>> alisyn: i'm going to come back. >> brian: that will be fine. >> steve: we hope you do, too. >> we have the after the show show next. >> alisyn: you can eat a burrito. >> steve: now it's time for "america's newsroom." see you tomorrow. everybody, fox news alert. it is day one what is sure to be a tough week for the irs. today the first of three hearings on the agency's admitted targetings of conservative groups just as new evidence emerges, showing orders to go after those groups came from the top, meaning washington. good morning, everybody. hope you had a super weekend. it is summertime. people are moving a little slowly on mondays. we'll get you started. i'm bill hemmer, here in "america's newsroom". martha: yes you are. i'm martha maccallum. there are a lot of developments in the irs thing over the weekend. the new acting commissioner, daniel werfel is his name. there he is. he will go before the house appropriations committee at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon.

he has a lot of things he will be explaining today. top republican darrell issa, agents from the cincinnati office, remember we were told there are just a few rogue agents out there, right? they told him they don't even have the power to hold up the applications and they're being thrown under the bus. watch. >> as late as last week, the administration is still trying to say there are a few rogue agents in cincinnati when in fact the indication they were directly being ordered from washington. bill: there is more from that interview too. begin with our chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on capitol hill. mike, good morning to you. what about the new reporting that the cincinnati office was not doing this on its own. what do we have on that? >> reporter: bill, we have transdescribed interviews with some of the cincinnati employees with allegations of a couple guys in ohio going rogue. a cincinnati irs worker worker told, quote, it is impossible. we're controlled by many, many people.

we have to submit many, many reports. the chances of two agents being rogue and doing anything like that could never happen. chairman. house oversight committee says the irs scandal is much bigger than cincinnati. >> the administration is still, their paid liar, spokesperson, picture behind, he is still making up things what happens and calling this local rogue. there is no indication, the reason that lois lerner tried to take the fifth is not because there is a rogue in cincinnati. it is because this is a problem that was coordinated all likelihood right out of washington headquarters and we're getting to proving it. >> reporter: chairman issa staffers continue conducting transcribed interviews with those irs employees from ohio. we expect a hearing in his committee on thursday, looking into lavish spending at the irs, bill. bill: that is thursday but what do we expect later this afternoon, mike? >> reporter: it will be interesting. it is the first time in these four hearings that we have had we'll hear from

daniel werfel, the guy who is charged with a top to bottom review what went wrong at the irs. he will be joined by j russell george who wrote the report on activities at the irs. so you can expect werfel to get plenty of questions what he has found so far and what he is doing to fix the problem. bill? bill: mike, thank you. leading the coverage there on the hill. will be an interesting week. thank you, mike. there have been a lot of developments since the story first broke the targeting started three years ago, early 2010, march of that year apparently, when the irs began inappropriately began screening conservative groups. nearly 500 groups fell into that net and were subjected to unfair and overly burdensome scrutiny and questions. tom of the groups with tea party and patriot waited more than three years to have their tax-exempt applications processed. while they waited, two election cycles came and then went. martha. martha: it is a very busy week ahead as we have said this morning.

today you have the appropriations committee. they will get rolling with their questioning about 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. the acting irs commissioner and treasury inspector general are expected to testify at those hearings this afternoon. then tomorrow, the house ways and means committee will get going at 10:00 a.m. eastern. we'll have that live here tomorrow morning. on thursday the oversight committee, that is darrell issa's committee, and you can expect some fireworks out of that one. they will hold their hearings. before today's hearings start we'll start live with committee chairman republican hal rogers. he will be with us next hour here on "america's newsroom." there is a lot to keep track of and a lot happening over the course of thee hearings this week we'll keep an eye on. if the targeting of political groups was not enough trouble for the irs they're now in hot water for spending $50 million on lavish conferences to entertain their employees primarily, including million,

$4 million, on one event. employees reportedly stayed in the presidential suite plus tens of thousands were spent on producing videos for the conference like this one. take a look. ♪ we practice it weeks now. come on now. come on now. ♪ . for the last, three, four. for the last, i need a straight line. trying to get ready for anaheim. stay in line. finally got it. i'm so proud they're ready for anaheim. martha: they are so ready for anaheim. thank goodness that your tax dollars got them ready for anaheim. >> martha, by the way, the music to the line dancing there was the tune, the cuban shuffle. how appropriate. let me give you some more details. martha: please, go ahead. >> i know you're raring to

go on this one. martha: i am. >> $4 million for one conference held in anaheim, california, in august of 2010. all right, 2600 people attended. they were given baseball tickets. as you said, martha, some stayed in the presidential suites which are up to $3500 a night. the irs did not negotiate the hotel room rates to bring them down. they didn't do that. and there were 15 outside speakers who were paid a total of $135,000, including one speaker who lectured on the leadership through art, for which that person received $17,000. martha: unbelievable. >> one last point on the videos. we saw the line dancing. there was another one where they did a takeoff of the "star trek" series. martha: that was cute. >> $50,000 to produce those two videos. martha: particularly well maid for $50,000 i might add. they don't seem to be shopping around their video production capabilities either. >> i think the bottom line here is, this lavish spending on conferences is

the second leg to the irs scandal. first leg of course, was targeting of conservatives and president's opponents. this is the second leg. think you will be hearing a lot more about it this week. as you said earlier, martha, mr. werfel testifies today. i think he would be pressed for more details on that $4 million conference. martha: feels like the whole, you see sales conferences in private corporations for-profit organizations where they're trying to drum up the sales force. if they want to do that, if they feel that is good way to raise their bottom line, that is their prerogative. if the shareholders don't like it they can do whatever they want about it. this is, to state the obvious is public entity. it is not out there to raise profits but seem to be living on the high life as some other companies set the precedent for in the past. >> this has been done at a time when america has a trillion dollar a year deficits. i think a lot of people are reminded of the general accounting office scandals with you there was lavish conferences in las vegas.

we all remember bathtub jeff. i think the same level of outrage about this irs conferences and back in las vegas with that gentleman before. martha: who works for someplace that doesn't negotiate their hotel rooms and say, that is not on our list, guys, right? >> yeah. martha: stuart, thank you very much. we're laughing but this is serious. bill: it was hot tub jeff, wasn't it? a little more sophisticated. martha: with the view out of las vegas out the back window. that was lovely. hope he enjoyed it. bill: as republicans investigate, the white house reacting to the main political strategist over the weekend say the targeting of conservatives too plain dumb to have come from them. former white house advisor david plouffe on abc'sth week? >> special prosecutor. >> if the people knew the department of justice was engaged in criminal investigation, treasury undertaking irs, 30-day review any number of congressional committees spending inordinant amount of time this is looked into

thurly. the question is all that congress going to do? are we obsessed with scandal and trying to score political points. bill: there is more from david plouffe. how he went at it with karl rove on the same topic. plouffe went on to say the real scandals are distraction from the real work at hand, namely the u.s. economy. martha: meanwhile other scandal that is enenveloping washington, democrats defending attorney general eric holder as republicans consider perjury charges over the responses to the questions over the justice department snooping scandal. you have chuck schumer saying there is no reason for mr. holder to step down. here he is over the weekend. >> i don't think there is perjury. there is no prosecution or attempted prosecution of any journalists so there can't be perjury. the warrant is a goal, is a tool to get information. and i don't think the two are contradictory. i don't think any good criminal lawyer would say there is scintilla evidence of perjury. martha: that was senator schumer. he went on to say he hasn't seen anything that would prevent the attorney general

from doing his job in all of just ahead, new york congressman peter king will join us on that as well. we'll ask him whether he believes the evidence warrants perjury charges against the embattled attorney general. bill: tough to keep all this straight but we'll do it for you as best we can as we move forward. just getting rolling right now. massive out of control wildfires burning across two western states. several homes are already taken down to the ground and many more are in the line of fire. we're live on the ground for the latest forecast as the sun comes up there. martha: you remember "fast & furious"? a scandal we talked about a let a while back. with report of recent scandals it has gotten lost in the shuffle. we'll speak to the family of murderered border patrol agent, brian terry, they as you might ma'am have not forgotten about this. >> my son that night, something bad happened out there that night. i know what happened. i have a gut feeling, more than they're telling us.

