>> gretchen: we have some stuff here, swag that you can buy at the fox news shop. >> stadium blanket, unbelievable cooler and really cool thermos. >> steve: they can it out. we'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same channel. so long, folks. good morning, everybody, fox news alert. eric holder is in the hot seat beginning any moment. the attorney genset to face off with lawmakers yet again over the operation known has "fast and furious." i'm bill hemmer. good morning, everybody. a whole new day in "america's newsroom.". martha: good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. it could get very fiery in this hearing today. darrell issa is releasing a report that top justice officials he believes had extensive knowledge about the operation and should have been able to stop it. bill: that operational loud it,000 weapons to flow

across the board pouredder and. the big we what did eric holder know and what did know it. william la jeunesse starts our coverage. what do you expect today, william, good morning? >> reporter: this investigation began almost a year ago today. no one heard about "fast and furious.". firsted administration denied two key claims by the whistle-blowers. number one they intentionally send guns to mexico as part of a sting and the guns used to kill brian terry were used in this program t took almost a year of hearings to prove those things true. helping criminals smuggle guns to a foreign country is a very big deal. here is what we don't know and they're trying to find out today. was the white house aware of this program? was the attorney general and he said no, if not, why not? this operation involved dozens if not hundreds of people and at least four

agencies. we have checks and balance within and between agencies. who was accountable. the justice department says none of their top washington officials knew anything about this. many this congress however, bill, are not convinced. bill: speaking of congress, what are the political implications through all this, william? >> congressman issa claims the doj only delivered 8% of the documents he requested. they have been only been able to interview a fraction of the people to understand who knew what when. justice says it has been entirely cooperative. atf's director, ken melson says the justice department is protecting its political appointees. 58 republicans congressman have asked holder to resign. the president backs holder 100%. they see holder a polarizing figure and anchor around the president's re-election efforts. others wonder if the republicans slow-walking it to further drag it out into

the election year. either way it is a distraction. it will not end today. the big question has the committee obtained documents or have they flipped some of these key witnesses or officials at the u.s. attorney's office in phoenix or atf agents that will bring or implicate if you will, the attorney general or others in washington, undermine or impeach testimony they have already given. bill: we'll find out some of those answers. jason chaffetz is here later this morning. contempt of congress is a threat by the republicans on the committee. we're monitoring all this and entire hearing is streaming live at foxnews.com. we'll have that for you throughout the morning here. martha: an attorney for the family of the murdered border patrol agent, brian terry, serving a notice of lawsuit against the atf or the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. if they're going forward we hear it will be a $25 billion lawsuit. the notice claims terry was

killed with ak-47s knowingly sold under the fast and furious program. atf accused wrongdoing and failures not only quote negligent but in violation of atf's own policies and procedures. back to election news this morning. do you think the florida primary is over? it is in the rear view mirror, right? guess what? it might not be. the gingrich campaign is gearing up to challenge the results of the florida primary that gave mitt romney are 50, all 50 of the state's delegates under the current rules. right now romney added up to 87 delegates after he got all 50 from florida. gingrich camp citing rnc rules that no state that holds the contest before april will be allowed to get winner-take-all. this is very interesting. gingrich would like the florida delegates divided proportionally like some other states.

here is rick santorum on this. >> i have no problem with that. my understanding was if the election goes to the convention, anyone can challenge florida to be proportional. if it is challenged they have to be proportional. you know, i think, eventually if we do get to convention, florida will be proportional whether we need to pull the trigger on it now to me it is irrelevant. it is a close election. florida will not be winner-take-all. that was known from the very beginning. martha: part of this was because florida pushed its primary to earlier date of january 31st. the rnc basically told florida then they would risk losing that winner-take-all status. all it takes is one registered voter to file a challenge in this case. then the rnc contest committee will have to consider that appeal one week before the convention in august. we'll talk to bill mccollum, former attorney general coming up. he is a gingrich supporter leading this charge to have the delegate count changed.

we'll ask rnc chairman, reince priebus, saying look i warned florida that they were violating the rules in this case. this could be very interesting. bill: from florida to the next contest in nevada, the las vegas review journal shows mitt romney has commanding lead over newt gingrich, 45% in this poll for romney. 25 for gingrich, 11 for santorum and paul nine. it is significant not only romney's lead, paul and santorum skipped florida to get an early start in the silver state n nevada they will find something we've seen threw the country, deeper the red, economic landscape the tougher your state. if you're green you're doing all right. you think florida was bad? remember florida? florida down here, unemployment rate statewide is 9.9%. well above the national average at 8.5%. you go to nevada. look at nevada. you go back three years the number of jobs they have lost now leads that state unemployment to 12.6%.

that is just staggering when you go through the foreclosure market in nevada and also the jobs picture too. on the look ahead map. the 2nd of february, caucus in nevada comes your way. saturday you have a few more contests throughout the month of february until you wind up with primaries with pledged delegates in states like arizona and michigan at the end of this month. super tuesday is right there, march 6, five weeks from now. martha. martha: "the donald", they say, may be using his trump card, you get it? the real estate mogul/reality television star says he will make a major announcement in las vegas. everybody is hanging on every word pertaining to the presidential race. there are reports he plans to endorse newt gingrich for the republican nomination. of course we don't know until "the donald" comes forward what he has to say. anything is possible in this. when asked about the possible endorsement, gingrich said, quote, he had no idea what donald trump

was going to do. we shall see. stay tuned for that. how about this? out with the old, in with the knew. social network goes public and iconic airline sheds 13,000 workers. a tale of two u.s. companies, facebook and american airlines. one of them on the verge of becoming a huge success, the other crumbling before our eyes after decades in the business. stuart varney joins me now with this interesting dichotomy this morning. good morning, stewart. >> good morning, martha. martha: a tale of two american companies for sure. you want to start with american airlines? >> let's start with american airlines. the american airlines as you know now is going, going gone. this the demise of an american icon. the company is bankrupt. it will shed 13,000 jobs. it wound up four pension funds in the biggest pension default ever. it lost $12.5 billion in last 10 years. the american airlines you

know, it is going. on precisely the same day that american airlines declares its bankruptcy plan, along comes facebook with its wealth creation plan. facebook is going to go public. it will raise $5 billion, making the company worth in the neighborhood of 75 to $100 billion. and here's the contrast. american airlines the old line company. facebook is the new line company. it is entrepreneural. it is nonunion from top to bottom. and it only has 3,000 employees. so 3,000 people working for a $100 billion company. the old? american airlines, 88,000 workers, heavily unionized gone. the new? facebook, 3,000 workers, 100 dal billion. totally nonunion. that is the new style of american entrepreneural capitalism. martha: you know, it is fascinating stuart, one day many years ago the wright brothers thought they could build a plane. you've got this young man

that sits in his dorm room in harvard and comes up with an idea they say will make 1,000 people into millionaires overnight who were the early stockholders and early employees in this company, right? >> that's exactly right. this company started i believe seven years ago. mark zuckerberg, he is the man. he is now 27 years old. the company goes public and sells these shares around may of this year. at precisely that time he turns 28. he will then become the $28 billion man. because his share of facebook will equal approximately $28 billion worth of wealth. all that just happening. martha: all that trying to figure out how to get a date from your dorm room. >> no comment. martha: goes a long way, always tells my kids. stuart, thank you very much. bill: that is wisdom right there from you. martha: do you believe that? really, you know? we put all the girls on facebook get them all talking to each other. find out who they are. find out where they live.

