>> you know it's wedding season, the guide to surviving wedding season. and if you have to run from the tv, run to the radio. see you tomorrow. fox news alert. scandal swirls around the white house. report that president obama is trying to stack one of the most influential courts in the country with friendly judges. hope you had a good long weekend. we're back in "america's newsroom.". martha: good to see you this morning. hello, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. we're talking about the washington appeals court which is often called the second most important court in the country. it has been fiercely critical actually of the president, overturning major parts of his agenda over the last fourth years. bill: the white house said to be preparing to nominate three judges to the court, at the same time and daring republicans to stop him. byron york, chief political

correspondent, "washington examiner". good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: why is this so significant? >> anytime congress passes a law or if the administration does something by its own executive authority a lot of times that is challenged in court. this is the court that goes to. there are 11 seats on the court but only eight judges who are on the court at the moment. four were appointed by republicans. four were appointed by democrats. you kind of see where this is going. barack obama is going to need this court to approve some of the things he plans to do in his second term and he wants to fill those three seats. so he is going to do something unprecedented, nominate three at a time. so far all the time he has been president he nominated two people to this court. republicans killed one of those nominations they approved the other one 97-0 in the senate. he is 1-1 in this court. bill: this is court is fendly or not to his administration. >> it hasn't been.

he has taken some big blows from this court. they struck down his effort to appoint people to the national labor relations board. that was a big defeat. they struck down part of dodd-frank which is the financial regulation bill. they are worried. we heard a lot of talk about president obama wants to pursue an environmental agenda in a climate change agenda in his second term. he couldn't get cap-and-trade in congress even when he had democratic control. he will try to do it on his own. this court could strike it down or let it stand. bill: this will be a huge fight in the senate, won't it, byron? >> it will be. you will hear a lot of statistics back and forth, democrats killed a lot of bush judicial nominees and republicans killed obama nominees. right now president obama has not nominated as many people as george w. bush did. he had slightly higher percentage of his circuit court nominees confirmed by the senate than bush did. bill: senator mitch mcconnell saved this is how you try it stack the court. will the white house succeed

or not? >> they will not get all three. that will probably not happen. what you might see, democrats might use the conflict to revive talk about killing the filibuster or at least amending the filibuster. we had talk about that in the bush pin station. we had talk about it in the past couple years in the obama pin in station. the senate had apparently reached some sort of a agreement on not killing the filibuster but i can guaranty you this will revive talk about changing or killing the filibuster in the senate. bill: we'll watch that. byron york, thank you. leading our coverage from washington. martha. martha: we're getting new pictures. senator john mccain after he snuck into syria with a meeting with top rebel leaders there. he slipped across the border from turkey with a small contingent of u.s. security. he is the highest ranking official to visit syria since the civil war broke out there. according to rebels about the meeting comes for them at what they're calling a critical time. leland vittert on the story for us live from jerusalem.

good morning, leland. >> reporter: good morning, martha. couldn't be more critical for the rebels. they are on the run in every way. their weapons supplies are dwindling. they're losing international legitimatecy because of how many al qaeda sympathizers joining their reins. ranks. they are losing battles on the ground and losing ground to the syrian army itself. senator mccain long supported arming rebels and rebel groups he calls vetted. that is something the obama administration really opposes. support from a united states senator is always a nice thing. it will do a lot to raise the rebels morale. it is doubtful it do anything to fix the intrinsic problems the rebels are facing on the ground every day, martha. martha: there is an arms embargo on the rebels and where does that stand? >> reporter: that is an e.u. arms embargo. over the weekend the e.u. and the brits announced they

lifted arms embargo almost immediately that is arms embargo against the syrian rebels. now the russians who support the syrian government we'll deliver a sophisticated air defense system they were talking about to the syrians. that would make no-fly zone or military intervention extremely costly for nato or allies who would go about doing something like that. this is both the europeans and russians doubling down on their proxies heading into the summer fighting season it gives the sides all the more reason to keep fighting. the fewer reasons to enter into any ceasefire talks. martha: what a difficult situation it continues to be. leland, thank you very much. bill: certainly us did. a bit of context on syria with the uprising in the third year. more than 80,000 died in the fighting. the civil war is creating a refugee crisis along the way. nearly 1 1/2 million syrians left the country to escape the violence. more than a million since last september alone.

martha: just about an hour from now president obama will take off for the jersey shore. that is his destination today. he will get a first-hand look how the area is recovering from superstorm sandy as businesses there struggled over the weekend to cut the ribbon and get started for a great summer. it was a little bit cloudy over the course of the weaken and cold but he will tour the area once again with governor chris christie. last october as you may remember in the days after that horrific storm, governor christie well companied president obama to new jersey. republicans criticized him for embracing the president so close to the election. the governor said that he was and is just recognizing the president's help for his state. bill: meanwhile an oregon teenager who police say plotted to blow up his high school. the 17-year-old will be charged as an adult with attempted aggravated murder. classmates at west albany high school said he talked about building bombs but

never mentioned a plan to target the school. his mother says he suffers from a rare form of ocd. police say they caught him just in the nick of time. >> in span of 24 hours we went receiving a report of a 17-year-old young man allegedly intending to detonate at a bomb at a school to a successful arrest and seizure of evidence crucial in the case against grant court. >> we averted what could have been a horrific event in our school and our community. bill: police searched the school and say it is safe to reopen again today. martha: a fox news news alert now. a big story and a growing concern for the united states. there is a new report this morning that says chinese cyber spies have hacked into crucial designs for our u.s. defense systems. among the weapons systems believed to have been hacked, designs for u.s. missile defense, combat aircraft and ships. national correspondent steve centanni is live on this story in washington.

steve, what kind of impact could this have on our national security? >> well, it could be huge. if china has access to designs for our major weapons and missile defense systems they could thwart a u.s. attack by cutting communications or causing weapons to misfire or fail and satellites and drones to crash. this cuts right to the heart of our defense capability. sophisticated aircraft like the fa-18 and the fa-35 joint striker are among the aircraft that may be compromised. missile defense systems on land and at sea as well. including patriot and aegis systems are among the vulnerable systems. detailed in a report to the pentagon and disclosed for the first time by "the washington post." the chinese government always insisted it does not conduct cyber espionage against u.s. companies and beijing is the target of attacks. martha: with every new

development in this battle going on in cyber war really, what is the impact? how do we deal with china on this? does it make any impact at all? >> reporter: well, it is not easy. this comes as president obama prepares for a summit meeting with chinese president xioping they will meet in southern california in and cyber espionage will be on the agenda. the u.s. complained of a chinese campaign to steal military secrets largely you through u.s. defense contractors. white house security advisor tom done milan in beijing setting the stage for the june summit meeting. this report detailing the first time for weapons that have been compromised or may have been compromised comes at a very delicate time in u.s.-chinese relations. the extent of the hacking has not been revealed but it doesn't look great. martha: this is one to watch. steve, thank you very much. bill: it has happened for some time. we're getting rolling on a

tuesday. stories of panic after a firebreaks out aboard a massive cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. there were 2,000 people on the ship. martha: a scare in the sky. a man tries to open the emergency exit door in the middle of a flight. gosh, this is weird one. we'll tell you what happened. bill: desperate plea, martha, now the family of an american mother being held in a mexican jail and why her family claims this woman here is innocent. >> it turned into a nightmare. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life.

