Mitt Romney, President Obama's Private Lunch at the White House
Friday, November 30, 2012
Watch: Powerball Lottery Drawing: Winners From Arizona, Missouri
Mitt Romney, President Obama's Private Lunch at the White House
'Fiscal Cliff' Talks Falter
President Obama and Mitt Romney met face to face today for the first time since the election, breaking bread at the White House as talks over the looming "fiscal cliff" appeared to be faltering on Capitol Hill.
"I bet it was and is quite tasty," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said of the lunch as it was underway, "because [the chefs] know how to prepare very fine meals."
The menu included white turkey chili and Southwestern grilled chicken salad, the White House said in a written statement following the meal. The discussion was said to center on "America's leadership in the world and the importance of maintaining that leadership position in the future."
The former rivals concluded their 70-minute encounter with a visit to the Oval Office, the symbolic center of American power to which Romney has long tried to accede, shaking hands before the iconic "Resolute" presidential desk.
"Governor Romney congratulated the President for the success of his campaign and wished him well over the coming four years," the White House said. "They pledged to stay in touch, particularly if opportunities to work together on shared interests arise in the future."
The lunch took place in an elegant private dining room in the West Wing overlooking the manicured gardens of the White House South Lawn. Romney was seen coming and going from a side entrance in a black SUV. The former GOP nominee arrived without fanfare or entourage, opening his own car door both times.
President Obama said during a news conference earlier this month that he was interested in speaking with Romney about his ideas on jobs and economic growth, noting that his rival had "presented some ideas during the course of the campaign that I actually agree with."
Administration officials said there was no formal agenda for today's lunch or a "specific ask" or assignment for the governor.
Romney, who has kept a relatively low profile since losing the election on Nov. 6, has not publicly addressed Obama's post-election overtures or the prospect of working together. Both men have little personal history and had a chilly relationship during the campaign.
Senior Romney campaign strategist Eric Fehrnstrom called Obama's lunch invitation "gracious" and said that Romney was "glad to accept." The governor also met earlier Thursday in Washington with former running mate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
The Obama-Romney detente came as talks between the White House and congressional Republicans to prevent the economy from going over the "fiscal cliff" of mandatory spending cuts and tax increases set for Jan. 1 appeared to hit a snag.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the lead White House negotiator in the talks, and White House legislative chief Rob Nabors held a flurry of meetings today with congressional leaders of both parties in the House and Senate.
But following sessions, top Republicans poured cold water on what had been budding optimism of progress toward a deal.
"No substantive progress has been made over the last two weeks," said House Speaker John Boehner at a press conference.
"We know what the menu is. What we don't know is what the White House is willing to do to get serious about solving our debt crisis," he said, accusing the administration of failing to detail plans for significant spending cuts to correspond with desired tax revenue increases.
Obama and Boehner spoke by phone Wednesday night, sources told ABC News, their second conversation in four days. Boehner described it as "direct and straightforward," but suggested "disappointment" with Obama's reticence to waver on hiking tax rates on the wealthy.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in advance of his meeting with Geithner, said everything the White House has put down on the table so far has been "counterproductive," and he hopes that the Treasury Secretary brings "a specific plan from the president" with him today.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Watch: Fiscal Cliff Negotiations Deadline: Americans Voice Concerns
Powerball Jackpot Pools: Tips to Keep Friends, Avoid Court
Powerball Jackpot Swells to $550M
The Powerball jackpot just increased to a record $550 million ahead of tonight's hotly anticipated lottery drawing.
The allure of the record Powerball jackpot has led to long lines across the nation at local mini-marts and gas stations, with Americans hoping their champagne and caviar dreams become a reality when the numbers are drawn tonight.
The jackpot was boosted Tuesday from $425 million to the historic $500 million sum. The jackpot swelled Wednesday to $550 million as millions of Americans rush to the store for their last chance to purchase a ticket and become a multi-millionaire overnight.
Powerball officials tell ABC News they are selling 131,000 tickets every minute leading up to the drawing, up from the expected 105,000 a minute. When the dust settles, more than 189 million tickets would have been sold for the half a billion-dollar jackpot. That's more than double the number sold for Saturday's $325 jackpot that nobody won.
ABC News was allowed access to the Powerball studios in Tallahassee, Fla., where the 11 p.m. ET drawing will take place. The closely guarded machines and balls are locked in a vault before the numbers are drawn and only a select few are allowed inside the room during the actual broadcast.
Anyone who enters or leaves the vault is documented and workers who handle the lottery balls wear gloves, worried that human touch might change what numbers are randomly drawn.
Cameras are located in every nook and cranny of the Powerball studio, spying on workers as they ready the machines for the big moment. Lottery officials in several states will be watching those feeds in real time to monitor the proceedings.
Not everyone has Powerball fever in the country as tickets for tonight's jackpot are not offered in eight states. But that has not stopped many Californians and Nevadans who have flocked to Arizona to get in on the action.
"I'd say the line has to be like three, three and a half hours," one person told ABC News while waiting online to purchase tickets Tuesday.
Still, the long lines have not deterred those who hope to dramatically change their lifestyle and make their wildest dreams become a reality.
"I'm going to the Bahamas and enjoying myself on an island," said one Powerball hopeful.
Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Des Moines, Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association, said the chance of getting a winner tonight is approaching 60 percent.
"We call it the redneck retirement fund cause sooner or later, somebody is going to," said one man.
There has been no Powerball winner since Oct. 6 ' that's 16 consecutive drawings without a winner. It's the second-highest jackpot in US lottery history, behind only the $656 million Mega Millions prize in March.
Powerball tickets doubled in price in January to $2, and while the number of tickets sold initially dropped, sales revenue has increased by about 35 percent over 2011, according to the Associated Press.
Lottery officials put the odds of winning Wednesday's Powerball pot at one in 175 million. With so many people plaything this time around, some are worried it may hurt their odds.
"Your odds of being a winner are still the same. With so many people playing, it does mean are more likely to split the jackpot if you want," said Scott Norris, math professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Watch: Powerball Jackpot Reaches $550 Million
Powerball Jackpot Pools: Tips to Keep Friends, Avoid Court
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
GOP Senators 'Significantly Troubled' After Susan Rice Meeting
United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice's attempts to "make nice" with a trio of Republican senators who have criticized her response to the Sept. 11 terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, seem to have backfired.
The senators said they left their face-to-face meeting with Rice this morning "more concerned" and "significantly troubled."
The three Republicans, Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, said not only did Rice, who was joined by Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, not answer all their questions about the attack but did little to assuage their overall worries.
"We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got, and some that we didn't get concerning evidence that was overwhelming leading up to the attack on the consulate," McCain said.
"The concerns I have are greater today than before, and we're not even close to getting the basic answers," Graham said.
Today's meeting was seen as part of Rice's Capitol Hill "charm offensive," as her possible nomination to become the next secretary of state has met with some vocal opposition ' especially from McCain, Graham and Ayotte, who still seemed to steer clear of questions about whether they would stand in the way if Rice was nominated.
"Before anybody can make an intelligent decision about promoting someone involved in Benghazi, we need to do a lot more," Graham said. "To this date, we don't have the FBI interviews of the survivors conducted one or two days after the attack. We don't have the basic information about what was said the night of the attack ... as of this date."
Graham compared the situation to 2006, when Senate Democrats blocked the nomination of John Bolton, President Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador.
What the senators seemed to find most problematic was Rice's statement on the Sunday morning news shows days after the attack. At first, she said it was a "spontaneous" attack and not a terrorist attack.
Ayotte said that in today's meeting Rice called the information she first gave to the American people wrong.
"It's certainly clear from the beginning that we knew that those with ties to al Qaeda were involved in the attack on the embassy, and clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the American people, was wrong," Ayotte said.
Rice said in a statement following the meeting: "We explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: There was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. While, we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. We stressed that neither I nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved."
Ayotte said that as the U.N. ambassador, Rice should have stepped up and said that she couldn't go on the Sunday morning news shows and talk about the attack without complete information.
Graham, like Ayotte, said it would have been better not to have given any information at all.
Watch: Susan Rice Takes Republican Challengers Head On
New Hampshire Home Invasion: Doctor, Wife Hospitalized
Watch: Obama Back in Campaign Mode, Tackles Fiscal Cliff Crisis
New Hampshire Home Invasion: Doctor, Wife Hospitalized
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Watch: Cyber Monday Racks Up Online Sales
False Future?: Whistleblower says Colleges Deceive Students, Parents about Job Prospects Post Graduation
Inside Amazon's Mega Warehouse
The inner world of Amazon looks like a bustle of conveyor belts and bargains on Cyber Monday.
Amazon has 80 giant fulfillment centers strategically sprinkled around the globe that are ready to fulfill every order from click to delivery. The process follows miles of conveyer belts inside a massive 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse that is like the unseen shopping mall that never closes.
Josh Teeter is a former military intelligence officer and now the general manager of Amazon's Phoenix warehouse. The facility stocks everything from soccer balls to table cloths and one of the biggest tasks is making sure they always have enough of the right products.
