man who shot and killed trayvon martin 46 years ago, now telling part of his story on his own website, today you will learn what he's saying about that fateful night and that is where we start, welcome here, i'm bill hemmer, welcome back to you, you look beautiful in blue, good time with the family, nice weekend? martha: really nice, how about you? bill: well done, terrific, thank you. martha: we are back, good morning, everybody, i'm martha mccall. -- maccallum. you have an american flag as the backdrop on the website of george zimmerman, here's what he said on sunday, february 26th, i was involved in an life altering event which led me to become the subject of intense media coverage, as a result of the incident and media coverage i have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately, my like life. bill: also asking for donations to help him pay for legal bills. steve harrigan out of miami,

good morning to you. does he suggest or does anyone suggest that he will get arrested steve? >> reporter: both sides really trying to interpret the latest moves. on one hand, zimmerman asking for a defense fund but also living expenses. he claims he's had to leave his house and job but his fate is in the hands of one person, florida special prosecutor who said she will not use a grand jury to make the decision. both sides really trying to -- trayvon martin's family say they see it as a positive that, they expect george swimmerman to be expected soon. bill: there are reports of violence in sanford, florida. what do you have on that steve? >> reporter: across the street from that gated community where the shooting took place on february 26th there were shots fired this morning into an empty police car. no reports of any injuries. but witnesses are saying as many as six shots were fired up until now, the protests have been peaceful across the state, the rallies have been peaceful. this is really the first act

of violence and it's likely to ratchet up the tensions in sanford and especially in the elementary school across from that great dollars community and in the community of 250 homes where the shooting took place in february. bill: thank you, steve harrigan leading our coverage in miami. martha: well, it avs wild day of weather, stretching from the plains states to the northeast. at least two twisters tore through the knot western part of oklahoma. no word on any injuries in that area. but early estimates are showing that at least a quarter million dollars in damage has happened so far. look at these images. and take a look now at this. unbelievable. it sounds exactly like gunfire but it is not. it's hail, hitting the same part of oklahoma. so we're talking softball

sized pieces of ice, raining down from the sky t. damaged cars, of course, and a county jail, and injured two people, including a baby. unbelievable sound coming from that hail storm in oklahoma. then meanwhile, in the northeast, dry, windy weather fueled a series of devastating brushfires on new york's long island. look at this massive blaze. destroyed at least two homes. firefighters battling this from three sides, finally bringing it under control, and flames in new jersey, scorching hundreds of acres and edgeing dangerously close to nearby homes. >> it's too close for comfort. >> it was very horrifying, it was too close for comfort, it was right behind our home, literally behind our home. >> i was worried to death, made sure we had our evacuation plan in effect, and it's just frightening because you don't know what to think. >> everybody is concerned. they are close by and watching the wind and the weather and trying to get

information. ready to just get out. martha: you can just hear the fear in all those peoples' voices. that's the area's second major brushfire in less than a week, and in connecticut, flames dangerously close to homes in that state. >> maybe six or 8 feet away from me. >> six or 8 feet away from your house. >> yes. >> i live on pon . avenue and i was having brush come in that area. >> we're not used to fighting brushfires like out west in california, so this is a different fire for us. >> it was ash and -- ash and soot and it was raining ashes. >> i actually saw that in mill forward, connecticut fire, on the way home yesterday, you could see it clearly, the smoke from interstate 95, and there are also red flag warnings in the northeast that promise another dangerous day there. rick leventhal is live on this story from our newsroom. good morning rick. >> reporter: good morning martha. you may have seen the fires burning next to the train tracks there, service

obviously disrupted in connecticut and new york last night, back in service this morning. but the blazes continue. this fire is triggered by this perfect tom of dry, warm and windy weather and the conditions are still dangerous. red flag warnings remain in effect over much of the north atlantic, from the carolinas through maryland, pennsylvania, new jersey, and the new york metropolitan area. out on staten island, a fire at a landfill went to five alarms yesterday, nearly 200 firefighters from 40 units responded, three suffered minor injuries, the smoke forced closures and delays on nearby roads and highways. officials hoping the winds that gusted to 42 miles per hour will die down so they can get the blaze under control. meanwhile several fires broke out on eastern long island, new york, where more than 100 agencies responded. some residents evacuated. another 2000 acres burned at the brook haven complex, a federal nuclear research facility. no buildings hit there,

though. fires still burning in the pinelands at burlington county, new jersey, due east of philadelphia, dozens of firefighters responding there, digging ditch hes to -- digging dives to keep the flames from spreading to homes. officials are asking people across the northeast to be especially careful. >> right now with everything being dry and not having water over the last several days it's extremely dangerous for us. we want everybody to be on alert. >> reporter: fires over this large an area are unusual on the east coast. they are more typical in the west. the risks will drop as temperatures cool and winds die down during this week, martha. martha: rick, thank you very much. rick leventhal in the newsroom. bill: need moisture. dry dry dry. >> the mystery on the maryland mega million lotto win ser involved. -- is solved. we know more about the record breaking jackpot. officials say three teachers from an office pool will get the prize. nearly $35 million apiece.

and we know it's two women and one man and they work in maryland's public school system. one is an elementary school teacher, another works in special ed, lottery officials making that announcement an hour ago. they say the winners want to be anonymous, which is kind of sort of understandable, too. >> these folks were able to come in in the way they did, they were modest, they were i think humbled by this stroke of luck that they have received. i think at times, they were a bit overwhelmed. bill: i bet. miranda wilson, remember her, she's the mcdonald's employee who insisted she was the wear and lost her ticket inside the restaurant? she does not appear to have the share in that prize, though. that was all the big ruse, apparently. martha: those people remain anonymous until they suddenly aren't in school! until they suddenly decide to retire early! maybe they won't, maybe they'll stick around. bill the new lottery

winners, they would have to work and fork over even more cash to uncle sam if there is a program put in place. the president is talking about this today, the buffet rule, hitting the road to push for what has become known as the warren buffet rule, that plan named for the billionaire investor, famously complaining that he pays less income tax than middle class workers but you do not have to be as rich as warren buffet to get hit by the rule, the law would raise capital gains rates to 24 percent if you make more than $200,000 a year, also raising the minimum rate to 30 percent if you make more than a 1-8d per year. stuart varney, varney & company, crunching numbers, good morning to you. what's your take? >> reporter: i think it's very much a political proposal. these two ideas, raise capital gains taxes on if you make $200,000 or more, raise taxes if you make a million or more, lumped together as the president's tax the rich proposal, otherwise known as the buffet rule. now, if both of these proposals went through congress, and that's highly

unlikely, if they did, they would raise a maximum $700 billion over ten years. that is an absolute maximum. very few people table would really bring in that kind of money. but if it did, $70 billion a year that would barely make a dent in the trillion dollars per year decifit which we're looking at in the next few years. so in my opinion, it is very much a political proposal, not a serious economic policy. by the way, congress is not likely to accept either proposal. bill: so it doesn't pass, you're saying. >> it will not pass. bill: if it were to come to the floor or the house. >> not going to happen. bill: so it's not going to pass. what does he gain if from this? >> votes. this is very much at the center of the president's reelection campaign. tax the rich, make taxes more fair, make it look like the republicans are defending the rich, the indefensible rich, play politics, look for votes. that's what's at stake.