next thing you know --. bill: next thing you know you're worth $20 billion. i would like to be zuckerberg's friend. that would be a good ride. other stories we're watching in "america's newsroom." sugar is sweet but is it deadly? concerns that sugar might be as toxic and addictive as tobacco? martha: stadium exit turns into a deathtrap. the soccer riot that left 79 people dead. bill: remarkable. ron paul betting big on nevada. can he take the state by storm? his son rand is next to make the case for his dad live. >> there is mess up in washington. they created a mess. they have given us a lousy foreign policy. they have given us a lousy budget. they have given a lousy recession. the wonderful thing that is happening in the grassroots. people are beginning to realize the problem is too much government. we need more personal liberty. [cheers and applause] all energy development comes with some risk,

but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today.

martha: we are back now. we take you right to washington where the national prayer breakfast is underway. the president is speaking. let's listen in for a moment. >> to become somewhat more perfect a union. frederick douglass, abraham lincoln, jane adams, martin luther king, jr., dorothy day, abraham hessel, a majority of great reformers in american history did their work not just because it was sound policy or they had done good analysis or understood how to exercise good politics but because their faith and their values dictated it and called for bold action. sometimes in the face of indifference. sometimes in the face of resistance. this is no different today for millions of americans and certainly is not for me.

i wake up each morning and i say a prayer. i spend time in scripture and devotion. from time to time friends of mine, some who are here today, friend like joel hunter or td jakes will come by the oval office or call on the phone or they will send me an e-mail and we'll pray together and they will pray for me and my family and for our country. but i don't stop there. i would be remiss if i stopped there. if my values were limited to personal moments of prayer or private conversations with pastors or friends. so instead i must try, imperfectly, but i must try to make sure those values motivate me as one leader of this great nation.

so when i talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on main street. when i talk about making sure insurance companies aren't discriminated against those who are already sick, or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren't taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, i do so because i genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody but i also do it because i know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years and i believe in god's command to love thy neighbor as thyself. i know that a version of that golden rule is found in every major religion and every set of beliefs from hinduism to islam to judaism,

to the writings of plato. when i talk about shared responsibility it's because i genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling, at a time when we have enormous deficits, it's hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income or young people with student loans or middle class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone. and i think to myself, if i'm willing to give something up for as somebody who has been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that i enjoy, i actually think that is going to make economic sense but for me as a christian, it also coincides with jesus's teaching that for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.

it mirrors the islamic belief those who have been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others or the jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others. when i talk about giving every american a fair shot at opportunity it's because i believe that when a young person can afford a college education or someone who has been unemployed suddenly has the chance to retrain for a job and regain that sense of dignity and pride and contributing to the community as well as supporting their families, that helps us all prosper. it means maybe that research lab on the cusp of a life-saving discovery or the company looking for skilled workers will do a little bit better and we'll all do better as a consequence. it makes economic sense but part of that belief comes from the idea that i am my brother's keeper and i am "my sister's keeper" and that as a country we rise

and fall together. i'm not an island. i succeed because others succeed with me. when i decide to stand up for foreign aid or prevent atrocities in places like uganda or take on issues like human trafficking, it is not just about strengthening alliances or promoting democratic values or projecting american leadership around the world although it does all those things and it will make us safer and more secure. it is also about the biblical call to care for the least of these, for the poor, for those at the margins of our society. to answer the responsibility we're given in proverbs to speak up for those who can not speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute and for others it may reflect the jewish belief that the highest form of charity is to do our part

to help others stand on their own. treating others as you want to be treated requiring much from those who have been given so much. living by principle that we are our brother's keeper, caring for the poor and those in need. these values are old and they can be found in many denominations, in many faiths among many believers and among many nonbelievers and they are values that have always made this country great when we live up to them. when we just don't give lip service to them and we don't just talk about them one day a year. they're the ones that have defined my own faith journey. and today, with as many challenges as we face these are the values i believe we'll have to return to in the hopes that god will

buttress our efforts. now we can ernestly seek to see these values lived out in our politics and our policies and we can ernestly disagree the best way to achieve these values. in the words of c.s. lewis, christianity is not and does not profess to have a detailed political program. it is meant for all men at all times. a particular program which suited one place or time would not suit another. our goals should not be to declare our policies as biblical. it is god who is infallable, not us. michelle remind me of this often. so instead it is our hope that people of good will can pursue their values and common ground in the common

good as best they know how. with respect for each other and i have to say that sometimes we talk about respect but we don't act with respect toward each other during the course of these debates. but each and every day, for many in this room the biblical injunctions are not just words, they are also deeds. every single day in different ways so many of you are living out your faith in service to others. just last month it was inspiring to see thousands of young christians filling the georgia dome at the passion conference to worship the god who set the captives free and worked to end modern slavery. since we expanded and strengthened the white house faith based initiative we

partnered with catholic charities to help americans struggling with poverty. worked with organizations like world vision and american jewish world service and islamic relief to bring hope to those suffering around the world. colleges across the country have answered our inner faith campus challenge and students are joined together across religious lines in service to others. from promoting responsible fatherhood to strengthening adoption, from helping people find jobs to serving our veterans we're linking arms with faith-based groups all across the country. i think we all understand that these values can not truly find voice in our politics and our policies unless they find a place in our hearts. the bible teaches us to be doers of the word and not merely hearers. we're required to have a living, breathing, active

faith in our own lives. and each of us is called on to give something of ourselves for the betterment of others and to live the truth of our faith, not just with words but with deeds. even as we join the great debates of our age, how we best put people back to work, how we insure opportunity for every child, the role of government in protecting this extraordinary planet that god has made for us, how we lessen the occasions of war, even as we debate these great issues, we must be reminded of the difference that we can make each day in our small interactions, in our personal lives. as a loving husband. or a supportive parent, or a good neighbor, or helpful colleague. in each of these roles we helped bring his kingdom to

earth. and as important as government policy may be in shaping our world, we are reminded that it's the cumulative acts of kindness and courage and charity and love, it is the respect we show each other and the generosity that we share with each other that, in our everyday lives will somehow sustain us during these challenging times. john tells us if anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of god be in him? dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but in actions and in truth. you know, mark read a letter from billy dpram and it -- graham it took me back to one of the great honors of

my life visiting reverend graham at his mountaintop retreat in north carolina when i was on vacation with my family at a hotel not far away. i can still remember winding up the path, up a mountain, to his home. 91 years old at the time, facing various health challenges. he welcomed me as he would welcome a family member or a close friend. this man, who had prayed great players -- prayers, who had inspired a nation. this man who seemed larger than life greeted me and was as kind and as gentle as could be. we had a wonderful conversation and before i left reverend graham started praying for me as he had prayed for so many presidents before me. and when he finished praying

i felt the urge to pray for him. i didn't really know what to say. what do you pray for when it comes to the man who has prayed for so many? but like that verse in rome man, the holy spirit interceded when i didn't know quite what to say and so i prayed, briefly, but i prayed from the heart. i don't have the intellectual capacity or the lung capacity of some of my great preacher friend here to pray for a long time but i prayed. and we ended with an embrace and warm good-bye and i thought about that moment all the way down the mountain and i thought about it in the many days since because i thought about my own spiritual journey. growing up in a household that wasn't particularly religious. going through my own period of doubt and confusion.

