house budget? paul ryan rebuts catholic critics who say gop spending cuts violate the church's teachings. and is president obama subsidizing his campaign with your tax dollars? the white house says no way. tonight's truth draws the line between official business and partisan politics. up first this evening, though, new terror concerns as we approach the first anniversary of the daring raid that led to the death of osama bin laden. there is no credible information suggesting al qaeda or its allies are planning attacks tied to the anniversary. but the concerns are real enough that president obama reviewed the threat picture just this morning with this top national security advisers. our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence is here with the details. what is the biggest threat intel officials are most worried about. >> they are very concerned right now about a renewed effort to target western aviation.

in fact, the fbi, homeland security, and the u.s. military's northern command sent this memo out to law enforcement agencies across the country. basically alerting them to the possibility of this threat. specifically, they think the biggest threat is coming from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. that is the most active al qaeda group. it's also the group that has tried to attack to u.s.-bound jet liners in the last few years. >> and, chris, is this a running concern? or is it hyped up, exaggerated? do they believe more of a concern because of the coming anniversary, may 1st, of bin laden's death? >> what they have seen is an increase in talk on some of these extremist websites. in fact, one specifically made a threat targeting the pentagon on may 2nd. and later seemed to target the secretary of defense leon panetta, as well. but they think that right now there is not a specific tie to bin laden's death. what do they mean by that?

well, when you take a look at home grown extremists, those who are already right here in the united states, they think that, yes, it would be a symbolic victory to attain some sort of attack on this anniversary. but they think if they have a plot in the works, they're not going to accelerate their timetable to meet this deadline. >> our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence, thanks so much. and this related development. a federal judge has ruled the pictures of osama bin laden's corpse should not be released saying, "a picture may be worth a thousand words, but this will have to sacrifice." a critical barometer of the state of the economy will be unveiled tomorrow morning when the government makes its fist estimate of economic growth for the first quarter. the consensus is a growth rate of about 2% in the first three months of 2012 which is fairly anemic. three consecutive weeks of high filings of unemployment benefits suggest a soft jobs market and perhaps a spring slowdown in the broader economy.

the washington bureau chief of the "new york times" crunching the numbers. last week, 380,000 people initial claims. two weeks ago, 389,000, a high number, 388,000 before that, economists say 350,000 or below make them feel more optimistic. the question is, is this a blip or a sign of a dip? >> we don't know yet. what was so troubling about today's number, a lot of people thought the prior two weeks was a blip, the timing of easter, the way these were calculated. and we didn't see them fall today. and when you put that on top of the last jobs report, which was disappointing, there's reason to worry some combination of europe and the oil market and the usual aftereffects of the financial crisis are once again holding back the recovery. >> and obviously americans who either want to upgrade their jobs or find a job are concerned about this. the president has to be concerned both from a policy and political standpoint. you mentioned jobs. as you see the unemployment filings we'll get in a couple of weeks. we'll get the next unemployment report. in january, the economy created 275,000 jobs, pretty good numbers, they're not great. and then in march, you had that,

whoa, 120,000. if april follows in the ballpark of march, what does that tell you about the bigger economy? >> so if these job less numbers make you worry that april is going to follow march. we don't know for sure. it doesn't pick up hiring at all. it's just layoffs. but if april follows that, it does suggest we're not really taking off. we're just sort of moving along here, getting better at a very slow rate. and given how deep the hole was, how big the recession is, that's worry? for the job market, as well. and it's worrisome for the incumbents, the president. >> and you're a lot more susceptible to external factors like more europe, or some other unpredictable thing like an iranian foreign crisis? >> that's right. one of the problems is relatively little things can upset confidence. something in europe, which feels far away, can upset confidence because people are so scarred by the crisis. and so every time the growth rate comes down a little bit, it not only makes things not improving at a better rate, but reduces the margin for error

