jeffrey tweets, i don't care about traffic in new jersey. bill: sean says he never covers covers things up like others in washington. martha: happy weekend, everybody. we'll see you monday. bye, guys. jenna: we start off this friday with a fox news alert. hundred of thousands of people in nine west virginia counties dealing with effects of a chemical spill in the water supply. the white house declaring a federal disaster after a coal processing chemical spilled into the elk river in charleston just yesterday. much of the state's capitol is shut down today. the governor telling residents in the affected counties not to use tapwater, to bathe, to brush their teeth or do laundry or anything else. >> concerns me a lot. i have children and animals. we sim in the summer. we boat. we tube. we're in the river. i like to know maybe why it happened so that it can, they can keep it from happening again and, really just anything that they're going to do to rectify

the situation. jenna: what can the folks do? the station national guard is planning pass out bottled water to affected counties. that is one thing happening. we'll follow this developing story. a live report later this hour. right now, today's top headlines and brand new stories you will see here first. jon: new fallout and thousands more documents expected in the bridge traffic scandal now engulfing a possible presidential candidate. what we could learn. more calls for transparency over obamacare. how lawmakers want to hold the administration accountable for security breaches on the online exchanges. and a man accused of violating a restraining order by email. he's in jail now but says he never sent the message. so who did? it is all "happening now." jon: good morning and a happy friday to you. some brand new developments in

our top story this morning. the developing political firestorm surrounding new jersey governor chris christie. i'm jon scott. >> hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. you didn't get any new jersey style fight? jon: a little hand surgery after the show. jenna: want to bet it out of the way in case anyone had any questions. jon: trigger finger if anybody knows. jenna: surgery yesterday. back on set today. dedication, jon. jon: thank you. jenna: jon's recovering. he is all right. jon: i just can't type. >> we'll turn to what is going on in new jersey. more documents regarding the bridge traffic scandal apparently carried out by members of governor christie's staff to punish a political rival. the governor apologizing profusely yesterday in a marathon two-hour news conference. you saw part of that on our show, denying any knowledge of the scheme, the whole saga putting the potential 2016 presidential candidate under intense scrutiny. listen to karl rove last night "on the record." >> if that all turns out to be true, yes, i believe he has the capacity to move beyond this.

if on the other hand there was somebody inside his inner circle who did make him aware of this, then it would be a campaign-ending event. jenna: our fox news senior correspondent eric shawn is live in our new york city newsroom with more on this story. >> reporter: hello, jenna. a thousand pages expected to be released within the hour from the new jersey state assembly committee investigating this scandal, the transportation committee. what do the documents say? what will they show? will they back up governor christie or raise more questions? all this in the wake of the governor's apology and taking responsibility yesterday for the lane closing. he branded his staff action, apparently political revenge for the democratic fort lee, new jersey, mayor not endorsing his re-election bid as quote, abject stupidity. he said he was blindsided and did not know anything about it. the committee called for testimony from former official david wild steen. he wrote some texts about the email closing. wildstein clammed up.

he repeatedly took the fifth. >> on advice of counsel i assert my right to remain silent sir. >> can't tell me whether it is an e-mail or text message? >> same answer. >> okay. that the email between bridge get kelly, the governor's deputy chief of staff and yourself? >> same answer. >> reporter: bridge get kelly's now the governor's former chief of staff. she was fired by ordering these lanes close. governor christie said she lied to him about it? after the learnt think news conference, christie went to fort lee to personally apologize to the citizens and mayor mark sokolich who accepts his denials he wasn't involved. >> i take him for his word which is he had nothing to do with it. >> reporter: what will be coming, the first lawsuit has been filed against governor christie and the state for the traffic tie-up.

a lawyer representing six commuters stuck in the traffic because they were late for work and lawsuit says one had a panic attack pause of those backups. when we get the documents to see what they say we'll bring you to them as soon as we get them. jenna: the political fall youth we're focusing on. people's lives are affected eric as you point out. thank you very much. jon: just in the house just pass ad health care transparency measure requiring full disclosure from the administration. they say americans deserve to know how the health care law is working and that your personal information is secure. listen to house majority leader eric cantor. >> now let's start helping people. we know this law has got a lot of issues with it, a lot of things that i believe can never be fixed but in the meantime while all of this is playing out, we ought to protect people from harmful effects. that is what this bill does. it's a no-brainer. it we ought to require the

administration to alert those are victimized by identity theft if it happens within 48 hours. jon: talk about it with joe trippi, former campaign manager for howard dean and a fox news contributor. pete snyder is a former candidate for lieutenant governor of virginia, also a fox news contributor. joe, is there anything more than just common sense here at these requirements that the house wants to put on to the health care bill? >> no, look, i think it's a big step back from trying to repeal it, you know, which the republicans did 40 to 50 times. i don't think, democrats did not try to hold the party line. didn't try to make this partisan. i think, you saw quite a number of democrats vote for it. jon: so, all right, pete, they are asking, you know, if there are for instance, any breaches of the security of healthcare.gov that the department of health and human services notify people within 48

hours. does that sound realistic, first of all, given the rollout of the website thus far, and is it a good consumer help? >> well, jon, first and foremost it is appropriate. whether it is realistic given the mismanagement of this entire ill-fated policy is a totally different story but i applaud the bipartisan measure. i think it's a very good thing. look, the u.s. government's number one priority unfortunately over the past five years has been obamacare. the president has said time and time again this is his number one priority. he has asked for tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars from the american taxpayers and he has completely bungled every single step of this way. so asking for a whole lot more transparency on how american people's investments are doing in this? and in the wake of massive fraud over the internet during the holiday season impacting target,

impacting amazon, you know, when american people are being asked to hand over their vital information to bureaucrats, we better have some safeguards in place. jon: yeah, joe, the white house resisted calls to release some of this enrollment information, well, no knows what they're reasoning is. you have to have the enrollment information, you have to know the demographic information of people signing up for some of these health care plans before you know whether the system is going to pay for itself. i mean shouldn't there, shouldn't this at the very least be something that the administration should be complying with? >> well, look i have been somebody who thought the administration should be releasing numbers on a daily basis from the inception. had they been doing that you would have, we all would have watched it go from 50,000 to 2 wouldn't 1 million and they would, numbers would increase and we would all know a lot more about exactly the questions you're talking about, jon. how many of them are healthy

young people, you know, et cetera? so i think, yeah, i would urge the administration, regardless of any bill requiring it weekly or anything else to do it daily. on the note of this, the reason i think some democrats oppose, voted against the security release had nothing to do with 48 hours. it had to do with, there have been no security breaches and i think, the assumption is look, if millions of people's, if we had a target-like situation, the government would clearly be releasing those, that information anyway but i don't think anybody faults the republicans for -- these two bills, the one passed today and a couple others that are coming are, i think, you know, at least, we can have a debate them. there was never going to be a repeal, the president was never going to sign that. you don't see him saying he

would veto any of these things. jon: pete, most transparent administration in history the president promised. why not comply with this? >> absolutely laughable. the president spent more time talking about security of his state dinner that the salahis crashed than he has been talking about the security of obamacare. it is an absolute joke. we need these provisions. that is why joe trippi is a reasonable guy. if the president can only be swayed by joe, we would be in a better place. jon: that is reasonable way to start off a friday morning. pete snider. and get me in trouble. jon: joe trippi. >> that's what i like to do, joe. jon: thank you. jenna: take a live look what is going on wall street today. the dow is trading slightly lower. this after a grim december jobs report. u.s. employers hiring the is fewest workers in three years last month, adding only 74 thou jobs. that is way below expectations on wall street. some say this is one-off because of bad weather last month but one big variable in the lower

jobless rate because fewer people are looking for work. they're falling out of the labor market. the jobless rate falling from 7% in november to 6.7% now. we'll have more on this later on in the program. jon: a developing international story in egypt. police clash with hundreds of islamists rallying in cairo, alexander dry craw and other cities -- alexandria and firing tear gas after the demonstrators through bottles at the secure forces. supporters of muslim brotherhood and ousted president mohammed morsi are calling for a boycott of the vote. >> we'll pay attention to what happens there. new details on the deadly ship we can of a cruise ship off the coast of italy two years ago. the operation, the largest maritime salvage ever. the coast at that concordia finally lifted in into an up right position in september, will be hauled away in june.

