Pete williams has a reality check. Police say an infamous cold case mystery is solved. The murder of an 11yearold girl 45 years ago. How Authorities Say her killer was finally found. A dramatic rescue caught on camera. A skier falling 200 feet. One ski sticking out under a foot of snow. Tonight the frantic race to pull him out alive. This is nbc nightly news with lester holt. Good evening, and welcome to our viewers in the west. Breaking as we come on the air tonight, a u. S. Coast guard officer and selfproclaimed White Nationalist is charged tonight with plotting a massive domestic terror attack. Compiling a lengthy list of targets including prominent politicians and journalists from nancy pelosi and cory booker to chris hayes. Prosecutors releasing this photo of a weapons cache they say wa discovered in the suspects maryland home. According to investigators, the man dreamed of killing almost every last person on earth, and had hoped to use violence to create a white homeland. Lets go to nbcs Gabe Gutierrez with the chilling details. Reporter Christopher Paul hasson had worked at u. S. Coast guard headquarters in washington since 2016. But a newly released Court Documents prosecutors say the lieutenant was a selfidentified White Nationalist who called for focused violence and dreamed of ways to kill almost every last person on earth. Hes charged with illegal weapons and drug charges but prosecutors say thats the proverbial tip of the iceberg, the defendant is a domestic terrorist. The Court Documents dont reveal any actual attack plans but the government says hed been stockpiling weapons at his maryland home since at least 2017. 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Prosecutors say shed drawn up a spread sheet of targets that included politicians like House Speaker nancy pelosi, Senate Minority leader chuck schumer, and media figures like Msnbcs Joe Scarborough and cnns chris cuomo. And his internet searches included most liberal senators, where do senators live in d. C. And are Supreme Court justices protected . Court documents allege he was assessed with White Nationalist and neonazi views writing, guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world, and he was stockpiling steroids in order to increase his ability to conduct attacks. Investigators worried about the combination, the hate, the guns, and his longstanding drug abuse. I think were pretty lucky. It looked like a crescendo of events if you look at the behavior from the court filings, he kind of grew stockpiling, more focused on the targets, trying to gather targets. Reporter prosecutors are arguing he should stay in jail while he awaits trial. Gabe gutierrez, nbc news. Latebreaking developments from chicago tonight in the Jussie Smollett case as the actor officially goes from victim to suspect in the alleged assault against him. Lets get the latest from National Correspondent miguel almaguer. Reporter tonight Jussie Smollett is officially a suspect. The states Attorney Says the actor filed a false report and be is charged with a felony. The bombshell comes after he claimed to be a victim of a hate crime. Law enforcement officials tell nbc News Chicago Police have issued roughly a dozen search warrants, scouring financial and phone records, looking to link smollett to the men he claimed attacked him. They called me a [ bleep ]. They called me [ bleep ]. Theres no which way you cut it. Reporter police say ola and Abel Osundario told officers smollett hired them to stage the assault. This Surveillance Video shows both men buying a red hat and ski masks they say smollett told them to get. Today the brothers testified before a grand jury for 2 1 2 hours. The fbi is also looking into smolletts claims he received this death threat by mail. If he lied, the actor could face federal charges. Local media report smollett cooked up the schemes for attention. Tonight detectivesave presented evidence before a grand jury. Theres lying to the police, filing a false police report, fraud by mail, terroristic threats by mail. All these things are up in the air. Reporter for weeks a dozen officers have been working carefully around the clock to piece together their case. Investigators now rewriting the actors story saying smolletts lies are now exposed. Reporter tonight chicago pd say theyre working with smolletts attorneys. Miguel almaguer in chicago, theres more breaking news. A major winter storm making for a dangerous commute home tonight for a lot of folks. 