martha: happy father's day to all the dads out there. dad, i will see you soon and be with you on sunday, and 0 to your dad as well. bill: thanks, martha. martha: have a great weekend. jon: we begin with brand-new stories and breaking news. jenna: explosive allegations from top lawmakers who are warning that leaks about classified u.s. surveillance programs have already put our lives at risk. we've explain. plus jodi arias' defense attorneys are asking for a delay to the start of her second penalty phase, why they say they need more time and how much more time may surprise you. and a dramatic rescue caught on camera, raging floodwaters trap a child and two adults inside a sinking suv, it's all "happening now" " this has been the big story this week and we have new information on how the nsa leaks are putting

american lives in danger. glad to see you on this friday, everyone, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm glad it's friday, i'm jon scott. one lawmaker saying tere riggss are already changing their behavior based on information leaked by nsa contractor edward snowden about the government surveillance programs. pwh-p of the house intelligence committee mike rogers making his remarks after a closed door hearing on capitol hill. listen. >> the more we know the more dangerous this situation becomes. it he can poses our allies, we think by the exposure of this program and the changes that we can already see being made by those folks who wish to do us harm and our allies a harm, number one, and number two, we are very, very concerned that it might equally make it more difficult to track bad guys trying to harm united states citizens in the united states. jenna: another busy day in that building on your screen. lawmakers are holding another closed door meeting on capitol hill about intelligence

activities. here is the latest developments, the director of the nsa insisting the monitoring of phone calls and tracking internet activity helped to thwart dozens of terrorist attacks although he hasn't been more specific on that. two democratic lawmakers don't believe that and they want a more detailed explanation. also investigators say snowden's claims that he made off with additional classified files which have yet to be exposed are likely true. he worked as a systems administrator and lawmakers say much of the information he's taken should have been beyond his reach. jon: let's talk a little bit more about all of this with monica crowley, she is a fox news contributor and author as well. we eluded to it in that lead in there monica and i think much of the confusion on the part of americans has to do with the fact that we are getting confusing messages out of washington. it's up to the members of congress to supervise these programs, right, these administration programs, right? >> that's right. there is supposed to be

congressional oversight as well as judicial oversight. president obama said that in fact has been taking place over many years since this program has been underway. the problem is we are getting conflicting information about the nature of this program, we are getting conflicting information about what members of congress have been told about it, how -- whether or not it is a massive expansion of the existing program under the bush years and who this leaker actually is. jon: and we are getting conflicting statements about its effectiveness. let me tell you what senators ron wyden and mark udall said yesterday. they said we have not seen any evidence showing that the nsa's dragnet collection of american's phone records has produced any uniquely valuable intelligence. the public deserves a clear explanation. then on the other side of the coin you have representative mike rogers who we just heard from in that lead in, he's a former fbi agent i believe, and he says, if you're going to connect the dots on a 9/11-style event you have to have the dots in the box in order to connect.

he thinks this program is worth pursuing. >> i think most of the american people, given this new threat environment after 9/11 where we have terrorists actually targeting civilians, as we saw on september 11th and so many other terror attacks most americans would say okay to a program like this. jon if they felt it was being run competently and efficiently and not being abused. we are having this conversation now in the context of severe abuses of power by other branches of this government namely the i.r.s., the department of justice, god knows who else. now questions are being raised about the potential for abuse here, and this is why we need answers to all of these very key questions. you know, if this program were run the way so many of its supporters, including president obama say it's being run, then the situation that would have been tailor-made for this were the tsarnaev brothers, they were making overseas phone calls to khefp yea chechnya of all places. russia wra*us giving us the

heeds up. they should have been caught in this surveillance program and yet they were not. many people are saying what is this actually being used for? jon: major ha tkal ha son another major point in touch with anwar al-awlaki the lad ka liced american cleric overseas, they exchanged emails. >> exactly it is not just terrorism we have to worry about. we saw a report saying thousands of private companies, like google, so many internet companies are in an information-sharing program with the nsa and the cia why they are exchanging classified and sensitive information back and forth. the question, jon here is, is this information strictly being used to track terrorists and suspected terrorists or is it being used for other purposes? rasmussen has a poll out saying a 57% of americans fear that this kind of information will be used for political abuse and targeting. jon: one of the questions too is okay the fisa court is supposed to supervise all of this as well

as several mit keys in the congress. do they under the technical nature of the terms like metta data being batted around here. the fisa court has approved every single warrant that's it's been presented with. >> they have turned down very little. i'm not arguing that the national security should be conducting wide open in public so all the world can see. jon: i don't think any of us do. >> since we are paying for this public and now it's public -pbl, and we are also the targets of it i think the american people need to answers. jon: we will continue to explore it obviously on "happening now" and fox news. monica crowley thank you. jenna: there are new questions about president obama's healthcare law today as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are asking for answers about how a provision in the law will impact members of congress and their staff, let alone the american people. washington correspondent jim angle is live in washington with more on this. >> reporter: republican senator

charles grassley of iowa added an amendment to the healthcare law that forces members of congress and their personal staff to fall under obama care losing the current federal employee health benefits they now enjoy. >> so the original idea was that congress shouldn't be exempted from obama care, the people should have to eat their own cook inks so to speak. >> reporter: many lawmakers and staffers make too much money to qualify for much in subsidies on the exchanges. some are reported to be thinking about retirement so they can keep their current man. >> if we are unable to repeal the bill many members of congress and their staffs will simply be unable to sustain their families and their needs and will go seek employment somewhere else. i believe this will happen. >> reporter: now one democrat, though, says lawmakers should eat their own cooking. >> the law says that the members of congress should live under the law that we wrote, i completely agree with that. we should be in the exchanges. for the employees the issue is a

little different. >> reporter: that is because right now the federal government pays about 73% of the premium while members of congress and their staff pay 27%. if staff members are forced into the exchanges the cost to them may rise sharply, meaning they'd have to pay more while other federal employees doing similar jobs would not. >> the staff members, people making 25, $30,000 a year in some cases should not have to take a huge pay cut relative to other federal employees because of the way the law is written. >> if they don't get that contribution to their premiums, their pay is effectively going down by say 10,000 bucks a year. >> if the exchanges are that much harder on congressional staff and the subsidies are not large enough to offset the higher costs how will they work any better for all the other americans who go on the exchanges? jenna. jenna: a big question, a big question ahead for the next several months. jim, thank huh. >> reporter: you bet.

jon: then there is this as washington continues to grapple with hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts from the sequester, a presidential trip to africa later this month is raising some eyebrows because of its hefty price tag. "the washington post" reports this eight-day trip will include stops in tanzania, and south africa. it will cost the american taxpayer anywhere between 60 and $100 million. believe it or not that is about in line with similar presidential trips in the past. some of the biggest expenses will be for security for the first family, hundreds of secret service agents have to be involved, so will a navy aircraft carrier with a fully staffed trauma center in case of emergency. a total of 56 specially armored vehicles are being flown in for the obamas and the support staff. the president and the first lady also reportedly had been planning to go on safari while they were in africa however the post reports that part of the

trip has been canceled. jenna: an investigation is underway into what caused the massive explosion at a louisiana chemical plant that we first told you about yesterday during our show. one person died in this -- well what seems to be an accident. and many, many, many others injured. harris faulkner is live at our breaking news desk with more on what we know how. >> reporter: louisiana's health department is telling us 77 people have been treated at ho hospitalses ranging from minor to critical after yesterday's explosion at the plant which is owned by williams company incorporated. we do know one body has been found in the smoldering debris, a 29-year-old man. employees who managed to escape the fireball that followed the explosion say they know there are risks working at a chemical plant but this was especially bad and unforeseen. >> the burns on my ear and my head is from running. the fire came over my head like a cloud, just it was bad.

