The quiet neighborhood turned into a crime scene. This car riddled with bullets. Casings littering the street. It was scary, man. The Woman Holding police at bay. Why police say they were forced to open fire here. And its all about oscar. The major hits and tough competition with suspense building. The categories to watch that could hold huge clues. It still feels completely surreal. And hollywoods biggest awards show. Hey, good morning and we start here with President Trump ramping up his attacks on the media overnight. In a late night tweet the president saying, quote, Fake News Media knowingly doesnt tell the truth, a great danger to our country. Yeah, this came just hours after the president spoke to a group of conservative activists saying reporters should not be allowed to quote anonymous sources. But this morning the Washington Post reporting the Trump Administration recruited members of the Intelligence Community to counter stories about Trump Associates, ties to russia and that some of those officials spoke to reporters anonymously. All this is happening as the democrats gather in atlanta to elect a new party chair. Theyre really trying to chart a course forward in the age of trump. Many angles to cover this morning and we kick it all off with Abcs David Kerley who is at the white house. David, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, dan. Youre right. The war of words between the the attacks by the president and his white house continued and underlying all this are the investigations of possible contacts between the Trump Campaign and russian officials. Facing stories and investigations about alleged ties to russia, this morning President Trump and his white house are again targeting journalists. I called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are. They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources. They just make them up. Reporter the president apparently talking about a New York Times story saying his campaign had numerous contacts with russian intelligence. Im against the people that make up stories and make up sources. They shouldnt be allowed to use sources unless they use somebodys name. Reporter a white house source ironically requiring anonymity says the chief of staff was told by an fbi official that the story was not true, but when Reince Priebus asked the fbi to say so publicly, the bureau declined and the president questioned the bureau in tweets saying, the fbi is totally unable to stop the National Security leakers. They cant even find the leakers within the fbi itself. And this morning, a Washington Post report saying the Trump Administration reportedly tried to enlist other politicians to quiet the russian stories. The president set aside that controversy to bask in the bright lights of cpac, having coopted much of the conservative movement, which did not warm to him until the election. The core conviction of our movement is that we are a nation that put and will put its own citizens first. Reporter but more conflict just hours later after the president signs an executive order to study reducing regulation, the press secretary held an off camera briefing in his office but left some major news outlets out which our cecilia vega asked sean spicer about. But why not offer because theres 3,000 people credentialaled. But there are six no, theres not six. Theres actually no, actually that is false. To say that there are six, maybe six that reached out to you. Reporter among the outlets excluded from that briefing, the New York Times. The president has nothing on his calendar today, dan and paula. Tomorrow the governors from the country are here for a grand ball. David, thank you and weve got a powerhouse pair of political analysts, Cokie Roberts in washington and matthew dowd who is in austin, texas. Good morning to both of you. Cokie, let me start with you. Were watching the Trump Administration escalate the attacks on the media. Whats the strategy here and is it likely to work . Well, it works for the people who love donald trump and hate the media, and thats an awful lot of americans. The fact is is that it puts the media in a difficult situation because every day were forced to say heres what he said that isnt true. And then people say, well, he says thats fake news and then people start to say, well, who is right here . And that becomes very difficult. Matt, do you think this is a Winning Strategy . I think in the short term it helps him because it undermines the press and undermines anybody that tries to have some factual dispute with him. Donald trump for the last two years has to have somebody to post up against. He had it with the republicans when he ran in the primary. He had it with Hillary Clinton and now he wants to create it with the press. He does not want to stand unto himself because he doesnt want that kind of introspection on him. Okay, guys, lets shift gears and lets talk about russia because Senate Majority leader Mitchell Mcconnell said recently its highly likely an investigation will be launched. A bipartisan investigation. We know the probes are intensifying but the white house says any insinuation of possible contacts between Trump Associates and russia is a witchhunt. Whats your view . Well, an investigation obviously it will be launched. Whats unsettling to put it mildly about the stories today are that one of the people or two of the people enlisted by the white house to try to knock down the stories are the heads, the republican heads of the senate and house intelligence committees, and those would be the bodies doing the investigations unless they set up a separate commission which theyve said they dont want to do, that they want the intelligence committees to do the investigation. Well, if the white house