security advisor. and his admission appears to implicate the presidents's son-in-law and other or current members of the administration. flynn's charge stems from contacts with former ambassador sergey kislyak. late last december a very senior member of the trump transition team instructed flynn to contact other countries including russia to discuss a u.n. security council vote on israeli settlements. the next week, flynn spoke with a senior official of the transition team who was in mar-a-lago at the time, about sanctions imposed on russia by the obama administration. that same day, flynn called the ambassador. >> and then he asked him not to retaliate, and the next day putin said russia would not take action. fast forward to january. court documents show flynn later made false statements and omissions during an interview with the fbi about those calls. flynn released a statement that reads, in part, it has been extraordily

false accusations of treason and other outrageous acts, but i recognize the actions i acknowledged in court today were wrong. a white house lawyer tried to downplay flynn as someone who spent less than a month with the administration and said the plea only implicates flynn. but nbc news has learned that the very senior transition team member is president trump's son-in-law and senior advisor jared kushner. jim and erika, still a lot of questions here about this story. >> indeed. pat, thank you. virginia senator mark warner, the ranking democrat on the senate intelligence committee, says tonight he wants to bring back jared kushner in light of flynn's guilty plea today. on both sides of the aisle, lawmakers say they owe the american people answers. >> well, i think most of us believe it's not a witch hunt or a hoax, and that the fbi director and all others believe this is a legitimate concern. >> how many more figures have to be brought

their ties with russia before we end up connecting all these dots? >> senator warner says he also wants to find out why president trump, in his words, appears to be desperately trying to stop this russia investigation. >> michael flynn is the fourth person to be charged in robert mueller's probe, but he is the first administration and transition team member to be indicted. george papadopoulos who served as a campaign foreign policy advisor also pled guilty to charges of lying to investigators. he had contacts with kremlin connected officials including one who offered dirt on hillary clinton. the white house has called him a, quote, low-level volunteer. but the president's former campaign chair paul manafort and manafort's deputy rick gates, are also facing charges, and they're accused of money laundering, conspiracy against the united states, and lying to investigators. their charges predate joining the trump ai

pled not guilty. and for all of the latest in this story any time on the russia probe, we invite you to check out our nbc washington app. >> erika, thank you. a 16-year-old girl decided to tell her story today after she saw this video of fights at gaithersburg high school. the girl says she was attacked during a similar situation in a school rest room. she's still recovering tonight and has missed weeks of school. news4's chris gordon spoke to her today. >> reporter: deanna melendez has trouble with her balance and sometimes needs help walking. she suffered a serious concussion when she was attacked in a girls room at gaithersburg high school in october. she says the other student began an argument that became a fight. >> so, she hit me and i hit her, and then i remember going into the wall in between the sink because i didn't want to fall in

and i remember hitting the back of my head on the cinder block wall. >> reporter: deanna's mother e-mailed news4 after seeing our report of student videos of fights at gaithersburg high school. she says her daughter was hurt in a similar fight, but one that was not caught on camera. she claims that school administrators have not been helpful or sympathetic to her daughter's injuries which have kept deanna out of school since the fight. >> she came home with one side of her face bruised. she couldn't remember much of what happened in the fight. ever since then it's been just a barrage of -- i'm sorry -- barrage of physical therapy. >> reporter: the montgomery county school system says it is working with the melendez family to help deanna's transition back to school. >> if she requests a transfer, we are certainly willing to have that conversation with her to make sure that she can feel safe and that our school system can

>> reporter: the melendez family says it has no intention of sending deanna back here to gaithersburg high school. they say she's simply too afraid to return. that's the latest est from gaithersburg. back to you. >> chris gordon, thank you. meanwhile the man of accused of i impersonating a police officer is behind bars. michael bell is behind bars. he is charged with raping a man while pretending to be a cop. police say bell told 9 victim he was an under cover officer and offered him a ride home. the man was getting away but not without getting a glimpse of the license plate first and that is how they wound up catching bem. >> now to a bizarre case involving a couple who we first told you about last month. security video showed them breaking into a mansion in upper northwest d.c. and then telling the owner to get out, claiming the house for themselves. well, now that couple is back in

