>> nbc news exclusive, u.s. officials believe vladimir putin is personally involved in hacking our presidential election. but donald trump is focused on job creation after an unprecedented meeting with the titans of tech. before the president-elect acts on climate change, california's governor promises to go rogue. >> and if trump turns off the satellites, california will launch its own damn satellite. we're going to collect that data. >> good news for parents desperately seeching hatchimals. >> and two hikers rescued after being sfratranded for days on a frigid mountain. "early today" storts now. >> i'm frances rivera.

ayman mohyeldin is on assignment. >> vladimir putin is heading to japan where he will hold a press conference with the country's minister. we get reporting that putin was personally involved in his country's covert campaign to interfere in the u.s. presidential election. this morning, we also learned new details about what officials believe motivated the blot. senior investigative correspondent cynthia mcfadden has the report. >> nbc news is report that vladimir putin was personally involved in the russian attempt to disrupt the u.s. election. two senior intelligence officials with direct access to all the information tell nbc news, the new intelligence is derived from diplomatic sources and others, including spies working for america's allies. specifically, a high level intelligence official tells nbc news, putin's role was directing the use of the hacked material.

putin's objectives were multifaceted. what began as a vendetta against hillary clinton morphed into showing corruption in american politics and creating the image that other countries couldn't depend on the u.s. to be a global leader anymore. >> he has had a den veta against kwik kwik. that's been knoeng for a long time. he wants to discredit american democracy and make us weaker in terms of living the liberal order, and most certaintily, he likes president-elect trump's views on russia. now it seems like we have evidence to support those hipoth cea sees. >> however, officials say u.s. intelligence dug into putin's personal empire and concluded the russian leader's network controls a staggering $85 billion worth of assets in russia. in"new york times" has a new report saying president obama deliberated for months on

whether to publicly blame russia but delayed his sdeshz decision for fear of it looking like he was meddling in the election. >> yahoo fears data for more than 1 billion accounts may have been stolen. that scandal dates back to 2013. making meatters worth is anothe massive breach announced a few months ago. in response to the latest information, they said we have taken steps to secure those user accounts and we're working closely with law enforcement. exposed information includes names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers. dates of birth, even encryptied security passwords. >> the prosecution now rests as closing aurnlts begin in the charleston shooting case against dylann roof. jurors were shown chilling video of roof taking target practice and played the 911 audio from

the horrific shooting that left nine churchgoers dead. gabe gutierrez has the details. >> after jurors saw these chilling videos of dylann roof taking target practice. there there's so many people dead. >> they heard the horrifying 911 call from one of the church massacre's three survivors, 72-year-old polly sheppard. >> he shot the pastor, all the people. come right away. >> she dove under a table. she testified roof asked, did i shoot you? no, she responded, and he said i'm going to leave you here to tell the story. then came more gunshots. >> what's going on, ms. poly? >> after his arrest, fbi agents asked roof about the woman he spared. >> do you remember telling that lady i'm going to let you live so you can tell my story. >> yeah, i remember saying that, but there's really no story. >> investigators say there's a long story, that roof carefully

planned out his racist rampage. >> those who died that night simply died because they were there and they were black. >> malcolm graham is the brother of cynthia herd, one of the charleston in my opinion who was shot at least 7 times. roof's lawyer did not cross-examine poly shepherd, telling her, i'm so sorry. >> that was gabe gutierrez. >> evacuation of aleppo is under way. buses and ambulances entered the rebel-held areas of the city, and the russian defense ministry claimed 5,000 rebels and their family members are being evacuated. matt bradley joins us with the latest on what could be a crucial turning point for the civilians especially. >> good morning. the evacuation of civilians from east aleppo is finally beginning. the russian ministry of defense said this morning that the first convoy of buses carrying some 5,000 rebel fighters and their families had left the previously held eastern -- previously

rebel-held eastern neighborhoods. most would be taken to the relatively peaceful province in northern syria. it's not entirely clear all the buses have actually departed. live footage showed buses arriving in order to take civilians but not yet departing. they'll be accompanied by russian trooped who will escort them into idlib, and the russians being allies of the syrian regime. if you remember, there had been a deal late on tuesday evening to get non-combatants out of the city. that deal was delayed on wednesday morning and finally scrapped, leaving what many thought to bow tens of thousands of people trapped in aleppo. waw was reached today was a new deal. all of this as the battle for syria's largest city comes to a very violent end. >> matt bradley, thank you. back here in the united states, democratic california governor jerry brown had tough words for the incoming