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martha: look at this heavy fog that is covering sydney, australia, making landmarks virtually disappear. the iconic harbor bridge and the opera house barely visible through the dense fog. look at this. aft number of flights were delayed or diverted. fortunately most travel was back to normal within a few hours of that. bill: there are new concerns

over the attorney general eric holder investigating and reviewing his own actions and those of his department in the targeting of journalists that included fox news correspondent james rosen the conversation got heated shall we say. here is one williams and brit hume battling it out on "fox news sunday". >> eric holder did not conduct the probe that led people to somehow come to the madhouse conclusion that james rosen is somehow a co-conspirator? somehow, to -- >> wait a minute. was that not in the fbi affidavit seeking -- >> he signed the affidavit as attorney general of the united states. he did not conduct the probe. >> how can you excuse him -- >> you would come to the conclusion that a working reporter with a long-standing excellent career in washington is somehow now involved in espionage. that is the question. >> but the problem is, it went to holder and he okayed it. >> he okayed the work of his investigators and so now as

attorney general -- >> he saw saying is he not ultimately responsible as the head of the justice department who signed off on it. >> he signed off on it. to go back and look at work of the investigator. >> if he signed off on it how can he investigate it? >> now is the opportunity and he is the exact right person as attorney general of the united states to see what prosecutors did and how they came to the conclusion. >> well he saw, wasn't he supposed to see all that before he signed off on the affidavit? >> he can't see everything. bill: you should hear what they talked about during the comercial break. maryanne marsh, former democratic strategist. ladies good morning. will you defend brit on this or juan williams. >> look what happened here. eric holder signed an affidavit naming a "national journal"ist as a coconspirator. this is not routine piece of paperwork. you have to wonder what else is out there? did the white house, doj actually think this would go uncovered?

you need someone, external person to investigate this. if he can't recall, how can he vet it. bill: brit's become point he declared his bias by signing off on the affidavit. >> absolutely. bill: mary ann, do you believe eric holder can rightfully investigate eric holder? >> i think at this point the answer is yes. to call for him to remove himself is premature at best the precedent, it would set would be damning for everybody because if eric holder has to remove himself for anyone who has any concern over any subpoena he signs, the attorney general's both democrats and republicans would have to live with that. that's a dangerous precedent that you don't want to set. bill: why is that so dangerous, mary anne, explain that? >> because anyone who would take exception with any subpoena that the attorney general of the united states signed off on, which is required in this case, the attorney general has to sign the subpoena, they could then say, you can't possibly be objective about this, mr. attorney general, for a republican president or

democratic president. thereby rendering, handcuffing every attorney general from here on out because everyone will take advantage of that. so i think --. bill: what about that, gretchen. >> i disagree. i mean, they should be held accountable. this goes far beyond -- >> they are. >> whether he signed it and, setting precedent. this is about a government that has gone too far and needs to be reined in. this is government that has done things with the irs, that has threatened the associated press, our freedom of speech, cbs news. this needs to be investigated by someone you know biased outside because this goes beyond incompetence. this goes to the heart of the matter that we need to be able to hold the administration and hold our government accountable. that is what this is about and we should be able to hold them. bill: the point you're making, mary anne, you're not opposed to it at some point but right now don't do it? >> it is possible. right today, i don't think it is necessary at all. you have countless congressional committees investigating attorney general holder and this

entire matter. if gretchen is saying that congressman issa and all the committees investigating him are incapable of holding the attorney general accountable, i think that would be news to them. so let the process work. let the attorney general do his investigation. bill: finish your point, mary anne. >> let the congressional committees do their investigation. let's see where this all comes out. remember when the attorney general appears before congressman issa and others he is under oath. that is being held accountable. >> gretchen, i will give you the last word. >> mary anne would probably come on maked same statement statement that darrell issa and all the congressional hearings taking place are biased and political posturing. this is government that needs to be held accountable and goes to root of what is wrong right now. it is a government grown too big, too far and it is too incompetent. >> it is called democracy. bill: thank you, gretchen and mary anne. we have a lot to talk about this summer one of many things. thanks to you ladies for coming in today. martha. martha: this is an old

battle, hospitals versus insurance companies with the sick patient stuck in the middle. now some hospitals are planning to make their own insurance company. we'll explain what they're thinking about. bill: there are thousands of vacationers heading for cover. they're stuck in the path of massive wildfires. now is the time to get out for some of them. live update an the ground in a moment. angie's list is essential. i automatically go there. at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. if you want to save yourself time and avoid a hassle, go to angie's list. at angie's list, you'll find the right person to do the job you need. and you'll find the right person quickly and easily. i'm busy, busy, busy, busy. thank goodness for angie's list. from roofers to plumbers to dentists and more, angie's list -- reviews you can trust. oh, angie? i have her on speed dial.

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bill: got a fox news alert now. as we move into the summer, u.s. home prices jumping 11% in march compared to a year ago. that is the most we've seen in seven years. a growing number of buyers bidding on a tight supply of homes that drives the price higher and helps the housing market recover. word from the associated press just moments ago. martha: hospitals looking to cut costs and improve care by cutting insurance companies out of the

equation. and starting their own insurance company. interesting story. jonathan serrie brings it to us live from atlanta this morning. hey, jonathan. >> reporter: hey, martha. you think of the traditional health care model. you have a patient filing a claim with the insurer which then reimburses the hospital or medical provider but two hospital systems here in metro atlanta, piedmont and well star, are launching their own insurance product. what they're trying to do is establish a direct relationship between the hospital and the patient. looking for ways to improve outcomes and reduce costs, two metro atlanta hospital systems are going into the insurance business. essentially eliminating the middleman between patient and provider. >> because the big insurance companies compete with each other on annual contract renewals, they're very hesitant to share the massive amount of data that they have over thousands of patients. >> wellstar ceo reynold

jennings says access to the data will help better manage care. health reform is forcing hospitals to move away from a system that rewards each medical procedure to outcomes. >> in order to survive in that world you need an integrated delivery system. you need to provide the entire gamut of services in a way that is cost effective. >> reporter: georgia state university professor, bill custer says obamacare accelerate ad national movement toward collaboration to help curb rising medical costs. >> the risks are greater if they don't merge. the changing environment for health care is such that without that partnership, they may have a tougher go of it. >> reporter: now these two hospital systems are first going to offer this new insurance plan to their own employees and their dependents but if it is successful, wellstar and piedmont could roll out an insurance product available to the general public. martha? martha: very interesting.

innovative. thank you very much, jonathan. bill: health care story coming up next hour too, how things are just changing for so many millions of people. they are not done digging. lawmakers are getting ready to launch a group much new investigations into the irs scandal but is this enough to get to the truth? karl rove will respond to that three minutes away. martha: an american mother of seven is now sitting in a mexican jail and facing serious drug-trafficking charges. is it all a mistake? we have the latest on this case. >> i started crying and that people will help us that we will get out of this together as a family. vo: traveling you definitely end up meeting a lot more people but