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martha: well rescue teams are searching for a teenager who was swept over a waterfall in yosemite national park. this is what nevada fall looks like. look at this. it is a beautiful, breathtaking sight but a dangerous one as it turns out over the weekend because witnesses say a 19-year-old was hiking with a church group out there when he decided to go for a swim, just 150 feet away from the edge. >> he actually got swept away in the current and unfortunately got swept downstream and over the waterfall. nevada falls is a 600 foot waterfall and we do believe that it is impossible to survive a fall like that. >> it is so much water and it is such strong current, it is just incredible that someone tried to go to swim there. >> i kind of understand people wanting to cool off, but i mean they should, you know, there is risks when you're going into the high country and they should plan

accordingly. martha: so sad. park rangers say they can not monitor every inch of the park of course. and that they televisiontores that it is up to them to stay safe out there. bill: lawmakers considering a perjury charge against attorney general eric holder. they say they are still waiting to hear from him but top republicans sent a letter last week to the ag questioning his testimony under oath before congress last month. they're focusing on his involvement in the potential prosecution of fox news correspondent james rosen and they are willing to play hardball, they argue, to get the answers. >> well, i think we ought to the subpoena the attorney general to come back and answer those questions specifically. this is congress fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide oversight over the executive branch of government. now, oversight is tough and when you receive an oversight letter, there are consequences for not complying. bill: that was james

sensenbrenner over the weekend. new york republican peter king, member of the house homeland security committee. good morning, welcome to america as newsroom. when sensenbrenner goes that close but doesn't cross the line. bob goodlatte was on our program on friday and goes that close but did not the line. in your view did eric holder perjure himself. >> i'm in same place as bob goodlatte. he misled congress. perjury is finely tuned crime. we looked at very carefully. that is what chairman goodlatte is doing holding hearings looking into the entire issue is essential. this is the attorney general of the united states. before he is accused perjury everything should be done to make sure it is done the right way if any kind of charges are required but again, at the very least eric holder misled congress. he failed to fulfill his obligation when the attorney general should do is be honest with congress. whether or not it rises to the level of a felony that

remains to be seen seen. that is what chairman goodlatte will look at. he is very excellent chairman. bill: you would argue eric holder should come back and answer questions under oath? >> absolutely. as the chief law enforcement officer in the united states he can not have this cloud hanging over him. he has absolute obligation to congress and american people when he said when he basically said that he was not involved in any criminal prosecution when clearly, james rosen's name was put into an affidavit. he was called a coconspirator in a criminal enterprise. if that, to me, that seems to have crossed a line. again i want to wait and see how eric holder explains that. give him a chance to do it. bill: okay. >> he has to come back in, absolutely. bill: here is what democrats argue. they argue there is wiggle room in eric holder's statement. he they also argue there was never intent to prosecute james rosen. how much does that matter now based on what we know? >> when you're talking about an issue of the first amendment and talking about

the attorney general of the united states being under holt you shouldn't be relying on wiggle room. that to me is almost as serious indictment as perjury indictment would be, that the attorney general of the united states playing those kind of games while he is under oath. as far as intent, that is maybe what the hearing can bring out, get a better idea as to his intent. clearly his intent was not to tell congress the full truth. he may have thought he was being cute or clever. that is one thingers does it explain it away if there was no intent to prosecute or are they definitely splitting hairs there. >> they are definitely splitting hairs. that's what i'm saying t may be a legal defense for eric holder, but to me it is not a moral defense or policy defense and in his responsibilities. >> eric holder 28% approve his job performance. going through history the attorney general takes a lot of heat for administrations going back 20 years. there is "new york times" piece, at least for some

people inside the west wing they believe eric holder should step down or step aside. i don't know what you think of that, but is that the way it should play out? >> well, if i were eric holder i would resign. i'm going to let this play out on its own. i think there is enough evidence building up. the president will have to make the decision, eric holder will have to make it. i don't see how he remains in office much longer since he lost so much credibility with congress and the american people. the attorney general takes heat and in a unique position. while he is a political appointee he is supposed to be a an impartial administrate tore of justice. eric holder seems to have crossed the line and gone over --. bill: is that a resignation the president would accept? >> i think at that stage, i can't speak for the president, when you start seeing stories about west wing officials talking background to the "new york times" that is usually indication that an effort is being made by some people at white house to push him out of the i doubt they would be doing that without the aof pro of the president.

president has been very loyal to eric holder in the past. bill: peter king, congressman from new york. thank you for your time. >> thank you, bill. bill: sure. martha. martha: also over the weekend another round of devastating tornadoes hitting already hard hit oklahoma. people are out there picking through the rubble and trying to pick up pieces of their lives. three storm chasers in all of this lost their lives out there doing what they loved the most. we're going to tell you their stories. bill: also there's a new push to help the 10-year-old girl fighting for her life and desperately waiting for a lung transplant. will kathleen sebelius now step in? >> she's a mother. she's a grandmother. how can she say it is okay for my child to die? >> she is legally in a position to save sarah's life. she is choosing not to. she is stating there needs to be change and something is wrong with the system but that, she is not going to save sarah.

>> i have to focus for my fight with sarah because sarah doesn't have time.

the blisters were oozing, and painful to touch. i woke up to a blistering on my shoulder. i spent 23 years as a deputy united states marshal. we'd get up early and, and stay up late. there was a lot of running, a lot of fighting. i've been pretty well banged up but the worst pain i've experienced was when i had shingles. i was going through some extremely difficult training, and i couldn't do it. when we were going through pursuit driving, i couldn't put a seat belt on because the pain that would have been caused by the seat belt rubbing against the shingles would have been excruciating. when i went to the clinic, the nurse told me that it was the result of having had chickenpox. i had never heard of shingles prior to that point and i had always been relatively healthy.