going forward. >> appreciate your coming, help us understand this. >> thanks. >> we'll watch the gdp report first thing tomorrow morning. the debate over the house republican budget. how would jesus vote? that budget's architect, paul ryan of wisconsin visited the georgetown university today to rebut catholic critics who say ryan's proposed cuts in medicare and other social safety net programs run counter to the church's teachings. >> i suppose that there are some catholics who for a long time thought they had a monopoly of sorts. not exactly on heaven, but on the social teaching of our church. of course there can be differences among faithful catholics on this. the work i do as a catholic holding office conforms to the social doctrine as best i can make of it. >> congressional correspondent kate bolduan. how was the speech received? >> paul ryan's speech was met with protests both inside and out at georgetown university.

they were not huge or disruptive protests, but his recent comments that his catholic faith has guided him in planning the 2013 republican budget caused an uproar among some catholic groups. like the u.s. conference of catholic bishops, as well as georgetown faculty. they're criticizing him for linking catholic social teaching to a budget that these critics say go against catholic teaching. they condemn some of the provisions of the plan aimed at reducing the deficit. for future seniors as well as cuts in food aid and other programs for the poor while at the same time cutting taxes for the wealthy. they're arguing that paul rooya is unfairly targeting the poor in this budget and that does not follow catholic teaching. he defends the budget today saying it does embody the catholic teaching taking power away from bureaucrats and give it back more to local

communities. talking to some of the catholic critics did not seem more persuaded as they left the speech today. as you know, though, john, this has become an important political document, as well. >> very, very important political document in this campaign. ahead, 194 days to election day. thanks, see you bit later. 90 faculty members sent ryan a letter objecting to his approach saying we'd be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your misuse of catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates plans to families, rally weakens for the elderly and sick and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few. thomas reese among to whoez signed the letter. thank you for joining us on this night. after listening to congressman ryan explain his side of this and to say sure, this diversity, do you have a better understanding? or are you still in disagreement? >> well, i think we were happy to have congressman ryan come to georgetown university because it stimulated a discussion of how our faith, how our values should influence what we do in the

public sphere. now, if he presented his budget in one of my classes or in a class on catholic social teaching, we'd have to flunk him. because it doesn't represent what catholic social teaching is all p about. as the bishops have made clear. you cannot balance the budget on the backs of the poor. let's look at other programs that can be cut. and, you know, and let's look at the possibility of raising taxes. >> you say the possibility of raising taxes, that's all part of the debate. one of the rebuttals would be, okay, but if we don't do anything, then we pass a huge debt on to your students and to their children and that is counter to the church's teachings. does he have a point there? >> absolutely. the debt is a really serious issue that needs to be confronted. too bad it wasn't confronted, you know, over the last ten years when we were in economic prosperity. instead, we continued to run deficits, we went into two wars,

we cut taxes, and we extended medicare entitlements with medicare d without paying for it. you know, in the good times, we're supposed to run surpluses and put money aside for the bad times that we're in right now. we didn't do that. >> if you look at public opinion polling right now, the catholic vote's usually a big swing vote. president obama carrying it nationally right now early on, 51% to 45%. if you do a breakdown, though, among religious catholics, governor romney has a slight advantage. among catholics, it's the president who has an advantage. this constituency is always important. how active do you think the church is going to be? are you going to be in this debate going forward? or do you get reluctant to be in the middle of it when we're making that kind of a choice? >> well, i think that as catholics, as clergymen, we don't want to endorse candidates. we don't want to get involved in endorsing political parties, but what we do want to get involved in is talking about the issues.

because they're moral issues. the budget is a moral document because it has an impact on people, especially poor people. we want to talk about the issues, but stay away from endorsing candidates. >> appreciate your coming in tonight. thank you, sir. we'll continue our closer look at the defining issues of the 2012 campaign. next, the democrats claim mitt romney has an outdated back to the future world view. also ahead, john edwards' lawyers try to destroy the credibility of a star witness testifying against the former senator presidential hopeful. sarah... will you marry me? i think we should see other people. in fact, i'm already seeing your best friend, justin. ♪ i would've appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship.

