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Petraeus Resignation Stirs Questions; U.S. Probes Al Qaeda Links In Libya; Avoiding The Fiscal Cliff; Obama Gets Unlikely Support; Life Not Normal After Superstorm Sandy; NASCAR Crash Leads To Brawl; Massive Explosion Kills Two People; Clowns Versus Klansmen In N.C.; Scandal Rocks CIA; Parents Appeal for Journalist's Release; America's First Hindu Congresswoman; Desperately Seeking Co-Signers; Garland's Iconic Dress Sold for $480K; "Skyfall" Sets Record for Bond Film

Aired November 12, 2012 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN "NEWSROOM" starts right now.

Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM. New details coming to light about the affair that brought down America's spy chief, but there are still plenty of questions being raised so where does the CIA go from here after General David Petraeus' sudden resignation?

An American journalist is missing in Syria for more than two months. Now his parents make a very public plea for help.

One of President Obama's major talking points during the election, tax the rich. GOP is against it. Now the president is getting some unlikely support.

And you can find love on Craigslist. What about help for a loan? Why it could be a bad idea in more ways than one? NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello from Washington this morning. Thank you so much for joining us. A sex scandal tarnishes one of the most respected names in Washington and raises questions about one of the most secretive agencies.

Three days after the extramarital affair forced General David Petraeus to resign as director of the CIA, lawmakers are demanding answers. Why didn't the FBI inform them of the investigation? And why the bombshell just days before Petraeus was set to testify on those deadly attacks in Libya?

The chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security says it doesn't pass the smell test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: It seems this has been going on for several months and yet now it appears that they are saying that the FBI didn't realize it until Election Day that General Petraeus was involved.

It just doesn't add up. You have the FBI investigating e-mails and leading to the CIA director and it taking four months to find out that the CIA director was involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's look at this through the eyes of a CIA veteran. Robert Baer, the agency's former director of operations in the Middle East and now a CNN contributor. Robert, welcome.

ROBERT BAER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So you heard Peter King. You've heard him over the weekend. Is there something fishy about this?

BAER: Completely. You know, every day I wake up and I see one new revelation after another, which sort of discredits things in the past. But I have some real problems with this and one is that the FBI does not investigate e-mails, harassing e-mails as a matter of course.

Something very early on got them interested in this case, got them to get into the e-mails and apparently monitor Broadwell's account, which takes a Title 3 subpoena --

COSTELLO: Paula Broadwell is the alleged mistress here and I just want to explain further so the audience understands. I do understand there was some question about classified documents and she had those classified documents in her control but eventually FBI says that those weren't connected to David Petraeus at all.

BAER: That's fine. But the fact is, a crime has been committed by taking classified documents and keeping them on a private computer. Everybody in intelligence world knows that. And, fine, Petraeus didn't give her the documents.

But interestingly enough, in October she was in Denver talking to a university -- she was a keynote speaker talking about Benghazi and then she referred to David Petraeus, that he couldn't go public but they had heard -- and I mean, they, the CIA -- that the September 11th attack on the consulate was due to that Delta Force had done a raid in Libya and al Qaeda was coming looking for their prisoner.

I don't know if any of this is true, but she was out talking apparently about classified information that should have never been in the public. So we keep on coming back to Benghazi and Petraeus' resignation and the hearings on Thursday.

And I absolutely agree, there are a lot of questions out there and what we have so far, the account and why an FBI agent felt he needed to go to Congress because of leaked classified information. All of this is adding up to a serious scandal and we do need as Americans a timeline on this.

COSTELLO: The other strange thing about this is Miss Broadwell seemed to speak for General Petraeus, even after the affair was over. In fact, she quoted him in e-mails and then she started allegedly harassing another woman that was a friend of General Petraeus'. It just seems that it started to spiral out of control in a not so sane way.

BAER: Well, yes. There were a lot of rumors that she was talking in his name. She obviously has serious problems, evoking his name in this way.

But when the CIA director is quoted directly related to classified matters, this is a danger and I understand now why the FBI moved on this case.

But for them to say that nothing was compromised, I still think it's too early. There's a lot of e-mail to be looked at and a lot of her statements as well.

COSTELLO: Should congressional hearings be held on this matter?

BAER: Absolutely. This is a political scandal. It needs to be made public as quick quickly as possible and for all of the doubters like me only the facts will put this to rest.

