Transcripts For CNNW Starting Point 20121115

Assassination of the top hamas military commander. Brings us right to sara sidner. Shes live for us in gaza city. Sara, good morning. Good morning. Yes, weve been seeing air strikes again and again here in gaza city. Weve seen more than a dozen air strikes since weve been here, which is a few hours. On the other side of the border, weve been seeing rockets coming in. Were talking about dozens of rockets since the targeted killing of ahmed al jabari, the head of hamas military wing. Now, what we have also seen in the streets are thousands upon thousands of people who participated in the funeral for al jabari. Hes not only the head of the military, he was not only a man, a commander of the military, but a man who was one of the founders of hamas, a symbolic member of hamas. So many, many people out to commemorate his death. We saw shooting in the streets, as you see a lot of times during funerals and also for times of celebration. But this one, certainly a commemoration. And then we have been seeing a lot of violence between gaza and israel. We know that there have been at least three people in israel, citizens in their apartment when rockets rained down on the apartment, killing three people and injuring one, and we know 13 people have died here in gaza from those air strikes. Soledad . Sara sidner for us, thank you for the update. Lets get to washington now, where a pretty fiery president obama ready to take off the gloves, if the republicans want to fight. The president clearly stating two key demands during his first News Conference, ever since winning reelection. The first on taxes and the fiscal cliff. But what im not going to do is to extend bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 that we cant afford, and according to economists, will have the least positive impact on our economy. The president also making clear that he has susan rices back. Thats his ambassador, the embattled u. S. Ambassador to the united nations. Initially she said that that september 11th attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi began as a spontaneous protest against an antiislam film. Well, now two topranking republicans are vowing to block her nomination if, in fact, she is picked to be the next secretary of state. That had the president very anger. Heres what he said. If senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. White house correspondent dan lothian is in washington, d. C. , this morning. Lets start first, dan, before we get to the ambassador, the embattled ambassador, lets start with taxes. Well, yes. You know, republicans pushing back on the president yesterday, because they dont want to see taxes raised, even on wealthy americans, because they believe that that will stifle Economic Growth and will hit those people who are the job creators. At the same time, there does appear to be this willingness to find areas of agreement, some compromise, and while there doesnt seem to be that much wiggle room, Speaker Boehner sounded a bit optimistic. Ive outlined a framework for how both parties can Work Together to avert the fiscal cliff, without raising tax rates. A few have looked closely at what the president have had to say, looked closely at what i have to say. There are no barriers here to sitting down and beginning to work through this process. The president says that he is open to any ideas, good ideas, from republicans, to get revenue. He said that he will not slam the door in their faces, but still taking that tough stand, that he will not extend those bushera tax cuts for wealthy americans. We also saw the president take a strong stand, as you pointed out, in defending his ambassador, ambassador susan rice. The president realizing that shes been coming under attack from republicans, in particular, senator john mccain, whos been going after her, because of the narrative that she told shortly after those benghazi attacks. Senator mccain saying that he just wants to get all the facts, suggesting that the white house has not been transparent. The president says anyone whos attacking her is simply, quote, outrageous. Dan lothian for us this morning. Thank you, dan. In just a moment, well get some more reaction from the maryland congressman, Chris Van Hollen. Thats straight ahead. First, john berman has a look at other news this morning. We now know the identity of the fbi agent who helped start the investigation that eventually led David Petraeus to resign. Hes veteran investigator, Frederic Humphreys ii. And others say that Paula Broadwell, her security clearance is now suspended. Also, petraeus will testify about the libya consulate attack after all, before a closed hearing of the House Intelligence Committee. That will happen tomorrow. Bp has reportedly agreed to pay an unprecedented fine and admit to criminal misconduct in connection with the 2010 deepwater horizon spill. Reuters reports that bp and the Justice Department have cut a plea agreement that could be announced as soon as today. Bp will only confirm that its in advanced discussions is and they havent reached a final agreement. Cy young award going to the knuckleballer and the fireballer. The new york mets ace r. A. Dickey won the National League sigh you cy young. In the American League, it was the young flame thrower, david price. The lefty very, very good, of the tampa bay rays. He won the cy young award. Price tied the American League for wins with 20. So mitt romney is taking heat from at least one Top Republican for claiming the president defeated him by giving gifts to young minority voters. Listen to how the defeated gop nominee is explaining his election loss in this phone call to some top donors. What the president s campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts if the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote. Now, louisianas republican governor, bobby jindal, says romney has it all wrong and he is not speaking for the entire republican party. He says that the gop plans to rebound from its election loss, it has to stop dividing the american voters. Soledad . Yeah, thats making some waves this morning. That full transcript of what he said, i mean, people can check out. I think its in the New York Times, the l. A. Times as well. A fascinating read. I thought it was remarkable, and actually quite surprised to read it, for a few reasons. Or you can say, sounds like the 47 once again. Well talk more about that. No surprise. Lets get right to our next guest, Chris Van Hollen. Nice talking to you. Good morning, soledad. Lets talk about the escalation in out and out fighting now between israel and the Palestinian Militants. There are now 100 terror sites, apparently, according to israel, that they are attacking, in response to rocket attacks that have come from the palestinians. What is your take on whats happening here right now and how likely it is that this will escalate into a fullscale ground war . Well, hamas continues to rain rocket attacks into israel. Israel, of course, as the right to defend itself. Hamas has dedicated itself to the destruction of israel. Theyve never been willing to recognize the existence of the state of israel. So israels taking actions, defensive actions, in this case, against the hamas military leader, to put an end to the strikes against israel. So this is a matter of israel exercising its right to selfdefense. The president s in new york today. Tomorrow, hes going to start those initial sort of facetoface talks about getting settled on the fiscal cliff. How do you how are you feeling about how this could go . Its interesting. I hear compromise kind of in the air, excuse me, but then when you get to the actual details, people seem very far apart to me. Well, youre right, soledad. Look, the president has made clear two things. Number one, as he said in the campaign, weve got to ask higher income earners to contribute more to reducing the deficit, because if we dont, were going to hit everybody else that much harder. Seniors on medicare, kids education. So we should ask higher income folks to pay a little bit more. And he has put on the table, the president , a plan for getting there. Now Speaker Boehner has set the right tone, but the jury is very much out on the substance of the speakers proposal. He says hes willing to do additional revenue, but he has not been willing to show anybody how. You know, back during the campaign, mitt romney had a tax plan, but he wouldnt show anybody how he was going to do it. And i think the speaker would say that he has also had a plan. In fact, when he lays out some of his details, you can see the area of conflict, which is in that specific raising taxes part. Heres what he had to say. There are ways to put revenue on the table without increasing tax rates. Weve talked about this now for over a year. You could you know, theres all kinds of information and data out there. But getting into the specifics of that, at this point, would not be conducive to trying to come to an agreement with the white house. So is this just the starting point in negotiations, or is this a line in the sand . Like, were going to raise tax rates versus where theres no way were actually going to raise tax rates. How do you see it . Well, this is a question of math. And as i look at the math, in trying to get the amount of revenue necessary for a balanced deficit reduction plan, its very hard to get there if you dont have the tax rates on higher income individuals go up. If you take a look at the Simpson Bowles proposal, for example, it assumes the amount of revenue you would get if the top rate went back up to where it was during clinton era levels. On top of that, they do tax reform to generate additional revenue. So what the president has said is, if you really want to hit the Revenue Target necessary to combine with cuts, to get the deficit reduction we need over a period of time, youve got to have the rates go up. And it gets back to the point, its about math, and Speaker Boehner should show us his plan. The president s plan has been before the American People for almost two years now, about a year and a half, in terms of raising the rate, and also reducing the value of some of the deductions for higherincome individuals. Thats already part of the president s 1. 