This Morning’s High Headlines – Jan. 16

We're going to begin this morning with the latest on that third batch of documents Mark classified from the Obama Administration which was found in President Biden's Wilmington home over the weekend the White House said those additional documents were found in a room adjacent to the garage where a different set of classified documents.

Were found last week since Discovery was made after attorneys had stopped and someone with security clearance picked it back up the first set of documents was found last November just before the midterms in a Washington office that Mr Biden used following his vice presidency they've been turned over to the National Archives the ones found in his home were.

Handed over to the doj a special counsel has now been named to look into President Biden's handling of classified documents for the very latest let's bring in NBC News White House correspondent Ali Rafa who joins us from Wilmington Delaware Ali good morning to you so first what can you tell us now about this third batch of documents that.

Were found and our President Biden's aides still searching for potentially even more documents yeah Lindsay and Joe good morning we learned about this latest discovery on Saturday and two new statements from White House counsel Richard saber as well as President Biden's personal lawyers saying that this newest batch of.

Classified materials these new pages were discovered uh Thursday a day after that single document was discovered in an adjacent room to the garage in present Biden's Wilmington home a White House counsel Richard Sauber saying he discovered these additional Pages himself after he was trying to transfer these documents to doj officials after.

President Biden's personal lawyers called him in to be able to do that act saying they didn't have the security clearance required to be able to do that but this is all leading to two more big questions that we have which is again why did the White House wait several days after this discovery to publicly acknowledge this as well as the question.

Of if these personal lawyers weren't allowed to have the security clearance to handle these classified materials why then were they allowed to search President Biden's home after they found those classified materials at the Penn Biden Center these are questions that a lot of uh reporters are asking the White House so far we haven't gotten a.

Response yet you guys I mean now you mentioned some of the questions that are still outstanding the White House has been playing defense over the past week since these classified documents investigation began when it went public what's the administration stance regarding the documents and how the situation is being handled.

Yeah the White House is taking this posture of transparency they're saying that they don't want to look like they're interfering in this ongoing independent investigation by this new special counsel appointed by attorney general Merrick Garland there's they're saying that they want to give this the space it deserves respect the space and.

I want you to take a listen to a bit of what press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had to say in response to a bunch of questions about this back on Friday we have addressed this issue multiple times at length and we have been fully cooperating with the Department of Justice and now we will be doing the same with the special counsel's office.

Out of just to be prudent here and just to make sure that we are consistent I would refer you anything that is related to this uh to the as it relates to the review to Department of Justice or my colleagues at the White House Council Office the White House is pointing to the differences in President Biden's case.

Versus his predecessors obviously the Biden team immediately turning over these documents and Reporting them as soon as they were found versus a former president Trump who defied multiple subpoenas in the CL in the case of those classified documents found at Mar-A-Lago they're pointing to the fact that this is a much smaller batch compared to the.

Hundreds of classified documents found at Mar-A-Lago but really this lack of a full and cohesive response from the White House about questions that the White House and even Democrats are saying they're frustrated that saying that these are questions that the White House would be able to answer that wouldn't interfere with the special.

Counsel and council's investigation rather so there are still Democrats even uh you know AIDS inside the White House that are frustrated by the White House's responses to this as a whole so Ali Democrats are frustrated we know Republicans are very eager to investigate the sitting president they were before this now this gives them a.

New Target and over the weekend house oversight committee chair James Comer sent a letter to the white house chief of staff tell us about that and what the congressman is looking for so Congressman Comer is sending this letter to white house chief of staff Ron Clane asking for the visitor logs to not only the Penn Biden Center to President.

Biden's Wilmington home asking essentially who may have had access to these classified documents during the years that they were there then you have a house oversight committee chairman Jim Jordan also launching probes into this uh possibly calling for the politization of the special counsel's Office of the justice department this is to.

