tonight bracing for dangerous record breaking cold. windchills well below zero, expected across at least 20 states from north carolina to maine. the dangerous rescues already tonight -- the ice and the flooding from the deadly storm. and now the fires -- also thousands of flights canceled. and the emergency landing today at jfk airport in new york. the white house tonight, president trump going after the author of that bombshell book. tonight, the author says he spoke to multiple members of the president's inner circle. he says they told him the president is like a child. he does not read, he does not listen. late today the fire the arson investigation at the ho

accusers. she spoke out and tonight authorities are speaking to a person of interest. in that fire. also developing, the pulse nightclub shooting -- and what the wife of the shooter now reveals. the health scare for alex trebek. why he'll be off the air. and if you own an iphone, a mac, a pc -- a major security flaw. what authorities say you need to do now. good evening and it's great to have you with us on a friday night. we begin with the new concern tonight, just as we begin the weekend, the dangerous life-threatening cold moving in in some places record breaking cold. so much of the country reeling from the deadly storm. flooded streets right there along the massachusetts coast. record high waves in boston. cars frozen tonight under several feet of water in revere. fierce winds fueling a fire in new jersey. a tough battle there. a very cold night ahead.

authorities are warning take these temperatures seriously. in fact, take a look at the windchills in the morning. it will feel like 16 below in new york city. 26 below in boston. 14 below in the nation's capital. tonight the fires fueled by the winds. firefighters out in this frigid cold and abc's eva pilgrim leads us off from massachusetts. >> reporter: tonight millions chiseling out from a breath taking nor'easter as record breaking cold moves in. in scituate, residents assessing the damage, crews racing to clear roads. >> just a few minutes ago this entire street was all ice, kind of like this. >> reporter: in winthrop after storm surge inundated streets, holly and tommy schlichting racing to get the water out of their basement. as you can see there's still lots of water pumping out and hopefully get it all into the drains before tonight's high tide. >> why is that? >> because once the high tide comes in there's no place for the water to go.

was the highest tide ever recorded in boston. >> if anyone wants to question global warming, just see where the flood zones are. those zones didn't flood 30 years ago. >> reporter: dozens of rescues along the massachusetts coast. in marshfield, the national guard using high water vehicles to save people. >> there was cars outside almost completely under water. and then there was water coming in the back door. in hull, a front end loader retrieving a woman from this front porch. in new york city kids trudging back to school through the snow. >> more than a foot of snow falling here in parts of long island. and take a look here with our drone cam, there's just so much snow. and with these sub-zero wind chills, it's not melting anytime soon. >> reporter: overnight fire and ice in newark, new jersey. driven by high winds. >> that fire quickly spread to the 2 buildings to the left of the original fire building and also across the street. >> reporter: at least two firefighters injured.

the storm taking at least eight lives including a 13 year old girl killed by carbon monoxide poisoning at this apartment building in perth amboy. >> eva from massachusetts. we can see all of that's there behind you from the harbor. the concern over these plummeting temperatures. >> reporter: david the winds have been howling and the gusts are 40 miles an hour happening all day long. this wind is bringing in the cold. this is the 11th straight day of below freezing temperatures. tonight it will feel like 25 degrees below zero. this is frigid. and in temperatures like this, you can get frostbite in under half an hour, david. >> get back in the car with the crew. eva, thanks. remember, your neighbors as we head into this weekend. temperatures as they plummet turning the hudson river and so many other rivers into ice. shutting down shipping channels where so much of the

adrienne bankert reporting earlier. >> reporter: david, while out here on the freezing waters of the hudson, temperatures feel about 20 degrees colder than they actually are. the hudson river looks more like a jagged ice rink but small powerful vessel like this one can break through up to 3 feet of that ice providing a clear path for other ships like those carrying heating oil. something so many homes here in the northeast desperately need. especially this winter. david? >> thanks. next the storm reeleavele a travel mess. take a look at new york's jfk. fire fighting equipped on the tarmac as an american airlines flight made an emergency landing because of an engine problem. here's linsey davis on that story tonight. >> reporter: tonight after the storm tens of thousands of passengers still stranded from coast to coast. >> "we're stuck

>> "all the flights before us were canceled." >> "two of us got out, but people are stuck here." >> reporter: at laguardia, the thurston family has battled cancellations for their flight to aruba since wednesday. >> "now we're booked for tonight's flight, but they had to break us all up, each parent's flying with children individually, but right now we're taking our chances on standby. >> reporter: with new york's big three airports shut down for most of the day thursday more than 4300 flights cancel and others had to divert to other airports. this singapore a-380, had to land at stewart air force base in new york - - and 31 flights diverted to washington's dulles airport, >> we didn't have anywhere to go. >> reporter: some passengers trapped on the tarmac for hours as planes tried to find gates. some managed to make it out faced other problems. this american airlines flight from jfk to cancun, forced to make an emergency landing in the

