>> brian: also you're going to stick around for the after the show show? >> yes. >> brian: if you pull anything, we're pulling in short. >> love it. >> gretchen: hopefully i don't have to go into goal. >> brian: you never know. >> steve: see you tomorrow. bill: i think kilmeade left a little something on the terrace out there. morning, everyone. fox news alert now on a battle over ronald reagan's legacy. republicans outraged after president obama invoking the former president's name during a pitch for the so-called buffett rule. got everybody talking. us as well. i'm bill hemmer. welcome here to "america's newsroom." how are you doing? martha: good morning, bill. good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. we have a big show. we've got this. president obama saying reagan would have supported his proposal and could rightly be called in his opinion the reagan rule. >> that wild eyed socialist, tax-hiking class warrior was ronald reagan. he thought that in america the wealthiest should pay

their fair share and he said so. bill: with that republicans pushing back and pushing back hard. rush limbaugh saying that the president has got this all wrong. >> so now we find out today that not only was ronald reagan for tax increases own on the rich, ronald reagan was pro-abortion. have you ever stopped to realize, this bunch of people, the democrat party, barack obama, they hate reagan. they have always hated reagan. they engage in revisionist history about the reagan years. bill: it went on from there and does not end there either. much more on this and from rush limbaugh coming up a little later in the hour. stay tuned for that. fox news alert. this is a big story. this is not good. moments ago a spike in jobless applications 380,000 americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits. that arrow is up. stuart varney fox business network. the highest level in almost

three months. what did the report say, stewart? >> this is the worsening in the jobs picture. it is bad news on the employment front. it is bad news for the overall economy and bad news politically for president obama. it looks like the economy has gone into reverse or retailers versed its course. last week we heard job creation rates cut in half. disposable income, that is cash in your pocket is going down and the economy is basically slowing its rate of growth. it was 3% at the end of last year. looks like it will be under 2% right now. a worsening of the economy. bill: obvious question, then. why is this happening, stuart? >> in my opinion it has a lot to do with the price of gasoline. we saw a spike taking it up to $4 a gallon for most people that drive. that hurt the overall economy and it is beginning to hurt the employment picture. bill: is this a trend? is it a one-month deal? >> well it looks like a trend. bad news last week with

figures last friday. more bad news today with these employment figures. bad news how much we actually earn and in take-home pay. bad news on the overall number of people who dropped out of the economy. it looks like it's a new trend. you have to follow this in the weeks and months to come but looks like the turning point was last week and the downtrend has begun. bill: you see economy go forward and stall and go forward and stall again. we'll see whether we're not stalling again. >> third time in they years. bill: you have to be below 350 or 300 to cut into that number? >> in this stage the economic recovery, so-called economic recovery, we should be like 250,000 a week new claims. 380 with the trend rising, bad news indeed. bill: we're a long way from that number. see you at 9:15 on fbn. stuart varney leading our coverage. martha: this story this morning, stunning new developments connected to the scandal-plagued government services

administration, better known as the gsa which has been getting tons of attention as if these videos and the lavish taxpayer-funded vegas conference were enough, we now have some brand new information on all of this. we have learned that gsa employees went to hawaii for up to a week to be part of an hour-long ribbon-cutting ceremony. imagine trying to sell that to your boss, folks. mike emanuel joins me live in washington. mike, it is not just a trip to hawaii, there's more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the inspector general looking into spending at the gsa was told that agency spent 330,000 to move one employee from denver to hawaii. somebody who did real estate transactions for gsa for just is one year there, and then quit. then there's the ground-breaking described a gsa employee one of those trips where a handful of senior staffers left on a saturday, returned on a friday for a one-hour

ribbon-cutting ceremony and the employee told investigators the hawaii trips were fairly frequent, martha. martha: wow! you know, i think this just has everybody scratching their heads. you wonder how much further it goes. it just one example? congress will be back next week, miking as you well know. lawmakers are prepared to take this on. what are they going to do? >> martha, hearings start monday and continue tuesday and wednesday in the building behind me. they will look into the 822 think -- $822,000 las vegas bash and adventures in hawaii and what one lawmaker calls an extreme misuse of funds. >> this is something we've been asking a audit on for last year 1/2. i'm a freshman. i chair the committee. now we're demanding it. it stops with us here at this committee. we'll continue to dig and then we'll put transparency in place so this never happens again. >> reporter: meanwhile the acting administrator and

inspector general at the gsa are trying to change the culture there, sending a letter to the workforce yesterday encouraging employees to speak up if they see something fishy going on. martha? martha: that is no surprise. mike, great reporting. we know you will stay on top of that one. thanks, mike. bill: must have been a whale of a luau, martha. what exactly does the gsa do? basically oversees the business of the federal government. it tries to attempt to promote efficient government operations. it is also responsible for the preservation of historic federal properties and provides people with information on federal benefits, government auctions and scams. martha: those scams. bill: irony. martha: good thing we know they're on that. we'll have more on this later in the show and we'll speak to former gsa administrator who will join us. she worked in the bush administration. she will answer questions about all of that too. that is coming up. bill: has a lot of things to say. martha, fox news alert.

waiting the first expected court appearance of george zimmerman. he was charged late yesterday, second-degree murder in the death of trayvon martin. video of zimmerman turning himself in to the jail in sanford, florida. the special prosecutor announcing charges late yesterday and reaction from zimmerman as attorneys. let's listen to that. >> we have to have a reasonable certainty of conviction to file charges. >> i appreciate what the prosecutor handled the press conference. she didn't talk about the evidence because we are not supposed to. she is a prosecutor. she believes she has enough evidence to charge a crime. so she did and that is what she is supposed to do. i appreciate she handled it. it was business-like. there was no, you know, fisting or angry or anger. she did as a prosecutor and i look forward to working with her on the case. bill: we're going to see a loss of attention on the case going forward. phil keating live, seminole

county justice center, sanford, florida, north of orlando. what more do we know about zimmerman and when he was taken into custody? >> reporter: sometime yesterday afternoon, george zimmerman, according to the floridaent do of law enforcement shows up in jacksonville and goes in voluntarily to the one of the offices of the fdle. he turns himself in there. he is not arrested. nor is he booked. he just held in custody and then by 8:30 p.m. last night, george zimmerman escorted by florida department of law officials in a car, suv, tinted windows, wearing a plaid shirt, covering his head with a jacket, can't see his face but handcuffs in front of his body then walked into the seminole county jail. moments after that, this mug shot was released to the public of george zimmerman, the most recent and accurate photo of how he looks since we've been following this story for the past 45 days. watching the entire news conference, nationally televised yet at 6:00 p.m.

