movie star. used to be on "saturday night live." plus, we'll see sir richard branson. he'll be talk being all sorts of stuff. >> brian: maria will talk about the inside story of the runway modeling. >> steve: she wants to go to space. >> yes, i do. >> gretchen: see you tomorrow. martha: a korean peninsula getting dangerously closer to the edge today. nuclear clear armed north korea is warning foreigners to leave the country in the coming days. good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. >> i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer in "america's newsroom." the north releasing this statement. quote, the situation on korean peninsula is inching closer to thermonuclear due to the undisguised actions of the united states and south korean puppet warmongers and their moves

for a war against the north. martha: dived piper. david, what is behind the latest warning for people to get out? >> reporter: martha, yes, the south korean government says it is part of a coordinated campaign by the north to grab the headlines every day and peep the world's attention. you have to take the warnings seriously though. we understand they have a million man army. here in seoul, the south korean capital they have thousands of artillery pieces trained on the capital. they could flatten it in couple hours if they wanted to. when they start talking about war and things like that people take it seriously. martha: we have awful video of the latest military exercises. what is the latest on the missile launch and what can be done about it? >> reporter: this report is coming out of south korea today that this, these two

missiles, have been transported to north korea's east coast are now ready to be, at least one of them and they can do it early as tomorrow. that is the suggestion here. that is will be the 10th of april north korea has not said anything about the 10th. they warned foreign embassies to move their staff. they haven't moved their staff as i understand. what can be done? u.s., japan, have warships out with missile systems to take it out of the skies if it enters their territory. japan is particularly worried. they put in patriot missiles to protect tokyo, martha. martha: 10:00 at night in seoul, south korea. david piper, thank you very much. gregg: seoul one. world's most busiest capital cities, so close to the danger zone. a population of 10 million people make it the world's 13th biggest city.

estimates 10,100 americans residing in seoul. that is 4% of all foreign nationals in the city. seoul is only 27 miles from the demilitarized zone. it bears roo beating, 30,000 american troops are stationed in south korea. martha: a stark contrast between the two korea as in the nasa nighttime video. the south, of course an economic powerhouse lights up the night sky. the north is in virtual darkness. just a quarter of its people have access to even electricity in north korea. the south economic output is 18 times larger than the north. this image about a good aside by side comparison with a robust industrial democracy and a ruthless, authoritarian regime. >> what to make of the latest tensions on the korean peninsula, coming up ambassador john bolton is here. he will talk about the new warning for all foreigners

to get out shortly here on "america's newsroom.". president obama set to unveil his budget tomorrow. at this point we understand it will include big changes to the tax code, estimated to bring in an extra $700 billion. what would that mean for our already struggling economy? stuart varney is anchor of "varney & company" on fox business network. stu, good to see you. you and i were talking a few minutes ago in the hallway. i think when you add up actually all of the additional taxes the president now wants, it might come to about $800 billion. but look, what does that do to an economy? >> that's the question that the republicans are asking at this point. what do you do in a weak economy if you raise taxes again? go back to january the 1st, gregg. taxes were raised for everybody as of january the 1st. for wealthier people they were raised a lot. the result can be seen in last friday's dismal jobs

report. a very weak employment situation, blamed largely on those tax increases that went into effect january the 1st. do that again and the implication is that you weaken the economy even more. gregg, there are two main areas where there is a proposal to raise taxes. number one, cap the deductions available to wealthier people. number two, cap private pension plans at a certain level. those are the two big items of tax increases in this proposal. we will get the details tomorrow. gregg: stu, there is also another aspect on that. a cap on retirement plans. that is what the president wants. you mean to tell me that the government that can't seem to manage its own budget and has run up, i don't know, what, 16, $17 trillion in debt, wants to tell me how much money i need for retirement? >> yes. i will quote directly from the white house. the white house said some

people have, quote, substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement savings. in other words, you work, you save, you invest but it is the white house, it is they who will tell you what you need. and there's a second element here, gregg. what kind of a message is it sending to younger people who are already worried about the future of social security to say we're going to put a cap on how much you can save in your private pension plan? that's a very dismal, negative message to be sending to young savers i suspect. gregg: i mean i took a brief look at the reports of this thing. it seems as though there are very few spending a cuts and a lot of additional debt that will be added in the president's proposed budget, right? >> well, they see this as a balanced effort here. raise taxes, that's one side of the equation. on the other side trim social security benefits in the future with this chain cost of living adjustment.

it does amount to an imbalance actually because you will be raising a whole lot more in taxes, especially if you pile on these new tax increases on top of tax increases we already saw on the january the 1st. it is heavily skewed towards tax increases rather than spending cuts but it is just proposals. we get the details tomorrow. gregg: stuart varney, thanks very much. >> gregg. martha: coming up in the next hour we will talk to a top republican senator who says that there are encouraging parts he sees in the president's budget which will be rolled out on wednesday. we'll talk to south carolina senator lindsey graham will be with us. we'll ask what the so-called nuggets are in the president's budget that got his attention. family members of victims of the sandy hook school massacre are in washington today. they will speak to lawmakers to try to get support for the measures that would tighten gun laws in this country. the white house inviting them to fly to washington

back from connecticut with the president. you can see him standing on the staircase there for air force one. the point was that they could join him to go to washington and try to get that attention on capitol hill for the gun laws that they are seeking. president obama has been pushing to bolster those laws sips the tragedy that left 20 children and six educators dead. the senate is expected to debate gun legislation later this week or next. a deal may be in the works on the background checks part on this. we'll talk about it. the rest of what was wanted is starting to look less likely, gregg. looks like the assault weapons part of this and multiple magazine part of this do not seem to have the leverage they would need to pass in congress. gregg: seems as though the president dialed back his demands and expectations. now, he seems to just want a vote on background check, regardless whether or not it would actually happen. martha: senators who are threatening to filibuster and not bring it to a vote at all. john mccain is very against

that. we may get a chance to touch with lindsey graham about that as well. gregg: we'll talk to steve hayes about that in just a few minutes. all right. president obama ramping up the pressure on congress to pass that new gun control set of measures. why he says this isn't about him or scoring a political victory. martha: plus new signs that small businesses are making a major move in health care. so what does this mean for workers, so many people work in small businesses across this country, what does it mean for the law going forward. gregg: they defied death. brand new details on the rescue of two young hikers who got stranded in the california wilderness for days. >> honestly didn't even know i was missing. i didn't know i was gone. i didn't know anything was going on. i thought i was in a big dream. there is lots of different aspects of the dream that played a part. [ male announcer ] red lobster is hitting the streets

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funeral plans for former british prime minister margaret thatcher. the service will be held april 17th at st. paul's cathedral. one of the most important a landmarks in london. baroness thatcher will get the same honors accorded to princess diana and the queen mother at her funeral which is a real significant. her coffin will lie overnight at the houses of parliament before the funeral service. and then travel by horse-drawn gun carriage to the cathedral. margaret thatcher passed away yesterday morning our time at the age of 87. this is going to be a huge international event with leaders obviously from countries all around the world and it will be a spectacular, as the british can do very well send-off and good-bye to somebody who was very important to them. gregg: it should be. she transformed their society and in many ways the world as well. so she needs to be honored.

