crashing an outdoor graduation. caught rhett handed and rhett faced. a robber sprased and spanked. you're going to see it. good morning, everybody. who love this is one. >> i love that one, too. >> bang, bang, don't come back. it's nice to have you here. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and zoraida. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east so let's get started for you. up first bill clinton getting back on script and back in step with the white house at least for now. in an exclusive interview with wolf blitzer, the former president doing a lot of apologizing after praising mitt romney's sterling business record and suggesting he would be open to extending the bush tax cuts with the wealthy, a position directly at odds with president obama. here's clinton yesterday on "the situation room." >> i'm very sorry about what happened ned. i thought something had to be done on the fiscal cliff before the election. apparently nothing has to be done until the first of the year. he should just stick with his position. >> jake sherman, politico a's report joining us. this is the second time he has this little gaffe. do you think this will hurt the obama administration? >> it's not going to hurt them in a real sense, but the problem is republicans have seized on this comment. it came out of clinton's mouth and they talked about it on capitol hill. president clinton says there's a huge mes of fiscal year at the end of the year. republicans and democrats on capitol hill away p from the election are already positioning themselves for it. to the extent that clinton has already come out and said this it, even though he's retracted that, quote lingers throughout. for a campaign to have a prominent figure like president clinton saying things like this is a problem. >> there's some conspiracy theorist out there that believe this is not aa mistake. perhaps he's doing this on purpose to get back for that contentious 2008 race with his wife. what do you make of that? >> you got to love the conspiracy theorist, but he's done a ton of events for president obama. he was in new york with with president obama this week raising money. he wants nothing more than president obama to get elected. president clinton said eegs a guy who speaks his mind and doesn't feel like he has to say bad things about somebody just to get his point aacross. this is kind of clinton being clinton as we say. this is the way he conducts himself, but i don't think this has anything to do with 2008. >> let's focus a little bit on that saying bad things about someone, because he said that romney had a stellar career as a businessman. let's listen to that. i want to talk about it. >> i am strongly commit it had to his re-election. you know me. i don't think i should have to say bad things about governor romney personally to disagree with him politically. the fact that i was complementary of his success as a business person doesn't mean that i think that he should be elected and president obama shouldn't. >> president bill clinton has a very high favorability rating as an ex-president. i'm going to put this up here. it's 66%. so do you think going forward that the obama campaign is going it to continue to use him, or are they a little fearful sometimes he speaks his mind too much? >> i think they're going to continue to use him because he's such a huge draw. as those numbers show he's incredibly popular. what he did here is undermine the central message of president obama's re-election campaign, which is that mr. romney's work at bain capital does not call fi him to be president is not good business and good for the country. president clinton said in that interview with wolf that it he believes he was a good businessman and that this is the reality. he doesn't feel like he needs foose bad things about mr. romney. the president does, so that puts them in direct conflict. he gets back on message. it's clear that once these guys, all these surrogates when they say thing that is don't jive with the campaign message, they get quickly back on message. that's what we've seen with pez clinton. >> jake sherman, politico's congressional reporter, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> it's five minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. they don't agree on much, but republicans and democrats on congress aagree to stop the sblelgs leaks. the white house is denying any accusations that classified data was leaked to journalists in an effort to enhance the terror-fighting image. senator john mccain isn't buying that, though. he told anderson cooper last night the situation screams for a special prosecutor. >> i don't think there's any doubt that this is one of the most agreg yus breaches of national security in recent memory. the director of national intelligence, general coffer, said and he's been in it for 30, 40 years, whatever, and he says it's the worst he's ever seen. >> this has to stop. when people say they don't want to work with the united states because they can't trust us to keep a secret, that's serious. >> the fbi is investigating these leaks. they include details about covert operations against al qaeda and against iran. supreme court observers excited and waiting for two huge decisions. the president's health care reforms and arizona's crackdown on illegal immigration. according to a new poll, americans have already made up their minds on these two. 3 out of 4 favor arizona's immigration law that requires police to check the status of anybody they detain or arrest if they suspect that that person is in the country illegally. and when voters were asked about how they feel about the president's 2010 health care reform, some people call it obama care. others call it health care reforms. 51% say they oppose it while 43% favor it. we should mention that 13% of those people that oppose it oppose it because they say it doesn't go far enough. congratulations class of 2012. you may now run for cover. students at a high school in new jersey got a very special graduation when a funnel cloud appeared during their ceremony. take a look at this. what's really amazing here. you can see students still walking while the cloud looms in the background, and then came the rain and the hail. while the video looks scary, most people cleared out before things got really bad there. more than 2,000 former nfl players are joining a mega lawsuit against the league. it's combining more than 80 different cases into one single federal lawsuit. that lawsuit accusing the league of a deliberate plan to cover up links between concussions on the field and permanent brain injuries. in a statement the nfl says it has long made player's safety a priority and continues to do so. any allegation the nfl sought to mislead players has no merit. for those w for those who think lebron james can't win the big one. he put up 45 pointses a and pul down 15 rebounds last night to lead the miami heat 98-79. game seven is tomorrow night in south beach. the winner will face the oklahoma city thunder in the nba finals starting tuesday. time for a sport of a different color. it's 34 years since horse racing has had a triple crown winner, and that could all change tomorrow. the horse named i'll have another is the odds-on favorite to win the belmont stakes and make history apparently 11 times in the past over the last 14 years. horses have come to the belmont with with a chance to do it, but no go, failing to win that last coveted race. the triple crown winner, last time around it was the horse called affirmed in 1978. we'll go live to belmont park to talk about this. if you're heading out the door, set your dvr for soledad o'brien. if ever someone deserved a spanking, it might be this guy. caught trying to rob a convenience store. take a look. we'll have much more for you when we come back. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. 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[ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. made with only milk... cream... a touch of sugar... and pure natural flavors. coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally. hello. it's 1 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. let's get you up to date on the top stories. good morning. happy friday, ladies. bill clinton trying to get on message and back in step with the white house this morning. speaking exclusively with cnn's wolf blitzer, the former president apologizing for remarks he made about the bush era tax cuts that seem to be at odds with president obama. mr. clinton didn't know the deadline hits next year when he suggest that cuts for the wealthy should be extended before the election. high school shooting suspect t.j. lane is set to be arraigned this afternoon. he's charged with killing three students and injuring three or others in a shooting spree last month. a judge ruled 17-year-old lane can be tried as an adult. if convicted he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole. '70s rob star bob welch an early member of fleetwood mac found dead in his home. he died a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. he played with fleetwood mac until 1971 to 1974. bob welch was 66 years old. the u.s. transportation department making a new $2.4 million push to stop what it is calling the epidemic of distracted driving. it will involve expanded police enforcement and a news and media blitz of the dangers. it says texting and driving are responsible for 3,000 deaths a year with teen drivers and young drivers the highest risk. two robbers get the surprise of their live when is they attempted to hold up this convenience store. not only did they get faces full of spray, one guy was bent over the registers and spanked over and over again. to allow insult to injury the police allowed the spanking as part of the citizen's arrest. he was charged with armed robbery. >> this may make it to favorite video of the year. >> who is the girl that takes the boots to him? >> is this the smoking gun's dumbest criminals, and they're lucky their hoops are up. otherwise that would be mortifying to them for the rest of their lives. >> where was this in did you say bear spray? >> i call it pepper spray. >> bear spray shoots a long way away, and you don't know that to get near you. pepper spray is small and up close. it sprays 20 feet. >> thank you, thank you. 15 minutes past the hour. meteorologist rob marciano, i hear it's the warmest spring on record. is that true? >> for the u.s., and a number of cities including new york and d.c. back through chicago as well, their warmest spring in 50 years. laguardia specifically over 130 years. remarkable stuff there. this comes on the heels, as you know, of a very warm winter. when we talk spring in meteorology, we include may, april, and march. those three months. even though we haven't hit the first day of summer yet, spring for us is over. you talk about the west coast and pacific northwest specifically, boy, they haven't smelled much mountain sway of spring. 