we all squeezed into that little space there. martha: what a great looking group. bill:. the guy in the middle is l-dad. we call him diddy. he is the is guy gets spotlight. thanks to a great staff and crew. merry christmas. martha: a great group. we're glad we a chance to show everybody we work with today. "happening now" starts right now. jenna: that was a good-looking group in that picture, right? jon: we need a diddy. jenna: we do need a dead did i. we have a couple folks. similar to diddy but different. hi, everybody, we're glad you're with us on this friday, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. happening now in the fox newsroom, a brand new fox poll sheds light on the latest gop field. newt gingrich establishing his frontrunner status with an exclamation point you

might say. taking a double digit lead as the 2012 presidential nominee preference. they come with an interesting twist. jenna: if the election were held today mitt romney fares better than president obama and then newt gingrich. romney with 42% versus the president's 44%. that is a bit better than a theoretical gingrich versus president obama matchup which has the president up by six points. it is worth pointing out though, like most polls, when you look at these you have to consider the plus or minus three at bottom of your screen there. statistically when you look at these polls they're all in a dead-heat. jon: the old margin of error question. that's not all these polls reveal though. our chief washington correspondent james rosen has more of a look. >> reporter: jon, jenna, good morning. dive deeper into the numbers and you have a strikingly evenly matched battle between governor romney and speaker gingrich and with that a potential protracted

struggle between them. latest fox news survey of registered voters that gingrich is true conservative while a majority of do not see governor romney that way. when voters were asked which of the two they see as a strong leader, and were grouped with president obama in that category, only gingrich achieved a 50% rating but romney with 49% effectively tied him. remarkably only president obama sees more voters rejecting notion of him as a strong leader than agreeing with that characterization. lastly asked who they see presidential the incumbent president fared the best but romney fared far better than gingrich. 53% see the former massachusetts governor as fit for the oval office. 49 p.e. rejected newt gingrich as presidential timber. romney induce put he hadly lead gingrich in money and field organization strength. some observers cite newt's

momentum particularly in iowa. as karl rove pointed out on "fox and friends" this morning, give the way gop process is configured a surge strategy is no guarantee. >> likely to win iowa only 25 days away. the question will be expectations. how big is his win? if it is close to what he got in the polls? then people say he is not performing as good as he should. second, assumes iowa affects new hampshire. if you win iowa, you win new hampshire. that hasn't happened in open race for the presidency in history. iowa does its thing. new hampshire does its thing. >> reporter: the candidates are doing their hinge. mitt romney holding economic town hall this morning in cedar rapids, iowa. newt gingrich is signing books across the street from us in union station this afternoon. jon: very interesting breakdown on the race. thank you, james. jenna: a fox news alert right now. brand new information about the virginia tech shooting.

university officers confirming to fox news that the shooter was not indeed a student. right now police are searching for a motive in this deadly shooting of a police officer. you see him on your screen. he have is a army veteran. he has five children. we think of them today. what a horrible event before the holidays or really any day of the year. a gunman killed the officer in a school parking lot. then shot himself. in 2007 virginia tech was the scene of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern u.s. history. 33 people were killed. listen to one witness describe yesterday's scene. >> i he was responding to a call here because i heard a bunch of sirens coming from a distance so i kept walking towards his car thinking i get around it before the rest of the police better who. then the police pulled up and they opened his car door and when they opened it he fell out towards the ground. sorry. and i could see his face and it was covered in blood. i don't know if the blood was coming from his head exactly. they immediately started

reviving him. and, then two cops took off with some sort of i guess, they started running. the opposite direction after the gunman. jenna: what an account a lot of raw emotion understandably there. elizabeth tran is live in blacksburg, virginia. police are wrapping up a news conference. elizabeth, what do we know about the shooter? >> well, jenna, we do know just like you said this is not a virginia tech student. however we still do not know the man responsible for two shootings that took place on campus. what they confirmed they have the ballistic tests, the same weapon was used in both shootings that did take place here on campus. we also know half an hour after the shooting took place where he did shoot the officer we know the gunman, went, changed his clothes, left the clothes in a backpack and stood in parking lot. when he was approached by an officer five seconds beforehand, he did take his

own life. we heard from the virginia state police department. >> just after midnight this morning that the begin were department of forensic science was able to confirm through testings of ba is are i can it evidence that was taken from both of the shooting scenes here on the technical pus that both officer cruose and may subject found in the parking lot half mile away were shot and killed with the same weapon. >> [inaudible]. until the medical examiner confirms it and of course the next --. jenna: elizabeth, we're having a little bit of an audio issue. we'll continue to follow this story. we have a lot more information yet to uncover including what the is motive here? what happened? why did this shooter do this? we're looking for answers. we'll bring those to you as soon as we find them. jon? jon: was it related to a robbery nearby the day before? the capture of that u.s. spy drone in iran raises some new questions about a possible covert war underway right now.

a senior u.s. official confirms the unmanned aircraft shown on iranian state tv just starting yesterday is in fact our missing rq-170 sentinel lost last week. is this a part of a wider effort against tehran? jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. so u.s. officials are sure this is their drone, not some fake or a copy? >> reporter: well, certainly those who are familiar with the sentinel program tell us in fact this is the drone that they lost. there was some confusion among analysts who were looking at the drone because of the angle of the wings but it looks like those wings had actually been sawed off. possibly transporting it the wings were sawed off and reattached. that might have led to some of the confusion identifying it. the size is little off. those familiar with the program, we have multiple u.s. officials telling us this is in fact the drone they lost last week. jon: it has everybody at the pentagon and well, maybe outside the pentagon asking

whether war with iran has sort of already begun. has it? >> reporter: well, certainly the covert war appears to have. fox news has learned that in early november there was a meeting a high-level meeting at centcom headquarters in tampa dealing with a possible military plan, honing those plans in case the u.s. gets dragged into a military strike on iran's nuclear facilities. high-level u.s. intelligence officials were present at that meeting. but if you just look back at the series of explosions that have taken place in iran in the last year alone you have more than a dozen explosions at the homes of or outside the cars of iran's top nuclear scientists. the head of the iranian nuclear program was wounded earlier this year. you also have the net worm that was released out last year. that took out 1,000 centrifuges at natanz

facility. on the november 12th there was large explosion at a missile base, a top secret base outside of tehran, that took out head of iran's long-range missile program. two weeks later there was large unexplained explosion at a iranian facility. if you add up and the drone lost over iran had sensors on board capable of taking nuclear samples in the air and to watch with real-time video what was taking place at iran's nuclear facilities certainly looks that covert war is already underway, jon. jon: interesting. the u.s. considered the idea of going in and either recapturing that downed drone or destroying it and opted not to do that. why? >> reporter: that's right. we confirmed there were three plans presented to the president including sending u.s. commandos in to try to retrieve the drone suggesting that the pentagon and others knew right away that drone was intabt when

it landed in keeping what we had heard from officials who are familiar with the sent negligence -- sentinel, it lands in soft manner t almost glides or floats to the ground. it has a homing device that allows it to do so. those plans were rejected because the president did not want to do anything that could be perceived as an act of war. jon: interesting. so you've got explosions on the one hand but you don't want to start a war on the other hand. very interesting. jennifer griffin. thank you. jenna: back at home now new information in the case of a missing florida mom. police are pinning some new hopes on a cell phone belonging to michelle parker just found under a bridge. the phone is considered a huge piece of evidence and investigators used its most recent signal to finally locate it. right now the phone is being tested by forensic experts. this critical find is giving parker's family new hope of at least finding some answers. >> michelle, if you are in

