nephews. michael and ben, brothers. and their young families. they both served in afghanistan. keep it going. >> and the lone survivor, marcus luttrell. obamacare. open enrollment gets underway, the white house admitting their numbers will be short by, millions. of americans. that could be very bad news for the signature law. speed morning everybody, i'm bill hemmer. lots to talk about on this here. in "america's newsroom." martha: nice to see you, bill. good morning, everybody, i'm doing well. i'm martha maccallum. we have the health and human services secretary. sylvia burwell. they expect nine million people to be enrolled in obama care by 2015. earlier this year they said 13 million people would be signed up. >> sign-up period is shorter. there are concerns about the

website actually working. >> this is the first time that you're going to have to go through the whole, we have to technologically and from a consumer perspective both, both of those things, i think are challenging. this is hard. we will have things that won't to right. we will have outages. we will have down time. but the most important thing we can do about that, make sure we are prepared. >> stuart varney is prepared. host of "varney & company" coming your way in two hours. start with you. what is going on, stuart. >> has any promise with obama care come true? can you keep the doctor? , can you keep the cost down. can you cover all uninsured? will it add a dime to the deficit? all those promises failed. some obamacare facing what some call a death spiral. supreme court will consider issue of subsidies, if the subsidies are removed, out goes obamacare. the threat of that happening

will no doubt affect enrollment now. secondly, as you reported, bill, far fewer people expected to enroll than a few months ago. nine million. not 13 million. you have underperforming law threatened by the supreme court, a republican congress, a badly-performing website and you have also got, the requested that they're scaling back on promises that they have already made. you have got a law that is in a mess, bill. >> what happens to the financing when this fewer people sign up for it? >> it affects the premium that you will be paying next year. if the people that sign up only total nine million, not 13 million, that's a lot less money coming into the insurers. that means there has to be adjustment on what other people pay later f those nine million people, if most of them are older people, sicker people, and not younger, healthy people, that again means increase in the premiums that you will pay next year. the finances, bill, they're unraveling.

>> it a moving target. continues to move again. >> spiraling down. >> stuart, see you couple hours on our sister network, fox business network. if you're not sure where to find it log on to foxbusiness.com/business finder for that face. stuart, thank you. martha: new fallouts from comments by an architect of obamacare admitting that the health care law was written to deceive congress and stay saying, quote the stupidity of the american voter really helped the law to pass he says. here is reaction last night on "the kelly file." >> barack obama went out in twine and insisted the individual manned state is absolutely not a tax increase. one point where he did an interview with george stephanopoulos, stephanopoulous read him webster's decks nary definition of a tax. everything is a tax. it is not a tax. we know from jonathan gruber they knew from the very beginning it was a tax. think about what he said. he said we knew it was a tax.

we knew if the american people knew it was a tax the bill would die. we took advantage of the stupidity of the american people and craft ad bill with tortured language. martha: unbelievable. let's bring in byron york, chief political correspondent from the "washington examiner." notwithstanding that the supreme court held up a law that it was a tax. they denied it was a tax entire time. when the supreme court said that, oh, it is a tax. if that works for you it works for us, right? >> absolutely. gruber also said in the panel discussion if people knew that obamacare was going to charge more money to well people, to redistribute to people who are sicker that wouldn't have passed. got to remember, jonathan gruber is not some sort of fringe figure. he was very important figure in the drafting of obamacare, prominent mit professor. had a contract with the department of health and human services. was a big figure in this. the plain english version of what he said was, we had to lie

about obamacare because if we told the truth it wouldn't have passed. you remember, if even a single democrat in the senate had opposed obamacare it would not have passed. this was very critical, keeping this stance about obamacare was very critical for the president and democrats. martha: it appears for a lot of democrats the wool was pulled very completely over their eyes, or if it wasn't, none of them were hip to this program and didn't, they didn't call hem on it. they didn't say wait a minute, mr. president, this doesn't work, this isn't being explained properly. not the way it appears to be, didn't do that. >> now we don't know what is in the mind and hearts of democrats who supported this but do remember president obama promised to hold negotiations and drafting of the bill, obamacare, in public. he said it would be on c-span. instead you got this very secretive process some insiders now say was a large deception. this is going to play a role.

we'll have a lot of debates about obamacare in coming months as senate republicans many whom were elected on a plank to defund obamacare and repeal obamacare. they will go after certain parts of this. we'll hear this jonathan gruber thing over and over again, when republicans say, listen, you lied to us about this. it is time when we fix it. martha: nancy pelosi said when you find out what's in it you will like it. that is the process we still find ourselves in apparently. byron, thank you very much. >> thank you, martha. >> on twitter, will obamacare survive in its current form, simple question, yes or no, what do you think? talk to us @marthamaccallum or @billhemmer on twitter next couple years. we'll have another epic day, probably last week of june right here when the supreme court rules on subsidies. it will be significant. martha: indeed it will. what else is going on today? >> another fox news alert, president obama, vladmir putin

spoken on critical issues. we're both in china. chief white house correspondent ed henry traveling with the president live in beijing. ed, tell us about these meetings. >> reporter: well, bill it is interesting because it has gotten quite frosty. they have had three meetings on the sidelines of this summit and it is interesting, because as you say, president much rather talk about trade. he was able to successfully lift a tariff on various high-tech products that u.s. companies can now sell here but instead as you note the attention on these meetings with putin. the real focus is about ukraine because it had quieted down but now the fighting is back in eastern ukraine. the russians are behind sending in tanks as well as heavy artillery to the front lines of the battle. they're not just on the border anymore. they're really in the fight. and bottom line is, i pressed ben rhodes, one of the president's top white house aides about all of this, are the sanctions really working against

russia? he acknowledged it has not changed vladmir putin's calculus on the ground in ukraine. this is a big headache for the president as he tries to talk about other issues because vladmir putin is not giving an inch in ukraine right now, bill? >> sanctions against russia, is this unintended consequence now affecting others, ed? how do you follow that? >> reporter: sure, because it is maybe helping china's economy right here because what's happening is, the sanctions as i noted are not really stopping putin from pushing ahead in ukraine. but what it is doing is hurting his economy. so what putin has done is rushed into the arms of president xi who is meeting throughout the day with president obama. before those meetings, putin had a series of meetings with president xi, signed no less than 15 different trade deals, mostly energy deals. he is building a vast natural gas pipeline from russia to china. these sanctions are hurting

russia's economy in the short term but may be driving them into the arms of china, bill. >> on we go. ed henry in beijing, china, nine minutes past. martha? martha: asking billions more for the fight against isis. president obama sending more troops, 1500 more, which means he will need a lot more cash to pay for those people to be sent over. some lawmakers say he can not have a blank check in this offensive. senator john mccain joins us live with his take. red dead for this one, folks. old man winter rolling long. temps are dropping as we speak. we'll tell you who is next pour this thing. martha: the new secretary of the scandal-plagued veterans administration wasting no time trying to clean house. bill sits down with bob mcdonald and asks about changes he has in mind after the biggest shake-up in va history. >> one of my very first days i asked every employee to sit with their leader, talk about the