the rash, the itching, the burning that i experienced on the side of my neck and my shoulder, i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. martha: well the death toll over the weekend in oklahoma rising to at least 13 now, including four children. and more than 100 people are recovering from injuries. look at this scene. in oklahoma over the weekend after friday's violent burst of tornadoes and flash flooding. among the dead in this situation are three storm chasers from colorado, including carl young and a veteran chaser, tim samaras and his son paul. friends remembering with their love and dedication for what they did. >> the passion has always been there and it stuck with them. he devoted literally his life to saving others lives

and to be able to capture tornadoes and to be able to save lives through the technology he has developed. when we go out it is not just to thrill seek but also to collecting data. it is also, you know, when an area has been raked by a tornado. we're almost the first-responders. martha: so chasers and their video have been featured on discovery channel's "storm chasers". the network says it will put new safety rules in place for their people out there. mike tobin live in el reno, oklahoma. mike, do they expect today as we've seen in the past that the death toll may continue to go higher as they get through the rubble there? >> reporter: sadly, martha, they do. this is an example of the rubble. this is the example of the force of the tornado and blew out the brick and cinder block wall attached to this technology center. it wasn't necessarily the tornado that claimed the victim. floodwaters came up here very fast because the ground

was already saturated from previous tornadoes. you have the rescue crews out in the oklahoma river and deep fork river looking for more victims it. there are still four children and two adults missing. the hard part is, that victims have been found now washed miles down stream. so this tremendous swath of land and river that the rescue crews now have to search as they are trying to identify more victims or find more victims of this deadly weather, martha. martha: terrible. awful what the folks have been through. then there's the whole issue of these storm chasers who ended up getting killed but the tornado. mike, we've all watched and interviewed and listened to these guys as they get closer to these tornadoes and they always seem to escape fine because of their experience. it raises a lot of questions about this practice and about how it's carried out. what happened to them? >> reporter: well, you know there are two possible theories. there are two theories how the guys possibly got caught

by the tornado given their experience. one, this was a big tornado. ef 3, it made an bankrupt left turn a lot of people couldn't predict. even experienced people couldn't necessarily see that looking at the computer. the other theory they got caught in that big traffic jam along i-40 as people tried to outrun the storm. too many cars piled on to one stretch of highway. you had gridlock and they were sitting ducks a the tornado came in their direction. martha: a lot to be said with regard to those three. there are different kinds of storm chasers out there. mike tobin, in el reno, oklahoma. there are meteorologists and there are people who are experts at it as these guys really were. there are folks who are looking to make some videos and put them on youtube. bill: these guys live for it. martha: they do. >> they did save countless lives along the way. this is what they live for and what they who have to do. we'll talk to read timber about all that.

four tornadoes hit oklahoma especially hard. just this last month, 37 were killed by tornadoes. that makes it the deadliest month since may of 1999. that year and that month, 40 people were killed in martha. martha: we have more on the veteran storm chasers killed on their final chase. as bill is saying, reed timber is coming up, a friend and colleague of tim samaras will join us with his reaction and the dangers of even professionals who are out there chasing these tornadoes. bill: meanwhile the white house always said it was rogue agents in cincinnati responsible for the targeting of conservatives but there is new testimony that has now gone public shows the orders may have many could from much higher than cincinnati. so... [ gasps ] these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male announcer ] fiber one.

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martha: big story this morning as new details now contradict the white house's story on the irs targeting scandal. the obama administration says that low level agents at a cincinnati office were the ones behind this whole move. that they cooked it up on their own and it was a big mistake. those agents are now telling a house committee that the orders did not come from them. they came directly from higher-ups in washington. we have the catherine from true to vote. one of the targeted groups. jay sekulow is representing more than 20 of these groups. chief counsel at the american center for law and justice. good morning to both of you as we continue with these big developments in this

story. i want to start with a quote from one of these employees and this is what they said when asked about where this generated. it's impossible as an agent, we are controlled by many, many, people. we have to submit, many, many reports. so the chance of two agents being rogue and doing things like that could never happen. >>, what's your reaction to that? >> i think that's exactly correct. i began my legal career over 30 years ago in the office of chief counsel in the internal revenue service. i was a trial lawyer for treasury, irs. tax-exempt was one of our clients. they have an internal revenue code manual, irm they don't get to freelance these kinds of questions or this kind of targeting. there is no way this could have generated in cincinnati. number two, i have letters from two offices in california and also from a tax law specialist who is handling a case out of albuquerque in washington, d.c. as well as cincinnati. we were involved with four offices in the 27 cases

we've been handling. this idea it was limited to two rogue agents in the cincinnati office is factually incorrect. now the testimony is bearing that out. martha: we know the white house as late as this weekend on the sunday shows emphatically denies that any of this came from the white house. they're saying, you know, these guys went off the handle. they were rogue agents. they even scoffed, they said look, if this was political we would never make a mistake this stupid. this is not coming from us. i want to bring in catherine, who has personal experience with this as she and her husband created two organizations, the king street patriots and true the vote. you have your own personal story here about what happened to you. tell us when you filed for this exemption for tax-exempt status for these two groups that you developed, what came after that? what happened? >> well, we filed in july of 2010. and, prior to that we had never, never had any kind of government intervention in our lives other than just filing our yearly tax

return. after filing that nonprofit application, we began to experience visits from the fbi. my husband and my business were audited for two years in a row. we were personally audited for two years in a row. we had unplanned audits from at two years in a row. osha, unplanned audit and one more unplanned audit from the texas branch of the epa. so five government agencies, 18 different points of contact in three years and still waiting for our nonprofit exemption status. martha: yeah. so, you know, there are two separate things here. there is king street patriots and true the vote. two organizations that you began. when the fbi came knocking at the door they wanted to investigate your personal business which is related to gun parts and equipment, correct? >> right. when the fbi actually came, that was the one agency that was actually interested in the nonprofit organization side. they wanted to know about people who were coming to

the program. and, we told them what we could which was very little but then after those first initial can'ts from the fbi, that became then just their follow-up wanting to know if we had anything new to report. had anything we wanted to tell them. everything else happened on the personal side. all of it was a brand new world for us once we filed the nonprofit application. martha: what kind of, just to be clear, fbi and atf you said came to the house and they wanted to open up your private gun safes. they took down the serial numbers on your guns, is that correct? >> right. that's what the atf and, we have a gun manufacture you are's license. we don't use it. and that the atfness that what we filed for paperwork every year. yes, that is part of the process. they can come out and open your safe and take your serial numbers down on your guns. we don't have any issue with that. we don't have any issue with frankly any of the agencies that came out. they are all just doing their job. we question who pointed them

at us in such rapid succession? martha: that is a good question, isn't it, jay? >> well, it's a question not just limited to this particular case. i got an e-mail yesterday from a potential client that had a patriot group. they have also been can'ted by another government agency. i've got a crisis pregnancy center in new york that has been targeted. the fbi's domestic homeland security division, domestic terrorism division wanted to talk to them. i think you have a situation where conservatives are under incredible spotlight. under a incredible spotlight because the message eminated from the top, that is from the president of the united states. and you know, when you've got senate democrats saying the thing that happened with the irs, is horrible, terrible, i can't believe they did that, we forget they're the ones who wrote the letter that said investigate these conservative groups. which is exactly what the irs did. we forget what the president called the tea party and conservative groups. this is no great shock. martha: catherine, jay, thank you very much.