130 Million People impacted in every state east of the nbcs Garrett Haake has more on this travel nightmare. Reporter heavy snow, driving sleet, torrential rain. Even thundersnow. Oh, yes reporter all wreaking havoc on commutes across the country. From the great plains to pennsylvania, icy roads proving too much for even experienced drivers. In nebraska, a pileup of nine semi trucks closed interstate 80 for hours. In iowa, a train collided with a snowplow with one man sent to the hospital. And in pennsylvania, a city bus slammed into a building, and a salt truck slid off the road into someones front yard. We heard a big boom. And paul goes, oh, god, theres a truck coming hes tipped over in our yard it was very scary. Reporter in minnesota the storm broke a record, delivering the snowiest february ever in the twin cities. In the southeast, warmer temperatures meantn of it. Several inches falling in hours, washing out roads. Even among those waranstm broug. Airlines racking up thousands of cancelations and delays thanks to icy runways and planes. Compounding the misery, Southwest Airlines had already canceled hundreds of flights this week amid ongoing maintenance problems. Across the country, americans going nowhere fast. Waiting for the storm to pass and the digout to begin. The airlines canceled more than 200 flights from d. C. s Reagan National airport today, although things are picking up again here now as that storm moves north soaking the rest of the east coast. Lester . All right, garrett, lets talk about that movement. It is still on the move. Not over yet. Dylan dreyer has the latest forecast for us. Dylan, what can we expect . Good evening, lester. Its still snowing here in new york, same goes for the midwest. In washington, d. C. And the midatlantic weve changed over to rain now. The snow will begin in boston shortly, and then it will last through the night before changing over to a wintry mix and eventually rain by tomorrow morning. The only area it will stay snow is up across central and northern new england. That will even wind down as we go into thursday morning. So any additional snowfall is minimal at this point except across new england, about 4 to 6 inches possible. And areas hit hard by the rain with this storm already bracing for the next storm by the end of the week. We could see an additional 3 to 4 inches of rain, and that could lead to more flooding. Lester . All right, dylan, thank you. President trump says tonight its up to the new attorney general to decide how much of Robert Muellers report is made public. Those comments come as all sides point to mueller finishing his work very soon, but as our Pete Williams reports, whatever report we see might not be nearly as long as you think. Reporter rare words of praise tonight from President Trump for the new man in charge of the justice department, saying the decision of what to make public from Robert Muellers report will be up to attorney general william barr. Hes a tremendous man, a tremendous person who really respects this country and respects the justice department. So that will be totally up to him. Reporter several government Officials Say muellers work is nearly done and hell likely present his report to barr in the next week or so. Federal rules say that report is confidential. They say nothing about sending it to congress or making it public. At his confirmation hearing, barr said hes committed to releasing as much as possible, but he suggested it could be his summary, not muellers document. The special counsels report is confidential. The report that goes public would be a report by the attorney general. Reporter but members of Congress Demanded more, including some republicans. The only way i know for the taxpayers to hold anybody that spends the taxpayers money responsibly is through transparency. Because that brings accountability. Reporter even so, its clear it wont be Something Like the starr report, publicly released in 1998 on the clinton scandal. But many legal experts say just because mueller is about done, the investigating doesnt stop. Pieces of this investigation will continue in federal prosecutors offices around the t starr material in manhattan. Sent to congress weighed 11 pounds and ran to three volumes. Public expectation for the Mueller Report is high, but hes working under entirely different rules and his report will be nothing like this. Lester . All right, Pete Williams putting it in perspective for us, thanks. Meantime tonight, the president s former lawyer is getting extra time to report to prison. A judge approved Michael Cohens request for more time to recover from shoulder surgery and get prepared to testify before congress. Cohen heads to prison on may 6th. Theres a new escalation this evening in the war of words between the u. S. And russia over missiles as Vladimir Putin issued a stunning new threat. Lets get more from chief Foreign Affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. Reporter today Vladimir Putin threatening to point new hypersonic missiles at the u. S. A weapon that can evade u. S. Missile defense and fly at nine times the speed of sound, if the United States deploys new missiles in europe. Tonight russian tv showing off another new weapon, a submarine that can launch a nuclearpowered underwater drone. The kremlins toughest saberrattling since the u. S. Withdrew from an arms control treaty, blaming russian cheating. One side has not adhered to it. We have, but one side hasnt. Unless theyre going to adhere, we shouldnt be the only one. Reporter critics say trump has given putin a huge propaganda advantage. I think putin is trying to stop the United