good morning, america. growing questions. the mounting pressure for president biden about the handling of classified the white house response and the new congressional investigations. safety review. the fda and cdc trying to reassure older americans about the safety of pfizer's new covid booster as government data raised concerns. what federal health officials are saying this morning. debt ceiling concerns. congress on the verge of a tense

political battle. the plea from treasury secretary janet yellen, are we headed toward a government shutdown? . breaki break break breaking news, an apparent missile attack on kyiv as the fierce fighting rages over soledar, the world's bloodiest battle so far. survival stories. victims of the deadly tornado outbreak tell harrowing stories of survival. >> took him out of the trailer and like a rag doll, just spin him around and threw him down. >> the entire neighborhoods wiped out as the death toll rises, plus two more storms headed out west. the latest. zoo mystery. the question on how this leopard managed to escape from its enclosure. why police believe she had human help. game on. it's super wild card weekend. the preview of the big matchups and the story lines to watch from the new young stars to the unlikely matchup. espn's stephen a. smith helps us

break it down. ♪ and i'm a billionaire ♪ and lucky ticket. america has a new billionaire this morning in the mega millions drawing. could it be you? good morning, america. somebody, not any of the three of us. >> not this time. >> waking up as america's -- no, not this time. they are the newest billionaire. it looks like there was one lucky winner of the mega millions jackpot. they will take home the more than $1.3 billion prize. we'll have more on that coming up. >> for the record, i still would have come to work in a helicopter. >> there you go. to spice it up a little bit. yeah. >> call the helicopter first thing this morning. >> yep. we begin, though, with president biden facing growing questions and new investigations into the classified documents found in his former office and delaware home. >> yeah, both the president the white house declining to answer further questions on the special counsel probe into

potential mishandling of the files. >> now republicans in the house are moving to investigate. abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks is on the north lawn with the latest. maryalice, good morning. >> reporter: whit, good morning. the white house increasingly tight-lipped about these new classified documents and investigations as the news of a special counsel sinks in. this morning, president biden back at his delaware home where a handful of classified documents were found in his garage. >> are you confident you did nothing wrong, mr. president? >> reporter: the president leaving the white house ignoring questions. silent on the news a special counsel has been appointed to look into his handling of classified material. house republicans launching new investigations demanding answers about what exactly was in those documents found in the president's home. president biden's press secretary saying, the white house does plan to fully cooperate with the newly appointed special counsel. >> we have been fully cooperating with the department of justice, and now we will be doing the same with the special counsel's office. >> reporter: but deflecting most questions on the subject.

>> i would refer you anything that is related to this to -- as it relates to the review to the department of justice or my colleagues at the white house counsel office. >> reporter: attorney general merrick garland saying the extraordinary circumstances require the appointment of a special counsel. >> this appointment underscores for the public the department's commitment to both independence and accountability. >> reporter: his pick for the job, a trump appointee, veteran prosecutor robert hur, who in a statement promised to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly. the move from the attorney general coming after he said the department of justice was notified of classified documents found in november at the penn biden center in washington, d.c. then in late december and again just this last week, president biden's personal lawyers informing investigators that additional documents had been found at the president's wilmington residence most in his garage. the white house counsel's office saying the documents were inadvertently misplaced and that

biden's team quickly responded to the, quote, mistake. in addition to this probe from the special counsel, the white house is facing two investigate, both led by house republicans in the judiciary and oversight committee. they want to know what's exactly was in these documents. who had access to them and who searched the president's home. >> maryalice, thank you. let's bring in sarah isgur, a former spokesperson for the trump administration. sarah, good morning to you. it's great to have you. now that a special counsel has been appointed, what are the next steps in the investigation? >> so, the department of justice is obviously going to look at the statutory definition of this crime. you have to knowingly remove classified information, but they're also going to look at past precedent, when the department has brought cases like this. jim comey laid out the four factors that would need to be present when he declined to prosecute -- bring charges against hillary clinton back in 2016, the intentionality of it, whether there were vast amounts

of documents, potential disloyalty to the united states, he said, and finally evidence of obstruction, and so that will be part of this investigation as well. >> and so you touched on this as well, there's still so much we don't know about these documents and how they ended up in biden's home and office. how could that play a role in the severity of the case? >> well, unlike the trump mar-a-lago search warrant where that was really a year after he had left the white house, here we have six years since these documents were presumably removed. the question will be obviously who had access to them, were the documents moved? but an important one for those factors will be, were those documents accessed at any point in the last six years where people knew there were classified documents in an unsecure location and nevertheless left them there. >> and we know there are cases that are different. but with biden and trump now uder investigation, it raises the question, is something wrong