"That's kind of the magic of Amazon and the selection. Making sure you have all that and it's here at the right time," Teeter said. "So we're the kind of customer facing side of that there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure we have the right product."
You won't find any robots inside Amazon's fulfillment centers. Orders pop up on a scanner, get plucked from a shelf by hand and are then dropped into a barcoded yellow bin.
Amazon added a small army of extra workers in its fulfillment centers just to handle the holidays and all those electronics, tie die fashion kits and heated pet bowls that absolutely must get out the door and fast.
"It gets very busy at this time, and folks work hard for sure but again, we bring in help we're hiring 50,000 seasonal employees to help meet that demand and we're excited," Corporate Vice President Craig Berman said.
Amazon has faced serious complaints that workers are pushed to the limit in tough conditions and encouraged not to report on the job injuries. But Berman was quick to point out that their employees actually make far better wages than their brick and mortar shopping mall counterparts.
"We are a company of constant improvement so these jobs are very, very safe jobs, and our wages, they're very well paying jobs," Berman said.
In 2010, Cyber Monday racked up 13 million individual Amazon items sold in 24 hours. Last year the number grew to 17 million. This year, the company says, will turn out to be the biggest yet.
One of Amazon's secrets is barcodes. Everything inside their warehouses has a bar code to find it, to ship it, to track it.
But how can they have everything from medieval chainmail to clock oil and binocular magnifying glasses on hand at all times? Only part of the answer is huge inventory. The other part comes from small business owners like Dan O'Donnell whose tiny jewelry supply store, which sells that clock oil, has exploded by selling through Amazon. These small businesses' stuff show's up on Amazon's website and Amazon gets a cut of the action.
But despite the huge inventory and third party sellers, Amazon still can't guarantee the lowest prices, so be sure to shop around for the best deals.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Watch: Sea Rescue Caught on Tape
False Future?: Whistleblower says Colleges Deceive Students, Parents about Job Prospects Post Graduation
Watch: False Future?: Whistleblower says Colleges Deceive Students, Parents about Job Prospects Post Graduation
False Future?: Whistleblower says Colleges Deceive Students, Parents about Job Prospects Post Graduation
Watch: Loathed and Loved: What We Never Knew About J.R. Ewing
False Future?: Whistleblower says Colleges Deceive Students, Parents about Job Prospects Post Graduation
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Watch: Fog Brings Deadly Pile-Up, Shuts Texas Interstate
Fog Brings Deadly Pile-Up, Shuts Texas Interstate
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Gaza Cease-Fire Largely Ends Rockets
The rockets and missiles fell silent over Gaza for the first time in eight days today, but gunfire erupted in the crowded streets of the Palestinian enclave to celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire in the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The two sides fired final salvos at one another up until the final moments before the 2 p.m. ET cease-fire deadline. At least one Israeli missile landed at 1:57 p.m. ET in Gaza, and four rockets were launched toward the Israeli province of Beer Sheva at 1:59 p.m. ET.
After 2 p.m. ET, however, the sky was finally empty of munitions.
Later, however, Israeli officials said several missiles from Gaza flew into Israel after the cease-fire.
The eight days of fighting left 130 Palestinians and five Israelis dead, and badly damaged many of Gaza's buildings. A bomb that exploded on a bus in Tel Aviv earlier today left an additional 10 Israelis wounded.
FULL COVERAGE: Israel-Gaza Conflict
The fighting came to an end after a meeting between Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"This is a critical moment for the region," Clinton said after the meeting, standing next to Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr to announce the deal.
"The people of this region deserve a chance to live free of fear and violence and today's agreement is a step" in that direction, Clinton said. "Now we have to focus on reaching a durable outcome."
PHOTOS: Israel, Hamas Fight Over Gaza
Clinton said that Egypt and the U.S. would help support the peace process going forward.
"Ultimately every step must move us toward a comprehensive peace for people of the region," she said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the cease-fire from Tel Aviv after Clinton's announcement.
"I agree that that it was a good idea to give an opportunity to the cease-fire... in order to enable Israeli citizens to return to their day to day lives," Netanyahu said.
He reiterated that it was vital to Israel's security to "prevent smuggling of arms to terrorist organizations" in the future.
An Israeli official told ABC News that the ceasefire would mean a "quiet for quiet" deal, in which both sides stop shooting and "wait and see what happens."
"Who knows if the ceasefire will even last two minutes," the official said. The official said that any possible agreement on borders and blockades on the Gaza/Israel border would come only after a period of quiet.
INFOGRAPHIC: Strike Point: Israel, Hamas, and the Unwinnable Conflict
Clinton and Morsi met for three hours in Cairo today to discuss an end to the violence. The secretary of state met with Netanyahu Tuesday night for more than two hours, saying she sought to "de-escalate the situation in Gaza."
The fighting dragged on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning despite Hamas officials declaring publicly Tuesday afternoon that they expected a cease-fire would be announced Tuesday night, after Clinton and Netanyahu's talks.
The airstrikes by the Israeli Defense Forces overnight hit government ministries, underground tunnels, a banker's empty villa and a Hamas-linked media office. At least four strikes within seconds of each other pulverized a complex of government ministries the size of a city block, rattling nearby buildings and shattering windows.
Hours later, clouds of acrid dust still hung over the area and smoke still rose from the rubble. Gaza health officials said there were no deaths or injuries.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Clinton Pledges to 'De-Escalate' Gaza Conflict
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met for more than two hours today behind closed doors with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, saying she sought to "de-escalate the situation in Gaza."
Clinton, who flew to Israel today, appeared with Netanyahu ahead of their 4 p.m. ET meeting to discuss a possible ceasefire to the fighting between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza.
"They discussed efforts to de-escalate the situation and bring about a sustainable outcome that protects Israel's security and improves the lives of civilians in Gaza," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a written statement after the meeting. "They also consulted on [Clinton's] impending stops in Ramallah and Cairo, including Egyptian efforts to advance de-escalation. They pledged to stay in close touch as she continues her travels."
The meeting came amid statements from Hamas earlier today that a ceasefire would soon be announced.
Netanyahu said he would prefer to use "diplomatic means" to find a solution to the fighting, but that Israel would take "whatever actions necessary" to defend its people.
"One of the things that we are doing is trying to resist and counter a terrorist barrage which is aimed directly at our civilians," Netanyahu said. "No country can tolerate a wanton attack on its civilians."
Clinton relayed a message from President Obama, reinforcing America's commitment to Israel's security and calling for an end to the rockets coming from "terrorist organizations in Gaza."
The Israel-Gaza Conflict in Pictures
"America's commitment to Israel's security is rock solid and unwavering. That is why we believe it is essential to de-escalate the situation in Gaza," Clinton said.
Clinton added that she would reiterate her message to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi during a meeting on Wednesday.
"President Obama has emphasized the same points in his multiple conversations with President Morsi of Egypt, and we appreciate President Morsi's personal leadership and Egypt's efforts thus far," she said. "As a regional leader and neighbor, Egypt has the opportunity and responsibility to continue playing a crucial and constructive role in this process. I will carry this message to Cairo tomorrow."
Clinton expressed her condolences for the Palestinian and Israeli civilians who have been killed in the violent outbreak.
The rocket fire between Israel and Hamas, which began six days ago, has claimed more than 130 Palestinian lives and five Israeli lives. Half the Palestinian deaths were civilians; four of the five Israelis were civilians. A ceasefire, if reached, would bring a halt to the worst violence between Gaza and Israel in four years.
Israeli officials told ABC News earlier today that a final deal had not been brokered between Israel and Hamas, and that if a pact were reached, it would not be announced until after midnight local time, or 5 p.m. ET.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told ABC News the news would be announced at a press conference in Cairo, where Morsi has been trying to broker an end to the fighting.
An Islamic Jihad website also reported that the ceasefire would go into effect tonight.
Clinton will also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the fighting.
In the meantime, however, Abu Zuhri called on all militant groups to continue firing rockets on Israel "in retaliation for the Israeli massacres."
Israeli missiles also continued to explode in Gaza while sirens sounded in Israel, signalling incoming rocket fire from Gaza.
Hamas said three Palestinian journalists were killed by an Israeli missile today, and Israel said one of its soldiers was killed by a Palestinian rocket today.
Gazans streamed out of northern neighborhoods during the afternoon after the Israel Defense Forces dropped leaflets telling residents to evacuate before dark. Scared Palestinians poured into Gaza City, cars and trucks piled high with belongings, many heading to schools for shelter.
ABC News' Matt Gutman contributed to this report
Watch: Travel Rush Begins: Americans Brace for Holiday Crowds
Middle East on Brink: Ceasefire for Israel, Hamas Expected This Week
Watch: Middle East on Brink: Ceasefire for Israel, Hamas Expected This Week
Middle East on Brink: Ceasefire for Israel, Hamas Expected This Week
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Israelis Kill Militant Commander
An Israeli strike on a Gaza City high-rise today has killed one of the top militant leaders of Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian militant group said.
