fox news sunday. captioned by closed captioning services, inc. california struggling to gain the upper hand on nearly a dozen wildfires burning throughout the state and there's late word at least one fire may be under control within the hour. i'm julie banderas here live as fox reports tonight. the battle over health care rages on as the contentious town hall continue across the nation. the administration signals it may be ready to give up one of its biggest goals, a government-run insurance plan. what this means for the president's hope for reform. the mayor of a major city now recovering in hospital after he was brutally beaten with a metal

pipe. >> i've talked to him personally. he's a great brother. >> tonight, the latest on the investigation and what may have sparked the attack. >> plus, horror in the sky, two high powered military jets collide in mid air causing one of the planes to crash into a group of homes. the dramatic video and what went wrong. president obama arriving in phoenix just over an hour ago, apparently back in campaign mode. travelling out west as the health care battle rages on in the nation's capital, he arrived in phoenix at about 5:45 eastern time after visiting the grand canyon with his family earlier today. he's in the valley of the sun for a speech tomorrow at the veterans of foreign wars national convention in phoenix, but there's no doubt the focus is very much still on health care reform. the president writing an op-ed piece for the new york times saying that the debate is focused on those with the loudest voices and not on the

americans who are suffering. the administration also signaling they are considering dropping one controversial proposal, the public option, the health and human services secretary saying it's not the essential element. >> what we don't know is exactly what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they've been more focused on a co-op, not for profit co-op as a competitor, as opposed to a straight government-run program and i think that what's important is choice in competition and i'm convinced at the end of the day, the plan will have both of those. >> julie: the public option is essentially an insurance option run by the government. that would compete with private companies. mike emanuel with the news. mike, if the bottom line a public option isn't going to make it through congress and is it time for the administration to move on. >> reporter: julie, certainly seems that way, that with the secretary of health and human services making that comment today, there was no accident today. that's the feedback they're

getting from congress that it's not going to happen and is he it's time to move forward and so you heard things like co-ops and choice and that sort of thing and we expect more of that in the days ahead. >> julie: while some republicans, mike, and others will be happy to see the public option go away, is it safe to assume that some of the president's liberal base is going to get upset? >> no question about that. a lot of liberals thought with the majority in the senate and house and basically white house, the president could do what he wanted with regards to health care. a lot thought that the president should steam roll offer the republicans on this. the liberals may be disappointed. >> julie: what's up with the president's new villain in the health care discussion, he brings up insurance companies, insurance companies are getting trashed all of a sudden? >> reporter: well, you're absolutely right. he constantly points out examples of people who have been having a tough time with health care coverage, whether they've

gotten a serious illness or family members who have gotten seriously ill and dropped from health coverage. the health insurance companies have been a target of the president and something he's hit hard in recent town hall events on friday and saturday and we expect he'll continue to hit them in the weeks ahead. >> julie: thank you very much. the question over reform should have a public option, critics fear a government takeover that could drive private insurers out of business. proponents, however, say, it will create competition and choice, now, the obama administration indicating a public option may soon be off the table. here is how it's come across in some town halls across the country. >> how in the world can a private corporation providing insurance compete with the entity that does not have to worry about making a profit, do not have to pay local property tax,ings they're not subject to local regulations, how can a

company compete with that. >> julie: now, as you heard, the administration may be willing to give the public option up. caroline shively is in the capital with the details. >> tht be a big about face for the administration and could be a game channinger. the administration has said that a public option needs to be in there and help with a competition in the insure which takes a lot of money and leaves millions uninsured, but republicans ask when does the government ever do a better job at something than private companies. the companies would band together. the government would be involved at first and then it would step back. >> reporter: the idea is the government would front end some of the money and we have yet to discuss whether all of that or some of that gets paid back, but they would be that amount of involvement, but then, it would be membership run, membership controlled and the government wouldn't have any ongoing obligati obligation or any control. >> reporter: that was senator