from jacksonville, in washington, d.c. were the parents of trayvon martin. sabrina fulton and tracy martin. as a special prosecutor announced she was seeking a charge of second-degree murder. clearly the parents were pleased as that was the maximum charge available. >> first of all i want to say thank god. [applause] we simply wanted an arrest. we wanted nothing more, nothing less. we just wanted an arrest. and we got it. and i say thank you. thank you lord. thank you jesus. >> reporter: all the parents had been asking for and demanding for 45 days was justice, not that george zimmerman be convicted. simply he be arrested and let the wheels of justice start spinning. here in seminole county justice center they certainly already are. behind the building is the jail where george zimmerman is. at 1:30 p.m. today he will

be in a courtroom behind me for his first appearance and possible bond hearing. bill: he has a new attorney. will that new attorney contest this arrest or can he? >> reporter: most expectedly yes. he has already indicated he will plead not guilty. he will likely seek a change of venue if it gets to that point but florida is very controversial stand your ground law is at the center of the question here because the defendant under that law in florida really only has to show a low legal threshold to show that they were acting in self-defense. if that is the route they take, then there is going to be a separate pretrial hearing before a judge before we even get towards the trial stage. and that florida judge here in seminole county could listen to the facts and arguments on both side and could dismiss the case right then and there if the judge feels there is enough evidence to support george zimmerman felt his life was truly threatened and had to use the stand your ground

law. clearly the special prosecutor in jacksonville, looking at everything, all the witness testimony and the evidence at hand for three weeks decided that the evidence did not support a self-defense claim. so this will be a legal battle that is just now beginning to unfold. bill: we'll watch for that a bit later today. phil keating down there in sanford, florida. 11 minutes past the hour. martha: we have a lot going on today. bill: we sure do that story will captivate the country every twist and turn there in florida. martha: that is few of the stories we have on tap in "america's newsroom." how about this today, folks? the firestorm in so-called war on women. mitt romney's wife anne fighting back after this swipe. >> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying well, my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues. when i listen to my wife, that's what i'm hearing. guess what. his wife actually never worked a day in her life.

martha: so ann romney would like to respond to that. she will do that here with us live in "america's newsroom." send me a tweet. i want to get your thoughts before we speak to ann romney. @martha maccallum. bill: do you remember this? a deadly airshow killing 11 when a world war ii fighter plane plunged into that crowd. there are now new regulations to stop this from ever happening again. we'll talk to someone about that. martha: republicans responding after president obama turned to ronald reagan to promote his new tax plan which is known as the buffett rule. rush limbaugh had something to say about that. >> they all know the trickle-down economics works. they all know that reaganomics works. that's why they're invoking it. they all know. that tax cuts work and that's why they oppose it. because what is good for america is bad for them and their political party. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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bill: so president obama invoking the name of ronald reagan while trying to pitch his so-called buffett rule. that rule would set a minimum tax rate of 30% for people who earn at least a million dollars a year on investment income. and mr. obama says reagan would have supported that. >> i'm not the first president to call for this idea that everybody has got to do their fair share. if it will help convince folks in congress to make the right choice, we could call it the reagan rule instead of the buffett rule. bill: conservatives jumped all over that. take serious issue with that comment. here is radio show host rush limbaugh shortly after. >> they engage in revisionist history about the reagan years. but all of it when they need to move their agenda forward, when they need to marshal support what they try to do. who do they invoke? j lbj, no.

jfk? from. rfk? no. bill clinton? no. ronald reagan. bill: truth to that. christopher hahn, fox news contributor. and michael graham fox news host out of the boston. where are we, michael? >> i love watching president obama, the guy who spent his entire political career desperately trying to raise taxes on people calling himself the reagan guy. you want to raise tax rates on people and you're comparing yourself a guy who took top tax rate down from 70% to 28% that makes you reagan. i assume obamacare will be known as reagan kiar. show me connection. i don't get it. >> mike, be republicans forget, reagan had one of the biggest tax increases in the history of the united states just six months after he had his first big tax cuts in 1981.

reagan came in as a guy who believed in trickle-down economics but he quickly learned that that just created deficits in our federal government and he had to stop it. now i see rush out there and i see other conservatives i think they're a little self-loathing when it comes to reagan. they forget about reagan's past. they blame obama for things but reagan said we should have fairness in our tax code. bill: limbaugh's bigger point not to be distracted from the daily back and forth. the bigger point the focus should be on barack obama and what he considers his dismal record of economic failure. that was the larger point he was making. on taxes however, gentleman here is what we have okay? the top 1% of americans paid 37, what is it, 36.7% of total federal personal income tax. the top 10% paid almost 71% of the total personal income tax in the year 2009.

michael? >> chris is going to try to tell you they controlled more than amount of income which is absolute lie. >> that is absolutely true. >> another lie here too. look, look. here's the deal, when ronald reagan left office taxes were lower and revenues were higher than when he took office. when barack obama leaves office, if he gets his way, taxing will be significantly higher. that is the bottom line. to compare himself to reagan is nonsense. >> you know, what barack obama is trying to do bring us back to the clinton level of taxation which worked pretty well for this country. >> higher. >> yeah it is higher. .3% of the marginal rate. bill: the question, chris, when president obama talks about ronald reagan does it work? >> absolutely. bill: how? >> it points out republicans used to be people who would negotiate. republicans used to be people who would compromise. republicans used to believe hollywood wasn't enemy.

they elected a actor from. rush is closet liberal. in his heart of hearts he understands that reagan today would not be a republican. bill: that is major headline if he came on the show and did that, that conversion. michael give you last word. >> if you believe that rush is closet liberal then you can believe barack obama is ronald reagan and you can believe that you know, michael graham is the new george clooney. you can believe all kinds of things. >> you're closer to clooney than i am. i do believe rohn ron is -- ronald reagan is close to obama than the current crop of republicans. i do believe that, fully. bill: thanks to both of you. we'll get the split screen of clooney queued up for both of you next week. >> no. please. spare your viewers. bill: 20 minutes past. check you later. martha: many coing up up former senator and presidential candidate, now a defendant. day one in the criminal trial, folks, of john edwards today, a live report on that from the courthouse.

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bill: so drivers in texas getting a lucky break on gas prices. drivers rushing to the pump at a conoco station. it was advertising, get this, one dollar gas! turns out a computer error got everybody a mistaken break. police had to direct traffic because so many people showed up there. >> so i pulled my gas, got it for $10. $10 to fill up my whole tank. >> what does it normally cost you? >> about 40 bucks man. expensive, man. >> finally we're getting a break. the economy is bad right

now. so they're giving us a break right now. might as well take advantage. bill: oh, but it did not last. the price came to an end when a station manager was finally notified and the pumps were shut down. martha: he is happy that guy. bill: one dollar. martha: take a look at this, wild weather going on out west. calfornians getting a double dose of mother nature's fury. started with dual earthquakes. my goodness, take a look at this, striking gulf of california in mexico, right off california's coast. then you had this rare sight. a tornado touching down in san joaquin valley. folks pretty surprised what they saw. >> went into the air and once the cloud hit it demolished it into pieces. got my family and my kids and i had them hit the ground. >> whole life i never seen nothing like that before. look like it snowed out here. the whole ground was white.

