>> steve: that was great. >> gretchen: good job and a copy of his graduation speech will be available on our web site. i'm going there to print it. thanks. >> steve: we're going to do the after the show show there start not guilty two seconds. see you tomorrow. bill: morning everybody! president obama stance on gay marriage, will it cost him in november? brand new polls suggest it might. good morning everybody, i'm bill hemmer, it's tuesday here in new york, welcome to "america's newsroom", how you feel something martha: good morning in "america's newsroom", i'm feeling great, how you doing? bill: tehrik. martha: good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. this is a "new york times"-cbs news poll and it suggests one in four registered voters say they're less likely to vote for president obama because of this whole same sex marriage issue, a majority though say that in the end it will not affect your overall vote. bill: charlie hurt out of washington, d.c., good morning. what's that number tell us

there? >> it tells us that -- we already knew that president obama was fighting for the independents, some of whom were so crucial to the election four years ago, but what that suggests now is if you have as many as 25 percent of voters saying it makes them less likely to vote for him, that's eating into that independent vote. and he's going to have -- it's an additional hurdle that he's got to get over to win those people back. bill bi-specifically -- >> not what he needs now. bill: specifically on those independents this is what the surveyed showed, that 22 percent of independents are now less likely to vote for him, 14 percent say they are more likely. that's an 8 percent split in a country that's right down the middle charlie. >> and that is a real problem with the group that went overwhelmingly in favor of president obama four years ago. you know, this was the guy that talked about this is not a red america, not a blue america, it's the united states of america. this guy appealed to so many -- even appealed to a lot of republicans, but especially

independents, by not getting into the diadviceive sort of -- divisive sort of issues like this that i think this whole issue has laid bare, and caused -- it's a -- and we're talking, you know, six months before the election, he's already grappling with this as a major problem right now. bill: you wonder what sort of hangover linger goes along with this decision. however, also in that poll, this is what it found. of the americans who asked whether or not -- this was all a political -- asked whether or not this was all a political decision, 67 percent say it was grounded in politics and of that 67 percent, 86 percent are republicans and 70 percent of independents, they see it that way. >> yeah, bill. to me that's the big takeaway from this poll. the vast majority of voters saw this for exactly what it was, and the administration basically admits this, that they made the decision, it was a political decision, and they made it literally

all within the same week of having this big hollywood fund-raiser that raised 15 plus million dollars, and he -- and president obama even acknowledged that he at some point was going to make this decision, make this public announcement, before his election, he just wasn't going to do it right then, but all of it just -- it sounds very calculated, tkpwaepbd, that's not the way president obama won, four years ago. he won by saying he was going to do a different kind of politics. bill: in the meantime we're going to see mitt romney later today in ohio talk about governor spending and debt and he'll try and pivot off of this into a different direction. charlie, thank you for your time, out of washington. martha: talk about the election, he is slowing down he says but not bowing out, texas congressman ron paul announces he will stop campaigning in the 11 states with upcoming gop primaries because he's simply out of money. paul says he will seek delegates at state level party conventions and in a statement, dr. paul said

this, quote, i am so proud of what we accomplished. we will not stop until we have restored what once made america the greatest country in human history. how about this from the golden state? not all that godden at the moment. in what he's calling a reckoning for california and america. governor jerry brown proposes some $8 billion in some painful budget cuts, and warns that $6 billion more could be slashed if voters don't approve his tax hikes. >> we didn't lose any money, we just didn't get it. when you make a prediction about the capitalist system, it is an estimate. a guesstimate. there is no certainties. i know you would like an exact prediction of the business cycle. it doesn't exist. wait. do you know the difference between saying hey, i think i'm going to get a bonus next year, and wrong? or as you walk to work, you lost your wallet? and $200 is gone. so one is a loss of actual dollars.

and the other is coming out inaccurate on the predictions you make of a complex global flow of capital all over the world. martha: they counted on a whole lot of revenue that didn't come into the coffers basically and we're joined by stuart varney, anchor of varney & company. very fired up governor jerry brown there. what went wrong in california, stuart? >> he delivered a huge shock when he raised the decifit estimate from $9 billion, to $16 billion. bottom line martha is governor brown's policy and polices his predecessors have flat out failed, they've consistently raised taxes to try to bring in more revenue, the extra revenue didn't appear, they have massive decifits, and in the process of raising taxes, they pushed individuals, lots of middle class people, and businesses, out of the state. those productive people no longer pay taxes in that state. so down go the revenues. up goes the decifit. and you know, martha, it is the people of california who

are paying the price for this. governor brown is introducing massive service cuts, 2 1/2 billion dollars coming out of home services for the elderly, a higher copay for medicaid, $800 million out of the welfare to work program, a four-day work week for state workers. they're paying the price for this consistent failure of policy. martha: indeed they are, and he's making the global comparison to california's situation. let's listen to a little more of what governor brown said: >> take away our -- take a look at what's going on in greece, take a look at 100,000 people marching in spain. once you have it, it's much more painful to give it up than if you don't get what you desire. and that's why it becomes very important to block new spending proposals. it is difficult, and that's just life. martha: so how much further behind is california than those countries that he mentioned, stuart? >> well, he's responding to the constant comparison of

california to greece or spain, and he's right. once you give an entitlement, how do you take it back? voters won't stand for it. the problem is that governor brown is not talking about entitlement reform. all he's talking about is cuts. if you have a reform of entitlements, you've got a plan going forward to bring it into line. that's what california needs, it's what europe needs, it's what america needs. martha: yeah, well, that's what paul ryan would argue, he's trying to put in place, but it's pretty tough sledding. as governor brown makes a point, once you give it to people, it's tough to have it taken away. stuart, thank you very much, we'll see you on the business network in a little while. bill i think he said okay. a lot of people learning that lesson. not just here but everywhere right now. california is often a trend setter and here's why, it's the largest economy in the u.s., ninth largest in the world. california is 11 percent unemployment rate, the third highest in america, well above the national average.

speaking of unemployment, california's jobless rate has not been below 10 percent since january of '09. more than three years ago. that's brutal. martha: let's take a look at this element of the economy this morning. we've got brand new numbers that were just released. the commerce department reports retail sales barely in step in the month of april. they edged up .1%, 1/10 of a percent, the smallest gain we've seen since december. so many economists predicted a bigger gain, they were looking for .2%, 2/10 of a percent, but they got half of that. bill: new details now in the search for isabel cellis, tucson police, in arizona, clearing up some of the information about the i missing girl's father who's been barred from any contact with isabel's two older brothers. authorities say this is not -- this does not mean sergio is a suspect. >> a volume tar agreement was reached between child protective services and the parents to restrict access

or voluntarily for sergio to give some space and distance away from the two older children in the cellis family. we really can't talk about other details about that at this point. but we also wanted to emphasize, this doesn't mean that we have settled on a path with this investigation. bill: in a moment here, you're going to hear the newly released 911 calls from the night isabel disappeared, apparently released by the family and encouraged to be there on behalf of the public. you'll hear those in a matter of moments in "america's newsroom". martha: a long time security adviser at one of america's busiest airports was just arrested for using the i.d. of a dead person to get his job. authorities saying that the man was supervising "checkpoint"s at newark international airport, he called himself jerry thomas but he was actually an illegal immigrant from nigeria. he had used the name and i.d. of a murder victim to hide his status for all these 20 years, and get this, he was able to pass

background checks for those two decades. his arrest came on the same day of a federal report that found that tsa had bungled its handling of security breaches at the airport. bill: got a big long name, but the first name is bimbo. martha: and he's long gone. bill: appropriately named in this case! that's just some of the things we're watching. at the moment, romney camp responding to an attack by the white house. why they say governor romney's past as a businessman is a major plus for america, and not a minus. we'll show you that. martha: just weeks after she left the court in tears, john edwards' oldest daughter is expected to testify today in his corruption case. we will hear from kate edwards. plus, a brand new look at the woman behind this case, rielle hunter. we are live in tkpwrao*epbs borough. bill: another big day in that trial. also a massive wildfire threatening this historic mining town.