president obama insisting his push for gun control is about preventing future tragedies. it is not about the a political victory he said, speaking to newtown families yesterday, the president urged congress not to block the vote. >> so connecticut has shown the way and now is the time for congress to do the same. [applause] nd a foxteve hayes of "the news contributor joins us. steve, good to see you. >> good morning. gregg: republican as you know are threatening a filibuster but mccain and graham both say that would be a mistake. are they right? should there at least be a vote in earnest on this? >> well, look i think what you will hear from the defenders of the filibuster and people who announce they intend to do it, this is a significant argument over principle. they don't want background checks. they don't think they're good. rather than the, this being a political stunt as president obama suggested

yesterday, in effect what they're us doing using rules of the senate to their advantage to avoid policy outcomes they don't want. take them at their word for that. now it would be silly to deny there is not a political component. of course there is. there is politics to all of this. gregg: how do you reconcile their belief that there should be no additional background checks to the way the american public feels and i will tell you what i mean by that? let's put it up on the screen. the fox news latest proposal to reduce gun violence, 85% are in favor of requiring universal checks, a slimmer margin though on high-capacity clips and assault weapons. but look at that. that is a stunning 85%. are some of the folks, the majority of the folks in the senate on the wrong side of this? >> well, look, i think is what makes it sort of ironic that the president is accusing republicans only doing it for political reasons. if they were only doing it for political reasons one would think they would bend

over when this turn-around, just when you see polls like that but i think there are things, if you look sort of beyond the top line some of these polls, there are also indications that americans are uncomfortable with some of these background checks. if you look for instance, at quinnepiac poll that came out last week found like our "fox news poll" some 85, 90% of people favoring background checks, they also said they're worried background checks and additional measures could lead to confiscation. people are concerned about gun registry. i think what these republicans in the senate are trying to do give a voice to constituents that believe that and believe that any of these measures, a, won't be effective and b, would lead to further restrictions down the road. gregg: president obama again yesterday reiterated his call for a ban on military assault weapons and also for the extended ammunition magazines. even harry reid says look, we don't even have 40 votes for that. >> yeah. gregg: that is just dead in

the water, right? >> right. the president's going through the motions there. i think he understands that that is not going to happen. he felt like he had to make the argument in his speech but it was noteworthy in his speech he include those items of sort of a laundry list he gave when he talks about the kind of measures he favors. he didn't spend much time on them. he spent his time instead on this background check and talking about the need for background checks and good he thinks would come of it. gregg: if the president goes down on all three and gets none of what he wants, book ground checks, ammunition clips, or assault weapons. what does this say about his effectiveness as a leader, especially upon capitol hill? >> i think it wouldn't be a good thing for him obviously politically. if you look the way he approached this issue in the immediate aftermath of those tragic shootings, what he said was he wanted to reframe the debate. he wanted this to be a debate that was different than the other debates we

had after previous mass shootings. so he talked about a number of things, not just gun control. he talked about mental health checks, tighting up standards there. he talked about challenging hollywood on violence. and i think unfortunately for the president what he did he fell back into the stale, old arguments on gun control. if you look at his speech again yesterday, he mentioned mental health but mentioned it in passing. just on the list. he didn't spend anytime talking about it. if you look at the emphasis we've seen from the white house on these questions, it has been all gun control, almost all the time. so the president missed that opportunity to reframe the debate. gregg: when he applauded connecticut's very aggressive new gun control measures maybe he was actually making the point for those who argue, the feds have no business in this. leave it up to the states to decide, right? >> he certainly made a strong push for tight irfederal restrictions, there's no question about that. it's been interesting to watch what happens in the states. on one hand you have states like colorado and

connecticut and others that tightened gun control laws. but you had a number of other states, red states, even the aftermath of newtown to actually relaxed gun restrictions. you had states going both ways. it has been very interesting to follow it on the state level as national debate continues. gregg: steve hayes, "weekly standard", as always, great to see you. >> thanks, gregg. martha: there are new concerns this morning over robot-performed surgeries. you hear so much about them. they can do pretty much everything right now. there is also a potentially life-threatening side of this and the fda is beginning to investigation into it. we'll talk to dr. samati about that. gregg: a legal showdown over traumatic he had injuries

gregg: a daring rescue as a

woman is pulled out of this scary accident. the tractor-trailer accident near newport news, virginia. you see the truck's cab. it is dangling from the bridge. authorities say she was driving when she crashed on the tunnel. the woman suffering only minor injuries, expected to be okay. virginia state police say she has been charged though with reckless driving. martha: to sports now because there are some new developments in the legal battle over traumatic head injuries in the nfl the league's in court today. they will face off against thousands of retired players who banded together because they say that the league hid information that they knew about the ink todayers of these head injuries. julie banderas is live in our studio. julie what does this mean potentially for the nfl? >> reporter: this is big lawsuit. thousands of former ball players are involved what could cost the nfl billions of dollars. the nfl wants the lawsuit thrown out of court but the players want to them to pay up by accusing them of fraud

and hiding dangers of head trauma with repeated hits to the head. during the hearing beginning at some point today we will be hearing and the judge will hear open oral argue mains on the nfl's motion to dismiss more than 200 cases rolled into one case before a u.s. district judge in philadelphia. a decision we are told which could take months. in all, some 4200 former players are suing. some say they suffer from dementia, depression and even alzheimer's disease while the rest want their health monitored. martha. martha: what about the nfl, what's their argument, julie? >> reporter: at this point the nfl says the case belongs in arbitration. it does not belong in court since plaintiffs claim they are covered by the collective bargaining agreement. when lawyers hammer it out in court one lawyer we spoke with the unprecedented move by former players could be a danger not just to football but to all organized sports and finally shed light on the risks players take when

they sign the multimillion-dollar contracts. listen. >> there's no doubt if the case is decided that us lawyers say, on its merits, and the players win, that can be a precedent for the future in terms of the obligations of the legal to the players. it's obviously a precedent for other professional sports, which have hits like hockey and basketball. >> reporter: now the judge's ruling could result in several outcomes from dismissing the case completely to granting the plaintiff's wishes to proceed with discovery and ultimately a trial. regardless how the judge rules her decision will most likely be appealed. meaning this case could actually drag on for years, martha. martha: hugely controversial. it will be fascinating to see where it goes. julie, thank you very much. >> reporter: sure. gregg: some small businesses ready to take a major stance on health care. what they're planning to do and what it could mean to

you and the new health care law moving forward. martha: plus a inaing wildfire forcing hundreds of families out of their homes. we've got an update where this thing is headed next. i do a lot of research on angie's list before i do any projects on my own. at angie's list, you'll find reviews written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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gregg: welcome back. a new eye-opening report about wasteful fwoflt spending is just out and there's a hearing on capitol hill today seeking to limit this kind of spending. national correspondent steve centanni is live in washington with more. hi, steve. >> reporter: hi, gregg.

