the weekend presidential tweet storm from 1600 pennsylvania avenue, his target, unpredictable. as we enter day 24 of the government strike, is there any ending in sight? >> reports about new questions about the president and his dealings with russia, including fbi report and more. >> new details surrounding a happy 13-year-old jayme closs. after three months in captivity, today her abductor faces the judge. >> history on the grid iron with the first female to ever referee a nfl playoff game. >> another female face than any.

now she is eninspiring more girls to reach beyond the stars. "early today" starts right now. good to be with you. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. president trump facing tough kbez about his relationship with russia following a pair of bombshell reports. "the new york times" details an fbi investigation into whether the president himself was working for russia. while the washington post reported claims the president concealed details about his face to face meetings with russian leader vladimir putin, the president took to twitter in wake of the stories, tweeting over two dozen times throughout the weekend and started saturday morn ing with a volley of six tweets about the russia investigation, specifically targeting the fbi and its former director james comey. the tweet storm ended with the president talking about everything from border security and the wall to his push to withdraw troops from syria. he also poked fun at one ofs had i 2020 competitors, senator elizabeth warren. he also took a jab at amazon c.e.o. and "washington post"

owner jeff bezos who he dubbed jeff bozo. nbc's kelly o'donnell has more on this drama in d.c. >> reporter: snowed in at the white house, a bitter chill swept across washington. with disturbing allegations reported by "the new york times" and "washington post." that prompted this startling question from a friendly fox news interviewer. are you now or have you ever worked for russia, mr. president? >> reporter: president trump did not answer directly, but appeared indignant. >> i think it's the most insulting thing i've ever been asked. i think it's the most insulting article i've ever had written. >> reporter: at issue, the times reports that fbi investigated the president directly, suspicious that he might be aiding russia. and th p officials described the president as curiously secretive about his conversations with vladimir putin. even keeping interpreters' notes

from senior advisors. the secretary of state rejected those claims. >> the notion that president trump is a threat to american national security is absolutely ludicrous. >> reporter: but democrats demand more answers. house intelligence chairman adam schiff said we attempted to obtain the interpretary's notes. the republicans voted us down. will they join us now? >> why is he so chummy with vladimir putin, this man who is a former kgb agent, never been a friend of the united states? >> reporter: but trump ally senator lindsey graham said he is astonished by the fbi's actions. >> this really did happen. congress needs to know about it, and what i want to do is make sure -- how could the fbi do that? what kind of cck are there? >> reporter: "the new york times" also said that the fbi counter intelligence probe of the president became part of the ongoing mueller investigation.

no evidence has emerged publicly the president had any secret contact with or took any direction from russia. the president said in that televised interview that investigators found, quote, nothing. the white house press secretary dismissed the reporting as absurd and outrageously inaccurate. phillip? >> all right, kelly, thank you. >> as the longest government shutdown ever stretches into day 24, talks are frozen in d.c. literally. federal offices are closed this morning after a major winter storm buried the capital in snow. meanwhile, voters are growing more and more frustrated over the lack of a deal. and republicans are shouldering the majority of the blame. that is according to a new cnn poll. 55% pin the blame on the president. a "washington post" abc poll revealed similar results with over half holding mr. trump and republicans in congress responsible. 29% said it's the democrats' fault. nbc's tammy leitner has the latest on the impasse and its

impact. >> reporter: federal workers frustrations are now bubbling over. with recent protest in boston and d.c. >> i'm concerned. >> reporter: border patrol agent jorge yanos is working, but without pay. and as a last ditch effort, now heading to court. >> everybody is stressful. a lot of the employees work double shifts, and with no paycheck. so that's a slap in the face. >> reporter: yanos is nearly one of 30,000 federal employees in a lawsuit brought by their union. 800,000 federal workers aren't getting paid. the longest shutdown in u.s. history has a trickle-down effect on communities around the country, too. some fda food inspections have stopped. miami's airport forced to close one terminal because of a shortage of tsa agents. in the d.c. area, furloughed employees are turning to food banks for the basics. kennedy space center contractor leroy smith's wife judy didn't

fill an expensive prescription for seizures. >>e medicine. >> it's childish that you shut down the government just because you can't come to an agreement. >> reporter: ari an uncomfortable ance how long can you go on like this? >> personally, i would say at least another paycheck. >> reporter: that's it? >> yes. >> reporter: tammy leitner, nbc news, san diego. >> the suspect in the disappearance of 13-year-old jayme closs is due in court today. jake thomas patterson is accused of shooting and killing kloss's parents before abducting her in october. she was found 07 miles from her home and investigators are piecing together evidence to build their case against patterson. nbc's kathy park has the latest. >> reporter: these are the first photos of jayme closs, smiling with family and cuddling with pets after her three-month ordeal. >> she is eating well. she's happy, she's smiling. >> reporter: kloss managed a