>> linsey, you were telling us some signs of life at laguardia but other airportser main closed? >> reporter: things are starting to get back to normal but more than 200 flights were canceled. let's talk about charleston, south carolina, that airport remains closed. they got about 5 inches of snow but not equipped to handle it. the faa says they might not reopen until monday night. >> let's get to ginger zee tonight. this cold we can't underscore how dangerous it is. >> places like new york and massachusetts it's going to be ten minutes of exposure and you get frostbite tonight and tomorrow morning. that's how close the windchill warnings are. from south carolina to augusta, maine and as far as south as daton

datone, beach. new york city 27 below. turn it around in the afternoon you say it's got to get better. not that much better. not a day you want to be exposed. here's the last thing, actual air temperatures sunday morning, if philadelphia drops below zero it's the first time since 1944. >> thanks. on to other news this friday night. new fallout open the book about the white house. the publisher rushed it to bookstores today. steve bannon turning on the president and his family. president trump is tweeting about bannon nicknaming him sloppy steve. the president is going after the author and the author saying he spoke to multiple members of the president's inner circle. he says they told him the president is like a child, does not read or listen. here's cecelia vega tonight. >> reporter: president trump headed to camp david for the weekend. as for questions, he wasn't having it. >> we're

again. thank you very much. >> reporter: the new book taking his white house and it seems all of washington by storm. at bookstores, long lines, within hours empty shelves. the president now lashing out at author michael wolff and former chief strategist chief bannon, a key voice quoted disparaging the president and his faemg. the president tweeting the book is full of lies and sources that don't exist. look at this guy's past and watch what happens to him and sloppy steve. wolff stands by every word and tells nbc news the president's inner circle thinks he is unfit for office. >> they all say he is like a child and what they mean is that he has a need for immediate gratification. it's all about him. they say he's a moron, an idiot. let's remember this

read, does not listen. >> reporter: wolff paints a portrait of a mentally unstable man saying he repeats the same stories every three minutes and recently at mar-a-lago failed to recognize life-long friends. >> i will quote steve bannon. he's lost it. >> reporter: these incidents not confirmed by abc news. but the white house now forced to answer questions about the president's mental stability. >> it's disgraceful and laughable. if he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there. this is an incredibly strong and good leader. >> reporter: their strategy, to disparage wolff as someone who had limited sources and limited access. the president tweeting today i never spoke to him for book, but wolff says whether or not the president realized it was for the book, they did spend about three hours together during the campaign and in the white house. >> let's get to cecelia vega

president trump was hoping to start the new year boosted by victory on the tax cuts but this book is dominating the white house's agenda. >> reporter: there is definitely a sense of outrage and frustration about that. but this is a west wing used to dealing with crisis. as one firm said people expect us to be running around with our hair on fire but hard to do that when it's already been burned off. >> cecilia, thank you. next to new reporting on the russia investigation. several reports claiming that president trump directed his white house council to tell attorney general jeff sessions not to recuse himself in the russia investigation and claiming robert mueller has received handwritten notes from reince priebus that do shed light on the president's firing of former fbi director james comey. here's abc's pierre thomas tonight. >> reporter: new questions about whether president trump was attempting to obstruct

into russian meddling. "the new york times" reporting the president ordered why is counsel to personally pressure attorney general sessions not to recuse himself from the russia probe but sessions did it anyway. infuriating the president. >> if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and i would have picked somebody else. >> reporter: times also reporting new details of the president's alleged attempt to convince james comey to publicly proclaim trump himself was not under scrutiny. >> he asked to get it out that i the president am not personally under investigation. >> reporter: times claims reince priebus kept notes of conversations where the president told him he made that request of comey. special counsel bob mueller has these notes. according to the times as the president's frustration with comey mounted, the aide

general sessions approached a capitol hill staffer looking for dirt on the fbi director. tonight the attorney general spokeswoman tells abc news this did not happen and would not happen. >> pierre thomas live from washington. there's also news tonight that the justice department is now renewing its investigation into the clinton foundation and whether or not donations were made in exchange for political favors when hillary clinton was secretary of state. your sources are confirming that? >> reporter: our sources tell us the investigation began during the obama administration but republicans have been calling for it for months and the president had been urging the just does department to investigate hillary clinton and we have a response from hillary clinton's spokesman and it is pl blistering. he said let's call it what it is, a sham. republicans have tried to turn into a political football.

