bill: i'm going off the grid for a week. see you after vacation. martha: heading down to the beach in florida in the afternoon. look forward to do with that. have a great trip. see you when you bet back. "happening now" starts right now. jon: a big battle brewing over a democratic strategist's comments about mitt romney's wife ann. the controversy is growing. jenna: speaking of controversy, the federal agency accused of squandering tax dollars on a trip to vegas now in trouble, even more trouble perhaps for a trip to hawaii. some new questions about what the white house knew and when. jon: former presidential candidate john edwards heads to court facing felony charges. prosecutors say he illegally used campaign fund to hide his pregnant mistress. we're live at the courthouse. it's all "happening now."

jon: and good morning to you. ann romney is fighting back as a war of words takes off. hello, i'm jon scott. >> hi, everybody i'm jenna lee. we're here for the play-by-play. a democratic strategist taking a shot at mitt romney's wife during a tv appearance. hillary rosen saying quote, ann romney never worked a day in his wife and makes no sense for republican candidate mitt romney to look to his wife for advice on women's issues. the comments sparking a political firestorm as both parties work to court women voters. we're getting brand new reaction from ann romney. washington correspondent james rosen live in washington with more on all this. hi, james. >> reporter: busy morning. top officials on president obama's re-election campaign are repudiating comments made by hillary rosen, cnn liberal commentator, who by the way is no relation to this correspondent.

appearing an america newsroom, ann romney defends herself and her husband the presumptive gop nominee, mitt romney that the charge that by virtue of their wealth and ann's decision to be a stay-at-home mom out of touch with challenges of and concerns of mothers who work outside the home. >> this is what is so interesting about this. my career choice was to be a mother and i think all of us need to know we need to respect choices women make. other women make choices to have career and raise family which i think hillary rosen done herself. i respect that. that's wonderful but you know there are other people that have a choice. we have to respect women in all those choices that they make. >> reporter: the controversy began when rosen who formerly directed political coverage for the "huffington post" an been recording industry top lobbyist. criticized mitt romney relies on his wife to keep him attuned to women's concerns about the economy. >> guess what? his wife is actually never worked a day in her life.

she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and how do we worry why we worry about their future. >> reporter: in comments on cnn again this morning and again last night on twitter, rosen stood her ground. quote, mitt romney is running for president, not ann she tweeted. he hired only 10% women at bain capital, now makes up a false concern for women's economic struggle. i have nothing against ann romney, i just don't want mitt using her as an expert on women struggling to support their families. it isn't. rare these two men afree on politics. david axelrod, senior advisor to president obama's presidenti hillary rosen's comments and called them disappointing and offensive. erick erickson, redstate.com. raising five sons through breast cancer and multiple

sclerosis is not a job i don't know what is. white house visitors records accessible on line show she visited the white house 36 times that would be average of once a month over the course of the obama presidency. jenna and jon. jenna: seeing reaction we have finally found an election issue where everyone can agree on, right? looking at the glass half full here, james. more on this story of course coming up. jails rosen, no relation to hillary rosen. thank you. >> reporter: thank you. jon: duly noted. for more, erica mcpike, national reporter for "real clear politics". erin, the politics is all about advantages here. was this a blown tweet by hillary rosen? which side comes out of this with the advantage? >> well as you know president obama over the last couple of months has gained a big advantage over mitt romney with women. jon: 18 to 20%age points. now after the last couple months, just this one comment takes away a lot of

that advantage. i'm sure as you can tell by people like david axelrod and jim messina, president obama's campaign manager condemning comments right away you can tell they are worried having lost that advantage. jon: they seem to be backpedaling a from comments not necessarily made by a member of their campaign. >> exactly. that is exactly right. right away, they were trying to get hillary rosen to disavow those comments. so of course they know it's a lost advantage. already this week republicans are making a big push to say that the obama economy has hurt women more than men for the most part. jon: right. mitt romney in fact said that yesterday in rhode island. let's take a listen. >> the democrats i think in anticipation of the anger of the women in america have been saying oh, republicans are waging a war on women. oh, no, no. the real war on women has been waged by this president's economic policies. they have failed american

women. [applause] you know, you know of the 800,000 plus jobs that have been lost during the obama administration, do you know what percentage of them have been lost by women? 92%. 92% of the jobs lost in the president's term have been lost by women. jon: is that an effective argument? i mean talking about economic issues and jobs? >> it absolutely is and that is some of what ann romney has been talking about over and over again which is what prompted hillary rosen to make those comments. now i would tell you also that the obama campaign has started to worry about the effect of ann romney over the last couple of weeks anyway because she is quickly become mitt romney's most powerful surrogate. this firestorm over the last 24 hours only elevates her in the eyes of many voters.

jon: all right. erin mcpike, from "real clear politics". erin, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: now this fox news alert as we head overseas we continue to watch what's happening in north korea. the launch window is now open there and the u.s. and other nations believe what the north koreans are calling a satellite launch is just a cover for a missile test. now once the rocket leaves the ground which could happen really within the next several days, at any moment, the entire process should take about 10 minutes. other countries could pick up on the satellite's frequencies as early as 20 minutes later. in the meantime, japan and south korea are on edge. japan is preparing interceptors to shoot the rocket down if it veers into its territory. greg palkot one of the only journalists on the ground in north korea. he will join us live in a few moments. former u.n. ambassador john bolton weighs in as welcoming up a little later on in our show. we want to turn back to d.c.

now. new reports of even more wasteful spending at the general services administration. it goes far beyond the employee-made videos we've seen time and tile again now and the $800,000 conference in las vegas. now we're learning about a week-long taxpayer-funded trip to hawaii, a week-long trip for an hour-long event. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel following this from washington. you didn't get to go to hawaii just to cover this part of the story, mike, but what do we know about it? >> reporter: jenna, i am available a former gsa administrator told fox this a short time ago this entire matter is complete utter failure. investigators looking into the spending at the gsa were told that the agency spent $130,000 to move an employee from denver to hawaii. it was an employee who did real estate transactions on behalf of the agency for one year there and quit. they were told about multiple trips there

including a handful of senior officials spending up to a week there for a one-hour ribbon-cutting. the inspector general's team was told there would be a separate ten-day trip for another ribbon cutting at the hilo federal building, jenna. jenna: we can't forget this is taxpayer money we believe is being being used for all of this you have las vegas, you have hawaii. where does this go from here and what is being done to address concerns from the taxpayers how our money is being used? >> reporter: jenna there will be a series of buildings at the building behind me looking at the las vegas bash. a senior official extending a stay in vegas on the taxpayer dime. the hawaii revelations be one key lawmaker heading the hearings says congress will continue to dig and make sure this never happens again. >> you're seeing an agency that not only gave out bonus us but this is corruption, this is fraud. they're taking taxpayer dollars and spending them lavishly on all the different vacations.