dramatic escape thursday from a home in rural wisconsin, ending an hom with her aunt, an emotional reunion after the teen's alleged abduction and the brutal murder of her parents.jake patterson now in custody. the motive, a mystery. >> i don't know. if he just saw her or what the connection is, but there's been no contact, like everybody thinks. >> reporter: ahead of patterson's first court appearance monday, his lawyers released a statement to the associated press saying they are relying on the integrity of our judicial system to treat him fairly. one of patterson's neighbors said she was shocked by his arrest. >> jake seemed like a typical kid like any other kid in the neighborhood. >> reporter: at home gratitude for her safe return. >> we knew she was going to come home as a matter of time. >> reporter: a long awaited home coming for a community that never gave up hope. kalgt i park, nbc news.

>> we have sunday in three major u.s. metropolitan areas. in phoenix, police say a man got into a heated argument that turned physical outside a motel and opened fire, killing at least one. in all, three women and three men suffered gunshot wounds including the 18-year-old woman who died. the suspect is reported to be among the injured. and it was a terrifying scene at a mall near salt lake city where two people are in the hospital of owing a shooting.n the mall and it is believed to be gang lated. >> in charlotte, north carolina, police are investigating a shooting that left one person dead and the employee of a clothing store in custody. authorities believe the victim started an argument with the employee over a previous dispute. >> the spacex drive and supply craft has left the international space station. ground controllers released the cap tewell from a robotic arm on sunday and it will orbit the earth for a short while before reentering the atmosphere. a splash down is expected just after midnight pacific time west

of baja, california. the mission comes as the company announces it is planning to layoff about 10% of its work force, more than 6000 employees. >> nfl playoff axa head, but first on saturday, kansas city was battling some snowy weather that managed to get chiefs offensive lineman allen stuck in the show on his way to the game. along came dave cochran living out of his suv with his girlfriend and a small dog. cochran helped pull allen's car out of the snow so he was able to get to the game on time. >> after i helped him, he said he was a chief's player. i looked at him as a normal person, hope he would do the same for me as i did for him. >> as a thank you, allen gave that good samaritan two tickets to next week's afc game against the patriots. it will be cochran's first time attending a chiefs game. let's get to the games now and the big easy. one of the defending superbowl champion philadelphia eagles took a commanding 14-0 lead

before the saints offense finally kicked in. new orleans wouldn't get its first lead until late in the third quarter. this touchdown pass here to michael thomas, then with two minutes to play eagles down 6. quarterback nick foles throws a bullet to al shon jeffries. right through his hands, picked off by marshawn lat more, and that is ball game. saints 20, eagles 14. >> now to foxboro. the pats, they struck first, but the chargers matched right away. philip rivers dropping back here and chucking it down the field to keenan allen for 43-yard touchdown. looks like it's going to be a good game, right? wrong. the patriots would go on to pummel the visiting chargers 41-28. there is also some history made on that field on sunday. sarah thomas became the first woman to ever officiate an nfl playoff game. she was among the chargers game. thomas is the first female official in the nfl. she's now in her fourth season. >> millions were in the path of

a storm that contributed to seven deaths this weekend. a delta plane slid off the tarmac sy 9 inches of snow fell. fortunately there were no injuries. icy conditions led to mthehts serving the d.c. area. and virginia state police say they responded to more than 230 traffic crashes and more than 100 disabled vehicles. the storm knocked out power for nearly 200,000 people in virginia and north carolina. driver are urged to stay off the roads around the nation's capital where the storm has dumped more than 10 inches of snow in some areas and winter weather advisory is in effect until 5:00 a.m. >> it looks beautiful there, but it was chaotic. bill karins, good morning. >> good morning. yeah, today is going to be the play day and dig out day in areas of d.c. the storm is finally ending. the last of the now is now exiting areas of southern he snow footprint in day. d.c. 10 inches of snow, 8.7, highest total was missouri with 20 inches ofow

where is theby tt time we get t it's through the ohio valley even into areas of the northeast. when we get to sunday wool be t bad 79.or no one is going to complain in dallas with 48 degrees and a lot of sun shieb. so as i mentioned, the week ahead forecast gets very active. >> oh, boy, we'll be watching, bill. thank you. after three solid weeks kevin hart's the up side drowned out aqua man aqua man fell to weekend, this makes it the first d.c. comics film to reach the billion dollar mark since the dark night in 2012. sony's a dog's way home bringing in 11 million over the america' bust.

