where newt gingrich is scheduled to meet with supporters any moment now. gingrich picked up a big endorsement this morning from governor rick perry as he left the presidential race earlier today. but the former speaker now has to deal with an interview set to air tonight on abc news. his ex-wife, mary ann, she was his second wife, is set to paint the former house speaker in a negative light. take a listen to a clip abc has released on what we will hear later today. >> i said to him, newt, we've been married a long time, and he said, yes, but you want me all to yourself. calista doesn't care what i do. >> what was he saying to you, do you think? >> he was asking to have an open marriage, and i refused. >> he wanted an open marriage? >> yeah. that i accept the fact that he has somebody else in his life. >> and you said? >> no.

no. that is not a marriage. megyn: speaker gingrich addressed the issue this morning saying he's got more important things to worry about. >> i'm not going to say anything negative about mary ann. my two daughters, kathy and jackie, have sent a letter to the president of abc news saying from a family perspective they think this is totally wrong, they think abc should not air anything like this, and that intruding into family things that are a decade, more than a decade old are simply wrong. now, i'll have my daughters speak for it. i'm sure they'd be glad to chat with you about it. i'm not going to comment beyond that because i'm focused on the big issues that concern the american people. megyn: chris stirewalt is the host of "power play" on foxnews.com live. chris, you know, it's one of those days for newt gingrich because the new polls just out have some great news for him in south carolina. he has really gotten a bounce after his fox news performance,

i mean, his performance in the fox news debate. this is from rasmussen reports showing him at 33%, now the front runner in south carolina. rasmussen attributing that to the debate performance, because it was taken after that, just now on "happening now." american research group also putting newt at the top of the leaderboard at 33%, romney at 32. it's a good development for him. and then we get this news, that the second wife has chosen now to speak with abc news. is it any accident the timing, and is it a significant development in the race? >> well, it certainly could be a significant development, and be certainly if you're mitt romney, you're very happy about this because your hope would be two things. one, that it bites into some of gingrich's momentum in south carolina and, two, it shifts the discussion away from where it had been, and where it had been for a long time, couple of weeks really, was where mitt romney got his money, how he pays his taxes and what he does to hold on to his money including the

stuff about shielding it from uncle sam. so that's really good news for mitt romney. interesting development today, though, is that rick perry who his esteem among republicans, especially evangelical christians and conservative voters, far outstrips that 2% that you see in the polls. they may not have been voting for him, but they like him, they respect him x he spoke directly to the gingrich issue with the second wife today basically saying none of us are perfect and that their faith, the evangelical, the christian faith for all christians is predicated on a concept of forgiveness and grace. perry spoke directly to it, and that will be helpful to gingrich. megyn: that's right, he talked about redemption, and the thing about the mary ann gingrich interview, chris, you tell me, but it sounds like it's going to be very similar to the interview she gave to "esquire magazine" back in 2010. it's not like the american public didn't know he had two ex-wives, the details of the ends of those marriages have been made really public. he's stated publicly that he

does not have a relationship with mary ann gingrich anymore, it's clear it ended badly. so does this really advance the ball, and, you know, does it take it to another level, though, when she's on camera saying these things? >> it definitely takes it to another level. but the question here is, is there really a bombshell here, or is it more he said/she said, the way that she, you know, you heard her in the clip there basically suggesting that gingrich wanted to continue to carry on with his then-paramour and continue to stay married. that's an accusation that, you know, gingrich either won't rebut or will find a way to brush it off. but you take out of all of in the possibility for voters who are starting to feel more sympathetic to gingrich and you put perry on top of this, there's a chance for a backlash. people feel like abc is banging up on newt with -- ganging up on newt with his second wife, and you're right, this is 12 years old, and maybe they're not going to be interested in hearing it.

megyn: yeah. it's been an interesting week for the former speaker, hasn't it? all the accolades we got after the debate, then the polls surge, and then this happens. in any event, we'll know soon enough. chris, thank you. >> you bet. megyn: well, the fallout over abc's decision to air this interview tonight, there was reportedly a heated back and forth within the news organization about when they should air this, should they wait until after the south carolina primary. they have decided to air it tonight. after a debate that's going to take place on another channel, but they're going to release excerpts as you saw moments ago prior to that. there will be questions raised by the american people about the timing of the interview, the timing of it release and about mary ann gingrich's credibility. of course, she must have done that before she sat down with abc. it's the first time she's done this on camera since the divorce, we're told. abc news had a debate about whether it would be unethical to

run this mary ann gingrich interview so close to the primary, and we will take a look at that right here in just a bit. well, all of that overshadowing another big development today in the m campaign. new results out of iowa showing mitt romney did not win the first caucus by eight votes. in the final official tally, he finished 34 votes behind rick santorum. despite the surprise flip, iowa's republican party is not saying that santorum has won. they refuse to name him the official winner because they say results from eight of the state's precincts are missing. even though they were, apparently, missing when they declared mitt romney the winner. so instead they are calling it a virtual tie. that's gonna be the end of the story in iowa right now. how are the history books going to account for that one? little asterisk after the names. well, president obama launching his first television ad of the re-election campaign. the advertisement focused on defending his record when it

comes to energy. take a listen. >> independent watchdogs call this president's record on ethics unprecedented and america's clean energy industry, 2.7 million jobs and expanding rapidly. for the first time in 13 years, our dependence on foreign oil is below 50%. president obama kept his promise to toughen ethics rules and strengthen america's energy economy. megyn: coming up, we'll debate whether or not this ad signals new worries for the white house over the solyndra scandal, the keystone pipeline and rising gas prices. why did it come out now? why does it focus on energy? we'll talk about it. well, there's also new fallout today over the obama administration's decision to deny permits to build the keystone oil pipeline. the $7 billion project would run from canada down to texas. the state department has been reviewing the pipeline since 2008, but in a statement president obama blasted congress for setting what he called an arbitrary deadline. recall, he wanted to postpone

his decision until after the election, then congress forced him to set a deadline of this month. he is not happy about that, he blasted them for doing that, suggested it did not allow for a proper environmental review and said no to the pipeline. house speaker john boehner now accusing the president of putting his political base ahead of the nation's economy. >> president obama is destroying tens of thousands of american jobs and shipping american energy security to the chinese. there's really just no other way to put it. the president is selling out american jobs for politic. megyn: well, in its decision the state department says that transcanada, which is the company behind the pipeline, can reapply if it lays out a different route for the pipeline. fox news alert now on growing concerns over the cruise ship that is teetering underwater -- on an underwater

