with women. >> so y'all like yeah freedom and all of this. >> absolutely. >> yeah like pursuit of happiness. you know what would make me happy? free birth control. >> if you're looking for free stuff, if you're looking for free stuff you don't have to pay for, vote for the other guy. that's what he's all about, okay? >> when in doubt, ask the wives. >> i love it that women are upset, too, that women are talking about the economy. i love that. women are talking about jobs. women are talking about deficit spending. >> rick is a great guy. he's completely supportive of women. he's surrounded by a lot of very strong women. and i think women have nothing to fear when it comes to contraceptives he will do nothing on that issue. >> speaking of wives, the first lady drops in on "letterman." >> at the end of the day, has your husband ever come home and said to you, oh, that john boehner, what an idiot?

>> it has -- it has never happened, never, never. he is always upbeat, particularly about congress. >> she is always poises. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. in our daily fix another tuesday, another challenge as mitt romney hopes for a decisive win in illinois where he has a big advantage in delegate slates over rick santorum. chris si chris and mark. welcome both. first of all, let's talk about battle ground illinois the importance of this. chris, first to you. if mitt romney wins the popular vote and wins the delegate vote, much of a setback is that to rick santorum? >> andrea, at some point rick santorum is going to have to win somewhere where we don't expect

and where it will allow him to make the case that, yes, mitt romney has a large delegate lead but, yes, i can keep him from that magic 1144 number for even get it myself. losing michigan, losing ohio, granted, narrowly, we think, we don't know, losing illinois, doesn't fit that mold. it's likely on saturday he'll go and win in louisiana, that should help him somewhat. but at some point given the delegate math, given romney's organizational and financial advantages, at some point rick santorum is going to have to win a big state where people don't expect him to win and where the demographics of the state, it's not hugely evangelical, it's not populated by conservative voters, where they don't favor him. he hasn't done that yet really and i don't think illinois' going to be it. >> mark hal print, they've been debating the economy, in addition to spending their wives out to sort of vouch for them

with women voters, debateding the economy. and rick santorum said this about unemployment and then had to try to explain himself. i wanted to play that bite. >> you need a candidate who is going to be a fighter for freedom, going to get up and make that the central theme in the race because t. is the central team. my campaign done hinge on unemployment and growth rates. there's something more foundational that's go on here. >> does that become a problem to say that he done care about the unemployment rate? is that a bit of tape that is going to appear in some super pac commercial? >> it might. it shouldn't. it shouldn't be what our politic is about, i don't think. i think the romney campaign, of course, move to take advantage of that. i think that was both bad politics and bad participation in the public square for them to do because their candidate has suffered from the coverage of that comment more than anyone

else in the race. we know what rick santorum. you don't need to yank it or put it in context to know. he obviously cares about unemploy. . it does show his inability to time and again in many news cycles create his own news, create a story so big and so on message the press and the political world must pay attention to it. in the absence of doing that he's left having to defend things that are silly but nonetheless part of our political media culture. >> speaking of nexts silly, michelle obama at a fund-raiser in new york last night and some point, i wasn't there, but some point robert de niro made a comment whether or not we could have another -- we could ever have a white first lady. the context, of course, it was a misch sho michelle obama fund-raiser, de niro married to an african-american woman. newt gingrich is trying to make

out a lot about that. i wanted to play what gingrich said today. >> with what de niro said was inexcusable and the president should apologize for him. i have a personal preference for calista to be the first lady. proud and honored to have ann romney or karen santorum as first lady. what de niro said was onthe pale and he should be ashamed of himself. >> the context is that what de niro said was, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady? the crowd roared. it was clearly a joke. is that's what we're about? >> are you talking to me? >> i mean, i tend -- touche. >> i agree with mark. that's the politics of smallness. i remember a few weeks ago there was a quote about ann romney in which she said, i don't even consider myself rich. and a lot of people, many democrats, sought to make a huge deal out of this. when you read the longer quote it was clear she was talking about how her struggles of

multiple sclerosis and breast cancer made her understand spiritual wealth was more important. we know what these people mean. unless you're willfully misunderstanding and in the de niro case, a joke, and newt gingrich is misunderstanding it. it's throwing red meat to conservatives in louisiana. so that's what he needs to do. but let's be honest. this has to pass the reasonable test. if reasonable people can say, whether it's ann romney, michelle obama, robert de niro, rick santorum, we niknew what ty meant, let's move onthis stuff. it's not going to work but it is a politics of smallness which is not appealing. >> and mark, yes, i'm talking to you. taxi driver. mark? >> you mean about this? >> yeah. >> you know, the democrats in

