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Obama makes commitment of help to Staten Island couple devastated by Sandy, Mary Snow reports
Hard hit residents of Staten Island are dealing with the third week of the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Nick and Diane Camerada are two of them. CNN’s Mary Snow talks to the Cameradas about how they are coping.
While others in his community were anticipating a visit from President Obama to survey the damage there, Nick's mission was “keeping the heat on in his family's Staten Island house.” Snow says Nick “was more concerned with working on the boiler he was able to rig up just Wednesday to provide heat.”
CNN first caught up with the Cameradas last week as Nick described his harrowing experience.
“I went through the most pain that I ever went through in my whole life,” Nick had said, “from being electrocuted trying to get back into my house to watching everything, all my possessions and my family practically almost dying.”
Friends and relatives of the couple have been offering help since then, even delivering gasoline for the generator.
The Cameradas plan to rebuild their home, Snow reports. “But they say the 19- thousand-dollars they've been told they can get in government aid won't be enough—and feared the President wouldn't see how bad the damage really is.”
Nick says everything's all cleaned up now, but “it wasn’t pretty like this” the last few days. “They cleaned up now because the president is coming down to see the progress that was made down here.”
The Cameradas were able to speak about their struggles to President Obama once he arrived. Obama said he was committed to helping them out. “I'm gonna stay on it,” Obama said. “I’m not gonna be a stranger and suddenly forget all about it.”
They say they’ll see if Obama keeps his word on their road to recovery. “We’re gonna see the real Barack Obama,” Nick says, “his true colors.”
Snow says the Camerada’s “home still has no electricity and they learned of a potential setback. The gas line may be shut down while repairs are made, leaving them in the cold once again.”
Rep. King on the questions he wants answered from Petraeus about Libya
The House Intelligence Committee is scheduled to meet Friday to investigate the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus was scheduled to testify in the hearing, but he withdrew from the appearance after announcing his resignation last Friday due to an extramarital affair. However, the four-star general confirmed yesterday that he'll testify after all.
Republican congressional leaders had insisted he testify and General Petraeus has now agreed to a closed door meeting before the Senate panel sometime today and the House committee tomorrow.
New York Republican Congressman Peter King is a member of Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and he joins Early Start this morning to respond to this recent development.
Describing what he'll ask the former CIA Director, King says he’ll listen to what Petraeus has to say now "as to what he believes happened in Benghazi, and also ask him to square that with what he told us…three days after the attack, when he basically dismissed any possibility that it was a terrorist attack."
King says that he's concerned about finding out “how [Petraeus] reached that conclusion on September 14, what's changed since then, and how much he's learned since then that was different from what he knew.”
The Congressman also discusses his criticism of UN Ambassador Susan Rice.
Warren Buffett says he's not worried about the fiscal cliff
(CNNMoney) - Warren Buffett is not worried about the fiscal cliff.
While it's not ideal, the founder of Berkshire Hathaway thinks that President Obama must be willing to keep pushing for higher taxes on the wealthy, even if it triggers the fiscal cliff that would lead to the automatic onset of tax increases and spending cuts on Jan.1.
The U.S. economy, he said, can weather it for a month or two. "We're not going to permanently cripple ourselves," Buffett told CNN's Poppy Harlow in an exclusive interview at Berkshire Hathaway's Omaha headquarters Wednesday.
Harlow sits down with John and Zoraida on Early Start today to discuss her interview and to reveal who the billionaire is endorsing for president in 2016.
Check out CNN Money's full write on Harlow's interview with Buffett here.
MYB: Dow drops, CEO's 'optimistic' after Obama meeting
Christine Romans is minding your business this morning with the latest in U.S. stock futures and world markets. E.U. markets are down. News comes this morning that the Eurozone economy, “the 17 countries that use the Euro, has slipped into a double dip recession.”
U.S. stock futures are up, but the Dow dropped 185 points yesterday. It's down nearly 700 points since Election Day because of the looming fiscal cliff and concerns about Europe. But CEO’s are "optimistic" after meeting with Obama yesterday about a fiscal cliff resolution.
Israel strikes Hamas targets in Gaza – CNN's Sara Sidner reports
(CNN) - Israel continued a blistering assault early Thursday against Gaza, targeting what it described as 100 terror sites in response to ongoing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, a move that has raised fears of a wider regional conflict.
The countering Israeli and Palestinian attacks prompted the U.N. Security Council to call an emergency closed door session late Wednesday in an attempt to de-escalate the crisis.
CNN's Sara Sidner reports live from the area on Early Start this morning about the ongoing violence.
Check out Sidner's full article about the situation here.
