from grace, a new poll showing a seismic shift in the republican pops. here are the numbers, mitt romney, still in the lead but the big story, herman cain, rocketing to second place and tied with rick imrer, jumped from 4 percent to 16 percent in only one month, that from "the washington post", perry, nose diving, last month he was the frontrunner at 29 percent, but that was last month. what are you doing for me today! good morning i'm bill hemmer. martha: good morning, bill, good to see thank you morning. good morning, everybody. this is what keeps this so fascinating. this latest shakeup, of course, probably won't be the last one, we'll probably see several of these. we're still waiting to hear about the big chris christie question out there, polls look like this for the governor, 42 percent say yeah, get in the race! 34 percent say maybe not, maybe next time, 24 percent could care less, forget about it, they say. bill: kelly wright is live from washington. lay it out for us, good

morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you as well. this is something that's fascinating when you start watching the polls take place, and what's of real interest here in this new poll is the revelation, as you said, that texas governor rick perry is slipping and herman cain, he's on the rise in the bid for the gop nomination. here's the breakdown of the "washington post"-abc news poll you were just revealing there, republican 2012 candidates, mitt romney remains frontrunner leading with 25 percent support, then there's rick perry who's had that dramatic slip to 16 percent, now tieing with herman cain. that is a dramatic drop for perry who rose to the top when he first announced his candidacy, but after a series of poor performances in the debates and some trouble on the campaign trail, perry has seen a dramatic drop. and while perry slips, herman cain continues to gain after winning the republican straw poll and florida straw poll. here's what he's saying about it. >> the voice of the people

is more powerful than the voice of the establishment media. because when you look at what was happening, they were trying to turn it into a 2-person race, but secondly, it also showed that message is more important than money. my two opponents that came in second and third, they put a lot of money into trying to influence the outcome of that straw poll. we rented a bus, went around and talked to people. what a novel idea. >> whale we're staying on message, republican leaders and major donors are not happy with candidates, 42 percent of independents would like to see new jersey governor chris christie declare his candidacy, 40 percent say no, and the rest, offering no opinion at all. it remains to be seen if governor christie will jump into the race, and while the republicans are still trying to find the right candidate, they are optimistic about the beating of president obama. in fact, the poll shows,

bill, more than eight in ten say the gop nominee, whoever that might be, will beat president obama next year. meantime, in a memo released just yesterday, the obama camp said the republican frontrunners, quote, would return to policy that is have been tried before and done nothing to improve economic security for the middle class, rewarding special interests, that is, who can afford to pay lobbyists, instead of looking out for working families, so we're seeing all of this build up, president barack obama getting for whoever that frontrunner in the republican field will be. bill: a lot to go over! thank you, kelly. nice to see you, kelly. martha: let's look at the other side of the equation, shall we? meanwhile a majority of voters say they believe the president does not deserve a second term. 55 percent in this poll say, this is a "washington post"-abc poll, saying they prefer a republican in the white house. president obama says he believes the economy remains

the big problem, and he jumped at the chance, really, to say that yearks that makes him an underdog in this race, a role that he seems to be embracing. >> you know, i don't mind. i'm used to be an underdog. and i think that at the end of the day, though, what people are going to say is who's got a vision for the future that can actually help ordinary families recapture that american dream. martha: coming up, the president and the question of underdog, isst strange for an underdog president to be raising -- to be raising a billion dollars for his campaign? we're going to have a fair and balanced debate coming up on that moments away. and boy, was this dramatic yesterday afternoon, folks. american amanda knox is now on a plane on her way home to the united states, back to seattle, where she is from. less than 24 hours after she was acquitted of murder in the 2007 death of her roomate in italy.

there were woops and hollers across that courtroom, you could hear her physically overcome as she got that news, she crumbled and began to cry, barely able to stand, her family stood there, stunned, having finally heard the news they've been waiting for for so long. she spoke to the -- they spoke to the media after the hearing, after the -- that the four-year deal was finally over. >> we are thankful for this support we have received from all over the world. people who took the time to research the case and could see that amanda and raffaele were innocent. last, we are thankful to the courts, for having the courage to look for the truth and to overturn this conviction. martha: she was united with her sisters a couple of days ago and that's one of them. greg burke is streaming live from perugia, italy. greg, what a story.

>> reporter: >> [inaudible] >> martha, you know, it didn't take long to get out of dodge, did it? that was the plan. people always said if amanda was found innocent, she would be on the next plane, off and going home, and that's what happened. it was right around noon, she got on a flight at fumecino airport in rome, on her way to london and then reetle from there. that is on her way home after four years in an italian prison. so there was a very intense scene last night as the verdict was read. amanda looked like she was about to hyper ventilate, actually, and looked even more scared right at beginning when she was found guilty of the first charge, slander, but then utter relief when she was cleared on all the others, murder and sexual assault, especially. so it was incredibly intense scene the in the courtroom. and you can understand the emotional roller coaster

that she went through. now, for the kirchers, the whole message in the past couple of weeks has been let's not forget meredith, they don't buy the defense's theory that it was just one guy, rudy deday, who has already been convicted. they say emphatically, the problem is they are back to square one. >> we are left, obviously, looking at this again, and thinking the decision -- it was emphatically overturned now. >> reporter: finally, martha, what's interesting is this case divided everybody while the trial was going on, the verdict has as well, the large majority of the british being against amand yarks large majority of americans for her, for the people here in perugia, they're just pretty happy the whole show is over. martha. martha: greg, thank you very much. obviously -- sorry about

that, we have a big delay from perugia, italy this morning. but boy, what a moment it was in that courtroom. bill: you wonder what she does now, too. we're bouncing that signal off the moon, i think. it was only italy. in a few moments, we're going to talk to someone on that british airways flight out of italy, bound for seattle w. a stop in london, sitting in front of amanda knox and her entire family, what was she like, what did she talk about, her flight to free do. that's all cominup in an eyewitness account. if you've ever owed money on a loan or credit card, you know how relentless the debt collectors can be, and now president obama wants the federal loan collectors to get your cell phone number to get money for the government. stuart varney, fox business network, looking at this. stuart, good morning to you. first the story. what is it? >> okay. for the first time, private debt collectors will be allowed to use robo calls on your cell phone to collect on government debt. at the moment, a private debt collector can, indeed, go to your cell phone, but only to make a personal one

on one call. if the president gets his way, it will be robo calls, mass calling of people on their cell phones, if they are delinquent on, say, their student loans. this will have, if it goes through, a very significant impact on a very large number of people. it's very surprising that the president would propose such a tough measure which would have such impact at such a very tough time in the economy. bill: what does that tell you? if you get the cell phone number, people say you don't have the land lines in use so much anymore, so i guess you're going to every corner to find money to raise revenue for the government, aren't you? >> actually, the president may be trying to head off a developing debt crisis. since 2006, a half trillion dollars worth of new student loans has been issued, and there are now over well over a trillion dollars worth of student loans outstanding. the delinquency rate is rising because we have a very tough economy, so the president maybe wants to head off a developing debt

crisis. there's over a trillion in student loans outstanding, tough economic times, lots of de lin quence -- delinquencies, the president wants the money. bill: dead beat students? >> when you've got a trillion dollars worth of debt outstanding, and a rising delinquency rate, you've got yourself a debt crisis. you've got to go after that money and get it somehow. bill: department of education is a big part of this. thank you stuart, see you at 9:20fbn, okay? nice to see you. martha: always nice to see stuart. those are a few of the big stories we've got for you this morning in "america's newsroom". coming up, president obama, speaking out on the solyndra loan scandal. does he have any regrets about that day when he went to visit the plant? turns out he was warned that that visit might not be a very good idea. bill: also, a massive explosion, a chemical explosion, and now new concerns over toxins, spreading into the air. we'll tell you where this is happenings and what you need to know about that.

