>> this presidential race for us is over. and we will suspend our campaign effective today. >> laura: rick santorum announces he is suspending his campaign. now, we're one step closer to an obama/romney showdown. we will have all the latest details. >> as we're taught an eye for a eye and tooth for the tooth. you kill mine, i've got to kill yours. >> laura: surprising new twists in the trayvon martin case today as george zimmerman's family accuses attorney general eric holder of ignoring threats on his life by the new black panther party. meanwhile, zimmerman himself breaks his sigh silence and appeals to the public for cash for his legal defense. we'll have the report. >> the gap between those at the very very top and everybody else keeps growing wider and wider and wider and wider. >> laura: president obama continues his plan to tax the rich. is he really trying to play the class warfare card? we'll debate it with two democrats plus g.o.p. paul

ryan will be here to respond. caution, you're about to enter the no spin zone, the factor begins right now. captions by closed captioning services >> laura: hi, i'm laura ingraham in for bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. what's next for the g.o.p.? that's the subject of this evening's talking points memo. now, that rick santorum has suspended his campaign, the ball is fully in mitt romney's court. his campaign can no longer blame the tremendous vales of a long primary to explain away polls that show his support lagging in swing states among women and in other key demographic groups. we know what barack obama's strategy is going to be. paint mitt romney as a defender of the rich and rk, an enemy of women's rights and out-of-touch elitist who loves firing people. a guy with mega mansions and a car elevator.

obama will continue his get out the vote razzle dazzle operation. a wife who pops up to sell his accomplishments and her own on every entertainment platform known to man. but romney should take heart because many of us are convinced that voters actually want to see a serious debate about how to turn this country around. many of the voters who supported rick perry, michele bachmann, newt gingrich, and rick santorum did so because they believed each of them would aggressively and passionately fight to restore our national path to prosperity and invigorate our commitment to our founding principles. many were doubtful and still are that romney has the political savvy and commitment to common sense conservatism to get the job done. so, to get those folks to really rally for him, to volunteer for him, to go door to door for him, romney needs to demonstrate quickly that he will be as tenacious in taking

the fight to obama as he was in taking it to gingrich and santorum. he is prone to saying that barack obama is a nice guy but, well, that may be gracious, but it doesn't advance the ball and it doesn't make romney any more attractive as a candidate. plus, think about it what's happened to our country in recent years and especially under obama, isn't nice at all. chronic under and unemployment, stagnant wages, rising prices for food and gasoline. record debt levels and deficit spending. so as the president does the divide and demonize dance during this election, governor romney should emerge as the adult in the room. offering a mature, fact-based plan to restore the american dream to all people regardless of race or gender. the games barack obama has played with our money have brought us to a dangerously close position of no return. game on. and that's the memo.

now, for another point of view, joining me from new york, fox news contributor monica crowley and in for alan colmes, democratic strategist robert zimmerman. okay, guys. >> good to be with you. that made me feel all warm and cozy. >> laura: isn't that the kind of big valentine that you wanted, robert? >> i love -- >> laura: you heard the case that i laid out for mitt romney. it seems to me he is now in a position to say, okay, the field is fairly well cleared. it's time for me to make the case for prosperity for the nation and to contrast myself with the vision that barack obama has painted and his record of the last three years. >> well, the problem that mitt romney has as he tries to paint himself -- paint a vision is that he has painted himself into a corner. the reality is the old expression the curse of the crump diamond is that it comes with mr. crump. the curse with mitt romney winning the republic position

so far right wing keep him out of the mainstream of america. defined not economic growth but depoor pation of undocumented workers or defunding planned parenthood or hosts of other extremist point of view defending gas subsidies. no place in the mainstream. the "the washington post" poll today reflected that. >> laura: the "the washington post" poll had a lot of interesting information including monica a couple of data points that were actually pretty good for romney, handling of the economy. handling of deficit. even handling of the energy challenges facing our nation. he actually trumps obama in those categories. he definitely has a divide when it comes to likability. women's issues and so forth. how does he build that divide today. >> he has got two challenges, laura, mitt romney, first of all he has got to make sure he stays focus on making his campaign about barack obama and his record. you mentioned those "the washington post" poll numbers on the economy, on unemployment. on gas prices on record

