martha: thanks for being with us today, everybody. gregg: that will do it for us. have a great day. hospitals begins right now. jenna: this is fox news alert. we are awaiting the president today who is about to hold a joint news conference with british prime minister david cameron. you're looking live the a the east room of the white house where both leaders are eastbou expected to speak in 15 minutes. we will watch for any comment from the president on two of the top stories today, the irs scandal involving the targeting of conservative groups and now others as you'll soon learn from mike emanuel and the latest developments in the benghazi investigation. two big stories, we have them covered throughout the show today. we'll bring you the president's remarks live when they happen. first right now brand-new stories and breaking. jon: they have taken out many terror suspects in far away places but now a fresh push to have congress first sign off on some drone missions. will this in anyway slow down the fight against terror

suspects? also authorities arrest one of the first responders to that giant fertilizer plant explosion in texas. they have not connected him to that deadly blast, but the charges have certainly left him with some explaining to do. one of these women brutally killed, the other is about to go on trial years after the murder. the latest development in the search for justice. it's all "happening now." by do we have a lot to get to on this monday morning, including agreeing scandal at the irs, and the outrage that's mounting, as we learn disturbing new details about federal tax agents abusing power to investigate conservative groups. good morning to you. i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. welcome to "happening now" as we kickoff this brand-new week. the irs is certainly giving some americans some new ropes for concern when it comes to the tax man. first we learned they were taking aims at conservatives, or

conservative groups, and now we're learning their political targets were far more widespread. the irs issuing an apology but lawmakers say that is not enough. now they want to audit the irs. >> i don't care if you're a conservative, a liberal, a democrat, or a republican, this should send a chill up your spine. this is something that we cannot let stand, its needs to have a full investigation. i do -pbt know where ii don't know where it stops or who is involved. there has ton an investigation, external. they've clearly shown they can't do it themselves. i think congress needs the oversight. jenna: mike emanuel is live with more on the story. when we heard the story break on friday it seemed like the focus was predominantly on tea party groups. now what does it seem like. >> reporter: fox news has obtained documentation saying the irs was going after groups criticizing how president country was run. they added that pegs *g

specialists should b >> a simple apology on a conference call is not enough by a long shot. congress needs to investigate this and find out how many more lies the irs is telling. >> reporter: the full audit by the treasury department's inspector general for tax administration is due out this week and could be quite damaging, jenna. jenna: what will congress do? what can congress do in all of this? >> reporter: jenna, florida senator marco rubio has already sent a letter to jack lew strongly urging that he and president obama demand the irs commissioner's resignation affected immediately. michael turner is planning to introduce legislation today trying to further protect discrimination against groups based on political speech or expression. right now firing somebody is the harshest penalty.

tupber's bill would include a $5,000 fine, five years in prison or both. a key g.o.p. senator said the outrage should be bipartisan. >> this is highly offensive. this hark kens back to the days of president nixon and the use of the irs for political purposes. and at that point this time and i would expect it in america today, that you would see across the board members of congress trying to find out what the facts are and if those facts demonstrate wrongdoing then heeds should roll. >> reporter: california democrat dianne feinstein has expressed concern about what she has heard, says she wants a lot more answers about why. finestein is well aware that next time it could be harassing liberal groups. jenna: we heard from jay carney on this. mike. we'll wait to see if the president has any words for the american public today as well. thank you so much. >> reporter: thank you. jon: the irs scandal turning into a huge embarrassment for the obama administration, it

could come up when the president holds a news conference just a few minutes from now. coming on the heels of the benghazi scandal it gives republicans a new line of attack. let's talk about it with a.b. stoddard an associate editor and columnist for the hill. absolutely chilling are the words that suzanne collins of maine used to describe this. what are the reverb bracings in washington right now? >> well, it is absolutely chilling. what is a little bit surprising is that we're here on monday morning after this broke several days ago and we haven't heard a lot from democrats on the hill about how chilling and frightening this is. this is really a shocking story. even if president obama has nothing to do with it, he should be shocked and he should be outraged, and he should be talking about this. because people within his administration were able to do this without any kind of direction from people high up in the white house, if if that's the case. he is accountable at the end of the day, and he's got to make sure that the american people

know that he's going to make a vigorous attempt to find out what happened. congress certainly will without him, there will be hearings, there will be an investigation and oversight into what this really -- how far spread the decision-making went and what the result was of the targeting, and you will see, i imagine, some people lose their jobs. i see a lot of testimony from people who were involved. but the president really needs to take advantage of this closing window before he is a total lame duck, and through the scandal of benghazi, and the irs, targeting of conservative groups he must make himself as transparent as possible, he must communicate with the american people about this. so far he is not doing a good job, the people around him are not doing a good job of engaging him on the issue. he looks like he's taking a back seat to it and doesn't seem as upset by it than the american public and that will be a mistake if he wants to pass anything before the mid-term campaign kicks in in full this

fall. jon: the buck stops with him. you say there is -- you raise the question, if there was any involvement by the president. has anybody suggested that this came at the behest of the white house? >> no, no one has made that connection and no one has made that suggestion, but there may be more people than the people that we've identified so far who were involved in this. and we may learn -- we don't know what the investigation could yield and what we could learn about who was involved. i'm saying at this point there is no connection to people at the white house. but even so the president needs to come out and he should have come out on friday and say, this is an outrage, we have to find these answers, even if i don't have an answer for you now i will promise you that we will make sure that we will make this as transparent as possible, and he hasn't done that yet and he needs to do that today in his presentser. jon: it's curious that the citizens united decision, which the president berated the supreme court for atof the unios

supposedly the genesis for this irs investigation of so many groups that were suddenly filing for tax-free status. >> yeah, well you know you could argue that that -- it is the law of the land, but you could argue that those groups, which are classified as social welfare groups, 501c3's are really in muddy waters, because the thing that they are not supposed to do is target electoral candidates. of course we know they really act as pretty much pack by default, and that's what they do, i mean, american crossroads had an ad out last week about hillary clinton's relationship to benghazi. these groups, as we know, and we saw so much in 2012, and this is all legal activity, i will underscore, are very political groups, and the fact is they are tax exempt. there is a whole other debate to be had aboutwhat they are up to. if there are no liberal groups tar gerted by the irs, no democratic groups and only

conservative groups, there is a real problem there in explaining that it was simply accidental, i mean, it just doesn't seem like it was. jon: we are awaiting to hear from the president at this news conference any minute now. ab stoddard thank you. it will be interesting to see whether the president tkpwefs a full-throated condemnation of the shenanigans at the irs. thanks. jenna: it's set to begin in six minutes. breaking news out of california today, a being showing arrest in the murder of 8-year-old layla fowler who was found stabbed inside her home last month. her murder sparking a manhunt for a possible intruder, and now police have arrested her 12-year-old brother. word spread quickly throughout this quiet community where neighbors say reaction is mixed. >> i was shocked, completely shocked, could not believe it. you've got the people that feel sorry for the young man, they don't understand why a 12-year-old would do what he did, you have the other people who want to lynch this poor kid, they want to hang him in the

middle of the town square. jenna: lots of emotions involved understandably. claudia cowan could you is live from san francisco. any indication from investigators early on that this was the direction they were headed? 4. >> well, jenna in the hours after layla fowler was killed sheriff's deputies had the community of valley springs on a virtual lockdown as they went door to door searching for her killer. on april 27th you'll recall layla's 12-year-old brother said he had seen an intruder leaving their home shortly before discovering his little sister lying in a pool of blood. there was a massive search and fbi agents combed the crime scene there, but within days sheriff's deputies encouraged residents to resume their daily routines and played down the likelihood of a knife-wielding killer on the lose. criminal profilers say they believe investigators probably suspected the 12-year-old brother a*ul along after no credible witness came forward to back up his account of seeing a white or latino man with long gray hair fleeing the house.

