tv MSNBC Live MSNBC April 12, 2012 8:00am-9:00am PDT
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is. we'll have that for you. hi, everybody, great to have you with me today. i'm thomas roberts, and here's what's on the agenda this morning. george zimmerman making his first court appearance before a judge in florida in just a couple of hours from now, charged with second-degree murder in the death of trayvon martin. zimmerman, as we'll see here in the mugshot from the seminole county sheriff's office, is expected to plead not guilty. we'll also see the 28-year-old for the first time in court today. but last night we saw him entering a jail with a jacket over his head. due to his notoriety he spent the night apart from the general population. and his new attorney talking to "today" about his client's mental state. >> for 45 days since the shooting of trayvon martin he spends his first night in jail. how is he responding to those new surroundings? >> well, just overall he's very stressed, very tired. it's been, as for the martin family, it's been a difficult several weeks for him. >> trayvon martin's parents called zimmerman's arrest a step towards justice. his mother describing the moment
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she heard that her son's killer would be facing charges. >> finally, the person that shot and killed our son was going to be held accountable for what he has done. >> nbc news correspondent kerry sanders has been following this case, and he joins me now this morning from sanford with more for us. kerry, good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning, thomas. george zimmerman this afternoon will be taken out of his jail cell, and at 1:30 he'll be taken into a courtroom for his first appearance. it's likely the judge won't be in that courtroom but rather there will be an electronic link where he will see the judge through the technology of cameras and videos and they will have the first appearance. he will be the first one. but there will be of course other inmates who have their first appearance on other charges. but they've arranged to have him to be the first one who will be able to have this basically establishing the legal process in florida going forward. then he'll be taken back to his jail cell, which is contiguous
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right here with the courthouse over my shoulder. meantime, the parents, especially tracy martin, that's trayvon martin's father, spoke to nbc news and answered the question about whether he felt that all of this could have been avoided if the sanford police department, which was the initial investigating agency, had concluded and reached the same sort of investigation that we saw now with the special prosecutor. this is what he had to say. >> i think had the sanford police department did a thorough and impartial investigation from the beginning george zimmerman would have been locked up from day one. if in fact we had to just plead our case to public officials just to get him arrested, if that's what we have to continue to do, to plead our case, then that's what we'll do. >> reporter: when george zimmerman is at his first appearance, it could lead to a request for bond. but at this point that is not on
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the agenda. his attorney tells nbc news it is a possibility to request it, but it's not necessarily something that will happen today. thomas? >> nbc's kerry sanders in sanford, florida for us. kerry, thank you. and when george zimmerman does appear in that court today, as we've been talking about, he will be side by side with a new attorney. an attorney who before yesterday had only been a spectator to this case. and i spoke with that new attorney, mark o'mara, earlier this morning about where he and his client go from here. >> mark, a lot of people have wondered where george zimmerman has been. he was taken into police custody pretty quickly after angela corey made this announcement. do you know where george zimmerman was staying during the last 45 days? >> he was in touch with law enforcement so that they knew where he was and they were able to set up a process where he surrendered himself voluntarily. >> you said yesterday you hoped to be able to avoid a trial completely, just saying now you that think that george probably wishes that he was never charged
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in any regard to this. stand your ground has been discussed as a possible defense. what do you believe your chances of getting the arrest potentially thrown out by a judge before trial even starts? >> very difficult to say. and the reason why i say that is because i haven't seen the first shred of evidence. i haven't seen the first sheet of paper from the state attorney's office. so anything that i would say now is going to be based on the very little amount of information that i've seen from the media because that's the only way i've seen it so far. so truly premature to suggest what's going to happen with the case. >> mark, when do you hope to get your hands on those first incidences of the evidence that has been collected now through sanford, through the special prosecutor's office of angela corey? >> i'll be talking to miss corey this morning. the formal obligation begins 15 days after his arraignment, which is going to be a couple of weeks off. i would anticipate that we'll be able to work out a process to get me some of that information
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hopefully earlier. and we'll get started as soon as we have it. >> mark, this has galvanized the country for weeks now. obviously, a lot of people, as you've said, you learned about this through the media. you've seen the faces that have been out there representing george. his former legal team. his brother has been out there. his father has given certain interviews. even the friend joe oliver, who made the media rounds. how much of an uphill battle do you feel you have legally and also perception being reality, trying to combat the narrative that has already been out there through so many leaks about this case? >> i was frustrated as an attorney watching it happen with no involvement in the case because i don't like when cases and information is in effect leaked from one side or the other because it's simply one piece of a puzzle and it can only give a bad impression. good or bad, one way or the other, a wrong impression. and i was frustrated by that. i don't believe that miss corey is going to continue to do any of that. i don't intend to.