huge tanks of air will actually lift the ship. it has remained in the same spot where it capsized after killing rocks, killing 32 people. jon: excerpts from a tell-all memoir by former defense secretary robert gates sparking controversy over his highly critical comments about the president. our media panel weighs in on reaction to a book that still hasn't hit the shelves. plus disaster in west virginia. a chemical spill is contaminating the water supply for hundred of thousands of people. adding to the misery, a shortage of bottled water. >> just taking it out left and right. >> that's crazy. >> didn't know it would be chaotic. >> it's a zoo in here, isn't it? >> it is a zoo. at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant. some not so giant. when managing your weight, bigger is always better. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant

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partially broke through. the driver was able to climb out of his window to safety. explain that to the boss. no respite from the winter weather for the folks in tiffen, ohio. another round of snow moves through portions of western ohio as people try to dig out from the earlier storm. parts of florida, water is the problem. a rainstorm last night leaving widespread flooding in south florida. the national weather service says the area received 17.7 inches of rain just yesterday. jenna: fox news alert and a big story today. the white house declaring a federal disaster after a chemical spill in west virginia. residents rushing to buy bottled water after fears the water supply is contaminated in nine counties. we're told a chemical foaming agent leaked from a coal facility into the elk river near a major water treatment plant yesterday. the spill basically shut down the capital of charleston. as we mentioned nine counties are affected. laura engel is watching the

story. >> we heard from local officials that held a news conference to bring us an update. the head of american water company says they still don't have all the answers they need and working on getting a handle of the level of contamination in the water as well as the risk component of the material in the drinking water. now jeff mcintyre, we'll hear from him right now. >> we don't know that the water's not safe but i can't say it is safe. there is a number of county that is are affected and parts of county that is are affected. if you are one of those customers, do not use this water. the only appropriate use is toilet flushing. >> reporter: governor early ray tomlin issuing a state of emergency for nine counties after his office received a notice from the west virginia american water company its water supply had been contaminated. governor tomlin issuing a statement this morning saying quote, our emergency response team worked to develop a testing protocol and is sampling plan on the chemical at issue.

initial samples have been taken and additional sampling and testing will continue throughout the situation. as you can imagine people are scrambling to get their hand on drinking water. grocery stores, convenience stores are quickly being wiped out of any kind of drinkable liquid. the chemical spill affected about 300,000 people and shut down much of the city and surrounding counties. areas schools and restaurants are closed. a spokesperson with the federal emergency management agency tells fox, fema has mobilized 75 tanker trucks full of water to charles storm where it will be turned over to the state where it wit be in charge of distribution. emergency declaration made by president obama is what cleared fema to start moving this water at a large-scale. we'll have more as the situation develops. jenna? jenna: we'll speak to emergency management personnel on the ground later to ask about this. what are you supposed to do next couple days? >> reporter: hope you get some freshwater. jenna: laura, thank you very much. jon: let's hope everybody gets the word. not everyone is watching television or listening to the

radio. jenna: good point. jon: very good news for a "boston globe" columnist and his family. his teenage son missing for days is found safe. we'll tell you how far he was pro home. plus this guy is in jail for violating a restraining order. he sent an email to his ex-girlfriend but he is blaming the email provider. says he never hit the send button. does he have a case? huma. even when weross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

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jon: an update now on the disappearance of a "boston globe" columnist's teenage son. 16-year-old caleb jacoby is safe today we're happy to report. police in brookline, massachusetts, tweeting last night he was found on new york city, in new york city near times square. hundreds of volunteers searched

the boston area after caleb was reported missing on monday. his father, jeff jacoby, expressing his gratitude on twitter soon after his son was found. jenna: good to have a happy ending to that story. unique case of internet privacy one expert calls a quote, worst-case scenario. a massachusetts man is jailed for sending his ex-girlfriend an email invite to join google plus. the catch is that the ex-girlfriend had a restraining order against him. thomas gagnon contends he didn't send it. google sent it without his knowledge or consent. when his ex-received invitation, she went to police and had him arrested for violating retraining order by email. fred tecce, former federal prosecutor and arthur aidala. let me guests you both think he shouldn't be arrested. >> both think he should be? definitely should not be arrested. listen to me, if you take the risk of going to jail and

sending your ex-fiance a email, is it going to be join google? or is it going to be like, i still love you. my heart bleeds for you. i think of you every night. i don't want to hurt you. >> what's wrong? jenna: experience or, what are you drawing that pro? >> why can't we get back together? i'll change, is it me? tell me what it is, i'll do it, whatever. i'm cold hanging out here hiding in the bushes behind your house, all right? that's a violation. jenna: so both of this think that this is google's fault? still landed him in jail? >> it is interesting it landed him in jail. i, i know, i'm sure the order said no emails. the question is whether or not he intended google to send the invitation out. if it was completely inadvertent it is not a violation. why the police didn't look into this, very simple solution and problem solved. look at hard drive and computer, all answers will be right there and make a decision. >> that is the problem, jenna.

that i have, because i actually blame the judge, whomever incarcerated this man best investigation was done. we've become a society that it is so about covering your own butt. what the judge is concerned is, if the judge lets him out or some crazy circumstances arise where he harms the woman, his ex-fiance, now the judge's butt is on the line. jenna: what is a judge supposed to do, arthur? playing devil's advocate. maybe this has been a pattern of behavior. maybe cyber stalking he what he has done. >> we don't know what is going on here. apparently this guy proposed on a friday, according to his lawyer and asked her to marry him. saturday she broke it off and tuesday get as restraining order. i don't know if she had to get restraining order and the guy tried to get the ring back and she didn't want to give it back to him we don't know any history. whether there is violence. these protect of abuse things can be very, very serious or sometimes very abused. >> jenna, it is my point, if the

email said, was threatening in any way shape, or form, violation was threatening any way, shape or form, now i can understand a judge incarcerating someone but it is join google. it screams of like some sort of a -- >> you have to be a direct threat. it could be something as, inane as i hope your daughter is not too attached to your pet rabbit. could be anything like that but we have no evidence of that. jenna: let me ask you a scenario, arthur. he said, this is completely unintentional. it did come from his account but google did it n a regular situation if someone has a restraining order against you and you accidentally, bump into them and, they go to the police, how is a judge for for you as person that has the restraining order between arresting you or letting you go? i'm trying to think of what is comparable so we figure out what the law is. >> it is fact-specific. so if you said, i was in the supermarket and when i was in the produce aisle, i saw the

person who i had restraining order against and i just packed up my stefstuff and left or checked out and left, that is one thing. if you're at somebody's birthday party, who you know that the other person is going to be there, that's a different story. so it is fact specific. it is all about intent, jenna. all about intent. did i intend to be with this person or did i not or was it an accident. it is up to the judge to find the facts. >> that becomes a bigger point, fred, technology moving quicker than some of our laws out there. obviously law enforcement erring on the side of caution. we don't know the past history or don't know how scared maybe this woman is or what is the past precedent for this. >> we don't. we don't. jenna: how do you, what do we do then to suggest, something comes from my email account and arthur says don't bother him but it is happening automatically, what do we do to protect everybody involved? >> we use a little bit of common sense and approach things reasonably like worked in the past for decades.

