A s. W. A. T. Team rushes to the scene. The frightening standoff caught on camera. Good to be alive. The snowboarder swallowed by an avalanche sliding down a mountain buried by the snow. The birthday present strapped to his back that may have helped keep him alive. Good to be alive right about now i was dead in the water and good morning, america. Great to be with all of you. I felt like i was going down the mountain with that man right there, tom oye and as we said hes lucky to be alive. 20 seconds going down there. Now, that would be something. 20 seconds in an avalanche and show you that and a lot of news to get to and a lot of tough weather out west. Yeah, you know, we see all that snow but theres so much rain, as well. Lets take a look at this home in california that is so flooded you could see someone is kayaking through the home. Why would you want to . Thats hard to watch but ginger will have much more on that dangerous flooding coming up. But first big news from washington overnight. The Senate Taking those first steps to repeal the Affordable Care act also word that one of Donald Trumps major nominees may be in trouble. Our Congressional Correspondent mary bruce starts us off from capitol hill. Good morning. Reporter good morning. It was a dramatic late night at the capitol, the senate buzzing until after 1 00 and lawmakers coming one step closer to repealing obamacare. But there is still a long, bitter fight ahead and this morning as you mentioned another fight is brewing, we are now seeing what could be the first major roadblock to a trump nominee. The president elects formal rival possibly standing in the way of his pick for secretary of state. Throughout the ninehour confirmation hearing, marco rubio hammered former exxonmobil Ceo Rex Tillerson on his ties to Vladimir Putin. Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal . I would not use that term. Do you believe that Vladimir Putin and his cronies are responsible for ordering the murder of countless dissidents, journalists and political opponents . I do not have enough this was to make that claim. None of is this classified. These people are dead. Reporter rubios vote is key. They have just a oneperson majority. Without his support, tillersons nomination could stall and this morning trumps formal rival is still not convinced. You know, i have to make sure that im 100 behind whatever decision that i make. Reporter straight off the bat tillerson took a strong stance on russia. We must also be cleareyed about our relationship with russia. Russia today poses a danger. Our nato allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent russia. Reporter but his relationship with Vladimir Putin was hard to shake. I and many of my clelgs have deep concerns about your relationship with mr. Putin. Do you believe these activities could have happened without the knowledge and the consent of Vladimir Putin . What are you going to say to Vladimir Putin when he says to you, rex, you said sanctions were bad . My pivot now if confirmed to be secretary of state will have one mission only and that is to represent the interests of the american people. Reporter under fire for their unusual ties seen here toasting with champagne putin giving him the order of friendship award. The question now, could trumps pick for the nations top diplomat be in jeopardy . I think its important if youre going to stand for moral clarity that you be clear. Reporter now, this morning some republicans are urging rubio to meet with tillerson again and rubio, hes holding his cards close. But without his support, tillerson could lose that key vote in the Senate ForeignRelations Committee and that could put his whole confirmation at real risk. George. Okay, mary, thanks very much. Lets talk about with this jon karl right here as well. That was something yesterday, marco rubio, Rex Tillerson going headtohead and he really bored down and if he does vote no, it could put the nomination in jeopardy. No question about it, george. First of all if he votes no in the committee it becomes if the democrats say no it becomes a negative viote against tillerso. That doesnt tank it. What did john mccain and Lindsey Graham do if their partner in crime, marco rubio is voting no. They have been as critical as rubio of the russia ties and could create a situation where it goes down. If you lose three republicans enormous pressure on rubio but i got to tell you the republicans are confident at the end of the day rubio will see what a big deal this would be and how it would freeze him out for the rest of trumps term, create a lot of enemies in his own party and believe rubio will ultimately vote yes. He is giving tillerson a second chance. Lets talk about obamacare. First big vote in the senate. A framework for how to repeal. This is just a first step. This is just a first step. But its a critically important first step. If the house follows suit what it does, sets up a situation where obamacare can be repealed with just 51 votes. Only republicans can do it. On their own. Trump is promising a plan within weeks to have, you know, repeal and replace but we still have no idea what he wants to replace it with. Real divisions inside the Republican Party over how to replace obamacare. Meantime, the confirmation hearings continue. Ben carson, another former rival of donald trump up to today has been nominated for housing and urban secretary even though hes a surgeon. Most interesting hearing of all. He is a brain surgeon, brilliant, has a great personal story, no experience whatsoever in the issue of public housing. He will be drilled for hours on the specifics of what housing and urban development do, well see how many homework presumably he has boned up on it. I know hes doing mocked hearings and taped these and looked at game tape. Hes done a lot of homework but this is an entirely new field for him. It is not brain surgery. So well see how he does. Okay, jon karl, thanks very