martha: there is also new fall out in fast & furious, did attorney general eric holder tell the truth when he said he had just heard about the failed program? >> you have to understand the way in which the department operates, although their operations, this one has gotten a great deal of publicity. >> yeah, there are dead americans as a result of this failed and reckless program. so i would say that it hasn't gotten enough attention, has it, mr. attorney general? >> not necessarily. there's an investigation that is underway.

bill: there is new fallout in the solyndra scandal, president obama was warned not to visit the solyndra plant because his team was worried about the company, the president says he does not have regrets about the loan decision, however. >> he held it up as a model for jobs and clean energy. do you regret that? >> no, i don't. because if you look at

overall portfolio of loan guarantees that have been provided, over all, it's doing well. and what we always understood was that not every single business is going to succeed in clean energy, but if we want to compete with china, which is pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into this space, if we want to compete with other countries that are heavily subsidizing the industries of the future we've got to make sure that our guys here in the united states of america at least have a shot. now, there are going to be some failures. bill: all right, now senator jim inhofe, republican from oklahoma and the environment and public works committee, good morning, i want to share with you what we found out from our fox polling a few days ago. we asked the following question directly related to this story, was it unethical behavior orba faith in a loan that went bad, 46 percent to 46 percent, sir, which category are you on? >> i'm on the 46. first of all it's very bad.

i mean, it reminds me a little bit, bill, back in 1998, when the loral corporation, headed up by bernard schwartz was the largest contributor to bill clinton, then bill clinton in turn signed a waiver to allow that corporation to sell their technology to china. i see this relationship very close as for what it is. but let's don't forget about the real issue here, that's energy. we have enough recoverable reserves in coal, oil and gas, to run this country without relying on anybody else, but the administration won't let us do it. we have poured all this effort into this green energy, where the technology is not there. so i just think it's an overall bad deal and i'm glad he got caught. bill: the president argued in that clip with george stephanopoulos, that china is doing it, surp subsidizing green energy in order for us to compete in that sector, the government has to build up to some degree the solar energy community, however, we are now finding out venture

capitalists had direct contact with vallerie jarrett at the white house, this is what he said in one of the e-ils, he said the president should be careful about unrealistic optimistic forecasts that could hunt him in the next 18 months, if solyndra hits the wall, files for bankruptcy. i mean, that seems like an accurate forecast now. what democrats argue is e-mails like that show there was no political consideration. what do you think? >> that's hard to believe. first of all, what's even worse and people aren't talking about is when you mentioned bankruptcy, they now are in a preferential treatment where the individuals who are involved in it here are ahead of the federal government which is equally as bad. by the way, yesterday, since ours is the logical committee, i asked the chairman of our committee to run an investigation. i mean, we need to have an investigation into this. and so far, that hasn't happened in this senate. it has in the house, but not in the senate. bill: senator, where does this go? >> well, i think -- first of all, you have to investigate all the way to the end of it. because i have a feeling there are other solyndras

that may surface before too long, keep pouring money into these companies that are relying technology that's not mature enough to run this machine called america. the big thing is, until such time as they get their way, as technology does arrive, we've got to depend on coal, oil and gas to run america. and that's my major concern here, is that we get back on track to produce our own energy. bill: senator, thank you for your time, we'll see whether or not there are more solyndras out there. we'll talk to you again. james inhofe on capitol hill, thanks. martha: when fast & furious went bad, attorney general eric holder said in a hearing that he had only just heard about the operation, but now, there are explosive new documents that show that that may not have been entirely true. coming up, the justice department's paper trail on exactly when he was advised as to what was going on in that program. bill: also, michael jackson's trial on trial for manslaughter. what did and did not say to

the doctors at the hospital as ak jackson was wheeled into the e.r. >> we'd like to prepare dr. murray mentally to accept the fact that mr. mr. jackson could not be rescued and would allow mr. jackson to depart in peace and with dignity.

bill: well this, morning they're trying to figure out , forcing evacuations, workers at the magnablend plant, south of dallas, were mixing chemicals when that fire erupted, spilling flammable liquid along the ground. the epa detected no toxic

chemicals in the air. when we get answers, you'll hear. martha: the girlfriends of michael jackson's former doctor are due to testify in his manslaughter trial today. conrad murray is accused of killing jackson by giving him a deadly mix of prescription drugs, and the jurors are now hearing about some of the murray's last minute attempts to save jackson's life, even though doctors knew that he was gone. >> did you go forward with the balloon top? >> we did move forward with the balloon pump to show good faith. neither dr. kuth nor i could find a pulse, however, dr. murray told dr. kuth he found a pulse, and dr. murray not only requested to me and put in his request to dr. kuth at la that we would not give up easily on mr. jackson and try to save his life, to show him our good faith, we moved forward, even though

we suspected that it was futile. martha: very interesting exchange there. adam housley, live at los angeles superior court with more. yesterday we got more details from e.r. doctors who were in that emergency room, as you just heard, trying to save michael jackson. so adam, what news really came out of yesterday's testimony with this case? >> reporter: well, what really helped build the prosecution's case, one, they've been arguing all along that dr. murray never told doctors or first responders or anybody with propofol, and as we heard from those two doctors in the courtroom yesterday, there was a lot of back and forth between the defense team trying to really find a way to get around that argument that dr. murray never told anybody. the first doctor we heard from was dr. cooper, she was on the stand the longest and she had quite a detailed description of what was going on inside the courtroom, including the multiple times she said she asked dr. murray about what, if any, medication michael jag son had been taking. she says dr. murray only said lorazapam and didn't

mention the drug that the coroner said killed michael jackson. listen: >> what he indicated to you that he had given 4-milligrams of lorazapam, is that accurate? >> that's what i was told, yes. >> and no mention of propofol? >> no. >> reporter: now, dr. nuwin followed dr. cooper, she came on the stand and was very methodical about what went on inside that room, inside that e.r. room, when michael jackson was brought in. for an hour and 13 minutes they tried to revive michael jackson, but what i thought was interesting and what the court thought was interesting, when they asked, the defense team asked dr. nyuen what dr. murray was like during that time. take a listen: >> did you make any assessment as to his demeanor? >> dr. murray's demeanor? >> yes. >> he sounded desperate. and he looked devastated.

