appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people. >> the obama campaign released this web ad, two republican nominees, how john mccain corrected his supporters' offensive remarks about the president in 2008 to romney's response now. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate? he doesn't have a birth certificate. he may have one, but there's something on that birth certificate, maybe religion, maybe says he's a muslim. i did a great job in getting him to, first of all i haven't seen it i'll look at it later -- i don't need to look at your copy. i loved running. i had a great time. i was doing fantastically in the polls i became friendly with mitt romney. >> all of this comes as mitt romney prepares to clinch his party's nomination tonight. let's bring in today's "news nation" political panel, peter alexander, national syndicated

radio talk show most, michael smerconi smerconish. we understand romney's campaign has released a statement to you, just moments ago, now being more specific about donald trump and the language that he's using from this morning. >> reporter: a lot of people asking questions about what mitt romney said on the campaign plane latst night was sufficien and saying what donald trump said he disagreed. here what happens we are hearing specifically from the campaign in the last hour. governor romney has said repeatedly that he believes president obama was born in the united states, the democrats can talk about donald trump all they want. mitt romney is going to talk about jobs. and how he can get our economy moving again. those are the words from andrea saul, spokeswoman for the campaign. the goal, that's been on message recently, focus on jobs, trying to hit the president on the creating a hostile environment

began the holiday week they were distracted by this from donald trump. as you know, there's a multimillion dollar private fund-raiser with the donald. the timing couldn't be worse for the campaign as they try to make their mess annual one thing and stuck talking about birther movement, claims donald trump is talking about. >> earlier today donald trump tweeting about all of this. and had this to say. barack obama practically begging mitt romney to disavow the place of the birth movement. he's afraid of it and for good reason. he keeps using senator mccain as an example, however, mccain lost the election. don't let it happen again. steve, as we look at this, and as you're looking at this unfolding before tonight's big campaign cash grab in las vegas, is this the best advice for mitt romney to follow, what donald trump is offering and the visual he's about to present, mitt romney on the same stage, the same arena, as donald trump?

>> reporter: well, i think unfortunately what we're seeing is why some of us try very hard in the last primary to avoid and obama matchup. we have a president who can't run right now on his record so he's got to run on how to paint mitt romney as outside of the mainstream as a conservative, which he's really not. and then you've got mitt romney, who actually won't run on his record, either. he's got to be the first major candidate for president who was a governor of a state who doesn't run on his own record as governor and that's because his record as governor was liberal and he doesn't want to remind his base on that. he's got to run on obama. and even when donald trump is pimping romney he has to do it by going after obama. we have twoen candidates for the next two months who can't run on their own records and i think that means we're going to see a lot of red her igs like this. >> steve, you were a newt

gingrich supporter. newt gingrich is to appear with mitt romney, donald trump. does that change your opinions about mitt romney moving forward, the fact that newt gingrich is throwing his support behind him and showing up on the campaign trail with him? >> no, i'm 38 years old, and i think a lot of folks that grew up in younger again rashgenerat not just proxies. when they speak for us, we don't check our minds. newt gingrich isn't on the ballot, mitt romney is. it's mitt romney's responsibility to sell people on voting for him, nobody else. >> so michael, let me ask you, under what circumstances do you think romney's association with donald trump could backfire? do you see this igniting the obama base or is this just something some fodder for the next 48 hours that's going to go away after tonight's big event. >> i think it's a constant, looming source of potential

embarrassment. i'm not surprised to hear peter report on the statement from the romney campaign, because they're so controlled, they're so choreographed, so scripted. they've had gaffes of course. but usually they're in control of their message. and so to have the donald, this powder keg on the stage next to mitt romney is the antithesis where they need to be. the observation, there's no political upside. if you're a birther you're already for mitt romney. how his this perceived by independents? that needs be to the constant refrain from now to november. there lies the potential source of em barsment. people say, we've litigated this, why in the world is mitt romney impugning his character by standing with trump after he's tweeting and going on "squawk box" promoting birtherism. >> promoting that and trying to draw up a correlation of the validity of the president's

