this payroll tax cut discussion today in washington that we expect the president to address is at the heart an issue about the economy, which is going to be let issue in the 2012 elections. at this time i think i can turn it over to my colleague, tamryn hall. it's 2:00. it's time for "news nation." tamryn will take over the coverage. >> we'll bring you the president's remarks as soon as he gets started, but in the meantime right now on "news nation" when republicans attack. >> there's a lot of candidates out there. i'm not inclined to be a supporter of newt gingrich, having served under his for four years and experienced the leadership. >> republican coburn is one of the a few republicans publicly say what some say behind closed doors behind newt gingrich as a leader. will more follow senator coburn. what happened when trump and gingrich emerged from their meeting today.

plus, the u.s. postal service makes huge changes to services. what some warn you may need to know regarding these changes and some important things you could be expecting in the mail. what these changes really mean. a father says his daughter was kidnapped during a carjacking. the 2-year-old is still missing. police are questioning the father's sorry. i'll talk with the mother of the missing girl. the money managers who won that $200 million lottery jackpot say they're donating over a million dollars right away. hey, everyone. i'm tamryn hall. the "news nation" is following two breaking stories. presidential candidate newt gingrich is about to sfeek in new york city just hours after meeting with business mogul donald trump. as we mentioned president obama is due to speak at any minute from the white house to again call on congress to extend the

payroll tax cut. let's bring in nbc's kristen welker at the white house. i was listening to you speak with savannah guthrie in the last hour regarding the president's decision to come out and put the pressure on republicans, but also democrats. >> reporter: that's right. president obama, we should say, tamryn, we were told he was going to come out in two minutes. that was a few minutes ago. then someone came out and actually removed his notebook, brought it back in. i assume there's some sort of rejiggering going on. president obama expected to come out soon, and expected for republicans and democrats to pass an extension of the payroll tax cuts. the major sticking point, tamryn, is the pay for plan. how does it get paid r for? in the initial proposal that president obama put forth, it will be paid for by taxing the wealthiest americans. democrats revised that to say they would tax those making a million dollars or more. republicans said they wouldn't agree to that. they wouldn't agree to anything that increased taxes, including on the wealthiest americans.

right now we're being told that democrats are working on some sort of a compromise plan that would lower the amount that the wealthiest americans would tax and would get rid of a payroll tax cut for employers. that was a part of the initial proposal put forth. still a lot of discussions and negotiations going on in the senate. this all happening as we expect president obama to come out and press both sides to get something done here and get this passed. tamryn, i've said even approximate if it passes through the senate, it still has to make its way through the house, and there's a fair amount of om opposition here. >> let's bring in the political panel with us now. abby stod guard for thehill.com and former bush cheney adviser. again, we're hearing the word of compromise. the democrats and president might be willing to make changes

here, but many people still ask here. if the republicans are against a tax increase for individuals, if this payroll tax expires, that would mean middle class americans, families would see $1,000 added to the bill. that's a tax increase so why would the democrats compromise? >> that's why it's foolishness at this point to look too closely at the specifics. the payroll tax cut will be extended. the republicans will do this. the republican leadership began signalling aa week ago that they were going to do this. they didn't know how to convince their members, but it will be done. it is too much of a hit to consumer demand in the economy to have the unemployment insurance and/or the payroll tax cut expire. it's just not something republicans are willing to be blamed for. it will happen. the details will change many times between now and the 11th hour, but it's not a hit republicans can take politically at christmastime. >> michael, let me bring you in.

