but if you eat this, you've eaten a quarter of the allotment. >> i think i've eaten my share of sugar today. >> and it's only 1:00. >> yes. thank you, elizabeth cohen. >> cnn continues with fredricka whitfield. >> have a grade day, suzanne. >> thank you, suzanne. let's get straight to the newsroom. with the next presidential contest two days away, newt gingrich is hammering mitt romney over the very four but gingrich has very little time to make up a lot of ground. a new nevada poll by the las vegas review journal and channel 8 gives romney a 20-point lead with ron paul and santorum in a

virtual third. we'll have a round table in vegas and we'll bring you live pictures. later today, romney will pick up the backing of a fellow businessman who will give donald trump his support on monday when he says it's a great thing to be successful and employ a lot of people. whether trump's endorsement will mean anything, it's unclear. in a recent poll, 64% of voters will say that it will not. fireworks on capitol hill over the justice department's botched gun running operation. house republican darryl issa demanded that attorney general eric holder turn over documents in the fast and furious

operation. hundreds of weapons were lost or unaccounted for. and holder says firings and charges against justice officials who oversaw the program are likely to come in the next six months. at least 60 people have been arrested in one of the biggest child porn busts in canada's history. here's a look at how far-reaching this sweep was. police say at least 22 victims had been identified and they are now receiving treatment. more children are believed to have been abused. police also say they have confiscated large amounts of money, drugs, and weapons. there is sharp reaction today to defense secretary leon panetta's plan to end the combat war in afghanistan more than a year before american troops are scheduled to come home. panetta said yesterday that the u.s. and nato plans to end their

combat mission next year and that troops will shift to a training and advisory role. some critics on capitol hill say the plan makes no military sense. republican presidential candidate mitt romney says that the proposal plays into the hands of the taliban. president obama has said u.s. troops would begin leaving afghanistan in 2014. and take a look at live pictures of police confronting demonstrators in cairo. this triggered by outraged egyptians who blame the security forces for the riots. people were attacked with rocks and chairs. witnesses say that the security guards did nothing to stop the mele. the government has declared three days of national mourning. our ben wedeman is in cairo

monitoring the situation and we'll check in with him shortly. more clashes today in syria between rebels and forces. this was the embattled city of homs yesterday where thor than 30 people were killed. protests continue throughout the country. a thousand took to the streets of another hot spot of anti--assad hot spots. in texas, it can feel like a year's long drought will never end. but today officially in one small area of northeast texas it actually has. the state climatologist has said that a rainy fall has refilled the reservoirs in and around dallas ft. h ft. h ft. worth. folks there are thankful. the other 95% including near austin is still painfully dry.

every day we try to show you things that you don't see every day. it's the side of the moon that a fourth grade class in montana has named ebb and flow. the moon spins on it's axis but since is spins around the earth at exactly the same time, the same side always faces us. students are seeing this anden sharing photos as well. facebook is going public. if you didn't already like facebook, this could change your mind. buying in could make you make big bucks. first, how excited would you be if someone handed you super bowl tickets? kyle perish was probably he can sat particular when he won two

tickets to the game in a raffle. it's a football fan's dream, right? well, kyle is a big fan but despite that, he gave away the tickets to a 13-year-old boy with kidney disease. >> >> by giving one set of super bowl tickets i knew i could save this boy's life for just the afternoon or evening. >> kyle parrish is today's rock star. ..and a touch of sweetness. you'll be delighted to discover how good they taste. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares on facebook. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi.

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all right. facebook is finally going public. the company raised its ipo to $5 million. people want a big piece of the pie. mark zuckerberg, stay focused and keep shipping. so what are facebook users saying? mark just passed his baby to the world, one of the best tech company in past seven years. dude solid moves. how many people have been loyal to you. and congrats on the ipo and thanks for going public, mark. i'm adding my favorite tech company in my stock portfolio. big day with the ipo and nice reminder on your desk. keep up the good work. that's from troy. so let's bring in editor in chief and our own ali velshi

joining us from new york. i wonder from the two of you, who is the most excited about this? >> larry said it last night. >> you're both chomping at the bit. facebook, you know, it's getting valued at $100 billion. what is the rationale here? >> here's what is happening. people are talking about whether or not facebook is going to be -- something sounds weird here. i'm not sure what it is. >> i'm hearing you okay. >> i'm going to take this ear peace out. an ipo is an initial public offering. it means that the first time that a company is going to sell stock to the public. there are secondary offerings later on. you would think that the stock can can be valued at $30 but that doesn't take into account all of the emotion and hype that we're going to talk about. we're thinking that the lowest it's going to be is 45 bucks.

history says these things get priced higher than what you would think. google is the logical comparison. lots of people are saying it's going to end up like zynga or groupon. that's nonsense. this is a bigger deal. facebook is pa a part of our life. if it traded at $45 on the first day, which is conservative, that would be 87 times its earnings. now, the reason that's important, the way you decide whether you're going to buy a stock to compare it to other stocks in the industry. google at $581 today is 20 times earnings. so in our industry, facebook is $45. i'm making that figure up. that's the thing you have to remember. is it worth it at that point? everybody is asking me, do you buy google when you come in, facebook when it comes in? priced at $85 and $280 a year

later. it depends. is facebook a revolutionary stock or just a tech stock that might come out overpriced? >> we know that it's a great opportunity but what about for the individual investor out there? how might they be able to cash in or take advantage of this opportunity? >> i think it's going to be hard for them because there's so much activity around there. i'm no investment expert but facebook is not like some of the other companies that we talked about. it's not like zynga and groupon. it's not even like google in that this is a place that you go to and you stay. facebook's strategy over the last few years has been to engage people, pull them in, and having them doing more than reconnecting with people but doing things together. so they are chatting together, e-mailing, looking at photos, posting videos, playing games.

when you go to google, you search and you leave. google is trying to build something facebook-like on google plus but it's a way off from 845 million users. facebook is the world's social network right now. >> right. >> it's the dominant leader and that's what makes this ipo so exciting. we've never had a product at this level go public where it's touching so many people's lives every single day and i've got to say that facebook has a real strategy for continued growth because with the open graph, with gestures, doing things that show up on your timeline, they are going to hook people and hold them as long as possible and, of course, make money, advertising and virtual goods. >> quickly underscoring that message, how it has reached the world and made an impact, facebook was built to accomplish

a social mission to make the world more open and connected. what this mission means to us, how we make the decisions and why we do the things that we do, when we asked for comment, ali, if you have your earpiece there, how does facebook give back to society more than connect canning with society? >> i couldn't help but laugh. while agree to some degree he is right, it is earth changing, it's world changing what facebook does. it's an ipo. it's about getting rich. they already have more money than god and a business venture that i think these guys, as somebody said to me earlier, have not even touched the gas pedal. >> real quick? >> i think we're at a turning

point in the world where social networking does seem to have an impact on world events. facebook going public at this time is kind of very important because they are going to have the tools, the money to have some kind of impact. governments may make it harder for them to do that, even our own government. but i do think that he's being sincere here. >> lance, ali velshi, thank you so much for being here. >> my pleasure. >> thank you. leon panetta hopes to end the combat in afghanistan by 2013 but is that a good idea for the u.s. to reveal its cards and with the drawdown, could this open up the doors to the taliban? a live report straight ahead. plus, demonstrations erupting in egypt. a live report straight ahead. helping millions of americans retire on their terms.

