good morning, everybody. so the midwest is really out there picking up the piece this is morning. they had a weekend of extremely rough weather out there. we've got some brand new pictures that are coming in of the damage done by tornados that look like this. look at that. looks like something right out of a movie. a 100 tornados they believe at least touched down in cities and towns from kansas to minnesota, leveling in some cases everything that was in their path and that's how we get started on this monday morning. glad to have you with us. i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. really frightening, isn't it? this is the aftermath in hard hit woodward, oklahoma. three children lost their lives in that city. survivors across the midwest assess egg the damage. >> it started early with storms and tornado and tornado and wave after wave of storms coming up straight

at us. then they would come up here and turn. this one that hit here was after midnight last night. just grazed the edge of town thank goodness. martha: mike tobin is on the scene there live in wichita, kansas, this morning. mike, what does it look like on the ground where you are? >> reporter: well, martha this is the first time anyone has got a look into this oak lawn neighborhood which took a direct hit from the tornado, now estimated at an ef-3. that means it would have winds of 136 to the 65 miles per hour. what you get get with ef-3 tornado structures with damage but structures still in place. that's what we're looking at here. we see the debris thrown around by the funnel clouds and sandblasted up alongside these buildings. looks like this particular tornado skipped along. i can tell you that this street has a lot of significant damage and go two streets over and all the

houses look like they're relatively in good shape. something i will point out to you, something the search-and-rescue crews leave behind. all of these markings. we got familiar with these during katrina. they know that building has been searched n kansas there were no fatalities with all of these tornadoes, martha. martha: amazing mike. what are the authorities saying how that came to be? >> reporter: it is remarkable. they're saying 120 tornados touched down and only one of those tornados resulted in fatalities. there are two reasons given for that. most of the tornados swept across uninhabit ited land. the big reason authorities say there were not more fatalities is because people took the warnings seriously. they got underground when the tornados passed over head, martha. martha: thanks, mike tobin in wichita for us. gregg: got to look at this.

really incredible videotape of the funnel clouds that slammed the midwest over the weekend. shot by pretty brave storm chasers. check out the video of two twisters a once. this is near cherokee, oklahoma. >> two tornados!. >> oh, yeah!. >> oh, my gosh. gregg: that video taken by john haverfield and he will join us live what it was like to get up close to not one but two potentially deadly tornados. new reaction now to the scandal rocking the secret service. chairman. house oversight committee darrell issa saying he is concerned allegations of agents cavorting with prostitutes could compromise the security of the president of the united states. steve centanni live at the white house with more on that. steve, what is the latest on the scandal? >> reporter: well both the president and some key members of congress are

vowing to investigate this incident involving some secret service agents at their hotel in cartegna, colombia. as you know the president was in colombia for the summit the americas where it is reported some members of the secret service traveling in advance of the president had some prostitutes up to their hotel rooms. the president was asked during a joint appearance with colombian president santos, and said those representing the u.s. overseas need to display the highest standards and utmost dignity. >> what happened here in colombia is being investigated by the director of the secret service. i expect that investigation to be thorough and i expect it to be rigorous. if it turns out that some of the allegations made in the press are confirmed, then of course i will be angry. >> reporter: 11 members of the secret service were recalled and replaced,

gregg. gregg: steve, what action do we expect if any on capitol hill in the weighing of this scandal? >> reporter: there very well be action. we're getting word from peter king, the chairman of the homeland security committee might hold hearings. the another one concerned is darrell issa, chairman. house oversight and government reform committee and said serious questions are raised by this incident. let's listen? >> we heard about these wheel-up parties when the president leaves. this was a pre-wheel-down. the question is, is the whole organization in need of some soul-searching some changes or in fact, before the president, the vice president and members of the cab net are in danger? >> reporter: issa says he thinks as many as 20 agents might be involved not the 11 previously mentioned. gregg: steve centanni at the white house thank you very much. martha: that is a big story. congressman darrell issa also says he is believes this is likely not the first. he says basically where there is smoke there's fire.

we'll see when it comes to that about this scandal. he says he will be looking into it. congressman issa will join us live in a couple minutes on that. also the main focus for him today are the hearings, the gsa hearings, which his oversight committee will be asking a lot of serious questions about when this dough that. gregg: lots of partying on taxpayer expense. the videos keep coming out. they trickle out more and more. martha: world we live in. can't have a party without somebody getting it on tape. gregg: it is a youtube world. the secret service has a long and storied history. it was created back in 1865. originally was supposed to deal with the counterfeiting of u.s. security. then in 1913 the congress authorized the agency to protect the president. we'll continue to follow that story. martha: procrastinators you are in a bit of luck this morning. april 15th fell on a sunday. now you have an extra day. you have till tomorrow on midnight to file your taxes. the extra time doesn't

lessen the pain to writing the check to uncle sam ultimately. stuart varney, joins me now. anchor of "varney & company". you have all your taxes in, ready to go, stuart? >> i appreciate the extra day. did you know today is emancipation day in washington, d.c. and purely for the purposes of taxation it is considered a federal holiday therefore you got until midnight tomorrow the 17th to actually do your taxes. to answer your question, martha, yes a lot of checks were written last weekend and that's when last-minute preparers, they send in their check because they owe money so wait until the last minute. this weekend was a big check-writing time very probably for tax prep rao's. this time last year, $5.3 billion was mailed into the federal treasury on that last tax day. that was last year, 5.3 billion. if the tax people got the same amount of money this year, say $5.3 billion, that would take care of three, 3

1/2 days interest only on the federal debt. martha: boy, that's unbelievable. let's take a look at some polls when we talk about taxes and how people are feeling about them these days. i don't think anybody really loves to pay taxes. i think the president said that the other day. 54% say it is too high. 43% say it is about right, the amount they paid. is tax money spent more or less carefully is the question there. let's look at the next one that is the one i referenced. are your taxes being spent more carefully now than in recent years? 53% said less carefully. you think of the gsa story. there are a lot of concerns out there about this. >> there is a great deal of anger over the level of taxation and where that tax money goes. as you say the gsa scandal raised a lot of hackles all over the country. tax money badly spent. 3 1/2 days of interest being

taken care of the last day's checks that were sent in. there is a great deal of anger about how our tax money is spent and how much of it is raised and how much debt we're going into because we're not raising enough money and we're spending too much. so ainge are surrounds the tax picture this april 16th. martha: it will be the single-most important issue this election. >> possibly. martha: stuart varney. thank you so much. coming up on the business channel. gregg: get your returns in? martha: pretty much. gregg: i already got a refund. we filed a month or two ago. martha: very impressive, mr. jarrett. gregg: well, my wife, not me, trust me. those are just a few of the stories we've been following this morning in "america's newsroom." he has a new heart and he is incredibly fired up about it. former vice president dick cheney making his first appearance publicly since undergoing heart transplant surgery. we're going to find out why he is calling the president,

quote an unmitigated disaster. martha: and the gsa, we were just talking about that, they have a big day today, going before congress in front of darrell issa's committee. we will speak with himsing a they begin their investigation into the outrageous spending of your tax dollars. boondoggle is the word for that. we'll be right back. gregg: oh, yeah. recognize her from the campaign trail? michele bachmann, now wading into the war on women. why she says the comments against mitt romney's wife were shocking and insulting. >> ann romney certainly understood the economy and you think women all across the country were highly insulted and they should be because women have borne the brunt of the failed economic policies under barack obama.

