sort of like zellig! bill: look for him! see you tomorrow, huh? martha: we will see you tomorrow. bill: look for us on wednesday. "happening now" gets started now. jenna: the cia, thwarting a chilling plot, terrorists trying to plant explosives on a u.s.-bound flight. new information minutes from now. jon: former rivals working together to try to get a republican in the white house. just how much will rick santorum's endorsement help the race? martha: a pet food recall across several states. but it's actually people who are getting very sick from this. why? we have all of this coming up for you on "happening now". we're going to kick it off with our top story, the cia disrupts an al-qaeda plot to baum a u.s.-bound airliner with a sophisticated new device, or so we hear. we're glad you're with us,

everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. right now investigators are working to determine whether an updated underwear bomb could have gotten past airport security. u.s. officials say the device was seized before it posed a threat to any airliner. we're toldets an upgraded version of the bomb used in that failed attack on a detroit-bound plane back in 2009 on christmas day and it contains no metal parts, making it difficult to detect. >> it probably would mean that an individual carrying such a device could easily walk through the metal detector and not set off any alarms, which means we would be depending on the individual being screened with a full body screener, and there, it's not certain whether the device would be detected. >> this is a very clever guy, very good at making bombs. he is probably al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula's number one threat to the united states directly. jon: wur chief intelligence

correspondent catherine herridge is live with more. >> reporter: thank you jon and good morning. fox news is told that at least three other countries are involved in this ongoing operation, a law enforcement source told fox that there is reason to believe more bombs may be out there, and this morning, the chairman of the house homeland security committee confirmed that the killing of this operative who met with the first under quarter bomberrer in 2009 before leaving for yemen is tied with though organization, al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> the killing of the aq leader over the weekend, that was tied to this operation. so this is more than just one person, one bomb. this is a larger scale operation, and that's why the security on this has been so tight. >> reporter: this morning, fbi investigators are working on the device similar to the underwear bomb shown here. they're looking for hairs or dna that will tie it to the bomb maker. the device is described to fox as an improvement over this one, it does not contain any metal, as you

mentioned jon, and the detonator has been modified. the device bears all the hallmarks of ibrahim al asiri, the bomb maker in yemen, he was behind the under bare bomb, the printer cartridge bombs and plot to assas national a saudi prince in 2009. the device was not tied to the one-year anniversary of the seal raid. >> a statement was that there was no specific credible plot tied to the anniversary of bin laden's death. so -- and that was and is an accurate statement. >> reporter: but in a briefing to coincide with the anniversary, fox news, as a senior counterterrorism official, if another device -- says another twice was picked up and, quote, i'm not familiar with the report you cited of another bomb in the last six months so nothing has been inter corrected -- intercepted or picked up, not that i know of. this morning law enforcement told fox that they believe the credibility at homeland security and fbi has been undercut because on the eve of the anniversary, they

issued a bulletin saying there was no plot, when the administration knew a device had been intercepted. this source questioned whether politics had been put ahead of national security in this case, jon: jon: interesting developments there, thank you. jen peter brooks is joining us, former cia officer and fellow for national security affairs at hurtarg foundation. your thoughts with what catherine finished there, with maybe there were politics going on and mixed messages from different agencies. what do you think? >> we have to be very careful of that, we can't let politics get in the way of national security policy and our national security, regardless of what's going on in the political sphere around the world. we clearly, jenna, are living in dangerous times. people who suggest we're in a post 9/11 era are mistaken. we're still in the crosshairs of terrorist groups associated with al-qaeda, even though usama bin laden is gone, the al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula is probably the most dangerous al-qaeda affiliate out there. they not only had this plot

going along, they also holdter tore in yemen and in fact the day before or about the same time this bomb was picked up they raided a yemeni army base and killed soldiers and stole weapons. this is a formidable around the. jenna: peter, let's bring up that map, guys. we had a map that showed where yemen is. it's always nice to remind ourselves about the geography of yemen. peter, it's reported this device was found outside yemen. three other countries are involved. what countries? >> well, i would imagine that it's probably somebody like saudi arabia, i would think that they probably are very concerned about what's going on in yemen. remember, jenna, a number of years ago, saudi arabia had a significant al-qaeda problem. they really cracked down on a lot of those people in saudi arabia, fled to yemen. so saudi arabia is obviously very concerned. i'm not clear on who the

other countries might be. you know, these al-qaeda operate ofs move around quite a bit, you know, it could be pakistan. we've had that -- we have that problem there, it could be egypt, could be jordan, could be iraq. i mean, al-qaeda -- could be boco, could be on the african republic, it would be shabab. al-qaeda is dangerous and it's transnational, because as you mentioned, they said it went beyond yemen itself. jenna: there's certainly been a lot of focus on yemen. we've talked about it numerous times as well as it being an epicenter for al-qaeda but when you look at yemen we have to remind our viewers that it's an impoverished country, 45 percent of the country lives on less than $2 day. so if the bad guys are there, they have to have money from elsewhere to fund their operations. they just have to. so where is that money coming from, who is supporting them? >> well, they're getting it from a number of different

ways. the same way -- we've -- it could be through individuals, you know, hopefully not through governments but that's always a possibility, they do fundraising. i mean, you see terrorist groups like hezbollah and hamas operating in south america and raising funds to be sent back to places like the gaza strip and lebanon, so this is a global challenge, and dealing with terrorism finance is important. while it doesn't take a lot of money to pull off a terrorist operation, it usually does take some, and then if you have an organization like al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula which is planning, training and operating, they have training camps in yemen. it does take some money. so one of the ways to get at them is obviously to not only what we did the other day with drone strikes, as well as seizing the bomb, but also, it's to cut off funding. so critically important we do that. it's a multi-vectored approach to terrorism. like i said once again, complacency for us is a huge mistake. jenna: you mentioned the

funding. i'm going back to that again, the issue of the saudis because you mentioned that potentially they could be involved, we don't have information of that at this time but just because of the proximity of these countries, the saudis have been helpful in certain areas to go after some of these terrorists, but we also have to remember that a lot of the 9/11 hijackers were also saudis and this issue of saudi arabia has never been truly reconciled in the last ten years of our war on terror. so is it possible that some of the funding for al-qaeda in the arabian pen lanes is coming from saudi arabia? >> it certainly is a possibility. i don't have any particular knowledge of that. there could be individuals who are funding them. you know, this is something we have to get at, and this is where international cooperation is so critically important. i think the saudis had a wake-up call in the last six, # years about what was going on in their own country and the threat from al-qaeda. they cracked down ton, and as you mentioned, they tried to kill the counterterrorism

chief in saudi arabia, this particular group, al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. so international cooperation is critically important, that if there are sources of funding for groups like al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula or al-shabaab or boco haram or al-qaeda in iraq or the taliban or other places, that they crack down ton and that comes down to not only terrorism counter -- counterterrorism operation but diplomatic efforts on the part of the united states to ensure the folks are not just partners sometimes but allies all the time in fighting terror. jenna: peter brooks at the heritage foundation, nice to have you, thank you very much. jon: new developments to tell you about in the race for the white house as governor mitt romney gets ready to hold a rally in michigan next hour. this comes after the presumptive gop presidential nominee took credit for the recent turnaround in the auto industry. a major economic force, obviously, in michigan. this is mr. romney's first visit to the state he once called home hins racking up a primary win there back in february. but he could face some challenges in michigan come

