to be scweeks ner november. we're going to break down the latest numbers. jon: and the p.r. nightmare continues for spirit airlines, the discount carrier first refusing to refund a fare to a dying vietnam vet, saying it will fight the passenger's bill of rights in court. it's all "happening now". flush jenna: we have a lot of great stories for you, everybody, but we start with this one, terrorists released dramatic video reportedly of an american hostage. we're glad you're with us, i'm jenna lee. jon: welcome back. i'm jon scott. al-qaeda claims it kidnapped warren weinstein in november, in the video the terror group says he will be killed unless president obama sphondz his demands, stopping strikes, and releasing taliban --

releasing taliban suspects around the world. weinstein makes a personal appeal to president obama saying in part, quote, if you accept the demands, i live, if you don't accept the demands, then i die. it's important you accept the demands and act quickly and don't delay. there will be no benefit in delaying. it will just make things more difficult for me. dominic di-natale is live in islamabad. >> reporter: jon, that will be the second time we've heard from al-qaeda claiming they're holding 70-year-old warren weinstein. in his message it was extraordinarily emotional and pointed towards president obama, particularly addressing some very personal points. in his comments, he reached out and said if you meet the militants' demands hopefully i will be able to rejoin my family, he says, and also enjoy my children, my two daughters, like you enjoy your two daughters. so very much playing to the heartstrings of the president and the rest of mek. there's great concern for this man, he's 70 years old,

he has a heart condition, he's on medication. he did say in the message that al-qaeda were giving him all the medication he needed. he had a personal message for his wife ellen. we do know that weinstein himself, they are from rockville in maryland and we know his family is extremely concerned about his case. but al-qaeda has a history of capturing these westerners in pakistan. he was taken from his home in lahor back in august. the pakistani police have 2340 -- no leads as to where he is at the moment. we do believe, however, he's in the tribal region of western pakistan, from the video. we see that he's wearing traditional pakistani garb. it is like a baggy shirt and baggy pants. it would indicate perhaps he's hidden where he's trying to blend in with locals there but like i say, the pakistanis have no leads, jon. back to you. jon: what an awful case.

dominic, thank you. jenna: some brand new poll numbers out today, on the likely matchup between the president and the presumptive republican nominee, governor mitt romney. after a bruising primary battle, mr. romney, gaining significant ground on the president, according to some new numbers from usa today and gallup. those numbers focusing on registered voters in the 12 battle ground states, you see them on your screen, likely to determine the election's outk our chief political correspondent carl cameron is live in washington with more. carl, how do these numbers shape up? >> reporter: this is a pretty important poll. the daily gallup tracking poll has actually had the race basically tied for weeks but this is different. this is a singular poll, taken at a snapshot of time where it's definitely a full blown survey, not one of these rolling averages. the 12 key battle ground states are likely to decide the flation november and romney has gained three points there, while president obama has simultaneously lost four since march. that leaves a two-point spread, a virtual tie within

the poll's margin of error. partisan enthusiasm has shifted a bit in this battle ground poll, 55 percent of the president's supporters are either very or extremely excited to vote for him, and for romney, it's 46 percent. that's actually a reversal of where things were a couple of weeks ago. there's a new national poll from george washington university that shows it's a one point race and in that particular poll, a one point race nationwide, independents are going for romney by a ten-point advantage, 48 to 38 over the president. when you talk about battle ground swing states, independents a ten-point decifit for the incumbent president. that's bad news for democrats. jenna: very interesting point to make as we take a look at these polls. you always remind us, the election is five months after. anything can happen. we mentioned this bruising primary battle. it doesn't look like it's going to get easier for either gentleman. how can that be sustained when we look over the next couple of months and how that might turn off or turn on swing vote sners. >> voters are going to have to put up with an awful lot

of negativity in these ads. all the numbers suggest that both cants candidates have to define each other negatively, which means that romney will go after the president negatively and president obama will try to define mr. romney negatively. at this point, obama has, his first two ads came out negative, it's now running a positive ad, it started over the course of the week yen and it's meant to sort of reframe the old reelection dynamic, not are you better off now than you were four years ago, but how will you be in the future, that is mr. obama's attempt to not have this election be a referendum on his first three years in office and turn it into a choice between himself and mr. romney. watch for both romney and the president this week to concentrate heavily on the economy. that's obviously the theme of the election. this year they're going to talk about middle class voters, middle class voters, middle class income families are the swing constituency of the independent moderate middle that make up those battle ground states that will di24 -- decide this

election. jenna: the swing constituency. i got it, i'm with you. we're not going to go negative. we're going to be positive, you and i! >> put on your helmet. it's going to be a crazy five months. jon joond deep boots, i think! tall boots! >> prosecutors hope to wrap up their case in the campaign finance trial of john ed -- edwards. retaking the story, the lawyer for aris, rachel bunny mel i don't know, that lawyer facing cross-examination from edwards' defense team. they're trying to establish that edwards had no knowledge that some of mellon's money was being used to hide his extramarital affair with rielle hunter. jonathan serrie, live in greene borough, north carolina for us now. jonathan, what are we learning from this lawyer? >> reporter: the lawyer you're talking about, jon, is alex forger, he, of course, the estate lawyer for rachel bunny mellon who over the course of these events funneled more than $700,000 to andrew young, an aide that was working for edwards at the time.

after news of edwards' affair broke, forger said he became suspicious and wondered whether his client's money was being used to hide rielle hunter. he called fred bayon who assured him that baron himself had covered all of hunter's expenses. according to forger, baron said this sounded like a scam, perpetuated by andrew young. end quote. now, all of this raises questions whether the money that was coming from baron and mellon were part of the same alleged scheme as the prosecution would like the jury to believe, or whether these are separate issues. listen: >> the government charges one big conspiracy but if there are unrelated conspiracies it may set up nicely for defense's motion to dismiss the conspiracy based on the way it was charged. >> reporter: the defense is trying to portray all of these donations as private gifts, not campaign contributions, as the prosecution is arguing, jon. jon: so the central question

in all of this is how much did jon edwards know about this money. has the witness shed any light on that? >> yeah, that's what both sides are trying to get to. during testimony, forger recalled a conversation that he had back in the fall of 2008 with edwards'tory at the time, wade smith, in which he quotes smith saying, quote, yes, john acknowledges now these were for his benefit, talking about the funds that the campaign aide had been receiving over this time. but that leaves some ambiguities. does now mean that edwards only acknowledged the funds after people such as alex forger started raising questions about the funds? or did he know about them all the sniem and what did he know about how the funds were being used? all questions that both sides are going to attempt to resolve in the courthouse behind me, jon. jon: the battle goes on. jonathan serrie in greensborough, thank you. jenna: our next story is

another big story, political new upheaval in europe, taking the toll on our markets. not much, the dow down 28 points. but this is after french voters ousted president nicolas sarkozy over the weekend choosing fran wa hollande as france's first socialist president in 17 years. let's go to greg palkot streaming live from paris. >> reporter: jenna, the french are getting used to the idea francois hollande is their new president, he defeated the incumbent president by a slight margin, nicolas sarkozy. i chatted with a few people on the way to work, listened to their hopes, listened to their concerns: >> good, good. >> yes. yes. >> why? >> change. >> i'm very glad. >> you're very glad. why? >> it's goodbye. >> goodbye! >> i hope that francois hollande is going to do a good job and i'm hopeful. >> do you have fears,

perhaps too much spending? >> that's my fear, that he's not going to control public finances as he should have, or as he will be alleged to do. it's going to be a tough job for him moving forward. >> reporter: hollande did make a lot of promise necessary that campaign, he called for an end to austerity, emphasis on growth and that could mean tax hikes and more spending, that an an antiausterity vote, has spent the marks down here. they are settling down a bit. insiders say once hollande gets into office he could be hopefully more pragmatic. as for sarkozy he's a victim of the tough times, he's the 11th european leader to lose his job since the start of economic trouble on the continent. he also might be a victim of his brash style, with indications that he and his wife karla will step away from the political limelight for a while. hollande is set to be sworn in may 18th and president obama has already invited him for dinner at the white house on his way to g8 and

