radio. martha: it's a lot of fun. we get to harass frank. bill: he's always welcoming us with open arms and open doors. [laughter] martha: "happening now" starts right now. bye, everybody. jenna: and right now we have brand new stories and breaking news. jon: the president is in europe today, but on capitol hill, all eyes are on the fbi director as lawmakers grill him over what his agency is doing or not doing about a host of scandals plaguing the white house. we'll take you there live. a wildfire grows from 20 acres to more than 5,000 in less than 24 hours. crews are desperately trying to protect homes as the flames move in, and mother nature is not helping out. we're live on the scene. and an nfl star now being questioned in a possible homicide case. as investigators descend on his home. the very latest on that story and breaking news all "happening now." ♪ ♪

jon: we begin this morning with outgoing fbi director robert mueller facing some tough questions on capitol hill. i'm jon scott. jenna: it's been a busy place, hasn't it? hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee, and bob mueller has been testifying before the senate judiciary committee for about a half hour now, and lawmakers are grilling him on everything from the fast and furious scandal to the boston marathon bombings, also on the agenda the growing controversy surrounding the recent leaks about the nsa's sweeping surveillance program. here's just some of what mueller had to say about that. take a listen. >> the highest priority of the intelligence community is to understand and combat threats to our national security. and we do so in full compliance with the law. of these disclosures have caused significant harm to our nation and to our safety, and we are taking all necessary steps to hold accountable that person responsible for these disclosures. jenna: doug mckelway joins us live from our d.c. bower row as

the testimony -- bureau as the testimony goes on. >> reporter: morning, jenna. in all likelihood, this is fbi director mueller's last appearance before the judiciary committee. in his absence, president obama has not yet named a successor, although media reports suggest it could be james comey. mueller's departure, the fact that no one has yet been named to take his place and mueller's apparent lack of knowledge about key investigations during his last testimony on the house side on june 13th have left many in doubt of the bureau's direction and leadership. here was a very uncomfortable exchange between mueller and representative jim jordan of ohio last week about the irs investigation. >> you're asking detailed questions about the investigation. i'll be happy to get back to you and answer those questions that i can understanding -- >> i'm asking basic questions about the investigation like who's heading it up, and you can't tell me that. can you get back to me on any, any group who was targeted by the irs who the fbi visited with prior to the investigation

starting? while they were applying for -- that would be important information for this committee to have. can you get that to me? >> we'll look at the questions and try to respond. >> reporter: today's hearing on the senate side just got underway at 10:00. do questioning so far hoping in on americans' right to privacy. mueller addressed that in his opening remarks, as you heard. of concern to senators is how despite the vast surveillance capability of the fbi, the nsa and the federal government how could activity escape the scrutiny of the fbi? the boston fbi had over a thousand threats during that time frame. jenna, we're watching, and we'll keep you updated. jenna: sounds good, doug, thank you. jon: today officials from the nsa are expected to provide house intelligence committee members examples of dozens of more terror plots aapparently prevented because of government snooping, they say. this follows general keith alexander's public testimony yesterday on capitol hill.

the general referenced four cases, including two new ones, in which the nsa's widespread spying apparatus, at least in part, allegedly disrupted attacks and led to arrests. they include a would-be attack on the new york city subway system, a plan to bomb the new york stock exchange in lower manhattan, and an american man's intention to target a danish newspaper that published a cartoon of the prophet muhammad and the takedown of a u.s. resident who helped finance an overseas terrorist group. peter doocy is live in washington with more for us. the president had something to say about those surveillance programs today while he's on his european trip, peter. >> reporter: that's right, jon, and he told europeans that americans are not listening to their calls from there across the atlantic or reading their e-mails. president obama actually used the intel navy seals found in usama bin laden's compound as an example to explain that the way american surveillance programs work, agencies can take a phone number they found in

abbottabad, plug it into a database and have a call log right in front of them to see who terrorists are talking to. the president also says that programs like that have stopped dozens of terrorist plots. >> we've saved lives. we know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just from the united states, but in some cases threats here in germany. >> reporter: and that statistic, about 50 terror attacks being stopped by surveillance programs, but also used -- was also used in an open hearing yesterday. and today house intelligence committee members are expected to get a list of all 50. jon? jon: so what are lawmakers saying about all this? >> reporter: some lawmakers now are saying that the intelligence community as a whole just has a big credibility problem. we heard republican senator rand paul this morning say ever since the director of national intelligence, james clapper, told congress that the nsa does

not collect any data on american citizens, he is very skeptical of everything he's told. >> it's hard for us to really trust the intelligence community, because the head of the intelligence community directly lied to the senate and said they were collecting no data from americans. so i'm not sure when i'm being lied to and when they're being honest. are they now saying that because i'm not at a top secret level that it's okay to lie to me in public? >> reporter: and this morning, jon, president obama reiterated to his german audience that all american intelligence gathering is subject to strict court supervision. back to you. jon: all right. peter doocy in washington. peter, thank you. jenna: well, right now to another big story. we're awaiting some new remarks on freedom of the press in the wake of the justice department's snooping scandal. it's happening as house lawmakers are receiving written answers to questions asked of attorney general eric holder on just how the justice department handled the investigation into

fox news correspondent james rosen. shannon bream is live in washington with more on this story. so, shannon, what answers are our lawmakers hoping to get today? >> reporter: well, this all stems back to the attorney general's testimony before them in may at the house judiciary committee. they say remember where he said i'd never even heard of the potential prosecution of a journalist for disclosing information. we later learned that the justice department had gotten a search warrant into james rosen's personal e-mails based on allegations that he was a criminal and even a flight risk. so there have been letters flying pack and forth between house judiciary leaders and the attorney general's office in the justice department about his explanation. they say you need to iron this out for us so that we better understand. congressman louie gohmert from texas is one of the members of the committee. here's what he says about the attorney general's opportunity now to answer those questions. >> credibility is always an issue, and eric holder's credibility has been shot. and so the department of justice came out defending him.

he made his, the doj into a criminal defense firm, and now they will help him prepare answers that they keep vague. so i'm not, i'm not happy with that. >> reporter: but committee members are hoping that by today they do get those written answers from the attorney general, jenna. jenna: and if they don't or if the answers are somehow incomplete according to the lawmakers, what happens next? >> reporter: well, we understand from the chairman of the house judiciary committee, congressman bob goodlatte that they also have agreed to a meeting with the attorney general himself. so maybe being able to speak this out, vet this out in person face to face might be helpful. but one of the committee members who's been pushing, jim sensenbrenner from wisconsin, says this: >> r eporter: now, committee members have said if they don't get the answers that they're after,

there are other options on the table. a subpoena, a potential second contempt of congress vote. you'll remember that congress voted to hold the attorney general in contempt last year over fast and furious with the help of 17 democrats who voted for that citation. jenna? jenna: we'll wait and see what happens here. shannon, thank you. jon: right now the director of the fbi answering some tough questions from some senators over the various scandals plaguing the obama administration. the last time robert mueller trekked up to capitol hill, things did not go exactly smoothly. should lawmakers expect to be satisfied this time around? and there must have been a chill in the air when russian president putin and president obama recently got together at the g8. the leaders taking opposite sides in syria's brutal civil war. could this set the stage for a new type of cold war between the u.s. and russia? ♪ ♪

jon: right now president obama is in germany, but the focus on capitol hill, the scandals swirling around the white house. right now fbi director robert mueller is back on the hill being grilled by members of the senate judiciary committee. as you know, one of the scandals involves the irs targeting conservative and tea party groups. republican senator chuck grassley of iowa says the tax agency, he's learned, is about to pay its employees, get this, $70 million in bonuses, this as budget sequester cuts are hitting some areas of the federal government. charlie hurt is the columnist for for the washington times. so $70 million in bonuses at the irs. what for, charlie, good performance? [laughter] >> i guess because they did such a good job of harassing the tea party, they get these fat bonuses. it's amazing, jon.