november in taking on president obama. the real clear politics average poll shows the president with an 11 percentage point lead in that state. president obama, with 50 percent, governor romney has 39. the president won michigan quite handily back in 2008, getting 57 percent of the vote. right now, big changes in how america patrols her borders. today, the u.s. border patrol is launching a new strategy that it says will rely on more intelligence to identify repeat crossers. it will also impose more serious consequences on illegals. steve centanni, live from washington with more on that. what's this new border strategy, steve? >> reporter: jon, it puts a new focus on intelligence gathering, instead of blanket coverage of border hot spots. the old strategy was to crack down on border checkpoints in the more populated areas, which then drove immigrants to remote locations where it was easier for them to be apprehended. the new approach, according

to this new report, uses intelligence to identify repeat border crossers, to find out why they keep coming across and determine what risk they pose to the national security. border patrol chief mike fisher testifying about the new approach today. hears what he said a while ago: >> the principal theme of our strategy is to use information, integration and rapid response to meet all threats. these pillars are essential as we continue to build upon on approach that puts the border patrol's greater capabilities in place to combat the greatest risks. >> reporter: a hearing underway on the house homeland security subcommittee that deals with border issues, jon. jon: exactly what is the situation on the border, how is it changing now? >> it's changed quite a bit. there's more enforcement fewer aphedges. here are the figures from the border patrol itself. they made 327,000 apprehensions along the border last year, more than that, actually. but that's down substantially from 1.6 million in 2000. at the same time, there's been a border patrol hiring

boom. there are now 21,000 agents, more than dull the number working in 2004. and there's been increased spending on fencing, cameras, and high tech sensors to de tent those illegal border crossings, jon. jon: steve centanni, live in washington, thank you. yuen jen the desperate search for two missing tennessee girls after their mother and their older sister are found dead. we're going to have the latest on that investigation coming up. jon: also, rick santorum endoris his one-time rival, governor mitt romney. but it's what santorum says in his e-mail to supporters that's getting all the attention today. jenna: plus, pet owner, listen up to this: a major recall and some serious illnesses to tell you about, straight ahead.

jon: former senator rick santorum, making a big announcement, throwing his support behind presumptive republican nominee, his one-time competitor, governor mitt romney. in an e-mail to supporters late last night, senator santorum had this to say about his former rival: the primary campaign certainly made it clear that governor romney and i have some differences but there are many significant areas in which we agree. one of those areas they both agree, president obama must be defeated. aaron mak fike is national political reporter for real clear politics, and joins us now. you, we should mention, were embedded with the romney campaign the last time around, 2007-2008, his is a campaign you know well. why an e-mail? normally these things are done with pageantry and podiums and hand shakes and a lot of back slapping. why an e-mail? >> the first line you read had santorum saying there are areas where he and

romney disagree. -- agree. i think that's important for trying to lay out what he is doing in the future, because already some are saying if mitt romney does not win this year, rick santorum might be interested in a presidential campaign again in 2016 and he is energize social conservatives by saying look, governor romney and i have differences. jon: and republicans have a tradition of doing that, of taking the guy who finished second last time around and making him the nominee next time. >> they certainly do and i think rick santorum is well aware of that. jon: i guess it also allows or prevents maybe some of those negative television ads from being run, you know, of an endorsement speech, because santorum has said some very negative things about governor romney, for instance, he called him uniquely disqualified to run against president obama. that kind of thing. if he were to make a big podium announcement and say all kinds of positives, then that's automatic fodder for

the democrats to pull for a tv commercial. >> that's right, and just recently michele bachmann endorsed mitt romney at a big event in virginia and just that day we saw all these clips of some of the negative things that michele bachmann said about governor romney, so you're exactly right in suggesting that. but i would also point out to you this: mitt romney doesn't necessarily want to appear with rick santorum who is so socially conservative because right now mitt romney is trying to appeal to independents. he's going to have republicans with him in the fall in the election against president obama but right now the independents are key. jon: you say this is sort of a win/win for both gentlemen. >> absolutely, yes. jon: all right. when you look at the states, the way things stand in the swing states, this is a gallup, usa today poll, that came out yesterday, these two are very close, mitt romney and president obama. anything can happen, obviously, between now and november. but are you surprised it's as tight as it is? >> no. i've been surprised that the independents have been

swinging so wildly from president obama to mitt romney. it's been going back and forth a lot, just a month or so, president obama was well above mitt romney and now they're so close again, and mitt romney is starting to -- >> jon: but after the pound thank romney has taken at the hands of people like santorum, his new best friend, that's interesting. >> that's true but in the last two or three weeks, it's not been that way and so many republicans have come out in support of mitt romney, tepid or not, no one is beating him up the way they are before. jon onand if you're running the romney campaign, that's what you wanted and expected, gleel and the other thing is, now that we're seeing that the economy is recovering more slowly, that also helps mitt romney because it helps underscore his message and also with the news that has come out of europe in the last couple of days, there's more upheaval in the european economy, which that's what democrats are really worried about, that that's going to cause more vee reshrations in our economy which helps mitt romney and his message. jon: it will be interesting to watch.

sharon mcfike, thank you. jenna: a great point to end on. erin was just talking about what's happening in europe and some are suggesting today that concerns over the european economy are rattling our markets at home. you see the dow down more than 170 points, big companies like mcdonald's and caterpillar and ibm are down today on the dow. and when you see widespread weakness like that across different companies and different sectors, it does suggest concerns about the overall economy. so we'll keep an eye on what's happening with the dow today. the economy of course is the top issue in the race for the white house, both president obama and governor romney already trading punches on things like high unemployment. so which candidate will voters decide can do a better job boosting the economy? a fair and balanced debate, just ahead. and a major recall to tell you about. some important news for pet owners around this country, when we come back. more and more. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from ♪

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jenna: right now we have an important alert for pet owners across this country, a dog and cat food recall is expanding after several brands are linked to a rare strain of folbaum joins us from the new york city newsroom and it's not just the pets getting sick. >> reporter: let me say right off the top we are going to put the brands and products affected by this on our website. we want to make sure you can check the food that you have in your house against the full list. it's a long list. so again, it will be online. these are dry foods that are made by diamond pet foods. it's out of gaston, south carolina. the plant that they have there is the plant in question. and the biggest brand that probably affects the most people is the kirkland signature brand, which is the private label for costco. fourteen people, in at least nine different states, have now gotten sick from salmonella after handling these dog foods and as a

precaution the recall is expanding now to include a total of 16 different states, up and down the east coast, as you can see, as well as canada and puerto rico. the products are contaminated with a toxic mold. it's also killed dozens of animal illnesses so that dogs, though the federal number may not tell the government doesn't track whole story. as for the people who have gotten sick, though, the cdc says they all either came in conduct with the dog food or with dogs that had eaten the dog food. these people then didn't wash their hands and contracted the illness that way. we should also mention that more than a dozen people who work at that plant in south carolina have also gotten sick. diamond makes a number of food brands at this plant. we mentioned kirkland signature, there's also canaday, natural balance, apex, chicken soup for the pet lover's soul. the list is long. we're going to put it on fox foxnews.com/happening now and you can check it for yourself to make sure that you're keeping your animals and your family safe. back to you. jenna: we'll definitely check it out there, rick, thank you very much.