>> reporter: people in nearby houses and businesses say it felt like a three-second earthquake. flames shooting more than a hundred feet into the air. we offered it as it was breaking news on fox news yesterday watching along with the rest of the nation in horror as hazmat teams descended on that plant. it's in a small mississippi river community about 20 miles southeast of baton rouge. we learned within a few hours all the workers have been accounted for. they have not yet determined what caused this. early on the fbi ruled out any sort of terrorism. just so you know the plant makessette that lean and propofol pa lean, highly flammable gases which are the basic building blocks of the petition throw khepl ka*l industry. specialists have been monitoring the air near there and no high levels of of toxins are present. that is good news. jenna: we wish everyone a speedy recovery effected by this. a scary moment. thank you. jon: as prosecutors prepare to seek the death penalty against

jodi arias in arizona, her lawyers now asking the judge to delay the start of the penalty phase of her murder trial. you might be surprised to find out why. plus the obama administration confirming president obama's red line in syria has been crossed with the use of chemical weapons. retired four-star general jack jean joins us next to look at what options might be available as the white house prepares to get more involved in syria's civil war. 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.

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fast-moving flames overcame them. this has been the story of this fire. the flames have grown so quickly and burned so hot apparently this couple did not have the chance to escape. another couple reported missing has been found safe. the news conference underway right now, you can see that in the box below me on your screen. near here 16,000 acres have burned and 379 homes now, that is the latest figure, making it the most expensive fire thus far in colorado state history. we'll stay on it and bring you more information as it becomes available. >> in terms of the united states the president, as you've heard him say has made it clear that the use of chemical weapons or transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups is a red line, given the fact that there is a long, established international norm against the use of chemical weapons. we now have a high confidence assessment that chemical weapons have been used on a small scale by the bashar al-assad regime.

and so he has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus and it has. jenna: that was deputy national security adviser ben rhodes confirming that the use of chemical wells by the bashar al-assad regime inside syria has crossed the so-called red line that we've heard so much about, laid out by the president. the white house is preparing to step up it's involvement including reports of arming rebels and even considering the idea of imposing a snow fly zone. my next guest had this idea a few weeks ago, four-star general jack keane, a national security analyst. bring this home for us. what does this shift in policy moan nor us, for our national security? >> i think fundamentally we want stability in the region and we want to buffer the iranian ambitions, to control and dominate it and syria is really a part of the fa fabric of that story. if we can turn this around where bashar al-assad will lose his

momentum and we can depose him that is a major below to the iranians, despite the fact that there are sipes much a regional war right now on the horizon. jenna: why now? >> why now? i think the administration is using -- making this major policy change fundamentally because of chemical weapons but i do believe unstated is the clear momentum that bashar al-assad and his forces have gained in recent months. jenna: they are winning essentially. >> they can see, there is an end in sight now and it favors bashar al-assad. jenna: is it too late then? >> no i don't believe it's too late at all. if all we do is arm the rebels, even with antitank and antiaircraft weapons that in and of itself now would not be decisive. two years it probably could have been. what we must do if wii want to tur turn around is we have to shut down his air power which is what he uses to have hrefrpl oveleverage over the rebels. we have the capacity to do that. jenna: that means we intervene directly. >> that is direct military

intervention which i'm confident the white house has been discussing. whether they are going to do that or not has not been announced, but clearly that is a major option and i think they are moving much closer to it than what they have in the past. jenna: already there's been comparisons made -- it's not even been 24 hours since this announcement, comparisons being made to iraq. we had a no-fly zone in iraq for 12 years before we actually went to war with the country. "politico" describes the president and his decision making is a that he had a deep aversion about this because he how he felt about the military action george bush took in iraq. is this going to be a no supply zone for another decade and eventually go to war in syria. >> no i don't think so. i don't think there is any intention of us to occupy syria as we did iraq. there is a similarity in the military tactic that was used in terms of a snow fly zone i. think it's much closer to bosnia as an example where we had an

humanitarian issue there, tens of thousands of people getting killed, close to 300,000, we -d ha a dictator imposing his will on those people and i think with some degree of reluctance the clinton administration finally said enough is enough. jenna: it's interesting to see what syria is saying and what the press is saying in the middle east and they are saying that the white house is relying on fab ra indicated information in order to hold the syrian government responsible. you have to under that this type of news is going all over the middle east not just in syria. here the united states goes again getting involved in our country. how do we combat that and the ideology that we are in fact occupiers as our enemies want to portray us as? >> they'll say that. the truth is all the countries in the region want stability in the region. they have been urging us to get involved for some time. it's been our reluctance, i believe, that has permitted bashar al-assad to gain the kind of momentum that he has. our involvement now is going to be well received by france, by the united kingdom because they have been pushing this administration to do something, and also by the arab league.

jenna: france says they are not going to have a no supply zone unless they get the u.n. involved, that's what they did to libya. what are the chances of that and how long are we talking about waiting before there is any significant impact on the ground? >> i don't think any of our tkhaoe san gabrielss in terms of military direct intervention should be based on anything that the u.n. is doing. jenna: general keane always great to see you. jon: another military matter, jenna, a judge set to rule on the latest snag hold handgun up the trial of this guy, the army psychiatrist charged in the fort hood shooting rampage. we'll tell you what the hold up is and what it could mean for 0 major nadal ha son's defense. a daring rescue caught on camera as emergency crews rush to save a baby and two women from their flooded suv. man: the charcoal went out already? ... forget it. vo: there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford original charcoal.

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jon: right now a military judge is set to rule on the latest issue holding up the trial of the army psychiatrist charged in the deadly fort hood shooting rampage. that judge has ordered major nidal hasan's former defense attorney to remain as his standby counsel while he represents himself in court, but his now exlawyers say it would be unette that call for them to give him advice, because they don't support his defense strategy. so where do we go from here? fred tecc remember, is a former prosecutor. arthur aidala is a former prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney and a fox news legal analyst. i pulled a line out of the ap's reporting on this topic and i want to put it on screen for our viewers. the lawyers say that complying with the judge's orders would force them to ac act

unethically. they say it's not their role to give nidal hasan advice about his defense strategy, he says he shot the people on the post to protect taliban leaders in afghanistan. i feel for these folks. they have been defending him -- through out of three of them have been defending him for more than three years. can they do that, fred? >> they have to advance a defense that has a basis in the law and they know hasan is not going to do this. this is hasan's fault. he was told moth to represent himself own and over and over again because it increases the risk of conviction and execution. it's like killing your parents and then asking mercy from the court because you're an orphan. he created the problem. the military and the populous have a right to a trial and a fair and speed tree trial and this has got to get going.

