martha: that is a way to start the day. bill: was that with salt? fox news alert. signs our recovery has a long way to go. new unemployment rate fell to 8.1% last month which may sound like good news. it is down only because more americans simply given up looking for a job. that is not good. good morning, everybody. welcome to friday. martha: underlying strange numbers. good morning, i'm martha maccallum. the government only counts people unemployed if they're actively out there looking for a job. the last month the percentage of americans trying to get a job fell to the lowest level over 30 years. bill: once more employers

added only 115,000 jobs in april. that is well below the number they expected and that is below the number in march. start varney anchor of fox business. get the headlines. >> the most important number of the day is this one, 522,000 people. that is the extra number of people who are not in the workforce just in the month of april. we now have 88.4 million people not in the workforce. and the percentage, that is all-time high. the percentage of people actually in the work force is at a more than 30-year low. in the month of april it is equivalent of whole city of albuquerque, new mexico, out of the workforce. bill: that is remarkable. what was the number again? >> 522,000. bill: the number in the millions? >> 88.4 million people, that is over the age of 16, who are not not workforce. bill: we have never seen that number before? >> we have never seen that

number before. that is the only reason why the unemployment rate actually came down to 8.1% because people are not in the workforce. that is why you've got 8.1%. bill: come back to the other numbe only 115,000 jobs added. that is not good enough, is it? >> nowhere near good enough that is a very weak employment picture. the bottom line here, new job creation is nowhere near it should be if you really want an improving work place in america. what this really means the economy is again weakening. we showed 3% growth at end of last year. we're nowhere near that now. job creation isn't good enough. bill: politically how do you size up, 8.1% the big number for those not looking deeper into the actual numbers there? >> i have not yet gotten a report from the white house but i would imagine they would play up the dcline in the unemployment rate to 8.1% and say that progress is being made. that is, i presume what the white house will do with

this number. because the drop in the rate is the only positive thing that you can possibly look at in this report. and if you dig beneath that 8.1% number, it is not good news. bill: stuart, thank you. see you on fbn. it is a friday. you got a lot to talk about, thank you, stuart varney. martha. martha: as stuart is saying you have a smaller pool of people out there looking for jobs and this is a look at the numbers who are in there filing for unemployment claims. they get together to make up the unemployment number, right? go back to december of 2007, you can see we were at 317,000 a week going in saying hi, i'm out of a job and i need to collect unemployment the number peek ed at 659 in 2009. now we're at 365,000. a rocky road as started moving up higher at end of march, beginning of april. backing off a little bit in this most recent report. keep in mind these two

numbers were recently revised higher. so that made this drop feel a little bit steeper here. reality when you look at overall chart, let's pull that up now. that gives us our yellow lynum per. that is where you want to be for a healthy economy along this line. since 2007 we've been basically well above that period. sort of occasionally bumping into the area where you are creating jobs under that yellow line. that gives you a real food look just how tough the situation really is. bill: treading water. the rest of the story, thank you, paul harvey, here is so-called real unemployment rate. according to the bureau of labor statistics 14.5% of americans are you unemployed or underemployed. that includes 7.9 million employed part time but would like a full-time job. the labor market is five million jobs short replacing 8.8 million jobs lost as a result rather of this great recession. martha.

martha: another big story bubbling out there today and there's a possible breakthrough in this diplomatic standoff. the united states is now saying that american university has offered a fellowship to chen guanchang. the state department expects the chinese government to quickly deal with an application to allow this blind chinese dissident to travel abroad and come to the united states. okay? this is a deal that appears to be in the works right now. suddenly he is getting a visa it seems or application or permission to come to the united states to study. so the plight of this man all but overshadowing this new round of huge talks that were going on right now on financial security and syria and big trade issues. secretary of state hillary clinton was there for this reason in the first place when all of the rest of this erupted and became the headline story. so peter doocy joins me now live in washington. peter, how long will it take, do we think before we see this man over here coming to the united states from

china? >> reporter: there's no precise timeline, martha but we just got word from the state department they will speed things up. spokesperson victoria newland sate the united states government says the chinese government will expeditious i the documents, the united states government would give visa requests for him and his immediate family priority attention. in about 90 minutes ago we heard from secretary of state hillary clinton said she is encouraged by this story's recent turn. >> over the course of the day, progress has been made to help him have the future that he wants and we will be staying in touch with him as this process moves forward. >> reporter: and secretary clinton also said since the beginning all efforts with chen has been guided by his choices and our values. martha: very interesting.

so any word how long he and his family plan to stay in the united states, peter? >> reporter: the plan is only for a few months, martha and chen apparently has an invitation from new york university, nyu, to come and study, according to a friend of his who also said chen never told the media that he wanted political asylum and never directly or indirectly criticized the u.s. embassy for forcing him to walk out. what our ambassador gary locke said, chen walked out on his own free will and chen is grateful to all the diplomats that helped him. martha: thank you very much. peter doocy in d.c.. bill: a mess. a little background in this matter. 2005 chen filed a class-action lawsuit. he accused officials of forcing people to have late term abortions and sterilization. people in china had suffered through midnight raids and beatings. two months later he was imprisoned and his family shut out from all outside communication a year later the court sentenced him to

four years in jail. in september of 2010 he was released from jail and placed under house arrest. then on april 22nd of this year, just about two weeks ago, he made a daring escape from the village where he was apparently being held. he said he scaled a high wall, injured his feet and fell hundreds of times making his getaway, eventually seeking refuge inside the u.s. embassy and after that taken it a local hospital. am boos door bolton will tell you anytime person takes refuge in a u.s. embassy we give them asylum. this case it did not happen. martha: timing is interesting with clint hillary clinton there. the mother of yeardley love is suing the university of virginia athletics director, lacrosse coaches and the state for $29 million. the lawsuit claims that the coaches there ignored george huguely's behavior before love's death in may 2010.

huguely was convicted of second-degree murder. sentencing for him is scheduled in august. love filed a $0 million lawsuit against huguely last week. bill: nine minutes past the hour now. we're working on a whole lot more on a friday. nearly 3/4 of a million dollars secretly fun they would to former presidential candidate john edwards and we're hearing details of the alleged scheme from the man doing it. martha: a lot of decorating going on. brand new poll numbers show you where the candidates stand right now and this is shaping up to get very interesting. bill: we also have another video now. this is home video just released of a missing girl in arizona. one of the new developments police continue in their search for isabel sell lis. what their parents just did to help with the case. >> we're looking for us isa. we love you and we miss you so much.