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march well, it became a sore spot for the obama administration and now it is up for sale. solyndra is said to be very close to landing a buyer for their 400,000 square foot facility in california the failed solar panel maker spent $300 million building that plant from the ground up. it's a state of the art facility. president obama once famously toured it and touted the work being done there. a federal investigation continues into how solyndra burned through half a billion dollars in tax tax -- taxpayer money before going belly up. bill: all they need is more space, huh? >> mitt romney firing back at the president now, his ad claiming that bayne capital, the company that romney used to head up, killed jobs in

america. here is part of that romney response: >> mitt romney's private sector leadership team stepped in. building a dream with over 6000 employees today. >> if it wasn't for a company like steel dynamics, this county wouldn't have a lot. >> american workers in a small town. proving that anything is possible in america. bill: so it is game on, serve and return, an romney now in the battleground state of iowa today saying the president with his economic record should not throw stones. a few moments ago i talked with a republican governor out of louisiana, that's bobby jindual, now a romney supporter: >> governor bobby jindual, good morning to you in baton rouge, good to have you back in "america's newsroom". >> good morning, bill, thank you for having me. >> you're welcome. what do you think of the short clipy just played there with what appears to be the romney team and their response to the hits on bayne capital? >> well, two things. one, i think it goes to two themes of this campaign,

one, it contrasts the fact that president obama hasn't run anything before he was elected president of the united states, never ran a state, a business, never ran a lemonade stand. this job is too important for on the job training. in contrast mitt romney has been a successful governor, a successful businessman, he's got the executive experience. but it also goes to a second point. president obama simply cannot run on his record. the reality is 23 million americans, unemployed, underemployed, simply have left the work force. president obama cannot ask the american people are you better off than you were four years ago. he is going to have to savagely attack mitt romney. we've seen the start of that this week and now you're seeing mitt romney respond which i think is a very good thing. bill: there are republicans who say they weren't quite sure that mitt romney and his team were prepared for i guess the onslaught against bayne. and this goes back over his political history for the past 18 years. but were you one of them who was concerned about that? >> well, this is nothing new. ted kennedy has tried this,

it was tried 234 the republican primaries. the reality is there are 20 weeks left in this campaign. every week you're going to see a new attack out of the obama white house searchly because he can't run on his record. president obama promised several things: he promised he would cut the decifit in half by the end of his first term, not going to happen, four years of trillion dollars deficits in a row, he promised if we passed the stimulus unemployment would be below 8 percent, not going to happen, 39 months in a low, 8 percent plus unemployment, he promised to reform the entitlement programs, a plan to save social security and medicare, not going to happen, he promised if we passed omabacare he would reduce health insurance premiums $2500 for the average american family, again, not going to happen, premiums going up, not down. you've got broken promise after broken promise, so last week it was what did mitt romney do in high school this, week, bayne capital, next week, who knows, maybe they'll attack something else. president obama is going to have to distort his record. bill: that's the way it works but last time we

talked you were a rick perry guy. >> absolutely. bill: and now you talk as if you're a mitt romney's camp and you are mentioned to be a possibility on his ticket. do you help him you believe as a v.p.? >> look, this isn't about who's vp. it's about the vision going forward for america. i'm firmly in the mitt romney camp because we have two choices in this election. it's not about dogs, high school, it's not about pwa*epb, it's about the future of america. president obama is already increasing the federal government to 24 percent of our economy, we're heading towards the european socialist type governments we see in greece and in other countries that are nearing bankruptcy. you contrast that with mitt romney, offering a limited role for the federal government, a reininvigorated private sector economy. this selection not about qtv ads, about who looks best on tv, it's about different versions for america. i'm supporting mitt romney because this is about preserving the american dream for our children. president obama has had four years, we're not better off

than four years ago. we can't afford another trillion dollars of debt, we can't afford another four years of president obama. bill on that point, when it comes to debt, in the past point -- last question i have with you, he's in iowa talking about debt spaepbding. how powerful an argument can he make when contrasting his record with president obama's? >> well, look, i think he can show in massachusetts, when he was governor, the unemployment rate was below the national average, he can show that her capita grew faster than the national average, he can also provide his detailed plans to show he wants to return discretionary spending back to the pre-obama levels. he also wants to cap the federal government spending at 20 percent. he's got a very detailed plan. president obama has got four years of broken promises. we have seen what when years of president obama means. it means spending money we can't afford. mitt romney has offered a very detailed plan to shrink government and grow the private sector economy. bill: and all the polls are so close, i assume you agree with the polls, this nation is split 50-50 and it become very tight come november.

governor, thank you for your time today, okay? >> thank you very much. bill: bob gentlemen jindal in baton rouge, louisiana. martha: coming up, we are expecting fireworks, everybody, in the john edwards courtroom, his daughter, kate, expected to take the stand moments from now. we are live in north carolina. next. bill also, a massive sinkhole, forcing a family in florida to get out of dodge. check that thing out. >> she pulled open the curtains and there its, my first words at her, i looked at her and said do you think it's time to move? [laughter] yeah! if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. yeah! yeah! noooo. yeah! finding you the perfect place is all we do.

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bill here we go, 23 minutes past the hour, oil prices hitting a five month low, dipping below 95 buck as barrel, one cause, mounting fears about europe's debt crisis and possible exit by greece out of the eurozone.

facebook posting its stock price -- rather, boosting it by about six bucks a share ahead its initial public offering, its ipo on friday. that puts the new value of that social networking giant at more than $100 billion. folks near mexico city keeping a watch on this massive volcano that could be about to blow, officials there making sure people know about the evacuation route to get out in case you need to. scientists using that equipment down there to moderate it and sending out minute by minute updates. you know, oil is down below 95 bucks. i mean, i don't know what you filled up -- it's still north of $4 a gallon here in new york. martha: it's better than it was. it's not a triple digit number when i go from zero to full. bill a little under $100. martha: exactly. so it's a brand new day today, folks, in the john edwards campaign finance trail, brand new video of the former presidential candidate arriving for report. -- for court.