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nobody protects you like allstate. vice president biden delivered an address today praising president obama's handling of foreign policy and suggesting mitt romney is stuck in the past. and sometimes, i don't know it's a slip of the tongue or a mindset, but he even refers to russians as soviets. governor romney is mired in a cold war mind set. >> a conference call to take issue with the vice president's speech, but a top romney adviser, well, listen. >> we're seeing the soviets pushing into the arctic with no

response from us. >> the soviet union, if you haven't read your history books dissolved in 1991. did the president and romney really have different approaches to iran and syria? in chicago, the foreign policy adviser to the romney campaign dan senor, and the former undersecretary of defense. let's start, dan, to you first. the secretary general of the united nations just moments ago said he is appalled that he's raising concerns that syria is just ignoring its commitment under the cease-fire. in a romney presidency, if romney were president today, would he go outside the united nations? would he act unilaterally? >> well, first of all, he wouldn't outsource our decision making on syria to russia and china. really russia that has paralyzed the process at the u.n. security council. and the only thing they've been able to support is some dumbed down version of what the

secretary general is speaking to. but more importantly what governor romney has spoken to was organizing and working with allies in the country to identify opposition leaders we can work with and members of the opposition movement who we can fund and train and get arms to. russia is funding and arming the syrian army that is responsible for a blood letting in syria, the likes of what we have not seen anywhere in the world in years. you can go back to the -- >> is dan right, michelle? has this president outsourced our foreign policy? letting russia and china make the world and in part of that the united states in effect useless when it comes to syria? >> absolutely not. when you look at everything from how we've handled iraq, afghanistan, iran, al qaeda, and counterterrorism, and libya now syria, the arab spring more broadly, the u.s. is in a leadership role.

this president understands the unique role that the u.s. has to play. >> but what now? if the united states is in a leadership role but supports the mission which has done nothing. forgive me, has done nothing except give assad cover. what now? when you have the secretary general saying it's failed? >> well, i think what you have to do first is allow the diplomatic effort to try to work. if that does fail, then you're in a position to put together a coalition to increase pressure even further beyond what's already been done and take necessary action. so this has to be done in the right way if the u.s. were to go off recklessly and unilaterally and militarily, that would totally change the dynamics of the situation in a way that would be harmful to our entrance. >> let's listen to the two candidates, the president of the united states and governor romney talking about keeping iran from getting a nuclear weapon. >> and i will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. but a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible. and far better.

>> as president, i'll be ready to engage in diplomacy. but i will be just as ready to engage our military might. israel will know that america stands at its side in all conditions and in all consequence. >> dan, i know governor romney says in his view president obama was slow to increase the sanctions on iran. where we are today, let's focus on where we are today, escalating sanctions against iran, the conversations with the israeli government. would governor romney be doing anything different if he were president today? >> it's not just governor romney who says the obama administration has been slowing the sanctions. leading democrats in the house and senate have made that point too. as it relates to the message we'd be sending to iran right now we'd be doing right now, romney administration is one, while the sanctions should be taking hold and we should be hopeful that there's some peaceful diplomatic solution to this, john, none of these tracks have a shot if the iranians do

not believe the threat of military force is credible. to be clear, we are not suggesting that the military option should be used. no one is saying we should be unilaterally engaging in military action. however, the president and his senior surrogates and members of administration for the last year or two have made crystal clear that the military option is effectively off the table. yes, he uses the language it's on the table. but every time there's a discussion about possible military action, secretary panetta in particular over the past year has talked about a terrible mistake it would be for the united states or israel to take military action. it doesn't mean we shouldn't be taking military action, but we want to leave them with the view it's a credible threat. how else are we going to focus their minds on a non-military solution. >> dan says the president, this administration has not convinced the iranians it's serious. is he right? >> look, the president has been very clear at the apac conference and numerous other