turns outlay louisiana's killer was there the whole time. >> today the cal lavar ras county detectives arrested the murderer of 8-year-old layla fowler. at 5:10pm detectives arrested lela's 12-year-old brother at the valley springs substation on charges of homicide. >> reporter: he says the arrest follows more than 2,000 hours of intensive investigative work and a positive result from some dna tests conducted on some of the evidence. jenna. jenna: wow. what are we hearing from the family? >> reporter: well on social media websites members of layla's family are expressing their grief, and frustration. the boy's biological mother telling a sacramento tv station that he would never hurt his little sister, he was protective of her. the fowlers have not spoken publicly since this vigil three days after layla was murdered. we have blurred the face of the 12-year-old suspect because he's a minor. in a statement yesterday layla's

step-mother crystal said, quote, thank you to those standing by us in this devastating time for our family and thank you for respecting our privacy during this time. we need a little space, happy mother's day to all. jenna, it remains unclear where the 12-year-old boy is being held and when he'll be arraigned. back to you. jenna: more on this story a little later on in the show. laud yeah, thanclaudia, thank you. jon: waiting for the news conference from the president and a new warning from top health officials about a virus that has already killed people in the middle east and europe. what the world health organization is saying now. and dramatic new video out of cleveland, coming up, caught on tape, the moment that police broke into the home where three young women and a little girl had been held captive for years. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals:

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>> those talking points are not the starting talk being points they are the ending talking points. we are not reaching every conclusion, we are not accusing who changed that. the fact is we want the facts. we are entitled to the facts. the american people were effectively lied to for a period of about a month. that's important to get right. >> i've said the day before the hearings i was willing to a pi appear, to come to the very hearings that he excluded me from. >> please don't tell me i excluded you. >> the majority was -- we were told the majority said i was not welcome at that hearing, i could come at some other time. jon: that heated back and forth between the republican committee chairman looking for answers than on the benghazi attacks and one of two men who led a review board into the terror attack that killed four americans. the disagreement over why ambassador thomas pickering did not appear at last week's benghazi hearing.

congressman darrell issa folksing on the conclusions that ambassador pickering and mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chief of staff had in their review. hop james rosen is live in washington with more information on that. james. >> good morning. we await this news conference with president obama, it bears remembering that secretary of state clinton testified before the senate last january that she directed her department's response to the benghazi attacks on the night of september 11th. yet the former secretary was never interviewed by the post benghazi review board that she convened. the chairman of that review board explained yesterday that the panel met with clinton, but did not formally interview her, and explained why. >> we had a session with the secretary. it took place very near the end of the report. i. took place when we had preliminary judgments about who made the decisions, where they were made and by whom they were reviewed. we felt that that was more than

sufficient for per upon dance of evidence that we had collected to make our decision. >> not since the sundae show tour, five days after susan rice painted a false in a narrative of benge has this dominated. they talked about how the talking points relied upon by rice could have undergone eleven rewrites that scrubbed them of all references to terrorism. >> we know that there was at least the general consensus at the time going into the 16th was, yes it was a terrorist attack, but they changed the narrative, and i think that's what the investigation needs to focus on, why did they change the narrative? did it have a consequence? >> reporter: congressional democrats argue the republicans' focus on the benghazi attacks is motivated chiefly by politics. >> look, the day after the attack the president called it a

terrorist attack. susan rice in those interviews on sunday described violent extremist elements who took over the attack. so i really think that this has just become a very, very partisan focused scandal focused attack by the republicans investigating this. >> reporter: nonetheless the republican chairman of the house oversight committee vowed to press forward with depositions of ambassador pickering and other benghazi-related witnesses. jon: thank you, james. jenna: from washington turning now to the latest this morning from cleveland, ohio, where we are getting brand-new video showing the moment police entered the home where three young women and a little girl were held captive for a decade. garrett teny is live in cleveland outside this home. what can you tell us about this new video? >> reporter: it was actually a teenage girl who shot that video. she thought she was getting pulled over by police, that was until she saw amanda berry and her six-year-old daughter standing in the street in front

of ariel castro's home. you can see the police storming the home. one of the officers has a battering ram prepared to break down the front door. when the officers went inside they found gina dejesus and michelle knight. the three women shared a statement wanting to thank the community for the outpouring of love and support and they also wanted to ask for time to heal. >> miss berry, miss dejesus and miss knight have asked, in fact have pleaded for privacy at this time so they can continue to heal and reconnect with their families and their lives. >> reporter: aside from reconnecting with their families and healing authorities have also stressed that the three women are key witnesses in this ongoing case against ariel castro and they said they won't be speaking until the media until the case is over. jenna: speaking of the ongoing case what about any new work, any new work at the crime

scene? >> reporter: here at the crime scene it's actually been pretty quiet so far this morning until the last hour or so. we've had some agents from the police office, the fbi and even someone from the medical examiner's office that are here. the officers have been going around castro's home looking at the scene and now they are going door to door knocking, talking to neighbors. we've called the county prosecutor's office to ask what is this investigation that they are doing here, this work. they just stressed that it's part of an ongoing investigation. jenna: a lot more to this story, garrett, thank you. jon: a long awaited murder trial is about to get underway. this aspiring model and actress killed inside her home years ago in what prosecutors call a murder-for-hire scheme. but who do police think ordered the hit? also, one of the first responders to that giant fertilizer plant explosion in texas taken into custody. now authorities have not connected him to the deadly blast, but the charges he faces are very serious. what is this all about?

some details for you straight ahead.

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jon: jury selection expected to get underway in a long awaited murder trial. prosecutors allege the woman on the left of your screen brutally killed an aspiring actress and model inside her home. we have details from our newsroom. >> reporter: good morning. prosecutors say that kelly sue park was basically a hitman who strong el strangled to death this 21-year-old in retaliation for her father pulling out of a business deal. the 47-year-old park was allegedly hired by a doctor, and he is a wealthy surgeon who once dated the victim and then became friendly with her father before they launched plans to start a pharmaceutical business together. that business partnership

crumbled days before her death in 2008 at her california apartment. that doctor has since fled the country and is now apparently in lebanon. as jury selection gets upped way today prosecutors claim that the alleged hit woman has worked that doctor on at least two other occasions and has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do his dirty work. she has pled guilt not guilty to one count of murder. we will keep you posted. jon: thank you. jenna: we are awaiting the president's joint presentser he's holding with the prime minister of britain david cameron. when that happens we'll pwre you there. we have new reaction to the arrest of a man who described himself as a first responder in at huge fertilizer plant explosion in texas. this week he's expected to plead not guilty to charges of possessing bomb-making materials. now over the weekend a lawyer for this man, his name is bryce reid says his client last no link to the blast that killed 14 people last month. authorities stress they have not named him as a suspect in that

investigation, or connected him to the explosion. but there is no doubt he now has a few questions to answer. retired fbi special agent christopher voss is a terrorism expert and the ceo of the black swan group, a business advisory firm that focuses on negotiations. let's take the issues separately. we have one arrest, and no connection to the case according to authorities, and then you have the criminal investigation that has been opened by authorities in west, texas. let's start with the criminal investigation. why all of a sudden would they ef believ believe that maybe there is something else that went on with this explosion rather than it was just an accident? what kind of evidence would they have to have? >> good morning, jenna, yes, they -- with the blast causing such a wide scattering of the debris from the scene it's going to take them a while to be deliberate in their approach to make sure that they piece things together properly. they took a very deliberate, again to use the word, approach tos.

