tonight, two breaking stories. the major storm slamming the east. and the storm inside the white house. steve bannon turning on the president's family. calling donald trump jr.'s infamous meeting with the russian lawyer inside trump tower, quote, treasonous, claiming there's zero chance don jr. didn't take them to the president's office. tonight, president trump firing back. also tonight, the states of emergency at this hour. the massive storm called a bomb cyclone. possible hurricane force winds slamming into the east. the track now shifting. know totals will now be even higher. florida to virginia, d.c., philly, new york and boston all getting hit. president trump

jong-un over the size of their nuclear buttons. is this helping? the fire reported late today from hillary clinton's home. the delta flight turned around twice because of a mysterious noise. and the other flight, the frustrated passenger escaping through the emergency exit. and your money tonight. if you received a gift card for chris has for a store you don't shop at, how do get money for something else. good evening. and it's great to have you with us here on a very busy wednesday night. that major storm slamming into the east. the track now shifting. we'll show you in just a moment here. but first, the hurricane that blew through the west wing today. steve bannon turning on this white house, turning on the president's family. president trump's one-time chief strategist and close friend now calling that meeting at trump tower with don jr., jared kushner and that russian lawyer, quote, treasonous. tonight, the president is now firing back. abc's senior white house

correspondent cecilia vega leading us off. >> reporter: former white house chief strategist steve bannon tonight out with bombshellac cue sagss about that now infamous trump tower meeting. donald trump jr., jared kushner, paul manafort and a russian lawyer whom they were told had dirt on hillary clinton. in an explosive new book, bannon calls the sitdown treasonous, unpatriotic, and he says team trump, quote, should have called the fbi immediately. don jr. has downplayed the meeting. >> in retrospect, i probably would have done things a little differently. for me, this was opposition research. >> reporter: his father has defended him. >> i think from a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting. it's called opposition research or even research into your opponent. >> reporter: the president insists he was not aware of the meeting during the campaign. but bannon says there's no way that's true. saying the chance that donald trump jr. didn't walk the attendees right up to his

father's office after the meeting ended was, quote, zero. and he warns, they're going to track don jr. like an egg on national tv. just months ago, the president lavished praise on his former chief strategist. >> i have a very good relationship, as you know, with steve bannon. steve's been a friend of mine for a long time. i like steve a lot. >> reporter: tonight, an unprecedented public rebuke. the president saying in a statement, quote, steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. when he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. the president accuses bannon of leaking to reporters and exaggerating his role, adding, "steve is learning that winning isn't as easy as i make it look." >> i think furious, disgusted would certainly fit, when you make such outrageous claims and completely false claims against the president, his administration and his family. >> reporter: the bombshell book is due out next week. abc news obtained an advanced

copy. veteran journalist michael wolfe obtaining extraordinary access to the west wing. he reports that many on team trump, including the candidate himself, thought they would lose, and that campaign manager kellyanne conway was actually interviewing for a tv job. wolfe says first lady melania trump did not want her husband to win and was in tears when he did. he also writes that daughter ivanka discussed with her his the possibility of running for president herself one day. the white house dismissing it all as trashy tabloid fiction. >> so, let's bring in cecilia vega tonight. and we listened also the white house was pressed today on how this writer got so much access to the west wing. it's hard for reporters like you to knoll these visits occur because the trump white house doesn't release visitor logs. so, how was he granted so much access and did he, in fact, speak with the president? >> reporter: well, david, because we don't have the white house logs, we only have the white house's word to go on. they, today, told us that this author was at the white house more than a dozen times. 95% of that, they

the request of steve bannon. they concede that this author did have one very brief conversation with president trump after he was elected. david, the author says that he spoke to more than 200 people, many of them, the president's closest aides. >> a lot of time spent in the west wing. cecilia, thank you. we turn now to that storm, slamming into the east coast. as i mentioned, that track now shifting, which means more snow and hurricane-force winds are possible. some calling this a winter bomb cyclone. right now, the storm barrelling up the coast, snow and freezing rain in florida and georgia. in the mid-atlantic overnight. and here in the northeast by morning. tomorrow's commute will be treacherous. dangerous conditions already on i-95. a multivehicle pileup in south carolina. at this hour, several states of energy already, blizzard warnings in effect. abc's steve osunsami from georgia now. >> reporter: the storm they're nicknaming the bomb is shutting down highways, air pots and cities don't, turning lives literallyup

florida to maine. >> we're asking, if you don't have to be out here, please don't be out here right now. >> reporter: already, 17 people have died in the bitter cold and now this. roads are so slick in the carolinas, they're pulling drivers like this one out of ditches. on i-95 tonight, crews are responding to this multicar pileup. >> i think everyone is completely freaking out, as you can see, the town's shut down. >> reporter: in south georgia, where snowplows are as rare as snowflakes, police report that more than 220 people have been hurt in accidents near savannah alone. this was our slippery trip there. it's just ice. we are on top of ice. this is the most snow this region has seen in nearly 30 years. abc's victor oquendo is in florida. >> reporter: florida highway patrol shutting down long stretches of interstate 10 because of this, take a look. the bridges -- frozen over. >> reporter: stacy pelosi and her husband vince are trying to fly home to new york, but all flights are canceled and now the storm is heading to where they need to be

