jenna: new report describing the white house in disarray before the launch of obamacare as we learn more about the health care's law impact on americans. plus an olympic star accused of killing his girl friend. a judge making a big decision days before the trial of oscar pistorius. why the temptation to drink alcohol is stronger than indulging in your favorite sugary treat. what this means for your diet. it is all "happening now." jenna: a new report describing the white house in disarray prior to the launch of obamacare. welcome to "happening now," i'm jenna lee. all along in, all alone in studio in new york, jon. the empty chair next to me is sad without you being here. jon: i'm sorry to leave you there, jenna lee. i'll be back tomorrow. i'm jon scott. jenna: you look good there. jon: how about the capitol

behind me? we have big fat flakes of snow falling. i think it is headed your way in new york. get ready. you can hardly see the dome behind me. yes, i'm in washington. had hs secretary kathleen sebelius has received much of the blame for the rollout of health care but the "washington examiner" received emails sent by a hhs worker saying the problems ranch deeper. the hhs official involved in a non-profit involved in obamacare criticizing counterparts at white house. here is what he wrote. i think we need to come to jesus meeting with our friend in the white house. i think they are in disarray. i don't know who is in charge on health care. this comes as 11 million americans likely will see their health care rise because of obamacare with small businesses getting hit particularly hard. let's bring in bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill." bob, good to see you in person for once. >> absolutely.

jon: these emails came out, people have to kind of take a step back. remember last may when kathleen sebelius was kind of leaning on health insurance officials, executives so forth to donate to this group, enroll america. >> that's right. jon: it was supposed to sign up people, to encourage people to sign up for obamacare. >> that's right. sebelius was very nervous about enrollment and also money that was going to implement the law but you've seen over and over again, democrats knew this was trouble. max baucus, who was the chairman of the finance committee who helped write obamacare, famously called it a train wreck months best implementation fiasco. so i think these stories will continue to play out. when we look back at the rollout, this disasterous rollout, a debacle sebelius called it herself, books will be written about those months. clearly there were people on the inside who saw this coming. jon: the fact apparently health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius met with the president on may 1st. that apparently appears to be

the meeting that generated this email but that is not on the schedule, the public schedule of either the white house or the hhs secretary. >> yeah. we've done some freed many do of information act requests too. we've gotten some information there were decent amount of meetings between hhs and the white house, sebelius and the president but we've also seen inconsists in this. that is problem with the freedom of information act laws, and implementation, what the get from the government very much incomplete and politics at play what gets released and what doesn't. jon: republicans making hay of the new report coming out from cms, center for medicare & medicaid services. roughly 11 million employees of small business will supreme premiums spike because of obamacare. the good news six million will supreme premiums drop. >> right. jon: but two out of three are seeing an increase. >> that is going to be the problem. obamacare will have winners, no doubt about it. people that didn't have coverage

will have coverage. but people will be paying a lot more. the political problem in this election year the losers are always louder than the winners. this is also runs contrary to what were promised when obamacare was struggling to get the votes on capitol hill. there were a lost promises made you look back at now, really haven't born out to be true. jon: the law requires that you can not discriminate based on age. so the young people who are, you know, healthy and don't need the kind of health care services are going to be paying higher premiums to support the older folks, right? >> that is going to be the real difficult challenge for the administration. if they can get a lot of young people especially next several weeks when enrollment continues then obamacare could be overall success but they have to the to get the young people, so-called invincibles, pay a fair amount of money to get into it to pay for older people. jon: the way it works in the world, you don't pay as much

money because you're starting out. >> you don't have as much disposable income because you're starting out. jon: bob cusack from "the hill." >> thanks, jon. jenna: the crisis in ukraine, riot police apologizing for the deadly shootings in kiev, telling a crowd they were not the ones who opened fire last week and they're ashamed of what security forces did. in the meantime protesters removing a golden star from the top of the ukrainian parliament building. the star is a symbol of the former soviet union. it is also an image reflecting main issue behind the crisis, whether ukraine forms closer ties to the west or russia. with the future still very much in flux, here's the latest from the white house. >> future of ukraine should be, and must be decided by the ukrainian people, not by outside entities, not the united states, not europe, not russia. jenna: greg palkot live from london with more on this. greg? >> reporter: jenna, we're watching as the tug-of-war

between the west and russia over ukraine continues to be played out today. in kiev today, the e.u.'s foreign affairs chief, catherine ashton, meeting with the former prime minister tim shank co, just released from prison. secretary of state william burns and in moscow, russian foreign minister lavrov speaking out branding the opposition as rebels. special police seen in new video, using live ammunition against protesters. ukraine's parliament voting to send the ousted president, viktor yanukovych to the international criminal court in the hague. he is accused of mass murder. he remains on the run. he fled from kiev friday night. first went to a strong hold in eastern ukraine near russia. last seen on sunday another ethnic russian region of crimea in another part of the country. his former chief of staff was

shot and wounded being treated in kiev. finally people in kiev are reflecting on rapid changes in that country last several days. its parliament putting off until thursday naming of full transitional government there. there are worries about those not happy with west-leaning nature of this uprising, deciding perhaps to break away. a lot of worries, jenna, about the state of the economy in ukraine is widely scene, that country needs something like $35 billion over the next two years just to get by. a lot of challenges. back to you. jenna: still at center, the economy, greg, thank you very much. jon: and erratic driver tries to flee. chaotic high-speed chase all caught on camera. we'll show you how this one ended. plus we'll update that frightening story we brought you yesterday. a mysterious polio-like illness sickening children in california. doctors do not know what is causing it. a live report on that next. >> we did not realize what we

were in store for. didn't realize her arm, that she actually had a spinal cord inflammation and that her arm would be permanently paralyzed. to a faraway place where villages floated on water ancastles were houses dragons lurked, giants stood tall, and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real. avo:hatever you can imagine, all in one place. expedia, find yours.

jon: a dramatic end to a wild police chase where else on a freeway in southern california. he was driving erratically and throwing things out of his car. he led police on a wild chase, zigzagging across several lanes, one point changing direction and driving against traffic. police were finally able to stop him but only after slamming their vehicles into his car. the suspect was arrested at the scene and taken into custody. nobody was hurt we're happy to say. jenna: dramatic scene. california a health care for families there getting nationwide attention. doctors say a rare virus is causing children to become partially paralyzed. 20 cases have been identified

since 2012. some of the children are not recovering and right now this illness remains a mystery. william la jeunesse with more on this. >> reporter: well, jenna, it is a polio-like illness begins with symptoms like a cold and suddenly paralysis. officials are looking into 25 cases here in california, five in the northern part of the state. ages range from two to 16. now after suffering flu-like symptoms and trouble breathing, children experience a sudden weakness in their limbs, then paralysis like polio, yet all of the children here already had their polio vaccine. so far treatment is limited. >> the condition we're talking about here is, a sudden onset of flaccid weakness, that can occur over the course of hours. it can affect one or more limbs and the prognosis we've seen so far is not good.

