>>owie, right now. bye, everyone. good morning. new details surrounding the pr ident's choice for attorney general and how he plans to handle robert mueller's io investigatn. as we are beginning to see signs of it wrapping up. >> day 25 of the shutdown, and a growing nber of unpaid t.s.a. workers a o callingut sick, increasing wait times at airports, but what about the latest compromise proposal? >> i did reject it, yes. i'm not interested. i want to get it solved. i don't want toust delayit. i'm not looking to call a national emergency. this is so simple you shouldn't have to. >> d.ay in britain. theresa may is working feverishly to sway lawmakers to vote for what is a doomed brexit deal.

>> following white supremacy remarks,tiis resignaon next. >> plus, the mighty duke devils knocked off by unceded syracuse. rnarly today" starts right now. >> good g. i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. president trump's pick for the ne attorney general is in the hot seat on capitol hill today. the confirmation hearing for william barr begins laterhis morning. for the next two days, senators will grill him on everything from hisat rnship with mr. trump to the russia investigation. barras already said, if confirmed, he will let robert mueller finish his probe. nbc's susan mcennis joins us now from d.c. withe whatn can expect to the. good morning. >> reporter: that's right, good morning. lawmakers very eager tor hea from willemba r, the next pick to replace jeff sessions who was fired in november. lawmakersre sure to zero in on the russia investigation and wheter barr can fairly over it. now, he has written testimony that nbc got hold of. it says he finds it vitally

importert that mue complete his investigation, but it wasn't too long ago that barr st a memo unsolicited, 20 pages long, to the justicedepartment, talking about being highly critical of the mueller probe and questioning its s ipe and sayi its memo the president should not be questioned about obstruction. so that has a lot of lawmakers here worried about hisiews on presidential power and among those who are concerned, senator dick durbin. >> i'm worried about it. i mean,e' clearly a good lawyer, no question. but when it comes to this delicate political situation, the power of the presidency, whether this investigation is worded, bill barr had better give us some rock ironclad rock bottomurances in terms of his independence and his willingness to step back and let mueller finish hisjob. >> reporter: and barr will also likely face questions about things like immigratn, voting rights, and also abortion. frances? >> big day ahead. susan, thank you. >> we are now in day 25 of the longest government shutdown ino

histand there is still no end in sight. president trump is digging his heels in further, refusing to budge on his demands for border wall funding. he's dismissed requests from hit party to come table and compromise. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: mondays often bring long lines at the world'ssi buest airport. with the t.s.a. checkpoint closed, the lines in atlanta rehehed allay to baggage claim. frederick russell waited 80 minutes f >> this was just overwhelming this morning. this is far and abo anything i've seen at the atlanta airport. >> reporter: with 51,000 tsa workers still not getting paid, the sumber calling outk is rising fast. 7.6% more than doubled the sick rate a year ago. some officers taking second jobs that do pay. >> we have friends and favily that been helping me out during this bad time. >> reporter: houston also closed the checkpoint. now the tsa is adsing, get to

your airport two hours early just in case. without mon coming in you are furloughed interior worker mallory rationing her insulin thinks she may have other work. >> i don't want to leave, but if this continues, i've got to leave. alaska, more and than half the federal workers are furloughed. meteorologist rebecca anderson. >> the biggest impact is ving -- is on my future planning. so we're not sure when we're pgoing to getd next. >> reporter: the fda is sending hundreds of food and medical inspectors back to work, but without pay. with more government workers forced to rely on food banks and gofundme pages to pay the bills. tom n costell news, washington dulles airport. >> president trump is pushing back against allegations that he may have worked on behalf of ruia. he denied "the new york times" c report thatlaimed he was under fbi scrutiny for hisuspected ties to the country. but that didn't stop the 2016 campaign rival hillary clinton from taking a swipe at him.

she tweeted, quote, like isaid, a puppet. that a reference to the infamous exchange in the final debate of the 2016 election. >> thppet. >> eveg i see has no respect for this person. >> well, b that'ause he'd rather have a puppet as d esident in the uni states -- >> no puppet. you're the puppet. >> it's pretty clear, you won't admihe russian -- >> nbc's kristen welker has more from the white house. reporter: president tru gave his most direct denial yet. >> have you ever worked for russ? yes or n >> i never worked for russia and you know that answer better than anybod i never worked for russia. not only did i never work for russia, i think it's a disgrace that you even asked that question. because it's a whole big fat hoax. >> reporter: that, after he didn't directly deny he was a russian agent onox news. >> are you now or have you ever worked for russia, mr. president? >> i think it's the most insulting thing i've ever been

