Retaliation. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie faces a firestorm. Top aides accused of ordering days of traffic gridlock on the countrys busiest bridge. You released emails. Governor Chris Christie released a statement. People will be held responsible for their actions. Clearly, somebody is getting thrown under the bus. Fortunately for them the bus isnt moving its stuck in terrible traffic. Explosive materials have been found near sochi. Dennis rodman is apologizing about comments he made about an american being held in north korea, a day after he serenaded kim jongun for his birthday. Happy birthday to you some relief this morning as the deadly deep freeze backs off. If you say your tongue is frozen to a pole dont worry, you should be free by sunday. Navy helicopter crashed off the coast of virginia. Two crew members died. A royal birthday katherine, the dutchess is 32 today. Peoples choice for Favorite Movie actress is oh thank god, this would have been such an awkward ride home my wife Sandra Bullock. A pair of aces heading to cooperstown. The white house is in full damage control mode, reacting to highly critical remarks from former defense secretary robert gates. Read any good books lately anybody . On cbs this morning. The lane closures were meant to make life hell as payback for the mayor of fort lee, new jersey, for not endorsing Chris Christie in the election. Presented by toyota, lets go places. Welcome to cbs this morning, gayle king is off. Good morning. Im looking forward to todays show. An exploding scandal in new jersey is threatening the political future of a likely president ial candidate. New evidence suggests Chris Christies inner circle encouraged an effort to strongly restrict access to the worlds busiest bridge. The democratic mayor of the city caught in the middle believes the closure was political payback. Good morning. Good morning to you. Governor christie had repeatedly said no one in his administration was involved in the decision to shut down three crucial access lanes to the George Washington bridge in september, but the messages many sent from personal accounts clearly contradict that. Last august bridget anne kelly, Chris Christies department chief of staff, sent an email to David Wildstein, a christie appointee, in charge of the bridge. She wrote, time for some traffic problems in fort lee. Wildstein responded, got it. About a month later, drivers going through fort lee suddenly found the four lanes dwindled to just one. Over four days the ensuing gridlock led children to be late for the first week of school and hindered Emergency Response vehicles. Mark sokolich mayor of fort lee, says it was all in retribution for his refusal to endorse christies reelection bid. To learn people were put in harms way because of something i didnt do i cannot begin to tell you how troubling that is to me. In december christie denied his administration was involved. Ive made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it, and theyve all ensured me they dont. But on wednesday, christie who was not directly implicated in the correspondence said he had been misled saying this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. I will not tolerate it because the people of new jersey deserve better. In text and email messages sokolich was written as the idiot, even though he was croatian, a name officials seem to revel in the misery they caused. Is it wrong im smiling, texted wrong . I feel badly about the kids. I guess, responded of another. They are the children of buono voters, an apparent reference to barbara buono, who christie defeated. This is an abuse of authority and needs to be fulled vetted. In december with the socalled bridgegate scandal going, David Wildstein and his boss, also a christie appointee, resigned from the port authority, which is controlled by democrats has subpoenaed wildstein to testify about the texts and emails, but they have prompted criticisms from both sides of the aisle. Norah and charlie . Thank you. John dickerson is with us good morning. Good morning, charlie. So what will governor christie do if he wants to avoid the political damage that this might cause . Well cbs has learned that later today governor christie will give a press conference. You know yesterday he put out a statement and said he was outraged and shocked and hed been misled but it kind of stopped there, and in some reporting ive been doing, what they were trying to do in Christies Office was find out exactly what the facts were and get those put together and in the press conference today, hell address all of that and what hell do about it. What do you think theyll worry about the most some email somewhere that will link him either that he knew or should have known . Yes, and i think the first thing theyve got to do is make sure there is no connection to him. He said he knew nothing about it, and so i think at the press conference what hes going to do is try to basically do what the political technical term likely to see probably firings. Youre likely to see a kind of buck stops here moment from him, taking responsibility for this. Basically, doing answering all those questions, how could this have happened how could he not know about it, whats going to happen to the people that caused this delay, and thats what i expect in this press conference later today. As you know his image is a nononsense guy. If he doesnt do that do you think there will be some controversy . Right. Well, thats the open territory for him here which is that were used to seeing politicians