finding christ when i was not even looking for him so many years ago. possessing so many shortcomings that have been overcome by the simple grace of god. and the fact that i would ever be on top of a mountain saying a prayer for billy graham, a man whose faith had changed the world and sustained him through triumphs and tragedies and movements and milestones. that simple fact humbled me to my core. i have fallen on my knees with great regularity in that moment asking god for guidance not just in my personal life and christian walk but in the values of the nation that hold us together and keep us strong. i know that he will guide us. he always has and he always will and i pray his richest

blessings on each of you in the days ahead. thank you very much. [applause] martha: all right. comments this morning by president obama at the national prayer breakfast in washington. it is a tradition that that has been going on since the days of dwight eisenhower. you see mrs. obama with him. you he spoke about a experience he had praying with billy graham as so many presidents have as a moving moment in his life and presidency as the national prayer breakfast continues this morning in washington. bill: as we move forward now we'll take a look at this back and forth over something mitt romney has said on the trail. in a moment here, at 9:30 here on "america's newsroom" the presidential candidate saying a statement he made about the poor needs a bit of context. we have a fair and balanced debate. we'll put that in context for you. you decide. martha: we will. it is a staple of the american diet but could become the new public enemy

number one. the doctor is in to talk about the new war, say it isn't so, on the sweet stuff. sugar under attack. we'll be right back. ♪ . ♪ [ smack! ] [ smack! smack! smack! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums

of how a shippingiant can befriend a forest may seem lie the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take aw the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're ft with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter.

i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp 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.

bill: we have new information this morning on the most violent soccer riot in years. fans clashing after a game in egypt. more than 70 people are

dead. some victims stabbed. others suffocated trying to get out of there. leland vittert live in our middle east bureau in jerusalem. leland, take us through what happened here in egypt. >> reporter: bill, appears this was politically motivated. began when a team headed north from key wro up to port sayeed, when the locals won the fans charged field. 1,000 people including players running for their lives. when they got to the exit doors they were barricaded in. a number of people crushed to death. others stabbed. others beaten. about 74 people dead. 24 hours after the incident it was pretty clear the police either did nothing or perhaps joined in the melee there. we're also hearing that stadium officials turned out the lights so these corridors that these fans from cairo didn't know at all, became darkened killing fields at local fans killed a number of people a lot of people who were here were

crushed to death as some were climbing over other people to try to get out, bill. bill: remarkable to watch. thank you, leland vittert on that. resignations have come down. more information on this when it comes by way of --. martha: this is the biggest talker of the day, really. started yesterday, midday, presidential candidate mitt romney is facing barrage of criticism from both sides this morning after comments he quote, wasn't very concerned about the poor. something to that effect. you will hear his comment on it in just a moment. he said those words were taken out of context. here he is commenting yesterday on the plane. listen. >> i said on the campaign, my focus, my concern, my energy will be devoted to -- people. we have a safety net for the poor in this country. if there are holes in it i will work to repair that.

martha: conservative commentators saying romney is making himself a target. he letting these kind of things slip too easy and making it easy for the criticss. that he is missing mark others are expressing real conservative ideas in this stuff. listen to some of that. >> it is not just that it strengthens the stereotype of romney as the patrician who is only aware of the poor as people who clean the streets and wash his car. the real problem here is that it shows he doesn't have fluency with conservative ideas. the more case for conservative economics our policies will help everybody, including the poor. >> the safety net is one of the biggest cultural problems we've got. the safety net is contributing to the destruction of their humanity and their futures.

everybody knows what he is trying to say but he didn't say it and he makes himself a target with this stuff. he comes across as the proto typical rich republican. martha: very fiery of the interesting, stuff from charles krauthamer from rush limbaugh as well. joining me, alcon combs from the alan colmes radio show and tucker carlson, editor of "the daily caller" and fox news contributor. mitt romney is getting hammered by both sides for totally different reasons. tucker take on the comments by krauthamer and risch limbaugh. erick erickson has weighed in and jonah goldberg they say when it shows to them he can't make a conservative argument. is that true. >> we know what the attack on romney will consist of. he will be parented at heartless rich guy by the obama campaign. as a matter of tactics or strategy you probably ought not to play into that. romney can defend it on the

merits. it is very true that the poor have more disposable income and time than the working poor. the real frustration for conservatives is he is having trouble making it and explaining the basic precepts of conservative. that is why they like newt in a lot of cases even though newt is not a consistent tent conservatism but he can explain ideas behind conserve tim and romney can't. martha: adding to that criticism, what tucker is getting that, is he not nimble and can't talk off-the-cuff and find himself going into these sort of difficult waters at tiles when he does. alan, he says this comment was taken out of context that it does not mean that he is not sensitive to the needs of the very poor. what is your end -- >> how about trying to fix the poor? how about make it so we don't have the poor. tucker decides it is obama fault, obama will paint him as patrician. he is painting him as a pa

shish -- patrician. he already said i like firing people. there are other words around the sentences. you don't say that stuff unless you have a tin ear politically. tough realize that stuff will be used by your opponents but also signals that this is how mitt romney truly feels. charles krauthamer i think had it right. also i think he does regard people as people who wash his car and maybe carry his golf clubs. they are not the people he cares about and that is the message he gave. >> wait a second. at some point reality matters. by the way, who careses how he feels. >> i do if he runs for president. >> bottom line truth the poor have become much poorer over the past 3 1/2 years under the obama administration. that is the response. it is really simple. if you care about the poor, look at the results. what we are doing is not working. the steward of this economy is barack obama. he has failed to help the poor. martha: i want to mention one thing because when i heard this comment from him yesterday i said he said that before. this is not the first time he said that. so why is everybody jumping all over him now for it?