gregg: well a very serious warning for boston marathon runners today. event organizers highly concerned about the

unusually warm weather. temps in the boston area expected to reach 80 degrees. the average temperature this time of year, normally about 47 degrees. so first-time runners and anybody with a medical condition advised to sit out the race, stay at home, crack open a beer, chill. but for those who do decide to run they're being advised to take very frequent breaks and keep hydrating. drink plenty of water. martha: one of our producers is doing that. good luck to you, jay. meantime, house panel is set to grill top executives from gaa later today. this will be a hot one as well, folks. the agency is under a lot of fire for spending close to a million dollars of your tax money on a lavish vegas conference. there is the concern really that may be just the tip of the iceberg on this story and perhaps other agencies as well. my next guest is heading that investigation.

congressman darrell issa the chairman of the house oversight committee. good to have you here today. >> thanks, martha, talking about is in the tip of the iceberg. if it were a couple of thousand excess funds spent on a conference that already cost several hundred thousand dollars it probably wouldn't be the story that it is. but it is the tip of the iceberg. things like ribbon-cuttings went on for five day of hawaii vacations. misuse of gsa credit cards. we're seeing a pattern at the gsa. remember the fsa sets the standard, for, if you will getting a good value for the american people for all of government. martha: that is the gsa's mandate, basically to watch how funds are spent in government. irony is not lost on anybody in that title. so, as you sit down there today, and, it's already being reported that mr. neally, who oversaw the vegas concert part of this will most likely take the fifth. do you think you will get any valuable information out

of mr. neely today and what will you ask him? >> we'll ask him a lot of questions three weeks okay when he did a transcribed interview, one of the reasons we're still calling him, it seems pretty odd he would talk to the inspector general a few weeks ago on the record and now said he may, his lawyer said he may take the fifth. we're not interested in anything, in his personal life. we're interested in the culture at the gsa and how we change it. and although he may soon be leaving the gsa, we hope, we want to know when he's out the door how we're going to change behavior throughout government service. remember this is an individual who is still being paid today by the american people. he hasn't been fired. martha: are there criminal charges that perhaps may come of this? you know, basically if you charge the government an extraordinarily amount of money for something that could have cost a lot less if youed done it ethically, is there criminal element to

this. >> sadly, martha, if you steal from the government it is a crime. if you waste the government's money it is currently not a crime even though it seems like it to the taxpayers. that is one. reason our oversight and inspector general's oversight has to be very diligent. never again can we have interim report show a widespread problem, wait 11 months before it becomes available to our committee or to the public. martha: seems to some there is fine line between overcharging and stealing in some cases. we'll be curious to hear out of that inquiry and discussion today. i also want to get your thoughts on this secret service issue that bubbled up in a very ugly way over the course of the weekend. what are your biggest concerns there? is your committee pursuing any hearings on that issue? >> we're pursuing an investigation. it may or may not lead to hearings but what we are concerned about, similar to gsa this obviously was not just 11 or 20 individuals. this in fact a widespread problem. each of these individuals apparently compromised, if

you will, their room, putting somebody in a room that very much could compromise them, now or in the future due to blackmail. so we've got to find out how widespread it is and you how you change that part of the culture at the secret service where they think they can have two roles. one which they're protecting high-level, high-value individuals like the president and the cabinet and another one which they say we're off-duty, we can do whatever we want. the two are not distinguishable when you look at foreign governments trying to infiltrate our elite units protecting our most valuable targets. martha: the white house has responded to that they say that the president's security was never compromised at any time during this trip. and they believe that there was not a security concern that was presented by this, by this issue with prostitutes this room. >> as you know the white house mostly referred things to the secret service who is mostly saying we're handling it. let's understand, i'm not

concerned about this president in colombia. that is behind us. i'm concerned about future presidents, cabinet officers, other protected individuals, five, 10 years from now. this culture, if you will, if it is widespread, if there is this kind of a situation in which people are exposing themselves to potential future blackmail, then in fact it will be the next president or the president after that will have somebody who has moved up the ranks who has this in their background. so it's not the personal conduct. not a one-time event. it is a question whether or not the secret service has a plan to make sure they don't have anyone who is compromised working for them in the future. martha: congressman issa, thank you very much. this will be dug into in great detail i have no doubt. we'll look forward to the gsa hearings as well. we'll be reporting on those later. thank you, sir. >> thank you, martha. bye-bye. gregg: this is being called one of those dangerous terror plots since 9/11. now the trial for the man accused of planting a bomb. the new york city subway

system, well it is getting underway. we're live there at the courthouse. martha: how much would you spend to hang out with tim tebow for a while little while? one florida company say they like him so much they are willing to spend big bucks for that privilege. we'll tell you what that is all about and how much they're forking over. this is monday in "america's newsroom." [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more? then don't get nickle and dimed by high cost investments and annoying account fees.

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martha: hi, let's get you look some of what is developing now here in "america's newsroom" this morning. the coast guard is ending the search for four missing yacht racers off the coast of san francisco. they were tossed into the water over the weekend after their sailboat ran aground. it is happy birthday today to pope benedict xvi. the holy father turned 85 today. celebrating at the vatican with family and bishops from native germany including his

older brother who was reportedly there. atlanta braves honoring a hometown hero. more than 20,000 fans paying tribute to u.s. marine corporal michael butra who lost both legs while in combat in the sfwan afghanistan. hear is the 22-year-old describing emotions of that day. >> makes it all worth it to see that many people so proud of me and they don't even know me. [applause] martha: the braves won the game. they beat the milwaukee brewers. who used to be the braves by the way. i know a lot of baseball trivia. the braves won 7-4. gregg: everybody was wearing 42. everybody throughout the league in honor of jackie robinson. it was kind of a special day all the way around. martha: good day of baseball. gregg: moving on now, he is accused of plotting to blow up new york city's subway system but now the trial is

getting underway for the man accused of planning what prosecutors say is the most chilling plot since the attacks of 9/11 the david lee miller is live outside u.s. district court in brooklyn, new york. david, what can you tell us about the man on trial? >> reporter: well, his name is hardly a household name by any measure in the united states. he was a high school friend of najibullah zazi. that is significant because zazi has now been convicted of that failed subway bombing. prosecutors allege the two men and others traveled to pakistan and then were trained by al qaeda. they returned to the united states to take part in what is described as martyrdom operations. he is charged with 11 counts, gregg, including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destructions. what is especially significant, expected next day, possibly as soon as this morning. some of the other alleged and convicted terrorists in this case including najibullah zazi, are going

to testify, gregg. gregg: how was he caught in the end, david? >> reporter: it was under very bizarre circumstances. he had been under fbi surveillance the fbi went to his home in 2010. it was a raid. he was not taking into custody. he then went on a high-speed chase along a new york city highway. he was being followed by fbi agent. he got into a traffic accident. then he made this very strange call to 911 speaking in english and ara i can about. listen. >> police operator 1673? >> this is -- [inaudible] >> he wants to know what ? >> reporter: was that incident a bizarre traffic

accident? or an attempt at jihad? we expect to learn more. court begins in less than 10 minutes, gregg. gregg: david lee miller live in brooklyn. david, thanks very much. martha? martha: it is kind of a remark that could resonate as loud as ballot box in november as they do today. a democratic advisor saying ann romney, never worked a day in her live according to hillary rosen. now michele bachmann weighs in. >> i will tell you mitt said to me more times than you imagine, ann, your job is more important than mine. great . great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. great . see the seam? more pcessed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i kn is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself.

