From cnn World Headquarters in atlanta, this is early start weekend. It could be the most stunning confession in cycling history. The real reason Lance Armstrong is sitting down with oprah. What will be the white house decide when it comes to gun control . All morning well put the proposals and the pushback in focus. Have you seen the inside of a coffee cup after the coffees gone . Who wants to carry that around and take it back to the store and, fill me up, johnny. Nobody wants to use that again. Remember last week . Why victors going to eat those words about starbucks latest venture. It is saturday, january 12th, good morning, everyone, im randi kaye. I stand behind those words. You might not want to. Youll find out why. Good rng mo, everyone, im victor blackwell, thats one take on armstrongs motivation, here is another. This weekend, were going to talk about Lance Armstrong and the possibility that he is sitting down with Oprah Winfrey to talk about cycling and his future in cycling and possibly doping. Last week we heard reports that he may fess up to doping, but now we have a date and a time. Usa today reports that armstrong will sit down with oprah next week to come clean. Why now . Hes already been disgraced, hes lost sponsors and stepped down from live strong. What does he have to gain by sitting down with Oprah Winfrey . And admitting it now after years of denials. Joining me now on the phone to answer that question is usa today. You wrote an article talking about this. When and where will he make this admission . And why now . Well, hes supposed to make this admission monday when the show tapes. Oprah winfrey is coming to his home in austin, texas. They are taping an interview and that is supposed to air next thursday now. As to why is he doing this now . The evidence came out against him, a massive file of evidence came out against him in october. And in the three months since then, hes been keeping a pretty low profile. And i think hes been deciding what to do about it. Hes kind of cornered himself. Because for many years now, he strenuously denied these doping allegations. And with all of the evidence thats come out against him, its hard to deny it anymore. And hes making a calculated decision for himself personally, its also, i think, a business decision for him. Because its affecting his charity livestrong and all of his sponsors have fired him. I think when he goes out in public now, hes getting a little bit different reception than what he used to get in that, you know, Everybody Knows now that if you believe the evidence that he did dope and lie about it for many years. So this is really a personal decision for him and also a calculated business decision for him. Now, the New York Times has said he would admit to doping so that he could, again, race competitively, professionally as a cycler. How likely is that . Not very likely any time soon according to the World Antidoping Agency code. Somebody who has a lifetime ban for doping, they could get their lifetime ban reduced to no less than eight years and if they made a heavy burden, and that burden is for that person to provide substantial assistance to antidoping officials about cheating in sports and cheating in cycling and helping antidoping officials to catch other cheaters. And he would have to do that. He would have to provide a lot of testimony about that if he wanted to get his ban reduced. The rule book says no less than eight years, right now hes 41. So eight years from now, he would be 49. And i dont know how interested he would be in competing at that age. I would say, also, though that possibly because its Lance Armstrong and depending on what kind of information he provides them, maybe the governing bodies in International Sports makes some kind of agreement to go outside the rule book and cut that ban down to less than eight years. But in any event, i dont think were going to see him compete in sanction events any time soon. Lets talk about the legal implications, he said under oath he did not dope. What about possible civil lawsuits . People had money invested in Lance Armstrong and the armstrong brand. As he continuously lied about not doping. Yeah, criminally, as far as perjury, last time he was known to have testified that he did not use performanceenhancing drugs was 2005. It was in a lawsuit brought against him by a Promotions Company in dallas. And my understanding about that is he is not at risk there because its been seven years since then and that is beyond the statute of limitations. I think hes clear there. Civilly, its a lot trickier. Like you mentioned, there are a lot of sponsors that invested a lot of money in him. There are people that have sued him already because they think theyve been defrauded by him because of his lies about performance enhancing drugs. That is a risk hes taking. Hes gambling a little bit that he can deal with it. He can negotiate it, reach settlements with these people that might want to sue him because of this. Definitely is a risk and that is the risk. Hes hoping he can negotiate the way out of that. Brent with usa today, its 3 00 a. M. On the west coast, we know youve been working all night to break details in this story. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me on. Thanks a lot. Well, that is one take on armstrongs motivation. Heres another. Earlier this week, i talked with dave shields. Theres a lot of other pressures. Hooe e hes not the only one currently under trial. Theres his old doctor and things like that. And i got a feeling theres some pressures coming on in some of those trials that are suggesting to him some things are going to come out out of his control. And now hes thinking, oh, well, the best way i can protect myself is to get that information out. But its, you know, its very selfserving. Yeah, so if he does come clean, you have always said you were an armstrong supporter, would that be enough for you . For me, it would be too late. You know, its i think that in life we try to believe people when somebody violates that trust and we start to realize, wait, this person doesnt really know the value of telling the truth, which is what ive certainly seen from armstrong. Im not going to go in there and get fooled again. You know, he doesnt know how to tell the truth. Once again, a headline here, usa today reports that armstrong will admit to doping on monday in an interview with oprah. And now to the flu epidemic that has gripped the country, 47 states now to be exact. New information from the cdc shows that just three states, california, hawaii, and mississippi are the only places where the flu is not widespread. Every other state from alaska to florida is reporting the flu across more than half of their given state. Dr. Sanjay gupta has tips on recognizing that bug and how to get through it. Randi, its the worst flu season in years. Weve been talking about it all week. Emergency rooms in many places overflows. Its a fascinating story. Heres what you need to know. The flu strikes fast and symptoms much more severe than a common cold. You feel fine one day and then the next a sudden fever, sore throat, headache, and tightness in the chest. Over 200,000 people every year are hospitalized with influenza. And anywhere from 3,000 to 50,000 people will die each year. Reporter flu cases are at epidemic proportions now in some areas of the country. Its the most weve seen this time of year in a decade. They may get more complications from this particular h3n2 strain which may make them ill for a longer period of time. It typically surfaces earlier in the season, tends to produce stronger symptoms. And it is highly contagious. In fact, when someone coughs or sneezes, these tiny droplets are released into the air. You cant even see them with the human eye, so you can breathe them in, but they can also live on surfaces. A lot of people dont realize this, they can stay on these surfaces for eight hours. Say your coworker is sick, you come over, use their keyboard, got the germs on your hand and then you touch your nose and mouth, and now youre infected. And if you spend several hours in tight quarters, like on an airplane. At highest risk, passengers two rows in front or behind the infected person. Now, the best way to kill those germs is to wash your hands and do it often and use real soap and real water. The problem is, people dont wash their hands long enough. My best advice, sing the happy birthday song twice while youre washing your hands. Its not quick to get rid of these viruses. Another key to prevention is getting the flu shot, getting vaccinated, reduces your risk of getting the flu of around 60 . Another benefit to getting your flu shot, if you do get sick, your symptoms wont last as long as compared to those who werent vaccinated. Sanjay gupta, thank you very much. The 66,000 u. S. Troops in afghanistan may be headed home sooner than expected. Hamid karzai met with president obama in washington yesterday. He and mr. Obama agreed to a complete transition of operations by the end of 2014. Both men spoke at the white house. Our path is clear and we are moving forward. Every day more afghans are stepping and taking responsibility for their own security and as they do, our troops will come home and next year this long war will come to a responsible end. The American Forces will be no longer president ial afghan villages that the task will be that of the Afghan Forces to provide for the afghan people. President obama is considering keeping some troops possibly between 3,000 and 9,000 in place after 2014. Its for counterterrorism and training, but only if they get immunity from prosecution. Karzai signaled he may be willing to give into that demand. Theres new information on that secret Service Prostitution scandal. This is the one that captured the headlines when president obama headed down to colombia for a secret visit last april. Chris lawrence has the story. Well, randi, victor, the prostitution scandal that embarrassed the u. S. Government wont go away. After an investigation, three more u. S. Army soldiers have now been disciplined for their part. All three received letters of reprimand. Two of the three also had to give up their pay for a couple of months and do extra duty. Again, this involved about a dozen u. S. Service members who admitted taking prostitutes back to their hotel rooms last april. This was just prior to a visit by president barack obama. Also implicated were three dea agents and about 13 u. S. Secret service agents, most of whom resigned or retired. Now, prostitution is legal in colombia and ultimately the investigation found there was no Security Risk to president obama himself, but it humiliated the very proud secret service and some of the other government workers, obviously, who have been caught up in this scandal. Randi . Victor . Chris lawrence, thank you very much. Crime is the hot topic in washington right now. Gun crime. Gun crime and gun control. We may be just days away from the white house weighing in. Well take a look at the possible recommendations and some of the reactions as we go in focus. [ male announcer ] count the number of buttons in your car. Now count the number of buttons on your tablet. Isnt it time the automobile advanced . 