this is almost like a perfect storm. you hit the nail on the head. we have all this technology which is exploding, eresulting around us. we have all the stuff going on. privacy things going basically out the window. people in law enforcement are engaged in this knee-jerk reaction because they're scared to death something will go wrong. ultimately they will be held responsible. nobody was paying attention here. everybody is just kind of acted wrongly or acted without thinking it through. this is what happens. there is just going to be more -- >> that is the thing. put the cart best horse. >> correct. >> that is what bothers me. put him in jail and hearing to determine how the email came out is february 6th. he is supposed to sit in jail this whole time? >> right. >> in jail. jenna: i will be interested to talk to the ex-girlfriend about some variables of this case as i would be interested to talk to any of your ex-girlfriend as well just for more context. >> you can call mine but they have a restraining orders. >> no restraining orders, tease

see. except from you. that's why you're in philadelphia. >> don't call mine up. that won't go well for me. jenna: fred, arthur, i guess we'll leave the conversation there for the day. >> have a great weekend. >> enjoy your weekend, thanks. jon: seems a little unbelievable, going to jail for something like that? jenna: on flip side, if you take the side of the girl though, if this guy was particularly violent and she was really scared and you see his email suddenly appear in your in-box i can understand being nervous about it and going to the police. see men have different perspective on this liz, our stage manager, she will -- jon: men know there are a lot of overly vindictive women out there. jenna: speaking from personal experience now. jon: talk about a real crime. some stunning new information in the murder of a beauty queen. how a digital camera developed new clues and led police to several suspects. also iraq could be hanging in the balance. al qaeda extremists making major gains on the ground in some parts of that country, sparking new calls for the obama

administration to step in and help iraqi troops.

jenna: still to come this hour concerns over al qaeda growing. latest on terror group gains in iraq and the middle east. controversy about the tell-all book by former defense secretary robert gates that is due out next week.

it is sending shockwaves throughout washington about criticism of president and his administration. a beauty queen and his ex-husband, shocking murder. how a stolen camera cracked the case. jon: is al qaeda on the run or not? growing concerns about a volatile situation in iraq. al qaeda extremists making serious gains in anbar province where hundreds of american troops were killed or wounded fighting jihadis in the last decade. two cities in particular, fallujah, ramadi, seeing some of the worst fighting since the iraq war. mean while u.s. lawmakers are calling on the obama administration to help take back the province that the u.s. military fought so hard to win 10 years ago. catherine herridge is life in washington with a look at that. catherine? >> reporter: jon there is little doubt conditions on the ground are deteriorating with al qaeda affiliated forces consolidating gains in fallujah, ramadi and launching a suicide attack in baghdad. as al qaeda in iraq regroup,

here in washington iraq is at the center of a political debate with the house speaker calling out the administration. >> status of forces agreement with iraq should have been agreed to and this administration failed to deliver. starting with the president delegating his responsibilities to the vice president, the administration has chosen to spend much of its time and energy trying to explain why having terrorists holding key terrain in the middle east is not the president's problem. >> reporter: it is clear this is regional issue with the group al qaeda in iraq extending its reach into neighboring syria with democrats not disputing that security is unraveling and hard-won american gains in the surge are being lost, but calling out republicans for rewriting history. >> what it is wrong to do is to blame the obama administration for the political failures of iraqi leaders. blaming the administration for failures in decisions by the

iraqi government, ignores not only history, it also leads to policy approach that is woo not be in our interests or the interests of the iraqi people. >> reporter: we can expect aggressive questioning at the white house and state department briefings today, especially given the fact that the state department announced this designated another group in north africa as al qaeda affiliate and this certainly flies in the face of the narrative that al qaeda is on the run in the region, jon. jon: we have certainly heard that many times. catherine herridge, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. jenna: well the president find himself in an increasingly difficult situation in the middle east. "wall street journal" column today maps out this argument. president obama and his foreign policy lieutenants are given to the as session they don't want the u.s. caught in the middle of other people's wars but by deeds of commission and omission, the u.s. is caught up in a deadly sectarian struggle between shia iran and its sister republics in the arab world. one side and the sunni order of

arab power on the other. mastery of the arcane details of the shia-sunni schism may not be american specialty but over the last few years this president and his advisors placed u.s. on the side of iran and sat traps in lebanon and now iraq. we have max booth, senior fellow from the u.n. security council of foreign relation, author of "invisible army" as well. max, how do you see it? we're looking at as iraq issue but it is part of a bigger issue in the middle east? >> i think it's a bigger battle for the middle east going on right now, on the one hand iran and its proxies, and on the other hand, sunni states and its proxies. we're caught in the middle. they're trying to stand on the sideline and not doing effective job managing this blossoming middle war across the middle east from iraq, to syria to lebanon. jenna: do you think we don't know what side to pick or are we

afraid to pick a side? >> honestly i think president obama is trying to change our orientation, trying to strike a deal with iran. trying to draw iran in as a helpful actor but it has been nothing but a troublemaker since 1979. i think that is what is going on. i think it's a mistake. i think it is doomed to fail. it is simply causing more of a reaction from sunni states and fanning the flames of civil war. jenna: you think his engagement with an iran nuclear plan is a distraction from where our priorities should be focused at the time? >> i think it's a gamble really to reorient our policy from being opposed to iran to trying to work with iran and that is not going to work because the iranians are not interested in cooperating with us. they want to dominate the entire region. that is why their operatives the quds force is so active in iraq and syria and lebanon. they're trying to spread their dominance and the saudis and other sunnis are resisting and we just can't afford to stay on

the sidelines or we can't afford to try to side with the iranians because that is so contrary to our interests and those of our allies in the region. jenna: bringing this story a little bit bigger again to the news of the week, one of the big items has been the book from bob gates. i haven't read the book completely. only excerpts at the time. i like to ask you a little bit about priority. as we're talking about iraq, and you can see the priority of the administration being on the iran nuclear deal, we're still at war in afghanistan now. and i would like to run one question and sound bite from a press conference, press briefing earlier this week. >> when was the last time the president spoke to the lead u.s. commander in afghanistan? >> i have to take the question -- >> we're on war footing right now and you don't know the last time he spoke to the commanding general. >> i will have to take the question. jenna: that was from wednesday. what is your reaction? you served as an advisor in afghanistan. what do you think about that? >> my reaction president obama doesn't recognize that he is a

war-time president. he is very disengaged and that's a huge problem. he was not engaged in iraq and that is lot of reason why iraq is as bad as it is because he did not follow up on the success of the surge and did not stay personally involved and he has been disengaged in afghanistan. he delegate ad lot of these things to joe biden who is a fine guy. he is the vice president. he is not the commander-in-chief. he has not taken ownership of these wars and has not really seen his own credibility being on the line in outcome of these wars. i think that is a very dangerous thing because we have been at war but i don't think the president has recognized that or made that his priority. jenna: all of this seems very far away at times because it is not coming home to us yet. that is the big question about the threats to national security in the long run. what do you think is at stake here. in our decisions in the middle east and afghanistan? >> i think we're facing potential catastrophe here, jenna. if you pick up the newspaper this morning you read about intelligence analysts saying that they are very worried about how syria can become a breeding