>> reporter: house oversight chairman darrell issa told make again kelly they went to every agency and asked for five years of conferences and to see if this is extensive problem across the u.s. government. jenna: thank you, i've only changed planes in hawaii. i've never been fortunate enough it take a vacation there. jenna: are you suggesting this might be part of the investigative push? jon: maybe if i work for the government i get that week-long hawaiian vacation. former presidential candidate john edwards back in the news, set to go before a hometown jury facing charges from his extramarital affair during his run for the white house. we'll have a live report from the courthouse. jenna: caught on camera, a tornado ripping through, california of all places. rattling homes and doing some serious damage. we'll tell you where coming up. jon: we're hearing a lot of talk about mitt romney's running mate and who that might be. there are already some names in the mix but what about rick santorum? we'll ask the man with the crystal ball, larry sabato,

ahead. ce morning, scott?

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jon: right now former presidential candidate john edwards about to get his day in court. jury selection underway in the former senator's campaign finance trial. he accused of using campaig pret mistress, rielle hunter, during his failed bid for the 2008 democratic presidential nomination. jonathan serrie live outside the greensboro, north carolina, courthouse with more on the senator's trial. john? >> reporter: jon this is really a groundbreaking case that could expand the legal definition of campaign contributions. it ail boils down to events during 2008 during john edwards bid for president. two wealthy donors provided nearly one million dollars for luxury hotels, chartered flights and medical care to help conceal his then

pregnant mistress, rielle hunter. wake forest law professor ron wright says the debate is not over what the money actually purchased but the intent behind it. >> we don't really know the why. that's what the trial is about is what was the purpose of the money? was it for family secrecy or was it for candidate image? >> reporter: federal prosecutors are arguing it was the latter saying the money amounted to campaign contributions in excess of the individual cap of $2300. if convicted edwards could face up to $1.5 million in fines and a maximum of 30 years in prison the trial is expected to last six weeks with opening arguments scheduled to begin on ail 23rd. jon? jon: jonathan serrie in north carolina for us. thank you, jonathan. jenna: from north carolina to california now where a family is cleaning up after a twister tears right past their home. the national weather service says a ef-1 tornado touched

down near stockton. this is not an area used to tornados and definitely not used to winds of 90 irps in. it came within feet of the gutierrez home. take a listen. >> i was in shock. it went into the air and once the cloud hit it just demolished it to pieces of the got my family and my kids and i had them hit the ground. i really thought we were dead. real scary. jenna: some scary moments there for sure. the family lost their barn. that's what you're seeing on your screen there. also some roof tiles. the satellite dish didn't make it either. fortunately, nobody was hurt. jon: another round of severe weather could be heading to texas today. dangerous storms pounded the panhandle yesterday, golf ball sized hail. torrential downpours caused at least one river to overflow its banks. floodwaters shutting down more than one highway. at one point a tornado watch was issued. no major damage though ultimately reported.

other parts of the country could see severe weather today as those storms head east. meteorologist janice dean has details from the fox weather center. jd. >> tornado alley, right up the alley we'll see the potential for severe weather not only today but into tomorrow and saturday. we're watching moisture streaming in across the west and we're also watching again that potential for severe weather across areas of texas, oklahoma, up towards kansas. so the central and southern high plains that's the area we're going to keep a close watch over, for the next several hours into the overnight as the storm progresses eastward. so there's our setup. we have our cold front. there's our jet stream, the warm front and that dry line that kind of acts as a lifting mechanism. it separates the dry desert air from the warm, moist, gulf air and gives us potential for large hail and damaging wind and isolated tornados. tomorrow the tornado threat will increase across portions of oklahoma city,

kansas city and even towards the upper midwest. then as we head into saturday we have a low pressure system coming out of the rockies. that will give us that extra ommph we need for the potential for severe weather. the national weather service has already issued a moderate risk where we think all of these ingredients will come together for large hail, damaging winds and tornados likely in this event. we could see large, very destructive, long-lasting tornados. this is an area we'll monitor over the next several days. looking at the april tornado probability, right in that alley, jon scott, as we mentioned that is tornado alley. they are used to that type of weather but we want to make sure they're on their guard especially the next several days. we'll bring you latest from the fox extreme weather center. jon: hard to get used to something so scary. >> absolutely. jon: janice dean, thank you. jenna: president obama and mitt romney trading jabs as the race for the white house intensifies. how ugly could it get? how ugly should it get for

voters listening to all of this? we'll have a fair and balanced debate coming up. tension as north korea moves toward a planned rocket launch which the west is calling a long-range missile test. our very own greg palkot is reporting on the ground from north korea plus ambassador bolton joins us with his take next

jon: north korea is trying to take advantage after five-day window to launch a rocket which the north says will put a satellite into orbit. the u.s. says it is all a cover for a long-range missile test by that nuclear-armed nation. japan is standing by with interceptors to shoot the rocket down if it veers into japanese territory. our fwreg palkot on the ground in north korea. >> reporter: greetings from

pongyang. the window for the launch of that rocket opened up today. the weather here was bad. launch day was scrubbed. officials here tell us they will go forward wit it they could go forward as early tomorrow, friday. a launch officials say is a peaceful civilian satellite launch but the u.s. and others say it is a test for ballistic missile technology with serious military applications. north korea has acknowledged a arsenal of nuclear weapons. they have tested devices in the past and they could again. it is also about politics here. the launch marks the 100th anniversary of the birthday of north korean founder, kim ill-song and the prop up support for his grandson, who will today and tomorrow given more titles in line with his father and former leader, kim jong-il. it is about image. what we've seen in our time in this country a confirmation of reports that the impoverished country

shoveling a lot of money trying to dress up this capital. as we came in from the airport we saw more lights, more activity, more cars. to give the idea it is said, to give the impression, that this country is strong and prosperous. but when the rest of this country is desperate and struggling, that is no easy task. right now we and some nervous neighbors in the region like japan and south korea are waiting for the launch it could be coming in just a couple of hours. john. jon: greg, thank you for that report. the launch window we're told is open until monday between 7:00 a.m. and noon local time. as greg mentioned though, weather prevented a launch today leaving north korea with four more morning to get that rocket off the ground. jenna: we'll continue to watch and take a look at this area of the world. john bolton is a former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. he is live in st. louis today. ambassador bolton, north korea doesn't look or sound like the enemy we've been at war with for 10 years plus. why should we pay attention here? >> well, this is a country with, that's demonstrated it

has nuclear weapons. it's a state sponsor of terrorism. it is one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. it has worked for decades with iran on ballistic missiles and quite likely on nuclear weapons as well. so desperately poor it would sell anything it has for hard currency. so this is a threat not just in northeast asia although it certainly is there but worldwide and one we should be a lot more concerned about. jenna: often referred to the axis of evil. have we ignored north korea too much over the past several years? >> well i think it's not so much ignoring it as beliefing that we could reach a deal with them where they would happily give up their nuclear weapons capability and the administration did that right at the end of february only to have north korea put their thumb right in their eye yet again by announcing this missile lawn. so when you combine with the rumors in south korea that a launch could be followed by north korea's third nuclear test, i think that