Republicans really the gift that keeps on giving because as you mentioned President Biden the White House had been Staffing up on their legal team preparing for just an onslaught of gop-led probes once the Republicans gained back the House Majority into things like the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan the crisis at the.

Border but this is something that the White House did not sees coming something that we can assume they're working behind the scenes to prepare for guys Ali what are the next steps in the special counsel's investigation so right now we know that the special counsel's office has interviewed multiple uh former staffers of then Vice.

President Biden who may have helped pack up these classified materials in these boxes whether they delivered them to either the Penn Biden Center or President Biden's Wilmington home but as of as to the question of whether President Biden would be willing to sit down with the special counsel that's something that my colleague Kristen.

Welker asked Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday and didn't get an answer so there's still looming big questions about what the White House's cooperation is going to be moving forward really how long this special Council probe is going to last and whether that could possibly impact the plans the president has to possibly make an announcement on a.

Potential run in 2024 guys all right Ali Rafa in Delaware Ali thank you so much Californians are bracing for a final round of heavy rain following a series of storms that have brought major destruction to the state President Biden has already approved a disaster declare operation to help with recovery efforts but more damage is expected in the.

Coming days NBC News correspondent Dana Griffin is in California with the latest we're behind the several businesses have been boarded up because it is just too dangerous with all the rain that has come the powerful waves here along the coast over the last few days we've experienced a lot of rain the latest system that came through overnight a.

Little less severe than others but still there's the potential for mudslides and downed trees a lot of communities that have been ravaged by these 10 atmospheric storms since Christmas are eager to dry out so that they can start to rebuild we know that the emergency response director here in the Santa Cruz area says that there are about a.

Thousand residents that are in need of funds to help rebuild President Biden has issued a disaster declaration for this area including Merced and Sacramento that are going to help out those communities over the last few days we've seen a lot of flooding we've seen landslides in Santa Cruz there's actually one that's going to keep.

Highway 9 shut down for several weeks because they believe the road is compromised the good news in all of this is that that last system that came in overnight is expected to be the last of the severe weather at least for now January is expected to be pretty dry which is going to give communities like this an opportunity to try to rebuild.

Back to you all right Dana Griffin thank you so much with that let's get a check at your Morning News Now weather forecast meteorologist Angie lastman is with us and is more on what's hopefully the last of the rain for Californians hands you can hey there guys yeah we're eventually going to see that fire hose turn off but not today that'll happen.

Here for Californians here as we get through the next couple of days though here's what's going on on satellite and radar right now you can see just still Heavy Rain working through the San Francisco area as far south as Los Angeles and San Diego still dealing with the rain they were seeing that moving onshore overnight this is all part of.

That next system that we're going to watch to be impactful for folks in those areas as we get through the day today we've already seen some minor River flooding near San Francisco so that will be something to keep a close eye on there's still 7 million people under these flood watches and warnings at this hour and this will likely continue.

Through the day today we don't have a whole lot of rain expected here we could see some high rainfall rates at times but it's more because we have that really saturated ground from those numerous storm systems that we've seen impacting folks there for weeks now so as this system works through the flooding potential will remain here's.

How it plays out we'll see the lingering rain across California even into the afternoon and evening hours today uh as we look towards the snow more snowfall expected for folks in the Sierras and that'll be where we'll see still some Gusty conditions as well so we could see some whiteout conditions too as we move into Tuesday though this system moves.

Into the four corners area and that's where we'll start to see some added snowfall for folks there as well that's where we'll see some of the heaviest snowfall from this here's how those accumulations size up again not crazy amounts of rain but just additional rain that they really just don't need at this point on the west coast we'll still see.

That stretching into parts of Oregon and Washington but then as we get through the the middle of the work week we'll start to see the snowfall accumulation stretching into parts of the Midwest and into the great lakes that next system is working through parts of the Great Lakes here as we get through the day today and then we'll see that secondary one work.

Through as we go through the week as well so six million people are under these winter weather alerts of some sort we have advisories watches and warnings up right now um in the meantime on the east coast in really east of is really warm temperatures we're continuing to see those temperatures running anywhere from.