education. listen to this. this was from this morning on cnbc. >> he's really stonewalling it when it comes to -- he just doesn't want to give those transcripts. so what is he saying at columbia and harvard and his other college where he supposedly didn't have good marks and got into columbia? what is he saying about place of birth? these are just questions. >> steve, as this talk is happening from donald trump, again, mitt romney not going to take credit for what some people are saying, however when they support him and show up with him on the same stage, people are going to say, all right, you're a reflection of the company that you keep. what does donald trump bring to romney's campaign after tonight's event? we're talking about millions of dollars from tonight but is it rogue with newt gingrich ander in to gets into pockets? what's the bottom line? >> oh, i can assure your audience it's more shallow and basic of an instinct than that.

romney has enough money to win the president sy. only so many commercials to buy neen a recession. you're looking at a republican party establishment that doesn't stand nor anything other than we're not democrats. they try to beat democrats, they look at what democrats beat them with and think, we should try that. they see george clooney holding fund-raisers and cool hipsters hanging out with michelle obama at the beyonce concert. they are thatting we should hang out with donald trump and patronize them, they are so stupid, they will vote for us because we're cool. that's what drives this, this is what happens when you stand for nothing is you have to run on cliches and talking points and metaphors and you have to condesce condescend. >> is romney meeting with

sheldon adelson? >> reporter: there's a schedule meeting today in las vegas. two of them had some form of conversations during the course of the campaign. sheldon addleson, through the campaign, had been poring newt gingrich with at least $10 million, if not more, try trying to bankroll his campaign, specifically through the supoup pack, winning our future. as we talk about the impact the words of george will, he is owe believiating ignoramus. the gift, the romney campaign's making the bet that we will not be talking about donald trump in october, they feel confidently at the end of the day this is going to come down to jobs. they're going to take money, i would beg to disagree with steeb, the romney campaign believes there is more money out there, and they do need. they're confident this is a $1.5 billion campaign between the two, obama and romney. they think 800 million is what their opponent may raise, they hope to raise 3/4 of a billion

dollars and at the end of the day for a lot of people regardless of what you say about donald trump, whatever your opinion is of the timing of this, and it's odd to everybody, for one or two news cycles we're talking about the birther movement and the extremism, not what mitt romney is trying to advocate, they're confident this is going to play out in their favor. >> gentlemen, thanks so much. appreciate it. next on "news nation," the fight for veterans' votes. >> i love the men and women of our armed forces and appreciate their sacrifice for this great nation. >> mitt romney vows to make things better for veterans, if elected president. details on a new poll that gives romney a double-digit lead over the president among vets. facebook, stock falling to a new low after the rocky first week. join our conversation on twitter. emily's just starting out... and on a budget.

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welcome back. we continue with reaching out for the veteran vote in decision 2012. earlier today mitt romney tried to connect with military members during an event in colorado. he told the crowd how 4 was touched by vets he met monday and how selflessly they gave themselves to their country. >> i love the men and women of our armed forces and appreciate their sacrifice for this great nation. they give themselves something bigger than themselves, their country, their family. >> during the commemorations yesterday, president obama had a special message to veterans especially those to the vietnam

war from you kocame home and sometimes denny graded instead of selee greated. it was a national shame, a disgrace. that should have never happened. that's why here today we resolve that it will not happen again. >> joining me is "the new york times" michael sheer who wrote about the military vote. nice to see you. as we show everybody the new gallup poll out yesterday 58% of vets support mitt romney, 34% obama. neither is military related, i mean in terms of being a veteran. how critical is the veterans' vote in securing that moving into 2012? >> well, i think it's especially critical for obama because this is a president who has probably been more aggressive in his use of the military, you any the bin laden killing but also the use of drones, the pursuit of two wars, i mean so if there's ever a time that a democratic