COSTELLO: Robert Baer, former CIA director of operations in the Middle East and CNN contributor, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts this morning.

BAER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Despite Petraeus' resignation, he could still be called to testify in the Senate investigation of that deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya.

In the meantime, the government's anti-terror experts are pouring over the latest remarks from al Qaeda leader Al Zawahiri. In the audiotape posed on Jihadist web site.

Al Zawahiri again references the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans on September 11th. He called for Americans to be targeted in Libya. The U.S. is trying to figure out if he had a direct role.

With the fiscal cliff deadline looming, President Obama's getting back to work this week trying to gain support for a bipartisan tax deal. In the past, the president has run into a Republican road block with his plan that requires taxes to go up on wealthy Americans.

Now that the election is over, are Republicans changing their mind at all? Well, conservative commentator, Bill Kristol, even he says that he doesn't understand why the GOP is against the president's plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL KRISTOL, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: The leadership of the conservative movement has to pull back, let people float new ideas. Let's have a serious debate. Don't scream and yell one person says. You know what? It won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on the millionaires. I don't really understand why Republicans don't take Obama's offer to freeze taxes for everyone below $250,000. Half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Interesting. CNN White House correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me now. Good morning, Brianna. So what does the president face this week?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He's got a number of meetings and this is really going to be the kickoff as he tries to get his ducks in a row ahead of negotiating a deal here.

First off, I will tell you, Carol, Wednesday the press conference that we've been waiting for, the post-election press conference. But tomorrow he'll be meeting first with labor officials and members -- or I should say folks in the progressive movement.

So a nod to his base ahead of meeting on Wednesday with business leaders and then on Friday meeting with the top Democrat and the top Republican in both the House and the Senate.

So right now what you have is the White House, President Obama and Democrats. They are feeling like they have the leverage after the election. They want to strike while the iron is hot to work towards an agreement here for the fiscal cliff.

And they feel like they have the leverage and they want to do this now before, as one Democratic source that I spoke to said, they don't want Republicans to kick this down the road, kick the can down the road until they can get their mojo back and have some more leverage themselves.

So they really want to get working on this very quickly. They point a lot to exit polls from Election Day that showed most Americans, 60 percent of Americans think that taxes should be increased on the wealthy.

And only one-third of those polled saying that the taxes shouldn't be increased on anyone. They feel like public opinion is in their corner here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Brianna Keilar reporting live for us from the White House this morning. It's been almost two weeks since superstorm Sandy devastated the northeast. Still life -- that's nowhere back to normal.

Deaths of two more people have been linked to the superstorm and that brings the number of those killed across the region to 113. Right now, more than 88,000 customers are still without power, but travel is getting a little easier.

Rail service is back between New Jersey and Manhattan, and a ferry service between Hoboken to Manhattan is running. Victor Blackwell joins us now from New York with more. Good morning, Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. There are still billion 37,000 people in this community, the Rockaway Peninsula that still have no power. Many of them live in this ocean village community.

We're right outside of Building 3 where for two weeks since super storage Sandy hit, there has been no power. There is a generator here in the parking lot, but it has not been hooked up.

We spoke with the president of the tenant association who tells us that this showed up on Saturday, but has not been hooked up. There are more on the property. But this one here outside of Building 3 and they tell us the nights have been unbearable.

Now last night was not as cold as the other nights have been since the superstorm and since the snow, but we spoke with a woman who lives in this community with her 17-year-old daughter and she says that they were very difficult to take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEE ARRINGTON, FLOOD VICTIM: Me and my daughter have to sleep with our coat on and five pairs of socks with ten covers on top of us with the cat.

BLACKWELL: With the cat?

ARRINGTON: With the cat.

BLACKWELL: Now, when you are there with your daughter, what do you tell her?

ARRINGTON: I tell her we're going to be all right, you know. God is with us and we're going to have help soon. I trust in our government that we're going to have help soon and everything is going to be all right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And this morning they do have power back. Some of the power came back in this community, but this building does not have power. They do not have heat so just cold water and gas enough to boil water over the stove. We spoke with someone who has the oven open and on and clearly a safety hazard, but it's all they have -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Victor Blackwell reporting live for us this morning.

Let's talk a little sports, shall we? Yes, the focus should have been on the racing, but everybody is talking about the fight during NASCAR's run in Arizona yesterday.