deficits and record debt, if he keeps the focus on that as well as socialized medicine and obama care which remains highly unpopular, he will actually be able to surmount a lot of the obstacles that we just talked about here in terms of likability and so on. the other part of mitt romney's challenge is it's not enough to tear the other guy down as bad as the other guy is you have to give voters a positive compelling reason to vote for you. rather than just against barack obama. so, in addition to keeping the focus on obama and his abysmal record, laura, he also has to put forth a very proactive, positive agenda for america. here's how we are going to bring this country back. are you with me? he has got to do it with a very joyful, upbeat positive altitude and positive message. i think if he combines those two things, he will come out the winner in november. >> if you look at that "the washington post" poll for example, what's the most important issue to you economic fairness or overregulation, 52 percent

said economic unfairness which, of course, is a theme of the obama administration. >> laura: overregulation to most people is too emore fuss. economic regulation, you have to specify exactly what issue is impinging on people. robert, the talking points, this is extremist, that is extremist, the bottom line, robert, is what barack obama -- what he has done. has it worked? are american families making more money than they were three years ago? are wages rising? do we have an aggressive program in place to spur long-term economic growth which is still the pressure downward pressure on this economy? i would say as an objective metric, forget the rhetoric, what he has done has not worked, period. >> tell that the auto workers. auto industry record profits because of the automotive bailout. for that matter look at the consistent job growth. en. >> laura: green energy companies are those working out for us. monica, they are working out well for the taxpayer, not.

>> actually working out well for the taxpayer. we increased our use for example clean energy by 50% by 2012. geothermal, hydro and hydro and solar. >> laura: bottom line is we need long-term economic growth for the country. monica, we have to touch on this issue of gas prices. because now we found out that the gas prices and record gas prices in this country now outpace what we saw during the carter years. now, if this is not wanier for mitt romney, i don't know what is. >> yeah, 103% i think increase in gas prices which now surpasses what we saw under jimmy carter right after the oil shocks of the 1970s when we were really at the mercy of opec. so, to have this rise in gas prices, i think, could be politically fatal for barack obama. remember lauer, there are two politically toxic things for any incumbent to face. high unemployment and high gas prices because it pretty much effects every single american. barack obama has both. so he is very vulnerable here. it's just the kind of campaign

that mitt romney is going to wage. if is he smart, he will do the things we talked about and win this thing. go. >> give the american people credit, monica as we have seen. >> laura: they love paying more for everything. give them more credit? they are maxed out on credit cards. they are out of money, robert. we're tapped out of money. >> they are not falling for that rhetoric. look at "the washington post" poll. >> laura: extremist rhetoric is working. >> try some folks. the "the washington post" poll who fights for the middle class? that poll shows barack obama over mitt romney. and that's. >> laura: we will see now that the field has cleared out a bit, we shall see with rick santorum's departure. we will see if he ends up campaigning with romney. monica and robert, great to see you both. >> thank you. >> laura: directly ahead, g.o.p. congressman paul ryan will be here to react to the breaking news about rick santorum and to the president's harsh attack on his budget plan. later, president obama plays the class warfare card once again. but soaking the rich actually help the

greetings from the windy city of chicago. people here sure are friendly but some have had a hard time understanding my accent. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance... da bears. haha... you people sure do talk funny.

geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. [ male announcer ] the 2012 m-class continually monitors blind spots, scans the road to reveal potential threats, even helps awaken its driver if he begins to doze. so in the blink of an eye it will have performed more active safety measures than most cars will in a lifetime. the 2012 m-class. quite possibly the most advanced suv ever. from mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

