former governor, rod blagevich. also, michael jackson's father, joe has se ne theorys about wh h thinks happened to his son. joe jackson now claiming i was foul play. plus, police refuse to r out homicide. is planning to announcehe won't seek re-election next year. we'veot hopefully some live pictures of the chicago hotel where he'l be makng that announcement. he informed officials yesterday of his dision and burris, by the wa has only raised $145. add that u with the debt he has on his cord. >> les turn t msnbc contributo j warren who gfrom chicago. what do u make of the announcement? this must a sigh of relief to

mocrats in linois. >> rorter: because he has ch a stratospheric ego, i am actual surprised. i thought h was going to run regardless of the fact that he's got i money. b, he's got virtually no credibility and n support from the white house. throw i the fact that he has not won a single election sce and the fact he's apparently being treatedlike a leper in congss and i think you have some of the res he is stepping aside. but given his ego, i'm sure he'll take another road. >> how do you exct him to phra this? >> reporr: that hi that h has alwaysone what is best for the citizens of the ste of illinois, who he has servd so

loyallynd without acts for so long, that now, mid all the hub ub over his appointment, that he wod continue to be a great senator, he feels that f the sake of the state and t party, it is besthat he not seek a full term but rest assured, he will continueo toil diligtly onur behalf unl that election. >> jim, i have feeli that if he had a speech writer as good as you, h wouldn't be in half the troublehe's been in. o are some o the democratic candidates for the seat now, that they're lking abo in linois? it'she race against kirk, right? could be a pretty tough one. >>eporter: kirk being -- a long time ago, donaldrumsfeld tually again in the north suburbs o chigo. it had been assumed that the key

candidate who would uash burris washe current atrney general, lis madigan. she got attention when she had her arm twisd runor the senate. not only didhe announce she would not run for senate, but she was not going to run fore positionvebody had figur she was destined for, namely, the governor's job. >> i'm going to cut you off. we're seein the back of somebody head. somebody'standing and clappi. burris is at the podium. th is a hotel in chicago. we ae that thatan getting a camera view -- or maybe he's goingolug the camera man, but in a se, we except burris to start talking in a second, so let's listen.

thank you all so much. thank you, thank you. thank you. thank you. ippreciate all the energy. we're going to need it thank you for joining me here toda i'm here t talk about some impoant issues. about importance of rresenting the nderful people of illinois an how important t united states senate is to the future of our country. when i wamed to the senate back in decber, i stated that i would serve a two-year term. i felt strong a that time that illinois needed two fullime senators and i still feel that way. i have served the people of this ste for 30 years. public service means workin advocang and fighting for your

cotituents and their needs. day innd day out. th has beenmy commitment and i've tried to do that every day of my career. and i'monored to be a memr of theunited states senat at su a critical time in our nation's history. we have new president wh bold ideas for programs dealing th health re, the economy, jobs, schoolanthe environmt. all in part issues for the ople of our ste and our nati. i am proudto folw in his footsteps in the senate and i'll look forward to contiing a work with himn theessing issues of our time. united statesenateill at

the centerf debate for all of those issues. i've been a member o that body now r seven months and i've beseeing firsthand and my colleagues arethoughtful, dedited and loyal amicans. that's democrats and republicans alike. and it ismy hope that we can meogether and work together in a bipartisan manner to address these imptant topics. now,le me s this. the last part of my remarks deal with my future pla. and ladies and gentlemen, life is abtchoices. make no mistake, ioveserv in the uted states. make no miake about i

i lo serving the people of illinois. ke no mistake about that. i'm the only africanmerican serving in the senate and i believe thativersity and representation all segments of ou society is essentialo who we are as a nation. we must have diversi. the reality of being in the united states sete today requires not only a significant time cmitment in performin your job, but an almost ual commitment traise funds to run competitively for office. political races ha become far toexpensive in this country.

and m making --as i -- and i'm making this decision, i was called to choose between spending my time raing fun spendg time raising issues for my state. believe that the busins of the people othe state of ilis should always come first. the business of our statehould come fit. d sotoday, iav retned to e place where my political journey began ba in 1978. back to the south sideof chicago. back to my community and my constituency. to announce my friends, that i will not be a caidate in the 2010 electn. and though i will t run for itedtes senate seat.

