. >> that's the grinch, also known as jawanna white's dad. jawanna took video of the would-be grinch plowing 6 inches of snow in boone. she posted it to her facebook page and some clever person noted, he's clearing the way to steal christmas.

>> oh, that's what he was doing. >> yeah, definitely. >> many people have been saying the snowstorm is a mean one. so good to have -- >> mr. grinch. coming up, the sister act. two nuns now admitting to stealing $500,000 from their catholic school over more than a decade. using the money for travel and casinos. those slots won't play themselves. and beyonce takes the stage for an even bigger wedding than the jonas wedding. whose wedding it was later in "the skinny." you're watching "world news now." ♪ you turned out to be the ♪ best thing i never had ♪ best thing i never had if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase,

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so take a look at this purse snatching in florida. the suspect ran out of the mcdonald's with the victim -- >> ooh. >> -- running right after him. he jumped in his car, took off, dragged the woman. nearly ran over her. she's recovering in the

hospital. that suspect still out on the loose. >> that woman is okay. >> yes. gosh. a former miss america hopeful is free on bond after allegedly sending nude pictures of herself to a teenager. >> ramsey bearse is now a middle school teacher in west virginia. she's facing four felony counts after prosecutors say she sent the photos to a 15-year-old former student on snapchat. bearse was miss kentucky in the 2015 miss america pageant. >> the times we live in right now. two nuns in southern california in trouble with a higher power, you might say, after getting caught raiding their school funds. >> they allegedly used the money for gambling trips. here is abc's clayton sandell. >> reporter: one of the ten commandments is thou shall not steal, a lesson the archdiocese says was apparently ignored by two nuns at this catholic school. sister mary margaret kreuper and sister lana chang admit to embezzling funds. the archdiocese says the nuns

took $500,000 or more over the years, allegedly to spend on travel and casino gambling. the alleged theft revealed during a recent audit. at first t not wish to pursue criminal proceedings, but now the archdiocese tells abc news the investigation has deepened and they are considering pursuing a criminal case. church parishioners agreed. >> it's a crime. right. i mean, just because they're in a special place doesn't mean they can do that. >> reporter: in a recent letter to parents, the school's monsignor said the nuns asked for me to convey to you the deep remorse they feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers. the nuns' order says the nuns are cooperating and intend to pay the money back in full. >> that's a lot of money. i'd like to know what they did with the money. as nuns, i don't know, what could they spend it on? i don't know. >> reporter: we did try

repeatedly to get in touch with sister kreuper and sister chang. our phone calls and messages were not returned. clayton sandell, abc news, redondo beach, california. when we come back, the new wedding of the century set to unseat the jonas wedding. e sta juniors" revealed. i'm so glad we came back just for this. "the skinny" is next. xt. revealed. i'm so glad we came back just for this.

♪ skinny ♪ just give me the skinny it is "skinny" time on a monday. we are going to start with the new wedding of the century. >> move over, nick and priyanka. after their five-day extravaganza, the power couple are among the guests at an even bigger a-list wedding in india. >> okay. so even hillary clinton has turned out for the wedding of isha ambani, the daughter of the country's richest man, a billionaire. she's on the left there. marrying the son of another indian billionaire. >> that's how you do it. >> what's your dowry when it's two billionaires? >> a lot. >> you get an island? >> a lot of money. >> something like that.

so ambani was also a bridesmaid for priyanka chopra's wedding. >> yeah. okay. so among the other a-list celebrities, beyonce -- >> the queen. >> -- who wore different outfits and performed as part of the lavish festivities. how much -- why? >> we were talking about this earlier. we didn't know beyonce did weddings. what? the wedding singer? >> she showed off her jewel-studded outfit and gold jewelry. beyonce, the wedding -- like how much do you have to pay to get beyonce to sing at your wedding? >> i guess when you're two billionaires, they'll just do it. but, beyonce, why'd you do it? anyway, this wedding is likely to be one of india's richest and most glamorous weddings. maybe that's why she did it. with guests reportedly flown in on 100 chartered flights.

