collection. the federal government remains shut down. for one reason, and one reason only, because democrats will not fund border security. >> president trump has chosen to hold hostage critical services for the health, safety and well-being of the american people, and withhold the paychecks of 800,000 innocent workers across the nation, many of them veterans. >> the primetime speeches are done. today leaders will meet again at the white house, but can a deal be made to rescue hurting furloughed federal workers, many starting personal gofundme pages to make ends meet. to a surprise former campaign manager, paul manafort and the mueller

investigation. the incredible piloting of a rescue helicopter that managed some acrobatic flying, all in an effort to save an injured skier. a life-saving leap caught on camera. and the most bizarre story of the day involving this california man. trust us. he is licking a doorbell for three entire hours. you got to see it to believe it. "early today" starts right now. good wednesday morning to you. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. as we recover from watching that there. all right. to the news this morning. president trump will meet with top congressional leaders for a third time this afternoon as the shutdown showdown closes in on the three-week mark. the latest round of negotiations comes a day after the president's national address, making his case for border wall funding. shortly after top democratic leaders gave their rebeutueauty rebuttal. >> the border wall would very quickly pay for itself. the cost of illegal drugs

exceeds $500 billion a year. vastly more than the $5.7 billion we have requested from congress. >> the president is rejecting these bipartisan bills which would reopen government over his obsession with forcing american taxpayers to waste billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall, a wall he always promised mexico would pay for. >> nbc's tracie potts joining us now from d.c. with the very latest on this. tracie, good morning. this shutdown now the second longest in history. >> right, fellowshphillip. we're in day 19. two more days it will become the longest shutdown that we've ever seen, and frankly, we didn't hear a lot different last night from eitherresident or democrats as tprise on this wall or steel barrier, as the president put it last night. the fac fac the

president throwing throughout. some of them were true, some of emd to have no basis. one thing he honed in on are crimes by immigrants in this country. >> how much more american blood must we shed before congress does its job, pass a bill that ends this crisis. >> the symbol of america should be the statue of liberty, not a 30-foot wall. so our suggestion is a simple one. mr. president, reopen the government and we can work to resolve our differences over border security, but end this shutdown now. >> reporter: their next opportunity to do that will be at the white house this afternoon, the third sit-down between democrats and republicans and president trump. phillip? >> all right. see if they can make any headway.

tracie potts leading us off on this wednesday. thank you. as the fight over the wall rages on in d.c., furloughed federal workers along the southern border are feeling the pain of the partialdsf employee families launched gofundme as the days tick by without a deal. gabe gutierrez is in el paso, texas with the latest. gabe, good morning. >> good morning. the president in his first prime time oval office address making the case for his long promised border wall and for increased security here at the southwest border. democrats, meanwhile, firing back as this government shutdown drags on. the president insisting once again that drugs are pouring across the border, but the drug enforcement agency has said the vast majority of illegal drugs come through legal ports of entry. drug smugglers using vehicles getting the drugs over the border. and critics say the wall wouldn't really do much to help any of that.

apprehensions at the up around 400,000 last fiscal year. not nearly as much year 2000, were there were more than 1.5 million apprehensions. here at the border there are many people who say this wall won't do much of anything, and it is the trump administration's policies that are forcing undocumented immigrants not to turn themselves in for asylum at legal ports of entry, but to try to make the dangerous journey to remote areas of the southwest border where they could run into more problems. two guatemalan children died last month due to health concerns. and while the trump administrationas blamed human smugglers for that, critics say it is the policies of this administration that are causing many of these issues. of course, the debate rages on here in the southwest border as this partial government shutdown enters its third week. >> all right. thanks to gabe gutierrez for that report. meanwhile, a major slip-up by paul manafort's defense team revealed a surprising new twist in the mueller investigation.

this after his lawyers tried to redact portions of a court filing and failed. whoops. president trump's former campaign chairman is being accused of sharing information with a russian national and lying about it. pete williams has the latest from washington. pete? while he was serving as campaign chairman, he was in contact at least twice with konstantin kilimnik, also described by robert mueller as man with ties to russian intelligence. the new details come in a document filed by manafort's eawyers with som out that can easily be read simply by copying and pacific northwesting them into a new document. they say manafort shared polling data with kilimnik about the campaign and met with him in madrid to talk about what manafort's lawyers call a, quote, peace plan for ukraine, the country where manafort earlier did political consulting work. they're statements made by