most of the children we've seen have not recovered use of their arm or leg. >> reporter: so take the case of 4-year-old sophia jarvis. two years ago she developed what doctors believed was asthma. then her left arm became paralyzed. then her left leg weak. >> sophia was healthy till that point and we thought it was asthma and we went home from the hospital. that was trying in itself and the next day we did not realize what we were in store for. didn't realize her arm, that she actually had a spinal cord inflammation and that her arm would being permanently paralyzed. >> reporter: so far the state department of public health has not found any common link to these cases but doctors around the country seeing possibly similar cases are asked to contact the public health authorities here in sacramento. the cdc, jenna, has not been asked to take any test samples yet.

but again, doctors can obviously call there and get out here to try to find a common cause what is happening. back to you. jenna: what a mystery and scary story indeed. william, thank you. jon: new warning from scientists about the threat to the u.s. pacific coast from the fallout of the 2011 japanese tsunami and nuclear disaster. what those scientists are warning about now. the crisis in ukraine changing by the hour. the ousted president is still on the run as police who once faced off against protesters are apologizing now amid new concerns this country could split in two. i must begin my journey,

which will cause me to miss the end of the game. the x1 entertainment operating system lets your watch live tv anywhere. can i watch it in butterfly valley? sure. can i watch it in glimmering lake? yep. here, too. what about the dark castle? you call that defense?! come on! [ female announcer ] watch live tv anywhere. the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. jon: right now radioactive material from the deadly 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster

that rocked japan could reach the west coast of the u.s. in just months scientists say. arthel neville has more on this from our new york newsroom. arthel? >> hey, jon. it has been part of casual conversation of concern amongst people who live or used to live on the west coast however cord to a report yesterday the chatter just might have some bite to it. this is the result of that tsunami and offshore earthquake that hit japan on march 16th, 2011, and knocked out the fukushima power plant. radioactive cesium could arrive in the ocean waters along the pacific coast by april. this is according to a report scientists released monday. chemical oceanographer says no federal or international agencies are monitoring ocean waters from fukushima on this side of the pacific. so he has organized volunteer monitors at 16 sites along the california and washington coasts

and two in hawaii to collect and analyze the seawater. whistler reported that results from four of those monitoring sites have not detected traces of radiation from the fukushima daichi nuclear plant destruction but he added, quote, not yet. the forecast is that appointment low levels of radioactive caesium should be detected in april at which point scientists can detect real levels of radiation. jon: this radioactive caesium exactly. >> it's a natural element, radioactive form was discovered in 1941. it is widely used by industry and medical community as a source of radiation to treat certain cancers. jon: all right. arthel neville, we'll keep an eye on that. thank you. jenna: we'll turn our focus to ukraine. it is still very after country in transition today.

thousands of people still camping out in kiev's main square. a manhunt is on for the former president and interim leaders work form a unity government they're warning of the dangers of separate tim. that the country could divide in two between the west and russia. kt mcfarland, fox news national security analyst and former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the reagan administration. how big of a deal would that be if the country decides to separate, they divide? >> this is huge. here is the problem. this is the hard part. the easy part was getting rid of the old government. it is like a three-act play. everybody is united get rid of the bad dictator. act two, opposition has to govern. ukraine has massive problems. they are dreadfully, heavily in debt. they need a $35 billion bailout. they need $2 billion in 10 days to keep going. they are heavily dependent on the russian energy to keep the heat on and car transportation. what is likely to happen? we don't know.

will russia step in with money? will they bail them out? will they turn off the gas. jon: do you see the u.s. taxpayer on the hook at all? >> could be. >> do you think that would be wise use of other money. >> i think everybody has interest interest to keep ukraine stable and not have ukraine to fall apart. russia to grab eastern provinces. russia grab crimea the same way russia grabbed two eastern provinces of georgia. nobody wants way cost there. the russians on the other hand will not pay money and give gas to a company that basically gave them a big slap in the face. jenna: there are a lost videos over ukraine last several days is the video of riot police on their knees begging for forgiveness on the crowds in ukraine. made me think about what you said last week, watching military, maybe not the riot police, watching what action security forces take against their own people. what do you think of this video and this action? >> this is fascinating.

the military stayed in the pair racks. the military supported the people same way they did in the egyptian revolution. the riot police, they're not military, are the ones who went out the street following order of now disgraced former leader. they're the ones on the hook. they have to worry that people will come after them and hold them accountable and maybe hold them accountable for war crimes. jenna: bret stevens has an interesting article in the "wall street journal", a column, saying the revolution in kiev was televised like so many revolutions over the past several years, the arab spring, we think about when we think about this and he asked the question whether or not this will also be squandered like some of those other situation that is we've seen in the past several years where there is a revolution that we all stand by and watch but the outcome and whether or not the revolution leads to an improvement for the people is still a question. >> right. i think it is all about who will step up and who will step in. if the west steps up and says, here is $30 billion what is going to happen? the ukrainians will get that money only under correspondence

of austerity and corruption. ukrainian people will not be happy about that one. on the other hand if the russians step in they will demand political allegiance. one likely end of this is that crimea, where the russian black fleet is located -- jenna: we're seeing a map. so where crimea is points out to the black sea. an important point or outlet for russia and for any imports, exports, that is very area. >> see the i little thing on the black see, that peninsula? that is the crimean peninsula. there is a port there where the russian black fleet is. it is russia's gateway into the mediterranean. so from the black sea they can go into the mediterranean. any goods traveling from russia through the mediterranean have to go there. maybe there is some kind of deal. russia has shown they're perfectly content to take real estate we want. jenna: official line from the white house last several days has been consistent.

we had sound from jay carney the future of ukraine is not up to russia or the united states is up to the ukrainian people. you work inside administrations. what is happening behind the scenes? >> there is mad negotiating going on. european union leaders are calling germans and asking americans, can we get a aid package. can we all step up to it? somebody presumably is calling the russians. who is calling the russians i'm not sure. whether americans calling the russians. jenna: is their call being accepted? >> is their call being accepted? during the whole thing last two weeks, the american secretary of defense would call the russian equivalent, he wasn't picking up the phone. they don't want necessarily anything to be cooperative with the u.s. why? ukraine, this whole revolution, opposition movement was a slap in the face of russia. i met with the russian deputy prime minister in early december and he was talking about this. he said we offered the ukrainians cheap gas and we offered them loan forgiveness and offered them an aid package. they turned us down.

we thought we had a deal. they turned us down because they wanted to look to the west. he said, well, and he implied the cheap gas and aid package was not necessarily going to be forth coming. >> we'll see if that is the case over the next several days. >> the next several days are the time to watch. jenna: kt, thank you. >> thank you. >> great to see you. jon? jon: jenna, we hear about government programs getting more funding than ever. so why is the obama administration planning to shrink our military to levels we haven't seen in decade? a live report on that coming up. and many companies blaming the weather for customers cutting back. why that might not be the entire story. stay tuned. cúp,@s#b

jenna: new information on a murder case being watched around the world. south aftrican judge ruled cameras can be in the courtroom of the oscar pistorius murder trial. that trial starts next monday. world famous olympian known as blade runner is accused of premeditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend last year on valentine's day. he has admitted to shooting her but claims he mistook her for a burglar. the judge ruled that parts of the trial can be shown, including opening arguments, some testimony and the verdict as well. however, any witness that doesn't want to be broadcast can tell the judge and have the cameras turned off. pistorius testimony also will not be broadcast.

