Who loses . Meryls message after shes slammed over the Harvey Weinstein scandal. What shes staying about mcgowans claims. She knew about weinsteins behavior and did nothing. Plus, was a rat responsible for the massive blackout at the Atlanta Airport . Jesus was ler. Rare access to some of jerusalems holiest sites as the world gets ready to celebrate his birth. And the little boy who called 911 because he thought the grinch was stealing his christmas. A story that will make your heart grow three sizes today, tuesday, december 19th, 2017. From nbc news, this is today live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Thats a pretty shot of tuesday morning. Were getting close to christmas. Boy, what a scene outside seattle. That train that derailed. Its just horrific. Could have been even worse. Yeah. Its hard to believe that was the first time it had been on the tracks there, and that happened on day one. Its our top story. Of course, this new information we have this morning on the Train Derailment in washington state. We know it was going 80 miles an hour in a 30mileanhour zone. Nbcs dotty schwartz has the latest from the scene. Good morning to you. Good morning, savannah. Incredible to think that the 85 people that were on board this train when it flew off the track not just flew off the tracks, but flew off this bridge. Part of the train hitting i5 below. Three people were killed. We understand that dozens were injured. Many more taken to the hospital, and several of them are in serious condition. All of this as ntsb investigators have found that black box that has told them that this train was traveling at 80 miles an hour when it should have been going 30. That train has derailed over the freeway. This morning new questions as to what caused the catastrophic crash of amtrak train 501. Oh, my god. Overnight ntsb investigators found one of the data recorders from the rear of the train. The black box shows the train was traveling at 80 miles an hour in a 30mileanhour zone as it approached the curve before it flew off the rails. Our mission is to not just understand what happened, but why it happened and to recommend changes so that we can prevent another tragedy from happening again. Amtrak 501. Emergency. Emergency. Emergency. We are on the ground. Amtrak 501 which runs from seattle to portland left its first stop at 6 00 a. M. It was nearly halfway through its trip passing through Populated Areas when it derailed at an overpass just south of dupont at 7 33 a. M. Everything was fine, and suddenly, you know, just out of the clear blue there was no warning of any kind. The next thing i know, part of my body was underneath the car on the gravel. Some cars crashing down on to busy interstate 5 at rush hour hitting a semi and other vehicles. This was an extraordinary event, and i have never seen this many injured people all at once. The priority now for investigators . Question the crew about the tracks condition and any possible obstructions and take a closer look at the black boxes that can reveal if the engineer ever hit the brakes. The train was riding on newly upgraded tracks. Part of a 180 million amtrak project designed to provide Faster Service for commuters. This stretch of track had not been equipped with positive train control. A congressionally mandated hightech Safety System to keep trains from crashing. In 2013 local mayor don anderson sued to halt the project over safety concerns, issuing this warning just two weeks ago. Come back when there is an accident and try to justify not putting in those safety enhancements. Reporter now the worst fears realized as the trains maiden run turned into tragedy. Savannah, hoda, back to you. Its incredible. Thank you very much. For more on the information, lets turn now to nbcs tom costello. Tom, you have covered so many of these train crashes. Give us the priorities for investigators right now. Well going to be interviewing the engineer. That will normally happen within a few days, and investigators will want to know whether he was fully in control of that train. Why did the train fail to slow from 80 down to 30 miles an hour in the curve. Did he see the posted signs . Were the brakes working, or was he distracted in some way . Theyll be looking at his phone to see whether he was using it just before the crash. Amtrak prohibits engineers from looking at their phones while theyre actually running the train. Theyll also be taking blood and urine samples to check for any indications of drugs or alcohol use. That is standard in any investigation. And theyll be asking him about the condition of the train and the track. Did he notice anything unusual about the track on this inaugural run . Now, theyve already got the trains black boxes, as you heard, so that will give them a full readout on the speed, on the braking, how the train was performing, any mechanical issues of all. Theyre also moving fast to preserve what they call perishable evidence. Anything on the scene that could be damaged by the weather or others out there as well. They need to document every inch of the crash scene the cars, the track, the signals, all of that. Theyll be interviewing other crew members, passengers, and witnesses and looking at the trains on board cameras both outward facing and inward facing. You may recall after the philadelphia crash that killed eight and injured more than 200, amtrak moved fast to put these inward facing cameras in the locomotives so they have a good view of whats actually happening at the time of the incident. Lastly, you mentioned positive train control. Ntsb has been very, very adamant on this. Positive train control saves lives. The look at the reasons why it was not yet active on this stretch of track, which is, by the way, run by sound transit. Why was it delayed . Of course, it may be yet another example of where ptc could have made the difference. Wow. All right. Tom, a lot to unpack there. We move to politics and what could be a monumental day for the president after