but donald trump will be the 45th president of the united states. first look is up next. breaking news overnight, authorities in germany say the driver who crashed into a berlin christmas market, killing 12 people, acted deliberately. we'll have a live report on that attack. also the latest on an assassination in turkey. what we're learning about the turkish police officer who gunned down a russian ambassador. and donald j. trump has won the electoral college vote, december spied a record bid successful to flip electors. ♪ ♪

good morning. tuesday, december 20th. i'm mam hall bern alongside chris jansing. breaking news out of berlin. 12 people are dead, 48 injured, after a truck plowed into a crowderistmas market. police say the truck was "intentionally driven" into the crowd. they're investigating it as a probable terrorist attack. a suspect was arrested near the scene. a polish citizen was found dead inside the truck but police say he was not the driver. >> nbc news foreign correspondent lucy cavenaugh joins us with the latest. >> german authorities believe the truck was driven into the crowd on purpose, they're investigating this as a suspected terror attack. christmas markets across the city shut today out of respect for the victims and the families. police aren't saying much about the man they have in custody other than he was caught a mile and a half away from the christmas market. he is believed to be the driver

of the truck which was likely stolen. there was a passenger, a polish man, who died on the scene. german media reports suggest the suspect may have been been asylum suspect. there's been fear of an incident like this for a while. germany has scene lone wolf attacks and terror attacks. it brings to mind the attack in nice in july in which more than 80 were killed. isis has repeatedly urged its followers to carry out attack busy driving trucks and cars into crowds which is a huge concern because it's so hard to prevent. president-elect donald trump issuing a strongly worded statement condemning the attack saying, "isis and other islamist terrorists continually slaughter christians in their communities and places of worship as a part of their global jihad." again, we have to use caution here. german authorities not yet confirming that this was an act of terror, it's just an investigation, nor are we certain of any links to isis at this point.

>> lucy cavenaugh, thank you. russia's ambassador to turkey was assassinated yesterday in what the presidents of tourdy and russia are calling a provocative terrorist attack. the video and images you're about to see are graphic, some viewers may find them disturbing. the ambassador andre karloas giving a speech at an art exhibit when a man shot him in the back yelling in arabic, "god is great, those who pledge allegiance to god for jihad," then he switched to turkish and said, "don't forget aleppo, don't forget syria, step back, only det eth can take me from here." three others were injured in that incident. the man was in special forces and worked with riot police, was killed himself in a shoot-out with turkish special forces. this comes following days of protests in turkey over russia's support of the syrian government

and russia's role in the devastation in aleppo. russian president vladimir putin called his ambassador karlov a intelligent, gentle person and said his cowardly assassination was meant to disrupt the "normalization" of russian/turkish relations. turkey's president erdogan and putin have agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the killing. the white house condemned the "heinous attack." in a statement president-elect trump labeled the shooting an assassination by islamic terrorists adding the murder of ambassador is a violation of all rules of civilized order and must be universally condemned. richard engel will join us with more. just hours later in ankara, a man opened fire near the entrance to the u.s. embassy to turkey. turkish state-run media reports the gunman took a shotgun out of his coat and fired eight shots into the air. no one was injured. turkish authorities took the man into custody. the embassy said it is closed for normal operations today.

in switzerland a man stormed into a mosque in zurich and opened fire on worshippers, wounding three before fleeing. reuters is reporting the gunman is dead and local police have identified the suspect. authorities also said it is too early to determine whether there might be any link to the incident in berlin. president-elect donald trump weighed in on the trio of yesterday's attacks tweeting out, "today there were terror attacks in turkey, switzerland, and germany and it is only getting worse. the civilized world must change thinking." in the u.s. the electoral college saw a record number of defections yesterday but despite protests against president-elect trump, there were more defectors from democratic nominee hillary clinton. according to the states won in last month's election trump should have ended up with 306 electoral votes, hillary clinton was supposed to get 232. the final tally, trump received 304, clinton got 227. the seven faithless electors

