>> brian: have a great weekend. thanks so much for watching and stay tuned for the after the show show. that's coming up. >> steve: i'm cozy. let it snow, let it snow. time to go, time to go. >> gretchen: tgif, everyone. that is premium swag we say, huh? all right, good morning, everybody. newt gingrich is the frontrunner but is the best candidate to take on president obama? a brand new fox polling numbers in the race for the nomination showing thought newt extending his lead but who has a better shot beating the president? that is completely different category with a different answer. good morning, everybody. it is friday. i'm bill hemmer. martha: good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. we have new numbers for to you take a look at. in a hypothetical matchup romney is two percentage points behind president obama but newt gingrich, take a look at that, bill. bill: behind the president by six points, which is outside the margin of error.

byron josh, -- york, chief political correspondent for the washington examiner. what does this tell you? >> a lot of polls including the new fox poll with gingrich a big lead among republicans. republicans in south carolina, florida, their top priority is beating president obama. they say i would like to have a candidate who i most agree with philosophically, politically, a lot say that is newt gingrich but more importantly they would like to see a candidate who can beat obama. they will take numbers like this when they vote in the caucuses on january 3rd in iowa and primaries after that. bill: new hampshire a week after iowa. we also asked this. who is a stronger leader? we found romney and gingrich are both ahead of president obama. romney at 49, gingrich, 50, president obama at 46. what does that tell you?. >> that is bad news for obama. that is not just republicans. that's everybody. to show that either of the,

top two most probable republican rivals are perceived as better leaders, stronger leaders than the president, that is not good news for him at any time. bill: also, i think this goes to the original question of the horse race between mitt romney and newt gingrich. who's a true conservative? on the left side of your screen, mitt romney gets 40%. on the right, newt gingrich get as whopping 53% which probably explains his surge i would say in these recent primary polling states. >> absolutely. the republican voters have been looking for somebody who is a smart and capable as mitt romney and more conservative. and they think now, for the moment that they found it in gingrich. they flirted with michele bachmann, with rick perry, with herman cain. and found them all wanting. they found they didn't really have the perhaps the base of knowledge and experience they felt necessary to be president. gingrich they feel has that and they believe that he is more conservative than romney. that is a major, major

strength of gingrich. bill: perry told us that newt gingrich is the surge is the thing of day or week and he will come back down like perry did and others. we'll see whether or not these numbers hold up. we're getting real close. 24 days to iowa. thank you, byron. have a great weekend. >> thank you, bill. bill: martha. martha: mitt romney coming out swinging what he has to do at this point if he wants to get back into the game. he is releasing a new ad that hits newt for not supporting paul ryan's budget. >> he is out on the left wing of the republican party. martha: that's the basic tenor of it. it goes on in that vein, former speaker says he will not let the romney attacks change his focus. >> i will stay positive. i'm going to talk about how we solve a bunch of problems. martha: we'll see. coming up we'll take a look

whether the full-court press from romney's team which is in great evidence right now, can it work against a surging newt gingrich? bill: the sinker of an ad from a romney team, is it is a zinger. we'll show that to you. herman cain making some of the first comments since this past weekend suspending his campaign. he taked to sean hannity about his decision and the chances he would get back in the race? >> personally disappointed because we were making some great progress. but it boils down to two words, family first. no plans to reemerge, here's why. if i were to reemerge, then the spin will start all over again and then that's what gets hurtful. bill: cain was facing multiple accusations from several women if you recall, including one that claiming they had a 13-year affair in georgia. cain vehemently denying all the allegations.

told hannity that he thinks they come from both the right and left. republicans and democrats. martha: he trip ad lot in these debates on foreign policy issues and holes put in the "9-9-9" plan by his opponents. that gives us a whole new environment. we're days away from the next fox debate. this will something to see given all that has changed in the race. cain is out. gingrich has the so-called target on his back clearly at this point. everyone will want to take a piece out of the gains he has locked in. be sure to tune in. it will be must-see debate watching on december 15th, thursday night, 9:00 p.m. gop hopefuls scaring off in the first in the nation caucus state iowa. you can see instant analysis and chat live with our contributors at foxnews.co foxnews.com/debate. we have brand new details coming on a story that broke yesterday afternoon at a shooting at virginia tech. we're now learning that the shooter was not a student but there is no word yet on

the motive for opening fire. we're waiting for a news conference from the police at the top of the hour. we'll get you that. they say that the the suspect walked up to a campus police officer in a parking lot and shot him sparking a huge manhunt. police confirmed that the suspect shot himself with the same gun he used to kill the officer. the incident rattled the campus still recovering from the largest mass shooting of its kind in the united states back in 2007. who can forget that awful, awful day. last night students held a candlelight vigil. >> first thing i thought i had to call my mom. my mom works in a high school. >> two crazy people screwing it all up. >> it is somber, but they're uniting together and proud of the hokeys as a whole. martha: police don't know at this point if there is any link between the shooter and the officer who was 39-year-old deriek crouse. he was an army veteran, husband and father of five children that he has left behind sadly after this

violence. he joined the virginia tech force just months after that 2007 shooting. what a tragic story. bill: that shooting, that reopens all these tender wounds from 2007. you remember that date, april 16th. a gunman opened fire in a virginia tech dorm room. two hours later he heads to a classro where he kills 32 before turning the gun on himself. it was the deadliest shooting rampage by a single gunman in u.s. history. since that time, virginia tech has gotten much more prepared for moments like these with campuswide alerts and also spreading that example to campuses and universities across the country. martha: get to another very big story today and that is the effort to fix europe's growing debt crisis. it's leaving the continent deeply divided and global economy on edge. eurozone leaders are now sowing to move forward with a plan that does not include great britain.

very frosty relationship between nicolas sarkozy and david cameron of great britain and stuart varney, formerly of great britain joins me from "varney & company" on the fox business network. stuart, make some sense of all this for us. >> let me try to bring this all down to ground level, please. there will be no immediate crash of the euro. 23 european countries have agreed in the future they will restrict their spending, restrict their debt and maybe raise tacks some more. they have a framework agreement to do that. second point, they have established or they say they're about to establish a big part of -- pot of money to acts as a rescue fund, a bailout fund in case there is run on banks or debt of an individual country. they have a framework agreement to deal with the crisis now and they say they're getting the big pots of money together to prevent a crash now. so the immediate up shot is this. we don't know how big the cuts in spending or the

increases in taxes down the road are going to be. we don't know whether europeans will accept german dominance of europe and we don't know whether europeans will get these trillions of euros from that will go into this pot of money for the bailout. most people are saying this simply kicks the can down the road but no immediate crash. martha: yeah. this is the pattern that we see. >> it is. martha: whether you walk up to the right edge of the crisis. you have to come in and put a huge bandaid on the situation in order to prevent disaster but then when the cuts kick in that would actually improve the situation in the future everybody balks. >> but the brits are now separate from all of this. prime minister cameron has said, we will never use the euro. they don't now. they're not going to in the future. they're going to step outside this framework agreement. could be that they are leading the revolt. it could be others when the voters get to choose, voters in italy and greece and

