Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20121128

What were they thinking . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Today we may be at the Tipping Point for one of the most important decisions president obama needs to make as he begins his second term. On capitol hill republicans including moderate republicans are sending the president a clear warning, dont nominate susan rice to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Rice is the current u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. She spent a second day meeting with senators trying to explain some of her inaccurate comments she made after the september 11th terrorist attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi, libya. Cnns senior Congressional Correspondent dana bash is joining us now from capitol hill with the very latest. What happened today, dana . Reporter wolf, it was one thing for susan rice to be criticized harshly yesterday by the three republicans she met with because they had been among her harshest critics, senators graham and mccain. Todays meeting was different because she met with a republican who was among the remaining centerist republicans in the senate one of the most likely to throw susan rice a lifeline. It didnt happen. I continue to be troubled by the fact that the u. N. Ambassador decided to play what was essentially a political role at the height of a contentious president ial election campaign. Reporter after meeting with rice for more than an hour, collins emerged questioning her judgment in giving the public what turned out to be Incorrect Information in the days after the deadly attack in benghazi. And the main republican was lukewarm about the prospect of rice as secretary of state. If president obama were to nominate susan rice to be the next secretary of state, could you support that nomination . I would need to have Additional Information before i could support her nomination. Reporter collins has gone out of her way to support rice in the past. Even introducing rice family ties to maine at a confirmation hearing for u. N. Ambassador. The people of maine are proud of what this remarkable woman has accomplished. Reporter whether collins supports rice now for a promotion is crucial because of the raw numbers. Rice would likely need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster by these gop senators assuming all 55 senator who is will caucus with democrats next year vote to confirm rice, she would still need five republicans to get to 60. Its hard to see where those five gop votes for rice would be if even moderate collins doesnt support her. To be sure, the president has not nominated rice for the post yet. Another republican senator who met with rice made clear he thinks it would be a mistake. We want someone of independence. I would just ask the president to step back for a moment and realize that all of us here hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most cabinet members. Reporter rice isnt the only one whose attempts to calm criticism about the benghazi attack appear to be backfiring. Acting cia director Michael Morell accompanying rice to the meetings told gop senators tuesday it was the fbi that took references to al qaeda out of these unclassified talking points rice used for her tv appearances. But later in the day morell called to say he was wrong. It was actually his agency, the cia. I cant help but feel incredibly disappointed that we were told something at 10 00 a. M. That couldnt withstand scrutiny for six hours and thats totally inconsistent with what we were told the day before. We now have five different explanations of who changed the talking points to take out benghazi and four different reasons. This is becoming a joke. Reporter it is quite surprising that the acting cia director gave Incorrect Information on something as politically explosive as the controversial talking points that susan rice used in a meeting with among the administrations chief republican critics. You know, the answer to why he did it according to senators is simply that he misspoke, wolf. So a quick question, dana. Does that mean Michael Morell if the president were to nominate him to become the permanent director of the cia he would have problems getting himself confirmed . Reporter you know, thats a great question. Its probably too early to say yes to that question. But there certainly is a lot of frustration not just with susan rice but with the Intelligence Community and right now the Intelligence Community is being represented by Michael Morell and they are not getting the answers that they want from him and from others. So, you know, it certainly wont be easy if he is nominated. Yeah. All right. Thanks, dana. Thanks very much. President obama met with his cabinet this afternoon. Its probably the last time well see all of them together in the same room. Lets bring in our chief White House Correspondent jessica yellin. Jess, changes very likely in the cabinet for the president s second term. What are you hearing . Reporter hi, wolf. Well thats right. The president is still in that Cabinet Meeting. He says theyre going to talk about Hurricane Sandy, the fiscal cliff, some National Security issues. But to your question, we already know that secretary of state clinton plans to depart treasury secretary geithner and even defense secretary leon panetta has made it clear he would like to leave within the year. The Current White House chief of staff still considered the odds on favorite to get the nod to become the next treasury secretary from the president. Its believed he has the greatest chance here its believed of Getting Senate confirmation. That leaves open the job of white house chief of staff. And im hearing that among the names that are being considered for that role are ron clay, the man once bidens chief of staff and did himself im told a Great Service in president obamas debate prep despite that bad first debate the president takes responsibility for it, does not blame mr. Clain. And another name ive heard floated is dennis mcdunna. Earned the Great Respect and admiration of the president. A young man not often considered in that light but the president admires him. But that of course leaves open the question who would take over for secretary clinton and for leon panetta. And those are some dicey questions right now given what dana has just reported about susan rice. And Michael Morell this acting cia director whos going to be the next cia director. The president s going to have a full plate of nominations to put forward. What did he say about susan rice today . Reporter he was asked his thoughts on ambassador rice, currently the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Ill let you listen to his remarks then we can talk about it. This is the president. Susan rice is extraordinary. Couldnt be prouder of the job shes done. [ applause ] reporter so from the whole cabinet. Little awkward hard to tell if the applause were necessarily for susan rice or right before he said that he had also called out secretary napolitano and the Veterans Affairs department saying its their birthday. Perhaps they were also applauding the birthdays. But im told the fact that susan rice is up on the hill should not necessarily be read as an early sign that the white house is giving her sort of a prerun dry run for a nomination. At this is in part because she wanted to go answer questions on the hill to clear her name and that this was part of her desire as well. Of course senator kerry also still im told a contender for either secretary of state if not another cabinet post as well. Or secretary of defense if susan rice were to be nominated for secretary of state. I think those applause certainly did from that video clip sound like they were applauding susan rice and her role. And it looked like Hillary Clinton actually started the applause. She was sitting right next to the president. Leon panetta on the other side of that Cabinet Meeting. Well continue to watch this story as well. Jessica yellin, our chief White House Correspondent. A little later by the way here in the situation room, ill ask the senates number three republican if his party will givein on raising taxes for the rich, also for all of us waiting for tonights half a billion billiondollar powerball drawing, well speak to a woman who struck it rich in another lottery. E good days. And some difficult ones. 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Our chief National Correspondent john king is here in the situation room. What would happen . Assuming there would be a filibuster, they need 60 votes to get her approved. Its a tough decision by both the president and republicans if he makes this choice. We should emphasize thats a capital i, capital f if he makes this choice. Essentially susan rice is seeing if she can get republican minds that are dug in. Its an audition of sorts even though the white house says its no such thing. For the president , does he want to do this . Hes going to have to cut a deal with republicans on the fiscal cliff. He has other big issues to deal with. He has several other cabinet nominees. Does he want to dig in and pick a fight with someone he has personal loyalty to . What was the biggest problem, College Educated women and people of color, do they want to oppose . Both sides would have dicey political choices. Theres a lot of talk in washington susan rice is undermined politically. It might hurt her in washington, but, wolf, youve covered world capitals. Think about the world. If the president were to fight for her, again thats an if, people would say shes obviously his person, hes loyal to her. Even someone like colin powell, people always wondered, am i talking to george w. Bush or colin powell . Will he be undermined by Donald Rumsfeld or dick cheney . If she wins, her stature might go up around the world. Even if she were to be confirmed with lets say 60 votes, five republicans would jump and endorse her, the secretary of state supposed to represent everyone be a bipartisan leader if you will. It could be a little awkward though. It is awkward. Youre going into a second term. You want to build your legacy. The republicans are going to have to work with the president on tough other issues, taxes and spending issues. Will republicans give him tax increases through reform or higher rates . What about Immigration Reform . Again, what about these other personnel choices . There will be policy issue were not thinking about today that will come up. Does he want a partisan fight right out of the box . Thats a big question. But the republicans have to ask themselves the same question. Of course what they would tell you is, mr. President , theres an easy pick, pick john kerry, the republicans like one of their own, hes a senator. They also have a political interest in that. If john kerry is elevated to a cabinet position, they eventually has to be a vote in a special election, scott brown just loss. Theres a lot of press going on in addition to the president having to make a tough policy choice. Thank you very much. John king reporting. Republicans on capitol hill keep asking the president to show them where he wants to cut not just who he wants to tax. Joining us now is the number three man in the Senate Republican leadership, senator john thune of south dakota. Senator, thanks very much for coming in. Good afternoon, wolf. Before i get to the fiscal cliff and the taxes, spending cuts, are you ready to make an announcement on how you would vote as far as confirmation of susan rice is concerned if the president nominated her to be secretary of state . Im not ready to make that determination right now. But i do think that her meetings up here have raised lots of questions. And there are more reservations about her now than there were before. And thats a problem for her at least with republicans here in the senate. Whether or not she could get confirmed, i dont know. But i think she would have a considerable amount of opposition just based on the reaction some of my colleagues have had to the discussions theyve had with her here the last couple days. But you still have can we call it an open mind . Well, i have an open mind, wolf. Clearly ive got the same sorts of questions. But until we actually have a nomination put forward, i think its all hypothetical. Obviously shes somebody who has a lot of experience in working in the diplomatic core and someone who i think is has a long background of dealing in Foreign Policy issues. But shes also somebody who hasnt been willing to answer some of the hard questions that many of my colleagues have had regarding the situation in benghazi. And i think that demonstrates questions about her judgment and how she would be how independent she would be as secretary of state. Thats obviously something very important in a secretary of state. Lets talk about the fiscal cliff. The president and other folks are hoping for a deal by christmas. Is it doable . I hope so. I think theres at least in my view an opportunity here for us to do something thats really good for the country. But it has to be its got to be entitlement reform included in anything that we ultimately act on. We believe that in order to solve the countrys fiscal solvency issues into the future, youve got to deal with the issue of entitlement reform. Thats something so far the president has been reluctant to put on the table. So far what weve gotten out of him is this proposal to raise taxes which we think would be harmful to the economy. And if you look at how much revenue that raises, 68 billion next year, that funds a government for less than a week. And it does potential significant harm to the economy and raises taxes on the