The ball 75 feet from the basket with just half a second on the clock sinking it, shocked. And northwesterns greatest play ever. Their hail mary pass overnight. Fans storming the court. What the player at the center of it all is saying this morning. Whoop there it is whoop there it is good morning. Big news day this thursday and how about that early start to march madness. Yes, and lets see that play again. One more time. Northwestern, hail mary pass, puts it up, makes it and the greatest thing is this could seal their first trip ever to the ncaa tournament ever. So i bet you that kid is a hero around campus. You can see on the court what the reaction was. We have a lot more on that in just a bit. First we have that big story about attorney general Jeff Sessions, there are calls this morning for him to resign, from that investigation into russias interference with our election after reports he had at least two meetings with the Russian Ambassador, meetings he did not disclose when asked during his confirmation hearing and Pierre Thomas tracking this breaking story from washington. Good morning, pierre. Reporter good morning, george. Thats right. Some democrats are calling on sessions to resign after reports that he met with the Russian Ambassador before the election and did not Tell Congress during his confirmation hearings. This morning, the attorney general under fire over this exchange with senator al franken regarding allegations of russian ties to Trump Associates. If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump Campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do . Senator franken, im not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that spain and i didnt have did not have communiti russians. And im unable to comment on it. Reporter but sessions according to his own records met with russias ambassador to the United States twice during the 2016 president ial election season, once in his Senate Office in september and once following an event with the Heritage Foundation in july. Justice Department Officials said last night there was nothing unusual about those meetings, that the meeting in his office was on his public schedule and attended by his staff. They said he met with numerous ambassadors including ones from china, canada and Great Britain at part of his duties on the Senate Armed Services committee and that it was a brief encounter with 50 other ambassadors present. All critical because u. S. Intelligence agencies have been investigating whether any Trump Associates were talking with them during the campaign. He said, i never met with any russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is fa from democrats to recuse himself because he was one of trumps earliest congressional supporters and the key adviser during the campaign. Now, with questions about his own contacts with russians, democrats are calling for him to step aside from any investigations involving the russians and there will likely be additional calls for a special prosecutor. Sessions is the nations chief Law Enforcement officer overseeing the fbi which has been investigating russian attempts to influence the 2016 election. He now faces incredible pressure from democrats who are accusing him of lying under oath but his spokesperson said there was nothing misleading about sessions comments during the hearing. She said he was asked about communications between russia and the Trump Campaign, not about meetings that took place when he was a senator, george. Okay, pierre, this is complicated by the fact that the wall street journal reported that sessions has been a subject of those investigations which are ultimately led by the fbi so that leads to the question can someone who has been a subject of the investigation be the peon for it. Reporter george, we have no information that sessions has been under any kind of formal investigation but now given these questions about his testimony, some may call for just such a probe. George. Okay, Pierre Thomas, thanks very much. For more now on how the Trump Administration is responding to all of in this morning, lets go to our senior White House Correspondent cecilia vega. Good morning, cecilia. Reporter amy, good morning to you. Strong pushback from the white house this morning. They are calling this a political attack on them. This, of course, comes as the Trump Administration is still riding very high following that joint session speech and the glowing reviews, but this is not the story line that they were hoping to wake up to this morning, more questions about contacts with russia. This is the statement that they sent overnight as the story broke. Take a look. This is the latest attack against the Trump Administration by partisan democrats. Attorney general sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity. Now, it was just a couple of weeks ago right here at the white house that the president himself said of, amy, had contacts with the russians leading up to the election. And, yet, cecilia, we are learning this morning that the Trump Administration is directing white house staffers to keep any materials that could be related to russia, correct . Reporter yeah, thats right. You know, white house lawyers sent these instructions yesterday to aides here at the white house basically telling them to save all materials that might show any contacts between anyone in the administration and the russians. Now, the white house says they simply did this because this is a