The second strike in two days on the downtown Gaza City building that houses the Hamas TV station, Al Aqsa, has killed Ramez Harb, who is a leading figure in Al Quds Brigades militant wing, according to a text message Islamic Jihad sent to reporters.
Witnesses told the AP that the Israeli airstrike, part of a widening effort to suppress Hamas rocket fire into Israel, struck the building Monday afternoon, and ambulances quickly rushed to the scene. Paramedics told the AP that one person was killed and several wounded.
It is also the second high profile commander taken out in the Israeli offensive, which began six days ago with a missile strike that killed Ahmed Jibari, Hamas' top military commander.
Today mourners buried the 11 victims of an Israeli air strike on Sunday, the single deadliest incident since the escalation between Hamas and Israel began Wednesday. Among the dead were nine members of the Daloo family, killed when an Israeli warplane targeted their home in Gaza City while trying to kill a Hamas rocket maker, whose fate is unknown.
Palestinian deaths climbed to 96 Monday when four more, including two children, were killed in a strike on a sports stadium the Israel Defense Forces said was being used to launch rockets. Gaza health officials said half of those killed were children, women or elderly men.
With the death toll rising, Egypt accelerated efforts to broker a cease-fire, but so far the two sides are far apart. Egypt is being supported by Qatar and Turkey in its peacemaking mission and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to arrive at the talks later today.
President Obama called Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today to discuss ways to reduce tensions and bring the fighting to a halt.
Israel carried out 80 air strikes this morning, down from previous morning totals. There were 75 militant rocket launches, the Israeli military said, also a relatively low tally. The Israel Defense Forces said that since Wednesday, around 1,100 strikes had been carried out in Gaza while militants have launched about 1,000 rockets towards Israel.
Three Israeli civilians died from militant rocket fire in one attack Thursday and dozens have been wounded.
Sunday proved to be one the deadliest days of what Israel has called "Operation Pillar of Defense" with at least 23 Palestinians reported killed. Of those, at least 14 were women and children, according to a Gaza health official. The Israel Defense Forces told ABC News it was targeting Hamas rocket maker Yehiya Bia, who lives near the Daloo family in a densely populated Gaza neighborhood and has not been accounted for.
Israel shifted its tactics this weekend from striking rocket arsenals and firing positions to targeting the homes of senior Hamas commanders and the offices of Hamas politicians in Gaza. Doing so brought the violence into Gaza's most densely populated areas.
Israel hit two high-rise buildings Sunday that house the offices of Hamas and international media outlets, injuring at least six journalists.
Watch: Petraeus Sex Scandal: Paula Broadwell May Face Criminal Charges
Indianapolis Blast Now a Criminal Investigation
Watch: Middle East on the Brink: Israel Prepared to Invade Gaza
Indianapolis Blast Now a Criminal Investigation
Monday, November 19, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Israeli, Palestinian Truce Cracks
Israeli air strikes and rocket launches from the Gaza Strip stretched into the third day despite talk of a temporary truce.
Israel said it would stop its aerial bombardment of Gaza as Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil visits the narrow enclave, but Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets toward Israel amid the sounds of Israeli missiles landing in Gaza City.
Sirens wailed today in Jerusalem, one of the holiest cities in the world, as it became a target for the first time in this conflict.
"Of course," one member of a militant group told ABC News, "we wouldn't fire rockets if Israel wasn't killing us."
Israel said that more than 150 sites had been targeted overnight, including weapons depots and rocket-launching sites. About 20,000 Israeli reservists have now been drafted as Israeli troops and tanks mass along the border of the Gaza Strip -- apparent preparations for a ground invasion.
Fighting between the two sides escalated sharply Thursday with the first rocket attack from Gaza on Tel Aviv during this burst of violence. No casualties were reported, but three Israelis died in the country's rocket-scarred south when a projectile slammed into an apartment building. More than 550 rockets have been launched at Israel so far, though the military said that one-third had been intercepted by the anti-missile Iron Dome system.
The last time rockets threatened Tel Aviv was during the 1991 Gulf War when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein fired scud missiles into the city.
The death toll in the densely populated Palestinian territory now stands at 30. They are mostly civilians and include at least six children.
The Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas militants have exchanged verbal jabs over social media. Israel tweeted Thursday through its @idfspokesperson, "We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead."
The Israeli Defense Forces Twitter account has gained more than 50,000 followers in the past 24 hours.
Hamas fired back through its account, @AlQassamBrigade, "Our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are (You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves)."
Back in Washington, President Obama has been fielding calls from leaders across the Middle East on the mounting violence.
Aboard Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Thursday that the administration strongly condemns the ongoing rocket fire from Gaza.
"Hamas claims to have the best interest of the Palestinian people at heart, yet it continues to engage in violence that is counterproductive to the Palestinian cause," Carney said.
Israeli has targeted more than 250 sites across Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, since the operation dubbed "Pillar of Defense" began Wednesday evening.
The first strike was on Ahmed Jabari, the chief of staff of the military wing of Hamas, the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades.
It was followed by a wave of airstrikes on other militants, buildings and installations, notably launching sites and rockets, which included the long-range Fajar rockets.
Gaza Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh vowed revenge for Jabari's death.
"His blood will not be in vain," Haniyeh said.
The last time the region saw this amount of violence was four years ago when Israel conducted air and ground invasions of Gaza. It lasted three weeks and left more than 1,400 people dead.
Watch: Gulf Coast Oil Rig Bursts Into Flames; 2 Workers Missing, 4 Injured
Gulf Coast Oil Rig Bursts Into Flames; 2 Workers Missing, 4 Injured
Watch: Hamas Fires Rockets at Jerusalem
Gulf Coast Oil Rig Bursts Into Flames; 2 Workers Missing, 4 Injured
Friday, November 16, 2012
Israeli Tanks Move Toward Border
Israeli troops and tanks moved toward the border of the Gaza Strip today and the government authorized the call-up of reservists as air strikes failed to halt the rounds of rockets being fired from the Hamas-controlled territory.
The U.S. State Department today blamed Hamas for the escalation of violence.
Click here for scenes from Gaza during the air strikes and rocket attacks.
"This is violence instigated by Hamas," said Mark Toner, the department's deputy spokesman. "As we've said very clearly in our statement yesterday, that we extend our sympathies to the victims, innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians that have been affected by this violence. But let's be very clear where the onus lies."
Israeli air strikes that hit more than 150 targets across Gaza since the operation dubbed "Pillar of Defense" began Wednesday evening.
The first strike was on Ahmed Jabari, the chief of staff of the military wing of Hamas, the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades.
It was followed by a wave of airstrikes on other militants, buildings and installations, notably launching sites and rockets, which included the long-range Fajar rockets that could reach Tel Aviv.
Hamas sources said a dozen Palestinians have been killed, including at least two children. One child was just 11 months old.
"What did my son do to die like this?" the child's father cried.
Today, Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh vowed revenge for Jabari's death.
"His blood will not be in vain," Haniyeh said.
Hamas and other militant groups retaliated against Israel with a fresh barrage of rockets that killed at least three Israelis -- the first Israeli deaths in the escalation -- in the southern town of Kiryat Malakhi.
At least one rocked from Gaza militants landed in Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, as sirens blared and residents ran for cover.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups have fired more than 200 rockets into southern Israel today, according to Israel's military.
"We are still at the beginning of the event, not at the end, and we expect some complicated tests ahead," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a nationally televised address Monday night, standing next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to The Associated Press, Israel has started moving its troops toward Gaza and has called up reservists in anticipation of a ground operation. Military officials, however, had not decided whether to enter Gaza, the AP reported.
Israeli officials say the operation is in response to more than 800 rockets that have landed in Israel this year.
Barak laid out the four goals of "Pillar of Defense": to strengthen deterrence, damage the rocket launching network, hit Hamas and its allies and to minimize the damage in Israel.
When the Israeli offensive began Monday, its military tweeted, "We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead."
Hamas fired back saying that Israel "opened the gates of hell" by assassinating Jabari.
Watch: Inside the Petraeus Scandal: Did Broadwell and Kelley Profit?
Train Hits 18-Wheeler Full of Veterans, 4 Dead
Watch: Israel and Hamas on the Edge: Death Toll Climbs in Gaza
Train Hits 18-Wheeler Full of Veterans, 4 Dead
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Watch: General John Allen's Relationship With Jill Kelley
Gen. John Allen Scandal: Investigation of 'Inappropriate Relationship'
Petraeus Affair: Who Is Jill Kelley?
The Florida socialite whose report of harassing emails from Paula Broadwell ultimately led to the resignation of CIA director Gen. David Petraeus forged close ties with top military and intelligence officials in Tampa, hosting lavish parties at her waterfront mansion and earning accolades as an "honorary ambassador" to the military and an honorary consul general for Korea.
But detractors say that Jill Kelley, 37, is a social climber whose lavish lifestyle is now threatened by millions of dollars in debt and possible foreclosure on her home, and who tried to exploit her connections, perhaps even enlisting Gen. Petraeus in her sister's bitter child custody fight.