it was pretty crazy. >> it beat my vegetable garden to pieces, my flowers. i'm surprised it didn't dent the vehicles. some of that stuff was like the size of great big marbles. martha: wow! california not only state hit by this kind of violent weather lately. texas as you might remember, saw major flooding and hail the size of golf balls according to reports there. are we in for more of this? let's go to fox meteorologist janice dean live in the fox weather center. hey, janice. >> hi, martha. a three-day event that will hit texas and the southern plains a couple of tornados reported north and west of san francisco. thank goodness no one was hurt or seriously injured. we have storm reports coming out of texas and oklahoma where we saw two to four inches hail actually shut down part of the highway, amazing. we're watching all of this energy coming out of the west. we're starting to see the

thunderstorms starting to percolate from the gulf coast of texas all the way up into the northern and central plains. this is kind of the area of concern as we head through today, tomorrow and even saturday. so, severe threat for the central and southern high plains. large hail, damaging winds and yes tornados as we head into tomorrow. a bigger threat for tornados and more populated cities we're watching. guys, saturday, a more concentrated risk and very powerful system coming out of the rockies. this is the area of concern. parts of oklahoma and kansas where we could see large, long-lasting, very destructive tornados. we'll keep you posted and our eyes open. back to you. martha: good information. we'll stay on it. thank you, janice. bill: in the heart of this, month of april as we move forward. new details on that horrific airshow crash. remember this scene. oh, man. now the full report on why 11 people were killed that

day. and new rules designed to prevent it from happening again. the chair of the ntsb is here live to talk about that. martha: awful day. north korea could launch a new missile at any moment. and our next guest says that the best thing that we could do about that would be to shoot it down. how will the obama administration respond? that is coming up. >> north korea is readying a long range ballistic missile launch over the east china sea. it comes just weeks after north korea agreed to a moratorium on missile testing. it violates multiple u.n. security council resolutions. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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martha: all right. a fox news alert on this firestorm in the so-called war on women. an advisor to the democratic national committee took a swipe at mitt romney's wife during an interview yesterday and boy, oh, boy, has this thing gotten rolling, folks. she said that ann romney, quote, never worked a day in her life. so she can't advise her husband about issues that are facing women and the economy. despite raising five children, which gets a some people riled up. so ann romney will join us in her first reaction to those comments. that is coming up in the next hour. send us your tweets as wel well@martha maccallum. that is coming up. bill: looking forward to that interview.

there is breaking news on north korea. at any moment north korea would launch a new rocket. that regime insisting nothing more than a satellite launch. u.s. and others fear it is really a test of missile technology. greg palkot reporting live inside north korea and live in the capitol city. >> reporter: bill, greetings from pongyang. the window for the rocket opened up today but bad weather here scrubbed the launch. north korean officials tell us they are determined to continue with the possibility of that launch and it could happen as early as tomorrow now. the launch as you note officials here say, claim is a peaceful civilian satellite launch. the u.s. and others say it is a test of ballistic missiles with some serious military applications. north korea has admitted to an arsenal of nuclear bombs. they have tested nuclear weapons in the past and could again. it is also all about politics here, bill. the launch marking the 100th anniversary of the birthday

date of the north korean founder, kim ilson. and firm support for the his grandson new leader. more in line with his father and former leader kim jong-il. one other note in the time we have been here, we noticedded something else, this impoverished country is shelling a lot of money into dressing up this capitol, pongyang. we've seen it as we drove in from the airport. we've seen more lights and more cars to give the impression at least that this country is strong and prosperous. when the rest of this country is desperate and oppressed that is no easy task. once again, right now, we here in pongyang and the nervous neighbors in this region, we're talking about south korea and japan and other are waiting for the launch. it could happen in a couple of hours. bill: officially the window is open. greg, thank you. terrific reporting on the ground there from a very difficult country to get into much less report out

of. greg, thanks. martha has more. martha? martha: kt mcfarland joins us now. she says in this situation she believes the best thing to do would be to shoot that missile down. she's a fox news national security analyst. she is also former assistant deputy secretary of defense for president reagan. k. it, welcomes. that sounds like a very dramatic reaction to this. >> there are two reasons this is upsetting. one, what capabilities are the north koreans have if these are successful launches. there are two things they are trying to do. they want to launch a satellite and next couple weeks they want to launch a nuclear weapon. if both of those succeed they will be third country in the world who has deliver the nuclear weapons to the american homeland which we have no defense. china can do it. russia can do it and potentially north korea. there is second issue which is iran. iran has engineers on the ground in north korea. we know they cooperated on their missile and nuclear

programs. iran is looking at this and saying to themselves if the world doesn't stop north korea, puny little herm mitt kingdom, north korea, they're never going to stop our nuclear program. what it does in effect give a green light to iran. that's why i think it is so important to not just you know, scold north korea but to do something demonstrative. this is illegal test. we have every right to join with the south koreans and japanese to shoot it down. we can give them a face saving excuse. it was debris. we wanted to make sure the debris didn't hit. you have to make the point now, if you don't, iran gets nukes and then everybody gets nukes. martha: is there any indication that the course this administration is considering strongly? >> no. just the opposite. jay carney at the white house yesterday talked about they would have strong verbal reaction to it. a little more hot air and scolding and some words. what could you do if you don't shoot it down? at a minimum stop the food aid. we agreed to give food aid in exchange for slowing down

that are program. they haven't done that. secondly reimpose banking sanctions that president bush lifted in 2007. that made live difficult for the north koreans. put those back on f we let this go with more scolding words and shaking our finger at the north koreans, then i promise you iran is next and then the entire middle east gets nuclear weapons and world 10 years from now is dozens of countries with nukes. martha: how important it would be to have coordination on a move like that to shoot down this missile. >> yeah. martha: is that coordination you think something that is doable? >> yeah. the south koreans and japanese already said they will shoot it down, if missile has, any debris, coming towards them landing on their territory. we're treaty partners with them, do the same thing and join with them. we have assets in the region. you could do it in such a way wouldn't necessarily let the north koreans lose face. give chinese 30 minute warning let them know they will do it.