last january,the same month that i was seated, presiden obama and vice president biden swept into office, sending our country to a new course and reaffirming the truth the american dream. the obama mistration and the democratic-lead congress is bringing changes to this nation and it is an exciting timto be in public seice. more exting and me fulfilng, with hope and possibity that at the time, anytime, than i can rememb. and so i say to the young people, youngeople in the audience here today,hat this is a world in which y will grow up. this is a world that you wl shape and change. i made a decision as a young man, pbably a little bit younr than a few of you all in the room today, to get invved

in public life, never imaging that i would have the eat honor to serve this stat and this great country for as long as i did. >> so rond burris saying h will not be aande in 2010. hedecided that he could spend his time ther raising funds or sues for his state over t next year and a ha and beev that the business of the state comesfirs it was a very eloquent and pretty clling set of remarks there, talked about life i about choices, political races are far too expensive. >> he ca in with incredible rcumstances surrounding him. disgrad governor rod blojevich and that scandal, selling to the highest bidder, but he makes a great point also, he's the only african-american in the senate and that wahe se prior to n president

barack obama. he brings uphatersity issue. we'll ve mu more on nator roland burris and the aftershocks of h announceme. urning now tthe other big story, is highly classified cia program. it is stl prompting new calls investigate whether cia aders lie mis and thheld information from congress for the last eight years. the secret program was revealed on june 2th by leon panta. "the washington post" reportinhe learned of the program fourdays after he took office and imdiately ordered it cound. meantime, ne week reports he has ordered annternal investigion and kelly

o'donnelloins us now. you've got the congresswoman caing for an invtigation. what is the fallout of the progm? >> reporte this is o of those really h issues that run at least two tracks. there is a matter of orsight. congress's role knowing what is gng on in the intelligence agencies. th the political trap. is there a political undertone here because nancyelosi drew such fe when she said that she believed she had been liedo by the cia concerng theharsh interg methods used. me republicans say much of the fuss now is to give her political cor, but the other, that leon pettaiscovers this prram that remains classifi, so we can't tl youhat it's

about and for eight years, there was no disclosure to congress there are some legal issues that might permit thatnder some rules, tt kind of program would notave had tbe revealed to congress, but clearly, this wa not in the spirit of what panetta waed to see happen in terms the cia d congress. this is going to be a story that will continue to nfold ando diffict because we're dealing with highly sensitive isss. members of congress can't really tell us too much and certainly, the a has to be careful out what it says. >> all rit. thank you very much. by the way, coming up, what was this secret program? thecia does not want to talk, but we're going to ask whether it has anythg to do with dick

cheney. there are unconfirmed reports of an assassination ring that's vice president.ted only to t david, ihink that is a scinating part and tt's the part getting a lot of buzzut there. >>yeah, because secrecy was sucha big part of what dick cheney was doing and if the c was becomingn ar without telling congress,hat's a big problem. in any case, still ahe, startlg claim from joe jackson. >> the question is was the singer rlly the victimfoul play? th's what joe is alleging. also, president ama on his way to africa. does he feel pressureto do more fo countries tere because of his root we're going to have a live report from ghana. plus coming up not jst the demoats anymorere.

new words from conrvate voices directeatarah palin. ouldhe gop show her more love? work hard,ind you. gecko vo: first lele of "hard work equals success.s." gecko vo: thth why geico is consisisteny rated cellent or better in tes of financial strengt gecko voseco rule: "don't steal a c coworker's egg salad, 'specially if ititarked "the geckoko." come on peopople.

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>>welcome back to msnbc,e place for politi. before leing for africa this mornin president obama visited the vatican in rome forwhat has become a rite of passag thepresident and pope were swarmed photographers as they exchanged gifts. it was quite a differentcene from predent obama's visit to notre damen may when support of abortn rights set up coroversy. the white use said the 25-minute meeting tay focused

on what the two me have in mmon. a concern for the world poor and a dere to reach out to the sl world. turning now to the next stagef presidentobama's trip. >> in gha, eciteme is buding for the presint to visit. president obama left rome at noon for a five and a halfour flight for thecity of cr where he touches down a lttle president bush visited h last ar in offic that was a part of the legacy thewanted tout before he left office. in accr vendors a selling american and guy y flags. music vid was even posted on

youtube. ♪ the white house has set up codes so pople acss the continent can send words ofelcome to the esident viaxt message. the presidt had words this morning for rican countries likekenya who wishe'd visited them. >> part o the reaso that we're treling to ghana is because you'veot there a functioning decracy. a president who serious about reducing corruption and you've seen signicant eonomic growth. andning us now over the phone from ghna, mara, tell us what on his schedu. this is a very shorttrip. not even a ful day. about 21ours long.

