breaking overnight, the fiery mid-air collision over our nation's capital. an american airlines regional jet colliding with an army black hawk helicopter near reagan national airport. the crash sending the plane plunging into the icy waters of

the potomac river. a rescue effort now under way for the 64 passengers and crew members aboard the jet. that effort complicated by darkness, wind and cold temperatures. many feared dead. the very latest just ahead, as "early today" starts right now. glad you're up early with me. i'm frances rivera. and we begin with that breaking news i in washington, d.c. an american airlines flight colliding with a black hawk helicopter over the potomac river. here are the latest details we know at this hour. a military official tells nbc news the helicopter was on a routine training flight. the faa says the collision happened while the commercial plane was approaching a runway at reagan national airport around 9:00 p.m. local time. it was arriving from wichita, kansas. american airlines confirming that there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the commercial flight. president trump says he has been fully briefed on the accident, saying, in his message, may god

bless their souls. the ceo of american airlines says that he will be traveling to washington, d.c. soon. in a video message, he shared his deep sorrow for the victims. >> our cooperation is without pause, and we want to learn everything we can about today's events. that work will take time. but, anything we can do now, we're doing. we know that many people will be concerned for the welfare of their loved ones. and we've set up a special help line friends and family can call at 1-800-679-8215. that's 1-800-679-8215 if you believe you've had friends or family on board american eagle flight 5342. >> nbc's alice barr joins me now from d.c. good morning. what more do we know about the urgent effort to find the passengers this morning as they're still calling this a rescue mission. >> reporter: frances, this is just a tragic situation. very quickly developing, obviously. there was a briefing overnight,

and, at that time, all the officials that were assembled at reagan national airport were still calling this a rescue operation. we have learned that there have been some bodies recovered. that's according to nbc washington, our local station here. and the rescuers, the dive teams, search crews out there are dealing with very difficult conditions. we want to let you hear from the d.c. fire and ems chief, john donnelly. he's talking a little bit about some of those conditions. >> the water that we're operating in is about 8 feet deep. there is wind. there is pieces of ice out there. so it's just dangerous and hard to work in. and, because there's not a lot of lights out there, you're searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody. divers are doing the same thing in the water. the water is dark. it is murky. and that is a very tough condition for them to dive in. >> reporter: and there you can see that is the fireball that

was recorded at the moment when the passenger plane with 60 people on board, 60 passengers, four crew members, collided with that u.s. army black hawk helicopter, that u.s. military official said had three people on board as well. that was evidently a training flight, according to that u.s. military official. we had senators from kansas among the people that were at the briefing last night. th talked about how they are going to know people that were onhat plane, saying that they are mourning with the families who lost loved ones and that community, the relatively small community of wichita, kansas will be coming together. we are getting some details about who was on that passenger plane. u.s. figure skating confirmed that several coaches, athletes and family members were returning from a national development training camp for top juvenile figure skaters that's held directly after the

u.s. figure skating championships that were in wichita, kansas. so they're expressing, of course, the sorrow and tragedy that would have been young people who were up and coming in the figure skating community, talented, but just young lives as well as some more devastation to hat we're learning here. >> this as we are getting word that the next briefing will be at 7:30 local time. alice barr, thank you. reactions to the disaster are pouring in from political leaders and lawmakers. vice president jd vance said on twitter, please say a prayer for everyone involved. senator jerry moran from kansas addressed the tragedy at the press conference earlier at reagan airport, and here's what he said. >> it is certainly true that in kansas and in wichita in particular, we're going to know people who were on this flight, know their family members, know somebody. so this is a very personal

circumstance as well as an official response. and, again, we're, we will do everything we can to make certain that we're supportive of the rescue efforts. >> california congressman eric swalwell says he landed about 15 minutes before the accident and his thoughts are with all the families. and american airlines put out a statement saying the concern is for all the passengers and crew on the aircraft. they also provided a toll frenum for anyone who thinks they had loved one on board the flight. here's that number. 1-800-679-8215. last night's mid-air crash is the biggest air disaster in the area since january of 1982. that's when air florida flight 90 crashed into a bridge and plunged into the potomac shortly after takeoff. 78 people were killed, including four people on the bridge. four passengers and one crew member survived.