underlines how fraf this -- grave this threat really is. jenna: what we were showing on our screen a picture from the associated press. we mentioned some journalists have been allowed into north korea and given unprecedented access to look at this rocket the north koreans say is a satellite launch and what others say is really a missile test. you see on the right-hand side of your screen that is the most current photo compared to a previous launch in the past. ambassador bolton. you say there are three scenarios that we as the public should watch for. if this thing goes, or really over the last, over the next couple days, there are three scenarios. what are they? >> well, the first is that this missile just blows up on the launching pad or the launch itself is not successful. that would be encouraging in the sense that they haven't made as much progress as perhaps they might have. and but it could signal a real struggle for leadership inside north korea. this openness that they have demonstrated as you just said with journalists coming in, really unprecedented in

my experience. it would be a real humiliation if the launch failed. the second possibility is that the launch goes off but the missile goes off track towards south korea or japan. very interesting here. japan in particular, it's been concerned about north korea and china's nuclear capabilities, working hard on missile defense, something of course the obama administration has dramatically cut back for our own country. if this missile landed in south korea or japan we would have a major international incident on our hands and one that would bring the region to crisis very quickly. and then third of course is that the missile launch goes successfully and actually do put something in orbit. that would be the most disturbing outcome of all because it would mean that north korea's progress on its ballistic missile program probably working with iran has gotten pretty far along and their next step to mate that missile with a nuclear warhead

getting ever closer, a real threat to the united states and all of our friends around the world. jenna: because that puts us, if the missile goes up, and successful the satellite, rocket whatever you want to call it, goes up in the air and successful then it gives them longer range to get to the united states some suggest. should we shoot it down? if it goes up no matter where it goes, should we shoot it down? >> you know the first question is do we have the capability of doing that? while there is a theoretical possibility we could if we take assets from all over the world and concentrate it on this one launch site, i think what that underlines is the grave damage that the obama administration has done over the last three years to our missile defense capabilities. if the bush administration programs had simply been allowed to continue i think there would be little doubt we could shoot this down. but right now, we've been stripped of programs that were proving themselves successful, leaving our country, forget our friends and allies, for a minute, leaving our country more

vulnerable. so if the north koreans have made the kind of progress that is possible they will demonstrate here, we are way, way behind the curve in protecting ourselves from north korea, from iran, potentially other threats like venezuela as they develop, leaving our civilian population incredibly vulnerable. jenna: sure. they have been doing these tests for several administrations we should mention as well. we'll see if this time, if this test if a pattern is repeated or maybe a new pattern is set. ambassador bolton, thanks so much. always nice to have you, sir. >> thank you. jon: this week it really began to look like a two-man race for the white house between president obama and republican mitt romney. what are we in for as those two campaigns heat up? a fair and balanced debate coming up. a hollywood mystery unfolding right now. the girlfriend of the son of a movie legend, clark gable, found dead in her home. the latest details on that next. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years?

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jon: well, it looks like we have a republican nominee or will after the convention and right now that means the race for the white house is in full swing unless we get a big surprise, it will be president obama versus mitt romney. the question now is what kind of general election campaign are we going to see? listen to what president obama said just yesterday. >> we just need some of the republican politicians here

in washington to get on board with where the country is. i know that some prefer to run around using same reflexive false claims about wanting to raise people's taxes. what they won't tell you with the truth. i cut taxes for middle class families each year i've been in office. i've cut taxes for small business owners not once, not twice, but 17 times. jon: former senior advisor to president george w. bush and fox news contributor karl rove predicting mr. obama will change his tone from the 2008 campaign and go very negative against romney. so just how ugly will it get? let's have a fair and balanced debate about that. chip saltzman, former campaign manager, huckabee for president. peter mirajian former clinton-gore advisor. you heard president say republicans are lying. what happened to the hope and change and different kind of politician he was going to be? >> i think what you're

saying campaigns on both sides the rhetoric will ratchet up and karl rove making the point that the president will go negative. he should look at the 2004 bush re-election campaign and how negative that was against john kerry. so this is just par for the course. talking about who is more negative than the other, the folks who go negative will say we're just pointing out differences and folks on receiving end will say they're going negative. so just something we have to get used over the next six months. jon: the prediction that it could, chip be the nose negative presidential campaign ever. does it look like that way to you? is it shaping up that way? >> this will shock you when i say of course it is going to be. the president will have a billion dollars. the romney campaign will have close to that up super pacs for the first time in any of these presidential campaign history. you will see more money spent on this presidential campaign than all the other presidential campaigns combined.

it will be mean, it will be nasty and aggressive and this will be a long hot summer for the folks in the swing states. jon: chip, we mentioned you worked for the huckabee campaign. governor huckabee is a likeable guy. he is a minister. i don't see a presidential campaign with mike huckabee throwing all this name-calling around? is it required of presidential politics these days? >> well i think it is a lot of elbows and even though governor huckabee is minister and great guy and one of my favorite people he has been in some tough campaigns. sometimes what other people say is negative you say is contrast. you've got to the get the facts out and they disagree with you. campaigns tend to get a very negative tone very quickly. look at our republican primary for the most part just finished up. it was a very rough three or four months and that was in our own family. when we go against obama, i would say it will be ratcheted up on both sides. jon: peter, for instance, if karl rove's piece he is talking about the president warning that if the republican cuts were to be spread evenly across the

budget, alzheimer's and cancer and aids research would be slashed. 10 million college students denied assistance, that kind of thing. but it's a false premise in. they're not talking about spreading the cuts across budget. they're talking about going after individual perhaps that don't work. how does the president get away talking like that? >> well, jon, all depends how you look at it. as chip pointed out you can compare and you can aggregate different aspects of tax cuts and tax increases. i mean you know how washington works. there are different ways you can portray it. and the president's side will portray it a certain way. they will have the facts to support it. romney's folks will push back. there is a lot to pick and choose from. i would agree with chip's analysis frankly about how this race is going to turn out. in the swing states it will come down to three constituencies, women, independents and wildcard is, can romney rally the conservative base? which has been very suspicious of him all the

through the primary process. that is where the selection is going to go. jon: is there a different set of rules for the president's campaign? does he run the risk of demeaning the office he holds by going too negative? peter, you first. >> i don't think so, jon. we've seen this happen again and again. i go to the 2004 race. that was a very negative race and a very negative campaign run against john kerry by karl rove and bush re-election team. it goes with the territory. i don't think the kerry campaign frankly was as effective pushing back as they could have been. both sides need to be ready for as chip pointed out a full-on battle here. jon: your thoughts, chip? >> it will be a full-on battle no matter what but i think the president runs the risk of embarrassing the office if he runs this class warfare campaign with the haves and have-nots. that is not what made this country great. jon: chip, peter, thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. jenna: we'll take a break from politics and go out to hollywood now. a movie star's son is in the middle of a high-profile mystery in malibu.

julie banderas has this story for us. >> reporter: the son of hollywood legend clark gable answering to police after his girlfriend was found dead in his malibu mansion. 51-year-old clark gable, jr.. said his girlfriend told him she wasn't feeling well and went to sleep. by the time he tried to wake her she was already dead. 41-year-old. christiane candice lange was found unresponsive noon local time. lange was makeup artist that worked with the likes of pamela anderson. the coroner's office and sheriff's department are investigating the debt. circumstances are unknown what led to her death. police do not suspect foul play though. the death may be an accidental overdose we're told due to the use of possible prescription drugs according to the coroner's office. an autopsy should be completed within a few days. jenna: we'll get more when we get it obviously, julie thank you very much. >> reporter: sure. jon: the speculation over who mitt romney might choose

to be his running mate is in full swing now. the veepstakes might include a formal rival s rick santorum really on the short list? larry sabato looks into his crystal ball next. and a police chase on a busy southern california freeway. no, that is not jenna behind the wheel. not all that unusual. wait until you see though how this one ends. jenna: it was right here. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar,