proactive step they wanted to take to push back against what they call politically motivated attacks. Thanks. More on this from jon karl, our chief White House Correspondent, matthew dowd, our chief political analyst and, john, let me begin with you and saw the white house dismissing these. The democrats call for Jeff Sessions to resign but the pressure for the attorney general to recuse himself from this investigation as hes facing questions about his testimony is going to get intense. Reporter no question about that, george. Look, its important to first that ive been reporting on this issue of the russian connection for weeks now. Nobody in any of these discussions has suggested in any way that Jeff Sessions would have been the conduit between the campaign and the russians if there was one but the white house knows sessions staff knows, sessions himself knows theres at the very least there is an appearance problem. He is going to have to recuse himself. He cannot be the one making decisions about where this investigation goes. And, matt, intensely calls for a special prosecutor to look into it as well. The trump folks thought they had this great momentum 48 hours ago and used to be momentum on these big speeches would be gained in weeks then days, now its gauged in hours. I think when you look at this whole thing to keep up the march madness theme, donald trump gave a great halftime speech in game one of the tournament but theres a lot of games left and this will complicate his ability to sort of go through this process. Jon ka, this story out there this morning. Youve been covering it for weeks now. The Trump Administration has consistently denied any contacts between people affiliated with the campaign and russians during the campaign, yet the New York Times reporting this morning new details, theyre saying of multiple european intelligence agencies having information about these contacts and u. S. Intelligence separately intercepting communications from russians about these contacts. Reporter well, you know, george, since that New York Times story broke saying there were regular contacts between Trump Associates including associates on the campaign and the russians, i have not heard emphatic blanket denials from the white house anymore including pointedly from the president himself as you remember i asked him directly at his press conference if he if there were any contacts between his campaign and the russians. He answered by saying that he didnt have any contacts so i think this is something that, frankly, trumps own team is unsure and very reluctant make blanket denials anymore. How does the white house get ahead of this . I think its very difficult. The best explanation they have is sort of clintonesque which is we were asked a specific question on this and he was answering a specific question with that. Normally what this white house does and donald trump does is change the topic to something totally different in this. I think this will go on. As we talked about in the aftermaths of the election, the two things likely to dog donald trump were conflict of interest related to his business and russian contacts during the course of the campaign and were still at it today. Okay, matthew dowd, jon karl, thanks very much. He might want to change it to the economy. The stock market skyrocketing after his speech breaking the 21,000 barrier for the First Time Ever and the president tweeting about it and our chief Business CorrespondentRebecca Jarvis is at the new york stock exchange. How are people feeling down there. Reporter well, amy, there is some optimism here, good morning. Stocks now shattering new records and investors here are optimistic about message, in particular, the tone he took in that joint session before congress, especially when he had this to say. My Economic Team is developing historic tax reform that will reduce the tax rate on our companies so they can compete and thrive anywhere and with anyone. Reporter its that probusiness message that lowering of taxes that antiregulatory tone that President Trump has taken throughout his campaign and now throughout his presidency that has helped send a number of stocks higher. It also pushed the dow above 21,000 for the First Time Ever and in particular, weve seen strength among Companies Like apple, boeing and a number of financials, amy. So how does this surge impact average americans and their wallets . Reporter that is the question, right . Everybody wants to know what this means for them. First off, only about half of americans even have any kind of money in the stock 15 since election day, the average retirement account has added about 11,000, but for others, the other issue is a matter of the Ripple Effect. Does this ultimately mean more jobs and higher wages . That is the key question for americans out there, because we dont always get that Ripple Effect and sometimes it can lag, amy. All right, Rebecca Jarvis, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Michael. Let our keep our eye on the tock and on the weather. Severe weather is moving east after a rough 48 hours in the midwest with at least 27 reported tornadoes. And lets go to ginger zee for the latest. Good morning, ginger. Reporter good morning. You probably heard it blowing when you got up. We have seen 52mileperhour gusts already at Laguardia Airport slowing them down by almost twohour delays. That is a brush fire from moments ago in philadelphia. That has suspended train traffic in some