nato summits in the state later this month. washington wants a little bit of reassurance both on the economic and security side from this new administration. back to you jenna. jenna: we're going to talk about how this might affect our markets, our economy in the united states later on in the show, greg. thank you very much. jon: a murder morgan stanleyry to tell but after a worker is found dead just hours after that horse race. the evidence police have uncovered so far. we're live with more on that. jenna: what a strange case that is. also brand new information on the world's most wanted terrorist. al-qaeda leader ayman zawahiri. where secretary clinton says he's hiding out today. jon: plus she's be been accused of stalking nba players. you won't believe how close she actually got to them. jenna: wanted to take a shot, jon. jon: could have been a three-pointer, from that range! details on this crazy video, next. [ woman ] oh, my gosh -- it's so good! [ kristal ] we're just taking a sample

of all our different items in our festival of shrimp so we can describe them to our customers. [ male announcer ] red lobster's festival of shrimp starts now! for just $12.99, pair any two of 9 exciting shmp creations

like new barbeque glazed shrimp or crab stuffed shrimp. the crab-stuffed shrimp are awesome! [ woman ] very creamy. that's a keeper! [ woman ] shrimp skewer. [ woman #2 ] sweet, smoky. [ man ] delicious! [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] any combination just $12.99! [ woman ] sohat are ya'lls favorites? [ group ] everything! [ laughter ] we're servers at red lobster. and we sea food differely.

jon: police in louisville, investigating a death at the site of this weekend's kentucky derby. track employee, found dead inside one of the barns at churchill downs, just hours after that famous race. police now are treating this case as homicide. eric shawn is following this story for us live in our new york newsroom. >> reporter: jon, he is a churchill downs track woark and authorities say it's murder, perez is from guatemala, he was a horse groom at the track. police say there does not appear to be a connection between his death and the kentucky derby itself but it does seem to be they say a matter of timing. his body was found at 5:00 a.m. sunday, hours after the 138th running of the derby on saturday. police say his injuries are consistent with some type of altercation and they say there were several

altercations that night. >> the report was that he was discovered at the scene. detectives were able to determine there was foul play involved, however, we still do not have an exact cause of death. so we'll await the coroner's report for those details. >> reporter: about 200 people like perez live full-time at the track. they reside in dormitories or small amounts taking care of facilities and horses. police are trying to find out exactly where he was and what he was doing right after the race. they are also interviewing track workers, including his 19-year-old son, who also works there. police don't know exactly how long the body was in that barn or if that was the exact spot where perez was killed. an autopsy we're told has now been completed, the coroner's office tells fox news there were injuries on the body and say more information about be released in the coming days. certainly a tragedy after the joyous churchill downs kentucky derby. jon: i would think with all of those people having been there for the race and the hubbub it's got to make

their investigation tougher. >> reporter: press interesting case and certainly delving into that to try to find out what happened. jon: eric, thank you. jenna: high drama at the opening round of the mba playoff series and not because of the competitive play. a woman with a history of stalking players made it on to the court during the knuckles-lakers game. she then started yelling at the players before security got ahold of her. you can see they eventually escorted her out of the arena. she was arrested red and is now charged with trespassing. so we don't know which side she was on! lakers or -- >> jon: good thing metta world peace wasn't on the court. she could have caught an elbow to the ear! jenna: you never know what's going to happen if you just wander on! jon: president obama facing new challenges today as he fucially kicks off his reelection bid. you didn't know that hasn't happened yet? what voters are saying about mr. obama's handling of the

economy. brand new poll numbers from key swing states, next. plus, new troubles for spirit airlines. the discount carrier is going to court. what that could mean for air travelers everywhere. details, and a live report, coming up. most life insurance companies look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance.

that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com.

jenna: welcome back, everyone. returning to one of our top stories today, these new poll numbers just out, showing major changes in the likely general election matchup between the president and the presumptive republican nominee, governor mitt romney. according to new numbers from usa today and gallup, mr. romney is gaining significant ground on mr. obama on the economy, leading 60-52 percent. that's when it comes to the

swing states, by the way. that's a 28-point swing from march. but on the important issue of likability, the president holding a solid lead also in the swing states, 58-31 percent. joining me now, managing editor of the hill, bob cusack, nice to have you with us -- have you with us. so the takeaway, you let him balance your checkbook, the president you have a beer with? what do we make of the results? >> the bad news for romney, voters like to have that beer with their president. i think romney has to work on his likability. the good news for romney, bad for the president, is the unemployment rate has dropped nearly a full percentage point over the last year, and still, mitt romney has the edge, unemployment has gone up since president obama took oivment so weaknesses and strengths here but this race is very tight. jenna: it's interesting to see the head to head. we're going to show people the change in march from now. you see the tightening. this is after so many were talking about how the bruising primary season would really hurt mitt

romney and now you see the head to head matchup in the states. very close. why that you -- do you think that's so close now? >> i think the voters and polls show this, there's not a lot of optimism about where the economy is headed, and the president has been making the case that the economy is improving but we have work to do, mitt romney countering this is not good enough, 8 percent, 8.1%, we should be lowered to 4 percent unemployment rate and a lot of people have not given -- have given up, they're not looking for jobs. that's the battle. the one think helps the president is the enthusiasm. it seems like the enthusiasm is going up for president obama, and not so much for mitt romney. jenna: we actually have that. you're talking to our producer, which i appreciate, bob. it's like you have the whole segment down already! here's what we have, the democrats leading, 57-46 percent in the swing states. that's the first time we've seen that, the democrats take the lead in the swing states. this is after we saw in 2010 the tea party, joe biden yesterday saying that the tea party has taken the republican party. but where is that enthusiasm

on the gop side? >> well, that's i think part of the bully pulpit, where the president has been able to attack a lot of white house hopefuls, whether it be newt gingrich, all the frontrunners, rick perry at one point, but the dnc and president obama have solely focused on mitt romney for the most part over the last several months but still, mitt romney is there, so that is very good news for romney, but romney does have to unify the party, he's got to have a very big convention this summer so that people are fired up for him and also i think he's got to show a softer side so that people like him more. he can't be down 27 points in the lineibility poll and still pull this thing off. he doesn't have to win it but he's got to get at least i think within 15, ten points. jenna: a lot of numbers for all of us to take n that's what made this story so important for us today, bob. a big takeaway for you, what are you going to be watching over the next couple of weeks? >> how both men appeal to independent voters. they supported president obama in 2008, 2010,

republicans grabbed them up. that's the battle, winning the independent vote and of course, firing up your base. but that's the message right now, and i think that we're going to have a roller coater race, but i don't see one of these men pulling away. i think it's going to be very tight throughout. jenna: makes it all the more interesting for us, which is good as well. nice so -- to have you with us, thank you very much. jon: interest interesting -- some interesting comments this weekend, rubio launching an attack on president obama saying he lost his political touch and was a different candidate than he was in 2008. a fair and balanced look at those comments and what it might mean in the race for the white house, coming up. plus, a shocking new report on captured taliban fighters, and charges the u.s. is releasing them in afghanistan. the reason why, next.