the past have at "times" had trouble with hollywood fund-raisers, celebrity fund-raisers. this was a joke. and chris is exactly right. we're clear what speaker gingrich is doing here. and i think that the republican party in general, whoever the nominee ends up being most likely to mitt romney they need to have a frame on the president if they have a chance to win that involves something serious. >> thank you very much. mark and chris. but it is serious because illinois is voting. that is what's serious. there are delegates at stake. courting evangelical voters in louisiana rick santorum appears at a large church outside of baton rouge sunday night with tony perkens and the family research counsel and pastor dennis terry who gave a fiery introduction. >> you don't like the way we do things, i have one thing to say, get out!

we don't worship voodoo, we don't worship mohammed, we don't worship ala, we worship god. we worship god's son jesus christ. >> thank you, father, for senator rick santorum. i pray your blessings, father, upon him, his dear wife and their precious children. and we pray tonight, father, for your will to be done in this upcoming election. >> hogan gidley communications director for the santorum campaign and joins us now. pastor terry then also prays for president obama. so it was a longer prayer at the end of the service. some questions have been raised about this issue. i know that what rick santorum said last night is that he's always stood for religious freedom. do you think he should have separated himself from pastor terry who was many people believe criticizing other religions, including, muslim religions and as well as

hinduism? >> you just through making the point which is true that rick santorum's for religious freedom for everybody. and then you asked me shun he condemn what the pastor said in his own church? he was talking about jesus and said we worship jesus and made the point other religions worship other things. why would santorum criticize that if he's for religious freedom? that's what makes the country great. that's the theme, it's about freedom and that's what the election is about and that's what rick was talking about as soon as he left that church. of course introduction was not for rick. it was for tony perkins. there are a lot of little things here and the media likes to get in a frenzy about throws things but bottom line is santorum has been consistent and it's about religious freedom. >> an introduction for santorum on the stage with tony perkins and there was a q&a there. what about the fact that pastor terry said get out, get out if you don't worship jesus?

he was saying if you don't believe in america. equatesing people who don't worship jesus with people who don't believe in america. >> no, i don't think that's what he was doing. i'm not going to speak for the paster. that's up to him to defend. the fact of the matter is he's a pastor of a christian church, talking about his views and beliefs and he's perfectly able and -- perfectly able to do that in a free country. i mean i don't really see what the big deal is. >> karen santorum said last night that women should not worry about her husband because he would not take any steps against contraception. she seemed to be trying very hard to reassure women voters, independent women voter whose have had some concerns about the issue this year. is that the case, that if he becomes president of the united states he's not going to take, quote, any steps against contraception? >> she wasn't trytrying. she was stating the fact. rick's been candid about this in public, he's perfectly fine with

the women's right to cont contracepti contraception. he was clear that he was against partial birth abortion. he wrote a bill, got it through congress, and now we outlawed partial birth abortion. he was very clear that contraception in the past is a woman's right. in the same way he didn't pass any legislation, wouldn't pass any legislation and has been clear that states untheir own constitution have the right to do it but he would oppose such effort because that's up it a woman's right. >> does he oppose some of the efforts that have gone on in almost 19 states i now believe? there's the law in arizona that jan brewer said she wouldn't sign. the issue in pennsylvania, rick santorum's home state, of course, of having sonograms before abortion procedures that governor corbett has become criticized, widely criticizes for his comments on. what does he think about the state initiatives? >> i can't speak to every state because i don't know what every

state initiative is. you have to ask rick that question more than me. he's been clear on the fact he wouldn't touch a women's right to conra tra ception at a state level. but you know this is a different topic. i can speak to that, that's something vie to find out from rick. you have ask him yourself. we'll try to get him on. >> on illinois, a state where you think you can win? you were behind on the delegates because you're not in four congressional districts. but what about the popular vote? >> i'm not sure. it's a very large state. we've been outspent, 6, 7-1. we think we'll do well in illinois tonight but of course, we don't hinge our campaign on one particular state here or there. last week mississippi and alabama i mean one candidate said they had to win there the other candidate promises he would win. we were saying we're going on to ill swil th

