there was plenty of talk about the dire consequences of the looming fiscal cliff. we re talking about tax cuts expiring for everyone automatically, payroll taxes going up, emergency unemployment benefits ending and, of course, the $1.2 trillion in so-called sequestration cuts. about half of that sum is going to come from defense. the obligation of the commander in chief is to act like the commander in chief, and that wld be to prevent these cuts, which in the words of his own secretary of defense, would devastate our national security. interesting, acting like a commander in chief, because a lot of the previous commanders in chief have done a lot more than barack obama may be about to do. we ve certainly been here before. ronald reagan during his second term cut defense spending by about 10%. the cold war was winding down. those cuts continued under former president george h.w. bush, about 18% in cuts. and then former president clinton. clinton did start to increase defen
with four days before congress high-tails it out of washington, there was plenty of talk about the dire consequences of the looming fiscal cliff. we re talking about tax cuts expiring for everyone automatically, payroll taxes going up, emergency unemployment benefits ending and, of course, the $1.2 trillion in so-called sequestration cuts. about half of that sum is going to come from defense. the obligation of the commander in chief is to act like the commander in chief, and that would be to prevent these cuts, which in the words of his own secretary of defense, would devastate our national security. interesting, acting like a commander in chief, because a lot of the previous commanders in chief have done a lot more than barack obama may be about to do. we ve certainly been here before. ronald reagan during his second term cut defense spending by about 10%. the cold war was winding down. those cuts continued under former president george h.w. bush, about 18% in cuts. and
didn t have that gun? no, sir. you feel you would not be here? i feel that it was all god s plan and for me to second guess it or judge it is there anything you might do differently in retrospect now that time has passed a little bit? no, sir. joining us this morning criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor ann bremner is with us. thanks for being with us. nice to see you. clearly it was a friendly interview. how would you measure and gauge how he did? it was a friendly interview. i always think a closed mouth gathers no foot. i rarely regretted my silence, only my speech. he did a few things that will haunt him in a trial. number one, he apologized and then al sharpton apologize and had so should spike lee because they did something wrong, well, doesn t it follow that he apologized because he did something wrong? that s number one. number two, he said he didn t follow trayvon martin but he told the dispatcher he did and saying it was god s plan and he
morning in philadelphia for that suspect as we speak. good morning, everyone. welcome to early start. it is 5:00 a.m. here in the east. also this morning, george zimmerman in his first on-camera interview since the trayvon martin shooting, he was asked if he has any regrets. you ll want to hear what he has to say. and is there tension in the u.s. supreme court after that health care ruling? you will hear what justice scalia said about any possible bad blood. that s in that cnn exclusive coming right up. up first this morning, breaking news from tanzania where more than 30 people have drowned, over 100 more are feared dead after a ferry with nearly 300 people on board sank. about 150 people were rescued. but officials say there s not much hope for the passengers still missing. there were also 31 children on board. you are looking there at pictures of a little boy being saved. there were tourists on board as well. it s not clear if any of them were americans. rough weat
we begin this hour with tensions ratcheting up between israel and iran. a bomb went off just as israeli tourists boarded a bus in the bulgarian resort city. six people are confirmed dead. some 30 others are wounded. president obama s strongly condemning the attack calling it in his word barbaric. cnn s elise labott is joining us live with the very latest. bulgarians are of course investigating. i m sure the israelis are as well. first of all, what are the bulgarians saying? reporter: well, wolf, forensic investigators on the scene. it s all very preliminary at this point, but they re saying that this was caused by a bus bomb already placed inside the bus. that s really all they know, but they re not ruling anything out. they say it s possibly a terrorist attack. obviously the israelis saying they re sure of it. but bulgarians not ruling anything in, not ruling anything out at this point, wolf. didn t take very long for the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu to d