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martha: look for a big summer of investigations on capitol hill. the move comes as a brand new "fox news poll" comes out and shows that of all the recent scandals that have been much in the news, americans are most concerned about the irs story. 32% say that scandal is the biggest one. 27% say they're more focused on the benghazi terror attack cover-up. 21% say the justice department snooping cases are high on their list. we're joined by karl rove, former senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to former president george w. bush. he is also a fox news contributor. karl, good morning. good to have you here. >> thanks, martha. martha: it looks like there is at least four capitol hill investigations. you've got house ways and

means, house oversight, senate finance and the irs has their own investigation. what, you know, is there potential for overkill there in terms of getting to the source and the truth of all this? >> yeah. well, in fact there could be a fifth investigation going on that we may not know about and that is one either being started at a u.s. attorney's office someplace or at the department of justice in washington itself because there may be some criminal violations of the law here. you're right. we're just starting at this. there are lots of challenges for all the actors in this drama. my suspicion is that investigators from the capitol committees have either begun or will shortly begin interviewing the people at the bottom of this process, the front line agents who had the contact with these groups that were being targeted for extra examination and tough questions. so, what we're just starting that process and each party, the republicans and democrats, both have challenges in this. republican challenges is one of jurisdiction. who is in charge?

we have two committees, the oversight and government reform committee, darrell issa. we've seen them have some high-profile hearings with former commissioner shulman, acting commissioner miller and lois lerner and we have the house ways and means committee on oversight led by dr. charles boustany of louisiana working on this a couple of years. we'll have jurisdiction questions and tone question. republican haves to be very careful about premature talk about impeachment. this not at least point looks like impeachable offense and unlikely to turn out so, and republicans discredit themselves in my opinion being too eager to use the "i" word. martha: talking about a methodical look from the bottom up what happened here. there are concerns on the democrats side in terms how they handle it. take a look at this brad woodhouse quote from over the weekend. with with regard to that he says, they have been caught

red-handed making up so-called scanned deals out of thin air to stir up false rumors of vast cover-ups happening in the white house. did they find a single sled of evidence to back up their outrage just claims -- outrageous claims he says? no. >> democrats have two problems. one is represented by woodhouse quote. that may be good fodder for fund-raising e-mails to the true believers, democrats dismiss these as made-up scandals, whether irs, benghazi, ap the more disconnected they are with the american people. think about this. this poll has almost 80% of the american people consider these to be important scandals. there is a question of tone for the democrats. there is also a question of manage the scandals. you have to manage them. i like the white house chief of saying we'll only spend 10% of our time on these scandals. that is nice talk but it really, doesn't work that way. they're going to have to spend whatever time is necessary. they will have to do a better job of it. they have bungled it until

now. one of the problems may be that the guy who is probably most in charge of responding on behalf of the administration or the irs scandal is the treasury secretary jack lew who when he was white house chief of staff mishandled this as well. remember, he is the guy who was told about this and proceeds to do nothing at all about it. doesn't get the administration prepared with a response. doesn't dig into it. doesn't tell the president and so forth. he is the guy at treasury department, probably the point person for making certain that the administration manages this and responds in an appropriate way. martha: we haven't heard that much in terms of tone on any of this from the president. when you think about his own feelings about how serious all of this is and that could go a very long way, i think with the american people in terms of making them feel the president feels this is serious. i don't know that he has gone there yet. one way would be a special counsel on this, karl. address the first part of it. >> well, first of all i think you're right, he has mishandled it. remember we only heard from

him once. he held a evening news conference to declare he was angry and upset about the targeting of conservative groups. by gosh, he asked the treasury secretary to demand and received resignation of steve miller which was great. we found out in matter of moments, unlaw, acting commissioners of the irs have a six-month term they could serve. steve miller was a literally couple weeks away from ending his term. he made it worse by issuing a statement looking forward to orderly transition. the president looked strong and turned out it was a weak action. you're right the president will have a problem with this. people have a fundamental distrust of the irs to begin with. when you get this issue of targeting conservative groups it becomes too easy to draw a direct line from the irs to the president settinged tone. remember the president attacked a number of these groups, including one i'm associated with, american crossroads, saying we were quote, a threat to democracy. sort of like a dog whistle. the you blow it the dog can

hear. maybe he was blowing the whistle and bureaucrats inside the irs we didn't get any orders but it is clear we have the chairman of the senate finance committee telling us to investigate them. we have chuck schumer telling them to investigate this. got the number two ranking democrat in the senate dick durbin telling them to investigate it and president saying they're enemies of democracy. maybe we ought to do something to these people. martha: in terms of the special counsel issue, darrell issa said no way to lindsey graham who called for this. look, what i'm not able to do my job anymore in the oversight committee and government reform then you can call for a special counsel. which way do you see this going, karl? >> there will be tension here. look, personally my view is, that you only have the special prosecutor when you have clear evidence of criminal activity and an inability by either u.s. attorney or the justice department to impartially carry out the investigation and the prosecution if need be. we aren't at that point in my opinion. realize also that what would happen if there was an

appointment of a special prosecutor. this issue disappears of off the public radar scope for next two years. frankly the american people and government, the administration would be better served getting facts out and letting the american people make their own conclusions about this and deciding whether or not there ought to be a criminal prosecution of any people involved in this. martha: we'll see. going to a busy june. karl, thank you so much. >> june, july, august. martha: the whole summer. bill: an arizona mother of seven children is now being held in a mexican prison facing serious drug charges but her family says this is just one big mistake. the family talks about yannira maldonado as a devout mormon who has never been in trouble in her life. she and her husband were coming home on a bus out of mexico heading to phoenix after attending their aunt's funeral when the bus was boarded by authorities and searched. get this. the authorities claim they found 12 pound of marijuana under her seat. the family says that is no

way that bee lo to her. they're very upset as you can imagine. >> most frightening feeling you can ever imagine and scary. what's going to happen next? i seen two other buses roll in with the exact same thing and took the bus driver and arrested him. still have high hopes that justice will prevail for us. >> bring my mother back. [inaudible] bill: imagine the concern there. u.s. authorities monitoring this case. a hearing on her case is set for today. we'll let you know how it turns out. whomever it belongs to that is terrible place to find someplace to hide. 12 pounds of pot under your chair? how will you get away with that? they did it. martha: if the family is right they got away with it putting it under somebody else's seat. it happened before. we'll see what --. bill: seven kids. seven. martha: state department has it and who gets involved here. interesting case. boy, tough time for that family for sure. okay, so lawmakers are getting ready for some new hearings into the benghazi attacks set for next week

the man who led a controversial review of the response set to face republicans. democrats are calling this a trap. they are saying they are getting ready. will we ever get the truth about what happened that night to the four americans who were murdered? john bolton coming up next on that. bill: also, there are reports of widespread flooding and the danger is far from over. an update from the fox weather center on who needs to find higher ground now. >> oh, my gosh, you know, how could this happen? i'm still kind of like in a daze and dumfounded. >> get dressed this morning and the water was starting to seep on the floor here.