president should in theory be able to grab a bigger slice of those voters which have traditionally been republican voters, if you go back to past campaigns this that is moment. and yet that poll suggests he's got a lot of work to do. >> president obama made a bold statement yesterday at arlington national cemetery about progress in iraq. take a listen to this. >> for the first time in nine years, americans are not fighting and dying in iraq. we are winding down the war in afghanistan and our troops will continue to come home. >> certainly that is a significant accomplishment, michael, on obama's part, especially combined with the killing of osama bin laden. how can mitt romney compare to someone who has ended a war, has overseen the death of who would be the country's greatest enemy, that of bin laden? is it like trying to compare apples and oranges? >> what mitt romney's going to try to do is shift the conversation to other areas where he thinks he might be

stronger. what you see mitt romney doing is, a, looking at benefits for veteran and ask whether veteran feel satisfied that the kind of things they're getting when they come home is what they need and of course a lot of veteran are dissatisfied, and then the other question is, one of sort of overall funding for the military. i mean you know mitt romney is really pushing hard on this idea that president obama wants to gut the military, wants to cut funding for all branches as part of the debt deal that he made last year, earlier this year. you'll have that conversation that mitt romney thinks that he can win and you know the question is whether those topics will be enough to kind of outweigh the accomplishments that the obama administration will claim. >> as you talk about that yesterday mitt romney told the audience that he was speaking to that he wouldn't take the path to europe is taking and cut the size of our nation's military. take a listen to that. >> the others to commit to

preserve america as the strongest military in the world second to none with no comparable power anywhere in the world. we choose that course in america not so we win wars but so we can prevent wars. >> talked about the defense cuts or the spending. this is a nation, we are a nation at war for over ten years now. how big of a platform do you think defense will be in the 2012 campaign and the conversations, the debates? >> i mean looking i think it's part of it, i think that the -- it all fits in the broader conversation about the economy, the debt, the how much money that the government is spending. i think the obama campaign thinks that one of the things that gives them a stronger ground to stand on is this idea that people have sort of internalized the notion that the spending on wars in afghanistan and iraq over the last ten years has cost this country a lot sat home and kind of making it harder to grow out of the economic recession that we were in. so, i think the obama folks

think they have that as an edge. mr. romney thinks that he can press the case that somehow president obama won't be as vigorous and enforcing kind of american interests abroad, and we'll see how that plays out over the course of the campaign. >> forgetting the vet vote, is it all about their care what they need, going forward for their futures, betterment of their families the best jobs they can, the security that they find at home? >> yeah. and i tell you that is a real key. and really focused on the men vets. there are female vets as well but the real struggle for obama is how to cut into mitt romney's lead among men and here's a group if he can convince them that their economic fortunes are better off he might do well. you've seen mitt romney already talk about the economic problems for vets when they come back, having trouble finding a job, that's where he thinks he's going to go. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> sure. president obama is spending

your tax dollars to create jobs. how's he doing? you've heard of solyndra. >> mitt romney launches a counterattack after president obama targets his record at bain. will mitt romney's strategy of bringing up solyndra work out? corey booker's spokesperson steps down. one of the things we thought you should know. minutes ago facebook shares hit a new low, get this, $28.68 a share. right now the stock is down, almost 10% on the day. right now you see it trading almost at 28.83, if i'm reading that correctly. the initial price offering from over a week ago, it's down 24% from that. the markets are rallying. right now green arrows across the board. dow jones up by almost 80 points. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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welcome back. large parts of the southeast getting drenched as beryl downgrid downgraded to a tropical depression. expected to regain tropical storm status as it approaches south carolina. this is according to the national hurricane center. the storm left thousands without power in georgia and northern florida. damage was minimal on that. we are going to collect in with meteorologist heather tesh for the latest on beryl and severe weather events across the country. beryl now downgrayed but still something to watch. >> well, certainly. as you said, this could be once again it could become a tropical storm. lots of rain in the south, that's going to continue to move across the carolinas as we take our way through today and then right on into thursday. and so that's a big rainmaker. i also want to point out what's happening in the northeast because we do have a tornado

