those former lawyers just yesterday. and now it's mitt romney and the rest after rick santorum says it is over. >> this presidential race is over for us, for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today. >> now the main event, mitt romney about to charge full force at president obama. it was one of the most horrifying crashes ever witnessed. this, a plane dive bombing into a crowd at last year's reno air show. now there's talk of changes that might just ensure this never happens again. north korea defying the world and fueling a long range rocket. the critics say the north isn't fooling anyone with its space program. first at one minute past the hour, the trayvon martin case, a brand new twist. the legal team representing george zimmerman, the man who shot and killed the florida teenager, has quit. they say they have lost contact with zimmerman and that they can no longer speak for him. attorneys craig sonner and hal uhrig say their client went rogue, contacting the media, contacting the special prosecutor who's investigating the case. he did this on his own. they told cnn's anderson cooper that george zimmerman gave them no choice. >> we felt we had an ethical obligation to kind of step aside. we got nothing against george zimmerman. we believe in his case. we believe in his innocence. we were prepared to defend him all the way, but we simply cannot defend somebody who won't communicate with us and who is off the reservation, talking with people we've advised him not to talk to. >> in the meantime, special prosecutor angela corie is planning to release new information on the trayvon martin shooting sometime in the next three days. cnn's george howell is live in sanford, florida, following these details. they seem to be coming fast and furious, george. >> reporter: good morning. indeed they are. here's the thing. if this announcement turns out to be a decision, there are a lot of questions. first of all, how would the prosecutor contact george zimmerman? clearly, it wouldn't be through his attorneys because they're no longer on the case. also, where is he? would he be considered a flight risk? just some of the questions that the special prosecutor, the state prosecutor, must be looking into. you can imagine, as she looks at that bombshell announcement that came out yesterday from his former defense team. we even had some experts come on our air to suggest that we shouldn't be surprised if the prosecutor were to make a decision sooner in this case. all along, she has stated she is going to have a very thorough investigation, a very methodical look at all the facts. here's what she had to say. >> if you make an arrest on probable cause and you couldn't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, then that's a short window of time the perpetrator will serve in jail. we always try to work with the police to build stronger cases before we make the arrest. >> reporter: now, we know that, again, those attorneys no longer have contact with george zimmerman. in fact, they lost contact on sunday. we do also know from that news conference yesterday that zimmerman apparently contacted sean hannity with fox news. he also reached out to the prosecutor, but the prosecutor did not speak to him because, again, he does not have a defense team at this point. we also learned from his former defense team that he set up a website, the real george zimmerman, that they were unaware of. in fact, they thought it might have been a fraud at some point, but they determined it was legit. all of this caught them off guard. at this point, they say they are also concerned about his mental stability. take a listen. >> george zimmerman, in our opinion and from information made available to us, is not doing well emotionally, probably suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. for those engaged in the late easter egg hunt looking for him, you can stop looking in florida. look much further away than that. >> reporter: that is the question this morning, where is he? is he still in the state of florida? we've been given indication that perhaps he is not in florida. that will be the challenge, clearly, for prosecutors as a decision comes in this case, ashleigh. >> and, of course, the special prosecutor in this case announcing late last night that in the next 72 hours there will be a press conference. is she tipping her hat at all as to what she's going to announce at this press conference? >> reporter: you know, just reading into the release that we received, it's just an announcement. it could be information maybe about evidence in the case. you can speculate. it's unclear exactly what that announcement will be. could be a decision in this case, but we know that things are moving quite quickly, especially after the big surprise announcement we got from his former defense team yesterday. >> and also, george, just quickly, the mood in sanford. every day there's either a protest or some showing of support for one side or the other, but mostly for trayvon martin. do we know how the news is sort of being digested for those who want an arrest right away? >> i think that at this point, regardless of what your opinions are on this case, i think everyone is, quite frankly, surprised at that announcement yesterday. no one expected for the defense team to walk out and tell the public that they are no longer speaking for george zimmerman. that came as a surprise to everyone. and at this point, people just waiting to hear how the state prosecutor will deal with that information. >> george howell, thanks. live for us in sanford this morning. at the top of the next hour at 6:00 eastern, we're going to talk live with george zimmerman's now former legal team. you just heard george howell talking about them. attorneys craig sonner and hal uhrig will be with us live to explain a little bit about what that press conference was all about and where does this case go from here? it is six minutes past the hour. there's a much clearer picture of the 2012 race this morning. mitt romney expected to go full force at president obama after rick santorum ended his bid for the gop nomination yesterday. it was a bitter fight that put republican against republican, and in the end, rick santorum didn't even mention romney in his concession speech. >> well, this presidential race for us is over, for me. and we will suspend our campaign effective today. we are not done fighting. >> this has been a good day for me. i had the chance to speak with him this morning. we exchanged our thoughts about going forward, and we both have a great deal of interest in seeing the country take a very different path. >> well, now the healing perhaps, and already at least one of rick santorum's big money donors has reportedly swung to team romney. cnn political editor paul steinhauser is live in washington, d.c., for us. that big donor happens to be foster friese. there's a lot we want to talk about. his adviser says santorum campaign does want to help mitt romney. however, his communications director says the endorsement not an inevitablity. santorum's not saying anything. what's the deal here? >> i guess the real story will be -- mitt romney's right, his job is to get rick santorum on his team, get an endorsement from rick santorum. gray bender is a longtime trusted adviser to rick santorum. he told cnn last night, when romney and santorum spoke yesterday morning, romney asked to meet with santorum, and that meeting is now going to be put into the works. and then at that meeting you would think that you would get a santorum endorsement. remember four years ago, after mitt romney and john mccain had a bitter battle in the primaries. mccain came to boston, romney's headquarters. the two had a public appearance. romney endorsed him and then became a big supporter of john mccain. i think romney would like to see the same thing for santorum. why? because, look, santorum had some major support in the primaries and caucuses from spoerbl consersocial conservative voters, tea party supporters, a base of the party that romney really needs help with. that's why it's so important for romney to get santorum on board. >> let's talk about suspending, rather than ending the bid. just for our viewers, can you explain the difference. >> there is a technical difference here. the campaign is not over. it still technically lives on. most importantly, rick santorum can still raise money fe needs to, and just as important the delegates, the delegates that he's grabbed and won in the primaries and caucuses over the last couple of months. most of them remain in his camp. it's up to him to release them or hold on to them all the way to the convention. zoraida? >> i know you're a poll junkie. i can't let you go without reviewing the polls. in case there's a matchup here. obama-romney, what does it look like? >> a brand new poll from nbc/"washington post" came out yesterday. the president has a seven-point advantage according to this poll. our cnn poll from two weeks ago and gallup poll also had the president on top. go to this screen, and this