much. Michael. All right, thank you, george. Lets bring in cecilia vega now to talk about all the fallout from president elect Trumps Press Conference yesterday. It got pretty heated. You were in the middle of it all. I had a front row seat. Good morning. When you go 168 days without a press conference it is bound to be a freeforall and this was. There were bombshells and fireworks. Donald trumps first News Conference since election day turning heated. Mr. President elect hes asking a question. Dont be rude. Dont be rude. Can you give us a question dont be rude. Im not going to give you a question. Can you say categorically you are fake news. Reporter the president elect refusing to call on a cnn reporter angry about that story on those bombshell dossier allegations. Its all fake news. Its phony stuff. It didnt happen. Reporter trump denying unsubstantiated claims that he was caught on camera engaged in salacious behavior saying hed never fall for such a ruiz. Im surrounded by bodyguards. Im surrounded by people. And i always tell them, anywhere, but i always tell them, if im leaving this country, be very careful. Reporter but this morning his attack on intelligence agencies under attack too. That the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out. I think its a disgrace. And i say that and i say that and thats something that nazi germany would have done and did do. Reporter jewish groups calling that an offensive trivialization of the holocaust. Ethics experts also expressing concern about his big reveal in those folders his plan to turn over operations of the trump Family Business to his two sons, don jr. And eric. I hope at the end of eight years ill come back and say, oh, you did a good job, otherwise, if they do a bad job ill say, youre fired. Reporter trump saying hell still maintain ownership and that he will not divest himself. There will be no foreign deals of any kind and money paid to his hotels by foreign governments will be donated to the u. S. Government and this first, the president elect saying he accepts those intelligence findings that russia hacked the democrats in the leadup to the election. As far as hacking i think it was russia. Reporter but then he waivered. You know what, could have been others also. Reporter but not without delivering a harsh message. If you do believe russia is behind your hacking what ir message to Vladimir Putin right now . He shouldnt be doing it. He wont be doing it. Russia will have much greater respect for our country when im leading it than when reporter a very rare admonition. I asked the president elect point blank whether he or anyone on his team had any contact with russia during the campaign. He came back over, michael, and he told me no, not at all. Point blank. You were in the room when he had the Heated Exchange with the cnn reporter so what was the mood like after that happened and do you expect this to be the new normal . I think the mood was generally stunned. Youre used to seeing sparring at a president ial level press conference. This was more than that. This was more than heated. This was very confrontational and the question is whether this will be the new norm. I think this has the potential to have a chilling effect. The question is whether donald trump was trying to initiate some retribution here for a story that he didnt like and its certainly setting the stage for a press hostile relationship with his press corps. Well keep our eye on the future and more of these press conferences as well and, george, back to you. Well get more on that. Cecilia laid out at that press conference, the president elect said hes turning control over to his two sons. No foreign deals but he could if he chose. Take a look. And was offered 2 billion to do a deal in dubai, a number of deals. And i turned it down. I didnt have to turn it down because as you know, i have a no conflict situation because im president which is i didnt know about that until about three months ago, but its a nice thing to have. Hes saying that offer came in just this weekend. Lets talk to dan abrams about this. Kind of unusual as welch the president is right that the conflict of interest law does not apply to the president. Yet you had the head of the office of government ethics come out last night and say what hes done is completely meaningless in terms of conflicts of interest. Lets separate this out into ethics and legal. Lets start with the ethical side. He still owns the company. What does that mean . It means that when the company gets richer, donald trump gets richer. It also means and something people arent talking about enough, hes still subject to litigation so if someone is suing the company, donald trump still has to be involved in that litigation. Thats a big deal. A third point there, he also knows what his company is. He knows where the businesses are. He knows whether actions he takes will help the company. Of course, all hes saying in effect is im not going to have daytoday control over the company and theyre going to be certain restrictions that someone internally is going to oversee. But this does not address according to almost all ethics experts the ethical concerns. Yet, there is also one big law that he may be in conflict with, the constitution. Lets talk law for a minute. He is absolutely right that the conflict of interest law does not apply to the president and vice president. That would have been the most likely law someone would say that he could potentially be violating but there is a clause in the constitution that a lot of people are talking about now called the emoluments clause which basically says you cant get earnings or pay from a foreign state. Thats what the emolument means and constitutional law professors at the very least believe this is dangerous legal territory for him. There is a bit of a divide over whether its going to apply. Hes trying to minimize that by saying, look, were not going to actually benefit from that