bill: and put a target on mitt romney, too. >> yes. bill see you 9:15, fbn, all right? what's next martha? martha: those are a few of the stories we've got cooking in "america's newsroom". a new study is fanning the flames of the health care debate. coming up, an economist who says that the overhaul will jack up the decifit by hundreds of billions of dollars. some interesting math that has been done here. we will show you that. bill: watch closely here. you see that young man? a scary ride for him. he's in middle school. why he had to get up and take control of that school bus that was rolling right down the road. martha: and even more video surfacing from government employees who blew close to a million dollars of your money for a big convention in las vegas. unfortunately, it didn't stay there for them! now top lawmakers are demanding some answers. >> among other things, we're going to ask him, quite frankly, what he thought he should have been able to do when 11 months ago he informed the administration,

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martha: well, new developments in the health of republican presidential candidate rick santorum's three-year-old daughter a. campaign spokesman is saying that bella santorum is now out of the hospital and settling in at home with her mom and dad. she suffers from a rare genetic condition. she was hospitalized on friday. he canceled two events today, and not campaigning yesterday, as we know, so that he could spend time at home with bella. we wish the family well. bill: certainly do. so a new study further fueling debate over the real cost of health care. a former bush administration official, approved by the president to oversee medicare and medicaid costs, and self-proclaimed conservative economist claims the law will raise the national decifit by

$340 billion, with a bob for bob. andrea tantaros, bob beckel, former campaign manager on the democratic side, cohosts of "the five", how you doing? it just keeps getting better, doesn't it andrea? >> the gift that keeps on giving! i gotta tell you! >> bill: or worse. >> or worse, that's right. -- that's right. but bill, this should not be a big surprise. i challenge bob to name one time that the federal government has either created an entitlement or created some kind of program that they claim would save money, that actually did save money. i mean, look at medicare, medicaid, huge cost containment issues with them, and i would point out, what this study is saying is a lot of the cost savings were already going to happen anyway without the bill. so what the obama administration did, and i won't bore the viewers to tears, because we don't want you going back to sleep on this thursday -- tuesday, what they did is use furchtiony budgeting, so the cbo doesn't analyze based on reality, it analyzes based

on what's written into that bill. so democrats wrote a bunch of stuff into the bill that would already happen or already wouldn't happen, realistically. bill: so it's funky math and not fuzzy math. you leveled a challenge against bob. we'll go ahead and give him a shot. >> talk about fuzzy path! first of all, if it were -- we're taking seriously this former bush administration official who's a right winger. bill: and approved by the white house. the president signed off on it. >> listen, what his math is, this report says there are more coulds, in this, could turn out to be higher than forecast, than any report i've ever seen. the reality is, this is time for the supreme court -- they're starting to lose traction with republicans on what was clearly a negative for us and still is on the health care bill. but the -- excuse me, the health care law. but now there's a couple of things we've got to keep in mind. that is there are millions upon millions benefiting from it in real dollars. bill: but answer andrea's question, when did the u.s.

government ever create a program that was actually in the black and not the red essentially? >> in the black? i have no idea. the peace corps. what do i know? you're talking about -- if you're asking me about is there an entitlement -- >> bill you were bob, you're just making her point, bob, about health care, whatever it is, medicare, medicaid, social security, they all went bust. >> they haven't gone bust. bill the point this guy makes is that the medicaid costs in this health care plan is what's blowing the budget andrea. >> that's right. and the biggest point, too, bill, and remember, kathleen sebelius, health and human services secretary, admitted this, democrats counted the medicare savings of omabacare, $500 billion, twice. you can't do that. this was all smoke and mirrors to create the illusion that somehow omabacare, that expands this huge new entitlement, would save us $850 billion. that's not true, bill. calls are going to go out. forget the burke administration study, bob. let's put that to the side.

let's look at what the federal government is saying and just last spring, the federal government said obama's own actuary, the federal health care costs would increase $200 billion a year under omabacare. >> with all due respect, pal, listen, i've been listening to you guys rant on this health care bill from the beginning. here's the thing you've got to keep in mind. the mandate which is the thing you don't like the most was a republican idea, introduced into legislation by republicans, passed by republicans, all of the sudden, they don't have it. and now you don't like it. the fact is, this is all politics on your side and you have no answer for 40 million uninsured americans. that's the problem. >> it wouldn't survive -- if the mandate is -- why is the administration -- >> we're fighting back now. >> why transfer $500 million to the irs? >> we let you and the tea party have it for -- >> bill: that's money out of the door. this is what charles blahaus, works at george mason said, taken as a whole the enactment has worsened the dire fiscal outlook, the law increases a federal commitment to health care

spending that was already unsustainable and would exacerbate projected federal deficits. what the white house will say, andrea, is that this is new math, used by the opponents. defend that. >> it's not new math at all. this was always the math. the math they gave us was never accurate. bill, there's another very important point i have to make. the employer mandate, okay, we're talking individual mandate, but the employer mandate that mandates the business -- that businesses cover the uninsured, think about what they're going to do, the cbo assumes they're going to cover 20 million people, okay, under these new exchanges, why would they do that. they're going to drop their employer coverage. that's forcing even more people on to health care. >> the question is what are republicans going to do about uninsured people, what is mitt romney going to do about a bill he signed into law. >> there is a bill, martha blackburn has it, go to her website, republicans are ready with a plan. >> battles engaged. bill: see you, 5:00.

>> you bet, we're counting down. martha: let's look at this. this is a live shot of chris christie, happening in new york city, he is speaking this morning and former president george w. bush just finished up at this same venue, and what they are saying is getting a lot of attention. we're going to tell you what's going on there. we'll take you there live. bill: we're learning stunning new details linked to that military jet crash in virginia. hear the desperate calls on 911, like this one: >> it fell. it's -- it hit an apartment complex and i saw the -- i saw the -- um, the pilot bail out, the pilot did bail out, i saw him, but it hit the apartment complex. >> o. hold on one second. >> the apartment building is on fire. >> we're getting people started out to you, okay? ♪

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martha: this is very interesting. moments ago, at an economic forum that is happening right now in new york, president george w. bush waited really for the first -- wa devment d really for the first time into the debate going on over economic policy in this country today, the former president speaking at an event for the 4 percent growth project, its goal is to increase awareness about polices and business strategies that could help america prosper. here's the former president, who opened the event this morning, with these remarks. watch: if you raise taxes on the so called rich, you're really raising taxes on the job creators, and if the goal is private sector growth, you got to recognize that the best way to create that growth is to leave capital in the treasuries of the job creators.