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lay down a new look, with earthgro mulch, now three bags for just $10. gregg: this is a fox news alert. the taliban sending a deadly message. they're still a force to be reckoned with. the terror group claiming responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks across afghanistan calling it the beginning of their spring offensive. militants targeting nato bases, embassy, government buildings. what does this mean for the future of afghanistan when we pull out? peter brookes, former cia officer, senior fellow at the heritage foundation joins joins us now. wasn't just kabul but three other provinces as well, peter. and it was a sustained barrage that lasted for 12, 15 hours in some locations. is this a wake-up call? >> yes, i think so. exactly how i was going to phrase it. i think especially as we're talking about getting out, reducing our troop levels

this year by significant amount in afghanistan. in fact there are even rumors that will be larger number than we're expecting, it is time for us to refocus on our plans for afghanistan. gregg, we have a lot at stake in that country and we have a lot of troops there and we really need to think about this. this was the largest attack in kabul in over 10 years. i think there are questions out there about the capability of the afghan security forces to fight back. gregg: but, peter, nato is sort of brushing this off. in fact let's put up on the screen the remark by the nato spokesman, colonel daniel king. he said, quote if this is the best they can do to start their fighting season, obviously the afghan security forces and others are having a significant impact. do you agree? >> well, i hope that he's right but i worry that he's wrong. i mean this is, this was certainly troubling. we're hearing anecdotal evidence about the ability of the afghan security forces. some people are saying they

did well. i understand it took american air power to end the siege in kabul. we had to bring in helicopters, armed helicopters to take out the last remnants of the insurgent attacks. now i'm worried about that sort of bravado. this is the beginning of the spring offensive. it is not just the taliban. it is the haqqani network i'm really worried about. many think this is the insurgents that undertook this and that they're the most capable fighting force we're encountering today. gregg: sounds like ambassador crocker in afghanistan would agree with you. he said, to get out before the afghans have a full grip on security which is couple years outwould be to invite, taliban, haqqani and al qaeda back in and that is an unacceptable risk for any american. bottom line, do you think the time period which has been set forth, that the afghani security forces can

stand up for themselves? or can al qaeda and other terror networks reintroduce themselves and we're back to square one? >> that's the big question, gregg and i have concerns about that especially the afghans ability to deal with these groups, especially in terms of air power, intelligence, command and communications. are they going to be able to hold the country? are they going to be able to hold more than kabul. big questions out there. we need to think about it. we need to look what happened last few days in kabul and elsewhere in afghanistan to tell us that. there is a lot at stake. with could see rise of al qaeda. instability in pakistan out of afghanistan the rise of iran in the region on. there is a lot at stake for us and we need to be beautiful based on what is going on the ground, not a political decision. gregg: two years goes by very quickly. peter brookes, thanks very much, peter. >> thank you. martha: this story has not gone away. there is strong condemnation

for democratic insider hillary rosen's remark, that ann romney, quote, never worked a day in her live from former congresswoman and presidential candidate michele bachmann no stranger to dealing with a large family and a big workload. >> i thought it was shocking and insulting. i'm a mother of five. i've been at home full-time with my children. i've worked full time as a federal tax litigation attorney. one thing i know when women are home full time they have a better pulls on the economy than even their husbands have because they're the ones directly impacted by the price of groceries, by the price of gasoline, by the price of dealing with banking and with all the other factors running a home. ann romney, certainly understood the economy and i think women all across the country were highly insulted and they should be because women have borne the brunt of the failed economic policies. martha: kirsten powers, columnist for "the daily beast" and rich lowery editor of "national review",

both are fox news contributors. kirsten, part of me wishes we could move past this. a lot of women don't really want there to be a war on women issue and feel like issues they face every day are the same ones that men face every day. >> yeah. martha: is there, skirs 10, in your opinion a war on women that is valuable part of the conversation in this election? >> valuable a part of the conversation? definitely not. even if you look now how the republicans are responding to it. they're not being any better listening to what michele bachmann now said. this is setting up idea that stay-at-home moms are ones that understand the economy. come on, whether you're a working woman or a stay at home mother you understand the economy as well as anybody else does. it's like we now have republicans and democrats staking out these different positions and getting in the middle of these like mommy wars. i think that, the contention that women are the ones who have borne the brunt of the

economy isn't actually true. the fact of the matter is, yes, more women have lost jobs under obama because there were a lot of teachers who lost jobs which, they lost jobs because republicans really didn't want to continue to fund the stimulus bill barack obama wanted to give them. under bush we saw much of the loss of jobs for men in construction. so let's not pretend that men haven't lost jobs during this, during this recession. they actually have suffered mightily. martha: rich, you make an interesting point on all of this. there has always been a gender gap. democrats tend to pull in a larger portion of the female vote. republicans tend to pull in a larger portion of the male vote. what is significant about this current battle to you in this 2012 race? as you look ahead over the next six months or so? >> well i think very little significance. no one will be talking about hillary rosen in the fall. no one will even remember, i would argue what this supposed war on women was in

the fall because both men and women want this conversation to be about health care, about jobs, about the deficit, about gas. "usa today", had a swing state poll where they asked women what are the most important issues to you and all those issues were at the top. there are six issues they asked them about. contraception sixth. they asked men the same thing. contraception is sixth. contraception is on no one's mind except deb i debbie wasserman schultz and a people that want to cook up this fake war on women. martha: do you think the romney camp makes a mistake jumping on this moment to the extent they have? or you know what, basically what you're saying? >> always right for the romney campaign to say what i'm saying martha. that is given. hillary rosen obvious gaffe and dem are defensive about that and take advantage over the weekend.

don't be overly defensive about this. don't make pitch to exclusively to women voters. talk about how you will make conditions better for everyone. if mitt romney wins the debate over the economy the women's vote will take care of itself. martha: is there is a issue why mitt romney is failing to connect women? is there a gender gap that exists in some elections as rich points out, kirsten or is there definitely something more than that. >> there is something more than that there is always a gender gap but what we're seeing a much larger gender gap with obama leading by almost 20 points among women which is much more than he won them by. the reason i think that he is doing better and i think the challenge that romney has is that in a fragile economy where people don't feel secure women who are the ones who rely on social safety nets more are very leery of people who start talking about maybe dismantling the social safety net. martha: i think that is true,

yes. >> republicans have been traditionally been associated with it. and ryan plan probably scared off some women voters in that way. i think that is more what it's about. i think rich is right. i don't think the contraception issue is what people are voting on though it does energize the democratic base. martha: we got to go. rich you make a interesting point. why is everybody discussing the gender gap not doing well with men. >> works both ways. martha: that is issue for another day. we have the whole summer to look into this. kirsten, rich, thank you. gregg: fox poll shows romney ahead of obama 15 points among men. congresswoman bachmann, by the way will join us live tomorrow in "america's newsroom." we'll talk about the so-called war on women and scandal around gsa and race for the white house. could the congresswoman lend her support to mitt romney. check it out tomorrow. martha: we'll see if she

will endorse mitt romney when we talk to her tomorrow, meanwhile the buffett rule up for grabs today in the u.s. senate. they're voting on it. will lawmakers get behind the president's controversial plan and what does it really accomplish? we'll talk to a senator about that. martha: plus auctioning off that young man. tim tebow. we'll tell you how much one couple paid to spend the day with the jet's new quarterback when we come back. ♪ [ male announcer ] while othe are content to imitate, we'll contin to innovate.

