of "dateline extra." thank you for watching. dition of "dateline extra." thank you for watching after a few days of clashing with american security forces, pro-erinian demonstrators have withdrawn from outside the u.s. embassy in baghdad but this morning the tension reese main high. >> plus we're following the latest on a stabbing spree that took place on one of the final days of hanukkah. one of the victims is reportedly still in a coma and family members say he may not regain consciousness. >> and new reporting that the trump administration is expected to announce a ban on certain flavored e-cigarettes, the move is meant to combat the surge in youth vaping. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, january 22.

>> january 2. >> i said 22nd? >> i meant to say january 2, 2020. >> i was going to say we're ahead. >> but we're there, we're ahead. >> reunited in the new year a big year ahead. we begin with obviously president trump. now on day 13 of his extended 17-day vacation. some of us are back to work. not all of us. not in dc. he started the new year at the golf course in west palm beach florida. and the times as the president's new years eve was summed up like this, it was perhaps fitting that president trump ended another year in office with another crisis-driven day of surreal contrast, tracking a middle east emergency from the golf club and ended with a tuxedo president. and of course vaping on a red carpet, over the din of party

music. in the middle east, increasing danger of an armed. with with iran, raising the question what if the president did not abandon the nuclear deal? and unraveling of diplomatic efforts of with north korea, with kim jong-un saying he can in fact continue testing nuclear and long range missiles despite a signed agreement with north korea to denuclearize and the impeachment of course with the president obsessing over nancy pelosi, attacking her dozens of times on twitter off the holiday break and when it comes to a fight over the testimony in the impeachment investigation, legal experts say the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by deputies of former national security adviser john bolton means that bolton must in fact testify. all of this while trying to convince the american people that he deserves a second term in office. >> after two days of clashes with american security forces, the associated press reports iran-backed militiamen have withdrawn from the u.s. embassy compound in baghdad following

calls from the iraqi government and senior militia leaders. an orchestrated assault, hundreds of militia men and their supporter, broke into the embassy compound, destroying a reception area, smashing windows, and spraying graffiti on walls to protest air strikes over the weekend that killed 25 fighters. the u.s. blamed the militia for the rocket attack on an iraqi military base last week that killed a u.s. contractor. meanwhile, nbc news reporting the u.s. is sending about 650 troops to the middle east as we speak. in the deployment that defense secretary mark esper called in a statement, quote, an appropriate action taken in response to increased threat levels against the united states personnel and facilities. >> meanwhile, north korean leader kim jong-un says he has no reason to continue his self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests warning the world will see a new strategic weapon unveil

bid north korea in the near future and in the remarks published yesterday, he appears to leave the door open to diplomacy, suggesting that tests would only resume if the u.s. did not change its policies. the comments come after a month-long standoff between washington and pyongyang, over disagreements involving the removal of sanctions imposed on north korea. with the senate impeachment trial looming, gop senator susan collins has become the second republican to question the majority leader mitch mcconnell's close coordination with the white house. last week, senator lisa murkowski says she was disturbed by mcconnell's impeachment strategy. now senator collins is also criticizing mcconnell's approach and adding that she is open to having witnesses testify at the upcoming trial. take a listen to this. >> i've heard the senate majority leader saying that he's taking his cues from the white house. there are senators on both sides of the aisle who, to me, are not

giving the appearance of, and the reality of, judging this in an impartial way. i am open to witnesses. i think it's premature to decide who should be called until we see the evidence that is presented and get the answers to the questions that we senators can submit through the chief justice to both sides. >> pete buttigieg is taking another swipe at candidate joe biden. in a recent interview with the associated press, the former south bend mayor said he would not have wanted to see his son serving on the board of the ukrainian gas company, while he was fighting corruption in the country. >> i would not have wanted to see that happen.

and at the same time, again, i think this is being used to divert attention from what is really at stake in the impeachment process. in my administration, we will have a very high standard around ethics, and making sure that we do everything we can to prevent even the appearance of a conflict. i think that is very important. because as we see, it can create a lot of complications. even when there is no wrong doing. >> and when asked to comment on buttigieg's remarks biden campaign aides declined. on sunday, buttigieg criticized biden for his vote to authorize the iraq war saying it is part of the worst foreign policy decision made by the united states in my lifetime. >> the democratic national committee rejected a request by presidential candidate andrew yang this week to commission additional polls that would help candidates qualify for this month's debate and diversify the event. in the letter to the dnc chairman, yang says requirements for the debate in des moines iowa later this month should include four commissioned early state polls before the january