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i had a particular frustration when i thought that it was miss corey's office that allowed the video of the sally port of the jail event with mr. zimmerman to be released because i wouldn't understand why she did it. it was not her. it seemed to have been done without her knowledge. and -- because that type of information just keeps the fan -- feeding the fans -- or fanning the flames. and it's just not healthy for the case. and quite honestly, it's not healthy for the community. we have a process that works. let's let it work. >> do you think a change of venue is part of your legal strategy? >> i don't think that we could try the case tomorrow in seminole county because of the enormous focus on the case. by the time we get to it, could be six months, could be a year or more, we will look at if, reevaluate it at that point. there's a pretty good process in florida to make sure we get a fair and impartial jury. we're allowed to talk to them a lot about what they've heard about. and we can exclude those who have heard too much. so we have a good jury selection
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process. whether it's seminole county or somewhere else in the state, i do believe that we'll get a fair jury. i hope to. it's happened in other high-profile cases. so i'm hoping we can accomplish that here if the need for a jury trial arises. >> attorney representing george zimmerman mark o'mara. mark, thanks for your time this morning. appreciate it. >> sure thing. take care. >> join meg now our legal panel, thomas mesereau, best known for the successful acquittal of michael jackson. and gary kazmir, bronx county district attorney. i want to start with you, thomas. were you surprised by the severity of this george, being second-degree murder as opposed to manslaughter, particularly when manslaughter would be easier to prosecute? >> no, i'm not. you had an unarmed young man minding his own business, walking to his father's home, not bothering anyone, and suddenly he's shot to death by a would-be police officer who's
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not with the police department, who's armed, who disobeys a 911 call. i'm not surprised at all. >> so gary, as we talk about the charges sxheerks let's just read it out for everybody, because under florida law this is how they describe second-degree murder. defined as the unlawful killing of a human being and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life but not involving a willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing. the word "depraved" really stands out. based on the evidence that you've seen, how difficult do you think it's going to be to prove, that prosecute this? >> sure, it is difficult. but what a lot of people don't realize is you look at it from the moment of the interaction. it doesn't have to be something before he planned and brought. that would be premeditation. that's where you have the murder one. here you're looking at that moment. the other guy was unarmed and you decided to pull out a gun and shoot. that will be the issue to be decided here, whether at that moment there was a depraved indifference for human life. >> so thomas, not only does the prosecution have this burden of proving this was a depraved act, they also most likely have the burden of proving this was not
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self-defense. and the special prosecutor in all of this, angela corey, saying yesterday that she's ready to fight. take a listen to this. >> if stand your ground becomes an issue, we fight it. if we believe it's the right thing to do. so if it becomes an issue in this case, we will fight that affirmative defense. >> so thomas, as a defense attorney how would you proceed, trying to prove self-defense on the part of george zimmerman? >> well, the defense has an advantage because george zimmerman is alive and trayvon martin is not there to give his side of things. so the primary witness is the defendant. he'll have to get on the stand and talk about what he did, why he did it, what he was confronted with. i suspect he'll shade everything his direction. he'll try to say that trayvon martin was the aggressor. but i think some of the objective facts are going to make that difficult, particularly the fact that the 911 caller said don't follow him and apparently he did. but there is an advantage to the
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defense when the only real witness around is the client. >> so gary, the second-degree murder charge, angela corey, who came out yesterday, last night at 6:00 p.m. on the scene to make this announcement is a really powerful figure to come out as the special prosecutor in all of this. and i think for a lot of people she doesn't come across as someone who suffers fools lightly. so for her to come out and say that she's got what she needs to put this out there as a second-degree murder case, she must be sitting on something pretty good. >> absolutely. what we don't have and what i think the new defense attorney mentioned, the evidence we don't have is the forensic evidence. there's been a lot of statements made here by zimmerman and his father and other people that said he feared for his life, he was bloody, he had a bloody negotiation his head was being banged. if the forensic evidence is starting to show that that's not true, the reason for the self-defense is not true, there's even more reason for belief she has a stronger case that can go forward. >> thomas, i want you to jump in on this one because from the perspective of notoriety and the fact that this has gotten so much media attention over the