Jeff Gordon who intentionally crashed into Clint Bowyer's car and that sent off a brawl between the two teams' crews. The Sprints Cup points later vented to reporters after the race. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD KESELOWSKI, NASCAR DRIVER: I see -- like that. That's -- That's all you can call that. These guys just tried to kill each other. You race hard and I get called a -- for racing hard and called with a death wish and I see -- like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Carlos Dias, I think his mouth should be washed out with soap.

CARLOS DIAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what do you mean? Yes. He actually wasn't speaking those leaps. That is Brent who wasn't even involved in the melee. Carol, you have Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer who have been battling for over a month.

And it boiled over on the track at the end of the race yesterday in Phoenix. You see right there how Gordon clips Bowyer, puts him into the wall. You have to ask yourself, does racing mind this?

But there is Jeff Gordon getting out of his car. Maybe he should have kept his helmet on. They are literally taking him behind the tool shed there if you will. He's not at the bottom of that scram to the right.

He's actually to the left and then you see Clint Bowyer get out of his car and race over to the transport truck of Jeff Gordon. He wanted a piece of Gordon or one of Gordon's crew members. I'm telling you right now, this is going to be -- this is going to result in massive fines, possibly suspensions from NASCAR handed down either today or tomorrow.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, you sort of kind of mentioned it. This actually could be good for the sport because they've been losing viewership, right?

DIAZ: And we're talking about it. They wouldn't have a movie "days of thunder" without theatrics like this. It's boys being boys, but we've seen this time and time again this year. You've had guys throwing their helmets out of their cars, you have increased camera angles.

That's actually a blimp shot right there. You can get into the behind the scenes of things. But literally it was like a reality show. People who have watched NASCAR their entire lives, they have never seen a scene like that yesterday where you have a crew literally jumping another driver from behind.

And then a driver running out of his car to run down pit road to have a piece of crew members, there's going to be massive, massive fines with this going on.

And if Brett would have gotten caught up with what happened on the track between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon, that could have caused him the points lead so some serious stuff going on there. COSTELLO: Carlos Diaz from HLN. Thanks for filling us in this morning into question for you. How do you fight hate? Where big red shoes and red nose and make lots of noise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 17 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now. Three days after the extramarital affair forced General David Petraeus to resign as director of the CIA, lawmakers are demanding answers.

They want to know why the FBI didn't inform them sooner. The federal agency learned of the affair while investigating e-mails involving Petraeus' mistress.

Officials in Indianapolis are still not saying what caused a massive explosion overnight Saturday tore through a neighborhood killing two people. Thirty one homes sustained major damage with at least five of those destroyed requiring demolition.

Protesters in North Carolina turn the table on the KKK. Clown costumes, squeaky toys and whistles were used for the hate speech in Raleigh over the weekend. I love this. When speakers talked about white power, protesters sprinkled them with white flour. It was quite effective.

Seriously now, she was given unprecedented access to the top man at the CIA and now after an FBI investigation revealed an extramarital affair with General David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell is at the center of a scandal.

Last year, Broadwell was making the rounds promoting her upcoming biography of General Petraeus. Here she is on the "Daily Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Keep going. Keep going? Whatever you've got to do, keep going. Go on without me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, the other guy in this clip is Broadwell's husband. In Broadwell's book she attributes her access to General Petraeus to the fact that they both went to West Point and were both amazing athletes.

Joining me now is Retired General James "Spider" Marks. General, welcome.

GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hi, Carol. Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. You know both General Petraeus and Paula Broadwell. I want to concentrate this morning though on Paula Broadwell. She's an accomplished woman. Doesn't it make you say why?

MARKS: Well, it makes you very disappointed. She really was a great young officer. She worked for me as a young captain, did a magnificent. You could tell early on that she was gifted, bright, creative, extremely fit, and let's be frank, a very good looking young officer.

So it really makes you very disappointed that she would allow herself to get into this position and jeopardize not only herself and her family, which is really a tragedy that has to be addressed very personally on her part, but also putting Dave Petraeus -- the intelligence community at risk as well.

COSTELLO: Does it seem to you -- there are all of these rumors that she spoke for General Petraeus, she sent e-mails to -- the Princeton -- the student newspaper at Princeton, she sent an e-mail speaking for General Petraeus. I mean, does that sound like her?

MARKS: Well, it certainly doesn't square with Dave Petraeus. He gave her no authorize to do that, I can promise you that. And it really doesn't -- I think what you have here is a situation where you've got this young officer.