kind of come out and mumble and sort of say that they take responsibility, but never really take responsibility for it. Chris christie has styled himself as a truth teller a person who faces tough realities, and so having filed himself as that and basically if hes going to run for president , thats the theme he will strike that means today in this press conference, hes got to basically embrace that image, which means really sort of facing this head on, and even though he didnt know about it nevertheless, taking responsibility for it because thats, you know, when hes advised other politicians, including president obama when he was talking about president obamas health care plan, he said he should just go out and apologize and get in front of it so you would expect that from the governor himself today. Apology, okay john dickerson, thank you. And the Obama Administration is pushing back against its former defense secretary robert gates. His new memoir questions president obamas leadership and commitment to the war in afghanistan. Also criticized Congress Vice president biden, and other top officials. Jan crawford is in washington. Good morning. Good morning, norah, charlie, and those of you in the west. I think in his book hes toughest on joe biden, saying he hasnt made the right call on Foreign Policy in the past 40 years. So yesterday, the white house was playing defense, and it made a point of showing some strong support for the Vice President. For the first, the white house allowed photographers, it was one of five meetings that included the Vice President. Read any good books lately anybody . In a briefing white house spokesman jay carney tried to dismiss gatess criticism and showed the show of support coincidence. He has been an excellent counselor and adviser to the president for the past five years. Carney then read excerpts from gatess nearly 600page book that were favorable to the president. I believe the president was right. I believe the president cared deeply about the truth and their family. I never doubted obamas support for the troops. In his book gates writes biden was wrong on nearly every Foreign Policy and National Security issue over the past four decades. He describes one meeting where he agreed to the Vice President and was, therefore, rethinking my position. Gates also questioned president obamas sincerity in supporting the war in afghanistan, writing, given the president s Campaign Rhetoric about afghanistan, i think i, our commanders and our troops, had expected more commitment to the cause and more passion for it from him. With the recent violence in iraq and continued instability in afghanistan, gatess criticism opened up a new line of attack for republicans. I have deep concerns about the way this president has conducted Foreign Policy and in many respects i think hes undermined americas position in the world. Now either republicans criticizing hillary clinton, who according to gates, had made a key Foreign Policy decision based on politics and as you know, of course, biden and clinton, both potential 2016 Democratic Candidates so i think this is criticism well be hearing more of again. 2016 is in the news ann crawford thank you. And secretary gates talked on sunday morning thats this weekend here on cbs. Temperatures are finally rising for nearly 200 million americans who faced a deep freeze this week. The polar vortex that turned the northwest, south, and east into a icebox is retreating. Extreme cold is blamed for 21 deaths. Our minneapolis station wcco is watching the weather. Reporter good morning to you, norah and charlie and viewers in the west. We are excited here in the twin cities because right now our temperature is at just 1 degree above zero and we are expected to top out around 20 degrees later today. Now thats balmy, really compared to the lifethreatening temperatures we saw over the past week where we experienced wind chills up to 60 below. It was so cold yesterday that water pipes in a University Building burst. Last night marked the 11th consecutive night with belowzero temperatures and students were welcomed back to school after most classes were cancelled throughout the state earlier in the week because of the cold. It was the first time schools were closed on consecutive days since 1994. Now, we should see some relief in the coming days. Temperatures across the region should approach and eclipse the freezing mark this weekend. A welcome relief for people in this region who have been battling the arctic air for a few weeks. Charlie, norah . The search continues for a missing sailer. The chopper went into the ocean yesterday about 20 miles off virginia beach. The aircraft was based in norfolk. The accident happened one day after a u. S. Air force helicopter crashed in england, killing all four airmen aboard. David martin reports on this newest military tragedy. Reporter rescue crews were overhead 30 minutes after the helicopter went down in the cold atlantic. Ten minutes later, rescuers hoisted aboard the first two crew members, and 13 minutes after that two more. They were found close to the wreckage floating in the water. Reporter a fifth crew member was nowhere in sight. Coast guard ships began a search for the missing while the four survivors were flown to the hospital, but one died and another in Critical Condition could not be saved. They all were wearing dry suits meant to prevent them from the cold water. Antiexposure suit designed to keep water away from the pilots. It has seals on it and, again, designed to keep water away from the