very people we are asking to go out and create jobs. Dick durbin says when youre talking about entitlement reform or cuts in spending for medicare, medicaid for example, he says thats too complicated now. Listen to what he said this morning. When it comes to medicare, we know that its going to run out of money in 12 years. Whatever changes we want to make should be thoughtful changes not made in the heat of the fiscal cliff. Can you defer medicare for example medicare reform until after you get a deal on the fiscal cliff . Well, if we do that, wolf, i think what you have to do is also defer the issue of taxes. I think you extend tax rates some time into the foreseeable future whether thats six months or a year and allow us to go through the process where we can deal with entitlement reform and tax reform in regular order. I dont see republicans supporting something up here that deals with taxes that doesnt have entitlement reform incorporated into that. So i think right now were a little bit of a standoff, but the way to solve this would be of course to extend the existing tax rates which is by the way something the president agreed to two years ago when Economic Growth was stronger than it is today. At that time he said we shouldnt be raising taxes when we have a weak economy. That would be a bad idea. Growth today is significantly lower than it was two years ago when he made that statement. We agree its about jobs and the economy. Thats what the president said after the election that he wanted it to be his goal and his priority. We have a difference of opinion about how to get the economy growing again and expanding again. And obviously we have a big interest in making sure that we address the fundamental problem and driver of federal deficits and debt. And thats reforming these entitlement programs that are on an unsustainable path right now. So but remember the president also said when he extended the 35 tax rate for the upper income for those making more than 250,000 a year, he says he said then that was the last time he was going to do it. It was a oneshot deal. He wasnt going to do it anymore. And as you know he ran his Reelection Campaign on the notion he was going to increase the tax rates from 35 to 39. 6 for those people making more than 250,000 a year. You think hes likely to blink on that . You know, i dont know. I hope he is at least willing to work with republicans. Republicans are open for business up here. If he wants to bring entitlement reform into this discussion and you made the comment or showed dick durbins comment this morning about that would be too hard to do. Well, all the works been done. Youve had simpson bolls, a lot of work out there has been done. We know what the issues are and what its going to take the solve the problem. If we cant get that done now, we ought to extend the existing rates into next year. If you raise taxes right now, you according to the joint committee on taxation raise taxes on a million Small Businesses that supply 25 of the work force. A study out there would cost us over 700,000 jobs in the economy, reduce Economic Growth by 1. 3 and lower take home pay for americans. Thats not something we want to do in the midst of a weak economy. Go ahead. Sorry to interrupt. But if the president lets say went along with this notion, well defer entitlement reform until next year when we can do it thoughtfully, seriously, well defer tax increases until next year when we can do major tax reform across the board thoughtfully, seriously. Lets say we extend the current levels of spending and taxes for six months, maybe even a year, as part of this stopgap measure over the next few weeks before december 31st, would you be willing, you, senator thune, to raise the debt ceiling right now so you dont have this fight in february or march when it comes up again . You know, i think the debt ceiling is something that we would be willing to entertain a conversation about if that would help us get an extension of all these rates and let us do entitlement reform and tax reform the way it ought to be done in regular order. Obviously it would depend of course on what kind of request the president makes, how much he wants to add to the debt ceiling, what kind of commitments we can have in terms of spending reductions that would occur to be commensurate with that. We went through this in august of 2011. We were able to get some important concessions. Our members want to see spending reductions. They want to see a commitment on entitlement reform. So far we havent seen that from the president. But if we could get an extension of the things that you mentioned, wolf, and deal with this in an orderly way next year, i think that would be a solution that would attract considerable amount of republican support. The question on the debt ceiling, im not sure about. It depends entirely on how the president and what he would submit to us. All right. Senator thune, thanks very much. Senator john thune. Going to get reaction to what he just said about deferring everything for six months or a year dealing with it more thoughtfully. In the new senate, in the new house of representatives, but in the meantime allowing the current tax rates to continue for the time being, spending to continue for the time being as it currently exists. But get over that debt ceiling issue right away. Well see what the white house says about that. Mitt romney dreamed of living in the white house. Hes at least going to settle in for a lunch date tomorrow. A pack of cigarettes could have a new look with new language about what Tobacco Companies did to hide the risks of smoking. [ gordon ] for some this line is a convenience. How you doing today . Im good thanks. How are you . Im good. [ gordon ] but for others, its all they can afford. Every day nearly nine million Older Americans dont have enough to eat. Anything else . No, not today. Join me, aarp, and Aarp Foundation in the drive to end hunger by visiting drivetoendhunger. Org. Wanted to provide better Employee Benefits while balancing the companys bottom line, their very first word was. [ to the tune of lullaby and good night ] aflac aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at. [ duck ] aflac [ male announcer ]. Forbusiness. Com. [ yawning sound ] bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. Lisa sylvesters monitoring some of the other top stories in the situation room right now including a bloody day another one, in syrias civil war. What happened . Thats right, wolf. Syrian activists say at least 45 people were killed in two car bombings outside the capital of damascus. That city has been a sanctuary for proregime forced to flee their homes. The rebels have claimed to down three fighter jets in the past 24 hours. Well speak with cnns arwa damon from Northern Syria later this hour. A federal judge is ordering Tobacco Companies to publicly admit they deceived americans about the dangers of smoking. The court ruled big tobacco should print on the box and advertisements. Its not clear if Tobacco Companies will appeal this decision. And the selfdescribed king of motivation has died at the age of 86 years old. Zig ziglar best known for his seminars and more than two dozen books on salesmanship. He died in dallas after getting pneumonia. He had quite an influence. He had 30 books or so over the course of his life. Quite a following. Thanks very much, lisa, for that. Republican raise eyebrows when he said he might break the antitax pledge. That statement could also draw him into getting a new primary opponent as far as his reelection is concerned. Primary opponent who also happens to be a cnn contributor. Were going to speak to that contributor next. U stay with us, the more you save. And when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. Genius. Yeah, genius. You guys must have your own loyalty program, right . Well, we have something. Show her, tom. Huh . You should see november oh, yeah . Giving you more. Now thats progressive. Call or click today. Many hot dogs are within you. Try peptobismol togo, its the power of pepto, but it fits in your pocket. Now tell the world daniel. Of peptobismol togo. Now tell the world daniel. A hybrid . Most are just no fun to drive. Now, heres one that will make you feel alive. Meet the fivepassenger ford cmax hybrid. Cmax says ha. Cmax says wheeee. Which is what you get, dont you see . Cause cmax has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that cmax also bests in mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. I heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. Thats right. Ive learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. You know weve been open all night. Is this a trick to get my spot . [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Save on ground shipping at fedex office. All right. Lets get right to our strategy session. Joining us our cnn political contributor and democratic strategist hilary rosen. Also our cnn contributor Erick Erickson editor and chief of redstate,. Com. All right, erick, clarify this. Are you going to challenge saxby cham blis for the Republican Senatorial nomination . If its not me, i hope someone does it. Its not until 2014. Ive been very dismissive of calls saying run for this thing. But in the last coupl ive gotten a lot of calls from some prominent folks that are throwing out dollar signs of what they can raise and i think i need to treat them more seriously than i have been. I think its more a barometer that there are people calling me wanting me to run. My wife is firmly in the i will bury you in the backyard if you run camp. I mean, the odds are against it, but its certainly something to look at. Hes a pretty conservative guy. Ive known him a long time. Represents georgia. Wlast so bad about him . Wolf, the problem with republicans in the last ten years or so is you have a lot of people who call themselves conservatives thought of conservatives that amount to prolife status. They love the babies in utero or not but they want to raise taxes or spend as much as the other side. When he got to washington and what the federal spending is more than twice what it was then. Hes big on defense spending and agricultural subsidies. Those arent bad things, but if republicans are going to return to their roots and try to be fiscally responsible, they need to stop sending guys to washington okay with the spending as long as theyre not raising taxes or in his case pledging to not raise taxes other than saying maybe i will. Hilary, youre a good liberal democrat. Its probably hard for you to believe Saxby Chamblis isnt conservative enough for someone like erick. Oh, its never hard for me to believe someone isnt conservative enough for erick. What my friend will find when he gets to congress if he ever gets there is something that my other good idea log friend barney frank says i was pure until i had to cast my first vote. All of a sudden that kind of ideological purity doesnt really work. What im not surprised at though is this hole that republicans find themselves in which is this inconsistency that some spending is okay like if its agricultural subsidies or, you know, tax subsidies for oil and gas, but other spending is not okay as if its like tax cuts for the middle class. I think, you know, for erick to be out there on a platform of saying, you know what, the president is wrong. Tom cole, republican member of congress is wrong. We shouldnt, you know, pass what we can agree on, which is a tax cut for 95 of the american people, protect middle class tax cuts. What we have to do is fight to the death even over the fiscal cliff to protect tax cuts for wealthy people what about its not about protecting tax cuts for the rich. Thats what youre attacking him for. No. I dont think government should do symbolic things. Raise the taxes on the rich, you get eight days of spending you get eight days of taxes. Where are the cuts coming from . Socalled fiscal cliff is a bipartisan deal, its the root of a bipartisan deal and they ought to go on and take their medicine. Were trying to say right now were going to trust the guys who came up with the fiscal cliff to get it right this time. There have been 18 debt and deficit commissions since 1980. So youre saying they came up with spending cuts that satisfied you, you would i would go to the clinton tax rates in a heartbeat if we got clintons gdp spending rates. Well, one of the things i think liberals are starting to resent also, wolf, is that we are fighting so hard over this sort of modest issue of tax cuts for the wealthy. And people are completely dismissive about how devastating really entitlement cuts in medicaid would be, cuts for daycare and Teacher Spending and other things. We cant solve the problem were starting to feel a little ant si about as this ends up being only about tax cuts. We just heard from senator thune, number three republican in the senate. Erick, let me goat your thought, he says punt right now. Kick the ball down six months or a year, deal with entitlement reform next year in a thoughtful way. Deal with tax reform thoughtful in a new senate in the new house of representatives, but just go ahead right now and avoid the fiscal cliff, keep everything as is right now for the time being. Erick, what do you think of that proposal . If they want to buy themselves more time, go ahead. But, wolf, weve had 18 of these commissions and proposals since 1980. The National Debt was 900 billion then. Its 16 trillion now. Thats all these guys do is kick the can down the road. They dont actually sit down and come up with plans. And when they do try to come up with plans, its always either tax increases or spending that never pans out. They came up with a way to raise the National Debt limit and then they dont want to actually do what they said they wanted to do in 2011. Hilary, what do you think of that proposal, kick the ball down the road but in the meantime raise the debt ceiling so you dont worry about it in february or march . I think the moment is now. The country wants to feel like this election was for something. President obama was very clear in his campaigning about this balanced approach to a budget. And i think now is the time for people to kind of come to the table and act a little less pure like erick would prefer but also as far as im concerned a little more in the interest of sort of the average middle class citizen. Erick, im going to leave it right now. But i want to read to you what hotline wrote about your possible bid for the senate from george. And then im going to get your final answer on this question. Hotline was not kind to you. They said the redstate pun dant is nothing if not a selfpromoter and while he has deeply held conservative wed be shock firstdegree this trial balloon amounts to anything bigger than a pageview promotion. Bottom line, are you in this seriously or not . I havent even written about this at redstate. If they want to call it a page promotion or what have you, the hotline guys arent a fan of mine, but its something im going to consider. Hes considering it. You heard it here. Were not calling you senator yet. Well see what happens down the road. Erick erickson, appreciate it. Hilary, thanks to you as well. Its very difficult to get an accurate look at whats happening in syrias civil war. Arwa damon is inside syria and the rebels are showing her how theyre getting stronger. What a night, huh . But, um, can the test drive be over now . Head back to the dealership . [ male announcer ] its practically yours. But we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. 