illinois and then wisconsin and on. we don't put a lot of pressure on ourselves in that way. we know this is a campaign set for the long haul, it's structured that way. the money's there. we can keep this going for a long time. the support's there, we can keep it going for a long time. the states usually don't get to be involved in this process in the way they are. usually a candidate has been picks and force fed to them. now they fetget a choice. >> you look like a man having a good time out there. thank you very much for joining us. we look forward. >> you look like you're having a good time, too, andrea. >> we always do. thank you. and joining us from the romney campaign, press secretary andrea sole. hoy important is it for mitt romney to score a decisive rickry in illinois? >> i think we'll do well. i feel confident we'll do well. i think it's a close vote. as we saw with ohio and michigan governor romney had big wins in

both of those states which senator santorum said ohio was ground dear re, if you remember, for the election. but they are all very close. we expect tonight will be closer than public polling shows but i fell confident we'll do well there tonight. >> the candidate, mitt romney, at bradley university in peoria, illinois, and there were students, two women in particular asked about contraception. here's one example. >> so you are all for like, yeah, freedom and all of this stuff ander. suit of happiness. you know what would make me happy? free birth control. >> if you're looking for free stuff, looking for free stuff you don't have to pay for, vote for the other guy, that's what he's all about, okay? >> so at this point, does mitt romney now feel that he is in the right place on this issue, you know? where does he stand on contraception and what is available now and on all of the state efforts to roll it back?

>> well i think there are two separate issue. contraception, governor romney's been very clear he thinks contraception's working fine. on the issue of the budget and spending governor romney's laid out a fiscal plan and described programs that he thinks are not worth borrowing money from china to pay for that and includes handouts, regardless of what it is, and so you know obviously we have, you know, safety nets in place, you know, for lower income americans. but for things like planned parenthood governor romney's been clear that he would get rid of title 10 funding at least in the budget deficit which funds planned parenthood. when we look at budget as a whole, governor romney has a lot of initiatives that he wants to make sure that we can get spending under control. if you look at what le did in massachusetts he went in with a $2 billion budget deficit and left with a rainy day fund. at olympics went in with i

budget deficit and turned things around. when we look at deficits and the debt under president obama, it's just out of control. governor romney's going to rein in the spending and get this economy back on track. >> another issue, newt gingrich jumped all over a joke that robert de niro told at a michelle obama fund-raiser last night in new york, what he said was calista gingrich, karen santorum, ann romney, do you think our country is ready for a white first lady? the crowd roars. someone yelled no. gingrich is offended by that. what about the romney campaign? >> governor romney's focuses on the economy and the big issues in this campaign. and that's what he's been talking about across illinois. he gave a big speech yesterday contrasting his vision for the future versus president obama. he wants to see an america where our i cans and grandkids can grow up in the same america that he knows. he doesn't want to pass on debt to the next generation.

he thinks that's immoral to do so. these are the steps to get americans back to work. he spent 25 years as a businessman and entrepreneur in the private sector so he understands how these things work and that's why he's running. and i think as we've seen throughout all of these states and all of the contests that americans are responding to him. he's won 1.2 million more votes than senator santorum, his next competitor and he's getting great support in all sectors of the country. and in all demographics as well. >> andrea, thanks so much. up next here, the police cobriefing, breaking down the ryan budget plan. was trayvon martin kill because he's african-american? the justice department stepped in. as protests grow over florida's failure to act in the case. ♪

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today house budget chairman and rising republican star paul ryan tried to put democrat on the defensive by releasing his new budget with a lot of fanfare. joining me is politico congressional republican reporter on the republican budget. let's talk about what was the strategy in paul ryan's releasing the budget? first of all the medicare component which is a big piece of it, which is bipartisan, as he points out, and also what he's trying to do on the tax front. >> for last couple of months house republicans have been saying senate democrats have haven't passed a budget, fiscally irresponsible. what paul ryan and john boehner and eric cantor are betting on the electorate looks at them as

the responsible ones. last year they released a plan and got slammed by democrats. they lost in upstate house race because of that. so they're betting people will see them as responsible. they're going after medicare but it's a bipartisan plan with senator widen block granting medica medicaid, altering the tax code. it's a bold plan and what's laid out. but politically it's to be seen. it's a risky gambit for them. >> the fact that ron wyden joined them gave them a lot of talking points and was not well-receives at the white house. this is paul ryan on "morning joe" today. >> medicare is changing as we know it right now under current law. let's not forget that the president's new health care law takes a half a trillion dollars from medicare to spend on the new health care law and puts the board of 15 bureaucrats to current seniors. medicare's going bankrupt as well. >> and that was clearly willie

