hundreds attend a vigil for the victims of the oakland ghost ship fire as potential murder charges could be on the horizon. vice president joe biden hints at a potential 2020 run while a man played coy about his meeting with donald trump. a bizarre twist in a shooting incident that lead to a member of trump's upper circle >> a flaming gas tank away from neighbors to save some lives. wicked weather for many amarch americans. "early today" starts now. good morning, i'm frances rivera. residents in oakland, california are still reeling after friday's deadly warehouse party fire. several hundred people brought

glow sticks and candles to a vigil to honor the victims last night. at least 36 people were killed, including teenagers. late last night, authorities released the names of ten newly identified victims. so far, 22 victims have been positively identified and 11 tentatively, but three victims will require scientific identification. a criminal investigation has begun and the alameda district attorney said it could lead to charges of involuntary manslaughter or even murder. the manager of the warehouse and his wife feel like they're being unfairly blamed. >> do i take blame or responsibility for this? like -- >> we have done everything that we possibly could afford to do. >> while most of the building has been searched, firefighters were forced to pause their efforts earlier because walled were caving in and needed a crane to continue. however, authorities do not anticipate recovering any more

bodies. turning now to politics, and after a night out on the town, dining with family members at new york's 21 club and receiving several high fives in the process, we're getting new signs this morning that donald trump's protocol breaking call with taiwan's leader was long in the making. a high level source telling nbc news discussions of the call went back months with bob dole helping arrange the call. nbc can now confirm china flew nuclear capable aircraft bombers around taiwan just one week before the phone call with the taiwanese leader, and now john hauntsman, a possible secretary of state contender, is celebrating his communication with the taiwanese. >> you have a businessman who has become president of the united states who understands real leverage and how to find real leverage in that relationship. >> huntsman is just one of several names of the secretary of state short list, including mitt romney and exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson, who is slated to meet with trump today.

>> henry kissinger will also meet with trump. while the secretary of state position has yet to be named, trump's top advisers say they're working at a historic, break-neck pace. >> he's way ahead of schedule. at this point in president obama term, he had not announced appointments. >> compare that with this point in 2008. then president-elect obama had announced key positions like secretary of state, defense, attorney general, u.n. ambassador among others. it was this head-turning meeting that made haynes after al gore strolled through trump tower. he was scheduled to meet with ivanka to talk about climate change issues. here's what he said as he was leaving. >> the bulk of the time was with president-elect donald trump. i found it an extremely interesting conversation. and to be continued. and i'm just going to leave it at that. >> and al gore isn't the only

democrat making news this morning after vice president joe biden made headlines when he told kelly o'donnell he wouldn't rule out a 2020 presidential run. >> are you going to run again? >> yeah. i am. i'm going to run in 2020. so -- >> for what? >> for president. what the hell man. anyway. >> we're going to run with that, sir, you know. >> that's okay. just to be clear, were you kidding about running for president in 2020? >> i'm just -- i'm not committing not to run. >> as for the president-elect, he'll continue his post-election thank you tour, swinging by fayetteville, north carolina, today. his transition team also announced stopped for later this week where the president-elect will visit des moines, iowa, on thursday, and grand rapids, michigan, on friday. >> a bombshell report from "the washington post" this morning and they report the pentagon may have been caught trying to hide

$120 billion in wasteful spending. according to the post, an internal study was conducted to help the pentagon run more efficiently. it identified ways for the defense department to save $125 billion over five years without any layoffs or cutbacks to military personnel. according to the post, the pentagon leaders buried the information, worried the findings would lead congress to cut their funding. they're now adopting a smaller scale plan to save $30 billion by 2020. breaking news to bring you. commuters in los angeles are waking up to an increase in security at subway stations across the city. this as the fbi investigated the credibility of a very serious threat. the lapd said monday's threat specifically targets the universal city's red line. the fbi is working with local and international partners who they say provided the initial information. >> during the holidays, we tend to get an increased threat posture, and so this threat,

because of the specificity and the imnnls of the threat, we felt it was important to provide this information to the public. >> the potential threat was made anonymously by foin. police are calling on residents to stay calm but vigilant. the mayor eric garcetti took to twitter saying in a show of defiance, he will ride that very red line this morning and encouraged l.a. to stand together. >> south carolina governor nikki haley is urging understanding and patience after a judge declared a mistrial in the case of officer michael slager. he's seen on video killing an unarmed video, walter scott. the decision came after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. >> there's no unanimous verdict, then we're back to square one. that's where we are in this case. >> the dramatic cell phone video shocked the nation, walter scott running and getting shot

multiple times. slager maintains he rained from the traffic stop and grabbed the officer's stun gun. however, scott's family who has already won a $6.5 million civil settlement, said this is only round one. >> i don't care how it looks. it's not over. >> local prosecutors say they will retry this case. slager also faces a federal civil rights trial next year. extreme weather pushing across much of the country and a violent threat in the south has millions on alert. and up north, folks are bracing for a winter blast. kevin tibbles has more. >> a wintry white wash from the pacific to the plains, midwest and northeast. dangerous conditions. two deaths reported after a crash on a snowy michigan road. and temperatures are poised to plummet. up to 30 degrees below average. as an arctic blast knocked thermometers down to the single

