he'll do whatever it takes to make sure they get his testimony. oh, really? that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow. "first look" is up next. this morning battle lines are being drawn over replacing obamacare. the line is being drawn within their own party. plus, a deadly crash between a train and a charter bus in mississippi with four dead and dozens injured. the question is, why would the bus on the tracks collide? and new bomb threats requiring the white house to take action. hey, good morning, everybody. it is wednesday, march 8th. i'm alex witt alongside ayman

mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. president trump tries to stave off revolt over his new health care plan. the vice president and congressional leaders presented an optimistic front. >> the american health care act is the framework for reform. we are certainly open to improvements and to recommendations in the legislative process, but this is the bill. >> i think, really, we're going to have something that is much more understood and much more popular than people can even imagine. this will be a plan where you can choose your plan. and you know what the plan is. this is the plan. and we're going to have a tremendous, i think we're going to have tremendous success. it's a complicated process, but

actually it's very simple. it's called good health care. >> let's not forget, obamacare is collapsing. obamacare isn't staying. if we did nothing, the law would collapse and leave everybody without affordable health care. we are doing an act of mercy at repealing this law and replacing it with patient health care reforms that we as conservatives have been arguing and fighting for for years. >> the press secretary tried to bring out a small table in the briefing room to compare the size of the american health care act and the affordable care act. >> for all of the people who have concerns about this, especially on the right, look at the size. this is the democrats, this is us. there is, i mean, you can't get any clearer in terms of this is government, this is not. when you actually look at the difference, you realize this is what big government does. it crowds out competition, it

drives up prices, it stifles entrepreneurship and innovation. doctors leaving the markets, more and more people not taking medicare or tri-care. >> the debate begins in the house committee today and the senators hope to get this done by april and then turn to confirming gorsuch to the supreme court. members of the freedom caucus spoke out against what they branded as obamacare lite. >> we have to admit, we are divided on replacement. we are divided on repeal and replacement. this is one score that the american people will pay attention to, and that is, does it really lower their health care costs and their premiums? that's the only score that really matters. and if this doesn't do it, then we need to make sure tat we find something that does do it. >> we liken this sort of to everything with donald trump in

negotiation. what we now have is an open bid. it's about asking a simple question, which is, do we need to lower the bar in what we believe as conservatives simply because a republican is now in the white house? >> i think amidst the large excriminate we can find a large pony around here. i think we'll have a race horse on this as soon as we get this done. >> senator mike lee joined in saying, quote, this is exactly the type of back-room dealing and rushed process that we criticized democrats for. and mo brooks said, right now the speaker of the house does not have the votes to pass the bill unless he gets substantial democratic support. paul ryan guaranteed the republicans would, in fact, hit their number. jim jordan will offer his own bill as an alternative, the clean repeal some conservatives want. and there's opposition from other powerful conservative voices including the heritage foundation, freedom works and club for growth. and there are senators concerned about what the new plan would do

to people covered under the medicaid expansion in their states. the president met with some of the skeptical conservatives like mark meadow, jim jordan and dave bratt. the president tweeted, quote, i feel sure that my friend rand paul will come along with the new and great health care program because he knows obamacare is a disaster. and robert costa reports, trump told house republicans today in a meeting that the party would face, quote, a bloodbath in 2018 if they don't succeed on this bill. and the president said very clearly, this is what he wants on his desk and wants it quickly. and wikileaks posted files it says reveal cia hacking tools. peter alexander has more on the breach. >> reporter: wikileaks is

hosting a giant trove of documents that exploit security vulnerabilities in some of the most common electronic devices. all of it to spy on their owners. nearly 9,000 documents expose software tools designed to break into an iphone and android and bypass securing messaging apps like whatsapp. and internet-connected tvs are spying on you when they appear to be turned off. even microsoft windows named after a popular will ferrell movie. and nbc news has not confirmed these documents and wikileaks won't reveal their source. still computer experts and former intelligence officials are treating the documents as real, as well as the alleged security breach. >> we have always been worried about spies inside the agencies. what is different now is that technology has allowed the fruits of that spying, if you will, to be more powerful in the hands of our adversaries.

