the election is this upcoming tuesday, ed markey versus mr. merlot money. i cannot believe this is how we do things in this country, but it's true. that does it for us tonight. we will see you again on monday, but right now i need you to close your eyes, take a deep khablgts charged. he faces a charge of espionage. the big question, will he ever be sent back to the u.s.? securing the border. that's what could make or break a new immigration deal. it faces its first big capitol hill test yesterday. does it have a chance of passing, and can the border really be secure? near miss. details on the two passenger planes which came within hundreds of feet of each other in the skies of new york. and the murder mystery entangled a new england patriots football player. we will take you there live. good morning, everyone, and welcome to weekends with alex

whitt. we have new developments to share this morning on the nsa leak. federal prosecutors have unsealed the charges against edward snowden. he's been charged with two counts of espionage and theft of government property. joining me now is kristin welker. good morning. >> alex, good morning to you. legal analysts say these charges were a long time coming. they were filed in a federal court in alexandria, virginia and unsealed friday night. snowden faces three charges, including theft of government property, as well as violating two espionage laws which make it a crime to reveal classified information to anyone not authorized to receive that information. each charge carries a maximum of 10 year prison sentence. pete williams, part of the reason why this took so long is because officials were going back and forth with officials in hong kong where it is believed

snowden is hiding out to make sure these charges conform to the extradition treaty that the united states has with hong kong. so the question is what happens next? well, united states has essentially filed a provisional arrest warrant asking authorities to arrest edward snowden. once that happens, the u.s. will begin the process of extraditing him. snowden said he will protest. it could go on many months. it is a process that will be governed by chinese law. >> kristin, thank you very much for that. where exactly is edward snowden? we have a live report at the bottom of the hour. this leads to my twitter question. accused spy edward snowden, will he ever set foot in the u.s. again? i will be reading some of your tweets throughout the day. to front page politics. president obama is stepping up

pressure on congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. >> the bill isn't perfect. it's a compromise. nobody is going to get everything they want. not democrats, not republicans, not me. but it's consistent with the principals that i and others have laid out for common sense reform. >> they unveiled an agreement on the amendment to the sweeping immigration bill that would vastly increase, borders, patrols. senators will begin voting monday. a new report in the los angeles times says cia and operatives have secretly been teaching syrian rebels how to use anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. it tells the paper substantial assistance is being provided. >> a whole lot of search warrants executed, but still no arrest warrant in the homicide investigation that is centered near the home of new england patriots star aaron hernandez.

so far, though, no comment from hernandez, who was seen returning home late yesterday afternoon. to stephanie goss live outside the home in massachusetts. good morning to you. what's the latest? >> reporter: hey, good morning, alex. well with, aaron hernandez is still in his house. he came back, as you said, yesterday afternoon. he was with his lawyer. reporters are trying to get him to make a comment as they have been all week long. he refused. his lawyer refused to make a comment. but it's important to point out that with all of this attention there have been no arrest warrants that have been issued or even filed in this case. there have been no public naming of suspects so far in the case or even persons of interest. but there has been a lot of activity. he has had his house searched. he has been questioned. he has literally been chased and followed by the media since all of this began on monday when the body of 27-year-old lloyd was found. >> stephanie, i think the fact

that he is a tight end for the new england patriots. what do you know about this very young football star? >> well, he's a rising star. he's 23 years old. last summer he signed a big contract. five years, $40 million with the support of the team. he is in a lot of ways the future of the team. everyone in this area who is a football fan certainly knows him. but he's already running into trouble even though he hasn't been charged or even named in this case. he was dropped by one of his endorsers who make muscle milk. even before anything official has come out with his connection to this murder case. >> thank you, stephanie. southwest airlines is back up and running this morning after a computer glitch caused the company to ground its entire fleet of planes preparing for takeoff last night. that glitch occurred around 8:00 p.m., affecting 250 flights,