just to point out, the is's job was to figure out whether there was political activity going on in all of these 501(c)(3) groups. >> right. martha: the problem with this, they were doing that part of their job, catherine points it out. they were only doing it to conservative groups. we have yet to find any liberal groups went under same kind of scrutiny. if they were doing the job, they would do i had evenhandedly with all the organizations. >> a lot of questions we're not focusing on political activity that is part of the problem with the questions that came. targeted positions you advocate, not political activity. pro from the start. thanks. martha: thank you, catherine, thank you, jay. see you later. thanks, guys. bill: to an update on a story we're watching here in "america's newsroom." kathleen sebelius calling for a review of policies on lung transplants for children. this is the parents of a 10-year-old pennsylvania girl saying their daughter was denied the life-saving surgery because of her age, age 10. the secretary of health and human services says responding as the young girl

suffers from cystic fibrosis and remains on a ventilator in the hospital. we'll keep you updated. as we get more on it. the death toll is rising to at least 113 at this hour in northeastern china after a massive fire at a poultry plant earlier today. david piper streaming live out of bangkok. what caused this fire, david? >> reporter: hi, bill, yes. we do understand that an investigation has now been launched into the fire. terrible scenes there at that poultry plant northeast of beijing, about 500 miles northeast. eyewitnesses say they heard two explosions before the fire and other people who survived the blaze said that the fire might have broken out in a locker room. also, some these survivors, the tales they're telling having to crawl over bodies to get out of this blaze and there is this investigation we'll be looking at perhaps lax safety standards at the plant. also on micro blogging sites,

many chinese are really complaining about this issue, the danger of people working in these factories. we do understand that there is concerns because there is lax safety standards at many other plants across the country. we have had these kind of disasters before in china. back to you, bill. bill: explain why the death toll at this point plant was so high? >> reporter: well the major issue that seems to becoming out of this is that many of the doors seemed to have been locked shut during the shift. people couldn't escape and the firemen couldn't get in there. also the front gate of the whole building was locked. so that is a real concern, that these people just couldn't escape and these exits were also very dangerous and very small. also, ammonia was being used to freeze these chickens. that is very dangerous for firemen trying to get into a place like that, bill. bill: david piper, thanks. streaming live out of bangkok, thailand. that story, devastating story. martha: this breaking news just crossing the wires a moment, moments ago.

senator frank lautenberg of new jersey has passed away at 89 years old, from complications having to do with viral pneumonia. he was the oldest member of the united states senate. he has struggled with health problems since last year. he missed several weeks of votes due to some of the complications of these illnesses. he was, as i said, a democrat. longest serving senator in new jersey history. creates a vacancy that will have to be filled by governor chris christie. been a lot of discussion about who might run for that seat, including mayor cory booker of newark is on the list of people who is said to be possibilities for that. it should also be mentioned he returned to washington in february and announced he would not seek re-election in 2014. it did open up that spot at that point. hoped to create a series of accomplishments before the end of his term. news just crossing moments ago, long, long, term serving senator, frank lautenberg dead at age 89. bill: 19 minutes before the

hour this monday morning. deadly twisters not the only thing the midwest is dealing with. check out the flooding problem. a big deal for so many and a massive storm system that causes all of this. it is now marching eastward. we'll get the latest on a busy monday in the extreme weather center there. martha: back to d.c. with all the scandals that are swirl around the white house. have we forgotten about some of the other stories are not yet answered like "fast & furious" for example? the mother of murdered border agent brian terry joins us next. >> brian did ultimately come home that christmas. we buried him not far from the house that he was raised in just prior to christmas day

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where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your doctor if humira can work for you. this is humira at work. martha: breaking news. senator frank lautenberg of new jersey who was the longest-serving new jersey senator and was the oldest senator serving in the senate has passed away due to complications with pneumonia. he had been ill over the past several months. he had said he would step down at the end of this term in 2014. that has set off a lot of speculation over who might run to replace him. now governor chris christie will appoint someone to fill his spot. but senator frank lautenberg, long-serving senator from new jersey, dead at age 89.

bill: you know about the scandals affecting the white house right now. digging up on an old case we have not heard much about recently but oversight chairman chairman issa has not forgotten as we found out on sunday. >> this attorney jennaliciously covered up and will not give us the facts when congress was lied to in the "fast & furious" case. he got the president to claim a privilege that does not exist. we're in court. when he does something similar tries to cover up his tracks potentially as to a warrant he signed. am i surprised? no. bill: that "fast & furious" comment, that case has many of you writing to us because you asked. bya. jackson michigan, plain and simple what happened to "fast & furious"? we went out to find family members. joining me, josephine terry, the mother of murdered patrol agent brian terry and joseph haier, chairman of

honor brian terry.com. a foundation. good morning to both of you. josephine, we had to look deep into google searches to find the last news item on this story. what is the last you have on it in the search for your answers? >> we haven't heard anything for almost a year 1/2, anything we do here we find out on our own. bill: what contact have you had with lawmakers, josephine? >> no contact at all, with anybody. we haven't heard from the from the president. we haven't heard from eric holder. we haven't heard from anybody. bill: well they, the effort to get the documents is at the heart of this. there has been a holdup for some time, but you know the president has talked about executive privilege. eric holder has been held in contempt of congress on this. do you think this is stuck where it is now for good? >> no, i don't think so. i think eventually that they will be released and, i pray

every day that that happens. bill: do you have a hunch what they will tell us? >> well, i think they will tell us a lot of stuff that will surprise us that we don't know about, probably we'll be surprised everything that was in there. there must be something wrong as to have it hide it. bill: robert, do you think they're hiding something? >> well, what we've seen is a pattern of lack of transparency, and lack of accountability. we're seeing that throughout "fast & furious" and in the subsequent cover-up, as far as information. after the event became known and now we're seeing those same type of mistakes being made with the benghazi aftermath. and our heart goes out to another broken-hearted mother in the name of pat smith who lost her son sean just like josephine did with brian terry. the government --. bill: is it your, with all

the scandals around washington that this one gets lost, brian? >> well, you know, we feel like we've hit a dead end. now darrell issa has pursued this investigation it the best of his ability but the claim of executive privilege has effectively put a dead end into his investigation. and, once again, we call upon this administration to release those 80,000 documents, and allow this family, the terry family and the rest of the american public to understand why operation fas and furious was put into place and why the administration denied, specifically the justice department, denied that this operation ever took place for three months. bill: yeah. >> terry family was never even told that the weapons found at brian's murder scene were operation "fast & furious" weapons for three months. that information finally came out with his sell blowers. bill: i apologize.

>> there has to be --. bill: i apologize for overstepping you. the computer will cut us off in a moment. robert and jess seven mean, thanks to both of you. you're doing best to keep the story out in public. we'll see where it goes.

the blisters were oozing, and painful to touch. i woke up to a blistering on my shoulder. i spent 23 years as a deputy united states marshal and i've been pretty well banged up

but the worst pain i've experienced was when i had shingles. when i went to the clinic, the nurse told me that it was a result of having had chickenpox. i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. bill: we are learning new details about a deadly cargo plane crash. the a bagram air force base back in april, officials from the afghan ministry of transport say a weight shift may be to blame. that from data, from the plane's black box shows that. seven people on board when the plane loaded with mine-resistant vehicles crashed just after takeoff. martha: to the white house today, president obama is turning his attention to mental health issues by hosting a conference today at the white house. this comes nearly six months after the mass shoot at the

elementary school in newtown, connecticut, last december. the rampage killed 20 children and six educators. besides newtown there have been many other tragedies where mental health may have been perhaps the primary issue that led to the violence in these. a lot of discussion and controversy about this issue. peter doocy is live at the white house. good morning, martha. >> reporter: good morning, martha. the word of the day at the white house is stigma. the primarily goal of today's event to let millions of americans struggling with mental illness that it is okay and acceptable socially to reach out to ask for help. this event is tied to executive actions, taken, rather that were announced shortly after the sandy hook shooting. five days after the mass murder at sandy hook elementary school, president obama told a grieving nation that easy access to mental health care could help prevent similar shooting in the future.

