breaking news overnight volving the russia investigation. a developing report from buzzfeed news reveals that president trump himself told his personal attorney to lie to congress about the moscow tower project. >> a potentially life-threatening storm is already creating travel hassles in the midwest, and it's bringing heavy snow, sleet, and rain along with single-digit temperatures. day 28 of the government shutdown and we are no closer to a resolution. as those getting squeezed the hardest are caught in the crossfire of politics and real-life consequences. >> we're real families that need a real paycheck that my husband's working reall hard for. plus the bullied teen and eh hero hockey all-star who delivered a lif lesson that he'll never forget. "early today" starts right now.

good friday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. we have breaking news for you this morning. a bombshell claima in the rus probe. president trump allegedly knew more about the moscow tower project than he originally let on. buzzfeed news reports that the president directed h long-time attorney michael cohen to lie to congress about negottions to build a trump tower in moscow. this is according to two federal law enforcement officia involved in investigation of the matter. nbc news has not yet confirmed the report. the sources told buzzfeed that mr. trump "had at least ten face-to-face meetings with cohen about the deal during the campaign." anthony cormier, w was one of the two reporters on the story, spoke with msnbc's ali velshi about the depth of the president's involvement. >> behind the scenee was encouraging mr. cohen to set up a meeting overseas in russia with vladimir putin. he wasncouraging him to pursue the deal.

and he was made aware of sorof granular details about the project, what it would look like, where it would be, where they would acquire the land. he was definitely read into this project to an extent he has not admit on the campaign trail. >> the buzzfeed report contradicts president trumlas repeateds that he did not have any dealings with ssia. >> i have nothing to do with russia. to the best of my knowledge no person that i deal with does. >> that i have nothing to do with russia. i have no investments inrussia. none whatsoever. i don't have property inussia. a lot of people thought i owned office buildings in moscow. i don't have property in russia. and i am in very -- i mean, i'm in total compliancen every way. >> i have no deals in russia i have no deals that could happen in russia because we've stay away. >> and according to buzzfeed it wasn't justde the pre

staying informed. the sources said his children, ivanka and donald trump jr., also received regular detailed updates about the real estate development from cohen. the two sources tol buzzfeed that cohen spoke to special counsel robert mueller and said the president instructed him to lien order to obscure trump's pl involvement in thject. as you might expect, this story is spark a firestorm on capitol hill. the chairman of the house intelligence committee weighed p np congressman adam schiff calls the allegation among the most rious to date, tweeting "we will do what's necessary to find out if it's true. califo aia democra house judiciary member ted lieu tweeted in all caps, "this is obstruction of justice." the awpresident's personalr rudy giuliani also responded to the buzzfeed story, saying "if you believe cohen, i can get you a great deal on the brooklyn bridge." the white house itself has not yet responded to the sty. we ar officially four weeks into the government shutdown ivis morning. and the partisane in d.c. is only growing wider. instead of figuring out ways to

struggling federal employees back to work, president trump and house speaker nancy are locked in a game of one-upmanship. in an apparent retaliation to the speaker's push to postpone his state of the union over the shutdown the president cancelede losi's military transportation for anfficial overseas trip thursday. also citing the shutdown as his reasoning. nbc learned that just hours later melania trump was allowed to tvel to mar-a-lago on a government plane. nbc's sco mcfarland joins us from d.c. with the latest. scott, good morning. >> reporter: frances, good morning to you. on a cold winter day here in washington feel the heat coming out of the capitol and the white house. no scheduled negotiations, no blic meetings with congress on the president's schedule. and as you referenced, the tensionsin are rising duo small part due to the president's decision to cancel speaker pelosi's trip with top democrats to egypt and then to afghanistan. heo wrote in a letterr, "it would be better if you were in washington negotiating with me." osi comes after speaker p

in a letter recommended the president reschedule his state of thenion address, citing the furlough and the unpaid secret service workerseho would involved with the security regimen. right now here in capitol hill leaders are digging in and lashing out. >> i think the president's decision to disclose a trip the speaker's makingo a war zone was completely and utterly irresponsible in every way. >> being speaker of the house and leaving the country when it's shut down, i don't thinkat appropriate. especially -- especially the speaker thinks we shouldn't even have the state of the union? >> reporter: 3/4 of a million furloughed workers including air traffic controllers, tsa officers, they're worki without paychecks. a new published report this morning says $1.5 billion is being lost each week by federal contractors. even the d.c. transit system losing a half million dollars a day. congress has canceled next week's recess and is back in session come tuesday. back to you. >> all right, scott, thank you.

well, the political theatrics play out on capitol hill, those really suffering are the hundreds of thousands of government workers caught in the crossfire, some of whom are now resorting to desperate measures with no paycheck coming in. nbc's tom costelloor has me. >> reporter: walking a very thin financial tightrope, irs worker crystal kirkpatrick, air traffic controller tyler kenard and tsa officer tyronepe sh cristsale now selling her own plasma for $50 to support her family. >> it's kind of uncomfortable to do it. you're 450hooked up to that machine. your blood, they spin out the plasma and pump it back into you. >> reporter: air traffic controller t aer kenard his wife becky are facing mounting bills including regular hospital care for 3-year-old tucker's immune deficiency disorder. >> we're real families that need a real paycheck that my husband's working really hard for. >> reporter: tsa officer tyrone sharper and his wife ebony have a 7-month-old to support.

