this is arne duncan an hour ago on "morning joe." >> do you believe same sex men and women should be able to get legally married in the united states? >> oh, come on. you're going to start there? >> yes, i do. >> okay. have you ever said that publicly before? >> i don't know if i've ever been asked publicly. >> now he has. >> once, maybe twice in two hours, are the president's men part of some coordinated plan, dana? >> i think it is a bit conspiratorial and i'm not sure whether the secretary of education feels one way or the other on this subject whether that indicates anything at all. now, the vice president biden is a different story. he is often known to just say what is on his mind regardless of the consequences, which is why you don't often see him on shows like "meet the press." i think what is going on here is here is how a lot of the people in this administration think. that's not the official line. they're sort of inching toward that official line. he got out in front of that a little bit but it is not as if he is completely at odds with what everybody else is thinking

there. >> it appears there is a fine line here because you have the constitutional amendment opposing gay marriage in north carolina. gay donors, some of the president's top as well. the big referendum tomorrow in north carolina. what is more important for the obama campaign, a swing state or a potential big money? >> they're both important. i suspect the swing state is more important right now for them. the obama campaign has opposed the referendum in north carolina. the president is saying he is fully for gay marriage. they're about 9/10 of the way where the gay rights leaders want them the president himself has not used the words i endorse gay marriage but biden saying he is comfortable with men marrying men, that is something the president has not said in those words. that was new out of yesterday. >> the president has said his position on gay marriage has evolved. do you think, dana, we see the

evolution of this decision wednesday after the election in november if he gets re-elected? >> certainly that's what a lot of the republicans and particularly the conservatives are feeling that there will be some wholesale change here. but i think evolution is the word here and that's what you see happening with this administration. it's sort of inching toward that. i think everybody sees where this is ultimately heading. i don't think there is a particular date certain. >> right. >> but this is just one more indication that things are moving toward that. >> let's talk about the polls for a second. politico's matchup has romney up one, "usa today" swing state matchup has the president up two. both of those within the margin of error of course. but when you look at independents, at least in the political poll, dana, romney has a ten-point lead. how much should a lead that wide worry team obama right now? >> it should worry them plenty.

we have to remember these are snap shots and, you know, it was only a week or two ago we were looking at a very different picture and certainly the obama's advantages among latinos, among women persist there. i think we all have to keep in mind that whatever this election is going to be in the fall it's going to be decided by a couple percentage points and is going to be within the margin of error of these kinds of polls. i think that ultimately shouldn't surprise us and these things are going to go up and down based largely on things outside of their control, the jobs report and other external things. >> a bright spot. what are the bright spots for the president? his numbers with the women specifically in politico's poll. obama leads women by seven points in the "usa today" today he leads by 12. on the flip side, though, mitt romney leads mitt romney by about 7 to 8%. do those ultimately cancel each other out? >> in some ways they do. the numbers are good news for obama in one way in that he won by the same amount last time and lost men by the similar amount

last time as well. the numbers right now, he has strength among latinos and women as dana said, african-americans, voters under the age of 30. if he keeps the strength he is showing in those groups and does pretty well among men, doesn't get blown out by 15 or something he is in good shape to win the election. >> it is going to be very interesting. there were a couple pieces over the weekend that spoke to this turnout. what does the obama campaign need to see in terms of turnout, dana milbank, come november? >> well, look. there are two components. one is how much you rally your base. that's what we were talking about earlier, gay marriage. that's about firing up the base here. at the same time it's reaching out to the independent voters. obama did very well with both sets obviously in the last election. so it's a little bit of a bounce here. romney has been working on solidifying his base. hasn't done as much outreach to the independents, which is why him doing so well in these polls among independents should be worrisome to obama. >> want to take a quick look here at the president's new ad and talk about it on the other side.

