mary bruce, abc news, capitol hill. >> our thanks to mary.is an outstanding person and will do well if he does testify. >> mary bruce is on capitol hill following all the details. >> never has a day off. >> she never has a day off. >> always has so much going on. >> it was incredible to see the back and forth that was happening last night, all night, all day long about whether or not whitker was going to testify. we know he is. we will be waiting for details of his testimony today. >> we will get that from mary bruce. >>> turning to the deepening political crisis in virginia. one of the commonwealth's high ranking republicans is under fire. >> the governor and state attorney general apologized for wearing black face in the 1980s. there are growing calls for an investigation into the sexual assault allegations against the lieutenant governor. president trump tweeted that stronger action would be taken if they were republicans. the most powerful republican in the state senate is trying to distance himself from a black face photo that appeared i

>> mary bruce leading us off tonight. mary, thank you. >>> and we should note, abc news will have live coverage of the cohen hearing tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern right here. >>> and what is unclear tonight is if the president will be watching any of that hearing. he certainly has his hands full right here in vietnam. agreeing to meet for a second time now with kim jong-un. the president waving from his car today, and kim jong-un, after traveling in his armored train through china, then getting into a motorcade to finish the trip through vietnam. you can see his bodyguards there jogging alongside. and with hours to go before they meet now, the president tonight, and what he's now signaling about this summit. abc's jon karl, right here in hanoi with us tonight. >> reporter: a half a world away from the political turmoil back home, president trump received a lavish greeting in vietnam. hundreds waving american flags. "tremendous crowds," he tweeted, "so much love." after a nearly 3,000-mile, 65-hour journey, kim jong-un ste

>> mary bruce leading us off from the hill tonight. mary, thank you. >>> and there were some questions michael cohen could not answer. he said he wasn't able to because of ongoing investigations. and that made news, too. so, let's get right to our chief legal analyst dan abrams tonight. dan, this is what michael cohen said. >> is there any other wrongdoing or illegal act that you are aware of regarding donald trump that we haven't yet discussed today. >> yes. and again, those are part of the investigation that's currently being looked at by the southern district of new york. >> so, dan, michael cohen telling that committee he is actively cooperating with the southern district of new york, which is investigating, quote, wrongdoing or illegal acts involving donald trump. dan, how significant is this? >> well, it's very significant. maybe the most significant moment in the entire hearing. first of all, that means that there is some other crime or wrong doing that michael cohen says he knows about with regard to president trump. but just as

mary bruce tonight. mary, thank you. >>> we are inside syria tonight. our james longman, one-on-one with that young american woman who left the u.s. to become an isis bride. she gave birth to a son. and tonight, she's now pleading to come home. and what she says when james asks, should she be punished? our team from syria again tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the american isis bride's first television interview, explainng why she left alabama at just 19 to join the terror group. >> i heard that the caliphate was announced. i thought it was obligatory for me to go. >> reporter: four years later, hoda mothana wants to come home with her 18-month-old child. do you expect people to have sympathy for you? >> i hope so, yeah. >> reporter: upon arriving into syria, she says, her only choice, marriage. her first two husbands dead on the battlefield. you were given a list of men and you could choose a man from that list, does that sound crazy to you now? >> it sounds very crazy. >> reporter: we would see the videos, the beheadings, the murders and it was shocking

mary bruce with us tonight. thank you, mary. >>> overseas tonight, and to istanbul, turkey, and the deadly collapse of an apartment building there. a security camera capturing the incredible moment. the eight-story building comes down. people in the street running in fear as the cloud of debris spreads throughout that neighborhood. at least two people were killed. six survivors were pulled from the rubble. crews working through the night, they're searching for more. >>> there's news tonight about climate change. both nasa and noaa reporting after 2018, the last five years have been the hottest on record. noaa says the global temperature was nearly one and a half degrees above average last year. the average temperature for the contiguous u.s. was 53.5 degrees. scientists now warning climate change is causing more destructive hurricanes, such as michael and florence, which we all remember just this last year. >>> there is still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this wednesday. the police officer shot and kill

mary bruce, live in washington. thank you, mary. >>> there's an apology tonight from freshman democratic representative ilhan omar. she has, quote, unequivocally apologized for tweets that were considered anti-semitic. the minnesota congresswoman was fiercely criticized by members of both parties, including a stern rebuke from house speaker nancy pelosi, after suggesting that support for israel was fueled by money from a lobbying group. >>> we move on tonight, and to maria butina, in her own words. the young russian woman who pleaded guilty as ato acting asa russian agent. butina is speaking out from behind bars. and we have new images here from the day of her fbi raid when they showed up at her door. abc's kyra phillips on this again tonight. >> reporter: this is the voice of maria butina, who tonight denies she's a russian spy. >> if i would be a big russian spy, you would never see me in public. i mean, i would be the most unseen person on earth. >> reporter: she's speaking out for the first time against charges s

