that's our broadcast tonight. thank you so much for watching. i'll see you back here at 4:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow. good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. threatened with legal action. trump lawyers sent steve bannon a cease and desist letter over comments he made about the president and family in new book. massive storm. millions of americans bracing for snow, ice and freezing temperatures. manafort suing over russia probe. argues it is operating outside of the law. good morning, everyone. it's thursday, january 4. i'm ayman mohyeldin. alongside yasmin vossoughian and

louis burgdorf is back. after a shocking view, the trump administration spilled out in pages of a new book late last night. lawyer for trump and campaign sent a cease and desist letter to former white house strategist steve bannon. accuses him of breaching agreement with the campaign by communicating with author michael wolf about trump and his family. disclosing confidential information. and quote, making disparaging and in some cases outright defamatory statements to wolf. trump attorney, charles said that bannon's actions give rise to numerous legal glams. legal action is imminent. now the trump campaign has threatened legal action without following through multiple times before. including against the "new york times" and october 2016 against women accusing trump of sexual

assault. bannon has not responded to the midnight developments. trying to quell further leaks cracking down on staff. siting multiple aides. staffers have been told they cannot use personal cell phones anymore. told this earlier in the terms. now being enforced. chief of staff john kelly was leading a push for a ban. jennifer jacobs, reporter who broke that story, tweeted last night. campus wide ban goes into affect on friday. stemming from exerts steve bannon the campaign chief executive in closing months and chief strategist until august accuses former colleagues of lying and betraying the country of the june 2016 trump tower meeting with donald trump, jared kushner, paul manafort.

bannon said this. three guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet in the trump tower on the conference room with no lawyers. even if you thought this was not treasonous, unpatriotic or bad, i happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the fbi immediately. and quote that don junior did not walk these jumos.

their path to expletive here trump goes right through medical report. >> donald trump responded to bannon saying steve had the honor of working in the white house and serving the country. unfortunately he squandered that privilege and turned that opportunity into a nightmare of back stabbing, harassing, leaking, lying and undermining the president. steve is not a strategist. he is an opportunityist. the president responded in a ballisticing stateme inin ining statement. he lost his mind. now that he's on his own, steve is learning that winning isn't as easy as i make it look. steve had very little to do with our historic victim. delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. steve had everything to do with the loss of a senate seat in alabama. he doesn't represent my base. he's only in it for himself. steve pretends to be at war with the media. spent the time at the white

house leaking false information to make himself seem far more important than he was. only thing he does well. rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have influence to few people with no access and no clue who he helped. like me, many republicans love the united states and helping to build the country up rather than simply seeking to burn it all down. >> alliance broken after president trump released that statement slam accident steve bannon. mitch mcconnell posted this tweet. a gif showing the republican just smiling. there's been a feud between mitch mcconnell and bannon. bannon promised a season of war. last mcconnell mitch mcconnell sarcastically called bannon a genius for backing roy moore who

lost to democratic doug jones. let's talk all about this. jonathan, good morning to you. thanks for joining us this morning. we've discussed some of this surprising things that have come out of michael wolf's book in interview with steve bannon. did anybody out there expect what we heard? >> well, it's not surprise to anyone who has actually spoken to steve bannon. these are all the things he says privately. the surprise was he said it on the record. so the white house was prepared for the book to be bad. they new he had early wild west days of the white house, steve bannon was kind of inviting michael wolf into his office. michael wolf was wondering around. met with steve bannon, met with other senior officials numerous time. they knew this had happened. they sort of had been preparing

for the book to be heavy on bannon's point of view. what they didn't expect was going after the president's family and to some extent the family and insinuate they were part of -- potentially part of a money laundering scheme. that did take them by surprise. >> let me ask you a question i was hearing throughout the day yesterday. why, why would steve bannon do this? he even -- even as he said yesterday on a breitbart radio show, he still believes trump is a great man. still supports him. why in the world would he -- what's his incentive? i understand he spoke on the record. what does he gain by doing all of this. >> you sound like one of steve bannon's allies who called me yesterday and said, why would he do this? why would he do this? >> maybe it was ayman. if you know the answer, you're smarter than me.

this does not strike anybody close to bannon as even one dimensional chess. i can't fathom a strategy. one thing we will be reporting on axios is bannon has told friends that if trump -- if the russia process ends badly for trump, he would requester running in a republican primary against mike pence. he does have large visions for himself. >> interesting. >> i was hearing steve bannon with all the information he revealed yesterday and pushing the investigation this direction, hasn't spoken to robert mueller. >> now wondering if in fact he would be speaking to rob mueller after this coming out. >> absolutely. >> what do you make of trump's reaction to all of this. pretty fiery. and also the seize and desist letter from last night.