>> jon: well, the economy, center stage in the battle for the white house, from the auto industry bailout to the unemployment rate across the country, with both president obama and governor romney taking credit for what's gone right and blaming the other guy for what's gone wrong. >> president obama is employing polices that have not worked. you know that by virtue of looking at the results. we don't have enough people that have got good jobs, incomes have dropped, you know the median income in america has dropped by 10 percent over the last four years, median household income is down $4000. this is at the same time that the costs have gone up. health care costs, up. gasoline costs, up. food prices have gone up. it's harder. americans and the middle class are feeling squeezed. jon: joining us now, chris cofinas, former chief of staff to senator joe

manchin, also with us, rick tyler, former spokesman for newt gingrich. gentlemen, welcome, thank you for being here. >> thank you. jon: are these the same issues that we're going to be hearing over and over again until election day? it seems like both men are blaming each other for the state of this economy, and president obama's case, he's blaming republicans generally and saying the economy was so bad when he came in from the bush administration that he couldn't possibly get it better until now. chris, to you first. >> well, i mean, this election is going to be about the economy. i mean, it is the fundamental issue that's going to define these two candidates and what are the positions they take. i think the problem the romney campaign has, and you've seen it with his kind of convoluted new position on the auto bailouts, is no one really knows what governor romney would do as president, other than basically repeat the mistakes of the past and that's not going to be a real powerful vision or attraction for independents. so i think romney has got a problem in terms of selling

a new vision, because he doesn't seem to have it. jon: well, but i guess he does have a record as a fixer. i mean, he did that with the olympic games. >> well, i'm not sure the olympic games qualifies you to be president of the united states, and i think the challenge that i think the romney campaign has is they've got to basically discredit what the president has done. the president inherited a mess, we know that, it's been a difficult few years. but if you look at where we started and where we are, that gives the president i think a good, strong argument. more needs to be done. the challenge i think for romney is to kind of question that. and you have to do that not just by question or criticizing what the other side did, but you have to offer an alternative in saying i ran the olympics, i'm not sure that's going to cut it. jon: rick, the a.p. described the way these two men have been battling each other in this way, said he's a smug harvard-trained elitist who doesn't get how

regularly americans are struggling these days, more extreme than he lets on, these keeping his true agenda hidden until after election day, he's clueless about fixing the economy, over his head on foreign policy, who he is -- who is he, and the description is this is what the candidates are leveling at each other. >> i saw that story and it was intriguing. i think chris is right in one sense, that this will be about jobs and the economy and romney needs to prove to the american people that he can fix the economy. i also agree with what chris said about vision. without a vision, people perish and romney needs to lay out a vision. it's not good enough just to criticize the other side. that goes for obama, too. what you have in the end, with either candidate, is you end up with no political capital. when you have no political capital, it's impossible to govern. this was the case in the second term of george w. bush, with john kerry. you have both men had

assembled people who hated one guy more than the other. this doesn't leave you with a mandate to govern. it's very difficult. i been one of these candidates would really break out and i hope it's mitt romney that if you lay out a vision, something positive that the american people can understand, why your vision leads to better job creation, lower gas prices, and i do think energy is central to that, central -- energy -- and energy is central to that. it not only involves jobs, national patriotism, self sufficiency, and is related to foreign policy as related to iran and israel. you can talk about energy all day long and we do not have today a national energy strategy. jon: chris he says the candidates should stay positive. we've been told to expect the most negative campaign in history. >> this is going to be the most negative campaign in history. it is going to be a brutal fight to the gutter. that's the unfortunate reality. but i don't think that that's necessarily a smart strategy. i mean, if you look at where i think the electorate, the electorate i think is angry and frustrated with

politics, both republicans and democrats, and i think if these two campaigns focus simply on the negative, and that is kind of the tendency in our business to do that, i think it's kind of both cut off the nose to spite their face. i do think there is a path here not to completely forsake the negative because you have to do that to some extent but kind of lay out a positive vision, and i'm not sure romney has done that. until he does i'm not sure he's going to be able to exploit whatever advantage he has. jon: i haven't heard a lot of positives from the president, but we'll talk about that another day. chris, thank you. jenna: the battle to keep student loans low, the republicans and democrats have different ideas on how to pay for it. but should we be getting into this at all, should either side? we'll talk live with senator john thune, moments from now. >> a little boy wanted a gum ball really, really bad so he took matters into his own hands, literally. how he got out of a very sticky situation, next.

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jenna: we have breaking news next hour, court action for joran van der sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of alabama teen natalee holloway, what a judge is set to decide now. plan to bail out the postoffice. who gets stuck footing the bill? that's the big quevment we're live with that story. >> and phillies pitcher cole hammill learns his punishment for a very controversial play. plus what hammill had to say about beating a batter.

we're live -- about beaning a batter. we're live at the news desk. jon: we're awaiting a vote on the hot topic of student loan rates. both sides say they have ways to keep rates low. they just can't agree on how to pay for it. mike emanuel, fox news chief congressional correspondent has the latest from capitol hill. so what are the top republicans saying about this upcoming vote in the senate, mike? >> reporter: jon, they don't like the democratic plan that's going to come up for a vote at noon. bottom line, they say you can do the student loan plan without raising tax and without diverting money from medicare. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell says this upcoming vote is all about election year politics. >> what matters now for democrats is that they find a way to drive a wedge between republicans and a constituency that they're looking to court ahead of the november elections. >> that's what today's vote is all about for them.

>> reporter: the procedural vote at noon eastern time, about 30 minutes or so from now, is not expected to meet the 60-vote threshold, and then after that, perhaps negotiations move forward. jon. jon: so is either side actually going to risk letting those interest rates rise on the student loans? >> no, although observers of this congress will tell you that not much gets done until they get to the brink, so to speak, and a lot of republicans say that democrats want headlines saying republicans vote against student loans plan in it this connection near. so for now, leading democrats are going to continue to hammer away. >> they have a much different pay-for than taking it away from cervical cancer and breast screenings, away from the affordable health care act. and so we'll see what happens with that in terms of the screening. what we're going to continue to do is beat the drum beat

with respect to that july 1st deadline. >> reporter: and july 1st is that critical deadline, bottom line, in this election year. nobody wants to alienate young voters with those student loans. jon: mike emanuel in the capitol building, thank you. jenna: as mike just showed us, both sides are amping up the political rhetoric on the issue, senate majority leader harry reid taking a swipe at the republican plan just a few moments ago. let's take a listen. >> while we do not support the republicans plan to support programs that combat diabetes, cancer, are happy -- we're happy if they want a vet on an alternative but let us get on this bill. if republicans would stop filibustering our legislation, and in this instance, to keep student loan interest rates low, they want some other way to pay for it, let's take a look at it. let them offer that. the stakes in this debate with too high to let partisanship get in the way. jenna: for more, we're

joined by john thune, chair of the senate republican conference. nice to have you with us. >> good morning, -- good morning, jenna. jenna: senator reid says he's open to an alternative. let's be -- why not be open to that? >> we would like an opportunity to get a vote on a proposal that would keep the interest rate at 3.4%. what we're not going to be for is raising taxes and doing harm to the economy. this is the vote we're going to have at noon today, is a cynical proposal put forward by the democrats which is an extension of the presidential campaign on the floor of the united states senate. we would like to have an open debate about this, where we get an opportunity to put up our proposal. we think it's a much better approach. but the fact of the matter is that the real issue here is the obama economy and the damage that it's done to young people who are out there looking for jobs. that's what we ought to be focused on. and get away from these things that are designed to do nothing more than score political points in an election year.

