i'm paul gigot. hope to see you right here, next week. ek. hello, everyone, welcome to "america's news headquarters" i'm arthel neville. escalating fighting and bloodshed in iraq. iraqi troops, tanks and helicopter gun ships are battling to retake the northern city of tikrit from sunni militants. iraq's military now bolstered by jets ordered from russia. conner powell live with the latest there. conner, it is escalating and escalating. what's the latest? >> reporter: arthel, the russia-made jet fighter planes are a big boost to the iraqi military, which is looking for much-needed power. now commanders in baghdad say that these jets will help add to

additional my power to the iraqi military as they try to push back against this isis surge across iraq that we have seen the last three weeks or so. today baghdad officially announced it received the first of 12 russia-made fighter jerts. this is coming at sort of a rebuff of the pentagon, which the u.s. has long promised to ship some f-16s to iraq. but the congress has really held up these u.s. planes out of concerns over prime minister nouri al maliki's coalition in his government. this comes, this delivery of new weapons, comes as the iraqi troops launch a huge operation against the northern city of tikrit, which is, of course, saddam hussein's hometown. it's a key area, just outside baghdad and controlling it really helps protect or gives launching pads for some type of operation into baghdad, into the capital. now, saddam hussein's town has been fought over for the past three or four days, intensely. we have seen heavy, heavy fighting there with special operations, iraqi special

operations troops landing there with helicopter and tanks and commandos, really putting up a heavy fight. the latest word we're getting in tikrit right now is that insurgents control much of the city, but the iraqi troops are controlling the ins and outs, the major roads in and out of the entire town. but their progress into the city has been slowed because of booby traps and also really stiff resistance. now, a big development coming in the next day or two is that the iraqi parliament is scheduled to meet on tuesday, and there's a lot of internal pressure to -- for a new government that isn't led by prime minister nouri al maliki, both internally in iraq and external from around the world, the united states, and especially we would like to see a different prime minister. if a new prime minister is chosen on tuesday or their announcement is made today or tomorrow, there could be a sort of freeing up of u.s. funds and support for the iraqi military until maliki is gone. there really is likely not to be any type of change in u.s. presence there in terms of support for the government and for the military. the u.s. nato, a lot of world

leaders, arthel, want to see maliki gone before they really begin to help this military. and until that happens, you're going to see iraq really relying on russia and iran for the bulk of their fighting and equipment, arthel. >> yeah, meanwhile, all eyes over there. okay, conner, thank you very much for that update for us. and we go now to neighboring syria, where a new report on the growing death toll in that country's civil war. according to an activist group, 7,000 people have been killed in fighting among rival islamic groups, seeking to overthrow the government. most of the deaths are rebels, but the number also includes hundreds of civilians caught in the crossfire. the report is based on violence that erupted in northern syria in january. benghazi suspect, ahmed abu khattala is now reportedly being held in a detention center near washington, d.c. he arrived in the u.s. yesterday and made his first appearance in federal court pleading not guilty to a charge of

conspiracy. chief intelligence correspond ant, kathryn harris, was there at the hearing, joining us live now from washington. so kathryn, what are we learning now about his interrogation? >> i was less than 25 feet from the benghazi suspect in court. and while he appeared dazed as he first entered the courtroom, once he looked around and as soon as the judge spoke, he became laser-like on his focus, hanging on the judge's every word. he had his hands behind his back. as plain-clothes fbi agents looked on. his demeanor seemed to shift from dazed to focused and then down almost at the pressed as the gravity of his situation became clear. this morning, we are confirming new information about his interrogation on the "uss new york." he was described by a u.s. official as compliant, but not seeming to be entirely forthcoming. on the sunday talk shows, the quality of the intelligence

gained was in focus. >> you can imagine that he was not objects at thisnant, not pushing back. he could give some details of some things, but not to the point where an fbi agent would say, hey, bingo, here we go, we've got something that would turn into actionable intelligence. >> once read his miranda warning, u.s. officials said he chose to make that court appearance along with his court-appointed public defender, arthel. >> kathryn, what does this mean, though, for the debate over gitmo? >> well, we recently traveled to guantanamo bay, and significantly, on a tour of the detention camps, the admiral in charge told reporters they are still getting useful information from detainees that arrived at guantanamo bay 12 years ago. and at this point, he said it's about who they know, not current plots. >> the value of it is not necessarily determined the day we hear about it. it could be something that it

turns out to be of more value later on when they're able to make some connections. >> republican kelly ayotte said in a statement she wants a full readout of the process and at what point ahmed khattala was read his rights and chose to remain silent. this is approved by the courts, holding a terrorism suspect at sea. but critics say that it's not a policy but essentially a work-around, simply to avoid those guantanamo campses, arthel. >> kathryn, thanks for that report. >> you're welcome. well, lois lerner's attorneys are firing back, saying the former irs official did, quote, everything she could to retrieve those lost e-mails connected to the investigation into the targeting of conservatives. now, this as republicans try to figure out just how those e-mails disappeared. and questioning if we'll ever get to the bottom of this scandal. pet pet peter doussey from washington.