>> there is no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. we're going to need to work on making access to mental health care at least as easy as access to a gun. >> reporter: the administration is rolling out a new website, menta mentalhealth.gov to promote the new effort. there is bipartisan support for mentality health initiatives in confess -- congress but there is not anything scheduled to support the president's efforts at the moment, martha. martha: the pooer, thanks. bill: a fuel week of hearings for the irs and tough questions along the way the chairman of today's committee hearing, hal rogers, is here live. we'll talk to him in minutes. martha: a dangerous and deadly storm when we come back what makes your family smile?

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martha: well, looks like there will be no honeymoon for the new irs chief. the acting commissioner danny werfel, recently appointed will be on the hot seat today. he will be part of the first of three congressional hearings this week. republicans say there is no way that the targeting of tea party groups was the work of underlings at the cincinnati office. they say, the republicans, that have evidence that proves that. we will see as we welcome you to a brand new hour of "america's newsroom" on a monday. welcome, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. welcome to you. since the scandal exploded the white house maintains politics had nothing to do with this, they say. republicans say that would be impossible. that would be impossible. check out fireworks between

two former white house insiders. this is david plouffe and karl rove going head-to-head. >> this was not a political pursuit. >> baloney. baloney. >> not baloney, karl. >> if it is not political were are only conservative groups being targeted. >> liberal groups. >> really? name one. name one. what liberal group had tea party or patriot in its name was targeted? not a single liberal group has appeared -- >> taking a bright license here, karl. >> i am not. not at all. >> this was not an effort driven by the white house t would be the dumbest political effort of all time. >> didn't suggest it was driven by the white house. >> you think people in the cincinnati office decided -- >> i think people sitting in cincinnati, la gun that anything gel, washington, d.c. listen to people like senator max baucus, senator chuck schumer, president obama goes out in 2008, 2010 and calls these groups, quote a threat to democracy he is blowing the dog whistle and people heard it.

martha: has nating back and forth over the weekend. jonah goldberg, editor-at-large for "national review" and fox news contributor. jonah, good to have you here. what do you make of the argument it does go to washington because it came from the mouths of senators? karl didn't argue it went all the way to the white house but he thinks that is bad enough. >> what you say there in very short order was plouffe changing the terms and assumptions of his argument to basically, to any ground he could defend and he couldn't really defend any of it. first of all, original charge this was political. of course it's political. as charles krauthamer likes to say, political groups of one kind were targeted. that makes it political. you can't get away from that. the second question whether it came from washington or not. we know that there were a lot of senators who wrote letters to the irs, who invade, who rang witnesses from the irs saying you have to go after these groups. we know that president obama

set a certain tone and we know that these guys have now told the cincinnati operatives, or agents have told darrell issa's group they thought the, orders were coming from above. so we know it came from washington. the question is, whether it went to the white house. we truly don't know that. martha: really interesting to me, david axelrod, took the same line of argument with this, david plouffe. we're way too smart for this. this is not a political thing that came from us. we would never be this stupid as to instruct irs folks to go after tea party people because that would be too dumb. we're smarter than that. >> yeah. i like that too. sort of reminds me of ghostbusters says, back off, man, we're scientists. back off, man, we're really smart liberal guys. so we couldn't have done something so stupid. that is one of the problems obama found himself in with all these scandals, their best defense, whether the irs or eric holder or benghazi, their best defense is undermined the entire

rationale for his presidency, we're so smart, if we put our mind to it, the government can do anything we want it to do. they have to defend themselves on ground of incompetence or not being able to manage the bureaucracy. there is problem getting back to the irs, when they say that president obama had nothing to do with this in terms of ordering it, my hunch is that is probably true. we now know a lot of people in washington knew this was going on. that's why lois lerner pled the fifth. martha: yeah. >> she essentially misled congress about this. martha: could be as karl rove suggests, he blew the dog whistle and that was enough to sort of set the climate, that led to this. a lot of pieces still to put jonah, thanks very much for weighing in this morning. we'll see you soon. >> thank you. bill: who are you going to call? what from the white house the president is talking about the issue of mental health in america. want to drop in for a moment. >> i want to be absolutely clear.

the overwhelming of majority of people who suffer from mental illnesses are not violent. they will never pose a threat to themselves and others. there are a lot of violent people with no diagnoseable mental health issues. we know most suicides involve someone with a mental health or substance abuse disorder. in some cases when a condition goes untreated, it can lead to tragedy on a larger scale. we can do something about stories like these. many cases treatment is available and effective. we can help people suffer from mental illness continue to be great colleagues, great friend. the, the people we love. we can take out some pain and give them, a new sense of, a sense of hope. bill: highly personal and, deeply personal issue the president is talking about there, mental health in america.

the rest of this speech now streaming live from the white house at foxnews.com. so you can check it out online right now. in the meantime, six minutes past and there is breaking news out of southern california. firefighters have made a big push at a massive blaze that has been tearing away at the angeles national forest. thousands of people remain under an evacuation order as they awake right now. >> i'm completely humbled. it is really hard to see your community like this. >> it is overwhelming. i've been up here almost 30 years. this ain't my first fire but this one is the worst that i have seen. bill: these out of control wildfires taking their toll on folks in santa fe, new mexico, where firefighters are struggling to contain the flames in the city's more populated areas. adam housley is in palmdale, california, watching this burn now. what kind of damage are you seeing on the ground, adam? >> reporter: yaw, bill, we're seeing similar fire

damage you find in southern california. higher areas with trees burned out. homes that are threatened in some of the more outlying areas. we know nine structures have burned. better number when they get into some structures, fire burning hot and fast similar to what you see with a lot of fire conditions in southern california. murning more into the brush areas that have not burned since the 1920s. good news it is burning away to areas that have less trees and flames will burn lower to the ground. that is better for firefighters and fire aircraft. when you talk to government officials this is busy fire season. we're just into the beginning of june and they're watching this fire and all fires very closely. take a listen. >> the governor is watching the situation very diligently. the state impact director as of 11:50 last night was able to get federal funding for our area. the state will leave no stone unturned to assist our neighbors and family in this firefight, now to stop the

fire and afterwards to help the victims. >> reporter: some good news this morning, bill. new containment numbers coming in. 40% contained. they doubled containment overnight. that is great news. 29,000500 acres have been burned so far -- 29,500 acres. bill: will the weather help them? >> reporter: santa ana wind that is september and october. the difference those wind come from the east, blowing toward the west. they come across the desert. they're hot and dryer winds. these winds we're having coming onshore so they're cooler. overnight we have what is called june gloom in southern california. higher humidities and lower temperatures. that helps firefighters this time of the year. again the santa ana wind come in the fall. while these fires are difficult, if there is one positive thing to look at, we had the overnight onshore flow which helps keep temperatures cool and humidities up. they got a lot of good news last night. there are forecasts for gustier wind this afternoon,