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lives? that is the big question we'll tackle coming up. jon: big question in d.c. who is going to be the republican vice-presidential nominee? there's a new entry in the gop veepstakes now that rick santorum has suspended his presidential campaign. might we see a romney-santorum ticket this summer? let's talk to the man gazing into his crystal ball. larry sabato director of center for politics at university of virginia. on the surface might make sense. take the guy the biggest challenger during the campaign and make him your number two. presumably you combine the votes of both sets of supporters. does it make sense to you, larry? >> well it makes some sense but not enough sense for it to happen. jon, my standard answer when i'm asked who will be the vp candidate is, anything's possible. if you doubt me look at american history. the people who know aren't

talking and the people who are talking like me don't know. the reason i think santorum probably won't be on the ticket is that first of all, he can't bring pennsylvania. i think it is highly unlikely he would be able to give romney pennsylvania. he lost a senate seat in 2006 by 1 7%age points. -- 1 7%age points. coalition santorum had in the primaries while potent, will probably almost all move to romney as a matter of course for the general election. it is not that they love romney. it is that they have a common adversary in barack obama. barack obama is the best unifying force for the republican party. jon: i know you've been looking into the crystal ball and you do see in there some tiers of potential names. let's take a look at the tier that i guess rose to the top of the crystal ball, rob portman from ohio, marco rubio, the senator from florida, bobby jindal, the

governor of louisiana, and paul ryan, the conservative congressman from wisconsin. you think those all -- >> we're watching all four of them carefully. we've actually got 23 potential candidates on our list in four different tiers on the crystal ball. by the way, jon, you'll be interested in this. we have been inundated today with e-mails and tweets of people commenting on these candidates and suggesting others. people are all over the lot on the vice-presidential nominee. jon: jenna lee is on twitter a lot. has jenna lee -- >> -- top tier candidates have a lot to offer romney, a lot to offer in terms of electoral votes and also demographic roots and i think you could make a very good argument they're qualified for the job. jon: i just wondered if jenna lee submitted her own name as potential vice-presidential candidate? >> we put her on there she will be our 24th. jenna: thank you very much, larry. jon: who is in your

second-tier? you have second-tier possibilities. i suppose they might be more of a little bit of dark horse candidates. chris christie, the governor of new jersey. jeb bush, former governor of florida. tim pawlenty made his own run at the presidency, former governor of minnesota. bob mcdone he will in, mitch daniels, mike huckabee has his own program on fox and tim tebow? tim tebow seriously? >> tim tebow was a fun one. he is well-qualified. he checks all the boxes, if you go through what you need in a vice president. they're just one problem. he is constitutionally inhe willable. he is of course in his mid 20s. you have to be of age, 35 years old, to qualify and, he was also born in the philippines. i don't know, the court has never really ruled on that question as to whether that would disqualify someone from being president or vice president. jon: i bet he would get a lot of votes. >> he would get a lot of votes. he would be very popular. unify the fiscal conservatives and social

conservatives but it will have to wait a few years. jon: top selling jersey in the nfl the past season. some of the people you put on the list, hey i don't want the job, i'm not going to take the job, marco rubio of florida for instance, being one of them. >> yes, they frequently say that. i'm surprised that jenna was so willing. most of these candidates for vice president say i love my current job. i wouldn't dream of departing from it. so that way if they're not picked they can say, well i told you in advance i wasn't interested. but believe me, if they're asked, the vast majority of these candidates will say yes very, very quickly. it is is going to be fascinating to watch. larry sabato with the crystal ball from the university of virginia. larry, thank you. >> thank you, jon. jenna: just crossing the wires right now we have this fox news alert coming from reuters. we're getting one line here but we want to share with you from the nypd spokesman paul brown, saying 2 world financial center, down on ground zero being evacuated

due to a suspicious package. remember that area of the park memorial completed, park construction site still. this is coming from the new york police department about a suspicious package. that's all we know and evacuation taking place. right now we'll continue to check on this report, bring you more news right after a short break.

jon: a fox news alert and a scare in new york city. you're looking at live world financial center. it is a building we know well because we often broadcast from its parapets when we cover the ceremonies marking the september 11th attacks. it is right across the street from where the world trade center once stood and

where they have now built the memorial for the world trade center. at any rate it is one of the largest skyscrapers in new york city, about 65 stories or so. it is being evacuated because of a suspicious package that made it into the building. evacuating again, one of the the world trade -- i'm sorry, 2 world financial center which stood across west street from the world trade center. it was actually damaged by falling debris from the collapse of the world trade centers and the building was damaged in that attack and is now being evacuated because of some kind of a suspicious package. we'll keep you updated as police and as we learn more. jenna: well, it's a scene that is emerging more and more as the 2012 race for the white house heats up, a argument pitting a fair deal

as the president calls it versus a republican argument for lower taxes less regulations and less government. likely to be the defining conversation of the race. listen to the president speaking about this yesterday. >> what ronald reagan was calling for then is the same thing we're calling for now, a return to basic fairness and responsibility. everybody doing their part. jenna: well, this conversation is also part of a new report by steve moore, art laffer and john than williams called rich states poor states. joining us, steve moore, senior economics writer for "the wall street journal." busy, busy, steve, with some of your projects. you've done this last couple years. what does this research tell you? >> i have bad news for you and jon. for the fifth straight year new york is the worst economic environment to work in terms of its taxes and regulations. it consistently has been in last place. california by the way is one of the worst places. it has some of the highest taxes on businesses and

individuals in the country. then you've got states like maine and rhode island. the places you do want to move to by the way are places like south carolina, arizona, utah which have very business-friendly environments. what we found, jenna, guess what? the jobs are going to places that have the most con us dues sieve environments for -- conducive environments for low taxes and less business regulation. jenna: we have less time because of breaking business news. how do you know if people move from new york to a place like arizona or utah they're not moving besides regulation and taxation? >> you say people might move to florida and arizona because of weather? of course weather is big factor where people move. if you adjust for those kinds of things you find a lot of jobs, a lot of applying dwrags is moving to those low-taxed states. it is important, ties into what the president has been talking about. a lot of states like california, rhode island,

maine, new jersey, actually have buffett types rules in place and doesn't work very well. what rich people do they move out of those places to places like florida and tennessee. jenna: steve, we didn't have enough time. we look forward to having back and have a more broad conversation. thank you. >> sounds good. thank you. >> back now to lower manhattan and 2 world financial center, a building, one of the larger office towers in new york that stood across the street from the twin towers of the world trade center. the people in these live helicopter pictures who have been evacuated from that building. we're told some kind of a suspicious package made it into a loading area at the, one report says it appears to be some kind of a grenade i want to stress that. whatever it is police are taking it seriously enough that they are pulling people out of that big office tower,

number 2 world financial center in lower manhattan. we'll keep you updated as best we can. we certainly hope nothing is about to go wrong there. more after a break. we have two car insurances that we're going to have you taste. the first one we're going to call x. go ahead and take a sip,

and then let me know what the baby thinks of it. four million drivers switched to this car insurance last year. oh, she likes it babies' palates are very sensitive so she's probably tasting the low rates. this is car insurance y, they've been losing customers pretty quickly. oh my gosh, that's horrible!, which would you choose? geico. over their competitor. do you want to finish it? no. does the baby want to finish it? no.

hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8. jon: strange and somewhat scary situation underway in lower manhattan right now at 2 world financial center, a 60-plus story sky scraper that stands across the street from where the world trade center tours once stood. they are evacuating the building because of some kind of a suspicious package. reports from reuters and other news outlets are saying that it appears to be a grenade found inside a delivery area at that building. this was found just over an hour ago. police taking it seriously enough that they are evacuating that building, it's one of the larger skyscrapers in manhattan but it was dwarfed by the trade

center. debris fell onto that building closing it for 8 months. it is well-known for security firms these days. many people having to evacuate right now because of what appears to be a grenade found inside. we'll keep you updated. megyn. jenna: we also have brand-new breaking stories now on "happening now." we're going to tell you the new way gangs are smuggling drugs across our border and how the u.s. plans to stop it. also new controversy surrounding crosses at camp pendleton placed on a hilltop to remember our fallen heros, the latest in the battle between marines trying to keep them up and atheists trying to take them down. details on new technologies that could help, could help doctors detect breast cancer all coming up this hour. back to that breaking news out of lower manhattan in just a moment as we get more on that.

in the meantime a democratic strategist sparking a political firestorm attacking ann romney nor being for being a stay at home mom. jon: hillary rozen escalating the argument by attacking mitt romney's wife saying she never worked a day inner life. ann romney said she chose to stay home to raise her five sons. ann romney writes she chose to raise her sons at home, adding, quote, believe me it was hard work and women need to respect each others choices. let's talk about it with joe trippi. some of the president's top political strategists, people like david axelrod tried to back away from hillary rosen's

remarks right away. did she make a mistake? is it going to hurt his campaign. >> there is no doubt in my mind that it was wrong. i immediately on twitter says that. very quick response from the obama campaign, both as you mentioned david axelrod, jim messina the campaign manager. stephanie cutter, chief spokes people came out and denounced hillary rosen's comments i. comments. i think it was a big mistake, something that shouldn't have been said. jon: someone else who announced it herself was ann romney. it was my understanding that it was her first tweet ever. when she got the broadside from hillary rosen she tweeted back and made her own case. she also made her case this morning on "america's newsroom." let me play that for you.

>> i know what it's like to struggle, and if maybe i haven't struggled as much financially 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 are running. jon: she is a victim of multiple sclerosis, among other things. it's pretty hard to say that this is a woman who should have been out in the workforce doing whatever, isn't it? >> yes, it is. i'm the product of a single mom who raised five kids, and i know how tough that was. certainly my mother had a different experience, a different struggles than ann romney had. but that is not really what this is about. what is going on right now is that the obama campaign does have a very big lead among

women, and hillary rosen has, i think, helped elevate, ann romney, one of the best weapons, if you will, in the romney arsenal, to bridge that gap. and that's where i think it was a mistake to go the route that hillary rosen went, and why the obama campaign immediately followed up and pushed back and denounce edit. jon: you also sa edit. jon: and you say the republicans are using the social media to get their kis case out. >> all yearlong i've been astounded at how the romney campaign hasn't picked up any

prosess at all in the social media. last night they came out very quickly creating this new twitter handle for ann romney personally, getting on right away. the staff jumping on it and pushing it. it was a totally different campaign last night. the first real dustup on twitter in any presidential campaign between the obama campaign and a very, very apt romney campaign. i had not seen that before, it could be signs of thins to come. jon: she said i made a choice to stay at home and raise five boys, believe me it was hard work. and having four kids myself i can attest to that. joe trippi, thank you. jenna: back to break brick and back down to lower manhattan at the 2 world trade center which we should mention is right across the street from the main ground zero site. what you're seeing on your screen there is where people have been evacuated from the office building because of a

suspicious package. we have mixed reports coming out of different news sources in new york city, local news, prompting about what prompted this evacuation. we first heard a suspicious package that was in a delivery area. and when it was screened, apparently according to y nyw our fox affiliate here, they found something in the delivery. we are hear a different report this a security screener at 2 world financial center saw what he thought was an explosive device during the screening process of a visitor. we are having a few different mixed reports here. these reports coming in right after 11:00 eastern time. just about aefr own hour ag over an hour ago we started to get these reports from the nypd. these what prompted the evacuation that is taking place right now. you can attest oftentimes we get suspicious package alerts in new york city. they come and go, when they actually prompt an evacuation

and a response from the nypd that changes things a little bit more than the usual. jon: sometimes it has been something as simple as a mail order alarm clock that an employee gets shipped to the work address. police seem to be taking this one seriously. our own julie banderas is working the phones. police are not giving her any information beyond this suspicious package line. again, this all developed about, oh, five minutes before the last hour, so it's about an hour and 15 minutes old. you can see some of the office workers who are out there being idled right now as this thing unfolds. again, we don't know what it is, but police are taking it fairly seriously, having evacuated a number of people from number 2 world financial center. jenna: number 2 world financial center just to go back to kind of get you situated in the area here. this was one of the skyscrapers that was damaged severely by the falling debris from the world trade center toeurs, but i

towers, but this is not the towers itself. you can see the boat docks right there. all along the areas are restaurant, shops, officers and stores and then you have these tall skyscrapers and all those business serve the folks that come down and not only live in the area but work in the area as well. this building reopened back in 2002 boast september 11th. that's why there are people to evacuate down there, because it is an active office setting. jon: you might remember one of the iconic images after the 9/11 attacks was the winter garden, it's a dome structure sort of a gigantic botanical garden you might say. it's got enormous palm trees in it. well the panes of glass in that winter garden were absolutely obliterated by the force of the falling debris when the world trade centers fell. it took a longtime for the winter garden to be repaired. it is attached to number 2 world

financial center. that may help you orient yourself to where this is all going on. again, taking place right across the street from where the twin towers fell back on september 11th of 2001. jenna: we know that the bomb squad is on the scene. we have reached out to the nypd. they are not making anyone available to us at this time because they say the investigation is on going. that is as to be expected. the nypd did tell news core, a news gathering service that a suspicious package was found around 10:504 eastern time to the loading area, again we have a conflicting report. one doesn't know if it's conflicting or maybe they are one in the same this a security screener saw what he or she thought was an explosive device on a visitor. we are trying to work through sofr the details and get yo some of those details and get you more information. jon: perhaps julie banderas has new information. >> reporter: i got off the phone with a very close contact and