because they had to make sure that they put the pieces of the puzzle together appropriately and not alarm the community unnecessarily. that's why they are taking their time. jenna: supposedly they found bomb-making material at this man's house for a pipe bomb. do you believe the assertion that we have right now that this man has no connection at all to the explosion at the plant? >> well, as an investigator i don't believe in coincidence. it's the last thing to look at. so they have to be very careful, though, that they don't muddy up the waters and create an impossible jury pool if it ever comes to the fact where they have to put him on trial. and they have made the links, or if they have to put him on trial for charges seemingly unrelated if they haven't made the links. they are taking a long-term approach to make sure if they do take it to trial that it's taken properly and they haven't tainted any of their evidence or any of the jury pool. jenna: this man was described as coming out talking to the press off this explosion. we talked about him, describing himself as a first responder,

only because it seems as if he was fired only a few days after the explosion. so, his past is very sketchy. what stands out most to you, chris, if you are with able to sit down and talk to this man, what questions would you be asking in. >> i'd let him talk. he clearly had a lot to say afterwards. he stepped forward far more than anybody else did to try to step into the glare of of the media camera, so the key to interviewing him is to simply sit down and let him talk, let him fill in the blanks. if he sits down and the investigationers givthe investigators give him the opportunity he'll make statements that don't make sense and they can simply ask him about those. jenna: what is the scenario if the explosion was set on purpose? >> if it was set on purpose then obviously they've got homicide charges to file. and there could be other people that were involved as well.

i mean they have to be v in time, and that somehow they don't start looking at the wrong person. so they have to be very careful about this to make sure that there weren't other motives and other people involved. jenna: and bryce reid according to the local press talked a lot about revenge after this incident. a lot to consider. always nice to have you on the program. thank you so much. >> thank you, jenna, my pleasure. jon: fox news alert, we have been waiting for ten days now for the jury's verdict in the doctor keur mut kirmit gosnell trial the abortionist in 4 philadelphia charged with killing four babies delivered alive and also a patient. the jury came to the judge today said we are deadlocked on two of the 200 counts filed against him. the judge has urged that jury to go back, deliberate some more, and try to come to a conclusion on those two counts. it's not clear whether they have

come to a decision on the other 1 the 8 counts agains 198 counts against him. there are roughly 200 charges against him. again they say they are deadlocked. the judge has ordered them to go back and try to continue to deliberate. there is always the opening for the court to accept the verdicts that they have reached so far and leave it to prosecutors to decide whether to refile charges on the deadlocked cases, the deadlocked charges if it comes to that. we'll keep an eye on it. let you know what happens. jenna: let's take you live to the white house, we are awaiting a joint presser with the british prime minister and president obama much we expected this to start about 15 minutes ago, so we're watching that door to see when the president and prime minister walk in. meantime, nina easton will watch this presser with us. nina, this administration over the last week has had a lot of big news stories from benghazi to the irs, to

syria which we believe is one of the topics of conversation between the prime minister and the president because the prime minister has been so outspoken about syria in recent days. what do you think is the most important topic for the president to the address today and, depending on what question he gets, what should he get out there in front of the public now that he has this opportunity? >> well, it is interesting, jenna, when you say get out in front the american public when you look at all these of -- three of these issues the problem for the white house house is leading from behind which is how their foreign policy has come to be characterized. let's take benghazi where clearly this president has been thrown on the defense. we saw jay carney in a press conference on friday, really trying to keep his balance because that story has gone beyond places like fox news. particularly because of the testimony last week of senior state department officials, whistle-blowers, raising questions about whether there was spin so to

speak of, what happened that night. whether the state department actually changed talking points so that, so they blamed an american-made video and protests rather than what it really was which was an attack by al qaeda-linked forces. so they are on the defense about that. they're also on the defense, i have to say, about this irs controversy which is also gone beyond conservative outlets. we've seen people on, dianne feinstein this weekend, a democrat, raising concerns about it. i even heard people on the left concerned, on places like msnbc, concerned that anytime the irs targets a political group and they say, progressive groups have been targeted in the past, it is something that resonates across, across party lines and, you know, people are waiting for this president to be very strong and assertive on that issue.

to say, look, what happened is wrong. he should apologize and should call for an investigation. again, syria, boy that is been leading from behind a couple years now, even dating back to last summer when secretary of state clinton, defense secretary leon panetta. they're all gone now but david petraeus said, you know what? we've got to get in and vet and supply the rebels there and we have got to help shape the opposition. what's happened since then in the six months since then? the opposition has been infiltrated by al qaeda-linked forces. so we're facing the prospect of rebel forces there, that aren't necessarily kind to the u.s. it's not too late now but, it's something that you have to get more aggressive about and you've got to do it quickly. this is something that will spread throughout the middle east. already the country of jordan is being overrun by refugees. this is something that, it's

a conflagration waiting to happen. aside from all the civilians who have been killed, there is all the refugees, over a million refugees is swamping the middle east and swamping governments in the surrounding area. jenna: a lot of big dynamics at play. one of the things that connects the stories it seems a question about confidence in government. maybe question about the confidence in the camera angle. as we saw the camera slide down. viewers caught that in mid shot. seems like we're on track right now. seems one of the themes we're looking at the crisis of government management in a few different scenarios. jon: we'll have to see whether the president takes a question on this the presumption is he will. he is about to appear there in the east room with the british prime minister david cameron. after these joint statements by the two leaders, very often the topic at hand will be whatever they are talking about themselves. but in this case, we expect that u.k.-u.s. relations are

not going to be on the minds of the press. our bret baier is joining us as well to help take us through this presidential news conference and joint statement from these two leaders. bret, i'm starting to see some reaction, for instance, senate finance committee chairman max baucus. he says that this irs action, these irs actions are an outrageous abuse of power and a breach of the public's trust. there are, well, some political leaders on capitol hill getting pretty steamed about all of these revelations. >> this is big, big deal. this irs story has the potential to become a major, major controversy here in washington. it is already through this weekend but with hearings on both sides of the capitol on the senate and on the house side. as you mentioned democrats weighing in with some pretty stern language for the administration. the question is how high did it go? who knew what when?

this is all questions you ask in a scandal like that. from all of the ig documents we've been able to see so far redacted, the irs had this program going back to 2010. and that higher-ups knew about it despite the fact that the irs commissioner testified in 2012, in march, that it was not going on. so i expect that that will probably be the first question on the u.s. side. since this is one and one, in other words one question for the u.s. and one question for the british side, it has been scaled back to the usual two and two questions on either side. so it's one and one, i would also expect you would get a three-part question from the u.s. reporter and who knows on the british side. but, i expect the irs question to lead the way. jon: going to be interesting to find out who president obama awards that question to. take us through that, bret. you've been there a long time. how does it work? who does he pick? >> usually the wires in a

situation like this, the ap wire reporter usually gets the first question in, in a situation where world leader is here. they to do, he has a list of reporters and it is chosen before the, reporters don't know usually they're getting a question, ahead of time. but, in a full-blown news conference you could see, you know, both ap and reuters, fox and cnn, nbc. he will make a number of choices on a list but, when it is down to one-on-one, usually it is the wire on the u.s. side. jenna: we received a two-minute warning. so we expect the president and the prime minister to step up to the phone shortly. nina is also with us. nina, "the washington post" said it was appalled, the editorial board in its opinion piece was appalled by the story about the irs targeting specific groups but it also said this. quote, it was almost as disturbing president obama and treasury secretary jack lew have not personally

apologized to the american people and promised a full investigation. what do you think about that? >> you have to wonder beyond the sort of scandal piece of this whether there is a world view operating here. which we know that the white house and particularly the president was appalled at the supreme court decision over citizens united and we know that there's a lot of bad blood and bad feeling about conservative political action groups. and you wonder how much that filtered down to lower officials and officials down the line. you also wonder whether that plays into the president's decision on whether to get ahead of this, whether to apologize, whether to call for a full investigation. jenna: bret, what are your thoughts on that, a personal apology? >> well, he's going to say something. i assume they believe it will be the question and that is how they will address it. we're told it will probably not be in his opening statement as he is alongside the british prime minister here. but the white house has to

