>> also, in the after the show show, learn how boxing can make you extremely fit. elisabeth and maria are going to go head to head. >> we're going to go at it right here. >> have a great weekend. >> bye, everybody. happy mother's day. nice. good morning, everybody on a friday. fox news alert because the house approving a special committee on benghazi but how many democrats if any will take part it will be decided today. democrats will meet behind closed doors as you see screen right any moment. good morning from new york city. i'm bill hemmer on a friday, "america's newsroom." we'll find out something today. martha: we can see the doors are closed as we look at that. good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. debate from democrats are heating up. one lawmaker says democrats should appoint one member to sit on the panel. a lot of the other are suggesting a complete boycott. bill: republicans say they're determined to get to the bottom of all these facts saying that the white house has misled the

american people from the very beginning. darrell issa made that point. watch. >> this is the exactly the kind of web you weave you first decide to deceive, the deciding to deceive very clearly came from the white house. we're being lied to. the ball is being hidden. bill: chris stirewalt, fox news digital politics editor live in d.c. good morning to you. is the possibility of one democrat being on that commit a strong possibility or not? >> not a strong possibility. it is probably an all or nothing proposition because let's face it, with the democrats are thinking about this committee, what they're thinking about is, how do you protect the administration? how do you stop the republicans from beating up on witnesses, particularly high value witnesses to the democratic party like the 2016 hillary clinton. what do you do about those things? sending one democrat legitimizes the process to some degree but also leaves them, if you will pardon the term badly

outnumbered when it comes to what happens on the committee. probably all in or all out. bill: got it. republicans how will they manage this? what is your expectation for managing it correctly? >> well you know charles krauthamer in his column today, peggy noonan in her column make a point from the right, americans body agree, our polling shows this, americans broadly agree something is rotten inside this benghazi stuff and wants congress to find out more. if it turns into a sideshow and grandstanding and not serious questions republicans will pay serious price with voters who expect them to execute their duty especially can with something like national security. bill: a big point of this is the testimony of hillary clinton. >> oh, yeah. bill: is it a guaranty chris, that she testifies publicly? or is that something managed behind closed doors? what is your sense about that possibility?

>> let me submit what is probably really going on in congress right now is negotiations between john bear and nancy pelosi or their deputies over issues exactly like, will the democrats frontrunner have to testify in public or can that be done in private? if the republicans offer concessions to the democrats on points like that, then that may be how you get a full impaneling of democrats. a lot of this stuff about boycotting or sending one is a way to tell republicans make some concessions the way this committee operates or we will put the stink on it. bill: just to be clear, are those negotiations happening now? >> i would think -- either they're done. either they have just completed or they're taking place right now just as pelosi gets ready to go in and tells her members, guess what i got? our frontrunner for 2016 can testify in private or some concession to make it better for democrats who don't want to go through the painful process. bill: we're watching a door. thanks, chris. >> you bet. bill: talk to you soon. martha: the vote to create this

select committee passed overwhelmingly with seven democrats siding with republicans. republican house majority leader eric cantor fired back on claims that the investigation is politically motivated. >> my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want americans to believe that this investigation is motivated by politics. no. this investigation would not be necessary had the obama administration come clean. this investigation would not be necessary had the obama administration complied with congressional subpoenas. martha: south carolina republican trey gowdy is going to lead that probe as you know. we have spoken to him here about that. republicans are expected to announce who they will place on that committee and whether it is going to be one or more than that very shortly. bill: seems like a muggy day in washington, d.c., doesn't it? martha: sure does. bill: we're watching this door right now. when nancy pelosi comes out we'll get reaction from her.

reaction from a series of outstanding guests on this. senator rand paul, juan williams, brad blakeman. what do you think at home? will the committee get answers in benghazi, what do you think? is that a yes other no? send us a tweet @billhemmer, @marthamaccallum. send us your ideas as we go throughout the next hour and 55 minutes. martha: we'll figure out how this works and hopefully we'll get answers on that this morning. we may finally learn more about the actions of the woman at the center of the irs scandal. a year into all of this now and agency's targeting of tea party and conservative groups, the irs agrees to something they have been asked all along, turn over all the email with lois learnwer washington, d.c. and let people look through it to determine for themselves if lois lerner as she said did nothing wrong. the chairman says this is long overdue. >> we believe that she violated

people's constitutional rights, their rights to due process and that is actual will in nature this is very serious. we want to find how far this goes and we'll follow the emails wherever they lead us. martha: elizabeth prann live in washington with the latest. elizabeth, do we know what led to the decision to finally release the emails? >> reporter: first of all the house ways and means committee referred possible criminal charges to the department of justice accusing former irs employee lois lerner of a number of illegal actions including possibly exposing taxpayer information, targeting conservative groups and influencing others. that coupled with the fact that the house is holding lerner in contempt may have changed the tone of the investigation. some lawmakers that say the emails are the only way to get to the bottom of this. >> she used a fake name or a private email account and put irs business on that account. much like the epa administrator

did. and that could have potentially compromised the confidentiality of taxpayer information. we've documented all that and a report now public. >> reporter: what we don't have at this time is timeline when we'll see those e-mails. martha? martha: so what about lois lerner's side of all that? what is her team say about what they will release? >> reporter: we heard from lerner's attorney releasing a statement yesterday, that reads in part, today's vote has nothing to do with the facts or the law. the only purpose is to keep baseless irs conspiracies alive through the midterm elections. miss lerner has not committed contempt of congress. she did not waive her fifth amendment rights by proclaiming her innocence. democratic lawmakers say their conservative counterparts need to be concerned about the issue of the fifth. >> i think case law, no matter what you think of lois lerner, case law is very clear here. she did not waive her fifth amendment rights, even though we would like to get her testimony. i would too.

>> reporter: now the irs commissioner members of the house you subcommittee this week that the agency willfully cooperate with the upcoming investigation. martha: thank you, elizabeth. bill: from the hill a house committee issuing subpoenas investigating a waiting list at the va hospital in phoenix, arizona. reports that 40 veterans died there because of delayed treatment? there are allegations that va officials talked about the destructionion of alternate and interim waiting list. veterans groups and lawmakers calling for va secretary eric shinseki to resign. he has refused those requests. martha: a fox news alert out of ukraine as pro-russian separatists say they will go ahead with the referendum this weekend to break away from ukraine and join russia. this comes despite a call from russian president vladmir putin not to hold that vote yet. many on the ground there feel the vote would make violence worse. meanwhile a victory of parade of sorts of vladmir putin.

he will make his first appearance in crimea, the region of ukrainey russia as part of russia's annual victory day celebration. putin claimed he pulled thouses of troops back from ukraine's border. nato says they have seen no such signs of withdrawal, a victory lap for him in crimea in the coming days. bill: back in our country now, fox news extreme weather alert for you. powerful storms causing major damage in the midwest and south. in texas, violent winds ripping a mobile home to sleds with a newborn baby inside. listen. >> sounded like a freight train coming through. the whole house blew over. the trailer shook and saw a bright light and roof was gone and the house was blown over. that was it. it was scary. >> i know what happened but just hasn't sunk in. i'm more concerned about her than anyone else right now. bill: sweet little thing. the baby suffered two cuts on her face. she will be okay.

