yet. >> go, go, go. >> still here. making making news in america this morning, the battle over obamacare after a texas judge ruled the law unconstitutional. the legal battle brewing and what it means for the millions of americans who signed up for the affordable care act. harsh words. the president's pick to be acting chief of staff once describing trump as a terrible human being. >> i do love trump? no. is he a role model to my sons? absolutely not. >> the words of mick mulvaney hours after his appointment and what he is saying now. a fire crew fired. workers hired to clean up the historic fire in california, posting pictures mocking the victims. why the crew could face criminal charges.

plus, a new report this morning on teens and drug use. what's being used less and the one drug that high school students are using twice as much compared to last year. the sneaky parrot that used an amazon alexa to shop for some snacks. and the most christmas spirit in the land. how holly jolly is your state, and which one is the grinchiest of them all? good monday morning, everyone. we begin with the future of obamacare hanging in the balance after a texas judge struck down the law calling it unconstitutional. >> health insurance for millions of americans now at risk. president trump praised the ruling saying congress can now create something better, but that decision is heading for an appeal, and possibly the supreme court. abc's stephanie ramos has the details right now from d.c.stha >> reporter: good morning.

republicans say they wanted to ma in the affordable care act's guarantee of health insurance for people with preexisting conditions, but they also say they are still against most or all of the law, especially the individual mandate. today, the health care of millions of americans is in jeopardy. leading into last weekend where americans could sign up for health insurance under the affordable care act, a texas judge ruled the law unconstitutional after republicans in congress eliminated the individual mandate requiring everyone to buy insurance last year. the president applauding the decision over the weekend. >> exciting things happened the over 24 hours. >> reporter: democrats quickly condemning the decision. >> if you are going to take away the affordable care act, how will you protect the millions of people currently using it? >> reporter: moderate republican susan collins believes the ruling will be overturned. >> the judge's ruling was far too sweeping. he could have taken a much more surgical approach. >> reporter: former president

barack obama posting messages on social media about his signature law, encouraging americans to enroll by sunday's open enrollment deadline despite the ruling. obama slamming republicans for again trying to undo the aca. he writes, if they can't get it done in congress, they will keep trying in the courts, even when it puts people's preexisting conditions coverage at risk. >> we're going to fight this tooth and nail and the first thing we're going to do when we get back there in the senate is urge -- put a vote on the floor, urging an intervention in the case. >> reporter: with democrats vowing to appeal, the decision on the ruling will now make its way through the courts which will likely take months, probably years, but for now, the law remains in place, and kendis, as you mentioned, the case could even land at the supreme court and back in the hands of the president and in congress. back over to you guys. >> the campaign issue in 2020 indeed. stephanie ramos in d.c., thank you.

turning now to former fixer michael cohen in the crosshairs. he is facing a new round of attacks from president trump and rudy giuliani. trying to chip away at his credibility as investigations move closer to the oval office. >> reporter: rudy giuliani criticizing the president's former lawyer michael cohen and calling him a serial liar. >> the man is pathetic. >> reporter: those comments follow cohen's claim that then-candidate trump directed him to arrange hush payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with him, affairs trump says didn't happen. in an exclusive interview with abc news, just days after being sentenced to three years in prison, cohen says trump knew at the time that hush money payments were improper. >> he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? >> correct. >> and he knew it was wrong? >> of course. >> reporter: giuliani says the president maintains he did not direct cohen to make the payments and claims the payouts to former "playboy" model karen mcdougal and adult film star

stormy daniels, were not illegal. >> it's not a crime. it's not a crime, george. paying -- paying $130,000 to stormy whatever and paying $100,000 to the other one is not a crime. >> reporter: the president theorizes that they are not a crime, but the top democrat on the house judiciary committee sees a decidedly more serious risk. >> certainly they would be impeachable offenses because even though they were committed before the president became president, they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office. >> reporter: the president taking to twitter saying, michael cohen only became a rat after the fbi did something which was absolutely unthinkable and unheard of. they broke into an attorney's office. the former director of the fbi, james comey, firing back in a tweet of his own. this is from the president of our country, lying about the lawful execution of a search warrant by a federal judge. a judge ordered cohen to surrender by march 6th for his sentencing and this comes as former national security adviser michael flynn is sentenced tomorrow for lying to the fbi.