address it from the top. they are saying that it was low-level in the irs but, you know, this inspector general report could shed some light it is beyond that. i think these hearings will really ask questions how high it goes. that's where these things two. go. you try to figure out where the order came from for these folks to do what they did, targeting these different groups. and so the president will need to get ahead of it, even though it's already out of the bag. jon: well, and it's been several days of silence since the news broke about this on friday afternoon. it would seem that a politically astute white house would have put out at least some kind of statement, saying we want to get to the bottom of it, we want to get the facts. we deplore misuse of government power. >> jay carney put out a statement and said that, and

here comes the president and the prime minister. we'll see what he says. >> everybody please have a seat. and to all our moms out there, i hope you had a wonderful mother's day. it's always a great pleasure to welcome my friend and partner, prime minister david cameron. michelle and i have wonderful memories from what david and samantha visited us last year. there was a lot of attention about how i took david to march madness. we went to ohio and a year later, we had to confess that david still does not understand basketball. i still do not understand cricket. as we said before, the great alliance between the united states and the united kingdom is rooted in shared interests and shared values. and it is indispensable to global security and prosperity. but as we've seen again recently it is also a partnership of the heart. here in the united states we joined our british friends in mourning the passing of

baroness margaret thatcher, a great champion of freedom and liberty and of the alliance we carry on today. and after the bombings in boston we americans were grateful for the support of friends from around the world, particularly those across the atlantic. at at london marathon runners paused in a moment of silence and dedicated their race to boston and david will be visiting boston to pay tribute to victims and first-responders. david, i want to l to thank you and the british people reminding us in good times and bad our two people stand as one. david's here first and foremost as he prepares to host the g8 next month. i appreciate him updating me on the agenda as it takes shape. we discussed how the summit will be another opportunity to sustain the global economic recovery with a focus on growth and creating jobs for our people. michelle and i are looking forward to visiting northern ireland and i know the summit will be a great

success under david's fine leadership. we discussed the importance of moving ahead with the e.u. toward the negotiations on the transatlantic trade and investment partnership. our extensive trade with the u.k. is central to our broader, our broader transatlantic economic relationship which supports more than 13 million jobs. i want to thank david for his strong support spore building on those ties and i look forward to launching negotiations with the e.u. in the coming months. i believe we have a real opportunity to cut tariffs, open markets, create jobs and make all of our economies even more competitive. with regard to global security we reviewed progress in afghanistan where our troops continue to serve with extraordinary courage alongside each other and i want to commend dived for his efforts to encourage greater dialogue between afghanistan and pakistan which is critical to regional security. as planned, afghan forces will take the lead for security across the country soon this spring.

u.s., british and coalition forces will move into a support role. our troops will continue to come home and the war will end by the end of next year, even as we work with our afghan partners to make sure afghanistan is never again ahaven for terrorist who is would attack our nations. given our shared commitment to middle east peace i updated david on secretary kerry's efforts with the israelis and palestinians in an efforts moving towardsions. we reaffirmed our support for democratic transitions in the middle east and north africa, including the economic reforms that have to go along with political reforms. of course we discussed, we discussed syria and the appalling violence being inflicted on the syrian people. together we're going to continue our efforts to increase pressure on the asassad regime to provide humanitarian aid to the long suffering syrian people and to strengthen the moderate opposition and prepare for a

democratic syria without bass shar al-asad. that includes bringing together representatives of the regime and the opposition in geneva in the coming weeks to agree on a transitional body which would allow a transfer of power from assad to this governing body. meanwhile we'll continue to work to establish the facts around the use of chemical weapons in syria and those facts will help guide our next steps. we discussed iran where we agreed to keep up the pressure on tehran for its continued failure to abide by its nuclear obligations. the burden is on iran to engage constructively with us and our p5 plus 1 partners in order to resolve the world's concerns about its nuclear program. finally today we're reaffirming our recommitment to global development. specifically we're encouraged by the ambitious reforms underway at the global fund to fight aides, tb and malaria where both of our nations are stepping up

our efforts. david made it clear that the g8 summit will be the an opportunity to make progress on nutrition and food security. david, thank you very much as always for your leadership and your partnership as we prepare for our work in northern ireland, and as we consider the challenges we face around the world, it is clear we face a demanding agenda but if the history of our people show anything it is that we persevere as one of those london runners said at the marathon. we're going to keep running and keep on doing this and that is the spirit of confidence and resolve that we will continue to draw upon as we work together to meet these challenges. so, david, thank you very much, and welcome. >> thank you very much, barack. and thank you for the warm welcome. it is great to be back here with you in the white house. thank you for what you said about margaret thatcher t was a pleasure to welcome so many americans to her remarkable funeral in the u.k. i absolutely echo what you said about the appalling outrage in boston. i look forward to going there to pay my tribute to

the people of that remarkable city and their courage. we will always stand with you in the fight against terrorism. thank you for your remarks about the crickets and the basketball. i haven't made much progress. i made a bit of progress on baseball. i actually read a book about it this year. maybe next time we'll go to work on that one. it is good to be back for the first time since the american people returned you to office. and as you said the relationship between britain and the united states is a partnership without parallel. day in, day out across the world our diplomats and intelligence agencies work together. our soldiers serve together and our businesses trade with each other. in afghanistan our armed forces are together defending the stability that will make us all safer and in the global economic race our businesses are doing more than $17 billion of trade across the atlantic every month of every year. and in a changing world our nations share a resolve to stand up for democracy, for

enterprise and for freedom. we discussed many issues today as the president has said. let me highlight three. the economy, the g8 and syria. our greatest challenge is to secure a sustainable economic recovery. each of us has to find the right solutions at home. for all of us it means dealing with debt, it means restoring stability, getting our economy growing and together seizing new opportunities to grow our economies. president obama and i have both championed a free trade deal between the european union and the united states and there's a real chance now to get the process launched in time for the g8. so the next five weeks are crucial. to realize the huge benefits this deal could bring will take ambition and political will. that means everything on the table, even the difficulty issues and no exceptions. it is worth of the effort, for britain alone an ambitious deal could be worth up to 10 billion pounds a year boosting industries from car manufacturing to the financial services.

we discussed the g8 summit in some detail. when we meet on the shores of northern ireland five weeks from today i want us to agree ambitious action for economic growth. open trade is at the heart of this but we have a broad every agenda too, to make sure everyone shares in the benefits of this greater openness, not just in our advanced economies but in the developing world too. i'm an unashamedly pro-business politician but as we open up our economies to get business growing we need to make sure all companies pay their taxes properly and enable citizens to hold their governments and citizens to account. we agreed to tackle the skournl of tax evasion. we need to know who owns a company, who profits from it, where taxes are paid and we need a new mechanism to track where multinationals make their money and pay their taxes so we can stop those that are manipulating the system unfairly. fun ailly we discussed the brutal conflict in syria. 80,000 dead, five million

people forced from their homes. syria's history is being written in the blood of her people and it is happening on our watch. the world urgently needs to come together to bring the killing to an end. none of us have any interest in seeing more lives lost, in seeing chemical weapons used or extremist violence spreading even further. so we welcome president putin's agreement to join in an effort to achieve a political solution. the challenges remain formidable but we have an urgent window of opportunity before the worst fears are realized. there is no more urgent international task than this. we need to get syrians to the table to agree to a transitional government that can win the consent of all syrian people but there will be no political progress unless the opposition is able to withstand the onslaught and put pressure on assad so he knows there is no military victory. we will also increase our efforts to support and to shape the moderate opposition. britain is pushing for more

flexibility in the e.u. arms embargo and we will double nonlethal support to the syrian opposition in the coming year. armored vehicles, body armor and power generators are right to be shipped. the we're helping local councils govern areas they liberate and we're supporting lebanon and jordan to deal with the influx of refugees. we'll also do more for those in desperate humanitarian need, care for trauma injuries, helping torture victims to recover, getting syrian families drinking clean water and having access to food and shelter. there is now i believe common ground between the u.s., the u.k., and russia and many others that whatever our differences we have the same aim, a stable, inclusive and peaceful syria free from the sourgets of extremism. there is real political will behind this we need to get on and do everything we can to make it happen. barack, thank you once again for your warm welcome and for our talks today. >> thank you. we have time for a couple questions. we'll start with julie pace.

