your screen. >> you are the best. >> good stuff. lot of news this morning as well. let's get you to the newsroom with carol costello. >> i appreciate that. have a great day, guys. "newsroom" starts now. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. we begin at the white house. next hour the biggest names in tech have a great big meeting with president obama. this morning's round table comes one week after many of these companies sent an open letter to washington, asking them to reform government surveillance programs. on the agenda for these 15 technology leaders, the economy, headache surrounding the obamacare website and the nsa spying scandal that just won't go away. jim acosta joins us now with more. good morning. >> good morning, carol. that's right. we're not just talking about mid-level executives here at these tech firms. consider the names.

we could throw their picks and names up on the screen. tim cook, ceo of apple, cheryl sandburg, coo of pacebook, eric schmidt, chairman of google. and marissa mayer, ceo of yahoo! they're going to be meeting with president obama in the next couple of hours to talk about these issues. most critically, it appears from this meeting, at least what we've been told about this meeting so far, they'll be talking about these surveillance issues at the national security agency. and, carol, keep in mind, even before this federal judge's ruling came down yesterday on the nsa, that judge's ruling saying that president james madison would be aghast at the bulk of phone collection records, gathering that's been going on over at the nsa, even before that ruling came down, tech executives sentd a letter to the white house, calling into question some of the surveillance actives over at the nsa, just to show you a quick quote from that letter from those executives to the president, it said the balance

in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual, rights that are enshrined in our constitution. this undermines the freedoms we all cherish. it's time for a change. these top tech execs were saying these surveillance programs go just too far. they'll be talking about that with with the president. as you mentioned, carol, yes, they'll be talking about the implementation of healthcare.gov, the messy rollout of the website. some other tech firms here will specialize in website development. the president will likely be tapping their minds for some insights into that as well. and keep in mind, in all of this that is going on right now, the white house has sort of gotten very quiet about this issue of domestic surveillance over at the nsa. they're sort of punting over at the department of justice at this point, which is still saying that they believe that the opinion of this administration -- that these bulk phone record collection activities at the nsa, which was

really the subject of that federal judge's ruling yesterday are constitutional. so we'll be watching and waiting as these executives come into the white house within the next couple of hours. we're hoping to hear what they have to say after that meeting with the president, carol. >> expected arrival time 10:45 eastern time. jim acosta, reporting live at the white house. worst approval ratings yet. just 43% of americans approve the way that the president is handling his job, according to a new washington post/abc news poll. today's meeting at the white house comes one day after the federal judge says the nsa's controversial and secret program of collecting americans phone records is unconstitutional. gathering of phone numbers, dates and times without any content was one of the first pieces of information leaked by edward snowden. aclu thinks this ruling vindicates him. >> this is what happens when important legal issues are

decided in open courts where both sides get to make legal arguments rather than in secret courts where the government alone gets to present arguments to a court. this is, i think, a good day for edward snowden. >> as for edward snowden, he has something else in mind, too. that would be brazil. nsa leaker wrote an open letter to the brazilian people, telling them he would be tolg help brazilian's government investigate u.s. spieg on its soil but would only do so if granted political asylum. jim sciutto is in washington with more on this part of the story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. he may have chosen well in choosing brazil. one of the country's most upset over the surveillance overseas. the brazilian president, dilma roussef confronted the president directly, saying tampering in such a manner in the affairs of other countries is a breach of

international law. edward snowden reaching out, looking for a way out of russia, looking for asylum, writing an open letter to the brazilians. many brazilian senators agree and have asked for my assistance with their investigations of suspected crimes against brazilian citizens. i have expressed my willingness to assist wherever appropriate and lawful. unfortunately the united states has limited my ability to do so, including limiting his ability to leave russia and travel the world. in his letter he actually said they made it impossible for him to fly to brazil. that's a problem, carol, can he get there even if the brazilians did offer him asylum? >> we'll see. jim sciutto reporting this morning. senators orrin hatch, isaacson are the latest senators that support the bill on a test vote today. final passage is expected no

later than thursday if that succeeds. weekend storm dropped as much as 16 inches of snow in the northwest. another round of winter weather is heading that way. this is what it looks like in erie, pennsylvania. boston and providence could see half a foot of snow by the end of today. maine is expected to get hit, too. they're expecting another nine inches of snow. state troopers are slapping drivers with a fine for not clearing off cars properly, because that snow can fly off and damage someone's windshield. >> the snow, depending how cold it is, how warm it is, what time of day, it stuturns into ice. it falls off roofs and it's almost like a cinder block. >> i'm on a highway and it came off the car in front of me. i can't be mad at him because i have snow on my roof. >> today's storm is the fifth we've seen this month.

cities have set record with his temperatures 20 to 40 degrees below normal. back to politics now. starting new report suggests that the federal election commission, agency that enforces our nation's federal campaign finance laws was hacked by the chinese. it all took place while washington was on hold during the government shutdown. now an official with the center for public integrity, which issued the report, is speak out about how serious this is. >> s.e.c. exists for transparency, disclosure, all the thing that is you think are emblam attic when you think about free and fair elections. part of the fec's mission to provide americans the ability to alcohol's information about their elections, about political campaigns and candidates and nobody in america could do it during that time. it was a huge black eye not only for the agency, but for the country's government in general. >> remember, this happened

during the government shutdown so nobody was at work at the time. pentagon correspondent chris lawrence is in washington with more on this story. good morning, chris. >> hey, good morning, carol. i mean, you heard him talk about it a little bit. basically the center for public integrity is reporting that just after the government shutdown, the fec's computers were completely crashed by a hacker, as they scrambled to try to get those online, you had two special elections going on at that time. one in new jersey and another, a senate race in massachusetts, the one that cory booker won that senate seat. so, this is the organization that is supposed to keep track of, you know, who's spending money, who's raising money. candidates, political parties, outside groups. at that time of those elections, while the government was shut down, their computers were completely crashed. >> hackers from china and russia, syria, you name it, are

constantly targeting u.s. websites. what happened here with the federal election commission, independent watchdog sponsored by the government to keep elections fair and free effectively got hit about as hard as it has ever gotten hit. it came as the fec had absolutely no regular employees actually serving at the agency because of the government shutdown. it was one of the agencies that actually went completely dark during the shutdown, only had the commissioners themselves manning the doors and systems and they are not i.t. experts by any stretch of the imagination. >> the thing about it is a year ago an independent audit firm took a look at the fec's i.t. systems and said this doesn't even meet minimum standards. this is at very high risk for not only some sort of malfunction, but also to be hacked in the way it ended up being done. they say they haven't even