Jill Kelley and her twin sister Natalie Khawam grew up in the Philadelphia area, daughters of a Lebanese immigrant couple who owned a local restaurant. Jill and Natalie would appear together on a 2003 episode of a Food Channel program called "Food Fight," in which they dressed in designer clothes while cooking alligator in a cook-off against two brothers.
After Kelley and her husband Scott, a cancer surgeon, moved to Tampa, Khawam came to live with them and their three children in their $1.5 million home on Bayshore Boulevard.
In Tampa, Kelley volunteered her time to support the military, planning and hosting charitable events for CENTCOM, the Defense Department's Central Command, which is based at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base and has responsibility for directing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kelley, her husband and her sister Natalie became friendly with major players, including both Gen. Petraeus and Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
"Jill is known as a gracious host, a vivacious individual," said Aaron Fodiman, editor and publisher of Tampa Bay Magazine.
Kelley's social efforts on behalf of the military earned her the unpaid title of "honorary ambassador" to Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, and she was also named honorary counsel for South Korea.
In a statement, Kelley and her husband Scott said they are close friends with the Petraeus family. The families have spent the holidays together several times over the years and celebrated Christmas together last year, according to Petraeus' daughter Anne's personal blog.
"Our friends from Tampa (the twins Jill and Natalie, plus Jill's husband Scott and their three little girls, as well as Natalie's 2-year-old son John) were in town and came over for an afternoon feast and presents at our place," she wrote in the blog.
"There was no question they were friends," said Fodiman, "and no reason why they wouldn't be friends." See the timeline of the Petraeus/Broadwell affair HERE.
This summer when Kelley received anonymous e-mails accusing her of flaunting a friendly relationship with military brass in Tampa, she called the FBI, which traced those e-mails back to the computer of Paula Broadwell, co-author of the Petraeus biography "All In." Investigators are said to have found emails in Broadwell's inbox that pointed to an intimate affair with Petraeus. Petraeus announced his resignation as CIA director on Friday.
After the media spotlight turned from Broadwell to Kelley, questions about Kelley's lifestyle and her ties to the military surfaced.
Watch: Gen. John Allen Scandal: Investigation of 'Inappropriate Relationship'
Gen. John Allen Scandal: Investigation of 'Inappropriate Relationship'
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Why FBI Kept Petraeus Affair From White House
The FBI withheld its findings about Gen. David Petreaus' affair from the White House and congressional leaders because the agency considered them the result of a criminal investigation that never reached the threshold of an intelligence probe, law enforcement sources said today.
The sources said agents followed department guidelines that generally bar sharing information about developing criminal investigations. The FBI is also aware of its history under former director J. Edgar Hoover of playing politics and digging into the lives of public figures. As one official said, the rules are designed to protect people (both private and elected officials) when negative information about them arises in the course of a criminal investigation that is not a crime.
The FBI's focus was on whether laws were broken, in this case whether federal cyber-harassment statutes were violated. The sources emphasized that Petraeus himself was never the focus of the investigation, nor did it turn up evidence he broke any law.
The focus was on his biographer, Paula Broadwell, with whom he had the affair that led to his resignation as CIA director last week.
Officials said it took time to trace the harassing emails that she allegedly sent to another woman back to her.
Because Petraeus' name was involved, criminal investigators kept an open eye for potential national security violations. They had to investigate Broadwell's background but found no evidence she was a spy.
FBI agents were at the Broadwell home in North Carolina Monday night to carry out a consensual search that had been arranged with her lawyers, law enforcement sources said. The search was to locate additional classified material on computers or documents in the home, the sources said.
Broadwell appears to be cooperating with investigators in an effort to make this go away, to show that she has nothing else to hide, the sources said.
But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor knew of Petraeus' affair with Broadwell almost two weeks before the former CIA director resigned his post.
A senior Cantor aide told ABC News that the Republican congressman from Virginia learned about the FBI investigation that brought the affair to light in a phone conversation with an FBI agent Oct. 27.
Cantor then asked his chief-of-staff to pass the information along to the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller. Cantor spoke to no one else about the investigation, the aide said.
Hurricane Sandy delayed the message to Mueller until Oct. 31. Petraeus admitted the extramarital relationship and submitted his resignation nine days later.
Meanwhile, Fury is an inadequate description for the former-CIA director's wife, Holly Petraeus' reaction after she learned that her husband had an affair with Broadwell, a former spokesman for David Petraeus told ABC News.
"Well, as you can imagine, she's not exactly pleased right now," retired U.S. Army Col. Steve Boylan said. "In a conversation with David Petraeus this weekend, he said that, 'Furious would be an understatement.' And I think anyone that's been put in that situation would probably agree. He deeply hurt the family."
As for Petraeus, the retired Army general who resigned as CIA director last week after admitting the extramarital relationship, he, "first of all, deeply regrets and knows how much pain this has caused his family," Boylan added.
"He had a huge job and he felt he was doing great work and that is all gone now."
Petraeus knows "this was poor judgment on his part. It was a colossal mistake. ... He's acknowledged that," Boylan said.
One result is that Petraeus could possibly face military prosecution for adultery if officials turn up any evidence to counter his apparent claims that the affair began after he left the military.
But Boylan says the affair between Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell, both of whom are married, began several months after his retirement from the Army in August 2011 and ended four months ago.
Broadwell, 40, had extraordinary access to the 60-year-old general during six trips she took to Afghanistan as his official biographer, a plum assignment for a novice writer.
"For him to allow the very first biography to be written about him, to be written by someone who had never written a book before, seemed very odd to me," former Petraeus aide Peter Mansoor told ABC News.
The timeline of the relationship, according to Petraeus, would mean that he was carrying on the affair for the majority of his tenure at the CIA, where he began as director Sept. 6, 2011. If he carried on the affair while serving in the Army, however, Petraeus could face charges, according to Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which reprimands conduct "of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces."
Whether the military would pursue such action, whatever evidence it accumulates, is unclear.
As the details of the investigation launched by the FBI unraveled this weekend, it became clear that the woman at the heart of the inquiry that led to Petraeus' downfall had been identified as Jill Kelley, a Florida woman who volunteers to help the military. She is a family friend of Petraeus, who Broadwell apparently felt threatened by.
Kelley and her husband are longtime supporters of the military, and six months ago she was named "Honorary Ambassador to Central Command" for her volunteer work with the military. Officials say Kelley is not romantically linked to Petraeus, but befriended the general and his wife when he was stationed in Florida. The Kelleys spent Christmases in group settings with the Petraeuses and visited them in Washington D.C., where Kelley's sister and her son live.
"We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years." Kelley said in a statement Sunday. "We respect his and his family's privacy and want the same for us and our three children."
Earlier this year, around the time that Petraeus and Broadwell were breaking off their affair, Kelley began receiving anonymous emails, which she found so threatening she went to authorities. The FBI traced the messages to Broadwell's computer, where they found other salacious and explicit emails between Broadwell and Petraeus that made it clear to officials that the two were carrying on an affair.
Investigators uncovered no compromising of classified information or criminal activity, sources familiar with the probe said, adding that all that was found was a lot of "human drama."
Watch: Paula Broadwell: The Woman Who Shocked the Political World
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Watch: The Petraeus Sex Scandal: Timeline of Gen. David Petraeus' Affair
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Monday, November 12, 2012
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General Petraeus Announces Resignation, Admits to Affair
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General Petraeus Announces Resignation, Admits to Affair
Saturday, November 10, 2012
David Petraeus Resigns From CIA, Citing Affair
CIA Director David Petraeus has resigned his position, citing personal reasons and an extramarital affair.
"Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the president to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position as D/CIA," he said in a statement. "After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation."
Sources familiar with the investigation tell ABC News that Petraeus was having an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
The FBI was investigating Broadwell, for strange activity on the Internet when it discovered some emails that raised concerns, according to officials familiar with the probe.
WATCH: Paula Broadwell interviewed on the "Around The World with Christiane Amanpour"
Petraeus, a former Army general who led the surge into Iraq under former President Bush and also led U.S. troops in Afghanistan before taking over the CIA, is one of the most respected and influential generals of his time. His wife, Holly, has worked with the Obama administration to help military families.
He was scheduled to testify next week on Capitol Hill behind closed doors about the death of four Americans, including two working for the CIA. They died at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Sept. 11. Holes in security at the consulate have been the subject of an internal government investigation at the State Department and a congressional inquiry.
A U.S. official stressed that Petraeus' decision to step down had "absolutely nothing to do with Benghazi." Planned congressional hearings on the Benghazi incident will continue as planned with CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell filling in for Petraeus as acting director.
A senior U.S. official also told ABC News that Morell is expected to be named the permanent replacement atop the CIA.
President Obama reacted to the resignation with a written statement.
"David Petraeus has provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades," Obama said. "By any measure, he was one of the outstanding general officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end.
"As director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he has continued to serve with characteristic intellectual rigor, dedication, and patriotism. By any measure, through his lifetime of service David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger."
There was no mention of the affair or the circumstances of Petraeus' resignation.
"Today, I accepted his resignation as director of the Central Intelligence Agency," Obama continued. "I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission, and I have the utmost confidence in Acting-Director Michael Morell and the men and women of the CIA who work every day to keep our nation safe.