portugal and spain, they may say the same thing. we don't want this pain. martha: we will see how the market reacts when that gets opened up 20 minutes from now. stuart, thank you very much. bill: trying to thread that needle, aren't they? 27 different countries. our close look at our own relationship and why this matters here at home. more than 20% of all our exports go to europe. that continent is our largest trading partner. total exports to the european union, $177 billion in the first eight months of 2011, up 15% from just a year ago and u.s. banks now have more than $4.5 trillion in lending exposure rather to european countries. that is nearly 50% of the u.s. worldwide lending. now you see how this relationship, this relationship, it's difficult to sever right now. we're tied into it together. if they can figure it out it's good news for us. martha: worked hard, timothy geithner and vice president

biden there, hello. we'll see how much it will cost us in the end of that story. these are a few of the stories we're following for you here in "america's newsroom." the presidential race kicks into high gear. the first contest is less than a month away and now one leading tea party lawmaker is telling voters who should not get the nomination. bill: that is interesting too. martha: it is. bill: with millions of americans out of work and looking for jobs, lawmakers look to extend unemployment benefits but who will pay for that? why nancy pelosi says it does not need to be paid for. we'll explain. martha: that's good news, right? a capitol hill grilling. eric holder facing very harsh questions about "fast and furious" and he was fighting back. a new accusation directed at members of the obama administration. >> well, first let me make something very clear and in response to an assertion that you made or hinted at. nobody in the justice department has lied. >> why was the letter

withdrawn. >> the letter was withdrawn because the information in there that was inaccurate. the justice department letter of february -- >> tell me what's the difference between lying and misleading congress in this context? [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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bill: senate democrats and senate, or house democrats as well, very quietly ramping up efforts to push for more federal money for green energy companies. after the collapse and that messy deal with solyndra, republicans are raising red flags. congressman tim murphy, republican out of pennsylvania, member of the house energy and commerce committee and co-chair of the doctors caucus joins me here in studio. nice to see you in new york. >> great to be with you. bill: good morning. we're trying to weed our way through this thing. do you think more stimulus is the answer for a green energy plan? >> no. this is more billions going in. the whole problem with much of this, it was rushed and reckless. we had secretary chu in front of our committee, lots

of people in front of our committee saying how will you change? there were some mistakes done and they want to use more in a tax plan to give more cuts. some are going to pretty big companies that don't necessarily need them. bill: like? >> like warren buffett. like pepsi. like prudential, coca-cola, prudential. bill: coca-cola is getting green energy tax dollars? >> yes. bill: to do what? >> to have various kind of things. these will work for solar, wind power, et cetera. the question is do we want to put more billions into this? what it does it gives the companies a tax break. in other words they get a grant in lieu of taxes they might pay and they're able to fund 30% for someone to have wind power project or something along those lines. while we're trying to find every possible penny to bring back and not have to run more deficit, why, well the president is traveling around the country saying too many companies are not paying taxes why are we saying to them, you don't have to pay taxes? bill: you think solyndra was

exception or rule based on what we know now? >> what concerns me with the hearing from secretary chu the problem was when he was talking with us and i questioned him you had all the folks saying this was wrong, did you review any of this data? he said no. my concern you have a broken system in terms how these things are reviewed because they're trying to rush them through. if the issue is making jobs why did they say no to the keystone pipeline? bill: this is it what democrats are saying. they say support for this is vital. they cite stunning numbers, in two years, treasury granted 23 billion, 23 billion in private sector investment supporting 22,000 projects in all 50 states, supporting 290,000 jobs. sound enormous. do you believe these numbers? >> they might be true on some level you start to say what really came out of this? i don't know but the job numbers can always be stretched a little bit but we know that there's about 100,000 jobs come from

keystone pipeline. we know a million jobs with oil offshore and gas offshore. we know shutting down yucca mountain we lost a lot of jobs. if we want a broad based energy policy let's do it. but idea of focusing money into the projects and very, very expensive and not sure the yield it is being done because we want to compete with china on this whatever, it comes down to couple issues, we are broke as a country. to continue to push some tax issues and give tax breaks to big companies just doesn't make sense in broad scheme of things. president says --. bill: here is from the house democrats now. it is absolutely essential we extend the clean energy program to insure these job creating projects continue to have access in financing and we continue to lead the world in clean energy innovation. they argue the private sector will likely not be able to support itself if we look at these numbers. >> look at some of the things, when warren buffett got in they were able to lock in higher prices for wind energy. now they're much lower. so they're saying they can't

get return on the dollar. well, in other words if it is not working as a financial system you have to have massive government subsidies to make it work. there is lot to cleaning up coal, using more of our own domestic energy and cleaning up environment. bill: some people argue the technology is there to do it. i don't know where this goes. time is running short here but we'll see whether or not democrats get their way or whether youo. tim murphy, thank you, republican from pennsylvania. nice to see you. merry christmas. martha? martha: this is a gripping story this morning. a brand new video of a former fbi agent who vanished in iran five years ago and believed to be held hostage there. what is on this tape and the riveting story what his family is trying to do now. bill: also, he was awarded the congressional medal of honor for saving his fellow men on the battlefields of afghanistan. but dakota meyer is in the middle of a nasty court battle. why he says he was fired from his job for being an american patriot.

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bill: got a quick fox news alert for you right now. getting word of this mail bomb that exploded in a government office in rome, italy. the director of italy's takes collecting organization was injured in that blast. investigators saying they're treating this now as an act of terrorism. the bomb be was in a bubble wrapped parcel part of a regular mail delivery. we're awaiting the first pictures from the incident. we should get them in matter of 15 minutes. as soon as we get them out of rome we'll show you. martha: quite a story. he fought on the battlefields of iraq and afghanistan. retired marine sergeant dakota meyer was commended for his bravery. that was the ceremony back in september.

he received the medal of honor from president obama. now he is waging a very different kind of battle against his former employer, defense contractor bae systems. rick leventhal has the latest on this court battle. what a story this is, rick? >> reporter: yeah, martha. i have spoken to dakota meyer numerous times last couple weeks all off the record. the medal of honor resipient is not speaking publicly saying he wants to hold himself to a higher standard and not have a ward of words. his form you are soup irsupervisor is not holding back the couple months ago the 23-year-old marine was in the white house receiving the highest hon floor from the president saving three dozen lives in afghanistan in 2009. as meyer tells it his patriotism cost him a job. earlier this year he began working for defense contractor bae systems but says he objected to superivsor when the company was planning to sell a sophisticated high optic thermal rifle scope to pakistan. he said u.s. servicemembers

are issued outdated equipment while pakistanis are getting best gear which could wind up in the wrong hands to kill our troops according to meyer. he gave his notice and applied for a new job but he says former supervisor trashed meyer to the employer saying he was mentally unstable and drinker and not performing tasks assigned. he sued bae and the former supervisor for slander. that supervisor, bobby mccray just filed his response. revealed meyer suffered a traumatic brain injury at war. denying he caught him mentally unstable and accused meyer is distracted about his new found fame. quote, mr. mccray was required to express his views that mr. meyer was not focused on his job and commitments he made to pursue education and medical rehabilitation but was more focused on pending star status, movie dealings book deals and other commercial endeavors. i spoke to meyer's attorney who told me that is flat-out false and inconsistent with

who dakota meyer is as a person and employee and he says this fight is not over, martha. martha: it is not. we had him here too and spoke with him in "america's newsroom." clearly a person conviction that sticks up for what he thinks. we'll see how all this fleshes out as the story is told. rick, thanks very much. bill: what a shame to go nasty especially what everybody has been through in the wars in iraq and afghanistan. people being warned to stay indoors. winds kicking up to the 165 miles per hour. oh, man that is a hurricane plus. we'll tell you where this is happening in a moment. martha? martha: a storm of a different kind happening in washington. a major showdown for extending unemployment benefits again. the numbers show it would cost us $44 billion, putting us deeper into the hole. nancy pelosi says, we don't really need to pay for it. bill: hot dog, how about that? martha: we'll talk about that.

