jonathan karl, abc news, the white house. >>> all right, back to the weather now.e want to show you some more stunning images from all of the deep freeze we've been feeling. >> take a look at this. this car is not going anywhere any time soon. in baltimore, maryland, a water main busted right next to this parking spot. the water quickly froze leaving a layer of ice covering the car. >> and this image from down the shore. a member of a police department on long beach island, new jersey, took this picture showing a frozen barnegat bay along with an ice covered bench. >> take a look at this picture. an area photo of chicago taken from a plane and posted to twitter showing the windy city encased in ice. >> wow. >> yeah, well, say it ain't so. a shortage of a super bowl party staple may result in fewer dips. >>> and busted. the fraud connected to the 9/11 attacks is nothing new but wait till you see who is accused in this latest case. >>> plus a high-profile homicide. a beauty queen's murder is bringing a big problem in her country to light. >>> welcome back. those frig

jonathan karl reporting in tonight. >>> obamacare is just one policy starting in this new year. there are, in fact, 40,000 new laws taking effect across the country in 2014. here are a few others that caught our eye. in 13 states workers received an increase in the minimum wage, new wages now between $7.50 and $9.32 an hour. in oregon adults are now banned from smoking inside a car if there are children inside. the penalty, a $250 fine for the first offense, $500 for the second. and of course colorado is now living with one of the most talked about new laws in america. it is the first state to legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational use and the change could generate $67 million a year for the state budget. but police are now on alert for possible side effects, including drivers behind the wheel and here's abc's clayton sandell. >> reporter: for colorado's new retail pot market, lines are long and sales brisk. >> it has been so busy. we haven't stopped since we opened the doors. >> reporter: at this shop in denver, plenty of customers and product, smokeable, drinkable and

jonathan karl, abc news, washington. >> a long time ago. >>> and up next here tonight -- is there one way to protect yourself from a sneeze? with a cold or the flu? is it in the hand? the arm? or something else? we're going to show you in the lab, in just two minutes. stay with us. eed when you retir? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ ♪ legs, for crossing. ♪ feet...splashing. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill, not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz is an ra medicine that can enter ce

abc's jonathan karl tells us. >> reporter: it's the quintessential made in america product. kentucky bourbon. none more famous than maker's mark and jim beam. a brand almost as old as america itself. today, the men and women who make the stuff are trying to understand what it will mean to be working for the japanese company made famous in the 2003 movie, "lost in translation." >> for relaxing times, make it suntory time. >> reporter: but don't cry for kentucky. this deal could actually mean more american jobs, not less. heck, the mayor of louisville said he welcomes the deal. >> they've indicated they will be no threat to local jobs. as a matter of fact, beam is growing quite a bit, especially the bourbon segment. >> reporter: in fact, we're in the midst of a bourbon boom. production up more than 120% since 1999. and why? exports. no market more promising than asia. we went to bourbon country not long ago. at jim beam got a tutorial from the great grandson of the man himself. >> a good guy. >> reporter: he told us growing exports mean jobs. >> job quality. people selling ame

let's go to jonathan karl, white house correspondent, jonathan karl, who has been in there the whole time. he can see everything that we cannot see. jon, what was that like in the room? >> reporter: i have to tell you, diane, to feel the room when the president spoke about cory remsburg, i have been here for a number of state of the unions. i've been here on some raucous occasions. that's about as loud a decibel level as i've heard in this room. the sustained applause, the chamber almost seemed to shake, as he gave that tribute to cory remsburg. and one other moment to point to, when the president was talking about opportunity in america. and the example he used was the son of a barkeeper, becoming speaker of the house. of course, a tribute to speaker of the house john boehner. and i'll tell you, everybody, of course, until that moment, that was the loudest applause of the night. and all on the republican side looked at each other and smiled because it's that kind of talk that usually gets john boehner to cry. >> and it's trending on twitter, as well. i want to stick with cory remsbu

abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl has what we learned today we did not know before. >> reporter: it was a brazen attack that left a u.s. consulate in flames and four americans dead, including u.s. ambassador christopher stevens. the september 11, 2012, attacks in benghazi, libya, is both a tragedy and political football. but now, after an extensive year-long investigation, the senate intelligence committee's stark conclusion, the attacks were preventable. it is the first truly bipartisan look at what went down that night. the conclusions -- there were no protests prior to the attacks as the white house first claimed. at least 60 attackers penetrated the consulate while ambassador stevens was inside. five extremist groups took part, all with ties to al qaeda. most damning, the report concludes there was ample strategic warning that u.s. facilities and personnel in benghazi were at risk. and that the state department failed to increase security. on one key point, the report backs up the white house. it says there were no u.s. military resources nearby that could have h