digits. along the gulf coast, high winds, downed trees, and flooding. >> we really were scared. >> near san antonio, texas, the saturated ground contributing to a massive sinkhole that took the life of a local sheriff's deputy. winter's official start is still two weeks off, but for many, it's already here. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. >> a lot of headaches across the country. we want to check in with meteorologist bill karins to tell us what's in store for the day ahead. how are we looking? >> a lot of winter weather to deal with. in the northern plains, blizzard conditions. snow in some areas of theinter mounter west. there have been problems at the airports for the last 24 hours with the cold temperatures and deicing. here's what's left of our winter weather advisories in white. we have a couple winter storm warnings that are left, and we're almost done with our accumulating snows. this is in addition to what we have received. the highestdown.

look at the high temperature in missoula, only 15 degrees. that will be the story in the days ahead. the cold moving across the country. >> bundle up. bill, thank you very much. just ahead, find out why the standing rock protesters aren't going anywhere just yet. >> and a hero comes to the rescue of his neighbors. look what he did. we'll explain that next. per roll more "doing chores for dad" per roll more "earning something you love" per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50% longer than the leading ordinary brand.

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the standing rock sioux tribe is telling those who are not sioux to leave the area saying, quote, nothing will happen this winter. demonstrators fear when president-elect trump gets into office, he'll reverse course. weather you can see here is growing more oppressive by day. >> robbed at gunpoint, that's what's leading the news this morning. the governor-elect of missouri said his wife was held up overnight not far from their st. louis home. he shared the news on facebook hours ago, thanking law enforcement for their swift response. greitens said his wife is safe but shaken. she was reportedly sitting in her car when a suspect opened the door, pointed a gun, and demanded her things. three male suspects have been arrested. good news in the battle against isis. libyan forces are celebrating after they finished capturing the last major islamic state stronghold in their country.

isis took over a coastal city in the end of 2015, and it was the terrorists' most important base outside of the middle east. libyan forces have been trying to reclaim the city since may and over 400 u.s. air strikes have aided their now successful campaign. another record high for the dow, but what's got investors and consumers excited? isn't even here yet. we're talking about amazon go. landon dowdy has the details on amazon's latest rollout. i'm happy with amazon prime. tell me about this amazon go. >> especially this time of year. amazon could open more than 2,000 brick and mortar grocery stores, and it reports say it's exploring at least three different formats. they revealed a convenience style store, with no check-out lines or registers. customers scan their phone when they walk unand are charged when they leave. it's also expected to open drive-through stores and larger ones combining curb-side pickup.

>> facebook may be asking users to rate the quality of its news on the sites. people have posted surveys on twitter asking whether headlines use misleading language, and facebook has been in trouble for failing to stop the spread of fake news, especially related to the election. and tim cook says sales of the apple watch set a record in the first week of holiday shopping. cook was responding to an e-mail from reuters following a report of research estimating sales are down 71% from last year. could one give specific sales numbers for the watch? >> landon, thank you very much. just ahead, the bizarre twist in the pizza gate fake news shooting that leads to a number of president-elect trump's inner circle. she said it's too much work. lulu's hair just floats. uhh help me! (doorbell) mom, check this out. wow. swiffer sweeper, and dusters. this is what i'm talking about. look at that.

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on this vote, the ayes are 85, the nays are 13. >> fast forwarding today. the senate is on track to pass a bipartisan bill aimed at speeding government drug approvals and bolstering medical research. the bill is part of vice president joe biden's cancer moonshot program and made the cure act in honor of biden's son beau, and he presiding over the senate for one of the last times for the occasion. vice president-elect mike pence joins "morning joe" to talk about the latest on the new administration's transition and the likelihood -- and also

likely that taiwan phone call as well. >> this morning on "today," a new jeff rossen report on how to protect your car from a new device thieves are using that unlocked your doors and starts the ignition. that's later this morning on "today." well, this morning, the man at the center of the pizza gate fake news shooting is in jail. 28-year-old edgar welch was arraigned on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and other crimes, but the conspiracy theory case even includes a member of president-elect trump's inner circle. tom costello has the latest. >> under arrest in washington, 28-year-old edgar welch, accused of firing an assault weapon inside the common ping-pong pizza restaurant. welch allegedly told police he came to investigate pizza gate, an internet rumor alleged a clinton campaign child sex ring. >> let me state, these stories are completely and entirely false. >> the pizzi gate conspiracy began with an e-mail stolen from john podesta about a fund-raiser