ground for anti-american terrorism that something like 70 americans traveled to syria over the last few years. there is great fear they will come back as radicalized jihadis. we have to be concerned about the very same thing in iraq. what i'm afraid to say is emergence of a new al qaeda state which spans western iraq and northern syria, sort of like the way afghanistan was a launching pad for international terrorism before 9/11, so now this area is potentially becoming a launching pad for international terrorism. and it is hard for me to imagine a more pressing and immediate threat to our national security which is really arisen because of our neglect and taking the eye off the ball as these threats have grown. jenna: gives us a lot to think about as we go into the weekend. max, great to have you on the program. >> thank you. jenna: jon? jon: talking about national security, that new tell-all book from the man who used to run the pentagon, former secretary of defense being robert gates, rocking the nation's capitol,

not even on store shelves coming up. a look at media coverage of first excerpts leaked earlier this week. what we're learn about exchange of love notes between convicted mob boss, "whitey" bulger and the woman he went 16 years running from the law with. mom? come in here. come in where? welcome to my mom cave. wow. sit down. you need some campbell's chunky soup before today's big game, new chunky cheeseburger. mmm. i love cheeseburgers. i know you do. when did you get this place? when i negotiated your new contract, it was part of the deal. cool. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

jon: there is lots of controversy swirling around a soon to be released memoir from former defense secretary robert gates. the tell-all book is sending shockwaves through washington. gates criticizing the president's leadership and his military decisions. also taking issue with the vice president, the secretary of state, and other members of the administration. the story dominating news coverage including here on fox even though most journalists have yet to see more than a few excerpts from the book. talk about the coverage with judith miller, pulitzer prize-winning author and fox news contributor. kirsten powers a columnist for

"the daily beast" and also a fox news contributor. welcome to both of you. >> hello, jon. jon: so, judy, this has been consuming washington. in fact, we put a stop watch on the president's, not the president's news conference, his spokesman's news briefing yesterday and more than half of the time was occupied by discussion of what bob gates had to say in the book. does it deserve this kind of attention? >> well you know, it may eventually when the book is out and everyone has a chance to read it but what is astonishing, and actually a little disturbing that the media are involved in a full-fledged campaign to help bob gates sell his book. i mean knopf must be delighted by this. the advance orders must be incredible. look, lots of people are very upset, even by what they have seen so far including howard kurtz of this network, accusing gates of basically betraying the man he worked for by reporting

confidential conversations that obama had every right to believe would remain secret. and certainly while this president is still acting president in a war footing and i think those are the kind of legitimate issues that are being raised but once again, everybody has got to step back and say, we haven't seen this book. excerpts are designed to sell the book and we've all got to reserve judgment until we see the whole thing. jon: retired army general barry mccaffrey, kirsten, says he, meaning gates, took an oath to defend the constitution and not the president. in that light is it appropriate? >> well i think that's true. look, i'm always for more transparency and more information and this administration in particular has not been very transparent. so, you know, it is nice to learn the inner working of what is going on and i think that is a decision that gates had to make on his own, whether or not he felt it was so important that he speak about this, rather than

waiting until the president was out of office. i think there is argument to be made maybe some of this stuff could have been waited until obama was out of office. i also think a lot of the focus by the media has been on portraying obama as not a good commander-in-chief when in fact, even in the excerpts there are quite a few places where secretary gates speaks extraordinarily highly of president obama and for some reason that is not getting the same kind of coverage as the negative things he says. jon: well it has been pointed out in just about every article i read, judy, gates criticizes the president and decision making and so forth yet late in the book says he got, visiter wally all of the major decisions on military policy correct. >> right. that is the irony and contradiction here. on one hand you have a president, president obama, with whom he basically agrees but whose decision-making process he abhores. he especially dislikes the role of joe biden who he says was wrong about everything.

and almost practiced what was called, chinese water on the president in terms of getting him to walk away from the surge decision he made in afghanistan. so you have a very vivid look at the president. on the other hand, the former president, president bush, gates clearly didn't agree with many decisions, the most important decisions he made yet he had greater respect for the decision-making process. what we're hearing a lot of what has been reported so far in the news about how obama makes decisions. jon: many of those bush decisions actually were made though before gates got to the pentagon worth pointing out. >> absolutely. jon: judith miller, kirsten powers. thank you both. >> thank you. jenna: boston mobster, james "whitey" bulger convicted of multiple murders was reportedly brought to tears by a touching love note from his girlfriend. the attorney for bulger reportedly hand delivering a note his client wrote to his girlfriend, something the mobster never thought the prison officials would allow. bulger's girlfriend, catherine

greg behind bars reportedly helping him hide from police. we are told she responded that we spent 16 years on the run together best arrest in 2011 and we set them up for a nice reality tv series on their romance. jon: guy convicted -- jenna: horrible things. jon: participating in what, 16 murders, crying over his girlfriend. target reveals a massive data breach affecting tens of thousands or 10 of millions of americans actually was bigger than originally reported. just how far it went. plus danger beneath the snow. some expert advice on avalanche safety in light of several recent deaths in the west. rmer:n idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels.

but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

jon: some new info this morning on the murder of a beauty queen and her ex-husband in venezuela. -- venezuela. police arrested several suspects in the case. harris foster is on the case. harris. >> reporter: they searched the home of a suspect in the case and found a digital camera that was stolen from the former miss venezuela, monica spear. they say that video is helping to identify a gang of robbers. so far they have arrested seven people. police say the couple fell prey to bandits who attacked motorists along a stretch of highway near a resort town where spear and her ex-husband were vacationing with their five-year-old daughter. an obstacle punctured the tire of their toyota corolla. forced to stop, they realize what was happening, locked their doors and windows but gunmen opened fire on the car. they died in front of their child and that little one was wounded also but has survived. spear was miss venezuela in 2004. represented as well in the miss universe contest and has been a

very popular soap opera actress ever since. people loved her there. her vicious killing has been a huge story in the media there. it has the country, which has one of the world's highest murder rates on edge. people who live there are pressuring the government to clean it all up. police say by the way they are looking for four more suspects. again, that video is helping to find them as well. jon? jon: well, it is a sat story. let's hope they bring those guys to justice. >> reporter: absolutely. jon: harris faulkner, thank you. jenna: new developments in the manhunt of a driver who shot this young man dead on the side of a highway in an apparent road rage attack. who else police say he may have killed. plus the president is considering reforms for the nsa we'll look at possible changes we could see coming up.

overmany discounts to thine customers! [old english accent] safe driver, multi-car, paid in full -- a most fulsome bounty indeed, lord jamie. thou cometh and we thy saveth! what are you doing? we doth offer so many discounts, we have some to spare. oh, you have any of those homeowners discounts? here we go. thank you. he took my shield, my lady. these are troubling times in the kingdom. more discounts than we knoweth at to do with. now that's progressive.

jenna: right now, today's top headlines and brand new stories you will see here first. we're awaiting release of new documents from the new jersey bridge traffic scandal. governor chris christie apologizing for the actions of his staff yesterday but could there be more trouble ahead? thousands of people heading to stores to buy bottled water after a chemical spill contaminates the water supply in nine west virginia counties. the latest what is being done to help the people there. shocking new numbers in the target data breach. why the retail giant now says an early estimate of 40 million customers was much too low. it is all "happening now."