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Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. We now have a rare and important look at how syrias rebels appear to be gaining momentum in their fight against the regime of president bashar al assad. Our senior interNational Correspondent arwa damon is in Northern Syria right now. Today she and her team were able to visit an area where rebels say they shot down a Syrian Government jet. Shes joining us by phone right now. Arwa, thanks very much. Youve met with opposition fighters. Tell us what youre seeing in Northern Syria. Well, they took us to the site of where that jet was downed. And it was scattered throughout an olive grove. Young and old alike were combing through it taking out picking out their war trophies, showing them off. One old man said he was taking this to show to other villages that they could see what had happened to these planes. Because you have to remember that pretty much since this uprising began especially for the better part of the last year these fighter jets, the helicopters, the aircrafts, have caused such terror amongst the population thats standing up against the regime of bashar al ass assad. For them this was a significant moment, a significant victory, to be able to see the fighter jets that have caused them so many nightmares now turned into a heap of metal. We spoke to one man who said he was picking olives nearby, he saw the plane being hit. He saw the two pilots ejecting. He and others there then said they did find one of the pilots unconscious with a head injury. They told us that they took him to a makeshift field clinic to treat him. We did see Youtube Video of that although we dont know what has happened to him since then. But this is not an isolated incident which makes it so significant. In this particular area, wolf, which is around 16 miles away from the city of aleppo in the span of just 24 hours rebels are claiming that they did not just bring down this particular fighter jet but two helicopters as well. Arwa, its been a few months since you were last inside syria. How dramatically have things changed . Pretty dramatically. The rebels have made Significant Developments when it comes to territory that they do control. The fact that they were able to bring down these fighter jets, these helicopters, is as a result of them being able to take over a very large base that is around a halfhour drive away from where that jet was brought down. And what they found on this base was a real treasuretrove of weaponry. And especially for them because what they have been asking the International Community for is some sort of ability to be able to take down these aircrafts. And on this base they told us that they found hundreds of antiaircraft sovietera missiles. And we could see video posted to youtube as well that did show metal boxes packed with these missiles. And they are tells us that that is what they used to bring down these aircrafts over the last 24 hours. So while at this point the regime does still have the military advantage because of the sheer size of its arsenal, many are viewing this development as perhaps beginning to slightly shift the balance. We are seeing them gaining significant amount of territory. We are beginning to see this rebel fighting force trying to organize itself a little bit. Fully aware of what a challenge it is and incredibly frustrated with the process in and of itself. So the landscape is really changing by the day here. Arwa damon in Northern Syria for us with the rebels watching whats going on. Arwa, be careful over there. Were going to stay in close touch with you obviously. We can certainly take it for granted that Albert Einstein was a whole lot smarter than you or me, but now were learning why he was such a genius. No surprise the secret lies within his brain. Our own dr. Sanjay gupta has new information. And trying to nuke the moon might not necessarily sound like a genius idea, but that didnt stop american officials from hatching that plot during the cold war. Brian todds standing by. People really love snapshot from progressive, but dont just listen to me. Listen to these happy progressive customers. I plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. With snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. The better i drive, the more i save. I wish our company had something this cool. Youre not filming this, are you . Aw camera shy. Snapshot from progressive. Testdrive snapshot before you switch. Visit progressive. Com today. Sounds per postrous, but the United States actually hashed a plot during the cold war to possibly nuke the moon. Brian todds got the latest on this bizarre story. Im tempted to say and i will, what were they thinking . Well, wolf, all sorts of wild ideas were floating around in the halls of Government Back in the 1950s. It was the height of the cold war, security scares all around. American leaders felt they needed to give a jolt to the soviet union. So at the time this didnt seem so outlandish. Fire. Just think of what a Nuclear Explosion would look like up there. The u. S. Government once considered it. Cnn has documents and interviewed the leader of a oncesecret air force projectin ok would you sayly titled a study of Lunar Research flights with a low brown nickname project a119. What was it really . To evaluate the value of putting a small emphasize small in this world anyhow, Nuclear Explosion on the moon. This physicist now 85 years old led the project in 1958. It was the height of the cold war. America and the soviet union were in a nuclear arms race. The soviets had Just Launched the worlds first satellite sputnik and were ahead in the space race. U. S. Officials needed a big splash. People were worried very much by sputnik and the very great accomplishments of the soviet union in those days. And in comparison the United States feared was feared to be looking puny. So this was a concept to sort of reassure people that the United States could maintain a mutually assured deterrence and therefore avoid any huge on earth. Team leaders also thought they could get information concerning the capability of Nuclear Weapons for space warfare. He says the plan called for an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile to be launched from an undisclosed location, travel 240,000 miles to the moon and detonate on impact. Various reports say they considered using a bomb the same size as the one dropped on hiroshima. He says he wasnt in on those discussions. Could the blast as some news reports suggest actually blown up the moon . Absolutely not. It would have been microscopic so to speak. It would have left a crater i think essentially invisible from earth even with a good telesco e telescope. An up and coming graduate student went on to be one of the most world renowned astronomers. We brought him onto look at the propagation of a hypothetical cloud. Later on he says he violated security when he mentioned the stillclassified project on a job application. Her widow told us shes not sure if he ever did that, but if he did it wasnt intentional. By 1959 project a119 was drawing more concern than excitement and was abandoned. We didnt want to clutter up the natural radioactivities from the moon with additional bits from the earth. He says other factors in killing the project was they were not sure of the reliability of the weapons. The possible deterrent wouldnt have been worth the gamble and a lot of public backlash in the u. S. Contacted by cnn, the air force would not comment on project a119 even 54 years later, wolf. And you say there was also talk of having Nuclear Weapons in space. Thats right. We talked about that in the piece. But reffel said generally in military circles at that time they discussed as having the moon as a military high ground. But it involved in having Nuclear Launch sites on the moon. The thinking was if the soviets hit the u. S. With Nuclear Weapons first and wiped out our ability to strike back, the u. S. Would strike from the moon. Horrendous concepts he hopes that will stay in Science Fiction forever. I love going back and seeing what they were thinking about doing in the 50s. Whole different era. Most of us wont need advice on how to spend a lottery jackpot. But our guest knows the feeling of seeing the winning numbers on a ticket and asking herself whats next. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac to provide a Better Benefits package. Oahhh [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at. [ duck ] aflac [ male announcer ]. Forbusiness. Com. Ha ha bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. Social security are just numbers thinkin a budget. D. Well, we worked hard for those benefits. We earned them. And if washington tries to cram decisions about the future. Of these programs into a last minute budget deal. Well all pay the price. Aarp is fighting to protect seniors with responsible. Solutions that strengthen medicare and. Social security for generations to come. We can do better than a last minute deal. That would hurt all of us. Playing sports is just my whole life. Looking back, if it wasnt for shriners hospital, things would just be really, really different. I lost my leg when i was a kid. There was a time when i felt like i wasnt going to be able to walk again. It was a pretty bad accident but shriners showed me who i could be again. They turned my whole life around. They call it love to the rescue and it really works. Hunters life is one of nearly a million changed by donations from people like you. Send your love to the rescue. Donate to shriners hospitals for children today. Lisa sylvesters monitoring some other top stories in the situation room right now. Including violence flaring once again in egypts capital. Lisa, whats going on . Wolf, police and protesters scuffled near Cairos Tahrir square with arrests of young people many still upset by president Mohamed Morsis move to consolidate his power. The Muslim Brotherhood is supporting nationwide rallies to support the president. The new constitution meantime says it has almost finished its final draft. And the e. P. A. Is temporarily banning bp from competing for new government contracts. In the wake of the 2010 gulf oil spill, the agency says it is taking action because of bps lack of business integrity. As of february bp had 9 billion in contracts with the feds. Bp it expects this ban to be lifted shortly. And the manager who oversaw apples flawed maps program on its new iphone has been fired. Rich williamson was fired just before the thanksgiving holiday. He had been with apple for about a decade. The flawed maps app forced ceo tim cook to issue a public apology after the iphones debut in september. And if youve ever dreamed of an intimate dinner with betty white, well here is your chance. A los angeles chapter of the society for the prevention of cruel tito animals is auctioning off a date with the actress. The winner will join white and the spcas president for dinner. The minimum bid get this, wolf, its only 1,000. I think were going to have a number of takers. What do you think . I think there will be a lot of them no doubt about that. Shes a very, very popular lady. Lisa, thank you. The first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama showed off the White House Christmas decoratio decorations. She had some very special guests. We are also honoring our military families with some very special decorations on the official White House Christmas tree thats in the blue room. Its the biggest tree in the house. Its huge. Stands close to 19 feet tall. It is one of my favorite trees. This very special joining forces tree is covered with handdecorated ornaments made by military children living in u. S. Bases around the world. Its going to be a Great Holiday for everyone. And we are just excited to have visitors come