manafort's own lawyer in a document intended to refute claims. >> that was pete williams reporting. a russian lawyer who helped organize the infamous trump tower meeting with trump officials in 2016 is now the center of her own investigation. natalia veselnitskaya is being charged in a case involving moneylaundering and could face up to ten years in prison. nbc's richard engel has more. >> reporter: natalia veselnitskaya, the russian lawyer who met at trump tower during the 2016 campaign has been charged by federal prosecutors with obstruction of justice. the charges are not directly tr meeting. instead, center on e-mails first revealed exclusively by nbc news. >> what i wanted to ask you about are these e-mails, if you could take a look at them. >> reporter: but prosecutors said those e-mails are hers and

show that in an attempt to exonerate a client, a powerful russian businessman accused of moneylaundering in new york, she helped write an official russian government document. >> she had an extraordinary level of access that was not at all consistent with her representations that she was essentially an ordinary private defense attorney. >> reporter: we asked veselnitskaya how close she is to top russian officials. you said your relationship with the prosecutor general is what? >> reporter: prosecutors said veselnitskaya was in, quote, secret cooperation with a senior russian official, a reason she and that trump tower meeting are of such interest to special counsel robert mueller. >> all right, richard engel, thank you. we have an extraordinary look inside illinois police footage. it shows the harrowing moment an officer's overnight patrol stop spiraled out of control and spiralled into a deadly police

involved shooting. the tables turning when officer brianna tedesco was checking this driver's id. a warning. some viewers will find this next part disturbing. >> no, no, no! [ screaming ] the officer is trying to fight to get that gun away. he is pointing it at her head. moments later, her backup arrives and fires a shot that would ultimately kill that man. police say he was a suspect in the stabbing death days earlier of an elderly man in pennsylvania. caught on camera, tending to a disabled driver in ohio when a driver slams their vehicle. they jump over the barrier a split second before they would have been hit. thankfully no one was seriously injured. now two a vaping epidemic i erik america. it's so addictive, some teens are turning to rehab. here is catie beck.

>> reporter: at the peak of his addiction, 15-year-old luka kinard was spending $150 a week to support his vaping habit. >> i noticed this is getting out of control. >> reporter: his parents noticed too. a stellar student on track to become an eagle scout, suddenly withdrawn and unmotivated. >> he went from being a straight a student to an f student. >> reporter: luka was one of the 3.5 million middle and high school students using e-cigarettes, intended to be a safer alternative to smoking. but experts like sharon levy say for teens, it can be addictive, and the impact on their developing brain still unknown. >> they're getting very high nicotine levels in their bloodstream, and that's causing them problems with things like . and that's really new. >> reporter: now at her addiction clinic, she is seeing a surge in teens struggling to kick the habit. >> we're seeing more mental health and psychiatric problems that are happening immediately. >> reporter: after luka says excessive vaping caused him to have a seizure, his parents sent him to a 40-day treatment program where group counseling taught him healthy ways to cope with anxiety and stress.

>> we're grateful to have him back. we questioned whether we ever would. >> reporter: later this month the fda will discuss therapies for teens with nicotine addiction. for luka, where there is help -- >> it has given me another opportunity to start life back up. >> reporter: -- there was hope. catie beck, nbc news. the nation is remembering a former purdue university student and beloved college football super fan. he lost a fight with bone cancer last week at 20 years old. known for a positive outlook and passion for purdue's football team, trent received multiple awards for his spirit. udinerday a funerals we held. purdue's football coach and many players who spoke of trent's determination to live every day to the fullest. now. bill karinsnings. >> a big storm going up tghengl. even thunderstorms over areas of

connecticut. we still have winter storm warnings and watches and advisory. about nine million people in these right now. mostly northern new england getting hit the hardest, and the lake-effect snow machine. the storm will head up through maine. notice the snow showers still going later this afternoon, anywhere from western pennsylvania all the way through northern portion of new england and even continues into thursday as the cold winds will be r owing ove improving this afternoon. and in the south, a little cooler, but still a lot of sunshine. a lot of people keep wondering how much snow the east coast is going to get this weekend from that storm. those details coming up. >> i know. i've been bugging you about that. we'll hear from you later. thank you. the clemson tigers are back home in south carolina after winning the ncaa championship. the tigers were given a water

cannon salute as their plane landed. some cheering fans met them ahead of the big parade that will happen on saturday. clemson finished the season undefeated at 15-0 after they blew out the favorite, alabama. still ahead, a new freedom for florida felons which could have a huge impact on the 20 tent elections. plus, a savior on the slopes. the nail biting helicopter rescue caught on camera in the french alps. >> my goodness.