take a look at this. >> an economic meltdown. >> worst financial collapse since the great depression. >> all before this president took the oath. >> so help me god. >> some said our best days were behind us. but not him. >> don't bet against the american worker. >> instead of losing jobs we're creating them. over 4.2 million so far. >> again, that is just a snippet there. good strategy. i think we should also note here that there is no mention of health care in that ad at all, perry. >> he did speak about health care some on saturday and i think he will speak about some in the campaign but every poll shows the biggest issue for americans is the economy and he has to convince people, you look at that jobs report on friday, not great. he has to convince people even though the economy is not maybe recovered fully that it is recovering and that he is -- the things he has done, like bailing out general motors have helped the economy. he's made the right decisions. >> all right. gentlemen, thanks. you also want to get this campaign response. this is mitt romney's campaign response to that ad i just showed you there. quote, americans will hear a lot from president obama in the

coming months, but what they won't hear from him is the fact that his policies have wreaked havoc on the middle class. we are going to have to leave it right there. lots more to come of course. dana milbank, thank you sir. bacon, thanks to you as well. today lawmakers haggling again trying to undo the harsh, automatic cuts triggered when they couldn't make a deal last year. you remember the so-called super committee right? i want to bring in congressman chris van hollen the ranking member of the budget committee and democrat from maryland as well. good morning to you, congressman. >> good morning, craig. >> the budget committee meeting today. you are concerned because republicans want to cut even more. $61 billion from federal programs. what's the problem as you see it, congressman? >> well, the problem, craig, is more of the same. meaning we all agree we have to reduce the long-term deficit. democrats have proposed to do that in a balanced way. we make tough cuts but also closed a loft the tax loop holes to help reduce the deficit.

our republican colleagues refused to close any tax loop holes for the purpose of debt reduction which means, simple math, they whack everyone and everything else harder. what they're going to propose today is to cut deeply in the food and nutrition programs for kids. they're going to take about 300,000 kids off of the children's health program. they'll no longer get that coverage. they are going to cut medicare by 2%. >> right. >> and allow that part of the sequester to go forward all because they refuse to end the taxpayers subsidies for the oil and gas industry or other loop holes that encourage american corporations to ship jobs overseas. >> congressman, here is the thing. republicans will have and most certainly continue to make the argument through november and beyond that, look. we are the party most serious about belt tightening in washington. here is another example of us trying to do that and democrats like congressman chris van hollen being obstructionist. how do you counter that argument? >> well, there are two things. first the most important thing

we can do to begin to reduce the deficit is get the economy moving again and the president has proposed a jobs plan including a major infrastructure investment plan, which republicans continue to sit on. secondly, there is no debate about the needs to reduce the long-term deficit. the question is how you do it. we put forward very concrete proposals. we make some tough cuts. for example, we get rid of a lot of these farm subsidies. the republicans today aren't going to touch subsidies for some of the big agribusinesses. they're going to cut food and nutrition programs for kids so we've said, we need to do a mix of cuts but also revenues generated from closing some of the tax loop holes and because republicans have all signed this pledge, the grover norquist pledge, saying they will not accept one penny for deficit reduction from closing loop holes or getting rid of the big subsidies for the oil companies. that means they hit everybody else harder. that means they end the medicare guarantee in their budget. that means they whack other

important investments in our economy. >> will democrats be offering their own proposal to replace the automatic cuts this time around? >> yes. what we're going to pro-pose is a balanced plan that addresses the whole ten-year sequester. the republican plan is focused just on the one year. we say we need to get together to take a balanced approach. we point out some of the key areas that we need to address in order to get that but let's be real. at the end of the day this is only going to happen in the bipartisan manner. and, unfortunately, our republican colleagues continue to refuse to take the same kind of balanced approach recommended by bipartisan groups. >> is it realistic to expect that democrats and republicans are going to be able to hammer out a budget deal before the election? >> well, i'd like to say yes but unfortunately i think the answer is going to be no for the very reasons we're talking about

right now. we will put forward a balanced approach. at least today our republican colleagues continue to reject that and unfortunately today in the budget committee i think they'll once again reject that. >> an exercise in futility perhaps. >> that is the sad part of all of this. it would be bess if we could resolve these big issues before the election. this is what the campaign is all about. after all mitt romney has said that the house republican budget is a wonderful document meaning he's embraced this idea that we're going to protect all these tax breaks and the consequence of that is that you're going to end the medicare guarantee, make deep cuts in education, cut investments and infrastructure even when we have huge unemployment in the construction industry so people are going to have a very clear choice. >> congressman chris van hollen from maryland, always a pleasure. thanks so much. >> very good to be with you. >> also want to note here we have extended an invitation to congressman van hollen's republican counterpart paul ryan to appear with us and we