times the option is on the table, but it's not time for that option to be exercised yet. and we have to pursue sanctions. we are at the most crippling sanctions that we've ever seen against any country. and particularly iran. we're pursuing that, we need to let that run its course before you rush to military action given the very severe consequences and downsides of doing that. on israel, if i may -- this administration has been a staunch ally of israel. in fact, one of -- in one of my good-bye meetings with the administrator of defense in israel. he said i want to thank you, there's no u.s. administration that has ever done more for the security of the state of israel than this one. let's be clear on that point. >> 194 days, i believe, to continue this conversation and debate. thank you so much for coming in tonight. we will continue the conversation in the days and weeks ahead. still ahead, more on the finger pointing the atrocity on the cease-fire in cizisyria.

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here's kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know now. hello. >> hello, everyone. let's get you caught up on headlines. osama bin laden's three widows and children are on their way to saudi arabia. an attorney for two of the women says pakistan expelled 14 members of bin laden's family thursday night nearly a year

after u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s killed bin laden. and the international court today found former liberian president guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes. a civil war which left 50,000 people dead or missing. taylor is the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes since the nuremberg trial in 1946. he will be sentenced next month. and higher gas prices helped exxon mobil earn about $9.5 billion in the first three months of the year, that's actually 11% less than the oil joint earned in the first quarter of last year. the company says its exploration costs are up and oil production is down. check this out. check out this time lapse video of the construction of the new one world trade center tower from 2004 through 2012. that's some serious time lapse. earthcam.com released the video to celebrate one world trade to becoming the tallest building in new york city. at the current rate of

construction that officially happens next monday. now if construction could always go that fast, i could get my home renovated a lot quicker. >> and i'd get my new studio before september. i was up on the 71st floor of that last time i was up at the world trade center area. where the memorial was being built. that's a view. you want an office with a view, that's where to be. >> can't wait to see it. john edwards' lawyer accused his one-time aid about exaggerating. rupert murdoch admits his british papers covered up phone hacking. and for what it's worth, he says he's sorry.

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this half hour, a cease-fire, yet the body count is over 400 in less than two weeks. the head of the united nations tonight says he's "gravely alarmed." also environmental protection agency has republicans outraged and the white house in retreat. and a trip down memory lane for tonight's truth about presidents mixing official travel with reelection politics. guess what? everybody does it. syrian opposition group today reported 462 deaths since april 16th, that's the day the united nations observers began monitoring what's supposed to be a cease-fire. about an hour ago the secretary

general claimed he's gravely alarmed by the continuing violence. an explosion killed at least 70 people in the city of homa. >> reporter: john opposition activists are saying the explosion was caused due to a rocket that was launched by syrian government forces into this neighborhood. and the reason why it ended up causing such wide scale devastation is because it was fired into an area that was fairly poorly built up, causing a number of buildings to collapse on top of one another. video posted to youtube showing the extent of the damage that was caused and parts of the rescue effort that included images of women and children being pulled out from underneath the rubble. now the syrian government for its part is saying that the explosion was due to terrorist gangs trying to put together some sort of bomb effectively saying that this complex was being used as something of a bomb-making factory. either way, what is undenial is that people have died.

and that the cease-fire at this point in time has ceased to exist. and has any sort of peaceful negotiation at this stage to try to end this crisis, well, that is something of an unrealistic proposition. and at this point, the future for syria remains to continue to be incredibly bleak. john? >> arwa damon reporting from beirut. rupert murdoch says he's sorry. the tycoon apologized today for not paying enough attention to the phone-hacking scandal dogging his empires. >> well, john, it was a fairly contrite media mogul rupert murdoch who appeared before this judicial inquiry into press ethics not mincing his words when he said sorry. >> it was an omission by me. and all i can do is apologize to