take a look at that shot on the long list of witnesses on the defense team. they're expected to call his daughter kate, you can see on the lefthand side of that picture, and possibly we may hear from john edwards himself. this is expected to be a riveting day in this testimony. *pb jonathan serrie is watching it all live, he's outside the courthouse in greensboro, north carolina. jonathan, what do we expect kate edwards who's been right by her father's side throughout this entire process, what do we expect her to say? >> reporter: it will certainly be interesting. kate edwards may not have firsthand knowledge of the financial dealings that went into hiding her father's mistress, but she can personally testify to the emotional impact that the affair and the botched coverup had on her family. as someone who's been by her father's side every day of this trial, she may be able to paint a more sympathetic picture of john edwards than some of the previous witnesses. now, this comes a day after the judge blocked testimony

from a key defense witness. former federal election commission chairman scott thomas was prepared to testify that he did not consider nearly $1 million in secret funds to hide edwards' pregnant mistress to be campaign contributions. in a preview of his testimony, without the jury present, thomas said, quote, in my view, it's a fairly clearcut case. these are obviously intensely personal kinds of expenses. these expenses would have remained, irrespective of the campaign. now, judge katharine eagle sided with the prosecution to bar this specific testimony, saying it would be more appropriate as a closing argument for the defense. lead defense attorney abby lowell was not too happy with the judge's decision and suggested it might be overturned on appeal. martha. martha: very interesting. because that really is so pivotal to this whole case, the decision will whether or not this was money that was going into the campaign or whether it's personal and would have happened

regardless of whether he was running for vice president. so what is the defense going to do to get around that set back? >> well, yesterday, they did what they could to sort of get around that. they called laura hag arrested -- haggard, the former cfo for edwards' presidential campaign in 2008, she discussed a federal election commission, fec, audit of the campaign which determined there were no excessive contributions and did not require reporting the donations supporting edwards' mistress and child. to underscore the personal nature of some of the expenditures, defense lawyer abby lowell asked haggard whether the campaign would have to file with the fec for any expenses covering an ob/gyn appointment for rielle hunter or her child, haggard said that would be a personal use, we are not allowed to pay for personal expense, lowell followed up, if something is not a contribution, are there limits on what that person can spend, haggard replied

no, there are no limits, lowell asked if something not a contribution, does it have to be on an fec report, haggard's reply, no. martha: very interesting. jonathan, thank you very much. it's going to be a big day in that courtroom. we'll get back to it as news breaks out of there. in the meantime, we have a picture of rielle hunter, who, of course, is at the center of this entire issue, and that's the most recent picture that we've seen of her. she's known as someone of a loose canon and that is one of the reasons she may not be seen on the stand there. that is her daughter. bill: i think the first time we ever saw her daughter was when she was going in for a court appearance. remember that day when she went in with her attorneys? martha: she was about a year old. bill: so, hundreds running out of their homes as raging flames burn near a popular tourist spot. where that's happening and why forecasters warn it could get a lot worse than this. martha: president obama doubling down, calling for a repeal of the defense

against marriage act. bob and andrea, coming up on that, right after this in "america's newsroom", on a tuesday. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day

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bill: they are in a race against time in arizona, firefighters battling a raging wildfire that's forced hundreds to get out of their homes and some of these flames are burning so

hot, the historic crown king area under mandatory evacuation, already more than 5000-acres have been charred. >> i grabbed a picture of him in case i never saw his face again, and as we turned the bend, there are flames engulfing the car. they feel horrible, they think it's all their fault and it's not their fault. it was an accident. and i hope they're listening to this right now. because it's an accident. >> luckily, for this town here, they got room -- have rooms for us, and they put us up. i miss my town. bill: you can really hear the anxiety there. forecasters warn today the hot temperatures could make it worse, and maria molina is tracking it live in our weather center. they need rain, moisture. how you doing? >> reporter: general forty it does not look like we're going to get that soon. we have low humidity and dry conditions in place and you mentioned those hot temperatures. take a look at how hot it's going to get across arizona

today, in phoenix, 106, 101 will be the high temperature in tucson and further off to the north, las vegas, we're expecting high temperatures at 98 degrees. combined with dry conditions, those hot temperatures and windy conditions, because wind gusts could gust 40 miles per hour today and you're talking about an elevator fire danger in place across portions of arizona, nevada, even portions of southern california and utah. so a wide area that does have an elevated fire danger today. and we could see more of those wildfires spreading, not just for today but over the next several days. take a look at the 5-day forecast for crown king and arizona, sunshine, warm temperatures in the 80s on wednesday and thursday, by friday and saturday, a little cooler, but those winds still gusting, over 20 miles per hour at times through saturday. so it's not looking too good, bill. bill maria. thank you. let's hope the folks that need to get out can get out in time. maria molina in our weather center. martha: all right. well, president obama,

doubling down on his support of same sex marriage, dug an appearance on "the view" saying that the federal law that defines marriage as being between a man and woman, known as doma, is unconstitutional. watch: >> the idea was well, we don't want that drifting into the federal government. and this is part of the reason why my justice department has said to the courts we don't think the defense of marriage act is constitutional. >> will you personally fight to repeal that act? >> well, look, congress is clearly on notice that i think it's a bad idea. martha: will he fight for it or not is the question there. bob beckel, former democratic campaign manager and andrea tantaros, both are cohosts of "the five", good morning. >> good morning. martha: are you surprised, bob? he stopped short. barbara walters tried to press him a couple of times and this will air later today. will you fight for it, though, will you fight to

have that declared unconstitutional and he didn't want to seem to want to go there. >> the practicality of getting that law reversed, it's senseless because you'll never get enough votes in congress to do that and going the route up to the supreme court, where this will end up, there are a number of cases working their way up, but i thought the more interesting tact yesterday, first of all, it was a good demographic for him to talk on "view" to women on this issue and younger people, perhaps, but more importantly, i think when you contrast -- he contrasted himself with mitt romney, saying romney was for a constitutional amendment to make marriage between a man and woman, and i think he wants to keep romney painted on the right, with the right social agenda, and that's a good thing to do. martha: andrea, what do you think? >> well, here's what this does. this not only rallies obama's base, which is why he's doing it, so as bob said, he's out trying to rally young people and women and gay voters. it rallies the right and that was a problem that mitt romney has, is really rallying those christian groups up and the

evangelical groups and what obama is essentially doing is not just rallying his base but the right and i think this makes the issue extremely polarize dollars. but martha, as you and bill noted earlier in the program, the polling on this issue is not playing out well for the president, so you look at independents, 22 percent of independents, one in four voters, does not agree with the president on this. i do think there's a risk of people looking at the president, if he keeps talking about this, saying he's just detached from what i'm really worried about, and that's the economy and jobs. martha: that may be the very season and that's why i cited this going into this, that he doesn't want to say i'm going to fight for this on a national level. he really has only made a statement that has really no teeth. he's just said you know, really, it should be decided by the states but this is my personal feeling about it and really goes no further on it, but i do want to pull up some of this polling because it is quite interesting, with regard to women, because we did probably several stories on "america's newsroom", and i know you guys talked about

continue "the five" as well, on how poorly mitt romney was doing on will, so you've got this decision and take a look at these new numbers, they are reversed. president obama was way ahead in april with women, and there he is now, down at 44 percent, mitt romney -- let's pull up the rest of that, mitt romney at 46 percent. so mitt romney is now ahead of the president, and we saw even more dramatic polls showing him in bad shape, bob, with females. >> let's keep in mind, this is not about a nationwide poll, this is about seven states that are going to decide this issue, and in those seven states, the issue of gay marriage falls solidly in the president's direction. it's something that those states, particularly places like ohio and michigan and wisconsin, do not like the idea of the federal government messing around in peoples' personal lives. if this defense of marriage act had any teeth to it the states that do a lot of gay marriage would have to be overturned but it doesn't. it is a right wing propaganda, piece of legislation. >> that was signed into law by bill clinton!