certainly do hope that congressman ryan accepts that. the woman at the center of the secret service sex scandal is revealing new details about that night just ahead of president obama's trip to colombia. nine personnel are leaving the agency in the wake of the scandal. nbc's michelle kosinski sat down with her for her first american tv interview in madrid. michelle joining me live now this morning. good morning to you. >> reporter: she has family here and is 24 years old and claims she is one of the young women one of those secret service agents refused to pay and that is how police got involved. in this interview which she was not paid for she calls these agents stupid bruts, she says they put extremely indiscreet partying ahead of the president's security. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> translator: they like to show off their bodies, great bodies,

well-defined abs. they like attention and we colombian women are not used to that. i was surprised that every time he danced with me he lifted up his sweater so i could see. >> reporter: so they were acting very bold and sure of themselves. >> translator: they were full of themselves. there was another guy who would jump up on the bar. >> reporter: were they shy about asking for sex or were they very direct about it? >> translator: very direct. i will say too direct. >> reporter: did any of them say they had done this before? >> translator: no, but the way they approached this it seems obvious that they were used to doing it because people that do this for the first time are very shy. >> reporter: what if someone said, well, you went to the bar. you tempted these guys. >> translator: no. i'm not to blame for being attractive. they are to blame for leaving their duty behind. >> reporter: what do you think of these guys? why do you laugh so much?

>> translator: they seemed like completely stupid, idiots. i don't know how obama had them in his security force. what dumb men. >> reporter: she says she spent the night with one of the agents and he quickly fell asleep after which she was in his room and said she could have gone through anything in there, stolen anything. of course she says she did not. and a u.s. official who knows this case and has knowledge of the investigation says that the agent she claims to have spent the night with has resigned. craig? >> michelle kosinski in madrid this morning. thank you. a new video released by al qaeda is causing concern this morning. in the video 70-year-old american warren weinstein says he will be killed if president obama does not meet the group's demands. in december the al qaeda leader took responsibility for weinstein's kidnapping and demanded release of all prisoners and ending u.s. air strikes on militants. though nbc news cannot verify where or when the tape was made,

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wall street, washington, and the presidential campaigns are watching the unfolding developments in europe where voters have rejected budget cutting austerity measures in france and greece. for the first time in nearly 20 years france has elected a socialist president with the challenger ousting nicklas sarkozy among anger over budget cuts. there are fresh worries about europe's debt crisis. yesterday's election resulted in a split party. one party wants to renegotiate the bail out deal and the other

party wants to overturn it. joining us now a professor of economics at the university of california-berkeley and author of the new book "beyond outrage" what has gone wrong with our economy and dplox and how to fix it. how many books have you written? >> i think it's up to 13 or 14. who is keeping track? >> in this particular work, because there are some warnings here from both democrats and republicans as well, if you're on the obama campaign, is what happened over the weekend just more proof this election is going to be all about the economy? >> yeah. it is all about the economy. the public in the united states just like the public in europe is concerned about jobs, concerned about growth, concerned about wages, not particularly concerned about the long-term budget deficits and here as in europe people don't want the kind of spending cuts. >> no. >> that are going to retard growth and generate higher unemployment. they want growth and employment

first. >> how do you have both? >> sequencing. this is the thing. it doesn't have to be one or the other. the first thing you want to do whether in europe or in the united states, you want to have a government that is spending enough to get growth back ontrack and get unemployment down and then when growth is back ontrack and unemployment is down you really want to budget, cut the budget, cut the spending, you want to get the fiscal house in order. but you don't want to do it, the fiscal house in order before you get jobs and growth back. >> you're advocating more short-term stimulus? >> you need -- well, look. >> we want to call it -- whether we want to call it or that. >> stimulus is a bad word. call it a short-term boost. you certainly don't want to start cutting that because if you start cutting down now -- >> in any area no cuts? >> you want to cut waste regardless. i mean, you can't argue for waste. but you don't want to cut any kind of public budgets now because consumers and the private sector businesses are

not yet able to generate enough gland for goods and services. one reason the entire economy of the united states slowed is because government pulled back. if government continues to pull back, and cut the budget deficit, we are going to see more and more sluggishness. >> debts and deficits don't seem to worry you as much as others. >> they worry me over the long term but the real issue is the ratio of the debt to the entire national economy. that gets worse if the economy is not growing and very bad if the economy starts shrinking. you want enough growth and jobs so that ratio of debt to the total economy starts falling. >> president obama officially kicked off his campaign over the weekend and took aim at mitt romney. take a listen.