jon: well, happening now, the defense department announcing a proposal to reduce the size of the military to the lowest levels seen since before world nt is . expected to increase spending again next year. this as our nation's debt continues to go go along with interest rates. doug is live in washington. >> good morning, jon. announcement of major cuts in defense comes at a time when the c.v.o. says that spending us somewhere is going through the roof. discretionary spending accounts for the third of the budget total, $1.2 trillion in 2013 and projected to edge down by about $6 billion or less than 1% in the year 2014. mandatory spending is another story. things like social security, medicare and medicaid are not constrained by the annual appropriations process. they make up about 60% of the federal budget. such spending is projected to rise by $58 billion or 4% to

$2.2 trillion this year but the wild card in all of this is spend to go pay the interest on the debt, the c.v.o. says, and i'm quoting here, the government's net interest costs are projected to increase rapidly by an average of 14% per your, almost quadrupling between 2014 and 2024. >> we could eliminate the whole defense budget. we could eliminate the whole discretionary budget, close down all the buildings here in washington and we would still run a deficit of a half a trillion per year because of mandatory spending. that's where the problem is. >> d.o.d. chief hagel says none of the defense cuts were easy. >> this required a series of difficult choices. we chose further reductions in troop strength and forestructure in every military service. active and reserve. in order to sustain our readiness and technological

superiority. and to protect critical capabilities like special operations forces and cyber resources. >> with crises springing up around the globe, enemies sensing vulnerability, the decreases are going to be a hard sell on capitol hill and a bargaining chip to use for cuts in other forms of federal spending. jon: thanks. jenna: it's a tough winter for folks across the country. bitter cold and snow hitting new records in many areas and companies blaming the weather for recent weakness, particularly the chill in the housing market and we'll get to why that's important in a moment. in the meantime, out west a whole other set of problems. a drought in california is affecting farmers but the drought is bigger than just that one state. you have utah's governor now asking the president for more help during drought season. let's bring in dagen mcdowell, fox business anchor for more on this. this is coming up time and time again, week after week as we continue to see the crazy weather. is it really a factor for the

economy and for business snz >> it is, particular this will winter because we've had such a long string of storms, and particularly harsh weather. the economy is going to slow because of these storms. you're going to see weaker and you've seen this in january, weaker retail sales and auto sales and home sales and home construction and even employment. that's already starting to pop up. but it's not the calamity that you might think because a lot of purchasing and buying and economic activity just gets delayed. if you're in the market for a home, you're still going to buy one maybe in the spring. or you just buy other things like instead of getting a nice valentine's day gift, you got a snow blower, for example. this is one example. jenna: shopping for a home, you can buy a nice pair of shoes just to keep you ready to get you through the tough wintertime. >> and a lot of times you will see retailers, wal-mart maybe, when they have weak store growth, same store sales as

their stores open at least a year, they blame the weather but it might be something else at work. jenna: some say this is a soft patch, the winter and the others say the worst may be yet to come. you have one person from r.b.c. capital saying the economy never had a significant momentum and severe weather could just further slow it down. seems like analysts are all over the map as well. >> you do see varying opinions and one of the worst things about all the weather is we already had a weak consumer going into christmas. we already had a weakening housing market. a lot of people are getting priced out of homes because their incomes weren't keeping up. how much is this weather masking real weakness in the economy? it's going to take months for us to figure that out. jenna: housing has been the focus the last several months, pickup in housing but now there's questions about it and some are pointing to the weather. >> housing almost 18% down.

in december there was a bit of a pullback in home prices. we found that out this morning. that's in 20 major cities. it should come back as long as interest rates stay in check, as long as the employment market doesn't fall out of bed, then we should be okay. but again, a lot of that purchasing activity is going to be delayed into the springtime. jenna: we're focused on the cold. in the east coast we're very depressed by that. the drought is -- as far as long lasting impact, the drought out west could be the thing really to watch when it comes to weather. >> absolutely. the california economy, particularly in agriculture, it's the good and the bad of that. these are important agriculture markets for the united states. avocados and almonds are two crops we largely get from california. that's going to hurt us. we'll see food prices go up in many parts of the supermarket. however, it's still, because california has the technology

industry in the northern part of the state, the agriculture economy out there is only about 2 1/2% of california's total economy. jenna: how are you making it through? are you okay? >> i lived in colorado two years. we should have brought the photo when we went out for brunch that day. we were bundled up. you couldn't even recognize us. >> we were next to a car completely leaving. that car is probably still parked in new york. >> we're managing. jenna: we'll photograph any of our outings. >> we don't have to wear makeup because we wear like ski masks outside. jon: just remember, the folks in your native california would love all of this snow. we're looking at the white house where right now a rare and big important meeting is underway. the president is actually speaking face to face at this moment with the speaker of the house. john boehner arrived there about six or seven minutes ago. a little too snowy to get a shot of it but he is there. they're having a pretty rare meeting. the speaker has often complained

that the president doesn't consult with him very often so they're having a meeting right now. we don't know what the topic is. we don't know whether the speaker will emerge and tell us about it. if he does speak, we'll have it for you live. well, there's new information on the war in syria and the secret debate reportedly going on in washington over a whole new kind of warfare. plus freezing cold temperatures are back for a wide swath of the country. meteorologist is tracking the forecast for you. [ woman #1 ] why do i cook?

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that. >> the white house is not confirming it is considering actively a cyber attack against the syrian regime but in an email statement today, a spokeswoman for the national security council told us, quote, the president always wants to have options and as we have madg at every possible avenue to solve this problem. this is not a new process. specifically on the question of cyber, i'm, again, not going to discuss the details of our inter agency deliberations but we have been clear there are a range of tools we have at our disposal to protect our national security, including cyber. now, there's little doubt according to the experts that the u.s. has the capability to significantly disrupt the syrian government's ability to carry out air strikes against its people and to do widespread damage to the command and control centers were it to opt for a major cyber attack.

