jon: as a couple of people who have both experienced hurricanes firsthand, we're hoping and praying that isaac just -- arthel: goes away or just dissolves. jon: thanks for joining us. arthel: "america live" starts right now. megyn: fox news alert, new details this hour on tropical storm isaac. at this point isaac is packing 40 mile-per-hour winds and could become a hurricane within the next few hours. forecasters now predicting that it will track into the warm waters of the gulf of mexico, possibly taking aim at the u.s. coastline. one potential target, tampa, florida, where the republican national convention is schedule today get under way on monday. we've got a report on the scramble there to deal with the threat. we'll be speaking with the mayor of tampa live later in the program, and we will also get a live update from someone from the rnc who will tell us exactly

what the contingency plans are, and we are told they have them. be. but first -- a dramatic shift in momentum in the race for the white house. welcome, everyone, to "america live," i'm megyn kelly. brand new polling shows this race is tightening in the critical swing states with momentum today going in governor mitt romney's direction. take a look at what has happened in just the past three weeks. president obama's lead shrinking in eight of these nine key swing states, and the biggest changes coming in some of the states with the most electoral votes at stake, including ohio and wisconsin. chris stirewalt is our fox news digital politics editor and host of "power play" on foxnews.com. we've talked many times about how even though governor romney made some headway here or there, you know, did it really matter when he was still trailing barack obama in the real clear

politics average of all polls in these critical swing states, and he was trail anything virtually every single one of them up until a couple of weeks ago. and now today, chris, what a difference a few weeks makes. romney ahead of pram in; colorado, florida, iowa, michigan, nevada, ohio, wisconsin, virginia. it's, it's rather striking when you see not necessarily ahead of him, i shouldn't say, but that the lead is that obama had is shrinking significantly, but several percentage points. your take on it. >> well, look, we have not seen much volatility in these poll numbers up until now because think about this, megyn, and something else we've talked about a lot is the fact that this has been an election like no other. president obama opened early, opened negative and stayed there, hammering away at mitt romney for all these months. and what that caused people to do was pick a side, get into a camp very soon. so unlike other elections we have a larger pool of

persuadable voters, there's not many undecideds left, and that makes governor romney's recent gains more significant because it's hard to pry people away when you have a very toxic atmosphere like the political atmosphere this year. and as nate silver at "the new york times" has pointed out and other people have pointed out, you finally -- once you had the paul ryan pick and conservatives swung in behind romney and really give him their all, you've started to see clear momentum and clear movement for mitt romney. megyn: okay. and i just want to make clear, it's not that romney's lead anything those states, it's that obama's lead is shrinking, but considerably. and that's the question, chris, is that, you know, when i look down at the list, obama had, for example, in ohio, president obama had a lead of 4.8%, now it's down to 1.8%. and now see similar numbers, you know, in other states. iowa he had a 1.3% lead, now it's down to 1%. colorado it was a 3.0% lead, now it's down to 1.0%.

does -- is there room for that to shrink further? be at this point are there really enough undecideds out there or independents that that can shrink further still? >> sure, there are. and the undecided number is smaller than you might normally expect to see at this point, but it's still there. what mitt romney's counting on is this normally true statement for challengers in any political race is that the late deciding undecideds break in favor of the challenger. they already know the incumbent, and if they hold out till the end, they're more likely to break for the other guy. mitt romney believes as long as he's close, and they make an analogy to being in a basketball game, that if they can just stay within a couple baskets, they can close it at the end. now, you point to ohio, and ohio's been a real bugger for mitt romney. the quinnipiac poll there today shows romney flat this ohio.

the president's lost altitude, but mitt romnehasn't been able to get out of the mid 40s in ohio, and that poll and a lot of other polls, even as he's showing this growth in other states. so the challenge for mitt romney, because he cannot get elected president without ohio. the problem for mitt romney is he's got to find a way to break out of those mid 40s in ohio. megyn: how's he going to do that? [laughter] what's the answer to that? >> now, if i knew that, i'd be in pom tibs -- politics -- megyn: you'd be in vegas. >> exactly. what he has to do is in sub youn counties in the northern part of the state like lake county outside of cleveland, he's got to convince these suburbanites he's not a job-stealing vampire, he doesn't want people the die of cancer. [laughter] he has to get in there and change a dialogue that the president has focused on ohio, focused on social issues with suburban women, very successfully painted mitt romney as a beside dude. he has to change their

perception and he has to do it fast. megyn: we'll see him in ohio a lot. we've also got our hands on polling on one of the most controversial issues of all. voters in three swing states weigh anything on the president's health care overhaul and separately on the issue of medicare. in ten minutes we'll show you what voters are saying on those issues in three critical states. fox news weather alert on isaac, and four days out now from the republican national convention, the city of tampa is preparing for the worst case scenario. the city's mayor says he is prepared to order an evacuation of the city if what is now tropical storm isaac strengthens to hurricane force and provides a direct hit to the city. that is over 800,000 people that could be looking for ways out. at the same time. trace gallagher following this live. trace? >> reporter: and we don't know exactly where this thing is going, megyn, or how strong it's going o to be, but all of the reliable models put this thing

in the gulf of mexico monday or tuesday, so this is one of those you've got to get ready for. there's a lot to align, but you've got to have your game plan. and remember, if this thing does happen, it goes toward tampa, it's not up to the mayor to call off the republican national convention, it's up to the republican national committee, and here's what they're saying. listen. >> well, i'm not going to speculate. we do have contingency plans for a variety of issues that could arise, but, you know, we are moving forward. >> reporter: but the mayor of tampa would give the evacuation order for the city, and let me just show you some the logistical problems associate with the that. this is downtown tampa. it is less than one square mile around, and as you can see it's surrounded by waterways and intersates. they plan to shuttle some 4-500 buses into downtown tampa every single day. now, it is in a flood zone, and it has a tendency to flood during tropical storms as well as hurricanes, so if a hurricane

was coming toward downtown, they clearly would have to evacuate. now, the rnc says they may try to ride out a tropical storm, but take a look at this, right? during tropical storm debbie back in june three major bridges -- the sunshine skyway, howard franklin and courtney campbell -- all had to be shut down. the sunshine skyway, for three hours. this right here in downtown tampa, those are three major ways to get in and out, and a tropical storm means you likely would also have to leave tampa which is why the governor is issuing warnings for the megyn kellys of the world. listen. >> when you come to the state, we're telling you to be prepared, to get ready, to follow heed warnings, watch the weather. um, so let's do what we do constantly. when people come to our state, we tell them if there's a potential storm or hurricane to get more information and follow directions. >> reporter: so i know you cover politics, megyn, but a