administration. he voiced his support for climate change in a special lecture while vowing to fight washington tooth and nail in the name of science. >> we have the laws. we have the tools of enforcement and the political will. we will set the stage. we'll set the example, and whatever washington thinks they're doing, california is the future. and if trump turns off the satellites, california will launch its own damn satellite. we're going to collect that data. >> california's governor making news there. also out of the state, tech titeants from the country's leading businesses descended on to trump tower. they met with donald trump, mike pence, and trump's adult children. it was a clash of the powerful as they met to make amends with an incoming president many worked hard against. those names including sheryl sandbe sandberg, apple's tim cook, and amazon's jeff bezos. >> this is a truly amazing group of people. i won't tell you the hundreds of

calls we've had asking to come to this meeting. >> but one company was noticeably absent. twitter, trump's favorite communication tool, was not represented at the summit. trump clashed with the company during the campaign. however, a transition official tells nbc there was only so much room at the table. the key items discussed, jobs, privacy concerns and the building of tech products and innovation. >> lock ok at this amazing new video. forest rangers rest cued hikers in upstate new york. the pair spent two night in the freezing cold and were suffering from hypothermia. they wrapped them in blankets and flew them to a medical center. >> a warning from a masnasa scientific that got our attention, and bill karins has the snow and coast to coast cold. >> we had snow in portland,

oregon, 2 1/2 inches yesterday. and icy roads. the biggest story has been the arctic outbreak. still negative 20 windchills and that's now blowing into the northeast. in the west, a plume of moisture into northern california. flood watches continue. now we'll see everything heading further to the south. we were focusing from medford to eugene northward. look at all the flash flood watchings. in the mountainous areas. 1 to 3 inches. in the valleys, half cascades a sierra. we don't have to worry about the passing too much yet. and it looks like by friday afternoon, this big storm that's been hitting the west will start moving on out. >> just in time for the weekend. bill, thank you. >> she may look innocent, but

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yesterday, and nine months later, they were able to put their differences aside. >> you know what you did and i know what i did. i'm not going to say you're wrong or i'm wrong or you're right or i'm right. it's between two men that for whatever reason, the argument and whatever occurred, we both know what occurred. we don't have to tell lawyers or nobody. i hate it worse than anything in the world. if i met you in the street and the same thing occurred, i would have said go on home. >> exactly. >> that's what i'm saying. >> exactly. >> but we called up in a political mess, and you and me, we have to heal our country. >> the rest of the country can follow. at that hearing, mcgraw pleaded no contest and was given a suspended 30-day jail sentence. leading the news this

morning, could a drone be delivering your holiday presents this time nev next year. amazon said they made their first prime drone drivery. the lucky recipient of the first drone delivery got a package earlier this month near cambridge. it took 13 minutes from click to delivery. what did they order? amazon fire tv and popcorn to go along with it. >> earth is due for an extinction level event. that's according to a nasa researcher. he says a civilization killing asteroid like the one believed to be responsible for dinosaurs' extinction tend to happen 50 million to 60 million years apart. you could say we're due for one now. the nasa scientific warns the planet isn't prepared for such an event. he suggested building an interceptor rocked. >> just ahead, own a piece of rock and roll history. >> plus, more of the holiday's hottest toys hitting shelves

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so yes, they let women do some things at nasa, mr. johnson, and it's not because we wear skirts. it's because we wear glasses. >> fast forwarding today, the actors from the film "hidden

figures" will be at the white house for a west wing screening of the flick. the movie focuses on the brilliant african-american women working at nasa who helped launch john glenn into orbit. >> today, the u.s. of recreational marijuana becomes legal in the state of massachusetts. the legalization comes over a month after an initiative was passed in the bay state. 1.8 million people voted for the measure despite opposition from top paul tizes, doctors, and religious groups. >> the number 17 is set to roll into new york's times square before it's placed on the new year's eve ball. today marks 17 days before we ring in the new year. >> janet yellen's fed raised interest rates, but what surprised people was the coming year. the three interest rate increases are based on president-elect trump's expected business plans. >> the marketst will attempt to

resume their upward climb today following the fed's first interest rate hike in a year. that move was expected, but investors are now grappling with the fad signaling it could raise rates three more times next year depending on the state of the economy. the dow jones industrial backing off yesterday with its worst performance in more than a month. just hours after uber started picking up passengers in california in driveless cars, they're ordered to shut down. they must be tested on public roads or face legal action. uber argues their cars are not truly self-driving because they have a driver who can take the wheel if needed. >> also, if you haven't gotten your hands on the hottest tie of the season, toys "r" us will ship their shelves with a new shipment on sunday selling them for more than $20 than the

retail price, they're going for more than $100 on ebay, sore maybe it's a deal. >> sometimes even more, twice that. great to see they're restocking. thank you very much. >> just ahead, an ugly sweater too steep for our own pockets, and how many guests can you fit at your christmas dinner table? bet it's not as many as this woman. we'll bring you her story next on "early today." a sugar shield to protect teeth from sugar found in everyday foods. crest complete. shield your teeth from sugar. so sugar may visit, but it's not sticking around my hygienist told me to try... ...a mouthwash. so i tried crest. it does so much more than give me fresh breath. crest pro-health mouthwash provides all of these benefits to help you get better dental check-ups. go pro with... ...crest pro-health mouthwash. checkup? nailed it. no, no, no, no, [music] people are both soft and strong...