>> thank you, mr. president. i wanted to ask about the irs and benghazi. when did you first learn that the irs was targeting conservative political groups? do you feel that the irs has betrayed the public's trust and what do you think the l repercussions for these actions should be? on benghazi, newly public e-mails show the white house and the state department appear to have been more closely involved with the crafting of the talking points on the attack than first acknowledged. do you think the white house misled the public about its role in shaping the talking points and do you stand by your administration's assertion that the talking points were not purposely changed to downplay the prospects of terrorism. prime minister cameron, on syria, if the e.u. arms embargo you mentioned is amended or lapses do you intend to send the syrian forces weapons and are you encouraging president obama to take the same step? thank you. >> let me take the irs situation first. i first learned about it from the same news reports that i think most people learned about this.

i think it was on friday. and, this is pretty straightforward. if in fact irs personnel engaged in the kind of practices that have been reported on, and were intentionally targeting conservative groups then that is outrageous just there is no place for it. and, they have to be held fully accountable because the irs as an independent agency requires absolute integrity and people have to have confidence that they're applying it in a nonpartisan way, applying the laws in a nonpartisan way and you should feel that way regardless of party. i don't care whether you're a democrat, independent or a republican. at some point there will be republican administrations. at some point there will be

democratic ones. either way you don't want the irs ever being perceived to be biased and anything less than neutral in terms of how they operate. so this is something that i think people are properly concerned about. the ig is conducting its investigation. and you know, i not going to comment on their specific findings prematurely but i can tell you that if you've got the irs operating in any less than a neutral and nonpartisan way, then that is outrageous. it is contrary to our traditions, and people have to be held accountable and it has got to be fixed. so we'll wait and see what exactly all of the details and the facts are. but i've got no patience with it. i will not tolerate it and we'll make sure we find out exactly what happened on this. with respect to benghazi, we

have now seen this argument that's been made by some folks, primarily up on capitol hill for months now and, i have just got to say, here's what we know. americans died in benghazi. what we also know is clearly they were not in a position where they were adequately protected. the day after it happened i acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism and what i pledged to the american people was that we would find out what happened, we would make sure that it did not happen again and we would make sure we held accountable those who had perpetrated this terrible

crime. and that's exactly what we've been trying to do and over the last several months there was a review board headed by two distinguished americans, mike mullen and tom pickering, who investigated every element of this and what they discovered was some pretty harsh judgements in terms of how we had worked to protect consulates and embassies around the world. they gave us a whole series of recommendations. those recommendations are being implemented as we speak. the whole issue of this, of talking points frankly throughout this process has been a sideshow. we have been very clear about throughout that immediately after this event happened we were not clear who exactly had carried it out, how it had occurred, what the motivations were.

it happened at the same time as we had seen attacks on u.s. embass is is in -- embassies in cairo as a consequence of this film and nobody understood exactly what was taking place during the course of those first few days. and the e-mails that you allude to were provided by us to congressional committees. they reviewed them several months ago, concluded that in fact there was nothing aful in terms of the process that we had used. and, suddenly three days ago this gets spun up as if there is something new to the story. there is no there there. keep in mind by the way, these so-called talking points that were prepared for susan rice five, six

days after the event occurred, pretty much matched the assessments that i was receiving at that time in my presidential daily briefing, and keep in mind that two to three days after susan rice appeared on the sunday shows using these talking points which have been the source of all this controversy i sent up the head of our national counterterrorism center, matt olson, up to capitol hill and specifically said it was an act of terrorism and that extremist elements inside of libya had been involved in it. so if this was some effort on our part to try to downplay what had happened or tamp it down, that would be a pretty odd thing that three days later we end up putting out all the

information that in fact has now served as the basis for everybody recognizing that this was a terrorist attack and that it may have included elements that were planned by extremists inside of libya. who executes some sort of cover-up or effort to tamp things down for three days? so the whole thing defies logic. and the fact that this keeps on getting churned out, frankly has a lot to do with political motivations. we've had folks who have challenged hillary clinton's integrity, susan rice's integrity. mike mullen and tom pickering's integrity. it is a given that mine gets challenged by these same folks. they used it for fund-raising. and frankly, you know, if anybody out there wants to actually focus on how we

make sure something like this does not happen again, i am happy to get their advice and information and counsel. but the fact of the matter is these four americans, as i said right when it happened, were people i sent into the field. and i've been very clear about taking responsibility for the fact that we were not able to prevent their deaths. and we are doing everything we can to make sure we prevent it in part because there are still diplomats around the world who are in very dangerous, difficult situations. and we don't have time to be playing these kinds of political games here in washington. we should be focused on what are we doing to protect them? and that's not easy by the way. it is going to require resources and tough judgements and tough calls and there are a whole bunch of diplomats who know they are in harm's way and threat streams come through every so often with respect to our

embassies and our consulates. that is not just us by the way. the british have the deal with the same thing. we have a whole bunch of people in the state department who consistently say i'm willing to step up, i'm willing to put myself in harm's way because i think that this mission is important in terms of serving the united states and advancing our interests around the globe. and so, we, we, we dishonor them when we, you know, we turn things like this into a political circus. what happened was tragic, it was carried out by extremists inside of libya. we are out there trying to hunt down the folks who carried this out and we're trying to make sure we fix the system so that it doesn't happen again. okay. >> thank you, on the issue of, the opposition in syria, which have not made the decision to arm opposition groups in syria. what we've done is we have amended the e.u. arms

embargo in order we can give technical assistance and technical advice. as i said in my statement, that is exactly what we're doing. we're continuing to examine and look at e.u. arms embargo to see whether we need to make further changes to it, in order to facilitate our work with the opposition. i do believe there is more we can do alongside technical advice, assistance, help in order to shape them, in order to work with them. and to those who doubt that approach, i would just argue that, look if we don't help the syrian opposition, who we do recognize as being legitimate, who signed up to a statement about the future for syria that is democratic, that respects the rightsminoritk with that part of the opposition, then we shouldn't be surprised if the extremist elements grow. so i think being engaged with the syrian opposition is the right approach and that is, an approach i know i share with the president and with other colleagues in the your mean union.