martha: scary one this morning. alaska airlines passenger is under arrest today accused of trying to open an emergency exit while in mid-flight. witnesses say the 23-year-old, his name is alexander herrera, made, quote, unusual statements before he attempted to crank open the exit door in the middle of the flight. one man put herrera in a choke hold, going over the seat to bring him down to the ground. passengers used shoelaces and seatbelts to restrain him. all this happened 10 minutes before the flight was to land. it was heading from alaska to seattle. he is now facing charges of interfering with a flight crew. bill: there are new developments now in the benghazi matter. democrats said to be getting ready for their own gameplan

to respond to expected criticism from republicans. house republicans looking into a report on the benghazi attack that killed four americans including ambassador christopher stevens. john bolton, former u.n. ambassador and fox news contributor and attorney and done just about everything. he has done about everything. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: here is the gist of the story. there will be a questioning of ambassador pickering sometime in the next week and a half. that will be done in private. now, why do democrats, rather, why do they have a beef with that? >> well i think they're worried that a systemic, thorough, preparation of the hearing before it actually takes place is going to reveal a lot more than just having the members of congress go public with a witness who has not been interviewed in advance. with all due respect to all 535 members of the congress, sometimes they like to talk rather than asking questions. i think that is what happened in earlier hearings on benghazi. whereas if they do their

homework in advance i think chairman issa did before the hearing with gregory hicks and the two other witnesses a couple weeks ago, you actually produce in the public hearing real information for the american people. so preparation is the name of the game and i think that is what this is all about. bill: just back up a moment here. darrell issa apparently invited democrats to come in and sit in on the deposition. what democrats charge is that issa is just cherry-picking information and putting it out there and letting the stories run on their own. if he invited democrats to come in and sit down they could counter this. you're an attorney. you look at these investigations. you start from the ground up. isn't that essentially what they're trying to do here? >> right. i hope that's what they're trying to do and i say the democrats should participate this interview or deposition, whatever you want to call it will be transcribed t could go on for days. i've defended and taken depositions that have gone on for days. you take as long as you need to get the facts. in the case of pickering he is not an eyewitness but he

and his accountability review board talked to a lot of the real witnesses. it will be very interesting to compare what pickering says the witnesses said with what the witnesses tell the committee. i think that's --. bill: let's remind viewers too, ambassador pickering he conducted a review what happened in the state department but never interviewed hillary clinton. >> right. bill: as far as i can he has only been asked about it publicly once on cbs a few weeks ago, we knew where the responsibility rested, she, meaning secretary of state clinton already stated on a number of occasions she anticipated as a result of her job full responsibility. that is all he has said to date. i imagine republicans want to know, why didn't you talk to her? >> i think that is a valid question. the questions to ask hillary clinton, really although certainly want to know what she was doing on september the 11th and why she never called defense secretary panetta. the real questions for hillary clinton go to policy issues. why did we have a consulate

in benghazi in the first place? why wasn't it up to snuff if terms of the department's safety standards? if it was designed to cover the ci aft activity in benghazi were the facilities in two different locations? these are all questions that tie in directly with president obama's speech last thursday where he essentially said, what war on terror? the war is over. i think that policy infused our actions, said to say, before, during and after benghazi. bill: all the questions you listed there, he could probably not answer but she could. >> i think pickering has a lot he can tell the committee but i think in terms of the accountability review board its mandate was very narrow and they conducted a narrow investigation. that's why the committee's job is to go well beyond that. i think pickering can help dill lynn eight how narrow the scope of his board's investigation was. bill: as an attorney, do you see negligence here or do

you see the response here being criminal or do you know? >> well i don't think we know enough now. some people believe there was a cover-up after the attack for political purposes less than two months before the election. i think that is possible. i think it is possible this is a case of willful blinders in. the administration never believed it in the war on terror. didn't believe it when the president campaigned in 2008. didn't believe it campaigning for re-election in 2012 and as of last thursday still don't belief it. i don't think the american people agree with his assessment and that will come out. bill: we did a fox poll, 60% believe the obama administration and on benghazi believe the administration was trying to cover up, mr. bam door. >> i think for the sake of the country that it was a cover-up that you can fix. if it is willful blindness, i think we have 3 1/2 more years of danger.

bill: wow! thank you, mr. bolton for your time this morning. >> thank you. bill: click on your website, foxnews.com. click on the bya box. shoot me an e-mail. hemmer@foxnews.com or twitter @billhemmer. three ways to ask the questions. because you asked. bya. 12 minutes before the hour. martha? martha: recounting a nightmare at sea. a fire ripped through a cruise ship. we're hearing from those on board about the ordeal. look at the extent of the damage on that ship!. bill: breaking news what could be a critical day in the trayvon martin case. judge will rule whether the defense could use damaging pictures of martin's past. could this be the game-changer? the ruling is next. what do women want?

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martha: this just happen ad moment ago. a florida judge has now ruled on what pieces of evidence can be used in the trayvon martin shooting trial. that is going to get underway in just two weeks. here's a live look at the courtroom right now where the judge is blocking the defense from presenting some of the teen's controversial pictures and past drug use that came up over the course of this investigation. the jury will not be allowed to take those things into account in this trial. phil keating is live in miami. so this is a pretty crucial day in terms of, sort of defining the parameters of what can come in on this case. >> reporter: absolutely, martha. a critical day for both the state as well as the defense because judge debra nelson is determining what the jury will and will not see at the upcoming second-degree murder trial of the neighborhood watch activist who admits he shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old trayvon martin. george zimmerman of course claims self-defense.

he is not in the courtroom this morning. that is somewhat of a surprise as attorneys for both sides are arguing this long list of motions. judge debra nelson already deciding this morning a number of things. martin's cell phone pictures and texts are not going to be relevant for the jury to see. pictures such as martin smoking pot, pictures of marijuana plants, a photo of a handgun, perhaps he was trying to sell a gun and was involved in fighting. aside from the fighting the judge rules it is not really pertinent, all of which zimmerman's attorneys want it available. >> the idea of marijuana use is going to be intertwined with the behavior that happens the night that for whatever reason led to the altercation. the state says my guy was the aggressor. the state says trayvon martin is the aggressor. studies suggested aggressive behavior can be residual from marijuana use. >> reporter: judge nelson did allow the toxicology

tests taken during trayvon martin's autopsy which shows some thc, active ingredient in marijuana. that will be allowed but not during opening arguments. zimmerman claims he only fired his gun after martin broke his nose and was slamming his head into the sidewalk. the judge also ruling that trayvon martin school suspension history and other school records also will not be heard or seen by the jury. jury selection set to begin in just two weeks, martha. martha: doesn't seem that surprising they want to limit the scope here to the events of that evening, and what can be part of what the jury hearings about this. but the defense we're also learning, phil, they're pushing for a delay here. what's their argument for that? >> zimmerman's lead owe attorney, mark o'mara wants a six-week delay, basically telling judge nelson they're not quite ready. most critically they're not ready to counter the state's

new audio experts who analyzed the critical 911 phone call where you hear screams in the background as well as that fatal gunshot. according to the state's new audio experts they say you hear trayvon martin screaming during the first eight screams heard in the background and they also believe you can make out trayvon martin saying quote, i'm begging you, the fbi analysts said that the recording was way too short and of poor quality to come to such conclusions. the defense also wants anonymous jury to be seated. when this trial commences. we'll know most likely by end of the today whether the trial will start june 10th with jury selection or whether it will begin in july. martha: that recording was clearly a window what was going on and that's going to be a huge part of all of this no doubt. phil, thank you very much. we'll see you later. you can watch the hearing live going to foxnews.com, colleging on the link at the top of the screen.

there it is going on in sanford, florida, this morning. bill: big day in the trial. the u.s. attorney general survived the recent scandals facing the obama administration. that is a question many are asking about eric holder today. martha: serious flooding is putting thousands of people at risk in one state. we'll tell you where folks are just trying to stay afloat today. [ male announcer ] running out of steam? ♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle.

