Johnson, jen psaki, dan shaughnes shaughnessy, and jenn sterger. Actress and model who had her own moment with Brent Musburger. And model Cameron Russell, who will tell us why she doesnt think girls should be models. Starting point begins right now. Welcome, everybody. Starting point this morning, the nra and the white house, 24 hours from a facetoface gun control conversation. National Rifle Association confirming it will meet with Vice President bidens Gun Violence Panel tomorrow. They dont sown so thrilled about it. Were sending a rep to hear what they have to say. President spokesman jay carney responded with this. We look forward to hearing from a variety of organizations and civic groups and others. Who have insights into this problem. The nra is here to here what the white house has to say. The process is designed to get input. Sounds kind of circular doesnt it . Dan lothian in washington, d. C. For thus morning. Dan, sounds like it could be a little bit chilly. A different conversation with the victims of gun violence, meeting with the Vice President as well. Lets talk about the two meetings. Well, first of all, the nra as you pointed out, could be very chilly. They have expressed concerns, a rot of focus on gun control, but not enough focus on issues such as Mental Health or violent video games, things they believe contribute to gun violence and thats where they believe the focus should be. The nra has come out, saying there should be armed guards at al schools to prevent another violent attack like we saw in connecticut. Thats the position of the nra. They are coming here to listen to what it is nah the Vice President and his group might have to say. The Vice President and his group saying they are putting these meetings together to listen to what the nra and other organizations have to say. They could pud together policy proposals, so the president can figure out where he wants to go on gun violence. In addition to options that this group will eventually put on the table, they believe there are steps that congress can take right now, such as reinstatement of the ban on assault weapons, closing loopholes, and limiting high capacity magazines, issues that some lawmakers have already expressed interest in taking up right now. Those can be put forward and address gun violence right away. In the meantime, the Vice President trying to come up with other options. Walmart not taking part. The biggest gun retailer in the country. An interesting exception to the conversations. Thats right. And its sort of raising eyebrows out there, because the white house issues an invitation to various groups, pointed out, the nra tomorrow, today, the white house will be sitting down with victims groups and gun safety groups. Reaching out to hollywood, entertainment, video gaming companies, to sit down and talk about gun violence. Walmart says its a scheduling matter here. And they said unfortunate, we are unable to attend, but we are having ongoing conversations. We take the sale of firearms very seriously and are committed to the responsible sale of firearms. So unclear whether or not walmart will join further conversations in the future. But at this point, no accepting the invitation to join the conversation now. The schedule, just so packed. Interesting. Dan lothian, thank you for your time this morning. Reports the governor of new york will announce a machine for stiff new gun laws in the wake of the Newtown School massacre. The New York Times says one of the most restrictive bans on assault weapons is on the table. Cuomo wants to tighten existing laws, broaden the number of laws and ammo magazines that law will cover. Its this comment by the governor to a Radio Station that has gun rights advocates up in arms. The governor confirming confiscation could be an option. When he announces his new proposals later today in his state of the state address. Vermonts largest city passing a measure banning semi automatic weapons. Critics wore hunters orange. The ban goes to committee, and the public will vote and send it to the state legislature all before it can become a law. A few hours, the preliminary hearing for the accused Aurora Movie Theater shooter will resume. One day after prosecutors revealed disturbing evidence in the case. The hearing will determine if, in fact, holmes should stand trial. Yesterday, they played two of the dozens of 911 calls from the theater, including one where 30 shots could be heard fired in less than 30 seconds. Here is the father of how one of the victims responsed to that. I mean, just any one of those shots could have been the one that killed alex. If it wasnt, it hurt somebody else. Killed one of the other people who we have become friends with. It was horrific. Cnns casey wian in centennial, colorado, for thus morning. The prosecution about to wrap up the case. How has it gone for them so far on what they are trying to accomplish . Soledad, they have been able to accomplish quite a bit. Clearly trying to show the james holmes methodically planned this attack for a long time. Capable of doing that. To counter what is expected to be a limited metal capacity defense. They have shown he booby trapped his apartment in an effort, an elaborate scheme involving remote controlled cars, fishing line, diversionary smoke devices, napalm. He began purchasing firearms in may 2012, he purchased 6,300 rounds of ammunition. Two smoke grenades, and went so far as he registered on two at the same timing dating websites, and he asked will you visit me in prison . Showing he knew what he was doing and what the consequences might be . Back to you. John berman with an update on the rest of the days stories. Is it possible there wont be a single u. S. Troop on afghan soil by the end of next year . The administration considering leaving behind 15,000 troops, but now the president is open to ays scenario that involves a tol pullout. Afghan president hamm i had karzai and president obama meet friday in washington. History made this year at the president ial inauguration. Richard blanco will serve as the inauguration poet. He is the youngest and first latino. Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson and james taylor will be musical guests. Tune in to cnn for special coverage. Live on the mall starting at 5 00 a. M. That day. January 22nd may be the day that Hillary Clinton testifies on the deadly attack in benghazi. She returned to work after being sidelined for weeks by illness. She is open to testify before she leaves her post. Hugo chavez inauguration was scheduled to happen tomorrow, but treatment for cancer and a severe lung infection will keep him in cuba. Does the constitutional lou the inauguration to be delayed . Who is president in the meantime . An Opposition Leader is asking the high court if an inauguration later is even possible. We could see alltime baseball greats shut out. Barry bonds, roger sosa, and mike piazza and Curt Schilling on top of the list. Boston globe Dan Shaughnessy called the ballot poison and hard ball anthrax. So shy when he talks about this issue. Dan shaughnessy knows how to write controversy. And as Vice President bidens Gun Task Force meese, do conservative arguments hold water . Well speak with ron johnson about that, and about Financial Issues and the government as well. Absolutely. The most magical place on earth, is mickey mouse keeping close eye on you, the new wristbands concerned about mickey mouses big brother. Starting point back in a moment. Auto i you taken with the evening meal. And with no dietary restrictions, bob can eat the Healthy Foods he likes. Do not stop taking xarelto® rivaroxaban without talking to the doctor who prescribes it for you. Stopping may increase your risk of having a stroke. Get medical help right away if you develop any signs or symptoms of bleeding, like unusual bruising or tingling. You may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. Talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you currently have abnormal bleeding. Xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. You are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto®, and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. Tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. Before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions, such as kidney, liver or bleeding problems. Ready to change your routine . Ask your doctor about onceaday xarelto®. For more information including cost support options, call 1888xarelto or visit goxarelto. Com. Welcome back. Im christine romans. Minding your business this morning. Futures mixed as earnings season begins to heat up. Sales for alcoa, the largest aluminum producer in america, beat forecasts. 3. 3 is what earnings are expected to rise. Aig, poster child for the most hated bailout of the financial crisis will consider today whether to join a lawsuit against the government. A lawsuit claiming aig got a raw deal when taxpayers saved it in 2008. The suit led by former ceo Hank Greenberg comes as aig launches a pr campaign to say thank you to taxpayers. Magic bands at the magic kingdom. You go to meet snow white and she knows your childs name, it its your room key, it will be a little like big brother. Of course. Thats why they put the toys low, so they can get you to spend more money. A shorter line is worth it. You can opt in, dont have to share all of your information. Disney has the information they can use to tailor the information. Thats the cost of moving through faster, i support that. Moving on, we were telling you about this Weeks White House meetings on gun and gun violence. Today, victims of gun violence are meeting with the Vice President. Tomorrow, the nra, we are sending a rep to hear what they have to say. Im talking to ron johnson. Nice to be here. Well talk budge net a moment. These cups are incredible. We know a little bit about what the president is planning to put on the table. And ill throw up a little bit of what we know. Universal background checks, thats being floated. Tougher Mental Health exams, stronger penalties for carrying firearms near the school. What do you think of these proposals that were hearing about from the white house . First, im glad that they are looking at a broad range of issues here. I dont think there will be one single solution to this. Quite honest, i dont known there is a solution out of washington, d. C. In this case. These tragedies are horrific, but the fact of the matter is, we have a constitution and we do need to guard our freedoms and whether are you talking about gun rights, you are smacking right up against the Second Amendment. Video games, Mental Health issues, these are difficulty issues to grapple with. Im a little concerned they will try and rush this thing through, try and pass legislation out of washington, d. C. Within a month, and i dont think washington, d. C. Is capable of solving the problem. Lets go back to the Second Amendment. Oftentimes, the minute you Start Talking about gun control, people say im a Second Amendment supporter. It says a well regulated militia, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed which has a wide range of interpretations, of course, and what people are arguing about. Yes. Is there a middle ground . Christine and i were talking about this yesterday. It seems like there is a conversation with the ar15s and they are coming for my guns, and no one has a conversation in the mid thael would keep small children safe in a school. What does the middle ground lock like to you . Maybe thats what well get out of the meeting on thursday. What does it look like . You could draft it right now yourself. An a plus from the nra, how would you draft it . Middle ground . Im not in that position to draft it. What im looking