he's at 48th and 6th avenue right now. [ laughter ] >> steve: somebody stop that man! he's got a rembrandt! >> juliet: thank you, guys. we'll have shark boy and his dad tomorrow. will brian be back? martha: all right, thanks guys, we've got a lot of breaking news at this hour because there are new explosion and mortars and rocket fire being tphaerd and around qaddafi's compound right now [sound of gunfire] martha: that's the scene right now in tripoli, heavy gunfire we are

hearing and lots of reports about what's going on in qaddafi's compound as well, good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum here in "america's newsroom" gregg: what a busy morning it is, hello, i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer, the rebels involved in a fresh round of intense fighting against qaddafi forces just one day after gaining control of most of the capitol martha: let's go straight to jennifer griffin standing by at the pentagon jennifer, what a difference a few hours can make, a lot of explosions heard in and around qaddafi's compound what are you hearing from the pentagon now? >> reporter: this is still a very fluid situation, martha you can see that black, gray smoke rising up over the skyline of tripoli, that is coming from qaddafi's compound, we're told reporters on the scene are describing heavy, heavy fighting around that compound, nato just held a press conference in brussels and in naples, italy, it was broadcast here to the pentagon, and they are describing a very fluid situation, they say operations are continuing, but it is, it

appears, rebels that are in opposition forces that are storming the qaddafi compound that's where the gunfire is coming from it is not nato air strikes right now on that compound nato is being very careful to differentiate what its role is in determines of following the u.n. mandate which clearly specifies that they're there to protect the civilian population, they are not -- there's no mention in that mandate of going off colonel mo maqaddafi one thing that the nato deputy spokesman just said is just because qaddafi -- saef qaddafi showed up at the journalists' hotel in libya, that does not suggest that the qaddafi family is still in control of the capitol or has control over the country so this is still an ongoing fight, it's a battle that we are witnessing now right before our eyes, all eyes here on the pentagon and again at nato headquarters on what's happening in tripoli right now martha: jennifer, obviously it's

a heavily fortified compound, a lot of discussion over the course of yesterday about where qaddafi might be does this case -- does this indicate -- what does the pentagon indicate about if he's in there and why it's getting so much attention from the rebels >> once qaddafi -- once saef qaddafi showed up at that hotel last night and that he's in the in reb -- not in rebel hands like was reported earlier in the day, then there was an all out search, not only for qaddafi but the snipers throughout the city that were starting to take positions, starting to push back rebel efforts, and now what we're seeing is the rebels pushing forward they believe that qaddafi is inside that compound the speaking not going that far, they and the white house said yesterday they believe that qaddafi is in tripoli, the capitol and if he is in the capitol it would be likely he is in that compound because that is one of the few areas that

qaddafi forces are in control of right now in the capitol martha: jennifer, thank you very much, jennifer griffin with the latest straight from the pentagon for us now gregg: let's go quick toe to -- quickly to kadey -- tadek markowski tell us where you if you can do that without compromising your safety and what is going on >> reporter: i don't think it's any secret, i think the world knows where we are, the national press corps, being here, this is our third, fourth night, that we're being confined to the hotel, unable to get out, unable to report the situation is getting quite tense, indirect fire, we believe, which is part of this attack, it's coming close to the hotel, and we're also sort of getting sniper rounds coming in the journalists are basically getting together and finding a safe place in the hotel, somewhere where we can all be together and basically ride this

thing out it's very tense moments gregg: tadek, do you have any protection there, any of you journalists, to, you know, maybe coming under fire here? do you have anything to protect you? >> reporter: no we are here basically, reporting events, day to day, we're going out to look at the bombing and produce the reporting from this end there are men here who tell us that they're here for our protection, they're here for our safety certainly, you know, we have to take them at their word right now but basically, what we can do is get together, just try and sort of, you know, have both sides understand in this conflict that we're journalists here, we're just here to report the facts as we see them, but that right now, it's very hard, we're in an

information black spot, if you'd like, the internet is down, all networks are down, so we are gleaning bits and pieces from what, you know, people coming from the outside will say, but we don't get a lot of news right now, and there's very little to report other than the battle is getting closer gregg: tadek, we can actually hear some of the explosions and gunfire over your telephone line are you simply sort of caught in the crossfire of the rebels and the qaddafi loyalists? is that what's going on? >> it's really hard to tell from this, gregg you can't even go out on the balcony in a room a while ago, there was a massive bang, and communications were blown, and we closed the curtain because, you know, there is the fear of

snipers, basically, and you know, what we can do, really, is just hunker down and sort of be here for each other and hope for the best yesterday, i spoke to one of the men here, and said, you know, do you know what the situation is when we were able to go out, and he pointed straight ahead at the hotel and said the rebels are that way, then he did a little 90-degree turn and said you know, the government is that way so that's as best as we can give it to you gregg gregg:tadek, you've been doing great reporting over the course of the last several days and we want you to get to as safe a place as possible and our thoughts and prayers are with you and all the journalists who seem to be trapped in the crossfire there at that hotel you know, we pray for your safety so get back to us later on thank you >> thank you martha: our thanks to tadek and as gregg says, we're all thinking of those journalists who are in a very tough,

precarious situation at this moment let's go back to one of our own journalists who's been in similar situations, several times jennifer griffin joins me now again from the pentagon jennifer, given this situation with these journalists in the crossfire, what is the likelihood that mateo may -- that nato may have to change its role here to protect people on the ground? >> reporter: well, nato has been very clear, as was the pentagon yesterday, that there is no plan at this point in time, and nor in the future, to put any boots on the ground, so they are being very clear about what their mandate is their mandate is to fly over flights in the no fly zone, to protect the civilian population and prevent armed shipments from coming in along the coast they will continue doing that but nato and the pentagon, very clear that they do not put boots on the ground, even if things get into what it looks like right now -- if things are unstable and this turns into a

civil war, there is certainly no plan by nato or the u.s. to put any boots on the ground nato does not rule out, however, that other countries -- there have been reports in recent weeks and months that the british and the french have special operations forces on the ground who are training the rebel forces they are likely still working with them independently, but not under the nato umbrella those are unilateral actions by those individuals in those countries, so the white house has been very clear, though, that there are no plans to -- plans to insert american forces at this time or in the future martha: so you've got a situation where you may see and have seen british and french special ops forces, and you wonder, jen tpefr, if at this point you -- jennifer, if at this point you get into a situation where the rebel operations need more fire on the ground to take this last bastion for security for qaddafi and his family and forces in this compound that is said to be very heavily fortified, and there are

other reports -- this is one other quick question for you -- that there may have been a nato air strike that compromised one of the walls of that compound do you have any information on that that was coming from another network, that report? >> >> reporter: well, we don't have any confirmation of nato air strikes on the qaddafi compound. last night there were suggestion that is nato was carrying out air strikes. they have in the confirmed that. they are very clear they are trying to provide support if qaddafi's forces are firing on the civilian population, but this is very complicated because the rebels right now are the ones on the offensive it looks like towards the compound, so nato is not in a position and according to the u.n. mandate they can't fly cover for those rebels, so they have been really sort of splitting hairs in what their mission is there, and you know, it's very important to point out that in that u.n. mandate, there is no mention of removing qaddafi. that is not part of what nato's mission is.