>> laura: in the up resolved problem seeing want tonight, with the national debt running at about $16 trillion, the u.s. government has got to find a way to cut the spending. enter wisconsin congressman paul ryan. he is the chairman of the house budget committee and he recently unveiled the g.o.p.'s budget plan that proposes $3.3 trillion in deficit cuts

by overhauling medicare and the tax code among other things. last week, president obama attacked the republic budget plan. >> this congressional republic budget is something different all together. it is a trojan horse disguised as deficit reduction plans. it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. it is thinly veiled social darwinism. >> laura: radical social darwinist trojan horse himself from new york is congressman ryan. good to see you. >> good to be with you, laura. >> laura: we will get into this tussle about the budget and so forth. before we get to that, now that rick santorum has dropped out all the eyes are on romney and his vice presidential pick. if romney asks you to be his v.p., i know i have asked you this before. >> you have. >> laura: times change. i told them you wouldn't. >> i'm not going to give you a

different answer. it's something that you would have to consider. if he would ask me to consider it, i would consider it he hasn't so i'm not. >> laura: you just called him and it broke a couple of hours ago. you said romney is kind of a throw back to the 1950s. >> yeah. >> laura: is he a funny dude. what does that mean? >> this was taken out of context. number one what i was saying is he has these great aspects from the greatest generation. he is very civil he is very principled and honorable. he has an earnest way about him like leaders from the 50s. when i say he is he a funny dude is he has a very witty sense of humor. he has a very quick mind and very quick on humor and whit. this is what happens when bloggers slice and dies your comments and make that kind of appearance. this man reminds me of leaders from the greatest generation, civil, honorable, earnest and he has a very fast mind and really funny guy. >> laura: i have always called

him ward cleaver. >> that's what i think of. i grew up watching leave it to beaver idolizing ward cleaver. he is a very nice civil man. very earnest. >> laura: we need us somebody to set us straight and wally did too. we need honest mature adult in the classroom. >> exactly. that's the point i'm trying to make. >> laura: i get it congressman, let's move on to budget question because the president t clearly is seeing you, whether you are the vice presidential nominee or not, seeing you and your budget as a target in this campaign. and one of the things he is really saying is, well, what your plan does put more of a burden increasingly on the elderly. have to pay more more of their healthcare down the road. dana milbank says it's $770 billion of new fees and burdens on the poor. it adds up to trillions over time. and that's the wrap on you. >> look. we're used these verbal tan tropicals from the president. this is just like the speech he gave last year. what the president is basically decided to do instead of offering solutions

of his own to prevent a debt crisis, wait for the republicans to or their dissolutions -- solutions then attack them. rather than run on his record, which he he can't, distort ours and speak to us as americans in divisive ways to distract and be distort the country. distract from the election. look, here is what happens, laura, if we have a debt crisis, something that the president's policies bring us toward. people who need government the most, people who are poor and elderly, they are the ones who get the first and worst if we have a debt crisis. by getting our fiscal house in order, we prevent a crisis from happening so we can protect those who need government the most. with respect to the poor, obama's policies aren't working. we had the highest poverty rates we have had in a generation. one in six americans are in poverty today. these policies are making it worse. so, why should we keep throwing money at failed programs? why what we are seeing is let's reform these programs and get people off of welfare and back to earth would. get economic growth policies so we can have a job economy

with job creation and economic prosperity to the people show have never seen it before. we want to take those successful ideas we used in the late 90s for welfare and put those in place for the other welfare programs get people on to lives of self-sufficiency. we want to attack the root causes of poverty to break the cycle rather than treat the symptoms to make it easier to live by. >> laura: what is clearly happening in this larger debate. it's not really even a debate, right? because other than you and a few other serious people on capitol hill. no one is even having the substantive debate. it becomes the subject of demonization. the president has the vision. he came out with his budget. no one in the house would support it he came out with his budget. i say now mitt romney is going to be in this position of defense, unless he goes on the offense. right? because he is going to be portrayed as he is the rich guy and la jolla and lake, out of touch. doesn't know what regular people are going through.

give him advice, i'm sure you would like to give him advice on a daily basis. what the one piece of advice that you would give to him in this current climate that you know the president is operating at. >> i think is he doing it if you listen to mitt romney's speech in appleton, wisconsin, where his speech election night in milwaukee, wisconsin. it was perfect. it said to the country, we're going to go to the country and give them a clear affirming choice. do you want barack obama's government-centered society, a nation on the path to debt and decline or do you want the american idea? do you want the opportunities? do you want growth? do you want opportunity? this is the choice we are going to give the country. we are going to give at least the country the choice the path they want america to go on. this election we will be choosing a path. the question is do we do more of the same, do we go down the president's path of debt and decline or back to prosperity? that's what mitt romney is offering the country. >> laura: congressman ryan were you surprised that rick santorum didn't pledge that he would support mitt romney on the campaign trail and begin campaigning with him.

