the white house standing by the men who took a pledge to take a bullet for the president. this morning new details in the secret service prostitution scandal, agents being offered a lie detector test now. she got a ride home from the bar and hasn't been heard from since. the family of a ft. bragg soldier saying she may be in danger this morning. >> she's loved by all of her friends and family, and we all just really want her to come home. >> cnn spoke to her mother and her sister. we'll have the latest coming up. and it is here. take a look. some drivers already paying $6 a gallon for gas. president obama feeling the pressure and promising a new crackdown on the oil markets to reel them in. >> we can't afford a situation where some speculators can reap millions while millions of american families get the short end of the stick. >> but is it just the same type of political ploy that he mocked a few weeks ago? >> good question. the war of words in the race for the white house heating up, and it's only april. the national journal and others report -- and the secret service is getting involved after some over the top comments made by mitt romney supporter ted nugent. >> the rock star and nra supporter tells cnn he is standing by his statements. alina cho is going to break it all down for us. >> good times. >> oh, my gosh. >> good times. inflammatory words. >> 6 1/2 months away from the election. good morning, everybody. the self-described motor city madman is ted nugent. always outspoken, no stranger to controversy. but his most recent comments have people on both sides of the aisle saying this time he's gone too far. nugent spoke on saturday at the national rifle association's annual convention in st. louis. during a radio interview, he slammed hillary clinton, the attorney general, the vice president, supreme court justices. but it is these comments about president obama that's creating a firestorm. in this clip, he started with a rant about the four liberal justices on the supreme court, then directed his anger at the president. >> and if you want more of those kinds of evil anti-american people in the supreme court, then don't get involved and let obama take office again. i'll tell you this right now, if barack obama becomes the president in november again, i will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. >> now, as we mentioned earlier, the national journal and other publications say the secret service is aware of his comments and are following up on it. nugent didn't stop there. here's how he rallied people to support mitt romney in november. >> and if you take that animate we the people defiance -- we're americans because we defied the king. we didn't negotiate and compromise with the king. we defied the emperors. we are braveheart. we need to ride into the battlefield and chop their head off in november. >> i think those are inflammatory remarks by any measure. >> it's incredible. >> with that said, he is a mitt romney supporter. he's not a spokesman for mitt romney. what is mitt romney say about this? >> no formal connection, but did endorse and support romney. obviously, the romney camp is not happy about this. they're looking to distance themselves from the controversy saying, "divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. mitt romney believes everyone needs to be civil." and democrats are outraged. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz says, "mitt romney must condemn nugent's violent and hateful rhetoric immediately as it has no place in discourse in a political campaign." and nugent called a surrogate for romney even though, as i mentioned, there is no official connection to the campaign. he simply endorsed him. >> is there any chance that he will apologize? >> zoraida, what do you think? >> so far, i think all indications are no. in fact, nugent just spoke to cnn contributor and tea party activist dana lash on her show yesterday. listen to what he said. >> wasserman schultz is such a brain dead soulless, heartless idiot that i could not be more proud that this soulless, heartless idiot feebly attempts to find fault with ted nugent because i am on the right track, and she just encourages me to stand stronger. >> he called the president and other members of the administration coyotes. he called them criminals. and this little gem here, "i'm a black jew at a nazi clan rally, and there are some power abusing corrupt monsters in our federal government that despise me because i have the audacity to speak the truth." he stands by what he says and says it is 100% positive. >> it's mind boggling. it leaves you speechless. >> this is the wonderful thing about a democracy, freedom of speech. >> you have to know that he knows he was going to get this kind of attention obviously. he's no stranger to controversy. he's made these kinds of comments before. >> he welcomes it. at least at the moment he's standing by it. i don't think anyone will say this helps the political discourse in an already hypersensitive environment. >> thank you for that, alina. we appreciate it. six minutes past the hour. just in, gas prices down half a cent in the past 24 hours. the national average is $3.90 a gallon for unleaded. prices much higher in some parts of the country. $6 gas spotted at a station in furnace creek, california, near death valley national park. the cost of gas has soared this year, up 20% since the start of 2012. >> we'll be following that. minding your business this morning, gas prices in an election cycle couldn't be more political. president obama made a huge push yesterday to limit speculation in the oil markets to help bring gas prices down. that's not something that can happen overnight clearly. he's been trying to make clear that over the past few weeks, that there really is no summer fall. >> there is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to high gas prices. there's no silver bullet. >> what i have