jenna: senator theum -- thune, some would suggest that both parties are wrong here, that the government is debt, here talking about interest rates from 3-6 percent, that's nothing to be dismissive about but the government guarantees these loans already. we have a lot of important issues and this is not the place to spend energy. what do you think about that? >> my own view on that is that we ought to be focusing on the real issue, and that is creating jobs and growing the economy. if you look at associated press report from a couple of weeks ago, one out of two college students in this country today, recent graduates, are either jobless or underemployed, and those that are getting jobs are making 9 percent less than they would a few years ago. so the real economic issue here is the broader economy and what we're doing to create jobs out there. frankly, i think there is a real concern about spending and debt and making sure that we do things in a responsible way here, and the reason we are where we are today is because a couple of years ago, when obamacare was passed, the federal government, the

democrats at the time, who were the majority, and the president took over the student loan program. it used to be run through private banks, where they originated and serviced those loans and the government guaranteed it. now that the government is in this business, we're having all these problems that are created by that takeover. jenna: let's focus on what lies ahead and how to maybe fix some of these issues. some suggest providing loans and backing them actually makes colleges less affordable. in fact the secretary of education for reagan had this to say, william bennett, he says if we keep interest rates low, will colleges reciprocate by keeping tuition low, and he goes on to say there's been a four -- 400 percent increase in the last 20 years for college tuition. do you have a game plan to deal with the rising cost of education especially in a bad economy, would you consider tapping the cost of education, for example? >> i'm sorry, consider which? jenna: maybe tapping the cost of education? >> well, i think the cost of education is always a big issue, if you're somebody who's going to school. there are programs available to help team who -- people who need it and that's what the stafford loan program

does, it affects one third of all government loans out there and of course there are a lot of students who get loans -- continue to get loans through private lenders. but the cost of college education continues to go up, and what we're seeing, i think, is a result of a lot of the polices coming out of washington, d.c. is states are now having to pay more to cover the medicaid costs that are being handed to them by the federal government, and, therefore, they have less to put into higher ed, so we're seeing a real shift going on in this country, because of some of the polices that are -- that have been created in washington, d.c., and largely because of more government takeovers. i think the real issue here goes back to the omabacare bill that was passed in 2009, where $9 billion was raided on the student aid fund to pay for parts of omabacare and where the government took over the student loan program. they can do a lot better job of this and i think keep interest rates and college tuition more affordable for students if we had a program that was administered in the

private economy rather than run through the government. gen jen we'll see what the health care law as well with the supreme court. that could add an interesting twist in our conversations about where our money is going as well and that's something we don't know at this time. senator thune, always nice so have -- to have you, thank you for stopping by. >> thank you jenna. jon: surprising news about your cell phone. why critics are saying they are becoming like surveillance, and new evidence in the john edwards trial, explosive testimony expected from his former speech writer. we'll have a live report from the courthouse, straight ahead. at&t network. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions, to bring all the right results. [ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers.

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the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. jenna: if you have a cell foarntion you really have to listen up to this. alarming new findings about using your cell phone, after hundreds of law enforcement agencies admit to tracking americans through their phones without their consent. that is not legal by the waivment is the government violating your fourth amendment right? i have a feeling what judge

andrew napolitano is going to say. >> the answer is if the government does this without a search warrant, yes it is violation. >> jenna: how would i know? >> you wouldn't know, because this device, and we all carry it, especially in this business, so we can be in touch with our producers and colleagues, as a gps device in it and the government has software which would allow it to access this gps device and follow this wherever it goes so if it's in my pocket t. can follow me. the government admits it is doing this but it is reluctant to use evidence obtained from this in a courtroom because that will place the constitutionality of its practice in front of a judge, and then a series of appellate judges and maybe the supreme court, which will say you can't do it. why do i say the supreme court will say you can't do it? because in the past year, the supreme court came down with two rulings. one said the police can't plant a gps device in a car where the driver does not have his cell phone with him

without a search warrant. the other said the police can't stand outside of your house with some sort of a sophisticated surveillance or monitoring device that would enable them to find out what you're doing inside the house without a search warrant. so it is clear they can't use this to follow you without a search warrant and it is clear they know that. jenna: is it a little bit of a slippery slope in that we all carry cell phones, we know that in most cases that they can be tracked when they're on, and so it's kind of out there, all this information in the universe, and quite frankly, very few of us know what's out there and who's taking a look at it. >> it's a great question, jenna, because privacy, the right to be left alone, the right protected by the fourth amendment, is one of those things that changes as time changes. the linchpin of privacy, what is private, is what you expect to be private. jenna: let me -- >> well, if we expect that these things will enable police to follow us, does that mean we no longer expect privacy when we have them in our pocket? >> jenna: you have to think about the annoying people at

the grocery store, having a full-on personal conversation in the fruit aisle and they're not really expecting privacy there, judge, so why are there conversations -- >> they're certainly not expecting privacy in the end of the conversation that we have, but they probably don't think that the government is listening to them. but look, the government has better things to do than to listen to a person in the fruit aisle. jenna: we hope so. >> but do we really want to live in a society where the government knows everywhere we've been and can almost anticipate where we're going to go and where the government can use this to listen to a conversation that you and i are having, even when it's turned off? the only way to disable this from becoming a listening device is to disable the battery. do we want to live in a society where the government does that, no matter how well intended the government might be or are we so afraid of what's happening in the world we want the government to know everything about us. jenna: those are big questions. we're going to have you come back. >> for the answers! jenna: we'lling watching that cell phone of yours! nice to have you as always.

jon: i won't take this into the grocery store anymore, just to make you happy. jenna: not in the fruit aisle, of all places! jon: no, maybe ice cream! day 12 of the corruption trial of former presidential candidate john edwards. we are live at the courthouse with some of the testimony coming out of the sal atious case. sex and money at the heart of it all. the dow, it was down nearly 200 points earlier in the morning. we are keeping an eye on it for you, down about 148 right now. the dow, not very happy.