the storm scattered debris more than a block away. based on the pattern officials are ruling out a tornado. we'll have more on extreme weather. that was a big storm ripping across the country. a lot more possibly in the southeast, mid-atlantic states too. we're watching that for you to see what develops. martha: a lot of rain on mother's day in many parts of the country so we'll watch it. all eyes on capitol hill as democrats are behind closed doors to talk about the fires that raged in benghazi on that awful night. mitt romney weighed in on this new investigation. we have a great panel coming up this morning. juan williams and brad blakeman will weigh in. bill: it was in 2010. republicans road a wave of discontent to control of the house of representatives. new numbers show the conditions are almost exactly the same now as they were then. will republican, ride another wave and take the senate? we'll talk about it. martha: the greatest show on earth must go on. days after the devastating accident at ringling brothers

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martha: ringling brothers and bar numb and bailey circus putting on their first show four days after an acrobat i can stunt that took an awful turn. seven acrobats fell to the ground in that horrible moment. they were hanging by their hair in the act called, the human chandelier. it happened in rhode island. two of the acrobats remain in very serious condition. the others are in better condition. they're recovering. what a horrible situation this was. circus executives say it is time to get back to doing what they do. >> the show will always go on.

it is the greatest show on earth. we've been doing this for 144 years. we're one of america's most treasured icons. we've been around. the show will go on. martha: that is very true and the human chandelier act was not performed at yesterday's show and we'll see what happens to that act as it moves forward. we wish all of them well in their recoveries. tough story. >> doesn't need to be, shouldn't be, and will not be a partisan process. four americans died at the hands of terrorists in a well-coordinated assault and we will not take any shortcuts to the truth. accountability or justice and we will not allow any sideshows that distract us from those goals. bill: speaker boehner now says the new investigation will not be a circus show or a sideshow as you heard right there. the house voting to create that committee passed easily last

night. seven democrats voting with republicans but democrats still weighing just how big of a role they want on the committee if a role at all. they're meeting this hour to talk about that very issue. juan williams fox news political analyst, and brad blakeman forker deputy assistant to president george w. bush. good northerning to both of you. brad, first question, i have a lot to get to, gentlemen so let's get to it. first on boehner's point. no shied shows, can they do it? >> absolutely they can do it if there is good faith on both sides. the republicans will announce the full membership today. democrats are fighting amongst themselves behind closed doors. some democrats don't want participation. some democrats want one token participant instead of four they are entitled to, excuse me, five they are entitled to, seven republicans and five democrats. they should join this process to get to the truth the john boehner could have appointed, if it was political a panel much earlier but he didn't. he let the evidence drive his decision. he was judicious, he was patient

and now it is time because the evidence or lack thereof on the part of the administration has driven them to point. democrats should be just as angry as republicans. bill: juan, the singular question, what do democrats do? do they join, do they engage and if so by what number? >> i think a matter of, bill trying to legitimize really an illegitimate process. this is 14th investigation lead by the house for the most part into benghazi gauze. not like we don't know the facts. so the question is, if you put the full compliment there, does it they were say to the american people, oh, gosh, it's okay and they're playing along? the only reason you would even put one there as rosa delauro, very close to nancy pelosi to the democratic leader in the house, put one, they this is all about hillary clinton's campaign and they want to protect hillary clinton. bill: we'll see whether or not they do that. an hour ago, mitt romney was asked about this. he was on another network, okay?

juan, the point he makes if republicans were in charge of the house we would never know the truth here. here's the governor. >> is it if republicans were not in the congress, if republicans did not have majority in the congress there would not be a investigation into benghazi. and i think there are questions that have to be answered that have not yet been answered. the white house is apparently withheld certain information and so congress is going to look into it as i think they should. there would not be an investigation of benghazi, there would not be an investigation into the irs were there not a republican house. bill: what about that point, brad? would we even be here? >> we would not and that's why it is so important for republicans to do the right thing and to get to the truth. it took two years to get to the bottom of watergate. we wouldn't have gotten to solyndra. wouldn't have gotten to "fast & furious." we wouldn't have gotten to so many of the deficiencies of this government but for the fact that the republicans are controlling the house and the white house

controls the executive branch and of course the senate by democrats. so it is incumbent upon republicans to do their oversight which is their constitutional responsibility to get to the bottom of these facts and bring them before the american people. bill: is this way to do it, juan? >> no. gosh, this is just like, somehow, mitt romney wants to ignore the fact that the state department put an independent investigation led by you know, admiral mullen and ambassador pickering in place. that took place. then all the investigations -- bill: what he is saying you would not even see that ben rhodes email had republicans not been running the show here. >> no, no. in fact that came through. bill: that's what he said. >> that was judicial watch but that was separate thing. but you have here, bill is an attempt, i think very clearly to play tea party politics to the nth degree. you know, there is no agenda here other than we're just blocking. we're trying to embarass the obama administration wherever we can, in terms of finding out the facts what happened to those

americans, going after the details, trying to see why we haven't been able to get anybody, hold them responsible for what happened, that is not what is going on hire. all this is about a memo that says the white house plays politics and wants to protect the president and make this out about -- come on, every white house plays politics. bill: one more point. elijah cummings last night, floor of the house. go. >> democratic members have been denied equal access to witnesses and republicans have selectively leaked documents and cherry-picked transcripts, excerpts without any official committee consideration. how is that bipartisan? bill: quick answer from both of you, brad, that is the danger republicans have to look out for to make sure it is legitimate in the end. quickly. >> the only way to make it legitimate, bill, is for democrats to participate. if they participate, in good faith then this committee will get to the truth. if they don't it will be much harder and it will look partisan. up to the republicans to keep

their end the bargain as majority. bill: juan, you have 10 seconds. >> just no way to get around the fact that it is not legitimate and it is highly partisan and unnecessary at this point. and i think it is overreach by the gop and think will pay for it. bill: thanks, gentlemen. we'll both see together, right? juan, thanks. brad, thanks to you as well. >> have a good weekend. bill: you the same. martha. martha: new developments in that mysterious fire at a florida mansion we've been reporting this week. the family that rented the home that was found, they were found dead there earlier this week, why police now say that this was no accident. bill: also the nfl draft huge night for johnny manziel. everybody was giving this guy the attention. martha: the drama. bill: the drama. kind of a long night but really in the end not so much. "johnny football", john any cleveland. ♪

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bill: was this murder-suicide at a mansion in florida? police say four people found dead inside of a burning mansion in tampa had been shot. they suspect a murder-suicide at the moment. they also found new evidence that the his and father of that family bought gas cans and a large amount of fireworks just days earlier. he and his wife, two teenage children found dead inside of that home. the family was renting the house from retired tennis pro james blake. blake lives in connecticut now and police are obviously still investigating that story. martha: so to raise taxes the government needs more money so people have to kick in a little bit more of their money but a new report shows that the spike in taxes during the government shutdown is actually costing

states money. there is 20 states that now say they are struggling with lack of revenue. stuart varney, host of "varney & company" on fox business channel here to explain all of this for us. so 2013 was kind of a tough year for a number of these states and there's a couple of big reasons why, right, stuart? >> oh, yes. number one, people are rational. when you see a big tax coming at you, you do your best to avoid that big tax. go back to late 2012 for a second. wealthy people saw a big tax increase coming in 2013. so, they avoided that tax. obamacare, imposed a 3.8% tax on bell think people if they made a profit on the sale of a house or a stock for example. so wealthy in people in 2012 avoided tax by taking that profit in that year. big bonanza in 2013 but fast forward to now and you got far less tax money coming in. 10 states have a big drop in the