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by 1914 the dodge brothers and set out on their own.pany they believed in more, than the assembly line. they believed driving was a holy endeavor. a hundred years later the dodge brothers spirit lives on. bill: the captain of the ferry that sank in south korea last april now learning his fate, 36 years behind bars. the captain was convicted of gross negligence but acquitted most serious charge of homicide. that would have led to the death penalty in south korea. more than 300 were killed when the overloaded ferry capsized last april, most of them

teenagers on a school trip. >> looking for 5.$6 billion is like having a blank check with no strategy. the first thing w need to see, a long-term strategy that does not simply degrade isis but that defeats isis. that means those details and specificity within that plan must be presented to congress so that we understand how the money is going to be used effectively so as to keep americans safe around the world. >> that was south carolina senator tim scott, one of several lawmakers who is questioning the president's request for more money to fight isis. this comes as the first u.s. troops arrive in iraq. we have 1500 more troops who are part of this latest wave. anbar province has been overrun by isis. the our troops are there to bolster iraqi forces so far outgunned by islamic terrorist army. i'm joined by arizona senator john mccain on armed services committee. really nice to have you in the

studio today. >> tim scott is exactly right. he is exactly right. we need to have a strategy. there is not a strategy and frankly this grad all escalation is going through, remember the president for years has said, tell everybody what we're not going to do rather than what we're going to do. as grad all escalation remind me of the vietnam conflict. you have to have a strategy. congress and american people have no know that. it puts us in difficult situation. are we going to abandon the effort to defeat isis? what we'll do in the senate armed services committee we'll have hearings. we'll have the secretary of defense up and chairman of the joint chiefs and others explain to us what, how we're going to achieve the president's stated goal of degrading and ultimately defeating isis. right now they're not doing that. martha: iraqi forces retook the oil refinery area.

>> that's good. martha: that's good news. president goes back to sort of incremental victories along the way and it is working. >> martha, we're still fighting over kobani. using full weight of american air power. the fact is we're not using full weight of american air power. martha: is that what you would do? >> i would have forward air controllers in there. i would have special forces in there. i know how alarming that might be to identify targets. you can't just defeat an enemy just by bombing them from the air. you have to have a ground component and you have to have forward air controllers who are identifying these targets, particularly when the combatants are in such close proximity to each other. we see in the front page of "new york times" this morning this terrorist group in egypt, guess what, aligned themselves with isis. radicals all over the arab world are identifying with the success of isis and joining up. their ranges are swelling as we

speak -- ranks. this president does not have a strategy to win. martha: your strategy if you were in his shoes would be stronger air campaign? >> i would have more forward air controllers. i would have special forces. i would be sending in trainers so we try to restore the army. i would be providing weapons directly to the kurds. i would be not separating syria and iraq from each other. they're all isis. i would be having no-fly zone in syria so we can have the free syrian army have some success. but the reason why we're separating syria and iraq is because of this incredibly misguided idea that if we get a nuclear agreement with iran, which will be totally flawed, then therefore the iranians will cooperate with us. so what is happening is, we're bombing isis. meanwhile bashar al-assad is bombing free syrian army. that is immoral. martha: killing more people than

isis in iraq, correct. >> correct. 200,000 dead. 150,000 in bashar al-assad's prisons. i mean this idea that somehow having some kind of a working relationship with iran who will fund hamas, ho brought hezbollah into the fight, who orchestrated terrorist attacks all over including latest destabilization of yemen, is so dilutional it is hard to imagine. martha: it is veterans day obviously. you're someone who always lived your life believing that you could fight for something larger than yourself. >> yes. martha: what woo you say to the american people today in this confrontation is meaningful to americans across this country and why this fate is larger than all of us? >> every intelligence expert that i know of says that isis will pose a direct threat to the united states of america. at that is what their commitment is. that is what their belief is.

these thousands flocking in from europe. they don't need a visa. they get on plane and fly to the united states of america. mr. baghdadi, their leader was in our prison camp, camp bucca in iraq for four years. on his way out he said, see you in new york. so, they are a direct threat to us and, we have to understand that and, take the appropriate action. and not through incremental increases. we have to develop a strategy and then implement that strategy with whatever it takes. is there anybody in america you know today know what our strategy is? certainly not members of congress. certainly not me and i paid fairly close attention to it. and the president has got to reach out to us and sit down with us and -- martha: do you think he will though? >> i just don't know. i was very disappointed at his first press conference where he somehow the dog ate his homework and 2/3 of people that didn't

vote. that one, i didn't quite understand. so, i hope that he will do what bill clinton did, what george w. bush did and after 2006 and that is sit down with us and start working together. by the way one of the first things we have to do is get rid of sequestration which is devastating our military. martha: you've written a book before we let you go here and it is veterans day as everybody knows. it is called quote 13 soldiers." fascinating portrayal of 13 different american soldiers throughout american history. what would you like to tell us? >> every major conflict we tried to describe in not too much detail, mark salter and i, the conflict which they were engaged. young men such as joseph martin who at age 15 joined the continental army. pete salter, mark's father. fought in korea. surrounded by the chinese and brave native-american greg cloud

was tied to a tree to help others escape. ordinary people who did extraordinary things. some of them not really likeable characters but they all exhibited bravery and commitment. by the way to all of our veterans, happy veterans day. i'm glad we celebrate our veterans so much as we do today. martha: thank you for your service on this veterans day. senator john mccain. always a pleasure. bill: well-done, senator, thanks. 21 past. watch here. this is someone's driveway. a massive sinkhole swallowed up the family car. the investigators say the danger there is far from over. after a national outcry over treatment of our veterans we sit down with the new leader of the va on this veterans day. how he plans to revamp the massive agency. >> we're going to get it done. we'll reorg size the department. toke discuss on great outcomes for veterans. we're going to get it done. [ male announcer ] approaching medicare eligibility?

