bill. good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. the president showing signs of struggle in traditionally conservative states albeit n arkansas, virtually unknown candidate, mr. john wolff, folks, took 41% the vote to president's 59%. jamie weinstein, daily caller. good morning. >> good morning. bill: the results tell us what? >> tells us like in west virginia where the president had a similar embarassment to a federal felon that he lost 42% in two states. one as you mentioned to this tennessee lawyer and one to an nonexistent candidate, uncommitted. shows that certain democrats in certain conservative states aren't particularly happy with him. bill: you say it is embarassment but how much of one? >> it is a little embarassment. this is low turnout in the states. these are states the president was never going to win. it shows there are some democrats out there that aren't happy with him.

it could affect him in some conservative states on the margins like north carolina and indiana where he won. bill: they aren't going to vote for him. what is the issue for these voters? >> i think they're disenon chanted with the p. in some states there are democrats more conservative than the national norm. uncommitted has great advantage he never vetoed keystone pipeline. never support the a controversial health care bill. i think they're looking to send a message to president obama that they're not happy with president obama obama and the direction. bill: four in 10 democratic voters choose someone other than president obama. how long can they run with that? is that a day or more than that? >> i don't this it will be very long. there will be late night jokes on the comedy channels but in the long run i don't think this is something that will be so significant for the president. bill: jamie, thanks for coming in. jamie weinstein from the daily caller.

appreciate your time there in washington, d.c.. >> thank you for having me. bill: martha. martha: on the other side of the aisle governor romney swept the contests in arkansas and kentucky. so he inched a bit closer to that gop nomination for president. he is now 79 delegates shy of the magic number which is 1144. so getting pretty close there. a win in the texas primary this week will likely seal his victory. bill: also, martha, a new poll out revealing a bit of trouble rather in the south and the critical swing state of florida, the latest quinnipiac university poll, showing governor romney beating president obama, 47-41%. asked who would do a better job on the economy. half go with governor romney. 40% pick president obama. martha: we're awaiting the start of the first congressional hearing on the secret service prostitution scandal but already we're getting a preview what you can expect to hear this morning. according to the prepared

remarks from maine senator susan collins she will challenge the idea that this was a one-time event, saying that the agents took part, in quote, morally repugnant behavior that could have threatened the president's safety. so far the white house is standing by the agents. listen to this. >> the president has addressed this issue on a couple of occasions. he has great faith in the secret service. believes the director has done an excellent job. martha: the secret service director is among those expected to testify this morning. he is expected to say that the scandal is not representative of the agency's nearly 7,000 employees. bill: a bit more on that later this morning. also now a major scare in the sky for passengers onboard a international us airways flight. that plain bound for charlotte, north carolina, made an emergency landing in bangor, maine, after a passenger passenger passed a note claiming she had a surgically implanted device

on her. that crew jumped into action immediately securing the cockpit. here is a listen on board bill: there were two f 15 fighters called in to escort the jetliner that originated in paris, france. passengers thankful they're okay but still a little stunned about this. >> we were fine and all taken care of. praise god that nobody was hurt. >> you hear stories how many marshals are on plains and just getting through security is such an extensive thing nowadays we feel safe. >> i flown internationally before and usually no problem. when you hear these things your heart kind of stops for a bit. bill: took that passenger back to the back of the plane. that woman is in custody. traveling alone without any checked baggage which raised flags when you're traveling

overseas. officials say there is no evidence the plane was ever in danger. martha: this is a big story as well this morning. there are new reports that the doctor in pakistan who helped the cia track down usama bin laden has been sentenced now to 33 years in prison for treason by his home country of pakistan. dominic di-natale is streaming live from islamabad on this story. what is this man accused of? >> reporter: martha, he is accused of running a cia program looking to get dan samples from those inside usama bin laden compound. he wasn't successful. after bin laden was killed by nave seals last year his name came to light. he was arrested by the pakistani authorities. it was a tribal court convicted him for those 33 years in prison. he will get hard labor during that time.

which in country like pakistan is a harsh sentence. he has been pelted with a heavy fine. they have been appealing to the pakistan authorities for him to be released. now it appears he will serve a life-long sentence inside the prison where he is being currently held. and pakistani authorities wills to security his release. if that is possible, they may not have all the influence it believes it may have in terms of actually how much it can overturn the conviction by the tribal court. martha? martha: fascinating. obviously pakistan is an ally. there is a ostensibly cooperation between our two countries and they claim that they didn't know that usama bin laden is there. so this tribal court, as you mentioned, the u.s. would like to see this man released because he helped us to track down the world's most-wanted criminal. is there any hope left that this tribal court would allow for his release? >> reporter: we're not sure

of the appeal progress is, martha or indeed if there is actually is one. certainly the u.s. government will be lobbying pakistan authorities to see precisely what they can do. the u.s. embassy not commenting on the case at all. we know the state department considered this an intel related issue but doesn't comment publicly on that. this comes at a real complicated time for the relationship between pakistan and the united states because at moment they're trying to get nato supply routes open but there could be something the u.s. could put on part of the table as far as sorting out the relationship with pakistan but at time being it is looking to very grim what will happen to shakil afridi. martha: there are a lot of pieces on the chest board as you point out. dominic, thank you very much. bill: an investigation underway in the wake of facebook's disappointing stock performance since it went public on friday last week. the company's stock has

dropped $7 a share in three days of trading. some are now asking whether or not the bank that handled the deal gave prefered clients negative information about facebook before the shares went on sale. martha: what a story this has become. stuart varney joins me now, anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network. stuart when i look back how everybody on wall street was clamoring to be the firm to bring facebook public. goldman sachs lost out on that deal. morgan stanley got it. they have this hotshot high-tech guy there who was in charge of overseeing it. now there are suggestions that there was improprietis. that an analyst at morgan stanley lowered his revenue projections and only let insiders know and those benefited in a big way. is there evidence to that? >> yes, that is one of the lawsuits. the lawsuits against morgan stanley claims that they, the morgan stanley created losses by bumping up the number of shares and the price at which facebook went public.