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gregg: the u.s. senate voting today on the so-called buffett rule. the proposal requires americans who earn more than a million dollars a year to pay a minimum of 30% in federal taxes and it's very popular with americans. look at the latest gallup polling data. 60% of the americans favor

it. 37% oppose. republican john cornyn from texas is on the senate budget committee and joins us live from capitol hill. always good to talk to you. thanks very much. >> thank you. gregg: look, given the popularity of this is it unwise for your party, republicans to oppose it? >> well, i think we need to put it in context. the fact is that this buffett rule, which will essentially will eliminate capital-gains tax treatment for people hop pay income taxes on individual tax return, that includes a lot of businesses, will discourage investment at a time we need the private sector to invest more to create more jobs to bring unemployment down. and the president himself admits this will not fix the problem with this $15 trillion debt. it is a drop in the bucket. what we really need, instead of this distraction, instead of this attempt to divide americans along class lines, is real tax reform, like the president's own bipartisan

fiscal commission recommended in december of 2010 which he has ignored. gregg: but, senator, the plan actually only affect as fraction of the american population, about 210,000. in fact, in 2011 treasury department study found that it would only affect a very small proportion of businesses. so given that, and juxtapose the popularity of this among the american people, again, why oppose it? aren't you giving a political weapon to the president to just bludgeon the gop by saying hey, you guys, you're just defending and protecting the rich? >> the last time we tried this was the alternative minimum tax which was targeted at about 150 taxpayers who paid no tax. strangely enough, over the years, that tax grew to now include up 30 million middle class, 30 million people including many middle class

taxpayers this is the a trojan horse. this is not targeted at very rich. you know what, gregg? we need to look why half of households in america pay zero income tax. gregg: sure. >> we need some real tax reform. this isn't it. this is a gimmick. gregg: when he introduced the buffett rule, here's what the president said about it, quote, that basic principle of fairness. if applied to our tax code, could raise enough money to stablize our debt and deficits for the next year. of course, senator, his own treasury department says it will only raise less than five billion a year. when you do the calculations that comes out to less than 1% of our current budget deficit which is 1.2 trillion. do you think the president is deliberately being deceptive, exaggerating? how would you describe it? >> well the kindest thing i could say he is overstating the case and i believe his treasury secretary is right

it is a drop in the bucket. why would you engage in this sort of divisive rhetoric at a time when we do have a serious problem? part of that problem is spending and the other part is trying to get the private sector to grow. this actually does nothing to stop the spending. it encourages it and it discourages investment from the private sector in job creation. so it's a bad idea. i think most people once they understand that context they will agree with us. gregg: when the president cites fairness he continues to make mention of individuals who are rich who pay lower tax rate than the middle class. we looked it up. irs data shows middle class pace an average of 15% while the rich pay an average of 26% on their tax rates to the federal government. again, deceptive data being used by the president? >> well i think you can, it's complicated as those facts would suggest. many wealthy people pay

capital-gains tax but the truth is, which is 15% rate right now on long-term investments. gregg: right. >> but the fact of the matter the very wealthy can hire an army of lawyers and accountants to circumvent this and help them defer this tax and a lot of small business who play throw-through income on a individual tax return will not have those resources to do it and they will bear the brunt of this tax. gregg: doesn't look like it will pass. senator john cornyn, thanks very much for speaking with us. >> thank you very much. gregg: martha? martha: coming up why really cool new technology could help make your next plane ride a little faster on the way to the ground. gregg: plus more than 100 twisters ripping through america's heartland. we're live in the town that took a direct hit. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

gregg: welcome back. how much money would you pay to spend the day with tim tebow? one florida couple tossed down 100,000 bucks to meet the new york jets quarterback. the winning bid placed during a fund-raising event for the tim tebow foundation. here is tebow after hearing about the incredible bid. >> well, it was very humbling and, you don't necessarily feel worthy, you know? so, that day i feel like i got to do a few extra things special, you know? i got to try to be a little bit better. i don't know. but it will be a lot of fun. such a sweet, special family. gregg: how nice. martha: this is funny reaction. i would feel the same way, right? what will i do to dazzle these people? gregg: the bidders want to remain anonymous. don't really want people to know this. they want to spend their day with tim tebow and underprivileged near their home in the florida keys which is great. martha: no doubt. probably well off people wanted to make a big

donation to his foundation which they like and they will have a great day. gregg: good for them. martha: good for them and all the way around. those today's of your flight kind of circling over the airport waiting for approval to land what could be worse, right? those could be soon though a thing of the past because alaska airlines has a new thing they will be doing and has to do with gps technology and supposed to mean you don't have to circle anymore and land more quickly. go to dan springer live on the story from seattle today. how would this work? >> reporter: i don't know about the gps in your car but this thing will have to be much more sophisticated and it will be. that should mean shorter routes for all of us who fly a lot mean great news which means flights could be a few minutes shorter, 10 minutes. landings will be more direct. that will save time and fuel. pilots will exactly know where all the other planes are and any other objects like mountains and

buildings. good thing, right? there will still be air traffic controlsers but pilots will have a lot more information in the cockpit. >> think of it as like a path in space. almost like a little string through the sky and we'll follow that string extraordinarily precisely. >> reporter: now alaska airlines has been using this technology for about a decade when landing planes in places like juneau. see at sell far more busier and makes it more complicated. the test starts in june. martha: are there any complications? sometimes my gps leave me on crazy routes and not just a straight line for all to point a to point b. >> doesn't take a few minutes to warm up. one of the advantages planes will be able to fly closer together. martha: great. >> reporter: a little scary when planes are closer together. will allow more passengers to get through busy airports each hour. the other big thing,

downside is cost. airlines will save money on jet fuel, but cost them initially, each plane costs $340,000 for the equipment. but that is nothing compared to the equipment at airports and in space. some estimate the cost to taxpayers will be $42 billion. still, airport managers say it is worth every penny. >> there will be fewer communities affected by noise of arriving aircraft and for the airlines and for the environment generally it will mean savings of both fuel and money. martha: sounds like a lot --. >> reporter: how much fuel are we talking about? about a barrel, a barrel of jet fuel pearlanding saved. martha: thank you very much, dan. dan springer in seattle on that. >> reporter: okay. gregg: dick cheney has a new heart and apparently has got him all fired up. [applause] ♪ this is $100,000.