>> i just heard about this. i didn't hear what he said in gettysburg. my questions-guess is he is talking about his own campaign. i think he did the statesman like thing. he should be proud of the campaign. we're praying for his daughter. we all should be doing that and i think rick has his due today. my guess is he just wanted to talk about its had own family and own campaign. there will be plenty of time for rallying around our nominee. >> laura: congressman, thanks so much. >> you bet. >> laura: next on the run down, president obama is pushing his tax the rich plan. how will that help the economy or is the president just promoting class warfare? we're going to debate it george zimmerman is asking for public donations to help his defense in the shooting of the 17-year-old trayvon martin. we're going to talk to the lead attorney for the martin family. eagle be here. we'll get his thoughts on that. we'll return after these messages. ♪

♪ why do you whisper, green grass? ♪ [ all ] shh! ♪ why tell the trees what ain't so? ♪ [ male announcer ] dow solutions use vibration reduction technology to help reduce track noise so trains move quieter througurban areas all over the world. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. [ all ] shh! [ male announcer ] solutionism. the new optimism.

>> laura: in the impact segment tonight, president obama made one more pitch today in florida to raise taxes on millionaires. >> can we succeed as a nation? >> yes. >> where shrinking number of people are doing really really well but a growing number are struggling to get by? >> no. >> or are we better off when everybody gets a fair shot? [cheers] and everybody does a fair share. and everybody plays by the same set of rules. >> laura: conservatives, myself included, do not see the president's buffet tax as a way to fix the economy. in fact, mitt romney's campaign says it would actually raise taxes on many

small businesses and end up hurting job creation. joining me now from new york, with a different perspective, i can't believe that, david callahan, senior fellow at the democratic think tank and here in d.c. erica payne agenda project progressive advocacy group. let's start with you, erica, i'm reading your point of view on my sheet, you want to go further than the buffet rule because the buffet rule is not aggressive enough for you. so tell us how -- >> -- it's not nearly aggressive enough for me. if you look at right after world war ii people with incomes over a million dollars paid as much as 91% of that income over a million dollars in taxes. and we did that because we had a major problem as a country. we had a massive financial collapse. and we had a war we had to pay for. so, at this moment in american history when we had a problem we turned to the people who had the most amount of money to solve it we are exactly the same position today. >> laura: 49% of the population pays zero in taxes in world war ii.

>> you love to pull this out about how some americans don't pay taxes. >> laura: federal income. >> let's be clear, every american pays sales tax, most americans pay. >> laura: if we were doing a segment on sales tax, we would actually engage in that conversation. but my point is that 49% are sharing none of the federal tax burden. >> that's actually not true. about 85% of americans pay payroll taxes like social security and medicare. >> laura: that's not income taxes something totally different. >> to them it's income. >> laura: 10% pay 70% of the federal tax burden. it seems fairly progressive. beyond that. >> so about 1% of the people in the country have most of the income. if you look. >> laura: they earned the income, right? >> oh so you really want to tell me that the hedge fund managers who just collapsed the economy earned the income? it took $16 million out of g.d.p., laura. >> laura: what i would like to you to do is take a magic wand and wave it across the economy and get rid of all hedge funds. just get rid of them because

if they are such bad people just get rid of them. it's such a ridiculous approach. get rid of all job creators. >> get rid of all the tax breaks for people who make more than a million dollars a year. >> solyndra. >> do you know how much that is? about $450,000 a year that we hand to people who make more than a million dollars a year. >> laura: actually, talking over me doesn't make your point any more logical. i would say and david you can chime in here because you have to have two against me to actually make this a fair fight. [ laughter ] >> laura: david, here is what the house's own, i guess it was the principle deputy director of the white house economic council a principle deputy. he must be really important. jason fuhrman. he said that none of the money, was never our plan to bring the deficit down and to get debt under control. that this buffet tax, when you look at this analysis, really has nothing to do about shrinking the deficit. this is being done in an election year in the state of florida, which is a swing