a lot of people, including all the innocent people in the "news of the world" who lost their jobs. >> what will garner most headlines here is his admission that there was a cover-up in relation to phone hacking. rupert murdoch suggesting the cover-up was limited to the disgraced newspaper, "the news of the world." but many of his enemies and some of the executives in that newspaper are suggesting that the cover-up went higher up, the management structure. the big question for rupert murdoch is there proof it went all the way to him? john? >> dan rivers in london tonight. thanks to dan. new allegations tonight that secret service agents may have been boozing and hiring prostitutes before their trip to colombia. the new reports date back to march 2011 before president obama visited el salvador. a reporter for kiro, affiliate out in seattle says he's in contacts with a government contractor who was with about a dozen secret service members at

a strip club in the capital city ahead of the president's arrival. this is one unnamed source. we have not been able to confirm this independently at cnn. but here's the story about what happened at that club. >> he witnessed some of the secret service agents going into the v.i.p. area to get sexual favors for cash. and ultimately, he said, they were working really hard to try to get the strippers back to their hotel rooms, and that in at least two circumstances he witnessed that despite him telling them that it was a terrible idea that that occurred. >> secret service is responding to this report with this statement. the recent investigation in cartagena has generated news stories that contain allegations by unnamed sources. any information will be followed up in an appropriate manner. today the jury saw key pieces of evidence against the former presidential candidate.

pictures, voice messages, and phone records all presented to the jury as prosecutors try to prove that edwards used campaign money to cover up his affair. >> good morning, mr. edwards. >> reporter: thursday for the first time, the court began releasing some of the prosecution exhibits entered into evidence. pictures of one of the houses in north carolina where john edwards' mistress rielle hunter stayed after moving away from the new york area to escape hounding from the media. prosecution star witness andrew young was on the stand. a former right-hand man to edwards who helped raise money to conceal the former senator's affair with rielle hunter and wrote a book to tell about it. edwards' defense lawyer continued to try to chip away at young's credibility and his recollection of dates, times, places, conversations he had with edwards. young often sparring with lull saying he was not able to recall certain specific dates and

times. or even the sequence of events, not able to remember whether he wrote a check to buy a car for edwards' mistress rielle hunter or paid for it some other way. asked if he used hunter for a way to get money for himself. he said, no, most of the money in question was given by a wealthy benefactor. the checks released publicly thursday by the court had been endorsed by young's wife and deposited in the young family account. mellon ended up giving $725,000, though the larger amount she had promised is in dispute. the edwards defense team needs a clear time line to try to support its claim that young was enriching himself while he was paying for living expenses, travel expenses for hunter and the baby girl fathered by edwards. the cross-examination was painful at times. at one point, judge catherine eagles warned the defense she

might have to exclude certain evidence because it was confusing the issues or wasting time. a north carolina law professor defended lowell's line of questioning. >> i think he's dealing with a hostile difficult witness to get answers out of. and so it's taken a long time, but it doesn't seem like he's been going around in circles and wasting time. >> reporter: a bunch of transcripts of voice mails also released today by the court, including one from the middle of december 2007. that was a time when the media was really closing in on rielle hunter. and a message from john edwards to andrew young indicating he's going to call back in a little while, but if his wife elizabeth edwards was there, he's going to feign he didn't know what was going on. what happened? what's going on? one more indication of the texture of the communications between andrew young and the former senator from north carolina. john? >> joe johns, thanks so much.

another important story breaking in washington today. a high-ranking administrator for the environmental protection agency has set off a political fire storm about these words on how to handle polluters. >> a little turkish town somewhere, they found the first five guys they found and crucified them. that town was really easy to manage for the next five years -- >> that video talking about crucifying is from 2010 and the administrator has now apologized for what he calls his "poor choice of words." but that's not enough to satisfy the republican senator who is launching an investigation. he says the problem reaches way beyond one regional administrator. >> his comments give us a rare glimpse of the obama administration's true agenda. no matter how much president obama may tend to be a friend of oil, gas, and coal, his green team constantly betrays that truth that the obama administration is fully engaged in an all-out war on hydraulic