secondly, if you raise taxes -- in other words -- i wish they weren't called the bush tax cuts. if they're called somebody's other tax cuts they're probably less likely to be raised. but if you raise taxes, you're taking money out of the pockets of consumers. and it's important for policymakers to recognize that all the doubt about taxes causes capital on the sidelines. martha: very interesting, right? former president bush basically saying that he wishes the bush tax cuts weren't called that because he thinks they would have a better chance of survival which he feels is very important to the economic recovery in this country. we're going to talk more about that coming up later in "america's newsroom". we'll show you more of that. bill: think that election is on? you bet it is. twenty-five minutes past the hour. not guilty by reason of insanity, a passenger whose outburst caused a cross country flight to make an emergency landing in texas, the man had stopped taking his medicine for

schizophrenia. he'll undergo supervision. >> a drop in peg preparing nans agrees -- pregnancies for teens, numbers down in 26 states. >> and wireless providers tackling cell phone thet, a new method would cut off voice and data service, making them use less. >> ♪ >> ♪ why don't we steal away. >> ♪ >> ♪ bill: i was thinking of ka karoake, you and me on stage? killer! >> martha: there are conflicting reports out of syria today on what is supposed to be the first day of the u.n.-brokered ceasefire between the government and opposition forces. that's amateur video that has come and it's reportedly out of the city of homs the other day, activists now

saying the military has launched fresh assaults on new new -- two new towns now but the government claims they have started troops pulling back. leland vitter is live from jerusalem. are there the initial signs at all of a ceasefire? >> reporter: not anything we have seen or heard on the ground, martha, supports the government's position that they are pulling their troops back. in fact, just the opposite. the pictures are awful, the sounds, chilling. take a listen: >> this is video posted online by the opposition forces there in the town of homs, and also in hama, two towns they say are under continuous attack from president bashar assad's military. as of just now, in the past 12 hours or so, tuesday in

the middle east, 30 killed, 70 wounded. we're a long way from the fighting ending martha. martha: and that begs the question, what happens next, where do we go from here? >> reporter: this was a nonbinding ceasefire. syria said okay, okay, enough pressure, we'll stop fighting, but there was no teeth to this, that's because russia has been protecting syria at the u.n. security council and for all intents and purposes it looks like that is going to continue. russia has shown for signs of switching sides. remember, it was a u.n. resolution that allowed nato to start bombing in libya, which put an end to the bloodshed there. it looks like for the time being, unless there is some major change by turkey or the other arab countries, that the bloodshed inside syria is going to help indeed, outbattled and opposition leaders, aren't going to get military help from the u.s. or any western nation. martha: it's clear they feel they have cover to continue at this point. leland, thank you very much.

leland vitter. bill: another fox news alert, word of north korea, defiant, that rogue regime saying it's all systems go for a launch of a long range missile, a missile that could be capable of reaching the united states. when ambassador -- what ambassador john bolton says is the hidden story here. he's up in a couple of minutes. martha: a sixth grader, hailed a hero. see him lunging to the front of the bus? we're going to show you what he did to save the lives of every child on that bus. incredible. >> everyone was asking questions, what happened! there's a bus out there. what did you do, jeremy! i'm like oh, i just drove the bus to the side. everyone is just all excited about that.

bill: let's get back to the breaking developments out of north korea, the u.s. navy moan hraoeuzing defense systems ahead of that country's rocket lan much. north korea says its rocket its fully asse assembled and could liftoff within games. they have invited journalists from inside the country. greg palkot watching it with us. what is the latest on the developments today. >> reporter: north korean officials and our own experts are indicating as you say the launch appears to be going forward. officials saying that all the assembly, all the preparations are ready for that take off, maybe as early as this coming thursday. north korea is still claiming today that this is a civilian,

peaceful satellite launch. others have been saying it could be a cover for a ballistic missile test. again the launch window opens up thursday morning, north korea time, that is wednesday night eastern time and they say they will try to do it at that time. there hasn't been a fully successful launch yet from north korea the practice skwrebgt tr trajectory of this rocket goes near south korea and japan. they say if it goes anywhere near their land masses they will shoot that rocket down. martha: joined by ambassador john bolton, he says there is a hidden story in awful this as well that we need to be aware of. former u.s. a ambassador to the united nations and fox news contributor. welcome, ambassador bolton. this would be the first succes

successful -- we've seen so many of them go up and fail, and we've got even used to thinking they are going to fail. if this launch is successful, how big of a concern does that raise? >> if they can put a satellite into orbit that means that their soy fist indication for this is far ahead of where it is said to be. this launch is extremely important therefore in and of itself. also given the rumors, the statements by south korean officials that they believe a third nuclear test is also coming up here. what is at stake is can you get a missile that is accurate enough and long range enough to put a nuclear war head on top of of it? that is what the north has been aimed at it. martha: the hidden story in all of this its cooperation from none other iran. >> exactly. we know on the ballistic missile front iran and north korea have

been cooperating since 1998. they use the skud missile technology as a basis for it. there have been all kind of reports of iraqi sigh inch teutss to north korea and visa-versa if we tend to look at north korea and iran as a second problem, but i think they are very closely related. martha: obviously iran is aligned with never even kne enemy we have. i want to talk about kim jong un. they said we are going to cancel this kind of work, we need food aid, so many people starving in north korea this turn ever events tells us what about him? >> i don't think the north koreans careless about the food status of their people. what this is about is regime

preservation. they are hoping, they hope if this missile test so successfully they have a strong military capability, they will not be messed around with, they will not abide wit by the deals with the united states, and it's a staying deal. it will be closely watched in iran when we're getting ready on friday for negotiations to open between iran and the five permanent members of the security council. martha: and the possible reopening of the six party talks that would involve north korea at well. what about the statements from japan and south korea, if this comes anywhere near them they will shoot it down. >> they are very war lead about china too. japan first became interested in missile defense in 1998 when north korea launched a missile and landed east of japan.

this missile is aimed south, so they say, who knows whether it will be accurate. this fear of having a missile drop on one of your cities is not hypothetical if you live in south korea or japan. martha: they've given us a very specific window, thursday through monday are the dates we can watch for this to happen. thank you. bill: lawmakers accusing the white house of trying to keep a key witness quiet in fast and furious. martha: they spent nearly a million dollars of your taxpayer money in vegas. now there is a new video that has surfaced of government employees having a good old time and your dime, folks. >> we think all the witnesses will show up. our invitation is not about one episode which has been highly covered, but about the problems at gsa that go back to the previous administration.