jon aircraft manufacturer boeing is dreaming big, building its dreamliner outside of washington state by nonunionize dollars

workers in more than 40 years, the company banking on a plane becoming our nation's biggest export item, hope to go create tens of thousands of jobs. fox business network's peter barnes, live at reagan national airport now. peter. >> reporter: well hey jon. this plane behind me is the rock star of airplanes right now. it's been on a five-month global tour. this is stop number 32 on that tour here at washington reagan national airport. this is the next generation of a high-tech jetliner, totally reengineered, made of superlight, superhard plastic. >> what makes this one so different and such a big leap is its 20 percent more efficient, 20 percent less fuel, weighs 20 percent less, environmental footprint, 20-30 percent less. so it's a big leap. and it's because it's built out of composites. it's not out of aluminum. >> reporter: we got the tour of the plane yesterday, and finally, finally, more

overhead storage space! bigger overhead storage space bins for carry-on luggage. planes cost $200 million apiece, there are 850 on order right now. jim mcenerny of boeing says this will be a $400 billion business for the company over the next 20 years. they're being built in washington state and in south carolina, after that contentious labor battle last year, the first one rolled off the assembly line in charleston, two weeks ago. jon. jon: love that overhead space. love that airplane! peter barnes, thank you. jenna: sometimes you just need a piece of gum, you know? i hope jon doesn't think that because i'm sitting next to him for another hour! we're pretty close quarters! check out this little guy, torrell parks, jr., texarcana, arkansas, who wanted a gum ball so badly he couldn't wait for it to make its way out of the machine and reached in there to get it himself and got stuck! his father explains what

happened next: >> i turn for one minute, they were trying to get gum out of the gum machine, and it's hand was stuck up in there, completely, man! >> wanted a gum ball. had to do a lot to get that one! jenna: fire and rescue crews managed to man offer the -- maneuver dollars two-year-old's hand ut oft -- out of the machine. he was exploring, he's two years old and thought he could -- >> jon onand i bet he won't do that again! poor kid! the cia, stops an al-qaeda terror plot, very similar to the failed christmas day bombing in detroit. former homeland security michael chertoff will join us. plus, new information on when the president knew about this plot. plus, mourning the loss of a literary legend, the beloved author of children's books, including where the wild things are, has passed away, a look back at maurice

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>> reporter: hi, everybody, rick folbaum in the control room, brand new stories for the next hour of "happening now," including this one up top, a brand new government bailout. this time, the post office. what it means for taxpayers, we'll pay you. also, joran van der sloot, the main suspect in the disappearance of natalee holloway, he is in court today. will he have to go to the united states to face charges? and then governor scott walker of wisconsin facing a recall election next month, but who's he going to face? why the democrats may have to settle for their second choice. we've got all of that and breaking news as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: thank you, rick. brand new details on a terror plot targeting the united states. the fbi now examining a device

believed to be a sophisticated bomb undetectable by conventional airport screening. the plot uncovered, they say, in yemen, outside of yemen, in that part of the world, and new reports say the threat is far from over. we're glad you're with us, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. the cia busting an al-qaeda homicide bombing plot very similar to the attempted christmas day bombing that was almost successful. terrorists planned to blow up a u.s.-bound plane using an updated explosive containing no metal. leon panetta addressed the specific threat. >> with -- what this incident makes clear is that this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those that would seek to attack this country, and we will do everything necessary to keep america safe. jenna: it is certainly a reminder, michael chertoff is former homeland security secretary, also co-founder of

the chertoff group who consults, by the way, the group for security technology at airports. that's an important disclaimer because that's one of the big headlines out of this story, that we're that much more vulnerable, that this device would not be detected. is that the truth here? >> the device had no metal, so it would not be detected using the kind of device people have seen for years. one of the reasons that tsa moved to imaging technology is precisely because it's not dependent on metal in order to detect a bomb, and that's really where we're headed now, nonmetallic bombs. jenna: that imaging technology isn't available in all airports though. so in the meantime, what do we do? >> well, it is in many airports. it's not necessarily in use overseas, and from what we've heard publicly, it looks like this plot involved boarding an airplane in another country that was headed for the u.s., and that indicates one of the challenges, which is to get everybody globally to operate

off the same set of security standards. jenna: and until we do that? >> until we do that, we are putting ourselves at risk. now, in this case good intelligence prevented the plot from coming to pass. but you want to have multiple layers of defense. good intelligence is one important layer, but good screening is another important layer. jenna: you know, i was traveling over this past week, and as soon as you get off the plane in the united states, they have dogs running up and down the aisles by the passenger bees, you're being yelled at not to use your cell phone, getting onto planes you're unpacking and virtually unaddressing, so some are asking how much worse can it get to actually be safe? being your background, secretary of homeland security, you know, what do you see in the future for americans and air travel? >> well, jenna, i hope they're not yelling -- [laughter] jenna: maybe they were having a tough night. maybe they were, maybe. >> but, look, i think the challenge we face is an enemy that still wants to carry out

high-impact assaults on airliners. it would be nice if we could make the problem go away, but we can't wish it away. i think part of what's going on is the use of intelligence and information to better target those people who are a risk. i think part of it is better technology. again, the ability to detect bombs that don't have metal or that may be concealed in certain parts of the body that are not easily accessible. but it's a kind of a race against the devil in which the bad guys, as you can see in this case, are consistently trying to change and adapt and come up with more devilish devices, and we have to stay ahead of them. jenna: a final question here, sir. how much more aggressive should we be, though, especially in a place like yemen? what kind of presence do we need to have on the ground? do we need to move troops on the ground there to get the bad guys? >> well, i think we do need to be aggressive in parts of the world where these guys are finding platforms to plan and put together these bombs. sometimes that's using remote

devices, sometimes it's using boots on the ground. a lot of times it's using our allies, and that's why these intelligence relationships among a number of nations are very important part of the strategy of counterterrorism. jenna: secretary chert off, always nice to have you. we appreciate it. >> good to be on. jon: national security policy will be a key factor in the upcoming presidential race. today we look at where the candidates stand in the battle to keep americans safe from terrorism. michael barone is senior political analyst at the washington examiner and a fox news contributor. of that plot that jenna was just talking about with the former homeland security secretary is, perhaps, the kind of thing that is likely to come up. i mean, the cia apparently uncovered this plot, the question is when did everyone in the administration know about it? >> well, i'm not sure that this particular incident, jon, is going to become a cam pape

issue -- campaign be issue. you know, there's some question about whether or not john brennan, the counterterrorism adviser, was frank in talking about this, but i think it's pretty easy to imagine that there were security reasons why he might have wanted to say something that was temporarily misleading the public in order to assure public safety. so i wouldn't expect mitt romney would take that line. i think he's more likely to take the line that we have been around the world unfriendly to our friends and have tried unsuccessfully to appease nations which are unfriendly to us or adversary to us. and that's more of what i'd expect from him. jon: generally, you're talking about nations like poland and the czech republic? >> well, that's right. you've got, for example, this administration removed missile defense installations, canceled them in poland and the czech republic who are our nato allies, who have supplied troops in afghanistan and elsewhere to fight alongside ours.