57 degrees expected for seattle, 59 degrees in portland but 80 in new york, 85 in d.c. here comes your warmth. we have an average or slightly below average the past few days. it doesn't rule out the risk of seeing a thunderstorm or two especially across the northern tier. high pressure in control across the mid-atlantic states. the gulf coast will see showers. in houston or new orleans there's a threat for rain today. denver again after a rough two days ago, yetd and last night was no small shakes especially east of denver. one, two, three spots of potential severe weather are across the northern tier, north dakota and parts of the u.p. of michigan. warmer temperatures move the jet stream farther to the north. the belmont stakes. 75 degrees, a slight chance of showers for the big -- at post time tomorrow. >> oh, no. >> i'm going, and i'm going to be outside. i'm a little worried about that. >> do a little hat. >> at the track play the odds. about a 30% chance of showers. that's a pretty good chance it will be dry. >> isn't that what you do for a living, play the odds, baby? >> that's right. you just go there, and we'll have another, i guess. good luck. >> rob, you're awesome. will you do a repeat of this in a little bit? >> sure. >> that means you can't go home early. thank you, rob. it's 17 minutes past 5:00. getting an early read on local news making national headlines for you. this is before they're off the presses folks. the hickory daily record says a letter containing white powder was sent to that north carolina church where the pastor told the church members there that gays should be kept inside an electric fence. emergency hazmat crews were called, and the person who opened the envelope is okay today. the fbi is certainly looking into this one. alex tanning the trick shot quarterback finished his first practice with the kansas city chiefs. they told "the star" they are impressed. he learned his trick shot nickname through a youtube video. it shows him throws it into a moving car. it's been viewed more than 2 1/2 million times. for an expanded look at all the top stories, head to the blog. it's easy to do. c cnn.com/earlystart. everything you need to know is all there. we have a lot more coming up, too. make sure you check your 401(k). >> are you feeling any richer today? you should. p if the first quarter numbers are true. christine romans will explain that skcoming up. look at the car! my dad's gonna kill me dude... 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( older sister ) far. what will you inspire, with the eos rebel t3i and ef lenses, for ron's next project ? learn more at youtube. 22 minutes now past 5. concerns about the debt crisis in europe. i feel like a broken record. driving markets down again this week. yesterday the dow eeking out gaining but the nasdaq closing lower. >> let's bring in christine romans to talk about this new report on household net worth. >> do you feel richer? >> nope. >> i don't either. the first quarter the federal reserve showing that household net worth jumped by the most in the first quarter since the financial crisis. $2.8 trillion total, so a big jump in net worth probably driven by the stock market, among other things, but that could have cooled a little bit more recently. we'll closely watch household net worth numbers. feeling a little richer ft nirs three quarters of the year we still have $4 trillion to recoup from the crisis. >> that's why we have headlines that the "wall street journal" rally snags whiplash this week. >> it's aa lot of whiplash this week. you have europe and the u.s. and we've got jobs and all this talk about global stimulus by central banks. we watch that. i'll talk about facebook this morning, too. this is an interesting story. facebook is so -- a couple of things here. the stock now is cheaper than his age, than mark zuckerberg's age. it keeps going down. >> low blow. >> the facebook is the real estate around the menlo park area is going up, up, up as facebook stock is going down. here's why, silicon valley is really a hotbed for new companies in notice vacompan companies in innovation. all these companies pop up around the area in menlo park. the homes are 15 times towards the median home value in the united states. look at those big yellow round sa fears on the graphic. those are $2 million home values or higher right around the headquarters. >> is that a lag, because expectations were so high that all of these new millionaires will look for real estate and it hasn't sorted itself out? >> it is sorting itself out. there are a lot of new millionaires for a lot of different companies and not just facebook around there. it if you look you can see one house around there, one house menlo park. we're going to show you. one house, how much it will buy you elsewhere around the country. can you see that? >> i can't see a monitor close enough. i'm sorry. >> it's like three houses in steelgts and nine and a half houses in las vegas, in chicago it's five houses, detroit you could by 24 houses in detroit for the cost of one house in menlo park. that's the facebook effect, if you will, on real estate. >> when do you start saying buy facebook because it's on the dip? >> there was a good story yesterday where they said the case to buy facebook. i'll get that story out. showing fundamentals of why to buy facebook. ipos are risky. trying to sort out what the outlook will be for the company, but the stock keeps going down. >> thank you. it's 25 minutes now past 5:00 a.m. on the east coast. get on up. a prominent republican is saying i'm backing mitt romney but he's admitting that somebody else is really still his first choice, and it will make complete sense when you find out who we're talking about in a moment. if you're looking at us right, you can watch us anytime oyour desktop or mobile phone. just go to cnn.com/tv. 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it's an apology tour. in an exclusive interview the former president is insisting he regrets comments i mead earlier this week when he suggested he would be open to extending the bush era tax cuts, a position directly at odds with president obama. mr. clinton offering a mea culpa in the situation room along with his explanation. >> i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. it it was what i thought something had to be done on the fiscal cliff before the election. apparently nothing has to be done until the first of the year, so i think he should be just stick with his position. >> he should just stick with his position, and that's what the president is saying. jake sherman is a congress aal reporter for politico and he's live in washington this morning. hey, jake. >> how are you? >> i'm well. this seems to be all the buzz. i have to question for you. this is a man who is considered to be one of the sharpest tools in the shed. could he have made a mistake on the dates when the tax cuts needed to be decided upon? >> far be it for me to get inside bill clinton's head, but i will say one thing. he's trying to say he thought the tax rates needed to be extended before the election, and i'm not sure of anybody who thinks that. what this does is highlight how interesting president obama's campaign strategy is. he's running on higher taxes, and that is extremely rare in today's political climate. so what the president says is, listen, don't hike taxes on the rich. what's lost in the argument is there's no disagreement, republicans and democrats want to keep taxing low on most americans. the sticking point is the people at 250,000 and above. what president clinton said was don't raise taxes on anybody, which is what a lot of people say during an election year. it does highlight how unique obama's message is. >> we're into the layers of this story, but as a lehman i want to throw this out there and get your reaction. i don't know houng you recovered politics or meyired in the american theme. isn't it embarrassing it's fine to suggest in the open that this needs to be dealt with after the election? americans hate hearing this stuff. >> it is unbelievable on capitol hill, which as you mentioned i cover, they're really not doing anything. they've