the morning on world ani"w now," presidential profanity. >> and what the late night comics had to say about this. and a powerful winter storm is on the move bringing with it heavy snow and freezing rain. it's going to be a dangerous day for millions caught in its path. yes, alabama won the big game, but we're now hearing about an alabama coach's playbook being stolen ahead of the national title. what georgia fans are saying about this.

remember that rule, two hands on the wheel? this guy forgot. we'll see how it ends on this friday, january 12th. from abc news. this is "world news now." that's video of me testing my latest vehicle. >> kendis having some donuts. >> it's friday, yay! all right, so the country of norway has been trending. >> yeah. >> trending overnight, thanks to that racially-charged comment by president trump. >> we'll get to all the reaction from that comment in a little bit, but to get you caught up, here's what happened. the president was in a meeting about immigration deal that would include protections for haitians and africans. >> he said why are we having all these people from the expletive countries come here.

should bring in more people from countries like norway. >> those comments are similar to ones he made in. the oval office where he said nigerians should go back to their huts. officials are not denying that he made the comments about haiti and av catch. a -- africa. >> president trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation. so the president has called, the president of haiti has called in the top u.s. diplomat there for a talk there. and there is a lot of reaction coming in. republican senator mia love, who calls the comments elitist and divisive and talked about her immigrant parents saying this. they worked hard, paid taxes and rose from nothing to take care

their children. the president must apologize. and here's thing about her. she's a republican in utah. and her parents, i believe, are of haitian descent. so it's not just any republican speaking out. it's one of note there. >> and perhaps not surprisingly, many democrats just piling on. this one from california lieutenant governor tweeting you are a joke, resign. not too many words there, but pretty powerful. >> the narrative coming from many republicans overnight is if the comments are true, it would be a disappointing thing. they're caveating if it's true. but so far the white house isn't necessarily saying -- that it's not true. >> exactly. >> there is one thing on his agenda where he's signing a proclamation for mlk day. isn't it

the senate will vote next week on a bill. >> it has been approved by the house but only after it was thrown into temporary disarray caused by two presidential tweets. cecelia vega has the details. >> reporter: a morning of confusion began with this comment on one of president trump's favorite morning shows, a direct message to the president, about that program congress was set to reauthorize. >> i don't understand why president trump is in favor of this. his woes began with unlawful foreign surveillance and unconstitutional surveillance of him. mr. president, this is not the way to go. >> reporter: minutes later, the president took to twitter using the exact lapping wnguage used and friends." he says this is the act that could have been used to surveil the current administration and others.

his own policy. the program allows government to conduct warrantless surveillance on suspected terrorists overseas. a flurry of calls between the president and law makes. paul ryan spent half an hour often the phone wi-- on the pho. he seemed to backtrack. today's vote is about foreign surveillance. we need it. get smart. ultimately, the house did vote to reauthorize the law. >> did you not understand what bill you were voting on today? >> he has concerns about other parts of fisa. i think everybody knows that, too. >> reporter: and the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee went on the attack, saying the president endangered national security and that quote, fisa is something the president should have known about long before he turned on fox this morning. >> many

that first tweet that he doesn't know how fisa works and that's not familiar with the policy. does he know the policy? >> he does, which is why he issued a presidential memo last week expressing kearns, and he has a full understanding. >> reporter: the president in a new interview saying quote, i probably have a very good relationship with kim jong un. the president did refuse to say whether or not he has actually salt down wi sat down with the north korean dictator saying i am not saying i have or haven't. it would be hard to imagine these two men be being friendly givenen the fa given the fact that he has called him a depraved, twisted madman. later, the president will go to walter reed to be physically examined by a team of

doctors. he will not undergo a formal mental health assessment. there will be a readout after trump's exam, but the level of detail that will be provided is unclear. when he was asked about the exam, mr. trump says he thinks it will go very well and he'd be very surprised if it doesn't. there is hope but not much time as rescue crews try to find more of the missing in the mudslides. it has left 17 people dead, ranging in age from 3 to 89 years old. more than 40 others are still missing. meantime, we're seeing new images of the disaster. here's matt gutman. >> reporter: as rescuers and canines troubled throu canines trudged through the sludge, time is running out. >> you see this area with this home and pool, as we fade back to what's left,

nothing. >> reporter: those few images of the harrowing first moments. >> oh, my god, mom! >> reporter: marco farrow recording that wall of water, and you can hear it, panicked and panting as he scrambles to alert his family. >> wake dad up. we have a torrent of mud going through the house. >> reporter: 17 people killed. teams working through endless mud to find the missing. would you say it's possible someone could be alive sneer. >> -- here? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: that's what robert riskin had hoped. her death has been confirmed. and now they turn to the grim task of salvaging keepsakes from a home full of mud and rocks and death. >> i hope that she knows that i was giving everything i could to

>> reporter: santa barbara county officials only issued their emergency alert 20 minutes after the mudslides began. many did not heed the voluntary evacuation warnings. given the freak nature of the downpour, it might not have mattered anyway. >> they should have said anyone in the floodplain should get the hell out. >> reporter: what you're seeing behind me is basically ground zero. one of them came steam rolling through that, severing a gas main down below. that ignited those two houses, setting them on fire, all of that debris swept downstream. the terrain here remains so treacherous that we're told 25% of the debris field still has to be searched. matt gutman, abc news, montecito, california. >> that explains why so many people are still missing at this point. the storm that caused that system and moved east, 120 million americans are in the path of a