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last 45 days, but mainly most likely over the last 30 days, when this really picked up nationally, how hard is it going to be to seat an impartial jury to have that fair trial, to see justice be done in all of this? >> well, in the michael jackson case i was under tremendous pressure to seek a change of venue. the media coverage was primarily negative towards michael jackson. but it was all over the world. and i made a decision that i did not want a change of venue, that i couldn't go to anywhere beter, and that in fact this was his community where he employed people and was well known. so that's a very careful, sensitive, strategic decision the defense lawyer is going to have to make. he's going to have to decide what the community he's in is likely to be -- you know, whether it's likely to be fair and also if he got a change of venue where he might go to. if you make a change of venue motion, you don't pick where you want to go. if it's granted a judge picks where he's going to send you. it could be a worse place. >> it could be a catch 22 in that one. thomas mesereau, gary casimir,
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thank you both for cometion on this morning. i appreciate it. so the war on women is turning into a war over women. and mitt romney's wife, ann-s now at the center of it. we're going to explain that. plus, funneled money and a pregnant mistress. after years of denials and delays, senator john edwards will finally answer to the charges that he covered up an affair with campaign cash. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪
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my career choice was to be a mother. and i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. mitt said to me more times than you would imagine, "ann, your job is more important than mine." i've had struggles in my life, and i would love to have people understand that mitt and i have compassion for people that are
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struggling. >> ann romney this morning responding to remarks from you a damt strategist wednesday night that added yet another layer to the growing discussion over women and the election come november. we're going to talk about it with our political power panel this morning. former white house deputy communications director jen socky. msnbc contributor susan del peysio. and perry bacon, editor of the grio.com. perry, you want to start with you because let's get what a lot of people are talking about and set this up. the context of why ann romney is now firing back. it was hilary rosen last night. take a listen. >> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying, well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues and when i listen to my wife that's what i'm hearing. guess what? his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing. >> all right. so this morning hilary rosen added this, saying that "this
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isn't about whether ann romney or i or other women of some means can afford to make a choice to stay at home to raise the kids." all right. so perry, you have covered the obama administration. what do you think the immediate reaction was for men and for women working in the white house and the chicago offices to try to get a handle on this? because basically the romney team has been handed somewhat of a gift. >> they have. we finally found something the campaigns both agree on. they don't like what hilary rosen said. you saw ann romney jump on it. you also saw jim messina, david axelrod, the top strategist, the obama team immediately distance themselves from this, saying hilary rosen doesn't work for us, doesn't represent us. it still takes a way agood issue for them. because they were talking about the lilly ledbetter act, the fair pay act which romney had not supported before. the obama campaign was on the offensive but now they're on the defensive. >> ann romney joining twitter last night saying, quat i made a choice to stay at home and raise
