enhancements. >> you just wander aimlessly. >> she was in the game. she was a contender, gigi. >> thanks for joining us. see you next weekend! >> we begin this morning with a fox news alert. top syrian officials warning that israeli air strikes just hours ago inside syria is called an act of wash. they vow that syria will retaliate against the jewish state they say on their own terms. these israeli strikes is targeting what they believe to be a missile storage site and military facilities in the capital of damascus. amateur video and looking at the explosions and strikes. this second time that israeli warplanes have fired on syrian territory setting off new fears the brutal civil war that has

claimed the lives of 70,000 people could spread even further. >> eric: good morning, i'm eric sean. >> jamie: great to have you here. i'm jamie colby. the reports from israel are suggesting the target was a shipment of highly accurate iranian built missiles headed for lebanon. the strikes took out a research facility and there are casualties. now war getting word that israel is deploying the iron dome missile defense system, coner powell is live in northern israel right now. >> syria is calling this air strike the past few days a declaration of war and it opens the door to to all types of possibilities in terms of retaliation. israel is fearing some type of strike or retaliation from syria. as you can see behind me, they have deployed two of the iron dome missile systems in northern israel along the border with

syria. this is just the latest sign in the growing tensions between israel and syria. syrian officials say some time early this morning, israeli jets struck a scientific research facility outside damascus. this is believed to be the same facility that they hit in january. syrian officials say the strike was part of an effort to aid the rebels in the area but israel has said time and time again it would not allow the assad regime to transfer weapons to hezbollah. this is statement and position that president obama has backed just yesterday in an interview. latest israeli air strike is the second attack in the past 72 hours by israeli fighter pilots. earlier they hit a shipment of ground to ground missiles that was bound for member's fighters in lebanon. u.s. and israel and countries like turkey and jordan are concerned about the use of chemical weapons by the assad

regime and rebels getting their hands on them. the netanyahu government is exactly concerned about all the developments in syria. and just a few hours ago he delayed a trip to china to hold an emergency cabinet meeting. there is a lot of concern and tension about what will happen in the near future with the israeli and syrian tensions. >> jamie: coner powell, thank you so much. >> eric: all of this comes as the obama administration is continuing to consider the response to the mounting evidence that the syrian government dloirpd deployed chemical weapons. one consideration is send more non-lethal weapons to its own people and chuck hagel indicated the administration may be changing its position to coming to arming them. >> so you are rethinking the proposition to arming the rebels? >> yes. you look in recent and all

options. it doesn't mean that you do or will. these are options that must be considered with partners, with the international community. what is possible. what can help accomplish these objectives. >> eric: what should the u.s. do? john bolton, former ambassador to the united nations. ambassador, good morning? >> good morning. glad to be with you. >> eric: think are open to possibilities. what do you think is possible? >> i think the administration is thinking out loud in full public view. i think that alone sends a very distressing signal to the assad regime, to hezbollah and lebanon and to the mullahs in tehran that the administration is strategically confused, doesn't know what to do next. that is real contrast with israel which has always had a

real red line that they don't want to see more weapons, rockets in particular and chemical weapons even more, shipped to hezbollah. >> eric: israel is not fooling around. this is the third time they have taken action with air strikes. it's got to be a message to iran. >> i think iran is the central actor. the decision to ship whether rockets or possibly chemical weapons or whatever else it is from the assad regime to hezbollah in my view has to come from tehran. they are the key actors here. they are puppet masters and determining what will come next. so when you hear this threat from the assad regime that they treat the israeli air strikes as an act of war and that they will respond, that is really iran speaking through the assad regime. i think it's very interesting that prime minister netanyahu has cancelled his trip to china. that is prudent thing to do. what might come next is

