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tv   Happening Now  FOX News  April 17, 2014 8:00am-10:01am PDT

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all this up for sale years later. you want binoculars. nice jewelry. >> it can be yours. >> great to see you. >> martha will be back. of take care. bill: have a good thursday. jenna: start off the thursday with a fox news alert. begin with a brand new fox polls. i'm jenna lee. great to see you. >> i'm jon scott. we look at potential presidential candidates to the president's approval rating which rose slightly at march. it is 42%. however the majority of voters, 51% still disapprove of the job mr. obama is doing in office. the favorable, unfavorable opinion of the president is the lowest it has been in four years. only 45% of the american voters believe mr. obama is doing a favorable job. well, we will have much more on these polls throughout our hour today. jenna: breaking news on the nightmare unfolding off the coast of south korea.
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at least nine people confirmed dead and nearly 300 still missing after a passenger ferry carrying mostly high school students capsized. we still don't know why it happened. now with stormy conditions complicating rescue efforts, the death toll is expected to rise dramatically. we go to david piper now who is live in bangkok. >> reporter: hi, jenna. yes, nearly 300 people remain missing most of them schoolchildren. the south korean government is urging search teams to work harder. they're facing atrocious conditions which really hampered the search effort. dive teams have been trying to search the ship's compartments where they thought many were trapped in. they struggled against strong currents and poor visibility. they're attempting to pomp oxygen into the upturned vessel. they're planning to bring a robotic camera and a crain to right the ship of the most of the people aboard the ferry were high school students. at least 325 persons were students from one high school
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near the tap toll, shawl. it was traveling from inshown in the another west to a southern island. the ship began to list and eventually flipped over in sight of land, leaving only a small part of the hull visible. many survivors were saved by rescue teams who managed to get them off the rapidpy capsizing ship. some survivors said they were ordered to stay still as the ship listed for 30 to 40 minutes. some students showed on a video they made, people waiting to be saved and not getting off the ferry. a crew member said no evacuation order was given by the captain. he was one of the survivors. he has since apologized but faces criminal investigation. it is still not clear what happened to the ship. some survivors heard a loud thud. then the ship began to list t does indicate perhaps that the ship did hit something under water. back to you, jenna. jenna: a tragic situation, david. thank you so much. the students we see in some of
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the videos trapped in the capsizing ferry were exchanging text messages with loved ones as the boat was sinking. an 18-year-old girl telling her father this. dad, don't worry, i have a life vest on. we're huddled together. he replayed, i know the rescue is underway, make your way out. dad, i can't walk out the corridor. it is full of kids and it is too tilted. we don't know the fate of that one girl. another, boy texting his mother, mom i might not be able to tell you in person i love you. she replied, me too, son. she replied that to him. it is believed that particular taken was among those rescued. we'll keep you posted as we hear mother. eric: heartbreaking to read those texts. new fox polls indicate most americans have trust issues with president obama. 37% of voters say mr. obama lies to the country most of the time on important matters. 24% scale he lies sometimes. 20% say he only lies now and then.
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nina east stone is senior editor and washington columnist for fortune. she is co-chair of mortgage fun's most powerful women summit a rare day when you join us in new york. good to see you, nina. what is mr. obama, what does he do to try to turn these numbers around. i mean 60% of the people think he lies most of the time? >> you know what's interesting, jon? he is actually a complete reversal from his first term where 60% of the public thought he was a trustworthy guy. even people who didn't like him. even people who didn't like his policies basically trusted him.
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but last fall those ratings fell off the cliff when the introduction of obamacare and breaking that fundamental promise of you can, if you like your plan, if you like your doctor you can keep him. jon: that's really it. when it comes down to it, people have seen that proved not to be the case. >> i think that is really the fundamental, you just look at the timing t was obamacare and then those numbers just went off the cliff. i really think it is the timing. jon: perhaps not surprising that he gets his worst ratings on the honesty score among republicans, his best ratings among democrats, but, the independents are the ones you really pay attention to in politics. and he has got some problems with independents right inosine has real problems with independents. 41% think he lies most of the time. that is fundamental block i don't think you're going to win back. you can win back people who think you lie a little bit or somewhat trustworthy. to have the huge block of independents basically not trusting you.
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and you know we're looking at the midterm elections. this is an important piece of that. but it is also an important piece of when this president has to make difficult decisions on things like national security. you need the trust of americans across the board. jon: yeah, and he doesn't seem to have that right inosine doesn't. i mean that is, you know, obviously he has got a long ways, he has a very high cliff to climb to get back. jon: so things like the nsa scandal that the left is mad at him for. >> right. jon: is that reflected if these numbers as well? >> i think so. so you have 13% of the sort of obama constituencies who think he lies and, don't find him trustworthy. i really just chalk that up to people on the left who are really angry at him over a number of things. you can't underestimate him that they're angry at him over nsa spying. they're angry at him over the use of drones. if he approves the keystone pipeline you will see a real rebellion from the left. these are not people in the midterms, keep in mind that will
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go out and support republicans. they might be motivated to keep the senate in hands of democrats. i don't think you can really factor that in when you're looking how the midterm elections play out. jon: he doesn't have to run again. these numbers, they are what they are and they don't necessarily affect anything but his legacy, but, his ability to try to you know, lift other democrats into office in the midterm elections, that is definitely going to be affected by public perception of him, correct? >> midterm elections as we know they're low turnout elections. they tend to be highly reflective how people feel about whatever president is sitting in office. so he is definitely going to be, if these numbers stay like this, he will be a drag on democrats and their prospects keeping senate. jon: you say if they stay like this. can he do something to turn these numbers around? >> he can do, he can improve certainly his management, his approval ratings. jon: he can stop saying if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor? >> exactly. because obamacare is less in the
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headlines now, they took that 7.5 million people who have signed up and they're taking that number out for a spin everywhere, everywhere they go and they're declaring that a success. he think he can mitigate a lot of that number about, particularly on the approval ratings but there will remain a chunk of people who just don't trust him. jon: worth pointing out that 7 1/2 million number was kind of an arbitrary figure in the beginning. it is just what the administration chose as its target. >> exactly. jon: the fact that they got there, maybe not a huge accomplishment. >> but again, they want to make a big pr effort out of it and you will hear a lot about that over the summer going into the election that number. jon: nina east stone. thanks for being here. >> thanks. jon: jenna. jenna: we'll go to the white house for an event that has nothing to do with health care and everything to do with wounded warriors. they're welcoming the soldier ride to the white house. this event brings wounded
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warriors together and supposed to raise awareness of injuries that some of these wounded warriors have suffered because of their service. so the wounded warriors came to the white house. this is the 7th annual soldier ride. the president will be speaking on that as you can see. you wan watch the entire event streaming live at foxnews.com. >> about the -- my lady. do you see, the version that of, even of the accused that the bathroom light was on. did you not switch it off? >> it was very bright outside, my lady. >> did you not switch the balcony light -- why not, if you have to try to recreate what they could see why would you not do that? >> well the prosecutor in the oscar pistorius murder trial gets another crack at the defense expert you saw standing there on camera, trying to discredit him for a second day. after that testimony the judge adjourned the trial for two weeks. paul tillsy was in the courtroom today as he has been throughout
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the trial and brings us the latest what is happening in south africa. paul? >> reporter: jenna, defense witness roger dixon on the stand again today thought to bring oscar pistorius's prosthetic leg to court but it took prosecutor gerrie nel seconds to expose that dixon left piece taken out of leg for tests, the actual evidence at home. now ridiculed him, asking why he would be testifying about evidence that was not in court? the prosecutor disputed just about every part of his testimony. one prosecution witness claims to have seen a man moving in "the blade runner"'s bathroom window at the time of the shooting. dixon present ad photo of a man on his knees to prove that pistorius on his stumps would have been too small to be scene but nel presented to the court that the act teeth on his stumps would be nearly eight inches or 20-centimeters taller and appears plainly visible. now a attacks dixon as he put it, misleading the court.
