Hike in indiana and snapchatted these final photos on the trail before authorizes finally found their bodies. Now police and the fbi desperately looking for this man spotted on the trail. Did their social media posts put them at risk . You have to make it mariah carries big comeback performing in front of a Live Audience since that new years eve disaster. Were missing some of the vocal but it is what it is. Now singing her new breakup song as she tries to make her triumphant return. Good morning, america. Happy thursday. How about the mariah carey on jimmy kimmel last night. She just let her singing do the talking as they say. That she did. Much more on that ahead. First to that new backlash for President Trump over allegations his campaign was communicating with russian officials before the election. Jon karl is going to start us off this morning. Good morning, jon. Reporter good morning, robin. The president is lashing out at news organizations and even his own intelligence agencies but the white house is facing louder and louder calls for answers about contacts between President Trumps team and russia. President trump seemed to relish the trip of his closest friend on the world stage setting a big goal for middle east peace with israeli Prime Minister bibi netanyahu. Good negotiator. The art of the deal. Reporter overhanging it turmoil in the west wing. The president s first public reaction after the firing of National Security adviser Michael Flynn, attacks on the media and the Intelligence Community. General flynn is a wonderful man. I think hes been treated very, very unfairly by the media as i call it the fake media in many cases. I think in addition to that, from intelligence papers are being leaked, things are being leaked. Its criminal action. Criminal act. Reporter thats a major turnabout from his press secretarys explanation about why flynn was fired. The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for general flynns resignation. Reporter flynn was caught misleading the white house about his calls with the Russian Ambassador. But even with flynn now gone, the controversy is far from over. U. S. Intelligence sources confirm that there were repeated contacts between members of Trumps Campaign team and russian intelligence before the election. Trump has previously denied any such contacts but on wednesday he refused to answer questions about that. Mr. President , can you guarantee that nobody on your campaign had any contacts with the russians . Reporter this morning, democrats and a growing number of republicans are demanding answers from the white house. Its highly disturbing and it raises more and more questions that congress has a sworn obligation to get to the bottom of. Were looking for facts and were looking for evidence. Reporter now, the two top senators on the judiciary committee, Dianne Feinstein but republican Chuck Grassley are saying they want to be briefed by the fbi director and the attorney general about what exactly was going on in the contacts between general flynn and the rugs. Can you tell us more about the reaction from congress concerning the president saying about the leaks . Reporter well, theres now a new letter out from the two Top Republicans over on the house side asking the department of justices internal watchdog to investigate leaks. This is exactly what President Trump is looking for. They are basically responding not so much to the controversy about the contacts with russia but they want to investigate the leaks coming out of the fbi. All right, jon, thank you. The president had a tweet a minute ago saying those leakers will be caught. Lets get a closer look on where things stand on the Flynn Investigation from Pierre Thomas and the big question will he face charges for those phone calls to the Russian Ambassador . The white house said their counsel determined there was no legal problem. Reporter not likely. The law in question called the logan act which prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign nations when there is a dispute with the u. S. Theres never been a successful prosecution ever. The sources tell me that while flynn discussed the sanctions he apparently never made any specific promises to the Russian Ambassador. But flynn could get caught up in this broader investigation over the contacts between trump aides and allies with rugs during the campaign. Reporter absolutely. George, the broader investigation continues. The fbi wants to know if flynn or other Trump Associates were in contact with russian intelligence before the election. Right, and some of the associates have already spoken out. Carter page and Paul Manafort said they didnt knowingly speak to the russians. Another in wall street journal said intelligence officials are withholding Key Information from the president for fear it will be compromised. Reporter we got strong and angry pushback from the Intelligence Community and said these allegations are baseless. Now, whats at question here is whether the Intelligence Community might withhold certain information about sources and methods. That happens from time to time. But what is clear, george, is theres tension between the president and the Intelligence Community. Yesterday there were two tweets from President Trump talking about the fact that he thought those leaks might be coming from the fbi and the nsa. Okay, Pierre Thomas, thanks very much. George, the Trump Administration also fighting a battle on capitol hill. President trumps labor secretary nominee withdrawing his name facing scrutiny over his professional and personal life after an interview of his exwife with oprah