anniversary to erv and ella straw from ocean city new jersey, celebrating 62 years of marriage tomorrow, and they're riding out the storm unless ella decides that they've got to leave. [laughter] erv said he's going to take his cue from his wife, but ther they are. it was great to talk to them earlier. jenna: it looks like he learned something in 60 years or so. not a bad lesson. thanks for joining us, everybody. we have special coverage all weekend on fox news of the storm, "america live" starts right now. megyn: this is a fox news alert, the white house just confirming that president obama will cut short his vacation on martha's vineyard and return to washington, d.c. tonight. that's one day ahead of schedule. as hurricane irene bears down on the east coast. we are efforting a live report from martha's vineyard in moments. welcome to "america live," everyone, i'm megyn kelly. eyeing a potential disaster as hurricane irene barrels toward the u.s. in the less than an hour, we

will have an update on its strength and path, but north carolina is bracing for the first impact. warnings of power outages that could last for days, flash flooding and strong winds. some 80 million people up and down the eastern seaboard are on high alert, and america's largest city, new york, is right in this thing's path. thousands in coastal areas being told to pack up and go, meteorologist janice dean tracking how hard irene will hit from the fox weather center as she has been now for days. j.d., what do we know? >> reporter: well, we know this is a category two storm, but the takeaway message remains the same as yesterday as a category three storm. it's still going to create a lot of problems up and down the northeast corridor. the storm the right now, again, 105 mile-per-hour sustained winds, but we do have maximum winds of 120 miles per hour within the core of this storm. we're going to see the potential for up to a foot of rain, very strong storm surge. we could have power outages not

only for days, for weeks, and people are advised to take this storm very seriously. it's a very large and lumbering storm. i just want to show you the peak impacts, the timeline that we have right now as of the latest advisory at 11:00. this is not landfall, this is simply to tell you the effects you're going to feel if and when this storm comes your way along coastal north carolina and the outer banks from saturday, overnight 2 a.m. to 6 p.m. wind gusts, 100 miles per hour, along the outer banks storm surge 6-12 feet possible, that could just wash everything away at this point. we could see, definitely, a different structure of the outer banks come monday. expected rainfall easily 8-12 inches, maybe higher amounts isolated. as we head up towards the southern new jersey area, timeline here sunday, 2 a.m. to 11 a.m., several hours of pounding rain, gusting winds in excess of 75 miles per hour.

storm surge in some cases 5-10 feet which could cause some major damage especially along these nooks and crannies here of the chesapeake bay. and expected rainfall, again, easily up to a foot in some cases. for new jersey, northern new jersey, nyc, connecticut and long island, the time frame here sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., winds in excess of 50 miles per hour, gusts to 80 miles per hour near the center of the storm. power outages likely, storm surge 4-10 feet and the flooding rainfall perhaps up to a foot in this area where millions of people live. back to you. megyn: janice, thank you. as we mentioned, thousands are leaving behind their livelihoods. maryland's governor is calling irene a, quote, monster, curl storm. hundreds of thousands in the most populated city in america are evacuating, and up to 3.5 million people could be affected in north carolina. that is where we find our own john roberts live in the bull's eye of the storm.

he is in kill devil hills, north carolina. john? >> reporter: good afternoon, megyn. you're looking east out to the atlantic ocean, the surf is beginning to build now. nothing compared to what it's going to be this time tomorrow when the worst of hurricane irene comes in the. here on the outer banks many of the evacuations have already been completed, there are a lot of people who have decided to stay though. most of the visitor have gone although we have seen on this beach some people, even families kind of getting one last day of vacation in because, to tell you the truth, the weather is still pretty good. but that's going to dee tier rate quickly. we're also learning that mandatory evacuations of residents have not really gotten the desired effect, probably about 4 or 500 people have decided they're going to ride this out which may not be a good decision considering where the eye of the storm is supposed to go, in that northeast sector of

the hurricane which is the absolute worst part of the hurricane and with thoughts it still could because bump up to a category three, that could make for some tough times. here in kill devil hills we ran into some people who are making the decision. gayle and gary anderson have lived here for a long time, we caught up with them in a café. here's what they told us. >> if it stays a three and heads right up through the sound, we live right on the sound in the old nagshead cove, so the back of our house is 14 feet off the water. if we've got to go, we'll go. >> no question about it. this is not a storm to mess with. i know an irene. [laughter] >> reporter: well, she knows what she's talking about, it would seem. the eye of the hurricane is going to come right here through the outer banks, but we ran into another woman who said she probably wasn't going to leave either, jean baxter, here's what she told me. so you're not worried about this

one? >> not worried at all. it's not bothering me. my son wants me to leave -- my family -- i don't want to. >> reporter: what happens if it gets really bad and you suddenly say to yourself, well, maybe i should have left? >> well, if it's time for me to go, i'll just be gone. >> reporter: there you go. she's kind of leaving it up to fate and the lord, although when we put her together with her two grandchildren, she changed her mind a little bit and said, well, maybe we will go after all. megyn: uh-huh. the problem is folks decide to stay behind, and then emergency officials have to call on them even though they say we won't. it's always better to follow the orders. >> reporter: yeah. megyn: john, thanks. well, hurricane experts are calling irene the worst east coast scenario. right now it appears to be slightly weakening, but there's no way of telling what kind of destruction it could leave behind. a category two storm is nothing to scoff at. what does this mean for public

safety? james franklin now with the national hurricane center. james, to those who say cat two, not three, i'm choosing to stay behind as we heard in john roberts' report, and i'm not going to heed the evacuation orders, you would say what? >> the category is not important. you need to follow the advice of local officials. we're going to have a storm surge of 6-11 feet in north carolina, we're going to have a storm surge of 3-6 feet along the new jersey shore. the category is immaterial. this is a very, very large storm. one of the things that that means is that large storms pick up a lot more water than small storms. you can have a storm surge in a category two that's bigger than a storm surge for a category four if it's small. so forget the categories, follow the advice. megyn: when i hear you say that, 3-6 foot storm surges, are we going to be expecting, you know, miles of coastline along, say, the new jersey shore are going to be, you know, houses along the shoreline are likely to be wiped out? you've got six-foot storm surges coming in? >> that's certainly possible,

and it depends on the tide, too, because if it comes in if at high tide, that effect is going to be amplified. that we can't tell 48 hours in the advance, but people shouldn't be taking that chance. they need to get out if they're told to get out. megyn: some of these hurricanes, the main event they're worried about is the pounding rains or the really strong winds or the storm surge as you point out, you know, for example, new york city which is, you know, we've got eight million people here. what is it people need to be worried about? the i assume it's not storm surge here in new york. >> that's not the major threat in new york, although there'll be some areas that will get some surge there. and, again, the track is critical. if it passes just to the west of new york, that increases the storm surge there. if path is to the east of new york, that lessens the storm surge and, of course, this far out we don't know exactly which way that will go. but the winds are going to be around hurricane force, there are large areas that have had a lot of rain over the past couple of weeks.