months of talks, changes, and debate. Lawmakers on capitol hill are set to vote on the republicans tax bill. This is the most dramatic overhaul of the tax code in decades. Nbcs casey hunt has the latest. Casey, good morning. Savannah, good morning to you. President trump at his Republican Party are expecting a tree u triumphant day here on capitol hill. The president said he wanted a tax bill before christmas, and this morning it looks like he is going to be getting what he asked for. Reporter this morning republicans are on the brink of their first major legislative victory under President Trump with the house expected to pass a sweeping rewrite of the tax code later today. The senate soon to follow. We will get it on the president s desk for him to sign into law before christmas as we pledged. Reporter republicans have the votes they need. Even without senator john mccain, who is recovering in it arizona from complications from cancer treatment. What does the 1. 5 trillion plan mean for your taxes . Most americans will receive a tax cut with lower individual rates for each income level and a doubled standard deduction. For families, a bigger child tax credit. The corporate rate slashed from 35 to 21 . The republican bill also has Major Political risks. It repeals the obama care plan date requiring people to buy health insurance, which the Congressional Budget Office projects could cause premiums to spike and the bill caps the amount of state, local, and property taxes you can deduct at 10,000. That could hit residents of high tax states hard joor the bill, in short, is a onetwo gut punch. Congress faces another critical deadline. Lawmakers must pass a spending bibi friday or risk a government shutdown. Lawmaker on both sides say that wont happen, but with House Republicans demanding a full year of higher defense spending and snats democrats insisting on higher domestic spending to match, its risky bringsmanship with less than a week until christmas. There are some on capitol hill who are increasingly nervous about just how theyre going to avoid a shutdown right before christmas. Savannah, hoda. All right. Casey, thank you very much. The question is who are the winners and who are the losers in all this . Nbcs stephanie is here to make sense of all of this. Steph, good morning to you. Good morning. Everyone says the big winner in this whole thing, you put corporations up on top. Without a doubt. I mean, this is a bet on trickle down economics so the republicans are betting if you give corporates a break, they will then hire more people, give them higher wages, build factories, but thats a big bet. By lowering corporates tax rates, theyre currently in the high 30s and now down to 21 . Thats a huge break. Wall street is getting a break because all along we heard carried interest, which is another kind of hookup. President trump said all along the trail he is going to get rid of that loophole that pads the pockets of hedge fund managers. Exactly. Where they dont have to pay the same Capital Gains tax that you do. That still going to be in there. Tax preparers, third. This thing was supposed to simplify everything. Well, those tax preparers, those Tax Accountants are still going to be working overtime because this isnt tax reform. Its a tax cut. If it was tax reform, you would be closing those loopholes and simplifying it. Without simplifying it, those loopholes still exist, and when they do, that will always benefit the rich because the rich guy in the company can afford to have someone scratch this, change that, and hook them up to pay less. If you have to do your own tacks, its harder. Then the third, i would just say, really gets hooked up, and he doesnt like to say it, is President Trump and his family and thats because theyre in the real estate business. If you are in the commercial real estate business, you get to consider that pass through business a partnership. You pay only 29 in accident thats. It is somewhat disingenuous for the president to say this is a luge taxes cut for the middle class. Not going to help me. The business that he and his soninlaw and 13 republican senators are all in, which is real estate, its a big win for them. Lets talk about the losers. Individual cuts expire in 2025. Come 2026, we hope that gets renewed, but it might not. A lot matters what state you live in. You could be making a certain income and live in one state in a certain income and live in another, and one gets hammered. You two ladies are getting hammered. As is my mom in new jersey. High tax states, high earners like new york, new jersey, california, you are out of luck because your property tax, you cannot deduct it. Your state and local income tax is capped. Thats a negative, but thats meant to subsidyize some of the lower earning states. Stephanie, its complicated. Glad to have you break it down. Its a hope trickle down works. Its a hope. Lots to get to this morning, including lingering problems for thousands of holiday travellers. The Atlanta Airport is slowly returning to normal after that big power outage that paralyzed the worlds Busiest Airport on sunday. Nbcs Kerry Sanders is there. Hi again. Good morning. Good morning. This morning the lines here are still slightly longer than normal because of that residual backup. Reporter thousands of passengers were left in a dark holiday mood. I just feel like were in the third world. I knew that the meltdowns were coming. I dont want any more delta cookies or pretzels. I was starving. I didnt eat for six hours. The worlds Busiest Airport back in business, but its not quite business as usual. Monday 559 delays and 408 cancellations. Are the problems over with . Yeah. We feel very comfortable. We know that they are. Were taking measures to be sure this doesnt happen again. The air traffic system was sparked by an electrical spark, deep underground causing a fire that burned through primary and backup power lines in atlanta. Network services probably are more reliable services. We have