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five boys. believe me. it's hard work." absolutely. any parent out there that has one boy is going to know it's hard work. so imagine times that times five. but when we say hilary's remarks, i think what she could have said more effectively instead of saying -- using ann as the conduit to speak to conservative women and women across this country mitt needs to put it in the first person, mitt romney saying, when i hear from women, when i hear from women their concerns about the economy. do you think that's what she was trying to say? or do you think that she was trying to just demean ann romney's place in the conversation? >> well, i think she was in fact trying to belittle her, especially and bring up her economic status and try to imply that she was wealthy. which we all know. but the bigger thing is the way the romney people were able to grab onto it and turn it around so quickly. i mean, now this is the issue that we're talking about, is a democratic consultant makes a comment and the romney people have the obama folks on defense, on an issue that they were
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running away with. >> they're on their back heel now. michelle obama has a 65% favorable rating. political spouses definitely can be helpful in an election year. so is ann romney the political ace in the hole for her husband's campaign? obviously, she's likeable. personable. coming out right there just a little while ago talking about feeling compassion for people in this country that are suffering through hard economic times. >> well, thomas, i think, one, the obama campaign as you've mentioned has made tlaer clz no place on a presidential campaign to have a debate about spouses and family. michelle obama is an incredible campaigner. she's an incredibly compassionate woman. i know she'll be out there quite a bit. but you know, the larger issue here is about the economic security of women in this country and what the candidates are going to do, what president obama will do versus what mitt romney will do to help improve that for women across the country. so the questions i think we want to send back to mitt romney are what about the 20 million women who have benefited from the
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affordable care act? what about the tens of thousands of small business -- women-owned small businesses that are benefiting from the tax credits the president has put in place? i think that's what the debate will really be about over the next couple of months. >> so perry, you brought it up. there was this moment on wednesday during a romney conference call that is getting a lot of play. and it's even part of president obama's new ad. take a look. >> our fex question will come from sam stein with huffington post. please go ahead. >> yeah. does governor romney support the lilly ledbetter act? >> sam, we'll get back to you on that. >> the president has made so many strides in the last three years to upgrade women's treatment and their jobs and their livelihoods. this is not republican, and it's not democrat. it's civil rights. >> perry, that was lilly ledbetter in this ad discussing the legislation that is named for her. was that a big stumble on the part of the romney staffing
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campaign? because it's not being made by mitt romney. it's being made by the people that are representing him. >> you know, staff matters. particularly the staff should always know what the candidate's view is on a particular issue. the bigger challenge here is, though, ann romney is saying that women care about the economy, women talking about the economy. women voters in polls more than male voters do also care about fair pay act, fair pay. they do care about contraception. they do care about abortion. these kind of issues i don't think we can ignore in the campaign. i think that's eventually what mitt romney and ann romney have to explain. how do thez views on those issues align with women voters, particularly independents and more liberal-minded voters who might -- who the romney campaign wants to get as well if they're going to beat president obama. >> speaking about the romney staff just real quickly, if we can get the picture up, about when mitt romney was talking yesterday and you see the women behind them. and i want to ask this of susan and of jen. do you think he needs to find some more diverse women? not five blonds and the diversity being one brunette. >> well, i think it has to not look so forced.
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and that's the biggest problem that romney has right now. i think he was smart to bring this issue up the other day and bring it to the president because it's good to show that he's going to take this fight to the president on many different levels. but yeah, it wasn't the best optics. >> jen, you? what do you think? >> i think mitt romney's problem is not who's standing behind him. i think it's can he figure out a way to show empathy for working women, women who have kids, women who don't have kids are facing as the economy continues to recover? it doesn't matter who stands behind him if he can't answer that question. >> jen psaki, susan del percio, perry bacon, thank you. a former trial attorney is now the defendant. his campaign finance trial starts today. plus, it's almost been a year since osama bin laden was killed. and the fbi just replaced him on their most wanted list. wait until you find out who it is. [ male announcer ] how do you trade?