little warning to those who cover hurricanes, light jacket and water proof boots might be in -- megyn: i see foresee terrible issues with the hair. [laughter] not going to be good. let's hope it turns into a little rainstorm, and we have some people tuning in to see the rain, but nobody gets hurt and nothing gets damaged. let's hope for that. >> reporter: me too. megyn: thanks, trace. trace has been out there in those hurricanes many times, maybe we'll queue that up for you later in the program. some ugly new air safety questions today after two planes nearly crash right on the runway. why the control tower is being blamed for dropping the ball not once, but twice, and we'll look at the larger questions this is raising. look at that. look, look. plus, we'll have the investigation into how bystanders tried to help the victims of a car crash and wound up paying with their lives. plus, three minutes to this: one of the navy seals who was leading the mission to kill

usama bin laden, who did lead that mission, just wrote a book. but he did not get approval from the pentagon, the department of defense, the department of justice or anyone within the government as he was supposed to do. we'll look at the possible fallout of that next. >> when we're out there, whether it's a republican or a democrat out there with me on the field of battle or doing a mission, if it's leaked to the enemy that we're going to be there or how we're going to do it, we both die just the same. so it is americans die, and if stuff is leaked, terror comes to the united states. ,

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try align today. megyn: well, we are tracking a big story developing in washington, and it could end up producing significant political fallout as the days and weeks pass by. one of the navy seals on the mission to kill usama bin laden now says he wants to, quote, set the record straight about one of the most important missions in u.s. military history.

he has written a book due out in a couple of weeks entitled "no easy day: the biography of a navy seal." what we do not know what is in the book, we do know it was not cleared by the pentagon or the department of defense. captain pete -- [inaudible] of concerned veterans for america is a captain in the army national guard and a veteran of iraq, afghanistan and guantanamo bay. welcome back to the program, sir. >> thanks for having me, megyn. megyn: so this navy seal -- it's not just any navy seal, he is said to be one of the leaders of the operation that took out usama bin laden. and the reason the book is so controversial, even though he is now a former marine, a former navy seal, he's retired s that he did not clear it through the dod which he is supposed to do. we checked the guidelines, it seems pretty clear you need to do that because they're supposed to be given the right to see whether any national security information is being compromised in such a memoir. he didn't do it.

why do you think he didn't, pete? >> well, he probably should have. but i think you go to the higher level of if anyone's earned their first amendment right, a guy like this with 13 tours, who was one of the first guys on the third floor in bin laden's compound, he was part of the ones that saved the captain from the somali pirates by putting a couple bullets in the head of the pirates. he's highly decorated, and he's taken -- it looks like from what i've read -- he's taken precautions to the make sure he doesn't compromise things. he's not showing his identity, in the book he's not revealing identities. i would think this is the kind of guy who's not going to pour 13 tours after 9/11 into uniform and then disparage it once you get out. i think he wallets to set the record straight. imagine what he's sitting, what he's watching and seeing with thes leaks out of washington. he's going, hey, man, i was there. i saw it, he probably should have cleared it, and hopefully he'll get a chance to do that because we don't want to

compromise these secrets, but this kind of guy strikes me as the kind of guy who's going to shoot straight -- megyn: well, and certainly has a record of doing exactly that. if there's anyone you want to give the benefit of the doubt to, it's someone with this kind of record. it was vetted by, quote, a special operations attorney for tactical and procedural information as well as information that could be considered classified and so on, and that person found it to be without risk to national security. now, that is not the same as giving it to the pent gone as this navy -- pentagon as this navy seal was supposed to do. my feeling, you tell me, pete, is there must be a reason -- this guy was such a service person, there must have been a reason, perhaps he felt they would overly edit it. the question is what might that be, and could there be some political fallout to this? >> yeah. i mean, we're only speculating, but, hey, maybe he feels like it's already been said? what hasn't been leaked about

the bin laden raid yet? my goodness, he looks at what was talked about following that raid, there was a movie that was supposed to come out about it in october that's been delayed. half of it's right, half of it's wrong, and a lot of it's politically motivated, and a guy like this is saying cut the bs, i can't take it anymore, i want to tell my side of the story, i'm going to make sure my operator community knows why i'm doing it, that i vet it through a lawyer that understands what secrets really are, but otherwise i'm going to set the record straight now because we can't wait any longer as people use leaks and other things for political purpose. this guy strikes me as a straight shooter, and i think that's what he's doing. megyn: now there's a question about whether he could be prosecuted for doing this. that threat has not been made by any officials, it's just a question that's out there once you violate the dod regulations like this. we're going to talk about that later in the program. but my question to you is what kind of a position would that put the administration?

any prosecution would have to come out of the department of justice if they decided to go after not only a navy seal, but the navy seal who was one of the leaders of the takedown of usama bin laden, not the mention the other accomplishments you mention ld. what kind of position is that for them to have to go after minute like that? >> regardless of the legalities, good luck with that. i'm not a presidential-level political strategist, but i'd be surprised if they want the narrative going forward to be, you know, president's justice department goes after navy seal who was in the door and shot bin laden. i don't think that's a fight they want to pick, especially in light of, you know, what some groups have been doing to talk about and highlight the security leaks, that they just don't get it. they don't get the fact that this is -- and you can tie it back to other things whether it's military voting and this lawsuit in ohio, you've got a lot of veterans out there kind of scratching their heads saying how does this all add up to what we expect from our leadership?

so i'd be surprised if they brought the hammer down on a guy like this -- megyn: yeah, but they have to worry about protecting classified information, and i know a lot of people believe they have leaked some information, but they have to worry on a larger scale about protecting classified information or information that could be classified. and on a separate note, they had the chairman of the joint chiefs come out and tell fox news he thinks it is not helpful to have even former navy seals like we saw in that ad that went after the president earlier this week and last, he said it's not helpful because it confuses the american people. they're supposed to look at the american military and not think about political, you know, persuasions. >> sure. i mean, every -- i respect his opinion, and i understand where he's coming from as a general, and there's a long line of generals who have said we're not going to get involved in politics. at the same time, you fight for freedoms over there that you want to preserve over here, and when you come back having served, you want to come back and say too much is at stake, i want to be a part of this conversation.

so being in the military shouldn't preclude you from getting involved, it should be even more of a reason to do so. but there is a responsibility that comes with it to make sure you're careful about how you articulate it, you don't use it just for political gain. this guy's giving away the money for the book, he doesn't want to expose himself, he's not going to expose the other members of the raids to put sources and methods, compromise 'em. i don't think he's doing it because he wants to run for office. i think he's doing it because he's got an angst inside that he's got to give out. megyn: yeah. he's giving all the profits to charity, and he says it's the story of the guys, the human toll we pay and the sacrifices we make to do this dirty job. captain pete, always a pleasure seeing you. thank so much, my friend. >> thanks, megyn. megyn: well, we spoke with sources in the pentagon earlier today who said there are strict rules and regulations about books like this. i referenced some of them. and this navy seal could be prosecuted. kelly's court takes up that question coming up. plus, new questions about

whether the president's health care law could hold him back in some key swing states on november 6th. some brand new polls just released today, we will break them down coming up. >> obamacare has got to go! ♪ muck uddy. let's put some music on. [ woman ] welcome to learning spanish in the car. you've got to be kidding me. this is good. vamanos. vamanos. vamanos. gracias. gracias. gracias. ♪ trece horas en el carro sin parar y no traes musica. mira entra y comprame unas papitas. [ male announcer ] get up to 795 miles per tank in the 2013 passat tdi clean diesel. that's the power of german engineering. see your local dealer for special lease and finance rates during the autobahn for all event. see8% every 10 years.age 40, swe can start losing muscle --s wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor.