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breaking news in cairo. they have started a three days of mourning after 79 people were killed in riots. we have been told that there's been violent conflict between police and demonstrators there in cairo. our ben wedeman is there to give us a better handle of what is taking place here. help us understand. we know that the three days of mourning was to begin today as a result of the soccer game that turned violent. now, what is this conflict all about? >> reporter: well, what we have is demonstrations all day long

in cairo against the killing of these soccer fans yesterday evening. but it quickly transformed into demonstrations against the supreme council of the armed forces, the military body. it took over from hosni mubarak a year ago after the revolution. many of these soccer fans are blaming the military for failing to provided a quit security and in general throughout the country. there has been a dramatic decline in law & order in egypt over the last year. now, the demonstrators said that they were going to go to the ministry of the interior and basically what is going on now is they are trying to get through a series of barriers that have been set up because of similar clashes in november and december and they are trying to

get to the ministry of the interior. clashes have taken place. the security forces are firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the demonstrators. we are getting reports that only within the last two hours at least 100 people have been injured. we have seen ambulances rushing to the scene. it looks like we're back into the same cycle of protests, clashes, which lead to more protests and more clashes. fredricka? >> ben, if you could, give us some clarity as to what sparked the violence at the soccer games in the first place. >> reporter: well, this was a game between two bitter rivals, a city on the suez canal and the big cairo team. now, according to the fans, what happened is when the game ended with a victory, thousands of fans from that city poured into the stadium, into the field, and started to attack the players

and the fans. now, they complain that the police facilitated this attack by opening gates that separated the two groups of fans and apparently there were very little in the way of screening of people entering the stadium. so we're hearing reports that they were able to bring in sticks, fireworks, stones, bottles, and even firearms to the stadium and a blood bath ensued. exactly where the fault lies it's not clear. the government insists that they are conducting an investigation. already we've seen senior security officials from the area arrested and charged with dereliction of duty. >> ben wedeman, thank you so much for that update out of cairo. all right. the u.s. and nato are now trying to decide when it's okay to pack up and leave afghanistan. the u.s. defense secretary leon

panetta is under fire from critics for saying that the u.s. hopefully can transition out of a combat world by the end of next year. thousands of u.s. troops would stay at least through 2014 and a backup in training role eating up the previous timetable. some say that gives taliban and al qaeda time to sit and wait it out. i'm joined by nic robertson in london. how do you compare this to stepping aside 2013 versus 2014 knowing what you know about the landscape? >> well, it certainly does give anyone in the taliban that if they were going to wait out u.s. forces waiting, this is going to make it so much easier. on the other side, other things that the taliban has to weigh is now that they have opened the door into getting into talks with u.s. officials that took a long time to organize is that

one of their demands has been that u.s. troops and foreign troops altogether will have to be pulled out of afghanistan where they are compromised on that already. now they are being told at the top level that the troops will go even sooner. did they take that and something that is good and a note of good faith and any talks that they get into or do they just say, we sit tight. why they may not want to sit tight, why they may get into talks is because the taliban took control of afghanistan in the 1990s. partly through money that they got from pakistan while the taliban and the united states will not get that money in the future from pakistan and they know that the people that they are up against, the afghans there, much better armed, much better equipped than they were in the past. they may make the calculation after decades of war that they can actually get more of the table than they can fighting so this knowledge that the troop reduction is definitely coming

maybe, maybe something that they can trust and follow through with more talks. >> there are some arguments stateside here that there this is a military strategy. one expert thinks that panetta is right to speed things up. let's take a listen. >> remember, why we went into afghanistan, we went there because of osama bin laden. we got osama bin laden. president obama made a tough decision. we got him, took him down. al qaeda is much weaker and different today. it's time to transition away from this mission. >> i wonder, nic, if people from afghanistan, the government of afghanistan feel like, okay, mission accomplished, time for the nato to depart? >> it certainly won't be about the government of afghanistan, president karzai as recently as many occasions work with what

the united states is trying to do. he's trying to work on his own track of talks with the taliban which risks undermining what the united states is doing and risks undermining the long-term strategy in afghanistan. so along those lines, a very clear message is being sent to president karzai and the government that there is going to be a drawdown and perhaps it's going to happen sooner. there's been many a time that they have been criticized by not taking and really showing tough love to karzai, this drawdown means you're on your own. good luck to you, because this is what we are going to do. some people say this is a long time and coming, fredricka. >> nic roberson, thank you so much. the government-backed lender freddie mac is supposed to make owning a home easier. an investigation shows that

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if you've had 2r0ub8 trying to refinance your mortgage, you will want to hear this. many of you have heard that freddie mac decides who does and does not get refinancing. but a joint investigation proves that freddie mac nad harder for many of you. a report that looked at the investments revealed big bets struggling homeowners it's a story that we feel is under cover. the mission includes stabilizing the market and helping homeowners refinance their

loans. thanks so much for joining us. how is freddie mac or how has it been betting against homeowners? >> well, our story basically uncovered that on the one hand freddie mac has been making it harder for homeowners to refinance their loans. that's not a big secret. a lot of the industry has been making it harder and tightening. but what we showed was that freddie mac, based on public documents, had at the same time making it harder to refinance was also placing bets to the tune of 3.5 billion. now it looks like it might be $5 billion in these bets that make a lot of money if people are unable to refinance and that lose a lot of money if people can refinance. >> so that essentially was sending a message that freddie mac wanted to people to fail? they didn't even want to throw them a lifeline? >> well, you know, i wouldn't

feel comfortable going that far but these bets just show that at least in this one investment that freed dee mack is making, it's got this $5 billion investment tied to 20 and $30 billion in home loans. so probably more than 100,000 american families who have mortgages, they are directly involved in these bets where their 6% mortgage payment or 7% mortgage payment is going right into freddie mac's pocket. freddie pa freddie placed a bet that if they win they make a lot of money. >> we reached out to freddie mac several times. this is the latest statement, freddie mac is committed to making sure that we do everything to make sure that refinancing for more than 78% of our business in 2011 and 80% of

our business in 2009 and 2010 we are proud of our record of refinancing more than 4.3 million mortgages in this span totalling about $930 billion. the fact is, a borrowers' ability to defy re-fi mans is dependent on their financial condition. is this whether he did anything unlawful or unethical? >> no. we're not alleging in our reporting or nothing in our reporting turned up any evidence that there was anything illegal going on here. we should absolutely say that. and to be fair to freddie mac and say, look, there's a firewall between the part of our company and homeowners and there is a basic conflict in the shift