it is not a story that i think people are talking about a lot around the kitchen table, because i think, like a.b., they know they have to reach a deal here. no one wants to begin the year with, hey, you're paying more. >> i think the reason why there's going to be capitulation from the gop is that their position has been inconsistent on this vis-a-vis the other economic proposals that have been discussed and put before the congress. >> the tax cuts are inconsistent with the bush tax cuts, just that alone. >> exactly, tamryn. 1,000 of 50 k is real money. these are not folks inclined or able to save that money. if your economic agenda is one of pugts money in the hands of people to spend it and they can enhance the economy, well, then in this case wouldn't you go along with it? i think there's backlash that has caused them to come to this conclusion. >> let me bring you in as we await the president. we know the man that would like

to be president of this country, newt gingrich, is meeting with the king of new york, i don't know what you want to call him. donald trump. i love this timing. the president was supposed to speak around 1:45. newt gingrich and donald trump were supposed to emerge from the meeting around 1:45. can't make this up. newt gingrich is now leading the gop. he's the front-runner in iowa and making big moves in new hampshire as well. >> you're correct. if you were to ask me six months ago, newt gingrich would be the presumptive republican nominee at the top of the polls, i would have said what are you smoking? we were talking about newt gingrich's finances and his wife. >> his wives, the wives. >> you're exactly right. what this tells us, it tells us two things. number one, the american electricity rate, the republican voter is not happy. they're not particularly happy with the republican party in terms of choices and they're not

happy in terms of mitt romney being the quote-unquote presumptive nominee here. do you want a moderate, general election type candidate, i.e., mitt romney who could win in the general election because he's so good on the issues, or do you want to bonified conservative you trust who is polarizing who gets the nomination? >> michael, let me bring you in. someone said today newt gingrich is at the top of the field and madonna is performing at the super bowl. what year is this that we're living right now? with that said you have tomko burn, a republican senator. he has not forgotten newt gingrich's lack of leadership in his opinion. let me play what he had to say on an interview yesterday on fox.

>> i'm not a supporter of newt gingrich have been personally experienced his leadership. >> you have tom coburn, we're hearing anonymous insiders quoted on different websites that he's not alone. he's not the lone republican who thinks this about newt gingrich, the man who could be their nominee. >> it's also the conservative punditry, the charles column that ran last week, the george will piece that appeared in thiz nationally syndicated column where they question newt and mitt. some say maybe we need to a take long, hard look at jon huntsman. i think he'll get an opportunity to shine. >> you're not alone. minka and joe have touted him, but he's not making major moves. his numbers aren't great. a.b., let me play what senator john mccain had to say about the gop and an interesting remark he made regarding people who are?

this country illegally and how it would benefit the gop to change its tone regarding the hispanic community. let's take a listen. >> the republican party has to discuss this it issue in as humane a way as possible. the enthusiasm on the part of hispanics on president obama is dramat dramatically less than it was in 2008 because he hasn't fulfilled his campaign promises either. i view the hispanic vote up for grabs. >> mere you have newt gingrich a few weeks ago making a comment regarding people in this country illegally. the hard core conservatives thought that would doom him. not the case. it doomed rick perry when you add in all the other things wrong with him as a candidate. nevertheless newt gingrich offers on that topic some kind of balance. >> this is true. it was quite surprising that the party as the hour draws late became more desperately, increasingly desperate to find

an anti-mitt romney candidate. when they dispose of rick perry, they knew newt gingrich took a controversial stand on immigration but they embrace him anyway for his other strengths. it is much better for newt gingrich to become the nominee to have a position like on immigration. latinos are the fastest-growing voting block in the country. despite the fact that -- i think senator mccain is wrong, despite the fact that enthusiasm -- >> i have to interrupt you both. that was a live president of newt gingrich upstaged by the president. let's listen. >> doing everything i can every single day to create jobs faster and to provide more security for middle class families and those trying to get into the middle class. at this moment that means making sure that nearly 160 million hard-working americans don't see an increase in their taxes on january 1st. a year ago at this time, both parties came together to cut payroll taxes for the typical american family by about $1,000.

