>> gretchen: find out how to be more of a manly man with joel. he'll stick around for the after the show show and give us more details. >> brian: or become 12% more of a manly man. that's the key of man made. >> gretchen: have a great day, everyone. bye-bye. martha: all right, every little bit helps, right guys? all right, it would be the biggest tax hike in the history of the united states, and it is coming, folks. if lawmakers put off the debt deal until after the election, and nothing is done about the expiring bush tax cuts, virtually every american taxpayer will see their bill go up in the new year. that's a pretty picture on a monday, right? good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum, we are back in america's "america's newsroom". gregg: those are big numbers. i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. it is the grim reality that washington is wrestling with and house speaker john boehner is certainly sounding the alarm bill, saying it is time for the president to take charge.

>> i've never been shy about leading. but you know, leaders need followers. we've got 89 brand new members. we've got a press disparite caucus. >> some say they're leading stkpwhraou and it's hard to keep 218 frogs in the while barrow long enough to get a bill passed. >> we all know we have to reduce the decifit. we have to do it in a balanced way. the speaker wants to go over the edge. martha: that expression about the 218 frogs in the wheel barrow, so basically they're saying if nothing is done before the election, it really is going to leave little time to cut a deal before the deadline. so joining us now is stuart varney, host of varney & company on fbn. so stuart, what does this mean for american taxpayers. >> let me pelst out for you. as of january 1st if nothing changes, everybody who works will pay more in social security tax, everybody who pays federal income tax will pay more in federal income tax, the tax on capital gains, dividends, and interest, all go up.

the tax on estate, when you die, goes up. and at the same time as all those tax increases, you've got $1.2 trillion worth of spending cuts in health care and the military, and at the same time as all of this, we have to raise the debt ceiling so we can borrow some more money. so there are huge financial decisions to be made. martha: boy, that's a lot on the plate. we're talking about really changing the structure of what most people are used to paying in this country, plus a lot of added spending, as well. so i want to show you a sound bite from mitch mcconnell over the weekend that kind of zeros in on the heat of this debate, then we'll talk about the process to come. let's take a look: >> at some point here, this president needs to become the adult, because the speaker and i have been the adults in the room, arguing that we ought to do something about the nation's most serious long term problem. martha: of course the administration would argue just the opposite, that they've been the adults in the room, but in either case you've got adults standing in opposite corners stuart.

what happens now? >> at the moment, you've got no agreement because the two sides are far apart. do you fix this problem with tax increases primarily or do you fix it with less spending and entitlement reform, how do you do it. the political balance changes presumably in november with the presidential election. at that point -- that point may be a new political balances emerges and we can get some kind of deal that favors either tax increases or spending cuts. but that would have to be done by a lame duck congress, sitting in the end of november, through until the early part of january, a lame duck congress has to face all of these decisions with this kind of money involved. that's a tough one, is it not, martha? martha: it certainly is, and i think a lot of folks expect that once again you'll get something bundle together, some kind of solution that gets us over the next hump and doesn't do anything to the problems. >> the likelihood is there will be a temporary fix, kick the can down the road in some fashion so you don't have a crunch come

january 1st. if you did have that crunch, martha, you take $2 trillion out of a $15 trillion economy. that sprels trouble. martha: stuart, thank you. we'll have more on this coming up, stuart on that fbn, coming up as well. many thanks stuart. gregg: context on the severity of the debt issue. the national year alone, the debt has increased $1.3 trillion, just one year, that's equal to italy's debt, italy with the tenth largest economy, hat the world's fourth largest debt. if our spending conditions at the --o continues at the current rate, another $700 billion will be added to the debt by november, election day, that's six months away. martha: some lawmakers are fed up with the deadlock that's going on -- that's going on in congress, sending a letter to colleagues to do something, anything, basically, to avoid the approaching fiscal clip. wyoming senator john barrasso is one and he'll be in "america's newsroom", that's coming up in 30 minutes from now so stick

around for that. gregg: want on to take you live inside a new jersey room, the sentencing for the rutgers student, dyron robbie, accused of hate crime charges for using a web cam for spying on a friend, having an intimate encounter and his roomate, tyler clemente, committed suicide days after the spying. the maximum would be ten years behind bars but even the prosecutors say that's not necessary. interestingly, some gay rights advocates say robbie deserves probation, not jail time. the victim's family says he needs to be held accountable, but not subjected to the harshest punishment. there you see unglenn berman, he has the authority to choose either the maximum, which is unlikely, or any other scenario which could be perhaps five years probation, maybe community service against bullying. but again, a sentence of ten years is highly unlikely, a

sentence of more than a year would increase the chances he'll be deported to the country in which he was born, india, though he grew up mostly in new jersey. martha: and he's not charged with causing this young man to take his own life, which was just a tragic outcome to all of this, but it is an area, gregg -- gregg, where you well know, we don't have a lot of law toss dictate this kind of spying by internet and whether or not that constitutes a hate crime in this case. gregg: and what is interesting is there have been recent rallies in new jersey, and elsewhere, claiming that some of these hate crimes were enacted in a rush, and that they're too harsh, too severe, and they're citing this particular case as being an example of it. so it will be interesting to see what the judge here, glenn berman does, but we're going to be following what's happening live inside this new jersey courtroom. martha: live shot there. we're going to stay on top of it in america's news newsroom and also this story which broke over the

weekend, the only person ever convicted of the bombing for pan am flight 103 has died, abdel megrahi died in h*euba, nearly three years after scotland released him from prison on grounds of compassion. a lot of people had a problem with that. he was suffering from cancer. the doctor said he had only months to live. of course, he went on for three more years after that. in his homeland, he was treated as a hero. who can forget that, a hero's welcome on the ground on libya when he came back. of course there was no compassion shown to the victims on that doomed plane. pan am flight 103 enroute from heathrow to new york city, right before christmas, was blown up at 31,000 feet over lockerbie, scotland, december 21st, 1988, it killed 270 people on board, 259 were on the plane, including 189 americans, which also included a number of syracuse university students coming home for the holidays after a semester abroad.