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megyn: the u.s. reaching a dangerous health milestone with more cases of the west nile virus being reported than ever before. the cdc is reporting 41 deaths so far and more than 1100 total infections, 400 of them just last week. doctors say they usually see just 300 cases this time of year, and while the reasons for

the spike are hard to determine, the cdc blames the mild winter and extremely hot summer for helping mosquitoes breed. well, we are getting new details on a horrifying chain of events in california. two good samaritans were electrocuted while they were trying to help the victim of a car crash. trace gallagher has their story live from our west coast newsroom. trace? >> reporter: really just a lethal cocktail, megyn, that nobody expected. it happened in the san fernando valley when a driver came around a corner and lost control. he struck a fire hydrant. the hydrant exploded. he struck a power pole, and a power line dropped into the water. a woman who lives nearby ran out of her house to help the driver, she clearly did not realize the water had been electrified. here's a witness, listen. >> she walked, stepped in the water, fell back on her back with her arms straight out, and then i i ran back to the house and i came back. there was a huge crowd of people.

>> reporter: in that crowd another woman who was driving with her husband who saw the accident also got out to try to help the woman, and she was electrocuted as well. there were at least eight other people at the scene, but everybody was yelling stay away, stay back, stay back. listen. >> everybody panicking because they couldn't help the woman on the ground because of the live wire. i mean, it was obvious she needed aid, but nobody could do anything because of the live wire and the water. it was horrifying. just horrifying. >> reporter: yeah, just horrifying. you can imagine even when police and fire fight beers arrived, they had to weight for the power company to show up to turn the power off to the pole. the two women who were electrocuted on scene, there were eight others who actually suffered some minor shocks trying to help out, they are said to be fine. talk about a helpless situation, you're watching people, you know they need help, and there's no way to get to them without putting yourself in harm's way.

megyn: wow. >> big time, megyn. megyn: trace, thank you. unbelievable. we've got some eye-opening new polls from three critical states on one of the biggest accomplishments that, of this administration. but people remain very, very divided over it. we'll show you where voters in some key swing states stand on the new health care law and on the issue of medicare. we'll ask our panel what this means for the presidential election. >> and aye on the tropics as -- eye on the tropics as new storm could possibly take aim at tele's west coast -- florida's west coast. we will ask how the city of tampa and the gop are preparing for a possible worst case scenario. >> have you had to take calls from people in other parts of the country asking about this issue? >> all day. >> what are they asking? >> same questions. what are we doing, what are the contingency planses? >> and i assume you're telling them to come on down. >> exactly.

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60 days of identity theft protection risk free-- that's right, 60 days risk free-- use promo code: notme. order now and get this document shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 value, free. call the number on your screen. [♪...] megyn: fox news alert on one of our top stories this hour, isaac just crossed into the eastern caribbean where he is expected to reach hurricane strength anytime now. from there the forecast models have this storm sweeping across parts of the dominican republic and cuba before tracking into the gulf of mexico where the water is warm, and the system could strengthen some more. if it stays mostly over land, that's good, it will diminish

the strength. if it stays mostly over the warm waters, that's not so good. the first concern for the united states is the west coast of florida, and when we checked the record books, we saw that more than 114 hurricanes have hit there in the 1850s, since 1852, i should say. the tampa area has seen 27 hurricanes including six during the month of august. in that region alone, over 800,000 people live in evacuation zones. coming up right here in just moments tampa's mayor will join us live on how his city is facing the threat from isaac, and we'll also be joined from an official from the rnc who will talk to us about what the plans are for this maas i have convention -- massive convention is wents of thousands of people coming in town. they have their plans in place, and we'll talk about what they are coming up. well, new questions today about the president's health care overhaul and whether it is holding him back in some key swing states this election.

according to the latest polls from quinnipiac, more voters from florida, ohio and wisconsin, all critical swing states, say they disapprove of the president's health care law than approve of it. and voters in all three of those states say health care is a big, big issue for them in this election. joining me now, simon rosenberg, president and founder of ndn, a think tank and advocacy organization, and marc thiessen is a fellow at the american enterprise institute and a former speech writer for president george w. bush. so here you have florida, ohio and wisconsin, and i don't know, did you think by this point, simon, that the health care law would die, would have died down a little as an issue? because according to these polls, it hasn't. it's number two right behind the chi as the most important issue for voters in those states. >> yeah, i'm not surprised. i mean, health care's a big issue in the united states. it's always polled at number two

or number three over the last 15-20 years, and i think it's also front of mind in these states because mitt romney is running ads right now tying the president's medicare plan to the overall health care plan. so there's actually ads in these states that are pushing this into people's front of mind. but remember, megyn, for all the challenges the president faces in selling his health care plan -- and let's be clear, it's been a tough sell for him over the last couple years -- in all three of these states he's winning handily. and right now he's still winning the election, and mitt romney, as chris said earlier, chris stirewalt said he's got to do something to change the dynamic if he's going to win. megyn: he is winning there, although he's only got a one-point margin in florida, in ohio it's now a 1.8% margin n wisconsin it's a 2.6% margin according to the real clear politics average of all polls. marc, on the other hand even though mitt romney probably likes to see the president is struggling with people on the health care law in these swing

states, mitt romney is struggling on the medicare issue. when folks were polled about medicare in those states, it suggested that they do not much like the paul ryan plan when it comes to medicare, and they also think that medicare's very important. 50% of those in florida say t extremely important, 45 in ohio, 42 in wisconsin. >> yep. no, i think that's very true. but, you know, ryan just got onto the ticket, and it's going to ache take a little time. obamacare is deeply unpopular, particularly with independents. as we know that three-quarters of independents oppose obamacare, and in florida 89%, in wisconsin 85%, and 81% in ohio say that it's going to be very important to their decision. and it's not just as you point out obamacare as stand-alone issue, it's how it intersects with the economy and with medicare. when it comes to the economy, thanks to the supreme court decision we now know the