kent conrad, part of the gang of six, three democrats and three republicans trying to negotiate a bipartisan deal and today conrad says there's never been the votes to pass a public option. and now some republicans say they'll take a second look. >> i think that's something we should look at. we already have a lot of those or something like them, nonprivate basically that seemed to work, i don't know if it will do everything people won't, but we ought to look at it. i think it's a far cry from the original proposals. >> reporter: plenty of lawmakers on the left aren't giving up on the public option, julie. >> julie: caroline, thank you. a fox weather alert now, tropical storm claudette gain strength as it barrels down the florida coast, it's expect today make landfall hours from now and when it does, it will be the very first tropical storm to strike the u.s. this year. we're told winds reaching at least 50 miles per hour and heavy rains soaking areas all across the panhandle, our

domenica davis is tracking it for us, joins us live from the weather center. >> hi, here is the latest on the storm. moving to the northwest at 40 miles per hour, around the ten o'clock hour, somewhere around the ten o'clock hour, give or take an hour or two, we will see it make landfall around the fort destin area, and wobbling off to the west, but right now does look like it will make it further to landfall further to the west than ap laalachicola, which is where we're looking at. wherever it makes landfall we will be looking at, a minimal effect and that's the good thing with the tropical storm. we're looking at a lot of rain and that's really it. wind gusts will stay between 20 and 25 miles per hour for tonight. but the rain is really the big story with the system as we've already seen single day rainfalls made in the area right around panama city and apalachicola, it's 2.34 they've picked up already today. the rand bands continue to spiral in overnight and wind

gusts up to 25 miles per hour and then the system tomorrow will push into alabama, will dissipate by the afternoon, evening tomorrow. here is a look at a tropical storm watch and you can see the warnings goes all the way up into alabama. this system really over tonight. rain will be the name of the game for the florida panhandle where it will make landfall, certainly by the end of this evening. now on the radar we're tracking two other storms and one is tropical storm ana, this is downgraded and less and less of a concern, but bill is gaining some strength and this looks like it could be the first major hurricane of the atlantic season. so, this is certainly one to watch as it could affect bermuda or the eastern part of the united states by late next week. we'll keep our eye on that for you. also, the wildfires out to the west, conditions stay dry and they stay warm. the wind aren't going to be too bad over the next 24 to 48

hours, but certainly, they're looking at little rain, major drought conditions and the temperatures are going to be soaring into the 80's and 90's, so, the fire risks will continue again through monday for the pacific northwest, julie. >> julie: domenica davis, thank you so very much. domenica, as we mentioned dry weather fueling fires in california. some firefighters working in extremely rough terrain, we're told this blaze outside sacramento when a hawk apparently flew into a power line. some areas now without electricity as hundreds of folks evacuate, but we're getting word tonight, at the least one fire near the border of alameda and joaquin counties may be under control within the hour. and in santa cruz county, thousands of people forced to flee from what has been declared a state of emergency. we're told that wildfire threatening hundreds of homes, we will have a live update later

this hour. senator chris dodd back home after undergoing surgery from prostate cancer. he was released from sloan kettering. his spokesman said he was doing well. he was diagnosed with a treatable form caught early. dodd says his diagnosis will have no effect on his plans to run for sixth firm next year. one city's mayor above and beyond the call of duty, trying to help a citizen. and it landed him in the hospital. the bizarre story coming up. plus, a deadly mid air plane crash. what the pilots were doing when it happened next. for my arthritis, i use

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protect your home with flood insurance. call the number on your screen... for your free brochure. >> new video of a devastating mid air crash. it happened today outside of moscow. two fighter jets were apparently rehearsing for an air show when they collided in mid air. that's the aftermath. we're told one of the pilots was killed. five people on the ground were injured when the planes crashed into several homes. >> they flew side by side high up and they collided and one flew that one and this one came towards us.