>> it was signed into law by bill clinton, that's exactly right, and for that reason -- it is for that reason that i think clinton made a mistake by signing it into law but let's remember, he signed it into law when he was 25, 30 percent in the polls. martha: let's remember that this poll that looks at how women are voting could be taking a lot of issues into account, it's not necessarily dealing with the same sex marriage issue, and we know that ann romney has been put out there quite prominently in recent weeks, and is there any evidence that that's working for him, andrea, or do you think it's something else? we'll get bob's thoughts. >> they're wise, michelle obama and ann romney, it's no question the women are their husband's best assets. but i think when you look 59 the top issues to women, and this bears out consistently in the polls, it's not gay marriage. women are taking on the household budgets. women are going back to work. women are concerned with jobs and the economy. they're caretaker, they're taking care of their parents, they see premiums rising. i think if he continues to push this women don't like

to see discrimination, they also look at the' and say he doesn't share my views, the slide show, the lights of julianne, martha, what woman aspire toss get a government check her whole life and raise her child alone? his view of women -- >> martha: is that still -- >> that's one of the oldest -- >> martha: quick thought in closing. >> 75 percent of the american people get a check from the government on a bailout, so i don't listen to that stuff. but the point here is that it matters in the states that are going to decide this election and there, obama has got a big advantage, and in this poll, a margin of three or four points, frankly, is probably -- probably in the south, women are 80 percent against obama and that's to be expected, the south is going to go where it's going to go, which is republican as usual. martha: i have a feeling you have a forum to continue this discussion and it continues. >> we're gonna! martha: bob beckel, andrea, thank you. bill: across the hallway, too, right? it keeps going. martha: they're everywhere! the elevator! bill: that, too. new questions over a

$6 million grant given to a certain hospital in chicago. is it because the head of that program has a very powerful golfing buddy? what we are learning about the program and the fallout, in moments. martha: and how about this? a plea to the white house, do not kill with a drone this terrorist. why would that be?

martha: the famed florida a & m marching band will not be taking to the field for at least another year. the university has just extended their suspicion after the hazing-related death of band member robert champion. the school president says it is necessary to set out new rules. >> from who participate, how they are enrolled, through how long they practice, as well as academic standards, we think that it is just so important that we have these reforms in place before the band is returned to the

field. martha: robert champion died last november. prosecutors say he was beaten so badly that he was bleeding internally. at least 11 band members are facing felony charges in his death. bill: a lot of pride in that school with that band, too. what blow that is. new questions today over a $6 million grant awarded to a project run by a close friend of the obama family. health and human services gave the grant to chicago's urban health initiative, which is run by president obama's long time friend and frequent golf buddy eric whittaker, former new york city. al fonz d 'amato is with us. good morning to you. this initiative is connected to the university of chicago medical center. michelle obama has a connection there, vallerie jarrett has a connection there, david axelrod has a history as well. i mean, on the surface, what's it look like to new. >> look, they have this

belief that out of the thousands of applicant the and i think they only took a handful, i think 26 of them, they won this on their merits. it's a lot of nonsense. it really cries out to be investigated. if you believe they won this grant without the white house saying they want this, sending the word to social services, kathleen sebelius, you'd have to believe in the tooth fairy. bill: to be clear on this, the reporting suggests there's no specific evidence that links the organization directly to the permission to award the money. the appearance, however, is it's a different thing. >> it cries out to be investigated. and really, congressman is issa, the investigation subcommittee, they should really have a hearing on this. this is the same kind of nonsense that we've seen with the energy department, where they gave $550 million, over half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money, to a corporation that went bankrupt literally weeks

afterwards, solyndra, and it just so happens that the people from solyndra were giving campaign donations to president obama and his campaign team. so i mean, do you really believe they won it on the merit? >> bill: another point here, 3000 applicants is the inform you mention, you're right about that, 26 awards were given out. that has a 99 percent failure rate. but in addition to the money that was given out, health and human services on late friday afternoon, apparently informed insurers that they are required to give credit to the health care law that was passed and signed into law in exchange for -- >> pure politics. once again, we get them to say that all of the insurance companies of america, if you're going to get back any monies, by the way, you're getting this money as a result of omabacare. now, if you really want to talk about cheap, crass

politics, that's what the white house is now de generating to. they're so desperate to get elected that it's politics chicago-style. and that's what we're seeing. bill: the mope that's given out by the way is in the form of a rebate check. on that politics, that political point now, it's an election year, the desperation would suggest what if you're right then about what they're saying about where the country is? >> they're worried the economy is not doing nearly as well as they would have you believe. the unemployment numbers that you see are really not accurate, because there have been millions of people who are no longer looking for jobs, so they're no longer counted in the unemployment rate. if you counted the people who gave up, they're desperate, they're not looking for jobs anymore, it would be well over 9 percent. not 8.2 or 8.1. bill: it is the issue in the election. we'll see how it plays out. we'll keep in touch with you okay? , senator, we'll pick up another topic next time. >> look forward to it. bill: enjoy your grandson,

all right? you got a question you want answered? we need one line, shoot me an e-mail, or twitter me, because you asked, bya. let's get them rolling. martha: what you don't want to see in your back yard, a sinkhole threatening to swallow your entire home. we'll talk to a family that had to pack up and leave after 40 years of memories there. bill: the heart wrenching 911 calls released in the disappearance of a little girl, why the call from the father is raising questions this morning. >> she's only five. please get somebody over here. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials...

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bill: when a florida couple heard what they thought was thunder, they were not expecting this. a giant sinkhole in their back yard. threatened to devour their

home in gainsville, florida, forcing them to get up and move out, the couple doing their best to keep their spirits up. have a listen: >> she pulled open the curtains and there it was, my first words to her, i looked at her and said do you think it's time to move? most of the movement has been from inside the hole, about 12 hours to get 37 years of stuff packed up, out of the house. bill: that is unbelievable. imagine having to face that. the couple is living with their son while looking for a new home. insurance is hoping to cover some of the cost, but the county says their neighbors are not in danger but the property will be condemned! forget about it. happens a lot. martha: all right. let's move to the middle east, where there is new violence, as thousands of palestinians gather to mark nocka, an annual day of protests marking israeli independence in 1948. leland vitter is streaming live from the west bank. so leland, what are you seeing in this day?