an investigation found that the night crew failed to de- ice and should have aborted the takeoff. it is regarded as a seminal accident that led to changes in the aviation industry, including in cockpit communication routines. we will continue to follow that tragic crash throughout the morning. and to other big breaking news overnight. hamas beginning the release of more israeli hostages this morning. at least one person, agam berger, has already been released. also expected to be released today arbel yehud and gadi moses. three more captives are expected to be released saturday. many hoping kfir bibas, the youngest hostage to remain in hamas' captivity will be among them. for more, let's turn to claudio lavanga. good morning, claudio. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's right. early this morning, we saw footage of hamas handing over agam berger to the red cross and then in turn to the israeli defense forces who confirm that she's now on the way back to

israel where she will receive immediate medical assistance as the other hostages have been released until now. next in line, arbel yehud, a 29-year-old israeli civilian who was already expected to be released last weekend. but whether it became clear that she was not among those released by hamas, israel accused hamas of violating the terms of the cease-fire agreement and stopped hundreds hundreds of thousands of palestinians from returning to the northern gaza until she is released. and the third one, one of the oldest hostages, israeli hostages still in the hands of hamas, 80-year-old gadi moses. in turn, or in exchange, israel is expected to release 110 palestinian prisoners. then on saturday, another three hostages, israeli hostages, are expected to be released.

as you mentioned, among them, the hope is that there will be kfir bibas, who was only 9 when he was kidnapped on october 7, 2023 and turned to 2 while in captivity. >> claudio, thank you. now to the severe weather threat in the south. let's get a check on your forecast. here's meteorologist angie lassman. good morning. >> hi, frances. good morning to you. we have flood alerts as the system starts to work its way to the east from dallas to paducah. this is what we're going to deal with through the day today. we'll have severe storm threats from texas to louisiana. but we've also got the chance for flash flooding across this region with some of those training storms ramping up. by tomorrow, a wintry mix for parts of new england. today we're ing to focus mainly on that area that i mentioned for severe weather. houston, alexandria, monroe and

stretching to the gulf coast. the biggest chance for wind gusts will be out there. it is unusually warm for this time of year. mild conditions for the northern tier to the south. 50s in cincinnati and st. louis. 70s for shreveport. green bay, almost 30 degrees above normal with a high of 53 degrees. mid-50s across much of the midwest. 50 for philadelphia, and near 80 degrees in gainesville. these temperature also start to dial back and become a 50 degree 50s for chicago. plenty of sunshine today in minneapolis and green bay. and that's a look at your forecast, frances. back to you. >> appreciate it, angie, thank

you. still to come, the fiery confirmation hearing for robert f. kennedy jr. on capitol hill. and a whirlwind 48 hrsou for the trump administration. why president trump is rolling back his controversial funding freeze. up to five days of moisture and no wash days in between? let's see about that. day two, headed to work, but i feel like i'm about to drop a hit single. all the cuties are at the run club. good thing these curls are curling. can you believe this is day five? i think i could go even longer. up to five days of lasting moisture. endless possibilities. imagine what you could do in five days. can neuriva support your brain health? mary, janet, hey! eddie, no. frasier, frank. frank? —fred, how are you? —fred! support up to 7 brain health indicators, including memory. when you need to remember, remember neuriva. mopping is hard work, but then i tried the swiffer powermop. it has a built-in solution that breaks down dirt on contact.

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anti-industry. i am neither. i am pro safety. >> reporter: clashing with democrats over previous statements. >> i support the measles vaccine, i will do nothing as hhs that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking them. >> you look at the measles book you wrote. >> did you say lyme disease is a highly-likely militarily-engineered bioweapon? >> i probably did say that. >> when was it that you decided to sell out the values you've had your whole life in order to be given power by president trump? >> reporter: kennedy, who ran for president as a democrat and an independent lashing out at his former party. >> they used to be my friends. now they're against me, because anything that president trump does, any decision he makes has to be lampooned, derided,

discredited, marginalized, vilified. >> i truly appreciate what you're doing here. >> reporter: finding common ground with some on a push for healthier foods. and after being supportive of reproductive rights as recent as 2023, kennedy assuring republicans he's now opposed to abortion access in most cases. >> he wants to protect conscious exemptions and end federal funding for abortions here or abroad. that's title x. i serve at the pleasure of the president. i'm going to implement his policies. >> thank you for that. >> and our thanks to vaughn hilliard for that report. new immigration actionrom president trump this morning. the president signing a memo to begin preparations to house migrants at guantanamo ay. pete hegseth added that it's a perfect place for the mass

deportation plan. it comes as president trump signed his first piece of legislation, the laken riley act. the law was named after a georgia nursing student murdered last year by an undocumented venezuelan national. now to a major reversal on one of the most controversial actions. on wednesday, the office of management and budget rescinded the order for a widespread freeze on federal grants and loans. it comes after a federal judge blocked the initial action after outcry from democrats and non-profit groups. the order sparked confusion over which programs could be affected. the initial memo said it would pause financial assistance to programs that might run counter to the president's executive actions. the federal reserve left interest rates unchanged. fed chair jerome powell saying while inflation remains somewhat

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leading the news, former senator robert menendez sentenced to prison. a federal judge giving the disgraced senator 11 years after he was found guilty of bribery, extortion and cting as a foreign agent. the new jersey democrat who was convicted last july railed against his sentence while leaving court. >> president trump is right. this process is political, and it's corrupted to the core. >> the judge said the 71-year-old menendez will not have to begin his sentence until july so he can attend the trial

of his wife and co-defendant nadine. lawyers for new york city mayor eric adams are in talks with the justice department about dropping the case against him according to two people briefed on the matter. while this is not unusual, one of the sources tells nbc news there's no indication federal prosecutors will drop the case. he pleaded not guilty to federal corrupon and bribery cases last year. a spokesperson declined to comment. the defense intelligence agency pausing observances on some historical events. they include martin luther king jr. day, pride month and holocaust days of remembrance. the move comes in response to president trump's ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal workplace. the pause only affects the

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kansas. 60 passengers and four crew members were on the flight. and three people on the helicopter. crews have been searching the icy river throughout the night. at least 12 bodies have been recovered so far. there have been no word of survivors. in a statement to nbc news, u.s. figure skating confirmed that several members of their skating community were on board that flight. if you have friends or family on board, american airlines has set up this number, 1-800-679-8215 where you can call and get information. and our coverage, of course, will continue here on nbc throughout the day. turning to those devastating wildfires in los angeles. the palisades and eaton fire are now at 97% and 99% containment. and this morning we're getting a first look at the daring rescue efforts during the height of the fires.

from nbc l.a. robert kovacic has the story. >> reporter: the first hours of the eaton fire as it rages through the night. >> there are several police officers and also ambulances trying to evacuate these people. >> reporter: it includes the evacuation of those who may need a little extra help to get out. nbc 4's continuous live coverage shows our perspective from outside a retirement home now. >> sheriff's department, anybody inside? >> reporter: the los angeles county sheriff's department sharing the view from inside, body cam video worn by the deputies show the pair combing through the retirement community as the fire only continues to grow in the early morning ours. >> oh, my gosh. >> reporter: and then, they hear a voice. >> hello? >> hello. >> hello! where you at? >> reporter: a 100-year-old resident. >> hello! >> hello.

>> where are you? >> here i am. >> oh, hi. is anyone else with you? >> no. >> where were you at? >> what? >> which room were you from? >> i've been trying to find a way out. >> let's get you out of here. >> let's get you out. >> where do i go? don't lose me. >> reporter: with calm reassurance, they guide her carefully to safety and then return to double-check no one was left behind. sheriff luna commending not just this pair for taking immediate and swift action but all of his deputies who went into the fires to save lives amid such danger. >>

breaking overnight. the fiery mid-air collision over our nation's capital. an american airlines regional jet colliding with an army black hawk helicopter near reagan national airport. the crash sending the plane plunging into e