>> source rss of mine said trump was in a furry yesterday. there was a free for all session where they were drafting the statement. people were throwing in ideas. trump wanted it to be this long winded dumping on steve bannon. taking legal action not only on steve bannon, but also talking about taking legal action against the author and accomplisher. i wouldn't be surprised if we see more threats of the kind that we saw or maybe a slightly different character of threat, but more threats aimed towards either michael wharf or the accomplisher. we got a lot to talk about.

>> thanks for getting up early for us today. >> we do appreciate it. >> it's been what, a year? >> guys. come on. >> we'll talk to you again. >> thanks, jonathan. >> jonathan looks thrilled to be up at five in the morning. two new democratic senators sworn into office narrowing the already slim majority. doug jones won a anymore row race against roy moore in alabama. tina smith replaces al franken are the newest members of the senate. republicans now control a 51-49 majority. jones was escorted by his long time friend, former vice president, joe biden. and smith was escorted by her mentor, former vice president, walter monodale. mike pence showed him speaking with both of his predecessors before the ceremony. newly sworn in doug jones will be a guest on morning joe. attorney general jeff sessions has used authority to name 17 interim united states

attorneys as interim. trump failed to name nominations after firing 46 obama appointees back in march. sessions had to make the appointments as current acting attorneys were nearing the limit of 300 days in office. the move gives trump another 120 days to formally submit his nominations to the senate. if trump and lawmakers do not agree on a nominee, the federal courts will step in to make another temporary appointment. source familiar with the process tells nbc news the attorneys picked include jeffrey berman. berman was tacked at interim u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. spot previously held by someone fired by trump after refusing to resign back in march. interim u.s. attorney, berman would have to be approved. neither have said whether they

would approve trump's choice. >> interesting political development there. still ahead, former vice president joe biden weighs in on president trump's north korea tweets. tracking the massive winter snow bringing ice up and down the east coast. full check of the forecast when we come back. this is laura. and butch. and tank. and tiny. and this is laura's mobile dog grooming palace. laura can clean up a retriever that rolled in foxtails, but she's not much on "articles of organization."

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yesterday flakes fell in georgia, florida. produced first snow ini ta tallahassee in 28 years. blizzard warnings in effect for parts of the northeast. massachusetts calling for heavy snow. and winds up to 70-mile-per-hour along the coast. 3,000 flights have been

canceled. with that. get a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, blizzard 2018 is upon us. what can we expect. >> already close to blizzard conditions in areas virginia beach and norfolk. snow overnight in d.c. southward through richmond. raleigh. a lot of people have school delays and cancellations. difficult morning commute. especially in mid atlantic region. huge storm. bombed out as had been advertised. not that rare of event. see the center looks like hurricane. very cleared out. lightning strikes off the coast. meaning very intense storm. the backside blue here, that's our radar. color in where the snow is falling. intense band is right along the coast. one location along the coast of delaware. five inches of snow. starting to snow isn't the jersey shore. intensifying along long island. still a lot of questions how much snow we get to washington, d.c., philly.

even new york. here's the advisories. blizzard warnings continue for maine down through boston. cape cod. all of the eastern half of long island. blizzard warnings. jersey shore. down through ocean city. and all the way back through norfolk and virginia beach. raleigh. winter weather advisory. here's the snowfall prediction map. there's two elements of this storm primarily. mostly going to be a big huge windstorm. we have had many snowstorms like this before. snow is not -- it's more of affects more people. not really going to cause that much hardship to a lot of people besides delays in your daily activities. snowfall forecast. notice d.c., baltimore. only about an inch. maybe two inches. nuisance type stuff for you. philadelphia around two inches. new york city around 4-6 range. kind of on the edge of the heavier stuff. once you feget to purple all th way to red. the real story is going to be with winds as we go throughout

the afternoon. wind will really pick up. 10:00 a.m. 30-40 range. by the time we get to afternoon, that's when we'll head up to 48 and 60-mile-per-hour winds on cape cod. that's the real big concern. once we get strong winds later today, how many people lose power because it's going to be so brutally cold behind this. people are going to have to go to shelters. can't stay in home when the temperature is zero. >> heavy snow near 50-mile-per-hour plus. >> we're talking about how dangerous those conditions become without power and people coming up with ways to have heat in homes. seeing fires breaking out when people are trying to come up for other ways. >> thanks, bill. the head of iran's revolutionary guard declared victory over sedition in the country. however, reports indicate that several protests, they are still ongoing. 21 people have died since the demonstrations erupted last week over economic issues that morphed into anti-government protest. president trump once again tweeted support for the

