♪ good morning to you. it is 5:00 on the east coast. a very "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from "a" to "z." >> iran, overnight, boy, the invectives and rhetoric coming at us. warning to the united states, the supreme leader says friday prayers, watch what you say, watch what you do and israel could be ready to strike iran's nuclear program by as early as this spring.

>> mitt romney holding the trump card and the very poor, he's more than back-pedaling saying he misspoke. >> this one blew up. the feud between the cancer charity and planned parenthood. a top charity, susan g. komen charity, has executives starting to resign in protest because they pulled their funding from planned parenthood. women who are in need, the critics say, are being caught in the middle of this. >> you know the names, manning, madonna, who is she? who's feeling the pressure to perform big at the super bowl? i'm kind of worried about madonna because she's nursing an injury. countdown to the big game is on, folks. >> what kind of danger does she have? >> we'll see. pulled hamstring injury. >> if you're wondering why we're wearing red it's important to know it is not a mistake, go red for women today. a lot of women are wearing red

to remind women this is a very important -- >> and heart disease in general. let's get you started with some breaking news out of iran right up front. the country's supreme leader has a big warning for the united states as well as israel saying that that country will back any nation, any group that wouldn'ts to confront or fight israel. all of this coming, of course, the news had broken yesterday that israel may strike the nuclear program in iran as early as this spring, april, may or june. >> so this is coming amid speculation about that strike. officials tell cnn defense secretary leon panetta is concluding now there is a growing likelihood that that attack as ashleigh said could happen by the spring causing a lot louder in jerusalem, as well. a new warning from israeli defense minister ehud barak. here's a quote "iran must be

prevented from becoming funk and no option should be taken off the table." >> we have two reports. barbara starr at the pentagon and reza is there, as well. ehud barak making this prom cla nation. that israeli official said the nuclear program in iran was "very far off." where is the disconnect? >> reporter: well, here's what we need to make clear, beginning last night and now you're seeing it this morning and you'll see it throughout the next 24 hour, there's going to be a lot of headlines, a lot of media buzz about this statement made by defense secretary leon panetta about iran. his ominous statement that maybe they'll attack. here's what everybody needs to remember. at this point this is just talk. it's rhetoric. it's talk between free countries, the u.s., israel and iran, that have done a lot of talking aimed at one another for decades as you mentioned,

sometimes contradictory. the talk is part of the gamesmanship and posturing going on for a long time. at this point there is no concrete evidence beyond rhetoric that the leaders of israel have decided to attack iran. what we do know is that they're concerned about iran's nuclear program and they want to stop it. nobody knows what they've actually decided to do at this point. a lot of people eager this morning to hear what iran supreme leader khamenei has to say. when you look at the speech closely he didn't make threats against the u.s. or israel but said there would be retaliation. >> he was stopping short and i think that's critical for everybody watching all the saber rattling going on and to that point, reza, we're getting information saying there is unconfirmed reports that iranian agents now looking to maybe even attack targets in israel in retaliation for their covert operations, remember not that

long ago there was that iranian scientist who was killed by a bomb and also speculation it might have been our covert agents but most people thinking it was the israeli covert agents. what are we hearing about these attacks. >> reporter: i think the key word there is unconfirmed. as long as israeli officials, u.s. officials don't substantiate these reports, they will remain unconfirmed reports and in a lot of people's view especially in iran, they will see themselves as a country that has never attacked another country and from their standpoint, if you see all this talk from jerusalem, from washington about the possibilities of attack, to them, it's no surprise that they're saying, look, if there is an attack there will be retaliation. but it's so important to understand for our viewers that for more than a decade there's been this type of rhetoric ratcheting up, ratcheting down

and when you talk to analysts most say israel would not attack iran unless they knew they could destroy all their nuclear facilities, unless they knew they had washington's backing, it's not clear at this point if they have -- if though know both of these things will happen and, of course, there is the real possibility of retaliation from iran and not clear if israel and its people are prepared for that. >> we have that precedescedent israel doing it before. reza, thank you. the burning question, what happens if israel does attack iran? robert baer on "anderson cooper 360" has no doubt they could face retaliatioretaliation. >> it could be a significant blowback. the iranians you could count on them hitting our embassy in bahrain and inside the borders of this country. >> barbara starr is live at the pentagon for us. you just heard reza say it's a

bunch of rhetoric. i'll read something i read in "the wall street journal" from israel. you stay to the side and let us do it. this was an israeli official. supposedly said this to the united states, a short war scenario assumes five days or so of limited israeli strikes followed by a u.n.-brokered cease-fire. the israelis are set to recognize the damage to the nuclear program might be modest but they're saying here u.s., you stay aside so why is it we're talking about an attack on the united states. >> reporter: you know, i think reza is right. you're beginning to see this rhetoric ratchet up on a three-way scale, the united states, iran and israel and it's becoming many people will tell you here very dangerous. the level of rhetoric. one of the burning questions right now is why did leon panetta actually say this? >> yes. >> there is no question that he let it become public these were

his views right now that israel might attack in the next couple of months. that ratchets up the rhetoric and paints a lot of players into a potential corner and makes this very question much more dangerous for israel. if iran believes panetta and believes israel is about to attack, what would iran do in retaliation for -- to israel. you know, why did panetta potentially put israel in this very dangerous position and you now see what you're mentioning which is israeli officials beginning to react to it. all indications are that the obama administration, panetta, aside is doing everything it can to pursue the diplomatic, the sanctions option and try and convince israel not to go forward with any kind of strike. >> you have to wonder are panetta's comments a specific effort to amp up pressure? >> reporter: well, you know, there's a sense that israel does

the same thing. you see these cycles of aggressive statements by israel and that is to pressure many people will tell you the united states and the west to ramp up those sanctions. panetta could have been making that effort. that could have been his motivation to ramp up the pressure on iran to, you know, make them think they were becoming -- they might be likely to come under attack soon but, again, once you start down that road many people will tell you, very difficult to predict what iran could do and why would you do that? why would you put this situation in such jeopardy. >> barbara starr live at the pentagon for us, thank you. >> it's the first friday of the month. jobs report time. set your calendar. it really happens this way. the labor department releasing its monthly employment report at 8:30. christine romans is here to tell us what we're expecting. this is particularly important. >> looking to see if there is a trerndz of jobs growth, slow but steady jobs growth and what

they're expecting 130,000 jobs created in the month and also 8 1/2%. probably 8 1/2% unemployment rate. what the year looks like, 2001 to now. that red bar is the expectation. that shows you slow but steady jobs growth. you can see, you know, where the green bar aren't very big. we worried about a double-dip recession but it looks as though especially the last part of last year, the jobs growth was picking up. i want to show you, it's political. jobs growth is so political on the campaign trail all you hear is one side calling it the obama jobless recovery and the other side saying, hey, we inherited this. from the bush administration to the present. those red bars show you the worst job market in our lifetimes and we have the highest unemployment rate since the 1980s losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every single month and those green bars show you the economy is slowly, slowly growing and digging out of that hole. not digging quickly enough.