reliable source of the nypd, a sergeant there. there was a screening center, people are trained much like tsa officials in airports to screen packages that go through an x-ray. this package was going through an x-ray and one of the screeners noticed what looked like a grenade. so indeed i have confirmed from the nypd that at this point for all purposes they are investigating a grenade that somehow was trying to be snuck into world trade 2. at this point they are bringing down the bomb squad, they've got emergency services units down there right now trying to engage this thing, trying to figure out exactly what is going on. any kind of explosive device found in new york city, humans don't actually go and try to tackle it, they have bomb squad dogs, different robots that they use on the scene to try to figure out exactly what it is. i asked the investigator on the phone whether or not they knew what kind of form this package was, was it a suitcase, was it a briefcase, was it a box? he at this point says just a package, that they are not necessarily saying exactly what

kind of package this is. but they are indeed investigating the possibility of a grenade that somehow was brought in, whether it's a live grenade or not, we do not know, but i'll be on the phones with my sources to get the very latest once they get more information. jon: please do and get back to us when you learn more. julie banderas in our newsroom, thank you. it's one of the things that has changed dramatically in this city and many cities around the country since the 9/11 attacks, it used to be possible to stroll into just about any sky scraper in the city of tphoer new york and make your way pretty much around the building with impunity. x-ray machines and security are the norm at all the skyscrapers on this island of man hat than that. that's where we are now and that's where the number 2 financial center is being partially evacuated right now because of this concern that somebody apparently tried to bring in what looks like a grenade. is it the real thing?

is it a dummy? is it a case of mistaken identity? we don't yet know, but police are concerned, they've evacuated part of that building. we'll stay on it and be back in just a moment.

jon: fox news alert. in the evacuation of number 2 world financial center, the building that sits across the street from where the world trade center towers fell, that evacuation is underway right now. joining us on the phone, kevin barry, a spokesperson for the international association of bomb technicians and investigators. he personally investigated the first world trade center bombing, the underground bombing using a truck bomb that took place in 1993. he was back then on the new york city police force in the bomb squad as well. kevin, what does it sound like we're looking at here? >> good afternoon, jon. this looks like a -- basically a routine response for the bomb

squad. it's not unusual to come across military ordinance in new york city. jon: coming into a building? i mean it sounds like somebody brought in what looks like a grenade. could it be a false alarm? >> it certainly could be. it could also be an item somebody brought for somebody's desk, we've seen that before on numerous occasions, but let me clarify, i'm not the spokesperson for the association currently. jon: i appreciate that. but you did have a long career as a new york city bomb technician. i know that you worked on the world trade center, you know, the 9/11 attacks and continued to work on recovery afterwards. >> yes. jon: again, this thing apparently looks like a grenade. i know that there are, you know, cigarette lighters and all kinds of novelty items that could be a grenade, but they are taking this seriously enough that they are evacuating part of the

building, at least part of the building. why? >> in close proximat proximity if it were to be a live piece of ordinance it could cause some serious damage, and it's better to be proactive doing a limited evacuation for the safety of the workers in the building. jon: all right. kevin barry, again who spent a long and storied career on the new york city bomb squad. kevin, thanks for your expertise. jenna: rick leventhal is down at that area as well. just got down there. rick, what do you see? >> reporter: i'm standing right in front of 2 world financial center. there is police tape up, a lot of police vehicles and a lot of police officers obviously on the street. emergency service units are parked in front of the front doors of the building, and there are a lot of building workers who are become behind the tape and down by the waterfront along the hudson river, who are just waiting for an all clear sign to go back into the building.

it's an active scene. they are turning people away who are trying to get past the tape or to 2 world financial. but for now it's otherwise calm. it's not like there is panic in the streets, people are just standing around waiting to find out what is going to happen. jenna: we are just getting one report from reuters, that's where our initial report came from as well, reuters getting a report that the new york police are giving an all clear. >> reporter: i can tell you right now they are pulling the tape down, as i speak people are being allowed back in. clearly they have decided there is not a threat and this scene, whatever it was is about to clear. it's over. jenna: certainly more to the story to find out what the situation was that prompted the evacuation and the suspicious package. rick will be working on getting details for us down at the scene. again, an all clear by the nypd at 2 world financial center after reports ever a suspicious panel. we'll bring you more right after this break. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

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jenna: as north korea gets ready to launch a long-range rocket raising alarms in the united states and across the region there is a deafening silence from china. beijing is a longtime supporter of north korea though their relationship is complicated. gordon chang is an author. interesting dynamics in the region, gordon. tell us in cliff notes what the dynamic is. >> there are really two die skwrer gent views in the chinese central government about north korea. there are the foreign ministry officials that tell us what we want to hear, and there is the military that is becoming more powerful. they've always backed them. we don't really know who we are dealing with. jenna: is the same happening in

north korea where the military is running the show there rather than the quote unquote politicians. >> yeah, both china and north corey argoing through leadership transitions. in north korea because of the death of kim jong-il and because kim jong un the current leader is so young the military, which has always been very powerful in the north korean system has become even more influential. that really means that the military is driving these things, like missile launches, and nuclear weapons tests. jenna: if there is a power struggle happening within north korea and also within china, and we mention china because of its power in the region, the power struggle saoeplts to be that the military leaders are becoming more high profile. is the practice way to engage north korea or china through our own military rather than dip plea matter. >> we need to probably rely 0 lot lesson china which can't help us and won't help news any event and for us to lock at unilateral measures like the sanctions that the bush administration put in place in 2005, and that really hurt the

north korean regime. unfortunately we took them off prematurely in 2007 at the behest of beijing. and so therefore i think there are a lot of things that we can do with our partners in the region that would be more effective in pushing north korea in the right direction. jenna: let's talk a little bit about those incentives. incentives can be strike key. you want to engage but don't want to legit mice a regime that the united states doesn't want to support. >> sure, and we don't want to recognize them as a nuclear weapon state. the north korean regime is not a mono lit and there are a lot of elements in it that would like to deal with the united states. just as china buys off a large portion of the north korean regime, maybe we can do so as well. we don't have the same flexibility, but if we were to do that at the same time that we've put on really tough sanctions we could actually fracture the regime and get the results that we want. jenna: this rocket, satellite, long range missile test, whatever it is. if it goes up is it a game

change stpher. >> it is if it's successful. because in 2006 and 2009 the missiles blew up within 40, 45 seconds of launch. if this one is really successful and it lands just off the coast of australia, there is going to be a lot of people in washington saying, we need to start paying attention to what is going on in north korea. they haven't really done that in this administration or the past one. jenna: why not? >> because we have tried to engage china and integrate it into the international system so we've placed beijing at the center of our efforts to disarm north korea. we haven't been successful in either of those objectives, and so we really need to step back and rethink everything that we've been doing for the past decade. jenna: let me give you a scenario as you just described to us, the rocket launch is successful. what do you think is the paramount response from the united states if indeed that does happen. >> the first thing we have to do is make sure we have a better missile defense system, because we shoot a missile coming out of

space with a nuclear war head on it. and the other thing we need to do is just do everything we can to financially strangle the kim family, because if they do that their regime could fracture and a lot of those elements in the regime would side with us. jenna: gordan really quick here, this is a very poor country. where he are they getting the money and technology to entertain a thought having a nuclear war head coming from the united states from space. >> they are getting hundreds of dollars in iran and syria. this is a sales demonstration, this missile launch. jenna: gives us a lot to think about. gordon we will be watching the wires out of north korea thank you so much as always. we'll talk again soon. jenna: thank you. jon: the all clear has been sounded in lower manhattan where there was concern about some kind of a suspicious package at number 2 world financial center, the building across the street from where the world trade center once stood. you can see the world trade center memorial there in the upper center of your skraoerpbgs anscreen.