with the system altogether, and should americans be concerned about the security of these classified documents? >> i mean, here we are talking about the current president, the former president, the former secretary of state, all who have been investigated for mishandling classified information. it is absolutely egregious at this point that we have high-ranking officials ignoring the law, whether criminally or not, certainly recklessly mishandling some of our nation's top secrets. it's something the national security apparatus is going to really need to think about moving forward. >> it sure is. sarah isgur, thank you so much for your time this morning. we appreciate it. >> eva, over to you. we turn now to the case against the trump organization. the former president's company ordered to pay the maximum fine, $1.6 million, for violating tax laws. its former cfo allen weisselberg now serving five months in jail. abc senior investigative correspondent aaron katersky joins us now to break it all down for us. aaron, good morning. >> reporter: eva, good morning. this was the stiffest punishment

te trump organization could get, and the company has two weeks to pay. prosecutors asked for the maximum penalty, $1.6 million, because they said former president trump's family's real estate business created a pervasive atmosphere for fraud and compensated partially them under the table making rent, car and school tuition payments without declaring them as income. none benefited more than allen weisselberg, the former chief financial officer who pleaded guilty to evading nearly 2 million in taxes. this week he began serving five months in jail. the defense tried to pin the scheme on weisselberg, but prosecutors said some of the fraud was explicitly sanctioned from the top down. they never charged trump himself, but they did say the investigation continues. now, prosecutors con seated $1.6 million is just a fraction of the trump organization's earnings, but it was as much as they could get and said the only way to deter this kind of tax fraud is to make it as expensive as possible.

gio? >> all right, aaron, thank you so much. we're going to turn now to a critical time in washington. congress is on the verge of a political showdown after the treasury secretary warned lawmakers that the u.s. is projected to reach its debt limit on thursday. abc's em nguyen has the latest from washington. em, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. gio. yeah, treasury secretary janet yellen is urging congress to quickly pass legislation to either raise the federal debt limit or temporarily suspend it and the deadline is january 19th. yellen says before the government has to resort to, quote, extraordinary measures before defaulting on the nation's $30 trillion borrowing capacity. failure to address it would cause irreparable harm to the u.s. economy and some suggests a default could crash financial markets and potentially lead to a credit downgrade. if the issue drags on it could lead to a partial government shutdown raising the limit does not mean more spending but rather just allows the government to finance existing obligations including tax

refunds, social security and medicare payments. debate over the issue will almost certainly trigger a major political showdown in the house between republicans who now have control and democratic lawmakers. house republicans have pushed back expressing interest in using these negotiations as leverage to cut spending. now, the debt ceiling was raised three times under the trump administration without issues when democrats held the majority. now democratic leaders say there's no reason republicans can't do the same. gio? >> all right. thank you so much, em. >> whit. gio, this morning, health officials are reassuring older americans that the latest covid-19 booster is safe. they say they conducted an extensive review after government data raised some concerns. abc's mona kosar abdi joins us with more. mona, good morning. >> reporter: whit, good morning. the fda and cdc are standing by the safety of pfizer's updated booster after concerns about a possible safety risk. the agency launching an investigation after data from the vaccine monitoring system

suggested a link between the booster and an increased risk of stroke in people over 65. the cdc says they acted quickly in assessing the concern, which was detected in late november. and after a review of safety databases, the cdc found no other safety system has shown a similar signal. they also say multiple subsequent analysis have not validated this sign. concluding that it is very unlikely that the vaccine poses a true risk. the fda and cdc will continue to analyze data from those safety systems. you guys, no changes have been made to the covid-19 guidance. eva? >> all right, thanks, mona. for more on this, let's bring in dr. alok patel joining us from san francisco this morning. we heard mona say the cdc is not changing any recommendations, saying it is very unlikely the vaccine poses a true risk. how have they come to that conclusion, and what does this mean going forward? >> well, eva, simply put,