as soon as this year ends, so does that tax cut. approximate if congress fails to renew this tax cut before then, that same family sees a tax hike of $1,000 a year. there aren't many folks, either in the middle class or those trying to get into the middle class, who can afford to give up $1,000, not right now. that's why congress must act. although the unemployment rate went down last month, our recovery is still fragile. the situation in europe has added to that uncertainty. that's why the ma the jort of the economists believe it's important to extend the payroll tax cut. those economists would lower their growth estimates for our economy if it doesn't happen. not only is extending the payroll tax cut important for the economy as a whole, it's obviously important for individual families. it's important insurance for them against the unexpected.

it will help families pay their bills. it will spur spending. it will spur hiring. it's the right thing to do. that's why in my jobs bill i proposed not only extending the tax cut but expanding it to give a typical working family a tax cut of $1500 next year. it was paid for by asking a little more from millionaires and billionaires. a few hundred thousand people paying a little bit more could have not only extended the existing payroll tax cut but expanded it. last week virtually every senate republican voted against that tax cut. now, i know many republicans have sworn an oath never to raise taxes as long as they live. how could it be that the only time there's a catch is when it comes to raising taxes on middle class families? how can you fight tooth and nail to protect high-end tax breaks for the wealthiest americans and yet barely lift a finger to

prevent taxes going up for 160 million americans who really need the up help? it doesn't make sense. now, the good news is i think the american people's voices are starting to get through in this time. i know that last week speaker boehner said this tax cut helps the economy because it allows every working american to keep more of their money. i know that over the weekend senate republican leaders said we shouldn't raise taxing on working people going into next year. i couldn't agree more. i hope that the rest of their republican colleagues come around and join democrats to pass these tax cuts and put money back into the pockets of working americans. now, some republicans who have pushed back against the idea of extending this payroll tax cut have said we have to pay for these tax cuts. i just point out that they haven't always felt that way. over the last decade they didn't feel the need to pay for massive tax cuts for the wealthiest

americans, which is one of the reasons we face such large deficits. indeed when the republicans took over the house at the beginning of this year, they explicitly changed the rules to say that tax cuts don't have to be paid for. so forgive me for a little bit of confusion when i hear folks insisting on tax cuts being paid for. having said that, we all recognize that we've got to make progress on the deficit, and i'm willing to work with republicans to extend the payroll tax cut in a responsible way. what i'm not willing to do is to pay for the extension in a way that actually hurts the economy. as americans are well aware, this summer i signed into law nearly $1 trillion in spending cuts with another $1 trillion in cuts in the pipeline, and it would be irresponsible to now make additional deep cuts in areas like education or innovation or our basic safety net that are critical to the

economy in order to pay for an extension of the payroll tax cut. we're not going to do that. nor are we going to undo the budget agreement that i signed just a few short months ago. finally, with millions of americans still looking for work, it would be a terrible mistake for congress to go home for the holidays without extending unemployment insurance. if that happens then in january they'll be leaving 1.3 million americans out in the cold. for a the lot of families this emergency surgery is the last line of defense between hardship and catastrophe. taking that money out of the economy now would do extraordinary harm to the economy. if you believe that government shouldn't take money out of people's pockets, i hope members of congress realize that it's even worse when you take it out of the pockets of people who are unemployed and out there pounding the pavement looking for work.

we are going through what is still an extraordinary time in this country and in this economy. i get letters every single day and i talk it to people who say to me, this unemployment insurance is what allowed me to keep my house before i was able to find another job. this is what allowed me to still put gas in the tank to take my kids it to school. we cannot play games with unemployment insurance when we still have an unemployment rate that is way too high. i've put forward a whole range of ideas for reform of the unemployment insurance system, and i'm happy to work with republicans on those issues. but right now the most important thing is making sure that that gets extended as well. this isn't just something that i want. this isn't just a political fight. independent economists, some of whom have in the past worked for republicans, agree that if we don't extend the payroll tax cut