and the domed building is 2 world financial. the all clear has been sounded. we'll get you more information as to what seems to have gone on there. the display of faith and sacrifice at a military base under attack now by atheists.

jenna: back with this fox news alert. if you're just joining us we reported a all-clear for evacuation of 2 world financial center. rick leventhal is down at

the scene and joins us having just talked to the nypd. rick? >> reporter: jenna, nypd detective tells me in fact it was novelty item that created this scare. it was pineapple grenade, looked like a world war ii pineapple grenade ordered by someone in the building as a gag gift. when it arrived in the mail room, the workers scanned the package. looked like what was a grenade inside. they called the nypd. the nypd did not order the evacuation of the 2 financial center. that was made by bank of america which is the majority tenant. the bomb squad was called in. they checked out the package, deemed it safe and workers gone inside the building. it was a novelty item like a pineapple grenade looking device ordered by someone in the building. jenna: that is where we

leave the story, novelty item aside. rick, reporting throughout the day on fox news. rick, thank you very much. more as we get it on that story. jon: a memorial for u.s. marines that gave their lives for america. that memorial is under attack. several marines electing two crosses in camp pendleton to honor their fallen comrades. a group of athinkists says the crosses must come down. adam housley from camp pendleton, california. adam. >> reporter: no one knew about the crosses last 10 years until a newspaper article last fall detailed the location and included a picture. there is a battle over whether these crosses should stay or come down. planted atop a remote hill in the middle of california camp pendleton marine corps base rest two 13-foot crosses originally elect recked by marines grieving over lives lost in the war on terror. this has become grounds for controversy. >> it is not a religious

spot at all. it's, a place for the marines to grieve and to grow. let go of their burdens of what they have in their soul so they can go back down that hill, back into the battle and put their own lives on the line. >> reporter: karen mendoza's husband was one of seven marines who originally plant ad cross here in 2003. of those original seven, three have since been killed in action including karen's husband, ray. >> it is a symbol of sacrifice regardless of what, what you think, pray, like, or don't like. >> reporter: but not everyone agrees and several atheist groups filed complaints with the marine corps and threatened lawsuits arguing the crosses are a religious symbol and violation the separation of church and state. >> this christian cross needs to go to a private christian installation. we need to stick to things that honor everyone equally and main neutrality towards government. >> reporter: getting to the

crosses is no easy task. you find symbols of valor, zaro and festivity. crosses left by widows, and children represent the battle to make the 3,000 foot climb up this hill. >> it wasn't intended to be a religious memorial. it was intended to be able to provide a fitting and a dignified memorial to their fallen comrades. >> reporter: a group that filed the original complaint, the military association of atheists and free thinks say they want the memorial to stay, they want crosses to go replace something else like globe, eagle or flag. commandant of the marines, jon is expected to rule on this any day. jon: jonathan serrie reporting to us live. sorry, jonathan. adam housley. wow, i'm getting correspondents confused. i apologize for that. >> reporter: no problem, jon. jon: i was thinking about something else including our next guest. john flannery, maybe where i

got the john from. is former federal prosecutor, rachel self a criminal defense attorney. john what is the problem with having crosses there? these marines did of their own volition of land hardly visible to anybody else. >> not that it is hardly visible. it is at marine camp pendleton, semper fi is always faithful to everybody no matter what their faith. men and women risked their lives and died protecting this country are not just christian, they are jewish, they're muslim, they don't have beliefs, they're atheists. i think solution have a memorial that is secular, that recognizes the contribution of those who risked their lives and those who died creating a memorial. you don't have to remove anything else. the separation of church and state which think is a valid argument is not as important to me that we're not treating and recognizing everybody's contribution. why should we implicitly exclude those who are not christian? this is not a place of solace for somebody who goes up there if we had a star of

david, would we recognize that that symbol system was inclusive of everybody? no. i don't think jews would think that. we need a symbol system that includes everybody for their sacrifice. this is not to the prejudice of having individual memorials all over the country for every kind of religion but not on federal ground and certainly not on a marine base. jon: rachel, how do you answer that argument. >> i say arlington national cemetery is not dedicated with rain bows. >> that is nonsense. >> cross is traditional memorial. >> for individuals. it is on individual gravesites. jon: let her -- >> i need to be able to respond to this. >> i will be mute. >> if i have a moment i love it. jon: hold on, john. >> i'm sorry. >> what we're dealing with her considered in cone tex and when you listen to miss mendoza and people speak about why they ehe canned these, they have a secular meaning. if you look at, supreme court case of 2005 of van

horton where they allowed ten commandments to stay on government property it had secular purpose and historical and social value and historical and social meaning. miss mendozas and marines who erected that made it clear that was their purpose. they're not trying to promote a religious agenda. they're trying to remember the fallen soldiers and whatever works for them, this is not offensive in your face religious statement. other religions do have crosses as well. i think they should be allowed to let these stay up. put up a star of david if it helps you through this. >> that doesn't help me threw it. not a question --. jon: i know you're chomping at the bit to get back in here. let me bring back adam housley in the discussion. a very important point came in the middle of the adam's story. ray mendoza is one of the marines who elected these crosses. he has now been killed in combat along with two of the other seven marines who erected this memorial, right? >> yeah, jon. eerie coincidence today is

ray's birthday. we interviewed his widow yesterday. she told us that fact. eerie coincidence as we do the story and look at this. one thing to take into note, camp pendleton is massive, vast. this is not official site. seven marines went up the hill, extremely brutal and made the makeshift memorial. become a bit more permanent. there is vast open area here. the marines didn't make this official site of marines. this was done by seven men on their own. jon: john, if the atheist marines pick another hilltop and build their own memorial, why can't they? >> if it is off the 125,000 acres at camp pendleton that's fine. the reason we're talking about it today, obviously it is not invisible. it is real. we know about it and the sufficient rans of it is an example of sanctioning by the government. so the government is responsible for tolerating this symbol which is a christian symbol. it is a not a jewish symbol. it is not a sectarian symbol. all our monuments are

important monuments do not have religious overtone. individual graves at arlington reflect the individual belief system of person that died in honor of their country. not a statement for all military when we put a cross, star of david or atheist sign on the tombstone of somebody at arlington that gave their life. jon: that argument, these whether seven marines who hiked up 3,000 feet onto a hillside to erect a cross in mem which -- memory of their friends? >> when if i go up on the hill and erect something else. because somebody does it doesn't make it right. >> go for it. >> i don't think we should be going for it. i think it is wrong to go for it on government property. >> i think what helps these people remember their fallen soldiers is what they should be doing. >> i don't think that the standard. >> they're not hurting some offensive. >> this is not right. if it hurts other people it is not right. >> i think the political correctness here and -- >> it is not correctness. >> violated by somebody feeling violated by the fact that a cross was put up by a ma reason to support --