at martha maccallum, tell us what you think about that. we have a good panel coming up. see you after the break.

bill: new this morning, there are pleas for help from the family of a former fbi agent who vanished nearly five years ago in iran. robert levinson's family just released a video sent to them last year by his captors. you can see by these two pictures the toll in captivity has taken on this

man. his family is going public, aski for his release. >> i'm making a plea to the people that are holding my father. my mother has received your messages. please tell us your demands so we can work together to bring my father home safely. bill: molly henneberg live on that outside of washington. molly, what do we see on the video? >> reporter: hi, bill. it is less than a minute long on the video which family received over a year ago 2010, levinson is most importantly alive which the u.s. government and his family had no proof of since he disappeared in iran in march 2007. he is sitting in front what looks like a wall and says, quote, i'm not in very good health. i'm running very quickly out of diabetes medicine. i've been treated well and need the help of the united states government to answer requests of the group that held me for 3 1/2 years. please help me get home. his captors also demanded that the u.s. release a list of prisoners but officials say the u.s. can't match any names on the list to

prisoners being held. bill: who do we believe is holding him? and if they had this video a year ago, why are they releasing it now, molly? >> reporter: as to who is holding him, that is the big mystery. there has not been a lot of progress figuring that out. there are talks and negotiations with iraq for years and they have haven't gone anywhere. clues in video suggest a terror group in afghanistan or pakistan may have him. those could be red herrings by iranian intelligence. they must have given him diabetes medicine to survive years past the march 2007 abduction date when he was a private detective looking for cigarette smuggling according to his family. it suggests that the family and u.s. is changing strategy. perhaps because of a lack of other leads and also perhaps, bill, because u.s. relations with iran have deteriorated so quickly recently. bill: okay. molly, we'll watch that and

see what more we get from this. molly henneberg is on that story out of washington where there are new details. martha? martha: let's go back to washington now where there are new developments over the battle whether to extend unemployment benefits into next year. millions of jobless americans have already collected nearly $450 billion in the last four years and it would cost another $44 billion to keep that lifeline in place. now republicans are demanding that spending cuts be attached to the extensions but now house minority leader nancy pelosi says she believes that is not necessary. >> i think that we must, we must pass the unemployment insurance. i do not think it should be paid for because it is again, it is something that people, that is paid into and now we should, we should, for many reasons not pay for it.

martha: interesting, right? christopher hahn, joins me, former aide to senator chuck schumer. ford o'connell tomorrow former director of rural outreach for mccain's presidential campaign. welcome, gentlemen. chris, let me start with you, watching nancy pelosi in the sound bite. my mind is rolling back to another nancy pelosi press conference where she talked about paygo. remember paygo? everything would be paid for as we went along? what happened to that idea? >> well, you know i think we're in a really deep hole right now and a lot of americans are having a hard time finding work. if we cut off unemployment benefits it will have a negative impact on the economy, plain and simple. these people get these benefits and they spend it on necessities. they don't put it in the bank. don't safe it for a rainy day and spend it now. >> she said at one point it was stimulus for the economy, remember that? >> it absolutely is, martha. martha: that may be the case but don't we live in better place than that? can we shoot a little higher than that? ford o'connell. get in on this.

>> absolutely. look, minority leader pelosi taken up residence at disneyland because she lives in fantasy. we have to pay for it. we're 15 trillion in the hole. time to actually do it. nobody is saying we should disparage the unemployed. all we're saying we have to have sound government fiscal policy, that means paying for unemployment benefits whether through cuts or other items. martha: very struck, chris hahn, back to you, when the president spoke in kansas this week. i went through the pages of the speech again after it was said. nothing really in terms of specifics on cutting spending and cutting debt. it feels like that conversation of cutting spending has disappeared from the dialogue on the democrats side. >> well, martha, clearly the president did speak about it. he talked about returning the tax code to some sanity like it was in the '90s under clinton. because if we got rid of the bush tax cuts we would eliminate most of the debt. it's that simple. if we got people back to work. martha: that is not cutting spending that is not answering my question. we were talking about

cutting spending and whether or not that was in there. ford, what about the republican side of this and why aren't we seeing a bigger effort at spending cuts and you know, can they win in this battle to try to make sure if you're going to extend unemployment benefits which everyone understands, that you know, may be necessary in these times, you have to pay for them, that's all? >> that's absolutely right. i think both side to some extent are paying politics with the issue. the republicans are right. let's extend unemployment benefits but let's pay for it. if we don't extend unemployment benefits, chris's friends will hit my gas at the ballot box until 2012. we need sound government spending policy. martha: go ahead, chris. >> i think we're hitting you all the way to the ballot box any way, ford, that's our hopes. i'm more than willing to work out pay for it. raise a little taxes on wealthyest americans to pay for it. because there are a lot of people hurting and wealthy americans have not created jobs they promised us for the tax cuts. >> chris, good suggestion.

how about 1%? martha: that if you increase the taxes on wealthy it will solve, i guess $15 trillion debt and extend unemployment benefits. ford is that going to work. >> absolutely not. always fix entitlements in tax code, keep taxing rich we'll be back at same point two years from now because we have spending problem. bottom line the government in washington, congress have no idea how to manage a checkbook. it is time to draw the line in the sand, whatever we want to spend on, whether unemployment benefits or anything else we have to pay for it. that's the bottom line. >> maybe you guys can tell me. chris, i heard you talk about tax reform, eliminating loopholes. the president talked about it as well the other day. this seems to me, i can't figure this out, seems something both sides agree with. republicans want to level out the tax code and make, because that is increase in revenue right there. if you eliminate loopholes you will increase revenue. both sides seem to agree on. how come never gets past the point and saying it is a good idea?