state in the campaign. as the president knows there is no chance of this passing. so how is this serious? even if you agree with erica and multimillionaires should pay 91% in taxes that's her position. even if that were true, it's not going to pass. why go down this road? why not be together in some sort of bipartisan pack. >> i agree this is largely symbolic. important principle here people living off their stocks and investments shouldn't be paying a lower tax rate than people who work for a living. i will give you example you can relate to. in 2010, mitt romney and bill o'reilly made about the same amount of money. they both made about $20 million. romney. >> laura: uo-oh. >> romney paid 14% taxes on that. bill o'reilly paid 35%. the top federal rate. now, i don't know why romney, who wasn't even working actively in his business. he was campaigning for president, should pay half -- less than half the tax rate of bill o'reilly who is coming to work every day. >> laura: the principle is. >> the principle here is that

rich people who live off their wealth in stocks which most people don't have shouldn't be paying lower taxes than people who go to work every single day. makes no sense laura, one of the biggest loopholes in the tax system. >> laura: i understand your point. the numbers are meaningless, $46.7 billion in 10 years. over that time period if we continue down this obama road, erica, we add $7 trillion to our deficit. 7 trillion. >> laura, can you come back. >> david, hold on and i really like your difference between those. but i would put it a little bit more starkly than you. this is the difference between trust fund babies and people who work for a living. that's really the difference. you are talking about my mother who was a high school principal, my father who was a judge. do you think that those people. >> laura: i will one up you on that. >> my mother was a waitress. >> my mother spent her entire life waitressing to put herself through college. >> people like that should pay a higher tax rate than paris hilton than a trust fund baby.

the baby rule and it is a rule, is to say that we live in a society where that is absolutely unacceptable. >> laura: that is not. >> it has no chance of passing. >> can i tell you why it has no chance of passing? because republic senators will hold it up that they care more about. >> laura: the grandstanding on this doesn't change the facts. the president. >> passing either, right? so let's not talk about what can pass there is a principle at stake here laura. >> laura: numbers are interesting to examine. hold on. we had two years of a democrat-controlled congress and the white house. two years. you guys pushed through not the buffet rule, not the serious deficit reduction. you pushed through healthcare reform that's about to be overturned by the supreme court. that was the president's decision. >> everyone in america knows that if you were trying to run a small business as i have run a small business, you look at the rising costs of healthcare and that is a noose around the

neck of small business. something had to be done. you also look at the hole that we were in, 750,000 jobs being lost a month. trying to climb out of ha hole. this is about trust fund babies and people who work for a living. >> laura: demagoguery is so lame. >> this is not demagoguery. 370,000 people in the country that make more than a million dollars a year. >> laura: talk over the other person, however. we have had people who have made a million dollars for the first time in their business lives who then go on and invest some of their earnings into other companies. to demonize those people and call them trust fund babies and paris hilton is an insult to small businesses and working people in this country. >> 200 millionaires who disagree with you. >> laura: thank you. plenty more ahead as the factor moves along this evening. lead turn for the i have a -- emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan.

dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. what's in your anti-aging lotion? because if it's on the label, it's on your skin. that's why we created new puristics totally ageless without those chemicals. powered with a naturally derived peptide complex, puristics reduced the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles in 97% of women in just 3 weeks. beautiful, younger-looking skin, without those chemicals. that's puristics: the power of pure. ♪ lord, you got no reason ♪ you got no right

♪ ♪ i find myself at the wrong place ♪ [ male announcer ] the ram 1500 express. ♪ it says a lot about you. ♪ in a deep, hemi-rumble sort of way. guts. glory. ram. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dlars into american education. that's thousands of ks learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool ♪

[ male announc ] you plant. you mow. you grow. you dream. meet the new definition of durability: the john deere select series. with endless possibilities, what will you create? ♪ learn more about the new select series x310 with power steering at johndeere.com/x310. >> laura: personal story

seeing wanted tonight. shocking developments in the trayvon martin case today. attorney for george zimmerman quit saying they lost contact with them and haven't heard from him since sunday. against their advice zimmerman tried to contact the special prosecutor. that's a no-no. we have more on this in our is it legal segment. but, first, before that announcement was made, we spoke to benjamin crump, the lead attorney for the martin family. >> laura: first, it's great to see you. and your reaction when you first heard about the special prosecutor's decision? >> well, lauer, we were kind of anticipating it and we think that it's a positive thing that she did not convene the grand jury because we have always maintained there was enough evidence just simply to arrest george zimmerman, not to convict him but simply to arrest him. he have his day in court and be able to make all his legal arguments, so by not sending him to the grand jury and by not passing the buck, we think