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bill: as we honor the sacrifice of our veterans today, the new leader of the va is announcing a new program called, my va. i sat down with secretary bock mcdonald who just announced a major restructuring this week. bob mcdonald, thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. bill: i read you want to fire a thousand people at va. how are you are going to do that. >> what i said is, we have disciplinary actions against people in place who violated our core values. they are with the i-care acronym pin i wear and employees there. i stands for integrity. those individuals val did not value of integrity we're seeking disciplinary action against. bill: as manager, you know this better than anyone working at proctor & gamble, is it the fat you want to trim?

is it irresponsibility? is the lack of doing an effective job? is it all of that. >> we're in customer service business. we have 22 million veterans in this country. we serve nine million veterans in the health care system. we want to improve that system to better care for veterans. so values, the mission, are very important. one of my very first days i asked every employee to sit with their leader, talk about the mission and recommit themselves to it. if we have an individual who violated our values, we're going to act upon. that that is why the numbers we've talked. bill: there is another aspect to the story where you want to hire 28,000 medical professionals. is that doctors? is that nurses? is this combination of all? >> it's a combination but a large measure doctors and nurses, that's why i've been going out to medical schools to talk about the great things the va does and to try to convince medical professionals to join us

bill: that's a tough sell right now, isn't it? >> no, actually not. we have the most inspiring mission in the world, to care for people who have born the battles of this country is an inspiring mission. the mission is, the problems we ran into in phoenix and elsewhere, while certainly there were people who violated our values, those who manipulated scheduling and so forth, and we'll deal with those appropriately, the big issue, if you step way back, is there was incredible demand and we didn't have the capability to supply. >> you have to change the impression of an organization that has been neglected and has a rotten reputation frankly. you are effectively trying to change the brand image of the va. >> i'm trying to change the outcomes, improve the outcomes and we're making good progress. i mean job number one is to make sure the organization focus is on the veteran and veteran

outcomes. so what have we done done? over last four months we got a million veterans wait lists into clinics. we reduced wait times. we reduced veteran homelessness by 33%. we're making good progress. ultimately to get where we need to go, we're reorganizing the department. and that reorganization is my va. bill: my va will do what. >> we'll i am prove service. we'll knock down barriers that exist inside the organization. we'll build and lease new clinics. the new bill has 27 new clinics. we'll hire doctors and nurses we've talked about. we'll be using i.t. technology to better connect with veterans and to get more done. we're going to get it done. we'll reorganize the department and focus on great outcomes. we'll get it done. bill: secretary mcdonald, a west point graduate. was head of proctor & gamble. his commitment is serious and obvious.

he says it is not neglect. simply supply and demand and with recent wars the demand has only increased. other veterans groups are coming out saying they don't buy the pitch at this point. they have yet to see it happen. we'll discuss that next hour. martha: it will be interesting to see with somebody with that kind of real corporate experience can make a difference in that organization which has been historically led by people from the military. so he has got a big, he has got a big job in front of him. bill: it is a big leap. martha: looks like he is committed to it. we'll see. bill: no question about that, you're precisely right, martha. good huck. martha: president obama is threatening executive action on immigration as you know. bill o'reilly says he the white house has different goal in mind. our panel debates coming up. >> he wants to create chaos, throw grenades into the republican party, have them divide.

bill: all right, fox news extreme weather alert now. is early for this stuff, right? parts of the rockies, the midwest getting their first

taste of winter from an arctic blast sweeping the country. the storm dumped 10 inches of snow in south dakota. more than 16 inches in parts of minnesota. state police reporting more than 700 spinouts and nearly 500 crashes. creating a real headache for commuters in that state. >> i've been sitting here for about two hours. i got, i don't know, 15 trucks behind me? >> it was about 80 in belize. so welcome home. >> temperatures from minnesota to alabama, 20 to 40 degrees below normal. that is just most spread over southeast and east coast the next 4hours. martha: bill o'reilly last night with tough words on president obama's plan to change immigration law on his own through an executive order, questioning the president's timing on this and his intentions as well. here he is. >> president obama, there is no urgency here. i mean it doesn't have to be done now. for what reason? the reason is that he wants to create chaos.

he wants to start throwing those grenades into the republican party, have them divide because you know there are some hard-liners will say no compromise. i'm not growing to do anything, all right? there are those people and that's what he wants. he wants to show the nation that they made a mistake by putting the republicans in power. >> hmmm. is that what is happening? joining me robert hoops, former dnc chief of staff to vice president joe biden and president of fox global. her shades sclapp former spokes women for president george w. bush. great to have you both. robert, respond to what bill said last night about. that he thinks the president is trying to create chaos with this executive action. >> yeah, i think that is a little misguided. grenade, the immigration grenade has been in the republican party for the last eight years. it is not anything new. the president didn't put it there. it is really frankly a distraction to try to suggest somehow this is a president's fault, that the immigration issue is complex and hard, for

the republican part to deal with. he is right. that there's a large group of the republican party, business, that wants to address and solve the immigration problem. and there is a hard-liner group that doesn't want to have anything to do with anything that has either immigration in it or barack obama's name on it. martha: i think there is some truth to that, mercedes. there are two different sides on the immigration issue within the republican party and they have had a hard time getting it together which is why they didn't move probably on the house bill. you know, so there is that issue. there is the issue of why now that bill brings up. let's do the first one first. >> sure. well, first of all, yes, the republican party remains pretty divided on issue of immigration. there is sense they are united. they want to take step by step. they want to make sure the border is secure. they can not ignore the fact what will they do with 12 million undocumented workers

out there. they need to come up with some sort of solution. however the president is moving forward, if and when he moves forward on the unilateral action which as we know 63% of the americans disapprove with the president's executive action on amnesty, it create as big problem, especially doing it at end of the year when you have a very fragile relationship between the president and congress. however the president has put in a hard position here because of fact he has to appease the latino voters. he maid a promise to them. he doesn't want to just say, let me give this up at this point. martha: that is why he is trying to squeeze it in now, robert, right? >> i think there is interesting matrix here for the republicans of the first, clearly everybody was sent to washington, one of the big messages from campaigns and elections was get things done. second was to act in bipartisan fashion. third for republicans, stop barack obama. they can do all this with an immigration bill. there is immigration bill in the house of representatives since june of 2013. got 68 votes in the u.s. senate.

by democrats and republicans. the house can vote on that bill, amend it, send it back to the senate, and have a conference and try to work out the differences. they do that, it freezes the president. if they do that during this lame-duck session, the president can not act by the end. year -- martha: john boehner said he wouldn't take action on immigration. >> i don't understand it. it is a lost opportunity. >> i think that the way ascribed especially with midterm elections for voters it is really about the economist. exit polls show the economy was very much the top issue for these voters. i think that's where they want to focus on. you have 40 plus bills that were passed in the house, job bills, awaiting action in the senate. i think they move forward in that direction. with that being said immigration reform is incredibly important the next two years for a lot of reasons of the we look at it from political standpoint, yes we need to work with the republicans trying to outreach to the latino community. that remains a top priority. one of the top priorities.

>> then why not do it mercedes? why not do it? why not do it? why not do it. they have the bill -- >> you're right. republicans should do it. republicans and democrats should do it together, but not when the president is threatening to throw a grenade out there, this "nuclear option" moving forward on executive action. that in itself would be -- huge distraction to the new congress. >> this is not the president throwing a grenade. >> yes absolutely. martha: robert, let me ask you this. because one of the basic things that conservatives believe you have to deal with securing border first. wouldn't that be the something the president could say look, i heard your message loud and clear. i am willing to make compromises on this. let's lock the border. get the border as secure as you possibly can. then let's everyone commit ourselves to turning to some serious immigration reform? why knot do that, robert. >> the house can do that. i don't know why they do that. they have a bill with 68

republican and democratic votes. if they don't like parts of it relative to border security, amend the bill. do the hard work of legislating. not ranting and raving against barack obama. the hard work of legislating and pass a bill that looks like you want it to. send it back to the senate and force the two chambers to meet and solve these problems. that's what the people want. martha: i think you're right. the people do want some action on this issue and while see if they take it up before the president gets there first. mercedes, robert, thanks very much. >> thank you, martha. bill: quick check of the markets right now. wall street, will the record run continue? the dow closing up 39 points yesterday and that yet again, is a new high. we'll keep an eye on the markets, let you know what is going on throughout the show here. meantime nuclear talks with iran are not going well and new backlash over the president's letter to that country's supreme leader. ambassador john bolton takes that on next.

martha: never-before-seen look inside of the reagan white house as secret telephone recordings, these are fascinating, are released for the very first time. we're hearing the president's words. >> mr. president, let me take this opportunity to extend my congratulations on your re-election to a new term as president of syria. s right. s right. it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates.