States from deploying new missiles now that we have pulled out of the inf treaty. Hes trying to make it costly for us, and especially hes trying to exacerbate a rift between the United States and our european allies. Reporter the pentagon is also developing new hypersonic missiles. But the u. S. Version will not be ready for another few years, and critics are warning this could be the start of a new expensive and dangerous arms race. Lester . All right, andrea, thank you. New developments in a story weve been following. President trump said today he directed secretary of state mike pompeo not to allow a woman who fled alabama to become an isis bride back into the u. S. Hoda muthana pleaded to return four years after going to syria. Today pompeo said muthana is not a u. S. Citizen. Her family, though, says she was born in new jersey. At the vatican survivors of members demanded to meet pope francis on the eve of his unprecedented summit to address the scandal s nbcs Anne Thompson is at the vatican for us tonight. Its been 30 years of this. Reporter milwaukees peter eisley flew all the way to rome to join other abuse survivors in delivering an ultimatum. Time is up, you know . Its like, its time to do something. Reporter the Catholic Church facing a cascade of damning revelations of sexual abuse by priests. Just this week the vatican acknowledging secret guidelines for priests who father children, urging them to leave the priest hood. Zero tolerance reporter survivors not allowed inside tomorrows summit on sex abuse, making their case outside. We have secret archive files in this institution, release them. Reporter the latest statics show more than 6,800 priests have been credibly accused of sexual abuse in the u. S. Since the 1950s. The number of victims, 19,000. We need to act. Reporter Cardinal Daniel dinardo is president of the u. S. Bishops, under fire himself for how hes handled abusive priests. Why the world should anyone believe that those who are suspected of being part of the problem can solve this problem . I think one reason is, first of all, the pope has called us together and has put the line out about what we are to do. Reporter at stake here, the churchs very credibility, and the faith of the worlds 1. 2 billion catholics. Lester . Anne thompson at the vatican, thank you. A School Bus Driver in new jersey is under arrest after crashing into a tree with 12 special needs students on board her bus. Police using narcan to revive her. Police say 57yearold lisa bird was unresponsive when paramedics hildved. Paraphernalia, and driving while impaired. The students are all okay. Now to tax return surprises weve been telling you about, tax day now just under two months away. Experts are advising everyone to do their taxes as early as possible so you have time to prepare if you unexpectedly owe money or your refund is less than expected. Heres tom costello with the price you pay. Reporter in portland, oregon, andy craft and amy elias are still recovering from a refund whiplash. I just assumed he made a mistake. I assumed i did as well. Reporter a cpa confirmed their turbo tax results were no mistake. After averaging refunds of several hundred dollars in years past this year they owe 10,000. What happened . Amy got promoted last year, andy got a new job, they paid a lower tax rate, but they never adjusted their paycheck withholdings. Makes me sick to my stomach when i consider all the other things that money could have gone towards. 90 of middleclass americans had less tax money withheld from their paychecks in 2018, saving an average of 48 every two weeks. The average refund is 186 lower. For families that dont want to owe money next year or want a bigger refund and treat withholdings as a shortterm piggy bank, with holding more or less tax money from your paycheck is easy. Ask your employer for a new w4, then add or subtract your total allowances on line 5. Or an additional dollar amount you want withheld here on line 6. Thats it. If youre relying on that refund, then you need to look at your situation early in the year. You cant wait till the last paycheck in december and try and figure it out. Reporter the irs withholding calculator can help make 2020 less painful than 2019. Tom costello, nbc news, washington. Some other news hitting home tonight involving googles nest secure Home Security system. Turns out it has a hidden microphone which can be used to access other google devices, but google never told anyone about it. The Company TellsBusiness Insider the mike was never intended to be a secret and should have been disclosed. Just ahead, the innovative way police cracked the cold case of a young girls murder nearly 50 years later. Then heartstopping video. A skier dragged 200 feet down a mountain by an avalanche. [ soft piano music playing ] mm, uh, what do you do for fun . Not this. Oh, what am i into . Mostly progressives name your price tool. Helps people find Coverage Options based on their budget. Flo has it, i want it, its a whole thing, and shes right there. Yeah, shes my ride. 