is interesting. the gender gap. zoraida, we've been talking about this over and over and over. in this poll, romney ahead with men. in women, a very large advantage for the president. it's probably why you saw romney yesterday at his event talk about women's issues and blame the president for job losses among women. >> trying to explain the war on women. at 6:00 we want to talk about potential running mates. get ready for that one. paul steinhauser live in washington for us. thank you. ten minutes past 5:00. a major scare in the air. a korean airlines jet was forced to make an emergency landing in british columbia after a bomb threat. the boeing 777 had just taken off last night from vancouver international airport. it was headed to seoul, south korea, but u.s. air force fighter jets had to be scrambled and divert that plane to land at a nearby canadian military base. officials say 149 passengers were on board, and that the bomb threat had come into a korean airlines u.s. call center based in los angeles. authorities were searching the plane. so far haven't found anything, no explosives. new developments this morning from north korea. the communist country has begun fueling a long range rocket for a planned launch sometime this week. pyongyang insists the rocket is designed to put a satellite in orbit and not , as the u.s. and south korea believe, a nuclear missile that could bring a nuclear war head as far as hawaii and south korea. south korea has threatened to take appropriate action. >> we're waiting for the bell. this is your daily gas price check, folks. i've got good news. lucky enough, we're on a five-day winning streak if you want to call it that. national average for a gallon of gas, $3.92. i know that's high, i'm sorry to report. here's the good news, it's down .7 of a cent from yesterday. prices are up more than 19% since the start of the year. hi to debbie downer that. sorry about that. new rules for air races. the feds are looking at these few seconds over and over again. they want to make sure the horror of last year's reno air show crash never happens again. and a big time college football program canning its coach. calls himself a family man, but he crashed his motorcycle with a woman half his age riding on the back. that's never a good thing. 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have a look. >> no, no, no! oh, god! oh, my god. >> it was just a devastating accident that claimed the lives not only of the pilot who was flying that plane butworld war ii plane. that made it very fast and very dangerous. at the time of the crash, he was estimated to be going as fast as an f-16 pilot, about 530 miles an hour. the investigators believe it might have been the g-force that incapacitated him before the accident. a couple of things that play in there. the ntsb is going to suggest safety checks for all modified aircraft at the air shows, but also the pilots wear flight suits to offset the g-force. let's move on to the detroit free press. civil rights leaders rallying for this woman who was fired after a trayvon martin student fund-raiser she sponsored. brook harris is her name. she lost her job teaching after trying to help students raise money in honor of trayvon martin. apparently, they were allowed to wear a hoody. they donate a dollar for that privilege, and then the school would donate the money to the boy's family. harris was fired for claiming she was being an activist and not a teacher. the superintendent says that's not why the teacher was fired. she violated the rules by having the fund-raiser. she did not use proper protocol. >> hard to placate everyonen a situation like that. it is 25 minutes past 5:00. with president obama set to talk about taxes and rich people this morning, president bush is talking about the tax cuts that bear his name. >> i wish they weren't called the bush tax cuts. >> what does he want them to be called? he had something to say. we've got more on what the former president said after the break. 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[ sigh of relief ] [ short breath ] [ longer breath ] [ short breath ] [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. today is gonna be an important day for us.es. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. it's 24 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. nice to have you with us. minding your business, as we like to do. it was a pretty dismal day. >> it was a really dismal day. dow had its worst one-day drop since november. all three indices losing 1.5%. that's five straight days of losses. among that is further concerns about slowdowns in europe and china. >> let's bring in christine romans. more of the same on stocks today? >> i think you might see things look up. alcoa had an earnings report that was a surprise. $100 million in the quarter. that was something for industrial companies. and remember are the first quarter was the best one in ten years. i'm not really surprised that people suddenly are looking at things happening around the world and taking money off the table in some stocks because we had a really great first quarter. i wouldn't get too worried about just this last five-day period. that's what i would say. >> hard to tell. >> yesterday we're all talking about taxes. less stocks, more taxes. taxes, center stage of the campaign trail. the president is going to be speaking today, talking about the buffett rule. tax the rich. make them pay their, quote, unquote, fair share. >> millionaires and billionaires. you know, a quarter of millionaires and billionaires pay a less tax rate than the middle class. listening to the talk on the campaign trail, you would think it's everybody. and yesterday president bush talked about the tax cuts that bear his name, the bush tax cuts that expire at the end of the year. listen to what he said. >> i wish they weren't called the bush tax cuts. if they're called somebody other's tax cuts, they're probably less likely to be raised. but if you raise taxes, you're taking money out of the pockets of consumers. and it's important for policy makers to recognize that all the doubt about taxes causes capital to stay on the sidelines. >> two polar opposite political views that are playing out and will play out for the rest of the year as we go through this campaign. the republicans say, don't raise taxes on anybody. it's about fixing the tax code, lowering taxes. this whole fair is fair thing is just going to hurt the wealth creators in the country, and it's not going to lead to higher -- it's not going to lead to jobs. it won't raise more revenue than $5 billion a year. it's the wrong kind of approach. on the other side, the president saying, look, it's time for fairness to attack income and equality in this country. we're going to raise taxes on people who have got a lot of money. those are the two themes that will be central to this election. >> yesterday you provided an education on taxes. today would be great if you would tweet it out. if folks are listening to this rhetoric, they can figure it out. >> it's rhetoric. oh, boy. you're hearing the two sides. taxes are so complicated and murky. there's nothing simple or fair about taxes. the tax code is a mess. when you hear someone try to make it simple, don't believe them. >> i only believe you. she's the one who speaks money, trust me. she wrote the book. still ahead, no one seems to know where george zimmerman is hiding out, apparently not even his ex-attorneys. last night they hinted he has left the state of florida. what happens now if there's an arrest warrant that's issued? 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[ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. welcome back. 31 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. time to check the announcements. an announcement from the special prosecutor in the trayvon martin shooting, this after george zimmerman's lawyers say they quit and they've lost contact with him. will he come out if an arrest warrant is issued? we'll talk to his former attorneys in the next hour. an 8.7 magnitude quake reported in indonesia. it happened off the coast of ache, the indonesian province devastated in 2004. it triggered a tsunami watch in the indian ocean. residents along the northern coast are being asked to move to higher ground. apologizing in two languages. ozzie guillen saying he is sorry for betraying the latin community with his comments about fidel castro. >> this is the biggest mistake so far in my life i made. >> the new miami marlins manager offending a huge chunk of the team's fan base and being punished for it with a suspension. was it a meteor? was it baby superman? nasa ending the crazy speculation about a fireball spotted on tape over texas. ashleigh? >> thanks, zoraida. where is george zimmerman? the man who shot and killed trayvon martin has gone even deeper into hiding, and not even his own defense team, or shall i say former defense team, knows where he is, which is why they say they are dropping this bombshell announcement yesterday. >> we've lost contact