there's going to be a lot of rain with irene, a lot of trees down taking down power lines, it's going to be widespread flooding. you know, even if the wind doesn't do much damage by itself. megyn: what is normally to blame for the most deaths in a hurricane? >> um, historically if you go back a century, it is storm surge. but we've done a good job over the last two or three decades in getting people away from the coast, and over the last 20 or 30 years, the biggest source of death has been inland flooding, people driving through flooded areas, they get trapped, cars get washed away. it's not the wind, it's never been the wind in terms of casualties, but it's always the water. megyn: james franklin, thank you. busy man today. >> you're welcome. megyn: well, the nation's largest city bracing for a direct hit. irene is expected to slam us here in new york within the next 36 hours. it is a storm the city has not seen in the likes of, well, it depends on who you ask.

ful mayor michael bloomberg is speaking in 30 minutes on possible mandatory evacuations. city officials are already warning it may shut down the city's entire mass transit system for the first time, bringing this city to a virtual halt. and storm preparations are underway at the world trade center site as well. port authority officials saying they are securing all cranes and other construction equipment ahead of the powerful winds. just picture this in new york, you walk along the streets here, all of these high-rise apartment buildings have window air-conditioning units sticking out of them. how are the people who are out and about going to protect themselves? just so many concerns when a storm this size hits a city like this that isn't really built for i. this is not florida. we don't expect big hurricanes coming through manhattan. across the hudson in if new jersey nearly half of the state is under a hurricane warning right now. mandatory evacuations are underway for parts of the jersey shore including atlantic city on

places like long beach island, they're not even allowing people on the island anymore. you can't get on if you want to. in atlantic city, the casinos are beginning to close for what is only the third time in the gambling resort's history. hundreds of thousands of people are getting out, heeding the warnings. tolls have been suspended today along key highways to speed the evacuations. they want folks out, and they want 'em out now. and speaking of getting out now, we just got this alert in on our top story. we've gotten word from the white house that president obama is cutting short his vacation on martha's vineyard and returning to washington, d.c. tonight. that's one day ahead of schedule as hurricane irene bears down on the east coast. ed henry, chief white house correspondent for fox news, is live in martha's vineyard where he has been traveling with the president. >> reporter: megyn, you're right. the president just made a statement to the public about an hour and a half ago, did not mention he was leaving early.

his spokesman said, look, he wanted his statement to be focused on what kind of help the federal government is deploying, try to focus on getting people along the east coast to pay attention to the warnings whether it be evacuations or other warnings and didn't want to get into his own personal schedule. but just in the last few moments the president informed his team that he decided it'd be better to be at the white house tonight to be dealing with these storm preparations. his wife and two daughters will stay behind, they'll still go back tomorrow as planned. now, another key point as we were pressing josh earnest on the economic impact, what will this mean for the economy that's already struggling in the wake of this hurricane, and josh basically said, look, we're not focused on the economic impact. in his words, quote, we're talking now about protecting lives. gives you an idea how serious this is, megyn. megyn: sure does. ed,thank you. again, we will have new track and strength data in about 45 minutes here. also ahead, former president george w. bush marking ten years since the 9/11 attacks with his

most in-depth and intimate interview on the events of that fateful day. >> most powerless i ever felt was when i was watching people jump to their death on tv, and there was nothing i could do about it. megyn: we speak to the man who told the president that america was under attack. former white house chief of staff andy card coming up right here on "america live." and former weather caster heidi jones is back in court. she is now claiming something very interesting in trying to get out of her charges relating to her lies police say she told about being sexually assaulted. we'll tell you what her novel defense appears to be in kelly's court. plus, this is the great new england hurricane of 1938. the deadly storm is one to have costliest to ever hit the northeast. forecasters say -- look at this -- say this may be some of what the east coast is in for irene. >> accompanied by a tremendous downpour.

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>> the river in masses, streams turned into torrents, turning into rivers which burst their banks. megyn: the wind demon, known as the great new england hurricane of 1938, one of the most powerful and destructive hurricanes to hit the east. this is similar to that hurricane of city 38. trace gallagher has more. >> reporter: at the time of that storm there were no weather

satellites, no radar. in fact the national weather bureau, which is now the national weather service actually thought the hurricane would curve back out in the atlantic. the forecast for that day was for cloudy skies and gusty winds. they had no idea the catastrophe was coming in the form of the 38 hurricane. it was so powerful that when the storm surge came onshore that it registered on the earthquake siz sizmograph, winds 120 miles her hour, wind gusts at 186 miles per hour. the storm surgeon long island and connecticut was 14 to 18 feet. you look at these pictures and remember at the time long island was mostly undeveloped. the storm went through and crippled the northeast, crippled new york and devastated new england. waves in glouch ester mass were

huge. it killed 700 people, left 63,000 homeless, destroyed 9,000 homes. 3,000 boats and left 20,000 miles of power lines down. here is the big number it destroyed 2 billion trees in the northeast, a junior meteorologist actually said this thing is coming straight for new york city, but a senior meteorologist overruled him and said, nope it's not coming here it's going to curve back out in the atlantic. that was a fatal mistake. now we know better. this thing is coming and people should heed the warnings. the pictures from 38 are just amazing to look back on. megyn: wow, that is incredible. just to offer some perspective we had the national hurricane center saying at the top of the show that we might see 3 to 6 feet of storm surge along the east coast, and the northeast

coast and you're talking 15 here is that what we are seeing, 12 to 15. >> reporter: actually 14 to 18 in long island and connecticut, that is amazing storm surge. the important thing here to remember is about high tide. you were working to the meteorologist, people forget the dirty side of the storm which is the right side of the storm is the most dangerous. right now in you listen to janice dean and others this dirty side of the storm is heading right for long island again. depending on the tide, this thing is bad. megyn: that can make all the difference when it comes to the storm surge and flooding. folks are hoping for the best on that. everybody you talk to, trace, whether it's the national hurricane center or janice or anybody says listen, we are not being alarmists, you need to take this seriously and make your preparations immediately. >> reporter: we focus on the wind a lot, 140 miles per hour, 120 miles per hour, the wind doesn't kill you, it's the water that kills you. megyn: trace thank you. >> reporter: okay. megyn: fox news alert, this just

breaking. new york governor cuomo says the transit authority including new york subway systems will begin a system-wide shut down noon tomorrow, noon on saturday. this provides 7 million folks -- 7 million rides a day. more on this breaking news. it is shutting down, folks, they are heeding the warnings, they are taking this seriously as should you. we'll be right back. ♪ [ country ] [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com.

