Led to at least ten deaths after years on the hunt, how authorities finally got their man. Though stos railrories, pluo face, an emotional day as some of americas top gymnasts con front their accusers. Little girls dont stay little forever. They grow into strong women who return to destroy your world. Why some former insiders are calling facebook a living, breathing crime scene. And boom goes the meteorite. A surprise in michigan as a meteor lights up the night sky and cause as small earthquake. And leaves residents literally shaken. Today, wednesday, january 17th. 2018. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everybody, welcome to today on a wednesday morning. So nice to have you with us. And if you want to know what it looks like outside. We got a shot. Heres the commute right now. Northern new jersey. New jersey is getting pounded. The south is really getting pounded. Weather is a huge story today. Our top story. Wicked with winter storm thats going to wallop states from the deep south to the upper midwest. Now making a beeline for the east coast with millions in for it. A dangerous commute. Were going to check in with al in a moment and see if its headed your direction. But first, nbcs Kristen Dahlgren is in new jersey with the latest. Good morning. Reporter its crazy. Were talking about wind chills down into florida this morning. Here in hackettstown. Take a look at this beautiful, light, fluffy snow. The roads are dangerous. Even in areas where its rain, its coming down and freezing on the roads. For millions its setting up to be a treacherous commute. This morning, Winter Weather pummelling a massive chunk of the United States. And creating a messy commute. The bitter conditions reached into deep south tuesday. From a. L. To mississippi, to texas. Where snow, sleet and freezing rain have blanketed grazing lands and created havoc for drivers. Unless you just have to be on the road, help us all out by staying off the roads. In louisiana, nervous drivers slowed to a crawl as the ice caused fenderbenders. We have to ice skate. And forced this this police to slide his way across the street. In kentucky, slippery roads caused major accidents. With traffic on this highway backed up for miles after this tractortrailer lost control. The dangerous conditions extending north, into minnesota and wisconsin. With residents there now digging out. But the snow is still making roads slick in ohio. This car had to be pulled out of a frozen lake. While the great lakes are looking more like the arctic with parts of lake erie in a mountain of ice. New england has seen rivers freeze, causing ice jams and flooding. Were looking at every option because we havent dealt with this before. Forcing the coast guard to use ships to break through the connecticut river. And while some are taking time to have fun others are hunkering down as the snow keeps coming. And weve got a convoy of plows going by right now. Theyre out here working hard. Tens of thousands of people waking up without power this morning. More than 900 flights have been canceled. More than 5,000 delays. And as you guys know, that has a Ripple Effect that we could see for days. Unfortunately, that is true. Kristen, thank you. A lot of people want to know which way its going, how long its going to hang around. Al, youve got the latest . Well see this thing split into two different effects. Its almost 1400 miles from the panhandle of florida, where weve got snow and ice, all the way up into new england. Snow starting to make its way just into new york. Weve got winter storm warnings for 57 Million People. Take a look down into the carolinas and virginia, six inches of snow, reduced visibility. Northeast, especially interior sections, three to five inches of snow, making for slick roads. The system breaks into two chunks. We start off this morning, were going to have snow and sleet from the gulf coast to maine starting in the southeast. Thats where the heaviest snow is going to be. Across the carolinas, ice and sleet across the florida panhandle. In the northeast, rain for long island and cape cod. But well start to see snow fill in in new york up to hartford, providence, back into albany, new york. As the system pulls away, it will continue for Eastern Maine. Cold air behind it we look into the carolinas, snow will taper off in North Carolina this evening. Icy travel will continue with temperatures below freezing. Look at this. Theres more snow down in the southeast with six to eight inches of snow in the carolinas, we get up into the northeast, the heaviest snow will be up into parts of down east maine. But its still going to cause a lot of commuting problems this afternoon into this evening as well. All right, al, youll give us the rest of your forecast in a bit. Now to politics, and the battle over immigration reform. The president and congress have just three days to sidestep a government shutdown. Both sides are trying to use that looming deadline as political leverage. In the meantime, the president s former chief strategist, steve bannon, has found himself in the middle of the russia investigation. Weve got it all covered and we start with nbc White House Correspondent kristen welker. Gomplt. Reporter good morning to you. And this morning, nbc news has learned exclusively that fbi agents visited the home of the president s former top adviser, steve bannon, last week. Days before he would appear on capitol hill. And now its expected he will cooperate with the special counsel. Its yet another sign investigators are zeroing in on the president s inner circle. Those dramatic developments come with just three days until the government is set to shut down. This morning, steve bannon back in the spotlight. After a marathon 11hour meeting with house investigators