broke the record set in 1808 when six electors switched their vote from james madison. in washington state four electors broke away, three to vote for former secretary of state colin powell, one voted for spotted eagle, a sioux elder, in hawaii another elector voted for bernie sanders. in texas trump lost two of the electoral voters in that state, one voting for kasich, another for ron paul. there were more electoral college attempts to break away from clinton thwarted by laws that bind electors in some states to that state's popular vote winner. in colorado a clinton elector attempted to vote for republican john kasich. the elector was replaced. in maine one of three of clinton's voters tried to cast his ballot for vermont senator bernie sanders but was forced to switch back by the rules. in minnesota a clinton defector

tried to vote for sanders but that elector was replaced. states now have until next wednesday to submit what's called a serf vote to the federal register and congress expected to make the tally official in a joint session in the new jeer on january 6. president-elect trump responded to the vote in a statement which read in part, today marks a historic electoral landslide victory in our nation's democracy. the official votes cast by the electoral college exceeded the 270 required about to secure the presidency by a very large margin, far greater than ever anticipated by the media. trump also tweeted to his followers, we did it, thank you to all of my great supporters, we just officially won the election despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media." given the defections the margin of trump's electoral college win increased from 74 to 77. but his share of electoral votes still ranks in the bottom fifth

of winning candidates. as the electoral college met in state capitals across the country only one was a past winner. former president bill clinton received a standing ovation as he entered the state senate chamber in albany, new york. the 42nd president cast his ballot for his wife of 41 years, later tweeting, as an elector for my home state of new york, i've never been more proud to cast a vote than any vote today for hillary clinton." but clinton had more to say about the election speaking with a reporter outside the chamber. >> you know, i've watched her work for two years, i watched her battle through that bogus e-mail deal, be vindicated at the end when secretary powell came out, she fought through that, she fought through everything. she prevailed against it all. but, you know -- in the end we had the russians and the fbi, she couldt prevail against that. she did everything else. and still won about 220.

>> there was even more venting from the former democratic president yesterday. earlier this month, bill clinton spoke with "the record review," a small weekly newspaper near the clintons' home in chappaqua. they did it while the former president was browsing at a local bookstore. in those comments obtained by politico, clinton acknowledged he received a phone call from trump on the day after the election and that the manhattan billionaire was strangely cordial, "like it was 15 years ago." "trump doesn't know much but one thing he does know is how to get angry white men to vote for him." he also addressed suspected russian cyber attacks damaging his wife's candidacy saying, "you would need to have a single-digit iq not to recognize what was going on." he took a dig at trump's win asking, "landslide? i got something like 370 electoral votes," correctly recalling his 1992 total, "that was a landslide." >> excellent pundit. the diplomatic spat between the u.s. and china over that

underwater drone has come to an end finally after beijing announced overnight it was going to return the device. china says it gave back the drone following "friendly talks" with the u.s. the device was captured by chinese naval vessel in the south china sea thursday. at the time the u.s. official said the drone was conducting "routine operations" in international waters. the move resulted in president-elect donald trump taking to, yes, twitter over the weekend. he tweeted about china and said it should keep the drone. >> shocking. >> they gave it back despite trump's tweet. a california judge has been cleared of misconduct for sentencing a former stanford university swimmer to six months of jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. california superior court judge aaron persy oversaw the brock turner case earlier this year. his sentence was widely criticized as too lenient. an independent commission reviewed thousands of complaints and concluded per ski's actions did not amount to judicial

miscontact. turner was released after three months behind bars. he will ob probation for three years and registered as a sex offender. >> some confusion in north carolina where lawmakers are set to decide whether to overturn that state's controversial transgender bathroom law. a bit of a surprise move in part prompted by the fact that the republican governor lost re-election. that governor, pat mccrory, yesterday requested a special session where lawmakers would potentially end what has been a months-long battle over the law. the session is supposed to start tomorrow. the law of course restricted transgender people from using only the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity on their birth certificate. critics argued the measure was anti-lgbt. the governor has called -- the call came hours after charlotte city council voted unanimously an ordinance to appeal expansion of protections for transgender people on the condition the