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>> we talked to an expert, mr. dixon. you're giving the court indication how much of the accused would have been visible. on his stumps, if he was on his stumps. then you give us a photograph that does not reflect that. why would you hand in that photograph, or even take that photograph? >> reporter: finally rue came out and said it to this expert witness. you are not an expert. the trial is now gone into recess for 2 1/2 weeks until monday, may the 5th. of the judge said she will spend the days off reading the 2,000 pages of the court record already aaccumulated. even sew judgment is only expected according to the prosecution in mid-july at the earliest. but before we broke, the judge had a real go at those in the overflow court. that jenna, that is the larger courtroom next door equipped with video screens for some of the reported 3,000 journalists here who couldn't get into the main room where there is only 80
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of us and for the general public. i've been hearing stories for weeks now which apparently only got to the judge today of, that each development in the case is greeted by people cheering and even booing. and eating and drinking. the judge says, this is not an entertainment place, not a picnic spot and told people to desist. jenna. jenna: interesting. all comes down to the judge who will make the decision about the fate of oscar pistorius. paul, thank you very much. jon: new fallout for general motors. how the auto giant is hoping to protect itself from dozens of lawsuits following the revelation of a deadly ignition switch problem. new information about the irs targeting scandal. newly-uncovered. mails from former official lois lerner has another department in hot water. we'll have a live report on that. ♪ (mom) when our little girl was born,
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jon: well right now, general motors is trying to ward off dozens of lawsuits stemming from that massive faulty ignition switch recall. the automaker asking a court to shield it from claims related to crashes that happened before before the company filed for bankruptcy protection. arthel neville live with details at the breaking news desk. >> you're right, jon. gm is asking for a stay on litigation related to the faulty ignition claims. this effort to protect the car maker from liability from claims tied to the incident that happened before gm came out of bankruptcy some five years ago in 2009. the u.s. district court for the southern district of texas in houston was the stage where gm filed the motion. the goal is to consolidate the current ignition cases with other lawsuits which would be decided by judicial panel on multidistrict litigation. now gm also hoping to buy some time until bankruptcy court
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rules on whether the current claims violates the company's 2009 bankruptcy sale order. this is a bit of a deja vu for gm as the company filed a similar motion earlier with a u.s. district court in california. in the west coast case the plaintiffs claim they bought or leased vehicles with defective ignition switches, a defect that has been linked to the death of at least 13 people and also caused gm to recall 2.6 million vehicles and they're looking to do it again in new york. gm planning to file a motion in the bankruptcy court for the southern district of new york to enforce an injunction in its failed order. now this gm says, bars plaintiffs from suing the reorganized company for any claims related to its predecessor company, the so-called old gm. however a u.s. senator from connecticut says gm should be barred from these filings and urges the judges to deny the protection that gm is seeking. the senator adds the motions
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demonstrate clearly the automaker's intent to use the bankruptcy process to block lawsuits. jon? jon: how things have changed for what used to be the world's largest company. >> you're right. jon: arthel neville, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> there is new information did about the irs targeting scandal. newly uncovered email show former irs official lois lerner talked to the justice department going after groups seeking tax-exempt status while still actively working at irs. republicans say the emails show the scandal went higher up in the administration than previously thought. our washington correspondent peter doocy is live at the white house with more on this. that is one of the big questions, peter, how high up did this targeting scandal go? >> reporter: jenna, the emails reveal the irs and doj teamed up to brainstorm, they were trying to figure out how severely they could punish conservative groups that were asking for tax-exempt status but at the same time, were very vocally supporting
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conservative political causes of the so we've got this email from last may, 2013 with, lois lerner summarizes a phone call with a doj official in charge of elections crimes. she writes this. he wanted to know who at irs the doj folks could talk about senator whitehouse's idea at the hearing that doj could piece together false statement cases about applicants who lied on their 1024s saying they weren't planning on doing political activity and turning around and making large, visible political expenditures. now the response to that note written by then acting irs commissioner's chief of staff suggested including in their little brainstorming circle the criminal investigation division of the irs in the effort. there's another email that was also obtained by judicial watch features lerner admitting to a reporter she didn't know of anyone on the political spectrum other than conservatives being targeted at all. remember, jenna, the first word from lerner last year when all
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this stuff started coming out, she said that the targeting began and end he had at a field office in cincinnati. that does not appear to be the case. jenna: so peter, what kind of reaction is this getting from lawmakers? >> reporter: jenna, republicans think this strengthens their case to hold earn lerner in contempt but more broadly we're hearing from house oversight committee chairman, darrell issa. he says this these emails are part of a overwhelming body of evidence that political pressure from prominent democrats led to targeting of americans for their political beliefs. this irs targeting scandal that something people at white house get asked about a lot and latest job performance numbers, just out, shows, "fox news poll," show 42% of voters approve of the job president obama is doing right now. that is up four points from the record low, 38 at the beginning of march. jenna. jenna: worth mentioning a lot of those lawmakers on break, back in their districts. interesting to get back in town
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and maybe say more about this they're not hard at work as we are, peter even though it's a holiday week. >> reporter: but who is? jenna: good question for everyone out there. peter, thank you. big story we continue to watch. thank you very much. jon: peter just told you about the approval ratings for the current occupant of the white house. the field for 2016 is wide open. but voters are already weighing in on who they want to see in the white house next and we'll tell you about who leads the pack. plus, a husband and father now in prison, to fulfill a sentence he should have served years ago. why was he allowed to go free in the first place? should he have to serve that time now? it is a fascinating case. we'll bring it to you coming up. cars are driven by people. they're why we innovate. they're who we protect. they're why we make life less complicated. it's about people.