10 to 15 degrees above normal we can see some record temperatures in parts of the South today as we near 80 degrees in Houston low 50s for Charleston as we look towards rally tomorrow a Raleigh rather we're going to see 57 degrees at 21 degrees above normal for Nashville and this is the kind of setup that we'll see going into the weekend so rain and.

Snow for the Midwest today and of course that strong storm out west but as we get into the next couple of days we'll still see those scattered flurries in places like Maine as we get into the midweek in the heavy snow but then the weekend looks pretty nice plenty of Sun for folks in the South never too early to start looking at them now of course.

That's what I'm here for thanks Andrew thanks all right now let's get to a pretty scary near Collision on a runway in newark's JFK Airport one plane was about to take off when another came dangerously close the whole thing played out over radio traffic NBC News correspondent Kathy Park spoke to one of the passengers who described those scary.

Moments until the 1943 cancel takeoff clearance a terrifying near Miss between two passenger planes on the runway at New York's JFK Airport we're talking all split seconds here but the initial cognition was this is not going to end well this animation shows a Delta jet on the.

Bottom of your screen in red about to take off Friday the 13th the pilot breaks moments before a possible collision with an American Airlines plane american106 heavy we're departing Runway four left um I guess we'll listen to the tapes but uh you were supposed to depart Runway four left the SAA released a statement.

Saying Delta flight 1943 stopped its takeoff roll approximately one thousand feet before reaching the American Airlines aircraft where was the miscommunication between the American Crew and the air traffic controllers the Delta crew was doing exact everything they were told to do how rare is something like this to happen this.

Happens occasionally where there'll be a misunderstanding about an air traffic control clearance and somebody will end up having to reject to take off no one was hurt in the incident but the Delta flight returned to the gate where 145 passengers and six crew members deplane Brian Healy was on board during the close call it was like a split second of.

Of panic um that resulted in this audible reaction on the plane I felt then adrenaline and there was total quiet on the plane and then there was relief when the plane came to a stop Delta issued an apology to cuss customers provided overnight accommodations and is now investigating the incident along with.

The FAA and NTSB a potential tragedy averted with just seconds to spare Kathy Park NBC News more developing Aviation news this morning out of Nepal at least 68 people were killed after a passenger plane crashed just moments before it was supposed to land both the pit voice recorder and the flight data recorder.

Were recovered by search teams those black boxes could help determine what led to the country's deadliest plane crash in 30 years NBC News foreign correspondent Molly Hunter joins us now from London with the latest on this Molly good morning to you so do we know anything at this point about a potential cause any information about the moments.

Leading up to this tragedy yeah Joe good morning to you so we have seen two videos from kind of seconds before that plane crash the first video is about a 10 second clip shot by a bystander on a balcony and I mentioned this because we've had an aviation expert look at this and kind of analyze it to see what can he actually tell by.

This plane it's a twin engine ATR 71 flying through the air Clear Blue Skies so weather was not a factor it didn't appear that kind of the mountainous really Rocky terrain was a factor that has been a historic factor for crashes in this area the second thing that's very obvious he says is that there's no kind of catastrophic event in the.

Seconds before it crashes so there's no fire there's not smoke coming off of that plane what he does notice and what's very obvious to the naked eye Joe in that video is that the plane literally starts to roll it Banks left and then starts to roll about 90 degrees now the aviation experts we've talked to say what they can get from that is that.

It might be evidence of an aerodynamic stall all of that though is going to kind of come out in the investigation once they listen to the cockpit voice recorder once they look at all of the data Joe Molly Ryan right now we know 68 of the 72 people on board were killed in the crash so what's the latest on those four remaining people in recovery.

Efforts there and have the families been notified yet yeah Joe I think you said the word recovery efforts so last night the search and rescue efforts at the scene of the crash were stopped at nightfall they resumed this morning but really according to authorities on the scene there's no evidence of any survivors so.