also said about gas prices is that there is no silver bullet. >> there are no short term silver bullets when it comes to gas prices. >> there are no silver bullets short term when it comes to gas prices. >> there's no silver bullet for avoiding spikes in gas prices every year. >> there are no quick fixes or silver bullets. >> it doesn't poll well to say, you're just going to have to take it. i can't do anything about it. >> this is what the president is trying to do. he's trying to find some things that are going to look good in an election year that may help on the margin. it's very difficult to find the difference between speculation and manipulation. those are different things. the president said yesterday, he said he'd like to raise the criminal penalties for people who manipulate in the oil futures market, something that's difficult to prove, something that, by the way, the futures exchange say, hey, we already go after that. you also have the commodity futures trading commission, the cftc, to go after that as well. and john boehner and the republicans are like, come on. this is a political ploy. you've got the tools, mr. president. if you see manipulation in the markets, go after it. i want to show you what another republican senator, mitch mcconnell, had to say about speculation in oil prices. >> i can only quote warren buffett. when asked about that a few years ago, he said, it's not about speculation. it's about supply and demand. so it looks to me like the president only quotes warren buffett selectively. >> which is what the republicans are talking about another gimmick in an election year, to tax people 30% who make $1 million or more in a year. let's talk about why gas prices are up. you've heard me say this a million times, demand, demand, demand. the world is using more oil than ever before. we keep using more oil than ever before. if you want gas prices to go down, use less of it. and the u.s. is using less gas. but the rest of the world is gobbling up crude oil for all purposes to develop, just as the u.s. did many years ago. but this is an election near, and people say, i want my gas prices to go down. >> it needs to be the focus not only in an election year. >> a comprehensive multiyear strategy the whole country is behind. china has a very, very significant comprehensive energy strategy. they're leading in solar. they're leading in renewable energies. they'red leai eleading in clean their environment because they're making their environment very dirty. the country thinks on election year cycles, on on 50-year cycles. >> when we started with the $6 a gallon, they said, well, wait a minute. it's going down. and you actually agreed. >> we probably peaked in gas prices. you're going to see $6. you're going to see places around the country where it's very different. it depends where you are. i filled mimi ainminivan this w $57. i've never seen that before. and new jersey is one of the low tax states. we've peaked. that would be good for the president, but we'll see. >> the politics of it will continue rising. thanks, christine. >> you're welcome. >> see you soon. billionaire investor warren buffett, we have learned, has been diagnosed with stage one prostate cancer. >> he will undergo daily radiation treatments for two months beginning in july. the 81-year-old buffett says he feels great and his energy level is 100%. the world's third richest man writing a letter to his berkshire hathaway shareholders telling them his condition is "not remotely life-threatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way." buffett going on to say, "i will let shareholders know immediately should my health situation change." we wish him well, but when you're running a company that big, it's important to know about your health. >> that's a big announcement. 11 minutes past the hour here. police say a ft. bragg soldier missing since saturday may be in danger. army private first class kelly bordeaux was last seen in a fayette bar saturday morning. a bar employee gave her a drive home. she never reported for work monday, and her sister says she's not the type to go awol. >> she joined the military because she knew that was going to better her life. she did the best she could. she wanted to make her family proud. she knew joining the army was going to do that. she's loved by all of her friends and family, and we all just really want her to come home. >> bordeaux joined the army one year ago and reported for duty at ft. bragg in november as a health service specialist. the white house is coming to the defense of the secret service and its director despite this embarrassing prostitution scandal that continues to unfold. 11 agents being investigated for allegedly bringing prostitutes to their hotel in colombia two days before the president's arrival at a summit. heading up the investigation, the director of the secret service. white house spokesman jay carney insisting the secret service does not have an issue. >> director sullivan acted quickly in response to this incident and is overseeing an investigation as we speak into the matter. >> as many as ten members of the u.s. military are also being questioned about their possible involvement in the scandal. 12 minutes past the hour. ahead on "early start," police slap the cuffs on a 6-year-old kindergarten student in georgia. that's her right there. this morning they are standing by that decision. plus money, it turns out, might buy happiness after all. just how much will it take, though? a new study is putting a number on it. you are watching "early start." ♪ ♪ and i never thought i'd feel this way ♪ ♪ the way i feel about you [ male announcer ] it's time to clean out your garage for a car that's worthy of being the 2012 motor trend car of the year. the volkswagen passat. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ it must be love ♪ love, love there's another way to help erase litter box odor. purina tidy cats. only tidy cats has new odor erasers... making it easy to keep things at home... just the way you want them. new tidy cats with odor erasers. durn'it, this thing's runnin' slow. bet you think you're pretty quick? yeah, i guess it is pretty quick. jesse?!? jesse? jesse?! much obliged. suddenly, everything else seems old-fashioned. ultrabook. inspired by intel. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. welcome back. 15 minutes past the hour. time to check the stories making news this morning. we are so happy to have you back, miss christine romans. >> thank you. let's talk about the big story in the news. they figured out all kinds of schemes to stick taxpayers with the bill. the general services administration taking another beating from a house committee, all over that $800,000 shin dig in las vegas. the inspector general giving us new details about those so-called jackass awards they made up to justify free meals. >> it was a running joke in region nine that, in order to get food, you had to give out awards. and many of these awards were silly awards. one of our witnesses characterized them as, i guess, fake awards and jackass awards, and things of that nature. >> coming up at 6:30 eastern, we'll talk to committee chairman jeff denham who says the corruption, the fraud, the waste, it may go far beyond what we've heard so far. osama bin laden's two daughters and three widows could be deported from pakistan today. earlier this morbning, the judg ordered the women returned to their countries of origin after serving a 45-day sentence for living in pakistan illegally. that sentence expired last night. yemen has already agreed to take in one of the widows. the other two are from saudi arabia. it's not two whether the country will agree to let them return. police in houston say a newborn baby boy is safe and sound just hours after his mother was gunned down. 28-year-old kate golden was fatally shot as she was leaving her pediatrician's office. police say she had an argument with a woman who took off with a 3-day-old infant. they're working to reunite the baby with his father. police in milledgeville, georgia, defending their decision to arrest and handcuff a 6-year-old kindergarten student who threw a tantrum at school. they say she was cuffed for her own safety after she allegedly damaged school property and an officer was unable to calm her down. >> she may have misbehaved, but i don't think she actually misbehaved to the point she should have been handcuffed and taken downtown to the police department. >> our policy states that any detainee transported to our station in a patrol vehicle is to be handcuffed in the back. there's no age discrimination on that rule. >> police say the girl will not be charge the because of her age. dramatic video of rescue crews are racing to save a whale tangled in a fishing net. the 40-foot gray whale is stuck near a nuclear power plant off the coast of california. workers are now tracking it with buoys until they can cut away the line. it looks like money does buy happiness, and it doesn't have to be millions of dollars. a marist college poll found an annual salary of $50,000 was enough to make people feel happy and satisfied with life. how did they arri that number? researchers asked people to rate the level of satisfaction in key areas of their life, including family, friends, and work. as you know, some of the research that i've gone through too shows that it's not how much money you make but how much debt you have. if you make $30,000 and don't have debt, you are happier than if you make more than that and have a lot of debt. debt is very important in this equation too. >> i still don't get the $50,000. >> they asked people how happy they were. they found that people with $50,000 seemed to be -- that was the point where they seemed to be happy with all of these things in their life. >> shouldn't we be pushing the mantra that money doesn't buy happiness? >> happiness buys happiness. 19 minutes past the hour. actually, it's 20 minutes past the hour. it was nascar day at the white house, president obama welcoming sprint cup champ tony stewart along with all the top 12 drivers of 2011. they brought a little hardware. look at that. two chevy impalas. president obama hoping he would be able to take one of them for a bit of a spin. >> it's good to see number 14 on the south lawn. every year i try to take a lap. nobody lets me do it. but i am still holding out hope that at some point i'm going to be able to get behind the wheel. >> really? he can't take it for a ride? >> that's a national security issue. talk about a lover of nascar, rob marciano is back in town with the latest on the weather. >> are you really? >> come on, yes. who isn't? are you kidding? >> who isn't? >> forgive me. >> do not mess with nascar and rob. >> i would not mind having the number 14 car in my backyard although that chevy impala looks nothing like the chevy impala i learned to drive on. a couple of things that are good news. eastern texas, western louisiana, your drought over. natchidoches, louisiana, your drought is over. texas seeing 6.5 inches. the eastern part of the u.s., a decent amount of rain this morning. we'll take it across parts of georgia, sliding up parts of the carolinas and into the northeast as well. that will continue throughout the day. a little pulse coming through parts of the midwest. here's your rainfall across the southeast. riding the spine of the appalachians. slightly cooler air behind this. this will get it up towards the northeast in new york city. you could use some rain as well. everybody begging for it on the eastern half of the country. some will get it sooner than others. guys, back up to you. >> all right, mr. marciano, thank you. still ahead, piers morgan turns on the british charm for betty white. the legendary funny lady celebrating yet 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