geist as well on the show this morning. what is he trying to accomplish on medicare? having gone there once, do you think that this is -- is this a risky play? >> it's a risky play but if they went back and didn't do this this year, after doing it last year, it would have shown they were walking away. house republican leadership told its members, listen, you're already in this pool, you've voted for this, all by i think four republicans voted for it last time around. they had no choice but to follow up and do it again. and a lot of these people believe in this, really the flavor of the year in republican politics is going big and going bold. paul ryan, that's why everyone wanted paul ryan to run for president he did these big and dramatic things, and they couldn't back away from that. that's the politics they have to contend with in an election year. >> briefly, jake, the big elements of the tax plan, i think they reduce rates and they completely get rid of the alternative minimum tax. >> right, they create two tax brackets 10% and 25%, get rid of

the alternative minimum tax. they violate -- they would not consider it to violate du but but they break an agreement with senate caps. they're aiming to spend even less money than they told democrats in the white house they would spend during the debt ceiling agreement. nary trying to further cut spending in an election year. >> and also protect against the defense cuts that had been already agreed to in that bipartisan agreement. protect the automatic defense cuts as well. >> that's right. >> thanks so much, jake. busy day on capitol hill. coming up, america's troubled relationship with pakistan. our exclusiveness view with pakistan's new foreign minister, live. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ♪ i'm michael bazinet, president of creative digital imaging of bangor, maine. we have customers all over the united states. we rely on the postal service for everything that we do.

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the american drone war is carried out against al qaeda and other terror of thes there. the result of relations that have been severely strained since the raid that killed bin laden last year. today a parliament commission in islamabad released a list of demands, to end all u.s. drone attacks inside pakistan. a full apology for the u.s. strike that mistakenly killed two dozen pakistani soldiers pack in november. hina rabbani khar joins me from islamabad. thank you for being with us today. these changes we are told are likely to go through. what is the main grievance that pakistan, that your government has, against the u.s. and against the drone war, in particular? >> thank you, andrea. you know, first of all, i don't think it's a matter of grievance as much as it is about a matter

of building a type of partnership which is lasting, which has the ownership of the people of pakistan, and of course the parliament of pakistan and a partnership which can achieve results which are considered to be in the joint interest of both pakistan and the united states and of course the nato members, which are operating. >> and i explained to our viewers we have i satellite delay. we're doing the best we can with that. but we've seen in campaign speeches here in the united states biden and others making a very big deal out of the killing of osama bin laden saying this shows the strength, the wisdom, the determination of this president, of president obama, on foreign policy. how that make you feel in pakistan? >> you know, one thing that you missed in talking about

grievances, which i think is an unfavorable word to use, but you misses the incident of november 26 in which to remain your audience pakistan lost 27 of its soldiers to what is considered to be friendly fire, fire coming in from allies. a fire or a death toll, which is still in some ways in many minds of pakistanis, unaccounted for. i would like you to put yourself in those shoes for a moment and think that if 27 body bags were to return to the united states of america and your public was told that they lost their lives because pakistani troops fired on them, what would be the level of hostility in the united states of america? i'm quite sure very high. this was really the brink of continuing with a relationship or a partnership which was increasingly being seen in pakistan not to be working for pakistan. and i think here in the

parliament review, we have a unique opportunity to put things correctly. i think this is a unique opportunity to put things right, the type of opportunity that we haven't seen many times before. what it gives to us in pakistan and to you in the united states of america is an opportunity to put this partnership on a track which is more lasting, which has the ownership of the people. in that what we have to be careful about is that we are married to the end objective of fighting militants, extremism in this part of the world. however, if we are too married or too attached to some tools considers to be violative of pakistan's territory integrity and the spirit of mapartnership i'm afraid we will not meet the success we need to meet in the future. >> i did say that the one of the

demand for a pufull apology by e killing of the friendly fire of the soldiers. i did mention that as one of the grievances. but what about bin laden? how do you feel about the american -- about the white house using this as a key point in its campaign for re-election, the killing of bin laden on your soil? >> pakistan has repeatedly said that bin laden, osama bin laden was an enemy for pakistan. pakistani military has hunted down more al qaeda operatives than anywhere else in the world. al qaeda is an enemy for pakistan. as i mentioned, a joint approach, a join operation, would have obviously been much more useful to carry on the partnership and to carry on efforts to be able to achieve what i am calling common