jon: i'm sure you have defended people with whom you didn't exactly agree, maybe not the most savory character -gs in t s in the world. what about this? do they have a point? >> first of all, jon i think you're right onto say you feel sorry for the lawyers because criminal defense attorneys aren't pictures of people riding in on white hoursess with a white hat. this is so difficult. what the judge is asking them to do is sit next to this guy, basically while he executes himself, because there is such a thing in the law as defense of a third party, so if he shot somebody to defend somebody else who was in imminent danger of deadly physical force that is a legitimate defense. the defense that he's putting forth right now is not a legitimate defense, so he's basically just allowing himself to be convicted. and these lawyers, i believe the head lawyer is a lieutenant colonel, these are real professional attorneys in military law. to have a judge say i need you

to sit there and help him kill himself is a really rough place to be for the attorneys, and my heart really does go out to him. my guess is the judge will say i note your exception on the record but you have to sit there and help him if he asks you any questions. jon: as you point out these are not random folks from the pro bono pool these are military uniform-wearing officers who are trying to help save this guy from getting himself killed. >> he's not letting them that is not the problem. he also is advancing a theory which is unlawful, quite frankly. arthur is right it's a terrible, material position to be in. being a criminal defense lawyer is bad enough as it is, you basically do the impossible for the ultimately unappreciative that's why i stopped doing it a longtime ago. this is the worst -- [laughter] >> i'm going to use that. >> you can have it, take it but this guy is the worst of the elk. jon: a criminal defense attorney the worst job in the world and

there sits arthur eye call louisiana. >> it's a great job for guys like arthur not me. jon: got to ask you this question. we'll turn to the jodi arias case now, the defense lawyers are asking an arizona judge to delay the start of the second penalty phase in her case. why? they say they need enough time to gather witnesses who will help testify on her behalf. the first time they went through the penalty phase they didn't present any witnesses, apparently because of some death threats and that kind of thing. do they get a second bite at this apple, arthur? >> if i'm the judge i would say, yes. look, the judge has a history here of allowing the lawyers a lot of time, she allowed jodi arias on the stand for 18 days which is unheard of, and this is truly a life and death question. it actually is. we use that term all the time, oh, it's life and death. this is actually a life and death question. if i'm the judge i would grant

it. what do they want, another two weeks? not two months, if they need an extra two weeks to secure witnesses, the lawyers are physically and emotionally exhausted in a death penalty case you have to give the defense a little bit of leeway for a little bit of time. jon: hasn't the state pwept ov bent over backwards on before of this defendant? >> yes, are you going to tpeuf her another two weeks to come up with more fiction to rewrite the facts about jodi arias' life. i'm a dog lover but trying to put lipstick on a rottweiler it's a waste of time. come on. >> you don't want to give her any appellate issues. you don't want them to be able to say, well we were going to put on witness x and y and you didn't give me the opportunity to do it. jon: they had that opportunity the first time around. >> that is the difference between theory and reality.

in reality you're right they have to give it to her. >> a new jury, a new strategy, with a new strategy there are new witnesses. i'm not that you can being about two months, i'm talking about two weeks. that is reasonable. jon: we'll see what happens, author aid tecce, have a great weekend. >> thanks for having me. jenna: protestors are meetin and the prime minister are meeting to try to find an end to violence. that is coming up. a patriotic party and david lee miller is there live, david. >> indeed, jenna, let freedom ring, and i mean that literally, this morning in philadelphia the unveiling of the newly minted freedom bell, an explanation coming up.

jenna: new information in the ongoing conflict in syria. the united states deciding after literally years of deliberation it will now begin arming rebels after the white house confirmed the assad regime used chemical weapons crossed that so-called red line. the u.s. is now considering a no-fly zone in syria, potentially its first be direct intervention in the 2-year-old civil war besides the humanitarian side that we have been involved with. we can't forget how this issue is affecting neighboring turkey for the past two years, our ally, of course, in the region. turkey shares a board we are syria and besides the high

stakes politics game about who will eventually run syria, to date more than 200,000 syrian refugees have fled to turkey. in the meantime, turkey has its own internal problems seeing its biggest protests in decades. those all started over plans to redevelop the park and became much bigger than just that. leland vittert is live in the istanbul is more. >> reporter: this is the park, jenna, and if these protesters are showing any signs of standing down, we haven't seen it here. go ahead and take a look beyond me. i'm going to have the photographer pan over and show you this large crowd that is continuing to gather here. 6:35 right now in the afternoon on friday in istanbul, and the crowds are flowing. a lot of these are young professionals. we've talked to chemical engineers, doctors, accountants, lawyers who are not only angry at the plans to revamp the park, but also the pictures coming out of istanbul over the past couple of weeks that we've been showing you these major clashes between police and protesters.

they say they are endemic of a larger problem which is prime ministerrered wan who has taken over this country in his ten years of ruling it and has become much more of an authoritarian dictator. they say he's moving turkey towards an islamic state, and that's one of the big sticking points here that protesters we say talk to, the prime minister's offered them concessions and say, look, we're going to wait to redevelop the park until the court issues a ruling. protesters say that was fine two weeks ago, but now that we've seen all of these other things, the increasing islamization here in turkey which was a secular country, restrictions on the sale of alcohol, teaching the quran to kids in elementary school, they say it's simply not enough. the prime minister, for his part, is saying that these folks have had their final warning, talks are over, it is time for them to leave. between that and the combination of the violence we have seen in the past, probably not a good combination heading into the weekend for much peace here in

the park or in the square that's just beyond us. jenna in. jenna: more on the developments out of turkey as we get them. leland, thank you. jon: from protests to celebration. right now honoring our nation's armed forces and veterans as our nation celebrates flag day and the 238th anniversary of the founding of our army. finish a national tour kicking off in the city of brotherly love. the highlights include an air show and the first-ever tolling of the freedom bell. david lee miller live in philadelphia for us now. we have all heard of the liberty bell there, david. what is the freedom bell? >> reporter: well, jon, you could say this is a story with a familiar ring to it. you're right, not far from where i'm standing there is the liberty bell, but over my shoulder off in the distance here you can see the newly-cast freedom bell. it was created by the spirit of liberty foundation. it was cast only two months ago, made of metal reclaimed from the

world trade center site. this bell was created to honor our nation's troops. it is being rung by members of the general public to pay tribute to the army, marines, the air force and the coast guard. people who ring the bell get a certificate saying they have done so, and if desired, they can also ring the bell in the honor of a specific individual. starting things off today, interestingly, look alikes for president george washington and ben franklin. they were the very first, among the very first to ring the bell. but, jon, this story is really about the general public, their opportunity to pay tribute to our nation's forces. jon? jon: and a beautiful sound it is. david lee miller in philadelphia live there, thank you. jenna: well, the surveillance scandal at the nsa is raising new concerns about the internet itself and its growing role in politics. can big companies that we all rely on like google, for example, really influence how we

feel about key political issues? we're going to talk to a researcher who says there might be something to that. and caught on tape, rescuers in a race against time in rising waters a as three lives hang in the balance. how this situation unfolds ahead. with angie's list, i save time, money, and i avoid frustration. you'll find reviews on home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. you want to be sure the money you're about to spend is money well spent. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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jon: turning now to a dramatic rescue caught on camera in iowa after two adults and a child became trap inside a vehicle as

