erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> breaking news from syria. the death toll rising. another country stepping in to prevent more bloodshed tonight. we have satellite images of weapons on the ground. we'll show them to you. also a sneak peek at president obama's budget. it's coming out next week. we have it now and in it a trillion dollar deficit in year one. new photo showing josh powell a day before he killed himself and his two sons. plus the police discover disturbing images on his computer. let's go "outfront." >>> we have breaking news on the crisis in syria. it could be the most significant development since the uprising began a year ago. at this hour, it is reported that a possible peace deal is in the works. this is one that has the backing of arab states, it's a draft resolution being circulated by saudi arabia which condemned the actions in syria today. we're getting word this is making its way through the u.n. general assembly. we're trying to confirm this report. we'll have an update as soon as possible. once again, breaking news on a possible peace plan f

to both sides. >> i think that's true, erin. what you have to take into consideration here is what are american families going through today? what we're hearing from american families, middle class families, workers is that they want fairness in the budget. they want fairness in the tax code. and, yes, both sides have been playing politics, that's true. what this president is focused on is how you grow the economy, how do you focus on fairness for american families when you see poll after poll these same families are saying that they do agree that the rich should be paying a little bit more in taxes. you have buffet saying it. you have bill gates saying it. you have bill clinton saying it. you have all sorts of rich men saying they should be paying more. when you also look at the polls, they also think it's republicans, the ones that have been obstructionist in trying to get to a place where we have growth, where we have job creation in a fair and balanced manner. >> interesting. you went straight to the talking point for the de

erin? >> all right.from india tonight. >>> tonight he's back in the united states for the first time in 25 years. his name is shi jin ping. he is in all likelihood the next leader of china. currently china's vice president, she will sit down with president obama tomorrow on valentine's day and, yes, in the chinese press so far i've seen, they're playing it as a love meeting. after all, we do need to love each other, don't we? these two countries, the opposite of love is not indifference, it is hate as we all know. and that's what we want to avoid. china is america's second largest trading partner, they own 7% of our debt. really when you look outside the u.s. federal reserve it is china's next biggest holder of our debt. as a future leader of china, there's that lot of curiosity. who he is? here's a few things we can tell you. he's a son of a mao era revolutionary hero. and he's a former governor of fujian province where he was known for corruption fighting activities. the 58-year-old is married. his wif

plus we have erin burnett.t's not just wealthy people it's retired americans. >> that is totally not true. we'll go after erin burnett and show you what the reality is in just a little bit. it's go time! ♪ >>> fun campaign news today. donald trump decided he is going to insert himself into this campaign once again. who is he going to endorse? he has been leaking on both sides and then finally came out and said this. >> it's my honor, real honor, and privilege to endorse mitt romney. [ applause ] >> and by the way this is a great couple. you look at this couple. [ applause ] >> but mitt is tough. he's smart. he's sharp. he is not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love. >> there's so much about that i love. the weird awkward moment of god these guys are kind of attractive. and then he's not going to let bad things happen to the country. thank you donald. here is mitt romney. >> there are some things you can't imagine happening in your life. this is one of them. being in d

>> reporter: erin svoboda's goal is that 100% of her students pass the state math exam. >> a lot of my students are a little bit jaded, and they maybe feel a little bit even cheated. they understand that maybe they haven't received the education that they should have. so i hope to maybe renewing their faith in their education and the schools and in what they can do with that later. >> reporter: in this poor neighborhood, where reading scores are abysmally low, katelyn woodard praises her students for trying to find the right answer. >> it's by itself beautiful. good job, demetria. >> good job, demetria! >> reporter: katelyn, erin, and kristin are graduates of mtr-memphis teacher residency, a three-year-old program designed to give poor inner city students the same opportunities as students in wealthier areas. david montague is the director of the school. >> it's absolutely an injustice, because there's such a large academic achievement gap between students that are generally poor and minority relative to students who generally live in the suburbs and who are white. >> reporter: funded

and we go to homs, syria. >>> i'm erin burnett, "outfront." whitney houston's funeral will be held at the prudential center in newark, a venue that can hold 100,000 people. the venue is closed to the new hope baptist church where as a girl she sang in the choir. we're going to go live and get the latest on her final hour of life and the investigation into how exactly she died. everyone admired houston's magnificent voice. she won more awards than any other female singer. and she's the only singer ever to have had seven consecutive number one hits. for me, i idealized houston as a singer. "the bodyguard" was one of my favorite movies in high school. she was gorgeous. the song went on replay back then what were boom boxes and that movie came out in 1992, the same year she married bobby brown. and many say that was the start of her downfall, an abusive relationship, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, prescription drugs, rehab, a few years back, she spoke about one drug she said she never actually even used. >> first of all, let's get one thing straight