the cdc did see this early signal from the vaccine safety data link, which is designed to try to detect these early signals which could be rare side effects. but as we just heard, that was one signal from vaccine safety datalink, which has been around for over 30 year, but from other studies, including data from other countries, there was no link found. so this is reassuring and should actually give the public and more faith in the fda and cdc to look for potential side effects now and moving forward. >> a lot of vaccine skepticism out there. so i have to ask you the question, should people still get a booster right now? >> people should, especially people who are high risk such as the elderly or anyone who is immunocompromised. and, eva, we need to be honest here and say the power of vaccines and boosters is to prevent severe illness and hospitalizations and not just out there to prevent every positive test and mild infection. it's also important to remind people these bivalent vaccines are still protective against the new variant from the omicron

family and anyone have questions, chat with their doctors to get good, trusted information. >> dr. patel as always, we appreciate you walking us through all of the things. >> now over to gio. >> all right, important conversation over there, thank you. we are turning to one of the bloodiest battles in the war in ukraine. russia claims that it's captured the town of soledar, but the ukrainians say fierce fighting is still under way, and abc's matt gutman is on the ground in eastern ukraine as we also get word of new strikes overnight on kyiv. matt, good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning, gio. you can probably hear the siren going off in multiple regions in ukraine and those missiles coming into the kyiv region this morning causing significant damage. we're now seeing those images start to come in. most disturbingly, they apparently landed before the sirens went off there. that as bitter and brutal fighting continues here in the east over the towns of soledar and bakhmut. this morning after two weeks of quiet, multiple explosions

rocking kyiv. the sirens sounding only later. the aftermath, those craters in the ground and mangled debris. that, as the battle in soledar grinds on. the crackle of small arms fire in the streets and the thunder of artillery across the trenches. this drone video showing craters across the landscape and the smoldering skeletons of apartment blocks. and here a ukrainian drone zeroing in on russian soldiers and they flee into that barn. a bomb is dropped. the building explodes in a spray of smoke. another drone stalking these russian soldiers, another building explodes in a flash of vian nyaut i ling inhes, no lec ht. the months' long battle the bloodiest in the war and russia losing thousands. ukraine hasn't made its casualties public but u.s. medics describing a constant flow on the front lines. here david and his team work on two wounded ukrainians in a van. a shell going off beside them.

>> what's your sense of the overall casualty numbers here? >> astronomical, 200, 300 a day minimum. >> reporter: overnight russia's defense ministry definitively claiming it controlled soledar, only to be disputed by the commander of a mercenary army doing most of the fighting there. and this week president putin criticizing a senior minister on his team for working too slowly on contracts for new aircraft, alluding to his frustration over the war's progress. and the biggest question right now, what is the strategic value of soledar and bakhmut? russia obviously throwing so many of its forces into that particular fight right now. we are told it does not have that much strategic value, and it may come at an enormous cost for the russians. guys? >> all right, matt gutman, our thanks to you. turning to another story that we're following this morning, a leopard on the loose at a zoo in texas has been found safe, and now investigators e launching a criminal investigation into how the cat got loose in the first place. abc's faith abubey has the

story. >> reporter: this morning, a mystery unfolding at the dallas zoo. police launching a criminal investigation into how a leopard escaped its enclosure. >> it is our belief that this was an intentional act. >> reporter: dallas police say they believe someone deliberately cut that mesh that kept the adult wild cat in its enclosure allowing the animal to escape, triggering a frantic search friday. police dispatching s.w.a.t. officers and using drones with heat-sensing technology to try and locate the leopard. the state's largest zoo closing the property to the public declaring code blue, an internal alert meaning nondangerous animal that is out of its habitat. >> she is designed for life up high in the trees. >> reporter: hours after the search began, the 25-pound leopard called nova was located near her habitat. the police investigation now focusing on who might have had a hand in the escape. this is not the first time an animal has escaped from the

dallas zoo. in 2004 a gorilla named jabari climbed over a 16-foot-tall barrier in the same exhibit, seriously injuring three people. and, eva, the dallas zoo says it is thrilled to have secured that leopard without incident. they say there are no initial indications that it was injured but there is a medical staff evaluating her, and we should expect an update sometime today. eva? >> glad that everyone is okay. now to those deadly tornadoes that tore through the south. at least nine people were killed and first responders are searching for many more who are still missing. danielle breezy from our nashville station wkrn has the latest. good morning to you, danielle. >> and good morning, eva. there were more than 40 tornado reports from this tornado outbreak on thursday. some of the most extensive damage in alabama. this morning, an urgent search for survivors after a tornado outbreak across seven states leaves at least nine dead. neighborhoods wiped out. homes and businesses destroyed. debris scattered everywhere. lives lost. in georgia, 5-year-old egan jeffcoat killed when a tree fell