most on the west coast. the customers just sat around and wait. >> i'm frustrated. there haven't been that many updates. i have to walk down to the customer service counter. there have been a couple of announcements, but they really haven't said anything except the system is partially up. but no word on when the planes will heave. >> well, that outage lasted until 11:00 p.m. when a backup system was used to resume service. we are learning new details this morning about a very close call in the skies over new york city. faa is investigating a near miss involving a delta air lines jumbo jet and shuttle america commuter plane. it's not sure if a warning system went off alerting the pilots to the problem. the latest from tom costello at reagan national. good morning, tom. >> hi, alex. good day. the faa requires 1,000 feet of separation between aircraft. these two planes over new york got a lot closer than that. 200 feet vertically and 2,500

horizontally. it was a very close call. it happened to the nation's most congested skies served by three busy airports, laguardia, jfk, newark. a third of all usair traffic every day flies through, into or out of new york airspace. a week ago today, a very close call. delta flight 172, boeing 747 with more than 300 passengers on board was at the end of a 14-hour flight from tokyo preparing to land at new york's jfk airport. but as he approached run way # in rough winds, the pilot executed a missed approach, telling the tower he was going around. the tower issued instructions to climb and make a gentle turn to the right. meanwhile, a delta regional jet with 70 passengers aboard was taking off, climbing to its left. as the two planes made their wide turns, they came within 2,600 feet horizontally and just 200 feet vertically. controllers then sounded the

alert. >> yes, sir. we are almost at mount. >> delta 172, heavy, traffic. 12:00, 1400 feet, 1600 feet. >> okay. we have them on the fish finder here. >> the fish finder is an on board collision avoidance radar. retired captain tom casey. >> that's close. that's close for anybody. they are looking at a 747 coming at him. that's a large footprint in the air. >> earlier in year, the inspector general said it had jumped 50% in 2009 and 2010. that's mostly because controllers are encouraged to self-report without penalty to identify safety concerns. >> controllers have to be on their game, making sure that traffic is separated. and it takes a lot of coordination between controllers at each of the facilities. >> the faa says it will dissect this entire case to learn from it and make sure it doesn't

happen again. separately, the faa announced it is going to probably release or loosen up the requirements on shutting down your electronic devices when you're about to take off or land. that's a hard and fast rule for a long time. the faa has a panel that's been looking at this panel to decide whether they do cause interference with the plane's avionics. we expect they're going to say this is not a problem. so the faa is expected to probably loosen up the rules allowing you to have some electronic devices on during takeoff and landing. probably not all. probably not cell phones. >> okay. tom costello, thank you for the update. a state of emergency in calgary, canada as flooding continues to inundate southern alberta. they have claimed three lives and forced hundreds out of their

homes. >> good morning, alex. it is actually the first weekend of summer 2013, and the heat is on. temperatures already well into the 70s across parts of the planes. and it is going to heat up into the 90s later on this afternoon. we are looking at most of our rain across the dakotas, into nebraska, minnesota and the chicago area. wisconsin seeing heavier downpours. a closer look shows heavy rain through milwaukee, northern ill. that will spread into chicago a little bit later on today. the western half of the country, though, is actually pretty dry. we are still focusing on that area where we do have a high fire danger because of the gusty winds, especially across parts of colorado, into new mexico. that is going to make fire danger weather a huge issue today with the extreme heat. highs in denver 91 degrees. gusty winds as well. preponderance of the evidence the eastern seaboard, 90s across

florida. sunday, looking for the heat to spread east. chicago should see one of the warmest temperatures they have seen so far this season. 91 for a high tomorrow. kansas city, well of 90 degrees. temperatures topping out in the mid-80s. washington, d.c. will be close to 90 degrees. we will see late day thunderstorms especially across new england, but those should hold off until later in the day. most of the weekend does look nice and quiet. >> object. dylan, thanks for that. paula deen apologizes not just once but twice. is she being sincere? we'll play some of it for you. g. ♪ blind spot warning. ♪ lane departure warning. safety, down to an art.