let the north koreans claim it wasn't us shooting down but shooting down some degree. let them save a little face. if we don't stand firm now we'll never be able to get this genie back into the bottle. again nuclear proliferation is an enormous through the threat not just to the united states but to the world. martha: kt, thanks very much. always good to get your take on that. bill: we're on watch,. martha: we are. bill: starting now and perhaps throughout the weekend. john edwards on trial. the former senator and presidential candidate now facing charges he violated campaign finance laws when hiding his affair with filmmaker rielle hunter when he was running for the nomination in 2008. jury selection getting underway this morning. jonathan serrie is live at the courthouse, greensboro, north carolina. what's the issue for edwards here, jonathan? >> reporter: two key issues here, bill. one, whether john edwards new about the nearly one million dollars of donations provided to a campaign operative to help conceal the pregnancy of his

mistress, real hunt ir. another key issue is the intent of the donations. was to spare embarassment of his wife finding out about the affair or to preserve his image as a family man among voters to protect his 2008 presidential bid. federal prosecutors are arguing it was the latter and therefore they say the money amounted to campaign donations well in excess of the federal cap on individual donations of $2300. this makes this a novel case when it comes to the interpretation of federal campaign finance law. ron wright, a wake forest university criminal law professor and former federal prosecutor explains. listen. >> it's a brand new interpretation of the campaign finance laws. if this case succeeds, it will change the way that campaigns report money, the way that they seek money. it's a ground-breaking case. >> reporter: if convicted edwards could face up to 30 years in prison and $1.5

million in fines. bill? bill: so if jury selection is today, how long is the trial, jonathan? what's your expectation? >> reporter: they are taking their time with jury selection. it is expected to last through next week with opening arguments scheduled to begin on the 23rd. that's a week from monday. the entire trial expected to last about six weeks, bill. bill: thanks, jonathan. greensboro north carolina. 20 minutes now before the hour. martha. martha: it was supposed to be a big day of fun and it turned into a huge tragedy. now the government has new recommendations to make sure this unbelievable scene, so awful last year, they want to make sure that never happens again. bill: if you have not filed with the irs turns out you have something else to worry about come april 15, which is only three days away by the way. why you might want to stay off the road. we'll make that connection. martha: plus, britney spears, folks, simon cowell could they sit next to each other at the big desk? we'll tell you how much

money she will make doing this when we come back. ucing go. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

martha: we've got about 44 minutes past the hour right now. if paying taxes wasn't hard enough, a new study says deadly car accidents spike on tax day. researchers say that deaths from crashes rise 6% on the day that americans rush to pay uncle sam. and there is a new effort to squash super bugs in the meat you buy. that is lovely thought, right? fda telling producers to stop voluntarily using antibiotics in livestock for. they say misuse of medicines causes serious health problems. super. bill: enjoy your breakfast. there are new safety recommendations coming after this happened.

[screaming] bill: just the sound and the smoke and the reaction. that was at an airshow crash that killed 11 people at a show last year. debbie hersman. chair come woman of the national transportation safety board. nice to see you here in new york. you company out with several recommendations to prevent this from happening again. you learned a lot more about this case. the pilot was elderly, he was 72 years old. you should he have been flying that plane that day? >> our investigators identified that the g-forces or pressure this pilot was facing when this upset occurred something neither you or i could really sustain either. this question here is why did this upset happen? how do we prevent it happening again. bill: he was pulling 9 gs, which is nine times the

force of graph ity -- gravity which you have not experienced that before, it is like a giant python wrap around your stomach and have an elephant sit on top of you that is how much force there is, right? >> there is significant fours. human beings at four or 5gs have a problem. 9gs is something neither you or i could sustain. bill: could you put something in the aircraft to prevent him from pulling 9-gs to prevent him from passing out. >> you don't really want the aircraft to get to 9-gs. the race was designed for 3 1/2-gs. he pulled in excess what the course was designed to do. something unplanned happened. it was rapid on set of 9-gs. fighter pilots pull 9-gs but they prepare for it and not so quickly. he developed those gs in less than a second. he was unprepared for it and likely incapacitated him

immediately. bill: fighter pilots have a air hose inside that hooks up to bladders that go up and down the body to prevent the blood going all the way to their feet. keep it between the heart and head so they don't pass out. those planes are equipped for that. now you have recommendations that are out. for the spectators in the stand, how can you protect them? >> this is really a key point because we know 10 to 12 million people go to air shows and air races every year. we had a hearing in january. we talked about what could be done. you talked about the g suits. we looked at the pilot, the aircraft and course design for the spectators. we know that you can help the pilots by giving them g-force training. you can use g suits to help ameliorate some of the pressure there with the aircraft we looked at the design. many of these aircraft in the races are healy modified racing aircraft and so we really want to make sure they're looking at those changes before they get on the racecourse to make sure they're controlable and they're stable. with respect to the course, we looked at designing the course. we recommended to the

organizers to look to see if there are things they can do to better protect the spectators, whether it's moving the course back or putting in barriers. there are things they could consider to make it safer for spectators. bill: those images too are stunning when we watch them yet again. you want to make the point quite clear you're not out to end air races? >> absolutely. ntsb is not investigating the accident and making a recommendation to stop air racing but to make it safer. bill: these are just recommendations? >> that's right. bill: do we know if they will follow them? >> we're very optimistic. we had a lot of good conversations with people putting forward these races and organizing them and they're very receptive to the recommendations we made. bill: thanks for sharing what you found. we'll be in contact. debbie hersman from the ntsb. pleasure. >> thank you. bill: martha? martha: it was meant to honor those that gave their lives for our country but now a pair of crosses are at the center of a heated debate could end up in court. bill: talk about a debate, right?

ann romney put down, quote, never working a day in her life, raising five kids, 16 grandkids. next hour mrs. romney is here live with her first reaction on television. don't miss that.

♪ . bill: i've got that on my ipod. martha: you do not. bill: queued up ready to go. britney spears and simon cowell. report that spears is close to a deal to be a judge on cowell's show the x-factor. she could earn as much as $15 million. that would be a big boost for the one-time megastar. the singing competition on fox.

owned by news corp, parent company of fox news. we'll keep you updated. martha: let's go overseas for this very serious news this morning as an uneasy sees fire is in effect in syria. guns falling silent in some parts of the country but now, we are getting new reports of more killing in the streets and opposition fighters saying that the government tanks and troops are still out there. leland vittert, live in jerusalem with the very latest what is going on in syria. good morning, leland. >>reporter: good morning, martha. probably to early to call this sees fire deal a failure but people certainly are not optimistic. today we've not seen the kind of battlefield artillery assaults that have been so commonplace over the past couple months but those government guns are far from silent. this is amateur video coming out of the towns there

inside syria where you can see people on the streets running after hearing shots ring out, most likely from government snipers there. the military has not pulled off the streets or back to their bear rations a -- barracks as promised in sees fire deal. the assad government says they have the right to respond to terrorist attacks which are the words they're using to describe the huge protest movements. you have a case where syria is trying to placate its allies russia and iran proseconding -- protecting it. we'll hold our fire a couple days and let things calm down and we can go back to what we're doing before. we're a long way from anything that would be close to a resolution here, martha. martha: what is next? where do we go from here on all of this? >> reporter: the opposition groups from syria are far from united. if you have video there are humans, large groups of

syrians forming sos messages out to the world. with those syrian tanks still out on the street, president assad has shown no signs he will live anytime soon. the opposition groups say they plan mass protests tomorrow the meantime we're hearing the army and police are actually using the sees fire to clamp down, put up more checkpoints and try to round up more people ahead of those protests on friday. so president assad is still firmly in place and the opposition groups say they're not going to stop until he leaves. it does not exactly make for a peaceful situation. back to you. >> all right. leland, thank you very much. leland vittert in jerusalem. bill: thought it would get better over there, huh? does not appear to be based on that. never tell a mother of five boys that she never worked a day in her life. mrs. romney speaking outlive here in "america's newsroom" for the first time after the break. we would like to hear from you based on those comments. do you consider raising a family to be work? weigh in, yes or no. at our website, foxnews.com