individual mandate is a middle class tax increase that's going to hit three million americans with new taxes, we know that the medical device tax is already causing businesses to cancel plants and lay off workers, and three-quarters of small business other thans say obamacare's hurting job creation. so romney's going to make the case that obamacare's bad for the economy. when it comes to medicare, as you point out, that's a huge issue for these voters. it's going to blunt obama's senior scare strategy because t very hard for obama to say that romney and ryan are threatening medicare when he's the one who cut $716 billion out of medicare to pay for obamacare. it's going to be very hard for him to say romney and ryan want to destroy medicare as we know it when his own medicare actuary said that half of seniors would lose their medicare advantage plans under this. so this could actually hurt him. megyn: the internal numbers on medicare say the plan's going to go bankrupt by 2024, so somebody's got to do something

about it. the viewers and voters can make up their minds, but something bad's going to happen if something's not done. did the viewers, do the voters get their arms aren't -- around it? obama cut existing medicare, but romney wants to cut future medicare, but, no, he doesn't, it's only for the under 55s, but do you think people are going to have an understanding of these nuances? >> i think if you look at the poll you're referring to today, the numbers are very bad for mitt romney and paul ryan just based on the polls you're bringing up here, megyn. tactically, marc, my question is, was it smart for the republicans to link medicare and the obama health care plan together? because they're losing the medicare argument even if they're doing okay on the health care argument. and it seems that they may have actually, if they lump them together, it looks like it's going to make it easier for barack obama to win the overall health care debate. so i think possibly they made a

mistake linking them together -- megyn: do you think that's true, marc? or do you think people's feel ings about obamacare which has been so debated in this country for a couple years are pretty ingrained? go ahead, marc. >> no, that's not true. it's very much a negative, and people who support it versus the people who oppose it, a wide gap. and particularly in florida and particularly among seniors, the seniors are the most opposed to it. i think it's very smart of them to link to two because the fact is that seniors are going to be very upset when they learn that obamacare, that obama is paying for obamacare by rating their medicare. -- by raiding their medicare. they're going to be very upset when they learn half of them are going to lose their medicare advantage plans in order to pay for obamacare. it ties the two issues together, something that they already oppose to something that is a threat to something they care

about. and it'll hurt him in swing states, particularly in florida. megyn: that's a point dana perino was making last week, she was saying it may have been a brilliant move if it was thought out to this extent by the romney camp because obama got a pass. president obama got mostly a pass on the cuts to medicare when obamacare was passed because even was so focused on what was happening to the health care system. and now with paul ryan joining the republican ticket and the focus on his medicare plan, it sort of gave the republicans another chance to go back at what obamacare did to medicare. >> right. and, of course, paul ryan actually in his budget has the same cuts to medicare as barham what ma does in his -- barack obama does in his plan. so i don't know at the end of the day they're going to be able to create that much of a distinction. megyn, i really think this election's going to come down to two o things; the republicans by picking paul ryan have made it clear that socially extreme views are going to be fair game which they weren't previously,

and, second, it reinforces that they have their economic strategy is gonna, is so obsessed with cutting tacks that they're going to blow a hole in the deficit and starve the country of needed investments. i think that's where this is going to be debated. the health care debate fits into that because amazing to me right now that the republicans are claiming they're fiscally responsible when they want to increase spending on medicare, defense and cut taxes. they're the ones who become the fiscally irresponsible party. barack's being attacked for cutting an entitlement program right now. i thought that's what we all wanted to do -- megyn: barack. [laughter] can we call him barack now? >> he's mr. president. and if you want his position -- megyn: go ahead, marc. last word. >> sorry about that. >> he's not going to be successful. he's running as a fiscally-responsible candidate against romney. megyn: that's barack calling now, simon, i told you never to do that on the air. [laughter] all right, guys. >> i thought i turned it off.

sorry, guys. megyn: good seeing you both. coming up, two planes moments away from a possible disaster, and it's the pilot who spots the disaster, not the control tower. but things got worse from there. plus, one of the navy seals who helped kill usama bin laden says he wants to, quote, set the record straight about what really happened, but could his controversial new book land him in legal trouble? that's on the docket in today's kelly's court. and we are monitoring tropical storm isaac. all eyes are on tampa right now where this thing could make landfall at hurricane strength. what does that mean for the 50,000 people who are headed to tampa for the republican national convention? we will speak live with the city's mayor right after this break. >> i don't think it's going to be a factor, um, in this particular convention, but we are prepared in the event that it is. >> well, i'm not going to speculate. we do have contingency plans for a variety of issues that could arise, but, you know, we are moving forward. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain.

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megyn: fox news weather alert for you now, tropical storm isaac gaining strength in the caribbean and could hit the u.s. coast within hours, possibly as a category one hurricane. rick reichmuth tracking this live in the fox weather center. >> reporter: hey. at least within days across parts of florida, i think, is the best case scenario or the most likely scenario. this is a storm still wait out here across the eastern caribbean, getting better organized over the last number of hours. getting better organized, that means we're going to start to see it strengthen over the next 12 hours, and by tomorrow we're still officially calling it, expecting it to be a hurricane. it's about 200 miles to the south of puerto rico right now, and part of the problem is there's a lot of dry air to the north of this, and we're seeing some pretty good convections, some big storms fire up here, but they're not able to hang on. this is what the models are all

doing, a lot of land that it's going to interact with, and that means the storm can't strengthen. that's the good news. gotta tell you, though, two models that we probably like the best on this have been trending towards the west just a little bit. so talking here by monday morning a storm right around the keys, but by tuesday tampa's there, and some of these indications are that it moves a little farther towards the west. that's very good news for tampa and all the folks there, very bad news up across areas of the pan handle maybe tuesday night into wednesday morning -- megyn: quickly, if you could just move over to the side, so you've got it hitting a little off the coast. what does that mean because the whole cone is still covering tampa, but what does it mean for the folks in tampa? >> the storm surge that you're always concerned about especially in the bay, we're not talking about that kind of flooding, but a lot of rain and a lot of wind that will cause a lot of inland flooding and certainly some power outages for that area. megyn: joining me now is bob

buckhorn, the mayor of tampa, florida. mr. mayor, thank you very much for being here. well, you find yourself in a little bit of a pickle! >> it's, it's just every day in the mayor's office is a business i day, megyn. megyn: what are you going to do about this? that latest forecast sounds not terrible, could be worse. under those circumstances, if it's not a direct hit, it's a rain and wind event that could cause some flooding. do you evacuate your city? >> oh, absolutely not. this convention will go off as planned. tampa will shine. we'll have one day of probably rain and some wind, and the remaining tuesday, wednesday, thursday ought to be just beautiful. we're looking forward to hosting a great event. we've been planning than and working for this for a year and a half, and can we couldn't be more excited. isaac is an inconvenience, but it's not insurmountable. megyn: well, it is exciting, you know, as a news person you always get interested when you see a big hurricane, but it's also potentially dangerous, as you know, and you're the guy who has the power to evacuate this