through. This is our official opening throughout the Holiday Season more than 90,000 people will come from all around the world to see this house. And i couldnt imagine a better way to get things kicked off by having all of you here with us. And youre in the situation room. Happening now, syrias rebels making gains in their bloody civil war knocking regime aircraft out of the sky. Now a former syrian pilot is sharing inside details on his orders to target syrian civilians. The election exposed one major weakness for republicans, diversity. Our gop leaders creating more problems by picking white men to head all every single one of the committees in the house of representatives . And drones have been invaluable in secret missions over iraq and afghanistan. Could they soon be crowding the skies over america . We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer, youre in the situation room. Theres a Stunning Development in syrias bloody civil war. While new car bombings near damascus underscore the horrifying totality of the conflict, rebels say theyve made a major breakthrough. Look at this. The video shows a helicopter taking a direct hit. The rebels say theyve downed three regime aircraft in 24 hours. And these other images are said to show wreckage from a downed fighter jet near aleppo. While the rebels may start evening the odds a bit against the regime air power, a Top Air Force defector is giving inside details on problems within the syrian military. Heres cnns nick patton walsh. Wolf, rebels always experience one problem no matter what success they have, regime air power, the ability to be struck from the skies from the significant Syrian Air Force. Weve spoken to one former commander of the air force who now of course is talking on behalf of the opposition who gave us a snapshot call it perhaps a snapshot of how he sees this force is weathering recent rebel success. For a week regime air bases and military outposts have faulten daily. Rebels now focusing on besieging the bases from where the regime projects its brutal force. Thats per Bashar Al Assads power under the most pressure yet. Are the rebel advances affecting them . We asked pilots known to syrians as their first man in space, a teacher to many syrian pilots at a key academy he defected in august. In istanbul he told us pilots would only bomb civilian areas indiscriminately if ordered to. Translator it is destruction for the sake of destruction. For example, they are asked to target a neighborhood, not a particular place. However, there is no accuracy. Reporter random destruction may capture the worst fate for a helicopter crew, this one extremists. Its unclear what happened to them. But life on some air bases were told is also terrified. The fear of defection means pilots families are held sort of hostage while they fly. Translator the problem isnt how many planes work. Its how many pilots are left that are trusted to fly. They are held captive on their bases some even with their families. So they are not able to defect. Theres a large number who the regime does not trust to fly in case they escape with the plane to neighboring countries. Reporter rebels say gangs bring new weapons like this surfacetoair missiles probably seized from the regime here near aleppo on tuesday they appear to launch a devastating effect though its hard to prove. But damaging two of the constant bombing runs these aircrafts have made, they need spare parts. And as winter sets in will be increasingly disabled by something as simple as bad weather. Translator a plane has a set number of hours that it can fly. So the recent increase in their use decreases the hours they have left in their life span. When there is rain, clouds and fog in winter, it affects the planes and pilots. The type of planes we have arent able to bomb so well in bad weather. Reporter difficulties that give rebels a chance in winter to speed their march on damascus. These men capturing another base too close to its center for regime comfort. After months of stalemate, the narrative of this war finally changing. Whats important to remember, wolf, is that as rebels advance and collect these weapon catches from bases they overrun, that not only provides them with better fire power to take on the regime aircraft and artillery, it also deprives the regime of key places from which it could normally project that force. So its a compound effect. While rebels gain, the regime also loses. Many are seeing a change in dynamic certainly on the ground and perhaps the Syrian Air Force as the winter months approach will find their ability to hit at will the rebels like they have been for months now find that finally compromised, wolf. Nick paton walsh, thank you. Palestinians heading towards a major victory at the United Nations. A General Assembly vote that would boost their status on the world stage. The United States and israel have lobbied hard against the move warning it could backfire and actually set back palestinian hopes for full statehood and negotiated peace. But with some key european nations on board, palestinians view the vote as a game changer. Cnns Frederik Pleitgen reports from the west bank city of ramallah. Reporter the final rally before heading to new york, palestinian president Mahmoud Abass addressing supporters. The final decision is to head to the United Nations tomorrow he says to enhance the position of palestine to an observers state in the United States and the first step to achieve all our National Palestinian rights. If the palestinians win a majority in the u. N. General assemb assembly, the u. N. Will recognize palestine as a nonmember observer state like the vatican. Its territory to include the west bank, gaza and east jerusalem. For the world to begin to rectify a grave historical unjustice that the palestinians had undergone beginning with the creation of the state of israel in 1948. Reporter some observers think Mahmoud Abbas needs the vote to regain authority among palestinians. While the west bank remain quiet, the Islamist Hamas exchanged fire with israel earlier this month. Its armed wing shooting hundreds of missiles into israeli territory during a week of conflict. Many here believe that could be a first step, the United States has warned the Palestinian Authority that going to the United Nations could thwart any chances of going for full statehood. Israel has threatened a strong response should the palestinians seek full statehood. Everything from withholding tax revenues to annexation of land currently occupied by settlements on the table. We think this is a mistake. Its political theater. The palestinians can get a piece of paper from the United Nations, but theyre not going to get a statd. Palestinian statehood can only be achieved through negotiations with israel. Reporter but the palestinians might try to use their new status to bring israeli leaders in front of the International Criminal court for war crimes they believe israel committed in past military operations. The palestinian bid for recognition might be a largely symbolic move, but it could also redefine the relationship between israel and the palestinians. Frederik pleitgen, cnn, ramallah. Here in washington the u. N. Ambassador susan rice has been making the rounds on capitol hill. But one after another key republicans are making it clear they still hold serious reservations about susan rice and her possible nomination as the secretary of state succeeding Hillary Clinton. Our Foreign Affairs reporter elise labott is with me right now. Elise, is this just about benghazi or are there other issues at play here . Clearly theres a lot of politics involved, wolf. This enables the republicans to keep hitting president obama on the benghazi issue, but there are going to be a lot of questions about susan rices record not just as a Clinton Administration official. If you remember there was some criticism of how she handled the rwanda genocide. Some sanctions on iran and north korea on syria, its been a bit of a slog. Now obviously there are going to be a lot of questions about benghazi. Shes seen, wolf, as one of the president s closest advisors, maybe seen as a little bit too loyal to the president and not independent enough. And her advisors say there could be a little bit of the senate trying to get their man in, john kerry. Youve seen some republican senators, senator mccain, today senator collins saying john kerry would be an excellent choice and easily confirmed. They would like to confirm their own members. Some critics have talked about her personality that shoost too abrasive, too tough, what do you think . Well, she does have sharp elbows. She is considered someone in washington to be blunt. Shes had notorious spats with Hillary Clinton, Richard Holbrook when he was ambassador to the United Nations. And she also had tough criticism for Hillary Clinton, inflammatory language for john mccain running against president obama. And twitter lately talking about syria and talking about china and russia saying shes disgusted. But her supporters say, listen, she is a tough talker. But you know where you stand with susan rice. And she doesnt mess around. But they also say shes surprisingly down to earth. And she they say has taken the high road with this whole issue with benghazi. She isnt using inflammatory language thats been used with her and others. Theres a question if the president does nominate her to be the next secretary of state, can she be confirmed . Many people think that the Obama Administration has enough votes in the senate to confirm her. The question is, if she does get confirmed, what kind of shape will she be in . Its likely to be a very bruising confirmation process. Ambassador rice if she becomes secretary would be leading the state department which has tens of thousands of employees, a huge budget. Shed be needing to get the budget through the hill. But i think, wolf, at the end of the day the most important thing is the relationship that a secretary has with the president. Shes seen as one of the closest advisors to president obama. And i think at the end of the day, if you look at his defense of her, this defense of her sends an unspeakable message to the country and the rest of the world she would be instrumental in formulating Foreign Policy. She would have the president s ear. She was an assistant secretary of state for African Affairs during the Clinton Administration. And traveling through africa with her at the time former road scholar. Obviously shes got a lot of experience. Certainly has a lot of experience. And done a good job at the United Nations over the past few years as well. Well see what the president decides to do. The ball is clearly in his court. Thank you, elise. Three weeks after his election loss, mitt romney will be in the white house tomorrow for lunch with the president of the United States. Will he bring ideas for avoiding the fiscal cliff . And more than half a billion dollars up for grabs in the power ball lottery. Ill talk to the man who actually draws the winning numbers. He could make you very rich. G s make a wish i wish we could lie here forever. I wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] its practically yours. Test drive but we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. And its never been easier to get a jetta. Thats the power of german engineering. Get 0 down, 0 due at signing, 0 deposit, and 0 first months payment on any new volkswagen. Visit vwdealer. 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Today senator collins echoed the comments. Shes Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland security committee. Shes joining us from capitol hill. Senator, thanks very much for coming in. Good evening. All right. So youve now heard directly from her. You had some concerns going in. Were those concerns allayed . Ambassador rice was able to answer some of my concerns, but not all of them. It still seems to me that the information that she conveyed on those sunday talk shows is not consistent with some of the reporting to which she had access. And thus it painted a misleading picture of what really happened in benghazi. Keep in mind that she was on those shows on september 16th, four days after the attacks. The reports were conflicting, but by that time individuals who had actually been within the complex had been interviewed by the fbi, there was the report from the libyan president and there was other information as well. Is it your opinion that she was deliberately misleading the American Public . Or that she was just reading from those talking points she had received from the u. S. Intelligence community . Ambassador rice not only received the unclassified talking points which are very brief and not very helpful, but she also had access to classified information in the president s daily intelligence brief. So she had a wide range of information and also received telephone briefing. I asked her about that today. I think what she chose to do was to put more emphasis on those reports that supported the narrative of the nonexistent protest of the video being the direct or primary cause of the attacks on our people rather than painting the fuller picture which was much more complex. And do you believe she was doing that for political reasons . Remember september 11th we were all still in the midst of the president ial campaign. And the administration had some political objectives during those final few weeks of the campai campaign. Do you think she was doing this for partisan political purposes . I cant go that far. But what i will say is i dont think the secretary of state or the u. N. Ambassador should be involved in going on Television Presenting this kind of case with such