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winter is almost upon us. hbo releasing a dramatic new trailer for the 8th and final season of "game of thrones." it premieres april 14g9. the season will consist of eight episodes running as long as 90 minutes. >> we can expect our loved ones and friends to drop offhem again. >> basically mini movies. it will be cool. >> leading the news, tragedy strikes the theater community in stratford, connecticut after a fire destroyed the historic shakespeare theater. theuilding where greats like katharine hepburn, james earl jones once graced the stage was engulfed in flames.

it collapsed as they tried to put out the fire. this days after they applied for to renovate the theater. the fire is under investigation. >> center for disease control says the berth rate is at its lowest level in three decades. nbc news medical correspondent dr. john torres looks at the reason behind the declining fertility rate. >> reporter: at age 40, jennifer is happy with her decision not to have children. >> i love the spontaneity to be able to go and do what i want tl e a workaholic in trmz of i just really throw myself into writing. >> reporter: it's something she carefully considered with her husband jeremy. >> i think i just had a lot of other aspirations in mind. i wasn't -- i mean, babies are a lot of work, and i wasn't really willing to take on half that r: and it' making. a new report shows the u.s. birth rate is the lowest in 30 years. last year, just 3.85 million

babies were born. >> we are seeing that access to contraception is more broadly available to women and that's been giving them the opportunity to choose whether or not to have children at younger ages or at different stages in their life. >> reporter: other possible factors, more women delaying childbirth for professional reasons, economic uncertainty and drop in teen take home is that women have choices, to delay child bearing and to op mize their health prior to achieving pregnancy or attempting pregnancy is going to be best for their outcomes. >> thanks to dr. john torres for that report there. >> up next, the big winne back america. a sequel to the comedy classic. at walgreens, we want you, to keep doing you... and we'll take care of medicare part d. by helping you save up to $5 on each prescription...

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the critics choice awards, there were two ties. best actress went to both glecl for the kwief and lady gaga for a star is born. sharp objects and escape respectively. the other big winners were roma nabbing best picture. alphonso qur'an best actor. and vice. americans won best drama series and miss maisel. claire foy was honored with the see her award. >> still to come, the halftime show and we'll meet a woman helping girls reach for the stars. you're watching "early today." are you takinget tare yellow.

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a new program where students are being inspired by a woman who is literally reaching for the stars. here's nbc's kate snow. >> reporter: a rock star welcome for peggy witson. an astronaut who spent more time in space than any american. so when she visited this sacred heart school in greenwich, connecticut, the girls hung on every word. >> 15 to 16 sunrises and sun sets per day because we're going around the earth once every hour and a half. >> reporter: you could be doing a l a lot of things. why do you come and meet girls and look at their robotics projects? >> i think stem is extremely important. especially for young laid ids, i really want to promote the fact that science is cool. a lot of observatories can only see at night. >> reporter: the school is piloting a new partnership working with nasa and ibm to launch curriculum ideas and implement new technology. >> there are so many stars to see. >> 06? >> oh, boy, way more than that

even. >> reporter: when she was 9, neil armstrong inspired her. nasa was selecting the first astronauts. >> it was important to me to see that. it changed it from a dream to a goal. >> reporter: a reality, a possibility. >> yeah. so it definitely was something in t that made a difference. >> reporter: did you ever think you'd meet a real astronaut? >> no. >> reporter: how about a woman astronaut? >> no. >> i thought it was something like really amazing because that means anybody can do it no matter where you're from. >> they will be able to succeed. i did it. you know, i'm from a farm in iowa. >> great message. >> anything boys can do, you know what they say, girls can do better. >> can't argue with that. it is official. after months of speculation over who was going to perform at this year's superbowl halftime show, we finally havhe

we're talking about grammy award winning band maroon 5. the band posted the announcement on social media, but they will not be alone. rapper travis scott and big boy from out cast will also share the stage. the superbowl airs on february 3rd. >> nice. the first snowball fight of the year, people spent snow days gathered by national monument for showdowns. they were ready to battle. over 300 people rsvp'd to a snow down event by the snowball fight association by adult residents and visitors to join in. >> i think we have a new idea, how to end the shutdown right there.

new questions this morning about president trump and his dealings with russia and whether he himself was a threat to national security. day 24 in the government shutdown. patience is running thin as

unpaid federal workers are feeling a financial pinch while some are fighting back against furloughs. today begins a massive strike with more than 30,000 public schoolteachers and staff hitting the picket lines in los angeles. new details surrounding a happy 13-year-old jayme closs recovering with family after three months months in captivity. today her abductor faces the judge. get ready for the hottest wheels to hit the road. we'll take you live to the detroit auto show for a preview of this ye c