so morgan stanley is being sued over those losses. in addition, the nasdaq stock market is being sued for mishandling the trades at the open of trading of facebook. plus facebook is being accused of concealing analysts lower estimates of growth for facebook. so the lawsuits are flying as this debacle rolls on, martha. martha: boy, how incredible is that? it was the most coveted ipo on wall street and then this sort of shuffle, it's like, you know, mice kind of running for the exits as all of this started to come down. where do you think this is headed, stuart? >> well the news of the day actually broke about an hour ago. there is a wall street firm, an analytical firm, and they say, buy facebook, buy it now. it is going to go to $40 a share. so that just happened. so some people on wall street still have faith in the company, that the stock is going to go higher from here. but your premise is right, martha. the buildup to this thing was absolutely enormous and

the letdown equally enormous. a very sad, very dis.ing debacle we have here. martha: indeed it is. the market looks poised to move lower today for a number of reasons and dynamics. thank you, stuart varney over at the fox business network. gets rolling there pretty soon. bill: before it went public there were report it is was losing share. the number of people that signed up for facebook was not increasing the same rate it had been before. that was out there. you can make your own choice. martha: at the same moment they released up to number of shares they were going to release and diluted it by increasing float and number of shares out there. that like anything else is a supply and demand issue. bill: 19 minutes facebook will open with the rest of the markets. the markets are going to get hammered with word too europe. dozens of homes in the danger zone. a fast-moving wildfire raging outside of a popular resort area. we'll tell you where that is going down. martha: an alarming report

from the future of our country from the nonpartisan congressional budget office. what they are saying about the country slipping back into recession in the next year. bill: four years ago president bush's secretary of state endorsing barack obama for the white house. what is colin powell saying now? >> times i watch politics today it seems like it is all about winning, not compromising. let's not even think about -- we just had a gentleman that beat mr. lugar in indiana. his first at the same time is statement is i'm not going to compromise anything. how is the country going to work?

down here, folks measure commitment by what's getting done. the twenty billion doars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar

commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. bill: here we go again, america. there is a dire warning out there from the congressional budget office, that's the cbo, that the u.s. will likely dip into another recession early next year if nothing is done on the taxing issue and the spending issue. republican senator john thune of south dakota is chairman of the senate republican conference.

senator, good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: where are we headed? is this the fiscal cliff people are talking about? >> it is. there is a big pileup at end of the year. all the tax rates are going up. marginal tax rates. dividends tax rates. estate tax. all these tax provisions expire. you've got this sequester which is going to take effect that would put draconian cuts into the defense budget and frankly that is a result of congress not having passed a budget in three years. the reason we got a sequester for the third consecutive year now the senate has not acted on a budget. this is what you end up with. that happens at end of the year. debt limit increase happens at end of the year. it will be very, very difficult if all these things come up in the haze of a lame-duck session of congress to make a lot of sense of it to the american people. i think, in our best interest to move and get some of these things addressed now as opposed to waiting till then. bill: how possible is that because i'm only hearing gridlock again, especially on the senate side? >> well i think that, ply hope would be at least we

could get something done on taxes. i know the house of representatives is talking about taking up on taxes would at least extend current rates into next year when we hopefully get into a full-blown debate about tax reform. if we wait until the end of the year and all this stuff is negotiated, that is frankly why the president and his folks would like to see that happen because they want to leverage these things against each other, more certainty we can give to the markets and to investors the more we can get this off the table sooner, i think the better off it is. bill: do you think there will be a decision on this before the election? everybody is kind of holding their cards right now, aren't they? >> we would like to see that happen. i don't think there is any incentive on the part of the president or the democrats in congress to do this before the election. i think they figure will benefit by having this debate at the end of the year in the haze of that lame-duck session of congress. but, as you pointed out, the congressional budget office

is now saying that could really cost us economic growth next year and we all believe that if we don't get these tax rates extend, what will have profound impact on the economy and will cost us a lot of growth and a lot of jobs. bill: you know what harry reid is saying? he says republicans need to express more flexibility, greater flexibility on raising taxes. where are you as a party on that? >> we believe fundamentally what we have, bill, is a spending problem, not a revenue problem. it is not that we tax too little. that we spend too much. we have to address what is driving federal spending. that is entitlement programs. we need to deal with reforms of the programs in order to save social security and medicare. democrats don't want to go there. i think public publics republican more than willing to talk about the tax code, hopefully achieving more revenue the old-fashioned way through economic growth but the democrats will not deal with this issue what is really driving federal

spending. that is social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, what we call mandatory spending in the budget. that has to be addressed if we are to get the spending side of the equation under control. i don't think you can start to talk about revenues until you demonstrate to the american people we're serious about spending. bill: we'll see where it goes. you're pushing for transparency act on whole sequestration matter to figure out what is cut and what is not. what can be saved and what will go off the table, senator. we'll bring you back real soon. john thune. thank you. >> thanks, bill. bill: martha. martha: iran is back at the nuclear bargaining table today and showing some signs of a possible compromise. but is it the real deal or is it just another stalling tactic? bill: we're on verdict watch again today in the john edwards corruption trial. in a moment he returns to court and the very latest from outside the courthouse in greensboro, north carolina, as we roll on right after this commercial break. that is coming up. [ female announcer ] the next generation of investing technology

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bill: 22 minutes past the hour. the feds are expected to announce new rules for prepaid credit cards including more financial costs for credit card companies and. in colorado immigration advocates collecting signatures for a new ballot measure aimed at giving driver's licenses to illegals. the library of congress adding new sounds to its vast collection. the latest recordings deemed significant to american culture, interviews with former slaves, prince's purple rain, leonard bern stein conducting the new york philharmonic with his signature piece, candid. put it on the ipod. martha: prince is on mine.

there are new talks underway to keep iran from building a nuclear weapon. u.s. and world leaders meeting iranian diplomats in baghdad today. stakes are very high. hopes for a breakthrough are very mixed on this one. steve harrigan streaming live from baghdad. steve, what do they expect they may accomplish in all this? >> reporter: martha, one day talks underway in the green zone interaction between the six world powers including u.s. and iran. talks began earlier this morning. they're expected to last until late this afternoon. really stakes couldn't be any higher. talks influenced the dprobl oil market. they could influence u.s. gasoline prices and possibly the u.s. election. if they go sour that could mean military strikes against iran and possibly another war in the middle east. the stakes could hardly be any higher. on one side you have the might have membersf the security council plus germany they're arguing for specific give you ups from

iran. [inaudible] just a short -- [inaudible] pushing back hard against economic sanctions, sanctions which hurt their country's economy. martha: steve harrigan's sound is breaking up. we'll try to get that fixed and get back to him. these are extremely important talks going on in iraq over iran's potential nuclear program. we'll bring you all the latest, if there is any negotiation that breaks if it is meaningful it will be a huge story. more on that to come. bill: a lot to sort through in that country even today. a health scare for former first lady nancy reagan. she is 90. recently she took a pretty significant fall. the latest on her recovery in a moment here. plus there is this. roll it. >> give you the most important things facing this country right now. martha: what colin powell says is the most important issue that faces the country right now and why he is not ready yet to endorse the president.