news4's mark segraves has the story in adams morgan. >> reporter: the house here in adams morgan is empty today, but the sign is still in the window claiming that the house now belongs to the couple who were arrested here two days ago. just like with the home in rock creek park, they falsely claimed that their ancestors were the original inhabitants of this property. the first incident happened in early november. surveillance video shows the moment when the homeowner was confronted by the man and woman claiming the house belonged to them. >> this is our an sers terz place. >> we said to our mother, month thinker of faith. who are you? >> reporter: the homeowner called police and the couple was arrested and charged with unlawful entry. the next day a judge released them, but ordered them to return to court for another hearing. but they never showed up. now, unlike the home up in rock creek

the couple actually moved furniture in the home. according to court documents, actually changed the locks on the door. when the police arrived, they refused to let them in and police had to force their way inside before arresting the couple. this time the judge held them in jail without bond. in the district, mark segraves, news4. >> a big change for those who drive in and out of the city from northern virginia starting monday. rush hour along 66 will allow solo riders, but you're going to have to pay. and car poolers, well, you're going to need a special ez-pass to ride free. david culver is along 66 in arlington. david, for a lot of people this commute may look a little different next week. >> reporter: it may, erika. in fact, if you drive around northern virginia by yourself and you know the feeling of approaching 66 inside the beltway during rush hour, only to realize the hov restrictions are in place, well, with an ez-pass, that is about to change. you've likely seen the f

new toll gate. starting monday, testing is it over. the real thing begins. driving 66 inside the beltway between the morning hours of 5:30 and 9:30 headed eastbound, and in the evening between 3:00 and 7:00 web westbound, you'll need an ez-pass if driving alone. >> you need an ez-pass flex in order to establish yourself as a car pooler. >> reporter: as of now to ride 66 inside the beltway on those hov lanes during rush hour, you've got to have a plus-one. hey, can we turn the heat up in here? starting monday with the flip of a switch, you can ride solo. peace and quiet. but it's going to cost you. >> you won't be paying to be in a bus sitting in traffic next to a car. because we're going to be managing traffic on the lane.

the money during your commute, you flip the switch back. oh, and starting in 2022, you're going to need a third person to qualify for the hov on 66. >> the only vehicle that does not need an ez-pass is a motorcycle. >> reporter: what happens if you don't get one? remember those flashes? say cheese. they're going to get your license plate and they'll send you an invoice for your travels. >> on top of that, there is an administrative fee for us doing all that leg work to identify you of $12.50. so you'll be charged the toll plus $12.50. >> reporter: it will be expensive. by the way, my thanks to fellow journalist who played the role of the sleeping third passenger. this weekend, you have to add to your shopping list an ez-pass if you have friends to drive inside the beltway starting monday during rush hour. don't forget you can pick it up at giant, at wegman's or go to the nbc washington app and search

>> bravo, that was brilliant. i love those. thank you. >> team coverage. [ laughter ] >> thank you, david. >> new place to buy medical marijuana in montgomery county opening its doors today and patients lined up for hours. but not everybody is happy about this newest neighbor. >> plus, what went wrong? explosive new details about what led to the death of a woman at a white nationalist rally in charlottesville. >> and a vote now scheduled for tonight as the senate scrambles to pass a republican tax plan. so, what's your tax bill going to look like next year? we'll tell you after this short break. >> and i'm tracking temperatures. i've been talking about the cold but there is no real cold air anywhere across the nation right now. that's going to change in a very big way next week.

michael flip is now the fourth person to be charged in connection to the russia probe. the former national security advisor pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi today in court documents. flynn also references senior officials with the trump transition team. now, sources tell nbc news that one of those officials is the president's son-in-law jared kushner. >> healing the scars from the deadly white nationalist rally in charlottesville starts with correcting the city's mistakes. tonight a month's long review lays out what went wrong.