>> reporter: the spy tools intelligence agencies say is raising questions about whether in the hands of cyber criminals, americans could now be targeted. >> when you see something that is billed as internet connected, the car, home, light switch, whatever, just remember that also potentially means hacker connected. >> reporter: some of america's top tech companies like google and microsoft say they're investigating. u.s. officials have accused wikileaks of colluding with russian spies in a former u.s. official telling nbc news this could be propaganda. worth noting, wikileaks has a near perfect track record of releasing authentic documents. ayman? >> peter alexander, thank you four full days after president trumpacd his predecessor of wiretapping his phones, the white house offered nothing to support his explosive claims. in fact, yesterday press secretary sean spicer said the white house will continue to insist that congress investigate what the president asserted as a

fact on saturday morning. >> reporter: is the white house position that the president can make declarative statements about a former president basically committing a crime, and then the congressional committee should look into that to basically improve it? >> it's not a question to improve it, it's that they have the resources, the clearances and the staff to fully and thoroughly and comprehensively investigate this. and then issue a report as to what their findings are. >> so president trump's twitter statement shouldn't be taken at face value about -- >> sure it should. no, there's nothing, as i mentioned to jim, it's not that he's walking anything back or greating it, he's just saying they have the appropriate venue. >> reporter: why would the president want congress to investigate for information he already has? >> there's a separation of powers aspect here. as i mentioned to jonathan, we think that -- >> reporter: it's a lot of resources and time. why waste that? >> it's not a question of waste, it's a question of

appropriateness. >> reporter: can't the president just ask the fbi director? has he asked him? >> no, the president has not. >> reporter: do you believe that president obama -- >> i get that that's a cute question to ask. my job is to represent the president and to talk about what he's doing and what he wants. >> and while spicer said the president has not shared any evidence with him, high-ranking congressional republicans, including the chairs of the intelligence committees, had the same response. >> have you seen any evidence to support the president's report that he had been wiretapped by the previous president? >> i have not seen that evidence. >> reporter: have you seen any evidence of that? >> no, i haven't. >> we don't have anything today that would send us in that direction, but that's not to say we might not find something. >> i think that the president of the united states who has stated categorically that trump tower was wiretapped, that he should come forward with the information that led him to that

conclusion. >> the already fragile relationship between president trump and former president obama is reportedly fraying further given the latest chapter. president obama was, quote, livid over the accusation that he bugged the republican campaign offices. believing that mr. trump was questioning both the integrity of the office of the president and mr. obama himself. president obama's largely been silent since leaving office in january, making it clear they will only speak up if core values are at stake. but president trump has continued to attack the former president, including yesterday when he wrongly attributed the number of detainees released at guantanamo bay who returned to terrorism, this to mr. obama. in fact, most were actually released under president george w. bush. >> should the president offer a correction to his tweet this morning that states that 122 prisoners were released from gitmo by the administration and returned to the battlefield? >> i think the president meant

in totality the number released on the battlefield, released from gitmo since individuals have been released, so that is correct. >> turning away from politics for a moment, four people are dead and 40 others injured after a freight train hit a charter bus in biloxi, mississippi. senior groups from texas were on the bus, which was heading to a casino, when the crash happened. now authorities say the bus was stopped on the tracks and was hit by the train. and according to a spokesman for the city of biloxi, the train pushed the bus 300 feet down the tracks. >> the conductor was trying to slow it down as much as possible. but by the team he got on, he still had a good rate on him and it was -- it was apretty loud bang. it was definitely something i have never heard before. >> rescuers spent more than an hour extra kating passengers from the bus. this morning the national transportation safety board is expected to send a team to investigate the crash. according to biloxi's police sergeant, the crossing where the bus was struck is steep and there are signs warning of

potential danger on the tracks. and jewish community centers across the country along with the offices of the prominent jewish civil rights organization have been hit by another wave of bomb threats. nine anonymous threats were made yesterday against the centers and the anti-defamation league offices in boston, washington, d.c. and other states. the adl says in the first two months of this year, there have been at least 140 threats made against jewish institutions. all 100 members of the senate issued a letter yesterday calling on the trump administration to respond quickly and the white house once again denounced the threats. >> we denounce the latest anti-semitic and hateful threats in the strongest terms. it is incredibly sad anything i have to continue to share the disturbing reports with you. and i share the president's