martha: panic at sea after a firebreaks out on a royal

caribbean cruise ship with more than 2000 people aboard. the fire charred a large section of the massive grandeur of the seas. the second black mark for the cruise industry. boy, it has been a rough season. welcome to a brand new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. the fire did enough damage to have the rest of the cruise canceled. there were more than 2000 people on board. the ship made it safely to the bahamas. the passengers are being flown safely back to the united states. martha: steve harrigan joins us live from miami. how dangerous was the situation aboard, steve? >> reporter: certainly a scary situation for many passengers especially initially. memorial day weekend woken from the cabins at 3:00 a.m. by staff members. some said they could smell the folk. some could actually see the flames on the stern of the ship. >> captain came over the speaker and we were asleep.

now when i opened the door to our cabin about, that's when i smelled smoke. they instructed us to put on our life vests and go to our muster stations. >> reporter: that's not clear what caused the fire. it burned for two hours on the stern, destroying parts of several of the decks. the ship itself did not lose power and was able to dock in the bahamas on monday afternoon, martha. martha: what a mess. what is next for the passengers? >> reporter: royal caribbean officials were on the scene in the bahamas. they're arranging charter flights back to baltimore. that is where the cruise started. passengers will get a credit for it cruise and 50% off their next cruise. this is the second royal caribbean ship to go on fire this year. back in february, an engine room fire stranded passengers for five days in the gulf of mexico, martha. >> boy, president. r folks are pretty busy at royal caribbean these days. steve, thank you very much. bill: cranking a lot of this stuff out too in reaction.

the third incident for the troubled cruise industry this year alone but the first for a royal caribbean ship. in march, carnival's crime was stuck in port for two days. in february the infamous engine room fire on the carnival triumph. that ship was adrift without power for five days with 4500 people on board. fox news alert now because there are thousands of memorial day cammers in california headed for better ground as a massive wildfire tears through santa barbara. u.s. forest officials say the flames are charred almost 400 acres. crews are trying to save homes in the fire's path and saved 15 hikers stranded at one of the campgrounds. >> we currently sent two teams out there to assess the 15 people. we have a team of emergency medical technicians to make sure there is no respiratory

distress from smoke and ash in the air. once we clear them we will bring them back out. bill: let's hope. adam housley live from l.a. watching this. what is the latest this morning, adam? >> reporter: good news. we're told nobody is in danger. this is reality in california, a year-round fire season. temperatures weren't really as high as they could be in some respects, talking high 70s into the 80s where you are. the winds of 40 miles an hour really stoked the fire and pushed it very fast. you mentioned 1200 acres. that is less than 24 hours. this was a fast-moving fire. this threaten ad number about campsites. it burned through one. 1000 campers had to be evacuated or rushed out of the campsites as they escaped fire. once again very difficult fire conditions here in california. the good news overnight the marine layer came in, temperatures dropped, humidity came up. they made headway. still saying only 10% contained. as the sun comes up they're much more positive in the

way they're attacking this fire. however there are forecasts for more winds later today. they're worried about that. they're trying to get as much line behind the fire. bill: wind can be a killer. what about a possible cause? >> reporter: a couple different cammers who saw a man finished with his briquettes and dumped coals out in the open and drove off. done with the campfire or cooking what every he was doing and dumped out and left. that is the suggestion that may have started this fire. no official cause at this hour. it was a suggestion it may have been left by someone who basically left hot coals and let them unattended after memorial day weekend fire. bill: adam housley watching that fire in santa barbara, california. martha: many of the campers and residents who were forced to evacuate are now holed up at a shelter in santa barbara a the red cross and the salvation army are making sure everybody has enough to eat and a

place to sleep. that is their specialty. >> we have a dozen more volunteers who are working with the salvation army to set up all the food stations, make sure cots are ready. anything that our clients will need overnight. martha: boy, that's a welcome site for all of those folks. the red cross says that the shelter will stay open until everybody is allowed to go back home. bill: severe weather now in the midwest toppling trees and even destroying more than 100 mobile homes. this is river ton, illinois, outside the state capitol of springfield. we're told nobody was hurt but plenty of people were rattled by all of this. listen. >> it was pretty scary. it started shaking. what was going on. i said, this can't be a tornado. i looked out, went through that quick and everything was tore all to heck. bill: sure was. the red cross opened an emergency shelter in a nearby high school to assist some of the victims there. martha: overflowing rivers are turning farm fields into lakes in parts of iowa.

look at these pictures. some residents say it is the worse that they have seen in years. >> river is right about a half mile over there. it was up to the banks this morning but since, during the day it has just come up, up, up. the water is coming up pretty fast. martha: up, up, up. look at it, eight inches of rain the past few days. more could be on the way. meteorologist maria molina is in the fox extreme weather center with more. hey, maria. >> martha, good to see you. wild weather over weekend as you mentioned. we had snow in upstate new york, more than 30 inches out there. and flash flooding occurring in parts of texas and city of san antonio. we had fatalities there very unfortunate. we have more than a foot across sections of iowa. that is over the past 48 hours. we picked up the rain to wrap up the work week. significant flooding ongoing across the state of iowa. a lot of heavy rain picked up in parts of missouri as

well and into parts of illinois. out here the ground is already saturated. if you see additional rainfall on top of that it will cause some flooding and that is exactly what the forecast. very unfortunate situation. we have a slow-moving storm system out here that will be producing areas of heavy rain but even potential for severe weather. we'll be watching that threat. otherwise we have flash flood warnings across the region. watches in effect as well. look at wednesday and thursday. more thunderstorms are rolling through that could produce heavy rain and additional three to even four inches of rain are forecast. most of the rain is already east of iowa. we did have it, significant amounts throughout the overnight hours. severe threat in place across the country with the same storm system. very widespread. anywhere from next tas up into parts of south dakota and parts of wyoming. as far easts parts of pennsylvania, parts of upstate new york would look at severe weather. damaging winds, large hail and even tornadoes possible. rain is moving into the

northeast. martha, remember how cold it has been across parts of the northeast the last couple days? a big warm-up. we could be at 90 on thursday. martha: winter to sumner a day. maria, thank you very much. we'll see you later. bill: better than that 42 degrees on saturday. check out these numbers. we're up over 200 points already today. 15,500. man, what we have never closed this high before. martha: nope. bill: but you're jumping on news consumer sentiment is the highest level we've seen in five years. we saw home sales last hour trending higher up 10%. martha: up 10% in home sales in one month is a huge jump. big market reaction to that this morning. we'll keep an eye on that. also coming up attorney general eric holder facing down yet another controversy, from fast and furious to the irs to the justice department investigating the media. he is now they saying perhaps there is some remorse he is expressing. we'll tell you what he's talking about.

bill: also the european union lifting the ban on arming syrian rebels. we'll ask a former top army commander if he agrees with that. martha: a 10-year-old girl is facing certain death without a lung transplant but the rules say that she is not allowed to receive a lung that might to to someone else. a legal battle straight ahead. >> we're starting to face the fact that, you know, she may not make it. we're sitting here with weeks. >> we have really gotten to understand the rules of all of this in the last week or two. it is really driven us to speak out. with angie's list, i save time, money, and i avoid frustration.