objectives and i think that is what is important. to look at this as a common objective, look at us moving towards a common goal because at the strategic plan united states and pakistan agree on what are their goals and objectives. where we have differences, which have become apparent in the fast few months as to what are the tools that should be used to be able to achieve those end objectives. and it is no working without ownership of the people of any country, of any place. you can see that in the united states also when you go to war in a country you have to have ownership of the people of your country to -- because war is costly, as it has been for pakistan. we've had losses colossal, economically close to $60 billion. we've had lossles in terms of human life, 30,000 civilians

dead, 10,000 paramilitary and military forces together dead. all of these and loss to pakistan's society, way of life, has been colossal. now, with that, with those losses, we have to make sure that this is not seen to be our participation in what is considered to be an international effort is not seen to be an effort which is in the unilateral interests of the united states. but it's seen to be an effort which is in the mutual interest of the united states and pakistan. and for that, it is of course extremely important to be able to build that broad ownership that is required for any country to be able to be an effective partner. >> hina rabbani khar the foreign minister, pakistan's foreign minister, thank you for joining us today. next the 9/11 families' lawsuit against saudi arabia.

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[ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. family members of victims and survives are of 9/11 allege that the saudi government was v v involved in the attacks and the government and chairs knowingly funded the terrorists. they are seeking action in american courts appealing a lower court ruling that threw out their case. former co-chair of the congressional inquiry into 9/11, bob graham has joined their cause and he joins me now along with terry stratta who lost her husband on the attacks on the twin towers. >> thank you, andrea. >> what do you hope to

accomplish here? what evidence do you have of saudi complicity? what are you hoping the courts will recognize? >> we have proof that the saudis have been involved. behave been investigating this for the last ten years our law firm has been doing their work and we know that they were involved and hope to hole them account football our justice system in our courts and ask them the questions that we have for them of their involvement in 9/11 and the murder of our loved ones. >> and we know you lost your husband in the twin tower, he was a bond traitor at cantor fitzgerald. we can't even imagine what you and all of the other families have been going through. senator graham, how are you helping them try to dig through the intelligence and the information that you say links the saudis to the attacks? >> andrea, i was ask and did submit an affidavit of some of the things that i know and some of the informed speculation that i have relative to the role of

the saudis. i think it is deep. it is highly evidence-based. it represents significant assistance, which in my opinion but for that assistance, 9/11 would not have occurred. >> what are some of the examples? >> well, the major example is in san diego, san diego, california, where two of the hijackers received substantial assistance from a man who was effectively an employee of the saudi government, probably at the direction of a counselor office of the saudis in los angeles, provided them money, paid for an apartment, arranged for their flying lessons, introduced them to a network of eller and respected saudis in the san diego area who helped give these two men the shelter and protection that they needed in order to prepare for 9/11.

>> terry, i've covered a number of these cases, one in particular, involving iranian involvement, support for hezbollah and the death of an american young woman, a teenager, caught in a terror plot in israel. and the department of state, the department of justice have consistently gone against family applications to american courts, not wanting to establish these presence. in your case the department of justice filed suit saying they did not see the direct connection. what do you say to our own government on this point? >> i say open your eyes and take a better look because there is direct links to the saudis in this case. and we don't understand at all why they're protecting the saudis, why they're siding with them, why they are not siding with us, the families. we applaud senator graham for what he's doing now and coming out with this type of information that we've known for years and thank you very much for this because it's going to help us move forward.

but the government does need to explain to us, at least on some level, why they aren't allowing us proceed in the courts. they have been blocking it for l last ten years and we're frustrated and angry. we are united there's over 6,000 of us. we are not going to stop until we hold those accountable for those that murdered our loved ones. bin laden had a network of financers. i didn't know that ten years ago. if you asked me who was responsible i would have said the afghanistan lunatics did this. but we've investigated this for years and we have proof and evidence, and we want to bring it into our courts and ask the questions, and we want answers. >> terry strada, thank you so much, we will stay on this case as will you. thanks to both of you. thanks for joining us today. and topping our headlines on

"andrea mitchell reports" -- the defense attorney for army staff sergeant robert bales says his client's recollection is hazy, at best. charges the deaths of the 16 civilians are still being determined but could be filed this week. police fanning out across southern france searching for a gun man who they believe is linked to at least three attacks including the brazen murder of a rabbi and three children outside a school on monday. police labeled the suspect a racist, anti-semitic serial killer. the suspect may have been wearing a device to film the attack. french officials are warning he could strike again. secretary of state hillary clinton, one of the most famous women of this century, pitching in to help solve the mystery of one of the most famous women of the last century, amelia earhart. today, meeting with scientists who are going to launch a new search for earhart's plane which disappeared in 1937.