heaven, baby, i love you, i know you don't want to be sad but i just can't help it. you know, i just feel like it's not going to end well now. i had such high hopes, maybe, we would find her and she would be alive and i, i just don't think that is going to happen. and i hate whoever did this to her and god help you, when you get to heaven. jenna: heart-breaking to hear from the mother there. 33-year-old parker disappeared on november 17th. this was an after an episode of "the people's court" aired an episode she was on with her ex-fiance dale smith. they were trying to settle a dispute over $5,000 engagement ring. they did. they split the cost. it wasn't necessarily antagonistic episode. police named smith as the prime suspect in her disappearance. he has not been charged with any crime. jon: what a strange case. missing but not forget inch,

this -- forgotten, this retired fbi agent disappeared in iran, reappeared send by unknown captors to his family. this international mystery take as new turn. jenna: mitt romney comes out swinging with a new ad against newt gingrich but what else must romney do to close the poll gap? there is strategy in all this. joe trippi will join just ahead. jon: rick has update on geezer bandit. >> reporter: they call him the geezer bandit because he looks like an old man. he may not be an old man after all and he may have left behind a clue that will finally lead to his capture. we've got the news coming up when "happening now" returns right after a quick break. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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jon: well the elusive geezer bandit strikes again. for the 16th time, knocking off a bank in southern california. this time though he left police a calling card.

rick folbaum live in the newsroom with more than. >> reporter: monday we told but the so-called geezer bandit's latest highs. police may be close to catching him. a dye pack hidden in the cash exploded. when that happened the robber dropped the money. he dropped his date book and leaving it behind and giving fbi crucial piece of evidence. law enforcement in the san diego area revealing they see a pattern when the thief goes about his thieferry. usually on fridays and typically before banks closing times. police say witnesses saw a white bmw speeding away from the scene last friday. there is also some speculation this is no old guy at all the but instead someone wearing sophisticated makeup or a mask in order to hide his true identity. the fbi is working this case and there is a $20,000 reward. if you have any information call the fb. i. there is the number on the

screen. i it is friday, jon and we'll see if the geezer bandit tries again or if he is caught. jon: southern cal, a lot of makeup artists and special effects wizards out there. >> reporter: that's true. jon: rick folbaum, thanks. jenna: right now, a frontrunner snowdown playing out in realtime. there is new evidence mitt romney feels the heat from newt gingrich's surge in the polls. the romney campaign releasing a new web video, titled, with friends like newt. and to put it simply it is not too flattering at all. calls the former house speaker's conservative credentials into question. >> he is out and basically he is out in the left-wing of the republican party. >> with friends allies like that, who needs the left? jenna: yikes!, the music right, joe? pretty dramatic. joe trippi former campaign manager for howard dean and fox news contributor.

if you're democrats and watching this you sit back and let the guys go at it? >> get out of the way. jenna: cage match. >> bloody each other up, whoever the nominee will be weaker for the fight. frankly that's what a lot of democrats thought in 2008 with hillary clinton and barack obama beating each other up. jenna: it kind of coalesced democrats. once they found the nominee, they really had a lot of energy from both sides. >> that's going to be incumbent here. with this kind of a mud fight starting to heat up, whoever the nominee will have to heal the party, pull everybody together or in it remains fractured it will be a problem in november. jenna: we were looking at some fox news polls that came out. we were thinking about who really the gop would like to face the president? who would potentially be best. one of them takes a look at who is the most conservative. when you look at that gingrich wins compared to romney. but if you look at who voters would like to put against the president, romney still is the man that they would like to go see into that fight. so is the most conservative candidate, if we look at

these polls, really the best option for the gop here? >> this is the whole question that will be decided in these early states. if this happened on the democratic side against george bush. a lot of democrats want the howard dean the guy i worked for but thought kerry was better guy to beat bush. they went with kerry. decide to go with their head, not their heart and george bush was reelected. that same fight is why all these other candidates popped up against romney. jenna: how does newt gingrich meet the same fate as howard dean? if you look him the most conservative and howard dean the most liberal how does he not meet that fate? >> this is exactly what we went through. we popped up a month before the caucuss. all the democrats and party establishment came at us everything. whatever was in our closet and came out and we gaffed and other things and they crushed us. that is really happened. if newt can live through it,

and survive it and he would be much more formidable than romney thought. if he can win that the whole thing, that makes a much stronger candidate in november. jenna: say you're advising the newt gingrich campaign. you saw in that race that you were in, how do you not make those gaffes? what is the key to that? >> newt is a lot more experienced on the national stage. he's been through a lot. he has been speaker. he has been through a lot of this. i'm not sure the gaffs will get him. it will be these attacks. so far trying to run, just keep running the way he has been running. also you've got, you've got other people now doing some of the dirty work for him. rick perry running the ad saying, saying that he is not afraid to mention his christianity. all of this seems to be a little bit geared towards hitting romney a little bit. you have got other candidates trying to pull down romney at the same time romney is trying to pull down gingrich. this could be very fascinating endgame going into iowa and new hampshire.

jenna: let me ask you the big picture. look in 2008. there was electricity around the campaign. there was that current for hope and change. the president played on that and here he was elected. in 2010, we saw electric current as well, the tea party. bringing america back to what it really was all about. i'm curious as we look at 2012 where is the electric current? we don't feel it yet. someone who seen the campaigns what do you make of that? >> people are still waiting to see who the nominee in the republican party is and then we'll see what the dynamic is. i think right now all bets are off. it is really impossible to tell how this thing will jell yet. it is still ranges on the economy. if the economy is turning, we're seeing some positive signs that helps obama's chances. if it turns the other way even if somebody democrats think can't beat obama we could be surprised. jenna: joe, nice having you on set with us. appreciate your expertise as always. we'll continue to watch this race and we'll be right back with more "happening now." people love the surf & turf. you can't go wrong.

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jenna: now this fox news alert. the family of missing retired fbi agent robert levinson is making a new plea for his release. they just released an apparent hostage video sent by his captors more than a year ago. why the family is just releasing it now is the question we have today. levinson shows no signs of recent abuse. we do know he suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure. the video shows he lost considerable weight since disappearing traveling through iran in 2007. molly henneberg is live in washington with more on this. molly? >> reporter: jenna, he is thin and hag guard but he is alive. this is the first proof of life the family and u.s. government apparently had since levinson was abducted. on the video sent to the family in november 2010 but just made public now levinson says quote, i am

not in very good health. i'm running very quickly out of diabetes medicine. i have been treated well and i need the help of the united states government to answer the requests of the group that has held me for 3 1/2 years. and please help get me home. but who has him? that's the big mystery. there have been talks and negotiations with iran for years but they haven't really gone anywhere or yielded much information. some u.s. officials say there are clues on videos and photographs that arrived later suggesting that levinson could be in afghanistan or pakistan but those clues would be red her rings by iranian intelligence. now they are publicly appealing to levinson's captors. his son david said in something posted on the family website saying quote, no one can help us but you. please help us. we tried to contact you but you never responded. i am sending this message because we need to know what you want our family to do so that my father can whom home safely. this approach by the family suggests that the u.s. and the family, they're changing strategies.

perhaps because of a lack of other leads and also perhaps because u.s. relations with iran have deteriorated so precipitously recently. jenna? jenna: molly, thank you so much for that. jon, our viewers might be wondering why we don't show the video? that is matter of policy, isn't it? we don't want to play to the propaganda. jon: because these captors want sympathy. they want to generate sympathy --. jenna: attention? jon: right, attention for the family and so forth. we want to do anything we can to help the family but we don't want to help the captors. that is part of the policy. for more on the case let's bring in joe cirincione, head of president clinton's advisory board and head of the ploughshares fund and watches iran and knows that country just about as good as anybody. the assumption is that iranian agents have him because he was on an iranian island because he disappeared. is there anything in that video that tells you otherwise, joe?