here is abc's jonathan karl. >> reporter: hillary clinton was asked if she would have any do-overs as her four years of secretary of state. without hesitation, she pointed to benghazi. the attack that killed four americans, including our ambassador to libya? >> my big of the regret is what happened in ben gazy. a terrible tragedy. >> also a political issue. republicans saying hillary clinton bears the responsibility for the break down in diplomatic security. though she called the attack her biggest regret, it wasn't exactly a mea culpa. >> you make these decisions made on imperfect information. we make them, as you say, the best of your ability. but that doesn't mean there aren't unforeseen consequences, unpredictable twist and turns. >> two major magazine cover stories treated hillary clinton like the all but certain democratic candidate for president in 2016. but she said, if she isn't even thinking yet about whether she will run. >> hillary's group came before a group of car dealers. she admitted she hadn't drove in two decades. >> last time i drove a car myself is 1966. and so doe

i want to bring in abc's chief white house correspondent, jonathan karl. illegal? ineffective? they're not catching anyone here? >> reporter: that's right. they say flatly it is illegal. just this last year, the president said this program was saving lives. >> we know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information. >> reporter: but look at what this report says. it says we have not identified a single instance involving a threat to the united states in which the program has made a concrete difference. not a single one, david. now, the white house, today, disagreed with that assessment. but said that the president did listen to this panel. and in making his own changes to the nsa, has incorporated some of their recommendations. >> this is going to fuel that debate. jon karl at the white house. jon, thank you. >>> in the meantime, we turnover seas tonight to an abc exclusive. america's biggest enemy making its return tonight. and where? iraq. al qaeda taking over the very city where we saw the biggest american losses during the iraq war. and tonight, am

i want to bring in abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl tonight. jon what does this president have to do. >> reporter: david, those are brutal numbers for any president, but especially for one going into a state of the union address where he hopes to get his agenda back on track. how does he do that? i put that question directly to white house press secretary jay carney. how can the president lead when barely a third trust his ability to make the decisions? >> the president sees this as a year of action. to work with congress and bypass congress where necessary to lift folks who want to come up into the middle class. >> reporter: so, while the president will make the case he can work around congress, look for him to make a big push, yet again, for immigration reform. and on that score, david, there looks like there is some reason for optimism at the white house, with the republicans suggesting they're ready to work with the president on that issue. at least some republicans. >> jon karl, you'll be right here with us as abc news has coverage of the

and abc chief white house correspondent, jonathan karl, tells us how. >> reporter: for two years, he was the president's pointman on the most important national security decisions. the end of the war in iraq. the escalation of the war in afghan zan. he was there in the situation room the night bin laden was killed. but it turns out, then-defense secretary robert gates had deep misgivings about the president he served. in a soon-to-be published book, now leaking out gates writes that during one white house meeting on afghanistan -- i thought, the president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand karzai, doesn't believe his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his. for him, it's all about getting out. gates, who calls himself a republican and also served as george w. bush's defense secretary writes -- suspicion and distrust of senior military officers by senior white house officials, including the president and vice president, became a big problem for me. his harshest criticism is of vice president biden, who he calls a man of integrity but -- quote, i think he has been wro

here's abc's chief white house correspondent, jonathan karl. >> reporter: taking a quick break from speech prep, president obama got a taste of the frigid washington weather. >> good thing the speech is inside. >> reporter: it's not just the weather that is cold. obama has the lowest average approval rating of any president after five years in office. the white house sees tonight as a chance to get things back on track. the president has spent the last week refining his speech and practicing his delivery. one of the big themes, the president doesn't need congress to get things done. >> it's always better when you have big, bipartisan solutions in congress. but the president has tremendous authority. and he's going to use every ounce of it here. >> reporter: case in point, a push to connect 15,000 public schools, 2 million students, to broadband internet, using both private funds and money congress has appropriated. the president will promise executive action to require higher fuel standards for trucks. and to raise the minimum wage for those working on future federal contracts. but a warni

