Mans message in a bottle. Good morning. Im muhammad lila, in for rob nelson. Im brandi hitt. Paula faris is on assignment today. We begin this morning with a new effort to avoid the fiscal cliff. Its an 11thhour attempt to reach a deal. But lawmakers are not optimistic. Wendy gillette is here with the latest. Good morning, wendy. Reporter good morning, president obama will meet be lawmakers this afternoon. Time is running out with no deal in sight. President obama will meet with congressional leaders later today at the white house. But it may be too late for a deal. Theres just four days left before the fiscal cliff deadline. I have to be very honest, mr. President. I dont know, timewise, how it can happen now. Reporter Senate Majority leader, harry reid, lashed out at house speaker, john boehner, accusing him of running a dictatorship. John boehner seems to care more about his leadership than keeping the country on a secure footing. Republicans arent about to write a blank check for a
It was his job to train prosecutors to handle sex crime victims. Amazing. The new details were learning this morning in just a bit. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to early start. Great to see you. Im john berman. Im christine romans. It is friday. It bears repeating, its friday. It is friday. March 7th. It is 5 00 a. M. In the east. A very busy week and a very busy end to the week. Up first, the fight for crimea. Western leaders condemning a referendum by crimean lawmakers to separate from ukraine and to join russia. The crimean people will vote on that measure in just nine days. Ukraines interim Prime Minister boldly declaring crimea was, is and will be an integral part of ukraine moving forward, a sentiment shared by president obama. Referendum on the future of crimea would violate the ukrainian constitution and violate international law. Any discussion about the future of ukraine must include the legitimate government of ukraine. The president pushing hard for a diplomatic way out