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The only fast, powerful heartburn relief, plus melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. Oh, what a relief it is finally in the cold case of next tonight, an arrest finally in the cold case of an next tonight, an arrest finally in the cold case of an 11yearold girl murdered back in 1973. As kristen dalgren reports, California Police relied on dna and an innovative use of social media. Reporter after decades spent searching for a little girls killer were here to announce the arrest of James Alan NealReporter Police say theyve tied a 72yearold man living in colora tth1973 murder of 11yearold linda okeefe, a crime that has haunted her newport beach, california, community for more than 45 years. She was 11 years old when she was killed, and i was 12 years old. Reporter last july police trying to renew interest in the cold case tweeting lindas final hours in vivid detail, in her voice. Hi, im linda okeefe. My killer was never found. She left School Wearing the blue and white dress and bag her mother made her and was found dead the next morning, strangled in a ditch. Last month police say a hit on a genealogy dna site gave them the clue they needed. Neal charged with murder, kidnapping, and a lewd and lascivious act on a child. Nbc news was not able to locate an attorney for neal, who if convicted faces life without the possibility of parole, the Death Penalty also being considered. Lindas parents never lived to see this guy day but her sister talked to nbc last august. In my heart i had to forgive the individual, because i couldnt carry that burden. Reporter a family perhaps now able to find closure as police Say Technology helped them finally find a killer. Kristen dalgren, nbc news. After a short break, a dramatic rescue after a terrifying avalanche. He. I can do more to lower my a1c. Because my body can still make its own insulin. Rulicity once a week to activate my body to release it, like its supposed to. 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This gentlemans alive simply because he had the right rescue gear, and he had his partners in the back country ready to come in for that rescue and get to his airway. Reporter the incident now part of a concerning trend. Nationwide, more than 1,000 avalanches in january alone. So far this season 15 people have died. Im here reporter and now a frightening reminder of how dangerous the slopes can be. Steve patterson, nbc news. Absolutely terrifying. Up next, well turn from snow dangers to snow delights. Who needs skis when you can have one of these . I never count the wrinkles. And i dont add up the years. But what i do count on, is staying happy and healthy. So, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. Boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. All with guaranteed great taste. The upside im just getting started. Boost® high protein be up for life. 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Reporter all you need is a normal shovel with a lot of wax. You need a little special sauce just to get you out of the gate a little faster. Reporter this is one of last years champions, jackson. His strategy . Oh, into the wall reporter dont crash. Im scared if i hit the walls. Reporter every year there are some spectacular wipeouts. Oh my god, that was brutal reporter a tradition dating back to the 70s and chair lift operators having a little fun after work. We call it the poor mans luge. Reporter shovelmeister john straiter has been racing since 1981. Im really just trying to pass the torch to the new generation, because its just so fun. Reporter at the bottom a 500 grand prize and bragging rights. Until the next batch of champions shovel off at full speed. Gadi schwartz, nbc news. Apparently they get up to speeds of about 70 miles an hour, amazing. Thats nbc nightly news for this wednesday. Im lester holt. For all of us at nbc news, thanks for watching and good night. His personal real estate rite now at 6 00. San jose mayor on the defensive. Hi personal real estate deal that has him under the mike scope. The body cam video that shows what made her do it. A College Student indicted by the feds. Hightech way hes accused of selling drugs on campus. Through an app. The news at 6 00 starts now. Good evening. Thanks for being with us. Its the dark side of the technology. A local Cyber Security expert is telling us. This College Student from the south bay was running a drug business through an iphone app. A sign of the times here. Now the game is no longer available in apple app store. This is what is looked like. A simple game to kill some time allege dl hiding a very dangerous and potentially 18 yearold colin howard. Studied Computer Science for less than a month. Tonight the College Freshman is facing felony drug charges accused of hiding a drug business in an app. He created called banana plug. Its a game. San Jose State University sish security expert explains that it was a free game. Available in oople i tunes that had a button called special request. Where the user could