. >> leighton watson thank you for being with me this morning. i sure appreciate it. >> thank you again. >>> all right, we have some bleaking news to tell you about. ashton carter will be president obama's choice as the new secretary of defense barring any last-minute complications. barbara starr joins me now more and so does jim acosta. we want to start with you, barbara. >> hi, carol. well, barring any last-minute complications, barring any last-minute surprises from the president, all indications are now that ash carter will be the nominee to replace chuck hagel as secretary of defense. ash carter very well-known around the pentagon. he served as hagel's deputy. he has served in a number of jobs in the past to the pentagon, including the top acquisition official, essentially the top weapons buyer. he knows the budget. he knows how billions of dollars in taxpayer money is spent buying weapons with budget cuts come, he will be very experienced in being able to formulate any budget plan, what to keep, what to cancel potentially. those are all the