looking into Russian Election meddling tuesday. Now new details about the days leading up to the testimony. According to a source familiar with the matter, fbi agents showed up at bannons home last week. Hoping to serve him a subpoena. From the office of special counsel, Robert Mueller. Bannon directed the fbi to contact his new attorney, according to two sources. Teeing up what could be a facetoface encounter between the former white house chief strategist and muellers team. Meanwhile, two sources familiar with tuesdays hearing on capitol hill tells nbc news bannon told the House Intelligence Committee the white house told him not to answer questions about his time working alongside the president. That prompting the committee to issue a subpoena of its own. Demanding more information. This is the broadest effort to effectively gag a witness that we have seen. Press secretary Sarah Sanders on defense. No one is encouraged him to be anything but transparent. It all comes amid a fierce fight on capitol hill. With republicans scrambling to avoid a government shutdown. Pushing for a shortterm spending deal. That would fund the government for four weeks. While extending health care for lowincome children for six years. But it would punt on the most divisive issue of daca. The program which protects d. R. E. A. M. Ers, the nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the u. S. Illegally as children is set to expire this spring. Overnight, republicans daring democrats to vote against it. It will be pretty obvious if the government does shut down, who is responsible. Overnight the senates top democrat sending this message to the president , after mr. Trump reportedly expressed a preference for european immigrants over those from africa during an immigration meeting with lawmakers last thursday. If you want to begin the long road back to prove youre not prejudiced or bigoted, support the bipartisan compromise that three democrats and three republicans have put forth before you. And its that he said she said over whether President Trump called african nations shole countries that initially derailed budget talks. This has turned into a sshow. Those sharp words during a capitol hill hearing with Homeland Security secretary kjierst nempb nielson who was pressed about details of that oval office meeting. What was that Strong Language . Strong language, there was i apologies, i dont remember specific word. New jersey senator cory booker wasnt buying it. Your silence and your amnesia is complicity. Reporter now as for the plan to keep the government open, its being floated by House Republicans and this morning, its not clear they have enough votes to get the bill passed. For his part, President Trump will be on capitol hill to pay tribute to former senator bob dole later today. A chance to apply pressure to lawmakers who may be on the sidelines. Savannah and hoda . Well be watching it kristen, thank you. From President Trumps agenda to his health. The highly anticipated and highly scrutinized results of President Trumps First Physical exam as commanderinchief are in. And nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander has details on all this. Good morning. Reporter hey, hoda, good morning to you. This was an extraordinary briefing here at this podium by the white house physician. Dr. Ronnie jackson detailing far more information about a president ial patient than he ever has before. The president , the doctor says, is in Excellent Health. This morning, President Trump with a couple more items on his 2018 todo list, diet, subtracting fat and a routine adding exercise. On a daytoday basis, he doesnt have a dedicated, defined exercise program. We can build on that pretty easily. Thats navy doctor, dr. Ronnie jackson, a white house physician who treated president obama as well. Reporting President Trump as 63, 239 pounds. I think a reasonable goal is to lose 10 to 15 pounds. Reporter but overall dr. Jackson says the president is healthy. The president s Overall Health is excellent. Reporter so how is mr. Trump in such good health, despite his fondness for fast food and his aversion to exercise . He has good genes. Reporter and with critics questioning the president s mental fitness, the doctor says he has no concerns about his cognitive abilities. Adding that the president requested the test. Receiving a perfect score on the montreal assessment. If he had some type of mental cognitive issue, that this test is sensitive enough it would pick up on it. He would not have gotten 30 out of 30 on the test. Reporter among the test questions, identify the animals and name the maximum number of words in one minute that begin with the letter f. As for that episode where the president appeared to slur his words last month . God bless the United States. Reporter no cause for concern and no dentures. I had given the president some medication, specifically some sudafed over the days previous and i think i had dried up his secretion as little bit more than i intended to. Reporter the president doesnt get much sleep. Four to five hours a night but the doctor says thats okay. He has a lot, a lot of energy. A lot of energy and a lot of stamina. Reporter among his medications, ambien, only during trips overseas. Propecia, for hair loss and crestor. Bottom line. The president is fit for duty. Hell remain fit for duty for this term and for another term if hes elected. Reporter donald trump is the oldest president ever to enter the white house and the doctor says he remains in remarkably good shape probably because hes avoided smoking tobacco and Drinking Alcohol over the years. As for the diet and exercise, the doctor says on occasion hes had to reach out to the first lady to make sure that the president is following doctors orders. Back to