jo now do americans real gi feel. >> a chelsea man with a 35 year prison stins by giving it to wikileaks commuted. hsc. >> betty white reveals the secret of life on her 95th birthday. "early today" starts right now. good morning, everyone. i'm a mon my yell deep. >> i'm frances rivera. donald trump is back at his

fifth avenue place one of the last times before his inauguration. he had a black tie dinner packed with foreign diplomats where he boasted to large crowds planning to attend friday's inauguration. >> this place is surrounded tonight, but i want to thank you all for being here. we have great respect for your countries. we have great respect for our world. i also want to tell you, you know, so many people are talking about what's going on and now they just announced i think we're going to have record crowds coming. >> talk of record crowds kind of the trump transition team is going out of its way to post social media ads to encourage people to head to washington for festivities. when he takes office he'll be entering the office with the lowest ratings ever. 44% of americans approve of trump's handling of his presidential transition. put those numbers into context. president obama's transition had a 71% approval at the same time.

and just 30% express high levels of confidence that trump has the right set of goals and policies to be president. a whopping 70% are somewhat confident or not confident. >> trump has decried the new data calling the polls rigged as he did in the election. greater still. seven in ten americans now say they disagree with trump's favorite method of communication as he uses twitter to meet the masses. 69% of those say trump's tweeting is bad and could have unintended major implications. trump can count on vladimir putin as a supporter. in fact, the russian president came to his defense. that and more as congressional list of democrats grows in the boycott against friday's inauguration. nbc's hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: from vladimir putin, a perhaps unsurprising response to those salacious but

unsubstantiated allegations against trump. rubbish. putin accusing the obama administration of trying to delegitimize trump. inauguration day is friday. dozens of democrats will be boycotting. the no shows now numbering more than 50. scattered reports of boycotts popped up in 1973 with richard nixon and 2001 with george w. bush but nothing that reached this level of coverage. sparked by comments from congressman and civil rights freedom writer john lewis who despite saying this would be his first missed inauguration also skipped president bush's in 2001. >> we didn't attend it, like so many other members of the congress didn't, but president bush was a friend of mine. >> he got caught in a very bad lie. let's see what happens. as far as other people not going, that's okay. because we need seats so badly. >> reporter: demonstrations already starting in washington. at least 99 of them planned this

week. some for, most against. >> that was nbc's hallie jackson reporting. to capitol hill where trump's cabinet picks faced a drilling. they went off betsy devos. the president-elect's pick to lead the department of education after she refused to rule out defunding public schools. >> the financial futures of an entire generation of young be people depend on your department getting that right. now, mrs. devos, do you have any direct experience in running a bank? >> senator, i do not. >> do you have -- have you ever managed or overseen a trillion dollar loan program? >> i have not. >> how about a billion dollar loan program? >> i have not. >> okay. >> i've worked -- >> you have no personal experience with college financial aid or management of higher education. >> and senator cory booker says he will vote no on devos's nomination. that is another one of trump's cabinet picks openly disagreed

with him. this time congressman ryan zinke. he bluntly said he flat out disagrees with the president-elect's position on climate change. later today h.h.s. nominee tom price will face off against the senate house committee as they are outright refusing his nomination due to ethics concerns. for more we're joined by nbc's tracie potts. tracie, what more can we expect this morning? >> reporter: expect ethics questions. $2600 that he purchased in stocks in a medical device company around the time that he also introduced legislation to roll back some regulations that would affect that company. now the trump transition team says there's a lot more to it than that, that this was a purchase by a broker, that he didn't even know about it until about a month later. almost a month later and then later disclosed to congress and that his work on that legislation pre-dated the stock purchase by a year, that he had worked on it earlier that year. so they're saying there's a

bigger context to the story. we are likely to hear more about this in the house committee today. he also faces a finance committee hearing expected to come up next week, but the trump team is demanding a retraction while the top democrat in the senate is saying the congressional ethics office needs to take a look into this. >> nbc's tracie potts for us. thank you. after a month long manhunt. murder suspect markeith lloyd has been captured. he was accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend. then while being sought for that crime lloyd allegedly shot and killed orlando police officer debra clayton. he claimed that police beat him up. the orange county sheriff said his face was injured when he resisted arrest. he was wearing body armor and had these weapons. one was a glock handgun. in another shocking detail the