in the way fannie and freddy are set up. you have gatekeepers that control their ability to refinance and at the same time in the hedge fund on the side of the business they are betting against these investments that are more extreme and more troubling because they are just a clear bet against homeowners. >> and how is it different from regular hedging? >> that's a good question. we have that same question that's come up a lot and in the last couple of days he says that, too. how is that not just rej hedging? to answer that question we went to four expert bond trader guys. this is not like a professor at a university. we have a guy who has four computers in front of them and three types of coffee and

dealing with bonds all day and billions of dollars and top investors at very top investments. we're told that these are not expensive hedges. for several reasons. one is, they are expensive. they cost more for freddie mac to engage in than a regular hedge and they are ill liquid. so one quick analogy that people can wrap their heads around, it's like if you wanted to get an auto insurance policy as a hedge against you crashing your car, this would be like buying the most expensive auto insurance policy out there and one that you could never get rid of, you're locked into forever, and that creates all sorts of other risks for you as a hedge it just doesn't make sense. >> chris arnold, thanks so much for your time. >> okay. thank you, fred. politics around the corner. mitt romney is going after the obama administration after new plans to end combat operations

in afghanistan. is putting in jeopardy the mission of the united states of america and our commitment to freedom. . >> well his remark hurt or help his campaign? that's next. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula

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all right. mitt romney is in nevada but he has his eye on president obama and that's fair game today. let's bring in robert zimmerman and will cain. mit rom snee really going after the president after defense secretary leon panetta said that u.s. and nato would like to end the combat mission in afghanistan next year. here is romney. >> secretary of defense said that on a date certain, the middle of 2013, we are going to pull our combat troops out of afghanistan. he announced that. owe announced that. so the taliban hears it, afghan leaders hear it.

why in the world do you go to the people that you're fighting with and tell them the day you're pulling out your troops? >> robert, you first. mitt romney obviously sees an opening here. is the president vulnerable on this issue politically? >> well, what mitt romney should be aware of, not only did the afghanistanis and pakistanis know that we are phasing out of our mission, every american knew that. at one point mitt romney used the word naive but what is truly naive is to see him go back to the dangerously incompetent policies of the bush administration. what does he propose? to have an unended involvement in afghanistan? he wants to keep our troops in iraq? after ten years it's incumbent upon the afghanistan government to stand up and have their own defense. we've achieved our mission in afghanistan. >> will? >> i don't think he's saying

that they should stay there for some indetermine nate period. what i hear romney saying is the timing and messaging of this is odd. why would you make this -- there are two possible explanations for announcing your intentions to leave. some people are saying it's to put pressure on the afghanis. others are saying it's a political message. in the end, wars are political. so i don't know if it's right or wrong here but i also don't know how this affects things on the ground. >> the reality is to keep this nato coalition together. the days of go it alone foreign policy that we tried under george bush is not the strategy that works effectively for the insurance today and it doesn't work under the bush administration either. so the issue for mitt romney is not just to leave it open, not

to leave it that way. it's not saying it is odd. what he's saying in his statement is, we should continue our presence there. >> all right. we know they are going to try to hash this out on the campaign trail. now you have romney trying to clarify or back pedal saying he doesn't care about the very poor. is this an issue, robert, of mitt romney being misunderstood? >> you know, at one point a pollster can only take you so far. a candidate has to know what that person beliefs in. and in mitt romney's case there is this consistent pattern and he doesn't know what he believes in or what he's about. for example, the safety net is against conservative or the docks and talks about protecting the middle class but yet the ryan plan advocates cutting off medicare for future retirees and

cutting off social security and putting into a voucher system and cutting off people that are put into the middle class. >> more ammunition for people who say that he is out of touch? >> do i see it a problem that the day after his biggest political victory instead he gets to talk about whether he's concerned about poor people? yes. i see that as a big problem. is mitt romney -- >> yeah. yeah. i mean, no, fredricka. i mean, yes, this is a problem consistent throughout this process. mitt romney seems to have a lack of ability to connect with people. that sounds like a cliche but this is an example of that. he don't know how to default back to -- he didn't say anything that conservatives or other people don't think but his language comes off as stiff, country club republican. >> all right. will cain, robert zimmerman,

thank you, gentlemen. i know you're going to be glued to the television set. you're going to be watching super bowl, too. you're going to be watching the pop girl, the diva, ma madonna saying that she's nervous. nervous? we'll let her explain after this. has never attacked a corkb. ♪ give your customers the added feeling of security a printed statement or receipt provides... ...with mail. it's good for your business. ♪ and even better for your customers. ♪ for safe and secure ways to stay connected, visit usps.com/mail

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all right. madonna will be in a list of long names to perform at the super bowl. she told anderson cooper that she's nervous. >> are you nervous? >> you have no idea. i am. yeah. i mean, first of all, it's the super bowl. the super bowl is kind of like the holies of holies in america and here i am coming in halfway between like the church, the church experience and i'm going to have to deliver a sermon. it has to be very impactful. >> yeah, okay, madonna nervous. half-time show. catch "anderson," just check your local listings. remember last year the black-eyed peas put on quite the

show. plenty of over the top glitz and glamour but it wasn't always this way. for example, back in 1970, i'm taking you back now, super bowl fo iv, and then in 1988, the one and only our own star, mark mckay is there. he's not going to be at the halftime show but he'll be taking us through the games, the ins and outs of super bowl xlvi. when the giants and patriots take to the field, they have an incredible, inspiring story to tell? >> reporter: he's been telling it here in indianapolis.

hello, fred. yes, nearly three years ago after being diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, the goal to play football once again drove mark herzlich to play again. they saved his leg and maybe even his life. here he is in indianapolis preparing to play in the super bowl on sunday. >> when the cancer came, it wasn't just my super bowl dreams are dead. well, it was all my football dreams are dead. i was told that i could never play again. i probably would never even be able to run again. and you don't think super bowl at that point. you just think survival. when i first told them i wanted to play again, they said you

won't play again. after two months of chemotherapy i was supposed to get my femur removed and some prosthetic replacing that. i knew that radiation would be my only chance at playing again. a lot of doctors told me they weren't going to do it. they said, we're not going to do radiation and if we do radiation, there's no way we're drilling a hole down your femur and putting a rod in there because the cancer will spread and you will die. but my doctor at pennsylvania hospital said it hasn't been done very often but i believe this can work and i believe this will give you the best shot. and i had september 4th written in my head, by this time i'm going to be better and i have to do everything that i can to be better. football drove me every second of every day and i needed something. i needed a goal to get back to.