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martha: well there's some new reports today that junior seau's family will allow researchers to study his brain. they're looking to see if he suffered concussions during his long nfl career. there were none on the record of injuries for him but there is speculation there were probably were in the the course of that career the meld examiner confirmed he did kill himself with a gunshot wound to the chest. some people believe chronic brain damage can cause suicidal depression. yesterday his parents held a vigil thanking everyone for their support. >> my husband no can talk. he is so upset. oh.

that's why i standing in front of all the people. i say, thank you, thank you, thank you. that's all the word from my family. >> thank you so much for your kindness. son. son. we love you, son. god bless you guys. martha: this family is so broken-hearted of course and we understand that the funeral plans may be announced as early as today. 43 years old. bill: such a hire row to so many in that part of the country. so the white house's big push on the health care law operating below the radar a bit. meanwhile white house lawyers and papers filed with the supreme court are warning of severe disruptions to medicare if the law was overturned. what about that? pam bondi, florida's attorney general. she and is leading the charge against the law.

the white house is morning now that medicare could be a mess if the law was overturned . what do you make of that? >> the white house playing politics once again. instead of talking about the law that applies. this is about our constitution, our basic constitutional rights, bill and they're playing politics. even experts agree they're talking about this extreme disruption to medicare. well, they shouldn't have passed a law without reading it number one. number two, all the experts agree even if it is struck down the federal government, they still have the ability to pay for medicare. bill: you don't believe then the charge these payments could freeze up. you're not buying that. >> absolutely. all the experts agree they won't. this is the white house's last-ditch effort at playing politics once again and talking about this. the bottom line is they passed something that was unconstitutional. this is about our constitution. 200 years of case law, precedent and they shouldn't have passed it. bill: well there are others who argue if the law gets held up or if it is

overturned that more and more doctors will reject patients who are covered by medicare. >> well --. bill: do you see that as a reality? >> you know what i see right now? i see them all over the state, i see them all the over the country. i see businesses who aren't hiring because of this. i see doctors who aren't expanding. i see hospitals who are not expanding because they have funds to do so because they don't know what happen. small business owners are scared to hire people because of unknowns in the health care law. bill: when you see the report, the papers the white house filed with the supreme court, was that a warning to the justice do you think? >> i hope not because we saw how president obama's threats to justices played out last time. the fifth circuit certainly wanted nothing to do with them. when the president came out and said this was unprecedented and extraordinary. he was a constitutional law professor. this is not unprecedented and extraordinary. they have struck down 165 acts of congress, the supreme court. so they have the authority to do so. by him saying all these

other things that it was passed by a wide margin. it was 219-212 in the house. it barely passed. and only way they got it through the senate was by reconciliation process after, after senator kennedy passed away and scott brown got elected. bill: you would agree, perhaps you know a lot more about it than our typical viewer or me or a lot of people watching this, this is education process underway in america. >> sure. bill: we're still learning about this the polls are even. they haven't moved that much will that change? >> the polls show people do not like obamacare. they do not want obamacare. bill: slight majority suggests, that yes. >> the bottom line though we have to follow the constitution. and this is unconstitutional. and this is a public play, once again instead of letting the united states supreme court waiting for them to make their decision, they're going to follow the law and whatever decision that they rule, that we will abide by it. bill: just a reminder our

viewers you were inside the courtroom. >> i was sitting at counsel. bill: when arguments were heard what was it five weeks ago, six weeshgs ago? where are you now as this marinated in your head over the past month? >> we're slimmed that the supreme court will have a decision by june because the american people --. bill: do you feel more confident now or less? or are you the same? >> i just, i believe they're going to do the right thing and follow the law. and --. bill: which is? >> that they will hold it unconstitutional. but again, i mean there are highest court in the land and i'm going to respect their decision. i'm never going to criticize the united states supreme court, no matter what happens. and, and you know we argued our case. if you heard any of the arguments, i'm sure you did, you know the justices asked some very compelling questions and this is truly unprecedented. and the justice asked questions that were right on saying to the solicitor general, if the federal government can do this, what can stop them from doing anything?

bill: pam bondi, thank you out of florida, tallahassee, attorney general. we'll watch and wait. >> thanks. bill: martha? martha: there is more shocking testimony in the corruption trial of john edwards and more to come moments away. there are new details of an alleged cover-up scheme. boy, this reads like a move novel folks, but they believe what happened. secret donations. reclusive millionaire. a interior designer who got a lot of checks for some reason. and a fake furniture company. we'll put all the things together for you. bill: got a little bit of everything. this is not a swimming pool. you do not want it to be your pool. the earth opening up a few feet from a family's home threatening to swallow the entire place. >> he went down to let the dog out. came back up, about 7:00 this morning and said there's a hole in the backyard. scary to even think about.

bill: 22 minutes past the hour on a friday morning. defense secretary leon panetta giving a speech to soldiers at for the benning, georgia, expected to talk about questionable behavior by a few soldiers overseas and to maintain high ethical standards. a florida crime ring accused of stealing pharmaceutical drugs. mama bear and two cubs setting up house and hanging out in a california neighborhood. how about that in your backyard? climbing trees, playing in the yard. they were not considered a threat. eventually the trio returned to the wilderness. martha: maybe goldie locks taking up all their beds. bill: more porridge in california with the brown bears. martha: john edwards trial very interesting. now we're awaiting new testimony in the trial this morning. we'll get new details on an alleged scheme that started

to unfold yesterday in the testimony about a secret path to funneling $800,000 basically to the edwards campaign. that is part of the question, where the money actually went. an interior designer who worked for this reclusive millionaire, bunny mellon, who we heard so much about, he got on the stand yesterday about a fake furniture business was basically set up the money through the interior designer and then over to andrew young. the designer said this, well our furniture business did not really involve furniture. it was money for senator edwards. i don't know how you can make it much more clearer than that. jonathan serrie joins us as he has throughout from the courthouse in greensboro, north carolina. what is the prosecution trying to prove with this testimony? >> reporter: the prosecution is trying to establish just how much john edwards who a few minutes ago returnedded to the federal courthouse here, how much he knew about this financial scheme. after days of sordid

testimony about edwards' affair and the botched effort to cover it up, what brian huffman does is refocus this trial on the money trail. prosecutors are trying to establish that the fund that huffman delivered from his wealthy friend, rachel, bunny, mellon, to john edwards aide, andrew young were intended to help edwards' presidential campaign not just to hide a financial after care. the prosecution said did he ever tell you about rielle hunter, referring to the aide andrew young. huffman replied, no. the prosecution followed up. did he ever tell you about mr. edwards having an extramarital aware of of affair? arianna huffington man. no. did he ever tell but the edward was in california? huffman, no. martha: the defense will get up there today and we're likely to hear i would imagine, jonathan, something along the lines it was clearly to sort of protect the family and cover it up

from the family, right? >> reporter: exactly. they're also trying to prove, the defense is, that edwards may not have been aware of all the financial wheeling and dealings that his aide, andrew young was up to. and that, as you pointed out, that the money was intended to protect edwards' family, not the campaign. that is what the defense has been trying to underscore throughout this trial. so it's not so much the money trail that's in question, martha but the intent behind the money is what jurors must ultimately decide. listen. martha: yee. >> they see this affair being covered up as part of edwards' presidential aspirations? or is it simply a person who wants to preserve his family and his marriage and is lying about that? >> reporter: professor friedland says there is another way to look at it. basically the defense and prosecution are agreeing on the same picture but they're both trying to place different frames around that picture for the jury.

martha? martha: big question is, would anybody have fun they would that kind of money if they didn't want to insure he would be able to stay in that presidential race? and that is the big question. jonathan, thank you. must be fascinating to be watching all this unfold. bill: you went through the list a few moments ago about all the stuff involved. martha: yeah. bill: i really feel badly for her daughter. martha: and his parents, elderly parents going there to listen to all this. got to be very rough on them. bill: they are taking aim the at women's vote. a new character ad in president obama's re-election campaign sparking some outrage from the right. why a girl named julia is getting a lot of attention. who is she, we ask? martha: we'll tell you coming up. plus criminal charges filed in the alleged hazing death of a college drum major but do the charges go far enough? reaction from that young man's mom and dad. >> we got to stop it all. we have learned that there was a calculated conspiracy to cover up robert