the problem, according to james of the heritage foundation, is what comes next, who benefits, what groups then move in to take advantage of the difficulties for the syrian government. and those, of course, are exactly the same questions without answers that have prevented president obama taking any other kind of significant military action in syria. >> a weapon is used to achieve a purpose and the purpose is proportional. what that means is the benefits that you gain are equal to the risks and the damage that you cause. and that kind of calculus is used for dropping a bomb just as much as it is for dropping a cyber bomb. >> there's also possible retaliation by carrying out cyber warfare, does the u.s. open itself up to similar attack snz and at the same time reveal exactly the technology it possesses. all those questions need to be answered before any such attack

is carried out and the administration may decide as it appears to have done so far, that the potential gains of a major cyber attack are outweighed by the possible risks. jon: thank you. jenna: we were just talking about the economy and the weather and apparently, we should all get ready for another deep freeze. a new blast of arctic air is sweeping across a large section of the country today as you can see, causing temperatures to plunge well below freezing and all that cold air is expected to translate into a lot more ice on the roads. never a god good thing. we're watching ice in the water, especially near the river in chicago where there are concerns about huge chunks of ice being forced onshore, threatening homes and bridges and other structures. it's really that bad. maria is live in the weather center with more. >> one of the concerns is that we saw such a dramatic warmup over the weekend across the midwest and the northeast and

that really made things melt really quickly. we had snow in parts of the northeast and melting very quickly due to the warm temperatures but now it's cold again so that should help slow down the rate of snow melt across these areas. and as far as the additional snowfall accumulation, we have quick moving clipper systems through the washington, d.c. they've got a little snow right now but most of the accumulation is on grassy surfaces and maybe about an inch or so so not really a huge story in terms of accumulation of snow in the areas. if anything, across parts of the gulf coast, we'll see some areas of heavy rain, especially as we head into tomorrow. parts of the midwest, we mentioned those cold temperatures are back. take a look what is currently out there. it's currently five degrees below zero in fargo and international falls. nine degrees below zero and that's not the wind chill. that's the actual temperature out here across portions of the upper midwest. low temps tonight are going to start to get cold across parts

of the southeast. 30's across atlanta and raleigr. thursday night we'll be below freezing all the way to parts of alabama and even mississippi. another surge of cold air actually returns on thursday. the high temperature in minneapolis, one degree below zero and out west, i heard you mention earlier the drought. guess what? storm system arrives tomorrow bringing in much needed snow for the higher elevations and lower elevation rain and it should remain unsettled for days through the weekend. >> nice to end on a little good news. much needed rain as you mentioned for the west coast. thank you very much. jon: a word of warning for all dieters. it might be harder to lose those pounds when alcohol or even your friends are around. we'll give you some food for thought coming up. major league baseball moving forward with its plans to do away with those high speed collisions at home plate. does the ban go far enough?

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jon: brand new stories next hour. obamacare will cause changes to some menus at restaurants. former president bill clinton playing a role in the 2014 midterm. what kind of impact might bubba have? and president obama is meeting with house speaker john boehner right now as the tea party faces a test in the primaries. how much clout does it carry? we'll take a look. also talk with senator mccain in the next hour on a host of hot topics. that's coming up. jenna: we look forward to that. we have news that might be

relevant for that interview. just getting this from the white house. the president, as we just mentioned, is meeting with john boehner. before this meeting, apparently he had a phone conversation with the president of afghanistan, hamid karzai. we're getting a little bit of information about what this call was about. apparently the president was talking to hamid karzai about the upcoming elections that are only a few weeks away. at that point, hamid karzai will be out of power. before then, the hope is that we will sign a bi lateral security agreement with afghanistan that would in some ways tell us, forecast whether or not we're going to leave troops inside that country. you've heard of a variety of different numbers. i'm sure over the last several months. some as high as 30,000. just recently we got a report from unnamed sources from inside the pentagon that they were looking at leaving 3,000 troops potentially there. but from this phone call with the president, apparently the president made very clear to hamid karzai that the united

states is moving forward with contingency planning that includes not leaving any troops in afghanistan past 2014 if they can't figure out something, some sort of agreement with the security moving forward in afghanistan. so we'll keep you posted on that. big phone call and potentially news there hinting at what we're looking like in a few months as far as troops on the ground in afghanistan. jon: a big change could be coming to america's pastime. right now major league baseball is cracking down on those home plate collisions. here is more on that. >> hi, jon. home plate collisions haven't been completely kicked out of the ball park but you'll see fewer players slamming into the catcher on their way in for the score. major league baseball and the players are on the same team on this ruling. it's temporary. in fact, they're calling it a one year experiment. here's how it works. the rule allows collisions if the catcher has the ball and is blking the runner's direct path

to home plate or if the catcher goes into the base pad to field the throw to the plate. so the new rule also states that a runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct path to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher. or other plate covering home plate, another player could be doing that as you know. a runner violating the rules shall be declared out even if the fielder drops the ball. debate has intensified since san francisco buster was injured as scott cousins crashed into posey at the plate. >> more center than right. cousins is going to test him. posy can't handle it and posey gets clobbered. posey is hurt and he never caught the ball. >> so posey coming up world series victory in 2010 sustained

season ending injuries to his lower left ankle, his leg and ankle. bottom line, according to some of the umpires, scenes like that are hard to watch. players who slide into home plate appropriately are not in violation of the rules. boil that down to us. there are more layers to the temporary rule but i left them out because it was too inside baseball. jon: i'm going to see johnny bench at an event tonight. i'll -- i'm going to ask him what he thinks about the new rule. jenna: sounds like a scoop. having alcohol around during any sort of diet may be worse than sweets. we have a member of the fox news medical a team. this is published in the annals of behavioral medicine and it looked at 80 people and found it was harder for them to resist alcohol than for them to resist

sugary sweets. what does that tell us about keeping our diets on track? >> well, it's really revealing. it's a very important study. only 80 people and only over a week out of the university of birmingham. and i think it tells us that maybe we don't think about alcohol in the same way that we think of sugary drinks or we think of desserts that we're eating. now, what actually happened was everyone was given a cell phone and they had a record on their smart phone what their diet was and they were either dieting alone or in a group of dieters. the ones who fell off the wagon the most at 50% -- jenna: no pun intended or maybe it is intended. >> right. 50% actually didn't -- it started to break the diet. most of the type it was because somebody was with them. when they were with other people, they did it more often and alcohol tempted them the most. jenna: as a medical professional, is it worse when you're on a diet to choose a brownie or a beer? if you had to choose between the

two, what is healthier for you if you're going to cheat anyway? >> do you want my medical opinion? jenna: i do. i think it's an interesting question. they're looking for ways to get around their diet and you can see how someone can say, oh, i'll have a bud light. that will be better than having a cupcake but is it? >> two reasons. i think maybe viewers know that alcohol is loaded with calories. maybe they dent think of it before but the other problem is alcohol is more addictive. well, both are addictive. but you might think i'll have a beer but i didn't have that brownie. so let me have another beer and then another beer and then you end up with a beer belly. alcohol is loaded with calories. jenna: one of the other stories we've done is that folks that actually abstain from alcohol completely gained more weight than people that are moderate drinkers other the years. so in a healthy diet, how do you view alcohol? >> i think we're scientists here. here is what you're suggesting. you refrain that the alcohol but maybe then you have the brownie. jenna: maybe that's what it's

saying. >> maybe people think they can record the beer on the smart phone but not the brownie. i think the bigger problem here is temptation and i want to add exercise. if you exercise regularly, drink a lot of water and i guess stay away from people causing you to break the diet -- jenna: bad friends that want to take you out for a week. >> the study was only a week. maybe if it was a month, it would be worse. jenna: in your medical opinion, you would skip both the beer and the brownie. jon: ditch the beer. lose the friends or vice versa. i'm not surement after the i.r.s. fined tea parties groups, some lawmakers are taking action. what they're trying to do to prevent die as -- bias at the i.r.s. next hour i'll speak with john mccain on benghazi, ukraine and the implementation of obamacare.

