documents, have now launched their own probes demanding answers from the white house and doj. >> maryalice parks joining us from the white house. maryalice, two investigations now, one with the current president, one with former president trump. it's raising questions about the overall system for how these documents are handled. >> reporter: exactly. and there are key differences between the cases. from what we know, the biden team handed over the documents. with mar-a-lago, we know they included some documents with the most sensitive classification. but yes, these two cases have brought into focus issues with the system, or frankly, a lack of a system altogether. right now for documents with lower level of classification, it's essentially an honor system for presidents and vice presidents to turn the documents back over, and a lot of experts wondering if that's enough. >> still a lot to learn about both of these cases. maryalice, thank you. >>> we turn now to the war in ukraine, and a new wave of deadly russian missile strikes targeting critical infrastructure across the country. one of those a

abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks is joining us now. what are your sources telling you tonight? >> reporter: the white house is declining to comment, but sources tell us the big shake-up is coming to what has been a remarkably stable staff. we're told the exact timing is still not set, and it is not uncommon for chiefs of staff to actually only last about a year. the demands of the job are just so high. but as you said, ron klain has been one of president biden's closest advisers for years. he was actually first biden's chief of staff in 2009 when he was vice president. and as for who will replace him, biden is known for not going far from a very small group of trusted advisers. some names being floated? steve ricchetti, who was another chief of staff in the obama years for biden. he is currently a counselor to the president. jeff zients, who was a cochair for the biden transition and has had several other senior roles here. and the timing, i will say, is just not that surprising. it is after the midterms, at the halfway point, and it's

maryalice parks, let's start with you. so what is president biden's agenda looking like with you in the new year with congress? >> everything in washington is about to change, we're about to see that divided government and the white house knows that they have to feel that out and see what's possible to get done working with republicans. the reality is they're going to be playing a lot of defense, we know that republicans have promised on day one to launch investigations into president biden's border policies, the withdrawal from afghanistan, even investigations into hunter biden, the president's own son and his personal finance. >> and maryalice, given the gridlock here, what are the chances of something, a big issue actually getting done? >> reporter: that's a good question. like i said, they have to sort of see what republicans are willing to work with them on. we know the president would like to write into law more voting rights protections, more protections for reproductive health care, access to abortion. he wants to

maryalice parks, let's start with you, what is the president biden's agenda looking like in the new year with the new congress? >> everything in washington is about to change, we're about to see that divided government and the white house knows that they have to feel that out and see what's possible to get done working with republicans. the reality is they're going to be playing a lot of defense, we know that republicans have promised on day one to launch investigations into president biden's border policies, the withdrawal from afghanistan, even investigations into hunter biden, the president's own son and his personal finance. >> and given the gridlock here, what are the chances of something, a big issue, getting done. >> that's a good question, they have to see where republicans are willing to work with them. we know that the president would like to write into law for rights to reproductive health care. he wants to get anything done that gets at the gun epidemic in america. of course, hanging over everything when we get back is going to be this major political question, will he run ag

>> maryalice parks for us at the white house. ks, maryalice. >>> now to the storm threat on the west coast as california is slammed by one major system after another, flooding roads and buckling highways. brittany bell from our new york station wabc joins us with the latest. good morning to you, th ctie to g mll uvideo lis.piis actually damaged in aptos and you can also see that pier as well, more of the same for ocng or aot of boards in the nearby village too. that was also the result that got a lot of heavy damage due to the heavy rainfall and also gusty winds. so let's look at the timing. heading into late tonight, they'll get another round of widespread heavy rainfall, even some snow throughout the higher elevations. a bit of a break throughout most of the day on sunday, but late sunday night into early monday, more of the same. another round of widespread rainfall and a lot of snow. more rain on tap for the couple of days heading into next week. janai? >> all right, brittany, we'll check back in with you in just a moment. >>>