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bill: there is new bloodshed today in baghdad. a bomb on a minibus with five people, killed two more at a police check point. this follow as deadly day yesterday when a wave of bombings ripped through mostly shiite neighborhoods killing at least 66 people.

no group is claiming responsibility but officials say the attacks bore the hallmarks of al qaeda's arm inside iraq. martha: there are new questions how u.s. attorney general eric holder can survive the recent scandals that mace the obama administration including the irs controversy and the reporter snooping case. this is not of course mr. holder's first brush with controversy. the attorney general repeatedly testified on the botched gun-running sting that may have led to the death of a u.s. border patrol age sfleent when did you first know about the program officially i believe called fast and furious, to the best of your knowledge, what date? >> i'm not sure of the exact date but i probably heard about "fast & furious" for the first time over the last few weeks. martha: you remember all the heat that came to bear in that story. then the attorney general also outraged some lawmakers with his initial decision to give the 9/11 coconspirators a civilian trial. very much wanted to see them tried in new york. >> they will be brought to

new york, to new york, to answer for their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks away from where the twin towers once stood. martha: so he has been embattled. others have come and gone from the administration but he seems to have a lot of staying power. jonah goldberg is editor-at-large in "national review.". a fox news contributor. jonah, welcome. >> good to be here. martha: there is a very lengthy piece in the "daily beast" this morning which appears to be eric holder's sort of plea to have people understand his side of this story. i just want to read a little bit of it. it says holder knew that justice would be besieged by these twin leak probes but according to aides he was starting to feel a creeping sense of personal remorse. the take in this piece, jonah, that now he has looked at this with particular regard to the james rosen issue and feels it is not a reflection who he really is and wants to

change the direction here. >> yeah, i left my world smallest violin at home. you know, maybe he is feeling some remorse because it looks increasingly likely he lied to congress about not being involved in any investigations or criminal prosecutions along these lines. then it turns out he actually signed the indictment for james rosen and that he actually went, his justice department went judge-shopping. the idea he would have forgotten that is beyond implausible. maybe he sees this as a way to spin. the problem for, as you alluded to in the set-up piece, eric holder, has been a disasterous attorney general for a really long time. you know, not only did he not tell the truth to congress about "fast & furious", he was held in contempt of congress or condemned by congress, something that has never happened to an attorney general. almost all of the

controversies about the obama administration other than the fight over obama ka irand the stimulus have been out of the justice department. martha: you know, jonah, as you go through this piece you can see the argument and the administration and eric holder are developing in this. they're basically saying the cia and congress were really on our backs saying we had to stop all of the leaks going on. so the argument is, we allowed this to go forward and james rosen to be called an ader and abetter and coconspirator because we were getting so much pressure from the c. i and a congress to crack down on all of this. does that hold water with you? >> i'm a hawk about leak investigations. i think that leaks should be stopped. i don't think what they did to james rosen was right. this is a guy constantly preening how law should trump all things. how the war on terror should go away. it all should be about lawfare.

treat, terrorists as if they were just criminals. all of sudden basically admitting in the excuse you're reading about he is basically admitting that you put a little too much pressure on eric holder and the rule of law goes out the window and it looks remarkably like a government orchestrated vendetta against journalists. if he is that weak about upholding the proper spirit of the rule of law and can be bullied what he is saying, bullied into using the espionage act in going against journalists, why do we want him running the justice department? martha: there is no suggestion in this piece for him to investigate himself essentially, presents a conflict of interest. do you find that to be sort of glaring omission here? >> i think it's bizarre and i think though, that, you know, barack obama deserves an enormous amount of the criticism for this. it was his decision to make eric holder the chief cop of his own behavior. that said, look, i mean

eric holder couldn't abide by the existing guidelines. now he is going to go review to see whether the guidelines are strong enough? it is a very weird argument. martha: there is also a suggestion that because the president and eric holder are close, that was put forward by the new yorker, that he's, you know, he is not going anywhere and the president is standing by him. that may very well be the case. we'll see how it goes as it goes forward. jonah, thank you very much. we'll see you soon. >> great to be here, thanks. bill: we have a frightening scene caught on camera. a massive construction crain crashing down on an apartment building right there. where this is happening and what the outcome was for the people inside that building in a moment. martha: new warnings about the part of the president's health care law that some say, could see your deductible moving higher and it could have you waiting in line for a checkup at your doctor's office. really? we'll see what that's about. we'll be right back.

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martha: a scary scenario overseas. about 3,000 people being ordered to evacuate in chile and argentina over fears that a volcano could erupt. plumes of ash and smoke have been seen for miles away. the kapawi volcano i believe you say it has not seen major activity in almost 20 years a red alert is in place. the officials say the evacuation could last 48 hours for folks in that area. bill: we'll watch that. if you get your insurance through your

employer your insurance could be changing very soon and the price tag of that insurance in many cases is going higher. john fund, national affairs columnist for "the national review" is with us now. nice to see you, john, good morning. we're talking about cadillac plans. what's a cadillac plan? >> it is loaded with all the extras. you have very low deductibles. let's say you only pay $2, $5, $10, $15 for doctors visit you have all the trimmings. bill: who gets this? you find this as big companies using a cadillac plan? >> you find it with some state and local governments. you find it with big companies with old union contracts that stipulate this. also some legacy companies that have a ternnalistic attitude to employees. bill: 500 deductible, $20 co-pay. >> right. bill: they pay 16 to $20,000 a year to cover you as employer. >> or family a lot more people would have higher pay if people shopped around for

health care. because your employer does the only shopping for health care you never see the money. they can deduct it from their expenses that means the cost to them is much less than the sticker cost. bill: the point in all this story this is going away, at least for some. >> there's a cadillac tax. bill: why? >> starting in 2018 but ramping up, there will be a lot of preparation for it, starting 2018, any employer that offer as cadillac plan above a certain number will be taxed 40% on the value of that plan over the specified number. bill: 40%? >> yeah, it is a real hit. bill: who thought that was a good idea? >> well they have half a good idea, which is health care costs too much and we encourage overconsumption of it because 9% of health care is paid by people who don't get the service it is paid by service companies, by government, by employers. so that's a problem. i don't think taxing it is the right solution. john mccain in 2008 campaign had a better idea. he said, let's have a cap

what the deductability for health insurance will be, tax deductability, 15,000, 18,000. give that as a voucher to the employer or the employee. so the employee shops around for a health care plan that fits them best. maybe they want gym memberships. maybe they want more preventative care or kids to have pediatric services. they would save money and probably get to keep the difference and put it into medical savings account for extraordinary expenses. bill: take the voucher up to $15,000 and you to shop around. >> right. bill: and you know the bills. >> and you know the bills. bill: you know the price. >> most health care is not emergency health care. most health care isn't appendicitis that bursts and you have to go to the hospital right away. most health care involves things you can plan for, or, that you can be encouraged to be healthier through preventative care. having people shop around would mean more of those plans. bill: that is not one of the options here. so what are the options --

>> one size fits all. bill: company says i don't want to be taxed 40% with the cadillac tax, what do the employers do? >> they will slash the value of the health care they give their employees and in some cases they will drop coverage completely. as we learned a lot of employers say i can pay the fine, i drop coverage. people can go into the exchange, they can shop around for what they want. we'll take away, take away the health care market place and give it a one-size-fits-all government marketplace. i'll tell you right now the one size fits all government plan will have a lot of mandates built into it. it will require them to cover hair transplants and require all kind of medical conditions. will cover a lot of things people don't necessarily want. you will replace the quasi-competitive system we have now, i admit is a mess with a one-size-fits-all government competition. i don't think people will like the results because one size fits all is not the american way. bill: we'll bring you back. there is lot more to talk about this.

you talk about polling numbers, about obamacare and whether or not people will like it or not. a clear majority are still not happy with it. >> it is less popular now than it has ever been. bill: john, thank you for being here in new york. great to see you. martha, what is next? martha: big move on wall street. look at this, up 212 points. why is the dow so happy on the tuesday after memorial day? we'll tell you. bill: message of hope and thanks coming from victims it of the deadly tornado in moore, oklahoma. the latest on what has been a massive cleanup effort in that state. >> we thank you because we really appreciate all the help everybody has been giving us from water to moving junk and debris and finding pictures and everything. there is too much to lift. we wanted to just write it out so everybody could see it. nope eeeeh... oh, guys let's leave the deals to hotels.com.