>> reporter: some people claim that is going to help the defense team because it will show dr. murray's close with michael jackson, was upset with what was taking place and in no way wanted michael jackson to be suffering, but others say it will help the prosecution because it shows him desperate because he made a mistake. it will all come down to how the jury interprets different comment the like the one you heard from dr. nyugen. we do expect things to get going again in just more than two hours and we do expect two more dramatic witnesses, one could be one of jackson's children and the second one is expected to be dr. murray's girlfriend. back to you. martha: those should be very interesting testimonies, especially from his child, from his son. thank you very much, adam. we'll be watching for that later. bill: a fox news alert now, martha. this out of rome, italy. moments ago. this is brand new videotape showing amanda knox, free for the first time, moving her way through the airport. you can see her hair pulled back in a pony tail with her

family, moving to the airport in rome enroute to london. we can tell you, about an hour ago, that plane landed in london. there was about an hour and a half, two hour layover here. in a moment we're going to get in touch with a person who was on board that flight from rome to london and talk about the demeanor or and also if there were any conversations with the family, or where they sat in the plane, and how they're feeling, how they're doing. so stay tuned for that, that's only moments away, but this is the first time we have seen knox, and she won on appeal yesterday in a world shattering headline, amanda knox, now comes home to the u.s., she has been freed from italian prison. wow, what a story that is. stay tuned for more on that. also, there is more to come.

martha: what a day this is for this familiar levment amanda knox is nearly home at this hour. we have now heard that her plane landed in london this, is the midway stop on her way back to seattle. this is her in rome at fumecino airport as she was getting on the plane to go to london and on the phone with me now is somebody who just happened to be on that plane and recognized she was sit ago few seats away or a few rows away, rather, from amanda knox on that london-bound flight. carse hemstreet is joining us. thank you very much for joining us. were you surprised to find she was on your plane? >> very!

well, very surprised, actually! i sort of knew the night before watching the news that she was going to bound the flight next day and there was really only one flight from british airways into seattle, i kind of figured we'd be on there but really didn't think we'd see all of them and the whole family was there, they got rushed in, and with security, and went through i'm sure into a room, until we boarded, and they were the last ones to board, and there were probably ten or so of them, all the sisters and the parents, and they sat two rose behind me. and they all seemed to be doing great. martha: we're looking right now, darcy, at the video from yesterday, which was just so emotional. you think of other people who have been exonerated, like casey anthony or o.j. simpson, you know, big smiles, in her case, she was so pal paably frightened when she walked into that courtroom and her reaction, she basically dissolved in front of our eyes into sobs.

what was her demeanor like, what was the family like, did you hear what they were saying to each other? >> they were doing amazing. i mean, she looked great, she did not look tired, she looked very well rested, she just looked happy, she -- the sisters were all just smiles, having good time and they were all changing seats to sit next to amanda, so they were all getting up and moving around, except for amanda. she never got out of her seat the entire flight. but they were just very happy and very normal family, and i think they were just so thrilled to get out of here! >> martha: you just can't even imagine. she faced today either going back to prison for another 20 something years, potentially, or lifetime imprisonment, potentially, and now she's on plane on her way home and headed back to seattle. darcy, anything else that was sort of notable? you said they sort of kept changing seats and you can imagine, everybody wants to get as much time next to her

and catch up with her as they possibly can. >> i'm sorry, i missed that. martha: you say they were changing seats. the family members were moving in to sit next to her through the course of the flight, right? >> right. they were moving around, and they didn't seem, though, that anybody else on the flight really was aware of who was sitting there. nobody bothered them, nobody was looking around. they seemed to be, you know, just another family on the airplane. martha: well, i know that your job is giving walking tours in italy, called chaio, darcy. i don't think amanda knox is going to be coming to italy any time soon! >> i know it's hard. i have a feeling they will never go back to italy and here, i was just feeling for them and i'll loving italy myself, it was a little conflicting there. martha: it's hard to imagine, you know, as a

pairnt, your child goes off to a semester program, you think it's going to be this highlight of their life, and their daughter ends up in prison for two years and the other daughter, meredith kircher, of course, never came home, which is the saddest part of the whole situation. thank you for calling in, we appreciate talking to you. >> you're welcome, any time, thank you. martha: take care. bill: we'll see when she arrives in the u.s., right? in the meantime, 25 minutes before the hour. we have new polling numbers out of florida, the miami herald newspaper had interesting developments here. it now has mitt romney still in the lead at 28 percent, he's up three points from the last poll down there, but look at herman cain! now at 24 percent. he won the florida straw poll about a week and a half ago, did pretty well in the debate based on all the counts of the analysts and also far right of your screen, look where rick perry has fallen, down to 9 percent. now, florida will be critical. on the billboard behind us, you know they're in a primary battle to move it up

possibly to the end of january, and this is the issue in florida today, and that's the economy. remember on our screen, the deeper the red, the more trouble you have, the lighter the green, the better off you are. in florida, here is the number of jobs that have been lost since the americans went to the polls in november 2008. more than 200,000. which has taken the unemployment rate in florida to 10.7%. that's well ahead of the national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent. so consider the economy, consider social security and medicare, to be all big issues when it comes to florida here. historically, back in 2008, just a quick reminder here, back in 2008, it went through, it dent with himmic -- went democratic, barack obama beat senator john mccain by three points in florida and we'll see where this goes now. obviously with the race right now to move up, probably january, florida wants to have a bigger voice in the republican nomination fight this year. back to martha now. martha: bill, we have good

news. here we go, folks. chris christie will tell the nation his plans for 2012, and it's going to happen at 1:00 today. we're just getting this across the wires that he will be in trenton and there's really no indication in terms of this release as to which way he's going to go here. it just says he will discuss his plans regarding the 2012 race. his office has announced that just moments ago, and we will be talking about that when we come back here with a lot more, coming up.

bill: back to the news that crossed a few moments a. you heard it here, chris christie, governor of new jersey, will hold a press conference at one thk afternoon at his offices in trenton, new jersey. will he get in the race for 2012, or will he stay as governor of the garden state? bob beckel, follower democratic campaign manager, andrea it. antoras, both are cohosts of "the five". good morning to both of you. >> good morning.

bill: good to see you both, bright and lively. andrea, is he in or out? >> he didn't call me this morning to let me know what he decided but i'm hearing, my sources are telling they this is a very personal decision between him and his wife. i don't know what it's going to be, but if you look at the numbers out today, bill, there is every indication that he should get in this race. in a head to head matchup, he barely trails the president, he actually edges barack obama with independents, 42 percent of the gop wants to see him get in, and the more that voters hear about him, much like herman cain, the more they like about him, 43 percent, the more they hear, the more they are prochristie. so the numbers work in his favor. it's just a question of is he going to go against everything he's told us up until this point, which is i am not running. bill: right now you're undecided, andrea. you can't say yes or no. >> i think he doesn't get in. i really don't. but i hope he does. bill: all right, you say he is out. bob, what do you say? >> i think he will not be. and i'll tell you why. first of all, the polls at

this stage of the game are not reliable in terms of peoples' strength. i could put andrea up against barack obama right now and she'd win among intds. >> that's not surpriseo surprising! >> no dis-- no disrespect. i don't think people understand how much is involved with doing this race, with it only 120 days away, if florida moves up, new hampshire and iowa will move up to early january, which means the idea of trying to get out and on the ground and yeah, he could raise money but you -- i don't care how much money you raise you have to have a mechanism to spend it and you have to have people to implement it, and i just think at this stage of the game it's very late, and getting on the debate stage -- >> bill: to cut through it, you say he's out then. >> yeah. you wanted me -- you wanted my analysis. bill: i got you. let me show you "the washington post"-abc news poll that talked about chris christie, should he get in or not, 42 percent say yes, 34 percent say no, about a quarter have no opinion.