6 trillion revenue plan. A revenue plan, i should add, soledad, that actually has less overall revenue in the president s plan than in the bipartisan balanced simpsonbowles proposal. Let me ask you a question about the latest news were hearing about governor romney, who has been doing calling with some of his donors. And one of the things hes been saying is he blame his loss on the president s gifts. Ill read a little bit. With regards to the young people, the forgiveness of college Loan Interest was a big gift. Free contraceptives were very big with young collegeaged women. It goes on to say, you can imagine someone making 25,000 or 30,000 a year that youre going to get free health care, this is huge. Likewise with hispanic voters. Free health care was a plus. In addition with regards to hispanic voters, amnesty for illegals, the socalled dream act, huge plus for this voting group. A lot of people, and actually, highranking republicans have said that he is off the mark on this. Whats your reaction to what he has said in this call . Well, i agree with republican governor jindal, that governor romneys remarks were way off base. They were a reminder about the comment caught on tape made during the campaign, sort of writing off 47 of American People. In addition, with respect to allowing young people to stay on their Parents Health care plans until theyre 26. If i recall right, governor romney said, hey, that was a part of the Affordable Care act, a part of obama care that he was going to try to keep. So to go of a the president s vote on the basis that we protected more young people from, you know, Catastrophic Health care costs, that we wanted to make sure people have access to birth control, and those kind of things, i think is going to strike the American People as just kind of very off kilter, and clearly some of the governor, republican governors and others recognize that its another romney mistake. Congressman Chris Van Hollen with us this morning. Nice to see you. Appreciate you, as always. Christines minding your business this morning. News on the stock market and bad news out of europe. Yeah, lots going on. First lets talk about the markets, you guys. Stock futures are up after a really tough day yesterday. Since election day, the dow is down nearly 700 points since the election. This morning we learned that the euro zone has fallen back into recession. Thats the second recession in europe in four years. And theres the looming tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff. Ceos were optimistic about their 90minute meeting with president obama yesterday. Walmart ceo mike duke in a statement urging a solution to the fiscal cliff. He says this, our customers are working hard to adapt to the new normal, but their confidence is still very fragile. Theyre shopping for christmas now and they dont need uncertainty over a tax increase. And its interesting, because insiders, inside the beltway, are starting to say, well, its more like a slope, its not a cliff. I think mike duke is right. Its a cliff. Its a cliff if youre going to get a tax increase in your first paycheck next year. Its a cliff if youre not going to get your payroll tax holiday, which is 20 bucks a month. Its a cliff if youre living paycheck to paycheck, which is what mike duke is saying. And if youre trying to decide, do i buy my kid a bike or not . And weapon dont know how the market would react if they push this a week or two weeks in. Its playing with fire. Well keep talking about the fiscal cliff. Because were on day number 47 or Something Like that. Ahead on starting point, growing fear about the Economic Disaster if we do go over the cliff. But Warren Buffett says its not going to be that bad. And could the end of twinkies be near . Well tell you why hostess is threatening to shut down its factories ahead. Stay with us. One. Two. Three. My Credit Card Rewards are easy to remember. With the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i earn 1 cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2 back on groceries. [ all ] 3 on gas no hoops to jump through. I earn more cash back on the things i buy most. [ woman in pet store ] its as easy as. [ all ] one two. [ all ] three [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. Apply online or at a bank of america near you. 100 new. 100 greek. 100 mmm. Oh wow, that is mmm. In fact its so mmm you might not believe its a hundred calories. Well ok then, new yoplait greek 100. It is so good. Welcome, everybody. There are 46 days, 16 hours, a little change left before we hit the fiscal cliff. But the billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, he doesnt seem all that terribly concerned. He, of course, is known as the oracle of omaha. Claims as long as president obama holds his ground on the wealthiest americans paying more taxes, america can go over the cliff without actually falling into a recession. Poppy harlow sat down with him for an exclusive interview. Im surprised that hes not more, like, up in arms about this. Me too. Hes not alarmist about it. I want to make clear there, he certainly thinks we need to have a compromise, and put country over party. But he doesnt want to president to give in. He wants the president to take a very hard line. He says, we may need to see those automatic tax cuts and hikes come. What is the likelihood of the United States falling into a recession if we go over the cliff . I dont think thats going to happen . I think if we go past january 1st, i dont know if it will be january 10th, but were not going to permanently cripple ourselves because 535 people within the g cant get a loan. Even if we go over for two months, does that dip this economy back into recession . I dont think so. You dont think so . Thats interesting, because the cbo believes that. We had Hurricane Sandy that disrupted the economy for a period. We had katrina years ago. There are things that will disrupt the economy. 9 11 was an extraordinary case. But we have a very resilient economy. Weve had one for hundreds of years. And the fact that they cant get along for the month of january is not going to torpedo the economy. So i want to make clear, he wants to see a deal made. But he says, you have to be willing to go past december 31st. If you need to, you have to make every attempt to reach a deal. But he says, quote, dont roll over and give away the store. He sees the president in his second term being able to hold a very hard line. Bottom line, you know where he stands on taxes. He wants them much higher. Talking about taxes, how much higher . Thats the question, getting specifics. I asked him that on Capital Gains taxes, money made off of investment, but also on income taxes for regular people. Take a listen. Are you saying theres no taxation level thats too high . Whether its Capital Gains or investments or income . We certainly prospered with Capital Gains rates, more than double what they are currently. So wed be fine with 30 Capital Gains . I think, sure. What about income tax . We believe look, income taxes, they were as high as 90 during my lifetime. Very few people got up there. But i saw lots of people paying, you know, federal tax rates of 50 , and they went to work every day. So at this point, theres no level well, i think they can be significantly higher than they are. So this puts him at odds with pretty much every other ceo out there. Christine romans holding her breath. You dont hear ceos say, you could just keep raising taxes on Investment Income and it will be okay. They say it will stifle growth and he really doesnt believe it. In Lloyd Blankfeins oped in the journal yesterday talked about that. He weighed in too on 2016. Can we just get past the 2012 election. He did. This surprised me when it came up. We were talking about women and the importance of women in americas recovery. Which you love to hear a man talking about how important women are in terms of getting this economy back on track. So i said, all right, what about a female president . He said, i hope it is in 2016, i hope its hillary clinton. He told me, he doesnt think theres any Better Qualified candidate than clinton for the office. Nice to have a billionaire say that. And in 2008, he gave money to both clinton and obama. Hes been a very big supporter of hers. Still ahead this morning on starting point, general petraeus might finally be speaking out about his affair with his biographer. And our starting point team heading in. Were back in just a moment. The truth about mascara is. It clumps. Introducing a revolutionary new mascara. Clump crusher. Crusher. 