at is what is all the evidence . Quite honestly, this isnt my big issue, i am here because we are bankrupting this nation, but when you take a look at the evidence, assault weapons bans, and thats a term really created by anti gun lobbyists, quite honestly to make it sound scary. These are lawful weapons that can be used in hunting, and you take a look at bans, they simply didnt work. We have gunfree school zones and thats where people go to kill children. So i wish there was some magic wand you could wave, prevent things from happening. These massacres are perpetrated by sick, demented and evil individuals. Who have access to guns, though. I understand. Lawabiding citizens get guns and criminals, even if we have laws, criminals will still have access to dangerous weapons. Whether there are guns. I dont want to start throwing ideas into peoples heads, but say people it disturbs me i dont hear a middle ground ever. Lets sit back and listen to what comes out of white house meetings. I have a flexible mind. Willing to give the president and the Vice President the benefit of the doubt. I am glad they are talking about the range of issues instead of going after gun rights. Lets talk about debt. Awesome. Are these a gift . Absolutely. Have you crea you have created the Social Security deficit cup. And tenyear spending cup. Handy plastic, reusable. One of the things we need more of are souvenir cups. No tax maier money spent on this at all. It comes from my company, pretty easy for to us do that. Americans have to understand how severe our fiscal situation is, and trust me, i travel all over the place and talk to individuals and they do not know the depth of the problem. The issue right now and the conversation has been the debt ceiling, which we are about to smack up against. The doom and gloom reporter every morning about the debt ceiling. So spending and debt ceiling to a large degree, while they are connected, they are different conversations. Debt ceiling, we have spent that money. That a difficult from verizon that has come due you have to pay. You are borrowing more money to spend in the future. We are borrowing money to pay off past debts. No. If we werent doing more deficit spending, we wouldnt have to borrow more money. The debt ceiling, last one could you say, the debate was messy. We didnt get a downgrade because the results of that debate didnt solve the problem. President obama, after he got his tax increase, the tax part of his balanced approach, when he came out and said, okay, now, the debt ceiling is off the table, not going to negotiate it because its spent, right . 16 trillion national debt. Thats money that has been committed by congress. Its been committed by the very people who will fight over whether we should pay the bills. You go ahead, say congress committed this money. February 15th, interesting on the debt. 9 billion coming in 52 billion has to be paid. 2. 5 trillion revenue coming into an annual basis, which equals what we spent in 2005. So you have to increase the debt ceiling because we continue to run deficits. So we need a budget to move forward. How about do that with the senate . We havent had a budget for four years . Christine, the only time weve produced fiscal restraint in this country, the messy debate over the last debt ceiling. When president obama doesnt even talk about it any time the president comes to congress and asks for Additional Debt benefit on the backs of our children and grandchildren, we need to have the debate. It should go on and on and on until we resolve the issues. You are around for one hour and 40 minute with us this morning. A lot of people dont understand the details of the debt ceiling. But i do think we have to really understand like longterm and shortterm implications. We will pick your brain all morning. Nice to have you with us. Well take a break. Ahead, well talk about what espn is saying. An apology for what Brent Mussberger said. Is that apology enough . Back after this. Welcome back, everybody. Youre watching starting point, wisconsin senator ron johnson has agreed to be on our panel. And jen psaki, traveling secretary for president obamas reelection campaign. Ryan lizza. Long time, no see, man. How do we feel about this apology from Brent Mussberger. They say his comments yesterday during monday nights bcs championship game were inappropriate and they apologize and he understand they were inappropriate. This is what he said when the camera spotted this beautiful young lady, Katherine Webb, girlfriend of a. J. Mccarron. Im telling you, you quarterbacks, you get the good looking women. What a beautiful woman. If you are a youngster in alabama, start getting the football out and throwing it around in the back yard with pops. Wow. Hey espn said this. We always try to capture interesting storylines and the relationship between an auburn grad who is ms. Alabama and the current alabama quarterback certainly met that test. However we apologize, the commentary went too far and brent understand that. I think they hit it exactly right. Not a gross infraction, but he kept on talking a lot about it right now. Growing up to quarterbacks so they can land the cute chicks. The person who is going to be offended is going to be her. If its okay with her, and then it should be okay with everyone else. He could have pulled back a little bit. Mrs. Mussberger. You just called her beautiful. Do you have to apologize . She is beautiful. Im sticking with that. And shes also lovely. Mrs. Mussberger would be like, hone, bring that back in. Thats where you need the apology. He is 70 something, shes 3 2 3. Its a little creepy. My first reaction, once a frat boy, always a frat boy. I dont know if hes in a fraternity. But i have to give her props. She is a pro. Well talk to jen sterger. The target of a similar thing. Brent mussberger basically pointed her out. Gave her career. Be