disgraceful and should be concerning to all americans. the goal is to distract the special -- from the special counsel's investigation and accusations from treason from trump's own people. >> a fire at the home of a woman accused roy moore of sexual assault. and late today authorities revealing they are speaking to a person of interest. abc's steve osunsami tonight. >> reporter: fire investigators in alabama tonight believe that this was no accident. that someone purposefully burned down the home that belongs to tina johnson, one of the women accusing republican senate nominee roy moore of sexual assault. but they tell us tonight they don't believe this was any sort of pay-back, and not connected to roy moore or any of his followers. johnson claimed moore crossed the line when she was 28 and meeting with moore in his law office. that he couldn't keep his hands to himself. >> "he just grabbed me from behind on my buttock and just squeezed it really hard and i remember thinking i'm so ashamed.

i felt humiliated in that moment. it took everything out of me." >> reporter: the house burned down tuesday and neighbors report seeing a drunk man walking around the home before the fire. in a statement tonight, investigators say they're speaking to a person of interest. but say "the ongoing investigation does not lead us to believe that the fire is in any way related to roy moore or allegations made against him." no one was home at the time and no one was hurt in the fire. neighbors say they know the man seen around the house and say he has long been a problem. david. u.s. employers adding 148,000 jobs last month. it is the 87th straight month of job gains. the unemployment rate remaining at 4.1% and as per wages, average hourly earnings grew by 9 cents to $26.63 an hour. still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this

nightclub terror attack. the gunman's wife and what she has revealed. the health scare for alex trebek. will he be off the air? the cdc next week will tell the public how to survive a nuclear attack. if you own a iphone, mac, pc, what authorities say you need to do immediately. a lot more news ahead tonight.

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by a fall i endured about two months ago. >> reporter: trebek suffering complications checked into a hospital for brain surgery. subdural hem tomato mas are pools of blood on the brain. they can go unnoticed. trebek has been hosting "jeopardy" for 33 years. >> i expect to be back in the studio taping more "jeopardy programs very, very soon. >> he could start taping as early as this month. now the symptoms of a subdural hematoma range from dizziness or a light headache to the severe like seizures. david. >> great to hear from alex trebek. we wish him well. when we come back, the headline from the cdc, they will tell the public early next week how to best survive a nuclear attack. as i mentioned, anyone who has an iphone, smartphone

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to the "index" of other news. the pulse nightclub terror attack, omar mateen killing 49 people inside the club in june 2016. usa today reported released records show his wife allegedly admitting to the fbi she knew the attack was going to happen and saw him preparing for months. she previously said she did not know. the headline from the cdc said it will meet january 16th to come up with ways to help americans prepare for the possibility of a nuclear war including a presentation they're calling preparing for the unthinkable. the cdc calling a nuclear detonation quote, unlikely amid rising nuclear tensions with north korea. the massive security flaw affecting billions of devices. two computer bugs have been found in

that could allow hackers to steal information. apple, google and other major companies releasing software fixes. they say you should update your apps immediately. when we come back, amid the frigid temperatures and the deadly storm this week we thought it was important to name several people our persons of the week. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis

t a medication, this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further irreversible damage. this is humira helping me reach for more. humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. humira works for many adults. it targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com. this is humira at work. get ready for centrum micro-workouts. the bottle curl.

the twist n' turn. the stretch n' grab. the gummy squish. centrum micronutrients fuel your body from the inside out. grab a centrum and join in. repeat daily. well, it'sonce again.eason >>yeah. lot of tech companies are reporting today. and, how's it looking? >>i don't know. there's so many opinions out there, it's hard to make sense of it all. well, victor, do you have something for him? >>check this out. td ameritrade aggregates thousands of earnings estimates into a single data point. that way you can keep your eyes on the big picture. >>huh. feel better? >>much better. yeah, me too. wow, you really did a number on this thing. >>sorry about that. that's alright. i got a box of 'em. thousands of opinions. e estimate. the earnings tool from td ameritrade. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how.

with this frigid cold it wasn't difficult choosing our persons of the week. >> reporter: tonight the heroes braving the deadly storm and the

fireman bobby lehman in nehant, massachusetts battling a fire in nearly zero degrees, his helmet, encased in ice. many marshfield, massachusetts the town's police and firefighters working alongside the national guard to rescue residents stranded by rising floodwaters, the doors, covered in ice. six people rescued in just one hour. in boston firemen throughout the city, wading through that freezing water to rescue those who were trapped by the floods that came out of nowhere. in boston people giving the city bus a push. they knew it was a job well done. and then there were those who have to work in this. the mail carriers and the motto, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor classroom of night. even pizza delivery men. listen to this man impressed looking out his window. >> pizza delivery guy, man, making the run. it's impressive. >> it sure is. in norfolk, virginia after ten inches of snow,

work tonight del

♪ wheel... of... fortune! ladies and gentlemen, here are the stars of america's game -- pat sajak and vanna white! that'd be us. thank you. thank you, jim. thank you, folks. hi, everybody. here we are. i found it. [ laughs ] it's getting harder to find it all the time. how y'all doing? okay. there they are frantically groping for those devices as we get with our first "toss up." it's a "landmark." it's worth $1,000.