>> it has really been a long day of violence here over the west bank, especially where we're at, the kolondia checkpoint. as we look down the battlefield, if you will, you see a number of israeli soldiers up on that perch, trying to drive back the palestinian rock throwers. you also see the palestinian with a large fire there, that's to put up a smoke barrage so the israeli snipers can't see what they're shooting at. >> this is the palestinians coming to the refugee camp. you can hear the tear gas coming in from the israeli soldiers. the palestinians are here for the nokba day, which translates to the catastrophe, it was 64 years ago. i'll give you a sense of the battle situation out here. this is what the tear gas comes in, one of these grenades fired from an m-16. this is what the palestinians are throwing back, the rocks. one of these rocks hits you in the head or in the arm, thrown by a sling shot, it

could hurt an awful lot and the israelis have been trying to keep things calm as the anger in the west bank continues to heat up. why are you throwing stones? >> we don't have nothing to do, you know? we don't have guns, anything else. this is my country. i have to keep it safe. >> reporter: the israelis have know cloud the kolondia checkpoint to suspect a suspicious package put on wall. they think it may be a bomb of some type. there you have the bomb squad robots coming out to inspect it, the robots put what they think is the explosive device into the bulldozer. this is an armoured bulldozer. they feel safe enough having that drive off with this device. in the meantime, of course, the israeli soldiers are still trying to push the palestinians back and keep them from throwing rocks. right now, some of the israeli soldiers are finally able to take a break here from this continual day of rock throwing. you can see all of the rocks that came in on this position, and at one point, we were getting pelted pretty bad. i've now been told by the israeli military that indeed was what they call an

improvised grenade that was put up there. i'm told had it gone off next to somebody a. soldier, even a civilian, it most likely would have killed them. martha, as we toss it back to you in new york, the planned days of violence are certainly significant in the sense that the palestinians, if they want to, can use them to begin to launch more and more protests. ats we head into the summer, there's a lot of people saying there's enough anger here on the west bank to launch something like a third intifada where we see the popular resistance and rock throwing protests that we had in the '80s. martha: a lot of anger, indeed. leland, thank you very much. leland vitter. a volatile situation in the west bank. bill: wall street, trading for about half an hour, concerns about europe, greece, spain, italy -- >> martha: california! bull bill california, on the list goes. off in a big way yesterday but coming back today. it's early. martha: it is early. and president obama fighting to keep his job in november, and mitt romney is looking to take that job away from

him. we've got new poll numbers out there showing very interesting results. that's coming up. bill: and new fall out on this story, the j.p. morgan matter. we're back in a moment on that. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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droid does. droid with color for facebook. it's the ultimate status update. get a droid razr maxx by motorola for only $199.99. martha: it's brand new morning and we've got brand new polls to show you today, and they show mitt romney now with the edge over president obama if the election were to be held today. brand new hour starts right now in "america's newsroom" and i am martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer, morning, everybody. that polling, governor romney topping the president within three points, still within the margin of error. it has been the trend going back to january now, five months ago. martha: let's talk to ed henry, he joins us live outside of the white house this morning. so ed, when you look at the internals of this new poll, what are we learning and particularly about the independent vote? >> martha, that is a key in

this poll, because you'll remember back in 2008, a big reason why senator obama became president obama, independent voters swung to him big time, then after the health care fight, the economic woes, they swung in 2010 to republican, that's in part how the gop took over the house. now look at the movement in this "new york times"-cbs news poll. back in april, they were basically deadlocked among independent voters, the president had 41 percent, mitt romney had 42 percent. now the president has lost five points among eupbtds, down to 36 percent, mitt romney edging up one point to 43 percent. worth noting that this poll was taken in the last few days after the president's decision on same sex marriage. wouldn't want to say that that one factor swung this at all, because, you know, while it may be a factor, the fact of the matter is these independent voters have said in a lot of other polls, the issue that matters to them is the economy, the economy, the economy martha. martha: it's so interesting, ed. when you think about it over the past several days, maybe last couple of weeks, the president seems to have been

spending a lot of focus on the base of his party and now he may be forced to come back and work on that independent vote again and you mentioned, of course, the economy and there's another poll out this morning that has pretty muff economic news in there for the president. >> reporter: no doubt about it. this is usa today gallup poll, and what is significant is that people seem to be relatively optimistic about the economy turning around. look at this, two different numbers. the first one, asked to rate the economic conditions now, only 29 percent say it's good. but when asked about 2013, 58 percent, a large majority, says they think it will be good, the economy will be good in 2013. so that suggests they think the economy is recovering, maybe some of the president's polices have kicked in. but look at this second number, will the economy get better over the next four years if mitt romney is elected, 55 percent say yes, if president obama is reelected, only 46 percent say yes. what's significant here is that it appears that people are saying they're getting a little more optimistic about the economy recovering, but they're not giving the

president credit for that. how you tie all this together is look at that ad yesterday from the obama campaign, attack mitt romney, it was about bayne capital. they are going after his biggest strengths, which is the economy. martha: no doubt they're going to try to undercut that and he's going to try to stay focused on it i bet because that seems to be the message that does work for him. ed, thank you very much, ed henry joining us outside of the white house on a beautiful day in washington. bill: it is, right? now to big money. the head of j.p. morgan, walking into an annual shareholders' meeting at the moment, after announcing $2 billion in losses and perhaps more to come. this is jamie dimon, expected to face a grilling today, and liz claman is our fox business network anchor, 3:00 every afternoon, lizie, good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: this is a company worth $137 billion, right? >> right. bill: how much does the $2 billion matter to it? >> well, when it looks at pure numbers, not that much. it's a very small percentage. that's the perspective. however, when you broaden and look at the real issues here, reputationally t.

hurts this bank always known since the financial crisis as the strongest, most solid with the best leadership through jamie dimon, but if they could suffer these losses trading in an area that is now about to be heavily regulated or at least congress will be discussing how to regulate that part of the banking industry, well then what would happen if these losses occurred when the market wasn't as stale as it is now. that becomes the question, and today is sort of like a reality show, bill. you're going to see a lot of people, a lot of shareholders walk into the attacha, florida area offices of j.p. morgan, where the shareholder meeting is being held, and you'll have a lot of big organizations like calpers or askme, the big late -- state and local municipal funds, they invest in j.p. morgan, they just lost 12 percent of their money. bill: that's a fair point. let me get back to the politics of regulation, but taxpayers are not on the hook, right? if you own stock in the company, that's just the risk you take, right? that's how the system works. >> 100 percent, but the question becomes what if

this were worse and is j.p. morgan too big to fail. so now what the shareholders are probably going to push forbes and they may not get by the way is to separate the duties of chairman and ceo. jamie dimon has both of those right now. if they separate them they feel maybe the chairman will have a folk ug \dollars/{^ed} oversight on the risks this bank takes, but again this, at -- this at a time when they're discussing that volcker rule as part of the regulation. bill: that's the point about the politics, and for those who want to make more regulations in america, this is a ripe story for them. >> very much so. bill: because politically they can talk about it now. >> they can talk about it and it's the -- if the so-called great jamie dimon can get mired in a $2 billion loss, which by the way may end up being $4 billion, the question is do we do something to save these banks, not just from themselves, but remember, u.s. taxpayers had to bail out the banks back during the financial crisis. people do not want to see that again. do we blame them, bill? that becomes the question.