thoughts that he hopes that we don't have to continue to share the reports with you. but as long as they do continue, we will continue to condemn them and look at ways in which we can stop them. >> meanwhile, the man accused of making at least eight of the threats against jewish centers across the country is due in court today. juan thompson will face a hearing to determine if he should remain behind bars ahead of his trial. authorities believe thompson was trying to harass his ex-girlfriend by pinning the threats on her. and a major first for the trump administration yesterday as the white house hosted s first tourince the president took office in january. group of schoolchildren were taken by surprise when the president himself stepped out from behind a partition to applause. he asked the students to wave with him before encouraging the students to, quote, work hard. but the moment wasn't without irony. the internet having a field day with these images of the president greeting the room from in front of a photo of hillary clinton. >> look at that. those kids had a good time.

>> don't you think he knew that when he came out, that was the picture behind him? >> no idea. >> i don't think so. all right, still ahead, has senator lindsey graham made amends with donald trump after a heating 2016 campaign? the two had lunch yesterday. >> and the latest on the deadly wildfire that is have scored several acres in four states. we'll check on that and weather when we come back. stay with us.

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this morning fast-moving wildfires in texas, kansas, oklahoma and colorado have killed at least six people and driven thousands from their homes. at least four deaths came in the texas panhandle alone. the authorities there say two of the people killed were a young couple trying to drive cattle away from the flames.

in oklahoma another woman herding her cattle died from a heart attack. and in kansas a person died from smoke inhalation. 10,000 to 12,000 people left their homes in kansas this weekend. now let's get a check on the weather with meteorologist bill karins. with all the wet weather across the country, you wouldn't think it would be so stark dry for these areas. >> the areas from oklahoma, kansas and texas were hit and miss with the wet weather this winter. and then they get the dry brush that died off this season. this is their brush fire season. you can thank this storm. you don't see storms that look this impressive that often. it's up near the hudson bay and central canada. this goes down from canada to the gulf coast. as big of a storm you'll see, and that is causing all the windy conditions across the country. that fanned all the flames.

this is from areas of oklahoma to texas. and it is going to cause a lot of wind problems today in the great lakes. we're watching a high wind warning from grand rapids to detroit, fort wayne, erie to buffalo, and wind advisories go from bismarck to green bay, madison, chicago included, albany, new york, war rentown, pittsburgh and columbus. the strong winds are in minnpolissting up to 41 miles per hour. grn bay is near 39. chicago, not too bad, about 25. as we go through the day today, the strongest winds move into areas of the great lakes. detroit, 44. again, there's no leaves on the trees at this point, but we can still see minor tree damage and also some minor power outages. that's at noon. and by the time we get to the evening rush hour, the strongest winds kick a little further to the east to buffalo, pittsburgh, the winds start to pick up through pennsylvania and also through new york. at least it's going to be kind of mild. it won't be that cold with the strong winds. and there will be some morning showers with us, too, many the northeast. that will be exiting. but again, we're in this weather pattern that is going to kind --

it's like a roller coaster march ride here, we're windy and warmer. and we'll get much colder in the upcoming weekend. we'll talk about the snow coming up. >> i want to keep the warm weather. bring on spring. bring the spring on. we got one more for you here, bill, overnight some of the lights of the statue of liberty went dark for several hours. the earth cam captured the statue with only the crown and torch illuminated. the light us came back on before midnight. on social media many suggested this went dark due to the upcoming day without women protest. the national park service said on twitter the outage was likely related to a new emergency generator and construction work related to the hurricane sandy recovery project. >> you knew the internet was going to weigh in on it. >> i can see that it sort of makes sense. >> there's activism that has taken place at the statue of liberty. so it is possible that somebody had access to a light switch. >> anyway, still ahead, did the phoenix suns gorilla mascot go

rogue during last night's game. i wonder if that was a female or male, what do you think on that? >> no comment. >> louis will explain what happened next in sports. were constantly thinking. always on the lookout for patterns and connections to make everything work better. but it's really the internet of everyday life. ♪ the partnership between dell technologies and sap helps make the promise of the internet of things a reality for our customers. we know how powerful live data can be. we use sap at dell to run everything from finance to procurement to travel expenses. and that's the same kind of live insight we can now start offering to all of our customers. and as we get better information, better insights, it can improve virtually every aspect of society and the economy. that's the opportunity of our generation.