the. jon: there are new demand for answers on obamacare right now. welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i'm jon scott. >> hi, everybody. hope you're off to good friday so far, i'm jenna lee. with the president's health care law in in full swing, big questions remain like how many people are enrolled? one of two republican backed bills will force the obama administration to release key information. our chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on capitol hill watching the action there today. mike? >> reporter: jenna the house passed et cetera first anti-obama kiar bill in 2014. 67 house democrats joined with house republicans to pass the measure. ahead of the vote here is majority leader eric cantor making his pitch to colleagues to support the bill. >> let's go about the way we should be and putting people first here. we disagree on this law and in requiring health care the way

government says we should require, yes, but i think we can all agree we want to help people and we want to make sure that they can keep their information safe. that's all this bill is about. >> reporter: the bill focused specifically on the healthcare.gov website and security concerns about it. if there is a security breach, the legislation would require the government to alert people of it within two business days. house democratic leader nancy pelosi bill kind of silly and she lectured a reporter for calling it obamacare, noting it is the affordable care act. another top democrat accused republicans of trying to scare people away from the health care website. >> there have been no successful security breaches of healthcare.gov. nobody's personal information has been maliciously hacked. >> reporter: but a lot of outside experts are worried about the security of this health care website. don't expect the senate to take up this measure but if there is an issue at some point, the

house will be able to say to the american people, we tried to protect you. jenna? jenna: interesting. mike, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jon: staying on capitol hill. as we learn that negotiations at the end of jobless benefits have broken down, leaving more than a million long term unemployed in limbo after a deal was reported in senate to extend benefits for 10 months. the effort falling apart after senate majority leader harry reid announced republicans could not offer any amendments. talking about it, david hawkings senior editor for role call. they thought they had a deal. there was a bipartisan plan in place to extend unemployment benefits for three months. harry reid extended it for 10 months, but the pay-fors in that don't necessarily have republican support. that is why this deal is in trouble? >> that is one version why this deal is in trouble, you're exactly right. the pay-for that reid is talking

about, the principle pay-for take savings out of medicare, 10 years from now, way down the road, so far down the road it is essentially against the budget rules in congress to claim savings more than 10 years out. so the republicans think that is a little bit risky, a little bit smoke and mirrors-like and they have alternatives of their own that are more politically dicey for democrats to vote for. one would be to deny the child tax credit to illegal immigrants. another would be predictably, to delay the individual mandate of obamacare for another year. they say that would cover the costs. reid says i'm not even going to allow a vote on that because i don't want to put my democrats in a tough position. republicans counter saying this is exactly why the senate is a broken institution. we used to have both sides offer amendments and if we're not even going to be able to offer our amendments we're walking away from this whole thing. jon: well the president, may or may not be helping. let's listen to something he said yesterday before all of this hit the fan.

>> personally, i hope we start by listening to the majority of the american people and restoring unemployment insurance for americans who need a little help supporting their families while they look for a new job. i'm glad that republicans and democrats are working together to extend that lifeline. i hope their colleagues in the house will join them to set this right. jon: it was after that that harry reid came up with this 10-month proposal which republicans have been shut out of. and he had some very nasty things to say to republicans in the senate about, you know, their proposes or the fact that he doesn't want them to be able to offer any amendments. >> that's right. he is saying, he, reid, is saying that the republicans are playing politics and republicans are saying the same thing about reid. it is what we have come to expect sadly from today's senate. now it is also the case that sometimes weekend away, a weekend back in their states or their, just hanging around in washington and relaxing for a little bit can focus the mind

and they might come back next week and cut some sort of a break. they're still, there is lots of different ways to figure this out. what they do have to do is figure out a way both sides can agree on to pay for this, if it is going to cost about $2 billion every month to extend these benefits. jon: but the only way, that you know, both sides can agree on something if both sides get the chance to offer amendments, right? so why would harry reid take the step of saying, republicans, you don't have any ideas. you can't you know, weigh in on this? >> well, he did say, senator reid, said that he was consulting with republicans but as best we could figure out he was really only consulting with one republican, dean heller, the other senator from nevada it turns out. but there are five other senators that were willing to get this debate started, centrists who said we're willing to oppose any filibuster and at least have the debate. they are the ones who feel shut out of the process. think you're right.

in the end senator reid is probably going to have to do a little bit more to say something that, to offer some sweetener that allows the republicans to at least have a say in the process. if not, with some roll call votes that would make things politically difficult for the other side, at least substantive, to offer the substantive change that would make the pay-for. jon: the argument going on this morning in terms of press releases, the white house council of economic advisors chairman jason furman out with this statement. here it is in part. one of our nation's most immediate pressing challenges is long-term unemployment, despite abundance of evidence indicating this challenge is far from solved, congress allowed extended insurance to lapse at end of 2013 cutting off critical lifeline who have lost a job threw no fault of their on and are still searching for work. today's disappointing jobs numbers show the president's policies are failing too many

americans, many of whom stopped looking for work. more families are living in poverty than before there were before the president took office. instead of making it easier to find a good-paying job, washington is focused making it less difficult to live without one. so the arguing goes on. >> the on. this is clearly going to be a theme, i think throughout the campaign season. the president's trying to strike this very difficult balancing act with saying on one hand the economy has gotten better on my watch but on the other hand it is not good enough. and republicans saying, it is definitely not good enough, thanks to you, mr. president. we would be the better stewards. this will be, this is the opening debate in the senate of course for this year. it took up all week to get to this standoff point. looks like the economy, jobs, job creation, will once again be, you know the number one issue with a bullet all year long. jon: for every person who got a job in this last jobs report, five people left the workforce. that is a problem. david hawkings from role call.

thank you. >> thank you. jenna: turning to the scandal surrounding nsa surveillance of americans, we heard the president is considering 40 recommended reforms on the way to way phone and internet data is collected and gathered. his first comments could come next week. molly henneberg is live in washington with this. molly? >> reporter: jenna, the white house won't say exactly when the president will speak to the american people on decisions reforming the nsa just that it will happen before the state of the union address on january 28th. we do know that the president is looking to make it more difficult for the nsa to spy on friendly foreign leaders. he is also considering a recommendation to strip the nsa of its authority to collect and store phone data. and instead allow private phone companies to store customer records that the nsa could access. >> the president, i would point you to what he said in terms of viewing that as a serious recommendation and certainly one that he's looking at and his

team is looking at but i don't have anymore guidance to give to you before he makes those conclusions and gives his remarks. >> reporter: but will the president go to congress and try to get congress to draw up legislation incorporating his decisions on the nsa? with constant -- wisconsin republican congressman jim sensenbrenner was about a dozen republican lawmakers that met with the president at the white house yesterday to discuss the next step. he told fox afterwards, quote, i'm not so sure that the president thinks we need legislation, suggesting that he thinks at least the president may act by executive order rather than coming to congress. but democratic senator ron widen, who also attended the meeting said the next couple weeks be quote, crunch time for both the president and congress how to handle the nsa reforms. jenna? jenna: we'll see what they come up with, molly, thank you. jon: a federal disaster declared in west virginia. a chemical spill there tainting the water supply in nine