>> reporter: in massachusetts, they're brags for a nor'easter. >> we've bought lots of water. we do have heat in the house, which is great. >> reporter: many schools are already closed tomorrow. >> bracing up and down the coast tonight. steve osunsami with us live from savannah. we see the frozen fountain behind you, steve. and this ice is already causing power outages tonight? >> reporter: that's right, david. 50,000 people here in georgia and florida are in the dark tonight and that number is expected to rise as the storm continues to move north. but there's another issue on this end of the storm, all of this ice is expected to melt and then refreeze, which means days of icy roads. david? >> steve, our thanks to you. let's get right to ginger zee. the traffic shifting. more snow now, and possible hurricane-force winds? >> reporter: this storm is rapidly intensifying. it's happening now. it's a storm that brought savann savannah, georgia, more snow they've seen since

mid-atlantic coast. that's where you see the blizzard warnings popping up. that's where the wind gusts get above 35 miles an hour. you do not want to be on theed radios. you're not going to be able to fly out of a lot of the airports by the mid-morning and it moves up into the afternoon into new england, coastal new england is where we see 70-pl 70-plus-mile-an-hour winds. there's some of the snow swaths of what to expect. more than six inches in a lot of spots. and the cold behind it, david, is even colder than we've seen already. wind chill advisories as far south as boca raton, florida. >> ginger, thank you. we turn next to north korea tonight, and president trump's tweet to kim jong-un. the president saying his nuclear button is, quote, much bigger and more powerful than the north korean leader's. is this helping with so much at stake? here's abc's chief foreign correspondent terry moran tonight. >> reporter: it was kim jong-un who started it, hurting this taunt during his new year's address. "the u.s. should know that the

my table," he said. the president's response, a tweet. and even for donald trump, this was one a too si. "i, too, have a nuclear button, but it is a much bigger and powerful one than his, and my button works." trump has spent months heaping scorn on kim, but his latest tweet, so schoolyard, so personal, drew sharp and shocked reactions. >> this is dangerous. to continue this kind of, almost child's play. >> reporter: at the white house, press secretary sarah sanders was asked about president trump's mental fitness after that tweet. >> i think the president and the people of this country should be concerned about the mental fitness of the leader of northwenorth korea. >> reporter: kim jong-un has steadiliey escalated his nuclea threat. showing he's capable of striking the u.s. then, in september, a sixth nuclear test. and now, this nuclear standoff seems utterly personal. >> the president's overturn 2d

00 years of diplomatic tradition and made this a one-on-one fight with kim. >> reporter: the real danger here, analysts say, is miscalculation. a nuclear hair trigger, two leaders taunting each other, no open channel of communication. it could be, they say, a recipe for accidental war. david? >> terry moran, our thanks to you. and breaking late today in the russia investigation, president trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort now timing a suit against robert mueller and others. so, let's get right to pierre thomas tonight. pierre? >> reporter: david, the manafort team wants the indictments against him thrown out and is claiming rod rosenstein aseeded his power when he left the russia investigation expand into manafort's businesses. manafort's lawyers are slamming the probe, saying it goes way too far, allowing special counsel bob muler cart blanch to investigation anything he stumbles across. investigating overseas business dealing that

tonight, a justice department spokesperson is discussing manafort's claims, saying the lawsuit is frivolous. david? >> pierre thomas, thank you. the senate tonight has two new democrats this evening, their rogue the republican majority now to just one seed. alabama's doug jones sworn in today, escorted by former vice president joe biden. and minnesota's former lieutenant governor, tina smith, now sworn in to replace al franken. we turn next here to the case making national headlines. a call to 911 from several states away. police then showing up at a home in kansas. it turned out the 911 call was fake, swatting, as it's called. but an officer did open fire, and an innocent man was killed. here's abc's senior national correspondent matt gutman with new developments. >> reporter: tonight, the california man accused of that prank 911 call that led to the death of a stranger 1,500 miles away is preparing to face charges in kansas.