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it is just breaking now that new york governor cuomo is saying the metropolitan transit authority including the new york subways will begin system shut downs at noon on saturday.

it provides 7 million rides a day and we are told it takes eight hours to shut it down because they literally have to move the trains off the rails and so on. that is going to begin tomorrow, we're told at noon, they'll get the mta equipment, secure trains in protected areas including in the systems underground tunnel. we are also now hearing, this is an alert on the wires right now, that governor cuomo is ordering the new york city bridges to shut down if winds exceed 60 miles an hour. including the george washington and tapazi bridges if those winds exceed 60 miles an hour. more on that as we get it. fox news alert now on the hunt for libya's fugitive leader gadhafi. now reports of nato air strikes hammering moammar qaddafi's hometown of sirte east of tripoli destroying a command and

control center. we are streaming live from the capitol where moments ago his position came under fire. he is not on camera, because he's trying not to get shot. dominic. >> reporter: that's right, the entire team is lying low currently at the moment from our location. we aren't going to disclose precisely where we are. a few moments ago we heard the sounds of heavy gunfire and there were other broadcast teams that all floored it at the same time. we heard gunfire throughout the day. a short while ago we were at moammar qaddafi's former compound and there was gun fighting going on there. there was a struggle for the rebels to take complete control of the city. we know the rebels have shifted their focus somewhat to the hometown of sirte further east along the coast from where we are in the capitol. that is moammar qaddafi's hometown. they feel if they can capture

that that will ultimately lead to the ultimate downfall of moammar qaddafi, he won't have a safe place to fall back to. they do suspect he actually might have made his way there. the other day they discovered that underground network of tunnels leading out of the compound and think that might be his way out of the city. the national traditional council says it is moving to the capitol. it's got about half its people here. it will move the leaders once security allows it to do so. that will effectively firmly implant the national transitional council in the capitol as the defacto rulers. they are saying they are going to go for u.n. recognition come september and hopefully -- megyn: can you revea without revealing where you are, tell us your position? with what exactly happened? >> reporter: we are in a building with other foreign

media outlets. we are in the very center of the city. it is currently sundown here. about 20 minutes ago we started the sound of anti-aircraft guns from across the water. we heard small guns fire. right now as i'm speaking we are hearing more heavy gunfire come in. we know the rebels have been using heavy artillery or anti-aircraft guns to take out the sniper positions that moammar qaddafi loyalists have across the city. the snipers have been picking off both citizens and rebels and firing at journalists as well wherever they've been able to do that. the rebels don't necessarily have snipers themselves, they have some sharp shooters, but they find it more effective if they use the heavy ammunition. basically they are blowing them off of the buildings. megyn: are there windows in your room? are you literally crawling

around when you need to move, how long will this go on? >> reporter: this could go on all night to be quite honest. because the pockets have proved to be so difficult in terms of the rebels getting rid of the moammar qaddafi loyalists, it could move from neighborhood to neighborhood, sometimes fights go on for three, four hours, sometimes completely overnight. alternate the present moment it appears to be coming on the west side of the city, where we are, i'm just going to say we are lying on the floor from a position where we can see across and down across the city and see the direction the fire is actually coming from. if it were a bit darker we'd have a better idea of which neighborhood it specifically was. for the time being the shear boom from the anti-aircraft guns that the rebels are using indicates that there is quite some fight going on over there, meg. megyn: stay safe, dominic.

we are minutes from an update on the new york city subway shut downs. we are told the mass transit shut down could be expanded beyond that. we'll have a live report coming up. time and time again we have heard the president promise more jobs and less red ink. >> today does mark the beginning of the end. the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for americans. >> our economy is now growing again, and we may soon be adding jobs instead of losing them. megyn: however, unemployment lines continue to grow and the debt clock keeps ticking up. could those promises come back to haunt the president? we'll have a fair & balanced debate. and she said that she confessed because she thought it would save her job. now this abc weather anchor who lied about an assault is saying she was duped by the police. her unusual defense in trying to get out of that charge in "kelly's court." with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced.

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megyn: fox news alert, new york governor andrew cuomo announcing moments ago that the new york city public transit will halt around noon on saturday because of hurricane irene. the mta provides roughly 7 million rides a day. heather childress is live with more. >> reporter: megyn we actually have the official order that just came in from the governor's office, as you said among the

state orders issued this the metropolitan transit authority, for mta will institute a system wide shut down when trains and buses begin their final runs starting at approximately noon on saturday. the shut down will include subways, buses, major computer train lines, including the long island railroad and metro north railroad. the problem hurricane irene's surge. it could simply overwhelm the subway's drainage system. the largest transit system in the nation halting transportation for five bureaus. on a dry day the bumps remove about 13 million-gallons of water with an expected 13 inches of rain the pumps simply will not be able to handle it. if a category one hurricane hits numerous subway tunnels are guaranteed to flood, including

under river tunnels, most of the lines that run through lower manhattan and the rockaways. it will leave service suspended at least through the monday morning commute for new yorkers. this is going to last a while. but all along the east coast preparations are being made. most amtrak trains south of washington d.c. have been canceled for the weekend as have numerous trains originated in penn station. the boston transit authority has not cutback service yet but they are closely watching the situation. megyn: they don't want you going out unless you have to. the governor is now saying of new york that he will deploy the new york's army air national guard to support the authorities preparing for irene, and he's also saying that the new york city bridges, including the george washington bridge and others will be shut down if the winds exceed 60 miles an hour, that breaking out of the governor's office in new york. i'll squeeze in politics here a fiery exchange raising now questions about our economy

pwa. austin goolsbee defending the president's promises and jobs and debt claiming outside factors contributed to the economic standstill in a fiery exchange with our own shaun hannity, take a listen. >> we've accumulated more debt than any president in a shorter period of time under president obama. the truth is i have the latest bureau of labor statistics we've lost 2.5 million jobs since his stimulus under obama's plan. he said he would cut the debt in half. his administration said they would keep unemployment below 8%. you were part of this. what went wrong? >> well, respectfully, shaun i'd say you're mixing up the timeframe there. in the year 2010, which is when most of the slips when the president was saying we were starting to grow again, we were growing, and over that 17 months we added 2.5 million jobs. now at the beginning of this year we get earthquakes, nams

tsunamis, revolution -gs in the middle east, economic crisis. earthquakes outside of washington d.c. we've had a series of things that have given us heavy blows and slowed down the economy again. i don't think you want to confuse one thing that is -- >> i'll give you labor statistics. president obama has lost 2.4 million jobs since his similahis stimulus plan. he said unemployment would stay below 8%, those were promises he made as a candidate none of which came through. are you going to make the case that the arab spring and japanese earthquake had a more significant economic impact than say 9/11 on the economy? or katrina on the economy? megyn: mr. goolsbee went onto

suggest that they did lead to a hike in gas price necessary the united states. can the president's promises be used against him in the way we saw with george h. w bush. joining me now leslie marshal and lars larson. leslie is also a fox news contributor. that's the question, president obama is on tape saying these things. he's going to cut the deficit, cut the debt in half, keep unemployment below 8%, that projection that his administration came out with especially if they passed a stimulus they promised we'd never be at the level we are at now. and austin goolsbee to his consider goes on hannity and says let me contex tell you about those things. can this be used against president obama much as the read my was used against h.w. bush. >> i would never run for president but if i did i would say this is the plan i v. then

again there might be some acts of god, which tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes coming up the coast right now. i hope all of you will be safe at fox, there megyn, that the president didn't expect. during the burke administration as well as the obama administration when you have gas at $4 a gallon that is going to affect the economy negatively. when you have a congress both sides that are not willing to bulge one bit and when politics becomes more important than the bottom line literally. megyn: is it that, or is it as hannity was contending excessive spending. >> reporter: shaun is absolutely right. the numbers have been there, we have been talking about them for months. the net result is down t million jobs. the president's policy on jobs is like hurricane irene, it blows and leaves wreckage in all directions. it's a problem the president doesn't seem to understand that he can claim 2 million jobs claimed but if you lose

