the president has not risen to the mantle of the office. so says mitt romney, making his presence known in a blistering op-ed before taking his senate seat. today is the first bipartisan meeting since the government shutdown began. is a deal possible to end the shutdown costing 800,000 government workers their paychecks? the family of an american detained in russia denies charges of espionage. was paul whelan detained as payback for the russia investigation? someone in new york waking up really happy and $425 million richer before taxes. we have the lucky numbers and where that ticket was sold. welcome back to early start, i m christine romans the rest of us get up and go to work. good to see you my friend, that is right, we ll keep grinding. dave briggs, 4:30 eastern time.
detention from media reports on monday. let s get more from cnn s martin savidge. reporter: good morning. you know, this may sound surprising, but actually the family of paul whelan was relieved to hear that he d been taken into custody by russian authorities. let me explain. they knew he was going to russia. come the 28th, last friday, he suddenly goes silent. he doesn t call home, even his friends in russia didn t know where he was. and given what they know about their son and about their brother, that is totally out of character. they were so worried, they actually thought maybe he d been the victim of violent crime, possibly even dead, which is why when the russian authorities said, no, he s alive, but we ve raf arrested him for spying, there was relief but a realization, wait a minute, spying? that is not the person they know. that s not his character. a bit about paul whelan he is canadian, born in canada, but he s an american citizen. actually served in the u.s.
all right. thank you for that. what is russia saying about all of this? let s bring in cnn s matthew chance live in moscow. matthew? reporter: thank you very much. a short statement coming from the fsb, the main counter espionage agency in this country, the equivalent of the fbi saying that he does indeed have the u.s. citizen, paul whel whelan, being detained in moscow on the 28th. he was caught spying is what the brief statement says. we haven t had much information either from the u.s. embassy which is called for consular access to mr. whelan but has not confirmed to us eye been in close contact with them about whether or not that access has been granted. the russians formerly under the vienna convention have 72 hours before they have to grant access. that time has already lapsed. again, it s not clear whether
know is paul whelan in custody, and they say he was caught spying. beyond that, there s been absolutely no details given about what he was accused of doing specifically. just that he was arrested december 28th in the russian capital, moscow. in terms of consular access, the russians have 72 hours under the vienna convention to give consular access to u.s. diplomats so they can meet with mr. whelan and talk to him about the beltway in which he s being the way in which he s being kept, the treatment. we re not clear that access has been granted. the u.s. embassy have been in contact saying they can t confirm nor deny it, they re not commenti ining on or off the re. we re in the dark as to whether consular access has been granted. 72 hours has long expired. should have been given if it hasn t been already felt hope. l
out of character. they were so worried, maybe they didn maybe he was a victim of violent crime, maybe dead. when they learned he was arrested, there was a sense of relief but a realization, wait a minute, spying, that is not the person they know. they say it s not his character. a bit about paul whelan. he was born in canada but is an american citizen. he served in the marines, served overseas in iraq. worked in local law enforcement and now works for private security for a major auto parts manufacturerer in detroit. he went manufacturer in detroit. he went to russia not for work but was there to be at the wedding of a fellow former marine. then he gets arrested. so the initial fears the family have have been replaced by new ones that somehow he may be a pawn in a kind of showdown between the united states and russia. christine and dave?