foreign money. Well donate it in the hope the profits. In the hope that will somehow make this less of a concern but i can tell you the vast majority of legal experts you talk to say this is dangerous legal territory. I know. Almost certain someone or some institution will bring a legal challenge. Absolutely. All right, dan abrams, thanks very much. Were learning more about those unconfirmed claims that trump was targeted in a russian effort to personally compromise him. Intelligence Officials Say the unconfirmed claims should not have been leaked to the public. Our chief investigative correspondent brian ross is here. Has the latest for us. Good morning, brian. Reporter good morning, robin. The Intelligence Community is offering a kind of apology to donald trump with the director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper saying in a statement that he talked with donald trump overnight and shared his profound dismay about the leaks of information. Clapper said no decision had been made about whether the information is reliable. But he went on to seemingly confirm that trump had been briefed saying part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any marys that amight affect national security. Robin. With all that being said, the fib, the cia, what do they make of these current allegations . Well, exactly, lost in all the back and forth at the News Conference is the fact the fbi continues to investigate the allegations. Abc news has learned they were turned over by a former british spy whos now been identified as a an employee of this London Private security company. Hes described as being well known to the fbi, a reliable source of information in a number of past criminal investigations involving russian organized crime and corruption in the International Soccer federation, robin. So bottom line the investigation is continuing. Absolutely is. All right, brian, thanks very much. Now amy with the other mornings stories with a major recall. Honda is recalling nearly 800,000 vehicles because of that potentially dangerous air bags. The inflators made by takata can explode sending pieces of metal flying through the car. Older model accords and civics are among the cars affected and well have the full list on our website. Some breaking news from baltimore where six children have been reported missing after a house fire. Three others are confirmed injured. The building partially collapsed and firefighters are now having a very difficult time getting inside that house. Well, a u. S. Military investigation found 33 afghan civilians were killed during a battle with the taliban in november when air strikes were called in during a firefight. Two u. S. Soldiers also died. And a georgia man faces attempted murder charges after a shootout with an officer. The deputy was responding to a domestic call when the suspect fired toward his vehicle. He is seen running away jumping over a gate right there before the suspect fires again. Wow and was finally wounded. He was later arrested after a standoff. Both men survived their injuries. And finally, consider this and this is to you guys. The next time you take a selfie and flash the peace sign, identity thieves could steal your fingerprints. Scientists say smartphone cameras are so physical indicated it is possible to steal your fingerprints from a photo taken up to ten feet away as long as youve got that index and middle finger clearly visible. I can say honestly ive never done this. You just did. You just gave it away. But my kids do it. Do your daughters do that. Oh, no, not at all. You know what that means . It drives me crazy. Now i have another reason to tell them to stop. Keep your hands down. Good luck with that. All right, thank you, amy. Now lets turn to that major flooding in the west forcing thousands to evacuate and Kayna Whitworth is in the middle of it all in guerneville, california. Good morning, kayna. Reporter michael, good morning. Here in Sonoma County the Russian River rose well above flood levels for the second time this week impacting 650 homes, thousands more without power and businesses taking a hit as well. Look behind me. That dips down under six feet of water. Some people feel lucky they made it out at all. Emergency crews working relentlessly performing more than 50 high water re cues. We cant see the road. Were kind of just guessing. Reporter this deluge forcing residents to evacuate. Home after home in holster underwater. It was about two or three feet deep out there moving fast. I hear my mom coming out from the door yelling, girl, girl, get up. Its flooded outside. Reporter watch as this woman kayaks in her living room after her home was over taken by floodwaters. Sonoma county submerged. We meat with this 83yearold who was rescued from her home in guerneville. Oh, my god, im in the middle of a lake. Reporter in oregon residents digging out after more than a foot of snow shut it down and the governor declaring a state of emergency. Crews clearing out trees that collapsed under the weight of the snow and in colorado this roof caving in on top of a popular hotel. Thankfully there were no reported injuries. Now, this region is known for producing great wine and now they have to rebuild after the biggest rain event in the state of california in more than a decade. Guys. Okay, kayna, thanks very much. Big rain in california. Ginger, youre following ice. Right, because that same low is going to ride along a jet stream and stationary front which ill show you and get to the middle of the nation. Already icing and freezing rain in Central Illinois and Northern Illinois this morning. Thats why you have freezing rain advisories. Watch the setup. Moist air over the stationary front. It could produce threequarters of an inch to an inch of ice this weekend. Your local weather in 30 seconds, first, though, the sunny cities brought to you by carmax. Reporter a couple of light sprinkles popping through parts of the region, but