asked. >> reporter: the president also pushing back against a "washington post" report he went to extraordinary lengths to h concealis conversations with russian president vladimir putin. now top democrats discussing whether they need to go so far asai subpo his interpreters' notes. >> subpoenas should be a last resort, not a first resort. but it should be a resort if it's there, and the american people can find out what really happenedhe >> reporter: latest flash point in the bitter back and forth. kristen welker, n ws, the white house. g> now to a report by "the new york times" givins a closer look atome of the lavish spending for president trump's inauguration. his inaugural fund raised a record $107 million from private donors. the report revealing about 1.5 million was spent on the trump international hotel, $10,000 was spent on makeup for 20 aides and another 30,000 in per diem payments to contracted staff members. and jus 72 days, about $100 million was spent. more than twice as much raised by a former presidents barack

obama or george w. bush. this report comes as feds investigate whether the committee received any funding from foreign entities. >> the end is near for the silent sam confederate monumenh atniversity of north carolina. tensions over the monument reached a boiling point last august when protesters knocked the staine over contrib to a nationwide debate over the display of confederate monumesis. the univ's chancellor carol fault is stepping down and authorized the removal ofen s sam's pedestal and commemorative plaques. e announced her resignation in a tweet monday. >> changes are in the works for drone regulations in the u.s. federal officials plan to make adjustments that are seen as pro business, easing restrictions on flyingve small drones o crowds and at night. that wou give a boost to commercial use of unmanned aircraft. for example, operators who have been through training and put anticollision lighting on their devices would no longer need waivers for nighttime flights.

it iunis pe r known how long it will be. >> jayme closs spe 88 days in captivity. the man accused of kidnapping cls, jake patterson, revealed he spotted her at the school bus stop and he had no idea who she was. but he knew she was the girl he was going to wtake. and nare learning the grim details from his alleged confession of how he murdered tched herts and s from her home. our ron mott takes us through it. >> it was so good to just hug her, you know. felt wonderful that she was back. i could hug her again. >> reporter: back home with her exnded family. 13-year-old jayme closs surviving a horrifyingordeal, missing for nearly three months after she was abducted from h mily home, her parents found murdered inside. >> class 8 felony -- >> reporter: more is being learned about the suspect 21-year-old jake thomas patterson who made his first urt appearance by video. he is charged with two counts of homicide, kidnapping, and

burglary. >> the prosecution team that you see assembled here today wants justice for james and denise closs, and for jayme closs. >> reporter: patterson allegedly targeted closs after spotting her getting on a school bus. according to court documents, jayme closs told authoritieske patterson bnto her home, shot and killed her parents. he then bound her hands and ankles, dragged her to the trunk of his car, and drove ay. according to the criminal complaint, patterson told arrestingte officers, q i did it. >> i've seen criminal complaints that were more damning than that that ended up being dismisse >> reporter: back home, a community is celebrating jayme's safe return. her family focused on providing the love and support she needs to recover. dan scheneman, nbc news. >>me british pinister theresa may faces a major test today. tensions are high in the u. where lawmakers are wrapping up debates and preparing to vote on whether or not to back may's

brexit plan for leaving the european union. we go now to nbc's kelly cobiella who is in london forfos owing it all. kelly, good morning. does the prime minister have any glimmer of hope ts morning? >> reporter: it doesn't look good for the primeminister, phillip, to be frank. just 12 hours to go before that cruciale she's been trying to win over lawmakers over the past few weeks, and it is down to the wire today. she postponed this crucial vote back in december, t knowingt her brexit plan would be defeated then, and only a ndful of lawmakers have since switched to yes it simply won't be enough. the country is deeply divided this divorce from the european union. the prime minister's plan would keep britain in a closer relationship that many who voted for brexit would like. so the question is if, in fact, the happens as we expect, that the prime minister loses the vote, what happens next?

and the short answer is, nobody knows. the prime minister will have three days to come up with a plan b, to get concessions from the european union and put yet another plan in fro of lawmakers. phillip? >> big day there. kelly, thank you. >> authors of the new climate study from the university of california irvine say antarctica's ice -- ice, excuse me, in the arctic, is m six times faster than it did 40 years ago in 1979. parts of the continent a losing up to 56 billion tons of ice a year and it isecause of human caused climate change. faced with this alarming data, scientists aim to promote global warming solution ands stabilize problem. >> things changing not for the better. send it over to bill karins. good morning, bill. >> good morning. the number of stories you guys areeaoing to like that over the years will increase, too. sooner or later have to deal with it. let's take a look at this

