an actual attack would take place. the arrest happened at noon today a block or two from the u.s. capitol when the man receiv a vest that he thought contained explosives, but turned out to be material. that means the man was willing to carry out a suicide bomb attack. that makes this different and more troubling than other sting attacks in which people said they wanted to attack landmark buildings and would place explosives and set them and leave. this man was willing, officials say, to wear what he thought was a bomb device and walk up to the capitol visitor center, which is that new facility built under the u.s. capitol where all visitors now go, and one official told me today that he wanted to set it off where people would be around. you never know in a case like there what would have happened if the person had been left to

his on devices. you never know for sure. the fact is someone is willing to take steps to carry out an attack meeting with people that he thought were from al qaeda but were fbi undercover operatives and willing to carry this out. that's always troubling. we're told he lived in the al alexandria and virginia area. >> thank you very much. "news nation" is following developing news. it's day two, if you're counting, of outrage over a lack of female witnesses at a congressional hearing discussing contraception and outrage over a comment made by foster friess. just a few hours ago patty murray went after friess for what he's trying to dismiss as a bad joke. >> on national television one of the chief financial backers for

rick santorum, the republican candidate that's now surging toward the nomination, suggested that contraception once was as simple as a woman putting aspirin between her knees. really? shocking, appalling, and insult. >> this morning foster friess wrote an apology on his blog. he wrote, i can understand how i confused people with the way i worded the joke, and their taking offense is very understandable. to those that applauded my comments and remembers the joke, thanks for your encouragement. to those who thought it was callously encouraging, i ask for your forgiveness. that focusing on foster friess. we're going to talk about that with our panel in a second. still more angry reaction to that panel we saw yesterday, the morning panel where there were

no women visible as witnesses not there. >> one of the things that democrats have done skillfully in the last 24 hours is make that argument with the visual of only men seated at the witness table and to use that to have the bigger conversation about contraception. darrell issa would say that the committee was holding a hearing about religious freedom and each of those witnesses held place of significance within their own faith, not panel about contraception. it's all in how you look at this. the witness's testimony, the original questions were about religious freedom, and then democrats were very upset about this thinking it needed to be a broader discussion and democrats have really been able to make that case in many venues today and it is something that, of course, has brought political appeal regardless of party, the availability of it, one of the big fights throughout the whole debate was trying to bring about

more equality for women's medical services whether it's mammograms or access to coverage for contraception. these are issues that matter greatly, and when it comes to capitol hill, there's always a certain pressure about the fact that in a wider public, women represent half the population, vote more than men do, and yet on capitol hill are represented in much fewer numbers. lots of nerves were struck by what took place yesterday, and a lot of it is the perception fight over who can get the upper hand. >> thank you very much. let me bring in our political panel for this hour. i will start off with you a.b. for obvious reasons here. we're to two women talking. jimmy hang on. seriously, this is lingering for a reason. there's an article, "what are republicans thinking" it shows how out of touch the gop men

really are and perhaps even some women. this is the point. this may not hurt rick santorum. his believes have been very clear. he got an endorsement today from the susan b. anthony organization for women that are pro-life. independent women are watching thp and whether foster friess is supporting mitt romney or whomever they bring in, it's a bad look for the gop with independent women out there, who they need. >> right. i don't think that foster friess' comments are so much of a problem for rick santorum or the party at large. this issue of the rights over contraception started out as the poster child for government overreach and the violation of religious liberty and the poster child for obama care. that was going to really fire up a lot of obviously the base of

the republican party as well as independents. as you shift into a debate about birth control pill, it's one the republican party lose. we can look down the road at the end of this election year and decide how damaging this was. republicans won women in the mid-term elections in 2010 for the first time. this is something the democrats need back. any time republicans give the democrats an opening to win back women, they're making a political mistake. >> just for the record, i'm going to play what foster friess said one more time so it can soak in. i have a question for you. >> this contraception thing, my gosh, it's such inexpensive. back in my days they used bayer aspirin. the girls put it between their knees. >> he makes the point he's a nice guy. i don't think people care if he's nice or not.