the rally with a lack of communication between state police and local officers in charlottesville. now on the day of the rally itself, a police officer was actually removed from the area where the car plowed into the crowd killing one person. as the chaos ramped up, police did not or could not maintain order and protect citizens. news4's derrick ward is in the newsroom and he had spent all day analyzing this report. derrick? >> you know, this report is telling, and while it doesn't find dereliction of duty among the hundreds of law enforcement officers sent to charlottesville to keep the peace, the findings say that their orders of preparation kept them from doing as well as they could have. court looked at the three days this summer when white supremacists and counter protesters converged on the city of charlottesville and clashed over the city's decision to move a statue of confederate general robert e. lee from a public park. the author of the report is lawyer tim, a former u.s. attorney. he says he went into this project with one important

city leaders not expect a whitewash or a witch hunt. so, where did those facts lead them? to the conclusion that critical mistakes were made, particularly in how police were prepared and deployed that weekend. both virginia state police and charlottesville city police. >> they were doing what they were told. i think the plans that were in place did not allow them to protect and serve. >> reporter: the result, violence, injuries and ultimately death when heather heyer was run down when a car plowed into i counter protesters on the mall. the car should have nefrp been there. police employees not sworn officers were assigned to block traffic into the mall. >> this wasn't a football game. this is not a block party, this is not the dali lama visiting charlottesville. this is bent on people hurting each other. >> reporter: eventually, one of those employees and their vehicle was replaced by a wooden barricade that did nothing to deter the imagine charged with driving into the crowd. >> there is an image

street. you can see the barricade still standing. seems like it was very easy to drive around the barricade. >> the report did find fire and ems was well prepared to respond to the victims of the violence there on the mall and elsewhere when the two sides squared off. that violence could have been minimized if local police had consulted with other departments accustomed to hand mg protests like those in charlottesville this past summer. derrick ward, news4. >> scott macfarlane with breaking news at the live desk. a former d.c. public charter school teacher has just been sentenced to eight years in prison for child sex abuse. that sentence is handed down just a few moments ago by d.c. superior court judge. manuel fernandez pleaded guilty to six counts of child sex abuse, meaning at beast six victims at the lamb public charter school in northeast d.c. prosecutors said the abuse happened between 2013 and 2015 when he was a teacher there. they say there were as many as 19 children who filed

guilty to six counts of child sex abuse. there were parents in the courtroom testifying asking for the maximum possible penalty. of the judge decided on eight years in prison for manuel fernandez. for now at the live desk i'm scott macfarlane. >> thank you, scott. see you at 6:00. the woman who accused senator al franken of groping her is telling her story now. she says it happened during her deployment in kuwait when franken was a comedian. kempli in, says he put his hand on her breast when taking a photograph. she says she froze up and is still beating herself up about her reaction. >> i'm in the army, i'm fighting in a war. why didn't i slap him across the face? why didn't i say, excuse me. >> kemplin is the 5th woman to accuse him of groping. 9 senator has publicly apologized for his actions but says he has no plans to resign. >>

sexual harassment settlement brought by his former spokesperson. sources tell nbc news that republican blake paid $84,000 to settle a claim in 2015. politico first reported that settlement which involved his former director, the staffer had apparently filed a lawsuit but then settled out of court. >> right now we are monitoring a vote that could affect what you pay in taxes. senate republicans say they have the numbers to push their reform plan through. the gop holds a slim 52/48 majority, but with 50 votes and vice-president pence breaking the tie if needed, they can muscle the bill through. nbc's tracie potts breaks down the updated bill and the impact it could have on you. >> reporter: scrambling behind closed doors. >> this is perfectly normal, part of politics is drama. >> reporter: there were four republican hold outs on the tax

plan. now arizona's jeff flake says he's a yes. after senate leaders and the trump administration agreed to work on young immigrants brought here illegally, the daca debate. >> there are probably enough votes right now to pass it. so, you know -- >> without democrats? >> i think so. >> reporter: majority leader announced they've got the votes after reportedly agreeing too bigger tax breaks for small businesses and property tax deductions up to $10,000. critics complain it's a big rush. >> we don't even know what the bill is. as of now, nobody can tell you what's in this bill. it's absolutely ridiculous. >> there has been a lot of thought over a long period of time, not only months but years, literally years of work. >> reporter: here's what's on the table. cutting individual tax rates, doubling the standard deduction, expanding the child tax credit, but ending deductions for state and local taxes and medical expenses.