i mean, this is the heart of all the problems that surround the white house right now. it's the lack of credibility, it's a lack of fairness, it's a shockingly insulting sort of thing when, you know, voters feel like, you know, they're, you know, getting a raw deal here. and there's, there are no good answers for any of it. and i think that, you know, we saw yesterday the administration was on the hill trying to explain the nsa snooping stuff, and they, you know, made the argument that there were some 50 terror plots that were thwarted. maybe that's true, maybe it's not. but when you have things like this come out where you have the irs giving $70 million in bonuses, it's a lack of credibility, and you tend not to sort of trust them. jon: an irs spokeswoman had this to say:

apparently, the unions that work for the irs are obligated to receive these $70 million? >> those union agreements were agreed to by the, you know, by the government, by the irs. the irs could have not agreed to them, and, you know, fought for something, you know, an entirely different deal. but, you know, having a job in the federal government these days is a tremendously, you know, you get all the advantages. it's the only place that people still talk about you get pensions. it's the only place where you get these cadillac health care programs. and there's an astonishing story last week about how the members of congress and their staff are working to try to get out of obamacare. well, my goodness, not only should they not get out of obamacare, but the entire federal government should be forced to go on to obamacare and give up these enormous cadillac health care programs.

jon: right. yeah, so many people in that building behind you are thinking about leaving before the end of the year because obamacare's going to cost them so much money, they are finding. >> that's just insulting. jon: back to the irs bonuses. we're living in an age where we're living under the sequester. the white house is closed to, you know, tours for school children, ostensibly so that we can save $70,000 a week in overtime costs for the secret service. but we've got $70 million in bonus money to pay irs bureaucrats, i guess, or at least union members. >> yeah. and i'm not saying that the president shouldn't travel, and i'm not saying that he shouldn't have all the security because he absolutely should. but, you know, add to that the fact that you have the president and his family going on these global tours, touring africa to the tune of some $100 million. it's, it just wears on people. and it undermines the administration's credibility, and it makes people think that

these people just, they just don't care about the everyday expenses that they're all -- if they're lucky enough to have a job. jon: there isn't a household or business in america that hasn't sat down and taken a hard look at its budget over these last few, you know, pretty lean years and said, okay, we can do this, but we can't do that. and it just seems like there's nobody minding the store in the washington when it comes to some of this spending. >> and at the very least there's nobody really seeming to care that much. jon: right. >> a couple of polls that we've seen out recently that show kind of a ticking down of support for president obama. but i honestly think in the coming months if they don't sort of turn some of this stuff around and sort of get back with it the way president obama was in 2008 where he just sort of, you know, he had, he had a great pulse on sort of the mood of the country. and he seems to have lost that. and i honestly think that we're going to start seeing it reflected in the polls. and while, you know, obviously,

he's not, you know, going to be up for re-election, it's going to -- democrats across the country are going to pay a heavy price if his, you know, if support for him plummets as i sort of figure it will. jon: and a lot of people are going to apply for work at the irs now that they know they get $70 until in bonuses for doing whatever it is they do. charlie hurt from the washington times, thank you. >> thanks, jon. jenna: speaking of the president, the president gave a major speech in berlin just about an hour ago, speaking to a crowd of thousands and pushing cuts in america's nuclear arsenal. we're going to talk to general keane about that. plus, new questions over how the president is portraying al-qaeda in that speech and the war on terror as opposed to how he was talking about it a few months ago. coming up, we're going to speak live with ambassador john bolton about what's behind this apparent shift and what it means for the country. that's next. ♪ ♪

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jon: "happening now," president obams history speaking to thousands in perlin at the brandenburg gate. standing on what was once the ian side of a -- eastern side of a divided city. today the president renewed calls for reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles saying as long as they exist, we are not truly safe. senior white house foreign affairs correspondent wendell goler is live in berlin. wendell? >> reporter: jon, the president was talking about peace with justice. he said that depends on fighting poverty and intolerance, and he said even though we no longer live in fear of global annihilation, it means pursuing a world without nuclear weapons. of course, nuclear disarmament being very popular here in

europe. he announced plans for new talks with the russian to follow on the latest strategic arms reduction treaty which was negotiated three years ago in which the u.s. and russia agreed to cut their arsenals down to 1500 warheads. >> after a comprehensive review, i've determined that we can insure the security of america and our allies and maintain a strong and credible strategic deterrent while reducing our deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up to one-third. >> reporter: mr. obama spoke on the east side of the brandenburg gate here in berlin, his first speech here as president. he had a fraction of the crowd that watched him speak as a candidate in 2008. earlier in a question and answer session with german chancellor merkle, the president defended the nsa data mining that has raised controversy at home, he said it only chases down specific leads, and it's under control of a court. he also said it's been effective. >> we know of at least 50

threats that have been averted because of this information not just from the united states, but in some cases threats here in germany. so lives have been saved. and the encroachment on privacy has been strictly limited by a court-approved process to relate to these particular categories. >> reporter: chancellor merkle seemed a bit nervous about it. she said they talked at great length about the possibilities and threats the internet opens up. while governments need to gather information, there also needs to be, in her words, proportionality. jon? jon: yes. they are big on privacy there in germany, aren't they, wendell? all right. jenna: well, i guess that's the answer. jon: i guess not. [laughter] jenna: well, in that speech today the president framed the u.s. fight againstal child using

a word that caught our attention, the fight against al-qaeda was evolving. take a listen. >> the iraq war is now over. the afghan war is coming to an end. usama bin laden is no more. our efforts against al-qaeda are evolving. jenna: well, compare that to other times when the president seemed to have a different take on the status of al-qaeda. >> today the core of al-qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan is on the path to defeat. their remaining operate i haves spend -- operatives spend more time thinking about their own safety than plotting against us. i said we'd refocus on the people who actually attacked us on 9/11, and today al-qaeda's on the run, and usama bin laden is dead. [cheers and applause] jenna: ambassador john bolton is former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and a fox news contributor. so, ambassador, does word choice really matter here, evolving,

the path to defeat, on the run? what should we make of it? >> well, i think the president has been justifiably humiliated for the previous rhetoric that al-qaeda was on the road to defeat when manifestly that's not the case. it's true that al-qaeda in waziristan has suffered a lot of losses at its top levels, and that's a very good thing. but al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, al-qaeda in iraq, al-qaeda in the islamic maghreb, al-qaeda operations elsewhere in the world and affiliates of al-qaeda, loose affiliates, are really increasing their threat. so the president's choice of words that al-qaeda is evolving, i think, just represents the reality that smacked him, unfortunately, with tragic consequences in benghazi, at the boston marathon, in the streets of london and paris. but honestly, i don't think it really changes what the president really thinks. he's never believed there was a war against terrorism. he doesn't want there to be a

war against terrorism as if the terrorists are going to let us follow that course. he wants to treat it as a criminal law matter, and i don't see that changing. jenna: one of the things the president talked about after he said our fight against al-qaeda is evolving is he went back to the big speech on foreign policy he just made a few weeks ago and, again, quoted from president james madison who was talking about continual warfare. and the president said today we must remain vigilant about the threat of terrorism, but we must move beyond the mindset of perpetual war. ambassador, if you would speak directly to our audience. if we are moving beyond that mindset, let's just say hypothetically we are, what fills that void? is it that we won the war on terror? are we at war with someone new and different? what replaces it? >> well, you know, a unilateral cessation of war is often the equivalent of defeat. we didn't start this war against the terrorists, we didn't ask for it. we haven't sought it out.