james landow. bbc. >> james landeau. bbc. >> you're talking about new e.u. trade deal and members of your party are talking about leaving the european union. what is your message for them and those pushing for early referendum, if there were a referendum tomorrow how would you vote? and mr. president, earlier this you told david cameron that you want ad strong u.k. in a strong e.u.. how concerned are you that members of david cameron's cabinet are now openly contemplating withdrawal? and on syria, if i may question to both of you, what gives you any confidence that the russians are going to help you on this? >> well, first of all on the issue you -- issue of a referendum, there will not be a ref ren dumb tomorrow and the reason there will not be a referendum tomorrow because it would give the british public a false choice on the status quo which i don't think is acceptable. i want to see

it has very strong support. throughout the country and in the conservative party. and that is exactly what i'm going to do. on the syrian issue, you are asked a question, what are the signs of russian engagement. i had very good talks with president putin on friday and look, we had a very frank conversation, in that, we have approached this and some extent still do approach this in a different way. i have been very vocal in supporting the syrian opposition in saying that assad is, has to go, that he is not legitimate and i continue to say that. and, president putin has

taken a different point of view. where there is a common interest, is that it is in both our interests, that at the end of this there is a stable, democratic syria, that there is a stable, neighborhood, and that >> we believe that our capacity

to partner with a united kingdom that is active, robust, outward looking and engaged with the world is hugely important to our even interests as well as the world. and i think the uk's participation in the eu is an expression of its influence, and its role in the world as well as obviously a very important economic partnership. ultimately the people of the uk have to make decisions for themselves. i will say this. that david's basic point that you probably want to see if you can fix what is broken in a very important relationship before you break it off, makes some sense to me. and i know that david has been very active in seeking some

reforms internal to the eu. those are tough negotiations. you've got a lot of countries involved, i recognize that. but so long as we haven't yet evaluated how successful those reforms will be i at least would be interested in seeing whether or not those are successful before rendering a final judgment. again, i want to emphasize these are issues for people of the united kingdom to make a decision about, not ours. with respect to ear syria, i think david said it very well. if you look objectively the entire world community has an interest in seeing a syria that is not engaged in sectarian war,

in which the syrian people are not being slaughtered, that is an island of peace as opposed to potentially an outpost for extremists. that is not just true for the united states, that is not just true for great britain, that is not just true for countries like jordan and turkey that border syria, but that is also true for russia. and, you know, i'm pleased to hear that david had a very constructive conversation with president vladimir putin shortly after the conversation that had taken place between john kerry and president vladimir putin. i've spoken to president vladimir putin several times on this topic, and our basic argument is that as a leader on the world stage russia has an interest, as well as an obligation to try to resolve

this issue in a way that can lead to the kind of outcome that we'd all like to see over the long term. and, look, i don't think it's any secret that there remains lingering suspicions between russia and other members of the g8, or the west -- it's been several decades now since russia transformed itself and the eastern block transformed itself, but, you know, some of those suspicions still exist. and part of what my goal has been, john kerry's goal has been and i know david's goal has been is to try to break down at some of those suspicions and look objectively the a the situation. if in fact we can broker a peaceful, political transition that leads to bashar al-assad's

departure, but a state in syria that is still intact, that accommodates the interests of all the ethic groups, all the religious groups inside of syria, and that ends the bloodshed, stabilizes the situation, that is not just going to be good for us, it will be good for everybody. we will be very persistent in trying to make that happen. i'm not promising that it's going to be successful. frankly, sometimes once sort of the furies have been unleashed in a situation like we're seeing in syria it's very hard to put things back together. and there is -- there are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going, even if russia is involved, because we still have other countries like iran and we

have hop hezbollah that have been actively involved. and, frankly on the other side we've got organizations like al nusuria that are affiliated with al-qaida that have another agenda beyond getting rid of bashar al-assad. all of that makes a combustible mix and it's going to be challenging. it's worth the effort. what we can tell you is that we are always more successful in any global effort when we've got a strong friend and partner like great britain by our side and strong leadership by prime minister david cameron. all right. thank you very much, everybody. jon: president obama there along with british prime minister david cameron in a news conference after the two held a quick meeting this morning. they were mostly talking trade, but the press wanted to know about a couple of things, and the president summoned up all of the presidential disapproval that he could in talking about

these two big stories that have been dogging the white house, one only since friday, word that the irs office in charge of deciding who gets tax exempt status decided to single out and you awful lot of conservative groups and those who contained words like tea party in their titles. groups that criticized how the country is being run, and groups that want to educate americans about the constitution and the bill of rights. so how did he do? let's talk about it with bret baier and nina he' e, a ston. brett the anchor of special report an. he said that people have to be held accountable and that the behavior as described, he says he just learned about it on friday, was outrageous. >> it was interesting to see the president deal with these two scandals, cue kudos to the ap

for asking the multiprong questions in the beginning. jon: four questions in one. >> that's right. his tactic was to embrace the irs allegations as real. he did stick an if this proves to be true it would be outrageous, but he said he had no time for it, he would not tolerate it, and they would get to the bottom of it, and consequences would come. but fully embraced the fact that the irs may in fact be doing this. he said the investigation would still be going on. on the flip side, on the benghazi investigation he took the exact opposite tact and said, there is no there, there. and then insinuated that it's essentially a political circus, made up, and stirred up by the right side of the aisle and the media. jon: yeah. >> reporter: it was an interesting tact i thought for dealing with two things that are getting a lot of attention now in washington.

jon: tphao*epb a h nina he used terms like political circus. he says we play these political games in washington, describing the investigation into the aftermath of the benghazi attacks. i guess again it's part of the effort to say this has all been investigated and this is old news. >> that's exactly right. i think brett was right, that it was interesting on the irs issue, he got right out in front, called it outrageous, if the allegations are true, anybody on any side of the aisle should be concerned about an irs that is less than neutral. switch to benghazi. i got the sense he was running out the clock. he derided the latest news revelations as a political circus. this question of course is about whether these talking points were changed, or spun, really, in a political campaign to say that -- to focus on a protest that was caused by an american

produced video as the reason for this attack on benghazi, as opposed to what it turned out to really be, which was an al-qaida-linked terrorist attack. so he talked about this as a sort of political sideshow. it didn't enable any reporter to follow-up and say, well, why were the links to al-qaida taken out of that talking points memo? and he kept talking and talking, the president did, and then he answered another question about the eu, and the uk, which really there is no reason for the us to weigh in on whether the uk has -- should be reforming the eu or stepping aside from it. jon: except that it prevents reporters from focusing on the other things. >> from asking further questions. i thought interestingly also on syria it was a very interesting contrast in the leadership style of these two leaders. i saw david cameron at the world

economic forum in january right after the algerian terrorist attack. he talked about our long struggle against murderous terrorists. on the syria case he made a very robust case to go in and support the opposition before it is shaped by al-qaida-linked forces. but the president you saw a much more cautious approach. >> let me just say one thing about his timeline on talking about terror. you know, the president now refers to that rose garden speech and where he said, act of terror. and he says he talked about terrorism there. there is some debate that it was kind of indirect, and he was referencing 9/11. let's just give it that and set that aside, that is the whole debate during the third debate between mitt romney and himself. let's just say that. after that he has an interview with steve croft and 60 minutes, and steve croft asks him, wow you went out of your way to avoid the use of terrorism in that speech, in the rose garden,

and he says, right. and steve croft goes onto ask him a question about that. then days after that he's asked by joy behar on the view, was it terrorism? and he says it's too early to tell and he talks about the video. he talks then at the u.n. about the video in regards to benghazi. videotape if you just lay it out on a timeline when the president said and when he was asked about it, it doesn't match up to what he said today. when he references the national counterterrorism center director, matt olson testifying on capitol hill that was huge news then, because olson was asked in q and a up on capitol hill was it a terrorist attack? it wasn't like he was offering it in an opening statement from the administration point of view. he did say it was a terrorist attack but that was in direct contrast to what the administration was saying at the time. so that's why it was big news. it was interesting to see the president's tick-tock today that seemed to be different than when

you layout all the pieces of videotape one aof another. jon after another. jon: all of this framed was tkpwraeupl framed against a hop very tight presidential campaign with the president saying al-qaida is on the run. jenna: to recap on the benghazi investigation the president says that the talking point issue is a sideshow, he went onto say that the investigation is politically motivated, calling it a political circus if you will, saying that there is no there, there. a big question for benghazi is what is next in this investigation? coming up next, senator kelly ayotte on the forefront of this investigation joins her with her thoughts right after this quick commercial break. [ male announcer ] only rzr delivers.trail,