anybody's guess. we are in a very dangerous moment. >> eric: assad regime is tied down with the rebels and desperate civil war. what can they do? can they attack israel and engage in a war while they are dealing with what they are dealing with the civil war? >> no, i don't think the threat comes from the assad regime. i think it comes from iran. as you say, assad has his hands more full with the rebels, but hezbollah is a possibility or the iranian guard units are already inside syria. it torques the gravity of the crisis up considerably and why it's so dangerous. >> eric: the president had warned of the red line concerning chemical weapons. what do you make of that? >> i think that the obama administration miscalculated very badly here saying as long

as ago as august of last year, that chemical would be a red line. publicly in a very embarrassing almost humiliating way last week backed off of it. this sends a signal to assad that he has gotten away with it and even as far as north korea that when barack obama draws a red line he doesn't mean it. it hitters the president's credibility and hurts the country as well. >> eric: there is a stunning headline in the "new york times" the lead headline, says, quote, off the cuff obama line put the u.s. in bind in syria. wording of the warning of chemical came as a surprise advisors say. ambassador, this is the "new york times" off the cuff line put us in a bind. do you think this is truth or is this spin? >> the "new york times" is sorted of the obama administration's megaphone. when they wanted to leak out what is coming next to put their

political spin on things, n national security affairs, that is preferred vehicle. these leaks either represent a concerted effort to say the remark was off the cuff or we've got a more significant phenomenon. you have the president's own subordinates leaking against him. it's bad news. if it is an accurate reflection of what the president did, it's appalling. most presidents learn that matter of days or weeks after taking the oath as what they say is scrutinized is carefully around the world and what the defense policy drops to zero. here is barack obama almost four years in his presidency, not just making an off the cuff remark but one that essentially committed the credibility of his administration and the united states. he didn't follow through on it. i just appalled by it. >> eric: ambassador bolton,

we'll see what happens as they consider what they are going to do. thank you very much for joining us. thank you, eric. >> jamie: following new developments in the boston bombing investigation. lawyers for one of the minimum accused of visiting the dorm room of bombing suspect dzhokar tsarnaev and then lying to investigators. he is how asking a federal judge to let him out of jail on bail. david lee miller in boston's copley square. david, there is more to reported isn't there? >> reporter: indeed, there is. tomorrow is when this expedited bail hearing is supposed to take place 19-year-old. he is accused of making false statements to investigators. he is charged with lying to investigators not once, not twice but three times only doing a fourth interview that he

detailed what he knew about entering the dorm room of dzhokar tsarnaev. in legal briefs filed over the weekend, his attorneys are asking that he be released on bail. in the briefs outline the reasons why. they say among other things, he never has been arrested. he's been born and raised in the boston area. he has extensive family here. essentially he is not a flight risk. they go on to argue he is not charged with having knowledge. bombings or heading the suspects. he is not charged with destroying evidence. two other suspects are charged with destroying evidence in this case. furthermore, the brief says, i'm going to quote, he has taken leave from school for the past month or more. he has no contact with nationals and this is only by sheer coincidence and bad luck that he was invited to attend a seminar on the campus of the school on april 18th and that is how he fell in contact with two other

suspects in this case. the hearing is scheduled for tomorrow at 2:00. remember, this is the same defendant who the judge admonished, she told him last week, i suggest you pay attention to me instead of looking down. it will be an interesting day in court. >> jamie: david, live in boston, every day that has been in court has been interesting. thank you so much. just ahead, i want to let you know gabriel gomez is is going to give an interesting take on the boston bombing investigation and close special election race against democratic challenger ed mark can i. he is a former marine -- navy seal. thank you. >> eric: cooler with weather out in california. good news. that fire breaking out tuesday. that is about 50 miles from north of los angeles. it's the largest of several wildfires burning in the state.

