show americans are spending 6.9% more last month than a year ago. making ends meet has rarely been harder. a new poll finds 45% of americans are dipping into their savings to pay for everyday goods like food and housing. not to mention those gas prices. bill: edward lawrence has the story from the white house on why this might be a flashing red light on the economy. what s the news? good morning there. you guys hit on the critical point for the economy. if consumers stop spending the economy slows down because it s 70% of the gross of the economy. we could hit the recession. retail sales numbers came out 30 minutes ago and showing .5% month over month. just a little lower than expected. when you take out autos, hotter than expected at 1.1%. people are still spending. the president leaving about 90 minutes for north carolina where he will speak at a technical college about training the next generation of workers to bring the supply chain home issues home to america. one of
former president trump has been indicted boy a criminal court in new york city and arain in the manhattan next week that will likely be tuesday. fake news cnn saying he could face over 30 charge in a statement trump is quote. political persecution an election interference the highest level in history the time i came down from trump tower and before i was sworn in as president the democrats the enemy of hard working men and women engage instead a witch hunt to destroy the make america great again movement. you remember russia, russia the mull are hoax. ukr ukraine, impeachment hoax one approximate 2 and mar-a-lago raid after partisan witch hadn ts alvin brag thrown the rule of law to the winds in exchange for a cheap act of pet political vengeance and brought political differentses to a new level. this is repulsive a disgusting hit job the likes of which we have never teen in this country. a pandora box opened. we have a new era of political revenge and weaponized justice s
and some trying to climb over the gates with palestinian flags. meanwhile, israel in israel the idf says its iron dome intercepted a drone coming from lebanon earlier today after taking down rockets from gaza overnight. rachel: iran says u.s. would be, quote, hit hard if washington did not implement a cease-fire in gaza but israel is maintaining a cease-fire is not an option. we re not going to have a cease-fire with hamas it is leak you having a cease-fire after bombing of pearl harbor and cease-fire with isis it is absurd glad to see the administration is not asking for a cease-fire. jonathon hunt is on the ground with the latest. hey, jonathon. hey will rachel, pete good to see you. over the last four hours or so this morning israel paused air strikes to give more civilians in gaza time to head from the north at the center of the war zone down to relative safety at the southern end of gaza and prior to that they made it clear they are not going let up the pressure on h
that. that is very bold. very bold. can t wait to share the ending with you. good morning. welcome to early start. i m zoraida sambolin. i m john berman. this morning mitt romney is in ohio. so is bobby jindal and jeb bush. parade? coincidence? it is sort of a parade. all about the veepstakes. also the key state of ohio. more coming up. also nelson mandela s 94th birthday. we ll hear from former president clinton who just visited with the icon in a cnn exclusive. that s coming up. first, zoraidzoraida, the b story affecting so much of the country, the weather and the devastating drought conditions that have turned half of the u.s. into a disaster zone. the department of agriculture is declaring natural disasters in 1,000 counties across 26 states. blistering temperatures are making conditions even worse. across the midwest temperatures have topped more than 100 degrees. and heat advisories are reaching up into the mid-atlantic regions. the bone dry conditions
learned that four different women have accused you of inappropriate behavior. here we re focusing on character and judgment. you ve been a ceo. yes. you know shareholders are reluctant to hire a ceo where there are character issues. why should the american people hire a president if they there are character issues? the american people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion, based on unfounded accusations. governor romney, when you were being capital, you purchased a lot of companies. you could fire the ceo and management team or keep them. would you keep a ceo? are you persuaded by what mr. cain has said? would you keep him on if you bought his company? i look, herman cain is the person to respond to these questions. people across the country can make their own assessment. joining us live in washington, former bush speechwriter, david frump and in cincinnati, fellow former ceo ohio of state. good evening, gentlemen. david frump, i