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what was taking place. in fact, gregory hicks on the ground told congress last week, you know, said, look we knew this was a terrorist attack, we were concerned about americans being lured out and ambushed as part of this. how did a terrorist attack, they knew it was a terrorist attack, how did that come to be characterized as a muck? i this i that i think that is still the question to be answered. jenna: bret the stakes? >> the testimony from gregory hicks and the dynami the talking points first reported by steve haye he shall s and jonathan carl from abc, and the 12 edits. where was there a deputy's meeting to change exactly pwa was in the talking points? why takeout the ties to al-qaida r-r? the president mentioned his presidential daily brief, and said it was essentially matching the talking points. if that is the case, that opens

up a whole different question, and i think that there is another line of questioning here that potentially intelligence officials, current and former will have a problem with, and we may see another line to this investigation about what the intelligence was saying, right away, beforehand, and right away, because we know that david petraeus testified that he thought it was a terrorist attack and had intelligence to that in the first 24 hours, and the chief on the ground, the cia station chief was sending up through cables within the first 24 hours that it was a terrorist attack tied to ansal al-sharia. we have who statements that contradict what the administration is saying and what the president said today. jenna: great to have you both. thank you so much. jon: republican senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire joins us now. she serves on the senate armed services committee and is at the

forefront of getting to the truth when it comes to what happened the night our benghazi facilities were attacked. i know you work closely with senator kwropb mccain on a number of issues. he calls the administration's response to the benghazi events a cover up. do you see it that way? >> i fully agree with senator mccain about this. i mean, let's step back for a minute. take the original talking points that the intelligence community put forth and compare them to what was brought forth that susan rice apparently claimed that she relied on. references to al-qaida taken out, ansar alsharia question is a known terrorist group and prior attacks on the consulate. just from my own experience from having pushed with senators graham and mccain for answers, right now in light of the testimony we had last week it is time we called from the beginning for a joint select committee, that we do that,

because just to put some of the questions that haven't been answered into perspective, we don't know who waived the facility security requirements. according to the testimony last week only hillary clinton could do that. what about the survivors? we have been pushing to to have the survivors come forward with legal protection and the administration has been stonewalling us. we know from the testimony last week that those on the ground had very different information to offer than what we saw even in the accountability review board report. jon: congressman ice issa says that the accountability review board, process or project, the output of the the arb was insufficient. do you agree? >> i egregious from the point of view that first of all yesterday i was surprised that they didn't interview secretary clinton in detail. i mean she is the principle in the state department. in addition we saw that eric nordstrom mentioned that there were key decision makers that weren't interviewed.

mark thompson said he wasn't interviewed, the top counterterrorism official in the state department. where was all the accountability that we heard directly from gregory hicks when he testified before the house? you how about the issue of the stand down order? that is inconsistent, i believe, with what we heard before the senate armed services committee. who issued that stand down order for the special forces that wanted to go from tripoli to benghazi to help those who were in need and under attack? jon: right. the president, speaking of consistency says he has talked about terrorism from almost the get go in regard to benghazi. i'm going to play this clip for you now. >> since our founding the united states has been a nation that respects all faiths. we reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. but there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence, none. the world must stand together to

unequivocally reject these brutal acts. americans died in benghazi. what we also know is clearly they were not in a position where they were adequately protected. the day after it happened i acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism, and what i pledged to the american people was that we would find out what happened, we would make sure that it did not happen again, and we would make sure that we held accountable those who had perpetrated this terrible crime. and that's exactly what we've been trying to do. jon: that last from the news conference this morning with the president and david cameron. the first was from his white house rose garden statement in the aftermath of the benghazi attacks on september 13th of last year.

it sure sounded like at that point he was referring to the whole video about islam, and the prov prophet mohammed. >> i heard what the president said this morning. it sounds like spin. we need a truthful accounting about what happened here. you referenced the 60 minutes statement, but also the statements he made on the view, and letterman, why was he still connecting it like susan rice did to a video to a demonstration when we know even from those on the ground, think about what gregory hicks said, he spoke to ambassador stevens and may have been the last person to speak to eupl, ambassador stevens says they are under attack, there was no reference to a demonstration, and when we heard before the armed services committee the testimony of secretary panetta, chairman dempsey, they said they knew right away that this was an act of terrorism. so you have to step back and also remember this is in the

context of an election where they were claiming that al-qaida had been decimated, where they were claiming that of course the death of osama bin laden, which we were all happy and supported the president with, meant that al-qaida was on the run, yet they took the references to al-qaida out of the talking points. was that done because of the context of an election for the convenience of making it a better political narrative for them? i think that's an important question to answer for the american people. jon: there are many such questions left to answer. senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire, thank you. jenna: more reaction to the president's press conference a little later today, and throughout the day here on fox news. in the meantime some some other stories. oj simpson is back in court this hour looking for a new trial on the kidnapping and robbery charges that have locked him up and will keep him locked up if they stay the same for decades to come. his legal argument for a new trial, plus his chances, next. [ phil ] when you have joint pain and stiffness...

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jenna: after 12:30 eastern time. after the:30 on th 9:30 in l.a. oj simpson back in the courtroom looking for a new trial after his 2008 conviction for what's been described as a bizarre hotel-room robbery that got him 30-plus years in prison. all this coming after his 19955 quit alin the murders of his ex-wife and her friend in los angeles. here is the jury's verdict back

in 2008. >> we the jury in the above entitled case find the death orenthal james simpson guilty. count one, guilty. count two, guilty. count three, guilty. >> william la jeunesse is live in los angeles following the story for us. william. >> yeah, he has a few more pounds and a little less hair, jenna but most of us have not seen oj since that day about five years ago. on wednesday we'll hear from him. the now 65-year-ol 65-year-old heisman trophy winner, actor, commentator and accused killer. let's go back five years ago when oj and a group of fends pistol whipped friends selling sports memorabilia, including items oj claimed belonged to him. he was convicted of robbery, kidnapping and assault. here oj pled for mercy at his sentencing before getting nine to 33 years in prison.

>> i wasn't there to hurt anybody, i just wanted my personal things, and i realize that was stupid of me. i am sorry. i didn't mean to steal anything from anybody. and i didn't know i was doing anything illegal. i thought i was confronting friends and retrieving my property. >> reporter: now oj claims that because the lawyer that he paid a $525,000, yale galanter did such allows see job that conviction should be set aside. specifically oj says that he and galanter had dinne dinner the night before the raid and georgigalanter said it was legal for him to take back his property if he did not trespass or use physical force. galanter therefore protected his own interests and did not let oj testify at trial. o, judge also says that galanter failed to tell him that prosecutors offered him a

three-year plea deal. the judge agreed to hear 419 of the claims of ineffective counsel and conflict of interest. they could have already dismissed this case, but they didn't. oj's daughter is going to testify today. we also had an expert on a few hours ago who said that alcohol and maybe concussions from his football career, that may have affected his judgment. jenna, we are also going to hear from both lawyers this week, and that should be pretty riveting testimony because one of these lawyers may say that the other lawyer lied. they have some very bad blood there, and, you know, we did not hear from oj in 199 are 5, we did not hear from him in this trial, so on wednesday you're going to hear oj for the first time testify in a trial basically where he's accused of a crime, that should be pretty riveting as well. he's very char is about what the particular, has that big smile but as you can see probably 30 pounds heavier. jenna: we'll watch for that later this week. william thank you.