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[ crunches ] mmm. ♪ [ male announcer ] pringles... bursting with more flavor. [ crunch! ] martha: fox news alert right now. former vice president dick cheney is, as you know out of the hospital and

indeed all fired up. he made his first public appearance since undergoing heart transplant surgery. look how well he is seems to be doing. not holding back when it came to discussion of politics. that is how we stand this morning "america's newsroom.". i'm martha maccallum. gregg: good to see you. i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. mr. cheney spoke at gop convention in wyoming unleashing some pretty scathing remarks about president obama. >> i can't think of the time when i felt it was more important for us to defeat an incumbent president than today with respect to barack obama. i think he has been an unmitigated disaster for the country. martha: those are comments over the weekend in wyoming. joining me fox news senior political analyst brit hume. good morning, brit. good to have you with us. >> good morning, martha. martha: obviously cheney is not one to hold back. all he has been through

physically it is incredible walking out on the stage after having a heart transplant but he sees no reason to hold back. >> well, it is remarkable that, after transplant surgery only weeks ago he comes out on that stage. you remember before the operation he was barely getting around at all. in a wheelchair some of the time. he comes out, walks out and sits down and talks for an hour 15 minutes. i would get tired talking an hour and 15 minutes. i haven't had my fuel pump replaced. i think it was astonishing, apart from what he said, it was remarkable he could say it at such length. martha: it truly was. i guess you think about president bush who has basically been under the radar in terms of his assessments of the obama men station more or less but dick cheney never really felt the need to play that role. what do you think? is his role in this election if any? >> well, remember, cheney is a large figure and when he

talks, as this weekend proved and as a number of prior instances proved as well, when he talks it makes news. so when he comes out what he said about barack obama people are going to hear about that. and i think, what he said is important on a couple of levels. one is, that it reflects the sentiment of a lot of conservative republicans that barack obama has not merely been a poor president or an ineffective president or weak president or unsuccessful president, there is a belief in those quarters he has been an atrocious president and i suspect that chaney is hoping that sentiment will be a motivator for people to turn out and vote, particularly conservatives who may not be that enthused about mitt romney. of course you heard him say the party needs to unite behind mitt romney. i think he will be a voice, if he chooses to throughout the rest of this campaign season. martha: very remarkable in his physicallability as you point out as well, brit.

david axelrod had interesting comments this weekend on "fox news sunday", here is what he had to say. >> the choice in this election is between an economy that produce as growing middle class and that gives people a chance to get ahead and their kids a chance to get ahead and an economy that continues down the road we're on where fewer and fewer number of people do very well and everybody else is running faster and faster just to keep pace. so when he said to continue down the road we're on, that raised a lot of eyebrows. you wonder if he was using talking points from the last time around, in the last election when he said that did this strike you as odd? >> well, it reminded me a little bit what mark twain said about wagner's music. he said, it was better than it sound. and what axelrod clearly was meaning, and i was here yesterday and watched interview in studio with rest of the members of the panel. we weren't struck by that particularly, at least clear in the context of the whole

interview he was talking about a longer term trend in the country occasioned by the bush tax cuts and other economic policies put us on this path barack obama has been trying to change. that is what he was obviously getting back standing by itself sound like we have to get away from what we, the obama team has been doing which is obviously what he did not intend. i was on my twitter feed last night and it was lit up with this stuff. everybody was linking to the sound bite saying axelrod had endorsed romney and so on. those things happen. martha: no doubt. nobody wasted anytime to get on that. brit, thank you so much. >> you bet, martha. martha: we'll see you soon. >> you too. gregg: let's talk a little more about the campaign trail. mitt romney may be the presumptive gop nominee but there are a couple of guys still in the race. ron paul, newt gingrich, both. gingrich who spent the weekend trying to woo tea party voters in north carolina now admits he is the underdog. that's fairly obvious but he

dismisses any talk of dropping out. >> i am the last conservative standing and i am still standing and i am running hard. i think i'm the one person hot could debate barack obama and win and i'm the one person who has solutions big enough to really get the country back on the right track. martha: the current delegate count is a stark reminder to gingrich of his chances. romney is more than halfway to reaching that nomination. 684 delegates. gingrich and ron paul way back there, 136 and 52 respectively. mathematically speaking it is impossible for either candidate to reach the magic number of 1144. next big day is 24th. pennsylvania. gregg: some big ones after that as well. devastation in the america's heartland. the death toll rising to more than 120 reported tornados ripping through the country's midsection. in woodward, oklahoma, six people were killed.

entire neighborhoods wiped out today. >> there are a lot of old wives tales around here. people say it will never affect our area. this is a true testament that it very well can. >> i didn't know what to think at first. everything we ever worked for is right here and all gone. it is scary and a reality check. all the other times we would stay at his mom and dad's house i would always think knob will ever happen. nothing will happen. we'll be paranoid and it happens. gregg: chief meteorologist rick reichmuth is standing by in hard hit hit, woodward, oklahoma. rick? >> gregg, one. recurring things everybody says when you talk to them, they say this only see on tv. it happens on tv. it doesn't really happen in your own real life. you get here and it does. i'm here in an area. this is a bit of an office park that is completely destroyed. every time you come you look at this, it looks the same as it does in every tornado. so many times it really does. all of the boards that have

been ripped apart. all the nails sticking out everywhere. always insulation that is scattered and strewn all over the place and such a difficult process because there's all kinds of dangers including, you look down here. there is always nails. every board ever attached to any building is here attached with these nails. so they're sticking up everywhere as people are in trying to gather what they can out of these kinds of messes. woodward, oklahoma, the one town that where we've seen fatalities from this incredible tore they'd dough outbreak. -- tornado outbreak. hard to imagine only one town but unfortunately here in woodward, oklahoma. i'm joined by the mayor, mayor roscoe hill. your town took a beating. thanks for talking with us this morning. what is the latest status for you guys? >> we're presently getting things ready to go. you can see backhoes and stuff. we're trying to get things cleaned up. it is just amazing to me

that 12:17 morning this started happening and at 12:30 it went eight miles in 15 minutes and, well, it was over. >> reporter: this storm was moving very quickly and started about 15 minutes before the storm formed. did you feel you had enough warning at least from the national weather service that you had a big day coming? >> three days before this happened they kept saying the formula's right. you're going to get tornados. and, we started getting a few showing up in our warning system worked fine. sunday morning, it didn't work fine. so technology failed us again. >> yeah that is possibly another storm, possibly took out that warning system. unfortunately no warning here around the storm happening in the middle of dark, guys. then the six fatalities. others are still critically

injured. that number possibly rising. gregg: rick reichmuth, standing by in woodward, oklahoma. rick, thank you very much. storm chasers in tornado alley run toward the danger, not away from it. take a look at this. >> that could be on the ground now. gregg: well, that is video shot by jon haverfield will join us later on in the hour to tell us what it is like to be that close to nature's fury. martha: better him than me, right? the national weather service said this outbreak was a month's worth of tornados over just 489 hours. as of saturday 520 twisters have hit the midwest and the south so far this season. that compares to 94 through the same date last year. on average 800 tornados are reported every year. april through june is the most active time for the upper midwest. last year was one of the

deadliest on record. more than 500 people lost their lives. one good thing we can say about this particular round it did not see as many fatalities a many would think. solace to those five individuals and families. gregg: not with standing woodward, early warning systems helped a lot of cities and towns in tornado alley. the plot thickens in the secret service sex scandal. one high-ranking lawmaker involved in the investigation says this incident may not be the first one. >> we've got to find out how widespread it is and how you change that part of the culture at the secret service where they think they can have two roles, one in which they're protecting high-level, high-value individuals like the president and the cabinet and another one in which they say, we're off-duty, we can do whatever we want. gregg: so what exactly happened inside that hotel? well the man mo who broke the story joins us live next. martha: that should be interesting. the gsa in for a congressional grilling as well.

the hearing set to get underway this afternoon. remember the clown moment from that gsa video? we have live folks on capitol hill with that? gregg: a college football star heading to the prom. how he became a star off the field, coming up. >> took time out of his day to come with me. they didn't believe me at first. now i think they do.