flood waters surged all around them. rescuers suspend a rope over the water and pull each person to safety one by one. one of the victims was nine months pregnant. jenna: wow. jon: the whole operation took nearly an hour. thankfully, we are happy to report everybody is okay. oh, look at that little kid. >> nice to know that everyone made it out just fine. jon: that's one happy baby. jenna: turning back to washington and the nsa surveillance scandal raising questions certainly about technology and its growing role not only in government, but in politics in general. some critics are openly asking if big internet companies are powerful enough to actually influence the way you feel about politics. robert epstein is a senior research psychologist at the american institute for behavioral technology. he launched his own study into the practices at some of these major internet firms, and he joins us now. so, robert, this is some fresh information. you just recently presented it, and you were taking a look at search, when we actually search

for something on the internet. what exactly were you looking for, and what did you find? >> well, we already know that from consumer research that if you're ranked very high in a search, that generates a lot more sales. so, you know, companies spend billions of dollars now trying to push their products and services higher in search rankings just for that reason. so we asked a very simple question: since those high slots, those high search rankings are so powerful, could they influence the way people vote? i thought we'd find a very, very small kind of effect. we found a huge effect. we found that by playing with those search rankings, we could push voters, the undecided voters, we could push them one way or the other by 15% or more. in other words, you could by altering search rankings deliberately, you could determine the outcome of many, many elections around the world. we also found that you could do

this without anyone knowing that they're being manipulated. that's the really scary part. jenna: so let's go back to a couple parts we're going to have to talk about. it's a fascinating topic. you talked about private companies that try to push themselves up. so if i search i want to buy shoes, a company's going to try to become the first thing that i click on. how do companies go about moving up so that they're at the top of the list, and how do political campaigns, organizations do it? do they all do it the same? >> they all do it the same way. it's through a process called link building. basically, they're trying to fox the algorithms that companies like google use to determine those rankings. they can also buy slots, of course, those little paid ads, you know, up at the top and over on the right. but the really, really valuable slots are the ones that are called organic, and, yeah, companies are spending just in this continent alone, they're spending $20 billion a year just on that process of search engine

on the my optimization, it's calls, seo, just pushing higher and higher. yeah, political organizations do it, too, but what we're very concerned about based on this new research that a search engine company if they wanted to support one candidate or another, the search engine company, they can alter those rankings as they please, and they can do it in such a way that no one will know what they're doing, and they literally can determine the outcome of elections. jenna: so we reached out the google because when you say search engine, anyone says search engine, google has become a verb now, not just a place to visit on the web. they didn't have any comment on some of your research. but have you found any evidence that companies are doing that at this time? that they actually are manipulating their search not based on the money that they're getting or what some of these political organizations are doing, but they're taking an active role in what i might see if i'm, say, googling something or otherwise? >> sure.

well, that's the scariest thing of all because any given election we looked carefully at, for example, at the obama/romney election, you are going to find that one candidate gets much higher rankings than the other. in this past election, it happened to be obama got very high google rankings consistently. and we also know that google has supported one candidate over another. in this election, they gave at least $800,000 to obama, only $32,000 to romney. so we know that search engine companies sometimes they do favor certain candidates, and you can see much higher rankings usually for the favored candidate. now, whether they're doing it deliberately or not, the only way to know that is if a whistleblower comes forward from the company and says, yes, we are really doing this deliberately. jenna: i only have a minute here, but explain that to us. now we think we can find out anything through data collection. so why is it so difficult to find out if the search engine is

somehow manipulating the searches? >> the problem is that they will always claim that this is happening organically. but, again, this new research shows that all they have to do is tweak those rankings very, very slightly, and they can push undecided voters one way or the other very, very dramatically. jenna: do you think it's the voters' fault? >> it's really scary stuff because, again, this can be done without anyone realizing that m. we discovered that in our experiments. the third one we did not a single subject knew that he or she was being manipulated even though we pushed the vote significantly in one direction. jenna: is that the consumer's responsibility? the consumer just actually looked at the searches and didn't actually do any reading, so it comes to the consumer or the voter to do more research, but if they're relying on search, they're editing themselves from other information? >> but that's happening more and more. in other words, that's the way

we're getting information about virtually everything, and i think 60% of our subjects said that, in fact, they had already used search engines to get information about political candidates. and that's the trend. there's no stopping that trend. so this is, this is actually a cause for concern. jenna: so we got that no comment from goggle. we invited them on -- google. we invited them on, other search engines as well. your research stands alone, robert, so thank you so much for the time today. we appreciate it very much. >> thank you, jenna. jon: there's a major medical breakthrough that could mean better treatment for the millions of americans suffering from depression. we'll tell you about that after a break.

jon: researchers say they might be on the verge of reducing the trial and error involved in

treating depression. a one size fits all approach doesn't work, and scientists believe they've discovered why. jonathan serrie live in atlanta with more on that. jonathan? >> reporter: hi, jon. well, one size fits all doesn't work because no two brains are alike. but now researchers at emory university believe that taking brain scans of patients with clinical depression can predict which treatment will work best for them. edie is one of an estimated 15 million americans living with clinical depression. she spent years trying different treatments until one finally helped her bring the disease under control. >> it's a very discouraging process. it's long. it's -- you begin to feel hopeless. >> reporter: now researchers at emory university may be on the verge of reducing the trial and error involved with treating the majority of patients with depression. >> the goal is really to get people well, and to do that as fast as possible, to get them what they need and at the same time insure that we don't give

them a treatment that won't work for them. >> we don't have a hypothesis about -- >> dr. helen mayburg and her research team believe the answer may be locked in a portion of the brain called the anterior insula. >> here's the anterior insula. >> reporter: and that's what your biomarker is. >> that's our biomarker. >> reporter: their study suggests activity levels in that part of the brain may determine whether a patient responds best to psychotherapy or current medication. >> patient who is do the best have high insula activity, and the best who do the best on cognitive behavioral therapy have low -- >> reporter: now, if additional studies can verify or even expand upon these results, doctors may be able to remove much of the guesswork that's currently involved with treating depression, making more patients well much faster than ever before. jon? jon: that would be welcome news to a lot of americans. jonathan serrie --

>> reporter: absolutely. jon: thank you. >> reporter: certainly. jenna: thousands of people evacuated from their homes as a massive wildfire carves a path of destruction through parts of colorado. this is a big, big story, a very dangerous situation for that state. we'll have the latest coming up. and the violence as well growing today in syria with the president's red line now in the rearview. what's next for our role in the bloody role? what about iran in all of this? the broader regional prospect? we're going to be discussing that next hour. what makes your family smile? backflips and cartwheels. love, warmth. here, try this. backflips and camm, ok!s. ching! i like the fact that there's lots of different tastes going on. mmmm! breakfast i'm very impressed. this is a great cereal!

honey bunches of oats. i hear you crunching.