they were the ones who attacked us. so apart from quoting madison out of context, as a number of people have demonstrated, when one side just gives up the war that the other side is still waging, there are going to be serious consequences. the president has a very misguided view of the role of american power in the world. we provide a benign influence on our behalf when we step back and don't contest the terrorists. they will press forward. when the president says, as he did on the arms control issue, he wants to reduce our nuclear arsenal by another third, that is an invitation both for russia and for china and rogue states like iran and north korea to build up their arsenals. this is a program of weakness. jenna: ambassador bolton, let's take that beyond just the policy or the paradigm in which our leaders are making decisions, because real decisions are being made based on what you're saying about the president's world view. and one of the things he also said about terrorist networks is we can't just decimate them, we have to address the instability

and intolerance that fuels them. so, but what does that mean for our safety, our own national security? and, also, how our money is being invested in our safety in the future? >> well, i think his trying to address the causes of religious extremism in the case of the islamic terrorists shows that he doesn't really understand where the fanaticism comes from. this is not an economic issue. you're not going to eliminate radical islam or al-qaeda kinds of terrorism by economic development programs. the fact is, the hard fact, the unpleasant fact is the taliban and others need to be defeated militarily, and al-qaeda needs to be attacked where it is. this is often called defense at a distance, but it's better to be engaged in these activities in waziristan, in north africa, in iraq than on the streets of america. and the president's decision to pull back, to declare that the

war's over unilaterally, means that we won't be defending at a distance anymore, we won't be defending -- we are not defending in iraq, we won't be in afghanistan, and we're going to see a lot more of this violence in america. jenna: i asked about the economics because it's one of the reasons that is given for trying to bring down our nuclear warheads, and that's something that jon's going to be talking about later on in the program. so a lot to look through today. ambassador, great to have you, as always. thank you so much. >> thank you, jenna. jon: we are tracking a developing story out of northern arizona where a massive wildfire has exploded in size threatening hundreds of homes now. we have a live report from the ground coming up next. and nfl star aaron hernandez being questioned in connection with a murder investigation? that's just ahead. every day we're working to be an even better company -

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in fact, we've invested over $55 billion here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor. our commitment has never been stronger. jenna: well, now this fox news alert, going to take you to northern arizona where a massive wildfire erupted yesterday afternoon, and it's now grown to more than 7,000 acres. we're told more crews have been called in to help battle the flames. the so-called docy fire is believed to be manmade. authorities are not sure if it was done on purpose or not, and because of that, the fire is now under investigation. diane rhymes from kksz is live from prescott, arizona, with more. >> reporter: good morning. some of those evacuees are staying right here at the red

cross shelter at a college campus here in prescott. it doesn't seem much like there's a fire going on here. you can see there's no smoke, and there's no flames to be seen at all. there is a lot of wind, and that is one of the problems of this fire. it started around 11:30 yesterday afternoon, it was a very small fire, and it just ballooned. it was a huge fire and spread very, very quickly. and it has been moving ever since. as we said, the wind picked it up, but it's also being fueled by a lot of dry brush and trees. so far 7,000 acres have been burped, and they believe -- burned, and they belief there's even more than that. it is in a wilderness area, it's a very rugged area, but there are a lot of homes around that area, and it can -- it's a beautiful place to live, but it also can be very dangerous during these fire season times. so we talked to one of the ladies who is helping here at the shelter and who lives here in prescott, and this is what she told us how she feels about this fire.

>> it's probably a little sparser vegetated than the heavy pine tree areas, so that may be our saving grace. but it's still -- when you look at those flames last night, it was -- because we live way out williamson valley road, and you could see those flames just leaping the top of the granite mountain, and it's pretty scary looking. >> reporter: so far there have been no injuries, that's the good news, and no homes have been destroyed yet. but this fire is still roaring. there is no containment. a lot of people are keeping their fingers crossed. jenna: we will as well, diane. thank you. jon: "happening now," president obama giving a major foreign policy speech in berlin saying he wants to reduce deployed nuclear weapons by up to a third. listen. >> seek negotiated cuts with russia to move beyond cold war nuclear postures. and we can forge a new international framework for peaceful nuclear power. reject the nuclear weaponization

that north korea and iran may be seeking. america will host a summit in 2016 to continue our efforts to the secure nuclear materials around the world, and we will work to build support in the united states to ratify the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty and call on all nations to begin negotiations on a treaty that ends the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. jon: well, his remarks coming after a meeting with russian president vladimir putin this week. you can see the tense body language between them. the two leaders at odds over the civil war in syria, among other issues. as you might know, russia is a key ally of syrian president bashar assad. based on that fact, the goals president obama wants to accomplish may be easier said than done. let's talk about it with general jack keane, a retired four-star general and former vice chief of staff of the army. he is also a fox news military analyst. in that speech, general kean talking about the idea of reducing the u.s. nuclear

arsenal by a third, what are our military leaders thinking about all of that? >> well, quite frankly, reducing our capacity like that in the face of nuclear proliferation and rogue states acquiring nuclear weapons is absolutely, in my judgment, you know, the wrong message and showing the military leaders i believe feel much the same way. actually, not well known is the state of our nuclear arsenal. quite frankly, it needs, it needs some repair in that sense. it needs to be modernized. the russians have certainly modernized theirs, and the chinese have done much the same. and ours is in very bad shape, in that sense. it doesn't mean we don't have capability, it means we have a deteriorating capability. jon: well, and that idea of the president's to stop production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, that's a great idea, but maybe start with the iranians, huh? >> well, that's at the heart of the problem here.