jon: and this just in, a colorado judge moments ago decided to delay his decision on holmes insanity plea. lawyers for the accused movie theater gunman are requesting a change in his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. it was a major change in legal strategy. holmes faces murder and attempted murder charges for the attack on a packed movie theater in aurora. the shooting rampage there killing 12 people. 70 others injured. a she see ac u.n. a live in centennial, colorado with an update. >> the judge did tell attorneys on both sides that james holmes' defense team did show good cause to change his plea to insanity, but he was going to hold off on officially accepting that plea. once the insanity plea is entered it sets into motion a whole series of events for the defendant. james holmes will be will be ordered to undergo a mental evaluation and exam by state

psychiatrists, this could take months. he also hospitals up his mental history to the prosecution. the law in colorado is different than many other states when it comes to insanity in that it puts a greater burden on the district attorney's office. >> ultimately once james holmes raises the issue of insanity the prosecution has to prove him insane beyond a reasonable doubt. that could be difficult. that is tougher than in other states, it's tougher than the federal government where the burden is on the defense. >> reporter: the defense team is also attempting to question the fairness of colorado's law regarding its treatment of insanity defendants, claiming it violates their constitutional rights by forcing them to incriminate themselves. so far both judges that have served on this case have refused to hear the constitutionality arguments because hopes had yet to enter an insanity plea. that has now changed. this trial is scheduled to

beginner lee next year. few believe that will happen because now that the mental issue is placed into the case that could delay things further. which really frustrates a lot of the victims and family members. jon: for all of the victims it would be good to get this thing underway and ultimately over with. thank you. jenna: two big stories rocking the white house right now, the irs is one of them. profiling some of these conservative groups and others, and paying particular attention to them when it comes to audits, in the lead up to the 2012 presidential election, who knew what when is a big question in that story. it's a big question in this developing scandal concerning the benghazi terror attacks. how is the mainstream media treating these big stories? our news watch panel weighs in with jon just ahead. do we have a mower?

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jon: let's talk about coverage. the new developments on the irs political profiling scandal. president obama just weighed in saying if anyone at the tax agency did target conservative groups for extra scrutiny they would be held accountable. while the president is apparently outraged, there are charges that some of the news shows are skipping over. the irs0 story. there are even suggestion -dz suggestions of a double standard, take a listen. >> just imagine if the george w. bush administration heeds irs under links out in kings

cincinnati saying we are going to target groups with the word progressive if their title, we would have all hell breaking loose. jon: let's talk about it with our fox news watch panel. jim pinkerton is contributing editor and writer for the american conservative magazine. alan colmes is host of the alan colmes show and the author of thank the liberals for saving america. a lot people may have spent the weekend hunting down mother's day cards and red roses and may not be entirely aware of what i is going on. the irs was apparently in the wake of this citizens united decision when lots of groups are applying for tax exempt status the irs singles out certain groups for extra scrutiny. >> the president just spoke about it a little bit ago in joint news conference with david cameron visiting from england. it is outrageous. if progressive groups were targeted i would be outraged as

a progressive and a liberal, and we should all be outraged regardless of which group is targeted because it could happen to them it could happen to any of us. it is truly outrageous, and i thought the president's comments were correct today when he said that this will not stand, he will not stand for it, and we've got to -- by the way apparently it was known in the irs as early as 2011. why did it take this long to come to light? i think that is an important question as well. jon: tom brokaw was on msnbc this morning apparently saying, jim, that this is just sort of -- he said welcome to the second term, mr. president, as though this is just another one of those things that bedevils presidents after they win re-election. >> right. and carl bernstein, of course of watergate fame said this couldn't possibly reach the white house. this is surely a few bad apples at the irs. this is a guy who didn't take richard nixon's word for it 40

years ago and rightly so. now president seems sure? advance -- it reminds me a little bit of people saying listen the boston bombers were lone wolves not in touch with anybody, this kind of instant certainty that this didn't go any further than the immediate hop persons are a mystery to tree. alan had it right. it happened two years ago. there is a lot of investigation to go. breitbart news has a story about the i, rs -- the subunit of the irs who was doing the investigating to knock it off. that was in july of 2011. obviously they kept at it and "the new york times" in march of 2012 was praising the irs for being aggressive on this as james ceranto point efld out in the "wall street journal." there is a lot of strings to unravel here. let's hope the president really means what he said in the press conference a moment ago. jon: there is a lot to talk about today. we have to take a quick break. we want to come back with you guys and talk a little bit about what the president had to say about the benghazi attacks, and

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jon: a tough weekend for the obama administration after an even tougher friday especially in dealing with the media. today the president denies there was any cover up involved in the aftermath of the terror attacks in benghazi last september . this following months of near silence from the mainstream media on the investigation into the benghazi attacks, reporters finally peppering press secretary jay carney, listen. >> is it a saoeul hreu particulastylistic change to takeout all terror threats in benghazi. [inaudible]

this is such a minor issue, why not just tell the press like you did from the podium a few minutes ago instead of having this background briefing with a select few and not the whole group right now if it's such a minor issue? so, again, what role did the white house play, not just in making but in directing changes? jon: that was friday, quite a change from wednesday, the actual day of the bombshell testimony from witnesses. it was the second-story on all three of the major network news broadcasts. cbs h-p evening news offered 4 minutes 41 tkebgdz. nightly news 2 minutes 59 seconds. the least coverage on abc world's news tonight at two minutes and 40 seconds. back now with us jim pinkerton, also alan colmes. so, gentlemen, what about it, has the media, jim finally discovered that benghazi is a

story if. >> i think they have. i think that they tried for months as you said not to -- to ignore it. and even on wednesday, the day of the hearings, most of the cable networks didn't cover it, or didn't cover it at all. that became unsustainable when gregory hicks and the other witnesses proved to be so compelling an and there came so many obvious holes in the storyline. what you're seeing this week i think is the shift from dramatic under coverage of benghazi to ferocious counter attacking on, oh, this is just a plot to takeout hillary clinton. i think you saw "the new york times" kind of sounding the bugle over the weekend saying, this is really just a karl rove plot to win the 16 presidential election, i think that strategy is much more effective for them going forward if they can simply turn this into a partisan fight over the 2016 election, ignoring what happened tragically last september in libya. jon: let me read you a note from our catherine herridge, alan who

has done great reporting on this and pardon me as i show you the side of my face. this is only available to me in the.com pursuiter at this moment. the president in his news conference this morning said it was not immediately clear what happened in benghazi and whether the anti-islam video was to blame. but on 9-12 of last year, september 12th based on the same intelligence the head of the house intelligence commit fee told fox news it was a premeditated commando-style attack and had nothing to to with the video. it would seem that that storyline would get more carriage. >> i think there was a lot of cross information happening at the same time. i think the media is missing the big story here. this is not about whether it's a video or not, and when the word terror was said, which was by the president three times in the two successive days. how about the fact that the "wall street journal" reported in november 2012 that this was basically not a consulate, not an embassy but a cia operation and most of the personnel there were cia workers and that's what

this was really about. how about looking at what was said on fox news month sunday yesterday or foreign policy which had us going into libya the in first place and removing the leader of a foreign country. that's what caused this in the first place. stevens would be alive today if we didn't go into libya military and takeout gadhafi. jon: that is another question for the administration. we'll have to leave it there. alan colmes, jim pink ke pinkerton. we'lthank you both. we'll be right back. hey, look! a shooting star!

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a couple of issues now rattlinghe windows at the white house. what happened ne benghazi and this irs thing. >> and big questions tonight throughout the day today on fox news. thanks for joining us. >> "america live" starts right now. a pair of growing scandals threatening to envelope the white house at this hour. welcome to "america live." i'm megyn kelly. first, the irs admits now that it inappropriately targeted conservative groups for additional scrutiny during the 2012 elections but it happened long before that as well. we have since learned that its admissions don't come close to encapsulating what it did. bebegin with the benghazi terror attack that killed four americans including our ambassador on 9/11 of last year in benghazi, libya. over the past few days, reports surfaced the administration's talking points were changed over