martha: that's been one of the difficulties of this whole offensive since it man, to protect the civilians, then we also called for the removal of the -- hoping that the government would fall, essentially qaddafi, in libya at the same time, so you have these parallel goals with a little bit of difficulty about the definition on the qaddafi side of that goal. jennifer, thank you very much. you know, gregg, qaddafi has always said that he would go down fighting, and that he would not leave his country of libya, and i think of k.t. mcfarland yesterday who said to us when there was so much optimism that the qaddafi skwraoepl was always falling, she said we air on the side of caution, he has strength in the south which he may be trying to muster and when we saw his son who was in custody rear his head last night and say the fighting is far from over, a lot of questions there this morning. gregg: qaddafi could be in surt -- sirt, he could be

regrouping with loyalists, he could be calling on instructions from the compound that is under fire, but his son at large, after reports of his capture, that does raise serious questions and again, we're very, very worried about all those journalists, including our own, tadek markowski, who are trapped in the crossfire at that hotel. so we're going to try to give you as much information as we possibly can about that. now, despite the reports of his capture, we've been talking about it, mo maqaddafi's son, saef al-islam was giving tours to reporters in tripp low and according to some, how islam has energized forces loyal to his father. libya's long time leaders speaking to reporters is refusing to step down. take a listen to this: >> this is our country. this is our country. this is our people. and we live here, and die here. and we are going to win. because the people are with us. that's why we are going to win. look at them.

look at them. gregg: that's saif al-islam, his father, mo maqaddafi's whereabouts, still unknown. the battle for libya is raising brand new questions about the future of the arab nation, what will it look like, could terrorists gain control. coming up, we're going to be talking with former u.s. ambassador to the united nations, john bolton, he'll weigh in on this crisis, and what happens if moammar qaddafi refuses to step down from power. martha: libya, of course, just one of the breaking stories at this hour. there are a number of developing stories we want to get to as well, including the first big hurricane of the season and it could be a monster, the serious threat that irene is now posing to the united states, and intense new fighting as we have been showing you in libya this morning, mo maqaddafi refusing to let go of power. we'll find out what the white house thinks about the new developments today, and also, some new polls that are certainly being matched

by -- watched by the white house, who voters would put in charge if the election were held today. interesting new data from gallup, that's coming up right after this. >> the last thing i want to do is to take money away from entrepreneurs and innovators, small business people. look, people don't want a check. they want a job.

gregg: breaking news out of libya, heavy fighting, raging around the fortified compound of leader moammar qaddafi in tripoli, khrups of gray smoke billowing over the area, gunfire and explosions ringing out, and also, elsewhere in tripoli, fighting is heard near the hotel, housing foreign journalists who appear to be trapped, including our own producer tadek markowski. we'll keep you abreast of the developments there. martha: we'll be watching that situation closely. let's get you to some election news for a moment here because we've got brand

new polls from gallup and they do show a horse race, really, shaping up on the gop side that could be anybody's game at this point. according to gallup, mitt romney would beat president obama by 2 percent in a matchup right now. this as the former massachusetts governor takes aim at the president's polices during an interview with our own neil cavuto. listen to this: >> when i go across the country and i sit down with various small business folks, they tell me this has been about the most antibusiness, antiinvestment, antigrowth administration they have ever seen. we need jobs right now. and the president and lauren and other people are saying give us money from rich people. look, people don't want a check. they want a job. martha: meanwhile, texas governor rick perry ties president obama in the latest gallup poll, they're both at 47 percent there. let's bring in brad blakeman, former assistant to president george w. bush and rich lowry, editor of the national review, also a

fox news contributor, gentlemen, welcome, good to have you both here. rich, when you look at these numbers, as i said, my first reaction was there are a lot of contenders in the gop field, this is anybody's game at this point. >> i would say that poll is bad news for two people, one, obviously president obama, it showed him tied with pretty much any republican, the second is mitt romney, because i think electibility has to be a key part of his argument against rick perry and the rest of his field, so he needs to be far and away performing better against president obama than the rest of them. instead, he is basically tied with president obama and rick perry is basically tied with president obama. so that would -- if that sort of result holds over the long term, that really kicks away one of the arguments that mitt romney would naturally have. martha: brad, you look at these numbers and i also say to myself, it's a year out, the president might look at this and say i just have to convince a few more people that i need to stick around because these numbers are very close for president obama, and he's got a lot of time. but let's just look at the independent numbers, then i

want to get your thoughts on that brad, because obviously this is the sweet spot that any candidate needs to be in. let's pull up the independent polls that show how they are voting in this recent gallup, 47 -- so independents basically all go for the gop candidate according to this, romney beats by three percentage points among independents, perry up by two, ron paul is up by three, michele bachmann is the only one who did not win among independents in that part of this poll. brad, what do you make of all of this? >> i think it's terrible when you look at the numbers as you're drilling down as look at the constituencies. independents are going to be key to the 2012 election, they gave the president the benefit of the doubt as a candidate, pushed him over to be president, and now they're leaving in droves. hispanics also are troubling numbers for the president, some constituencies like even the african-american community are disillusioned, look at what congresswoman maxine waters said about the

president and the african-american community and being fed up with this president. the irony, even though unemployment is high as a national average for americans across the board, 9 percent, the inner cities, who supported this president the most, it's almost double that. it's real trouble. martha: i hear the points you make and they're good ones, but when you look to recent history, both bill clinton and ronald reagan were in the 40s, 43 percent, and 46 percent, respectively, and they both went on a year later to win the second term in their nomination. >> yes, they did, but they don't have the generic problems and the generational problems that are facing our country under this president. the debt, the spending, the wars. so i think that you can't equate the reelection of this president to the numbers of bill clinton or ronald reagan, because i think it's just such a different tile and different circumstances. martha: rich, 12 months is a long time. >> it is. well, also, president obama's number is a little lower on gallup at the

moment, he's at 40, but clearly the strategy for him is going to have to be making the republicans unacceptable, so it will be a highly negative campaign, they've already forecast this is what they would do against mitt romney in a personal, nasty campaign and they'd do the same thing to rick perry and look, in fairness, it's basically what george w. bush did to john kerry, bush was below 50, managed to win by making kerry radioactive. martha: thanks, guys. stick around.