bill: there was now are new outrage today over a lavish taxpayer funded conference for government employees in las vegas. another top government worker has just been placed on leave, the 8th now after another embarrassing video from the conference just sur tpaesd, with workers singing about environmental lee friendee programs. here is a sample of that. ♪ singing] bill: that is a little bit of that, the individual crow was ununcovered after the investigation. councilman darrell issa is not amused with this. he's pointing fingers not only at the white house but congress. >> failure to do your job is something you should be held

accountable for. we have failed to do this job for keeping after this pwaour roc bureaucracy. bill: you may have picked up on it on the clip. the president wants a presents clip, a project he can show. they are poking fun at green jobs of the administration, what do you make of that. >> it doesn't shock me that the federal pwraour roc bureaucracy is cynical. not even the federal bureaucracy was buying that as a true le truly exciting thing. that or they had a tremendous

amount of time on their hands. bill: this program was getting less money on a percentage basis. under our administration in the book years, suggesting more money was spent between 2000 and 2008. what do you think of that claim? >> i think it's a strange sort of fuzzy math kind of claim. what they're saying is that the rate of increase of the program is smaller under obama than it was under bush. okay so they basically piled more money on top but at at the same share of money as they did under push. they are still giving it more money. plus, it's fundamentally just lame, it's just another attempt to blame this on bush somehow. obama came in, said that he was going to change everything, change the way government is run and all the rest. bill: that is an interesting point too apparently this was known within the administration eight or ten months ago. and you try and put that up against the transparent administration, quote unquote. >> i think darrell issa is

absolutely correct on this. the only reason any of them have been fired, being investigated by the white house is it became a major presents issue. this was still on the website. i was watching wolf blitser on cnn the other day and he's saying it's shocking four years into the obama administration these store rears happening. its not shocking. the government has exploded inside. it ithis is the inevitable consequence when you have the federal government off the rails in terms of spending. bill: to a bigger point here, is this a liability in a general election season? how much more is out there, at this point do we know? >> i think it is. in and of itself, especially the

video that came out today is some damming scandal. if you put it in a larger contest of what obama sold himself out. they sold themselves as stkpwaoeus thaguys that would get the government korblg workin working correctly. when barack obama is shooting baskets at the white house with balls with his own picture on them. he's not up for the standard he laid out for himself in 2008. bill: jonah goldberg thank you. martha: she claimed she had the winning ticket, right? she couldn't find it. it was somewhere in the mcdonald's where she worked,

right? an unbelievable twist in the mega millions jackpot. bill: see the young man there, the driver passed out of the wheel. he's page 13. he saved the day. >> the pus driver is coming up to this turn near the school and he starts acting all funny, he's eyes are bulging, and he's twitching in his chair. on ourar insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side,

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bill: talk about an entrance, right? this is a cool for raoefplt his father meets his baby for the very first time weeks after the young boy made a dramatic entrance into the world. he was board on board a flight out of the continent of africa to the u.s. he was going to atlanta at the time. mom was en route to meet up with dad when she went into labor. fortunately a nurse and doctor were on board the flight.

the plane was diverted to western africa. mom and baby had to wait about two weeks before they could complete their journey. >> i have to go to the bathroom, i came back, i wasn't comfortable. so they are like, you can do this. push. okay in the next five minutes you take a deep breath and you do it. >> all i could hear is the baby screaming and crying to the hospital people and everything. it was a good feeling but it was emotional. bill: mom and dad say words cannot describe how grateful they are for bringing their son into the world. what are they baggy to name them? martha: what a cute little guy. she made it sound so easy. oh, i just pushed and it was all over. what a beautiful little baby. how about this story, he won't be able to drive leak alley for a few years, but today a 13-year-old washington state boy is being applauded for what he

did. that's him wres blink with the steering wheel right here. we have to story, watch. what started as a routine monday morning bus ride turned into a terrorizing trip for several milton middle schoolers. >> the bus driver is coming up to a turn near the school and he starts acting all fun aoerbgs his eyes are all bulging and eyes twitching in his chair. >> reporter: it shows the driver having a seizure, the bus suddenly veers off the road. in seconds a 13-year-old jumps out of his seat and took the wheel. >> i run up, grab the wheel, steer it to the right side of the road, take the keys out of the ignition. >> reporter: by the time the bus stopped jeremy opened the door, he and other students used their cell phones to call 911. john was driving by when he noticed the bus on the side of the road. >> obviously he crossed the street, got to the front of the

bus and kids had opened up the door and the bus driver was unconscious. >> reporter: he attempted cpr on the driver. he had to be carried away by paramedics. they do not know the man's condition but he was breathing. >> everybody was like, oh, there is a bus out there, happened? what did you do jeremy. i told them i just drove the bus to the side. everybody was excited about that. >> reporter: not jeremy. while his actions possibly saved the bus driver and saved the students he says he could have done more. >> i look back and see what i could have been better. martha: he's a leader that young man. kwrerpl me what did you do? thanks to our fox affiliate. the driver is not doing well, sadly, and so the children were all saved on that bus thanks to the good work of jeremy, but we wait for some good news to come out about the driver as well.

bill: i just drove it to the side of the road, took out the key. martha: you need to let your kids drive the car around the driveway once in a while just so they know what to do. bill: congratulations. we heard from former president george bush breaking his silence. what he had to say about the economic policie policies of the current house. herman cain is in the house and he will react live to all of that. martha: we look forward to that. the maryland lottery raising new questions now about the true winners of the record-mega millions jackpot. boy, those people's lives are changed forever. more coming out about them after this.

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martha: all right, breaking news for you right now. former president george w. bush is now breaking his silence on some very pressing issues on the state of the u.s. economy right now and wading in really for the first time into this debate over how things are going since he left the white house. that's how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: and i'm bill hemmer. it's really fascinating because of the politics of the day. george bush was speaking at the bush institute tax conference here in new york city, and he's saying that washington has to stop thinking about what, thinking that it knows best when it comes to your cash. >> we believe that government ought to trust the people, the collective wisdom of the people. we trust people when it comes to spending their money, and so

should the government. much of the political debate is about our balance sheet. it makes sense. you look at the debt to gdp is pretty high. when you think about entitlements, the overhang is daunting. but we believe that in order to solve the balance sheet, first and foremost, you've got to grow the private sector. and, therefore, the focus ought to be on private sector growth. and that private sector growth will yield increased revenues. the pie grows, the debt relative to the pie shrinks, and with fiscal discipline, you can better solve your account deficits and entitlements. bill: steve centanni at the white house this morning with reaction to all this. steve, good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning, bill. the president spoke at the new york historical society, an event organized by his george w. bush presidential library or his presidential center, and the focus was on the theme of tax policies for 4% growth. now, the former president says

it's easy to grow the public sector, all you have to do is raise taxes. more of a challenge to grow the private sector which is what we're faced with, and he made a pitch for keeping the tax cuts in place that bear his name. >> i wish they weren't called the bush tax cuts. [laughter] if they were called some other body's tax cuts, they're probably less likely to be raised. [laughter] but if you raise taxes, you're taking money out of the pockets of consumers. >> reporter: and he said when you raise taxes on the so-called rich, you're actually raising taxes on the job creators, bill. bill: also, did he talk about or say anything about being out of the public eye down there in dallas, texas? >> reporter: well, yeah. you know, he's actually kept a very low profile since he left the white house, and he said he doesn't want to undermine the president. and, in fact, he has had very, very few public appearances since becoming a private citizen. here's part of that speech, that part of the speech. >> i have decided to stay out of