. >> all right, jonathan karl, from the white house today, thank you, jon. >>> and we have a note from west virginia, today, freedom industries, the company responsible for the leak that contaminated the tap water, and hundreds of thousands of homes, filed for bankruptcy. as of tonight, thousands of families still waiting for word that the water is safe to drink again. and that warning for pregnant women is still enforced. >>> and we move on now to tonight this video which caused a national debate about the use of force. a police officer firing on a car, a mother, her minivan filled with children, tonight, the policeman tells us what he was thinking. abc's ryan owens has the exclusive interview. >> reporter: it's the traffic stop that outrage sod many for so many reasons. a mom stopped for speeding along a new mexico highway keeps taking off on the police with her five children in the minivan. >> open the door! >> open the door! >> reporter: at that point, two more officers show up for backup. one of them, elias montoya, fires three shots, as the minivan takes off yet again. watch as h

i want to bring in our chief white house correspondent jonathan karl right now. jon, when does iran have to begin implementing this deal? actions speak louder than words. >> reporter: david, january 20th is the day that iran will begin to scale back part of its program eliminating some of its nuclear fuel. and in exchange, they will get $7 billion in sanction s relief. the white house released a statement, saying this is the best chance to get an agreement that will finally put to end fears that iran is developing a nuclear bomb. >> jon, some want new sanctions as an insurance policy? >> reporter: a major movement right now in congress, led by a top democrat, to impose new sanctions on iran right now. the white house says that would derail this diplomatic effort. in fact, david, the president in that statement today issued a veto threat, saying if congress passes sanctions, he will veto them. big fight ahead. >> jon karl at the white house with us on a sunday night. jon, thank you. >>> now to the governor many republicans are hoping will run for the white house.

jonathan karl, abc news, capitol hill. >>> let's bring in karen travers live on capitol hill.big? >> reporter: no, ryan, he did not. there was no major legislation. there was no calls for sweeping change. the president offered a modest but realistic proposal last night. it was what he thinks he could possibly get done. it's mostly through executive action. he knows congress is not willing to take any tough votes. it's a midterm election year, remember, so he knows they're not going to take action. he has to do it himself if he wants to get anything done. ryan? >> karen, really quickly, twitter is going crazy over the new york reporter's exchange with congressman michael grimm. >> reporter: this was quite a moment. new york one was interviewing the congressman and at the end they threw in a question about investigation into campaign finances. congressman michael grimm did not like that very much, he threatened this recorder. of course, that is getting a lot of buzz. we really didn't find out what he thought of the president's speech last night though, marci and ryan. >> abc's k

more from abc's jonathan karl. >> reporter: they say flatly it is illegal and directly contradicts theied a single instance involving a threat to the united states in which this program has made a concrete difference. not a single one. now, the white house disagreed with that assessment but said that the president did listen to this panel and in making his own changes to the nsa has incorporated some of their recommendations. >>> pope francis is known for working with the poor and having that common touch. well, now we know he also likes the internet. to mark the church's world communication day yesterday, francis called the net, quote, a gift from god. he also said it offers immense possibilities for solidarity. but francis didn't have all good things to say about it. he noted that the speed of the internet, quote, exceeds our capacity for reflection and judgment. >> that's an awesome quote, isn't it? >> yeah. >>> the data breach at neiman marcus was apparently worse than initially believed. the company revealing more than a million credit cards may have been compromised. the malware

jonathan karl, abc news, washington. >> federal regulators are investigating safety complaints aboutnts involve hybrid versions of the camry made in 2007 and 2008. dozens of drivers have complained about brake failures. and the number of complaints is increasing. 30,000 cars are under investigation. toyota is promising to cooperate with federal investigators. >>> a trial just got under way in virginia that could change the way people rate online. contractor christopher dietz suing a former clients for $750,000 after she criticized his company. jane perez put reviews on angie's list and yelp say he did shoddy work on her home. now he claims that cost her jobs. >> this is an interesting piece because a lot of people rely on these websites to know, should i trust this worker or do i want to go to this restaurant? but then you have to see the flipside of it -- >> you wonder if the people posting these are actual real people sometimes. you wonder, is it the restaurant next door trying to slam the one across the street? you know what i mean? >> one bad review can ruin business for some peo

abc's jonathan karl has all the details. >> reporter: for two years he was the president's point manwar in afghanistan. he was there in the situation room the night bin laden was killed. but it turns out then-defense secretary robert gates had deep misgivings about the president he served. in a soon to be published book, now leaking out, he writes in one white house meeting on afghanistan, quote, i thought the president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his. for him, it's all about getting out. gates, who calls himself a republican and also served as george w. bush's defense secretary, writes, suspicion and distrust of senior military officers by senior white house officials, including the president and vice president, became a big problem for me. his harshest criticism is of vice president biden who he calls a man of integrity but, quote, i think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades. gates says hillary clinton, then-secretary

then abc correspondent jonathan karl started asking about the first lady's birthday celebration. >> thest lady had her 50th birthday party. just -- i believe you said that the president picks up the cost for that party? >> i think we put out information -- i don't have it here. i would refer you to the east wing. >> and i was just wondering if had you an estimate on what the cost of it was. >> i don't. but i would refer you to the east wing. >> now, joining us now from the white house, chief white house correspondent ed henry. so the east wing is, excuse me, that's the domestic side of the presidency. the east wing; is that right? >> that's right. >> and west wing is the business side. >> right. >> all right. so do we know how much the birthday bash costs? >> we haven't gotten an estimate. john karl is a great correspondent often asks very fair tough questions. in this case it's hard to get an answer, frankly because the president did pick up the cost of his wife's 50th birthday party. every person in the country whether it's first lady or not is entitled to a birthday party. if taxpaye