adopted the minimum practices. the fec is requesting more money, about $2 to $3 million more to shore up those systems. this report shows an agency that is in complete decline. carol? >> it's just awful. chris lawrence reporting live this morning. sad bit of breaking new this is morning. it's quite sad. helicopter crash in southern afghanistan. american forces have been killed. cnn's barbara starr is at the pentagon with more. hi, barbara. >> good morning, carol. terrible news for u.s. military families. a u.s. military official tells me six u.s. troops were killed in this helicopter crash in southern afghanistan. one survived. no indication that the helicopter crashed due to enemy fire in southern afghanistan, but under investigation, i am told, as to why there was an engine failure for this helicopter. they are now notifying the

families and, of course, the names of the fallen will be released after all of the families are notified. this is one of the worst incidents in recent months as the u.s. presence has basically wound down in southern afghanistan and across that country. so far this month until this terrible accident, or incident if you will, only one u.s. troop had died in the war in afghanistan this month. still terrible news for all of the american families involved, all of those who serve in afghanistan and have been killed in action, but now today six more u.s. troops killed. chris? carol, i'm sorry. >> no worries. barbara starr, reporting live from the pentagon. still to come in the "newsroom," a look into the crash that killed princess diana. were british special forces really involved? plus your government, your wasted money. in a do-nothing congress where

only 56 bills were pass this had year, they certainly wrote a lot of checks. and george zimmerman, neighborhood cop. >> these guys always get away. >> accused murderer. >> not guilty. >> and now painter. now fetching, get this, $100,000. and the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. ♪ i want to rock 'n' roll all night ♪ >> kiss, nirvana, peter gabriel. the inductees are named. find out how you could go to the show. [ male announcer ] this store knows how to handle a saturday crowd.

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checking our top stories at 15 minutes past the hour, the victim had been shopping for christmas gifts with his wife. investigators found his stolen 2012 range rover in newark yesterday. a $10,000 is being offered to help capture the gunmen. passengers started on a delta jet. plane skidded off the runway in the snow shortly after arriving at the madison, wisconsin, airport. no one was injured. passengers were bussed back to the terminal. challenging the makers of the anti-bacterial soaps to prove their claims f they can't, companies will have to relabel their products. manufacturers must provide data that anti-bacterial soaps are better at killing germs than plain soap and water. they also want proof that anti-bacterial soaps and body

washes are safe for long-term use. heart-stopping moment at an airport in poland. that man puts his baby on a luggage counter and looks away for a second. you know how fast things can happen. that baby suddenly -- you're going to see it in a second -- falls off. you see the security guy? he does an amazing dive and he catches the child before the baby hits the ground. wow! we hear that officer received a bonus for that amazing rescue. good for him. $586 million. that's what's up for grabs at the mega millions jackpot. no one has picked the winning ticket in the past 21 drawings. if it rolls over again, it will reach $800 million by the end of the week and possibly $1 billion. joining me on the phone is mega millions group lead director and current executive director of

the texas lottery. good morning, gary. >> hi, carol. how are you? >> i'm good but i bet you're better. how fast are tickets selling? >> we're bracing for today. on a typical draw we'll sell between $15 and $17 million worth of tickets. by the end of today, nationwide we'll sell $240 million worth of mega millions tickets. it will be business at those retail locations. >> you're not kidding. by the end of the week, the jackpot could go as high as $800 million. how many tickets do you have to sell for that jackpot to reach $1 billion? >> by the end of this week, we would have to sell an extraordinary amount. what we're looking at, i can guarantee you -- not this coming friday, if we continue to roll, but christmas eve, if we continue to roll and no one wins, then our players will have an opportunity to win $1 billion or more in their stocking next tuesday. >> that's just crazy to think about. so no one has won in the past 21

drawings. how possible is that? >> it's very possible. if you hear people say there's a certain percentage of nuchl num that are being covered, that's all speculation. we don't know how many of those sets of numbers are being duplicated. only thing i can guarantee you, carol, is if you don't buy a ticket, you won't win that jackpot. >> you got that right. gary grief, executive director of the texas lottery, thank you for joining me this morning. >> thanks, carol. >> you're well komt. good luck to all of you out there. behold, a masterpiece by george zimmerman. seriously? seriously. it is true. the man acquitted in the murder of trayvon martin now says, quote, i found a creative way to express myself with original work that he's selling on ebay. the bid for this painting that you see right here on your screen is nearing $100,000. the bidding started at 50 bucks. as you can see, this is the painting of a blue u.s. flag with the words god, one nation

with liberty and justice for all. the real george z., seller name. and his brother confirm this was done by george zimmerman. auction page includes a description of the work. everyone asks me what i've been doing with myself, says george. he says i've found a creative way to express myself, my emotions and symbols that express my experiences. my art work provides me therapeutic outlet and allows me to remain indoors. still to come in the newsroom, what are the most extravagant ways the government spends your tax dollars? one senator says he has the answer and his waste book list is out. highlights, next.

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hopes are high for the senate to pass a budget deal this week, sparing us the pain of another government shutdown. as the vote approaches, one lawmaker is calling out his colleagues for wasteful spending. senator tom coburn has released his list of wasteful government spending, $25 billion of what he calls stupid spending. let's bring in chief business correspondent christine romans. i'm surprised they passed anything that would do anything. but apparently they did. >> just $25 billion, that's all? carol, this is something he does every year, annual tradition. in 2010 he started doing it. we started to look forward to it. he finds -- his research team finds funnily little things, such as a robot squirrel, part

of a government funding to build a robotic squirrel to chase away rattlesnakes. and the do-nothing congress, how much we pay for our congress that does nothing. this $10 million for this superman campaign for the national guard even as sequestration is nearing and there are cutbacks for the military. on one hand, you're spending money to try to recruit people, men and women of steel. oh, wait a second, we're cutting money and jobs there. that seems to go one against the other. it's against the backdrop, carol, of what has been budget progress in washington of late. remember, especially among the republicans, you have this feeling we're still spending too much money, borrowing money from china to spend money on things that, as he was saying, we don't need. you talk to the researchers who get one of thee grants and say we think it's pretty worthwhile, putting scientists to work and

the point of this is x. there are always two sides to the story. is it waste or your government working for you? senator coburn has his list and says oh, it's waste. >> christine romans, thanks so much. still to come in the newsroom, yes or no? senate must finally decide whether they will approve a budget deal that's already gone through the house. dana bash is following our the very manies this morning. hi, dana. >> reporter: hi, carol. looks like it could be the beginning of the end of a government shutdown for two years. more after the break. [ female announcer ] we give you relief from your cold symptoms. you give them the giggles. tylenol cold® helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol cold®. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. and what would this pretty i'm thinking the ford fusion... ho, ho, ho!....the what? i need a car that's stylish and fashionable...