10th deadline. a spokesperson said in a statement to usa today, it has been more than inclusive throughout the entire process and cited 26 qualifying polls for the january debate. for the upcoming debate, there is a polling threshold. and according to "politico" candidate tracker, only five candidates have qualified, joe biden, pete buttigieg, as well as senators amy klobuchar, bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. and as supreme court chief justice john roberts plans to preside over the senate, we have come to take democracy for granted and civic education has fallen by the wayside. in our age, when social media can instantly spread rumors and false information on a grand scale, the public seems to understand our government and the protection it provides, it

is ever more vital. he also stressed the importance of maintaining public trust, writing we should reflect on our duty to judge without fear and favor, and we should each resolve to do our best to maintain's the public's trust that we are faithfully discharging our solemn obligation. and the wide-ranging efforts to appoint judges who will rule in the likeness of his nation. he writes, quote, we should celebrate our strong and independent judiciary, a key source of naushl unity and stability. but we should also remember that justice is not inevitable. >> let's talk about some of this, joining us, white house and washington consumer reporter for "politico," daniel lippman. happy new year. good to see you on this second day of january. let's talk first about some of these comments that amin was ticking through with regards to justice robert, saying in part we are taking democracy for granted. what do you make of these comments ahead of him presiding over the president's impending

impeachment trial in the senate? >> i thought it was very interesting that he slammed social media to spread disinformation and that could be seen as a veiled shot at president trump, who routinely tweets stuff that is just not accurate, and also retweets accounts that are racist and spreading conspiracy theory, so i think the chief justice roberts, he tangled up with trump last year when he said there is no such thing as trump judges and obama judges and trump responded on twitter saying chief justice roberts, you're wrong, there are obama judges who are trying to stop me from doing what i want to try to protect the country. and i don't expect trump to respond to this, but if he doesn't like how chief justice roberts is ruling in the impeachment trial, i wouldn't be surprised if he tweets against him. >> and it is a tradition, saying

he didn't expect president trump to respond given he has been on a twitter rant over the last couple of days. let's tick through some of the looming political battles that president trump is currently facing as 2020 gets under way. how might incidents impact his re-election strategy when you look at the litany of political problems he is facing? >> well, i think if you talk about the international scene, it doesn't seem to be working in his favor in terms of north korea, his friendship with kim jong-un has not led to denuclearization on the korean peninsula. his iran pressure strategy has seemed to have back-fired, and leading to a, you know, an iranian militia members in iraq, trying to attack the u.s. embassy. and for a president who has staked a strategy to try to get countries to respect us around the world, it doesn't seem like the u.s. is feared as much. and a lot of international

experts are saying that he should re-evaluate his iranian strategy and that is going to hurt his re-election if he is bogged down in trying to tend to the fires abroad, when he is trying to focus on how great the economy is here at home. >> i think we're hearing, he should re-evaluate the strategy or he should come up with a strategy, and not necessarily know where he stands. >> it is like a policy, not a strategy. and there's a difference if you actually are in the national security space. >> good point. daniel lippman, live, this morning, thanks. >> thank you. a federal judge dismisses a lawsuit from one of john bolton's former aids challenging an impeachment and we will talk about what that could mean for john bolton himself. and record wildfires in australia, deadly conditions for people in that country, those stories and a check of your weather when we come back.

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welcome back a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by national security adviser charles kupperman, regarding a subpoena from congress to testify in the impeachment inquiry. the suit had sought to answer whether the white house could block the aide from testifying before congress, yet in a ruling monday the judge agreed with the attorneys for the house of representatives that the question was moot, because the house intelligence committee withdrew its subpoena back in november. the judge also dismissed two of kupperman's concern, the possibility of the subpoena being reissued or being punished, for not complying in the first place. had the house lost the case, it could have further hampered efforts to get trump administration witnesses to testify. had the house won, that could have had a major impact on the impeachment inquiry, as former national security adviser john bolton had said he would be bound by whatever the courts decided with regard to kupperman's case. so this could very well clear

the way for bolton to testify. >> and actually to that point, let's bring in msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos, who knows a little bit more about this than we certainly do. let's kick off with yasmin's point, how could this impact john bolton's position in all of this? how could the kupperman case have an impact on if? >> well, the kupperman case would have, had it been ultimately decided on the merit, had very serious implications whether or not john bolton could be compelled to testify. but now that's gone, it leaves us with a kind of vacuum, and we go back to the don mcgahn case, by the judge brown, which led to the conclusion, which is an issue that had only been addressed once before by another district court, that executive branch folks do not have absolute immunity. this very to come testify. and then assert privilege, as to individualized questions. so this still leaves the question open as to whether or not folks in the national security field are different from people like don mcgahn.

