good morning, i'm chris jansing. happening right now, chaos, frustration and confusion at u.s. airports as a deadly winter storm continues to reeve havoc for travelers for another day leaving thousands of residents trying to dig their way out. we'll take you live to buffalo where the mayor just confirmed more deaths. we'll ask him about that and how emergency crews are grappling with this very storm also morning, the fate of thousands of people taking asylum in the u.s. now in the hands of the supreme court where we could see a decision as soon as today on that controversial pandemic era health policy we have more on that coming up and any moment now, the convicted ring leader behind a plot to assassinate gretchen whitmer is set to be sentenced

where he faces a possible life sentence and in ukraine, resistance forces are on the offensive as some analysts say the military's fighting capabilities are running out. we'll take you live to kyiv. but we begin with our top story right now, unfolding across the country, a travel nightmare for millions of people trying to get home after the christmas holiday as a monstrous winter storm barrels east. right now, more than 2800 flights have been cancelled. that's today alone leaving frustrated travelers strand ed i airport terminals. southwest will operate just one-third of its scheduled flights in the coming days representative from the pilot association says the airline's scheduling system is partly to blame.

the death toll has climbed to 63 nationwide after this brutal storm blanketed parts of western new york with as much as four feet of snow and brought powerful wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour with more snow in the forecast, tishls fear the deet death toll could continue to rise joining us now with the latest on the ground is jessie kirsch so wow, all that snow behind you, what kinds of conditions are people faising this morning? >> reporter: so at this point, we're moving more and more into the cleanup phase. for first responders there's still the rescue and search unefforts underway we know there's recovery efforts. another seven people confirmed dead according to officials locally in this part of western new york so the death toll continues rising, a sobering reminder this is not just a typical snowstorm. it was not your joyful white christmas in western new york. you can see these businesses are

going to have a tough time cleaning out the snow is up about halfway past the handles on these doors. and over here, you can see how much snow has been pushed aside and plowed away. this is just one scene this is what it looks like across much of this area i can tell you driving into buffalo, most of the way from new york citys it was pretty clear. didn't see anything on the ground and then when we got close to buffalo, we started to see snow on the ground and right now even though some of the communities are starting to open up more, the city itself still has a travel ban in place. the roads are certainly skiddish not something you want to be out in unless you absolutely need to that's what people are dealing with here. good news what was snowfall earlier turned into flurries and at this point, it's very infrequent hopefully the accumulation is done here. >> was there this kind of clear line of demarcation that suddenly you were in an area

that clearly got clobbered >> reporter: it slowly built we started to see some of the snowfall overnight i was looking over to my producer she was behind the wheel i have to tip my hat to her for doing a tough drive. our producers do the heavy lifting on much of the time. i think on the way over here, it really was -- we saw the aftermath of the salt on the ground a the lot of the way. i think then it was light awe cumulation and then you get to buffalo and it's this massive amount of snow i keep thinking back to the storm we were covering in november that lake effect storm was more localized. here we're looking at hour upon hour, more than a day of blizzard conditions. imagine whiteout this this area for more than a full 24 hours. and obviously, that contributed likely to this rising death toll with people even being told by

officials being found having been dead in the street potentially just getting disoriented while they were walking or shoveling, trying to run some kind of ere rand or trying to check on a loved one >> we thank you for being out there. emily birk was at the wheel last night? >> reporter: it is she's smiling right now. >> thank you, emily, for that. i'm glad you're there safe and sound. so angie, could it get worse in some places before it gets better the worst definitely over. >> it looks like we're going to see some improvements when it comes to that lake effect sthoe. the storm system has moved well into canada. we aren't dealing with that system it's the winds coming off the lake that's going to continue but only for a little while longerer we have an inch or two that will pick up in places like buffalo the next thing that will hamper travel over the coming days and