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they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids,

[ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some financial folks who will talk to them about preparing early for retirement and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for being with me. checking our top stories at 30 minutes past the hour, next hour, the leaders of 15 tech companies like apple, facebook, google and microsoft will sit down at white house for a meeting with president obama.

talk about cyber security, including the scandal surrounding the nsa. also on the agenda, obamacare website and the economy. another round of nasty winter weather is set to slam the northeast just days after some cities got hit with more than a foot of snow, another storm is moving from the midwest to the east coast. parts of massachusetts and maine could see between six to nine inches of the stuff. today, the fed meets whachlt it does dyeds could affect your bottom line. everyone is waiting to see if fed chair ben bernanke is going to announce a cutback in the stimulus. that stimulus is keeping your interest rates nice and low. of course, we'll see what that fed meeting means for wall street. the opening bell just rang. stocks posted gains adding about 130 points. >> something else that could affect the stock market, fate of a bipartisan budget deal hangs in the balance today. first opportunity to weigh in on the deal, which many republican groups still hope will be defeated. chief congressional

correspondent dana bash joins us from capitol hill with more. good morning. >> good morning, carol. a lot of conservative groups are still at this hour trying to convince some undeclared republican senators to vote against this, saying it doesn't do enough to attack the debt and the deficit or because it actually has what they call taxes, new fees on airline travelers, other groups like military groups that are trying to convince senators to vote against it because it would chip away at the pensions of people in the military, also federal workers. but even despite all of that, we have had a number of republican senators in the last 24 hours come out and say they are going to support at least the procedural vote in about half an hour, which is really the key vote that will get over the hurdle. they need 60 votes to pass it. on the democratic side, leadership sources say that they -- if they need all 55 democrats, they could probably

corral them to vote for this, but they might let some of the liberal democrats like elizabeth warren, for example, if she so chooses, to vote against it in protest. such as there aren't unemployment benefits in this package. those are expiring for about $1.3 million people in this country. that is the state of play. it really is kind of bizarre, carol, when you think about it. so many times we've had these fiscal issues where it has passed bipartisan way in the senate and has gotten stopped up in the republican-led house. this is the very same budget deal that passed the house last week, sailed through the house in a bipartisan way. now it has had some challenges in the senate. in large part because you do have several senior republicans who have challenges from the right. number one republican, mitch mcconnell. the number two republican, jon cornyn, for example, have primary challengers, up for

re-election this time of year and likely will vote against this. they want to be careful. you're seeing the same dynamic from other senate republicans. >> dana bash, reporting live from the hill this morning. still to come in the "newsroom," a judge takes aim at the nsa and slams the policies as unconstitutional. the ruling might not stop the government from collecting your private personal data. we'll talk about that after the break. cer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. no, i'm good.

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a rejection of the nsa and possible vindication for edward snowden. that's how some are describing

the ruling by a federal judge who says it is unconstitutional. i cannot imagine a more arbitrary -- keep in mind, it is limited. still the reporter who helped nsa whistleblower edward snowden says this justified snowden's actions. >> how can it not vindicate him? let's just use common sense for a minute. an american citizen working inside of the government who discovers that the united states government is doing things without the knowledge of the american people that is so illegal, so against the core constitutional guarantees of the constitution that a george bush appointed judge today said it's not even a close call. he said james madison would be

aghast if he knew that the u.s. government would be collecting extremely invasive data on every single american without any remote suspicion, let alone probable cause. it's not only the right but the duty of an american citizen, and in edward snowden's situation, to come forward, at great risk to himself and inform his fellow citizens about what their government is doing in the dark that is illegal. >> there you have it. danny cevallos is a criminal attorney and joins me live from new york. hi, danny. >> hi. how are you? >> i'm good. this doesn't mean that the nsa will stop collecting phone records, right? >> in, it doesn't, for a couple of reasons. the judge has stayed his rule ing until an appeal. forcing the government to stop -- understanding that his decision is subject to review by no less than two levels of

appeallate courts. this is not necessarily opinion yet by a long shot. that was the prudent thing to do. he is essentially granting their request to immediately stop this right away, which he did, except we're going to wait and see. it's an interesting procedural thing. >> very interesting. i know that three other lawsuits have been filed regarding the nsa. i would expect this all to end up at the u.s. supreme court. right? >> the supreme court has to address this issue. this is a fundamental fourth amendment issue. the problem with the fourth amendment is that every day technology outpaces what the case law says. the case that was cited in this case, for example, involved putting registered by the phone company -- the technology has completely evolved way past the technology in 1979, which formed the basis for the presidential opinion smith v. maryland.

now courts have to deal with how does this new technology, the advance that the nsa has made in surveillance, how does that apply to our fundamental ideas about the fourth amendment? >> i can understand that. back in 1979, there were no smart phones. you look into a cell phone now, can you figure out lots of things about a person. that's really at the root of this, right? >> when smith v. maryland came out, we were watching tv shows about people who talked into a phone in their shoe and that was considered state-of-the-art spy technology. now everybody has a phone. the more we advance in technology, the more we entrust our personal information to third parties. and that's always been a fourth amendment problem that the courts have struggled with. the ultimate question is, at what point -- where do we draw the line, when we give that information to a third party, when do we lose our privacy in that information and when do we still have our privacy in that information? >> danny cevallos, thanks for

making things clear. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. i want to bring in cnn political analyst gloria borge r. good morning, gloria. >> good morning. >> how much pressure is president obama under to change the way the nsa operates? >> i think he is under a lot of pressure. tech companies who sent him a letter, saying they weren't happy with how they handled this. mark zuckerberg came out and said you've blown this because you didn't explain to the american public why you need the data. he's also under a lot of sort of internal pressure, if you will. remember, this is a president who, as a senator, was against george w. bush's warrantless wire taps and now finds himself in a situation where he is being attacked by the base of his own party for doing too much spying on the american public. and so he had a group that got together that has given him some