68 bodies have been pulled from the scene 72 people total were on board so it is assumed at this point that those four additional people will be confirmed dead but there's absolutely no evidence that anyone was able to survive this crash so Molly I mean we know these investigations take time what happens next what is it investigators are.

Looking for in the coming days and the coming weeks yeah so this could definitely take months to kind of get to the bottom like I said according to kind of Aviation experts a lot of the early factors can be ruled out so it was not bad weather it wasn't necessarily a tricky Runway one of the things that's talked about is.

This Airport pakara International Airport recently changed locations Joe uh from the old airport to a new location just about a mile down the road so was there confusion over where this plane was headed where this plane was supposed to land the really good news though also according to Aviation experts uh as this investigation goes on.

Is that Nepalese authorities have historically been very transparent with their investigation so they will likely invite International investigators to join there's already news the French investigators may be heading to the scene because that plane three years at that Airline 15 years old was a french-made aircraft Joe all right Molly.

Hunter Molly thank you so much Ukrainian emergency crews are dealing with the aftermath of a Russian missile attack that struck an apartment building in the city of nepro over the weekend at least 35 people have been killed but according to officials dozens remain missing NBC News foreign correspondent Matt Bradley joins us now from key with.

More on this so Matt what's the situation in nepro this morning our rescue crews hopeful they'll find any survivors yeah well I have to tell you first off Lindsay that number of deaths has actually risen to 40 with 75 people injured and I really think given what we're seeing from this terrible incident.

That it looks as though those numbers are probably going to be climbing now of course the rescue workers are still looking for survivors but the problem is is that we're going on about 48 hours since the initial impact of that Russian missile into that residential building so they're really not holding out a lot of hope that they're going to be able to.

Find anyone else alive though yesterday amazingly 24 hours after the missile struck they were able to pull at least one woman out alive so there is some hope that maybe people are surviving or that maybe people who might have taken shelter underneath the building when air alarms started sounding that some of those people might be able to be pulled.

Out alive but again there's not a whole lot of Hope for that just incredibly heartbreaking video we're watching now Matt there were missile strikes across Ukraine zaprita for example the southern heresan region what's the latest yeah well we've seen that constantly and this is all missiles that are being.

Fired at civilian infrastructure specifically electricity infrastructure now luckily for the ukrainians they've managed to use to great effect some of those Western provided anti-aircraft and anti-missile uh weapons that are provided Again by the West so you know normally their rate is something like 75 to 80 percent of shooting down some of.

These projectiles being fired by the Russians from the Black Sea or from the Caspian Sea or from North from Belarus so yeah we are seeing carpeting of missiles raining down all across the country this is a pattern that we've been seeing ever since the fall and it looks as though Russia is not running out of projectiles not running out of.

Missiles so this is likely to continue Matt you mentioned Belarus Russia and Belarus begin joint air drills today what can you tell us about these military exercises and the reaction to this in Kiev yeah I mean this is something that has been very suspicious to the top brass here we've been hearing from.

Intelligence officials saying that it's unclear whether or not uh the belarussian government would actually allow for their you know country to be used as another launching pad once again because it was back in February when the initial Invasion happened uh to send troops across the border because Belarus is not all that far from where I'm.

Standing right now the capitol Kiev so if Russia decided in this new offensive that we keep hearing about from Ukrainian and American officials that there could be some new offensive launched from Russia or from Belarus if they decided to make another play for the capital Kiev it would come from Belarus but so far it looks as though.

Alexander lukashenko the president of Belarus who's a very close Ally of Vladimir Putin has been reluctant to commit his own forces that won't necessarily stand in the way of him allowing Russian forces to deploy from Belarus so yes we keep seeing a lot of these trainings some intelligence officials saw told us that they're.

Probably just training but it's alarming because Belarus is very close and very close to the capital all right Matt thank you so much thanks for watching our YouTube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app

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