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bill: all right. today could be the day. we're on verdict watch yet again in the corruption trial of former presidential hopeful john edwards. the jury is back at it today. if convicted on all charges edwards could go to jail for 30 years. jonathan serrie back at his post in greensboro, north carolina. jonathan, what have we been able to glean that have come

out from the jury pool, either from the jury or the judge? what can we glean from that? >> reporter: we'll look at the two most recent requests from the jury just before they recessed yesterday. they requested two notes from alex forger, he is the estate lawyer for rachel bunny mellon. in one letter from 2006, forger writes to edwards campaign aide, andrew young about a advocacy group that promotes religious freedom. i thought the senator might be interested in the work we are doing for election purposes. in another letter from 2006, forger writes to bunny mellon herself about a meeting he had with john edwards about a one million dollar gift that mellon promise to the the center for opportunity. he would like to consider how to allocate the million. has now said he would like $650,000 to go to his center now and hold off sending the

balance to a later date when he decidesed where he would like it directed. bunny mellon ended up funding much of the money the prosecution alleges was used to keep edwards' alleged mistress in hiding during his 2008 run for president. bill: on the evidence the jury was asking for, does it give us clues on their mindset? >> reporter: you know it is unclear whether they're looking for something specific in these two letters or whether it's part of a trail that gives them sort of a general sense of the financial and personal relationship that was developing between bunny mellon and john edwards. the evidence jurors requested on the previous two days of deliberations also related to the so-called bunny money. but whether that will remain a focus of their discussions and deliberations, only the jury knows, bill. bill: jonathan, thank you. on verdict watch we go. jonathan serrie in greensboro, north carolina.

martha: all right. back to current politics now. prominent republican and former bush administration member colin powell says he is not ready to endorse president obama for a second time. fours years ago mr. powell called the president now, a transformational figure. now he says that the parties seem so divided. >> i must say that the need for me to endorse anybody right now is really not there. i will take my time. if our founding fathers in four months could create this great nation and write a constitution, by arguing with each other but compromising with each other, if you don't compromise you can't get consensus and the country has nothing to, you know, rally behind. and we, what we seem to lost that ability to compromise. martha: very interesting. so joined by ed rollins, former deputy chief of staff to president reagan. he managed the campaign for mr. reagan's re-election in 1984 and had major roles in nine other presidential campaigns. know whereof he speaks.

also a fox news contributor. good morning, ed. good to have you back again. >> nice to be here. martha: colin powell is on book you are to. he is putting himself out there anyway. of course he will be asked the question, hey, you crossed party lines and back ad young senator obama last time around. said he was a transformational figure. are you on board this time and he says, i can't say. >> i think the president has not been quite so transformational. i think that is the issue here. his endorsement four years ago was gigantic for two reasons. one he obviously was secretary of state in the bush administration. very close friends and allies of john mccain. martha: right. >> when he came out and endorsed obama gave a lot of other people the opportunity to say, under his cover that i'm going to do the same. i think in this case he shares the concerns that a lot of americans have that who did vote for this president and basically wanted him to do well, wanted him to be different and find that politics are not very different and he really isn't up to the job. martha: i think you really touched on something in that because that is the the

issue i think would be disheartening for the administration. when they look at somebody like colin powell who came on board and after these 3 1/2 years says that they don't believe that he accomplished the goals that they hoped he would. that hope and change and, you know, i don't think we're reading into that too much. that what he promised is not necessarily been accomplished, right? that is sentiment that a lot of people seem to be expressing who were very supportive in the past. >> and hopeful. hopeful is word very important. a lot of people wanted this president to succeed. obviously he was transformational president in the sense that, having an african-american as president. other thing he laid out there the economy and economy not working is the big overwhelming issue. clearly that is going to be the case that romney will make against him. martha: let's listen to this sound bite. this is from colin powell and it hits on exactly what you're talking about, about his expectations for the economy. let's play that. >> i will give you the most important thing facing this country right now. one, we've got to get the

economy moving. that is not just a problem for government. that is a problem for business, for investors, for all of us who create wealth in this country. economy has to get moving. we have to got unemployment rate down. that may be the defining issue of the campaign. martha: it is interesting because he says it is not just the government that can get the economy moving. it is investors and people who create wealth in this country. that kind of phrase reminds me a lot of discussion we've been having about private equity and awe of that, being a believer that it's private industry, that will get the economy moving. >> there is no question, this president has thrown more money, government money, taxpayers money at the problem than anybody and he hasn't really done anything about it. you contrast this with the president i worked for came in with equal mess in 1981. rebuild the defenses of country, got unemployment down and cut taxes. by the time he was running for re-election the economy was starting to boom again. i think to certain extent the formula is wrong. president obviously was

dealt a tough hand but he hasn't basically played the cards well. martha: what does this mean for mitt romney? >> mitt romney is credible candidate who survived a very tough primary and is very good position to win this thing. republicans are beginning to believe that. there is enthusiasm on our side that wasn't there a couple months ago and that is a positive. martha: enthusiasm gap, i remember covering the primaries couldn't get above 25, 26%. that was one of the biggest concerns. does the lack of enthusiasm colin powell exhibited speak in a way you believe will generate real enthusiasm on the other side? >> i think romney has a lot of enthusiasm. i think it is coming. his campaign is coming together very effectively. the president is having a hard time getting his base together. he is throwing a lot of things out there to reinforce his base but there is not intensity there was four years ago. martha: ed, great to see you soon. he had rollins. bill: while you were talking we're watching the big bull down on wall street. about six minutes old. investors already reacting

to well, the news from overseas in europe. there is a meeting in brussels and questions about greece, spain, italy and you guess again, how the euro survives and if it does not all intact with the e.u.. what happens then? does recession on some parts of the continent grow worse and in effect does that have an impact on us? down about 82 points in early trading. we'll check on the markets down here in "america's newsroom". martha: witnesses are calling it a wall of fire. air tankers, helicopters, hundreds of firefighters teaming up to battle a wildfire that is burning just outside now of a popular resort area. bill: also new this morning more fallout over the obama administration's mandate for contraception coverage in health care. what the leader of the american catholic church is now accusing the white house of doing. it's very important to understand

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bill: how about this for a beautiful sight, huh? martha: look at that. statue of liberty in between the masts. bill: if you're on the hudson this is what you want to be watching today. lower manhattan it is fleet week. martha: nothing better than watching all the sailors walking around midtown. bill: getting rolling over memorial day weekend. we're seeing tall ships coming into the new york harbor near the verrazano bridge. lady liberty looks great too. martha: they're calling this a wall of fire. that is the way folks are describing this fast-moving wildfire in nevada. high winds triggering this massive inferno. they're trying to get a handle on it. this is south of lake tahoe. the flames destroyed at least two homes so far. they forced hundreds of families to pack up and get

out. >> this is devastating. this was really a nice place here, especially. to see nothing left, it is pretty bad. >> pretty scary. some houses down below us were burnt. we're fortunate that it didn't get any closer than it did to the house. >> that is really sad. it could have been me. i would have been in the shower if the wind came south and whipped around. i would have been trapped. >> everybody knows each other. if they need help they help them out. martha: so awful. no injuries reported so far. that is good news. officials hope calmer winds today will help the crews get ahead of some of those flames. we wish them luck out there. good luck. bill: this fight between the catholic leaders and obama administration has not lost its heat after america's leading catholic accused the administration of strangling the church. that is not all. here is more from cardinal timothy dolan in new york. >> if we could eliminate

that attempt of the federal government to define religion, we'll step back because then we'll be able to rejoice in the religious freedom for which this country stands. we'll be able to keep up our ministries which we consider to be rather essential to our fate and we'll live happily ever after. it is narrowness, it is the choking nature of these exemptions that hhs has put out. bill: he went on to say a lot more with fox news this past week. tucker carlson, editor of "the daily caller" fox news contributor and alan colmes, host of the alan colmes radio show. good morning to both of you. there are a few threads running through each of this. first the politics. tucker, do you think the white house wants this fight? >> in the end with a choice of alienating the catholic church and its core supporters, faithful catholics, alienating women in the suburbs, swing voters, of course the administration will choose the former.