cliff right off the coast of italy. i mean, look at the picture. you can't -- i mean, it's right on the edge of a steep cliff that we can't see underwater. the rescue drivers have been searching the wreckage for the 21 people still missing, and they have just hours before a powerful storm hits bringing rough seas to the area and threatening to push this ship off of that cliff and send it plummeting to the bottom of the sea with its half million gallons of toxic fuel still onboard. greg burke is streaming live to us now from italy. greg? >> reporter: megyn, you know, this is such a beautiful place, it's so sad to see so many people showing up here for the wrong reasons as family members of those still unaccounted for are here just hoping for something. now, today has been important for that search operation with divers taking advantage of relatively calm seas today before they do get rough. they moved into some of the more difficult parts of the ship

including a staging areased during the evacuation that had collapsed. they're hoping they will find some people there. rougher seas are expected tomorrow and over the weekend, as much as six-foot waves, perhaps. that, of course, will make search work very, very risky as that ship can move and also increase the possibility to have ship moving drastically and causing an oil spill. now, the captain of the costa concordia remains in the middle of this, people getting used to seeing the face of francesco schettino. there's new audio showing him talking to the coast guard well after the accident happened, and he talks about a blackout but says nothing about it hitting the rocks. and also investigators looking into a phone conversation between the captain and the company, the owners of the cruise line, before he even spoke with coast guard. so the crash happened well after the crash and talking to the owners, what was that all about. and finally, megyn, spoke with a big ship broker in this, and he said what's probably going to happen is what they call a

constructive total loss. it would cost more to repair this than to build it new, so it's a huge economic loss. the owner, costa cruises, they used to say this was one of the safest ships out there but that, of course, all depends who's behind the wheel. megyn? megyn: indeed. greg, thanks. well, hollywood causing some major new concerns for president obama's fundraising efforts. coming up, why some of tinseltown's most powerful moguls are suddenly refusing to make donations toward the president's re-election campaign. and speaking of hollywood, actor mark wahlberg apologizing for comments he made about the 9/11 hijackings. we'll play you what he said about the terror attacks that did not sit well with the victims' families. and u.s. military chief martin dempsey heading to israel today as a crisis grows between the u.s. and iran. the visit coming after president obama reportedly reached out directly to iran's supreme leader. we will ask ambassador john bolton to weigh in on that next.

>> if iranians are serious about restarting talks, then they need to respond to that letter. >> i think it's very difficult to have talks with a country around the world who's vowed to do everything but to wipe us off the face of the earth. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

megyn: welcome back, folks. we are watching an event in south carolina where newt gingrich is set to speak in moments, a meet and greet with the voters down there as his poll numbers surge, and that is the good news for the former speaker today. that shot is streaming to us, so you can see it breaks up every so often. in any event, the speaker will be there, and we are waiting to see whether he will address this other item in the news for speaker gingrich and that is, of course, his second wife coming out and giving an interview with abc news that is set to air tonight that is set to reflect the speaker in an unflattering

light, to say the least, suggesting that he asked her for an open marriage so that he could be be with the woman who would ultimately become his third wife and so on. we're going to talk at about 2:30 with a panel about, you know, is this sour grapes? would you like it if your ex was given a national platform to come out and say all the bad things you did, or is this legitimate when somebody's running for president? we're taking your thoughts on it now at kelly@foxnews.com. we'll talk about it with our panel at 2:30, and we will continue to await speaker gingrich at that event to see if he addresses it directly to the camera and to the rest of us. well, the nation's top military officer arriving in tel aviv today. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, army general martin dempsey, will be meeting with israeli officials about the growing threat of iran. just one day after reports surfaced that president obama has reached out directly to iran's supreme leader for talks. john bolton is the former u.s.

ambassador to the united nations and a fox news contributor. ambassador, welcome to you. i want to start with this. the reports yesterday were that this is coming from the iranians, that president obama had reached out directly in a letter to iran's supreme leader and asked for direct talks and also issued a warning that they'd better not close the straits of hormuz. today the reports are that an -- suggesting one -- obama administration official denied that obama sent a letter, that the president sent a letter, but didn't deny that, you know, that he had reached out and talked about how communication is being delivered through, quote, other dip 40matic messages -- diplomatic messages. so they did not appear to deny we've requested direct talks. i want to get your reaction to that first, sir. >> well, it sounds from what the white house is saying on the record that, in fact, a communication was made. now, what form it took, was it a letter, was it here's a diplomatic word for you, a

nonpaper -- [laughter] it says exactly the same thing, or or maybe it was written in the margins of a newspaper. who knows what it was and, really, who should care? megyn: that's how it's done? >> what's that? megyn: this is how it's done, i guess. >> there are lots of ways to do it. so you have plausible deniability. but what does not seem to be denied here is that, in fact, there was a direct communication from the president. and if that's the case, i think it is humiliating for the united states. it is to the mullahs in tehran, this is such a sign of weakness that i'm sure they did the equivalent of popping champagne corks. for all the plusser and all the -- bluster and all the propaganda about how sanctions are tightening, the president asking for negotiations is like throwing a lifeline to the mullahs, and i'm sure they're going to take it. megyn: why would you do that? why would you bypass -- i mean, the administration is saying, again, communication of u.s. views is being delivered through other diplomatic messages, we

don't have any other details besides that. i don't see a specific denial thus far on, you know, the direct reachout. why would we do that? president obama suggested when he was running for office that he would, he thought it might be helpful to talk to our enemies and making some progress, but why? >> well, i think you've put your finger on it. let me come back to the communication. we don't have an embassy in tehran. the swiss government is what's called our protecting power, and it is the channel through which we communicate when we want to with the government in iran. and i have strong reason to think that's the way this was done. but let me come back to the question about why do it. because this is an ideological point, indeed, a nearly theological point for the administration, that the president said in his inaugural address we have an open hand if only they will unclench their fists, both with respect to iran and north korea and others. and, you know, for three years they haven't found a way to

unclench that fist, and they're afraid if they admit that negotiations have, in fact, failed, that it will reveal the fundamental flaws in their policy. now, if negotiations start, iran will use it to their advantage. they start from a position of comparative strength when we're the ones that are effectively pleading for it. and i'll tell you what happens next, once the negotiations start again, i can hear it now, people in the state department, people in foreign ministries in europe will say, well, let's not have any few sanctions -- new sanctions, let's not disrupt the process that we have going on. so i've thought for quite some time it's amazing iran didn't come back to the negotiating table so they could do that. now it looks like maybe they will. megyn: it's interesting because we have, you know, led on a tough new round of sanctions against iran, we want the e.u. to agree e -- to begin to ban imports, but we're postponing

the implementations of those sanctions, i guess, for six months until we can see where things stand, and it looks like we're really reaching out to stop some sort of conflict from erupting in the middle east, sending our joint chiefs of staff to e reel. how do you read it? >> i think the obama administration is deathly afraid of israel taking the step that everybody's watching to see whether they will decide to use preemptive force against iran's nuclear weapons program. the central issue here, i think, for the white house does not seem to be iran getting nuclear weapons, it seems to be conflict in the middle east that would drive up the price of oil, potentially disrupt the economic recovery and endanger the president's re-election. that's why i fear that one of the most lasting legacies of the obama administration will be an iran with nuclear weapons. megyn: ambassador john bolton, thank you, sir. >> thank you. megyn: well, a new survey may have stumbled across the real reason why america is not producing more jobs.