>> everybody has a loophole has somebody in congress wants to protect that loophole. one man's loophole is another man's vital benefits unfortunately in the tax code. listen. martha: not if you have a flat tax. >> well, you know, we've had this tax policy with these major tax cuts for 12 years. it hasn't produced jobs. we have to close loopholes. get more revenue into the economy. >> we have to get a whole new tax code, chris. >> i agree with you. listen, ford, i'm with you my friend. >> let's do it. >> i'm a simpson-bowles supporter if you and i were hammering this out we would get it done. unfortunately we don't stand for election. these guys do. martha: thanks, you guys. you will go out there and fix all the problems. unbelievable to me. it's unbelievable. all the talk about loopholes and absolutely gets nowhere. chris, thank you so much. ford, great to have you with us. bill: just broker ad deal. martha: i did. he. we can have those two goes and they're willing to get that idea into action. everyone else seems to

agree. people send us tweets. everybody seems to be on board with that idea except folks that can do something about it. bill: did the republicans trump the white house how to pay for another program, that being a payroll tax cut? details on a new idea that the gop says will pay for jobs. martha: the "i" word, coming up in a congressional hearing. is impeachment possible after the botched federal program that armed dangerous criminals? one of the lawmakers demanding answers from the attorney general. this got very messy and very intense in there, folks. we'll show you what happened when we come back. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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martha: lot of weather going on out there and hurricane-force winds are battering britain. a fierce storm hitting the country's north, look at this. winds gusting up to 165 miles an hour. locals are told it is best

to stay indoors. schools are forced to close. flights and trains are canceled. thinks are better today we're being told you about many homes have been left without power and santa claus will have to figure out how to cope with all that. bill: from that video even the sheep are scared too. martha: exactly. bill: new calls for impeachment over the botched gun-running sting known as "fast and furious". eric holder, the attorney general saying he will not resign after some republican lawmakers spent hours grilling him in one of the most heated hearings we have seen to date. here's part of that. >> you know the thing is is if we don't get to the bottom of this and that requires your assistance on that, there is only one alternative to congress has. and it is called impeachmen impeachmentment. bill: one of the congressman on that panel, republican tray gowdy out of south carolina, member of judiciary committee. welcome back to "america's newsroom". >> good morning. bill: did you think that hearing advanced the issue?

>> it advanced public knowledge that eric holder is in denial and i hope it put him on notice there is not a single member on the gop side of the house judiciary committee that has any confidence in his leadership whatsoever. and we can do it the quick way or we can do it the long way but, he has lost the ability in my judgment to lead one of the most important agencies this country has. it is not the department of politics. he is not an undersecretary for tourism. he is the attorney general for the united states and we have lost confidence in his leadership. and again, he can do it the quick way, the easy way or we can do it the hard way. bill: you say, you suggest then that you're not going to give up on this? >> oh, we have only just begun. bill: what are you looking for? what do you want to know? >> the truth, answers, his e-mails, bill, i don't know if you saw the graphic yesterday. we have four boxes of e-mails.

bill: i did. >> from a gun shop owner in arizona and not a single e-mail from the united states attorney. his senior officials knew about gun walking and yet he sent demonstrably false letter to a member of congress. so, you know, like i told him yesterday, when cops lie to lawyers, they go to jail. when lawyers lie to congress they seem to get promoted. chairman sensenbrenner has more impeachment experience than any other member of congress. lamar smith is a genial chairman but he made it clear yesterday that this attorney general is in serious trouble, not just for "fast and furious". he won't turn over e-mails on elena kagan. he has politicized this department. he lost the ability to lead it. we don't have confidence in his leadership. he needs to go. now if he doesn't get that message --. bill: do you back sensenbrenner when he calls for i am people? >> 100%. bill: can your committee do

that? do you have that power? >> absolutely. i hope it doesn't get to that. i hope he gets the message. bill: you were about to say if? >> if he doesn't resign. when i say he can do, he can do it the quick way or do it the long way, what he needs to do is the honorable thing. what leaders do is accept responsibility and leave. that's what he needs to do. bill: there were four boxes from this gun shop owner of evidence, right, that he collected or sent through evidence in e-mail form. >> e-mails --. bill: one box from the attorney general's office. >> which was half full. bill: these are strong allegations you're making here. what suggests to you as to why his office his department, is not more forth coming? what do they have to hide? >> well, what they have to hide that they knew there was gun-walking despite the fact that they mailed a letter to senator grassley denying it. lanny breuer's hands are all in "fast and furious".

he assigned a prosecutor to "fast and furious" in, early 2010. so, again, bill, i come back to this. there's lot of politics in washington. i get that. this is above politics. it is about confidence in the top law enforcement official in this country and the department of justice. we don't have a single, solitairery e-mail or transmission from the attorney general about "fast and furious". that strains credibility. bill: he said it is inexcusable and wholly unacceptable and denies anyone in his department has lied but it's clear from this exchange there is more to come. we will await that. trey gowdy, republican, south carolina, thank you for your time today. >> yes, sir, thank you. bill: to our viewers at home, many people writing about this topic. at our website, foxnews.com /americasnewsroom. ask us what you want to know about "fast and furious" or anything on your mind. because you asked, bya.

martha: we want to get you back to this story. we are awaiting news conference from state police on the virginia tech shooting. that is scheduled to get underway at the top of the hour. we'll watch that and get information out of it. what a scary afternoon for folks at virginia tech yesterday when a police officer was shot and that led them to a manhunt that went on for sometime. they're saying this morning it was not a student who did the shooting in this case which of course brought everybody's minds back to the day in 2007. bill:sured did. martha: when more than 30 of the students at that campus were brutally taken down. this police officer who was killed in the incident yesterday, father of five children who are mourning the loss of their father and for the wife, for her husband today in a tragic, tragic day for that family. bill: we were sitting here what, six months ago, there was a shooting on campus and suspected gunman. they shut the campus down immediately. again we'll hear what they have to say about the press conference coming forth in minutes.

the romney team turning hard against against rival of newt gingrich. a zinger of an ad you will see. conference call with a lot of buzz and what was said about gingrich and who said it. martha: stick around for that. nasa researchers on the hot seat after admitting to losing more than 500 pieces of space material. bill: how do you do that? martha: including several moon rocks. one said to be at your house. ♪ . dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios

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bill: houston, we've got a problem, a big problem. there's a report saying that nasa has lost or misplaced

hundreds of lunar rocks and space samples. hard to find a space sample because it is a sample of space and the audit, that was a joke. suggesting many more could be missing. agency regularly loans out samples to researchers, some whom keep them for years. nasa is committed to protecting our space artifacts. look to see new recommendations in place for nasa for items like these in the years to come. martha: there is big daily fee likely blairry book. bill: there is? martha: if you have a space stuff out too long you get a big fine when you return it. keep that in mind. bill: you said there was a moon rock at my apartment? come over to check it out. martha: just saying. so u.s. troops in iraq are beginning their long journey home and they're loadings up as they prepare to with draw by january 1st. dominic di-natale at the contingency operating base in southern iraq where the last convoy will roll out pretty soon. many dominic? >> reporter: here in southern iraq just outside

the city of nasiriyah. the 1st calvary division are still securing the roads as last of u.s. troops come out from the north. this will be the last base to actually close, the very final base in terms of the last convoy that will roll out of here. for operation security reasons, martha, we can't exactly say that it is but i guarantee it is very soon indeed. the task is to keep the rest of the convoys coming down safe. there is still very much a threat of from ieds. they're trying to bring the base down, collapse it down, they have to go on the roads of iraq and the main supply route and make sure convoys don't get attacked by militia, targeted with efps which can be devastating in the past. they have to look at the convoys before they go to kuwait. moving 2 1/2 million pieces of equipment in the past few months that is how much the u.s. has actually had to get

out of here. on top of 48,000 troops. we are down to just 8,000 troops in country. still disappearing a rate of 1,000 a day. that bill get less and less as we get closer to the deadline. they're out by december 31st. hopes are they would be gone by then. every single one within come through here by road and that will be end of extraordinary eight and a half mission. eight and a half years of losses and iraq soldiers believing trained up iraqi troops the iraqi troops can take the safety mission forward and leave on a positive note, long, long last. martha, back to you. martha: what an operation it is to dismantle eight and a half years of that operation and inspiring to see them on the bus and getting ready to come home. get them home safe is the main mission right now. thank you so much, dominic di-natale. a lot of folks waiting for them to come home. see them filing up the stairs on the airplane. think of others waiting for them to come home.