bill. bill: they will take what they can get. hope the trend continues today. martha: the threat of more severe storms and flooding continues today of a a weekend of deadly tornadoes that were so wet they washed away a huge chunk of this road in oklahoma. the count is now at 13 people lost their lives over the weekend. another seven are still missing at this hour. the threat of more severe weather is very real in this and other areas. meteorologist, maria molina. what an unbelievable picture out of oklahoma we're getting and surrounding areas. what can we expect today. >> unfortunately we're talking about more severe weather for parts of oklahoma over the next several days. this is an area hit very hard. oklahoma city, moore, oklahoma, by an ef-5 tornado. we're talking about possible ef-3 tornadoes through parts of central oklahoma. yet again another storm system is expected to produce severe weather out there. today we're talking about

areas farther west across parts of texas, parts of the oklahoma panhandle, kansas and up through parts of nebraska and south dakota. look at tomorrow, oklahoma city, you're under a flight risk for severe weather. this risk is a little less than what we saw last week with the moderate risk that was in place. nonetheless it only takes one storm to produce a tornado in these areas you're talking about damage being reported as we head into wednesday. oklahoma city and northern parts of texas under that severe weather risk. large hail, damaging wind and tornadoes, possible. martha, hurricane season started on saturday for the atlantic. it started june 1st. we're watching an area of low pressure that could potentially become the next main system, our first one of the season. regardless of development, we're expecting a lot of heavy rain across the state of florida. flooding will be a concern over the next several days. martha: a lot for some folks to deal with, maria. thank you very much. >> thank you. bill: keeping our weather folks busy. one after the other, after the other. martha: unbelievable. bill: one of the men killed in the oklahoma tornadoes

was a veteran storm chaser, been doing it for years. said to be one of the smartest and one of the safest. we'll talk to one of the his colleagues that saw tim somera who saw him as a mentor and lear row. martha: according to an article published in "the new york times" they say there is trouble in the west wing for eric holder. we'll talk about what happens in a fair and balanced debate. bill: he disappeared after a night out exactly two years ago today. find out if her parents are any closer to finding their daughter. >> we have read the reports and her, you know, we don't know what's truth and what's rumor. supposedly lauren fell back and hit her head on concrete. supposedly she fell face flat on pavement going to cory's apartment. supposedly cory was physically carrying her towards his apartment. it tells you that lauren was not in good shape and needed help i don't make any decisions about who to hire

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we got the word about 35 minutes ago. the oldest member of the u.s. senate has now passed away. new jersey democrat frank lautenberg died at the age of 89 this morning from viral pneumonia. that is according to his office. he was the last world war ii veteran serving in the senate. lautenberg had been struggling with his health about a year ago. he was the longest-serving senator in new jersey history. he will be replaced by governor chris christie, a republican now. he announced in february he would in the seek re-election next year. martha: stunning new report in the "new york times" today says that the presidential aides, some of them, are privately hoping that u.s. attorney general will step down amid these recent scandals. here is a quote from that piece today. while the white house publicly backed mr. holder as he tried to smooth over the latest uproar amid speculation about his future, some in the west wing privately told associates they wish he would step down,

viewing him politically maladroit. goes on to explain why some camps in the white house don't think it will happen. kirsten powers joins me now. "daily beast" columnist, itch lowry, editor at "national review". both are fox news contributors. good to have you both here. i want to play the sound earlier. bill chatted with peter king. listen to what he had to say. >> i can't speak for the president but when you start seeing stories about west wing officials talking background to the "new york times" that usually and indication an effort is being made by some people at white house to push him out. i doubt they would do that without the approval of the president but the president has been very loyal to eric holder in the past. martha: hmmm. kirsten, what do you think?. >> i don't think there is that newsworthy people in the white house would like to see eric holder go. he is obviously damaging to the president. there is no question. the issue is really is whether the president wants him to go.

they're very close and frankly pretty aligned on issues. i don't know what ground there would be for pushing eric holder out for doing things that the president supports. there is no reason to believe that eric holder was free-lancing or off doing things that the president didn't fundamentally agree with. he fundamentally agreed with the idea being very aggressive regarding whistle-blowers. i think that, it's hard to say what will happen but there is no question he is harming the president. martha: i think it may come down, and we'll see, rich, to how much pressure the president feels he is under here. if the president starts to feel like this is getting very difficult and these scandals aren't going away, you could imagine a scenario where eric holder, who as kirsten points out is a good friend, and this article says is close to valerie jarrett, michelle obama, two very good allies to have in the white house, eric holder could come to him, we're friends, i want out of here.

i don't want to hurt you. >> that is probably the way it will go down. i think this is all personal. the president is very close to the attorney general. he feels though attacks on him are proxies for attacks on him himself. besides the president, valerie jarrett and president obama are the two best allies to have in the white house. doesn't matter what the public interest is. i don't think there is any public interested served by having him go on. doesn't matter what the administration interest is, the anonymous white house aides, are exactly right. he is incredit aye. mal adroit and doesn't mean to give up on this job. george w. bush was very fond on attorney general alberto gonzales. after a certain point he realized, no point was served by having him continue and he gave it up. martha: i wonder, a lot will do whatever shoes are dropped, kirsten. if it turns out there are more journalist who is have been vented and that line has been crossed, that could be a pushing point in all of

this. i think the more that comes out about the rosen situation and the ap situation, the details that would back up, really was it worth going after them to this extreme and was it handled well and were those guidelines actually followed? you know, if that gets worse do you think that becomes more problematic for him, kirsten? >> it becomes more problematic. it is very problematic frankly for democrats who are up for re-election. obviously obama is not running for election again but he needs to be concerned how this will damage the democratic brand. but at the same time, if you watch, you can see that, this was in the article, that the administration is thinking this will blow over. we just kind of need to sit this out. holder does not want to leave now with this being his legacy. it has been nothing but, controversy basically his entire, you know, tenure, not all his fault frankly but that is sort of the case. he wants to get on the other side of this. he doesn't want to leave and say this was my legacy.

martha: i understand. >> democrats are pushing back, saying nobody was prosecuted in the james rosen thing. they're trying to downplay it a little bit the effect much these scandals. martha: you're right. the line that is being pushed, people don't care about this. they want to move on. get back to jobs. this is all naval gazing gwen ifill said over the weekend. kirsten, thank you. we'll talk about it i'm sure. bill: big hearing this afternoon, another one when we're on the air. we'll watch both of them with regard to the irs. a stunning reminder why americans pay more for health care than anywhere else in the world. some fear obamacare will drive the costs even higher. gerri willis has the story coming up. martha: plus very well-known tornado chaser died over the weekend chasing one of those tornadoes. one of his fellow storm chasers, his colleagues, will talk to us about the very real dangers of this job as his family remembers him. >> ultimately his goal was

actually saving lives, through the technology that he has been able to develop. so technology and saving lives is why he did it. his, but he also had a strong passion for it. he had a passion since he was a kid.