con of conceded that they are not going to do any real work on any of the huge fiscal issues that come into play at the end of the year. >> this isn't even a dirty secret anymore. it's okay to say this all the time. >> it's remarkable. taxes go up on every american at the beginning of the year, huge cuts to the pentagon and a whole mess of provisions expire. congress will wait until the last six weeks of the year to get this done which is repugnant. >> it's nauseating. as a voter it is nauseating. i remember president obama caught an open mike with the russian president saying let's table this until the election and i have wiggle room. everybody freaked out about this. this is exactly the same thing. >> that's right. politicians are not ones to be very courageous when their job is on the line. i think that's what you're seeing. >> talk about courage here. i want to throw up the favorability polls for former president, and i think it's the longer you're out of office. bill clinton is leading the pack at 66% favorability. you would think that's a huge piece of arsenal looking at the next five months of campaigning. we had this one week of some might say gaffes and others say the media made it bigger than it is. how courageous does the obama campaign need to be to suggest we need bill clinton smfx we can have him no matter? >> people love bill clinton. what obama loves a lot more than bill clinton perhaps is the money to bring in. he has a huge network of donors and these donors were hillary clinton supporters. bill clinton brings them along. it's important. that's important to keep in mind. campaigns cost money, and bill clinton helps president obama bring in that money, which is so important, especially on the heels of mitt romney outraising president obama. >> it's the likability thing, too, and the message. he knows how to talk. he talks and you get wiggle eyes and you get suck sped into the what he's staring at. >> president obama is cool and diskekds, and president clinton has never been accused of that. he can shake anybody's hand. that's the big favoritability points for president clinton, he's a guy who is a regular guy ail to connects, will put his arm around you and tell you he feels dwrur pain. >> i feel your pain. jake, you're great. i love your writing. can you stick around for the next hour? >> absolutely. >> we'll do this again. think about this for the next hour, bipar ztisanship, a littl whiff of it. handing out the sterling record to mitt romney and everybody freaks out. i want to talk about what that means for today's age in politics. jake sherman, thank you. 36 minutes past the hour. even though his father is in the race, rand paul is backing mitt romney. he insists his dad ron is still his first choice, but now that it is clear romney is the nominee, rand paul says the former massachusetts governor is best suited for rebuild the economy. >> i do want someone who has been good at managing businesses that have been in failure and trying to turn them around. right now i'd consider our government to be a failed business, and so i think governor romney would be precisely the person i would want. >> paul's endorsement could help romney with tea party voters. romney says he's honored to have his endorsement. protests over a same-sex ceremony at a u.s. army base. an army chaplain in louisiana performed a private religious ceremony for a female soldier and her partner. louisiana congressman john fleming wasn't pleased. he said the ceremony is too much like a same-sex marriage, which the state outlaws and now he's calling for new legislation to ban same-sex ceremonies on military facilities. two olympic swimmers from australia are in hot water for posting pictures of themselves on facebook posing with guns. take a look. they took the photos in a cal gun shop while training for the london games. australian swimming officials have ordered them to remove the pictures. they've complied and insist they never meant to offend anyone. they say they were just having some fun. you win some and you lose some. that's really life for most of us, right? apparently not for one of these two guys. take a close look. our next guest is a champion wrestler and win is all he knows how to spell by this point. we'll talk with him about his dreams of olympic gold. take a good look of that face. you're going to see a lot of it. it's come pg up next. ips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. 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[ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! in your car. now count the number of buttons on your tablet. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadillac xts. the simplicity of a tablet has come to your car. ♪ the all-new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. somebody say hello to sunrise over central park. good morning to you, new york. it is 64 degrees right now, a little bit later we're going to get up to 80 degrees. the 2012 summer olympics in london is just 49 days away, and an unlikely support, u.s. men's wrestling is getting very serious hype. that is because world champion freestyle wrestler jord done burrows who qualified last month has gone undefeated since 2009. many say jordan is the united states' best chance at bringing home olympic gold. jordan will celebrate his 24th birthday during this year's game, and he is here right now. quite a youngster, you are. you've been undefeated since 2009. there is a lot of hype around you bringing home a gold medal. how do you feel about that? >> i'm just embracing the pressure right now. for me i put a high standard on myself, so i expect to win every time on the mat. i'm excited for the opportunity in london. >> i asked how you felt about zeke jones. what did you say? >> he's a great coach and has been there for the last year, so he's always in the corner through my championships and all that stuff. >> you respect this man. he's a usa wrestling freestyle coach. he says about you, he has world class blazing speed. he has great setup roux tunes and unbelievable confidence and can attack from multiple directions and cover multiple distances. he can do things that most guys karnt. don't you feel a lot of pressure when somebody like that is saying that about you. >> i don't know if i'm as cool as he makes me sound. >> you didn't have a whole lot of role models in wrestling, so who was your role model and guided you through this journey? >> definitely my parents. they were big motivators to mr. and inspire med to do what i love. i get paid every day to to do what i love. >> where did the love come from? >> just an early start, you know. i've been wrestling since i was 5 years old, so i'm extremely competitive and did it for a long time. never had a lot of pressure on me, so everything i did was for the love the sport. >> you have the literal scars to prove it, right? this is called cauliflower ear. >> it's bad. >> that is incredible. that is kind of what happens when you end up being a world class wrestler. f >> 90% of us have it. >> are you planning to tweet at the olympics? >> of course. >> twitter handle i is @alliseeisgold. some have accused of you being overconfident. how do you feel about that? >> a lot think my confidence is cockiness. every time i step on the mat, i expect to win and am extremely confident and hopefully continue to do that in london. >> where does your focus come from? this is a sport where you have it had that. >> i have a lot mental preparation drills i do. i'm working hard physically and mentally. there's a number of distractions going on throughout the olympic games, referees, my opponents and the olympic village. i'm trying to stay mejsly focused to win the gold. >> you had an exhibition match yet at times square against a russian opponents. you won that match in 28 seconds. good gracious. are you nervous about having a crowd around you? >> no, it's awesome. it was a huge stage and grate event. so i wanted to give the crowd a show and give them something to cheer about. it was awesome. >> i'm going to ask you a crazy question. are you bringing home olympic gold? >> of course. >> what i want to know in the final match in how many seconds do you think you're bringing home olympic gold. >> i don't know. this one might be tougher and take a whole two periods. >> jordan, we wish you all the luck in the world. when you win it, will you bring it back here so you can show it off? >> of course. >> back to you. >> good luck, jordan. we'll be rooting for you back here. let's get you up to date on the top stories. christine romans has been working on this. bill clinton says he's fully committed to seeing barack obama re-elected as president and spoke to wolf blitzer. he's apologizing for comments you made earlier this week when he suggested is that the bush tax cuts be temporarily extenlded for everyone before the november election. mr. clinton claims he didn't know they expired after the election and president obama should stick to his position. the body of suspected killer adam mays is now at university of tennessee and will be used for science. his family would not claim thiz body. he was wanted for kidnapping a tennessee mother and her three daughters and killing the mother and one of the girls. mays shot himself in the head when the fbi cornered him in the woods. singer lauryn hill slapped with federal criminal charges for tax evasion. prosecutors say she failed to pay taxes on nearly $2 million income from 2005 to 2007. if convicted she faces up to three years in prison, $300,000 in fines. a wild police chase ending in a school bus crash. they were chasing a drug suspect when he ran a stop sign and slammed into a school bus. that school bus had 40 children inside. the suspect then ditched his truck, ran through a neighborhood, hinder a house. he was caught and charged with criminal negligence. 