# one people were killed on the ground when that plane crashed in lockerbie. in november 991 -- 1991, the u.s. and great britain accused of two libyans in the case, libya denied any involvement, and now the families of the victims are reacting to al megrahi's death. >> mr. megrahi did not do this alone, we know there are unindicted coconspirators involved and the possibility in my mind of two countries. >> when megrahi was released two years ago that was an act of betrayal by the british and american government, strictly for oil and big business. it is a despicable act for which i will never foregiveth administration for doing. megrahi had the ability to be surrounded by loved ones. my brother was blown out of the air at 31,000 feet and we know some of the victims, they didn't have that compassion.

martha: the grief from the families from that horrible day never goes away and we're going to speak to one of those family members, a mom, a mom -- a woman, a mom who lost her daughter on that flight, pan am 103, react toss this news. she's coming up, right here. gregg: thousands of protestors, descending on the nato summit in chicago. those demonstrations beginning peacefully but growing more violent, dozens arrested so far. right now protestors are gathering for yet another rally, vowing to shut down the corporate headquarters of boeing. steve brown, live now from union park in chicago. steve, in a sense, if the demonstrators' goal was to affect boeing, they've already accomplished that, right? >> yeah, actually, they accomplished it last week. let's set the stage for what's going to happen quickly. we're not union park on the city's west side. as you can see, some of the

local television news trucks starting to gather across the park. that's where we're told a bunch of folks affiliated with the occupy movement will be marching towards bowing but earlier last week, boeing told employees that work in the chicago headquarters -- >> [inaudible] >> gregg: we apologize. we've been having transmission problems from chicago but those demonstrations have intensified, up to 18 people were arrested, five of them on terrorism-related charges for trying to construct homemade balls and then targeting not just the nato convention but home of the mayor, rahm emanuel, as well as the obama campaign headquarters in chicago. so we're going to continue to follow the events as they happen today. we'll try to get back to steve brown in a moment. martha: those are just a few of the big stories we've got this morning in "america's newsroom". gregg: storm chasers, catching dramatic videotape of a midwest tornado. we'll have an update on that. martha: and bringing down

the national debt, president obama and governor romney, two very different approaches to this, and really, this issue defines the choice in this election. we've got a great debate coming up on that, straight ahead. >> it doesn't even come close to fixing our problem, but more on the point, chris, the president has had four years to deal with this $4 trillion decifits, four times he decided to do nothing about the debt crisis. [ male announcer ] this is corporate caterers, miami, florida.

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gregg at least four homes destroyed in the glad ator fire area, north of phoenix, evacuation orders are still in effect for the area. fortunately strong winds have now died down but firefighters say this blaze is still very unpredictable and only 12 percent contained a week after it began. crews, struggling to stop it from spreading any further.

martha: well, supporters for governor romney and president obama clashed over fundamental differences that each man has in the way to approach economic policy. house budget committee chairman paul ryan says that the obama administration is stifling the free market system in his opinion. here's some of that: >> we believe the genious of american free enterprise is the individual small business, the risk taker and that government should remove those barriers for success. what happens when the government sees itself as a venture capitalist, they end up picking lots of losers and we see a system of crony capitallively which has cent into the system. it's not working, the economy is in stagnation right now. look, for every person who found a job last month, which was not a lot, three people gave up looking for a job. martha: so then the obama campaign tried to poke hole necessary romney's record as governor of massachusetts. hears austan goolsbee on that: >> the nation was in a boom, massachusetts was doing

almost the worst of all the states in terms of job creation. the reason you saw jobs growing is because government jobs were rising six times faster than the national rate in massachusetts. there is a reason why when governor romney steps downed from office he had a 36 percent approval rating by the people in his own state, and that was during a boom. martha: so this is a fascinating discussion, it was on fox news sunday and it was led by chris wallace and i'm joined now by kirsten powers, daily beast columnist and fox news contributor and justin safee is a former jeb bush spokesperson. welcome to both of you. i felt that these two men over the weekend outlined what the american people need to focus on in terms of the two different approaches to fixing the u.s. economy. kirsten, how do you think they did and does the obama administration's argument that mitt romney did not create that many jobs, does that get them somewhere? >> i think it's important to note that, especially if it was during a boom.

that said, i think what's more important is what he plans to do in the future, and so they've already done this and they'll continue to contrast between the ryan plan, which mitt romney has endorsed, and what obama has put forth. and i think that if you look at that, the nonpartisan tax policy center has said that obama's plan would reduce the decifit by $2 million, and -- or is it $2 trillion, and men the ryan plan would actually increase it, and so i think those are the kind of things they need to be looking at, because i think what matters more is what's going to happen in the future than what happened in the past. martha: so you are going to be looking, justin, at the president's record because he's had three years to turn the economy around and what mitt romney proposes, he would do. your reaction to these two guys duking it out over the weekend. >> hey look, as a republican, i'm happy that we're talking about fiscal policy, i'm happy we're talking about the economy.

that's a sweet spot for republican, our republican nominee, mitt romney, because the president cannot defend his record on the economy. he is not going to be able to convince the american people that the american economy is booming, and that's why you see one of his advisers trying to talk about ancient history, about what happened when governor romney was the governor of massachusetts. i agree with kirsten, it's much more important to be talking about what's going to happen in the future, what we're going to do to reduce the debt and what we're going to do to get the economy growing at a rate that will create jobs, that will not leave 14 million americans without work. martha: another piece of sunday action that has caught a lot of attention this morning, you have corey booker, who is the very well known and rising star in the democratic party, the mayor of newark, new jersey. he came out and said something that i think a lot of obama supporters and probably motion in the white house go what did he just say? and here's what it is. take a look: >> i'm not about to sit here and indict private equity.

to me, we're getting to a ridiculous pound in america. i live in a state where pension unions, investment companies, and bayne capital, if you look at the totality of bayne capital's record, they've done a lot of support to grow businesses and to me, i'm uncomfortable. >> this type of stuff is nauseating on both sides, nauseating to the american public. stop attacking jeremiah wright, this has got to stop. martha: this is interesting, corey booker has a record of a good relationship with working with corporations and investors in newark to get private investment going in his city, he wants to clearly point out he does not agree with the president on this, and we'll play what happened after that next, but what about that initial comment, kirsten? >> well, i think that he -- this is sort of classic corey booker. he tends to be a very fair person, and i think he was being very fair in this situation. but he has i think since come out and really clarified that he still

completely supports the president, so this was not him saying that he doesn't support the president. it was just him taking issue with some of the attacks. martha: but the thing about it, it speaks from the language of supporting industry in this country. he says you know, let's not be ridiculous. you can't attack private equity. it's responsible for so much investment in this country. but as kirsten points out, so we'll play it now, he, shortly after that, he definitely got a call from somebody in the campaign because that prompted this rebuttal on youtube. let's watch this: >> he's talked about himself as a job creator and, therefore, it is reasonable and in fact, i encourage it, for the obama campaign to examine that record and to discuss it. i have no problem with that. martha: yeah, what about that justin? >> look, i say the obama campaign should free corey booker. version one was corey booker unplugged. that's the rising star corey booker, the youtube video that obviously appears i'm