martha: there is more disturbing new video coming out of jar. this is amateur footage that was reportedly showing syrian forces shooting at a group of protestors. watch this: >> martha: more frightening

scenes out of syria, according to reports, gunfire opened up on protestors, the u.s. ambassador to syria is now in the country, visiting areas of prodemocracy demonstration, reports are somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 people have been killed by the syrian forces so far. gregg: a bombshell in the international sex scandal regarding dominic strauss-kahn, the international monetary fund chief is due inside a new york city courtroom shortly, expected that the sexual assault charges against him will be dismissed. julie banderas is live at the supreme court in lower manhattan. explain why the d.a. decided to drop the charges. >> reporter: essentially the d.a. has maintained that he doesn't believe the maid's story beyond a reasonable doubt, he can't expect a jury to, so then he went ahead and filed a recommendation for dismissal yesterday and a judge today,

most likely, is going to go ahead and throw the case out according to our sources. according to prosecutor, the accuser has changed her story not once but three times with regard to the moments after the alleged attack, she also lied about being gang raped in new ginnie to gain asylum in the united states, it is these inconsistencies that has damaged the maid's credibility that has the case thrown out today. prosecutors say that dna testing did indicate semen on honor dress, it did match strauss-kahn and shows there was a sexual encounter, but there was no trauma to her body or oral cavity and scraping from underneath her fingernails yielded -- yielded no results, they also confirm the story of the tproplt outcry to her first supervisor is inconsistent with certain aspects of that supervisor's account, so all the evidence that points to whether there was force involved or lack of consent obviously coming up inconclusive, and gregg,

you know, if you can't prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, you're really pretty much going into a trial that really will have no positive end to prosecutors. gregg: makes you wonder why prosecutors early on said she had impeccable credibility. clearly not now. does strauss-kahn get his passport back, julie and essentially get to walk free? >> reporter: well, essentially, what it means is that the judge is going to have to decide whether or not to go ahead and accept this. there is a status hearing scheduled for 11:00 in the morning and then at that point we will determine whether or not -- if he goes ahead and dismisses the charges, if it includes rape and sexual assault, he gets to walk free, however, he's not clear of political problems, the accuser, the maid, has, in fact, filed a civil lawsuit seeking unspecified damages, financial damages. we don't know how much. also, when he goes back to france, there are many women's rights activists who are outraged and his reputation tarnished, so for

him to try and go ahead and run for president of france, as he had originally planned, obviously not going to happen. however, i want you to hear from the maid's attorney who says the d.a. has really dropped the ball and essentially has let a man who raped a woman walk free. take a listen. >> he has not only turned his back on this innocent victim, but he also has -- he has also turned his back against the forensic, medical, and other physical evidence in this case. >> reporter: obviously, strauss-kahn's lawyers, very grateful, they say, and they, of course, have maintained his innocence from the very beginning. so it seems as if the sex was consensual according to the evidence and these charges aren't going to stick. gregg: julie, thank you very much. martha: nato announces the situation in libya is still, quote, very serious and dangerous. we've got reports now,

intense fighting in the area of qaddafi's compound in tripoli, breaking news on this throughout the hour. we're going to talk to a former ambassador of the united nations, john bolton, get his look at this latest twist in this story. gregg: plus, look at this skwreurpb ferno, erupting at the vacation home of a world famous billionaire on an island he owned. which academy award winning actress is now being hailed a heroine.

martha: all right, here's a live shot of what is going on in libya right now, in tripoli, rebels are pounding the compound of moammar qaddafi, no situation yet as to whether or not he is inside. there is some speculation that he may be in his home town of surt, but nobody know, and his son resurfaced last night as we all watched in great shock as that situation unfolded. there's a look at where the compound is in central tripoli, keeping a very close eye on this situation. there are also many journalists who are trapped in the hotel in between the fire of the qaddafi forces and the rebels. a developing situation and we're on top of it throughout "america's newsroom" hours. gregg: martha, qaddafi all smiles just ten months ago. take a look at him pose w-g leaders of tunisia, yemen,

egypt, the arab spring drastically changing that political landscape. so what will the future look like for libya if qaddafi finally steps down or is killed on or captured? john bolton, former ambassador to the united nations and fox news contributor joins us. ambassador, always great talking with you, the euphoria of sunday, monday, has now been replaced with worry and wariness and confusion. what do you think is going on? >> well, i haven't seen anything that leads me to believe that the final outcome is in doubt, that the qaddafi regime will fall, although i do think it's uncertain how bloody the end will be, these hostilities in tripoli, obviously these are forces loyal to qaddafi, holding out at his compound. as you mentioned, there are other areas of the country that still remain proqaddafi where he has forces. so the end is not yet here, and how bloody the final days are could well determine whether the rebels have more difficulty than they might otherwise have in

putting together a government of national unity. gregg: should nato maintain its pressure with air strikes in addition to what the rebels are doing on the ground? >> i don't see at the moment in tripoli they really can. let's be hones, the rebels didn't twin by themselves, they won it because of nato and not just nato bombing but nato strategy, command, communications, intelligence and the rest. gregg: some people are touting this as a major foreign policy success for president obama. do you see it that way? >> i don't. i mean, i think it's a very good thing qaddafi has been overthrown and long overdue but that's not the reason president obama intervened, he ber sraoepbd to protect innocent libyan civilians, yet his lack of willingness to take steps against qaddafi five months ago has led to five months of prolonged hostilities with deaths. gregg: we do not have a great track record recently in terms of nation building and here we have it once again. we have some interests we need to protect in libya, and i'm not just talking

about oil, but we need to sure those arms depots, weapons could be used against americans, there are key institutions that need to be preserved there, obviously, the oil fields secured. how do we do all of that, how do we help libyans? >> well, i think our main interest is in ensuring that libya doesn't become a base for international terrorism, doesn't descend into anarchy on the one hand or that qaddafi isn't replaced by a terrorist-sympathetic regime so what we should have been doing this past six months and i don't think we've done enough of is to find people who are believers in a pluralistic, open society, prowest, if you will, and strengthening their hand in what will be a very complex political scenario inside libya over the next several months. gregg: senator john mccain was on our air earlier today and he said look, we shouldn't give them money but we should give them technical help. >> i don't think they're going to need much money once the oil begins pumping once again and the assistance they need is to

make sure that the people who are sympathetic to western values emerge dominant in whatever government is formed, and that it's not terrorist or al-qaeda sympathizers or others. we should approach this very realistically. there are people we can support among the rebels, there are other people we cannot, and the game's outcome is not yet known. gregg: and if we don't it could be a very unstable nation, fractured by tribal disputes, you could have another tyrant, a dictator, seize control, or it could become a purely radical islamic country. >> i think the anarchy scenario is a real one, like somalia, like yemen, so we should certainly hope for the best but you cannot assume that outcome is inevitable, not by a long shot. gregg: ambassador john bolton, always great to talk to you, thank you. >> thank you. martha: let's look at the markets now, up 32 points, a little bit of positive sentiments seeping into the market after better than expected manufacturing numbers came from china this

