terry moran leading us off tonight. terry, thank you. >>> we're going to turn next meanwhile tonight to the dangerous cold moving in, wind chills in the northeast reaching 50 below zero in the coming days. 58 million americans in the path of this brutal and life-threatening cold, they're saying, from montana to maine. already hitting the midwest tonight, moving east, while in the south, look at this. nearly half a million homes and businesses still without power after trees and power lines came down. and this ice storm lasting for days now. snow moving north today in wise, virginia. tonight, boston already declaring an emergency and opening warming centers. senior meteorologist rob marciano on the ice tonight and the cold moving in. >> reporter: tonight, the sound of heavy equipment and chainsaws piercing the air north of austin. a race to clean up a tangled mess of ice-covered trees and power lines. limbs snapping after days of ice and sleet. >> we are experiencing one of the most widespread ice storms to hit austin and

let's get to terry moran at the white house tonight. we know the pentagon briefing reporters just before we came on tonight, so, what are they saying about any potential threat here? has the u.s. reached out to china? >> reporter: the pentagon does say that they've been tracking this balloon, that it does not pose a threat to civilians. they also say it's not the first time, that a handful of other times they've seen balloons like this. they say they do not think it poses an intelligence risk, and they have communicated to china that this cannot continue. david? >> still unsettling. terry moran, thank you. >>> we're going to turn next meanwhile tonight to the dangerous cold moving in, wind chills in the northeast reaching 50 below zero in theomg ilon americans in the path of this brutal and life-threatening cold, they're saying, from montana to maine. already hitting the midwest tonight, moving east, while in the south, look at this. nearly half a million homes and businesses still without power after trees and power lines came down. an

>> terry moran in washington o involving iran and its nuclear capability. tonight, a top pentagon official testifying that iran could now make enough nuclear material for a bomb, in just 12 days now. let's bring in our senior white house correspondent mary bruce, live at the white house. mary, that official describing the pace of iran's progress as, quote, remarkable, in the years after the u.s. pulled out of the iran nuclear deal. >> reporter: tonight, iran is on the brink of having enough material to build a nuclear bomb if they wanted to. a top official today saying they could reach that point in just 12 days. this is now the closest that iran has been to being capable of building a nuclear bomb since former president trump left the iran nuclear deal back in 2018. since then, iran has made astounding nuclear progress, the pentagon says. now, the biden administration did try to restart and revive that deal, but with no success, and david, it is important to note that while they are inching closer to this, the intelligence no sign tuact a numberer will bom

terry moran standing by with late reporting. >>> also tonight, that dangerous arctic blast. 58 millionmericans, multiple states. wind chill alerts from montana straight across to maine. life-threatening cold already moving into the

terry moran standing by with late reporting. >>> also tonight, that dangerous arctic blast. 58 millionltiple states. wind chill alerts from montana straight across to maine.

governor chris christie, former dnc chair donna brazile, abc news senior national correspondent terry moranse correspondent asma khalid. i'll start with you, donna, and pick up with you on what jill biden said and what joe biden said. he said he's running basically, but he has things to finish. what kind of things does he have to finish? >> well, first of all, he has to get a budget back through congress. he has a debt ceiling that is come and due. he's still litigating the war on ukraine, but, you know, the president said it very well that he wants to finish the job. he has every right to finish the job. he acknowledged that he recognized that his age is an issue with some voters, but i think this president has done enough, and he's committed to serve the american people, and at some point this -- hopefully this summer or fall, i don't think he should announce this spring, chris, we should give you some time off. spring break is good for everyone. >> it is. >> just some time this fall. >> npr's poll this week showed him with the highest approval rating since march. not super high -- >> sti

our senior national correspondent terry moran has more for us. orning, terry. >> reporter: good morning, robin. well, president biden got back to the white house last night after his trip to ukraine and that meeting with key nato allies, but it is vladimir putin who is making the headlines this morning. launching a major effort to bring russia closer to china and announcing that russia will suspend its participation in the last major arms control treaty with the u.s. almost one year to the day after russia invaded ukraine, a striking scene at the kremlin. vladimir putin embracing china's top foreign policy official proclaiming deepening ties between the two countries and announcing that chinese leader xi jinping will visit russia this spring. then putin delivered a defiant speech touting russia's military whose poor performance has been exposed in this war, but also boasting of moscow's expanding nuclear arsenal. claiming that its most advanced long-range missile reportedly capable of carrying a dozen nuclear warheads will go, quote, on combat dut