♪ . martha: that note, right? bill and i have been singing this song all morning just to give you a little background what we're doing here on the show as we remember, this tv legend. we all grew up with this show. jean stapleton, who played edith bunker, so beautifully

in the hit 1970s show, "all in the family", passed away over the weekend. she was 90 years old. stapleton's edith was the long suffering wife of archie. he was played by the late carroll o'connor. called her as character, dingbit. fans of her amazing career on broadway and film and television, know she was an incredible actress. brought great smarts and inner strength and dignity to the role of edith in a show that took on so many social changes taking place at that time and prompted many a heated conversation over the dinner table when i was growing up. her family said she died of natural causes at her home in new york city. it is just like a time capsule, right? for, all of us, growing up and watching that show, provocative and incredibly well-done. bill: people talk about appointment viewing in television. when you tune into this certain program every week

because you know it's on. in the 1970s, awl the family was appoint -- "all in the family" was appoint television. we remember her fondly. weekend's weather leading to the death of another man. veteran storm chaser, tim samaras, who was killed with his son paul on the right and colleague, carl young on the left. all three are dead after a tornado struck just west of oklahoma city. >> the technology he developed to help us have much more early warning and the passion he had for it. most importantly the saving of lives. i honestly believed he saved lives because of some of the things and tools that he deployed and developed for storm chasing, i think is the biggest thing that he could have done was he gave his life for others. bill: reed timmers, a storm chaser who worked extensively with tim. i know you remember your friend fondly. we have pictures of the two of you together that viewers can look at while we talk

here. this is part of the danger that people like you do. sometimes every day, reed. and i don't know how this affected you yet or taken it in just yet. perhaps you can share with us and our viewers. >> yeah. this seems like a never-ending nightmare honestly. i woke up yesterday morning and heard the news. i thought it must have been some kind of a hoax. i had seen him on the road. i always see him on the side of the road at random gas stations. we talk about the science of tornadoes. i will always miss those conversations with he, carl and paul. he was a pioneer in meteorology. a pioneer in our field of tornado science. always someone i looked up to. he is always very safe and always, his testimony priority was saving lives. and he saved lives not only through reporting but also through his research and technology he developed. not only with tornadoes but also lightning with his high speed cameras and all that

was built by himself and everything. just a genius. bill: i think, reed, a lot of people may not know he found ad project called twistex. that gathered weather information and placing numerous devices in the way of storm to see how it reacts and input that information for the next season and the next storm and the year after that. people like you and tim, you seek this danger, for knowledge and for information. i mean this is what you live for. >> yeah. and well, it is not as dangerous as a freak accident, you know, we always feel in control around the tornadoes. and you know, there are so, it is just a freak accident. and you know, i loved weather since i was five years old. i know tim did too. you know, you see the beauty in the storms, from the scientific standpoint and,

but the dark side they leave behind what we're trying to prevent, indirectly through the science by better understanding tornadoes and calling in reports and, streaming live video to media and, i know that just before that happened he was probably calling in reports and recording ground-breaking data that will save lives, countless lives for years to come. bill: they were there by choice that decision cost them their lives. but over time, they have probably saved countless lives if we just mentioned here. reed, i'm sorry for your loss. reed timber. certainly be safe out there. because i know you're going back out. reed, thank you for your time today. >> thank you. bill: 10:30 now. here's martha. martha: it should make for a pretty fascinating day. in just a few hours the acting irs chief will step before a hearing and answer questions before the house appropriations committee. the chairman of that committee, hal rogers, gives us a preview coming up live. bill: special delivery, huh,

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bill: fox news alert, expect fireworks object the hill today when the new acting arab emirates chief appears for the first of his thee hearings this week -fpblt he's expected to face new questions about how high the orders went up to target tea party groups. and the lavish spending on conferences. hal rogers chairs the committee. sir, good morning to you. i know you'll be in the hearing room today. first i want to ask you about the questions, well the story that broke earlier today, the i.r.s. spent about $50 million holding 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012. what can you add to that story, sir in. >> well, it's the arrogance of power, and this -- we will dig deeply into that. $50million for 2,600 people at a conference in california. where i'm told some of the rooms

cost upwards of $1,500 a night. or even more. we'll get to the bottom of that as well. bill: what do you want to know from your witness today, then? >> well, i want to know his explanations, if he has any, of how this waste of taxpayer money, not just in the conferences, but $13 billion in refunds that were not supposed to be done. for example. of course the enemy's list out of the white house that i.r.s. was engaged in shutting down or trying to shut down the conservative political viewpoint across the country, an enemy's list that rivals that of another president some time ago. bill: there is a little bit of information coming out based on the oversight committee, a different committee than we are talking about this afternoon. they carried out the interviews of some of the quote unquote rogue agents in cincinnati,

ohio. this one agent says we are controlled by home team and have to deliver home reports, quoting now and on the screen, i still hear people saying we were low-level employees, so we were lower than dirt according to people in d.c. for take it for what it is. they were basically throwing us underneath the bus. what have you learned about that? >> well, those interviews that quarrel issa and the other committee has been exploring clearly point out that the instructions on who to target and how to target were coming from washington, without any debate, and that is the subject that we will delve into quite author lee. >> there is push back from democrats in washington saying that some of the groups that filed for nonprofit status appeared to have political aims and goals. have you found that to be the case? >> i've not been involved of course in those -- in those applications. but how do you determine whether

somebody is doing something for political purposes or for charitable purposes? and of course organizations can and often do both, so that's not illegal, it's not even improper. bill: what do you think danny worfel is up against today when he sits down. >> i think he will expect it to be a hot seat and it will be. he came out of the office of management and budget, not from the i.r.s., so i'm guessing he's going to say that he doesn't know a lot about this. but we are in charge of expending taxpayer dollars, that's what the appropriations committee does. we have substantial information about incredible waste and the improper activities of that agency, and we will, among other things, probably have to put them in a straight jacket and make their funding conditional on them complying with the requests of the congress. bill: 3:00 eastern time we will be there.

hal rogers, thank you, a republican from kentucky. we'll be watching. , thank you, sir. >> thank you. martha: the oldest u.s. senator frank laughtonberg died early this morning. he was serving his fifth term for the state of new jersey, the last world war ii veteran to serve in the senate. rick folbaum joins us now with a lock at his life. >> reporter: he was the son of russian and polish immigrants who came to america early last century to build a better life. the future u.s. senator was born in pather ton, new jersey january 23rd, 1924. after high school he served in the u.s. army during world war ii with the help of the gi bill he enrolled at columbia university earning and economics degree in 1949. after college he started the country's first payroll services company, automatic data processing.

it became a multi-million dollar enterprise. he married his first wife lois in 1956 and they had four children. when a new jersey senate seat opened up in 1982 he decided to throw his hat in the political ring. despite running against a heavily favored republican he won. >> we are number one, right. >> reporter: he spent the next 18 years in the u.s. senate, pushing through legislation that included supporting gun control, and limiting tobacco use. he and his wife divorced after 31 years of marriage, and in 2000 the senator decided not to run for re-election, but just two years after he left the senate new jersey democrats were in a bind. >> senator laughtenbur has graciously accepted our request. >> reporter: their candidate quit the race after an epic scandal.