places. Right at the end this is a picture in its been unreal across the United States. Look at these storm reports. More than 800 of them. Overnight severe winds blasting the southeast. [ sirens ] whoa. Reporter sirens sounding in farberville. Hail pelting the land in alabama ripping the roof from this home in lewis county, kentucky. Gusts taking out this dealership near asheville, North Carolina, and in charlotte rescuers searching for animals inside this collapsed barn. In the midatlantic, winds up to 78 Miles Per Hour in virginia. Trees skewering homes in maryland. Downed power lines burning a hole in this street. This is all the same system that killed three people. Oh, my god. Its on the ground. Reporter 17 confirmed tornadoes, some with interwiwino 150 Miles Per Hour. Thats my home, like now its gone. Reporter in the state of illinois a and in perryville, missouri, the National Weather service confirming a tornado tore through that town for 13 miles. So, really this is the wind gusts behind the storm were concerned about. See these advisories that stretch all the way through the appalachians into new england. It is the orange there, that deep orange, that high wind warning where you can see 50 to 60mileperhour gusts today. That could easily take down trees, power lines taking you through time and will stale stay with us through the day and into the evening. Now to a shocking Corruption Scandal in baltimore. Seven Police Officers indicted on federal charges accused of stealing money from innocent people. Abcs linsey davis joins us with all of those details. Good morning. Reporter good morning, amy. Weve heard similar story lines before on the big screen and on Primetime Television but these reallife officers have been charged with abusing their badges and being corrupt to the and stealing from citizens. These seven Baltimore CityPolice Officers arrested charged with being hardcore criminals. The allegations range from stealing from innocent citizens to robbing drug dealers of cash and guns, some even of selling heroin. These defendants allegedly were involved in stopping people who had not committed crimes and seizing their money, not only seizing their money, but pocketing it so these are really simply robberies by people Wearing Police un fors. Reporter the alleged stealing from City Residents was rampant with amounts stolen ranking from 200 to 200,000. Prosecutors say the corruption included bogus search warrants, Filing False Police reports and even putting in for thousands of dollars in overtime while on vacation. These officers, theyre 1930style gangsters as far as im concerned. Reporter Authorities Say there was a widespread coverup which involved other to give false statements to internal affairs and turning off body cameras at key moments and sounds like an episode from hbos the wire, the longrunning police and drug drama that takes place in baltimore. In this episode officers stuffed cash in their bulletproof vests. This morning, the seven officers are charged with racketeering, some of the suspects face up to life in prison. Others decades in jail. The majority of Baltimore CityPolice Officers are going to be really pleased today to see these charges brought against people who are accused of betraying their badges, of betraying their trust to the department. There was a yearlong operation in place to take these officers down. They were even wiretapped by the fbi. The u. S. Attorney involved is calling this a major abuse of power. In some cases they would stop an ordinary citizen hadnt been accused of doing anything and steal their money from it. So blatant. Thanks very much. Well get the latest from that terror attack at the pulse nightclub in orlando. A judge bail to noor salman, the widow of the orlando attacker who was arrested for her connection to the attack. Abcs linzie janis has the story. Reporter shes accused of helping her husband carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern u. S. History. But this morning, noor salman, the widow of alleged pulse nightclub shooter omar mateen is said to be released from jail on a 500,000 bond. We believe its a just, equitable and appropriate decision. Reporter a judge ruling the 31yearold mother of mateens 4yearold son be placed on house arrest while awaiting trial. I find that the government has not established by clear and convincing evidence that ms. Salman presents a danger to the community. Reporter federal magistrate donna ryu casting doubt on the case pointing out the prosecution relies heavily on alleged admissions she made at the end of i find that at this time the weight of the evidence is debatable. Reporter salman has pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding and abetting and obstruction of justice. The judge said a psychiatric exam supports the defenses claims that salman had, quote, some cognitive deficits that impair her ability to engage in abstract thinking. The government has 48 hours to appeal that bond ruling. Lets go back to ginger. This is the coldest air well see in more than a month. Flint and saginaw, michigan, for example, had their warmest februarys on record. By tomorrow, 11 in detroit, feels like, washington, d. C. After 80 degrees yesterday will feel like below freezing. Your local weather in 30 seconds. Few flurries friday cool first weekend of march 60s return next week today mostly sunny, windy to breezy, and much cooler. Highs 4854 winds nw 1525 g 40 falling to 30 mph tonight increasing clouds.