terry moran is tracking the story from washington. orning, terry. >> reporter: good morning, rebecca. that chinese spy balloon shot down by the u.s. off the south carolina coast, it turns out to be part of an aggressive worldwide surveillance program chinese have been conducting for several years. u.s. officials say that program sent surveillance balloons over dozens of countries across five continents targeting military bases and other sensitive sites and u.s. officials are now briefing allies and partners around the world on the program including japan and taiwan. and here in washington, officials have been combing through the data and they now confirm that on four separate occasions during the biden and trump administrations, china sent balloons over u.s. territory, though they were not immediately known at the time as chinese balloons but subsequent analysis confirms they were. china xlams it was a weather balloon. chinese are now explaining why they have so far refused a request from defense secretary lloyd austin for a secure cal

our senior national correspondent terry moran has more on that for us. morning, terry. >> reporter: good morning, robin. this morning the court will hear arguments in what is potentially a life-changing case for many of the more than 40 million americans who are paying back their student loans. president biden announced his student loan forgiveness plan last august and it was huge. under it, the federal government would forgive up to $10,000 in debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year over couples earning less than $250,000 and students who qualified for a pell grant, because they demonstrated exceptional financial need, they're eligible for another $10,000 in student debt forgiveness. that response to the program amazing. in just about a month, 26 million americans applied for the loan forgiveness but then in november a federal appeals court struck that program down. those judges agreeing with six republican-led states who had brought a lawsuit to block the plan that the president does not have the power. that congress never gave the preside

senior national correspondent terry moran is in washington. morning, terry. >> reporter: good morning, george. this morning, the search continues off the coast of south carolina. navy divers and fbi personnel, they're still looking for that main payload the balloon was carrying and one official said the lion's share of the electronics are as those teams rush against time in a race to recover as much as they can as fast as they can. this morning, the u.s. is rushing to recover debris from that chinese spy balloon. navy divers, some trained in handling explosive materials scoured the water, searching for clues on how this piece of spy equipment operated. so far, officials say only an extremely limited amount of debris has been recovered handed over to the fbi for analysis. but the biden administration is now revealing that the balloon was equipped with multiple antennas capable of collecting communications. along with enormous solar panels strong enough to power multiple active intelligence collection sensors. all these details collected by u2 s

senior national correspondent terry moran has the details. > reporter: good morning, george. this is a tough poll for president biden, and for every other politician in washington. joe biden actually comes into the state of the union address after a pretty good midterm election result for an incumbent president, and things to tout on infrastructure and green energy and more, but the problem for biden is the economy. take a look at this number. we asked, are you better off financially, worse off, or about the same since joe biden became president? 41% said they are worse off. just 16% say they're better off. the rest, about the same. people are struggling, and they are not happy with joe biden. his approval numbers remain stagnant, but they don't much like the republican approach either. consider the debt ceiling crisis the looming crisis over the debt ceiling with republicans threatening to not raise the debt ceiling unless they get major spending cuts that threatens to plunge the country into default. by by a kwhwhopping margin. look at this.

senior national correspondent terry moran is here with the story. ning, terry. >> good morning, george. this is a major development in the ongoing worldwide effort to answer one of the most important questions of our time, where did covid come from? "the wall street journal" reports that the u.s. department of energy now thinks that the virus that causes covid-19 first infected humans through an accidental lab leak possibly at that biomedical lab in wuhan, china. importantly they're finding what reportedly comes with low confidence. the fbi reportedly agrees with this so-called lab leak theory, but four other agencies as well as a national intelligence panel still stick with their assessment which is also offered with low confidence that covid-19 first infected people in nature, jumping from animals to humans. president biden brought the energy department into this u.s. probe because its network of national labs has specific expertise including biomedical research, but the bottom line here as jake sullivan said yesterday, there's still no definitive