i'll tell you why, the economists say if you bring in all the people who have left the job market over the past few years because they've been so disappointed they've been shut out, take the people that aren't even counted in the unemployment rate it would really be 11.9% so people feel terrible out there and this slow healing, when i say the economy is slowly healing, they go crazy because it's not healing quick enough. that's the glass half full of vinegar as opposed to the glass half full. >> i'm reading something, it says obama is going to unveil a new plan to help veterans get jobs. >> he mentioned this in his state of the union but this is a new initiative the white house wants to do. a job initiative, $5 billion toward veterans getting veterans jobs as first responders. they're going to announce this later this morning at a firehouse. but think of that. i mean you have all these budget cuts that have been hurting state and local governments where they had to lay people off. get money to -- part of the

economy that needs it, get tax -- get money incentives to people to hire then let veterans have a first shot at some of these jobs. >> boy, there is a bill that just screams earmarks. thank you, christine. >> thank you. rob marciano has a look at our weather. >> we want to take you out to the mile high city, denver, colorado, during a major snowstorm, a live picture. there it is. winds are blowing there, where the old rockies play and the snow is coming down in denver proper and boulder on the front range, last report out of denver international snowing like you're seeing there and visibilities as low as an eighth of a mile. blizzard warnings also for eastern colorado. there's the snow, heavy at times throughout the morning and won't end i don't think until tomorrow morning and front half of the system, severe weather threat across northern parts of texas and central oklahoma, tornado watch in effect until 10:00 central time there. how much snow do we expect to see in boulder.

over ten inches. denver over a foot and that is unusual for february. they've never seen more than 10 inches of snow during a snowstorm for the month of february so if we get over a foot that would be a record breaker and into nebraska where winds will kick up and could see darker purples over 20 or up to 20 inches of snow. so blizzard warnings with wins gusting 40 to 50 miles an hour, guys, so groundhog was right, i guess, winter is still here to stay. >> that's true. punxsutawney phil was correct. thank you very much, rob. still ahead here mitt romney back-pedaling into nevada clearing up what he said about very poor americans but guess what, the opponents are still hammering away at his words. a billionaire's 42-year-old girlfriend is now officially his daughter. creepy, freaky, strategic, you'll find out why some say this is just a maneuver to protect his money. you're watching "early start."

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>> good morning. las vegas, appropriate song for you, waking up in vegas, a lot of the candidates are because nevada is where the action is. those caucuses are coming at you within days. >> 49 degrees there now, sunny later and 60 degrees. so you've got good weather headed your way. it is 16 minutes past the hour. time to check the stories making news. breaking news from overnight. iran's supreme leader warning an attack on iran's nuclear program will harm the united states. it came after defense secretary leon panetta said israel could strike their nuclear installations as early as this spring. later this morning president obama will announce a new $5 billion jobs initiative designed to put thousands of unemployed veterans back to work and a new wave of violence in egypt triggered by a soccer riot that left 79 dead. hundreds have been injured in clashes with police in cairo. the fbi's no-fly list has more than downed over the past year. it's now up to about 21,000

people with 500 americans on it. new york city mayor michael bloomberg saying he will donate up to $250,000 in matching money to planned parenthood after learning the susan g. komen foundation was cutting off funding to that organization. funding for breast cancer screenings. the senate passed an insider trading bill barring members of congress and their staff from trading stocks and securities based on semi public information. back to politics. mitt romney going into tomorrow night's nevada caucuss with a very big lead. money and his mormon faith expected to be big factors there. also, he was boosted by donald trump. but he is still haunted by comments he made about the poor to our have you own soledad o'brien so joining us now to talk about this, former communications director for the bachmann campaign and kiki mclean. we'll flip-flop back and forth.

romney's comments to our soledad o'brien still making the rounds. we'll listen to his apology to our affiliate ksnv then we'll talk about it. >> it was a misstatement. i misspoke. i said something that is similar to that but quite acceptable for a long time and, you know, when you do, i don't know how many thousands of interviews, now and then you may get it wrong and i misspoke. >> what did you mean to say. >> i said my focus, my primary focus is on helping people get into the middle class and grow the middle class. >> okay, so he has admitted he made a mistake. he said i misspoke. isn't that what we want to see typically? is there somebody to admit they've made a mistake. will this finally let it go. kiki? >> you want to see somebody admit they made a mistake and want to see them not make the mistake again. this is what the problem is that mitt romney is facing within his own party. people are not convinced of his performance ability and get

ready for spring training, unforced errors that keep happening again and again. look, part of it you're at the end of a really tough compressed element around new hampshire, iowa, florida, there's fatigue in these candidates. but these are errors that aren't just about fatigue for mitt romney. he keeps doing it and the reality is when you're going to be president of the united states, words matter. you can't make those errors again and again. >> alice, do you agree with that or do you think we'll stop seeing this bite played over and over again. >> i'm sure the democrats will continue to play that over after over. with the romney campaign this was a teachable moment. you have to be very careful about everything you say and he was right to say that he misspoke. that 'not what he meant to say and let's move on. he spent unfortunately a full day talking about it but he did the right thing by saying i misspoke. clearly what he was trying to say that has gotten taken out of context and taken on a life of its own out there, he was trying to say that he has always said

from the very beginning he is focused on the middle class, middle income americans but is not doing that at the expense of the lower this can and upper income americans. he is focused on middle income americans and the distinction between him and president obama is if romney gets in there and statutes his plans to create jobs and turn the economy around, it will help americans of all income levels and that's the distinction that we have. >> all right, well, let's talk about the substance of his words then when we talk about the poor because he talked about safety nets in his budget proposal and according to the nonpartisan group center on budget and policy priorities it requires massive cuts s is in nondefens programs including the safety net programs like food stamps, medicaid so when he says fix safety nets, is that possible? how do you do that, kiki? >> it's interesting because you're seeing multiple instances of sort of counteractivity in what he says and what he supported so you have an instance where he's talked about the safety nets and the kind of

budgets he supports. you know, just before the florida primary, you saw him say to an audience of seniors we're never going to touch your medicare and social security. we're going to protect those entitlements which was a clear pander but when you look at the positions he's taken you don't see that's the position he's taken so these are the problem, again, the problems you're seeing on one side for him within his own primary where people aren't sure is he the moderate, the conservative? they're not willing to necessarily get behind that and big majority numbers are going to be the same challenges he has again in the general. when you come up against a president who has a series of accomplishments, has a series of ideas and proposals to move us forward and that has to do with what we'll do to create jobs in this country. >> okay, alice -- >> has to do with the stabilization of the american auto industry. >> we'll talk about donald trump endorsing mitt romney yesterday. but we all know that trump represents that famous 1% lavish hotels, golf courses and, of

course, the democratic national committee wasted no time jumping on this endorsement. let's listen to this and we'll talk about it. ♪ >> you're fired. >> you're fired. >> i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. >> good, bad or indifferent, alice? >> i think it's going to come out indifferent, i think the latest polls that have come out will say that roughly 8% of people will probably be influenced by a trump endorsement and will vote for whoever he endorses and actually 26% say that they would be less likely to vote. but no one wants to be on the receiving end of the wrath of donald trump and everyone would welcome his endorsement so i think this was a good day for donald trump yesterday. clearly as you see him walk out there, his name is all over the room. his name is on the podium. he was the one that talked to the press afterwards so a good day for donald trump. i think it was good for governor

romney to get the endorsement but in the end what's going to help governor romney is his plans for turning the economy around. right now with nevada we just heard about kiki referred to obama's accomplishments. well, nevada is leading the nation, unemployment and housing foreclosures and they're standing behind governor romney at 45% ahead in the poll. >> all right. >> to over gingrich and they're standing right behind him. >> kiki, alice, thanks for joining us. join the best political team tomorrow night, live coverage of the nevada caucuses start at 6:00 p.m. eastern with a special edition of "the situation room." then complete coverage at 7:00. and it is now 24 minutes past 5:00 on the east. getting an early read on local news. "the new york times," we have papers from los angeles too so let's start here. shall we. this is a strange one, u.s. army is investigating, these two sports supplements, jack3 d and