jenna: breaking news this hour. jon: control of congress up for grabs in the midterm elections this november. why primaries beginning in one week could show who holds the real power. national security adviser susan rice making it clear she regrets nothing about her comments right after the dezly benghazi terror attacks. why senator john mccain says he was left almost speechless when he heard that. he'll join us live. a bus driver gets shot in the chest but something blocked the bullet. was divine intervention involved? we are live with an amazing story. it's all "happening now." well, a big meeting between a couple of political rivals you might say in the white house right now. welcome to the hour of "happening now." jenna: to be a fly on the wall between the speaker and the president. i'm jenna lee and we're live at

the white house right now. the president is wrapping up a rare meeting with house speaker john boehner. the private sitdown in the oval office, the first since december of 2012 when they failed to reach an agreement on tax reform and spending cuts during the deficit reduction talks. a wide range of topics said to be on today's agenda. ed henry is live with the story. what are you hearing about this meeting? >> well, what we're hearing from both sides is that there are a range of issues they want to talk about. mostly the president wants to get his agenda going on capitol hill. speaker boehner expressed reservations not just about key parts of the president's agenda like i mean grigs -- immigration reform but saying that republicans are concerned about the president talking so much about going around congress on other issues like changes to his health care law and interesting that secretary sebelius was on huff post live today, was pressed on whether or

not the administration will reach the goal of seven million enrollees by the end of march 31. she said i certainly hope so but hedged on the number. >> we're approaching the final push to health insurance. we have, as i say, over 3 1/2 million people already and we're -- we're seeing thousands sign up every day. and we think that's very good. >> the secretary was also pressed on vice president biden throwing out the number of five to six million people being enrolled instead of the original goal of seven million. again, the secretary dodged that question and instead said the website is working very smoothly now. jenna: certainly has been a busy week so far at the white house and it's only tuesday, ed, right? yesterday we had all the governors at the white house and some republicans are still pushing back on health care. >> that's right. you've got bobby who realizes that the debate, if you will, between speaker boehner and the president, meeting right now as

you say, has shifted from repeal to maybe how do you change the law and what bobby is calling for is delays to key parts of the law like the individual mandate. listen. >> if he was serious about growing the economy, why not delay obamacare, c.v.o. has said over two million fewer americans working thanks to health care law. he's proposing policy that would destroy jobs. >> the administration continues to push back by putting some of their key spokes people out there. vice president biden on "the view" was not pressed on his climb of five to six million enrollees but got a kiss from barbara walters. jenna: i have a question. everything behind you is covered completely with snow. you look perfect, though. is someone holding an umbrella? is that fake behind you? what's really happening there at the white house? >> i really am in front of the white house right now. we have a little tent over us.

i don't know if we can widen out. it protects me. i consider myself a valuable asset. i hope you think so as well. jenna: i certainly do and i'm glad that you brave the elements but just not too much. >> all for you and jon. jenna: we really see what you have to deal with. no kiss here for you but we really appreciate you being on the program as always. thank you. >> thank, jenna. jon: what we don't see is ed jumping up every five minutes to shake the snow off the tent so it doesn't collapse. the primaries leading to the midterm elections kick off exactly one week from today and the races could be a big test for the tea party f. their congressional candidates win, that would shift the balance of power between the g.o.p. establishment wing and the tea party activists who first burst onto the political scene five years ago. they've seen their influence on the decline recently on capitol hill or so it would seem to most outside observers. joining us is john mccormick and

the reporter at real clear politics. the tea party has been with us about five years. does it still have clout? >> we have seen in recent debates on the budget and the debt ceiling that they didn't really have the influence that they wanted on those debates. clock voted on a debt ceiling increase recently. what they're looking at now are the midterm elections and getting involved in primaries of their republican members to see if they can still have some influence there. the problem is that this is a very difficult and fragile time for the republican party. it's their best chance in years, i think, to take over the senate and they don't want to upset the balance by taking down their own members. jon: so why is there the feeling, john, that we're not going to see some of these targets like charlie chris, governor crist? why they might not be knocked off by a tea challenger person

this time? >> back in 2010 you had very liberal republicans like charlie crist who were for card check or cap and trade. they were liberal on abortion, voted or supported the stimulus package. today the differences really aren't that big. mitch mc connell, tea party top target right now. they're conservative by any standard of a voting record. mitch mc connell has the same conservative score as the tea party challenger in texas. that shows you that the disagreements today aren't as big on ideo logical matters. >> i think it influenced republican members on the hill seeing that risking the party's reputation and risking the country's fiscal stand and creating some crises weren't worth a battle on issues. so i think we saw that their influence really start to wane

there. the republicans really learned from that experience and poor polling numbers. jon: john boehner takes a look at the cards he's got ahead of this debt ceiling vote not too far in the recent past and says, i'm just going to go with a clean debt ceiling bill. he couldn't get the support for some of the sort of minor things that he wanted to do, passed a clean bill and infuriated a lot of tea party members in the process. >> they took the defund obamacare, they took it to the brink, obamacare was funded the entire time and the disagreement they have are of course more task differences than they are over ideological differences. we found that the defund of the obamacare didn't work so why should we suspect it will work again? jon: there's a huge contingent in the country crying out for smaller government for less

federal interference in state affairs and local affairs. in the freedoms of every day individuals, that's kinds of what the tea party is all about and the feeling is still out there, isn't it? >> it is and you've seen that heightened in the recent debates and people outside of washington are challenging the speaker in those regards. but you also have a republican party in washington who knows that they can't govern without more members in congress. they're trying to make the case if you want these kinds of reforms, if you want the government to work this kind of play, we need more members instead of taking out our own members. we need to expand our majority in the house and expand and perhaps take over the senate. jon: thank you both. >> thanks. jenna: attorney general eric holder says his state counterparts don't have to defend same sex marriage bans. he's meeting with state attorneys general today saying if they carefully study any laws and find them sdriment

discriminatory, they do not have to support them. they're getting backlash and saying they can't simply look the other way. shannon is live in washington tackling this legal story for us. how far is attorney general holder advising state attorneys general what they can do? >> he said it's up to them but certainly permissible for state attorneys general, once they've engaged in the legal analysis, to decide not to defend state measures that recognize only traditional marriage. here's what he told a gathering of state attorneys general just moments ago. >> in general, i believe that we must be suspicious of legal classifications based solely on sexual orientations and we must endeavor in all our efforts to uphold and advance the values that once led our father bearers to say that all are created equal and entitled to equal opportunity. >> there are 33 states that have measures only permitting their states to recognize traditional