>> reporter: herelerner walks i her office, find the monitor blue and the computer is kaput. her attorney, william taylor, says relevant hard drives were not deliberately destroyed, and lawmakers creating suspicion are just doing so because it's an election year. >> she was as upset as anybody else was about the loss of the e-mails and the other documents which were on there, which were quite important to her. but the truth is, this was one of those things that happened at the time she did everything she could to retrieve it. she reported it right away. and that's the story. >> furthermore, lerner's lawyers says he doesn't think his client will be prosecuted for wrongdoing as head of the tax exempt division of the irs and she's just trying to put all of this behind her. but lawmakers are saying, not so fast. and there's a new push on capitol hill to think outside the box for new ways to scour cyberspace to find files the irs says are gone for good. >> you bring in the geeks and the nerds who actually know how

this thing works and put them up on the stand, bring them in for a deposition, i think we'll get a whole different answer how this works. bring in the good people at microsoft. i doubt they built a product that made billions of dollars over the fact you could suddenly lose all of these e-mails. >> the oversight committee chairman, darrell issa, said sunday he has a hard time believing lerner didn't make paper copies of her e-mails and he thinks she broke some laws which referring some 1 million tax records to the doa, trying to get conservative groups in trouble. >> thanks a lot, peter. new reports now indicating that not only did the father of a young georgia boy search for how long a child needs to be left in a car to die, but so did his mom. the father, justin harris, pleading not guilty to killing his son. family members held a funeral for the boy, while his dad sat in jail, calling in on speakerphone to the service. harris has been charged with

second degree cruelty to a child and felony murder. his son, cooper harris, was just 22 months old. new job numbers out this week, but while we find out how many people are looking for work still, the gdp is in a slump. so was it all just the bad weather that kept the u.s. economy from making money, or is there more to blame? ♪ ♪ got to blame it on something ♪ blame it on the rain okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu.

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new job numbers will be coming out this week ahead of the 4th of july holiday, giving us an indication not only about how many people are out of jobs but also how many have simply given up looking for work. now this coming on the heels of the dismal first quarter gdp report. the nation's economy shrinking 2.9% from january to march. that is the worst quarter since the recession supposedly ended five years ago. the report shocking the president of the u.s. chamber of commerce as he spoke to maria bartiromo on "sunday morning futures." >> was a shocker. but you have to look at it in the context of what we would describe as some of the causes,

and what we see going on in this quarter which is more hiring than we had a year ago. >> here to break down these numbers, brenda buttner, anchor of "bulls and bears." first of all, just get right to it. tell us why gdp down, how do we get it back up and can we. >> the administration is blaming the really dismal gdp number on the weather. and it was a very tough winter. but that would account for maybe 1%. i mean, nearly 3% contraction. a recession is officially two consecutive quarters of contraction. that is huge. i think business investment was down 11.7%. now, it's not because companies don't have must be money. they're sitting on $2 trillion in cash. but they just don't want to spend it, because they're afraid of what's coming around the corner in terms of regulations and all the rest. >> but they have been holding and sitting on this money for a long time and we're not -- they're not hiring people as a result. they have the right to do that.

but at some point, when does this change? when do they loosen up the purse strings? >> well, you know, you think about it, there is good reason not to hire. they have got the epa coming down on them with potentially new, very, very onerous regulations. obamacare has been a huge cloud over business, because they're going to have to spend more, and they're trying now to sometimes hire part-time workers so they won't have to pay for that. so there is a lot of stuff coming out of washington, much uncertainty. and consumers aren't spending. consumer spending grew only 1% in the first quarter. and that is far below the trend of the last three years. >> two things i want to touch on and i understand your point. you're saying, listen, these employers, these owners, these businesses, they have the right to hold on to their moneys, because they have the uncertainties you pointed out. but i ask you, at what point does it sort of iron out, if you will, and come to a point where they're no longer uncertain about what's coming down?