"Going forward, my thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Holly Petraeus, who has done so much to help military families through her own work. I wish them the very best at this difficult time," the president added.
The news shocked official Washington. Petraeus was perhaps the military's most-respected general of his generation. He was a problem-solver entrusted with key roles by two presidents from different parties.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she wished that Obama had not accepted Petraeus' resignation.
"I wish President Obama had not accepted this resignation, but I understand and respect the decision," Feinstein said in a statement. "This is an enormous loss for our nation's intelligence community and for our country."
Flashback: Martha Raddatz profiled David Petraeus when he retired from the military. Watch that here.
In his statement, Petraeus said, "As I depart Langley, I want you to know that it has been the greatest of privileges to have served with you, the officers of our Nation's Silent Service, a work force that is truly exceptional in every regard. Indeed, you did extraordinary work on a host of critical missions during my time as director, and I am deeply grateful to you for that.
"Teddy Roosevelt once observed that life's greatest gift is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing. I will always treasure my opportunity to have done that with you and I will always regret the circumstances that brought that work with you to an end," Petraeus added.
There were no further details about the circumstances surrounding the affair or Petraeus' departure.
Watch: Petraeus' Fall from Grace; Details of the Extramarital Affair
General Petraeus Announces Resignation, Admits to Affair
Watch: General Petraeus Announces Resignation, Admits to Affair
General Petraeus Announces Resignation, Admits to Affair
Friday, November 9, 2012
Watch: House Speaker John Boehner Discusses Working With President Obama
Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly Face Jared Lee Loughner at Sentencing
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Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly Face Jared Lee Loughner at Sentencing
Boehner Calls Raising Tax Rates 'Unacceptable'
Raising tax rates is "unacceptable" to House Speaker John Boehner as he prepares to open negotiations on the looming "fiscal cliff" with the president and congressional Democrats, he told "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer today in an exclusive interview.
"Raising tax rates is unacceptable," Boehner, R-Ohio, said in his first broadcast interview since the election Tuesday.
"Frankly, it couldn't even pass the House. I'm not sure it could pass the Senate."
That stance could set up a real showdown with the White House given that the president has said he would veto any deal that does not allow tax cuts for the rich to expire. But the speaker said that Republicans would put new tax revenue on the table as leaders work toward a deal.
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"I would do that if the president was serious about solving our spending problem and trying to secure our entitlement programs," Boehner said. "If you're increasing taxes on small-business people, it's the wrong approach."
Nevertheless, Boehner added that he is at least willing to listen to the president's proposals, even if they clash with his party's principles.
"Of course, we'll talk about it. We talk about all kinds of things we may disagree on," Boehner said. "I'm the most reasonable, responsible person here in Washington. The president knows it. He knows that he and I can work together. The election's over. Now it's time to get to work."
The fiscal cliff is a mix of tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect at the end of the year that could sink the economy back into recession. Boehner told Sawyer he imagines that negotiations on a bipartisan deal will begin soon, although he did not reveal whether any talks had already been scheduled.
Still, he said he hoped the framework of a deal could be completed by the end of the year in order to direct the next Congress to work out the details.
"The American people elected new representatives," he said. "They're the ones who ought to be the ones to do this.
"There are things that we can do in the lame duck to avert the fiscal crisis, but we want to do this the right way. We don't want to rush through this in the next two to three weeks. And what do you get? You can't rewrite the tax code in the next two or three weeks. And, so, there's a lot of possibilities in terms of how we proceed, and I'm confident that we can."
Boehner also said he welcomes back Rep. Paul Ryan, whose profile has exploded since he was chosen by Mitt Romney as the vice presidential nominee. Ryan won re-election to his House seat in Wisconsin at the same time he lost the vice presidency, but Boehner demurred when asked whether his place on the presidential ticket would increase his leadership profile.
"Because he ran for the vice presidency, is he the leader of the Republican party now?" Sawyer asked.
"Oh, I wouldn't think so. Paul Ryan's a policy wonk," Boehner said. "He's involved in the cause of trying to bring us pro-growth economic agendas for America and making sure that we're doing this in a fiscally responsible way.
"I'm glad that Paul Ryan's coming back to the Congress. I would expect he would continue as chairman of the Budget Committee," he said.
"Probably nobody in the Congress knows more about pro-growth economic policies other than Paul Ryan. I don't think there's many people in the Congress who understand the entitlement crisis that we're facing more than Paul Ryan. I think he'll be an important voice in this discussion and in this debate."
Boehner also said that once he saw that Mitt Romney would lose the race for the White House, he went to sleep at about 11:15 p.m. on election night with the realization that he would wake up to divided government, but still "slept like a baby."
"I may not like the five cards that have been dealt to me, but those are the cards I've got in my hand, and my job on behalf of the American people is to find a way to vote with my Democratic colleagues and a Democratic president to solve America's problems," he said. "If there was one mandate that came out of the election, it was find a way to work together to address our problems."
Sawyer asked the speaker whether Romney should take responsibility for those election results, but Boehner said he is proud of his campaign.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Obama Promises the 'Best Is Yet to Come'
President Obama won a second term tonight as ABC News projects he will be re-elected and he promised his thrilled supporters "that for the United States of America the best is yet to come."
Obama appeared before thousands of cheering Democrats to the beat of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed and Delivered" after securing a strong electoral lead, although he just eked out victories in key states.
He congratulated his opponent Mitt Romney and said, "In the weeks ahead I am looking forward to sitting down with Gov. Romney to discuss how we can move this country forward."
Click HERE to watch President Obama's full acceptance speech.
In a victory speech studded with the soaring rhetoric that first drew voters to him in 2008, Obama reminded the electorate what was still on his agenda -- immigration reform, climate change and job creation.
"Tonight, you voted for action not politics as usual." he told supporters in Chicago. "You elected us to focus on your job, not ours."
Obama told Romney supporters that "I have listened to you' you have made me a better president."
He added, "I return to the White House more determined, more inspired than ever."
The election is a validation, if not an overwhelming mandate, in support of the president's policies of the last four years, which included a major overhaul of the healthcare system and a drawdown of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama built a coalition of young people, minorities, and college educated women and won by turning out supporters with a carefully calibrated ground operation to get out the vote in crucial states like Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin.
He thanked those who voted "whether you voted for very first time, or waited in line for a very long time -- by the way we have to fix that," he joked.
He thanked Vice President Joe Biden, whom he called "America's best happy warrior" and first lady Michele Obama.
"Sasha and Malia," he said addressing his two daughters. "You're growing up to be two strong, smart, beautiful young women'I'm so proud of you. But I will say for now, one dog is probably enough," he said riffing on his promise of a puppy four years ago.
Prior to the president's speech, Mitt Romney conceded gracefully in Boston.
"I so wish that I had been able to fufill your hopes....but the nation chose another leader," Romney told heart broken supporters at his Boston headquarters.
"I pray the president will be successful in guiding our nation," Romney said before running mate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and their families joined Romney on the podium.
Obama's lease on the White House was renewed with a crucial victory in Ohio.
Celebrations erupted in Obama's home town of Chicago, in New York's Time Square and outside the White House, while Romney's Boston headquarters went mournfully quiet.
"We're all in this together. That's how we campaigned, and that's who we are. Thank you," Obama tweeted even before formally announcing his victory.
Nevertheless, it was a squeaker. In Florida and Virginia, states that were key to both candidates, Obama and Romney were separated by a single percentage point. Ohio also was close, with the candidates also separated by a point late into the vote count. And the popular vote was nearly split evenly down the middle nationally.
With counting still going on and before Florida had been called, Obama led with a significant electoral lead, 303 votes 203.
After a campaign for the White House and both houses of Congress that cost more than $6 billion, the make up of all three branches remains very much the same as it was before the election. Obama remains in the White House, Democrats retain control of the Senate and Republicans continue to control the House.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Tearful Obama Ends Campaign in Iowa
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
DES MOINES, Iowa ' At one point even feeling the need to wipe a tear from his eye, President Obama ended his presidential campaign Monday night with an emotional appeal to voters in the state that started it all, asking Iowans to help him finish what he started four years ago.
'We have made real progress over these last four years,' the president told an estimated crowd of 20,000 standing outside in the bitter cold. 'But Iowa we are here tonight because we have more work to do. We are not done yet on this journey. We have more road to travel.'
Tune in to ABCNews.com on Tuesday, Nov. 6 for livestreaming coverage of Election 2012. Our Election Day show kicks off at noon, and the Election Night event begins at 7 p.m.
Just steps away from the campaign office set up for his improbable victory in the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, a nostalgic Obama told Iowans they taught him 'to bet on hope.'
'To all of you who have lived and breathed the hard work of change, I want to thank you. You took this campaign and you made it your own,' he said as he wiped away a tear streaming from his left eye. Obama concluded the final event of his self-proclaimed 'last campaign' by retelling the story of Edith Childs, the South Carolina woman who coined his 'fired up, ready to go' rallying cry. It's the same anecdote he told in the final rally of his 2008 campaign.