sure in lots of communications in the obama campaign was the obama campaign underwraps corey booker and i think he's at rick of diminishing his own political brand if he doesn't stick to what he said the first time on "meet the press" when he said if you look a the totality of bayne capital's record, that's governor mitt romney's record, they supported jobs and created jobs and this is one of the democrats' rising stars and one of president obama's biggest backers saying that he believed that bayne capital's record in its totality supported jobs and grows jobs and that's what has the obama campaign in a tailspin yesterday, trying to walk back his words but i say free corey booker, let the real corey booker speak, unplugged. martha: it was fascinating. we'll talk to both of you soon, kirsten, justin, good stuff. thank you guys. gregg: we are on jury watch in the john edwards corruption trial. he just arrived at the courthouse, and the fate of this former presidential candidate now squarely in

the hands of 12 ordinary citizens. the big question now, will edwards walk or possibly spend, who knows, as much as 30 years behind bars? we'll have the very latest in a live report. martha: we're watching that. we'll let you know as soon as the jury comes in. plus, mother nature, putting on an incredible display over the weekend, millions witnessed the ring of fire. which tire category should i choose to get the most comfortable ride? ♪ [ male announcer ] if paula ebert had her way, she would help her child. deoxyribonucleic acid. he knew that. [ male announcer ] with everything. go! goooo! no. no no no no no. mommy's here

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gregg: we are on jury watch right now in the john edwards corruption trial. there you see the courthouse, the panel of eight men and four women resuming deliberations this morning. edwards just arrived. after requesting key evidence, though, the jury did, they wanted evidence and some office supplies. well, the former presidential candidate, as we mentioned, arriving moments ago, he's accused of using campaign cash to hide his pregnant mistress. he faces up to 30 years if

convicted. jonathan serrie has been following the case, he's live outside the courthouse in greensboro. and jonathan, what evidence precisely did the jury want to look at? >> reporter: they requested several checks from bunny mellon she had written to interior decorator brian huffman, those checks were later cosigned and deposited by the wife of former edwards campaign aide andrew young. they also requested a 2008 voice mail message in which edwards tells andrew young about an upcoming meeting they're planning with bunny mellon, edwards says immediately after lunch she and i will break out into a private session for a couple of hours, that's when we'll do our work, including the work about you and making sure you're protected and included. and the jury asked to review a note mellon wrote andrew young in april 2007 after edwards took heat in the media for spending $400 on a hair cut n. that, mellon

writes from now on all hair cuts, et cetera, that are necessary and important for his campaign, please send the bills to me. care of alex forger, her estate lawyer in new york. it is a way to help our friend without government restrictions. end quote. gregg. gregg: so i realize, jonathan, it's a little like reading tea leaves here, but what does this suggest perhaps about the jury's mindset right now? >> reporter: well, at face value, it would suggest that the jury is tracing the so-called bunny money trail, that they're following those donations from heiress bunny mellon, trying to get into her mindset, did she consider these donations to a friend, in which case they'd be private gifts, or were these donations to help edwards' presidential prospects in 2008, in which case the prosecution would argue these are campaign donations. and it also would suggest that they're trying to see what knowledge edwards had,

if anything, at the time about the money. but again, legal experts say at this early phase, it's like reading tea leaves, it may be the jury just doing its due diligence, in which case we could be here for a long time this week, gregg. gregg: you never know. jonathan serrie, live in greensboro, thank you. martha: we'll keep a close eye on it. in the meantime a political time bomb ticking in washington because you've got the debt clock clicking loudly, can you hear it at home? and whether taxes go up for millions of taxes go found americans is approach ago head now. we'll talk to one senator about that. gregg: the passing of a phaoupblg legend, robin gibbs of the be. ges has died. we'll look at his legend, straight ahead. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ how deep is your love. >> ♪ >> ♪

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jumping off the george washington bridge to the horror of his family and friends and everyone in that community, but darn robbie could get up to 20 years. this is his sentencing this morning. it's going to say a lot about web cam judicial procedures and where we're headed in all of this. we'll take you there live as soon as it gets underway. gregg: there is chaos in congress these days, a massive automatic tax increase, perhaps to the tune of $310 billion is approaching, and now dozens of lawmakers are demanding their colleagues do something about it and do it now. wyoming senator john barrasso is chairman of the senate republican policy committee and joins us live. senator, always a pleasure to talk to you. the federal reserve estimates that the economy will grow roughly 2.9% next year. if congress does nothing and these tax cuts become tax hikes, would that wipe out,

in your judgment, all that economic growth? >> it absolutely would. it would put us on where -- it's approaching a fiscal cliff and we're looking at a second recession if these tax hikes are allowed to go forth, but yet if the president and congress doesn't do anything, that's exactly what we're going to see. we're going to see every taxpayer in the country, anyone who works will see their taxes go up on january january 1st. >> gregg: given the current economic conditions, is there anyone who takes the serious position on either side of the aisle to allow these cuts to become tax hikes? >> well, it seems that the democrats by their inaction are doing just that. we have five votes on budgets last week in the senate, including the president's own budget. not one democrat voted for any one of the budgets. i voted for all four of the republican proposals, the democrats didn't even vote for the president's, yet,

they have a responsibility to pass a budget every year. and i think if they're not willing to pass a budget they shouldn't receive any pay. but people across the country know what they want. they want a healthy economy. and the obama economy is not a healthy economy. gregg: but senator, what about the cumulative decifit? we're looking at the u.s. national debt clock, ticking away right now. but the decifit is expected to exceed $10 trillion over the next ten years. and extending the tax cuts would add an estimated $3.7 trillion to that. so aren't you making the debt and decifit much worse? >> well, by raising taxes on all americans, you're actually hurting the economy. what we need is more people working. we need an opportunity economy, a growth economy, a healthy economy, ways to get people back to work. if we have more people working and paying taxes, that's the way for over all tax revenue to go up and to deal with this. but you're right, the decifit is awful, the

president continues to spend more, and when he wants to raise taxes, it's not to actually get the decifit under control, it's because he has more ideas on how to spend the money. and i said mr. president, it's not your money. gregg: but senator, there are some democrats who say wait a minute, you know, in terms of these tax cuts, especially among the rich, they don't really spend it and put it back into the economy, they save it, and so do others. so they say it's a kanard for you to say it's going to hurt the economy. >> well f. nothing is done, if congress doesn't act, and we wrote a letter to the president saying don't let this get into a lame duck session where people will make rushed decisions which won't be necessarily good decisions, if we don't act, taxes will go up on every american worker, period, come january 1st. so everyone is going to be hit with this. this will hurt the economy, and people are -- it's hardtory get people back to work in this country right