disparaging past comments about president trump could complicate his relationship with his next chief of staff. as mick mulvaney prepares to replace john kelly, an old video of mulvaney emerged of him slamming president trump. it comes from a debate just before the days of the 2016 election as he was defending his congressional seat. >> yes, i'm supporting donald trump. i'm doing so as enthusiastically as i can even though he is a terrible human being. >> he called him a terrible human being. mulvaney's words happened before he met trump, and he now believes in the president. when he becomes acting chief of staff, he'll continue to serve as budget director. the family of a 7-year-old guatemalan girl who died in u.s. custody is demanding an investigation in disputing the official count of her death. officials said the girl had no food or water for several days, but her father says that's not

true. she became sick after she was taken into custody while crossing the border illegally. the commissioner of the u.s. border patrol says he didn't disclose the girl's step during testimony because he didn't want to politicize it. he defended the agency's actions and called the girl's death a tragedy. authorities in japan are investigating a powerful explosion that injured dozens of people at a restaurant. the explosion ripped apart a row of wooding buildings. more than 40 people injured, one of them seriously. witnesses thought it was an earthquake or a missile blast. the flames burned for more than five hours on the northern island there in japan. the cause is still under investigation. a france filled the city last night. more than 1,000 people filled the city square last night. it came the same day french officials announced a fifth person had died, a 36-year-old polish man. the suspect in the mass shooting was killed by police 48 hours after the attack. time now for a look at your earoadannders tplacese shgt, d.

fld rng remain f se shingt is the wettest year in the nation's capital in more than a century. the storm is now drenching the coast between new york and boston with either a wintery mix or just snow further north or inland, and high temperatures in the northeast, will be in the mid 40s. the great lakes will be above or just at freezing. well, coming up, the new warning for netflix users. also ahead, what hillary clinton wrote in a letter to a young girl who lost the bid for class president. and the mystery deepens in the search for a colorado woman after her fiance's property is searched. what investigators a

i'm the one and only spider man. at least that's what i thought. >> you're going to love this. >> convention opening now. >> that's impossible. >> movie-goers also swung into the spiderverse this weekend making it number one at the box office, picking up $35 million, the best december opening ever for an animated film. the death of hq trivia co-founder, colin kroll has stunned the tech world. police found the 34-year-old's body inside his new york city apartment. the medical examiners still determining the cause, but detectives say drugs were discovered at the scene. kroll was also a co-founder of vine. if you received an e-mail of saying you have to update your

payment details on netflix, it might be a scam. even people that don't subscribe to netflix are receiving it. if the links don't take you to the streaming service, but to somewhere else, and if you get any e-mails from any service asking for your payment details, go to the site independently and then sign in. facebook is admitting to another security breach. third party apps had access for almost two weeks to private photos that had been uploaded to facebook, but not made public. nearly 7 million users were affected. the breach happened in september, but facebook didn't reveal it until now. merry christmas. the social network says the software bug has been fixed. well, hillary clinton knows a little something about the agony of defeat, so she offered condolences to a third grader who lost her bid for class president. 8-year-old martha kennedy morales was defeated by a male classmate by just one vote. clinton told morales she was proud of her for deciding to run in the first place. morales says she was touched and

surprised by the letter. >> it was disappointing. i mean, like, we knew that the runner-up was going to get vice president, but still. it's disappointing to figure out that you lost something that you fought for really hard, and you put a lot of effort into it. >> oh. morales says she plans to write clinton back to thank her, and morales will run for class president again if given the opportunity. she was eventually named vice president. fight on. coming up, the alarming new study on teenagers and vaping. also ahead, the pilot that was ejected from the fighter jet that crashed off hawaii, sweek speaking from his hospital bed as he is reunited with his rescuer. workers hired to clean up the historic fire in northern california posting pictures that mocked the victims. why they could face criminal charges. why they could face criminal charges. rnia posting pictures that mocked the victims. why they could face criminal charges. his parents and then e