oxyelitepro. two soldiers died using these two supplements and they're now look nothing this as possibly the reason but, of course, everybody who is behind these supplements saying they had nothing to do with it. they're regulated. they're safe but these are -- >> sold at gnc stores. >> guess where you can't buy them? can't buy them on a military base anymore. >> they're out there for the general public. >> dmaa if you take this at home. want the long version, dimethyl amlamene. note the d.o.d. is taking action. they are worried about it. for now they're still for sale. other countries, no way. they don't have the same regulations and allow it the way we do. >> let's move on to the "los angeles times." a little copy. although it's not on the front page i got to tell you a crazy

story. take a look. human smugglers cash this on racial profiling. a group is sneaking hispanic immigrants into los angeles, here's what they did that's different. hired black drivers who don't speak english because they thought they would not get stopped so believe they could attract less attention. five people have been arrested and the group smuggled several dozen people a month and actually say, yeah, that those hidden compartments if you saw the picture, can we put it back up. it was in the front of the car. they were elaborately modified including compartments under the hood or backseats. and this -- >> in the engine block. >> so you think, oh, my gosh, they are going to burn. but, no -- it's actually very elaborately modified and have special shock absorbers to actually conceal the heavy load, as well and hired homeless men to be the drivers paying them about $100 and the folks that are trying to get into the country paid $4,000 to get in.

really bizarre story. >> safety issues alone with regard to that is just nauseating. all right, it is 26 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. just ahead on "early start," the susan g. komen foundation pulled its money from planned parenthood, the money that it gave for breast cancer screening. was this a sound policy or was this ugly politics? we're getting into it with a pulitzer prize-winning author coming up. say get smart about your weight. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money.

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start." so happy you're with us. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> hi, everybody, i'm ashleigh banfield. 5:30 on the east. let's get you caught up on top

stories making headlines. breaking news overnight while you were sleeping, iran's supreme leader warned of an attack on iran's nuclear program saying it will harm the united states. he took to the podium during friday prayers, all this as leon panetta, our defense secretary, saying iran could strike as early as this spring. it's ramping up. also, jobs report. have you been waiting for it? wait a little longer, 8:30 eastern analysts surveyed by cnn money are predicting that the economy added 130,000 jobs last month. sharp slowdown in hiring when compared to december. also in the news, mitt romney now saying, okay, i misspoke. says so and he told our soledad o'brien he's not concerned about the very poor because they have a safety net. he is saying he wants to help people get out of poverty and cares about all americans. house democrat also take on the keystone pipeline in the congressional hearing this morning lining up several witnesses in hopes of undercutting claims about economic benefits of the

pipeline. blizzard conditions forcing denver international airport to cancel close to 300 flights overnight and into this morning. the area could see, listen to this, up to 20 inches of snow. >> that 's great for the skiers >> the world's largest breast cancer charity, the susan g. komen foundation denying political pressure led to its decision to cut funding to planned parenthood for breast cancer screenings. >> that foundation is saying the organization is not going to financially support any group that's under investigation by congress. that's what they say it's all about that it's not political. you'll know now congress is investigating whether planned parenthood used federal money to fund abortions, planned parenthood does a whole lot of things, abortions may be one of them. critics are saying komen is playing politics with women's lives but the founder of the biggest name in breast cancer sees it differently. >> we will never bow to political pressure. we will always stand firm in our goal to end breast cancer

forever. we will never turn our backs on the women who need us the most. >> yeah, and nancy brinker is the sister of susan g. komen who died of breast cancer. want to bring you to lora sessions, a pulitzer prize winning author and the campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. all right. i was so blown away by this story and i don't know why the susan g. komen foundation wasn't as blown away or did they know it was coming and not anticipate this much blowback? >> obviously they didn't anticipate the blowback. they had no idea of the kind of support that's out there in the country for breast screening particularly for poor and underserved areas. this is not a story about middle class women not being able to get breast cancer screenings. it's really a story about those women who need it most. >> all right, well, help me out with the timing here because while everybody is screaming this is politics, that nancy brinker is a real, you know, pal

of president bush and this was just an opportunity for her to get out of the partnership with planned parenthood, i went back to find out how long the planned parenthood and susan g. komen relationship has been. it's only been five years, so why on earth if everyone thinks it's so political why on earth would nancy brinker's organization have gotten involved with planned parenthood if she's political and doesn't like it? >> that's a good question and we don't really know that. i want to say that we know that komen does terrific work. we also know that the political pressure is there. the congressional inquiry you referred to, this really is one republican congressman's campaign, it's not a huge investigation by many members of congress, it's one man. >> okay, good point. since you brought it up i'd like to actually let our audience hear from that man. it's republican congressman cliff stearns from florida. this is what he had to say with regard to launching the

investigation into where the federal money is being spent within planned parenthood. have a listen. >> well, i think any time you investigate, if you can get the truth out, i think the american taxpayers will benefit so this all we're doing is trying to see what is planned parenthood doing with $500 million every year. >> so, laura, on the heel s of that comment, a lot of people are saying, look, if it's as easy as launching any investigation, the minute someone doesn't like an investigation they can launch an investigation and what brinker and her organization are doing is going to set an awful precedent for a lot of charities losing money. >> well, the real issue here, another issue is do we just defund organizations that may do one thing we don't like. this is a country that lives by compromise and we have a number of very good organizations in this country including komen, including planned parenthood that have people of different beliefs and different ideologies on their boards. they still pang to work

together. and what i hope doesn't happen with this is that it divides us and says, okay, because we don't like one thing you do, we're taking our money and running away. >> sure. ironically mayor bloomberg promised $250,000 in matching funds. there's been 400,000 plus money in donations that have come in in the last 24 hours and made up the deficit but got to ask you this as top officials at susan g. komen jump ship isn't this just an exercise of everybody's free speech. nancy brinker and those who want to protest her right to do what she did and her organization did? >> yes, i think it starred a debate, which is good. i mean debates are always good as long as it's fair and so i think we need to listen to both sides, but i also think we need to remember what an amazing job we've done in reducing breast cancer in this country partly -- much because of the organization of planned parenthood going out

and going beyond the major metropolitan centers and serving the women who otherwise would be have much more breast cancer. >> laura sessions stepp, good for you to join us. thanks very much. it is 5:36. still ahead, mitt misspoke and doing some serious damage control this morning. have you heard what he said? in case you haven't, we have it for you. is it over now. billionaire accused in a deadly drunk driving crash makes his girlfriend his daughter. what on earth is that about? let me give you a hint, hundreds of millions of dollars. you're watching "early start." so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line.

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hi, folks, 40 minutes past the hour. that would be the 5:00 a.m. hour on the east coast. nice and early for your top stories this morning. >> iran's supreme leader is warning any attack on iran's nuclear program will result in harm to the united states. that after defense secretary leon panetta said there is a growing likelihood israel could strike iran's nuclear installations as early as this spring. later this morning,

president obama will announce a $5 billion jobs initiative. it is designed to put thousands of unemployed veterans back to work. and house republicans threatening attorney general eric holder with contempt of congress for allegedly refusing to turn over key documents in the fast & furious gun tracking probe. >> the newt gingrich campaign is asking the rnc in florida to award all of that state's delegates to a proportional-based way of awarding. does that make sense? a winner take all state but newt wants it back to proportional so he might be able to get some of those votes. taco bell was linked to a salmonella outbreak. effective immediately, are you ready, spirit airlines is adding a new $2, quote, unintended consequences fee on most of its tickets. before you get all mad, not so bad. allows passengers the option to change their minds within 24

hours of booking a trip without having to pay a penalty. >> or if you make a mistake and try to explain it, oops, i made a mistake -- >> i wouldn't mind paying the $2 to have that freedom. that sounds like great insurance. >> better than the full ticket price. >> that's what i'm saying. >> 5:41. eric holder in the hot seat. house republicans say he is obstructing their investigation into the botched fast & furious gun tracking operation. it's madonna versus the media. this is the real super bowl. >> look at her. >> man. >> she looks like she could play football. >> yes. she's the star of the super bowl halftime show and wanted to make one thing real, real clear, folks. we'll clear it up for you. watching "early start." bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. you noticed!