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close. if i go back last seven weeks, every single day president obama has been within two points of 45% mark. every day, mitt romney has been within three points in 46% mark. today in may the race is toss-up. where it goes from here will depend on events outside the campaign. >> are those numbers one day of phone calls or two or three? what is that, scott? >> we roll three days together for each of our reports. so we poll every single night and combine the last three today's together. bill: okay. just to make a point on this, those numbers have not varied very much. one day romney is up. one day obama is up, right? >> exactly right. again, it's early in the campaign season but america is politically divided. this campaign is going to be like trench warfare, world war i. bill: approval numbers now. here's the dead heat for you. approve, 49%. disapprove, 49%. that is what you find for the president, explain. >> that's right. again we track this every day. the president's job approval

is probably the most important indicator right now. if he has 49% job approval on election day he will probably get about 49% of the vote. for the last 2 1/2 years, the president's numbers have been pretty steady in the mid to upper 40% range. and that will change primarily based on perceptions of the economy as we go forward. over the next week we'll be watching to see the reaction to today's jobs report. if consumers lose a little bit of confidence because of it, i would expect the president's job approval to go down a bit as well. bill: i want our viewers to know. you poll likely voters which is different from other polling organizations that do registered voters. why is likely voters considered a more accurate number, scott? >> well, let's be clear, bill, by end of the campaign everybody will be doing likely voters. we're into october. we do it right from the beginning because it is obviously best to try to estimate who will show up and vote. we know older americans are more likely to participate in the process than the

younger adults. if you don't have the good mix, your results don't mean very much. bill: to get to likely voter you need to ask a few more questions too. scott, thanks for sharing your numbers with us first. scott rasmussen. thanks. martha: this is the political talk of the day right now. mitt romney is responding to new attacks from president obama's re-election campaign. life with julia it is called. it is a slide show shows how president obama's policies would help a hypothetical women from age 3. see the little cartoon prediction of julia. gets head start program and 18 she is ready for college. her parents are able to get at $10,000 tax credit from the government to help there. at 31 she decides to have a child. president obama's health care law helps her get regular checkups and free screening during the pregnancy process. all slides at bottom of navy blue area. they claim the opposite for romney administration, saying all of these things offered under obama would be

taken away from you by mitt romney. and they have reacted to that as well. joined by the president of momentum analysis llc. that is democratic public opinion research firm. and ford o'connell. is a former campaign advisor to john mccain's presidential campaign and chairman of the civic forum pac. welcome to both of. >> you thank you. martha: very interesting reactions to this. we'll look at them in a moment. but margie, let me start with you, as a woman looking at this girl julia going through your life, did it strike you as odd at all that basically one entitlement after another will get her from point a, to point b, to point c? >> not at all. when i talk to swing moms, wal-mart moms, they say they want to know how these government policies affect their daily lives. republicans are certainly welcome to make their own video where a woman is denied access to birth control, forced to get invasive ultrasound and not given any access to any

maternity care coverage. that is the republican video. i think what this video does is really emphasizes a very clear policy difference. martha: i mean, republicans and conservatives have been very outspoken on this slide show. i want to take a look at couple of tweets that have been sent out there. then we'll herd from ford. here is just a couple of them. this one from michelle malkin. i will read life of julia to my kids to show them how not to live their lives tethered to the nanny state. jonah goldberg says, hey where the part is obama fix's julia's broken soul? ford what do you make of that. >> under obama i thought idea was go forward and not set the women's movement back 50 years. women should be outraged by obama's sexist inference they basically can not succeed without his nanny state policies. here's the kicker, women already lost 800,000 jobs under obama. so i don't really get what the message is here. this is obviously a gimmick by a gimmick president to try to get four more years.

martha: let's take a look at what mitt romney's response to this was. and we'll put that up and show quote, reaction. by all accounts president obama's policies failed women. like all americans and they deserve a president who will focus on getting america back on track. you know, what do you make of all that, going on the conservative side of the fence in reaction to this, margie? >> i think they're scrambling about. they have a double-digit deficit among women and their policy is, you're on your own. when mitt romney says in very political calculated way, whatever obama is for i'm for the opposite that means he is against, we're not talking about nanny state. talking about health care, maternity care coverage. things that all women and men want for their wives and partners. and, help with making college more affordable. this is not a nanny state. these are basic policies that help us move forward. and to say that we would be going backwards by providing people with the tools they need to make ends meet i think is ridiculous and

women aren't buying it. martha: let me say one thing, ford. i think it is really interesting this slide show because it really does put in focus what the debate is about the future of the country. and about how people perceive government and what they expect and want from government. but this clearly is, you know shows the side of the perspective that, we will help you every step of the way, from cradle to grave. we're going to be there for you, from head start, through your elderly years. the conservative side of this argument is that, they want government out of people's lives, ford, and they want people to find a way to sort of do for themselves and motivate folks to be able to provide all of these things and not need to lean on the government. >> i mean that is absolutely right. and this is where we're seeing republicans want free enterprise and allow people self-determine how they succeed. basically president obama wants to push a nanny state

and enlarge the net. really this whole ad campaign is one big distraction to get off his abysmal economic record. tacking 1.3 trillion in debt each year, no plan to pay it down, high unemployment and increasing gas prices. >> increase of 4 million jobs. >> doesn't matter. you haven't created a net job. basically four more years of the obama administration can not happen because america's economy is in trouble because of the -- >> because of failed policies that mitt romney is selling. because of the failed policies got us into this want. >> you can spin it any way you want. you have no way to pay down the debt. middle class women are suffering like every american. bottom line. you his policies aren't working you haven't created one net job. >> thank you, martha. martha: be interesting if it stays on website and build upon it or quietly disappears over next few days. that will be one to watch. margie, thanks for being here. >> thank you. martha: ford, thank you. bill: down about 85, 86

points, we'll see if we go deeper. this is major headline, martha. jobs report is not encouraging. man who used to run the numbers for congress is here live. we'll get his take. plus there's this. >> how desperate are you? [inaudible] >> you have made me very --. martha: reigning weekend in the big movie. the "the avengers" hits u.s. theaters today. that movie has done a quarter of a billion dollars overseas. huge focus on this one. could be joining hollywood's most elite club, the billion dollar box-office club when we come back. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪ wer surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy.