200 more volume. Zero clumps. New clump crusher from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. Anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. Time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Buy now. Save later. Welcome back, everybody. Youre watching starting point. Our team this morning, the actor Stephen Baldwin is back, and you talked to us a little bit about some of the work youre doing with your daughter, some of the work youre doing on the movie front and youre always talking politics. Jim frederic is here, the International Editor for time magazine. And New York Times columnist charles blow, way down on the end. I usually have him here in case i need to stop him. Lets talk time magazine. A new issue released this morning featuring the cover, right there, the petraeus affair, shedding new light on the fall of the cia director, David Petraeus. Time says there was an internal debate within the fbi about whether to report the affair to the white house, but because there were no National Security concerns, the decision was made not to do it. The story goes on to say that Paula Broadwell, petraeus mistress, had been approached about a senate run in North Carolina, but petraeus angrily rejected the idea and told her she shouldnt sell out, whatever that means. Time also reports that broadwell tried to recruit Lance Armstrong this summer to ride bikes with general petraeus for the generals 60th birthday. That never happened. We know how its ended up for everybody in this big affair. Why dont we start for us about this. Explain to me the senate thing. Thats fascinating. At the aspen security conference during the summer, we have great reporting where she was having cocktails after dinner with six or seven close companions and she revealed that shed been approached by North Carolina moneymen, saying that you should really run for office. And that she described during this cocktails that she had presented to her mentor, David Petraeus, well, what do you think about this . And she related that David Petraeus came out vehemently against this idea. You know, what are your whats your stand on abortion, birth control, gun control, taxes, the fiscal cliff, and she said she didnt really have answer. That she was more enamored with being a politician than being a policy maker. And she said that he really came after her, saying and thats what the sellout is. You know, why would you want to go down the road of just being a politician in order to be beholden to money interests when you can go into elected policy, think tank. He was trying to convince her that she had a bright, bright future. But also by extension, he made it very clear that he had no political ambitions, despite what a lot of people had been saying around him, that he might even be a president ial candidate. Was this before and after did he have perhaps another motive for not wanting her to run for office. There are also a lot of people looking into your background. If you walk back the timeline, they were romantically involved, and they didnt know it yet, but they were already being investigated. This is just fascinating. The reporting is great on it. Thanks for the update on that. Weve got to take a short break. Well come back in a moment and talk about the president whos back in new york today. Hes going to be doing a tour from some of the damage from Hurricane Sandy. Will that visit actually help speed up Recovery Process for people who are still struggling . Well take a look at that. 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Because we think your money should stay where it belongs. With you. The value you expect. The service you deserve. It feels good to bluebird. Get it at your local walmart. And the candidates speech is in pieces all over the district. The writers desktop and the coordinators phone are working on a joke with local color. The secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategists tablet. And while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center. Working together has never worked so well. Welcome back, everybody. Lets start with john berman who has a look at the days top stories. Escalating hostilities between palestinians and israel threatening to trigger a fullscale mideast war. Militants fire rockets across the border into southern israel. The latest sort of tipping for this new violence, israels assassination of the top hamas military commander. A nanny indicted for the murders of two Young Children left in her children. 50yearold Yoselyn Ortega was indicted in the deaths of two Young Children. The mother found the children dead in the bathtub and witnessed the nanny try to kill her. Johnson has been found safe. Hes been missing since monday. No detail on where johnson was found or what he was doing. A wisconsin cop is very lucky. Officer deane wifnefski got back into his suv moments before an oncoming car veered over the center line and smashed into him. The police chief says the officer has some neck and back pain, but didnt need to go to the hospital, amazingly. And then theres this. Say it aint so. The makers of twinkies, hostess, and other yummy snacks is threatening to liquidate its entire business if the bakers continue its strike. They say they cannot continue operating because of these work stoppages at about twothirds of its 36 plants. That sounds like a chopping off your nose to spite your face kind of move. Even if they liquidate, the twinkies on the shelves now will last another 600 years. These are peoples jobs and likelihoods at stake. Thats terrible. I hope they can figure it out. In a few hours, president obama will be on the ground here, getting an up close look at superstorm sandy. The president will tour some of the hardest hit areas and meet with some of the storm victims as well. Cnns Victor Blackwell is live for us in Staten Island. What are the expectations of what the president will do today . Whats kind of his plan . Reporter well, its twofold, hes going to fulfill the role of comforter in chief and speak with the people who lost their livelihood. Like this business behind me, this tech company, the businesses are completely devastated by this storm, but this is the scene in homes and businesses all over Staten Island. Hell talk with people who lost someone or know of neighbors who lost someone. Of the 43 deaths here in new york, more than half of them are in Staten Island. Also, hes here to view the recovery. You can probably hear in the background that the power tools are working right now. As soon as the sun came up, crews were back out, working. And thats what dominick traynham wants to hear more of. He moved to this area of newdorf on Staten Island when he was 13. It was 1959. Four years later, he got married and bought a house up the road. Now, both houses are destroyed by this storm, and i asked him what he did when he saw those houses for the first too many after sandy. When you came back and saw this, what did you feel . What did you think . I cried. You know, i dont know what i thought. Im still in shock. You know, right now, were living in the basement. Weve got nothing. We have nothing. Reporter how do you start over . At 66 years old, i dont know. I really dont. Were just going to stick together with the kids and try to make the best of it. Reporter we understand that the president will walk down cedar grove avenue. Thats where dominick traynham grew up and raised his own children, and that is where those houses were lost. He expects to speak to the president today and hes going to tell the president , please support my neighbors. I dont think im going to live here any longer, but they need your help. Soledad . Such a sad thing. Victor blackwell for us, thanks, victor. Appreciate the update. A lot of people are asking today why more is not being done to help some of the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Its a question being asked as well by Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He headed up the task force after Hurricane Katrina. He says new york and new jersey are ignoring some of the big lessons that were learned after katrinas recovery efforts. He writes this, where is the command center . Whos in charge . Wheres the National Guard . During the Hurricane Katrina disaster, about 20,000 federal troops were mobilized. 20 ships, including a hospital ship. About 50,000 National Guard members, 200 helicopters assisted in the relief efforts. So far, in sandy relief efforts, about 11,000 National Guard troops were deployed and only two ships have assisted. This as people still suffer. And general honore joins us this morning. Hes in baton rouge. Thank you for being with us. How would you grade the response to superstorm sandy, as weve been calling it, and also the aftermath of the response . I would say during the search and rescue and the information going on from the governors before the storm and the search and rescue was an a. They did a superb job. My observations are based on the recovery. Soledad, what we learned in those two big storms of katrina and rita is that when you go in with ground troops, the National Guard, and the army, you have to stay in those communities to focus on the vulnerable population, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor. You just dont go in there in the daytime to help them. Youve got to put commanders on the ground, just like we did in iraq, occupy that block, occupy that community, and create a relationship under those people that are left behind, so they know that someones there if they have trouble. So let me ask you, then, about what you wrote in this oped. You said this, we learned a lot about what really works in our katrina recovery efforts, but new york and new jersey seem to be ignoring those lessons. First, i would like to praise the serge and rescue operations in new york and new jersey, but now they could be doing much better now that theyve entered the difficult part, the recovery operation. So if you had to give them two pieces of advice, what would you say . Get in there and what we call enabling tasks. In katrina, we cleaned storm gutters, so in case it rained again, the water would flow out. We had troops reestablish cell phone towers, so people could use their phones. We had medics on the ground from the navy and the hospital ship to go in to give people shots, not using doctors without borders. We can do better than that. Weve got the capacity. We know how to do this. They seem to go in light and then theyre not occupying those streets and have presence patrols so theyre with the people 24 7. And theres a commander in charge of several blocks at a time. You wrote a book called leadership in the new normal, a short course, which i always appreciate when im on a plane. But in all seriousness, there are some folks who would say, listen, maybe its that paem here in the tristate area dont know how to really be prepared. For those folks who are in the south, where theres a lot of hurricanes, they know that preparation doesnt mean run out to the store and buy a flashlight, which is what we like to do here in new york. It means gather fuel. It means release stockpiled water. It means take care of yourself literally for a couple of week, probably. Yeah. You know, you live in a very populated area. People have an appreciation that you cant get out. But the problem, come back to the same group