especially into the secondary holiday weekend is this west coast storm. we're seeing heavy rain working into seattle, san francisco, basically anywhere along the pacific coast is going to start to see heavy rain already moving through. leading to the potential for some flash flooding concerns through the day today and then some heavy snow. let me time it out and show you exactly what's going on. we have a river that's dragging in plenty of moyes dhur. right into the west coast, that means that the heavy cost tall rain will accumulate 3, 4, up to 7 inch ofs in places as far south as san diego wrrks they need the rain, but when we're talking about these locations, especially with burn scars, we could be seeing some of the flash flooding happening then we turn our attention to a little farther to the west. we deal with the rain along the coast and inland a little bit, but then accumulating snow up to 3 feet in parts of the sierras the rockies will have over a

foot in some locations and that means that travel maybe difficult in some of those spots. lelt me give you the highlights. the east coast is going to look pretty good. not looking at the major hubs as we go to the west, san francisco, los angeles, those are the two spots we're going to keep a close eye on through today with all of that rain expected and that shifts a little farther to the east. so salt lake city, denver, you're going to want to watch and see if you have airlines flying in and out of there check with your airlines luckily for laces east, still cold today with temperatures at 23 degrees and feeling like 12 look what happens through the next couple days we get above freezing in buffalo. 39 degree there is 46 by thursday into the 50s by friday now i want to mention that we have some rain expected. and that will impact us here in

places like buffalo through the next couple days so we will be hon torting how much rain because we could see the potential for minor flooding when it comes to the snow health that's still on the table. it you're looking for that outlook going into the next couple days, warmer in the east. but we will watch for some showers, some thunderstorms to impact folks on the east coast going into the new upcoming weekend and new year and even on the west coast too we'll be staying well as wet. >> thank you so much for more on this, i'm joined by the mayor of buffalo, new york it's good to have you back you gave an update on the death toll what is the situation on the ground in buffalo today? >> an additional seven deaths identified today the death toll in buffalo is now up to 27 people. sad and sobering news, this

definitely has been a deadly storm as was predicted fortunate ly, conditions have subsided we're making progress with plowing. we have been able to rescue all the stranded motorists we're working with our power company. they have been restoring power at one time over 20,000 re residences were without power. that number is now under 4,000 we now how uncomfortable that can be some people without power for four days in their home. i was without power in my home and the temperature got down to 40 degrees >> you told me yesterday that was 24 hours so imagine after four days how cold it could be you also told me yesterday that

your biggest concern was emergency crews to respond it sounds like they are caught up, or are they? >> not fully caught up no emergency crews stuck in the height of the blizzard conditions, there were emergency crews that were getting stuck. emergency vehicles that were getting stuck. those vehicles are all moving, all responding they will have over 233 pieces of equipment city plows, county plows, state plows will have tow trucks one of the things complicating plowing and the ability to open up streets right now is the number of vehicles that have been abandoned throughout the city of of buffalo yesterday, the police commissioner and i tour ing the

city saw two fire trucks trying to respond to an issue that had very difficult going down the street in our city where there were vehicles that were abandoned on the side of the road walking in the street and the fire trucks came precariously close to individuals that were walking in the street because of those abandoned vehicles that were making the ability to get down the street more difficult so we will be towing hundreds of vehicles today that will give us the ability to open up streets, open up residential roads and make sure we can get to emergency medical issues >> you are not alone as cities across america with wild weather. it's been an absolutely insane year whether it's heat or hurricanes or a once in a loif

time storm historic storms are no longer historic to us your local newspaper points out last month, quote, another historic storm dropping more than 70 inches in part of the south towns. critics have what we knew was coming, the city wasn't as p prepared as it could have been do you think that mayors like you are going to have to be prepared for a whole new level of weather events? >> absolutely. we had advanced warning. we had a full compliment of equipment, but buffalo was ground zero for this blizzard, for this historic storm.

