chuck will be back next week. if it's sunday it's "meet the press." it's monday, december 28th and right now on "first look" wicked weather leads to numerous deaths as multiple tornadoes tear through texas. icy roads and flooding cause treacherous travel for millions returning home. iraqi forces claim key victories against isis in ramadi, as the islamic state in retreat. donald trump takes aim at bill clinton while hillary says the donald has a penchant for sexism. plus "the force awakens" the fastest billion dollars in movie history. apparently it's not better to give than to receive, and peyton manning vehemently denies hgh allegations. "first look" starts right now.

and good morning enk, thanks for being with us. massive tornadoes over the holiday weekend left at least 23 people dead and a path of destruction along much of the south. texas was especially hard hit. at least 11 people were killed there from tornadoes on saturday including a monster category 4 in garland and a category 3 in rowlett. hundreds of homes destroyed and tens of thousands remain without power. the governors of texas and missouri declared states of emergencies in the affected areas which have to deal with the effects of heavy flooding and a life-threatening and crippling blizzard which dumped two feet of snow in some areas of texas. nbc's brian moore brings us up to speed. >> reporter: across a huge swathe of suburban dallas, residents are struggling to pick up the pieces. survivors but still victims of a monster storm and the massive tornadoes it unleashed.

>> we built the house, 28 years. i don't know. i'm sorry, i don't know what else to say. i'm sorry. >> there's stuff flying in the air. >> reporter: at least 20 twisters tore across north texas killing eight in the community of garland and the lone star state is still on edge with more waves of severe weather on the way. some areas hunkered down for heavy rains and flooding, the panhandle areas of texas and oklahoma were paralyzed by treacherously icy roads and the threat of whiteout blizzards. in missouri, where at least eight lives were lost to widespread flooding, rapidly rising water overwhelmed residents. >> it's just that it came up. >> reporter: working overtime. >> first thing i told them i knew it was real when the boat, when the rescue team came, they put us on the life jacket and escorted us down the road. >> reporter: for many americans a holiday weekend of hardship with more foul weather on the

horizon. brian moore, nbc news. meteorologist bonnie schneider is here with more on the winter storm, just incredible damage we're seeing and more to come potentially in? that's right, the blizzard warning in effect and we have a flood threat. severe weather into louisiana and mississippi we have tornado warnings for most of mississippi, this goes until 5:00 in the morning and another one goes until 8:00 so we're still watching that threat and there is the flooding. st. louis hit so hard. we have a couple more inches of rain before the day is over, just completely saturated. we've seen record rainfall for dallas, texas, and heavy rain for atlanta. we'll watch for the front to push through and eventually we'll see those changes and that means we'll start to see the isolated severe storms along the coastline. it will take a while for that to get out of here. snow into oklahoma city and wichita falls blizzard conditions there, tough conditions into texas.

we're still looking at a snow total to about 20 inches. watch out for those high snow drifts and bitterly cold windchills well below zero. we're tracking snow into the southern plains but also into the great lakes, and if that's not enough, new england, you're getting your first measurable snow, look at that, plenty of snow working into maine, new hampshire and boston before it changes to rain. shannon? >> bound to happen at some point, right? all right, thank you. this morning the iraqi army is dlaurg a major victory over the islamic state. iraqi officials say they believe the army is now in full control of central ramadi, according to the bbc. iraqi forces made a final push to seize a former government complex on sunday. provincial spokesman warns that pockets of resistance remain. ramadi fell to ice this may seen as an embarrassing defeat for the army. more unrest in chicago after another police involved shooting leaves two residents dead.

35-year-old betty jones mother of 5 and 19-year-old lagreer were shot and killed by police responding to a domestic disturbance report. lagreer's father called police after his son became agitated. >> the male caller said someone is threatening his life, pounding on his door with baseball bat. >> they were confronted with a combative individual upon arrival. jones who was lagreer's downstairs neighbor was accidentally struck. multiple reports say she opened the door when police arrived. medical examiner ruled both deaths homicides. lagreer's mother told nbc news her son was home on a break from college, developed mental illness in september but was not violent. the officers involved placed on 30-day administrative duty. mayor rahm emmanuel says the independent police review

authority is investigating and called for changes in how officers respond to mental health caises. there have been calls for the mayor to resign following the release of the laqwan mcdonald shooting video earlier this year. they already have an investigation open into the chicago police policies. one of the nfl's most lemming end dear quarterbacks is playing defense this morning, furiously denying new allegations that suggest he used performance-enhancing drugs and that player, peyton manning, now telling nbc he'll "probably sue the news outlet that published the report." nbc's blake mccoy has the story. >> disgusted is really how i feel, sickened by it. >> reporter: star quarterback and american football hero peyton manning defending his legacy to espn against an al jazeera documentary that claims manning is one of several pro athletes who took performance-enhancing drugs. >> i know how hard i worked during my 18 years of playing in