with him. up to this point, we've had contact every day. he has gone on his own. i'm not sure what he's doing or who he's talking to. but at this point we're withdrawing as counsel. >> for those engaged in the late easter hunt, you can stop looking for him in florida. look much further away than that. >> that has some people worried that zimmerman could skip town, could skip state, even skip country in an arrest warrant is issued, including trayvon martin's family and their attorney benjamin crump. >> if the charges come forward like we believe and we think likely should come from the special prosecutor, then the question is can they get him to hold him accountable? will he escape justice by fleeing? he is a flight risk right now, and we are concerned about that. >> well, at the same time, another major development. the special prosecutor in the case started the clock ticking to some extent, about an announcement she plans to make before the end of the day on friday. joining us now to talk about this, kendall coffey, a former u.s. attorney in southern florida, and criminal defense attorney midwin cherls. when i heard there was a notice for some kind of announcement from the special prosecutor, i was surprised in that the special prosecutor has not yet spoken to the only key witness who's alive in this altercation, and that's george zimmerman. is that a surprise to you? >> it's not a surprise because at this point, at least up until the time he had lawyers, george zimmerman would have been told by any counsel in america, don't talk to the prosecutors. in fact, we've heard that his attorneys communicated that he wasn't available to talk to them, nor should he at this point. frankly, standard operating procedure is do not talk to the prosecutors at this point. besides, zimmerman has already spoken to police, and for better or for bitter,are. but these attorneys made a suggestion yesterday that george zimmerman made an overture to the prosecutors themselves, wanting to talk to them. wouldn't they reach out to him to get his side of the story or at least say, we'll hold off on the 72-hour thing until he can retain counsel and come in and talk to us? >> i think the prosecutor probably decided she has enough evidence, and trying to deal with george zimmerman right now, with or without a lawyer, where he's behaving erratically, almost desperately, could just complicate facts and complicate whatever decision she's going to make, and if there are proceedings down the road. i think she's got to pull the trigger on what's got to be the most difficult decision of her career. >> one of the things the attorneys mentioned to our anderson cooper was that he feels like george zimmerman has gone off the radar. he mentioned this last night. have a look at this. >> you cannot be the first physical aggressor, not the first, hey, i want to call you a bad name or call your mama a bad name, the first physical aggressor. the only evidence and most of the forensics support the fact that that was trayvon martin. >> our apologies. what i was trying to get to as the sound bite from hal uhrig on anderson cooper last night where he said our client has gone off the radar, and he's talking to people we've advised him not to talk to. when you have a client and someone you're legally advising, because at this point we don't know what the role of these two attorneys has been and is currently, and you have somebody that's behaving like this, it is troublesome. do these two attorneys have the right to do what they did, and that is, walk away from the case and tell everybody who's calling, tweeting them incessantly, and say they're no longer available to talk? >> i think what happened yesterday is a clear example of how much of a debacle this case has become, and it's unfortunate, and it's a mockery of the justice system. what those two attorneys did yesterday is absolutely despicable from the perspective of a defense attorney. they are supposed to represent their client zealously, and they're not supposed to throw him under a bus. what it looks like happened is that george zimmerman no longer wanted to be represented by them. they want the limelight. they want to be on tv, and they decided to hold this press conference to kind of literally throw george zimmerman under the bus. >> i know there has been a lot of criticism that has been leveled against these attorneys -- and they're going to join us to talk about their motives, et cetera. but, kendall, just quickly weigh in on whether this makes a difference. them stepping down from whatever it was that they were, whether they were legal representatives or attorneys -- and there's some question about whether they were retained or not -- does it make a difference to the prosecutor? the fact that george zimmerman has reached out to them, does it still suggest he could be a flight risk, that they now have to step up their game and issue an arrest warrant so he doesn't skip town, skip state, or skip the country? >> prosecutors probably not relying heavily on yesterday's press conference to make their decision, but to the extent this is a very, very close call. you got two signals from this press conference yesterday. one is that this guy is in hiding, away, apparently, from the state of florida. more often than not, somebody who's hiding is seen as evidence of guilt. and the other thing that's troubling is just the way he's acting sort of erratically, desperately, almost panic stricken. >> you've got to admit, acting erratically and hiding n this particular case, it's not the case where someone is evading arrest. he's evading the black panthers who have a $10,000 bounty on his head or others who want to do harm to him. >> that's one case, but he's behaving erratically. i think it plants in the mind of the public or somebody at some level that, if he is capable of erratic, panic stricken action, does that make it more likely perhaps that he pulled a trigger that fateful night when he shouldn't have been pulling a trigger? >> that is a fascinating conversation as well. kendall coffey and midwin charles, thank you for your perspective. always love talking to both of you. at the top of the next hour, 6:00 eastern time, we're going to speak live with the gentleman at the center of this discussion. george zimmerman's now former legal team. attorneys, representatives, whatever you want to call them. craig sonner and hal uhrig will be here to tell you why they said what they said yesterday, what it means for the case, and that they may end up still legal representatives for george zimmerman. zoraida? >> 39 minutes past the hour. miami marlins manager ozzie guillen now suspended for five games after saying he loves fidel castro. guillen told "time" magazine, "i respect fidel castro. you know why? a lot of people have wanted to kill fidel castro for the last 60 years, but that [ expletive ] is still there." he expressed comments yesterday in miami. >> i'm very, very sorry about what happened, and i will do everything to make it better. this is the biggest mistake so far in my life i made. when you make a mistake this big, you can't sleep. you constantly think about it for four days. if i don't learn from this, then i will call myself a dummy, but not yet. >> guillen blamed the comments on bad translation. he was thinking in spanish but misspoke in english. he said, quote, what i wanted to say is i was surprised fidel castro stayed in power so long considering what he's done. guillen has been suspended for five games. and coming up, an update on this morning's breaking news. an 8.7 magnitude quake reported in indonesia. we'll have more after the break. gives you a 50% annual bonus. and who doesn't want 50% more cash? 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[ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? ha ha. ♪ ha ha. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. it's 44 minutes past 5:00. breaking news, an earthquake off the coast of indonesia. >> we're getting our first video into the news room. we've got rob marciano. >> first the video coming out of the cnn newsroom. pictures of people in banda aceh no doubt feeling the quake and getting out of their buildings. certainly at the time they're being told to get to higher ground. a scary site over there in northern sumatra. i can tell you this, by our calculations, if there was a tsunami generated, it likely hit this area, at least the coastal areas of banda aceh minutes ago. so this is taped, obviously, coming in right when the earthquake happened, which happened about one hour ago, around 4:30 or so eastern time. since then a tsunami watch has been issued for all of the indian ocean, and the closest to that, land mass to that epicenter, about 250 miles to the east, is northern sumatra, and that includes banda aceh, which is where you saw that video coming from. that would be the first area hit by a resulting tsunami. this is very close to where the 2004 banda aceh tsunami hit. the quake then was a 9.1 quake. this is an 8.7. very, very strong, but a 9.1 is four times stronger. it's a lot greater than the scale. it's four times stronger than an 8.7 quake. that gives us some optimism. but a quake of this time, anything over 7.0 or 8.0 in magnitude, is likely to generate a tsunami, depending on how the bottom of the ocean, those plates reacted. back in 2004, we had a thrusting of the plate, and that created that huge wave. if we had more of a slip, it would create less of a wave if at all. we're waiting to get reports of a tsunami. we're trying to tap into our data list of buoys out there to see if there's been any lift in the ocean. right now i can't tell you that for sure. but banda aceh would have gotten hit by a tsunami if one was generated. other spots in indonesia that could see a tsunami, padang at 6:17 eastern time, in about a half hour, bali at 8:53 eastern time. points further to the south and east, in australia, the northwestern point of australia, 9:15 eastern time. these waves, guys, travel at 500 miles an hour. so about the same speed as an airline jet plane. if you can imagine that, that's how this wave would be generating. no reports of a tsunami yet. there hasn't been a tsunami warning issued yet because we're waiting to see a lift in the water levels, if not a wave coming onshore. a tsunami watch has been issued for all of the indian ocean. the western hemisphere, including the u.s., there is no threat of a tsunami coming here to the west coast of the u.s. >> rob marciano, we appreciate that. we're going to check in with kathy kiano in jakarta now. what are you being told? we're concerned. folks are being told to evacuate to higher ground. we've been looking at pictures. everyone has been pretty steady. >> reporter: so far we can say there are no reports of that tsunami being generated on that northern coast of sumatra. we spoke to a person at the institute of geology. they said they were expecting a wave as high as 6 meters to hit simola island off the coast of western sumatra. so far, there are no reports that that has happened. they would expect that to happen just after the quake hit. we cannot confirmed that has happened. communication lines are down. emergency power has been shut down in parts of sumatra, particularly banda aceh and the other islands just off the coast of northern sumatra, including west sumatra. a warning has been issued for everyone who lives near the coast there to go to safer ground, higher ground. we've been seeing people have been doing that. they know what to do. they've been trained to do this. of course, what they're feeling now is the trauma again of feeling the earthquake of this magnitude and the fear of the tsunami coming next. >> and the watch seems to be something that's incremental here, right? it starts in that region, and then it continues? >> reporter: yes, that's right. they're telling everyone to continue monitoring to keep watch and not go back to the coastal areas yet until it's all cleared, but so far, as we said, there are no reports of that tsunami being generateded yet. >> i know you mentioned that some communications are down. do we feel confident that everybody has received the warnings and are moving to higher ground? >> reporter: yes. the first warning that the people get is the earthquake itself, and we know that it was felt in these areas, banda aceh, parts of western sumatra as well. people have been trained. they've been given drills, and they've done drills over the years in 2004. they know what to do. of course, announcements were made on tv, through flicker, through mobile phone communications, and there's a system in place. there's a tsunami warning system in place there, and we hope that has reached most people. i think all the people who live along the coastal areas of sumatra. >> kathy quiano live in jakarta for us. we'll continue checking in for any further developments. thank you. just going back to 2004, you could see the fear on the faces of those people in the video. they have lived through this before, when rob marciano said this was a 9.1. today 8.7. that's quite a significant difference, though. he said it's a real significant difference in size >> four times the difference significantly, but at the same time, if you've ever been to indonesia, it is low-lying all around the coast. there's a lot of volcanic areas. there is a lot of high ground. but it's spotty. to get to high ground could be tens of miles, and it could be very close by as well. with those people, it looked like they were paralyzed in position where they were. we're also getting word as well, where the outer islands of india are also being ordered to evacuate as well. imagine how far those southeast outer islands of india are from this epicenter. as rob marciano mentioned, a tsunami watch for all of the indian ocean. something else we've been watching is this gsa scandal, the government services organization. just one after another, the videos keep coming out that is embarrassing that agency. our dana bash got her hands on another one yesterday. when we come back from the break, we'll tell you what it is and why the fallout keeps getting worse. i'll tell you what's really gross: used dishcloths. they can have a history that they drag around with them. for a cleaner way to clean try bounty extra soft. in this lab demo, one sheet of bounty extra soft leaves this surface 3 times cleaner than a dishcloth. it's super durable too. it's the cleaner way to clean. bring it with bounty extra soft. in the pink pack. and try bounty napkins. 53 minutes after the hour. time to check the other stories making news. fresh violence in syria. just moments ago, mortar shelling in neighborhoods killing at least one person in this latest round of mortar shelling, according to a syrian human rights group. this just 24 hours before a u.n.-brokered ceasefire is supposed to take hold. dramatic pictures of syria this morning. the awards program at the center of the gsa spending scandal is now suspended. gsa employees were given ipods, digital cameras, other electronics. congressional investigators say that violates the employee gift limit. the gsa also in hot water for that 2010 las vegas conference that cost taxpayers more than $800,000. eight gsa workers have now been removed from their posts. nasa trying to explain this mysterious fireball in the sky over texas. it was caught on tape a week ago, posted on youtube. look at that. nasa now says it was just a jet contrail. some speculated it was a meteor burning up as it entered the earth's atmosphere or an alien ship that was shot down. for some reason, i think the people who believe it's an alien ship are not convinced by the fact it's now been decided. >> it doesn't look like a jet contrail, romans. it's burning orange. >> are you one of those? >> conspiracy theorists on this one this morning. i've got to tell you. did you say it was over new mexico, by the way? >> texas. >> okay, close enough. i'm taking off the conspiracy theory. if it's not new mexico, i'm leaving that. >> you're going to keep your little tin foil hat in your office. >> you saw that, did you? i'm a nerd. i can't help it. >> ahead in our next hour on "early start," it is the first day of the rest of rick santorum's political life. mitt romney's chief rival bowing out, giving romney a clear path to the republican nomination. and no "z" in team. george zimmerman going rogue on his attorneys, cutting off contact just as the special prosecutor in the trayvon martin case says she's about to make a major announcement. george zimmerman's former lawyers, craig sonner and hal uhrig are going to join us live in a few moments to talk about the news conference that everyone is talking about. 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bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. good morning. and welcome to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. nice to have you with us. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. we're bringing you the news "a" to "z." let's get started. george zimmerman's in a matter of hours those lawyers will join us in moments. >> it is now mitt romney and the rest after rick santorum says it's over for him. >> well, this presidential race for us is over for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today. >> ah, now the main event, mitt romney says he's about to charge full force at president obama. >> north korea defying the world and fueling a long-range rocket saying the north isn't fooling anyone with its supposed space program. this is cnn breaking news. and we're following breaking news out of indonesia this morning. an 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the northern and western end of the indonesian archipelago. well, there's another earthquake not as powerful revised from 8.7 to 8.6 magnitude but nonetheless, the implications and the repercussions for the rest of that region are significant. let's get you to rob marciano following it from our weather center. the significance of the watches for the tsunamis are just remarkable. >> widespread. we think back to 2004 when we had the 9.1 magnitude quake that hit just about less than 100 miles from this exact epicenter. that one a little closer to sumatra itself so the damage inland was worse and the quake itself was 0.5 stronger so this is a video we showed about 10 or 15 minutes ago. it happened around 5:30 or so eastern time. a little over about an hour and a half ago is when it actually hit and that's likely when this video was shot. now, these residents and other residents across northern sumatra were told to get to higher ground. if there was a tsunami generated it would have already hit this part of the world but these things travel -- one generated at 500 miles an hour so other areas may get hit, bali, northwestern australia, 9:15 eastern time but don't have any reports of a tsunami, just a watch. it's such a big quake that they immediately put a watch out, wait to see if any of their buoys move up or down and get a report of a tsunami, once that happens there's a warning and no holds barred, everyone in ocean bay has to head to higher ground. still waiting on reports for a tsunami. no doubt there was damage inland from the quake itself. >> rob, do we know at this point how far the quake was felt? i mean i know that cue ol koalu is nearby. jakarta is densely populated too but do we know if the shaking was that far away. >> the areas right there likely don't have power. communications sparse at best even when they do have power so we've gotten reports of some shaking being felt as far north as india and thailand so -- >> thailand? >> to give you an idea how strong the quake was. >> incredible. rob, thanks very much. >> all right, you got it. >> it is three minutes past the hour. the clock is ticking on what could be a major announcement in the trayvon martin case. special prosecutor angela corey said she'd have something to say within 72 hour, whether george zimmerman will be charged in the fatal shooting, excuse me and just when it seems zimmerman will really need an attorney his legal team has left him. attorneys, craig sonner and hal uhrig quit after they were cut off with contact. we'll talk live with those two. but first we have a report from sanford. george, do we have any idea what the special prosecutor angela corey is going to say today -- within 72 hours but we hear -- >> reporter: zoraida, good morning. >> we hear it could be sooner. >> reporter: at this point still unclear what that announcement may be, could it be a decision in the case? still to be determined, but say it is a decision in this case, there are a lot of question, first of all, how would the prosecutor reach george zimmerman with a decision? clearly it would not be through his attorneys as they are unable to reach him themselves. also, where is he? is he in florida? is he still in the united states? and also they will be looking into the possibility, is he a flight risk at this point? some of the questions that the prosecutor must be looking into as you can imagine after that bombshell announcement yesterday that the attorneys will no longer be representing george zimmerman. we've heard from angela corey's office that she's taken time to be thorough and methodical as she looks at the facts. take a listen to what she had to say. >> if you make an arrest on probable cause, and you can't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, then that's a short window of time that the perpetrator will serve in jail. we always try to work with the police to build stronger cases before we make the arrest. >> reporter: now, what we know per the attorneys that they lost contact with zimmerman on sunday. we also know, though, that he did reach out to sean hannity with fox news and to the state attorney but the attorneys there did not speak with him given that he has no legal representation. the prosecutor just decided not to speak with him. we also know that george zimmerman set up a website that his former defense team did not know about initially, a website called the real george zimmerman. they thought initially that it might have been a fraud, later determined it was legitimate, but a lot of things came to light that they were unaware of that he was doing at the time and they say that they are concerned about his mental stability. take a listen. >> george zimmerman in our opinion and from information made available to us is not doing well emotionally, probably suffering from posttraumatic stress syndrome. for those engaged in a late easter egg hunt looking for him, stop looking in florida. look much further away than that. >> reporter: the attorneys expressed their concern about his mental stability and everyone asking the question, where is george zimmerman? >> all right, george howell live in sanford, florida, thank you very much. >> george howell asks a very good question, where is george zimmerman? perhaps the only people who have had latest contact george zimmerman's former attorneys craig sonner and hal uhrig who join me live. thanks for taking the time to speak with me this morning. >> good morning. >> you've both been taking serious heat from a lot of your colleagues and legal analysts for the news conference that was held yesterday where you announced that you're stepping down from the case. do you have any regrets about announcing publicly that you've dropped -- i don't want to say drop the case because there is no case but dropped out of the representation of george zimmerman? >> let me say this, first of all as it relates to the heat we've caught, you know, it's easy for the monday morning quarterbacks to say you should have run a running play than a passing play because it's been intercepted. we don't think we've done anything improper or illegal or anything to hurt george zimmerman. to characterize what we did as quitting perhaps is not entirely accurate. we simply wanted to acknowledge the fact under the circumstances we could not ethically continue to tell the press or anybody else that we're still representing him. >> so that's i think where a lot of criticism has come based on the ethics. i think there's some question about florida law and where retention and privilege kicks in but maybe you guys can clear this up and, craig, jump in if you'd like. did you -- did you -- were you in any way retained even though there wasn't a document signed were you any way verbally retained by george zimmerman and, therefore, did privilege kick in? >> george zimmerman asked me to be his attorney. at first said as a legal adviser but later he said i want you to be my attorney and that was a legal agreement. i don't think we've done anything to violate attorney/client privilege. we've not discussed anything i discussed in confidence with george zimmerman. anything we discussed, all things were disclosed to the media through other sources. >> and just -- >> you know, ashleigh -- >> go ahead, hal. >> ashleigh, something you and i discussed before, we're all ignorant just on different topics. the subject of attorney/client privilege is a little more complicated than you pick up off the tv shows. listen to some of the complaints, frankly, even on this network from mr. geragos and mr. baez, they're factually incorrect. i checked the list of opinions who i treasure, they're not on the list. attorney/client privilege means something your client told you in confidence with the expectation you will not repeat it. it doesn't mean repeating things that are already out in the public that are already known. known to other people even just one other person. >> did george zimmerman talk to you at all after the news conference? >> no. >> no. >> are you expecting that he still may be -- because i took it from your comments that you are still available for representation should he so desire? >> that's correct. i mean everything that i've represented in the media about george zimmerman i believe. i believe that he's gotten a raw deal from the media that the media has tried to convict him wrongfully. when the facts come out it'll show he acted in self-defense, that the police department made the proper decision in not arresting him as there was not probable cause to make the arrest and, you know, he needs legal help and i'm still here to provide that for him, but at this point it wouldn't be ethical for me to stay on the case for now it's going on three days that he's not communicating with me in any shape or form and he's communicating with other people. i can't hold myself out as representing him although he did agree that he wanted me to represent him in days past. something changed around sunday, and he cut off all contact and has started doing things without telling me he's doing them. >> i want you to expand on that for me, craig. speaking to people who you had advised him not to speak to specifically calling the prosecutor and this information as i understand it did not come from george zimmerman to you. this came from the prosecutors who reached out to you to tell you that zimmerman had contacted them and wants to talk. do you have any idea what else he said to them? >> i don't know because it's my understanding that the prosecutor wouldn't talk to him