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introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. the attorney for trayvon martin, unarmed florida teen who was shot and killed, is releasing new audio recordings of the moments before the fatal shooting. benjamin crutch is accusing police of failing to properly investigate the alleged gunman, george zimmerman. >> listen to him.

listen to how he's talking. how his words slur. and you scratch your head and ask yourself, why didn't the sanford police department do a drug and alcohol analysis on him? they did one on trayvon martin who was dead on the ground. why didn't they do one on zimmerman? why didn't they take a background collect on the man who just killed this kid in cold blood. >> daryl owens an editorial writer and columnist with the orlando sentinel. you've been writing about it, it has taken far too long, i think, for outrage, i think, social media have contributed to this, to getting people's attention, including our own, as to what happened. what do you think went on in this case? >> well, it's hard to say because the information has been pretty sketchy, but judging from the 911 tapes that have been released it appears mr. zimmerman may have

instigated a confrontation on his neighborhood watch patrol duties. that led to the young man's death. >> you know the justice department overnight decided to get into this and now is being pressed by members of congress to pursue it as a hate crime, which is the way the justice department for decades and decades, going back to the civil rights era, pursued cases where local jurisdictions do not look into cases that involve a black victim and white accused perpetrators. >> that's true. and that probably bubbled up from the outrage that has been happening in sanford over the past few days. it's grown from a whisper to a full-throated outrage largely because a lot of people in the community do believe that had the circumstances involved a black man shooting a young white child there would have been a quick arrest here. >> there was the audio of trayvon's friend, a

trayvon's friend, a girlfriend who was speaking to him as he was trying to get away from, he did not know why this man zimmerman was pursuing him. what do we know about that? >> you know, i have not heard many details about that so i can't really comment on that point. >> and last night, trayvon's father tracy martin talked to reverend al sharpton on that show. >> to call mr. zimmerman the victim is a slap in the face to me and my family. it's a slap in the face to our community. my son was being attacked. he wasn't the aggressor in this instance. and the sanford police department is trying to make zimmerman out to be the victim. and the victim is clear. trayvon martin who is dead in

the grave. >> you can only imagine what this family is going through. apparently this is what the lawyer played. he was trying to preserve the identity of this young woman who was on the phone with trayvon martin but this is the tape that he played. >> he was fast. he was getting close by him and close by him and i'm like trayvon, run. and trayvon said he's not going to run. and then -- >> are you seeing now that the state officials, investigators, law enforcement officials are now getting into it because of the pressure from washington and from the local community, principally? >> i think that has a lot to do with it. but i do think that the state officials do see that there may be some issues with this case involving the law that was passed here in 2005, that although i believe the governor this morning stated that he didn't really see any real

issues with the law itself, there are some state legislators who are now calling for a review of this particular law, that perhaps it is too broad and that we need to narrow it so that these type of incidents will be avoided in the future. >> thank you so much. we'll be right back. andrea, coming up in 15 minutes, we're live in washington, d.c. the chairman of the congressional black caucus will join me live. congressman cleaver will be our guest to talk about the news you were just reporting surrounding trayvon martin's death and the federal investigation that is being launched. i'll talk with one of florida's most prominent attorneys. the former u.s. attorney kendall coffee. he will break it down step by step. plus -- i don't care what the unemployment rate will be. it doesn't matter to me. >> well, it might matter now

that mitt romney is going after rick santorum. his campaign said his words regarding the unemployment rate were being taken out of context. the spin on his words. it doesn't help during the recent speech in illinois. santorum reportedly did not use the word jobs once and he said the economy only twice after 52 minutes-speech. we'll look at that. i'm walt gale, i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service.

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a busy show today. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tamron hall is up next and you're right here. >> and i always love being with you. we have a lot of news following up on what andrea reported. the details on the trayvon martin case. the grand jury will investigate this. it will go to the grand jury in april. chairman of the congressional black caucus. congressman emanuel cleaver, plus a south florida u.s. attorney will be here.

we'll even play new 911 tapes made by george zimmerman not related to the trayvon case. plus, mitt romney jumps on the comments regarding the unemployment rates. santorum said he didn't care about it. then he came back and changed his words. we'll look at the impact of this. [ male announcer ] say goodbye to "ho-hum," and hello to "whoa, yum." use campbell's cream of chicken soup to make easy enchiladas, cheesy chicken & rice, and other chicken dishes that are oh...so...whoa.

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