he had no other choice because the plane tail was burning, whole rear of his plane was on fire. >> the pilots were apparently part of an elite russian flying group. according to russian news reports, preliminary information suggests a pilot mistake caused the collision. a patient fatally shot at a hospital after pulling out a gun. the bizarre episode beginning overnight in washington state. the man's mother bringing him to the emergency room because of an apparent head injury. she told hospital staff her 43-year-old son could be harmed or armed, a search by officers finding two loaded guns on him. police remaining present as treatment for his injury continued. about two hours later, the man becoming unruly ahead after medical test. police say that's when he pulled out a third gun. the officer on guard wrestling with the man for the weapon and that's when the man was shot and killed and the officer, by the way, is on administrative leave pending an investigation. police say that the man stole the three guns during a home

burglary. the mayor of a major city recovering after apparently helping save a woman attacked outside a state fair. we're told milwaukee mayor tom barrett was leaving the fair, he heard a woman yelling for help. well, the mayor was reportedly calling 911 when the man who was allegedly attacking the woman came after him. with me now mike lowe from station witi fox 6 in milwaukee. we're told the mayor broke his hand when he punched the suspect. >> reporter: that's right, jewel ip. milwauk milwaukee mayor was hit in the hand, and he apparently fought back fractured his hand when he punched the suspect. the police identified him as a 20-year-old local man and arrested him 30 hours after the attack. the suspect is questioned by milwaukee police. 10:45 last night it happened. mayor barrett just left the wisconsin state fair, with his

two daughters, sister and niece when he saw the suspect engaged in an angry confrontation with a woman calling for help. the suspect was desperate to see his daughter, drunk and making threats and barrett stepped in and asked him to settle down and about to call 911 when he was attacked. today, successful surgery on his hands and was treated for cuts on his head. at a news conference, barrett's brother says the mayor is exp t expected to recover. >> he's still got his good sentensense of humor and he is a-- he's a great brother and he's in good shape. i'll be-- he'll be fine. >> reporter: and the suspect has not been charged, police say they will be conducting lineups to bolster their case against him. the mayor usually has security guards with him when he is on official business, but because this was a private event with his family, he chose not to have security. julie. >> julie: all right. make lowe from fox 6 in

milwaukee, thank you very much, mike. americans are spending less and it has investors a bit on edge. why experts say this could stall the recovery. plus, don't mess with this guy. a head strong store owner not taking a holdup lying down. he turned the tables on the robbers and is now recounting the terrifying crime. his amazing story next. that's a-- tiny netbook. yeah, it's-- good-looking, lightweight. generally awesome. and you could just-- go online, video-chat with my cousin. this is un-- under $200. are you some kind of-- mind reader, visionary ? no, i have them. huh. the new lightweight hp mini netbook with windows and america's largest and most-reliable 3g network built in. only 199.99 with mobile broadband plans

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>> a major shake-up south of the border that could help curb rampant drug violence spiraling out of control and spilling here into the united states. mexico replacing all 700 of its customs inspectors taking their place, well, we're told 1400 newly trained agents with

specialized skills to help smuggled couldn smuggled contraband. mexico claiming the main priority of the change is to fight tax evasion, but the ov overaul covering as mexico tries to root out the corruption helping to fuel the deadly drug violence in the streets. four alleged robbers barged into a supply store and 72-year-old owner was not having it. charles gus augusto, a fixture, faced this situation years ago, robbed by bandits carrying guns. now he was ready armed with a shotgun. geraldo at large talked to fox. he told them he tried to talk the men out of it and he nearly did. >> one kid who had a gun on me. for a while i thought he was going to try to back off. i thought i saw it in his face for a second and another kid come up who had a red shirt on and said something i couldn't

hear or understand and then everything went downhill. i didn't have any choice. these kids didn't give me a choice. >> one suspect started pistol whipping a store employee and gus acted, grabbing a .12 gauge shotgun from behind the counter and fired. two men died on the scene and two others to the hospital. police say they're not pressing charges against the store owner. bad news on the economic front this week. u.s. labor department reporting unemployment claims are up compared to a week ago and sales at u.s. retailers unexpectedly fell in july. purchases decreasing .1%. it is the first drop in three months and many will argue, weak consumer spending could stall the economic recovery. so, will it and will this eventually hit the stock market? brenda buttner now with some answers. >> wall street is watching you and it doesn't much like what it sees. a surprise drop in a key index of consumer sentiment for early august and an unexpected fall in