at last word the blaze is 56% contained. what means it is 44% not. more than 43 square miles so far have been burned. flames threatening thousands of buildings. thankfully so far, just 15 homes have been damaged. authorities have begun allowing residents who evacuated the area to return to their homes. >> we actually packed and gone yesterday. we shipped out and came back last night. you don't want to take any chances when the wind gets blowing. if it hops road we would be in trouble. >> eric: meteorologist janice dean is in the weather center. >> good news we are getting help from mother nature. we've been into severe to exceptional drought across the west. california, no exception. we haven't had the moisture that really been depending on for wildfire season to help

firefighters in wildfire season that typically doesn't start until the fall, october. we've got a head start because the ground is dry, we had temperatures soaring into the 80s and 90s and wind gusts in excess of 50 miles an hour on friday. good news is the winds have shifted to more of an onshore flow. within the last 48 hours a real change has taken place. we've got moisture moving onshore, cloud cover, temperatures are dropping. so that is the best news that they could possibly get for firefighters that are trying to contain this. last i read, they do believe it is going to be contained earlier this week. -- early this week. three large fires, one in arizona, fire season doesn't typically start until october. so this will be a long season for firefighters. sunday, monday and tuesday, temperatures cooler and more humidity off the ocean and we

are also going to see rain showers in the area. satellite and radar over the next 48 hours is going to show you that as next system moves onshore bringing much needed rain and snow pack to the sierra nevada which has not gotten a lot of snow. we've seen a lot of snow elsewhere but unfortunately where they really need it in those mountains. there the precipitation forecast as we head into wednesday. one to two inches for this area. great news, but the system is also going to move into areas that don't need to see any more rain and snow. this is that big system that brought the record-breaking snow across the midwest. two stories we are certainly following from the fox news extreme weather center. one area very dry, wildfire area and the other with flooding rainfall. the tale of two stories. >> eric: all right. we will hope for those people in southern california that it stops. >> jamie: our thanks to jd for that and meanwhile, to

washington. president obama is taking heat right now from interest groups over apparent lack of diversity in the second term cabinet. now admittedly high profile appointments like state, defense and treasury are all white and male but on his second term picks, the cabinet choices are actually less diverse than those of his first term. the question is whether this criticism is even fair. is the president being held to a higher standard? david hawking is the editor of roll call daily briefing. good to have you back. let me ask you first of all whether this really matters, the diversity and makeup of the cabinet if the president is picking people. does it matter or just matter politically? >> it absolutely matters politically but i'm not sure it matters substantively. this is not the cabinet like we had when lincoln was in charge

or eisenhower was in charge. when the cabinet was sort of like a senator management team or executive committee at a company where they all sat around the table and decided how to help the president get through the issues of the day. cabinet now is 14 or 17 depending on how you count it, they all get together and have their photograph made. it really isn't a team that works together. in that sense having a diversity on your team doesn't matter because the team doesn't have much stroke. most of decision-making at executive branch level is made in by the senior advisors, by ee president by the so-called czars. >> jamie: i would argue with the secretary of state and treasury and others that there is a lot of work to be done. they will be held to the standard of what they accomplish. here is an interesting thing. let's listen to what the president had to say looking forward to his second term cabinet, what he saw would be

the makeup -- okay. we were going to play that. i remember now, i'm sorry for my producers. i told them i wanted more time to talk to you. basically he said it will be more diverse. the question is what it will mean for his agenda. i want to emphasize with a each member of the cabinet. they all still have power but they don't work together as a team. my point if you are going to look for diversity, maybe you want to look for diversity within the structure at each department. in other words, does john kerry or chuck hagel or jack lew, all white men, do they have diversity, any kind of diversity in their senior team. i would say the agenda is set from the top. it is set in the west wing. it's not a cabinet that sits around and decides we're all going to do immigration together we're all going to do gun

control together. >> jamie: i don't know if you can see this. the question is, is the president being held to a higher standard and should the cabinets be both the first term and second term be held to a standard of representing what america looks like right now? >> it's what the last three presidents, clinton famously said 20 years ago, that he wanted a cabinet that looked like america. he set the new standard for this. what i would tell you, the cabinet is the core of the cabinet are the heads of the executive departments, men and women who are in presidential line of succession. essentially the same number of white men in that cabinet ever since bill clinton. it really hasn't changed that much. i would say politically, george w. bush he wanted a cabinet that looked like america, president obama, as well. it does send a signal to the world that this is government that wants to have a gender