now because of the ongoing threats of increasing taxes, because of the regulations that keep coming out of washington, the expenses of the health care law, all of those things make it a lot harder for the job creators to hire more people and get the economy going. and gregg, if these tax hikes go into place, january 1st, because of inaction by congress, it's going to hurt the country and really hurt our economy. gregg: it's always put off to the last minute. i mean, doesn't this really come down to the usual, you know, game of chicken, both sides know they don't want the tax cuts to expire, but they wait until the last minute to try to gain an advantage, which means, especially in an election year, a decision won't be made until december, given the november 6th election? >> that's what i'm trying to avoid, gregg, and that's why i sent the letter to the president, along with other republican senators. even the president has said that an election year is not an excuse for inaction, but the president, with his budget to congress and the

results of the vote by the democrats, all against his budget, are such that it seems that the democrats in congress have their head in the sand and are not interested in dealing with the problem that we ought to be dealing with today, not putting off, gregg, until after the election. i think of people in -- i think people in washington are unwilling to make the tough decision, they're more concerned about the next election, and they ought to be more concerned about the next generation. gregg: but the outcome of the election may dictate how members of congress will vote on this issue. senator john barrasso, as always, thank you for dropping by to speak with us. >> thank you very much for having me. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ staying alive. >> ♪ >> ♪ staying alive. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ martha: they defined the disco era and now one more of the bee gee brothers is gone. robin gibbs died in london, he was 62 years old, he was

battling cancer. the bee gees literally destroyed the charts in the '70s with their unique style and sound that only those brothers could create. they had the soundtrack to "saturday night fever" which was the best selling album of all time until "thriller" came along by michael jackson, of course. and in more than 40 years of recording, 40 years of recording, that's a long recording record, they -- long recording record, they sold an estimated 220 million records worldwide, the only group in pop history to write, produce and record six consecutive number one singles. big accomplishment. and in 1977, they had five songs in the top ten, at the same time. they are the first and only group ever to do that. so just an incredible legacy. and you know, when the disco era died, they were the source of, you know, a bit of ribbing, you know, people would make fun of them, there was the saturday night live thing on the bee gees but when you hear that music this morning and over the

course of the weekend, you remember, it's iconic, it takes you back to those moments of our childhood back in the '70s. gregg: just about every song on "saturday night fever" was a huge hit and people love to listen to that. >> i'll never forget sitting in my room, listen to go the music and looking at the album cover, over and over. we spent a lot of time scratching over that record those days. gregg: i miss my long collared shirts, bell bottom pants and those shoes. that was a hot look for me! music lovers around the world, mourning the passing of robin gibb. all right. did the death of the lockerbie bomber bring closure to the family of the lost loved ones? we'll get reaction from one of the mothers coming up next. martha: also this morning, florida senator marco rubio takes on president obama,

fires up a crude of republicans in a speech over the the weekend. so is marco rubio back to auditioning for a bigger job? >> the stake necessary this election are so extraordinary that unlike ever before, the republican party at this moment needs to be more unified than it's ever been, with a singular purpose, and that is to change who occupies the white house and the majorities in the united states senate. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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martha: well, victims' families are still looking for answers after the only man ever convicted in the 1988 lockerbie bombing died in libya over the weekend. abdel bestet al megrahi was released on humanitarian grounds after his cancer diagnosis three years ago. at the time, he was to have three months to live and he lived three years. the bombing of that flight in 1988 included 270 people, including 189 americans and rosemary mild was one of the parents of one of those young people, she lost her only child, her daughter miriam on that flight, she has written two books about her daughter's life and she joins us now. rosemary, welcome, it's good to have you this morning. >> thank you. martha: thank you very much for being with us. i'm curious what your reaction was when you heard that he had finally passed away. >> i'm greatly relieved and hope we can get on with our

lives. the pain of losing miriam and the outrage of megrahi being allowed to go home to his family instead of serving out his sentence, that will never leave us family members. he served only 18 days for each of the 270 victims. so i'm glad it's over and we're done with it and now i can talk about how i'm mem orizing my daughter, miriam, in my new book, miriam's world and mine. martha: i know you have told many stories about your daughter miriam and about the impact of all of this on your lives and you want very much to keep her memory alive. what do you hope to accomplish in this next book to do that? >> well, i want everybody to know who miriam was, and what kind of a person she was. she left a legacy of -- she had a brilliant mind, she also was a person of

extraordinary compassion and humor and sensitivity. she had so many friends when she went to college, she made a list of family and friends to keep in touch with in college. the list had 52 names on it. and she had a very joyous personality. it sustains me every day of my life. she kept -- >> martha: i give you so much credit for keeping her memory alive the way that you have. you know, and in terms of your feelings about what happened that day, and the fact that many believe that others have gone unpunished, you went to the trial. do you believe that megrahi was the man who was responsible for this? and would you like to see jerusalem for the others? >> his colleague should also have been pronounced guilty. i believe he was just as much involved. but now that moammar

qaddafi, the vicious libyan leader is dead, that is a good thing, because he personally ordered the bombing of pan am 103. martha: and obviously, the rules to get on a plane were so different back in the late '80s and a lot of people complain about the security we go through now. what do you think about it? >> i think they're trying to protect us and we just have to suck it up and do it. we, the families, have a lawsuit against pan am for wrongful death and willful misconduct because they did not follow faa regulations in frankfurt by personally opening up an unaccompanied suitcase, which was where the bomb was hidden. if they had, they would have found it, and all 270 victims would still be alive today. martha: rose -- rosemary, thank you for being with us

today. i know the pain doesn't go away really ever, i'm sure, and doesn't diminish over time, and we thank you for sharing your daughter's story with us. thank you very much, mrs. mild. >> you're welcome. thank you. gregg: the rare ring of fire eclipse, captivating people all over the world. there it is. we're going to show you how millions of folks celebrated this rare sight from asia to utah. don't go away. >> it's really awesome. >> definitely one of those things you'll remember for a long time, because it's not that often that we get to see that.

martha: let's get you a look of some of what's developing in "america's newsroom". there was a deadly accident on mount everest, three climbers are dead and two others are missing.

they were trying to descend from the world's tallest mountain. they had already made it to the top and were on the way back down. >> facebook shares are down 10 percent in early trading this morning, $34 a share. this is not what anybody expected out of this stock, folks. this is only the second day of trade fog the social network giant. it made its debut on wall street last friday, at $38 a share. nasdaq, now trying to clean up after this thank you, admitting there was a problem with their system on friday. more to come on that story throughout the day. and the superheros win again big at the box office. how about this? the avengers took in a -- $55 million, they stayed at number one for three straight weeks right now. the movie is well on its way to being over a billion dollars in sales worldwide. my kids have seen it twice! and i've not seen it at all. gregg: are you going to see it. martha: would love to see it. gregg: love action adventures. martha: a big hit. gregg special effects!