recommendations and the recommendations, the reporting has been that they're going to call for some kind of restraint while you continue to do this kind of surveillance because we need it for our protection. so the president really is looking for a kind of a balance that he can live with constitutionally. >> and many americans are looking for that as well. they're really not happy with the president's decisions. washington post/abc news poll is out, showing the president's approval rating is low. 43%. you wonder how he can possibly repair the damage when the american people think there are so many things wrong. >> well, if you look at the president over the last year, the narrative is that this is a president who continues to drop. the affordable care act was kind of the low point there. but on the issues that really matter, questions about his credibility, his ability to manage the economy, his ability

to manage the country, his competency, those are issues in which this white house has really seen a precipitous drop when you look at it over the last year. so the question that you have is more globally. if you look at a president the sixth year of his presidency, has the public kind of made up its mind about president obama and he'll always be at that level you just saw in the poll, or will he be able to kind of get back up to a higher point? will he stay at that said point? he has been about 42%, 43%. will he be able to rebound? i would argue it's very hard unless people start feeling a real rebound in the economy. we've seen some good economic numbers. but people don't feel it yet. once they feel good about their own economic situations, i can see the competency numbers changing. the question is credibility. because if people don't trust you, they kind of dismiss you.

and we don't -- we don't know where those numbers are headed yet. >> we'll see. we'll keep an eye on it. >> yep. >> gloria bo are. ger, thank you so much. >> sure. >> one of the largest drug companies says it will stop paying doctors to promote its products. the practice has been criticized for years. why is glaxo-smith-kline changing things now? la's known definitely for its traffic, congestion, for the smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. and now that the buses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution into the air. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment.

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have a dream speech. lbj took over the white house after president kennedy was assassinated and the year many people say the beatles found their voice. ♪ there's a place where i can go when i feel low when i feel blue ♪ >> that is "there's a place," one of 59 songs never released by the legendary music group. while you were sleeping a collection of lost studio recordings and performances were made available for a short time on itunes. it's gone now. let's bring in cnn entertainment nischelle turner. why? >> well, i've got good news and bad news in this piece for you, carol. bear with me. versions of different songs that were available like "i want to hold your hand," "roll over beethoven" "hippie hippie

shake." this was a move to extend the copyright of these versions of these songs. they were, as you said, live performances and studio tracks never released on an album. 50 years ago the bbc it was from a live performance. i know we have a little bit of a track. i think i might have heard it, but if we can hear it again where my mouth isn't running over it, it's "bad to me." let's listen. ♪ there's a place where i can go when i feel low when i feel blue ♪ >> okay. so it's "there's a place." we're giving you what we can give you this morning. as far as we can tell, the copyright on these songs were

set to expire in december, carol, because they were never released. this release wasn't widely publicized. the songs have already been taken down from itunes sites around the world but for the first time this morning we were able to see it for sale on itunes. one of our co-workers found it available about 20 minutes ago. we checked a minute ago and it's already unavailable. we got it, though. we got it before it was unavailable. >> see. there's a good side to working overnights, right? >> you try. >> so will these songs be released? and when will we be able to get our hands on them? >> well, you know, that's a good question. a music industry executive that has knowledge of these arrangements actually told us the tracks will be available on the itunes for, quote, the foreseeable future, but there are several observers who say these bootlegs, their release would only be the way to extend

the copyright for another 50 years. there was an album released in november called "on air leave at the bbc ii." and there was one that was to come out next year. they're trying to preserve these copyrights so nobody else can profit off of the beatles music. >> all right. thanks so much. their songs also defy rock and roll. i want to hear the song, but we must move on. kiss is among the inductees. along with peter gabriel, hall and oates, linda ronstadt, cat

stevens and nirvana. tickets for the induction for april go on next month. bad news for beyonce fans. ♪ >> target will not be stocking its shelves with the singer's new album. the store says it's focused on offering music to customers that's made available in various formats at the same time. on friday beyonce surprised fans with a release on itunes without any previous announcements. target said the idea of selling the music digitally before it's on cd affects its sales. six field goals for the ravens' justin tucker and the game winner kicked it. what the heck happened, danny

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♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ should i say it was a tough night for my lions? a tough night? there are so many other words i want to say but i can't because i'm on television right now. hi, andy. >> hi, carol.

this night was all about ravens' kicker, justin. he scored all the points. they were not happy. >> stop it. >> all right. tuckier, he kicked six field goals. that was a franchise record, 22, 29, 42, 53, and carol, he saved his best for last. a 61-yarder with under a minute to go. check it out. it barely makes it over the cross bar, but it was good. that gave the ravens the win, 18-16. they won the game despite not scoring a touchdown. >> swartz is gone next year? >> yeah. probably. star receiver dez bryant caught a lot of flack before heading to the locker room. dez says that's definitely not the case. >> it was all me, the way i was feeling. no self-esteem, none of that.

it was the way i felt, i couldn't take it, and i didn't -- i didn't want you guys to catch me on the sideline, you know, crying or anything. >> see, carol, he didn't want us to see him crying on the field. >> aw. >> you know, carol, how the car dealerships have those crazy deals that if the impossible happens you can keep the car for free? >> yeah. >> it finally happened in seattle. if shthe seahawks shut out the giants, they would give cars away. 12 lucky people got it. they had an insurance policy. bleacherreport.com. music legend paul mccartney is at the game. watch it. he really wants a free t-shirt. he says, oh, that's my shirt. that's funny. somebody who has 0 gold records, he still wants the shirt.

you just want to catch the t-shirt. i'm not sure anybody actually ends up wearing the t-shirt. >> you actually caught one? >> i caught two or three actually. >> get out. >> i was happy about catching it, but as i said, i think i gave them away. >> no. it's more about the challenge of winning. >> the hunt of getting shut, g elbowing the people next to you. >> thanks, andy. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starting right now. good morning, i'm carol costello. thanks so much for being with me. we begin this hour with breaking news out of afghanistan. six u.s. soldiers have been killed in a helicopter crash says the pentagon now and cnn's barbara starr. good morning, barbara. >> good morning, carol. terrible news for six families going into this holiday season. word now is, yes, six u.s. troops killed in a helicopter

crash in southern afghanistan. there was one survivor. they're not offering a lot of information here at the pentagon, of course, because they want to notify the families first. the initial indications we're told is there were no signs of enemy fire in the area at the time. there is a report of some type of engine failure, we're told. but, of course, this entire incident, very closely now being investigated by military authorities in afghanistan and by the pentagon to find out exactly what did happen. terrible news for the families. there are currently about 42,000, 43,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan, and the troop presence, of course, has been winding down. casualties as a result have come way down. one u.s. servicemember killed in the everyone tire month of december. before this, about 123 u.s. troops losing their lives in the war this year -- this holiday season. very sad news for the military.