protesters yesterday, such respect for the people of iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. you will see growth support from the united states at the appropriate time. yesterday, iran's ambassador to the united medications sent a letter to the security counsel and general accusing the u.s. and trump administration of inciting the protest. specifically siting the president and vice president's quote absurd tweets. former vice president joe biden is speaking out about the president's twitter habits specifically as it relates to north korea and the proclamation his nuclear butt is bigger than kim jong-un. >> i think it shows really poor judgment for the president to perform the way he does, particularly with tweets. not just with his tweets. words matter. i'm disappointed because i think it's -- look. the only war that's worse than

one that's intended is one that's unintended. this is not a game. this is not about his can i puff my chest out bigger than your chest. it's just not presidential. >> meanwhile, south korea says that the north has made contact. recently reopened cross border communication channel. although mostly a check of the system. which has been dormant for nearly two years. a statement on state run television. said we will connect with the south with a sincere and diligent attitude, adding pyongyang sincere hope that next month's olympics will be successful. still ahead. one college team throwing a national game. plus, lebron versus kyrie,

prove of the potential eastern conference finals took place last night in boston. we'll give you the highlights. sports is next.

welcome back. time for sports. college national championship is just four days away. according to atlanta journal constitution, president trump is planning to attend monday night's matchup between georgia and alabama in atlanta. what would be trump's second visit to georgia since taking office.

appearance would follow most dishonest and corrupt media awards of the year. meanwhile, college football only undefeated game isn't playing on the title game. went and declared national champs anyway. ucf nights celebrate season with a title banner and parade at disney world. did not earn a spot in the four team college playoff. cast off 13-0 season on new year's day with peach bowl victory over auburn. only team to beat both georgia and alabama. central florida pay coaching staff like champs. set to reward $300,000 in bonuses that would have been associated with winning a national championship. switching gears for some nba action, cavaliers versus celtics. lebron versus kyrie. doesn't go well for the cavs. former star thomas returns to td

garden to a standing ovation. did not play in the game. 26 foot three-pointer before the end of the first quarter. giving the celtics 11 point lead. meanwhile, kyrie irving double teamed finds a wide open slam. keeping the cavs at bay there. then in the third quarter, rebound to marcus smart. brown for the reverse dunk and a nail in the coffin there. celtics handedly defeat the cavs. take the second game in the season series. cavs have lost four out of last five games. >> very nice to see thomas back in boston. i still wonder who thinks they got the better end of that deal. k kyrie and the celtics on fire. >> i just asked ayman off camera if he could dunk and he said he could in the day and there's video of it. >> there's a lot of tall people that can't necessarily dunk. >> i don't think anyone cares about this conversation.

i really don't. >> i think they do if we were able to produce the video. >> let's get a hoop in the studio. let's see it. still ahead. much more on the fall between the fallout between president trump and steve bannon after the president made explosive allegations about the presidency. >> plus takes on bob mueller in the russia probe lawsuit. those stories and more coming up. shawn evans: it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. but what i see here never ceases to amaze me: change.

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welcome back, everybody.

i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. bottom of the hour. start with the top stories. a massive winter storm is moving up the east coast and making its way into the northeast this morning. as millions of people prepare for the possibility of near blizzard conditions in some parts. in the southeastern part of the country, people are cleaning up today after the system left a mix of snow, sleet and ice across that region. creating dangerous conditioning for some. very latest in the a couple of minutes. head of iran's revolutionary guard declared victory. meanwhile, iran's ambassador sent a letter to the u.n. security council and security general accusing the u.s. and trump administration of inciting the protests. >> and president trump has shutdown his signature commission to investigate large scale voter fraud. trump formed the commission in may after claiming without evidence that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election.