>> this weekend you're going to have a good time buying a unique gift and help out local charities at the same time. reston's annual gifts from the heart is saturday at lake ann plaza from 11:00 to 4:00 and it features local vendors with handmade crafts, art, food, and activities. oh, yes, and santa arrives by boat at noon. >> all artists will be donating 10% of their proceeds to cornerstone, which is a reston nonprofit that will help members in our community that are in need with food, housing and other needs. >> for more information on the event, just search gifts from the heart in our nbc washington app. >> he was caught on camera laughing after an officer trying to stop an illegal atv took a tumble there. now he's facing charges. how police caught up with the man on the other side of this camera. >> and doug tracking a big cool down in the forecast, but is it going to

all right. doug is back with a check of the weather this evening. oh, that is a pretty sky behind us. that's lovely. >> let's pause right here, take a picture, everybody. doesn't that look great? >> that's nice. okay. all right, so, what are we looking at for this weekend? it should be nice to get the

tree, right? >> it's going to be a nice weekend. our average temperature is 52. we're going to be right around there during the day tomorrow. i do expect a lot more cloud cover than we saw today. just remember that. it will feel a little bit cooler because you won't have the sun helping to warm you up and we'll see some peeks and pokes of sunshine. now clear skies across the area and a very nice night. but remember, it's going to cool fairly quickly as we move on out. temperature right now 53 degrees, winds out of the northwest 6 miles per hour. not much in the way of wind. that means we're not dealing with much in the way of wind chill. 53 in the city, but the suburbs cool, 45 in culpepper, winchester coming in at 53 degrees. it it's a nice night but on the cool side. it is friday, we made it to the weekend. that weekend looking good, too. no rain, we're not going to see any chances for rain really until tuesday. the next four or five days will be dry. we still need to see rain. where below average for the last

any rain, no clouds. tomorrow we're tracking a storm system making its way our way. we will see cloud cover from that during the day tomorrow. i am forecasting more clouds than sun. temperature around 53, so a little cooler than today, but still nice. as long as you're bundled up, you're wearing the sweatshirt or sweater, that's fine. tomorrow is not a hat and gloves type of day. erika mentioned it may be a good day to get the tree. per forecast for that for the weekend. get in a tree, everything looking good. if you're doing some of the decorating, no problems there. was out decorating my house today. looking good for the day tomorrow. especially into sunday. sunday lots of sunshine. sunday will be a great one. tree lighting, i believe gaithersburg has one. fairfax has one, too. make sure you take your coat if you head on out this time of year. so great to visit some of the town centers, reston town center looking good, rockville town center looking good, prince

monday a few more clouds but still very, very nice on your monday. then we get to see the change here. tuesday a chance for showers, but notice we're up to 62, but notice where we go on wednesday, falling temperatures, going for a high of 50 degrees on wednesday. but that's actually going to be during the early morning. we're going to be above that. i'm going 54, 8:00 a.m., we could even be 60 at midnight on tuesday night into wednesday morning. so, the temperatures falling through the day, windy and cold by 4:00 in the afternoon on wednesday. wind chills will be in the 30s. you notice actual temperatures in the 30s as we make our way toward the weekend. look at that right there, chance of snow. not a lot, not a lot. something we're watching, we'll continue to track for you. one thing we're sure of, cold, cold, cold next week. >> thanks, doug. it's a highly traveled bridge, but it's crumbling. ahead, the agreement to repair the memorial bridge and time line for the much needed fixes. >> plus why the chief of baltimore police wants the fbi to take over the investigation nt

>> and years after it was made legal, patients lined up for medical marijuana in mon

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houston? you seeing this? geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. geico. before we start, i just want to say if anyone still doesn't have fios, please stay out of the way so your lag doesn't get us all killed, ben. what's so good about fios anyway? uh. what's so great about a 100% fiber-optic network that makes your gaming system actually work awesomely? hey. did you take out the trash? haha, garbage boy! dad, i already took out ben. it's not funny. gaming is best on a 100% fiber-optic network. so get fios. now, just $79.99 per month with a 2-year price guarantee, with a 2-year agreement. >> announcer: you're watching news4 at 5:00. >> now at 5:30, former national security advisor michael flynn has pleaded guilty in connection to the special counsel's russia