july retail sales put investors on hold, ending a four week winning streak for the markets. why the worry? the fear is that consumers long known to be the engine of the economy won't spend and that will stall any chance of recovery. an important clue in the confidence survey. the lowest number of consumers in some six decades leave their personal finances are not improving. jobs are job one here. unemployment is here 10% and even though job losses are starting to stabilize, employers just aren't hiring. that has americans scared. so, too, does the debtor they're trying to cut down. something has to give and looks like spending is it. back to school sales in full swing could offer another lesson in that. this week we should have a look how the housing markets hit home. housing starts and sales for july are out and as are earnings for home improvement retailers, home depot and lowe's, another view on other prices this week, too, so far there's no sign of

inflation at least in the short-term which can help consumer confidence. though the bulls took a breather on friday, keep in mind that they've been running hard since the lows of early march. since then the dow alone up more than 40%. and we've learned that the savers are actually putting more money into their 401(k)'s again. back to you. >> julie: this just in, a heart breaking loss for tiger woods at the pga childrampionship. that's right, apparently he lost to yang of south korea becoming the first asian player to win a major. he finished three strokes ahead of woods. woods finished the year without a major title for the first time in five years. well, it's a key part of president obama's health care reform and also one of the most controversial aspects in the raging debate. the democrats say it will level the playing field and lower costs. critics say it will drive private insurers from the marketplace and limit care. but are there new indications the public option could die a

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heavy rain on the panhandle and likely to be the first tropical storm to hit the u.s. main land this year. making landfall sometime tonight. claudette has winds of at least 50 miles per hour, but it's not expected to cause significant flooding or wind damage. that's the good news. we're keeping a close eye on this developing story and we'll bring you any news as it happens. returning now to california where firefighters are battling dozens of wildfires across the state. we're told one could actually be contained in just minutes. dry and windy weather along with extremely rough terrain making the others very tough to control. a fire near santa barbara destroying more than 100 square miles. george is at that fire and joins us now live on the phone. he is a u.s. forest service information officer stationed in that area. george, how are efforts coming along there? >> oh, julie, we're making great progress, we've had a lot of success the last couple of days. entirely due to some tremendous work by a lot of men and women

working really hard in that country. >> julie: so, at this point, what's the percentage of containment? >> we've reached 60% containment this morning. >> julie: all right and tell me about the people that have been evacuated from there because there are parts of california over 2000 people evacuated in one county alone and it doesn't seem they're going to be able to returning to their homes anytime soon. >> no, not entirely familiar with those evacuations up there. we've had four areas around the mriment perimeter that we've evacuated and due to the progress the last 24 hours we were able to repair about 150, 200 of folks back to their homes just this morning, as a matter of fact. >> julie: tell me how the fires started. we heard about one where a hawk actually ran into a power line which knocked out power. it's amazing what effect one hawk can do to many, many residents who have no electricity. most of these fires, they were started how? >> typically the majority of wildland fires are started by

lightni lightning, pretty common a majority of started by lightning. >> julie: thank you for talking with us, joining us on the phone. thank you, george. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> julie: the government taking measures to beef up securities or the presidential elections on thursday, election for kabul says afghan forces will begin x excourting ballots to polling places tomorrow after a deadly bombing there yesterday, seven people were killed and nearly 100 wounded. the taliban claiming responsibility and vowing more attacks on voting sites. well, an organization itself labeled a terrorist group, fighting an extremist threat within its very own borders. hamas tightening security in the gaza strip after a deadly battle with an islamic splinter group aligned with al-qaeda. the violent showdown coming at a place of worship. mike tobin has more from jerusalem. >> palestinians shed palestinian blood in the gaza strip as hamas