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in his 19th season as a pro, the dallas mavericks dirk nowitzki joins the most exclusive club surpassing 30,000 career points. in last night's 122-120 win against the lakers, nowitzki joins five other nba greats who reached that mark. kareem abdul jabbar, michael jordan and wilt chamberlain to name a few. he received a slew of congratulatory messages from around the sports world. congratulations to him. and russell will westbrook scored several points last night, including the potential game-tying three-pointer. portland deals okc the fourth straight loss, 126-121. they just couldn't get it done.

and championship week continues in college basketball. last night las vegas fourth ranked gonzaga wrapped up the fourth conference title with a 74-56 win against number 19 st. mary's earning them an automatic berth for the ncaa tournament. and the first in the tournament of eligibility, kentucky punched their ticket to the big dance last night defeating milwaukee, 59-53 in the rising league tournament title game. let's go overseas now to international soccer news, a bad night for the women's international team playing france in the american cup final. the americans now have lost back-to-back matches for the first time in three years. it also marks the first time in 17 years the team lost consecutive games on home soil. the three-goal defeat is the

u.s. women's worse since the 4-nil loss in the 2007 world cup. they have to get it together. and back to the nba court where there was a wild moment while the suns hosted the wizards last night as the gorilla mascot came diving onto the court while the game was going on. before we chalk this up to some monkeying around, let's take a closer look. it appears the mascot was sprawling out to retrieve an object that had slid onto the floor. i guess we'll give him a break after that. >> i mean -- good for the gorilla. >> quick reflexes. >> i couldn't tell what that was. >> it could have saved a player from slipping and injuring themselves. so, you know, kudos to him. >> very true. still ahead, it was a shouting match during a senate confirmation hearing. senator chuck grassley acruised senator al franken after asking a gotcha question. and we continue to follow the latest on the freight train

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. powerful winds are fanning the wildfires across kansas, colorado, oklahoma and texas, and they are all in the danger zone this morning. one of the hardest-hit areas is

in kansas where thousands of acres have burned. and a federal judge refused to block construction of the dakota access pipeline clearing the way for oil to start flowing as early as next week. the standing rock and cheyenne sioux tribes say this threatens their rituals, but the judge said they waited too long to bring up the concerns ending the battle against the pipeline. and the federal government is not saying much about the new wikileaks claim that the cia secrets have been exposed. the organization revealed what it says are some of the most high-tech spying techniques, including tools the cia uses to hack into smartphones and some televisions. the agency is not commenting but it is worth noting that wikileaks has a near perfect record for authenticity. and back to the story we have been following out of mississippi, at least four people are dead and dozens others injured after a freight

train hit a charter bus in biloxi, mississippi. according to authorities there, the bus driver was trying to cross railroad tracks when the vehicle stalled. let's bring in our affiliate from wxxb from biloxi, mississippi. lori, what more do we know about the cause of the crash? >> well, ayman, it was described as absolute chaos and nothing short of a tragedy here in biloxi. take a look behind me, this is main street at the railroad tracks, still debris lying on the side of the railroad tracks after the freight train collided with a tour bus. now, what we do know about the tour bus, it was carrying about 50 senior citizens from austin, texas. they were traveling here on the coast to visit some of the casinos, like you said, four confirmed dead, 35 were transported to local hospitals, some listed in critical condition. now, around 2:00 p.m. here local time, the bus was stopped on top of the train tracks when the freight train collided with it. and within minutes, they had the

streets flooded with local law enforcement agencies, firefighters and first responders doing everything they could to rescue the people off of the bus. now witnesses saw people coming off the bus just in awe of the tragedy that happened here in biloxi. and they tell us it's like nothing they have ever seen before. >> we have had so many deaths on these railroad tracks, our cities talked about relocating the tracks and putting bridges over the tracks. this bus was trying to cross this track way prior to the train coming. it got stuck. and when the trains are coming down the trains, it's tough to stop them. >> reporter: multiple investigators are heading to biloxi to try to figure out what happened, what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future. that's all here in biloxi, back to you guys. >> absolutely heartbreaking. laureen, thank you.