it's still an open question. because the courts didn't reach any of the merits on kupperman's case, because there was no longer a case to decide. >> for a while, though, whatever john bolton has been asked, i believe last week, as to whether or not he is going to testify, he has always gone to the kupperman case and said it is all dependent on what is decided with regards to the kupperman case. he also goes on to say in that npr interview, i remember, he said i got a lot to say. so it seems as if he wanted to share the information that he said he had. so it seems as if, and i talked earlier in the week, that this really does clear the way, there is really no introduce that john bolton can make at this point, and if in fact he, do and he tries to get another lawsuit, that it could tie him up, the senate falls in his lap and on his hands. >> that's right, although no court has squarely ruled on someone in bolton's position, it seems from the president, particularly the harriet myers case, from two decades ago, that's how long this issue has

essentially been resolved by a district court opinion, that if it came, push came to shove, that john bolton would be forced to at least appear, and then assert privilege as to certain questions, but if subpoenaed, and if it went to the courts, and those are two very big if's, john bolton likely could be forced to eventually appear. >> what's the next legal base that you're tracking in terms of this ongoing fight, whether it is the don mcgahn case or any other cases in various court levels that has had an implication on whether or not these officials testify? >> the don mcgahn case. it is so important, because as i've said before, the issue of whether or not there is this absolute immunity for executive branch aid, or people, such as don mcgahn, and arguably bolton, kupperman, others, is, has only really been addressed twice in our nation's history, an don mcgahn is one of those times. so it is going to be the first time that an appeals court and

possibly the supreme court deals with. it the myers case was dismissed ultimately because some other agreement was reached but this is a very important issue for inter-branch relations. >> can i just quickly ask, do you think the housemaid a mistake by not subpoenaing bolton? >> they made a strategy decision, keep in mind the house's mission was to achieve an impeachment. do the rest of us want to know what john bolton has to say? absolutely. we're really curious. but the house had to make a tactical choice. they could subpoena him, go to the courts, battle it out for months on end, and possibly not really get to the meat of their impeachment case against the president. >> all right. >> danny cevallos, thanks very much. always a pleasure. good to see you, my friend. let's switch gears and get a quick check of your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> good morning, happy new year. >> happy new year. >> start off the new year with a rainstorm and maybe snow this weekend, coming from the ohio valley and the northeast. a lot of question marks with that. let's start out with what we definitely know. you need the umbrella this

morning. it is soaking rain event. we will have airport delays out of the south today. new orleans has got some rain. heavy rain around alexandria, and this is all going to shift northward and eventually toward nashville and atlanta. under a flood threat, too. flood watches that go all the way from central mississippi, from jackson to meridian, to columbus, north all the way to nashville. and atlanta is not in the flash flood threat. about two to four inches of rain is possible throughout the region and you can see that rain will eventually spread to the east. so it is not quite as heavy there but it is a slow-moving storm system. and the only concern i have for damaging weather today, we have this little slight risk area here that includes new orleans and baton rouge, and up to hattiesburg, this is under a slight risk. we could get one or two super cell thunderstorms that could provide a tornado later on today, in southern louisiana or southern mississippi, just keep an eye out and make sure you're paying attention later this afternoon when the storm threat arrives. storm threat for the rest of the country, a nis day, for washington, d.c. and philly and new york. 53 today in dc.

florida is just fine today. tomorrow is when all of the wet weather begins a lot of people traveling home from the holidays. soaking rain arrives in areas of the mid atlantic and new england. and it looks like friday, more heavy rain. and then a little bit of a break. and then the rain will return in a second chunk as we go through saturday. it looks like an ugly saturday from the mid atlantic region to southern new england. and then the cold air wraps in behind it. so the ohio valley, a little bit of light snow possible. northern new england with some snow out of this and sunday morning, the snow will be exiting areas of the northeast. and who is going to get how much snow, but there is a possibility of at least accumulating snow anywhere from new york city northward to go throughout saturday night into sunday morning. guys. so still pretty mild across the country. no big cold outbreaks are coming any time soon. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, the latest on the hanukkah stabbing spree in new york and a look at the recent rise in anti-semitic violence across the country. we're back in a moment. violence. we're back in a moment i'm alex trebek here to tell you