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good morning, baltimore. it is 39 chilly degrees there. but it's going to be nice and sunny, 54. a little bit later. kind of perfect weather for you there. >> and really, baltimore, come on. we're expecting temperatures around there this time of year. >> 54 may be warm. >> the 39 part, i'll take it. >> billionaire florida tycoon has just made his 42-year-old girlfriend his daughter. >> yeah. >> this story is really trending online. john goodman, adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend heather hutchins in october. >> okay. >> it's weird. it's not the john goodman you're

thinking, on the screen. >> cute couple. >> they are, indeed. but they're not being particularly liked now, it seems. they're being sued by the parents of a man who died when he ran a stop sign back in 2010 and allegedly was drunk when he did so driving a $200,000 car i might add, as well so a lot doesn't bode well for him just in the court of public opinion. some people are saying this is just a really slick legal ploy to protect a lot of his riches from a civil suit and some are saying, no, it's not a ploy, it's all legal. joining us via skype is our cnn legal eagle contributor paul. that's the question, it is legal. >> it's perfectly legal what he did, as a matter of fact, surprisingly people adopt adults all of the time. >> they do. >> under u.s. laws in various states for very different reasons than the reason we're seeing here. >> like what, paul? >> pardon me. >> what kind of reason would an adult adopt another adult?

>> here's one i find to be very interesting. because gay americans have been denied inheritance rights under laws in many, many states, a work-around that was used by very, very clever lawyers was to allow one person in a gay relationship to adopt his spouse and that would give them inheritance rights where, you know, states don't allow marriage. >> okay, if that's legal and legitimate and that has been working in the past, why am i hearing that the judge in this case might say i may just reverse this adoption because i think it's fraudulent. how is it any different technically speaking, how is it any different than a gay american adopting his or her gay american lover to have the inheritance rights? >> well, this thing is not what it looks like on the surface. i just want to begin by saying that. when i first start looking at that, i said, hey, this is the rich guy trying to prevent the poor victims of this accident, the guy who died in this drunken

driving car accident that he's being prosecuted for from getting any money. so he's giving some of it to the girlfriend illegally. that's not what really is going on. that's part of a trust for his children and it wouldn't have been available to the lawsuit involving the car accident anyway. what's really going on here is he's giving his girlfriend a third of the assets of this $100 million trust because he wants her to manage the trust and deal with the money while he's in prison if he gets convicted. so it's kind of a way for him to exert continuing control over this big trust even if he gets convicted in the criminal case. it really doesn't have anything to do, i think, with the criminal case and will a judge set it aside? he might. he might say, you know, this is a fraud. this is really taking the money away interest this guy's natural kids and giving it to the 42-year-old girlfriend. >> to that point let's get his lawyer's comment on the screen.

john goodman's lawyer said the adoption of ms. hutchins will have no effect on it. allegation allegation of hiding or seeking of assets is totally false" which is exactly what you just said. the question is this, is this just an ugly thing that he's doing so that if he goes to jail and some people say he very well may, when he gets out, he may have some money left because it's likely that the civil case is going to take everything outside the trust? >> well, no, that's not the case either because this guy is so rich he makes mitt romney look like a pauper. he is a billionaire. he's got planes, mansions, all kinds of things going on. there's only a piddling $100 million in this trust so there's plenty of money to compensate the victims of this horrible, horrible accident. you know, this man, mr. wilson's

parents who are suing, so i think there will be money available to compensate them in the end, but i smell a rat here and i think a judge is going to smell a rat here also because his natural children who this really belongs to, they're the ones who are being hurt. the girlfriend, 42-year-old girlfriend winds up with a third of the 100 million. at least in theory if it's upheld by a judge and lose a lot of their trust. >> interesting point, paul, because she is already automatically going to get the money because she's over 35 and the kids have to grow into it. no matter what, paul, a jury will hear all of that and that might not bode well for him in criminal or civil. paul callan, love to hear from you. >> thank you. >> yesterday we thought it was totally different. >> dirty birdie. there are other ways to look at

it like he may feel like he'll want to have something to live on, something for the children -- >> i was worried he didn't want to pay the people he needed to pay in that wrongful death lawsuit. 5:50 in the east still ahead the stage is set for a super-duper weekend, brady, manning, madonna. those super bowl commercials. can it get any better? a live report from indy headed your way next. you are watching "early start." . and me the day i discovered novolog flexpen. flexpen is pre-filled with your mealtime insulin. dial the exact dose, inject by pushing a button. no vials, syringes or coolers to carry. flexpen is insulin delivery my way. novolog is a fast-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes. do not inject if you do not plan to eat within five to ten minutes after injection to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions,

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♪ music makes the people >> i didn't want to get back to dancing. i was going to talk about the indianapolis -- >> that's okay.

>> keep on dancing. it's okay. >> 37 degrees in indianapolis. but it is hot where madonna is at right now because she is getting geared up for her big performance, of course. so excited. look at her. look at those arms. >> welcome back to "early start." this chickadee is making a lot of noise. excited and nervous about playing the halftime show. she suffered a hamstring injury but she has her game face on. >> well, i'm okay. lots of warm-ups and taping and ultrasound and, you know, i feel like i'm one of the football players right now, all the physical therapy i have to do but i'm good. mind over matter. >> and she looks like one of the football players right now, too. she is so incredible. a couple of hours working out a day will do it. it will include three of her old songs, one of her new songs which i haven't heard and made

one big promise. have a listen. >> great attention to detail has been paid to my wardrobe. there will be no wardrobe malfunctions. promise. >> i don't believe her. >> some people were looking forward to that. >> i want to see if she comes out with the cones, going back to the '80s. all right, so the waiting is almost over. super bowl xlvi a little more than 60 hours away by my math and the new york giants and patriots -- >> mark mckay is live for us in indianapolis. like a rematch. a big rematch of two teams but this is a very different team from 2008, right? >> reporter: oh, very much so. we've been following, guy, great story lines in indianapolis. none of the controversial variety, you know, these teams are -- they have to real controversial characters but some inspiring folks including new york giants rookie li linebacker mark herzlich, three years ago after being diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer,

chemo and surgery saved his leg and maybe his life, here he is in indianapolis preparing to suit up for the super bowl on sunday. >> i was told that i could never play again, you know, probably would never even be able to run again and you don't think super bowl at that point. you think survival. i want to see someone say, that guy crushed that guy. oh, he's the one that had cancer. there are such things as dreams coming tu and miracles and i believe this is one of them. >> reporter: he may not want to be a feel-good story but he has become that to cancer survivors across the nation. one of the great tales we've been telling across indy. >> you chose that, that's a fantastic story. i got to tell you a lot of people watch the super bowl also for the commercials. so let's take a look at one from volkswagen getting a lot of buzz then we'll talk about it. ♪

♪ get up off that thing and dance ♪ ♪ you'll feel better ♪ feel good ♪ get up off that thing >> better than ever. >> okay. that's an edited preview. a lot longer, a fantastic commercial. i was reading online in the past the super bowl ads were big surprises, but this year it's kind of different because everybody is seeing them on youtube before they actually air. >> dragging them. >> any more surprises this year. >> reporter: one thing that hasn't changed is the fact they cost a lot of money. $3.5 million for 30 seconds just on the national broadcast here in the united states. those numbers will increase as the years go on. >> well, mark mckay, we really appreciate having you. enjoy the game so you can tell

us all about it afterwards. >> reporter: okay. >> a great assignment. i never had one of those. >> it's domed this year so you don't have to stand outside. breaking news out of iran overnight as you were sleeping the supreme leader of iran warned the u.s. that better be careful what you do if you back israel and, by the way, those sanctions on oil, we're not liking that either. you'll find out what his words really were when "early start" continues. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have 6 grams of sugars. with 15 grams of protein to help manage hunger...

