>> aaron gilchrist, thank you. >>> let's get right to angie. talk about the snow, the ice, the expectations as this storm marches east. >> the impackets are going to continue to spread toward the coast, snow, ice accumulations, and -- potential for tornados. by tomorrow, the snow moves into the mid-atlantic. ice accumulations topping .75 inch in some spots like lexington and charleston. but the snowfall totals, 6 to 10 inches, impressive to say the least, with isolated spots receiving more than a foot. >> angie lassman, lots to watch. thank you. >>> we are learning more tonight about how exactly the suspect in the deadly new orleans truck ramming prepared for his horrific attack. apparently wearing special glasses to record the area around bourbon street, according to the fbi, which is releasing a first look at that new video tonight. kathy park is in new orleans. >> reporter: for the first time, the fbi sharing this chilling glimpse of what they say was the planning of shamsud-din jabbar's new year's day terror attack in new orleans, recorded

white house correspondent aaron gilchrist joins us tonight. not unexpected. >> reporter: that's right, tom. jack smimith's resignation was affected ahead of mr. trump taking office, and we learned about it in a court filing today, where a footnote revealed the special counsel submitted his final confidential report on tuesday, and separated from the department of justice yesterday. now, trump had been indicted in connection to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and separately for mishandling classified documents. the federal charges against trump were dismissed after he won the election in november. now, smith has a completed a report on the elected interference case, and that could be released as soon as tomorrow. the lawyers for mr. trump's former co- defendants are trying to block that. tom? >> aaron gilchrist for us tonight. aaron, we thank you. >>> staying in d.c. now, president biden today awarded pope francis america's highest billion honor of the medal of freedom. president biden, a devout catholic, was supposed

here is aaron gilchrist. >> reporter: the resignation of special counsel jack smith made public over, but before he quit his post he left behind a detailed report, including the findings of his investigation into president trump's alleged interference in the 2020 election. that report in the hands of attorney general merrick garland who intends to release it. smith's investigation spanned two years and included interviews with hundreds of witnesses, including former vice president mike pence. the clock is ticking for the report's release. today the president-elect on social media questioning why smith should be allowed to issue a report at all. meanwhile, team trump preparing to head to capitol hill with more than a dozen of his cabinet picks set to begin confirmation hearings this week. including marco rubio for secretary of state, john ratcliffe for cia director and pete hegseth for defense secretary. >> there is not a job more serious and critical to our national security and we need a qualified individual in that job, and he just does not seem to have the qualifications. >> repor

nbc's aaron gilchrist is at the white house with more. n, good morning. >> reporter: willie, good morning. there is new legal action in that effort you just mentioned this morning. attorney general merrick garland told congress on wednesday that he does plan to release the election interference part of jack smith's report if a federal judge's order blocking the release was overruled. thatappeals court did that on thursday, but kept in force the order for a three-day delay before the report's release. today is day three. and last night, though, the district judge in florida gave the government until 10:00 this morning to assure her that this report does not reference the remaining co-defendants in smith's other investigation into those classified documents at trump's florida estate. those lawyers have asked the judge to extend the delay of the report. garland has said he won't release that volume two of the report on the classified documents because the case against trump's former co-defendants is still active. now all of this as we learn t

aaron gilchrist, nbc news, washington. can we also shout out jane goodall, bill nye the science guy, and tim gill, among others, 40 past the hour right now. still to come on today in the bay, we continue to begin the final goodbyes to president jimmy carter. this is a live look at his interment in georgia. the emotional service in his home state with americans traveling from all over to pay their respects. - i had health insurance before. (discouraged) so expensive. i mean, i'm helping my mom out, i don't have that kinda cash. - ugh, i know. but you can get financial help now thrgh covered california. it's totally affordable. you'd be surprised. they've got this calculator thing that shows how much you'll pay. - for real? - yeah! what are you doing not having health insurance, man? - hey, i know, i know... - here, let me show you... - we all have questions. covered california has answers and can find a health plan that's right for you. covered california. this way to health insurance. from corinth. she took it out in half

let's bring in aaron gilchrist at the white house. the fire upended biden's schedule in california and so i understand did the birth of a great-grandchild. tell us what is going on. >> reporter: >> we don't have aaron gilchrist. it is not surprising given what is going on in california. let me tell you what was going on. president biden went to california initially to, among other things, make a declaration of national preserve and that had to be canceled when the fire started. then he was scheduled to go and visit firefighters in santa monica. that had to be stopped because, we understand that his granddaughter, naomi, hunter biden's daughter, she is 31 years old, had a baby. it is a great-grandchild, another one. i think it is number eight for joe biden. they famously call him pop and he calls every one of his grandchildren, every single day. when we have an opportunity, we will go to nbc, steve patterson is on the ground in altered enough, california, where firefighters have been battling the fire. let's go to steve. what is going

aaron gilchrist was there. >> reporter: 19 new recipients of the presidential medal of freedom, the nation'shonor. >> you feed the hungry. you give hope to those, those who are hurting. and you craft the signs and sounds of our movements and memories. >> reporter: a lengthy standing ovation for hillary clinton. [cheers and applause] the former first lady, senator and secretary of state applauded as the first major female nominee for president. and jose andres, with world central kitchen. and a powerful moment with michael j. fox. fighting the ravages of parkinson's disease, the star of tv and film taking to the stage as an advocate for parkinson's research and development. >> the presidential medal of freedom is awarded to george w. romney. >> reporter: emotional former senator mitt romney accepting the honor for his father. and president biden celebrating magic johnson. magic helping biden easily drape his medal, despite their nine-inch height difference. and, a suave denzel washington, marking the moment with a long embrace for biden, who's bestowing his last round of medals just days befo