and we don't extend unemployment insurance it will hurt our economy. the economy won't grow as fast, and we won't see hiring improve as quickly. they will take money out of the pok pockets of americans just bh they need it. it will harm businesses that depend on the spending just at the time when the economy is trying to get some traction in this recovery. it will hurt all of us. it will be a self-inflicted wound. so my message to congress is this. keep your word to the american people, and don't raise taxes on them right now. now is not the time to slam on the brakes. now is the time to step on the gas. now is the time to keep growing the economy, to keep creating jobs, to keep giving working americans the boost that they need. now is the time to make a real difference in the lives of the people who sent us here. so let's get to work. thank you very much. >> you heard the president there making his case, again, why the

payroll tax cuts need to be extended as well as unemployment insurance. still with me is a.b. stoddard and robert trainham. robert, i got to tell you, the listen to this argument the president makes, how do the republicans counter that here? anything that the american people who are working every day and nose who are looking for jobs would accept? >> it's a tough rhetorical box he put republicans in quite frankly. >> is it a rhetorical box? this is reality here. >> both, rhetorical, political and reality. the president did a good job of reminding the american viewer out there but reminding the republicans of, wait a minute. you were for tax cuts, but you changed the rules to make sure you paid for them. i'm confused here. i'm paraphrasing what he said here. this is christmastime. this is the time when unemployment is still at a very, very high level. this is a time when we should be moving forward, not moving

backwards. you're for tax cuts, republicans, so am i. move forward with this along with here, because approximate if you don't it's your fault. >> a.b., your thoughts here. the president is saying this is no time to play games with unemployment insurance, for example. this is what people have been able to get by on and pay bills and keep them in their homes and keep them with a vehicle to go out and look for a job here. what is the legitimate that the counter that the republicans can put on the table here? >> well, you know, tamryn, they didn't prepare for one, and that's the problem. unemployment insurance, the many m-extensions of it, is wholly unpopular with the conservative base. however, they knew this was coming. we've known all year that at december 31 we were going to see them expire, and without extending those it's too much of a hit to the economy. republican had all the time to prepare for unemployment insurance reform and prepare a proposal to tie in an extension with reforms and time to prepare

for the payroll tax cut is inconsistent with their past support in signing a pledge to always support a tax cut and to never, ever, ever support a tax increase. just to block the take roll tax cut extension woofs hypocritical and inconsistent with the past answer. they had months to prepare this. if they hoped the super committee would take care of it, they put the eggs in the wrong basket. they have to support both, and they have to figure out a way to support both before december. >> it's interesting. we got this note in that senator harry reid is about to discuss if not already discussing a new version, approximate if you will, of the payroll tax cut extension. a democratic aide is quoted as saying there's been significant movement in republicans. the basic outline of what senator reid is looking at now, the employees get an expanded tax cut. also, the millionaires tax would be reduced to less than 2%

surtax on the income above a million dollars. we are seeing movement with democrats. they've had plenty of time to come up with a legitimate counter, and the president has come out swinging on this monday morning. we'll see what happens next. robert, a.b., thank you for your time. greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. the post office announces major change to mail delivery that may have a bigger impact on you than you might think. plus -- oklahoma state university's president says nothing could have been done to stop what you see on your screen. we'll have his new comments after fans stormed the field in what turned into a dangerous celebration. the money managers who hit the powerball jackpot, they've announced they're making a huge donation to charity after winning that $200 million jackpot and join our conversation online, find our twitter page. it is @newsnation. we'll be right back.

rachel weeks, ceo of apparel company schoolhouse was manufactured her products in suri lank ka. she partnered with a durham, north carolina factory. she plans to expand her business locally committed to making products made in the usa. for more watch "your business" sunday morning on msnbc.