in october 2011 at a debate, he said we're not worried about lynch people. they're doing just final. very poor have safety net. the hard-working americans in the middle need a break. that's why i focused my tax cut there is what he said. when he originally made this comment he was talking about his tax cut plan and where he felt the greatest need go for tax relief and talking about middle class workers. should he not pointing that out, it was in reference to the tax plan. >> i'm sorry. martha: tucker. >> of course. look, the president of the united states was just on television 10 minutes ago explaining that god favors higher taxes on the rich, okay? so you, literally i just watched him say that. you could pretty easily pick apart the obama record and by the way the obama misstatements which are daily, if you wanted to. the press doesn't want to. the romney has to deal with that reality he is under intense scrutiny. >> this is not about obama. >> of course it is about obama. >> we can debate whether obama has or has not helped

the poor. rich have gotten richer. this is about a candidate who can't seem to get his message across and he is unable to realize that the your words have consequences and he is not able to get across the transsome that he is signaling what a out of touch he guy he is who doesn't really care. it is this cavalier attitude he has about people he views as lesser than him. >> who cares what he thinks or how he feels? >> i do. martha: we want him to do what we want him to do. tucker, no ubt do the romney campaign wants to move beyond this conversation and so perhaps these comments are not helpful for them to be sure. here we are talking about it. we'll see what their response will be and how they will move beyond that conversation in the course of the day. tucker thank you. alan thank you. >> thank you. >> great to see you guys as always. bill: 18 minutes before the hour. what did know, when did know it? eric holder back on the hot seat. live look on the hill. that is darrell issa. issa and others charge a

cover-up at the highest levels of government. we'll explain why. also? martha: the white house has the catholic church in up roar over a mandate on birth control. religious leaders of many faiths are launching a legal challenge against it. this is a becoming a bigtory. >> not just a catholic church. it is any catholic employer has a conscience and says i will not do this. >> if the obama administration has the power to require a employer to offer contraception then the conservative president would have the power to prohibit an employer from offering contraception. ?ó@]

bill: there are a number of religious organizations now up in arms over what they feel is the white house's war on religious freedom. at issue here, is the president's health care law that requires hospitals provide contraceptive coverage to employees even if it goes against church teaching. my next guest is part of the

legal challenge to that law. hanna smith, senior counsel for the beckett fund for religious liberty. thank you for your time. you're part of the mormon faith. we heard the president at a prayer breakfast in washington d.c. this topic did not come up. i'm not quite sure we expected it to come up. you are now launching a legal challenge to stop it. on what grounds? >> well the beckett fund is the only law firm that challenged this in two federal courts, in washington, d.c. and also denver, colorado. we're challenging it on several ground. a federal civil rights statute that prevents the government from imposing a substantial burden on religious groups. that's the religious freedom restoration act. also of course under the first amendment of the u.s. constitution. bill: okay. now the issue is contraception, right? but it also goes to providing the abortion pill. but and you have an issue with both of these, correct? >> well, yes. actually the mandate imposes on all employer health plans the requirement of paying

for and providing, not only contraception and sterilization but some drugs that many believe are abortion-causing drugs. plan. about, the morning-after pill, as well as ella, known as the week-after pill. this is not just a catholic issue. of course catholics have opposition to contraception generally but many groups, including evangelical christians oppose these abortion-causing drugs. it is really an issue that spans many religious faiths. bill: the white house says they have a year to work this out and they want to work with people like you to make sure you don't have an issue with it. this is jay carney at the white house yesterday. i will give get your reaction to this. >> i don't believe there is any constitutional rights. we know that there controversy and we'll continue to work with religious groups to discuss their concerns but on the other side of this was important need to provide access to women, to preventative services that they require. bill: what do you think about that? >> well, there are really

two points. first of all, giving reledge just groups another year entirely misses the point. these religious beliefs are not going to change over the course of another year. it is really odd that the administration there is asking these religious groups to adopt their religious beliefs. of course their religious beliefs are not going to change. the second point he made this was access to contraception for women. access is not at all problem. in fact the federal government has already acknowledged that contraceptions are widely available. nine in 10 employer plans already provide these drugs and services and the federal government in its announcement on january 20th said that these services and drugs are available at clinics, through planned parenthood, on the internet, at hospitals with income-based assistance. this is really not about access to contraception. what it is really about is forcing these religious groups to pay for it against their religious beliefs. bill: we'll see what the white house has to say more on this we wanted to get you

on and hear you out. you said the right of conscience has no expiration date that goes to the comment that a year is enough time or anytime at all. hanl that, thank you for your time. you're bringing a legal case and we'll see where it goes. >> thank you very much. bill: martha. martha: a nuclear power plant taken off-line and a small amount of radiation leaks into the atmosphere. where this happened and whether there is a risk to the public is next.

martha: new study out calling sugar a killer basically. researchers at uc san francisco saying sugar is a toxic, addictive substance and they feel that it has caughts that are very similar to those of alcohol and cigarettes in terms of their impact on the body. they're blaming sugar really for a world health epidemic and demanding the government

start regulating sugar aggressively. dr. stephen garner, right in time for valentine's day, chairman of radiology at new york's methodist hospital. doctor, as always, good to have you hire. is this a world epidemic, sugar, and should it be regulated by the federal government? >> more than 60% of the world is overweight. 66% of the children are overate. big culprit is cigar. it has a lot of calories that cause to you gain weight. give you idea how much people love soda. in a can of soda. martha: demonstration. wow, that is lot of sugar. >> you never think of doing that at home. never think of doing that at home. >> that is 16 ounce -- >> 16 ounce bottle of coke you get this. martha: wow. >> you don't know you're drinking it. definitely kids don't know. the big problem in old days we make our own foods, your mother would know what she is putting in it. you're getting processed foods that have sugars. breakfast serial cereals you wouldn't think have suggest

gar are loaded with cigar. martha: how do they regulate sugar the first place? you have to be 21 to buy beer. would you have to be of age to buy cigar? >> you have control in some areas. children's lunch at school you make sure are healthy. vending machines you can make sure. advertising is big culprit. advertising makes coke, you look cool. martha: government cracking down on advertising changing regulations in terms of school lunches all that. >> they don't usually do anything too well but what i would suggest they do it slowly. do it through education which works somewhat not a lot as you see with the obesity epidemic. even 20% of the people are still smoking cigarettes. manufacturers can make food taste well without adding sugar. martha: costs more money to do that generally, right. >> maybe give them tax breaks. one is the biggest control? manufacturer. it's an acquired taste. if you stop taking sugar for six months and go and take it will taste disgusting.