city. what would it take? >> well, it would be done in conjunction with the governor and all of our emergency preparedness with the rnc. they've been great partners for the last year and a half, that isn't going to change. we'll all be making the same decisions based on the same data together. i don't think this storm is going to warrant that at all. i think at best as the weather person indicated we will get some wind and perhaps some rain. i don't think it's going to require an evacuation. i don't think storm surge will be an issue. i think this convention is going to go off as planned, and it's going to be a great event. megyn: so if the models change and this thing looks like it's veering more towards the coastline and a greater threat to tampa, how does one evacuate a city like this when you have an extra 50,000 people come anything for this rnc? >> well, the good thing about being a floridian is we live with this reality every summer, and so we train for it, we prepare for it. we've actually done a tabletop

exercise this year that included a storm in this scenario. it's all about moving people to higher ground. in this particular circumstance, it would just mean moving more people. but bear in mind, megyn, that there'll be 400 buses that will be deployed here to move the delegations anyway. so if we ever got to that circumstance, i think we could handle it. we know what we're doing, we're prepared to execute, but i am pretty confident that that's not going to be a problem. megyn: well, the 400 buses will take the delegates, but what about the rest of us, mr. mayor? >> we're going to leave the media behind. megyn: are we going to dissmy? [laughter] >> you're going to float to disney. megyn: seriously, where do we go? do we go north to orlando? if we had to go, is that where you send folks? >> actually, well, it would depend on the track of the storm. but normally you would move them to higher ground, we would move them inland, we would move them away from the storm surge because the storm surge is

really what you worry about in these circumstances. that's where you get loss of life, damage to property. um, we would move you -- except for you, megyn, we would move folks to polk county or orange county but, again, it would depend on the track of the storm. megyn: do you have to make that decision earlier than you'd like to given the bridge situation? we had a report about how you've got these three key bridges, and those are subject to these wind events in potential danger, so you have to worry about sending cars over them. >> well, we do, but that's the world we live in. we compensate for those in our evacuation planning. we're, obviously, aware of them. we know structurally what they can take. we know what's involved in closing them. it's all about moving people and moving bodies and moving traffic. you know, we can do reversible lanes, we can do all kinds of things to get people from the low-lying areas which are largely at the beaches up into the inland areas which are the areas around lakeland and orange

county and polk county. but a lot of that, again, depends on which way the storm is going. megyn: all right, mr. mayor, we will continue to watch it. thanks so much for spending the time. >> will you bet. megyn: see you next week. new fallout from what some call the most polarizing presidential contest in historyi we'll take a look at the ugly new turn. but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

megyn: new questions about air traffic control and safety today after two planes nearly crash on a runway outside of new york city. a plane at the westchester county airport was schedule today land at nearly the same time as a second plane was taking off. and the pilots say they never got the old heads up from the control tower. trace gallagher, why? >> reporter: there was no heads up, megyn, and this is

troubling for a couple reasons. one, because these were both single-engine planes, but dozens of passenger jets take off every single day and land at westchester county airport and, two, it's another line of mistakes being made in recent month by air traffic controllers. this is the runway set up at westchester county airport. the piper seneca had been given permission to take off going to the east, right? and the piper cherokee was given permission to land going to the north. at the very same time. the faa rules say the seneca was supposed to be able to take off and clear that intersection before any plane ever lands, but here's what happened. this plane came in, it landed short, and it just, just missed landing on top of this plane as it was taking off. this plane going north said, and put this on the screen quoting to the tower. the tower says:

>> reporter: nobody at the airport was aware of the near collusion until the outgoing pilot who almost got hit by the incoming seneca actually notified the faa. the faa now says it is running a full investigation about this and how the sequence got messed up and how two planes, again for how many times in the past four or five months, came so close to colliding in midair. megyn: that is just chilling. >> reporter: yeah. megyn: just, you know, just as you're thinking you're going to land, all is well, you know? anyway, okay. thank you, trace. >> reporter: sure. megyn: everybody likes us to point out that air traffic, you know, air flight is the safest means of travel still in this country. fresh controversy as the united nations' chief decides to go to iran for a big conference after the u.s. specifically says, please, don't do that. former u.n. ambassador john bolton tells us why this is a

problem. plus, our focus group takes up the issue of ugly campaign rhetoric after a prominent minister won't host a forum due to uncivil discourse. >> more polarized this time around? you know, last time it was very polarized, ebb? remember? it's not like the -- $ where you don't back down from a challenge. fr sowhy let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor.

megyn: a fox news alert on a storm that could have a significant impact on the united states and could change to big plans for the republican party. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america live." i'm megyn kelly. tropical storm isaac is spinning towards the u.s. mainland. isaac could gain hurricane strength within the next hours or days. tampa, florida, host to this year's gop convention falls within the cone of uncertainty. the mayor of tampa says he is ready if he has to to order an evacuation if the low-lying city

come under threat. he doesn't believe that will be necessary. if it does it will lead to a logistical nightmare for the residents. sean spicer is the communications director for the republican national committee. we just spoke with the mayor. he doesn't think it's going to be necessary. they are saying the storm is likely to track further west and won't be a direct hit on tampa. you are going to rain and wind. but let's talk about your worst case scenario plans. what happens fit' a direct hit? can you still have the convention? >> absolutely. we are tracking the storm. we have contingency plans in place. we are concerned about the safety of the folks traveling here. we have those plans in place to tell the story of mitt romney why he needs to take over this country, be the comeback team

with paul ryan and get this economy moving again. so we are ready to go, we have a ton of plans while we are tracking that storm we are excited about those four days coming up that we'll be able to talk about where this country can head and what paul ryan and mitt romney will do. megyn: you have 50,000 people coming to town between the dress and the delegates. could they reschedule this thing? is this something that could be moved after tens of millions of dollars invested and 50,000 people en route to tampa? >> the number one priority of a convention is to give the official nomination to the team. mitt romney and paul ryan. we have the ability to do that. again as i mentioned we have the contingency plans in place. megyn: what are they? >> we are not going to get into those details. we are tracking the storm as it develops and look at options

available for us. the plans are there logistically and operationally. as the weather updates come in we'll make adjust itments. but right now everything is focused on putting on four days of talking about mitt romney and paul ryan and why barack obama is taking this country in the wrong direction. megyn: i remember four years ago we were in st. paul and hurricane gustav hit along the going. we were watching that and we had to take a day off. you put the convention on hold for a day. and now here we go again only this time it's the actual city in which the republican national convention is being held. what do you make of it? >> in that case they said, the lives and safety and the well being of the people along the gulf was a paramount issue so the convention made a decision that said we need to focus on