morning. that may be why you're seeing a positive trend in the dow now, up about 28 points. gregg: a republican lawmaker now accusing president obama of sledding the -- shredding the u.s. constitution with his new immigration policy. we're going to tell you what's got congressman alan west all fired up. martha: plus, he wrote the songs that encapsulated a city skwraepbdration. nick ashford, legendary writer behind a number of mo town hits lost his battle with throat cancer, dead at the age of 70. >> ♪ >> ♪ ain't no mountain high enough. >> ♪ >> ♪ ain't no valley low enough. >> ♪ >> ♪ ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you, babe. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪

gregg: developing right now in "america's newsroom", a shakeup at standard & poor's, the president stepping down, this comes just weeks after s&p

downgraded u.s. credit rating, but the announcement makes no mention of that downgrade. police arresting a woman whose seven month old son was thrown from a california parking garage, the baby in critical condition, he may have been tossed from as high as four floors up. and colorado, rocked by its largest earthquake in almost 40 years, the magnitude 5.3 tremor centered near trinidad, colorado. no reports of any injuries, but it's damaged some homes there. ma march the obama administration takes the next step in a controversial immigration policy that cancels the deportations proceedings of thousands of illegal immigrants in this country and now the first group of illegals have received their reprieves from the u.s., but that move has a lot of the president's critics fired up. republican congressman alan west says that the president is, quote, shredding the constitution with these new rules. let's talk about this and figure out what's going on,

steve camerata is director of research at the center for immigration studies and joins me now. welcome. good morning to you. >> good morning. martha: the problem here is obviously that the dream act did not pass and the dream act would have allowed for a sort of reorganization of who would be in the deportation proceedings first, and they wanted to deal with criminals, people who have committed crimes in this country beyond the crime of being here illegally first. so the president has side stepped this, the administration, and they're going forward with reorganizing the list of who they're going to deal with first. what do you think about that? >> well, the dream act was going to give amnesty, green cards to people who came before the age of 16, the idea being look, it's not their fault, their parents brought them. now, we could debate the merits of that and would have covered about 2 million people, maybe 1 million would have actually got it. we can debate the merits of that. but this is something completely different. this is executive fiat, this is simply the president decreeing that although congress failed to pass that

law in the last legislative session, he's going to basically do it, anyway. anybody who fits that category, who they catch, they're going to basically let go. if you haven't committed a serious crime or been previously deported, you're going to be released. we're just not going to be enforcing the law on you, and actually, based on earlier memos, it looks like there are whole other categories of people, people taking care of young children or a disabled person, people who have maybe a relative in the u.s. military. there are no illegals serving in the military, but there might be someone who has a relative in the u.s. military. so we're talking about potentially millions of folks for whom they're not going to be enforcing the law. martha: one of the interesting aspects of this is how quickly it took place. it was discussed that they were going to start doing this and boom, on friday, they took action on it, some folks look at some of the initiatives that the administration wanted to take, for instance, closing guantanamo bay, that took more than a year before they decided not to do it, so this initiative is clearly very high on their list and as you say, you can debate

the merits of whether or not it makes sense because we do have an overwhelming problem of the numbers of people in this country that should be deported because they're here illegally and the decisions to be made about who should be handled first on that list. i agree with you on that, that there's a decision -- and a debate on the merits of that argument. but you have to ask this question, given how quickly this has taken place, is this a 2012 political issue for the president, that he wants to get to right away. >> yeah, i mean, i think he's hoping that the general public won't notice that much, and that those particular interest groups, the immigration lobby who really do follow these things, will notice a lot, he can score some points on this. they've wanted him to do similar things, but i think the fundamental question is, is this short-circuiting the constitution. congress didn't pass this, congress and the current law say these individuals should be deported and the president is essentially saying i'm going to ignore the law. and remember, these are people already in custody. it's not like well, we're

just not going to look for them. these are individuals who have already been arrested on a drunk driving charge or in some sort of work site enforcements. they're already been arrested and now they're saying yes, they're here illegally but in these cases we're just not going to be enforcing the law. that is essentially the president making law. martha: but you know, let's take it from their perspective, when you take a look at this, you know, they're saying no president has successfully dealt with this issue, right, in terms of getting rid of the numbers of people that are here illegally. so they're saying look, we're trying to deal with the worst of the worst first, not only people who have broken the law by being here but also people who have committed crimes in this country, let's start with them and have them leave first, then work our way down the list. why is that not an efficient way to protect the problem? >> there's nothing wrong with prioritizing and criminals should be the first to go, but we shouldn't have a situation in which we say look, we're only going to go after the murderers and the rapists but all the vandals and pick pockets and purse snatchers,

we're going to -- >> martha: why not start with the rapists and the vandals, why not start with them? >> we have 100,000 plus people in custody who don't fall into the most serious categories. when you decide not to enforce the law and make new law you destroy the morale of people who en-- people who enforce the law, you do something fundamentally unfair, the people who made the laws look like fools, you encourage more illegal immigration and more law breaking on top of it. there's a fundamental reason that we argue why the rule of law is the foundation of our democratic republic, because when you decide to set the law aside you have a cascading series of consequences. i've just outlined a few, and there are others. we'll end up with more illegal immigration. you're sending the message that we don't take our own law seriously. if it's really true that there are so many criminal aliens in the country that we can't deport more run of the mill illegal immigrants at the same time, which we always have, but let's say that's true, he can go back to congress and ask for more resources. he doesn't done that.

>> okay, sir, good to have you here today. >> thank you for having me. gregg: president obama expected to unveil a new plan to get americans working again. we're going to have to wait until after labor day, however, to get those details. but today, we're hearing who's giving him advice. martha: i think we're going to need a bigger boat, gregg! an amazing shark tale, caught on video, right after this. oh yeah, johnny! that's a big boy!

martha: you know how much we love shark stories in "america's newsroom". check this out, it's a real

live shark week for this boy and his dad, hunter steves and his dad, kevin, in for the ride of their life when they reel in this shark in their kayak, folks! if you think the nine-year-old was scared, huh-uh, the boy manned the videocamera and listen to him, folks! >> yes! oh yeah! oh, yeah! johnny! >> let's get this shark! >> that's a big boy! >> keep the video on him. >> got him! >> beauty, huh? >> yeah! >> award winner! one, two, trifi! that's our recording. >> don't worry, folks, he'll survive. martha: oh daddy, that's a big boy! you go, hunter. he's a good cameraman, don't you think?

and the shark looked very dosil. gregg: a little tired. martha: during all of that. hunter may want to be a marine biologist, according to what -- there are reports -- look at that! it seems like he's off to a pretty good start. gregg: i'd be worry that the shark might get somebody's leg there. martha: i would be worried he would tip over the kayak. they are northeasterners, not like you and i. they've got it figure figured o. gregg: we're keeping an eye on irene, the hurricane was pummeling the carribean, still is. in its path of destruction, the island home of sir richard branson, it was lost in a spectacular early morning fire and among his guests, lucky to escape with the clothes on their back, actress kate winslet and her two young children. laura ingle, live, laura, there were reports that bran son had 20 or more guests on the island.