>> it takes a couple days to get it out of your system. and i tried it but i haven't tried lately. >> fast-food restaurants, martha. terrible. martha: dr. garner, thank you very much. no alcohol, no smoking, no sugar folks. dr. garner, you have a good time. >> a little chocolate. moderation. all things, moderation. martha: my grandfather always said. everything in moderation. he lived to be 96 by the way. thank you, dr. stephen garner. no sweets, bill? bill: how about the cupcakes the other day? martha: don't talk about that. bill: a surprise headline. the u.s. is planning to suspend combat operations in afghanistan. is that a good idea to tell the enemy that the u.s. military is packing up and leaving? martha: attorney general eric holder on the hot seat on capitol hill. why republicans say they do not want another groundhog day on this issue. >> we have dead u.s. age aren't. 300 dead people in mexico. untold number of crimes having been committed. you have them misleading the

united states congress. this is not acceptable from our attorney general. feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. had a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit, which provided for their every financial need. [ thunder rumbling ] [ thunder crashing ] and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. ♪ and they danced.

see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

martha: william la jeunesse has been following this story from the very beginning and he joins us live from los angeles. we are watching as eric holder is continuing to be grilled by darrell issa on the house committee on capitol hill this morning. william will talk to us a little bit about what he sees going on in this situation. it has been a story that has been going on for several months. it goes back to the origins of fast and furious, and today is a big moment for it on capitol hill. this is a new hour starting on "america's newsroom," i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. they are saying the justice officials knew all about the operation but did not stop it. 70,000 documents related to the operation fast and furious. here is the chairman of the committee moments ago, darrell issa. play this. >> today is groundhog day

again. this committee has lost its pa patience to wait longer, we will not wait until next groundhog day to get answers for the american people, for brian terry and others. the important things i am going to ask today is what can you do to bring this to a close? what can you do before the ig completes her investigation to allow the american people to see change that tells them, this is no longer going on and it won't go on in the future? lastly, before i recognize the ranking member, it is this majority, at least, committee's believe that this is an operation that included reckless behavior at a af. failure to push harder and inform memory by the f.b.i., a u.s. attorney who clearly didn't do his job in way that anyone should be proud of. we now have a justice department

official who has taken the fifth. we've moved up awayas, and all of those people should be ashamed that brian terry is dead because they didn't do as good a job as they should. martha: this gets to the heart of the matter on this brian terry issue. the previous once you saw with darrell issa was dealing more with doj procedures. this gets right to the issue of brian terry, and the two weapons that were linked to the 2010 murder much that us border patrol agent in arizona. his family has just filed a 25 hill dollars wrongful death claim against atf in that case, and more coming. bill: a bit more background on this operation designed to track the flow of weapons of drug cartels out of mexico. allowing them to buy traceable weapons in the u.s. agents lost at least a thousand of these weapons. they've been linked to violent crimes here, at least 30 in

mexico to date. congressman issa has been investigating this for about a year now. a separate investigation also under the way at the moment. jason shafetz later, and why he says there is no doubt in his mind the attorney general is holding. martha: let's back tock to election news right now. we have new poll numbers coming out of nevada this morning, the site of the next presidential caucus. the las vegas journal has mitt romney out in front 45%, newt gingrich 20 minutes back, rick santorum with 11 and ron paul 9%. later this afternoon we understand that donald trump claims that he has a very, very, important announcement to make in all of this. what can we tell the folks about that, john? >> reporter: we can tell the folks that every donald trump announcement is a very big and important announcement certainly in donald trump's mind. we do understand from various

sewsess that something big is coming that may be very favorable to gingrich. he is expected by many people to get an endorsement from donald trump this afternoon. as to whether or not that will absolutely happen, even -- >> look i'm not going to get involved in an anc procedural fight. i'll play by whatever the rules that are given to us. >> reporter: i just talked with his spokesperson, he says only donald trump knows what donald trump will do. the two of them had a meeting back in december. newt gingrich calls him a genuine american icon. another point is what is going to happen in florida. newt gingrich's campaign says they want to challenge whether or not the delegates should be allocated as a winner take all or proportional lee. that may not happen until the convention but certainly a big channel is going forward. martha: that is getting a lot of buzz this morning as well. thank you so much. john roberts in nevada. more on the florida delegate

fight that is going on. former attorney general bill ma cull um, and lance preibus are going to explain what is going on in florida where we thought it was done. bill: we are watching developments at a california nuclear plant, a water leaked operators to shut down a reactor. they say a small amount of radiation may have escaped. adam housley is at that plant, i should say southern california. what happened, adam. >> reporter: we are getting more clarify indication of what happened here on tuesday evening. there are three units here, three reactors, one of them has been shut down for years, used for storage. there are two others normally in use here. one of them was down for routine maintenance on tuesday night, the other one unit three is where the accident happened. basically water goes through about 9700 very small tubes, they are as thin as a dime. one of those tubes burst causing

the nuclear cool and the to mix with the steam and that steam was released. it went into a secondary building where the generators are located, where the turbines are and that's what set off an alarm that had them shut down the reactor. according to officials no radiation has been detected anywhere -- any detectable radiation has been detected outside the actual unit, that they have very sensitive equipment out here and nothing has shown up. environmentalists say, hold on a second, they are not so sure, take a listen. >> if anything transferred out of the containment it was so minuscule that our equipment didn't even pick it up. >> they are not telling us how much exactly. they say don't worry, it's minimal. i'm some ari'm worried, we should be worried. >> reporter: we are told that officials are waiting for it to cooldown inside unit 3 before

they can go inside and find out which two bursts and why it all went down. the good news so far this hour is that no nuclear radiation has been detected according to officials outside the units here at san onofre. bill: any effect on the power grid in california. >> reporter: the california grid in california delicate. we've had brown outs before in the last ten years. they tell us a 7% basically room is left in order to make sure that homes will have power here to california, and that is well within the area, so with this being shut down they have that 7% to play with. right now they say they are fine. if that happened in the summertime it might be a different story because california taxes that power generation much more seriously in the summertime. bill: adam housley, point well taken, thank you in southern california there. martha: here is one that has caught a lot of people by surprise this morning, the defense department is now targeting next year for an end to u.s. combat operations in

afghanistan. defense secretary leon panetta saying some american forces will stay onto assist in the training of the afghan army but ground operations would cease and this is much earlier than was planned. national security correspondent jennifer tkeufpb liv given live in washington with reaction. >> there have been sharp rebucks from members of the armed services committee who says that the administration never forward them about their decision to make 2013 a new deadline. >> if you're trying to win a war and negotiate with the enemy you want to do so with strength. bringing home the troops before the second fighting season, september of this year, bringing the surge forces homes means that general allen doesn't have the surge forces he needs to go into the east. >> reporter: senator joe lieberman said so, secretary panetta's statement sends the

wrong message at the wrong time to both our friends and enemies in the afghan conflict. there is absolutely no military rational that i am aware of for suddenly accelerating the current timetable for withdrawal from afghanistan. this change is not just need by facts on the ground. this was supposed to be made in may, but it seems leon panetta wants to get the message out early. martha: what about reaction from brussels? he has been meeting with nato ministers there, what is the reaction there. >> reporter: the secretary general there has said that he agrees with this timetable. he seems to be backing it. they seem to be on the same page. panetta as you mentioned made those remarks on route to brussels where he was meeting his nato countsparts. his timing surprised some of the nato allies but should come as no surprise since the french said they would be pulling out early last friday. martha: we know you're stay on

it. jennifer griffin at the pentagon. bill: fox news alert here on the economy, weak unemployment claims fell by 12,000 down to 367,000 for the week. this is a better number than many add expected, but weekly jobless claims must stay consistently below 3,000 to make a dent in the nation's unemployment rate, 8.5% nationally. nevada is well over 12%, we'll see how that factors into the caucus vote this weekend. martha: it's a slightly better number than expected but a tough area to be in for the unemployment numbers this week. newt gingrich's campaign says they will challenge the results of tuesday night's florida primary now. listen. >> i have reason to believe just talking to men and women there are quite a few of that committee on the rules committee that are very, very unhappy that the chairman is not choosing to enforce the rule. martha: it's all about the

winner take all rule in florida. they say they should allocate them in a proportional way. we'll talk to bill maccallum. the red of the rnc will weigh in. bill: we are talking jobs, how long will it take, america? we'll talk to one of president reagan's top advisers on that. martha: a crew member, what he did for 36 hours trapped inside the ship wrecked costa condoria. the story when we come back. 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.