already has the chairs saying theres no story here, what kind of investigation does that become . Matt. Well, in the land of oz sometimes you do find a witch in a witchhunt, and i think this has been a cloud hanging over donald trump for the entirety of his campaign and obviously we know that from our intelligence agencies russia was involved in hacking into our election and in releasing information that affected our election in some way. Donald trump and his people, theres relationships that exist there, so the senate and the house need to investigate this and well see over time what all is involved. Finally the democrats gathered today to elect a new party chair, Hillary Clintons been cheering them on from the sidelines in a slick new video that was released yesterday. It seems like the choice the party faces right now is whether to go into allout war mode with trump as many activists are demanding or whether to find areas where they can cooperate so, cokie, let me start with you. Whats the better strategy for the democrats . I dont think they have a whole lot of choice here. I think, you know, the republicans said all through the Campaign Nothing brings you together like winning, which we saw yesterday with trump and cpac. Nothing divides you more than losing and thats where the democrats are. Theyre very divided. Everybody blaming everybody else for their loss. But the grass roots have taken over and want to be active. Its instructive that the person that the leaders of the party have chosen to respond to the president on tuesday is former governor of kentucky brashear, who is very much a moderate. Im not sure how thats going to play with the democratic base. And, matt, do you want to follow up on that . Sure, i think the democrats would be much better positioned, yes, create a resistance to whatever they dont like but be thoughtful about it but in the end the problem for them isnt donald trump and the republicans. The problem for them is their brand, is their own brand and their own candidates that dont seem to have a capacity to connect with the American Public and especially in those industrial midwest states and electing a chairperson in this is a little bit like saying it will solve their problem is a little like saying the head of marketing is the reason why the cubs won. It wasnt the reason why the cubs won. They won because they had players. The democrats need to get better players. Perfect way to end it with a classic matthew dowd analogy. Always about sports. I dont even know much about sports and got that one. Thank you very much both of you. We really appreciate it. All you need to know is the cubs won the world series. Yes, i do know that. All right. Cokie and matt, thank you. This morning, i deadly shooting near kansas city and mosque fire in tampa are both being investigated as possible hate crimes. A new widow explaining her husband was meeting a friend when gunned down and eva pilgrim is covering those stories for us this morning. Good morning, eva. Reporter it seems like one after another, different times of day, different targets, different states. The one thing they all have in common, they are all now being investigated as possible hate crimes. From coast to coast a rash of possible hate crimes putting many on edge. This morning the wife of a man killed in a busy kansas sports bar speaking out. He was just enjoying his glass of beer. Reporter Authorities Say the shooter Adam Purinton targeted two indian men he allegedly described as two middle eastern men. Even though the guy was talking so discriminately about his race, he was still minding his own business. Ive got two down. With gunshot wounds to the chest. Ive got a third with a wound to the hip. Reporter purinton now behind bars and the fbi investigating whether this was a hate crime. Not everyone is a muslim. Reporter authorities watching 917 active hate groups as they track recent hate crimes across the country. During the last week, waves of bomb threats temporarily shutting down Jewish CommunityCenters Across the country. 69 threats at 54 jccs since the beginning of this year. A century old Jewish Cemetery in missouri vandalized. Headstones toppled, left in disarray. And just outside tampa a fire at a mosque friday also being investigated as a possible hate crime. Whoever did this maybe intended to discourage us but this makes us much stronger. Reporter Authorities Say someone started the fire at one of the doors, no one was hurt but the building was damaged. Now, authorities now looking at security cameras hoping they will provide clues as to who started that mosque fires. Members there say there has been the owe situational hatefilled social media post but no specific threat before the fire. Were sending our best to that community, eva, thank you. We are going to move on now to new details in bizarre assassination of kim jonguns half brother which played out on surveillance cameras and were now hearing one of the female suspects was paid just 90 to carry out this attack which involved vx nerve agent and Alex Marquardt is on the story from our london bureau. Alec, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, dab. Thats right. 