I view this situation as one big lie that i repeated a lot of times. Lance armstrongs lies. Now that america has seen his confession, will the truth set him free . Hostage crisis in the desert. Americans still believed to be among the captives after a risky rescue attempt fails to free all of them. Power struggle in the northeast. Trees and power lines affected by snow, we have so much to talk about this morning. Boy, what a night. Good morning, welcome to early start. Im zoraida sambolin. And im john berman. Friday, january 18th. And, man, what a moment ma. For years, Lance Armstrong cheated, Lance Armstrong lied. But last night in big public fashion he came clean. In a gripping, surreal interview with oprah, he told oprah point blank he doped to win each of his seven consecutive Tour De France titles. He systematically died about doping and ruthlessly attacked his accusers. The 90minute interview began by cutting to the chase. Simple yes or no questions. Lets start with the questions
about this morning. boy, what a night. good morning, welcome to early start. i m zoraida sambolin. and i m john berman. friday, january 18th. and, man, what a moment ma. for years, lance armstrong cheated, lance armstrong lied. but last night in big public fashion he came clean. in a gripping, surreal interview with oprah, he told oprah point blank he doped to win each of his seven consecutive tour de france titles. he systematically died about doping and ruthlessly attacked his accusers. the 90-minute interview began by cutting to the chase. simple yes or no questions. let s start with the questions that people around the world have been waiting for you to answer and for now i d just like a yes or a no. okay. okay? this whole conversation, we have a lot of time, will be about the details. yes or no? did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performances? yes. was one of those banned substances epo? yes. did you ever blood dope or use blood
recorded. president barack obama tries to tap into the anger over rising gas prices. in a speech just a short time ago, the president called on congress to end tax breaks for the oil industry. the senate republicans have just blocked a vote on legislation to repeal the tax breaks. republicans argue that would lead to even higher gas prices, but the president says big oil doesn t need subsidies. it s not as if these companies can t stand on their own. last year the three biggest u.s. oil companies took home more than $80 billion in profits. exxon pocketed nearly $4.7 million every hour. and when the price of oil goes up, prices at the pump go up, and so do these company s profits. another sign of continuing improvement in the job market. the number of people filing first time claims for unemployment benefits fell to another four-year low last week. the labor department reports 359,000 new claims for jobless benefits down from the previous week. a new report just releas