when you're on television and providing thousands of dollars to a campaign, i believe he will shift his attention to that person because he's never going to vote for barack obama. with all the nice guy stuff aside, he's not white male face of the gop right now, that democrats can capitalize on. patty murray said she felt like she was in an episode of "madmen". >> don't forget in 2006, women voters, and the key demographic here is white women ages 30 to 50. if 2006, they delivered the house of representatives and the senate to the democrat. in 2008, they helped push barack obama over the edge into the white house and in 2010, they took it back away from the democrats. this is very important. i think that the republicans have overplayed their hand fs f a couple of reasons. women don't like men telling

them what will to do with their body even if they are conservative. secondly, darrell issa had two panels. the first had all men and the second had two women. of the total number of women testifying, 11, two of them were women. the presiding bishop of the episcopal church is a woman. she couldn't come and testify before the house. it's about appearance. women don't like men telling them what to do with their bodies. it just looks bad. >> some men don't like that women are being told. obviously, this is about a woman's body, but there are many men out there who say this is wrong. it's not just male against female here, which i know you're well aware of. i want to bring up something quickly, they are comparing this to the terry shivo controversy where the republicans overplayed their hand there thinking they

had some kind of momentum and went too far. they are asking would this be the same thing zemseven years later. we're unclear how the debate over contraception and women's health will play out. we know the gop could overplay their hand which is a point both you have made. >> it's not -- if it's a religious liberty argument or an argument about the overreach of government, it has the political purpose for republicans to win over swing voters and galvanize their base. if it becomes about birth control, that's a big problem. rick santorum's need to worry about his comments in 2006. he insists he's never voted against birth control but he's talking about how it's harmful to our society because it tells teenage girls that they can go out and have sex without the consequenc consequences. there's a few married people left in this country having sex that use birth control.

this is a problem to many men and women. >> a.b., my mom is watching. okay. keep talking. i have to teach her the birds and the bees. let me ask you this, jimmy, there's a point regarding virginia this week. we saw they declare person hood at conception requiring women to have this transvaginal ultra sound before getting a termination. they said aren't we supposed to be talking about the economy. virginia is a key state we well know and we're locked up in this social issue of personhood. rachel has been hitting it out hard on this one every night. >> that's not federal overreach. that's state overreach into a woman's bedroom and into her doctor's office. there's something very interesting about the fact that the commonwealth of virginia is doing this. who is in the to three right now

on for romney and santorum for the v.p. nomination and that's the governor of virginia. if this becomes law and is not struck down in the court , northern virginia is where the democratic base is. northern virginia comes out far bigger as we saw in 2008. this could have damaging consequences and if mcdonald is the v.p. nominee under whoever gets the nomination, that doesn't mean that they will carry the state. >> real quick, a.b., developing news that one of mitt romney's supporters could be flipping over to team santorum. it's reported to be the attorney general general of ohio, mike dewine. if this is the case, what does this mean? >> it's a big endorsement. it's a long time former senator. very respected person and obviously where santorum is

leading in ohio. a huge endorsement from an important ohioan telling voters there this guy can win. anyone who leaves at this point and endorses santorum is telling people it's not too late. this person can win. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you. stay with us for more. deputy political director mark murray will join me to talk about who foster friess is. how much of player is he in the gop race and his connection to hurricane katrina. right now the private viewing for whitney houston is under way in new jersey. the service is being held tomorrow. her family says they want to have a social moment together without all of cameras around them. a small group of friends and relatives including her daughter will be at the service. i see a lot of people around you. i understand they are planning