>> bigger profits having led to better jobs and governor romney doesn't seem to get that. i don't care how many ways you try to explain it. corporations aren't people. people are people. >> is that line of attack going to connect with people who are frustrated with high unemployment in this country? >> well, certainly most people disagree with it, the concept that corporations are people. most people don't believe in this country that corporations need big tax cuts or that the rich need big tax cuts. but that's not enough, craig. it's necessary for both the democrats, both the president, and also assuming the republican nominee is romney, to come up with a real plan for getting people back to work. it'll be beyond slogans and attacks on each other. >> i want to put this up on the screen for folks at home from your new book. our politics has become nastier,

more polarized and increasingly paralyzed, compromise is more difficult, elections are more venomous. political advertising increasingly negative as well. you basically say that this is an effect. this is not the cause of a litany of problems in washington but rather the effect of problems. explain. >> when people are frustrated economically, when they are insecure, when they are anxious and when they're angry because they've done everything that they were told they needed to do to get ahead and they're not getting ahead and not saving and their kids are in jeopardy in terms of college, that anger, itself, can generate a lot of political resentment. particularly if you've got demagogues on the right or the left who start blaming, blaming immigrants, blaming the poor, blaming the rich, blaming foreigners, blaming unionized workers. >> sure. >> the blame game gets us absolutely nowhere. but it's easy for politicians to start that blame game and the

result is americans become more and more divisive at a time when we need people to pull together. we don't want divisiveness. we really do need a nation where we all understand we are all in it together. >> secretary, former secretary of labor robert reich, author, professor. good to have you in the flesh. we usually have you in double boxes via remote satellite. >> good to see you too. i'm here. >> stick around. thank you so much. appreciate your time. former california governor arnold schwarzenegger has strong advice for his party, that next. time for entrepreneurs of the week. ken whiting and his nephew jack own whiting's foods which has run food concessions on the santa cruz boardwalk since 1953. they employ hundreds of high school and college age employees and they've learned managing this generation means you have to speak their language. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc.

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robo call opposing a constitutional amendment in north carolina that would define marriage as between a man and a woman. the call starts today and will reach hundreds of thousands of north carolina voters. mitt romney is still betting his runningmate that the sunday shows certainly look like auditions. >> i'm not going to discuss the vice presidency. i'm not going to -- governor romney has a process in place and i'm going to respect that. i'm more than happy to tell you why i am qualified to serve in the united states senate. >> it is an honor to be mentioned in that vein but my focus is on serving new hampshire. >> arnold schwarzenegger has some advice for the republican party. the former governator laid out his case in an l.a. times op-ed saying in part, quote, in the current climate, the extreme right wing of the party is targeting anyone who doesn't meet its strict criteria. the new and narrow litmus test for party membership doesn't allow compromise. it's time for the republicans who are so bent on enforcing conformity to ask themselves a question. what would ronald reagan have

done? mitt romney cheered on his team the celtics last night but apparently charles barkley not a fan. during last night's broadcast, sir charles saying, quote, mitt romney, listen, man. we're going to beat you like a drum in november. don't take it personally. i like you. you seem like a nice guy. but you're going down, bro. that's charles barkley from last night. chris jansing on assignment for "nightly news" sent her morning read. she sent it this morning. it's about time and tv. this is her must read. about 90 tv pilots are facing fierce competition to see which shows end up in your living rooms this fall. the daily beast is rooting for a dozen of them and it's my quote, if only there was free time to watch tv must read. it's up on our facebook page at facebook/jansing co. [ fabric flapping in wind ] ♪

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the obama campaign is pushing back on talk of an enthusiasm gap in this year's election. 4,000 seats were left empty at the president's kickoff event in ohio saturday, but obama's senior adviser david axelrod doesn't seem to be too concerned. >> the fact is that 14,000 is 11,000 more than the largest crowd that mitt romney has ever drawn. i am certain that we are going to have an enthused volunteer core and enthused electorate out there. >> msnbc's richard lui in washington, d.c. for us this morning. what do the numbers show when it comes to enthusiasm? >> good morning to you, craig. we have some new numbers for you. as you know when it comes to enthusiasm gap there are changes from month to month. this is a gallup poll released today. 55% of those who support president obama saying that they are extremely or very enthusiastic about president obama. when it comes to mitt romney, however, 46% of those who support mitt romney saying that they are extremely or very