. >>> abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks is on the north lawn with the very latest. ce, good morning again. >> reporter: gio, good morning. president biden is back in wilmington, delaware, at his home where those classified documents were found in his garage. the president leaving the white house ignoring questions. >> are you confident you did nothing wrong, mr. president? >> reporter: silence on the news a special counsel was appointed to look into his handling of classified material. house republicans launching new investigations, demanding answers about what exactly was in those documents found in the president's home. president biden's press secretary saying the white house does plan to fully cooperate with the newly appointed special counsel, but deflecting most questions on the subject. >> i would refer you to anything that is related to this to -- as it relates to the review to the department of justice or my colleagues at the white house counsel office. >> reporter: attorney general merrick garland saying the extraordinary circumstances require the appointmen

liz: that was maryalice parks reporting. new details on jeremy renner's road to recovery.ngers star describing how badly he was injured in the deadly ash in the dangerous snowplow accident. >> this morning, jeremy renner, known for his role as hawkeye in the marvels avenger series said he broke more than early bones in that snowplow accident, posting this picture on instagram. the caption reading morning workouts -- resolutions i will change this particular new year's. bond from tragedy and quickly focused into uniting actionable love. >> someone is in front of my house, he got run over by a snow cat. send paramedics, and ambulance. >> on new year's day, his snow cat like the one seen in this video was stuck in the snow on his property near lake tahoe he tried to free it, he was crushed by the 14,000 pound machine. airlifted to the hospital with blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries. the mayor of kingstown turned 52 during his two week hospital stay, updating fans on social media. this first photo and then a video. joking in his latest post, he goes on to thank everyo

abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks is here now with the details on that. alice, tell us what you're learning. >> reporter: yeah, janai, we could be seeing the first signs that congressman george santos is, in fact, facing a criminal investigation. "the washington post" overnight reporting that the justice department asked the federal election commission to hold off on taking any actions against santos with campaign finance violations as the justice department conducts its own criminal probe. we know that back in december, federal investigators were looking into his public campaign filings. there have just been so many questions about his finances. in 2020 when he first ran for congress, he listed a salary of $55,000, but then in 2022 he claimed he owned millions of dollars in assets, and he first reported that he had loaned his campaign over $700,000, but then just this week he amended those forms to suggest that maybe that money for his campaign was not actually from personal funds. so all of this just raising so many serious questions about whether he or

abc's maryalice parks has more now from washington. alice, good morning. >> reporter: hey, janai, good morning to you. i imagine a lot of families who struggled through the height of the baby formula shortage are wondering why this took so long. but, yes, a spokesperson with abbott, the formula company, confirmed to us that they were notified of this new criminal investigation into their plant in sturgis, michigan. the company says they are fully cooperating. it was just about a year that abbott shut down this plant after contamination issues and recalled the formula that had been made there and that really did fuel that large-scale formula shortage we saw across the country that was so devastating for families, because abbott really had such a huge share of the market and know back then there were four babies who drank abbott formula and became sick with the bacteria that was at the core of those contamination issues. federal investigators never found a direct link to abbott but when they went in they all kinds of safety issues like st

abc's maryalice parks is at the white house with more. ning to you, maryalice. >> reporter: eva, good morning. once again the white house is correcting the record and revealing that they have, in fact, found even more classified pages than previously disclosed. on thursday morning the white house put out a statement confirming that a small number of documents have been found at the president's home in wilmington in the garage and just this week on wednesday night one additional document had been found in a room adjacent to the garage. now the special counsel to the president, richard sauber, is telling us that, in fact, hours after that was released, an additional five pages with classified markings were found in that adjacent room next to the garage. now, the discovery of these new five pages was made apparently while sauber who has security clearance was with officials from the department of justice transferring that one page that had been found by the president's lawyers. now, bob bauer, biden's personal lawyer, put out a statement yest

maryalice parks from the white house. >>> deadly attacks across ukraine as russians target

here's abc's maryalice parks. >> reporter: the 2024 republican primary this weekend kicking off in earnest. 75 days after he first announced he was running again, former president trump finally out campaigning in new hampshire and south carolina. >> i'm more angry now. and i'm more committed now than i ever was. >> reporter: these first events smaller, a far cry from his signature rallies. but trump already taking aim at would-be primary opponents like florida governor ron desantis. >> ron would have not been governor if it wasn't for me. and then when i hear he might run, i consider that very disloyal. >> reporter: while trump remains popular among republican voters, there are signs the party may be looking to move on. >> he's not bringing the fire or energy that a lot of folks saw in '16. he's going to be a candidate but he also has to earn it. >> many blaming trump and his unfounded claims of election fraud for republicans' lackluster showing in november. in a marquette university poll out this week, desantis faring better than trump in a hypothetical head to head against president bide