of people. The vulnerable population. The elderly, the disabled, and the poor. And that makes up about a third of our population. Look whos suffering. Whos the majority of the people who are in those highrises without heat and electricity, poor people, elderly, or disabled. We need to be on those streets. We need to occupy those streets and be there for our fellow citizens. Can i ask you a quick question about general petraeus . Just give me some insight into how somebody at the highest levels of the military, who then goes on to the cia one would put everything at risk for what now appears to be not some big National Security issue, but your basic affair 101. Why . Well, i dont know, soledad. Its been going on a long time. We can go back in history and find examples of that, people, even president s, who have participated in its unfortunate. Youve got an outstanding general, an outstanding warrior who made a grave mistake. And im sure today hes regretting all of that and hopefully that will be a lesson for all of us. Lieutenant general Russel Honore with us, nice to see you. Thank you for talking with us. If you want to read the generals piece, its on cnn. Com and also on the cnn opinion sites, on facebook, and on twitter. Ahead this morning, hes wanted for questioning in the murder of his neighbor, but police cannot find john mcafee, although hes been doing interviews over the phone with various media outlets. Brazil has tough words for the american belize, i mean, has some tough words for him. And well talk about that straight ahead. Plus, shes ruling the charts and taking over hollywood, apparently. The actress and singer Jordin Sparks will join us. Keep dancing like that, youll bring home some kids you cant feed. Having you ship my gifts couldnt be easier. Well, having a ton of locations doesnt hurt. And my daughter loves the santa. Oh, ah sir. That is a customer. Lets not tell mom. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Fedex office. But i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] dayquil doesnt treat that. Huh . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus shes relief to all your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you [ male announcer ] youre welcome. Thats the cold truth welcome back, everybody. The Prime Minister of belize is harshly criticizing the Antivirus Software mogul john mcafee, says hes bonkers, actually. Police want mcafee to answer some questions about his neighbors murder, but mcafee is in hiding. He says the authorities in belize are trying to frame him for the crime. Lets get right to martin savage. Hes live in belize this morning. So what are the authorities telling you . Reporter well, soledad, what theyre saying is that they are absolutely frustrated that they have not seen and cannot find john mcafee, despite days of intensive searching. And they also say that they cannot believe that after all this publicity, no one has come forward to say they have seen or know where john mcafee is. Were on this small island, where he has lived. Also the same island where his neighbor was murdered. Its located about 35 miles off the coast of the mainland here in belize. And the frustration by authorities, well, listen, heres the Prime Minister and then the police department. Never met the man. Dont know what he looks like. I dont want to be unkind, but it strikes me that hes extremely paranoid. In fact, i would go so far as to say bonkers. Do you have any idea where mr. Mcafee is . We strongly belief that hes still in the country and we believe that he will come in. Reporter it is the taunting that authorities continue to get in the form of these reports that mcafee makes to members of the cybermedia that really gets to the government here, especially when he says the governments out to kill them. They say, look, were a democratic, lawabiding, peaceloving nation here. We have a professional police force. He just needs come in to answer some questions. After all, it was his neighbor who was murdered. So far, he has not done that, which is why people grow more and more suspicious here with each passing day, soledad. Martin savage, thank you. Still ahead on starting point, she first stepped on to the scene with american idol, but now Jordin Sparks is taking on a bigger stage, hollywood. Well talk about that and what it was like to work with Whitney Houston in sparkle. And she joining us, coming up next. Ina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the Aerospace Industry in the u. S. . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 75 of our mutual funds beat their 10year lipper average. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. With investment information, risks, fees and expenses child screaming underwater . underwater noises . Welcome back to starting point. Deadly jolt . Fivehour energy shots you see on counters almost everywhere have been linked to 13 deaths and 30 lifethreatening instances in 2008. Look at this. The incidents include heart attacks, quulgss and at least one spontaneous abortion. That will get your attention. Discovery of a gene mutation could yield important clues and causes in alzheimers and better treatments, too. The mutation triples the risk for patient that is develop the disease but affects just. 3 of the population. It interferes with the brains ability to crow ate plaque buildup. All i think about is music. Everything i see, hear, feel turns into a song and i try to turn it off, but i cant. I know the lord loves me and he wouldnt torture me with something i want to do but cant do so i figured you figured out whats wrong. Sparkle, you can have a gift. Its how you use it. I love this movie. Thank you. You cant watch yourself. This is jordin this is me doing Jordin Sparks, watching herself. Its one of those things that its so amazing that i got to do it and at the same time seeing whitney every single time i see her. She was so incredible. Was she . So sweet. You tell a great story about what she said to you when you were filming the final scene of sparkle. Tell me about that. We were filming the scene when i was in the pretty red dress. After we were finished, she had come to watch everything. She just wanted to be there to support us and to support, you know, it kind of coming to a close. And she was sitting there and she says come here. Come to the side of the stage. I come over and she takes my face in her hands and goes, youre everything that we wanted for this part. Youre perfect. And i just bawled. I completely lost t it was so amazing to hear somebody that you have looked up to say Something Like that. It was great. You are looking at roles now where you are not singing. Do you prefer that . Is it hard to say, no, im a singer. Im an actor. I want to be a singing actor . Youre doing a ton of things. I definitely am. I want to be able to do all sorts of things, which has been incredible. Since sparkle ive gotten a couple of other scripts and its been a very vast array of roles. There was a comedy, a drama and then there was like this action amazing script as well. Theres been a couple of different things. Avengers with Jordin Sparks. Right . There have been a couple of script with his music involved as well. I dont mind doing that as long as its the right thing. I actually teamed up with exedrin because i suffer from migraines. Your whole life . Theyre heardtorredit heredi. Excedrin was the only thing that worked for her. You can prevent and take preventive steps when you see what your personal triggers are after you tracked them for a while. I used to get terrible migraines in college and dropping out of college seemed to help a lot. I went back i went back. You have a perfume, too. I do. Its called ambition, which i love. Thank you. Honestly, when youre making a perfume, are you literally, i like this, or people come to you and say sign here and its done and done . No. One of the big things this is actually my third fragrance. I really wanted to be involved and i wanted to be able to wear it and go, okay, i know that i did this and i picked these scents. Plus my nana is actually allergic to pretty much everything. If it wasnt okay past her nose, i didnt want it to go out. She needed to be able to smell it. I did pretty well on the three of them. Shes good. She doesnt have an allergic reaction. She doesnt get migraines, which is amazing. I wanted to name it ambition, because thats kind of where i am in lye life right now. I kind of want to do a little bit of everything. I love that. I had a boss once who told me that he thought ambition in a girl was bad. When i heard that this perfume was called ambition, im buying this for me. Im buying this for my girls. I think thats terrible, sexist and awful. He knows who he is. I hope hes watching. Sxl. Anyway, congratulations to you and all your success. Great to have you with us. If you want to get more they have this free app called my migraine triggers and download it at excedrin. Com. You can download it and track it for free. I feel like i should be giving out free samples of perfume, and sparkle dvds. Next time ill bring some. We would love that. Fighting with two of the nations most powerful republicans. Well tell you what its about. You probably heard about his cursing at other drivers, cursing at the press. A new side of nascar driver kurt busch. A new documentary of his life called outlaw. Thats ahead. The next. Stop, stop, stop my car not so much. But thats okay. Youre covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from Liberty Mutual insurance. Total your car, and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. Learn about it at libertymutual. Com. 