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that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take tell your doctor about all dicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk.ures, other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. having afib not caused by a heart valve problem increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk with pradaxa. martha: the family of a drum major who died in a hazing incident says florida a&m needs to clean house.

pam champion is the mother of robert champion. she believes the only way to halt hazing in the program is for the university to break up the marching band until further notice. champion speaking out after 13 people were charged in her son's death. champion and the family's lawyer do not think those charges are going quite far enough. >> the most severe sentence here under third-degree felony is six years. robert champion has a life sentence. he won't be here in six years. he won't be here in 12 or 18. there is no more. so the appropriate sentence would have been murder our felony murder. the. >> famu can not go on with business as usual. faamu, they need to clean house, they need to clean house. because if you don't clean the filth out, it just stays there and right now you can't move forward with business as usual because the filth is still there. so we need to clean house in order for you to move forward.

martha: such a tragic loss for this family and his mother is not giving up without a fight in this. for its part, florida a&m suspended the band at this point. they set up a task force on hazings -- hazing. bill: most economists tell you the u.s. needs a consistently to add at least 200,000 new jobs every month in order to get back on track. my next guest says that is not nearly enough. douglas holtz-eakin, former director of the cbo, congressional budget office and president of american action forum. welcome back to "america's newsroom". >> thank you. bill: you wrote a piece for "national review" alongwith elaine chao, the former labor secretary. the question is why is creating 200,000 jobs a litmus test of a successful jobs report? we're not at that number and you're not impressed, are you? >> people were thinking 200,000 would be successful. the number we got today, 115,000 was well below that.

today's report, bill was one very little sunshine in it. in fact so little, that 34,000 americans simply gave up and went home -- 342,000. we need to do a lot better than that. bill: the labor participation rate is dismal. of the percentage of americans eligible for working the number, 63.6% today. you would have to go back to 1981 before the number is that low. that's remarkable. >> this is a testament to of completely tailed set of -- failed set of labor market policies. this the lowest fraction of americans even trying to work in 3 1/2 decades. we need to put in place policies which encourage businesses to expand, to add to their factories, to add to their payrolls. we're not seeing that kind of attempt. we'll likely see more calls for temporary stimulus. we're in the fourth year of that failed experiment. time to try to go back to the principles that gave us 3 and 400,000 jobs in the

expansion of '80s and '90s. let me get to the solutions in a moment. this is very important point for people to understand how we dig ourselves out of it. we added 115,000 jobs last month. many economists say you have to be as high as 200,000. you say that is not good enough. you say you have to be at 250,000 just to match the population growth? >> we would expect the population to grow and expect discouraged workers to come back into the labor market. you need 250,000 jobs a month to take care of that. that wouldn't put all the unemployed workers back to work. so a much more aggressive strategy is necessary. too many americans have been out of work for far too long. bill: based on that logic, doug, you would need to double the number of jobs added in the month of april and then go beyond that, which is, it's a long way from there right now. okay, pro-growth policies that you espouse. what do you think washington could do? what do you think washington's willing to do at the moment? >> well certainly if

washington looked around at world economic history it would find out that if you have big debts and bad growth the recipe to keep taxes low and reform them to be pro-growth. don't talk about tax increases. talk about tax reform. and, you have to reform entitlement programs. that's the source of the red ink. that is the source of the debt explosion. and it is also a threat to future low income americans and seniors whose social safety net is eroding underneath them. so that is it. tax reform. entitlement reform. we're not seeing washington do either. bill: on those points a big swing and a miss over the past year-and-a-half. doug, thank you for your time. to our viewers at home, twitter,@bill hemmer because you asked. bya online. you can fire away about our economy. how things are in your neck of the woods where you live and whether or not you think we're on our way back or not. fire away. martha: well the parents of a missing arizona girl take a dramatic new step in the hopes of finding their daughter. what they did and whether it

will help the police find is is a bell. bill: is it like this in your backyard? that would make for a very busy weekend and bad weekend at that keep a close eye on your family dog, folks. your home might be at risk. >> the whole backyard is con. scary to think about. it looked like an avalanche in some way structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. with rent2buy from hertz car sales, you skip the lots... and pushy sales people... it's a fast, easy way to buy a used car. three days to try. zero pressure to buy. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

bill: think your property value is sinking before? a massive fast-growing sinkhole, forcing a family of six to get out. it is 100 feet wide. it is 50 feet deep. firefighters, in florida, by the way. firefighters warn more homes may have to be evacuated. that sucker keeps on growing. it is massive down there. martha: to arizona now where the parents of a missing

little girl have revealed that they did undergo police lie-detector tests. becky and sergio celis say the tests happened a few days into the disappearance of their daughter. this is home video of the isabel in efforts to find her. six years old and missing for two weeks. rod wheeler, former d.c. homicide detective and fox news contributor. good to have you here this morning. >> good morning, martha. martha: why have police not released results of the lie-detector tests that the parents took so early on? >> i think that is an excellent question and i think it is for a specific reason, martha, they have not released results. typically just so the viewers know in a criminal investigation when a polygraph examination is given to individuals and police do not release that information, the reason typically is because there is some concern surrounding the information that the individual that was given the examination has provided to the police. now the police haven't said that but the police have also not released the results of the polygraph

examination. so what i think they're doing now, martha, is actually following up on some of the information that the parents gave and trying to coroborate that to find out whether or not that is consistent and whether it was truthful. martha: does anything this story so far, rod, in your opinion, point to these parents? >> you know to be honest and i've investigated many cases like this in my history, martha, i can tell you there are a number of concerns that i have. there is lot of suspicious behavior, including the fact, martha, all of sudden now the parents are starting to give a number of television interviews. if you have noticed, early in this investigation they weren't saying much to the media at all. now, even as of yesterday they started providing interviews to a lot of the media, which makes me wonder whether or not they're trying to get the public to kind of have some kind of sympathy or empathy for them at this point. the question is, why at this point. martha: rod, sorry for interrupting you, could be they were so devastated in the initial days they couldn't speak, couldn't stand up, couldn't function?

who could blame them for being completely incapacitated. they get get message, you know what, you need to get the story out there at the forefront and they will stop looking for your little girl. yes they will do interviews because that is their only hope. >> you know that's possible, the problem i have with that that the police have not said they wanted the parents to go out there and grant these interviews the police haven't said that, martha, obviously for a reason. now there's a lot of other inconsistencies i find so far with the story that the parents provided all the way back to the very beginning of when little isabel went missing the fact that there was a window that appeared to be open. there are concerns the police have, the fact that they're granting interviews now and even during the interviews they seem very protect he have of what they're saying. so again all of this is speculation although it is experienced speculation but i must say i think the police are going to continue to aggressively pursue all

leads, not just the parents, martha. martha: rod, thank you for your insight. good to talk to you. >> thank you. bill: the woman at the center of the secret service scandal involving prostitutes is talking. what she is saying about the scandal that is shaking up this agency. we'll have that for you in a moment. martha: and abracadabra, why a government agency was looking to hire a magician. wait until you hear what happened to the wanted a. ♪ dad, why are you getting ha -- want ad. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholester. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪

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martha: talk about bombshells. big developments in the sex scandal that rocked the secret service. so now we've got the prostitute who was at the center of that whole controversy. she has a few things she would like to say. bill: i bet.