>> no, there is not, jon. you're exactly right. it was almost five years ago now that this former fbi agent was on a private investigation in iran. said to be connected with with cigarette smuggling case he was hired to investigate. he disappeared. we do not know and the u.s. government officials do not know who exactly took him but for the last year there have been ongoing negotiations iran to either release him or use their influence with the pakistan or afghan captors who might still have him. those negotiations appear to be going well but the release of this video by the family today is a sign that the negotiations have broken down. this is a hard-breaking case. a father of seven. a long term fbi agent. his family wants him home. his wife christine wants him home. this is clearly a public appeal to try to get some movement in a stalled negotiation. jon: let's just say he is not being held in iran or by iran. they almost certainly have

to know who's got him, right? if he was smuggled off to pakistan or afghanistan, someplace like, that he would have to leave iranian territory to be taken there. >> that's exactly right. that's why most experts believe iran has the ability to get robert levinson back home. this appeal by the family, while they don't name iran directly, is clearly aimed at iran. please, let this man come home to his family. jon: so he's a pawn? >> he's a pawn. there's no reason to be holding this man for five years because he was not a government agent. he was not working for the united states. he was not engaged in any kind of espionage against anyone in the area. it was an investigation on a purely private case. he does not deserve to be held and separated and kept in the kinds of conditions he's been kept in for last five years. if iran wants to make a breakthrough, this is their opportunity. they are under a lot of pressure currently. the regime is isolated. the sanctions are biting.

there is increased pressure on iran to give up its nuclear perhaps. this would be an opportunity for iran to get a little break here, to generate some good will. if the administration in iran knows what is good for it they will do everything they can to release robert levinson or put pressure on his captors to release him now. jon: at the same time after the downing of this u.s. drone over iran and so forth they are feeling the heat. very often they respond in ways that don't make sense. >> that's right. iran often does respond asymmetrically. the capture of the u.s. drone, which is now as you reported earlier confirmed by u.s. officials to actually be a u.s. drone, gives them a bit of a propaganda coup. expect them to milk this next couple to show they are in fact able to reach out and at least tweak nose of the united states. there is certainly some intelligence that they will be able to gain from the drone, primarily from the high-tech electronics within

the drone but here with this levinson case is a chance for them to show that their humane side if they have one. this would be the time to demonstrate it. jon: like the release of the hikers some weeks ago. joe, thank you. >> my pleasure, jon. jenna: tense hearing for u.s. attorney general eric holder over operation "fast and furious", the botched federal gun running program we've talked so much about. what's next for the investigation and for the administration? >> my committee just next door was systematically lied to by your own representatives. there is a high likelihood the individual was deliberately duped but he was duped by people who still work for you today. still work for you today. the president says he has full confidence in this attorney general. you lost some weight. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain

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jon: some international stories we're keeping an eye on here in the newsroom and from our control room as well. in pakistan militants attack a pakistani border crossing torching more than 20 tankers parked there waiting to carry fuel to our u.s. forces in afghanistan. this is the first incident since pakistan closed the border after a nato airstrike killed 24 pakistani soldiers. new amateur footage reportedly showing the aftermath of an attack on a syrian oil pipeline. a state-run news agency is blaming the attack on what they call an armed terrorist

group. in italy, a letter bomb explodes plods at a -- explodes at a tax collection agency in rome. it blows up injuring one man. they're investigating links to a group called the informal aist federation. jenna: new reaction to attorney general eric holder's insistence that he will not resign. lawmakers are calling for the america's top law enforcer to step down in the wake of the allegations of "fast and furious". this botched gun running program linked to at least one border agent's death. the ag says the fallout is not over. >> the department has taken steps to ensure that such tactics are never used again, it is unfortunately reality we'll continue to feel the effects of this flawed operation for years to come. guns lost during this operation will continue to show up at crime scenes on both sides of the border. jenna: just last month senator john cornyn questioned the attorney

general over "fast and furious". he is a texas republican. he sits on the senate judiciary committee and chairman of the republican senatorial cmittee. nice to have you back with us. >> thank you very much. jenna: just to be clear have are bun one of the lawmakers to ask the attorney general to resign? >> i've asked the attorney general to come clean and share with us the fact if in fact the facts ought to tell us where this investigation should go the as the attorney general admitted yesterday there will be more people die on both sides of the border as a result of this program and to date, jenna, nobody, nobody, at the department of justice has been held accountable include being the attorney general himself. jenna: we've had four hearings on this so far and a big question is, is what's next? how do you define success in this investigation, senator? do i want to see more resignations? is that how you know the investigation is successful? how do you define it? >> part of the problem is the department of justice has misled congress as a result of the letter that was discussed yesterday and

previously of february the 4th where they denied such a program actually existed. it took them nine months, before lanny breuer, the head of the criminal division admitted that was wrong and that they had misled congress. this, this is very frustrating because i think when people look at what's happening in washington today they see bad decisions being made but then no one is held accountable and we need to get to the bottom of this and unfortunately the attorney general's been obstructing the investigation and the oversight responsibilities of congress. and it's going to continue to drip, drip, drip through a variety of sources if not from the attorney general himself until we get to the bottom of this. jenna: you know the attorney general has said he believes he has fully cooperated as far as all the investigation have gone. and he said in his opening statement yesterday that he feels this is politically motivated, this investigation. politically motivated gotcha games is the direct quote. he says that, republicans are trying to score political points. and so as this is getting

more and more heated and more and more political, senator, i'm wondering if it is time to call in an independent investigator? maybe turn it over to somebody or something that is completely independent to investigate to see if there is any criminal charges or anything specifically that this attorney general could be charged with? >> well many some people have called for an outside investigator and special counsel but i think it's the attorney general himself's responsibility to cooperate with congress and get to the bottom of this investigation. it to me is unbelievable that he says that more people are going to die as a result of this program, yet he himself is unwilling to share all the information the department has and indeed has misled congress. he got into a word game with congressman sensenbrenner about whether it was knowingly or not but it is just inexcusable. it is incompetence if nothing else and all we're asking for is the truth and we're asking for people to be held accountable for this flawed program that has taken at least one life and

likely according to the attorney general's own testimony to take more lives before it's over. jenna: what is the one question you need answered that you haven't gotten a response to so far? >> what did you know and when did you know it about the, about the "fast and furious" program. we can't seem to get the attorney general to admit that he's even read memos that had his name on it that briefed him on this program and so the facts are very cloudy. we need him to be honest and truthful and forthright with the congress and tell us what he knew and when he knew it. jenna: senator cornyn, thank you for joining us again. as we mentioned four hearings so far. we'll see what's next in this investigation. thank you so much. >> thank you. jon: colorado attorney vanished without a trace nearly five years ago. now he has surface and you won't believe where he was found and how he end up there. plus he became an icon inside the wrestling ring. now hulk hogan is going a few round in court, with his