>> reporter: everything is -- everybody is okay, everyone escaped unharmed. the $70 million home known as the great house was completely engulfed in flames. check that out! yesterday, this is when it happened, branson says it was likely struck by lightning, as the tropical storm pounded the island. that fire went by # on mile an hour winds, morphed out of control with richard branson's daughter, nieces, nephew and 90-year-old mother outside, carried out by his oscar winning house guest kate winslet, he said that winslet said it was like being in a film set where you're waiting for the words "cut" but they just don't come. winslet was staying in the great house with her boyfriend and two young children while branson and his wife and children were in the house next door. gregg: i've seen pictures of this. this is a huge compound that

branson has been actually working on for many, many years. is all of this gone? >> about gone, the eight bedroom great house was gutted, the -- it's one of the most vacation spots in the world and was often rented by the rich and famous at $54,000 a night. this place is huge. branson says he has lost thousands of treasured photographs and notebooks but of course, what is most important was that everyone got out okay. in a statement, branson said there were even giggle if -- giggles if you can imagine, when he was running out of the bed naked and running into a cactus forest. he has plans to rebuild and his daughter is getting married there this winter. gregg: i hate that, when you run into a cactus. martha: we would just expect richard branson to run out naked into a cactus bush, wouldn't you? let's get to the serious news of the day, as we look at the situation on the ground in libya, celebrations intermixed with

intense fighting, the rebels reportedly surrounding qaddafi's compound at this hour. we have seen smoke pouring out of that area, the man who called ronald reagan -- who ronald reagan called the mad dog of the middle east is under fire right now and there is a look at another storm that's brewing in the carribean, gregg. gregg: tropical storm, soon to be hurricane, perhaps, irene. don't say good night yet to irene. it is barreling toward the u.s. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. libyan opposition fighters saying they control nearly all of tripoli. though they also said, muammar qaddafi's son was in custody, and of course, he just made the bold appearance in front of a cheering crowd of supporters. martha: now, swarms of heavily armed gunmen like these guys are out there looking for him, muammar qaddafi could be in deep hiding at this hour. >> they control... >> majority of the city. >> majority of the city of tripoli. >> just this area. just this area. >> for qaddafi. >> i feel qaddafi, inshallah today. look, this is for qaddafi. martha: streaming live from the border, what is the latest. >> reporter: we have seen thousands of libyans facing into tunisia, trying to flee the

violence, basically after qaddafi's sons appeared in public and shook confidence in the belief the rebels really had control of the country and they gained a victory and after that, early this morning, many people started to leave, as far as away of tripoli, 160 miles away and making their way to the border and, however, many libyans are coming into pick up medical supplies and take them back to those who were either injured or they've simply run out and we've seen ambulances rushing across the border with injured rebel fighters seeking treatment over here. so the fighting continues, very much. we hear qaddafi's forces have been sending missiles towards misurata and, bombed the area, which is qaddafi's home region and we'll see if those continue but what is happening in the capital is the focus, and, the

castle is under siege, and is he still inside ? we haven't heard from him for at least three days. martha: the cars are flooding into tunisia, in desperate need of medical supplies. and dominic, on the border there. tough situation. gregg: it. martha: and, lawmakers in washington are warning the end of qaddafi is not the end of the fight in libya. senator john mccain saying power vacuums can be just as dangerous as dictators and the international community cannot just pack it up and leave. >> he's on his way out and we have to concentrate on making sure there is not the kievend baghdad experience we have had. and we need reconciliation and we need to get the arms depots under control and prisons where there are hundreds, if not thousands of political prisoners, get those people released and preserve the government buildings, and get in there and try to help them set up a functioning government.

that is what we ought to be focusing on. gregg: senator mccain says the libyan transitional government sounds committed to human rights, but need help to get the government off the ground. martha: the cost of america's participation in the libyan operation, the u.s. is spending $900 million on the libya operation so far and that includes the price of daily military operations, munitions and humanitarian aid and the u.s. also promised another $25 million, to help the libyan transitional council. which is known that's tnc and that is the rebels' loosely held form of government and ash getting protective gear for their troops and the u.s. is recouping some of the cost, the allies purchased $220 million worth of u.s. weapons and military equipment, that were used to work hard at the ongoing liberation of libya. gregg: we're learning president obama has contacted some pretty

big names, business titans for advice on his new jobs plan. he is set to unveil to the nation, in a couple of weeks. ed henry explains live on martha's vineyard where the president is staying with his family and we hear the white house will have a major announcement on cutting red tape, what is that all about? >> reporter: that's right. something the president has been under pressure from republicans for some time, saying, look, government regulation is strangling businesses. especially in the tough economy, and what they are doing today is announcing all kinds of easing of various government regulations, easing paperwork, allowing businesses to file forms electronically, and, et cetera and the "wall street journal" reported, rich edson, at fox business confirming the white house will roll this out and think it will be helping businesses big-time and, a top administration official said we are taking immediate steps to save individuals, businesses and state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars every year in regulatory burdens

and the reforms have a potential to save billions of dollars more over time, while maintaining critical health and safety protections for the american people. the problem for the administration, though, is it -- on the republican side, they'll point out it doesn't do anything to change the health care reform bill and the dodd-frank financial regulatory reform bill, things like that that still have massive new regulations, businesses are dealing with, gregg. gregg: republicans would say, roll back all of those bills and it will really help businesses jump start. ed henry live on martha's vineyard and coming up i'll talk with stephen moore of the "wall street journal," about the telephone call the president apparently had yesterday with legendary investor warren buffett. buffett backing the president's call for higher taxes or more taxes for wealthy americans. martha? martha: hurricane irene, this is developing into a serious situation, gaining strength in the caribbean as it heads towards the u.s. forecasters saying it could become a category 4 monster

hurricane before it hits the u.s. it would be the first hurricane in nearly three years to make landfall in america, areas in the southeast, of course are on high alert for this and residents and tourists getting ready, in that area. >> i have to leave early. we have to. >> i guess we have to get prepared. >> trying to get water and... >> food and things like that. martha: in florida, the rush is onto stock up, ahead of the storm. so, where is it headed? let's go to janice dean, watching all of it for us in the fox news extreme weather center. hey, janice, how is it looking. >> the million dollar question, where is it head. martha and gregg you should know your evacuation plan as well, i'm not entirely convinced it couldn't be a mid-atlantic northeast storm and we're five days out and it could lead a broadening of the forecast. let's look at it, first of all, 70 miles south-southeast of grand turks and the bahamas will

be dealing with probably a category 3-4 storm and it could be devastating for them. 5 to 10 inches across the 700 islands that make up the bahamas and a storm surge, of 9 to 13 feet. and this could be devastating for them. so, we will keep a close watch there. and let's look at the tropical storm models, that is what makes up the cone of uncertainty. and, right now, we're thinking the carolinas and cape hatteras, could be in the bull's-eye and these models have been wavering significantly, 24, 48 hours, we talked about a landfall across south florida, as a minimal hurricane and now, we're dealing with the potential for a category-4, and as i said, coming very close to the east coast, perhaps, new england and we'll have to monitor this, five days out, there's a lot of discrepancy involved and that is why we call it the cone of uncertainty. there is a 200 mile discrepancy as we get 4-5 days out and category-2, right now, expecting