this may be an attempt to continue this war on women that i think the obama campaign is getting out of. we may laugh at it and absurd on its face but at the same time it may be resonant with some voters. i don't think they choose these policies accidentally. i don't think they weigh in by accident. i think this is a plan. bill: 60 million catholics, tucker, blue-collar voters. >> i don't think they will alienate those anyway. bill: what do you think?. >> i don't think they care. there is lot of evidence the obama administration, and the campaign has written off those votes as ungetable at the beginning and they're probably right. >> i think tucker is missing something here, they're not alienating the voters. may be alienating catholic leaders and hierarchy. 98%. catholic women use birth control and support the policy of the administration aren't being alienated. rank-and-file catholics are not being alienated. it is leaders of the church. bill: alan, address tucker's point. he says the white house

wants this fight. >> there is no real fight with rank-and-file catholics. in fact they went and compromised and put the burden on insurance companies. that wasn't good enough for the leadership of the church. so nothing will be good enough. don't forget the church gets 62% of its catholic charities money from the federal government. they get something like, what is the number, $2.9 billion a year. they get tax breaks from the government. if they want to play by those rules there should be no government largess. bill: what cardinal dolan says repeatedly the issues being lost. what he argues, tucker it is not about contraception, it is about religious freedom. if the government succeeds on this, on this issue, what else will they push for? said that repeatedly in interviews. >> i won't, unlike alan, presume to speak for all catholics i'm not one. >> giving you the stats. >> no matter how you feel about contraception a question of religious liberty.

the catholic church doesn't want to participate in birth control. you may agree or disagree but that is a basic preseptember of theirs. to force them to do it for political or idealogical reasons is authoritarian is terrible precedent. i don't care if you're protestant as i am. doesn't matter your religious disposition. bill: exception for churches if it had stopped there that would be fine. >> there is exemption for churches. churches aren't being forced into anything. again insurance companies and the purredden is not on the these catholic institutions which are places of public accommodation which employ catholics and noncatholics. i don't know how dolan says, i'm not speaking for the church. i'm just quoting statistics. i don't understand freedom or religious liberty is compromised here. bill: alan, you know he argues under the law, what the law tells the church who it can and can not administer to. he believes that is the decision made by the church and not by the government. >> the church is not being forced to do anything.

the insurance companies are the ones who are being told you've got to provide services --. bill: because he argues on conscience they can not support this. >> they're not being asked to do anything. furthermore, furthermore, you got dolan saying i'm going to have to stop giving to the poor. he actually threatened he wouldn't be able to continue doing charity work to some extent when he gets 62% of the charity money from the government in the first place. bill: tucker. >> it is clearly more important to the ideologues pushing this rule that they somehow make an idealogical point about contraception or women's health the than serving the poor. look, you will actually in the end force catholic charities out of the business of helping poor people. and i guess that's okay. >> i don't know how you force catholic charities out of helping poor. >> because it violates their conscience whether agree with i or not. >> on volunteer basis for women. i don't know how that stops the church. 62% of the first place to help the poor. >> lord knows. not a nice we ask for. not a fight we're relishing.

we want to put this behind us and get back to normal and be left alone. apparently that is not the case now. >> never is. bill: alan, thank you. tucker, thank you. we'll continue this debate on a later date. to viewers at home shoot an e-mail to hemmer@foxnews.com or follow me on twitter, @billhemmer. bya, because you asked. dolan is not running to this issue. he will talk about it. martha: i can't remember a more outspoken advocate on behalf of those issues we have in cardinal dolan. it will be interesting to see how this sorts out. how about this idea, if you lose your cell phone, call 911. if you do that you will likely get an earful. one police chief justified sending 10 officers in search of his son's iphone. how about that? bill: just need an app for that, don't you? we're awaiting a hearing into the secret service prostitution scanned tall. the agency's director set to face senators, some who have already voiced concern. here's one. >> certainly have to make sure that nothing like this

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bill: there's a police chief coming under fire after reportedly ordering 10 officers to look for his son's iphone. berkeley, california. four of the officers ended up working overtime at taxpayer expense and that does not sit well with some locals. >> that does sound excessive. that does sound excessive. >> if everybody is allowed to get their cell phone that way, that would be great because i've lost a number of cell phones. >> by all accounts and all stories he has done a good job of helping reduce crime

in this city and reorganized the police department and dealing with some of these serious issues any city of this size has. bill: mission accomplished. they found the iphone. the same police chief already under scrutiny for sending an officer to a reporter's house in the middle of the night to ask for changes to a newspaper story. investigations into both these incidents still underway. you know, martha, there is an app for that. martha: there is one. they didn't need to do all that, right? so there is some new fallout this morning in the mf global scandal. documents show that former chief executive jon corzine got more than $8 million in cash and stock options in the monthsing up to the collapse of this brokerage firm. keep in mind this is the 8th largest bankruptcy in the history of this country, folks. now the company is still trying to trace $1.2 billion of client money that disappeared in all of this. so here's the question that is on a lot of folks minds?

why hasn't corzine or anyone else faced charges in this scandal yet? who better to ask than judge andrew napolitano. fox senior judicial analyst. we get a lot of e-mail about this. we see a lot of this in social media. what is going on with jon corzine and why is this investigation not underway? >> this is, martha, the unfortunate intersection between government and politics where the government has what is called, proscutorial discretion, a fancy phrase meaning it can decide who to investigate, who to prosecute, when to investigate it and when to prosecute. so it chooses to investigate jpmorgan chase losing 2 billion of its own money, not clients money and not taxpayers money within a week of the announcement of the loss, and it hasn't investigated governor corzine, former governor corzine's former company, mf global losing 1.2 billion of its clients money, potentially commingling clients money with the firm's money, potentially using clients money to pay the firm's debt and

potentially denying what he knew about what he was supposed to have known about under oath. all of this saying, well they must like jon corzine and not like his counterpart at jpmorgan chase jamie dimon. martha: that seems to be pretty clear. i mean on the face of it that is what it looks like. there's also the question of the cftc which apparently, according to some recent reports, corzine personally lobbied to say, you know, that we could do internal repo. when you need money you can move that client money around. personally lobbying the head of the cftc and saying, you know, do not regulate us in this respect. we know what we're doing, we've got it all under control, that is the allegations in these reports. >> the cftc, the commodities futures trading commission, is the regulator for the type of activity that mf global engaged in. martha: right. >> the head of the cftc is a former protege of jon corzine when governor

corzine was the chair of goldman sachs, gary gensler. mr. gensler quite properly recused himself from this case but yesterday spoke out publicly for the first time saying, i do know some things about what's going on even though i've been remaining silent because of my prior relationship with governor corzine. you know what all of this spells? all of this spells need for special prosecutor, not connected to the justice department. martha: right. independent counsel. >> or the democrats, exactly. martha: the possibility that the house financial services committee is another arm that could be investigating this on their even, correct? i have to go. >> doing it on their own and they haven't. martha: judge, great insight to this. >> my pleasure. martha: we'll see where that goes. bill: the obama team unleashing more hits on governor mitt romney for his record at bain capital. you might be surprised how some of the president's top supporters are reacting to those hits. we'll tell you. martha: there is a huge story today. the new reports that the pentagon gave very sensitive intelligence to hollywood