they did it in the middle -- they bounced to the leaders of that in the middle of the night. it was an attempt to appease russia, to achieve the so-called reset, and i think mitt romney's going to charge, look, we haven't gotten much in return for that reset. we are dissing our friends and groveling towards our adversaries or people who are not our friends. jon: what about, what about relations with israel? the only democracy really in the middle east and a long ally of the united states, where does that stand? >> well, i think we've already heard mitt romney criticize this administration's policies towards israel in particular, the demands that quote settlement unquote construction cease which included, you know, approving apartments in west jerusalem which has always been part of israel since its beginning. and that, you know, has not led to any kind of successful peace negotiations. that's going to be an issue that's of concern to some jewish

voters who are particularly important and numerous in states like florida and pennsylvania. it's also an issue on which the vast majority of americans take a pro-israel stand, and it's of prime concern to many evangelical christians who tend to vote overwhelmingly pro-republican but who romney needs to turn out in the general election. jon: generally, in the most elections republicans have enjoyed an advantage when it comes to perception on national security issues. do you see that being the case this time around? >> well, polling indicates right now that president obama has an advantage on national security issues. you see the obama campaign and the president himself in official appearances trying to drive that home by doing things that his critics say are spiking the football. in ordering the death of, the killing of osama bin laden. so i think the administration on balance holds an edge here, and we also have to realize that economic issues far overshadow

foreign policy issues in voters' minds. but we will hear some things about foreign policy defense issues about the threat that looms now sequestration of cutting defense spending vastly below what defense secretary leon panetta has said is a safe level. we're hear more of that in the campaign. jon: michael barone, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. jenna: governor mitt romney gets ready to hold a rally in michigan. his first visit to the state he once called home since he racked up a primary win there back in february. but he could face some steep challenges in this state come november. we're going to talk a little bit more about this with chief political correspondent carl cameron who's live in washington, and before we get to michigan, carl, romney finally gets rick santorum's endorsement last night, and this has sort of been shrugged off like no big deal, but based on your reporting, how do you see this? >> reporter: well, it's certainly a big deal. it's one thing that both romney

and the republican party have been waiting for. the fact that it happened with an e-mail last night at about 11:00 seemed low key, and perhaps deliberately so, and that has a lot of tongues wagging. santorum wrote a letter to his supporters, and in that letter mr. santorum did give his endorsement, and he rattled off a whole list of things he and romney discussed last friday when they met outside pittsburgh. in the letter, santorum said and i quote: >> reporter: so there's the endorsement. that's it, not a lot of fanfare and not a lot of news as a consequence, but that doesn't mean santorum and romney won't campaign together, santorum urged romney to fill his campaign with earnest conservatives to make sure that serious conservatives and tea

partiers have a voice in his campaign, and santorum hopes in the white house in the romney white house. jenna: there's critics everywhere, so no style points for santorum, but the endorsement is there. so quickly to michigan now, this is a state that the president won in the 2008, a very big, important state. what are some of the dynamics for romney ahead, and what will it take to really reclaim that for the gop? >> reporter: he's exceedingly well known there, of course, he was born and raised there. his late father, george, ran for president back in '68 and is still renowned as one of michigan's more popular governors. romney has critics in michigan, particularly on the democratic left and but also in the auto industry. he argues instead of a government takeover, what he wanted is what he calls a managed bankruptcy, and he argued that's ultimately what happens, so he deserves credit for it. democrats say, no, no, no. there are about nine or ten true

battle ground swing states, michigan is still leaning blue. unemployment's 3.5 -- 8.5% there, that's higher than the national average, so romney's hoping he can take his native state away from democrats, and that would certainly make it easier for him to meet the 270 electoral college votes. but right now it's trending more towards obama, so mr. romney hopes to make the president spend money and time in the michigan. jenna: all right, carl. we'll continue to watch it. thank you very much. jon: did you know the u.s. postal service is losing $25 million a day? not just pieces of mail, $25 million. now looks like you, the taxpayer, could wind up footing the bill thanks to a new measure approve inside the senate. plus, a john edwards corruption trial, a key campaign staffer heads to the stand with some potentially damaging testimony against the former democratic presidential candidate. we are live at the courthouse next. [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol

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jon: right now testimony resuming in the john edwards corruption trial. expected on the stand, his former speech writer, wendy button. expected to testify that the former presidential candidate knew about nearly a million dollars provided by wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress. jonathan serrie live outside the courthouse in greensboro, north carolina, now. jonathan? >> reporter: hi, jon. well, wendy button is that speech writer who helped john edwards draft a public statement in 2009 in which he admitted his extramarital affair that resulted in rielle hunter's pregnancy. the prosecution is likely to ask button about any statements edwards made during that time period which would indicate he was aware nearly $1 million from two wealthy donors was being used to keep his pregnancy mistress in hiding. but the estate lawyer for one of those donors testified his

client, rachel "bunny" mellon considered edwards a personal friend and was responding to a request for funds to help with an unspecified personal issue. mellon considered her donations to not be campaign contributions. she wasn't interested in being named secretary of state or body, it was the person that interested her. another witness, tim tobin, just wrapped up cross-examination by the defense. yesterday tobin told prosecutors about a meeting he had with edwards in 2008 in which the former presidential candidate discussed funding and advocacy group for the poor. according to tobin, edwards said he had a friend, mrs. mellon, who had great wealth. it would be a chip shot for her to endow that foundation with $50 million. but tobin said a year later he had another meeting with john edwards in which edwards denied that he had initiated the $50

million request to bunny mellon, instead saying it was andrew young, accusing his aide of trying to bilk the wealthy heiress out of $50 million. jon, back to you. jon: fascinating courtroom drama. thanks very much, jonathan serrie. jenna: for more on this, lis wiehl, a fox news legal analyst joins us along with jennifer bonn jean -- bonn gene, a criminal defense attorney. a lot of different theories, ladies, about what went on. are we anywhere closer to convicting edwards of anything? >> yes, jenna. the speech writer, remember, she worked for john edwards, so she's someone who was an employee of john edwards, a believer in john edwards, and she's coming forward and saying, hey, he told me this, he told me a lie, he told me to perpetuate this lie out there. that's going to resonate with the jurors. jenna: but, jennifer, if he knew about the money but thought it was just perm -- >> exactly. jenna: is it that big of a deal?

>> this witness is not going to advance the prosecution's cause here because they have to prove more than john edwards knew money was going to hide this affair. they have to prove that john edwards believed that money, um, thought of that money as campaign money, that he was trying to avoid campaign finance laws, not that it was simply personal money being donated to help him hide an affair from his family. and the, and the lawyer, the estate lawyer for bunny mellon got on the stand and said exactly that. so the prosecution is not really doing a great job -- jenna: lis? >> it doesn't matter what bunny mellon thought, it matters what edwards thought. >> exactly. >> elizabeth edwards knew about the affair, knew her husband was cheating on her. there was nothing trying to keep that private anymore. it was out there. so the only reason to keep that money going was to keep his campaign going. that's why the money was

funneled there. jenna: well, we all wish we had friends that would offer us such a great amount of money just in case we had a problem, right, ladies? [laughter] >> illegal, jenna. jenna: i'm not running for office. [laughter] real quick here, one of the big questions as we're watching what the prosecution's going to be doing over the next couple days, do they need to put rhode island island -- rielle hunter on the stand? lis, do you think they need her? >> i don't think they need her, i would put her on very gently and say you loved him, you would do anything for him, you knew exactly what was going on, you wanted this campaign to continue, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you? i'd lead her down that path, and she's going to say, yes, yes, yes. i would almost declare a hostile witness, in other words, a prosecution witness that is hostile to my case, so she has to answer those cross-examination questions. jenna: jen, 30 seconds. >> there's no upside to putting rielle hunter on, and the prosecution is going to lose her because the defense is going to turn her into a defense witness.