bill: make a good christmas. on fox news drot come there is -- foxnews.com, there are pictures of withdrawing troops. when you see how the war has made the u.s. troops superior fighting force. way they went in and came out is remarkable. republicans say it is a no-brainer. the job creating project facing a presidential veto. martha: plus the tea party had a huge impact in the 2010 midterm elections of course. here is an interesting question politically today, where are they? who are they backing now in 2012? one tea party leader is here today to tell us who should not win in their opinion the republican nomination. ♪

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martha: fox news alert out of blackburg, virginia where we are waiting for a news conference from the police on the deadly shooting at virginia tech. i'm martha maccallum. good to have you with us on this friday morning. bill: good morning, i'm bill hemmer. the shooting nearly five years after the massacre and come pus left 33 dead. this time two men were killed, including a campus police officer, a 39-year-old army veteran and a father of five children. martha: what a tragedy. nerves were shaken as students wondered what was going on as the campus was put on lockdown. >> they were checking all the doors to make sure they were locked, and telling everyone to stay in their rooms and not leave. >> it was kind of like an eerie aura around campus, it was quiet. that's not what you get on a weekday. martha: no word on a motive for this shooting.

doug mckelway is live in virginia. what can you tell us about the shooter. >> reporter: we are expecting a press conference to start in a moment. we hope to learn from the press conference a lot more who the gunman was and what his motive may have been. here is what we do know. ballistics tests have now con peurpld tha confirmed that the same gun was used both the officer and the man believed to be the gunman. the gunman also is not a student at virginia tech. there have been other of reports circulating that he was a student from the northern virginia area. we learned that from law enforcement officials in washington that apparently that is not true. at the time of the shooting yesterday leading administration officials, university officials happened to be ironically in washington testifying before an administrative law judge to try to have a fine, a $50,000 fine that had been imposed against the university by the department of education overturned.

this was a fine imposed because of the poor police response to the 2007 mass shooting here. last night we managed to track down a professor who you might remember from that 2007 shooti shooting, niki giovanni who taught the gunman english. she went to her bosses to report him and had him removed from the class. here is her response to the sound of those lockdown sirens going off across the campus yesterday afternoon. >> i was in the media building, so immediately we knew, we went to lockdown just like that, and we knew that it was real. the next thing is i really hope, because what we heard was that a policeman was shot, and so i think we call -- our prayers just immediately went to i hope it's survivable. >> reporter: her information seven years ago led to an

entirely examination of how troubled students, psychiatrically troubled students are handled and how the state of virginia handles it. martha: it is a tough situation for one campus. thank you so much. when that news conference does get underway it will be streaming on foxnews.com and you can watch it live right there. bill: you're precisely right about that. a veto from the oval office as republicans plan to tie tac tax cuts and unemployment to a controversial pipeline. it would green light a massive extension of the keystone pipeline despite fears of dodging this aquafer said to be a sensitive aquafer that supports thousands of farms. that is a move the president says he will veto. >> it will create tens of

thousands of jobs immediately. it has bi-partisan support in the house and senate. >> don't put something that has absolutely nothing like the keystone pipeline onto a bill and say that is our price for the middle income people. bill: mike emanuel is watching the back and forth on the hill. good morning. it sounds like a lot of rank-and-file republicans were not excited about the holiday until the president stepped in with his veto. >> reporter: some rank-and-file republicans don't believe that the payroll holiday has stimulated the economy. others are worried about using this money that is supposed to go to social security undermining the trust fund. when a president steps in, well, take a listen. >> the fact the president came out and said that he would veto the bill if the keystone pipeline provision was in it i think got a lot of republicans anxious for a fight. >> i think the likelihood of being jammed is high, because if the president says it's so important for him to delay this

vote until after the election and he's willing to veto the unemployment extension, and the tax holiday, then i would expect harry reid to fight and block as much as he can. >> reporter: that term jamming suggests that the house would vote on it next week and then dump it in the senate's lap. we expect to see the full language of the bill later today, bill. bill: so, you have what on the calendar one more week before congress is set to break for the holiday. >> reporter: well, yeah. bill: does this set up a possible showdown with the senate. >> reporter: i'm not making christmas eve plans at this point, bill. we do have another week. it does put all icy sepbg eyes essentially on the house. they did not get the 60 votes to move forward. the senate republican has not got even the votes necessary. harry reid is not very happy saying quote house republicans

is a partisan joke that has no chance of passing the senate. instead of playing political games congress should work to find common ground. in the days ahead i intend to do exactly that. the showdown here on capitol hill next week, bill. bill: all right, mike we'll wait, okay. tell the family. mike emanuel on the hill there. martha. martha: some background on this keystone oil pipeline project. it's estimated to be about a 7 billion-dollar project that would span nearly 2,000 miles. the ceo of transcanada says it will two years to build the pipeline and employ about 6500 people, but the state department puts that employment figure a bit lower saying it would create between 5 and 6,000 construction jobs, and then there are other estimates on how many jobs it would create. bill: brand-new fox polling numbers now in the state of the race for 2012, one poll asking voters we did who will win the

white house. voters put president obama on top with a lead at 44%. former house peaker newt gingrich in second at 16%. trailing behind him is mitt romney at 15% when you stack the three up now. martha: the gop frontrunner taking his campaign to south carolina which is a logical stop because it's the first in the south primary. that is going to happen on the 21st of january. the former house speaker telling a group of business leaders in greenville that getting america back on track will take a true national effort. watch. >> i don't think any one person can get america back on the right track. what i will do is ask you to be with me, and by with me i mean i want you first of all to agree for the next eight years to stand side-by-side with me reminding the congress, the governor. the state legislature, the mayor, the county commission, the school board, this is what america has to do to be successful in the 21st

century. martha: that was his big message there. he's defending a real controversial comment about why he thinks poor children should be put to work at schools. he says he believes they would get experience with real-world economics, saving and responsibility. so he's kind of trying to explain himself a little bit on that one. bill: also a scathing attack on newt gingrich coming from a prom manslaughter tea party republican. but he also happens to be the son of another presidential contender. republican senator out of kentucky rand paul saying, quote, mr. gingrich will tell you how he helped balance the budget, and voted for reagan's tax cuts, so did many democrats, those two acts do not excuse the long anne and exhaustive things that he's done to go against the principals in and out of congress. senator paul is our guest about 15 minutes from now.