marriages and as you know, many of those are currently being challenged in court. jenna: what's the reaction like to this? >> it's been very swift and pointed from social conservatives and state attorneys general alike. wisconsin's a.g. says it is not holder's job to tell him how to do his job. and that he's going to defend his state's constitution. and we're also hearing from folks like the counsel to the judicial crisis network, once a supreme court clerk. she said eric holder apparently isn't satisfied with working to clear out his own oath to defend the constitution. he wants to see state attorneys general do the same. but in a country under the rule of law, the executive doesn't have free reign to declare laws unconstitutional by default. hotly debated political issues like the redefinition of marriage, are precisely the type of thing that must be left to the the voters state by state. not a single state officer. jenna: interesting story we'll continue to watch. thank you. jon: there is word today that a

key nato ally may shell out billions to finance terror groups. which country this is and how the proposed defense cuts could impact our military readiness against this threat. live to capitol hill as the house gets ready to take up bills that would reform the i.r.s., but the legislation could be seen as a dare to democrats. we'll take you inside that story. >> what i said to you that morning and what i did every day since was to share the best information that we had at the time. the information i provided, which i explained to you, was what we had at the moment. it could change. jon: she may have no regrets about her initial statements after the deadly benghazi terror attack but others are just stunned by her comments now. senator mccain among them. he'll be here live to tell us more about his reaction. i'm re-. mayo? corn dogs?

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jenna: new concerns today about america's military readiness around the world after secretary of defense chuck hagel announces a plan to slash millions from the pentagon budget. all of this comes amid a study claiming that turkey, one of our closest allies, is allegedly spending billions and billions to help finance terror groups or terror group partners in places like iran, syria and even as far away as china. the author of this report is the vice president of research at the foundation for defense of democracies and is our guest now. nice to have you back on the program. >> thanks. jenna: why did you decide to focus on this? there's so many different topics one can take up. why turkey and why now? >> it's been a building story. we've been aware of turkey's activities and they've been growing over time. i would say that in the last couple of weeks, the most jarring was perhaps that meeting between prime minister of turkey and the supreme leader of iran.

when he went to iran, he called it a second home. this comes right on the heels of what we call the gas for gold scheme. turkey allowed iran to get $13 billion through the gold trade in illicit gold trade right at the peak of sanctions designed to prevent iran from going nuclear. jenna: what is it for turkey to work with iran? >> turkey is a neighbor of iran so they may be trying to game this out and make sure they don't make enemies where they don't need to but at the end of the day, this was a mercantile type of exchange. they got a lot of money in exchange for that gold and i think they were very happy with the end result. jenna: one of the things you say in the report is that the window to address these problems is now. and you talk about a few different things that turkey is doing, including sending turkey groups in syria to find against the asad forces and you mention turkey doing business with the chinese company. talk to us a little bit about that before i ask you about this window of opportunity. what are they doing with china

that has caught some attention? >> sure. they actually went and struck a deal with eye chinese company that has been -- designated with providing iran with technology used for the nuclear program. this is a company that's been on our list for quite some time now. the turks went right out and signed a $4 billion deal with them. they wanted it because our companies here like boeing and others wouldn't provide them with the technology to allow them to keep the technology and use it for their own defense technologies so they run right out to this chinese company. it's set off a storm inside congress, congress has fired back. there have been a couple of banks here in the u.s. that have warned turkey if they go throug off so the turks have heard it from the united states. jenna: again, getting back to the window of time we have to address this issue you say that is emerging from turkey as they become more involved in some of these terror organizations and you mention several of them in

your report, how do we handle it? >> look. bottom line is they're dealing with hamas. they have an al qaeda financier running around on turkish soil. you have the jihadi groups in syria. it's obl a matter of time before congress looks at turkey as a possible spot for terror and that will create a real storm with this nato ally. the idea is to address this now to be proactive about it, to make sure that the turks start to roll this stuff back. otherwise, what you really could see is a collapse of this very important strategic relationship. jenna: and what's at stake with that strategic relationship if it goes bad or if we can figure out a way to maintain it in better order? >> well, the turks have served as a barrier against extremism in the middle east. they've been that western looking muslim country that's been incredibly important. we've had bases right on the edge of syria and iran. we have radar systems, missile systems, all of these things are

incredibly important. having a muslim country in nato is also important to us. we want to preserve that. it looks like things are heading toward collapse and that's exactly what we don't want to see. jenna: it's an interesting look at a country we don't spend enough time looking at. thank you very much. >> my pleasure. jon: it looks like cuts to private medicare programs might not be as bad as originally thought but that's not stopped criticism about the changes to benefits for seniors in this country. we'll talk with senator and get his take on the new numbers. also the good book saving a life. we'll show you how the bible gave one bus driver a second chance after an attempted intruder. >> i had a book in my pocket. i thought it went through but it just feels like i've been hit with a sledge hammer in the chest and i've been cut on the arm. with at&t's new pricing for families

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jenna: incredible story out of ohio to tell you about. after a bus driver was shot and survived due to definitely divine intervention. here is the story from the news room. >> that's for sure and i'm guessing the bus driver is a man of faith who believes in miracles. ricky wagner was outside his bus in dayton, ohio monday as he was trying to fix a mechanical problem. that's when police said three assailants approached him and shot him twice in the chest at close range. but a contemporary version of the bible titled the message, absorbed the bullets that would have otherwise killed the bus driver. detective on the scene said there was some kind of intervention involved in this incident because wagner should probably not be here. wagner was shot in the leg while another assailant stabbed him in

the arm. wagner was able to grab both the gun and the knife and that's when the suspects ran away and the driver got back in his bus and called police. now, the suspects are described as 15 to 18 years old. wagner reportedly told police that one of them was heard telling another to kill the man, quote, if you want to be all the way in the club. that's silly and senseless and ridiculous and i could go on but anyway, i'm so glad this guy was protected. jenna: and maybe you should carry the bible around with you. >> i'm done with that. jenna: i think that's sounds like a good idea for a myriad of different reasons. >> absolutely. jon: some new numbers on obamacare but this time, they focus on the government cuts to privately run medicare programs. insurers initially thought they would be higher raising concerns about the impact this could have on seniors while the numbers are lower than expected, it is not stopping the criticism. joining us now is the chairman of the senate republican policy

committee so medicare advantage and plans like it are going to be more expensive for some seniors, some seniors will be getting cancellation notices as a result of obamacare, senator. >> they will. medicare advantage, there are advantages to being on the program for the seniors and 15 million americans have signed up for medicare advantages. there's coordinated care, people do much better in terms of health outcomes and now the president, who has taken a lot of money away from medicare as part of the health care law, not to strengthen medicare but for a whole other group of people, these cuts at medicare advantage are focused on many of our seniors and i believe many of them will be getting cancellation notices but clearly they're going to be paying more, fewer choices and many of them may not be able to keep the doctor they've been going to for years. jon: one plan in maryland saw