legislature repeal the state law. democratic governor-elect roy coop history took part in negotiations between charlotte city council and the republican-dominated state legislature issued a statement that read in part, "full repeal will help to bring jobs, sports and entertainment events back and will provide the opportunity for strong lgbt protections in our state." they've lost a lot of basketball tournaments which in north carolina means something has to give. >> they've lost a lot of conventions as well and a lot of money. no surprise that they're pushing there. president obama's nominee to fill the seat of late supreme court justice antonin scalia is set to return to his job, a big signal his chances of being confirmed are all but over. merrick garland is set to begin hearing cases in the the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit where he is chief judge beginning next month. that's according to the court's public calendar. a court official has reportedly confirmed garland is expected to be regularly assigned to case in the if it.

during a white house celebration president obama did suggest garland's nomination, which went longer than any other in history without a hearing or a vote, had essentially come to an end. state republicans had opposed garland's nomination even before he became the nominee, arguing justice scalia's seat should not be filled in an election year. still ahead, michelle obama reveals the advice she gave the incoming first lady, melania trump. carolina panthers dealing a crushing blow to the redskins' playoff hopes in "monday night football." and a check on with where we come right back. ♪

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tadirectv now. stream all your entertainment! anywhere! anytime! can we lose the 'all'. there's no cbs and we don't have a ton of sports. anywhere, any... let's lose the 'anywhere, anytime' too. you can't download on-the-go, there's no dvr, yada yada yada. stream some stuff! somewhere! sometimes! you totally nailed that buddy. simple. don't let directv now limit your entertainment. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. the united nations security council has unanimously approved a plan to send monitors to oversee evacuations from eastern aleppo in syria. according toup officials there are more than 100 humanitarian staff members already in the area. the syrian observatory for human

rights says about 15,000 have left eastern aleppo since thursday. it's unclear how many remain in the area right now. president obama has hit another record for the number of clemencies granted in a single day. the president shortened the sentences of 153 federal inmates yesterday and pardoned another 78. the white house says the president has commuted the sentences of nearly 1,200 federal inmates so far and has pardoned 148. the president's clemencies have focused on nonviolent offenders who faced harsh sentences from the war on drugs. white counsel expects the president will grant more commutations and pardons before he leaves office. in what is expected to be her final white house interview, the first lady michelle obama sat down with the first lady of television oprah winfrey to discuss a wide range of topics. in one revealing moment the first lady talked about meeting melania trump and what advice she had to offer. >> my offer to melania was, you

really don't know what you don't know until you're here. so the door is open, as i've told her, and as laura bush told me, and as other first ladies told me. so i'm not new in this going high thing, i mean, i'm modeling. i'm modeling what was done for me by the bushes. and laura bush was nothing but gracious and helpful and her team was right there for my team. all throughout this entire eight-year process. >> laura bush used to say great things about hillary clinton as well. let's talk weather, look who's here. >> you're already angry. >> it was cold walking to work this morning. >> it was. >> 3:30 in the morning. >> the wind blowing a little bit. it's a little colder this morning in areas of new england than it was yesterday morning. we are turning the corner. the windchill in boston is 10. washington, d.c. at 19. new york around 12. so it's still cold. you want to bundle up and the kids with winter gear.

detroit has the worst, negative 8, one of the lowest in the country. it's even worse than bismarck and billings. the only storm on the map is in the northwest. we have had a lot of heavy rain around portland. it's going to end by the morning commute. typically you go, it's going to head across the country, we'll get a snow storm. this storm is going to significantly weaken the next two days. we're not going to have much to deal with by the time it gets into the plains. today strong winds in coastal areas, northwest, northern rockies. the cold front races inland throughout the day. the blue is the snow. kind of falls apart. the storm loses a lot of its punch. that's great news for anyone that's going to be traveling in the intermountain west or the northern plains. in the northwest the stormy spot, you get the second storm of the week into thursday afternoon. this looks smaller with mostly snow in the cascades. so this is the big weather story. we're doing all right. so today's forecast, we do recover nicely. d.c. to 41. boston to 33. how about this, minneapolis today goes to 34 degrees are why