no community taking this kind of hit, getting this volume of snow, this speed of wind gust, the blowing and drifting shs the zero visibility can address this by themselves. no city, no county, and that's why it's been all hands on deck. it's been city, county, state, municipal aid from nearby cities, the city of rochester, the city of syracuse providing aid. that's what it's going to take if we continue to get storms like this. in less than two months, the city of buffalo has been hit with two historic storms more snowfall than this city is

used to. tz we are among the best in dealing with snowy conditions, but this is not normal the storm in november was historic for our community and this 2022 blizzard perhaps the worst storm that buffalo has seen in over 50 years. and some people are saying might be the worst storm in recorded ri >> thank you for being with us we wish everybody there a lot of luck as you continue the cleanup process. still ahead this hour, counting down to a decision on title 42 just how quickly could the supreme court take up the closely watched immigration rule and what would it mean for the growing number of migrants stuck in limbo in a very cold el paso, texas. later, brand new jaw-dropping admissions on the record by a gop representative-elect santos accused of lying about his

background what he's admitting to and he still plans to take the oath of office >> a lot of people overstate in their resumes or twist themselves m not saying i'm not guilty of that ♪ what will you do? ♪ what will you change? ♪ will you make something better? ♪ will you create something entirely new? ♪

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as soon as today we may see a decision from the supreme court on the health policy known as title 42, which has been used to expel asylum seekers at the border tens of thousands of people are stuck in limbo in frigid temperatures police at the sanitation crews this el paso, texas, clearing out some temporary camps of migrants who couldn't find shelter. sam brock is live for us josh letterman is the at white house. what are you hearing from the folks still waiting for a decision where you are >> reporter: chris, it's in the mid-30s, maybe upper 30s right now in el paso

there is no space left, there's no capacity at shelters, which is part of the problem next to me there's a church here and a gymnasium there's a coupl hundred people in the crevice between the metal fencing ask the church itself. there's a patch of dirt. m that's where you'll find wome. they are just wrapped up in blankets that's just a snapshot of what we're seeing on the streets behind me. overnight, look at this video. this area here was an encampment in the mid-30s, there's people stepping over bodies that are in bundles of blankets trying to get away from that there's a bus where they can go for brief periods of warmth, but they were sleeping on the streets. there's the video all night long additionally, i also had conversations with folks who were from venezuela. most of them here are. one man was part of a group of 300 was showing me the scars on his wrist from a mexican cartel. they became a target of extortion. they wanted money out of him and

were kidnapping him. he ended up with a bullet wound on his leg you also see that's where the gunshot wound happened this is just the reality for so many people here is that they had this promise from the biden administration they felt there was going to be relief but ones december 21st, title 42 would be lifted so they have been waiting for months for that and obviously t didn't materialize. that was the day after a federal judge decided title 42 should go away it was supposed to come off, but then the supreme court stepped in the question is what is the supreme court going to do today. there's a couple thing ps. they could take up the case. the merits would stay in place but if they take a pass, that would basically pave the way for limb naughting the application for title 42 as we know it and i should note it's insistent. so one of the reasons you see so many people here, those co countries have residents who will be expelled under title 42. but if you're from cuba, you can

apply for asylum it doesn't make a lot of sense but an expert on the subject matter told me you're looking at about a quarter to a third of the people showing up at the border who are blocked by title 42 so if it's lifted, you're look ing at a possible of deluge of people coming across the border. is that going to last for months or beyond that it's not clear >> we're still waiting for that decision so are there con titingency plas in place what does the white house plan on doing >> reporter: there are plans in place. the white house says they are preparing to surge resources to the border, if and when title 42 is lifted. and in fact, the homeland security department is seeking more than $3 billion to deal with this crisis and to try to bring the resources to bear. i'm also told that the state department has beenspeaking with some of those countries that sam was just mentioning to try to work this problem at the