15 kids ages 4 to 16 were injured, but thankfully they're all expected to be okay. just weeks after being exonerated on rape charges, brian banks is making an impression on the seattle seahawks. he had a tryout with the team yesterday. afterwards they were so impressed they invited him to attend the seahawks minicamp this week. bajs spent five years in prison and five more as a registered sex offender before his accuser admitted she lied. >> remember that, christine? how it all came out on facebook. she reached out to him and said let's meet and he wired himself and got her to admit. >> an mazing story. >> i'm glad somebody is giving him a chance. fantastic. >> i want to tind out whether there's a prosecution of her, though. >> i was thinking the same thing. let's see where they decided to charge her or not. >> i asked him p about that, do you want to see justice there? he said i'm not thinking about that at all. i'm looking forward in life. truly a miraculous guy. wish him the best. thank you, christine. 47 minutes past 5:00. ever heard of morning show wars. usually when we talk about election campaigns heating up, we're not talking about hotness like this. look at the video. you won't believe what you see. things get really ugly in the morning show. i'll tell you where this happened. whoa. that's a woman that guy is hitting live on television. talk about in a moment. mmer roa? yep uhuh let's find you a room. at hotels.com, you'll always find the perfect hotel. cause we only do hotels. wow. i like that. nice! no. laugh...awe hmm nice huh ooh, yeah book it! oh boy call me... this summer, we're finding you the perfect place - plus giving you up to $100 at hotels.com [ thunk ] sweet! thanks, mister! [ meow ] [ male announcer ] the solid thunk of the door on the jetta. another example of volkswagen quality. that's the power of german engineering. time to look at whaelts trending on the web at 51 minutes past the hour. mac geeks hold yourself steady for a moment. there's a holy grail moment coming you. macworld is reporting that sotheby's will auction off one of only six working april pell i personal computers next month. they estimate this is going to go for about $180,000. can you imagine paying $180,000 for a computer that looks like the guts of one of today's computer. it was designed and hand-built by april pell co-founder steve wazniack. there's a lot of history to that artifact. she's heading to harvard in september, even though she had nowhere too call home. dawn loggins received her diploma yesterday from burns high school in north carolina. she is also a janitor at the school, graduating with straight a's and she landed on a spot in harvard's freshman class this fall, even though she was left homeless last year after her parents abandoned her before her senior year. she said her parents were drug abusers who left her alone for long periods of time in childhood. many times she had no electricity or running water so she was forceded to her homework in the dark. >> she was doing two hours of janitor work in the morning at that school and two hours of janitor work in the afternoon at that school. >> that is just remarkable. >> she asked the school for candles so that she could do her homework. >> yeah. >> she never finished her homework until 2:00 in the morning. that girl, a full ride to harvard but living expenses, too. >> i can't wait to see what she ends up being in the future. >> i want to work with her. >> certainly a determined young lady. cradle of democracy. politicians getting physical in greece. wait until you see this. >> i don't understand them either, but this is a campaign turning ugly live on television, and here's what happens. spokesperson for the extreme right wing golden down party lunged at two left wing left wing female politicians, threw water and smacked down the woman. look at this live on television. unbelievable right in the face. another one. bang, bang. >> oh, my goodness. >> you only wonder if he'll be charged with assault for this, because you know what the evidence is? it's on tape. it all happened live on a mainstream morning talk show. mainstream. >> that shows you how high the tensions are running in that country, right? this is horrific. cutting off u.s. funding for a pakistani version of sem see street. the comedy channel stephen cobert sounds off. >> we have a complicated relationship with pakistan. it's a love/hit relationship. they love to hate us, and we hate that we have to love them. they're a valuable ally in the global war on terror. that's why i'm so upset on to hear about the end of a crucial national security operation in the heart of islamabad. jim. >> the u.s. embassy in pakistan ending funding for a local version of sesame street. it's because of corruption at the $20 million project. >> $20 million of corruption on sesame street. i believe congress needs to hold hearings and hold hearings. it was the most successful deployment of a muppet in the region since karzai. i hope this mess is cleared up soon. our pakistani puppet program is too important for national security. remember, that's how we found osama bin laden. first we asked the children, who are the people in your neighborhood? it turns out one of these things was not like the others. >> that was clever. >> what elmo know when e know it? >> it's almost 6:00 in the east. we want to talk about former president bill clinton apologizing for going off message on the obama campaign. will it faekt his relationship with the campaign or a bunch of hubaloo? we have the details coming up. is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. 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[ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders can combine the thankyou points they've earned and get even greater rewards. ♪ i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. >> a contrite bill clinton apologizing for what he says was a misunderstanding. it is a cnn exclusive, and we're looking at the fallout and the future for clinton in obama's presidential campaign. incredible video of a graduation these kids will never forget. a funnel cloud and a would be robber gets spanked, literally, folks. there is more to this tape that you are going to want to see. just incredible video. good morning to you. welcome to "early start." we're happy you're with us. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield, news a to z, 6:00 on the dot in the east. up first, bill clinton back on script and doing a lot of explaining after praising mitt romney's sterling business record and then suggesting he would be open to extending the bush tax cuts for everyone, a position directly at odds with president obama. here is clinton in full damage control yesterday speaking with wolf blitzer in "the situation room." >> i'm strongly committed to his re-election and i just regret that i -- you know, my instinct, you know, you know me, i don't think i should have to say bad things about governor romney personally to disagree with him politically. the fact that i was complimentary of his success as a business person doesn't mean i think he should be elected and president obama shouldn't. >> so there's that. jake sherman joins us live from washington this morning. so, jake, a couple of apologies, a couple of clarifications, all within the spate of a week. the media is going bananas. is it because it is a slow news cycle or because it really matters? >> congress is not doing much but it does matter. president clinton is a beloved figure in the democratic party, a popular guy, approval ratings in the high 60s, which is unheard of for a politician. and, of course, it matters. you have two things that happened, you know, the president said he wanted to extend -- president clinton, that is, said he wanted it extend tax rates for everybody. that's a major tenet of president obama's presidential campaign is to raise taxes on the wealthy. he also said mitt romney was a good businessman. >> but back up, before you go on to the good businessman part, he came out with a clarification the next day saying, i meant to say tax cuts not for the wealthy. he was quick to do that, his office. >> he was. and i'm sure the campaign urged him along to do that. >> i wanted to ask you about that. does anybody get to urge bill clinton to do anything? does he take his marching orders from everyone? >> i'm not sure he takes his marching orders from anybody. but his wife is the secretary of state. he is -- he understands the campaign game. he understands what it takes to win elections. he's going to take advice from folks who are in control in the president's party. i think there is no question about that. but he's willing, he's willing to talk honestly and willing to talk off script, which is not something that the campaign really loves. >> with the fiscal cliff that is looming and the serious critical issues facing this country, are we all quibbling about wording and quibbling about campaigning at a time when we really shouldn't be? >> well, as you noted, a huge mess of issues come up at the end of the year. tax rates on everybody go up. huge cuts to the defense department. basically every temporary measure that congress has patched up over the last couple of years expires. and we are talking about, you know, some gaffes that the president's surrogates