>> a whole lot of chartered flights to that wedding. of course, indian weddings last several days. it's still ongoing. >> that's where we were. >> exactly. well, here at home, america has its first-ever "dancing with the stars: juniors" winning couple. >> yes! >> last night's season finale had the four remaining couples had the four remaining couples do two rounds of dancing, including their christmas-themed freestyles. low score of the night went to disney star ariana greenblatt and pro partner ardion with a 28 out of 30. >> mackenzie ziegler and sage did a hip-hop version of little drummer boy. >> "black-ish" star miles brown and reilly arnold got a perfect 30. >> social media star sky brown and j.t. did a holiday beach themed rendition of "under the tree." also a perfect score. they were in a giving mood. >> the moment of truth. who was it?

revealing sky and j.t. as the season champions. awarded not a mirror ball but a holiday-themed sparkly starred trophy. >> call right. next jake gyllenhaal and tom holland. now that we have your attention. >> the two were at comic con in brazil promoting their latest "spider-man" movie. they're just going to keep making those. holland shared a video on instagram and this happened. >> hey, what's up, everyone? firstly, thank you to everyone in brazil. it's been a fantastic day. the whole "spider-man" cast is so -- jake. what are you doing? >> just drying my hands. >> okay. >> that was totally not staged. that's really -- it's cool. it's all right. "spider-man far from home" is

set to hit theaters in july. jake gyllenhaal just joined instagram, by the way. i was noticing over the weekend. already at 7 million followers and he's only posted like one -- >> and you're one of them. >> yeah. turning now to our index of other news. and mariah carey set to be far, far away from times square this new year's eve. >> the self-proclaimed queen of christmas has revealed she'll be ringing in the new year with a performance at a resort in st. barts surrounded by family and friends. >> is this the honeymoon for the indian couple? >> it's a much friendlier crowd for mariah. >> it comes after the diva's lip-sync disaster and the tea-gate, i just need my tea. demands for tea on live television. so she's performing in st. barts. >> y'all won. drake is showing off some new ink. >> the canadian rapper recently shared a clip of himself lounging in the pool showing off

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♪ one of the days we're gonna see the sunset rise in paradise ♪ ♪ one of these days we're gonna rebuild that church on the corner ♪ so that is "one of these days." it's a viral love song to paradise, california from a couple of musicians forced from their homes. >> as you mentioned, the song went viral before nathaniel smith and michael godwin were gifted professional studio time. >> the men intend to donate their proceeds to camp fire victims. >> it's a good gesture. as we think about that and hear that, one woman from paradise who lost her home ended up getting the surprise of her lifetime. >> she couldn't believe her eyes

when she returned to her burned t proper a found her devoted dog guarding her home. here is abc's adreinne bankert. >> reporter: in paradise, california, nothing but devastation after the fire wiped out entire neighborhoods. and for this woman, desperation as she searched for her lost dog. >> we're still sifting through the ashes at the house. >> reporter: as andrea gaylord's home burned to the ground, both of her dogs went missing, miguel and madison. amazingly, miguel was later found 87 miles away. all thanks to shayla sullivan, an animal rescue volunteer helping to reunite pets with their owners. >> i have 141 phone calls on my -- on my cellphone from -- from this gal helping us find our dogs. >> reporter: but for weeks no sign of madison. residents not allowed back into paradise but shayla was. she posted pictures on social media looking for madison, putting out food and water where

andrea's house once stood just in case. >> it was very comforting to know you were making it in even if i couldn't. >> reporter: then just days ago this moment, shayla pulls up to find madison alive, protecting his owner's property and waiting for his family to return. >> it was an amazing picture. it was just like there he is. >> reporter: andrea and madison finally reunited. and miguel, too. >> you are the best dog. >> reporter: adrienne bankert, abc news, new york. >> wow. >> how did that dog survive? >> this is amazing. they were concerned the dog might not know if the family was still alive so they actually left a piece of clothing at the site of the home with andrea's scent on it. >> such a smart pup. quite the guard dog, i'd say. don't miss our updates o facebook at wnnfans.com. >> we've got more news next. stay with us. >> this is abc's "world news now," informing insomniacs for

two decades.

>>ma making news in america this morning, a monday morning mess. snow, ice, power outages and flight cancellations. the historic storm slamming millions across the south. the nationwide impact and the concern at this hour. overnight, the new names now being considered for white house chief of staff as john kelly prepares to exit and a rising star takes himself out of the running. plus, the president's growing legal woes and a new threat from china overnight. happening now, the urgent search for a young mother missing for more than two weeks. the fbi now helping with the case. the mysterious clue her phone has provided. plus, trouble in paradise. new accusations of a widespread