ser tan tud when theres such ambiguity at that point of what essentially happened and playing role of the administrations defender. Those two positions should be above politics. I think thats why secretary clinton refused to go on the shows. Its my understanding that she was the one who was first requested. In fact, ambassador rice told me that. So i think she just should have said no and that someone from the white house should have represented the views that the administration wanted put forth those days. I know this is a difficult decision for you because you introduced her when she was being during her confirmation hearings in the senate as to an effect somebody with a close connection to your home state of maine. You were there. You introduced her to your fellow senators. How difficult personally would this be for you, senator collins, if you decided if the president nominated her to vote against her confirmation . It would be very difficult. I did introduce her to the formulations committee for her current job. I was asked to do so. And i readily agreed even though id only met her once or twice. But i knew her to be an intelligent and talented person. And i still believe that shes an intelligent, talented person. But its important that the secretary of state enjoy credibility around the world with congress and here in our country as well. And i am concerned that susan rices credibility may have been damaged by the misinformation that was presented that day. Thats one reason as i said that i wish she had just told the white house no, you should send a political person to be on those sunday shows. And if john kerry were the nominee, would you have any problems with him as the next secretary of state . I think john kerry would be an excellent choice. He obviously has had many years of experience. Hes traveled around the world and is respected for his knowledge in Foreign Policy. And i would predict that he would be easily confirmed. Senator collins, thanks very much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Extraordinary neverbeforeseen pictures of Albert Einsteins brain, brain. Up next, our own dr. Sanjay gupta with a look at what they could reveal about this legendary genius. Made a commitm. Bp has paid over twentythree billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. 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Extraordinary neverbeforeseen pictures of Albert Einsteins brain have just been revealed. And they could provide clues about how he became one of the greatest geniuses of all time. Lets bring in dr. Sanjay gupta. Sanjay, what can you tell us about a brain by looking at it from the outside . Well, its a hard thing to do. This is something neuroscientists explore quite a bit. Ill just preface by saying the whole exploration of Albert Einsteins brain that one of these things in the neuroscience world people have been curious for a long time. I dont know if you can see some of these images here. Youre looking at some representations of Albert Einsteins brain. There were a lot of pictures taken the first time it was examined. One thing to Pay Attention to you see all these grooves within the brain. And if you think about the fact that when the brain develops, you get many more of these convolutions as your brain develops and grows. If you have more convolutions, more ridges and valleys like youre seeing there, what that means is you have more surface area sort of on the brain. Thats a great place to sort of start trying to analyze just what the effectiveness, the impact of all those neurons in that area would be. If you have more grey area like that, you have more neurons and the brain can talk to other areas of the brain more easily. Now, it doesnt necessarily mean someone is going to be more intelligent, but i think what we can best say is that based on images like that that the capacity is there. Theres a greater capacity for the brain to talk to each other in different ways. I want to remind our viewers sanjays a neurosurgeon so he knows a lot about brains. How else does einsteins brain, sanjay, differ from the vast majority of us . I want you to look at something very specific here. Pull up this one image. If you can see this, wolf, theres this is an area the frontal lobe. I want you to look specifically at that yellow area and then theres a red line in between. In Albert Einsteins brain, that area of the frontal lobe was in fact split into two areas. In most people, again you have large data on lots of different brains. In most people that areas fused together. Thats an area of the brain, wolf, thats responsible for a lot of executive functioning. So not just the thinking of ideas, but the actual implementation of ideas. The ability to take concepts and do something with them. Its hard, wolf, to make an extrapolation to say, look, this is the explanation as to why he was able to do so many of the things that he was doing, but when you look for some of these differences and figure out what those areas of the brain do, you can start to piece together a brain like Albert Einsteins. In that area there, wolf, i dont know if you can see it sort of split in two, thats unusual. And it could be an important distinction in terms of his intelligence. Is there anything, sanjay, about einsteins brain that has implications for mere mortals like us . In other words, is there anything we can learn from these fascinating findings . Well, one of the things people have been asking almost since the time einsteins brain was first studied was was he born with this . Or was this something that he developed . I mean, the old nature, nurture question. Theres one area of the brain that sort of gives i think pretty remarkable evidence that probably this was more nurture than nature meaning that he developed these skills. He probably had a lot of capacity to start with, but his brain actually probably changed in response to all the ideas and things that he did. This one area of the brain i dont know if you can see this, wolf, but you look at an area responsible sort of for your motor function. In this case specifically his left hand function. Its typically associated with people who are really remarkable musicians, which he also was a musician. I dont know if you knew that, but he played the violin. That area of the brain thats responsible for that is not something you are born with. His brain changed probably in response to that music playing. And thats a little bit of insight into other parts of his brain that may have changed as well. We know in that area and also the parietal lobes back up here, they were different in einsteins brain. Right to left, in one particular area it was much bigger than in my other brains to which it was compared, wolf. Fascinating material especially for neurosurgeons like yourself. Sanjay, thanks very much. Tonights power ball jackpot soaring to a record 550 million. Up next, youre going to meet the man who could pull the winning number. Two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. Bp has paid over twentythree billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. 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Oahhh [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at. [ duck ] aflac [ male announcer ]. Forbusiness. Com. Ha ha tonights record power ball jackpot has soared to a whopping 550 million. Joining us now is the man who will be drawing what could be a winning number, sam arlan is joining us now. Are you a little nervous about all of this, sam . Its your responsibility to pick out that ball with the winning numbers. Thats right, wolf. Good to be with you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, its an incredible night here. We have a record breaking power ball jackpot, an estimated half a billion dollars. So theres a lot of attention obviously. Everyone across the country is crazy excited, which makes my job a little bit more pressurefilled. But im happy to do it. And i hope that we make someone really, really happy tonight. How did you get this job . Right place, right time, wolf. Ive been doing the lottery draws now for about eight years here in florida. And florida, you know, hosts the power ball draws. And i auditioned for it and lucky enough to get it. Its been a great ride so far. Do people recognize you on the street . You go out at 10 59 p. M. Eastern and make take that ball and make somebody very, very happy, people are watching. People are watching. Weve had people fly in from all over the country just to come to our studios and watch the draw because they wanted to see how it worked. They watch it from their homes, but they want to see how it looks in person. Were happy to have them in the studio. They have a viewing room, so they can come in and watch. Yeah, i go out and people, you know, they spot me as the lottery guy, the power ball guy. Its a great job. I have the opportunity to really change peoples lives. And every time i go out on the set and pull those numbers, im thinking about the person who might be winning that night and how radically different their life could be the next day. Are you allowed to buy tickets yourself . I cant. No. But thats okay. I have the best job. Wolf, do you have your tickets yet . Yes, i do. Of course i do. You do . Good. All right. Pick my numbers. I went earlier today and there was actually no line where i bought my i bought 20 worth. Thats ten tickets. Im hoping one of them wins. Yeah. Channel your numbers. Think about them. Around here in florida where i am im sorry. I said is that a strategy i should be thinking, looking at my numbers and think of those numbers, channel them to you right now and youll pick that winning number . Is that what youre saying . Hey, its worth a try, right, wolf . Half a billion. Cant hurt. Sam, thanks very much. Well be watching you later tonight. Sam arlen. Hes got a big job. Going to make somebody, maybe a few people very happy. Thanks very much. What would you do with all that money . Were joined now by someone who had to answer that question. Cynthia stafford won 112 million. Shes joining us from los angeles right now. Cynthia, describe your own moment winning that lottery when you knew you had the winning ticket. I was just the most excited person on the planet. Thats it. You knew right away. Its a thrilling feeling. Walk us through what happened in the hours that followed. Youre winning 100 million. What goes through your mind . What happens . I breathe, took a moment. I actually went and stayed in a hotel for a week just to kind of get away from it all. Did you notify your friends, your family that you had won . I told a few friends. And my family knew, yes. What did you do with all that money . Oh, ive donated a lot of it. Ive started a production company. Ive invested in a few businesses, some startups. A number of things. Youre a multimillionaire now. So whats the best thing and the worst thing about winning the lottery . Well, the best thing is that it will change your life. Well, you are able to do things you werent able to do before. To live a life of i call it the life that you choose. The worst thing i believe is you do lose a few people. And sometimes you have people that come into your life that arent the best. So it also takes, you know, having some recognition of what youre dealing with in terms of this of the wealth thats being given to you. What do you mean by when you say you do lose a few people . What happened . Well, ive had people who were dear friends who they didnt feel comfortable being around me with the wealth. So people who were my friends at one point are no longer associating with me. Was it their choice to walk away from you . Yes. And so you feel bad about that. Do you have any advice for people who still are out there, may go out and run out in the next few hours and buy one of these tickets, what advice do you have for them . Well, my advice would be to not spend more than what you can afford to. And to believe that if youre spending money on winning the lottery, believe that you will do it. That you will win it. Someone will win it. And, you know, dont play it thinking that youre not going to win or that its for that other person. And just very quickly, you had a feeling you were going to win, didnt you . Yes, i did. Tell our viewers. Well, i dont know. It was just like this feeling that came over me that said this is going to be the one. And this is something the amount that i won was something that i had wrote down and had seen in a vision. And i thought, okay, ill go for it. And what had happened it was just an amazing feeling. Truly amazing. Certainly is. I got my ticket right here. Im channelling this is going to be the one. Im trying to do what you did. This is going to be the one. All right. I got it. Cynthia, thanks very much. Congratulations on your big win. Thanks for the advice. Youre so welcome. Thank you. If theres going to be a Little Something with this if i win with that advice, something in it for you as well, cynthia. Thank you. Oh, i appreciate that. The election exposed one major weakness for republicans, diversity. Are Republican Leaders creating more problems right now by picking only white men to head all of the committees in the house of representatives . , havis doesnt hurt. And a santa to boot [ chuckles ] right, baby. Oh, sir. That is a customer. Oh. Sorry about that. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Fedex office. Bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollars [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. To help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Wre working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. Youll also care about our new offer. You get access to nurses who can help with your questions. And your loved one can get exelon patch free for 30 days. If the doctor feels its right for them. It cannot change how the disease progresses. Hospitalization and rarely death have been reported in patients who wore more than one patch at a time. The most common side effects of exelon patch are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The likelihood and severity of these side effects may increase as the dose increases. Patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. Patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more sie effects. 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Well, it is in a sense though, wolf, theres nothing anyone in the Republican House of representatives can do except elect more republican women. I mean, this is the, you know, what was the rumsfeld phrase . This is the army you go to war with. Theres only 10 of the Republican House caucus is female. And its about 20 women in the Republican House caucus. And nine of them were elected in 2010 and 2012. So they havent graduated to that level where they would be the head of a committee. We dont have the seniority as far as and africanamericans or hispanics dont have the seniority among the Republican Party as well in the house of representatives. Yeah. This is the Republican Party. Thats who it is. Thats whos leading it. Its a genuine representation of what the Republican Coalition is right now. Of course thats one of the big lessons of the 2012 election is republicans have to do better with nonwhite voters. Thats the bottom line. Were seeing it represented here. Paul ryans going to stay on as chairman of the House Budget Committee even though there were term limits, hes got an exemption from that. Yeah. Whats his future . How does that look . I dont know. Hes been very quiet so far on the fiscal cliff. Presumably hell have a lot to say about that. Theres some reporting that has suggested that hes really pushing republicans not surprisingly on holding the line on serious reforms to entitlements. Remember the ryan budget, two of the big areas it really went after were depending on the version were Social Security reform and medicare reform. And Steve Overmyer far it seems to be thats where hes headed. Im waiting for ryan to Say Something to jump into this debate about revenue and whether hes going to hold the line there where a lot of republicans have been modifying their position. But so far hes been very quiet since the elections ended. I think hes trying to figure out his postelection role in the gop and maybe whether hes going to set himself up to run for president in 2016 or not. I suspect hes got a good future ahead of him, but well see. The president has invited mitt romney for lunch tomorrow over at the white house. Listen to jay carney, the White House Press secretary, talk about it. I dont have an agenda for the lunch. The president as he said then looked forward to having this meeting with governor romney. Its a private lunch. Only the two men will be in the room. And im sure it will be a useful discussion. I see a bit of evolution happening in this relationship between romney and the president. Do you . You know, a little bit. Im not so sure were going to be seeing mitt romney and barack obama paling around much. I mean, what role could mitt romney honestly play in the Obama Administration . I mean, is he going to put him in charge of implementing health care . I mean the whole premise of the Romney Campaign was to overturn the first four years of the Obama Administration. I just on policy i dont see a whole lot of overlap. Frankly, obamas a kind of guy who sets he has the people around him are kind of set in place. And he keeps them. And he doesnt have a great track record of reaching out to new folks and becoming pals with them. Just look at how long it took him to fix his relationship with bill clinton. So i dont see much of a future for the two of them. Well, im a little bit more hopeful. I hate to be cynical. Im a little more hoepful. I think there will be a future for the two of them together. On some projects, good projects they both support. I remember bill clinton, george h. W. Bush absolutely. A pretty rough ride in 92. And bob dole. Thats right. Theyve been working together on a whole bunch of stuff. So i think romney and president obama are going to do just fine together at some point. Obama did say he appreciated some of romneys ideas about government reform and perhaps that was an area where he could take some advice. So thats my less cynical contribution there. Maybe they can talk about that tomorrow. All right. Standby. Were going to take a quick break. Much more news, ryan, thanks very much. With my state farm pocket agent app. You can also get a quote and pay your premium with this thing. I thought state farm didnt have all those apps . Where did you hear that . The internet. And you believed it . Yeah. They cant put anything on the internet that isnt true. Where did you hear that . [ both ] the internet. Oh look. Here comes my date. I met him on the internet. Hes a french model. Uh, bonjour. [ male announcer ] state farm. More mobile than ever. Get to a better state. More mobile than ever. Choose the Perfect Hotel without bidding. Trying to find a better job can likbe frustrating. Gs, so at university of phoenix were working with a growing list of almost two thousand Corporate Partners Companies Like microsoft, American Red Cross and adobe to create options for you. Not only that, were using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum, so that when you find the job you want youll be a perfect fit. Lets get to work. As we reported, mitt romney is now stepping back into the spotlight three weeks after his bruising loss to president obama. The rivals are set to have lunch tomorrow. Jim acosta is here with more details on what is going on, walk us through the process. As we reported, mitt romney genuinely thought he would win the election, so its no surprise he did not have a plan b ready to go. So with the future uncertain, the former gop contender and the president , who were bitter rivals, are starting with a safe lunch. Just like that, mitt romney was gone from the public stage. But at his victory speech, president obama had over ideas. In the weeks ahead, i look forward to sits down with governor romney to talk about where we canwork together to move the country forward. I do think he did a terrific job running the olympics. And so after romney pays a visit to his former running mate, congressman paul ryan, lunch, and bipartisan will be served. When the former gop nominee and the president sit down at the white house tomorrow. Romneys ideas for cutting the waste have wetted the president s appetite. Reporter romneys image could use a overhaul. One week after the election, he said the president s campaign was following an old playbook of giving a lot of stuff to groups, specifically the africanamerican, hispanic, and young people communities. It didnt take long for romney to be thrown under the gop bus. Its nuts. First of all, its insulting. The president may be reve reverting back to his old play book. A move that drew comparisons to lincoln, who appointed his opponents to the cabinet. Can romney be added to the obama team . Is is governor romney hear tomorrow in some kind of cabinet level position . Some kind of a no. Where will mitt romney be after tomorrow . Two aides to mitt romney say he is renting space from his son tags firm. He still does not have a permanent day job and could be available to the president in a future. Does that mean a cabinet position . One official said she would be shocked, shocked was the word she used, if an offer was made. Its a little early for that, but getting him involved in good causes, if theres a crisis, asking him for help. And the president talked about that mitt romney had some ideas that the president liked when it came to getting the size of the government under control, and with some of the fiscal cliff issues like controlling loopholes and those sorts of things. Romney is very patriotic, if the president asks him for help, he will help. Thats what usually happens. Drones may not just be for the war zones any more. 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Right now, theyre used mainly for gathering intelligence, but drones could soon be over the skies in america. Lisa silvester is looking into that. Reporter right now, only groups with special permission can operate drones in the United States. But that is going to change. Congress asked the federal Aviation Administration to find a safe way to expand the use of drones or unmanded systems domesticly. The bottom line is by 2015, they ha to have a plan to open the air space to both public and private uas. Think of the potential from crop dusting, to news traffic reports, to surveying land, to monitoring forest fires. Theres a big industry pushing the federal government to open up the skies, arguing these Unmanned Aircraft systems are safer and less expensive. If youre looking at a manned aircraft, its around a 3 million price tag, but for the uas, it be as low as 2,000. It can be as large as a fighter jet, or just a couple feel long. People have been flying them for years, but with certain restrictions. You cant fly them higher than 4,000 feet. How do you insure safety if the skies become a lot more crowded. Some of the larnger concerns are the construction of the aircraft, who is piloting them, the actual bandwidth, looking at some of the social issues which we all started to look into as far as privacy. Its the privacy piece that Edward Markie is concerned about. Is it possible that this is just going to be a rampant eyes in the sky gathering information about americans with no rules whatsoever . And it is a growing industry. A study by the teal group put current spending at 6. 5 million. A lot of people say that it could bring on a lot of jobs, and there are safety and privacy details that have to be worked out by 2015. Lisa, thank you. Youre in the the situation room happening now, back on capitol hill, reaching for a lifeline from a republican moderate, but susan rice coming up empty handed. And president obama talks fiscal cliff with a dozen of the countrys Business Leaders with. Innocent dolphins shot to death by humans. Were going up into the air, looking for answers. Im wolf blitzer, and youre in the situation room. A second day of meetings with republican senators didnt go better than the first day for the em battled u. N. Ambassador, susan rice. She has been under attack for her statements about the attack in libya. Republican criticism remains sharp, and her future fb a possible nominee for secretary of state is questionable at best. Dana bash is working the story for us, what happened today . Reporter you know, wolf, it was one thing for susan rice to get Harsh Criticism after yesterdays meeting with senators mccain, graham, and ayote, but it was different to hear the concern from one of the last centrist republicans in the senate. Susan collins would be one of the most likely to throw susan rice a lifeline. It didnt happen. I continue to be troubled by the fact that the u. N. Ambassador decided to play what was, essentially, a political role at the height of a contentious president ial campaign. She questioned her judgment and giving the public what turned out to be Incorrect Information in the days after the deadly attack in benghazi, and the main republican was lukewarm about the prospect of rice as secretary of state. If president obama were to nominate susan rice as the next secretary of state, could you support that nomination . I would need Additional Information before i could support her nomination. Collins has gone out of her way to support rice in the pass, even introducing rice at a confirmation hearing for u. N. Ambassador. The people of maine are proud of what this remarkable woman has accomplished. Whether collins supports rice now for a promotion is crucial because of the raw numbers. Rice would likely need 60 votes. Assuming all 55 senators who will caucus with democrats next year will vote to confirm her, she will still need five republicans to get to 60, and even collins doesnt support her. The president has not nominated her for the post yet. Another republican senator that met with rice made clear he think its will be a mistake. We want someone of independence. I just ask the president to step back for a moment, and realize that all of us here hold the secretary of state to the a very different standard than most cabinet members. Hours later, he offered rice fresh, full throated support. She is amazing, with that, they broke out in applause. With susan rice, looking on, smiling broadly. Reporter now, wolf, i spoke with two members of the Republican Leadership today, and they say at this point they think it would be tough to see her get confirmed by the senate. On the other side, i have spoken to Senate Democratic sources who say theyre not so sure, because if the president decides to spend the considerable Political Capital it would take, he could win. Why is that . Because so far her explanations for giving Incorrect Information have, for the most part, been in private meetings, she has not been able to do that in public. If she does it in public and does it well, she thinks it would be hard for republicans to block her. A tough road, indeed. Thanks, dana. Lets dig a little deeper. Kate baldwin is here as well. Peter bergan writes about susan rice and her remarks in a new piece, and he says this is not conspiracy, this is fog of war. Peter is here in the situation room joining us, and Fran Townsend is here as well. She is a member of the cias expersonal add