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martha: we start with this fox news a hrefrpltd the democratic adviser at the center of a political firestorm in morning is not backing down from her controversial comments about mitt romney's wife ann. brand-new hour starting now of "america's newsroom." bill: hilly rosen lighting a brush fire online after criticizing ann romney for being a stay-at-home mother. >> you have mitt romney running around the country saying my wife tells me what really matters are economic issues and when i listen to my wife, that's what i'm hearing. guess what, his wife has never worked a day in her life. she has never really dealt with the types of economic issues

that the majority of women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school. martha: that's how it all got started. ann romney tweeted immediately after that, this quote. i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys, believe me it was hard work. that's just the beginning of all this. monica crowley joins me now, radio talk show host and a fox news contributor. monica, good morning. what is your initial reaction to all this. >> you know what martha i think that ann romney should take this as a huge compliment because it's a measure of exactly how threatening the obama re-election team finds her. ann romney is dynamite on the campaign trail. she is a mother of five, a grandmother of 16. she is a powerhouse retail poll situation teugfox news poll teugs in her own right and she knows how to work a crowd and people respond to her. because she's got even this

reaction the obama re-election team is running scared. if they weren't threatened by ann romney that attack never would have come. martha: let's take a look at a follow-up from hilly rosen. this is the follow-up. this is the tweet -- oh, yeah, this is her follow-up, just wanted to make sure. she says i am raiding children too but most young american women have to both earn a living and raise children, you know that, don't you? is what she said back to ann romney after that tweet. your thoughts on that. >> parenthood is the toughest job in the world, and what ann romney is saying, is look, i raised five boys, they are great contributors to society. none of them have been in rehab and jail and that is quite an accomplishment. what she's also saying is look, i understand raising children is one thing, having a career is something else, having a job is something else. most american women actually have to do both. you know-how hard it isess spellings lee in this economic

climate. what ann romney is doing, i think this is a really critical turning point in this campaign because the democrats did have some success in attracting women back to the democrat party. remember they lost women in the 2010 elections, women moved away from the democrats -rblg, they voted for the republicans in droves. with the hh8 mandate and turning this into an assault on contraception and bogus war on woman. what that one comment did from that democrat operative yesterday may have changed the game. it took the vast majority of american women and frankly american men and inch salt them wholesale by saying, well raising children, you know, not that -- she can't relate to it at all. that kind of offensive comment actually could have done more damage to the obama team's effort to try to reattract women than anything else. martha: it's interesting on a couple of levels. one thing that comes to mind this morning, monica, is a

similar comment that was made by theresa hines kerry what they are husband was running against george bush. she said a very similar thing against laura bush. it created a huge fire storm as well and she had to retract it and apologize. i think there is, there is an underlying battle that goes on between -- in the race for first spou, first lady in all of this. and i think it's very significant in terms of who this person is and what they bring to the table in terms of creating that people that americans look at when they decide who they are going to vote for, and that, you know, was not lost clearly on david axelrod and jim messina who came out right away. they disowned this and backed off of this statement in a big way. let's take a look at what they said in response. this one is from jim ma seen a. he says i could not disagree with hillary rozen any more strongly. her comments were wrong and families should be off limits. she should apologize. david objection elrod said also

disappointed in hillary roads even's comments about ann romney, they were inappropriate and offensive. why do you think they came out so quickly to retpwhut? >> they are in major damage control, martha, because they realize that her comment offended the vast majority of americans, men and women. you don't have to be a mother to find this comment offensive. back in the 92 campaign hillary clinton got in trouble for sailing, well i guess i could have stayed home and baked cookies. that ignited a fire storm. it's this idea that the left sees americans in terms of race and class and gender, and issues in terms of those categories, they don't see americans as individuals. so that feeds into that narrative about the left and that's a more broad point and i think a broader problem for the democrats right now than just the specific women issues. martha: thank you, monica, great to get your input. great to see you. we'll have much more as we head throughout the morning.

bill: apparently hillary rozen spoke to fox business down the hall a moment ago and she said by way of e phaeurblgs i admire stay at home moms and ann romney. the person i criticized was mitt romney for note having a record that reflects his professed concern for women's economic studies and using ace wife as a surrogate on this issue. i don't know if that helps or hurts but that was a moment ago adding more to the story. martha: we'll ask ann romney how she reacts to what hillary rozen said to her this morning. she will be here live. that is an interview you won't want to miss. ann romney speaks to us about all of this at 10:30. bill: what do you think at home about all this. take our poll. here is the question, based on a recent comment that mrs. romney serve worked a day in her life, do you consider raising a family work. two options, yes or no.

we'll bring the results a bit later in the show. you can vote right now. martha: this just coming in, we are going to take a look at the dow numbers today as the number of americans see unemployment benefits jumping to a two-month haoeufpl the labor department came out this morning as they do ever thursday with these numbers. they said 380,000 people got in line to file for jobless claims last week, a jump of 3.5%, a big jump this morning. markets are often con traeur lee to that news. up 70 points. we've seen a bit of a sell off in the pass few days. bill: it's starting and stopping and starting and stalling and doing it again, we'll see in time whether that is the case. there are fresh details now on a potential war plan in afghanistan that might ease the transition for u.s. forces getting ready to get out. a top military official said to be mapping out a strategy that

would replace thousands of our troops with small special ops teams. steve centanni on this live in washington. what does the plan mean, steve. >> reporter: small groups of u.s. special operation forces would team up under this plan with after tkpw-pbs and work to prevent a security vacuum after the big troop withdrawal that is coming up. the over you'll campaign would still be led by the regular military but the special operations forces would help the april gans hold onto gains made over the past several years while offering advice and back up. the plan is being put forward by admiral bill ma craven. they ask for proposals to be presented to the president. this plan for special op forcers is preliminary, nothing has yet been presented to defense secretary leon panetta or to the white house. bill: how many special operations forces are we talking

about, steve, to do the job? >> this rough calculation calls for 6,000 troops working in the communities along with afghan forces. there would be intelligence teams and conventional military involved. all this to replace the existing structure which is rapidly changing. by september the remaining surge forces will be coming home, and by the end of 2014 most other u.s. troops will be out of afghanistan. so this is one plan for how to move forward in the new security phraoeupl at following the big u.s. pull out stphaoeut is a big issue, one to watch and we shall. steve centanni, thank you, live in washington. martha: trayvon martin's family is now speaking out about the arrest of their son's accused shooter. >> we simply wanted an arrest. we wanted nothing more, nothing less, we just wanted an arrest, and we got it. and i say thank you. martha: very emotional, the mom of trayvon martin in that video. so what is next for this man, george zimmerman? great debate coming up on this moments away.