i want to go to our aaron gilchrist who is our white house correspondent as we continue to listen and today means a lot to this country as we say goodbye to the 39th president. 100 years of service in his great life. president biden has said the greatest lesson he learned from president carter was his decency. do you think that will be a big thing in the eulogy today? >> i think it could be a central theme from each of the speakers. it is something we have heard over and over again over the last several days as people have spoken about jimmy carter. we can't help but note the fact that he was president for just four years. in the 40 plus years that followed, so many people in the country got to know jimmy carter, the decent man who wanted to help people. that i think will be a central theme of what we hear today. president biden will deliver a tribute here as will -- we will hear words written from former president gerald ford and words from former vice president walter mondale. these were tributes written years ago, obviously that these men expected to deliver but of course jimmy car

for more on the travel nightmare, here's aaron gilchrist. >> reporter: the major weather system slamming the midwest is wreaking havoc on airports across country. these massive snow removal trucks trying to clear the runway in lexington, kentucky to keep the airport open. some travelers not so lucky. >> we're just sitting at the tarmac for an hour, hour and a half. and they're, like, airport's closed. >> reporter: joslin joseph it trying to get back to college in denver. >> i was halfway through security when my flight got canceled. and they told me i need to go back down to baggage claim to get my bag. >> reporter: traffic snarled in the country's mid section. nationwide, 6,000 flight delays and a thousand cancellations. christy and her kids just trying to get home to north carolina. >> we just have to look at it as an adventure. you know. enjoy the time together, i guess. >> our thanks to aaron for that report. >>> let's get an update now on the storm from nbc meteorologist michelle grossman. so this thing is moving east. >> it's moving east. hi there, frances. we're going to see it mo

. >>> let's go back to the white house where nbc's aaron gilchrist is awaiting the start of the presidentialal of freedom. what can you tell us about today's list of honorees? >> reporter: alex, we do expect the ceremony to start any moment now. the east room here at the white house has been filling up for the last several minutes or so. and president biden will hand out 19 awards today to these recipients of the presidential medal of freedom. four of them will be giving out posthumously. some of the live pictures coming from the room here again as those people gather. we're talking about people from the world of politics, for example. former secretary of state, hillary clinton, will receive this honor today. obviously also a former first lady and former u.s. senator. the white house saying that she's being honored for her decades of public service. there are others on the list, you can see some of the faces on your screen now. jose andres the chef and humanitarian who has done work through his world central kitchen organization in war zones and disaster zones, literally all over the world t

nbc's aaron gilchrist is at the white house.s about what to expect here in both these speeches? >> reporter: well, since the president ended his re-election bid, officials in the biden administration have been talking about finishing strong we heard them say, running through the tape. we have seen a number of significant actions by the president in these last several weeks. we expect him to keep a busy schedule in the last two weeks of his term in office. two people familiar with his planning tell nbc news that the president will deliver two major speeches in that time. they are not drafted yet, but we know that one will be a foreign policy speech likely to focus on his belief that america is stronger because of the alliances that he has built or maintained around the world. we should also expect him to speak about his robust support for ukraine and about the relationships that he has worked on in the indo-pacific as well. the second speech is going to be that farewell address. we expect that it will be both forward looking abou

nbc's aaron gilchrist is at the white house for us. well, alex, you teed it up nicely there. this is a case that's focused on this rule from the biden administration that helps students who have been defrauded by colleges to actually have their student loans forgiven. now, a group that represents several schools in texas sued the department of education, saying that it overstepped its authority and that it was making it too easy for students to use a specific borrower defense process that's available to them. the lower courts said that a student has to be in default on their loans and in the collections process before they actually can seek that sort of loan relief that we're talking about here. the government asked the supreme court to take a look at that specific question, whether the law says a student has to actually default before starting the borrower process, the defense process there. and yesterday, the court granted that request. i do think it's worth pointing out, alex, though this case is not going to be heard before the end

nbc's aaron gilchrist is at the white house for us. so, aaron, welcome to you on this sunday. >> well, alex, this was the first call the two men have had since late november. >> and the white house says they talked about, of course, the ongoing negotiations for a gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. those are happening in qatar right now. the israelis say that biden was updated on the directives that the prime minister, netanyahu, has given to his negotiating team to try to get hostages released there. the white house also telling us that biden stressed the need to get this deal done and to start funneling more humanitarian aid into gaza as well. now, we know that the president's national security adviser, jake sullivan, was in the region last month working on this same effort to advance an end to the fighting in gaza. sullivan was on cnn this morning, and he said that when it comes to getting a final deal done, he says they're not there yet, but they are, quote, very, very close. listen. >> we have right now president biden's top middle east advisor, brett mcgurk, in doha

aaron gilchrist is at the white house for us with the very latest. ood morning. >> reporter: laura, good morning. when president-elect trump starts the term in nine days, he will be the first convicted felon to hold the office after judge merchan holds him to no jail time or fine or probation. trump appeared virtually from his home in florida. the judge cited the legal and immunity protections that mr. trump will soon have as the reason for the sentence. trump did speak during the hearing saying the case has been very terrible and despite indicted and convicted of falsifying documents for hush money payments, trump said he is innocent. >> it's been a political witch hunt to lose the election and obviously, that didn't work. the people of our country got to see this first hand. they voted and i won. >> reporter: relatively short hearing there. judge merchan after issuing the sentence did wish the president-elect god speed in his second term. francisco laura. >> aaron, there is one legal issue in the dismissed federal cases. the fine al report from jack