we get the exclusive details from our national investigative correspondent michael isikoff from sanford, florida. >> when george zimmerman was questioned by police after the trayvon martin shooting, it wasn't the first time he had been in custody. in july 2005, he was arrested in orlando for resisting a florida law enforcement officer and obstructing justice. this police report obtained by nbc news states he used violence and battery upon the officer. the lead prosecutor on the case said today zimmerman could have been charged with a felony. >> i have seen people charged with less conduct than mr. zimmerman is alleged to have done that night at the bar. >> the incident took place at this college bar where an undercover alcohol control officer was arresting several employees for selling to minors. zimmerman began interfering. the officer identified himself, showed the badge, and asked zimmerman to leave the area. i don't care who you are, he told the officer. asks again to leave, he then stated, f-you, after what the report calls a short struggle, zimmerman was handcuffed and arrested, b

michael isikoff has our report. >> reporter: ariana clay was a marine lieutenant with a shining future. but after serving in iraq, she says she was raped in 2010 while at the elite marine barracks in washington. >> an officer senior to me and his civilian friend came to my house on a saturday morning uninvited and both of them threatened me with death and raped me. his reason for doing that, he said was that i had humiliated him in front of his junior marines and he wanted to humiliate me back. >> reporter: the first female lieutenant at the same barracks said she too was raped there in 2006. >> he grabbed my shoulder and pushed me against the wall and tried to kiss me. the last thing i remember was hitting my head on his desk. i have zero doubt that my company commander raped me the night of march 16th. >> reporter: today, helmer, clay and six other women are filing a lawsuit over sexual assaults. now estimated by the pentagon at 19,000 a year. department officials vow a crackdown. >> we own this problem, we need to fix this problem. the majority of your commanders out there absolutel

with me now, investigative reporter michael isikoff. we both have been poring through the reports.nter. we share printer. 25 reams of paper. first to bob perry. a couple things about him. fill me in. >> fascinating. first, he's the single biggest donor to the romney super pac. >> out of nowhere. >> and backing rick perry. home state governor. he's now switched big time to romney. longtime conservative backer of conservative republican causes for years. the swift boat ads. his crusade in texas, tort reform pouring millions into electing texas supreme court justices and legislatorlegislat proposing rulings limits on lawsuits against companies like his, that build homes, and often -- >> there's something about the issue of immigration which may get conservatives upset. >> interesting wrinkle. this past year, rick perry killed a bill, his lobbyists, and some of the most influential in austin, kill add bied bill t would have cracked down on law enforcement to inspect, demand papers from people working on work sites such as bob perry, his home building firm. why? because firms like his r

it's unspeakable. >> reporter: for today, michael isikoff, nbc news, washington. >>> 20 minutes after the hour. once again, here's amy. >>> lester, thank you. many people joke about making up stories to get out of jury duty, but a woman in colorado was accused of taking it a step further and now she face very serious dons kwenss. here's nbc's nick bogart. >> i just want to make exception. >> reporter: she called herself shar from denver but it was susan cole who called a the radio station to brag about dodge injury duty. >> i put bright red lipstick on, had my hair in curlers and put on a t-shirt that said 'ask me about my bestseller". >> reporter: and she wore reindeer socks and mismatched socks. >> when they asked me about domestic issues, i said i have them. >> reporter: she said she has mental disorders. she left the courthouse glad to be dismissed. then she sounded amused. >> for about two weeks every time me and my roommates would talk about it we would cry we were crying so hard. >> reporter: the judge was not amused. >> the defense h have to try toll show she didn't lie about

nbc's national investigative correspondent michael isikoff has the story. >> ariana clay was a marineant with a signing future. after serving in iraq, she was raped in 2010 while at the elite marine barracks in washington. >> an officer senior to me and his civilian friend came to the house on a saturday morning uninvited. both of them threatened me with death and raped me. his reason for doing that he said was that i had humiliated him in front of his junior marines and he wanted to humiliate me back. >> reporter: elle helmer, said she too was raped in 2006. >> he grabbed my shoulder and pushed me against the wall and tried to kiss me and the last thing i remember was hitting my head on his desk. i have zero doubt that my company commander raped me the night of march 16th. >> reporter: she and six other women are filing a lawsuit. now estimated by the pentagon, at 19,000 sexual assaults a year. >> we own this problem, we need to fix this problem. the majority of your commanders out there, absolutely want to do the right thing by any victim of sexual assault. >> reporter: officials st

nbc's national investigative correspondent michael isikoff has details for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. eight current and former u.s. service members are accusing u.s. military officials of tolerating a staggering number of assaults within the u.s. military. and the focus is in part on events that one of the most prestigious areas of the country, the marine barracks in washington. ariana clay was a lieutenant with a shieng future. after serving in iraq she said she was raped in 2010 while at the elite marine bar racks in washington. >> an officer senior to me and his civilian friend came to my house on a saturday morning uninvited. both of them threatened me with death and raped me. his reason for doing that, he said, was that i had humiliated him in front of his junior marines and he wanted to humiliate me back. >> reporter: the first female lieutenant at the marine barracks said she was raped there in 2006. >> he grabbed my shoulder, pushed me against the wall. tried to kiss me. the last thing i remember was hitting my head on his desk. i

>> there's a lot more to come on this, thank you, michael isikoff. >>> a new poll shows president obama away from the potential republican candidates. the president has a big edge of rick santorum and mitt romney there in florida. a little tightener the state of pennsylvania. in 2008 president obama won all three of these states. joining me is peter brown, the assistant staffing director of the quinnipiac poll. we'll look at ohio first, the president is ahead over mitt romney, but no president has won without ohio. what's your take-away? >> the president's numbers have been sloping up. and there are two obvious reasons for it. one is that generally people think the economy is getting better, not gigantically better, but better. that's obviously to the president's benefit. the other thing helping the president's numbers is that politics is the ultimate zero game. what's good for the president is bad for the republicans, and vice versa. in ohio and florida and pennsylvania, this is helping the president also. >> let's go to florida, president obama leads mitt romney 49 to 42. pretty sizab

michael isikoff is in sanford, florida, with more. michael, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lester. as florida prosecutors weigh whether to charge george zimmerman for the shooting of trayvon martin, the backgrounds of both principals are getting fresh scrutiny. it led to his arrest and -- it led to his arrest and a court order that he be required to take classes in anger managemen management. when george zimmerman was questioned by police after the trayvon martin shooting, it wasn't the first time he had been in custody. in july 2005 george zimmerman was arrested in orlando for resisting a florida law enforcement officer and obstructing justice. this police rorpt obtained by nbc news says zimmerman used violence and battery against the lead officer. the lead prosecutor says he could be charged with a felony i receive felons charged with less conduct than mr. zimmer haan is alleged to have done that night at the bar. >> reporter: the incident took place at this bar where an undercover control officer was arresting several empl