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good morning to you. it's one minute past 6:00 on the east coast. quick disclaimer, we 2kid not accidentally dress the same. we are dressed for go red for women day. if you don't know it, heart disease is the number one killer of women. this is supposed to be a reminder for all of us to pay close attention. >> thanks for joining us this morning. we're bringing you the news from a to z.

we have breaking news out of iran overnight. supreme leader with the warning for the united states as he leads friday prayers. it's coming after defense secretary warns israel could strike by this spring. big anticipation on wall street as they wait for the high stakes january jobs report. is it going to do a big old break slamming on our economic recovery? and it bears repeating, don't you think? go red for women day. it's about saving babies' lives today as well. a group of moms is bringing attention to the hidden killer, congenital heart disease. elizabeth cohen is going to tell us why it is becoming quicker and easier to detect. and mitt romney certainly is holding the trump card. pardon the pun, but when in vegas, you speak vegas. he's also in vegas back pepedalg now on some of the comments he made about the very poor. up first, though, breaking

news. overnight, here's what happened. iran's supreme leader, the eye tollia has delivered a warning to us, saying that if tehran needs to it will respond to any military attack on its soil or sanctions on the oil exports. he's saying that iran plans to back any nation, any group, quote, confronting or fighting israel. striking iran, he says, over the nuclear program will only harm the united states. >> israel is preparing to strike iran. official tells cnn secretary leon panetta that there is a growing likelihood it could happen and happen by this spring. also chatter growing louder in jerusalem as well. new warning from ehud barak. quote, iran must be prevented from becoming nuclear and no option should be taken off the table. >> barbara starr is at the

pentagon and ezra is the iran. this is not the first time we've heard the supreme leader in iran saber rattle. what's different this time? >> well, i think what's important right now, the best way to serve our viewers is to separate rhetoric and speculation from facts and verified information. there's a lot of wild speculationing going on, a lot of statements that are scary and vague and murg i can that are making a lot of headlines. obviously the statement made by defense secretary leon panetta and it bears looking at this statement very closely. he said the likelihood of an attack by israel on iran is probably growing. if you look at the statement closely it brilliantly vague. who knows what the likelihood was and is. only b the israeli government knows and what does it mean when the defense secretary says the likelihood is probably growing? one thing our viewers need to

remember is there's been rhetoric going on for decades between these three countries, the u.s., israel, and iran. there's being a lot lot of back and forth, finger pointing. neither country has attacked one another. evidence shows that they have yet to decide what to do actually. >> reza for us in islamabad. thanks very much for that. the burning question this morning, what happens if israel does attack iran? telling anderson cooper she has little doubt that the u.s. would face retaliation. >> we've seen them use proxies around the world in buenos aires. this is what they do. it's a very militarily capable organization, hezbollah, they're financially supported and armed by iran, so it's a capability they have for just this sort of a circumstance. >> so barbara starr is live at the pentagon for us. and, barbara, "the washington post" writing this morning the administration, the united states administration, appears

to favor staying out of the conflict unless iran hits u.s. assets. which would trigger a strong u.s. response. but why are we getting the threats this morning when we clearly stated we're staying out of it? >> the question perhaps on the table is what reza was saying. what was panetta's motivation for saying what he said for letting this information become public. that is the question, what would iran's response be. a lot of people even around here at the pentagon very concerned, not really understanding what panetta was up to. was he trying to pressure the iranians further on their nuclear program by suggesting israel might attack or, in fact, was he potentially putting israel in a very dangerous position if, in fact, the iranians believe an attack is coming as their leaders are saying they will respond. so it's a murky situation right now. a lot of rhetoric ramping up and very few facts about what the

intentions really are on the part of all parties. >> in two different things being said here. barbara starr live at the pentagon for us. thanks very much. it is jobs day. maybe not for some of you but that's what it's all about if january jobs report comes out this morning. christine romans is here to break it down. sometimes these reports sound a little confusing to people who are not economically smart. >> you guys thought super bowl was a big thing coming up. to me the super bowl of economic indicators. >> you are such a nerd. >> it's a jobs report, i can't help it. we find out how many jobs the mrn economy created for january. for 2011, for the first time in several years, every month we created jobs in this country. it looked like in the summer there in the middle of the chart we were worried about a double dip recession. jobs were barely being created. now it looks like the end of that red bar there, that's the forecast of 130,000 jobs created and maybe an 8 1/2% unemployment

rate. you can see that's -- by that chart you can see it's difficult to really sustain anything 200,000 or more for jobs creation. we've had a very hard time in this economy doing that. one of those reasons is because a lot of big companies are sitting on their cash. they still are not really hiring enthusiastically. and what you're seeing the hiring it is in small and mid-size firms. i want to take a look at the longer term, you guys, because that's what's so political, right? you hear about how this is the obama jobs market. and you hear from the obama administration how they inherited a jobs recession. you can see there very far left of that chart, that's when president bush was in office. we started losing a lot of jobs. the month that president obama took office we lost more than 700,000 jobs. and it want on for months where we lost a lot of jobs. and then there was that burst of activity from the census and from stimulus and then since then it's been very difficult to really sustain robust momentum

in the jobs market. i will tell you you need 150,000 jobs every month just to keep up with people entering the workforce. that's people graduating from college, that's people coming to this country, that's people suddenly becoming old enough to work. you need 100, 150,000 jobs just to absorb those people. we still have millions of jobs in the whole. we're going in the right direction. >> if we want to replace all the jobs lost in the recession by 2017 which i'm just going to wrap on that because i don't want to hear anything more about such a depressing statistic. >> right direction, just more work to do. >> you are my favorite nerd. >> thank you. >> thank you. every morning we give you an early start of your day by alerting the news that are happening later. stories just developing now but will be the story tonight. thousands of iraq war vets getting used to being hold. president obama is going to announce a new push to get them back to work. a $5 billion plan that was first

announced during the state of the union last week, if you remember. and it's the final full day of campaigning in nevada before tomorrow night's caucuses. mitt romney going into the state with a massive lead. double digits. all of this with the backing endorsement of donald trump. mitt also won that state, by the way, if you remember, back in 2008. new york city police commissioner taking a lot of heat for showing a documentary to officers called "the third jihad." the counsel on american-islamic nations is holding a rally outside police headquarters today calling for ray kelly to quit. the film talks about the dangers of islamic extremism. critics claim the film depicts the followerses of islam and the religion itself in bad light. romney gets the trump card, the endorsement. but here's what's coming up, does it matter? is he better off or worse off without it? you might be surprised. and today is go red for women day raising awareness for heart disease.

some women are wearing red not for themselves but for their babies, fighting for heart disease screening that could potentially save lives of hundreds of children. we're going the tell you about this. you're watching "early start." when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