does that tell you anything, rand? >> a lot of people want him to get in. i actually disagree with bob. i think if he's going to do it, he's got to do to now. remember bill clinton when he got in the race, it was this time, it was october, and look, he's got the establishment, our colleague, karl rove, leaning on him hard. now, i think that they think he can win. but i also think -- >> a lot of people are leaning on him hard. >> but it has to do with rick perry, trying to get at rick perry. bill: in 1992 when bill yinton -- quloint made his call, was the primary calendar as condensed as it is now? >> no. but he would have the infrastructure and the fundraising capacity of the establishment. they're going to rally behind him and they would do it fast if he would do it. >> let me say bill clinton had an exploratory committee, and they were working for a number of months before that and he had a national network. but the problem here is what these polls reflect is really an uncertainty about the republican nominee. at this stage of the game this is the first time republicans haven't had an obvious heir apparent to get

their nomination in decades so you're seeing the fluidity of these polls, perry, frontrunner, cain takes off because perry had a bad debate. >> that's not true, bob. we didn't know it would be mccain in 2008 at this point, there was no clear frontrunner then. >> but i think mccain wasn't, in fact, considered the frontrunner. the difference, romney has never been a strong frontrunner and the fact that nobody gets more than 25 percent or 30 percent of the vote at this stage -- >> bill: accord to that poll we showed. herman cain says if you want to call me the flavor of the month, go ahead, he's black walnut! he's got a line for everything! funny man. >> i'll tell you, that 99o he 99 has got me absolutely crazy. i talked to him last night, i said stop with that, you're driving me nuts, i keep hearing it over and over again. let's not underestimate. particularly in this climate, people are disappointed in politicians generally. this is a decade of disappointment if you will. at this stage of the game, democrats and republicans

alike. bill: if republicans are disappointed now, democrats are going to be disappointed in this story now, "the washington post" polling suggests the president may have an uphill battle. we have talked about that. 55 percent say republican candidates will win the race, 37 percent say no. he is now casting himself. there is the polling numbers. he's casting himself as interview -- in the interview in abc news as the underdog. andrea, what is that strategy? >> that's classic politics 101 campaign strategy of saying oh, i'm the one that's not the frontrunner. look, bob and i have done a bunch of campaigns and always want your candidate to be the frontrunner, you never want to come out and say we're winning. something about pity, people like to vote for the underdog but bill, a candidate that's coming out, barack obama saying he's going to raise a billion dollars with a machine he has behind him, he's hardly the underdog. the only thing is the economy. bill: he's saying americans are not better off than four years ago. that's the right track wrong track poll. let me put both of this

together. is it reverse marketing? what is it? >> it's a bit of reverse marketing. he's the first president since harry truman who has considered himself an underdog. most incumbents are considered the favorite, i don't care who they are going into an election year, so at this stage of the game it says how the weakness is across the board. bill: bob, why do you say you're an underdog, why do you admit publicly that americans are worse off than they were when you took office? >> everything is about expectations in presidential politics, right now, barack obama couldn't have lower expectations. it's been a terrible year. anything that gets better next year will be magnitude. for him, i think that is part of his strategy. bill: do you agree with the strategy? >> absolutely i agree with it and i think that people generally want to see the guy succeed. they still like him. they don't think he will, but they'd like to see him succeed. bill: see you guys at 5:00. bring the other three, okay? see you bob, see you andrea. martha. martha: very interesting stuff. all right, there is good news for airline travelers,

the tsa is making security lines a little bit easier to get through, folks. that's the good news. but you know what? there's a catch. we're going to tell you what it is. plus the head of the atf, stepping down in the wake of the fast & furious scandal, but does the buck stop there? because today, there are big questions about what eric holder knew and when he knew it.

bill: you might want to turn away now. actually, not! but we're watching the big board, and we're watching stocks take a big drop here. this was expected. especially after the news on greece overnight out of europe. questions about whether or not it can even pay its debts or will pay its debts and the fed chair ben bernanke is going to testify on the hill today regarding the u.s. economy, so we will

parse his language and see what he thinks about the strengths and weaknesses not only here but overseas. we are off on monday, the dow off 258 on the close, so we're picking up where we left off. the bears are in charge and in force. martha: not a pretty picture, folks. how about this? there are new developments today in the controversial gun running operation that brought down the head of the atf. it had become known as fast & furious, and the whole program basically put about 1500 weapons into the hands of mexican during cartels to try and trace them and see where they went. didn't work out so well. and now according to the new documents that have just been released by the justice department, attorney general eric holder was briefed on this operation as far back as 2010. that directly contradicts his testimony from congress in may. watch this. >> when did you first know about the program officially

i believe called fast & furious, to the best of your knowledge, what date? >> i'm not sure of the exact date but i probably heard about fast & furious for the first time over the last few weeks. martha: over the last few weeks is what he said on may third, now there are indications according to these documents he knew about it back in july, in fact, that there were lots of. males and documents going back and forth to the justice department about it. byron york joins me, chief political correspondent for the washington examiner and fox news contributor. what do you make of all this byron? >> this is really, really serious. first of all, the attorney general said now that he didn't understand the question of when he knew first about fast & furious. republicans are saying well, it was a pretty simple question. and representative darrell issa, who was questioning the attorney general in that clip he just played this morning was on fox, asked about it, and he said what you heard is the usual problem when somebody has probably perjured -- perjured themselves, they say i didn't understand,

rather than i lied, and when you have a chairman of the committee who has subpoena power talking about perjury, that's a very serious issue. martha: indeed it is. and there are also some questions going around about why he would not have known about it. he claims, you know, we have so -- he said in that sound bite we played, you know, the department is very complicated, a lot of stuff goes around, and there was an indication, and i'm paraphrasing him now, that basically even though some of these documents would have gone through his office and they did go through the assistant attorney general, that seems to be pretty clear, that he just still wasn't aware of the program. how plausible is that? >> well, when you have a contradiction like this in testimony, it just supercharges an investigation, it makes the investigators all the more cureious, there are four words in question, who knew what when and they want to find out. if they know the attorney general knew about this in july 2010, they want to know what did he know, how much did he know, how much did other people in the justice department know. i just talked to somebody on the committee this morning

and they want to know what president obama knew about this, too. so they really -- the number of questions is expanding rapidly. martha: where does this lead for eric holder who has clearly had a lot of issues that have cropped up over the course of this administration? >> well, he's going to have to answer more questions. i mean, the problem, of course, is for him, the republicans control the house of representatives which allows them to summon him to capitol hill and answer questions. my sense is the number of questions goes -- just increasing exponentially, questions, will the attorney general stay through the whole -- >> martha: i guess what i was getting to, byron. a lot of people were suggesting on the way that eric holder was done and he's stuck around and now this is the latest thorn in this equation. do you think this may be the one that takes him down or do you think he survives it? >> it's not that long left in the president's first item, if president obama

were defeated there would be no question about him leaving and if president obama were reie elected, it would be eric holder's time to say he's leaving. my guess is he tries to stay but the first obama term. martha:march, byron, for your opinion on that this morning. bill: we are waiting, because we just got word that new jersey governor chris christie will talk at 1:00 eastern time and now we all speculate on what he is going to say, is he in or out for the republican nomination for 2012. this has been talked about, week after week, and sometimes, it gains a little more momentum, and sometimes it falls back, but right now it's got about as much momentum as psible because we expect him to tell america what he's going to do, is it yes or is it no. we've got all that covered for you, and we'll check into that right after the break here. back in a moment. . hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories --

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martha: we've got a fox news alert for you, folks. what could be a blockbuster

in the race for the republican presidential nomination. we're just getting news moments ago new jersey governor chris christie will hold a news conference not part of his schedule today. that will happen at 1:00 p.m. eastern in the state capitol at trenton, new jersey. the topic is not announced in terms of this news conference. we heard he would make a decision over the next few days and he would announce something soon. that's what we expect will happen. whether or not he will toss his hat in the ring for the presidency is unknown at this point. rereally has not said a whole lot to any reporters or responded to any questions about this over the past few days after responded quite vigorously to them in the past with a big no. meeting with family and closed a advisors and considering whether or not they should decide to change their mind about all this. we'll take you live to trenton when that gets underway. soin the meantime, folks, after four long years in jail, amanda knox is now on her way home at this hour. she is on a plane over the

ocean heading back to seattle. making her way, this is her video making her way to the airport in rome. we saw a nice laugh out of her on the escalator. clearly in a better mood than in the recent past in a jail cell in italy. this is very business tuesday morning, folks. brand new hour of "america's newsroom". i'm martha maccallum. bill: and i'm bill hemmer. we talked to the person on the plane a couple moments ago. she was saying how rested and relaxed amanda knox looked on the flight. the appeals court dramatically overturning her conviction yesterday. >> there was tragedy of a young girl found dead as well as two young kids been in jail for four years with no reason apparently. plus there is another gentleman who will be sentenced. all together it is sorrow. i think there is no winner. martha: dan springer joins us live now in seattle. what do we know about amanda

and her trip home? she is in the skies as we speak, right? >> reporter: she is actually on a layover in london right now. let me show you the headline of "the seattle times". this has been big news in seattle four years. the headline says, nightmare is over. that is quote from the diana, amanda knox's sister and amazing picture after the verdict was read. we saw the picture. her knees buckling and her head bowing and shoulder slumping down with emotion. we understand she will be on a british airways flight from london arriving in seattle 4:30 local time. her first words were a letter to the italy u.s. foundation which she said that organization shared my pain and helped me to survive on hope. i'm forever grateful for their comparing hospitality and courageous efforts. to those who wrote, those who defended me, those who were close and prayed for me, i love you, amanda. the "seattle times" editorial called the whole thing a bad novel.

seems to suggest this was overplayed and italian courts never really had the evidence to convict amanda knox and her boyfriend. we understand there will be a homecoming event at the airport. supporters of hers will be there greeting her. we're not sure if she will make a statement but certainly she will have a lot of time with family and friends to reconnect here. martha: what a journey. what do we think is next for amanda knox, dan? >> reporter: the speculation immediately starts with what will her financial future mean? will she be able to do a book deal. will she do an interview. there is speculation she could make a million dollars right away with tv interview. a book deal could get her millions more. she has written she would like to join the innocence project to help other people wrongly accused. we know she has extensive language skills. she is fluent in italian, french and german. we know that she wants to come back here and touch the

grass. that is one report. she has not been able to touch grass. we have plenty in seattle. she wants to win back her happiness. the first thing to get back and get back with family and friends and get back to a normal life and maybe make some money in the whole deal. martha: amazing how your fortunes can change in 24 hours. next thing you're looking at million dollar book deal perhaps. dan springer in seattle. bill: what is next for amanda knox? when we talked to a attorney out of seattle, anne bremmer a spokes person for the family. meantime back to washington dead on ariflt that is how eric cantor describes president obama's jobs bill, doa. white house warnings that the lawmakers will have to answer constituents on election day. >> come 2012 every member of the house will be up for election the they have will have to answer the question in time of economic duress,

what did you do and what did you prevent from happening? bill: wendell goler live on the north lawn of the white house. good morning to you. how does this entire jobs bill fit into entire re-election strategy whether it passes or does not pass in congress? >> reporter: if the white house can't get republicans to vote for the spending that some economists say could create about 1.9 million jobs and they want to get them on the record voting against it. either way, the thinking that republicans would have some ownership of the economy. meanwhile republicans think that the $450 billion american jobs act is more a political statement than a practical plan for job creation. house majority leader eric cantor telling reporters yesterday, quote, it seems if the president is in full campaign mode. the president continues to say pass my bill in its entirety. as i said from the outset this all or nothing approach is just not acceptable. mr. obama told george stephanopoulos of "abc news" yesterday, that

cantor needs to say precisely what parts of bill he will and won't support. the president said, i what i think the american people can not abide is us doing nothing. the president says if cantor has other ideas about job creation he would be happy to hear them. bill? bill: what's the focus of the visit to rick perry country today? he is going to texas for what, wendell? >> reporter: he will visit a community college in mesquite, texas, to showcase the education component of the american jobs act. about $60 billion in spending to preserve the jobs of a quarter million teachers. aloe local school districts to rehire tens of thousands more. also to renovate public schools and community colleges to put out of work construction workers back on the job. now what the campaign also wants to do is to broaden the debate beyond jobs. the president says, it should be about who has a vision for the future, to, help ordinary americans recapture the american

dream. bill? bill: wendell goler at the white house. wendell, thanks for that, on the north lawn. martha: from the north lawn, on president obama this is coming from mitt romney. former governor of massachusetts speaking at a town hall in the key primary state of new hampshire. lashing out at the president once again from the campaign trail. here is what he had to say. >> i love this country. i'm convinced that the future is righter than the past. but we're going to have to do the right thing. and we can't reelect someone who thinks the answer for every problem is a new bought program. who thinks that what makes america work is big government. mr. president, you're wrong. what makes america work is free people pursuing their dream. it always has been the answer and it will be the answer in the future. [applause] martha: the new hampshire has been a very friendly environment for mitt romney. he won the straw poll there

back in scrap. he also got key endorsement from the new hampshire house majority leader and has a suer home there and makes him a pretty popular guy in new hampshire. bill: certainly us did. well ahead of the rest of the field in the polling. herman cain, have you seen this? talking about his quick rise to the top tier of the field. brand new polling numbers show cain tied with rick perry in second place that is major jump. cain stopped by our studios on "fox and friends" a bit earlier today. check this out. >> he is running this race top down. he has a lot of money. i'm running my race bottom of. we don't have as much money. for example, i know in florida, mitt and governor perry they spent money to try to help influence the outcome of that view poll in florida. >> that happens every time. >> it happens every time. but what did we do? we traveled around the state of florida. talked to people. shared my message of common sense solutions and that that is what resonatedith people. bill: that was a bit earlier

on our program. a "washington post" abc polling numbers show the cain pop there. cain's rise comes only weeks after pulling the upset win in the florida straw poll. martha: there are new fears inside iraq this morning that iran is just laying low, waiting for the u.s. troops to leave before taking over. that has been a concern for some time and that is new reason to be worried about this. steve centanni joins us live in washington with the very latest, steve. what are re learning. >> reporter: we're learning that iran continued to try to assert influence in iraq in violent means. first these weapons. we have exclusive pictures. they were seized by u.s. and iraqi forces before they could be fired. they offer further evidence iran is backing attacks on u.s. forces in iraq. the 170 millimeter rockets were unique to iranian design and manufacturing with iranian writing on them and color bands that link them to iran. the rockets were seized

around the time of a july 12th attack in eastern iraq by a shiite group that u.s. officials believe was trained and supplied by iran. in that attack a u.s. base was targeted but the rockets went astray and hit an iraqi army base instead. it was one of several attacks last year involving the militia group trained by the iranian revolutionary guard. martha? martha: steve, thank you so much. steve centanni reporting from wash. bill: how do americans feel about a repeal of health care? brand new polling numbers to show you in a moment to let you know how fellow americans are feeling about a overhaul. congressman steve king makes his case how we v. the numbers shashging down. martha: guess what, bill? bill: what's that? martha: a tsa has a brand new plan to get us through the airport faster. sounds like a good idea, right? but you may not like the tradeoff. and there is this. [shouting] bill: well the tea party took america by storm with an organized message and

national support. they're being compared to thousands of protesters demonstrating against wall street. stephen moore and "the wall street journal" joins us on that. >> we're from florida. i will be probably going home and starting my own movement in florida. we came here friday and got arrested saturday.