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sometimes, but this brazilian pro calls this the worst wipeout of his life. then five more waves washed over him making it hard to breathe. a buddy on a jet ski couldn't reach him. finally another teammate was able to help. he was checked out at a hospital. fortunately, he is fine. now to the search for a missing colorado mother. it intensified over the weekend as heavy equipment was brought to the home of her fiance. >> detectives say the increased effort didn't bring them any closer to finding kelsey berreth. here's abc's maggie rulli. >> reporter: a backhoe used to dig into the ground. hauled on the back of a truck. trailers filled with equipment. items brought onto patrick frazee's property this weekend. law enforcement officials are looking into the clues for the disappearance of his fiancee, kelsey berreth. that search now complete. >> it's been a rough case for us to investigate. we're working tirelessly. >> reporter: authorities are not saying if they found any clues to kelsey's whereabouts. she do

someone knows where she is at. >> reporter: frazee who authorities say is not a suspect nor a person of interest in berreth's disappearance, was the last person to see her. she dropped off their 1-year-old daughter, seen here on surveillance, at this colorado supermarket on thanksgiving day. the department of human services says he does not pose a risk and he is now caring for their child. his attorney tells abc news, we encourage law enforcement to take whatever steps it deems necessary to find kelsey berreth and to be able to exclude patrick frazee as a possible suspect. a $25,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to her location or safe return. abc news, maggie rulli, new york. a navy veteran is speaking out after he was forced to eject from his plane off the coast of hawaii. matt pothier was taking place in a military training exercise and his jet crashed into the ocean. he was rescued by a boater before his parachute filled up with water.

that boater, mack ladler, just happened to be specially trained in untangling people from parachutes. >> you can't ask for a better, more qualified person to be right there in that scenario than mack was. i was the most fortunate person ever. >> i was seeing if he was okay, and if anything was hurting. he said, no. i'm just tangled in my parachute. >> that's amazing. the pilot actually fractured his spine, but he is looking forward to flying yet again. workers hired to remove debris from the camp fire have been removed themselves. a crane operator and two buddies, posted photos on social media making fun of the wildfire's devastation. they even included a dead cat.t they be fired, and they were. paradise also says it may be seeking criminal charges. >> what is wrong with people? now to a health alert to teens and vaping. a study finds 21% of high school students are using e-cigarettes.

that's more than double the number of students compared to a year ago. this was the largest one-year increase of any substance in a 44-year history. the study found alcohol and opiate use is down. the philadelphia eagles aren't giving up their super bowl crown without a fight. they kept their playoff hopes alive by surviving the rams last night. philly benefitted from a bizarre turnover. l.a. qb jared goff got tripped up by his own lineman and tosses the pass right to the eagles. philly wins, 30-23. a super bowl ring isn't the only piece of jewelry on the mind of chicago's lineman. he took a knee after the bears' title and proposed to his girlfriend right on the turf at soldier field. she said yes, of course. she had an idea something was up, but he denied any plans to propose to throw her off the scent. that same game praoduced soe

nice blocking in the stands. >> bears fan chrissy kilgore had a view of this head sunday. santa bear was planted right in front of her while chicago hosted green bay. kilgore wasn't too upset. at the end of the game, she even had a smile on her face with the guy in the suit, probably because it was her 6'5" husband. >> bear down. >> makes sense. up next in "the pulse," help wanted for the biggest music gig of the year. also ahead, the feathered friend with a feisty reputation. his owner says he has a new way of passing his time. and mom and son at a basketball game where things get a little uncomfortable. (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? (vo) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? (vo) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase

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the super bowl halftime with maroon 5. >> they can't find another act to share the stage in atlanta. they have apparently reached out to more than a half dozen stars, including cardi b. and andre 3000. >> it's unfortunate atlanta doesn't have more musical acts to choose from. >> right? >> "variety" sources says that the decline comes with the nfl's controversial handling of colin kaepernick and players' rights to protest on the field. >> tough break there. are lots of people around you in the christmas spirit? that answer apparently depends on where you live. >> okay. so we have got our stockings up there. a new survey cracked the code state by state. researchers looked at two factors, online activity such as a number of google searches for christmas movies and the number of christmas tree farms. the most christmas spirit was found in washington state, utah and south dakota. >> imagine that.

it looks like alaska is the land of the grinches coming in dead last. >> aww. >> huh. next, a parent that loves hanging out with amazon's alexa. so this is rocco who lives in england. >> rocco's owner says he learned how to talk to alexa and even uses it to order treats. she has the parental lock on, so none of the orders actually go through. >> rocco also dances to the music he has. ale alexa play. his favorite band by the way is kings of leon. >> okay. >> rocco was thrown out of a sanctuary because he was using fowl language. >> oh. and a version of kelly clarkson's "since u been gone" like you have never seen before. ♪ since you been gone, since you been gone ♪ ♪ i can breathe for the first time ♪ ♪ i'm so moving on, yeah yeah >> mom. >> that's mandy and her

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one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. hi. good morning. it is monday, december 17th. >> aka, a week before christmas eve. >> wow. >> yeah. it's coming up. >> you're never more than 7 minutes away from our accuweather forecast. mike, i saw standing water on the roads. a pretty wild day yesterday. >> yeah. it came through, didn't it? full force. let's take a look. i'll be keeping a 1 through the morning commute. just because there's random showers out there. as you mentioned, puddles out there. definitive edge through eastern contra kos tax santa clara counties. the last hour or so, you can see it is definitely winding down. the yellows are gone. it's just some light rain out

there. and we have high surf advisory we need to talk about. it will continue until 9:00. 17 to 22 feet swells. good morning, mike. i have live doppler 7 on top of the traffic maps this morning. really most of us are getting out of the rain. although we do still have wet pavement. if you're traveling, trying to get out of the central valley, active rain. light to moderate showers right now. that means you still need to slow down, drive for conditions. a handful of crashes. whipple ramp to 101 in redwood city, a vehicle on its side. that is contained to the shoulder, though. overall, our drive times are looking good this morning. 580, tracy to dublin, 36 minutes for you. dublin to mission boulevard, in the green at 16. northbound 85, 10 to cupertino in the green at 16 minutes. thank you, alexis.

sheriff's deputies are on the scene of a deadly crash involving a pedestrian. it happened early this morning on interstate 880 off-ramp to 1st street in san jose. the person was taken to the hospital where the person later died. there was heavy rain when officers responded to the scene. but it is not clear yet if weather played a factor. we have reached out to sheriff's department for more information. we will have that for you as soon as we get it. >> more breaking news. several cars hydroplaned overnight in santa clara. in all, at least three separate crashes involving five to seven cars. several people had to be treated for apparent injuries at the scene. southbound 280 was closed for a time. the roadway is back open. a high surf warning in san francisco is still in effect until later tonight. >> the national weather service issued the warning over the weekend. and signs are up at ocean beach

alerting people to stay off the beach entirely. officials say in some cases dangerous waves may reach up to 50 feet high and could get to the seawall. that means anyone walking on the beach could be put in chest deep water with little or no warning. >> as mike mentioned, we are still a one. still seeing showers. all of that wet weather didn't stop is holiday shoppers from doing their thing. >> reporter: being short works to her advantage when shopping in the rain. >> being five foot is just so good. because everyone is taller than you. >> reporter: which means they have to carry her umbrella. her friend didn't seem to mind. he just doesn't like shopping in the rain. >> it is good that we have the rain. but it's bad because a lot of people are out shopping. >> reporter: some deny mind getting wet. but for others, the rain was definitely an issue. >> it is annoying to step in a

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