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megyn: new developments in the mysterious death of an activist pushing for women's rights in iran. the 30-year-old scientist was gunned down in the driveway of her home down in houston, texas, and now there are new questions about whether her activist past could have play add role in her death. trace gallagher has more live from our west coast newsroom. trace? >> reporter: very much, megyn, now, in the process of elimination. police are kind of going through and talking to those who knew her best, trying to rule them out. remember, the time she was shot, she was talking to her ex-boyfriend on the phone. but at the time she also had a

current boyfriend. police have now interviewed the ex, the current boyfriend, and they say neither one are persons of interest of suspects, and there were no threats made against her prior to shooting. but we have now learned that back in 2010 she did, in fact, file an assault report against a man at that time that she claimed was her best friend saying that he grabbed her by him a number of times. no charges were filed, but police are now trying to track down that man. this video from the houston chronicle is from a protest back in 2010. this is a group that she actually founded, the hope for this group is to get regime pushing for women's rights in iran. police were asked straight out if because of her activism this might have been a retaliation shooting. here's what they said. >> we're looking into that possibility. there has been no indication

that it is some type of hate crime. some group, you know, targeting her specifically. we haven't received any information about that. >> reporter: it's very interesting, megyn, because we have now learned that when she pulled into her townhouse complex, she was shot in the parking lot, but she was in an area of the parking lot that she never goes to. she does not have a parking pass for that side of the parking lot, never parks there. it's interesting that she was on the phone in a different part of the parking lot than she's ever been to before. police are now investigating that as well. beyond that, still no motive, still no suspects and very few clues in this. megyn: trace, thanks. well, the obama campaign ruling out its first -- rolling out its first ad touting the president's record on energy. we'll debate on whether this ad signals new worries the white house may have over the solyndra scandal and the oil pipeline. and a tiger stuck on a roof.

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megyn: fox news alert as we await comments from newt gingrich, streaming live to us, the picture is, from south carolina where he is about to do a meet and greet with voters. we will see whether he will address the latest controversy today emerging with respect to his second wife granting what some are describing as an explosive interview with abc news. what we've heard so far seems to mirror what she already told "esquire magazine" back in 2010. we ran a clip at the top of the show suggesting he wanted an open marriage once he had found the woman who would, ultimately, become his third wife. it's not particularly new, it is the first time we've seen her say it on camera. we don't know what else will be in the report. we are told that speaker gingrich was asked about this by one of our fox news producers today, and we have his reaction, that exchange will be feeding back to us momentarily on tape. but we will wait to see whether he addresses it with voters or whether it comes up. when the media asks you about

it, you can blow it off. it's different when you have somebody who you're asking to vote for you to talk about it. our viewers are e-mailing in a lot of comments on this. you know, some saying it's fair game, others saying as william in georgia said after a decade and a half, i think this interview says more about the ex-wife and where she is in her life than newt gingrich. but we're still taking all of your thoughts at kelly@foxnews.com. one of the most recognizable names in american business filing for bankruptcy protection today. kodak spent more than 130 years innovating the photography industry, but the company struggled to find its way through the digital age. so what does today's chapter 11 filing mean? look at those pictures, right? fox business network's ashley webster's here live with a look back and forward. hi, ashley. >> reporter: yeah, hi, megyn. it's a sad day, this has been an

american icon for so long, it was founded back in 1888 and basically ruled the photography world. but things kind of caught up to kodak, and it was left behind in the dust, certainly in a digital world. and today filing for bankruptcy protection meaning it's run out of cash and needs to restructure in order to try and survive. it does have $950 million in credit out there already from citigroup, but the big question is what happens now, what happens to all the products and services? well, in the short answer to that, megyn, absolutely nothing. things go on as normal. the bigger question for kodak is how does it proceed from here? does it try and sell off most of its business and focus on one particular area? there is speculation that it will eventually end up in the printer business and the ink jet printer business where they believe they can make the most profit. as we can see from these classic commercials, everybody trusted their memories to kodak, so it is a sad day, no doubt.

megyn: sure is. ashley, thank you. well, president obama -- stand by. all right. president obama launching his first television ad of his re-election campaign. the advertisement is focused on defending his energy record. take a listen. >> independent watchdogs call this president's record on ethics unprecedented, and america's clean energy industry 2.3 million jobs and expanding rapidly. for the first time in 13 years, our dependence on foreign oil is below 50%. president obama kept his promise to toughen ethics rules and strengthen america's energy economy. megyn: this ad coming just one day after the president said no to the keystone pipeline project. joining me now to discuss it, tara dowdell, former aide to governor mcgreevey and political strategist, and tucker carlson, editor-in-chief of the daily caller.com. thank you both so much for being here. so, you know, the timing, you tell me, tucker, is it coincidental that he defends his

record on reducing our dependence on foreign oil a day after he says no to keystone? [laughter] >> i doubt they were related. that was a decision, i think, that will come back to haunt him. but this ad, by any definition, is pretty bold. the word chutzpah comes to mind. it literally contains a photograph of president clinton stand anything front of solar panels. takes a lot to do that if you're the guy whose administration backed solyndra which lost the taxpayers half a billion dollars on a crummy solar deal. um, this is not so much a defense of his record as it is an effort to whip the base up, his base, into some enthusiasm. it's not an effort to reach out to independents. megyn: this ad is air anything six critical battlegroux>x[9l states, tara, and it comes apparently on the heels of the president getting hammered by karl rove's group, and they've been hammering him in those same six states. you're talking iowa, wisconsin, michigan, ohio, virginia and north carolina. that's fine, you know, the one strike and the other strikes

back, but is it true because there are questions being raised about, for example, he touts 2.7 million clean energy american jobs, but according to the brookings report that he cites president obama didn't create or maintain those jobs, it's just that they exist in that sector. >> well, it is, megyn, you're right. it is a sector that it's kind of hard to capture in the numbers was it's actually broader than just solar which is what tucker talked about. we're talking about wind, algae, and a lot of these jobs have existed, and they've been created and/or saved. so i think that's the point the president's making. the reality is that this is one of the fastest-growing sectors in our economy, and we do have to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. in the bp oil spill didn't teach us anything, it's that the devastating effects if something goes wrong with oil, what they can have on small business owners, and we're talking billions of dollars in losses for small business owners around the gulf coast. misery, people died. so we really have to get to the