too many government programs waste taxpayers money by duplicating efforts. that is the basically finding of the government accountability office in a 280 page report to congress. renewable energy comes in for much of the criticism this year. efforts to support wind, solar and biofuels are fragmented among 23 different government agencies and a total of 679 different programs. critics say all this government waste and duplication is robbing future generations by driving up the deficit. this morning senator tom coburn of oklahoma targeted that confusing tangle of renewable energy programs as one example. >> nobody knows what's going on there. not the department of energy or all these other 13 agencies that have these programs. nobody knows. we're just throwing money thinking it will stick on the wall and enriching those that are well-connected in the process and wasting our kid's future. >> reporter: a lot of areas

were outlined in this report including the department of defense which has its own problems with duplication according to the gao. there are too many overlapping contracts for language services in foreign countries and for combat uniforms. the report says troops could be better protected and taxpayers would be able to save $82 million through better collaboration among the military services. there are some other trouble spots according to this report. the government wastes money on veterans employment and training, monitoring the medicaid program and examining and inspecting catfish. gregg. gregg: catfish are very important, steve, but that's whole another story. we'll get back to you on that. steve centanni in washington, thanks. martha: all right. to health care now because small business owners are starting to weigh whether they should cover everybody or just pay the penalty for health care when that law kicks in fully next year. so under the law employers with 50 or more full-time employees will be required

to provide coverage for all of them. those employees must work 30 or more hours per week which led to a lot of part-time alternatives at many of these companies. an alternative for the business owners to pay $2,000 in the penalty for each full-time employee. this only applies after the first 30 workers this we'll talk about it. bob beckel, campaign manager and co-host of "the five." mare can i catherine ham, editor-at-large of hotair.com and welcome to you both. >> good morning, martha. gregg: bob, i heard small business owners talking about this, some of whom, like the man who is quoted in this story, say, when they add up what it will cor their employees, it would cost more than they ever made in the company since the beginning of its existence. it is simply not even a choice for them. >> some of them will fall into that category. the overwhelming number of small businesses will go along with this. every survey indicates that. massachusetts we have life example of that after

several years, number of people who opted out have been very small. listen, keep one thing in mind about this program. every entitlement program since its inception, medicare specifically, have gone through a series of changes to try to address problems like this and medicare is still going through changes. for 150 years after it started. i think this is a small problem that can be resolved an very few companies are going to worry about it. other thing, health care premiums are deductible for businesses. penalties are not. martha: that's true. so that is something that goes into their equation as they weigh these costs. mary katherine, what do you think about bob said? >> one difference first of all between the medical care plan and other entitlements, the other entitlements passed with bipartisan support and had large support in the public when they were passed. people are more easily convinced of their goodness in this case. in this case you have a lot of broken promises coming to bear. people who are in the businesses who might drop some of their coverage were told they could keep their coverage if they liked it.

that's not going to be the case. these businesses, many of them, doesn't mean all of them will do this but they're acting rationally and looking at situation and going, if this penalty costs me less than employing people to administer my health care program and pay this, by the way, rising cost for health care, then that's what i have to do to stay in business. it is tough out there. martha: bob, what would you do if you were running a small business and you had 48 employees and option to open another plant next year? do you, i think a lot of people just say, you know what? i'm going to take care of the people i've got. they have been with me a long time. i'm not going to grow right now because if i grow over that number and it cost me a lot more money and might not take care of my people i've got. >> i would start the next plant under another corporate name. martha: very savvy. >> what mary katherine just said, i would start worrying about if you're talking about 15 or 20% of the businesses but a very small number are doing this. until we see this as a major

problem with a lot of businesses i think we're probably overreacting to a few instance. >> bob, it is the chill effect. the chill effect overall on businesses across the country. you have a president who is trying very hard to grow the economy, to give more people job. this is a disincentive to hire more people in this country, is it not? mary katherine and then bob. >> this is the thing, i think the problem is a little bit larger when you poll business owners they say, almost 50% of them according to small business polling say they have no idea whether this will cost them more than the penalty so that uncertainty certainly adds to the fact they don't want to hire new people. i would add also obamacare promised a small business targeted marketplace which is not going to exist because they didn't get their act together and create it. martha: i tell you one thing they do know, bob and let's put these numbers up. so far their costs are going up since this has been signed into law. this is 2012, single coverage, 5615. the year before it was $5400

and it goes back down as you go through the years. >> yeah. that has, i keep coming back to this. this is the insurance industry you ought to worry about here. it is not obamacare. the insurance industry, they're not under any pressure right now. they have been raising rates for decade now. frankly not very trustworthy about this stuff. let me go back to something we just talked about for a second. there is some problems here that worry me, not so much people who will opt out of the program but the fact that a lot of employers are taking people down below 30 hours per week. that puts people into the part-time work category. that will cost them wages. that worries me. i think it is something we need to address. martha: there is a clause says if they work over a certain number of hours you have to cover them as well. they're trying to find ways around all of this. mary katherine, last thought. >> i think part of the reason the prices are going up because the essential health benefits that have to be covered under obamacare are pretty expensive. so you're adding some of these things. when you say 15% of these

businesses have to make huge changes. not discount these people built their businesses spending entire lives and 80 hours a week now we say you get no profit margin, sorry. that is not a small deal. >> they didn't build it. i'm only kidding. only kidding. >> i can't, couldn't even muster an eye roll for that. martha: bob beckel said it here. if you have a small business you did not build it. thank you, bob. thanks, mary katherine. see you tonight. gregg: raise against time in the state of california to control a brush fire rapidly spreading hundreds of people forced to get out of their homes. one driver tells us how branches from trees in the area were just flying down. >> i just going westbound on riverside and without warning the branches right over there, just came crashing down on to my car. it was chaos. still a little bit shaken up from it. i'm glad i'm okay. the other car that was involved as well is okay. gregg: bob decastro with our fox affiliate kttv has more

from fillmore, california. >> reporter: progress is made on the fire. evacuation orders lifted about 280 homes. those evacuation orders lifted about midnight as firefighters were able to take advantage of the better weather conditions here. cooler temperatures overnight and humidity is up and also the winds backed down significantly. this was primarily a wind-driven fire with gusts up to 45 miles an hour. it is a fire that broke out around 3:15 yesterday. fillmore is 50 miles northwest of los angeles. they believe a power line that was downed may have sparked this fire. 170 acres were burned. two homes were nearly destroyed. several cars also damaged. and firefighters had to attack this from the air. so this morning at first light they will be working to try to contain this fire, provide structure protection. they are bracing for the possibility of more winds today although at this point they believe the wind won't be as strong as yesterday

and they are concerned about the very dry conditions because of the lack of moisture here. the shortness of the, short rainfall that we have had, they are concerned that some vegetation on the ground may be as dry. in fact they say it is as dry as it would be in june. firefighters are bracing for the possibility of more winds. martha: thanks to bob decastro there. a look into the markets this morning nine minutes old as we head into the day. investors are waiting for some key economic data that will come out from businesses from the government. a little bit of a pop in early going. about 22 points higher. up 50 from yesterday. we'll keep a close eye on the action throughout the morning. gregg: a few more green arrows than the red onces. martha: we'll take it. gregg: think time. rising tensions on the peninsula as north koreans issue new warnings to foreigners. we'll look what it means for the thousands of american troops who are stationed there. martha: a dramatic survival

story. the young hikers we showed you these folks earlier in the week. they were missing for four days in kal to. we're learning more how they survived. >> i don't remember drinking anything. i know i ate dirt and tried to eat dirt and rocks. i came to hospital with a big mouthful of dirt ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

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martha: we are learning harrowing new details on the teenage hikers missing for days in the wilderness. california officials released the teenagers panicked 911 calls. >> i don't know if we're going to make it to the morning we have no water. >> i understand that. we're out looking for you. we can't have the chopper out because if they can't see because of fog they will crash. martha: the cell phone eventually died. they became separated. crazy stuff. one. hikers said she started hallucinating on the first night.