and he called me which is the right thing to do. they knew that he had representation. so they wouldn't speak with him. that was the right thing for the prosecutor to do and they called and said, you know, he's called me here and we confirmed that, you know, we compared phone numbers and con firmed that it was george zimmerman who called him. so, you know, they acted correctly. >> what was it he was looking to do? do you have any idea why he reached out to the prosecutors? what did he want from them? >> well, i think he wanted to give his side of the story to the prosecutors and we were going to arrange for that to happen and we were in the process for arranging for a meeting place so that could take place safely for george and i don't know why he didn't -- if he would have worked through me, i would have allowed him to make his statement. >> did you have a date on the books for a meeting with the prosecutors and george zimmerman? >> we wanted to, but george wasn't returning my phone calls so that we could make arran arrangements for him. we were going to make arrangements for somebody to meet him so that he could go to a place that wouldn't be known by the media or anyone else so that he could give a statement to the prosecutor. and hal and i or hal or i would have done that so there wouldn't be confusion -- so no one would accuse the prosecutor of taking him aside and interrogating. >> without a lawyer present, understandable. among the many bombshells yesterday was this one when you mentioned if -- i think it was you, hal, looking for george zimmerman in florida, keep looking, he's not here. i think that came as a surprise to many people. it came as a surprise to trayvon martin's family. how do you know he's not in florida and the second part of that question, where is he? is he close by? is he in the country, at least? >> well, let me deal with that. first of all, we got some heat for saying that as though we have disclosed some terrible attorney/client privilege. an attorney/client privilege is when only you and the client are sharing that. we were certainly not the only ones who knew that he was not in florida. that includes the prosecutor's office, law enforcement and his family. the idea that he is a flight risk, i think, should be dispelled by the fact he was trying to come in and see the prosecutor. they've got his phone number. he's got their phone number. he has simply distanced himself for safety purposes and by making that statement we were hopeful also that media or new black panthers or others might not be staking out family members or homes or other places and endangering other people in search for him here in florida. >> another one of the criticisms that came after the press conference was that in making the announcement, it wasn't but a few hours before angela corey came out with an announcement that she'll have news to make. some of the critics said by dropping his representation you perhaps might have exposed him to some fears on behalf of the prosecutor that she needs to make a move and arrest him because who else can they call to track down your client? are you concerned about that? >> i think that's nonsense. they know who they can call. they have already talked to george zimmerman. they have his phone number. he's got their phone number. if he was going to flee he wouldn't be trying to come in. the idea that suddenly because we announced that we can't communicate with our client that he's going to flee the country, frankly, is just silliness. >> any other piece of evidence, piece of information that could be a game change in this case right now that you could speak about that wouldn't violate privilege or ethics? >> we have told you before that we believe there's information and evidence in the possession of the prosecutor, the investigators, the police department, the department of law enforcement that if publicly known might change some of the course of public opinion. we're not at liberty to disclose. we don't have possession of it. what little we know might disclose a confidence as to where we learned about it and simply not going to go there. >> perhaps on another day, i do appreciate both of you joining us so early this morning. craig sonner and hall uhrig joining us live from florida, thank you, gentlemen. 14 minutes past the hour. game on, the ball now fully in mitt romney's court after rick santorum calls it quits. the battle with president obama already hitting a new level. and hawaii admitting to a $75,000 mistake. a pricey problem could have been avoided with one phone call. we'll tell you all about that. you are watching "early start." so, ah, your seat good? 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[ cheers and applause ] i had the chance to speak with him this morning. we exchanged our thoughts about going forward, and we both have a great deal of interest in seeing the country taken in a very different path. >> boy, wouldn't we have loved to have listened in on that conversation. now the healing and already one of rick santorum's big money donors has reportedly swung to team romney. paul steinhauser is live in washington. he has suspended as opposed to dropping out of the race. amassed 27275 delegates. does romney get those? >> no, he can give them away or hold them all the way to the convention in tampa and by suspending, zoraida, he is able to continue to raise money. those are two distinct things. instead of ending it they suspend it. you heard about the -- you could see the delegate count. romney still far, far ahead but short of 1,144 but let's be honest he's all but certain to be the nominee now that santorum is out of the race and could grab those in may when all the primaries are coming up. they spoke yesterday to the candidates. now, for romney job number one is meeting with santorum and i'm getting santorum to endorse him because that endorsement could help romney with social conservative voters, tea party activists. people who backed santorum that romney has a problem with. >> how likely is that to happen, paul? >> listen, santorum said over and over he will eventually endorse the nominee. he has said that. sure, there was bad blood between the two campaigns, some tough talk but i think the meeting will happen. you'll see santorum join the cause. >> within his campaign, differing opinions on whether or not he will so earlier when i talked to him at the 5:00 i said let's talk about vice presidential picks but did you work on that for us. >> oh, yeah, listen, everybody is talking about this now. this is what we'll talk about until august when mitt romney comes out with his running mate and we could be surprised. remember, four years ago sarah palin wasn't on many people's lists but i have 16 people on my working list but among them, marco rubio of florida, listen, he's a rock star, he's a latino obviously. florida, a crucial battleground state, the downside for him, i guess, he's pretty young. rob portman, ohio, safer pick but ohio is such, such an important battleground state. paul ryan from wisconsin, him and romney had a bromance in wisconsin and governor mcdonnell, safer pick, probably not as star power as the others, but, again, virginia, another b b bat b batpl echtleground -- >> thank you very much, paul. 21 minutes past the hour. still ahead, somebody has to do it. why is or what is the worst job to have in 2012. >> it's not morning anchor. no way. we love these hours. >> are you looking at it? >> it looks like barista, no. we'll tell you when we come back. raging flames, rooms full of smoke. these are the working conditions of firefighters. >> you can't see anything. you can only hear things, but it's still very confusing, complete blackout. >> it's hazardous situations like this that they train for. but thanks to some new technology, firefighters are going to be able to see the world in an entirely new way. this new high-tech mask gives first responders data about their surroundings. it's a vision of the future inventor joseph umka is trying to finally bring to life. >> i didn't see it, a whole bunch of great authors saw it, science fiction authors are fabulous in that they get to make it up and we get to make it happen. >> giving firefighters information everywhere they look. firefighters will be able to see oxygen level, temperatures and exit paths. it will even allow them to see what's happening with the rest of their team. >> to be able to see and then be able to also not only see around that but to communicate with my team members is a big relief. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. 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huge unemployment for lumberjacks. a dangerous job. it's a very physical job, dairy farmer, $33,000 a year is the median pay and it is a 24/7 kind of job. also enlisted military -- this makes me sad. this is on this list, also because it's a very dangerous and unpredictable job, as well. those folks are coming back to an uncertain labor market. now, let's talk about the best jobs. you won't be surprised how many times do you hear me talking about s.t.e.m., science, technology, education and math. best is software engineer. 