level of taxes, tax revenue coming in from personal income tax, 10 states. new jersey, for example, is $800 million short of last year. so the bottom line, martha, is, that individuals are rational. they avoid high taxes when they can. states are rational, lookmovemed california into texas and florida. countries are rational. why do we have $2 trillion worth of american profits outside of america? because if they bring it back here, they face a 35% punitive tax rate. people, companies, states, are rational. martha: they look at the bottom line. they say well, if i'm going to be hit with a 3.8% investment tax as a result of aca, then i'm going to change some of those investment strategies now, right? >> yeah. all kind of people sold houses, sold stocks, sold bonds, sold gold. at the ebbed of 2012, so they paid the old tax rate, 2012 tax rates. if they had done that in 2013,

one of the new taxes they faced was that 3.8% surcharge on wealthy people for profits of the they avoided it. sold in 2012. we're feeling results now. martha: keeps accountants in business, right? all those people working on all numbers. a flat tax would make that a lot simpler. a lot of people big fans of that. stuart, thank you very much. not the accountants. they don't want that idea. bill: we do our own taxes. put a lot of people out of work. new numbers showing the midterms could be a tough slog for democrats. are conditions right for a 2010-style thumping by republicans? is that a recipe for overconfidence? we'll ask rand paul, the senator when he joins us live on that. martha: look forward to that. an iconic hotel known for its power lunches with a-list stars but things are getting ugly at the beverly hills hotel. why celebrities are demanding that the new owner be removed, including jay leno saying that. >> give me poland.

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bill: past 9:30 in washington. fox news alert now. democrats meeting behind closed doors on benghazi and will they join republicans or boycott? one house democrat said a bit earlier only one should be

appointed. others called for entire boycott. we'll bring you new developments as we get them live from the meeting when they happen in d.c. martha: get to that in a moment but first republicans rode awave of protest against president obama and obama care in the midterm elections in 2010. now there is a new poll that shows there is a similar wave perhaps that could be in the works for the senate this time around. a new "gallup poll" shows 30% of the voters say they plan to use their vote to express their disapproval of president obama. now 30% may not seem like a big deal but when you look at this comparison, the numbers and answers to these questions were very similar in october of 2010 message to support, message to oppose, not a message. the numbers line up clearly as they did then in terms of background scenario. here is the question. will the gop see another wave like that and could it move them into the leadership of senate?

or is the grand ol' party being a bit overconfident as they head toward november? joining me from memphis, tennessee, kentucky senator rand paul. he sits on senate foreign relations and homeland security committees. we want to find out why you are where you are this morning. first i want to get your reaction to those numbers. do you think the gop is overconfident as they head toward the senate race in november? >> mart that, i sense a wave election coming on. i don't know about overconfidence but i think the american public are unhappy about not being told the truth. we were told we could keep our doctor. now we're told, if you get cancer and need to go to md anderson or get cancer and or you need to go to sloane kettering or harvard or deacon necessary in boston we're told you can't go. we were told something that turned out not to be true and i think a lot of americans, whether you're an independent, democrat, conservative democrat, they're unhappy with the president for not being honest

what we were getting with this health care change. martha: after the last presidential election there was so much discussion about the polls, the exit polls really and what they revealed to the republican party who they were receiving and who they were clearly not reaching and that was minorities, that was women. you are at some meetings this morning to sort of shed some light on that issue for your party. what are you finding? >> well, you know i'm at the republican national convention in memphis and i will tell them that the party needs to be bigger, bolder and better, more inclusive. i will meet this morning with members of the business community, the african-american business community in memphis. i do that in every city i go to because we have to have a bigger party, a more inclusive party. when we do, we'll be the dominant party again. if we do the same thing we've always done and just say, hey, we're going after the same people, we're going to get the same result. that has not been good for us in presidential elections. so we do need to be a bigger party. martha: i want to pull up some numbers for folks at home to

take a look at that back up exactly what you're saying. for your party it appears there is still a lot of work to be done in that regard. when asked, how you would vote in the next election, let's pull up this first one, this is among non-white voters, the democrat, they vote for the democratic candidate 61%-25%. let's look at the black vote, as they look ahead to the next election, 80% would vote democratic. i'm curious when you talk to them in these meetings today, you're talking to african-american voters as you said and pastors in that area, what are they telling you about the republican party? >> you know, i think they want someone to be concerned about what is happening in their community. long-term unemployment, poverty. i think both parties are concerned but we've tried 50 years of the democrats passing out money and it hasn't worked. so what i proposed are economic freedom zones. i will tell them in memphis today, it would leave

$400 million in memphis. we're not going to bring it from houston or atlanta. we'll leave the money in memphis that is earned here to the tune of $400 million and that would stimulate the economy. it would help to grow jobs in particularly the areas of impoverishment in memphis and i will take that message to them we have a plan to help them and really the democrats plan hasn't worked. martha: one more quick question. are you frustrated with the efforts of your party where this is concerned? >> repeat that again, please? martha: are you frustrated with the efforts of your party where this big issue is concerned in terms of voters? >> wouldn't say frustrated. i would just say that we have to do more and i will tell them this morning that we have to go places, sort of like what captain kirk used to say, we need to boldly go where no republicans have gone before. we need to go to harlem, east l.a., berkeley. maybe even hollywood. although that might be dangerous. we need to go to places that we haven't been going.

martha: all right. let's, you need to get your thoughts on the latest news on benghazi this morning, an issue that you have been very involved in. there is word that democrats might put forth just one person for that panel. what do you think about that? >> you know, i think if democrats refuse to participate in finding the truth about benghazi, that it's a disservice to the memory of ambassador stevens and to those who died in benghazi. it also shows a lack of concern for trying to prevent this in the future. this was a terrible tragedy, and really it was dependent on a lot of decisions that hillary clinton made in the six months leading up to this. one was the tragedy of that night, not sending reinforcements, but for six months the tragedy was hillary clinton refusing to provide more security. she was asked repeatedly for more security at every turn. it was turned down. these questions need to be thoroughly gotten into and i frankly think that secretary clinton need to come back and testify and she needs to be asked point-blank, why didn't you send reinforcements and why

did you not provide adequate security? martha: understood. in terms of political strategy if the democrats decide, you know what? we think that it will not look all that great for republicans to hammer at hillary clinton about this, with not one democrat on that panel, and that that would maybe not play well for republicans, you know, that may be their strategic move? >> i think it will be a big mistake on the part of democrats not to participate because i think if they don't, it will be a dishonor to the people who died in benghazi. i think it will show a lack of seriousness. one of the things that secretary clinton is going to have to overcome as she said in those hearings, what does it matter? so that's something, if they want to show that they don't care or what does it matter, you know why these people died or how they died in benghazi, i think that lack of concern will come back to get them. i think the american people, republican or democrat want the truth about benghazi. they don't want to hear spin. they're concerned that it now looks like from emails from the

white house, that the white house was immediately concerned with spin, not the truth. martha: senator paul, thank you. always good to talk to you. we'll see you soon. >> thanks, martha. bill: they were on the clock in the first round of the nfl draft is now complete and here is your top pick in all of america. >> with the first pick in the 2014 nfl draft, the houston texans select,. >> daveian clown any. -- clowney. of south carolina. martha: bill: he is pretty good, martha. martha: oh, yeah. bill: he is a beat of a pass rusher. congrats to mr. clowney. as you heard from the commish. focus on "johnny football". texas a&m quarterback johnny