watch and you see a couple of severe thunderstorm watches. now the tornado watch is until 9:00 this evening, this one here that is farther to the east, that's until 9:00. the or one in effect until 7:00. we have been seeing numerous storms popping up along this region through here and also note that we have been seeing some tornado warnings. this one here, this is for fulton and hamilton in new york. so we do have thunderstorms through here, and the radar's indicating that we have the potential for the spinning up, a tornado in this area and also look for damaging straight line winds. we also could be looking at hail and of course a lot of us don't always realize just how deadly lightning can be. don't be out and about, walking around if there's lightning that you see or hear rumbles of thunder, stay inside. every year around 100 people are killed by that as well. be careful today. a lot that's going on. >> thanks so much. coming up on "news nation," it's

the establishment versus the tea party and the texas gop senate primary tonight. here's look at how one of the top candidates is hitting back at his opponent. >> the "dallas morning news" says dewhurst steved as a moderate republican. >> considered a moderate. >> plus, why congressman barney frank is apologizing for comments made during a commence meant speech this weekend. check out our "news nation" tumbler page. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. wow! it's even bigger than i thought. welcome to progressive. do you guys insure airstreams? yep. everything from travel trailers to mega motor homes.

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candidates spending $25 million. this ad against one of the front-runners, the best example of what's going on inside the republican party right now. >> the dallas morning news says dewhurst served as a moderate republican. >> the houston chronicle says dewhurst is generally considered a moderate. >> a moderate at heart, says the texas observer. >> joining me, contributor for nbc latino and fellow at university of texas. good to see you here. as we're hearing, the dirty word moderate, playing over and over again within that segment there, the ad. talk about who dewhurst is. explain to everybody who he is and comparatively to cruz, the other candidate, they're basically the neck and neck contenders in this race. >> right. so, david dewhurst has been lieutenant governor in texas for the past nine years and he, texas politics, considered a

moderate. he's governing in state politics moderately speaking. ted cruz comes from his right flank, a lot more conservative, and a darling of the tea party. looks like someone we know from florida, handsome, young, articulate, a lot like marco rubio. and it has gotten so ugly here in texas. and it got especially ugly this weekend when lieutenant governor dewhurst claimed that ted cruz was the a-word, that he was for amnesty, and this has turned so negative because cruz has been creeping up on dewhurst over the past couple of weeks. which is going to ultimately force it into a run-off. and in the run-off, cruz is going to have a very good chance of clinching that nomination and hence winning the texas senate seat. >> as you bring up ted cruz, big names that have endorsed him, including shara palin, senator jim demint, senator rand paul. the race, as i said, has nine people in it it's called brutal

at times. i had a chance to speak to the former mayor of dallas, find out how he's viewed. take a listen to his thoughts on this race. >> we've had a campaign here in texas that's very negative. the two of them have told lies and then called each other liar in the same sentence. people understand that's not the way na we're going to get something done in washington. >> the former mayor there has pretty much talked about how his business background is what makes him best, also he's not bombastic maybe as the other fiscal conservatives in this race would tend be to. but he doesn't have much of a chance of jumping ahead of dewhurst or cruz, does he? >> he done. it's a two-man race, going into the run-off, the favor here goes to the tea party, the tea party is very motivated here in texas, the tea party is alive and well. when it comes to the run-off on july 3, when it's 110 degrees here in texas it's going to be