>> because it is not their religion and not their belief system. it is not their belief system and, they nevertheless gave lives for this country. they gave their lives to this country. jon: we'll have to leave it there. >> the money your wallet doesn't say anything other than in god we trust. >> come on, that is nonsense. shouldn't say that. jon: the marine commandant is going to make a decision as adam housley said. adam, thanks for joining us. rachel self, john flannery as well. >> thank you. jon: we'll keep eye on this controversy. jenna: what an interesting story. jon: it is. jenna: a lot to come into plays a john mentioned bring you the results of that decision as soon as we get it. meantime imagine enjoying a peaceful day at home when a school bus crashes into your bedroom. what one woman says she did just before the wall caved in. a device that may do a better job of detecting breast cancer but will the new technology save lives? we'll take a closer look next. there he is, poised to discover plum amazins,

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jenna: quick fox news alert for you now. we'll take you down to d.c., a daily news conference with the press briefing with press secretary jay carney. we'll see if he has any comments over the controversy that developed last 24 hours when a democratic strategist took to television that said mitt romney should not take advice from his wife on the state of women in this country because his wife ann hasn't worked a day in her life. we got word from the first lady through her twitter account. the first lady taking to her twitter account saying, this is a quote i should say. every mother works hard and every woman deserves to be respected. that coming from the first lady. doesn't mention ann romney. doesn't mention the democratic strategist hillary rosen but put out there today around noontime. we wanted to share it with you. as we hear more about this story we'll bring it you. laura bush will join megyn

kelly on her show, "america live" to weigh in on the issue you. jon: that mo designation, michelle obama wrote that one herself. jenna: not like you when you have your assistants tweet for you. jon: that's her. jenna: that's right. jon: new video of a bus versus a house. check this out in miami. police say an suv ran a stop sign hitting a bus and sent it plowing right into a woman's bedroom. the homeowner just stepped out of the room when the wall came crashing in. thankfully she did not have a scratch. two women and children on the bus. the driver of the suv apparently ran away from the accident scene. jenna: you can see why. a new weapon in the fight against breast cancer. the fda approving widespread use of what is called an automated breast ultrasound t may help detect cancer early in some patients but

not without a little controversy. we have a dr. lee winokur from university of shreveport. one of the write-ups described it as a sear robs-like system. mation me think of a copy machine. can you describe how this works? >> no, you lay on top of the copy machine. no. it is a three deultrasound and gives a very good picture. -- 3 de. women that have dense breasts make the pictures don't penetrate. by adding ultrasound you can raise that to about 78 to 80% of cancers. jenna: some suggest this is a way that you can overdiagnose, meaning yes, you can detect more tumors but there is no data that suggest that is actually going to help save lives. >> well, you know, there is always that little bit of controversy and there have been studies that show when

you add ultrasound to mammograms the false-positive rate can go up to four times what it is. so instead of one in 40 women getting a biopsy that turns out to be benign, it is like one in 10 women. there are some risks to that. there is risks for infection from a biopsy and also the anxiety while you're waiting for the results. and then if there is scarring it makes mammogram harder to read. that is one of the controversies. i think if you're a high-risk woman, you have a family history, you have had breast cancer before you have dense breast it is can be useful. jenna: we talked about a few of these studies in recent weeks because there's been quite a few of them about breast cancer and some of them have suggested when you do detect a tumor sometimes there is no way of knowing whether or not that tumor, even if it is can russ, would cause -- cancerous, would cause you any sort of health issue at all. that seems so counterintuitive. can you explain that? >> well there are types of

these noninvasive, carcinoma where you might have these cancer cells sitting there but might never go on, like precancerous cells, actually, might never go on to be an invasive cancer and that is something people have to consider. i think the other issue with this is, we talked about it a maybe a year or two ago, the u.s. preventative task force, women 40 and under shouldn't have mammograms because of false-positive rates. i wonder what they will do for this because the women more likely to have dense breasts are going to be the women 40 and under. jenna: broader point there is government says you should be 50 and older one wonders if your insurance will cover it. >> exactly. jenna: 35 but high-risk. there is definitely a broader conversation to be had. we'll keep up-to-date with the technology as we can. it's moving fast. doctor vinocur, nice to have you as always. >> my pleasure as always. jenna: we'll be back wigs more "happening now." careful, pringles are bursting with more flavor.

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jon: remember this story? armed with semiautomatic weapons and bulletproof vest as s.w.a.t. team raided gibson guitar factories last summer. the government accused the company of using illegal wood imports. months later no charges filed. there are new questions about this case. john roberts has it live from atlanta. john? >> reporter: good afternoon, to you, jon. those questions are how long is this case going to drag on before the department of justice decides whether to file criminal charges? you remember, pointed out one of them, gibson was raided twice by federal agent over suspected violations of the lacy act which covers plants and animals. the raid last august indian rosewood which and ebony was seized and in '09 wood from

madagascar was seized. no charges filed in that case. i spoke with the ceo. he complains that the federal government has the company in legal limbo over a law that is unclear and confusing. >> we're a domestic manufacturer. there are many manufacturers in china who don't have the same issues to deal with and so we're in a competitive disadvantage long term. our business will suffer. and possibly quite severely. >> reporter: because it hasn't been able to import any wood pro india since that last raid, gibson ran out in december, forced to go with alternatives, some not popular with its customers. the department of justice blocked a civil court case which gibson filed to get its wood back. we ran all of this past michael mukasey. he is the attorney general under the last years of the bush administration. he told us the case to him is absurd. >> it's not fair and it's

not smart either. as i said, the first rule when you go out to enforce a law is engage your brain. and obviously somebody failed to do that. and then somebody else decided that they would support whoever failed to do that. >> reporter: we reached out to both the department of justice and the u.s. fish and wild service which was the agency which conducted both of those raids. all they would tell us, john, was the investigation is ongoing. other than that, no comment. john? jon: unbelievable. no official resolution in that case yet. john, thanks very much. john roberts in atlanta. jenna: we're awaiting new reaction from the white house today on a controversy sparked by a top democratic strategist who criticized mitt romney's wife for being a stay-at-home mom. more on that after a quick break. casional constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues

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jon: a live look there at the brady briefing room in the west wing of the white house. we are awaiting jay carney,

the president's spokesman, to see whether he says anything about this attack yesterday by hillary rosen, a democratic strategist, who said that ann romney has never worked a day in her life because ann romney stayed home and raised the family's five children. we'll also be hearing this next hour from barbara bush, the former first lady. that's going to be interesting. jenna: a lot to listen for here. thanks for joining us everybody. jon: "america live" starts right now. megyn: thanks, guys. a fox news alert. we are awaiting white house reaction as jon mentioned to a political firestorm now ignited when a top democrat, and advisor to the white house at times, launched a personal attack on mitt romney's wife. welcome to "america live", everyone. i'm megyn kelly. the controversy erupted last night when hillary rosen, a prominent democrat with close ties to the obama mi