origins. to deal directly with some of the countries whose citizens are the ones who are showing up at the border and beyond that, we also opportunity that the biden administration may have to make some changes to its asylum policy we have reported that the biden administration has been considering limiting the types of migrants who would be automobile to apply for asylum by implementing what's known as a tran sut ban saying that mite grants grants who come through third countries before getting to the united states f they can't prove that they first applied for asylum and were denied in one of those countries they transited through, that would heen they would not be eligible to apply for that asylum in the united states while the u.s. limits it in that way, it's possible the administration could also try to create additional pathways for migrants who are in some of those countries to apply for

asylum from within those countries. meaning that hopefully they would not be showing up on the border, but would try to pursue those claims from where they are coming from. but certainly, sam said this doesn't make a lot of sense. i think there's a fair amount of chaos that everyone is expecting here if and when this title 42 is lifted. and the white house fully conceding that there is going to be a surge of even more migrants showing up here. >> thank you both so much. coming up, new fallout after a new york congressman-elect goes on the record admitting he lied about his job experience, his college education and more during his successful campaign why he says he's still determined to take office. r' with rybelsus®. i'm down with rybelsus®. my a1c is down with rybelsus®. in a clinical study, once-daily rybelsus® significantly lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill.

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the sentencing is set for tomorrow this came in new overnight, the stunning admission from a congressman-elect that he lied about numerous blame claims about his background george santos admitting in interviews with "the new york post" he did not graduate from college. he did not work for goldman sachs and suhty group. citi state >> day embellish my resume, yes, i did and it shouldn't be done but i'm still the same guy i'm not a fraud or a cartoon character or mythical creature that was invented. >> this comes a week after "the new york times" reported there were questions about his claims about education and employment history among other things santos told "the new york post" he will take office next week and he will be a, quote, good

and effective lawmaker nbc news attempted to santos overnight, but did not receive a response with us with a closer look is capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles and grace ashford, who has been reporting on this including the oshlg thal article questioning his resume good to have you here. so grace, as you describe it, santos is one of the mores a ton inishing examples of an incoming congressman falsifying key elements of his background what do you make of this admission now? >> thank you for having me congressman-elect campaigned on his wall street experience, his financial know how, and that was how he tried to bring voters along and let them know he would address all these issues in state government what's a little stunning now is seeing that he's admitted that those key marquee firms that were on his background were not,

in fact, truthful. >> one after another after another, whether it's colleges or places of work basically said we don't have any record of him. is that right? >> zcitigroup and goldman sachs, which were the two key one identified, said hay didn't have any records confirming his employment similarly, the college where he said he graduated in 2013, they couldn't confirm his graduation. another biography lists him as getting a degree from nyu. he told some friends about that. they also didn't have records of him, which he now says he did not graduate from any institution of higher learning >> so ryan, "the new york post" reports senior house republicans were aware of the inaccuracies and embellishments in the resume and the topic became a running joke some told all that over the

weekend. so republican leaders on capitol hill still haven't been very forthcoming on all of this but now that he's admitted he's lied, what are the chances they might have to do something about it >> it depends on your definite definition of something there's nothing legally they have to do. while he may have lied about his buyiography, and misrepresented hums to voters, that isn't necessarily a crime. probably the area where he could potentially be in the most trouble are his financial disclosures and the fact that he loaned his campaign somewhere in the range of $700,000 and based on his own employment and financial history it would seen a little bit pet kuk yar that someone would be able to loan that volume of money to the campaign if past practice is any indication of future results, this is probably something that kevin mccarthy isn't going to do

much about in the past, he's looked the other way while members of his republican conference have done thing s that are questionable an in some respects just down right wrong, anding has allowed them to continue to be a part of the republic caucus. he's faced with a situation on two fronts one, he's just the physical margins between republicans and democrats in the house they can't afford to lose a republican member. and in addition to the fact that santos pledged his support to kevin mccarthy and his bid to be the next speaker, he has tight margins that ha race as well he hasn't said anything about george santos, but the likelihood there will be serious ramification for this leading up to idea he won't be seated as a member of congress are unlikely. >> i want to play more of what george santos sold city and state about his ability to do his job. >> i apologize if anybody feels