on the family car. another passenger was crushed and rushed to the hospital. and a suspected tornado blamed for killing at least seven people in alabama's rural autauga county. julia jackson knew one of the victims. >> took him out of the trailer and just like a rag doll just spin him around and threw him down. all you can do is just cry. it hurts so bad to see my community like this. >> reporter: cleanup now under way across the battered region. >> we don't have anything. everything we had is gone. >> reporter: people now picking up the pieces. >> just basically going through stuff to see what we can find that's salvageable, and i don't really know from there what we're going to do. >> reporter: in historic selma, alabama, entire neighborhoods left in ruin after a confirmed ef-2 tornado struck the city with winds up to 130 miles per hour. >> it's bad. it's really bad. >> reporter: the storm wreaking havoc on the city's downtown collapsing buildings, uprooting trees and bringing down power lines.

>> this is going to be long term. this is not a short-term fix right here. how long they're going to take, i have no idea. >> reporter: now those storms are long gone, but we're bracing for our other big weather story which is this. we have that atmospheric river that is set up out west, and we're going to round of heavy rain as we head into the day today. really into the next couple of days. we've got flood watches up. winter storm warnings, not to mention high wind alerts up for nine different states. here is what we're anticipating along the west coast of florida. we could have wind gusts in excess of 60 miles an hour. that is going to lead to power outages. so it is going to be very intense along the west coast, not to mention we're talking about a good deal of rain. two to seven inches of rain not out of the question in this area up and down really into the pacific northwest is where the bull's-eye will be. now, this storm system is on the move bringing rain to the west coast. snow in the mountainous regions. a lot of snow for the rockies as we head into saturday night,

sunday morning and then this system continues to push to the east bringing a lot of rain for the midwest come monday. that's a look at what's and just so you know, the seahawks at the 49ers. going to be a lot of rain and wind for that game. guys, back to you. >> the niners. [ laughter ] >> i knew that was coming. >> we have been waiting all morning long for him to say that. all right, danielle. and, whit, thank you. it looks like someone flipped the script on friday the 13th and made it a lucky day. only one mega millions ticket matched all six numbers in last

night's drawing, and it was sold in maine. so far no one has come forward. the grand prize, that $1.35 billion. now, if you take the lump sum, that's 707.9 million. not too shabby. this is the second largest mega millions jackpot and fourth largest in u.s. history. it's also maine's first ever mega millions jackpot. now, this isn't the first time friday the 13th has brought some good news. it has been won six times on that date in the past. so not such a scary day. >> yeah, pretty lucky friday the 13th. >> i sat this one out. >> you did? >> i did. the last one, the powerball just kept drawing me back in. back in. you know what, i'll sit this out. >> you could have just driven over to maine and grabbed that ticket. >> if someone had won in new york, you would have felt sad. >> i would have, but now i feel good. coming up, abc news has exclusive interviews with friends of the murdered idaho students talking about their last night together. and virginia's attorney general is investigating if

several schools violated anti-discrimination laws by delaying notifying students that they qualified for a prestigious national award. and it's wild card weekend. you may have noticed there. espn's stephen a. smith helps us break it all down with a look at the teams to watch. we'll be right back. (vo) when it comes to safety, who has more iihs top safety pick plus awards, the highest level of safety you can earn? subaru. when it comes to longevity, who has the highest percentage of its vehicles still on the road after ten years? subaru. and when it comes to value, which popular brand has the lowest cost of ownership? lower than toyota, honda, or hyundai? subaru. it's easy to love a car you can trust. it's easy to love a subaru.

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everyone. i'm liz kreutz on the peninsula. a massive sinkhole is causing headaches for thousands of people living along the san mateo county coast. part of highway 92, which is the main thoroughfare is shut down from highway 35 through main street in half moon bay. storms continue to pose as a threat. it could take an hour for people to reach the nearest hospital. san mateo county says life flight will remain on standby. it's unclear at this time when the highway will reopen. and for existing last in here this morning. what's it like outside right now? it's coming down hard . liz, and lightning and thunderstorms possible with this strong level three system you can see the heavy rain the areas of orange and red. that's where rain is falling over an inch an hour, many reports of flooding and down trees and heavy rain. this system will move out in the next couple hours. liz okay, francis