the limelight. i had plenty of the limelight. i don't think it's good, frankly, for our country to undermine our president, and i don't intend to do so. i'm often asked do i miss the presidency, i really don't. [laughter] i mean, i enjoyed it, it was unbelievably interesting experience. it was inconvenient to have to stop at stoplights coming over here, but -- [laughter] i guess i miss that. >> reporter: and he said he doesn't miss being president so much as being commander in chief because he has such high regard for the military. bill: steve, thank you. martha has more now. martha: very interesting to hear former president bush's thoughts on all of that, and this is interesting as well. let's bring in former republican presidential candidate herman cain. good morning, mr. cain. >> good morning, martha. martha: any reaction there? >> he is spot on. one of the fundamental flaws of this administration is they do not believe in the private sector. this is why this economy's not

growing, this is why it's not going to grow, and like president bush said, they're not really the bush tax cuts, they are the existing tax rates. and, unfortunately, this congress and this president can do nothing, and rates will go up, and it's going to devastate this economy. so he's exactly right. martha: you know. we're about to look at some polls that are head to head between president obama and mitt romney. there have been a lot of calls by prominent republicans to get behind mitt romney. is that something that you're ready to do? i know you supported newt gingrich in this race, and he's still in it. >> the numbers are on mitt romney's side and, yes, i have always said i will support whoever the nominee is. and it looks like mitt romney's going to be that nominee, and we do need to get behind him. i remind people all the time, i'm speaking at fordham and columbia universities today, reminding them keep your eye on the mission. and the mission is to get control of the senate, maintain control of the house and defeat barack obama. that means get behind the nominee so, yes, i'm ready to

get behind the nominee. martha: these are washington post polls, and we want to pull up these numbers and show them. they show if election were held today, this is the way it would shape up. president obama, 51%, mitt romney 44%, and just hold on, we'll get through three of them. who do you trust to do a better job handling the economy? this is where mitt romney does better, 47-43. he's made a persuasive argument there to these folks, and let's take a look at the next one which is who do you trust to create jobs in this country? that's close, but president obama's still edging out mitt romney in that part of it. what do you think? >> i think that the numbers are close enough that that is a good sign for mitt romney. if he, ultimately, gets the nomination, and here's why. because the president has used the office of the president to campaign and to pander to groups in order to give the perception that he is best fit to be president. for example, they now advertise the earned income tax credit. come on down, get some more

money. the agriculture department advertises, encourages people to get on food stamps. it is pandering at its absolute worst. so when we have our nominee and they focus their advertising and the message very clearly and very bold and very specific, i believe that you're going to see those poll numbers change. so those do not bother me given the closeness of them right now. martha: let's take a look at some that might bother you when you look at the likability issues, and mitt romney's going to be here tomorrow, so we're going to ask him as well. who seems more likable, president obama or mitt romney, you could drive a truck through that. 64-26. let's take a look at a couple of the others, who's more inspiring, 55-29, president obama as well, and let's go through the next ones here, women's issues. a lot of press on this issue in recent days. president obama seems to be winning that argument as well. but let's throw in this one more which is who has the preference among men, mitt romney gets that one 52-44%.

what does all that add up to to you? >> all that adds up to me is, quite simply, when they are going head to head and mitt romney has the opportunity to promote his them -- message and has the opportunity to better inform people, here again i believe you're going to see those close. that's an -- yes, pram ha is very likable to most people if you just look at him and his family. but be you look at his policies which is what most people disagree with, it's a different story. and i think men are much more familiar with the failed policies, now a lot of other people as well as the general public. so i believe there's still a huge opportunity for mitt romney. i'm not particularly bothered by those. now, this brings one other big point. people are going to have to not only be excited about the nominee, but they're going to have to be excited about candidates down ticket. this isn't just about who's going to be president, even though that's the most important. they also have to be excited

about other candidates down ticket which is what the focus i have started on cain connections.com. i'm doing a big rally sunday and monday, the 15th and 16th, here in washington. i'm in new york today -- martha: you don't know where you are. >> the cain train is everywhere, so go to cainconnections.com if you'd like to be a part of this new revolution. not bombs and bullets, brains and ballots. martha: brains and ballots. thank you very much, herman cain. enjoy your day in new york. >> will do. bill: choo-choo, huh? [laughter] there you are. more from the trail now on a new strategy in pennsylvania for the romney team. it pulled an attack ad against santorum after his young daughter, bela, was hospitalized. she's age 3, has a rare disorder usually considered fatal. suspending his campaign to be with her and his wife. he'll return to the trail later today. also newt gingrich is polling, rather, in the single digits in the state of pennsylvania ahead of the primary two weeks away,

but on hannity he insisted that he will not drop out of this race. >> since june of last year the elite media has said over and over and over, you know, i'm dead, i should get out of it, when am i going to quit, when am i going to recognize reality? i am in here, i'm thinking about getting it tattooed up here all the way to tampa. we are fighting for very big issues that matter to the future of our country and the future of our children and grandchildren, and i'm going to continue doing that as long as it is possible to do it, period. now, i find it confusing why that is such a hard message to drive into the media. bill: gingrich also saying regardless of the outcome in the republican race, he will support the republican candidate, whomever that is, against president obama. repeated that. martha: right here, they are getting behind -- he is getting behind mitt romney, i should say, and we have in this case a winner for real this time. three teachers claimed the

winning mega millions lottery in maryland. none of them are this mcdonald's worker who insisted, remember? that she had the ticket, but it was buried somewhere in the mcdonald's where she worked. lottery officials say the trio work multiple jobs and that they do not plan on retiring. >> one of them works two full-time jobs, another has a part-time job, and a third has two other part-time jobs. all of them indicated that they would continue, and the teachers said that they all plan at this point in time to remain public schoolteachers. martha: at this point in time. we'll see what happens when they have more time to think about it, and maybe they will hang in there with those jobs. doug mckelway, live in washington, did not have the winning ticket, and we expect him to stick around. we certainly hope so. [laughter] we safely can assume, doug, that the woman we saw with the sweet swine pork rinds on, she's going

to have to stick with her day job. >> reporter: if they want her to stick with it. she may have lost that one, too, we just don't know. the maryland winning ticket is the rightful property of those three people, all of them affiliate with the the state's public education system. all of them work multiple job, but one is an elementary schoolteacher, another a special ed teacher and a third provides administrative support for the school system. each will receive $13 million in cash, after taxes are taken out of their $34.9 million earnings. that's a huge chunk of taxes, isn't it? all of them opted for the cash payout. here's a really uplifting things about these winners, up in of them -- as you heard -- plans to leave their job and. i can't do that to my kids, meaning to her students. let's listen in. >> finally, let me just say a couple things, i think more personal observation about these winners. um, we were particularly pleased that, um, these folks were able

to come in in the way they did. they were modest, they were, i think, humbled by this stroke of luck that they have, they've received. i think at times they were a bit overhemmed. >> reporter: -- overwhelmed. >> reporter: and, martha, the first thing one of them did when she learned she held the winning ticket, she took it to a relative who has a safe in the house, and then she called a financial adviser. one of them plans to backpack through europe with a brother, another wants to pay for his daughter's education, another wants to tour the wine country of italy. martha? martha: that's a really nice story. you know what -- >> reporter: it is a nice story. martha: you always hear about these people whose lives are destroyed, but we really wish them well, and we hope that they truly enjoy those winnings over the years. doug, thank you. >> reporter: absolutely. bill: that's just the binning of the list. -- beginning of the

list. martha: sounds really nice, doesn't it? bill: good start. all right, he is a self-proclaimed cyber soldier in the war on terror. you're about to meet a man who calls himself the raptor and tell you about the personal war he's waging online. also he's a grandfather. did we mention that? plus this -- >> well, his personal attorney has indicated to our committee that he is more than willing to talk to the committee on the record under oath. it is only the white house, and the white house counsel, that is saying they will not make him available. martha: hmm, interesting moment yesterday with megyn. republican congressman jason chaffetz accusing the white house of stonewall anything the fast and furious operation. why he says they will not let him speak to a key witness. bill: also for the first time we're now hearing those 911 calls, and they were frantic, after that scene in virginia that brought on calls like this one. [ grandfather ] that a boy!