had iron fisted holds over radical groups. without a lack of concern from the outside world hamas crushed its uprising by an al-qaeda influenced group in the southern end of the gaza strip. members of the group calling themselves warriors of god holed up inside a mosque and hamas attacked. 24 people killed, more than one hundred people were injured. among the dead were the radical leader of the group, on friday, he gave a speech before television cameras in which he declared an islamic emirates had been born in the gaza strip. on saturday he was dead. tonight police are touring gaza. one said the slaughter in gaza belongs to hamas, hamas is the one holding the knife. a spokesman declared that everything was under control in the gaza strip. the worst palestinian on palestinian fighting against hamas seized control of the gaza

strip from the rivals in the fatah party in 2007. >> julie: mike tobin. thank you. when north korea freed two journalists earlier this month, the u.s. said the move would not affect policy. there there was hope it might lead to good things between the two nations, apparently it's not. the north with new threats today against the u.s. and south korea. marked by sanctions and upcoming military drills between the two allies. pyongyang considers the military exercises preparations for invasi invasion. the u.s. and south korea saying the maneuvers are purely preparation. a 50-year-old sentenced to seven years of hard labor in myanmar after going uninvited to the detained democracy leader.

his freedom comes after a virginia senator jim webb made a successful plea to myanmar's leading junta to release the prisoner. webb asked that chi be released from house arrest although that's unlikely we're told. the leader had been detained 14 of the last 20 years and must serve another year of house arrest and the sentence largely viewed as a legal pretext to keep her detained through mi myanmar's elections next year. back at home, one state battling its neighbor across the mississippi and a massive group of fire trucks, but no smoke in sight. it's just two stops as we go across america. florida, celebrating a sort of extreme makeover, punta gorda edition. the town nearly destroyed five years ago by hurricane charlie. now, residents coming together in trint of the recovery of the area, including brand new hotels and restaurants. >> exceeded my expectation,

never thought they could turn it around this quick, because we did move away after hurricane charlie and just came back and we're thrilled that we did. this is beautiful. >> julie: illinois, hugging is way to victory. the state winning the 23rd annual hug fest, tug-of-war against iowa. the teams holding on to a massive rope stretched across the mississippi river. illinois now gets the coveted bald eagle trophy for another year. north dakota, a four alarm effort to set a new world record. you're looking at the most fire trucks ever in a parade. organizers rounding up 180 of them to break the record. most of the trucks were from north dakota and others drive from minnesota, south dakota and even oklahoma. michigan, a parade for more classic appeal. the annual dream cruise rolled through the motor city. billed as the largest one day

auto event in the world and features more than 40,000 vintage cars and that's a fox watch across america. a main ship building company getting hit with a double whammy. first a devastating fire and then the worst economic down turn america has seen in 70 years. last summer flames spreading throughout the washburn and dowdy ship yard. this as the u.s. and global economies headed into a ta tailspin. but through it all, the company managing to survive and get this, even thrive and becoming a source of inspiration to small business owners and their workers. what's the secret to success? a fox report now from molly line. >> reporter: when fire broke out at the washburn and downey ship yard in maine last july. flames quickly burned away three decades of work. >> those tanks started popping off, boom, boom, boom. >> reporter: the emotion clearly visible. workers sat and watched the smoldering embers contemplating

their future. but work at the yard never stopped. and in an example of what locals here call down east work ethics, everyone persevered over the winter to build the tug boats they're known for. welding together a new 35,000 square foot shed rose from the ashes. >> we have capacity here to build four tugs concurrently ranging from 92 to 121 foot. >> reporter: today there are seven tug boats under construction on the site and more contracts in the work. little more than a year in the fire, the busiest they've ever been, a testament, say company officials, to their skilled workers. with rock music pounding, the finishing touches are put to the towering 17 million dollar tug to be delivered next month. company founders, bruce dowdy and bruce washburn say there was