carol? >> and for those soldiers' families. barbara starr reporting live from the pentagon. a sur prying story out of washington this morning. chinese hackers reportedly gaining access to the federal election commission. now, they're the people in charge of making sure our elections are fair and enforcing campaign finance laws. now a new report claims the fec's computers were compromised at one of the agency's most vulnerable times during the government shutdown. even worse they say the fec was warned its computers were at risk before this incident happened. pentagon correspondent chris lawrence joins me now with more. good morning. >> hey, good morning, carol. yeah. a warning. a hacking. and now some very serious concerns because we are heading into what will likely be the most expensive mid-term election in the nation coming just next year. and following that, a presidential election in which political groups and politicians

will be spending and raising massive amounts of money. the fec's computer networks are supposed to keep track of that, but the center for public integrity reports that they were massively hacked just a few months ago, and even worse than that, as some of the officials were looking around and starting to realize that they had been sabotaged, they realized there was no one there who could stop it. >> and it came as the fec had absolute no regular employees actually serving at the agency because of the government shutdown. it was one of the agencies that actually went completely dark during the government shutdown, only had the commissioners themselves manning the doors, manning the systems, and they're not i.t. experts by any stretch of the imagination. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. the fec only has a few hundred employees and almost all of thes them were furloughed and this came after the fec found the

computer networks didn't even meet the minimum levels of recommended securities of protocols and were at an increased risk of being hack. now, officials -- fec officials at the time said, no, our systems are basically secure. now they're asking for a few million dollars extra from congress to try to upgrade some of those systems, but this is around agency, really, that now faces nearly 300 backlogs. the report paints a picture of a very dysfunctional agency. and even as political groups have been raising their spending, spending billions and billions of dollars on these political campaigns, the fec's budget has barely budged. carol? >> all right. chris lawrence. i'm sure you'll continue to follow this story throughout the day. thanks so much. a little more than a half hour some of the biggest names in techs have a big meeting with the president at the white

house. they will discuss the economy, the headaches surrounding the oba obamacare website, and the nsa spying scandal that will just not go away. it comes one day after the judge ruled that the data mining program is likely unconstitutional. that program was first made public by edward snowden. get this. snowden has sent an open letter to the people of brazil offering to investigate nsa surveillance against brazil in exchange for asylum. cnn national security correspondent jim sciutto with more on this. >> they've indicated they've lost billions of dollars of spying through their systems and arguably this court decision helps both of their cases calling it almost orwellian saying the founders of the

constitution would have been aghast at its violation of americans' freedoms. six months after edward snowden revealed it to the world, a federal judge reviewed the nsa program that sweeps up americans' phone call records is likely unconstitutional. the judge wrote, quote, i cannot imagine a more indiscriminate and arbitrary invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every citizen. snowden described it as a vindication of his hacking saying i acted on my belief that the nsa mass surveillance program would not withstand a constitutional challenge. today a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violation americans' rights. snowden remains holed up in russia, avoiding charges in the u.s. of espionage. but a senior nsa official floated in an unlikely sleegs on

"60 minutes" to get snowden back here, give him amnesty, an idea that the white house quickly dismissed. >> he should be returned to the united states as quickly as possible where he'll be given due process in our systems. that's our position and it has not changed. >> well, it is just an absolutely scathing rejection of the nsa program that the government has defended so strongly. and it is worth noting that the judge was a george w. bush appointee, someone who had worked for republicans in congress, hardly a screaming liber liberal. >> now the court has ordered the nsa to stop collecting data immediately. for the rest of us, he staged his ruling. that would taken six months. he decided the extreme national security interests in this indicate but certainly an influential decision. he's spoken to some legal experts that it's going to have to go all the way to the supreme

court, carol, for a final anxious. >> jim sciutto live from washington this morning. a critical vote this hour from capitol hill where the senate will get a first chance to weigh in on a budget deal that's already passed the house. our chief correspondent dana bash is on the hill with more. good morning, dana. >> good morning, carol. the senate vote is under way already. they're on their way with a key procedural vote but really this is the money vote, the one to tell whether or not this budget deal which flew through the house of representatives last week is going to do the same, at least pass comfortably in the senate. sources in both parties say that they feel at the end of this vote that they will have the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, and based on the republicans who have come out in favor of this over the past 24 to 48 hour hours, it certainly that way. some of it is on the democratic

side to see if any of them bolt because they're upset about the fact that the unemployment benefits are extended. there's a lot of opposition on the republicans' side because it doesn't do enough to attack the debt and deficit and also because of the fact that in this deal a lot of senators feel that military personnel are getting raw end of the deal because they're going to have some of their pensions be cut. and lindsey graham, republican of south carolina, just had a press conference with a couple of other republicans talking about why that is forcing him to oppose this. listen to what he said. >> any politician who wants to do this again is going to get the hell kicked out of them. thank you. >> he also said that th-- this a quote -- people are screwing the wrong people, meaning men and women of the military, in order to get this budget deal passed. and so that is one of the big reasons why this is seeing so many more challenges in the

senate than you saw in the house because the military portion of this -- not just military personnel, but also federal workers, what's kind of a surprise to those who lobby and push for benefits for military personnel after it passed the house they sort of got their lobbying mo jo back and they were really pressing senators to vote against it. so that is part of the dynamic going on here. we're watching this vote to see just how it plays out, but one of the sub plotts is going to be to see how many people kind of hang back and wait to see just how high this is going to go because nobody likes this deal, and the political pressure from home has to be weighed versus the desire for progress to be made on some kind of budget deal. so that's going to be why you see them weighing this thing as they report on it in the next 10, 15 minutes. >> we'll check back in.