vie committee. Explain what you mean by fog of war, and what she said on those five talk shows. We know, think about the coverage of osama bin laden, when he was killed. It was that he died in a fire fight and used his wife as a shield, and that all turned out to be wrong. That was just Bad Information about a chaotic investment on the other side of the world in the middle of a battle situation. And i think the central premise of the republicans attack, basically went away when petraeus testified behind closed doors. He said the talking points she was using was used by the Intelligence Community. That was confirmed by mike morrell, so instead of a political experience, it was the Intelligence Community not wanting to tip off the group. It was intended to mislead americans enemieenemies. Its surprising to me that when they were all up there with susan rice, meeting with these republican lawmakers, at one point mike morrell suggested it was the fbi that removed the words al qaeda, and several hours later, called and said he misspoke and it was are the the cia that did that. Two months after all of this, how could he get that wrong . Its confounding even to me. Ly tell you, what were seeing here is susan rice is being held to account for what had been a whole series of missteps by the administration in the substantive handling of this and their ability to explain what happened. And every time they may one atmosphere mistake, it fuels a Conspiracy Theory that there is some sort of political experience behind this. Having lived through my share of crisis in the white house, you cant chalk you have to deception what can be explained by the fog of war or just incompetence. Theyre not coordinating, they have not looked at each others information, and they continue to repeat these mistakes that fuel the ire of congress. And she had a series of briefings on the hill now, and i want to play something that she said after her briefing with ambassador rice, listen to this. Im also very troubled by the fact that we seem not to have learned from the 1998 bombings of two of our embassies in africa at the time that ambassador rice was the assistant secretary for African Affairs. He has her facts right there, but is it fair for the senate tore be comparing those attacks and what happened in benghazi . What is factually accurate is during the Clinton Administration, she was the assistant secretary of state for africa, but thats where the facts stop here. There was an accountability review board after the bombingings bombings. And the Lessons Learned affected across multiple administrations embassy security. We did learn those lessons. There was temporary waivers, and this is really quite different. It is also a failure in terms of the security precautions, but its quite different than the east Africa Embassy bombings. I want to bring better back into this conversation. One of the things theyre going after susan rice for, she said that the u. S. Decimated al qaeda, and leaders saying al qaeda seems to be okay even though bin laden is dead, theyre still out there and all of these sympathizers. Yes, the arab spring is almost two years in the making and its been a complicated process. If alqaeda, the full extent of its ability to attack the United States, killing four americans, in countries many countries in the middle east where these kinds of activities are happening, its not a very good score for al qaeda. They were not a it was an easy target, it was overrun. So i dont think you can say alqaeda is back. They managed to attack and kill four americans in the middle eastern country. You know, certainly, its worrisome, but it doesnt mean that al qaeda in any way reestablished itself. Peter, thanks very much, fran, thanks to you as well. They lead some of the countries biggest companies, and they just wrapped up a major meeting at the white house about the so called fiscal cliff, they met with the president , well find out what they talked about the. The ceo of Goldman Sachs is here. One expert tell lgs us what the winner needs to do. [ male announcer ] introducing the new dell xps 12. Part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. Its changing the conversation. Its changing the conversation. When you take a closer look. At the best schools in the world. You see they all have something very interesting in common. They have teachers. With a deeper knowledge of their subjects. As a result, their students achieve at a higher level. Lets develop more stars in education. Lets invest in our teachers. So they can inspire our students. Lets solve this. Time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. 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Youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral. See why millions of people have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. Dont wait. Call now. A lot to talk about the socalled fiscal cliff. We will face tax heights unless we reach a Debt Reduction deal. There is no public evidence of progress in fiscal cliff negotiations as of this moment. Sometimes on capitol hill, people suggest no leaks is good news. But others suggest the two sides are simply staring each other down on the key obstacles and posing for pictures in the meantime. There was plenty of public pho photoops around town. But in private, few signs of progress among negotiates. One veteran House Republican is making waves, essentially agrees with president obama. My view is that 98 of my constituents dont need a tax increase. I applaud representative kohl for that common sense and brave position. But one key Sticking Point is taxes. Democrats want to extend the tax rates and allow them to jump for wealthier americans. And cole said he does not recommend a tax hike for the wealthy. We all agree that were not going to raise taxes on people that make less than 250,000. We should just take them out of the discussion right now. Continue to fight against any rate increases, and dont to work for a bigger deal. Is this the sign of a movement . It was quickly shot down by john boehner. I want your take on the comments is this the direction that the conference is going . I told tom earlier in our Conference Meeting that i disagreed with him. Well put revenue on the table as long as were not raising rates. I think he is wrong and most of the congress thinks he is wrong. So talks continue behind the scenes with the photoops out front. Im told Speaker Boehner was surprised by congressman coles remarks when he heard them today. They said they believe a measure to extepid just the middle class tax cuts would pass if brought for a vote in the house, but republican aides say there is no plans for that as well. We learned late this evening that timothy geithner, and rob neighbors, a liaison for the house, are coming to meet with boehner and other leaders in separate meetings, so that is a very important meeting. What comes of that, of course, is encouraging. Well see what comes of it. And geithner the point man. And later tonight, i will be speaking with tom cole. Well talk about why he decided to side with the president on the issue of the middle class tax cuts at 8 00 eastern only here on cnn. A race again time to solve crimes against dolphins. Someone is killing them near a crucial breeding ground. The distances arent getting shorter. The trucks are going farther. The new 2013 ram 1500. With the bestinclass fuel economy. Engineered to move heaven and earth. Guts. Glory. Ram. Ive been a superintendent for 30 some years at many different park Service Units across the United States. The only time ive ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. I have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. Now, im going to be able to have the time to explore something different. Its like another chapter. Huge protests and fresh violence in egypts capital. Kate has that. Thats right, these latest demonstrations may risele the protest against the anger may get fuelled as early as tomorrow with a possible vote on the countrys controversial new constitution. We have details from cairo. Reporter initially, a 100member panel was designated to write this constitution. But there has been a lot of controversial. Several members quit, others sued to dissolve the panel and is it a fact over. If egypts new constitution is grafted by this panel, as it stands now, it could certainly fuel the outrage that were seeing in tahrir square. More of that to come. The u. S. Government is banning oil giant, bp, from bidding on new federal contracts. They recently pled guilty to criminal charges. The Environmental Protection agency says its temporary until they can show it meets federal business standards. Also, in new jersey, the c t costecost estimate of the damage from Hurricane Sandy was upped to 36. 8 billion. In new york state, its 42 billion. And a notorious piece of dallas history is going to be gone forever. The owner bought it in 2007 be the intention of preserving the dilapidated building. The demolition deadline, wolf, is friday. And history will be gone. Its the question all of us would certainly like to face. Whats the first thing you would do after winning half a billion Dollar Lottery jackpot. [ male announcer ] red lobsters crabfest ends soon. Hurry in and try five succulent entrees, like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. Just 12. 99. Come into red lobster and sea food differently. And introducing 7 lunch choices for just 7. 99. Bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. Wanted to provide better Employee Benefits while balancing the companys bottom line, their very first word was. [ to the tune of lullaby and good night ] aflac aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at. [ duck ] aflac [ male announcer ]. Forbusiness. Com. [ yawning sound ] aww, not the mall. Well, ill do the shopping. If you do the shipping. Shippings a hassle. Ill go to the mall. Hey. Hi. Yknow, holiday shippings easy with Priority Mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. If it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. Yeah, i know. Oh, youre good. [ laughing ] good luck [ male announcer ] Priority Mail flat rate boxes. Online pricing starts at 5. 15. Only from the postal service. Some of the countrys top Business Leaders just wrapped up a meeting at the white house with president obama. Among those taking part are the ceo of home depot, cocacola, and over half a dozen others. And the ceo of Goldman Sachs is joining us now. You met with the president today, where do you stand on this issue, a sensitive issue, of raising taxes for families making more than 250,000 a year . Wolf, we have to have a solution to this budget crisis. Its going to take more revenue, and its going to take cuts in entitlements, and i think as soon as people leave their ideological perch, and realize that we need a compromise, it would help everybody. Does that mean that you would support the president there that says raise that percent from 35 to 39 , where it was in the Clinton Administration . I think if thats what it took to make the math work, when you looked at the entitlement and revenue side, i would not procollude that. Of course we would have to do that if the numbers drive that way. There is nothing thats not an extreme point of view, i would not be cemented about that at all. Thats a stronger position than youve taken in the past, what changed your view . I said there has to be balance, there has to be it has to be responsible, and i think both sides have to yield. At the end of the day, its a divided country. Its not a winner take all in this, because we dont want to go off one wall, and go off the over wall when the administration changes or every twoyear congressional cycle. I think there has to be compromise. I said in the past that the numbers will drive you to more revenue, and im ideological. I prefer, and i think its better to have has low of a margin rate as possible, because thats the incentive, is the marginal rate, but if we had to lift up the marginal rate, i would do that. What about the republican argument this if you raise taxes on anyone in a time of economic disstress, it will hurt growth. I think thats true, and i think it will also hurt the economy as a whole if we have a widening budget deficit that gets harder and harder to finance because of the credibility of the United States is at risk. If this were easy, we would not be standing here talking about the white house about how to achieve it. Its going to be difficult. I think what we try to do is get in as good of a place as we possibly can. I would rather have more of the taxes deferred to beyond a period when the economy is weak. I would rather have the pain of release, expenditures, also rolled forward, maybe changing, you know, means testing and raising entitlements and dates, and have that kick in at some future time, but also there are other values at stake here, namely, trying to get those lines to start to converge, so the deficit is not permanently expanding. If the republicans goat a point of agreeing on those tax rates, thats a major move. I was on the hill today and the Republican Leaders made clear theyre not going for that, theyre not going for that at least right now. If republicans would do that, you know it takes two to tango, where do democrats need to give. I dont speak for the democrats or republicans, im not a member of the democratic or Republican Leadership. But theyre seeking your advice. Ill give you my advice, im a citizen of the United States. The success of my business, me, and my family personally correlate with the success of the United States. I would like to not have a crisis that will wreck the economy and derail the recovery, and i