coast to coast storm we're going to be dealing this is going to be the biggest issue as we go through thursday inhe wescoast, friday in the rockies, friday into the central plains. by the time we get to saturday and southern, great lakes, ohio valley, sunday into areas of the northeast. what has changed a little b'r is talking about a little warmer solutions so maybe i-95 isooking at more rain than snow. but northern new england and central new england could have a lot of ice and snow to deal with this upcoming weekend. that's a look at the big weather story of the day. now here's a closer loyour day ahead. well, you can see today, not too bad in the central plains, but the cold air is going to be on its way. temper brutal the next couple days, with some places only high in the single digits. today tn the northeast, n bad. temperatures in the 30s.'l yeah, show you some projected snowfall amounts from some of our computers coming up for that big snowstorm. >> want to know. >> we do. >> bill, thank you. do not call it a comeback for serena williams. she made her first the australian open since

winninhi the title pregnant. it was a battle of the moms, but williams came out on top as she flew past maria of germany in 49 minutes. in other sports news, syracuse upset number one ranked duke. the orange took full advantage of the bluedevils' shorthanded team with a 95-91 oveorime vi >> up next, whylu 's fire festival documentary isng sto the flames with rival netflix. and a controversial congressman stripped from his committee. the latest for steve king.

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epublicans in the house are condemning racist remarks from an iowa reeyesentative. oted to remove congressman steve king from all of his committee assignments. following his comments supporting white supremacy and white nationalism. king was ousted from the judiciary, agriculture, and small business uscommittees. minority leader kevin mccarthy said the decision was unanimous. nbc's kasie hunt has more. >> reporter: the top senate republican mitch mcconnell saying, if steve king doesn't w understand whyte supremacy is offensive, he should find another line of work. and senator mitt romney going further. >> i think steve king's comments are his own, and his exclusively. and what he said was reprehensible and put ought to lead to his resignation from congress. >> reporter: king has insisted he rejects white supremacy. >> und any fair -- i am an american nationalist.

>> -- >> i haven't been followi it. >> reporter: with democrats in control of the house, several filing resolutions against king, including james, t number 3 democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement. >> i think that this body should express its disapproval. >> reporter: planning to vote to rebuke him on the house floor. kasie hunt, nbc news, the capital. > just ahead, clemson unexpected white house reward for trouncing amal and a duo of jtin trudeaus. some see double of the canadian prime minister. you be the judge, next. but we also know how tough it is to keep up with your medication. that's why we're introducing a new and easy way... ...to refill, prepay and skip the line... ...or have your prescriptions delivered. so you never miss a day. walgreens. trusted since 1901.

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so, i had achoice. do we have no food for you? because we have a shutdown. or do we give you some little quick and i said, you guys aren't into salads. so actually we bought a thousand burger king -- all america hcompanies. inave big maces, quarter pounders, everythg i like you like. mp>> that's president tru welcoming the clemson tigers to the white house in honor of their national championship victory. trump laid out a smorgasbord of fast food he paid flf him because of the government shutdown. the players loaded up their plates with burgers and fries. this is the tigers' second visit to the white house in less than tw years. their first visit was back in the summer of 2017. >> we knowde the pre likes rolling back obama ideas, right? now he's going after michelle's s. too bad. there goes that healthy lunch program. >> it certainly does, at least for this visit.nd

>> that was f cool of them i have to say. the internet has fallen in love with canadian pme minister justin trudeau all over again. this time with his dopple nger. what do you think? an after began wedding singer is a current contestant on afghanistan's version of "american idol." he's now viral sensation. after people noticed his uncanny resemblamee to pinister trudeau. the singer $5 mitsuko that admiw who he was until he saw pictures on social media. he said he hopes it will welp hi the competition. what do you think? >> i see it. i see it. this one from the side, the other one a moment ago full on, that's a littl better. >> the profile there. >> still to come, the t.s.a. under fir after a scary breach. how did a passenger get a gun on a plane? r but there's one... that blows them all out of the water. hydro boost water gel from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid

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good morning, everyone. >> after the weekend snow, many pele are returning to work and school today. we'll look at the closures and the delays. > plus, the snowy slush has turned to ice, with temperatures well below freezing overnight. the big concern is the refreeze. we have live team cerage across the region. good morning, everybody. you're going to be tiptoeing heound driveway lod

news 4 starts now. >> it is back to worknd school after winter blast of snow. this is a live look outside right now. still cold out there. 28ee de black ice could be an issue as you drive to work this morning.

good morning, eryone. i'm eun yang. it's tuesday, january 15th. 'm aaron gilchrist. the federal government is on a e two-hour y this morning. it ds not apply to furloughed employees. >> let's get to the school delays. >> in virginia, w, arlington, fauquier, stafford, spotsle, all closed today. in virginia -- >> and in west virginia, now, berkeley, hampshire, hardy, organ county d schools are on a two-hour delay. >>at hopefully it will stay way. nobody will have to change to closed.