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martha: so several republican lawmakers are now accusing the white house of stonewalling an investigation into the botched gun-running sting which is known, of course, as fast and furious. they claim that the obama administration is trying to block a key witness from testifying on capitol hill as to all of this. so congressman jason chaffetz joins me now, he's one of those republican lawmakers on the house committee of oversight and government reform and has been at the center of this investigation. congressman, good to have you here. >> good morning. martha: you know, run through this for us. i know you spoke to megyn about in the other day. talk to me a little bit about who this person, kevin o'reilly is, what you believe he knows and why they won't permit him to

speak to you. >> well, in its simplest form, the obama administration under the department of justice purposely allowed nearly 2,000 weapons to go to the bad guys in mexico, the drug cartels. but then when we found out about it, after they denied it, we have gone through a series of subpoenas, there's a subpoena out there in 22 different categories. we know there's 80,000 documents relating to this. the white house and the department of justice has only given us less than 10% of those documents. but within those documents what you find is a communication from an atf agent in phoenix right directly to the white house, somebody who was there, mr. o'reilly, who was there in the white house, and we know that that information is there, and now we want to talk to this gentleman. and the personal attorney for this gentleman who's now serving in iraq has said that he will speak to the committee under oath, allow our investigators to communicate with them, but the white house and only the white house is denying our ability

during this investigation to talk to this gentleman. why was he involved, what was involved? if it's simple and innocent enough, then why the hesitation for the white house to allow us to speak to him? i think they're being obstructionist. they're not providing the documents, and they're not providing us access to somebody who knows what was happening, when it was happening. martha: we know eric holder has said he would sort of go along we eliminating the position or the jobs of anybody who may have been wrong in this operation, be that he -- but that he won't do that until the investigation is complete. and i know you all have, basically, accused him of dragging his feet until this thing goes away or until after the election, perhaps maybe some of the timing involved. let's take a look at the letter that sort of outlines some of the concerns that you have in the e-mails that were transmitted. it says, newel stated, you didn't this from me.

martha: you know, et seems he was reaching out, he wanted to make sure that the white house understood there were agents who were very much against this program and wanted it stopped. >> so newell who is serving for the atf in phoenix bypasses his leadership and in a highly unusual move is communicating directly into the white house. now remember, the white house, the department of justice, they've all denied any involvement whatsoever into this, and now we have a communication which, by the way, only comes to light because of a whistleblower. you can see where there's a lot of smoke and not a lot of commitment from the white house to do what they said they were going to do, be open, be transparent. remember that? martha: katherine romo who is the white house counsel who's been involved in this, she says they've looked at this, and this is a quote from her, none of these limited communications between o'reilly and mr. newell

revealed the existence of any of the inappropriate investigative tackties at issue in your inquiry, let alone any decision to allow guns to, quote, walk. they're saying they've been through all of these communications, and that there's nothing in them that they believe needs to be addressed. >> well, that's why the committee, the congress wants to look at these. and we have issued a subpoena -- chairman issa's doing a fabulous job, being more than patient. it's been months and months of stonewalling. we know there are more than 80,000 documents that deal specifically with fast and furious. they've given us less than 10% of those. that's not the way this country operates. you can't just say, oh, we looked at them, there's nothing in them. when we presented them, then the white house said, oh, okay, well, we do have some documents for you. look, we've got a dead agent, we have 300 dead people in mexico. this is not an acceptable thing. we can't just continue to allow this to happen. they have -- we're doing an

investigation of the department of justice. the only way we can do that is them providing the documents. martha: congressman, thank you. jason chaffetz. >> thank you. martha: good to have you with us, as always. bill: about 20 minutes past the hour. for the first time, the shooter in the trayvon martin killing is speaking out. what george zimmerman is saying about the investigation, and now what he is asking the public for. martha: and those panicked 911 calls from this navy jet crash, the chilling phone calls from those who saw it happen. wake up!

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martha: 24 minutes past the hour now, and reports of a confession

after those deadly shootings in tulsa, oklahoma, last week. jake england and alvin watts allegedly targeting five victims because they were african-american. three people were killed in those shootings. and jury selection expected to end today in the trial of a man accused of murdering singer and actress jennifer hudson's family. william balfour is charged with killing hudson's mother, brother and nephew back in 2008. and this question being raised today, is nail polish bad for you? california state regulators say they have discovered dangerously high levels of toxic chemicals in several nail salon polishes. the report claiming that they cause birth defects and other health problems. that's good news. bill: check out my own nails. 24 minutes past. chilling 911 calls from that navy jet crash just out, that fighter jet slamming into an apartment building, an apartment complex late friday afternoon in

virginia beach. witnesses now, as you're about to hear, frantically calling seconds after impact.

bill: and they all scrambled after that. investigatorrers say a mechanical malfunction brought down that jet. several people injured, no one killed. the pilots ejected. they were injured, too, but apparently they're going to make an okay recovery. martha: it's incredible that nobody was in that building. that woman's primary concern was there were all those old people live anything that building. good job on the part of the pilot. bill: when that story broke on friday afternoon, you feared the worst. this is a residential neighborhood, thankfully, in the end it was not nearly as bad as

it could have been. martha: thankfully, he jekylled properly, and was okay as well. so how about this story for you? he's a grandfather who is fighting his own personal war on terror. what he's doing to help bring down al-qaeda. bill: what a story that is. mitt romney calling the president's buffett rule a political stunt. why he says the fair-share tax will not work. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship.