the die-hard supporters tea partiers who are going to come out and vote and this is what is going to help cruz put it over the top. >> you told our producers the tea party, again, being alive and well but it looks like a record number of republicans they've already voted, correct? >> absolutely. but i think a lot of that does come from the tea party mobilization, and it's coming from the bottom up, not so much from the senate race. we're seeing a flood of candidates in these lower seats, in the state legislature running on a tea party ticket and mobilizing bases to go out and vote. we saw the mobilization to get out and vote early and this is having a trickle-up effect for cruz. >> the use of the word moderate and trying to frame it and characterize it as a dirty word is going to work in the race? and then people in other states, we saw how it worked out in indiana if this works out in texas, it will catch fire to continue to work to paint moderates and people willing to

bridge the aisle, so to speak, paint them in a bad light there's more division than we already have? >> you know, moderate is a dirty word here at least in the gop circles. i think what is happening with the tea party base is that they smell the blood in the water, they smell it from indiana. they are going to push not just with the senate races but races across the state, state, local, county level elections and come july 31st we're going to see a solid tea party texas coming out of texas. >> what's happensing today candidates need to get above 50%, cruz, dewhurst not going to do that, we'll see the run-off in july? >> yeah. here in texas it's rewarding the extreme. not the moderates but extreme. that's what's getting people motivated. >> appreciate it. we go back now to the presidential race in a new counterattack by the romney camp against criticism of mitt romney's tenure as head of bain

capital. firms like solyndra received federal loans from the obama administration but have since gone bankrupt. >> more than $16 billion have gone to companies like solyndra linked to big obama and democrat donors. obama giving taxpayer money to big donors. and then watching them lose it. >> nbc news senior political editor mark murray joins us live from washington. mark, than ad is an attempt to muddy the talk about the bain enterprises that went bellbelly that did the same thing. >> that's right. over the last two weeks we have been debating bain and seen examples of two of the companies, the democrats want to highlight and pad in the early 1990s as well as gts steel. what the romney's campaign doing is talk about the worst examples when private equity didn't work, let's have some examples of when public equity, the stimulus,

didn't work, and they're using the solyndra case to say, look, here is an example, president obama overseeing something that didn't work out as well. now i would make the point there is one big difference between private equity and public equity, when companies didn't do well, democrats are pointing out bain and its partners still made a lot of money that it wasn't the case when you have something like the stimulus president obama, democrats weren't making money though those firms like solyndra went belly under. >> web ads for people to see. mitt romney went on the attack during the campaign appearance, the stump in the key swing state of colorado. take a look at this. >> i want our government to support small business, middle size business, big business. i want jobs. i want government that's an ally of business, not an enemy of business. >> the romney campaign is telling our team it's message is that president obama is quote hostile to job creators.

so -- >> that -- that's the narrative they want to cast and honestly, that is a narrative that's been out there, whether even though it's debunked by a lot of people over the past 3 1/2 years romney folks want to say look, this is an unfriendly administration when it comes to regulations, due to the health care law, and that's stymied job growth, small businesses don't want to take a krans. the obama campaign, look at dow jones industrial average when president obama was worn in until now, look at profits businesses have made in the last 3 1/2 years and business is thriving. you'll see those competing narratives over the next five months. >> talk about the fact of getting the base invigorated, team obama and the playbook that's out there, when we talk about what's taking place with donald trump, birther talk, is that what's going to invigorate the base to realize they're not just re-electing the president

but going -- there's a matchup here and they want to choose him, compare and contrast, pick the right person to lead the country? >> i really do think this is turning out to be a base election, more than one swinging due to swing voters. an example of another base election 2004, george w. bush got his supporters, kerry got their supports and who won the turnout game won that election. that's a replay from 2004. that's why you're seeing president obama take to the stump earlier than past presidents and why this go negative. while mitt romney might be raising money with donald trump, not only to get money but also to basically win over some of the people who are big fans of trump and some of his political views you're seeing president obama and his allies want to roll up their sleeves and get ready for the fight ahead. >> criticism that the president