enthusiastic. that nine-point gap that you saw there, just a month ago, that was just down to a two-point gap. now, that did change because of again we look at the margin of error that was a virtual tie when you take that into consideration for last month. the whole issue of an enthusiasm gap as you brought up was because of this scene here in ohio where there was reportedly 4,000 extra spaces for more attendees at president obama's kickoff event there. one question. what did this say about millennials, that key age group from 18 to 29, the group that voted for obama twice as often as for mccain in 2008? well, a harvard poll on young americans' views show that president obama could face a challenge here because when it came to registration look at this. in 2008, 73% of this group had registered to vote. 2012, down 64%. what about the question of will you definitely vote? back in 2008, 64% said yes.

47% this year. that is a drop in challenge perhaps for president obama. as mitt romney discovered so keyly enthusiasm started to wane as the primary process wore on. at risk? voter turnout and raising money. that money tally shows when it comes to campaign contributions so far at this time this year compared to 2008 the same point $197 million for president obama so far. he had $235 million at the same point in 2008. you can also see a bump for mitt romney compared to 2008. and of course the situation is very different from last year because we've not only got the dynamics of who's the front-runner and who is not as well as super pacs and that is why when it comes to this month's enthusiasm, craig, it could be, well, next month's record tv buys. >> live in the nation's capital this morning, thank you, sir. appreciate that. >> you bet. making news this morning now police say a man accused of kidnapping a mother and her three daughters is described as being like an uncle to the

girls. now there are crges. at the same time the fbi says they're trying to identify two bodies found at a mississippi home that hayes has been linked to. law enforcement says he is armed and dangerous. a mystery continues in afghanistan this morning. army investigators say they found no bullet wound in a soldier who died in afghanistan while skyping with his wife back in the u.s. believing he died of a massive heart attack. captain bruce clark's wife says she believes he was shot. during the conversation he suddenly hunched forward and collapsed. she said she saw a bullet hole in the closet behind him. that skype connection stayed up for about two hours as captain clark's family and friends tried to get him help. an autopsy is planned today on the body of a man found dead at churchill downs after the kentucky derby. the victim has been identified

as 48-year-old aden perez, a guatemalan native who worked at the track. police are treating the death as a homicide but say there does not appear to be any connection to the race. one family has already been evacuated. now others are moving out as well after, check this out, a massive sinkhole threatens homes there. it's already swallowed up about 30-foot tall trees there. police say it could be as big as 1500 feet across and 200 feet deep. experts say dry weather could be the reason that sinkhole formed. two of the american hikers freed last fall from an iranian prison are now husband and wife. sarah shourd and shane bower were married this weekend in san francisco. shane proposed while they were in prison fashioning an engagement ring out of the threads of his shirt. the third hiker josh fattal was his best man. and the new jersey mom accused of taking her 5-year-old into a tanning bed gets the saturday night live treatment.

you knew that was coming right? you don't want to miss this when we go down to the wire here in about 20 minutes. the trial of former presidential candidate john edwards enters its third week today. the attorney for the heiress whose money is at the heart of the case will be back on the stand this morning for cross examination by the defense team. trial watchers are wondering whether edwards' former mistress rielle hunter will be taking the stand and if she does will it be for the prosecution or for the defense? joined now by jack abramoff author of "capital punishment" and a client of edwards' attorney and also joined this morning by katherine ross dunham a law professor at elam university. good morning to you both. katherine, i'll start with you. the trial ended friday with a cliff hanger for jurors to think about over the weekend. how significant is bunny mellon's attorney revealing that edwards had acknowledged that the money earmarked to hide his mistress was for his benefit?

>> well, i think anything that shows john edwards had knowledge that the money from mellon and also fred barron was used to further the campaign is significant for the government. there is still the essential question though as to whether that money was a gift to john edwards personally or it was really being used for campaign purposes. edwards maintains the money was to hide the affair from his wife. so really we still don't know how that evidence is going to play out in the long run of the trial as the jury has to make a decision about who they believe. catherine, stand by for a minute. i'll come back in a bit. jack, your notorious black hat, it once came to essentially symbolize -- there it is right there. we found a picture for you. it came to for many symbolize washington corruption. edwards' attorney as we mentioned was your lawyer. how does he go about making john edwards likeable, remotely likeable considering all of the details, the lurid details we have heard about that affair and the misbehavior?