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Security Council Holds an emergency session about the crisis. Were following a developing story live straight ahead. Dow falls nearly 200 points, closing at a fivemonth low, soledad. News the eurozone has slipped back into recession. And the fiscal cliff is still there. What it all means to you. Bp reportedly close to a plea deal over the Gulf Oil Spill that could cost the oil giant billions. Thats straight ahead. Nevada congressman joe heck will join us, nascar driver kurt busch, dr. Sanjay gupta is with us, Dutch Ruppersberger and twilight actress, Elizabeth Reaser. Starting point begins right now. Morning. Welcome, everybody. Our team this morning, charles blow on the other side of me is with us, New York Times columnist. Stephen baldwin next to me, actor, of course. International editor for time. And early start coanchor, john berman. Worry talking about president obama, who seems prepared to fight on a couple of critical fronts right now, during his very first News Conference since he won reelection. Drawing what seemed to be a pretty red line for republicans, first one on taxes and the fiscal cliff. When im not going to do is to extend bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 that we could afford and, according to economists, will have the loeea positive impact on our economy. He also wanted republicans to be aware he is supporting u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. , susan rice. She, initially, of course, said the september 11th attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi began as a spontaneous protest. Because of that, two topranking republicans are promising to skudle any nomination if she, in fact, is picked as being the next secretary of state. With that, the president was very annoyed. Here is what he said about that. If senator mcand senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. Lets get right to White House Correspondent dan lothian in washington, d. C. This morning. Lets begin with taxes. Thats right. You know, it seems like both sides are still digging in on that main issue. Republicans dont want to see taxes go up even on wealthy americans. They believe that will stifle Economic Growth, that it will hit those very same people who are the job creators, the president digging in saying these bush era tax cuts should not be extended to wealthy american americans. The bottom line, though, is that both sides, republicans in particular, do seem willing to find some area of common ground, some area of agreement. Speaker boehner sounding somewhat optimistic. The president says that he is even open to some good ideas from republicans. He said he will not slam the door in their faces. But, again, the bottom line, the president not wanting these bush era tax cuts to be extended to wealthy americans, soledad. Dan lothian for us this morning. Before i let you go, lets talk about susan rice. Obviously, you know, we see the president pretty angry, curious might be a good we to describe it, too, in defending her. How do you think thats going to end up . Reporter thats right. It was a very full throated defense from the president , something weve not heard from him up to this point. The president sort of making the point here if you want to attack anyone, attack me. And calling the attacks from republicans, in particular, senator john mccain, who has been going after ambassador rice because he believes that the narrative that she told shortly after those attacks as they turned out not to be the case and he wants to know why. He said were trying to get all the facts here, suggesting that this white house has not been transparent. The president calling those attacks outrageous. Dan lothian in front of the white house this morning. Thanks, dan. Congressman joe heck is joining us this morning. He is a member of the House Intelligence Committee holding a hearing on benghazi thats going to happen in about two hours. He is a republican, i should mention, from the state of nevada. Nice to have you with us, sir. Thank you. What exactly do you want to know from general petraeus . Worry trying to get all the information on the attacks in ben gauzi and a clear time line. Theres still a lot of conflict between what the administration and Intelligence Community saying on how this attack evolved. We need to have full accountability of the administration, Intelligence Community. We need to have answers and transparency for the American People and certainly for the families of those who were lost. I was just talking to dan lothian about what the president has said, backing the u. N. Ambassador, susan rice. We know that john mccain and Lindsey Graham, both senators, have said they will try to scuttle any nomination if that would happen. Would you support that scuttling . You cant put somebody out as the face of the issue on all the sunday morning talk shows and turn around weeks later and say she knew nothing about the incident, had nothing to do with it. That is just plainly wrong. You dont put somebody out who doesnt know about the issue and have them go out to feed us the information that the administration wants put out. So we have to get to the bottom of what happened in benghazi and certainly the senate will hold confirmation hearings, if sthaes shes nominated . Didnt that happen with condi rice . If you use that measurement, put someone out, for example, about weapons of mass destruction that turn out, ultimately, not to be the case and theyre the face of that and later you determine that theyre not there and the information was wrong, isnt that exactly analagous of what happened to Condoleezza Rice, who john mccain supported and who Lindsey Graham supported . I dont think so. We had a situation where the information was wrong, not coming back and saying that the person had nothing to do with the situation. Condi rice was in the position to be able to be the face. The information was wrong. We had wrong information and weeks later the administration was coming back saying this person had nothing to do with the situation. Lets walk through that more slowly let me walk through that more slowly so you dont lose me. Youre saying the issue in both cases, weapons of mass destruction and information intelligence coming to the u. S. Ambassador susan rice, both cases the information was wrong. What you take exception with is what the white house did later . Is that what youre saying . Exactly. The fact is that what we have is a situation where somebody who had no firsthand knowledge is now put out to be the face of the incident and weeks later saying come and attack me because she had nothing to do with it. We not only have to get to the bottom youve lost me completely. Im sorry. Forgive me. Youve lost me. In both cases you have someone who says we had intelligence. The intelligence was wrong. What i said was wrong because the intelligence was wrong. How is this not analogous to Condoleezza Rice . Nobody came out and said that Condoleezza Rices hadh nothing to do with the situation. They put forward a sacrificial lamb. Then they could go out and claim deniability. Charles blow, help me. Forgive me. Im not being facetious at all. He is saying nobody said Condoleezza Rice didnt have anything to do with the situation. What im trying to figure out is are you saying that Condoleezza Rice actually should have known, because she had more intimacy with the information and then still said something that she knew was wrong and then, in fact, susan rice is a sacrificial lamb because she was put out as the face of the administration but didnt know anything . Matter of fact, its more of a defense of susan rice than it is a condemnation of susan rice. Thats how it sounds to me. Thats how it sounds to me. Condoleezza rice actually had firsthand knowledge . Nobody came back after the fact in that situation with Condoleezza Rice to say she had no knowledge, had nothing to do with the situation. Here were saying that ambassador rice was put out as the public face and then after the information blew up, was found to be wrong, was told was said that she had nothing to do with the situation and no knowledge. So why was she put out as the face of the administration on this issue . We have to get to the bottom of not only the response to the attacks in benghazi but also to the ultimate failures of the Intelligence Community recognized the threat and prepare for the threat to mitigate the attack. I feel like youre saying from your own comments that susan rice had nothing to do with either of those things. She didnt have something to do with the intelligence failures, which i believe you just said. And it looks as if she had no knowledge at the time. Shes cleared on that front. Maybe later the white house with his reiterating she had no knowledge. Why would you possibly blame her then . Im not blaming ambassador rice. What im blaming is the administration for not putting forward the information that they had in a quick enough manner to put clarity to the situation to the American People and the family of those that were lost. We still have conflicting information between Intelligence Community and the administration and thats what we hope to get to the bottom of today in an intelligence hearing with acting director morell as well as tomorrow when former director petraeus comes before the committee. Congressman joe heck, thank you, sir. I appreciate you walking through that slowly for me. I was getting confused about what you were telling me. Thank you. Thank you. John berman has a look at the other stories were looking at this morning. Thank you, soledad. That was interesting. Fueling fears of a new middle east war. Israeli strikes have bombarded gaza and the death toll is mounting. Sarah, there have been explosions all morning there. Reporter that was just a major hit here in gaza. It sounded like an air strike that was very, very close to us. Im just going to turn around to see if i can see where that may have hit. I cant see the plume of smoke, but two huge explosions just behind me in gaza city. Weve been hearing the explosions all day long. There have been air strike after air strike after air strike. So far now the number of dead here has now gone up. Instead of 13, which it was just an hour ago, now that number is 15. 