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martha: new video this morning coming out of syria that shows that that five day-old ceasefire appears to be collapsing. martha: this is way too flong any of the people that remain there. this is amateur video from homs in syria, eye ti vist groups say they've seen intense shelling over the course of the last three

days, this latest violence comes as the first u.n. observers -- observers are arriving in damascus. gregg: new fallout on the prostitution scandal rocking the u.s. secret service. eleven agents now placed on administrative leave, following bombshell accusations that at least one of them brought prostitutes back to their hotel room while on duty in colombia. congressman darrell issa is calling for further investigation. here he is on "america's newsroom", just moments ago. >> what we are concerned about, similar to the gsa, is this obviously was not just 11 or 20 individuals, this in fact is a widespread problem, and each of these individuals apparently compromised, if you will, their room, putting somebody in a room that very much could compromise them now or in the future due to blackmail, so we've got to find out how widespread it is and how you change that part of the culture at the secret service. gregg: joining us now the

person who broke this story and says the head of the secret service should be fired, best selling author of "in the president's secret service", ron kessler. ron, thank you for speaking with us. what happened inside that hotel? >> well, these 11 agents brought prostitutes in, one of them would not pay the prostitute, that led to police being notified, which led to the state department being notified and the secret service, and you know, it really is just a symptom of the management culture that i wrote about in the "the president's secret service" which condones corner cutting and laxness, and it's much more serious than simply being open to blackmail, which is serious enough. it's letting people into events without screening them through man know tometers, not keeping up with the latest firearms, not even requiring agents to

comply with physical fitness and firearms requirements, and the director, mark sullivan, has presided over all these debacles, including the salahes, which i also broke, and yet president obama continues to act as if really nothing happened. he said yesterday that if these allegations in the press are true, he'll be angry. well, we know that the secret service has already said on the record that this conduct occurred and that's why the signatures or sent back. gregg: they say the president was never in any jeopardy. do you buy that? >> no. all that means is that there was not an assassination. if, in fact, these agents have been blackmailed, for example, and they let a terrorist in or they let the russian foreign intelligence service do bugging, then of course it would have been a different story, the

standard should not be there was not an assassination, the standard should be there should never be a scandal like this which is the worst in the history of the secret service. gregg: talk to us about this culture. you mentioned two sides of culture, one of which is cost cutting. the other one is sort of laziness and talk to us about that. >> you know, when there's a dysfunctional culture in any agency, it's hard to understand how it happened or why it happened, but it is a situation where the secret service has the attitude we make do with less, we don't need more money, so the agents have totally over-- are totally overworked, and then it's a culture of mountain does not back agents, for example, in the case of -- you saw that with the salahes, when mary cheney, dick cheney's daughter was under protection she would insist her agents take her friends to restaurants.

they refused, as they should, they're not taxi drivers, but she threw a fit and because of that, she got her secret service detail leader removed by management, so the management, instead of backing the guys who do the job, removes them. well, that's i think what happened with the salahes. gregg: i know you're calling for the director, mark sullivan, to resign, and we'll see whether he does that on his own or gets fired, but we know that darrell isa was on other air a short time ago talking to martha maccallum and he's vernd, he's going to be holding hearings. ron kessler, author of the best selling book on the secret service "in the president's secret service", thank you very much. appreciate you breaking the story and giving us some of the details. thanks. >> thank you. martha: well, today, we're also getting our first look at the case against the man who is accused of shooting trayvon martin, and it does have some legal expert, now that they're dig going this affidavit, kind of scratching their heads about this whole thing. we'll tell you why.

gregg look at that, that's two in one, the tom chaser -- the storm chasers are joining us live. >> that could be on the ground now! hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get bk to these invoices... whh i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

gregg: 23 minutes past the hour. the trial of a man accused of killing 77 people in the norway massacre last july, now getting underway. he is claiming he act self-defense. >> more americans went shopping last month. retail sales are up, pushed by electronics and home and garden supplies. and dole is recalling

bagged salads. they may contain salmonella. the bags of seven lettuces, salads, distributed in more than a dozen states. but so far, no reports of anybody becoming ill. martha: well, here's a question on a lot of folks' minds. could there be yet another stimulus plan for the u.s. economy in the works? there are indications that the pressure is now mounting on the fed to do just that, after some pretty weak jobs numbers that we got last week, and those were like this, new claims for unemployment benefits jumped 380,000 last week, that was up 3 1/2% from the previous week. not a good number. and that folded a report showing that only 120,000 jobs were added in march, also wasn't a great number last week, so that's raising eyebrows and stephen moore is watching all of this, senior economic writer for the "wall street journal". steve, good to see you. >> martha, good to see you. martha: basically we have the first form of stimulus that took its form in a

huge, $800 billion bill that came through congress. but then you have the quantitative easing plans which are a little more subtle and sneak out there, qe1, qe2, as they were called. is there any indication that ben bernanke is concerned enough about another dip in the u.s. economy that he may go for a third quantitative easing plan? >> you know, there is. and it's a scary thought, martha, because as you just said, we've had the most, the biggest stimulus injection into the economy in both money and decifit spending in the history of this country. you mentioned the $800 billion spending stimulus, we've had $1.2 trillion deficits for three or four years. that's a keynesian's dream come true. on top of that as you mentioned, by my estimates, we've had an infusion of $2 trillion of paper money into the economy to try to get this economy running faster and my point is, it really hasn't worked very well. why would we want to do it again. martha: yeah, and that raises -- the federal government at this point has

very few tools that are sort of left in the bag. >> that's right. martha: the idea would be to lower interest rates, and in the hopes that that would bring more people investing in the market, you know, putting money into their businesses, buying homes, all those kinds of things. is there any reason think it would work this time around to stimulate that kind of activity steve? >> martha, great question. the problem the fed faces is you can't go lower on interest rates than zero! and we practically -- >> martha: they're giving it away at a bonus! >> this is the problem. by the way this, is exactly the problem japan has had for the last 20 years, martha, they've cut their interest rates close to zero and it didn't stimulate the economy. what the fed has been doing is injecting direct cash into the economy, for example, by buying up some of the toxic mortgage, by buying up long term debt, and i do believe if we had another qe, quant -- quantitative easing plan, the fed would continue to buy up this long term federal treasury note. and when you think about that, martha, what the federal government is doing

then is the left hand of the bottom, the treasury department, is issuing all this debt, right, and right hand of the government, the federal reserve bank, is buying the debt, then you have to ask the question, well, where does the federal reserve get the money to buy the dismet and of course the answer to that is they print it. now that to me is the kind of solution that countries like argentine yarks bowl yaif and mexico have used the last 30 years and it isn't a very good economic long term plan. martha: and led to enormous inflation in some of those economy. >> you know what, that's a key point. if you want to see gasoline prices go to $6.7 a gallon, just have the fed keep injecting money into the economy and you're going to see all of these commodities, not just gasoline but food prices rise as well. martha: bad picture. i don't want to see $6 or $7 at the pump. $4 is bad enough! steve, thank you very much, see you soon. stephen moore in washington. gregg: an epic sight was captured on film, not one, but two tornadoes touching down, literally miles apart. coming up, a real life storm

