breaking news overnight involving the russia investigation. a developing report from buzzfeed news reveals that president trump himself told his personal attorney to lie to congress about the moscow tower project. a potentially life-threatening storm is already creating travel hassles in the midwest, and it's bringing heavy snow, sleet, and rain along with single-digit temperatures. day 28 of the government shutdown, and we are no closer to a resolution. as those getting squeezed the hardest are caught in the crossfire of politics and real-life consequences. >> a real paycheck that my husband's working really hard for. plus the bullied teen and the hero hockey all-star who delivered a life lesson that

he'll never forget. "early today" starts right now. good friday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. we have breaking news for you this morning. a bombshell claim in the russia probe. president trump allegedly knew more about the moscow tower project than he originally let on. buzzfeed news reports that the president directed his long-time attorney michael cohen to lie to congress about negotiations to build a trump tower in moscow. this is according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in investigation of the matter. nbc news has not yet confirmed the report. the sources told buzzfeed that mr. trump "had at least ten face meetings with cohen about the deal during the campaign." >> anthony cormier, who was one of the two reporters on the story, spoke with msnbc's ali velshi about the depth of the president's involvement. >> behind the scenes he was encouraging mr. cohen to set up a meeting overseas in russia with vladimir putin.

he was encouraging him to pursue the deal. and he was made aware of sort of granular details about the project, what it would look like, where it would be, where they would acquire the land. he was definitely read into this project to an extent he has not admit on the campaign trail. >> the buzzfeed report contradicts president trump's repeated claims that he did not have any dealings with russia. >> i have nothing to do with russia. to the best of my knowledge no person that i deal with does. >> that i have nothing to do with russia. i have no investments in russia. none whatsoever. i don't have property inthout i office buildings in moscow. i don't have property in russia. and i am in very -- i mean, i'm in total compliance in deals in. i have no deals that could happen in russia because we've stayed away. >> and according to buzzfeed it

wasn't just the pde children, ivanka and donald trump jr., also received regular detailed updates about the real estate development from cohen. the two sources told buzzfeed that cohen spoke to special counsel robert mueller and said the president instructed him to lie in order to obscure trump's ifl involvement in the project. as you might expect, this story is spark a firestorm on capitol hill. the chairman of the house intelligence committee weighed p np congressman adam schiff calls the allegation among the most serious to date, tweeting "we will do what's necessary to find out if it's true. california democrat and house judiciary member ted lieu tweeted in all caps, "this is obstruction of justice." the president's personal lawyer rudy giuliani also responded to the buzzfeed story, saying "if you believe cohen, i can get you a great deal on the brooklyn bridge." the white house itself has not yet responded to the story. we are officially four weeks into the government shutdown this morning. and the partisan divide in d.c.

is only growing wider. instead of figuring out ways to get struggling federal employees back to work, president trump and house speaker nancy pelosi are locked in a game of one-upmanship. in an apparent retaliation to the speaker's push to postpone his state of the union over the shutdown the president canceled pelosi's military transportation for an official overseas trip thursday. also citing the shutdown as his reasoning. nbc learned that just hours later melania trump was allowed to travel to mar-a-lago on a government plane. nbc's scott mcfarland joins us from d.c. with the latest. scott, good morning. >> reporter: frances, good morning to you. on a cold winter day here in washington, d.c. you really can feel the heat coming out of the capitol and the white house. no scheduled negotiations, no public meetings with coress o the president's scle tensions are rising due in no small part due to the president's decision to cancel speaker pelosi's trip with top democrats to egypt and then to afghanistan. he wrote in a letter to her, "it would be better if you were in

washington negotiating with me." this comes after speaker pelosi in a letter recommended the president reschedule his state of the union address, citing the furlough and the unpaid secret service workers who would be involved with the security regimen. right now here in capitol hill leaders are digging in and lashing out. >> i think the president's decision to disclose a trip the speaker's making to a war zone was completely and utterly irresponsible in every way. >> being speaker of the house and leaving the country when it's shut down, i don't think that's appropriate. especially -- especially the speaker thinks we shouldn't even have the state of the union? >> reporter: 3/4 of a million furloughed workers including air traffic controllers, tsa officers, they're working without paychecks. a new published report this morning says $1.5 billion is being lost each week by federal contractors. even the d.c. transit system losing a half million dollars a day. congress has canceled next week's recess and is back in