admitted to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with the former russian ambassador. court documents also refer to other, quote, senior members of the president's transition team being aware of those contacts. virginia senator and former vp candidate tim kaine earlier today. >> he would not give the benefit of fair legal process to anybody else, but he gets the benefit of fair legal process. he will get the benefit of a fair legal process that he was unwilling to accord to anybody else. but it's very disturbing. >> ahead in just a few minutes on news4 at 5:00, nbc justice correspondent pete williams will join us to talk about the significance of today's developments. >> years after becoming legal medical marijuana is finally for sale in maryland and one of the first dispensaries opened in rockville today. >> yeah, the owner has high hopes. high hopes for his shop, and says it will help people in pain. but some people tell news4's amee cho his business is a b

community. >> reporter: yeah, jim, erika, just to give you a sense of where we are, this is an office park off of darnestown road. a lot of homes and businesses. now, all day long we've seen long lines of people camped out waiting to buy medical marijuana. we got an inside look at the dispensary before it opened. four patien before patients can buy the marijuana they need a referral to the doctor and they have to prove they tried other medicines first. >> what we have to do is create a whole new genre of pain reduction and improve people's lives. hopefully now we'll be able to make it available so they don't have to fly to colorado and do anything illegal. >> reporter: dozens waited outside in the cold. patrick allen said he suffers from chronic pain, used to be addicted to opioids. >> two 1/2 years of chronic pain, i'm at the end of my rope. i need something to at least cut the pain in half. so, getting hooked on opioids is

>> reporter: potomac believes it can help with the opioid crisis. that is because marijuana isn't addictive. >> previous generations, cannabis was looked at as an evil drug. it wasn't understood. doctors are reserved. they are conservative by nature. but they are slowly come ag rou -- coming around to the benefits. >> reporter: this is medical marijuana only. recreational is illegal in maryland. they have cameras in place to make sure marijuana doesn't fall into the wrong hands. but even so, not all the neighbors are on board. >> i think it sends a bad message to children. >> reporter: john is a dentist nearby. he's met with the dispensary twice now to express his concerns. he'd rather they moved somewhere else. >> we don't need an increased crime here. we don't need increased people selling the marijuana to get legally to somebody in the parking lot who acquiring it illegally. >> reporter: he says he understands there is still a stigma to marijuana, he hopes his new business will change that.

quality of life to folks they've been looking for for a long time. >> reporter: and today marks the start of a medical marijuana boon of sorts in maryland. at least six businesses expected to open in the near future. in rockville, amee cho, news4. >> quite a backdrop there, amee. thank you. tonight people nationwide are sharing a report from our scott macfarlane. it's gone viral coast to coast. it showed 275 pages worth of work orders for or repairs and upgrades, even pest control inside the white house. scott joins us with some new details from the records he's obtained. scott? >> reporter: yeah, jim, the u.s. general services administration is the federal government's landlord. it over sees hundreds of u.s. government facilities including 31 in d.c., the white house is one of those 31, and the records we obtained indicate the agency oversees thousands of maintenance requests just in d.c. each year. our report yesterday revealed the wide range of tasks at the white house. some big, some small, including several

infiltrations in the white house in 2016, including one, and the other part of the white house, the west wing and the white house situation room. the records also show a flurry of activity during inauguration day including a request for a new toilet seat in the oval office bathroom, a new direct tv for the vice-president, and request for a big screen tv by the first lady. ants breaking out in the chief of staff's office. a broken heating system in the east wing and clogged drains in many parts of the west wing, and the white house press core room. an estimated $100,000 of work orders each year just at the white house according to general services administration records. >> these are old buildings. and any of us who have older houses know that old houses need a lot of work. >> reporter: we asked the white house to talk about any efforts they've undertaken to minimize these costs or maintenance requests for the west wing and a spokeswoman

first lady's office, which has not yet responded. we found a similar volume of maintenance jobs in 2016 in the halftime year of the obama administration and we found the cost for all of the up keep for all these aging federal buildings in d.c. reaches millions of dollars in just one year. erika, back to you. >> scott macfarlane in the newsroom. scott, thank you. good news for one of our area's big bridges. virginia lawmakers announced a big $227 million contract to fully repair the arlington memorial bridge. the national park service approved that plan. transportation reporter adam tuss has been reporting on the bridge problems for years now. well, construction is expected to begin next fall with most of the work being done by 2021. the project is expected to give the bridge an extra 85 to 100-year life-span. >> baltimore's police chief now is asking the fbi to investigate the murder of a police detective who grew up in d.c. you may remember someone shot and killed detective sean suiter