♪ a fiery way to start this saturday morning. welcome back to "gma" on this saturday morning. shakira is taking her anger against her ex-husband all the way to the bank. coming up in our "gma" cover story, the star's record-breaking revenge pop hit and what she spills about her split. >> it's a good song. >> it's good. >> and also like that the best revenge is success. >> there you go. juicy stuff there. >> more on that ahead.

first though a look at some of the other big stories we're following, and happening right now, brazil's supreme court will investigate former president jair bolsonaro on whether he incited the crowds that stormed the government buildings in the nation's capital earlier this month. bolsonaro posted a video questioning the country's election results two days after the riots, which prosecutors argue warrants an investigation into his actions. also right now, the school superintendent a 6-year-old first grader shot a teacher admitting the school had gun was missed. the school board announcing this week that metal detectors will be placed in every school across the district. and lisa marie presley will be buried at graceland next to her son benjamin, father elvis and other members of the presley family. her daughter riley's rep confirming the plans as tributes for the singer/songwriter who died on thursday keep pouring in. austin butler, who just won a golden globe for his portrayal

of elvis writing, i am eternally grateful for the time i was lucky enough to be near her bright light. and, of course, she was just so grateful for austin butler's performance in that role there as her father. >> yeah. we do start this half hour with an abc news exclusive. more on what we're learning about the shocking murders of four college students in idaho. in a new two-hour "20/20," some of their closest friends describe seeing them that night for the last time. ♪ >> saturday, november 12th is the last home game for the university of idaho vandals football team. >> the university of idaho actually lost their game that night, but as the vandals say, win or lose, there's always booze. >> kaylee, she seems like her usual bubbly self. we were just kind of like hanging out for game day. >> so that night kaylee and maddie head off to the corner club bar, one of the most

popular spots in town. ♪ >> you probably find half of moscow like going to the game, going to the corner club. >> weeknights i think she was studying and being a good girl, but, yeah, she would let her hair down a little bit on the weekends. >> ethan started saturday night out with his sister. >> she had a house sorority party, and he was her date. >> just a bunch of students getting together and mingling and having a good time. >> ethan and i were at the bettie's ball that night. he spent the beginning with his sister, which was part of the sorority that was hosting the formal dance. >> shortly after that ethan then meets up with xana back at his fraternity sigma chi. >> it was totally a normal thing seeing them have a great time, just hanging out with each other dancing and singing. >> we live in a world where there are cameras everywhere, so we know a lot about where kaylee and maddie were that night and at what time.

>> kaylee and maddie get carbonara, just the sort of thing you want to absorb all the alcohol in a night of drinking. >> they grab the order to go. kaylee called for a ride service. >> by 2:00 a.m., everyone is home. ethan and xana, kaylee and madison and their two other roommates are all settling in for the night. >> officers responded to a call here on king road just south of campus. >> police say it was a targeted attack near the university of idaho. >> so they sent out a vandal alert notifying students to shelter in place. >> just the worst news you could ever possibly imagine, and i just kind of went numb for about 30 minutes. >> it's just not something that like you can comprehend in that moment. we were just like very shocked like, oh, my god. >> we were like, okay, it's an accident. let's not panic. you know. >> when i got the vandal alert

that there had been a homicide on campus on king road, i called her three times. she didn't answer. i texted her four times. she didn't answer. >> and i remember texting kaylee to see if she was okay. >> and still so many questions about this case. "horror in idaho: the student murders" with exclusive sitdown interviews is streaming right now on hulu. >> and it's difficult to watch. >> yeah. time now for a check of our weather, and let's throw it over to danielle breezy. hey, danielle. >> hey, guys. and, good morning. normally when you see avalanche videos, it's from the side and you kind of see it coming down the mountain. here's a firsthand look at a skier. looks like he's skiing, right, but then all of a sudden gets stuck in the avalanche and kind of moving down the mountain with it trying to stay above it. he's kind of swimming, his arms there and kicking his board there. so a very dangerous situation, and the reason why is utah and a

lot of other areas are getting a lot of snow. take a look at the projected totals here. we could see two to over six feet of snow in the sierras. for the rockies talking about maybe one to three feet of snow so, again, avalanche danger still a concern as we head into early next week, not to mention any snow we do see is going to stick around as temperatures in the 30s and even 20s in most locations. that's a look at what's happ what you didn't hear is that and what you didn't hear is that skier screaming.e that's a very scary. i don't know. >> absolutely. >> makes me never want to ski. >> that back country skiing and snowboarding is so dangerous. >> yes. >> that's why i didn't do it. [ laughter ] >> that's the only reason why. >> that's it. >> the only reason. coming up here on "good morning america," the widening investigation after a top school