surfaced. Our Congressional Correspondent mary bruce has more on all this. Good morning, mary. Reporter good morning, well, robin, President Trump is now looking for a new labor secretary nominee. Andrew puzder was supposed to be here this morning finally having his confirmation hearing. It had been postponed four times. Now canceled. Hes the first trump cabinet casualty. Millionaire fast food executive Andrew Puzder withdrawing his nomination for labor secretary. As even republicans voiced concerns. It comes as puzders personal life was put under the spotlight. The most frightening thing was leaving. Reporter this 1990 tape making the rounds on capitol hill. His exwife speaking in disguise to oprah describing what she says was domestic abuse. He vowed revenge. He said i will see you in the gutter. You will pay for this. Reporter the video given to senators by the host herself. His exwife later recanted her allegations and puzder has strongly denied them. Senators questioning puzders Business Record too. There is ample evidence that mr. Puzder is a terrible choice to head the Agency Charged with ensuring that women and men are treated fairly in the workplace. Reporter he once suggested he prefers robots to human employees saying theyre always polite, they always upsell. They never take a vacation. And took aim at his workers appearance. My first memo was no more people behind the counter unless they have all their teeth. Reporter he also admitted to employing an undocumented housekeeper for years though he later paid all necessary back taxes but it all proved too much for his nomination to survive. Now, in announcing his withdrawal puzder said he was honored to have been considered. He is now the 11th cabinet level nominee to ever withdraw. By comparison obama had three picks that backed down. Robin. And, mary, are any other remaining cabinet nominees in jeopardy. Reporter democrats are eyeing Mick Mulvaney for budget director but so far just one republican is opposing. He is expected to be confirmed later today. Mary, thank you. George. Lets talk more about it with matthew dowd and cecilia vega and, matt, lets talk first, you said yesterday the president will rely on this solid wall of republican support in the congress in order to keep his agenda moving. Now, he lost some republicans on the puzder nomination yesterday but overall on the big issue, republicans are holding firm with him. Yeah, there seems to be two dominant strategies in the Republican Congress using an old west analogy, there is the circle the wagon, well get too a defensive crouch and not allow anybody in and protect the president but then theres a series of scouts well say going out saying we need to find out what the danger and concern is. So youre seeing some, some republican senators and even beginning to see some Republican House members, but thats the two dominant thing, circle the wagons approach and some saying lets find out whats going on. Cecilia, when you watch the white house and the president and his staff, youve got the tweets from the president this morning going after the leakers saying the failing the New York Times has to apologize. In some ways they seem to see the press more as an opposition than democrats. No different than the campaign. Its definitely playing out in realtime. I was in that press conference yesterday around reporters in the middle of the pack mainstream reporters who were clearly not happy with the fact that in this press conference for perhaps the third time in with a visit from a foreign leader did not call on mainstream news organizations, is leaning heavily on calling on conservative outlets. The reason this matters, its not because were complaining as journalist, george. This is a huge departure from past administrations who traditionally president s have called on the associated press, wire services, but theyre cherrypicking the questions basically and not getting tough questions in these press conferences on basically the news of the day. We didnt see any real questions on flynn and thats a problem when there are real answers this Administration Knows about who knew what, when. To me its not whether cecilia vega gets to ask a question or jon karl gets to ask a question but no one with an antagonistic question gets answered. There is a full frontal assault on the first amendmentment we see in autocratic countries, not what is going on, subtle undermining and that is you call everything fake news that disagrees with you and dont call on any reporters that might ask you a question that is at all aggressive and might point out factual deficiencies. Cecilia, they seem pretty determined to think this will work for them and it will be effective. Well, it might be for the base and it has been up until now. I dont know how long you can sustain it. I dont know, frankly, how much longer a lot of reporters and media in these briefings and press conferences will tolerate this. What youre seeing now is reporters standing up and shouting questions at the president trying to get his attention. I dont know how much longer he can refuse to answer them. Cecilia vega, matthew dowd, thanks very much. Over to michael. Now to that major storm moving into the west. It could be the strongest to hit Southern California this season and lets go right to ginger with the latest. Michael, already such a wet pattern setting up in parts of california. You can see pasadena, california, this picture of a giant tree, the ground so saturated all it takes is a little wind and well get more of that. Look at the view from truckee,ist80 shut down because of a mudslide and i think well see more of