those people who are hurting. as we look each day -- as we get more information and look ahead we'll make those decisions as are necessary. right now we are tracking it. it looks like we should be fine. if it takes a turn and we need to we'll make those adjustments. we have a great team, we have a great partner in the city of tampa. the governor rick scott has been working hand in hand with our team. the national weather service and noaa have been keeping us up to date. we have great partners at the local, state and federal level. megyn: i feel for you, sean. i know you put a lot of time and planning into this convention and you want to sight go off without a hitch. hopefully the weather forecast will work in your favor. at a minimum, people toned watch tv when a hurricane is coming near the united states. so maybe you will get a few more eyeballs for your big

convention. >> all the news crews are here so we necessity we have the ability to do that. the number of people coming to this convention is record levels for us. the excitement that we have for this ticket and to see something historic is something we have never seen in the history of the rnc. we want to give the people here in tampa and throughout the country that get to watch on fox the best experience possible. megyn: thank you so much. four days from now we'll be live in tampa for a special rainy edition of "america live." for all our in-depth coverage of the republican national convention come high winds or high water. it starts monday august 27 at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. we'll be broadcasting live from the site. the following week the dnc. we hope you will join us. some new numbers on two key issues on the economic front. the jobs crisis and gas prices.

first the price of oil is up for a second straight day after the federal reserve hinted it may fake more steps to stimulate the economy. that's driving the price of gas higher, too. the national average for a gallon of regular is $3.27. a disappointing new development on the jobs front. today the weekly jobless claims rising for a second straight week. 372,000 americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits, a jump of 4,000 claims from a week before and a stubborn reminder of the fragile economic recovery. hours after those unemployment numbers came out the white house was challenged about whether president obama is doing enough to head off what looks like a coming economic crisis. yesterday we heard warnings from the congressional budget office that 2013 could bring another

recession if congress doesn't get its act together and head off automatic tax hikes and automatic spending cuts scheduled for the end of this year. many in washington are asking, where is the president in all of this? reporter: the cbo says that recession could cost another 2 million jobs. but jay carney says the issue holding up the matter -- the decision on how to deal with the deficit is not we solvable until republicans put higher taxes on the table. cbo head said the sooner the white house and congress resolve this matter the better shape the economy will be in. the president in his campaign speeches repeatedly says this election, the most important issue in this election is how we are going to deal with the deficit and the question, completer we -- whether we are going to deal with it in a

balanced way or only through spending cuts which he says would be unfair to senior citizens and the middle class. carney was asked why the white house and congressional leaders aren't meeting every day on the matter. carney says they should agree to extend the tax cuts for 98% of the country and put off the other extension which republicans say would hurt small businesses. here is a bit of the exchange. >> why are they not in a room trying to negotiate which is what presidents and leaders normally do? >> we are clearly at loggerheads when it comes to the top 2%. we are in total agreement when it comes to the 98%. it stands to reason that we should be able to agree on what we agree on and then continue to debate what we disagree on. >> reporter: a modest increase in new home sales up a modest

level. but an uptick in unemployment claims which means the job market recovery is modest and uneven. megyn: the u.s. saying a debusiness the united nations is a huge mistake. john bolton is the former u.n. ambassador to the united nations. he's here to explain why this happened right after this break. plus new developments in the case against james holmes. the latest from a court hear being his university records and his medical history. 2012 is being called the nastiest presidential campaign in history. now even some in the religious communities are backing away. could voters do the same thing in november? >> the question of tone is maybe a little different. >> you can elevate the rhetoric and still present two different vagues of where you want this country to go. you can act like adults and not

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megyn: new developments in the case against the colorado movie massacre suspect. a judge hearing arguments in less than an hour on whether 100 pages of james holmes' university records can be turned over to prosecutors. they say they need these records to make their case that a notebook holmes gave to a psychiatrist should be allowed into evidence. he's accused in the aurora movie massacre last month. they say he saw three mental health professionals at the university of colorado before the shooting. there are worries about a decision about it head of the u.n. that we are told could cause headaches for our effort to top the iranian nuclear weapons program.

u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon has chosen to attend a summit in tehran next week even though the u.s. and israel asked him to stay away from the event. he's planning to hold talks with the iranian government including mahmoud ahmadinejad. ambassador bolton. he decides to go, even those u.s. says don't know. israel says don't know. he says, i'm going. what's going on over there. the non-aligned nations. and explain why mr. moon decide it was important to head over. >> during the cold war they said they weren't aligned with the u.s. or the soviet union. when the cold war ended they didn't get the memo.

leaving that aside, it's a huge vote block in the u.n. it tells you something about the u.n. right off the start that they would elect iran as their president and tells you something more about the u.n. that they are so powerful that ban ki-moon would go to iran to address the summit. it's inexplicable. it's a mistake for ban and the u.n. megyn: a diplomat says ban should not turn his back on a member was one member challenges their right for israel to exist. >> sometimes i like to say when you go across first avenue into new york to go into the u.n. compound you are entering the twilight zone. because it's only there that that cause of statement doesn't cause people to break out in

rage. he doesn't need to go to tehran to see ahmadinejad. ahmadinejad is coming to new york next month for the opening of the general assembly. the impact in tehran is to say we don't have anything to fear from the u.n. we don't need to worry about things. we have the whole movement in tehran with us. megyn: some believe this there shorten the course to war. could it be that significant? >> i don't think so. i think israel will make its we digs based on physics and not politics. by that i mean nell look at what they think the state of play is with iran's program. and they will attack when they think they have no other choice. i think they are actually past that point but i don't think israel will calibrate this based on political considerations, but

on military considerations. megyn: is he thumbing his nose at us, ban ki-moon, we have been trying to isolate iran. does this undermine that? >> i think it does. i hone he's not thumbing his nose at the united states. i have known him for 20 years. i think it was a great achievement the get him elected as joke terry general in 2006 compared to his predecessor of kofi anawn. he's the mald of what a secretary-general should be. this is not one of them for sure. megyn: isn't he supposed to be making diplomatic efforts? and how is that done if not in dialogue. >> he lives in new york. he doesn't need to go to tehran with ahmadinejad coming to new york for the opening of the general assembly next month. it's the sort of thing -- it's ex applicable only in u.n. terms.

or maybe he wants to get out of new york before a hurricane heads in new york's direction. megyn: ambassador bolton, good to see you as always. we have a fox exclusive next on homeland security secretary janet napolitano being sued by some of her own i.c.e. agents. they claim they have been forced to ignore the law when it comes to deporting illegal immigrants. she got national attention for her battle against a flesh-eating disease. now amy copeland reaching a major milestone in her battle. has the tone of the presidential campaign become too divisive? our panel of american voters weighs in. >> how do it make you feel when you hear this back and forth. one is president and one wants to be. >> i think the issue is the