commission faced widespread criticism and internal desensation over request for sensitive voter data from every state. >> turning back to the other top story and shocking allegations being laid out by steve bannon in a new book about the early days of the trump administration. the president now firing back at his former strategist as the rift between the two men appears to be only growing wider. nbc news peter alexander has more on the book and the bombshell the white house is now being forced to deal with. ex-employplosive new claims steve bannon insisting the 2016 trump tower meeting was treasonous and unpatriotic. noting junior, paul manafort should have called the fbi immediate immediately. >> i think that is a ridiculous accusation. >> bannon didn't join the campaign for another two months says there zero chance he didn't

introduce russian guest to father. they're going to crack like an egg on national tv. first learned about the meeting a year later. trump fuming. >> i think furious, disgusted would probably certainly fit when you make such an outrageous claims and completely false claims act against the president. his administration and family. >> the president unloading in an extraordinary blistering statement. steve bannon has nothing to bo with me or my presidency. when he was fired. he not only lost his job. he lost his mind. adding steve doesn't represent my base. he's only in it for himself. president trump showerer ereed with praise shortly after departure. >> bannon gives credence to the special counsel probe. this is all about money laundering. noting indictment. arguing going after the president by zeroing in on some closest to him. may be strategic by bannon to demonstrate he had no part in

conduct he may perceive as risky by other members of the trump team. >> fire and furry reportedly based on 200 interviews. many conducted in the west wing. also reignited questions about trump's view of women. reportedly calling hope hicks a piece of tail in front of her and using a vulgar expletive to describe sally yates. he was angry. feeling slighted by the obamas and celebrities that refused to perform for him. bearing the brunt. melania trump who seemed on the verge of tears. wolf claims ivanka and kushner entertained own political future. also airing dirty laundry about unusual habits and demands at the white house. reprimanding the housekeeping staff for picking up his shirt. saying if my shirt is on the floor, it's because i want it on

the floor. one more colorful quote from the book. on election night, once it was clear that mr. trump would win, his son don junior told a friend his father looked like he had seen a ghost and melania was in tears and not tears of joy. yasmin. >> the revelations in that book is absolutely mind blowing. >> if my shirt is on the floor, it's meant to be on the floor. >> yes, there are questions whether or not some of those quotes are exactly the way they happened in terms of conversations, but the general sentiment coming out of the white house and people close to the white house is that yeah, that's a pretty accurate characterization of how things are playing out. add this to the mix, paul manafort suing bob mueller, rod rose nstein and the department. indicted on 12 counts back in o october. including conspiracy to launder

money. now alleging the investigation that led to indictment is completely off from special counsel to investigate links or coordination between russian and trump campaign. the complaint states it has instead focused on manafort's unrelated decade old business in the ukraine. giving authority to pursue any matters that arose or may arise from the russian investigation exceed the scope of rosenstein's authority and give special counsel option to investigate anything. suit asks federal judge place injunction on rosenstein, mueller to restrict their authority. said the lawsuit is frivolous, but the defendant is entitled to file whatever he wants. now to ongoing feud over the documents related to the trump dossier. after speaking to rod

rosenstein. republican congressman released a statement saying an agreement has been reached for the justice department to hand over documents he's been seeking related to the trump dossier. nunez also threat nened to hold spotted on capitol hill yesterday. we're told he and fbi director christopher ray met with house speaker paul ryan about the russia investigation. the meeting was at rosenstein's request. other angle around the closed door testimony. the research firm that commissioned the dossier. and accused republicans of selectively leaking parts of their testimony and called on them to instead release the full transcript. a spokesperson for chuck grassley, he released a statement saying the transcripts won't be released right no to avoid tainting the memory of other witnesses. the statement also claimed the cofounders were invited to testify in open committee hearing, but it was them that

actually refused using their fifth amendment against self incrimination to negotiate a closed door interview. the committee says the invitation to testify publically remains on the table. back with us, jonathan swan. good to talk to you once again. we have been on the record saying don trump junior and jared kushner at the trump tower was treasonous. they sort of reported to the fbi at the time. what do you think this says about the russian investigation, if anything. >> i don't think it says anything. it's really bannon's speculation which obviously he's putting on the record now. it's hard to fathom that bannon himself would be scrutinized and brought in to see mueller and asked what he saw and what he didn't see, but these sentiments that bannon is expressing, again, this is what he's been saying privately for months. the breathtaking thing is he

said it on the record in a book. >> jonathan, let me ask you, we've heard a lot of allies of the president, obviously his son. we also heard former steve bannon allies, including the congressman here in new york who is going to be running or growing to compete back for his seat, but we haven't really heard from a lot of bannon allies who have rushed to his defense in the past 24 hours. does that surprise you or have you heard of any bannon allies that are expressing solidarity with him, even privately right now. >> there was one. the london editor went on bbc last night. >> not a household name in u.s. >> he was the first brave soul to defend steve bannon on the record. look, i have to be somewhat careful. a lot of the conversations i've had have been off the record. what i'll say just generally, is that there is a good reason why you haven't heard those allies on the record defending him. it's because many of them