never a question to rebuild, but the response from locals made them realize just how important the yard is. >> and it's turned out to be very humbling, i guess is the word, to find out how much the community did get behind us. >> reporter: a company that survived catastrophic setbacks with a can-do attitude. in maine, molly line, fox news. >> julie: 1,124 pounds, could be a horse, maybe a car? nope, it's a cupcake, that's right the world's largest cupcake, that is the a detroit bakery demolishing a record set in july of only 151 pounds. this happening at detroit's annual dream cruise classic car celebration, while they failed at the initial attempt to make a 7,000 pound cupcake, they still got the record and all for a good cause. donations benefitting breast cancer research. a ship mysteriously missing now for two weeks. the search is on though and the rumors are flying as speculation continues about the fate of the

ship and its crew. plus, this man's revealing outfit gets him in trouble with the law. yes, that's a sir. the story you've got to see to believe in just two minutes. e

>> it's a three day weekend for most chicago city employees.

the thing is it's a forced holiday and workers won't get paid for the time off. they're not the only ones missing out. anybody hoping to visit a library, get barge removed or visit the health clinic is out of luck. tomorrow the windy city is essentially closed for business and meant to reduce 8.3 billion dollar deficit without laying off workers. only essential services will be operate. two other so-called reduced services days scheduled later in the year. new developments for another place where financial hardships forced big service cuts. this time for answer tire state. california now saying it can stop issuing iou's to vendors. the golden state planning to end the measure in early september, a month earlier than expected. you're going to remember california issued thousands of iou's to people they owed money to. some got iou's instead of tax refunds, between the state's controller and treasurier and

financial advisors to governor arnold schwarzenegger. california saying fresh access to loans will help it coverdale i expenses and california begins reduming hundreds of thousands of iou's. they were forced to of issue those struggling to close a budget deficit. at least some in california are throwing them on the back burner, the pebble beach concourse, considered one of the press t prestigious events, you wouldn't think they have a bad economy, huh? and many high end brands are debuting models and casey stegall joins us live from pebble beach. >> reporter: jum i, what's the name of the event. >> julie: i have no no clue, nobody clued me in. >> reporter: well, you need to talk to some people about that. just kidding and speaking of governor schwarzenegger by the way we're competing with him on

stage. the governor is back there with jay leno and jerry seinfeld and auctioning off belongings for charity and economic down turn, folks are wondering how are folks paying 5, 7 million dollars. the group that does the event donates to charity. talk about cool, a 1913 rolls-royce, joining us is the owner this have car, david morris from long beach and sat in a castle for 50 years in a box. >> back in 195, the old man put it into a box in the basement of a castle, locked the box up and it's great-grandchildren opened the box in september. >> reporter: now, this is one of about 2 at that cars out here. you've had a chance to go through, but this is one of the really older ones that are out here. >> it's one of the older ones and a total original car. original interior, original engine, everything. >> reporter: this is a treasure

in norway, so you had to get special permission to bring it into the united states, right? >> we had a get an export license from the national museum to release it as a national treasure out of the country of norway. >> reporter: you're a car buff, but this thing jumped out at you for obvious reasons, tell me why. >> well, i collect rolls-royces and i always wanted one from pre-world war i and they found my name on the internet and i flew over, gave them a check and brought it home. >> reporter: last quick question, speaking of check. what do you think it's worth. a lot of folks are wondering. >> we never talk about it. >> reporter: i knew that was the answer we'll get. again this is one of about 225 cars here at pebble beach and this is the 18th fairway behind me by the way something you usually don't seechlt the one day out of the year pebble beach is shut down to golfers and they'll have a great day out here, julie. it's an awful lot of fun. >> julie: wait, wait, see, he collects rolls-royces?