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hotels.com. be smart. book smart. bill: got a fox news alert now and breaking news. 70 people now reported dead after a catastrophic attack. branch al qaeda, this is somalia. truck bomb be blast tearing through a crowded security check point. al shahab claiming responsibility. two somali women out of minnesota were indicted on charges sending money to the group. most of the casualties were students and parents in somalia, waiting to hear whether or not they would be receive college scholar ships. at least 70 dead. >> comparisons being made between the tea party

movement and the occupy wall street protests that have started to pop up in other places around the country as well. hundreds of mainly young protesters coming out against wall street fat cats. they have been out there for three weeks now. they're starting to spread to other areas as well. they blame the wealthy for our country's economic problems. here is sound from that. >> it's not right for 1% of the population to have 99% of the wealth. >> i'm sorry in this nation there is no political party or government government officials that are representing the best interests of the people or this nation. martha: so meanwhile, tea party members banded together against big government and spending. back in march of last year they marched on washington. here's what they said. [shouting] >> you better hear us out. you better hear us out! you better hear us out!. martha: a lot of people out in the straits lately over the past year. that to be sure. how do the two groups compare?

stephen hayes, fox news contributor. good to see you. >> hi, martha. martha: some say the wall street occupiers are the tea party version of the left. in fact let's start with this sound bite from van jones, who used to be the green jobs czar at the white house. here is what he said about the wall street protesters. >> it is extraordinary thing. we know we have the young folks and struggling folks down there on wall street. [applause] give them a round of applause. they went down there to the scene of the crime against our future. martha: now we know what van jones is doing. we found him. what do you think about that statement, steve? >> well, i think the only thing that these protesters have in common with the tea party is that they're protesting and that it has something vaguely to do with money. otherwise they have nothing to do with the tea party. there is no political

movement there. there is no thirst for any kind of a political movement there. they wouldn't have the backing of the american public. if you look at gallop surveys over past few years on numbers of people who identify themselves as conservative, moderate and liberals, 40% self-identified conservatives. 36% self-identified moderates and just 20% self-identified liberals. this is a fraction of that smallest grouping. so these people have no base. there is no political movement there. there is no hope there will be a political movement there. they're just out there because they're frustrated. >> one thing that the head of the tea party suppress said, if there is any similarity at all there seems to be a negative feeling about crony capitalism. and he said, we share that concern. beyond that they seem to be very different in terms of what they want because tea party folks are basically taxed enough already. that has been their mantra. there is lot of concern that what we're seeing on wall street may turn into

something different. so many people have wondered if we're going to get bigger protests in the streets especially as we move forward if that happens. >> there is certainly enough frustration, it wouldn't you are is prize me to see some of the crowds grow a little bit. you've seen them sprouting up in other parts of the country, in smaller modest protests. this will not amount to any kind of a serious movement. there is virtually no chance to that. what sal russo said, there is hint of truth. both sides are upset about crony capitalism but they have very different, in fact totally divergent prescriptions how to solve the problem. this group, on wall street would have the government in effect take over virtually everything. many socialists who are there. there are symbol on their website is the fist of solidarity which is socialist workers of america website. these are people who want massive government involvement. tea party wants to move precisely the opposite direction. pull back government so there is not as many

opportunities for crony capitalism to take root. martha: one thing i wondered, if this isn't sort of a pr victory for the white house? the administration talked a lot about, you know, fat cats on wall street and about corporate greed and about how the money is disproportionately spread out in this country. i wonder if they look at this, certainly a former member, van jones looks at this as a victory. do you think their message is hitting home? >> no, i don't. i think is nightmare for the white house. frankly. dj deon and others said this would activate the liberal basing make the white house centrist. this is not the kind of face you want to put on, kinds of frustrations that average middle class americans are feeling. most middle class americans, people living in kansas city, missouri don't have much in common with the kind of folks we're sighing on the streets in wall street. there is just not a lot of, i think sense of commonness among average americans and among the people in this group. martha: interesting.

steve, thank you very much. always good to see you. steve hayes. >> you bet. bill: martha, tried to get airport security faster. martha: that would be nice. >> next time you fly tradeoff could leave a bad taste in the mouths of travelers. why would that be? we'll tell you. martha: all right, there is amanda knox. she is having a very good day today, as she waits for her plane to take off for seattle. she is in london right now. where does she go from here on her first day of freedom. >> difficult to say there's a winner in this case. we're actually all a loser when there is a tragedy like this. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style.

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martha: these are the stories developing in "america's newsroom" right now. the newest version of one of america's gadgets is about

to be unveiled today. apple's iphone 5 is expected to be faster and thinner than the previous versions. and this story coming up as well. the only man convicted in the bombing of pan am flight 103 over lockerbie, scotland, saying more information will soon come to light. he says the role in the attack that killed 270 people has been exaggerated and he says the truth will emerge soon. and ford and the united auto workers union say they have reached a tentative agreement on a new 4-year contract that will hopefully put some people back to work. bill: so we get this now from the tsa, rolling out new measures to get you moving through the airport a bit faster. it is security now. there is tradeoff. you might need to give more information about yourself, personal information to the screening agent. do you like that idea? jonathan serrie live outside the airport in atlanta. good morning to you. how would the program work? what kind of information,

jonathan? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, bill. the program is called, precheck. it is opt-in program right now available only to a handful of select frequent flyers on delta, american airlines as well as members of some government-trusted traveler programs. basically it is --. bill: well, that's unfortunate. hang with us a moment. this is only atlanta. it is not, it is not mars. oh we did? what a shame. we lost jonathan serrie. sorry about that. trying to get that information out to you let you know whether or not you would agree or happy or content to give up more personal information. you have to hit the fast line. martha: can you skip this part if you do that? can you stop doing that. they can know everything they want if i skip that part. totally fine. bill: stop taking off myself. martha: we'll see if we get jonathan serrie back with the rest of that story.

meantime a new poll shows majority of americans want the president's health care law repealed. iowa congressman steve king has his own plan to make that happen. he will be here next. bill: also a shocking new study that linkses aspirin to loss of vision. the important information you need to know. we'll tell you about that study let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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martha: we've got folks news alert. a big news conference coming up, a statement, i should say, about the race for the republican presidential nomination. word is that governor chris christie will speak at 1:00 p.m. eastern time in the state capitol of trenton. they didn't really announce the topic but everybody knows what it is going to be. they're waiting to hear whether or not he will run for president which he said all along he would not. in fact he cited a whole conglomeration of appearances that he made that have been put together by split co-at one point. watch that if you want to know. but he gave the speech at reagan library. was implord by henry kissinger and nancy reagan and others. so there has been a lot of talk over the last few days. we'll talk about this for a moment. the feeling seems to be this is a no. and we don't know that yet. but that is sort of what