15 people dead. We know at least nine of the 15 are hamas militants. The rest, as were told so far, are civilians, including two children and a pregnant woman. Now on the other side of the border, rockets have been sent out from gaza. Hamas, in particular, saying its sending rockets over into israel in retailiation for the air strike that killed its military commander yesterday. Those rockets, were talking about somewhere around 196 rockets, three people in israel killed while theyre inside their apartment. John . Thank you so much. Sarah seidner right in the middle of it all in gaza. Thank you very much. General petraeus telling Kyra Phillips hes looking forward to testifying on the benghazi attacks. Cora phillips described this incident. He wants to testify. He will testify. He has maintained to me all along that this was a personal failing, which as i said to me was quite stunning, and to many other people. He is not the type of person ive ever known to fail at anything, knowing him as long as i have over the years. And so he has made it very clear that this was about an extramarital affair and not over classified information or benghazi. Petraeus insisted to her that he never passed classified information on to Paula Broadwell. Happening right now, youre about to look at a live picture from the steps of the capitol in washington. Incoming freshman class, members of the house of representatives taking their class photo. Democratic side its a diverse collection of women and minorities who actually outnumber white male democrats for the first time in history. On the republican side, mostly white males. Bp may admit criminal misconduct in connection with the 2010 deep horizon water spill in the gulf. Expected to pay a record fine in exchange for a waiver of future prosecution. Bp will only tell us that a deal is close. Mitt romney taking heat from his own party for claiming the president won this election by giving gifts to and minority voters. Here is how the former Massachusetts Governor is explaining his defeat in a phone call to top donors. Listen. What the president s campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote. Now louisianas republican governor, bobby jindal, a republican, says romney is just dead wrong and is warning his party to, quote, stop dividing the american voters. Youre a romney supporter, arent you . Big time. Thats what i thought. We had a conversation about that. We dont have the full transcript of what he said but basically said there were gifts, people got freebies and thats why they voted for president obama. This was a pretty wild election. The president won. We want him to do well. I think people he won simply because his supporters believe that in another with four more years hes going to achieve what he said. And good on you. I wish him all the best. But put yourself in romneys shoes. I mean, this guy has been champing at the bit to be pred president for a long time and this was probably the closest he was ever going to get. So probably hes just trying to analyze it in a way that may be questionable, but he lost. I guess i agree with you on that. He lost. Shocking kumbaya today. I love it ahead on starting point this morning. Bad boy of nascar, racer kurt busch will join us. Etches a new documentary called, not exactly a surprise outlaw. Here he is. Were back right after this with him. Sfx sounds of african drum and flute look whos back. Again . Its embarrassing its embarrassing we can see you carl. We can totally see you. Come on youre better than this. All that prowling around. Yeah, youre the king of the jungle. Have you thought about going vegan carl . Hahaha you know folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. How happy are they jimmy . Happier than antelope with nightvision goggles. Nice get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Gq magazine once put our nest next guest on its most hated list. Im talking about the bad boy of nascar, kurt busch. His rise and fall in the sport of racing is the subject of a n brand new documentary of outlaw. Rise, fall, but where is this other rise part . Is this a story of rise, fall, rise of kurt busch . Everybody loves that. To watch everybody go up, go down and have all the problems that they do. The documentary is so entertaining. You have to be bleeped out a lot. You like foul words. Well play a little bit first and talk on the other side. First thing that comes out of my mouth is i need to kick your [ bleep ]. Can you get this [ bleep ] out of my face . Kurt busch has been suspended. That kind of anger will eat you up. It refrains me from not beating the [ bleep ] out of you right now. That moment turned everybody against me. Tell me why you wanted to be part of a documentary that would look at you in a very i think, you know, bright light. Its not sugar coated. Cameras and i have never really gotten along. Thats obvious. Thats an understatement, yes. We did this because we had so much footage from one weekend where we were doing a lot of awareness around ptsd with the armed forces. You see these troops come to the track, doing things around the track activities to get their mind off things, to create a nice environment for them to enjoy and the group that came out to cover this said we expected you to be an ahole. We expected you to be upset down and backwards with granting access to us. And i went, this is who i am. Are you a nice guy . Hes a very nice guy. This is not who you see. Theres always that busch brother problem. Baldwin brother problem. Dont put me in that group. Seriously, are you a nice guy who is just misunderstood . I have a fiery attitude when i put the helmet on. Its just that mentality of when you go into battle and youre a sports guy, you have to do what it takes to win. Sometimes it rubs people the wrong way. Especially the fabric of the way everything hases viewed these days has to be so clean, crisp cut and you cant have any blemishes. Coach bobby knight is a guy i looked up to, tossing chairs, thats how my dad taught me. I love how you drive, first of all. Watching this documentary, i was struck by how much you seem to mistrust and not like the media. I dont know if its just specific in nascar. Were nice. Or us here. People like us sometimes. This is a nice desk so far. Whats the job of the media . What do you see the job as the media . When i was racing, it was just about results in the beginning. And when you would talk about a bad finish, it was, well, i was running fifth all day. But then you would say that i raced poorly and finished poorly. Well, it was a mechanical problem. And i wanted them to look into it in more depth to find out why was there that bad result for the day instead of just the quick, oh, he finished 30th. Its get in there with more detail. Define things that make a driver different than the next guy. Because whats happened in our sport is a lot of guys are vanilla. A lot of guys are the same because Corporate America spends millions of dollars to advertise in nascar. We all have to be crisp, clean cut, tidied up and you cant have any blemishes. I will play another clip. This is from talladega. Here is our cougar. The greatest car weve ever had. Ricky bobby, having the struggles in his career, kurt busch having the struggles and trying to work your way back up. We did it to show i was still marketable. Do you think that its your attitude that has held you back . If you didnt have this hot, fiery temper that you would be a champion, you would be running first, that you would be the superstar and we would have a giant trophy sitting right here that we would be talking about . Well, that guy is jimmie johnson, fivetime champion that does everything the right way. Hes very clean. He represents the sport well and he does it at the fundamental level. For me, my attitude sometimes overshadows the effort that im putting forth. And it creates this villain or this black hat wearing character. John sn is like, man, you get all this attention for what youre doing here. Here i am, winning races, championships and yet my attention level isnt where he wants it to be. Its almost interesting. Now nascar is starting to push, in a sense, the busch brothers right back in front of everybody. And then a guy named jeff gordon, he goes out there this weekend. You had a little brawl the other day. Retaliates. He was fined, 100,000. But wasnt put on probation. Like your brother. Why . Thats the question. Weve got a brother thing going. Guilt by association. You think the end of the story is the rise . I think a lot of people think youre here, youve done some falling. You think the storys end is your back on top as a champion . Its meant to just show me in a different lens. The one you see behind the scenes and all the action that goes on, is it what it is . Well, now we just want to tweak it just a little bit to go, oh, thats how that all developed. Thats why there was the reaction that way. Youre killing my bad boy image of you. I know. Youre so nice and reasonable. Give me that helmet and i turn right back into an idiot. So nice to have you with us. The documentary is called kurt busch the outlaw. It airs tonight. Kills more people than car crashes. Dr. Sanjay gupta will talk about the staggering dangers of Prescription Drug overdoses. Thats ahead. E easy to remember. With the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i earn 1 cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2 back on groceries. [ all ] 3 on gas no hoops to jump through. I earn more cash back on the things i buy most. [ woman in pet store ] its as easy as. [ all ] one two. [ all ] three [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. Apply online or at a bank of america near you. But proven technologies allow natural Gas Producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. Across america, these technologies protect air by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions. Protect water through conservation and selfcontained recycling systems. And protect land by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. Americas natural gas. Domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives. Thats smarter power today. Welcome back to starting point. Im christine romans. Dow futures down a bit. S p 500, nasdaq up. Markets had a tough