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jon: well, get this. "tmz" is reporting that nba star kris humphries felt quote am blushed in the tv interview spins since he split from reality tv star chris cardiovascular. the 24 claims the interview would not focus on the failed marriage. duh. here is what he told "good morning america" today. >> it's been but through everything i'm focused on family and, preparing for basketball. basketball always something i've taken really serious and, you know, i continue to

do that and, you know, just moving forward. jon: if only kim had taken the marriage as seriously as he takes basketball. kardashian filed for divorce 72 days after their wedding. last week, humphries filed for annulment of their happy union. kim bouncing back from the split. she agreed to host a knew year's bash in las vegas. jenna: tough critic, isn't he. he is tough that jon scott. other news, he is spend reporter erin andrews is filing a $10 million lawsuit. this is refiling after suit filing regarding a 2008 incident which a man secretly videotaped her inside her nashville hotel room. the suit seeks $6 million for marriott hotels for allegedly not preventing the incident and goes after the man who did it, michael barrett, for making the tape. hulk hogan is filing a lawsuit. he claims his ex-wife linda

lied and defamed him in her new book, wrestling against "the hulk", my life behind the ropes. he claims his ex wrote the book to just help revive her career. i geraldo rivera is here to talk about the legal ramifications of this case. do you think hulk hogan has a case here? >> hard to say, jenna. the two allegations, the main allegation concerns something she said on page 140 of her book, alleging domestic violence. she wrote, it scared me that he might just snap, not realize what he's doing. he is just so strong. i thought he could kill me. he had his hands around my neck on the bed and started squeezing my throat. he went into this trans. i said, terry, stop, stop, i can't breathe. that is his real name, terry bollea. is that endeavour famation? is that liable louse? i guess so. how do you prove it is not true? only two witnesses.

a domestic situation. she got an extraordinary settlement when they agreed to their divorce. she got 70% of all their assets. jenna: this lawsuit filed by "the hulk" filed two weeks after he found out she would get 70%. >> he agreed to it. gave her 7.4 million of the 10.4 million they had. 40% of ownership in their various companies. gave her the rolls, the benz, escalade. does an interview promoting the book after getting these riches and she says to a radio interviewer who asks her what about these allegations that, that hulk had an intimate relationship with brutus beefcake, his best friend, ed, brutus beefcake? why, i don't know how to answer this without getting in a lawsuit. a little bird told me yes, i think they did have a gay relationship. and that, i think hulk may have more to go with on that. jenna: that specifically? >> but he was asked, he

called it mean-spirited. called it a blatant lie. here is quote from hulk. i've got friends a couple of my best friends in this business and i'm not going to say who they are, are gay guys. so there are gay professional wrestlers. they're really close friends. if i was gay, if i was a homosexual, or a lesbian or transsexual or whatever i was, people know i probably, pretty much tell you right off the bat. so hulk says if i was gay i would let you know i was gay. i do wear a boa. jenna: two former spouses. we have only about 60 seconds here, erin andrews refiling lawsuit. >> andrews has excellent lawsuit. i thinker run andrews who the guy peeped and videotaped her nude through the hole. jenna: keyhole in the door. >> keyhole in the door. has an excellent lawsuit. intentional infliction of emotional distress against mike barrett for stalking her. that is four million. probably won't get anything from that guy. the 6 million though against

the marriott for negligence, not giving the guy her room number and not catching him in the act. i think she has very good suit for negligence against the nashville westin marriott. and they should settle this case. i urge them to settle it. she will inand go to trial. it will be very, very bitter if they do. jenna: interesting to watch, geraldo. you're back with us next hour. another interesting story as well. jon. jon: her disappearance, jenna, sparked the investigation of work of a possible serial killer but are police closer to finding shannon gilbert? the latest on newly discovered clues. the u.s. pullout of iraq marks the end of years of hard work by u.s. forces serving there. what are they saying about the progress since the war's darkest days? even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

jon: for many american troops serving in iraq the final days before the withdrawal mark the end of years of hard work, much of it done during some very dark and dangerous days. dominic di-natale is live at the contingency operating base ader. dominic. >> reporter: major general jeff buchanan is one of the servicemen that done the deployments here. when he arrived in 2003 he was part of that original invasion and got involved in getting the iraqi security forces up to speed he saw the very worse of the war and since then he has seen vast improvements and this is something of a story he wanted to tell. this, john, is his story. these days morale boosting circulation tours but from day one of the war, major general jeff buchanan's job to build the new iraqi army from scratch and lead the

command dose through the war's darkest days. >> i remember leaving in 2006. this was just shortly after al qaeda had blown up the golden mosque in samarra and i had been there next day. it was, it was hard to be hopeful. but then i came back in 2009 and 10. i was amazed how much progress had been made, you know, from 2006 until 2008 when i came back. >> reporter: he says the u.s. is prepared iraq kigs as much as it can now. it is time for them to stand on their own. >> the iraqis have made tremendous progress. they're not there yet. they have not reached level of security or stability they need to have. they don't yet have the level of sovereignty they need for all their people or manner of self-reliance. >> reporter: major buchanan, or general buchanan as we call him should know exactly that. after all he is a ranger, which is a specialized infantryman and he passed on a lot of skills to his iraqi

counterparts. these days he does public affairs. you thought he would be on military message all the time he is a realist considering the problems iraq will face considering it is not stablized country. after seeing so many years of conflict and improvements he was describing there he remains optimistic with regards to iraq's long term future. he says he wants to come back one day not as a soldier but as a tourist. back to you. jon: dominic di-natale from iraq where our forces have done good work. our hats off to all of them. dominic, thank you. jenna: want to bring up to date what is happening on wall street. nice to close out a friday with at least some green on the screen. we have a few hours. jon: wow look at that. jenna: financial stocks are actually leading the way here and part of the reason for this is that the european union, the majority of the countries that are part of the e.u., agreed to forge their ties closer together. they hope by doing that, by pulling themselves together they will stave off another

debt crisis in the future. seems like traders like the idea. not all the countries agreed to this, jon. britain decided we don't like it. we're not a part of it. at least for now, someone likes it out there. jon: peter morici who we have on as a guest quite often doesn't like it at all. he says it will not work. we'll see. jenna: meantime new fallout for former senator, new jersey governor and ceo jon corzine. he testifies that he doesn't know what happened to the billion dollars controlled by his company. could he face criminal charges? we'll talk about it. jon: some people think he might. congressional aides fired on what they sent out over twitter. how bad was it? we report, you decide. today, investors want retirement planning on their terms.