4 million jobs, maybe they didn't teach this at the ivy league school he went to -- megyn: they are saying he's stemming the tide it would have been worse without his policies. >> reporter: i understand he's suggesting if i hadn't been here things would be worse than they are now. that doesn't help americans. the gdp report out 1% growth is not going to replace the jobs either and his policies are a failure. this is a problem that the president doesn't seem to understand. he can change his epa policies, regulatory policies, he can give america some confidence and faith. right now all he's done is thrown everything up in the air, if you're a business owner and want to expand you have to worry about energy costs going up because the president wants them to, regulatory costs going up and healthcare is a complete ke with mark. if you're in that environment. megyn: i want to get to leslie. he talked about cutting the debt in half this. week it came out that he's added now about $4 trillion to our debt, which was a number that he criticized

president bush for severely when he was running for office. how can president obama come back to the american people now and talk in any way about being fiscally cautious and focused on debt reduction? >> well, megyn, quite frankly that is a challenge and a struggle for him or any president. i think one thunk we know whether you're president or a congressional member it's one thing to say what you're going to do when you want the job, then when you get in having the job and what you need to do to keep the world in this case going is a whole different story. megyn: that didn't work for george h.w. bush. he said, look, things changed, what happened to him? booted out of office. >> that's true. the american people need to make a choice, and the choice is do we want to switch as we keep doing every time somebody doesn't own up to every promise a hundred percent and i would say this for a republican as well as a democrat we think to look at as business owners do the entire picture. he created jobs, lars before the

economy went south due to outside factors, acts of god that he did not control. >> you can't keep blaming the tsunami for eating your homework. megyn: got to leave it guys. it's a good line. we'll leave it at that. thanks you both, leslie and lars. all the best to you. hurricane irene is barreling up the eastern seaboard and oil refineries are shutting down all aeu long the coastline. we will look at what that means for consumers ahead speaking of high gas prices. in an early edition of "kelly's court" a well-known weather caster lies to police about being sexually assaulted. now she is blaming those same cops for the legal mess she is in. her turn about next. plus president bush gives his first minute by minute account of what he experienced on 9/11 in an extraordinary interview. that interview and our guest former white house chief of staff andy card in our next hour.

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and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. as with all medicare supplement plans, and help pay for what medicare doesn't. call this toll-free number now... megyn: "kelly's court" is back in session on the docket today meet weather caster heidi jones who is back in court now. first miss jones told police that she was sexually assaulted by a hispanic man in central park last fall. well the police started to find several inconsistencies with her story and she ultimately reportedly confessed that she made the entire thing up because she wanted attention. once again, however, now that she is facing charges for lying, she is changing her tune. now she is claiming that she was duped into falsely confessing that she made up the whole story, because she says that the police promised her that if she did that they would keep it quiet from her bosses and her

career would be saved. this is the defense she is taking into court? how is that going to work. let's ask our panel. criminal defense attorney joey jackson and criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor jonna spilbor. my head is spinning joey. first she goes to the police and she says, i was the victim of a sexual assault two months ago. they get a little suspicious, shall usually you don't wait two months to report. they start finding inconsistencies in the story, turns out that she made the whole thing up, she confessed to making the whole thing up because she needed a little extra attention. now she is saying they duped her into confessing, that it was real all along and she made up that it was made up because why? is this insanity. >> likely story. were you lying then or are you lying now? look, here is the point. first of all any defendant in new york state is entitled to a hunt lee hearing. at that hearing a judge is going to have to determine was it voluntary and knowing?

she has a lot of problems. the first problem is that the police were investigating these allegations, as our fine nypd does. detectives were interviewing witnesses, going to the scene, doing surveillance tapes and so ultimately when they can't find anything that would be, you know, close to the story making sense they talk to her again, not as a defendant but again as a witness saying, you know, what really happened? what went on, and she breaks down, megyn and at that point she says i'm stressed out it really didn't happen, i needed attention, i have relationship problems, family problems, financial problems. let's say for one minute she was duped into this as she claims, even that in new york state is not enough to get this overturned, it's simply not. it's good investigation, police do people all the time and when they do it and you confess, too bad, so sad, guilty. megyn: how does she get out of this confession by saying, well the police duped me unto confess stph-g confessing. is she now claim thag she is in

fact a sexual assault victim? >> that's the exact question i posed to her attorney five minutes before we came on the air. i don't have the answer. i think she is claiming, look the only thing worse than being raped is falsely accusing somebody of raping you. she is claiming instead of the police leaving the mystery unsolved when they couldn't locate the person she was trying to pinpoint they convinced her to confess, falsely confessed because she didn't want an unsolved mystery. >> she is sitting there as an actual sexual assault victim and because the police couldn't put the case together and asked her questions she felt the need to say, i made it all up. >> or forced her into it. if she is now telling the truth then it should be thrown out and the charges should be dropped. if she is telling the truth. the hard part is, is she telling the truth? megyn: i don't know if you are right about that. i don't know if she is telling the truth that this should be thrown out. if the police strong armed her, pressured here, and said, come on, did you make it up, did you

make it up, did you make it up, does that mean the charges get thrown out? >> absolutely not. many people are under the false assumption that when a defendant, and remember she wasn't a defendant initially she with us a witness and a victim, but people think when a defendant is not mirandized when they gave the custodial interrogation the only time you need to be read your rights is when you're giving a statement. even then if the judge finds you weren't read your rights the statement gets thrown out, the case does in the and the case persists in the absence of the statement. megyn: and the charge against her is lying to the police. can you just stand by, panel. new york mayor michael bloomberg is holding a press conference. >> diminish in intensity, there is no question that we are going to get hit with some wind and high water that is very dangerous, and it's hard to believe when you look outside and see the sun, but it is in

some senses the calm before the storm, and you only have to look at the weather maps to understand just how big this storm is and how unique it is, and it's heading basically directly for us. we're here to bring you up to date on the city's ongoing preparations concerning hurricane irene, and let me start by saying we are opening, as of 4:00pm today 91 emergency facilities. they are a combination of evacuation centers and emergency shelters. they are being staffed by city employees, some on a volunteer basis. as you know we think new yorkers have the greatest workforce of any city in the nation and i just wanted to start out by thanking them and their colleagues across the city for stepping up now and giving their time and effort to help new yorkers who need shelter from the coming storm. the evacuation plan that we announced yesterday i am happy to say is working smoothly. i'll discuss it in detail in a

minute. because irene is now bearing down on us at a faster speed than it was yesterday, we are changing a few things. we are today issuing a mandatory, i repeat the word mandatory evacuation order for all new yorkers who live in the low lying zone aeu coastal areas and all five borrows that are at risk from damage of irene. and some that are not zone a but zone b. tom farley will be working with seniors homes and nursing homes and the two hops that are in the zone b, part of the rock aways to find alternative sites for their residents. people who live in private homes we want you to leave the rock aways. this is all due to the exposure to the ocean of the rock aways and the potential that emergency services may not be provided due to the closing of bridges. bridges aren't going to fall