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megyn: in the last 90 minutes fox news received ex quliewsive access to a copy of a complaints from i.c.e. against high-level officials. in the complaint is alleged that homeland security secretary janet napolitano and i.c.e. director john morton have issued directives forcing agents to break federal laws and violate their oaths to protect our country. specifically when it comes to the efforts to deport illegal

immigrants. shannon bream has the breaking news from washington. >> reporter: agents say they believe decisions by top officials are putting them and all americans at risk, decisions telling them to let illegal immigrants go unless they are felons. they say they are commanding i.c.e. officers to violate their oaths and sue suring upon the legislative powers of congress to faithfully execute the law as required. the lead attorney in the case says he believes this is like operation fast & furious which he characterizes as telling federal law enforcement agents to break the law. >> we fully anticipate this administration is going too come

down on them like a sledgehammer. they are federal employees, they have no protections. and we are concerned retaliation will take place against these folks and they could lose their ability to support their families by filing this lawsuit. this is not something we take lightly at all. >> reporter: officials say they are acting lawfully and points to the supreme court's ruling on the immigration law. in that opinion justice anthony kennedy wrote, discretion in the enforcement of immigration law embraces immediate human concerned, unauthorized workers trying to support their families will pose less danger than smugglers or someone committing a crime. we are reviewing the lawsuit and if we hear back from them we'll let you know. megyn: a state of emergency in three california counties. wildfires burning through

building officering thousands to run for their lives. new fallout from what some are calling one of the most polarized presidential races in history. our focus group is back. we'll look at whether this could be the beginning of a dangerous slide in american politics. >> the president of the united states, the republican nominee can shut this kind of talk, these ads down in a second by saying stop it. road trip buddy. let's put some music on.

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megyn: there is new fallout from what some political pros called one of the most divisive and polarized presidential race in recent history. remember back in 2008 saddleback church pastor rick warren held sitdown with the presidential candidates it was such a success that pastor warren planned similar warren this week between president obama and governor romney. but yesterday warren announced it was canceled because he said he was concerned about the negative tone between these two camps in recent weeks. here are some of the remarks from both sides that have drawn recent attention. >> either mitt romney through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the azc,

which is a felony or he was misrepresenting his position at bain to the american people to avoid the responsibility for his investment. >> can you manage how dumb this president is introduction the concept of felony into the discourse when this president comes out of chicago politics, where felony and politics are sometimes a synonym? >> romney says in the first 100 days he's going to let the big banks write their own rules. unchain wall street. they are going to put y'all back in chains. >> this is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. mr. president, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to chicago and let us get about rebuilding and rue knew nighing america. >> if you look at overall

trajectory of our campaign and the ads i approved and are produced by my campaign you will see that we point out sharp differences between the candidates, but we don't go out of bounds. megyn: is there any way to overcome this kind of vitriol or is this the future of american politics. here now our focus group. panel, welcome back. the clips tell the story of what we have been watching unfold in recent weeks. kevin, are both sides equal opportunity offenders? >> no. what's surprising people is the republicans have fought so hard this time. normally with the clinton and obama campaigns in years past you have seen scorched earth philosophies from david axlerods but this time the republicans have gotten spine behind them and said they will push back and not be steamrolled. >> i think he's saying it is a

divisive campaign and it's not anything like we are going to put you back in chains. the size of the rhetoric on both sides. megyn: romney got flack for saying take your hate back to chicago. hate maybe took it to another level. >> absolutely not. it's not even hate it's anger. there is a racial component to that i hear when i hear him call the first black president angry. the tone of the campaign and the obama administration, you can't get to compromise without both sides making concessions. republicans came into office -- when obama came into office republicans said we don't want him to get a second term, we'll do everything to block him. it's not necessarily that he is the one that's divisive. it's both sides are doing partisanship things at the same time. megyn: we saw those clips and it wasn't so much president obama or governor romney. in terms of president obama, his

vice president and deputy campaign manager. >> the presidential candidate -- and i say this for somebody who was in the oval office with president clinton and frankly we didn't run the scorched earth campaign. we got a balanced agreement done with newt gingrich and the republicans. but the president of the united states, the republican nominee can shut this kind of talk, these ads down in a second by saying stop it by offering leadership, vision, consensus and conciliation. if you look at the record in the 90s -- megyn: i don't want to get into what happened under president clinton. this president said when he was inaugurated that he was going to health partisan divides. that may have been a lofty aspiration. is there any question about whether he has done that? >> i don't think he has. i think the rift is that much bigger. we need a leader.

we need somebody to give us direction to help us out. i'm a businessman in new york. i don't know where we are going. there is no leader, there is no nothing. i'm not foolish, everybody has their own agenda. but when you get elected to office shouldn't you be a leader, do your job and too it for the people? megyn: you are democrat. has it healed the partisan divide? >> it started way before just this campaign. it started the second the president took office. megyn: president obama said he was going to with you military pull the red states and blue states together and help heal the partisan divide. >> if you look at the legislation he proposed. he has gone to the republicans. they put their input into legislation including the healthcare legislation and every single time -- every single time -- every republican stonewalled him when it came down to the votes.

megyn: his point is he has a right to be upset. he tried, but he was stonewalled now he's angry. >> it's the symptom of a country that's deeply divide. i wish both would elevate the rhetoric but i don't have the hope for that between now and november. you have half the people paying taxes in the country and the other half wanting them to pay more. you have half the country want to go expands entitlements and the other half saying we have had enough of this. you have 80 million baby boomers wanting their piece of the medicare pie and they are afraid they are not going to get it. and members of congress are more vulnerable in a primary than a general. so they are always running to their base. ever afraid to creep too far toward the middle to compromise. megyn: how do it make you feel when you hear that kind of back and forth.

these two men? >> the issue is the language that the leadership has been using has been about division. the middle class. the 1%. the wealthy, the 99. we are putting people in boxes. we are all americans. this is about americans. would i like to see the discourse elevated to say this isn't what the people want. i don't think any of us on this panel want that. megyn: you worked for president clinton. there is maybe a belief this is how politics -- was it this cutting back then? >> i spent two years with president clinton. we worked to get an agreement to do what carol said which was to bring people together to talk about differences on issues that weren't for compromise. what we need now is leadership. both candidates have to talk about a better future for all americans regardless of party. megyn: rick warren canceled the

solidback forum. the romney cam was quick to point out they never agreed to participate in this. there was a question about whether there was a forum to take place. but pastor warren tries to get the candidates together to have a civil discussion. he says it's not going to happen this year. i think a lot of folks felt sad that we are at the point where this guy doesn't feel the two can sit across from each other and have a discussion that will he elevate the debate. >> i think they can sit down in a forum together. but i agree with jay that this country is at an ideological crossroads. you have one-half of the country that wants to go towards more after socialist system and the other half wants a capitalist system. you are not forced to listen anymore. if you are on facebook you can block your friends who don't

hair your point of view. megyn: last time air was very polarized. >> the ironic part of it all is the people want progress. if you look at statistics and look at the polls. congress' rating is 12% or less. look at new york state. things have moved forward reaching across party lines. the political parties want the divisiveness. the people wants progress. it's a question of who the political candidates are going to listen to in this election. >> he's gone the budgets passed with both democrats and republicans. i think it can be done. you just need someone who is willing to swallow their pride. i think you also need to recognize a large portion of the electorate wants leaders who are principled.