hurt or betrayed i will gain everybod's trust bay delivering results and make sure they do not forget why they voted for me in the first lace i will be an effective member of congress i will be a diligent member of congress and will be automobile to deliver results for congress for the people of new york >> there are lots of reasons to think snothing will happen to hm when the congress goes into office my question is, is this kind of it or are there more questions you ask other people who have been looking into this have about the things he's said and claimed >> he will be subject to potential investigations by the various house ethics committees. if they are interested in l looking into this, reporters like myself and my colleague

have a lot of big questions. although santos admitted to falsifying his employment wzit f i group and he also admitted he did not own 13 properties. but what is the source of the tunds that allowed him to fund his campaign he went from earning $55,000, according to financial disclosures in 2020, to earning $750,000 and millions of dollars in dividends in 2022 he didn't disclose any of the clients that would have hped him to contribute to that. in some of these interview, he said i was very successful i had these relationships, but we're certainly trying to understand more about how he was so successful and what that could mean for voters.

>> thank you both so much. could there be any legal supply implications joining me is barbara mcquaid. so barbara, lying while not under oath isn't a crime people lie all the time but santos has eadmitted lies have put a new spotlight on the other allegations against him, the financial difficulties that left him owing thousands of dloors landlords and creditors. he hasn't explained this explosion of wealth. given the attention on it, could you see a circumstance under which an investigation could open who would even do it >> i do. it's a little sites dicey in that he's been dually elected by the swablts of his district. in terms of concrete crimes, making false staumts and financial disclosures about a source of wealth, it can be a

crime. so there's one possibility prosecutors in new york or d.c. could focus on that. i also think there's a possibility of a wire fraud claim here to the extent he not just embellished but outright lied on his residume to attract not onl voters, but donors that could be a scheme of fraud by which he used wire transmission it's a website so i think that's a possibility as well. and there's a question because you can charge should you charge someone with a crime is this a dicey situation where people have elected someone? if they elected their representative on the basis of fraud, they believed him to be someone he was not, perhaps criminal charges are in the best interest of the public >> in the meantime, there's another legal headline out of arizona, where governor-elect

katie hobbs is asking for sanctions against kari lake after a judge tossed out the latest lawsuit to have her declared the winner of that race what could this mean for ka riri lake >> sanctions are an important deterrent for people who would be considering filing challenges in the future. it could be thousands to tens of thousands of dollars for legal fees there was a similar set fair owe in michigan, which i paid attention to because it was in my neck of the woods, but one of the 61 legal challenges that donald trump made to election results was here in michigan after it was dismissed as frivolous, the judge awarded tens of thousands of dollars in sanctions against sidney powell and others to offset the cost of legal fees by people who had to defend themselves in court so similarly to the extent that katie hobbs had to pay for a defense, that all the defendants in this case had to pay force

ing the person who brought that frivolous lawsuit to pay the legal fees, can send an important message not only did you lose your legal claim, it was brought in bad faith and people in the future who considered doing so would think twice when they know there's a significant financial penalty. >> looking ahead to 2023 given the amount of stuff going on, i don't think we're giving you a day off. we really have a appreciated you all throughout 2022. enjoy the holidays thank you. coming up, ukraine on the offensive. their stepped up attacks against russia why they belieruf ssian forces may be vulnerable right now. when they can enjoy the best? eggland's best. the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. plus, superior nutrition. because the way we care is anything but ordinary. ♪♪