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to work with your budget. so call now for free information. and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, and it's yours just for calling. so call now. welcome back, everyone. we are learning new details about one of the victims in the hanukkah stabbing in new york. according to the family of joseph newman, the 71-year-old jewish man remains in a coma and unlikely to awaken from injuries sustained in the attack. he was struck in the head three times while attending rabbi's hanukkah celebration in suburban monsey, new york. four people, four more people, i should say, were stabbed when the suspect entered the home with a machete. since the attack federal

prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against the suspected attacker after finding his handwritten journals which include pages of anti-semitic sentiment. the 37-year-old suspect has been charged with attempted murder and burglary. pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. now according to prosecutor, the man faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, with the possibility of the death penalty, and if the most seriously injured victim were to die. >> with the latest anti-semitic driven attack in monsey, new york, the "washington post" pointed out last year that counties which hosted a 2016 donald trump campaign rally saw a 226% increase in hate crimes compared to those that did not. using the anti-defamation league hate extremism, anti-semitism, and terrorism, mapped out, the posted correlations between the 275 host counties, and increased incidents of hate crimes, in subsequent months. according to the 2016 data, these incidents include vandalism, intimidation, and

assault. many of which specifically referenced the president. the post notes that the analysis cannot be certain it was trump's campaign rally rhetoric that caused people to commit nor hate crimes and adds it is hard to discount a trump everything when a considerable number of the reported hate crimes reference the president. coming up, pete buttigieg shows staying power, with newly announced fundraising. and we will see how he compares to some of the other 2020 democratic candidates. >> with the senate impeachment trial looming, president trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani says he wool be willing to testify. straight ahead. be willing to testify. straight ahead

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welcome back, everybody. i i'm yasmin vossoughian along with ayman mohyeldin. the president says he is more than ready for the impeachment trial, white hill personal attorney rudy giuliani is offering to testify. >> i wonder how the president feels about that. >> we are going to get the latest from nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennet. >> president trump ringing in the new year while spoiling for a fight over his impeachment, telling reporters tuesday night that he welcomes his upcoming senate trial. >> i look forward to it. i think we'll see, we have absolutely, we did nothing wrong, all you have to do is read the transcript. the president of ukraine said loudly, and boldly, and i appreciate it, his statement, he said it many times, there was no pressure. >> as the president's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, says he would be willing to participate. >> i would testify. i would do demonstrations.

i would give lectures. i give summations. or i do what i do best. i try the case. i'd love to try the case. >> the comments come as the supreme court chief justice john roberts who presides over the proceeds issues his year end report on the federal court, and promotes civics education in an age of twitter when social media can sbantsly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public's need to understand our government and the protections it provides is ever more vital. >> our thanks to geoff bennet for that report. while the senate trial is expected to begin later this month, and the exact date is unclear, house speaker nancy pelosi has yet to hand over to the senate the articles of impeachment. >> and with primary voting getting under way next month, 2020 candidate pete buttigieg has cemented his position as one of the top fundraiserers in the democratic field. his campaign announced yesterday that it raised $24.7 million in the final three months of the year. that brings his total

fundraising haul last year to about $76 million. senator bernie sanders also revealed yesterday that he is hitting new mile stones. according to his campaign, he surpassed five million individual donors in the fourth quarter and he has not released the fundraising total and andrew yang's campaign says it expecting to raise more than $12.5 million in the fourth quarter. a figure that would help him stay competitive in the race. and senator elizabeth warren's campaign emailed supporters last friday saying she had raised just over $17 million in the fourth quarter, a significant drop from her fundraising totals from the third quarter. joining us once again is white house and washington reporter for "politico," daniel lippman. good to have you back with us. and let's talk about the fundraising numbers and what they indicate about where the race may be going. what may be the driving factor behind former mayor, we should say, as of yesterday, mayor pete buttigieg's fourth quarter boost, while senator warren, having that bit of a downturn?