very rarely does it actually have a fault like this. But some have annoying feeling they know what caused it. Was this a rat just chewing through some cables . You know, i mean, i dont even want to rule that out, but thats the next step for us. To get into the root of what actually caused it. What they have not found, at least not yet, that dirty rat. Savannah. I was just saying to hoda, maybe getting some of the delta cookies and leave the wires alone. Kerry, thank you very much. In the meantime, the Winter Olympics are less than two months away, and this morning south koreas president is opening up to nbc news about what he is willing to do to ease tensions with north korea. Nbcs chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel is in seoul this morning. Richard, good morning. Morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning. They will be here before they know it. The Winter Olympics. This time, in south korea. This morning, i spoke with the south korean president. He said, the venues are all ready. And he hopes, perhaps the games could ease tension with north korea. For months, north Korean Missile tests and threats of nuclear war have spread fear across the Korean Peninsula and beyond. But this morning, while inaugurating a new bullet train that will take visitors to olympic venues this february, south koreas president said he wants the upcoming Olympic Games to reflect their ancient spirit. What message are you sending through these the pyongyang olympics the people will be able to send a message of peace to the world, he said. Even as the u. S. Government on monday accused north korea of launching the korean virus infecting 300,000 computers in 150 countries, president moon extended an open hand to the but no answer yet. Given the track record, north korea is likely to make the decision to participate in the olympics at the very last minute, he said. Ast minute, he said. North koreans are generally banned from traveling to the south when a soldier tried to defect running over the border last month. He was shot. President moon said hes willing to reduce dramatic steps to reduce tensions ahead of the olympics, even curtailing frequent military exercises with the United States which infuriate the north korean regime. It is possible for south korea, i have made such a suggestion to the u. S. And the u. S. Is currently reviewing it. However, all of this depends on how north korea behaves, he said. Reporter the south korean president said foreign visitors should not have security concerns and that he does not believe north korea will try to disrupt the games. Back to you. All right, richard. Thank you very much. Al is here with a first check of the weather including some storms that could affect holiday travel. Say it aint so. Id like to, but unfortunately, not going to. Were looking at more rain in the Pacific Northwest. This is the storm system that will travers the country and causing big problems and looking at rain and mountain snow. So as we move on into today the Pacific Northwest has the storms going and heavy rain, mountain snow and seattle and portland airports affected and we move into thursday and the storm emerges on the east side of the rockies and snow for denver on thursday and minneapolis will probably be affected and i94 and i80, as well and now we make our way into friday and its a mess for the midwest along i70 and i40, memphis, cincinnati, chicagos airport, detroit all hubs going to have some problems and well be watching it all of the way down to dallas and then as we move into saturday the east gets into the act from boston, jfk, laguardia, charlotte on into atlanta, heavy rains and strong winds all along this front and we are probably going to see big, big delays on saturday as we move into sunday, as well. We will get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Good morning. Im meteorologist, kari hall. Its going to be a cool start, but a nice, warm afternoon. In san jose, a high of 64 degrees. Well see clouds moving in. 59 in santa rosa and we will see the clouds ahead of rain that is set to move in late tonight into tomorrow morning. Starts out in the north bay around midnight and moving into San Francisco and the east bay around 2 00 in the morning and starting to clear the south bay in time for tomorrow morning sunrise. And thats your latest weather. Guys . Al, thanks so much. Coming up, meryl streep responds to criticism shes facing from rose mcgowan in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Well hear from her. And then, as millions of christians prepare for christmas, we will take you inside some of the bibles holiest sites. But first, this is today on nbc. For mildtomoderate eczema . It can be used almost everywhere on almost everybody. The arm of an arm wrestler . The back of a quarterback . The face of a fairy . Prescription eucrisa is a nose to toes eczema ointment. It blocks overactive pde4 enzymes within your skin. And its steroidfree. Do not use if you are allergic to eucrisa or its ingredients. Allergic reactions may occur at or near the application site. The most common side effect is application site pain. Ask your doctor about eucrisa. Coming up, an nbc news exclusive. Three women who have accused Dustin Hoffman of Sexual Misconduct, speaking out in their first interview. And rossen reports a ill tell the world, ill sing a song its a better place since you came along since you came along your touch is sunlight through the trees your kisses are the ocean breeze everythings alright when youre with me and i hold my favorite thing i hold the love that you bring but it feels like ive opened my eyes again and the colors are golden and bright again theres a song in my heart, i feel like i belong its a better place since you came along the things that matter most happen one morning and one cup at a time. In this home. We count our blessings. Uh, this one. Both when theres a little and a lot. There you go. What matters most is made at home. Now with more