is it the right regulation -- regulation. that will be the battle. bill: in a word, jamie dimon is going to survive. >> probably, yes! bill: thank you, we'll check you out later today, okay? closing bell, 3:00 him eastern -- 3:00 p.m. every day, eastern time. thank you lizie. martha: there's a new sense of urgency -- ju againsty in the search for a miss be fbi agent in california, authorities think he may be in trouble. stephen ivans was last seen thursday evening at his home in burbank where he lives with his wife and young child. investigators say ivans took his handgun with him and took off. they don't know if he is suicidal. but they suspect he may be. agents will say that ivans joined the fbi three years ago and that he worked on counterterrorism cases. we know a lot of his fellow fbi agents are out there searching for him today. bill: in the meantime, rese and shine to a machete attack in suburban missouri, police say a man in the

hillsdale neighborhood outside of st. louis chased three people with a massive knife, one was a female neighbor, the other two, city workers, then barricading himself inside of a home. police finally raided the police, with shields and guns drawn. the guy was arrested passfully. no word yet on why he did it. machetes in the morning. martha: another scary story, a fox news alert, two people shot and killed on the side of a highway in mississippi, and the police say that the murderers could be connected. police are concerned that someone is posing as law enforcement and pulling people over. >> just different things we've located at the scene. we just believe that both subjects killed were on the side of the road. you can speculate all you want to about the different things, and we're not eliminating anything as a possibility of how they got on the side of the road. martha: so they are suspecting maybe one person, who is connected to the two murders and david lee miller is on it in our newsroom. what do we know about these

shootings david lee? >> authorities are being tight lipped. we know that both shootings took place in the early morning hours, they took place in adjacent counties and that the two cars involved, were having mechanical problems. police believe, as you said, it is very possible that the killer or killers may be posing as law enforcement, making a bogus traffic stop. let me give you the timeline right now. the first incident took place on may eighth, the victim was a man by the name of thomas slender, 24 years old, driving from his home in nebraska to florida to pick up a grandson from college. the incident took place 1:40 in the morning, he was driving along i55 in panola county, his body was found in his 1999 ford f150 pickup truck, which was smashed in the median, he was struck multiple times, shell cases were found along the road. authorities do have fingerprints, those cases are being processed. second murder, 60 miles arrange the victim, 48 years

old, her name, laurie ann karswell, a local casino well, traveling on a less traveled state road, she was behind the wheel of a pontiac grand am, in her case, her body was found along the road. for some reason, she got out of her vehicle. authorities also found shell cases and leslie, martha, we have new information about a possible motive here. i talked to the first victim's son-in-law and he said that his father in law's wallet had been taken and regarding the second victim, we are told her purse had been stolen, a robbery here could be a possible motive. martha: that's what i was going to ask you, whether or not anything was taken from these vehicles. this is a frightening scenario for everybody who lives in that area. david lee, thank you. we'll stay on top of it with your help. bill: a former white house aide to president bush with some advice for the obama white house. don't kill this terrorist. why he's argue that keeping this terrorist alive may be

the best thing for our national security. martha: fascinating story. and also, why a critical voting bloc that helped elect president obama in '08 may not be supporting him or may be -- maybe less so this time around. we'll talk about that. bill: also new information on the disappearance of this young girl, why police are noeling -- releasing the # 11 calls. >> 91 is, what's your emergency? >> i want to report a missing girl, my little girl, six years old, i believe she was abducted from our house. i was in the living room watching game at midnight, i fell asleep and i never heard anything weird. i was just like on the other side of the wall from her, woke up this morning, went to go get her for her baseball game and she's gone.

bill they are headed to the international space station on the wings of a rocket. check this out. >> on board, lu find the

american astronaut joseph acaba, part of a three man crew headed to the final frontier at the moment, in fact, blasting off aboard a soyuz craft from the former republic of kazakhstan, bringing supplies to the crew already living on the orbiting land, the international space station. night site. martha: a former bush administration official has a message for the white house, and it is this: do not kill the bomb maker behind the recent thwarted plot to bring down a u.s.-bound airplane, he says capturing and questioning ibrahim al asiri would be a better choice to gather intelligence. former bush aide mark houston says the obama administration has killed too many senior terror leaders, saying this, quote, killing these terrorists has a loud -- allowed president obama to avoid confronting the question of what to do with them once they're captured. mike baker joins me, former cia covert operations officer, also the president of diligence llc, a global intelligence and security

firm. good morning mike. what do you think about this? >> well, a, i think it's a bit of a venture into the land of the statement of the obvious by the writer of the op-ed. it's a lovely idea. it's great, you know, capture, don't kill, you know, utilize the information that they've got stored up in their heads. but it presupposes somehow that it's an either/or situation and that's not how intelligence, that's not how the operational world works. you know, you don't sit around and say let's toss a coin and a, now it's an operation to capture this individual or b, we'll just fire a rocket up his tail pipe. you have to deal with the intelligence you've got, and often times, the information that allows us to target someone through a drone strike, it's fleeting intelligence, it's a very short shelf life, and it doesn't give you the other option of saying, you know, let's go in there and try to capture them. you are talking about high threat, very high risk scenarios and environments.

martha: then when you look at usama bin laden, there was a choice there and a lot of people give the president a lot of credit for making the choice to do what he did. they could have easily done a drone strike on that house and they wanted all the intelligence, and it could also be argued as it is in this piece that a number of significant events that happened since then, that could very well trace back to the intelligence they got there. don't you once in a while have to make sure you get somebody to get you up to date on what's going on now? >> of course. i'm not saying you don't try to capture when the opportunity exists. what i'm saying is the argument saying don't use a drone strike, just capture them is a simplistic argument because it doesn't think about all the concerns you've got. you look at the issue with bin laden, and you're absolutely right, that was a conscious decision in part based not so much on let's hoover up all the intelligence in there, it's based on we want proof we've got him, but it took place in pakistan. it didn't take place in what you would traditionally call a high risk environment.

it was still very much -- very, very risky. i'm not saying it's not. martha: but look at ksm, also a situation where we got a lot of intelligence and there is evidence to support the fact that he was the one who confirmed the name of the courier, so if they didn't have ksm, they might not have gotten usama bin laden, and this guy is, you know, the head of acap, arguably, which is our biggest threat in yemen, so does it not behoove us to make every effort to try to bring him in? and i don't know. it goes without saying i don't know if there's a possibility of that. >> you're absolutely right. i take your point. you're absolutely right. we should and we do witness the fact that just recently, and this story seems to have been lost to other things that have attracted peoples' attention, but we had a recruited asset inside al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula doing just that, trying to gather information about asiri and all the others in there, trying to gather information about the logistics and communications and we had an ongoing operation which of course was blown out of the water

when somebody couldn't keep their mouth shut and talked about it and said we were on top of this thing since april. so we try to do that. witness again as you point out, ksm, an operation was mounted where we had the ability -- i guess that's what i'm trying to say, perhaps not eloquently. when you have the option to do that, that's what you should try to do, but it does not come up very often where you have that chance. and, then you have to say okay, well, do we wait and hope we get that opportunity with the high value target or do we take that one shot that we have the moment to take him out of action or do we just let him go and say hopefully someday we'll get enough information to capture him? martha: a lot of nuances and you make a great point about the intelligence that was lost as a result of that leak. mike baker, always good to get your thoughts, thank you sir, see you soon. >> thank you. bill: he was on with us last week and he was spitting mad about what went down. high profile travelers, many of them have been

pulled aside for the old tsa patdown but the most recent might be the most mind numbing of all. guess when just got the full tsa treatment? well tell you in a moment. martha: plus a father reports his six-year-old daughter missing. are his nine # one calls raising tough questions? >> [inaudible] >>

martha: here is a good one, folks. another famous face singled out by the good old airport security force. the tsa screeners at laguardia