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according to this

independent report reforming our immigration would reduce our deficit a trillion dollars the next two decades and boost our economy by more than 5% in part because of businesses created, investments made, and technologies created by immigrants. >> that was president obama this morning in his weekly address. democrats and republicans unveiled a new amendment that includes $30 billion, 20 additional border agents and new drone technology. joining me now wanda summers and congressional reporter ed o'keefe. thanks for joining me. >> good morning, alex. >> ed, i was reading about immigration reform. $30 billion is a lot of money to secure the border. but will it actually accomplish that? >> that's the big question. i spent time talking to folks who represent communities along

the border who work with a lot of these immigrants communities. they say they're very concerned that basically doubling the the size of the u.s. border control really could militaryize sections of it. there's concern that if you're hispanic, there are suspicions of people crossing, they might seek out people in illegal or wrong fashion. we will see exactly what happens in the coming years and see if this agreement survives as the issue moves through congress. a lot of people think that's putting way too much down along the border. >> you know, in terms of congress, supporters say they hope to get 70 yes votes in the senate, possibly more. will this pass the senate? what do you think about the number of 70? are you going to get 70 plus votes? >> it sounds like border security amendment has caused a lot of concerns particularly on the republican side of the

aisle. they will get the vote to pass through. it will move to passage next week. >> with regard to getting it through the senate but then you have to get to the house, there is a faction still of the gop that's against this in the house, yeah? >> yeah. they're against just about anything that moves through that's significant. we saw that this week with the rejection of the farm bill, which is usual lu a must pass piece of legislation. the house had a problem even bringing it up last year. they had to give it a one-year extension. it was defeated in surprising fashion. that is the big question about whether the house and senate will work out a deal before the current deal expires. as soon as it was happening, it was happening at the same exact moment as the gang of eight were announcing a deal over in the senate. as soon as that happened, people who are convinced that

immigration reform could actually move through congress this year had to step back and say, gosh, if they can't get a bill to pass, then what can we do? >> if this bill does not get through the house, what does that mean for the gop and latino voters come next year and beyond? >> there's no question they lose a big bargaining trip to bring further into the fold. if you look at what the republicans said after the election they said we can't do what we did in 2012. we have to open the tent and widen our range. if there is not immigration reform, or depending what form the final bill looks like after going to the republican-led house, they could miss a huge opportunity as well as looking for the 2016 presidential race. that could be catastrophic to the party. >> you mentioned the farm bill being defeated.

the house bill would have cut projected spending in farm and nutrition programs by $40 billion the next 10 years. 20.5 billion would have come from cuts to the food stamp program. so what's the status of the farm bill now? >> that's a good question. there's one more week before congress goes on a july 4th recess. i suspect we won't see anything until after that break. the big difference in the two bills, the senate passed voting last week that would have cut 4 billion. now known as s.n.a.p. you might walk in into a grocery store and see the sticker senior. on top of that, there was an amendment added just before the bill was defeat thad would require a lot of s.n.a.p. recipients to prove they were working and not just collecting a government handout. that infuriated democrats. it was at that point they said you don't have the 40 votes that we told you you might have because you went and added that work requirement.

republicans said this week this is all the democrats's fault because they were supposed to come up with votes. they said hold on a second. this is basically a republican bill. if you can't get a republican bill passed you're not doing a good job in the house. i suspect they will work quickly to come up with an agreement. because the republican candidates in mid-western rural farming states got a lot of flack. this is something they were supposed to be able to pass and not worry about it again. they couldn't do it last year. they had to give a one-year extension. they don't do it this year, they will be in big trouble. >> the "new york times" call it a defeat for john boehner. he wasn't able to secure the votes to get this passed. is that how you see it? is it that bad? >> you saw house speaker john boehner. he said he would vote for this bill, making a public appeal to his membership and still this bill did not pass in the house.

somebody did their counts wrong on this one. and i think a lot of people are looking to the speaker to house leadership more broadly to say this is one of those bills you're supposed to be able to get through. it's a sign of by heart san ship in the halls of congress, which are tense many times. it was supposed to work. it didn't. people are looking to leadership to see how it got this far off track and why they didn't see it coming. >> thank you both. thanks so much. priceless reaction to a baby name. that's in just minutes. >> and the applies of your home is likely rising. that's good news. and our three big money headlines. also, we want to hear more from you. head over to facebook and like us. ♪ [ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] ow! ow! [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums.