this is a real one. millions around the world, turning their eyes to the sky the -- sky, the moon slide ag cross the sun, creating a ring of fire eclipse, visible in parts of asia early yesterday morning before it moved across the pacific where it was seen in parts of the western united states, but that's not where rick leventhal is, he's in the new york city newsroom and rick, no viewing parties for you and everybody else in new york, right? >> reporter: unfortunately the eclipse wasn't visible on the east coast and for much of the central united states, so the west coast wins this battle and one of the best places to see this rare solar lunar assign lent -- alignment, the eclipse, called an anular, last seen from u.s. soil in 1994, the phenomenon requires the moon's orbit to be at its furthest point from earth so it's much closer to sun and blots out the sun's rays when the two align, what you see there, creating the so

called ring of fire, thrilling people in several western states, including arizona, california and new mexico. >> i've seen it on tv but i didn't realize it was going to th-b cool in person. >> i didn't think it would be this close. >> definitely one of those things you'll remember for a long time. it's not that often we get to see that. >> kids are having fun, adults are having fun. gregg: if you missed this, don't worry, you can see the next eclipse in 2025. gregg: this was apparently big news in asia, right? >> it was. it was broadcast live on tv in tokyo, japan, which hadn't seen an eclipse like this since 1839! tv crews watched from the top of mount fuji and some of the monkeys were thinking it was nighttime. it was visible up to five minutes in some places. a group choosing not to

watch arrest the navajo indians, who followed tradition by staying indoors and not eating or drinking during it. martha: we are awaiting the sentencing of former rutgers student daren robbie. they got started about an hour ago. he faces up to ten years we believe on two separate counts in this case, of basically spying on his roomate using his web cam. tyler clemente was the young man who took his own life ace after that happened. when that decision comes down our legal panel will debate it and ask the question, does the punishment fit this very unusual shot. that's a live shot. gregg: president obama expected to arrive for the latest nato discussion and a new round of protests set to begin. we are live on the ground in chicago. there you see some of the pushing and shoving that took place earlier.

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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: protestors rallying againstnate oerbgs is thing their sights on a new target, vowing to shut down the boeing headquarters in chicago where hundreds of protestors including members of the occupy movement set to begin marching at any moment. we watched this throughout the course of the weekend and that's how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom". i'm glad to have you with us today, i'm martha mccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. take a look at this, 45 people were arrested where police and demonstrators clashed, most taken into custody after refuse ago police order to disperse, follow ago march that ended

just blocks from the main convention place. martha: mike tobin has been on this throughout the weekend and is live at the center of that action again outside the boeing headquarters in downtown chicago. what do we expect there today mike? >> reporter: well, we're going to see more police in numbers, as you can see them forming on randolph street, they're here because the last of the planned demonstrations will take place across the street, headquarters for the boeing company, the focus of the demonstration, of course, because boeing makes drones and other military hardware. the demonstrators, at least a segment of them, came to chicago, looking for a clash with police and yesterday they got it. when the march terminated over close to mccormack place, the demonstrators tried to push through and get all the way to mccormack place. that's where police drew the line, that's when we saw the bottles getting thrown at the police officers, the sticks used to hit the police officers. the police officers responded, mostly with targeted arrests. they would focus on one of the aoplgtateors and pull him or her out of the crowd. they did respond at times

with the baton. in the end, some 45 arrests were made through the course of the demonstrations and the clashes yesterday. several of the demonstrators were injured and treated for injuries. four police officers were treated for injuries. one of them was stabbed in the leg. but also in the end, that black -- that group that shows up for the summit and goes into vandalism was unable to pull much of anything off. martha: so mike, the protestors were claiming there was police brutality and you and your crew, i saw you yesterday in the middle of all of it. did you witness any of that? >> well, i don't think anyone expects police in riot gear to be gentle and they were not gentle through the course of this but they did give plenty of warning ahead of time that the street was going to need to be cleared. there was a point in which the batons came out and it's never pretty when the batons come out and when they're used. ultimately when they started clearing the streets, there was no doubt about who had the might and who had the charge. testify the chicago police. in the end today, i think a lot of people are giving

reviews to the police -- rave reviews to the police because of the strength they showed after days and weeks of being taunted by these demonstrators. the street was cleared, not many injuries, and i should point out, some of the items that were seized from these demonstrators included red tape that was used to enhance injuries or fake one outright, doing that for the cameras. martha. martha: mike, thank you very much. we hope it's peaceful there today. mike tobin in chicago. gregg: of course the main point of the nato summit, an end game for afghanistan. president obama is there in his home town of chicago, discussing the handover of combat missions to afghan forces, and anding the war in 2014. but a rift between the united states and pakistan, threatening to upstage today's events. chief white house correspondent ed henry, live from chicago. so ed, are we seeing a rush for the exits in afghanistan ? >> well, the last time these two leaders met just a

couple weeks back when the president took that secret trip to afghanistan, and the bottom line is he signed a packet with president karzai to have a transition. obviously, all u.s. troops out by the end of 2014, but a commitment from the u.s. that we would still play some sort of a role between 2014 and 2024. but there is great pressure on president obama, not just the american people, when you look at the public polls, frustrated with the length of the war in afghanistan. they want to see it over. but also, some of the allies the nato, like the new french president, hol and, is saying he had a campaign promise to pull all french troops out two years earlier than experted so the president is trying to keep the troops together by saying the u.s. is going to be out in two years but we'll have a long term commitment after that. take a listen. >> also paint ago vision post 2014 in which we have ended our combat role, the afghan war as we understand it is over, but our commitment to friendship and partnership with afghanistan

continues. >> reporter: and also, that means a real commitment in terms of money. there are estimates of 4-$5 billion a year that the u.s. and its allies are going to have to come up with after 2014 in ord to make sure there is still peaceful transition and that the peace holds in afghanistan. that's a lot of money, president obama trying to get some of the allies to cough up some of the money as well because of the u.s. budget problems. gregg: pakistan wants money, they've blocked nato's supply route. they want i think 5000 per truck, so that's also top of the issue at the nato summit. ed henry live in chicago, ed, thank you very much. martha: let's get you background on nato. it obviously stands for the north atlantic treaty organization, a military alliance established back in 1949 in the early years of the cold war with the soviet union. nato originally, made up of 12 countries, including the u.s., canada, great britain and other european countries, now the alliance has a 28-member contingent, it stretchs from iceland to

turkey, one of the newest members, and it includes former soviet bloc countries like hungary, poland, and what is today the czech republic. gregg: directly after today's summit, president obama, heading off to op lin, missouri, where he will deliver the commencement address to this year's graduating class at op lin high school. it was almost a year ago that an ef5 tornado, the strongest there is, nearly obliterated the city, just hours after last year's graduation ceremony. one hundred sixty-one people were killed. several thousand buildings, destroyed, including the high school itself. since then, students have been attending classes in a renovated section of a local mall. martha: and it is sentencing day, it's underway right now, in the rutgers web cam spy case. dharun ravi is the young man in this courtroom and can waiting to hear his fate.