>> to say the tsa is imporatnt or thatnal security is important and then not to pay the people that are actually performing service as tsa agents i think that's not right. reporter: among the departments and agencies going without funding, homeland security, state, justice, commerce, interior, nasa, the epa, the ntsb, transportion, agriculture, treasury, hud, and parts of the fda. in the first two weeks of the shutdown 10,000 furloughed government workers filed for unemployment bene while some have gone to extremes. >> i mean, despera times call for desperate measures. >> reporter: for face of the shutdown. tomcostello, nbc news, washington. and we are learning about one ripple effect of the capitol hill stalemate that could have hazardous consequences. thesh utdown has stalled training and other preparations for the wildfire season. firefighting training courses and annual reeats have been canceled from oregon to ten pen because employees are

furloughed. and the c dry vegetation on federal land are not getting done. these firon starts as early as march in the southeast. now to a stunning verdict in chicago. three current and former police officef accused covering up the 20 shooting of laquan mcdonald that made national headline have been acquitted. nbc's dan scheneman has the fallout. >> this indicates to the court that there was no intent to include false information -- >> reporter: three chigo lice officers found not guilty of trying to cover up the 2014 police shooting of laquan mcdonald. one of the three defendants, joseph walsh. >> heartbreaking for my family. a year and a half. >> reporter: the judge saying theno evidence did t indicate hae three officers conspired to hide evidence tt would have ff incriminateder jason van dyke, who was convicted of the shooting. >> these three officers were vindicated. price.ey paid a heavy and they have been badgered for over a year. and they shouldn't. have be >> reporter: the shooting was captured on video.

prosecutors said it showed van dyke firing 16 shots at mcdonald. the video was a key piecef idence in both trials. >> to say that the men are not guilty is to say that jason van dyke is not guilty. reporter: family and supporters of laquan mcdonald expressed outrage. >> we know that the chicago police care more about protecting each other's lies an they care about the letter of the law. >> reporter: jason van dyke convicted of secondegree murder and aggravated battery faces up to 96 years in prison. dan scheneman, nbc news. >> van dyke ischeduled to be sentenced today. disgraced movie pro harvey weinstein is parting ways with his criminal defense lawyer. in a statement weinstein praised benjamin brafman for his work, saying the two have split up amicably. brman is leaving just weeks after failing to get weinstein's charges dismissed. weinstein has been charged with raping an unidentified woman inside a hotel room in 2015.

he has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. i weinstein wiroduce his new legal team next week. his trial date is set for may 6th. two men are fighting for their lives this mor getting buried under an avalanche in new mexico. that t was at taos ski valley resort. emergency rescue teams firstun the men unresponsive and not breathing. eventually theyli ested a pulse and were able to stabilize them and take them to the hospital. ski resort officials say the avalanche happened at the highest point of the thresort. e were close to 100 skiers out there when it hit but no one else was stuck. meanwhile, another flfrp stru avalanche struct in utah. his wen was forced by trarngs officials. a stretch of highway in provo canyon was bur the snow reached 30 feet deep in some parts. >> there's a going to big stretch of the country over the weekend o. big karin is watching it for us. >> we have a lot of people going to be dealing with winter weather.es 1500 m of advisories, watches and warnings.

these are being chang by the second as we get the new updates in from the national weather service. and the number of people that are influenced is 104li m people. a little over a quarter of the population of our country has th deal w this storm. here's the snow footprint. you notice from iowa, minnesota and aret north of st. louis to chicago, this will be today into tonight. tomorrow durin northern portions of the ohio valley three to six inch it's really once we get into saturday afternoon, saturday night and then into sunday morning the heaviest snow will fall. that pink is a foot of snow. much of new york state. and then the heaviest snow up to 18 to 24 inches in the mountainous areas of krer7b89 and northern new england. hast to the south of in areas of southern new england my concern is for iegs. we' icing. areas of sleet espeaially in of connecticut. looks like massachusetts, southern new york and then below that freezin raintoo, the possibility of? power outages. north of new a york city. right now we're hoping new york city goes to rain, help alleviate the ice problems. that's a look at the bigeather

story of the day and here's a closer look at the day ahead. for today we are watching our weak storm system, jus bannch of snow or less in many areas of the northeast this morning. shouldn't be too bad on the treated roads. 9 cold air behind our storm system, look at it. it's up there in fargo. today where it's going to be negative 2. we could have a flash freeze on th back side of this storm, which won't help things either. >> wow. >> going to be a tough weekend. wee got to stay inside for a lot of us to stay safe. bill, thank you. fast fwarding into friday south korean media reports north mrea's top envoy is in washington, d.c. tt with secretary of state mike pompeo and possibly president trump. they are locking to finalize plans for a new summit between the president and kim jong un. tens of thousands of people expected to gather at the national mall for thar46th annual for life. a group of lawmakers k37d to draets crowd >>there. the national park service says it's using a grant from delta airlineto reopen the mlk national historical park in atlanta. it's been closed because of the