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'That shows you what one voice can do. One voice can change a room. And if it can change a room, it can change a city. And if it can change a city, it can change a state. And if it can change a state, it can change a nation. And if it can change a nation, it can change a world,' Obama said as he fought through a hoarse voice at his third rally of the day in as many states. The president said that he'd tried to arrange for Childs to attend this final rally, but she told him she still believed he could win North Carolina on Tuesday, and she was going to knock on doors to help get out the vote.
'Iowa, in 2008 your voice changed the world. And Edith Childs asked me to ask you that if you're willing to still stand with me tomorrow' If you're willing to make sure we finish what we started, she's pretty sure we'll win Iowa. She's pretty sure we'll win this election ,' he continued to cheers and applause.
'She just had one question for you. Are you fired up?,' he asked as the crowd chanted back 'ready to go!' 'Iowa, tomorrow let's remind the world just why the United States of America is the greatest nation on earth.'
Survivors Speak on Sandy Ship Sinking
Crew members from the HMS Bounty, who were rescued as the tall ship sank of the coast of North Carolina last week, are speaking for the first time about their experience as they weathered Hurricane Sandy and the loss of two of their crew mates.
The dramatic sinking of the Bounty and harrowing rescue of its crew last Monday created some of the most enduring images during Hurricane Sandy. In an ABC News exclusive, the ship's 14 surviving crew members are opening up about their rescue after they tried to weather the storm.
They described the chaos as they abandoned ship and the Bounty was slammed by a giant wave. The 14 survivors, still together a week after the disaster, are still chiefly concerned with honoring those who didn't make it -- their captain, Robin Wallbridge, and deckhand Claudine Christian.
For first mate John Svendsen the call to abandon ship was one of the toughest he'd ever made.
"We determined a safe time when we knew the ship would still be stable and we could get everyone on deck and change our focus from saving the ship to saving every life," said Svendsen, who credits Capt. Wallbridge's endless drills and preparation for the 14 lives that were saved.
But the ship's leadership lost all control once a giant wave broadsided the ship, knocking some of the crew -- already in their survival suits -- into the roiling sea.
"It was [like a] washing machine in an earthquake ' while going down a giant slide," crewmember Laura Groves told ABC News.
The crew says their unexpected adventure began on October 25, as the ship set sail from Connecticut. Captain Wallbridge wrote on Facebook that with Hurricane Sandy on the move, "a ship is safer at sea than in port." But three days into the voyage, the crew found themselves in the middle of the ferocious storm, with heaving waves three stories high.
"The weather was so bad and we had so little control," said Douglas Faunt.
"It took every ounce of my strength to focus through to survive," said first mate Svendsen.
Winds were tearing at the crew at 70 mph, and by the fourth day the ship, which was constructed for the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty" and later featured in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," had been taking on water for 24 hours.
Crew members on the Bounty had trained for rough weather countless times, they said.
"We been through two other hurricanes," Daniel Cleveland said. "We were literally launching the life rafts, and she went over."
The ship was thrown on its side, tossing crew members into the waves. They wore red survival suits designed to help them float.
"At that moment I couldn't be sure who the red suits were around me," Cleveland said.
Hours after being thrown into the water and clambering into the life rafts, they began to hear the beating rotors of Coast Guard helicopters. But they were far from safe, with the weather uncertain and one of the most daring Coast Guard rescues in memory underway.
"When the helicopters showed up, I think everyone in the life raft just started hooting and hollering," Cleveland said.
Suddenly a Coast Guard rescue swimmer launched himself from a chopper and swam toward them -- popping his head into their raft and heaving himself in.
Obama, Romney Battle for Mantle of 'Change'
Voters go to the polls today to decide a dead even race between President Obama and Mitt Romney'two candidates for the nation's highest office, battling for ownership of the mantle of "change."
Obama, as an insurgent and historic candidate in 2008, used soaring rhetoric of hope and change to convince a jaded and economically insecure nation that its best days were ahead. But it remains to be seen tonight whether the durability of his message and his appeal will survive for a second term or was seen by voters as little more than flowering rhetoric.
"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there," Obama said on election night 2008.
Tune in to ABCNews.com on Tuesday, Nov. 6 for livestreaming coverage of Election 2012. Our Election Day show kicks off at noon, and the Election Night event begins at 7 p.m.
Four years later, it is that same message that Romney has adopted on the trail, promising to foster the economic growth he says Obama has failed to deliver as president.
"President Obama promised change, but he could not deliver it. I promise change, and I have a record of achieving it," Romney states in what has become a key part of his closing argument in the final days of the campaign.
After a 19-month long campaign, the two men are statistically tied in nearly every major poll in the final days, including the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Obama's reelection predicament is as much a product of the harsh reality of the country's rapid fall into economic recession in Obama's first year in office, as it is a reflection of the reality of partisan gridlock that characterized Obama's first term in office and has tarnished his 2008 promise to change the way Washington works.
Despite coming to the White House cushioned by a near 60-vote super majority in the Senate and a 78-vote majority in the House of Representatives, Obama faced opposition nearly immediately when he sought approval for a $787 billion stimulus package.
As president, the man who campaigned on bringing the country together, who pledged to "heal the divides that have held back our great progress," trudged week after week to the halls of Congress in the first weeks of his presidency'courting votes from resistant Republicans who opposed the bill's massive price tag and many of its component parts. In the end, not a single Republican would back the bill.
And so it went, bill after bill. First the failure of comprehensive climate change legislation, then the difficult passage of the health care bill which became law on March 23, 2010 after a year of acrimonious debate, again without the help of a single Republican vote.
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The health care legislation also touched off historic backlash in the form of the "Don't Tread on Me" Tea Party movement, which first exploded at congressional town hall meetings across the country, and eventually drove Republicans to a majority in the House and shrank the Democratic Senate majority to 51 votes on an anti-tax, deficit reduction platform.
It is as the leader of this political party that Mitt Romney, a Republican governor from the Democratic state of Massachusetts, emerged.
To do it, he would need to amass a political apparatus early that could endure a long and bruising Republican primary, and raise enough money to compete against Obama's demonstrated ability to raise nearly $800 million.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Fla. County to Extend Early Voting
A judge extended early voting hours in one Florida county on Sunday after the state Democratic Party sued in an effort to give people more time at the polls.
Some voters had faced waits several hours long on Saturday, the last scheduled day of early voting. The judge ruled on a lawsuit filed late Saturday in Orange County after an early voting site was shut down for several hours. The Winter Park library was evacuated when a suspicious package ' a cooler ' was found outside. It was later detonated by a local bomb squad.
Bill Cowles, the Orange County elections supervisor, said that voters who show up on Sunday will be asked to use a provisional ballot. The extra hours will be offered at only the Winter Park library.
A Republican Party spokesman said the party was not challenging the decision. Brian Burgess said state law requires provisional ballots to be used whenever a court orders an extension of voting hours.
The Democratic state party also filed a federal lawsuit Sunday morning seeking more voting time in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Voting in Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach County didn't wrap up until early Sunday morning because voters standing in line when the polls closed were allowed to vote.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and other Democrats asked Gov. Rick Scott this past week to use his emergency powers to extend early voting. The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature last year cut the number of days available for early voting from a maximum of 14 days to eight days.
Scott and state election officials, however, turned down the extension requests. Secretary of State Ken Detzner maintained that there was not a true emergency that justified the extension. Chris Cate, a spokesman for Detzner, said that the state did not plan to appeal the decision to reopen the Winter Park location.
The federal lawsuit says counties should offer absentee ballot voting at local election offices if early voting cannot be extended. Both Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties said they planned to do that.
"I decided to open because we are allowed to do so," said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher.
Bucher noted that voting in her county did not wrap up until 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Her office started accepting absentee ballots at 9 a.m.
Christina White, deputy supervisor with Miami-Dade County, said the county also decided to accept absentee ballots for four hours on Sunday at its main office.
"We are hoping that (the Democratic Party) is happy with that," White said.
Broward County is also allowing voters to pick up absentee ballots on Sunday, but only if they made an appointment in advance.
Absentee ballot voting differs from early voting in that voters must fill out their ballot, place it an envelope and then sign it. The ballot envelopes are opened later and then fed into voting machines.
During early voting, voters place their ballots directly into the voting machines.
The Orange County lawsuit asked that early voting be extended at Winter Park and that the court ask local television and radio stations to let voters know about it.
The lawsuit included sworn statements from several voters who said they waited in line for hours and were turned away because voting was suspended at the site. A volunteer with the campaign of President Barack Obama said that the crowd of voters dwindled from 300 to just 40 after voting was halted.
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Nor'easter Following in Superstorm Sandy's Path
Commuters streaming into New York City on Monday endured long waits and crowded trains, giving the recovering transit system a stress test a week after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the eastern third of the country, with New York and New Jersey bearing the brunt of the destruction.
Trains were so crowded Monday on the Long Island Rail Road that dozens of people missed their trains. With PATH trains between New Jersey and Manhattan still out, lines for the ferry in Jersey City quickly stretched to several hundred people by daybreak.