maryalice parks joins us now. what can we expect from this new republican-controlled house? >> now the republicans can finally get to work. they promise to be a check on president biden and use their subpoena power. they want to immediately launch investigations into the crisis at the border, and mccarthy says the first bill they will introduce will be one to repeal new funding for additional irs agents. but that most likely won't go anywhere in the senate. and linsey, the house plans to also vote on a special subcommittee to investigate the investigators at the fbi and the department of justice. this was a concession that mccarthy made to get some of those far right members on board with his speakership. they say that even want to look into ongoing criminal investigations. democrats worry this could put reublicans on a total collision course with the doj. and potentially disrupt probes that the doj has already launched into january 6th and former president trump. linsey. >> we'll see how it all plays out. maryalice, thank you. >>> next tonight, the terrifying images from ho

abc's white house correspondent, maryalice parks, leads us off tonight from the white house. >> reporter: a day after the white house disclosed that additional classified pages had been found at president biden's home, tonight congressional republicans demanding more information about who came and went from the president's residence. in a letter the new republican chair of the house oversight committee requesting visitor logs from th the end of the month, stating "president biden's mishandling of classified materials raises the issue of whether he has jeopardized our national security." the house judiciary committee also launching its own new probe with questions too about how the department of justice has handled the case. >> congress has an independent, constitutional obligation to oversee all aspects of the justice department, and that includes special counsels as well, and so we will have a role in overseeing what's transpiring here. >> reporter: republicans to date had shown little interest in investigating former president trump's handling of classified material but today members o

. >>> let's bring in white house correspondent maryalice parks on the white house north lawn. alice, a lot riding on this trip for president biden. >> reporter: that's right, janai. huge stakes. the president has been hammered for having not yet traveled to the border, mostly from republicans, but also from a few democrats. we know he'll be joined by the secretary of homeland security, members of congress, local leaders. his team will meet with custom and border protection officers, tour the biggest port of entry there in el paso, as well as a migrant center. this trip comes as we're seeing record apprehensions, but as republicans now in control of the house have made clear they plan to launch investigations into border operations and keep this issue absolutely front and center. >> maryalice, this is the first leg. after texas, it's on to the mexico and the president's really got his work cut out for him there. >> reporter: he goes on from texas to mexico city tonight, two days in mexico city. he'll meet with the mexican president and canadian prime minister. mexico's cooperati

abc's maryalice parks joins us with more from the white house. morning, maryalice. >> reporter: eva, good morning. 75 days since former president trump first announced that he was running again for president, we finally saw him out there campaigning. his events were smaller than those big rallies we're used to seeing, but his tone, his talking points were very familiar. he continued to deny the results of the 2020 election. of course, trump wants to present himself as a front-runner in this race, but he has serious competition in florida governor ron desantis who has not even announced yet, and we do expect to see a crowded gop primary. former vice president mike pence, former south carolina governor nikki haley and others still weighing a run. this is the season when it is very normal to see campaigns getting off the ground. it was in january and february four years ago when we saw so many democrats getting into the race. now president biden's team has said that he would be making a final decision after the holidays. a lot of speculation that an

abc white house correspondent maryalice parks is at the white house with more. maryalice, good morning to you. more documents. >> reporter: janai, just an extraordinary development. a sitting president offering up his home to be searched, the biden team saying that investigators were given free rein to look at files going back decades. for more than 12 hours friday, department of justice officials conducting a remarkable search of president biden's home. biden's personal lawyer saying federal investigators seized six items including some documents with classified markings from biden's time as senator as well as vice president. they took personal handwritten notes from the vice presidential years for further review. in a new statement, the president's lawyer writing, we offered to provide prompt access to his home to allow doj to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice presidential records and potential classified materials. adding, it was a thorough search of all the materials in the president's wilmington home. and covered all working, living

abc's white house correspondent maryalice parks is on the north lawn with the latest. alice, good morning. >> reporter: whit, good morning. the white house increasingly tight-lipped about these new classified documents and investigations as the news of a special counsel sinks in. this morning, president biden back at his delaware home where a handful of classified documents were found in his garage. >> are you confident you did nothing wrong, mr. president? >> reporter: the president leaving the white house ignoring questions. silent on the news a special counsel has been appointed to look into his handling of classified material. house republicans launching new investigations demanding answers about what exactly was in those documents found in the president's home. president biden's press secretary saying, the white house does plan to fully cooperate with the newly appointed special counsel. >> we have been fully cooperating with the department of justice, and now we will be doing the same with the special counsel's office. >> reporter: but deflecting most questions on