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welcome back to "gma" and welcome back to "gma" and the parents outraged at one of the top rated high schools in the country. now, the school coming under fire over how it handled prestigious national merit awards, and abc's em nguyen says there are other schools embroiled in all of this. em, good morning again. >> reporter: good morning to you, gio. yeah, some students and parents are outraged in several northern virginia high schools. they're demanding answers after a controversial move from their schools in which they say could have impacted their college admissions and scholarship applications. this morning, state officials in virginia expanding their investigation into at least ten northern virginia public high schools that allegedly failed to notify their students of their national merit commended scholar status in a timely manner. >> our preliminary report shows over a thousand students were not notified of the situation.

>> reporter: virginia's attorney general's office claiming school officials allegedly withheld telling students they were commended scholars to avoid upsetting others who were not. >> we're trying to understand whether they were treating students -- denying them certain recognition or admission based on their ethnic background. >> reporter: the honor goes to at least 3% of psat test takers nationally. one of the schools at the center of the controversy, the elite thomas jefferson high school for science and technology, where there are more than 65% asians and about 20% whites. blacks and latinos make up less than 10% of the population according to the fairfax county public school system. the school eventually notified students of their status, but not in time for the start of the college application season, creating what students and parents say was a missed opportunity. >> stop the sabotage. >> reporter: some outraged parents demanding accountability at a recent school board meeting. >> if you just put it in the perspective of what a competent

and then diligent administration should do, it's a serious failure and miserable failure. >> reporter: that delay potentially causing students to miss deadlines for adding the commended student honor to their early decision applications. >> some schools had already made their decision. >> there are schools that offer scholarships up to $35,000 a year, so, yeah, do the math. it's a lot of money. >> reporter: a fairfax county public school spokesperson said they've initiated a third-party independent investigation and that our preliminary understanding is that the delay was due to human error. the school also says they have contacted the colleges to inform them about the awards, but still some parents say and are calling for those top school officials to be fired. gio? >> a lot of parents upset about this this morning. em, thank you so much. coming up here on "good morning america," stephen a. smith gives his take on wild card weekend and tom brady. stick around. you're watching "gma."

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>> welcome back to "gma" and the look at super wild card weekend kicking off today. fresh faces and a very seasoned veteran all hoping for some success. abc's phil lipof is here with more. good morning, phil. >> reporter: good morning, guys. i got my patriots jersey -- oh, wait a minute. they didn't make it. [ laughter ] >> sorry. >> six games over three days, a shot at the super bowl is on the line. if you are a football fan, it doesn't get much better than this. it. pull for your team. pull for your city. we've got young quarterbacks, old quarterbacks. we've got it all. this weekend it's here. are you ready for a wild weekend? the nfl is. first round of the playoffs with six wild card games on deck.

today's matchups see all four quarterbacks making their playoff debut. the l.a. chargers facing off against the jacksonville jaguars with two of the youngest quarterbacks in the league. the seattle seahawks and veteran qb geno smith taking on 23-year-old brock purdy and san francisco 49ers, it's the game no one saw coming. preseason predictions had the seahawks finishing among the worst teams. >> i'll say it's not a fairy tale. it's very much reality. >> reporter: 32-year-old geno smith who is playing on his fourth team in a decade up against 23-year-old brock purdy. the last pick in the 2022 nfl draft. >> i got to do my job. i'm not trying to think about the storybook ending. >> reporter: highly anticipated on sunday, the dolphins heading to buffalo where the bills are playing for more than teammate damar hamlin just released from the hospital after suffering cardiac arrest on the field. >> it's a miraculous recovery. everybody is happy, and now you you're the buffalo bills, you

got a challenge on your hands because as good as you have been, you haven't been stellar all year long. >> reporter: but all eyes will be on the main event, monday night when dak prescott and the dallas cowboys clash with the tampa bay buccaneers and tom brady who was laser focused at friday's practice. he has never lost to the cowboys. >> i've been very blessed to be a part of great teams that got to this point and then had a lot of big wins, and it's want everyone wants to play for. >> reporter: this will be the 45-year-old's first playoff game since announcing his retirement last year, though that only lasted about 45 days. fans now wondering after the bucs' rocky season, if they lose, will the g.o.a.t. retire aain? >> i think we all need to let him know, it's okay when you decide to leave. you'll still be tom brady. you'll still be that dude, and i think that this year what he's endured has inched him closer to absorbing that and accepting that a hell of a lot better than he could earlier on.