sheriff revealed that loyd was from around the corner from the officer's house. president obama granted 209 come mutations and 64 pardons on tuesday. the most controversial was for chelsea manning. nbc's dan schenn any man has more. >> reporter: president obama has commuted the sentence of chelsea manning after she served seven years of a 35 year sentence, the longest sentence for any leaker. the former army private was convicted of passing more than 700,000 documents and battlefield video to wikileaks. last november she asked the president to commute her sentence. at trial she apologized. >> i can only go forward and i won't to go forward. before i do that i understand that i must pay the price for my

actions. >> manning's lawyer says justice was finally done. he argues the government was never able to point to lives lost or specific damage caused by the leaks. >> we have secret sessions of the court martial where that would be the place that the government would do that and the answer was no. what they would be able to show and what they did show was certain diplomats had their feelings hurt. certain countries were upset. >> reporter: nbc news has learned defense secretary ash carter was opposed to the commutation and republican action was swift. >> i think we ought to set examples and you do it by letting people know, you are going to do that, you'll pay a heavy price. >> reporter: manning was convicted in 2013. she was a transgender woman named chelsea. she is currently in a male prison in kansas and reportedly tried to commit suicide twice last year. dan schenn any man, nbc news. a driver found himself in a sticky situation tuesday

morning. check this video out. this was him when his truck was suddenly swallowed by this giant sinkhole. it was carrying more than 1500 gallons of water when it sank through a parking lot. thankfully though the driver managed to climb out unharmed. scary moment for him. want to check in now with nbc meteorologist bill karins who joins us with more snow in new england and major thunderstorms in texas. how are we doing? >> good southern soaker. snow in the northeast. 9 million people under winter weather advisory. isn't a big event. it has been helpful for the ski resorts to continue getting snow. no problems in boston, no problems in providence. still have a little bit of icy stuff. southern new england, hudson valley and as we go throughout the day it will warm up and will be melting. not a lot of additional snow. one or three more inches. maine, white and green mountains. we mention the heavy soaking maine from houston to shreveport. this is beneficial rain, about 1 to 3 inches expected. now here's a closer look at your day ahead.

so we will clear things out as the day goes on. we'll get rid of some of the ice, too. we like to see temperatures in the mid 30s in central new england. speak of warmth, not bad in florida. temperatures in the 80s and soaring to 67 in atlanta. of course, the inauguration forecast coming up. this is an iffy one, guys. rain in the forecast. >> hopefully we can turn that around to make the festivities a little bit smoother without the rain. just ahead, president-elect trump is facing a new discrimination lawsuit filed days before he takes office. and betty white reveals the secret to a long and happy life. every day is a gift. especially for people with heart failure. but today there's entresto... a breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. in the largest heart failure study ever,

entresto was proven to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. tomorrow, i'm gonna step out with my favorite girl. ask your doctor about entresto. and help make the gift of tomorrow possible. what's the best way to get two servings of veggies? v8 or a powdered drink? ready, go. ahhhhhhhh! shake! shake! shake! shake! shake!

done! you gotta shake it! i shake it! glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. more "doing chores for dad" per roll more "earning something you love" per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50% longer than the leading ordinary brand. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty, the quicker picker upper i'm so blessed with good health and faculty. i mean, i've got memories and all of that, and that's -- you can't really expect that at 95. i am the luckiest girl on two

feet. i am a positive thinker. i'm an optomist and that's why i've stayed healthy all my life. everybody has been so wonderfully kind to me for all these hundreds of years and i love you and thank you. >> she's absolutely adorable. what an amazing, remarkable woman. that was betty white on her birthday sitting down with katie couric to reflect on her 95 golden years with optimistic wisdom. >> healthy, happy. she looks great. sense of humor. leading the news this morning, a new report says millions could lose health insurance if republicans repeal obamacare. the nonpartisan congressional budget office says if obamacare is repealed without a substitute, 32 million americans will be without insurance and premiums for individuals could double all happening within 10 years. well, that comes as a new nbc polling shows obamacare getting its highest approval rating yet with 45% of americans saying

it's a good idea compared to 41% against. also leading the news this morning, the secret service will pay out $24 million to settle a decades old lawsuit that accused the agency of discriminating against african-american agents. as part of the settlement the secret service will not admit any wrongdoing but will still give up to $300,000 to some black agents who say they will repeatedly passed over for promotions that instead went to less qualified white agents. a former contestant on the apprentice has filed a lawsuit against donald trump. she claims the president-elect defamed her in tweets and at rallies when he denied allegations of groping her during a job interview in 2007. the suit alleges trump accused summer and other women of lying and fabricating their accounts. she will drop the suit if trump retracts his claims. trump spokesperson hope hicks said in part there is no truth to this absurd story. just ahead, the trump effect has investors around the globe on edge. we'll have the details next. tile it from here.