down but there is a point when the winds get so strong that they close because cars and trucks could be blown off them. and what we are concerned about in the rock aways, unlike other parts of the city that may be in low-lying areas, or even slightly higher, if something were to happen and you needed emergency services in the rock aways we are not sure that in the worst case we'd be able to get those services to you, so that is something that is different than yesterday. we are also moving up the time that we want everybody out, and that is by 5:00pm tomorrow, saturday. in a storm with wind and very high tides there are risks that endanger public safety. i can't stress it enough. please, nature is a force more powerful than any of us and it really is better to be safe than sorry. the low lying coastal areas that will be endangered most by storm surge include coney island and

manhattan beach in brooklyn. south beach, mid land beach and other low-lying areas on staten island. battery park city in manhattan and small sections of the bronx. and as i said before, we are also adding a full evacuation of all people living in private homes or apartments in the rock aways. in addition you should know that mta service, including subways, buses and railroads will begin to shut down tomorrow at noon and jay walder will discuss that and other measures in a moment. let me caution you also in regards to the mta that service may or may not be restored in time for rush-hour monday morning. so i would urge employees checking with their -- to check with their employers regarding business option on monday. now we've never done a mandatory evacuation before, and we won't be doing it now if we didn't think this storm had the potential to be very serious. the best outcome would be if the

storm veers off to the east and doesn't hit us, doesn't hit us hard, but we can't depend on mother nature being so kind. we have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. just because thinks the first time we've had a mandatory evacuation of any part of this city i once again want to repeat, this is very serious, do not be fooled by the sun outside. that is the calm before the storm. and you just can't wait until gale force winds and driving rains arrive. it will be too late then. you have to start your preparations to leave right now. keep in mind, after noon tomorrow you're not going to have the advantage of mass transit to help you do that. so if you were to leave today that would be very helpful and tomorrow if you call access a ride, jay walder will talk about it, they just don't have the

capacity to take large numbers of people on any one day in a short span of time. in spite of the good weather if you want to be safe now is the time to start moving. we expect most new yorkers affected by the evacuation order will find places to stay with relatives or tpredz who live in safer areas. as i said at the beginning of this evacuation centers and shelters for those who need it will be open by 4:00pm this afternoon and they are staffed and equipped to accommodate the people we expect. if the capacity is much greater than what we have planned for we certainly have the capacity to expand very quickly. we'll talk more in a few minutes about how the system will work, a system that we put a lot of thought and effort into developing in order to avoid the kind of problems that occurred during hurricane katrina. let me first try to bring you up to date on the latest information that we have about the strength and path and where this hurricane is likely to arrive in our area.

the national weather service at the moment, and i keep reminding you, this could change any time, the national service has put the entire new york metropolitan area under a hurricane watch, which means that sustained winds of 74 miles per hour or more are forecast for saturday evening through sunday. at the moment the strongest winds are expected to arrive early evening tomorrow, and to continue into late afternoon on sunday. the current forecast is that irene will reach new york metropolitan area as a category 1 storm. the ground speed of the storm has accelerated. gale force winds of 40 miles an hour are the beginning of the storm and they will grow significantly. we don't know what they'll grow to but the full brunt of the storm, if you're in its way it's a lot more powerful than any of us. and certainly the best case scenario is very high winds and a lot of rain, and very, very

high tides. so those are the things you're going to see and we want to give you some ideas as to how to stay safe. as i stressed yesterday, our first obligation is to protect the most vulnerable new yorkers in zone a's lowe lying coastal areas. i just want to bring you up to date on what we did yesterday. hospital patients, those in nursing homes, homes for the aged and other new yorkers who are in these homes yesterday were directed to leave and by 8:00 last night -- 8:00 today. that has been done, everybody has been moved. there were no exceptions made by tom farley, and in all fairness nobody even asked for exceptions. in the rest of the area, coney island hospital, both campuses,

staten island, university hospital, nyu medical center -- megyn: there you have it the mayor of new york speaking to the evacuation plans now mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying areas of new york, and throughout the 5 bureaus, from coney island to battery park city, some parts of the bronx, parts of staten island and so on, saying the evacuation are mandatory, urging people to get out by 5:00pm saturday evening and saying if you would leave immediately it would be most helpful since the mass transit system will be shut down in new york as of noon tomorrow, as of noon on saturday. the mayor saying nature is a force more powerful than any of us, this is and i quote very serious in his words. for those of you across the nation wondering why such a focus on new york city let me put it in prospective for you. new york city has over 8 million people living in it. the new york metropolitan area has over 19 million people living in it, that is 6% of the

nation's population. the population density in this city is 800 times the national average. we literally live in-housess right on top of other people's houses, i means our homes are stacked upon one another in these enormous hirise buildings, and, you know, 70-plus mile an hour winds around the highrises in manhattan is not something you see every day. only five hurricanes have passed within 75 miles of new york city since 1851. only five since 1851. this is a big deal. so this city is on alert, the east coast is on alert, and we will continue to bring you the alerts as we get updated information right here on "america live." fox news alert now we're seconds away from an update on irene as mandatory evacuations are underway up and down the east coast. brand-new hour of "america live." welcome, everyone, i'm megyn kelly, busy news day.

the national hurricane center is set to release fresh data on the strength and path of irene right now a category 2 storm packing winds upward of 100 miles an hour. headed for the outer banks of north carolina and then is on route to long island and the new york tristate area. new york's governor deciding that all subways, buses and commuter trains will stop running at noon tomorrow adding that the bridges as well around new york, including the george washington bridge and so on will be shut down if the winds exceed 60 miles per hour. they are projected right now to be above 70 miles per hour. meteorologist dean tkoepb has her hands null today. >> reporter: it's ao a hundred miles an hour. i heard bill reid from the hurricane center say that he wishes that we didn't have categories for storms, because i think a lot of people become a little bit complacent when it's not a 3 or major hurricane. we have to make, you know, a point of saying that katrina,

one of our worst hurricanes this country has ever seen was a category 2 storm. i just want to make note of that. this is a category 2 storm. it's a very large, large, large system, you know, tropical storm force winds exceeding 300 miles from the center of the storm. i also want to point out there is no such thing as a minor hurricane. this is a hurricane that is going to cause a lot of damage all up and down the east coast. we just heard the mayor of new york city, they are going to shut down our transit system, that's how serious the storm is and i think he's absolutely right to do that. system. that's how serious this is. this is the storm with the outer band scraping across the coast of georgia and the carolinas. we expect this to make landfall across portions of north carolina. look at the wind gusts almost 50-mile-per-hour and this storm is still really offshore and wave heights, take a look at this. 23 feet.