>> i know you looked at mayor pete, he has a number of obama bu bundlers from the last couple of campaigns for president who are supporting him this year. i get some of those emails because i'm friends with some of those people. i'm never going to give money to them, but it is interesting to see those networks that are growing for mayor pete. he is seen as someone who is pretty moderate, but also his policies are often very liberal, but he frames it in a way that is much more reasonable, compared to a bernie sanders, so it is hard to lampoon mayor pete as a socialist, because obviously he could win in a red state. although remember the last time that he tried to run statewide in indiana, he kind of fell on his face. >> what is interesting with the fundraising totals was that

senator elizabeth warren $17 million as of last friday so we don't know know her fourth quarter and andrew yang raising over a million in just a day and $3 million in a weekend, which i thought was pretty impressive. you wrote a piece on president trump's new years celebration at his florida resort. we heard from the president himself ahead of the new years celebration and we heard from former mayor rudy giuliani. talk to us about what you learned? >> did you get invited? >> i was the only report ner the press pool who wore a black tie since i was going to try and go out and celebrate the new years in palm beach. but it is interesting, if you actually go there, they, you know, they have all of the reporters and the cameras, on their red carpet, and so for all of those who paid up wards of a thousand dollars to attend trump's mar-a-lago they feel like there is paparazzi who are greeting them and they're celebrities. and so as you see, you know, 100 people, walked by, and you know, these are the hard core trump

supporters that they love the president so much, and i talked to one, you know, the liberal lawyer, alan dershowitz, and he just ran into trump at the buffet line on christmas eve, and so for trump, he doesn't have those guardrails as much and those gate keepers at the white house, he is able to meet with controversial people like retired navy seal eddie gallagher, rudy giuliani, who is under investigation, from new york, and so he is able to kind of cut loose more around mar-a-lago. and feel like the people around him, preventing him from living his best life. >> and daniel lippman says, he was friends with obama bundler, not making any introduction, and he was in a black tie on new years eve. >> they don't actually -- >> cutting zbloos they don't feed the reporters at mar-a-lago. at you know, the new years eve

party. >> i was going to say. scandal. >> daniel, always a pleasure. thank you. >> happy new year, guys. so pope francis is apologizing after a video surfaced of him rebuffing a woman who held on to a handshake a bit too long following a new years eve at the vatican. pope francis appears to lose his temper, and slapped a woman's hand away. as you see right there. who hung on to a handshake. and pope francis apologized for the incident yesterday. in a statement. saying quote, many times, we lose our patience. i do, too. and i'm sorry for yesterday's bad example. this is not the first time the pope has tried to avoid certain interactions with worshippers. in march he spokarked controver, by avoiding kisses to his hand. >> he reached out to her, and

after he turned away, she pulled him back and that can be a bit jarring but he is the pope so he should demonstrate more patience than the rest of us. >> a little. >> i expect that from you now. >> yes, xa can'tly. >> not from the pope. >> the trump administration is forced to release the new strategy to combat underaged vaping but some are worried that it will put the lucrative industry over public health. the first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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she' reading it, we're both reading it, a lot of people are reading it, but people are dieing with vaping. so we're looking at it very closely. >> that was president trump discussing vaping back in september and now "the wall street journal" reports that the trump administration is expected to announce a ban on some flavored e-cigarettes, as soon as tomorrow. the ban will reportedly include select vaping liquids that many teenagers use but not open tank vaping devices that are typically sold by vape shops and are more commonly used by adults. the fda plans to ban fruity flavors in cartridge based e-cigarettes but not menthol or tobacco. reports say the outcome was a compromise between trump administration officials in september and others worried about the thousands of job losses in vape shops across the country. and speaking to reporters on tuesday, trump said the van was vital to ensuring safety. >> as you know, we will be taking it off, the flavors, for a period of time, certain flavors, we're going to protect

our families, we're going to protect our children, and we're going to protect the industry, hopefully if everything is safe, they will be going very quickly back on to the market. another health story that we're following, concerns about maternal mortality on a global scale. the number of women dieing from childbirth has declining in the last 30 years but here in the united states, the number has increased. 700 american women die every year after pregnancy complications after looking at a decades worth of reports on the issue, neonatal medicine is out with the findings on what has and what has not worked and joining us now is one of the authors of the report, the direct are of global women's health, nyu global women's health, and i want to be clear with everybody here, you also have a group called saving mothers and i'm board of and something incredibly close to my heart with all of this, but in this paper, you actually signed, that certain hospitals are actually working on eradicating maternal mortality, but you're finding more success at the