i mean, we're out here throwing out unilateral policy objectives of our own thinking that somehow that is going to persuade others in the world to change their national interests and their policy objectives. and that has been an abysmal failure. we've seen it from the very beginning with the diplomatic efforts that we conducted with the iranians. and despite all of those diplomatic efforts, despite all the sanctions that have been imposed, the iranians march forward towards a nuclear weapon, and we've seen it also in syria as you mentioned in the intro, jon, the fact of the matter is the russians have been playing us on syria. they're not giving up their base in the mediterranean, the only one that they they have, and the doing everything that they can to support that regime and all these initiatives with the u.n. and other discussions have been more smoke and mirrors than anything else. and we've been buying into it. jenna: yeah, and the big achievement is a hotline now to

discuss or maybe avoid cyber warfare. it's quite a change from the cold war days, or so it would seem. >> yeah, absolutely. look, there's no new cold war here, certainly. russia is not a superpower. they have significant economic, social and health issues, a declining population quite rapidly and alarmingly, frankly, and they're not the military power they used to be. putin, all that said, is very frustrated by all the cold war rhetoric he's listened to now for almost 20 years, and he wants to return russia to prestige. so we're going to have conflicts from time to time with putin and with the russians. but certainly not on the scale that we used to have. jon: general jack keen, it's good to have you on. thank you. >> good talking to you, jon. jenna: now to a disturbing story involving nfl star aaron hernandez, the tight end for the new england patriots is being questioned in connection with a

murder investigation. molly line is live in boston with more on this story. >> reporter: massachusetts state police detectives swarmed all over the home of aaron hernandez who's a well known and valuable player on the pats' team. the bristol county district attorney's office isn't giving out a whole lot of information about this case yet, but what we know is that this quiet north neighborhood where hernandez lives swarming with investigators there following the discovery of a body. this happened monday afternoon at about 5:30 in the afternoon. it was a teenaged jogger that apparently found this body as he was out for a run in a nearby industrial park area less than a mile away from the nfl player's home. hernandez has not been named a suspect related to this very unusual circumstance. but investigators are seeking information and arrived in force at the $1.3 million property owned by hernandez. a nearby business owner says that the team that made -- teen that made this discovery ran into his business asking for someone to call 911.

the man described the dead man as a black male in his late 20s. >> police officers later said to us it looked like he'd been shot and dumped there. his hat was laying like three feet back from his head just kind of like laying there on the ground like you were thinking, you know, if somebody dumped the body there, why would the hat have fallen off when they dumped the body? why wouldn't it have fallen off long before then? >> reporter: the patriots are saying little about this investigation. vp of media relations stacy james released a short statement saying: >> r eporter: our boston fox affiliate has learned the police recovered a black suv that is somehow tied to this investigation, and "sports illustrated", si.com, reports that that suv was represented in afternoon hernandez -- rented in

aaron hernandez's name. an unfolding investigation here. jenna? jenna: we'll continue to watch it, molly, thank you. jon: there's a new book out criticizing the supreme court ruling on president obama's health care law which, believe it or not, that ruling a year old now. the book is called "why john roberts was wrong about health care." it's written by a united states senator. we'll speak with him next. copd makes it hard to breathe...

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jon: right now big developments at that interstate bridge that collapsed into a river in washington state less than a month ago. rick folbaum has it from the newsroom. >> reporter: well, jon, traffic is moving again this morning on the i-5 bridge, a good thing for motorists who rely on this to get from seattle up into canada. the bridge collapsed may 23rd, happened after it was hit by a truck that had too big of a load a little less than a month ago, and this is video of how a thatk into place. video sped up but not too much, actually, considering how quickly this thing was built. state workers and private contractors banging out this thing in a hurry. the governor says it's a testament to teamwork, and this is a temporary fix, jon. it'll stay in place until the permanent one is built and then rolled into position. the cost on this, by the way, less than $2 million, and that permanent one they're building will cost just under $7 million. last week the federal government offered more than $15.5 million

for the whole thing. nice to see the taxpayers being saved some cash. jon: good for the civil engineers. thanks. jenna: taking you back to washington, d.c. where robert mueller is testifying in front of the judiciary committee about fbi oversight. a lot of big questions there for bob mueller, we'll continue to watch this. you can watch it live, by the way, on foxnews.com. we'll be right back with more breaking news here on "happening now". >> and small aircraft could well be adapted --

jenna: right now the white house is maa big push on health care, trying to get people to sign up as more and more parts of the law are falling into place. take a listen to an ad now running on major news networks. >> what's the impact of obamacare? the truth is, americans are already seeing the benefits. she's seeing more seniors for free wellness visits.

he received a $150 rebate from his health insurance company. and next year she can expand her small his thanks to tax create -- small business thanks to tax credits. jenna: despite that, there's still a lot of opposition, and it's as fierce as ever. republican senator mike lee of utah is continuing his campaign against the law. he has some beef with chief justice john roberts. he has published a new e-book this week where he maps out his plan for what's next. republican senator mike lee of utah is joining us now. senator, not to bury the lead too much, i want to get to your book, but i just realizationed you just stepped out of this committee hearing with bob mueller. what are your thoughts on what you've learned so far? >> you know, what i chose to discuss with him was the fact that the government is collecting a lot of data about individual american citizens. now, not all of that data is

itself directly relevant to an ongoing investigation about national security. so i asked him the question whether when you aggregate all that data up, even if each point is itself relatively insignificant, doesn't that undermine the reasonable privacy expectations of the american people when they collect data on all of us and have the ability to store it for years and search it at any time? i think that's a problem, and i think he understood the point. jenna: are you satisfied with his answer? >> well, his answer was predictably defensive of the agency that he runs. that's what people do in washington. they tend to protect their own government office. but in this circumstance it is our responsibility as members of congress to look out for the privacy interests of individual american citizens and make sure that we don't make government so powerful that it has the power to look into every aspect of our lives. jenna: it's an interesting point that you make. you must have a legal background, which we know that we do, which is part of the

reason why you're serving on this committee as well. the title of your book, "why john roberts was wrong about obamacare," i'd like to get to the conclusion you reached. what's your plan now? >> well, my plan is to pursue a robust discussion of senate bill 560 which i've introduced in order to respond to the chief justice's ruling which came down one year ago this friday. and what it says is simple. unlike the obamacare law which takes up thousands of pages, this is a one-page bill, and here's what it says: it says that the individual mandate of provision of obamacare is hereby amended as follows. nothing in this section shall be construed as a tax or as an exercise of congress' power to tax, and that's it. you put that in there, and all of a sudden you undo everything that chief justice roberts did, everything i explain in the book, to rewrite the law not just once, but twice in order to save it. this would undo the whole thing. jenna: so it would undo the whole thing, which has been the

goal, right, since the health care law has been deemed legal by the supreme court. you have republicans in the house, their goal being repealing the health care law. they voted 37 times on it. republicans in the senate have roted on -- voted on a series of amendments virtually to do the same thing, and it sounds like that's your attempt here. but, senator, it is the law, it is happening right now. we're all going to be affected by it. so why spend the time trying to repeal the law, why not try to make it better if, indeed, it is the law that is the law of the land? >> yeah, that point has been made many times, especially by the bill's fiercest advocates. and the point that they overlook is the fact that when you get something that's this big, this convoluted, that amounts to this big of a government intrusion into our lives, not an easy thing. i'm not even sure it's a possible thing to do surgery on it to the point you can make it palatable. that's what i explain in the book, the chief justice made a grave error and betrayed his

constitutional oath to interpret the law fairly and decide each case on the basis of the laws and the facts because he rewrote the law not just once, but twice in order to save it from an otherwise inevitable finding of unconstitutionality. the reason that's the problem is because we have the power to make laws, not the court. so the law as it was enacted by congress no longer exists. it's been rewritten by the court, and that's a problem. jenna: unfortunately, we're going to leave it there, but we'll have you back, senator, because we'd like to know once the law's in place and we've all bought into it, you know, what happens next if suddenly it's repealed several years from now? please come back, senator, for that conversation. we'd love to have you back, and we'll be right back with more "happening now" here on fox.