the nfl. there are no shortcuts in the nfl. i've done it the long way, i've done it the hard way and to insinuate anything otherwise is a complete and total joke, it's defamation and ticks me off. >> reporter: the documentary shows hidden camera interviews with pharmacist charlie sly who interned briefly at the gaier institute in indianapolis. sly claims manning received now banned drugs through his wife, ashley. >> and all the time we'd be sending ashley manning drugs like growth hormone all the time, everywhere, florida, never under peyton's name. >> hgh is banned in the nfl but random testing didn't begin until 2014. manning received treatment at the clinic after being injured in 2010 while playing for the indianapolis colts. >> makes me sick that it brings ashley into it, her medical history, her medical privacy being violated. >> go, brock go! >> bashlash against the claims has been swift. manning's current team the

broncos say they support him 100%. the colts call the report utterly ridiculous. dr. dale gaier of the institute calls the claims extremely disturbing and simply not true. even charley sly himself, the man the documentary -- >> there is no truth to any statement of mine that al jazeera says. >> reporter: as for manning the five-time mvp is sitting out with an injury, he's focused on practice and supporting his team. blake mccoy, nbc news, los angeles. the force was certainly with "star wars" at the box office this holiday weekend. "the force awakens" soared past the global $1 billion mark sunday. the last movie to reach the $1 billion mark that quickly was "jurassic world" in back in

june. the final sprint to the iowa caucus, donald trump is on the attack going after clinton but perhaps not the one you're thinking of. edward lawrence is in washington. good morning. >> shannon, right now donald trump is in a virtual dead heat for the iowa caucuses. he's grabbing head lines and trying to get his base to show up to the caucus. his rallies are huge, his support loud. >> and this is amazing, wow. >> reporter: trrp trrp's base seems to crave his no filter rhetoric. over the weekend he went after hillary clinton again this time on twitter about her husband. on "fox&friends" his reiterated the penchant for sexism. >> i thought it was fine and i think that bill clinton was turned out to be a liability against obama. >> reporter: on "meet the press"

senator bernie sanders turned his attention from his democratic competition to attack trump. >> he is vulgar. it is the fact that donald trump thinks we should not be raising the minimum wage, he believes that wages in america are too high. >> reporter: sanders is trying to mend relations with the democratic party after a data breach that his campaign accessed, meanwhile donald trump pulled back into striking distance of senator ted cruz for the iowa caucus. polls last week show the race a virtual tie for first place. political experts say trump's challenge now will be to get his base to show up to caucus. donald trump will be in iowa again tomorrow. we had a wraef break from these headlines on christmas eve and christmas day. now that seems to be over. shannon? >> all right, edward laushs in d.c. for us, edward, thank you. let answer get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. >> good morning to you. china's economic slowdown is this year's top business story.

the slowdown hit u.s. markets in august with at dow plunging 11%. tumbling oil prices, fed's first rate hike in a decade and volkswag volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal. dismeland is closing thunder ranch to make way for new features based on "the force awakens." no opening date but expected to be a year off. gift cards were the most popular holiday gift for the ninth year in a row. card hub says americans wracked up $40 billion in unredeemed cards since 2008. experts say you can exchange cards for cash, or donate them to charity. back over to you. >> unbelievable. i can't believe that many people don't use them. thank you, have a wonderful monday. in sports perfect no more, third quarter falcons third and long. >> rolling, looking, just going to throw it deep for jones,

double coverage, oh! what a catch! touchdown! >> it's unbelievable, julio jones just snatches the ball from the air for a 70-yarder to put the falcons ahead for good handing care lolina their first loss of the season. the vikings clinch their victory over the giants 49-17. it eliminates the falcons' wild card hopes. the arizona cardinals manhandled the green bay packers and aaron rodgers who was sacked eight times and two of his fumbles returned for touchdowns. the cards get a first week bye in the playoffs. heads is the call, heads is the call. it is heads. you want to kick. >> we want to kick. that way. >> which way do you want to receive at? that way. just like this, new england wins

the toss, this he elected to kick. >> the patriots prove giving is not better than receiving, and the jets ryan fitzpatrick and eric decker capitalize with a game winning touchdown pass. jets 26, patriots 20, that's the final there. the president just wrapped up a dinner in hawaii but wait until you hear how he plans to spend his final year in office, next. this is the one place we're not afraid to fail. some of these experiments may not work.

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2016 marks president obama's last chance to check off all the items on his presidential bucket list before he leaves office. so what's left to be done? nbc's kelly o'donnell reports. >> reporter: taking 16 days to in hawaii to recharge the presidential battery for a final year in office. >> in 2016 i'll leave it all on the field. >> reporter: president obama's to do list is particularly time

sensitive. >> there's a lot of speculation we'd be a lame duck on the campaign trail. >> reporter: the white house is working to tune out political noise from a feisty field of candidates to focus on national security and unpredict prabl threats from terror groups like isis. >> that will continue to be a top priority for us moving aggressively on the military track and not letting isil take a breath. >> reporter: other top concerns are driven more by political will. the president's goals include criminal justice reform, where many democrats and republicans agree that mandatory prison sentences for some offenses should be reconsidered. >> making sure that our criminal justice system is more fair that we're rewarding rehabilitation. >> reporter: on the economy, the president wants congress to green light the transpacific partnership, a trade deal with a dozen nations spended to compete with china. at home, many democrats fear it will hurt american workers, while republicans say it will boost the economy.