fracturing. >> overreaching environmental laws on fracking could be bad news for oil and gas production. jay carney weighed into the controversy today saying the words were inaccurate and added this plug for the strategy. >> and i would note that since the president took office, oil and gas production has increased each year. oil is currently at an eight-year high and domestic gas production is higher than at any time in history. >> it had administrator still employed by the epa. and the senator's home state, oklahoma. the truth about your money and presidential travel. should the president reimburse the treasury for trips that republicans say are really campaign events? so we can describe them to our customers. [ male announcer ] red lobster's festival of shrimp starts now! for just $12.99, pair any two of 9 exciting shrimp creations like new barbeque glazed shrimp or crab stuffed shrimp.

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the house speaker john boehner accused president obama of subsidizing his reelection campaign with your tax dollars. >> well, it's time for the obama campaign to reimburse the treasury. >> now, we've talked about this issue frequently here. the blurring of official events of campaign pitches. and there's no doubt that president obama tested the limits this week. two november battleground states that had the unmistakable look and feel of campaign rallies. >> i want this forever to be a country where everybody gets a

fair shot. and everybody's doing their fair share and everybody's playing by the same set of rules. >> now, truth is, this president is as aggressive as they come in using official events and travel to make points vital to his reelection effort. but it's also true he is hardly unique. and, in fact, his record is f r fairly comparable to his republican predecessor. >> some respond a little differently than i will. they want to increase federal spending dramatically. the problem with that plan is, somebody has to pay for it. and that somebody's going to be you. that's who will pay for it. >> now, here are the numbers. since filing his reelection papers a year ago, president obama has taken 61 domestic trips and 26 of those included fundraisers. and roughly the same period in the 2004 reelection cycle, president bush took 61 domestic trips, 34 of them fundraisers included. if the president uses air force

one to fly, say, to los angeles or dallas for just a political fundraiser, his campaign or the political party has to pick up the tab. but if that same stop also includes an official event, then taxpayers pay all or most of the travel costs. the republican national committee this week complained to the government accounting office. but truth is, while president obama isn't shy about blurring the lines between official and campaign events, the gop conveniently forgets fair lly recent history. taxpayers paid for 97% of presidential travel, the republican party picked up 3%, it was democrats who were complaining then. just as the republicans are complaining now. there's no question incumbent presidents have a huge advantage. but unless both parties want to work together, work together, remember, and write some new rules on who pays for what, we're going to have this debate again in four or eight years. here tonight to talk truth, deputy washington bureau chief michael crowley, and the former santorum campaign spokesman and

gop strategist alice stewart. correct, i understand why the republicans are complaining now. the president's their opponent. they're going to complain about everything he does. but forgive, george w. bush did this, george h.w. bush did this. each one gets a little better at doing it, but they all do it. >> he claims to be the most transparent president. unfortunately, he's a little obvious about this. in the iowa speech he was at the other night, take his body out, you could put any of the candidates in there. that rally looked like any rally we've seen over this election cycle. it was a campaign rally pure and simple. and all we're asking is for him to fess up, sure it was a campaign event. he doesn't need to disguise it and pretend it's a presidential event. it was a campaign event going to california to be on the jimmy fallon show. that's not anything to do with being president. he needs to be honest with the american people and pay for what is a campaign event and let the taxpayers pay when he's doing official business. and we're happy to do that.