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former military officials and analysts who say the moves are because kyiv has assessed that moscow's military is fighting at the limits of its conventional capabilities while ukraine has not confirmed the attacks, russian military shot down a drone near an air base on monday three servicemen were killed this the second time this month that base was targeted the ukrainian foreign minister is telling the associated press that ukraine want a peace summit to end the war, previous to bliss at the one year hark of the war. so a lot to talk about joining us is matt bradley along with commander of nato and chief international analyst for nbc news james good to have you here. matt, there's a lot of folks still in the dark, still in the cold, still with unbearable conditions, frankly, following all these russian attacks on the power grid what's the situation on the

ground right now give us an update. >> reporter: the situation on the ground is mostly focused on the fight ing in the east of the country. we heard that from volodymyr zelenskyy, when he made that historic trip to washington a couple days ago. he mentioned that just before that trip, he had been in the city where there's been fierce fugting and actually some rare but very small russian gains on the ground the battle lines have been stagnant for the better part of the past two months. but a lot of the fighting now is just a little bit more in a city where the ukrainians have been making gains yesterday morning we were hearing rumors that the city occupied by the russians had fallen to the ukrainians that turned out not to be the case it looks as though ukraines are? striking distance. if they do, that means a lot of the areas, this is from what the ukrainians believe, a the lot of the areas around there would be vulnerable to ukrainian attacks.

as i mentioned, the battle lines have been stagnant and troezen they are about to become frozen in the next couple weeks and hos as winter descends on this mown try. that could give an advantage to russia, but it could mean that both sides will be able to operate tanks easier once the ground freezes over. but with the shifts, we're seeing a lot of action in the south. which just a few weeks ago the russians essentially walked away and vsurrendered it to the ukrainians, who liberated it very soon after. so the russians are continuing to bomb board that city and keeping up pressure it looks as though vladimir putin might believe he has other cards to play he mobilized initial soldiers in the tens of thousands. that means he kind of put reservists into action those reservists will take more

training vice p vladimir putin might believe he can bring more of them to the front lines and tip the balance of the war in favor of of the russians once again just as they had it in the beginning of the fight back in february a lot of analysts that i have been hearing say vladimir putin might believe that, but it's probably not true. these reservists, even if they are trained, they don't have the advanced equipment and material to push the battle to russia's side so vladimir putin piegt believe he codo this i bestill as far as many in the wrest concerned, he just doesn't have the power >> matt bradley, thank you we appreciate your reporting so admiral, i'm curious what you think. does vladimir putin have other cards to play? what about these assessments that russian forces are now at their fighting limits. >> certainly, putinen as other cards to play.

we have talked quite a bit on this particular conversation about the ground war let's look at the air war. that's really where russia continues to have greaten strength they are going after critical ukrainian infrastructure it's are the area poout listen continue to pound. he put the head of the russian air force in charge of the overall campaign so continuing the carpet bomb critical infrastructure he could certainly resort to using a weapon of mass destruction nuclear, very unlukly. but it is another card he could play in all this and you're also going to see putin seek to bring more troops on the front lines so in really

grbrought stroke, you see a tale of two bars a ground war that the ukrainians are wiping and an air war that russia is winning our job in the west gives the tool thas need to close the skies of ukraine as zelenskyy says >> so all of this is playing out against the backdrop of conversations of diplomacy why do you think ukraine raised the process effect of a peace summit when the demands will not be met is there a messaging strategy here this is ukrainians attempting to seize control of the information competition. they want to appear to be the ones putting their hands out by the way, you're going to see the same thing in the last 24 hours. we have seen the russians say we

want the to have a conversation as well. but frankly in my view, it's not going to go anywhere until both sides are more exhausted due to the combat that is unfolding so as much as i wish could say we're headed toward a hopeful negotiation in 2023, look for a long, bloody war going on through the winter months in the spring russia will make one more big push if they are stopped at that may want to get to a negotiating table. that's where we can help our ukrainian friends have the strongest position going into that negotiation >> always a pleasure talk to you. felling lucky today? coming up, we will have an update on the fast-growing mega

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good to be with you. i am chris jansing unfolding right now, a nightmare travel day for families traveling home after the christmas holiday after passengers are left stranded in airport terminals and drivers face heavy traffic on the roads. we'll take you live to the busiest airport in the country for an update. then how retailers made out this season and if inflation