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jenna: new information out now on a bizarre case in missouri. it is truly surprising. you will want to listen to this backstory. a man who was never forced to serve a prison sentence because of a clerical error has now been jailed years after the fact. here is his story. his name is mike anderson. he was convicted of armed robbery after he along with accomplice rob ad burger king store manager with a bb gun back in 1999. weighs sentenced to serve 13 years behind bars but was out on bail after appeals. sometime after 2004 his bail should have beenould have been o custody but just never happened. anderson took that chance, to rebuild his life. he is married with four children of the coaches his son's football team. he volunteers at his local church. he builds his home from the ground up. he has his own business. but now he has been in prison since last july, when the state
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realized when they were preparing to release him he was never in prison after all. ashley merchant is a criminal defense attorney. rebecca rose woodland is trial attorney. rebecca, let me start with you. have you ever heard of this type of case? what, how did this happen? >> jenna this is so, we do hear of this occasionally, yes. where a state will just make a mistake. the issue here is though, the defendant, mr. anderson, did not lie. he was not a fugitive. he didn't run from justice. it is not as if the state was looking for him and couldn't find him. you see that a lot. you will hear that a lot. but this case was he was just out on bail properly. he filed appeals properly saying he was out on bail. he signed paperwork saying, yes i live in this location and i'm out on bail. jenna: is that the post-conviction appeal says, hey, i have been convicted but i'm not incarcerated, by the way here is my address? >> yes there was a post-conviction appeal. there were also appeals during
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the course of his trial and during the course of his testimony that he said, yes, i'm out on bail. i am living in a certain location. here i am. he didn't hide himself. he actually paid taxes. he started a business. he start ad family. so in this situation, his attorneys rightfully saying you're putting him in jail now 13 years later. whoa, wait a minute. you made the mistake. he was very honest about it. he paid his dues -- jenna: but did he? that is the request. let me ask ashley. anyone listens to the story, first thought, sound like a pretty good guy. according to what he we know he never committed another crime but he was convicted of this crime and he did never serve. so, what, does justice look like in this case, ashley? >> that is the issue. legally there is nothing that can stop him from being held for the next 13 years. legally he is supposed to serve that sentence at this point. but what we've got to look at, if justice is served by that and hopefully the governor would
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step in or the district attorney would step in and say, you know what? the purposes of justice and purposes of punishment have been served in this case. he has been rehabilitated. he has been corrected. it is the department of corrections trying to correct people. hopefully they will commute his sentence and for time he did serve out on bond. jenna: rebecca, the attorney general has come out and said, well, he didn't serve. he knew that he was out improperly. he himself did not make an inquiry. it was on him to make the inquiry to correct the state. but it looks like the attorney general also left a little bit of an opening, perhaps comparing it to another case where something similar happened and that man had to serve probation. if you were anderson's attorney, how would you approach this? >> well i mean the next step is now, they're filing a writ with the governor. in addition to the writ of habeas corpus being filed saying this is unconstitutional, to now put him in jail 13 years later, they're asking the governor to give him clemency.
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in missouri this government has not been too lenient with clemencies. in other states like illinois the governor ordered 900 clemency. in missouri we had two. what i think his attorney will reach out to say to the governor, look, this man is a great guy. he hasn't done anything wrong. was burden really on him? isn't the burden on the state? he is out on bail to come and arrest him as they did? that, these are the questions that are being, you know looked at to say look, governor, can you just grant him clemency. he will be out on probation. he is happy and has a lovely family and business will go down and what will happen then. jenna: likely already has, ashley, he has been in prison since last summer awaiting for what will happen next. real quick here, do you agree with the strategy as rebecca laid it out? what do you think are the chances that that does happen and anderson walks free? >> i think unlikely he will get out of prison unfortunately. i've seen cases like this happen before. usually a much shorter period of
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time but very rare for the sentence to be commuted. like she said missouri especially. hopefully will someone will see it in their heart to commute this sentence and justice is served for time he has been out on bond but i don't think it is very likely. jenna: it is an interesting debate about the purpose of prison. how should justice be served? what is our court system really functioning as right now. there are a lot of big questions. we have the lawyer on for mike anderson. he will be on. we're reaching out to the attorney general's office in missouri. great to have you both. thank you so much. >> thank you. jon: so who will be next to occupy the white house? up next the results of a grand new fox poll. the early front-runners in the 2016 presidential race. we're keeping an eye on the markets following the weekly jobs report. the dow is down a couple of points. we'll have a report live from the floor of the new york stock exchange.
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jenna: right now a quick look what is still to come this hour of "happening now." 2016 really isn't far off. we have new fox polling who americans want to see next in the white house, who's ahead. also, get this, if it was in your city a man caught on tape relieving himself in a reservoir in portland. what city officials are doing to make sure everyone feels okay about drinking the water. a convicted cop killer may get the chance to escape death row. how a mistake by his own
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attorney may actually help his case. we'll turn now to business news. newly-released jobs numbers. 304,000 americans filing for unemployment benefits in the last week. the labor department says hiring has actually picked up after a slow winter. fox business network's adam shapiro live from the floor of the new york stock exchange with more what is happening today. adam. >> reporter: that's right, jenna. the weekended last week, last friday, there were 304,000 initial filings for unemployment benefits for the weekending april 12th. they revised the 300,000 to 302,000. the four-week moving average which people watch a lot is falling to 312,000. this is considered a good report. the other key metric is continuing claims. people who file more than one week of benefits. those were down 11,000, to roughly 2.74 million people. that is the lowest since december of 2007. so this is an, in all explanations a good employment
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report. the dow right now as you pointed out is down about 11 points. it is not a reflection of this point t has to do with ibm which disappointed on its earnings having a big weight on the dow jones industrial average. back to you, jenna. jenna: adam, great to see you as always, thank you. jon: with the iowa caucus as little more than a year-and-a-half away time for a new set of occupants to measure the curtains in the white house. we'll look at who is leading the pack of potential candidates in the 2016 race. according to the latest fox news poll, new jersey governor chris christie, former florida governor jeb bush and kentucky senator rand paul are the top contenders for the republican presidential nomination. when it comes to democrats, former secretary of state hillary clinton hold as huge lead. vice president joe biden and massachusetts senator elizabeth warren round out the top three. joining us fox news political analyst, angela mcglowan. julie roginsky also with us. fox news contributor and former political advisor to senator
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frank lautenberg. is it more than an exercise in futility at this point? i mean we are quite aways out? >> well it is never too early, right, to talk about, i'm sorry, not the next election, the election after the next election. not even this election. yeah, you know, it is never too early. i'm not sure how meaningful these are. i recall michele bachmann was leading iowa straw poll. jon: as i recall hillary clinton was leading on democratic side. >> i no longer will predict any presidential elections because i remember sitting on this very set, in 2006, no way hillary clinton will blow this nomination. who is barack obama. >> he came right in. >> i am no longer predicting things this far out. jon: is the interesting, is it more interesting race on the republican side, angela? it looks and we'll get to these numbers in a minute. looks like hillary's race to lose. >> it looks like it is hillary's race to loose. i think the more interesting
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side, hillary and chris christie have a problem with scandal. if biden throws the hat in the ring i think president obama will endorse his vp i think it's a long time away. i think more so republicans are a little bit more splintered than democrats who they support. also in the republican party, jon, we have a diversity problem. in 2004, bush won ohio by getting 16% of the blacks vote. what we need to do with rnc and other caucuses do to diversity districts and talk about what we do better for those communities. jon: look at the some of the numbers when asked if the election was held today who would you be voting for? here is the way the candidates stack up on the republican side. jeb bush, rand paul, chris christie all essentially tied at 42%. hillary clinton comes in ahead of each of them at 51, 51, and 50. surprised? >> not surprised. look, she has name i.d. none of those other people can match. jeb bush probably comes closest.