he was investigating the killings of three people in a city neighborhood when someone wrestled his own gun away from him and fired. today police commissioner kevin davis asked for the fbi to take over. he says city investigators may be out of the loop in the case due to detective suitor's role in an ongoing public corruption case. >> in the best interest of the integrity of the investigation, i just believe it's the right thing to do to ask the fbi to assume the lead on the investigation to bring that layer of credibility that we need. >> reward for information in this case sits at $215,000 now. detective suitor leaves behind a rife and five children. >> a man of accused of recording video of a dangerous encounter between police officers and an atv rider is now in custody. we showed you this video earlier this week of officers pursuing a group of young people on atvs and dirt bikes down 14th street. well, a

officer here tries to jump over his bike and tackle one of these riders but wound up hitting the pavement. police say 18-year-old azir wallace who they saw shot the video turned himself in this morning. >> it's video that's gone viral. but what's the story behind this beagle caught trying to break out of a virginia animal shelter? >> it's only december 1st, but christmas trees are already going fast. on news4, why some growers say you should get your tree early, too. >> i already got mine, it is up and decorated and all set. 57 d.c., that's five degrees above average. we go way below average as

a close shave today for members of the arlington county sheriff's department. they participated in no shave november to raise money for cancer patients at virginia hospital center. now their hair raising adventure is over and supporters watched as they buzzed that off. their efforts raised 3,000 bucks. not bad at all for the hospital. >> i think everyone knows so

cancer, and i think it's something we can do to help the community out. >> and this will help to buy new equipment, support services, and care for the uninsured that also use our hospital for oncology services but don't have the ability to pay. >> the in-style barber shop provided free shaves to turn whiskers into the 5:00 shadows they have. >> good for them. well, this beagle at a virginia animal shelter tried to make an escape, and it worked. but not in the way the animal was trying. butter mill was a rescue animal for the past three weeks at the aisle of white county animal shelter. on tuesday she tried to get away. that's a climb. when the shelter posted her escape attempt, it generated tens of thousands of views and a lot of phone calls, too. she kind of looks stuck there. today butter milk did escape the shelter to the home of an a doopted

fence to do it i have a beagle and mine always trying to get out of something. >> good job, butter milk. this week is traditionally one of the busiest for christmas tree shopping. ahead why you may have to pay a little more for the tree you want >> we continue to follow the developments in the russia investigation. tonight a guilty plea today for former national security advisor michael flynn. nbc's pete williams joins us live next t

lock her up. >> lock her up, that's right. >> lock him up! lock him up! >> that was then. this is now. former national security advisor michael flynn has pleaded guilty in connection to the russia probe. flynn admitted to lying to the fbi about his contacts with the

>> and in court documents, flynn appears to bring the investigation even closer to the oval office. >> joining us now with a closer look into today's big developments is nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. pete, let's first talk about what he pleaded guilty to today, just one charge of making false statements. are we to read anything just into a single charge? >> yes, i think that it's basically a good deal for him. it means that he's cooperating and that that cooperation has won him a reduced charge. but basically here's what he's accused of doing. he's accused of lying to the fbi, falsely denying that he had two conversations in december during the transition with russia's ambassador to the u.s. sergey kislyak here in washington. the first was on december 22nd. he was instructed by what is called, in court documents, a very senior official in the trump transition, to reach out to foreign governments and try to persuade them to vote against a pending u.n. resolution that would have been against israel. flynn says that he called

russians to vote against it. by the way, they called him back later and said we're not going to do that. and then a week after that, after president obama put new sanctions on russia because of its election meddling, trump was -- sorry, flynn was again told by transition people to reach out to the russians and try to get them to moderate their response because they didn't want to poison the relationship with russia as trump was coming into office. so, flynn has said that he did again call kislyak and, in fact, russia did agree to moderate its response. kislyak called him back and said, okay, we'll go easy on this. so, that's the charge. what he's doing technically might have been ill legal, talking to the russian ambassador. there is a 218-year-old law that says private citizens, which is what flynn was at the time, can't cut deals with foreign government, but nobody has ever been prosecuted. >> pete, let's stay on the topic of that senior official you touched on briefly there, because sources have told nbc news that one of those senior officials from the trump transition team cited in court