is that significant? it's the first time it will be above freezing in 14 days. they've gone two weeks below freezing. so enjoy that this afternoon. chicago not quite to freezing at 27. as far as who's to have a good chance of getting a white christmas, this is additional snow. some of us may get the snow on the ground the next five days but this is the snow forecast through christmas evening. it looks like the best chances are going to be in the rockies. obviously the mountainous areas. watch out the dakotas come christmas day. for everyone in the great lakes and the northeast and new england, doesn't look like a lot of good chance of more snow. if you want a white christmas, better hope what's in the front yardsticks around. >> what's the opposite of a white christmas? >> brown christmas. >> bill karins, the grinch, promising a brown christmas, thank you. still ahead, an update on the story mentioned yesterday, salvation army says this creative touchdown celebration during sunday night football did a lot of good this holiday season. the granddaddy mike barnicle

will explain in sports next.

now it is time for sports. over to mike barna ankle. >> i'm ready, right? thank you, okay, all right. we're going to start with the redskins hosting panthers. "monday night football." last night in washington, redskins are looking for a playoff berth. they need to win the final three games of the season to squeeze tampa out of the second nfc wild

card spot. carolina, they're not going to roll over. defending nfc champions are in wild against washington. running back jonathan stewart, 25 carries for a season high 132 yards in the game. cam newton, 300 yards and 2 touchdowns. 26-15 the final. sixth straight monday night home game loss for the redskins who have lost control of their playoff future in washington, losers, sad. meanwhile, ezekiel elliott, cowboys, won't be fined by the nfl after jumping into a salvation army kettle after scoring a touchdown against the bucs. elliot's dell brace drew a 15-yard penalty in the game and criticism from players like steelers running back le'veon bell who implied a double standard by the league. and giants receiver odell beckham jr. who tweeted, that's funny, there's no fine for that, i could only imagine if i was the one to do it. it might have done a lot of

good. according to "usa today" online donations to the charity spiked 61% after elliot's leap and ezekiel elliott last night confirmed he's making a $21,000 donation. great for you. in other nfl headlines, houston texans confirmed tom savage is going to start under center saturday night against the bengals. that's a great game. remind me to sort my socks during that game. wow. what a loser game. savage led the texans to comeback victory over the jags saturday after houston benched starting quarterback brock osweiler. this is just after the genius texans management signed osweiler to a four-year, $72 million contract this offseason. let's go to the nba. clippers are going to miss blake griffin for the next three to six weeks. the team announced yesterday griffin will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee today. doc rivers is going to have to come up with something better than what he's got now.

oklahoma city's russell westbrook put on another offensive clinic. the guy's unbelievable. hosting hawks he scored 46 points. atlanta kept the contest close to 30 points from paul millsap. including the go ahead basket with just under 13 seconds to play. trailing by 2 the thunder are going to get the final shot. >> out of time-outs. westbrook, the three-point line, short. adams for the put-back. >> oh, steven adams' dunk not in time. hawks beat the thunder 110-108. still ahead we're following the latest on donald trump's transition effort and his newest administration picks. we're going to learn new details on the attack in turkey that killed a russian ambassador. a live report coming up next. says it won't let up for a while. the cadillac xt5... what should we do?