body. Reporter the helicopter mh53 sea dragon was conducting routine training off the coast. The distress call came moments before it went down. The last fatal crash of an mh53 occurred a year and a half ago, that crash in which two crew members died was blamed on pilot error. Two other mh53s went down in the summer of 2012 both due to engine problems. In each case the 50 million helicopter was destroyed. The investigation into this latest crash, which will include an examination of whatever wreckage can be recovered, is just beginning. For cbs this morning, this is david martin at the pentagon. A suicide bomb has killed at least 21 people in iraq this morning. The attack in baghdad injured dozens of others. Recruits were calling from a call to join the fight against Al Qaedalinked militants. Melissa palmer is in baghdad. Good morning. Reporter this attack charlie, is typical of the kinds of attacks that have been going on day after day and week after week here in baghdad and iraq. Terrifying people who were just trying to get on with their normal lives, and now the violence in Anbar Province and fallujah has made this even worse. The situation right now is confused. There has been fighting since the new year and it has been a stream of scared residents fleeing to more stable areas, but its simply not clear how many al qaeda extremists are in anbar, or whether they still actually control either neighborhoods or single buildings. There have been clashes reported today, but they are between the Iraqi Military and local tribesmen. There is a religious dimension to this fight. Most of the tribes are shia and sunni muslim. The tribes posted video of themselves attacking an Iraqi Military convoy on the outskirts of fallujah and one tribal leader has made a very public threat. He warned the army not to enter fallujah or the tribes would come to baghdad, and he said the tribes themselves would get rid of any remaining Al Qaedalinked extremists. As an iraqi politician told me one of the members of parliament right here in baghdad, he said my greatest fear now is civil war. Charlie, norah . Elizabeth, thank you. And an apology from former nba star Dennis Rodman this morning as he wraps up his controversial trip to north korea. A report rodman is backtracking about his comments of an american being held prisoner in the country. In a Statement Issued through a publicist, rodman apologized for his outburst on cnn. I dont give a [ bleep ] what you think. Claiming he was overwhelmed with stress about some of his teammates leaving north korea under pressure from family and business associates. Rodmans message read in part my dreams of basketball diplomacy was quickly falling apart. I was upset. I had been drinking. Its not an excuse, its just the truth. At this point, i should know better than to make political statements. Im truly sorry. Happy birthday to you the former nba allstars apology came a day after he sang happy birthday to north Korean Leader kim jongun. Rodmans friendship with the leader has been heavily scrutinized by family members of north korean captive kenneth bae, the american missionary sentenced to 15 years hard labor for allegedly plotting against a government during part of rodmans bizarre appearance on cnn, the hall of famer implied that bae got what he deserved. Do you understand what he did . What did he do . Baes family has not commented on rodmans apology, but his sister expressed concern how rodmans trip might influence baes chances of being released, saying hes playing games with my brothers life. There is no diplomacy, only games, and at my brothers expense. For cbs this morning, beijing. Time to show you this mornings headlines, the Washington Post said president obamas close to a decision on reforming the nsa surveillance program, likely stripping access to americans phone records. Time magazine interviews janet yellen saying the nation will see more Economic Growth this year. Yellen says her new job doesnt just involve fighting inflation and the Financial System its about helping ordinary house hollidays s households get on their feet. Cell phone users away from rival carriers starting today, theyll pay early termination fees. Newly elected hall of Famer Frank Thomas wants steroid users kept out of cooperstown. Thomas slammed 521 home runs but was overshadowed by hitters with bigger numbers, who were later accused of juicing. Greg maddux and tom glavine are being inducted with thomas. And the Los Angeles Times said the usdas suspended operations at a california poultry plant, the foster farm facility, is one of three links to salmonella outbreaks last year, this time a cold front dying as it reaches the bay area leaving behind a lot of clouds of. We are getting some reports of some drizzle outside, too. So a little slick on some of the roadways if you are headed out the door. A lot of clouds across the skies now as we head toward the afternoon, that will start to part somewhat. The temperatures though are going to stay cool. Plan on 57 degrees in pacifica. 59 in San Francisco. And about 61 in concord. Dry and warmer tomorrow, slight chance of showers as we head towards saturday. Much warmer next week. Announcer this National Weather report sponsored by toyota. Lets go places. John miller and his new boss new York Police Commissioner bill bratton have arrivedg on cbs this morning. Stay tuned for your local news. Announcer this portion of cbs this morning sponsored by hersheys kisses chocolates. Delightfully delicious oneofakind kisses. 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