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We have a problem beyond quote the massacres, the columbines, connecticut, theres 10,000 people a year gunned down in our cities. Different motives, different reasons, different explanations, but its a real problem. Its serious. So what might be in the final list of recommendations . First, universal background checks and closing the gun show loophole that lets people bypass those checks right now. The white house is believed to favor a ban on highcapacity magazines. President obama is expected to have his recommendations by tuesday. The Immediate Reaction seems to be a spike in gun sales. Some likening it to the run on twinkies. Background checks for guns jumped more than 50 last month from the same period a year earlier and that some gun shops are having a hard time keeping up with the demand for weapons and ammunition. Biden also met with the nra. And this is their take on that discussion. In a sense, they were checking a box. They were able to say we met with the nra, we met with the people that are strong Second Amendment supporters. That doesnt mean there isnt an area for agreement. Room for an agreement, sounds promising, but then again the nra came out after that meeting to say the white house is launching an assault on the Second Amendment. It may be the states that make major changes to their own gun laws. Gun violence has been on a rampage as we know firsthand and we know painfully. We must stop the madness, my friends. And in one word, its justify enough, it has been enough. We will have much more throughout the morning. Next hour, what happens when a socalled good guy with a gun steps in. It is the tale of two shootings. In mississippi, thousands of criminal cases could be reviewed all because of autopsies performed by one man. Could innocent people be on death row because of his work . Mine was earned in djibouti, africa, 2004. The battle of bataan, 1942. [ all ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa Auto Insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaas commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. Begin your legacy. Get an autoinsurance quote. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. In mississippi, crimes and court cases long thought to be solved and settled are getting a fresh look. And prisoners, including death row inmates could be set free. Its all because of questions about a doctor whose work load and tactics have become the focus of intense criticism. I traveled to mississippi this past week to talk to the doctor in question. If you died in mississippi of any sort of suspicious circumstances, chances are, dr. Hayne was going to be cutting you open. Reporter thats a former public defender talking about dr. Steven hayne a pathologist who claims to have conducted tens of thousands of autopsies. How many would you say youve done an average year late 80s to probably a few years ago . Somewhere in the range of 1,400, 1,500 in that range, maybe 1,600. Thats five to six times whats recommended by the National Association of medical examiners. For the first time on television, hayne is responding to claims that an oversized work load and questionable tactics may have led to the conviction of many innocent people. For decades in mississippi, theres seldom been a state medical examiner. Counties relied on state approved pathologists to conduct autopsies. Hes never been certified by the board of american pathologists as a forensic pathologist. He was a prosecutors best friend. Law enforcement would go to dr. Hayne with their investigation pretty much complete. They would tell him what they suspected had happened. And nine times out of ten, probably 95 out of 100 times, they would get the result they were looking for. Im not a friend of Law Enforcement if a crime has been committed. Im not i dont support a d. A. If he wants to charge a person with a crime and i dont think a crime was committed. One highprofile case is that of tyler edmonds. In 2003, the 13yearold boy confessed to pulling a trigger of a gun with his older sister to kill her husband. He later recanted that confession. Edmonds was tried as an adult and hayne testified as an Expert Witness for the state. Edmonds was sentenced to life in prison. Three years later, the conviction was overturned and edmonds is now a free man. Then Supreme CourtJustice Oliver diaz wrote a scathing concurring opinion. I saw that dr. Hayne testified that he could tell by the Bullet Wounds on the victim that there were two hands on the trigger that fired the shot that killed the victim. I said that doesnt make sense. All i could say is two people were involved, i couldnt conclude one person did the shot. It was not a definitive statement. Hayne was removed from the list of stateapproved pathologists. Recently, the project has asked the state Supreme Court to review four separate murder cases in which hayne was the pathologist and expects to file ten additional requests, some of them Death Penalty cases. Were going to