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welcome back. breaking news. take a look at this. look at your screen. this is what's actually being shown in the briefing room. we heard the president speak out against opposition towards the extension of the payroll tax cuts. on each side of jay carney he's conducting the briefing right now is this image of a countdown clock, 26 days, nine hours, 39 minutes and 23 seconds until middle class taxes increase. to that so that is an interesting strategy. it is monday, and it seems that the president and his administration really are coming out with guns blazing regarding this issue directed at republicans that stand in the way. the u.s. postal service is announcing major cuts to mail delivery and it will have a bigger impact than many people expect. the postal service wants to lay off 28,000 workers and close 252 mail processing centers in a

last-ditch move to avoid bankruptcy. it could make it xwabl for first class mail to arrive the next day and slow down important deliveries like your monthly medicine and affect how fast you receive things like movies and magazines. >> the fact of the matter is, our network is too big. we've got more capacity in our network than we can afford. we've got to set our network up so that when volumes continues to drop, our network is nimble and flexible enough to respond to those volume losses. >> nbc's tom costello is in washington. there was an expert basically that said people may not pay attention now, but when the things they want are not in the mail, there's concerns. >> if you expect you're going to mail a letter and it gets there tomorrow, that doesn't take two days. a letter that takes two days now will eventually take three days coming in the spring. they're also talking about closing about 3700 post offices around the country. you mentioned about 252 mail sorting facilities. they want to save $3 billion,

but here's how they do it. no more next day first class mail. once that increase in first class mail starts in january. in addition to that, they are now moving to in total get rid of about 100,000 workers. when he talked about mail volume, it's dropped 29% in ten years. it's going to drop another 50% over the next ten years. you can blame the internet and e-mail for that. people simply aren't using the mail like they used to. as a result they have a bloated infrastructure that they have to cut down. in addition to that, of course, they have this huge pension liability thing hanging over their shoulders. lastly, they want to cut saturday delivery service, but that will take congressional approv approval. >> you've been following a developing story over the past few hours. faa administrator, randy bab did it was arrested for owi. >> he was arrested on saturday night in virginia accused of

dwi. we started to hear about in and called the d.o.t., the department of transportation, at about noon. they released a statement an hour later saying that d.o.t. learned of faa administrator bab bit's arrest on saturday night within the last hour. they just heard about it when we called them about it. they're in discussions with legal counsel about his employment status. meanwhile he's requested and been granted a leave of absence. i think it's unlikely randy b babbit could survive. they have a zero tolerance policy on dwi and embraced mothers against drunk driving. the man who deals with drunk pilots and sleeping air traffic controllers, arrested for dui, that's an awfully tough challenge to overcome at thp point. >> thank you very much, tom. two very different stories, obviously, and they're developing. in three weeks donald trump will moderate a republican presidential debate. two candidates have already said

no thank you. should the rest of the gop pack participate? some have said yet. it's the gut check. the stunning pileup that could make history as the most expensive car wreck ever. details ahead. [ male announcer ] xbox 360 with kinect, this season's hottest games and...sweatbands. [ grunting noises ] ahh! this is gold. [ mom ] woo! [ game ] snaps up the ace. i'll never be popular. [ game ] next game decides our winner. [ male announcer ] get low prices on this season's hottest games. like kinect sports season 2 for xbox 360 with kinect. rated e for everyone. backed by our christmas price guarantee. save money. live better. walmart.

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here's what the news narc is following right now. searching for buy yank ka. police in michigan doubt a dad's story that his 2-year-old daughter was abducted during a carjacki carjacking. the child's mother will join us live. and on the defensive. new comments from oklahoma state university's president after several students are injured when fans storm the field, and as you see there, tear down the goalpost. for me it was just very important to get the cancer out. >> tv personality jewel yawn na ran sick reveals months ago she had breast cancer.