you'll hear from him directly, he'll make his case on who he believes you should not support coming up. martha: fox news alert there is more than 20 tankers in pakistan carrying fuel for american and nato troops in afghanistan that were terror -fpd. loo torched. look at these images. they closed the borders in protest of their troops being killed. do we know who set the fires? conor powell is streaming live. >> reporter: it's not clear. the pakistani military says it was insurgents that set the containers on fire but there is always speculation that at least the military is likely fueling the sort of anti-americanism that is creating this atmosphere where they are setting things on fire in pakistan. this is all because two weeks ago u.s. nato air strikes killed 24 pakistani troops along the

border. pakistan has closed down that border. there are literally hundreds of containers and trucks sitting there waiting to deliver gasoline and supplies to nature toefplt they arnato. they are targets to be blown up. they say it is not affecting matters in afghanistan. pakistan has stopped supplies from coming in before when they were angry at the u.s. the u.s. is trying to limit supplies coming through pakistan. one-third of all goods still do come through pakistan, martha. this is an issue over time that will become a bigger and bigger issue for u.s. commander's. martha: it's a vital pathway for our troops. bill: what a scene that is. mitt romney fixing its target squarely on republican newt gingrich.

>> to undercut paul ryan is the most self-serving anti-conservative thing one can imagine happening. bill: a stable of former lawmakers coming out against the former speaker. will that strategy put mitt tough on top? tucker carlson tackles that in moments. martha: she wked into a spinning airplane propeller that nearly sliced this young woman in half. this is an unbelievable story, a miraculous step forward for her. a fashion model in a difficult physical situation right now. her family is speaking out. bill: she vanished the day she appeared on the episode of people's court. they have recovered michelle parker's cellphone. the family attorney will join us today on what that could mean for this investigation. >> michelle if you are in heaven, baby i love you and i know you don't want me to be sad, but i just can't help it, you know, i just feel like it's not going to end well now. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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bill: fox news alert, the on going story out of syria. we have amateur video that apparently shows a government tank firing into a residential neighborhood in the town of holmes. [gunfire] bill: woe, it is very difficult to get access inside that country. and this town itself has been a flash point for violence throughout these up risings. meanwhile we are getting reports that anti-government fighters have blown up a major syrian pipeline as protestors continue to take to the streets of the country. the u.n. estimates more than 4,000 have been killed during the government crackdown which has lasted for months with no signs of ending. martha: mitt romney taking the gloves off in the race for 2012. romney supporters targeting newt gingrich during a conference

call yesterday, which was clearly part of the new strategy coming out of the romney camp, because newt has continued to surge, really in these polls. first you'll hear former missouri senator jim talent on this conference call yesterday. the next voice you will here is the former new hampshire governor john sen u.n. u. >> the speaker returning as a reliable and trusted conservative leader. what we are here to say with reluctance is that he's not a reliable conservative leader. >> the language that gingrich throws out on occasion is a reflection of the off the cuff thinking that he goes through to deal with issues and that is not what you want in the commander-in-chief. martha: john sanunu in in the all important state of new hampshire. i am joined by a fox news

contributor. tucker, welcome, good to have you here. clearly the next couple of weeks are extremely important for the romney camp. they need to basically make-or-break in new hampshire, right? >> reporter: that's right. that's exactly right. and who knows what the effect of this offensive against newt will be. it strikes me as late and maybe not enough. look, they should have engaged earlier, they didn't see this coming. a few people did, to be fair, but i think the nature of these attacks will prove ineffective for the following reason. they are making the case that gingrich is erratic, and that he's actually a lot more liberal than you think he is, both of which may be true. but i don't think they are going to sway the votes of the grass roots who are getting behind gingrich. look, this is not primarily a revolt of conservatives, this is a revolt of pop oo populists. if you want to discredit newt gingrich in the minds of the tea party folks have you to tie him to the establishment in

washington. you have to remind them that he did work, he lobbied on behalf of freddie mac and healthcare concerns, that he is part of the corrupt fabric of d.c. that is the case you have to make and i don't see them making it. martha: i think about likability, right, and it's interesting because he has sort of brought in the american people according to these polls. they like him right now. they like the way he behaves at debates, then you've got these insiders who are coming out basically saying, we don't like him, we didn't like working with him, he's a difficult person to work with. it's an interesting thing. you think about the debate dynamic we've seen, he's been kind of mr. jovial, bring everybody in and we are all brothers, and michelle bachmann is a sister out there in the collection. what is he going to do this weekend and next week in terms of that way he's been going about it? >> it's so clever, it's actually borderline genius that you think the other candidates would pick up on it and adopt the same posture, which is i'm not fighting with my fellow

conservatives. i'm trying to replace this president who is a disaster. martha: they go straight at him the dynamic will be different. >> if he is smart and i think he is he will keep to the same posture. you can park all you want, mitt romney, but i'm here to replace barack obama. he's the problem, he's the disaster. this is an attempt to win not independents but republican primary voters. they despise obama above all. they don't liken fighting. if newt can keep that position, that obama is the enemy not his fellow republicans i think he can be the nominee. the romney people if they are serious about derailing newt they have to tie him to the establishment soon. martha: that is the really interesting question for all of this. the establishment is jam blink to help mitt romney right now. what we'll find out is whether or not they matter in the way things are going here. >> they matter less than they ever have. we talked about this before. this has been the great untold effect of the tea party. it wasn't just getting republicans elected in the last

cycle, it was over throwing,ee mass cue lating in effect the republican establishment. republican grass roots no longer listen to the establishment, to the big fundraisers, to the republican leadership in the house, they just don't care at all. that's why we have all this chaos. martha: i think there is a good argument that the next couple of weeks may decide which way this goes as we get close to iowa and new hampshire, a big big deal for newt gingrich. thank you very much. have a nice weekend. bill: 24, 25 days. martha: mitt romney is talking about the organization they have in new hampshire working there for five years, banging on doors, building an organization. and newt gingrich has got even where he has got even based on his performance in these debates with very little organization. whether that is all changing we'll find out stphaot other candidate that is upping the attacks against newt gingrich but he's doing it through his son. capitol hill staffers would like to take back a few tweets, folks. they sent the wrong kind of

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martha: 24 minutes past the hour, a crucial midnight deadline for occupy boston protestors to leave has passed. a judge lifted a restraining order that could have prevented the city from asking them to leave. new information on the u.s. spy drone that is now in the hands of iran. defense experts say that the technology on board would likely be more valuable to countries

like russia and china, it could potentially be sold to them. the attorneys for rod blagojevich gearing up to appeal his conviction. lawyers say they could ask for him to remain free during his appeal. he was sentenced to 14 years in prison and he's supposed to be remanded into custody on february 16th bill. we'll see. bill: judge knapp says do the time now. it's going to be harder to drag this out than make the break. in this era of a bad economy and tight budget you think government spending would be down. right? you would be wrong. over the past decade state spending skyrocketed 72%. spending in washington up 93%. how does this happen if we are hearing about shrinking governments even day? dan springer is live in seattle. what is going on here, dan, what is the truth? >> reporter: yeah, well, bill it all depends on what your definition of a spending cut is.