manziel, two dozen teams passed on him. towards the end of the first round, cleveland took him, number 22. when he got on stage with the trademark money sign ready to go. show me the money. martha: i think that is where he wanted to go? bill: listening to him talk, i don't think he, i think he wanted to play for houston. that is what he wanted to do and maybe dallas second. in the end he didn't care. the guy will be a star in cleveland. we'll see how he plays. they will love this guy when he comes to town. martha: fascinating. we'll see how he does. very exciting. so a school principal and four teachers surrendering to the police. have you heard about this one? it's a scandal that caused a huge embarassment for this school. we will tell you what these teachers are accused of doing. you won't believe this. they will face criminal charges for this. bill: also there is more outrage over this terror group's abduction of more than 200 nigerian schoolgirls. why did not the state department under hillary clinton designate

this group a terror group? >> i find it hard to believe that at some level secretary clinton wasn't involved in this decision. in any department of state i've worked in the secretaries of state are involved in a lot of decisions even if their name isn't on a decision memo. instead of hanging out on the couch, you could be hanging ten. what are you waiting for? (vo) celebrate this memorial day with up to 40% off hotels at travelocity. (gnome) go and smell the roses. for $175 dollars a month? so our business can be on at&t's network yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share.

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bill: there is a lot of drama, a lot of reservation frankly as to what happens here now with the abduction of almost 300ing anger around the world. the girls were kidnapped by a radical muslim group, boko haram. they are still missing. no one knows where they are in the country of nigeria. come as new report that hillary clinton would not go after the group as secretary of state, refusing to designate boko haram as a terror group. lieutenant colonel ralph peters to analyze that good morning to you. there was an appeal in 2011. there was another one in 2012.

why the resistance to put this group in that column? why? >> two very straightforward reasons. one, magic year, 2012, presidential election. remember the administration's narrative? al qaeda was defeated. terrorism was all but vanquished from the world and by designating boko haram a terrorist organization, would you have admitted, hey, there are still growing crops out there. the second thing the administration has always been queasy about the idea of islam it terrorism. they still pretend there is no islam in islamist terrorism around boko haram, you're not reading much of this in the papers these days, boko haram is a radical islamist group. it is illiterate cousin of al qaeda in africa and they have been for years burning christians alive in churches. also slaughtering muslims who didn't measure up or who wouldn't support them this has been a horrible organization for

the better part of a decade. bill: they're the worst of the worst on the map right now. you wonder whether or not the 20 or so people we sent there can help find them. back to this issue here, okay? there is an appeal in washington 2011. another one in 2012. but my understanding is that the president of nigeria did not want to elevate the status of this group, did not want to give them attention so they could not perhaps raise more money. does that fly? >> no. that is the kind of justification we use like the benghazi video. now, nigeria has been hesitant about letting anybody else into their country for a variety of reasons as far as military assistance go, not least because it's a wildly corrupt country. it is not just phone scammers. this is, by, many measures now, the richest economy in africa. bill: that's true. >> they have poured billions and hundreds of billions into their military and they still have a crappy military because the generals when they weren't busy

launching coups stole the money. this brings me to another point dear to me. the administration so far now at least is getting it right. help them with intelligence and advice. but our overstretched special operators can't do this for them. the nigerians have to learn to handle some of this on their own. we can't be military slaves to yet another oil state. bill: explain the benefit of categorizing them as a terror group. if you're saying the crimes they were committing goes back 10 years, if you put them in that category, you could track them and target them. >> yes. bill: you could have information on them right now. >> and you can turn off the money. it makes it illegal to send them money, directly or indirectly. there are a lot of things you can do. designating a group as a terror organization make as serious difference of the it is not purely symbolic. but the obama administration's narrative is president obama killed osama bin laden with his bare hands, terrorism was over. 2012 would not be about terrorism as we had the benghazi

denies and all that. bill, it is all part of the same fabric of deceit, deception and outright lies. bill: in the meantime we have to get these girls safe. i don't know how it is going to happen either. that is a thick jungle there. apparently where they're being held is beneath a canopy that can not be penetrated by air or satellite. lieutenant colonel ralph peters. appreciate your time. >> thank you, bill. martha: an hollywood icon being protested by the hollywood's elite. why the beverly hills hotel is connected to sharia law. we'll tell you what is going on there. bill: mace terry now. an 88-year-old man found brutally murdered. his elderly wife missing. no sign of a struggle. the house, quote, in immaculate condition. what happened outside of atlanta, georgia? >> it's a tremendous darkness around this whole thing and we don't know the source of that darkness. we don't know what the motivation was.

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bill: elementary school principal and four teachers sure rin dering to police in philly after an alleged cheating scandal. they are accused of helping students cheat on the state's assessment test. that the principal was promoting openly cheating among the teachers and faculty. >> they brazen actions, taken so far as to announce over the loud speaker of the school that this is the way it will be. i thought was astonishing. bill: wow, what a school if true. the cheating scheme allegedly involved students getting test answers ahead of time and teachers correcting any wrong answers on the exams.

martha: hollywood icon is now a hotbed for a growing human rights debates. protests and calls to boycott the beverly hills hotel. the owner, the sultan of brunei, set off a firestorm this week when he announced that the tiny nation was implementing sharia law. will carr live from l.a. how much of an impact will these protests have? >> reporter: martha, by all reports that the impacts have been huge so far. this is a hotel where many of hollywood's movers and shakers go on a regular basis, on a normal week, you might see steven spielberg, will smith, tom cruise. earlier this week a number of celebrities, jay leno, ellen degeneres, richard branson called for people to stop patronizing hotel. so far 20 events have been canceled. the hotel lost $2 million in revenue after reports that brunei, the rich southeast asian country that opened the -- owns

the hotel implemented sharia law and including beatings for homosexuality and adultery. some people are going to the hotel but not nearly the star power you normally see in attendance. martha: wow, that sound like significant impact for them. have they responded? >> reporter: it is owned by the dorchester collection. they own 10 luxury hotels across the globe. we heard from the ceo earlier this week, he said that the protest are having big impact on the hotel's 650 employees. they are set to lose millions in tips. the celebrities and city of beverly hills are putting pressure on the sultan of brunei to sell the hotel. he is worth $20 billion. that is not something he is thinking about. in case you're curious. they did have hotel rooms available tonight. it costs $485 for the cheapest room. that doesn't include all the taxes we have out hire. you do get some free wi-fi with

that in case you're curious. martha: throw that in, no problem. interesting story, thank you very much. >> reporter: you bet. bill: all right. democrats are meeting on benghazi. will they participate or will they boycott? awaiting comments from lawmakers as they leave the meeting. we should have something from nancy pelosi and a few others. martha: we're watching those closed deers. dying to know what is going on behind them. new controversy surrounding the 9/11 memorial. why victim families are upset for the new plans for unidentified remains that were found at ground zero. i'm m-a-r-y and i have copd. i'm j-e-f-f and i have copd. i'm l-i-s-a and i have copd, but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way of hosting my book club. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs

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bill: there is a big vote last night. how did it go down, catherine? how do you see it the morning after? >> reporter: the vote on house floor was 232 in favor including seven moderate democrats, some who face highly competitive races this fall and minority, 186 against. the debate on house floor last night was spirited before the vote. >> this doesn't need to be, shouldn't be, and will not be a partisan process. >> what chris would never have accepted was the idea that his death would have been used for political purposes. end the quote. unfortunately that is what house

republicans have been doing for the last year-and-a-half. >> reporter: one of the interesting wrinkles last night what you typically see that the speaker of the house doesn't usually vote but he did last night in favor of creating the select committee. a very visual or public way of affirming his support for something that he had resisted for so long, bill. bill: catherine thank you. catherine herridge on that, leading our hour this hour from washington. martha? martha: let's get more from michael warren, staff writer for "the weekly standard." michael, good morning. good to have you with us. >> good morning, martha. martha: just listening to catherine, the democrats have options as you pointed out. they could put nobody on this panel. they could put one person on this panel or the full five. how is this looking to you at this point? >> as you've been saying it's a tough decision because if democrats put all five of their members on the panel then it is sort of undermines their idea that this is a political stunt by republicans but at same time

you don't put any democrats on panel, this will be a televised, maybe partially select committee. you might see some fireworks. if democrats are not playing the game they don't get to stand up there and say this is wrong, we disagree with republicans on this. so they're holding in the balance, i think, if democrats were sort of thinking more about the facts of the case, there are a lot of facts we don't know about and democrats just as much as republicans should be interested in finding those out and should sort of step away from the idea it is all politicized and figure out the truth. martha: steve israel, the democrat from new york, is quoted as saying before he went into this meeting, that john boehner is not returning nancy peloalls on this. you know, there has been some speculation that maybe the two of them are trying to hash this out hine closed doors and come up with some kind of a deal. you talk about partially televised, maybe all televised. you would imagine some of this

stuff is in the works behind the scenes, correct? >> right. i mean, again we don't really know what is going on with this in particular. i thought it was interesting, you look at the democrats who did vote to hold this collect committee and they were a few democrats that are up for re-election, even some democrats in swing districts who aren't even up for re-election. so i think that this sort of indicates to you that this is going beyond sort of partisan republican conference here. i mean you have got democrats like mike mcintyre in north carolina who is from a swing district who is retiring and he voted for this. i don't know. it is sort of interesting to see how this all shakes out particularly as we get into the sort of twilight years of the obama administration, democrats have to look beyond sort of defending the administration and, again, like i said, maybe start looking for the truth and some answers to some of these questions.

martha: that would be novel to put it all aside and try to figure it out. >> i'm hopeful. martha: what about the possibility that the gop looks, you know, sort of too overbearing on this if they don't have any democrats on that panel and day after day hammering away? >> that is really good point and i think they sort of stepped on that message a little bit. trey gowdy said, let's not fund raise off of this. you saw the nrcc running fund-raising emails off the issue of benghazi. so they have a problem here too. i think republicans, they don't want it to be too political or too partisan so they really need democrats as well. maybe that healthy medium might get one democratic member on the panel. then everybody is kind of happy in a weird way. that would be again something novel too in washington. martha: we'll see if john boehner and nancy pelosi can get on the phone together and make some progress here and they will walk out of the room. eventually we'll find out what is going on. michael, thank you very much. >> thanks, martha. bill: fox news alert now. the fbi is joining the search

for a woman and for her 88-year-old husband that was found brutally murdered in her garage. police say nothing was taken. the home was in immaculate condition. the couple was known to have a good marriage. the couple's pastor, clearly shocked. >> they're a wonderful couple. they're very unassuming couple. never had a lot of drama around them. bill: laura engle in our newsroom in new york watching this. good morning. investigators are saying what in the early stages of this? >> reporter: good morning bill. right now there are no concrete leads in this bizarre case as who could have committed such a crime against russell and shirley derman in the quiet neighborhood about 75 miles east of atlanta, georgia. i just got off the phone with putnam county sheriff's executive assistant to says investigators are using search-and-rescue dogs along with cadaver dogs to search surrounding woods of their home. they're searching the lake puts up against their property and

those searches turned up nothing. >> i do not believe this to be a random attack at all. i base that on several things. there was no evidence of any forced entry or struggle or things like that. and like i said, this is a neighborhood where we virtually have no crime. >> reporter: russell de are man's was not located at crime scene and there was no weapon found. sheriff told reporters that his wife's sell phone, purse and car was still in the gated community. all means of tracking her are not able to be used. bill: what about the neighbors? have they been able to offer any clues, laura? >> reporter: neighbors are stunned and brutal murder and kidnapping in the quiet community. they say they heard nothing, bill. >> we always felt very secure and i've known neighbors who don't even turn their alarm systems on. >> i'm very shocked. it is a safe place to live. >> to hear something like that it just blew my mind. >> reporter: according to police the security cameras up around

the neighborhood reportedly not working when this happened. the sheriff's office tells us the couple's three adult children have been on the scene helping piece together the last-known whereabouts. the fourth child of the couple was murdered 10 years ago but investigators don't believe those cases are connected. bill: it is a strange story. really bizarre. thank you, laura. this is popular place east of atlanta and growing. >> reporter: right. bill: martha, what's next this. martha: a major step forward in the irs investigation comes as the agency finally turns over all of the emails related to lois lerner. this will be very interesting. people said to have been targeted still, really have no answers in all of this. >> i'm a born, free, american woman, wife, mother and citizen and i'm telling my government that you have forgotten your place. it is not your responsibility to look out for my well-being and to monitor my speech. martha: remember these groups were asked who they prayed for, what kind of books they read,

all in the names of trying to get tax-exempt status for their organizations. that is becky garrett son, head of the tea party group. she will join us with her reaction to these emails coming out. bill: hit-and-run where the driver takes the victim for a ride. police are asking for your help because they need it now. martha: he was kidnapped and killed in iraq more than 10 years ago. now matt maupin's killer may see justice. we'll speak with his father, about the suspect who is now in custody. >> we all wanted matt to come home. just sorry he came home this way because we always told him either he will walk off that plane or carry him off that plane. either way we're not going to leave him in iraq.

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bill: just getting this word in now, fox news alerted about the schoolgirls in africa. a report from amnesty international now claiming that

nigeria's government knew about the plan to kidnap 200 girls ahead of time but did not stop it. this is what we believe is the leader of that group. the information revealed during testimony that shows nigerian security forces had at least four hours' advance warning about the plan to raid a boarding school but did nothing to stop it. again, from amnesty international. we'll look more into this in a moment here when we get it. martha: well, it took a full year into the investigation of the irs targeting of conservative groups, but the agency has finally agreed that they will turn over all of the lois lerner e-mails to the house ways and means committee. the chairman of the committee vows to get to the bottom of this scandal and says that these e-mails are really important to this investigation. >> we believe that she violated people's constitutional rights, their rights to due process, and that's actually criminal in nature, and so this is very serious, and we want to find how far this goes, and we're going

to just follow these e-mails wherever they lead us. martha: joining me now is becky garrettson, she was directly targeted by the irs, and she has testified about that in front of congress. so what do you make of this news today, becky? >> well, i say it's about time. they've stonewalled long enough, and we should have had these e-mails almost a year ago. martha: do you feel like, you know, just watching -- i have no idea whether or not these e-mails are going to be heavily redacted as we saw with the benghazi e-mails that were turned over. they're supposed to cite a legitimate reason for redactions, and i could imagine in this case they might be redacted for issues of privacy, you know, people who are involved in some of these situations. how much do you really think you're going to get, i guess is the question, when it is turned over? >> well, from the few e-mails that we have received, we do know that there are a lot of fingers pointing to some serious wrongdoing at the irs. for example, we knew last week that the irs was conspiring with