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martha: take a look at what is going on in the market right now. up 216 at 15,519, right? very big number. the all time high market close was may 21st, 15367. we are well above that right now. melissa francis joins me now with a look at what is going on. what is moving this today? >> there are a couple of things, data points here at home, consumer confidence at the highest level since may of 2008. that is essential. people have to feel good and get out and shop. where are they getting that confidence? from another report we saw. the home index rose higher than

expected. prices are up 10%. martha: unbelievable. i saw that number this morning. up 10% is a huge jump. and there is evidence all around that the housing market is really starting to pop, right? >> yeah. martha: then the big question is the fed has been flooding money in because the whole economy has been so lousy, at what point do they start to pull in the reigns? >> hopefully no time soon. that's how the market feels about it. they say they'll wait until unemployment drops to 6.5%. we are certainly away from there. one of the other things that is making the market fly is comments out of japan and the european central bank saying they are going to keep things nice and easy for a longtime to come. that is what the market is counting on. they are inferring from that that the feds will continue to do the same for investors. the only place to make money right now is in the stock market. you can't make it in bonds or in your bank account, everyone knows that. that is all fueling the stock market higher, and that is just

a big jump here on the first day of trading here. martha: the question will be sort of how long is that sort of a little goldie locks alan greenspan situation going on where everything feels good and the money is flowing in. you would imagine the administration would want to keep that going. >> absolutely. the big debate in the market is what happens when the fed leaves, when they stop all this bond big an buying and everything else that they are doing out there, printing money. the flip side of that is that isn't going to happen any time soon. you might as well be in stocks for a while. they don't wanted to see the whole thing crash. when they leave they will do it as quietly as possible to not cause a crash. that will be quite a trick to get out without causing a crash. martha: that is what the fed is supposed to be doing so. >> enjoy the ride. martha: enjoy the ride. exactly, melissa thank you so much for jumping in here on that story today. we'll see you tonight. >> a 5:00pm. bill: see you then. summer moving a step closer to arming the rebels in syria.

the european union has lifted its arm's embargo meaning that weapons can be sent to the opposition fighters. some believe this could be a turning point in the bloody two-year conflict. >> this is a strong signal to the bashar al-assad regime that it needs to engage in the political process. this decision today gives us the flexibility in the future to respond to a worsening situation or to a refusal of the bashar al-assad regime to negotiate. bill: maker general po bob scales, fox' military analyst. i want to talk about this and senator mccain's visit there too. if you were to arm the rebels now wh would it make a difference in your view? >> it would. these guys burn through millions of rounds. the new recruits come inching into the syrian army are coming in without weapon. it would be the smart thing to give these guys the weapons they lack right now. the other issue is antitank

guided missiles, what the syrian army is doing since the free syrians tonight have these weapons is they are conducting tank raids in places like aleppo and damascus. if we could give them a few of the sophisticated guided missiles that would go a long way to turn back bashar al-assad's army at this very, very critical period. bill: bashar al-assad has met every challenge and so far he's survived. you know that because he's still in power. john mccain went there. what did he do? >> well, it's a bit of grandstanding. i think it was grandstand nothing a good sense. first of all, i think he showed to the american people, and to the eu that not every person in the free syrian army is a radical member of an al-qaida offshoot. these are very balanced and dedicated men, many of them former members of the syrian army, and they have a plan. and the second thing he did is a bit of a poke in the eye to the administration by saying, look, i'm here, i'm willing to support the arming of the rebels, time

to get on board and get on with it. bill: he met with a general there, right? do we like this general? do you trust this general? >> yes. bill: what do we know about this group? >> what we know, nine people that he met with, most of them are veterans of the syrian army, some of them are professionals, lawyers, doctors, businessmen, esteemed members of the community who frankly have learned to fight by fighting over the last two and a half years, but they are dedicated to their cause, they are dedicated to toppling bashar al-assad, but it's also important to remember, bill, this is a civil war, and there is only so much that the western powers can do, because this war, like most civil wars will eventually be decided on the battlefield not in a con tpreps room an conference room. and this forest fire right now is burning at an accelerated rate. bill: what senator mccain's point has been is you can't afford not to get involved with the rebels, if you bring bashar al-assad down that weakens iran. he's been talking about that for some time.

does a visit like this help change u.s. policy? >> gosh, i hope it does. by the way, not just iran but hezbollah as well. you've seen hezbollah kind of, you know, on a knife edge in the last few weeks because they are over committed as well. no, i'm just not sure what the administration is going to do. i think there is a lot of fence sitters. i know the pentagon, many in the pentagon want to start flowing weapons, particularly soviet-model weapons into the country as soon as possible, but there is still that push back, there is still that reluctance to get involved in this conflict in an active way. bill: your point about it being a civil war is well-taken. >> yeah. bill: and it's difficult to say where this goes now. sir, thank you for coming in. bob scales with us out of washington. good to see you. >> thanks, bill. you too. martha: messages of hope and of thanks in moore, oklahoma today. take a short trip around the tornado devastated community and you will see messages spray-painted on damaged homes

and the sides of buildings. some are trying to warn off the looters who have come by or to thank the first responders who have helped so much. other victims are trying to remain positive offering some fun year messages instead out there. listen. >> the house is for rent, if anybody is interested. [laughter] >> is just made a really sad situation just really light and funny. martha: you've got to keep your sense of humor, right? as much as you possibly can in this situation. many more residents will need that as they move forward. they are also going to need lots of patience in this situation, the tornado did an estimated $5 billion in damage and the recovery will take years. bill: last week we were talking about $2 billion. martha: now it's 5. bill: it's more than doubled there. our best to the folks in oklahoma. martha: i know. bill: a tough road ahead. martha: i think of of the tough days for them because the story moves onto a great extent and they are still living it every

day. we are still thinking about you. bill: a construction crane collapses, it's caught on tape. have you seen this? oh. man oman what authorities think may have caused this thing to go down and who was inside at the time. martha: this is a tragic story and heartbreaking because this little girl, without a lung transplant could have numbered days at this point. her parents are in a legal battle to change the rules that say that she cannot have a new lung. >> it's just an impossible place to be. you have so much hope and then it just feels like, you know, everything was sort of shattered last week when she got so much worse.

martha: this is breaking just moments ago, a florida judge has now ruled on what evidence can be used in the trayvon martin shooting trial, which gets underway in just a couple of weeks from now. there is a live look at the courtroom. the judge is blocking the defense from presenting some o l pictures and past drug use to the jury, and we will get into this more specifically when i'm joined by arthur aidala, fox news legal analyst. we want to deal with this story and another one we have coming up as well. arthur, no pictures of pot or the gun. there was some discussion that he was trying to sell a gun online. none of this is admissible.