and march 20th, the same day senate hearings begin for the supreme court nominee gorsuch, the witness list includes fbi director james comey, national director mike rogers, and john brennan and sally yates. an anonymous former trump campaign adviser tells politico in july then campaign manager cory lewandowski said he does not recall the e-mail exchange but did not deny it occurred. and last night attention garnered by the april 16 interaction between trump and the russian ambassador, which "the wall street journal" reported about last may, noting how trump warmly greeted sergey kislyak and other foreign ambassadors. the while house official tells nbc the national interest hosted

mr. trump's foreign policy speech and pre-speech reception. several ambassadors were present. mr. trump was at the reception for just about five minutes and went immediately to the podium. quote, we have no recollection of who he may have shaken hands with at the reception and were not responsible for inviting or vetting guests to state they met or that a meeting took place is disingenuous or absurd. a senate judiciary meeting became heated yesterday when al franken confronted chuck grassley over attorney general jeff sessions insisting he was correct when he said in his confirmation hearing he did not have communications with russian officials despite meetings with the ambassador. >> i asked him what he would do as attorney general if it was true that members of the campaign had met with the russians. so he says i did notmention

communications i had with the russian ambassador because the question did not ask about them. he answers a question i did ask. and for him to put this in his letter as the response is insulting. and i -- he should come back and explain himself, mr. chairman. i think he owes that to us. because this appears to me like he was -- and i have been -- i have bent over backward not to say that he lied. he needs to come back.

>> do you support the appointment of an independent special council to look into these matters? >> senator, i know it is based solely on media council. i know one of your colleagues called for a special council for something related to this matter while attorney general lynch was in office in early january. and she rejected the request. and based on the media accounts, i believe she said exactly what said, that shead confidence in the officials in that department. rrently, senator, we have an acting attorney neral who was appointed u.s. attorney by

president obama. and if there were a need for special council, he has full authority to appoint one. >> i'm trying to figure out what your bottom line is. i interpret that as a, no is that fair? >> well, i don't know, senator, i think the answer is, i'm simply not in position to answer the question because i don't know the information that they know. >> democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut said he will attempt to block rosenstein until he commits to a special council. and the affordable care act has been met with protests and attempted to smear the plan, and, in fact, one of the groups is offering an alternative to the house leadership. despite all that, the president, vice president, and congressional leaders presented an optimistic front. >> the american health care act is the framework for reform. we are certainly open to improvements and to recommendations in the legislative process, but this is

the bill. >> i think, really, that we're going to have something that is going to be much more understood and much more popular than people can even imagine. this will be a plan where you can choose your plan. and you know what the plan is, this is the plan. and we're going to have a tremendous -- i think we'll have a tremendous success. it's a complicated process, but actually it's very simple. it's called good health care. >> let's not forget, obamacare is collapsing. obamacare isn't staying. if we did nothing, the law would collapse and leave everybody without affordable health care. we are doing an act of mercy that repealing this law and replacing it with patient-centered reforms that we as conservatives have been arguing for and fighting for for years. >> not much is known about how althe will play out. and tom price defended

particulars with the plan with no cdo score yet and the multiple phases it will likely take. >> reporter: do you support everything in the bill sitting in the table, sir? >> this is a work in progress. and we work with the house and the senate in this process. as you know, it's a legislative process that occurs. i'm glad you pointed out the bills on the table. >> reporter: can you guarantee that this plan will not have a marketedly negative impact on the deficit or result in millions of americans losing health insurance? >> what i can say is the goal and desire that i know of the individuals on the hill is to make certain this does not increase the cost of the federal government. >> reporter: how does the white house and you feel about labeling it trumpcare? >> well, others provide inscription for it, but i prefer patientcare. this isn't about politicians or insurance companies, this is about patients. >> joining me from washington, d.c., aaron black from the "washington post." good morning to you, great to have you with us. we see a lot of rangling among