martha: she is doing just that this morning, bill, speaking out to reporters in a worldwide press conference. brand new hour of "america's newsroom." worldwide, we are. bill: she is not hiding, is she? martha: no. bill: nor is she hiding from it. good morning. i'm bill hemmer. she is dishing details what really happened with the president's secret service in the country of colombia. they were accused of having a big night out ahead of last month's visit by president obama. some allegedly bringing prostitutes back to their hotel rooms. one of the hotels where the president would later stay. molly henneberg has details now live in washington. what are we learning here, molly? good morning there are. >> reporter: good morning, bill and martha. i got off the virtual worldwide interview with the prostitute at the center of the scandal. she was taking questions from all over the world about what happened that night, that famous night that led to firings of so

many secret service agents or lost security clearances and military members were wrapped up in this as well. one of the points she made she has not been interviewed by the u.s. secret service as they do the investigation that what happened at hotel el caribe. she has not been interviewed by anybody into a look what happened. i asked her if she saw anything in the hotel room when she was with the secret service agent that might have suggested that he was connected to united states or president obama or his visit. here is what she said. was there anything in the hotel room, miss suarez, you found related to president obama or president obama's schedule. >> translator: molly, she said that she didn't see anything, anything weird. anything in particular that could relate this man to president obama or any kind of information on the president. >> reporter: i also asked her what happened in the hallway that night? because this is the woman who had some sort of altercation in the hallway that led to the police being called.

that is what brought this all to light. she said she and the secret service agent agreed on a price of $800. when she went to collect it in the morning, he said no. he didn't give her any money. he kicked her out of the room. she says. she was knocking on door in the hallway. other agent came into the hall, they ponied up between them, $250 she then took and left. she said, the man, the secret service agent had no idea what trouble he was talk walking into when he refused to pay her. one more note, bill. she says she will not be involved in prostitution anymore. and her mother called into this, dania suarez called into the radio program as well. her mother says she is worried, she is depressed. she had no idea her daughter was involved in prostitution until this all came to light. that is how her mother found out. bill: the reason why she is not hiding and so public, prostitution is legal in that country. >> reporter: in certain safe zones colombia desis nats it is okay for prostitution and

cartegna is one of them. bill: as you point out she is having a job change. molly henneberg in washington. mart. martha: a agency is avoiding its own scandal about a want ad for a magician that disappeared. national oceanic administration, were looking to hire a magician to motivate their employees at leadership training conference. sound familiar? remember the clowns? they were offering $5,000 for that gig, noaa was. the presentation would be one-day session for 45the agenca removed a solicitation for a speaker at a leadership training for career staff posted on the federal business opportunities website. no speakers have been hired or confirmed for this training session. perhaps one of the folks that works there knows magic tricks they can do at the conference to motivate everybody. bill: missing mind readers.

martha: exactly. mind readers and clowns. bill: after years of setbacks and delays the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9/11 returning to a military court at gitmo. khalid sheikh mohammed and four other codefendants set to appear for arraignment tomorrow at the military tribunal. this comes three years after the president obama failed to move the trial to civilian court as once announced in new york city. martha: could it be peace now between some former very hot campaign rivals? presumptive republican nominee mitt romney and rick santorum held a private meeting in pittsburgh today but with romney trailing in santorum's home state of pennsylvania what could senator santorum do? he lost his last senate race in pennsylvania and he was almost, he thought about to lose pennsylvania in the gop process as well. that is when he dropped out. here is the poll of battleground state of pennsylvania. 47% for president obama.

39 for mitt romney. steven hayes joins me now, senior writer for "the weekly standard" and fox news contributor. it is a rough picture at least this stage. game six months out for mitt romney in pennsylvania. do you think rick santorum could help him there? >> well if it is possible if he spend actual time on the ground campaigninging for mitt romney. remember in 2008 president obama won pennsylvania by 11 points. "quinnipiac university poll" poll is closer this time around. we talk about getting to september and october probably means there are bunch of other swing states looking good for republicans f they're competitive in pennsylvania i think things are looking good for mitt romney at that point. martha: that is having way to look at it. we remember the process during the primaries, steve, nonmitt romney candidate taking a leadership turn in that spot and giving him a run for his money. rick santorum had most staying power.

the big question could he bring in his sway with that some conservative category he did well with in the exit polls? >> yeah he was the nonromney candidate for the better part of the campaign and that is due to the creative energetic campaign he ran. his issues he was talking about. his appeal to blue-collar workers. he does have some con sit when he could bring when he endorses mitt romney. it will not happen today but it is going to happen. this is not somebody who brought with him to the campaign a huge base of support. remember he rose from about 4% in the polls in iowa, to 25% on the caucus night there. this wasn't somebody who brought with him a huge national following. he developed something of a following over the course of the campaign but i don't think he has got the kind of national following that some other politicians, national politicians have. martha: you mentioned he is not going to endorse him today. what do you think about this long, drawn out endorsement process? you know, he already

basically won the primary process. what's taking these folks so long? newt gingrich said will do it in couple weeks. rick santorum won't do it today. what's up? >> i think in part it is because as you suggested in the opening, these guys had some harsh words back and forth for one another. rick santorum at one point suggested we might as well stick with what we have meaning barack obama. he says his comments were misinterpreted but that's what he said. giving some time for those harsh exchanges to kind of settle out and fade into the background makes some sense but i think santorum, if he waits much longer risks looking like a sore loser here. this is guy who after all endorsed mitt romney in 2008. he gave him strong backing. vouched for him as a conservative. so, you know it's a little bit much if he waits too much longer i think to endorse romney this time around. martha: how effective are these endorsements at this point anyway? how much meaning will they have in people's mind around the country? >> probably not that effective.

we've seen a pretty quick consolidation of the republican side. we've seen conservatives move towards mitt romney even faster frankly than i expected they would. santorum's endorsement is effusive and serious and if he backs it up by doing campaign appearances maybe in states where he did well or had appeal to blue-collar voters, kind of voters mitt romney will need in november if he is to win that could be helpful. i'm sort of skeptical this is going to be, certainly not going to be a game-changer at this point. martha: steve, thank you. good to see you. steve hayes. >> anytime. martha: catch "special report" tonight. bret baier will have closer look at former secretary of state condoleezza rice and possibility of running with romney. she is the next up. that is tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern time only on the fox news channel. bill: rumors are out there, huh? martha: they sure are. bill: got a fox news alert right now. is keystone back? we're learning transcanada, the company out of the north has reapplied with the u.s. state department for a permit for the keystone xl pipeline.

remember now the white house repeatedly said they would reconsider the request once a new proposal is submitted. now that has happened. there is clearly political pressure on the white house to assure the approval process is timely. however a decision this year is not expected. it is an election rear right now. martha: will happen shortly after. bill: we'll see. doug mckelway is working on this we got that information from doug down in washington, d.c.. martha: this morning we got very big job numbers came out just a little while ago. neil cavuto will put those in perspective for us that is coming up. bill: more shocking testimony in the trial of john edwards. word of a secret offer that may have kept his mistress and their baby hidden from the public. martha: a possible solution to the growing diplomatic crisis between the united states and china. one side is now offering a concession that could solve the fate of the blind chinese activist. >> translator: i want to

meet with the secretary clinton. i hope i can get more help from her. i also want to thank her face-to-face. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

bill: a builds is owne martha: a blind chinese activist pleads for u.s. sanctuary and it may now be answered. china is now indicating that allow him to leave china and come here to study abroad. this diplomatic standoff has casted an international stop light on his persecution by

chinese authorities. he has revealed his fears and concerns during a capitol hill hearing which was quite interesting. here is a piece of sound from that. >> i really fear for my other family members lives. we have installed seven video cameras, and even an electric fence. the security officers are in my house, and basically said, we want to see what else chen guangcheg can do. martha: joined by ea e ian bremer, author of, every nation for itself. >> you've heard of the g7 and g8, the united states with allies was leading the world's economy, whether it's trade or economy. we don't have a g-20 today, the 20 largest economies getting