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fast forwarding this wednesday. president obama gives the final news conference of his presidency. on tuesday the president surprised white house secretary josh earnest at his final briefing. >> this guy ranks as high as just about anybody i've worked with. he is not only a great press secretary but more importantly he is a really, really goodman.

>> caroline kennedy steps down today after three years serving as u.s. ambassador to japan. and the baseball hall of fame class of 2017 is expected to be announced. some of the names likely to be voted in, tim rains, jeff bag well, and ivan rodriguez. donald trump's impact on investors around the globe is growing. already it's having an impact on davos and the dollar as cnbc's nancy hunger ford is watching your money this morning. nancy, he's certainly going to have an impact in one way or the other, right? >> well, certainly when we talk about the dollar impact, the green back hitting a one-month low against the japanese currency yesterday. recovering somewhat today higher against a basket of currencies against a quarter of a percentage point. investors have been reacting to comments by president-elect donald trump where he said the strong dollar was, quote, killing us when you talk about competitiveness, especially against chinese firms as the chinese currency takes a dip.

the dollar is really a double edged sword here because on one hand trump's pro growth stimulus alongside tax cuts is boosting the dollar since his election victory but on the other hand it causes concerns for job growth and that is a key objective for the president especially when you talk about the manufacturing belt. speaking of jobs, keep an eye on lowe's today because they have confirmed they will be laying off 2,400 full-time workers mainly at the store level, but overall this affects just 1% of the work force. guys, back to you. >> cnbc's nancy hunger ford. thank you. just ahead, a brilliant taylor swift impersonation gone viral. >> you want to get paid 6 fix to play with legos? >> i do. >> that means we lose the partnership. you're watching "early today." i. hey... hold on, i can explain. you better have a good answer...

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all the little things they'll pick up on. >> i know this story is your favorite. go ahead. >> some are saying the perfect balance of mind and body, you know what it is? that right there, my friends, beer yoga for you. it incorporates beer into traditional yoga poses. you have to have a man bun like that guy. the trend is now gaining international popularity across germany and australia. many facebook pages are popping up inviting attendees to come. with an open mind, a love for beer, have a yoga mat and bring your favorite drinking buddy and then you can -- i don't know, you have to set the beer down for downward dog. >> i don't know if i can grow the man bun but i'll definitely try one or two of those poses. you do a pose and a sip of beer? >> then you're like, we're good with the yoga. >> the problem is i think after a few sips of beer you probably won't be doing any poses. >> maybe that's the point. one little girl's big-time performance now going viral with her impersonation of none other

than taylor swift. 7-year-old appeared on philippine competition show and wowed the crowd channelling the grammy winning pop star's singing, impressions and even costumes. check this out. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> you got it. >> pretty remarkable, right? she nailed some of those moves. she's got all of the looks. even the costume changes. >> setting the bar though, i think she has to do a little bit of shake it off with all the costume changes and the looks. look at it right there, she's got a great start right there. still ahead, president obama issues more controversial commutations with just days left in office. this is "early today." was near. the fiery tissue left her nose sore and red.

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head out the door this morning. about 4:30. good morning. it's wednesday. nbc 10 news today. i'm tracey davidson. >> i'm vai sikahema. have the windshield wipers going on the way to work today. it is a last of the light rain moving through the area right now. starting to clear out of berks

county in the suburbs. still light rain in philadelphia to delaware. especially south jersey reaching towards ship bottom. to the north of atlantic city. little bit of fog and extra moisture and warm air trying to mover into the area that created light fog in the poconos mountains. most suburbs are doing fine. at the shore reporting dense fog. south jersey for millville and northern delaware looking good at five mile visibility for wilmington. 43 in philadelphia. it's dropped into the 30s. each of these is above freezing. just rain this morning. and it will be just clouds this afternoon. mostly cloudy sky. might see an isolated showers in the lehigh valley. dry district manager out for delaware at 52 degrees and 51 for philadelphia. there's nicer weather to come as well. preview for with the seven-day forecast at the bottom of the screen. go through this forecast hour by hour when i'm back in ten

minutes. first let's see how the roads are looking. >> we're starting off in con sho hock conshohocken conshohocken. vine street the open today. looks good in both directions other than the fact there are wet roads. watch for that. you can see rain falling into one of these puddles here on to the right hand or left hand shoulder there. westbound towards the schuylkill eastbound towards 95, a good drive just be careful getting on and off the ramps as well. schuylkill expressway here and drive times in the green. eastbound to blue route expressway just a 14 minute trim. average speeds into the 50s. high 50s as well. we are breaking news from overnight. former president