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my money. my choice. my meineke. good morning, seattle. it is 37 degrees now. a little sunny later. 53 degrees. seems like it's sunny everywhere. >> not at this hour. >> that's for sure. >> if that's true, it will be sunny every where eventually, right? >> 14 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. time to get you caught up on the stories. let's start with this. a warning overnight from iran's supreme leader that any attack on his nation's nuclear program will bring harm to us in america. that after defense secretary leon panetta said that israel could strike iran's nuclear installations as early as this spring. wall street will be watching as critical january jobs report comes out at 8:30 this morning. one analysts are predicting that

the economy had 180,000 jobs last month, it's actually a slowdown in hiring compared to december. new york city may your michael bloomberg will donate $250,000 in matching funds to planned parenthood. all of this after learning the susan g. komen foundation was going to cut about, well, a lot more money than that to that organization and that organization in part screens for breast cancer. and prospects for clean energy from wind turbines a step closer to reality, after areas off the mid atlantic seaboard is safe for energy companies to build all the wind farms. kodak theatre renamed after the company went bankrupt and iconic theater in hollywood and hyland may lose the academy awards ceremony to another venue as well. last year they had mini darth vader. this year, volkswagen is doing it again with a dog named bolt.

it's already been seen on youtube. over a million times. i watched it this morning. hysterical. >> it is adorable. look at this. exercising to get the extra excess weight so he can get out the dog door. >> and bolt. i love that. a lot of fun. >> my kids love that movie "bolt" about a dog as well. mitt romney is heading into tomorrow's caucus necessary nevada with a commanding lead, take a look at the latest statistics. las vegas -- or the -- spit it out, ashleigh. the las vegas nurnl -- >> it's early, ashleigh. >> not for me, though. the numbers show mitt romney at 45% and gingrich trailing at 25%. santorum and paul at 9 a% apiece. and they say, you know something, you look back at 2008 and you might remember there are a lot of mormons in that town, in that state, and they voted for him in big numbers. not only that, he won that state with 51% of the vote. but there's still that nagging

little problem of the comments he made to soledad o'brien about not being that concerned about the very poor. he made them on cnn. he's backpedalling on it now. i want to bring in our panel to talk about this. alice stewart is for the bachmann campaign for president and kiki mcclain is joining us live this morning. girls, here's the deal. i work in live television and i talk a lot, certainly according to the new york post, i talk too much. and i make tons of mistakes. i make mistakes constantly. i botched the intro to this. i couldn't even get the newspaper out that had the -- here i botch it again. the reason i am so hyperbolic about this at this point is because i feel like poor mitt romney, a guy i like, is really taking it on the chin for a mere mistake. here is what he had to say, finally admitting in a sit-down interview with ksnv that he just misspoke already. have a listen. >> it was a misstatement.

i misspoke. i've said something that is similar to that but quite acceptable for a long time and, you know, when you do, how many thousands of interviews, now and then you may get it wrong. and i misspoke. simple. >> what did you say? >> what i said was that my focus, my primary focus was on helping people get in the middle class and grow the middle class. >> amen, governor. you had me at hello. kiki, here's a question for you. are the democrats still going to exploit this guy for this? are you going to capitalize on this? >> yeah. >> what's going to happen? >> they are because these are repeated mistakes and steps. and with all due respect i would certainly willing to give you the code to the nuclear footballs but we are planning to have somebody be president who has major decisions to make and mistakes like that just don't go away. >> slip of the tongue, not a slip of the finger on the football. that's not fair. >> but my point is that's what people expect from the president, that words matter. when you make repeated mistakes. anybody is human and these guys

are tired. >> george bush made tons of mistakes. he didn't pull the trigger. >> and he got called on -- he got called on it for making those kinds of mistakes. the problem is there are a number of them. in politics it's just a tough game. what i would say for him is that these are tough days. he's tired. he's going in nevada, i don't know, i would rather see what president obama has to say about veterans getting back to work than the trump endorsement. >> hold on a second. i'm coming right to you but i want to set you up for this. it was not as splashy as i expected, alice. i thought i would see a guilded lily in vegas. it was quick, not dirty but quick. it brought me to an interview i did with donald trump on his plane as he was considering getting into the race last march. i did rapid fire with him and i said i'm going to name the candidate, you give he the line on him. here's what he said about romney and gingrich. >> mitt romney. >> well, he doesn't seem to resonate. >> newt gingrich. >> you know i like gingrich, he just joined my club in washington. i'm very happy.

>> oh, well that didn't sound like what the plan was yesterday. i'm going to go further, alice. on wolf blitzer yesterday when he was talking about this, here's what trump had to say. >> that was a long time prior to my getting to know him, but i have gotten to know him and it was terrific guy. i don't know if he comes out really like he really is in person. he's a warm, smart, tough cookie, and that's what this country needs. >> all right. alice, is this just all about people in politics eat crow all the time, is this part of the game? >> he's done his homework. he's talked to all the candidates. i've been fortunate to go up to trump tower with michele bachmann haand he's sat down wi her. he's listened to them. he knows that mitt romney is someone that has ideas that can help turn the economy around. both are businessmen. they know how to create jobs.

he's also been very outspoken on china and opec and believes that mitt romney has the best ways to deal with that. and that's the good thing about this endorsement is he's done his homework. now, in terms of how it will affect things in nevada, who knows. in terms of the misspeaking that governor romney did, you made a great point, ashleigh, in your introduction. just like you, you are human. >> i screw up all the time. >> everyone makes mistakes. when you do round-robins of morning media shows you say a lot and a lot of things get taken out of context or you misspeak. the only thing they may have done a little differently, teachable moment for the romney campaign, right off the bat say i misspoke, move on, bets lets talk about something else. >> he owned up to it. i like the guy. just so we know the whole trump thing there was a survey that says makes people 20% less likely to support the candidate and 64% said, doesn't make a difference. i'm always fascinated by the endorsement thing. thanks very much. join the best political team on tv tomorrow night because our

large coverage of the nevada caucuses start at 6:00 p.m. eastern and complete coverage at 7:00.

welcome back, everyone. 24 minutes past 6:00. if you notice, we're wearing red because today is go red for women day, raising awareness for heart disease. i think at the beginning of last hour i said cancer. i misspoke, go kfigure.

>> that's okay. breast cancer is powerful for women as well. >> some people have seen their efforts toward their own children and babies in the fight as well for this increased awareness of the problem. >> they're fighting to institute a simple screen that could help save the lives of babies in the future. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us live from atlanta. elizabeth, can you explain exactly what it is that these women are fighting for? >> zoraida, these women are fight for a very simple, very inexpensive test that they want given to every newborn in this country because coronary heart defects are the most common birth defect in this country and we continue screen for it in the way we screen for other things. i'm going to introduce you to three children that sort of explain why screening is so important, because they weren't screened and terrible things happen. i know this is a hard picture to look at. this is mason johnson. and he looked fine when he was in the hospital and discharged.

when he was 3 weeks old he stopped breathing and they found he had been born with only half a heart. he needed two open heart surgeries. and he is alive today but his treatment would have been a whole lot easier if they had caught it at the newborn stage rather than later on in life. and then the second baby i want to introduce you to is a little guy named harrison shauger. again, fine in the hospital. discharged, no problem. when he was about 4 days old they couldn't wake him up. his parents couldn't wake him up. he was also diagnosed with a serious heart difficult feth and also, thank goodness, still alive. and then this last little girl just brings tears to your eyes. cora mccormack. she also seemingly healthy and then when she was a few days old she died when her mother was feeding her. she also in the autopsy showed that she had a congenital heart defect. >> i hate to interrupt you, elizabeth. they're saying there is a downside of screening.