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martha: fox news alert. shocking emails that reveal that classified information, the white house provided to producers of a movie, about the raid that killed osama bin laden has now been coming out pretty much everywhere this morning. a brand-new hour coming at you right now of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. the emails are from top cia defense department officials to oscar winner director catherine bigelow, promising details.

martha: what is the problem here? let's hear about it? >> there are many problems. one we find that you have hollywood producers, catherine bigelow given unprecedented access to the cia. it was arranged by a democratic lobbying firm. global mar park brought them in to meet with the cia. they were taken to the fault where the most classified information was kept. they were taken to a secret site, so secret the name had to be redacted and blacked out on the emails when made public and yet you had catherine bigelow and mark ball going in there although they don't have security clearances. martha: it's surprising that the name of the place where they were taken, even when the emails were released had to be blacked out. you start this trail to figure owl. she is the oscar-winning director of the hurt locker,

great movie. she wants to make a movie about what is arguably one of the most successful military operations of its kind in our history. that all is understandable but the question is why they would get this kind of clearance, and obviously they want to tell the story accurately, and somebody is very much in favor of giving them all this abscess. let's take a look at a quote from the transcript of the undersecretary vickers, his meeting with the filmmakers. he talks about providing a special operator for the filmmakers who would speak to special operators. the only thing we ask is that you not reveal his name in any way as a consultant. he shouldn't be talking out of school, this at least gives him one step removed and he knows what he can and can't kay of say. how do you read into that? >> that is indefensible. you have a high ranking officer who is telling the producers how they can get into the system, gain information, this is

information that military commanders don't want to talk about yet he was having a special operations person give them in information and keep it one step removed so no one would know what was happening. this is part of the overall picture here. the woman at the vi cia who was a ranging all of this for the hollywood people leaves the cia and is working for the obama campaign. this is a incestuous-type of relationship. it's indefensible. members of congress are not allowed access to some of these sites. if anyone else was doing it they'd probably be charged. here you have hollywood people being brought into areas where again, the most classified, the most sensitivement let me make it clear, president obama was courageous he did the right thing, he's entitled to have a movie and have history know what he did. there is no reason at all why secret classified information should be made available or why they should be brought into

this. this to me i've been talking to people for the last several days in the intelligence community it's unprecedented. and you have them saying things, even ball was saying, this is dine night you have catherine bigelow saying this is incredible. martha: you can't blame them. they are filmmakers and they want to have access. somebody at some very high levels made sure that the doors were open to them, and this is a look at trying to figure out why and if indeed that was appropriate. i do want to show this statement by the department of defense. because here is what they are saying in defense of this. they are saying, we, the department of defense, as well as other agencies and departments regularly engage with the entertainment industry to inform projects ranging from books, to documentaries, to feature films. many individuals in the industry expressed interest in develop projects on what can only be

described as one of the top intelligence and military successes of this generation. our engagement on these projects was driven by a desire to inform the public, not by timing. >> the inspector general for the pentagon is now conducting his own investigation, saying based on what he's learned, what he's seen, this is now warranting a full inspector general investigation. so, clearly, what went on here is not appropriate, otherwise you would not have the inspector general not just going to a preliminary investigation, but a full investigation. martha: we'll see where it goes. peter king, thank you, good to talk to you this morning. bill: another alert right now, we are waiting for a hearing on the secret service prostitution matter, that scandal there and testimony from the agency director himself, mark sul srafpblt it wilsullivan, it will be his first comments on the matter. mike emanuel is with us. what do we expect to hear. >> reporter: we expect mark sullivan to say that this one

incident in columbia does not reflect the ethical standards of the nearly 7,000 secret service employees. you can expect him to say that at no time was president obama's security at risk and also expepbgt etd to say, quote, the security plan was extremely thorough and comprehensive and no aspect of the security plan was compromised, due to the miss conduct. so sullivan will try to contain this scandal. i should note "the washington post" is reporting this morning that four of the employees who are being dismissed for the scandal are planning to foy to fight their dismissal. so the story may have legs for a time longer. bill: they are concerned this was not a one time event, are they not? >> reporter: that's right. we expect senator joe lieberman who is going to chair this meeting later this hour if there were warning signs from previous overseas trips with the secret service leading up to this trip. we know the top republican, susan collins does not believe

it was an isolated incident. she is expected to say the numbers involved as well as the participation of new senior supervisors make me believe that this was not a one-time event. rather the circumstances unfortunately suggest an issue of culture. and so, clearly sullivan will need to do some selling to susan collins to convince her that this was just a one-time event. bill: when there are headlines come on back. mike emanuel waiting on that hearing on the hill. thank you, mike. martha: we have got brand-new amateur video just coming in that is set to show intense shelling continuing today in syria. [sound of gunfire] martha: the peopl that violence comes a day after homes were

toured. 9,000 people have been killed in this violence since all of this began last march. bill: also reports of nearly two dozen suspected al-qaida militants killed in yemen. a fresh round of deadly clashes there between government forces and members of the terrorist network. fighter jets and heavy artillery pounding militant positions. this only days after a suicide bombing in the capitol of yemen killed nearly a hundred soldiers. martha: it's a major step forward today for one of the world's oldest civilizations, egyptians heading to the polls for their first free elections in history, voting today and tomorrow on a replacement for ousted president hosni mubarak. >> this is the first time in 7,000 years that the people of have egypt have been able to play a role in choosing their

president. it's very exciting for us in the west to observe. martha: leland vittert live on this in vie row. >> reporter: there is a lot of excitement on the streets in cairo. 52million eligible voters here in egypt. a lot of them were on the streets today. long lines at the polling stations all over egypt. in the united states we take for granted a free and fair elections, but he these guys are trying hard to do their level best to provide that to the egyptian people here, and it is difficult, of course, to pull off. lines right now around two hours long. the candidates out of this election of which there are about a dozen will be whittled down to the top two. they will go into a runoff election. it is widely thought that the muslim brotherhood's leader will be one of those two in the runoff election. if that happens the muslim brother had has the potential to not only control the parliament but also to control the presidential seat, and that many

egyptians fear would turn into a potential islamic state. on the other hand we could have a situation where the former prime minister who served in the hosni mubarak administration would be on that final ticket and that could result in even more violence here, at least according to the revolutionaries we've talked to. martha: we see the implications of the arab spring and we see where it goes. thank you very much. bill: did you know the biggest challenge to the healthcare law may come from democrats in a 20-year-old law. we'll make that connection in a moment. martha: a growing number of the president's own party disagree with him on the attacks of governor romney's business record. bill: the story behind this wedding portrait that usual see in a moment. [ male announcer ] when these come together,