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welcome back, everybody. developing news out of north carolina this hour. jury selection now under way at the trial of ex-senator and former presidential candidate john edwards. the lawmaker arrived with his legal team a short while ago, and he is charged with using illegal campaign funds to cover up an extramarital affair during his 2008 white house bid. nbc news senior investigative correspondent lisa myers is live at the courthouse in greensboro, north carolina. lisa, today's events really come on the heels of several days, both family and health-related. so what is the senator's mood today? >> reporter: thomas, the senator was as somber today as i've ever seen him over all these years. there were moments when he was sitting at the table in the courtroom where he looked downright sad. his elderly parents are here to support him, as is his eldest daughter, kate. and what he faces really is the task of trying to convince a jury, most of whom will have a
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negative opinion of him, that while he was a terrible husband he did not violate the law. his attorneys will argue that look, this is a gross overreach by the government, no one has ever been charged criminally or even civilly for this kind of conduct considered a violation of campaign finance laws. >> and lisa, do we know how long they're supposed to last, these patriotin proceedings? >> reporter: the proceedings themselves once the trial begins it will last about six weeks. it will take about the next ten days to go through the process of selecting a jury and then opening statements in the trial will occur a week from monday. thomas? >> nbc's senior investigative correspondent lisa myers reporting for us from greensboro, north carolina. lisa, thanks so much. well, in just about two hours george zimmerman makes his first court appearance since being charged with second-degree murder. could this be part of the healing process for the city of sanford? i'm going to ask the town's city manager. plus, steve forbes originally threw his support
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welcome back, everybody. we are awaiting the first court appearance of george zimmerman, who is due in court before a judge at 1:30 p.m. eastern time after his arrest. this latest chapter in the truly emotionally charged case that has captured the nation's attention for weeks now. but will his arrest be enough to stem the public outcry that has erupted since trayvon martin's death? is it a step forward towards healing the racial divide that the teen's mother spoke of in simple but powerful tirmz yesterday? >> i just want to speak from my heart to your heart because a heart has no color. it's not black. it's not white. thank you from my heart to your heart. >> joining me this morning is sanford city manager norton
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bonaparte. sir, it's good to have you back on with us. and i just want to first off ask what is the reaction in sanford to the arrest now of george zimmerman? >> i think it would be fair to say it's a relief. there was a lot of tension, certainly a lot of emotions. this was a tragic situation. the death of trayvon martin was very, very regrettable. >> sir, what role did you, the city, and the sanford police department play in the special prosecutor's investigation that took over roughly three weeks ago? >> the police department of sanford performed an investigation. they turned it over to the special prosecutor. and she took it from there. >> sir, you said you that feel that this could be a relief seen throughout the city of sanford. obviously, there have been discussions of racial division within the community there. your city has been mentioned with others like selma and birmingham. do you believe that this arrest is a positive step toward talking about healing a racial divide that exists within your community? >> i think that now that mr.
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zimmerman's been arrested we can start focusing on the community and making it a better community. certainly there have been some racial issues, and we're looking to address those directly. >> focusing on the community, what about within the institutional community itself with the sanford police department? the police chief is still on paid administrative leave. is he going to be reinstated? what is the future with bill lee? >> i've asked for an investigation of the sanford police department's actions on the night of the shooting of trayvon martin. once i have that information, then i'll be in a position to know the facts and to make a determination regarding chief lee as well as the entire department. >> so you're talking about just knowing the investigation of what's going on with chief lee and you talk about the fact of the overall organization of the department itself. are these going to be two separate investigations or one investigation? >> no, we've asked the united states justice department to take a look both at the institution of the sanford police department and the particulars of how the sanford
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police department handled the investigation that night of the shooting of trayvon martin. >> sanford city manager for the okay bonaparte. mr. bonaparte, thanks for your time this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you. all right. back now to politics. mitt romney is working hard, very hard, to win over women. but there's still a question of whether he's any closer to connecting with more conservative gop voters that couldn't find it in their hearts to vote for him the first time around. the romney fight is on two fronts right now -- make the pivot to president obama while convincing republicans he is the best choice to carry their brand through november. steve forbes is the ceo of forbes media and a former presidential candidate. he is also editor in chief of "forbes" magazine. and you can pick up the latest issue on newsstands right now. mr. forbes, it's great to have you here. and just so i remind everybody, originally you supported rick perry. your man is not in this race anymore. there are some positions of governor romney's that you take umbrage with. but explain how he's going to be