tonight, he doesn't have a lot planned. tomorrow is more packe he's gng to have breakfast with the presidt andhey ha an event at a hospital to address maternal health issue. what's going to be the most ponant visit of the day is a visit to a former slave capital along the coast. of course, this is where ricansho were made into slaves were bght before they were put on ships and taken across the atlancuring the transaantic slave trade, so it's a very, very significant moment to have a descendant of one of those slaves, miclle obama, and then also, the first african-american president to come back. the's this door of no return where people were taken out to theships and never saw their fami again. and now, you havehe first blackresident of the united states,nd a descendant,s

expected t be a reallystrong moment. >> is there a sense thathere's more presse on president obama, we were st told how the bush administration highly toed the funds and aide given by his pred se sors. >> he'sreated like a native son here. when you talk to pe, yo do he them discuss the priorities for africa and thehings they'd likeo see here i terms of aide, bt relief d things poant to thesenations here. obama has made the statement again today d in the past, h really touted responsility for enations, ending corruption and then taking personal responsibility for the succe of their nations. so it's a little bit of a bitter pill, bu it's aessage that he reerates again and again because 's important to him he's also, we see with this

visit, he's going to be contributing a substantial amount of aide. when he starte at the g-8 mmit this week, i believe the were pledging $15 bllion and now, they're pledging 20 billion. that's 5 bilon mor bsedn his commitmt. we see steps he's taking to rely address the needs of people here. >> thank y. >> whatn interesti trip it is. up next, what we all need to know about next week's high stakes confirmation hearing for soni sotomayor. how the gop plans to attack the suprcot nominee. and later in oush -- >> for what? > for an od. >> whahat? >> t that is brbruno. the momoee is expxpteted rake n millioions but what damagagemimighit cause e e gacommunity?

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welcome back. we're back with what u need to know about monday's hearing for judge sonia sotomayor. >> these hearings, always one of the most iticaltas for any adnistration. we now have e witness list on the senate judiciary commiee. republicans plan to sase t new haven firefighter clming he w denied a romotion becae he waswhite. sotomayor rul against him, but they later sided. that race will a major part of the replican stlat strategy. other witnesses include the former presidt of thenational rifle sociation.

>> on t democratic side, witnesses include michael bloomberg,ormer fbi director and a former mlpitcher he'll talk about a decision that president praised wh he anountsed her nomination. >> in a edition that took her just 15 minutes to announce, a swiftness appreciated by baball fans everywhere, e issued an injunction tha helped end the strike. some sayudge sotomayor saved baseball. >> a a new pl shows 47% of americans favor sotomayor's confirmati coirma, while 40% oppose. we'll have live coverage starng at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. up next, more questions t what the cia has bee hiding from congress. does it have anything to do

out the aegations about dick cheney and a set assassination team? plus, was it a micide? l.a.'s top cop says he's not ruling tt out in the death of michael jackson and for the first time since theemorial, joe jackn speaks out. you' watching msnbc. naing onon ud r.

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with about half an hour left, the dow dustrials are do about 56 points. the s&p 500 down as well. oil fell below $60 aarrel. the drop comessnvestors brea for next week's cporate earnings report. tim geithr says the plan stimulate the economy is on the expected path a unemployment was an inescapable

part of the recession, but st imulus package was needed to reduce the risk of further job losses. and power.com su the site. last yea facebook filed a wsuit against power. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide back to msnbc ch weome back. >> davidthe big picture at this hour, the latest on the investigation on to at the cia may have been hiding from coress. "newsweek"eports that leon netta has ordered an ierna investigation in the hdling of a highly classified program. according to "washington post," panetta learned of ts just ur monthster he was sworn

in and mediately canceled it. the next day, he briefed t commes. it erupted into a major dispute wednesday when seven democrats on the house telligce committee released a letter chgi that t cia had concealed significant actions and misledongress on the programs. now, ectly what was that highly classified secret telligence progra there is speculation it may have involved what an investigive reporter thought, aning. he dropped nof the possibily in march. heays secret teams of specia forces have be going into countries, not tng to the ambaador, finding people on list, executing them and leaving. heays the tams did n answer