seems to be in the bloodstream right now. the fact that it has been sort of hastily called. it is 1:00 and megyn kelly will have that live when that happens. that, it is a no. there were some rumors circulating or things out there that they had asked some donors to be ready to be in trenton on thursday. that perhaps that would be a yes. but the fact that it is today it seems to be indicated, i know "national review" has come out and said they believe it's a no.. we don't know. bill: you think if you roll out on national campaign would do it on scale much larger than appears to be shaping in trnt trenton. whatever happens today you will see it live with megyn on fox news channel. how do americans feel about health care reform? a brand new polling numbers show a majority still favor repealing the law. this is from rasmussen reports. 51% report somewhat back to feeling the changes should be made to the law. that is lowest number since may, however. i iowa republican steve king

is a member of the tea party caucus author of the house health care repeal bill. how are you doing today. >> i'm doing fine. thanks for having me. bill: you have a slight majority now with 51%. the number is creeping down though. what does that tell you? >> we had been working with a 60 plus percentage majority for repealing obama care. it drifted down to that level. i'll tell you why. since congress hasn't taken any action in the last six months to address this issue in any meaningful way. so it drifted out of the public consciousness. if we're in the, in the news, not pushing to repeal obamacare it doesn't drive the discussion in the public. the public begins to move away from it, okay, the congress must think it's impossible. that is part of what is going on. bill: to be frank. that is part of the reason why you came on our program today. hear is the critical point that republicans are concerned with. this number is down from only two weeks ago when it was at 56%. a lot of people thought as long as the system works its way into the bloodstream of the american people, that it

would be accepted over time. do you fear that? do you see that happening? >> i've always feared it from the beginning, that we needed to make the argument first that repeal and replace. that argument needed to be severed. replacement is a separate question. repeal is the most important thing. and if we don't have the expectations of america built up to the point where they anticipate its full repeal, then begin to make accomodations to it. i'm hearing people come into my office, say i need this relief from obamacare. get me a? can we get a little tweak here? i will ask you where were you on final passage? they give guilty look. we came in late and did not support. they contributed to the problem. president obama with $23.6 billion to spend did to implement this. some talked about-facing a potential shutdown in past months. the irony, if that had happened and lights had gone out in the federal offices all across this land the lights would still be on in

the implementation of obamacare that would keep chugging along. i think actually, three places of course. it is the presidential race. it is what happens here in congress and what happens in the supreme court. i think that the presidential race really does decide this. the next president of the united states must be forerepealing obamacare. congress would do it in a heartbeat if we elect the right president. bill: longer it is out there more accepting it becomes, that's what you believe? >> i am concerned about that. i wouldn't say it is irreversible at this point. i think we need to turn up the efforts and raise anticipation of american people but that is legitimate theory. bill: in that survey also, the rasmussen reports asked americans whether or not they thought the bill would go up or would go down. this is what he found. 57% believe the costs will be raised through the health care law for their own health care. only 14% say it will lower the costs. you go back to the campaign that pushed health care through.

it was exactly the opposite on the pitch. what are we to understand now? >> well i think the american people have forgotten what was said on the pitch. if you remember also, president obama said that we needed a little more competition in the health insurance industry. just one more competitor, a federal health insurance company, and, of course that didn't actually happen in the bill from a technical standpoint. instead we have a huge federal health insurance regulator that regulates all of them. that has driven premiums up. we had 1300 health insurance companies at the beginning of this debate 2 1/2 years ago or so. we have less today. we have over 100,000 possible policy variations one could choose from. we have less today. the competition hasn't been created, bill. quality has gone down. cost haves gone up and insurance companies have hedged their premiums because they know their costs are going up. bill: steve king, thank you for your time. you're writing the appeal there. we'll bring you back to see where this goes down the road when we get a better indication how americans are feeling. thank you for your time on the hill.

>> thank you, bill. martha: major hearing that is underway right now on capitol hill over cybersecurity and the growing threat to the united states. that is live look at the testimony from former cia director michael hayden that is in the works right now. national correspondent catherine herridge is following this story live from washington today. what is the focus of this hearing? >> reporter: thank you, martha. good morning. we had a background briefing in advance of the hearing from a committee staffer who told fox will be on state-based actors going after sensitive information and so-called crown jewels. everything from the banking sector to defense contractors is affected while senior administration officials said the next major cyber attack may be a cyber pearl harbor the chairman of the house intelligence committee, my knowledge rogers, says he is worried about the incremental damage. >> destructive threat against critical infrastructure is certainly possible. i'm more concerned however by the death of a thousand cuts we're suffering from cyber espionage being conducted every day against

nearly every sector of our economy. these cyber espionage attacks result in massive losses of private sector intellectual property and sensitive government information. urgent action is required to stop the bleeding. >> reporter: as the congressman just noted most of these attacks are on information structures that are in the private sector and for obviously reasons there is reluctance by these companies to share information about the cyber breeches for competitive reasons, martha. martha: yeah of course. what have we really learned so far, catherine? >> one of the major headlines we're seeing out of this hearing today what i call cyber elephant in the room which is china. chairman of the house intelligence committee said a few minutes ago china embarked what amounts to be a massive trade war against the united states and u.s. companies. he says when you talk to these companies privately they describe a sustained level of attack and support which could only be brought by a national state entity. the congressman said this really requires washington to confront beijing in a very public way, martha.

martha: that is really interesting. scary stuff. catherine, thank you very much. >> reporter: you're welcome, martha. martha: catherine herridge in d.c.. bill: the state of alabama has one of the toughest immigration laws. why the price of food could be impacted no matter where you live. we'll fill you in on that. martha: she's out. she's a free woman today and she is headed home about to get on the plane or on the plane from london to seattle right now. what is the family of the victim, meredith kercher, saying now. >> i don't think anybody will get off scott-free, you know. their lives have been disup ared. our lives have been disrupted. on what happened to my daughter meredith based on every parents nightmare. t ay. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college.

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♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. bill: the new library honoring president george w. bush is said to be moving along. the former president and first lady toured the site in texas over the weekend located on the campus of

southern methodist university. that's in dallas. president bush says it already exceeds its expectations. >> it will be a exciting place. a place of learning. a place of scholarship but most importantly a place of action. results-oriented institute that will have an effect on our country and we think on the world. bill: all right. it is expected to open in the spring of 2013. a little bit more to do then they wrap things up. i saw it in january. bigger than you think, the construction area. on the eastern side of the campus. a lot of space. a lot to talk about. martha: it is laura bush's alma mater. that's why they picked that spot. there was a garden put there for her a long time ago. it was a gift. it was one of the favorite things. she loves smu. really nice place. all right, so after four years in an italian prison amanda knox is heading back to u.s. soil. earlier today she landed at london's heathrow airport.

next she will board the flight to her hometown in seattle. what a day yesterday afternoon in the courtroom when the announcement was made she was acquitted of the murder. counts, a, b, c, d as they put it in the death of her roommate. what is next for her? we're very glad to have with us, anne bremer, the knox person and spokesperson for friends for amanda from the seattle area. what was it like for you all when you got the news yesterday? >> thank you. it was wonderful. friends of amanda knox actually had a hotel suite where the members spent all night there, stayed up all night and watched when she spoke to the jury and judges and the court. they were there for the verdict. it is overwhelming for us in seattle. for all of us that support amanda and amanda's family and it is wonderful news she is coming home. horrible tragic case with meredith's death. four years of her life gone and coming home finally and justice was finally served.