session come tuesday. back to you. >> all right, scott, thank you. well, the political theatrics play out on capitol hill, those really suffering are the hundreds of thousands of government workers caught in the crossfire, some of whom are now resorting to desperate measures with no paycheck coming in. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: walking a very thin financial tightrope, irs worker crystal kirkpatrick, air traffic controller tyler kenard and tsa officer tyrone sharper. cristsale now selling her own plasma for $50 to support her family. >> it's kind of uncomfortable to do it. you're 450hooked up to that machine. they pull out your blood, they spin out the plasma and pump it back into you. >> reporter: air traffic controller tyler kenard and his wife becky are facing mounting bills including regular hospital care for 3-year-old tucker's immune deficiency disorder. >> we're real families that need a real paycheck that my husband's working really hard for. >> reporter: tsa officer tyrone sharper and his wife ebony have

a 7-month-old to support. >> to say the tsa is important or that national security is important and then not to pay the people that are actually performing service as tsa agents i think that's not right. >> reporter: among the departments and agencies going without funding, homeland security, state, justice, commerce, interior, nasa, the epa, the ntsb, transportation, agriculture, treasury, hud, and parts of the fda. in the first two weeks of the shutdown 10,000 furloughed government workers filed for unemployment benefits. while some have gone to extremes. >> i mean, desperate times call for desperate measures. >> reporter: for face of the shutdown. tom costello, nbc news, washington. and we are learning about one ripple effect of the capitol hill stalemate that could have hazardous consequences. the shutdown has stalled training and other preparations for the wildfire season. firefighting training courses and annual retreats have been canceled from oregon to ten pen

because employees are furloughed. and the controlled burns of thin dry vegetation on federal land are not getting done. the fire season starts as early as march in the southeast. now to a stunning verdict in chicago. three current and former police officers accused of covering up the 2014 shooting of laquan mcdonald that made national headlines have been acquitted. nbc's dan scheneman has the fallout. >> this indicates to the court that there was no intent to include false information -- >> reporter: three chicago police officers found not guilty of trying to cover up the 2014 police shooting of laquan mcdonald. one of the three defendants, joseph walsh. >> heartbreaking for my family. a year and a half. >> reporter: the judge saying the evidence did not indicate the three officers conspired to hide evidence that would have incriminated officer jason van dyke, who was convicted of the shooting. >> these three officers were vindicated. but they paid a heavy price. and they have been badgered for over a year. and they shouldn't have been. >> reporter: the shooting was

captured on video. prosecutors said it showed van dyke firing 16 shots at mcdonald. the video was a key piece of evidence in both trials. >> to say that these men are not guilty is to say that jason van dyke is not guilty. >> reporter: family and supporters of laquan mcdonald expressed outrage. >> we know that the chicago police care more about protecting each other's lies than they care about the letter of the law. >> reporter: jason van dyke convicted of second degree murder and aggravated battery faces up to 96 years in prison. dan scheneman, nbc news. >> van dyke is scheduled to be sentenced today. disgraced movie producer harvey weinstein is parting ways with his criminal defense lawyer. in a statement weinstein praised benjamin brafman for his work, saying the two have split up amicably. brafman is leaving just weeks after failing to get weinstein's charges dismissed. weinstein has been charged with

raping an unidentified woman inside a hotel room in 2015. he has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. weinstein will introduce his new legal team next week. his trial date is set for may 6th. two men are fighting for their lives this morning after getting buried under an avalanche in new mexico. that was at the taos ski valley resort. emergency rescue teams first found the men unresponsive and not breathing. eventually they established a pulse and were able to stabilize them and take them to the hospital. ski resort officialsne at the highest point of the resort. there were close to 100 skiers out there w no one else was stuck. meanwhile, anothrp stru avalanche struck in utah. but this wen was forced by trarngs officials. a stretch of highway in provo canyon was buried in snow. the snow reached 30 feet deep in some parts. >> there's going to be a big stretch of the country over the weekend too. big karins is watching it for us. >> we have a lot of people going to be dealing with winter weather. 1500 miles of advisories,

watches and warnings. these are being changed by the second as we get the new updates in from the national weather service. and the number of people that are influenced is 104 million people. a little over a quarter of the population of our country has to deal with this storm. here's the snow footprint. you notice from iowa, minnesota and areas just north of st. louis to chicago, this will be today into tonight. tomorrow during the day in northern portions of the ohio valley three to six inches. it's really once we get into saturday afternoon, saturday night and then into sunday morning the heaviest snow will fall. that pink is a foot of snow. much of new york state. and then the heaviest snow up to 18 to 24 inches in the mountainous areas of krer7b89 and northern new england. just to the south of that in areas of southern new england my concern is for iegs. we' icing. areas of sleet especially in areas of connecticut. looks like massachusetts, southern new york and then below that freezing rain too, the possibility of? power outages. we'll watch that north of new york city. right now we're hoping new york city goed air behind our storm