for most of us we are sitting around the kitchen table, we have less money coming in, we see what we can do without so we spend less. for bureaucrats and politicians it's when they spend less than what they anticipated spending. a reduction in the growth in spending. governor christie and greg waters asking for a big tax increase to avoid $2 billion in spending cuts. she says the state has already cut $10 billion over the last three years since the recession began. when we look at the state's spending first hers don't quite add up. total spending in washington state grew right through the recession. here it went up $2 billion over that three-year period. as the budget director explained they had hoped to spend a lot more. >> the amount of money that we spend is a little bit more, but it is nowhere near what our revenue projections would have been. >> reporter: marty brown says government will never shrink because services will always go up as population goes up.

bill: federal spending is going through the roof but they've also helped to keep the states spending as well? how has that worked? >> reporter: that is exactly right. the stimulus started in 2008, 2009, federal spending has skyrocketed and through that stimulus bill it's allowed the states to avoid the really tough choices. federal spending up 93% over the last decade. despite the tough economy state spending hit $1.6 trillion in 2010. many republicans are calling for real spending cuts not higher taxes. >> they have to scare us the people into approving voting for tax increases, and they do that by saying, we cut to the bone. they haven't. there is lots to cut. these are people that believe in big government. >> reporter: fiscal conservatives want to try to mimic what happened in wisconsin and ohio which is cut the collective bargaining rights for state workers. a tough sell as we saw in the midwest. bill: that fight for many is not

over yet. dan springer thank you. martha: a question for you today, is the tea party happy with newt gingrich? do they support him as the nominee? senator rand paul tells us why this is the case, and why he believes -- i wonder why he thinks she shouldn't support newt. we are going to ask him. that is coming up. his father is also in the wake. bill: it is right out of juro jurassic park. some folks say they can clone a creature that roamed the earth long ago. can they, and should they?

martha: this ace major set back for america's automaker. ford is recalling more than 128,000 vehicles. the ford fusion, and mercury milan sedans. it only affects the 2010, and 2011 model years. they say the wheels can fall off, okay. but only on the 17-inch wheel. apparently a lug nut can fracture and apparently separate and then the tires pop off. bill: if you're listening on satellite radio. martha: y might want to check that out. bill: pull to the side of the road. martha: that is not a good thing. bill: look for a lost lug nut. a call to arms against newt gingrich and not from mitt romney's camp either.

republican senator rand paul out of kentucky, a tea party favorite in the senate writing this in an op-ed piece. quote. we have a choice to make in a new weeks if the tea party is to continue the work we resolved in 2010 to undertake then we must not make a giant leap backward by electing big government status quo republicans like newt gingrich in 2012. strong words from rand paul out of bowling green, kentucky. he's a member of ron paul's presidential campaign. and you're his biggest supporter because you're his son. good morning, senator. what is wrong with newt gingrich? >> you know the tea party got started because we were unhappy with a lot of republicans that supported the bank bail outs. that and the debt we were werpbd with. we were concerns that republicans voted for the bank bail out and newt gingrich was right with them. being paid by the banks to the tune of millions of dollars and

then supporting the bank bail outs, which i think goes against everything that the tea party stands for. bill: i red your op-ed piece. do you like mitt romney? >> i think mitt romney is who he is, he think he's a moderate republican from the northeast, and i think if he were to be nominated people won't expect him to be a real conservative champion, and that would be okay. what i'm afraid of is that the tea party movement and the conservative wing of the republican party could be destroyed by nominating someone like newt gingrich who in the end isn't really a conservative. bill: what i took away from your piece is you weren't really hot on either one of the front runningers right now. according to our polling gingrich is first and romney is second. go ahead. >> i am a little biased toward that ron paul guy, you have to give me that. i also am a member of the tea party movement and i think i want somebody who is consistent with that movement. cap and trade has been a big issue. newt gingrich has been in favor of that. obamacare, the lynchpin of

obamacare is the individual mandate and newt gingrich was for that also. so there are some questions. i think he's now risen to the top of the polls, but people need to ask some testify questions about the fact that he's been on both sides of a lot of issues. bill: i think you can expect those questions to come. what gingrich would tell you is that he's not been perfect over the years and that he has changed because easy solved ov he's evolved over time. do you accept that? >> good a year ago we had an election in new york where a conservative was running. newt gingrich came in and supported the liberal republican. the bail outs are fairly recent history. him sitting with nancy pelosi in support of cap and trade legislation is fairly recent. his being in favor of obama's education, traveling the country with alsharpton in support after federal take over of education. those are all in the last few

years. those aren't ancient history, that is actually more recent history. bill: we all look forward to the explanations on that. with the tea party in 2012 what is the status of the organization? do you sense that they are still together, that they are growing or have they ebbed in terms of attention and support? >> well the tea party has been a funny organization because it's never really ever been an organization. it really has been from the bottom up, and has been a grass roots group. to me a lot of times the tea party movement was open mike night. everybody got to show up. a lot of the reason it was popular was if you go to a republican meeting, or a democratic meeting nobody cares about your opinion. if you go to a tea party peteing everybody is equal, everybody gets to participate in direct democracy. i think that's what was popular about the tea party movement. it's also a flaw in the sense that we are sometimes not as organized as we could be. bill: we'll see how that plays

out in 2012. what about your father? there is a piece today in politico that suggests that he's getting ready for a long haul. what do you think about that. >> he has an enormous amount of independent support. if you match him against president obama, he does better than any other candidate. he has a half a million facebook friends, an enormous email list, people who give $20 at a time. his average donation is really coming from middle america and small donations, not from -- they had a list of billionaires who have given money, zero millionaires on ron paul's list but a lot of $20 contributors. bill: rand paul thank you for your time. it's going to be a very interesting year and it's all going to kickoff in 24, 25

days. nice to see you senator. whether it's ron paul, or mitt romney or newt gingrich they will be on stage a week from yesterday, thursday december 15th. you'll see them only here on the fox news channel. for the first time you can have instant analysis during the debate at this website foxnews.com/debate. you can talk with our analysts back and forth. it will be a great interactive tool for you, prime-time next thursday night only right here on fox. i look forward to that. martha: look forward to that indeed. this story is up next. she vanished the day she appeared on an episode of the "people's court." now police have found michelle parker's cellphone. her family's attorney will be with us moments from now to talk about what that means. bill: she walked right into a spinning airplane propeller. fashion model lauren scruggs taking a miraculous step forward. >> it's a miracle to see the progress she's been making. >> she understands she was in a bad accident but she doesn't know -- she can't remember any

detail of it at all. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

bill: new reaction this morning from the family of a model after a horrifying accident. lauren scruggs, severely injured after getting off a small plane at an airport in texas, she walked into a spinning propeller. lauren's father telling reporters how she is doing in recovery. >> she is walking, she's got her spunk back, her personality. >> her personality. >> she is smiling. >> it's nobody's fault? we look at it as a horrific accident. that's the way we see it. bill: what a freaky situation. she also sustained a broken collarbone, lost sight in one eye. she is now out of intensive care. our prayers are with her. martha: a missing florida woman's mother completely breaks down after learning that investigators found her daughter's cell phone. michelle parker vanished after appearing on "people's court" with her exfiance.