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jenna: this fox news alert, a big story today, a chemical spill contaminating the water supply in nine west virginia counties, prompting a federal disaster declaration after a chemical used to clean coal spilled into a river near a major water treatment plant. many schools and restaurants are now closed, and stores are reportedly out of bottled water as folks try to figure out what to do. the scope of the disaster is quite big, you have more than 300,000 people affected. one of them is joining us now by phone. dale from canola county, he's the director of homeland security and emergency

management for that area. and, dale, for those of us outside of your county, can you give us an idea of your proximity to where this spill happened, where the contamination happened? >> well, the contamination happened on elk river which is in the capital city in canola county, west virginia. jenna: so right where you're based. how much warning did folks get that, potentially, their water supply was compromised? >> well, we received complaints of an odor in the air yesterday around 11:00. we met at the site on the river where the chemical had leaked and was told at that time there was no problem with it because they felt that the chemical actually floated on top of water, and it wouldn't affect the intake of the water supply. but they found later that it was water soluble. however, it went into the intake, it was distributed along the whole water distribution

system for the american water company. jenna: we came to this story late last night. i'm sure there's folks in the area that had no idea that their water supply is not water that they should use, it had -- maybe drank it over the last several hours, bathed in it. what happens if someone did that? should they go to the hospital? what is the risk? >> well, we've told people to take precautions if they drank it, if they bathed in it to see if there's any acute symptoms that may cause them to get sick or feel pain, have any type of burning in their eyes or anything. the complaint that we received we told people to go to the local emergency rooms to be checked just as a precaution. jenna: sure. how dangerous is it? is it something that if you ingest, it can kill you? >> well, in large quantities, from what i understand. the chemical itself has been diluted within the river, and the parts per million is

considerable, but smell of it is very pungent. it don't take very much of it to go a long way. and we've told people that if you actually smell it, don't drink it, don't use it to wash. use it only for sanitary reasons, and we're still waiting on testing to come back from the local water company to tell us when it'll be available and when we can start using it properly. as of this time right now, we are issuing a no-use policy for any of the water in that system. jenna: so it's 24 hours since you first became aware of what's going on, as you mentioned. it took a little while to realize that this was in the water supply and people have to be careful. what's the plan, dale, for going forward through the weekend, especially since, as we understand, some grocery stores are running out of bottled water? >> well, we've contacted our state oes, emergency management, we've also got ahold of fema which they are shipping water as we speak. once we get the tractor-trailers

of water, we're trying to get it distributed throughout our county to our local hospitals, to our nursing homes so that they can be using it for whatever they need it for. jenna: can you actually clean this stanley cup up, or does it -- stuff up, or does it have to run itself through the system, for example, through the sewage system as folks are flushing their toilet? i mean, how can you actually get this out of the water supply and declare it safe again? >> that's going to be something that our local water officials are going to have to determine with help from the health d.. but it's not like your typical water that we do, we actually tell people don't boil it because it'll give off a vapor, and we're not exactly sure what the effects of that would be. this is something that's going to have to be flushed out of the entire system, and it could take days or possibly longer for us to get that done. jenna: wow. i'm sure this is unexpected for you, dale. no one could anticipate this is going to happen this week.

we really appreciate the information, and we're thinking of your community there because i'm sure a lot of folks are affected, as we mentioned, 300,000 so far. of thank you for the time, we appreciate it. >> you're welcome, thank you. jon: retile giant target releasing new information about that massive security breach. how much customers were actually affected? breaking details, next. plus, the market's on a roller coaster ride today after a weak december jobs report. what it means for the economy and your bottom line, just ahead. ♪ ♪ working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living, barely getting by, it's all taking and no giving. ♪ they just use your mind, and they never give you credit, it's enough to drive you crazy if you let it. [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones.

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jon: right now new developments in the target data breach. the retail giant first told us about 40 million customer ors had their financial information stolen during the height of the holiday shopping season. now we're learning it was much worse than that. harris faulkner live from our newsroom with that. >> reporter: yeah. add one, carry the two. [laughter] in this case, what and how many. try 70 million people hit in this breach. that's the new number being tossed to us today. and the hacker thieves didn't just get credit card and debit card information, they got our names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or e-mail addresses. again, 70 million individuals. and you heard me say our -- in full disclosure, yeah, i was shopping at target during that time in december. this is now very personal, and it could become very legally painful for target. moments ago crossing on the reuters wires, a report from the attorney general and the state of new york that several states

attorneys general are working together to investigate the target data breach. today's new info is coming from the ongoing forensic search we're told that target is doing to see why this happened. and now this announcement that the retailer will try to contact all the shoppers who have been affected since they have their names and e-mail addresses. target has said customers will have zero liability for the cost of any fraudulent charges on their cards. in a statement, the company ceo has said i know that this is frustrating for our guests to learn that this information was taken, and we are truly sorry for their having toen door this, end quote. all of this is costing the company money too, jon. target says sales are being hurt. they saw a dip in the all-important fourth quarter holiday season. back to you. jon: that's like one in every five americans. >> yeah. and, you know, the big question told was, was this information sitting on target's servers and they accessed this, or were these actually just the individual credit card transactions? which may be why you saw the

number grow bigger. we'll find out. hopefully, they'll tell us. jon: big problem for that company. harris, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jenna: new mortgage rules take effect today, and the goal is to prevent borrowers from getting loans they can't afford. fox business network's rich edson joins us live from washington to break this all down. >> reporter: well, jenna, this is the government saying to mortgage lenders follow these rules if you want certain protections against getting sued for selling bad loans. mortgage lenders have to limit their fees to 3% of the loan amount. borrowers will have to prove they make enough money to pay their mortgage, and the longest term is a 30-year mortgage. the new rules also ban lenders from selling interest-only loans. more or gang companies can still -- mortgage companies can still sell loans, if they do, they're open to lawsuits if the loan goes bad. the obama administration says

these are much-needed improvements that would helped the economy avoid some of the mortgage crisis, though one analyst says these new rules known as qm standards are just a few of the many regulations hurting the housing market. >> we have tipped the scale so in favor of safe mortgages that people who should get credit can't get credit, and qm contributes to that. >> reporter: with rising interest rates, mortgage lenders are seeing fewer homeowners refinance their loans, that's costing themsome analysts say tn standards will make it more difficult and expensive to issue mortgages hitting the banking industry and home buyers. the administration says that's not so. back to you. jenna: we'll see how it plays out. rich, thank you. jon: wall street's reacting to a weak december jobs report. what it means for the economy and millions of job seekers still sitting on the sidlines. that's next. plus, new jersey's governor, chris christie, repeatedly apologizes for a bridge traffic scandal during a nearly two-hour

news conference yesterday. you saw much of it here on "happening now." so how are the media treating this? we'll take a look. >> all i can do is apologize for the conduct of people that worked for me. i can't do anything else. i can't reverse time. if i could, believe me, i would. but i'm just going to apologize. i think that's all you can do. and there's really nothing else you can do.