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bill: there has been a health scare for nancy reagan. the former first lady reportedly recovering after breaking her ribs in a fall. the reagan presidential library saying the 90-year-old fell at her home about six waoebgts ago, recovering slowly. she was expected to attend a speech at the reagan library by house budget committee chair paul ryan last evening. she did not attend. her doctors say she needs to avoid the big events for now. get better. martha: plus, we're seeing a stream of reports that indicate that some top democrats are distancing themselves a bit from president obama's attack on governor romney, in terms of his work in a private equity firm. ed rendell is among them, he reportedly said this. quote, i think they are very disappointing, he's referring to these attacks. i think bain is fair game

because romney has made it fair game, but i think how you examine it, the tone, what you say is information as well. meanwhile here is vice president joe biden. >> so when romney says we are bashing private capital it's not true. i'm not criticizing the private equity firms. i'm suggesting that people who run them, the same quality and objective that are running the private equity firms is not what qualifies to you to be president. when you're president your job is to see to it that companies can make a profit, but not maximize profit at everyone's expense. martha: all right, so that sets us up for this discussion, jennifer stefano is a tea party activist, she is with the americans for prosperity group. kt mcfarland is with us.

alexis johnson is with us also. good to have you here. surprising that we're seeing some of these prominent democrats, harold ford, jr. as well and corey booker saying, look let's not attack private equity in this country, you know, they are sort of putting a little bit of an arms length to that argument. >> is it surprising? no. i think we are seeing a little bit of a family feud. in our party as in the republican party there's significant difference about how we go and approach attacking mitt romney on his record. and i think as we just heard mitt romney put this out there as his experience to manage a global financial economy. and i think that it's all valid, and so we should be attacking -- or at least vetting his record at bain and we should also be vetting his record elsewhere. martha: not to be cynical, do you think a hundred million dollars from private equity firms has come in. there is no one who has been elected in recent history who hasn't tapped into and had meetings in new york with these folks and said, look we would love to have your support. oath bama campaign got a lot

last time around, they got about a hundred million this time ae around, is that a factor here? >> this is really an attack on mitt romney and what he says his experience is to run this country. it's fair game. we have the right -- newt gingrich brought it up. >> i think what happened is this going to be a doe bait between are we socialists or capitalist which ones do you want. i think a lot of the younger members of the democratic party are walking away from it. the other thing i found that was fascinating is if you look at how corey booker, who is the mayor of newark, rising in the democratic party, african-american, saved the lady next door in the burning building, he's the guy that has come out and say, just don't attack bain capital, but i've had it with negative campaigning. corey booker when he made that statement he was leaning

forward, he was aggressive, he was saying, i'm sick of us all going back at each other. when he was forced to kind of recant what he said he looked like he was in a hostage video e. looked like he was saying, oh, no i really didn't mean to say that. martha: it was an uncomfortable moment. i think this is a big point in this discussion as well. corey booker anded rendell and other people who have run a city or run a state know that they need that investment in their city, they need to encourage capitalism in their state, certainly in the state of new jersey corey booker has had good relationships with financial firms in the heart of newark. there are people he has had to work with and wants to encourage their business. i think on a larger scale level when you look at the country that is a big question for us right now. >> i think people have to remember, and the president should remember that what funds all jobs in america, both public and private is private doctors andollars and investments. people always say

bi-partisanship is dead. in that moment you had democrats, republicans, people like me all coming together saying, mr. president, please, stop it's been three years of deflecting responsibility and blaming others, and people like me are fed up witness. we are stretching our budgets. women are trying so hard to get back into the workforce. it's just not working. he needs to talk about that. martha: one of the things that joe biden said and president obama said is that mitt romney is good at creating wealth, that's what he was working at. when a president needs to do is give everybody a fair shot, that that's the role of a president. and i'm wondering if that is an upbeat enough message to inch capsulate the american imagination at this point. to say like what we're here for is to make sure that everybody sort of gets an equal amount, then you can figure out to do witness. is that message going to generate a winning message for the president? >> i think it's starting to move us forward, right which is the essence of where the obama campaign is trying to take us. it's a message about opportunity, what creates opportunity. to your point who creates opportunity.

when you look at mitt romney's record at bain, if we don't want to put that on the table, that's fine. his record at bain was about essentially laying off people, right, not creating opportunities. >> no. >> let's also talk about his record as governor of massachusetts, massachusetts i think was 47th in job growth, right, i mean during his tenure? martha: i think that's all fair game. and it absolutely need to be on the table. i think that may be why the folks have been more on his private sector experience than it has been on massachusetts. >> can i say one thing about mitt romney being there to layoff. i'm not here to defend mitt romney, i am here to defend people who do what he does and put their private money into businesses. he was like a cancer doctor, and he saved when he went in and did that with bain capital 70% of the patients. i have been laid off and it's a terrible feeling, it's painful p. i know the companies that laid me off, hundreds of other jobs were saved by cutting what

needed to be cut. and it's the same thing in a family budget, or anything, sometimes difficult choices and cuts are made, that's life. >> you don't demonize people for it. >> what happened to hope and change? >> it got unemployed, it was laid off. martha: that's one of the questions that people will decide when they go to the voting booths in 2012. we'll see what they think. thank you so much. it's good to have you all here. we'll see you soon. bill: ladies, take a look at this now, coming up the hudson river, new york harbor, it is fleet week in new york city and this is a grand sight with the statue of liberty in the background, not in that shot but one we saw a little bit earlier today. a beautiful sight here as we get ready for fleet week and sailors will be all over this town for the next three or four days. spend your money and when you pass them on the sidewalk say, thank you. all right. robbed over and over begin for years, finally granny got a gun and guess what, now, she is the

one on the wrong side of the law. how did that happen? >> i probably would have shot him because he made my life miserable these past five, six, seven years.