thought it was, you know, level five stupidity. category five stupidity what steve bannon did yesterday. >> interesting. just sort of stepping out of line for bannon. they don't want to get behind him there. let's talk about manafort filing the lawsuit against rosenstein and mueller. >> this is a really interesting department. the jury presestice department. it is very r broad. you hear people on tv say it's mueller. it's a very narrow focused investigation. the wording is, i looked up, quote, any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation. that's basically -- you might as well do whatever you want, bob mueller. look another whatever you want. we've seen in the first wave of indictments he's taken that to

heart. if you look at the manafort indictment, he's gone after manafort on crimes that had nothing to do with the campaign, committed a long time before the campaign. so there's a real question. mueller is now on the fishing expedition. he may find things illegal, but had nothing to do with the campaign. >> you don't think manafort is left with any legs. >> i don't know. i'm not a legal expert. i think it's a very interesting political discussion we're going to have over the next year as to how far mueller can go. >> we're not sure when we're going to have you back again at the 5:00 a.m. that's why we squeezed that in. >> i love you guys. >> we're lucky to have you. jonathan swan live in washington. >> so nice to have jonathan swan here at 5:00 a.m. love it. let's turn to business. market rally rolled over. all three indexes seeing another day of gain.

including s&p closed above 2700 for the first time yesterday. joins us live from london. what helped give these stocks a boost for is second trading day of the new year. >> seems to be a lot to do with investor confidence even despite concerns about u.s. and north korean leaders kind of going back and forth on respective nuclear arsenal. you mentioned s&p 500 at a new high. 2700 points above that now for first time. up more than half a% yesterday. saw the same with dow jones and nasdaq. for instance, the nikkei, stock market closed highest level in 26 years. in fact the only major stock market around the world not in positive territory right now is the south korean index. kospi. now bad news for one u.s. stock that has seen negative numbers after hours trading. tesla, manufacturer of electric cars. model 3 sedan. elon musk tweeting he was

expected 20,000 to be produced a month. that number was around 1,000. said the 20,000 a month will have to wait until june. confidence we're talking about has punctured the shares down 2% in after hours trading last night. talk about a very important fight over which fast food chain has the best dollar men. looks like taco bell is stepping up its game. >> they've got new nacho fries launched nationwide. testing them a bit. single dollar. kind of conflict between the major fast food company. mcdonald's got a new menu out. this is becoming a war. sausages burrito. not good for new year's resolution. >> probably not. >> i've got to be honest. >> i don't know if you saw this.

she was google taco bell. >> i'm a cleanse. i'm starving. along the east coast. dangerous conditions with it. bill karins has the latest on where the storm is heading next. stay with us.

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may cause serious side effects like heart failure. your insulin dose shouldn't be changed without asking your prescriber. get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, dizziness or confusion. ask your health care provider if you're tresiba® ready. covered by most insurance and medicare plans. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ welcome back, all morning we've been tracking that winter storm making the way up the east coast. people in the northeast brace for the system and potential for near brlizzard conditions in soe parts of the country. all about cleanup today. this was the scene in savannah, georgia just yesterday. images captured by a drone. very picturesque and beautiful. you have to wonder about the conditions and street conditions must have been somewhat dangerous. sleet, freezing rain in other parts of the state created dangerous conditions with the thick layer of ice.

meanwhile, neighboring south carolina, some kids today decided to take advantage of the snow. looked like a painful wipeout. some areas saw five inches of snow. yasmin is going to try to do that later this weekend. >> yes. the tough thing about those areas. they're not prepared for weather like this. they don't get it a lot. when they get snow like this, if whole city really shuts down. so with that, let's get a check on the weather. actually have video of ayman doing that we'as well. >> i thought that was bill karins. you weren't here yesterday. savannah, 15th time in 120 years they've recorded snow. once in a decade type event. currently the storm, huge storm right where my hand is located. near blizzard conditions. we're waking up to this morning. little band near the richmond area up through d.c. slick roads in this area. saw a two hour delayed opening for all government offices in washington, d.c. then as we head back to philly,

snow starting to fill in a little bit now. same for new york city. jersey shore, a lot of areas reporting half mile visibility. wind gusts of 47-mile-per-hour. now the snow is pushing the eastern half of long island. that's where the heavy stuff will be through the early morning commute. 8 million people under blizzard warnings. areas of purple along the immediate coast. 35 million people under winter storm warnings. including all of new york city. that number out there close to 35 million. here's the timing of everything for you. here's the storm, the blue shows you where the snow is. notice richmond and d.c. 8:00 a.m. just about done. the worst of it is over with for you. go throughout the morning hours. heavier snow goes over long island. hartford to providence. back to boston and all out here on the islands. that's at 1:00 p.m. notice that the snow is ending at 1:00 p.m. in philadelphia. new york city looks like right around 3:00 p.m. or so. the snow is over with. by 6:00 p.m. totally done. hartford, new york and philly. snow over boston and snowing really hard up here in maine.