the special prosecutor, ms. angela corey is saying that she is going to make this decision; whether she has enough evidence or not to arrest george zimmerman. we believe there is a plethora evidence to effect probable cause to arrest him. >> mr. crump, have you been in touch with trayvon's girlfriend who was on the phone at the time with him and had a chance to debrief her? >> >> we talked to her initially when we first got the phone records and saw that they had talked continuously that day and, in fact, she called him at 7:12 that phone call lasted for four minutes which ended at 7:16. the police arrived at 7:17. trayvon martin was shot and killed on the ground and we knew that george zimmerman had called 911 -- called the police at 7:11. we knew that that connected the dots. so i have talked to her at that time and i know she has

been interviewed now by the investigators from everybody. so, i think they have all her testimony. >> and, mr. crump, you reacted to mr. zimmerman's setting up this web site in another interview. i guess it was yesterday. and you said that it's unfair that zimmerman is still free to express his views. and solicit money. what did you mean by that? >> well, it's america, lauer, so he has a right to do whatever hements. and ms. fulton and mr. martin have said that i was very proud they said that because we are a country that you are innocent until you are proven guilty. he said that he had a life altering experience. it was a little painful for them because their son experienced a life ending experience. it's one of those things if that's your child and he sun armed, walking home from the store, as they believe and all

the evidence they believe that he was doing, and that he shot by neighborhood watchman with a 9-millimeter, is he not even arrested. it just seems extremely unfair. so they are dealing with it the best they can. i want to say, laura, please tell bill when i was on last time he said that they, of course, are going to arrest him. well it's 43 days now and we are still waiting. we have faith in the system but there is no arrest yet. >> laura: and, mr. crump, we only have a short period of time and a lot has happened in the aftermath of this shooting. undoubtedly. there has been an incident where another network ended up editing the 911 tape that shows that the dispatcher asked what trayvon martin looked like and said hispanic, black? and that that is when mr. zimmerman answered the question and in fact, he did not -- that was not something that he volunteered. it was something that he asked and he answered the question. given what you have heard about his own background, his

own life story, do you think that this man is a racist? >> i don't know if is he a racist or not. but i do believe he racially profiled tray son martin that night. for him saying weighs suspicious and getting out in that car. it doesn't add up. you have to look at all the other calls he made. he made 46 calls to 911 over 75% of those calls were about young african-americans and then there was a hispanic gentleman who actually reported him to the homeowner's association and the police saying that he profiled them and he was a resident in twin lakes. so all those facts come out. we then hopefully have a judge and jury. that's all his family has asked for. simple justice. nothing more. nothing less. he'll have his day in court and they will have their day in court. >> laura: do you think he can have a fair trial, mr. crump? i know you have advocated on

behalf of many victims of civil rights violations over the years. given this atmosphere, we had a cop car shot up today. we had the police headquarters shut down because of protesters going, converging on police headquarters. some wearing hoodies. another man shot in gainsville over the weekend. reports investigating that the men who surrounded him, he happened to be white were reportedly black. they shouted trayvon. this man is permanently disfigured on the left side of his face. this kind of stuff is happening and how does this man get a fair trial? >> well, those incidents are truly unfortunate. is a britain that and tracy as parents parents -- sabrina and tracy as parents have denounced black panthers and other extremists groups because they say they believe in the system have faith in the system. can he get a fair trial? absolutely. we have incidents all the time where people have

controversial matters and get a fair trial. it's one of those situations he would get a fair as a trial astray von martin would have gotten if he pulled the trigger because that's what it is about. is having it be an equal justice to apply to everybody and trayvon martin, when you really think about the outrage and stuff, can you imagine if it was reversed laura and trayvon had pulled the trigger and they hadn't arrested him in 43 days? >> laura: we will learn more about this. that's for sure. mr. crump, thank you. and, when we come back, more on 00 wild developments in the trayvon martin case. legal is next.