i highly suspect she would get on the stand and say i don't know anything about that money. that money went to andrew young, it didn't go to me. and, you know, the prosecution has spent the entire trial portraying her as a lunatic. you know your case is in trouble when you're ready to put on a lunatic as your witness. jenna: we'll see how the jury would take her, obviously, with some of the theories that have happened and her perception in the press and otherwise, those might be tough to get around. glad you guys are sticking around, because we have another interesting case coming up. jon: exactly right. will joran van der sloot face justice in the u.s.? that's the question right now inside a courtroom in peru. a live report on where he's headed after the break. and, first, it was detroit then struggling homeowners, now the postal service might be getting a bailout, and guess who pays for it? that's coming up. copd makes it hard to breathe,

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jenna: well, the senate recently approving a bill that's being called a massive bailout for the postal office, one that will put u.s. taxpayers on the hook for its losses. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles. if it's our money, does that mean there's no lines when you go to the post office? >> reporter: no. i'll give you the big picture. mail volume and the revenues are down, that means the post office is losing money, a lot of it. so the choice is, do you close buildings and lay off workers to reduce costs or bail it out with taxpayer money? ♪ got to get the money through, pony express. >> reporter: a lot's changed. today mail increasingly arrives like this. >> you've got mail. >> reporter: and because of it, the u.s. postal service is broke. >> if post office was a bid, it

would be in bankruptcy. it's insolvent. >> reporter: today the postal service loses $25 million a day. contrary to conventional wisdom, however, it does not receive a federal subsidy. that may be changing. >> today we took a very important first step to save an american institution. >> reporter: the u.s. senate passed a $34 billion bailout bill last month that actually forces the postmaster to accept taxpayer money for jobs he doesn't need and buildings he doesn't want. the bill prohibits the service from closing 250 mail processing centers and 3,000 mostly rural post offices. republicans like that. the subsidy also fully funds the union retirement fund. democrats like that. who's not happy? well, congressmen like republican dennis raz -- ross who says taxpayers should not be forced to sustain a business

model that went out of business long ago. >> if we don't cut it, are we willing to borrow more money from china to fund it? >> reporter: so to find out how much the senate bill costs, log on to foxnews.com/yourmoney and check out the taxpayer calculator. if you make $30-$50,000, that 34 billion will cost you about $55. if you earn $100-$200,000, your share is about $400, and if you're in the top tax bracket, you're going to spend about $4,000 a year just on that bailout bill. there's a competing bill in the house, jenna, that would allow the agency to close offices and stop saturday service, and that would basically mean a loan and not a handout from taxpayers. that is the fight. back to you. jenna: yeah. we'll see which option makes it. william, thank you very much. jon: a new push to extradite joran van der sloot, the last person seen with natalee holloway before she disappeared

more than five years ago. now he's facing charges of extortion. will he face justice in the u.s.? a live report on that legal battle ahead. plus, wisconsin governor scott walker faces a recall. a live report as democrats consider a challenger. and a very special guest tonight on hannity, you can see governor mitt romney joining sean, 9 p.m. eastern time. check it out. [ male announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin, designed for many of men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage.

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. >> reporter: even if they allow joran van der sloot to go to the u.s. to face an extortion trial he still has to finish out his 20-year-old term in peru first. joran van der sloot is of course the 24-year-old tkoufp man who is the chief suspect in the disappearance of natalee holloway on the island of aruba in 2005. he was the last person seen with her leaving a bar e. wa bar. he was detained twice by police but never charged for that murder. he has been indicted on two koufpbts extortion. he received $25,000 from the

holloway family in exchange for what he said would be information about natalee holloway. he provided no information, but he did use that $25,000 to travel to peru, and to enter a poker tournament and that's where he met the 21-year-old stephany flores and murdered her that night in peru exactly knife years to the day when natalee holloway went missing. jenna, back to you. jenna: lots of twists and turns to this story. steve, thank you very much. we have more on this now. jon: let's bring back lis wiehl, a fox news only lis and federal prosecutor. bon jean is a federal attorney. they wanted to put joran van der sloot on trial in this country in connection with the natalee holloway case. they have never had the evidence to do this. but they do have the extortion charge. do you think it's likely that peru would be like lee t lee to give him up to face trial here.

>> absolutely. we have extradited from here from this country to stand trial in peru. the butcher of andes is one, for example. he will have to come back here and face extortion charges, do whatever time he's going to do here, probably not that much, but at least give the holloway family finality, closure to let that man be here, stand trial in this country, in alabama, to face them. because he took $25,000 from them, jon, for what? bogus information that he used to then go to peru and kill that poor girl. jon: i'm sure what disappoints them is that he promised them information which turned out to be bogus. that's what they really wanted out of all of this. jennifer i wonder if in some ways this guy seems like a master manipulator. i wonder in some ways if he's hoping for this to allow him to work out a deal to serve his sentence out in this country. peruvian prisons are nasty places compared to prisons in

this country. >> that's right. i would not want to be in a peruvian jail, and i think joran van der sloot would much rather be in the united states. i don't think peru is going to agree with that. they said he can come here, once he has served his entire 28-year sentence here in peru. you remember there is a very prominent family member, the father of the victim, and i highly suspect that he would have a great deal of influence on that decision, at least behind the scenes. it's important to remember even if he comes here to face charges on extortion the prosecution still has to prove that crime, the crime of extortion. and while it may be a vehicle to allow the holloway family to discuss the issues related to their daughter's disappearance, they still have to pror tha prove that particular cry. it woul particular crime.

>> he new their daughter was missing. he promised them information that he could not give. he gave them bogus information. >> there has to be a threat involved, extortion requires that there ab threat involved. >> the threat is he promised him information. >> that is not a threat. >> didn't give it to them and told them -- it's not just simply a trerbgts it can also be, i'm going to give you something, i'm going to give you something, that is a back-ended threat. i'm going to help you find your daughter. >> it's a reprehensible thing that he did but it still has to involve a threat of harm in order to get money and it's note cleanot clear to me that that happened. i'm raising that as ha possible concern. jon: what about this aspect of the story. he used that $25,000 it is believed to go to peru where he ultimately murdered stephany flores. does anyone who gave him that money, and there were reports initially that it was the f.b.i.'s money, does the provider of that money in any

way face any su culpability in the death. >> not at all. they were only trying to find natalee holloway. and extortion? yes it was. give him money so he would lead them to the body or anything else. they have no liability there. they were only trying to do the right thing, jon. jon: jennifer, your take is if he comes to this country to serve time there is nothing in it for him except bad news, more -- the potential of more prison time. >> i don't believe that it's going to allow him to avoid the hard time he's going to be serving in a peruvian jail. jon: good. >> that is as it should be. but i do believe that the prosecution will have better luck potentially charging him with wire fraud rants extortion. either way as long as he gets some indictment here that he has to face i think that is a good way for the holloway family. >> for the family. jon: as you said if he faces a full 28 years in a peruvian jail, well he may not live to

see the end of those 28 years. we'll see what happens. again, thank you both. jennifer bon jean and lis wiehl. jenna: this is a big political story stateside. five candidates facing off in a primary for the right to challenge republican governor scott walker in a recall election on june 5th. mike tobin is live in milwaukee with more on this story. mike, we said five candidates. any indications on who the candidate will be, the candidate? >> reporter: well, wisconsin republicans are operating on the idea that when all the ballots are counted today the candidate governor walker will face is milwaukee meijer tom barrett. he is seen as the establishment democrat. when the conservative groups are putting out their attack ads they are pinpointing mayor barrett. >> they are focusing exclusively