the department of justice and the sec to target americans just for their political beliefs. so i have zero confidence that there will be any kind of legitimate investigation by the department of justice. i think it's imperative that we have a special prosecutor appointed to this case, but i do believe that we will see some scathing information coming out in these e-mails. martha: i mean, you have to go back and wonder just the basic facts of this case that lois lerner didn't want to testify. she took the fifth. she claimed that she was innocent, but she didn't want to share with that committee what she knew, and it does raise some questions. >> right. martha: and then you think about the fact that these e-mails were held back until there was an actual contempt proceeding against her. >> right. martha: it appears there's something they don't want people to know. >> absolutely. and, you know, she used her personal e-mail to send confidential taxpayer information through the internet. that's illegal. i mean, there's just so many

things wrong with this, and i'm glad to be seeing these e-mails, and i'm looking forward to what's going to come out in them. martha: becky, remind everybody at home for those who haven't followed all along. you applied for tax-exempt status for your tea party group -- >> right. martha: the kind of questions you were asked, how long it took, how many years it took for you actually to get that tax-exempt status that was given to other groups within a matter of weeks. >> well, it took more than a year for them to just respond with any information at all, and when they did, it was an eight-page letter wanting copies of every speech ever given, wanting to know who the speakers were, what were their credentials, wants -- wanting to know if any of our board members were going to run for office, if so, what office. there were so many questions. and the large majority of them had nothing to do with our tax-exempt status. it was all a bullying and an

intimidating factor for me and everyone else in our tea party. martha: and i know that you were outraged because we saw that when you testified in front of congress. you know, what transpired when you actually did end up getting your tax-exempt status? >> well, we just continued to operate as normal, but, you know, really they haven't come after us and bothered us since except thousand we just found out that 10% of all tea party donors have been audited. and in the normal america, it's less than 1% that are audited. yet one out of ten donors to a tea party have been audited. that's more blatant targeting going on. it hasn't stopped. martha: where do you think this ends for lois lerner? there's discussion even of jail, of prison for her. what do you want? what do you think is a fair outcome? what would satisfy you? >> i would love to see her in an orange jump suit. i would love to see her lose her retirement benefits.

this cannot happen in america. and my biggest fear is that if these abuses and the weaponizing of the irs go unaddressed, a new regime will come along -- maybe the republican party. it's not looking real good for the democrats right now. and if this is the precedent that is set, i have no doubt in my mind that the republicans will use this as well. and every american should care about this issue. martha: becky, thank you very much. great to see you. >> you bet. thank you. bill: clearly, her passion has not subsided, right? martha: not at all. bill: a new series hosted by two brothers canceled because of comments theyzábcx made in defef marriage between a man and a woman. they say now it's all part of an ongoing agenda. >> mainstream media, you nameñnz it, talking heads have polarized this nation, and as a result of that,cw hs even comments that ce from a heart of love can come across so demeaning and hateful. bill: why they say their faith is now under fire.

martha: and outrage from some september 11th families claiming that remains of identified victims are being mishandled. a new york firefighter whose son died in these attacks speaks to us live. >> they're graverobbers, and they're doing it for money. it's about greed and ego. and it's disgusting. i am totally blind. i began losing my sight to an eye disease when i was 10. but i learned to live with my blindness a long time ago. so i don't let my blindness get in the way of doing the things i love. but sometimes it feels like my body doesn't know the difference between day and night. i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. i found out this is called non-24, a circadian rhythm disorder

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dog: get four years on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection. get a queen size sealy gel memory foam mattress for just $497. don't miss the memorial day sale. bill: there is a significant moment over the weekend, new york city plans to move the unidentified remains of those killed at the world trade center to a below ground repository at the memorial museum. that's drawing fresh protests from some of the relatives of the victims as well.

listen here. >> let's see where they want it, above grade in a memorial with an eternal light or in a revenue-generating tourist attraction of the museum where they're going to charge $24 for all my son's friends to go down there. bill: that's the father of firefighter jimmy richards who lost his life saving others in the terror attack. and that father's with me now. jim richards, also a retired firefighter himself. sir, nice to see you. good morning to you. i don't know a lot of folks outside new york would be up-to-date on this, okay? the museum has had opinions from tens of thousands of people as to what to do, and what have they decided to do with these remains? >> i was the deputy chief down there leading the search and recovery. we picked up 21,000 body parts down there. 8,000 still are unidentified, and a thousand families have never recovered anything. we met with them in june -- in 2009 and told them, museum

experts and everybody else, archaeological experts, and they said they should poll the families of the next of kin and find out where they want their remains, get their okay. they listened to us, totally ignored our advice and went ahead and did whatever they wanted. these people at 9/11, it's a nonprofit organization, not a government organization, and these people are making huge salaries, $350,000, $450,000. they're going to charge $24 to get into the museum for people that are not family. so my son's friends are going to have to pay $24 to go into a museum, a revenue-generating tourist attract, a p.t. barnum production with human remains in the basement. bill: let me just be clear about this, the memorial itself is below ground. i don't think a lot of people realize that, and it opens up on the 21st of may. it's a big deal. it's going to be a big moment for new york and also for america. your idea is don't entomb the 8,000 remains in the museum below the streets, but do it where? >> we want them to have -- like we told them in 2009, 2010, we want a repository on the

memorial plaza that's open 24 hours a day, not in the basement of a museum that had 50 feet of water flooded with hurricane sandy, 70 feet below grade -- bill: so what did they say? why would they -- >> they won't do it. they won't poll our families. they say they've consult with the the families. they haven't. we want them to poll 2700 families, even family -- each family have a say on where they want the remains, either down in the museum or above grade on the plaza. and that's going to be open 24 hours. if i'm driving down past there and walk by, anybody can walk by and pay their respects. bill: i can see the emotion in your eyes right now. i mean, it's still very fresh for you, and i fully respect that. did they have another option? >> they had plenty of options. they had them up in the ocme's office, they could have left them there. but i think this is wrong. they're taking advantage of it. they're selling bracelets.

i think that's crass. that's like the street vendors after 9/11 with the pictures of the planes crashing into the building. you know, it's wrong. we deserve better than that. there's 2700 families. we called on president obama, we sent him a letter. we've been in touch with governor christie, governor cuomo, mayor de blasio, and the mayor says he's been in discussion with the families. that's a total blatant lie. come out, poll the families, let each family have a say. if they vote to put them in the basement, then so be it. they won't have a poll. bill: do you think you have any recourse at this point, or do you think the decision is past you? >> i think the decision is past us. we tried in court, the courts wouldn't help us because the remains are unidentified, you know, so nobody owns them. the city's medical examiner owns them. our only course is hope some politician shows some common sense, doesn't put it below grade that doesn't flood, and i'm going to be back down there searching for our loved ones'

remains just like after 9/11. i think it's wrong. and for the museum and these other people to say it's not in the museum, you've got to go down through the museum 70 feet below grade, that's where they're putting the remains, and that's wrong. bill: your son jimmy, he's going to have the helmet that he wore as a fire fighter inside the museum, is that right? >> yeah. and i think it's going to be a very powerful museum. it's supposed to me moral ice our -- memorialize our sons. we recovered his body on march 25, 2002, i was there. his helmet was crushed, we donated it to the museum. we want everybody to see it, not just the rich. we want the poor, all america, all the world to see the museum, see what happened that day. let's never let this happen again, what happened to me, and let's get those remains out of the basement or have a poll of the families, and let's do it legitimately. they can have a poll, poll the families if they want it below grade or above grade, and i think all the families would be happy with that.