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jeb bush has baggage of being brother of george bush which many in the republican party are not huge fans. never mind independences. >> we like jeb. >> here is the problem with jeb, the republicans should nominate jeb bush but to angela's point, she is right, reach out to the majority people in this country, but when somebody like jeb bush goes out there and people come here illegally do it out of love and so many of the republican jumped down his throat, that says to people of hispanic dissent maybe not illegal immigrants that they are not appreciated. >> his brother got a large majority of latino vote and jeb bush speaks great spanish. i think he can pull back, if he is our nominee he could defeat hillary. i think people will cross over and vote for him. >> you may not be wrong for that. the problem with him getting nomination there are members of your party who don't want to see somebody who even remotely wants to entertain people who may not be here legally from ever having any kind of respect. so the problem when jeb bush
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accords them a level of respect, doesn't immediately call them criminals, people jump down his threat making pathway to nomination. >> dealing with grassroots, jon. if we have jeb bush as nominee we would have to have grassroots to pull back from the tea party folks who you know. jenna: peopled. jon: people seem to moving away from party labels and voting the candidate. when asked about candidate positions and how voters feel about them. some interesting numbers come up. the percentage saying candidates positions on the issues are about right, 46%. hillary clinton get as 46% positive rating. chris christie, 41%. jeb bush, 35%, angela. what does that say to you. >> hillary is doing a lot of speeches and moving more toward the center. last time we heard from her get away from partisan politics. create a better america by
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voting for issues. a new hillary. of the will real hillary clinton stand up? it is eternity away. we'll see a lot more people throw in their hats. >> people don't know where the candidates stand on issues. chris christie is governor on new jersey and if you live in iowa do you know where he stands. on every issue he stood on both sides of it. i don't know where he stands and i do a lot of work in new jersey. it remains to be seen once they actually start campaigning and go out there in the hinterland and start talking to people, in the heartland, excuse me, whether people still think they agree with them on the issues are about right. i don't know. jon: as we saw in 2008, things can change wildly. >> yes they can. >> yes they can. jon: julie roginsky, angela mcglowan, thank you so much. jenna: a couple starting their lives together when a gunman took this police officer's life. now that killer may get a new trial. we'll take you with the twist and turns on that.
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plus tensions boiling over in eastern ukraine as the region braces for more bloodshed. can diplomacy stop the country from descending into civil war? ? [ male announcer ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing.
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jon: all new in the next hour of "happening now," will she or won't she? as the speculation mounts we'll take a look at hillary clinton's legacy as secretary of state and how that might impact a potential white house run. plus a tribute to those who died fighting for our country, coming under fire now. we'll tell you about the constitutional battle that could go all the way to the supreme court. a new study on e-cigarettes. they are supposed to help wean adults off smoking but could they have the opposite effect on kids? >> for the first time some diplomats on either side of the debate call meddling in ukraine, the u.s., eu, russia and ukraine meeting today in again navy have. the talks are supposed to ratchet down the tensions. there is a big question what
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they are producing today. amy kellogg is live in london with the latest for us now. amy? >> reporter: hi, jenna. meantime the situation in southeastern ukraine has not deescalated. there is a lot of confusion and a lot of misinformation and critically three pro-russian activists or separatists were killed last night by ukrainian soldiers. so far ukrainian troops have been incredibly restrained for one reason or another from opening fire. this sort of incident could potentially provide the pretext for russia moving its troops into the area, to quote, protect russian speakers. according to ukraine's acting president, those pro-russian militants killed were trying to storm a facility in maripol, ignored warnings to back off and in the end ukrainian troops shot. diplomats are in geneva trying to find another way. what is significant about this meeting the russian and ukrainian foreign ministers are sitting around the same table. that is big deal because russia does not recognize ukraine's new
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bought. it is hard to get them together. they will issue a statement jointly we understand. russian president vladmir putin had a four hour question and answer session with the public with a brigade of journalists. he admitted first time men in unmarked uniforms last month, they were russian. he said his actions in crimea were partly the result of nato putting what he called the squeeze around russia. he called allegations of russia troops in out eastern ukraine right now nonsense. but he didn't rule out russian troops getting involved in the future there as his parliament has already given the authorization. >> translator: the federation council of russia granted the president the right to use military force in ukraine. i very much hope that i will not have to exercise this right and that with political and diplomatic means that will succeed in resolving all the acute, if not the acutest problems in ukraine today.
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>> reporter: jenna, the latest development is that aeroflot, which is russia's national carrier, has issued a statement to ukrainian passengers saying basically, if you're a man between the ages of 16 and 60, don't think about going to russia right now unless you have a very valid excuse with documentation such as boeing to a funeral or to see a sick relative. ukraine has not commented on this but apparently looks like it is really putting the squeeze, closing down those borders, which until now have been basically quite open, jenna. jenna: intimidation all around. an interesting development. four-hour question and answer. that is remarkable if you think about that actually happening here with one of our leader, it's amazing. amy, thank you. jon: a new chance for an inmate to get off death row. he killed a police officer. now a judge says his attorney failed to disclose important evidence that could have spared him the death penalty. what one guy was caught putting into a big city's water
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supply. and the move to make sure residents feel safe drinking their water. [female announcer] grow, it's what we do. we grow big celebrations, and personal victories. we grow new beginnings, and better endings. grand gestures, happier happy hours. so let's gro something greater with miracle-gro. what will you grow? co: until you're sure you do.you need a hotel room bartender: thanks, captain obvious. co: which is why i put the hotels.com mobile app on my mobile phone. anyone need a coupon? i don't.
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is. jenna: right know the man who killed a dallas police officer is getting a chance to get off death row. in 2001 he killed an off-duty officer during a bar fight. then he flew into a rage in the courtroom but an appeals court found his attorney may have failed to bring up some very important information before he was sentenced to death. arthel neville with details from the breaking news desk. >> hi, jenna. a troubled childhood is the defense that might get the convicted killer off of death row. his lawyers argued that details of his abusive upbringing were not disclosed until after his murder trial. here he is again. he is 31-year-old.
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condemned for fatally shooting christopher james in 2001. james was an off-duty dallas police officer, working a security detail in uniform at a dallas club. now lawyers for escamilla asking to appeal results in a new punishment trial for him. a federal appeals court is allowing that request. their argument? evidence of a troubled childhood could have swayed jurors from sending him to death row 12 years ago. in response to the appeal moving forward the current vp of the dallas police association says in part, we stand by the jury and judge's original decision on this case, adding, on a more personal note, this was a true hardened criminal. he was an animal in that courtroom. he was an animal in the street. christopher james was newlywed when he was gunned down. seen here in a photo with his now widow, lori, who says on that night, quote, our world as we knew it, came to an end. at his trial in 2002, he threw a
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pitcher of water toward the jury and began health and kicking people as the judge read his sentence. jenna? jenna: arthel, thank you. jon: well portland, oregon, decided to drain 38 million gallons of water from a city reservoir. after surveillance video shows a man relieving himself there. the water bureau has not gotten contamination reports back yet, they want customers to feel safe zoo they are draining entire reservoir. dan springer has latest from seattle. seems like a big waste of water, dan. would the pub be really at risk? >> reporter: disgusting, definitely, talk about putting the pee in portland. spread out over 38 million gallons of water, while certainly gross, the risk of getting sick is practically zero we're told. this is how easy it is to contaminate the water in
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portland and how abundant the water supply is they can flush that much h 20 down the grain and it will have no effect on rate-payers. surveillance picked up three men in their teens near the mount taber reservoir in portland a 19-year-old is seen urinating through the fence into the water supply. another man climbed over the fence and got into the water. they were quickly arrested and one guy was ticketed for public urination. even though the reservoir was clean ad couple weeks ago. the decision was made to drain all 38 million gallons down the sewer and fill it again. >> my commitment to the customers, we'll not deliver them water we know has been contaminated. even if it's a little teen tiny, tiny bit. >> reporter: the other reason the watershed that feeds this reservoir and supplies portland is loaded with 17 billion gallons of water while california is parched.