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♪ the allstate value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. martha: well, this is a fox news exclusive for you. an american grandfather waging his own war on terror. a retired veteran claiming credit for massive cyber attack on al-qaeda web sites. this is a fascinating story. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge joins us live on this in washington. catherine, what do we know about this man? >> reporter: thank you, martha, and good morning. online he has an exclusive exchange with foxnews.com, he claims to be a grandfather and former member of the military with at least one kid on active duty. his twitter account is active, and he seems to take pride in the demise of these radical web sites that are the life blood of the new digital jihadists. on march 25th, raptor tweeted:

>> reporter: and eight days ago raptor seemed to tweet the u.s. counterterrorism community, writing: >> reporter: and these web sites were down for ten day, that's one of the longers periods ever, and his claims about who he is are impossible to independently verify. martha: interesting. what was the last time these jihadist web sites were successfully hacked? >> reporter: well, it's been a while. when inspire was launched by al-qaeda in yemen, we later confirmed it was british intelligence that decided to scramble the magazine which is kind of like the martha spew wart living for would-be suicide bombers, and this latest forms are used to spread the hateful ideology of al-qaeda 2.50, the new generation of american recruits, including those from

california, alabama and the new mexico-born cleric who was killed by the cia last september. and raptor seems to subscribe to this view that it's one thing to kill a man and quite another to kill his ideas, and we have seen cases sincal awe lack al-awlaki's death where it has inspired home grown cases here in the u.s. martha: wow. very interesting. catherine, very much. >> reporter: you're welcome. bill: breaking news from the world of sports, and this is something you will not hear about very often at all. the florida marlins -- miami marlins as they're now -- known now -- have just suspended ozzie guillén. he told time magazine that he loves castro and respects the retired cuban leader for staying in power as long as he has. now, guihan was expected to have a press conference in a matter of moments down in miami. he left the team while the team

was in philadelphia, flew back to florida, but the team preempted the press conference with this suspension of five games. this is extraordinary. this does not happen the way this is playing out. so we'll see whether or not ozzie guillén has more to say about this when he comes to the microphone there live in miami. five games, ozzie guillén. you don't go there in southern florida. president obama now hitting the road to push for his so-called buffett rule, the plan would raise taxes on wealthy investors. president obama calls it fair. what does the romney team call it? the policy director for the romney presidential team with me now, good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. thanks for having me on. bill: you bet. jim messina is one of the campaign managers for the obama team. he says romney is the beneficiary of a broken tax system, and he wants to keep it that way with things like evading the buffett rule. what do you say to that? >> here's the problem, bill. we've got an economy that's in crisis, a weak jobs report we

saw in march, and the president's policy imperative is to raise taxes. that's all he's talked about for the last two weeks, is raising taxes. and that's the last thing this economy needs. governor romney would take a different approach. he would lower taxes across the board on all americans, lower the corporate tax rate and really get our economy going again. bill: what the white house is going to argue and you're going to hear from the president in florida later today, that this is not a question of taxes or buffett, it's a question of fairness. how do you interpret that? >> well, you know, look, it's, it's clearly if they want to talk about fairness, really what we've got to ask is, is it fair this administration has giveaways for their favorite donors in the form of solyndra, $500 million? is it fair that this administration continues to have giveaways to public sector unions and other unions that are beneficiaries of obama's policies? the issue is not fairness, bill. the question is, what do we need to do to get this economy going? president obama, apparently, thinks we need tax increases.

we completely disagree. bill: well, this is what we've found. be you initiate the buffett rule, and there's a big argument whether this thing will even come up for vote in congress, you'd raise about $47 billion in ten years which would fund the u.s. government for a week, seven working days. >> yeah. bill: projected deficit over the next ten years said to be about $7 trillion. that's what we have found. what would a romney candidate offer america on this? >> yeah. i mean, bill, that's a really good point. if you look at what the buffett rule would actually do, it would raise the amount of revenue in one year, what would actually take to run the government for less than half a day. it's absolutely remarkable, and the president's out there saying this rule will put us on a better path with respect to deficit and debt. mitt romney would take us in a different direction. he would insure that we cut government spending to get deficits down, to get our debt under control, that we grow the economy through a mixture of reforms to our regulatory system

and getting our tax code under control, insuring that job creators have the certainty they need to create the jobs that americans need. this economy is in a very weak form of recovery. the march jobs report highlighted that fact. and we've got a lot of work left to do on this economy, bill, and mitt romney is the guy to get that work done. bill: you've got seven and a half months to go. lonnie chen, thank you. we'll see the president in a couple hours down in florida. thank you, sir, for coming on today. >> thanks bill. martha: now we go to the financial crisis that is gripping detroit now. some are arguing that the city could be saved from the brink of bankruptcy, but that a bitter union battle could now stop that from happening. steve brown joins us now live from detroit. so, steve, the financial picture in that city, they have been under tremendous financial pressure for a long time. how bad is it now? >> reporter: well, 2004 was the last time they had a balanced budget in this city. the current operating deficit is somewhere near $200 million, the long-term obligation debt

somewhere near $12 billion with a b. so the city has done a deal with the state. the state will infuse it with about $137 million, the city will get new rules and strict regulations as to how to shore up its financial ship. the state got a look at its books, the city of detroit's books, actually, for the first time and saw some practices that were right out of the last century. >> just to do the police payroll it takes 65 full-time employees. so there's inefficiencies in the system because they don't have a good i.t. system with a good accounting system in place. >> reporter: if you stop and think about that, 65 full-time people just to service the payroll for one department in the city of a detroit. gives you an idea of how antiquated some of the systems are here and how badly they need reform in city government. city fathers, the mayor, the majority of the city council all think this is the way to financially stabilize the city. martha: that is an unbelievable

story. so, steve, you know, as a result of all this, though, there is a somewhat familiar-sounding effort underway there to recall governor rick snyder because of this deal in part. so are the detroit unions onboard with that effort? >> reporter: um, they would very much like to be. it's a very difficult thing to do to recall somebody here in the state of michigan as it is in wisconsin. the unions are in line to take a lot of the pain for these reforms that are probably coming up over the course of the next two to three months as the city comes out of it. but what the union leaders are now talking about is a very large job action. have a listen. >> if we were to strike and the teachers were to strike altogether here in detroit, we think we'd have quite an opportunity to shake things up and maybe get some settlement and maybe get some money out of washington for, you know, what detroit really does need. >> reporter: it is not what it is that the city has or the state has. the target of that potential strike would be to try and pry loose money from d.c. but again, how long that they

could bail them out is a pretty open question. martha: wow. interesting. microcosm and a tough situation in detroit. steve, thank you very much. steve brown reporting. bill: twenty minutes before the hour. the shooter in the trayvon martin matter speaking out for the first time since that controversy swept the country. what george zimmerman is asking the public to do for him. martha: and victims of a savage beating on the colorado state university campus now speaking out about their ordeal. look at those injuries. they're talking about it for the first time, and they are demanding some justice. >> my mom came up here and said she wanted to beat those kids up, and i was like, mom, not a good idea. [laughter] i want all my bills paid for and just compensation for everything really. i want them to be brought to justice. having one of those days?