bill: 7, 930 body parts that have yet to be identified, and perhaps through new technology at some point someday they will be identified. >> they will. and the ocme has an office, but they've not going to do any testing. all the testing would be moved from the site and brought back to be tested. so there's no reason for them to be down in the basement in a museum. they can be up on the plaza with an eternal light, and we'll be happy with that. bill: it's clear that you want people to remember the story and to remember your son. >> yeah. and, you know, these are people that all they did that day was go to work. nineteen islamic terrorists crashed into the building. they died. these people deserve it, they're true american heroes, and they deserve to rest in peace and let the families -- 1100 families have never recovered anything. this is their cemetery. cemeteries don't charge money, and their friends shouldn't have to pay to get in and pay their respects. bring it above grade. bill: just one more point on this, will you go to the museum? >> not until we can get the body

parts out of there, and, you know, it's very sad for me, it's a very powerful museum. i know a lot of things are going to be in there, but we need a politician who has some guts who's going to stand up and say let the families' voices be heard, because they're not being heard right now. bill: jim richards, thank you for your time. >> thank you. bill: appreciate it. martha? martha: well, some severe weather was caught on camera, the tornadoes touched down in one state as more threaten a large swath of the country today. our meteorologist, maria molina, has the latest on these storms and where they're headed next. bill: also this is a remarkable story. ten years later there is new information on behalf of the pentagon about the murder of this american soldier captured and killed in iraq. we will hear from the father who might be able to identify and find out who his killer was. ten years later. >> he was a good soldier. i mean, he was young, athletic, had a lot going for him, kind of a prankster. recognized him. he stood out.

he's a great soldier.

martha: all right, a bit of an update from the closed door picture that we've been showing you. we understand that nancy pelosi will come out at 11 a.m., about a half an hour from now. she will talk about what's going on as democrats have been huddling behind those closed doors and, hopefully, shed some light on how they will handle this investigative panel on how many of their own members vote.

that's coming up today at 11:00. and severe weather threatening millions of americans over the next few days. this as a funnel cloud was spotted on camera in minnesota, several twisters touched down in that state yesterday. now more tornadoes and damaging winds may be on the way for the central part of our country. what a busy season it has been, and maria molina has the latest on what to expect today. >> reporter: hi, martha, good to see you. yeah, we're starting to see that activity picking up a little more, especially in late april and also through the month of my, and it was really minnesota and parts of iowa that yesterday were looking at some of the busier activity from our storm system. we even had reports of damage all the way down to parts of texas in the dallas county area. for today, though, that same storm system still on the move from texas up into indiana and parts of illinois, we could be looking at severe weather out here, and we are going to expect some severe weather over the next several days, so even over the weekend, come saturday for

north eastern parts of oklahoma into a wide area across missouri, you could be looking at severe weather. and then take a look at this, on sunday more severe weather possible from texas up into illinois. so sunday does look to be a pretty widespread area here included under the risk for severe weather. large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes being possible. there's also a lot of moisture with these storms. we have some tropical moisture from the gulf of mexico that's flowing northward, and this is one of our computer models. it's predicting that along parts of the gulf coast, that area shaded in red around new orleans, alabama and mississippi, could pick up potentially 4-6 inches of rain. martha, that is a concern for flash flatting, so that -- flooding, so that will be something to watch. and, of course, i do want to give you a happy mother's day coming up this weekend. happy mother's day, martha. martha: thank you. hopefully the sun will come out. >> looks like a beautiful day here -- martha: on sunday, we hope. thanks, maria. bill: that's your job, maria.

bring the sun out for martha. martha: and everybody else. bill: wow. more than a decade after an army sergeant was captured and killed in iraq, his family might finally learn who killed him. he was 24 years old, aer sergea, taken by iraqi insurgents in april of 2004. four years then passed before his family discovered his fate and laid him to rest. and now the pentagon believes they have the killer in custody. sergeant maupin's father is live with me in cincinnati, ohio. and, sir, this is an unbelievable development. good morning to you, and i know you've lived this nightmare now for ten years. the pentagon is telling you that they think they know who killed your son. how is that possible? >> yes. you know, i don't know, but they want me to come up there. i'll be going up there monday, we're going to find out more information on that. but, you know, i would have some questions on why would this guy wait ten years or, well, six years, however long it took, to

confess to what he had done. bill: did he offer a confession, is that a fact? >> well, they told me that they have the guy in custody in iraq, in jail in iraq, that confessed to killing matt. bill: so you're going to washington on monday, and what are you going to do there? >> well, i'm going up there on monday, but on tuesday what we will do is they have a conference room there, we're going to be hooked with vtc to the judge that's presiding over this guy's case, and we'll be talking to him through a translator. i don't know exactly what they're going to ask, because, you know, they said they wanted me to be a witness. i said, well, i wasn't there, you know? i don't know what happened. but it was more of, you know, what do you think would be happening now if this guy hadn't done what he'd done to matt. bill: that's amazing. by video conference you're going to testify in washington d.c. man. you know what strikes me about this story?

the military hasn't given up. and here you are ten years later. what does that say to you? >> well, that says that -- well, for me i don't know about the military part, but i know on the other side as the groups like jpac and, you know, there were cia involved, fbi guys involved. so they don't give up until the case is over. you know, when matt came home, i never thought i'd hear from 'em again, but here we are. bill: i heard you say why would you kill an unarmed man? he is no threat to you. >> yes. if i had to ask one question, i would ask him why. you know, this guy wasn't armed, you know? i don't know unless -- you know, matt was a big boy. maybe they felt threatened by his size, i don't know. bill: he was a football player, budget he? >> -- wasn't he? >> yes. 226. bill: big kid. i though you have missed him -- i know you've missed him every day, but does this provide any

closure if the pentagon says, you know, sir, we've got the guy? >> well, i don't think it will give me any closure, but my thought was that, you know, there were as you and a lot of other people had followed matt for ten years. maybe it will give them a better closure of what happened to matt and who did it. to me, that's what this is all about, because it won't change nothing for me. bill: yeah. keith, good luck to you, okay? it's really a credit -- >> yes, sir. thanks, bill. bill: -- what the military's doing, and i hope for members of your family that this is a way to close just a small chapter in this, okay? best of luck to you. we'll see what happens. >> okay, thanks. bill: thank you. keith maupin. >> yes, thank you. martha: so investors in southern california releasing security camera footage of a vicious hit and run. oh, my. look at this. a 24-year-old man crossing an intersection. a pickup truck hit him at full speed and dragged him about 100 feet. the man left lying in the

street, now in critical condition. his father is speaking out. >> he's angry, you know, that this happened to him. making the conscious decision to drag someone 100 the asphalt and drive away without helping him, leaving him for dead, that's no accident. martha: police are hoping somebody will recognize that truck in the video and help them catch this driver. bill: tough to watch too. is faith under fire on television? >> hgtv got bullied into this, they got bullied into their position. nay knew where -- they knew where we stood. bill: a new show kicked off the air after comments from the hosts on their religious beliefs. is that right? we'll debate it and more of what they said. martha: and an amazing journey around the world. you're invited to share the ride, selfies taken in 66 different countries. wow. panoramic selfies even. love it. beautiful stuff. ♪ ♪