so in other words, that guy alone could probably elimb natal the deficit in california, tell him to write a check to governor schwarzenegger. >> reporter: yes, and i'll also give him your phone number. >> julie: would you please. >> i would appreciate it, i love rolls-royces i have a dozen and a half or so. >> reporter: i know you do. >> julie: thank you, casey. switching gears from model cars to not so model behavior. well, an ohio man dressed in normal attire before he went before a judge earlier in the week, but this is how police found kevin miller when they' rised him in june. with maybe he wants to go for a skim. busted for harassing women and girls while wearing a one piece bathing suit. the judge mentioned him to three years probation after he pleaded guilty to public indecency and menacing. he's serving jail time. he had the socks and shoes on and can't come within one hundred yards of the river and

we are told he's receiving counseling. the june presidential election, ahmadnejad naming a hard liner to oversee iran's intelligence agency. at the same time some mixed messages. ahmadnejad appears to be making an effort to soften his hardline image nominating three women to his cabinet, unprecedented move ab if confirmed they would be the first female ministers since the 1979 islamic revolution, it comes on as iran holds trials for opposition supporters, today, adding 25 more defendants. 135 people now facing charges of trying to overthrow the regime when they took part in mass demonstrations protesting the results. >> major breaking news on the fox report in three minutes from now. stay tuned. has progress taken us to a better place?

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>> breaking news now on the fox report. the white house finally respond to go evidence provided by fox news that the obama administration is sending unsolicited e-mails to private citizens will health care reform. its statement and i'm reading in part, the white house doesn't purchase, upload or merge from any other lists. again, all e-mails come from the white house website. as we have no interest in e-mailing anyone who does not want to receive an e-mail. fox has offered the white house examples of what hundreds of people all over the country are saying, but they've received e-mails that they never requested. fox senior white house correspondent major garrett is live in washington and pretty much at the center of all of this. you posed all the questions that essentially got the white house to finally respond and now, when they do respond, they say, they did not send e-mails to those

that did not request it so what gives? >> the white house is essentially, julie blaming third parties, either interest groups on the left or interest groups on the right and the mechanism that the white house tell us they believe is behind people receiving e-mails from the white hou house, that they did not request and do not want is that these interest groups have essentially conducted the white house says to me, online petitions. meanwhile they complain or they support something that the white house is doing. and send in all the membership lists on their various advocacy groups in the form of an e-mail. these e-mails then because of the online activity on the white house website embed in the white house list and sent back out when the white house decides to send out an e-mail communicating some particular policy decision. in some cases viewers of ours received the president's speech in cairo nother instances they received health care updates. the most recent one was david

axlerod's letter that went out on thursday and i'm going to read the full statement from the white house in a second to viewers, julie, but the statement has been cleared by the white house counsel's office cleared by robert gibbs, the source of it is nick shapiro who works in the white house press office and is in charge of new media. this statement has been scrubbed for the better part of two days because the white house want today make sure it knew what it knew and could honestly tell the american people who was behind this. clearly this is not a trivial matter. for a while the white house treated it as if it's a trivial matter and they now with a statement acknowledge a the lot of people are legitimately concerned and in some cases more than concerned, upset about this. let me lead the full statement from the white house, exclusively to fox news channel. the white house e-mail list is made up of e-mail addresses obtained solely through the white house website. as you said, julie, the white house doesn't purchase upload or merge from any other list, again, all e-mails come from the white house website as we have no interest in e-mailing anyone

who does not want to receive an e-mail. if an individual received the e-mail because someone else or a group signed them up for forwarded the e-mail, we hope they were not too inconvenienced. further, we suggest that they unsubscribe from the list by clicking the link at the bottom of the e-mail or tell whom ever forwarded it to them not to forward such information anymore. we are implementing measures to make subscribing to e-mails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission whshgs he they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individual's behalf. that's an acknowledgment, julie, that this is at that problem, that the white house has now begun internal operations within its website management to try to deal with this problem and remedy it to the degree that can going forward. what i'm told they're going to try to do is seek out and block the online petition activities so what people receive, they sign up for on a one-to-one