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call the number on your screen now! jon: top of the hour, we begin with brand new stories and breaking news. a terrifying moment in miami beach. a deck collapses at a popular sports bar sending dozens of people plunging into biscayne bay with. we'll take you there life for a -- live for a look at the aftermath. we'll also go live to that deadly, fast-moving fire in colorado which has already claimed two lives and hundreds of homes. conditions are not helping firefighters today. and critics say the media are core nateing hillary clinton for a 2016 presidential run. our news watch panel debates coming up on "happening now." ♪ ♪ jon: also this, u.s. attorney general eric holder today promising the nsa leaker holed up in hong kong, apparently, will face american justice while

investigators take a much closer look at his motives including the possibility that he's taken refuge in hong kong to help china. welcome to a brand new hour of "happening now," i'm jon scott. jenna: that would be quite a twist, wouldn't it? of a all countries in the world? jon: anything could happen in this. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. mr. holder is saying the leaks have put the safety of americans and our allies at risks. in the meantime, the chairman of the house intelligence committee is warning that america's enemies have already changed their behavior. this following edward snowden's disclosure of top secret surveillance programs. now lawmakers are wondering why he went to china, a country heavily involve inside cyber espionage directed against the united states. our chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in the washington with more now. >> reporter: thank you, jenna. asked whether nsa leaker edward snowden was a spy or had defected to china, leadership

left the door open. chairman rogers told fox's bret baier on "special report" that his electronic trail is deeply suspicious. >> it was clearly accessing information he was not supposed to have, downloaded information he was not supposed to have and attempted to access other areas of the system that he was, it appears today, was not able to get at, but he had no business doing that. >> reporter: those familiar with the scope of the investigation confirms to fox news an internal review is ongoing based on snowden's electronic trail, it's believed he has more documents beyond the handful already leaked to "the guardian" and "the washington post." after a briefing by the nsa yesterday, the chair of the senate intelligence committee confirmed to reporters that federal investigators do not need court approval to sift through the phone records of millions of americans. this so-called metadata we have heard a lot this week -- phone

numbers, length of calls, information on location -- has no fourth amendment protections based on a 1979 supreme court case. >> you cannot -- >> [inaudible] >> can i answer? you may not like it, but i'll answer. you can query the numbers. the only numbers you have, there's no content. you have the name and the number called whether it's one number or two numbers. that's all you have. then you can get the numbers. if you want to collect content, then you get a court order. >> reporter: and the nation's intelligence chief, the director of national intelligence -- you see james clapper there -- has been tasked by feinstein to consider changes to the intelligence programs which limit or prevent contractors like snowden from handling highly classified information. and we may know more about these plots that the nsa says were thwarted by these programs as

early as monday if they are declassified, though there's some debate still over whether this dozens of terrorist events really comes down to dozens of plots directed at the u.s. jenna: interesting question. as you said yesterday, i remember what you said, don't hold your breath. too much knowledge -- [laughter] >> reporter: i hope you haven't been since then. jenna: very good, catherine. >> reporter: blue's a bad color for many people. jenna: catherine, thank you very much. we'll see what develops over the next few days. all this talk about phone and internet surveillance and where the legal boundaries are led us to consider the old-fashioned way to communicate, the mail. is e-mail the same as letters when it comes to surveillance? there are stiff punishments for tampering with your mail, you might know this. in fact, it's a federal crime. this is the law in one form or another since 1792, and around that time congress imposed the death penalty for stealing mail. however, congress has passed legislation allowing the government to intercept mail for

a law enforcement purpose. so is this where maybe we see the law come full circle with the new technology? i don't know. we're going to ask our guest about that. what's the modern day trade avenue between privacy and the government's need to snoop? should we all be writing letters? we're going to speak to a man who is not only a constitutional attorney, but a former prosecutor of one of the most dangerous terrorists in u.s. history. he's coming up, 12:30 eastern time. jon: now this fox news alert from overseas, the syrian government is responding now to news the obama administration is preparing to arm rebels in that country's bloody civil war. the assad regime claims the white house is fabricating evidence confirming chemical weapons attacks to justify deeper involvement. now many in washington are wondering what type of weapons will be going to syria. chief white house correspondent ed henry live at the executive mansion. we know chemical weapons were used now, ed, but there is some confusion about what specifically the president plans

to do about it. >> reporter: that's right. good afternoon, jon. ben roads, one of the president's top national security aides, had a conference call with reporters last evening and did say there would be military aid now given by the u.s. to those syrian rebels, but, you know, military aid could be all kinds of things that's not lethal. it could be communications equipment, etc. and so later in the evening white house officials started putting out the word, well, yes, we'll be arming the rebels, but they haven't spelled out specifically what we're sending. some reports suggested it'll be machine guns, other lighter weapons. as you know, critics of the president like john mccain, the republican senator, have been saying you need heavy artillery, anti-aircraft, you need all kinds of things to help the rebels who are really struggling against president assad right now. take a listen to the stakes in all this that ben rhodes laid out last night in this call. >> it's particularly urgent right now in the terms of the situation on the ground in some

respect because we have seen hezbollah and iran increase their own involvement in the conflict. >> reporter: of course, critics have been saying for weeks now that iran was stepping up its role and, in fact, the critics are not just on the republican side. you've got former president bill clinton who just a couple of days ago at a private event with john mccain suggested that president obama should be doing more. interesting, of course, that this policy shift last night happened just a couple of days after that criticism from clinton, jon. jon: and it doesn't sound, ed, like what the white house has announced so far is satisfying the president's critics. >> reporter: that's right. because as i noted, john mccain has been saying that you've got to really spell out how we're arming theng to be hey artillery that could actually make a difference and push back against assad's forces, or are they just going to be sitting ducks? and john mccain earlier on fox also raised the stakes in all of this by saying while the u.s. has now confirmed they believe about 150 people were killed by

chemical weapons, that's a drop in the bucket compared to the slaughter that's been going on in syria. take a listen to mccain. >> with we've determined that bashar assad has killed about 100-150 people with chemical weapons. how did he kill the other 93,000? it's just -- what the president did was he gave them a red line but gave them a green light to do everything else. >> reporter: now, the other factor in all of this is that in a couple of days the president will be heading to northern ireland for the g8 summit, sitting down with allies from britain, france, others who have been saying for days and weeks now that they had already come to the determination that bashar al assad had used chemical weapons, so there had been pressure to acknowledge what our allies had been saying, and we expect we may hear more early next week on all of this. jon: lots of decisions yet to be announced, obviously. ed henry at the white house, thank you. some context now on what we know about syria's chemical

weapons stockpile. the cia says syria has vast quantities of mustard gas,er is run and cyanide. the pentagon estimates it could take 75,000 troops to seize syria's chemical weapons supplies. syria just one of seven nations who did not sign the international ban on chemical weapons. other countries that refused include north korea and purr that. -and-a-half-and-a-half well, the future of the republican party is on the agenda as conservatives and policy advocates and traditional republicans gather at a faith and freedom coalition event in washington d.c. carl cameron is there live with more. carl? >> reporter: hi, jenna. well, we heard just a little while ago from the 2012 vice presidential nominee on the republican side, paul ryan, the chairman of the house budget committee. mr. ryan said that part of the problem with the 2012 election and the defeat he and mr. romney faced was that they were shadow boxing with the government that were making promises that have proven impossible to keep, and they were essentially up against

all these promises that the obama administration was making, and they couldn't compete against them. and, he said, quite frankly, the romney/ryan ticket warned against an obama second term. listen. >> we are seeing the assault on our liberties. we are seeing what happens when you get so much power to a handful of bureaucrats. big government undermines liberty. big government's undermining our religious liberty and all of our liberties. >> reporter: tremendous amount of discussion about the idea that the obama administration and the nsa's collection of phone records and a variety of other scandals has paymented the obama add -- painted the obama administration. that was something that we heard from rand paul, the kentucky senator who's been urging more libertarian approach to both national security and in the republican party to social issues. and this morning we heard from jeb bush, the former governor of florida, who was very critical of the republican party, essentially saying that the gop

in the 2012 race was perceived as a tarnished brand because of a lot of the rhetoric and said that has to be changed. finally, we heard from marco rubio at the outset of this conference just yesterday, and he made the point that the current debate about immigration in the u.s. senate has a lot riding not only for his own political aspirations for the white house in 2016, but for the gop's ability to court immigration, and there's a long way to go. listen. >> i know we're in the throes of this immigration debate which is very divisive in many quarters including among people that are supporters of ours and of mine. but at the essence of our immigration policy is compassion. >> reporter: and that compassion rubio, republican supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, they say they hope it will come to a bipartisan compromise. they're working on the senate floor as we speak, and if there aren't amendments to strengthen border security and enforcement, he may end up ultimately voting against his own bill. jenna: that would be an interesting development. carl, thank you.