>> well, i'm not certain john edwards can be made to be likeable. there is so much baggage there. i think, you know, i haven't talked about the trial with abby but i assume he'll stay focused on the issues before him, whether these were campaign contributions or gifts. it seems that the government has a pretty high barrier across to prove that they were campaign contributions. and i know that a lot of groups have been very concerned that the government is stretching the definition of campaign contributions including reform groups by the way and that that may not be the best thing in the world for all of us. >> catherine, everyone waiting to see if edwards, if his mistress, rielle hunter, will take the stand. if you were advising the prosecution or defense at this point would you put her on? >> i think that would be hard to answer if you hadn't interviewed her. it has a lot to do with how she would come off on the stand. however, both sides opened this case by saying, you know, you might not like john edwards. you might think he did some bad things. but it's not a crime. and it's not a crime to have an

affair. so i don't know what impact having his mistress on the stand is really going to have on the government's burden. >> jack, do you think he puts her on? >> i think again it's dangerous. you don't know what she's going to say, what she's going to do. there have been some signs that maybe she is not as stable as some of the rest of us are and i think that's a risk. i think, again, the issue is going to come down to whether or not he broke the actual law, whether these were gifts or contributions and regardless of how odious he is, regardless of how, you know, we look at john edwards and think what a bad guy he is, look. i know myself i was the guy in the black hat, that it's hard to make a defense of yourself publicly on actual legal issues if everybody views you as a villain. >> since all of that, you have, you know, tried to make over your image to a great degree. what advice would you give to john edwards after all of this is over assuming he is not in prison? what advice would you give about surviving and moving on after this trial? >> well, just to find the things

that he actually did do that were wrong. come out publicly apologize for them, try to have some introspection, try to have some humility. try to realize you're not god and you're not king as a lot of politicians think and frankly some lobbyists or former lobbyists thought. and realize you're just a regular guy and try to act like that. and make people believe it. and then hopefully one day people will start to see a different john edwards. >> your perspective is certainly unique. jack abramoff always a pleasure. catherine ross dunham, thanks to you as well. it was an unprecedented week at the box office, folks. the avein jers if you haven't seen it you're about the only one. it set an all-time record. $200 million in ticket sales. >> how about that? >> how about that?

cnbc's mandy drury here with what's moving your money. mandy, that's -- here's the thing. that's $200 million in just the united states. how is it doing globally? >> you know, craig, it's earned now cumulatively worldwide grosses of nearly $642 million in just 12 days. it opened, you know, in overseas markets april 25th. it is also surpassing the previous north american record which was set by none other than "harry potter" which earned just over $169 million when it opened in theaters domestically last summer. it's also a real stamp of validation, a vindication essentially on disney's $4 billion acquisition of marvel entertainment back in 2009 and might go a long way to soften the blow of that recent thud. remember that -- >> john carter. >> you hit the money there. >> oh, yes. >> and amazingly enough it was also about $30 million more expensive to make than the avengers so this is essentially

a win. >> all right. did you see it? >> i didn't. i'm sorry. i actually saw "the pirates" instead which was excellent by the way. >> cnbc's mandy drury with that report and a movie recommendation for you as well on this monday morning. always a pleasure. thank you. >> see you. if you have to guess you might think women are the biggest online shoppers. you would be wrong. according to a new survey from i prospect there are 19 million affluent men online and the majority of them are shopping to the tune of more than $4,000 bucks a year. cnbc has learned that men out spend women by 20% to 30% per transaction. sorry, ladies, though. 84% of these guys say they are buying for themselves. male anno] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin, designed for many of men's health concerns as we age.