that's on top of storm surge in some cases. very vulnerable areas. the shoreline will be different on monday across portions of north carolina. so there your mirk advisories up drk there -- their your hurricane advisories up and down the coastline. and just an emphasis that not on storm surge and winds, but heavy rainfall up to a foot of rain on top of saturated ground is also potentially devastating. we could see power outages for weeks in these populated regions. megyn: breaking news. tropical storm-force winds are now being felt in the carolinas as hurricane irene approaches there. >> reporter: you can see the conditions are rapidly

deteriorating. we have heavy surf out here. when janice was talking in her weather report about storm surge. to give you an idea how low-lying this area is. the small do you understand and vehicle table would give only limited protection against storm surge. the folks at this hotel where we are saying say whenever a hurricane comes they are always guaranteed some water at least in their parking lot and in a severe storm it could be worse. you may have noticed the boarding on the windows of the restaurants at hotel. they have been putting them up all morning to protect the windows from flying debris. residents have been taking precautions. most of them heeding the mandatory evacuations, not want to go take any chances. the cdc recommends people evacuating or staying put in their homes, whatever they decide to do carry at least 3-5

days of food and water, and also to stock up on at least a week of any prescription medicines they may need. chances are that the power will be knocked out in these barrier island communities. so you need to be self-sufficient, whether you are hunkering dunn here or preferably as officials would like leaving these island and heading to shelters on the mainland. at this point went red cross and some of the counties along the north carolina coast. nearly 5 dozen shelters have been open. also the salvation army tells us their mobile kitchens are in safe staging areas so as soon as the storm passes over, they can send those mobile kitchens into some of these isolated neighborhoods that have lost power where residents are stranded and feed people who are be in desperate need of food. those who haven't heeded the

precautions and stocked up. megyn, back to you. megyn: last-minute preparations to secure a dozen nuclear reactors in irene's path. crews are fueling backup generators and setting up cots for stranded workers. the biggest threat is from high winds which could damage electrical lines and cut power to the plants. rear getting an up close look at hurricane irene thanks to some storm hunters. these meteorologists are risking their lives flying directly into the center of the hurricane trying to gather information to track it and save lives on the ground. lieutenant colonel john talbot joins me now on the phone. thanks so much for being here. the last time we spoke i think you have been in the heart of the storm saturday. have you been back? >> we flew a mission yesterday

afternoon and tracked irene as it was in the bahamas. megyn: what did you see? >> winds near 100-mile-an-hour just like the current forecast. a lot of rain and a lot of rough seas over the ocean. megyn: now they are saying irene is weakening a bit. janice dean cautioning that means almost nothing in terms of our preparation for this thing. is that something you observed? >> we saw the hurricanes remain steady yesterday. it's not unusual at all that these storms go through gyrations, they may weaken or strengthen. but folks need to get prepared and get ready for the storm when it comes their way. megyn: we are look at tornado watch you flying into the hurricane is my understanding. >> we were flying at 10,000 feet. we stayed at that altitude the entire mission and went through the center four times and collected really great information about the current

state of the hurricane as of yesterday afternoon. we have crews that continue to flight right now. the latest airplane just left the storm and the latest one is getting ready to depart shortly. megyn: we heard reports that local officials down in some of the north carolina's most remote islands under mandatory evacuation orders, half of the residents are ignoring those orders and are choosing to stay behind to ride out the hurricane. somebody who has went in heart of irene a couple times. what do you want those people to know? >> i think they ought to reconsider their actions and now the window is closing rapidly. so now is the time to make your preparations and now is the time if you are ordered to do so. megyn: can you imagine getting in your airplane and riding into the heart of that storm in he has don't repeatedly. that's how we get the latest information on this storm.

all eyed on the skies as north carolina residents await a battle with the elements. in virginia beach preparations underway. the resort city in irene's bull's-eye. is the ouster of moammar qaddafi vindication for barak obama's foreign policy decision? long lines at a job fair in atlanta. we could see lines like this for a very long time. >> probably 4 1/2 hours actually outside in the sun. then there was still another hour to hour and a half of indoor waiting. >> this was an investment in my future. it was an all-day investment. [ groans ] you okay? try this. bayer aspirin? it's not a heart attack. new bayer advanced aspirin's for pain. it has microparticles and enters the bloodstream faster. works twice as fast as before. did you invent this or something? dr. eric first, from bayer. wow.

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megyn: all along beach towns hurricane preparations are underway.

virginia beach. city officials declaring local emergency. elizabeth pram is live in santa barbara. are the people leaving? >> it's hits or miss. people look outside and see this beautiful beach behind me and they decide to stay one more day. but what state officials are concerned about is they will wait too long and once the storm rolls in it will create bottleneck traffic. hotel owners are telling us they are biting the business and telling residents they have to be out by tomorrow. those who stayed in 2003 said they will be leaving this time. of course, widespread outages. megyn: what is the projected damage? can they assess that before the storm hits? >> reporter: locally it could be well over millions and across the east coast billions of dollars in damage. one particular area, 15 minutes

south of here is an extension of this beautiful north carolina outer banks it's a low-lying area. it's filled with beautiful homes and resorts. we just heard from the mayor who said he wants everyone out of that area. that's a good indication how high that storm surge is going to hit. megyn: travelers are scrambling to get to their destinations. the highways are clogging up as the airlines start cancelling flights. jetblue * scrubbed 800 flights. irene is set to plow through the busiest air space in the country. it will impact airport across the country. if you have any plan on flying this weekend call ahead. cell phone service. and weather our wireless service can withstand the force of hurricane irene. trace, what do we know? trace: if the east coaster r

quake is any indication of whether we can rely on our cell phones the answer is a big no. 96% of us have cell phones. 25 percent of all households in this country resly solely on cell phones. they don't use land lines anymore. so you have to have a plan b. all the major carriers have emergency plans in place. they all are going out and they are beefing up their generators and the cell phone towers, they are putting repair crews on 24-hour standby. but if you go back to 9/11 and hurricane irene. even the shooting at virginia tech, the problem is not faulty cell phone towers, the big problem is congestion. the networks don't have the capacity to handle surge of calls they get during emergencies. here is what the companies are recommending. they are saying sends text messages instead of calling because for every phone call,

they can process 30-50 sect messages. use twitter or social networking sites to get your messages out. then you can get out to a bunch of people. make sure you program emergency numbers into your phone before the goes out. book mark or program weather sites. you can keep taken update of where the storm is going. and remember you have got to have your batteries fully charged. the power as jonathon was saying earlier will likely go out. do not rely on your cell phone alone. you have to have a plan b. you know without fail that it's not going to be reliable all the time. so, you know, get ready and gets your cell phone. megyn: unprecedented steps taken as hurricane irene closes in on the east coast. not only has michael bloomberg issued a mandatory evacuation. atlantic city new jersey has closed the casinos.

that 8 is trying to move a million people out of harm's way. new insights on the day that changed our nation forever. president bush in his own words. what he says about the moment he learned we had been attacked and we'll speak with the man who had to tell him. >> in the back of the room the reporters were on their cell phones. they were getting the same message i got. which meant that a lot of people would be watching my reactions to this crisis. so i made the decision not to jump up immediately. i didn't want to rattle the kids. i wanted to project a sense of calm. @