system, look at it. it's up there in fargo. today where it's going to be negative 2. we could have a flash freeze on the back side of this storm, which won't help things either. >> wow. >> going to be a tough weekend. we've got to stay inside for a lot of us to stay safe. bill, thank you. fast forwarding into friday, south korean media reports north korea's top envoy is in washington, d.c. to meet with secretary of state mike pompeo and possibly president trump. they are locking to finalize plans for a new summit between the president and kim jong un. tens of thousands of people expected to gather at the national mall for the 46th annual march for life. a group of lawmakers k37d to draets crowd there. the national park service says it's using a grant from delta airlines to reopen the mlk national historical park in

atlanta. it's been closed because of the shutdown. ugsy? he's a wide receiver an abstract painter a super model in a word, he's complicated his food though is pretty simple he gets blue basics basics is a simple diet made with a single animal protein source, and ingredients you can understand it has no chicken, beef. dairy, soy, or eggs. ideal for dogs with food sensitivities you know who mugsy is... he's my boy. who loves his blue basics thanks to move free ultra 2in1... i keep up with this little one. see the world with this guy. and hit the town with these girls. in a clinical study, 4 out of 5 users felt better joint comfort. move free ultra. movement keeps us connected. i wish i could tell ya how i feel about a mornin' like this. and that includes a good hearty breakfast. you need somethin' to kinda warm the whole body up added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards

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elizabeth's 97-year-old husband prince philip was behind the wheel when his suv flipped. we're joined now by nbc's sarah harmon who is in london. sarah, it's amazing he walked away from this accident. >> frances, good morning. absolutely. the royal family got to be breathing a sigh of relief after prince philip walked away from a car crash yesterday. his land rover overturned on a public road. but buckingham palace says he wasn't hurt. another car was also involved in this released from the hospital. police say a breathalyzer test injuries. but they've already been are standard procedure in a crash like this and thater dverh passed. the cause of the crash is now under review. guys, a lot of reaction to this has actually been surprise that the duke of and he had hip year. but the queen's husband is also known for being fiercely independent. he jumped behind the wheel to drive president o'bam & if the first lady during their visit in 2016. here in the uk drivers do have

to renew their licenses just before their 70th birthday and then again every three years after that. inevitably some people are going to be saying he's 97 years old, he's super rich, it might be time to get a chauffeur. frances? >> we'll see, i'm sure. royal watchers and the world will be seeing when he's going to get behind the wheel at all, if again. sarah, thank you. >> you don't want to tell prince philip no, he can't do something. mah with mariah carey. >> i love it. love it. you work too hard to work this hard! you should be chasing people's pets... ...not chasing payments! quickbooks gives you a sweet set of business tools... ...that do all the hard work for you. you may groom corgis, but you don't have to work like a dog. (vo) you earned it, we're here to make sure you get it. (danny) it's time to get yours. (vo) quickbooks. backing you. new johnson's cottontouch™ a wholwash and lotionre for newborns is born

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britain's prime minister theresa may blpd the biggest [ bleep ] in a generation. >> i didn't want to stick my [ bleep ] into that meat grinder. >> adding to the circumstances he keeps [ bleep ] with putin. he takes the interpreter's [ bleep ]. he talks to [ bleep ]. >> no, he's [ bleep ] him severalere not [ bleep ] their children? wow, it's a lot of people. not one? >> friday. so that means unnecessary censorship time here on "early today." >> rudy giuliani probably hoping he would be censored before this segment. >> right. it looks like the most popular instagram post is trying to get poached by none other than ellen. remember this photo? it beat kylie jenner's post for the most liked photo on instagram with over 23 million likes. well, now ellen is attempting to steal the crown with this photo of kylie jenner's face inside the egg. she says according to her

calculations it will be the most liked post ever. so classic for ellen to get involved in everything. and it's not a matter of egg versus kylie. who wins? it's ellen who always wins, comes out on top. >> such a topper. kylie broke her rofrecord, righ? at the oscars to begin with. mariah carey is putting a spin on the ten-year challenge we've all been seeing for the past couple of days. this post on her twitter account she's her before and after. you see the major difference there. in mariah's world there is no time. always timeless. that's her thing. the ingenuity of this post, it's inspired other people on social media to share their own clever commentary on whether time is real or not. so what do you think about what mariah did here? >> i love. she's basically saying i'm not playing, i'm above it. time doesn't matter in mariah's world basically is what she's saying. >> time is a flat circle. >> it's nothing. >> you notice the only people

posting these are the ones who look better now than ten years ago. >> what you're saying is the reason you, me, and bill karins have not posted? yeah. we can connect those dots. still ahead, the new golf shoes that let you wear the green. you're watching "early today." out the door ♪ ♪ it's what i'm lookin' for ♪ today's the daisy i do ♪ daisy it's true ♪ before i get on the move ♪ i grab my special food ♪ today's the daisy i see ♪ the difference in me ♪ today's the daisy for cottage cheese (cottage cheese) ♪ ♪ today's the daisy for cottage cheese (cottage cheese) ♪ ♪ today's the daisy! (sigh) (crunch) babybel: that snack just sounded boring. babybel: coming through. no photos, please. babybel: bye bye, bland. babybel: helloooo, delicious. vo: rich, creamy, 100% real cheese. vo: with mini babybel, snack time is saved. babybel: saved it! thanks to move free ultra 2in1...