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welcome back. i'm mark hell paren alongside chris jansing, richard engel live from istanbul with the latest on the assassination of the russian ambassador. first a look at the morning's other top stories. despite protests and calls for electors to deny him the presidency donald j. trump won the electoral college, gassing to be the official president-elect. trump lost two pledged electors but received 304, well over the 270 needed. hillary clinton received 227 electoral votes, five down from the pledged elector total.

the seven total faithless electors were the most am in american history breaking the record set in 1808 when there were six defections. the pentagon confirmed china has now returned that underwater drone it seized in the south china sea last week. china says it was returned after "friendly talks" with the u.s. the incident was seen as china trying to test the president-elect as he signals a tougher policy towards beijing. 12 people are dead, 48 more injured, after a truck plowed into a crowded christmas market in berlin, germany. police said it was intentional and is being investigated as a probable terrorist attack. a suspect was arrested near the scene. security is being increased at public events all across western europe. turkey, russian ambassador andre karlov was assassinated while giving a speech at an art exhibit in the capital of ankara, and where hours later a gunman opened fire outside the u.s. embassy which is nearby.

chief foreign correspondent richard engel what more do we know this morning? >> reporter: a team of russian investigators has arrived from moscow and they will be looking into the murder, the assassination, of the russian ambassador. there has also been heightened security put in place here in istanbul where the u.s. consulate is closed. also in ankara. the entire diplomatic quarter is now seeing a more intensified security presence. we know more about the gunman. you see him in that video wearing a suit and tie, holding his weapon in the air. that was just after he had gunned down the russian ambassador. he's been identified as an off-duty police officer, 22 years old. some of his acquaintances and relatives have been taken in today for questioning. what authorities want to know is was he connected to anyone else? how long was this planned? how did he get so close to the ambassador? the ambassador didn't have his

own private security detail. that is the responsibility of the turkish government. but how did he manage to get in? we've been told by security officials that he used his badge to get past the security, then just blend in with the crowds. but people want to know was he connected to a larger group, isis or others? he said in his announcement that he cared out the assassination to take revenge because of russia's role in the joint russian/syrian offensive against the city of aleppo. >> nbc's richard engel, thank you. president-elect donald trump made another pick yesterday making the secretary of the army choice. the billionaire philanthropist rin sent viola, west point grad and owner of the nfl panthers. viola the first member of his family to attend college. he made his fortune in part by founding electronic financial trading firm. we learn the president-elect is reaching out to another billionaire, "the washington post" reporting trump

entertained the mexican financier carlos slim at his florida estate in maralago over the weekend. the meeting was arranged by trump areas former campaign manager corey lewandowski. during a visit to mexico city trump told "the post" his interaction with slim was a lovely dinner with a wonderful man. that is a stark contrast to how he talked about the mexican billionaire on the campaign trail last month. >> the largest shareholder in "the times" is carlos slim. carlos slim as you know comes from mexico. he's given many millions of dollars to the clintons and their initiatives. so carlos slim, largest owner of the paper, from mexico. reporters at the "new york times," they're not journalists, they're corporate lobbyists for carlos slim and for hillary clinton. >> as trump likes to say, it's not personal, it's business. trump met with slim just hours after his alabama thank you rally over the weekend where he again promised to build the

mexican border wall. now to exclusive nbc news reporting on russian cyber attacks. eight days before the election the white house used so-called red phone. that's a direct crisis line to moscow established during the cold war to issue a stern warning to the russian government. nbc's senior investigative correspondent cynthia mcfadden has more. >> reporter: by the afternoon of october 31st, halloween, when ghosts and goblins were welcomed to the white house, another kind of drama had already played itself out. two senior intelligence officials, both nonpartisan career officers, tell nbc news that morning began with a highly classified and unusual event at 8:30. using the so-called red phone system, a direct link to the kremlin, a message was transmitted telling the russians the u.s. would consider any interference on election day "a grave matter." why was the administration so

concerned? they believe the widespread attack on the internet on october 21st, blocking millions of americans from popular websites, was a possible dry run for a massive attack by the russians on election day. maybe even pulling down the electrical grid. it spooked the white house, so a week later they used the red phone system as is done in moments of crisis like 9/11 and the day the u.s. entered baghdad. numerous intelligence officials say the very use of the red phone, the nuclear risk reduction center line, communicated via secure satellite how serious the situation had become. >> it's extremely unusual. and doing so sends a signal unto itself. so it's a dramatic step to pick that phone up and use. >> reporter: a teletype link dubbed the red phone was put in place 53 years ago in the wake of the cuban missile crisis when the u.s. and russia came to the brink of nuclear war.