it can lead to a false positive result. i was tell you right before we went on that this happened to me and it was my experience when my daughter was born. and we went through all sorts of screening. she was in the hospital for weeks. you know you have the stress of having your little baby and, you know, worry that your baby is going to die and she ended up being fine. it ended up being this incredibly odd abnormality. a lot of folks are saying it's a downside. it's costly if you end up finding a false positive, for example. >> right. so let's talk about the up and downside. the upside is that the three children you just met would have been diagnosed earlier and perhaps cora's life could have been saved and the other children wouldn't have needed such extensive treatment. the downside is what happened to your daughter, is that sometimes they do catch things that are false positives. often though it's not all that expensive. they do an ultrasound and they is a first test was wrong, your child is fine. it's interesting when you talk to folks at the cdc and leading pediatricians, they are advocate for this test.

they say it is worth the downside. >> i agree with you. you know, one out of six babies who die from this, one baby is way too many. elizabeth cohen, thank you so much for sharing that with us today. >> thanks. >> still to come on "early start," secretary of defense has said that israel could attack iran's nuclear installations as early as this spring. that's pretty specific information. guess what, iran has some specific information right back. the supreme leader saying if that happens, america, you may pay. you're watching "early start." nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. hey, aren't you supposed to be following that fidelity green line? well, yeah, but it keeps leading me back to my old office. i think it might be broken. or maybe it's trying to tell you something. yeah, but what could it be try-- oh, i left my 401(k) at my old job. and i left a jacket on the back of my door. but i think the line's talking about my 401(k).

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hi, everybody, welcome back. 30 minutes past the hour. time to check our top stories. this is what happened overnight. a warning from iran's supreme leader that any attack on his nation's nuclear program will result in harm to us in the u.s. all of this after the defense secretary here, leon panetta said israel could actually strike iran's nuclear facilities by as early as this spring. susan g. komen foundation claiming a new policy and not political pressure was what led its decision to cut funding to planned parenthood, fund that goes to breast cancer screenings. all important january jobs report comes out at 8:30 eastern this morning. analysts surveyed by cnn money predicted the economy added 130,000 jobs last month. sharp slowdown in hiring when compared to december. senate has overwhelmingly

passed a bill banning insider trading. bars members and staff from financially profiting from non-public information. and colts' quarterback peyton manning has been cleared to play by the doctor who per fumd neck fusion surgery on him in september. manning still has to get the green light from the team doctors. >> keep forgetting about that manning with all the attention on eli right now but i don't always forget. back to our top story here overnight. iran's supreme leader saber rattling all sorts of threats after our defense secretary here panetta said that israel could strike iran's nuclear facilities by as early as this spring, april, june. he said that's pretty specific stuff. robert gates weighed in on it telling cnn's john king that a strike could get very dicey. >> those who say we shouldn't attack, i think underestimate the consequences of iran having a nuclear weapon. and those who say we should underestimate the consequences

of going to war. this is, i think, one of the toughest foreign policy problems i have ever seen since entering the government 45 years ago. >> and that might be an understatement as well. our barbara starr is live at the pentagon this morning. barbara, when i heard this yesterday my first thought was, what on earth is anyone doing articulating this stuff. a, is it going to really make israel mad that we put them in that position or, b, is it possible that israel could be in a hoots here? what are your thoughts? >> well, you know, this is the thing that people are talking about rye now. what was leon panetta up to when he let it be known to the "washington post" he believes there was this growing possibility that iran could be struck by israel this spring? why would you say that? are you israel under the bus, putting them at risk of an iranian counter attack of some sort or is this some statement such as the israelis themselves often make, ratcheting up the rhetoric so that it puts more

pressure on iran to think that their program is at risk. i think no one knows the answer right now. but this is the key question. and you know, when former defense secretary robert gates speaks, people listen. this is a very sober-minded man. when you hear what he just said that this is the biggest, toughest challenge perhaps he's seen in 45 years, that's a very sobering remark. that's the problem right now. >> it's sobering and it's also very confusing because, i got to be honest, ehud barak was just saying last week, the program is very far off. and then this week the complete opposite and israelis are saying the complete opposite. why are we hearing -- do they make a massive discovery in a week that we just don't know about? >> i don't know about it. you don't know about it. you know, who knows. but i don't think that's what's going on here. i think what you're seeing is this cyclical ratcheting up of rhetoric, trying to pressure the iranians and then sort of seeing

where that all goes and backing down. but here is the problem. if you ratchet up the rhetoric, you get that kind of return rhetoric from iran and you want to stop short of painting iran into a corner, painting any of the players into a corner that they may not be able to get out of. >> exactly what you just said. the ayatollah khamenei said it will arm the u.s., his words, not mine. barbara starr, you're on and i'm sure all day lit be a long one for you. thank you forgetting up early with us. >> when you wake up reading this stuff in the newspaper you wonder, why do i know this? >> isn't this supposed to be covert stuff, right? loose lips sink ships? >> yeah. you wonder. 6:35 here in the east. city ahead, documentary so inspiring it made the director cry while he was making it. it's about an underdog, inner city football team, and their coach who turned around the program and perhaps their futures as well. both directors of the documentary "undefeated" are going to join us live.

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guying are saying this is appropriate. underdog film about an underdog team getting a lot of oscar buzz. inner city high school football players no longer the door mat for the rich schools, as we understand it. volunteer coach trying to turn around the team and their lives in the process. >> let's see here. starting right guard shot, no longer in school. linebacker, shot, no longer in school. two players fighting right in front of the coach, starting center arrested, most coaches, that would be pretty much a

career's worth of crap to deal with. i think that sums up the last two weeks for me. >> wow. the two directors of the quim join us now. dan lindsey and t.j. martin. love the trailer, guys. thank you for being here today. i watched this and my mouth fell open. oscar nomination, huh? congratulations on that. i hear that you guys actually met during a documentary on beer pong. explain that to me, t.j. >> actually, dan was hired to direct it and i was hired toed edit it. it was one of those things that was so ridiculous and i think the producers really wanted to make it a straight to market thing but both dan and i fell in love with the characters. we work from themes and the theme of that was really about a peter pan syndrome, the idea of not being able to move on and not being able to we grow up and move to life 2.0. that's where we fell in love with rour collaborative progress and started directing together from then. >> how did you arrive at

"undefeated "? >> a friend of mine who i met when i moved out to los angeles sent us within article about one of the players on the team. and it was about his kind of unique living situation where he was living with one of his coaches during the week and then living with his grandmother in north memphis on the weekends. and it was interesting enough for us to go look at the story. and then it kind of revealed the greater story revealed itself to us when we met bill courtney, the main subject of the volunteer coach of our film. and that is when we decided we were going to move for memphis for nine months to make this film. we up rooted ourselves, 500 hours of footage, whittled it down into the movie that people will sea. >> what struck me is this is real life. this is not pretend. and this is at an impoverished area. this is what really happens to these young boys. tell us a little bit about the story. >> actually when we got to -- >> i would say young black men, right? >> black men, yeah.

it was when we got to north memphis the first time we realized we felt the need to actually tell this story, because in this case specifically, more tooimts times than none we don't get the opportunity to celebrate kind of what happens in communities like this. and often like when there's a media presence in communities like this they want a sensationalized piece on the violence in the neighborhood. we wanted to talk about not just the bad but talk about the good. because the coach is a volunteer. >> unbelievable. >> completely turned a program around. it's not really, again, like we work from themes and the theme of this film is much more universal. it's about resilience. it's about opportunity or lack thereof. and so you could really replace -- fatherhood. >> you said fatherhood. >> and it's interesting to see that a white man really represents that for these young black men. >> without giving too much away about the film, bill's own father left him when he was 4 years old. so there's a connection for him with these guys in a way that i think, you know, if he were just

a normal football coach maybe he wouldn't have. but there is a deep connection from his own personal experience. as he says in the film, you know, this isn't your fault. you know, the fact that you grew up in this situation is not your fault. and for him he says, you know, i can never be these guys' dads but at least i can tell them it's not your fault. you were born into this but you need to make the most of it. for us, that was always the most powerful thing. >> one of the quotes in this was remarkable. he said football doesn't build character, it reveals character. how often do you hear that as a young african-american man growing up in an impoverished area. what a message. >> yeah. i wish i had bill as a coach when i was growing up playing basketball. but unfortunately he can't coach for everyone. he is a very charismatic and very unique individual in a way in which he -- we always talk about he coaches more like a mother and less like a father. he wears his emotions on his sleeves.