tohecia, just vice president cheney. after he left office, th answered to kno one. there's cirmation of that reporting. one congresswoman di say republicans were stunned by what panetta revealed tothem. michael isoff is an msnbc contributor and he been reporting on muc of this. michaeirst of all, howig pped have members of congres and intelgence sourceseen on this is this? >> fairly tight lipped. we know it was apost-september th program that presumably related then tocounterterrorism operions, but there sems to be a dispute as to whether i was quot fully opional. what we're told is that it was on again, offagain. there was discussio about it. it's not clear whether it was

put fully into effect. part of thequestis that arose about -- ts gray area. the sculationstohat this program may he been almost overshaws the potical signicance. the we he president obama sentially siding with the cia in how much informatio they must ge up congress, right? >> i thk that's the most significanpart o this, at least until we know what this program is. that's the most significant part of it. there has been this debate for s, particularly under t sh era, about how adequate congressional oversight is, how ch was being disclosed to the intelligence committees. much of the briefings on the most controversial programs, harsh interrogations

warrantless wiretapping, was done just to so-called gang of eight, theongressional leaders. notaff there, very few questions asked and it was easy for the briefers and cia dictors to kind of snow the members or the leaders. they didn't get grilled very ha. one of the things the house democrats did in this bill s put inrequirements thathe full intelligee committees be bried on these program so more questions could be asked so overght could be greer and what psidentbama did this ek was -- saying if bad language is in there, i will veto th bill. he was siding with the intelligence comttee against people who thin there ought to be thter sctiny.

that may be a bigger story. there are two questions. first,hat do we me of director panettand where does all of this go from here? > >> that does suggest it was never fully opatnal. this wasrought to his attention the clandestine service. my colague and i on "neweek," panetta has ordered an internal probe of whis informatiowa't disclosed to congress earlier and that's an acknowledgme that there should have been more information shared with the cgressional oversight committee a it will be very importt and interesting see howhat probe turns out. >> michael isakoff o

"newsweek," excellent reportg. tamron, of course, we are followinthe new detai i t death of michael jackso including reports that theing of pop has been temporarily buried in barrygordy's family plot. >> anwhile, the l.a. cs saying that he's not ruling out homicide in this case. detectives are looking a jackson's prescripon drug history. the l.a. countcoronehas issued subpoen to a number of hidoctors. >> i jusn't believe what was

happening to michaelecause i just uldn't believe it. i do belie there's a --i believe that. le cowan joins us with mo details. what's the latest, especiall now that you're heing homicide. >> reporter: i tnk thamight be overstati it. the chief is wting again for

toxicology results to come back. this investigation is still ongoing. so i don think he's saying it's necessarily going to be a homicide investigaon. we have seen a shift in detectivest the house the day jackson died. initlly, the us? >> repter: here's what we do know. rememberwe all saw the casket in the hearse driving in t staples ceer on tuesday. we saw the family leave, the fans leave. never saw is casket leav what we knowow is the police may have helped them get jackson out of the arena. >> the los angeles police department cilitad the moveme of the remai of m jackson bo to and from staples center as part of the security arrangements for tt ent and that pretty much all'll say relative to that. >> so gain, that s yester the chief saying they did help

the family t th body from the staples center to where ever it is now.

>> t tnk you very much. vid, i don't know why thatat comes as such a a surpri, they hehelped gethe casket out becae they would have required them to shut down stagain, cost mmoy. i've seeeeem bng in people inourt hearings through back doors, so i don't owow w it's such s surprise. >> i'm g glad they did and avoid somemeing of a circus. ut it is interesting that t his father, he's n now speing out. interesting.

> sarah palin a leaving the vernor's office with aear

and a half left in her firs term. >> she is making thease she can do m outsi governnt, but some republicans are telling her, thanks but no thanks when it comes to campaning r but should the gop be showing her more spport and respect? here to make the case, sam jacobs and ban -- sam, let's art with you. sprise that somebody running for governor of n jersey doesn't wantsarah palin around given how red hot she is

right now. >> actually, very surprisi. if you look at the polling right now,ver 70% said they would be likely to vote for palinn 2012. if i were campaigning for governor, i might wanter by my side. >> if that's the ce,hen why aren republicans inviting her? >> i think this is a difficult stage in her career and the state's mo is to say you want sarah palin to stand on her own and work to establh herself in her nerol finished the job. >> you're not listening to me as to why i wouldn't be able to finish without costin the

stat >> i want to read u two reactions. first, quote, her prestation up to the d has been scatted -- and another agent might not have been terrib, but here and nowit was rather hoying and horrifying to the palin family is wh levy weighed in. this is what he said. i think the big deal was the book. that was millions of dollars brian, this continues and it's not gog well for sarah palin.