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about other topics today. but we want to switch to

weather. there are severe warnings coming in. the mayor put it in the most blunt terms saying this is very serious and nature is a force more powerful than any of us. now we get reports that folks in north carolina, that half of the residents of the remote islands are ignoring evacuation orders and are staying behind to right out. that's 400-500 people. >> it happens every time. sometimes the hurricanes turn out to be less of a deal than we newspaper are telling them, and sometimes they turn out to be an even bigger deal. >> especially for working people who feel like they have to do what they have to do and they are bigger than nature. they have to be careful. it shouldn't be. i was talking to my sister in north carolina. she has a new yorker mentality and she is living in north carolina. i'm hoping she doesn't take that

mentality -- megyn: it's not just north carolina. mayor bloomberg says each of the five burr on yous has an area d each of the five burr boroughs will be under mandatory evacuation orders. >> some of them don't believe anything can happen. it's built on a marsh. a lot of my friends are saying we are out of here. we are leaving. the last time a category 3 hit new york city i believe it was 1921. and it was pretty bad, and there is a lot of new construction in the city. teresa who does our hair here says i have got dogs, birds, cats, what do i do? megyn: we should roll that video

trace gallagher showed, the damage back in 1938. they are going to get that queued up. only five hurricanes have passed new york city since 1851. why are you so focused on new york? 6% of the nation's population is in the new york metropolitan area. we don't get a lot of hurricanes. >> better safe than sorry. you are talking down in battery park. people are saying, it's the i, nothing is going to happen. one of the reasons people go to battery park, it's because the water is there. if you can't get out, once it happens. megyn: about the way the city is set up. we have a concrete judge and construction and buildings with scaffolding in front of them. we don't drive, we push our

babies across town in strollers. sometimes we have to get out. air-conditioning units hangouts of all the highrise apartment buildings. >> that's the thing -- they are thinking these buildings are hopefully structurally sound. >> the last time this happened, the city was flooded. megyn: look at these pictures. this is connecticut back in '38. a big storm surge, even bigger than what we are expecting now. >> people should take heed of the stocking up. you talked about in your earlier segment. the phone advice i thought was fantastic. if you can use social media, use text instead of calling. these are helpful things. particularly those in my generation. megyn: everyone here lives in the greater new york

metropolitan area. have you gone out and got a generator? have you bought supplies? have you done that stuff with your cell phone? have you done one thing to prepare? >> when i called to order lunch before i came here i ordered 7 salads. you know what? megyn: it's fema, they are interested in preparing you. >> i have to get on a train with bob beckel to do a speech in d.c. tomorrow. i'm more nervous to be trapped on a train with beckel. that's the real worry. megyn: it's easy for to us sit here and say you need to heed the evacuation order and prepare. but there is no question. would you uproot your family or

would you ride the odds out. and say people inflame and overstate the case. i have been here more x number of years, never had a problem. i'm going to ride it out. >> mayor bloomberg said to go, there is a reason that he genuinely wants to protect people? or is he worried about liability. >> i'm sure liability will come into question, but one life won't matter next to liability if that many what it takes. megyn: people with a mindset, they are being overprotective. >> every snowstorm, when it inconveniences you then you are worried. i was in the grocery store this morning. my preparation was making sure my daughter had all the flavors of yogurt she wants. megyn: the rest of the country

weren't laughing at us now before this segment they really are now. got a weather alert coming in from the wires. new jersey transit trains will also stop running tomorrow because of hurricane irene. we are hearing jersey city -- jersey city, china, has begun evacuating. atlantic city has board up the casinos. it takes a lot to make that happen. we are any maryland, new jersey and massachusetts. atlantic city closing count casinos for the first time in a long time. plus on a different note but important one, 9/11 like you have never seen it before. through the eyes of the man who led america through one of its darkest days. >> we head down into the site itself.

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megyn: take a look at these live pictures from atlantic beach in north carolina. look at surf kick up. they are beginning to feel the

tropical-force winds. the rain is beginning to fall at the same time as maryland's governor is preparing for the worst and praying for the best. hurricane irene approaching there. tropical storm and hurricane warnings republic for parts of maryland. the governor is asking for everyone's cooperation and urging all to be ready to survive for days potentially without power. >> this is one major national event. it will affect the entire eastern seaboard and maryland is in the center of things. as we prepare for this mobster killer storm main rule is to get the word out to the public. we are anticipating major power outages. and people need to be aware that they need to be able to be self-sufficient for 72-hour period of time. this is the real deal. this is a big deadly and dangerous storm.

megyn: we heard from mayor mike bloomberg. this is very serious. the warnings continue to come in. folks need to heed them. apropos of the discussion we just had. i want to share this email from phil. after living in new orleans after katrina you have no idea what you have to go through. get out if you have been ordered to evacuate. folks in new jersey fleeing. governor chris christie not taking any chances. announce can the train system and some highways will close. nearly all of atlantic city's casinos shutting their doors ahead of the storms. rick leventhal live in atlantic city where it looks beautiful right now. >> reporter: this is the first mandatory evacuation in atlantic city's history. the boardwalk is nearly empty, so are the beaches. the governor announced as of

noon tomorrow all gaming operations must cease. but most of the 11 today i those have already shut down their casino floors and told have ier toes to -- told visitors to get out by 6:00. roads into atlantic city will shut down at 6:00 p.m. except for essential personnel. the garden state parkway, southbound lanes will be closed. this is going to cost casinos millions in revenue on what would be one of their busiest weekends of the year. we talked to some gamblers who say they are disappointed. but many are taking it in stride. >> we'll go back and finish up. no matter where we go. we live in new york city. no matter where we go, we are getting hit with the storm.

>> that storm coming in with all that water? i'm going. >> reporter: even with a mandatory evacuation order officials can't force people to leave. but they are telling them if you do stay you do so at your own risk. once winds top 45 miles an hour they won't respond to 911 calls. fire and police will be hunkered down. if people stay they are doing it at their own risk. megyn: federal emergency management steams and homeland security officials have been getting details jaw dates all day. paul, thank you for being here. now there is discussion about folks who do not heed the manned story track was orders. they cannot be compelled to do so as they herd rick leventhal say, yet they need to be reminded of the danger.

>> hearing some of the talk about the casinos before coming here and doing this job and flying the hurricanes out of tampa, i was living in biloxi, mis. i saw what happened with katrina. i saw the casinos that were pushed across highway 90. that brings back some of those visuals. there is nothing worse we hate to hear, hearing people not evacuate when they are asked to do so. that's why we are out there. we can't protect your property but we can gets you out of there and that why we are doing it. megyn: as a flight meteorologist your views on this storm is significant and wh why it's getg so much media attention. >> one thing that stands out from this one is usually we are look as the one place as being the landfall, hurricane andrew into the miami area orca trina into biloxi. this is going up the east coast

and hitting a lot of places with a lot of population. that alone makes this storm stand out from many others unless we start going back in history. but the coastline population has never been like it is today. megyn: when it hits whether it's the outer banks of north carolina where we are seeing winds picking up, you can see in the video before you or up the coastline, new jersey, and so on, what will people experience and for how long? >> we are keeping our fingers crossed. you may have noticed the national hurricane forecasters are not forecasting this to be a major hurricane. they are calling it to stay steady and start to decrease slowly. once these storms start to move north they tends to shift. a lot of times their strongest winds are to the east. that would be good news if that did happen for the coast. but we can't predict that so we need people to evacuates. that's why we are going to keep flying and feeding that

information to the hurricane center so they know who they need to ask to leave. megyn: paul, thank you. the carolinas as you have been receiving are beginning to feel the effects of. >> i where the massive system is specked to make landfall. hurricane warnings for the east coast and the governor in north carolina has declared a state of emergency. the very latest on the storm's track. former president george bush like you have never seen him before reliving one of our nation's darkest days in a powerful new interview. what went through this mind when he found out the second world trade center tower had been hits and what he wanted to do right after the attacks. his chief of staff at the time joins us live here next. >> i got to the base of the plane and the whole situation looked different. people were armed. and i said let's go to washington. i wanted to be in washington, d.c. as commander-in-chief at a time