i want to bring in cnn political analyst gloria borger now. hi, gloria. >> hi. >> even though what they're saying and what dana said, we're still hopeful, right? >> yeah. the president is at a far different place this year than last year. >> so how much of this is about economic issues versus other issues? >> look. i think a lot of it is about economic issues. one of the stunning things in looking at the poll this morning is the president is trusted more than the republicans on the economy. there you've got it up there. you see a year ago he had an 18-point advantage over republicans, carol. now republicans have a four-point advantage over him, and that's after the government shutdown and all the guff republicans took over the government shutdown. so it just shows you that the affordable care act has played into this, the problems with that. what's also played into it is

long-term unemployment is still a huge problem out there that has not been resolved. they're -- you know, so the public is not feeling. there are some good signs out there about economic recovery, but clearly the public is not feeling it yet. the public believes -- if you look at the numbers on the middle class, which has always been the president's bread and butter, i am here to protect the middle class. if you look at the numbers in this poll on who's better able to protect the middle class, the president is down double digits from where he was a year ago. so you put all of that together, that feeds into the drop in his approval rating. >> interesting. gloria borger reporting live for us this morning. thanks so much. >> sure. paid to promote drugs. that's skbagtly how some doctors get paid extra money, but now one drug company says it will put a stop to that. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it.

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as you well know, some doctors actually get paid to promote certain drugs to patients. one of the largest drug companies, though, says no more. glaxosmithkline will stop paying doctors to promote its products. so could this decision force other drug companies to do the same thing? let's ask our chief business correspondent christine romans. hi, christine. >> hi. quite possibly, carol. this is glaxosmithklein we're talking about, a british drug giant last year it had $10 billion in sales. it's a very big company and carries a lot of weights. here's what's going to change. no more paying doctors for attending conferences or speaking on behalf of

glaxosmithkline conferences. others say that could be a conflict of interest if you're prescribing their drugs and being paid. there's another change. drug representatives will no longer be paid for how many prescriptions doctors are writing of the drugs they're trying to sell. instead they'll be paid for their technical knowledge about their drugs in the industry and their performance on the job, not about how many scrips they can get a doctor to write. that is a very, very big difference. we know that, you know, there are all these drug reps for all these big different drug companies, and there are some 3 billion prescriptions written last year in this country. it is huge business. 4 billion in 2011. 3.99 in 2010. very big business. a lot of drug reps getting paid for how well they're convincing doctors to write the drugs -- the primgss. the doctors are getting paid to.

>> thank you so much. coming up, other top stories. police say now it was a 30-year-old attorney who was shot to death by carjackers at an upscale mall. investigators found his stolen 2012 range rover in newark yesterday. a $10,000 reward is being offered to help capture the gunmen. watch this carefully. you see the father there. he places his baby on the luggage counter, looks away for just a minute, and that's when the baby is going to fall off the table. watch. then a security guard. you see that security guard with the amazing dive to catch the baby. we hear that security guard is in for a bonus. i think he deserves it. passengers startled on a delta jet. the plane skidded off the runway at the madison, wisconsin, airport.

no one was hurt. still to come, the fda has two words. prove it. ♪ [ female announcer ] just about anywhere you use sugar, you can use splenda® no calorie sweetener. splenda® lets you experience the joy of sugar without all the calories. think sugar, say splenda™ wow...look at you. i've always tried to give it my best shot. these days i'm living with a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. at first, i took warfarin, but i wondered, "could i up my game?" my doctor told me about eliquis. and three important reasons to take eliquis instead. one, in a clinical trial, eliquis was proven to reduce the risk of stroke better than warfarin. two, eliquis had less major bleeding than warfarin. and three... unlike warfarin,

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the fda is putting out a challenge to the makers of anti-bacterial soaps and washes. prove your soaps are safe and effective or change your label. >> reporter: you see them everywhere. these anti-bacterial soaps with killer claims but these labels might become a thing of the past. the food and drug administration

says the anti-bacterial soaps may actually be harmful. they could pose health risks. the most common ingredient in anti-bacterial soaps, triclosan. >> there are some impacts it may have on the hormone system that could help in developing bodies in children and infants. if it's not doing any good, why are we putting this potentially harmful product in this home? >> reporter: that's right. the fda says they don't do any better than the plain old soap and water. so the agency has put this demand on the soap producers. prove that it works or scrub off those claims. soap makers say they're up to the task. >> manufacturers have presented such data in the past. and with this new proposed rule that's out, we'll have another

opportunity to present newer research that shows, again, a germ-killing benefit of anti-bacterial soap and data that does show that these soaps are safe. >> now, soap companies have a year to make their arguments to the fda, so none of this is going to be happening any time soon. >> so clearly you shouldn't be using this anti-bacterial soap because the fda -- i mean i wouldn't anymore. why pay more for a product that probably doesn't work? >> right. you know, it's interesting because doctors have been saying this for years and years. why would you want to pay more for something that doesn't work any better than plain old inexpensive soap and water and may also have health problems attached to it. doctors have been sort of incredulous over this for a long time. >> and the fda is catching up to this. >> yes. >> is this like purell or something different? >> they're more alcohol-based and don't use the anti-bacterial

base. >> i don't use those either. vitamins, you don't take those anymore, they don't help you either. >> i tell you, all the things we thought were good maybe aren't. it's true. the hand sanitizer, plain old soap and water, it's quick, it's easy, it's simple. it's cheap. why not. >> it's so old school. >> it is. it's very old school. >> thanks, elizabeth. still to come in the news room, he rocked the government to its korbe telling thecor itsd about nsa. our political panel will weigh in next. [ male announcer ] this is jim,

a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare

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no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. afghanistan in 2009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, 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 current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians.

the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i'm carol costello. thanks so much for joining me. we begin with breaking news on capitol hill. it's good news. let's go to dana bash for more. we didn't have long to wait. >> that's right. they were voting on this budget

deal, 67-33. all democrats voted for it, and a dozen republicans. just quick math, that's about a quarter of the republican caucus in the senate defied the conservative base, defied some of the military groups that were upset that this takes away some of the pensions for military personn personnel. approving this, now it's going to have a day of debate again and then the final vote is going to be tomorrow. but this was the key vote. this was the one to watch, and it was a big bipartisan vote. >> and i say it's good news because it avoids a government shutdown. that's really what this does, right? >> it makes it pretty clear that the government is unlikely that the government is going to shut down. there are some important hoops that the congress is going to have to jump through to make sure it doesn't happen, but this sets the stage to let everybody breathe a sigh of relief in terms of going from crisis to crisis for the next comele of