>> announcer: meet mary. she loves to shop online with her debit card, and so does bill, an identity thief who stole mary's identity, took over her bank accounts and stole her hard-earned money. now meet jack. enough to enjoy retirement.saved angie, the waitress at jack's favorite diner, is also enjoying his retirement. with just a little information, she's opened up a credit line, draining the equity in jack's home. unfortunately, millions of americans just like you learn all it may take is a little misplaced information to wreak

havoc on your life. this is identity theft, and no one helps stop it better than lifelock. see, ordinary credit monitoring services tell you after your identity has been stolen. they may take up to 60 days to alert you-- too late for jack. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. if mary had lifelock's bank account alerts, she may have been notified in time to help stop it. if jack had lifelock's 24/7 proactive protection, he could have been alerted by phone or e-mail as soon as they noticed an attack on their network, before it was too late. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available, guarding your social security number, your money, your credit, even the equity in your home. while identity theft can't be completely stopped, no one works harder to protect you than lifelock. you even g a $1 million service guarantee. that's security no one can beat. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock right now and get 60 days of identity theft protection risk free-- that's right, 60 days risk free-- use

promo code "not me". order now and get this document shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 value, free. [click-click] [♪...] jon: some brand new developments in the gop race for the white house, with governor mitt romney, the presumptive nominee. the focus now shifts to the number two slot. it seems like rising republican star marco rubio might be trying out for vice president, with the florida senator turning into a secret weapon of sorts. maybe not so secret for mr. romney's campaign. on "fox news sunday" rubio blasted the sitting president saying mr. obama has lost his political touch. take a listen: >> this president's rhetoric

today quite frankly is like anybody else in washington. all the things that made him different and special four years ago are gone and now all he does is divide americans against each other obviously because he can't run on his record. there's a point of diminishing returns on washington experience and what i've learned is sometimes if you're there too long you start to believe certain things are no longer possible, if you're there too long you start to become like the president has become, cynical, given to hyperbole on these issues, always looking for the opportunity to pit americans against each other in some sort of political calculation. what made president obama different in 2008 was he promised to unite americans and talk above these issues and he hasn't done that anymore. jon: joining us know, kate obenchain, vice president of the young america's foundation, also with us, christopher han, former aide to democratic senator charles schumer and fox nice contributor. you have a young,

articulate, minority candidate, potentially running. we're not talking about president obama here, christopher. we're talking about this guy, marco rubio. does he seem like a potential republican threat to you on the democratic side? >> you know, he used to be. and then he sponsored the blunt rubio amendment, which i like to call the ask your boss if you're allowed to have sex amendment, or ask your boss if you're allowed to get an appendectomy amendment. i don't know that that will allow him not only to be vice president, but he might have a hard time getting reelected to the senate in florida in 2016. that is is a very radical, outside the mainstream bill. prior to that i thought marco rubio was a rising star. i thought he was a guy who in 2016 would be a likely republican contender for president. there's a lot of things to like about him, but i don't understand why went down that road, with the blunt rubio amendment. jon: kate, there was a time when a relatively unknown

illinois state senator named barack obama was a rising star. is he going to get reelected? >> well, i think marco rubio poses a real threat to that prospect, and yesterday's performance on fox news was a pretty good indication of why democrats are so terrified of him and why they're trying to attack him already, because he is a threat. he is this dynamic, articulate spokesman. he's able to articulate conservative values, sort of in a way that obama did four years ago for the left, in a way that's very nonthreatening, very unifying,. he's very principled, and i think he brings -- he does have the ability to bring people together. he has the ability to really inspire and invigorate the base, something that the more managerial mitt romney is not able to do and he also gets young people fired up which after this weekend with all the empty seats at the college auditoriums we know obama is having an increasing problem with. jon: we heard a lot about hope and change four years

ago, christopher. what happened to it? >> well, you know, i think you go to washington and you take some of the republican ideas like mitt romney's health care bill and you ask republican toss support the ideas they have supported for years and they say you know what, you're a democrat, we don't want to support that and they slap your hand down, so after a while of doing that you've got to go a different route. you've got to become adversarial because that's what the process drives you to. jon: so the president is going to be adversarial, it's going to be a negative campaign, more negative in tone is what you're saying? >> of course! of course. >> you have to take on that adversarial tone when your policys are not working, when you follow this redistributionist policy where you spend trillions of dollars, print trillions of dollars, too, and you end up with only escalating unemployment numbers, the longest period of it being -- unemployment being over 8 percent, and so you have to -- there's this period of time when you have to try to

pit americans against each other in order to detract from a really abysmal economic situation. so we're going to hear increasingly diadvicive, angry rhetoric coming from the president. >> you know, let me respond to that a little bit, because i think you're factually mistaken here. >> it's pretty -- >> unemployment has gone down every month for the last year and a half. >> i said it was over 8 percent. >> we have created private sector jobs, president obama has not raised taxes on anyone and in fact has proposed more small business tax cuts than any president in his first term in the history of this country and we've seen a shrinking of government workers in this country. by the two -- >> a shrinking of regulation? it's amazing. jon: christopher, i need to -- you brought up the point. the only reason the unemployment rate dropped last month is because people left the work force. they stopped looking for work. that deserves to be pointed out. >> baby boomers retire. >> that's what it is! you know what? the economic situation is dire and it's bleak.

young americans in particular, women, are facing -- the poverty rate for women is the highest it's been in 17 years, unemployment for young people is at a precipitous high and the left wants to convince us because we have more government workers, this infusion of government funds into the private sector, somehow our economy is improving? americans know that their gas prices are going through the roof, and so are grocery prices, americans are feeling the pinch, and they know they're not going to -- >> can i just make -- >> jon: christopher, you got the first word and i have to end it there. christopher, kate, thank you both. >> thanks. jenna: they come ready to play, don't they! like that. extreme weather in the heartland to tell you about now, storm chasers catch video of a wall cloud in the missouri area just as the national weather service issued a tornado warning there as well. no official word yet if a twister did in fact touch

dowfnlt our meteorologist maria molina is live in the fox weather center. wall cloud maria? what is that all about? >> a wall cloud is not what you want to see from a thunderstorms. when we get a wall cloud it typically means you could have a tornado touch down any moment and that's typically where you get the stronger, longer track tornadoes. you can see actually that looks like a funnel cloud in that particular video and we did have six reports of tornadoes stretches across the plains into illinois, all from a strong front that is pubs eastwards. a lot of times they get rotation and that forms a wall cloud styles and you get tornadoes touches down. wall cloud, not g. any time you see a cloud loferg from a thunderstorm. y in the ohio valley, tennessee valley, parts of texas, we could be seeing thunderstorms and possibly more wall clouds and some of the thunderstorms could produce large sized hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes, so stay alert. if you live out here, we're talking about large cities

that could be impacted by strong storms like cleveland, mel physical, also portions of austin, texas. so again, just watch out later on this afternoon and evening. you're going to start to see the strong storms firing up. the reason why we're going to see these strong storms today is it's going to be very warm out there, 89 degrees will be your high, mel physical, that's going to fuel the strong storms, 77 will be your high in cleveland, behind this system, a lot cool every, only 52 degrees will be your high temperature in denver, 56 in -- 67 in minneapolis. when you get the sharp con fras in temperatures, that's -- contrast in temperatures that's when the thunderstorms fire up. right now no warnings in effect but we'll keep you posted, of course. gen jen sounds good, thank you very much. jon: some new information in the hazing death of a drum major of florida a & m university, the latest on the last of 11 people to be charged in connection with robert champion's death. >> plus the diplomatic scusm over a blind chinese activist quickly becoming a political problem for the obama administration, and it might not be over yet. the latest on when this man

and his family will finally be allowed to leave china, and why it matters for our country, and china as well. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to beer collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with r drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪

♪ wer surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. would you mind if to be ni go ahead of you?omer.rgy. instead we had someone go ahead of him and wifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't li to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase

if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank mes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin

to help protect your eye health. now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. jen new next hour, court action at gitmo turns chaotic as the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks works to stall the proceedings. now the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 weigh in. then amid the push for equal pay for the sexes there are new questions about the research that found men make more than women, why those findings may be wrong. we're live with that story. plus, how hollywood is helping prepare our armed forces for combat. we're going to take a look at the battle ground special effects. jon: a blind chinese activist who triggered a diplomatic dispute between china and the u.s. says he's confident beijing will allow him to study overseas. chen guangcheng remains at a

hospital in china where he says paperwork is being prepared to apply for him and his family to travel to the u.s. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live with more. i guess chen gave an interview to the associated press. what did he say, jennifer? >> reporter: that's right, chen spoke from his hospital bed where he's being treated for an intestinal inflammation which supporters thought might be cancer. he said he still believes the chinese authorities will grant him and his family visas to travel to the u.s. >> i'm still confident that they will fulfill their commitment. i feel that it's time now that the chinese government should display their openness and tolerance and they will let china be more fair, so i feel i still have faith in them. >> reporter: u.s. officials still have not been allowed into the hospital to see him, and the 40-year-old blind activist says he does not know where his nephew is. he says the local chinese authorities have removed blinders from his home.