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jenna: thanks for joining us the second hour on a friday.

we are glad you are with us. i'm jenna lee. jon: it is friday. i'm excite bed that. i'm jon scott. the latest from america's election headquarters. jenna: a lot going on in the campaign. mitt romney is unleashing fresh criticism of the new frontrunner newt gingrich. it's a significant shift in strategy as we near the critical iowa caucuses. we are going to bring in bob sue sack, the managing editor of the hill. i'd like to start off with something written in the "wall street journal" that caught my eye. it's by peggy noonan, and she is talking about newt gingrich being the wild candidate and clashing with the establishment of the gop p. here is what she wrote today. what they fear shaoerbgs says is that he, newt gingrich will show just enough discipline over the tphoebgs few months, just enough focus to win the nomination. in the fall of 2012 when party leaders have come around and the gop is fully behind him he will begin baying at the moon. he will start saying wild things

and promising that he may bomb iran but he may send in a special seal team in to dig up iran and fly to detroit and where detroiters can all get jobs as guards solving two problems at once. obviously this is an exaggeration, but she points out his rhetoric is pretty aggressive right now. what do you make of just how hot in campaign is coming? >> it's becoming very hot. republican insiders, members of congress, i talked to several yesterday, they are petrified of the effect that newt gingrich would have at the top of the ticket. they think it could actually hurt their chances of winning the senate and potentially retaining the house. if newt gingrich hits the self-destruct pwutd on could hurt their chances. the grass roots is very excited about newt gingrich. he is starting to pull away. he has double digit leads. there is real concern among the republican king makers that newt

gingrich is not the guy but the polls show a different story, the grass roots like the former speaker. the question is and you got to this earlier, can newt gingrich take a punch? that remains to be seen. mitt romney is starting to punch him. jenna: let's talk a little bit about how you get to gingrich, though, hispanic tree is out there. what a contrast to the president, for example. the president did not have as long of a political career as newt gingrich did, right? when you look in the back story he certainly has dealt a lot with these issues as president. but unlike beginning rer doesn't have that long political history. newt gingrich is a reality show. and i think that in the way like there is everything that is in there. there are all sorts of scandal and policy and issues. if you're mitt romney where do you go first? >> he has a lot of options. newt gingrich has been talking about these the one who balanced the budget with president clinton, a major deal in 1997. so he'll be talking about that a lot. there are other issues. he was admonished by the ethics

committee that a lot of gingrich's former colleagues in the house said he continue even run the house, much less the white house. so why is it that we're going to get behind him now? i think the party could be so divided, and i think the distrust of gingrich is so severe that many congressional republicans will not endorse him even if he wins the nomination. jenna: do you think that is a good thing, though? look at the disapproval ratings of congress, admittedly they are always pretty low. do you think that gives newt gingrich maybe street cred in this election? >> absolutely. and certainly gingrich could do that thing, look washington doesn't want me to win and washington wants steady. we've heard that from members of congress. we want something steady, someone who is reliable. a lot of the gas roots base in the republican party doesn't want steady, they want bold and big visions and they don't think that mitt romney offers that. they like the debate skills of newt gingrich. jenna: let me stop you there

about the big visions part. the "wall street journal" had an editorial story, that newt gingrich's rhetoric sometimes doesn't match his policy. how do you cut through some of that static and find out what the candidates are really b. the loudest normally gets the most attention. >> that is true. i think newt gingrich, he knows he's seen the other candidates get their time in the spotlight and flop. he's got to be very careful, not be defensive. i think a lot of voters out there are saying, listen i see a guy on television that is a very strong debater and could go t orbg e t toe-to-toe with president obama in a debate. they see the guy on television now. mitt romney has to remind voters, here is his past, he wasn't able to run the house, it got chaotic in washington when gingrich was running the lower chamber but that is not

resonating, at least not yet. jenna: karl rove just said this morning if you look at the debates with the gop and you look at the president's approval and disapproval rating that there is a correlation between the two. the more debates the more in the drop o in the poll for the president. it might actually work as we go into more of these debates and see who wins them. thank you very much. nice to have you. jon: talking about the goings on in washington the stage is set now for an epic showdown overextending payroll tax cuts for 160 million americans. democrats and republicans are covering up dueling plans and president obama warns that no one goes home for the holidays if lawmakers cannot come up with a deal. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on capitol hill with more on that. does it sound like a lot of the republican membership have gone from indifferent rent to fired up on this issue, mike? >> reporter: well, jon, yes, a number of republicans thought that the payroll tax holiday hasn't really stimulated the

economy. they were very luke warm about it. others are worried about the impact on the social security trust fund when you take money that is supposed to be going to social security. but when the president stuck his nose into this and said he would reject the package, including the keystone pipeline issue, the message from the rank-and-file to its republican leadership is, let's fight. here is congressman jeff blake. >> people say we can swallow this. but don't back down if the senate, for example, won't go along with the keystone provision, or some of the other pay fors or offsets, then all bets are off. >> reporter: that is where we stand. the bill has been released by the house republicans today. we expect a vote on it early next week, jon. jon: that is a republican point of view. what are the democrats saying about the package. >> reporter: house democratic leader nancy pelosi is doing a briefing of it at this moment. we expect that her language -- we'll be listening carefully to her language. she has said the pipeline

package should not be a part of this payroll tax holiday extension. she has been firmly with the white house in the president's camp. some other democratic reaction we've got even is from congressman emanuel cleaver democrat from missouri saying quote, i do think if i had one minute to vote i probably would vote to accept the deal, but it's not good government. senate majority leader reid say, it does haven't a chance to pass the senate. half a dozen democrats are saying they are in favor of moving forward with the pipeline as it will means jobs. with the pressure building as we come to the end of the year it will be interesting to see if they can get the 60 votes in the senate or not. jon: an interesting clash to watch. mike emanuel, thank you for watching it for us. jenna: a side story here, if you're drinking on the job, drinking i mean alcohol, you probably shouldn't be bragging

about it online especially if you work for a u.s. congressman. peter doocy has this story about some aids that really didn't understand that twitter, facebook is public, peter. they got themselves into trouble. >> reporter: yeah, they got themselves fired, three staffers for democratic congressman rick la larson from washington. they range from an acknowledgment that they were wasting taxpayer money to an acknowledgment that they were too drunk to drive. they were not behind the wheel but they were at work. here is a tame one from rick larson's hrelgt euf assistant san antonio burrows. i hope you don't mind that i'm watching youtube clips of nrvana at work. thanks, you're the best.