erin burnett "outfront" starts erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> whitney houston's funeral is set and i will talk to the pastor. and what would it cost to intervene in syria in money and lives. >>> and china's next leader is in the united states and he met with president obama and vice president joe biden, but why is he going the iowa? of course we will tell you. let's go "outfront." >>> good evening, everyone. "outfront" tonight, questions and sorrow over the death of whitney houston. this is what we know right now, family and close friends will say farewell to the poplar pop star saturday in newark, new jersey. chris christie has ordered the flags at half-staff in honor of whitney houston. sources tell us that her body was found by her assistant mary jones who she often called aunt mary. her ex-husband bobby brown released a statement about bobiy kristina saying this, obviously the death of her mother is affecting her. however, we will get through the tragedy as a family. bobbi kristina, as you are aware had been taken to cedar sinai hospital

erin moriarty of 48 hours mystery has been following this case.ns us now, erin, good evening. >> reporter: thanks, jeff. clementi's death blame an international symbol of the consequences of bullying and homophobia. the trial of the young man accused of bullying him is unique because much of the evidence that will be used against him was found on-line in social media. 19-year-old dharun ravi faces 15 counts of invasion of privacy, evidence of witness tampering and bias intimidation. a hate crime which could land him in prison for ten years. ravi's trial is likely to renew the debate between those who see his actions as simply a prank gone too far and those who see him as a vicious bully. like so many teenagers dharun ravi communicated incessantly on-line. and every tweet, text, instant message and e-mail he wrote remains in cyberspace. prosecutors were able to retrieve them. and are now likely to use his own words against him to prove that he harassed tyler clementi because he believed his roommate was gay. according to court records made public,

>> erin. >> joel. >> jimmy: erin and joel. where are you from?y: looks like cabela's had a sale, huh? >> that's my happy place. >> jimmy: on hollywood boulevard, you could get shot wearing something like that. [ laughter ] it's even more dangerous than the woods. are you married? >> we are. >> jimmy: how listening have you been married? >> ten days. >> jimmy: ten days. okay. wow. that's -- you're honeymooners. >> we're honeymooners. >> jimmy: that's great. you have no idea why we stopped you, correct? >> right. >> jimmy: erin, you love joel, i would imagine, or else you wouldn't have married him. >> that's true. >> jimmy: i would love iffer you to share nine things you love about him. okay? >> got his grips on her pretty good right now. >> jimmy: nine things. all right? go ahead, erin. >> i love his eyes. his heart. his soul. his cammo shirt. >> jimmy: four. >> i love his booty. i love his eyes. >> jimmy: eyes you already said. >> i love his manliness. >> jimmy: okay. >> and his sensitivity. >> jimmy: good. seven. >> and his mustache. >> jimmy: e

professor and, erin, i didn't get all your credentials.people to understand that professor dison has the stature to talk about religion. we all know how brilliant you are. but let me start with you, professor, reverend, theologian dison. rick santorum thinks his 2008 comments are not relevant about satan. and he continues to question the president's faith. isn't that an incredible double standard? >> it is. you were a preaching prodigy. you've been preaching since you were a little boy. you've been reared in this tradition that respects faith, the integritev theology and the gospel of belief. i'm an ordained minister for over 30 years. this is an assault upon the integrity of a person's faith. that's a private matter in terms of what one transacts, one's relationship between one's self and god. how can you question the legitimacy of somebody else's faith. reverend franklin graham doing the same thing. he thinks santorum is a christian and newt gingrich is a christian but he defers to the bar differently when he says i don't know if obama i

and erin mcpike from real clear politics.or being here tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> richard, romney has flip-flopped on some basic conservative issues like abortion, immigration, health care, gun control. is there any way he can become a credible candidate for conservatives? >> well, what he's got to start doing is outlining a conservative vision. not just tearing down the conservative credentials of other people by saying they are washington insiders, which is what he did against newt gingrich. what he's trying to do with rick santorum. he can't just talk about his record. he's got to present something that will convince people this is going to be his agenda. a conservative agend aclearly if that's what he's going for. in terms of what he'd do as president. and the problem here is that he's trying to outflank rick santorum as a conservative. that's extremely difficult. and he's got all this baggage with him. the more he says the word conservative, the more you hear that tape you played about him saying he's a moderate an