premiums rise from $33 to $51 a month. in upstate new york, erie county, saw premiums jump from zero to $28 a month. all of this attributable to obamacare? >> well, absolutely, because the president has really targeted people on medicare and specifically the 15 million on medicare advantage to provide subsidies for other people to sign up for the obama health care under the website. you know, they're giving subsidies to people who make up to $90,000 a year income and taking it from seniors to do that. so it's no surprise that seniors are going to be seeing cancellation notices and higher out of pocket costs and higher premiums and co-pays. jon: so in order to fund obamacare, in order to bring all of these new people previously uninsured apparently, in order to give them insurance, health insurance, the medicare advantage plan is being essentially raided. >> it is being raided and the

president knows he's doing it and even democrats, prominent democrats have said that this program is a great success and they're telling the president to not raid it. they're joining republicans in this effort because i'm concerned as a doctor with the impact this is going to be on the health care of american seniors. anything that i think helps coordinate care and works with preventative care is something we should encourage and yet the president is weakening this very successful program. jon: a couple of weeks ago the administration delayed the obamacare requirement implementation for medium sized employers. now there's a new report out. we just started the last hour with it. fairly new report out from the center for medicare and medicaid services that 11 million people in the country are going to see their premiums rise. small business as a result of obamacare. about six million will get a break but two out of thee are going to pay more money. seems like that is happening again and again and again.

>> we're seeing that all across the country. the president promised that under his plan, he was actually going to lower the cost of care and the cost of insurance but has gone the other way. you know, it's interesting. the report you just mentioned that small businesses are going to end up paying a lot more for insurance, they came out with that late friday after they came out with the fact that the medicare advantage cuts so they're trying to bundle all the bad news together and do it into the weekend but it's right. small business owners, people that are out there hiring people, trying to get the economy going again, are being hit with additional costs, higher expensive premiums and you worry that some of them are then going to say, well, we provided insurance in the past but it's now gotten much more expensive and the reason that it's gotten much more expensive are all the mandates that are included under the president's health care law and that's what is driving up a lot of the costs, the mandates from washington. jon: republican of wyoming, one of those who has been looking for alternatives to obamacare in

the senate, good to have you on. >> thanks so much for having me. jenna: also on capitol hill, reforming the i.r.s. lawmakers prepare to go take up two bills and some say the bills are seen as a dare to the democrats. we'll explain. we'll be live with that story. also legal tug of war over the world's most wanted drug lord. nabbed in mexico in a coordinated effort with u.s. authorities. so which country put them on trial? our legal panel is next. marge: you know, there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies.

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jon: we are awaiting new action on capitol hill behind me concerning the i.r.s. where two bills reforming the tax agency are set to hit the house floor today. they would need a super majority instead of just a majority to pass and that could be seen as a dare to democrats. chief congressional correspondent is life on capitol hill to explain all of that for us. mike? >> welcome to townhouse leadership. aides say this is part of an effort to get transparenctransp. the audit act requires the i.r.s. to inform taxpayers when their information is shared with another federal agency. there's also protecting taxpayers from intrusive i.r.s.

request acts which would bar the i.r.s. from asking about a person's political, social or religious views. illinois republican congressman is the author of both bills. he says the obama administration seems incapable of getting the i.r.s. under control and restoring faith in the agency. lawmakers make reference to this woman's recent testimony as a reason why they must act. >> this government attacked me because of my political beliefs but i refuse to be cast as a victim. not to the i.r.s., not to the f.b.i., not to osha, not to the bureau of tobacco our firearms. i'm not a victim because a victim has no options. >> to it wasn't just the i.r.s., it was the f.b.i., osha and morement one of those bill $ designed to make sure that doesn't happen unless she's told that the federal government is passing along her personal

information. most times in the house of representatives it's a simple majority that's needed. this needs a 2/3 super majority, almost daring democrats to vote no and then you can hear the 2014 campaign ads starting to run. jon: mike emmanuel on capitol hill, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: a legal debate continues to rage about putting the world's most wanted drug lord on trial. he was captured in mexico over the weekend. big, big news. this is after a 13-year manhunt and coordinated efforts by the united states and mexican authorities. now the two countries remain at odds where he should face justice. doug burn $ a former prosecutor and he's a fox news analyst. now they have him. what do they do with him? >> one is will he be tried in mexico versus the united states? then the secondary question is if he's extradited to the united states, we have cases against him in seven different districts

washington, d.c. will decide which district case. >> you've got chicago, miami, new york. you've got all of these districts that want him but the first question is first, does he even get to the united states? jenna: and one of the issues with extradition, we have the death penalty in this country. how does that factor in? >> if we want him here and fast, because it takes up to six years to get his extradited from mexico, from 90 days to six years. take the death penalty off the table. jenna: mexico will not ex fra -- extradite him if it's on the table. >> we will not leave out the death penalty for him. jenna: he's one of the worst of the worst out there. why would we do that? >> to get him. >> it's going to put eric hold engineer a tough spot. how is he possibly going to make a public statement in light of everything this man has done, we're not going to seek the tet

penalty? it becomes a tricky calculus. on many levels we want to bring him here but we don't want to say that. we're not taking away the death penalty. it will be tricky. >> but it's not like you're talking about someone already in the country. this is about somebody that if we don't take it, we will not get him per that treaty. jenna: this man was in jail many, many years ago and decided he was going to sneak out in a laundry cart and made it out and for 13 years, was on the run. does that factor in? there is concern about the prisons in mexico. and whether or not his power will be cut off when he's behind bars. >> i think it would be mexico's benefit to say, the u.s. has him. they have all these charges against him. let's get rid of him. save face, mexico. you didn't keep him. he actually escaped twice. not just once. he escaped twice and you couldn't keep him. let's just get rid of him now and send him to the u.s. and the u.s. will deal with him. >> i spoke to a friend of mine

that i used to work with that did a lot of narcotics cases and he was saying they fear and dread going to the u.s. because he's not going to be able to necessarily exert corruption and buy people off. if he's put in u.s. maximum security, he's not going to escape. jenna: how difficult is that for mexico? >> it will be difficult. >> i don't think it will be that difficult in the sense we have all these jurisdictions that want him here, have already got the indictments, already the charges against him so why not extradite him? you try him here and bring him back. we don't waive the opportunity to try him in mexico. jenna: could he be tried in both countri countries? >> as a practical matter, if one country were to try him and combif him, let's say, either the death penalty or multiple life sentences, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to extradite him after the fact. he could be convicted in mexico

and then extradited him. this is extremely difficult to predict whether or not mexico is going to go forward. the only reason they wouldn't is because high level mexican officials go do not want to see him corruptly escape again. jenna: and real quick, will we know about extradition? you said in the 90 days to six years? >> it takes a long time. but politically what's going on behind-the-scenes could move it very quickly. jenna: it's interesting to watch. did you see in his apartment? it wasn't impressive. he's a big drug lord, one of the most wanted men in the years and crime doesn't pay. >> one other thing is that the circumstances of his arrest were very unusual. here was somebody who travelled with 14 heavily armed bodyguards and he went like a lamb with no resistance. >> think about the money that was exchanged. come on. jenna: we're speculating a deal may have been worked out to keep him in mexico. jenna: helicopters are coming.