the laws in 15 states have college students scrambling to comply since college i.d.s will no longer be acceptable in some states. joining me now is peter levine of tufts university where he's the director of c.i.r.c.l.e. they say the measures are a reaction to the unprecedented minority turnout in 2008 elections and officerses and latinos gaining larger population, that's how they assess these laws that suppress minority voters. what are the benefits that republicans support this when they, too, need young voters when it's time for people to stroet in the presidential

election? >> yeah, i think their calculation if they think in those terms is very short term. they're looking at the 2008 election and saying, this is a population that voted very strongly for barack obama and we don't to make it easier for them vote. in fact, we'd like to make it harder. they should think of the longer horizon, because young people do vote republican, some of them, and more may in the future. >> we know that college students who are democrats on campus say they're quite concerned about this. it's so interesting. one of the articles i read quoted a member of the tea party who said that when you're young you're more inclined to vote as a liberal and that's part of the reason many believe this is a coordinated effort to suppress young college students from voting. >> yeah, the quote that i heard to that effect was by the speaker of the new hampshire house, mr. o'brien, who said that. >> yes. >> the other population affected worse than college students is working class and low income urban young people who typically

don't get driver's licenses and the statistics show they really don't. in the city of milwaukee only one-quarter of young african-american adults have a driver's license because it's expensive to have a car and driver's licenses are expensive and you have a bus. the model that you carrying a driver's license in your back pocket is a suburban middle class motto. >> we know the other side of this from republicans who support these measures that this is all about voter fraud, but the statistics show that it is basically a weak argument when you look at the cases of voter fraud, legitimate cases of it anyway. >> right. i'm a researcher, and we study this stuff. we don't actually advocate for anything. when i look at the research, i see no evidence at all of voter fraud in the form of people inte impersonating swunlomeone else vote. >> you do the research and you don't have a horse in the race. you point out the numbers and what is reality as opposed to take talking point.

thank you for time. i greatly appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on. >> all this week on politics nation with reverend al sharpton tune in for the series "block the vote." that's politics nation at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. police are searching for a missing 2-year-old girl in detroit. they're questioning her father's version of what happened when the girl disappeared. she was last seen on friday. her father says she was driving with bianca when a man forced him from the car from gunpoint. the car was pound but bianca was not inside. they're helping them search for bianca. at the news conference her 7-year-old sister made a heart-wrenching plea. >> i want my sister back really, really bad. >> i'm joined now from detroit by bianca's mother, banica

jones. our heart goes out to you. i don't know any words that i can offer you at this point. i know the volunteers are out looking for your daughter. can you tell me a little bit more about what her father says happened here? >> i don't really know what his version of events is. i've not been made aware of that. that's the investigative side of things. i'm really focusing all of my concern on finding bianca. >> part of finding bianca may lie in what deandre has told police regarding what happened. investigators say he told them that a carjacker took his car on friday and she was inside. there are reports that he may have failed a lie detector test. have you had a chance to speak with him about what happened? >> no, no, i haven't. i haven't spoken to him at all. i've only been in contact with the police department and the

fbi. they've given me no information concerning any of the investigation. they've chiefly been helping me to get out and look for my daughter and helping me to organize volunteers and continue to search. >> where are you looking right now? i know that as a mentioned you said as well the volunteers are trying to help. where are they looking? >> we are searching everywhere. we are looking in all -- in any place that we can possibly think of. we have tips coming in from everywhere, and so many people are being so very helpful. there are so many volunteers, and we are just attempting to leave no stone unturned in our search. >> when were you last with your daughter? >> on her birthday, november 26th. >> does she live with deandre? >> no. my daughter lives with me. >> so she's with you. can you tell me what happened

the day and the events again leading up to her leaving with him? >> my daughter's birthday was saturday, november 26th. her dad had offered to take her to a movie for her birthday, and she was very excited to go. they went out. they say ""the lion king"" in 3d and came back to my home. she was excite. she told me about the movie. we had a small family gathering with cake and ice cream and she blew out her candles. we watched more television at home, and she waived bye-bye and gave me a hug and kiss and left. >> well, again, the volunteers are out helping to look for her. we hope that she will be brought home to you. looking at this picture, she's absolutely beautiful baby and bianca -- with everything going on we so appreciate you talking see her nd hopelefully someone little sister who broke down in