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construction as a possible trigger. sound like they might be on to something. >> still disturbed about the secret letter our president sent to the head of the iranian government, the supreme leader. you just, i mean he betrayed our allies in the region. showed treachery toward our allies from israel all the way to saudi arabia. but above all, the folly of asking iranian shia to go in and combat sun militants, sean, that would be like liking the ku klux klan to ferguson, missouri, to calm things down. bill: colonel ralph peters on with hannity last night. intense criticism of the secret letter to iran's supreme leader to help combat isis. john bolton, former ambassador to the u.n. good morning to you there down in washington the headline today is no major headway. you have a clock that will expire in two weeks. is this growing to get done? >> i think it may yet get done.

i don't think you should underestimate the desire of the obama white house to cut a deal with the ayatollahs, any deal they can, so they can declare victory. remember the basic agreement they're working under here provided that the deal struck in january of this year, lasting for six months could be extended for another six months. they only extended it for four months. they have two months to go. even under that agreement. frankly if they don't get agreement by the end of january, they will just extend it again. bill: you think they will? >> yeah. bill: but you just said they would get a deal. what would a deal look like? >> well i think iranians have a very strong sense they can get more concessions out of the obama administration. they have already made the most significant concession years ago, by agreeing iran could continue uranium enrichment. i think letter to the supreme leader, the ayatollah khomeni is further evidence from iran's point of view that obama is

desperate to have a deal here. so the iranians are under no sense of urgency. they see the concessions coming in their direction. they want to harvest as many as they can. bill: well you get a deal. you might get a bad deal too. you have to be careful of that. >> right. it will be a bad deal. bill: when lawmakers says it messes up everything, cleaned up the language over the weekend, sanctions were working and sanctions were lifted. do you see the administration going back on sanctions and tightening them again? >> i don't think you can actually say the sanctions were working. i think they were harming iran's economy but remember the director of national intelligence, general clapper, testified earlier this year that the sanctions had not had an effect on the nuclear program. that is obviously what we're worried about here. bill: you write at this point, we can only hope tehran saves us from ourselves by overreaching as they have so often before. you expect that. in what way? >> well i think the obama administration will give away almost anything to get a deal

unless the iranians ask for something like a nonaggression pact and maybe we have given that away already as well. that is the one thing that will stop what i think is, is quite simply an act of appeasement on the part of the obama administration, giving legitimacy, not only to the nuclear weapons program but giving legitimacy to the regime in tehran itself. a terrorist regime that open presses its own people. that has been the world's central banker for terrorism for 35 years. it is just appalling. bill: vladmir putin and president obama spoke today. apparently three different topics over the period of say, some 20 minutes in beijing china. iran apparently came up, along with syria and ukraine. what is your expectation from a conversation or two there? >> well, i think putin believes fundamentally that iran's nuclear weapons program is our problem. now, he should be more worried about it, but russians for many years have felt they could hold sway over iran.

he doesn't think that iran's nuclear capabilities threaten russia. so he will not take obama off the hook on this one. i think, i think he is going to allow it to play out and see see how much obama is prepared to give away. it seeds into the international perception that obama is a weak president. that helps putin. bill: final question. do you expect anything to come from this trip? >> i think there have been some advances on the trade front. i think that is always important but i think the president's timing unfortunately coin have been worse given the midterm elections. bill: worse? i mean they set this stuff up months if not years in advance. >> a little -- bill: can't change timing. >> a little too much confidence on his part as to how the elections would turn out. i think it shows the president lacks support at home. makes it very difficult to project strength abroad which is what he would like to do. bill: chinese media is already critical upon his arrival.

ambassador john bolton. see you in new york real soon. >> thank you, bill. bill: martha. martha: a book about a president by a president. coming up the new book by president george w. bush about his dad. and did he really tear up, tear up, he tears up sometimes too but did he tear up a contract worth $800 million. reaction from the lead singer of the led separate minute on a reunion deal. bill: that is a first world problem, kid. ♪

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fees. fees. fees for those quarters. yeah. so, i'm confident i'm in good hands. for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. bill: so led zeppelin frontman robert plant blasting a report that he tore up a $800 million contract for a zeppelin reunion tour offered by virgin atlantic founder richard branson. saying the story is rubbish. zeppelin broke up in 1980 after the death of drummer john bonham. surviving members reunited for a performance eight years ago, 2007? martha: should have stuck with the story. it's a pretty good story. ripped up the $800 million contract. bill: headline in the "new york post" was, a whole lotta a dough. martha: there is still hope for future reunions. all right, a big day at the george bush presidential library

center. president george w. bush launching release after new book there, biography of his father the former president. casey stiegel joins us live from college station, texas, with the story for us. good morning, casey. >> reporter: martha, a good morning to you. a big day indeed. starts at 11:30 local time, 12:30 eastern. bush 41 and bush 43 will be here together. that is always a treat. there is a moderated conversation that will happen between president george w. bush and andrew card, his former white house chief of staff. the new book titled, "41, a portrait of my father" drops today. it is personal biography of the his father's service and work in world war ii, work in texas oil business and focus on political rise, congressman, u.s. representative to china, cia director, vice president and of course president with funny little anecdotes sprinkled throughout, listen. >> i reflect on my father's most recent role, a mod definitely

civility and grace in a political era known for bitterness and division. i described how he bee end if friended the man who defeated him to the point that my siblings now call bill clinton our brother from another mother. >> reporter: brother from another mother. you got to love. that this is the only presidential biography written by another former u.s. president. martha? martha: fascinating. really interesting. thank you so much, casey. sean hannity will interview president george w. bush down in texas for an hour-long special that will air on thursday night. obviously these two men so close and, are in that exclusive club of u.s. presidents and the more exclusive club of being in the bush family and being, you know, just, it is a love story as president george w. bush said to his father. so -- bill: see the pride of his son is so apparent. >> beautiful thing absolutely. bill: so president obama, well he wanted to bring hope to

washington. a new report revealing one top aide may be focused instead on revenge. what that report tells us this morning. >> big story on valerie jarrett. that is coming up this morning. a house goes up in flames as a dangerous lava flow threatens an hawaiian town. this is still going on down there amid warnings that the worst is far from over.