he could get up to ten years in prison or be deported to india. convicted of secretly videotaping his roomate who was having a romantic encounter with another man and posting comments about it skwhraoeupb, the roomate, tyler clemente, within days of that took his own life, jumping off the george washington bridge. david lee miller joins us now, live in new york city, covering this case for us this morning. what are we waiting for, what do we expect in -- in this, david lee? >> reporter: no one knows what to expect, dharun ravi faces a ha*bgs mum of ten years in prison, though legal experts doubt he will get the max. he could likely do time behind bars. this is an extraordinary hearing that you can see on the left side of the screen. in this courtroom right now sits dharun ravi, he is the defendant here, his attorney, arguing just moments ago that, in fact, he did not get a fair trial, and that the judge should acquit him of a fum of the charges. the judge said that no

defendant is entitled to a perfect trial. they are entitled to a fair trial. and that is what, in fact, the defendant, dharun ravi did receive. ravi was convicted of 15 counts in total, you might recall, some of them included the charge of invasion of privacy, with bias intimidation, also targeting the victim pwauf his sexual orientation, hindering apery mention, witness tampering and tampering with physical evidence. the jury had a very complex task before it. during trial, they had a verdict sheet that had 35 various questions. as for the victim here, his parents, also in the courtroom today. it is possible they may ask to speak before the court. they have remained largely silent, speaking out very little, martha, to the media. they did not discuss the details of the conviction. they may do so today when we enter more of the sentencing phase of this hearing. the judge, spending largely

the early part of the morning discussing the merits of the trial itself, defending how the trial was conducted, and we expect this could go on for possibly another hour or so. many people, watching what is taking place in this courtroom. it is really a ground breaking sentencing. many waiting to see if, in fact, he's going to get the maximum. martha. martha: it really is. and people were very shocked that he was convicted on so many charges in this case, and it's going to be perhaps precedent-setting. david lee, thank you very much, for being with us today, and we're going to watch that as it unfolds. tyler clemente, gone, and dharun ravi on trial. gregg gregg an activist seeking asylum arrives in the united states, essentially end ago diplomatic standoff from washington and beijing. chen guangcheng arrives at newark liberty airport and will set up housekeeping at new york university, the law

school there he's going to be attending. officials from the u.s. embassy in beijing and the chinese government, reaching an agreement, allowing him to study in the united states. chen sparked a diplomatic incident when he sought refuge inside the embassy, following a daring escape from house arrest. martha: and he is considered to be a leading candidate to be mitt romney's running mate. >> the president and his party's view of america's government in our lives is a failed one. it hasn't worked. these idea that is sounded so good in the classrooms at harvard and yale haven't really worked out well in the real world. martha: when marco rubio speaks, he gets a lot of attention and he fired up the conservative base over the weekend. we're going to talk to bright hume about that where that republican rying star may be headed. gregg: afghan president hamid karzai, thanking the united states, but something may have been lost in the translation. kind of causing a stir. we'll tell you about it. martha: and he's going up to

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martha: republican rising star senator marco rubio of florida fired up conservatives over the weekend. he was talking in south carolina. he had scathing attacks aimed at president obama. take a look. >> it is hard to under state how much he inspired people across the country four years ago with his promises to unite america and lift it up. the man who today occupies the white house and is running for president is a very different person. we have not seen such a devisive figure in american

history as we have over the last three and a half years. [applause] martha: senator rubio is considered a top contender for mitt romney's pick. let's talk to brit hume this morning, senior fox news analyst: for a longtime he was shooting down the notion that he was interested in this job. now he doesn't shy away from hen opportunity to stand out. >> reporter: that is true, mart that, but i'm bound to say that listening to those remarks made it a republican party event in south carolina. i don't think they are exceptionally strong medicine. this is the kind of thing you expect to hear at a partisan event like that. so i don't -- look, i think marco rubio has kept his head down an concern lee was willing to go out with romney and appear with him and he's certainly soft peddled the idea that he would be unavailable to run for vice

president. and it's clear to me that he's going to be one of the ones that is vetted and looked at intensely as a possibility. whether that will come about i think we are a long way from knowing. martha: that is the next question. how far are we away from knowing, do you think? and what is your sense of how this process is going? it's not something that they really put out there, but clearly it's got to be top of their agenda right now figuring this out. >> reporter: well certainly senior romney aides are hard at work at it. if romney's past actions are any indication it will be gone about in a very careful, thoughtful, that methodical way with as much privacy and secrecy as possible. it will do two things, one, it will preserve his options in case the political landscape changes. an may think differently about what he needs out of a vice presidental candidate, and

preserve some suspense for a convention. you take the vice presidental choice out of the mix on the eve of a convention you don't really have much of a story the only thing you may not know is who the vice presidental selection would be. you don't want to throw that away, because it heightens the convention. martha: a lot of names have been thrown around in this. you have chris christie, jeb bush, and ted pawlenty, and a lot of others on the list as well. you've seen people who sort of become the attack dogs for the president, the tough guy. you think of dick cheney, some of the stuff that joe biden has said recently. that may or may not be gaafes. he says some of the things ma thaeub the president doesn't want to say. is marco rubio too new to the game to pull that off? >> reporter: that is the conventional role that the vice

presidental candidate takes. he says the h arsher things and i'm sure that marco rubio could fulfill that role. he's exceptional lee articulate and well informed and young and smart and attractive and he has all that going for him i. think it's well to look at thing this way, martha, the first thing, all other things being equal, the first thing a presidential candidate wants to hear when he makes his choice, is oh, yeah, that person could be president. marco rubio remains a little young and raw. i'm not saying that he continue be chosen. he probably has enough experience, he certainly has about as much as obama had when he ran for president, but, you know, knowing mitt romney as cautious east is he ma as he

is, he may prefer someone with more experience who is ready to be president. martha: that is the first thing he says when he's asked that question. >> reporter: the other thing, martha that can happen is the president with his own party divided and not fully behind him will sometimes find it necessary to choose somebody who will bring the faithful along. that's what mccain did four years ago when he reached out to sarah palin and that strung the christian white which was a pretty big deal. bourbon the other handmade -- george w. bush made the conventional choice of somebody who was ready to be president, the highly experienced dick cheney, where as bush's father chose the relatively untested dan quayle. so you see the different kinds of things that presidential candidates are looking for, depending on the political

landscape when they make the choice. martha: it's a big decision. it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. thank you so much. great to see you as always. brit hume in washington. gregg: it was supposed to be huge but facebook so far, not quite living up to all the hype. the wall street ipo is apologizing and losing friends all over the place. martha: afghan president hamid karzai had a big thank you to the american people, but the way he said it is raising a lot of eyebrows this morning. >> i'm bringing to you and to the people the united states the gratitude of the afghan people for the support that your taxpayer's money has provided over the past decade. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently

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gregg: ham eu hamid karzai gives his thanks at the nato summit. the afghan president raising some eyebrows when he said this. >> mr. president i'm bringing to you and to the people of the united states the gratitude of the afghan people for the support that your taxpayers' money has provided for cancer over the past decade, and for the difference that it has made to the well-being of the afghan people. gregg: your taxpayers' money may not be the most tactful way to put it with this budget in washington. joining us now, general jack keane, a four-star general and vice chief of staff in the army. fox news military analyst.

general, it's always good to talk to you. it struck me as inappropriate that he made no mention of the sacrifices of the american soldiers, more than 3,000 precious american lives lost, and yet he's talking about taxpayers and takes pairs' money. how did you take this? >> well the same way all of our viewers would take it. somewhat inappropriate to be sure. karzai can't keep his foot out of his mouth and it's been like this for years. the truth is the administration can't say it, nor can our military leaders say it but we concern lee all welcome the political transition in 2014 when we will get a new government in place, and the paranoid, insecure, inch effective karzai will move on as maybe one of the fathers of afghanistan and we'll get a new leader who can move this country forward. gregg: if afghanistan is unable on its own to maintain its security after the withdrawal in 2014, and if the taliban is able

to regroup and rebuild, and challenge an increasingly corrupt and weak afghan government, my goodness, what then? does that render an 11-year war meaningless in some ways? >> i think we should look at the political transition as largely positive. they have to have an election that the people and civil society believes is fair, and that people are able to compete in that election who should. and i think what we'll get is not a transformational government but one that will be better than what we have. corruption is not going to be wiped out in afghanistan overnight, but over time i think that government can change for the positive, much as we saw take place in korea. as for security we've got a lot of hard work ahead of us in the next two-plus years and after 2014 with the afghan national security forces and key decisions will be made at this nato conference about that security, and i'm hoping they

step up to the plate here. gregg: general, apologize i have to cut this short. i have many more questions. on this very subject i have breaking news. martha: the president is speaking now at the nato summit. let's listen for a moment. >> afghan security forces have grown stronger and the transition we've agreed to in lisbon is well underway. this past week we saw more progress. we very much welcomed president karzai's announcement of the third group of areas to begin transition. this means that 75% of the afghan people live in areas where afghan forces will be moving into the lead. today we'll decide the next phase of the transition, the next milestone. we'll set a goal for afghan forces to take the lead for combat operations across the country in 2013. next year. so that isef can move to a

supporting role. this will be another step towards afghans taking full lead for their security as agreed to by 2014 when the isef combat mission will end. today is also an opportunity to insure our hard won progress is preserved. the strategic partnership agreement that president karzai and i signed in kabal insures that as afghans stand up, they will not stand alone. today we can agree on nato's long-term relationship with afghanistan beyond 2014, including our support of afghan security forces. so we have a lot of work to do. again i want to thank all of my fellow leaders and our partners for being here. our nations and the world have a vital interest in the success of this mission, and i am confident, because of the leadership represented here, as well as the leadership of our

outstanding armed forces, that we can advance that goal today and responsibly bring this war to an end. mr. secretary general. >> thank you very much, mr. president. and now i would kindly ask -- martha: president obama speak being at the nato summit there discussing the readiness of afghan forces, and that more responsibility would be turned over to them in 2014 to prepare for the complete the transition to isef forces in 2014. in the meantime president obama when he what's elected promised to drain the swamp of washington's political culture. new reports suggest that it continues to be business as usual in many ways. we have some details on that. we'll be right back with america' "america's newsroom."

martha: a new report out there this morning that shows that industry that president obama promised to reign in still has a pretty good foothold at the white house. releasing visitor log records and according to "the washington post" today lobbyists are regularly making trips to the white house, as they always have. the question is to what extent are they doing that at this point. this is president obama on this topic back in 2007 when he was running. >> i know that this time can be

different, because i know that when the american people believe in something it happens. [applause] if you believe then we can tell the lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in washington are over. martha: remember those moments from the campaign trail. steven moore is a senior economic writer for the "wall street journal." welcome. anyone running for president in my live has basically said the same thing. why is it any different for president obama? >> that's exactly right, mart that. this reminds me of the scene from casa belon blanca, where he says, i'm shocked, shocked that gambling is going on. every president since dwight

eisenhower said they would end lobbyists. it's just that president obama made it a center piece of his campaign. he said over and over we're going to cleanup the swamp and get rid of that resolving door, unfortunately it's till swinging. what the post story tells us today is you've had more lobbyists come in in the last three years under obama than virtually any other president. martha: it's astounding the numbers, coming to the white house on a regular basis. the story reveals that most of them -- this doesn't come as a big shock either. we were told it was going to be different, very few from the other side of the fence, very few republican lobbyists. i guess most americans, and maybe it's naive would hope that if people are getting in to sort of state their case, which is in the most pure form what a lobbyist is supposed to do, to represent groups and come in and say this is important to us mr. president, you want to see some effort to have it equal time for both sides. >> i think the naivete here was

somehow that lobbying was going to go out of business. bears go to where the honey is. when you have a federal government that has expanded as much as this u.s. government has over the past four years with a $4 trillion budget of course you'll see a parade of lobbyists coming to try to get their hands in that pot. and that's what is happening, by the way not only at the white house but at other federal agencies. that's what happened at so linda, they practically camped out at solyndra. if you want to reduce lobbying in washington you have to make reductions in the federal budget. my office, martha, is right across the street from k street, so i'm right in the empire of lobbying in america and it is booming. k street -- new restaurants going up, new buildings, and the lobbying industry never had it go good. martha: when you look at some of these lists the databases list

more than 2 million visits. and granted they are not all going to see the president, they are going to see advisers of the president obviously and different people within the white house. 1.3million distinct names of visits to the white house. does that shock you? i mean i don't know how anybody has time to visit with that many people in one year ever. >> that with us a heck of a lot of people and i was very surprised at that number, just getting them in and out of the white house, the security, and getting in the whoeus is very difficult. martha: we've all experienced that. >> if you go 8, 9:00 in the morning, right about now to the white house by the security fence you will see just a hoard of lobbyists waiting to get in to talk to somebody at the energy department or the nasa security agent seat. it goes back to the fact, what do those lobbyists want? you know it, they want money. they want a slice of that big pie. one question dash one lobbying reform that i think would be

necessary would be to say look, groups that get taxpayer money, should they be able to lobby at all? what is happening is that we're giving these organizations money and then they are using that money to lobby to get even more money. that is something taxpayers might find most offensive by this process. martha: thank you very much, steve moore joining us from washing tonight. gregg: what fate will edwards face? jury deliberations underway right now. the former senator is about to hear from the jurors in north carolina. martha: it will take them nearly four hours, four hours to float up into the stratosphere and then a couple of minutes to plummet back to the earth. we are talking to felix baumgartner ahead of his fall from space.