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overseas the royal family's recovering from a serious scare. uthorities say queen elizabeth's 97-year-old husband prince philip was behind the wheel when his suv flipped. we're joined now by nbc's sarah harmon who is in london. sarah, it's amazing he walked awayac from this dent. >> frances, good morning. absolutely. the royal family got to be breathing a sigh of rief after prince philip walked away from a car crash yesterday. his land rover overturned on ar public. but buckingham palace says he wasn't hurt. other car was also involved in this ash.cr o women were treated for minor injuries. but they've already been released from the hoital. police say a breathalyzer test are standard procedure in a crash like this and that prince phil and the other driver both passed. the cause of the crash is now review. guys, a lot of reaction to this has actually been surprise that the duke of edinburgh still drives himself on public roads. he's 97 years old.

he's retired from public life. and he had hip replac lent surgert year. but the queen's husband is also known for being fiercely independent. he jumped behind the wheel to drive president o'bam & if the fit lady during their visit in 2016. here in the uk drivers do have to renew their licenses jus before their 70th birthday and then again every three years after that. inevitably some people are going to be saying he's 97 years old, he's super rich, it o ght be timet a chauffeur. frances? >> we'll see, i'm sure. royal watchers and the world will be seeing when he's g bng to getind the wheel at all, if again. sah, thank you. >> you don't want to tell prince philip no, he can't do something. >> maybe the queen, his wife. oellen's twistthe hottest instagram twist. and the imagination of mimi. the ten-year challenge meets its match with mariah carey. >> i love it. love it. you work too hard to work this hard! collecting receipts? is it the 80s?

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itn's prime minister theresa may blpd the biggest [ bleep ] in a >> i didn't want to stick my [ bleep ] into that meat grinder. >> adding to the circumstances he keeps [ bleep ] with putin. he takes the interpreter's [ bleep ]. he talks to [ bleep ]. >> no, he's [ bleep ] him several times. >> does anybody here not [ bleep ] their children? wow, it's a lot of people. not one? friday. so that means unnecessary

"earlship time here on today." >> rudy giuliani probably hoping he would be censored before this segment. >> right. it looks like the most popular instagram post is trying to get poached by none other than ellen. remember this photo? it beat kylie jenner's post ford the most lhoto on ver 23 million likes. well, now ellen is attempting to steal the crown with this photo of kylie jenner's face inside the egg. she says aerording to calculations it will be the most liked post ever. so classic for ellen to get volved in everything. and it's not a matter of egg versusli who wins? it's ellen who always wins, comes out on top. >> such topper. kylieroke her rofrecord, right? at the oscars to begin with. mariaharey is putting a spin on the ten-year challenge we've tl been seeing for the p couple of days. this post on her twitter account she's her before and after. you see the major difference there.

in mariah's world there is no time. always timeless. that's her thing. the ingenuity of this post, it's inspired other people on social media to share their own clever commentary on whether time is real or not. what do you think about what mariah did here? >> i e've. basically saying i'm not playing, i'm above it. time doesn't matter in mariah's world basically is what she's saying. >> time is a flat circle. >> it's nothing. >> you notice the only people posting these are the ones who look better now than ten years ago. >> what you're saying is reason you, me, and bill t kari have not posted? we can connect those dots. still ahead, the nth golf shoes let you wear the green. you're watching "early today." out the door ♪ ♪ it's what i'm lookin' for ♪ today's the daisy i do ♪ daisy it's true ♪ before i get on the move ♪ i grab my special food ♪ today's the daisy i see ♪ the difference in me

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. good rning. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. the shutdown and what it means for last revenue. good morning, everyone. wet snow overnight. slushy roads and schoolla de.

use 4 begins wit a storm team 4 weather alert. >> fridayng mornd we're in weather alert mode. snow, slush, ice and rain. all of this and more this weekend. if you happen to look out a window, last night, you saw the

preview. i couldn't believe it. i thought, more snow? it kept fanding. >> it looked like it stopped. and it'snong again. >> i can't say what you said before we started the show. >> had some choice words for chuck bell. >> i'm eun yang. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. the drizz we got overnight has led to cancellations. prince william county schools are closed today. >> alexaria city, arlington and page county stools a s and page nty stools archools ara two-hour delay. >> the snow started late last night. it was nothingike last weekend. but it is a preview for what we may see this weekend. >> melissa is standing by with a check on the road conditions. we begin with chuck bell.