to block off streets around there to keep this a private moment for that family. >> reporter: absolutely. i'm in front of the new hope baptist church. people are gathering and a growing makeshift memorial is being put together here at the front of the church. we're about a mile and a half away from the funeral home where it's expected this afternoon, family and friends will gather for a private viewing of whitney houston's body. we can't say exactly who will or won't be going in because they have erected a large white tent in front of the entrance where people would go into the building. as you point out, there's been an enormous effort on the part of the family to keep this funeral and everything around it private. we know the preparations are underway for the funeral. back here at the church that people are gathering. we know that kevin costner is expected to be one of those who will attend and speak

he was her co-star "the bodyguard". stevie wonder will sing. for the fans who would tlilike be able to see what's going to happen, they won't be allowed in, but one camera will be inside. it will be broadcast over the internet for all those who would like to see. >> thank you very much. i should note we will have live coverage of the funeral saturday at noon eastern. we're following developing news. president obama is due to speak in about 20 minutes at a boeing facility in washington state. he plans to double exports by 2014. federal immigration agents get into a shoot out with one another in california. we're getting more details. what people are saying was behind this workplace violence.

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following some developing news, the payroll tax cut extension is headed to president

obama's desk. two key democrats voted against the measure. they don't like that federal workers have being forced to fund the extension of jobless benefits. >> i'm going to vote no to send the message that enough is enough when it comes to using the federal work force as a piggy bank to fund our various national initiatives. >> nobody else in this bill, not a millionaire, not a billionaire, not a carried interest beneficiary, not an oil company, nobody in this bill other than federal employees have asked to pay. >> we should note that they both represent maryland where federal workers make up 10% of the state's work force, but this measure extended the payroll tax cut is on the president's desk and he promised to sign it into law. more on the wealthy rick santorum donor who created the

roar with his remarks. >> back in my days they used bayer aspirin for contraception. the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly. >> excuse me. i'm just trying to catch my breath from that. >> exactly who is foster friess? joining me now news deputy political director, mark murray. >> there are some things you can hear over and over and can't believe what you're hearing. i know he says he was joking there. i think it was david gregory said maybe he's not old enough to remember that joke. i've never heard that joke, but that aside, who is foster friess? where did he get his cash? why does he like rick santorum so much? >> he's a wealthy investor and lives in wyoming. he's been the chief benefactor to a pro-santorum super pac. he had given more than $330,000 to this super pac and probably

some more since then. this pro-santorum super pac is running a pretty heavy buy promoting rick santorum in a very positive way. you look and perhaps there's no one who has been a bigger benefactor to rick santorum's financial success as this goes on in the republican primary than foster friess. >> he supported governor scott walker in his battle that he's having in the state of wisconsin. as i understand it, he's also donated a lot of money to those were devastated by hurricane katrina. >> correct. >> he's been a big philantropist. he's given to a lot of republicans and republican causes. perhaps no one is associated with santorum and it's pornts to note he's been a visible person

on the campaign trail with rick santorum. he was spotted multiple times at rick santorum's side. >> he wear a cowboy hat. he's on his blog page on a big white horse in this grand, i have guess, john wayne fashion there. what else do we know really about him, his personal background? i know his mother, for example, forfeited her life to help the family pick cotton. he's got this story like what rick santorum talks about, the scrappy life. >> exactly. i think that's one of the reasons he's drawn to rick santorum. while this joke has gotten into a lot of trouble. it was just last week at cpac that he delivered another joke

and got wide applause. he introduced rick santorum and said a moderate, liberal and conservative walk into a bar and the bartender said hi, mitt. and the crowd erupted. that joke got a lot of attention and applause from a lot of people who might not be for mitt romney candidacy. the joke yesterday produced a tremendous amount of controversy. thank you. hillary clinton said the u.s. is skeptical about iran's offer to restart talks over its nuclear program. a crew of nuclear exerts will head to tehran next week. chris christie has promised veto the gay marriage bill. we'll update. you. here is a quick look at the markets and how things are shaping up this friday. my name is robin.