diversity. >> jamie: president has said so. david, great insight on that. thank you. >> eric: coming up, the investigation continues into the benghazi terrorist attack. this week it moves back to hearings on capitol hill. what the witnesses could say, what we can learn, and what could be revealed about why of some of america's finest public ser servants, ambassador chris stevens and others were killed. >> jamie: plus a missing minnesota woman. why police won't be getting potential answers from a key witness they were counting on. that is next. >> she is very very long woman. if she had a broken leg, she would walk. i know she is fighter.

>>. >> eric: former boyfriend of a missing minnesota woman took his own life moments before he was going to speak to police, david row, he shot himself in his head while sitting in the car white outside of the police station in the parking lot. she was last seen on wednesday. police believe she was with row

at a local park on the day she disappeared. >> jamie: new questions as well on the investigation into the assault of the u.s. consulate in benghazi. republican lawmakers are now accusing the state department and white house of suppressing witness accounts of the incident. those stories might conflict, they argue with the obama administration's preferred narrative regarding the attack. >> i think these people are afraid of retribution, they are afraid what the state department may do to them. they have had trouble getting an attorney. state department is having trouble giving us documents. the white house has impeded this investigation. there are other people on the ground with firsthand knowledge that want to testify and i think will testify at some point. >> i think they are guilty of crimes of omission whether this commission. this is height of a presidential

campaign. the whole narrative by the obama campaign was that al-qaeda is gone and war is over. tide of wars is receding. >> jamie: joining me now about a preview of very important interviews is chris wallace. good morning to you. how dufd different do you think what we learn from the hearings how different will it be from the official report out of the white house? >> we don't know. we know that two whistleblowers that have never spoken before are going testify before the oversight committee on wednesday. one of them was the number two man in the libyan mission in tripoli so when ambassador stevens went missing he was the the number one man. according to the congressman he was suppressed to in what he could say or do. find out on wednesday. mark thompson that worked in the

counterterrorism bureau, they are not saying what he is going to say. it will be very interesting. one of the points that chaffetz made, the steady drum beat of accusations that state department and c.i.a. people and they have been intimidated and retaliation, chaffetz says if the hearing goes well he says there are a lot other whistleblowers that wanted to talk. we'll see. let's wait and find out what they have to say. maybe that is the breaking of the dam and you get a whole lot of new information from people who were on the ground in benghazi. >> jamie: after hearing the two perspectives from the two guests you have who are very knowledgeable about where this is going, do you get the sense we will finally get any answers about this? if you say there are more whistleblowers, could it open a can of worms that could have a negative impact on the white

house? >> it could. we'll have to wait and see. there is a third guest, democratic steven lynch, members of the committee and i thought most interesting and damaging admission to the administration came from him because we went over the talking points and the fact we have seen evidence of the actual talking points and the original c.i.a. talking points two days before susan rice came out and talked about islamic extremists with ties to al-qaeda. the next day you can see and put it on the air the talking points with all of that stuff crossed out, lines all crossed out and lynch a democrat says these talking points were scrubbed. >> jamie: it's something we haven't seen. >> it's interesting stuff and coming from democratic congressman. >> jamie: we have to watch the show to do this. we will, i promise. chris wallace, exclusive interview.

and arizona senator john mccain and more. june into fox news sunday. it airs 6:00 p.m. eastern only on fox. >> eric: we all age, in is do it better than others. now there is a new study that sheds light what we all go three. how to age gracefully and slow down the process. dr. siegle will fill us in. >> jamie: or maybe not at all. >> eric: i like that. >> and may is melanoma awareness month. early warning signs for most common and deadly form of skin cancer. we'll be right back. too much wa? too little? until we got miracle-gro moisture control. idoes what bac soils don't by absorbg more water, so it's there when plants need it. with the right soil, everyone grows with racle-gro.