90 in cash that suspect said to rub what she claimed she shout was baby oil on the face of kim jongnam. Instead it was one of the deadliest chemical weapons on the planet. North korea has denied any role in this murder, which raises new concerns about the extent of their weapons arsenal and how they may use it against their enemies. The brazen killing in one of the worlds busiest airports taking an even darker turn with the revelation that the chemical used was the rare nerve agent vx. Its exceptionally lethal. Its one of the most lethal creations that man has ever come up with. Reporter vx is classified as a chemical weapon of mass destruction. The two female suspects at the kuala lumpur airport believed to have rubbed it on their hands before smothering it on the face of kim jongnam, the estranged older half brother of north korean dictator kim jongun. Vx has no odor or taste. A minuscule amount will trigger uncontrollable muscle contractions, confusion, drowsiness and nausea resulting in death or paralysis. As kim arrives at the airport, you can see a woman lunging at her target quickly rubbing his face before escaping. A second woman was also involved. One of the female suspects from indonesia claims she thought she was participating in a tv prank show for which she was allegedly paid around 90 to rub an oil on kims face. Kim immediately alerted airport authorities then collapsed. The assailant said to have quickly washed their hands, one of them vomiting but otherwise unaffected. The amount that they put on that individuals face would have been enough to have killed tens of people if not hundreds of people if actually sort of dispersed properly. Reporter malaysian authorities have Just Announced they will carry out a sweep in that terminal later today for any remaining radioactive or chemical elms. This use of vx has been widely condemned including by american officials. A pentagon spokesman calling it a very real threat. This attack sending a clear message about the brutal lengths that kim jongun is willing to go. Paula. All right, Alex Marquardt reporting for us this morning, thank you, alex. Back at home the wild shootout and the search for two burglary suspects and ending in a standoff and gunfire. Adrienne bankert has the details. Reporter the wild scene in a quiet texas neighborhood caught on camera. [ gunfire ] it was scary. Reporter one woman is dead and a man in custody after a massive shootout with Police Friday afternoon. Casings littering the asphalt, the suspects car riddled with dozens of holes after Authorities Say the 33yearold woman shot at officers during a standoff. Thats when you hear 20 guns just go off. Reporter the hail of gunfire that followed captured by a neighbor in this cell phone video. [ gunfire ] according to police the altercation started early friday. Officers attempting to arrest the unidentified woman for a burglary warrant. But the suspect speeding off leading officers on a highspeed chase that ended nearly ten miles away on this suburban street. S. W. A. T. Teams arriving on scene attempting to negotiate with the woman for nearly half an hour. I just cant believe that it went as far as it did. I was out there expecting to see somebody get wrestled to the ground and not killed. Reporter and, again, you can tell from that video this was all playing out in a suburb. I want you to imagine people are on the street getting back from the store unloading groceries when they see this procession of police vehicles, s. W. A. T. Teams, really concerning. Police have still not released the name of that suspect but some good news. The officers were not injured in that shootout. What a harrowing story. Adrienne, appreciate it. A lot of other news this morning and for that, as er aler states ended with a little girl found safe and the alleged murder of her mother under arrest. Oscar hernandez is accused of killing the mother, his former girlfriend at their home in connecticut and taking off with their 6yearold daughter. He was captured after a chase. That ended with his car crashing. Immigration Officials Say hernandez was deported to his native el salvador in 2013. And breaking overnight reports of a wave of suicide bombing attacks in syria. Syrian media say a number of explosions hit a security compound it is described in the city of homs. The Human Rights Group says at least 14 people were killed. Homs is syrias Third Largest city mostly under government control. And back at home stocks edged up a little bit on friday. But it was enough for the dow to set another record high. The index finishing at 20,821. That made 11 Straight Days that the dow established a new peak and that is a new record. Here in new york, a warm reception for former president barack obama when he turned up in public. A crowd gathering and cheering when mr. Obama was spotted at a starbucks in manhattan friday. Later he and daughter malia attended a broadway show, the price, an Arthur Miller play. Finally talking about bouncing back from adversity, a florida man finished a Half Marathon less than a month after he nearly died of a heart attack while running in that race. In january, craig smith collapsed a little more than halfway through the race. Several nurses who were there gave him cpr, saving his life on there and on friday, smith smith returned to the spot where he fell and walked the rest of that route. How about that . I think it was 27 days after he was felled by a heart attack love it. Back and walking the route. Great. Good for him. It was. Rob, so hearing about some treacherous weather back n the midwest. We had this record heat and now we have thunderstorms that indiana yesterday, greensburg, quart inch size hail making driving difficult. On the backside of the storm they had snow. They closed 80 west of lincoln, nebraska. Is a s. W. A. T. Of a foot north of a foot north of lincoln. Thunderstorms could be heavy along the i95 corridor, between 3 00 p. M. And 8 00 p. M. Tonight. Well see hail and damaging winds. More records expected to fall today. We had dozens yesterday for the months, five thousand record highs have occurred. 81 degrees yesterday in louisville. 78 in columbus, ohio, even boston, 73 degrees, yes it is february. I hope you enjoy it, because come tomorrow it is over. Check of the National Headlines here the local forecasts. Reporter its only over fo