>> the system has brought snow and freezing temperatures to kansas. >> we're looking at heavy rain coming through the northeast on friday, followed quickly by ice and snow. the icy stuff will be more of an issue for folks in the interior northeast, but heavy rain leads to flooding across the i-95 corridor friday into saturday. that clears out quickly on sunday, but look what happens, the temperature is going to drop as arctic air plunges its way southward. we're going from 60s to 20s in some spots. facebook's changing its news feed to encourage more meaningful interactions between family and friends. they want to cut back on posts that users can passively read or watch. users will see less public content. they have faced growing

>> a meaningful conversation between family and friends seems to work out great on thanksgiving. why not do it on facebook. it appears alabama overcame more than just a 13 point deficit. >> two days before monday night's game against georgia, the crimson tide's defensive line coach left a backpack in the lobby, and one of the things in the backpack, the playbook. >> they have images of the thief. he also lost his ipad and wallet and sunglasses. >> forget about your sunglasses. we care about the playbook. what the late night comics had to say about president trump's comments. and how will

>> ooh. >> we'll tell you coming up. remember you can find us on facebook, wnnfans.com and twitter @abc wnn. you're watching "world news now."

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you're looking at dash cam video on a car on i-95. watch carefully as that silver car in the center lane nearly collides with the white car, spins out. but the driver makes the recovery there without a scratch on the car or any other vehicle. people have been wondering what dale earnhardt junior is doing now tra hehat he's in retiremen. >> he's in west palm. >> west palm. >> do you think that's incredible driving or just good luck. >> just good luck. a woman driving on the way to the store when a semi truck fell from the sky literally onto her car. >> that white car under the wreckage of a tractor-trailer that flipped off an overpass onto the road below. how terrifying. the truck jackknifed after a suv ran into it. unbelievably, the woman inside that car managed to crawl out without any life threatening

stuart, florida. a woman grabs items from a case and the woman appears to distract a store employee and a man grabs jewelry. they also appear to be accompanied by an a little girl. you can see her there. no word yet on how much jewelry they may have stolen from the store. police are asking for help to locate the suspects. yeawe're going to go to an arisch blessin arisch -- irish blessing. may the wind always be at your back. >> he plans to run the race backwards. he says people who watch him think it's a little unusual. >> the number one thing i hear is you're going the wrong way. the majority of the records have to do with different costumes. so, and i was thki

marathon dressed as a frog. >> so there you have it. he checked the guinness book of world records and wanted to try something he thought he could do. he says the current record for running backwards is slower than his best mark running forward, so it seemed like a good plan. >> i love that he doesn't want to run dressed as a frog. that would be ridiculous. that would be ridiculous. you're running backwards, that's totally rational. that's hard. the calves. coming up in the next hour, the new developments in a sex scandal surrounding a governor, a rising republican star. plus a criminal investigation that's just been launched. and america's late night comedians weigh in on the latest comments from the commander in chief. i'm never gonna be able to sle

cold. i'll take a sick day tomorrow. on our daughter's birthday? moms don't take sick days... moms take nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine.

live look at times square and president trump al's incendy

talking, just a little bit, especially when he goes on twitter. not surprisingly, the late-night comics had plenty to say. >> president trump reportedly asked lawmakers, quote, why are we having all these people from [ bleep ] hole countries come here. this brings us a new segment entitled "seth has to walk away for a minute." >> today he returned to the same unstable reactionary president we've all come to know and know. >> guys, i don't know how to break this to you, but i think the president might be racist. no, wait, wait, hear me out. i know i sound crazy, i know i sound crazy. you know personally as someone from south [ bleep ] i'm

>> the only silver lining, and this is a small silver lining, we got to hear wolf blitzer say this all day. >> s-hole, s-hole, s-hole, s-hole, s-hole. >> you know what put it over the line for me is norway. yeah, when he said where he wanted immigrants to come from. he didn't just name a white country, he named the whitest country. yeah. he didn't even go with a more subtle country that might leave it up in the air. we need to let in more people from portugal. hmm, what does that mean? no, he goes for norway, people who are super white, so white they wear moon screen, that's how white they are. >> sir, they're not [ bleep ] hole countries. for one, donald trump isn't their president. >> ah. man. >> i think my favorite was the

>> the wolf blitzer. funny thing, that was not from yesterday. that was typical wolf blitzer from two weeks ago. man, they had a lot of fun with it. coming up, in the meantime in russia, a man takes a tent for a joyride. >> the mix is next.

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♪ the mix now, and we're going to start with an interesting story out of russia. yeah, a man steals a tank. >> it's friday. >> it's friday. why not. so this is near the arctic circle. so why not? apparently, he got drunk and stole the tank, drove it through some woods, smashed into some neighboring cars and then drove it into a store, got out of the tank and then grabbed a bottle of wine and then got back in it. >> he just needed a little drink. >> wow.

you need to go to the liquor store? >> no. and only at the arctic circle. that's insane. he was later arrested in possession of that stolen bottle of wine, as well. well, from the arctic circle to somewhere closer to home. big spring, texas. if you thought nothing was happening in texas, well, it's a tumbleweed migration. >> wow. >> look at that. >> are they going south for the winter? >> we may never know. apparently, it's somewhat common. tumbleweeds used wind to spread their seed, but this is incredible to look at. kind of hypnotic. >> so is the polka. that's hip not particular. hey, news got you down? come on, let's polka. ♪ ♪ politics and foreign wars ♪ all the weather, all the

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this m this morning on "world news now," oh, he said what? double takes and raised eyebrows around the world this morn after what president trump said about african countries and haiti, which is already taking action. the deadly flu outbreak. nearly every state is grappling with the severe flu season. the latest victim, a mother of two. some schools canceling classes, one state declaring a state of emergency. and new this half hour, the new developments in a sex scandal swirling around a governor. >> what the rising