and the coach called all the time and says, you know, a goal is a dream with a deadline. and my dream was to play football again. and that's what i held on to. i want to be a guy that's here on the field. i wanthit. that guy crushed that guy. they go, oh, he's the one that had cancer, right? there are such thing as miracles and i believe that this is one of them. >> reporter: on monday of this week, herzlich walked off the giants super bowl charter after being told by doctors, fred, that he may never walk again. is there any reason why he's such an inspiration for so many, especially cancer survivors across the country. >> an inspiration to everyone, period. mark, we'll see you again tomorrow. it was an epic adventure for this little lost dog. not really little but it was a lost dog. more than 1,000 miles and a lot of help from some friends, see

how he was final reunited with his owner next. s... mmmm. ...and a touch of sweetness. you'll be delighted to discover how good they taste. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares on facebook.

now it's time to check stories making news at street level. in los angeles, a big win for a honda civic hybrid owner. heather peters won a lawsuit against giant honda in small claims court and said the company misled customers when it said the car would get 50 miles per gallon. she got almost $10,000 in damages. honda plans to appeal that decision. in wisconsin, a 12-year-old girl says she was scolded by her teacher for saying i love you in her native american language. >> i said [ speaking foreign language ]

and it means i love you. she threw her hands down on her desk and said don't be talking like that. how would you like it if i start talking polish? >> the family says they're extremely upset by the way the officials at the school treated their daughter. the principal released a statement saying i regret if there was any%ception of by a sunt or family that this in any way promoted an atmosphere of cultural discrimination. if that was perception was allowed to exist, then it is deeply regretted by sacred heart school and for that, we apologize." a 9-year-old maine girl has been given a second lease on life in a boston hospital with an incredible six-organ transplant. when alana was 5, she was diagnosed with a massive tumor that doesn't respond to

chemotherapy. it wrapped around your esophagus, pancreas, liver spleen and small intestines. she waited 15 months for a donor. her surgery lasted 14 hours. and griz the dog is heading home to montana but it's been quite the journey. 1200 miles actually for this 1-year-old. a couple moving to texas picked him up thinking he was a stray, but by the time they got to kansas, they decided that they couldn't care for him and left him at the spca. well, guess that, that microchip that sometimes you contemplate should i get it in that chip told where volunteers came from. now a volunteer is driving him home to be reunited with his owner. a big turn of events in the gop race for president.

the buzz was that donald trump would endorse newt gingrich today but we're live from tampa where trump apparently is expected to throw his support behind mitt romney. and actually, it's not going to be tampa. he'll be in las vegas, and that's where we'll take you right after this. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares. goodnight bygones everywhere. [ engine turns over ] good morning, illumination. good morning, innovation. good morning unequaled inspiration. [ male announcer ] the audi a8, chosen by car & driver as the best luxury sedan in a recent comparison test. of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks.

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now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! big endorsement today sources tell us coming from donald trump. it comes just before the nevada caucuses on saturday. jim acosta is in las vegas.

so, jim, what do we knows about how this endorsement may unfold? >> reporter: well, i think we've got a pretty reliable source confirming that donald trump will be endorsing mitt romney here at the trump hotel in las vegas. donald trump himself just came into a room a few moments ago and confirmed that he is endorsing mitt romney. he also said if mitt romney is the nominee, he will not run for president as an independent. that's interesting news from the donald. i asked him during a brief exchange with reporters, you know about this change of heart because donald trump has not always said complimentary things about romney. he went on to say he liked his performance in the last two the debates. obviously those performances served romney well and helped him win the florida primary. he said he likes mitt romney's policy on trade with china. it was an interesting few moments with the donald. he'll be out in just about an

hour and a half to confirm he is endorsing mitt romney for president. >> is there any back story to why some believed he was going to be endorsing another capped and then come to find out it's this other one? >> reporter: you know, it has sort of a realty show quality to, it doesn't it, fredricka? i wonder why that is. >> that rolling of the dice. >> reporter: exactly. yeah, we don't exactly know at this point. just adding to the drama, i should point out the trump hotel is on one of the side, the venetian is on the other side of the strip owned by another gingrich backer. >> what a gamble. thanks so much, jim, appreciate that from las vegas. thanks so much for watching. much more of the cnn newsroom straight ahead with don lemon. >> hello, fredricka. everybody says the donald. the fred, thank you very much. brooke baldwin is off. let's get you caught up on everything making news this

hour. rapid fire. so let's go. first we want to get straight to this, take you to egypt. look at the pictures we have. row tests are breaking out tonight all in response to the violence at a sports arena yesterday. seven hours earlier there. it's 9:00 p.m. there. they're seven hours past us there. that's what's happening near the interior ministry. 79 people died when the riots broke out among fans. egyptians speculating whether the current political anger in their country fueled the violence. ben wedeman is live in egypt in just a few minutes. don't go anywhere. cnn has learned the government's no fly list has doubled in the past year alone. there are now 29,000 known or suspected oirts not allowed to fly. new criteria who gets on the list prompted by the underwear bomber attack on christmas day 2009 when a terrorist stuffed explosives in his underwear and

tried to detonate them on a flight to the detroit. ben bernanke appears on capitol hilling lawmakers he is frustrated by the slow recovery. >> over the past two and a half years, u.s. economy has been gradually recovering from a deep recession. while conditions have certainly improve the over this period, the pace of the recovery has been frustrate tatingly slow, particularly from the perspective of the millions of workers who remain underemployed. >> he told them the economy can't turn around without a better housing market. ali velshi will explains hits comments. what could bring the leader of the free world to his knees? prayer. as republican opponents hammer him on religious people to, obama opened up about his faith in a way he rarely does. he told a crowd at the national prayer breakfast this morning

how a visit with the reverend billy graham has ached him to this very day. >> i've fallen on my knees with great regularity since that moment asking god for guidance not just in my personal life and christian walk but in the life of this nation and in the values that hold us together and keep us strong. news about someone in the obama administration, attorney general eric holder getting grilled on capitol hill today over a botched fbi gun running sting to mexico called fast and furio furious. holder insists there's been no cover-up attempt by the justice department. darrell issa heads that committee and he's been highly critical of the handling of the failed operation and the current investigation, as well. >> this committee has lost its patience to wait longer. we will not wait until next groundhog day to get answers for the american people. >> the department of justice stands ready to work with you. not only to correct the mistakes of the past, but also to strengthen our law enforcement capacity in the future.