>> i only remember the first night. and the last thing i remember the first night was fighting off some animal with nick. and then, i just remember the last day, scooting down a little hill, or actually it wasn't really little, it was actually like a cliff and then just resting on my little rock for the rest of the time --. i don't remember drinking anything. i know i ate dirt. tried to eat some dirt and rocks. and i came to the hospital with a big mouthful of dirt. martha: what a story. that's where they found her on the little cliff she described. rescuers reached each of the teens separately last week. they're both out of the hospital and they're okay. they're young and resilient and they will be fine. gregg: not going to go hiking for a while. back to the growing tension on the korean peninsula. the nuclear-armed nortelling foreigners to leave south korea, get out. releasing a ominous statement about impending

nuclear war. japan ringing tokyo with patriot interceptor missiles in anticipation of a possible north korean missile launch. ambassador john bolton joins us live. former ambassador to the united nations a fox news contributor. ambassador, good to see you. another day and another threat or warning from north korea but in reality is it unlikely that the north would launch a direct attack on seoul, south korea yaw? if not, where? >> well, i think it is very unlikely that they will launch a direct attack against anybody. i don't think that's what they're trying to do. i think their campaign here is designed to get the rest of the world, particularly the united states, to accept that they are irrevocably a nuclear weapons state. i think it would be a mistake for us to do that but that's what they're trying to do. this threat though to south korea could well represent a substantial increase in the pressure they're trying to apply and i think it will backfire because by telling

foreigners in south korea, you are potentially not safe, they're trying to discourage trade and investment, business, tourism, really south korea's lifeline to the outside world. and that ought to irritate south koreans plenty because it is a direct interfear recognize in their well-being. irritate the population and irritate the government. what that does i think ratchet up tensions between the north and the south so if the north does try a provocation with south korea, i think this time there will be retaliation. gregg: in the event of an overt act by pongyang, as we understand it the obama administration reportedly is planning a limited response, proportional to the provocation. does that project weakness or reflect some wisdom? >> well, i think it projects weakness. i think the point to north korea is, you're not going to endanger any of your neighbors and we're simply not going to tolerate this kind of behavior. civilized countries don't

threaten their neighbors with nuclear war. they don't act provocatively this way intimating that these missiles that they have deployed on mobile launch platforms may reach targets in south korea and japan and guam or elsewhere. this entire course of conduct by north korea is unacceptable and i don't think we ought to take any chances with them. i'm sure that is the the direction that japan is moving in. that's why they deployed those patriot batteries. i think most important this ought to be a signal to china the north korean government is just out of control and that the long range solution here which would be ben firm to china as well as everybody else is find a way to eliminate this regime and peacefully reunify the two core rewas. gregg: china's president did issue a rather vague and ambiguous warning that no country in the region should throw the area into chaos. that is not much of a statement and so far no

action by china. that's pretty typical that is three decades of no response by china, no pressure by china on its client state. >> right, exactly. the chinese leadership is divided over how to handle north korea. the traditional few has been, they're an ally. we want a buffer state between them and the united states. but among younger chinese leaders you're now seeing op-eds being published and discussion in the media about what an ugly piece of baggage this regime in pongyang is. we should have started this conversation with china years ago but better late than never. we have to think about the big strategic picture and use this crisis to convince the chinese they don't want to live with it either. gregg: what do you make of kim jong-un, the young leader? i mean young, he is only 30 years old. so clearly ambassador, he is a novice but is he irrational? is he delusional? is he a little bit crazy

here or just kind of a guy trying to prove his manhood to the north korean generals who are more than twice his age? >> i don't think we know enough about him to make a judgment and honestly i don't think we know enough about the power relationships inside north korea to know whether he is given -- giving orders to the generals or generals giving orders to him or some complex mix of the two. that is one of the difficulties i think we have in trying to discern exactly what the north korean regime is trying to do. it is one of the reasons why the risk of miscalculation here both by north korea or by south korea and its allies is so high. gregg: ambassador john bolton, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, gregg. martha: well the fda is investigating a new very popular way to perform surgery using a robot or robotic arm. there's a surgeon doing it right there. our next guest is a leader in robotic surgery. why he says some doctors though are abusing the

robots in this surgical procedure. he wants to warn you coming up. gregg: hundreds of america's toughest heroes in the war on terrorism challenging the white house now on benghazi saying it is lying to the american public. one of the special-ops who signed that letter demanding answer from congress joining us live next. >> there were some members who wanted to have a conversation to kind of compare notes on what we know and what we don't know and frankly there is a lot that we still don't know. at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello?

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martha: this is a fascinating story. the fda is now taking a closer look at the popular robot system that is used in hospitals chaos the country for surgeries and this comes

amid reports there are problems, even several deaths linked to robotic surgery. the da vinci robot it is called allows surgery to be performed through very small incisions. it reduces recovery times. it was used in 400,000 surgeries including mine in the united states last year. 400 hospitals have the da vinci system. dr. david samati uses the robot. he is a excellent surgeon and chief of robotics of the mt. sinai medical center in new york city and great member of the fox news medical a-team. you did four of these yesterday? >> typicallyally i do four to five a day. i also believe you should do the entire surgery. a lot of surgeons run multiple rooms at same time. there are two or three robots and go from room to room. that is when they have a lot of come my -- complications. if you commit to this you have to do the surgery. martha: we have video of you

using this technique. the scary thing, the headline, there are situations where the robot grabbed on to tissue and won't let go of the body, the person's body. situations where somebody was whacked in the face by the arm of the robot? that's scary. >> the reason is because, the surgeons are not experienced enough. the big question how do you prepare for this? how do you learn and become proficient to do this? my answer to this if you have a good surgeon, plus the technology, then it results in good outcomes. that is what this is about. if you don't have the experience and you use the technology, that's hard. that is bad outcome. you will have complications. so the question is how do they learn to do robotic surgery? every surgeon has their own path of getting there. by training am a open surgeon. i learn how to touch the tissue, make incision. i went to france to become a lap proskopic surgeon. i got the experience. when we brought the robotic

technology it was magic. martha: during your time as a surgeon it has evolved. are new surgeons ever getting that experience of being in the body or are they going directly to the robot and is that a negative? >> that is an excellent question, and i think that is part of the problem we have. they never learned to do the surgery well in open. you take a weekend course and come back on monday after doing a couple of cases in the pig lab. now they're ready to do a live case, a surgery takes me an hour-to-hour 1/2 of no blood loss may keep the patient seven to 10 hours. that is really not good medicine. what we need to do is put in good strong credentials and patients need to find out, doctor, what is your training? how many cases do you do? who does my operation? how many cases and really --. martha: get all the information. a good surgeon is a good surgeon regardless whether they do it by hand or with the robot. >> absolutely. martha: dr. samadi, thank you. good to have you. >> thanks, martha the president's budget plan is heading to congress tonight and one republican says he

is encouraged by it. we'll ask lindsey graham about the quote, nuggets of the plan he says he is optimistic b we'll be right back. martha: it may be spring. feels like summer here in new york. but we've got a huge snowstorm that is brewing right now. we'll tell you where. and noodles on spoons. a kite, a breeze, a dunk of grilled cheese. catches and throws, and spaghettio's. a wand, some wings, soup with good things. sidewalks and doodles and wholesome noodles. puddles and pails and yes, puppy dog tails. for a lunch like this, there's a hug and a kiss. because that's what happy kids are made of. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. helps provide many with, day and night relief because that's what happy kids are made of. of heartburn symptoms caused by acid reflux disea.. there is risk of bone fracture, and low magnesium levels. side effects may include headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. call your dooror right away if you have persistent diarrhea.