point where we're looking at other alternatives. and the president has made unprecedented investments in those other alternative sources. megyn: but what, but, tucker, i mean, why would he given what we've seen with solyndra and -- why would he be touting the green energy thing? would you expect that would be something he wouldn't necessarily want to highlight? >> right. only a candidate who is trying to get his own people excited would run an ad like this. this is trying to get the left excited. here's the bottom line. high energy costs mean fewer jobs. low energy costs mean more jobs. gas prices, to name one example, have doubled since he was inaugurated. we've got plenty of energy in this country. we're sitting son only of the big -- on some of the biggest natural gas and coal reserves in the world, and yet this administration has made it much more difficult to get to those reserves i think the pipeline killing yesterday is just one example. energy's more expensive, bottom line. megyn: we've been told the white house watches gas prices very

carefully because that is one americakl)an or woman can understand. it really does impact a loot of folks.#u/# know, you heard tucker say they've doubled now since when he took office and the touting of the reduced american dependence on foreign oil, you know, to a recordlevel, do you not think that that is a direct attempt to assuage amerid5uy concerns about rising gas prices? >> i do think the president does want to assuage americans' concerns about gas prices, megyn, you're exactly right. and he should be doing that. a lot of the reasons why we've seen the increases in gas prices are not just about some of the there has been unprecedented unrest in the middle east, and that has had a direct impact on gas prices. a lot of that unrest is outside of the control of the president. also, when we look at the oil markets and speculation, that also drives up the price of gas in this country. the bottom line here is that oil is a finite resource. we spend billions of dollars

protecting oil fields aroundñj$e world. this pipeline also is estimated to create jobs, but if you look at the independent analysis that's not done by the oil industry, it's only going to create 5,000 jobs. and that's independent so i think the bigger picture is about creating a new economy where we're not so heavily reliant on oil, but we're reliant on other means to produce energy in this country so that we don't have to suffer every time there's some incident somewhereçó else. about appealing to his base which this ad may very well do, but, of course, the president, you know, he not only needs to fire up the base, he's got to get the folks in the middle, and there seems to be a battle for their hearts and minds. will doing something like reminding folks of solyndra and talking about foreign oil a day after he's said no to keystone backfire with that group? >> i actually don't think their plan is to win a massive number of independent voters.

i actually think the obama re-election effort is focused on winning people who voted for him very likely -- megyn: but that included a large number of independents. >> yeah, some independents, but if you watch what they've been doing over the past couple months, they're focused on hard-core voters. that's the key. rhetorical case to people who might vote republican, might vote democrat. i don't think they've given anything to the middle at all. i don't think it's a good strategy, personally, but i'm not running the campaign. megyn: well, six states now being deluged with ads. if you live on a coastal state, it's not likely to be you anytime soon, unless it's florida. thanks, guys, so much. >> thanks for having me. megyn: newt gingrich has just arrived now at this event in south carolina. we expect to hear from him shortly. there's a lot going on for the gingrich campaign today. we told you about his ex-wife's interview with abc news, but he

has gotten some significant good news today as well. governor rick perry has dropped out of the presidential race and in doing so endorsed newt gingrich in some pretty supportive terms. not only that, not one, but two new polls just out, one by american research group, one by rasmussen reports show that newt gingrich is now the front runner in south carolina. a tate that he's devoted considerable energy to and now 48 hours away, we are told that he is the front runner. in three minutes, we'll speak to the two party chairs from the state of south carolina about what will make the difference in these final critical hours. and it's like a scene out of the movie "hangover." a tiger stuck on the roof of a business. the ending you have to see to believe, coming up. and a gruesome update to the story we brought to you yesterday. los angeles police discovering a severed head near the home of brad pitt and angelina jolie. we'll tell you what they just found as well nearby.

>> the area that these body parts was found was all within about 50 yards of each other. so it's a small area where the body parts are cob taped, but we've expanded our search greatly. we're very hopeful that this hand will provide us with enough evidence to get fingerprints. again, it's hopeful. it's being cared for by the coroner now. [ male annouer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for unsurpassed fru and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion. could've had a v8.

megyn: fox news alert from south carolina, we are now seeing newt gingrich arrive at this event where he is going to be doing a meet and greet with voters. it's been quite a day for the former house speaker as he surges in the polls in south carolina, gets a big endorsement from governor rick perry who dropped out of the presidential race this morning, and finds himself receiving questions about an interview his second wife hasq6l given to abc news tt is said to air on that broadcast network tonight. we will wait to listen to the former speaker to see what he has to say about all of this happening with respect to his

campaign moments from now. want to give you a look at the latest polls which i just mentioned which the speaker's got to be very happy about. this is from rasmussen reports showing he is now at 33% in the presidential race in south carolina. mitt romney second at 31%, and rick perry has 2% of the vote. of course, he dropped out this morning, so where those will go, we do not know, but that's a significant surge for newt in south carolina. rasmussen was not the only one reporting that, american research group had the same numbers or similar numbers showing -- this is a real clear politics average which still shows romney ahead in south carolina, but the rassie numbers are more recent showing gingrich atop the leaderboard there. so that is good news for him. rasmussen was on earlier suggesting this was directly related to gingrich's performance in the debate hosted by fox news channel on monday niax we want to, we listened to the former speaker earlier this

morning where the issue of this ex-wife giving the interview came up. do we have that sound bite, tom? no, we don't have it. all right. once we have it, we'll play it for you, because itñi did come , and he was asked about it. while we wait for the former speaker, i want to bring in two men you may know. dick harpootlian, and in a moment we pe to have chad conley who's the chairman of south carolina's republican party.gx-n and we had you two, both of you on before, dick, to talk about south carolina politics. well, as we wait for chad to join you, i want to ask you what is the history in south carolina? do they tend to decide late, does this last minute surge for gingrich bode very well for him, or should we be paying more attention to the real clear politics average which shows, you know, a much different race between romney and beginning -- gingrich? >> well, megyn, i think what the polls indicate is what we all feel on the groundib!= here whs that gingrich is trending up, and romney's trending down.

now, where that intersection is, i think, is anybody's guess. but what is clear, the fox debate on monday night was clearly the turning point because it not only -- romney looked flustered, incompetent, didn't have the answers to questions, but then gingrich, if you turn on tv here, he's talking about the bain capital issue which, apparently, is resonating that romney, basically, put profits over people. and in addition to that, he's talking about that romney signed a bill banning assault weapons, he made abortions on demand free in massachusetts. i mean, these are really tough attacks on -- and yesterday we, the income tax, release of income tax filings, gingrich has said he'll do it immediately, romney keeps hedging on it. we find out romney's been stashing money in the cayman islands, he's got some explanation for that -- megyn: he denies that. >> i understand, but it's been reported, and all of that is

bubbling out there, and it's bringing -- romney's beginning to look like somebody who has something to hide and, again, was this ritchie rich guy, born on third base, told everybody he hit a triple whereas gingrich is coming across as candid, he's look anything the camera and telling people what he believes. sometimes you might argue he crosses the line. so in terms of south carolina politics, these last minute attacks we remember in 2000 the attack that mccain had fathered a biracial child out of wedlock, came up at the last minute. more under the radar. this was sort of fascinating to me that the ex-wife for a decade, you know, has been saying some of these same things, said it in an article, as you pointed out a moment ago, a year ago. and all of a sudden with romney going down in the polls and newt coming up, she appears on a network news show. the timing, to me, is very suspicious, and it may be that this is romney's supporters trying to get -- megyn: well, now, that's wayless. -- baseless. that's pure speculation.

