america this morning. >> stay with us for "gma." breaking news in america this morning, the bombshell allegations in the impeachment investigation. rudy giuliani's associate going public for the first time and lashing out at president trump. >> president trump knew exactly what was going on. he was aware of all my movements. he lied. >> what he's revealing about the effort to pressure ukraine to investigate the bidens and what it could mean for the impeachment trial now getting under way. also new this morning, caught on camera, it was the awkward post-debate moment between senators elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. the handshake denied. now for the first time we hear what they said to each other and the fallout this morning. breaking overnight, safe and sound.

the joy after a young girl is found safe hours after police say she was abducted by a stranger. pulled into a car on the way home from school. how police found her. plus, the disturbing new claims in the jeffrey epstein scandal. what allegedly happened on his private island. not welcome. the blistering new push to keep prince harry and duchess meghan out of canada. ♪ how do you like me now later the pro golfer who is six months pregnant, but that's not stopping her from competing in a major tournament this weekend. good thursday morning, everyone. thank you for joining us. we begin with that bombshell interview from a key player in the ukraine scandal speaking out as the senate takes up the impeachment trial. >> an indicted associate of rudy giuliani is speaking publicly for the first time and he's pointing the finger at president

trump. >> lev parnas told msnbc the president knew exactly what was going on regarding the pressure campaign on ukraine. and he says it was never about corruption but strictly about former vice presidenbin. hioris made itol hl wi impeach delived the senate.rning. >> reporter: good morning, kenneth and janai. that associate, lev parnas, makes a series of serious allegations that implicate vice president mike pence, attorney general william barr, republican president himself. the formal articles of impeachment are now in the hands of the senate after being hand delivered by the seven democrats appointed to prosecute the case. president trump maintaining it was all a hoax even as new details emerge about his actions in ukraine. in a new bombshell interview on msnbc, an associate of president trump's attorney rudy giuliani says the president was in the loop when it came to pressuring ukraine. >> president trump knew exactly what was going on. he was aware of all of my

movements. he -- i wouldn't do anything without the consent of rudy giuliani or the president. >> in terms of the president and what he has said about you, he said about you and mr. fruman, igor fruman, i don't know about those gentlemen, i don't know what they do. you're saying that was not a true statement from the president. >> he lied. >> reporter: lev parnas also facing indictment and more potential charges is doubling down. >> it was all about joe biden and hunter biden. it was never about corruption. it was strictly about burisma which included hunter biden and joe biden. >> reporter: parnas suggesting vice president pence and attorney general barr were also aware of the pressure campaign. >> i called back and said, no go. and i remember rudy going, okay. to myra wareness trump called up to make sure pence doesn't go there. >> you believe that mr. pence's trip to the inauguration was canceled because they didn't

agree. >> oh, i know 100%. >> reporter: new evidence handed over by parnas was made public by the house intelligence committee. text messages, emails and handwritten notes. on may 3rd of last year rudy giuliani messaged him on whatsapp. boy, i'm so powerful i can intimidate the entire ukrainian government. when hanked if he had any comment on the parnas interview giuliani telling abc news, none, he's a very sad situation. the latest interview could put pressure on senators to demand new witnesses possibly even giuliani himself. senators sworn in as jurors today in the impeachment trial which is scheduled to begin on tuesday. kenneth. >> all right. megan, thank you. abc news will bring you live coverage beginning at noon eastern with the reading of the articles of impeachment. as the impeachment drama continues to unfold president trump is celebrating the first phase of a new trade deal with china. it calls for china to buy an additional $200 billion of u.s. products.

that includes planes, cars, oil, coal and farm goods. china has also promised to take steps to protect u.s. intellectual property. abc's jonathan karl has more on how the deal affects the price we pay for chinese goods. >> reporter: under the deal that the president had threatened to impose back in december will not go into effect. but overwhelmingly most of the tariffs he put in place over the past year will remain in place subject to negotiations that likely will not begin until after the presidential election. >> critics say the deal leaves many important economic issues unresolved and doesn't do enough to help u.s. factory workers. we turn now to the confrontation on stage between senator elizabeth warren and senator bernie sanders after tuesday's debate. >> warren refused to shake foth firstime wre hearing what they said to each other.

a tense conversation between senator bernie sanders and elizabeth warren center stage. >> i think you called me a liar on national tv. >> what? >> reporter: moments after tuesday night's democratic presidential debate sanders could be seen extending his hand to warren, but she refuses to shake it. the two then get into a heated exchange. viewers couldn't hear it at the time. but now cnn which hosted the event has released the audio of that moment. >> i think you called me a liar on national tv. >> what? >> i think you called me a liar on national tv. >> let's not do it right now. you want to have that discussion, we'll have that discussion. you called -- >> reporter: before the heated conversation she tried to de-escalate the feud before the debate. >> i'm not here to try to fight with bernie. >> reporter: it happened during a private conversation back in 2018 that sanders told her a woman can't win the white house in 2020. >> well, as a matter of fact i didn't say it. how could anybody in a ev that a ute? >>rcys the t despite being frheir cignstr wo