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lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! martha: fox news alert. a major spring snowstorm is blanketing parts of colorado right now with up to a foot and a half of snow today. a day after whipping california with hurricane force wind gusts. welcome to a brand new hour, right? is it spring or not spring? i'm martha maccallum. gregg: mother nature does not want to decide. i'm gregg jarrett in for bill and hundreds of flights are already canceled at denver international airport. one of the busiest in the west, just 24 hours ago it was a balmy 70 degrees there. martha: then that came here, right? so we've got team coverage for you on this. maria molina is in the fox extreme weather center. we begin though with alicia acuna who is experiencing

this herself in denver. so we hear that the wind is really the worst part of this, alicia? >> reporter: absolutely, martha. 50 mile-an-hour winds brought this system into the denver area and is wreaking havoc for travelers on the roads and also in the air. we just got an update from denver international airport. 465 flights have been canceled in and out of dia. there are crews out there working on the tarmacs trying to clear the ice an snow but this is a stubborn system and so that snow and ice just keeps piling on. in terms of the roads it has been very slick out there and very dangerous. a lot of rollovers. we heard of reports that there are road closures and a tremendous number of accidents. if there is some good news it's for all the kids in the area because schools started reporting their closures for today yesterday. so a snow day in april for all of the kids. so although the calendar is technically saying this is a spring storm, martha, it is 15 degrees and this morning

about an hour ago the wind chill chill was negative 4, four below zero in april. martha: that is not fun snow. that is wet, windy snow. what about other states in the area, are they getting hit with this as well? >> reporter: they are. there are a lot of states getting hit and causing similar problems as well. we're hearing interstate 80 in wyoming has closures going eastbound and westbound in certain parts of the state. nebraska department of transportation also reporting winter-like driving conditions that folks have to be on the lookout. in montana they're getting some snow and it is not so much the amount. it is what is creating, a problem that is being created by the wind. like an ice ring out there. a bad problem. >> sounds horrible, alicia. good luck. thank you very much. see you later. gregg: doesn't look like she is having much fun, does she? martha: no, no. gregg: we're tracking the storm as it moves eastward. you see the map with heavy snow expected for colorado

and minnesota and heavy rains for western plains and great lakes. meteorologist maria molina live in the fox extreme weather center. this is pretty extreme for this month. >> yes, that's right. we're seeing that weather pattern very typical for this time of the year. this is a typical springtime snowstorm. you have snow with the system. ahead of it tends to get very warm. you have all the ingredients in place to actually see severe weather. the zone that is seeing it, parts of the center of country are used to seeing that this time of the year. very typical for april. if everyone is having fun as far as snow goes it has to be ski resorts across portions of rockies. the storm is dumping a lot of heavy snow across sections of colorado, parts of wyoming and montana. some heaviest snow coming down across parts of south dark and central parts of the state could actually see 20 inches of snow. one to two feet forecast across sections of colorado and into wyoming. because of heavy snow we're expecting in some of these

areas and also the wind gusting to 30, 40 miles an hour at times, we do have the winter storm warnings in effect and blizzard storm warnings in april across sections of colorado and northeastern part of utah. ahead of the system we have fuel for the thunderstorm, that warm humid air mass coming off the gulf of mexico and spreading north word -- northward. we have from noaa a moderate risk. the zone shaded in red across oklahoma and send trat -- central parts of texas. where you have the greatest risk for tornados and damaging wind gusts and large hail. keep in mind the red zone is the highest concern today. you can see severe weather anywhere from parts of texas all the way up into western illinois and southern iowa. you still do have the risk for strong storms. gregg, as we head into the next couple days the system heads eastbound and we'll continue to see the risk for severe storms spreading east as well. gregg: heading our way. maria molina thanks very

much. >> thanks. gregg: this storm could up dump as much as 20 inches of snow in the denver area. that is more than three times the average snowfall for the entire month of april in the mile-high city which is less than 7 inches. snow of course is nothing new for colorado in the month of april. it is actually their fifth snowiest month of the year. and the snowiest april on record? well, 1933 when, 33.8 inches, nearly three feet of snow fell. martha: north korea intensifying its threats again today, warning that the korean peninsula is quote, heading toward thermonuclear war. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. how is the pentagon reacting to the rising belligerence from the north korean leader? >> reporter: martha, the pentagon is taking these threats very seriously. right now on capitol hill a hearing has just begun before the senate armed services committee. general maxwell thurman,

head of forces in korea was supposed to testify before that committee hearing headed by senator carl levin but he canceled his trip at the last moment because of the extreme tension on the korean peninsula right now. that is a very unusual move for the u.s. general. we are hearing now from pacific commander admiral locklear. he is being questioned by the armed services committee. here is carl levin just moments ago. >> the same destructive policies as its predecessors stubbornly pursuing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs with callous disregard for the well-being of its own people and the region. >> reporter: as north korea made the announcement this morning threatening nuclear war on the peninsula and asking for foreigners to leave the peninsula, we heard carl levin ask admiral locklear why it was that the pentagon decided to call off

that minuteman icbm, intercontinental ballistic missile test, long scheduled test that was supposed to take place out at vandenberg air force base? that would have a test that would have sent a missile from vandenberg 4300 miles away. admiral locklear said he agreed with the decision by the pentagon to postpone the test and rising tensions and misunderstanding on the korean peninsula. martha. martha: jennifer, explain a little bit, last week the word there wasn't a lot of movement on the ground in north korea, militarily. that most of this had been rote rick. has that changed?. >> reporter: it has not changed. this is still viewed as rhetoric because of the young nature of this up tested leader in north korea. some that i've talked to have called this the debutante as ball. this is his coming out. how is he going to act? is he in a corner now and is he going to have to act in the wake of all this belligerence?

martha: not as much found as a colling out party i would imagine but i get it. jennifer, thank you very much. we'll see you later. gregg: north korea's nuclear threats prompting the united states to take steps to defend itself as he will as its allies. here a quick look at the timetable. march 14th the u.s. announces plans to deploy 14 additional ground-based interceptors in alaska and california. two weeks later, two nuclear capable b-2 stealth bombers fly a practice mission over south korea. march 31st the u.s. sends two f-22 stealth fighter jets to south korea to join seoul forces in military exercises. two days later a destroyer with missile defense systems is shifted to waters off the southwest coastline of the korean peninsula. then april 3rd the u.s. announces deployment of a missile defense battery to guam capable of shooting down intermediate ba is are tick missiles. today japan deploying

missile interceptors just outside of tokyo. martha: americans typically are not allowed to just cuba toa good time. so that is why there is a controversial story about the superstar couple, beyonce and jay-z who reportedly had their trip okayed by the u.s. government. they went to havana last week. it was their fifth anniversary. they were celebrating and the u.s. travel law basically bans that kind of a trip without a special license. so where did they get the special license? the white house says, wasn't up to them. >> certainly the case that under this administration we have eased the ability to travel to cuba for those purposes but that the decisions that the individual level are made at the treasury department, not here. martha: florida senator marco rubio is cuban-american and he is demanding answers on this. he said the obama administration should explain exactly how trips like these comply with u.s. law and regulations governing travel to cuba and