jenna: a fox business aall right now, stocks sliding lower after a dismal december jobs report: not by much, though, as we take a look at what's going on with the dow. not too much of a reaction. the labor department reporting that just 74,000 jobs were created last month. that's the fewest amount of jobs in three years. the unemployment rate is down to 6.7%. that's in part because fewer people were actively looking for work. jon hilsenrath is chief economics correspondent for "the wall street journal" and joins us now. jon, it's hoop nature -- human nature, you think, oh, that's a great thing, but what's really going on here? >> this was a very mixed report. it certainly wasn't a great thing. you know, what happened in the last few months is we had a run of pretty good economic data. the economy seemed to be producing jobs at 200,000 a month or more, and i think a lot of of people in the markets and in washington for that matter were expecting a pretty strong report today, and then they saw that low number, 74,000. and i think what it is is a

splash of cold water this their face. the economy isn't taking off. you know, we might be doing a little bit better than we were a year ago, but this is still an economy that's struggling to produce many jobs, and that's what today's report says. as far as the unemployment rate goes, it's coming down in part because people are leaving the labor force, and it's a complicated trend. people are leaving the labor force because they're discouraged, because the work force or is getting older and they're retiring, and also because they're going and taking up disability benefits. there's a lot of different things going on here. jenna: and some argue that's one of the reasons why we should extend unemployment benefits, because you receive unemployment benefits when you're able to work, you're looking for work, and it's a way to kind of keep track, some argue, of what's really going on with the labor market. harry reid had this to say after the jobs report came out, he says: today's report shows why republicans must join with democrats to immediately extend emergency unemployment insurance for the 1.4 million americans

whose benefits were cut off in december. is that what this report says, jon? >> well, you know, you could take this argument about extending unemployment benefits in either direction. on the one hand, you could say, well, you're helping millions of people, and that's important. and you could also say as some people have that if you provide income to these households and they can keep spending and help the economy, on the other hand, you could say that these unemployment benefits are actually undermining the recovery because when you pay someone to not work, to stay out of the work force, it gives them a disincentive to go out there and look for a new job and get hired. so i think it cuts, it cuts both ways. i think the bottom line is really a humanitarian argument for people who are long-term unemployed, you know, what are they going to do to sustain themselves. jenna: right. well, what gets them back into the work force. and you know this, jon, and it's mentioned every time we get a

jobs report, one jobs report does not explain the entire economy, just a snapshot of a bigger picture. we see a little bit less than 200,000 jobs over the last year being created every month which keeps up with population growth but doesn't provide a bunch of new jobs for folks. so what do you see in the year ahead? is there anything on the horizon that could really spark a lot of job growth? >> well, you know, that's why today's report was such a puzzle, because a lot of people, you know, i cover the federal reserve. a lot of people at the fed, a lot of private economists on wall street, certainly the stock market was suggesting they thought this year would be different, that, you know, finally some of the headwinds that were holding the economy back were going to start to dissipate, that households had finally got their balance sheets cleaned up, and they were ready to spend again. the government wasn't going to be raising taxes and cutting spending and it wouldn't be a headwind to growth, that finally the economy would be able to run a little bit freer, and this report suggests maybe that's not the case, maybe there's still a

fair amount holding us back. you know, i think that's -- it's still the base case, it's just one report, you know, the hope is maybe there just isn't as much of this inertia that was created by the financial crisis holding us back, and the economy could just run a little bit faster than it was before. jenna: well, and some say in spite of what's happening in washington, d.c., not because of what's happening. and i just have to finish on this one headline that we saw, it really caught our attention. for the first time in history, more than half the members of the house and the senate are now millionaires, and it's pretty evenly divided between republicans and democrats, it's not down party lines, but one wonders what the effect is of that when the people making major decisions about our economy, half of them are millionaires. >> i guess i'd make three points. first of all, i think that headline feeds public cynicism, you know, about washington and the motivations of decision makers in washington. all surveys show that trust in

congress, trust in washington political institutions is going down. this feeds that. the other thing i'd say just to reinforce what you say is that, you know, neither party bears the label of being of and for the rich because it's even, it's very evenly divided between republicans and democrats in this town. and the last thing i'd say is don't use the association with congress to tar millionairings. [laughter] millionaires. [laughter] jenna: right. >> millionaires in congress might have different motivations. there might be people who were very successful in business and then they decided they wanted, you know, to do some public service, and that's a good thing. jenna: sure. >> but there are also people, and there's no doubt about this, there are plenty of self-interested people in washington, and you have to wonder if those millionaires in washington are looking out for self-interests or the public interests. let's not make millionaires look so bad. [laughter] jenna: we can take it as a glass half full sort of thing. >> glass half full. jenna: at least some of them know how to make money, and

maybe they could figure it out for the rest of us. jon, great to see you, thank you very much. >> thanks a lot. jon: new jersey governor chris christie apologizes in person to the mayor of fort lee for a bridge traffic scandal. the governor held a neary two-hour -- nearly two-hour news conference yesterday, he makes no excuses for staff members who apparently shut down lanes of the world's busiest bridge in september. apparently in political revenge. so let's talk about the media reaction to this news conference yesterday. howard kurtz is fox be news media analyst and the be host of "media buzz." he stood there at the podium for two hours, he answered virtually every question -- well, he did answer every question that was put to him. is that going to end the controversy? >> of course not. we in the media love scandal, and there's something about this scandal, jon, involving hours of traffic tie-ups because of an apparent act of petty political payback by the governor's, some of the governor's aides that's going to keep this going.

but it was a smart strategy on the governor's part to exhaust the media, take all those questions. some people thought he made it a little too much about him, playing the victim, and not as much about the people of new jersey, but only chris christie could have pulled that off in the ip imitable fashion he did. jon: let me read you a tweet from ezra klein: chris christie's biggest rob is he's really, truly a bully. he denied that, stood there at the podium saying i'm not a bully. klein just doesn't want to accept that as an answer, i guess. >> well, but when a politician has to say i am not a bully, or he's not in a great place. look, it's interesting to see the media narrative shift here because the press used to love chris christie. they loved his tough-talking, in your face, jersey shore persona, and we've all seen those clips where he's popping off either to constituents or reporters, he loves to slap reporters around. but now in light of the bridge

scandal and the callousness, as the governor himself put it, of his aides in creating this phony traffic crisis which was a real crisis for many commuters, the narrative has shifted to, well, maybe he's too much of a bully or maybe it plays well in new jersey but won't play well in 2016. the one thing i'd add, jon, is there's been a little too much premature obituary writing here about the governor's possible plans to seek the white house, a campaign that doesn't start until two years from now, and some people are saying he's toast. that is ridiculous. this scandal could go away in a week or two or not depending on what comes out. jon: i would point our viewers to an interesting piece chris stirewalt wrote. he points out this is getting so much press in part because so much of the press is new york-based, and a big story that happens in new york, new jersey. i mean, if you live in northern new jersey, you want to get into map hat tan, you've got -- manhattan, you've got to cross the george washington bridge almost every day.

that's why this story is getting so much media attention. >> absolutely. as opposed to a bridge in, you know, kentucky, nevada, some other state. but also, i think, chris christie, you know, anybody who watched any portion of that marathon news conference, i mean, he is a fascinating guy because he's not a typical blow-dried, talking points, poll-tested politician. so in a way he himself fueled it because in the last 4 hours what -- 24 hours what has everybody done? they've played the clips. i was humiliated, i was sad, i was angry, i'm not a bully. and the television loves those kinds of clips, and christie certainly provided them in spades. jon: you know, i felt kind of sorry for the guy. he said he was blindsided. i could certainly accept that. i sense that there are many in the media who just do not want to take a politician at his word, and, you know, this probably is the era for that -- >> you're suggesting journalists are, perhaps, a tad cynical, jon? jon: a little bit. we've been defining what the

definition of what the word "is" is for a long time, but, you know, maybe he didn't know anything about it, maybe he's telling the the truth. why can't they accept that at the -- as the apology? >> well, i think the reason is there is some skepticism is these were two of his closest aides. this is the question of whether the governor set the tone for the payback, the mayor of fort lee, but also this scandal locally has been going on since september since that traffic chaos erupted. and so some journalists are asking, well, how could the governor not have gotten to the bottom of it before this, he says he didn't know until those e-mails were unearthed by a new jersey newspaper, the broken record. clearly, there's going to be a lot more digging by a lot of reporters and some of these aides who have now been cashiered, maybe they will have something to say. i don't think the story is going to end at least for a little while. jon: let's just hope, howard, that the media do as much digging into some of the other scandals that have erupted in

washington over the last few -- >> fair enough. jon: howard kurtz, our media critic, thank you. >> thank you, jon. jenna: brand new details about a road rage attack that left a young man dead in pennsylvania. what police are now saying and the latest on the manhunt for the killer. also, brand new discovery. scientists uncover a survival protein in cancer patients. how this may change the way the deadly disease is treated, and do you have it? alisyn: hi, everybody, i'm alisyn camarota, congress is back at work, and the first order of business for republicans at least is how to fix obamacare. so there are two new bills being debated on the house side. we'll tell you about those. bill: also major diplomatic row between the u.s. and what was or still is a strong u.s. ally and a military nuclear power. we'll tell you about that. alisyn: plus, we have a funny twitter question for you, though. bill: yes, we do. alisyn: you'll have to tune in.