local level in communities. talk about that. >> yes, so it was actually really interesting. we set out to look at all of the evidence that has been published in new york state on maternal mortality in the last two decades. and what has worked, what has not worked, and where do we need to go with this issue. and saving mother, saving mothers.org, my ngo, looking at mortality around the world, but we wanted to focus on the north. and what we found is that hospitaling are doing some programs to reduce maternal mortality and there are programs being done in the community as well. but they're not sort of linked up. so they're not offering us maximal best benefits in terms of reduction of maternal mortality. and we find small places that are being done but the rates of maternal mortality have not decreased in the last 20 years. >> what have you learned about racial disparities between mothers who die while giving childbirth and i think that is a question on a lot of people's

minds? >> it is a huge issue. we found that there is evidence that black women die at roughly 12 times the rate of white women. >> wow. >> in new york city. >> unbelievable. >> so you know, in a city where we have so many resources, and around the globe, we really don't have that luxury, in many places, would he don't have resources, we don't have hospitals, this issue is extremely alarming here in the city, so i think really reaching out into the communities and understanding those issue, we actually learned that most of the women who died had received no prenatal care. so this means that these are women that are underserved out in the cities, that are not accessing health service, they're not getting prenatal care, they're not coming in for visit, not seeing their physicians, so why is that? there are multiple levels of reasons why that is. >> so how do you change it? >> well, so we've started actually, with saving mothers, a program called the empower-her program, and that program will

educate and empower pregnant women themselves and offer kits with very specific health tools to help them understand their complications in pregnancy, and it also will focus on communicating with their doctors, and how they communicate issue, how they talk to people about their problem, and about their issues with pregnancy. and then also will empower the providers, so the community health worker, you know, there is a big push to have more doula services in the city. so that is great, but it needs to be paired with education. so what is the structure of that program, and how are we measuring that program moving forward. so having more doulas is wonderful, but we need to measure it. what is exactly, what is the content of what we're, you know, the program that we're giving those doulas. >> i will say, on saving mothers, and it is incredible work. we appreciate the work that you're doing. so thank you so much for coming in so early. >> thank you. >> yes. >> post new years day. >> and i think everyone should be part of the solution. so please join us at saving

mothers.org. >> thank you so much for your work. appreciate it. all right, switching gears now, and bringing in nbc meteorologist bill karins with a quick check of the weekend forecast. >> we have a little snow forecast to get to. we will get to that in a second. in the deep south, you have a flash flood threat. and a severe weather threat as we go throughout the day today. already pouring all of the green and yellow on this map, just a ton of rain, that is moving through the south. so as far as severe weather goes, areas of louisiana, southern mississippi, you're at risk of severe storms. maybe isolated toeshd today. and that would be later on this afternoon and into the early evening. we're fine today, traveling from raleigh northward. the rain will recently be moving into georgia. and then later on tonight, even into areas through tennessee, so by 6:00 p.m., this evening, this is the line of thunderstorms, through louisiana, and this is the heavy rain, from memphis to nashville, and rain through kentucky and most of north carolina, and will end up getting rain, too. by the time we get into friday, very slow-moving storm. still periods of rain throughout the south here, and then that

will move to the north, by the time we go through saturday. and there is some of the snow on the backside. as the storm goes south of new england, we may end up with. so snow and even in areas that it looks like sunday morning, toward new york city possibly, and southern new england, so the snowfall forecast for the next five days doesn't show anything blockbuster but just be prepared. we may have snowy weather to deal with on saturday. traveling through the northeast sunday morning. southern new england. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, the latest on the trade deal with china. >> and a moment of silence for the former commissioner, david stern who passed away yesterday and how he is being remembered and what he did for the league next. for the league next but nothing could be further from the truth. americans are compassionate and hardworking. we aren't failing. our politicians are failing. that's why i'm running for president. to end the corporate takeover of the government. and give more power to the american people. that's how we'll win healthcare,

fair wages, and clean air and water as a right. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message.