defuse the situation. overnight neither warren nor sanders commented about the newly released audio. >> i think you called me a liar on national tv >> during that tense face-to-face you may have noticed another candidate, tom steyer. he walked right into that confrontation. he appeared to acknowledge the awkward situation online tweeting, just want to say hi, america. well, to a new twist in the mystery surrounding a connecticut mother of five missing since may. prosecutors say she was murdered by her estranged husband. newly unsealed search warrants claim the baby-sitter for the dulos family told police that fotis dulos tried to run over his wife jennifer. the baby-sitter also claimed she saw dulos chasing his wife through the house but jennifer didn't want to call police because she was afraid he would take their kids to greece. his attorney is denying the new claims surrounding the case. >> the longer jennifer remains g,heore rich people's imagination becomes and it won't

surprise me in the near term to see people start speculating that fotis had something to do with the disappearance of jimmy hoffa. this is just spinning out of control. coming up later on "good morning america," allegations of another plot allegedly involving dulos and his former lawyer and the new voice mails coming to light. new pictures of a frightening scene off the coast of alabama. the coast guard rescued three people from this burning fishing boat near dauphin island last night. they had jumped into a life raft. everyone is okay this morning. and a very close call in washington, d.c. this is incredible. those two women were crossing the street when that building under renovation suddenly collapsed behind them. you see the fire truck just happened to pull up then. they are okay but one person was injured by fallen debris. turning to the weather, a major cross country storm is developing and will be impacting up to 200 million americans as we head into the weekend. let's take a look at your sd fecast.riin

feet of snow as you get into the southern cascades and into the sierra leading to travel issues through the passes. a clipper system making its way through new england bringing some widespread snows to places like vermont, new hampshire, maine. breezy, gusty winds across the rest of the northeast with spotty lake-effect snow showers and a bigger storm into the weekend getting its act together acro i'acatr meteorologist adam del rosso. coming up, some big news for "game of thrones" fans. also ahead, the shocking news about the rising number of robocalls annoying americans every day. but first breaking overnight, a girl is abducted forced into a stranger's call while walking home from school. how she was finally found safe hours later.

check out this video showing the aftermath of a small plane crash near ogden, utah. that plane went down and caught fire in the front yard of a town house. the pilot who was killed was the only person on board. and right there you piece of the plane that crashed through the roof of another condo which was unoccupied at the time. waroscol. family's hard from h when they found out she was safe. a surveillance camera captured her walking home from school a few days ago. police say a blue honda in that video appears to be the same car that was used when she was taken yesterday. an amber alert was issued as police urgently tried to find that car. >> once we realized what we had, we knew that time was of the essence.

this was not the kind of case we could go home or we could hand over or we could say we'll continue this in the morning. this was an absolute life and death situation for this little girl. >> an alert driver called 911 after spotting that blue honda in traffic. the girl was inside. she was not hurt. a 24-year-old man is now under arrest. police say he is familiar to them. more americans are being inundated by those annoying robocalls. a new report finds there was a 22% increase last year in the number of unsolicited calls. some people have been getting two of those robocalls a day. in response president trump has signed a law that will require phone companies to block robocalls at no extra charge. and bad news for the radio industry. iheartradio, which owns stations across the country, is laying off dozens of people. it's not revealing the exact number, but one employee calls it a bloodbath. several deejays and morning show personalities are among those

losing jobs. big news for fans of "game of thrones." hbo says a prequel called "house of the dragon" will premiere sometime in 2022. no production dates just yet. "house of the dragon" will be set 300 years before "game of thrones" took place and will tell the story of the house of targaryen. well, coming up the baseball cheating scandal possibly spreading to another team. but first the disturbing new allegations in the jeffrey epstein sex trafficking skagit. what a new lawsuit claims happened on his private island. and not welcome in canada. the newspaper editorial targeting prince harry and duchess meghan. thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed

disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including trouble breathing, shortness of breath, cough, or chest pain. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, diarrhea,hair thinnis be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. that's a reason to switch to jackson hewitt. our tax returns come with a free lifetime accuracy guarantee. life may change. your lifetime accuracy guarantee won't.

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claims surrounding the late financier jeffrey epstein and what he allegedly did. >> what i heard and the allegati really shocking conscience of >> reporter: a new lawsuit claims the multimillionaire trafficked young girls to his estate as recent as 2018 and some of the alleged victims appeared to be as young as 11 years old. >> jeffrey epstein carried out an expansive scheme of human trafficking and sexual abuse of young women and underage girls right here in the virgin islands. >> reporter: the attorney general in the u.s. virgin islands says investigators found epstein trafficked, raped, sexually assaulted and held captive dozens of girls and young women while deceptively luring them to his properties with the promises of modeling opportunities. according to the complaint, his island provided the perfect hideaway to traffic girls with the help of accomplices and a