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unspecified disciplinary action. the agent that was killed was the indirect subordinate. of the high ranking i.c.e. official who was wounded. anthony shadid is being remembered as one of the most gifted correspondents. he died of an asthma attack. he leaves behind a wife and two children. he committed suicide days after the incident. he's accused of invasion of privacy and intimidation. a bill in new jersey has been delivered to chris christie. he's vowed to veto the measure. he's got 45 days to act. most republican lawmakers want the issue decided by public vote. still ahead, president obama is due to speak any moment at a boeing facility in washington. the president is expected to announce several steps to boost u.s. manufacturing. there's word today that the colbert rereport may be

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diplomats. they believe the group involved is larger than they thought. they are on the hunt for two men. one of them a 52-year-old seen going into that apartment who they believe may have been giving explosives training to the men who rented that apartment. the israeli officials say that the group is a terrorist that received its orders from tehran but they deny the basaccusation. they say israelis around the world should be an high alert. they fear the attacks may not be over. there's a movement on the diplomatic front as well. they are making their way on monday to tehran to talk about reopening negotiations on iran's nuclear program. those negotiations have been halted for more than a year now.

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the queen of soul, aretha franklin will perform at the service. fra she spoke to al roker about her god daughter's final days. >> i was sitting on the side of the bed. i just finished watching george clooney and i flipped back to the regular tv and maybe two minutes after i did that it came across the screen. >> we have some sad breaking news, singer whitney houston is dead. >> i just jumped up off the side of the bed. what? this could not be. what is this? i said oh, my god. that's not good. >> somebody said she was doing well. she was on the verge of a comeback. >> i thought so. she really looked good. e saw some of the previews from

"sparkle". she looked fresh and healthy and gorgeous. i thought she conquered her challenges and she's on the way. so many people expressed concern about bobby christi that. she's an 18-year-old girl without her mom. what do you think about her when you think about this girl who has had to deal with this tremendous loss. >> i think it's her dad's responsibility to step up to the plate and be responsible, but there are a lot of factors. it's really not for me to say. it's not for me to say. >> we read about whitney's struggles. did she talk to you about that and look for guidance or counselling? >> no, but early on i let her know if she needed any advice or talk about anything, she could always call me. she knew that. she had very experienced people around her. her mother, cissy was quite experienced. dionne warwick, i thought she was okay.

>> if you're a fragile singing trying to make this comeback, what kind of pressure does that put on you? >> i'm sure she was totally devastated by the time it was over. she had to be totally devastated. when you're a singer and you can't sing, what it is you want to sing and she had some problems in her highest range, it's very disheartening to you when you can't do what you want to do. >> do you think about what her legacy is going to be? this collection of just unbelievable songs, this ending, do you think that tarnishes at all or takes away from it? >> no, i don't. one of the last things she sung is "yes, jesus loves me." . when god loves you, what can be better than that. i don't think we should focus on the challenges that she had. >> miss whitney houston. >> how would you remember her?

>> she had this little twinkle in her eye. >> that's al roker with his interview. she will be saying her good-byes at whitney houston's funeral tomorrow. in the meantime for nick cannon and controversial collaboration may be in the works. a lot of people talking about it online. the rhianna going to work with chris brown and new details on stephen colbert. let's run through these things. nick cannon, what's going on. >> he revealed he's urnds doctor's orders to take a break. he says he has two blood clots in his lungs that cause the right side of his heart to be enlarged. he was on another health scare last january or this past month when he was in colorado and hospitalized for live failure. it's serious. >> he's young.

he's 31. >> he's a young guy. he should get some rest. thai don't ne they don't need to work so hard. he'll still continue working. >> we wish him the best. the second thing. i don't know what's true or not. rihanna working with chris brown. >> they have not come out. >> they've not denied it. >> the internet is all abuzz that they will reunite on a song. it's called birthday cake. the song only lasts 78 seconds. they are back together on a remix version. >> back together in a working sense which has a lot of fans of hers pretty upset if this is true. >> people were upset that he attended grammy awards.