this hotline was used to prevent misunderstanding in a nuclear age. the call came a month after the president's face-to-face with vladimir putin at the g20 in china. a senior intelligence official tells nbc news he believes the message to the russians in that final halloween transmission ended up muddled, containing no bright line, and no clear warning about the consequences. the russian response, said the official, was noncommittal. >> based on what we know now, i would say that our response was insufficient to athe chief objective of ensuring that we do not receive further attacks. in other words, when someone tries to bully you, you have to push back or you invite further response. >> thanks to nbc's cynthia mcfadden for that report. news coming in later today, a federal judge has ordered a search warrant and supporting documents that authorize the fbi to look into a batch of hillary

clinton e-mails right before the presidential election are going to be unsealed at noon eastern time. the e-mails were found on a computer belonging to the former congressman anthony weiner, estranged husband of top clinton aide huma abedin, into investigation into an online relationship between the disgraced new york congressman and a teenage girl. james comey opened the investigation less than two weeks before election day. the records to be unsealed today are expected to shed light on the reasoning behind comey's decision. you can bet the clintons doctoring to be interested in that. we're hearing more from first lady michelle obama's farewell interview with oprah. mrs. obama has said many times she's not interested in political office, but with soaring approval ratings and her standout performances on the campaign trail for hillary clinton, oprah just couldn't help but ask that question one more time. >> would you ever run for

office? >> no. >> i have to skit. >> no. >> no kind of office? >> no, that's one thing i don't do. i don't make stuff up, i'm not coy. i'm pretty direct. if i were interested in it, i'd say it. i don't believe in playing games. it's not something i would do. but it also speaks to the fact that people don't really understand how hard this is. and it's not something that you cavalierly just sort of ask a family to do again. let me just tell america, this is hard. it's a hard job. i said on it the campaign trail. it requires a lot of sacrifice. it is a weighty thing. >> which part of no, i'm not running for office, is confusing you? by the end of the interview both the first lady and her husband said what we've been reporting, they will continue to live in d.c. after leaving the white house but after the inauguration, they'd like to go somewhere warm. and the then take off. because oprah had a good

question. do you get in a helicopter, take off, land, and go to your house? no. >> just going to get on the metro bus and head a little bit uptown. >> yeah, i don't think so. a little "morning joe" taste for you early. joe scarborough's going to join us. plus bill cairns says a christmas day snow storm is going to be possible for some of the country. we'll tell you where and when. looking for balance in your digestive system? try align probiotic. for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness,

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the electoral college officially cast its votes for president and bill clinton actually teared up after voting for hillary saying he's never cast a vote he's been prouder of. then he said, except for that wet t-shirt contest i judged. that was hard, that was a hard decision. >> oh jimmy fallon. welcome back. we'll set the stage for the day in politics with joe scarborough who joins us with thoughts on that electoral nondrama

yesterday. joe? >> yeah, it really was nondrama, wasn't it, mark. you had of course people talking about the hamilton solution for all these weeks. there were going to be electors that were going to be in revolt. even super pacs respond, more people making more money like jill stein made money on recounts that led to nowhere. this led to nowhere except for -- wait, wait -- donald trump increasing his margin by three. and if you want one exercise that more neatly encapsulates the 2016 election, i think yesterday was it. this guy, i don't know if you'd call him the roadrunner, i don't know if you'd call him jerry in tom and jerry, but this guy always seems to get the better of all of his hysterical critics. and this was just a case in point yesterday. that the guy gained an advantage