years. >> dana bash, thanks so much. let's talk about edward snowden. this time he's reaching out to another country. this time he wants to leave russia for brazil. if brazil grants him asylum, he'll help investigate on u.s. spying on brazilian soil. maybe brazil will bite. after all, snoid den is on a roll. collecting phone data, it's probably unconstitutional. the journalist who broke the story says it's a vindication of both the constitutional rights of american citizens as well as for snowden. >> how could it not vindicate him? let's just use common sense for a minute. here is an american citizen working inside of the government that discovering that the united states is doing things without the knowledge of the american people that is so illegal, so against the core constitutional guarantees of the constitution

that a george bush-appointed judge today said it's not even a close call. he cede james madison would be gaft if he new the u.s. government would be collecting extremely invasive data on every single american without any remote suspicion without probable cause. i think it's not only the right but the duty to come forward at great risk to himself and inform his fellow citizens about what it is their government is doing in the dark that is illegal. >> so has edward snowden been vindicated? let's talk about that. will kay news and job avalon is a senior executive and editor of "the daily beast." welcome, gentlemen. >> good morning. >> hey, carol. >> short question to you, john. is greenwald right? >> no. i don't think greenwald's right. look. i think the judge's decision is a vindication for the constitution for american privacy rights potentially if it's upheld because the

arguments of upholding it are outdated but that's not necessarily a vindication for edward snowden who potentially is called a traitor for violating his oath for releasing this information. one does not necessarily flow from the other. the fact that you seek asylum from brazil is its own story which speaks to his complicated cohorts in this but i do think it's a good decision for the american people in the long run. >> snowden said this. i acted on my believe that the nsa massive programs would not withstand the constitutional challenge and the american public deserved a chance to see this done in an open court, it was found violate americans' rights. it is first of many. and, of course, he may be right because all of this may end up in the u.s. supreme court. so what exactly does that make snowden, will? >> well, i think john's hitting

on important points. snowden, we should judge him as a complicated person. should an appeals court validate the decision. it doesn't unvindicate snowden. in other words, his vindication doesn't lie in the hands of a particular hands or court. his vindication lies in the hands of the american public. that is both a legal and practical matter. the legal analysis on this metadata and whether or not it's constitutional. the usage of it is constitutional is dependent upon the reasonable expectation of privacy. that's the phrase. should the american people feel like they should have an expectation of privacy in their phone records? that's the ultimate vindication of edward snowden. by the way, his relationship with foreign governments undercuts that potential vindication. >> what's interesting is there's

much more to come. he stoeld 1.7 million bits of data that he's leaking very slowly. in fact, the guy that heads up the nsa's task force, you know, wants the amnesty put on the table. he think they should grant amnesty. should that be so, john avlon? >> no. we have snowden's word that he's got documents that the other shoe will drop if any legal proceeding occurs. look, this is a massive violation of secrecy, an abuse of snowden's position and an abuse of u.s. intelligence. it has illuminated the fact that the nsa searches have been far more thorough and comprehensive than anybody knew and the larger one is one of outpacing the laws. the fact that the metadata -- he's using a 1975 law is a

scandal. we do need to, including president of the united states government" needs to take a look at this in other why. that does not mean lionizing edward snowden. >> who's to say we would have known any of these things had it not been for edward snowden? >> it's not all on snowden regarding civil liberties. that's the best positive spin. there's also a note is he a spy. we will weigh that out. russia is not a free society. he's gotten a lot of comfort from governments that are farret less free. that's worth scrutiny itself. >> okay. will? >> in the end is edward snowden a hero or a traitor? has he been vindicated or not? that is, again, up to the american people and the answer to this question, do they give a

damn that the government is spying on their phone records? the answer to the question defines edward snowden. by the way, and we're only talking about the domestic side of these programs. like the fact that we spy on germans or angela merkel, my suspicion is that the americans do not care that we're doing that. they expect that the nsa is spying on foreign governments. so in that respent, i think edward snow deb is going to have some trouble. >> all right. john avlon and will cain, thanks. we appreciate it. $500 million, that's how much is up for grabs in tonight's jackpot. cnn's alison kosik is in manhattan at a 7-eleven. have you bought your ticket? >> reporter: not yet. i will buy one before i'm through. how can you not? here's the thing. as the day goes on, ticket sales are expected to resch up. just to give you an idea how good ticket sales are going. just here in new york, 840,000

tickets are being sold per hour here in new york, which is just an incredible amount of money. gu guess what? your odds of winning, they just got worse and here's why because the game rules for the mega millions, they changed back in october. what's happening is when you choose the five numbers, you used to be able to choose between 1-56. now you choose between 1-75. so the more combinations there are, the lesser chance you have of winning. what are your odds? 1 in 259. those odds have gone down from 1 in 176 million. once again, your odds in winning, 1 in 259 million, carol. but, hey, i'm willing to try. >> i know. as the texas lottery guy told me this morning, no one will win if they don't buy a ticket, so you might as well try, right? >> exactly. >> exactly. >> exactly. >> no one's won in the past 21 drawings and it's because of what you said, right? so this jackpot could reach

billion dollars. that's mind-boggling. >> reporter: i'm sorry. i'm having a hard time understanding you. go ahead and ask me again, carol. >> it's okay, alyson. you go and buy your ticket and buy me one too. >> okay. i've got my dollar. here i go. >> 59 new songs. that's how many rare beatles tracks were released overnight. how you can get your lands on these never-before-heard tracks. ♪ this holiday season, our priority is you ♪ ♪ through 12 ice storms brewing ♪ ♪ 10 straight days raining ♪ 9 hailstorms pounding ♪ 5 mysteriously heavy holiday fruitcakes ♪ ♪ 4 actual tree houses ♪ 3 blackouts ♪ 2 weird to mention ♪ and a roaming horde of carolers ♪ ♪ with my exact same route [ female announcer ] no one delivers the holidays like the u.s. postal service. priority mail flat rate is more reliable than ever. and with improved tracking up to 11 scans you can even watch us get it there. and look for our limited edition holiday stamps.