tired. groggy. can't seem to get anything done. it makes for one, lousy day. but when you're alert and energetic... that's different. you're more with it, sharper, getting stuff done. this is why people choose 5-hour energy over 9-million times a week. it gives them the alert, energetic feeling they need to get stuff done. 5-hour energy...when you gotta get stuff done. bill: two of the four victims recovering from a savage beating at colorado state university. now they're talking for the first time. they are freshmen, they say they

were attacked by three members of the football team late on friday night. they say the players hurled anti-gay slurs and then pounced. one of the victims still cannot open his eyes. have a look and listen here. >> my two eyes are just extremely swollen, so a lot of pain there. >> i woke up from the cat scan freaking out not knowing if i had died. bill: three football players suspended from the team, an investigation from the police now pending. we'll let you know. martha: well, the shooter in the trayvon martin case is now breaking his silence. george zimmerman has issued a statement on his new web site that he created in part to raise money for his legal defense. he says this quote on the web site: i've been forced to leave hi home, my school, my employer, my family and, ultimately, my entire wife. this web site's sole purpose is to insure my sporters that they

are receiving my full intention without intermediaries. his appeal came on the same day that the state attorney announced the case will not go to the grand jury. that was supposed to happen today. joined by attorney crystal mccare and bradford cohen, he's in miami. welcome to you both. good to see you both, good morning. >> good to see you, martha. >> good morning. martha: let me start with you, crystal. what's your reaction to this web site which does have a credit card link at the bottom because it says there have been other web sites that claim to be gathering money for his defense, and that money's not going to him. >> well, first of all, i mean, george zimmerman is in a position now where he's going to need to do -- to do what he needs food. and i imagine people have put up false sites that are, you know, asking for money. he's certainly within his right to put one up of his own that he can control. there are and at this point it's really going to come down to the

decision of whether or not, you know, charges are going to be brought against him, whether or not he's credible. so i think he's probably trying to put out into the public domain bit of information about himself that's going to tell, quote-unquote, his side of the story. martha: understood. and as he says, he can't really speak out because he fears for his life, so he's doing it through this web site. bradford, another big development, obviously, in this case was the decision by the prosecutor not to go through the grand jury process. what does that tell you? what do you expect will happen next? >> um, i really don't think it's going to make a big impact on whether or not charges get filed. i think the reason why she's not doing it is because she's trying to take the bull by the horns and to say when she does file -- which i think she's going to do -- i think she's going to say it was my decision, let the judge and jury decides if it gets as far as as a jury, or at least let the judge decide whether or not stand your law ground applies. i don't have to lay it off, i

don't have to give it to a grand jury, i'm going to make the decision myself. it seems like a very political move on her behalf, and i think it's probably a smart move if she's got higher praises -- aspirations than just trying this case. martha: interesting. crystal, it also could be there's not enough evidence, but if that were the case, why wouldn't she put the burden on the grand jury? >> exactly. >> i don't know that she doesn't think there's enough ed, i think what is emerging is there are more complexities to this case than originally were thought to be. i mean, there's some time lapses on the 911 call, and certainly we all have heard the full 911, um, transcript which states that george zimmerman is pursuing him, the 911 operator says you don't need to do that, you don't need to follow him. but then there's this period between when he says okay and when the shooting actually occurs. and that is the gray area that i think is really frustrating for everyone here in trying to get

to the root of what actually happened. i mean, clearly, trayvon martin was not armed, he had come from the store. what made him look suspicious to george zimmerman, um, you know, that's left open to debate. it has been debated several times, but i believe that at the very least there's going to be a manslaughter charge because i do not understand what occurred that would be considered, um, justifiable in george zimmerman's perspective of what made trayvon martin dangerous. he was unarmed. i know with the stand the ground law you can meet force with force -- martha: right. >> but here you have lawmakers, former governor jeb bush who said the stand your ground law does not apply here. martha: but as you point out, you know, it's that time frame between the moments when he says, okay, and he appears to stop pursuing trayvon martin and when this altercation apparently

happened between the two of them that are going to be the real focus -- >> that is true. martha: crystal, thank you. great to see you. >>, bradford cohen, good to see you as well. >> thank you. bill: "happening now" rolls your way in 11 short minutes. jenna: two major developments, iran and north korea today. iran says it will attend six-party talks, but is it really all talk this time around? last chance, according to the administration. and north korea is preparing for a missile launch. what can we do about it? what should we do about it? we'll tackle some of those questions. plus, sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes. sound familiar? many, including members of our own team, are complaining about an especially bad allergy season. we're going to take an in-depth look with a panel of docs coming up. you all right, bill? bill: i'm all right. jenna: you look good. bill: it's a war on policy now. [laughter] jenna: i like that. bill: see ya, jenna.

breaking news, south florida, miami marlins' manager talking with reporters after finding out he's been suspended five games. ozzie guillén, the brand new manager out of chicago telling "time" magazine he loves and respects fidel castro. this is his first comment since the suspension. we'll take you there live in a moment. breaking news on "america's newsroom."

♪ martha: so have you heard about the memorial cruise that is retracing titanic's maiden voyage? it sets sail this weekend. not smooth sailing -- not as bad as the first time -- but not quite as smooth as they would have hoped. it got a little delayed the first day at sea because of strong winds, but it's making it way across the atlantic to mark

100 years since titanic's sinking. more than 1300 people went along for the ride including some of the relatives of those who died onboard the titanic. it is set to arrive in new york in about ten days, and it won't be like when the car faith ya came pack with the survivors. having fun there. [laughter] bill: we are seeing for the first time the latest modern armor for the american military. an american company creating a device to shield our troops from one of the most deadliest weapons, the ied, the improvised explosive device. alicia acuna's live on this out of denver, what did you find? >> reporter: when you think about a roadside bomb going off underneath a vehicle, before the shrapnel or the fire hits the soldiers inside, the energy from that blast hits first. it's so powerful that it can kill or maim the occupants. well, right now there is a company in centennial, colorado, that's developed a thin plastic product to help limit the damage.

>> as you can see -- >> reporter: mike is the ceo of skydex, and that is a phi five-pound ballistic helmet. >> and with all the confidence in the world, okay? nothing. >> reporter: plastic sheets similar to the one in his hands have been placed in 17,000 war vehicles to save soldiers' lives and limbs. >> we absorb 71% of the blast energy that would normally be absorbed by the soldier. >> reporter: skydex uses plastic cones that collapse onto each other, then recover immediately. the work in this lab began his material for running shoes and became a patented substance used in multiple contracts with the defense department. the impact testing is done in a lab where i get to check the bat of science to three average tiles. >> go ahead and hit those. >> reporter: next, the decking material goes on top and --

whoa! it didn't do anything. then a standard piece of foam normally used in iraq and afghanistan. and et went right through. >> went right through, and it cracked all three tiles. >> reporter: and skydex, bill, keeps a number of war vets on staff. bill: good for them. martha: back to the campaign trail, rick santorum is getting back out there after spending a few days by his ailing daughter's side. she is back home with the family. now the political question, can he get back in gear in his home state of pennsylvania? it may be do or die for him there. we'll be right back. careful, pringles are bursting with more flavor.

[ crunches ] mmm. ♪ [ male announcer ] pringles... bursting with more flavor. [ crunch! ]

are connecting here. linkedin connects with the big board.

bill: great to have you back, by the way. martha: thanks, good to be here. bill: find any eggs in the yard. martha: we found a few. a little too much chocolate. but we'll get over that. "happening now" starts right now and bill and i will see you right back here tomorro