now, thanks to abc's bob woodruff, you can see it from your couch. cubetube. >> reporter: the frozen imaginestry of the ice festival. more than 50 years this ethereal ice has drawn visitors to china. we're here to see how all of this is done. look at this place. this is harbin, china. the average temperature in winter, 11 degrees below zero fahrenheit. i am a lousy negotiator. this is the city of ice. everywhere. so here's downtown harbin with the park made out of ice. the building blocks come from here. by december, the river flowing through the city completely freezes over. it's like diamonds of ice. the men and women of harbin literally carve the blocks of ice from the river. come on, pay me. i just worked. this woman run the ice carving business started by her father. today she's on deadline. going to drink beer? >> he has a team of about 100 workers. each day they rise before 4:00 a.m. cutting and hauling up to 1,000 blocks until sunset. here it's still grueling physical trade. push aside the snow, cut the frozen river into a grid, then huge blo

bob woodruff, abc news, beijing. >> that possible meeting between president trump and kim jong-un is supposed to happen by may. no word yet on a potential location. >>> and now to a new development in the u.s. gymnastics sexual abuse scandal. a former dean at michigan state university has now been arrested. william strampel was dr. larry nassar's former boss. charges against strampel were not disclosed overnight, but the university has been working to fire him amid the investigation into how the school handled complaints against nassar. strampel is scheduled to be arraigned today. nassar is in prison for assaulting allegedly hundreds of women and girls when he was a sports doctor. >>> time now for a look at your weather for this tuesday morning. a hailstorm near wichita falls, texas, was strong enough to shatter windshields. the severe storms also caused power outages in northern texas and southern oklahoma. today the extreme weather will extend from the mexican border up to indiana. more large hail is expected along with thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. flooding

. >> our bob woodruff takes us inside this fascinating town, next on "world news now." >> and insideting town. test. test. test. test. test. test. test. test. ♪ you're as cold as ice ♪ you're willing to sacrifice our love ♪ >>> if you look really closely there, the sign says frozen. in times square. >> yep. taking a look at the frozen banner in times square, for the show, of course. >> yes. >> but this is kind of bringing that into reality. every year, over a million visitors gather at the northern edge of china to visit a gigantic amusement city made of ice and snow. >> yeah. the real "frozen." abc's bob woodruff went in search of olaf and elsa. ♪ let it go, let it go >> reporter: the frozen majesty of the ice and snow festival. for more than 50 years, this ethereal ice has drawn visitors to china. we're here to see how all of this is done. look at this place. this is harbon, china, the average temperature in winter 11 degrees below zero fahrenheit. this is the city of ice everywhere. here's downtown with the park made out of ice. the building blocks come from here. the men and wome

abc bob woodruff in beijing. >> china is a player again. this could have a big impact on many negotiations. the question is will this help the u.s. or north korea? >> the visit only confirmed overnight and the white house said they see it as evidence that campaign of maximum pressure is working. a sentiment echoed by the south korean unification minister. but just as the word of the meeting spread, "the new york times" had these satellite images showing a new nuclear reactor in use. north korea insists it's intended to produce electricity, but it could be used to make one of the main fuels for nuclear weapons. >>> kim is expected to meet the south korean president next month and in talks to meet with president trump in may. if that happens, it will be the first-ever face to face between a u.s. president and north korean leader. serena marshall. >>> orange county breaking ranks with the state to join the trump administration and challenge california's sanctuary law. cheers erupted from the county's board f supervisors joined the law against

abc's bob woodruff in beijing. >> china is a player again and this could have a big impact on many negotiationsthe question is, will this help the u.s. or north korea? >> reporter: the visit only confirmed overnight, and the white house said they see it as evidence the campaign of maximum pressure is working, a sentiment echoed by the south korean unification minister. but just as the word of the meeting spread, "the new york times" out with these satellite images that show a new nuclear reactor in use. north korea insists it's intended to produce electricity but the technology could also be used to make one of the main fuels for nuclear weapons. kim is expected to meet with the south korean president next month and in discussions to hold talks with president trump in may. if that meeting happens, it will be the first ever face-to-face between a sitting u.s. president and a north korean leader. live in washington, serena marshall, abc news. kenneth, diane. >> many will be looking to see what comes out of that meeting if it does, in fact, happen. serena marshall for us. thanks, serena. >>> presi