athat's enough plastic bottles boto stretch aroundery year. the earth 230 times. each brita filter can replace 300 of those. clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better. martha: there are new reports of political retribution at the highest levels of the government. senior presidential adviser valerie jarrett, known as the right hand to president obama, reportedly compiling a white house enemies list. remember that from the nixon years, right? welcome, everybody, brand new hour in "america's newsroom," i'm martha maccallum. bill: and i'm bill hemmer. the president's longtime adviser said to be keeping track of people that don't play ball with

the white house. the liberal-leaning magazine saying, quote: bill: one progressive activist callin, recalls jarrett holding the document during a meeting and noticing her name on it along with the names of others in the room. what's that about? martha: charlie hurt is a columnist for the washington times, and i think you were on that list, charlie, it sounds like. >> indeed, i was. and for really no very good reason i didn't think at the time. in 2008 i was here as bureau chief in washington for the new york post, and i wrote a column. it was not negative, it just simply laid out, you know, the state of play after one of the debates, and sure enough my phone started ringing the next day, you know, i got dressed down for several hours during the day, and then finally got kicked off the campaign plane which actually, by the way, sort of is a point of pride for me at

this point. but it was puzzling. and it's hard to understand why this administration so incredibly sensitive, especially with, you know, in this case with the new republic story with reporters who are on the left who are generally sympathetic. it's almost like they're even more iron-fisted when it comes to, quote-unquote, allies. martha: it's an incredible story, and i want to pull up another quote from this story. this one is from politico, and -- oh, no, this is a new republic piece. it says she went to whatever meetings she wanted to, basically all of them, and then would go and whisper to the president. people don't trust the process. they think she is a spy. and it's also interesting how few people were willing to go on the record for this lengthy report, people who had left before said, listen, don't use my name. >> no, people are terrified. and, you know, in my time

covering white houses, every administration, every president seeks to sort of shave the news, to do anything they can to sort of get some advantage in the press. and they are always complaining about the media. but this is steps far beyond anything that we have ever seen. and when i talk to old veterans who have covered administrations going back to nixon, they say they've never seen anything like this. and we have seen the administration try to smear reporters, and now most recently we have a case where a cbs reporter claims that her computer was hacked by government, you know, by a government program trying to either intimidate her or at the very least, you know, collect information from her computer. it's terrifying. and why there isn't more outrage, i don't understand. especially from the left. martha: let's look at another quote from politico:

martha: which raises the question, now t he is into the last two years of his presidency, you think of other examples we've seen from previous presidents, ronald reagan let don reagan go, the first president bush, sununu, people who were believed to be very close to those presidents, and some believed were on to instructing some of the progress. >> yeah. and, you know, martha, the burnout rate at this level in a white house, in any white house is incredible, especially when you're at the position that valerie jarrett is which is, quite frankly, i think unrivaled in the white house. she's, appears to move above, you know, any chief of staff or even the vice president. she has the president's ear every single day. and how it is that she has hung on this long is pretty amazing. but, quite frankly, martha, i would be surprised if the president does move her. i think that she's incredibly

valuable to him. i think that she is very much a part of how he operates every day, and i think that he would probably be more lost without her than pretty much any other figure in the white house. and that's why, you know, you see the sort of terrifying shadow that she casts especially among the press. martha: very, very interesting, or charlie. thank you very much. >> you bet, martha. martha: i look forward to the books written in the years to come, bill, because very few people willing to go on the record about the enormous amount of influence that valerie jarrett has over this president. and people question why, you know, in terms of her own background. she worked for daley in chicago, she hired then-michelle rob arenson to work for her, and they are the nucleus of this presidency. it's a fascinating story. bill: it sure is. you're on the list, maccallum. it's right there. [laughter] check it out. fox news obtaining a new intel assessment on lone wolf

terrorists here at home, and it shows the man who attacked several new york police officers with a hatchet was a follower of al-qaeda and isis. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live on that now. good morning. >> reporter: well, thank you, bill. this four-page intelligence assessment for the first time provides new detail that speaks directly to thompson's self-radicalization leading up to the october 23rd attack. a preliminary analysis by the nypd of approximately 2700 online search terms by thompson in the weeks leading up to the assault found multiple references to jihadist materials, foreign terrorist organizations and violent tactics. investigators identified 59 search terms focused only on jihad, including jihad in america, jihad against the police, lone wolf terror jihad as well as jihad against jews and crusaders. the search history also suggests thompson may have considered targeting the u.n. general

assembly and specifically saudi dignitaries. while new york authors called the attack terrorism, new york investigators found thompson's interest in al-qaeda goes back to at least april of 2013, and that's nearly a year and a half before he attacked those new york cops. bill: is there an intelligence connection in that report that draws a comparison with another axe attack? >> reporter: a good question. the intelligence assessment says there's no evidence linking the new york and d.c. attack on october 31st, but also adds that the pattern of attacks on the military and law enforcement from this assault on the d.c. patrol officer with the suspect swinging an axe into the driver's side window to the new york attack a week earlier and the assaults on two canadian soldiers cannot be ignored. and just last week the secretary of homeland security or traveled to minnesota focused on lone wolf attacks and the recruitment of somali-americans. the public has one of the most important roles to play.

>> i want to encourage people to be participants in our public safety. if you see somebody who may be headed in the direction of violence, who is disaffected, who's angry in some way, help us to help you. in the community. i don't consider that snitching. >> reporter: the assessment leaves really no question now that zale thompson was fundamentally inspired to attack those new york police officers by radical islam and the propaganda. it wasn't simply a minor factor in this case. bill: catherine, interesting report. thanks, out of washington. >> reporter: you're welcome. martha: live pictures from arlington national secretary with defense secretary chuck hagel, one of several events happening around the d.c. area and, of course, across the entire country. today it is a beautiful november day in many parts of the

country, and indeed, where shannon is as well, on the national mall. what do we expect to see today? >> reporter: this is the first-ever concert for valor, and the artists who are going to be here are even bigger names. we're talking about folks like rihanna, bruce springsteen, carrie underwood, jennifer hudson, and there'll be a number of non-singing celebrities, oprah winfrey, will smith -- who actually does both. they're going to be weighing in in tribute to our veterans, every one of them who have served past and present, but also active duty service members. this is all about celebrating those folks today. they've reserved about 12,000 seats here at the concert that will be for members of the service who are currently in active duty and their families, but we expect there could be up to 800,000 people jamming the national mall for this star-studded event running for three hours starting at 7 p.m.,

martha. martha: what are the organizers hoping to achieve with this big event, shannon? >> reporter: well, not only do they want to celebrate and honor those who have served the country, but they want to shine a spotlight to veterans who are getting back into society, and they are partnered with a number of organizations to which you can donate. they will have information about that throughout the night as this hairs on hbo -- airs on hbo and is live streamed. they want to raise money for charitable organizations helping veterans, but they want to make every day veterans day, and you can do that by engaging with people. when you see a service member, instead of just writing a check to your favorite charity, we need that to happen, but they want you to engage in their stories, help them to find jobs, ask how you can help their families. so they say they want this to be a launching pad for a number of conversations that aren't just ability honoring those in the past, but helping those who have served our country and need our help now. martha: great ways to do that.