>> jonathan karl? >> i don't know. w who are they?ond one is would you consider yourself a country girl or city girl and why? >> i would say i'm a country girl trapped in the city. but i like the city because i listen to my country music, but there's really no live country music here. that's kind of a problem, although 94.7 is helping with that. yes, i think that i could go both ways. >> well, i hope that's taken out of context. >> do we have time for this last one? quickly, this is for everybody. okay, this show, oh, my gosh. okay, who does the most show prep and who just walks in and wings it? >> that's obvious. >> yeah, pretty obvious. >> bob, would you like to answer that? >> i do the most show prep. you guys tend to all wing it. i spend hours getting ready for this show, and you guys just walk in here. eric is on another tv show, and andrea is out doing waitressing. and you go out and smoke, and you don't do anything but read your computer notes. and i study. i study hard. >> we can tell. and we appreciate it. and our viewers app

. >>> hello, i'm jonathan karl. great to have you with us. much to cover. including later, white house press secretary jay carney. we go head-to-head every day in the white house briefing room. occasionally it gets a little heated. these memos say at the end of the day we are all stuck in the same queue because we have to go through the same portals. >> jon, i get did, but the person who calls isn't the one who continues to wait after the paper application is filled. >> we'll see what happens with jay joining us shortly for his first sunday show interview. >>> but we begin with an olympic alert. new warnings about security in sochi. straight to martha raddatz from the middle east. >> reporter: good morning, jon. with opening ceremonies only 12 days away, russia, and indeed, the world, are on high alert. the u.s. state department issued a new travel advisory friday noting the possible presence of so-called black widow suicide bombers in sochi. it followed new threats this week vowing attacks on the games with the potential female suicide bombers still at lar

here's jonathan karl. >> reporter: chris christie is the most intriguing and colorful person in politics today. a hard-charging republican who loves bruce springsteen and picks fights with teachers unions. telling people how it is -- >> get the hell off the beach and get out. >> reporter: and occasionally telling off a constituent. >> your rear end's going to get thrown in jail, idiot. >> reporter: and on reporters -- >> stay on topic. are you stupid? >> reporter: it's a trademark. something he jokes about. >> stop saying things i already said. >> okay. >> reporter: when he went to the reagan library, they begged him to run for president. >> i really implore you as a citizen of this country, to please, sir, to reconsider. go home and really think about it. >> reporter: he was the keynote speaker at the republican convention. and yet, he's also barack obama's favorite republican. who could forget when they played carnival games together on the jersey shore board walk? christie was first asked about the george washington bridge allegations last month. his bombast was on display. >> i was t

our jonathan karl is there at the white house with much more on this.ood morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, robin. some big changes here. a senior administration official tells abc news that the president will order a transition that would effectively end that program that collects those millions of phone records. under this transition, the records would still be kept. they would still be maintained but not by the government. here's the important thing, robin. that means that if government officials wanted access to your phone records they would first need to get a court order. there are a lot of details to be worked out that the president will not present today including who would collect and maintain all of those phone records. what he'll do is ask his attorney general and the intelligence community to come up with a specific plan on how toe implement the changes, a plan that will be due at the end of month. >> all of this stems from edward snowden and some we're hearing that are calling for clemency. what are you hearing from the white house ab

jonathan karl, abc news. >> thanks to abc's jonathan karl. >> now to abc's thing, it gets a little risky. >> and if you can read lion speak, he was saying that, hey, you're not supposed to have the camera outside the car. >> he was walking into the bush to show the rules. saying, they are posted back here. >> and saying he loves the show. how about that. >> coming up, celebrating the big 6-0, oprah winfrey style. >> and big trouble for the royal family. and their elaborate lifestyle. who is cracking down on all of the queen's spending. you're watching "world news now." ♪ ♪ >> "world news now" weather brought to you by rosetta stone. weather brought to you by rosetta stone. >> you get a car. you get a car. >> i didn't get a car. i was at home. >> you weren't there that day. man, you missed out. >> i love that voice. >> diamond rings. >> all right, moving on to motle crue. that's right, what a segue. they are calling it quits. that's right. they were formed in 1981. quickly became known for hard rocking songs,