the nation's number one terror threat could be a cyberattack. that's what intelligence officials are warning today at a hearing before the house intelligence committee. >> we will suffer a catastrophic cyberattack. the clock is ticking. and winding down. >> this comes one day after several top security and defense officials met with senators to figure out how to better protect the infrastructure and companies from cyberattacks. a rare victory in small claims court for a los angeles woman against a giant automaker, honda. her name is heather peters. she was awarded just under $10,000 yesterday. she claims she was misled by honda's claim that its civic hybrid could get 50 miles per gallon. she said her car never came close to that. >> it's justice in a very small place. but it problems that sometimes the little guy wins. >> peters sued after learning honda's proposed settlement

would pay trial lawyers millions while civic owners would get as little as $100 and coupons toward a new honda. honda plans toally. some amazing dashcam video. now of two police officers. look at that. rescuing a man from a burning car in new jersey. you can hear the crackling there. well, the officers arrived to find the car engulfed in flames in a residential neighborhood. they broke the driver's side window to get the door open and pulled out the 57-year-old man. he was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation. luckily, he's just fine. a lot more to cover empty next two hours. watch. police are warning criminals, you cannot hide when it comes to child porn. especially on the internet. they just carried off a massive bust to prove it. i'm don lemon. the news starts right now. a young girl with no money and noncitizenship. loses her entire family in a

tragic car accident. but as she recovers, there are questions about who will look after her. a soccer game turns deadly. >> you do see flares and rockets. >> why some witnesses say police did nothing. plus, more than a decade of war, blood shed, and sacrifice. find out what president obama's new strategy in afghanistan means for the taliban. and u.s. troops still there. fareed zakaria joins me live. and it's got a lot of you talking. >> we will never bow to political pressure. >> sparks fly as america's biggest breast cancer charity cuts off another giant for women's health. tylenol:nyquil. what are you doing? nyquil (stuffy): just reading your label. wait! you relieve nasal congestion? tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no...

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aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. this next story is just a disgusting one. 22 children have been rescued in one of the biggest child pornography busts ever in canada. at least 60 people have been arrested. but that's just the tip of the iceberg in the world of child porn. paul lal newton joins us now in ottawa. paula, what are those people charged with? >> well, a variety of charges including making child pornography, possessing it, distributing it, but you know what is so unsettling, don, they're also charged some of them with luring is children under the age of 16 and in fact, sexual assault. i think that's what's gotten to everybody about the story today. when you think of 22 children have now been rescued and police say more victims to come.

>> how did police track them down, paula? >> well, what's interesting here, don, is that they won't say precisely. i can tell you they decided they had to have a coordinated effort. they're trying to use sophisticated internet tools. i want to show you one of the demonstrations that they had us have a look at at the police press conference. take a look. >> notice each red dot represents a cluster of ip addresses. when you view one of the clusters, it reveals the total number of different ip addresses in each cluster. as you can see, each cluster that's clicked upon explodes like fireworks. >> you know, that means in the last three months alone, just in the province of ontario, 9,000 downloads of child pornography. it can't be said enough what police are urging here is that you really keep an eye on kids on the internet. >> you know, i said they had tracked down 22 victims of this

child porn. where are those children now, paula? >> well, police don't want to say again because they don't want to give out any information that might lead to the identification of these victims but they are in extensive programs. some are in foster care, others still with their parents but receiving treatment. that includes both medical and trauma. and again, don, police em pa sizing here that this is -- they don't say it's the tip of the iceberg. at the other end of the spectrum, they say whether it's in the u.s., europe or canada, they have to step up their tech skills in order to stay one step ahead of the criminals. but alsoen our end, they're saying kids, be careful. don't give out your passwords. keep those children supervised on the internet. don't talk to strangers on the internet. if you don't talk to them on the street, don't talk to them on the internet. those were some of the warnings from police today given the history of those 22 victims that have been rescued. >> you have to watch the kids at all times. thank you for that story. we want tell you now, we're keeping an eye on the pro

testifies breaking out again in egypt. here's what the health ministry is saying. 250 people have been hurt in these clashes and some of those are in critical condition. we're talking about, these are new protests, this isn't the rioting that broke out yesterday. this is all new. you're looking at the pictures now. all over a soccer game that turned deadly. straight to ben wedeman standing by in cairo. what's going on right now? >> reporter: don, what we saw were dem monstrations sparked b9 violence following the football match in port said quickly transformed into yet another round of anti-government demonstrations. we saw throughout the day people matching in cairo tahrir square streets off of it demanding that the military step down, hand over power to civilians. now what you see in those live pictures are these demonstrators are trying to fight their way

over large stone barriers that were placed in the streets to prevent this from happening to prevent people dem mon straighters from getting to the interior ministry. and, of course, it's the interior ministry that many of these demonstrators blame for either not doing enough to stop the blood shed at that soccer game in port said or as many demonstrators will tell you, they believe the police actually facilitated the violins as a means of revenge against some of the fans of the cairo football team involved in that match who have traditionally had a very antagonistic relationship with the police. don? >> ben wedeman, thank you. joining us live from egypt viewers, there are demonstrat n demonstratiodemonstratio demonstrations happening now. after the clash yesterday left 79 people dead. 250 people now injured. we'll keep a close eye on that. a teenage girl with no

health insurance no, citizenship is still in the hospital after losing her entire family in a horrible car accident. florida governor rick scott promised her medical bills would be paid. but when we asked scott's office, they were mum about it. cnn has gotten a new response next. you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ [ sizzling ] ♪ [ male announcer ] free hot breakfast. with fresh waffles. real value. from your friends at hampton.

you have seen the horrendous pictures of this multicar accident on interstate 75 in florida that killed 11 people on sunday, including the family of a taken girl from georgia. now the nation is rooting for 15-year-old liddian carmo's recovery including florida's governor. >> your heart goes out to them.

i want to make sure we know if we can doing anything better but those families just are devastated. >> governor rick scott is sympathetic there but now silent about the latest concern for carmo who is an illegal immigrant. who pay her medical bills? she was seriously injured and has no health insurance. today scott's office released this statement. he said we have been working closely with her church. our office has been in regular communication with her pastor bobby curtis over the last several days and we are coordinating through him. governor scott is the very moved by this horrible tragedy and is making every effort to assist as quickly as possible. we want to turn to martin savidge on the story. give sus some background. why do the girls loved ones believe that the cost will be covered by the government. >> a conversation that the governor had with the family back on sunday, the day of the incident. the accident happened about 4:00 in the morning. later in the day the governor

came to the hospital in the ar know that they would be taken care of. the carmo family has taken this very much to heart. they have a terrible tragedy they're dealing with. it is not just seeing that 15-year-old lidiane is healed. it's five members of a family that have to be trants pored back to georgia and the church has to bury them all and funeral costs are expensive. >> he spoke to her family on sunday. did he speak to her again? >> it's been difficult. we've been trying to communicate with the governor's office. there's been back and forth. you had that most recent statement. the governor says he has been reaching out to this small church where her father was the pastor. it appears he's acting on good faith but the family wants to hold him to his words. they are waiting to see his

actions. >> the family's here illegally. they were going to take her in. that puts them in an odd position. she has family in brazil. are they trying to help out? >> the family in brazil is quite aware. what you want to do now is one, make a little girl whole and then bring home the loved ones. they eventually will be buried in brazil. you have an extended in brazil waiting for all of this to happen. it's a terrible tragedy. waiting makes it only worse. they go through this day by day. >> little girl, the healing comes first. >> let me point out good news. she has improved. home run condition has been upgraded. she can move her arms and legs. she won't be paralyzed but a lot of healing yet to do. >> martin savidge. we know there are viewers who want to help. go to cnn/impact to seep how you can contribute to the carmo family funeral fund.