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morning, a dramatic rescue on a mountainside in france. a police helicopter traveling up 7,000 feet, stopping inches from the ground in an effort to save an injured skier. nbc's bill neely has the heart-pounding details. >> reporter: it's a breathtaking rescue. 7,000 feet up a windy mountainside, a police helicopter is guided in to an injured skier, then an amazing maneuver. balancing on one ski, the rotors inches from the snow as a medical team gets off. 19-year-old bruno is strapped nose of the aircraft almost touching snow. the skier is lifted up and away. any of those rescues have the potential to go very bad, very quickly. >> reporter: incredible, says the man, who filmed it all. >> it's absolutely incredible. and it did a perfect maneuver.

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disasters. >> it could have been used on that mountain rescue. not every pilot is as good as that guy. just days after lifetime aired an explosive docuseries detailing the alleged sexual allegations against r. kelly, the singer is now under investigation, the despite chicago police say thanksgiving have no current complaints against the singer. rehema ellis has the details. >> authorities are speaking out about decades of allegations against the singer, surrounding charges of domestic abuse and sex with minors. in a press conference, the cook county state attorney urged any potential victims of kelly to come forward. the allegations against kelly are back in headlines after the new lifetime docuseries, "surviving r. kelly" was released this weekend. it details the recent allegatios from parent whs say they're trying to free their daughters from kelly's influence. the state says it is trying to determine if anyone is in danger and if there is enough evidence for prosecution. r. kelly has denied all allegations. >> our thanks to rehema ellis for that report.

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is back with us, weekend storms that are brewing. >> it's too far away to give specifics for snow, but we'll say light, moderate, or heavy. we don't have any heavy snow out of this upcoming friday through sunday event, but for missouri through the southern ohio valley, that's the area at least light to at least moderate snow. >> all right, bill. thank you. when we come back, we will tell you all that we know about the most bizarre video that you will see all day. e postmenopausl osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture now might not be the best time to ask yourself are my bones strong? life is full of make-or-break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. serious allergic reactions, like low blood pressure; trouble breathing; throat tightness; face, lip, or tongue swelling; rash; itching; or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems as severe jaw bone problems may happen

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you tunnel under the border, and you can see the pilates has really paid off. why there hasn't been much -- i haven't seen that much crack on the subway since 1985. >> it is a lot of shimmy and a whole lot of crack when it comes to getting under that. >> yeah, that's a good joke. he hasn't been on the subway lately, apparently. >> apparently not. >> 2019, still around. well, this is one of the most bizarre stories, i think. so far this year, maybe even last year too. it's less of a ding don ditch and more of a dingdong date. there is this man in salinas, california. you know what he is doing? he is licking the doorbell. not for one, not even two, three entire hours. >> what? >> so after getting intimate with the intercom, police say he then relieved himself on the front lawn and stole extension

cords. how random. >> wow. >> investigators have since identified the ringer romeo as daniel arroyo. it is unclear if the chime will fit the crime. he could face charges for prowling and theft. >> wow. the dating scene in salinas, california must be horrible. >> absolutely no words. >> fill in the caption. what in the heck is this guy doing? oh my goodness. all right. transition to the next story. we do have a few more things to talk about before we go. dallas cowboys owner jerry jones, he got something pretty nice for the new year. he ushered in the new year in the lap of luxury. the billionaire reportedly spending $250 million on a nearly 360 foot long super yacht. that happens to be the exact same length as a football field. according to the dutch shipyard ocean co, the bravo eugenia, named after jones' wife comes

complete with not one, but two helipads. one is not enough. it has a gym, a sauna, a massage room and a pool. that's how you live right there. you own the cowboys. >> dallas in there somewhere, pillowcases. >> the pool. costco is selling a 6.6 pound tub of nutella, and people, as you can imagine, are losing their minds. the gargantuan bucket of hazelnut spread is here to ruin your rugtsesolutions. it holds about eight regular 13-ounce jars. 13-ounce jars. it serves 81 people, not just

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you see all of that green out there. lot of rain coming down, causing a lot of ponding, actually causing accidents as well this morning quite possibly. good morning and thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm scott mcgrew in for marcus washington. breaking news, a crash shutting down lanes on 101 in san jose. mike inouye is on that. >> we can show you we have all this activity above the