have made. but congress isn't helping us -- by giving us anything serious to talk about. congress decided to basically pack it up until the end of the year. the house and the senate are moving some minor measures. not many things are going to become law. but they're not tackling these huge issues that are going to roil markets after the election. they're only giving themselves six weeks to deal with this huge, huge plate of issues after the election. >> i want to see if we have that one comment that bill clinton made. it starts off with i'm very, very sorry. he did this in an interview with wolf blitzer in "the situation room." he was referring to i'm very, very sorry referring to the tax cuts issue being dealt with by the election as opposed to next year. let's see if we have it and i'll get you to comment on the other side. take a listen. >> yeah, i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. it was -- what i thought something had to be done on the fiscal cliff before the election. apparently nothing has to be done until first of the year. i think he should just stick with his position. >> i'm not sure if it was worded this way, but i think somebody actually came up with the concept to ask is this possibly a senior moment? i tend to think that bill clinton will never be a senior, but is it possible this was just forgetfulness? >> i mean, he's a sharp guy. and i can't get inside of his head. we could guess. he was the president. he controlled the government for eight years. i would assume, one would assume, an observer would assume, that he understands that these things usually come up at the end of the year. they're usually not done until the election. i don't know if it is a senior moment. president clinton is a sharp guy, sharp political mind, is able to explain things in a way that basically no other politician could really do. >> and, the sharpness, i also wonder, when he made the comments about mitt romney having a sterling business record and set off this firestorm. i mean, we all went bananas, i asked you to think about this last time i spoke with you about an hour ago, what does it say about the situation, the state of bipartisanship in this country when a politician can be differential to the other side and everybody goes bananas? >> this wouldn't that be big of an issue if president obama wasn't hanging his campaign on the idea that mitt romney was a bad business man. but it is absolutely right. i mean, president clinton said something that is kind of well established. mitt romney was a good businessman. he made hundreds of millions of dollars. whether you like the way he made the money is another issue and a completely separate issue. but he caused this firestorm because he said something that was true and that ran contrary to the campaign narrative. there is no secret that bipartisanship is not at its high point now in washington. there is very few things that get bipartisan agreement. and the tax rates, that's why this comment on the bush tax cuts was a big issue. it was positioned by republicans immediately as being kind of one of the democratic party's big wigs agreeing with all republicans across the board. >> jake sherman of politico, awesome to talk to you. thanks for getting up this morning. six minutes past the hour. frustration over the fast and furious gun running program boiling over on capitol hill. as attorney general eric holder takes the chair. >> we believe that we have responded to the subpoena -- >> no, mr. attorney general you're not a good witness. a good witness answers the question asked. let's go back again. have you and your attorneys produced internally the materials responsible? in other words, have you taken the time to look up our subpoena. >> over 140,000 documents and produced to you about 7600. >> so 140,000 documents, how many documents are responsive but you're withholding at this time? >> we produced 76 hundred 7600 >> i don't want to hear about the 7600. >> i would beg that -- >> the lady is out of order. >> that is darrell issa stepping up pressure on holder to hand over documents related to the justice department's operation, which allowed illegal gun buys in arizona in hopes of tracking the weapons. issa says one of the guns that ended up in mexico was used to kill u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. congratulations, class of 2012, you may now run for cover. students at a high school in new jersey got this little surprise, a very special graduation present, a funnel cloud appearing during their graduation ceremony. look at the video. it is amazing that you can still see students walking around while that massive funnel looms in the background and then came the rain. then came the hail. and while the video does look scary, most of the people were able to clear out before things got really bad. thank goodness. holy cow. mental health officials evaluating a man this morning who went to walmart naked. workers called police on wednesday night saying there was a naked guy running up and down the aisles and yelling in coherently. police say the man then ran from the store, swam across the river and was captured after running back and forth across the interstate. big blue at the white house. after beating the new england patriots, again, and parading down the canyon of heros in new york, the new york giants to be honored by president obama today. white house says the president is going to highlight the giants ongoing support to the men and women who serve in the military as well as supporting their families too. it is nice to hear that message along with the sports message. lebron james putting up 45 points and pulling down 15 rebounds last night to lead the miami heat to a game six, when over the boston celtics in beantown, 98-79. game seven, folks, tomorrow night in south beach for the right to face the oklahoma city thunder in the nba finals. coming up next, i'll have another. just one win away from horse racing history. will he become the 12th triple crown winner? we're live at belmont park for a preview of tomorrow's big horse race. you're watching "early start." our cloud is not soft and fluffy. our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet. [ male announcer ] we began with the rx. ♪ then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. ♪ now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. hey there. 12 minutes past 6:00. let's get you up to date with the top stories of the day. here is christine romans. >> bill clinton trying to get back on message and back in step with this white house this morning. speaking exclusively to cnn's wolf blitzer, the former president apologizing for remarks he made about the bush era tax cuts that seem to be at odds with president obama. mr. clinton claiming he didn't know the deadline for extending the tax breaks hits next year. didn't know that when he suggested cuts for the wealthy should be extended before the election. two robbers in quebec got the surprise of their lives when they attempted to hold up this convenience store. not only do they get faces full of bear spray, one guy was bent over the register and spanked. the other guy got away. to add insult to injury, police allowed the spanking, considered part of a citizens arrest. the guy was charged with armed robbery. a british woman on a solo around the world boat trip had to be rescued by the japanese coast guard after she ran into a tropical storm in the pacific ocean. sarah outen is said to be safe and well. her boat not so safe or well. it was damaged after rolling over several times. sarah had already cycled, kayaked and rode more than 11,000 miles. mother nature threw a little wrench in her plan. >> didn't she have a big vessel going with her to make sure she was going to be okay. >> cycling, rowing, that's quite a -- god love her -- >> makes me feel like i haven't accomplished anything in life, right? >> i'm so tired. >> thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> it is 14 minutes past the hour. he is a 3-year-old pursuing one of the sport's most coveted crowns. i'll have another trying to become just the 12th winner of horse racing's triple crown and the first since affirmed did it 34 years ago. he is the odds on favorite in tomorrow's belmont stakes, the third and most challenging leg of the triple crown. cnn's richard roth, our ace handicapper, is live at belmont park with a bit of a preview for us. i love all the details i'm reading about the horse. i had no idea that the owner paid $35,000. that is quite a return on the investment, i would say. >> reporter: that's right. that's how much cnn pays me every year. basically i've been doing my morning handicapping here and this will be a very, very good race late tomorrow afternoon here at belmont park. you always hear in horse racing, though, success stories. you mentioned the $35,000 price. one never knows. and as one trainer put it, with this belmont stakes, you never know what can happen. he'll be a favorite, i'll have another to win the triple crown, first since 1978. there are other challengers in this race. his trainer, doug o'neill, telling me this week he's confident, not cocky, but confident. zoraida? >> the favorites don't always win, right? who are the other contenders in this race? >> reporter: dulahan is a major contender. there is union rags who was a top 2-year-old. but has had some traffic problems in his earlier races, especially in the kentucky derby. and now dulahan, union rigs, bob baffert trained horse, painter, and we have seen huge upsets that have upset potential triple crown winners. a horse