republicans and pressure from the big groups like club foundation and club for growth. i want to get your take on what this bill will do with so much opposition from the party early on. >> it seems really tough right now. i will see that last night paul ryan actually made a confident statement that when this does come to the floor it will have support. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has said that when this comes to the senate, he hopes to bring it right up for a vote there. so at least professions of confidence from the leaders, but the rank in file is very skeptical. we have seen resis tatance from both this may not cover everybody who had obama coverage and also from the right, which is very significant in today's republican party. >> so aaron, it's alex here, you talk about support potentially in congress, i want to look at some polling pretty quickly here. there's a new one that shows 51% of american citizens want to keep the law and jus work to

try to improve it. but 31% want to repeal rein place the whole thing do. you think there's a political hazard no matter what congressional republicans do? >> yeah, you know, the funny thing happened on the way to this repeal and replace move by the republicans, and that is that obamacare became more popular. people realized that there were things about it that they were going to miss. it's numbers, a couple polls have it with majority support among the american people, which is unprecedented. and that says nothing of what is going to happen after republicans pass this bill and they have all kinds of unintended consequences, like we saw with obamacare. so this is a very difficult situation for republicans to be in, both passing the bill and what happens afterwards. >> is there any way to gauge if it is because of what you said, people are supporting it because of their experience with it, or because they just have a fear of the unknown? they cannot figure out what is coming down the pipe for them with the new bill and how it

will affect them. what is it, do you think? >> if you look at entitlement programs, once you give the american people entitlement program and try to take it away, that creates all kinds of fear. so we are seeing something similar with social security and medicare now with obamacare. >> okay, aaron blake in washington, thank you. there's no doubt that senator lindsey graham has been one of the president's most vocal critics vowing to take on russia for meddling in the election and promised to get to the president's unproven wiretapping claims. despite their differences, the senator joined the president at the white house yesterday. he emerged with nothing but positive things to say. >> it was very good, very positive. the president's in a deal-making mode. i hope congress will be respond and i think the president wants to do deals across the board. and i look forward to heg him put the deals together. >> it's safe to say the two have come a long way since their time as rivals in the campaign trail. here's a quick trip down memory

lane. >> i don't care if he drops out, stay in the race, just stop being a jackass. i'm really frankly tired of this. the world is falling apart and i'm trying to emerge as a national voice, we are on the verge of a comeback here. and every time i turn around i'm being asked about donald trump saying one dumb thing after another and i'm tired of it. >> so lindsey graham says to me, please, please, whatever you can do, i say, what is this guy, a beggar? and he gave me his number. and i found the card. wr i wrote the number down. let's try it. 202 -- >> trump gave out the senator's private phone number. that led to this memorable moment on the campaign trail when senator graham destroyed his phone there. after yesterday's meeting senator graham tweeted, how good was the meeting with potus? i gave him my new cell phone number. bold move, senator graham. it's a bold move. >> as long as they don't have a

falling out, otherwise you know where the number will end up, right back out in the public. >> i'm not sure that was smart. thank you, louis, for that. still ahead, the ceo of uber finds himself in need of the company's latest moves. and the dow posts the first back-to-back declines since january. we'll look at the stories moving the markets. and breaking news from the afghanistan capital city has gunman blast their way into the largest hospital. we'll have that story, next.

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welcome back. we'll turn to business now where the uber ceo is searching for a second in commandment in all the controversy regarding his company. carolin roth is joining us. any names out there being floated? >> reporter: yes, a couple names, actually.