of three electoral votes. >> you surprised faith spotted eagle only got one vote? >> i am, we had a guest on the show a couple of days ago, if we're going to keep the electoral college, and i'm sure nothing's going to change over the next four years, i don't know why we don't just make this a perfunctory exercise. and not allow other people, not allow electors, to vote for third -- i think it was jeff green field, if we're going to keep the electoral college, it's got to be automatic. this is chaos. it really i think in a year where democracy's been cheapened in the united states day in and day out, you know, voting for people that weren't even in the race, i think further cheapens it. >> i heard plenty of democrats say, who were bitterly disappointed that donald trump's going to be president, say, the worst thing that could happen for the country is if somehow eat electricitiers took it away from him because of all the

fallout. >> right. you know, and i'm one of these people, i understand why there's an electoral college, i understand that actually it's good for the smaller states, even though this year trump actually won by carrying more of the bigger states. but if you're going to have an electoral college, then the votes have to be upheld. and that's why you have recounts. they had the recounts. i thought another thing that was fascinating yesterday, mark, was the release of the information that out of 49 out of 50 states, i think kansas is still a holdout here, there is absolutely no voter fraud. or very minimal voter fraud. proving once again that people that are claiming that, well, first of all, the president claiming that there are 3 million votes out there illegal, you always hear the stories out of philadelphia, you hear the stories out of chicago. maybe that happened in 1960 with sam gee donna and joe kennedy, it's not happening in 2016. >> suitcases full of money. bill clinton presumably when he signed up to be an elector for

new york thought he was going to cast a historic vote putting in the firstemale for president. he was pretty talkative after he voted about comey and putin and the election. what did you make of that? >> right, it's a moving moment but if they would just get out of their own way and stop talking and let other people voice the complaints about the election, then they probably would engender a lot more sympathy. but bill clinton going out and complaining the way he did, you know, he even did an interview talking about how we're in a post-fact america. this from the man who talked about it depends on what your meaning of is is. what a way for the clintons to end the cycle. i think they should go quietly into that dark night and let people -- let others carry their water on the russians and comey. you'd gladly carry their water on comey for the next ten years. >> i suspect bill clinton will be back, he's not done talking about this. joe, thank you, we'll see you in

just about ten minutes on the show we call "morning joe." >> oh, yes, this is going to be the best episode yet. >> special christmas edition. >> what's going on overseas? china dealing with major flight delays and closed roads as a result of thick smog. officials issuing a red alert on friday. that alert won't expire until tomorrow when peak pollution is set to subside. since that alert began, dozens of warnings have been issued for cities across the country's northeast, including the capital of beijing. in addition to travelers being stranded, the smog so is serious that businesses and schools have been forced to shut down. let's get a check of weather with bill karins. >> imagine breathing that in every day. >> been there, done that no thank you. >> the cold is the story. we're warming up slowly. but again, it's single digits for the great lakes, single digits in new england, in the teens throughout a chunk of the country. we're not in the freezer anymore, we've moved from the

freeze tore the refrigerator. this is the only storm on the map, a lot of heavy rain from portland to eugene, snow moving through the nosh rockies. today's forecast pretty calm. we warm up a little bit in the great lakes compared to how we've been. this is no problem at all. oklahoma city enjoy 49. dallas at 54 should be enjoyable. atlanta and d.c. in the 40s and 50s, seasonable for this time of year. fast forward into the busy travel period from friday, saturday, sunday into the holiday weekend. on friday, maybe a little bit of light snow up here in northern minnesota. the storm that will cause the most problems will be affecting california on friday with mostly rain around san francisco. we'll track that storm from friday. then into saturday, twip dip down through areas of southern california. l.a. has a chance of getting rain out of this friday into saturday. then on christmas eve notice many areas of the east, there's a chance of showers. but we're very mild. i don't think the airports are going to have much of a problem on christmas eve. the roads will be clear. if it's just wet, no big deal. there's no snow or ice. the storm will be going through