martha: it is 24 minutes past the hours, and a miami college student is expected to plead guilty in federal court to threatening the president on facebook. the student faces up to five years in prison. and one of the 13 people charged in the hazing death of a florida a & m drum major says that the young man who died wanted to be hazed. he says it was a sign of respect to have survived such an encounter. a long, strange trip for what are believed to be moon chips from the very first lunar

mission. the estate of a vegas mogul sending the pieces of lunar rock to nasa for authentication. if they are real they go back to anything rag what from where they were stolen. president nixon gave the lunar specimens as a gift back in the 1970s. those chips have been a lot of places. bill: i was looking for this chip. we should have known they were in nicaragua. martha: i told you to put them in a safe place. bill: next time. now the race for 2012, polls may be showing a tight race, but it's victories in the individual states, not the popular vote that pave the road to the white house as you know. and governor mitt romney for him winning could come down to a strategy known as 3-2-1. james rosen chief washington correspondent has a look at that right now. good morning to*ufrpblgts as the two campaigns map out their political tactics and messaging

strat joe and so forth there is one map to matters above all others, it is the electoral map. g.o.p. strategists using this map have calculated a root to victory for mitt romney that is known as 3-2-1. the g.o.p. nominee must retain in the red column in november every state that john mccain won four years ago. then it's off to the races. the game plan calls for governor romney to take back three traditionally republican states that barack obama overcame long voting patterns to capture. if the republicans reclaim these red states it adds up to 39 electoral votes. if romney manages then, then it's a quest to win two that digs tphal bath ground states, ohio and florida. both of these states voted to reelect george w. bush in 2004 then turned blue for barack obama. redistricting after the 2010 census cost ohio two electorial

sraoets but florida picked up two. the stew states count for 47 electric stoerl votes. he has to poach from the obama-biden column one of these eight states, half of which you can see voted for the bush-cheney ticket in 04 before turning blue in 0le. >> it's the only credible plan i've seen and maps how how romney wins. the problem right now is obama only high school to disrupt one of those things. like virginia in the group of states, indiana, north carolina and virginia, there is no one state that is indispensable. virginia i do think is going to be a battleground right down to the end. joe is right if romney doesn't win virginia, if he wins iowa and wisconsin both of which are risks today. new polls show the race in wisconsin dead even. >> reporter: the only number that really matters here is winning 270 votes in the

electorial college. martha: vicinitying. watch colorado, watch ohio, going to be very interesting. so a little known law decades old could potentially sink the president's healthcare mandates as it was pushed by democrats. we're going to tell you about this law and explain what it might mean. bill: if this couple can weather this storm they can weather anything. the story behind the dramatic wedding day photo that no one will soon forget. martha: that's pretty cool. ♪ going to get married. going to the chapel and we're going to get married. gee i really love you ... ♪ ♪

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martha: we are just getting new data on new home sales in the country. in april they were up 3.3%. that comes after a 7.3% decline in march. so it's a positive number for new home sales. it's still overall well below where they want to see these numbers for a healthy economy. but we'll see if you can tack a couple of good months like that on it may indicate there is a trend for now. we've got an increase for april new home sales. bill: where is that bottom, huh? martha: who knows, right. bill: new concerns for the white house this morning that a decades old law that was backed by democrats could sink the president's healthcare law? it's called the religious freedom restoration act, it's

mentioned in nearly every lawsuit filed against the mandate. senator tom coburn, member of the senate finance committee is with me. good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: this goes back to 1993 pwurbd b1993 pushed by then schumer out of new york and senator ted kennedy. what were they trying to protect? >> any time the government does something, what they have to do is do it in a way that will not infringe on religious liberties. the burden of proof falls to the government to do that. and in the case with the president's contraceptive mandate for faith-based organizations, what they are going to have to prove is there was no other way to actually accomplish this through the government other than taking away or limiting religious freedom. and so it's going to be a difficult hurdle for them to get over, especially when you can go to almost any county health department in the country, if in

fact you have a need and get free birth control, or you can at walmart buy it for $7 a month. bill: so you say that does not meet the measure of that law? >> well, there's lots of other ways they could do it. they could do it through medicaid, mandating medicaid, expansion to medicaid for oral contraceptives by sit telephone. ther itself. there are a lot of other ways they could do it. bill: you say this comes back to the contraception issue of religious freedom which is what cardinal dolan has been arguing. he says it's not about contraception, it's about religious freedom. if the government were allowed to get through with this one, where would it stop with religion in america? do you buy that? >> it's not only that it's the political game we are paying. paying back interest groups that support the president. the idea is, is there a real need? and the answer to that is no.

having practiced obstetrics for 25 years i can tell you there is not a shortage of access to oral contraceptives in this country for everybody. bill: this was signed into law by president clinton in 1983. would it not be ironic if that is what takes this healthcare law down? >> i'm not sure it will take the healthcare long down. it will take down the mandate issued out of hhs mandating that organizations of faith have to follow certain guidelines, in terms of governing. bill: it would just be the mandate then, not the entire law. >> yes it would just be that area. bill: we'll keep and eye on that, the religious freedom rest tor restoration act. who knew. tom coburn thank you.

>> you bet. martha: fire power and pride on display as fleet week, folks, there it is, a live, beautiful shot of the hudson river is rolling into new york city today. u.s. navy warships arriving here for the memorial day weekend, it's an annual tradition. they cross. patti ann: with a parade of tall ships. it is just a visual spectacular. look at that, there is lady liberty gleaming in a little bit of sunlight we have back there. how about that one shooting some cool fountains off the edges of that both. laura ingles take it all in in new york city. >> reporter: good morning. we have a spectacular view here along the hudson river. we have two cameras set up, up and down the hudson. here at pier 92 where we're coming to you live and the camera position you talked about down at ba at bat at bat re park. we've been treated to a spectacular show on the hudson with the tall ships.

there is a parade of ships. the flotilla of tall ships will be followed by the warships coming up second. entering the new york harbor, gliding up the hudson to the george washington bridge, they will turn around and give us that show of ships on the body of water that has not seen this type of action in the last 12 years. fleet week of course is always so special and spectacular in the big apple but this year is very different because of those tall ships. lieutenant commander ron carpanella is joining me live to talk about the tall ships. 12 years since we've seen this action. >> this is our 24th fleet week. we've been holding this typically annually. we are pretty exi excited to be coming up the hudson right now. martha: thanks to you and the two cameras out there. we'll be watching that throughout the morning. bill: welcome back to new york city. martha: absolutely. bill: an extreme weather alert because we're wondering whether

or not this is an omen. this couple was hitched with two tornadoes touching down below them. in kansas, spack dab in the middle of tornado alley. the funnel clouds did not touch the reception. the bride says she was scared to death, she had never seen a tornado before she is from nebraska. he said he knew they were safe the whole time. martha: that is so cute. bill: is that like a moment in your life or an omen, boy on our wedding day. martha: two twisters and a gorgeous shot like that, i would call that good luck. bill: grain behind them. skwraoeut looks lik martha: it looks like a backdrop. bill: then they said happily every after until the next storm comes around. martha: they are adore rafpblt he was brought on as mitt romney's national security and foreign policy spokesman until his surprising reus eu resignation sparked a media

firestorm and a lot of questions from the romney camp. richard granell joins us live to discuss all of that. martha: this driver is barely out of diapers.