welcome book back. time now for business jumaana is joining us live from london. >> happy new year. >> trump tweeted that there will be a signing ceremony on january, 15th. he'll be attending it himself in person. unclear who will be attending from the chinese side, but there's speculation that the advice premier will come to the u.s. and attend the signing ceremony. after that, the president has said that he, himself, intends to travel to beijing to start talks on phase two. now that phase one is over, we can worry about phase two. in terms of what the deal includes, china have pledged to

buy more u.s. agricultural goods and other exports to the u.s. but to an unspecified amount. there's no number that's been formally released yet. china have also said that they pledge to liberalize their economy further and to pledge to cut down on some of the force technology transfer practices that had been taking place. in return, the u.s. said they will no longer be going ahead with the extra tariffs that were scheduled for december the 15th. obviously that timeline has passed now and they're reducing in half the tariffs that were introduced at the beginning of september. just in terms of how the two economies of done, though, over the last year, very interesting. both economies have slowed down significantly. china growth tracking around 6% now, u.s. tracking around 2%. manufacturing p&i numbers very weak. china has been in retraction territory last year and since august the u.s. is seeing a

fraction in retraction as well. retail sales and consumer spending in both economies has held up in 2019, questions as to whether or not that can continue in 2020. >> all right. thank you. >> thanks. the sports world is mourning the loss of one of basketball's most influential leaders. former nba commissioner david stern died yesterday after suffering a brain hemorrhage last month. peter alexander has a look back. >> he was a giant force for his sport. even if the nba stars that david stern championed always towered over him. >> welcome to the 1984 nba draft. >> in his 30-year run, the league's loppingest ever commissioner, stern transformed the nba. stern did it by promoting stars like michael jordan, charles barkley, and lebron james, adding seven new teams and

helping launch the wnba. he says one of his proudest moments, supporting magic johnson after he announced he had hi vicious. hiv. >> all of it a long dream for stern who group a knicks fan and was inducted into the hall of fame six years ago. >> everything we do is always about the game. always about the game. >> our thanks to nbc's peter alexander for that report. what a remarkable life. >> what a reabmarkable life. up next, new numbers in the presidential money race and what it means for the democratic candidates with the iowa caucus a little more than a month away. >> plus iran, north carolina, and impeachment, president trump facing a series of challenges at home extends his vacation. we're going to get the latest from jonathan lemire and analysis from richard haass and "the washington post's" david ignatius. "morning joe," everyone, just

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welcome back. joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m. editor nicholas johnson. good morning to you and happy new year. >> happy knew yenew year to you >> talk to us about the one big thing. >> trump's twin war threat. he face twos global crises in iraq and north korea that have the potential of escalating to conflict or war. iranian backed militia have stormed the u.s. embassy, launched protests, clashed with military police. teargas was tired upon them, eventually pulled back after reigning militias decided to de-escalate that conflict but did profrpd the united states to send 750 troops to stund quell those kinds of disturbances. in north korea, the supreme leader kim jong-un had warned over the holiday break that he would resume nuclear missile testing and had promised the launch of a new strategic

weapon. they've been continuing to say they'll stand for no denuclearization of the korean peninsula, that's a key thing that the united states wants, unless the u.s. dials down its hostile action. a bonus threat, i can throw in that vladimir putin used his end of the year address to ask a that russia has a new hypersonic nuclear weapon that could probably thwart u.s. defenses. those are three global defenses. the bottom shrine president trump has had relative peace and prosperity around the world. these are two things that could put a real test on his administration in the new year. >> in the wake of the storming of the u.s. embassy in baghdad, what's axios reporting how president trump views iran? >> the way he speaks privately about iran is that he thinks president jimmy carter you yeb he says looked weak during the iranian hostage situation where he didn't go in strong enough to rescue those hostages. he said how that unraveled

president carter's presidency and he didn't want to look like that. at the same time he thought was a horrible and complete catastrophe, the u.s. had no business going into iraq. so there's this conflict inside president, does he risk not fading up against iran and being looking weak like president carter in his eyes or does he step into this and draw the united states further into escalation? remember when the iranians shot down that u.s. drone, president trump moved forward almost with military action listening to military advisers at the last minute pulling back on thand couv decision that kind of decision. i think the key think to look at is how he deals with these in his own mind. and one thing that the iraqis could do is withdraw completely. they're deciding what if they decide to unilaterally withdraw all troops? >> we know it has impact on social media over politics in

the last decade. talk to us about this. >> we've been tracking on google transdata that shows the growth of memes, clever little things to capture a moment. the chart we have shows them growing over the last decade, they're now bigger than jesus to steal a phrase from the beatles. it's a sign of how social media's come to dominate our political age. political advisers using those things to push campaigns. they're also found in many of the facebook ads that russian agents used to influence the election. and of course, president trump and his allies have become experts at using these special internet moments e momento driv and the election. look for it to a meme election. >> good to talk to you as always. >> thank you. >> of course we'll be reading axios a.m. in a bit. you can sign up for the newsletter at signup.axios.com. >> is that did it for us on this thursday mornin