>> i or any oer liberal voices need to say anything when you've t peggy noonen givg her a smack do >> i think theares seemed to lacking a lot of focus. ople voting for the republican party are in favor whilehose heads.op a scratchi their >> sam, where is this going? i know democrats would lve for this to continue for another year, but at a certn point, sarah palin's goingo drift away from the media spotlight and then what? >> i think she cceeded as long as she can make it appear she's running against the grain. the scene you saw this weekith her liter staefring down the cameras from her fishing boat is one she's like to playor the next few years. >> especially if some like the one in new jersey, virnia, don't really want her around in eir campai? >> i haveo disagree. i think that regardless of what she does and appears to on the ne, pple are gog to respond based on the issues when

the election comes around. i think there's lot ofhe approv dropping. sarah palin is a distracon but she's onethat's not going to, i think, affect electionsor republican candidates in a negative way. >>nteresting conversation. jason andbrian,ank you both so much. we appreciate you cming in this afternoon. tamron, you know, that levi johnston, regardless of what u ink of sarah palin, wow. i mean, i'm going to get myself inrouble if i say what i really think aout vi. >> i knowt you're saying, david, but the reality is and some have ma the point, levi was brought to thstage by the paliily. so once you itroduce someone as in this moment in time, you have no control over what they becom later, and, you know, goodness knows a lot of pple have relatives they wish tey could put in a box and lock away, but he seem like he's here to stay whether he's trying toke mone or exploit them. they putim on the stage and he's using tha stage.

you're absolutely right and he's getting even a aefer opportity. up next, today's "crossing the line." two gay men cked outof a restaurant for ks. plus, when picturelie, and they d lie sometimes, david. that this particularicture ove bein circulated on a lot blogs that cater to the right is just not right. the details. i never ought it could happen toe... a heart attack a a53. i had felt fine. buturns out... myhoholeerol and other riskskacacto... increased my chance of a heart attk. i should'v've do something. now, i trust my hea to lipitor. when diet and exercise are not enough, adding l lipitor m help. li some other cholesterol lowering medicatioio, lipitor is fda approve to reduce the ririsk.. heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds ofeart surgeries... in patients with several comm risk ctors... or heart diseaease

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welcomeback. in"crossing the line" today just in time for the opening of the movie "bruno" which is supposed to expose home mophobi around the wold. two y men kissed at a mexican restaurantn el paso, texas. we'll put up a m of el paso with a litt "brokebk

mountain to help you follow the story alongwith me. there's the "brokebacmountain" and the map of el paso, well, that'scoming. what happened next may or may not shock you. the lip loed couple along with some friends were tossed out o the mexin restaurant by security grds and police wer evenalled to the sne. the el paso times quotes carlos dis deleon as saying it was a simple kis he claims police told a group it illegal for two m to ki in public and they could be cited for homosexual conducta lawhe supreme court by the way ruled unconstitutional. a detective for the police department is quoted saying t security guard received colaint from some of the customers there. every buss has a right refuse service. they have theight to refuse service to whoever they don't wantthere. that's their progative. that's what the detective ys. well, lisa graybill, lel

director for the aclu of xas says, quote, iftraight couples were not kicked o, then a gay couple shld not be kicked out, paraphrasing there. aybill and gal experts say the anti-discrimination ordinance protects pele based on gender and sexual orientation in publicplaces. crossing the line? you ll me. t me know. twittemsc.com. yocan twitter myself or david. we have nothing better to do than che your twitter responses all weekend long, righ vid, while yore grilling. >>hat's some great direction you did. >> i dry. it's almost 4:00 on theast cot. we're just getting sta. we'll have mh more on that secret cia intelligence program. what was it? wh will lawmakers do about it? that's ahad. >>plus, moment of truth compans. the president's domestic agenda facing an uphill fight.

can the gop ste up and claim so credibility with voters. and developments in that outrageous story aboutminority kids turned away by ofcials at aosh suburban swim club. a disimination cacase could be in thes. we'll tellou about it here on nbc. i was always going

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