>> mary bruce with us, as always. thank you, mary. >>> now, to an abc news exclusive tonight, in the case of jayme closs. the father of her accused kidnapper is now breaking his silence. his son, jake patterson, is accused of holding closs captive for 88 days after killing her parents. tonight, his father, who actually visited that home, not knowing closs was there. here's abc's linsey davis. >> reporter: jake patterson is accused of abducting jayme closs and killing her parents, and now his father is speaking exclusively to abc news. >> i most definitely want jayme's family, everyone to know that our hearts are broken for their family. >> reporter: on wednesday, patterson made his first court appearance. >> and do you understand the charges against you at this time? >> yes. >> reporter: patrick patterson is still struggling to make sense of it all. >> i would like to humbly ask people to pray for a complete healing of jayme's heart, mind and soul. >> reporter: patterson allegedly targeted the 13-year-old after seeing

mary bruce, abc news, capitol hill. >> our thanks to mary. >>> police in syracuse say they do not expectharges against syracuse basketball coach jim boeheim after a deadly crash. police say boeheim struck and killed a man on an icy highway wednesday night while trying to avoid the victim's disabled vehicle. boeheim's sobriety test came back negative. the coach said he's heartbroken over the crash. >>> nike says it's looking into the failure of a duke star's sneaker, and that was zion williamson's shoe, and they are calling this an isolated incident. williamson suffered a mild knee sprain when his shoe ripped apart. in the meantime, the nba has now proposed lowering the minimum age for players from 19 to 18. that would mean more players li straight fm high schooto the nba. the players union must agree to the change. >>> anyone out there thinking of breaking into a great grandmother's house in georgia should think again. gwenmdolyn agard is 79 years old. she lives alone, but she is more than capable of taking care of herself. when a burglar broke into her home, she wasted no time calling 9

>> all right, mary bruce live from the hill tonight. mary, thank you. >>> next, to that new storm battering the southwest, arizona and nevada, and then heading all the way across the country yet again. a foot of snow in kingman, arizona. look at this. stopping traffic for hours. this is interstate 40 right there. it also hit the vegas strip today. another storm we're watching as it crosses the country tonight. meteorologist rob marciano with us live tracking it all. hey, rob. >> reporter: hi, david. it's heading towards the southeast. they can't take anymore rain. this is a powerhouse system bringing that rare snow to vegas and los angeles. it will bang into that gulf moisture. worried about severe weather on saturday, little rock to nashville, already in the orange category. and that preceded by heavier rain. so, looking at flooding, i think, tomorrow, across northern mississippi for the first surge. the core of this system getting to chicago by saturday, blizzard conditions north and west of that. severe weather including tornados to

here's abc's mary bruce. >> reporter: in the middle of a minnesota snowstorm -- >> we don't let a little snow stop us. >> reporter: -- senator amy klobuchar promising her mod rat politics and mid western roofts will win over key states that handed donald trump the white house. >> i don't have a political machine. i don't come from money. but what i do have is this -- i have grit. >> reporter: on "good morning america," klobuchar asked about recent reports she's a touch boss. >> what do you think is fair about that criticism and what have you learned from it? >> well, first of all, i love my staff. i am tough, i push people, that is true. but my point is, is that i have high expectations for myself, i have high expectations for the people that work for me, and i have high expectations for this country. >> reporter: in massachusetts, senator elizabeth warren made it official this weekend with a call to action. >> start asking the people who have gained the most from our country to pay their fair share. >> reporter: she's already tangling with trump. >> by the time we get to 2020, donald tr

abc's mary bruce is on capitol hill with the latest. od morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, george. well, bipartisan negotiators here tell us this morning they're optimistic that they do have a deal that could prevent another shutdown. but whether it will depends largely on the president. reacting overnight, trump said that they're setting the stage but insisted that, quote, the wall is being built. but george, this new deal does not give the president the funding that he's been demanding. instead, it would provide just $1.37 billion for fencing and other physical barriers. that would allow for 55 miles of new structure. but that's a fraction of the 200 miles that the president has been insisting on. now, in exchange, democrats decided to drop their insistence that there's a limit on detention beds, agreeing to funding for 40,000 beds, which is a 17% decrease from the current level. >> and mary, we don't know yet if the president is going to sign it. he was speaking while the deal was being made. already, though, some opposition fr