88 grand a year, the midlevel income. a actuary and finding out what numbers mean. >> good pay. >> hr. >> they sure send a lot of e-mails. >> 99 grand, midlevel. dental hygienist, audiologist, occupational therapist, online advertising manager, new for this year, $87,000, computer systems analyst, a lot of people in universities tell me this is a very good way to go if you're good with math and numbers, mathematician, 99 -- i could not be a mathematician. >> can you please send it out? >> i will tweet it out and make your children read it. >> parents read it. great information. >> thanks, appreciate it. 28 minutes past 6:00. an update on this morning's 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the coast of indonesia and what kind of a scare it's causing on the streets there. you're watching "early start." welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> good morning, i'm ashleigh banfield. it is time now to check what's making news this morning and we top our news with this, an 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the coast of indonesia. residents of banda aceh have been told to evacuate to higher ground and we've got video just in to cnn. shows the quake being felt in banda aceh. that city and also the entire province of aceh. a tsunami watch has been issued for much of the indian ocean. george zimmerman's former legal team in the position of defending themselves. they joined me just moments ago and said that george zimmerman is now going solo. they have quit. they've lost contact with him. although they say they are still open to continuing representation if he reaches out. we'll hear more from that interview in just a few moments. a 17-year-old girl too terrified to confront the man who allegedly raped her and now she is being detained because she didn't show up to testify. it is odd. we will talk with her attorney about this case just ahead. nasa ending the crazy speculation about a fireball spotted over texas. on tape and on your tv screen right now. but are you going to buy what nasa is selling as an explanation for this. zoraida? >> thank you, ashleigh. this morning the only candidate to emerge as the most serious threat to mitt romney is out of the race. rick santorum called it quits yesterday. >> we made the decision to get into this race at our kitchen table, against all the odds, and we made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race for us is over for me and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting. >> and his exit also leaves many conservative evangelicals with little choice but to support romney who is all but certain to win the gop nomination in august. but not every conservative is ready to fall in line. in fact, my next guest, tony perkins, told our dana bash when it comes to romney, "it's difficult for us to back a candidate our constituents don't believe in and are not excited about." tony perkins joins me now live. thank you for being with us this morning. i want to take you back to thursday. you had a conference call with rick santorum at that time and you told "the washington post" that you were really discussing more of the threat that gingrich is to santorum, not about dropping out. so were you surprised by this announcement? >> i was a little surprised. i know that over the weekend, rick wrestled with this issue because -- it was more than just the political issue. the toll that this was taking on his family but it was the way forward, was there a successful way forward and i think what happened is that as the spin was there that romney had a lock on the nomination, the money flow began to dry up and pennsylvania, mitt romney was pouring money into there and rick just didn't see that there was going to be a successful way through that, so, yeah, i think some people were surprised and clearly a lot of people were disappointed with yesterday's announcement. >> i just want to clarify. it was "the washington post" that reported there. we understand you had a conference call yesterday with rick santorum. what did he say to you then? >> well, i talked to rick a few times yesterday and essentially expounding upon the same themes that he made in his announcement speech yesterday, the bid for president may have ceased, but the campaign continues. he is going to continue to articulate the same message that intertwines the need for a strong economy, based upon strong families and so i think that message will continue and i think he's going to help shape the message for the republican party going forward. and zoraida, let me just say that, you know, as you introed me about not falling in line, we're not part of the republican party, we advocate for issues and ideas. if the party is moving in a different direction, we are not going there. the only reason there was an alignment with rick santorum from our constituency is because rick embraced the ideas, the policies and principles that our organization and our constituency believes in and so to the degree that one candidate or another aligns with that, they're going to find support. if they don't they're not going to get the unbridled enthusiastic support that rick santorum enjoys. >> well maybe not unbridled and enthusiastic but mitt romney is -- looks like he is the eventual nominee here. are you saying that you will not support him? >> no, i mean, people are not going to go over and vote for barack obama who is the antithesis of the ideas that we embrace but there's not going to be the type of enthusiasm and, unfortunately, i think this election will come down to that intensity factor. who can most energize, enthuse their base. it comes down to this, i think our folks are going to go vote for whoever is the most conservative candidate and obviously if it's a contest between mitt romney and barack obama it's going to be mitt romney, but the question is, who are they going to influence in the process? those people in the middle. those who are not necessarily connected with the political process, are they going to be driving a suburban to the polls to vote, loaded with people who are energized or are they going to be driving a volkswagen or a smart car that has no room for anybody else. >> well, maybe you're in the best position to answer this. what can mitt romney do in order to get those social conservatives on his side? >> well, you know, zoraida, i think rick would admit this himself. this was not about rick santorum. i mean rick would say he's probably was not the best messenger to articulate the message that he had. but that emphasizes the power of the message that he had. that's what it energized and enthused people so i think, first off, if mitt romney wants to capture some of that support that rick santorum gained with very little money based solely upon his message then mitt romney needs to pick up that message. not just when he's asked in debates or cornered by a reporter to say, yes, i'm pro life or, yes, i support marriage but intertwine that in his message of, yes, if we want smaller government and a stronger economy we've got to have strong and healthy families. >> all right, tony perkin, president of family research council, thanks for joining us this morning. appreciate your time. >> all right. have a great day. >> thanks, you too. rick santorum's chief spokesperson alice stewart is talking to soledad o'brien on "starting point." more details on his exit and does he plan to support mitt romney? the burning question, ashleigh. >> ah, his spokesman saying it's not an inevitability. thanks, zoraida. 39 minutes past 6:00. we could learn before the week is out whether george zimmerman is going to be charged in the trayvon martin shooting. a special prosecutor last night said she had planning to have an announcement all within 72 hours. that takes us to friday. in the meantime, zimmerman's legal team has bowed out. they say zimmerman cut off contact with them and just left them no choice. we talked to them earlier on this show and they defended their decision. >> we don't think we've done anything improper or illegal and we certainly don't think we've done anything to hurt george zimmerman. to characterize what we did as quitting perhaps is not entirely accurate. we simply wanted to acknowledge the fact that under the circumstances we could not ethically continue to tell the press or anybody else that we're still representing him. >> george zimmerman remains in hiding this morning. those attorneys say they believe that he is not in the state of florida but that he doesn't pose a flight risk because they say zimmerman himself has reached out to speak with prosecutors. they also say they are concerned about their former client's mental stability. it is now 40 minutes past 6:00. let's get you to rob marciano checking weather and keeping an eye on an earthquake for us near indonesia. rob? >> no updates there. let's get you updated on weather right now. we're looking at the potential for a fire weather danger across the southeast and also cold temperatures across the western great lakes, diving into the mid-atlantic, frost or freeze watches and warnings posted for not only this morning but tomorrow morning, as well. so be aware of that. and red flag warnings are posted for parts of the south and east with bone-dry conditions and gusty winds. severe threats across west texas and storm coming into parts of the west coast including california. we'll keep you posted on weather, and, of course, what's going on over in the indian ocean when "early start" continues. look, every day we're using more and more energy. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ it is 44 minutes now past 6:00 on the east coast. >> soledad o'brien joins us with a look at what's ahead on "starting point." >> good morning to you. coming up on "starting point," what happened when 17 afghan civilians were killed back in march? a u.s. soldier has now been charged with the murders. we'll speak with the first western journalist to visit the crime scene and interview the survivors including young children. also, rick santorum suspended his campaign. the former minnesota governor tim pawlenty will join me, a romney supporter and with santorum out of the race, question now is can romney connect with conservative voters? alice stewart from santorum's campaign will talk to us, as well. see you right at the top of the hour for "starting point." a new. only aveeno positively radiant has total soy, for a whole new level of radiance. it's clinically proven to visibly reduce blotchiness, brown spots, and other past damage, while broad spectrum spf 30 helps prevent future damage. healthier, more radiant skin. it's in your future now. 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because she failed to show up for court twice as a key witness against her alleged rapist, frank william brackly jr. prosecutors say he is a career criminal and a serial rapist. >> it becomes a question of balancing the inconvenience to the witness and we're talking about a relatively short period of time here. against the protection of the community. >> girl's attorney says her client is terrified to testify because she's afraid for her safety. that attorney lisa franco, the alleged victim's attorney joining me live from sacramento. lisa, thanks for being with us. this is just an incredible story. why is it that your client continues to run away which prompted the judge to agree to this detention of her. does she not want to see this rapist put away or this alleged rapist put away. >> she does, however, she has been -- she hasn't been advised of her rights prior to being detained in this matter. she had other pressing matters when she was living in a group home that caused her to want to rung to her mother's home in the bay area. she was never advised properly. marcie's law dictates a person who has been sexually assaulted does not have to -- cannot be imprisoned for not wanting to testify against her rapist. she was never advised regarding her rights to testify or not testify. first and foremost a convict of a rape has the right to feel safe and she was never advised of her rights regarding her requirements or to be in court and never given the benefit of feeling safe in this process. >> i got that piece of marcie's law you referred to. let me read it for our viewers not familiar with it. in california it is a law suggesting that victims are to be treated with fairness and respect for his or her privacy and dignity and to be free from intimidation, harassment and abuse throughout the criminal or juvenile justice process. you heard the d.a. saying this is the weighing inconvenience which is an interesting word to choose, the inconvenience that your client is going through for the greater good of the community. when you say your client wasn't advised of her rights, she was in a courtroom and she faced a judge who said i'm sorry i have to do this. how do you say she wasn't advised of her rights? >> i'm referring to prior to being placed in the custody. she didn't know she was going to have to go to juvenile hall had she not appeared for her -- the trial of defend brackly. she didn't know this was going to happen to her. but also it shouldn't have to be happening to her. she should not have to be imprisoned for making it known to the d.a. she was not going to do what he wanted and testify at her rapist's trial. >> alleged rapist's trial. >> i'm sorry. >> i want to continue to protect his rights. >> absolutely, sorry. >> let me add to that so our viewers understand what's at stake, as i understand it when she didn't show up for an original trial date, those charges had to be dismissed and the d.a. could refile them but only one time under california code. so they have one last crack at this apple or one last bite at this apple. does your client understand how significant this is, that if she doesn't show again, they can't go after him again? >> right, but she does understand and she is going to cross that bridge about testifying when and if she can be released from her detention facility because right now she can't even -- she's being revictimized in the fact that what she's going through in there, she's been pepper sprayed. yesterday she was given food that she's allergic to, rushed to the clinic, her throat closed up and right now she can't even overcome what's happened to her and think about testifying and i'm sure that once she is -- she's made it clear to me once she is able to get out of there and start healing from the process of what she's been through, she would be more than willing to participate in this criminal justice process. >> wow, it is astounding. i mean it's just astounding, lisa. i'm short on time and i apologize, i would like to speak to you more. california law does not compel your witness to testify. but just this mere appearance, it turns out to be such a linchpin in the case much hopefully we can get you back to talk to us. thank you for getting up early with us. >> you're welcome. that up for having me. >> lisa franco joining us live from sacramento. >> get her some psychological help. >> pepper sprayed. sprained her ankle in forced exercise. what was that fire in the sky? look at it. what do you think it is? nasa has an answer for you but will you buy it. you're watching "early start." man: 1939 -- my parents ran across an ad for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. to get people to try on these new depend silhouette briefs, and today we are rocking the red carpet. look it's lisa rinna! lisa hiii,i know you don't need one but will you try on these new depend silhouette briefs for charity and prove just how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress? are you serious? i am serious... sure why not! she's doing it! the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. hey lisa, who ya wearing? 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(growl) we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too. state of hawaii is admitting it made a bit of a mistake that cost u.s. taxpayers $75,000. hawaii received funds from the federal government to secure this apparently, honolulu harbor and used 75,000 bucks to buy an unmanned drone to fly over the harbor. but the state never checked with the faa to find out if it could legally fly a drone and the faa says, no, you can't. apparently the harbor is a little close to honolulu airport so hawaiian officials say they may sell the drone to another agency. all right, nasa is trying to explain the mysterious fireball in the sky over texas caught on video a week ago. nasa says, chill, it was just a jet contrail. >> a jet contrail. >> some speculate it was a meteor burning up as it entered the earth's atmosphere or an alien ship shot down. all agreed, it was pretty cool. >> it was like a fireball falling right out of the sky. it was so bright it was like this little piece of the sun falling with a big torch behind it. chock that up in the list, meteorite during the day. >> i think i know what it is. >> what? >> rick santorum's campaign. oh, ba-dum-dum. >> this is a good time to give it to soledad, isn't it? >> yeah. >> that's "early start." the news from "a" to "z." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" starts right now. our starting point that breaking news, 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the coast of indonesia. there is now a tsunami watch in place for the entire indian ocean. you can see there these are people heading for higher ground because there are fears that another killer wave could be coming. you'll remember that same region was hit very hard back in 2004. also today it's legal limbo for george zimmerman. his entire legal team calls it quits. special prosecutor says she's got an announcement coming in the next 72 hours. legal team says george cut them off. i spoke to his attorneys or i should say his former attorneys, tell you what they say this morning. plus, rick santorum says it's over. >> well, this presidential race for us is over for me and we will suspend our campaign effective today. >> the scars of a