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able to shore up the divide that there is within the gop conservative base and get the support, circle the wagons behind him, push him into november. >> well, one of the things about the political process, even though it looked very messy, is it made him a better candidate. he now came out with a tax proposal, pretty good one, 20% across the board cut in income tax rates while getting rid of some of these deductions, cleaning up the code. other issues, spending entitlements. he's much truonger today than he was a few months ago. so he's an improved candidate, and i think if he continues in that direction, particularly after the supreme court renders a decision on health care, comes out with a free market orientation health care plan, conservatives will i think enthusiastically close ranks behind him. >> one thing you've said is there could be a market sell-off if the president were to win re-election but over the last six months we've seen strong gains in the market, consistent drop in the unemployment rate. why do you predict something like that happening if president obama were to stay in office for another four years? >> well, first of all, the
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market today is no better than it was 12 years ago. we've been having some ups and downs. but in terms of a real trend it's been flat or down. in terms of next january we've got a tax train wreck coming. we've got massive tax increases because the bush tax rates expire. taxes coming on obama care. huge increase in middle-class taxes from the alternative minimum tax, which they call the patch they patch up each year, put it off another year, but they've got to pass legislation to do that. so all of this stuff is coming. and that means the markets are going to get hit, especially investors, with huge amounts of taxes, including small businesses. and that's going to take this recovery, which is not too robust anyway, and just kibosh it. >> where does the government need to take the conversation, then, in terms of revenue? >> in terms of revenue the ultimate revenue raiser is a vibrant economy. we're still only collecting about 14%, 15% of gdp in taxes. normally it should be 18%, 19%. if you get a normal economy for a couple of years, you've got several hundred billion dollars right off the bat. longer term you do have to have
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entitlement reforms, positive reforms. paul ryan and others have put some proposals out there. but unfortunately, even though a lot of democrats are willing to make some reforms, the white house says no. >> mr. forbes, i want to ask you about rick santorum. he has just recently suspended his campaign. what would your advice to him be as a former presidential candidate yourself to a man that has risen politically. his star on the rise. and he got out at the right time. he doesn't have to worry about losing his home state of pennsylvania, coming up on april 24th. what would you advise him to do, and do you think he will be stepping out behind mitt romney shortly? >> i think the real question is what's the romney camp doing to reach out to him. and i think they will. and they'll have some meetings. they'll come to i think a general consensus. santorum then should endorse romney, show that he's rising above the bitter ness of the primary. that helps his stature, helps romney. it's win-win all around. so there will be a dance for a couple of weeks, but you come
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together. >> we'll continue to watch the dance. mr. forbes, great to have you on this morning. thanks so much. here's a look at some other stories topping the news right now for you. while foreclosures tore march fell to a level not seen in five years, the stage is set for a surge in foreclosures. first-time foreclosure notices jumped by 7% last month, and that marks the third consecutive monthly increase this year. home prices overall are now back to where they were in 2002. the federal government is suing apple and five publishers for allegedly conspiring to fix e-books' prices. the justice department claims that apple made a deal with the publishers to break up amazon.com's low-cost dominance in the digital book market. essentially driving up the cost of e-books by a few dollars each. three of the publishers have settled with the government. apple and the two others deny the charges and say they'll go to court. the beverly hills police department has officially closed their investigation into the death of whitney houston. after a coroner ruled that her death was accidental and investigators found no evidence that a crime occurred.
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now the first call to 911 from the beverly hilton has been publicly released. >> apparently she wasn't breathing and she's 46 years old. >> she was not breathing? >> yes. >> but she is breathing now? >> i don't know. she was -- the person that called me was irate and i couldn't get much out of her. i got security going there now. >> houston died of an accidental drowning in a bathtub at the beverly hilton hotel in february. new numbers out today show a change in the american family. a new cdc report shows nearly 1 in 4 babies are being born to unmarried couples who live together. that's up by about 9% from a decade ago. and this follows a trend of both men and women delaying marriage until later in life. coming up, mitt romney's minority problem. and it has nothing to do with his messaging. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition.