>> if i'm not wrong -- jimmy fallon came to the college campus where he was. i think. i'm not positive. but, maria, to alice's point. every president studies the last president. every campaign studies the last campaign. i remember george w. bush doing this. i remember past presidents doing this. i do think president obama is probably more aggressive with his political rhetoric, but doing the same thing. the american people just have to suck it up and pay for it? or should both parties say maybe we need to draw clearer lines? >> well, i think if both parties are going to complain about it and they do. and frankly p i didn't think much of it when democrats complained about it. i thought there was plenty to criticize george w. bush on his policies and stay away from this. i thought it was ridiculous now, i think it's really ridiculous now. you have to focus on substance. and look, if the president stayed in washington, what a complaint that would be. oh, the president's in the bubble. he's not going out to visit voters. that's what he's doing as president as he should. he's talking about the issues he

believes are important to the american people. like the student loan and guess what? he's gotten the republicans to follow suit and those loans are not going -- >> you lead where i'll go with michael. do the republicans have more credibility to their argument in this particular case? meaning this past week in the sense that governor romney had already said i'm with you, mr. president. i agree with you on the student loans, which puts immediately congressional republicans in the box that the president's going to get that. so it was a done deal. they had to argue over how to pay for it for a while. but in the end, they're going to do it. the president's going to through college campuses. does that give a better argument? or so be it? >> i think sobeit. i think the president's entitled to make his case. to hit issues in the way he wants to -- i don't think he has to cancel events. but i tend to agree that the average american thinks this is washington bickering. with the one caveat the white house has to be a little bit careful, the republicans have a slight opportunity after this

gsa scandal to be pointing to wasteful spending here, wasteful spending there. they're throwing your tax dollars around. i think it's exaggerated to some degree. there's always a little bit of waste in government, but i think that's why republicans are eager to talk about it right now. >> except for -- >> into that vortex will come judicial watch a conservative group. they're releasing information tonight saying a trip the first lady took, a spanish vacation last year that they've got at least $467,585 because of the air force cost, the secret service costs, the staff costs. i'm one who always says when people criticize any president for going on vacation, you know, he won the job, it comes with it. but $467,000 for an overseas vacation? >> well, but to note, that's exactly what it costs because -- and this is another thing, john, and you know this very well. given what you do. the lawyers for both democrats and republican administration are very careful in making sure that they do that delineation because they know this kind of

stuff is coming. so i know that there is very good arguments on both sides. but to your point, i do think this is something that the american people look at and say, you know, this is just washington speak and they tend to tune out. >> and it is difficult -- >> i think this is one where the lawyers said it's okay, the political staff might have raked their heads -- can we cut a couple bucks off that? >> it's difficult to govern and campaign at the same time. we'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that. e he's got a job to do, we want him to do that job and we understand he's obviously running, but don't insult the american people's intelligence. let the campaign pay for it, not the taxpayers. >> one last point. you talked about republicans are going to call for an investigation. you know what? that cost money too. so -- >> right. right. >> on both sides, i think the whole you're here, i also worked for congresswoman bachmann earlier in the campaign. she was having a conversation with wolf blitzer today and she has not officially said i am on team romney. why? >> i have said all along that i will be backing our party's nominee and i will happily do

that. >> when? >> what i'm doing is working behind the scenes, bringing together all faxctions of our party. as the line said in the wizard of oz, all in good time, my pretty. it will happen. >> and wolf is pretty. no, the truth is and i spoke with michele today and i speak with rick often. all in due time. >> they want something. there's a little leverage there. >> absolutely not. michele has been clear, rick has been clear. they're not going to sell their endorsement or leverage for anything. but they are -- they have said very clearly from the very beginning, they're going to do what needs to be done to coa less conservatives and defeat barack obama. compare this to '08. hillary did not get out until the first week of june and then they went on successfully. we're still -- we still have a month, a little over a month. >> i would argue they had fewer -- there was some bad blood but it wasn't about policy as much with the exception maybe of the iraq war. >> i think it indicates that clearly mitt romney is still not