how, and should disclose how many more of these trips they have licensed. rubio's concern shared by his republican colleagues in florida. congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen and congressman mario diaz-balart both came out against this trip. gregg: you know, cultural purposes are always an exception to the ban on travel over there but one wonders if there was a little bit of special treatment here. martha: you would imagine that is how they got in, under sort of a cultural visit and she was posing with schoolchildren. you can kind of, some people have spoken out in favor of it. it is time to look at more open relationships in some ways with cuba. so looks like they had a great time. he was smoking havana cigars and strolling through the streets of old havana. gregg: lots of old cars in old havana. a top republican senator now saying he is encouraged by what he sees in the president's budget proposal. just ahead lindsey graham joins to us explain why he

is so optimistic. martha: a new push for answers in the benghazi terror attacks. a letter has been sent to congress by 700 special forces veterans. one of them joins us next live. why he thinks the white house is misleading the american public after four americans died in our consulate. >> in a main residence, the special agent, reportedly david ubben, comes here and gets ambassador stevens from his bedroom and brings him along with sean smith to this room in the safe haven, really a aside for medicine and other supplies, a big dark, windowless closet. ♪ [ male announcer ] help brazil reduce its overall reliance on foreign imports with the launch of the country's largest petrochemical operation. ♪ when emerson takes up the challenge, "it's never been done before"

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gregg: the heart-wrenching 911 call just in from the father of one of the two children killed in a construction collapse. investigators say the father was digging a two-story pit in his backyard on sunday evening and the cousins were playing inside when the walls caved in.

>> i don't know how much it could be. a wall collapsed on them. >> the entire wall collapsed on them? >> a crain hit, bulldozer anything you can, please!. gregg: authorities are investigating whether the father had a permit to dig that hole. martha: a top republican senator is now saying that he is encouraged by president obama's budget proposal. mr. obama set to unveil the plan to congress tomorrow. senator lindsey graham saying quote, there are some nuggets of this bill i think are optimistic. let's ask him himself. senator lindsey graham joins me now. he serves on the appropriations and armed services committees. senator graham, welcome. good to have you here. >> good morning. martha: so the president's plan from what we know would cut two trillion but would also change, put in entitle changes that social security. you think there is an opening here for another grand bargain. how? >> well, you've got to remember the budget of the president as a whole is a tax-and-spend nightmare.

the document as a hole is going nowhere but within his budget he embraces chain cpi. basically recalculating the benefit formula for social security and medicare, which will save a lot of money over the next 30 years, and the left is going nuts. i want to compliment the president for embracing that change as recommended by bowles-simpson, just about every bipartisan group serious about budget reform. and he did some things on the medicare front that are small steps towards entitlement reform. martha: you say, you know, this plan could have, i'm paraphrasing you but could get a guy like me to look at the possibility of increasing revenues. didn't we already do that with the tax hikes? >> yeah, we did. we had $600 billion of revenues increased at the fiscal cliff debate. what i'm looking for is to save medicare and social security and the country from becoming greece. medicare and medicaid by 2043, martha, will require 18% of gdp to be funded.

we're not collecting 16% of gdp by taxes. by 2043 those programs will take up all the revenue we're generating. so you have to change them and save them. what i'm looking from the president, let's harmonize the retirement age for medicare with social security. adjust it from 65 to 67, over a 25 to 30-year period. means test, medicare and social suit. people my income level should recalculate and social security and medicare and cpi. martha: pardon me, if you want to increase revenues from people pr well off, why wouldn't that be why wouldn't that be a an issue you could embrace. i asked so many democrats that question and i would ask the president if i had the chance why wouldn't that be a way to get new revenue you would like? >> listen to this, if you make over $250,000 each year outside social security, under medicare, part-b, hospital and doctor payments,

part-b, the drug bill, the federal government gives you $108 billion a month subsidy. that is ridiculous. i should pay the $108 a month f you do that under the population as a whole, that save as lot money that is way to get wealthy people to contribute. i would plat flatten the tax code, eliminate deductions and buy down the tax rate and pay off debt if he does retirement reform. this is a question to our people on the left, if you don't embrace reform on social security and medicare, they will die on the vine and everybody is going to lose. martha: let's look at the immigration plan. what we're hearing that the eight people who are getting together to try to make this immigration reform happen want to come up with something that is so ironclad that all eight of you would agree that no changes could be made to it. >> right. martha: now that's sounds like you will not let the rest of the folks on capitol hill have any part in this? >> that would be news to me. i don't know how you could write a bill like that and i surely wouldn't do it.

what we'll do is come out with a road map we think that will regain our sovereignty, practically deal with the 11 million but secure our border, control who gets a job. we lost our sovereignty. every country on the planet should have the right to determine who comes into the country and under what conditions. martha: how do you secure the border, senator, in that plan? >> well there are nine sectors of our border. six of them are at 90% above in terms of being secure. you spend more money. you put new technology, but the reason we have 11 million illegal immigrants, they come here to get a job. you have to have interior enforcement. i secure the border. you control visa overstays. 40% of people came here legally never came across the border you overstayed their visa. we do a good jobs fixing that. it is about getting a job. e-verify system, a national system so every employer can determine the person in front of them is really here legally or not. if you hire an illegal after that you will lose your business. that is you who you secure the border. martha: the latest salvo in this, as far as i can tell

is that it will cost too much. i'm hearing that from people on the right and people on the left. jim demint, former senator came out and said he is whole thing is too expensive to secure the bored e that may be a way to try to torpedo immigration policy if he doesn't like the whole thing. also on the left, same thing, oh, would be way too expensive to do that. >> what is it worth to secure a lot of that border for me? we spent 18 billion since 2006. we'll spend a lot more money and spend it wisely. it is about he will crossing the jobs and controlling the border. have a guest worker program so you can access a legal workforce when you can't find people here to do a job at the competitive wage. but at the end of the day i think immigration reform will help the economy. there are reports coming out next week that show if you legalize this workforce, they pay taxes, they live within the law and contribute rather than live in the shadows. martha: don't a lot of them pay taxes anyway though? they pay taxes anyway and can't get money back out again right, currently? >> some of them pay

social security taxes but most of them are paid under the table. we need to get that done, we need to fix that. we need them all out the shadows. biomet i canly identified. they need to learn the english language as condition for staying here. need to pay a fine for the law they broke and need to pay their taxes. employers need to document who is here and take out taxes. they need to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. i think we have a way to do that. martha: all right. >> i think immigration reform will help our economy if we do it right. martha: that idea is getting a lot of attention this morning. senator graham, thank you very much. always good to see you, sir. >> thank you. gregg: a foxnews.com reporter facing jail time for refusing to reveal her confidential sources in the deadly aurora movie theater shooting. the judge is kind of making a decision here. what it means for the reporter's fate. we'll tell you. plus anxiety levels rising in the pacific with mounting fears of an attack on north korea. the new action for people living near the peninsula.