bill: how about some fun in the sun, huh? how about some fun in the sun on your dime. martha: even better. bill: new bombshell accusations about a federal agency already in hot water, whether it's las vegas or hawaii. martha: the water is warm there, right, not too hot. plus some terrifying moments. take a lock at this picture when a school bus slammed into the front of a home, what happened there? when we come back. >> my grandpa, he actually thought the house exmoded. i'm like, no, a bus is in the house. i say we need -- i said let's go, we need to get out [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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huge brush fire burning in northern new jersey. check this out. burning dozens of acres. close to the stadiums why the giants and jets play. you can see the smoke and flames really close to the turnpike in new jersey. the fire causing traffic delays, as of now no injuries or damage reported. the dry weather causing fire all across the region. we need some moisture, i think we'll get it soon. martha: accused shooter george zimmerman being charged with second-degree murder and making his first court appearance today. he turned himself into a florida jail yesterday. the special prosecutor and the charges against him speaking out, listen. >> we did not come to this decision lightly. this case is like a lot of the difficult cases we have handled for years here in our circuit, and we've made this decision in the same manner. let me emphasize that we do not prosecute by public pressure, or

by petition. we prosecute based on the facts of any given case, as well as the laws of the state of florida. martha: we want to talk to joey jackson former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. michael scolnic joins us as well. and david web of the david web show. thank you to all of you for being here this morning. joey i want to start with you and get your thoughts on this second-degree murder charge. you say that you're a bit concerned that this may be overcharging, why? >> i think so, martha. further taking a step back, this is what a grand jury would be. that's why i'm a little disheartened that a grand jury wasn't used. the grand jury eliminates the whole public pressure and outrage, because it's not a unilateral decision that is made by a special prosecutor, it's a grand jury convening, having heard the evidence. having said that, this prosecutor decided second-degree

murder. we'll see how it plays out. the problem i have with that, second-degree murder you have to no evilness, spite, something that rises to that level and no facts to indicate that i've heard yet -- granted there are certainly facts that they are aware of that we are not. it seems to me this would be more appropriate to manslaughter. that means that there was a killing of some sort, or there was a death, it resulted at george zimmerman's hands and it wasn't excusable or justifiable. that would seem to me to be the safer way to move forward on this case. having said that, you know, the prosecution will move forward, but i do think, martha, that mr. zimmerman will in fact try to invoke the stand your ground law and seek to get some immunity. that is he will go before a judge, plead his case, he will say that i was in imminent fear of my life at the time that the shooting occurred, and your moneyer based upon the facts and circumstances i will ask you to throw this out. i don't think that will happen so. martha: i want to play a sound

byte from hits new attorney. his former attorneys dropped him because they hadn't heard from him. he has a concern about a fair trial in in case. let's listen to that. >> he's concerned about getting a fair trial and a fair presentation. there's obviously been a lot of information flowing. i think a lot of it has been both premature and inappropriate. martha: let's bring in the rest of your panel here. michael it felt yesterday as if, and i hope this is the case that this whole thing took a turn toward a more kind ever orderly judicial approach and it gave everybody a moment to sort of say okay now there is a process that's in place. are you satisfied with what happened yesterday? >> i think we all are satisfied. they showed a great sense of calmness at the press conference. with zimmerman's website, and firing of his attorneys, there was a lot of tension.

but i think the family and everybody involved is satisfied with the second-degree murder charge. martha: what about the folks, david you have said have ginned up the devisiveness in this country over this case. what would you plea them to do at this point. >> shut up, let's start with this point. if we are going to go with their argument that it needs to be brought to light and got the media attention and the special prosecutor and all the other elements, you did that in the beginning. what happened after this is the race hustlers got involved and it never became about the due process which by the way was playing out up to this press conference, up to the charging. i do have concerns as joe said about, you know, overcharging it, that's a possibility, we don't want to the casey anthony trial. we have called for due process and for the legal system to play out versus representative wilson, the new black panther party. sharpton, jackson, joe madison, all of them what have they done? they didn't just inflame the situation, we ended up with

spike lee tweeting the long address. rosanne barr tweeting the correct address. we had a dead or alive poster on an person citizen and no action by the department of justice. that is wrong in our american system. martha: what i found interesting in all of that is that in many case it took away something from this family. it took away what happened to this family and caused the conversation to be in another place. you see this mother in this tape, she is just grateful there's been a arrest. she just wanted something to happen. >> she was the voice of reason in the beginning when she said this is about right and wrong, not right and left, and about justice. >> i stood up for trayvon martin. >> i stood up for justice. >> so the idea is to shut up. the first amendment is the right to free speech and assemble. peter: flee. >> i said walk away once we've

done our jobs. what is sharpton's job in this. >> it's our job. it's not about al sharpton, it's about us. thousands of people marched with the family. millions signed petitions, it's not just about al sharpton or jesse jackson. >> if our justice system was about mob rule versus due process in the law as written you would be right. martha: you would agree i would assume that michael and everybody -- they didn't have the right to go out -- >> once you've done your job applying their logic of bringing notice to it, they took it beyond that. they -- let's get justice and due process to play out for both parties. trayvon was shot, zimmerman should not have followed him, that's my estimation, that is prudent action. beyond that let's let the system play out. joe jackson is right, we don't have all the facts, prosecutors will give that to defense in discovery, this is how our system works. when you take it into a race narrative you take it away from the due process and justice

needed and you force another conversation. martha: one of the main things, if i may that michael and others were marching for and calling for was to allow the process to begin, to take hold and to take place. >> that's right. >> they tried influence it. >> let us not be afraid to have a discussion about race. we can have a discussion in a civil way. >> this was not a tkeut a discussion about race. the network that edited the call by zimmerman, that he was hispanic, spanish and mixed. it was to drive the white di dynamic, when racism is just not about control. martha: it needs to be about what happened that night, and about the families who are affected by the whole thing. let's hope this moves forward and that justice is served.

thank you very much. my thanks to joey jackson who is with us as well. bill: four it got to be a little much. and then craig was my most active child and it was chaotic and a lot of fun. bill: that is ann romney and tape. ann romney is here live in a matter ever moments with her reaction and the work involved in raising five children. a wild police chase taking a dangerous turn when a suspect points his gun at police officers. watch this in minutes. is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary.