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christmas came early for beatles fans. overnight 59d just released songs by the legendary music group were made available online. ♪ there's a place where i can go when i feel low when i feel blue ♪ >> that song is called "there's a place," just one of the songs released on i opportunities. these are songs released from recordings and studio tracks from 1963 but they're no longer available but it's kind of kuhn fusing, michelle turner. they are, they aren't, they are, they aren't, carol. that's what we've been dealing with all morning long. the thing to remember here, this is a move basically to extend the copyright for the versions of these songs. these are, like you said, live

performances and the studio tracks that were knell released. we have a little bit of one track i want you guys to listen to, give it a listle taste. it's call ed -- take a listen. ♪ they'll be sad if you're bad to me ♪ >> that's some good music. now here's as far as we can tell and what we've found out about this. the copy right on these songs was set to expire at the end of december because they were never cement to release. this keeps control over the version of the songs. apple had to put them up for sale to the public. this wasn't widely publicized. the songs are online, offline on itunes signs around the world. in the uk and new zealand they were available, not available and literally in the last hour

they're back on the site in the those countries. but it appears the prices have tripled. right now they're selling for almost 35 pounds. here in the u.s. we were able to get the songs after 9:00. they disappeared right before 10:00. but now they're back up. here in the u.s. it's going to cost you about 3$39.99 for all the songs. >> here's a silly question. why aren't they available for sale? just sell them. >> it's a good question but bafr lick what they're trying to do, carol, is protect this copyright. what they can do is release it briefly. if you put them out for sale, they're out there forever. if you can put them up briefly, you can put them up technically for sale and take it all, extend the copyright for another 50 years, 70 years. that's pretty much what they're trying to do here that. ire not really trying to sell the albums and put it out for the public. they're trying to protect the

copyright and this is how they do it. >> okay. thanks, nischelle turner. >> absolutely. i know. it's crazy, but you're going to get some new beatles music out of it. >> cool. thanks, nischelle. still to come in the newsroom, the nsa scandal, the silicon meeting. find out how some of these corporate giants could help president obama. life with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis is a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night

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happening right now at the white house, some of the titans of technology meeting with the president. apple, google, microsoft, to name a few. the snowden scandal, how to improve the health care website all on the table this morning. both are joining me live now. welcome to both of you.

hi, carol. >> so, jim, who called this meeting? >> reporter: one thing we should mention is those executives from the companies you mentioned, carol, they are here. they did arrive. we're not sure when. that meeting is apparently getting under way. they sort of arrivinged out of the view of the cameras with is no surprise. that does happen here at the white house from time to time. but this is going to be potentially -- and i don't want to overstate this, but potentially a contentious meeting when you consider the fact that many of these companies sent a letter to the white house and the president and congressional leaders when last week they say some of the programs that are going on including over at the nsa have gone too far. this was after a ruling on the collection of phone records yesterday at the nsa. it will be interesting to see exactly what is said after this meeting, if any of these executives come up to the cameras. and, of course, we're watching. >> interesting. laur

laurie, i know you've spoken with some of these technology executives. what did they tell you? >> yeah. actually i spoke with a bunch of tech executives last night about obamacare and they were just shaking their heads. they said $600 million couldn't have been spent to create this website. i said, what are they going to tell obama how to fix this kind of thing? >> he said get a room full of developers, a pizza, a million dollars, and a deadline. but really it's the idea of the federal procurement system and there's a lot of problems with government and the innovation and the way they go about it. contracting out to other developers, not bringing enough people in-house. you know, obama is going to be sitting with some of the best and brightest in the tech room. i can only malk they'll have a larger conversation because silicon needs washington and washington needs silicon valley. >> that's true, jim. there can't be that much contention.

going to the nsa tnd the companies nomt wants the nsa to snoop into the customers of facebook and google and the like, what do you think will come out of this meeting? >> well, thing that remains to be seen and we may not know for some time. i mean keep in mind the president appointed an advisory group to basically give him some recommendations on what to do about what is happening over at the nsa and some pretty big names are involved in that group. former white house official richard clark among others. that report was delivered to the president last friday. he's rue viewing it. that report will not be relea released, carol, until potentially late january and that is when the president is expected to issue some recommendations. it's unclear whether or not there will be settle restraint or whether or not the president will order some kind of change over there, but keep in mind. there's a lot of people calling for changes, not just the executives of these tech companies, not just a federal judge who says that these collections of phone records may be unconstitutional.

you have lawmakers up on capitol hill. the entire spectrum from bernie sanders all the way over to rand paul saying something has to be done. this is -- you know, we were just talking about healthcare.gov a few moments ago. this has been quietly simmering in the background, this issue with snowden and the disclosers. i think that's going to be a very big developing order come this new year when we see recommendations from the review group and also when the court ruling, when that moves up to the next level because the justice department says the activities are constitutional. the white house says these activities are preventing the killings of americans and so forth and saving lives. but potentially a very big developing story in the new year, carol. >> all right. jim across ta and laurie segall. thanks so much for joining me

this morning. newsroom will come right back. program that lets y you earn free nights in any of them. plus, for a limited time, members can win a free night every day. only at hotels.com and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what? if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints

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a raleigh, north carolina, television news anchor and his family are all the talk this morning. it's over their christmas video. and it's like no other. jeanne moos checks out the festive fun. >> ah, yeah. >> reporter: if you send out one of those old-fashioned year in

review christmas letters, now you have to compete with this. ♪ dipping in the front yard neighbors walk by and they say are those christmas jammies ♪ >> reporter: it's to the beat of will smith and is ken hole der finance rapping his daughters achievements. not be outdone by his 4-year-old son. and then there's mom, kim, who got a big part as a reporter this year in ""iron man 3."" >> that's me. >> reporter: toward the end of the video we find out the anchor man will soon be weighing anchor. doing what?

making videos, of course, at their own video production and marketing company. you know noosepeople, they're always broadcasting secrets. >> it's hard to find things that rhyme with sassectoes have have vasectomy. they went together. those are packs of frozen peas. he wasn't impressed about his jammies. even his son tried to shut down our interview. >> close it. >> you can close it now. >> reporter: but before signing off, mom expressed regret about their jammies. >> i'm really wishing a that point i had chosen something without horizontal stripes across my backside. >> reporter: there are vertical

stripes. they bought the jammies onlied. most of the family has expanded ♪ my jammies fit me just right but my daddy's are a little tight ♪ >> reporter: tight? we thank're pretty loose. geemy knows, cnn, new york i i'm still getting over the peas on their laps. i'm carol costello. thanks for joining me today. ashleigh banfield with "league view" starts now. president obama just may not be the most powerful person at the white house right now. the gurus of google, apple, and at least a dozen other titans of the tech world are all there right now, and they're ready to take on the nsa less than 24 hours after a federal judge put the spy agency on notice.