according to rico, potential candidate could be the former disney ceo tony staggs. but it has been a couple rough weeks for uber after sexual harassment accusations from an employee. and travis kalanick is looking for help in the form of a new coo for the company. >> we'll see if uber can dig itself out of the hole it's in. and one more story here, i was glancing at "gq" and saw a new article about the electric car from bentley. help me understand it. >> we know the electric car is of the future, but they have not been that sexy so far. that's about to change because you mentioned that "gq" article, the bentley speed 1260, it's a mouthful, but this could change a lot. it's set to come as an lek tiel

model with a range of 310 miles and comes as a convertible. but the bad news is there's no day yet for a possible production star. back over to you. >> carolin roth live from london. >> i can totally pick lur loutu in one of those. and bill karins, how is it looking outs there? >> people are angry at the groundhog. it's mild out there today. there's a big storm in canada. we have showers in play for areas of the northeast, but that is really about it. it's a pretty calm day doing travel across the country. not ba airport day, but there are wind delays in chicago, cleveland and detroit. but then into tomorrow, we start to watch this cold air, this pink and the purple, that is some temperatures in the teens and the 20s. so there is some cold air that will be on its way down. that's going to move in throughout the day on friday. this boundary between the cold air and the warmer air is going to cause some snow. this is the blue here, this is

4:00 a.m. friday morning with snow falling from boston to providence, all through connecticut, massachusetts and areas north of new york city for the most part. it's not going to be a big, heavy snowfall event. but we will see some snow on the cars and we'll get snow on the grassy surfaces. then by 8:00 a.m., it's just about all over there near the boston area. we are not expecting a heavy snow event it looks very light. maybe an inch on the suburbs. the roads should be fine. that's just the beginning. then a really cold weekend. and then tuesday into wednesday, possibly, the snowstorm for areas of the northeast. so spring, you may have to wait for the calendar on the 20th. >> i think so. thank you for that. still ahead, china has a message for the u.s. as tensions mount on the creole peninsula. >> we'll go live to beijing next with an update. imagine if the things you bought every day earned you miles to get to the places

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welcome k. at least three people are dead after an attack on a military hospital in kabul. five entered the hospital through a back gate. we are told three of them have been killed. the local media says more than 60 people have been hurt. the situation is ongoing. we'll update you as that develops. meantime, tensions on the korean peninsula are rising once again as china looks to intervene in a growing standoff between north and south korea.

>> and north korea is being asked to halt their military exercises. janice mackey frayer is here with the latest. >> reporter: they are saying the u.s. and north korea were heading against a collision in the region. we are hearing both sides need to cease and desist. as you said, north korea needs to halt the nuclear and military testing, and the u.s. and south korea need to stop the joint massive military drills underway. china appears to be intervening because it is so fiercely opposed to the u.s.-made missile defense system called faad being deployed in south korea. the first pards of ts of it arr yesterday. and faad is purely for defensive purposes but china sees it as a threat, that it is part of a

wider u.s. security project in the region meant to contain china's rise. so militarily, thaad could help south korea, but diplomatically for the u.s. it could backfire. >> janis, thank you for that. still ahead, a look at the stories happening in the day ahead. >> and coming up on "morning joe," an exclusive interview with rand paul. and one of the stewards of the president's plan is joining us as well, the new office of managent andbusiness jim murray. as well as senator tom colton. "morning joe" is moments away. o are easy to find. show me used minivans with no reported accidents. boom. love it. [struggles] show me the carfax.

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and dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax. designed for dependable relief. all right, welcome back, everyone. before we toss it over to "morning joe," we'll check on the stories you'll be hearing about in the day ahead. >> the battle to replace obamacare takes a step forward today in the house of energy committee and the house and ways committee will both debate on the bill. and women across the country are expected to stage a one-day strike in honor of international women's day. the day without protest, they are calling for equal pay, reproductive freedom and an end to racism.

i'm alex witt alongside ayman and louis, both you guys ready, "morning joe" starts right now. we have to admit, we are divided on replacement. we are united on repeal, but we are divided on placement. we united on pale but divided on replacement. >> one score the american people will pay attention to and does it lower their health care costs and premiums? that is the only score that really matters. if this doesn't do it, we need to make sure that we find something that does do it. >> if we liken this to donald trump's world of everything in negotiation what we have is an opening bid and it's about asking this simple question which is do we need to lower the bar in what we believe is conservatives simply because the republicans are now in the white house? >> i think amidst we can find a pony around here somewhere and that is what we are going to be looking to have. i think we will have