jon: well, guess what? edward snowden wasn't the first. coming up, we'll talk to the whistleblower who back in 2006 went to court charging the nsa was gathering data on millions of americans through the big communications companies. we'll get his unique take on the nsa leaker case in the news now. jenna: and while we're watching that, it's election day in iran. voters picking a new president. what a change in power could mean for the united states in the middle east, and what's the broader picture here about iran as we're focusing so much on other stories? is. jon: also total chaos when a deck full of people collapses in florida. phil keating is there. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: jon, a big miami heat celebration was underway when about a hundred people were packed onto that wooden deck here above the water eating, drinking and rooting on the team when suddenly they plummeted into biscayne bay. i've got the details coming up. [ male announcer ] this is betsy.

her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪

jenna: well, a night of celebrating turns into chaos when a collapses at a sports bar in miami. about a hundred fans were on this deck when it suddenly gave way sending many panicked customers into the shallow waters of biscayne bay. joining us live there that scene in north bay village florida, phil keating. phil? >> reporter: hi, jenna. a huge night for miami heat fans last night as they eached the series, and it was a huge party here at shuckers, the sports bar and restaurant always packed for heat games. and as you can see, what is left of that deck which was packed full of a hundred people is now buckled and submerged into biscayne bay after terrifying seasoned quarter chaos -- second quarter chaos. right before halftime about dozens of people sudden ply dropped 5 feet into the water as the survivors scrambled to get

them out from the debris because they were underneath tables and chairs and potted plants. other customers heroically jumped in to help. >> first we heard like a crack, and then it was within seconds that the whole deck had collapsed into the water. >> reporter: two dozen people were taken to hospitals, two remain in serious condition. no one died, thankfully, and no one is missing. the injuries involved cuts, sprains and at least one fracture. the deck collapsed as everyone was cheering and jumped off for a big heat score. as you can see in the picture, suddenly a celebration turned very, very serious last night. it was dark, and then the rains came. this morning inspectors on boat and on land taking photos and assessing the scene. investigators focus on the size of the crowd that was on the deck and the deck itself made of wood and many years old. news of the near tragedy even reached heat guard dwayne wade in san antonio.

>> i want to send my concerns as an organization for all that was injured tonight at shuckers restaurant. >> reporter: really helping the situation turn into tragedy last night was that the biscayne bay waters here are very shallow, just waist deep. so everybody was able to stand up rather quickly and get out of the water, and now people who were here last night are coming back trying to find their personal belongings including one woman whose passport and her purse are underneath the water. she's due to fly out of miami tomorrow. back to you in new york. jenna: wow. good thing a bad situation wasn't worse though. we'll continue to watch this story. phil, thank you. >> reporter: absolutely. jon: whistleblowers and leakers are pulling back the curtain of secrecy on the widespread surveillance of u.s. citizens by our government. edward snowden just the latest. he's revealed new details about how the national security agency collects massive amounts of data on americans and their phone

calls through verizon. but in 2006 another whistleblower claimed at&t gave the nsa direct access to vast amounts of customer information with equipment built right into the system. that sparked several lawsuits charging invasion of privacy, most of those cases were thrown out after congress gave telecommunication companies retroactive immunity. mark klein is that whistleblower. he is the author of "wiring up the big brother machine and fighting it," and he joins us now. essentially, much of what you told the country in your lawsuit seven years ago is what edward snowden just revealed about the nsa, right? >> well, actually, snowden has revealed much more information, and it just confirms that the nsa has expanded what they started under bush, now obama has expanded it even further,

and it's getting worse. jon: where does your lawsuit stand right now? >> well, as a result of congress passing an 'em moonty bill -- immunity bill for the phone companies because they knew they had committed crimes, they gave immunity to the phone companies. so the lawsuit against at&t was dismissed in 2009. however, there's still alive another lawsuit directly against the nsa. jon: there are those who argue that the nsa isn't collecting social security numbers and telephone numbers and addresses and that sort of thing and, therefore, the data that it is collecting is not really harmful to us as individuals. what do you say? >> that's ridiculous. they're collecting all your personal information that's out there, and from that they can piece together your social

security number, too, for that matter. but they're collecting all your e-mail, your web browsing, released your phone call data records which tells them who you've called and when. and when you build up a record like that over time, they can piece together who your associates are. and the new stuff is even more revealing and frightening because they're tapping into all the social media companies, google and yahoo! and microsoft and so forth. that gives them even a deeper personal picture of your whole life. jon: but people like walter pincus in "the washington post" argue americans are always on facebook, twitter, that kind of thing. they don't really care about privacy these days. >> that's not true. people put some stuff out, a picture of their girlfriend, but when they find out as they have now that everything they have out there is accessible by the

government, that puts a whole frightening aspect to it. information includes financial data -- jon: mark klein, we have to say good-bye because the computer's about to -- >> okay. jon: mark, thank you very much.

jenna: major news now on a major u.s. city. detroit's emergency manager says detroit is insolvent. he just unveiled his plan for detroit's future which some say may be the first step needed for a bankruptcy filing. they will miss a key payment today. he's proposing that debt holders take a drastic cut in the monies they're owed to stave off what would be the largest bankruptcy. pension obligations that this

city is shouldering, what happens with them? some $17 million in debt, we'll keep you posted as we hear more on this developing story. jon: millions of iranians voting for a new president today. for the first time since the disputed election in 2009 led to months of protests in that nation. voters getting a chance -- a choice of six candidates, but no matter who wins there's really not much chance of real reform there. greg talcott live in london with more. >> reporter: hey, jon, yeah. the polls are set to close in just about four or five minutes' time. the hours had been extended, apparently due the high turnout in that country. iranians are set to come up with a successor to president mahmoud ahmadinejad who served a very combative two terms. that is his limit. those six candidates who are running all have been vetted by authorities, literally hundreds of candidates were nixed following those protests in 2009 there's been a massive clampdown on the opposition and on the

media. and, of course, the supreme leader in the country, ayatollah khamenei, pretty much has the last say on everything including domestic and foreign matters. still, there is one more moderate candidate who is running. he's said to be gaining momentum. he got the backing just in the past week of two former moderate presidents. also in the running, however, two more hard line choices, the current nuclear negotiator and the current mayor of tehran. the big concern of voters in iran is the economy despite the vast oil resources in that country, it is in terrible shape. there's high unemployment, high inflation. this is in part attributable to the international sanctions being slapped on iran due to the its suspect nuclear program, but it's also due to a lot of mismanagement and corruption within the government. the nuclear program itself is another issue, and while no candidate is by any means saying that that program will end, somewhat a little bit more