jon: the chinese defense minister is visiting. has that affected that at all? >> reporter: this really could signal a new chapter in chinese-u.s. relations. the chinese defense minister did not cancel what is set to be an historic visit to defense bases across the united states. general chen wonli visited a naval base in san diego and will be hosted at the pentagon later today. it's the first time a chinese defense minister has been to the pentagon since 2003. what makes this trip remarkable is that the chinese did not cancel his visit after the white house said it could reconsider selling f-16 fighter jets to taiwan, in the past, such incidents would have led to a diplomatic impasse. pentagon officials were bolstered when it became clear the trip would not become disrupted. the chinese defense minister will also hold a press conference with secretary of defense leon panetta later today. jon: jennifer griffin, thank you. jenna: new troubles for

spirit airlines dark the low cost carrier taking on the government fighting the airline passenger bill of rights. that was passed amid a number of customer complaints. we'll get to that in a moment. airline officials say the federal regslations are going too far. fox business network's peter barnes is live at reagan national airport with more on this. peter, the particular fight in question is about truth in advertising? what is that all about? >> reporter: yeah, that's right jenna. this is basically a fight about the asterisks. up until this year airlines could basically advertise just their base fare, especially that great low fare that you see there in the ads, and for fees and taxes, you had to read the fine print or you had to click click click through pages on the website, and in the case of discount airlines like spirit, the fees and the taxes could actually total more than the fare. spirit is known for this $9 fare advertising gimmick. now, these baggage and cancellations and other fees have been a growing source of revenue for the airlines.

more than $5 billion a year for the industry, more than $100 million a year for spirit in specific. but last year, the transportation department approved new rules to force the airlines to disclose more of these fees and taxes up front, especially the taxes. well, spirit got angry, has sued the department of transportation, saying that this violates its commercial free speech rights, that the government's taxes have nothing to do with its fares and services, but consumer groups want the court to uphold these rules. >> the airlines are using their standard kitchen sink, hide behind the first amendment, claim the federal regulators broke the federal regulatory laws, and just hope that they will delay the rules. because you delay the rules, you can make money. >> reporter: now, spirit has been fighting back, in the meantime, breaking out the ticket taxes with a description, quote, your government tax rate, and in

one flight from here to atlanta that i looked up this morning, jenna, for $150, the tax rate worked out to 24 percent. back to you. gen jen we all know how that is, right peter? you look at that $9 fare, you have to fly midnight wednesday and come back thursday 5:69 o'clock a.m. or something ridiculous like that. we'll see. we'll see if this changes anything. thank you very much, peter. >> reporter: okay. jon: right now police in florida, arresting a new suspect accused in last year's hazing death of a florida a & m drum major. julie banderas is tracking this story. >> reporter: a brutal ritual that's gone phone at least two decades will go to trial after the beating death of a florida a & m drum major, the last of 11 band members found responsible in his hazing death, lasheri codener, she has turned herself in to authorities and will be released after posting $15,000 bond. codener joins ten others who

face charges of hazing with death, which is punishable under florida law by a maximum of six years in prison, steming from robert champion's death in november. two others face misdemeanor counts. champion died on a bus, beaten so badly his body has gone into fatal shock during a brutal hazing ritual known as crossing bus c, the reference c reference the bus assigned to transport the per cushion session. the death revealed a culture of hazing and has jeopardize dollars the future of this prestigious band. as with others that go through it, members pummeled and kicked him as he made his way from the front to the back. meantime a criminalises now underway by the state university system into whether university officials ignored warnings about hazing, jon. jon: it's just an awful story. hard to believe that kind of thing has been going on for so long, apparently. >> reporter: yes. jon thank you.

>> reporter: sure. jenna: more dramatic testimony expected from the trial of john edwards, a key witness on the stand and full report coming up. plus shocking new reports of the u.s. releasing dangerous taliban fighters in afghanistan. we're going to tell you what's behind this and what, well, reports say we hope to achieve. 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.

jenna: "happening now", secretary of state hillary clinton saying that al-qaeda's new leader, ayman al-zawahiri is now hiding in pakistan. take a listen: >> we want to disable al-qaeda and we've made a lot of progress in doing that. there are several significant leaders still on the run.

zawahiri, who inherited the leadership from bin laden, is somewhere, we believe, in pakistan. so we are intent upon going after those who are trying to keep al-qaeda operational and inspir asal. jenna: a lot of messages there about al-qaeda. in the meantime a new report out today from "the washington post" claiming the u.s. is secretly releasing captured taliban fighters from a detention center in afghanistan. the move reportedly an attempt to strengthen our hand in peace talks. let's start there with k.t. mcfarland, fox news national security analyst. k.t., they coined this according to this report a strategic release program, so release the bad guys, that's going to help us. >> releasing people that are killing our people, they can go and kill again. i think that what's happened is secretary clinton has made a statement, which is an obvious one, right, that pakistan is where al-qaeda is, pakistan is where bin laden was, pakistan is where al al-zawahiri is.

jon:jenna: but no mention of the taliban. >> no mention of theing it. she mentioned al-qaeda. i think there's a second message, the message is to the pakistani government and to the continue, which is we know we've got to negotiate with the t. we know we're -- with the taliban, we know we're leading, we've seen reports the taliban is gaining, not losing, so what kind of deal do we need to cut, we need to cut a deal with the taliban, and the most important thing we need to do is separate them from al-qaeda and i think that's the message she's giving. jenna: should that be acceptable to us as the american people? >> i think this administration has decided they're going, they're leaving, they're out. they're going to leave right after the administration is reelected, president obama is probably going to make an announcement in may at the nato meeting in chicago, we want out, the administration wants out, they've decided in their own terms that it's not going to be a victorious leaving of afghanistan. we've just seen an important statement by the two heads of the intelligence committee, senate and house, senator feinstein and congressman rodgers, very

well respected people on both sides of the aisle and they say the taliban is gaining. so i think what this is is an admission internally that we're on our way out, we've got to negotiate a solution with the taliban, the one thing that's unacceptable in this negotiated solution is if al-qaeda comes back. jenna: what does that mean? for our national security? >> i think it means that ten years later, we're still talking about al-qaeda. we should have been in december of 2001, when we had al-qaeda on the run, when they were down to less than 100 al-qaeda, we should have pursued them from afghanistan, into pakistan, and killed them. what we didn't do is what -- what we did do is turned that mission over to the pakistanis and for ten years they've been in the finding bin laden business, the finding al-qaeda business. we paid them handsomely for that. what have they done? they've kept al-qaeda alive because they know the minute that al-qaeda is gone, bin laden is gone, there goes $2 billion a year. jen i'm going to have to wrap up, k.t. anything can happen in the ex-months, with iran or with

our own elections. it's an interesting and volatile time. is there any turning away from this path that you think the administration has put forward? is this the only way? or can we actually change course if we get new leadership or if the dynamics of the world change? >> well, from their point of view, what's happened? theun has left iraq, iraq is not a free and independent and proamerican iraq, it's an iraq that's iran's solar system. they're leaving afghanistan, we're leaving afghanistan, not a strong, secure afghanistan that's going to keep terrorists out, but an afghanistan that at best is going to northbound the middle of a civil war. at the same time, we're pivot to go asia. what does that mean for our relations in iran, our ability to influence events in the strait of hormuz? i think it's a really significant picture that this administration is painting, which is we're leaving the middle east. jenna: interesting, k.t. we're going to have to talk about that, allegessal. more to talk about, right? hard to cover it in a short time frame but do you it well. jon. jon: another item involving

our military, but this individual personnel, it's been called everything from shell shock to battle fatigue, now military officers and psychiatrists are going head to head over what is commonly known as posttraumatic stress disorder. we'll tell you why. also jury selection underway in the trial of a man accused of murdering his wife. why the defense claims the victim died from a spray can. straight ahead.