shannon, thank you so much. bill: a bit later we're going to take you out to arlington national cemetery, and chuck hagel will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns on this veterans day. november 11th at the 11th hour of the 11th day. remarkable place. he's calling it obamacare for the internet. why ted cruz is warning about another federal power grab. lou dobbs will tackle that in a moment. martha: and the secret audiotapes of president ronald reagan talking with world leaders revealed and gone through now for the first time. bill: unbelievable that he recorded, right? new reaction after a startling confession by one of the architects of obamacare. why the white house had to deceive in order to get the law passed. what is that all about? >> now that people like jonathan gruber are opening their mouths and talking, the american people are finding out what this administration and the group implementing obamacare really thought about the american

taxpayers.

bill: now to a never before seen look inside the reagan white house. secret recordings now public for the fist time, many -- first time, many of them conversations president reagan had with other world leaders including one with then-british prime minister margaret thatcher where he apologized for not telling her in advance about the invasion of grenada in 1983. >> if i were there, margaret,

i'd throw my hat in the door before i came in. >> [inaudible] >> listen, i'm -- we regret very much the embarrassment that's been caused you. bill: in another recording, he pressed the then-president of pakistan to free three americans taken hostage back in june of 1985. >> well, we must do that in a way that does not make the hijackers think that they have won their goal, because i think we'd just see more hijackings then and more terrorism. >> i entirely agree with you, mr. presidl: there's a lot more, on those tapes. it's been widely believed that white house recordings stopped after president nixon, but now we know that president reagan had some of his phone calls recorded for historical purposes. martha: so some sweeping pushback from some lawmakers on capitol hill over new calls from president obama for the sec to regulate the internet.

the plan would reclassify internet service providers as utilities. however, opponents like texas senator ted cruz and others say government control of the internet would be a very bad idea. here's what senator cruz tweeted about this, quote: martha: a sarcastic reference to how slowly the government can operate at times. now joining us, fox business network's lou dobbs. it should be said that senator cruz and others are very much against this net neutrality idea, the cable companies and internet companies have been spreading money around capitol hill as well because, obviously, this is something they would be lobbying very hard against. senator cruz and others on both sides of the aisle have accepted that money, and that's where we are. what do you think? >> i think the first thing we've got to do is get rid of this term, if "net neutrality," becae it really is governmental internet that is being proposed by the president and would be regulated as the president has called for strictly and severely

by government. it is, it's a situation -- senator cruz called it obamacare for the internet. there are issues in health care that would require government involvement in terms of broad regulation. there are no such things about the internet. right now the internet is as free as it can be. witness our complaints as parents and grandparents about pornography, about the use of the web. the reality is that this is not simply a carrier like a phone line across a desert to one phone, this is content. this is editorial content. this is expression. it's freedom of speech. it is an extraordinarily important part of our future and our lives that the last thing we want to do is turn it over to the government. martha: net neutrality started as a nice term that, you know, it should be accessible to everybody. >> sure.

martha: it's pretty accessible to everybody, i would say. public libraries have the internet, most schools have the internet, public schools across this country. so explain to people in your opinion, lou, what it would look like if the government did take over the regulation of these products and services and the internet itself. what would our experience be like then? >> i think very quickly you'd see definitions of what is acceptable speech, what is acceptable pricing, there would be wage and price controls, there would be all sorts of dicta coming from washington about where we would see the web expand and where we would see it recede rather than a market response. look, i am no fan of big money buying influence in washington, d.c. by any means. but the reality is i like what the president said, you didn't build that? most of these companies built that, the internet. and they have a right to a fair price and a open market for what

they produce, for what they create and the services they do provide to all of us. it is unconscionable that the president would turn what is a free enterprise internet into a government-controlled utility with all that it implies, control over language, control over thought, expression. martha: yeah. >> it would be, in my judgment, from the very beginning just the concept suggests unconstitutional reality that awaits us. and this president has gone quite far enough in his excesses without involving the internet. martha: we'll see if he gets any traction on this one. obviously, there's a lot of pushback. lou, thank you very much. >> thank goodness. happy veterans day, everybody. martha: good to see you again. >> good to see you. martha: don't miss lou dobbs on fox business network, and if you're not sure where to find it, log on to foxbusiness.com on

the old internet. that's what you have to do. backslash channel finder. you've got it on the bottom of your screen on the free and open internet, you will be able to find that with no problem at all. >> no regulation -- martha: we're neutral on that. [laughter] thank you, lou. bill: find that man. all right, slow motion disaster we have been watching for months, and now the lava flow in hawaii reaches a whole new level now and a whole different story. whoa. martha: and get ready for this, everybody. in his own words, a gripping account from the man who pulled the trigger on the world's most wanted terrorist. you do not want to miss this story. >> they told us a couple of things, like we're going to read you in eventually, and here's who's going to be there, and they said a few names that didn't make sense. a few of us were talking a couple days later about this person, this person, why would he be there.

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martha: there is good news right now for the new york doctor who was infected with ebola, you see him hugging mayor de blasio there, he is virus-free. what a fantastic job the medical professionals have done of handling these people who have this disease. he came down with a fever just days after he returned from guinea. the infection put a lot of new yorkers on edge after it was revealed that he rode the subway and was at a bowling alley before he tested positive for that disease. excellent news for him and kudos to the folks at bellevue hospital who took very good care of him. he is just fine and on his way home today. ♪ ♪ bill: now out of hawaii as a

slow-moving lava we've been watching for months claims its first home. adam houseley's live in our west coast bureau on that. are there other homes in danger there, adam? >> reporter: yeah, there are. it's more of a rural area, so the homes are spread out. the next neighbor's about a half mile away. this home only took about 40 minutes to burn, and they say it was worth about $200,000, the land there, of course, on hawaii's big island. you can see it go up pretty quickly. the homes are closer together, but the slow-moving lava hasn't made it that far. the people in this home had already evacuated. the only positive thing is that it's so slow, people have more than enough time to evacuate. now, from above you get another dramatic view of the home going up from the lava that's spewing from kilauea volcano. locals also know it as pele, that's the goddess living inside the volcano.