One commuter in line pleaded into his cellphone, "Can I please work from home? This is outrageous," but many more took the complicated commute as just another challenge after a difficult week.
"There's not much we can do. We'll get there whatever time we can, and our jobs have to understand. It's better late than absent," said Louis Holmes of Bayonne, as he waited to board a ferry in Jersey City to his job as a security guard at Manhattan's Sept. 11 memorial site.
The good news in New York City was that, unlike last week, service on key subway lines connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn under the East River had been restored. But officials warned that other water-logged tunnels still weren't ready for Monday's rush hour and that fewer-than-normal trains were running ' a recipe for a difficult commute.
On Long Island, Janice Gholson could not get off her train from Ronkonkoma and Wyandanch because of overcrowding, and ended up overshooting her stop.
"I've never taken the train before. There were people blocking the doorway so I got stuck on the train," she said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the subway to work Monday. He was joined by many of the students returning to class in the nation's largest school system. About 90 percent of the 1,700 schools reopened for the first time since Sandy hit last Monday, the mayor said.
At Public School 2 in Chinatown, the playground was once again full of the sounds of children laughing and shouting as they played basketball before school started. Samantha Martin, a fifth-grader at P.S. 75 on the Upper West Side, made it to school from the Bronx with time to spare on the subway.
"It was packed but I'm happy. Home is boring!" Martin said.
The longer commute times were actually a lesser problem for many families who left homes and apartments that have been without power for almost a week. In Westchester County, Liliana Matos said dropping her boys off at Colonial School in Pelham gave her a chance to "call Con Ed and get on their backs" about the loss of power. For the last three days, they have been staying at a hotel because the house is too cold.
In Jersey City, investment advisor Barbara Colucci, was traveling from a house without power and the family's car was low on fuel because of persistent gasoline shortages.
"I can't wait until the PATH and light rail are up and running again, but first I'd like power in my house quite honestly," she said. "We're sleeping on air mattresses but we have heat so we can't complain but I'd like to get back to a bed ' it's been awhile ' and back to a regular commute."
Repair crews have been laboring around-the-clock in response to the worst natural disaster in the transit system's 108-year history, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota said Sunday.
Obama, Romney Deliver Closing Arguments
The candidates will spend the final 24 hours of this long presidential race bouncing around the country, rallying supporters at 14 scheduled events across nine battleground states.
President Obama is set to hit urban centers in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa, with Bruce Springsteen tagging along as his opening act. Jay-Z is scheduled to join the campaign at a mid-afternoon gathering in the Buckeye State.
Like the president, Mitt Romney will make one last play for Ohio, arriving in Columbus four hours after Obama leaves for Iowa. It will be the Republican's third stop in a day that sees him track north from Florida -- where the wait to register an early vote this weekend lasted as long as six hours -- to Virginia, ending the night with one last rally in New Hampshire.
If the Romney ticket doesn't win enough votes to unseat President Obama on Tuesday night, it won't be because Paul Ryan was a lazy campaigner. The vice presidential candidate will make five stops Monday, in five different states, covering four time zones. He closes out the election season back home, with a late night rally in Milwaukee, Wis.
While the candidates push their supporters to the polls and smile for the cameras in what they expect to be packed arenas, parks, and airplane hangars ' at least seven of the events will be hosted at airports - there have been some rumblings from Republicans, GOP strategist Karl Rove among them, that Romney's campaign might have been dealt an insurmountable blow by Superstorm Sandy.
"The hurricane is what broke Romney's [post-debate] momentum," former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said on CNN Sunday morning. "Any day that the news media is not talking about jobs and the economy, taxes and spending, deficit and debt, 'Obamacare' and energy, is a good day for Barack Obama."
The Romney campaign, though, insists it is traveling steadily along a well-charted course to victory on Tuesday.
"I don't look at what happened with the storm and how it affected so many people through a political lens," Romney adviser Kevin Madden said Sunday. "We are focused on what we can do to make sure that the enthusiasm that we have seen in states that it's part of helping our get out the vote efforts in all these key battlegrounds and then just focusing on the message. So I wouldn't entertain the same notion that those folks did."
And in Cleveland Sunday, Romney made one last argument for dismissing President Obama from office after a single term.
"He promised to do so very much, but, frankly, he fell so very short," Romney said. "He promised to be a post-partisan president, but he's been most partisan; he's been divisive, blaming, attacking, dividing. And by the way, it's not only Republicans that he refused to listen to; he also refused to listen to independent voices."
Obama seems to have taken on a more fatalistic approach, telling 14,000 supporters in New Hampshire Sunday that the election was in their hands, joking that he'd be little more than a "prop" the rest of the way.
"It's now up to you," he said, former President Bill Clinton once more on hand to warm up the chilly crowd. "That's how a Democracy works, right? That ultimately, it's up to you. You have the power. You are shaping the decisions for this country for decades to come. Right now. In the next two days."
But that doesn't mean the Democrats are done trying to convince voters how to exercise that power. ABC News obtained a set of talking points distributed by the party to surrogates for their last round of chatter with the press.
Among the lines you can expect to hear today: "We know and trust President Obama. We know what he believes, where he stands, and that he's willing to make tough decisions even when they're not politically convenient. We know he'll fight for middle-class families every single day, as hard as he knows how."
They've also been asked to deliver one last round of attacks on the Republican challenger.
According to the memo, "Gov. Romney has been using his talents as a salesman to dress up the same policies that failed our country and crashed our economy, and offers them up as change."
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Marathon Canceled Too Late for Many
Fresh off his flight from San Francisco Friday afternoon, Leland Kim had just picked up his numbered marathon bib and registration packet at the Javits Center and was headed to the ING New York City Marathon Expo.
Then he got a text message from a friend: "We're so sorry the marathon got canceled."
Confused, Kim asked someone working at the expo about it, and was told the marathon was still going on. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had been saying so all week. And Kim had already spoken to runners who'd come from New Zealand, Argentina, Russia and Ireland.
But Sharon McNary, a seasoned runner from Pasadena, Calif. , soon saw people at the Javits expo walking with their heads bowed, talking into cell phones and texting as rumors of a cancellation circulated.
Although no official email came from the New York Road Runners, the official organizers of the race, those at the expo soon realized the rumors were true. Presenters folded up their booths and went home, said McNary.
"There were a few people who were expressing their anger pretty loudly, but for the most part, I think people understood that the timing was just not right for it," McNary said.
Earlier this week, Kim and his partner kept their eyes on the news as they watched superstorm Sandy unfold, wondering whether their eight months of training for their first marathon would be for naught.
The 26.2-mile race seemed unfathomable last winter, when a 3-mile run was exhausting. But this week, with the finish line in sight, they listened to Bloomberg say over and over again that the race was on. Even Friday morning, when they left for the airport, they were certain they would be running together through New York's five boroughs.
And then that text message from a friend came.
"I felt like it was kind of taken away from us at the last minute," Kim said. "I would have understood if, shortly after the hurricane, it was canceled. ' We definitely saw the devastation, and we definitely were concerned for the people that were affected by this not only in New York but in other parts of the East Coast."
He did not get an official cancellation email from the New York Road Runners until Saturday at 11:51 a.m., more than 12 hours after the mayor and race CEO Mary Wittenberg announced the race was off.
Robert Brink, a marathoner from Manhattan who was still without power, said he still hadn't gotten the official cancellation notice.
"I can't believe they still haven't sent out emails as far as I can tell," Brink said. "Especially for foreigners. I'm sure there's probably going to be some people who are flying out here who still think it's on."
The New York Road Runners did not immediately respond to a request from ABCNews.com for comment, but its email's auto reply still begins with "Thank you for your message. We are in full execution mode for the 2012 ING New York City Marathon."
Brink said he feels bad for out-of-state runners who went through the "roller coaster" of canceling and rescheduling flights as the storm moved up the Atlantic coast. Because the race was still on, they had to find a way to New York despite the frozen air traffic, only to find out that the race had been canceled once they arrived.
"I totally understand it should have been canceled because it's not right if there's people hurting," he said. "But my first reaction was, look, you made the call to go through with it. At this point, assuming no one's going to die by holding it, you just kind of have to live with that choice."
Transgender Student in Women's Locker Room Raises Uproar
(Image Credit: Getty)Image Credit: Getty Images
The decision to allow a transgender 45-year-old college student who identifies as a woman but has male genitalia to use the women's locker room has raised a fracas among parents and faith-based organizations, who say children as young as 6 years old use the locker room.
The locker room at Evergreen College in Olympia, Wash., is shared with the Capital High School swim club and a children's swim academy, along with the students at Evergreen.
'The college has to follow state law,' Evergreen spokesman Jason Wettstein told ABC News affiliate KOMO. 'The college cannot discriminate based on the basis of gender identity. Gender identity is one of the protected things in discrimination law in this state.'
But according to parents, the fact that the student has exposed her male genitalia, in one instance in the sauna, is cause for concern.