jenna: brand-new stories and breaking news coming up this hour of "happening now." a search is underway for the man suspected of abducting a young mother and her three daughters. we have details on that manhunt. and the investigation into a gruesome discovery at the suspect's home. plus, it's been called shell shock, it's been called combat fatigue, and now new debate over whether to change the name of post-traumatic stress disorder, emphasis on the disorder. a closer look on that. he may be down but not out.

ron paul could be the big spoiler at this summer's convention. the attorney for the wealthy social lite whose money is at the senator of the john edwards corruption trial is facing cross-examination today. it has been an interesting run so far for this case. jon: it really has. jenna: we are glad you're with us, i'm jenna lee? i'm jon scott. welcome to a new hour of "happening now." the prosecution planning to rest its case against the former presidential candidate. jonathan serrie live from greensboro north carolina, jonathan. >> reporter: they called alex forger back to the stand, the estate lawyer for rachel bunny mellon who funneled more than $700,000 to campaign aide andrew young. forger says he was una ware of the contributions because mellon was making them from a personal

bank account, unaware of them until one of her checks bounced and the bank called him. after news broke later about edwards' affair with reille hunter, forger said he became suspicious and called edwards lawyer to see if he was wear of the funds. edwards lawyer replied, yes, john acknowledges now that these were for his benefit. >> two words are going to have to be expanded upon for this jury, what is the word now mean and what does the word for his benefit mean. john edwards has contended from the beginning that it was not for the campaign but that he probably benefitted from it in a personal capacity because of helping take care of his mistress and new baby. >> reporter: the defense insists edwards waud was initially unaware of the funds and intended as private gifts to spare him the embarrassment of his wife finding out about the affair.

the prosecution insists the funds were intended to protect the campaign and therefore represent illegal contributions because they were unreported and well over the individual campaign donor cap of $2,300 perry hrebgs cycle. jon: amazing to think this was a guy who put up a pretty good run for president back then. jonathan serrie, thank you. >> reporter: that's right. jenna: new uncertainties today over europe's debt crisis causing some concern for investors really about the future. let's take a look at the dow down 31 points. not really as much of a reaction as some expected today after we got some election results from greece and also election results out of france. some concerns that maybe the european bailout could be complicated. what does that mean for us? we have the associated today for for baron the dow jones financial weekly. he has the lead article almost every week. mike, what does this mean. >> it calls into questions the

comfortable co contentions we called off the debt crisis in europe. basically kind of keeping the system liquid. what we have here is a couple of candidates who have expressions of this populous rebellion against the idea of austerity budgets which were part of that agreement. it doesn't undermine the bailout agreement, you have head of states saying we want to challenge and renegotiate this stuff. they can't do it unilaterally but at least it causes questions out there. jenna: a lot of questions. if you take a look at the new president of france, one of the things he has said, my real enemy is the world of finance. some are concerned that we might see most of permission into socialism, he's a socialist, maybe we see a shift away from all this austerity, and all this cutting and debt being bad to once embracing debt again, and

it could happen here, do you think it could happen? >> it could happen. he says he's going to balance the budget in knife years, he's going to do it through tax increases and other measures. i think we are operating within a narrow brand of some french domestic policy was going to be any way. nobody said they were going to out think or go against the social welfare state. what he's not talking about is shrinking government as a percent afpblg the economy, changing labor rules and other regulation has might liberate the capitalist elements of the private sector out there. that's what he's not doing. he says it's a growth agenda. growth as opposed to austerity in his mind means let's have a fiscal solution, let's spend more by the government to try to get the economy moving again. jenna: do you think we'll see more stimulus here because of a move in that direction when you see the populous rise up in a country like france. you throw up your hands and say it is france, they have a history of this. do you see a stimulus coming back in vogue?

>> i don't think so. i had a wall street contact that says we are the one country out there where you can get thousands of people to demonstrate in the capitol because they want less government borrowing and spending. of it doesn't really happen the same way over there. i do think the difference is, one of the things going on in europe, in the individual countries is they are realizing that these decisions were being made outside of the country. the skwraoerpl ands, the european central bank, somebody not us deciding what our government was going to say. we don't have that situation here. we're in a fix we are the fix. jenna: speaking of that, both sides of the aisle have pointed to european said, really our recovery is going to be dependent on what happens in europe because more or less we are inching along here at home. seeing again this switch in power in france and also in greece, what does that tell uts about the futurus about the future here at home? >> i don't think the recovery here is dependent on europe. certainly europe is a larger economy in aggregate than the kwrorld economy. for world growth it matters. i don't think european growth

will be anything but weak no matter what happens in the elections. the immediate risk to the u.s. economy would be if we got another one of these banking crises, scarce that are going to circle the drain in europe the way we have last year and even the year before, that would be -- kind of cause risk aversion here, you have the banks not wanting to lend here even though it's going on over there. a lot of other affects. i don't think we are fend and the on it but it definitely will be a weak area of global growth. jenna: be a little skeptical, words from politicians and keep an eye on the banks. sounds pretty good. mike, thank you very much. always nice to have you, jon. jon: president obama and the democrats hoping to win the loyalties of women voters are trying to make equal pay for equal work a campaign issue. but analysts are raising questions about the very existence of a wage gap between the sexes. jim angle is live in washington, he has a closer look at the numbers for us. jim. >> reporter: good morning, jon, that's right. government figures suggesting women make 77-cents for every

dollar men make have nothing to do with equal pay for equal work. they compare all women as a group against all men as a group without considering all sorts of differences from education to hours worked. listen. >> that the cardiac surgeon, and the person who is checking out at a supermarket, they are being compared as if they are equals. >> you might have a woman who works 35 hours, a man doing the same job that works 50 hours or he travels more in that job. >> people who work 44 hours per week make 50% more than people who work 34 hours a week. >> reporter: the reason for these and other differences is pretty simple. women take time off to have children and to care for them. >> women are deciding not just what is great for their career, they are deciding what is great for their kid. and there is no question that there is what some scholars call a motherhood penalty, that is when women have children it

reduces their earnings over time. >> reporter: nevertheless many people seek flexibility in their jobs avoiding overnight travel, working weekends and long hours in order to be with their children. they also tend not to take dangerous jobs that pay more but offer less flexibility such as working in an oil field or a coal minora steel mill. another factor that seems to prove the point is this. young women who do not have children actually make more money than men of the same age. >> women who have never been married and never have had children earn more in the workplace than men. that is they earn 117% of what men earn in the workplace. >> reporter: now 25 variables effect what kind of workmen and women work. he and other researchers say women pay is more a function of personal choices than any discrimination against female workers. jon. jon: i'm guessing we won't see a lot of that information in campaign brochures, though. >> reporter: i would be

flabbergasted if we were to see that in any debate about equal pay. jon: that's why we have you out there, jim angle. thanks for bringing that to us. jenna: the family of some 9/11 victims expressing outrage today after a truly chaotic arraignment for five accused terrorists this weekend including the alleged mastermind of the september 11th attacks. the military court facing delay after delay, as khalid sheikh mohammad and his coconspirators allegedly kept stalling the proceedings -- not allegedly kept stalling, but allegedly the coconspirators. we have more on what really was a circus. >> reporter: khalid sheikh mohammad the mastermind of the 9/11 terror plot and for other 9/11 suspects were committing outrage just behavior in the military tribunal. a 9/11 family member claimed the detainees were trying to carry out jihad in the court. the defendants following the lead of mohammed tried to disrupt the proerbgs ignored the

judge, made outbursts and prayers, plus refused to listen to arabic translations over their headsets. >> he was having a good time literally passing notes to each other like little school girls. ksm the monster of 9/11 was giggling in court. that is a strange sight to see. >> reporter: defense counsel created a stir as well wearing traditional muslim clothing in the courtroom. she defended her decision telling the court it is the appropriate clothing for the proceedings. >> there was somebody dressed in a way that was not in keeping with my client's religious beliefs. >> reporter: now the behavior of the defendants outraged relatives of 9/11 victims who watched the proceedings on closed circuit tv from military installations around the u.s. >> you could see the looks in the families' eyes, some of the people were near tears, some of

them seemed very angry. one man i spoke to was shaking. their wounds are very raw from this. >> reporter: all told these defendants face 2,976 counts of murder and terrorism in the 2001 attacks that sent hijacked jet liners into new york's world trade center and the pentagon. for those charges they could face the death penalty. jenna: no timeline here, really as to how long we have to wait for this trial. >> reporter: we are hearing that the government would like to get started as early as august 1st, but then one defense attorney said he'd like to set the date for may of 2013 because of all of the motions and preparations that he has to make. jenna: wow. you've got to think about those families, kelly. thank you kr-fp, kelly wright in d.c. jon: remember, bernie madoff, biggest convicted swindler of all time. a couple busted after 12 years on the run. we'll tell you why they've been dubbed the mini madoffs.

and tinseltown in the military training field. how hollywood is preparing to help our troops get ready for combat. a party?

[ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear.

clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge!

jon: here are developing crime stories we are following on "happening now." the f.b.i. catches up with a tpaoupblg till couple on the run for 12 years. nelson and janet hallahan known as the mini madoffs bust ned arizona. they fled after pleading guilty to a ponzi scheme that impacted their friends and family. a federal wrong full death trial set to begin over a duck boat crash in philadelphia two years ago. two hungarian students were killed when a giant barge slammed into their stalled tourist boat in the river. a judge will decide whether a limit should be set for tings ally built in that accident. a manhunt underway now for the man police believe abducted a woman and her three children. tennessee police are now looking for 35-year-old adam maze.

the f.b.i. is working to identify two bodies found in a home linked to him during the search for joh and bain and her daughters. jenna: the magic of hollywood getting closer to the u.s. military. a production studio is helping to prepare members of the armed forces for combat by using tinseltown-type special affects to create a training environment that feels really like a real battlefield. adam housley is live in los angeles with a look at this. hi, adam. >> reporter: hey, jenna. it's been an active movie and television studio since the early 90s. in recent years it transformed itself and doesn't shoot any television or movies any more. it's all about making things as real as possible for our military. a seemingly peaceful village sits quiet as the call to prayer echoes through the alleyways. within moments everything changes. corpsman and marines have to react as a firefight erupts . while this looks like iraq or

afghanistan, it's actually taking place thousands of miles away on a san diego sound stage. >> we throw a lot at them at once and the most important part is for them to just be able to filter out all the distractions and everything like that, the call to prayer, the gunshots, the explosions, the instructors yelling at them and everything. [shouting] >> reporter: roughly one hundred thousand military members have trained here so far. some have already served tours of duty overseas. >> fortunately from my personal experience i didn't have to experience anything like that when i was over there myself. having gone through it now i feel more prepared for the area i'm going to in a few months. >> reporter: the whole idea is a systematic approach to training with multiple battlefield scenarios playing out all at the same time. >> they are learning here, versus down range which is the whole entire point behind it. >> reporter: it's about as realistic as you can possibly get, other than being in real combat.

>> reporter: this is the last stop for many of these marine and corpsman before they go oversees. we've done some of these trainings around the country the last five, six, seven years, this one by far the most realistic and the props department, they used to make props for the movies and television shows, they are now making stuff that is as real as you can believe. my photographer and i have both been overseas a loo a lot of times. i can tell you you feel like you're walking through one of those middle eastern villages. it's very realistic. jenna: thank you very much. adam housley in los angeles. jon: let's hope it help the troops. new details in the mystery of an army captain who died in afghanistan while talking with his wife on a video call. what investigators say they did not find. plus, ron paul's fans have big plans for the republican convention they say. how they are planning to shake things up when the party delegates gather in tampa. [ kate ] most women may not be properly absorbing

the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition.

could've had a v8. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pih before. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans.

that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

jenna: an army wife is look -lg folooking for answers today after her husband dies in afghanistan right before her eyes. she was video chatting with captain bruce clark on skype when he suddenly collapsed. julie banderas as more. >> reporter: this husband and wife were chatting when all of a sudden she watched her husband suddenly collapse with no warning at all, except for a bullet hole she noticed afterward in a closet behind him. the family released the statement describing what his wife saw in that video feed recording, her husband's death in afghanistan, which reads, quote, clark was suddenly knocked forward, the closet behind him had a bullet hole in it. the other individuals, including a member of the military who rushed to the home of captain clark's wife also saw the hole

and agreed it was a bullet whole. the skype link remained open for two hours on april 30th as family and friends in the ooh neated states and afghanistan tried to get clark help. quote, after two hours of many frantic phone calls by mrs. clark two military personnel arrived in the room and appeared to check his pulse but provided no details about his condition to his wife. meantime the pentagon has said previously that clark's death remains under investigation. no further comments. clark joined the army in 2006, he was deployed to afghanistan in march. clark's body was returned thursday to dover air force base. he is survived by his wife and two daughters ages 3 and 9, jenna. jenna: hopefully we'll find out more of what happened to him. jon: a new nationwide poll shows president obama in a virtual tie with mitt romney. romney is one point ahead, 48-47 in the latest politico george

washington university battleground poll, essentially, yep, it's a tie. joining us now special report anchor bret baier. i suppose both sides will look at these numbers and find something to like in them, huh, bret. >> reporter: definitely. the romney campaign can look at independent numbers, mitt romney is up ten minutes with independents, that is a considerable number. 91% of conservatives support romney despite a turmoil during the primary process, a lot of people saying that the conservatives won't come around. this poll suggests that they are behind romney, and even more so than the base behind president obama. the obama campaign can look to numbers where president obama has a ten-point edge over folks who -- the question who shares your values, and he has a 23 point edge over mitt romney on who stands up for the middle class.

so those are points that you heard the president numerous times over recent weeks talk about, paying their fair share, representing the middle class. and if these numbers are any indication you're likely going to hear a lot more of that from president obama on the stump. jon: usa today gallop out today with a very similar kind of poll. in 12 swing states they are starting from scratch is the headline, 47% for the president, 45% for mitt romney, the amazing thing to me, bret, is that, you know, the power of the incumbency is so strong, here you have a guy who has been in office for three years. the voters have seen him every single day trotting around the world or doing whatever presidents do, and yet to be tied with a republican challenger who has been beaten up pretty badly during the primary process, that doesn't bode well for the president. >> reporter: well, no it doesn't. again, as you look into the internals of this poll there are bright spots. and the obama administration

could see that. but you're right, at this point, after the primary process that mitt romney went through. you'd expect him to be trailing a little bit more than he is in the overall numbers. for example on foreign policy issues, this president, a democrat is leading over mitt romney pretty substantially on who would handle foreign policy better. and that is a significant plus for the obama administration. it's so interesting that the swing states will essentially decide this election. we always talk about it, but there are about 34 counties in this country that will be bombarded by ads because it's believed that these counties in awful these swing states will turn the tide one kwaeu or another. jon: the george work ton poll 59% say the country is headed down the wrong track. it's very hard for a president to win re-election with numbers like those. >> reporter: right, by the time we get to august, depending on how the economy is by the middle

of august, that becomes kind of baked in the cake traditionally. when the economy, the economic numbers are out there, depending where the economy is, and where that right track-wrong track number is, at that point mostly you don't see a lot of movement in the next couple of months. but, you know, any election can be different. jon: all right. well, i guess you could say at least we are doing better than spain, at least in the unemployment numbers. >> reporter: one quick thing about paul r-frplt you teased ron paul earlier. jon: yeah, yeah. >> reporter: this thing is really something. he is winning these states with the state and district conventions, and he is rack up delegates, and it is continuing. nevada, maine, you're going to have a challenge from the romney campaign i believe up in maine about the specific rules there. but you're going to see accumulation of delegates for

the ron paul campaign and he is going to be a major factor in tampa come late august. jon: rick santorum and newt gingrich suspended but not ron paul still plugging away. >> reporter: still going. jon: going to be interesting. more on that on special report, 6:00pm eastern time each and every week night. bret baier is the host. thank you. jenna: more drama in the john edwards corruption trial today, the lawyer for rachel bunny mellon back on the stand facing cross-examination from the defense. right now we are waiting for the court to recess so we can get an update from inside. more after the break on that. plus major political upheavals in france and greece putting a question mark on the out of the eu, the potential ripple affects on our economy just ahead. ...the united states would be on that list. in 25th place.