♪ bill: oy ve, people. movie star michael douglas injured at his son's bar mitzvah. he limped into a hollywood event this weekend, quoting, i'm hurting. i got carried away this weekend. you know, they put you up in the chairs over the top, i think something happened there. [laughter] douglas is 69. his son is, obviously, 13. i bet his son is just fine. he probably had a great time. martha: i always think that's going to happen, but everyone always seems to survive perfectly. apparently not for michael douglas. bill: stay on the ground next time, you'll be a-okay. ♪ ♪

martha: hgtv tuning out two brothers who were aspiring to launch a real estate series. david and johnson benham accept accept -- jason, excuse me. the network has only said this in a tweet: hgtv has decided not to move forward with the benham brothers' series. end of story. they don't say why. but david had a lot more to say. >> we never spoke about homosexuals as individuals. we spoke about an agenda. and what i mean by "agenda" is an environment that's been created in our nation whereby men and women of faith can no longer voice their beliefs without fear of losing their livelihood. martha: is that true? leslie marshall, fox news contributor, mark meckler is the founder of citizens for self-governance. mark, is he right? >> well, he is right. there certainly is this culture,

and we've seen it attempted to be imposed on many people. you're talking market forces at work. we saw it with a&e and the robertsons and duck dynasty. the robertsons prevailed there. they were able to express their opinions and maintain their show. obviously, the benhams didn't have that kind of clout, and hgtv made their decision. that's what the market is supposed to do. the market worked. martha: hmm. leslie, what do you think? >> i think there are a lot of people i know living in los angeles even though i'm in providence today that have pilots. there are numerous pilots made every single week in l.a. that are scrapped. i have friends that are broadcasters, actors, everybody's got a great idea. maybe it was just a bad pilot and nothing to do with their views. but if you're in the public eye or you want to be, if you have an unpopular view -- and it might be unpopular with hgtv which is a channel about home decoration if you follow me -- that may come back to bite you.

but i don't think it was about this. you mentioned duck dynasty. the reason that all worked out is because they were the number one show, and they're making a lot of money. television networks are businesses as hgtv is. i think it was a business decision, and the brothers actually concede that themselves. martha: you know, it's interesting to me, though, you look at the mozilla, briefly is the ceo, he was the founder of the company who had made statements and made donations to a group that was not in favor of same-sex marriage, and as you both pointed out the duck dynasty story for phil robertson, and they determined they needed him for their bottom line, so they were willing to overlook anything he had said that might have offended people, and i just wonder where the line gets drawn, you know? at what point are you allowed to speak your mind and not have it affect, as mr. benham said, not have it affect your livelihood? is there any line there at all anymore, mark? >> well, there is a line, and

unfortunately, the line is drawn along the lines of rank hypocrisy on the left. if you look at the left in the way they approach this particular issue and comments on gay marriage, our president was anti-gay marriage until just a couple of years ago, and i would venture to depress all these people -- guess all these people voted for barack obama. so the question isn't just whether we can express our opinions publicly, the question is who are you expressing your opinions, how are they based, and will you be attacked for them because you're on the right or the left? what we're seeing here is evidence of rank hypocrisy in public discourse. that's the part that bothers me about this. martha: it appears, leslie, there are some things you can say with no problem. i mean, you can pick on christianity, you can pick on the catholic church, you can pick on a number of areas, conservatives, and it doesn't seem like that's going to lose your anything in the -- you anything in the marketplace necessarily. but if you're on the other side of the fence, sometimes things don't go so well. >> but, you know, i think at the end of the day it depends -- i mean, there are going to be

people on both sides that are going to cry loudly. there are certainly christians that are going to be angry, and chick-fil-a is still standing. is it possible they had a pilot that wasn't good for the network? i watch the network, i like it, and in addition to that, i never heard of these guys until this came about. [inaudible conversations] >> every time somebody loses a pilot -- yeah, quite frankly, i do. i really do. hgtv could have made money off them, i think they would have. martha: all right, good point. leslie, thank you. mark, good to talk to you. >> happy mother's day, martha. martha: thank you, leslie. you too. bill: jon scott now, "happening now" 11 minutes away. good morning. jon: good morning to you. we are awaiting word on the makeup of that select committee on benghazi. we will talk about the politics of it and ask our media panel to discuss coverage in the mainstream media. plus, nasa hopes to prevent a real-life gravity type event. the pistorius murder trial

taking some strange terms, legal analysis ahead, and a brutal murder at a gated community has investigators perplexed. also, remember the movie line, "you had me at hello,"? fascinating stuff ahead, "happening now." bill: takes 18 seconds, that's what they say. to make that impression. thank you, jon. 36 countries, 600 days. one man, one camera and the ultimate selfie. you will meet him, next. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] there's a gap out there. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. but if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home...

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♪ bill: best selfie ever! a 360-degree view of the world from a motorcycle enthusiast. he traveled 120,000 miles. 36 countries, 600 days. he's been home three weeks, and he's going to shave eventually. alex is with me live out of austin. how you doing, alex? good day to you. >> good day to you. bill: you and i are kindred spirits, because i did a similar thing before atms and e-mails and go pro cameras. i saw kathmandu, i saw taj mahal. did you pick places to go in order to get the shot? >> it's hard to say. usually you go the places where you don't usually see people go, that's the whole extent of driving a motorcycle around the world.

it's a very unique aspect of going, being able to access places that no typical tourist gets to do. so a lot of the shots you see in the video are places they've never seen tourists before, places where there's a lot of tourism. so i really tried to mix both. but it was definitely a unique view point to be able to get to these areas nobody's ever really -- bill: it's beautiful stuff. i mean, in hd it looks spectacular, too, so congratulations to you. i know what kind of work goes into this. >> thank you. bill: you work with go pro, they obviously like your work as well. >> they like it now. bill: yeah, you're right about that. i thought what you said was interesting you want younger people to learn about the world, but how do you grab their attention? this is the idea you came up with. explain that. >> right. well, first, the idea for the video came from, first of all, inspiration. i said how do you capture the world and bring it to those back home in a very quick and concise format that's innovative and brand new?

as you know, with the internet able, our attention -- age, our attention span is that of a goldfish. you've got to be quick and share with people briefly. how do i share in a creative, innovative way, and i came up with this thing i hadn't seen done before. luckily, through my time in this trip nobody had done this. so it's brand new -- bill: you made memories for a lifetime. you're going to, you're really going to cherish this. what's next? >> what's next, well, we've got trips in the future, so, you know, who knows? we'll see what comes of it. bill: well bring us pictures, okay? >> will do. bill: alex, congratulations. >> thanks. martha: just a couple minutes away now from hearing from nancy pelosi. she will walk out of that room and talk about democratic participation in the benghazi select committee panel. big news coming up moments away, folks. vo: once upon a time

there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants stood tall and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real avo: whatever you can imagine, all in one place expedia, find yours

martha: tonight fox news reporting takes an inside look at a top secret u.s. agency that has been plagued by scandal and asks, is the nsa really keeping us safe? excellent question. fox news reporting the secret war, who is the enemy by bret baier tonight at 10:00 p.m. jon: check it out. have a great weekend. happy moms day to you. martha: thank thank you very mu. bill: sunshine. sunshine. bye, everybody. jon: we begin with a fox news alert. we're awaiting the speaker of the house john boehner. he is expected to announce the other members of the republican select committee which congressman trey gowdy will chair. the vote passed the house by a huge majority but right now it is not clear whether democrats will actually participate after slamming its composition. it has seven republicans, five democrats. democrats are trying to decide whether they will send anybody, maybe one person, maybe a