named serabo won 70-1 odds. it is a mile and a half race. anything is possible in the belmont. even if i'll have another, some say, should win this race. >> 11 others have tried and failed in this attempt. why is it so hard to win the triple crown? >> reporter: because it is three races in five weeks. and the way horses are bred these days, and how they are groomed for these big races, they just don't have that foundation or stamina in them and then things happen. we saw the disastrous events with barbaro several years ago with the horse broke down during the preakness leg. it is very difficult and horses can lose their edge over that five-week period. and many horses are rested. and they skip the second leg, the preakness, so they're fresher for the belmont. >> how about the weather that they're expecting tomorrow? i heard there is a possibility of rain. how you is that going to affect? >> reporter: i'll have another did poorly in the mud at saratoga last year and one other trainer was heard to say, joking, he's hoping, he's praying for rain. that could have a big impact, especially late afternoon weather could be a thunderstorm or two. otherwise, it is expected to be good weather. it is about a two-minute race or so. that's the window we're talking about unless it rains beforehand, really muddying up the track at belmont, nicknamed the big sandy here on the border between queens and long island. >> it sure is a beautiful horse. are you going to be there for the race? >> reporter: we will be here for cnn. it is beautiful here in the morning. there is fog on the track. and horses going around and i'll have another was just practicing galloping about 20 minutes ago, went by me, has no idea of the millions of eyeballs that will be on him and around the world late tomorrow. >> all right, richard roth, thank you so much. i'll see you there tomorrow. i'm going to go over for the race. check it out. >> reporter: well, you may have 120,000 people to keep you company. >> thank you. >> roth, you stand out, dude. she'll find you. do you ever wonder about the names. i'll have another. why not bob, instead of bob's your uncle. they give them unique names. >> i like that name, though. i'll have another win. >> why do you like that name, zoraida? >> i don't know. say it a few times. >> i'm just saying. 18 minutes past 6:00. are you wondering what the country's financial future is? ben bernanke is keeping mum about the economic plans for the months leading up to the election. christine romens will explain what happened yesterday and what impact that had on the markets and your money coming up. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning.. you can feel. introducing the all new cadillac xts, available with the patented safety alert seat. when there is danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. minding your business this morning. concerns about the debt crisis in europe driving markets down again this morning. dow futures down about 25 points right now. and yesterday the dow eeked out some gains, but the nasdaq closed lower and the s&p 500 down just a bit, almost flat. >> let's bring in christine romans now, talk about ben bernanke, fed chief on capitol hill yesterday. everybody was -- what? will he? >> more stimulus, more stimulus, he didn't really suggest that there is going to be more fed stimulus, even though there were other indications from other, you know, central bankers earlier in the day there could be. we're still talking about that. you saw the stock market fizzle a little yesterday. we're all watching the fed chairman and what he thinks about what has been a subpar recovery. he said again and again and again that the labor market is far from normal and that's something that concerns him. the fed stands ready to do more if it needs to, but he also talked about congress a little bit here, about the fiscal cliff, about congress' inaction and congress needs to kind of get its act together here because the fed can't do everything all alone. we had political paralysis quite frankly and that's been part of our problem. one of the things about a weak economy that has been so interesting is mortgage rates keep going down, down, down because the economy is a little weak, because the world is in turmoil, people have been rushing in to the safety of treasury bonds for investments and as they rush into the treasury bonds, it drives down interest rates and it drives down mortgage rates. i want to show you mortgage rates. six weeks in a row now of record lows, record lows. they're giving them away, folks, 30-year fixed rate, 3.67%. you think my parents paid 18% for a mortgage and put 25% down in the '70s or '80s. 30-year fixed rate, 3.67%. if you have a job, if you have money in the bank, don't have another house you're trying to sell, quite frankly this is a good time and very cheap time to be buying. you got affordability, and the best we have seen in 40 years for homes. you've got home prices in this country, the median home price in this country is back to 2002 levels. home prices back to 2002 levels, the whole bubble erased. 35% lower homes are than their peak in 2006. if you're the person who can take advantage of that, you're in a good position. if you're the person who is saddled with that home or worried about your job, you're not in a good position. i will tell you, home sales are up. those home sales are coming at lower prices, people are saying, they're throwing in the towel, saying, look, i got to get a new job, i got to move, life has got to go on, so they're taking lower prices for their houses and home prices are down but home sales are up. >> apart from taking advantage of awesome low mortgage rates, what is the one thing we need to know today. >> the one thing you need to know is everyone should be looking at what your housing costs are now and deciding whether you should be a renter or you should be a buyer. and there are numerous calculators. go bankrate.com, cnnmoney.com, the government website, use these calculators to find out if you're paying too much for your housing and if this is the right time for you. housing is probably among your biggest expense every month. don't make a mistake on this. rents are going up. so this window of -- it is a good time to rent. >> it is hard to get a good rental now. my sister in chicago is trying this. and for every 1%, you got a million applications coming in. >> it is a really competitive time out there in housing, believe it or not, decide if you should runt or buy. try to keep your housing costs to about a third of your pay. >> good luck. >> especially on the coast. that's very difficult. >> yeah. >> thank you, christine. >> little good news, little bad news there. 26 minutes past the hour. three words from a former president making big headlines this morning. i'm very sorry. but will former president bill clinton's apology help his relationship with the obama campaign? 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ a cnn exclusive, all apologies, former president bill clinton telling our wolf blitzer he is very sorry for going off message. with five months to election day. did the apology do more damage to president obama? a second chance at a first impression. a former high school football star just cleared of rape gets his long awaited shot at the nfl. and a high wire stunt at a famed honeymoon spot behind the scenes with the man who will try to cross niagara falls on something as narrow as your finger. it is pretty scary story, fascinating look. welcome back to "early start." nice to have you with us. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> that's an imposing shot. i can't imagine anybody doing that. >> i've always wondered why people go over niagara falls in a barrel. >> i agree. >> really? what are you thinking? it is pretty. you do not need to ride the falls. >> i can't even do the tour they do on the -- i can't do that. >> really? the maiden mist. maid of the mist. >> something like that. >> something like that. >> i can't do it. >> jim and pam's wedding site. >> thank you for joining us. i'm zoraida sambolin. it is 30 minutes past the hour here. the bill clinton apology tour in full swing this morning. the former president insisting he now regrets comments he made earlier this week when he suggested he would be open to extending the bush era tax cuts, a position directly at odds with president obama's stance. mr. clinton offering up a mea culpa, speaking exclusively with wolf blitzer in "the situation room." >> yeah, i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. it was what i thought something had to be done on the fiscal cliff before the election. apparently nothing has to be done until first of the year. so i think he should just stick with his position. >> cnn's political editor paul steinhauser joins us live from washington. he's apologizing, but is it too little too late? >> i love that sound bite you just played. i made a little mistake, minor detail. don't worry about it, wolf. >> is it a big deal? is it? >> that was classic bill clinton right there. it was a big deal. a quiet week. one of the top stories. another negative story for the obama campaign they didn't need this week after the campaign cash figures and after what happened in wisconsin. you add this to a very bad week for the obama campaign team. i talked to a top adviser to the campaign. and he tells me this, you know, listen, bill clinton, they realize the former president cannot be scripted. but regardless of the drawback, his positives outweigh his negatives and that's why they embrace having him