She's extremely deferential to Dave Petraeus. Let's imagine if you will. You know, you have this young officer dealing with the general officer and forever their relationship will be defined that way.

So it does surprise me a bit that she would reach out that far and attribute comments that she's making to him and to provide that level of authorization.

It seems a little bit surprising that an officer who was an intelligence officer and access to the highest levels of security clearances and information and intelligence would do that.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, love makes you do funny things sometimes. It just does. Why do you think General Petraeus resigned?

MARKS: Well, I think it's clearly a matter of honor. He was about to be caught. He had got into this incredible fix. He couldn't find a way out of it without subjecting himself personally and his family, most importantly, his family to the scrutiny.

That would have just relationship that would have ripped them apart. Now he has to deal with the shame as a private citizen and that's the only way to do it.

COSTELLO: He must realize though, General, it's not over.

MARKS: Of course, it's not over. I mean, a general officer still can be recalled to active duty. I mean, clearly, we are all subjected to being called back on to duty and clearly as the former DCI, he is going to be subpoenaed probably by Congress to testify on a number of issues, obviously Benghazi being the most prominent.

COSTELLO: General James Spider Marks, thanks for sharing your insight this morning. We appreciate it.

MARKS: Thanks, Carol. COSTELLO: That brings us to our talk back question of the morning. Should General Petraeus have resigned? We'll see what you have to say, "Talkback," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, should General Petraeus have resigned?

General Petraeus, famously disciplined, respected and admired by both Democrats and Republicans, a rare creature indeed. Maybe that's why so many people are asking why. Not why he cheated on his wife of 38 years.

But why he chose to resign over a fleeting tawdry affair. The FBI says it was not criminal and not a security risk. CNN political analyst, David Gergen, who knows the general and his alleged mistress, says we ought to understand Petraeus' humanness and appreciate that and Gergen added, remember, many great men cheated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I would hope people would remember, there have been other great leaders in this country. Remember President Eisenhower when he was General Eisenhower, how important that relationship was to him. Remember Franklin Roosevelt and Lucy Mercer. I think we have to be understanding that, as the saying goes, the best of men are still men at their best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Former CIA man, Robert Baer says, quote, "I'm telling you, there is more to this than sex. There's something going on here which I can't explain and I think we're going to have to find out very soon," end quote.

Republican Congressman Peter King seems to suspect that the general resigned because he doesn't want to testify about intelligence failures in Benghazi, Libya, that caused Chris Stevens' live. Petraeus would not likely cop to that.

Friends say he's devastated by his mistake and as he said himself in a resignation letter to President Obama, quote, "such behavior is unacceptable both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours, the CIA."

Talkback for you this morning, should General Petraeus have resigned? Facebook.com/carolcnn. Your responses later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Carol Costello. Its 30 minutes past the hour. It's time to check our "Top Stories." The resignation of CIA Chief David Petraeus may have saved him from facing senators over the deadly attack in Libya for now. The retired General not expected to attend this week's senate hearing. Acting CIA Director Mike Morrell will testify instead. It's unknown if lawmakers will subpoena Petraeus at a later date.

Secretary of Homeland Security says housing is the number one issues for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Janet Napolitano toured the devastation in Staten Island, New York, yesterday. Right now, more than 88,000 customers still without power; 113 people have died.

There's a diplomatic milestone to report for war-torn Syria. The U.S. is formally declaring its support for a newly formed coalition trying to topple the Assad regime. The anti-government group is unified to win more international support and better plan for a post-Assad future.

The parents of a missing American journalist are in the Middle East this morning seeking his release. They fear for his life. Austin Tice last talked to his family three months ago. He was in Syria reporting on the civil war and he has not been heard from since. Austin's parents, Marc and Deborah Tice, are in Beirut, Lebanon, they're trying to get some answers.

Welcome to you both.

DEBORAH TICE, AUSTIN TICE'S MOTHER: Thank you, Carol.

MARC TICE, AUSTIN TICE'S FATHER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: The last time anyone saw your son was -- who was in a video, can you tell us about that video, Mark?

M. TICE: Well, clearly it was good for us to see that Austin was alive. It was difficult to see him in the circumstances that he was in. And we're here trying to -- determined to seek answers, to appeal to whoever is holding Austin to let us know how we can contact him and what we need to do to bring him home.