tears, her 7-year-old sister breaking down just wanting her to be brought back home. thank you, binica. >> yes, thank you so much. thank you. >> absolutely. the investigation into what could have stopped fans from storming the field after an osu football game tops our look at stories around the news nation today. oklahoma state president says, quote, an army could not have prevented fans from getting injured following the big 12 championship win over the rival team, oklahoma. 12 fans were hurt, including two who had to undergo surgery after thousands of ecstatic fans tore down the goalpost. it is being called the most expensive car pileup in history. crumbled ferrari, mercedess, and lamborghinis were among 14 luxury cars totaled in a crash on a japanese highway. the cars were speeding on their way to a car show.

luckily they weren't seriously injured, but that's a wrap on those cars. as jerry sandusky prepares for a court hearing next week, many are mystified by the extensive interview he game to the "new york times." in the interview he again denied molesting young boys, but legal analysts say sandusky may have hurt his case. he even needed help at one point if his attorney when asked to explain his comments last month to bob costas who asked sandusky if he was sexually attracted to young boys. >> they're saying what in the world is this question? what is it? am i going to be -- if i say no, i'm not attracted to boys, that's not the truth because i'm attracted to young people, boys, girls. >> yeah, but sexually? you're attracted because you spend time -- >> right. i enjoy spending time with young

people. i enjoy spending time with people. >> joining me now former pennsylvania attorney walter cohen is a defense attorney. thank you for your time. >> i'm glad to be here. >> you have a client that believes they can portray or paint the picture more clearly of events in this case, obviously, jerry sandusky. would you ever allow your clinlt to do a four-hour interview like the one that happened with "the new york times" and sandusky? >> you know, if you asked that question to 100 defense lawyers, 99 of them would say absolutely not. here's one defense lawyer that has a strategy, and so you try to figure it out. we know na jerry sandusky has a big problem, and maybe they think that a big problem requires a big solution. the unique approach. in an attempt here maybe to plant a seed of reasonable doubt in the jurors. you know, the jurors will come initially from centre county,

but -- in pennsylvania, but if the judge feels you can't final impartial jurors, they'll look elsewhere. the whole country is following this case, and it will be very hard to find jurors that don't have some knowledge of it. >> right. you say 99 defense attorneys would say no to their client. this one said yes. wouldn't you prepare, i guess, your client? here you have jerry sandusky again stumbling and stammering through an answer as to whether or not he's attracted to boys to the point the attorney is in the background yelling. if they were in court and sandusky was on the witness stand, his attorney couldn't yell out and help him with the answer. >> that's certainly true. i mean, it does not paint a pretty picture. it certainly looks like they just kind of stumbled into this interview for four hours, and jerry sandusky started to talk. i think the idea here, if i can,

you know, get into their minds, is let's show jerry sandusky as just kind of a normal guy and people will have to think, gee, he would never go on television to talk about this if he actually did these things. so that in itself perhaps is a part of their defense. you know, jerry sandusky, he was the defensive line coach at penn state. he's showing here that his approach is the best defense is a good offense. >> that's one strategy. >> this doesn't look like a good offense. >> walter, thank you so much for your time and analysis. we'll see if if he keeps talking. thank you. up next, the money managers who won that massive powerball jackpot. you might remember they won over $200 million. they've announced they're already prepared to give away a million of the cash. wait until you hear what that money it going to, next. first, there's a lot going on today. here's things we thought you should know.

an important milestone for the u.s. military in iraq. fewer than 10,000 u.s. troops are there as of this morning. there are 9500 u.s. troops in that country. that is dune from a onetime high of about 170,000 troops. with congress' approval rating at an all-time low, voters ps to cut their salaries and make them wroshg longer hours. it shows 67% of likely voters say the $174,000 base salary for congress members should be lowered. speaking of congress on this weekend's "saturday night live," seth meyers took aim the at lawmakers and their, i guess, secret santa plan. take a listen. >> this christmas a number of senators will participate in a secret santa gift exchange that will involve members from both party. the way it works is the democrats will give the republicans a gift, and that's it. at bank of america, we're lending and investing in communities across the country,

from helping to revitalize a neighborhood in brooklyn to financing industries that are creating jobs in boston or providing funding for the expansion of a local business serving a diverse seattle community and supporting training programs for tomorrow's workforce in los angeles. because the more we can do in local neighborhoods and communities, the more we can help make opportunity possible.