involving the restaurant. users of the anonymous online message board 4-chan suggested without any proof that the word pizza was cold for child sex trafficking at the restaurant. the theory quickly spread to reddit and youtube, then jumping to facebook and twitter. eventually, reddit banned the thread. both d.c. police and federal agents say the story is false. the websites also claim there's a secret underground tunnel running from the pizza store to the politics and prose book store to traffic in children. the book store says there is no tunnel. for weeks, the rest raunltd and book store have received dozens of threats each day. >> we don't see this as a left/right thing, a democrat/republican thing. this is really truth versus fiction. >> discredited rumors about sex trafficking even shared by president-elect's choice for national security adviser,

general michael flynn, who retweeted a link reading must read. flynn's son, his chief of staff, had been pushing pizza gate on twitter. neither responded to our request for comment. >> how a story grows. especially when it's not real. still ahead, the jimmys are taking over the awards shows. plus, a very powerful message from david beckham and those world famous tattoos. this you'll definitely want to see. tomorrow's the day we'll play something besides video games. every day is a gift especially for people with heart failure. but today there's entresto®- a breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto® was proven to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto®. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto® with an ace inhibitor or or aliskiren.

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february, i'll be hosting the oscars. i got a very nice call of congratulations this morning from the president of taiwan. and just to be clear, she called me, not the other way around. >> way to spread the good news with a classic jimmy kimmel joke. they're doing it, but he's got a lot ahead of him, a lot to look forward to. not only is he hosting the academy awards, that's big news, but he's also got other big news as well. he revealed his wife is pregnant with the couple's second child. >> that's a big week. >> a big week. so much going on. life-changing stuff. hosting this year's oscars, he tweeted this, yes, i'm hosting the oscars, this is not a prank. and if it is, my revenge will be terrible. >> here's the cool coincidence when it comes to late night hosts and hosting. he's doing it with his other buddies at night, jimmy fallon, james corden. they're all named james or

jimmy, and they're all hosting awards shows. >> what are the odds of that one? >> if you're up there, a james or jimmy and want to be a host, this may be the time. >> how about this powerful message from david beckham back in the news with his shirt off, of course. he appears in this psa calling for an end to child abuse. scenes of violence appear as animated tattoos on beckham's body. unicef says every five minutes a child dies as a result of violence. the hashtag #endviolence is being used. he's a goodwill ambassador. you can check out the website to see more. the animations and how they do it is pretty cool. >> that and your statement on vets and ptsd. a lot of good we see from the beckhams and the tattoos as well. this is "early today." becausey tissue was near. the fiery tissue left her nose sore and red.

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you want the definition of feeling helpless? this is montreal. coating of ice and then a little snow on top. that's worse than ten inches of snow. one bus, the work truck, then the bus. who's going to come to the rescue? the police. kind of. slow motion journey. even the salt guy, he's spreading the salt with chains on, as he's going down the hill doing everything he can, but unfortunately for the police cruiser, he went straight into it. as far as the forecast goes for today, the cold air is continuing to be the story, coming down from the north, and the snow in the intermountain west. in the days ahead, winter is taking over. >> thank you very much. this morning, we're getting new revelations in the ongoing

sexual assault case involving bill cosby. a judge says the jury could hear his damaging testimony from a decades old civil deposition. the defense said cosby gave that deposition after giving assurances he would never be charged in the case. that philadelphia judge ruled cosby had no such assurances and looking to bring the case against him by june. he's charged with felony sexual assault. the actor has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual misconduct. >> here's billion dollar advice from the richest man in the world, bill gates. he's best known for his big-time business, microsoft, but most people don't know the billionaire reads about 50 books a year. so knaets shared his list of 2016 must-reads on a blog called gates notes, and here's top five. a compilation of tennis essays, string theory. also, shoe dog, a memoir written by the co-founder of nike, phil knight. the myth of the strong leader by

archie brown, and the grid, and the gene. so happy reading to you. i'm sure pretty heavy reading as well. >> a good samaritan is held a hero in eastern china as this courageous act. you see him dragging the flaming gas tank out of his neighbors home. it could have exploded alt any time, but the 63-year-old was more concerned about saving his neighbor's house from burning to the ground. look at it. very modest living. villagers say this isn't the first time he's saved a life. he rescued a woman from a river two years ago. now here's something i bet you have never seen before. a viral video showing this man going to extraordinary lengths to save his dog from the head lock of a kangaroo. it's a boxing match. look at that guy. right there, throws a punch. hitting the kangaroo in the snout. the showdown happened in the australian outback back in june. that is one way to defend your dog. i'm frances rivera.

thanks so much for watching arly today." "eha

more names and more stories emerging from the tragedy in oakland. this as a father shares his broken heart, talking about how his daughter was trying to pursue a beautiful live. getting a better grasp of the recovery scene. the process of identifying victims takes another step forward. >> i would rather get on the floor and be trampled by the parents than answer these ridiculous questions. >> those remarks just moments ago. the controversial response after derrick al mean ma is asked