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now three big money

headlines. mood swings, on the rebound, on the money. joining me now is usa contributor gina lewis. let's start off with this meltdown on wall street this week. what's up with that? >> yeah. just to put it in perspective, over the course of two days, the dow lost all the gains that it had made in may and june. and this on the heels of ben bernanke. word of the week, he royaled the market. to the tune of $85 billion a month. but he said it's because the market fundamentals are good. 85 billion bonds a month. can we get it to 65? everybody knew it was coming. didn't mean they liked it when they heard it. >> you keep hearing about the soaring home sales and the housing market is rebounding. but i've got to ask because those who questioned, is this necessarily a good thing? >> well, the question is is it

sustainable. and the national association of realtors, chief exist came out saying they fear it's not. and here's why. on the high end, home sales are up 33%. by high end, over 500,000. here's what's happening. because the prices of homes is up 15% seems like a good thing. and they're selling faster, also a good thing. but couple that with mortgage rates increasing ever so slightly, which on its own wouldn't be a big deal. in combination, when you go to buy a home, that may mean you, because mortgage is based on debt to income ratio, need to make 10% more than you're already making. most people can't say, no problem, i'll go find that because incomes are rising 2%. so it's that gap that makes people think home prices are higher. who can afford them if wages aren't increase something. >> good perspective there. what about jacob lu. change of signature? >> it evolved.

apparently what this means is it evolved. he is famous for having this loop-the-loop signature. was he trying to he see if the was for real. it's going to be on the dollar bill. you can read it now it. >> looks much better. there you go. >> thank you. >> sure. >> in this morning's one-minute playback, the baby name heard around the world has some people still scratching their heads this morning. now some reaction from late night with jimmy fallon. >> it was just announce thad kim and kanye named their daughter north west.

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welcome back to weekends with alex whitt. 31 past the hour. the president of brazil gave a televised national address speaking about more on than a week of rioting. she promised to improve public services that protesters are demanding >> south africa has issued a statement on the condition of nelson mandela. he is in serious but stable condition with that lung infection. john kerry is attending a meeting of the friends of syria. agricultural officials say a pesticide is to blame for the deaths of 50,000 bumblebees.

it was on trees in a parking lot near portland. a new winner in the world's ugliest dog contest. part beagle, basset, boxer walked away. he was selected because of his huge head and short, thick stature. but he is certainly lovable regardless. edward snowden charged with two counts of espionage and theft of government property. now that the charges are in, does the u.s. government have any hope out of getting him out of hong kong and back on american soil. good day to you, ian. i know the u.s. has filed an arrest warrant. so what happens next? >> good morning to you, alex. refusing to answer questions about the charges in the states. more about whether they had received a request from washington. now, the city's police

commissioner today would only say that any case would proceed according to hong kong law and hong kong procedures. now, the first step in that procedure is of course receiving a request from the u.s. that would either be a provisional arrest warrant or a full extradition request under an agreement between hong kong and the u.s. once that's received by the justice ministry and is being looked at by the chief executive and they are happy to conform with that agreement, the magistrate's court can order the arrest of snowden. then of course they have to find him. because of course he's here and he's in hiding. then a legal process begins which can be complicated. he can seek asylum, say it is a political offense. that is a catch under the