wefrn went negative too early. does that mean team obama's in it to win it? >> you look at the new nbc/"wall street journal" poll last week, one place where mitt romney is leading president obama among high interest voters are people who rate a nine or ten on the enthusiasm scale. going negative early, having campaign rallies in ohio, virginia, iowa they want the grassroots or mobilized and ready to go. >> mark murray, great to see you. thank you. >> thanks. "news nation" following developing news. less than an hour the president and the first lady will honor recipients of the presidential medal of freedom, our nation's highest medal of honor, award winning singer/songwriter, former astronaut among the recipients. tell us some other names showing up on the list. a major award, the highest

civilian award that can be given to an american. >> reporter: it's really quite a mix of people who will be receiving this award today, thomas. you mentioned some of them, former secretary of state madeleine albright, of course the first female secretary of state. she served under bill clinton. she's credited with expanding nato, helping to lead the alliance that intervened during the ethnic cleansing in the balkans. she since then has become a professor at georgetown, teaches at georgetown, she's one of them. on the other end of the spectrum, bob dylan, who is of course one of the most influential musicians in the 20th century, played a role in the civil rights movement. he's got. a number of awards over the years including 11 grammys. and get this, he has written 600 songs in his time. incredible. also john glenn, who as you said is an astronaut, a former senate. he was the third american to travel to space and the first to

orbit the earth. also the oldest american to travel to space at age 77. pretty incredible, if you think about that. also, tony morrison, one of the most renowned authors of this time, she wrote a lot of memorable books, which i'm sure you've read of a lot of, she won the nobel prize for literature, the first african-american woman to win the nobel prize as well as the pulitzer prize. another person, delores weurta, helped to found the national farmworkers association. quite a mix. i did a look back in history, this started under president truman, who started give awards out to people who played a prominent role, civilians who made a real impact during world war ii and it's a tradition

that's endured. >> quite a diverse and distinguished list. we look forward to seeing how it goes down this afternoon. thank you. the u.s. kicks out serra's don don't. richard angle joins us next. some of the things we thought you should know. the communications director for newark new jersey mayor booker stepping down. the resignation comes day after the controversial appearance on "meet the press" where booker criticized the obama campaigns attacks on bain capital. the controversy over the comments has nothing to do with her stepping down and that she's leaving on good terms with mayor book. >> massachusetts congressman barney frank apologizing for comments he made referencing the death of trayvon martin during a college graduation on sunday, after giving a civil rights leader a hooded academic robe at the university of massachusetts dartmouth commencement.

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coming up at top of the hour, the big day's arrived, the suspense almost over, mitt romney about to officially clinch the republican nomination. the a vegas fund-raising appearance with donald trump that's stealing the spotlight. plus the president and first lady bestow the highest civilian honor, the medal of freedom. we'll carry that live. back to thomas. several governments expelling syrian diplomats, after a brutal massacre. the state department has given the diplomats to leave american soils in 72 hours.

the amateur video comes from hula the site of the massacre. australia, britain, canada, france, germany expelling syrian diplomats. and just moments ago, white house press secretary jay carney asked if u.s. military action would be needed. >> we do not believe that militarization, further milit y militarization in syria is the right course of action. we believe that it would lead to greater chaos, greater carnage. >> nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins me now from israel. kofi annan met with assad to discuss the massacre. do we know details of what came out of that how al assad is explaining their actions? >> reporter: we know what the syrian government claims happened, consistently again today said that it condemned

this massacre says it wasn't responsible it was foreign terrorist running rampant in hit terror. the foreign terrorists were responsible for that. now the witnesses in the town do not believe that, the united nations investigators do not believe that. and the u.n. said today that, of those 10 8 people, majority of them women and children, only about 20 were killed by shelling, that is, when the syrian government surrounded the town of hula and started firing artillery and tank shells into it. the rest happened when syrian militiamen, backed by the government, who operate under the government's authority although it's a loose control, entered the town and went house to house and started killing people and knifing people at close range. >> can we figure out when we talk about how this situation can be resolved peacefully, because the world organization human rights office told the