>> laura: thanks for staying with us. i'm laura ingraham in for bill o'reilly. and in the is it legal segment tonight, the stunning new developments in the trayvon martin case.

as we mentioned before, the attorneys for george zimmerman have abruptly quit. >> going to announce today as of now we are withdrawing as counsel for mr. zimmerman. we have lost contact with him up to this point we have had contact every day. he has gone on his own. i'm not sure what he is doing or who he is is talking to. but at this point we are withdrawing as counsel. if he wants us to come back as counsel, he will contact us. >> laura: they also say that zimmerman tried to contact the special prosecutor in the case and that said that helped zimmerman's father set up a papal account to help raise defense funds. with me now is attorney keith waters and joining us from new york is attorney and co-anchor of the five kimberly guilfoyle. kimberly, let's start with you. and put your legal eagle hat on here and tell me whether you thought it was odd that the zimmerman attorneys had never met with zimmerman.

right? they only had talked with him over the telephone or something? i just thought that was odd. >> it is odd because usually you want to get into a face-to-face, you know, interaction with your client and do an assessment of them, of the case, et cetera. keep in mind, when there is a bounty out for mr. zimmerman's head, wanted dead or alive, i bet you he doesn't want to be out in public or traveling from different places because it's highly risky for him. so, in this sense, it kind of makes a little bit of sense that he would want to kind of stay under the low and kind of really take a chance. it's not a good idea, especially with his life on the line. >> laura: maybe if he wants to be hidden forever, he can just go to pakistan where usama bin laden was able to hide. he is he a persona nongrad da in the larger popular culture now. he doesn't emerge even to talk to his attorneys. then he tries to contact the special prosecutor? >> this is highly unusual. what we have here is mr. zimmerman, again, not following the instructions. what he was told to do. not to follow the victim that

he killed. now, again, is he not cooperating with his lawyers, going to the special prosecutor. you see a pattern of behavior with this individual. >> laura: the daily caller -- i'm glad you brought that up. the daily caller had a piece about the following and the tracking plaintiff martin. i think this is going to be part of the ongoing investigation, special prosecutor is doing it. examining that tape to see if, indeed, he did come back and, quote, track trayvon martin when he was told don't do that there is some question whether he did go and started track him after he was told we don't need you to do that a lot of people in the media have already said it's established. it's not established that he had tracked him. what is established is that now is he operating without counsel and he could very well be charged by this special prosecutor in a matter of days. some people said today it was going to happen. >> i think it will be. >> it's foolish conduct not to listen to your lawyer. the lawyer's job is to protect him and make sure his rights are preserved. >> laura: meanwhile, kimberly, we had these incidents today, a cop car near the zimmerman's

home, not clear how near but near the zimmerman's home was shot up, window shattered. damage to the vehicle. police headquarters had to shut down at one point because the number of people defender of trayvon. >> sure. >> laura: came to the police headquarters, some of them wearing hoodies. not sure why they shut down the police department for that that also happened. it seems like there is still racial tensions or tensions running high. >> yes. >> laura: people have got to take a breath here. >> that's a problem. look only more violence and perhaps even loss of life is going to come from this. this is what you have when you have the new black panthers saying in fact we want this man dead or oalive. inciting violence they should be investigated by the department of justice and there is a number of charges, solicitation for a crime of violence amongst other things that could be filed here. it's falling on deaf ears with the department of justice and eric holder. >> laura: what about that in the parents of george zimmerman saying look, what about us? our lives have been threatened. we basically kant move. they can't leave their home. >> well, if they need

protection, the police should definitely protected them. the primary responsibility for enforcement is on the state and local officials. it's not necessarily eric holder. >> laura: jesse jackson saying the fed should come in on this trayvon issue. >> that's the problem. too many people are saying too many things about this case. >> laura: in a moment, john stossel wants to legalize drugs? claiming regulation is the cause of violent crime. i have some tough questions for him. stay with us. sometimes life can be well, a little uncomfortable. but when it's hard or hurts to go to the bathroom, there's dulcolax stool softener. dulcolax stool softener doesn't make you go, it just makes it easier to go. dulcolax stool softener. make yourself comfortable.

i can get a smartphone with verizon 4g lte ? it'd be so easy to check facebook, send emails. and the screen is easier to read in sunlight ! the universe is practically telling me to get a smartphone. it's like, "lisa, it'd be super cool if you got a smartphone. also, i like your outfit." thanks universe, let's get me a lucid. come in and say hello to your new, easy to use smartphone. the lucid by lg for only $79.99. verizon.