special database. the lawsuit alsoim epstein and his sociates organized a search party after later holding her captive and taking away her passport. >> could you please give us your name? >> jeffrey epstein. >> reporter: epstein was a registered sex offender in the virgin islands since 2010 after spending 13 months in jail for soliciting sex from an underage girl. a sentence critics say was too lenient. his death in prison ended the possibility of a sex trafficking trial. and this new lawsuit is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from epstein's estate in the virgin islands which the lawsuit values at $86 million. prince harry and duchess meghan may be ready to step back from the royal family, but not everyone is happy with their plan to live in canada part time. canada's biggest newspaper has published a scathing editorial saying it would be unconstitutional for the royal couple to move there. "the globe and mail" wrote

princes are not shipped over when no useful duties can be found for them on the other side of the atlantic. canada is not a halfway house for anyone looking to get out of britain while remaining a royal. the paper claims harry and meghan's plan to move would violate laws that keep canada which used to be ruled by britain serate from the monarchy. now to sports and a passing to note. hall of fame wrestler rocky johnson has died. he's perhaps better known as the father of actor dwayne johnson. he died at the age of 75. no cause was given. >> the new york mets are the latest team drawn into baseball's cheating scandal. their new manager carlos beltran played for the astros in 2017 and was named in the league's report on sign stealing. he recently denied any knowledge of the team using a camera to steal signs. the mets are now assessing the situation. check out professional golfer blair o'neal. you see her there. she says she's competing in a tournament starting today even though she's six months pregnant. o'neal says the bump makes it harder to swing as you can

imagine and bathroom breaks could be a real challenge. pbay re of a lt a cool break from the bathroom than bathroom breaks. >> yours is always bumping the desk. >>lw up next in "the pulse," news in the world of office furniture. the new desk that could change everything. many people are asking. what's with all those pens house speaker nancy pelosi was usinki these are real people, not actors, who've got their eczema under control. with less eczema, you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid.

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pelosi was so somber that she gave away the pens like prizes. meanwhile despite congressman adam schiff dominating the headlines lately because of his role in the impeachment investigation, the congressman stumped contestants on "jeopardy" last night. look at this. >> u.s. representatives for 12. >> 153rd of california's house delegation is this intelligence committee chairman. [ buzzer ] his name is adam schiff. back to you, veronica. >> the episode was taped a while back before the impeachment hearings got going. next to a store in idaho that may be left out in the cold after a snowstorm. >> in november the store announced that customers who bought jewelry between november 22nd and december 31st would get refunds if three inches of snow fell on saturday, january 11th. well, a local weatherman said 3.3 fell on saturday. >> the store took out an

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we're taking a live look at doppler 7 radar. as you can see, that rain is about to move in pretty much no matter where you live in the bay area. it's going to be a rainy commute. don't forget that umbrella. >> and a new development in the ukraine scandal. a key player all but calls president trump a liar and and d bombshell interview. and governor newsom will be in san francisco today to talk homelessness. and we're following breaking traffic news. a fatal accident in pacifica. we know you're tracking that this morning. we'll touch base with you in a few minutes. it's thursday, january 16th. we're glad you're with us. >> let's start with meteorologist mike nicco who has what we can expect in the next few minutes. >> it's mainly up in the north bay right now. let me show you where with live doppler 7. let me show you a live scan. that's at 10:30 today. it's going to be raining heavily on the rest of us.

mainly up in is going rema f the next couple of motio nice southwesterly fetch of moisture that's coming in. you can see that increasing as it heads through. here's a look at the next six hours. as you can see, the heaviest stuff up in the north bay up until about 8:00. >> we're starting off with a traffic alert. there's a fatal accident in pacifica. a wrong-way driver southboundlo manor drive. traffic is being detoured on southbound 1 at skyline. that's your detour at this point. northbound traffic is open. this is going to be out there for a while because of this fatal crash. keep that in mind. plan an alternate route this morning. in addition to that, it's looking quiet here at the bay bridge toll plaza, there is a wind advisory for the bay bridge at this point.

>> as it starts raining more, that traffic situation will change. aind expected to make that commute difficult. >> abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield is joining us live on the road with more on this. >> good morning. wer expecting to be your eyes out here on storm watch ready to tell you about the morning and how it's looking, now we will turn around and head towards that fatal crash in pacifica. right now there is no weather to deal with. it's dry right now. it's a good time to leave if you can pull that off. we'll go down to pacifica to this fatal crash to give you a look at the sgi an idea othe situation for the commute in that area. we know it will be rough. southbound highway 1 has been shut down and cars are being diverted at skyline. we'll get you images from that scene as soon as we can and give you an idea of how the commute is looking down there. we're on our way right now. no weather right now.

a good time to get off and get moment. on our way to pacifica, we'll bring you the latest as soon as we get there. kumasi and reggie, back to you. >> thanks. the time is 4:30. we'll get another quick update on weather with mike. >> you can see there's nothing out there in the way of fog, not with the breezes that we're dealing with. let's show you what's going on with live doppler 7. the santa cruz mountains, but it's also the peninsula and the north bay coast. marin county already starting to get some light rain. 101 from about rohnertea thst weather right now. look at sutro tower.