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there is no water shortage here in the pacific northwest. jon. jon: tell the ducks and geese and all that other stuff they're not allowed to use the facilities either. >> yeah. jon: what will they do to stop this thing from happening again? >> reporter: nothing in the short run. in a year-and-a-half that reservoir will be drained for a final time and taken completely off-line. epa is phasing out all of these uncovered reservoirs in the country because the water gets contaminated from birds and animal waste. here's a surprise. the water is treated before it gettings to reservoir. from the reservoir it goes right to homes and businesses this exact same thing happened at that reservoir three years ago and same job was done. they drained all the water around clean the reservoir. happened three years ago. happened again. woken happen a year-and-a-half from now. jon: they have can't send the water down to california? >> you know that would be great. send all of our extra water down there. a lot is going down there. jon: dan springer, thanks. jenna: well the questions are piling up after this disasterous
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ferry accident leaves hundreds of people unaccounted for. the chances crews will find anymore survivors. we'll take that up. a look how hillary clinton's legacy at the state department could impact her chances of winning the white house you are feeling exhilarated with front-wheel drive. you are feeling powerful with a 4-cylinder engine. [ male announcer ] open your eyes... to the 6-cylinder, 8-speed lexus gs. with more standard horsepower than any of its german competitors. this is a wake-up call. ♪ this is a wake-up call. with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes.
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jenna: well, brand new polling on what americans think as we move towards the 2016 presidential election. voters say some of the most important character traits are honesty and trustworthiness. hillary clinton comes out on top. 54% say, yes, 42% say no. and when it comes to a couple of possible republican candidates, had 49% say jeb bush is honest and trustworthy, 41 president believe that about -- 41% believe that about chris christie. some of the new polls and what they mean throughout the hour. ♪ ♪
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jenna: in the meantime, "happening now," a separate search for survivors more than 24 hours after a ferry sinks off the coast of south korea. well only to a brand new hour of "happening now," i'm jenna lee. jon: and i'm jon scott. at least 20 people confirmed dead. strong currents and bad visibility making the search extremely difficult for nearly 300 people still missing, many of them high school students. they were heading to a tourist island when the ferry flipped on its side and filled with very cold water, trapping them. frustration is growing as their families wait for news. >> translator: we in the nation cannot practically do anything to help the people onboard, which is very sad. because of this especially, the parents of the missing students onboard feel very powerless. jon: grn reporter jason truther joins us now on the phone from sole. what is the latest in terms of the rescue attempt?
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are they getting any closer to getting, perhaps, live victims out of that ship? >> well, jon, right thousand it's in the middle of here, so there's only so much rescuers can do in this position. they had a hard enough time during the day for drivers to get into the boat. they tried pumping oxygen into the wreck just in case there were survivors in pockets, but now it's quickly approaching two days almost that this boat, since this boat sank. and, of course, in freezing cold waters where hypothermia could set this, it's looking less and less likely that there will be any survivors pulled from the wreck. jon: do testify any idea yet -- do they have any idea yet what caused it? >> there's still just speculation. some say it could have hit a rock or a reef. but now the focus is really being placed on the captain of the ship. some -- the coast guard here says that he appears to have
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gone off the prescribed course a little bit and that he may have made a very sharp turn that caused the boat to lose its balance. he's under investigation. he's been named a suspect now. he's being vilified right now pretty much throughout the community here. jon: yeah. and it's my understanding that he was one of the first to get off the vessel instead of being the last. >> and one of the only people on boat to actually get into one of the inflatable life rafts. jon: jason struther from gr, this, thank you. jenna: right now it's all ab bolecare -- about obamacare. the gop is sticking to a strategy of slamming the health care law no matter what happens over the next several weeks and months. it says this in the "wall street journal" today. more than
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jenna: in the meantime, in an article n the national journal today, it says this: jenna: so two opposing points of view. joe trippi is a former campaign manager for howard dean, ed rollins for the reagan/bush campaign in 984. they are -- 1984. it's nice to have the band back together, gentlemen. >> good to be with you. -and-a-half ed, let me start with you regarding the strategy for republicans. again, the best path to victory regard regardless of what happens with this law's implementation. do you agree or disagree? >> i agree in one sense, i think obamacare is still a very telling indictment of the administration, and i think the
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ineffectiveness of making it work will be judged over the remaining months. you've got to take out a couple of incumbents to win, you've got to make it really the lack of leadership, the lack of bipart saabship -- bipartisanship. i think at the end of the day in seven months it's a lifetime in politics. obamacare will basically struggle along for a long, long period of time and won't be fixed in the short run. jenna: how nimble do you have to be? can you set a strategy seven months ahead of it, stick to it and win or do you have to be more nimble than that? >> i think there's a real problem with sort of becoming a johnny one note if it's seven months more of obamacare, obamacare, obamacare. i think a lot of people, obviously, have made up their minds about it. i mean, they hate it, they love it, you know, it's pretty fractured. a majority don't like it. you've got that already in the bank, and i think it's sort of telling that it's so important
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an issue to republicans that the leadership thinks they have to keep banging the trum on -- the drum on something that most americans have already decided about and are saying in polls they're tired of it. jenna: do you think the republicans don't have a plan, joe? from the outside looking in, do you think the republicans really don't have that much more to propose to the public? >> yeah, i think that's part of it. but, look, the reality is that midterm elections are about electrifying your base, making sure your base comes out. it's a low turnout election, and obamacare definitely mobilizes the republican go to p base. so -- gop base from. that point of view i think obamacare's a food strategy for them. do that -- a good strategy for them. do that the last two months of the election the make sure -- to make sure your base comes out. i think that's one of the mistakes the republicans are making. jenna: that's one of the points brought up in that national journal peels as well, is that
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independents may not like this plan by republicans, but in a midterm election how important for the independents? is it really about the base, then what are republicans arguing right how? >> 40 million fewer voters participate in midterms than they do in the presidential election. so traditionally it's our voters that turn out, more senior citizens, a lot her voters in our -- more voters in, and obviously the way the congressional districts are drawn, it pretty much guarantees we'll get a majority there. the battleground is the senate. there's two or three open seats, there's another three or four vulnerable incumbents on the other side, and you've got to basically convince people that the guy or girl or woman that's in there has failed to do the job effectively. so those are other issues that you add. it's not an overarching theme of just obamacare or the president being bad. the democrats are going to make
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redistribution and minimum wage cutting edge issues, and i don't think they are. it's about leadership. jenna: i'm just going to pause just for a moment because i have to ask you about something that we saw over the last 24 hours, and that is the use of the selfie and what that means for future elections. ed, i don't know if you know this, but our very own joe trippi actually has way more twitter t followers than the vice president of the united states. he's basically the kim kardashian of politico. [laughter] joe, it's true. it's true, joe. >> joe has over a million.. i'm the senior presidential fellow with howard dean, and i told howard dean that his former campaign manager has over a million, and he said, it couldn't be. joe's the champion there. jenna: well, and i have to ask you, joe, because i notice on your twitter feed for all of your many twitter followers, you don't post selfies. you actually are posting interesting news, you know in you're not doing that. what do you think about candidates doing this?