day yesterday. Since the election, the dow is down nearly 700 points. This morning, we learned the eurozone has fallen back into recession, the second recession in europe in four years. European markets lower. And there is the looming tax increases, spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff. Ceos, though, were optimistic about their 90minute meeting with the president yesterday. Mike duke writing, quote, our customers are working hard to adapt to the new normal. But their confidence is still very fragile. Theyre shopping for christmas now. They dont need uncertainty over a tax increase. There you go. Remember the fiscal cliff was designed to be something so bad that we would Never Get Close to it. Now were talking about it, like its not a cliff. Its a slope. Its not a slope. Its really a stairwell. Its notty stairwell. Its barely a drop. Thank you, christine. A deadly drug epidemic unfolding right now in the United States. Prescription drug overdose, in particular painkillers now kill more people than car crashes. Thats one of the starting statistics in dr. San yeah guptas new documentary called deadly dose. It premiere this is weekend. Nice to have you with us. Good morning. Ive been noticing, certainly in the hospital where i work, the number of pain prescriptions being given out were increase i ing. It was a call from president clinton who called me a few moments ago and i never heard him sound quite like this. He told me two friends of his that both lost sons within days of each other due to prescription overdoses, accidental deaths. He was talking about it and said, look, someone dies in this country every 19 minutes in this way. It was a starting statistic, as you mentioned, surpassing car crashes as the number one accidental cause of death. That certainly got my attention. Thats when we started talking about it and subsequently have interviewed him about this topic. Listen to a short clip. This is a statistic you may know. I was surprised by it, but 80 of the worlds pain prescriptions are in this country. 80 . Does that surprise you . No, because is that a cultural problem . Yes, it is cultural. People think ive got a headache or ive got this or my elbows sore or whatever. Look, i dont want to minimize there are a lot of people who live courageous lives in constant pain. Theyre in pain all the time for reasons they cant control. They need relief and they should get it. But theres no question that since we represent 5 of the worlds people and far less than 80 of the worlds people with aboveaverage incomes, we got no business popping as many pills as we do. Let me give you a little more context for that, soledad. We prescribe enough pain pills in this country to give every man, woman and child a pill every four hours for three weeks. So when we these pain pills are just everywhere. Youre seeing some of the consequences. The documentary airs this weekend. Its fascinating. Weve had lots of conversations about the risks of this and dangers to people. Sanjay gupta, thank you, sanjay. Its called deadly dose and will air sunday night 8 00 pm eastern time. Still ahead on starting point were learning about the women involved in the petraeus scandal and their security clearance as well. Are there any plans for general petraeus to testify about the benghazi attack . Thats been revealed. Well talk about that, next. Tonight our guest, thomas sargent. Nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. Professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years . No. If he cant, no one can. Thats why ally has a raise your rate cd. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. I have a cold. I took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesnt work on runny noses. What . [ male announcer ] it doesnt have an antihistamine. Really . [ male announcer ] really. 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Thnchts just in to cnn. The Justice Department will announce they have reached a deal with bp over the 2010 deepwater horizon spill in the gulf. They have agreed to pay a record penalty well over the amount of 1. 3 billion that pfizer paid in 2009, according to one official. Attorney general eric holder is expe expected to join federal and local officials in new orleans for that announcement later today. So, whoa will get an update on some of those details. And certainly what it will mean for the stock prices, as christine was reporting earlier. Bp stock well on the rebound. Well talk about that. Former cia director David Petraeus is speaking out as well, talking to Headline News Kyra Phillips, looking forward to testifying about the consulate attack in libya. He also talked a little bit about the scandal that im told is taken on him and his wife of 40 years. Kyra phillips was describing her conversation with general petraeus to robin meade. He had engaged in something dishonorable and sought to do the honorable thing in response and that was to come forward. He was very clear that he screw ed up terribly, that it was all his fault and even that it he felt fortunate to have a wife who is far better than he deserves. Obviously, he is taking it really hard. He knows he made a big mistake and he does want to move forward, making things work with his family. He doesnt want to throw 37 years out the window with his wife. I have never known him to be a flirtatious person. I have never known him to be inappropriate. And i think that was why this was so shocking on many levels. I think its important that we need to hear from Paula Broadwell. We still have not heard from her. I do know that people within his inner circle have described her to be an aggressive woman, someone who, quote, unquote, works her magic. Not giving not taking petraeus off the hook at all, but there are two people, obviously, in this swails situati situati situation. Its important to see theres another person involved and we hope to hear from her as well and her side. Wow kyra said that petraeus insisted to her that he never passed classified information along to his mistress, Paula Broadwell. Also getting more information on the identity of that fbi agent who helped start this whole investigation that eventually led to petraeus resignation, frederick humphries. Biographer and mistress security cloerns has been suspesu suspended. No big surprise there. Lets start with what kyra was saying, barbara starr, who is at the pentagon. She didnt know him ever to be flirtatious and said a number of his friends were describing Paula Broadwell as someone who is agreesive and works her magic as she ensnares men with her mayingness, i guess, all around. So im not really surprised that the generals friends would be spinning it this way. What insight can you give us on this . Let me cut to the chase. Kyra is absolutely right. Two people involved, to say the least. When we know, soledad, is that general petraeus in the last several days has authorized personal personally several of his former aides to talk to the news media, including me. I have spoken to steve boylan, his former spokesman in iraq. Steve tells me general petraeus authorized him to speak to the news media. First, lets be terribly clear. General petraeus still putting out his words, his version of events through many of his former military aides. As for miss broadwell, she will have to speak her piece when she chooses to. You know, i think that its also worth absolutely noting by all accounts as far as we know, David Petraeus did not plan to resign. This relationship we have reported broke up four months ago. He knew he was under investigation. Broadwell knew she was under investigation. For the last four months, at least. If not even before that. He has known all about this. He has known it and it was when he was confronted and asked about it by the director of National Intelligence and apparently told he needed to tender his resignation that then this actually happened. So maybe a little bit of spin as well in the, he decided to do the honorable thing and step forward and resign versus youve now been caught and you might want to think about resigning. All right. Barbara starr at the pentagon, giving us a little clarity on those interviews. Appreciate that, barbara, as always. Sure. Want to turn now to maryland congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, who was briefed on the petraeus investigation yesterday. I assume you cant give me every single detail you heard in the briefing, obviously. Im curious to know what you still think is unanswered, not only about benghazi, but this other scandal as well. Okay. First thing, we were briefed yesterday by director muller, Deputy Director sean joyce and the acting director, mike morell of the cia. A lot of questions were answered in that briefing and we are also having a hearing with our whole committee this morning at 10 00 where well be able to get more questions answered about this whole situation, benghazi and some of the issues involving general petraeus. Okay. So, in those conversations, do you also want to know about the affair or are you just going to focus on benghazi or do you feel like nothing is compromised . This is focused on benghazi. This is an active investigation thats going on. As long as thats going on, were not going to be able to comment. Theres a lot of information on our committee, focused in on National Security. This started as a criminal investigation involving cyber harassment. Thats how the investigation started. And that is why, at that time, that the cia i mean, that the fbi would not come to us. The fbi does not come to the white house when there are criminal investigations. A lot of that is because of what happened under nixon, watergate, hoover and all those issues. If, in fact, theres an intelligence issue, it would come before our committee. This is jim frederick. I have a question about an investigation. How much of it is going to encompass ambassador rice in the role she played . As you know, senator mccain is highly focused on this, becoming a news point in its own right. Will you be looking into some of that investigation