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no. does the baby want to finish it? no. on december 21st polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space. which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd, and you still need to retire. td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? the chevy cruze eco also offers 42 mpg on the highway. actually, it's cruze e-co, not ec-o. just like e-ither. or ei-ther. or e-conomical. [ chuckling ] or ec-onomical. pa-tato, po-tato, huh? actually, it's to-mato, ta-mato. oh, that's right. [ laughs ] [ car door shuts ] [ male announcer ] visit your local chevy dealer today. now very well qualified lessees can get a 2012 chevy cruze ls for around $159 per month.
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for those of you who diet and exercise, coffee beans may actually hold the key to weight loss. a new study shows that people who take a daily supplement of unroasted, or green coffee bean extract, lose more weight and fat than those who don't. scientists believe the effects are due to chlorogenic acid, found if green coffee beans but lost during roasting. america's takedown of osama bin laden not only rid the world of one of the most wanted terrorists, it also left a blank spot on the fbi's ten most wanted list. it was blank until now. this year the fbi added a new fugitive to that list, a man accused of possessing and producing child pornography. and agents say he is incredibly dangerous. >> he's smart. he's able to blend into his environment. he's been successful at grooming of parents and presumably
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children. he's been in a position of trust. and he's taken risk. >> joining me now from d.c. is kevin perkins, the acting executive assistant director of the criminal cyber response and services branch of the fbi. it's great to have you with us this morning, kevin, as we talk about this and bring a spotlight to who this man is. currently you're looking for a man named eric j. toth. so explain to all of us his back story, and how did he evolve into such a level of notoriety to put him on this list? >> certainly. hi, thomas. thanks for having me today. to put this message out. mr. toth came to our attention back in 2008 as a school teacher here in the district of columbia, at a private school, where he was caught with images of children on his digital camera, children that were in compromising positions, so to speak, child pornography. and he's been charged both in the district and in the state of maryland with possession and production of child pornography.
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>> and so we heard from your fbi colleague leading into this segment about that he's smart, he's able to blend in with his environment. but also most disturbing, that he likes to groom children and groom their parents as well. explain more about the m.o. what makes this guy tick, stand out to a crowd, so the parents can be mindful of that. >> well, that's part of the reason we've put him on the top 10 list, is because he doesn't particularly stand out. he blends in. he grooms parents. he puts himself into a position of trust as a schoolteacher or a camp counselor. and this gives him private access to children. when you're in that type of position of trust and you're a sexual predator, that's very, very dangerous. and when we put somebody on the top ten list, it's because we believe the public can assist us in locating him. >> besides the mid-atlantic region, where else does the fbi have any solid leads on where this man could be? >> we know for a fact that he's been in the midwest. there's a number of states in the midwest where he's moved around.
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he originally was from indiana and may have some ties there. the last time we actually had a solid lead on him he was in arizona, working as a counselor in a homeless shelter for young boys. >> and people can go to your website, check out the entire list, but of course brief themselves on this new person that has been added to the list. thanks so much. fbi assistant cybercrime unit chief kevin perkins. we appreciate your insights so much. we'll be keeping an eye out for him. >> thanks, thomas. i appreciate it. >> absolutely. so you won't be seeing any more texts from hillary. it's time now for the poly sidebar. the creators of the website are calling it quits after just one week. but what a week it was. 83,000 shares on facebook. 8400 twitter followers. over 45,000 tumblr followers. and 32 posts. the final one from secretary of state hillary clinton herself. sought first lady joins colbert nation. michelle so bama sat down with stephen colbert to talk about getting military vets back to work and her own popularity.