flexibility -- some want a little bit more flexibility in the negotiations with the west. by the way, iran's role in syria is not coming up in this campaign at all. the results from this round are expected tomorrow. no one is thought to be getting the necessary 50%, and that will then lead to a runoff next week. again, though, many -- including secretary of state kerry who spoke out on this -- question the validity of this vote. we heard from eye ayatollah khai today. he responded to the u.s. and i quote what he said and pretty much sums up the iranian attitude: to hell with you. finish. [laughter] back to you, jon. jon: greg talcott from london, thank you. jenna: strong words there. over the last few months our government is increasingly concerned about iran. in fact, in may the state department released its country report on terrorism pointing to, quote: a marked resurgence of iran's state sponsorship of terrorism through its us rally revolutionary guard corps or the

quds force. speaking of the election, here's what's interesting. four of the candidates running for president of iran are former high ranking officers of the revolutionary guard. mark dubielewicz is executive director of the foundation for the defense of democracies, and, mark, people might think al-qaeda right away. tell us more about the revolutionary guard. who are they? what do we have to fear here? >> hi, jenna. well, the revolutionary guards are a terrorist organization declared as such by the u.s. government in 2007. they're the most deadly in the world that most people have never heard of, and they've been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks around the world in places like georgia, india, thailand, azerbaijan, cyprus, bulgaria. these were attempted plots or successful attacks. they also tried to blow up a georgetown restaurant in washington, d.c. to hit the saudi ambassador, and they're a deadly organization led by deadly men. jenna: interesting to hear the state department come out and say, listen, we haven't seen

this since the 1990s, this resurgence. we've talked a lot about the nuclear program in iran, so what do you make of these things happening now at the same time? a continued trek, if you will, towards nuclear power in iran as well as this resurgence of this terrorist group? >> well, the state department declared, actually, 2012 as the year of iranian terrorism, and it's not a coincidence that 2012 was also the year that saw the greatest leap forward in iran's nuclear weapons program. and it all comes down to the revolutionary guards. they control the nuclear program, they're responsible for overseas terrorist operations, and there are three men in iran that you need to pay attention to. they're not the presidential candidates. they're iran's supreme leader, khamenei, the head of the revolutionary guards, general jaafari, and the overseas terrorist force, assume manny. these are the three most powerful and deadly men in iran, and they've got terrorism in their dna. jenna: what do they want?

>> to inflict serious damage in the united states, they want to kill a lot of americans, a lot of israelis. they want regional and global power, and they believe a nuclear weapon will give that to them. jenna: if i could, i only have a minute here, but one of the stories we saw in that nsa leak information we're doing the most surveillance on iran, and that's kind of gotten lost in the mix. what do you make of that leaked information, and does that mean we're on this problem or not? >> first of all, thanks to that leaker, the iranians now know we're on this problem, and i think we're obviously spending a lot of u.s. resources on signal intelligence, on human intelligence trying to penetrate this very dangerous and opaque regime. we now have an election which is really a charade. it doesn't matter who wins. if the revolutionary guards win, they will control iran. if the moderate cleric wins, the revolutionary guards will control iran. at the end of the day, this is not an election, it's a selection by one man, khamenei,

and these two revolutionary guards compatriots. jenna: mark, great to see you as always. thanks for the time today. >> thanks, jenna. jenna: and we'll be right back with more "happening now."

jon: we are continuing to keep a close eye on the frightening and deadly wildfire burning out of control in colorado. at least two people have died in that fire. flames have destroyed hundreds of homes there. hundreds more are still in danger. for the first time in days firefighters say they have some

positive news. alicia acuna is bringing it to us live from colorado springs. >> reporter: hi, jon. the reason that they are saying that is because they were able to accomplish two things, up until this point they have not been able to do it. crews were saying overnight they were able to hold the lines, which is critical as you know. in addition to that they were able to protect all of the structures, which means they didn't lose any more homes. here is what the sheriff had to say about that. take a listen. >> to me it was kind of that turning point we've been looking for, so i'm pretty encouraged by it, but i don't want to put a lot of pressure on our firefighters. i know that circumstances can change. >> reporter: in terms of circumstances, he's talking about the weather. today they are planning to take advantage of the fact that we have some cloud cover, the wind is not nearly as bad as it was yesterday, and it's not nearly as hot. they are hoping to have the same conditions in the next coming days. however, 25 square miles have

already burned, and within that burn area 379 homes, that is the most destructive in this state's history. in addition to what they are doing today, jon, they are going to have crews inside of that fire zone trying to keep it inside the perimeter. in addition to that they are going to have people patrolling the perimeter, making sure it doesn't escape that fire line. from the air they'll continue with the military-style planes that will be dropping a heavy amount of slurry. they had to ground the planes yesterday because of the heavy wreupbdz. winds. 40 to 50 miles an hour. it's not windy here today. they will take advantage of that as much as they possibly can and hopefully get this thing under control. jon: hopefully, that is a big one. thank you. jenna: a key fact cannot be lost from the nsa program. it is not new. there is a program and the secret court that allows the surveillance and that secret

court started in 1978. we have a chart for you that shows over the years some of these requests for surveillance and how they've gone up. you can see that the denials, which is just that flatline on the bottom there have said relatively low, in fact almost nonexistent. your next guest has written about the surveillance programs over the last decade extensively and he is a constitutional attorney anna former federal prosecutor one of the mosann and a former federal prosecutor to prosecuted the blind shaikh h. andrew mccarthy, great to have have you with us. talk to us about where this program is now versus where it was ten or 15 years ago. >> really where it is now it's controversial because there is suddenly so much attention to it. i don't really think that we are doing anything that is any different from what we've been doing since the early days after the 9/11 attacks when, as you

point out, a lot of the requests to do this kind of surveillance spiked. jenna: why do people have such a problem with it? >> i think what's now happened in the last week or so -- basically the obvious has become explicit. what we always knew was going on has now been confirmed, and it's an opportunity for people who have been uncomfortable with it nor a longtime to relitigate it. jenna: you know, we were talking a little bit about the president's speech on terrorism a few weeks ago, and one of the things he said is that the war on terror is essentially over. does that changes? if you look back ten years ago we were at a very crucial point in the war on terror because the 9/11 attacks just happened. if we're declaring it over how does that change that? >> it changes it enormously. i think there are two things actually going on. one thing is the american people tolerated the patriot act and tolerate a lot of surveillance even surveillance that may go on inside our country because it's wartime. that was really the reason the

people bought onto these programs. if it's not wartime any more that is a pretty good case for rolling this kind of stuff back. and the way that you beat back the impulse to roll it back is for the other side, what i always call the national security right to make the case that, a, we are at war, and b, it's important that presidential power be robust in wartime, but if the national security right, which is primarily republicans, is not willing to make the same case for presidential power during the obama administration as it was during the bush administration, the case for doing these programs really suffers greatly. jenna: the politics are involved. >> right. jenna: let's go bigger than the politics. one of the things that this week has presented to our viewers is the feeling that everyone is somehow a target. if everyone is a target then no one can be a target and we do know who the target is when it comes to terrorism, we do know it's militant islam. how is that figuring into the conversation where everyone feels vulnerable but yet the