i'm not trying to return to reagan bush. >> so who won the debate between willard and willard, erin?ck to one of the clips you played at the very beginning, which is when he said i was a severely conservative republican governor. severely is not really a positive term, but that strikes the image of john kasich in ohio and rick scott in florida. two, i guess, severely conservative republican governors whose numbers are really in the tank at this moment. and if he's trying to identify with governors like that and calling himself severely conservative, the democrats are ready to pounce. in fact, democratic officials today were jumping all over that comment and they plan to use that in ads in the general election if romney is the nominee. along with some of those comments that you just played that showed that mitt romney is all over the map. that he doesn't have a core.ç that he doesn't have conviction. we're going to hear that a lot. >> well, he's severely desperate. let me show you, richard, some polls. fox news. no liberal station. and their last poll has president obama up and romne

but erin, let me show you he's not finished yet. since mr. santorum, you like to encourage me to get in his head. listen to what he said about income inequality which is probably the campaign issue of at least this season. he's in detroit. he praised income inequality. let me show you the quote. this is in detroit. there is income inequality and hopefully, and i do say that, there always will be. now he says this in a city where the poverty rate is above 37%. median income of household of less than $29,000 a year. it's also a city with 90,000 abandoned or vacant homes. in this environment, he praises income inequality and says, i hope it always will be. is he tone deaf or is he trying to be confrontational to play to a extreme far right that may applaud this kind of insensitivity? >> i'm not sure what the goal was, al, but that particular comment in my mind, was more damaging than any of the other comments he's made recently. for two reasons. one, as far as mitt romney is concerned it undercuts rick santorum because mitt romney made the comme

i just -- i agree with erin that buckeyes do not like wolverines.o the idea that somehow ohio is going to meekly fall in lock step behind michigan voting results, yog buy that at all. in fact, they're likely to go in the opposite direction. now that they've seen what happens in michigan. i don't know how the voting people in ohio are going to vote next week compared to the way the michigan hard right fundamentalist voted here yesterday. >> and absolutely. i don't think that the people of ohio lived in the midwest for ten years, i don't think they're going to meekly go behind. we're just looking at what's on the table being served up for dinner. real quick, erin, looking the delegate count, romney has 163, santorum 83. march 6th the total delegates at stake 424. this is still a numbers game. i talk about living in the midwest. i lived in the south. i know the flavor of candidate folks down there tend to like. i'm not trying to escape the interests that still may exist here on super tuesday. >> well, look, you know, romney is going to go into super tu

erin is, of course, a national political reporter for real clear politics.at to have both of you with us. i've got to ask you both. how does a guy who spent his adult life running for president make so many mistakes? let me start with you, bill. >> well, he's making a gaffe a day right now. it wasn't that way so much earlier on. i think the problem for him right now is these gaffes are feeding into an overall impression he's leaving with the voters tomorrow in michigan that he is an overwhelm league wealthy guy who simply cannot relate or connect with the common man or the common voter. and for everybody who thinks that the republicans are a party of country club rich elitists, they're not. >> well, let me ask you this, bill. let's take a look at where romney stands in michigan. he's doing well in southern -- southeastern michigan, around detroit, oakland county, wayne county, macomb county. in 2008, that's where 35% of the republican vote in michigan came from. rick santorum is doing well in the southwest by grand rapids, kent, ottawa counties. and in the u

." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, some breaking news. cnn can now confirm the name of the student who allegedly shot five of his fellow classmates at an ohio high school this morning. his name is tj lane. he's a junior. he was described by friends as quiet, but a nice kid from a broken home. no matter what, he created a scene of horror and chaos in chard chardon, ohio today. allegedly opening fire in the high school cafeteria, leaving

these are general election issues. >> erin, you can't remake people.e all in public life have had our gaffes and whatever. but the pattern here, and then you come out of a big victory. you make a statement that clearly is insensitive, at best, even though they line up with your policies, you try to get around them. and then you go and stand in las vegas with the king of bling, the personification of being super rich and taking an endorsement less than 24 hours after you said that. this kind of thinking makes me say, it doesn't matter whether it's october or not. this is not a political strategist in any sense of having his hand on the pulse of the american people. >> right. i think the trump endorsement the next day was certainly tone deaf. generally speaking, mitt romney was kind of a man without a country on this because republicans are upset with what he said, too, because if you go further into his explanation of that comment, even when he said i misspoke, he said my campaign is focused on the middle class. well, republicans in washington are upset