would like the upside of tapping into all of the energy starting to well up in this country that favors the competitiveness of the United States like all of the money on the sideline, that we finally chewed through a lot of the problems that we had over the last several years, like the great Energy Situation available in the United States. I think were at the i would not we only talk about the fiscal cliff, how about being on the precipice of great advantages for the United States. I would like to take advantage of that. Thats my personal and business interest. And from investors across the board, everyone with money in 401 ks, what would happen if the country goes over the fiscal cliff, and there is no deal next year, and you have a problem with raising that debt ceiling again. I dont know exactly what will happen, but i know it will be bad. You, again, the United States has great credit. The United States still borrows cheaply. But at some point, there will be competitors to the United States for that. By the way, even if there werent, you need the United States and the leadership of the United States to help drive the global economy. You know, listen, at the end of the day, i dont want to quibble about the tax rate. The more important thing is to increase the size of the wealt y high, and you pay a lower margin of rate because the economy is impaired, thats crazy. I would rather get the country on the prooper footing as the most important objective. You say that you also can i just say also, but entitlements are also important here. I just came from europe, and i have a lot of confidence, last week i informs europe, and i have a lot of confidence they will work through their problems. But ill tell you, its a lot easier not to get to that place in the first place, than to try to solve the problems of pulling back on entitlements. The problems in europe is that entitlements vastly exceeded the scale of their ability to generate revenue. Lloyd, thank you for your time this evening. Thank you. So what do americans think about all of this . A majority support raising taxes on the wealthy. Thats what polls are showing us. 60 support it, thats a cording to an abc News Washington post poll. Our orc poll finds similar results with 36 saying taxes on the wealthy should be kept low, 56 say taxes on wealthy americans should be kept high. Speaking of money, were less than five hours away from tonights historic 550 million powerball drawing. Lets go to mary snow, who is joining us from one of the lines, what do you need to do first, for example, if you win. Its a question that a lot of people would be able to have that answer and theyre looking forward to winning. Yeah, just about everybody we talked to today, wolf, says they already thought about the first thing they would do if theyre winning. As you see, behind me, as we get closer to that jackpot, this Convenience Store is seeing more and more people come in and take that chance. But one lawyer who deals firsthand with winners says yes, its such a dream, but its also nerve racking. At this louisiana food mart, Powerball Ticket lines good in line for a dream. Storeowners put up these makeshift signs to keep up with the jackpot. Juan hernandez decided to play his first ticket today. I found 10, so i decided to use 2 of it. One customer after another shrugged off the odds of winning to the idea of a new life. You see the shock in them, you also see the immediate need to want to stay within themselves. Attorney jason kerland has supported big winners, he says since most states dont allow winners to stay anonymous, he set up trust fund to try to guard their names. Within the hour i had emails, calls, for donations and investments. He advises his clients to leave it to professionals and lock it away. One economist who tracks these kind of jackpots doesnt expect several winning tickets. One or two winners is the most likely outcomes. Theres no shortage of people dreaming it would be them. I would have to sit calmly down, i would hope, and just start making plans. Wife, three kids, and a business. Theres a lot of planning. A lot of day dreaming going on, wolf. New york is just one of 42 states along with washington dc, the virgin islands, just to give you an idea of what sales are like here in this state, officials are saying this afternoon they were seeing sales pick up to the tune of about 3 million per hour in sales. Tell those people they dont have to waste their time, because i, i want you to take a look at this, i have in my hand, the winning Powerball Ticket. I have the feeling. Im feeling it right now. I believe these, i spend 20, i have ten chances of winning. You have ten chances of winning, and what are the chances of not winning . I think its one in 175 million. Thats only if you spend 2, i spent 20, all of dlsh. If i win, its going to be hilarious at work tomorrow. Thank you, mary. Critical advance is a very serious subject coming up. We have a reporter on the ground inside syria, arwa damon is there, risking her life to bring you our next story. Two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. Bp has paid over twentythree billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. Of washington about the future of medicare and Social Security. Anncr but you deserve Straight Talk about the options on the. Table and what they mean for you and your family. Ancr aarp is cutting through all the political spin. Because for our 37 million members, only one word counts. Get the facts at earnedasay. Org. Lets keep medicare. And Social Security strong for generations to come. Trying to find a better job can likbe frustrating. Gs, so at university of phoenix were working with a growing list of almost two thousand Corporate Partners Companies Like microsoft, American Red Cross and adobe to create options for you. Not only that, were using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum, so that when you find the job you want youll be a perfect fit. Lets get to work. Syrian Rebel Forces Claim they have shot down three military aircraft in the last 24 hours. Arwa damon is there, arwa, tell our viewers what youre seeing. We were, earlier at the sight of where a fighter jet was shot down using, according to rebel fighters, a surface to air missile. I have to say, at the scene, those who were there, villagers, picking through the debris, picking up pieces of metal, showing scraps of metal that he collected that he wanted to take to show to other villages. Lets not forget that on too many occasions, all too often, the sound overhead would cause nig nightmares and now theyre a trophy of war. People have been feeling the brunt of the air power. Many of them saying this is now the greatest victory. One eyewitness said he was picking olives very close by. He saw the plane being hit, and the pilots ejecting. At that point, everyone in the area fanned out looking for them. They found one pilot who was unconscious with a head injury. He was taken away to a makeshift field clinic. We saw video of him in the clinic still appearing to be off conscious. A voice off camera saying had is the fate of your pilot. A very significant development. As you were mentioning there earlier, its not that they brought down this one fighter jet, but in the last 24 hours, two helicopters as well. Are they beginning to sense theyre winning, arwa . In this area, it is around 15 miles outside of town, and theyre viewing it as a significant event. What led to it was a battle that was fought very close by at a massive air base just over a week ago. And when the rebels finally took over that base, they found among the rocket propelled grenades, tapgs, and tacks of metal boxes, packed with aint aircraft missiles, hundreds of them, but not all of them are funging, but this, certainly, given what we have seen over the last 24 hours, is shifting the balance ever so slightly. Lets not forget that the regime does thil have the military advantage thanks to the sheer size. Were not seeing them gain much more territory than they have in the past. It was huge areas that one would not have been able to drive through in the last month without coming across Government Forces are now firmly in rebel control. Be very careful over there, arwa. She does amazing work and always has. An apparent serial killer targeting dolphins. Ro aninspire, but its not from germany. A powerful, fuelefficient engine, but its not from japan. Its a car like no other. From a place like nother. Introducing the allw 2013hevrolet malibu, our greatest malibu ever. When we got married. I had three kids. And she became the full time mother of three. It was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. Those years were crazy. So, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isnt anything on the schedule. Without freshlymade pasta. You could also cut corners by making it without 100 real cheddar cheese. But then. It wouldnt be Stouffers Mac cheese. Just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffers. Part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. Its changing the conversation. Mysteries unfolding along the gulf coast that is as heartbreaking as it is disturbing. Someone is murdering and mutilating dolphins and the race is on to find the killer. To reach the crime scenes, you need to catch a rise and take a guide. This island to our left is deer island where you found two of them . Thats correct. A Harrison County sheriff took us to see the sights where most of the murdered dolphins have emerged along the mississippi gulf coast. How many dolphins have tuned up killed so far . We have been dealing with about six or seven. We know at least three or four of them were killed with bullets, and the other ones have been mutilated. Some have tails or jaws cut off, or a screwdriver in them. What do you take away from that, b what does it tell you . I think its kind of a sick ritual of some sort. Someone getting a thrill out of this. I cant see a reason other than than committing a horrific act to do Something Like that. The pictures of the mutilated dolphins are disturning to look at. They clearly show signs of attack. Some are too gruesome to show here. Is it a serial killer of dolphins . There is a der ranged person out there doing something cruel and senseless. Whos out there this. Reporter investigators say they dont know if the dolphins are threatened by a group or by one killer. Theyre very curious and i think by getting fed, out in the wild, they will get fairly close. So they can get themselves into a bad situation, unexpectedly . Right, i think they get close without realizing theyre going to be in any kind of danger. Reporter thats why its actually illegal to feed dolphins in the wild. I have never seen a dolphin thats been shot in 22 years. Reporter it seems somewhat more difficult to investigate Something Like this, if you have a murder of humans, you have evidence, theres a crime scene. Right. Reporter this you dont. This crime scene is huge. On the first dolphin that was recovered, they do have the bullet, they did recover the bullet. How much that will help i dont know. But like you said, you have got so much area here. This is much different than any other crime scene. Reporter in the next few months, females will move in to give birth and slahe fears that baby dolphins will be targeted. The Marine Mammal protection act states that anyone conflicted of killing a dolphin could be sentenced to one year in prison and fined up to 1,000. Hes the man responsible for leaking stories around the world. What does he have to say . Well, wolf, were going to be talking to him live at 7 00 tonight. As you know, bradley manning, who the u. S. Government says leaked hundreds of thousands of classifi classified cables is awaiting trial. And at the center of the controversy is julian assange. Hes going to talk to us in the equadorembassy. He will be extradited to sweden where he is facing Assault Charges or to the United States perhaps for charges of espionage and hennilping a foreign enemy. Well see you at the top of the hour. Ahead forgot that 4 latte, now starbucks is offering a new coffee for 7. You probably heard by now that experts have determined that the mayan calendar predicts some kind of one man spent 160,000 building an ark. In case theres no apocalypse, he hopes to make it into a tourist attraction. It may not necessarily be a sign the apocalypse is coming, but starbucks has just introduced a 7 00 cup of coffee. Je je jeanie mos went looking for someone who would. Reporter how about a bank so we can afford the new coffee so we can afford the rare coffee beans. Actually 7 just for the medium, the grande, you could skimp and for 6 get a small. It was introduced at 36 Starbucks Stores in the pacific northwest. Is that something you would buy . No, not at all. Reporter for some people coffee tasting is like wine tasting. People like Melanie Overton who runs a fan site for starbucks enthusiasts who were giddy over sampling a rare cup of coffee. I noticed all of these flavors and to have so much g going on in a cup of coffee. Reporter so how does it taste . This coffee is expensive because it grows at High Altitude and there are fewer cherries per tree. Jimmy kimmels staff asked people if they could pick the new starbucks coffee. I think this one, because it has a distinctive taste. Im going to mention that we didnt even bother to get the coffee. We put the same coffee in both cups. This one just tastes richer, it has a beanie taste. It tastes like a bean. I would put 2 to 3 on this cup preferably over this cup. It all tastes the same. Reporter that guy is using his bean. Jeanne moos, cnn, new york. Are you going to spend 7 for a grande black coffee . Uh, no. But can you