Costello begins now. Well see everyone else back here tomorrow morning. Sorry. Next time, charles. Good morning, carol. Good morning. Thanks a lot. Heres whats happening in the newsroom. A war hero and washington politics. Former senator chuck hagel may need the war survival skills as onetime allies rally against his pending nomination as defense secretary. My wife is a hero. She protected her kids. She did what she was supposed to do as a responsible, prepared gun owner. A georgia man praising his wife after she fought back against an intruder. Gun rights advocates say we told you so. Rg3 down and out. The redskins have replaced their franchise quarterback long before his knee buckled . Newsroom starts now. Good morning to you. Thank you so much for being with us. Im carol costello. We begin with a new battle, or should i say another battle thats brewing this morning in washington. At the center, former u. S. Senator chuck hagel. In four hours, president obama is expected to name hagel as his choice for defense secretary. That nomination could be bruising. Hagel is known for being fiercely independent and the loudest outcry could come from hagels own fellow republicans. They say hes the wrong choice to oversee the military. The combat veteran, who was badly wounded in vietnam, is openly wary of Armed Conflict. The pain, and we didnt have any medics there with us, and we did have some guys, again, that i think were in pretty bad shape. The morphine and everything was used for them. You know, if i ever get out of all this, i am going to do everything i can to assure that war is a last resort. That we, a nation, a people, calls upon to settle a dispute. The horror of it, the pain of it, the suffering of it. Hagel won two purple hearts for his service in vietnam. He also saved the life of his brother, who was fighting alongside him. Hagel has also long called for cuts in defense spending. National correspondent jim acosta is on capitol hill to set the stage. Jim, some republicans say this is an in your face nomination by the president. It doesnt sound good. Reporter well, well have to see what happens. A lot of times, this sort of hue and cry will get going in the early rounds, but once the confirmation hearings get going, some of that does tend to melt away. Youre right. Lindsey graham was on cnns state of the Union Yesterday calling this an in your face nomination and basically saying this is going to be a very controversial pick for president obama. We should note the white house just put out some official guidance at 1 05 this afternoon the president will come out and make a personnel announcement. We expect that to be the announcement of chuck hagel for defense secretary and john brennan for director of the cia. But getting back to chuck hagel, you mentioned some of his credentials just a few moments ago. He is not only a republican senator who served in these halls with many of these same senators who might be opposing him or asking him tough questions, he also served in veet na vietnam. Carol, he took controversial positions over the years and made some controversial statements. He opposed the iraq surge, the surge of troops into iraq to help stabilize that country during the second term of george w. Bush. He has from time to time opposed unilateral sampnctions on iran. That also raised the dan der of neoconservatives here in washington. So its no surprise and hes made some comments about israel and the israeli lobby group, apac, calling them the jewish lobby. That has angered a lot of Jewish Americans and israelis about that. Its no surprise that Lindsey Graham is making these tough comments that he made earlier today on state of the union. Heres what he had to say. This is an in your face nomination by the president to all of us who are supportive of israel. I dont know what his Management Experience is regarding the pentagon, little, if any. So i think its an incredibly controversial choice, and it looks like the second term of barack obama is going to be an in your face term. Reporter and we should also note that Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate Minority leader, the Top Republican here in the senate, made some softer comments on the other sunday talk shows. He was saying that chuck hagel will get some thorough vetting, will get tough kwequestions, bue was not talking about it in the same stark terms as senator graham. President obama is making this nomination with congress out of town, so theres also time for this nomination to melt away. Well have to see. I want to take a closer look now at the antiisrael claims against hagel through the eyes of a seasoned diplomat. Nicholas burns is a former undersecretary of state. He joins us by phone. Good morning, mr. Ambassador. Good morning. Before we speak, i want to tell people exactly what hagel said that those comments that are haunting him today. In one statement, he said this was a long time ago. He said, im not an israeli senator. Im a United States senator. Of course, mr. Hagel said that when he was serving in the senate. And another time he says, the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here. Not very diplomatic words, right . But are they antiisrael . No, i dont think so. Carol, senator hagel has a long record of support for israel, support for israels security. I think this is an outstanding choice by president obama because senator hagel is clearly, without any question, one of the most knowledgeable and sperexperienced leaders we on foreign defense policy. Hes got a long record of support for the u. S. Military, and hes a combat veteran in vietnam. So hes seen war. I think hes going to add weight to the cabinet, and hes going to work well with the president and be a real boost for our foreign and defense policy. What do you suppose he meant when he said the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here . What did he mean by that . I dont know what he meant specifically, but i know the remark was made some time ago, and i know that senator hagel has been very consistently supportive of the obligation and interests that the United States has to support israels security. He has never deviated from that. Hes also been and i know this because i was involved in iran policy in the Bush Administration a very strong supporter of the effort to deny iran nuclear weapons. Frankly, some of the charges ive seen in the press, completely unfair. And kage rate exaggerated. And i hope that senator hagel gets a fair hearing. The president has the right to nominate who he pleases to the cabinet, and if the nomination goes through, i think its a very, very good choice. Ambassador burns, thanks for being with us this morning. At the same time as the announcement, president obama will also announce his choice for who to serve as the cia. James brennan served 25 years in the cia, but that doesnt mean the nomination will be a slam dunk. Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence explains. Reporter john brennan is the white houses point man for targeting terroristed. Hes got an office in the west wing and the ear of president obama. Moving to langley would be a big change. Going to the cia, you are further away from the west wing of the white house and immediate access to the president. Reporter in a way, brennan would be coming home. He joined the cia after reading a want ad in the newspaper, learned arabic, and become a station chief in saudi arabia. Al qaeda is on the ropes. Reporter brennan was a candidate for cia director four years ago, but he pulled out of contention when critics slammed his involvement in bushera interrogations. The job went to leon panetta and later david petraeus. But the former general had a culture clash with some career cia analysts. Following outsiders, panetta and petraeus, may be easier for brennan. Theyll think heres a guy who understands us and will have our backs and defend us. Reporter brennan was intimately involved in the runup to the assault on osama bin laden. At one point, the analysts came back in, and they said, well, whoever is living in this compound has a dog, and, of course, very observant, muslims dont have dogs. But brennan had been on the bin laden account himself for 15 years, and he remembered that, in fact, bin laden had a dog when he was living in sudan. Reporter brennan supported the raid, but afterwards he initially implied that bin laden was armed when he wasnt. Brennan suggested bin laden cowardly used a human shield when he did not. There was a female who was, in fact, in the line of fire that reportedly was used as a shield to shield bin laden from the incoming fire. Reporter brennan broke new ground last year. We can be more transparent and still ensure our nations security. Reporter he became the First Official to publicly explain how the government uses drones to target terrorists. John brennan is somebody who was in the room when all these decisions were made and is one of the principal architects of this campaign. This is surely going to come up in his confirmation hearing. Reporter so will accusations brennan helped manipulate leaks to boost the Administrations National security credentials. Unlike the adviser job, which does not need congress approval, this time brennan will have to face his critics head on. Chris lawrence, cnn, washington. And we are expecting a formal announcement on the nominations of former senator chuck hagel and john brennan in just about four hours. Well bring you live coverage when that happens. It was a profitable week epd for many gun dealers across the country as gun shows see record turnouts as concern continues to grow over changes to our nations gun laws. These are crowds in stamford, connecticut, less than an hour from newtown. In los angeles, people waited in line for more than four hours to get inside the gun show there, and theyre paying a lot more for guns. Thanks to high demand, the prices for things like shell cases are tripling. And a similar scene outside orlando, florida, where thousands of gun buyers turned out over two days to shop for weapons and ammunition. But opinions remain mixed on whether we need more gun laws. The answer is not more gun legislation. We already have laws banning murder. We still have murders . I dont think we should stop from owning whatever gun we want to own other than fully automatic guns. High capacity magazines, nobody really needs them. And then there is this growing debate. Should you know who owns a gun . In connecticut, one state representative wants to make public the names of all 170,000 handgun permit owners. Comes after a new york newspaper, the journal news, was criticized posting an online map showing the names and addresses of gun permit owners. Its a different story in new jersey, where state assemblyman dave riddle, himself a former police officer, wants to ban the release of gun owners names and addresses. Ribble told a new Jersey Police station that only Law Enforcement needs that type of information. And then a story out of georgia, which is gaining National Attention and likely to become an example of why we need to protect the rights of gun owners. A georgia mother armed with a. 38 protecting her children from an intruder. Her husband is calling her a hero this morning. Carrie cavanaugh of wusb in atlanta tells us what happened. My wife is a hero. She protected her kids. She did what she was supposed to do as a responsible, prepared gun owner. Reporter Donnie Herman was on the phone with his wife as an intruder was breaking into their home. Walton county sheriffs deputies say thmother works from the home on Henderson Ridge drive. Her 9yearold twins didnt have school. Around noon, a strange man arrived at the door. Deputies say he began continuously ringing bell. When no one responded, he grabbed a crowbar from his truck and pried his way in. Thats when the mother grabbed her kids, her gun, and hid in a crawl space. The perpetrator opens that door. Of course, at that time, hes staring at her, her two children, and a. 38 revolver. Reporter sheriff joe chapman says the woman began firing all six rounds, hitting the suspect in the face and neck five times. She starts yelling at him, stay down or im going to