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saturday those accused of planning and executing the 9/11 attacks were all in military court for arraignment. the process that should have lasted maybe an hour ended up going for about 13 hours or more. with me now the nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isakoff who just returned from guantanamo, in the courtroom, watched those proceedings. i read and heard the reports from the weekend. it seemed like quite the circus unfolded in courtroom number two. what was it like inside? >> well, first of all, absolutely khalid sheik mohammed and the others were doing everything they could to slow down and obstruct the process. they were completely definality, wouldn't answer the judge's questions, wouldn't put on their head sets so they couldn't hear translations forcing the judge to order a verbal translator to repeat everything said because he had to make sure that they at least -- that the defendants heard what was going on in court. >> right. >> so that slowed the process

down. ramsey bin al sheba one of the other key alleged planners of the 9/11 attacks twice disrupted things, once getting up and starting to pray and other times claiming there had been threats on the defendants and they've been trying to kill us and make it look like suicide. in addition the lawyers are raising objections left and right to everything going on in the military commission process and at the end of the day, after the defendants' declined to enter pleas one of them requested a full reading of the charges. >> all 87 pages. >> yes. all 87 pages. requires another several hours into the late hours of the night for the sole purpose of just dragging this out. the judge got quite annoyed because the defendants weren't listening at all while the charges were being read. in fact, they were consulting with the lawyers, chatting among themselves. all of this of course infuriated the family members who came down to watch the proceedings. >> michael, so much has been made about the rules of these military courts.

a lot of critics say the defendants' rights are being trampled. it seemed like on saturday the lawyers and the defendants got a lot more latitude in that courtroom than they would have gotten in a standard federal court. >> absolutely. you know, the most striking thing. when i walked into the courtroom and we were sort of shuffled in, during a break, frequent prayer breaks for the defendants, i walk in and there's khaled sheik muhammed in his white turban and flowing white robes essentially serving as imam for the other four defendants with their prayer rugs, conducting prayers and i mean that is a scene you'd never see in federal court. but because these military commissions are untested, and are essentially in some respects on trial themselves as to whether they can deliver a fair trial for the defendants they are bending over backwards to at least give the appearance of a lot of rights and latitude for

the defendants. >> michael isakoff, thank you soechl. appreciate your time. >> thank you. today's tweet of the day comes from carol rosenberg who covers guantanamo bay for the miami herald tweeting there prison camp won't explain how ksm henna-ed his beard. statement, joint task force guantanamo does not provide detainees with hair dye.

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good morning everybody. i'm thomas roberts the agenda. next hour european markets get spooked after elections change the leadership in france and greece. and the american markets are having a mundane monday as you can see. we'll talk about that ripple effect. vice president biden, education secretary arne duncan come out in support of marriage equality. is it time for the president to jump onboard? i'll have a chance to ask the obama campaign press secretary. one of the prostitutes involved with the secret service sex scandal in colombia goes on record calling the agents dumb. how she describes their behavior on that infamous evening. we'll have that and a whole lot more.

craig? snl's tanning mom and the super moon. let's go down to the wire. in case you missed "saturday night live" this weekend here is their take on the tanning mom patricia krentcil the new jersey mom accused of taking her 5-year-old into a tanning bed. >> look, every woman dreams of wylie coyote right after something blows up in his face. really quick before i go i want to show you this trick. are you ready? >> yeah. i'd love to see a trick. >> piece of bread. put it behind my thighs. toast. >> oh, my. >> kristin wigg played krentcil though she could have been a bit more tan. also from "snl" musical guest rihanna reportedly called in sick for the final dress rehearsal before the show saturday a move that didn't sit well with the show's producer. according to reports rihanna was fine for the actual show. and did anyone catch the super moon this weekend? here are some of the cooler shots. this is from new york city. check out the moon behind the statue of liberty.

here is the moon rising behind san francisco's coit tower and run from rio de janeiro the moon behind the famous christ the redeemer statue. you guys take that clock seriously here. that wraps up this hour of "jansing & company." i'm craig melvin in today for chris jansing. thomas roberts picking things up in just a few minutes. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me!

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french president sarkozy the boot. how does it impact our economy? we'll take a look. plus a new exclusive with one of the prostitutes at the center of the secret service sex scandal in colombia. what she says about the behavior of the men that she is calling stupid bruts. hi everybody. hope you had a great weekend. i'm thomas roberts. the agenda jam packed this monday and this week marking six months, that's it, six months until voters decide whether to elect barack obama for a second term or make mitt romney commander in chief number 45. the president's campaign kicking off this critical final stretch with a new ad blitz in nine key battleground states laying out the obama case for re-election. >> instead of losing jobs we're creating them. over 4.2 million so far. we're not there yet. it's still too hard for too many. but we're coming back. >> two new polls off today. voters in swing states. "usa today" has the president leading by two points within the margin of error.