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made with 100% beef and no artificial preservatives. it's yes food. martha: 41 minutes past the hour right tphoeufplt a now. at least 70 people were killed at a bombing at a rehearsal in yemen. they believe the attacker was a soldier taking part in that drill. the u.s. is selling surveillance drones to iraq's navy to help protect the nation's oil fields. that is widely seen as a way for the u.s. to keep deep ties with iraq. a jersey that once belonged to babe ruth has made history. it sold at auction for $4 million. it was worn by the babe, that began the curse as we remember.

the highest paid amount for sports memorabilia. gregg: we are waiting to learn the fate of a former rutgers university student convicted in a suicide spying case. dharun ravi is his name now in court waiting to be sentenced by the judge. he faces up to ten years in prison, that would be the max. lis wiehl joins us along with joey jackson. there are gay right activists that say no jail time for dharun ravi. >> some are saying no jail time and some are saying yes jail time. he was convicted on owl counts. he was able to plea and got even away with no jail, community

service. he chose not to do that take being the state to the expense of going to trial. he was convicted by a jury of his pierce. peers. he should get some time but not the maximum amount of time. gregg: they are not saying that it needs to be hash, but that he needs to be held accountable. >> you take a step back and this is what you go through as a criminal defense attorney. the plea is 600 hours of community service, probation and a little counseling and it's over. when you take the state to trial, this is what can happen. i don't think he'll get anywhere close to any ten-year sentence. will jail be part of the equation? potentially. but you have to look at ten events of the criminal justice system. punishment, right but there is deterrence and also rehabilitation. by all accounts he could rehabilitate himself, he's a smart person e was young at this time. gregg: we're talking about a

biased crime here, bigotry, do we need to send a message. >> yes, i think so. there are no winners in this case because two families effectively lost their sons in some way, and we need to send a message, we being the criminal justice system need to send a message saying, you cannot do that and get away with that. >> i don't disagree with that. will any college student engage in this activity? >> it's a deterrent. >> it is a deterrent. the very fact that he went through this and is facing ten years is the deterrent. gregg: punishment is part of the equation here. you have to know you could end up behind bars. i want to switch subjects to another trial we are following, this one down in north carolina, former presidential candidate john edwards, the jury resuming deliberations today following a break over the weekend. liz, i think this comes down to one issue the rules of the fec,

federal election commission. when you look at rules and the jurors have the rules in front of them, it was evidence, these kinds of contributions or donations cannot be considered campaign contributions, they have to be under the rules a gift. doesn't that mean a quit al. >> it does mean a quit a. do we all think he's a sum bag? absolutely. did he violate the rules, the law? i don't think the government proved it. because you have to show that the sole intent -- that's not true, because the jury instructions came back different on that. you have to show that was for the campaign and not a gift. gregg: >> the defense will step a big step back when the fc chairperson was going to testify on their behalf and the judge

said no. juries are skeptical by nature. he's a former united states senator, a form vice presidental candidate, he ran for president, there is knowledge that could be imputed to you. this is a smart guy. gregg: you don't need it because the campaign treasurer for edwards took the witness stand and read the fcc rules that said it has to be a gift not a campaign contribution. and she said, by the way if i do otherwise i'm braking the law. >> and they showed the flow charts of where the checks went. martha: they are not going to like him but they won't convict him. gregg: acquittal? >> i'm on the fence. i think he could get convicted here. >> good to see you both. martha: we've seen surprising outcomes before, right? let's go to jon scott standing by, he's getting all ready for "happening now." jon: i've learned never to predict a jury in my career. nato is wrapping up its summit today with a focus on plans for the future of afghanistan.

what is the strategy, lit work and why in the world is afghan president hamid karzai thanking american taxpayers. the trial of a man who is alleged to have killed his beauty school girlfriend is underway. a sleep disorder that may lead to cancer. we'll tell you what you need to know on "happening now." martha: right back here going where no man was gone before, this is unbelievable. adventure skydiver felix baumgartner is attempting a death defying jump literally out of this world. we'll talk to him live. delorean lovers, we'll show you how you can get a piece of this cult classic without breaking the bank.

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martha: barely any oxygen, temperatures well below freezing, but felix baumgartner is going 23 miles into the stratosphere and jumping out of a capsule attached to a helium balloon, nothing but a parachute and pressure suit to keep his blood from boiling at these altitudes. it is expected to be the highest jump in history. felix joins us right now with his trainer retired air force colonel kittiner. he holds the record back in

1960. it's incredible to have you here. felix this is sort of the thing that keeps grabbing my attention, our bodies are not made for that and the blood can begin to literally boil at that level. what do you do to prevent that from happening. >> that's the reason why we're going to use the next generation pressure suit, which you can see right here. this is also my helmet. i've been trained to use that suit, which is not easy in free fall. it's very difficult but i've done a lot of past jumps so i'm good. >> joe, colonel you've been such an inspiration to him. what do you tell him about the mental preparation, which has to be so important? if you panic the suit won't mountains too much, right. >> he's not going to panic. i tell you what i share with them, the same jump that i did 52 years ago. confidence in their equipment, your team and yourself.

and he has all three. martha: you are retired u.s. air force and you hold the current record. felix, take everybody through it, what is going to happen? how will you do the jump and what are the most important po poeufpbts it. >> i'm going to wear that pressure suit. i have to rebreathe oxygen for an hour to get rid of all the bubbles in my oxygen system. after three hours i'm depressurizing. martha: there's probably not too much traffic up there. >> it's not. after three hours i'm going to depressurize that capsule. i climb out which is the proper procedure, about 43 steps. we have been trained for the last couple of years to make it perfect. then i'm climbing out, i'm standing there, probably tornado a little appraiser, then i'm getting off. within the first 30 seconds you're going to accelerate so fast that you break the speed of sound. martha: a human body breaking

the speed of sound is a first ace understand it as well. can we get a tight shot of this suit so everybody can check it out? it's super cool. i would be remiss in not asking you the most basic of all questions. why on earth would you want to do this in. >> i'm a very competitive person, you know, i like the challenge and i have done a lot of challenges to myself the last couple of years. i've been a base jumper jumping off some of the highest buildings in the world. this is a totally different ball game. it's a science project. as i was a little kid i was looking up at joe and admiring what he did in the 60s. i never saw i was the one that will break his record, and now i have a chance and i'm going to take it. martha: i wish you took. it is great to have both of you here. the conditions have to be just right so you'll let us know when you're ready to go and we'll be watching with the rest of the world. best of look to you, colonel

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