extradition laws. determining that would begin a whole new process here in the court. so this is really just the first step once a request is received by hong kong, the first step in what could be a very long and complicated procedure, alex. >> ian, i'm curious how this is all playing out with the citizens of hong kong. how aware are they of this spy drama within the two countries? >> i think people here are very aware. they are also very proud of their semi autonomous legal system here. you'll recall they used to be a british colony, handed back to china in 1997 but maintained its own legal system. a high degree of protection for the human rights. it's based on the common law system. i think people are taking enormous interest in this. a, because of all the intrigue that's involved. b, it's seen as a test of that constitution called the basic

law and a test whether china will allow the hong kong court to go through, to have the autonomy, to process this according to hong kong law. it looks like they will. that's the view of experts. but certainly this has been captivating hong kong. and it's been watched extremely closely. no more so than today, alex. >> ian williams, thank you very much from hong kong. following the recent disclosures about secret government surveillance programs, president obama met with the newly assembled privacy board of the white house. he sat down friday in "the situation room" and discussed criticism of the program to gather, monitor internet records. they are torpld to help review government policies in an effort to balance and protect the privacy of civil liberties of american citizens. the food network announced it is dumping its contract with paula deen after she admitted to

using racial slurs in the past. it seemed to unravel as the day that wore on. she missed an appearance with "today's" matt lauer where she was supposed to answer questions about the racial remarks. and then in a youtube video. >> matt, i have to say i was physically not able this morning. the pain has been prethen douse that i have caused to myself and to others. and so i'm taking this opportunity now that i've pulled myself together and am able to speak to offer an apology to those that i have hurt. >> well, joining me live on set is michelle franzen who has the story. let's get the background. >> unraveling is right. the celebrity cook is known for her decadent southern recipes. deen released that heavily edited video saying she made

mistakes and inappropriate or hurtful language is not acceptable. it was stemming from a discrimination lawsuit. den admitted to using the "n" word and racial slurs in the past. she was describing a black man who held to a gun to her head when she worked at a bank. she is being sued by a former employee who is white. it was removed from youtube and replaced with an unedited version with deen. >> i want people to understand that my family and i are not the kind of people that the press is wanting to say we are. i've spent the best of 24 years to help myself and others. the color of your skin, your religion, your sexual he preference does not matter. >> now, despite those apologies,

meanwhile, the food network announced they would not be renewing paula deen's contract when it expires at the end of this month. now experts say there could be more fallout to her $17 million empire. >> what about the p.r. experts say about repairing the damage. is it possible? >> they do say it is possible. we have heard with other celebrities and at let's that made similar mistakes. the first thing to do is come out and have a solid message, be genuine in your apology and tell people what you are going to do about it. >> and maybe keep a low profile if you can. michelle franzen, thanks so much. autopsy results are in in the sudden death of james gandolfini. nbc's mandy clark is live in rome with more on that. mandy, to you. >> reporter: today fellow actors

honored james gandolfini at the sicilian film festival he was due to attend as a guest of honor. he was in italy to attend the taormina film festival. he was meant to give an acting master class to fans. instead, organizers displayed a montage of his film and tv work as a tribute to his career. >> you want to spend everything i make. >> reporter: he died suddenly on wednesday after collapsing in his hotel room. his son michael alerted staff. paramedics rushed him to hospital. but doctors could not revive him. the actor was just 51 years old. speculation was growing about what killed him. yesterday, a family friend announced the findings of the autopsy. >> we received the results of the autopsy. which stated he died of a heart attack of natural causes. the autopsy further states that nothing else was found in his system.