up next, fed chairman ben bernanke didn't exactly sound optimistic on capitol hill today. he got pretty candid about the housing crisis. ali velshi tanding by live. he'll break it all down for us. seeing you makes me smile, sir. talk to you next. >> yeah. they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. vacations are always wasn'ta good ideaa ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from

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anyone who has lost a house or tried to sell one in the past five years knows the promised relief in the housing slump has not come. now get this. today on capitol hill, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke told lawmakers without a housing turn around, the economy can't be healed. listen to this exchange between bernanke and california republican john camp bell. >> i do think that the lack of a housing recovery is one of the big reasons that recovery has not been more stronger than it has. >> without advocating a specific solution kind of like on the budget deficits you're saying

it's something to which we should be paying policy attention? >> i think it would repay your efforts to think about ways to make -- to remove some of the barriers to the recovery in housing. i don't think it's purely a market phenomenon. i think there are a number of legal and administrative and regulatory barriers to housing being as strong as it should be. >> we should tell you this is bernanke's first public meeting with congress this year. he told lawmakers he is frustrated with the slowness of the recovery. all right. ali velshi, let's bring him in now to help us on this one. everybody seems to agree. housing is in need of an urgent fix. i've been hearing you talk about it. the white house says it is behind it. congress says it is on board. you know where i'm going with this. what's the holdup? >> well the hold is nothing gets through congress these days. the most important thing is that

everybody having a job. but the second most thing is that the housing mess gets fixed because so much of our wealth is stied up in our homes. so if you don't the kris, home values don't go up. they can't sell it and move somewhere else to get a job. it is holding everything back. let me just tell you the rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage if you have 20% down and good credit is today 3.87 percent. unbelievable. 3.87%. the logic would be and this is what he he was saying, if rates are 3.87% everybody who has a down payment and home prices are cheap should be buying a lous. why are they not buying a house? it is still difficult to get credit. he's saying things need to be fixed. we ped to fix people's ability to get credit and help people with underwater mortgages and the white house has proposed a program yet again, a third program now in the last three years to try and deal with that. >> i have to ask you, it used to be people felt i'll take the

bulk of my savings and money and dump it into i an house that's where the bulk of my house is going to be. now they're like i don't know if i want to do that. >> you are exactly right. we've had a strong month in the stock market in january. this makes people wonder, should i be putting my money in stocks. people bought houses, people made money on houses. you tapped into it to buy other things. so the all of those people used to tap into their house to get money to buy cars, keep the economy going are not doing that. that's why we need a iffism to this. the white house prepared a plan supposed to help a bunch of people who are underwater which means you have a mortgage worth more than your house to refinance to get some of these low 4% rates. they might be paying 6 or 7%. they thinkal help a lot of people. they've got to get that through congress. and by the way, they've got to get the banks to sign up on this. >> hold on.

you're going a place where i want to go with you. stand by. more of ben bernanke and then we'll talk. >> the mortgage market, the problems with access to credit, for example, mean that the federal reserve's monetary policies are less effective than they otherwise would be because not as many people as could be are taking advantage of the low mortgage rates that we have tried to create. >> so alabamai, you went there. so it's all good. there are deals. but people are like, i don't want the deal or they can't afford the deal. >> or they can't get the credit or they are you know, underwater. no bank will willingly refinance your mortgage if it's worth more than the house. so they came out with a couple plans that were supposed to help about 9 million people, didn't work. about 2 million people. the administration says it probably helped more than that because it didn't happen within the programs. it didn't have the impact. now the administration wants another plan to go through congress that will help people with relatively good credit, 580

or more. the mortgage 140% of the value of the house. 40% underwater and who have been relatively current on their payments. in other words, they maybe just missed one payment. they're hoping by broadening the scope, it will allow those people to refinance their mortgages as a much lower interest rate that redues payments, saves those families about $3,000 a year. the hope is it's a stimulus plan. if you're giving all these families $3,000, tra a year, either they'll pay down debt or put the money in the economy. unclear how well what's going to work. that's what the administration would like to happen and unclear if it gets through congress. >> rates under 4%. >> unbelievable. >> did you lose weight? did you cut your hair? you look good. >> i definitely haven't lost weight. i appreciate you saying so. you and my mother ever are the only people who don't tell me i'm getting fat. >> ali velshi, have a good day, my friend. >> i'll probably endorse somebody if that person doesn't

win and if somebody gets in there that i don't like in terms of the candidate, then we'll have to see what happens. >> good old donald trump. the donald. he's about to make what he calls a major announcement involving this race for president. jim acosta just spoke to him. hear what he's telling cnn today. that's right after the break. ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have

that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪ i guess you can call him the world's most famous hairdoen at billionaire attached to it are endorsing mitt romney for president. cnn confirms domd trump will announce he is backing romney about an hour from now in las vegas. the nevada caucuses are just two days away and romney's out to a big lead to. jim acosta standing by live for us in vegas. jim, you actually spoke to the donald just a short time ago. what did he tell you? >> well, don, he confirmed that he is endorsing mitt romney for president about an hour from now happening inside the trump hotel behind me just off the las vegas strip.

and it was interesting to hear what the donald had to say you know, he's been talking about this possibility that he may run as an independent for president. first he says he was, then he's not. and now he's now saying definitively he will not run for president if mitt romney is the nominee for the republican party. we had a chance to catch up with the donald a few moments ago inside the hotel. and if we can play just a little bit of that sound, we can tell you, here's what he had to say. >> it sounds like you've had a change of heart about mitt romney. you haven't always said many complimentary things about him. >> well, i never knew him. i really got to know him over the last few months. i've had numerous meetings with him and really got to know him over last few months. >> what did it for you? >> i think his general attitude but the last two the debates were very impressive. i really thought he did really well. plus, he's the one person that really speaks strongly about china because china is ripping the country like nobody is ripping the country.