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plains. foot to foot and a half, maybe some areas up to two feet that will be the issue in areas of central and northern new england. here's the trouble on the roads, i-70 as we do through saturday, indianapolis, detroit. later 2349 day pittsburgh to buffalo have problems and the worst airport delays will be areas like new york city and boston as we go through the first half of sunday. >> it's going to be rough for them. bill, thank you. when we come back, a young athlete gets a life lesson he will never forget. ♪ those arms, they'll be jelly tomorrow. it'll hurt to sit. and laugh. 'cause that workout, is working. feed it, with special k with iron, protein and b vitamins. feed your progress. feed your power. feed your change.

so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients the top safety standards the new johnson's® choose gentle time now to check in with willie geist to see what's coming up on "sunday today." hi, willie. good morning. >> good morning, guys. good to see you. this week on "sunday today" my guest is andy samberg.

i sat down with the "snl" alum to talk about his return to nbc starring in the comedy "brooklyn nine nine." his harrowing audition at "saturday night live." and which of his groundbreaking digital shorts is his favorite. perhaps the one with justin timberlake about a gift in a box? our sunday sit-down with andy samberg. plus the latest news and politics this weekend on "sunday today." you can catch us in the morning or set your dvr and watch anytime. for now i'll send it back to you, frances and phillip. and i'll see you on sunday morning. >> all right, willie. that gift is certainly legendary. christmas season. >> yeah. i like the way he put that. all right. now to a bullied teen who got a personal life lesson from a sports hero he idolizes, telling him to never give up on his dreams. here's nbc's kevin tibbles. >> hey, ty. it's p.k. subban. >> reporter: a hockey superstar reaches out to a young boy in pain. >> as long as you're still breathing in this world, you've got to believe in yourself. >> reporter: 13-year-old ty cornet says he's being bullied for his race.

>> the first time they did it i started crying because i didn't understand awhy they'd do that. >> he came home and he asked me what the w0rd lynch met. >> reporter: ty's dad matt considered pulling him out of hockey in suburban detroit. but ty refused. >> i love hockey. i just skate away from the situation. >> p.k. subban with a blast. >> reporter: when the word got to ty's hockey hero, he immediately sent a mee. >> i was obviously excited to do that for a kid who's in a position that i've been in, you know, many times in my career. >> reporter: subban, an all-star with the nhl's nashville predators, loves kids. he's pledged $10 million to a children's hospital. >> let nobody tell you what you can and can't do. especially because of the color of your skin. >> i went crazy. >> he felt like flying that night. >> you play because you love the game and you want to play. let nobody take that away from you. >> reporter: a hockey hero helping one young man take his best shot. kevin tibbles, nbc news,

chicago. >> nike is set to release a new pair of sneakers that are bound to create a lot of buzz with golfers. the latest edition of the air max 1 golf brand is simply called grass. and look, you can probably see why. the shoes are inspired by golf courses and are covered in a turf-like material. there's no word yet on a release date but they are expected to sell for about $14 would see in phillip mena's feet? >> on the golf course, sure. i don't play golf, but if i did that would be cool. they have basketball shoes -- >> they 3w4re7bd right in. >> they 3w4re7bd right in. they couldn't that was, surprisingly, not terrible. even without scrubbing, lysol power toilet bowl cleaner attacks tough limescale and rust stains to clean 10 times better than clorox liquid bleach. lysol. what it takes to protect.®

ad lib live picture-- san and a good friday morning, 4:30 for you right now. take a look at this, a beautiful shot for us to start out this friday. we made it to the weekend. good morning, thanks for starting your morning here with us with "today in the bay." i'm marcus washington. we're going to get a look at the

roads in a bit but first, vianey, we dealt with so much rain, seems like it's pretty much out. i saw a few sprinkles on my windshield coming in. >> we're seeing activity on the radar and current temperatures are mild, san francisco 58 degrees. 51 degrees in san jose, 52 degrees in oakland. look at satellite radar, zoom in closer, we have plenty of instability just off the coast and that's what's going to bring light scattered showers, mainly passing through