>> he also attended a birthday party. >> a report that he was at a birthday party and everyone at the party had to sign confidentially agreements to talk about him not being together. they might be back together. >> what does this do for so many fans that came out and supported her whose hearth was broken when we saw that shot of her with her face beaten by chris brown. what does this mean for her career? she made a ton of cash touring. >> i think he has a young following. if you look at her twitter following, they're younger and younger fans are easier to forgive and forget. what happened happened three years ago. it might come out as early as next week. when it comes out, it's going to be shocking and a big story. >> she doesn't need the shock value her music sells on its own. she's beautiful. she was great with "coldplay". she shows better than anyone

what she wants in her life. stephen colbert, we're learning perhaps more about what's going on. >> they have come out to say he's in south carolina right now with his mother who is 91 years old. her name is lorna. she is ill. comedy central has not confirmed that but they're not denying it. hopefully, she gets better. the show might go back on as early as next week. >> chris, you've done a great job, day dtwo in a row. thank you very much. let me now take you to washington state where the president is preparing to speak at a boeing facility. kristen welker is traveling with the president. what's the latest there? >> reporter: good afternoon, tamron. president obama is here to talk about boosting american manufacturing and exports. i'm standing behind a boeing 787

dreamliner. this is the newest american made jet liner. president obama using boeing as a backdrop to talk about this theme, which he first sort of mapped out during his state of the union address. he said it's his goal to double exports by 2014. the white house says it is on pace to do that. we expect president obama today to talk about some more of his ideas to boost american manufacturing, including calling on the export-import bank to investing companies that are facing stiff opposition over ses as well as setting up a pilot program. we're just hearing that the president has been introduced. here is president obama. take a listen.

♪ >> as we see there the president being greeted. there have been some issues regarding unions and discussions in that state as well. how might that factor into the president's remarks especially since he's talking about exports and wanting to boost that? he wants congress to make a move that would extend a measure to help exports as well. >> reporter: absolutely. he potential will comment on it as you know. he's a big supporter of that. the white house making it clear that it didn't necessarily factor into their decision to come to boeing. they say the decision to come here is really that boeing

exemplifies manufacturing. >> it's great to be in washington. no washington, d.c., in washington state. it is great to be here at boeing. i want to begin by, first of all, thanking kathleen for that wonderful introduction. we were up there talking a bit, and she's a pretty good presentative of boeing workers. kathleen told me, i have a motto, every day, nobody will out work me. that's a pretty good motto for boeing and a pretty good motto for america. give kathleen a big round of applause. i've been told we're standing in the biggest building in the world. so big you can fit disneyland

inside. you're heating bills must be crazy. i want to thank jim for hosting us here today. give them a big round of applause. [ applause ] >> your machinist leadership, tom, rich, and tom. one of the finest governors in the country is in the house. i want to thank the mayor for

having us here today. i want to thank all of you for also giving me a pretty smooth ride. as some of you may know air force one was built right here 25 years ago. i met one of my guys during the tour worked on the plane. [ applause ] >> so, i told him he did a pretty good job. it's flying smooth. i get to see your handy work in action every single day. as wonderful as it is to fly air force one, and it is wonderful, it's hard not to be amazed by the dreamliner. [ applause ]

>> i know that this one is going to united, one of our outstanding carriers. i have to mention that because i'm from chicago. i've got to give a few extra props there. this is the first commercial airplane to be made with 50% composite materials. it's lighter. it's faster. it's more fuel-efficient than any airline in its class, and it looks cool. [ applause ] >> the dreamliner is the plane of the future. by building it here boeing is taking advantage of a huge opportunity that exists right now to bring more jobs and manufacturing back to the united states of america.