let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this. yeah, but the feeling wasn't always mutual i want you to grow big! if you grow for me, you'll get cookies for fre nothing worked. ♪ but we started using miracle-gro garden soil. you just mix it with your backyard soil... and it feeds your plants for up to 3 months. my plants grew bigger... more butiful... with more flowers and vetables. guaranteed. everything changed with miracle-gro. for you are these flowers, like sp is for showers. everyone grows with miracle-gro. i bathed it in miracles. director: sighs ] cut! sorry to interrupt. when's the show? well, if we don't find an audience, all we'll ever do is rehearse. maybe you should try every door direct mail. just select the zip codes where you want your message to be seen. print it yourself or find a local partner.

and you find the customers that matter most. brilliant! clifton, show us overjoyed. no! too much! jennessa? ahh! a round of applause! [ applause ] [ male announcer ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail.

jon: a fox news business alert for you now europeans market recovered after steep cell off at the open. after voters in france and greece rejected austerity measures. in the u.s. markets today, stocks are slightly lower so what do all the question marks about the future of europe mean over here? lori rothman, fox business network is live. she has more information for us. lori. >> jon, great to see you. dow as you showed us down 20 points that is huge relief to a lost investors as you point out again it was quite dire earlier this morning. asia was off 2 1/2%. greek stocks off 7% of the outcome of elections in both france and greece going

against austerity. so people not willing to take the bitter pill overseas and those concerns about europe unraveling certainly having an impact here. so even though the stock market is down and we're coming off by the way a real rough week. it was the worst week for the dow last week all year. the dow was down 1.4% for the week. not only concerns about europe but don't forget we got the april jobs report on friday showing unemployment improved to 8.1% but only because people are discouraged with the u.s. labor market they are throwing in the towel. they are giving up. there are good things. there are strong corporate earnings. we also don't have a lot of new u.s. economic data today. so investors don't have a whole lot to react to. we have the facebook road show. there is excitement about that. facebook expected to garner a lot of investor interest as well. so oil prices another bright spot are coming down. a lot of people interpret that as a sign of global economic slowing but for now also bringing the price of gas down as well. so our national average is

$3.77. by no means a bargain. remember just a month ago, jon, we were wringing our hands so worried about $4 a gallon gasoline. with that i will send it your way. jon: lori rothman. fox business networks. thank you. jenna: an heiress at the center of the john edwards trial. facing cross-examination from the edwards defense team. the former presidential condition date facing a slew of charges including conspiracy. our next guest says you can't forget the conspiracy part. former federal prosecutor fed tease see joins us live from philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. not a lot of love for john edwards, fred. where did the money go or what happened but conspiracy is what you say we have to watch, why is that? >> right. tell you why, jenna, as a prosecutor when you charge conspiracy you have to show two things. actually that you knew about the conspiracy and took one step in furtherance of it. here the conspiracy was

charged was that the he had warz campaign got together and made false statements to the federal election commission. jon: ie, he didn't tell the fec about the payments the purpose was the fec could said either should have been outside the campaign in which case they were personal or said, two they're part of the campaign and you exceeded the limits. the great thing as a prosecutor you can argue that the reason they did that because they knew that the fec was going to say to them, wait a minute, guys, these are campaign contributions. jenna: they would argue this is private, this is personal. >> correct. jenna: if jon wants to give me a few 100,000 dollars. jon: oh, yeah. and i do. jenna: thank you, jon. -- about that? >> well, you know, jenna that is where the whole, that is what the whole thing is about. that's their argument. look i was trying, this was a personal matter. my wife was diying of cancer. i didn't want to get the woman pregnant out of

wedlock. but at end of the day when you think about it is defense may have been i may have been a dirt ball husband but i wasn't a dirt ball politician. i don't know where that gets him. what the law requires if money is given at request of the campaign or for expenses otherwise wouldn't have been incurred but for his candidacy, the fact is the government's theory is you were trying to hide from the public this out of wedlock child because you had wrapped yourself as family plan, because of that, that is what the expenses were incurred for. jenna: the attorney says, the attorney that was in, is on the witness stand said that edwards knew this money was for his benefit. whether it was for his political benefit or personal benefit that is what you're pointing out in question. >> right. jenna: if you're a public figure, fred, is there truly any division between those two spheres? >> if you're a public figure, yes, there is a division. when you're running for public office that line gets really blurred and i think that is what is going on.

on cross-examination this lawyer will have to admit that edwards never said it was for the campaign. you would agree with me, sir, as a result of your conversations with mr. edwards you didn't know whether or not this was personal or part of the campaign and the guy will have to say yes to that. jenna: do you think edwards goes to prison? >> you know what, jenna. i got to tell you, reading indictment, reading indictment over last two days i would have charged a little differently, he gets convicted under conspiracy charge i think he will two jail. >> how would you try it? >> conspiracy to impede the law of governmental agency. i would charge edwards and everybody, they all lied, bunny lied, young lied, huffman, everybody was telling lies. they got together and didn't let the fec do its job. they didn't make full disclosure. as a result of that the fec couldn't look at this carefully and come to the right conclusion. that's a crime in itself to impede the lawful function. i prosecuted airline and faa

officials. it is very broad crime and i would have prosecuted differently but i don't work there anymore. jenna: interesting, fred. we appreciate your expertise on the case. always nice to have you. >> thanks very much for having me. jon: guys. jon: the sunday talk shows under fire facing charges of media bias against republicans. the hot debate on "news watch" coming up. [ male announcer ] research suggests

the health of our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives. ♪

one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin, designed for many of men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage.

jon: new questions about media bias as portrayed on some of the sunday talk shows as they focus on conservative republicans. here is bob schieffer of face the nation. >> did you think the republican party moved far right for its own good? jon: that is a question he asked peggy noonan. let's talk about it with jim pinkerton, contributing editor and writer for. alan colmes host of alcan combs radio show. there is another example we'll play, jim. but what do you see the

sunday chat shows. to be honest i see mostly liberal movement but not left-wing conspiracy but movement of people like bob schieffer and david gregory look, to the guest, don't you agree the republican is bunch of nuts. that is a planned assumption in the question frankly whether or not the reviewer, the pardon me, the person answering the question agrees with it or not the fact that the question says it raises issue in the minds of listen at home in the audience and i think that is kind of the goal. jon: i suppose alan does think the republican party is bunch of nuts. >> some them. just like some people on all sides are nuts but nobody we know, right? so, fairness and accuracy in reporting study show 70% of the guests between 2011 and february of this year were republicans. you've got, for example, the media pew study shows romney got twice as good favorable study coverage as barack obama did. funny when you ask, got a

hard-hitting interviewer on "meet the press" questioning a democrat, it's too hard-hitting. but when you got bob schieffer, a hard-hitting interviewer on cbs, questioning republican, in this case peggy noonan the other day, that is not hard-hitting enough. there is apparently a double-standard. jon: hear is the david gregory sound bite you're refering to. we'll play that and get into the discussion. >> do you think there is a modern, right-wing conspiracy that has aligned against this president? >> no. i don't think there is a modern, i think republican has been taken over by the tea party. jon: so that is david gregory. interesting, jim, he is echoing the language of clin clint who said that there, who blamed the monica lou winssy thing, in in the earlier days, blamed the monica lewinsky thing on vast right-wing conspiracy and we all know the monica lewinsky thing turned out to be essentially true. >> right. also echoing a recent speech in the "washington post" two