a.p. at least 108 people have died and it's horrific to think about the 50 children that were lost here, however, 10,000 people, richard, have died since the protest began 14 months ago. how are world leaders and the u.n. talking about how this conflict can be ended so that so many more lives aren't lost? >> reporter: kofi annan, as you said, u.n. peace envoy, an envoy losing credibility in the eyes of the opposition in syria, say the cease-fire he's carrying with him is a sham and that it only gives the assad regime cover. what we're seeing because of that massacre, because of how graphic it was, we're starting to see some signs of action, look at the number of countries that decided to suspend diplomatic relations, almost all of the big european powers, the united states giviing da char affair 72 hours to leave.

is this the kind of thing that will start momentum on the ground in? there was some hope momentum might be gaining for the syrian opposition. there was an anti-government demonstration right in the heart of damascus. that is in the bashar al assad stronghold. how does this end peacefully? very, very unlikely that it's going to end peacefully, you are two warring parties, one the government, which is overwhelmingly stronger, the other, the opposition, but now the opposition's getting this encouragement by this diplomatic show of strength, whether that will tra translate into anything in a few day once the horror of the images that have come out massacre fade away, whether it will translate into something more remains to be seen. 15 months, 10,000 killed. but the moment seems to be as kofi annan said, a tipping point. >> thank you very much.

a deadly quake in italy tops our stories today. 15 people died in a 5.8 magnitude earthquake not far from modena. already damaged by a separate earthquake nine days ago. the deadliest to strike italy since 2009. afghanistan, forces killed al qaeda's second in command. responsible for commanding foreign insurgents in afghanistan and directed attacks against nato and u.s. forces. killed in an an air strike in the kunar province sunday. chunks of met that fell on parked cars came from the turbine of an air canada jet. the plane forced to make an emergency landing after one of two engines failed. they have identified four cars struck by the debris. no injuries reported.

investigators are still looking into the cause of the engine failure. "news nation" gut check is coming up next. now that donald trump has doubled down on his questions about president obama's birthplace do you think that mitt romney needs to distance himself from the donald? we'll tell you how you weighed in. meure commitment by what's getting done. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through.

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into time for the "news nation" gut check. hours away from mitt romney's fund-raiser with donald trump in las vegas. moments ago the white house spoke out about trump doubling down on his birther remarks. press secretary jay carney wouldn't say what the president thought of trump's latest comments but did say politicians have to think hard about their strategies. >> the judgments the president makes, and i think that broadly speaking, every candidate for high office has to make, how are you going to run your campaign? >> trump stood behind the birther claim and mentioned it on cnbc. >> a lot of people are

questioning his birth certificate, questioning the authenticity of his birth certificate. i have been known as being a very smart guy for a long time, i don't consider myself birther or not birther, but there's some major questions. >> late this afternoon the romney camp released a statement, quote, governor romney said repeatedly that he believes president obama was born in the united states. the democrats can talk about donald trump all they want, mitt romney is going to talk about jobs and how we can get our economy moving again. so does mitt romney need to distance himself from donald trump? go to facebook.com/newsnation. cast your vote there. i'm thomas roberts filling in for tamron hall. martin bashir comes your way next. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

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>> the trump card. >> donald trump. >> donald trump. >> donald trump. >> donald trump. >> donald trump. >> donald trump. >> donald trump. >> a lot of people are questioning his birth certificate. >> i don't agree with all of the people who support me there i don't understand the benefit. what is romney seeking? >> i didn't get 50.1% or more. i'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people. okay. >> mitt romney is a basically small business guy. he closed companies, get rid of jobs, okay. >> okay. >> some things that you can't imagine happening in your life, this is one of them. >> i've been known as being a very smart guy for a long time. >> i want to say thank you to donald trump for his endorsement. >> how it's working out for you? >> okay. ♪ we are back after a holiday weekend. i hope you've all had a happy and peaceful memorial day. we begin with mitt