does that make sense to you? >> yes it makes sense to me, a judge is supposed to allow evidence to be presented to the jury that is really applicable to the events at issue, the events that happened in those few minutes that night. and you don't know the context of the picture of him with the gun. was it halloween? was it a toy gun? was it a real gun? martha: we have the picture on the screen. he's holding the gun. there are the pot plants and he's holding a gun in a tight shot and there was a text message apparently with it that said he may be trying to sell that gun online. as you say this is like -- like if a woman has a reputation of being, you know, loose and promiscuous she can still be raped in any given situation. so you have to limit the legal parameters to what happened that night. >> correct. and what is making it more difficult for the judges are facebook and twitter and all that, because that is more of the fine line, like where do these things -- what does the

judge allow to come in and what doesn't he allow. at my last trial i got to cross-examine extensively an eyewitness about what he had written on facebook. he spoke about how he liked to lie. i like to lie and fool people. that goes directly to his credibility, which is what the jury is weighing, is is he a credible person or isn't he. if he is writing on facebook i like to lie the judge allowed that in. if he was a member of a horrible group the judge may say, this has nothing to do with this. if you can tell me it has something to to with the credibility off the sand that is different. the fact that he uses marijuana, what does that have to do with the struggle and self-defense, or not self-defense and who is the aggressor and not the aggressor. unless there is a stronger nexus, they were fighting over a bag of marijuana. it was a marijuana sale. just that the kid smoked pot is not enough. the defense according to the judge the defense is trying to

dirty up the deceased, and the courts work very hard not to a i lou that to happen. martha: it will be starting in a couple of weeks. >> i'm sure you'll be here a lot chatting about this. martha: let's go to this case as well. the parents of a little girl, she is ten years old and she is fighting for her life right now as she nights federal organ donor rules that plea convenient this little girl from receiving a lung transplant. her name is sara and she has cystic fibrosis and is said to have weeks to live. ment pictures are heartbreaking. she can only receive a donor lung after all of the adult candidates have first had their chance. >> the only thing standing between my daughter living and my daughter dying is the fact that she's 10 and not 12. that is unreal to me. martha: so that's the rule, arthur that if she's 1 she can receive one of these adult lungs, there are so few

pediatric lungs available for a ten-year-old. >> here is the thing. there are two lists, the list of people under 10 years old and understand and people -- 12 years old and older, if you're 12 you're on the adult list. there are a lot more adult lungs up for transplant and donations and they can be fixed to fit into a little person's lungs. so, it's not like it doesn't work, it works. and because of this girl sarah's condition she would be number one on the adult list to get the next set of lungs because she is so sick. but because she is not 12 she is below 12, she is on the childrens list, and even though she is number one on the childrens list there are no childrens lungs coming there. so, i mean, this is very hard, martha, i mean as a long shot, if they came to me and i'm the attorney, i would try to get into federal court, because it's federal court because this involves different states because the donations come in from all different states, and

try to make some sort of a claim that it's just -- the age of 12 versus eleven is arbitrary, it's not fair, it's not equitable, and my guess is there is not going to be a lot of fighting from the other side. no, this girl shouldn't have the lungs, and they probably need something to hang their hat on why they can violate their own rules. this is a national rule. they spoke to the doctor who created the rule. he said look if we give it to her there is an adult that is number one on -pt adult list who is not going to get it and he will die. where do you draw the line. martha: the thing is she needs to be a good match and deserving, which she obviously because because she is in such dire condition it seems to me that's where you ask the judge to have discretion in and and look at the law and say is there any reason why she is less able to function and succeed in this surgery than a 12-year-old? >> or a 30-year-old, or a 20-year-old. martha: and it seems to be a very viable argument.

>> our hopes and prayers are with the justice system to get it right. martha: arthur, thank you. >> thank you. bill: "happening now" rolls your way in a few short minutes now. jenna lee standing by. how are you doing? jenna: good morning. we have a terrifying and quite frankly remarkable account from a woman kidnapped and held captive for 93 days. she will tell us about her ordeal and the daring rescue that freed her. you'll not want to miss that. closing arguments in the trial of a florida woman accused of killing her boyfriend. the last-minute points scored by her attorneys, is it enough to save her from a conviction in and also the little boy who won america's hearts scoring a touchdown for the nebraska cornhuskers, his story taking some new twists and turns, he's here live with us, and finally, bill, someone tried to scam my grandma. bill: no. jenna: turns out it's a scam the state department is warning us all about. bill: really? jenna: i'll share that story with you. bill: how did your grandma make out. jenna: she did all right.

grandma josephine holds her own. a warning for other families. bill: they better pick on somebody else. see you at the top of the hour. there is a new night over fracking in california, why one state that could be sitting on millions of barrels of oil and they even touch it.

martha: caught on tape in russia, look at that. massive construction crane comes crashing down on an apartment building in a city 500 miles east of moscow. thankfully we're told nobody was injured in the situation. perhaps an empty building. investigators believe that the crane may have been poorly secured. i think that is probably a safe bet i would say. bill: video looked worse than the outcome fortunately. fracking is helping ignite a new energy boom in this country. california, which could be sitting on millions of barrels

of untapped oil is not considering nearly a dozen bills that would either greatly limit tracking or temporarily suspend it all together. claudia cowan could you is live on that story out of san francisco. what are they saying? >> the flurry of bills comes in response to the growing buzz over the monterey shale a geologic formation in central california where talk of expanded fracking is sparking estimates of 15 billion barrels of oil, millions of new jobs, and huge contributions to the domestic energy supply. a number of democratic lawmakers are saying not so fast. they've introduced measures cracking down on the controversial technology. some of the bills take aim as how crude is extracted from rock layers beyond the beach of conventional drilling. others call for full disclosure of the chemicals used in the high pressure process, how they are removed and where they are stored. and one seeks a moratorium until more studies are done on the potential risk. >> about hydraulic fracking,

hundreds of gallons of water lacinged with chemicals and sand can go horizontally underground. we don't know enough. >> a standard step in oil drilling tracking has been used in california for decades and has a clean safety record. spew porters say bills seeking more studies and rules at this point are premature and could jeopardize a potential bonanza. >> why would you want to curtail energy production with a technology that has proved to be safe and deny the folks in the regions of the state where those benefits are going to accrue that opportunity? that just doesn't make any sense. >> reporter: meantime state regulators have just released their own preliminary rules which when approved they argue will make anti-fracking laws unnecessary. but some lawmakers are not convinced those regulations will be enough as energy companies eye the vast monterey shale and the promise of california's biggest boom ever. bill: thanks, could you monica

crowle. martha: we will look at eric holder's uncertain tpao*uflt at the justice department as lawmakers on both sides, folks writing and talking about it calling for his resignation in the face of these scandals. what happens next for him? aaah! aaaaah! theres a guy on the window! do something, dad! aaaah! aaaah! what is happening? they're rate suckers. eir bad driving makes car insurance more expensive for the rest of us. good thing there's snapshot from progressive. snap it in and get a discount based on your good driving. stop paying for rate suckers. try snapshot free at progressive.com.

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paying musical tribute to elvis breath lee. presley. he visited elvis' graceland. he left a pick on he will evangelist's grave so he can play in heaven. what a nice tribute. bill: nice. hope you had a great weekend. see you tomorrow. martha: "happening now" starts now. we'll see you back here tomorrow. jon: take a look at the dow up almost 200 points so far today. a couple of reasons for this we are told. the bank of japan and the european central bank both said they will continue to stick with the easy money lending policies that have helped markets around the world rally this year. the s&p 500 up 17% in the first five months of this year. also different knee, the retailer, they are reporting very strong sales indicating americans have money to spend. home prices also up this year according to the case-schiller