we want to bring in mary bruce along with you. me begin with you on some of the political challenges. we've already seen house speaker nancy pelosi say she's going to challenge this. >> reporter: look, george, congress does have the power to up do -- undo this. and this morning, democrats are preparing to try and do just that. they can introduce a resolution to terminate the president's national emergency and given the outcry that we're seeing from democrats it does seem likely it would pass in the house. but that would then put republicans in the senate in a very tricky position, forcing them to go on the record on this. and, george, while republican leadership is now on board, there are members of the president's own party that i've talked to who say this sets a terrible precedent. that it is a mistake. even saying it is a violation of the constitution. >> but, mary, even if some republicans defect in the senate they're not going to have enough votes to override a veto from president trump. >> reporter: democrats can veto this.

mary bruce, abc news, capitol hill. >> just incredible, mary said it there. we don't know if harris is going to be on the ballot. mccready is already fund-raising off of this. he sent out a note to all of his supporters saying now that our moment is here for a new election let's get off to a strong start. the fund raising is started for him. how much will this cost north carolina. >> just as a reminder, democrats hold a 235-197 majority in the house. north carolina's ninth district is one of three seats currently vacant. >> we'll be watching that one. >> coming up, speaking of high drama, oscar night is fast approaching. >> next, how to put together the ultimate oscar spread including a gourmet cheese board. you're watching "world news now." >>> it's friday and that means >>> it's friday and that means oscar weekend is finally here. one of the biggest challenges of the oscar party host being in the kitchen during the main event. this morning, the creator and host of youtube's "not another cooking show," here to show us how to put together the ultimate oscar s

mary bruce has the details. >> reporter: michael cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for donaldmp, arriving on capitol hill to unload on the president. should the president be worried? criminal conduct? you lied before, why should congress trust you now, mr. cohen? he spent hours behind closed doors with the senate intelligence committee. he described the president's lying, racism and cheating. for the first time, he will accuse the president of criminal conduct while in office and provide what he says is evidence. a dramatic reversal for the man who stood at the president's side for decades. >> i'm very loyal and dedicated to mr. trump. >> reporter: he pled guilty to breaking campaign finance laws by paying hush money to stormy daniels just 11 days before the election. president trump said he knew nothing about it. >> you have to ask michael cohen. michael is my attorney. you have to ask michael. >> reporter: prosecutors say the president directed cohen to make those payments and cohen is expected to say just that. >> michael cohen's testimony? >> no, no. >> reporter: cohen wil

our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce is right there for it all. ry, the president is now firing back at cohen but he also praised him for one thing, for saying there was no collusion with russia. >> reporter: yes, cecilia, the president says cohen did get that right and cohen did say that he has seen no evidence of collusion but he also added that he has his suspicions. and you're right, there's no question, this testimony was brutal. the president's former fixer leveling one searing accusation after another and suggesting that there is even more still to come. overnight, michael cohen cheered on at his hotel after his blistering takedown of the president. while half a world away in vietnam, trump was watching too. our jon karl pressing the president. >> he called you a liar, a con man, a racist. what's your response to michael cohen? >> i wasn't able to watch too much because i've been a little bit busy. >> reporter: he called cohen's testimony shameful and fake but says cohen backed him up on one key sticking point. >> he didn't lie about one thi

we did see nancy pelosi there, mary bruce, our senior congestiressional correspondent. she wants the house to give the president a welcome, but she knows that bipartisanship is going to be pretty tough these next two years. >> yep. any calls from the president for unity here tonight are going to be a very tough sell, because you see the president here coming face-to-face with the new power dynamic here in washington. the power struggle between the president and nancy pelosi w she sits there over his shoulder throughout this entire speech. and look, while they do in many ways have a friendly, cordial relationship, there is no question that nancy pelosi over these last several weeks has proven herself to be a very formidable opponent for the president, despite these bitter political battles. she knows how to work the system. she knows how to best the president. just think about the fact that this speech wasn't even supposed to be happening tonight, it was supposed to happen a week ago. the president gave into the request to postpone the speech because of the shutdown figh