'[A mother] reported her daughter was upset because she observed a person at the women's locker room naked and displaying male genitalia,' said a police report filed in September by a mother on behalf of her 17-year-old daughter.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based religious liberties group, sent a letter to Evergreen College on Friday, warning it that the decision to allow the transgender student to continue using the locker room could put the school in jeopardy.
'The fact that this individual was sitting in plain view of young girls changing into their swimsuits puts you and Evergreen on notice of possible future harm,' David Hacker, senior legal counsel, wrote.
The college has installed privacy curtains, and said it would not change its policy for now.
Shuttle Prototype Suffers Storm Damage
The flying machine that ushered in NASA's space shuttle program has suffered storm damage in New York City.
Shuttle prototype Enterprise weathered Superstorm Sandy this week at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, but it sustained minor damage to its vertical stabilizer, or tail. A small piece of foam came off, said a museum spokesman.
The damage was confirmed Friday by both the museum and NASA as shuttle Atlantis concluded its journey to retirement at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
Enterprise will be repaired at the earliest opportunity, the Intrepid museum said in a statement. The museum remains closed because of storm damage.
"Enterprise remains safely in place and partially covered by the fabric of the damaged pavilion, which was left in place as a protective measure," said museum director Susan Marenoff-Zausner.
Enterprise was used for atmospheric drop tests over Edwards Air Force Base in California in 1977, four years before the first shuttle launch. It was never designed for space travel.
This past spring, the Smithsonian Institution turned the Enterprise over to the Intrepid, at NASA's instruction. The Smithsonian needed to make room at its display hangar in Virginia for the retired space shuttle Discovery.
Enterprise was flown atop a modified jumbo jet to New York in April and moved to the Intrepid museum in June.
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Online:
Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Screams of Joy as Power Restored
Screams of joy erupted through the canyons of lower Manhattan today when the lights came back on through a large section of the city, four days after Sandy's flood waters knocked out power to the city's financial district.
The power surge will allow greater movement of the city's crippled subway system and was a major step in the recovery from the killer storm, whose death toll had topped 90, according to the Associated Press.
When traffic lights came on, screams of joy could be heard in Soho, Chelsea and other Manhattan neighborhoods that have had to go without heat, light, elevators and restaurants since Monday.
Increasingly impatient Sandy survivors got another glimmer of hope when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that a flotilla of ships and barges began unloading gasoline in an effort to reduce long lines of gas-desperate motorists.
"The issue of gasoline has created concern and anxiety and practical problems all throughout the region," Cuomo said at a news conference today. "People can't get gas. It's slowed down the delivery of service, it's increased the stress level all across the region."
Hurricane Sandy: Full Coverage
Some gas stations in New York and hard hit New Jersey have fuel in the ground, but are unable to pump it without power. Others have power but have no gas due to shortages and difficulties in transporting the fuel.
At the gas stations that do have power, police have been keeping order at hours-long lines, but the fight for fuel has been getting nasty. Authorities say a motorist was arrested after he tried to cut in line at a gas station in Queens Thursday and allegedly pointed a pistol at another motorist who complained, according to the Associated Press.
The man was identified as Sean Bailey, 35, and he faces charges of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.
Cuomo said that debris in New York's harbor, much of it ship containers blown into the water and lurking below the surface, had posed a threat to navigation until they were cleaned up. The port was reopened Thursday.
In addition, Sandy's flooding damaged some pumping equipment used to move the gas.
"There should be a real change in conditions and people should see it quickly," Cuomo said.
Despite the good news, millions still shivered in dark and unheated homes. Their anger forced New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to cancel Sunday's New York City Marathon after city officials and those suffering from Sandy's wrath argued that the marathon would detract from recovery efforts.
Those still waiting for electricity were further daunted by the news that temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s this weekend with a possible Nor'easter on the way.
Some parts of the region hammered by Sandy feel they have been left behind in the rush to restore power to Manhattan.
Staten Island was one of the hardest-hit communities in New York City. More than 80,000 residents are still without power, many are homeless, and at least 19 people died there because of the storm.
Can Obama Win Black Votes and Support Gay Marriage?
Election night 2008 was an historic moment for the country, particularly for many African-Americans.
An African-American man was elected president of the United States for the first time, largely with the help of a community that voted for him at an unprecedented level. Barack Obama won 94.2 percent of the black vote in 2008.
As the results came in on Nov. 4, 2008, tears flowed freely. Many people watching were filled with emotion, hard for some of them truly to explain. Some in the black community wrestled with thoughts of the past, present and future, thoughts of Jim Crow and overcoming, all of which were crystallized in one epic moment.
But it is now four years later and there is a looming question: Will African-Americans turn out for Obama on Election Day as enthusiastically as they did before?
Black voters' participation in a race many say to be too close to call could prove critical to President Obama's chances for re-election.
A new BET documentary, "Second Coming: Will Black America Decide 2012," tries to take the pulse of the community in the final days of the campaign. Film director Marc Levin sent teams around the country to talk to African-Americans from every walk of life, from celebrities to everyday people. The producers found the euphoria of 2008 has given way to some harsh realities.
"I think there is no doubt the thrill is gone and that for the African-American community, for a lot of young people, for a lot of Americans, period, that moment in 2008 was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Levin said.
the Great Recession has hit the African-American community hard. The ABC News polling unit said unemployment among African-Americans is at 14.3 percent, nearly double the national rate.
"To me, [Obama] hasn't done anything," said an African-American man in the BET documentary. "The economy hasn't gotten better, nothing's gotten better. We're in the same spot we were when Bush was in presidency."
Aside from the economy, one issue has risen to the top of the most contentious issues among many blacks, and influential black clergy: gay marriage. Many in African-American church congregations are opposed to President Obama because he supports gay marriage.
"We are living in days of darkness," Pastor Michael Stevens of Charlotte, N.C. said in the documentary. "To declare what the word of God says about male and female and man and woman and husband and wife, now I am the homophobic bigot."
Baltimore Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant is an Obama supporter who also appears in the film. He too opposes the president on the gay marriage issue. Bryant said he believes that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to share insurance and be able to leave their property to their partners in their wills. But marriage, he said, is reserved for a man and woman.
Bryant told "Nightline" there are some pastors in the African-American community who are telling their congregations either to stay home or vote the other way on Election Day, but it's a small minority. He said he still believes that African-Americans "are walking in lockstep" with the president.
"The African-American community is not myopic by nature. We have more than one opinion," he said. "I think that those parishioners are still going to go vote and in large numbers, they're going to vote for President Obama."
Friday, November 2, 2012
Boy Influenced by TV Show in Murder
A 10-year-old boy told police that he figured that if he killed his neo Nazi father, he might not get in trouble because that's what happened on a television program he had watched.
"A bad father did something to his kids and the kid did the exact same thing I did ' he shot him," the boy said in a videotaped interview with detectives, as reported by the Riverside Press-Enterprise. "He told the truth and wasn't arrested and the cops believed him. He wasn't in trouble or anything. I thought maybe the exact same thing would happen to me," he said of the episode of "Criminal Minds."
Prosecutors played the video in court on Wednesday, the second day of the boy's murder trial. He is accused of shooting Jeff Hall with a .357 Magnum at point-blank range while he slept on a sofa in their home.
If a judge finds the boy murdered his father, he could be jailed until he is 23. The Associated Press is not identifying the boy because he is a juvenile.
The prosecution claims the boy, now 12, killed his dad to keep him from splitting up with his stepmom, while the defense says the stepmother manipulated the boy to shoot Hall because she was angry he might leave her for another woman.
The boy says in the video that he wanted to end his father's abuse and to ensure he would live with his stepmother because he thought the couple was going to divorce. He said he was scared and angry about his father's temper and threats.
"I thought it would be a good idea to end it ' to shoot my dad in the head," he said in the video. "I shot him because I was upset. He was always taking off. He also hit me."
At one point in the video, the boy says he thought his dad would recover. "I was choosing who should leave and I chose my dad," the boy said. "I thought he would get out of the hospital and maybe we could go back to being friends and start over."
As the video was shown, the boy clanked his ankle chains and rested his head on the table. The judge stopped the video at one point because the boy was falling asleep
The little sister of the boy tearfully testified earlier in the day that her brother had plotted the shooting days in advance.
At the time of the shooting, the girl was asleep, but she said her brother told her of his plans four days earlier.
"Did you know ahead of time that someone planned to shoot your father?" Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Soccio asked her.
"Yes," she said quietly.
The girl, now 11, also testified that she lied to authorities that stepmother Krista McCary told the boy to shoot Hall.
McCary initially told police she killed Hall but testified Tuesday that she was lying to protect the boy. She has pleaded guilty to one felony count of child endangerment and criminal storage of a firearm.
Soccio said the white supremacist beliefs of Hall, an unemployed plumber who was a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement, had nothing to do with the crime and that the boy's history of violence dated to his first day of kindergarten when he stabbed a teacher with a pencil.
The defense claims the boy was influenced by being raised in an abusive, violent, racist environment where he was taught to shoot, attended Nazi rallies and was taken to the border once on a mission to learn how to keep Mexicans out of the U.S.
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