Ret. Gen. Marks says behavior in Petraeus scandal is 'very troubling' but 'not a cultural issue'
The plot thickens in the scandal surrounding fmr. CIA Director David Patraeus after announcing his resignation Friday, citing an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell. But the scandal now entangles the woman who blew the whistle on the affair, Jill Kelley, and the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen. CNN Military Analyst and Retired General James "Spider" Marks, who has known Petraeus since high school and previously worked with Broadwell, joins “Early Start” with his take on the widening scandal.
Emails between General Allen and Kelley are being closely scrutinized, especially the use of terms like “sweetheart”. He says words like that are
“When you’re a four star general and you’re that far up the chain, you’re extremely exposed,” General Marks says. “Every activity, action, every utterance will be parsed.”
“It’s inappropriate when you’re a four-star general or when you’re at any level in the military to refer to somebody obviously not your spouse, not your children, using that term...It can be taken completely out of context, as it probably will be right now,” Marks adds.
Marks also addresses if this inappropriate behavior is part of a cultural problem within the military. General Marks admits it is "very troubling" but stresses that it is not standard.
“I can tell you emphatically it is not a cultural issue,” General Marks says. “The Army does a magnificent job of correcting itself.” He even expects the military to possibly declare a ‘values attention time’ to reform these issues. “It’s extremely disappointing, but it’s not endemic to the Army certainly.”
Outrage grows at LIPA as power woes plague residents after Sandy – Deb Feyerick reports
Residents of Long Island are still suffering from the effects of Superstorm Sandy. Loss of power continues to be an issue for thousands of people more than two weeks since the storm hit, and they have yet to hear from the source of their problems: the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), which failed to make basic preparations. LIPA is now the target of a class-action lawsuit and its chief operating officer is stepping down. CNN’s Deborah Feyerick has more on the story.
“People on Long Island are tired of the cold, the dark, and the run around from the power company out here—known as LIPA,” Feyerick reports.
She says CNN tried to get answers from LIPA's Chief Operating Officer, Michael Hervey, before receiving word of his resignation. A note on LIPA’s office doors read “the offices are temporarily closed. All employees are currently assisting with the storm effort.” LIPA informed Feyerick that Hervey was not available the rest of the day, and would not make any other officials available for an interview with CNN either.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is now calling for an investigation into LIPA. Governor Cuomo has said, “Many of these systems were failing to begin with.”
LIPA says they began replacing the system, Feyerick reports. The entire process is expected to take between 18 months to two years to complete.
What's trending for Nov. 14th, 2012
Man finds himself in 16th century painting, and woman sentenced to hold 'idiot' sign on street.
President Obama to meet with US business leaders to talk jobs, debt – Ali Velshi explains
Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday delivered a "strong" and "determined" defense of his intent to allow Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier Americans to expire while preserving cuts for middle-income earners, according to conversations with several people who attended a meeting between the president and labor and progressive leaders.
The meeting at the White House - along with a second unannounced meeting with representatives from roughly a dozen groups focused on women's issues - was the start of a lengthy process of negotiating a resolution to the nation's impending budget crisis.
Obama is scheduled to meet with business leaders on Wednesday and congressional leaders from both parties on Friday. They include:
* Mark Bertolini, President, Chairman and CEO, Aetna
* Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO, Xerox
* Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and CEO, American Express
* David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell
* Mike Duke, President and CEO, Walmart
* Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric
* Andrew Liveris, President, Chairman and CEO, Dow
* Robert McDonald, President and CEO, Proctor & Gamble
* Alan Mulally, President and CEO, Ford
* Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo.
* Ginni Rometty, President, Chairman and CEO, IBM
* John Watson, Chairman and CEO, Chevron
This morning on "Early Start," Ali Velshi explains how these business leaders could contribute to helping the U.S. economy.
READ MORE: Obama tells labor he's committed to 'protecting' middle class on taxes
Investigation into Petraeus scandal widens – fmr. FBI dir. Fuentes on where it goes from here
The investigation into the sex scandal between Former CIA Director David Patraeus and his former biographer Paula Broadwell continues. The FBI searched Broadwell's home last night, but new questions have emerged about the FBI agent who launched the investigation. There are also questions about why FBI was involved at all.
Meanwhile, congressional leaders have spoken out about why they were not alerted about the affair earlier. Fmr. FBI Assistant Director and CNN Contributor Tom Fuentes joins Zoraida Sambolin live from Washington D.C. to discuss the latest in the investigation on “Early Start”.
The FBI has referred the case to the Defense Department, raising more questions about their involvement. “It suggests that they only see something that’s gonna be internal to military, potentially military violations, as opposed to criminal conduct that could be prosecuted in regular criminal court, or security breaches that are also, would be a violation,” Fuentes explains.
The Army will investigate the case and “determine what they can find and how they wanna proceed, whether the charges are unfounded, or whether it turns out they wanna have a court martial, or refer it back to the FBI,” he adds.
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