>> hi, everybody, we're in the "happening now" control room, and brand new hour is coming your way. we're working on these stories for you including conservatives, tea party groups holding a rally on capitol hill demanding action after the news that the irs targeted them because of their political views. we're live in washington as taxpayers are calling for someone to audit the irs. also what really happened to twa flight 800? a brand new film lays out the case that instead of being an accident, it was a missile that brought down the jetliner. we'll go in depth. and we'll tell you the shocking story of a former firefighter who killed his wife and yet still collects $55,000 a year in pension money from behind bars.

all of that and breaking news as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. ♪ ♪ jenna: well, some members of the tea party movement joining a massive rally on capitol hill demanding the irs be held accountable for targeting the tea party. welcome to a brand new hour of "happening now," i'm jenna lee. jon: and i'm jon scott. today's event shaping up to be the biggest since 2010. folks attending today's rally are saying it's time to audit the irs. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on capitol hill now with that. what's the mood at this rally, mike? >> reporter: well, jon, feisty, spirited, fired-up. i caught up with some of the folks on my way up here earlier and, bottom line, a lot of americans do not care for the irs. many of these folks, tea party folks, particularly do not care for the tax collection agency after the targeting of tea party and other conservative organizations. here's a crowd pleaser from

earlier. >> i'm seeing the signs over here, one was audit the irs. [cheers and applause] and they've got, they've got the nsa on their -- well, that's what i'm talking about, abolish the i arers. -- irs. [cheers and applause] abolish the infernal revenue service, as i call it. [laughter] >> reporter: and that was just the pregame. tea party favorites including rand paul, mike lee, ted cruz and more all still to come, jon. jon: we were talking last hour about the $70 million in bonuses that irs workers apparently are getting for a job well done. i imagine that is percolating there among some of the tea party folks. >> reporter: absolutely right. senator chuck grassley really made it well known. the irs is saying it has a legal obligation to comply with its collective bargaining agreement. iowa senator grassley sent a

letter to acting commissioner danny wore fell asking, quote, does the irs intend to execute an agreement to preserve approximately $70 million for union bonuses during sequestration? if so, please explain why and how that is consistent with office of management and budget, omb, guidance. in addition, please provide a copy of the new agreement. meanwhile, on the house side of the capitol, a war has erupted between democrat elijiah cummings and chairman darrell issa. cummings released a full transcript of a congressional interview, cummings says it debunks conspiracy theories about irs targeting. bottom line, there's a bit of a war going on in the house oversight committee. jon? jon: we'll keep an eye on that one as well. mike emanuel, thank you. >> reporter: thank you, sir. jenna: well, "happening now," new trouble for the state department's security agency already under the microscope amid allegations of illegal and

very unprofessional misconduct. two top officials facing accusations they may have lied in a lawsuit against former secretary of state hillary clinton. our chief washington correspondent, james rosen, is with us now. he, of course, covers the state department. so, james, why are we finding out about this now? >> reporter: well, jenna, good afternoon. these latest disclosures arise out of a lawsuit in texas that is set to go to trial this fall. veteran ds agent rick hiking by is suing over claims he was discriminated against by his superiors after he refused overseas work assignments because of his ill daughter. state has contested these claims. in late february two top ds officials -- one who was director of ds until february 1st and still the executive director of ds -- sat for videotaped depositions in which they were asked if they knew of criticism by other agencies to the effect that ds, diplomatic security, has failed to follow procedures or about pending

investigations into ds. >> i'm not aware of any. >> reporter: come to mind, i'm not aware of any. but just two months earlier, documentary evidence showed that both officials were presented with damning findings from a draft report by the state department's office of inspector general alleging that diplomatic security's own investigations had been compromised by higher-ups at state. jenna? jenna: so, james, the administration and the administration's critics have very different views of this testimony and what it means. just walk us through a little bit about the arguments. >> reporter: yeah. not unpredictably. state department officials cited the pending trial in texas to are raised here only in the most general of terms while critics of the administration worried about the impact of these disclose yours in future court cases. >> it undercuts the credibility of the entire agency, in this case the diplomatic security bureau. >> if there is an allegation of misconduct of which i'm not

aware of for those two individuals, we would certainly take a look at that as we would in any case. but, again, bringing up names and litigating people's reputations in the press is something that has been concerning to us to date. >> reporter: fox news has also learned that a whistleblower from within the state department's office of inspector general, part of the team that reviewed the conduct of ds and its agents, was debriefed at length by investigators from the gop-controlled house oversight committee this week. jenna? jenna: we'll continue to follow this story. james, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. jon: another case involving whistleblowers now, they are coming forward alleging a government cover-up in the crash of twa flight 800. you might recall 230 people died minutes after taking off from jfk airport back in 1996. now in a new documentary, some of those who participated in the official investigation of that crash, well, they are saying now

that it was no accident. rick leventhal is live in the newsroom with the latest. is there enough evidence to get the case reopened, rick? >> reporter: well, the film makers say they can prove that flight 800 was brought down by a missile, not by a faulty wire which was the government's conclusion, and they filed a petition for reconsideration with the national transportation safety board which now has 60 days to determine if this really is new evidence. the film makers ascribe the original findings as flawed saying evidence was manipulated, mishapped led and ignored. -- mishandled and ignored. radar and black box evidence all fit together like a glove pointing to an external explosion. >> there was gross mismanagement of the evidence. the witness statements and other scientific facts that should have been appropriately considered, and they weren't by east the fbi or the ntsb. >> this documentary presents the facts that disproves the

official theory and proves beyond any reasonable doubt that a detonation -- not a fuel air explosion -- a detonation caused this crash. hard radar evidence proving that. >> reporter: the film makers won't speculate why there might have been a cover up. the document airs on july 17th, the 17th anniversary of the crash. jon: but the fbi is disputing their claims? >> reporter: of course, they are. i spoke with the man who ran the new york office when flight 800 went down. he led the criminal investigation which lasted 16 months. he calls the documentary preposterous. he says the agency suspected early on it was a missile strike and, quote, took the bull by the horns, exhaustively examining every inch of that recovered plane, bringing in explosives and metal experts conducting thousands of interviews with the sole agenda, he says, of finding the truth. >> we had a full court press for months and months and months on that theory. but the reality was there's no evidence of a missile hitting

the plane either outside the plane, inside the plane, penetrating the plane, concussion from the missile, no evidence of it. >> reporter: he says the suggestion of a cover up is nonsensical, jon. jon: wow. so we take a look at it all over again. rick leventhal, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jon: let's take a closer look at what we know about twa 800. it crashed 14 minutes after takeoff. the national transportation safety board spent four years investigating the tragedy. more than 95% of the pieces of the plane were recovered from the ocean floor. investigators were able to reassemble 727 significant pieces. jenna: a big talker, that story. we'll continue to watch that. in the meantime, reaction to iran's soon-to-be new president. he's considered a moderate, but what does moderate mean when we talk about iran, and what his election means for the country's nuclear ambitions and our safety. what about that? analysis from two guests who