as it creeps down the slope of the volcano at 2,000 degrees. >> we're fine. our friends and our good friends and the family built i way back in the days with my grandfather but, you know, pele's going to do what she wants, and that's that. it is what it is. >> reporter: now, the molten rock has slowed down a bit in the recent days, it ebbs and flows, goes faster and slower. they're worried about when it hits highway 130, that's the lifeline for this area of the island. crews are working on that right now. bill: been watching it for some time now, adam houseley, keep us updated in l.a. martha: new reaction after an architect of obamacare said on camera that the white house had to deceive of the american people, or the health care bill really never could have happened. >> lack of transparency's a huge political advantage, and basically, you know, call it the

stupidity of the american voter or whatever but, basically, that was really critical to getting the thing to pass. martha: or whatever, you know, the stupid voters out there. all right, so coming up, what some critics on the hill have to say about that. bill: can't make that up, can you, martha? in 1984 some of the world's biggest musicians raised millions of dollars to help africa. thirty years later a remake for another important -- martha: look how young -- ♪ ♪ to all the veterans... no longer in uniform, but still serving... on the job and in our communities... whose dedication and commitment to excellence continues... in every mission, whatever it may be... affecting our lives every day... for your continued service, we salute you. this message of appreciation to our nations' veterans is brought to you by

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martha: we are back, and we are waiting for the annual veterans day ceremony to get under way at arlington national cemetery. the united states marine band performing a prelude concert at the memorial amphitheater as the nation honors all of our veterans who served or continue to serve in the united states military. the defense secretary, chuck hagel, will be there.

he will be laying a wreath shortly, that will be followed by vice president joe biden who will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns, and we will bring all of that to you and have live coverage of it as soon as it gets under way. but first this morning on this veterans day, an exclusive interview with the navy seal who shot and killed osama bin laden. it is an incredible story, and he is speaking out about the dangerous mission to hunt down the world's most wanted man. here is a part of this interview that you will only see on fox news. >> the more we trained on it, the more we realized this is going to be a one-way mission. we're going to go, and we're not going to come back. we're going to die when the house blows up, we're going to die when he blows up, or we're going to be there too long and get arrested by the pakistanis and spend the rest of our short lives in a pakistan prison. martha: i saw it yesterday, and it is unbelievable. two-part special, it starts

tonight at 10:00 eastern, so either watch it or dvr it, and second part is going to be on tomorrow at 10 p.m. eastern. he is an extraordinary story. humble, talks all the time about how he was part of a group, and it never would have happened if it weren't for everybody, starting with the rescue workers at ground zero on 9/11. bill: looking forward to it. starts tuesday night here on fox. ♪ ♪ bill: is this the the dark truth behind obamacare? deception was a key part of getting it passed. mit's jonathan gruber saying a lack of transparency was necessary because, basically, americans are too stupid to know what's good for them. here's tennessee congresswoman marsha blackburn reacting to that. >> they wanted the american people to pay for their social experiment so that they could take control of all health care, thereby move to a single-payer

system. and now that people like jonathan gruber are opening their mouth and talking, the american people are finding out what this administration and the group implementing obamacare really thought about the american taxpayer. bill: wow. david webb's a radio talk show host and a fox news contributor, chuck roach is the fellow at the center for national policy and the president of solidarity strategies. gentlemen, david, chuck, good morning to both of you. gruber saying if you had a law that said people are going to pay in, you made explicit, healthy people pay in, it would not have passed. lack of transparency, he says, david, is a huge political advantage. >> it's also what we see coming out of the obama administration, bill. and you know what? this time i want to to something, an original tea party founder. e warned the american -- i warned the american people, many of us did, that the administration was lying to us. and i also issued this

additional warning. remember mary landrieu when you go to the polls december 6th for the runoff election, she got a $300 million louisiana purchase, roughly 20 times the original purchase. jonathan gruber points out how they feel about the american people which also reflects what then-senator obama told an afl-cio crowd when he said he favors single-payer, and you will not get it until they get the house, the senate and the white house and all democrats supported this. they voted for this, and now the people that are supposedly under their care that they will help, they're not the ones getting the help. we're the 30 million people that are going to help with obamacare as rates go up, as open enrollment opens past the election, and people are not even getting through the web site. bill: gruber works in massachusetts, and he was one of the players that put the law together, he worked with members of congress to write up a law. chuck, what he said was the bill

was written in a tortured way to make sure cbo did not score the mandate as a tax, as taxes. >> right. the arrogance of gruber here is crazy, and from what he's saying, it's really out and beyond what people and all of the critics want to hear. gruber not only was an architect of obamacare, he was also an architect of romneycare. the exact point he's talking about, and the part where you have to pay for your health care, is what the supreme court upheld. this is not something new, it's just the way he explained it is idiotic -- bill: but he's not a critic. he's not saying this for the critics, he was a supporter of the law. and he concluded by saying i'd rather have this law than not, chuck. >> right. and i think the american people spoke to that last tuesday. if the republican congress and senate want to fully repeal this and take hundreds of thousands of people off of health care, they have an opportunity to do that right now. the one thing that he said is that the american people are stupid, and they are not. the american people are smart,

they spoke last tuesday, and i think we'll see what happens now. i run campaigns for a living, and let's see what they do. bill: david, call it the stupidity of the american voter, whatever, basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass. that's on camera. >> bill, this is a very leftist, elitist approach, we know what's best for you, and our ideology trumps reality. obamacare's not a solution for either the health care insurance issue or the health care delivery systems. there are ways to approach that. there's everything from health savings accounts, direct pay. it's not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to health care because it's simply not a one-size-fits-all situation. but the elitism of the left and all the democrats who supported this, this isn't about the republicans. they didn't vote for this. now the issue falls to the republicans, however, to deal with issues of portability -- bill: i've got ya, but what about chuck's point there about the american people, they're not stupid, and they kind of stood

up and said in those senate races last tuesday that they didn't like the bill? >> they didn't like the bill. they repudiated president obama, but they've also put a challenge to the leadership in washington -- bill: and what do they, david, what do they do? what is the right thing now? >> the right thing now is there are parts of obamacare that can be defunded so it doesn't do more harm to the economy. there are also health savings accounts, portability issues they can take on to resolve some of the issues in our health care system. bill: i see. chuck, what's your idea? quickly. >> i don't think they will repeal the whole law. it's political suicide. you can't have people who already have health care, take them off health care, so i think they'll try to dismantle it piece by piece to see what they can resolve. bill: plus you've got the supreme court hanging out, they're going to make a major ruling on these subsidies. chuck, dade, thank you -- david, thank you, gentlemen. >> see you, bill. ♪ martha: well, it was inevitable, the political universe turning

its attention to 2016 before 2014 is officially over. rand paul hitting hillary clinton, questioning her age and whether she can handle a run for the white house. senator paul saying this, quote: martha: hmm. meanwhile, senator paul still focused on the midterms, now lending a hand in the runoff in louisiana. john roberts is live in baton rouge with that part of the story this morning. good morning, john. >> reporter: martha, good morning to you. still focused on the midterms but also looking ahead, rand paul told me yesterday he is still a few months away from making a decision whether to run for president, but he certainly is laying the groundwork. brings together the far right candidate with the establishment candidate in an effort to unite the party against the incumbent democratic senator, mary

landrieu. having the talent to be able to bring together disparate elements is something that may serve rand paul well in the presidential primaries. >> some people might look at this and say rand paul is positioning himself well as a unifying force for the republican party in 2016. >> you know, you'd have to ask somebody else. i don't know why they picked me. no, i'm glad i could be here and do it, and i do want to be part of bringing together all facets of the party. the party needs to be bigger. >> reporter: ah, but before he makes that all-important decision whether to run, he certainly is hoping to help bill cassidy beat mary landrieu. cassidy is making the point that landrieu will be nothing more than a rubber stamp for obama's policies. landrieu quibbled with me last night when i asked her about distancing herself from president obama. >> trying to distinguish myself. i have my own record.