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martha: you know the white house is closed right now for public tours but the annual spring garden event, rest assured is still on. tours of the gardens will take place this weekend. boy, it will be beautiful. we had amazing weather this week. that opening of the garden area despite the automatic spending cuts that forced the obama administration to cancel the indoor tour but they will let you outside. visitors can see the jacqueline kennedy garden, rose garden and south lawn of the white house. the white house kitchen garden will be accessible to guests. so you can make yourself a salad on the way out. gregg: a colorado judge now says he needs more time to decide whether a fox news

reporter should go to jail for refusing to name a confidential source. jana winter faces up to six months behind bars for refusing to tell a judge who tipped her off about a notebook that belonged to the accused aurora movie theater killer james holmes, detailing his plans in advance to kill people. he sent it to his psychiatrist. but this despite a law protecting journalists, the shield law. arthur aidala is criminal defense attorney and fox news legal analyst. all right, so the judge is basically saying, look, if i first decide this notebook is inadmissible in the trial then i don't really need to decide about jana winter. arthur, even if the notebook is admissible at trial, it is utterly irrelevant who tipped off jana winter. what does that have to do with the case? >> it doesn't have anything to do with the case. >> it may have to do with admissibility. i don't want to get too deep

into the weeds here but you know even though something is irrelevant it doesn't automatically go before the jury. there are certain laws, evidentiarily -- evidentiary laws detail how it gets before the jury. gregg: it was sent to the psychiatrist. >> correct. gregg: the psych trifrt could verify the chain of existence into her possession. >> if, what you're say then you're correct. there does not need to be a ruling. this is what is called ripeness. in any case, a traffic court case, a judge only rules what he or she has to rule on. gregg: right. >> this is case we're covering on the fox news channel. this is hot potato. he does not want to have to deal with this if he doesn't have to which is basically his ruling. gregg: i don't see what it has to do with the guilt or innocence of the defendant? >> it has to do with, this is what it has to do with. the defense attorneys were barred from speaking it press. gregg: right. which by the way is a dubious gag order. go ahead. >> i don't even know what the word dubious means. the bottom line is, the judge told everybody you can't talk about the case.

somebody leaked this information to the, to the reporter. gregg: right. >> the judge may want to impose sane shuns who leaked it. say it was the head prosecutor. she testified. she says i'm not going to jail, i will tell you. lead prosecutor told me. the judge could come down with all the weight of his gavel and sanction that prosecutor and preclude certain evidence from coming before the jury. gregg: arthur, the person's identity, the defense says, is jeopardizing my client's right to a fair trial. holmes can't get a fair trial because of this leak. isn't that also equally absurd? what you want to do is find jurors, you will easily find jurors, say you have a pool of 200 jurors, i bet 100 of them never heard about the notebook. how does this jeopardize the fair trial? >> maybe not the notebook but definitely heard about the case. gregg: yes, but the notebook is issue to the relevant to the fox reporter. >> correct. you're right.

in terms of picking a fair juror this would be something that would be discussed with each individual juror. have you heard about this case? tell us what you heard about the case. i heard there was a notebook that was released, says x, y, z. that juror is automatically thrown off. judges don't like when people disobey their orders. if this judge finds out hypothetically someone on prostitution team or -- prosecution team or law enforcement intentionally disobeyed their orders there could be rulings that help the defendant. that is what the defense attorneys are supposed to do, hold the government to their burden. make sure the government plays by the rules. gregg: arthur aidala. good to see you. >> always great being on with you, sir. gregg: thank you. we're staying on top of the story for you. if you want to learn more about jana winter's case go to foxnews.com. by the way i would invite you to read a couple of opinion pieces there. one by our senior judicial analyst, judge andrew napolitano. there is the judge in this case. and also read susan

estridge's piece on this because it is very revealing about what arthur and i were just talking about. martha? martha: there is a new push today to learn what happened at u.s. consulate in benghazi. as hundreds of special-ops vets have gotten together now to try to push for a new investigation into that september 11th terror attack. we're going to speak with one of those vets why he thinks the obama administration has been lying he says to the american public. gregg: plus a sign of the times? a big shake-up at a major american retailer after a big change in its pricing plans. what this shows about the average american family during these tough economic times. ♪ [ male announcer] surprise -- you're having triplets.

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gregg: there is a new push to learn what really happened at the u.s. consulate in benghazi last fall. 700 special opps he veterans signing a letter to congress demanding a select committee look into the attack that killed four americans including our ambassador to libya. it reads in part, quote, the families of those slain in benghazi, our servicemen and women around the globe and the american public deserve the truth, not the lies, misdirection and stonewalling coming from president obama. pretty strong word.

lieutenant ginger reboken is one of the troops that signed that letter. he commanded the army's green berets. those are strong words as i said. do you really think this administration is lying and misdirecting, and covering up? >> first of all the objective of our letter is not to go after the administration, it's to get accountability and to get the truth out. now, i think anybody that looks objectively at what we've heard so far would tell you that this has the earmarks of being a cover up. there is much more to be known about this that has not yet come out, and i think that we can see that there is some attempt here not to allow the facts to be made public. gregg: general, there are 16 questions that all of you would like to be answered. i sifted through them and they were all great questions. it's astonishing that there are

16-plus subdivision questions not answered yet. let's put up on the screen some of the ones that popped out at me. why was there no military response? why have the survivors not been questioned? who are they? where are they? who was in the white house situation room during the attack for eight long hours? who gave the order to stand down that was heard repeatedly during the attacks? general, these are fundamental questions. are you just disheartened that we don't have the answers to these questions, and it's been seven months? >> yeah, gregg, listen, these 700 people spent their military careers preparing for an executing missions to rescue americans, or to at least recover their body, and we as a group are appalled at the fact that our congress has yet to ask these questions that we put in that letter. these are fundamental to understanding what happened in benghazi, to providing accountability and to being able to provide information to these

families. gregg: fox news has reported in the past that at least thee times these men under fire were begging for help, and yet there was an order to stand down. how can you make sense of that, sir? >> well we can't. you see, we know the history of how special operations was created, and how it was placed in every theater with what we call commander-in-chief and extremist forces. forces that are there that are able to respond to a situation exactly like what happened in benghazi. and these forces have been there for two decade. there were multiple capabilities in the european and the mediterranean theater that there were there help in a situation in africa and the best we can tell none of those were directed to respond to this. and there has to be some answer as to why not. was it a military failure or leadership failure at the

national level? that's what we want to know. gregg: yeah. do you also want to know where the president was? after all there was apparently reportedly realtime coverage of the attack for eight hours in various venues in washington, the pentagon, white house, other locations. do you want to know where the president was and what his role was? >> we want to know where the president was, as well as every other person in a position of authority and responsibility to include the military commanders as well. we think that is absolutely fundamental to understanding what actually occurred and why it occurred the way it did in benghazi. gregg: general, lieutenant general borkin who is one of the vets who signed that letter, 700 of them, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you, gregg. martha: the federal government is taking a second look now at a potential source of renewable energy, and it's going to a

dairy farm to learn about it. i wonder what they are talking about, right? we are live in fair oaks farm in fair oaks, independent, there are is lots of this stuff around, right? >> reporter: lots of it. the power of food is no secret to farmers. it's been long used as a source of energy. now thanks to new technology the department of energy is looking at expanding the role of cow manure in our nation's energy plans. here at fair oaks farms they are on the cutting edge of that technology. they are calling it the fuel of the future. everything you can see at fair oaks farms is powered by cow ma tphao*eur. >> we have a proceed petition you'll sphaoeu of energy. >> reporter: barnes, milking plants, cheese factories, stores 457b 2 trucks that deliver milk to rounding states. >> as long as we want to keep milk and cows we never run out of gas. >> reporter: to harness the power of pao fai poo they