first time to a house chamber >> let's go back to mary bruce on capitol hill. ill putting his finishing touches on his speech but the theme is unity. in his first state of the union before a divided congress he's expected to stress areas where they can work together like infrastructure and prescription drug prices. but his calls are expected to be met with a healthy dose of skepticism after that bruising shutdown fight over the president's border wall. with ten days left to prevent another shutdown, the president and the new congress off to a rocky start and the new power dynamic in washington will be on full display here tonight. everyone watching the president but also house speaker nancy pelosi who, of course, will be sitting over the president's shoulder throughout the entire speech. >> the democrats made an unusual choice for their response. >> stacy abrams, candidate in georgia will deliver the democrats' response. it's an unprecedented move and high-profile assignment for someone who just lost in the midterms but democratic leaders see her as a rising sta

our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce is tracking it all.that testimony he is expected to take us behind the scenes with donald trump and calls it a history of lying, racism, and cheating. >> reporter: michael cohen is going to pull back the curtain on president trump, details of personal anecdotes on how the president he says lied and cheated throughout his career. he's expected to detail the president's finances including what he says are ways the president inflated and deflated at worst to his own benefit. and sources tell us that michael cohen plans to accuse the president of criminal conduct while in office. >> while in office. they're going to present evidence, at least one document which they say the president broke the law while in office. the hush payments. >> reporter: that's right. michael cohen implicated them in a federal crime when he told them of the hush money payments made. the president has said that he denies these alleged affairs and didn't direct cohen to pay them but now cohen will is a public stage in which to tell his

our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce already on capitol hill. is hearing a direct result of democrats taking control of congress. >> george, this is just the beginning. this is the first blockbuster oversight hearing that will shine a light on a member of the president's inner circle. it is safe to say that we would not be hearing this testimony today if republicans were still in charge. to set the scene here a little bit, the line here to get inside of this hearing room stretches as far as i can see down this hallway. members of the public have been lining up before dawn to witness history in what we now know will be a blistering takedown of the president by his former trusted adviser. michael cohen is now behind these doors, about to enter the hearing room where he will raise his arm, take an oath and tell automat all of what he witnessed during his decades of working with the president. >> a blistering attack by michael cohen and he's going to face a blistering attack as well. >> 42 members of the house oversight committee stand ready to grill

mary bruce is on capitol hill with the latest. od morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, george. well, after a heated standoff the acting attorney general will testify this morning before the house judiciary committee but for a while yesterday it was unclear whether this hearing was even going to happen. democrats are eager to press whitaker on his communications with the president and the special counsel, especially why whitaker refused to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation even though top ethics officials at the justice department said he should. and whether whitaker's past statements about this investigation have interfered at all with his supervision of it. if he isn't forthcoming or if there are questions that whitaker feels he cannot answer, the democratic chairman, jerrold nadler, don't -- doesn't seem to rule out the possibility of a future subpoena. >> they seem loaded for bear. a few minutes ago unleashing new information about whitaker. >> reporter: there are questions now, democrats saying he was involv

could block the president's declaration, i'm joined by abc's senior congressional correspondent mary bruce and senior national correspondent, terry moran who covers the supreme court. welcome to both of you, and mary, i want to start right away with you. congress can try to pass this joint resolution to terminate the national emergency. how likely is the president to fare in that? how likely is that to get to his desk? >> well, look. democratic leaders have made very clear that they think this is a blatant power grab by they say, a disappointed president and democrats will use everything they have to try to stop him. we have already seen the chairman of the house judiciary committee saying he wants to hold hearings and you have democrats already planning to move ahead on that resolution to terminate and given how outraged democrats are, it's very likely pinhe house and it would put republicans and the senate in a tricky position. >> there are numerous republican senators who could join them. >> i have talked to many republicans who said that they are -- that this is a mistake, that this se

our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce has the latest. ood morning, george. negotiators had hoped to announce a deal today. the two sides are further apart this morning than they were last week. and the big sticking point isn't just the wall. democrats are now demanding to limit the number of beds at detention centers. they're hoping to force the white house to focus on detaining undocumented immigrants with criminal records instead of otherwise law-abiding immigrants. the president says the democrats are acting irrationally and the top republican negotiator in the senate is putting the odds of a deal at just 50/50. so what comes next? the president has three options. one, he can agree to another short-term fix. two, he can declare that national emergency and go around congress. many republicans are warning against that move. or three, he could shut down the government again. the white house is not ruling that out. >> there is no appetite on capitol hill for a shutdown right now. the other thing the president is doing is going to el paso t