chaser who captured this footage, joining us live. martha: plus, this is such a nice story! former alabama running back trent richardson made this young lady's dream come true. why he opened up his heart to this 17-year-old high school student and went to her prom! >> a friend called me and he had told me about this situation, i was like well, i'll go to the prom. he was like you're not going to go to a high school prom. i was like i'll go to the prom with her, and people were surprised to see me here today. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole gin oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

martha: we are waiting right now for the stafort four back-to-back congressional hearings into the gsa spending scandal that we have been covering over the last couple of weeks. now, the federal agency in charge of government affairs, they're suppose to keep an eye on spending and those kind of things, slammed for blowing nearly a billion dollars on a lavish las vegas retreat for just about 300 of their employees. it's not that easy to spend that much money, folks. today, at least six high-level officials are expected to testify on the agency's, quote, culture of wasteful spending, and chief congressional course spoantd mike emanuel is live for us outside that hearing room as it gets underway. what are we expecting today? >> reporter: martha, we are about three hours out-- three hours from the hearing, where congressman issa will ask key questions of the officials. a lot of focus will be on jeff neely, one of the key officials behind that

lavish, $823,000 las vegas party back in 2010. he's not expected to answer questions based on the advice of counsel. still, chairman issa says there's still plenty to be learn. >> it's one of the reasons that we're still calling them, is it seems pretty odd that he would talk to the inspector general just a few weeks ago on the record, and now has said he may -- his lawyer said he may take the fifth. we're not interested in anything in his personal life. we're interested in the culture at the gsa and how we change it. >> reporter: i've talked to other key lawmakers who say they want to talk to the other officials who aror testifying here today about why this took so long to come out. this was a 2010 party, here we are in 2012. why did it take so long for this to surface and how are they going to change the culture for the future? some democrats would like to see this investigation extend back to the bush years to see if there was this kind of lavish spending in those years. bottom line, the hearing gets started in about three

hours. martha. martha: should be interesting. mike, thank you very much. gregg: brave storm chasers getting quite the thrill, capturing two tornadoes in oklahoma on tape. take a look at this. >> two tornadoes! >> two tornadoes! >> oh yeah! >> oh my god! gregg: storm chaser john haberfield shot that footage near cherokee, oklahoma on saturday and he is our guest live. thank you very much for being with us. have you ever seen that before, sort of a two fer? two twisters in one? and talk to us just how ferocious these were. >> you know, i have seen something sort of similar a couple of years ago but i've never seen two strong tornadoes, very close to each other within a few miles. we were about a mile to a mile and a half away from these twisters, and the inflow into the twisters was

so strong, it felt like a huge vacuum cleaner was just sucking that warm air into those tornadoes. just incredible inflow into those storms, and you know, when i saw that i was kind of reminded of a scene in "twister" where they have the sister tornado. so it was something straight out of the movies. gregg how fast were these tornadoes moving? >> you know, on a day like saturday, storms will be moving at like 50-60 miles an hour, so these tornadoes are moving very fast. and these twin tornadoes actually came within a couple miles of the town of cherokee, oklahoma, and if it would have just deviated to the right, the people of that town wouldn't have very much time to get into shelter for the tornadoes and they would have been hit by one and then literally, about three minutes later, hit by the other one. and one crazy thing we saw in cherokee, we saw about 100 people just standing outside in cherokee, oklahoma watching these twister, so kind of a strange sight to see.

gregg: john, we're looking at more your video here. it looks like you got pretty close to it. i got to ask the obvious question. you probably get asked this before. but why do you guys do this? you're risking your lives. >> well, you know, some people may think we're kind of adrenaline junkies, so to speak, but for me it's more of a passion for weather, you know, at a very young age i had a passion for everything weather, particularly severe weather, and so the adrenaline rush kind of goes with the job, so to speak, and really, we're kind of out there to kind of protect people from these storms. we're kind of the eyes on the ground for the national weather service, and we kind of give a better picture for them so they can issue warnings maybe faster and give more time for people to head into shelter. gregg: job haberfield, storm chaser. great stuff on video. thank you very much for being with us, john. >> yeah, thank you for having me. martha: 48 hours after a

failed rocket launch, north korea's new young leader is brushing off that failed attempt. speaking publicly about it for the first time, kim jong-un, sparking new tension by unveiling a new long range missile and vowing to pump even more cash into the country's ever expanding military. greg palkot has a rare look at how people inside north korea are reacting. >> reporter: it was a tumultuous weekend here follow thank failed rocket launch. the new young leader of this country, kim jong-un, gave a tough first public speech and the regime turned out tough looking hardware and troops, today escorted by government representatives, we had a rare chance to get out among the people. here is a bit of what we found. northie is increasingly becoming a country of haves and have nots, the 3 million people, living here in its capitol of pyongyang live a relatively well provided for life. but the 20 million people outside of this capitol live a much harder life. and that could be the scene

of possible problems in this country to come. we saw signs of an upgraded lifestyle, there are a million mobile phones in this city, and fashion is a bit more up to date, there are a few more cars and even taxis on the street, as well as a handful of western restaurants. they claim it wants to spread the wealth, kim jong-un saying he would work towards a stronger economy, but his main message was support for the military and its nuclear program with all those weapons. regardless of all else. people we spoke with for reasons you can only guess expressed their support. again, we were closely monitored. still, it was good to get out with the people who were generally friendly and maybe deserving of leaders with peoples -- with the peoples' interests in mind. in pyongyang, greg palkot. martha: fascinate to go see that. gregg: very rare. martha: and the reaction, as he points out, their

positive reaction of support is to be expected, and you can guess why the reasons would be. gregg: ever seen a night lime -- nighttime image of the two korea, the south is lit up and the north, dark. that speaks volumes. >> we're getting our first look at the prosecutor's case against george swripperman in the trayvon martin case. why some legal experts say the evidence is oh so slim. judge alex joins us live next with the reasons why.