wanted by the state of kansas for a criminal offense? >> yes. >> reporter: that alleged criminal offense? it's known as a swatting call. >> this is 911. what's going on? >> i shot him in the head, he's not breathing anymore. i already poured gasoline all over the house, i might just set it on fire. >> do you have any weapons on you? >> yeah, i do. >> reporter: police raced to the address the caller gave them, completely unaware of that 911 call. 28-year-old andrew finch opened his front door. >> show your hands! >> reporter: police say when he lowered his hands, one officer, fearing he had a weapon, opened fire. killing finch. a police investigation showed that finch, who was unarmed, had nothing to do with that 911 call and had no apparent connection to barriss. tonight, finch's mother is can demanding not only that barriss be held responsible, buzz always the police officers involved. david, barriss is suspected in at least 20 previous swatting incidents, including a

threat phoned into our los angeles station. he could face second degree murder charges. david? >> matt gutman tonight. thank you, matt. next, an alarming turn in the case of an american woman and her family. they were rescued from afghanistan, held by the taliban. they're now living in canada. and tonight here, the new reporting, the husband, joshua boyle, is now under arrest, charged with sexual assault and other criminal offenses that allegedly took place after they were back. here's abc's linsey davis tonight. >> reporter: joshua boyle, the canadian man held hostage by the taliban for five years, behind bars tonight in ottawa. the 34-year-old is charged with 15 criminal offenses, including physical and sexual assault of a woman, physical assault of a child and unlawful confinement. abc news is not identifying boyle's alleged victims. the alleged assaults took place after boyle returned to canada in october with his american wife and children after five years of captivity in pakistan.

kate lcaitlan coleman was six m pregnant when the couple was kidnapped during what their families called a hiking trip in afghanistan. while in captivity, she gave birth to three children. she says they witnessed their mother being beaten and raped by guards. >> and afterwards, they -- the animals wouldn't even give me back my -- they wouldn't even give back clothes. >> reporter: upon their return to freedom, boyle talked about what he hoped to rebuild. >> it will be of incredible importance to my family that we are able to build a secure sanctuary for our three surviving children to call a home. >> reporter: his wife has now released a statement, saying, "ultimately, it is the strain and trauma he was forced to endure for so many years and the effects that that had on his mental state that is most culpable for this." his wife went on to say that she and the children are, quote, healthy and holding up as well as we can. and in a statement to abc news, joshua boyle's lawyer said he's never been in trouble before, we would look forward to receiving the evidence and defending him against these charges.

>> see davis tonight, thank you. there is still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this wednesday. the new health headline tonight. how to spot when someone in your family is sick, before the obvious symptoms. also, the new headline and the amber alert we reported on last night here. what we've just learned. and new surveillance images just out. authorities want everyone to see these, coming up. the fire reported late today from hillary clinton's home. and your money tonight. if you received a gift card for christmas at a store you don't shop at, how to get money for ♪ a wealth of information. a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management.

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u.p.s. expecting americans will ship back 1.4 million returns today. >> as e-commerce and mobile commerce are growing at such fast rates, you also see returns growing at a fast pace as well. >> reporter: in fact, nearly a third of items bought online end up getting returned. to make the process a whole lot easier, take advantage of free return shipping, now offered by about half of all retailers. know the store policies. many offering 30-day return windows, some like electroincs, even shorter. planning to return the old fashioned way? save time by starting the process online. >> wal-mart came out with an app that makes a return a lot easier, for doing an express return within 30 seconds. >> reporter: plus, cash in on any unwanted gift cards by trading or selling them on sites like cardpool and gift card granny, where you can get up to 90% of the card's value. >> okay, and you told me, there's one more thing, you can actually regift a gift card? >> reporter: that's right, david. and you can even go to some retailer

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ryan air flight tired of waiting, using the emergency exit to get out. he faces fines tonight. here at home, the fire at bill and hillary clinton's home in new york. firefighters rushing to that small fire on the property, breaking out in a secret service facility not attached to the house. the clintons were not home. the cause unknown. and the new health headline tonight. how to tell if someone is sick just by looking at them. researchers revealing possible signs. they say look for red eyes, pale lips and a slightly swollen face. sounds like me. when we come back tonight, the mega-surprise, and we mean huge, for one sixth grade class. you've got to see this. america strong. >> tech: at safelite autoglass we know that when you're spending time with the grandkids... ♪ music >> tech: ...every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield.

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america strong, and this just might be the best news so far this new year. involving a sixth grader you met right here. it was just last month we first introduced you to talia duff and her sixth grade classmates at ipswich middle school in massachusetts. >> what was the total per jar? >> reporter: selling jars of cookie dough, those sixth graders helping one of their own. al ya was born with a rare progressive disease known as cm cmt-4 j. th doctors needed a million dollars. the children first raising $55,000, selling those jars. then, performing for donations, bakesales, sports teams all in the fight. and the video they hoped would go viral. and after you heard talia's

at home giving. $65,000 overnight. and to start this new year, those sixth graders were suddenly summoned to the middle school gym today. talia's mother jocelyn revealing the new total. >> over $1 million! >> reporter: with the help of yet another donor, those kids now surpassing the $1 million mark for talia, and they're still going. >> i'm so happy that we finally made it to a million dollars, and that we can go into funding the cure for talia. >> reporter: talia's mother grateful. >> you showed the world what you would do for a friend. >> and talia's million dollar smile right there. i'm david muir. i hope to see you right back here tomorrow. stay safe.

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