we have no information -- to mitt romney, we only have information tying that to mary ann gingrich and abc news. listen, i want to take a listen to the former speaker and stand by for a minute. >> what's happening, of course, we have several more people coming up to join us, calista and i are thrilled to be here. but because we're now sort of in the last stretch of the, of this particular primary, we've had family come join us. and i want to introduce several people to you. a number of people have said that i do reasonably well at debates, and i want to introduce one of my debate coaches. i have two senior debate coaches who i work with on a regular basis and who have been very effective. and one of them is robert cushman. robert, come on over. [laughter] [applause] this is our grandson, and we always check in with he and his sister. she couldn't get off because she, actually, has ballet the

next couple days. but robert is -- you're playing hookie. >> what? >> shh. this is his mother. this is an educational field trip for robert. [laughter] and i'm thrilled, and he's very good at chess, and he thinks deeply, and he gives me key advice which is mostly to keep it shorter and clearer. [laughter] but he's one of my two debate -- maggie, his older sister who's 12, is my other adviser, and her basic role is to make sure i smile often enough because i'm too intense, apparently. so she counts my smiles in everx debate. [laughter] i check in with both of them, and their advice has been pretty steady all the way through. this is their mother, jackie cushman, and my daughter. [applause] this is my sister, susan, and we're looking for -- i have another sister, i think, here somewhere, robbie, but i don't know where she is right now. and this is my brother randy. [applause]

and from a hunting and fishing background, randy has a particular relevance, first, because he is the leading hunter in the family, and any of you who like to hunt, he'd be glad to chat with you later on and compare notes. in addition, he was a policeman for a good while and is still, does investigative work for the state of pennsylvania. so he has both a background in law enforcement, but he's also happy to, for any of you who like the second amendment and like to talk about firearms, now, i should also say robert has joined that club because for christmas he got a 410 single-shot, and his father promptly took him out skeet shooting the next day. and there's at least some belief that robert outshot his father. i don't think that's -- [laughter] i don't think that's actually did you actually outshoot him? >> i think he outshot me. >> oh, he thinks his dad outshot him. good, that's right. anyway, we're thrilled toáyil be here. i want to make one point that i

think liberals don't ever get, and any sort of reference to when he was talking about the rivers in the low country, people who hunt and fish are among our most passionate conservationists because they're actually out in the woods and on the trails and in the streams and in the swamps. and they understand that if we don't keep areas that are healthy, there is no hunting and fishing. and so, but the -- megyn: all right, you can see the candidate going into his sort of normal approach with the voters, and we'll listen to see if he makes news, again, on any of the issues of the day. want to go back to dickrj[z harpootlian and, by the way, we'll try to stream that live for you on foxnews.com which we try to do when we cut away from events like that. dick, i just want to state for the record or a lot of what you said is not true about romney and raidses real questions, but your point is that's what's in the ads, and that's what south carolina voters are seeing. >> right. megyn: so we're talking about

whether that is having an impact. rasmussen was on earlier today saying that, actually, the bain issue is not resonating with the south carolina voters according to his polling. so it must be something else that's shooting newt up or, you know, keeping mitt stag in a minute. it doesn't look like romney's lost a lot, it look like newt has really surged. but my question for you is south carolina, we're told, heavily evangelical, 60% of the voters, big on social conservativism. so does this suggest to you that they don't really care about the ex-wives and the infidelity for which newt has already asked for forgiveness and made pretty public? >> i agree, i think he's insulated from that. let me say this to you, the things i outlined earlier are not -- if you watch rick santorum's ads on romney, it's he and newt and -- megyn: yeah, yeah. my only point, dick, is, you know, i didn't go and research all the ads. i just want to be fair to the romney campaign as well.

i just know a couple of those things they've taken issue with, and we don't have a romney defender. so just for the record, some of the things you've said, they're in the ads. >> they're in the ads. and, i mean, rasmussen may say the bain thing is not having any impact, but i can tell you it contributes to this image of a guy that's not up with of us. now -- not one of us. romney's got his base, he keeps his base in every state. what's happening, i think, and i haven't seen the internal cross tabs, but of the people i've talked to in coffee shops and, believe it or not, megyn, aye got republican friends, have told me they're soft, and they could change their mind as they walk into the voting booth tomorrow. many of them are shifting, and if many of them make up their minds, they're rejecting romney and going with newt. and the social conservatives, you know, have been with santorum. maybe they're coming off of him saying if we're going to stop mitt romney, that would be who they'd want to stop him. maybe we need to go with the

guy -- megyn: well, and we'll see whether the perry endorsement helps him in that regard. talk to your republican friend chad and tell him he missed his chance. >> i will tellar 'em. thank you.or e megyn: don't go away, more after the break. structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. the best approach to food is tkeep it whole for better nutrition. that's what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the otr guy's flake is more processed. mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal. try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain

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with 15 grams of protein to hp manage hunr... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. megyn: fox news alert. new signs president obama could be on the outs with some of his biggest backers in hollywood. welcome to a new hour of "america live." sources are telling fox news that some tinseltown big wigs are up in arms. it's the white house's stance on this anti-piracy legislation. hollywood wants a crackdown on the internet crooks who tale their movies that cheat the film companies out of billions of dollars and they say cost american jobs. but the obama administration is not siding with hollywood on this one.

ed henry has more from the north lawn. >> reporter: the white house insists they are in the middle on this and they are trying to get a good piece of legislation that news corp our parent company in favor of anti-piracy legislation. but legislation that tech companies like google would be onboard with. the movie "avatar" was downloaded illegally some 20 million times. i got an exclusive interview with senator chris dodd. he told me he is warning the obama reelection campaign that the hollywood money is going to be cut off if the white house does not get behind hollywood on this issue. very interesting. take a listen to what nor dodd had to say. >> those who count on hollywood

for support need to understand this industry is watching carefully who is going to stand up for them when their joins at stake. don't ask me to write a check for me when you think your joins at risk and don't pay attention when my job is at stake. >> reporter: hollywood still gives a lot of money to democrats. we checked the numbers. in the 2012 campaign so far the obama team has gotten $4.1 million from hollywood movies and music industry. back in 2008 the path got $3.7 million. i spoke to an obama campaign official who told me they are getting donations from 1.3 million people from all kinds of industries. so they don't think any one industry issuing a threat like this will have a big impact on the president's campaign. but when you see the big ad buy from the president.