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dinner? for one washington, d.c. woman, the guest list is nearly 400. nbc's pete williams picks up the story from here. >> welcome to my house. >> reporter: shirley gibson is serving an early christmas dinner. opening her home to honor washington, d.c. police officers. she and her husband harrison do it in tribute to her son. 27-year-old brian was killed in 1997, an ambush shooting as he salt in his patrol car at a traffic light. after his funeral, she tried to figure out how she was going to get through the holidays. her solution, cook all her son's favorite dishes and invite his fellow officers. >> it makes it great, it starts holidays for us. >> reporter: she cooks three days in advance. it's now so big she's decided at able 70, this year's dinner will be the last. >> oh, my goodness. >> reporter: when she arrived to start shopping for the final time, a big surprise, dozens of

police officers met her, forming an honor cordon at the store entrance. inside, washington's mayor, murial bowser with an early christmas gift. impossible to get tickets to the city's hottest attraction. >> we want to provide you and your team with 15 tickets to go to the african-american museum of history and culture. god bless you. >> thank you so much! >> we just have to thank her for all the good meals and all the love and fellowship she's provided to all of the officers. >> all of these officers come into my house and hugging miss gibson and you feel his service representative on the side. when they hug me, it feels like my brian. >> reporter: 20 years of honoring horson's memory and serving comfort and love. pete williams, nbc news, washington. per roll

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all right. we're tracking our storm coast to coast. 1:00 today, the rain in san francisco. high elevation snows in the sierra. about 7,000 feet and higher. then the storm through the rockyinize to the plains tomorrow. snow storm, minneapolis, green bay, areas forth of chicago, maybe even detroit, and then saturday into areas of the northeast. quite the storm, and it will move fast across the country, but be prepared in california for wet weather heading south. >> a little bit for everyone. thank you. a new york college student who said she was harassed by a group of donald trump supporters apparently made it all up. sources tell nbc station wnbc she was arrested and told police she made up the claim because she was out drinking with friends and wanted to avoid upsetting her father.

she told police three men approached her on a subway, told her to get out of the country and called her a terrorist. legendary jewel thief who police say is doris payne, is at it again. she's been arrested for allegedly trying to sell a $2,000 necklace from a atlanta jewelry store. she hid it in her back pocket. her exploits were so impressive, they were chronicled in a documentary. now, she said she let boredom get the best of her. >> she knows it's not good. i think it's the thrill. >> a bond hearing for the accused stealer is scheduled tomorrow. >> if you want to get your hands on a great piece of rock 'n' roll history, bruce springsteen's first car is up for grabs. it's selling on ebay, the latest bid stands at a little over $120,000. he bought the ride for $2,000 in

1995 and he wrote classics in it, and in five days, the classic convertable will find a new home. >> the duchess of cambridge was sight as a special place, celebrating the cub scouts 100th anniversary. duchess kate kwocoordinated activities for 25 kids. she joined them in parachute games, first aid training and cupcake decorating. she helped them renew their cub promise, 160,000 members will renew their promise this week. >> if you're still searching for the perfect ugly christmas sweater this season, this is it, but you have to shell out about $30,000 for it. it's the world's most expensive ugly christmas speter. it has 25,000 swarovski crystals in the shape of santa riding a unicorn. you can buy it at ti

tipsyelves.com. >> and a reminder, christmas, ten days away. see you back here tomoow.rr

bracing for impact. the sandbags are out and the rain preparations are in full force this morning. we have team coverage to get you out the door safely. "today in the bay" starts right now. good thursday morning. thank you very much for joining us, i'm sam brock. >> are we ready to get soggy? i'm laura garcia-cannon. it's a storm we've been talking about for days and for parts of the bay area it's already here. a live look at the santa cruz mountains, rain already coming down, and there's more of where that came from. >> we'll have more on the impact the loma fire might have on debris flows. first, our microclimate weather team is tracking the storm right now. let's check with kari hall. >> we'll see it moving into t