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is this something fun and good to do, or is this kind of like a nonissue? what do you think? diswhrel, i don't -- >> well, i don't post them because i'm not a candidate. i think it's smart for candidates to do it. i think what social media's about is sort of being authentic, capturing yourself in the moment or what's happening in the moment, and i think candidates who understand that and don't do manufactured stuff, i mean, that's where you get into trouble, i think. you know, television and radio reward different things, how you look, huh you sound. social -- how you sound. >> i promise you joe biden, having a picture of he and obama, is not going to enhance his chances, but most people assume he has some contact with the president -- jenna: so says the republican strategist, joe, we're going to have to leave it there. we're not going to manufacture it. but when you're next in studio, joe, just so followers can kind of get to know-how howe. really a -- "happening now." really amazing. joe, ed, good to see you, thank
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you. jon: right now religious minorities around the world are being persecuted for their beliefs, many of them americans imprisoned in foreign nations. yet the seat for the u.s. ambassador at large for international religious freedom remains empty. florida senator marco rubio now calling on the president to immediately fulfill his months-long promise of appointing a new ambassador. zap than bream has that, she's live in washington. shannon? >> reporter: well, jon, it is a critical position. ambassador at large for international religious freedom. it was a position created back in 998, and the ambassador holds a key post at the state department where his or her mission is to promote religious freedom as a core object i of u.s. foreign be policy. well, about a year that have after he was first sworn in, president obama nominated susan johnson cook. she resigned months ago, and that position is once again vacant. at this year's national prayer breast back in february, president obama said he looked
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forward to nominating her replacement and noted that minorities be being persecuted from iran, pakistan and syria. here's what he said, quote: >> r eporter: well, ggop senator marco rubio remembers that february pledge. he has sent a letter to the white house expressing grave concerns about why that position is still, months later, vacant. quote: >> r eporter: among those being persecuted are u.s. citizens. they're being held and punished for their faith in fortune
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countries including in kenneth bye in north korea. jon: let's hope we can get those guys out and hope soon. shannon bream, thank you. jenna: new technology putting you under surveillance while you're driving. whose eyes are on you while your eyes are supposed to be on the road? and how's this for customer appreciation? download a general mills coupon, and you can lose your right to sue the company ever for any reason at all. the new policy the grocery giant is quietly putting into place. ♪ ♪ for hearburn? yea. try alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief!
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let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, st quarter... [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ salesgets up to 795 highwayal is the passamiles per tank.sel salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel. husband: so it's like two deals in one? salesperson #2: exactly. avo: during the first ever volkswagen tdi clean diesel event, get a great deal on a passat tdi, that gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. and get a $1,000 fuel reward card. it's like two deals in one. hurry in and get a $1,000 fuel reward card and 0.9% apr for 60 months on tdi models. jenna: general mills making some chango its policies that you should know about. it could have a big impact on any of us out there, especially if you have any problems with product sometimes down the road.
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the company behind cheerios and betty crocker is now using its web site to quietly tell consumers they give up their right to sue general mills if they download coupons or follow the company on facebook. fox business network's cheryl casone is here with more. i'm not looking to sue general mills. i don't know if there's anyone out there with that intention. but what does this do if you had a problem down the line? >> reporter: frankly a lot of people are out to sue companies like general mill, but they're trying to protect themselves basically from class action lawsuits, so you're right, they've changed the language. the if you download something off of the site like a coupon, if you like them on facebook, you're going to see this disclaimer that says you give up your right to sue the company. say that you've got a peanut be allergy, for example, and that product is labeled wrong, you're saying, okay, i'll go to arbitration, but i cannot sue. they're trying to deal with litigation across the company.
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this does protect them. i will say this though, jenna, at least the company will pay for the arbitration but, yes, any of these new programs, a sweepstakes, you give up your rights. very interesting. jenna: interesting. and, obviously, major companies are the target for a lot of lawsuits. so it's worth mentioning that. cheryl, what is going on with this new york stock netflix scag about, some sort of copy cat scam that somebody shuled know about? >> reporter: it was a big story a few days ago. people were getting these phishing e-mails saying you need to log in, well, consumers, customers were doing that, and then they were getting their information stolen, credit card information was stolen, things like that. now there's copy kats. if you've got aol, century link, comcast, watch out because these copycats are going after these customers of other companies. and, of course, again like you mentioned with netflix, i mean, never, never call an 800 number, and also be careful if somebody
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calls you saying they're from your bank, that's a scam as well. you just have to be so aware these days, especially with these e-mail scams, jenna, a big problem. jenna: it's good to have a reminder pause it is easy -- because it is easy to get distracted by different things. something else i wanted to mention as well, a lot of folks like to watch their favorite television season or movie and then there's always that internet report that could spoil things for you. and apparently there's some sort of solution now at least when it comes to internet that keeps that from you so you can never have a spoiler? >> reporter: yes, it's called, okay, i love this, it's called the silencer. if you use google chrome, you download the silencer into google and you type in the words of shows you don't want to know what's happening. you don't want to know, say you like scandal, breaking bad because people on twitter and facebook for me, anyway, ruined
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breaking bad. and i knew how it was going to end before i even started it. that's what this silencer will do for you. i think it's a great idea. i don't know what shows you like, i don't want to ruin anything for you like my colleagues did with breaking bad and twitter, and i don't know about you, but binge watching that is become the big thing. jenna: one seating and watching the whole thing? >> reporter: whole thing, whole thing. several seasons of breaking bad. but i still knew how it ended, so this will stop that. no more ruining my shows! jenna: keep it from yourself. all right, well, it's interesting. if you just really want to see the ending for a surprise. cheryl, great stuff. thanks so much. >> thanks, jenna. jon: the batting of church and state extending to a war memorial. does a cross violate anyone's rights or does it honor our fallen hoar rows? plus, a somber day in west texas, how that community is honoring the victims of a deadly fertilizer explosion one year
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jon: a institutional battle. the justice department recently saying that the 29-foot-long cross is not a violation of the separation of church and state and should, therefore, remain on federal property. the cross has been there since 1954, it is at least one of four war memorial crosses under legal fire from civil liberties groups. now its ultimate fate could rest in the hands of the u.s. supreme court. our legal panel, rebecca rose woodland is a trial attorney. this thing has been standing there for more than 60 years, it was built to honor the war dead
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of world war ii. rebecca, what's the problem with that? >> we have some civil liberties unions who are saying this is a religious artifact, and since it sits on federal land and there is a first amendment prohibition against the separation of church and state, a prohibition against the government having any religious artifacts on their land, this is saying, this group, the civil libs group, have been vehemently fighting for this saying this needs to be removed because it represents religion on central land. jon: but, ashley, at the time it was erected, it was erected by people who that's the symbol they chose. it is a christian symbol, okay, but that's the symbol they chose. >> right. unfortunately, there's no grandfather clause so just because it was done at the time it was allowed, it can't really be grandfathered in. i think it should be allowed because it's her of a historical symbol than a religious symbol.
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this isn't there for purposes of religion. it's not there for those purposes which would violate the establishment clause. it's there to me moralize and remember these -- memorialize these people in a historical way, as united states and as a union way. jon: yeah. rebecca says the constitution says congress shall not establish a religion, but it doesn't say that congress has to ignore and pull up by the roots any religious artifact anywhere in the country. >> well, that's the issue here. now, the supreme court, we're looking at them reviewing this case because what happened was originally the land was state land. the federal land took it by eminent domain. at that point the lawsuit began against the federal government, and from what i understand, judge alito is very interested in reviewing this case, because there is such is a wide range of what is reasonable. that is what the cases have held until now, what a reasonable person observing that suit or
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symbol would think, is it religious, isn't it? i think what the court may do is set down a more specific guideline for what we can erect in the future. and, yes, i do agree that it was erected years ago and people have viewed it just as a me mill to those who really served for our country and reverved our freedom -- preserved our freedom, the veterans. jon: it was san diego property, the federal government took it over to. what if some private group were to take over that particular chunk of the mountain? >> then the private group would be fine. they don't have the same restrictions on them that the government does. private groups, just like churches, of can have whatever type of memorial they want, so they would be able to have that church, so that figure up there, they'd be able to have that cross. so that's definitely an option. jon: yeah, all right. hard to believe anybody's all that offended by, but they say they are, and the argument goes on. ashley merchant, rebecca rose
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woodland, thank you. >> thank you, jon. jenna: well, a town remembering the devastation of a deadly fertilizer explosion one year later. do you remember this? the tributes to the victims, we'll get you up-to-date on this story. plus, hillary clinton's legacy as secretary of state, something to be proud of or not? our panel debates her foreign policy pluses and minuses, next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] help brazil reduce its overall reliance on foreign imports with the launch of theountry's largest petrochemical operation. ♪ when emerson takes up the challenge, "it's never been done before" simply becomes consider it solved. emerson. ♪
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jenna: well, "happening now," a
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somber milestone for the town of west texas. it's been one year since this deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant leaving the community just devastated. the town is planning to honor those victims today with a special memorial service. arthel has more from our newsroom. >> reporter: well, it was the end of a routine day when the explosion at that fertilizer point plant shattered lives in the small town of west texas. one year later residents are honoring the memory of those 15 people killed on april 17, 2013. now, while they are also looking ahead, they say you can't forget the indelible images the night a fire at the west fertilizer company triggered a blast so powerful that it leveled nearby homes and schools. it was a scene derek hurt and his daughter chloe probably won't ever forget. mr. hurt caught the explosion on his cell phone. listen. >> are you okay?