bob woodruff is there. >> reporter: right here a large motorcade was seen speeding through downtown underpossibly carrying kim jung-un. if confirmed, this would be the first time kim has left north korea since taking over as dictator in 2011. japanese networks reporting that kim may have been on this armored train which had been the preferred way to travel outside of north korea by kim's father kim jong-il. kim's campaign to develop nuclear weapons and far ranging missiles that could reach the u.s. mainland has trained north korea's relations with china, its most important ally. this trip could improve that relationship just as president trump prepares for that highly anticipated meeting with kim jung-un in may. it is interesting that kim's visit to beijing is happening just days after president trump proposed tariffs against china. so this could strengthen his position when or if he meets president trump in may. bob woodruff, abc news, beijing. >>> the judge won't dismiss the case against the pulse night club gunman's widow despite a stunning revelation. an fbi official testified that th

bob woodruff with the craftsmen

abc's bob woodruff is in beijing with the latest. morning, bob. >> reporter: good morning, robin. you know, this morning, a south korean intelligence official told a south korean newspaper that kim jong-un was, indeed, aboard the armored train that carried a high-level north korean delegation to here in china. now, if that visit is confirmed, this would be kim jong-un's first known trip outside of north korea since he took power in 2012. and it could mark a thaw between china and north korea whose relationship has really grown tense due to kim's nuclear ambitions and his repeated missile tests. this mystery delegation traveled in a very large convoy while here in beijing. this could give kim the chance to show he has china's support. and that would strengthen his position when or if he meets president trump in may. we are told the train has departed for the next 15-hour trip back to north korea. robin. >> all right, bob, thank you. >> watching that closely. >>> we move on to new trouble for facebook. the ftc confirmed it is investiga

woodruff. gang's all here. bob let me go to you first. you know this white house and the president. we are being told by senior administration official that the stormy daniels position does not rise to a presidential response. don lemon rose to the level of the president's response. joe biden calling him crazy that rose to a presidential response. what makes this different? >> it's not that different, that doesn't mean the white house doesn't have to respond. you had a press briefing offen gauging into this issue and the white house official tells me the president continues to think through this matter. nonresponse is the best strategy moving forward. >> what are they determining? >> so far they say the president has huddling with his attorney talking to other white house officials. and realizing if he draws this out in any way with miss daniels it's something he's not really to accept at this moment. >> there's someone who is working to draw this out and that is michael avenatti, stormy daniels' lawyer. this is an adversary that is different for the president. this isn't a member o

. >> woodruff: i also want to, aof course, ask youbout the mueller investigation. you worked very closely with bobller when he ran, was headf the f.b.i. when this firing took place over theeekend, andrew mccabe put out a statement he thought the d president hane this? connection with the russia investigation. as all of us know, the president's been very critical of the mueller investigation. based on everything you know, does the president have a point en he says this is an investigation that should have never gotten underway in the first place? >> well, i don't think the's any merit to that contention. this is an investigation that was begun after the president fired james comby. this was an investigation that -- and the specialouns was appointed by rod rosenstein, president trump's deputy attorney general, and a career prosecutor himself. at, you know, none of t really stands up. and i think, judy, what this shows is really a pattern of an effort to distract from the special counsel's investigation and the results that he and his team are putting forward. and it also shows something else, which

bob corker, says he needs to get to know pompeo. >> i've never really had much if any dealings with him, i'm not sure we've even met. >> woodruff: if he's confirmed, pompeo will also confront a troubled work force. tillerson presided over efforts to cut almost a third of the state partment's budget. in turn, the foreign service has lost 60% of its career ambassadors during t trump administration. the ambassadorship tsouth korea remains unfilled, and the ambassador to mexico announced her resignation last week. tillerson today claimed progress on north korea, syria and iraq. at the c.i.a., the president's choice to replace pompeo, deputy sti.a. director gina haspel, would become the foman to lead the agency. she is certain to face tough questions at her confirmation hearing. in 2002, haspel ran a secret so- called "black site" prison for terrorism suspects, and laterev destroyeidence of waterboarding. tompeo has also defended the c.i.a.'s use of rture. his confirmation hearing will be held in april. for insights into what led the s president ke up his national security team, we are joined by robert costa, host of pbs' "shington week

political versus bob mueller, economic versus china others on trade, and actual versus iran and/or north korea. joining us now tom nickels a professor and author and also with us betsy woodruff a politics reporter and msnbc contributor. i want to get your reaction to the possible shooting war that's reduced to twitter exchanges with john bolton and did he really have to promise not to get us in a war. >> john bolton can't start any wars on his own. there's nobody in his chain of command. he doesn't command the state department, the cia. what he can do is convince the president that military action is important and that starts that ball rolling. but then a lot of other people get their say. john bolton can't go to war by himself but he can make the military conflict more likely by the kind of advice he gives the president. which is the advice i think he's going to give the president. >> betsy, this president saw what kind of distraction firing missiles can be when he did it in syria and this is someone who needs distraction. there's open distraction about what kind of distraction what he might want to sunday to distract from stormy daniels. >> that's correct. you have to add