airport in new york city protect being the friendly skies from the likes of this man. former secretary of state henry kissinger. 88-year-old nobel peace prize winner, in a wheelchair. he got a full pat-down. witnesses were shocked. it looked like the agents didn't know who he was. bill: until he starts talking, and that voice -- martha: why are you doing this to me? do you know who i am? i'm henry kissinger. bill: 23 minutes past right now. there are chilling new insights now as to what went on inside the home of 6-year-old isabelle celis the morning she was discovered missing from her bedroom. police are releasing the 911 calls made by the little girl's call that morning. >> 911, what is your imagine. >> i want to report a mythsin

missing person. i was in the living room watching the diamondbacks game at midnight. i fell asleep. i never heard anything weird. i was on the other side of the wall. bill: william la jeunesse is watching this out of l.a. >> reporter: you can contrast the father's sergio's call to that of his wife becky and is oldest son and the tone of the 911 calls is remarkably starkly different. the last time they saw isabelle was april 20th when they put her to bed. when they woke up the father claimed she was gone, the screen was pushed aside. here is becky celis when she

first noticed her daughter missing. >> reporter: police say they have aeu signed 19 detectives to this case, 15 are looking into the possibility of a stranger taking isabelle, four are investigating the family. now contrast what you just heard to her husband's 911 call.

>> reporter: arizona child protective services that is the agency that oversees these kinds of things says sergio celis cannot have any contact with his two sons, but they are not saying why, and the police are saying we should not interpret that, bill, as to mean that he is a suspect, nor should we

interpret that his casual nature in these 911 calls means anything. but the difference is unusual. but of course none of us know how we'd react in that situation. bill: it is a stark dave rents as you point out, william. thank you for that. it's been a month, let's get her home. thank you, william. martha: millions of people have done this. gone online and posted a review of a restaurant they just went to, or a hotel, or pretty much anything. but could you be sued for saying something nasty about some place? we'll tell you. bill: also, some of the president's biggest supporters may not even bother going to the polls in november. now why would that be?

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martha: it's going to be one tense board meeting this afternoon. this as we look at the protestors as they line up at the annual shareholders meeting of america's biggest bank jp morgan in tampa florida. demonstrators are rallying there. jaime dimon expected to walk in there shortly. he announced $2 billion in losses. some people think it may go as high as 4 billion. that remains to be seen. the board is not expected to

call for his resignation. they say this is a case in point argument for more regulation in the banking industry. jaime dimon arguing that is not the case. we'll keep a closer eye on that in tampa. bill: potential new fallout within the african-american community from the president's public support of gay marriage. prominent african-american pastor dr. emmett burns says his congregation in baltimore will not support president obama because of this position. he's reportedly told his parishioners not to even vote in november. we have two fox news contributors. good morning to both of you. which way is this going to go? what is your feeling on this at the moment? >> this is bad politics for president obama. he is on the wrong side of the issue. he is going against the values of black americans. and when you're looking at the fact that he is also splitting

his base, he's going for the gay community versus the black community where he has thrown them under the bus, and he's also split -lg th splitting the unions versus the environmentalists when it comes to the keystone pipeline, for example. his campaign is in turmoil. they are very concerned about holding onto black votes. i think obama has taken the black votes for granted, just like other democrats have done as well. bill: some used the word desperation, they say internal polling numbers in the white house, even in chicago where the operation is set up there for re-election and they are scared. what do you make of this decision as it affects specifically african-americans? >> you know, i don't think that this campaign is scared. i think that we have to dial this back a bit and understand that president obama is the president of the united states, he's not the pastor of the united states. he made a political announcement not a prophetic pronouncement. i think those who are going to stay home were going to stay

home any way because the excitement of 2008 would have been very, very hard to maintain in 2012. that having been said i think that african-americans overwhelmingly those who vote will be voting for president obama because we understand that he is the ceo of the government, a government that has a constitution, that he's sworn to uphold, a government that has a constitution that protects all americans, red, yellow, black, brown and white, straight and gay, and this government separates church and state and it enables us to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and live by our faith in our faith but under the law which covers everybody. bill: i think the white house would make a similar argument. i think the question comes back to whether or not he loses any support, especially in some of these key battleground areas. you go back to 2000 -- this is what we found between gore and bush. 90% of african-americans went with al gore. 200488% went with john kerry over george bush. 200895% supported then senator

obama over senator mccain. when you look at that is there a crack in that now or not? >> i really think this is all about the economy. if you look at how unemployment in the black community is deplorable, it's 13%, it's almost double among what it is for whites. and among black teens it's 38.2%. those numbers are outrageous. and so obama's policies are failing our count tree, failing the black community. his energy policy is a regressive policy, high gasoline and utility prices are harming hard-working americans and those unable to afford higher energy prices. really his policies are harming americans, harming blacks and i say he has thrown the black community rile under the bus in order to get money from the gay community and to get their votes. bill: do you hear the same thing in chicago? >> no i do not. the fact is the economy broke down we saw in 2007 and we saw an absolute break in september of 2008. the fact is the black community

is suffering, and we don't blame it all on press, we can't, because we have been failed by democratic presidents and republican presidents. bill: you don't expect a backlash because of that? >> i think you'll see a dampening of enthusiasm. there are studies that show the black and hispanic communities are not voting with as great as intensity as they did in 2008. we have been suffering -- we were suffering in 2008. that is why all of america decided to do something new and make -- bill: more and more americans. >> let me finish. bill: hang on one second. >> the fact is, everybody is suffering and we've been suffering for a long time. we cannot just put this on press. this is something that belongs to democrats, and republicans, and i think this they want to see -- i want to see a real discussion not just on same-sex marriage but on the economy. you just led in with jaime

dimon. bill: it was so tight in 2008 you wonder if democrats even have a chance this time around. i'll give you the last word on all of this. you were trying to jump in there. >> i think his campaign is in turmoil. he's very concerned about the black votes. you have pastors who are coming out against what obama has done, he has problems where he should be in the lead ahead of romney right now, and he's not. so he's really dividing his base right now. bill: ladies, thank you both. we wait and see. thank you, ladies. martha: the first criminal charges being filed in britain's phone hacking scandal against the former chief executive of news international. news international owned by news corp. the parent company of fox news. amy kellogg joins us with the latest in this story from london. good morning. >> reporter: hi, martha. rebecca brooks, her husband charlie brooks and four other people who have worked at some point for news international were charged today with conspiring to pervert the course

of justice. as you mentioned they were the first people to be actually charged in this wave of arrests that started last summer when the phone-hacking scandal took on new momentum after it was revealed that the now defunct news of the world had hacked into a cellphone of a missing and ultimately murdered school girl. charlie brooks and rebekah brooks and the four others who were charged this morning heard the charges read out at four separate police stations. brooke has been the editor of news of the world: rebecca is a friend of british prime minister david cameron and part of her testimony before the judge-led inquiry last week was about the frequency and informality of text messages sent between the two. she has been charged with three separate counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. there are allegations that she

tried to conceal material from officers of the metropolitan police, including documents, computers and other electronic equipment and she conspired to remove seven boxes of material from the archives of news international. brooks was arrested for these offenses back in march. last july she was also arrested in connection with phone hacking, and payments to police, an arrest for which she is still on bail and has not at this time been charged. she and her husband charlie brooks said this morning, quote, we deplore this weak and unjust decision, and after the further unprecedented posturing of the cps we'll respond later today after our return from the police station. no further comment yet, mart that. bumartha, it looks like the road ahead may be a long one. they have a court date set for june 13th. this is really a formality to hear more about the charges and the procedure. the crown prosecution service won't speculate about when a

trial might start. but all sorts of legal experts are saying that it probably won't happen for six months or as late as 2014. so this is going to be quite a long road for those who have been charged today. martha, that is the latest from london. martha: amy kellogg, thank you. bill: 20 minutes now before the hour. is the case against roger clemens turning? what a former trainer is now saying that could put the rocket in some hot water. martha: so let's say you eat a bad meal at a restaurant and you write a bad review online. one person did a same thing after going to church and now she is being sued for half a million dollars? our legal panel weighs in back in "america's newsroom" after this. eat good fats.