that as we go into this weekend. Sandbags, bean filled at seal beach south of long beach and they are all in preparation for tomorrow. The flash flood watches smother from san diego through los angeles and mountains up to oroville and look at this, the series of storms coming at you, tomorrow 7 00 a. M. , los angeles, 7 30. The drive time a mess in l. A. Its going to be. You always hear about needing rain in l. A. No one needs that much. Breaking headline overseas. Authorities making new arrests in the assassination of the north korean leaders half brother and matt gutman has all the details. Reporter good morning. Early this morning Malaysian Police arrested two more members of a cell of assassins who police say tracked kim jongnam to the kuala lumpur airport despite the fact that he was traveling under an assumed name and killed him with a fastacting poison before melting away into that crowded airport. After zeroing on the suspected assassin in that lol shirt this Morning Police in malaysia tightening the noose around a cell of alleged assassins they say killed north koreas kim jongnam. In this grainy video chinese tv claims to show the second suspected female assassin being bundled into a police car in kuala lumpur. Kim jongnam was the portly playboy and half brother of current north korean dictator kim jongun. The brothers shared a father you see in this awkward family photo from 1981. North koreas former dictator but the brothers were estranged. Kim jongnam had reportedly been living the high life in exile in the gambling mecca of macaw. He was awaiting a flight when police say a woman came from behind and covered his face with a cloth laced with a liquid. Police say it was poison and they say kim jongnam complained of burning in his eye, dizziness quickly led to death. The poison killed him before he reached the hospital. Immediately investigators began scouring cctv footage for two alleged femme fatales. Three arrests have been made. The two alleged female assassins and one of their boyfriends. Each carrying a passor the with a different nationality. Kim jongnam had reportedly sent his dictator brother a letter in about 2012 begging him to spare his and his familys life but the 33yearold north korean had his own uncle killed and had hundreds of other government officials killed. There isnt much mercy in that regime, robin. No, rlines flight forced to m an Emergency Landing after hitting a deer during takeoff. Abcs david kerley is in los angeles with the story. Good morning, david. Reporter good morning, michael. The pilots didnt know they hit that deer but in flight they were leaking fuel as they were going along. As the American Airlines commuter jet is speeding down the runway to take off for dallas another pilot sees something. I have a Deer Crossing in front of the embraer. Reporter even the pilots dont realize exactly what happened. Did you hit something on the runway. No, we had a loud bang though were coming back. Reporter with jet fuel streaming out of its right wing it makes a quick return to the Charlotte Airport for an Emergency Landing. On the ground the nearly 50 passengers and crew stream out of the jet and firefighters start pouring on foam. Passengers say the jet was making some strange noises. It was pretty loud. It didnt just sound like a street bump. It was like boom. All of a sudden you could hear the bong, bong, bong going in front. Reporter the damage from the deer hit is clear on the right wing of the jet. While deer strikes on roadways are common there are 3,300 every day, there is less than one a week at an airport. But the more than 40 aircraft deer strikes a year on average usually do result in damage to the aircraft like this one. And that damage is costly. In the last 25 years deer hits have actually cost aircraft damaged aircraft a total of nearly 60 million. Wow. David, thanks very much. Amy right here with todays other top stories. People were saying this story were about to bring you sounded like a plane crash. It was a series of explosions and fires that lit up the night sky in Eastern Washington state and the fire was coming from a power substation. That explosion knocked out power in three cities. Investigators are blaming equipment failure. New immigration standoff in denver where a mexican born woman is taking refuge in a church to avoid deportation. Immigration Officials Say they denied jeanette vizguerras request to say in the u. S. Because of two misdemeanor convictioned. She says she has worked and paid taxes here for 20 years. Well, federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation of fox news channel. At issue whether the company failed to tell investors about payments it made to employees who claimed they were sexually harassed by roger ailes. Fox cooperating with that. Someones trash got turned into a treasure. Someone dumped in Old Television center unaware that the previous owner had stashed 100,000 inside of it. He had given the tv to a friend and forgot about the cash. He says he stashed 30 years ago. Its a good thing the worker at the recycling center is an honest woman. She called police when she found the stash of cash and tracked down the Rightful Owner because there were documents in this cash box. Police now understandably told the owner, you might want to put that in a bank. A little safer there. How do you forget . I dont know. Must have been doing if he forgot. Oh, yes. Gosh. I tip that much. Yeah. More snow in the northeast, ging. Imagine 3 to 6 feet o of sno had fallen in the last nine days in parts of maine. Semi off, a lot of places around portland had a foot or more overnight. This s