a candidate that has been able to have conservatives fall in love with him. and i think that clearly the fact that bachmann and santorum have not followed suit, if they do want to coalesce around him, what better way to do that than to announce your endorsement now. >> all in good time, my pretty. >> maybe do it at the convention. on the other hand that's not the message that he wants to send right now. he's moving to the middle. he doesn't necessarily need michele bachmann's endorsement so maybe he's not shedding too many tears. >> that will stir up a little trouble. >> as you all know, he is meeting with rick next week and things will pan out then. but they both agreed and even newt gingrich also has said we'll do what needs to get done to defeat obama. >> the republican party bus is getting crowded. "erin burnett outfront" coming up at the top of the hour. you're following some troubling things on the secret service scandal. >> very troubling allegations on what happened ahead of president obama and wife and daughters' trip to el salvador. we have the very latest on that

report. a reporter went down and got the information. plus representative sheila jackson today, john, met with the chief of the secret service. and actually asked him what happened in el salvador. we have some breaking news on that coming up at the top of the hour so we're going to have that. very interesting meeting and some revelations in it. we'll have that, back to you. >> thanks. coming up here, next time you're stocking up at costco, how about refinancing the house? that's right, costco is getting into the mortgage business. a tiny teary-eyed rangers fan denied a foul ball by the couple sitting next to him. see how the team came to the rescue of one of its young supporters. high schools in six states enrolled in the national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them.

let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this.

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here's kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know. >> hello again, everyone. some headlines to catch you up on. we have some news just in from chicago's midway airport. a delta flight has been quarantined there, reportedly because of a passenger on board with some sort of medical issue. it happened just over two hours ago on a flight that originated in detroit. there were, probably still are, 46 people on board. we'll be tracking that as well as these headlines. in a rare instance of bipartisanship in the u.s. senate, 15 republicans joined democrats in renewing a law that protects women against abuse. it includes an expansion of funding and protection for same-sex couples, native americans and immigrants. the house will take up the bill next month. and florida has just finished its investigation into a chain-reaction crash that killed 11 people in january. it says the highway patrol made a number of mistakes by

reopening a stretch of highway covered in fog and smoke from a wildfire. investigators say no crimes were committed, but they are suggesting an update to the policy manual. chrysler motors just posted its best quarter in more than 13 years. what a comeback for a company that was on the brink just three years ago. chrysler earned $473 million in the quarter, more than quadruple what it earned during the same three months just last year. ford and gm report their first quarter earnings within a week. congratulations to them on that. now on sale at costco, mortgages. the discount big box store is rolling out a full service mortgage lending program on its website, partnering with ten other lenders. the financial services manager says auto loans and student loans are next. so you really can get anything at costco. >> just about, although you've got to do your mortgage online. >> right. >> if you want the giant toilet paper or toothpaste and the like, you've got to actually go to the store.

finally, stay put. tonight's moment you may have missed. this has a happy ending, i promise you. that's not how it begins. a ranger tosses a foul ball into the stands. this is during last night's game. a lot of hands you see reaching for it. bounce, bounce, bounce. up, there it is. it ends up with a couple sitting right next to a little boy. you see the boy and he's not happy there wearing his mitt, his rangers cap. the boy cries, even reaches for the ball but the two people, as you notice, they're taking pictures and enjoying their new treasure and they keep it. even though there's a crying kid nearby. not to worry, someone in the dugout comes to the rescue. there you go, all smiles, holding his own ball, even comparing it with the man who caught the first one. all's well that ends well. but -- >> i guess they didn't -- i

don't know if it was they meant to ignore him. i think they just didn't see him. we're going to give them the benefit of the doubt but that's a good ending. you know what you think of. i always remember that one -- it happens every baseball season. a dad holding a kid, catches the ball with one hand, it was a triumph, hands it to the kid and the kid throws it back. >> if you've ever been in this situation, you're giving them the benefit of the doubt. that's good for you. we weren't there. but what happens in this situation is you get a little bit of a -- the people around -- trust me, the people around were making it known. were making it known. yes. >> i'll give them the benefit of the doubt, john won't. >> again, all is well that ends well. kate still doesn't have her wallet. that's all for us. we'll see you back here again tomorrow. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. when i sat down with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu he said yes to something incredible. will it mean no more mideast wars for america?