as well . That will be another committee. That is the committee that oversees the state department. One of the things let me say from what i know this is only from more media than anything else. Information rice received she recei received from the administration. That information is what she knew at that time. Whether or not she knew other information, whether or not she told the truth, that is not an issue here. I think the president made a comment about that yesterday, that she received information from his administration and thats what she went forward with. That is one of the issues and one of the concerns we had because we, on the intelligence committee, received the same information initially. Since the interviews and the meetings we had yesterday, a lot of that is being cleared up. And especially from the acting director of the cia, mike morell. One followup. If she were nominated would you support her nomination to be secretary of state . Im the Ranking Member on the intelligence committee. I dont vote on that. As far as i know, shes doing a good job. Thats up to the president whether hes going to nominate her. Thats up to the senators on what information comes out about her, about her conduct and about her job. You dont have any opinion, though . If i did, im not going to give it. I dont think its relevant at this point. Im focused on benghazi and im foc focused on the investigation, where its going to go, and National Security. At this point thats not where my focus is going to be. Let me ask you a question about benghazi. Theres a report that when general petraeus released the cias benghazi time line, it really sort of set off this infighting between agencies. They were surprised that he had done that. They also felt like this only exacerbated the pointing of fingers. Is that correct and do from my understanding, there was not in fighting between agencies about what happened on the ground. When help when the attack occurred and that they asked the agency for help, that the agency right away did what they could do to try to help save american lives. Those are some of the fact that is need to be cleared up and what were focused on and what we will be asking questions about this morning in the intelligence hearing. That is coming from reporting in the wall street journal. Thats where that was coming from. Okay. I was talking to joe heck, congressman. I was asking him if there are parallels. My understanding is that he does not support ambassador rice being promoted to secretary of state and he was talking about what has been asked of senator mccain and senator graham, which is is there some kind of analogy between what we see now with the ambassador and what we have seen before with Condoleezza Rice when she was in the process of being nominated. Do you see something analogous there . Unfortunately theres too much at stake at these appointments to worry about what happened in the past or payback. You know, the election is over. Weve got some serious issues. Weve got National Security issues, a lot of volatility out in this world. The president was reelected much he will pick who he thinks is the best person for the job. The process is that the u. S. Senate confirms his nomination. I hope all members of congress and u. S. Senate will base it on facts and data and not political agendas or political issues. Weve had enough of that. We have to move forward. Not only in this arena, but the fiscal issue were going to be dealing with in the next days and weeks also. Final twilight movie hits theaters today. Elizabeth reaser joins us to give us all the secrets of the movie. Not really all the secrets. People have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. But they havent experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. In fact, in a recent survey, 95 of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. Visit fastreliefchallenge. Com today for a special trial offer. Since Ameriprise Financial was founded back in 1894, theyve been committed to putting clients first. Helping generations through tough times. Good times. Never taking a bailout. There when you need them. Helping millions of americans over the centuries. The strength of a Global Financial leader. The heart of a onetoone relationship. Together for your future. Together for your future. Trying to find a better job can be frustrating. So at university of phoenix were working with a growing list of almost two thousand Corporate Partners Companies Like microsoft, American Red Cross and adobe to create options for you. Not only that, were using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum. So that when you find the job you want youll be a perfect fit. Lets get to work. So we were chatting in the commercial break with stephen ba baldwin. Lets just continue that conversation. No. That was the chat in the break. I love the chat in the break. Celebrity apprentice and your daughters had a clothing line. Tell me about that. Its not mine. I brought you a tshirt. I picked the one i thought would be most cute on you. Thank you. Im not scared to say, soledad, i think youre pretty cute. I love you most of any of the panelists i have today. Thank you. This is a Shirt Company called so lucky to be me. Its just a little b. So lucky to just the letter b me. Its all for benefit for my moms Breast Cancer organization. So lucky to b me is this uplifting, inspired tShirt Company for gals who have suffered from Breast Cancer. And those who support them. And those who support them. Ultimately, i am responsible for who i will become and where i will go from here. I love this. Thank you for my present. Its really positive. Good for you. Well talk more about Celebrity Apprentice in the next break. What you were telling us was very interesting. Uhoh. Got to take a break. Up next, it is probably no. It is definitely the biggest movie of the year. The final twilight. Star Elizabeth Reaser joins us to talk all the secrets. Thats straight ahead. How are you . Maybe a tad slower. And blink at least three times a minute. Ery active latel. But because of Business People like you, things are beginning to get rolling. And regions is here to help. Making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. From Business Loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. So switch to regions. And lets get going. Together. Hi dad. Many years from now, when the subaru is theirs. Hey. You missed a spot. Ill look back on this day and laugh. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Underestimating you. Every obstacle you face, i didnt think you could overcome i it. I didnt expect you to seem so you. My time as a human is over, but i never felt more alive. I thought we would be safe forever, but forever isnt as long as i had hoped. Bella and edward and jacob and the whole blood thirsty gang are back. Its the fifth and final installment. Its called breaking dawn part 2. It opens tonight. Actress Elizabeth Reaser who plays the vampire esme cullen, youre not as pale as you appear in the movie. Im fairly white but not that white. This is going to be huge. I hope so. I think people are excited. Is it felt like a long five parts or does it feel like its gone by if you think about it, how many movies have done five parts, each one outselling the next . Its rare. This is a huge franchise. No one had any idea when we were making the first one, it was a tiny movie we were shooting in portland. No one cared and one day it was completely like one night of this movie just changed everyones sort of way of moving through the world. It just became so huge. How did that change your life, right . It went from a little independent thing to suddenly you know youre part of this giant, massive, moneymaking series. For me, it didnt change that much except for that i dont wear sweatpants out as much as i would like. I would prefer to be in sweatpants most of the time. You dont want to be in the celebrities who look like us column . No. Ive been there. Its not a good feeling. Tell me a little bit about this clip were going to show. At one point youre giving advice to how to fake being human. So lets play this first, with bella, and well talk about it on the other side. Irritate your eyes at first. Main thing is not to move too fast. Try taking a seat, crossing your legs. Maybe a tad slower. And blink at least three times a minute. Good. For a cartoon character. Why do you think its so successful . Like thats funny, right . Its not just the point of that plot moment but the sense of humor that underlines this entire thing. The idea that vampires are trying to act normal, trying to be humans is what drew me to it. First of all, theyre vegetarians, they dont eat other humans and theyre trying to, you know, fit into the world. Theyre trying to pass as humans. That was very fun to try to teach bella how to act human. Youre a graduate of juliard. Are there times and youre Walking Around the house, reading shakespeare to yourself thinking, but im actually in the biggest moneymaking film and the other, you know, theater. This is strange. Its still very odd for me. I didnt expect you know, i went to juliard. I studied theater, clskal theater is what im mostly trained in. Its still so bizarre to me that this is what im doing, but it helps. Every bit of training, i feel like i had actually helps. Its surprisingly hard to play a vampire and feel believable. You know, you want to be able to at least believe yourself. And on the business side of it for you, too, in our industry, its going to empower you to do things that you want to do. Whatever she wants, pretty much. I think it helps, yeah. I think it helps because people love these movies. Congratulations. It looks like this one also will be a huge, huge success. Elizabeth reaser. Meet the 5passenger ford cmax hybrid. When youre carrying a lot of weight, cmax has a nice little trait, you see, cmax helps you load your freight, with its footactivated lift gate. But thats not all youll see, cause cmax also beats prius v, with better mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid