and this is a michigan disaster. but honestly it's starting to feel like it's no longer flint. it's no longer just michigan waiting for his answer. it's starting to feel like it's the whole country. watch this space. "first look" is up next. it's wednesday, december 23rd. and right now on "first look," the war of words escalates between hillary clinton and donald trump. over trump's use of a vulgar term to describe her 2008 run against barack obama. >> it's important to stand up to bullies wherever they are. and why we shouldn't let anybody bully his way into the presidency. because that is not who we are as americans. new details about those six u.s. service members killed in a suicide attack in afghanistan. winter weather extremes across the country. a major storm brewing for holiday travelers. and one of the warmest christmases ever. plus a man pulled alive after being buried for 67 hours

in a china land slide. a close call for a skier on the italian slopes. and a would-be thief in russia hangs around just a bit too long. "first look" starts right now. good morning, everybody, thanks for being with us, i'm shannon mulaire. the fighting words are heating up between the democratic and the republican presidential front-runners. donald trump is now responding to his latest controversy over the use of an apparent vulgarity in reference to hillary clinton during a campaign stop on monday. in a series of tweets the republican presidential front-runner says that he meant hillary got, quote, beaten badly in the 2008 election and blamed the mainstream media for giving the wrong meaning to the term. he nsaid in an npr journalist use of the same phrase when referencing the 1984 election. for more on this and the clinton camp's response we turn to nbc's tracie potts who is live for us in d.c. good morning, tracie. >> hi there, shannon. good morning, everyone. donald trump was tweeting about

this late last night, into early this morning and hillary clinton at a rally last night described some of what's coming from the other side as she put it mean spirited. >> it's important to stand up to bullies wherever they are. and why we shouldn't let anybody bully his way into the presidency. >> that's hillary clinton after donald trump's crude and explicit references to her bathroom break at saturday night's debate. >> sorry. >> and her 2008 failed presidential bid. this morning trump's tweeting that the biased media incorrectly defined his words. but clinton's not the only one targeting him. >> it is so easy for billionaire cowards like trump to pick on poor people. >> reporter: polls are mixed. a new reuters poll this morning shows trump with triple the support of number two ben carson. >> some people have expressed concern that i would quit because my numbers have gone down. i'm not a quitter. >> reporter: but quinnipiac puts him just four points ahead of

ted cruz. >> people are waking up. there is an awakening, and there is a spirit of revival that is sweeping this country. >> reporter: that quinnipiac poll found half the country would be embarrassed for trump to be president. but in that same poll, nearly 6 in 10 americans, republicans specifically, said that they haven't fully made up their minds about who they're supporting so the person that they're supporting now isn't necessarily who they'll eventually vote for. shannon? >> still got a ways to go. tracie potts from d.c. for us. thank you, tracie. nevada prosecutors have filed charges against lakeisha holloway for sunday's rampage on the vegas strip. holloway is due in court later this morning where she'll be arraigned on charges of murder with a deadly weapon. child abuse. and felony hit and run. the latter alone punishable by up to 20 years in prison without parole. the district attorney says they may file more charges as the investigation continues. she's being held without bail. authorities say one person was killed and more than 30 injured when holloway repeatedly drove her car onto a sidewalk on the

strip. ramming into multiple groups of people before then driving off. for the first time since the military determined he would face court-martial former u.s. p.o.w. sergeant bowe bergdahl appeared in military court at ft. bragg in north carolina. bergdahl was arraigned on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. he did not enter a plea. bergdahl was held for five years by the taliban after he left his post in afghanistan in 2009. he now must decide if he wants to face a court-martial before a jury or a judge. his next court date is set for january 12th. we're learning more about the americans killed in monday's suicide attack in afghanistan. six u.s. service members were killed when a suicide bomber rode a motorcycle into a routine security patrol just outside bagram airfield in the deadliest attack on u.s. forces in afghanistan since july of 2012. nbc chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has more.

>> reporter: major adriana brugen dedicated much of her life to the air force. she's also the first openly gay american female officer to be killed in combat. she and five other u.s. airmen were meeting afghan leaders near bagram air base when a suicide bomber on motorcycle drove into the group and detonated his bomb. killing all six americans. described as a champion of gay rights she was most proud of her wife, heather lam and their young son jacob. in an emotional statement heather said adriana was the light of our lives. our son jacob and i miss her so much. she has always been my hero. never more so than now. sergeant joseph lemm loved to surprise his wife and two children. this is the first time he came home from afghanistan two years ago, after a ten-month deployment. and as a new york city police detective in the bronx, lemm was well loved. >> you met him, you knew him and you were his friend.

>> in all he did three combat tours before he was killed this week. those u.s. airmen killed, include staff sergeant louis bonacasa on his fourth combat tour. chester mcbride, a college football standout, and michael anthony cinco of rio grande valley, texas. while in washington, d.c., a restaurant was suddenly closed. the owner's son, staff sergeant peter taub was among the dead. loyal customers joined in the family's grief. >> the good people in america care about you and your son, your loss is our loss. >> this as taub's wife just learned she is pregnant with their second child. >> that was nbc's jim miklaszewski reporting. on the slopes of italy it was nearly a catastrophe when a drone fell from the sky almost crushing the austrian skier. the drone was carrying a tv camera and came crashing down during a world cup slalom race. he didn't seem to notice just

how close it came until later. he joked about experiencing, quote, heavy air traffic in italy on social media. last night a mysterious light streaked across the sky in the las vegas vicinity. airport officials said it was too high up to be a passenger jet while witnesses said they could see part of the object breaking up as it raced across the sky. as it turns out, officials at u.s. stratcom which tracks manmade objects say it was debris from a russian rocket that had been launched on monday. it's unclear whether it survived re-entry into the atmosphere. time now to get down to business with cnbc's kate rogers. good morning, kate. >> good morning, shannon. well the markets will try to go for three in a row today, after stocks rose again on tuesday. as investors start heading out for the holidays. look for data this morning on personal income, demand for durable goods, new home sales, and consumer sentiment. last-minute shoppers may have one thing on their minds, coffee. starbucks expects record gift card sales on christmas eve, as

consumers scramble to pick up stocking stuffers. the coffee chain sold nearly $2.5 million gift cards last year, or one for about every seven people. and santa, he's got an extra gift for music lovers this year. john, paul, george and ringo. a report the beatles will be joining streaming music services including apple music and spotify on thursday. unlike artists such as cold play and taylor swift who won't allow some songs on free versions of those sites the beatles will be available to everyone. back over to you. >> all right, kate thank you very much. have a great day. >> you, too. in sports, top ranked michigan state faced off against rival oakland in a thriller at the palace in auburn hills. oakland was up 50-37 at the half, led by a monster first half from guard felder who had 21 points and finished with 37. but the undefeated spartans rallied on the back of senior guard forbes to force the game into overtime. late in o.t. felder fouled out

and michigan was able to pull away for the victory 99-93 the final in that one. former nba player stephon marbury is idolized in china. he already has his own statue, and postage stamp. and now a museum, the house of marbury, is set to open next week in beijing. marbury has played in the chinese basketball association since 2010. and the most inspirational basket of the night goes to florida gator sophomore zach hodgkin's. he was born without the lower half of his left arm but was still able to walk onto the team. the 6'4" hoskins was subbed into the game in the only seconds with the outcome already decided. he made a sweet spin move and scored a lay-up. the gators win it. just ahead a big change in kentucky, prompted by the firestorm over a county clerk's refusal to sign gay marriage licenses. plus a surprise for travelers at a south carolina airport. >> the weather is going to steal the headlines over the next 24 hours.

a tornado outbreak is possible. details coming up next here on "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back. we are seeing weather extremes from coast to coast. much of the eastern and central u.s. is headed for the womanest christmas on record. but there's also a major storm brewing. severe weather threatening tens of millions of americans, and causing trouble for last-minute holiday travelers. nbc's miguel almaguer has details. >> reporter: the weather on i-49 along the texas/arkansas border turned the roadways deadly. three killed, seven injured in a blinding fog pileup. >> it sounded like a -- an explosion. >> reporter: the wild weather system creating half uk is also poised to shatter records. some spots 40 degrees above average. christmas eve in philly, 73. charlotte, 77. savannah, georgia, 79. 2800 temperature records already broken in december. in raleigh, where it will be 78,

the roads are sloppy. 2600 piglets were on this big rig. what they're calling the pork chop overturn. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: across the country, a different extreme fuelled in part by el nino. the jet stream funneling strong southern california winds, powerful enough to rip off roofs and topple trucks. in the sierras, this winter whiteout, beautiful, but dangerous. major roads shut down. others, brought to a crawl. >> these things have to be up on the tire. >> reporter: many here will be lucky to get home by christmas. >> it was supposed to be a christmas eve trip. but i didn't get out of town in time. >> reporter: in oregon, steve sills has spent 15 hours a day for the last 15 days fighting blizzards. so travelers don't get stuck. >> we can't afford to go down. we have to have everybody on hand. >> reporter: oregon and washington state have been hammered continuously. winds knocking down power lines and trees.

a season of extremes from coast to coast. >> nbc meteorologist bill karins is here. we're kind of reveling in how warm it is out east but it's severe weather in other parts of the country. >> yeah. possibility of tornadoes. we have a lot of dense fog that's going to be a problem this morning. there's a lot of weather concerns and a lot of people traveling over the next couple of days. the biggest concern, almost life-threatening concern is going to be the tornadoes later this afternoon. there's even a possibility a few this morning. we do have our tornado watch. a lot of heavy rain up the gulf coast and moving up the eastern sea board. be careful of that fog in the mid-atlantic and southern new england, it's dense this morning. tornado watch has been issued for areas of the texarkana area of shreveport, and lufkin. during the day today things will get more favorable for additional tornadoes. so, about 42 million people have a chance of severe weather today all the way up to southern michigan, even chicago, in late december, that's how unusually warm it is. it's so warm it's like april-like weather pattern out there across the country. so today, that severe weather

risk, best chance of tornadoes, memphis area, little rock, western tennessee, that will be late this afternoon towards this evening. and as far as the forecast goes tomorrow, this is when we're going to shatter records all the way up the eastern seaboard into new england. and by the time we get to christmas day, the severe weather threat will be over. we'll still see some isolated areas of rain, arkansas through pennsylvania, but it's still very warm, too. and you know, we have a chance for a few all-time december records. like warmest temperatures ever recorded in december, philadelphia and new york city included. >> a little outdoor barbecue for some of us out east. >> yeah. >> incredible. bill, thank you. if you plan to get married in kentucky the name of the county clerk will no longer be required on marriage licenses. kentucky governor signed the executive order yesterday. this comes after county clerk kim davis had defied a judge's order to issue marriage licenses to gay couples earlier this year because of her religious beliefs. in southern china, one survivor has been rescued so far from that massive landslide that buried33 buildings and left

behind more than a million square feet of debris. rescuers found the 21-year-old migrant worker earlier today after being buried for more than 67 hours. 85 people are still reported missing. and check out this police video of a thief who got stuck in the ceiling of a small store during a burglary in russia. police officers found the robber's legs dangling when they arrived at the scene. he was arrested after they got him out of there. and in south carolina, myrtle beach international airport had an unexpected guest early tuesday morning. a wile e. coyote entered the terminal through the baggage area. fortunately it was spotted and captured quickly by authorities. unfortunately it did have to be put down. well the stage is pretty much set for the next republican debate. details are just ahead. in "scrambled politics."

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all right now here's your first look at our wednesday edition of "scrambled politics." 111 million dollars. that's the amount of money spent so far this year on ads for the presidential election. it is a whopping $76 million more than at the same point in the 2012 race. at the top of the list, team bush with $38.1 million. that includes $37 million from the right-to-rise super pac and $1.1 million from jeb bush's campaign. among the lowest spenders, donald trump. no surprise there. who's used a paltry $217,000, all from his campaign.

speaking of the donald, he may want to watch his back in case hillary clinton is not the democratic nominee. a new quinnipiac university poll shows him losing to bernie sanders in a general election by 13 percentage points. that's nearly double the advantage hillary clinton has over the donald in the same poll. and fox business network has released their criteria for making the main stage in their upcoming rnc debate on january 14th. based on the five most recent polls recognized by fox, candidates must either place in the top six nationally, or top five in iowa or new hampshire. according to politico this likely means the debate will include only trump, ted cruz, marco rubio, ben carson, jeb bush, and chris christie. all other candidates with at least one percentage in polling will be kicked down to the undercard debate. and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." msnbc political reporter jane timm is here once again this morning. >> good morning. >> let's talk a little bit