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coming aupt the top the hour. the newt and donald break bread here in manhattan. plus the president once again implors congress to act. will they make a deal. three money managers who claimed the $254 million powerball jackpot in connecticut are announcing how it will be used. their charitable trust will give a total of $1 million to five organizes that support u.s. troops and military members returning home from deployment. each group will receive $200,000. they say the donation is the first of many they expect to make. not bad for money managers. e entertainment host jewel yawn na rancic updates us on her

fight against breast cancer and trouble for a former miss usa winne rancic said she was going to undergo a double lumpectomy. this morning on the show she said that treatment has taken a turn unexpected for her, and she's decided she's going to getting a double mastectomy. the margins weren't clear, and they decided this is the best course of treatment. we have some sound from how she came to this decision, and it has a lot to do with her husband, bill, being supportive, too. >> take a listen. bill said to me, i just need you around for the next 50 years, kid. that's what i said. i don't care what you look like. i don't care about the physical portion of this. i just need you around for the next 50 years, so let's just get you healthy, and that certainly

helped me come to the decision. >> it was a really, really touching interview and honest one. there are people out there on facebook and that sort of thing, why would you want so open about this? why make it this public? julianna said, listen, i needed to talk to people who went through it. if me talking about it helps other people, that's what i'm going to do. >> at some point you can't pay attention to those people. you pay attention to those people who say you inspired me. i'm going to get a mammogram, and i appreciate you coming forward. >> absolutely. >> those are the folks you pay attention to. >> who was going to play at the super bowl? the quick answer here is madonna. we heard rumors about this several weeks ago. the timing is great for her, because days before the super bowl she has a new film coming out and working on a brand-new lp released next year. a fun fact from darren rovell since the wardrobe malfunction episode, the average age of the

halftime performers is 54.8 years old. i think that's fascinating. the average age is 43. what can you make of that? they're not saying this, but maybe from that you can extrapolate if they're older their less risque of a halftime act. nonetheless, madonna, is a great talker, too. a lot of people say shouldn't she have done this 10, 15 years ago? >> i think the rolling stones would be offended they were saying they're less risque. that's a diss. >> finally, a little bit more serious. miss america from 2010, she's being investigated for drunk driving. this is really controversial because initially she tweeted that it wasn't her. they have the wrong person. they're pointing the finger at the wrong person with the same name. that tweet has since disappeared. you're looking at it right now, and her attorney is saying she's

saddened and apologetic for the situation she's in right now. >> it wasn't me strategy didn't work. for the latest in entertainment news log onor be a fan of the scoop. coming up is our gut check. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. 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. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ]

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time for the news nation gut check. it was this past friday donald trump joined the "news nation the" to confirm he was moderating a debate. he laid out what he'd want to hear from the candidates. >> we're going to get into other things. the environment, education. we'll be discussing pretty much a large gamut of things. >> shins then ron paul and jon huntsman said no thanks while gingrich and santorum said count them in. mitt romney has yet to say whether he will participate in the debate. to date this year we watch 11 gop presidential debates.

obviously the republicans see something valuable in being associated with donald trump, hence the reason, bachmann, romney, cain and gingrich met up with the donald. should the republican candidates participate in the debate moderated by donald trump? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamryn hall. martin bashir is up next. ga-3 da is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups. in a great tasting gummy. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york.

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