sundays ago by two political scientistings look the headline, face it the pun pubs are the problem. that was -- republicans are the problem. that was signal item for liberal movement to say, yes, here's a meme, all we can gather around that the republican party is controlled by cooknd nuts and tea partiers and everybody else. even if problem any is not a bad guy the obama campaign will win running against the republican at large as opposed to the presidential candidate. i think that is the plan. you saw it all over the place yesterday on the shows. >> you're reminding me that the republican party was a bunch nuts. now you i didn't think of that until you brought it up. now i'm reminded about it. look at other questions david gregory asked. he said isn't the recovery really slow? he also said you can't guaranty jobs. he also said to biden the unemployment rate is supposed to be 8%. left complain that those are right-wing talking points. if gregory getting from both

sides he doing a good job. jon:, are you saying they are completely balanced in their approach. >> you can't say everybody is completely balanced. republicans are whining there is lib rad media. if you look at amount of republicans on sunday morning shows it doesn't match up. david gregory asked tough questions of both sides. right is always whining, setting them up to complain the media fault that barack obama gets reelected. media elects democrats but will. people when republican gets elected, right? jon: jim, what about that pew study said mitt romney was getting better press coverage than barack obama? >> well, i mean, romney was winning the nomination and of course he was winning the nomination against republicans that the mainstream media mostly despised. rick santorum for example. go back to obama for a second. take him as an expert whether the media are for him or against him. as he said in one. fancy washington dinners couple years ago, looking out at crowd of reporters,

you guys, quote, are my base. he knew, they laughed, they all thought it was hilarious they all knew in fact the media president obama's greatest source of support among the establishment and he said it out loud. >> that was a joke. that was a joke. always at these dinners, joking about the perception that the right-wing has that the liberal media is his base. >> jokes? >> look at statistics sunday morning talk shows having mostly republican guests. >> jokes are funny alan, based in truth. >> sometimes they are. sometimes they're funny. how do you account for high percentage, 70% of republican one-on-one guests last year. how does that balance. >> depends what questions being asked. if they're asked a question of peggy noonan, don't you agree the republican party are cooks? only reason they wanted her on, because they wrote a article trashing republicans for defeating richard lugar. >> you don't come plain about david gregory saying why is the recovery so slow.

>> recovery not so slow is not as nearly loaded question as right-wing conspiracy. >> mitt romney complained about there being left-wing conspiracy. jon: alan, that was a, alan that was a joke as well. >> only funny joke when a republican says it, i was at the dinner where president obama referred to the crowd in attendance at the correspondents dinner as his base. interesting. thank you, guys. >> thank you. >> jim pinkerton, alan colmes. catch more of the news watch panel every saturday. tune in 2:30 p.m. eastern time for "fox news watch". jenna: jury selection underway in the trial of a man accused of murdering his own wife. the unique defense adam kaufman's lawyer hope will sway the jury. has something to do with spray tanning. we'll tell you about that. and what's in a name? the battle giving the condition known as post-tramatic stress disorder a bit of a new label. we have that coming up. [ male announcer ] capri sun has 25% less sugar

than leading regar juice drinks. because less sugar is a better way to fly. ♪ just not literally. capri sun. respect what's in the pouch. 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.

jon: jury selection set to begin today for a florida man going on trial for his wife's alleged murder. adam kaufman's defense team claims the victim died from a spray tan. julie banderas live in our new york newsroom with that, julie. >> reporter: you're probably shaking your head at that one. it is an odd twist from defense move as sprain tan cause of death to plan to bring the victim's parents to the stand to prove another theory. originally adam kaufman's defense attorney would argue his wife lina had a history of fainting spells and applied a spray tan earlier that day that resulted in a violent allergic reaction causing fatal respiratory failure after she collapsed. the defense will now change their argument to this, lena died of congestive heart

failure. their experts will allegedly testify, she was sitting on the toilet, had a heart attack and fell over with her head hitting bar of a magazine rack. they will target investigators who failed to listen to lena's mother who tried to tell them of their daughter's medical history of fainting episodes. lena's husband says he was asleep all nye long. police dispute and arriving officer reported hood of adam's car was still warm suggesting that he recently arrived home and only lena only slept at home the night she was killed five years ago. it is bizarre story. adam kaufman has been free on half million dollar bond since june of 2009. if convicted of second-degree murder he faces possible life, jon. jon: that is weird one. all the possible twists in the defense presentation. julie, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jenna: well ptsd or post-traumatic stress

disorder is called many different things or had many different names over the last several decades t was called shell shock in world war i. combat fatigue in world war ii. and now the complicated condition could soon get a little change or an update to its name as well. a public hear something happening right now in philadelphia as to whether or not post-traumatic stress disorder, should be post-tramatic stress injury. some say it is really important change. talking to us now, dr. brian russell who has worked with veterans returning from iraq and afghanistan even vietnam with ptsd. dr. russell why is this a big deal? why is this a big deal with something being treated as disorder or an injury? >> you could say it is semantic difference but it is important and here's why. when you talk about groups of americans we owe health care there is no group of americans our health care debt is our veterans, i'm talking physical and mental health both.

there is a stigma among military and ex-military personnel about seeking mental health treatment. to the extent this semantic change implies that you don't have to have a disorder, you don't have to be mentally i, you don't have to be crazy to have post-tramatic stress and to seek help and get help for it. but just as we don't want to miss anybody who could use that kind of a help to have a more successful life when they intigrate back into the civilian world there is another way i think could be helpful to them and it's this. the word disorder has a connotation among members of the public that i think isn't helpful to veterans. we don't want the pub thinking everybody who comes back from military service has some kind of a mental disorder. we don't want the pub certainly to be reluctant to hire a veteran or to date a veteran or anything. so to the extent this semantic change also makes it clear that you could have a post-traumatic stress injury without being

pervasively mentally ill i think is helpful in that arena as well. jenna: reason this is coming up the american psychiatric association is updating its mental illness bible if you will. they want to make sure this next edition has the most accurate terms. some psychiatrists say the reason why disorder should stay because when someone has this condition they have more in common with someone that has depression or even bipolar disorder than someone who has a bullet wound. that sort of injury. what would you say to the folks that say, listen, it is, disorder is important because it tells us how to treat this? >> you know, ever since i've been a mental health clinician, jenna, i have never been nearly as concerned about the semantics that we use and labels that we put on people as i am about just understanding their condition and helping them to get better. so i think the greatest concern in that regard would be that insurance companies continue to give it the

coverage that they do now even with the semantic change. certainly i think the veterans administration already is on board with that. jenna: that is a good point. >> they would say semantic change in the name they will still get the same coverage. that is a concern. making sure people see it equally as treatment of insurance coverage but in terms of --. jenna: dr. russell -- >> have word disorder in the label, i don't think that's important. jenna: we'll leave it there. thank you very much. an interesting topic and we'll ask our viewers what comes out of the public hearing. thanks very much, dr. russell. we'll be right back. >> thanks, jenna ong awaited. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares. goodnight bygones everywhere. [ engine turns over ] good morning, illumination. good morning, innovation. good morning unequaled inspirio [ male announcer ] the audi a8, chosen by car & driver as the best luxury sedan

in a recent comparison test. why? i thought jill was your soul mate. no, no it's her dad. the general's your soul mate? dude what? no, no, no. he's, he's on my back about providing for his little girl. hey don't worry. e-trade's got a totally new investing dashboard. everything is on one page, your investments, quotes, research... it's like the buffet last night. whatever helps you understand man. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him. [ male announcer ] try the new 360 investing dashboard at e-trade. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education

of our u.s. olympic team.

jon: tomorrow, jenna's vacation pictures. [laughter] jenna: maybe. just like riding a bike, right? get right on it. "america live" starts right now. megyn: fox news alert on europe's economic crisis and new worries it could soon be causing problems right here in the united states. welcome to "america live," everyone, i'm megyn kelly.