about, guess who, donald trump? >> always. >> and the comments that he made. hillary clinton's top communications aide saying tuesday the campaign is, quote, not responding to donald trump's comment calling it degrading language that others should condemn. why not take it on herself? >> she doesn't have to. i mean it's so obviously vulgar and inappropriate, that she can just let it sit there. because it speaks for itself. she doesn't need to get into that fray, and as we've seen, anybody getting in the fray with donald trump usually loses so she looks better just for staying out of it. but it's clear as they say, everyone else should condemn it but clearly enjoying her being the subject of his attacks. makes her look lick every woman, every one of our sisters who has, you know, been called a name and inappropriate. >> you think that will be effective? >> for her it works for her viewers. the same way it works for his fans that he criticizes her it works for her fans. >> he comes back and says he didn't mean it in a vulgar way and even referenced an npr journalist who appearently had used that back in 1984 saying that's not what he meant.

so i guess the question for me, is there a chance that he doesn't understand the consequences here? or that he really doesn't understand what he's saying? >> i mean, he and the npr journalist can take it up with miriam webster. it may explain his use of it if he doesn't totally understand the word he's using or he thinks it means something different. it doesn't excuse it. he's running for the presidency. there's no do-overs or i didn't mean that when you're in a general election. i think that's what voters are going to be looking at. people are going to say, you know, maybe we need somebody who's not going to run into problems with words like that. >> then you hear other people talking about it. jeb bush sort of made his way into the situation here. condemning what trump said but also sort of using it against hillary saying she's going to make herself the victim here. is it advantageous for him to get involved in this? >> i mean $38 million and he's polling at 5%? it doesn't really matter what jeb bush says right now. the only thing that matters for jeb bush is if new hampshire decides to break and they break late for him. but if they don't he's sort of out of it.

>> jane timm joining us this morning. thank you much. >> thanks. just ahead, lady gaga got the best christmas present ever. plus get excited "star wars" fans, episode eight is apparently already in the works. we've got the details on it next. and to help you accelerate, we've created a new company... one totally focused on what's next for your business. the true partnership where people,technology and ideas push everyone forward. accelerating innovation. accelerating transformation. accelerating next. hewlett packard enterprise.

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welcome back. time for some entertainment news. "star wars: the force awakens" has been out less than a week but episode eight is already in the works. j.j. abrams, who directed the latest film, is already regretting not signing on to be the director of the next one, according to "the washington post." after reading the script for the new movie, he reportedly told a close friend, quote, it's so good i wish i were making it.

candice cameron burr, jody sweeten and andrea barber from full house are doing the nae, nae. all three will be reprising their classic nineties role for the series. >> are you a fan of full house? >> i was a fan of full house. >> come on. >> sorry. >> lady gaga got her christmas present early. it's a horse. the white horse was delivered -- >> of course, why not? >> -- by her record label. >> has to be a white horse. is that eye liner on it? >> a la gaga. and this sketch cut from last weekend's "snl," amy pewer and kyle played bickering siblings. >> you do think i'm stupid enough to not know that inventers come in all shapes and sizes. do you even know an inventor? >> yes. >> then name one. >> i'm going to. >> then do it. >> i'm about to. >> then say it. >> fine, adam. >> fine, that's one. >> and brandon. >> okay that was too easy. >> all right. you listen up.

>> i'm shannon mulaire and this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook at fab.com/first look msnbc. "way too early" starts right now. have a great day, everybody. the front-runners feud. a question from a young girl in iowa gives hillary clinton the perfect opportunity to respond to that personal attack from donald trump. >> you are looking at somebody who's had a lot of terrible things said about me. luckily i'm old enough that it doesn't particularly bother me. i do think we all have to speak up and speak out about trying to create an atmosphere where bullying is not appropriate, where it's not, you know, allowed. where people don't buy into it. >> we'll hear much more from clinton, plus trump has been doing some late-night tweeting. and with traction "the washington post" coming under fire for a cartoon depicting the daughters of ted cruzs amonkeys.

and we now know the identities of all six americans killed in that suicide bombing in afghanistan, among the dead a history-making air force officer. it is 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning, everyone, it is wednesday, december 23rd. christmas eve eve i'm shiba russell. donald trump is on the defense, taking to twitter to explain his use of a word that many find offensive. he uttered that word at a rally on monday night when describing hillary clinton's 2008 primary loss to barack obama. here's what the republican front-runner said on twitter yesterday, quote, once again, main stream media is dishonest, adding that the word he used is not