and he's the one person than continuously mentions china and opec. >> the >> reporter: and because donald trump has such a big presence out here in las vegas, this endorsement is a good thing for mitt romney. he's way out in front in the days leading up to the in caucuses. this is definitely not going to hurt at all. >> is this just, i don't know, someone didn't do their homework was we reported it first here on rnn earlier, we got it right. but other media mistakenly reporting trump was going to endorse gingrich. is this a surprise from the romney camp or someone didn't get it right? >> reporter: yeah, i just caught up with andrea salt, a spokeswoman for the romney campaign and asked her about this. there were reports in the last 24 hours. we all read them, that donald trump was going to endorse newt gingrich. gingrich said he hadn't heart about it. andrea said the romney campaign was also paying attention to those reports and knew they were

false and that mitt romney and donald trump were talking privately leading up to this endorsement and sort of knew that was not going to happen, that that was not going to go to newt gingrich and that this endorsement was coming their way. it's interesting, don, because this is a big unpredictable thing that could potentially unfold. over the coming months. donald trump is not somebody -- he could come out today and endorse mitt romney. he could change his mind many months from now. trump indicated to all of us in this room no, he's with mitt romney and if mitt is the nominee, he's going to be staying out of this race in 2012. but i got to tell you, donald trump is so unpredictable you never know. it makes it all very, very interesting. >> come out and go, just within the last five minutes, i changed my mind. that's not a very good impression. >> that's how he rolls. >> that's how he rolls, the donald. we got it right. other people reported it wrong.

this one we got right. thanks to the who is in vegas for us. speaking of the mitt, is he blasting the obama administration force choreographing america's next step in afghanistan. in fact, romney says we're just helping the enemy. is he right? does this hurt troops still fighting? one of the smartest guys in television standing by, one of the smartest guys anywhere i would imagine having a cup of coffee. fareed zakaria joins me next. we're back in 70 seconds with mr. zakaria.

defense secretary leon panetta says the u.s. wants to end its combat mission in afghanistan a year earlier than

expected. panetta says the plan is to transition the mission from a combat role to more training, and advisory starting next year. a new cnn/orc poll shows americans want out. 63% oppose the war in afghanistan. 63% even those it's the nation many consider the birthplace of the 9/11 attacks. many analysts say the power vacuum, many of them say the power vacuum in afghanistan in the late '70s led to the rise of osama bin laden. i want to turn to fareed zakaria. have americans forgotten that? why do you think the majority of people want us out of afghanistan knowing the history? >> reporter: because the majority of people are right and the experts are wrong. this is now the longest war america has fought. this has been going on for ten years. we have killed osama bin laden. we have decimated al qaeda, most of its senior leadership is destroyed. there will be a power vacuum in afghanistan. some bad guys will come into power. guess what, what's different

from the 1990s, we're watching over them. we still have tens of thousands of troops in afghanistan, and we're going to have troops in afghanistan for years on end. we're going to have drones and intelligence capacity. we're going to be monitoring them. afghanistan is going to be in a box and pakistan too that we are looking at very carefully. in that context, it's vet difficult for another al qaeda-like organization to spring up and start training camps. and it is time for us to stop the occupying large swathes of territory, 8,000 miles away. you know, as i say, it's been a decade. >> i was reading the last article you wrote, and you interview the president back in january. and he gave you some time. he mentioned two years ago, here's what we're going to do in the next two years. this is particularly what got me. said i never believed that america could essentially deliver peace and prosperity to all of afghanistan in a three-four-five-year time frame and i think anybody who believed that didn't know the history and

the challenges facing afghanistan." so the question is, how can you approve of an early withdrawal of combat troops? really, what gives here? they're saying we want to get out of there, but it's going to take time. you can't put a timeline on it. >> i think because fundamentally, the president's making a decision that our interests are at stake in making sure that afghanistan doesn't become a base for terrorist activity, that al qaeda doesn't condition reconstitute itself, and that we can doing that with a pretty limited number of troops, 30,000, 40,000 with strong intelligence capacities, with the drones that we don't have a vital national interest in taking afghanistan, which is one of the ten poorest countries in the world and making it france or belgium or whatever it is that people are -- we should try. we should support them. we should provide them with economic assistance, political assistance, but the massive involvement which is now $100 billion a year, has got to at some point be scaled back.

i think what he's saying is, if you set yourself a goal of transforming afghanistan, we'll be there for another 50 years because it is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. >> let's talk about the taliban now. will this early transition affect or impact the talks with the taliban at all? >> sure. you can make the case that look, if we beat them even more badly and if they were losing, they would be more willing to make more concessions. i don't buy it. we've been trying to do this for ten years and we have tens and tens of thousands of troops. if you add nato, there are 150,000 troops. the fundamental reason we're not able to fully vanquish the taliban is that they go back to safe havens in pakistan. no matter how many troops you have, that ain't going to change. and so we're going to having to deal with the reality that the taliban is here to stay. and that's why i believe and have believed for years now negotiating with the taliban is

the only way we're going to get some kind of peace settlement because they're not going to disappear. first of all, they do represent an authentic element of afghan society. secondly, they're supported by the pakistanis. so this is more a question about are we willing to come to terms with the afghanistan that exists or are we going to keep fighting in the hope somehow we can completely destroy all the bad guys if they can constitute 30, 40% of the society. a is very unlikely. the and b, the volunteersed you have to put in for a decade or two is not worth it. >> you're free to say we're still working on it. i imagine this subject will play highly in your upcoming show on friday. >> we've got peggy noonan. david brooks, david from the new yorker talking about mitt romney, talking about -- it's a little bit of diversion from the

usual stuff. then we have the prime minister of singapore who is fascinating. in some ways the best run country in the world. we get some tips from him. >> fareed zakaria, thank you so much. tune in to fareed zakaria every sunday at 10:00 a.m. now this. fallen on my knees with great regularity since that moment. that is president responding to critics who say he's declared a war on religion. you'll hear what he revealed today. but not your wrinkles? neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. its retinol formula visibly reduces wrinkles in just one week. why wait if you don't have to. neutrogena®. [doors open] [car engine revs] [dog barks]

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in case you missed this morning, we saw president obama do something he doesn't does often. he made a public display of his religious beliefs. granted, it was at the national prayer breakfast and every president is invited to participate each year in that breakfast. watch this with me. then a talk with jessica yellin. first listen to the president describe -- there's jessica. listen to him describe this humbling experience meeting the reverend billy graham. here it is. >> growing up in a household that wasn't particularly religious. going through my own period of doubt and confusion. finding christ when i wasn't even looking for him so many years ago. possessing so many shortcomings that have been overcome by the simple grace of god. and the fact that i would ever be on top of a mountain saying a

prayer for billy graham, a man whose faith had changed the world that had sustained him through triumphs and tradition and movements and milestones, that simple fact humbled me to my core. i have fallen on my knees with great regularity since that moment, asking god for guidance, not just in my personal life and my christian walk but in the life of this nation and in the values that hold us together and keep us strong. i know that he will guide us. he always has and he always will. and i pray his richest blessings on each of you in the days ahead. >> for a guy whose faith has been criticized, judged and called into question, that was some pretty candid stuff. was that a more religious tone than we're accustomed to hearing from this president, jessica?