conspiracy theories have landed in here. jon: an update on day five in the trial of a former aspen socialite charged in the murder of her ex-husband. pamela phillips taking the stand today, her stepdaughter who is testifying against her as a witness for the state. prosecutors say phillips hired a hit man to murder her ex husband in order to collect a $2 million life insurance policy. she denies that. her ex husband was killed in a fiery car bomb explosion back in 1996 in tucson. the man convicted of planting that bomb, pamela's ex-boyfriend, is now serving a life sentence. well, democrats calling in the big guns before the midterm elections. former president clinton campaigning for democratic candidates for the senate as democrats try to hold on to their majority there. today the former president is in kentucky in a race to dethrone

the senate's top republican, mitch mc connell. mike tobin is in kentucky. mike? >> and any minute now, jon, bill clinton, probably the biggest draw on the democratic party, will fire his first shot of the 2014 campaign season. he's here in louisville campaigning for the secretary of state. she is looking to unseat the 30-year veteran of the senate, minority leader mitch mc connell. >> we're ready for it. look. this is not about mitch mc connell versus bill clinton. and all of the liberal ideas that all her natural fundraisers, harry reid, barack obama are trying to bring into the state. >> bevin has a lot of support from the tea party but the numbers show that bevin is not a threat to the titan of kentucky politics. jon: this is clinton's first stop, really, in his campaign to

help senators. >> you're going to have to apologize. the ear piece went out. i think you're talking about some motivations here. one thing that is not dissuading the clintons is -- or bill clinton is the fact that a win for grimes would undermine the power base of rand paul. rand paul as of late has been reminding everyone of the lewinsky scandal. >> i don't think he represents kentucky values or kentucky families in the sense that what he did in the workplace, anybody you would talk to, they would fire their president. they would fire any executive who did this to a young intern in the workplace. so i don't think that was acceptable and i don't think that he's a great representative for kentucky families or values. jon: all right. mike tobin reporting live from louisville, kentucky on president -- former president clinton's involvement in supporting senate democratic candidates. jenna: off and running toward the midterm elections this year,

so we'll stay close to politics. susan rice causing more controversy this weekend saying she had no regrets about they are initial response to the benghazi terror attacks. you mean next jon will talk to senator mccain who isn't pulling any punches with the criticism of the president's national security adviser. that's up next. knows her way around a miniskirt. can run in high heels. must be a supermodel, right? you don't know "aarp".

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susan rice sparking more outrage saying she has no regrets about her special response to the consulate on benghazi when they blamed a video bringing on the deaths of chris stevens and three other brave americans. >> what i said to you that morning and what i did every day since was to share the best information that we had at the time. the information i provided, which i explained to you was what we had at the moment, it could change, the notion that somehow i or anybody else in the administration misled the american people is patently false. jon: joining me is someone who has been critical of rice's comments from the start, senator mccain. you say that information from the national security adviser totally misleading and totally false, senator. >> well, again, she said that

she had the best information available. well, the best information available came from the station chief in libya the next day before she went on national television saying that this was not slash not a spontaneous demonstration. she went on national television to say it was a spontaneous demonstration that sparked the attack on the embassy. triggered by a hateful video. none of that was true and there was information there at the time. now, i might say on behalf of susan rice, is that she had nothing to do with this issue. she was up at the u.n. she had -- she wasn't anywhere in the loop as to the information that flowed back and forth, yet she was willing to go on national television and say things which we know now were patently false. there was no hateful video involved in this. there was no spontaneous demonstration. and by the way, al qaeda was not dismaded -- decimated.

he was on "face the nation" and the head of the president of the libyan legislature said, this was not a spontaneous demonstration. this was planned. and i said, look. people don't bring mortars and rocket propelled grenades to spontaneous demonstrations. so she should have known it was totally false. jon: defenders of security adviser rice and maybe even former secretary of state hillary clinton have offered essentially this question, why does it matter? >> you know, that really is one of the more infuriating aspects of this. why does it matter when our united states ambassador and three brave americans are murdered? why does it matter? well, if they don't know why it matters, then they really have lost touch with america and what it's supposed to be all about. let me mention a couple of

things. one is that it's pretty clear now that the deputy head of the c.i.a. told us, that was me and senator lindsey graham, that the f.b.i. had done the talking points which susan rice used. it wasn't. he did. and there's still a question about who exactly made the decision to take the word terror and extremist out of the talking points that susan rice used. and you can't do all of this except in the context of a presidential campaign where the president's message continuously of his people were, osama bin laden is dead and al qaeda is on run. this obviously contradicted that basic line of their campaign. jon: senator, i know you have some thoughts about the pentagon's budget cuts that have been proposed this week. if you would be god good enough to share those after the break. senator mccain, thank you.

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jon: back now with arizona senator john mccain, your forme senator from nebraska, now the defense secretary, outloined his first defense budget. you don't think much of it. why? >> well, first of all, changes need to be made in the entitlements and benefits but it has to be done in conjunction with congress and a commission but most importantly, the cuts in defense spending, which, by the way, are transferred over to increases in domestic spending, can harm our ability in what the director of national intelligence last week, jim clapper, stated that we are in a more and more dangerous and challenging world. and we have seen this movie before. we saw it after world war ii and we saw it after the vietnam war when we cut way back and we had

a more dangerous world and now we are about to repeat that. there are crises, a lot of it due to a lack of strong u.s. leadership, that are simmering around the world and so i think these cuts are too much. finally, may i say there are very few army units today that are ready. that's another problem with the budget as well. jon: i want to get you on the record on the situation in arizona. you know, governor brow brewer is considering a bill that you have advocated she should veto. proponents say it protects religious freedom. opponents say it allows legalized discrimination against gays and lesbians. what do you say? >> i hope governor brewer will veto three state senators who voted for it and have now said they wouldn't vote for it again and that would have prevented it from being passed.

most importantly it's the impression it's creating because it's viewed as discriminatory. i think there's back and forth argument about whether it actually is or not. but this can affect tourism, it can affect our state's economy and job creation and the entire business community of arizona is urging a veto of this bill because the impact they think it would have on them. so i hope that the governor will veto this bill. we have recommended it. jon: senator, you've been good to spend extra time with us today. thank you. >> pleasure. jenna: a different kind of presidential portrait. how you can see some artwork and the softer side of one of our former presidents. next.

former president bush showing off his creative side. the first exhibit of his paintings is going on display in the presidential library in

texas. he took wild life and things like barnie and makes ornaments for christmas like this cardinal. it will focus on his relationship with the world leaders. >> he's very talented. >> thanks for joining us. i will be back in new york tomorrow. america's news headquarters. >> obama care insurance premiums could spike for two-thirds of americans working for small businesses. i am alisyn camerota. >> and i'm eric shawn sit nothing for hill hemmer. a small company is a company with newer than 50 employees. 65 of those business people could see higher premium ands that is a lot of people. 11 million in all. >> lou dobbs joins us now.