>> so this is a big deal and i think speaker ryan would like to try to get it done. >> reporter: but republicans will try to blunt the president's ambitions on climate change and on closing the guantanamo bay prison. still, obama says he will lay out a plan to move some detainees to u.s. prisons. his overall goal? to remain on offense. >> i plan on doing everything i can with every minute of every day that i have left as president to deliver on behalf of the american people. >> that was kelly o'donnell reporting. president obama has one simple question for the candidates who want his job, that's next.

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all right, time for your monday helping of "valuabled politics." 2016 kaepts, president obama has a question for you. courtesy of an interview released just minutes ago. >> i might just ask somebody why do you want to do this, and i suppose they'd give a cliche answer because that's what candidates do, but i will tell you as president, if you're interested just because you like the title or you like the trappings or you like the power or the fame or the celebrity, that side of it wears off pretty quick. at least it has for me. >> senator "america the beautiful" is expected to get a big capitol hill endorsement

this week. congressman trey gowdy, hillary clinton's chief sparring partner in the benghazi hearings, he was the chairman of that committee, donald trump is now slamming gowdy and the hearings' perceived lack of success. you'll never guess who thinks he can attract some of trump's supporters only the man he called a maniac and a communist, bernie sanders. >> many of trump's supporters are working class people and they are angry, so i think for his working class and middle class support, i think we can make the case that if we really want to address the issues that people are concerned about, why the middle class is disappearing, massive income and wealth inequality in this country, that we need policies that bring us together. >> an interesting perspective on trump, former satirical newsman turned late show host stephen colbert he says one has to respect the populist nature of a

large portion of the public going against the wishes of the washington machine but you can't deny striking similarities. >> i'm not the if, person to say this but i completely agree he's my old character with $10 billion. he is completely playing on an emotional level and so beautifully. it's one of the reasons why i can't do the old character anymore, he's doing it better than i ever could. he's willing to drink his own pool-ade and manufacture and distribute it because he has all the cash. >> that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." jane timm is here with us. this is supposed to be the lull yet we still have so much to talk about. >> always. . >> the holidays. bernie sanders we heard a little bit about what he was saying and the fact he thinks can he get some of trump's supporters. this say quote he gave in an interview with "face the nation" he says trump has been successful at channeling working class anger and goes on to talk about these are legitimate people who have angers.

i can't think of two candidates who seem more opposite. why in the world does he think he can yank some of the supporters away from trump? >> on the trail these candidates are not that dissimilar. trump rally and a sanders rally feel similar. they have the same kind of energy. both of these candidates are saying the system is rigged and it's hurting the little guy. trump says it's a broken immigration system and foreign powers and bad deals and not enough success. sanders says it's the economic system, it's the banks. but both these candidates are appealing to voters who aren't usual typical voters not towing a party line and not as tied to their parties as usual, aren't people who normally vote in primaries. it will be interesting to see how much they do and there is some crossover there. i would not be surprised if you do see some crossover. >> very interesting. let's talk about trump taking aim at bill clinton at hillary via bill, a tweet he sent out a little while ago saying that basically hillary clinton has announced she's letting her husband out to campaign but he's

demonstrated a penchant for sexism so inappropriate. is this going after their family is off limits but because bill is a political figure fair game? >> bill is more fair game than any other political spouse because he was a former president and his career stemmed hillary clinton's career. but this say messy, messy argument to get into but of course the political gravities don't usually apply to trump in this race. >> true. let me ask you one last question looking more and more like cruz might get iowa here. what does that mean for new hampshire? >> the typical playbook you have to break out in new hampshire if you're an establishment candidate but this hasn't been a typical race. >> thank you for joining us as always. this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook. have a great day, everyone. my fn because you can't beat zero heartburn! ahhh the sweet taste of victory!

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i never thought i would live through something like this. it's like a nightmare. >> this is all neighbors stuff. these 2x4s flew like bullets through homes. it flew through a garage and landed in the wall. >> most houses are completely trashed. you can't rebuild but a couple of them. >> this morning following the wicked weather during what's supposed to be the happiest time of the year. deadly storms and floods to a dangerous winter storm we cover it all. donald trump drags bill clinton into his feud with hillary claiming when it comes to the topic of sexism the former president is fair game. and peyton manning fires back, we'll have the quarterback's response to a new documentary accusing him of using performance-enhancing

drugs. it's 5:30 on the east co, 2:30 out west, this is "way too early." ♪ good morning. it's monday, december the 28th. i'm louis bergdorf. deadly storm system is wreaking havoc across fronts of texas. "the dallas morning news" says it all "total devastation." nine tornadoes one of which was an ef4 tore through the dallas area. 11 people died and dozens more were injured. four counties are under a state of emergency and during the storms, one woman tried to help a neighbor by taking his newborn to find medical attention. >> oh my god, to jim, the neighbor, please, baby, please,