>> in general, yes. but let's compare it to what he said at past prayer breakfasts. . 2009, he said in chicago streets "i first heard god's spirit beckon me. it was there that i felt called to a higher purpose." his purpose. in 2011 he said i wait on the lord and ask him to forgive me my since and make me an instrument of his will. the overall tenor of his comments were not more religious than we've heard in the past on the prayer breakfast day about, but in general, the prayer breakfast is more religious than we hear from president obama in general. >> what did he say last year or what did he say in years before, and then you just answered. but guess what, those weren't election years. so was this different because it's an election year? politics in that speech there? >> there were some politics in the speech. i should say that he does weave his political message into each

year's speech. so in the past, he's emphasized whatever his theme was at the time. civility, health care reform. this year you heard him push on his economic message, this idea of giving a fair shake to more americans. listen to him this morning. >> i think to myself, if i'm willing to give something up has somebody who's been extraordinarily blessed, give up some of the tax breaks that i enjoy, i actually think that's going to make economic sense. >> and the overall theme there was that there is moral component to this fight, sort of the golden rule. and in fact, that's a message that the progressive religious community, don, has been pushing since the debt limit debate that they should, that the president and democrats should add a moral component to their economic fight, don. >> something that has been bubbling up and i've been reading about, the catholic church at odds with the obama administration.

what is the latest on that controversy? >> well, the latest is that first of all, this is about the fact that the obama administration is part of health care reform is requiring that religious affiliated institutions require that contraception be provided as part of health care plans. even for religious institutions that object to contraception. only churches as such are exempted from ta rule. the latest is that the administration says that they have consulted with a wide variety ofstutions about this. that these institutions have a year to study this and implement this so they have some time. they say this is about making sure that women have access to choose their birth control, et cetera. but it's a controversy. >> jess, thank you very much. we appreciate your reporting. imagine this you know gabby giffords. remember what happened to her. you're a democrat in her district and you want to run. what do you do in in situation? i'm about to talk to someone who

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her story captured the nation's attention for the entirety last year. but now, after assassins bullet to the brain nearly claim her life, gabrielle giffords needs more time to focus on herself. >> i have more work to do on my recovery. so to do what is best for arizona, i will step down this week. >> giffords parting words to constituents 11 days ago in a video posted to youtube. now her resignation is final. while so many are sorry to see her go, she leaves behind an empty seat in congress. state representative matt heinz wants to be that someone. he is the first democrat to

declare his candidacy to replace giffords. this is the reason that we have you on because we could have talked to the first republican, we could talk to the second or third person you know to declare as a democrat. as a republican it's probably easier an easier decision to make. but as a democrat -- you don't want somebody trying to push her out. what did you say to her? did you have a conversation with her telling her you were planning to run? what was the process. >> first of all, thanks, don, i appreciate the unit to talk with you today. i'd like to start by saying that nobody, absolutely nobody can replace gabrielle giffords, period. and what we can do though is we can move forward in a way to honor her legacy and top honor her strength, conviction and her leadership for southern arizonans and d.c. by getting somebody in there that continues on in her tradition. >> so the thing is again, did you have a conversation with

her? what was it like having to walk that tight rope? because i know quite honestly, if i was running, if i wanted gabrielle giffords's seat, i would go, wait a minute, i don't want to look to the voters like i'm trying to do this. you have to be really careful about it. >> certainly. and absolutely you know, gabby is my friend and i respect her tremendously. we have a very, very tight time line. i did communicate with the giffords' team to let them know what my plans were and what i intended to do to make sure that they were informed, yes. >> and if there is an indoorsme indoorsment, i'm not sure he's going to endorse anyone but anyone would want the endorsement of her husband mark kelly. is anybody thinking about that and an do you think he'll endorse you? >> you know, we don't actually know if she's going to make an endorsement phone. it is possible. and certainly as my friend and as someone who i respect greatly, i'd be very interested to see that and i would give that a great deal of consideration, as well. >> let's talk about gun control laws in arizona.

touchy subject after what happened to giffords. will you push for tougher gun laws as a democrat? >> you know, actually, i tried to address this in one of our last legislative sessions by not so much directly gun control legislation, though that was brought up. but also addressing those with mental illness and those who have behavioralal concerns that could have perhaps benefited from some kind of assistance from a state funded or federally funded program to prevent these kinds of tragedies coming forth in the future. that was one of my focuses last legislative session. >> it's going to be an interesting race to watch. the world will be watching this particular race. first democrat it declare here, matt heinz, thank you for joining us here at cnn. >> my pleasure. >> sparks are flying after the country's biggest breast cancer charity announced it's cutting off planned parent hyde. now the charity's lead ser responding to accusations it's all political. back in just 30 seconds.

well, the susan g. komen race for the cure is best known for its runs to fund the fight against breast cancer, of course. but it's anything but pink ribbons and running shoes for the foundation in the wake of its decision to cop giving money to planned parenthood. mary snow takes us inside this firestorm. >> way to go, girl. >> with races like this around the country and with the support of major sporting events, the

susan g. komen foundation has raised close to $2 billion globally to fight breast cancer. but a group that normally wins praise is now under fire for cutting funds to planned parenthood used for breast exams. the foundation's facebook is being swamped with furious messages. this woman writes, the money i was going to give you is now going to a non-profit that actually cares about women's health. shame on you. another post, for women like myself without health insurance, planned parenthood is a lifeline. tell me how your political decision serves women like myself. planned parenthood president sa see richards says the group stands lose several hundred thousand dollars for breast exams. >> what was the reason you were given? >> they kept raising the fact that there was this political investigationing in congress. >> there's a republican-led congressional investigation into planned parenthood's compliance with federal restrictions on funding abortions. foundation declined our request

for an interview. nancy brinker founded the group in 1982 after her sister died of brevity cancer. she served in the george w. bush administration as u.s. ambassador to hungary and chif of protocol. the foundation says it's implemented more spring gentle jiblt standards to safeguard donor dollars but didn't spell out the new criteria for its grant process. it did add, it wants to be absolutely clear that our grant-making decisions are not about politics. but richards argues otherwise. >> i think really what this is a result of is this very ugly and aggressive campaign by right wing organizations to bully the komen foundation and keep them from working with planned parenthood. >> the komen foundation has been targeted by anti-abortion groups. the life weight christian resources pulled its cancer awareness bible that raised money for the charity because of ties to planned parenthood. the christian publisher now says

we are very greatful susan komen for the cure will no longer fund planned parenthood affiliates. there are questions about karen handle who joined the foundation as senior vice president for public policy. she ran as a republican can't for governor in georgia in 2010 and during her failed bid talked about cutting state aid to planned parenthood. >> the susan g. komen foundation did not respond to specific questions we asked. as a result of the backlash, planned parenthood says it's raised more than $400,000 online in 24 hours. mary snow, cnn, new york. >> all right, mary. the founder and ceo nancy brinker is hitting back against accusations that komen for the cure is you the cutting them off because of political pressure. here's part of the video she post the last fight. >> we are freeing up more dollars to are higher impact programs and where sever possible, we want to