i think he doesn't talk down to the kids. he kind of raises them to his level and treats them as young adults. i think it's very rare. >> i think it's important to note, too, that bill is not -- it's not -- there was no agenda. it wasn't like, oh, i'm a white guy and i'm going into an all african-american. he's a coach and he really wanted to coach high school football. >> i could talk to you for ever. this is fantastic. i hope you win an oscar because this is really touching. i'm glad you did it. thank you very much for coming in today. all right. ashleigh, back to you. >> soledad o'brien is going to take over the helm for a moment to get us up to speed for what's coming up on "starting point." you're wearing red. >> it is red day. we'll talk about this morning. also, waiting for two big jobs numbers coming to news an hour and a half. jobless numbers in january and overall monthly unemployment number. lots of plit kay imp political

clisler, nearly 2,000 jobs in the state of illinois. they'll talk about what they're doing and if that strategy could work nationwide. remember the woman who took on the automaker honda because she said she wasn't getting their advertised mile per gallon? she won big. she's going to join us this morning to talk about details of her $10,000 victory in court. that's all ahead this morning on "starting point." "early start" joins you right after this short break. not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? fret not ma'lady. i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute. ah, well played sir. download the free hotels.com app and get exclusive mobile deals. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy,

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47 minutes past the hour. good time to get you caught up on the top stories making news while you were sleeping, iran's supreme leader was talking, warning that any attack on his nation's nuclear program will bring harm to us here in america. that threat comes after our defense secretary leon panetta said that israel could strike iran's nuclear installations as early as this spring. also making thus. susan g. komen foundation is coming under serious scrutiny, accused to boeing to political pressure when it yanked funding to planned parenthood, money that that organization uses for breast cancer screeningses. also, blizzard conditions forcing the airport to cancel

close to 300 flights overnight and into this morning. area is expected to see possibly up to 20 inches of snow. homeless graffiti artist david cho becomes an instant millionaire after receiving stock options in exchange for decorating facebook's headquarters. the company going public he stands to make $200 million. and roseanne barr run for president, ashleigh? she announced on twitter she's filed official paperwork to run for the green party nomination for president. >> i would vote for her to have a show on tv again but other than that, nah, thanks anyway. so the nevada caucuses are tomorrow, nevada, nevada, depending on where you live. romney is up 20 points. he's still trying to recover from that thing he said right here in this studio with soledad o'brien when he mepgsed with those words that i'm not concerned about the very poor. first he said it was taken out of context and then last night he really cleared things up,

really did a maea culpa with th reporter. >> it was a misstatement. i misspoke. i said something that is similar to that but quite acceptable for a long time. when you do i don't know how many thousands of interview, now and then you may get it wrong. i misspoke. >> what did you mean to say? >> i said my primary focus is on helping people get in the middle class and grow the middle class. >> we turn now to the local insider on the ground there in nevada. it's steve, a columnist for the "los angeles review journal." i was wondering if it was going to have an affect on his numb s numbers. he's so far ahead in this state. here's my question to you. is it going to matter, this little misspeaking or will this be a repeat of 2008 where he walked away from 51% of the vote in your state? >> well, actually, probably a

little of both. i don't think he will get to 51% but i don't think that remark is going to really hurt him that much. it's one of those things that, yes, as he pointed out, candidating give interviews, talk all the time. it's inevitable that they're going to misspeak, say something wrong. i'm trying not to do that right now myself, so -- >> i hear ya. >> but i don't think he'll get to 51%. there's four candidates now, three years ago there was really only three and john mccain basically bypassed our state. so really it was between romney and paul then. i still think, quite frankly, it's between romney and paul. i think ron paul and newt gingrich are fighting it out for second place. >> for second place, yeah, that's what a lot of people have been saying as well. so i want to throw some statistic yours way. i don't think they're going to be unfamiliar to you but they might be unfamiliar to everybody who is watching us right now. the economy is just a huge issue in your state. the unemployment rate is at

12.6%. if you compare that to everywhere else in the country, 8.5%. that's a big gap. not only that, the foreclosure issue, we talked about it being bad in florida. it's worse in your state where one in every 175 mortgages is, you know, every housing unit is in foreclosure compared to one in every 634 for the rest of the country. i'm wondering if that comment might come back to haunt mitt romney again that he made back in the fall like, hey, let the market play out, let those homes go into foreclosure. that's how to fix this crisis. are you hearing a lot of that right now? >> well, frankly, i was there when he made that comment, by the way. it was a review journal editorial board. curiously none of his fellow republicans criticized him for saying that. i think the reason for that is that they all share that view, that they all share the view of the free market has got to work itself out and we have a government hands-off philosophy. that's what ron paul told me this week.

newt gingrich -- >> the republicans who are losing their home, or unemployed, might be another thing, no? >> well, you know, i think this is generally republican philosophy. the approach to helping the economy is to cut taxes and reduce regulation. unlike the president, you know, he announced in his state of the union speech, the way to refinance a home mortgage, save about $3,000 for an average family if you're current on your mortgage. republicans don't approach it from that perspective. newt gingrich yesterday said perhaps fanny and freddie should be forced to accept lower interest rates and refinance mortgages that way. that's about as far as they're willing to go. >> steve, five-second answer if you can because i got to ask. sheldon adelson writing the $10 million check and then his wife writing another $10 million check to newt gingrich. is that still happening? >> yes. you're right, it was $10 million that they both gave to the super pac, not to newt gingrich, but, yes, that has happened.

>> and i'm just wondering if those numbers, you know, mean that that money might dry up but i think that's probably remains to be seen. steve sebelius, great to talk you to you. we will be right back after this. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement

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you know, it never gets old. i'm going to tell you. look at you, girl. you are showing that you can do it. >> oh, yeah. >> whether it's '80s, '90s, she's doing it all. welcome back to "early start." we're counteding down to not only super bowl only the super bowl she says still the show must go on. >> i'm okay. lots of warm ups and taping and ultrasound. i feel like i'm one of the football players right now with the physical therapy i have to do. but i'm good. mind over matter. >> this the might be the best thing for her career. she has the whole front page of

the new york post today showing off the incredible arms. >> she said it's every midwestern girl's dream to perform at the super bowl. >> is it? >> i'm a midwestern girl, not really. >> so am i. i don't think christine aguilera would think that. she had a tough go performing at the super bowl last time around. >> madonna assured the media there is one thing that absolutely will not happen. >> great intention to detail has been paid to my wardrobe. there will be no wardrobe ma malfunction. promise. >> this year's super bowl lineup features a return of coca-cola's polar bears. take a look. ♪

>> i don't know if it's going to make my buy coke but i love this ad. >> that is "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield. happy friday. "starting point" -- can we do at this time again? did we botch the name? >> it's friday. i'm in a very forgiving mood today. it's okay. work on it for monday. good morning. you're watching "starting point." our top story this morning, the ayatollah saying that after panetta said iran could strike israel. the countdown to the high stakes january jobs report is 90 minutes away. will the slow heal continue? what will those numbers show? we'll analyze those. and a cancer cutting off planned parenthood, the founder,