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♪ ♪ jon: powerful storms sparking severe weather in florida, up to 18 inches of rain reported across that state in 24 hours. leaving streets flooded and cars stalled. flood warnings remain in effect until later this afternoon, also whipping up dangerous winds. there are reports of a possible tornado touching down in the southeastern part of the state. at least 30 homes damaged in a single neighborhood. ♪ ♪ jenna: well, it's a new report that's offering hope for cancer patients and really, quite frankly, for everybody else. the american cancer society says in 2013 more than one and a half million new cases of cancer are expected or were expected, 2013, of course, being last year. more than half a million americans are expected to lose their battle with cancer, and

now researchers discover a so of of called survival -- so-called survival protein which could help tens of thousands of breast cancer patients, they think, reducing the needs for harsh treatments like chemotherapy after surgery. we need to go a little more into this. dr. david samadi is with us, deals with cancer patients almost every day. >> yes. jenna: again, this is for breast cancer patients, but what is a survival protein? >> well, jenna, this is a very, very exciting time to be a cancer surgeon and also deal with these kinds of issues. these are proteins that we find that through the blood test we can distinguish between the patient who has a very, very adepress cancer versus someone concern aggressive cancer versus someone who has a slow-growing cancer. jenna: is it a sure thing they'll will survive? >> it increases the survival, that's right. this is still on the clinical trial. i don't want people to go out and start asking their doctor i

need to get the survival protein test, but these are great marker ors that we use whether in my field of prostate cancer or this one in breast cancer to distinguish whether somebody with surgery is going to be cured or whether we should give additional radiation or chemotherapy. where this is going to play a big role is the side effects of radiation, also chemotherapy, could be avoided if through this test we can distinguish that the survival is much better. this is the kind of protein that can reduce the progression of the disease. so i think this is great news. whether it's going to pan out to be part of our practice or not, we'll have to see. jenna: so is the protein found in the person's body or in the actual cancer tumor? and who has it? who seems to have it and who doesn't seem to have it? >> so we don't know this. you know, the patients that are diagnosed with breast cappser, through these -- cancer, through these clinical trials, we're going to find out if they have these kinds of proteins.

there's been a lot of conversation about genetic signature of these patients, whether they have the right gene, and then if we find the patient where the level is not high, i would be worried that this patient is going to have recurrence, that's when we would recommend go get the radiation or chemo. jenna: the survival protein is in the tumor or in body? >> it's a blood test. jenna: so it's in your blood, it's not specifically in the cancer -- >> that's exactly right. the cells are going to be secreted in the blood test, and that's how the researchers and doctors can distinguish this. in my field of prostate cancer, we have something similar. when you do the operation, there would be genetic testing to find out are you cured or do you get radiation? this is a big deal. jenna: i know we're just in the beginning stages, but your imagination starts to go with this. is there a way that the survival protein will be given to people that don't have it? >> that's an excellent question. i don't have the answer for you, but that's probably -- once we

know where we are with this, yes, we can sort of change the genetic component and put some of these proteins in to slow down the process. and i think i agree with you that the future is not chemotherapy and radiation. this is going to be better ways to do this. if you look at the statistics of 1975 with the five-year survival was around 50% and where we are today, average of 68%, we've come a lock way. -- long way. i think the scientists are now listening to you to try to put those kinds of proteins -- jenna: well, you know, i'm a shopper. if there's a survival protein out there, i want to know how to get it. >> we're making positive steps, small steps. clinical trial, we'll wait to see -- jenna: we'll take it where we can, doctor, great to see you. jon: jenna is a shopper, fox news alert. [laughter] danger beneath the surface of the ski slopes after a spate of deadly avalanches out west. we'll take a look at what can make packed snow soar the knewingly -- terrifyingly unstable. plus, a tedly road rage

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jon: with several recent avalanches out west claiming the lives of five experienced skiers and snowmobilers, we take a look at the dangers that can lie below the surface of the slopes. alicia acuna trekked to an elevation of 11,000 feet up in the rockies for a lesson on avalanche safety, she joins us now from colorado. >> reporter: hi, jon. the colorado avalanche information center explained to us that avalanche conditions can rise and fall in a matter of hours, weeks or even months which is why the even most prepared can fall victim. we snowshoed our way into the back country of the 11,000 foot

vail summit. mountaintops and steep slopes, he digs a pit in the snow. >> i'll go ahead and dig one real quick, it might take five minutes. >> reporter: looking for a weak layer below the compacted snow, a phenomenon nicknamed monsters in the basement. >> i'm just going to, just going to tap it. one layer here, one layer there. see how that broke apart? so if i dig in here and i move my shovel, see that? see that's the layer right there that can come right off. see how that goes? right there. boom. so that, that's a danger. >> reporter: what made the bottom so flimsy is known as sugar snow. even if you don't know anything about snow science, it's worth it to build that pit because underneath could be that sugar snow which acts like ball bearings. and sitting on top -- which is

what happened here -- could be something like this. which is what friends say likely happened to expert skier tony siebert while skiing vail's back country. >> if there's anything we can move from the negative to the positive here especially on behalf of tony or anybody else that's been lost or hurt in such a situation, we just need to get out there and educate ourselves. >> reporter: equipment is important too, and that means keeping a beacon with you at all times. that way if something does go wrong, your friends and family and authorities can find you. jon: good advice there. alicia acuna, thank you. jenna: well, one man's bad decision lands him in jail. find out what he did that caused this. jon: ooh. [ laughter ] smoke? nah, i'm good. [ male announcer ] celebrate every win with nicoderm cq, the unique patch with time release smartcontrol technology

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welcome, you can't make this stuff up department. a person sent to the hospital after a series of car crashes. >> what could possibly have done this, john? police say the man drained a swimming pool and dumping the water on to a nearby rod and because it is been so cold, the water quickly froze is turned the busy street in a virtual ice rink. there were three accidents within minutes. one woman was hospitalized with injuries. >> you are not expecting to find precipitation out there and all of the sudden ice. the pool worker was charged with second degree reckless endangerment. >> you know in colorado once you hit ice, is there anything you can do? not a lot if you are hitting it

that quickly and a head of steam going on pure ice, not much you can do to get stopped. >> reminder to drive safely. >> and don't drain your poll in january. >> america's news headquarters starts right now. fox nows alert, a health chrissis after a toxic chemical spill sends hundreds looking for water. i am alisyn camerota. >> and iim bill hemmer. they cannot drink or bathe or use the tap water in their home. laura has more on this. >> we are getting word that the u.s. attorneya office and other federal law enforcement agencies opened an investigation in the circumstances surrounding the spill. u.s. attorney booth goodwin issuing the statement and determine what caused the leak and take whatever actions appropriate