on me because they know he can't defend his record on jobs. >> reporter: the other top democrat is kathleen faulk. she's been a one issue candidate promising to repeal changes that governor walker made to collective bargaining. she generally trails by double digits in the polls, jenna. jenna: you had a front row seat to all the bitter passion that involved wisconsin. now that you're back does it seemed like it has calmed down a little bit? do you see a shift in the public right now, or is it more of the same? >> reporter: it's all very emotional and it's only expected to get more emotional and more bitter, and that is because west requires so evenly divided and so entrenched. what you need to do at this point if you want to win this race is motivate your base out to the polls. how do you do that? you poke the bear. you have to get them even more emotional and angry so there is not a chance that they won't show up on election day. >> what a campaign wants to do

is it wants to average state its base. it wants to inflame their supporters to the point that their voters want to run to the polling place with their hair on fire yelling and screaming, i have to vote. >> reporter: and this is really shaping up as an ideological referendum that can carry momentum into november. with that in mind you can kind of think of today, jenna as the warm up act. jenna: we will, mike, thank you. jon: bank of america will bin reworking terms for severe underwater mortgages as part of a $25 billion fraud settle the. but who will qualify? some answers coming up.

. jon: here are a few stories we are following on "happening now." federal investigators identify problems in the domestic airport

screening process. according to a report from the department of homeland security. the issue lies with full-body scanners. the report, however, doesn't make public what is wrong, it only makes recommendations on how to fix the process. and some doctors have a warning for president obama, stop eating unhealthy food. a washington-based physicians group is calling for an executive order to ban the president from eating food like hot dogs and hamburgers during campaign stops. jenna: i wonder how that would workout. jon: seriously. jenna: wow. jon: highway deaths declining last year, their lowest rate in 60 years. the sharpest drop in the new england states. jenna: one of the nation's largest banks set to start reworking terms for homeowners who are behind on their mortgages and owe more than those homes are actually worth. as part of that $25 billion mortgage fraud settlement that we covered so extensively for you a few months ago, there are some questions, though, about exactly who will qualify. the devil is in the details.

elizabeth mcdonald with the fox business network is here with more. liz, who we know who exactly will qualify? >> reporter: we do know jenna. there are a lot of limitations on this. the name of the game for the b of a borrower is how do i get in on this action? they are going to target 200,000 borrowers. the average reduction principle will be about 150,000. here is the deal, jenna, you will not get this deal if your loan is owned by fanny mae and freddie mac. there is a big fight in congress, in washington d.c. over fanny mae and freddie mac doing principle reductions on loans that may not happen for some time. so your loan has to be owned by bank of america. we've got other limitations too. take a look at what we found out from bank of america here. basically you must owe more on the mortgage than the house is worth. you must be at least two months late on your payments, and your mortgage payment has to be 25%

or more than your household income. so what is going on here, jenna is that bank of america is targeting the no money down payment loans. so these are the severely underwater borrowers that they are targeting. again, your loan has to be owned by bank of america, not freddie mac or fanny mae, and most mortgages out there are owned by freddie mac or fanny mae. jenna: especially those loans do we have any estimates on how many people are actually going to be able to benefit from this based on some of those restrictions, basically you have to stop paying, you have to know all these things about your loan, and the upward and downward price of your home as well. it's a lot. >> reporter: it's a lot. here is the deal. there are millions of borrowers who are severely underwater because they took out the subprime loans, negative am more tiization loans, the loans are basically no money down. what bank of america is trying to do is drive the principle balance of those underwater

mortgages down to get this. 100% of the valve the home. that tells you where we were in the bubble where people were borrowing more than the house was worth. can you get this deal? you may not be able to until d.c. resolves the fight over whether or not freddie mac and fanny mae will be principle reductions. barney frank has got even involved. the overseer for freddie mac and fanny mae have gotten involved. they say it will widen and lengthen the pipeline into the u.s. treasury from those two. they cost taxpayers, $150 billion or more already. if you're a borrower and you're underwater with the bank of america, you may not get the deal, back to you, jenna. jenna: what a maze, with all that we are on the hook for with fannie mae and freddie mac. thank you so much. more own this as we watch it, jon. jon: more chaos on the streets of greece, that country hit hard

by the euro zone debt crisis. what just happened that is making things even worse.

jenna: fox news alert. we'll take you out to boston where some parts ever that city are experiencing a pretty major power outage in the neighborhood of boston's back bay. apparently the fire department there has ordered evacuations. this power outage affects approximately 13,500 customers. there is some talk of it being connected to the scotia street substation in boston. apparently a fire occurred there in march. there are some murmurs that maybe something is going on there. if you're in boston and in the back bay there is no power

there. the fire department is on the scene trying to figure out how to get it back on. evacuations ordered by the fire department. the source of the outage not immediately clear. we'll keep you updated as we learn more. stpho: as seven minutes before the top of the hour we take you to lancing, michigan. the presumptive republican nominee, mitt romney is enjoying a homecoming of sorts where his father was governor, and where he grew up. he will be shaun hannity's guest tonight on hannity, 7:00pm eastern time. check it out. jenna: it's been a rough day for the u.s. markets. stocks are sharply lower today as a wave of political uncertainty rattles europe. take a look at the dow, one of the biggest declines we've seen in the past month. investors are keeping a close eye on greece. that is ground zero in the looming debt crisis and greg burke as more on this from rome for us today,. >> reporter: that's right. you know, blame it on european you'll probably be right.

europe is in trouble, not just the usual suspects, although the usual suspects are a problem, no bigger suspect than greece. not a lot of optimism coming out of greece these days as the head of the radical left coalition tries to put together a government after those elections on sunday. the odds of that happening are not very likely. this will lead to confusion at best, and maybe total chaos. now greeks are tired austerity and they voted that way, the cuts that have been imposed on them in exchange for some $310 billion in bailouts from the european union, stocks down across europe. in greece lowest level in 20 years, the stocks today. greece is certainly the weak link. the question is how long it will last in the euro zone. in france especially the big question, president-elect francois hollande will be taking over in a week from nicolas sarkozy. he says they have to do more on

growth, how do you do that with germany looking over your soldier. italy, silvio pwe berlesconi is gone, and the first cracks are beginning to show in italy. jenna. jenna: so different dynamics to take in. we'll see what the next weeks and months look like. thank you very much. jon: how are you feeling about this economy? we have brand-new poll numbers from scott rasmussen about how you fellow americans are thinking. coming up those numbers and how they could have a major impact on the white house race. wake up!

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jenna: for all sports fans out there there's nothing like high heat to the rib phos a warm welcome to the big leagues, philly's pitcher cole handle, learning his punishment for

plucking bryce hearp. rick, the phillies! >> and he was one of my favorite and five games. that's what he's got. not really much of a punishment. starting pitchers only play once every five days but hey, hammill is being fined, too, we don't know how much. most of it is symbolic, he drills bryce harper with a 93-mile per hour pitch in the lower back, harper taking his base, eventually moving to third and then stealing home. there's an unwritten code in baseball that dictates that when pitchers sometimes purposely throw at opposing hitters they do it because that's just what they do and it's not only unwritten, it's usually unspoken. players don't usually admit to doing it but hammill did, reporting he was trying to hit harper. he says he was continuing a tradition that players have to earn their respect.