>> reporter: absolutely, but i think he knows it's okay. tom brady will go when tom brady is going to go. in what could be the battle of the best hair in the nfl, or at least in the playoffs, the jaguars and the chargers. who is going to win? jacks' trevor lawrence or justin herbert? they both have long hair that everybody talks about. but i don't know, eva, you tell me. i think that whit -- and i didn't know you were going to be here this morning. i think whit and gio can match those guys. >> oh, i don't know about that. >> oh. >> this is tv news helmet hair. snaps on like a lego piece. >> gio has all the tricks. you can catch the finale to the super wild card weekend with the dallas cowboys taking on the tampa bay buccaneers monday night at 8:00 eastern right here on abc and espn an espn plus. we will be right back with our "play of the day"with a taylor swift surprise. >> think they'd let us grow out our hair? >> yeah. ♪ everybody agrees ♪

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♪ it's me, hi ♪ ♪ i'm the problem, it's me ♪ ♪ everybody agrees ♪ back now with our "play of the day." taylor swift was anything but the problem when she made a surprise appearance in london. ♪ the anti-hero ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> okay. swift dropped in at the 1975's concert at the 02 arena in london treating the crowd to her first ever live performance of "anti-hero" from her "midnights" album, and the crowd was loving it. she due to kick off her first two in five years on march 17th in glendale, arizona. if you're able to get those tickets. remember how all that went down. >> the crowd must have gone wild. >> we can thank that london boy in her life. >> yeah. coming up on "gma" in our second hour, the questions about president biden and those

classified documents. were any laws broken? and our "gma" cover story, shakira breaking records with her new breakup song that takes aim at her ex. and our first "deals & steals" for the new year focusing on wellness for 2023. bill a better bay area moving forward finding solutions. this is abc. seven news. good morning , everyone. i'm liz kreutz in

monterey county. the salinas river crested yesterday after hitting flood stage on thursday night, there were fears the flooding could cut off the monterey peninsula and turn it into an island. thankfully that has not happened in neighboring obispo county. the health department says 300,000 gallons of sewage was released into the river on monday. the health department says the sewage had been treated before overflowing into the river. in the sierra tracks are being turned around on eastbound interstate 88. applegate due to multiple cars spinouts over donner summit, caltrans says all other traffic is being held at nyack, and it's unknown when the highway will reopen. travel is not advised as the wintry conditions pick up through the weekend, drivers can expect icy roads, chain controls and delays. if you must drive, fill up your gas tank, bring extra clothes. food and water and francis. of course, a lot of people probably wanting to go up there because of the holiday weekend, unfortunately, is not a great time to drive there until after monday night, check out live doppler seven looping over

the last few hours. this system has already brought over an inch of rain to some areas. some heavy rain right now moving through the bay area, but a little bit of clearing through parts of the north bay coast. five reports of down trees over a dozen reports of flooded areas and some heavy rain. it's a storm level three on our exclusive impact scale downpours and flooding expected with gusty winds and thunderstorms and lightning are possible. here is a live shot of san rafael so winds could be gusting up to 50 miles an hour. it's a tough drive out there, so be careful if you can and a live shot of the san mateo bridge. we finally get to dry out on tuesday with a couple light storms in between liz all right. thank you, francis. the news continues right now, with good morning america. we'll see you in a half hour for another news update. stay dry. -seriously? -why do you do it? -you ignore the signs and the flashing lights. -that's my dad. -that's my mom behind those cones. -how would you feel if that was your family? -flashing lights mean "move over."

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-listen up. all with no monthly service fee. why do you drive so fast?? you're ignoring the and the flashing lights. please slow down. pay attention. how would you feel if that was your mom? flashing lights mean move over. good morning, america. it's our second hour. mounting pressure for president biden. the growing questions over handling of classified documents. congress launching new investigations. how the white house is responding. new guidelines on adolescent obesity. the american academy of pediatrics saying kids should be proactively treated including medications and weight loss surgery. this as the cdc is out with new numbers on childhood vaccinations, dipping nationwide for the second year in a row leaving more than 200,000 kindergartners potentially

unprotected against measles. ♪ shakira's record-breaking