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[music playing] martha: it's a bummer, folks, there will be no guns and roses reunion at this week's rock and roll hall of fame. axl rose says he will not attend and he is declining his induction into the hall of fame. it appears there are bad feelings that still are there after the band broke up in the 90s. slash will be there. my son dressed up as him for halloween. the bee beasty boys, the red-hot chili peppers and donovan will be there. bill: i think he's missing out. they are waiting for you. there is a battle underway over a makeshift memorial built on the ground of a major marine base.

atheists objecting to there's crosses to honor seven marines. that group threatening a lawsuit. adam housley is live in camp pendleton, san diego, california. you've been up to the crosses, what about them. >> reporter: quite a sight. those marines went up the hills behind me. they wanted to do it to horn their bud he's in afghanistan and ey iraq. of the original 7, 3 have been killed in action. widows and children have made this hike 3,000 feet, brutal at times. you have to bear crawl to get up there. they say it's not a sight for religion but for reflex. >> it's not a religious spot at all. it's a place for the marines to grieve and to grow. >> it wasn't intended to be a religious memorial, it was intended just to be able to provide a fitting and a

dignified memorial to their fallen comrades. >> reporter: once again, bill, here ace live look at the location. being see it's pretty remote. pendleton is a wide open area, and it's way up there, a 3,000-feet hike to get up there. bill: after ten years this group decides to file a complaint. what took so long, adam, and why not. >> reporter: it's called the military association of atheists and free thinkers. a couple of other groups have signed onto the complaint. a newspaper article showed the site. that prompted this. this is what they want done with the site, take a listen. >> what's ideal for me i think if they took those two crosses and put them at christian churches to be christian war memorials, as a private church i think that would be an appropriate place for them, and i'd certainly praise christians for honoring their christian brothers. >> reporter: the commandant of the marines is expected to make

a decision on this every day. if he decides to keep them they say they may file a lawsuit. bill: adam housley live in san diego county. what is next. martha: a new bombshell in a government scandal this morning. jaw dropping new allegations. videos mocking taxpayers, which we have seen, and the former head of the gsa under the bush administration joins us to take a look at all of this. bill: there is new dramatic 911 doll911 calls made from inside the hotel the night whitney houston died. >> you don't know if she is breathing or not. >> apparently she was not breathing. >> she is not breathing? >> yes. >> but she is breathing now. >> i don't know. the first person that called me was irate and i couldn't get much out of her. we have security going there now.  if you have copd like i do,

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bill: new accusations this morning against the government agency that apparently spent more than $800,000 of your money on a training conference in las vegas. and now we learn that five employees with that same organization, the gsa, the government services administration also spent five days in hawaii preceding an hour-long ribbon cutting event. a former gsa administrator under president bush joins me.

good morning to you and welcome to you. >> glad to be here. bill: how can you explain this. >> the hawaii situation and las vegas situation point to a complete and utter se systemic failure of the system at gsa. there is no way that senior leaders did not know or were aware of these excesses because they would have had to sign off on waivers or permission to exceed all of the established rules and regulations that are currently in place. bill: there is one thing here that i found particularly egregious. apparently an official that was not named paid $93 a night for a government rate on a hotel room, but yet billed the government for a thousand dollars. now, if that is true, that is a report that suggests this individual profited $900 for staying in a hotel room in las vegas, or hawaii. now that would be criminal if proven, would it not. >> yes, i think it would,

because it would be fraud, because when you submit an expense report you're supposed to be giving true and accurate, plus receipts should be attached. what is more important for something that varies that diffe differently than what is the government stabbe established rate for a hotel room or per diem you'd have to get a waiver from someone very s*r in the organization. once again that points to the top political leadership. bill: you have paoerpbs in this organization. where does that lead you then, or where does this lead. >> it tells me we have within the obama administration a culture of success that seems to be repeated at every different level of the political a.tees within the organization. remember the money that they are spending is stimulus money that was given to them to use for infrastructure projects, and the taxpayers are the ones paying for these excesses. bill: this was part of the $800 billion that was passed in 2009? >> it would have come from the

funds or have been used at some point. because all of the money at gsa, in this particular division is intended for the public buildings. bill: how long did you run the organization? >> i ran it for two years. i can tell you during my time as the administrator under the bush administration there were internal controls and there were established procedures that clearly in this current circumstances with the obama administration, they violated or a ban tkoed thosor aor abandoned those good sis plains. i can say that i have never given a waiver for someone to exceed their per diem allowance by $900. it's actually egregious. bill: what the white house is arguing is that the a. increase that was given this organization, the percentage of that money actually decreased significantly under their watch as opposed to yours, is that true or not? >> the obama administration is trying -- that is not true. the obama administration is trying to fire wall itself

against the gsa scandal. first you've seen them try to fire a few political officials, and they tried to put some other folks on leave, then they tried to blame bush. then they trotted out numbers for which they have not shown any detail, and what you see is them trying to distance themselves, and are failing. and the reason why is because this is a failure of leadership, and ao failure to lead by example also and that comes from the top of the obama administration, and they know it. bill: it seems to be trickling out by the day. where does this end, or does this linger for weeks or even months during an election year that really could be injurious to a campaign? what is your view on that. >> i think we'll hear a little bit more about it. there will be hearings conducted next week by congressman issa. bill: do you know where this goes or where it leads or where it ends, probably? >> i think we're going to hear a lot more on it. they are trying to make government run better. and i think you see all of them trying to stop the culture of

excess that we see in the obama administration. so i think wiehl aoeb ver we'll be very surprised by some of the things that come out of these hearings. bill: thank you for your time. former head of the gsa in washington. martha: there is major backlash today over comments made about mitt romney's wife. a top democratic adviser saying that she has, quote, never worked a day in her life. ann romney live with her reaction to that minutes away. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪

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martha: a story of the morning, folks, and now the rnc is calling for an apology in the political firestorm surrounding some controversial comments made by a dnc adviser about ann romney. hillary rozen is the woman, and she is catching plenty of heat today for taking a swipe at ann romney for being a quote, stay-at-home mother.

here are the original remarks that were made last night on cnn. >> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying, well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues. and when i listen to my wife that's what i'm hearing. guess what, his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the woman in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school. martha: owe, boy, did that set off a firestorm in the twitter universe and all over television. hillary rosen tried to clarify the context of those remarks earlier this morning. we're going to show you what we said in that case. we are pleased to be joined by ann romney this morning. good morning, miss romney good to have you with us. >> good morning, martha. martha: i'm curious on a personal level, because i know how it can feel when these kinds of things are said. what was your personal guthri

gut reaction when you heard her said those words. >> she said have come to my house when those five boys were causing so much trouble. it wasn't so easy. martha: no indeed i'm sure it wasn't. we've had a ton of people tweeting the show this morning when they heard that you were on basically telling similar stories. anybody i guess who is a mom knows what it's like to actually have tow do you'l all of that hard work at home. your son josh also tweeted about that. he said, my mom could have done anything she wanted in her life and she chose to stay home and raise me. i thought that was very interesting and very kind comments from him this morning. you did have a lot of choices. and why did you make the decision that you did at that point in your life? >> you know, this is what is so interesting about this. my career choice was to be a mother. i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. other women maybe other choices to have a career and raise