at age 78 he took applies on the ballot and won securing a fourth term in 2002. 0 two years later the senator married his long-time companion bonnie. in 2008 at 84 the senator won a fifth term. while serving he was diagnosed and treated for stomach cancer. 0 born to immigrants this first generation citizen built a successful business, and served in one of the highest political offices for nearly three decades. this politician, husband, father and grandfather certainly lived an american dream. rick folbaum fox news. martha: he certainly did. you know, adp was one of the original great technology companies to come up with the idea of generating by computer all of your paychecks. he made millions doing that. how remarkable to run for office at 84 and to be elected. so he definitely had a long and

storied history. bill: his target was to finish out his term next year. now you have a very interesting decision on behalf of theovernos christie. martha: which way will he go. bill: we'll find that out in time. violent protests in one country's capitol descending in a rise of 67 different cities over the weekend. we'll look at whether things are getting any better there, almost 72 hours of almost nonstop unrest. martha: this girl disappeared after a night out exactly two years ago today. her parents are still searching for answers in her disappearance. former lapd detective mark fuhrman has an interesting take on the lauren spier case when we come back. >> this could be you. i'm begging you, put yourself in lauren's place, what would you want your friends to do for you?

bill: fourth straight day of violence in turkey after applies crackdown in a sit in on friday. that reaction spreading to 67 different towns and cities. the prime minister admits his police made mistakes in the initial response. 1700 arrests reported so far. martha: the family of a missing indiana university student is not giving up the fight to find their daughter. 20-year-old lauren spierer disappeared after a night out

exactly two years ago today. this is the last known photo taken of lauren that evening and it is a photo that must just haunt their parents as they try to figure out what happened. after that she was leaving her apartment in the early morning hours and heading to a friend's place, but her friends say they have no idea what happened to lauren after that. i'm joined now by mark fuhrman former lapd homicide detective and a fox news contributor. mark, thanks for being with us today. this is rough. her parents have been looking for the answer to this question for two years. you send your daughter off to college, she is doing well, she has a lot of friends, she's having fun, and she doesn't ever -- she is never heard from after this night out. how do you think the police are doing on this? >> well, i think the bloomington police are kind of lost. just from their own statements. when they describe the case and where they are, actually two years later they describe it as, well the theories are either

lauren was abducted, or she died in one of the apartments in whatever way or means, and then the body was moved. now, what other options are there? i say that neither one of these is based in evidence. certainly a person dying in an apartment admits a bunch of students its going to leave some forensic evidence. i feel like they are throwing darts. martha: she went back to rose nba um's apartment. she left with rossman, they left a were and came back. it boils down to an apartment where there were three students, three male students and that is sort of where the questions are. as you point out, mark, it would appear if something happened in that apartment that there would be some scintilla of forensic evidence that would give them something to go on, right? >> well, you'd certainly hope so. but we have to look at this.

we have live witnesses to the comings and goings of the victim before the disappearance, so you have an opportunity to separate all of these individuals that admit seeing lauren throughout the night, and then you can actually map her movements and then see where the statements are conflicting and start narrowing down those interviews, and quite possibly turn those interviews into interrogations, and the use of polygraphs to make sure that somebody is in fact telling the truth as they know it. and when they are not then you can start seeing the path of the victim and the possible outcome. martha: i mean, it feels in some ways like the natalee holloway case where parents believe that the kids that were involved that night know what happened or know something that they are not saying, right? >> absolutely. they do know something they are not saying and they are protecting either their friends, or what they didn't do, or what they did do, but the comparison

to the natalee holloway case is the perfect example, you have a woman who is obviously inebriated and quite possibly has been slipped some drug that she doesn't know. i mean when drunk college kids are saying that she was really bad, then she was really bad. so when -- yeah. martha: we will leave it there. thank you so much and it's a two--year-old case and the parents still searching for a lot of answers. mark fuhrman always great to have you. we'll see you next time. bill: "happening now" rolls your way in ten minutes. jon good morning. jon: another week, a series of congressional hearings into the several scandals swirling around the white house. today the acting i.r.s. in the hot seat. bret baier and karl rove weigh in. guess who is reaping most of the benefits from iraq's oil program, china. how did that happen after the

expenditure of many american lives and u.s. expenditure? that coming up. bill: why americans are paying more for basic healthcare costs than anywhere else in the developed western world that is coming up. new honey bunches of oats greek yogurt and whole grain. here we go. honey cornflakes and chunks of greek yogurt. i'm tasting both the yogurt and the honey at the same time. i'm like digging this yogurt thing. i feel healthy. new honey bunches of oats greek.

bill: a stunning new report from "the new york times" showing that healthcare in america is by far more expensive here than in any other modern country. a basic colonoscopy cost on average $1,100. in switzerland did you know the same procedure would run about $650? that is quite a difference. jeri will list host of the fox business report is with us. >> think about a hip replacement in the u.s. it costs five times more than in explain, $40,000 versus $8,000. lipitor, a drug that so many people in this country take is

more expensive as well. in new zealand you pay $6 for a refill. in the u.s. 124. bill: what is going on here. >> reporter: one of the things going on is our doctors are prescribing more expensive tests and procedures. the colonoscopy is an example of that. you can get a different kind of test that does something very similar that costs far less. the average price is $1,200, it can go as high as 6,000, as high as 7,000. the promises of obama care here are not really helping because we are seeing the prices go up not down. bill: come back to that point in a moment. what can consumers do regardless of the law. >> reporter: you have to know what you're being charged. typically people never ask the question. one great website to check out healthcare blue book.com. you can find out the average cost of all the procedures there so you know what you're talking about. so when you go to your doctor if you want to negotiate you can. bill: healthcare blue book.com. that's like the kelly blue book for the used car that you get.

>> reporter: except for your body instead of the car. bill: you mentioned obama care. in all likelihood what happens to the prices we are talking about here. >> reporter: baby boomers retiring needing more and more medical services all the time. you can only think that is going to push prices higher. bill: we were told otherwise. >> reporter: we were told otherwise and we were told that premiums, for example would come down, they have not, they are only going up. a report last week showed in some states prices are going up as much as 50%. bill: $124 for lipitor. in new zealand you get it force $6. that is apple pells and oranges and oranges there. we'll see you on the willis report on on the fox business network, 6:00 and 9:00 eastern time. thank you, jeri. martha: a controversial claim from a top republican as congressman darrell issa says the targeting of conservatives was an order that came from washington. karl rove is here on that and why congressman issa suggests that this goes deeper than just

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martha: check this out, phraeurb phraeurbs at yankee stadium got scared out of their witnesses by this. watch. they are all curled up like little kids on the bed when the lightning happens, right? a large crash of thunder during an intense storm spooked members of the yankees and red sox. it could be dangerous out there. they take it seriously and she should. we got called out of the pool

yesterday. everybody out of the pool. can't mess around with it. bill: i can't imagine the amount of grief the guys took in the locker room. martha: saying i'm out of here. bill: a lot of people are doing that. martha: happy monday, everybody, have a good day. bill: watch you tomorrow. martha: okay. jenna: brand-new stories and breaking news. jon: attorney general eric holder on the hot seat as republicans say he lied to congress in the reporter snooping scandal. some in the west wing they say hope he resigns. after 20 years on the run one of the nation's most wanted fugitives finally will face a judge. the latest on mobster james "whitey" bulger's long awaited murder trial. a massive search effort underway for a woman who disappeared last week on the way home from her parents' house, but we are now learning there could be a major break in this case. it's all "happening now."