as a surrogate, a top name surrogate on the campaign trail. they see bill clinton as somebody who can, regardless of what he says, they see him as somebody that can reach out to working class voters who are very important in some key states, key battleground states like ohio, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. regardless of the drawbacks, they still love having bill clinton on their team. romney campaign, though, you know what they say, bill clinton, he was speaking from his heart, he was speaking the truth when he talked about extending the taxes for everybody, including the wealthy and point back to last week. remember the big news bill clinton made on piers morgan when he said, mitt romney's business record was sterling. >> what is wrong with saying that? >> that's what bill clinton said. why can't i compliment somebody from the other party? in this day and age, i guess it is not a good thing anymore with the partisanship. this is eric, a top romney adviser from yesterday with wolf blitzer. >> when the president came out and said that mitt romney's business career was sterling, i think he was speaking from the heart. at the end of the day, bill clinton is a good democrat. he's endorsed the president. he's going to be with the president. but i think his voice and the voice of other leading democrats are significant in that they have signaled their unhappiness with the president's re-election strategy of attacking bing capital and risk taking and profit and free enterprise. >> it is amazing to me, though. this election is about mitt romney and barack obama. we're talking about somebody who hasn't been in the white house in 12 years. it truly is amazing. >> a super popular guy, right? let's put up this poll. i know you love polls. >> bring on the numbers. >> here are the numbers. the favorable opinion of bill clinton, of ex-presidents, we have the poll for you. look who is on top. bill clinton, 66%. so you talked earlier about the positives versus the negatives of having a bill clinton on your side. are there really any negatives when you look at that? everybody loves him. well, not everybody, but 66%, right? >> 66% and overwhelmingly democrats, look at this, look at independent voters, the ones that everybody says are so important and can sway the election. look at this, two-thirds of independents, 67%, say they have a favorable opinion of him. only one in three unfavorable. those are the kind of numbers you want when you have a surrogate with you, no doubt about it. you saw george bush, 43% favorable, the only living ex-president under 50. >> we'll still see bill clinton? >> he's already done a bunch of fund -- he did three fund-raisers for the president earlier this week. you'll see plenty of bill clinton between now and november 6th. >> about the money as well, right? raise some cash. paul steinhauser, life ve in washington for us, thank you. big story that has been brewing. the nfl has been sacked with the biggest lawsuit in sports history. more than 2,000 former nfl players have decided to join ranks and get into a federal lawsuit together. it is a suit that claims the league knew that repeated hits to the head could lead to permanent brain injuries and yet did not share that information with the players. the nfl has a response to that in a statement. the league says, quote, it has long made player safety a priority and continues to do so. any allegation that the nfl sought to mislead players has no merit. and just weeks after being exonerated on rape charges, brian banks is making an impression on the nfl's seattle seahawks. the former high school football star had a tryout with the team yesterday. afterwards, the team was so impressed, they invited him to attend the seahawks mini camp, which is next week. banks spent five years in prison and five more as a registered sex offender before his accuser admitted that she lied. l.a. prosecutors said they have no plans to charge the accuser with making false accusations, saying it would be a tough case to prove. >> quick update to that story too. banks' attorney says they'll go after the state for 100 days for every day he was in jail. even though they say they don't want to go after the accuser, truly amazing. >> she admits it, right? >> she admitted it on tape, yeah. that's a pretty serious crime. she also won a whole bunch of money in a settlement suing the school saying it was an unsafe environment. that's the law. you can get $100 for every day you're incarcerated but not a whole lot more than that. >> this will hopefully be a happy ending for him. both fingers crossed. >> 36 minutes past 6:00. we look at niagara falls and some people see the awesome beauty, the marvels of nature of the falls. coming up, what a daredevil sees when he looks at this. two words for you. ultimate challenge. . if walking across a two inch wide high wire suspended 200 feet in the air doesn't give you the creeps or the jitters, imagine doing it across niagara falls with all the whooshing water below you. that's what stuntman nik wallenda is going to do next week. jason carol has the preview. >> reporter: an ominous site, raging watch rumbling over niagara falls crestline, dropping 180 feet. imagine walking across the falls on a high wire. sound like a nightmare? >> yesterday i trained with 52 mile an hour winds. >> reporter: just the opposite for nik wallenda. >> it has been a dream of mine for a long time. i'm one of those that always tries to overachieve. i want to do more. i want to do bigger things. i want to do exciting things. >> reporter: call it exciting, call it crazy. he'll attempt to cross niagara walls on a steel rope two inches in diameter, no bigger than a tennis ball. the walk, more than 1500 feet long. 200 feet above the falls. >> clearly you don't have a fear of heights. >> i don't. i respect heights. it is not a fear. it could be -- fear is debilitating, it makes it where it is almost impossible. you overreact and that will cause you to fall. >> reporter: wallenda had a near fall on his last high wire walk across baltimore's inner harbor. he was able to steady himself due to years of practice. he comes from seven generations of flying wallendas, a name given for their daredevil ant antics. over the decades, their families have seen successes and tragedies. in 1978, his great grandfather attempted a walk between two hotel towers in puerto rico. he slipped and fell to his death. >> he's definitely my inspiration behind most of what i do. i do this for him out of respect for him. so absolutely i think about him and i'll think about him as i'm crossing over the falls, for sure. >> reporter: wallenda, like his forebearers, has always walked without a harness. but not this time. his sponsors are requiring he wear one for the niagara walk. why don't you want to wear the harness? you're talking to someone who doesn't walk a wire, so -- >> i think it is more about personal goal than anything. my personal goal is to do it without a harness. >> reporter: both his father and uncle support that goal. >> i think a lot of people are going to find that hard to understand. you say that because he's not used to, what, training with a harness? >> he's never worn a harness in all of those years. >> it is a bit personal for me in that i'm the guy designing this thing now. so it will get over the wire. >> reporter: wallenda's practice on this day without a harness goes well. he said a prayer midwalk and said he'll be doing more of that crossing the falls. >> i know there is angels around me and there is a lost people in this audience and viewers watching that night that will be lifting me up in their prayers. thanks. >> reporter: and he's not done yet. if he's successful doing this, he says his next venture will be, guess what? >> what? >> i'm going to tell you what. he's going to try to do the grand canyon. he already has the permits. he'll take a little break. grand canyon will be next. >> so the issue would be harness or no harness over the grand cany canyon. that's been settled over the niagara falls. >> a lot of back and forth going on over this, whether or not he would be able to wear the harness. he does not want to wear the harness. i'm, like, are you crazy? wear the harness. he's been training so long without it. he's afraid it will throw off his equilibrium and that's why his uncle is stressed about designing this thing. but the sponsors wouldn't do it without the harness. >> they have a delay on this thing. >> if he's wearing a harness, why is there a delay? he's going to be okay. >> one would hope. you saw how nervous you got when you saw the slip there. >> but there was no harness on that one. >> jason carol, awesome. you got to go cover that story for us. >> hopefully i'll be able to be out there. we'll see. >> thank you. >> great story. 44 minutes past the hour. a quick check of your travel forecast. rob marciano, you daredevil? >> not to that extreme. that's for sure. give me the harness, the net, the whole works. we're looking at severe storms across three spots. upstate new york, northern new england, the up of michigan and maybe northern tier of north dakota. getting closer to summertime, aren't we? in between, not too shabby, heading to the gulf coast, maybe showers there and strong system into the four corners and parts of the mountains. 90 degrees in denver. 86 in chicago. 