you. Peter, thanks so much. To the stock market where for a short time on tuesday morning, the Dow Jones Industrial average hit another milestone 26,000 points. But the rally faded as investors weighed earnings and Economic Data against growing concerns of a government shutdown. It was biggest oneday reversal for the index in two years. It comes less than two weeks after the dow hit a onceunthinkable 25,000 mark. A former c. I. A. Officer is in jail this morning, and charged with illegally possessing classified information. But some officials are telling nbc news theres a lot more to this case. Justice correspondent Pete Williams has the latest. Pete, good morning, what can you tell us about who was charged and what this is all about . Reporter hes 53yearold Jerry Chung Shing lee, he was arrested monday night when he arrived on a flight from hong kong. And hes charged with possessing two handwritten notebooks containing highly classified information, that the fbi says names of c. I. A. Covert employees and other informants. Some of the governments most closely guarded secrets. The books were found when the fbi searched hotel rooms that he used while traveling six years ago. But several federal Officials Say lee is suspected of giving the chinese information about c. I. A. Sources and at least ten of them ended up getting killed by the chinese. Savannah . Pete this is hoda, they ended up finding those books six years ago. It seems like a long time ago. Why did take so long for them to finally charge this guy . Reporter were told it took all that time to build a case against lee during a long hunt for a suspected mole that began after the c. I. A. Sources in china began to disappear. Court documents say the fbi actually interviewed lee several times during the past four or five years. But, pete, the fbi thinks that he actually gave this classified information to the chinese, but hes not charged with that. Reporter no. They wont say why not. But heres one possibility. In cases like this, that involve very sensitive secrets, the government often chooses not to present the full case in court. Because that would require disclosing classified information. As for what happens next, lee appeared briefly in a new york courtroom tuesday, hell be brought to federal court in virginia. Just outside washington here to face these charges. I guess they could always add charges later if they wanted. Pete, thank you very much. Big developments in the story weve been following for several months. The announced tuesday the Navy Announced that two former Commanding Officers will Face Criminal Charges in last years deadly ship collisions. In august, ten sailors were killed after the uss john s. Mccain accumulation collided with a merchant ship near sing more. The commander sanchez faces several charges, including negligent homicide. Two months earlier the uss fitzgerald accumulation collided with a filipino container ship leaving seven sailors dead. The commander and three officers also face courtmartial proceedings. To california now and the horrific story weve been following. 13 children held captive in their home by their own parents. Police now calling it torture. Well this morning we have the first interview with the mothers family. Nbc National Correspondent miguel air lmaguer is in Perris California with more. Reporter investigators say theyre learning more every day about what happened inside this home. Say one of the suspects, the mother in this case, when she was arrested, was taken aback as to why she was being taken into custody. As for the victims, theyre being treated by doctors, their parents are in jail. And will be in court thursday. The alleged torture inside this home where 13 children were found, some shackled and chained to furniture, was carried out for years by their own parents, say authorities. Its unfathomable to even the suspects own family. We are as hurt and shocked and angry and disappointed as everybody else. Louise turpins brother and sister, distraught over allegations that their 13 nieces and nephews were living in squall or, physically and psychologically tortured. I always made comments to louise when i did talk to her about, gosh, theyre so skinny, theyre so she would laugh it off, well david is so tall and lanky, theyre going to be like him. Robin says her sister left home and was married at 16. To a man eight years her senior. They werent allowed to date or they didnt have a social life. They werent allowed to watch tv. They werent allowed to talk on the phone. Have friends over. Stuff like that the normal things that kids do. Today we have a symbol of love to exchange again. Reporter the couple renewed their vows often surrounded by their children. But the reality was far from pictureperfect. Authorities say it was their 17yearold daughter who escaped through a window and made a desperate call to 911. Police discovering that seven of their children were actually adults. The oldest, 29. All so mall nourished they looked like minors. Nbc news now showing the faces of the adults. If you can imagine, being 17 years old and appearing to be a 10yearold . Being chained to a bed. Being mall nourished and injuries associated with that . I would call that torture. Reporter seen here on surveillance video, the turpins were arrested for torture and child endangerment. Innocent children, allegedly tormented by the very parents who were supposed to protect them. According to state records, david turpin ran a private School Inside this home here. But state Officials Say they never came to the home and never inspected it. Because thats not part of their oversight. Those suspects will be in court on thursday, savannah, back to you. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered there, miguel, thanks for your r