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made headlines. as the longest serving spokesman during bush administration he was tapped by the romney campaign to be a national security and foreign policy spokesman. today he writes an op.edu for the "wall street journal" that while he supports president obama's stance on gay marriage he believes that the president does not deserve to be reelected and that mitt romney does. so he joins us now for the first time, his first live interview since all of this happened. he's the former spokesman as i said for the last four ambassadors to the u.n. welcome, good to have you here this morning. >> thanks, martha, thanks for having me. martha: we have talked many times over the years about foreign policy issues which is our specialty and area of expertise. all of this came about for a number of reasons and it happened simultaneously with president obama's support for gay marriage. you are openly gay, and you then were on with the romney folks and decided to leave. why did you decide to leave, and

did they try to stop you? >> you know i was hired to be the national security and foreign policy spokesman and i think they hired me and governor romney hired me because that is my expertise as you said. i spent eight years at the u.n. and i really care deeply about national security issues, and that's the focus. and it became clear to me that there were many people on the left and the right that really wanted to keep me in a one dimensional box and have me just talk about being gay, or my position on gay marriage. i think it's ludicrous, i'm like most americans, in that i have multiple views and we don't always agree with the candidate that we support or work for on every single issue. i don't think that that should be news. so for me i became a distraction, a distraction for the issues that i most care about, national security, foreign policy. i really wanted to talk straight to the american people about the

president's record. i think it's a dismal record, and i think most people should look at multiple issues when they decide in november who to support for president. martha: you're so right about that. everybody looks at multiple issues and has a lot of facets to their lives and the things they care b. why do you feel so strongly that mitt romney is the right person for this job? some people feel he doesn't have a lot of foreign policy background and experience. >> you know, for me i think the governor has a great world view. he's unapologetic about america's exceptionalism. that to me is a fundamental view. if you look at what president obama did when sitting with the russian president, he leaned forward to the russian president and he was caught on camera in a whisper saying, in essence saying, you know, if you just allow me some space through november, where i can talk to the american people one way, i will be different after the election. i'll have a lot more

flexibility. that to me is a very scary moment when we have the president of the united states being more honest with the russian president than with the american people. that means to me that this president doesn't view america as exceptional or unique, and i think mitt romney has a narrative and a world view that is much different. martha: i want to play a bit of the president yesterday at nato talking about afghanistan and get your quick thoughts on that then i've got another question for you on the other side of that. >> no matter how much good we're doing and how outstanding our troops and civilians and diplomates are doing on the ground, ten years in a country that is very different, that's a strain, not only on our folks, but also on that country. so i think that the timetable that we've established is a sound one. it is a responsible one. are there risks involved in it?

absolutely. stkwrao what does that tell you about the obama doctrine? >> well, clearly he's emphasizing that it's a strain and there is no question that it's a strain. but to me what it is saying is that in times of strain, in times of pressure he is bowing to political pressure. it's ironic, martha, that he's making this decision right in the middle of a campaign where he campaigned against wars in iraq and afghanistan, and to me the overarching view is that america is not unique for the president. it's one of many, we should treat everybody the same, including ourselves and i don't subscribe to that world view. i think it's a dangerous world view and i think americans should look at it and say it's the wrong path for us. martha: you say that it can be really hard to be a gay republican, that you kind of get it from both side, from the far right but also from people who don't believe that that could possibly be, that it's an oxymoron somehow to be conservative and gay, just a

quick thought on that. >> well intolerance on both sides i find it ironic as well that the left wants to be out front on everyone should be tolerant messaging is the one group that says, you can't be gay and be with conservative. so there are people on the far right that don't like the fact that i'm gay, and there are people on the far left that don't like the fact that i'm a conservative. i'm comfortably in the middle, i know who i am and i think a lot of americans are just like me in that they have a lot of multiple views and they go into the voting booth and they vote according to multiple, phult t multidimensional views. martha: we read your op.edu and it expresses your support of mitt romney. bill: jon scott is with us. jon: we are talking about the

filmmakers, did they get unprecedented access to inside information and there are dangers associated? we'll talk with the head of judicial watch who brought the details to live. the four eyewitnesses to the trayvon martin shooting in florida are changing their stories now. what they are saying and how it could impact george zimmerman's case. our legal panel weighs in. that, plus live pictures of the tall ships as they enter new york when jenna lee and i see you at the top of the hour on "happening now." bill: thank you, jon. she was fed up being robbed so a gun-toting grandmother took matters into her own hands. >> i got so mad, i run in there and got the gun. my granddaughter said, please don't go over there. i didn't pay her no attention. bill: things did not turn out the way that she had planned. standby for the rest of her story.

bill: for years a woman in detroit, who is also a grandmother is saying she's been begging for help against thugs who are making her life very difficult. she took matters into her own hands, and in the end it did not turn out the way she had planned. fox detroit has that story. >> reporter: 77-year-old dorothy bomar lives on the west side of the city and as she puts it things have certainly changed. >> once you go in the house we very seldom come back out. >> reporter: why is that. >> because we are scared. >> reporter: the other thing dorothy wants to warn our older and wiser people about. >> they better be careful who they let work in their yard. >> reporter: she met a young man with a lawnmower. that help turned into harassment. >> i think he thought he had found an old fool that i was

going to give him money. >> reporter: when she did not she claims he kept coming around. she could not get rid of him. she believes him or his friends, thugs are damaging her property all to get revenge. >> i told the police, he's trying to kill me. >> reporter: last thursday she got so angry she went and grabbed her -- >> shotgun. i probably would have shot him because he made my life miserable these past, five, six, seven years, and i got the papers to prove how many times i've been reporting it. i got so mad, i run in there and got the gun. my granddaughter said, please don't go over there. i didn't pay her no attention. >> reporter: she does admit that she was looking for one guy in particular, but the young man who was around the corner on woodbine said dorothy did point the gun at him so he called 911, and the cops tame looking for granny. >> to draw a gun on him, no i didn't. >> reporter: she was arrested for felonious assault, felony firearm and having a loaded firearm in a vehicle. >> i regret it. i'm the one that got my self be

in trouble. >> reporter: police took the shotgun but grandma has another one and she is not afraid to use it if she has to. >> when i sleep at night my handgun is right there on my nightstand. bill: i wonder if she's sleeping any better now. dorothy had to spend about 24 hours in jail. you heard her say she has piles and phoufpbdz incident reports that she says backs up her story. martha: she is one tough lady. bill: hang in there dorothy. martha: good for her. hollywood getting access to some highly sensitive information about the osama bin laden raid. new reports out saying that that is what exactly happened and we are going to talk about that. now reaction coming in on that big story today from the white house.

>> bagged salads, bagged salads across the country have been recalled due to contamination fears. yeah. luckily this is america so

none of the salads were touched. [laughter] [applause] god help us if something happens to our doritos supply. [lghter] martha: that would promote widespread panic. bill: nacho cheese. martha: good to have you back. bill: thank you very much. we'll be on radio with kilmeade. martha: look forward to that. check us out. jenna: key nuclear talks underway in iran or with iran. world powers negotiating with baghdad. canned they end a dangerous standoff or is iran playing for time? we'll talk about whether this pattern is repeating itself. new developments in the trayvon martin case. four witnesses changing their account what happened the night the teenager was killed. our