together and making things right. we have a g zero, one without global leadership. nobody is going to step into our shoes. martha: let's talk about it in the context of this situation. first of all, what did you make of him calling into this congressional hearing yesterday and the way he has orchestrate thed wholorchestrated this whole thing? >> there is no question he wants out, and having hillary clinton our second of state in the country on the beginnings of the strategic and economic dialogue this was a time of maximum mum leverage if he was ever going to be able to grab the headlines of the international press, get romney to talk about him, this was the time to do it. and obama and hillary clearly wanted it off their plate and quickly. as a consequence the initial response was quite embarrassing. martha: it could of as you point out got even a lot worse and more tense. we seem to have come to this

agreement. i don't know how you go from being on house arrest one minute and say, oh, you want to study? no problem we'll give you a visa to leave the country and study. this is obviously something that saves face for everybody. >> i think hillary clinton worked very, very hard over the last 24 hours to get to a deal. if you want to find a member of obama's cabinet that's out performed expectations that's been hillary clinton for the last few years. it is horrible for her to leave office on such a negative note. she said quote that the u.s. china relationship has never been stronger. that of course is ludicrous. we've never been more dependent on china pr-ps and therefor china and we have less leverage than we have had. the china have shown frequently they are ready to slap us around. whether it's a week before the chinese president comes and they veto things. martha: all of it i think ties back to the fact that we have

$1.2 trillion in debt to china how does that color every one of these conversations and interaction has we have with china? >> i thought hillary said it best. she says it's very hard to criticize your banker on human rights issues and the rest. the fact is that the chinese feel like we can say we're going to punish them if they don't move on currency? it's not a credible threat. the chinese are much more concerned about their own domestic issues. they want to make sure they have sufficient energy abroad to be able to power that growth. they want to insure that they don't have unemployment. that issue is so much greater than anything we could possibly say to them. my last trip to the u.s. embassy in beijing a lot of people have been visiting that place recently, they told me in a meeting that there was almost nothing that they could see in the past year where the united states has pressed for an issue and the chinese have actually given us a little bit of flexibility. martha: that's what they told you. >> that's what they told me directly. martha: thank you so much, ian

bremmer. we'll see you again soon. bill: let's see if the guy gets his education here. martha: maybe he's going to nyu. bill: a new report by the bam statioobama administration's rules nor gas. what you pay, eric bolling is on deck on that story. martha: protecting yourself from a tornado. the cdc recommending a new safety tip that could save lives. that is straight ahead. 21 minutr

now. a southern california nuclear plant may partially return to being open next month. it was shut down months ago when it started leaking radioactive

materials. facebook has set the price range for its ipo28 to $35 a share nor facebook. the top valuation of that range would make that company worth $96 billion right out of the gate, that is a record debut for an american company and a nice payday for zuckerberg and others. the centers for disease control has a tacit endorsement out there now that you should wear a helmet during a tornado. very interesting. the cdc also says that looking for a helmet could cost precious seconds and delay people from getting safely to shelter. that is something that you want to keep in mind, you want to keep your helmet good and handy during those moments. bill: it's still the season out there too. america's natural gas industry is booming. it has never been better and there is word of new environmental rules that do put the brakes on the. the "wall street journal" says the white house will issue sweeping guidelines and they apply to natural gas. our fox business network anchor and could he host of the 5 is here to talk to us about it.

in your other life you dealt with energy so you're perfect for this. it deals with fracking and that is. >> reporter: it's a means to extract natural gas out of difficult formations. the rock formations what they do is drill down and horizontally and shoot a mixture of water and chemicals and sand into a rock formation tow break it up to release the natural gas. stpho: it's been hugely successful. >> reporter: very successful. it's the reason for the abundance of natural gas and the reason why we should make natural gas our clean fuel of the future. getting back to it, originally the interior department came out with guidelines that required us to talk about what kind of chemicals were shot into the formation prior to doing so, you had to go through a permitting process to get them approved. now what they can do is they can drill down, retrieve the natural gas and talk about what they used and so if they want to make any changes going forward they can do it that way. bill: they can talk about what they used after. >> reporter: very importantly on april 18th the interior department came out with a set of rules, guidelines that they were going to use for fracking.

the fracking industry said listen these are too stringent we push back on this. including exxon and 0 of the other major tkreurls. and s drillers. the new set of guidelines is a walk back on the original set of rules, a very, very good step in the right direction. this will happen. bill: for a lot of people who bang on this administration and think the regulations go higher and higher and thicker and thicker and deeper and deeper this would be a reversal of tha*frpblgts not a reversal but a lot easier than what they were going to apply to the fracking industry. i think president obama is listening. he's liz evening to the g.o.p., and the conservatives. i certainly think he's listening -- sarah palin and i put a special on a couple of weeks ago that was one of the major recommendations we made to the obama administration to get the price of gasoline down is to embrace natural gas as a fuel of the future. we have it, it's in abundance in american. we have a trillion barrels of natural gas in america. bill: some people suggest you could put natural gas in your

car and replace gasoline. >> reporter: eventually. bill: that is happening in some cities is it not? >> reporter: there are some bus fleets in certain cities that are doing it. it's a conversion to the current internal combustion engine. not a huge conversion, maybe a couple of thousand dollars. the issue is getting the natural gas to the filling stations. 70% of new homes that are built are built with natural gas. you may be filling up your gas-fired vehicle at home a lot more, but once you get that infrastructure down honestly i think the price of gasoline will plummet if we were to embrace it. bill: you dealt with oil and gasoline for years. >> reporter: i did and natural gas as well. bill: you think natural gas is the next phase. >> reporter: it's the answer. we got breaking news a couple of minutes ago the transcanada pipeline is going to resubmit their permit -- request for a permit for the keystone pipeline. don't forget president obama said if they resubmitted that permit request they would take a look at it and maybe this time, this time -- also very quickly

oil prices down 2 bucks a barrel below a hundred for the first time in a longtime. bill: because? >> reporter: because of a lot of these things. finally the administration seems to be embracing a true all of the above strategy. hopefully they continue. we need to drill more and embrace the keystone pipeline. this natural gas issue is a very, very positive step. bill: one caveat on the keystone we learned there will be no decision or construction this year. >> reporter: it's a long life. bill: see you at 5:00. are you going to round everybody up. >> reporter: i'm going to do it. bill: let her rip at 5:00. here is martha. martha: the government released new unemployment numbers this morning, and they showed that the economy had haded just 115,000 jobs last month narcotic shy of the expectation. neil cavuto has thoughts on all of this that you need to think about. he will join us to talk about how the weak recovery could affect your wallet and also the president at race. >> i expect that you're going to

see us all come together. you see in our party a great deal of enthusiasm about making sure we get america back on track, and that we start creating the jobs that the american people have been looking for, and that we see the rising income the people have been looking for. i'm walt gale,

i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications

only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service. bill: breaking news, more americans have stopped looking for a job, that is one of the many headlines today from this labor report. your government says the following, the unemployment rate

fell to 8.1% last month, but employers added only 115,000 jobs. neil cavuto is the senior price have the, anchor and managing editor of the fox news channel and fox business channel. the man is here night and day. good morning to you. we have jobs and we are two of the lucky ones around here. what do you make of this. >> reporter: we are. you're right, these were weaker than expected numbers. at this stage in the recovery we shouldn't see the job numbers going down to the degree they are. the numbers that we're creating now has dipped from the close to 300,000 we were seeing at the height here. and that wasn't very long lived. so that is a worrisome development here. this recorps. of rewas always teped by th tepid by the numbers but this is hinting of something potentially worse where we bump around. bill: do you see any good news in what you saw today.