martha: a lot of people just sort of tune understood this story recently. anne, all along you believed that she was innocent even when all these stories were coming out. she had conflicting stories in the beginning sort of how all of this happened and what she knew about it. what made you early on decide that you believed she was innocent? >> you know, i always believed that phrase, injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. i reviewed the evidence. i had the crime scene tapes. call them with the fellini forensics with the contamination. one item only collected six weeks later. went from white to black it got so dirty. people crashing through windows at the crime scene the i looked at all that. i looked at evidence in the case. looked at everything amanda wrote and i was convinced 110% of her evidence. i jumped on board the with amanda knox trying to turn around a supertanker of false and misleading information from the leaks and closed proceedings that

predated charging. for a year there were closed hearings before she was charged in italy. martha: it is an amazing story the a lot has come out with the prosecutor in this case and credibility issues where he is concerned. you can see relief on faces of judges in the courtroom yesterday. felt as though italy was relieved they felt this was resolved in a better manner. that the second time around, you got the feeling you felt they got it right? >> that was very well-put, exactly. this prosecutor of course was prosecuted himself and convicted for abuse of office. i mean eeven said he couldn't put amanda knox at the crime scene. he talked about her as the she devil and angel face from seattle with a salacious, ritualistic sex play theories that had no basis in fact or the evidence. at the end of the day i felt that same sense. finally this is being set right and it was very well-done. very, i think, kind of cathartic for everybody. and i think at the end of

the day justice was served a little bit late but, justice was served in any event. martha: anne, have a second here what is going to happen now? what is the plan when she gets back to seattle? >> i think she is landing here at 5:00. there is auld kind of press to meet her at the airport. there will be supporters. she lives in west seattle, really tight community. she has family there with her. of course her grandmother is still back here stateside. i think she will probably have a quiet night tonight. from there on i think a lot of people want to embrace her. want to celebrater had and seattle will welcome her home in a great way. martha: see what the future holds for this young lady went off to study and the whole event changed her life and the certainly the life of meredith kercher and we think of her family as well in all this. en, good to talk you. >> absolutely. bill: a black bear like this one you will see in a moment attacks a man outside of his back door. the bear chases his man and the dog into the house.

the wife tries to fight the bear off and is bitten several times. >> i tried to distract the bear. i don't know that i jumped on him or whatever, whatever i did was enough to make the bear turn and jump on me. >> the bear hit her going out. drug her outside. i went outside to see the bear on top of her. i literally dove onto the bear and that is when the bear started tearing my head up. bill: like a bad movie. we would like to see a picture of them on the top of the bear. state wildlife officials searching for the bear. before hibernation they can become more aggressive as they get ready for winter months. martha: you're not saying you have to see a picture to believe the story, bill, mr. skeptical. bill: very, good. you're learning. at the moment i believe them. martha: he wants to see a picture. bill: especially with the bandage wrap around his head. how about her on top of the bear. i'm working on it. jenna lee is up next, how

are you doing, jenna. >> always asking hard questions. have you heard about this guy chris christie? bill: yeah. >> a little bit. we'll covering all the breaking news whether or not chris christie will jump into the presidential race for 2012. more immediately you see stocks falling worldwide. no safe haven seems safe enough. ben bernanke moments ago said the recovery is close to faltering. we'll ask what it means for your wallet. we're taking a another look at the "fast & furious" scandal. senator chuck grassley joins us. we'll see you in just a few minutes. pictures and all. bill: it helps, doesn't it. it works. see you later. martha? martha: there is an alarming new report out. can taking aspirin affect your eyesight? you need to hear about this. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] butter. love the taste, but want to cut back on f?

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martha: alabama is taking a major hit since its tough new immigration law took effect on thursday. farmers now banding together after mass exodus of migrant workers there. they say fresh crops will likely go unpicked because there is nobody there to take the jobs. they say it could mean serious trouble for their farms. at least one local lawmaker says he believes it is still the right thing to do. >> we won't have enough money to stay afloat. we won't be farming next year if something does not change. >> why can't you do something for these people right now and help them get this crop picked right now? >> we have to do what we need to do in the state of alabama. i think what we're doing is best in the long run for the state. martha: boy, interesting arguments there. hundreds of students in the state dropped out of school last week when that law went into effect. bill: there's a new medical warning for seniors you need to know b. new findings show taking a daily dose of aspirin might lead to vision loss.

cathleen london, assistant professor of cornell medical college here in new york. good morning to you. first the study concluded what here? >> it said basically twice as many people had a wet form of macular degeneration, which is advanced form of disease. this is observational study. they gave out questionnaires to 4700 people. 739 of those people took aspirin every day. so we went from about a normal rate of about two out of 100 people having that wet macular degeneration to four. very small numbers. however, if you're on an aspirin a day, please, you should be anyway, get your eyes examined. it didn't seem to increase the early forms or the dry form of the disease which is the more common one. >> before i get into macular degeneration again, there are millions and millions of seniors, people 50 years old and older, not even in their senior years yet, who took an aspirin every day to help

them with the potential for heart problems. >> correct. bill: what should they take away from this? >> you should get your ice examined. that is something you should be doing anyway. don't stop taking especially if you have increased risk factors with high cholesterol. your chances of dying heart disease way above vision loss. >> the wet form of the condition is more rare, correct. >> correct. bill: is that the difference between wet eye and dry eye, producing. >> macular degeneration has to do with the vessels leaking aspirin could leak that this is not a positive study. just observational. they seem to see people on aspirin had increased incidence. bill: gotcha. the study came from the netherlands? >> correct. they came from europeans, pretty cross-cultural, italian, spanish, french, british, similar to the u.s.. bill: a lot of times when we look at these studies though we have to look at survey

sample. >> right. bill: is 839 people a large enough sample. >> those are the ones taking aspirin out of the 4700. you're right, still a small study. bill: still 839. >> all says to me something i would be recommending anyway in terms of preventative care. which is everybody should get an eye exam. you should be getting checked for glacoma. should look at retina to see if you have early signs of macular degeneration. there are things like antioxidants that help prevent the progression. bill: as your doctor, your advice please keep taking aspirin. >> please keep taking aspirin. bill: thank you, dr. kathleen london here in new york. martha: the big question, the past few days is he running or not. new jersey governor chris christie will hold a news conference a couple hours from now. the speculation out there is that he is going to say that he's not. but we're going to wait for the confirmation of that at 1:00. that is when the announcement will be made. what this could mean for the whole gop race and for his future. we'll be right back.

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bill: this will be a major headline in about two hours. governor chris christie of new jersey has called a press conference for 1:00 eastern time. two hours from now. we expect him to make the decision public, is he in or out seek being the republican nomination nor 2012. numerous media outlets are reporting that i is no he is not in. we'll hear from the governor at 1:00 eastern time. she'll have the two hours from now. if christie does not get in what does it mean for the rest of the race, the other candidates, mitt romney, rick perry, all that stuff mariachi megyn will have that live on "america live." as you know this week rick perry took a lot of heat for a racial slur that was once displayed, some say long ago, he says long ago, on a rock at his tech as hunting ranch.

he says it was covered up immediately by the family when they became aware of it. it has presented a situation that has caused steven colbert to have fun with what other presidents and presidential candidates may have done to get them in trouble. >> it is much ado about nothing. many presidents have vacationed at question plea named resorts. chester a. arthur spent all his summers at thaoefg china man springs. and richard nixon used to go fly fishing at juice control the media creek. [laughter] >> even barack obama spent a lot of time at camp david, which until recently only admitted white presidents. [laughter] martha: yeah, somebody should have thought of that. bill: only the way that colbert can. have a great day, everybody, back here tomorrow. 1:00 chris christie, you'll see it live on