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bill: 17 minutes now before the hour. francois hollande was sworn in, the first socialist to hold that office since 1985. roger clemens is on trial accused of lying to congress. a scene out of the old west, a group of cowboys reeling in a pack of escaped buffaloes. police say they've managed to catch most of them. take the video. martha: that is great. bill: apparently they are faster than a lot of people would think. martha: look at them go. bill: that is a challenge out there. martha: that is a real day's work. bill: get your hands dirty. martha: all right. here is a really interesting story we came across. an oregon pastor reportedly suing a family for $500,000 after they posted some bad reviews about his church

online. i guess they didn't like the sermons. julianne smith says she and her daughter were shunned by their local community after leaving the beaver ton church a few years ago so she decided to post her complaints on the internet. >> i thought i'm going to post a review. we do it with restaurants, and hotels and what not, and i thought why not do it with this church? >> all that we did was ask questions. we just raised concerns. there is no sin in that. >> he's not my pastor any more and he does not have that right to keep people from talking. martha: very interesting dilemma, right. joined now by tom kanip. and arthur aidala, a former prosecutor and fox news contributor. does this woman have the right to post if she doesn't like the sermon or the church? >> she has a right to post and say what you just said, if she said i didn't like the sermon or i didn't like the church, but she takes it to the next level,

which it's cult-like, and she chooses a lot of negative terms. and what she backs it up with is that in one of the sermons the pastor says that the elders should go in the closets of the young females in the congregation and make sure they are not wearing clothing that is too revealing. i don't think that rises to the level of being cult-like, or so -- martha: but tom she does. she thinks that rises to the level of being creepy and cult-like. why doesn't she have the right to say that if that's what she thinks. >> is it any surprise that arthur aidala is defending the pastors and encouraging them to go through the closets. martha: no he's very strict about his clothing. bill: having said that of course. to establish defamation it's quite a high standard. you have to have the words that hate and ridicule under oregon

law. she is expressing an opinion, and i think it's a reasonable opinion. if someone is a pastor, or religious leader and encourages that kind of behavior, a lot of people would say, that's creepy. >> why is that so creepy? it was on the cover of the new york times yesterday, a high school, a young woman before they can wear a dress for graduation, the head non n u.n. sass to see it and say is it too low. we have to maintain some kind of morals. martha: let me ask you this before we digress too deeply into the skirt levels and cleavage and all that stuff. let's stick with the wash, shall we, gentlemen? is it a business, arthur? is this a business? so in doing this has she undermined his ability and has she caused him to quote, suffer damages to his businesses? >> obviously he is claiming he

is suffering damages. here is the defense she would have is that the truth is an stkut defense. was he really creepy? is it really a cult-like thing? if all she has to back that up is he's saying young women should dress appropriately then i don't think that it is creepy. she can't make these claims that it's cult-like because he wants the young women to dress appropriately. martha: in terms of the $500,000, how do you arrive at that number in this kind of situation? >> well, look, lawyers often throw those numbers out there, more or less to sensationalize. there is no say he suffered $500,000 in damages. this is a nonprofit organization. truth are is a defense to defamation, so is opinion, and the pastor is a limited public figure in terms of his church, in terms of his spirituality which he professes. in order to prove defamation if

you're criticizing him in his role as a pastor they have to show actual malice. that is the standard that a politician like barack obama would have to show if a news agency criticized him. >> it's a fine line between protecting people's right to freedom of speech and protecting other people's rights to not have their names thrown around and calendared all over th slandered all over the place. martha: that is the first place you go to check out a doctor or a lawyer, the internet. >> how about a lawyer. martha: the things i read about you online, my goodness. arthur, tom. thank you. >> why did we book arthur for that section. jenna lee standing by live now, "happening now" 11 short minutes away. jenna: you're beating up on arthur, my arthur. bill: all the time. jenna: come on. we don't know anything about bad online reviews, do we, bill, nothing, being on tv.

bill, thank you v. it is a big day on the campaign trail. governor mitt romney expected to give a big speech on the economy, it comes as new polling shows mr. romney is gaining ground on president obama among groups like independents and women. these are key groups. we'll take a look as to why that may be and what it means to november. the alarming spike in er admissions among children. it's all about batteries. we'll explain. mike owe hapb lan o o a*pz hanlan on afghanistan. we just got back about three hours ago. bill: did now that hundreds of thousands of children are sold into slavery every year? one state is teaming up with some unusual but very powerful partners to put an end to that devastating trend. we'll tell but that. martha: an incredible story of heroism, a 12-year-old boy puts

ace own life on the line to save his family from a fire. an amazing act of bravery, what a kid. >> i want to be keg regular. i did what i had to do to save my family. i told him, no matter how you look at it you're my hero, you'll always be my hero, you're everybody's hero. 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. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf. this year we are out to do even better...

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bill: they can be in so many ways the eyes and ears of america's highways. u.s. truckers are banding together in the epic fight against human trafficking, especially among children. casey stegall is live in las vegas on this. how big a problem is that. >> reporter: good morning. epic may be an understatement. get this according to the human trafficking resource center this is a $32 billion industry worldwide, and the problem is especially troubling as it pertains to children. the u.s. department of justices

mates between 100,000 and 300,000 american kids are at risk of entering the sex for sale industry every single year. some children are abducted and then sold off to pimps, others are lured in perhaps from a broken home with false promises of a better life. >> they are very vulnerable at risk youth, and these predators sink their hooks into them, make them feel that they are going to provide them and avenue to a very successful life, and through that process they exploit them into the sex industry. >> reporter: the problem is especially bad here in las vegas, in fact the police department considers sin city ground zero, bill, for this trafficking problem. bill: and how is the trucking industry helping out here? >> reporter: well this is interesting, because it makes perfect sense, considering there are thousands and thousands of truckers navigating the country's highways day and

night, which is how the truckers against trafficking program was born. and basically trucking companies and associations are now training drivers on what to look for and how to report suspicious activity at truck stops, where many of these victims are shopped around for sex, posters are being put up, instructional dvd's are being shown, nevada just one state in a growing list joining this effort to fight the problem. bill: casey, thank you, casey stegall is on that story in las vegas, nevada. thanks. martha. martha: well the bizarre cause behind a rising number of emergency room visits by children. why doctors are now warning parents that they should keep their kids away from a certain kind of battery. ng, breathing intelligence helping business, do more business. in here, opportunities are created and protected. gonna need more woo demand is instantly recnized and securely acted on

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>> i saw this in the paper today. pentagon concerned it was spending too much money on studies. so they issued a study to study the