the next 12 to 24 hours, to be a major hurricane and further out in time, east of florida, category-4 storm, 135 miles per hour, we need to watch it very carefully, but, guys, bahamas, going to take a real hard hit from the storm in the next 12 to 24 hours. martha: we'll be watching with your help, thank you very much, janice dean tracking that for us. gregg: let's look from space, a better idea of how mighty irene is. look at this picture, taken by astronaut ron gerron from the international space station showing irene, a hurricane as it passed through the caribbean yesterday. and he did add a great piece of advice on his posting on twitter from space. please be prepared. martha: one of the things they do at the international space station, right? get pictures of the ongoing hurricane and we hope everybody gets ready for that and wield be watching at fox news channel, and we'll have more on the president and his plan to fix the ailing economy. why is he asking warren buffett for some advice about this jobs

plan which we heard was all put together and, is getting ready to be unveiled after labor day and mitt romney has a competitive plan that he is going to roll out. gregg: and he was nearly a candidate for president, in france until a hotel housekeeper accused him of sexual assault. today, a reversal of fortune, for dominique strauss-khan. and, vice president joe biden overseas on a tour of china. what he said about their one-child policy that outraged pro-life activists here at home. >> you have no safety net and your policy has been one which i fully understand, i'm not second-guessing, of one child per family. whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock

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martha: sweeping airline rules going into effect today to protect passengers, the new regulations include carriers facing fines as much as $27,500 per customer if passengers are left stranded on the tarmac more

than four hours. gregg: i like that idea. martha: and anyone involuntarily bumped gets $650 for 2 hour delays and $1600 for anything longer than that. -- and $1300 for anything longer and that and they must disclose all the additional fees, baggage, meals and cancellations, and passengers feeling pretty good about this stuff. >> it is about time. >> it eases the pain a little bit. it helps with our time away from where we need to be. martha: this is just the beginning. there are other rules the department of transportation proposed. that will not kick in until january. and we'll tell you about those. gregg: two of the nations most successful ceos advising america's chief executive on a plan to dig out of our economy from the ditch. president obama reaching out to billionaire investor warren

buffett. and, the head of the ford motor company. alan mulally, looking for a few pointers on his plan to create jobs and balance the budget and still set to be unveiled after labor day. buffett recently going public with his opinion that the super-wealthy folks making more than a million dollars a year should be paying more in taxes. stephen moore, senior economic writer for the "wall street journal," joins us, you know, stephen, one can argue the super-wealthy already are, and have been paying more and more. i did a little digging, and here's what i came up with. look at the first graphic, especially compared to spending and debt. 1960, government spend, 27% of gdp, now 37% of gdp. 1980, government spending up, national debt is 100% and the top 5%, 43% of taxes, and now the top 5% is almost 60% of

taxes. in 1986, 18% of americans paid negative or no taxes, and, wow, look at that now. 51% pay negative for no taxes at all. stephen, isn't the president's claim untrue, because the rich are paying increasingly more while more and more americans are paying nothing. >> i give you props with the way you did your homework. that is impressive data and it is exactly right. we have seen a huge increase en government spending over the last 25 years and we have also seen a huge increase in the share of the tax burden that is paid by the richest 5% and 2% and 1% and in fact the top 1% pay 40% of the income tax. and one of the statistics you just pointed out, by the way is one that really sticks in my craw, half of americans pay no knack tax and i'm as anti-tax as anybody but i think every american who votes should pay some federal income tax and that is moved in the wrong direction

and let me give barack obama some encouragement. i do think that as much as i disagree with warren buffett on tax policy, i think that turning to an executive like buffett, and mulally of ford is a big improvement, gregg, over the people that have been advising barack obama, who you and i talked about, they have no business experience, don't know how to run companies and i think this is a breath of fresh air, at least some people with business experience are coming into advise the president. gregg: initially they were all academics and a bunch of career government guys, never really held a real job, arguably. look, the former... >> by the way, let me say something about that. you have seen the studies but the last 100 years, no president has had a cabinet with less business experience represented than barack obama. so, this is a big change for president obama and can only be an improvement. gregg: you know, buffett is getting a lot of heat. in fact, in your newspaper, former ceo of american express, had an op-ed and i want to quote

from it in your newspaper, telling buffett to stuff it, essentially. quote, before the government asks for more from the rich it should tax everyone more fairly. then spend that money more wisely and you'll need less of my money. that is the point, isn't it? congress has a recent history of absolutely squandering and wasting the revenue. >> of course, look at what happened in the last two-and-a-half years we have seen the federal budgets almost double in size because of these enormous stimulus plans that have not created jobs and so, spending is the problem, it is amazing to me that here we are, a year -- nearly a year after the republicans took over the house and still, there are no spending cuts. all the left is talking about is raising taxes and maybe what barack obama has to do is, maybe has the wrong buffett and should be getting advice from jimmie buffett, not warren buffett. gregg: stephen moore. chief economics writer for the "wall street journal," good to see you, as always.

martha: we could all take a little advice from jimmie buffett, right? gregg: sure. martha: you'll need a little margaritaville when you see the home numbers, folks, down for the 4th straight month in a row, this year on track to be the worst year for the housing market on record, and that goes back over the course of 50 years and it continues to be a huge drag on the u.s. economy. gregg: meanwhile he says he knows what it takes to get americans back to work. >> the focus of my effort right now is to make sure people understand that president obama and i could not be more different. he spent his life in politics. i spent my life as a business person, i know what it takes to get jobs again in this country. gregg: mitt romney set town veil his economic plan, but, what is in it? martha: and, there is a new twist in the case, folks, this missing american woman in aruba. now, there is a person who is close to her who has some new information about all of this, that it raising more doubts, in this story, that, when we come