COSTELLO: There we are seeing the video of Austin and you can see that he's blindfolded. He doesn't look in the best of conditions. There were armed men around him. Do you know whether these were Syrian -- you know, pro-government men or the opposite? Deborah, do you have any idea?

D. TICE: We have no idea who is holding Austin and that is the primary reason that we've come to Lebanon, is to try to find out where Austin is and establish contact with him and bring him safely home.

COSTELLO: And Marc, you've been in touch with Syrian government officials. What are they telling you?

M. TICE: Well, everyone we've spoken to and we've spoken to everyone we can, has said the same thing, that they are unsure where he is, they don't know who he's with, where he is. We're hoping for answers and we're here appealing to the people in the region to have compassion on our family. And if someone out there knows something of Austin's situation, his well-being, and especially what needs to be done in order for him to return to us, we were asking for those people to come forward and speak with us.

COSTELLO: Deborah, are you getting enough help from American officials?

D. TICE: We have been really overwhelmed. Where we have the greatest gratitude for all of the help that we've received, not only from Americans but really from many people in many different parts of the world. We're -- we're tremendously grateful for all of the support and the help that we've received.

COSTELLO: And Mark, you know, CNN is seen around the world. Is there anything you'd like to say to whoever has your son right now?

M. TICE: Yes, absolutely. To whomever has our son right now, we ask you to treat him well, keep him safe, and return him to us as soon as possible.

COSTELLO: Deborah and Marc Tice, thank you so much for talking with us this morning. We appreciate it.

M. TICE: Thank you.

D. TICE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Faith and politics. We'll talk to Hawaii's own Tulsi Gabbard as she prepares to become America's first Hindu congresswoman.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Evangelical Christians, Roman Catholics, Mormons, we heard a lot about religion leading up to last week's election. But one milestone was overlooked. On Tuesday voters in Hawaii made Tulsi Gabbard the nation's first Hindu congresswoman. She'll also become one of the first female combat veteran to serve in Congress.

Representative-elect Gabbard joins us now from New York. Good morning.

TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT: Good morning thanks for having me here with you this morning.

COSTELLO: Oh we're excited to have you here. First of all congratulations, how does it feel?

GABBARD: Thank you -- thank you so much. I'm excited and ready to get to work.

COSTELLO: You have a lot of work to do, too, let me tell you.

GABBARD: Yes.

COSTELLO: But let's talk about your religion because, you know, a lot of us think that -- actually it's pretty cool to have a Hindu in Congress for the first time. Do you feel like you're something unusual?

GABBARD: You know, I'm actually very proud and I'm proud especially of the people of Hawaii and to come from a place as special as Hawaii because not only did they make the choice to elect me, the first Hindu member of Congress, but also elected the first Buddhist member of the U.S. Senate and Mazie Hirono.

And in Hawaii, Hindu and Buddhists are a majority faith within the community but I think it really just shows the respect, diversity, and love and aloha that people have in Hawaii that would allow for something like this to happen.

COSTELLO: So -- so normally we expect to see someone taking the oath of office on the bible. So how will you take your oath?

GABBARD: I look forward to talking about that once we get a little bit closer but we'll be taking the oath on the Bhagavad Gita.

COSTELLO: Awesome, ok. So I'd like to share a quote with our viewers from the Honolulu Star Advertiser. You said to that paper, quote, "I identify as a Hindu, however, I am much more into spirituality than I am religious labels. In that sense I am a Hindu in the mold of the most famous Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi, who is my hero and role model."

So explain more to us what you mean by that.

GABBARD: Well you know, once again, I am very proud to be coming in as the first Hindu member of Congress and I really look back to it and it's actually very appropriate to talk about this over Veterans Day weekend to my service in the Middle East as Hawaii Army National Guard where I was very proud to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with Christians and Muslims and Hindus, Jews, people of all faiths.

And we stood next to each other working together to complete the task at hand and religion was never an issue. And I think that that is really the lesson here and that's what I'm looking forward to bringing to Congress and I think it's -- it's a perfect time and a great time for Congress to start moving towards this representation of diversity and really this common ideal that regardless of what our differences might be, we all need to come together now to do what's best for the people.

COSTELLO: And then a final question because I read a little blurb about you in the "New York Times," you said your family values karma yoga and you find your spirituality through yoga. A lot of us practice yoga. Tell us about that.