>> reporter: gandolfini was best known as the mafia boss tony soprano, to make a mobster not seem like a monster was what mattered to fans. >> we thought he was just a normal dad and husband and with all the same problems we have every day. >> back in new jersey, in the restaurant where the final scene played out, his booth has been reserved and closed off. >> keep it closed for a few days just out of respect for him. >> gandolfini's remains will stay in the morgue in rome. yesterday his sister visited to pay her respects. his body is now being prepped to fly home next week. the paperwork to allow his body to return to the u.s. can take up to 10 days. but gandolfini's family hope to bring him back a bit sooner, maybe wednesday or thursday, for a funeral next week. alex? >> all right.

mandy clark, thank you so much for that. friendship, loyalty, and a very public feud. michael steele in today's office politics next. using night-vision goggles to keep an eye on my spicy buffalo wheat thins. who's gonna take your wheat thins? i don't know. an intruder, the dog, bigfoot. could you get the light? [ loud crash ] what is going on?! honey, i was close! it's a yeti! [ male announcer ] must! have! wheat thins! honey, i was close! it's a yeti! so you can capture your receipts, ink for all business purchases. and manage them online with jot, the latest app from ink. so you can spend less time doing paperwork. and more time doing paperwork. ink from chase. so you can. i need a new recruit! dawn? you won't last. [ female announcer ] a drop of dawn has active suds

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snug kids, only from nissan. ♪ in this week's office politics i talk with rnc chair michael steele, who says he's considering a run for governor of maryland next year. we discuss the feud with the current chair. but i began by asking michael where he thinks the republican party needs to improve. >> look at what governor chris christie is going through. look at some of the other republicans out there who have the responsibility of governing, have the responsibility of leadership. we have tried to bring the narrative of the party closer to where the american people are, recognizing how diverse and vast that diversity is.

and yet, you know, we tend to try to, you know, do the one size fits all. when i was chairman they tried to change the rules. so we're going to have a litmus test. i'll be damned if you have a litmus test while i'm chair. we don't do that anymore. we don't accept you for who you are. we try to make you fit into a particular version of what conservative is or what we think a republican is. and we lost sight of the fact that the strength of the party was always recognizing that it was the individual who got to make that choice, not some collective group of people sitting in washington calling themselves republican national committee. >> but the race chris christie has to run in new jersey is different than the national race he may be running in 2016. >> it is a tool. it is a recognition and understanding that here we have a red state, a red governor in a blue state governing a blue state, in those terms which i

hate. this red/blue craziness has to stop. >> what is behind your rather public feud? >> it is called light, trust. >> or lack thereof between you guys? >> yeah. this was the guy that i turned to in the final analysis before i made a decision to get his thoughts and opinion. so a lot of the stuff that he throws on me is, oh, left the rnc in bad shape and all this debt. this is stuff he advised me to do. it's stuff he signed off on. and as a member of the rnc stuff he voted for. so to have your friend, who is whispering in your ear, do this, do that, then go out and take all that and turn it around against you, you have to get a feeling what caesar felt like. friendship and loyalty are very priceless gifts. they're not easily given. particularly in politics.

and when they are lost, in my view, they're lost pretty much forever. >> word is that you are considering running for maryland governor. you said as much. >> i have. look, it's kind of obvious maryland is my home state, obviously. i was lieutenant governor of the state. we have an open gubernatorial race coming up next year. i have friends who are already committed and are running on the republican side. and certainly i have friends committed and running on the democrat side. but i want to take a look at it. nothing formal. there's no bells and whistles being formed and played and bands and all that stuff. it's just taking a bird's eye view of the race to see if it's something doable for next year. we will make a decision in the next three or four months. over the last 10 years, especially, particularly in places like washington where you have guys and gals show up who it's all about them.

it's all about driving around in the black cars and having lunch at some fancy restaurant downtown. but leadership is about being on the street, being in neighborhoods, being in the community, cleaning your hands, if you will. with sweat and love and effort of everyday folks. or the maryland dream. >> more of our conversation today at 12:00 noon when michael and i discuss how his mother influenced his life and depebgt pictures the american dream. and the challenges of being african-american and republican. we're waiting on a ruling from the judge in the george zimmerman trial that could come at any point. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn? yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief!