that d2r stands for december to remember. the next week makes it sound like the whole december to remember might not even be remembered much because they were drinking so heavily. quote, i'm pretty sure i couldn't pass a field owe sobriety test right now. looking forward to a day in the office, d2r workout shifts. there were personal attacks against their boss, many used profanity. there is one suitable or air but still insulting from after thanksgiving a few weeks ago. i really like d.c., i could have used another day away. the silver lining is i didn't have to see my idiot boss. it only took congressman larson an hour to kick these staffers to the curb. he found out at noon yesterday, the three staffers were gone by 1:10. a spokesman says congressman larson is disappointed by their actions and takes it seriously. he has made it clear that he will not tolerate this kind of

behavior. jenna: good for them, being fired, that's how it should be done. peter, got anything by you as you do your reports? >> i just had a peach snapple. not hitting the hard stuff just yet, jenna. jenna: it's noon. but only 9:00 on the west coast for our viewers. peter, thanks so much. watch those tweets. jon: washington d.c., home of the stupid. occupy protestors in one city ignore an order to dispanned with a police commissioner making a visit to the protest site. no one was arrested. rick folbaum with more on that. >> reporter: the occupiers are still occupying in boston where the deadline came and went. police had sai set a midnight deadline and never enforced it. two people were arrested and a lot of the protestors who had

been there ended up leaving on their own. in san francisco it looks like the movement is beginning to lose some steam. an eventful night wednesday was followed by a pretty quiet one last night. 80 people were arrested and 142 tents cleared from justin herman plaza wednesday. and then last night the protesters seemed split on what to do or where to go. one protester said maybe the best game plan was to lay low and come back again in the spring when the weather gets a little bit better. back to you. jon: rick folbaum thanks. jenna: more than a billion dollars under the management of former new jersey governor john corzine has virtually vanished. he says he has no idea writ is. we have the latest on the money trail there. there is a question too if it is a billion dollars or or less. major hasan was this contact with a radical muslim cleric before the fort hood massacre. now it is being categorized at

workplace violence. we'll find out what geraldo thinks about that when we come back. so i was the guy who was r going to have the heart attack. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. really?

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jon: there is growing outrage over the decision to label the fort hood massacre as a case of work-place violence. army major ha tkal in a san who is the only suspect in the shootings exchanged as many as 20 emails with anwar al-awlaki who was killed by a drone strike in yemen. the deadly shooting that major hasan has been charged with is classified as workplace violence. geraldo rivera is the ann of geraldo at large. he is a fox news senior war correspondent. it seems like kind of a white wash on the part of the army. >> reporter: it is an exercise in political correctness, john.

this is the original report following the shooting, the report prepared for secretary gates protecting the force by an independent panel, including togo west the secretary of the army wet and vernon clark, an admiral, and a fine panel otherwise. what is interesting, as you go through this very lengthy and detailed report, as you can see dozens of pages, the word jihad, or the word islamic radical not mentioned at all. jon: despite the fact that the guy was supposedly climbing on that table and shouting, ala akbar, alaah be great. >> reporter: i think they didn't go there, there has been shootings of soldier on soldier. sergeant john russell killed five of his fellow gi's. maybe they just want to make it color blind. it is extraordinary that there is not a mention, you know, as they talk about things like

watching our commander's musting at u.n. ed to behavioral indicators that signal when individuals may commit violent acts or become radicalized. why didn't they say, as, for example, access to gee hawaiiist web sites. there is really no mention. i think that is really unfortunate, because it seems as if the bureaucracy and political correctness driving the way they posture this. rather than just coming right out and saying, if you see a soldier, whether he's a muslim, a muslim convert or anyone else who starts accessing these radical web sites, islamic or jihaddist web sites that should be a clear indicator that this person is a time bomb. jon: in the days just before the invasion of iraq sergeant hasan akbar rolled a grenade into his superior officers' tents. he killed an air force major and someone else. >> reporter: i covered that knee

was convicted of murder. but nobody called it workplace violence. >> reporter: right, and, you know, he was a muslim convert, and he did, you know, in a hid just way, 101st airborne, just before they went over the berm into iraq, what he did was despicable. they didn't call it workplace violence, no, they called him as he should have been called a murderer. he was convicted. again they didn't go overboard in terms of the jihaddist aspect of it. but again it should have been mentioned. my view is this. it's very simple. i am extremely sensitive to muslims, particularly in the armed forces being, you know, in ways isolated or shunned or distrusted by their fellow soldiers. so if it's not about that, let's say it's not about that. but if it is about that let's be honest with folks and tell them the score. if a guy is talking to anwar al-awlaki over in yemen and he's getting inspiration with 20 different email exchanges then

have you to tell it like it is. jon: seems like the army is turning a blind eye -- >> reporter: they are a government agency. jon: well, yeah. that's a strange one, but it doesn't seem like workplace violence to me. geraldo, thank you. you can catch a lot more of geraldo this weekend, tune into fox news, 10:00pm eastern sunday night gee was commanded for his bravery on the battlefield. he's retired marine sergeant dakota mier. and he received the congressional medal of honor three months ago. he is in the middle of a very different fight. why he's suing his former employer just ahead. shannon gilbert's disappearance one year ago sparked a discovery that led police to ten bodies on new york's long island, all believed to be victims of one serial killer now. breaking news on the discovery of key evidence in a bizarre twist in this murder mystery next. i'm trading everywhere... on one of the most powerful mobile apps out there.

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jon: right now police on long island, new york, finding key evidence in their search for a missing new jersey woman. it was the disappearance of 24-year-old shannon gilbert last year that led them to the work of a serial killer. rick folbaum has more on this new twist in the case. rick. >> reporter: a number of developments in this story that has really baffled law enforcement on long island in new york for a while now. you remember the gruesome discovery of the skeletal remains of ten people off sandbar de, isolated beachfront area of long island. police making those discoveries because they were looking for 24-year-old shannon gilbert who has disappeared. here is what is new, gilbert as it turns out was not among the bodies found. police think they have found some of her belongings, some clothing, a cellphone, a pocketbook, but they haven't found her.

gilbert worked for an escort service and according to her mother was last seen running from the home of a client a few miles from where those personal items turned up. police think they'll find her once they are able to get access to a marshy stretch that's been very tough for the police to get access to. also this week a reversal from police on the other victims. first they were theorizing that several killers were responsible for the murders, all using the same area to unload their victims. police now think, though, that all ten people, eight women, one man and one toddler were all killed by the same serial killer. as we get more information, jon, we'll pass it along. jon: that is very strange, that whole story, rick, thank you. jenna: new developments in a war of words hitting pitting a defense reporter against a medal of honor recipient. dakota meyer is khraoug bas systems. he says his former employer ruined his chances of getting another child because he didn't

toe the line. >> reporter: i've spoken to dakota meyer a couple of times. he says he won't engage in a war of words and is holding himself to a higher standard. as we found in court documents his former supervisor is not holding back. just three months ago meyer was in the white house receiving the nation's highest honor. after repeatedly braving enemy fire to save three dozen lives in afghanistan in 2009. this 23-year-old former marine says his patriotism caused him a civilian job. he began working for bae systems and found out the company was planning to sell a sophisticated thermal optic rifle scope to pakistan. the pakistanis would get the best gear which might wind up in the wrong hands and be used to kill our troops. bae denies this saying they were lower grade sites. he gave his notice and applied for a new job. he says his former supervisor trashed him to his perspective

employers saying he was mentally unstable a problem drinker and not performing tasks assigned. so he sued bae and the supervise her for shrapbd tkoer. that supervisor has filed a response calling meyer's defamation claims groundless. saying he was a mentor and that meyer suffered a traumatic brain injury while at war. he said mr. meyer was not focused on his job and the commitments his made but rather was more focused on his pending star status with miss movie deals, book deals and other endeavors. meyer's attorney says that is flat out false and inconsistent with who dakota myers is. bae says it was not a party to the filing, calling it a marine on marine fight. we'll continue to watch it. jenna: thank you. jon: he says he doesn't know where the money went. former new jersey governor and

senator john corzine testifying on capitol hill yesterday about the disappearance of, oh, $1 billion of client money from mf global when he was the man in charge. could his excuse land him behind bars? [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