GABBARD: Sure. Well, you know there's pasa yoga which I also practice and many people do, which is the exercise form of yoga. But karma yoga basically is -- is really the ideal of service. Whatever it is that you're doing, doing it with the value of service and seeing how you can effect positive change on those around you and that's -- that's really what has been the guiding light for me throughout my life and it's what has motivated me and brought me here today.

COSTELLO: We need a lot of that in Congress these days. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

GABBARD: Yes thank you.

COSTELLO: Representative-elect Tulsi Gabbard, thank you.

GABBARD: Aloha.

COSTELLO: Aloha.

People are desperate for money are going to CraigsList to find someone to co-sign a loan. They are even as promising the signer thousands of dollars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: 45 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now. It's been called the floating city but right now most of it is completely under water. More than 70 percent of the city of Venice, Italy flooded after recent storms unleashed torrential rain. This is the sixth worse flooding the city has experienced in over 100 years.

And from lots of rain to lots of snow, 15 inches to be exact, that's how much snow was dumped on Salt Lake City this weekend. The Salt Lake City International Airport recorded 8.5 inches of snowfall on Saturday alone. It's a new record for the total amount of snow to fall in just one day. You won't see the ski resorts complaining about that one, though.

Christmas will not come early this year for Nordstrom shoppers. Stores like Wal-Mart and Sears' opening their doors to the madness of Black Friday shoppers on Thursday, that's Thanksgiving Day Nordstrom is taking a different approach. The retailer released an ad this weekend saying, quote, "We just like the idea of celebrating one holiday at a time. So happy Thanksgiving."

Need someone to co-sign for a loan? Try Craigslist? Or maybe not. Alison Kosik is in New York to hash this out. This is scary.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. And you know what -- this is pretty common, you know, we were able to find this happening without much trouble at all. A couple of examples to give you. There's a New Yorker looking to borrow $8,000 willing to pay the co-signer $2,000. And then there's one in Pittsburgh that we found looking for a $10,000 loan for an engagement ring offering $3,000 to the co-signer.

You know what -- posts like this are from all over the country offering big payoffs to people with good credit willing to co-sign a loan for a stranger. And I know what you're thinking, great way to get some quick cash?

This is a terrible idea. Don't do it. What happens is you open yourself up to identity theft. it can ruin your credit score and you can put yourself in financial and legal jeopardy. Banks can wind up garnishing your wages, they can seize your assets and they'll come after you if the stranger that you're helping defaults. And guess what, odds are they will go after you and banks, think of this, they have already determined that these people are too risky in the first place. They don't qualify for loans on their own, the reason they reaching out on Craigslist -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I just can't believe anyone would do that. So what is Craigslist saying about this?

KOSIK: So far Craigslist doesn't have any comment but Craigslist general guidelines really says to avoid scams and they include a warning to never give out financial information. The site says you can avoid 99 percent of all scams by dealing locally with people who you can meet in person.

But you know what -- once again, I cannot say it enough. This is a terrible, terrible idea. Don't co-sign alone for a stranger, bad idea. You want more details check out cnnmoney.com for more.

COSTELLO: Wow, Alison Kosik, thanks for the warning. We appreciate it.

The reality TV world and Silicon Valley are colliding. And the search is on for who can come up with the next great idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never thought I'd get here but I'm here now and I'm going to make an impact.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew I want to devote my entire life to technology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes, this reality show "Start Up: Silicon Valley" is now airing on Bravo. The woman behind it is none other than Randi Zuckerberg. She is the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. And the show benefits from the convergence of technology and pop culture.

RANDI ZUCKERBERG, EXEC. PRODUCER, "START-UPS: SILICON VALLEY: Technology is such a part of pop culture, it's a part of all of our lives. It's a part of how we parent our children. It's a part of how we get jobs. It's a part of how we find love. It's really inherent in almost every aspect, you know. Most people are within arm's length of their phone like 99 percent of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS: Randi Zuckerberg left Facebook in August shortly after her brother took the company public to start her very own media company.

Judy Garland's iconic dress from the "Wizard of Oz has a brand new owner. We'll tell you how much they paid to claim that bit of Hollywood piece of history.

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COSTELLO: If you're going to spend $480,000 on a dress, shouldn't it be a new one? I'm just guessing whoever bought the iconic dress Judy Garland wore in "Wizard of Oz" does not plan on wearing it, or maybe they do.

"SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer in New York. I don't think they will be wearing the dress.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST: No, not going to happen. The price Carol, certainly over the rainbow for almost half a million dollars. Somebody's -- Judy Garland's blue gingham costume from the Wizard of Oz. Now the identity of the buyer is still a mystery. We may never know who bought it. No one knows exactly what is in store for this dress. It was sold at auction by Julian's Auction House. For all that cash, you don't even get the ruby red slippers.

According to entertainment weekly, in fact. Some angel donors including Leonardo de Caprio, acquired one of four pairs of these iconic red shoes that happened last February for the academy of museum motion pictures. So maybe another angel ha bought the dress. But Carol, whoever bought this thing better be sure to follow the cleaning instructions very carefully.

COSTELLO: I know. I can just imagine it on some headless mannequin in someone's living room. It's just weird.

HAMMER: Yes.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about James Bond. I tried to see that movie but it was sold out everywhere.

HAMMER: Yes. And not a huge surprise that it did so well. "Skyfall" has truly left moviegoers shaking and stirred to the tune of almost $88 million in ticket sales over the weekend. That's the biggest opening weekend for any bond film in the franchise's 50-year history and this could be the biggest box office hit of all time for Mr. Bond. Their expectation is that thing's going to rake in over 2$200 million at the box office in the U.S.

Now the last Bond film with Daniel Craig was "Quantum of Solace". That holds the previous record for a Bond film opening weekend. That came in at around $57 million. And now Skyfall has already made more than $400 million internationally. A lot of people are saying it's also one of the best Bond films ever. So Carol that sets the bar pretty high for the next Bond film with Daniel Craig which is due out in two more years. So you have two years to wait on that line to see this film, Carol, so you can be caught up.

COSTELLO: I know. I've got to get it together. And I was just going to tell you, like Sean Connery who? I think Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever, huh?

HAMMER: Yes. A lot of people are saying that. In fact, Roger Moore was on CNN last week saying, he thinks that this is one of the best films ever and he loves Sean Connery as well but he thinks Daniel Craig is incredible in the role.

COSTELLO: I'm going to catch a matinee. A.J. Hammer, thanks so much.

HAMMER: You got it.

COSTELLO: Watch "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on HLN.

Today's "Talk Back" question, should General Petraeus have resigned? Your responses next.

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COSTELLO: Stress is something many of us have experienced at work and at home. But it's not always bad for you. Dr. Travis Stork from TV's "The Doctors" explains why.

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DR. TRAVIS STORK, "THE DOCTORS": Well, there's acute stress and there's chronic stress. Acute stress is that adrenaline surge that you feel when you're taking a really important test. You're about to get the speech in front of other people. That can help you focus. Acute stress can be a good thing.

But too many people in our society are dealing with chronic stress. Over time, chronic stress causes your body to release more and more cortisol. That can decrease your immune function. That can even lead to more obesity, poor sleep, high blood pressure. So chronic stress can truly negatively affect our health. There's never anything where the mind and body connection is more apparent when it comes to chronic stress. So if you're feeling chronically stressed out, you do need to get helped out because you're doing damage to your body.

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COSTELLO: Ok. Now to the day's "Talk Back" question. The question for you this morning, "Should General Petraeus have resigned?

This from Sharon, "He showed very poor judgment. He broke his marriage vows. His character is flawed and could be a threat to national security. Where is the conflict. Yes, he definitely needed to resign.

This from Kairi, "As long as his job wasn't affected, there's no reason he should have to resign."

This from Matt, "General Petraeus resigned because he knew he had failed some very basic army values -- loyalty, honor, integrity, and respect. It took courage to admit his indiscretion and step down. And this from Lisa, "He should have not resigned. I believe that he was asked to resign to add to more cover up. Did Clinton resign because of an affair? Did Kennedy resign because of an affair?"

This from Dianna, "Yes he should have. He knew he breached national security. Not only did this put him in a position to be blackmailed, she could have been a spy." Although there's no evidence of that. But thank you, thank you for joining the conversation. And please continue. Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Great comments this morning and lots of them.

And thank you for joining me in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Carol Costello.

"CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much Carol. Hi everybody. Nice to have you with us

It's 11:00 on the East Coast and 8:00 on the West Coast. Here is where we start. The secret is out. A heroic career is in tatters, multiple marriages may be on the line. and a city that thought it couldn't be shocked, that would be Washington is near speechless of the Petraeus affair.