rvesh. new today from florida. the judge in the second degree murder trial of george zimmerman has not made a decision to allow

voice expert testimony made on the night trayvon martin was killed. an all-female jury has been selected and will be seated to hear opening statements when court resumes on monday. zimmerman, of course, has pleaded not guilty and said she shot martin in self-defense. ron mott has the latest from sanford, florida. the latest on the 911 tape, what are you hearing? >> hey, alex. well, the judge will make a decision on whether she will allow the prosecution to bring the two voice experts they would like to bring in who say the voices you hear screaming on the 911 call does not belong to george zimmerman. the judge wants to keep that out and the judge will rule in one of three ways. allow all that testimony to come in, cdisallow all that testimon to come in, or allow maybe not all of it and we're expecting to get that word any minute now because the lawyers are preparing for opening statements

on monday. the tape, itself, obviously will be played. the prosecution wants to bring the experts that will say trayvon martin is tvoice you her screaming on that tape. it may have a big bearing on the outcome of this case, ultimately, alex. >> thank you for that update from sanford. joining me now here in studio lisa bloom and with a welcome to you, lisa. so glad you're here. you hear this issue. how pivotal is it, do you think, that this 911 tape either gets admitted or not. >> this could be the most important piece of evidence in the case and that's why the judge is taking so much time to think through whether the experts could testify. this is the tape where one of the two men is screaming and begging, stop, stop, just before that gunshot goes off and trayvon mart aen is dead. the screaming stops after the gunshot goes off. trayvon's mother said that is my son, that is trayvon.

trayvon's father said, no, it's not trayvon. later he heard a cleaned up version and said, yes, it is trayvon. obviously, very, very important testimony. >> what's interesting is all-female jury. how do you think that impacts the case? >> well, i looked that social science and do wiment jurors decide cases differently than male jurors? they don't. one possible exception and that is that women have more sympathy for victims of crime. because he said he shot in self-defense. he said he was attacked by trayvon martin. >> what about the cultural and the racial diversity of that panel. i mean, it has been stated that there are five white jurors. how does this, you think, play? >> i think it's disappointing frankly, i would like to see more men representation on a

case at such a racial flash point. we didn't get that at a this point. it will be televised and we'll show large portions here on msnbc and people can decide for themselves whether it's a fair trial. >> the verbiage, the words allowed to be used. things that for some would have been somewhat of a flash point. the opening statements here, some of these words that would be allowed. profiled, vigil ante, wanna be cop p. >> these are the rules for opening statements. the rules are that they're statements, they're not arguments because arguments reserved for closing. the judge will allow leeway for each side to make their case. but the judge doesn't want a lot of argument at the very beginning. you won't hear words racial profiling, you'll hear profiling. a bit of a compromise by the judge.

>> how long might this go? these opening statements. a lot of points they want to make. >> that's right. usually opening statements are maybe an hour or two in high-profile cases where the cameras are rolling and sometimes attorneys might go a little longer. a real no nonsense judge. it is a female judge, as well, she moved this case, as she said she would as she did during jury selection. she won't allow a lot of grandstanding. i'll look for the prosecution to lay out their case and he profiled trayvon martin and undooley suspicious of him. the police told him not to follow this teenager and he did it anyway. he killed this teenager, not in self-defense, but rather with a depraved mind. that's the element of second degree murder that he's accused of. >> ultimately, only two people who really know what happened that night. so, with that in mind, does george zimmerman take the stand in this trial? >> that's such a great question, alex. usually in a self-defense case you would expect the

defendantant to testify. in this case because he's given a lengthy videotaped police statement, the defense could get this in that it was self-defense and i was attacked by trayvon martin and then he wouldn't be cross examined. >> lisa bloom, we'll talk with you a lot. straight ahead, smart, political talk on "up with steve kornacki." ♪ i'm your venus [ female announcer ] what does beauty feel like? ♪

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rick perry doesn't want your gun, but if you live in connecticut, he does want your job. texas governor rick perry took a five-day swing through the northeast this week. his official mission was to convince companies to pack up and move to texas. but it was his stop in connecticut that attracted the most attention and the most controversy. the state is, of course, the