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megyn: we are getting word that a number of east coast reef fine are yous are starting to shut down as hurricane irene nears and gas prices are already going up. a lot of these reef fine are yous that turn oil into gas are built to withstand a storm but not their pipes. cooling tower as and power lines. there are 8 refineries on the east coast. if one shuts down it could take almost a month to get back up to full operation. >> eventually september 11 will be a date on the calendar like pearl harbor day. for those of us who lived through it, it will be a day we'll never forget. megyn: former president bush

speak out in a powerful interview as we prepare to mark 10 years since the september 11 terror attacks. the documentary is set to air this weekend on the "national geographic" channel. >> i had been notified that a plane had hit the world trade center. at first i thought it was a light aircraft. and my reaction was, man, either the weather was bad or something extraordinary happened to the pilot. i then informed some of my staff members to provide help to new york city, whatever help they needed to take care of this incident and then walked into the classroom.

the classroom was full of kids who were reading. and in the back of the classroom there was a full press corps. and staffers and some adults. and i was intentsly listening to the lesson. i felt the presence behind me. and andy card's massachusetts accents was whispering in my ear, a second plane has hit the second tower, america is under attack. megyn: the man who had to inform the president america was under attack is my guest now. andy card, former chief of staff to former president george w. bush. what a powerful piece this is by

nat geo in an extensive two-day interview with president bush about the event that changed america forever. you were the man at the president's side at that moment. president bush said that when you whispered that into his ear he struggled to keep his face expressionless. first felt anger and asked himself privately, who the hell would do that to america? >> when i whispered in the president's ear i was sure how he would react. my hope was that he would not ask me a question or start a dialogue. that's why i was efficient with the words i used. i was trying to demonstrate using as few words i could the magnitude of this action. i those reacted in exactly the right way. he did nothing to introduce fear to those center young elementary school students, and he did nothing to demonstrate the fear to the media that would have translated it to the

satisfaction of the terrorists all around the world. i thought he did a phenomenal job of keeping his emotions under control. he was contemplating the challenges he had as president. the job of president is an awesome job and he has a unique responsibility to preserve, protect and defend. and i suspect he recognized that obligation as he sat in that classroom. he didn't come back in the holding room right away and aloud us to get things in place so the president would be able to meet his responsibility. i told the telephone operators to get the fbi operator on the phone. get a line open to the vice president. get communications back to the white house. get the crew back on air force one. get some remarks written for the president because there are are a thousand people in the gymnasium next door. all that was being done as the president sat in that classroom and i think he was together right thing. megyn: he talked about how it was like watching a silent

movie. he saw the reporters in the back of the room and knew they were getting the same information he was getting and he knew everyone would be watching his reaction. you talk about a face of calm. he talked about being on the plane with you and others right after the attacks and how his staff -- his senior staff was trying to whisk him away to safety out of washington, d.c. where you wanted him to stay. this is the second clip to the president on that subject. >> during this moment that i made the decision i'm going back to washington over the objections of just about everybody else. i said i have had it. i need to get home. a lot had developed it was important to wrap the day up with a presidential speech assuring people that the government was functioning and responsing and we would take the appropriate actions necessary to protect our country.

and i damn sure wasn't going to give it from a bunker in nebraska. i wanted to give it from the oval office. i didn't weather the enemy to have the psychological victory of a president speaking from the bunker in the heartland of our country and not speaking from the capital that had been attacked. so i told the head of the see yet service and others, i'm coming home. megyn: you didn't agree with that decision, did you? >> i agreed when it was finally made. but when he first got on the plane in sarasota, florida, he wanted to go back to washington. and the secret service was adamant that we couldn't go back to washington without understanding the nature of the attacks. there was a rumor air force one itself was the target for an attack. i was the buffer between the president and the secret service and both sides were pretty tougher on me, by said we had to learn more about it before we went back. we went back to washington, d.c.

after he had been to louisiana, then the strategic air command in nebraska. the president was pushing to get to washington, d.c. quickly. he addressed the american people from the oval office which was the right venue for him to talk to us. megyn: when we come back when wants to ask you about the president's comments on what it was like on air force one as the information was coming in on that fateful day nearly 10 years ago. stand by.

megyn: this is an alert. you are about to see some of the most dramatic pictures from the day on hurricane irene. these are live pictures of the storm. nasa tv broadcasting images take from the international space

station. you can see how huge this thing is from these pictures. look at irene. that what is heading for the east coast right now. want to get back to former white house chief of staff andy card on the upcoming nat geo special that profiles president bush on the day of 9/11. i wanted to ask you about the president's comments about what it was like to be onboard air force one as he and you were watching tv like the rest of americans trying to see what was happening down at ground zero. let's listen to the sound bite first. >> there was a lot of sadness on air force one. we had seen the images of people dying. and i just knew of the heartbreak. -- that was ravaging families.

the most powerless i felt was when i was watching people jump to their death on tv and there was nothing i could do about it. megyn: you were there, you were on that plane and you remember that situation with the president and the tv. >> i'll never ever forget the trauma to america by watching these innocent victims, and then let many not forget the people who answered the call to help save those innocents victims, then they themselves became victims. that's the memory of september 11, 2001 is about. it's less about me telling the president something or the trip on air force one. let's not forget the victims, the families, the she roves that showed up to try to save people and they themselves were sacrificed. tremendous memories flowing through my mind, and great tribute to the men and come even trying to help and find solutions. and obviously we had the leadership of a terrific

president who made tough and courageous decisions. he was cool, calm and collected and very responsible that day and i was very proud of him. megyn: he talks about nine requires an event that bound us together. virtually all of us had this events that bound us together. some day generations won't have been around for and it will be a matter of history. one of the pieces of that story that has become an iconic moment is the following one. >> as i worked my way down, people started saying, go get em. there was a palpable blood lust. these workers were interested in finding out whether or not we were going to go find that enemy and bring him to justice. that's what they wanted to know.

before i got up on this pile of rubble that turned out to be a destroyed fire truck, somebody hand me a mega phone. i didn't prepare remarks. but i knew i could cobble something together in front of the crowd that would comfort and reassure them. i was up there trying to say something about how we cared about them. and the country was supporting them. i kept screaming, i can't hear you. i can't hear you. and i yelled back to the megaphone, i hair, the world hears you, and the people who did this will soon hear from us. >> i can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these

buildings down will hear all of us soon. megyn: describe the significance of that moment. >> i thought the president summed it up it was completely spontaneous. he spoke from the heart and yes we did hear the victims an told the world they would hear us. megyn: the president talks about learning that usama bin laden had been killed. getting a call from president obama. he says he felt a sense of closure and a sense of gratitude that justice had been done. andy card, thank you so much. >> thank you, megyn. megyn: george w. bush, the 9/11 interview prehere this sunday at 6:00 p.m. eastern time on the national geographic channel. want to giver you have this