a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

bill: he apparently survived on soggy sand weufpls and coca cola, trapped in the mangled under belly of this crippled cruise ship. a 56-year-old employee on board the costa condoria says he was helping passengers get out when he slipped and fell 20 feet through an open doorway. he broke his leg on a mountain of tables and chairs that were drifting in there. he saw crews outside the ship but no one could hear him on the inside. and he ended up sipping cognac

for the first time in his life. he watched a sunrise through a tiny window day after day. finally he signaled rescuers by banging pots on the hull of the ship. he was the last known survivor pulled from the wreck 36 hours later. martha: isn't that incredible. bill: it sure is. martha: back to politics now, mitt romney may have won the florida primary, as you saw announced here on tuesday night, right after 8:00, actually. but the battle could be far from over. is it here we go again time in florida, folks? newt gingrich's campaign is challenging the way the delegates were awarded based on the national committee's own rules. lance priebus is with us, and also mr. mccollum.

explain to us why there is a question here. >> each state when we were way back a few months ago and waiting to see when new hampshire was going to go and florida was going to go each state makes their own decision as to when they go and how they allocate delegates, okay? florida, as we all know, and it's no state secret, jumped the timing rule and decided to hold their primary early. well, because they broke that rule 15 the timing rule, there is a certain amount of penalties that the rnc can assess on florida for breaking the rule. their delegate count was chopped in half. the rules committee of the rnc further hit florida with all other sorts of sanctions that we don't need to get into. basically all of our arrows have been shot that we have available. there has the right to decide how they want to allocate their delegates, even though they are breaking their rule, our rules and we levels all the penalties we have gains are against them.

against them. if a delegate in florida has a problem with this issue or an allocation issue there is a procedure laid out in our rules for a delegate or a person who has standing to bring such a claim to the committee on contests at the rnc or before the commission. if they don't like that decision there is actually an appeals process of that, and then there is an appeals process of that. basically -- you know, you could keep arguing over this for months. it comes back to this. florida has awarded -- they have chosen a winner take all 50-delegate award to their delegates, and at the time if it's appropriate if a delegate or someone wants to bring a case and appeal it they can. i can't guarantee you how they are going to do it but i can tell you there is a process. martha: thank you, very well laid out. let's bring in somebody who is going to take that process

forward, and that is bill mcco mccollom who will be leading the charge. good to have you here. >> good to be with you. martha: we were told that it was going to be winner take all. that was pretty much everyone's understanding, wasn't it yours? >> there's been some dispute over this from internal politics for some time now. we have newt gingrich lawyers who do sort of thing looking at this right now. it's my understanding that the rule calls for apportionment for any state that goes early, any state that has a primary before april 1. in this particular instance obviously florida broke its boundaries, it did its thing as reince case, it got penalized in other ways. it's minding the rule applies a portionment. the states might a portion it in other ways. it means it has thob

apportioned. to be apportioned. martha: i want to show you what the chairman of the republican party had to say. he says florida was winner take all before the election day, winner take all on election day and it will remain winner take on. he goes onto say, i have no doubt that the outcome had 4 it be different on tuesday, they would not be seeking publicity to challenge the rules of florida. if newt gingrich had won and he had the winner take all delegates would he be doing that. >> no, but romney would be. anybody who loses would make this challenge. the state of florida obviously doesn't want the penalties they already suffered and they don't want anyone changing the way they did this. what are the republican national committee rules, how are they interpreted. you have all these men and women sitting on committees who make these decisions from every state who would disagree with

mr. curry, and i respect them a lot. we are filing newt gingrich delegates. they may or may not be accepted. it sounds like that they won't be in florida, then we'll take this. one ever the delegates that's filed, might be me, might be somebody else, to the contest committee. if the contest committee doesn't rule in our favor i'm sure it will be taken to the convention committee and onto the convention floor. martha: it reminds me of hanging chads. thank you very much former attorney general bill mccollom for laying that out for us. bill: four straight years and the u.s. deficit gross by a trillion dollars every year. another 1.1 trillion this year alone. where is all that money going? it is your money in the end. because you idea, bya. martha: general attorney eric holder, there is jason shafetz. attorney general eric holder on the hot seat in fast and

furious. >> we had whistle blowers who came forward and did the right thing. they've had their jobs and careers armed. the people in washington d.c. are saying, no, not us it must have been those people. martha: fireworks inside that room and jason chaffetz coming up. feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant.

when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're ner done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

martha: 24 minutes past the hour in new york city. let's take a look at some of the stories topping our headlines right now. britain's supreme court is hearing arguments on extra dieting wikileaks' founder sank julian assange. they say it is legal.

it is groundhog day, folks, and puxatawny phil get what, there is the little guy now, he saw his shadow. six more weeks of winter, but winter hasn't even started yet. bill: i hear you. martha: i don't know what that means. bill: i think phil needed skupb scree sunscreen coming out. four straight years of a trillion dollar deficit. $1.2trillion. that's an improvement, america. the government will spend 1.1 trillion more this year. that is down from the height of the recession in 2009. because you asked, barbara writes this out of texas. can you explain where the money has gone and where it is going with the trillion dollars spent every year. where did it go? charles payne has the pain null truth on the fox business network. how are you doing my friend?

>> reporter: i'm okay. bill: where is it going. >> reporter: a lot of it is going to entitlements, social security benefits, medicaid, medicare. defense spending a lot of it is unaccountable. some of it goes into pet projects, what you might call pork, alternative energy. our government spends, spends, spends. bill: and keeps on going. let me give our viewers a sense, put this on the screen. this is some of the annual spending you'll get every year. this is 770 billion on social security. medicare is 560 billion. medicaid $262 billion, and then you've got other manned stor manned story spendinmandatory spending. defense spending $680 billion. that cannot be sustained.