when is it that flesh out? and secondly about consumer spending, people don't have the disposable cash to go out and shop like they used to. >> let's talk about the consumer spending, a very good point. first of all, gas prices are much higher. this 4th of july holiday, it's the highest in six is years. >> why? >> well, there's the iraq issue, which is really spiking oil and people, you know, trade on that. that's an issue there. is much uncertainty there. so consumers aren't spending. also because wages are stagnant and the average weekly workweek average week -- the hours are stagnant, as well. that's what we're going to be looking at the jobs report thursday. >> that's my point, though. i mean, it's frustrating. of course, you know, i understand both sides. i understand the businesses and their rights to hold on to their cash because of the uncertainty, but this horrible cycle continues and folks are not getting the money they could be getting if the -- >> well, businesses are -- i think would want to hire if

there's demand. first of all, that's the issue, consumers are not spending. but until there's not as much uncertainty, if they think that taxes -- >> when is that going to happen? >> well, you've got to talk to washington about that. because that's really the it's coming out of washington. >> yeah. well -- >> so -- >> i know. we have to iron it out. >> it's a very tepid recovery and could turn into a recession again. >> don't say that, please. >> i'm sorry. bearer of bad news. >> no, listen. by the way, brenda knows it all, and you can cash brenda on bulls and bears every saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on the fox news channel. thanks so much, brenda. >> thank you. >> see you again. meanwhile, want to tell you that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle weighing in on speaker boehner's plan to sue president obama. so where is this all heading? we're going to take a closer look. the president is saying, congress, if you're not going to do your job of actually passing a law to make those things happen, i'm going to use --

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powers granted to the congress. so to me, it makes a whole lot of sense to do this. >> okay. that's chairman of the house judiciary committee, bob goodlat, doubling down on john boehner's plan to sue president obama. but can a lawsuit really accomplish anything, or is it just more political theater? here to weigh in, david hawking,

senior editor for "roll call." good to see you. >> nice to be with you. >> so want to start here. do you think that president obama is crossing constitutional lines, and what's your take when the president pushes back and says he has to use executive authority, because congress is not doing its job in legislating laws? >> well, he's operating from a bit of a position of weakness right now in saying this, because as many voters know, just this week, the president was rebuffed 9-0 in the supreme court on probably the most assertive thing he's done to use his power against congress when congress said no, you're overdoing it.

this. virtually all the republicans side wg the speaker. virtually all the democrats saying this is a waste of time and taxpayer fun and so it will be -- we sort of need to know what he's going to ask the court to say -- where he's going to ask the court to say the president'sover done it. but it's going to take some time for this suit to play out. it has to gro to a judge. the judge has to answer this question. so i think the suit probably wouldn't even get into the meat of the matter until after the election. >> let's go there, david. because you say this may take a while. so should this thesis of a do

nothing congress versus the president and his use of executive authority carry into the midterm elections. which party stands to make the most political gain on the issue? >> this is where the republicans see they obviously have a big opportunity for a gain here. congress is pretty much at a standstill. the congress and the president are obviously not working together on almost any legislation of any consequence at all. this is a way for the republicans to drive that point home. they're going to say the president is working around us. we're doing our job which is to not work with him when we don't think he should be worked with. that's not allowed for the president to go around us. this is a way to make the election about obama again, they think the president's bad, they think he has the wrong priorities on the minimum wage, on the implementation of

obamacare. >> i don't think you answered my question in terms of speaker boehner's motive. is it a political stunt or does he think he can move forward on this? >> i think both things are true. he thinks he's going to be speaker and the president's going to be president for the next two years. so, yes, i think he thinks it's worth the merit. i also think he thinks it will energize conservative voters. you can have good policy and good politics working together. >> okay. we'll see you. thank you so much for your time this sunday rnlts a. and that is going to do it for me. a healthy you and carol alt is up next. i hear she's bagging on pizza. i don't know. check it out. care what age you are.

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when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. welcome to a healthy you. i'm carol alt. most of the people who have suffered a debilitating disease or a death in the family don't consider themselves lucky. today we have a guest who says surviving his mid life jolt as he calls it was one of the best things that happened to him and caused him to turn his life around. we'll have his story later on. plus, choosing the right bra. it's a lot harder than it seems. from picking the right size to selecting whether to wear a sports bra versus a convertible bra. today we have the bra genie here to show us the top five bra mistakes you could be making. and how to fix them.