our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce has more. this is a case that could have pretty big implications for all those allegations of election fraud that we keep hearing out of washington. >> reporter: yes, cecilia. this is a pretty dramatic twist in what has become one of the most visible examples of election fraud, and this is different from those unfounded claims of voter fraud that the president is often repeating. democrats have long argued that that kind of in-person fraud by voters is actually very rare. and that, instead, it is cases like what has happened in north carolina allegedly that republicans should focus on. after fighting for his congressional seat for months, north carolina republican candidate mark harris making a stunning reversal. >> i believe a new election should be called. >> reporter: the state election board now preparing for a do-over. >> say aye. >> aye. >> i believe it's a unanimous vote. >> reporter: the results of the first election were stuck in limbo, rocked by allegations that votes were stolen. harr

mary bruce is on capitol hill with the latest. mary, the president is already up early this morning tweeting an attack on one of the investigations. >> reporter: yeah, the president says that democrats and their committees are nuts and that it all amounts to presidential harassment. we've heard the president warn against these investigations but democrats here on the hill are not backing down. in fact, this morning they're ramping up and the house intelligence committee announced a sweeping new probe into the president, his family, his finances, russia and beyond while the chair of the house judiciary committee is preparing to subpoena the acting attorney general matthew whitaker if he fails to show up at a hearing tomorrow though there is no indication yet he is not coming. and today, george, democrats will start laying the groundwork to secure the president's tax returns so the oversight here on the hill is really kicking into high gear and the president doesn't seem to like it. >> not at all. meanwhile, a hearing today on the fa

i want to bring in mary bruce for more on that. they're prettying here, mary, but what matters in a congressional committee is who has the votes. >> exactly. if there was any question as to the partisan tension in the room, that was just on full display. republican mark meadows straight off the bat demanding that this hearing be delayed because he said the testimony wasn't made available until late overnight. there is no question that the stakes are high here and we are seeing that play out inside this hearing room before it even gets started but democrats ultimately have the louder voice and more votes in this room. >> the vote is being called right now. let's listen in. mslaence yes.votes yes. >> terry moran, one of the things we're going to see here and it's become common in our political culture is two very different story lines coming out of this hearing today. >> that's right. each one of them partisan, no question about it. this is more than two different story lines. this is an effort to sabotage the reliability, the credibi

our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce is on capitol hill.he heads of the senate intelligence committee have been working together but this is significant, the disagreement. >> reporter: for a committee that has managed to so far conduct a bipartisan investigation, this is now a rare public rift. the republican chairman, richard burr, says that as of now they have found no factual evidence of collusion but notes that the investigation is not complete but mark warner tells us he respectfully disagrees, that he's not ready to draw any conclusions since their probe is still ongoing. regardless, president trump is seizing on all of this, tweeting and falsely claiming that the senate intelligence committee has now concluded that there is no evidence of collusion. >> and the chairman was also upset about the fact that michael cohen postponed his testimony to the senate intelligence committee. >> reporter: chairman burr is not pleased with michael cohen. cohen, the president's former fixer, was supposed to testify this week but cancelled, citing med

mary bruce, you saw the president congratulate the new women members and skipped it for nancy pelosi. you could not mistake the fact she's sitting over his shoulder and did have that warning on investigations. >> she did have a polite but sometimes amused look during her speech, but she made it clear where she disagrees with him on immigration and that eye roll when he warned democrats no to investigating him. look, democrats were skeptical of this speech and the president's calls to unity even before he delivered it. wth o docrats a ncy losi. they know one speech is not somehow heal the partisan r divide. >> matthew dowd, the president did lay out things democrats like, infrastructure, bringing down the price of prescription drig drugs, but it doesn't look like there's much hope any of that will get done over the next year. what did get done was laying out themes for his 2020 campaign. >> i thought the president could have done a better job of talking about more bridges, literally and figuratively, than walls. this is obviously the beginning of the long slog to november 2020. but wha

marie green. have a great day. >>> live from the cbs bay area studios, this is kpix 5 news . >>> we start off with a live look outside. in this picture, the giants manager brucene. we have more on that coming up. it is tuesday, february 19. i am kenny choi . >> i am anne makovec . >>> it is a cold start to the day with frosty conditions in spots with some people saying there is frost on the windshield so be prepared. check out this live look over san jose. it is cold to start today so bundle up. concord at 35, oakland at 40, 29 in livermore with subfreezing conditions. san francisco at 46 with mid 30s in san jose. it is freezing in santa rosa. when we check on other locations, 37 in fairfield, 35 in napa, 36 in ohio with 33