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>> dad, i can't hear. >> you okay? >> i can't hear. get out of here. please get out of here. >> oh, my god. >> please get out of here. >> reporter: oh, my goodness. so mayor tommy muska insisting any fertilizer plant be with built with concrete bunkers and a sprinkler system. yesterday texas governor rick perry granted the request and gave the town an additional $4.8 million in disaster assistance, and we're told the funds will be used for work on water treatment and storage facilities plus infrastructure repairs. the state of texas has now given west about eight million in total recovery aid. earlier this year fema gave 20 million to help rebuild two schools destroyed in the blast, so there are signs of recovery including dozens of new home, but residents realize they have a long way to go. a ceremony tonight includes a moment of silence at 7:51 p.m.,
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the time of the explosion one year ago today. a local pastor reminding the people of west, texas, to honor the past yet know that greater things are yet to come. jenna? jenna: arthel, thank you. jon: well, a major debate is shaping up on hillary clinton's legacy as secretary of state. the issue sparking strong opinions with polls showing her the front runner for the democratic presidential nomination in 2016. sport beers point -- supporters point to achievements in areas including nuclear negotiations with iran, they say mrs. clinton ramped up the sanctions that eventually brought iran to the negotiating table. they also highlight on china, getting the obama administration to take a tougher line on beijing's rising military power. but critics of also are taking aim, they point to the so-called reset butt tennessee with russia in which the administration hoped to start a new chapter in our relations with moscow.
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with you cape heating up, those hopes seem like a distant dream. and of course there is benghazi, then-secretary clinton catching major heat for dismissing the importance of the attack was, indeed, an act of terrorism. >> the fact is we have four dead americans which is because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk who decided they'd go kill some americans? what difference at this point does it make? jon: much to discuss here. former assistant defense secretary at the defense department. christian whiten is a former state department senior adviser, the author of "smart power: between diplomacy and war." welcome to pote of you. >> thank you. jon: ambassador, hillary clinton's major accomplish. , what do you see as her top achievement as secretary of state? >> i think secretary clinton was a very effective ceo of the state department. remember, the secretary of state has two jobs, one is to be the
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foreign policy adviser to the president, the other is to run the state department. i think she did both extremely effectively. she gave good, unveryished and welcome advice to the president of the united states which he clearly respects and appreciates. and number two, she did a very, very strong job of running the state department. she got strong budgets for the state department, she advanced its rank and file, and remember, she did all this at a time of serious budget constraints when congress was looking to cut. and she persuaded our legislators and the public that a strong america at home depends on a robust diplomacy abroad. jon: all right. christian, how do can you see it? >> well, i think adam's right. there are two jobs of being secretary of state, but she was terrible at both. china and iran can't be touted as successes because the iran deal leads to a nuclear-armed iran. we also turned our back on the dissent movement in iran. china, hillary said human rights
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don't matter, and china has only gotten more powerful, fights us in cyberspace, expanding in the pacific, you know, confronting our navy. i think when people look back at her tenure, they'll remember the russia reset which has elevated russia to a first tier threat, a primary threat, and they'll remember libya which resulted in the death of an ambassador who had implored hillary clinton for more security. and also when it comes to administering the state department, that orr job, hillary was corrupt. if you look at hugh ma ab dean, her senior adviser whom she allowed to consult and conceal that income, matters within her portfolio, if you look at cheryl mills, hillary clinton's lawyer and political fixer who intimidated benghazi witnesses and hushed up investigations of corruption, you see that the clinton corruption we became familiar with when these people were in the white house existed also when she was managing the state department. jon: of course, these questions are important in large part because hillary clinton seems well positioned should she
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decide to do so to run for the white house with. the white house. if you look at the fox news polls that are just out, among the 2016 democratic potential nominees, 69% say they like hillary clinton as opposed to 14% for joe biden and 6% for elizabeth warren. there you see a couple of the other presidential contenders. and then asked, you know, on the issues, registered voters, who do they like in terms of, you know, whether their positions on the issues are about right, hillary clinton comes in way ahead of chris christie and jeb bush with 46%. does her experience at the state department, mr. ambassador, does that make it, in your view, does it make it, does it make her a potentially good president? >> well, should former secretary clinton announce that she's running for office, i think she will be a very formidable candidate, and if she's elected, i think she'll be a very strong
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president. based on my experience with her and her team at state department. look, secretary clinton is a unique combination, i think, of a hard-nosed realist and a very deft practitioner of soft diplomacy. on the hard-nosed realism side, she understands american power and how to use it to defend american interests. i would disagree with our, with your other guest on his assessment of china and iran and russia and libya. i think to the contrary that secretary clinton or very clearly understood the challenges that these countries pose to america and its allies, and she used american power very effectively in countering those challenges. yet at the same time, and this is very important for a president or a secretary of state, she understands and sympathizes and support the aspirations of the great majority of people in this world who aren't, you know, interested in great power rivalries -- jon: yeah. >> been duh are simply
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interested in getting the vote, having economic opportunity, and she knows how to attend to that as well. jon: i need to save some time for christian here because he mentioned, for instance, russia. you can't look at what's going on in russia right now vis-a-vis ukraine and call it a success. >> hillary's very much like president obama. she thinks that she is a magical icon that can transform the world. michael goodwin of "the new york post" put it best, hillary is famous forking famous. so be you believe that, you believe you can go over to russia with a plastic reset button and get them to reevaluate how they see their national interests. and then you can use a wunsch of language like, well, this is how countries should behave in the 21st century. so there's that, and then there's reality. there's no connection between reality and what she did. what she did when she was secretary was rack up a lot of frequent flyer miles, so hen she was out in the cook islands, for example, one of the many
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irrelevant places she visited, people were making decisions in the white house. and when she was involved in policy making, it was disastrous. it was libya. it was russia. i mean, ultimately, hillary's an icon. she's face for being famous. she has a record of zero accomplishment, and i think it's a disservice that she's keeping candidates out from being considered. >> christian why'den, ambassador, thank you. jenna: new concerns today about e-cigarettes and your kids. could e-cigarettes now be the real gateway to smoking maybe other drugs? we'll have a discussion with a doctor about some of the things your family needs to consider. also how you're being watched behind the wheel and not just by the police. ♪
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plus, you could save hundreds when you switch, up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes. glucerna products help me keep everythibalanced. (crash) ugh! i'm good. well, almost everything. [male announcer] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars... jenna: new concerns about e-cigarettes today. they're designed to help adults stop smoking traditional cigarettes, that's one of the
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intentions. but now a new report suggests they could do the opposite to kids and actually be a gateway to smoking real cigarettes. several lawmakers say the companies that make them are targeting minors now with their advertising, and they want the fda to step in with regulations. in the meantime, a preliminary study found the nicotine-laced vapor generated by e-cigarettes promoted the development of cancer in certain types of human cells, much the same way tobacco smoke does as well. so how safe are e-cigarettes? we have a pediatrician at st. louis children's hospital, i should mention a proud hour of five kids, so -- mother of five kids can. it's nice to have you back on the program. do you think these e-cigarettes are gateway drugs? >> absolutely, jenna. e-cigarettes contain liquid nicotine which is still a highly addictive drug with problematic congress intentions -- consequences to your health. and a motive here is obvious to. you get kids hooked on pick teen