[ applause ] we know the last few decades haven't been easy for manufacturing. new technology has made businesses more efficient and more productive and that's a good thing. that's what raises our standard of living. it means we can get better products for less, but that also means the companies need fewer workers to make the same amount of product as they used to, and technology makes it easier for companies to set up shop and hire workers anywhere where there's an internet connection. so, the result has been this transition process that's been incredibly painful for a lot of families and a lot of communities. a lot of communities that used to rely on a lot of factory jobs, they saw those shrink. they saw those get shipped off

overseas. too many factories where people thought they would retire, left home. jobs got shipped overseas that supplied a middle class life. a lot of those jobs aren't going to come back because of these increased efficiencies. in a global economy, some companies will find it more profitable to pick up and do business in the other part of the world. that's the nature of a global economy, but that does not mean that we've got to just sit there and settle for a lesser future. i don't accept that idea. you don't accept that idea. america's a place where we can always do something to create new jobs and new opportunities and new manufacturing and new security for the middle class, and that's why i'm here today. that's our job. that's what we're going to do

together. [ applause ] >> now just today we took an important short-term step to strengthen our economy. congress did the right thing and voted to make sure that taxes would not go up on middle class families at the end of this month. congress also agreed to extend unemployment insurance for millions of americans, maybe some of your family members who are still out there looking for a job. i'm going to sign this bill right away when i get back home. [ applause ] you guys may remember this middle class tax cut something i proposed in my jobs bill back in september, and because you kept the pressure on congress, because you reminded people what it means to have 40 bucks taken out of your paycheck every week, it got done. this is a big deal. i want to thank members of

congress for listening to the voices of the american people. it's amazing what happens when congress focuses on doing the right thing instead of just playing politics. this was a good example, and congress should take pride in it. the payroll tax cut is just the start. if we want middle class families to get ahead, we've got to deal with a set of economic challenges that existed even before this recession hit. we've got a choice right now. we can either settle for a country where a few people do really well and everybody else is struggling or we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot, and everybody does their fair share, and every plays by the same set of rules from washington to wall street to main street. everybody is doing their part.

[ applause ] we're still recovering from one of the worst economic crisis in three generation, the worst in our lifetime for most of us. we still got a long way to go to make sure everybody that wants a job can find one, and every family can regain that sense of security that was slipping away even before this recession hit. the tide is turning. the tide is beginning to turn our way. over the last 23 months businesses have created 3.7 million new jobs, and american manufacturers are hiring for the first time since 1990 and the american auto industry is back, and our economy is getting stronger, and that's why we can look towards a promising future and boeing is an example of

that. to keep it going the last thing we can afford to do is go back to the very same policies that got us into this mess in the first place. we can't go backwards. we got to go forward. we can't go back to an economy that was weakened by out sourcing and bad debt and phony financial profits. i want us to make stuff. i want us to sell stuff. in the state of the union, i outlined the blueprint for an economy that's built to last. it's based on american know how, american made energy, skills for american workers and the values that made america great. the values that kathleen talked about, hard work and fair play and shared responsibility. that's what america's about. that blueprint starts with american manufacturing. it starts with companies like

this one. a lot of people say, well, there's going to be fewer manufacturing jobs than there were in the past. i already said we're more efficient. what used to take a thousands people to make, you might only need a hundred now. we understand that. we understand there's going to be more service jobs. that's important. we want to make sure we're promoting service industries as well, but manufacturing as a special place in america. when we make stuff, and we're selling stuff, that creates jobs beyond just this plant. it raises standards of living for everybody. here at boeing business is booming, booming. last year orders for commercial aircraft rose by more than 50%.

to meet that demand boeing hired 13,000 workers all across america, including 5,000 right here. now the biggest challenge is how to turn out planes fast enough. that's a high-class problem to have. this company is a great example of what american manufacturing can do in way that nobody else in the world can do it, and the impact of your success, as i said, goes beyond the walls of this plant. every dreamliner that rolls off the assembly line supports thousands of jobs in different industries all across the country. wing edges come from oklahoma. engine