>> reporter: we are spending a trillion dollars a year to service what we owe, not to bring it down. bill: absolutely. that last figure could go to a trillion. >> reporter: it absolutely could. listen, our economy is slow, cbo comes out today and says it's probably going to get slower next year. that's less revenue for the government. the real key, the real pivotal key hires they won't stop spending. you just rattled off some things. social security, any time any politician brings it up with respect to trying to fix it they are run out of town on a rail. medicaid, medicare when president obama's healthcare law kicks in more people will be on medicaid and will need this sort of assistance. unemployment, welfare, in a couple of weeks we'll extend unemployment benefits. food stamps we spent $71 billion on last year. bill: it blows the mind. we charged you with going out and finding an answer as to how this ends u. can'.

you can't answer that. >> reporter: there you only two scenario, that the american public demand it, by demanding it that means that we are willing as a nation to suck it up a little bit, to just suck it up just a little bit and be realistic about this or we play this game and we look over what is happening with greece and por portugal and those countries. no one can bail us out. our problem is 16 trillion and counting. it's one thing to bail out greece and we see how much half vehicle it's wreaked over after the world. bill: i can't imagine. >> reporter: i will say this. if we have probusiness and achievement policies i think would that help as well. bill: and some leadership too. >> reporter: amen. by the way puxatawny phil, six days was right, how can you have six weeks more when winter hasn't kicked in. bill: you want a question answered hemmer & fox news.com.

also twitter & bill hemmer. charles, martha. martha: the deficit may also have a big effect on how long it takes for the job market to start to recover. the feds are out with a very grim outlook about hour economic future. that sounds very sunny. more winter, one more economic slump. bill: jay' jason pominville on chaff chaffettz just finishing his questions to eric holder. [ degeneres ] what's more beautiful than a covergirl? two covergirls. get two miracles in one product.

new tone rehab 2-in-1 foundation. covers spots, lines... and wrinkles. and helps improve skin tone over time. new tone rehab from easy... breezy... beautiful... covergirl! covergirl! insurance ... but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his

blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save.

. martha: lots of buzz, lots of going on on capitol hill this morning. ph morning there is a group of republican senator, including john mccain and minority whip jon kyl who are about to step in front of the microphones. they are announcing their plans to avoid about $500 billion in military cuts. shan and bream is live on capitol hill. what are they proposing this morning. >> reporter: thanks to our fabulous senate producer we got a sneak peak a koppee o copy of the bill. we understand that senators rubio, ayiott and cornyn will be involved. they want to freeze federal

worker pay, let 5% of the federal workforce go through attrition. and they also want to make sure that the cuts don't kick in until january of 2014. they think those measures will buy them some time and avoid the cuts that even the president's defense secretary says could be catastrophic to our current armed forces, martha. martha: it's very interesting, because the president and the administration wants to allow that federal pay freeze to go. they want to open it back up again and open it a half a percentage point increase. what kind of push back are we seeing to this plan. >> reporter: senate majority leader harry reid, the top democrat in the senate he made it clear he doesn't want to have any part of any legislation that would undue the cuts they agreed to, we heard from patti murray last night tweeting on this saying, we know the g.o.p. will propose something, it should include the wealthy.

we'll see when they unroll it in moments. martha: very interesting proposal. thank you very much. we'll see what the reaction is. bill: also on the hill right now it is happening at the moment too the attorney general eric holder getting grilled, facing questions from lawmakers about operation fast and furious. at times now this is heated. here is an exchange now. >> we find out that you have not rebuked any staff members. heck, you haven't even put a letter in people's personnel files saying that they on their watch acted and and agent was murdered. that is tutd lee absurd from this side of the diocse. i ask you, why haven't you taken steps to make sure this doesn't happen again? >> i this taken steps. certainly with regards -- >> you told people that you were mad, upset. that to me is silly. bill: the republican committee

members, as you can tell they think is misleading congress, they are talking about criminal charges. i asked about this earlier today. jason chaffetz good morning to you. dara issa says he smells a cover up. what would eric holder be trying to cover up? >> initially, remember, eric holder denied that he even knew about this. then i asked if he was just oblivious and aloof to this. he said he was fully engaged. the documents trickling in lead us to believe that the very highest levels of the department of justice knew exactly what was happening. they sent us a letter on february 4th saying they would never allow guns to walk, and clearly they did. and that is of deep tern. bill: why does it matter even if you're able to prove that top levels of justice new about this?

holder testified earlier today, he said it's not acceptable, it's not excusable, why is that not enough. >> because they were deceiving the united states congress and consequently the american people. when you send a letter as they did in this case to send to senator grassley, flatly denying on february 4th, and on that same day the head of committee was in mexico. he was talking about doing more gun running. we have untold number of dead people and crimes committed. we have them misleading the united states congress, this is not acceptable from our attorney general. bill: we have been told through washington that you need to talk to the atf agents on the ground in phoenix. they are the ones responsible for this operation. why does that rational not fly for you. >> that is part of the equation, they were getting money through grants and what not. you have people copied at the highest level. washington d.c. seems to be

protecting itself. this is the concern. the only thing we know about this is we had whittl whistle blowers who came through and said this isn't right, we shouldn't be doing that. and the people in washington saying, no, not us, we wouldn't do that stuff. bill: there is a threat by your side saying you'll eric holder der in contempt of congress. are you willing to go that far? >> yes, absolutely. bill: what would that mean precisely? >> the reason we're doing this is, we had our investigators talk to the special inspector general there at the department of justice and they said it was taking so long to do the internal investigation because they had 80,000 documents which raised our eyebrows because we have less than 7,000 documents. where are the other 70,000 documents, why won't they produce them to the united states congress? you can't just hold them back. if they are going to ignore the subpoena, which we take in this country very seriously then that may lead to contempt charges. bill: do you think holder is

stalling here. >> absolutely. bill: for the purposes of politics or beyond that. >> i think there are a lot of people at the highest level within the department of justice, homeland security and others that did know about this. and they claim they didn't. there are charges here, potentially criminal that they need to answer to. we've got to put this behind us but we can't conclude this unless they provide us the documentation. bill: do you think you can get a conclusion before november's election. >> i hope so. we're ready to do so as soon as possible. if the department of justice is going to continue to withhold documents and withhold people, and you have people claiming the fifth now, then we can't seem to conclude this. bill: jason chaffetz i appreciate your time. we'll let you get back to the hearing on the hill. >> thank you. martha: unemployment will rise and economic growth will slow down all by next year, that is the grim outlook from the director of the nonpart son congressional budget office. here are leaders from both sides of the aisle on this. take a look.