michelle's mother expresses her fears now about what may have happened to her daughter. >> it breaks my heart that my daughter's cellphone was found, because that means there is something criminal, there is something criminal. i had such high hopes that, you know, maybe we'd find her and showedee be alive. and i just -- i just don't think that is going to happen. i hate whoever did this to her, and god help you when you get to heaven. martha: boy. police say that her phone was found in remarkably good condition and that it could hold some evidence in this case. matt morgan is michelle parker's family attorney. matt, welcome. good to have you here today. >> thank you, martha. martha: a tough video to watch. the family, we've been watching them, they are trying very hard to hold up and stay positive in this. what does the finding of this phone tell you? what have the police told you? >> it means they are getting close, mart that. at the end of th martha.

at the end of the day they have been doing everything they can to come up with a lead and finally they have something that pins the geographical location where michelle ultimately will be found if there was wrongdoing in her disappearance. martha: we know dale smith is the prime suspect in this case, although he has not been arrested, has not taken a lie detector test. the finding of the cellphone, how did that change the police' relationship with mr. smith? >> i don't know if it has impacted their relationship with mr. smith at this point. they haven't revealed the contents of the cellphone, if there is something that revealed that michelle was in some kind of distress. they haven't come forward with those details. so, you know, they are continuing their investigation in regards to dale, and they've subpoenaed his family, and they've brought them into the state attorney's office. they are continuing, as they were before. martha: what about the family's relationship with him? we all remember that moment when the mom, who we just saw, she

saw him after the hearing, she hugged him, which some people thought was very strange given what the family had expressed about their suspicions about him. >> yeah, yvonne is an incredible woman in every sense of the word. her main concern is for her grandchildren, who are going to remain in dale's custody. she wants to make sure they have as amicable a relationship as they possibly can. she is doing everything for the grandchildren. martha: are the children with him still? they were taken at one point. >> they were taken, and they were with yvonne and her family for the night and promptly returned to dale smith's custody following the hearing. i've been in talks with dale smith's attorney for the past few weeks and today i think we are hopeful that an agreement is going to be reached in regards to visitation for yvonne and the grandchildren.

martha: tough news, and difficult to see what the family is going through. matt morgan, thank you very much. bill: the police might be getting closer. talk about a sure fire way to lose your job. three staffers for a democratic congressman fired for drinking at work and sending out alerts about it on the internet. peter doocy is here to tell us about it. >> some of it we can't read on the air, they are too explicit. let's talk about the ones talking about being wasted at work. on december 1st elizabeth roby wrote to seth burrows, were you just drinking jack and coffee during your meeting? he responded later, i'm pretty sure i couldn't pass a field sobriety test right now. d2r, workout skipped.

there is more. burrows also work, my coworker just took a shot of jack crouching behind my decks. we have given up on just about all things work related. d2r. after thanksgiving burrow also wrote, i really like d.c. i could have used another day away. the silver lining is i don't have to see my idiot boss. small victory. that is how they describe their boss on their twitter accounts. the boss found out yesterday and it only took an hour for them to be fired. bill: the boss is not the chief of staff, it's the congressman. >> reporter: the congressman found out this at noon and the kids were gone at 1:10. bill: 70 minutes on my clock. thank you, peter. martha: you have to make those phone calls to mom, mom, i'm

kind of out after job, you're not going to like what i did. not good news. the airwaves are burning up revealing mitt romney with a new ad going on the attack against newt gingrich. joe trippi will weigh in on what that means for the presideial race. bill: a page out of jurassic park. the giant wooly mammoth could live again. how are they going to pull this off? we'll tell you.

bill: scientists are telling us they could soon say welcome to jurassic park in real life. planning to clone a wooly

mammoth, 10,000 years old. a thigh bone found in august apparently contains preserved marrow cells. they are working on this in russia and japan. bill is a skwraoeuenc a science guy. he's been looking at this up in seattle. good morning, bill, how are you doing. >> good morning. bill: you say they can get good dna out of that marrow? how so? >> it's possible, it's possible. the thing that is different about this. this is a mammoth that was frozen. you've probably eaten frozen meat from time to time. bill: not 10,000 years old. >> no, no, it's somewhat younger. the thing, everybody, there are not any mammoths around right now. it's not like you take mammoth dna and plug it into another mammoth and you get a mammoth. it's quite complicated. when they did dolly the sheep it was 270-something tries before they got one sheep. bill: i forgot about that. that is a lot.

>> so it's 275 failures. so that's when you have fresh, modern lamb cells. when you're trying to do it with 10,000-year-old frozen -- bill: chances are a lot better with a sheep walking around a field than a woolly mammoth buried in a glacier for thousands of years. >> remember, the mammoth died of something. whatever it died of may make the cells not especially good. here is the thing. if it doesn't work with this woolly mammoth this time with a modern elephant cow, somebody will do it some day. there will be some subspecies of fish that just went extinct or seemed to have and somebody will try to recover tho dna. bill: you think we're close to that. if you can do it with a woolly mammoth, the imagination runs wild. >> the word close -- it will probably happen some day but probably not with this mammoth.

it's got to be irresistible to these people. bill: when you say close, are you saying months away, or years away or decades away. >> decades away, or very likely, or very reasonable that it will be in your lifetime. bill: because i'm such a young man. >> what if it works? what about the ethics if it works? how do you tack thael? >> well thtackle that? >> the ethics for me isn't that hard, when this was a mammoth probably killed off by ancient humans. you're not going to get suddenly a heard of mammoths taking over the world. it's not going to be a rise of the planet of the mammoths. but when it comes to cloning a human, everybody, you don't want to do that, you don't want to clone a human, because the reason you have -- what do the kids call it -- the reason you hookup, the reason you hookup with males and females is to get

a new mix of genes so that germs and parasites don't kill you as much. you have a better chance against the always evolving germs and parasites. if you produce a human without having sex that human will be one evolutionary step behind, the human would be at a disadvantage? i'm straight on that, man, that is plenty clear. >> you don't want to do that. bill: we'll jus just wait to get run over by the woolly mammoth. >> i wouldn't worry about that too much. if they succeeded there would be people going to see that animal. millions of people would want to show up. but it's very unlikely. good morning you guys. bill: good morning to you and it's always entertaining to have you. have a great holiday. see you soon. martha: now we know why people hookup. it's not for the reasons that we thought. bill: you could barely contain it over there. martha: we want to mix our genes together so we can eliminate germs for the future. a woolly mammoth in your

lifetime, buddy. there is also coming up a new reaction to attorney general's eric holder insistence he won't resign over fast and furious, the operation that led to the death of border agent brian terry. texas senator john john cornyn ahead on that.

>> listen to this. sometimes people get so, a long island university professor is claiming kids should not see or hear rudolph the red nosed reindeer movies books and songs because it promotes bullying of others. rudolph? what is next? santa promotes home invasion? what is that? bill: that is pretty good. martha: dumbest point ever. the whole point he gets bullied and saves christmas. bill: we had a big party for the staff of "america's newsroo"