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>> you are popular. you are -- [ applause ] do you ever lord over the president the fact that you're more popular than he is? do you ever say like, hey, watch it or i might not campaign for you? >> i might try that when i get home. >> have you endorsed him yet? are you prepared to do that? >> i am prepared. i am endorsing my husband, barack obama. i think he will be a phenomenal president. he has done a phenomenal job. he's my man. >> speaking of endorsements, congressman ron paul will not be endorsing mitt romney anytime soon. in fact, he has no plans to drop out of the race. that is, unless he can't afford to stay in this race. the republican from texas is asking his supporters for campaign cash. $2.5 million specifically. if not he says the campaign could be over. outgoing congressman barney frank seems pretty psyched that his campaign days will soon be
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over. he told "men's journal" magazine that campaigning "sucks. it's the most godawful human activity that doesn't involve physical pain. it's high tension, and it's boring and difficult work." begging people for money and debasing yourself. "i've known people who claim they've enjoyed, it but i think they're lying." but it is a huge part of politics. in fact, the vice president will be hitting the campaign trail today in the swing state of new hampshire. he's got a speech coming up at the top of the hour. and just a quick programming note for you. the vice president will be on "the ed show" tonight at 8:00 p.m. only here on msnbc. you are what you eat. that's particularly true as we get older. you can slow the aging process through adding certain foods to your diet. blueberries contain antioxidants. they combat inflammation and help boost memory. yogurt, particularly the greek variety, is high in calcium to prevent osteoporosis. and nutritionists say even the
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leaving the courthouse in greensboro, north carolina. today is day one of the jury selection in his federal trial, which just broke for lunch. edwards is akoused of using campaign cash to cover up his affair with campaign photographer, mistress and mother of his child, rielle hunter. now that mitt romney is the de facto gop nom naction, his campaign will take a look at parts of the population he needs to win over in order to win the white house. consider this in 2008 president obama overwhelmingly won over the minority vote. 95% of blacks and about two-thirds of latino and asian voters, while romney has made efforts to woo latino vote he's done little to garner the support of african-americans. senior congressional aide to rick santorum. in these days he works with us as an msnbc contributor. robert, good to see you. now that the race for the gop
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nomination is essentially over, is there still time for mitt romney and the campaign to go after the minority vote? and how much truly is up for grabs, the swing vote. >> regardless of whether or not you assume the person running against you, barack obama, like me. just because african americans, cuban, latino and brown people look the same doesn't mean they think the same. just to assume that all kaf can-americans in this case voted for barack obama, 95%, will do so in 2012, i think that's a bit of a false argument there. barack obama and mitt romney should go after every single vote. and i have a sneaky suspicion that mitt romney will do that this fall. >> for the latino vote, how heavily will this fight be about immigration, especially in places like arizona and alabama and make it difficult for the gop nominee? not that the latino rote is only concerned about immigration
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issues, but it is something that is on their agenda. >> absolutely. it's probably at the top of their agenda. no question about it that immigration is a thorny wish. i suspect, based on the conversations i have with a lot of my latino friend, that it probably will boil down to whether or not a quote/unquote fence is built and boil down to specific states. you mentioned arizona. that's not a true battleground state. that will probably go to the republican side this fall. it really does boil down to, though, colorado and florida. in those particular states you have the cuban-american issue there. you also have, clearly, immigration, which is a very, very big deal. you also have education and health care as number one issue as relates to specifically the latino vote and how those particular groups out there directly are affected by that. >> robert, great to see you this morning. thanks for your time. >> thank you, thomas. >> absolutely. thank you for your time. that will do it for me today. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11 a.m. eastern time every weekday morning for that matter.
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as always, follow me on twitter @thomasaroberts. alex is coming up next. >> ann romney says her husband is a person that loves and listens to women. perhaps he should start doing more of both. now that george zimmerman has been arrested. will the criminal justice system be any different going forward? stuck in the middle as vice president and mitt romney go over the buffett law, will any policies work to close the income gap? all that and more. i've been forn on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit, even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. because enbrel, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections.
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joining me, former secretary of education and white house dough mess tis policy adviser under george w. bush, margaret spellings, nbc political analyst, ed rendell, the lovely patricia murphy and contributor to "the daily beast" and former chief strategist to hillary clinton presidential campaign, new york city deputy mayor. -m-ms the president's policies have been bad for women in this country but when it comes to women's issues, romney has a lot of questions to answer before november. >> do i believe supreme court should overturn roev. wade? yes. >> it means you're a slut, right? means you're a prostitute. she wants to be paid to have sex. >> i'll say this, not the language i would have used. >> planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. >> the real war on women has been
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