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laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] get the mileage card with special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. martha: well, jury selection now underway in the second trial against baseball legend roger clemens, the famed pitcher face as new round of perjury charges her his congressional testimony that claimed he never used performance enhancing drugs. clemens' first trial ended in a mistrial last july, the judge threw the case out after prosecutors showed jurors evidence that had been ruled inadmissible, now the justice department is beefing up its case by

adding more than double the amount of lawyers used in the first trial. gregg: new information now in the trayvon martin shooting case, just released, court documents outlining the second degree murder charge against george zimmerman. it's being described, this affidavit, as thin at best, raising questions as to whether the case will even make it to a jury. judge alex fehrer is host of "judge alex" and a criminal court judge. judge, this is it. we're talking about second degree murder, and this has to be the shortest probable cause affidavit i've ever read. where is the probable cause? where are the elements of the crime? where's the second degree murder? where's anything that you're supposed to have? support of such a serious charge? >> i'm sharing your sentiment completely. when i read it i thought it was thin as well. you know, it's hard to believe that they would file

this affidavit in support of that case, but they must have something else. i i've the prosecutors the benefit of the doubt and assume they have other evidence. you know, prosecutors, as you know gregg, don't put awfully their evidence in a pc affidavit, but this one, i think, barely makes pc if it takes it at all, so i'm assuming they have the autopsy report, that they have evidence of the trajectory of the bullet, stippling evidence to show the distance between the shooter to the victims, to kind of refute the claim of self-defense, maybe they've analyze dollars the voice and have conformed through fbi analysis or something that it is the vase of trayvon and not the voice of zimmerman. that would give them stuff but the pc affidavit clearly does not show it. gregg: it you say pc you're talking about probable cause. this is killing without premedication and malice of forethought or depraved indifference. fen -- even if they have all of the things that you suggest they could be holding back, do you have reservations that they could

prove such things as malice of forethought and depraved indifference? >> i've had reservations all along. as i said, before they released the charges, i said if they're going to charge him with second, they haven't released anything to indicate ill will, evil intent, spite, hatred. they might only be relying on his mutterings on that tape, 911, where he calls them the a word, and he's referring to burglars, of course. that's a real stretch to say that that's the evil intent necessary to generate a second degree murder charge. so i'm thinking there must be something else. but like you, i expected a manslaughter charge at best. so we'll have to wait and see what they have. it doesn't really look strong from the pc evidence. gregg: in fairness to the defendant there's nothing in there in the police report about the injuries on zimmerman and so forth. look, in advance of the trial, as you know, there's going to be a hearing in front of a judge, an iniewnt hearing -- immunity searg

where zimmerman can seek dismissal of the charges saying i didn't instigate this and, b, i feared for my life. what's the likelihood of the charges being dismissed, because after all, the burden of proof is way low. it's preponderance of the evidence in that hearing. >> that's right. any time you're raising a defense you don't have to prove it beyond every reasonable document just more likely than ot, a preponderance of the evidence. if the evidence is lacking, if they cannot refute a self-defense claim, then the judge should dismiss the case. i've had to make those tough decisions. one case that still haunts me, i had to let a guy who was clearly a murderer walk because the law said i had to. if you're a judge that's what you have to do, you have to follow the law. you don't sit there and try protect your career by making a popular decision, sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions and this will be presented in a motion to dismiss, when is unlike other motion toss dismiss will be an evidentiary hearing. the judge will actually take testimony and will have to

make a decision and it will be coming up pretty soon. if it's lacking, it's lacking. that's not the judge's fall, that's nobody's fault. it's not even the police's fault. sometimes there's just not enough evidence to convict somebody and in this case i'm concerned that's where it's heading. gregg: all right. two opportunities to knock this out. probable cause hearing, and the immunity hearing. we'll be following it. judge alex ferrer, always great to see you, thanks. >> you too, gregg, thank you. martha: let's head to the newsroom and check in with jenna lee, see on "-- see what happens on "happening now". >> we're going to go to afghanistan and including that assault in kabul but also we'll share a special story about a soldier who left the front lines. his wife is going to join u. a story you'll only hear on "happening now". >> also congressional hearings kick off, what lawmakers hope to learn about the spending by an agency and who should be held accountable. >> also a new trend in plastic surgery, the platiest must-have implants.

may not be what you expect! how's that for a tease? martha: well, that's pretty interesting. i think i'll stick around, find out what that could be! thank you, jenna, who by the way is in the studio next door to us, of course. thanks jenna. proving he's got heart, the size of a football field, how former alabama running back trent richardson made one girl's dreams come true. gregg: what a great story! >> i'm very excited, but i'm also really nervous. i mean, i watch trent all the time on tv, and he's going to be coming with me! are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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gregg: some real life heart break for legendary singer

tom petty and the heart breaker, police saying that five guitars belong to go petty and the band, stolen from a los angeles sound stage where they were rehearsing for an upcoming tour. the heartbreakers' front man is offering a no questions asked $7500 reward for their return. martha: all right. well, prom was a night to remember for one very special 17-year-old girl in hueytown, alabama, courtney alvis is a cancer survivor and university of alabama football star and nfl draft pick trent richardson was not going to let courtney miss the biggest night of her life so far. wbrc has this heartwarming report. take a look: >> reporter: when courtney got the word that former heisman nominee, hunk, trent richardson was really going to be her prom date she was naturally apprehensive. >> i'm very excited. but i'm also really nervous!

i mean, i watch trent all the time on tv. he's going to be coming with me! >> reporter: this is a day she and her family weren't sure she'd see. when she was 16 sheafs dying niece dollars with leukemia and through the course of her treatment she was dealing with the effects of the chemicals that would save her life. >> i couldn't drive, i couldn't go to school or even to the mall or out to eat because of germs. >> now that she's much, much better courtney's uncle made inquiries with people from alabama about trent being her date. it was trent who made the decision. he knows the hor respect of cancer. his mother is fighting the disease and two aunts have died of the disease. >> a friend called me and told me about the situation. i was like well, i'll go to the prom. they were like you're not going to go to no high school prom and i was like i'll go to the prom with her and people were surprised to see me today. i'm happy to be here with courtney and read question to go with courtney. i'm proud to take courtney to the prom.

>> the happy couple arrived in style, trent wearing vest to match cottny's dress and cancer was not going to steal a moment of this night. >> i'm happy he took the time out of his day to go to prom with me. >> and those at hueytown -- >> well, they didn't believe me at first but now they do. >> reporter: yes they do! martha: she is so execute and looks so happy and what a gentleman! a very nice story. thanks to himle and thanks to our team, karen church at wdrc who put that together for us from alabama. gregg: she was named prom queen. isn't that nice? martha: good for her. just lovely. good for them. gregg: some breaking news to tell you about. a virgin electric air ways is saying that four people have been injured. but they are described as minor injuries in that flight from great britain to orlando, florida but it had to return to gatwith airport for an emergency landing

there. again, four people suffering minor injuries. we're not really aware of the exact problem with the plane. but the rest of the passengers had to disembark via the emergency slides. they all got down safely. the airport had to be shut down for a while. but four people with minor injuries. we'll continue to follow that. martha: there's also some new fallout from the secret service prostitution scandal unfolding during president obama's summit of the americas trip in colombia. what the president is now saying, and where this investigation is now headed. i love cash back.

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>> ♪ >> ♪ going to the chapel. >> ♪ and we're gonna get married. >> ♪ >> ♪ martha: all right. we've been teasing but this story throughout the break. here we go with the official investigation, first came love, of course, then came the six kids, now it looks like marriage is in the

works, okay, for brad pitt and angelina jolie, sometimes known as bra brangelina. isn't that sweet they got engaged! a date has not been set. they have adopted three children and have three biological children and the kids are said to be very, very happy about it. i wond fer she's going to wear a big white dress and they'll have an engagement party and we can bring them a blender gregg: nathan detroit was engaged for 13 years to adeled. martha: i think it would be better if they made an announcement, we got married! you're right, that would not be publicity. thank you gregg for being here, and we'll see you again tomorrow while bill is in africa. we'll see you back here tomorrow. "happening now" starts right now. gregg: bye bye. jenna: thank you gregg and martha. a fox news alert, devastation in america's heartland and update on the 135 torna