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gary giordano says she disappeared while they were snorkeling and now her roommate is speaking up about this, among other things, she says she would never go snorkeling. her roommate. let's bring in former washington homicide detective, rod wheeler, for a look at all of this. we are getting new information from the roommate and she says she never would have gone snorkeling, for reasons having to do with her hair and all sorts of things and said she wouldn't have gone to aruba for money to pose for pictures, anything of that sort and she recently lost her job and it might have prompted her trip. she was invited to go and, felt like getting out of dodge for a couple of days and what is not

adding up to you and what is. >> here's the thing. we are investigating the case as a missing persons case, right now because the police have not really said they found any credible evidence at this point, martha, that would indicate something actually happened to her and inasmuch as her girlfriend said, you know, she wouldn't have done all of these things, snorkeling and her boyfriend, back at home in maryland, said, you know, she wouldn't have left him like this. you know, that is not really adding up, when you really look at her character, right now, because the police have actually found pictures of her rather explicit photos of her on this guy's cell phone and in as much as these things may not portray the woman, the fact remains, they have not found her body if she's dead and they have no clues exactly what happened to her. martha: you think they'll have -- shortly will have little grounds to hold giordano. >> you are right it will be difficult. and, his attorney made a statement, a guy named lopez, a couple weeks ago and aargued

that he should be released, there is no evidence, to prove that harm was caused to her and, inasmuch as i don't care for defense attorneys the truth of the matter is he's right. there is really no evidence, right now, to hold her and a lot of people have suggested maybe she went away on a sexual trade type of deal or something like that. and that is real speculation now, and the police have to focus on now, martha, is finding evidence that will directly link the guy to the fact she is mission. his argument, giordano's is she drowned snorkeling and maybe that happened. we don't know, at this point. martha: a lot of questions, thanks, we'll stay on top of the story. >> thank you, martha. martha: good to see you. gregg: breaking news, to tell you about, reports rebels have now breached the main gate at the compound of muammar qaddafi in tripoli. no knowledge about his whereabouts, though. we'll go to the libyan border and get a report from the reporter in the thick of the fighting there. stand by for the latest, live.

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martha: breaking news out of tripoli. it could be just a matter of time before rebels make it into the heart of muammar al-qaddafi's compound. the word has just crossed that they have breached the first gate of muammar al-qaddafi mortified compound in tripoli. as we watch the situation unfold we do not know if muammar al-qaddafi is inside the compound.

there is speculation this he could be. let's go to alex who is standing right outside of that compound. what are you hearing and seeing there, alex? >> reporter: that's them fighting back from inside the compound. jim, what do you think that was? that was a big one, maybe fire from a tank. he's still fighting. how worried are you, and how much do you need extra support, like from nato? >> they are helping us. so i think tonight its over. >> reporter: can you breakthrough the come poupd, though? >> they entered through the northgate. >> reporter: they've entered the compound. >> through the northgate. >> reporter: how many managed to tpet in. >> i don't know actually a number. as i say they entered.

>> reporter: the action certainly seems to be picking up. do you think you need nato help, or can you do this on your own? >> i think we need nato help for destroying the walls. so we can get inside. allah akbar, we will win. >> reporter: how are you so confident you will win. >> we have faith in god. who thought one week ago that we will be here. martha: fascinating. that was tape shot moments ago. our skies news reporter on the ground right outside of the compound. you can hear that man telling her that he believes tonight is the night. she asked him how many people got into that first gate of the compound, he said, many, i don't know. you have to listen to all of this. of course, gregg, with a bit of a grain of salt because these are the same rebels who said

they had seif in custody, that appeared to be not the case. now we have reports that they have broken into the compound. we stress this is a very fluid situation and it's difficult to confirm. he says he believes that they will indeed get into the heart of the compound tonight, and his reason for believing that is because that's what he believes. and he also said that they need help from nato. we spoke with jennifer griffin a little while ago at the pentagon. nato's mandate there is to protect in the humanitarian way, to use our military for humanitarian missions not to go on offensive at muammar al-qaddafi's compound. this is a tricky situation. greg: they have for weeks been periodically pounding that compound and several other control positions of gadhafi. whether he was inside or not. he hasn't been seen in 72 days.

let's go to the border in tunisia. dominique, what can you tell us. >> reporter: there are thousands upon thousands of libyans trying to flee the country now. after the appearance of moammar qaddafi's son they lost confidence in the rebels to take control of the country. i'm at a crossing and throughout the morning we have seen a combination of civilians in cars, many, many ambulances with rebel fighters who have been injured trying to seek medical care over here in tunisia. people say the scale of fighting is going to get worse, they are worried for their families. some people are picking up medical supplies and turning right back around to go back into rebel-held territory. they want to give their loved ones the medication they actually need.

the situation very confused. the border crossing is relatively calm although many people are desperate to get through. at the moment the people aren't convinced really that the rebels actually can take the country and hold it for their very loan. greg: dominic, almost every day and every hour we get all kind of conflicting report about the location of moammar qaddafi. some say he's in algeria. some say he's in tunisia. are the folks where you are at the border in tunisia knocking that down? >> reporter: we spoke with them a very short while ago, and they said they don't believe his son is free. we explained to them there has been television news that he had escaped from the rebels and mohammed, the oldest son also escaped house arrest. they don't believe it at all. it does cause great concern. ultimately what people need to

do is the rebels can get to grips with pinning down the remnants of the government forest actually left. you brought the news that they had actually breached the north side, moammar qaddafi's compound, that is a moment of truth for a lot of people here, they will know whether he's inside or not. many people believe that that will prove that he's actually fled the capitol. and if he's fled the capitol they believe he would not be in control and that would be the writing on the call for the moammar qaddafi regime. martha: martha maccallum here. you make a good point. so much rests on the confidence that the raebls have in succeeding and the message that that sends to nato and the rest of the world that they can indeed topple this government. because at every turn, you know, it has looked like they might be making headway, and then you have moammar qaddafi who basically has said he will go down fighting as hard as he possibly can.

he clearly has batches of support in the south and also in sirt, in his ohm city. it's very reminiscent of watching saddam hussein and his hometown of tikrit and how hard it was to bring him down in his final days. how signature is the rebels' ability to stick together to whatever extent they can at this really important juncture in all of this. >> reporter: that's the issue behind the national transitional council, it's a umbrella organization for the various rebels groups. they keep momentum and unity and we see clashes among various rebel groups along the way. who is in charge of the campaign in tripoli? that's actually not clear. two days ago they had troops between numbers of 12,000 and 15,000, but it wasn't quite clear who was commanding them. you saw what is going on right

now, is that just a one-up squirm i shall? wha squirmish? we're talking about the people at the border and around the receipts of the country the people aren't sure who exactly is leading the charge and where exactly this is going to take the fight. it's adding to confusion, martha. martha: dominic, great reporting. thank you very much. dominic is on the border of libya and tunisia where he has reported, thousands of people are taking the extra security measure of just trying to get out of their country because they simply do not know how the situation will end. dominic we'll speak with you later, thank you very much for that. greg: let me read a reuters news report crossing the wires here, i haven't actually read through it all. russian federation chief says today that gadhafi reached him by telephone saying he was still in tripoli, says he's alive, is well, has no plans to leave the

city. the federation chief in russia has visited during the nato bombing campaign, he met gadhafi personally. he said his eldest son mohammed called him. he gave the phone to his father who said he is in tripoli, he's healthy. he is prepared to fight to the end. let's go to our military consultant, captain chuck nash who joins us now. retired military captain. what do you make of that? >> well, greg as this thing unfolds, what is very interesting is we have cameras and the scene and people close to it. normally the first reports you get out of everything like this is so chaotic that they are not to be trusted, it's just more protending than pulling out detail. if moammar qaddafi is in the headquarters, in the compound, and if he allows himself to get