basis, there cannot be blanket movements of online petitions into the websihite house websit because at this hour what the white house is saying is probably behind many e-mails. i will say this, i've talked to people and you may have also, julie who say they're not members of any organization and have not been advocating or through the membership of any group advocating on any particular part of the health care debate or anything else and yet, still receive the e-mails, they might be at home if they're hearing this, curious about this, but that's the white house statement, four days since this issue arose and for the better part of two days, this statement i just read being scrubbed by the white house approved by the white house counsel's office and by the white house spokesman, robert gibbs. >> julie: major, i want to go back to one of the sentences in the quote of the spokesperson's statement here, if an individual received the e-mail because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the e-mail, we hope they were not too inconvenienced. what, at this point, responsibility is the white house taking if any at all to the fact that david axlerod is

the person who allegedly sent these unsolicited e-mails out, that his name is on a lot of the e-mails that are sent to people without them signing up to anything? >> well, of course, this is not coming from david axlerod's personal e-mail account at the white house. david axlerod, for folks who may not be aware, is the senior advisor, spokesman for years. and the e-mail under david axlerod's name on thursday came under a messages link from the white house. one reason for this, julie if it came from david axlerod's actual address at the white house it would have been archived for all time under the presidential records act. the messages@whitehouse.gov e-mail address may not fall under that kind of archiving protection because the law may not cover what you would regard as generic blanket e-mail addresses rather than the specific white house staffer

e-mail address, but what the white house says they'll continue to communicate with folks on policy matters, and if people don't want it, take the steps they're in and the white house says it's going to take steps on its end to prevent what many people, although the network have not called it, some of the outside called a standing operation. i don't have any proof whatsoever it's a spamming operation. the white house says if it looks like it it isn't because what it's doing, but what third parties on the left or right are doing outside. >> julie: i'm joined by brad blakeman, former assistant to president bush. thank you for talking to us, late breaking news coming in now where the white house is essentially issuing a response to major's questions earlier this week. your reaction, first of all, to the white house as plague just said wanted to get to the bottom of this, find out how the e-mails got there in the first place. do you think they're taking

responsibility? >> they're not, no, they keep passing the buck. they knew julie, quite well where the e-mails were going and how many they were-- were sent out. people should come forward. and let's-- let fox news and others know whether they were victims of the spammed e-mail by david axlerod and those who work at the white house. it's totalsly inappropriate and as major garrett suggests, a way of also getting around the white house records act. totally unappropriate behavior for the white house and i know a person who said in an e-mail. unsolicited never contacted the white house and offended by receiving unsolicited spam e-mail from a high white house official. >> julie: now, this is video right now that we're showing where basically major garrett start this had whole thing and called out gibbs for these e-mails that were being sent out and this supposed list and then of course, he brought up the word list and sort of sparked the whole thing. one question that major had and

really never got answered was how does the white house enforce or monitor adherence to its no spam policy and i guess, if this were the bush administration, let's say, what kind of backlash do you think we'd be facing, getting personal e-mails from the white house unsolicited? >> unsolicited e-mails, karl rove who held that same position that david axlerod in the white house had done this, presidential policy that they feel people were offended by were not supporting, karl rove would have been asked for his resignation by democrats, there would have been calls for investigation. especially when as major suggests that this was a way of getting around the white house record in keeping e-mails archived. totally unacceptable behavior and i think we have to keep the pressure on the white house to do more explaining. certainly the explanation given today u through the white house counsel's office, is unacceptable. >> julie: major, i don't think that hundred of people who

received these unsolicited e-mails find this statement acceptable. the president lately has been as if he's recampaigning for presidency these days, all over the country trying to sell us on health care reform. tomorrow at the vfw convention at two o'clock speaking there. do you think that the american people, especially those who received all the e-mails need to hear from the president. will the president address this or let his white house staff? >> i doubt very much, julie, he'll be on the vfw speech and back to washington to address health care. i don't know on the law presidential record act well enough to know if this generic messages@whitehouse.gov is covered. i do know if it came from david axlerod's white house address it would have to be. i'm not suggesting anything is sir couple vented or not. i don't know whether or not, i think it may be a gray area in the presidential records act. and make it clear before we sign off. >> julie: major garrett, thank you very very much and brad bleakman, we appreciate