atlantic 500,000-pound are cow droppings each day. once the co2 is removed the restress used to cry eight renewable natural gas. >> in 2013 we will take personally 2 million gallons of diesel off the road that we used in 2011 to deliver our milk. >> reporter: that adds up to millions of dollars in savings for the farm each year. the owners here say there are already investors looking to take this vehicle tphol -- technology beyond the farm which means some days what powers our homes and factories and fuels our cars could come from animal waste. >> our system represents a very, very small amount of the total potential there is for renewable natural gas production. >> reporter: part of that total potential includes decreasing our nation's dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oils. by the way, with millions of pound of cow ma fire you'd think

it would smell very bad here. they vacuum it up really quickly and put it in giant containers where it becomes natural gas. to you and i it might smell kind of bad, but to the owner he says it smells like money. martha. martha: he's used to it and there is certainly no shortage of it. it's all over the place. garrett, thank you very much. gregg: the odor of money. it smells so sweet. mounting concerns over an attack by north korea has a pacific nation on high alert right now. the new warning for the north today. martha: a new national champion, the louisville cardinals winning the ncaa basketball championship what, a story there's was beating michigan 82-76. sorry, michigan. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health.

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martha: japan is deploying missile interoceptors in a protective ring around tokyo

amid mounting fears of an attack by north korea. lit happen? that is the question for four-star general jack keane, former vice staff of chief for the army and a fox news analyst. it's great to see you. >> great to see you, martha. martha: japan i getting ready. should they be? >> absolutely. they this people they are responsible to. they have patriot pack 3 missiles which are a defensive weapon. the north koreans have fired a weapon in their vicinity in the past. this is a national precaution for them to take. it will make no imp north koreans, if they want to fire this missile they will fire it no matter what japan's actions are. martha: what about this april 10th date and removing folks from the epl embassy stph-s. >> i think it's part of the activity he's created to call attention to himself. the rhetoric is stronger, the provocation at least in word is much stronger than what we've heard in the past. he is a different leader to be heard.

he's not the reformer people thought he would be. he's much like lies grandfather and father to be sure. i think eventually this is going to play out and i think we are probably coming to the end of it pretty soon. martha: when you look at china, how are they perceiving all this? everyone always says what, about china? why doesn't china step in with their big foot and do what they can to put these guys in line? >> well that is a great question, and it's probably pretty appropriate right now. the chinese did support the u.s.-led effort to get economic sanctions ton the north korean as after they fired the missile and did the nuclear test and that was a big step. there is some indication, we don't know for certain, i think secretary kerry will find out pretty quick when he gets there whether the chinese are beginning to reevaluate the relationship with north korea. the conventional whic wisdom has always been they want stability on the peninsula, they do not want a unified korea because they do not want korea to have its ally the united states on its border.

as you look at it also from their perspective and see this chaos, this unpredictability, a unified korea, without a u.n. command in the country, without u.s. troops in the country is from china's perspective is some form of stability. so maybe -- martha: it's interesting if they would go for that. >> i don't know kerry is going to find out pretty quick i think. they may be the echo of their predecessors and it's business as usual. possibly because of some of the things written in china there may be an opening for reevaluation. we all hope so. martha: you look at this young man, he's not quite 30, or 30 years old i guess we think and he's the question big mark in all of this. nobody knows whether or not he's more volatile than his father or his grandfather or more capable of pulling off something like this or whether the people behind him are sort of moving the puppet, so to speak to act in a violent way that could hurt their people. how do we get a better handle on

that with a country that you just have no access to? >> we really don't know much, that's the truth of it. our intel services have worked this they hard, it's a closed society to be sure. all we know about him is mostly superficial. we do know who some of his advisers are, we don't know a lot about them other than the positions that they have held in the past in the military or the government. we really have no sense of what is going on in that inner circle, that is the harsh reality of it. martha: amazing they can remain so closed in that environment of internet and social media. and you wait for that to be cracked open and see what kind of change that might promote. >> it's coming. north korea will not last forever. people have been saying that for 50 years also. martha: thank you, general jack keane, always good to see. >> good seeing you, martha. gregg: let's check in with jenna lee who is standing by to tell us what is happening on "happening now." jenna: as the saying go it takes a village to raise a child, but now a new ad is stirring up controversy on who should really be in charge. we'll tell you about that.

must, more twists in the jodi arias murder trial. can you believe it? a bombshell revelation in court, a jailhouse manifesto apparently arias wrote just in case she became famous. our legal panel weigh tph-s on that. later nasa's next mission a cosmic kind of rodeo how the space agency plans to lasso an astroid and why. coming up at the top of the hour. gregg: an iconic store at many american malls, a big change at the top and why it could be a clue about the average family in this rather shakey economy.

skwhrao. martha: sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. a topless protestors interrupts russian president vladimir putin. look at the look on his face. they were shouting particular dater at him and vladimir putin's reaction was caught on camera he looks quite interested. quite interested would i say. then he gives them a thumb's up. do we have the thumb's up picture? there is a topless picture of him on a horse. just because we are fair & balanced, right? gregg: i'm thinking she looks better than he does. >> i don't think he heard anything she said, right? he probably has no idea what she said. martha: i love that, my favorite story. gregg: cutipoo as he was known during the bush administration. jc penney is dumping its ceo after a year and a half on the job. his plan to replace sales with

consistently lower prices did not work big time. is this a sign of the times what is going on? melissa francis joins us host of money with melissa francis on the fox business network. good to see you. i always thought it was kind of a mismatch because johnson came from apple and i thought, wow, that is very high high-end specialty stuff, now he's at jc penney which is not but there is more to it. >> there is more to the story. he was at target before that. he made cheap she ca chic over at tar go. target is fabulous, fun but not that cheap. he went to apple made their stores fabulous. they brought pheupl in thinking he would bring style and cache. now they are wondering if that's what they needed. he made $16.6 million in that short period of time. gregg: not bad. >> and today as we speak jc penney stock getting absoluteee hammered in a free fall again

today down another 11% as investors wonder, you know, they threw him out, maybe they show the board out, the company is in chaos. gregg: his deal was, let's get rid of the sales and discount coupons and go with every day low prices. people didn't go for that which is kind of a sad commentary. >> it's fun lee, you can tell people every day low prices. they want the psychology of i am getting this as a discount. big box retailers are facing this that you have to offer a deal that they can't get any place else, or you have to be the cheap because there is the internet. they tried to make jc penney into target-apple. maybe that wasn't a good idea. gregg: he was going to bring in hip designer brands and specialty shops. >> martha stewart. gregg: and spruce up jp penny.

>> they need sprucing, it's a little drop to go in and look around and somewhat depressing. clear hraoet strategy didn't work for them. i would say at this point a lot of people are betting it baske it becomes -- some private equity comes in and swoops in on it and does a big turn around investors have lost half of the value during his tenure while he made 17 million. gregg: nice if you can get it. martha: thanks you guys. all right. well the budget battle is heating up as well on capitol hill as liberal groups furious with president obama's proposal to cut entitlement programs have now put democrats on notice. lots going on with this. we'll be right back with more. ♪ roundup

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martha: thanks for being with us today, everybody. lots going on, the presidential budget. we'll hear more details of that many coulding in tomorrow. that is a big discussion and immigration on the fro