if hollywood is threatening to cut off some of that money it could have a big impact. megyn: fox news alert. newt gingrich speak being his big endorsement from governor rick perry. governor perry leaving the race and throwing his support behind the speaker. here is what he said about the perry nod. >> this is a huge day for calista and me. we were honored a few hours ago when governor rick perry decided to drop out of the race and to endorse us. [applause] megyn: campaign carl cameron live in south carolina as well. >> reporter: the bus behind me and the bins side the building.

newt gingrich with a crowd of several hundred people. mr. begin grip of drawing bigger and bigger crowds. the polls suggest he's surging and catching up rapidly and in some cases has eclipsed romney. real clear politics still shows romney ahead. but perry is out of the race. perry was passionate saying the former speaker is the right guy to be the conservative or what many have called the conservative alternative to mitt romney. listen. i'm sorry, i thought we had rick perry we paired there. now the question turns to this afternoon's events. a few hours remaining on the campaign trail before there is a debate, and mounting speculation he will be asked about the interview with his second ex-wife marianne begin give who said on the record that the

speaker asked her if he could have an open marriage in order to have a relationship with calista, now his third wife. not a lot of talk about that. gingrich has not answered directly to the allegations. he has many, many times on the campaign trail and again today said he asked forgiveness and sought reconciliation through god. listen. sorry, megyn. i thought we had these sound bites prepared. my mistake. megyn: all right, my friend. >> reporter: he said he made mistakes in his past and he sought reconciliation. sorry about that. i thought we were all set to go. we are racing around the campaign trail on the tail of all these candidates. we are down to four, but there

are still a lot of candidates to chase. no question about it, newt gingrich is in that room. i think we got a live shot to profit. he continues to go after mitt romney. he predicted he will win the south carolina primary decisively saturday. megyn: we appreciate the efforts of you and your crew. they have bengal and the and very -- they have been gallant and very helpful. bret baier and i will be here with the latest on the first in the south primaries. we'll have all the breaking details on who has won this critical race in the quest to be the gop nominee this saturday. see you at 6:00 p.m. serious new questions raised at one of the most secure prisons in the entire world. questions about a security breach after an al qaeda-linked

magazine made it through to one of the detainees. catherine herridge is live in washington now. how did all this go down? >> reporter: it was a discovery of this magazine that led to new and controversial rules for screening all communications went most dangerous terrorists and their lawyers. the navy commander said the magazine was found in the high security camp. this "inspire" magazine first publicked by al qaeda in june of 2010 is a lifestyle magazine. it's suppose to be part inspirational and how-to guide. providing recipes for building bombs with household items. a bomb-making recipe was found in the hotel room of a soldier who was found guilty of

plotting. i personally toured the guantanamo library twice. one of the most popular titles include "harry potter," "her lock holmes." a military officer who asked us not to show his face explained the reading material is vetted. >> oftentimes we try to redact or color over something that may be offensive. but they will find it and they will black it out, which is great. we have no problem with that. >> reporter: the military spokesman couldn't explain how this "inspire" got into the camps. there are 1,800 people involved in running those camps, whether military, intelligence or the

lawyers. so that's 10 people for every detainee. how it got through is pretty significant. megyn: that's a far cry from "harry potter." only catherine would have gone to guantanamo and had video of the books on the shelves. we are getting a new survey that may reveal the real reason why america is not producing enough jobs. why many small businesses say they are holding off on the help wanted sign. first it was a year's amount of snow in one day. now a slick and dangerous sheet ice for a major metro area. a major area getting its second heavy dose of mother nature. a followup to one of the nastiest things on the campaign trail. an ad attacking jon huntsman's adopted daughters made to look it seems like it was from ron paul supporters. now ron paul is suing the folks

behind this ad for defamation. does he have a case? that's on the docket in today's "kelly's court." >> i think it's unfortunate that the political conversation has become this vile. unfortunately i think this video goes a bit far. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. r science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three y we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love ience. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

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we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. g this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. megyn: winter weather threatening to cripple seattle. more than a quarter inch of ice has built up on trees and power lines. flights were halted at attack airport and tens of this to lost power after that area was hit with major snowfall. a child was swept away in a creek. new claims for unemployment drop

50,000. that's well below expectations, by the labor department says volatility is common this time of year and the fact that's states had to estimate their claims. there is a new survey about it u.s. chamber of commerce that may give us insight into why america is not producing more jobs. 8% of those small business executives say regulations, restrictions and taxes are major concerns for them. simon on stable is a journalist for the "wall street journal." , and mat mccall. the chamber puts out this -- asks for this survey to be done. the result come back 85 per of small businesses think the economy is on the wrong track. 74% laying the recent healthcare

reforms passed by the obama administration -- it seems like the american people may not be as focused on that. but small businesses are. >> the economy is growing slowly. megyn: they care about regulations more than they care about taxes. >> it's also uncertainty. they would rather know what's going to happen. this is the playing field on which you are going to play and this is going to be the personal tax rate, the corporate tax rate. by we don't know a lot of that. we have tax rates expiring. we have a congress that can't do anything. that uncertainty is going to kill jobs. megyn: they aren't happy with a lot of the administration's moves. and while they disapprove 8%.

they are unhappy with lawmakers. view report regulations and tax goes back to d.c. they make up the regulations. but as simon says, the key word here is uncertainty. if i own a business, if i don't know what my healthcare costs are going to be next year, i'm a small business owner and i pay a lot more this year than i did last year. the government came down on my industry and it will cost more for regulations. megyn: can't it be calculated? >> you can guess. you can estimate. but it's actually a guesstimate when you have so many different things that you are estimating. it really becomes very hard. and you have to start saying, okay, the proper thing might not be worth as much because of all those guesses. megyn: 63% said they will keep

the same number of employees. they are not hiring anybody. 11% said i'm going fire some people. 19 per plan to add jobs over the next year. we need to flip those numbers around. when asked why, they said taxation, regulation, and legislation from washington is making it harder for us to hire folks. when you talk about regulation in the abstract it sound bad, they hate. but they are businesses. the argument is they need to be told what to do in terms of how to treat employees and provide them healthcare. otherwise they won't do it. >> i agree with that. there has to be some type of regulation. but we don't know regulation from year to year. they keep changing. the government reacts to what goes on. the financial industry got hit recently. so you do not know in your industry what the next

regulation coming down is and how much that will cost you. so why would you go out on a limb and bring an employee on, the cost of training this person only to have to let them go in the next 12 months. large corporations don't know what their profit are going to be because the regulations directly affect their proifts as well. so you will get hit open both side. their customers are getting hit. we are talking about small businesses here. it is literally a situation where if they hire one more person they could be responsible for providing healthcare. they don't, they aren't. >> it's a huge issue. particularly with small businesses. it's the cutoff point. i think it's 50. 49-50. it makes a huge difference. megyn: you mention the taxes. right now do they know what their tax rate is going to be for the next year? >> i think they do know for the next year but we have seen congress talks about taxes now