>> well, it is a great story, erin.he came to musketine, iowa, he was not vice president of china, but part of a small delegation that came to tour a couple of iowa farms. when they were there, there were five people and they stayed with residents of musketine, and now fast-forward 26 years, he says if i'm coming to iowa, i want to go back and visit with the same people. this was his first trip to the u.s. so he is going to detour from his trip here in des moines and head over there and meet with the same people in one of those same homes there, apparently they're going to have a little champagne and some tea. but we talked to a couple of folks there, and they are absolutely thrilled. one of them ran upstairs when she found out that he was coming and dug out an old photo, and there he is, the going to be the new leader of china standing in her kitchen just great story. >> it is a great story. i know you talked to them. and here is a quick clip of how they feel about him. here it is. >> you are looking at the logistics a

great to see you. >> great to be here, erin.. >> there is obviously a lot of fear about the void that might be created if president bashir assad is forced out. what would happen in that scenario? >> well, if he was eased out with a transition that specified that there was some interim government, one thing that's been proposed is that the vice president of this syrian government would act as an interim, would appoint a transitional committee and have elections and a peaceful tranlsfer. if he's forced out with nothing, with no clear process of transition, you're going have a free-for-all. syria is one of the most divided and volatile countries i know in the middle east, and people shouldn't underestimate the degree of bloodshed you could see there. >> what about a disorderly transition, a replacement? obviously what we've seen even in places like egypt, getting a replacement has been difficult, replacements that the rest of the world finds palatable, perhaps impossible. violence rises. unemployment rises. it's worse than it was b

>> i was coming to talk to erin. >> erin? >> yes. >> and why were you going to talk to erin?> she didn't tell me. >> try again. >> i saw 14, but i didn't know. >> want to try one more time? just keep your hands out of your pockets, sir. she says, how about you date a 12-year-old girl? i really like her, if your parents don't own a gun or a pitchfork. >> i never wrote that. >> i have it right here. i have the transcript. >> can i see that? >> i'm not done with it. in the early investigations, we didn't have it down to a system like we do now. we'd still get caught with either the wrong transcript or perhaps an incomplete transcript of the man's chat with the decoy. i was looking for the passage where he was specific and dell, from perverted-justice, slides in and hands it to me. so i was able to actually confront him. my bad. so you thought it was okay to come here to see a 14-year-old girl why? >> no, i didn't. >> you talk about hair on personal places. then you say, and there's just something -- watch -- i want to see your hands. >> i'm sorry. >> and you say, there is just s

something egyptian queen something but erin martin did her thing. ♪ >> all right.t to see who you pick tonight because we got a fresh new episode. you can't keep erin. she is done with. you won't see her until the battles. but hey. join our conversation. we'll be chatting right? >> we'll chat. please chat it up with us. >> at nbc washington.com. the party gets started at 8:00 p.m. get on in there and join us. >> yes. i love to chat. come chat with us. >> fasten your seat belts in your brand new chairs. pretty cool. >> i like that. >> that is cool. >> our weather is cool today but this is the coolest day of the week. >> coolest day of the week. our temperatures this week are going to be warming way up and we're talking about pretty nice skies to go along with it. make sure you get your outdoor plans together for the end of the week especially. it's going to be a little breezy throughout the week. right now we're at 50 degrees with a north wind at 10 miles per hour. the air now very dry. as i mentioned before we'll have a couple little weak systems coming through ove

erin, karen, and robert, sit tight.to come back with this. should the president have apologized to afghanistan for the koran pwurpbgs a week ago? you're watching "weekends with alex whitt." >>> here's a look at your sunday forecast. asweekend, we're wching a storm system in the northern plains many that's where the worst of the weather is today. heavy snow in north dakota, northern minnesota. wintry mix around minneapolis. not as windy on the eastern seaboard. highs in the 40s and 50s. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] get ready to pop your laundry. i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! gives you a 50% annual bonus. and who doesn't want 50% more cash? ugh, the baby. huh! and then the baby bear said, "i want 50% more cash in my bed!" phhht! 50% more cash is good ri... what's that. ♪ you can

look, there's a way he can turn this around, erin. that's to say use his own tax return as exhibit a. and say, you know what, this is why we need tax reform. this is why we need lower taxes. this is why we need flatter taxes, and by the way, if you lower the corporate tax, then maybe you take away this loophole. >> interesting point because david from, this is something that mitt romney has indicated, he wants to close loopholes. this loophole, it's a loophole. he could say, i would close it. what is he left with, though. he already got the benefit from it. >> he doesn't want to be talking about himself. that's true for any candidate with any kind of background. it would be, you know, every candidate comes with these problems. and bill clinton had problems. he didn't spend a lot of time reminding people what his problems were, apologizing for his problems. he moved on and said, let me tell you what i'll do for you. one of my favorite political stories. karen hughes tells this, walking down the beach, seeing one of the planes carrying