the intermountain west. if you have to travel to your destination, maybe you're going to one of the ski resorts for the holidays, that could be an issue. by the time we get to christmas day, this is where it could get -- i don't want to say fun. this is where it could get interesting. we could have thunderstorms, maybe even severe storms, ahead of a very strong storm in the central plains. 73 in dallas, chance of thunderstorms. denver, it could be snowing and 32. we may have a chance for blizzard conditions in the dakotas come christmas day. that wouldn't be fun to be traveling around in. plain old rain through chicago. everyone on the east coast by the way looking very enjoyable. 64 in atlanta, that's outdoor play time with the new toys in atlanta. northeast not bad with temperatures in the 40s. so we'll watch that storm move in the holiday weekend. if you're in the middle of the country watch that closely. >> if you're skiing out west, just call in sick today and go now. >> get there and enjoy the powder. we've got a heart-warming did story. a huge win would have been enough of a gift for notre dame

basketball player matt farrell. but this time he got something a lot more special. matt got a greeting on the jumbotron from his deployed brother bo telling him he couldn't be with him. he was scheduled to be home from afghanistan in february, but look at this, matt with tears streaming down his face. greeted on the court by his older brother. the entire family taken by surprise. love seeing that. >> so great. still ahead, a check of the morning's big headlines including what's being called one of the biggest fraud cases since bernie madoff.

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welcome back. let's turn to business where the dollar made a big comeback after fed chair janet yellen reiterated her confidence in the u.s. job market. cn cnbc's live in london. what's the thinking? can we expect the dollar rally to last awhile? how might it fare as trump prepares to take office? >> many here are saying they don't anticipate that we'll see a reversal in that dollar trend for the time being. we might see a little knee-jerk reaction heading into next year but we should remain to see dollar strength over the longer term for the time being. janet yellen's comments were interesting. your college grad now is a completely different story verses if you graduated four, eight years ago at the height of the financial crisis. she was basically saying job creation is strong, wage growth is on track, a pickup there,

there are openings. she did warn the economy still faces some weak productivity and some lower growth. she didn't mention monetary policy but we saw that nice push to the dollar on the back of these comments. i want to talk about the hedge fund as well. platinum partners in new york, the new york-based company, double-digit returns. we've heard it before. sounds too good to be true, probably is. turns throughout whole company was run something like a ponzi scheme. you have mark norledge, founder and ceo, and six other execs, including david levy, arrested on charges related to this $1 billion fraud scheme that the company was run simply inadequately. the last time we saw this to this scale was bernie madoff, 2008. they're being charged with securities fraud and investment adviser fraud and also it's thought they knew about this, because there were e-mails leaked where they were basically talking about fleeing to israel to avoid being charged. uber. let's talk about the

ride-sharing group taking a huge loss according to reports. $2.2 billion loss in the first nine months of the year. $800 million during the third quarter according to reports from bloomberg and the information the tech site valued at more than $65 billion a year ago, they've abandoned their chinese business in exchange for 17.5 of a rival in china, but it's all about market share. >> live from london, thank you. when we come back, a look at the stories happening in the day ahead. hoice of dentists. compared to oral-b 7000, philips sonicare flexcare platinum removes significantly more plaque. this is the sound of sonic technology cleaning deep between teeth. hear the difference? get healthier gums in just 2 weeks vs a manual toothbrush and experience an amazing feel of clean. innovation and you. philips sonicare. save now when you buy philips sonicare.

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before we toss it over to "morning joe" a final check the stories you're going to be hearing about. the man accused of setting off pipe bombs in new york city and new jersey set to appear in court. the suspect is going to be arraigned in new jersey on separate charges that he attempted to murder police officers during his capture in september. if convicted on those charges he could face a mandatory of life in prison. meanwhile, michigan's attorney general is set to announce more criminal charges related to the flint water crisis. it's unclear at this point how many individuals will be charged or the nature of those charges. but so far, eight state employees and one flint employee have been charged in relation to the water crisis. that does it for me and for

chris. buckle up, get ready, "morning joe" begins now. ♪ at christmas men the electoral college officially casts the vote for president, and he teared up after voting for hillary clinton, he said except for that wet t-shirt contest i judged, that was hard, that was a hard decision. >> good morning. it's tuesday, december 20th. welcome to "morning joe" with us. we have phaoeumike barnicle, anc political analyst and the