and then. we saw them talking about it this year. we also know there are tax cuts expiring at end of 2012 which if lawmakers are smart they will want to deal with. it's possible something could happen mid year or late in the year and change everything. it could change -- you could get something after the election theoretically. december 30, change the tax rate on corporations for the entire year. well, -- we don't know. it ain't over until it's over. right? megyn: i would expect small businesses to complain about regulation and taxation. how much of that is real? and how much of it is just an excuse to sort of, you know, get the reins off? >> maybe the perception is regulation is holding me back. but perception become reality, especially in a small business. they hear everybody talking

about that so now that's reality and they are not going to hire. they think maybe i will get regulated. the out of every recession you have seen small business, entrepreneurs bring us out of it. new innovation and technology. if we do not have that backing this slow economy how do we ever grow? that's troubling. >> there is another underlying factor. with europe there is a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen in the our or ozone and it lumps from mini crisis to mini crisis. that is the biggest trading area in the world it's bigger than the u.s. economically. what's going to happen there -- people who say it won't are wrong. people are saying america will be immune. so that -- then this housing. we have never had a robust recovery in this country since world war ii without housing recovering.

that's the truth. despite today's number it isn't a recovery. megyn: ask any homeowner trying to sell their house right now. coming up. newt gingrich surging in the south carolina polls. now abc news will air an interview with his ex-wife that could potentially change that. what is behind the timing of this interview? is this fair? big questions for some tsa agents after a pass even injuries allowed to board a plane packing a gun. how did that happen? we investigate. >> early indications are she told our officers she simply forgot it and left it in the hand bag. we see that all the time. wake up!

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megyn: some serious concerns raised about security at our nation's airport after a woman carrying a handgun was allowed to board a plane. once the security agent realized the woman had a weapon in her bag, she already left the checkpoint. i can't even get through with my 5-ounce shampoo bought. what happened? >> reporter: the big concern is the timing. exactly how long it took tsa agents to find this woman and find her gun. it's 6:20 in the morning. a 65-year-old woman goes through the d terminal at dallas-fort worth airport. she puts it through the scanner but by the time the tsa find it they sweep the area. the woman who has been

identified as judith tanner who is a lawyer in texas. she had already board when they contacted the pilot and said turn around. 90 minutes between time she walked through security and was finally arrested. his to the cops followed by a woman who knows judith kenner. >> she told our officers she simply foregot it and left it in a handbag. >> judith is a kind, wonderful person. she is absolutely not a threat to anybody. >> reporter: the woman you saw being put into the car was 65-year-old jew did kenny. tsa said no foul, no harm, a lot of passengers disagree with that. listen. >>'s amazing for the liquids they remove and the scrutiny they put you through, then for

something as blatant as a pistol to get through is unacceptable. >> reporter: it couples on the screen. it goes through the scanner it comes on the screen and they think that looks odd and they go back and look at it. where is the woman? she is gone. megyn: that is unbelievable. in my experience living in new york city, whenever you fly out of new york city, the security -- they are pretty easy. i think they catch a gun -- but they let you go -- the smaller towns you go to like sioux city, in and out of des moines we were there, they looked through every single thing. the entire toiletry case exposed to everybody. there are no secrets in a small airport. >> reporter: they will question up and down, but if you

fly out of lax, get them through. megyn: they have to do some retraining down in dallas-fort worth. just as newt gingrich gets a boost in the polls and a key endorsement from rick perry, abc news is set to air a potentially damaging interview with his second wife tonight. is that fair? is this the equivalent of an october surprise in january? our power panel weighs in after this break. going on a tennis racket rampage. he's very angry. very angry. take a look at what happened at the australian open. and it did not end here.

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came up during a town hall in south carolina just last hour. >> my question to you, i'm uncomfortable asking it. i want to qualify it first by saying around candidate who truly reflects most of what i personally view and feel. and i think you articulate it in an aggressive and inspiring manner that makes me think of candle. so i find you generally an inspiring and genuine candidate. where i personally waiver is a history of things that may have to show character that some may genuinely feel questionable. and i wrestle with that, sir. i general you winly do. my personal thoughts -- i genuinely do. my personal thoughts are how lapses in a personal judgment that happened in the past, how

is the voting masses of america going to perceive and come to grips with that if you are a nominee and baseball in the fall. could you as a candidate and a gentleman who i respect help me better wrestle with that thought? >> that's a decision you have to make. i have been very open about my life. i have been open about the mistakes i have made. i have been open about need to go go to god for forgiveness and seek reconciliation. calista and i have a wonderful relationship. we are very close to our two daughters and their husbands. we are close to our two grandchildren. and i'm 68 years old. megyn: we lost the end of that. gentleman mu green is theddd -- gentleman mu green, and dana perino currently the cohost of the five on fnc.

the viewers are fired up about this. we are getting lot of emails. they are split. most of them feel that this is not fair to newt gingrich. but some say he's been hammering mitt romney on character issues with respect to bain and bankrupting companies and his super pacs allegation. why isn't his character fair game as well. dana, you were in this business. >> an element of surprise is expected. i had a similar thought described by one of the viewers. gingrich is asking romney about character issues. he even brought up the issue of romney's dog on the roof of the car and what kind of judgment it must have taken to do something like that. i don't think it's out of the question to ask about somebody's past. i think gingrich answers it

pretty effectively. but unlike some people who believe everyone knows all these things about newt gingrich and this is old news and why would abc bring this up. there was an esquire * article last year -- that not the case. a lot of people don't know about this. voters in south carolina, women in particular probably won't take to this too well. megyn: we did a comparison between the "is squire" magazine -- the "esquire" article and tonight -- >> this is a retread of old material. but what makes it powerful versus a magazine piece is that she is on camera speaking in her own words and people can see the emotion on her face. that packs more a wallop. but i think newt has done a pretty good job over the years in terms of neutralizing this

kind of thing. he's been very open. he has a messy past. he talked about mistakes he has made. he says he asked the appropriate people and his god for forgiveness. i think by this point -- this man is right. a lot of conservatives have real issues with character. we do think it's critical for a president. but i think a lot of voters by this point because this man has been on the national scene for so long have factors this into their consideration of newt gingrich as a potential president. megyn: let's talk about abc news' decision to air it tonight. i guess their decision to sit down with marianne gingrich at all, is that okay? is the timing of the release okay? >> the timing is a little bit suspect. october surprises in the broad sense, that's the usual. that's to be expected. but i do think a media outlet