>> reporter: i see 115-plus folks getting jobs. that is encouraging and good news and to be championed. you should see more. the problem here is that when job gains are this minimal, those who have them are going to be spending less because they are going to be saying, well see i should thank my lucky stars, i'm one of the lucky ones. we are already seeing that evidence itself, bill in retail sales numbers and purchases and the like, vacation plans and the like. people are beginning to be a bit more conservative in their own budget plans, and i think that could feed on this. bill: a couple of pointed questions. why did we go up in december, january and february? why we were adding jobs at a pretty good rate and now we're going the other way. >> reporter: everything goes in cycles. everybody says it was a warmer than usual winter. bill: companies hiring for the holidays. >> reporter: i don't buy that. in the scheme of things -- i

keep a chart in my office that looks at the dow over the century. again i have no life. the chart works out these vaga reurbgs es and swings. we might peak a month here, go down a month here. but this is not what you see at this stage in a recovery. and i think what is worrying a lot of the experts we've talked to on fox business, which by the way, bill if you don't get you should demand, they are worried that this can't continue, that you can't have a recovery this close to no change and when it gets worse it will get a lot worse. bill: i got you. another pointed question. when you hear business leaders talk about, hey, man there are too many regulations, you have to scale become on this. we just talked to eric bolling on that, the healthcare laws making us hesitant. are those the two main contributors that are preventing the economy from advancing do you believe? >> reporter: they are big contributors.

bosses aren't that different from you and i bill. if they see an environment conducive to adding personnel and expanding factories and equipment and all of that they will do it. if they have doubts about that or unknowns about that they'll hoard cash. one of the big things beefee seen in this earnings period is they are hoarding cash. in the case of alcoa which was the first out with the earnings parade they hung onto $2 billion in cash. that is very unusual. a lot of people make notes about apple and how strong it is. it's hanging onto a hundred billion dollars in cash. across the spectrum and across the various sectors, bill, what we're seeing is companies hanging onto your money. now some of them are then raising their dividends or buying back more stocks but they are not doing the cooky, crazy things, saying, hey we think the environment is robust we will expand factories or open up new facilities or open up a new compound let's say abroad, particularly because they are

worried opening abroad will be politically -- bill: it tells me they are being defensive. >> reporter: very defensive. bill: does it appear now that the big number will be below 8% come november, and what is the affect of that. >> reporter: i think it will be below 8%. there are a lot of reasons for this. but i think the president will have an unemployment rate about what it was when he took office. now, remember it zoomed up right after he took office, and he said that wasn't his, that was under bush's watch. be that as it may it think it will be about what it was. the states he's visiting, like virginia and ohio and florida, these are states that have seen their unemployment rates fall markedly from what they were at the highest point. the improvement in the election tore lee rich states could be part after strategy to kobl together wins there. ironically the republican

governors are run the show. as governor kasick told me in ohio that is what is going to be his strategy. bill: taking us inside the numbers is so critical in really understanding the dynamics out there and the fundamentals. >> reporter: it's a weak recovery. bill: what do i yell demand it? >> reporter: any time. bill: demand it. >> reporter: and we give you the business. we are working on new ideas. martha: i like that. >> reporter: i have a lot of ideas for both of you. bill: when you are ready, we are here to listen. >> reporter: thank you very much. bill: you bet, here is martha. martha: i like that, that's good. speaking of the job front fox news is on the job hunt looking for option in a very tough economy, a construction project to raise the deck of a bridge on a new jersey waterfront would allow the latest generation of huge cargo ships to be able to pass underneath, which would be a good thing, right? supporters say that the project is vital for the areas economic

future and that it could create thousands of jobs in new jersey. david lee miller is live in lovely newark, new jersey today, and david, it sounds like the remarkable feat of engineering. what more do we know about this project? >> reporter: well, martha about in two year's time when extension of the panama canal is complete the giant mega ships, cargo ships will make tear way up the east coast. in order to use the ports of new york and new jersey they have to pass under that bridge over my right shoulder off in the distance. it was pwultd in 1931. you can see its magnificent arch, a historic bridge and incredible structure. we have animation to illustrate this. the bridge is now 151 feet above the water. they are going to build a second deck that is going to be 215 feet above the water. it's going to cost about, one, b with a billion dollars. they expect the project to get underway in early 2013, it will take about three years.

it will employ 2700 people per year, predominantly iron workers and construction workers. they say that the project could begin sooner if there is environmental approval. but this is a significant, incredible project. for motorists in the new york city area and new jersey, martha incredibly they will keep the bridge open the entire time. martha: wow, that is going to be interesting. so beyond this new construction, in terms of the jobs, what does it mean for this part of new jersey and the region? >> reporter: you know the port of new york and new jersey employs about 280,000 people, that is personal income of about $12 billion if not more every year. and those jobs, because of this project are now going to be preserved. more than that, you know, martha they say that when the work on the bridge is completed and the larger cargo ships can enter the area they expect that the volume capacity of cargo to double, so you will see even more employment in the region.

the deputy head of the port authority here said incredibly this is a project that has absolutely no opposition. listen. >> this is a unique project. it's supported by republicans and democrats, labor and business, people in the shipping industry, people outside the shipping industry. >> reporter: this is a project that ben knits not just new york and new jersey but an economist i talked to says it really benefits the economy of the entire country. to paraprize marlon brando, in on the waterfront, the ports of new york and new jersey is a contender and it's going to remain one. martha: you made it through your live shot without a big cargo ship blocking the bridge behind you. that was good news too, david lee, thank you. >> reporter: it was very close, yeah. martha: i know. bill: some days it just works in jersey, doesn't it? martha: exactly. bill: bombshell testimony in the john edwards trial. a witness says money was funneled through a simple cover up scheme that has now been

uncovered. details on that. martha: the mom who clearly likes tanning. i think you can safely say that if you take one look at this woman. she says that she did not take her 5-year-old to a tanning booth, that's why she's in that courtroom. what she claims really happened. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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my new apartment isn't th far away. it's 4.2 milesway ! with this droid razr... motorola... verizon 4g lte... video... skype. you're gonna get lost. this has gps. well, that makes me feel better. me too. i'll go get two from the back. okay. this mother's day, get the droid razr by motorola. only $99.99. the lowest price ever. verizon. bill: new giant-sized shoes for the tails man in america. igor bob, kavinski. 7' 8. a special team is developing custom shoes for igor's size 22 feet. >> nobody has ever responded to

any call for -- to help me get someone to make shoes, because my doctors have written many letters stating that it would be a lot cheaper to make choose that would fit his body than to keep having surgeries. bill: what kind of a challenge has that guy gone through throughout his life? he's 29, suffers from a pa pew tear reissue. moved to minnesota when he was seven to undergo treatment. let's hope reebok makes a match for that guy. 22. martha: let's go to the edwards case now folks where the interior designer is now the center of this trial in john edwards' corruption case. his name is brian huffman, he's back on the stand. he's explaining his role in funneling nearly $800,000 to john edwards campaign. he worked for the reclusive millionaire bunny melon.