>> trillion more dollars will be added to the debt in the years aeu putting a chilling effect on job creation today and committing the next generation to additional future. the recovery act did serve its purpose. it's kind of like when you're walking up an escalator that is going down very quickly, if you take no action you will go down very fast. martha: interesting analogy there. art lapher is a former ronald reagan adviser, and he has endorsed newt gingrich. good to have you here today, welcome. >> how are you doing, martha it's good to see you. martha: we all know that feeling of trying to go up an escalator when it's trying to go down. i guess you can get there if you take a couple of steps at the time. but the question is, can we? >> we can. but we have to change policies, martha and that's all there is to it. we've got to cutback on spending. what the democratic representative said is really not correct. these stimulus spending programs have caused the bad economy, and the only reason the economy is

not going further down is because they have withdrawn a lot of that spending. if they put that spending back in again we go down like a rocket ship right down those escalators. martha: i know you're a newt gingrich supporters, do you think there is enough being said about spending cuts, in terms of eve entitlements. shannon bream was talking about a senate proposal to find a way not to make the military cuts and find that in other ways. what do you make of all that. >> you can never say too much about spending cuts. we have to bring that budget deficit and spending down to where the revenues are today, and that is the key to bringing prosperity back. and paul ryan, who you had on just a second ago was the author of the ryan plan which would do a very good job of bringing that spending down, but you can never discuss spending cuts, because if you'll remember, martha, milton freidman always would say that government spending is

taxation and that's what it is. and we are taxing the u.s. economy right now and we are wondering why we are not prospering. martha: thank you very much, afrplt we are shor art, we had a lot of breaking news. thanks for being here today. >> i think romney is good too, though, by the way. martha: all right we'll had that to the list as well. i'm glad you got both sides in there, art. thank you very much. bill: the largest breast cancer charity now kug off funding for certain screenings. why would that be? in a moment we'll ask the man who helped kick start this controversy for his reaction. martha: you know what is happening this weekend? i know you're not aware, it's almost super bowl sunday, a rematch between the new jersey giants and the new england patriots is coming up, why an email from tom brady's wife is grabbing big headlines today. say a little prayer. bill: is she going to be on the field? martha: maybe she will.

♪ [singing] tommy, tommy. ♪ ♪

skwraot world's largest breast cancer charity, very well known group has decided to cut off funding for screenings that are performed by planned parenthood. the organization says that it's because planned parenthood is facing congressional inquiry into whether federal money was used to fund abortions. cliff stearns is heading up that investigation and he joins me now. congressman stearns, welcome, good to have you here this mourn. >> thank you, martha. martha: this is getting a lot of attention. the susan komen foundation is the largest breast cancer organization. they put those little pink ribbons on everything to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer research and screenings. they've had a long-running

partnership with planned parenthood. the national board of komen is saying because you are doing an investigation into this group they are no longer going to fund them. do i have that right? >> that's right. let's put it in perspective. phrapbld parenthood has been around for 50 years. i'm the first congressman to ask for financial information, so we're doing a financial oversight investigation. phrapbl planned parenthood gets half a billion dollars eve every year from taxpayers. all i'm saying is where is this money going. i've asked for ten years of records dealing with 88 affiliates in planned parenthood. i think it's a reasonable request and it's an on going investigation. martha: what can you tell us if you know about planned parenthood. there is information that says they don't do mammograms, or a lot of mammograms, is that the case? >> no, they are getting 600,000

from the susan komen not for profit foundation, so they are using the money for something, it's not quite clear. martha, there has been a lot of states that have fined planned parenthood for over billing and fraud. medicaid, the new york inspector general for medicaid found a huge amount of money of over billing and fraud by. i've had seven employees who worked for planned parenthood, they came to me and cited all the abuses that phrapbld parenhooplanned parenthood has been practicing. i think as a member of wong we should do oversight of planned parenthood. it's an on going financial investigation. martha: you must be pleased that the komen organization is

backing your interest in finding out where the money is going. >> i think they are making the right decision, with the history, and the court cases. i think it's good they did that. martha: we hope to talk to the founder of the komen foundation. we hope to do that so many. bill: uncle sam kept telling this guy he was dead and buried. as you can see he is very much alive and well. why this mix-up could cost him a heap of money. >> they had me buried. they had me in the ground, they had me in the ground dead. what's this? it's progresso's loaded potato with bacon. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. 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.

martha: uncle sam keeps telling

this poor man that he is dead. this vietnam vet is very much alive and kicking, folks. his name is jerry miller. he says the department of veteran's affairs has declared him deceased at least three times. >> i thought somebody was playing a joke. they had me deceased. >> what did you tell them? >> you hear me talking to you, i can't be deceased. bill: that's right i'm talking. martha: with each letter he had to ket through mountains of red tape to get his medical plans back. the fed want mr. miller and his wife to repay $94,000 in burial fees that they supposedly received. bill: something tells me jerry is not going to cough up that cash. we've got your back my man. martha: we sure do. bill: america's top intelligence chiefs are briefing lawmakers on the biggest threats to our national security. all this coming now as we are getting word from the white house. it's planning to move taliban leaders out of gitmo.

catherine herridge is on this. what is the status of these detainees and how dangerous could they be. >> reporter: bill, thank you and good morning. a senior congressional official confirms to fox that the obama administration has taken, quote, operational steps to move five taliban leaders from guantanamo bay as part of a confidence building measure to further peace talks with the afghan taliban. what's strike -rg the connections between some of these taliban leaders and al-qaida. one of them fought along al-qaida as a taliban general. another was a deputy of intelligence who described himself as a taliban memorandummer. and another one passed messages to members. they say they were hand-picked by the taliban and under the administration's current proposal the men would be moved to the third country, most likely kuttur. republican mike rogers chastised the administration for tailing to listen to the strong

bipartisan opposition on the hill to swapping the taliban leaders at gitmo. >> it sends a horrible message for the world's bad actors that soldiers, prisoners, citizens, are now to be treated like commodities. i think that is a horrible precedent and one that i hope this administration strongly reconsiders. >> reporter: in a statement the white house said, quote, we haven't committed necessity research we've done diplomatic efforts alone. we have consulted with congress and will continue to do so. in any case our efforts will be consistent with u.s. law. they require certification that those released or transferred from guantanamo will not be threats again in the future. bill: thank you. stay on it for us out of washington. martha: bill, i know you don't know this but the super bowl is three days away. he doesn't really pay attention to these things, oddly enough. super model giselle is asking

everyone to do something for her tuesday, tom brady, we'll tell you what it is, we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] ...without swanson. the broth cooks trust most when making soup. mmmm! [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson. . -i love this card. -wi the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. it's cash back everywhere, evertime. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that's 1% cash back onoscar. ...tony. oscar! 2% back on whatever she'll eat. 3% back on filling up this baby. [ male announcer ] now get 1-2-3 percent cash back.

it's that simple. [ male announcer ] apply online or at a bank of america near you. we're talking 3% back on gas.

♪ . martha: the "new york post" says super mod model gisele bundchen sent this e-mail to friends and family. quote, i feel tom any really needs our prayer and our support and love at this time and please join me on this positive chain and pray for him so he can feel dst, healthy, strong envision him happy and fulfilled experiencing with his team a victory this sunday. i like that. the patriots may need the prayers. they lost to the giants 17-14 when the two teams faced off, who can forget that super bowl. patriots are 3