jenna: jon corzine's appearance on capitol hill raising new questions about his role in the collapse of mf global and the consequence for that. under the law, apparently, corzine could be charged with a

crime for not knowing what was going on in his company which is what he claimed yesterday during his testimony, a testimony peter barnes was watching very closely. >> reporter: hey, jenna. investigators, of course, are trying to locate about $1.2 billion in missing customer funds at mf global. now, if it was moved and used against the law and against the rules that says customer cash must be segregated, some people could be in trouble. if somebody at mf global did move this money around, they could get prosecuted, and if mr. corzine was in on it, he could get prosecuted. but if he is prosecuted, history suggests he likely faces civil charges and private lawsuits rather than criminal charges. yesterday corps vine offered up -- corzine offered up plenty of standard legal cases, but one particular law passed a decade ago called sarbanes-oxley

requires ceos to personally certify that the proper controls and procedures and financial reporting is taking place in a company including controls over customer cash. and if ceos are caught lying, they could go to jail for five to ten years. corzine signed his certification for all of this in may. >> as i've said repeatedly, we had people, policies and procedures, and be as i've said in my testimony, i don't know whether this is, um, inadvertent. >> reporter: one top republican at that committee hearing yesterday says that investigators have to keep digging. >> there's a lot more information that'll need to be gleaned by investigators about how this happened, was this something that was just a blatant violation of existing rules, was it something that was

criminal in its intent. >> reporter: but the fact is criminal cases are harder to prove than civil cases, and with sarbanes-oxley in particular, jenna, i can find only one ceo that the government prosecuted since that law was passed a year -- excuse me, a decade ago, and he got off. jenna: oh, interesting. the question about where the money is and the i don't know response is still a question that we're looking at today and, obviously, will be until we find that money, right, peter? it's a story we'll continue to watch. peter, thank you so much, and, jon, you have more on this now, that question in particular. jon: yeah. some fascinating testimony from jon corzine yesterday. paul gigot is the editorial page editor of "the wall street journal," he also hosts the journal editorial report on this network. can he get away with that? can he get away with saying, hey, i was the ceo, but i wasn't really responsible? >> well, we'll have to find out what the degree of culpability

was, how much did he know? he says he only discovered the missing funds the day before mf global filed for bankruptcy. but as peter barnes was saying the sarbanes-oxley law which has only been tested once in regard to a ceo's responsibility probably is going to get tested depp in this case. jon: but you said he doesn't even need the restrictions of sarbanes-oxley to have limits or to have the ceo responsible. >> well, the thing that predates sarbanes-oxley is the separation of customer funds from firm funds. firms aren't supposed to be able to trade with customer funds. it's kind of the most basic rule of brokerage. a lot of the money from farmers and ranchers and people who wanted to hedge their crop prices guard against a fall in crop prices. their money was in their own accounts. you can't just dip into that

account anymore than you could in your stock account at merrill lynch and say, you know, i'm going to trade on your behalf. jon: and that's one of the sad parts about this missing $1.2 billion. you know, you hear numbers like that, and you think, oh, it's a bunch of george soros' a lot of family farmers have been hit here. >> absolutely. and their money may have been lost, other money has been frozen, so they can't use it. let's not only focus on corzine here, okay? we've got to focus on the regulators. they've been telling us they need more authority to regulate the financial system. and here we are, they couldn't even use the authority they had, and they had plenty of it, to stop the most basic kind of financial regulation, and that is really raising a question about who was the cop on the beat, and how much more power should we give these people if they can't do regulation 101? jon: jon corzine was the head of goldman sachs, he was a united states senator, he was the governor of new jersey before he went on to head mf global.

is it possible that he could go to jail? >> i think given the legal language he used in that testimony yesterday, it's very obvious to me that his lawyers are conscious of that vulnerability, and jon corzine is conscious of that vulnerability. jon: the answer seemed a little rehearsed s what you're saying. >> well, he wanted to lay it out. rehearsed, but also couched in the language that could serve as a defense against sarbanes-oxley. jon: all right. i'm sure you'll be talking about it more on the journal editorial report. paul, thank you. he hosts that report every day -- i'm sorry, every saturday, 2 p.m. eastern here on fox news channel. jenna: well, state governments drowning in debt now slashing their budgets over the last few years in response, so one of the questions we have today is how is spending actually going up? dan springer with more on this from seattle. dan? >> reporter: yeah, jenna, it's because politicians really at all levels have a different

definition of what a budget cut is. they say they're cutting way back when, in fact, all they're doing is spending a little less than what they had hoped to spend. they are actually spending a lot more. take washington state, for example. the governor is calling for a big sales tax increase to avoid $2 billion in spending cuts. she says the state has already cut to the bone by chopping $10 billion, but her numbers don't quite add up. total state spending rose $2 billion since 2008, state revenue increased during that period, but not as much as expected. >> because of the economy we have increases in our caseloads, we have more people needing the services that state government provides, we have more kids in school, we have a few more people in prison. >> reporter: and washington state is not alone. according to the national association of state budget officers, total state expenditures hit a record $1.6 trillion in 2010, that's a 5% increase over the record set in

2009. it was made possible by the huge spike in federal spending thanks in large part to the stimulus bill. it is up, that federal spending is up 93% the last decade, and federal money now accounts for more than a third of all state expenditures. >> the real world where we are is if i have more money to spend this year than last year, even if it's not as much as i wanted, that's an increase. so state government has been having increases steadily, just not as high as legislators would like. >> reporter: fiscal conservatives say the way to cut government is to take away the collective bargaining rights from state workers, and as we saw in wisconsin and ohio, that is a very tough sell. jenna? jenna: interesting. so interesting to see how difficult it is to just stop spending, just stop it. and interesting to see that it keeps on going up with everything. >> reporter: yep. jenna: dan, appreciate it as always, thank you. >> reporter: okay. jon: president obama seems to be taking a new tone when it comes to talking about republicans who

want to replace him. what he's saying that's different. we'll get into that. also, the last traces of a missing colorado attorney were his car, his keys and his faithful dog. well, after nearly five years, royal daniel has just been arrested. where he's been and what he's been doing all this time. ♪ are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholester. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪

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jenna: well, another story proving you can run, but you can't hide. a colorado attorney who vanished nearly five years ago without a trace just arrested halfway across the country. rick, you have more on this? >> reporter: this guy was on the run for a little bit, his name's royal daniel iii, his friends call him scoop, and he was arrested by u.s. border patrol agents trying to get back into the united states. he was traveling on a bus from mexico. almost five years ago, jenna, he

apparently faked his own death. he called 911 from his phone and hung up. he left behind his car, a key, a pair of broken glasses, even his dog, a golden retreefer named benny. the town of breckenridge was gripped in fear thinking he could have been the victim of a crime. he stands accused of stealing around half a million dollars from his clients and taking off. he should be extradited back to colorado soon. a former girlfriend said that she was shocked to hear of his arrest, she figured some of the criminals he once represented made good on their threats against himment scoop daniels now facing up to 18 years in prison on felony charges related to theft and commercial bribery. back to you. jenna: i kind of like that nickname, "scoop," maybe for you, rick. [laughter] >> reporter: sounds like it could be a journal fist. jenna: you're not going anywhere though. >> reporter: i'm right here. jon: we'll keep our eye on him. right now there's less than a month to go before the iowa caucuses, and the republican

race remains wide open, and even though the primaries have yet to begin, the obama campaign seems to be shifting into a higher gear. let's talk to kirsten powers, judith miller, both are fox news contributors. kirsten, about that speech that the president gave in kansas earlier this week. did it, it was described as sort of taking a new tone, a less optimistic tone about the country. do you agree? >> many some ways, i guess, but i have to say it really did appeal to a lot of the liberals, it's what they really wanted to hear. they felt that he had finally sort of come around to, you know, to being the person that they thought, you know, thought he would be and be talking the way they thought he would be talking. so it was probably more directed at trying to gin up, you know, support among his base which i think it did. jon: judy, was it smart politics? the president in the past in state of the union addresses and so forth has expressed

confidence in the american dream. now he seemed to be saying, hey, you know, middle class, you are in trouble because the rich people are manipulating the system. >> right, jon. i think that what we've seen now is a decision by the president and his people that even though many people had told them that they needed to move to the center, that what they really need to do is to shore up and to energize the base. and so you get this repetition of the class warfare theme, the republicans are going to take all of your benefits away, the scare tactics that are, i think, having an effect. and you see that the president is very energized himself by the campaign. that's where his comfort zone is. he loves campaigning. and so this is kind of a natural, if unorthodox strategy at a time when independents are likely to decide the next presidential race. jon: is that the hope and change that people voted for, kirsten? >> i mean, i don't -- this whole

class warfare that everybody throws around makes it sound really terrible to suggest that income inequality is a bad thing. it is a bad thing, and the president should have been talking about it a long time ago, in my opinion. this is something that's been growing and growing and growing, the problem just gets worse, and the only time it was ever this bad was right before the great depression. so it's, you know, i think it's a serious issue, it's something he should be more engaged on. it does matter if people, you know, if we're going into a country where there's such a disconnect between middle class and the rest of the people where you can't get ahead when you're in the middle class, i mean, i'm kind of surprised when i hear people describing it as a negative thing for him to be saying this. jon: well, i guess the question and something that the media should be covering, judy, is, you know, if there's no upward mobility in the middle class s that the fault of the wealthy? >> well, look, it's the fault of a system which has ceased to respond to the needs of the middle class.

i mean, i think kirsten's right in terms of the substance of what we're talking about, growing income inequality, the fact that the middle class is struggling. yes, those powerful issues, but i think you have to divorce the substance from the political calculation that this president is making about the best way to win re-election. and that's, that's what i was addressing my comments to about what i think is motivating the shift in direction. jon: as the president tries to win re-election, he's trying to figure out, i guess, which of the republicans is likeliest to win the nomination. he seems to be directing more fire these days at newt gingrich. originally, the white house was totally concerned about mitt romney. is that a smart, smart posture, kirsten? >> well, i haven't seen the president expending that much time on newt gingrich. i mean, i certainly think that it would be unwise for him to do that if he did because he's in a much better position running

against newt gingrich. certainly, the white house believes that, and the expectation is still that romney will be the nominee and that romney is a more difficult candidate to beat. so it makes more sense for the president to be spending time on romney, in my opinion. jon: well, and romney for his part originally ignored all of the other challengers in the field, but now, judy, he seems to be taking on newt gingrich pretty directly. >> well, he finally has to. i mean, he was completely disappearing act, a no-show from a lot of the normal to and fro of this campaign. i mean, ben smith of politico said that he was in a mittness protection program. [laughter] nobody could find him. now all of a sudden he's having to show up for the sunday talk show circuits and to make his voice be heard because people are wondering, you know, who is he, where is he, what does he believe and, yes, when newt is now ahead in three of the primary states that are crucial, you know, iowa, south carolina

and florida, if he's not going to mobilize now, when is mitt romney going to mobilize? jon: real quickly, what about this debate that donald trump is going to be moderating? there's been so much written about whether or not this is a good idea. judy, what do you think about that? >> i just think this is a huge distraction. i mean, my gosh, how many debates have we had, and where is it written that only news people have to be moderators of debates? i mean, the amazing thing is that trump himself cast, cast aspersions on his own independence and ability to be a fair-minded moderator by insisting today that he was not ruling himself out from his own presidential race. so this is one that i think will make great television and be very interesting for people to watch if it happens. jon: he likes to keep his names in the headlines, that's for sure. >> he does. jon: thank you both. kirsten power, judy miller, we appreciate it. >> thank you. jon: just a taste of what our panel has to say.

tune in to "news watch" tomorrow at 2:30 eastern time. we'll be right back. jenna: we actually have a little bit more coming up. a church that stood in the shadows of the twin towers totally destroyed on 9/11, its story next. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents: the cold truth. i habe a cohd. and i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] sorry, buddy. truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose.

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jenna: now to a modern day story of a church reborn. for a decade the congregation of st. nicholas greek orthodox church has fought for the right to rebuild in lower manhattan. their church, the only religious building that was completely destroyed on 9/11. today they are celebrating light at the end of a very, very long tunnel, indeed. lauren green is live across the newsroom with more.

>> reporter: it was the rebuilding of this church, completes the restoration plans of the world trade center complex, and this church knows its future foundation will be forever tied to the past. the tiny greek orthodox parish of st. nicholas is finally celebrating. >> relief. not only me, everybody. >> reporter: the terror attacks of september 11th destroyed the church that sat in the shadows of the twin towers. for years the church battled new york's port authority over ownership of the property where the church once stood. the parish even filing a lawsuit against the city. but the legal battle is now resolved, and this week church members honored their patron saint's feast day on the grounds of what will be a resurrected house of worship. >> it's been a very long struggle. it's really been an act of faith. we've been doing it for ten years, and we're ecstatic that we finally have an agreement. >> reporter: st. nicholas will be rebuilt on a new foundation about 200 feet from its original

spot. >> the engineering studies showed that that particular area was suitable for building a church on top, so we were very happy to be able to come to an agreement with the port authority. >> reporter: the murder of thousands of innocents gives the church a new spiritual mandate. >> 3,000 of our fellow citizens died there that day. that can't be forgotten. our church was destroyed that day. the fact it's being built, we think, has tremendous spiritual importance for the site. we're including in this space kind of a multipurpose, interfaith component so that if a person were not comfortable entering into an orthodox christian house of worship, they would be comfortable entering into a memorial space. >> reporter: now, the church will begin construction in about two years when a parking area is complete underground. in the meantime, the church will search for an architect to design its new church for its new future. jenna: thank you for sharing that story, lauren. quite a bit of resilience and

faith on the side of the church to get that done. >> reporter: absolutely. jenna: a really remarkable story for this friday. thank you. jon: good for them. will there be a game changer in iowa? so much attention on newt gingrich and middle romney in the race, but don't count out this guy, ron paul. the texas congressman joins megyn kelly next hour to comment on some brand new polls from the first in the nation caucus state. "america live" just minutes away. daddy, come in the water! somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to theool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone.

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jon: our educational system and our kids are subject to all kinds of criticism these days. when they do something right we often do not give them credit. listen for a moment for a positive example of what our kids and educators are doing right. [music playing] jon: pay attention to that tall young man in the back there on the