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while they're doing -- nicotine while they're young, and they will be probably be lifetime users. jenna: what do i a you make of whether or not they're quote-unquote safer than cigarettes? i do see kids walking around in new york city, and i imagine most of them are thinking, i mean, besides -- i probably should not imagine what any teenager is thinking, but you think oh, they're not as dangerous as real cigarettes. is that true, is it false? what do you think? >> jenna, nicotine is a highly addictive drug, and there's nothing safe about it. jenna: so it doesn't matter in what amount. >> no, it doesn't matter t in what amount. i mean, it's far more addictive than caffeine and most substances out there, and we know that these e-cigarettes, their vapors actually can cause cancer like changes in cells, and we have very, very little research on this. you know, there's this argument that e-cigarettes are helpful for people who want to quit
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smoking, but there's actually no research behind that. there's never been a study that shows that. in fact, it may augment somebody's nicotine dimension. jenna: i'm curious about that because i have had friends that are trying to get off of smoking, and they're turning to the e-cigarettes, and they think they're doing something better in their minds and, quite frankly, in mine it was like, oh, good, they're off the cigarettes, so doing something that seems better. is that just not the case? >> yeah. except that e-cigarettes are kind of fun. they come in these flavored and even child-marketed flavors like bubble gum and cherry crush, and people like it. and so you're no longer really motivated to quit your nicotine addiction. and we can't forget that nicotine is a dangerous drug. it causes high blood pressure, we're very concerned about the effect of nicotine this the developing -- in the developing adolescent brain. jenna: and to you as a mother, in an ideal world, what would you like to see? should you have to present an id to buy an e-cigarette?
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what would a good regulation look like, or is there not the regulation that we really should rely on, maybe it's more about parenting and the right instruction behind these e-cigarettes? >> no, i'm all for regulating e-cigarettes in a very similar manner to the way traditional cigarettes are regulated. but, jenna, i can't emphasize enough the need for regulation simply so that we can do research on these devices. you know, one manufacturer's nicotine cartridges contain very different substances from another's, and we can't even say whether or not these devices are helpful for people to quit smoking. so we have to regulate even just to get the basic information so that people can make informed decisions. jenna: that's such a good point. i never thought about that, not knowing from one manufacturer to another what's behind that. doctor, great to see you as always. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me, jenna.
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jon: new concerns over privacy behind the wheel. we already know police can read license plates to help nab bad guys. well, now a private company is creating high-tech cameras to help the repo man. casey steegal's live in dallas with that story. casey? >> reporter: yeah, jon, gotta headache those car payments when this technology gets going. as you said, police have been using this high-tech equipment for years, but as the price of it becomes more affordable, it's now going into the private sector can and the number of cities using this license plate recognition software is growing. the concept is simple, cameras mounted to police cars, parking enforcement vehicles. they snap photos of license plates very, very quickly as they drive down the road, and then those numbers are processed through a database looking like things -- looking at things like stolen vehiclings. companies like texas-based
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digital recognition network working with banks using this software to track down people who haven't made their car payments. but as this equipment becomes more prevalent across the country, groups like the aclu want to make sure the information it gathers is not abused, because they say as of right now there are very little laws actually governing these lpr systems. >> the aclu is not opposed to this technology entirely. we just think that the it needs to be used in a way that advances legitimate law enforcement needs while making sure that there are privacy protections in place so that innocent americans aren't subject to tracking. >> all this technology does is take a picture of the license plate. doesn't take a picture of the people, just takes a picture of the license plate. and this is no way to connect that -- there's no way to connect that license plate which is a series of numbers on a piece of metal to an individual unless somebody goes to a motor vehicle bureau and gets dmv data. >> reporter: another possible
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use we're told we could one day see, insurance companies tracking how many miles you actually drive in order to calculate your premiums. so you can look forward to that too, jon. jon: all right. casey steegal from dallas, i'm to not going to look forward to that, thank you. jenna: three russian protesters killed in ukraine, international leaders discussing what, if anything, can be done to restore peace there. and new hope for a veteran struggling with ptsd. how one program's unique treatment strategy is getting soldiers back to work in their own communities. [bell rings] this...is jane. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!" i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members
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jon: right now a new push to help veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. the pathway home has seen great success in getting veterans back
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out into the community using unique methods that organizers hope other groups will adopt. adam houseley live there california with that. adam? >> reporter: yeah, jon. you know, there are thousands of vets that have severe cases of ptsd that the va and other programs don't know what to do with. make it interpersonal and build relationships at the community level, that's the idea behind this. what may be a simple game for some has become simply essential for others. >> i was at rock bottom. i had a almost successful suicide attempt. >> reporter: in an effort to knock down demons brought on by war, a program called pathway home literally brings veterans back to life. >> every day it saves my life. >> reporter: by bringing life, like a trip to the bowling alley, back to veterans. >> it's hard to turn down help when everybody's trying to help you. >> reporter: based at the
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veteran's home in california, the privately-funded program has been so successful people that the va and other programs around the country have come calling. >> we've done a better job as a country in terms of bringing these men and women home, but what we still haven't understood is it's a long journey to come home. >> where are people? i know that the exercise stirs people up a little bit. >> reporter: the 14-week treatment program for iraq and afghan war vets combines traditional and nontraditional treatments like group counseling followed by relaxation methods. with volunteers from the community performing the services which ultimately helps war heroes deal with their sickness while reconnecting with the society that doesn't completely understand the scars of war. >> we give, but we get a lot more back. when you make that personal connection with one warrior and you start to realize he's very human, he's just like your son, he's just like your uncle, he's
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just like, you know, your father -- >> reporter: it is quite a close connection with communities. so far they've serviced more than 400 men. they do hope to raise some funds, jon, to start a women's program. back to you in new york. jon: adam houseley, thanks. jenna: well, hitching a ride in style. two boys going for a spin in the pope mobile. how that happened just ahead. ♪ ♪ marge: you know, there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: tfrom phillips.of fiber. afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance
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... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
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a couple of lucky kids taking a ride on the the pope mobile. pope francis greeted a grouch fifth graders and they gave him a t- shirt. and he asked if any of them wanted to take a spin through
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the square and they said yes and a couple of them popped on board and off they went. >> that's a cool story. >> hopefully they get to keep the video. it is a good easter story. thanks for joining us. america's news headquarters starts right now. and fox news alert. growing pressure for the white house on two fronts. i am sandra smith. and i am ed henry. and we just obtained a letter from republican darril issa. the letter said the documents they have already received show senior white house officials and the president a pore to be far more personally involved in a decision than the healthcare.gov. and this comes amid outrage and showing

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