>> laura: in the stossel segment tonight should the united states legalize drugs? fox business anchor john stossel thinks so and he lays out his argument in new book "no they can't." why individuals fail and individuals succeed. joining me from new york the aforementioned mr. whose show here is on fbn at 9:30

thursday. lay it on me. i read george wills column about drug legalization the other day as you probably saw. he took the balanced approach it hasn't worked drug interdiction we haven't been able to make a dent in the drug trade. but he raises the point that there is no indication that you would drive down addiction in you legalize drugs. in fact, you probably have poor people using cheaper drugs because cocaine would be cheaper and other elicit drugs cheaper as well. more people on drugs. maybe as bad as the economy is maybe that's not such a bad idea. people want to escape from this economy but. >> i don't think that's a good argument for legalization. >> laura: no, i don't. >> that's true. more people at least at first would try things. some would be hurt by it. my main point though is that the current law doesn't stop people from using. kids say marijuana is easier to get than alcohol. ened it causes all the time.

drugs hurt people but drug laws hurt more people. >> laura: 500,000 people are penalized because of drug use and distribution. that is in and of itself staggering number of people. >> why is that a good thing? some of those people adults who wanted to put stuff in their own body. the government says we can make america a drug-free society. guy to the title of my book it's the obama "yes we can," slogan and no, they can't. they should try to stop doing these things because they hurt more people than they help. >> laura: no, no, no. it's a prop. they will love with you props, john. you are so serious, now with you the problem. i get it. so when you say no, they can't, because they have been unsuccessful, but what about this argument that if you depress the prices and, again, depress the prices, more people try it, and then the government comes in and says oh, no, we will tax it that's the argument you always hear. we'll tax it. put these excise taxes on it

and now just have massive tax evasion, right? that adds to the problem of the difficulty in enforcement down the road, no? >> perhaps. but and i'm no advocate of higher taxes, more tax coming into the government is a good thing. but, ending the crime would be such a wonderful thing. we don't have wine gangs and beer cartels. the crime that's caused by this drug, by the law, which is such a total failure is what gulls me. plus, once you are an adult, don't you own your own body. shouldn't be it be an adult's choice to poison themselves? >> laura: what about kids? younger people? when do you draw the line? >> states would be free to set their own majority rules as they do now. it could be 18, could be 21. there should be laws to prevent kids from using these things just as there is hole alcohol. >> laura: alcohol has destroyed so many lives.

>> prohibition was worse. >> laura: john, thank you very much. pinheads and patriots on deck. just who won that 656-million-dollar jacket? a winning ticket claimed in maryland. we will give you details in just over two minutes. ♪ [ male announcer ] want your weeds to hit the road? hit 'em, with roundup extended control. one application kills weeds, and stops new ones for up to four months. roundup extended control. for up to four months. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers.

finally tonight, pinhead and patriots. mystery surrounding the

$655 million lottery is closer to being solved. maryland lotto officials announced three public school teachers won the share of the jackpot and received nearly $35 million each after taxes. >> one of the winners is an elementary school teacher. another winner is a special education teacher. and the third winner provides administrative support all in if public school system of maryland. 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 they would continue and the teachers said they all plan at this point in time to remain public school teachers. not just to complete this school year, but going forward. >> for continuing to serve the children of maryland, the three winners are patriots. a quick note before we go, check out bill's best seller.

"killing lincoln. " you buy it on billoriley.com you get lis wiehl's new book. bill and miller will be in new york city may 12. indy on june 22. chicago, june 23. tickets are selling fast. details on billo'riley.com. listen to my radio show. find a station near you by going to lauraingraham.com. join laura 365 there. plus, buy autographed copy of my book. a knee-slaper. boy, do we need to laugh these days. that i it for us tonight. bill o'reilly will be back tomorrow. thank you for watching. i'm laura ingraham and remember the spin stops here because we're always looking out for you. ♪ ♪