documents is jared kushner. >> right. >> is that where this investigation turns next? >> well, he's the one we've been told who told flynn to reach out to the foreign countries about the israel/u.n. security council resolution. so, it certainly involves him in the investigation. it raises new questions about his involvement. but where does the investigation go next? we don't know. but here's the thing. there are two now very strong incentives for flynn to cooperate with robert mueller's investigators. the first is this charge of lying to the fbi is a serious one. it has a maximum sentence of five years in prison. now, it's unlikely he'll get that if he continues to cooperate. but the second thing is the government has made it very clear, robert mueller's prosecutors have, that there are other charges they could bring against him. so, he has those two strong incentives to keep talking about what he knew about any potential collusion. >> and, pete, of course we still have two investigations, house and senate. how might this affect those investio

going to affect them a lot. i mean, i suspect that they were already aware of a certain amount of this. there's been sort of limited cooperation between the special council both under comey and now under mueller with the congressional investigators. so, they're sort of aware of this. you know, perhaps pushes them in that new direction as well, but i get the sense they already knew some of this was coming. >> interesting friday. we'll see you tonight on nbc nightly news. >> you bet. >> pete, thanks so much. >> thanks, pete. hundreds of paper butterflies adorn the u.s. capital lawn in support of young undocumented immigrants known as dreamers. georgetown university students showed solidarity for fellow undocumented students on campus and across the country. they delivered letters to lawmakers, to their offices, urging them to pass a permanent solution that protects dreamers from deportation. there is growing bipartisan support to make a deal that helps the

>> this weekend a special honor for some of our country's most talented artists. this sunday marks the 40th kennedy center honors. it pays tribute and spotlights individuals whose careers have enriched, rather, and shaped cultural life in our country. among this year's recipients, choreographer, carmen, music super stars gloria he stephane, and lionel rich i. hip star l.l. cool yea and long-time tv writer and producer norman lear. >> what looks like baltimore but tastes like gingerbread? the gingerbread village now on display at the maryland science center. oh, my gosh, how delectable that is. it features 500 houses, stores, an ice rink and care sell. it took 2070 pounds of gingerbread dough, 900 pounds of icing and 700 candy canes to make it happen.

center through january 191. >> i have a sweet tooth now. some local christmas tree farms expect tomorrow to be their busiest day. but what about that christmas tree shortage we've been hearing about? we did some digging and chances are you won't have any trouble finding a tree in our area. still, as news4's kristin wright reports, it may cost you more. frazier fir. i think it's 9 feet tall and it's very heavy and very full. >> reporter: charlie and mary murphy say the christmas tree farm is a special place for them and their children now grown. >> all that stuff when they were little, we still put up, made out of paper plates and everything. >> reporter: the smell of christm christmas trees permeates the rolling hills of sykes ville, maryland. >> this used to be the popular douglas fir, now it's the frazier fir. >> reporter: his parents started the farm 40 years ago. it's grown into all this. >> it's about 1 shun thousand. we have trees grown here and then my sister's property is

>> reporter: it's not the case at pine valley, but some parts of the country are seeing a christmas tree shortage. the reason has to do with the fact that it takes eight to ten years for a tree to grow from this to this. the national christmas tree association says across the country trees are in shorter supply this year. the group points to the recession several years ago. people didn't buy as many live trees and so growers didn't have room to plant new ones. which would be mature now. it takes eight to ten years. wolf says while there's no shortage at pine valley, this is the nature of the tree business. >> it's kind of a cycle like a roller coaster up and down. we've been going through this for, you know, 30, 35 years. >> reporter: the tree association says prices are up 5 to 10%. pine valley expects saturday to be their busiest day of the year. in sykesville,

wright, news4. >> it's the spell mell we all l isn't it? nothing like a christmas tree. >> my wife is a convert. she bought a couple of fake trees into the house. i said you've got to go with the real tree. it took me awhile. but i got her to on over. she loves it now. we still have one fake tree in the front. the kids tree is in the big room. all right. let's show you what's happening outside now. a very nice night. it's going to be cool, but not going to be cold overnight tonight. temperatures 53 degrees dropping into the 40s by around 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 tonight. temperatures continuing to go down. already in the 40s, 46 leesburg, 49 fort belvoir. look at warrenton, always one of our coldest spots. 37 might be a little too cold. manassas also one of our cold spots. 49. i think it's a little too cold down towards the warrenton area. storm team4 radar, the region very dry.