they had a working relationship and he explained the whole thing this way. our furniture business, and that's where these checks were written that we'll talk about in a moment did not really involve furniture. the prosecutor asked, well what was it? he answered, it was money for senator edwards. i don't know how you can be much more clear than that. huffman described receiving this one hundred thousand dollars check from an heiress known as bunny melon. a former federal prosecutor joins me, and a defense attorney. this is getting more interesting every day. yesterday we had this traumatic family scene with elizabeth edwards throwing herself down on the road on the tarmac just a complete wreck. her daughter had to leave the courtroom. the next chapter is this interior designer who shows up and basically says i've been funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover up this affair under the name of an interior designer and writing

checks. where are we with this annmarie? >> it's fascinating no question. the prosecution is clearly trying to painted wards as this awful, awful human being, so that the jury really dislikes him, has a visceral dislike for him, and it's not hard to do with the evidence that there is. the question is going to be, though, can they actually prove that he did know that the money was being used. so far we haven't seen that link yet. martha: the central issue here is whether or not they can prove to this jury that, yes, john edwards was, you know, using money from bunny melon and fred baron to cover up his affair but only because he wanted to save his family, wanted to protect the whole thing from elizabeth edwards his wife who was cancer-stricken and the money did not have anything to do with keeping that campaign going. richard, can they prove that? >> that's the point. the point here is you have to take the following off the table. take off the table that he's a sinner, unethical, immoral. what he did in connection with

his cancer-stricken wife. that is not really relevant. it creates a hatred for him before the jury. this is not what it's about. it's about whether he actually new and intentionally used campaign funds for inappropriate purposes. the evidence we've heard so far before the defense has had a chance to cross-examine the person who was involved with bunny melon is that the checks did not go to mr. edwards. they went from bunny, endorsed by this witness on the stand, then they went to mr. young, and mr. young, who is the primary witness really to try to prove this case is an admitted liar and law breaker and all that money went through him to mr. edward. martha: that may be so. to me it comes back to this. would this money ever have changed hands if these people did not have a vested interest in his campaign. they were deep into this campaign. andrew young he says by his account he hats spent years of his life trying to make sure that john edwards became president. bunny melon says much of the same taoeupbg. why else would they have begin

this money. elizabeth edwards by all accounts already knew he was cheating on her. isn't that a fairly straight line? >> you could look at the money, even though the youngs took most of this money for themselves that could have been their payment for him saying that he was the one who fathered the child and so on. clearly they've made the connects already that edwards did in fact meet with bunny melon. it's a difficult case, though. it would be much either year if they could bring in bunny melon to testify, because they are going to make the argument maybe this was a gift from her. martha: why did you do it? what was your motivation, under oath, what was your motivation, did you do it because you liked john edwards and you wanted to help him protect his family or for the sole purpose he wanting him to become president. he was pretty careful not to actually touch the money himself. >> correct, correct. >> how big of an impact does that have. >> there is no question the money was being used for wrong tpupl purposes. was it to hide the fact that he had a woman living with the young's with a child that she

was -- martha: it sounded like a real picnic, by the way having her live with them. >> i couldn't imagine. mrs. young certainly didn't enjoy that moment. the point is is that the reason yes was doing it or is it because he was trying to move his campaign forward? that is the big issue here. we have to focus on that. there clearly is inappropriate motive, but was the money being used for campaign purposes to shut everyone up so -- martha: that is what the jury will have to decide. in a word will they find him guilty, annmarie? >> i don't think so. >> i like that, i agree with her. it's early, it's early, but i do agree with her. >> the question will be, should he have known what was going on. martha: we'll have you back to talk about that. bill. bill: breaking news, i want to take you down to grand prairie texas, near irving texas, a halfway point between dallas and fort worth. a woman called 911 that has led to a standoff inside of a home. she called 911 in the middle of the night, 3:00 in the morning,

saying that she was being chased by men with guns. police made contact with the woman outside of her home. she then warned that other people were inside the house. one child taken out of the home, and two others involved, and four people might still be inside. back with that in a moment after this. u don't like it. but you've never tried it? see the problem here... ♪ [ roger ] tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ kyle with voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ kyle ] nope, i've got... [ kyle with voice of dennis ] ...the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have...[ roger with voice of dennis ]...allstate.

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>> reporter: good morning i'm harris faulkner. a disturbing report on jobs. why it could have a big affect on your pocketbook. the feds weigh in on the new keystone pipeline route. what it means to jobs potentially. and a fair & balanced look at the key voters mitt romney needs to capture. how do you feel about your pediatrician doing cosmetic surgery on the side? it's a growing trend. see you at the top of the hour for "happening now." bill: see you then. in the meantime the kentucky derby drops at 6:22 on saturday,

give or take a couple of minutes. that is the showcase for the best horses in america today, in the world for that matter. but nearby in indiana it's not all glamour and glitz, that tough economy leads to more horses coming into an animal shelter and mike tobin had a visit there. he's live in chicago. let's find out. >> reporter: beyond all of the glamour and excitement of the kentucky derby. there is a harsh reality. horses, all of them, not just the thoroughbreds are expensive to maintain. while a tough economy is bad on us, very hard on the forces. >> when she came in she weighed under 80 pounds. >> reporter: the indiana horse rescue is an april ration that survived on donations and barely broken. the economic collapse of 2008 hit them from two sides. donations dried up, and more people abandoned horses they could not afford. >> we weren't getting enough money, and our bills were mounting, so then we would barro borrow against our

equity, pay our bills off, get even and more horses would come in. >> reporter: in 2011 the shelter was left with no choice but to out that nice nearly two dozen horses. when that went public donations dropped to 10%. now shelter operators say they won't even take in a horse without getting a payment up front. points of light are people like john chester who adopts horses from the struggling shelter. >> somebody has got to do it. >> reporter: he says caring for these beautiful creatures is both a pleasure and a duty. >> they love people, and so people need to love them back and take care of them. >> reporter: one of the horses that chester took in was a thoroughbred that had won a quarter million dollars over her lifetime, but when she stopped making money she also was abandoned. bill. bill: thank you, mike. mike tobin in chicago there. martha: we have just got even this video into "america's newsroom." look at the flooding that is going on about an hour north of detroit, in flint, michigan.

a guy is standing on top of his cab. he was talking on his cellphone trying to get some help, which apparently has come. boy, this is a rough situation, heavy rains obviously in this area that have led to this. and we're told that the fire department is on the southbound lanes of 75, just north of 69, if you're familiar with this area, and they got out into that inflatable to rescue the trucker, and it's jenkins trucking i guess out of a local area there. boy, that is not a good way to start your friday morning, is it? boy, that is a rough ride. bill: too much rain. martha: we'll keep on top of that. we'll be right back. teachers get the training...

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bill: i'm going to take you back to flint, michigan. we showed you a picture before the break. a trucker is stranded in too much water, frankly. they've had storms rolling throughout upper midwest. it looks like more rain coming today. this guy is going to get a hand here but not until he was stranded. to there i