shoot you again. Thats when she gets her two children out of the crawl space, and they run downstairs and run out of the house to a neighbor next door. Reporter they ran next door, and the man took off in his truck. Sheriff chapman says 32yearold paul slater crashed up the road. Deputies found him on the ground. Chapman said he told the deputies, help me, im close to dying. The mother and her children were not harmed. Were in the neighborhood where several Law Enforcement officers lived, and i dont think they could have handled the situation any better than what she did. Her lives are saved, and her kids lives are saved. Thats all id like to say. Our thanks to affiliate wusb reports the suspect was placed on a ventilator with punctured lungs, a punctured liver, and a punctured stomach. The man accused of using three guns to murder people at a colorado Movie Theater will be in court for a key preliminary hearing this morning. And the evidence unveiled today is expected to be graphic and quite painful for the families of the victims. James holmes, the accused shooter, will be in court. For the first time, prosecutors will unveil 911 tapes and video from inside the aurora theater. Heres casey wian. Reporter 25yearold james holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding dozens more. Prosecutors are expected to call scores of witnesses before arapaho County District judge william sylvester. Hell determine whether the evidence is sufficient for holmes to stand trial on more than 150 counts, including murder, attempted murder, and weapons charges. Weapons included explosives allegedly used to boobytrap holmes apartment. His attorneys are expected to present a diminish the mental capacity defense. The government is going to absolutely say this. The government is going to say, this guy wasnt crazy. He was crazy like a fox. He was conniving. He was premeditated. He was methodical. And that all may be true, but at the same time, you could be all those things, but you could also have a mental disease or defect. Reporter he had been seeing a psychiatrist at the university of colorado, where he was a doctoral candidate in neuroscience untild dropping o in june. His attorneys say he was hospitalized in november after repeatedly banging his head into a jail wall. Casey wians joins us now from colorado. Casey, a question for you. The district attorney, i understand he sent a letter to the families of the victims. What does it say . Reporter thats right, carol. The victims, of course, are going to be enduring, those who are here in court, are going to be enduring some very disturbing, graphic and painful testimony over the next several days. Theyve warned about autopsy photos. Hours of video from the scene. 911 calls, things like that. The prosecutors wanted to make sure the victims are prepared, if they choose to be in court, and the victims family members choose to be in court, that theyre prepared for what they are going to encounter. Some of those victims relatives are actually expected to be in the same courtroom as james holmes. Others, though, dont want to be in the same room as him, and they will be in an overflow room that holds many more people, carol. Could james holmes enter a plea today . Reporter no. This is a preliminary hearing, which means the prosecution needs to show enough evidence to persuade a judge that james holmes needs to go to trial. A plea would not happen before an arraignment, which would happen after the judge makes a determination that, yes, he must stand trial. No one here believes the prosecution is going to have any difficulty persuading the judge that james holmes should go to trial on many of those 166 counts that he faces. Casey wian reporting live from aurora, colorado, today. To sports now, and rg3. Is there a difference to being hurt and being injured. As Robert Griffin, the super hero rookie quarterback, and hed say yes. Maybe he would have said yes. As you know, seattle will go on to play the falcons. Rg3s season is over. The question this morning, should griffins season have ended before the seattle game . What if redskins head coach Mike Shanahan had taken out rg3 after he reinjured his right knee . But he didnt. Even after the first quarter, when griffin fell down on an incomplete pass and was gimpy when he got up. After the game, shanahan explained why he stuck with his rookie quarterback. When i talked to robert, and robert said to me, he said, coach, theres a difference between being injured and being hurt. He said, i can guarantee im hurting right now. Give me a chance to win this Football Game because i can guarantee im not injured. That was enough for me. Im the quarterback of this team. My job is to be out there if i couldnt play. The only time i couldnt play is when i went down, and i took myself out of the game. Thats the way you have to play it. I dont feel like me being out there just to tackle the next question, i dont feel like me being out there hurt the team in any way. Im the best option for this team, and thats why im the starter. Rg3s knee buckled on him in the Third Quarter when he was trying to rally the redskins. He came out of the game then, and hell have an mri on that knee. Another what if. What if the redskins, and the redskins fans are wondering about this what if. What if fedex fields playing surface wasnt so sloppy . It wasnt raining or snowing. The field was a mess. Well talk about that factor in just about 40 minutes. Ray lewis played his last home game as a Baltimore Raven helping the team hes played with for 17 years move on in the postseason. Lewis led the ravens with 13 tackles as baltimore beat indianapolis 249. Lewis plans to retire after the ravens playoff run ends. Baltimore plays at denver on saturday. Theyre accused of seizing homes when their customers defaulted on their mortgages, and now some banks are paying billions for it. New prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. Now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. Now why make a flavored heartburn pill . Because this is america. And we dont just make things you want, we