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jenna: well, it's a new problem for boeing's state of the art dreamliner. a mid flight malfunction is forcing the pilot to divert his plane, and this is making headlines. rickrick folbaum has the latest. >> reporter: this airplane line can't catch a break. first, the whole fleet is grounded, now an oil filter problem forcing the united airlines-own dreamliner to be diverted to seattle. this was supposed to be a flight from denver to tokyo but pilots, as you said, had to land in seattle after that warning light went on. the plane landed no problem. the airline is working to get customers to japan on other flights, but all this comes after problems with the lithium ion battery system, and that led

the faa to order boeing to replace all the batteries. once that happened and a process was put in place, the planes were then allowed to fly again. hopefully, this problem is just a one-off thing. ironically, jenna, united announced its purchase of 20 brand new dreamliners just hours before the mishap with that tokyo-bound flight. boeing looking for more headlines like that one than this one. jenna: rick, thank you. jon: "happening now," the murder trial for george zimmerman entering a new phase. prosecutors and defense lawyers whittling down a pool of 40 potential jurors to the six jurors plus four alternates who could decide zimmerman's fate. zimmerman is a former neighborhood watchman facing a possible life sentence if convicted in the shooting death of teenager trayvon martin. phil keating is live from miami with more. phil? >> reporter: jon, the attorneys are now probing deeper and further into the backgrounds and beliefs of this group of 40 potential jurors all in the aim

of getting a fair and impartial jury to eventually decide whether george zimmerman is guilty of second-degree murder or, as he claims, only acted in self-defense. this is a live look north of orlando in sanford, florida, inside the courtroom at state prosecutor bernie delaly onda questioning this group of 0 or 40 questions like how long they've lived in seminole county, whether they watch tv shows such as csi and law and order and how their family life is. the parents of trayvon martin are again there in the courtroom for the eighth straight day, and for the very first time george zimmerman's sister, mother and father are all seated behind him in the courtroom. in fact, this is the first time we've ever seen george zimmerman's mother. she is peruvian, his father is white. eventually, attorneys will query the prospective jurors about their feelings on guns, gun control, race, racial profiling

and florida's self-defense law. prosecutors contend george zimmerman profiled trayvon martin, followed him, provoked an altercation and fatally shot him. in this group of 40 possible jurors, 24 are women, 16 are men. 27 are white, 7 are black, 3 are hispanic, and 3 are mixed race. regarding this case, juror i24 said this in round one: >> a young man lost his life, another man is fighting for his life, and no one is a winner in this case. >> reporter: also of note, four of these 40 people served in the military, four hail from the chicago area, two have actually served on juries before as foremen, three of the women rescue pets as a hobby, and one of the young men, his hobby? competitive arm wrestling. it is looking likely that opening arguments at the earliest could be friday, but most suspect they will most likely be on monday.

jon? jon: they'll need an extra wide chair in the jury box for that arm wrestler, i'm fairly certain. [laughter] phil keating, thank you. >> reporter: all right. jenna: this next story is one of the most bizarre of recent years, really. a woman attacked and horribly disfigured by a chimpanzee, remember this? she wants to file a lawsuit against the state of connecticut for allowing the animal to be kept as a pet. but just last week the state said she can't sue because the chimp was legal. she's fighting that ruling. our legal panel weighs in on all of this. also iran's nuclear program getting new attention as iran gets a new president. is the new leader likely to the end the nuclear stalemate? is peace possible under this new leadership? we'll debate it, coming up. hey, look! a shooting star! make a wish! i wish we could lie here forever. i wish this test drive was over,

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jenna: well, there is one underlying theme in nearly all of our big news stories whether it's the nsa or syria, and one of the key components is iran. while the world is learning more about iran's new president-elect, questions are surfacing about how much impact he'll truly have on american/iranian relations or lack thereof. the state department recently released a report that said iran's terror outreach is surging to levels we haven't seen in decades, and while the president -- our president is speaking today about nuclear disarmament, iran continues to plug ahead towards it nuclear program. according to the latest report from the u.n., sanctions have done nothing to deter the iranians. so is the new president a new hope? jim walsh is an international security expert with mit security studies program a, and brett stephens is a former security affairs columnist for "the wall street journal". welcome to you both. we have a very interesting new york times editorial today written in part by a former official of the iranian regime, and this is what is said.

this election of this man is a once in a lifetime chance to end the atomic stalemate with iran. brett, is it? >> no. i think this is going to mean that we may hoodwink ourselves into believing that, but iran's nuclear program is going to continue. very important to emphasize, jenna, iran has a new president, but it does not have a new leader. the supreme leader, eye tole rah khamenei, has been in power for 24 years, and everyone agrees that he makes all of the key decisions on nuclear issues. now, in the new president rouhani, you have a very smooth negotiator and a much more pleasant faith than the former president or outgoing president, ahmadinejad, and he may be willing to make what appear to be concessions to buy further time for the iranian nuclear program, but people should be aware that iran has a consistent record under both so-called reformists and so-called hard liners of pursuing its nuclear programs to their fruition.

jenna: jim, you've met with ahmadinejad, other officials. you've been to the country as well. what do you think of bret's assessment? >> well, you know, i tend to be a pragmatist. let's wait until he takes office. the guy doesn't go into office until august. it may be that he represents a new possibility. the supreme leader has authorized negotiations, by the way. and in addition, the supreme leader just got a big fat message from the iranian people. rouhani was not his choice. rouhani was the reform candidate, the centrist candidate, and the supreme leader's candidate, the ultra conservative yalily who was head of iran's current negotiating team, he got smoked. he got 11%, and rouhani won in a giant surprise outright with 50% of the vote. no one in iran and certainly no one in the united states predicted that. so there's a message being sent to the supreme leader, and he's not deaf. jenna: what is thatsage? >> there were two messages that rouhani had in the campaign. one is we need a new policy on

the nuclear issue, and the other was loosening restrictions at home, less of the morality police and the other sort of things that had been bothering people and to release people under house arrest. in fact, after one of the debates the guardians' council, it was reported, was going to disqualify him because of things he was saying. we tend to get this thing, oh, it doesn't matter, other folks are saying this is going to change everything. i think we should wait and judge by actions. jenna: what about that, bret? we have a couple months left. sanctions are still in the place. should we wait and see? one of the things the editorial's talking about is the need for compromise. what -- where is there compromise here? where is there a possibility, or is there simply no possibility? >> jenna, something that your other guest said needs to be corrected, okay? the slate of candidates was all chosen by the guardian council, by the regime itself. so if we were to have an election in the united states and some guardian council were to say, yeah, you can have an

election, but you can only choose a, b, c and d, okay, that would not be a free election. yes, the iranians voted for the candidate who was perceived to be the most pragmatic and most moderate within the field, but it's an extremist field. rouhani was the ayatollah khamenei's right hand from before even the first revolution -- jenna: so is there no hope, bret? >> the other candidates that ran from 2009 are still under house arrest. this is a candidate who is a creature of the regime that has consistently pursued a nuclear program. now, he might be smarter about the way he pursues it, but he's going to pursue it. jenna: so is there hope, bret? is this just a nonissue in your mind? you know, whoever the is the president, quite frankly, it doesn't matter because iran's getting a nuclear weapon, and we're going to have to deal with that eventuality. >> the hope is that the united states and this administration or the israelis appreciate how

very close iran is to having a nuclear weapon. they have enriched seven tons of nuclear material. they are enriching near bomb-grade material. and the hope continues to lie with the iranian people who demonstrated in 2009 that it isn't just a reformist president that they want, they want a change of regime. and we should be supporting their aspirations rather than pretending that the charade of democracy that just took place represents a genuine election. jenna: what about that, jim? maybe we should -- bret's saying the debate shouldn't be about politics in iran. but what about the people making a change? >> you know, and i agree. let's talk about the people. you know, i appreciate bret trying to correct me, but i've actually been to iran, and i've studied the nuclear program for other ten years. those reformists were supposedly going to stay home, right? instead, they turned out in droves. they had a 70%-plus turnout, and that was from the folks who wanted change, the green movement. so bret's saying all those green