trapped like a rat then he would have allowed himself to get trapped just like some people thought osama bin laden had been trapped in tora bora, then we found out he really wasn't, he was somewhere else. it remains to be seen if he's really in there and got himself, so underestimated the situation that he thought he could survive in tripoli, which that was a bad piece of judgment work on his part if that's what happened. greg: we do know that the rebels had captured strategic locations to the west, to the east, to the south of tripoli, and of course it abuts the mediterranean. they even brought in all kinds of weaponry from the water side, the port side of tripoli. so the reports are that they have seized all kinds of moammar qaddafi loyalist weapons caches and they are now using that against the compound. what does nato do, do they let the rebels simply proceed? does nato get involved with

bombing? what happens here? >> at this point this is totally a ground operation. and in fact to draw a parallel, greg, this is very much like we used u.s. air power in afghanistan to support the northern alliance on the ground. it wasn't air power that won the war in afghanistan, but it was the enabling force, or the ground force. here we do very much the same thing using air power as the enabling force, as that ca catalyst that breaks through and is such a game changer. now that you are in this close of conduct, what you don't want to do is be lobbying bombs into a situation when you've got an overwhelming force on the ground that close and they are in such close contact. at this point you'd probably go -- you'd probably be killing more of our own guys than you would be helping out. greg: captain chuck nash as always many things, our fox news

military contributor. martha: if moammar qaddafi is indeed alive as has been reported and he's watching this. he's been in power for 42 years, and he has seen what has happened to some others in his position, like hosni mubarak who has been on a stretcher in a jail in court proceedings. and you wonder what the future holds for him. all of this breaking news this hour in "america's newsroom." we will be back with much, much more. stay with us.

greg: breaking news out of lower man has and a judge has denied the request for a special prosecutor in the case of former imf chief dominic strauss-kahn.

that leads the way for him to emerge from his apartment building as you see it on the screen, go down to lower man hat and where we do expect a judge to dismiss all charges against him, because that's the request of the prosecutor. they do not believe the accusor. tamara holder criminal defense attorney and fox news contributor joins us. tamara mcelroy a federal prosecutor as well joins us. this is not a surprise to you. >> i wrote an article the week he was arrested saying that the case against him was not nearly as sewn up as initially reported. there are all kinds of inconsistencies. her story didn't add up. there are cash deposits into her account. basically what's happened is we have a claimant who has committed perjury in the process of this case. she apparently looks like she may have been involved with

laundering money for drug dealers. it's an unbelievable case. greg: tamara let me go to you. i want to put up on the screen because i was reading through the district attorney's court filing late yesterday, and they laid out their reasons for why they don't believe the accusor, quote in virtually every substantive interview she has not been truthful. here is another part. when confronted about a lie she dropped to the floor and physically rolled around while weeping. later she protests, but i wasn't under oath. boy, in your judgment, i realize your a defense attorney, aren't prosecutors justified here in dropping their charges. >> absolutely. this woman, she cooked her own goose. now you could be a victim of rape and also be involved in money laundering, or any other kind of crime, that doesn't necessarily mean that she's not credible. but looking at the facts of this case, and what she said to

prosecutors, it just didn't add up at all. you know, and then she did other things, like she made herself unavailable for three weeks in june to prosecutors. she lied about a previous rape case in her home country, a gang rape by military officers, and that turned out to be a complete lie. so this woman had just no credibility whatsoever. but, gregg, keep in mind that they said in the very beginning of that filing yesterday, 25 pages, that this was a hurried sex act. so there is no doubt whatsoever that something happened, but who knows what. greg: all right. and marie macelvoy i wish we had more time but we had breaking news in libya. thank you very much. martha: we'll have more of that and that will be on "happening now." jenna lee joins us from the newsroom. >> reporter: it's dramatic developments in the fight for tripoli. we have bill richardson and mike rogers will join us. our very own steve harrigan will

join us live from inside tripoli. we have breaking news on the housing market and the next move out of washington to boost the economy. plus a continu controversial and his brand-new book, maggie goes on a diet. maggie is 14 and this book is for six years old. we'll talk about it in a few minutes. martha: that is problematic. coming up on "happening now." two huge stories breaking right now today, libya where there is pounding going on at moammar qaddafi's compound in tripoli. we're watching that story as it develops. also a monster storm, a hurricane heading towards the united states 100 miles per hour, cat 2 right now churning through the caribbean,ess expected to hit the bahamas and turks and cacos. we'll talk to somebody who is on the ground about the

conditions. stay with us, "america's newsroom." hey can i play with the toys ? sure, but let get a little information first. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do. [ female announcer ] somhing unexpected to the world of multigrain... taste. ♪ delicious pringles multigrain.

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martha: let's take a look at hurricane eye raoerpbg irene, because turks and caicos is bracing for the force of irene at this hour. aoeuplts the firsit's the first hurricane of this season and the first one to hit the united states in three years. packing 100-mile an hour winds, category 2, and gaining strength according to the indications we have from janice dean in the extreme weather center. we have residents and tourists in turks and caicos and the bahamas after that bracing for impact. i'm joined on the phone by bob hayward. he's lived in turks and caicos for a longtime. he joins us on the phone.

bob, welcome, what are you expecting and what are you doing to get ready for this? >> well, we're doing pretty much the normal thing, boarding up, and fueling vehicles, and stocking up on some canned goods and water, just preparing for after the storm as well. martha: what kind of indications are you getting from the people who are watching the storm right now in turks and caicos about how strong it might be and what time it might hit? >> we're expecting it -- they are telling us through the night it's going to start to increase in intensity later this afternoon around 2 or 3. it's expected to accelerate into the evening up to a category 2 hurricane. martha: are they able to give you a sense of what side of the island it might hit or what section looks like it's in the

path, or is that just too hard to do at this point? >> it looks like the center of the hurricane or the eye, they are predicting is going right up the straight between cuba and turks and caicos. the grace bay area, of course, is on the sort of north 4 easterly side of the island. this storm is coming up in the straight between cuba and turks and caicos, so it's going to hit areas like turtle tail, five keys, up to that side of the island, which is not the beach side. i'm sure that we're going to get, you know, surge and that on both sides. what's concerning right now is they are predicting 10 to 15 feet of surge, which is of course wind-driven water and that will push it inland to the low-lying areas. martha: we know that you guys dealt with this during hurricane ike. we wish you well, bob, stay safe.

thank you for talking with us. we'll be watching it at home. thank you sir. >> thank you very much. martha: take care. greg: we've been fighting the intensified fighting around moammar qaddafi's compound. the rebels say they have breached the first gate of that compound. is moammar qaddafi inside? a russian federation chief says he just got off the phone with moammar qaddafi, moammar qaddafi claims he's in tripoli and fighting. is this the end of his grip and power? we'll have another live report from tripoli.

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gregg: it never gets old no matter who sings it. you ain't nothing but a "hounddog." jerry lever behind classics like jailhouse rock,