and when you stand on principle you are going to be divisive and inevitably make people angry and upset. a lot of tea party candidates were elected because they were going to dig their heals inen these -- dig their heels in on these issues. you can elevate the rhetoric and still present two different visions of where you want this country to go. megyn: we talk about joe biden earlier on the program earlier this week. there is something loveable about the guy, even for you republicans. do you think there is something loveable about him? were you offended. a show of hands. were you offended? even democrats. he doesn't get a pass because he's loveable joe. >> i love joe, but he doesn't get a pass on that. megyn: you mentioned the race implications you read into

romney's remarks. did you see the same thing on joe biden? >> i did. chains is not a word you should use describing what wall street has done particularly to a black audience. when i hear angry, i hear angry black man. megyn: this is our society now that we praise season lights -- we have all this -- is this just reality? >> the second continental congress, one senator beat another one over the head with a cane and got hauled off to jail overnight because they were having a print argument. it's what makes a representative republic work. it's okay to disagree, we just need to be agreeable in doing

it. megyn: i have got to go. >> in business all the time people negotiate that have different interests and different positions they can come together in context. everyone wants america to be great. megyn: i always found the litigation, it would lead to better result. panel, thank you very much. a pleasure to see you. see how kind we are here? see you soon. taking your thoughts on that as always. follow me on twitter @megynkelly. a followup on a book on the raid on usama bin laden. could he land in hot water for the information in that book which was not okayed by the pentagon? that's next in "kelly's court." flu protection with a 90% smaller needle.

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megyn: "kelly's court" is back in session. on the docket today, a tell-all book from a member of the navy seal team 6 that took out usama bin laden it's said to be an insider account of the raid that killed bin land and it's coauthored by one of the first men through the door of the terror leader's liedout. federal authorities said they did not know anything about this book until they heard tbhit press reports and now they are concerned about what's tonight and whether classified information is about to get out. and there are questions that the navy seal who wrote it could potentially be prosecuted. the book is called "no easy day." the first-hand account of the mission that killed usama bin laden. joining me, mark eiglarsh and joey jackson. this has caught the attention of. >> in washington. this isn't some pundit.

this guy was there. he was on the helicopter. he was at the compound an was in the room apparently when bin laden was killed. one of the leaders of the mission. a navy seal who decided to tell his story without running it by the d.o.d. as i see it, seems blatantly contrary to the d.o.d. rules. >> absolutely. it's very surprising, megyn. you would think because it upon the cull tiewfort navy seals and all they do to protect, defend and serve that they would be that culture that information would be protected and privileged at all costs. the fact that a bikes coming out in this regard, it's trouble. there are statutes, federal laws that govern this. you can look at other acts like the intelligence act which

speaks to identifying covert officers. to be clear and fair we know it's going to be released on 9/11. we don't know precisely what it says. however, if there is information in there that is overly sensitive and involves national security and if other people who are navy seals and otherwise identified, then it represents a problem. megyn: he used a pseudonym for his own name. the d.o.d. regulation seems to be that even former employees and non-active duty members. he's retired, quote, issues the d.o.d. security review process to insure information they submit for public release does not compromise national security. he got his publisher to do it. his publisher says it was vetted by a special ops attorney, but that is not the same as what the regulation requires. >> i agree it' not a good idea

personally. it doesn't sit well with me at all. but i would defend his right personally to do so. what joey said is spot on. but there are a lot of ifs in what joey isaying. if they revealed national security secrets or revealed informant. i have to believe kevin moore who the cia and pentagon calls a well-respected journalist. he knows that he would sab he would be a coconspirator in this. megyn: there is a reason the department of defense wants its own people to review books that military personnel want to write and there needs to be some uniformity in the standards applied.

is that a defense for these guys to say we ran it by our guy an had no problem with it. >> no, it is not. as much as we think lawyers like to vet information and make decisions on whether it's appropriate to release to the general public. as you mention, there is a certain protocol to insure the information that's let out there does not violate national security interests. there is a reason we don't want national security interests released. other navy seals and officials could be put in jeopardy or danger. it represents a severe problem that this wasn't vetted by other agencies such that the information released. megyn: if they choose not to go after him does it set a dangerous resident? -- does it set a dangerous

precedent? maybe they like that because they don't like this administration. what happens in the next administration. what if it's a republican president. there is a reason we have a precedent that's supposed to apply through all administrations. is the d.o.j. setting a dangerous precedent if it doesn't go after him? >> i don't think so. fit was my client who came to me originally i would say run it by him. at a minimum he feels confident what he has in there doesn't violate any of the rules. so what a wonderful way to create a controversy and create a stir that raises more money. the money is not going to him. it's to help families of fallen navy seals. megyn: according to reports he has a stellar history. and he's a hero. >> that all can be true. but we don't want additional fallen heroes as a result of

information that's releases that shouldn't be out there. furthermore if there is a confidence in the information, vet it and have it taken through the process like it should have been taken. megyn: i have got to leave it at that. good debate. we'll be right back. don't go away. comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment. we're america's natural gas.

megyn: the governor of california declaring a state of emergency for three counties in the northern region. a move that will grow up greater resource in the state's battle against raging wildfires that forced evacuations and destroyed dozens of home. dan springer is on the ground in red bluff, california. >> reporter: it's two steps forward and one step back. containment on this fire up to 57%. a lot of people were allowed

back in their homes. but the fire jumped the containment line yesterday. the california governor declared an emergency in three counties that frees up the national guard to join the fight. hundreds of residents are deciding whether to obey evacuation orders. the shasta deputy is usually giving those orders. his mother-in-law's home was burned the first day. but even with the flames, he's staying. >> it's my house. i have done a lot of fires over the years and i understand when people say they aren't leaving. i wouldn't leave either unless it gets really bad. >> reporter: the fire charred 28,000 acres. it's another mega fire loaded with huge wildfires. nearly 7 million acres have burn. blame it on severe drought and a

hot summer. while we appear headed for a record fire season, the record numbers of homes destroyed are actually down, chalk it up to good firefighting and plenty of luck. but 1,800 homes have burned this season and we are still going up. megyn: it could be on a collision course with the u.s. mainland. tropical storm isaac churning across the atlantic. it could reach hurricane strength in the next hours and days, and florida. not to mention the republican national convention could be in its path. we have the latest on isaac coming up. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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>>megyn: our special coverage of the republican national convention kicks off on sunday. will be there for special programmings. bret baier and i will give you your first big look at all the facilities and w