movement people don't know what they're doing -- jenna: i don't think -- if i could, bret, let me just make sure, i don't think that's exactly what you're saying. i think you're saying that the people need to come into the streets if they want the change. >> first of all, jim is as an iran expert knows that voting is mandatory in much of iran, so the 70% figure is a little bit misleading. no, look, iranians want to get rid of sanctions which have harmed the iranian economy. and one way of doing that, perhaps, is having a smooth negotiator who might help ease sanctions. but easing sanctions by coming to some sort of arrangement with the west does not mean an end to their nuclear program, and that's the supreme interest that we in the united states, all of us in the west have in making sure that this uniquely aggressive regime doesn't get nuclear weapons. so to bamboozle ourselves into thinking that rouhani is a figure who has authority and who will reach a modus vivendi with

the united states, i think, is dangerously self-deceptive. and everyone is calling this guy a moderate. you know, there were nazi moderates. there are moderates in any political spectrum. he is a creature of the regime. jenna: jim, your final thoughts on this. >> yeah. i'd love to be able to get some points in here on this. his policy, and he would acknowledge this, repeatedly has called for the bombing of iran, so it's no shock to me that suddenly when there's a chance that there might be progress in a negotiation, he's throwing a million talking points and be is trying to see what's going to stick. i say, fine, you could be right, and you could be wrong. so let's wait and see and judge by action. as far as that mandatory voting, that is completely -- you know, obviously not wrong. they've had as low as 50% turn out in the last presidential election on the runoff. the greens turned out for a reason, and for you to sit in new york and judge them, i think they're probably in the best position to decide their own future at whether they vote or don't vote. >> i want them to decide their own future. i'd like them to decide their

own future, and we're pretending that they're having a vote in their own future on a slate of candidates that was whittled down to eight from over 600. that is not -- >> they couldn't -- [inaudible conversations] >> that is not a democracy. plenty of people travel to iran like to the old soviet union and said, oh, this is a wonderful state without actually appreciating -- >> no one's saying that. jenna: i gave bret the first word, let me give you the last. you just said you studied the program for ten years, and you say wait, wait a few more months, but how long do we wait on this? >> yeah. well, here's what we know, you know, and what are we going to do in the meantime, by the way? we already have sanctions. i don't think we're going to bomb them. no one wants to go and start a third war in the middle east. what's going to happen here is that he will take office, and if he makes proposals like he did in a letter to time magazine in 2006, there may be room to go forward. and let's be clear, iran had a nuclear weapons program, it shut it down in 2003. the top intelligence official in

the united states has testified every year, including this past march, saying that program has been shut down. they continue to build capacity, but they have not made a decision to build nuclear weapons. jenna: well, one of the arguments -- >> this is the window to move this in a different direction. jenna: one of the arguments they shut down the program is there was fear, there was fear that there was going to be some sort of military intervention because they did not trust president bush. that's a debate for another time, yes member. we -- gentlemen. it's a loaded question, jim, i know. jim and bret, great to have you, thank you so much. >> thank you. jon: the american medical association now classifies obesity as a disease, and it's declaring it an epidemic. could that change the way doctors and insurance companies treat and coffer obese patients? and a former chicago firefighter convicted of murdering his wife. guess what? he's still collecting his pension from behind bars. more than three-quarters of a million dollars so far.

why the city is paying up and what his victim's family is saying about all of it. >> this has to add insult to injury. >> it does can. i mean, for so many years have passed, i mean, our lives were changed forever.

jenna: for the republican dominated house, passing an abortion bill restricting the time when a woman can terminate a pregnancy. it was sparked by the murder

conviction of philadelphia abortion doctor, kermit gosnell. the ban defies laws in states that allow abortions up till when a fetus is viable. molly henneberg is live in washington. this legislation tries to change some reasoning behind abortion laws. how so? >> reporter: jenna, some states base abortion laws on viability when the baby could survive outside of the mother with medical intervention, generally around 24 weeks after the gosnell trial, babies were murdered during abortions, and based this legislation on when a baby until womb has enough pain receptors to feel the pain of an abortion. supporters say that is about 20 weeks after conception. >> after this kermit gosnell trial and some of the horrific acts going on, the vast majority of american people believe in the substance of this bill and

so do i. >> hr1797 is base on undisputed scientific evidence which tell us that unborn children at 20 weeks and older can feel pain. these are babies of the they can feel pain. >> reporter: the measure passed the gop-controlled house largely along party lines, 228-196. jenna. jenna: why do democrats oppose the legislation? >> reporter: they say it is too evict tiff and chips away at rover sus wade and doesn't give a woman and her doctor enough latitude to make decisions about pregnancy. >> exception for women's life is so narrowly written and convoluted even a physician wanting to comply in good faith would have condition is extreme that a condition qualifies. >> this bill would deny care to women in the most desperate circumstances. sad and desperate circumstances. it is net brother republican attempt to endanger women.

>> reporter: the democratically controlled senate is unlikely to take any action on this legislation. the white house said president obama opposes it and likely would veto it if it were to make it to his desk. jenna. jenna: molly, thank you. jon: a recent study on america's medical future gave the usa a grade of f, as in fat. now the american medical association has officially voted to classify obesity as a disease. the group is recommending new measures to fight what it calls an obesity epidemic in this country. about a third of the adults in the u.s. are considered obese. in 2008 medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion and on average, medical costs for obese patients each year run $1429 more than for those who are of normal weight. what about this issue? let's talk about it with dr. richard fershein.

dr. marc siegel, you know. professor of medicine at nyu langone medical center and a member of the fox news medical a-team. all of sudden, dr. fer shine, obesity is a disease. good idea or not? >> good idea. what we are faced with for some years people are undertreated because they are overweight. overweight does lead to a number of serious medical conditions. diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure. those particular conditions are often neglected because doctors are afraid to have the discussion in the first place. this opens up the discussion. jon: dr. siegel, i get that. isn't it really a martie of diet and exercise? if you do those two things in the proper balance don't you lose weight? >> jon, it is not always a matter of that. here in lies the problem. sometimes it is lifestyle. sometimes exercise will treat it, getting off the couch. sometimes it is only diet

related. sometimes it is other metabolic conditions we have to figure out. i don't think medically strictly speaking obesity is a disease. i think it's a syndrome or a condition. utilizing it in this way is more or less a gimmick to get more attention spotlighted on it which may lead to better treatments and as he said, it may prevent diseases i'm really worried about like hypertension and hard disease. on the other hand it may lead to insurers covering nebulous treatment that are not scientifically tested. nutrisystems and other things to extend health costs of the you can look at this both ways. jon: there are new drugs on the market for instance that might be covered as part of a medical treatment plan if now this thing is considered a disease, right? >> we have '80 million people right now who are:ally obese. 17% of children are obese as well. we need new treatments. we need to incentivize insurance

companies. we need to incentivize the insurance industry, pharmaceutical industry to create new treatments and approaches to treat this problem. right now we're failing. this will be a serious problem for us going forward. 500 billion within the estimated costs within the next 20 years. jon: i also hear people saying, oh, i'm not going to, you know, give up my car and walk to the store or whatever. i have a disease. >> well that's what i'm worried about. this is an enormous problem. i don't want anyone out to think i'm minimizing this. obesity is an enormous problem and it is connected directly to the worst health problems in the united states including heart disease and certain cases cancer. sedentary behavior we're rampant with it. it is not just one-third of americans being obese. two thirds of americans are overweight. we need to shine a spotlight on it. we need treatments and incentives for it but calling it a disease is unclear whether it will move in the right

direction. we need more attitude and more doctors talk about it and more patients thinking about it. jon: we'll have to leave the discussion there. it is an interesting concept. good arguments on both sides. dr. siegel, dr. firshin. >> good to see you. jenna: jon, he beat his wife almost 20 years ago to death and see what he collects every year from the firefighter's pension of the why the victim's family may never see a cent. [ female announcer ] it's simple physics...