not going to see any any time soon. out and about tomorrow, 11:00 a.m. cool, 48. i expect more clouds tomorrow. that will keep things on the cool side. high tourmorrow 53. if you want holiday lights you want me to see, you want me to come see them, send them to me at #dougsholidaylights. you can do that on nbc washington. facebook, twitter, instagram. we're starting this next thursday. i will be in somebody's front yard. if you've got a house in your neighborhood or a couple of houses in the neighborhood you want me to come out and see, go ahead and shoot me an e-mail and show me that house as well. show me some pictures. girls on the run tomorrow, frederick 5k, amelia draper is out there with the kids. 33 degrees in frederick, 58 by 9:00. it will be a chilly start. by the time you're done should be a little better. you should have something. i am expecting clouds around the noon hour into the early afternoon. 53 for

57 on monday, also looking pretty nice. 62 on tuesday, but a chance of showers more clouds on tuesday and then here comes the big change. 50 on wednesday, but falling temperatures all day. and then look what we have here. this big pattern change from the warm air we've seen over the past couple of days into early next week to the very cold pattern. this cold pattern extends all the way down into the southeast. this will be this way, not just for days, but maybe for weeks starting much colder, more frequent storms and yes, we are tracking a couple of storms that we're going to be watching. one of which could come next friday into saturday. could even bring a slight chance for some snow. something i'm watching, not something i'm forecasting right now. so stay with us.

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the man acquitted in the 2015 shooting death of a san francisco woman could still face time in prison as nbc's wendy reports, the panel did convict jose garcia zarate on a felony gun charge. >> reporter: kate steinle's parents react to the controversial decision. justice rendered, but not served. >> this jury's verdict should be respected. they heard the evidence. they deliberated as a group. >> reporter: after six days of deliberations, the panel decided jose garcia zarate did not intentionally shoot the 32-year-old woman whose face took center stage in the national debate over illegal

overnight, president trump weighed in tweeting. a disgraceful verdict in the kate steinle case. no wonder the people of our country are so angry with illegal immigration. but illegal immigration was not the focus inside the courtroom. in fact, the judge did not allow the jury to hear that zarate garcia had been deported five times and had just been released from jail again just three months before the shooting. instead, defense attorneys showed evidence that their client didn't aim the gun at all, that steinle was struck by a bullet that had ricocheted while she was walking on that san francisco pier. despite the verdict, kate's parents still don't believe their daughter's death was an accident, and it's definitely not a political issue, either. >> we somehow or another amazingly got caught up in immigration and tr

daughter. nothing's changed except kate's not here. >> reporter: the horrible reality that no jury decision can ever change. wendy, nbc news. >> announcer: breaking news, fbi fallout, the biggest development yet in the russia investigation. >> lock him up! lock him up! >> announcer: the investigation now inside the white house. with a guilty plea from someone once in president trump's inner circle. >> this is a legitimate concern. >> this admission of guilt is a shattering moment. >> reporter: now at 6:00, the fast moving developments, where the investigation goes from here, and what this all means for the president, the country and for washington. news4 at 6:00 begins with breaking news. >> and good evening, we begin with the biggest bombshell so far in special counsel robert mueller's investigation. michael flynn's guilty plea. >> flynn is the fourth person connected to donald trump's presidential campaign to face criminal ces

former campaign manager paul manafort and campaign aide rick gates face several charges connected to their work before the campaign. >> former campaign aide george papadopoulos is cooperating with investigators. >> but today's guilty plea brings mueller's team right into the white house. and there are questions about the story michael flynn may have to tell. >> we have team coverage for you this evening. nbc's lester holt and chuck todd will join us in just moments. >> but we begin at the white house where blayne alexander is tracking this day's story for us. blayne? >> reporter: well, pat, jim, this latest development now brings this investigation closer to home for president trump. you'll remember that flynn was very much part of his inner circle during the campaign and came with him to the white house, working here as a national security advisor until he was forced to resign back in february. today, a major development in the russia investigation. michael flynn pleading guilty to lying to the fbi about his