how much snow are we talking. just about done in d.c. and baltimore. maybe an inch or less. philadelphia only about two inches. new york city notice purple line goes through brooklyn. six inches. go towards the bronx and central park. more towards 4-5 range. anywhere from 6-12 inches. the winds will be the big story there. we're going to see gusts out there up to 70-mile-per-hour. still ahead, north korea speaks out about potential talks with the south after reestablishing connections between the two countries. plus, former vice president joe biden speaks out about president trump's habit to use twitter to mock kim jong-un.

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i'm disappointed because i think it's look the only war that's worse than one that's intendsed is one that's unintended. this is not a game. this is not about can i puff my chest out bigger than your chest. it's just -- it's just not presidential. >> that was former vice president joe biden reacting to president trump's tweets regarding north korea and its leader kim jong-un, despite diplomacy with north korea is quote useless, south korea appears to be making every effort to get the north to the table for any sort of talks.

>> joins us live, bill neely, the south korean unification ministry reporting the daily phone calls on the hotline have resumed two years after the north severed those communications. how much of a break through is this for the possibility of a resolution to this crisis? >> yeah, good morning, ayman, we've now had five exchanges across the border, no question, it's a brake through, whether it will resolve a nuclear crisis is a different issue. picking up on joe biden's words matter, he's right the dialogue matters. so really on the principle that jaw, jaw, is better than war, war, it will make dialogue easier and may well prevent misunderstandings. i use that world war ii phrase overnight. prime minister shinzo abe says the security situation facing

japan is the most dangerous since world war ii. he says it's because of north korea's provocations. he is promising to bolster japan's defenses and to work with the u.s. and south korea and so on. the fact of the open hotline, the two slides talk to each other at 9:00 and 4:00 every day. it's nothing of substance. it's not long ago, south korean officials were using a bullhorn, a megaphone to shoot across the border. a hotline is added a vans the words, all very nice. we'll connect with a sincere attitude, obviously, that's very different than the usual tone from pyongyang accusing the south of being a regime, president moon, obviously, he wants dialogue, he doesn't want a preemptive strike. he dislikes the tweets from

donald trump. for him, this is a huge break through. one other brief point, there was talk, aymon of increased activity around a launch site t. sign says there is no sign of an imminent missile launch. >> bill breaks it down of the significance of the talks. then you have u.n. ambassador nikki haley saying no talks in snrk a waste of time. . so thanks for us, live in london. coming up next, much more on the explosive allegess of steve bannon and donald trump's presidency, his claims of a teesonnous meeting of the trump inner circle and intense infightth in the white house and mr. trump's former strategist. newly sworn in democratic senator doug jones joins the conversation on his arrival to washington, joe is back this morning and "morning joe" is moments away, everyone. re. psoriasis does that.

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welcome back, everybody. before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's get a look at the stories you will be hearing about in the day ahead.

>> the winner will finally find out between the tie of the states department of elections will hold a election to determine who will decare victory if virginia's 94th district t. winner will be sworn in on wednesday. local and state federal official will discuss the playoff national championship game in atlanta later today. more than 100,000 visitors are expected for the game and related events, including president donald trump, who is reportedly playing the game. >> "morning joe" starts right now. >> we'll have a very good relationship as you know with steve bannon. steve has been a friend of mine for long time. i like steve a lot. steve is doing what steve thinks is the right thing. >> i would certainly think that going after the president's son in an absolutely outrageous and unprecedented way is probably

not the best way to curry favor with anybody. >> it's important that he was furious when these reports first came out that bannon was quoted as saying that, that an act rat depiction? >> i think curious, disgusted would fit when you make such outrageous claims and completely false claims against the president, his administration and his family. >> for months, separate those two moments, now, president bush's legal team accuse the president's son of treasotreaso. that's the start of it. welcome, it's "morning joe." it's january 4th. i'm sorry i picked a day where there is so little to talk about. i guess we can talk about alabama. i few they were going to win. well, i guess that's about -- wait, we got a book to talk about. we also have