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jon: take you to chicago now where eugene ornstead was convicted in 1994 for the grisly beating death of his second wife but he is collecting some $55,000 a year. why? because he was a firefighter and he had a pension. despite being behind bars he still gets the money. and he gets more benefits since he is a sole survivor. in effect he increased his pension by beating his wife to death. the victim's outraged family might never see a penny of this money. let's talk about it with our legal panel. dan schor, a former prosecutor. rebecca rosewood land is a defense attorney. dan, this thing is unfortunately kind of common. >> we have the same situation in new york, people that are sometimes violent felons. we have elected officials in new

york in jail because of public corruption still getting pensions from elected office. jon: why can't being a convicted felon, why can't they write some side of the law that says you're a convicted felon, you lose your pension. >> they can and amend the law and change it. in new york it would require a constitutional amendment. some people are proposing that. here in chicago a person convicted of a violent murder and still getting a pension. the public is paying for his incarceration and pension. jon: rebecca, he collected more than $800,000 while in prison? >> jon, i have to agree the position is ridiculous. in chicago and illinois they should change the statute. the victim's family should sue himselfly. remember the brown family sued o.j. and there is outstanding verdict. the victim's family can sue him for wrongful death. he has already been convicted so that is a huge asset to the lawsuit. if they get monetary amount.

the pension gets removed from him to the victim's family. that is the way to do it. jon: he is 76 years old. he won't be eligible for parole until he turns 100. he is not collecting the money in prison, ironically he signed over power of attorney to his daughter, a chicago police officer. she is a daughter by first marriage. not related to the woman who was killed. she makes something like $78,000 a year as a cop. apparently she gets to cash $55,000 a year in pension checks. >> right, the family of the deceased woman they're outraged. why should someone related to this defendant who is in jail for murder, why should they get money after he killed the wife? jon: well, it's quite a story. we also want to touch on this because we talked about it earlier in the program. charlotte nash, the woman so horrifically maimed by the chimpanzee. she wanted to sue the state of

connecticut. the state ruled last week, sorry we can not be sued in this case. she will appeal. what do you think her chances are? >> you know there is possibility in this case that the state had evidence this chimpanzee was very aggressive and violent. that is what her defense attorneys are saying. her attorneys are saying there is evidence of violence in the chimp. the state knew. the state should have removed the chimp from any human interaction. if that is the case, then the appeal will stand and there will be a lawsuit proceeding. if that is not the case, the state says, hey look, if they didn't know, it wasn't our responsibility. it was the responsibility of the woman who had the chimp. jon: that is essentially what the state is saying right, dan? >> yeah. it is a heart-braking case. the chimpanzee was legally owned by person at the time. jon: who was a friend of hers. >> it was since been illegal. but the at time it was legal. is there duty of the government to take that chimp away. that is the issue. jon: the state said they

shouldn't be held liable because at the time it was legal and it was legal to have the chimp under state law. >> that's what they're saying. her attorney is saying, we have information that the state was put on notice that this chimp was aggressive and violent f they do, they're going to have to prove it through evidence admissible in court. any sort of records, notes, letters, or, testimony on trial underoath that someone told the state. jon: well it is $150 million lawsuit that she filed and again, so far, she has not been able to make it, take it to court against the state. she is living in a nursing home outside of boston bit way for now. we'll update viewers how that goes. dan, rebecca, thank you both. >> thank you. >> jenna? jenna: a new twist in a decades-old mystery. the fbi digging in a farm field for the remains of jimmy hoffa. what they're doing after searching three days. rick folbaum with the late-breaking details next.

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jenna: right now a brand new development in the search for jimmy hoffa. an fb i-team searching for his remains in michigan, apparently putting their shovels away. rick folbaum with breaking news on this. rick? >> one of the country's most enduring mysteries will stay just that at least for now. the fbi is calling off the search saying they haven't found jimmy hoffa's remains. this is the field in suburban detroit where the search began earlier in the week. a reputed mobster said he was buried there 40 years ago. tony cerrellly said he was off buried there. forensic anthropologists were brought in and dogs and no luck. hoffa was convicted jury

tampering, long suspected having ties to the mob. he disappeared in 1968, presumably murdered. authorities have been tracking down bad leads and location of his remains ever since. fbi says the case remains open. the searches and hoffa mystery is still on. jenna: would be a joke if he is living on an island. >> don't count on it. jenna: rick, thank you. >> a california law regulating eggs sold in the state could have a big impact on chicken farmers across the country. william la jeunesse is live with that. >> reporter: how farmers grow beef and bacon. one iowa lawmaker wants to federalize and overright a california law written bit animal rights lobby that dictates how america raises livestock. >> want to stay in business. farm something what we do. >> reporter: three generations and chickens they care for, caught in the cross fire. >> it was a mistake for california to do what it did. i'm sorry that is the case but we can't impose that mistake on

the rest of america. now he has an amendment that would wipe away in one fell swoop by the congress, a state laws on horse slaughter, shark finishing, extreme confinement of animals on factory farms. >> chickens are crammed into cages. >> reporter: controversy began when the humane society using these ads pass ad law trip filling size of cages laying hens. not just california but any one in the golden state. >> if this passes one thing could lead to another. >> reporter: farmers nationwide feared precedent. if one state could tell them how to raise chickens what is next? free range cows and pig? >> if we don't step in and do this, california you can regulate the means of production. >> reporter: king's bill makes illegal one state to ban from state to tate based on how a animal is raising. growers feel caught in the middle. >> we have to follow the rules

and other people don't. for us we can't compete. >> reporter: this egg farmer support as new bill setting a nationwide standard on the size of a chicken coop. >> only makes sense an egg producer in this state should be the same as egg producer in another state. >> reporter: if the king bill or amendment succeeds or fails nothing changes, if the bill goes around the country, it will ociple the size and you pay the cost. jon: william la jeunesse. thank you. my doctor. my gynecologist. my pharmacist. citracal. citracal. [ female announcer ] you trust your doctor. doctors trust citracal.

>> fox news alert on a big media briefing wrapping up about dramatic new claims on the top three airline disasters in american history. welcome to america live i am megyn kelly where the news is breaking now. twa flight 800 en route from jfk to paris went down on the coast of long island killing all 230 people on board. here's how the events. >> it looked like an explosion of some kind. >> you reported an explosion; is that correct. >> it was in the air and two fire balls go down