real focus may not be out front and center as some may argue it should be. >> the problem is with the word "target." because everybody does feel targeted and i don't think the government has done and effective job of trying to show people the difference between being surveilled and having information collected. what is really going on with the metadata, this data information about your phone calls but not the con tenth, instead o tenth, instead of sitting in a vault or a server at some phone company it's now sitting in a government server. they are not allowed to sift through it unless they have particular liced suspicion about you. they have to go to the court to get permission for that. jenna: are you confident in that process? because we don't know the process yet. >> i'm confident his tore being lee it has worked well. i'm confident structurally it should work well because there are layers of judicial and congressional oversight. when you have something like the

i.r.s. going on where they think the bureaucracy is being accused by the executive branch -- jenna: you came face-to-face with someone in our history who has dramatically shifted history in america when it could manies to terrorism. one of the arguments made over the past week is that in some cases this is the way the tere rhode islands have won because we've created a state where we are open to more surveillance because of the fear of terrorism. is this permanent? is just the way it will be from now on, that we are going to accept this because of the fear of these particular groups? >> it's permanent with an ideological threat if your a society fearful of talking about the ideology. jenna: are we? >> yeah. jenna: why are we? we are spending a whole week talking about our whole programs and not talking about our real enemies. >> i would call the threat kinetic islam. radical, militant jihaddist who are fortified by islamic

extremists, may not be terrorists themselves. we don't want to deal with that because we basically vilified people who have pointed this out. if you don't deal with the ideology fueling the threat then you can't deal with the threat you have to do it the way we've been doing it and if that's how we do it it is forever. jenna: will you come back to talk to us more about that. >> yeah i would be delighted. jenna: we would love to do that. it's great to have you. thank you for your expertise today. jon. jon: the dow trading quite a bit lower after what has been a turbulent week down about 71 points right now. we'll keep an eye on it throughout the day here on fox.

jon: the long awaited trial of reputedded mob boss james "whitey" bulger back in session today. harris faulkner live alternate the breaking news desk with more. >> reporter: jurors inside the courtroom in boston have heard all about the alleged tactics james "whitey" bulger used from a retired state police colonel. he said the former winter hill gang collected fees known as rent from book makers and drug dealers to control his territory. now jurors are set to hear directly from two of them about a middleman who went by the name rifleman, he forced the others to give up their money and they

understood the money was going straight to south boss and gangster james "whitey" bulger. he's facing a sweeping racketeering indictment and charges he participated in 19 killings in the 1970s and 80s. bulger 83 years old has pleaded not guilty to all counts. in the past he did time in alcatraz and leaf convenient worth for bank robbery. his defense team argues he's a mild mannered criminal who was not inch skrofld i involved in murder. one of the men on the stand today used to be in the private witness protection program. they have rounded up the low level crooks to get the new guys. this prosecution plan to call notorious gangsters and hitman to testimony against james "whitey" bulger. back to you. jon: they have such credibility. harris faulkner, thanks. jenna: hillary clinton is taking for twitter for the first time this week with teasers about her future political plans. the mainstream media and its reaction is something our news

watch panel is taking up. and that is just next. on angie's list before i do any projects on my own. at angie's list, you'll find reviews written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

jon: she is back. hillary clinton returns to the sphot light an spotlight and the mainstream media could not be happier offering high praise for the former first lady and secretary of state. so far she is only hinting at her future plans but she made a big speech in chicago this weekend. on monday she started her own twitter account with the sweet that you she on the screen. today she has already half a million followers or thereabouts. let's talk about it with our news watch panel today, judith miller a pulitzer prize prize winning investigative reporter and author. kristen powers a columnist nor "the daily beast," both of fox news contributors. is this any question this is an

opening salvo in a hillary clinton 2016 presidential bid? >> it's going to be the longest campaign in history. it's him pos to know what she is going to do. everyone suspects that if her health holds she is going to run. what is very clear is that she edited her first tweet according to buzz feed that told us among other things she reversed the terms wife and mom, wife was originally first, and -- sorry, mom was originally first and now it's second. we don't know what she is going to do. what we do know is she is working very hard at perfecting brand hillary both by rejoining her husband's foundation, by also giving speeches, working on a memoir and now by taking a page out of barack obama's book and using social media to expand her reach. jon: "the new york times" had an interesting line thi about this rebirth or relaunch of hillary clinton.

i wanted to read it and get your reaction. they write, mrs. clinton finds herself adjusting to an unfamiliar reality. she holds no government title now nor the first time in more than two decades and she and her aides seem to be gap lipping with how best to keep her in the news without the state department apparatus that provided an elevated stage for her during the past four years. so she's got to do that, she's got to cultivate news coverage? >> well the only reason that they'd want to keep her in the news i guess is if she's going to run for president. maybe that is a little hint of what she is thinking. and, look, if she wants to be in the news she'll be in the news. she is a celebrity, and she is a pretty popular celebrity though she did take a little hit at the end of her tenure as secretary of state because of the benghazi situation, and now there is more revelations coming out that don't look so good in terms of, you know, the state department covering up an investigation of prostitution. so, yeah, but like i said i think people want to hear from

hillary, people generally like hillary, and they are not going to have a problem keeping her in the spotlight if that is what they want. jon: she might be right, judy, people might generally like hillary clinton but if you're going to do a warts and all portrayal of the former first lady, former secretary of state, don't reporters have to be asking more questions about benghazi and this scandal about, you know, prostitution and so forth on her watch, in her state department? >> we've already seen that her popularity has dropped slightly since she left office, but i think she was artful in dodging responsibility for benghazi. yes she assumed it when she finally testified on the hill, but she had almost no blow back from it. and i think what she wants to do, you can see by what she chose to speak about in chicago, that she wants to move away from benghazi. she doesn't want to be branded benghazi, she wants to be brand, wife, mom, pants lover, you kn

know, tbd, to be determined. jon: and doug owner. >> and doug owner. she didn't miss a base. jon: we'll have to end this discussion, but you can catch more with this great panel, judy miller, kirstin powers, thank you both when i host fox news watch this coverage we'll cover the coverage of the week's top stories, saturday 2:30pm eastern right here on fox news channel. we'll be right back. ook my best on camera. whether i'm telling people about how they could save money on car insurance with geico... yeah, a little bit more of the lime green love yeah... or letting them know they can reach geico 24/7 using the latest technology. go on, slather it all over. don't hold back, go on... it's these high-definition televisions, i'll tell ya, they show every wrinkle. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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it's flag day, so get out there and fly old glory. and it's rare that jenna lets me out the the army because of her navy connections, but 238th birthday of the u.s. army. >> happy birthday. go army. thanks for joining us. >> "america live" starts right now. fox news alert on the president deciding it is time for america to jump into the civil war that's raging in syria. welcome to "america live." i'm megyn kelly. after weeks of down playing the president's threats towards the syrian government, the white house decided it is ready to intervene in the civil war there and announced it through a white house deputy. the administration now saying that it has conclusive evidence that chemical weapons have been used as early as august of last year. the president has said that he has made it clear to president assad's regime that chemical weapons would be a game-changer. by december 3rd of 2012, president obama again warned president assad that the