81, the high temperature in new york. that's where you should be for this time of year. the first five months of the year have been extraordinarily warm. we said the spring is the warmest in u.s. history. january through may, new york, philly, jfk, chicago and d.c., all set records. off to a fast start. >> thank you, rob marciano. busy this morning. soledad o'brien is also one of the busiest women in television. oftentimes here during ac 360 and sleeping on her couch and doing her morning show. >> i'm every woman. it's all in me. good morning. starting point ahead this morning, a partisan promise to stop this cascade of intelligence leaks that some people say are coming straight from the white house. we'll talk this morning to two of the highest ranking members of the intelligence committee. that would be republican congressman mike rogers and democratic congressman dutch ruppersberger, live with me this morning. also, attorney general eric holder, you saw him grilled over accusations that the white house may have been improperly influenced the department of justice. we'll talk to the man who put him in the hot seat, virginia congressman randy forbes. he'll join us live as well. plus, this horse, i'll have another, could be the big winner triple crown at belmont stakes this weekend. his owner is paul redman. he'll talk about the nerves, the raining and the controversy surrounding well, horse racing these days. and taco bell is going gourmet. >> all right. >> and the new chef behind this new upscale menu at the fast food chain is loretta garcia. we did a documentary on her for latino in america a couple of years ago. we'll talk with her about what she's doing at taco bell. that and much more starting at 7:00 eastern time right here. we'll see you then. ♪ [ male announcer ] we believe in thinking day and night... about your dog's nutrition. like the dual-defense antioxidants in our food that work around the clock... supporting your dog's immune system on the inside... while helping to keep his skin and coat healthy on the outside. with this kind of thinking going into our food... imagine all the goodness that can come out of it. just one way we're making the world a better place... one pet at a time. purina one smartblend. who love movies. let me show you something new. come on. walmart can now convert your favorite dvds from disc to digital. so you can watch them on your laptop, tablet, phone... anytime, anywhere. cool, huh? 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[ host ] that's the walmart entertainment disc to digital service. visit the photo center at your local walmart to get started. that's my favorite part. it is a morning where bill clinton's apology is leading all of the newscasts. so it could not be more opportune to have a political comedian in the house. w. kamau bell is here with his commentary on the top stories. there is a cornucopia of political news out there now that you have a whole bunch of fun with. favorite story? >> the bill clinton apology is good. >> the apology tour. >> yeah. we have to admit this is only his second greatest apology of all time. >> you're going to go there. >> i just -- i went there. so early in the morning, he went there. >> this is breakfast television. >> sorry. >> i will not have you derail the show. >> depends what the definition of derail is. >> let's show the viewers the apology. here is bill clinton apologizing for -- it is like thick, but apologizing for suggesting we need to make a decision on the upcoming fiscal cliff before the election when you don't. here he goes. >> i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. it was what i thought something had to be done on the fiscal cliff before the election. apparently nothing has to be done until the first of the year. so i think he should just stick with his position and negotiate with the republicans. >> seems like an honest guy, doesn't he? >> yeah. >> fine with the mea culpa. >> that's a dude that is yelled at by his wife. that's what that was. >> by the rest of us too. >> don't miss up 2016 for me! you are supposed to get me the presidency last time and you messed that up and that black guy is in there. don't mess up 2016. >> another good development that i thought you might have fun with was this issue of rand paul coming out yesterday and endorsing mitt romney. >> wow. that's going to make for an awkward thanksgiving at the paul household. that's not going to be a good thing. what a surprise, rand paul, not a cool dude. >> and ron hasn't dropped out of the race yet. dad, come on! >> i'm only slightly less running for president than ron paul is. just slightly. >> to be clear, though, his reason was, look, the presumptive nominee is mitt romney, he's garnered enough votes to take it to the convention, but still. >> how inspiring is that commitment to cause. i guess might as well do it because my dad has no chance. happy father's day. >> yeah. right. we have another issue, lots of accusations that the white house is leaking sensitive cia style information. it is becoming a political firestorm. i don't know if there is anything funny about that. >> i just think meghan mccain should spend less time on twitter and more time with her dad. he's clearly lonely. he's running around talking about, the facebook page at the white house and probably got confused. it is all right. >> political comedy, one of the first things i did -- used to be the last thing i did every night, watch the daily show. this is something you want to do on fx. >> we have a show called totally biased. we're putting, you know, with me, produced by chris rock, we're going to try to see what we can add to the national discussion. >> is there anything that is the runaway funny story? now that donald trump is no longer in the race, i remember -- >> he refuses to be on my television, which i feel like get off my tv. stop talking about is the president -- yes, he was born here. how do i know hawaii was a state? please, donald, stop. stop it. >> jon stewart came out saying, please, donald, get into the race again, please. it is just -- it just provides so much fodder. >> so much, yes. >> for comedians. >> he seems like he's running. he's doing a better job than romney. >> is this a good season for comedians or you have to cherry pick like crazy and be super creative? >> it is about to be awesome. we haven't seen the obama/romney debates which will be awesome. >> what will be funny about that? two super straight-laced dudes. >> but obama is so cool and under control and romney is like a robot falling apart. it is going to be awesome. i'm excited about it. >> had dowhen does it premiere? >> august 19th right after "louie". >> good luck with the show. cheers. we'll get you a regular coffee cup next time. cnn. zoraida, over to you. what's better, the front of the line or the back? the answer in today's best advice. that's coming up. grams of prote. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] ensure high protein... ensure! nutrition in charge! do you have any idea where you're going ? wherever the wind takes me. this is so off course. nature can surprise you sometimes... next time, you drive. next time, signal your turn. ...that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. a living, breathing intelligence helping business, do more business. in here, opportunities are created and protected. gonna need more wool! demand is instantly recognized and securely acted on across the company. around the world. turning a new trend, into a global phenomenon. it's the at&t network -- securing a world of new opportunities. ♪ but if i grow this out a little bit, i look too much like an english country gent... naaah. a little this way and i feel like i'm from outer space. this and i feel like a viking... [ roars ] not my style, man. [ male announcer ] master your style... even trimming, a close shave, and accurate edging... with the new gillette fusion proglide styler. every inch of hair needs to be on point. ♪ [ male announcer ] new icy hot arthritis lotion. powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. power past pain. starting point about a minute away. we wrap up as always with best advice. here is christine romans. >> someone in the news lately. a friend of mitt romney's, someone who worked with him at bain capital, ed conner, the former managing director of bain capital. >> i was ten years old, my dad told me you should always be in the back of the line when they're handing out the rewards and the front of the line when they're handing out the work. that stuck with me for 45 years. >> front of the line when they're handing out work and back of the line when they're handing out rewards. it is a theme in this 1% versus 99%, people in the 1%, i'm assuming, mr. conard is, people in the 1% have been saying this is all about working hard, working hard, making money, don't let the government, you know, tax you too much, work and create jobs and create. it is interesting philosophy, i think, considering the debate happening around bain capital, private equity and the 1%. >> that's an amazing piece of advice. i remember growing up, we all heard stories about our parents working five miles to school, uphill on the way there, uphill on the way back. >> do they really do that? >> i feel like we're starting to say, you interns have it so easy, so much tougher for us, right? >> we're going back. >> thank you. nice to have you with us. that's "early start," the news from a to z for the whole week. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. our starting point this morning, all apologies. listen. >> i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. >> it is a cnn exclusive. bill clinton, former president, sorry for stepping all over the president's message. with just five months to election day. lawmakers are accusing the