family, which i think hillary rosen has actually done herself. i respect that, that is wonderful. there are other people that have a choice. we have to respect women i and all the choices that we make. let me give a shout out to all the dads that are at home raising kid. this is obviously an awesome responsibility to raise children. it's to me the most important thing we can do. i will tell you that mitt said to mo me more times than you would imagine, ann, your job is more important than mine. he was making money and doing the things, raising funds and investing, and helping other companies and he would come home and say, ann, your job is more important than mine. he would say, my job is temporary, i know that these things come and go, but your job is a forever job that is going to bring forever happiness. so, you know, he had perspective on this. and by the way mitt respects

women who make those different choices. he had a lot of women in his life that have been his advisers that he listens to a lot of different women. and if i get a chance i want to tell you what women are telling me, and hillary needs to know this. because i've been on the campaign trail for one year, and guess what women are talking about, and i don't care if they are stay at home moms, or they are working mothers, or grandmothers, guess what they are all talking about? they are talking about jobs, and they are talking about the legacy of debt that we are leaving our children. that's what i'm hearing. and that's what we're talking about here. martha: let's take a look at what she said this morning, because she went back on television to respond to this. because she is getting a lot of heat, as you might imagine. shear is what she said this morning. let's watch. >> this is not about ann romney, this is about the waitress at a diner in, you know, some place in nevada who has two kid whose daycare funding is being cut off because of the romney who-ryan

budget, and she doesn't know what to do. this isn't about weather ann romney or i or other women of or other women of some means can afford to make a choice tow stay home and raise kids. most women in america, let's face it don't have that choice. martha: this goes back to the court of rich argument that's been leveled so much against you and your husband. basically she is saying, well ann romney could have chosen to do anything she wanted and ann romney can't relate to women who have no choice, who have to work and also raise their families. >> look, i know what it's like to struggle, and if maybe i haven't struggled as much financial low as some people have, i can tell you and promise you, that i've had struggles in my life. and i would love to have people understand that mitt and i have compassion for people that are struggling, and that's why we're running. we care about those people that are struggling, and we also recognize that this economic

recovery has been very weak. we also recognize that the debt burdens that we're facing in this country are huge, and they are going to be a huge problem for our children. that's what i'm hearing when i go out there, is that women are talking about economic issues, and they are talking about the security of their own jobs, the security of their husband's jobs. they are worried that -- some of them come to mow and say, my son is living back with me, he's a graduate from college and he's back in the house. these are the things i'm hearing about, and we are recognizing that it's been a very tough recovery, and people are worried about their jobs, their job security and beyond that i hear so much about how worried they are about the legacy of debt we're going to leave our children. martha: i want to play one more sound byte from hillary rosen that i think is telling. let's listen to this. >> he seems so old fashioned when it comes to women and i think that comes across and i think that that is going to hurt him over the long term.

he just doesn't really see us at equal. martha: does your husband not see women as equals? >> now that does bother me. that is not correct at all. you should see how many women he listens to, that's what i love about mitt. he has so many women in his circle, his chief of staff when he was governor, you know, his -- in business so many women surround him that he respects and admires. his lieutenant governor, when he was governor he respects enormously, respects her intellect and it's a complete misperception. i do think that is something that she needs to recognize that that is not mitt romney. mitt romney is a person that admires women, analystenc and listens to them, and i am grateful that he listens to me analystence to what i am telling him as well, what women are facing right now. and he's listening and he

cares. martha: one of the things that strikes me about when i look at you and the choices that you have made is that you also have chosen to support your husband in his work. as first lady of massachusetts, and you've also been involved in a lot of volunteer organizations helping children, which, you know, a lot of women who are able to do that do across this country, and i think that they can surely relate to that. you want right now to become the first lady of the united states, and i'm guessing that you have plans and thoughts about how you would use that position, if you are fortunate enough to achieve that as well. will you tell us a little bit about that? >> well, i will tell you that because of the struggles i've had in my own life with breast cancer and with multiple sclerosis, those will be first and foremost in my thourbgts is to be compassionate for those that are suffering and also help to try to find a cure for ms and for breast cancer. beyond that, you're right -rbl

, i have worked with at risk youth. i want to be able to make sure that kids make choices in their life that will bring them their most fulfillment and their most happiness. and so for me i'm sure you could not keep me from working with kids again, and with at risk youth. martha: you know, it's interesting when you look at the polls, and i spoke with your husband about this yesterday, he is not doing well with women voters, at least at this moment in the campaign. why do you think that is? i mean, what do you think is -- the white house, and the administration and president obama are doing to convince women in this country that he cares about them more than he does. >> it's just too early. people haven't had a chance to listen to us or hear us. i'm grateful for this opportunity to be able to let women know that this is a very important election. this is a watershed election for their futures, and for the future of their children, and it's so important that we get someone in there that understands the economy, that

understands job creation, that understands this legacy of debt that we're leaving, that it's going to strangle our kids if we don't take care ever it. so mitt is a guy, he's a can-do guy that has been able to turn things around in his life. this country needs to turn around. we need someone like mitt to come in and clean this up and get america going in the right direction and have a bright future for all of our children. martha: from what he said that is the talk that got him into this race. he said you were the driving force behind him. thank you very much. we look forward to talking to you again, thanks mrs. romney. bill: what do you think at foxnews.com/"america's newsroom" our question of the morning. do you consider raising a family to be work, yes or no, those two options. so far 5,000 votes in one hour, 99% say it's work. i think -- martha: i'm going to go along with that. bill: my mom who raised five said it was a labor of love. we'll get back to this police

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martha: the campaign season is certainly heating up. we'll take a closer look at what is shaping up as a key battle as to the president's arguments for a fair deal. we will talk to ambassador bolton about the tense situation developing with north korea, and a potential breakthrough in diagnosing breast cancer. all coming up in a few minutes on "happening now." bill: see you then. thank you. it's been nearly a year since the government raided the gibson guitar company accusing the company of using illegal products. all this time later, still no charges. what gives? jon roberts live in atlanta. what gives. >> reporter: a lot of people

would like to know the answer to that question. it's been so long, 7 months since the raid back in august, almost two years, almost 3 years since the original raid, when exotic woods from india and madagascar were seized. the government has put a stay on court proceedings where gibson was trying to get its woods back. the veo says all of this has put his company in real hardship. >> while we are waiting to even get charged they have taken very aggressive action that has hurt our company significantly, and we have no recourse at this point. >> reporter: because they can't import any more wood gibson ran out of wood in december, had to go to alternatives including composite materials which many guitar purists say is unacceptable in a musical instrument. bill: how long is this going to go on, do we know? >> reporter: nobody really knows. we contacted the doj, the fish and wildlife service which conducted the rain. we reached out to michael mukasey which says this case is

both absurd in itself and the fact that this delay has gone on is just unreasonable. >> i don't think there is a set time, but certainly three years since the 2009 raid, and even going on a year since the 2011 raid is more than enough time. this is not -- this is not brain surgery. >> reporter: we've reached out to some other former fred ral prosecutors. they say delay of months, maybe a year isn't unreasonable, but three years is a longtime. bill: you can build a few guitars in that time. thank you, jon. martha: north corey ace saying that they are ready to launch. we are live on the ground coming up are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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