not distance, which is your word, distinguish. i am for the keystone pipeline. the president is opposed. i am for domestic drilling. he's not been as aggressive. >> reporter: now, remember, that's distinguished and not distancing yourself from that. runoff is on december the 6th, so far landrieu looks like she's got a big hill to climb if she hopes to win, but as governor bobby jindal warned yesterday, she's won tough races before. martha: indeed, she has. thank you very much. bill: a day to honor our veterans now underway at arlington national cemetery, and what a beautiful day we have for this. celebrating our troops at home and abroad, both past and present. we'll take you there live shortly. martha: and a vietnam vet doing his part, raising money by just putting one foot in front of the other.

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bill: show you a life look now, arlington national cemetery. defense secretary chuck hagel will lay a wreath to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. he's expected there momentarily. martha: let's bring in paul rye cough who's served as an army first lieutenant and an infantry rifle platoon leader in iraq. it's always a pleasure to have you with us. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me back. martha: on this veterans day we look at the new secretary of the v.a., it's been a very tough year for veterans affairs. are you hopeful about the future? >> i think it's important to know we're digging out of a pretty big hole. this has been the biggest scandal in v.a. history, and the trust that our nation has and our veterans have with our v.a. was broken. but i think we've got a new sheriff in town, he's trying to clean things up. i just saw him at the white house a few minutes ago. he's bringing in new people,

trying to clean out the bad apples, and that's the first step. it's going to be a very, very long road to regain that trust, but these are important messages that we're sending to the country especially here on veterans day. martha: all right are. paul, stand by, we're going to listen in at arlington right now. thank you. >> left shoulder, halt. ready -- >> honor guard, halt. >> [inaudible] >> ready, front. >> honor guard, halt!

>> stand at ease. ♪ ♪ >> honor guard, halt. >> order, march. >> [inaudible] [background sounds]

>> officers -- [inaudible] >> ready, front. [background sounds]

[background sounds] [gunfire]

[gunfire] >> ladies and gentlemen, vice president biden has arrived and is being greeted by the hosts for today's observance, the honorable robert a. mcdonald, mr. ronald s. hope, national commander, disabled american veterans, and major general jeffrey s. buchanan, commanding general of the united states army military district of washington. [background sounds]

[background sounds] >> forward, halt. martha: all right. we're just watching all the

dignitaries as they arrive. you saw the secretary of defense, chuck hagel, is down there in the front row. we have paul rycoff with us as well. paul, you know, you and i talked about before, it has been a very tough year for the veterans affairs, and they have a new leader in secretary mcdonald. it's also a time when the nation is looking at the possibility of an increased presence against isis in syria and iraq. your thoughts on that this morning. >> well, i think it's an important reminder that the stakes are high. but it's also a time for us all to come together as a country. it's a day to put aside the politics and unite by -- behind our veterans of all generations. we'll be organizing events around the country in just a few minutes on 11:31, parades -- 11, parades will kick off, and it's a time to embrace each other and show americans veterans are not

broken, they're not a problem. they're a solution. they're they're innovative, they're stepping forward, and all week we're using the hashtag vetsrising. show a story of a veteran that you know that's doing something good to show the true leadership of the community that's so important not just on veterans day, but every day. martha: that seems to be one of the most important themes that you and everyone else wants to get across today. vetsriseing has inspiring stories about what veterans are doing after their service and when they return home. talk to me about the fact that you want people to recognize this and to think about this every day, that veterans day is not just one day to think about the contributions that can be made by all veterans. >> that's right. this is going to be a huge veterans day. there's a concert here in d.c. with over 500,000 people tonight with eminem and bruce springsteen, parades everywhere, but tomorrow we need people to continue to step up, to hold leaders accountable here in washington and around the v.a.,

but also to volunteer and give back in your community, to donate, support the veterans groups that are filling the gaps and to embrace our veterans as a community. our organization was started ten years ago, and we've been home from iraq and afghanistan for more than ten years now, and we want a chance to continue to improve and donate to our communities, but also to start businesses, start families, to go back to school, and that's what it's about, showing the positive face of all veterans and keeping that going forward in the months and years ahead. martha: you've done a great job, paul, bringing their stories to us, and we really appreciate it and thank you again for your service. >> thank you. it's been a team effort, and we appreciate all of you. bill, we appreciate you as well. thank you, guys. bill: a vietnam veteran also being honored, his name is rick rye on. he walks to raise money for injured vets from iraq and afghanistan. he supports operation men, a program out of ucla that provides help to wounded veterans. nice to see you. >> thank you.

bill: where'd you get this idea? >> watching it back in '08, i saw it on tv about one of our veterans that was disfigured, and they fixed him up, and i thought -- i was walking already for exercise, and that's what gave me the idea. bill: so you started with a quarter and since that time three years later, how much time have you raised? >> the numbers around $19,000, and then through donations and the herload up there where i live, approximately 48,000. bill: this was your idea, rick. >> yes, yes. well, i'm a veteran, i have to help. bill: you walk in a parade today here in new york city. i can see it on your face, you're really excited to be here, aren't you? >> oh, yes. bill: what does it mean to you? >> it means a lot because i tell people that we have to help these veterans because these young men and women that are coming back from these wars now, they are the future of this country, so we must help them. that's my belief.

bill: a lot of negative headlines, too, you have watched over the last year of veterans not getting the care they need. we talked to the new secretary, bob mcdonald. he's got a great new program. do you believe it will change? >> well, in -- the v.a. hospital i go to all the time, it's fantastic. and with the new leadership that we're getting for the v.a., it will change. it will come -- it'll be a lot better for all the veterans. it'll be better, i know it will. bill: how much money do you think you can raise now? >> well, hopefully quite a bit. i mean, it's -- if people want to donate to operation mend, it's very simple. go to operationmend.ucla.edu. bill: i will make sure we get that out to our viewers.

i can see how much this means to you. >> it means everything to me. bill: ric ryan out of california. welcome to new york. >> thank you. martha: thank you, sir. all right, we are awaiting the wreath laying for arlington national cemetery, that's going to happen in a minute. we'll be right back.

>> there is live look at arlington national cemetery in virginia as defense secretary chuck hagel, we saw him enter just moments ago and of course vice president joe biden will lay the wreath at the tomb of the unknowns for those that made ultimate tack r sacrifice for our freedom. bill: on 11th hour of 11th day of 11th month. to all our veterans we say thank you. ♪

[playing of "the star-spangled banner" ♪. ♪