should allow in this case a little bit of time for the candidate to respond. and putting this out within 24 hours of a very crucial vote i think something doesn't smell here. begin grip of is the guy who says bring it on. he didn't say bring it on just once -- wants to be an open book. if i were advising him from a p.r. standpoint would say the word "open" is no longer in. megyn: she says he wanted to have an open marriage. it seems like what he was asking for was permission to have this other woman in his life. he didn't necessarily want to divorce. >> i think the words were in that piece as i recall, he asked me to accept the affair. i think there is another piece here. "the washington post" as an article about hypocrisy. which is when he was the speaker of the house, he was work and

leading the efforts to impeach president clinton for having lied about an i fair with a younger political staffer while he himself was having an affair with a younger political staffer. megyn: but lying under oath. >> i think a lot of people think that's hypocritical. >> i think it's important to clarify that that hypocrisy was true at the time. but what gingrich did political chicago, he's backed away from a family values platform and the epitome of good values and he no longer talks about that. megyn: we saw with herman cain. women started coming out of the woodwork saying i had an affair with him and news organizations reported on that. this -- is this news? is it something that's more than a decade old. she has been out there. so what is the timing of it to

reach out now right before, you know, he's going into a critical -- he says it's all or nothing in south carolina. to do the interview now and air it now? >> i was going to pick up on a point you made, jemhu. we don't know if abc held on to this or maybe marian gingrich. if it's an abc thing why didn't they present this when was surging in iowa. or when he first announced as a candidate. it smells a little bit funny to me. you have to look at how much he has been attacked from conservative commentators, from the republican establishment. there is a groundswell of we have to stop this man in this tracks. megyn: i want to ask you one other question. >> we are assuming this will have a negative effect on the

gingrich campaign. newt gingrich was pretty much the only candidate in every debate -- you know he was the on gop presidential candidate who was routinely pound can the mainstream media for their bias and it gets the conservatives to rally. megyn: he seems to not want to address it directly and he's referring people to a statement by his two doubters from his first marriage. is that the way to handle it to let the daughters from another marriage come out? >> it's not how i would advise handling it. just as you tell every candidate. if you want full transparency, let's answer it. if he doesn't it will continue to dog him. the questioner at the town hall was very gentle. he's not necessarily going to get gentle questions from others. >> you also saw newt introduce his family in a traumatic way

when he was getting up there. but at the end of the day who really looks at our president and says how many of them haven't cheated on their wives? megyn: every american, every person on this earth has sinned. >> i think people areore worried about capitalism when it came to romney than they are about an affair. >> when a crisis explodes it's how the candidate deals with the crisis. megyn: it is one ugly political ad attacking jon huntsman for his ties to china. it singled out his adopted daughters. now ron paul is suing the people behind the ad. why? it's on the docket in "kelly's court" next. a chilling update to a story we brought you yesterday.

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megyn: "kelly's court" is back in session. on the docket today one the birdiest political ads and the candidate suing over it. it shows jon huntsman's two adopted daughters suggesting when he was running weigh he was a manchurian candidate. it came from a group called nh liberty for paul. suggesting it was from backers of ron paul. congressman paul took lot of heat for it. now he is suing the anonymous maker of the ad for definition. here is a clip of the ad.

you get the picture. joining me now mark eiglarsh. and so ron paul is ticked off about this saying i had nothing to do with it. and he wants to know who is behind the ads. mark, can he make that happen? can he find out and can he recover? >> the answer is yes. this was defamatory. it's not just dirty politics, it's filthy politics. it was cleverly designed by those who wanted ron paul to look bad. by those allegedly from the

huntsman campaign. that's what ron paul's independent search found out. clearly defamatory. it made it seem like he endorsed an ad that made ron paul look racist. it looks like he has poor judgment. because -- megyn: whoever was behind the ad. you are suggesting that jon huntsman was behind the ad himself? the ad attacking jon huntsman came from jon huntsman? >> i'm saying ron paul did an inquiry and found it was either someone from his cam or close to his camp. that's what he's reporting. i have no first-hand knowledge. megyn: it's something they may believe because there was a theory out there that this was so bad against jon huntsman that it would evoke sympathy. what ron paul seems to be after is to find out who was behind the ad. how can he do it if it's

somebody anonymous who posted this on the internet. >> that's what they are trying to do. i disagree with mark that they are the ones who have been defamed. jon huntsman and his former campaign, they are the easy yes. here you can understand why ron paul's campaign is upset. there has been lots of speculation swirling that it will potentially detract this supporters. but we are talking about a stretch. it's pretty weak when you have the uploaders citing themselves as nh liberty for paul to say that is going to be associated and ultimately found to be ron paul or affiliated with him. if i * ron paul seems to have a decent argument that people would naturally leap to the conclusion that this is a ron paul supporter, not necessarily

ron paul himself. >> the ad is so unbelievably outrageous that nobody thinks huntsman looks bad. the person maker can the ad looks bad. whoever made it and gave ron paul the credit for it, they are doing harm here. >> they didn't give ron paul credit. they say at the end vote for ron paul. that's a far stretch. you have to prevail in a court of law and we are going beyond what is traditionally been interpreted by the courts. here they are going to be hard pressed to say that. however, i think ron paul prevailed in what they hoped to achieve. to distance themselves to make it clear they had no affiliation and in no way endorsed this ad. megyn: they filed the lawsuit in san francisco which is the home of google. this is half the battle in

getting the name of the person who put this thing together. got to run. thank you both so much. in three minutes new developments about this severed head near the hollywood sign. ] t be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

megyn: wanted to update you on something. we talked about the ads being unleashed against president obama. it says they are from americans for prosperity which is a super pac for karl rove. it's not. carl roasms is american crossroads. a police conference is underway right now after more body parts have been discovered in the hollywood hills. police found a pair of hands and feet. not far from where a severed

head was found tuesday. trace gallagher has more. >> reporter: you hate to make this hollywood horror connection. we have two dogs playing with a plastic bag and a human head rolls out. police say this was not a fresh crime. they believe the head belonged to a man his 40s or 50s. he wasn't killed there but they believe his body was dumped there. just as they were about to leave the scene they found a foot, followed by another foot. now police are hoping these remains lead to answers. >> we are hopeful this hand will provide us with enough evidence to get fingerprints. it's being cared for by the coroner now. >> reporter: they have not lifted a fingerprint from that hand because they have to pump it up. if not they will use dental records. there is nobody in that area of hollywood that has been reported

missing. so i'm not sure where this crime went down. megyn: brand-new developments in the cruise ship disaster. what the captain told his boss as the ship started to sink and why it took so long to sound alarm. stay with us. 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. try bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream fast and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin.

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to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! >>megyn: possibly candidate for angerment at australian open? smash his racket into the court so manies it was unrecognizable. after that, he then picked up a new racket and destroyed that one, too. it is not the racket's fault. hate to tell you. and he grab two more rackets. he went on, you will be shocked to learn, to lose the match and facing $1,200 in fines! now that's angry the thanks for watching. i'm megyn kelly and i am