then editor-in-chief rebekah brooks and also remarked on the role the press played during the blair administration. this is about an hour and 15 minutes. >> today's witness is mr. straw. thank you. >> would you stand please to take the oath. >> i swear my mighty god that the evidence i shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> thank you, mr. straw. your full name. >> john whitaker straw but i'm commonly known as jack. >> your statement is dated the 30th of april of this year. you've signed and dated. are you content to confirm its contents as true for the purposes of this inquiry? >> i am. >> mr. straw, thank you very much for your witness statement to the obvious effort you put into it and also for some of the of -- which were extremely prescient. of all the witness who have appeared or who are to appear at this inquiry, as i made clear in the declaration i made at the very beginning, i know mr. straw the best. not merely because we knew each other many, many years ago but because i worked quietly closely with him in my capacity as presiding judge when he was th

a cabinet member in blair's administration testified he had concerns that blair might appear too closelysay or do anything that might lead people to infer that he was under some obligation to mr. murdoch. >> later on, blair went on to say that his friendship with murdoch didn't really develop until after he left office and that he would never had said yes to being the godfather to murdoch's child if he was still prime minister. >> stephanie gosk, thank you. >>> and "men in black" finally taking down "the avengers" after three weeks in the number one spot. and the summer movie season is just getting started. we've got a preview of all the biggest blockbusters of the summer, next. >> good afternoon! actually it can. neutrogena® ultra sheer provides unbeatable uva uvb protection and while other sunscreens can feel greasy ultra sheer® is clean and dry. it's the best for your skin. ultra sheer®. neutrogena®. i never believed i'd be in control of my weight. [ whistles ] ♪ but here i am. still in control. loving how i eat. loving just walking. not stressing at all about my weight. ♪ if you want

in great britain, the blair administration in 1999 decided to tackle child poverty rate. and you can see their poverty rate was much higher than the united states. you can see it's falling. the other thing that's interesting is if you go forward, dishonest or only 2007, but if you go forward, the poverty rate in the united states is at 22 to 20%. the poverty rate of the uk's data 12. the poverty rate today is about half of the united states. despite having started off at a higher rate. so what can be done. on early childhood, i won't talk too much about this because there's often speakers about this before me talk about this, but just a highly come ahead ahead sturbridge is less than a third of eligible kids. early head start only reaches 4.5% of our nation's kids in childcare funding reaches only one in six parents. so we have the systems in place. we have not provided the adequate resources to get kids where they need to be. in education, my kids go to some of the best public schools in america. my parents are both former teachers. and i think the american education sys

a cabinet member in blair's administration tefred he had concerns blair might appear too closely linked to murdoch. >> i didn't want him to say or do anything that might lead people to enter that he was under some obligation to mr. murdoch. >> reporter: blair went on to say that his friendship with murdoch didn't really develop until after he left office, and that he never would have agreed to be the godfather to murdoch's child if he had still been prime minister. tamron? >> all right. stephanie, thank you very much. >>> and if you are firing up the grill today, be careful about what you bite into. listen carefully. a new jersey man went to the hospital this week thinking he had appendicitis. but doctors discovered he'd actually swallowed the metal bristle from a grill cleaning brush while eating a steak. it lodged in his intestines. he actually had to have surgery. you can see he's walking around okay. let that be a lesson to all of us. >>> a spectacular fireworks show capped a day of festivities marking the 75th anniversary of san francisco's golden gate bridge more than 2 billion ve

in great britain, the blair administration in 1999 decided to tackle child poverty rates.and you can see that their poverty rate when he addressed the issue was much higher than the united states. and you can see that it has all but the other thing that's interesting about this, if you go forward, this runs only through 2007, but if you go to forward we know the poverty rate in the united states has gone up to 22, 23%. the poverty rate for the uk is still down at 12. poverty rate today in uk is about half that of the united states, despite having started off with a high rate. so it can be done. on early childhood of a talk too much about this because often, speakers about this before me talked about this, but you to highlight a few things. head start reaches less than a third of eligible kids. early head start only reaches 4.5% of our nation's kids. and child care funding reaches only one in six eligible parents. so we have the systems in place. we have not provided the adequate resources to get kids where they need to be. in education, look, my kids go to some of the best

a cabinet member in blair's administration testified he had concerns that blair might appear too closely to infer that he was under some obligation to mr. murdoch. >> later on, blair went on to say that his friendship with murdoch didn't really develop until after he left office and that he would never had said yes to being the godfather to murdoch's child if he was still prime minister. >> stephanie gosk, thank you. >>> and "men in black" finally taking down "the avengers" after three weeks in the number one spot. and the summer movie season is just getting started. we've got a preview of all the biggest blockbusters of the summer, next. >> good afternoon! actually it can. neutrogena® ultra sheer provides unbeatable uva uvb protection and while other sunscreens can feel greasy ultra sheer® is clean and dry. it's the best for your skin. ultra sheer®. neutrogena®. i never believed i'd be in control of my weight. [ whistles ] ♪ but here i am. still in control. loving how i eat. loving just walking. not stressing at all about my weight. ♪ if you want it, you got it weight watchers made me b

would use them and so when you start from that it's well what's your next step blair was very troubled by the bush administration he thought that they were planning for the war was terrible he thought that their international approach was terrible that they didn't you know reach out to the international community and nuff to create the kind of. global response that would actually be more fruitful than simply a war that they weren't planning for after the war and it really came down to a question he asked his advisors which is. if we stay in this you know i will have influence on the direction of american policy if we break it will be a fundamental break of a long standing relationship between the united states and britain and i will lose all influence over policy was there it should i do it well at the end of that and the time a story came out there was a subtext of that that was in the press let me reality check it with you and that was if we break i lose any influence over this crazy guy george bush. that's not the way the words were put but i think that was a very strong it's actually more than this it was i

couple of the other leading jobs in the obama administration went to career military people; general jones who was national security adviser, dennis blair who was in charge of the intelligence community. top jobs in his administration. so you have a democratic president, but without the same kind of cohort of people that the republicans represented. um, and the democrats over the years since vietnam have been struggling with issues precisely the ones that the republicans took for granted. um, is america a force for good in the world, when is it, and -- or is everything that the united states does overseas in the some way doomed or maligned? and certainly at the grassroots of the party you get debates about whether the use of force is ever justified. so i tend to think of the obama administration when it took office in 2009 as confronting what i call the legacy of the two georges, and the first george, of course, is george w. bush. obama needed to figure out what he was going to do in the wake of the bush presidency. the other george, less obvious, would be george mcgovern. the republicans ever since the george mcgovern campaign of 1972

that he got into, but it's an interesting insight into just how divisive tony blair became towards the end of his administrationin this -- on this wave of public support. and his decision to go to war with iraq ended up being extremely divisive that was against that war, predominantly. >> stephanie gosk in london for us today, thank you. >>> to syria now, where u.s. special envoy kofi annan arrived in syria this morning. annan said he was quote, shocked and horrified of the killing of more than 100 people in the town of hula friday. and more attacks to tell you about today, with shelling and troops killing at least 24 people in the city of houma. >>> tropical storm beryl makes landfall back here at home, at almost hurricane-strength, it is one of the most powerful storms to ever hit this early in the year. >>> plus, total recall. wisconsin governor scott walker faces a recall election in just eight days. what the results could really mean come november. [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. but they can also hold you back. unless you ask, what's next? [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the

that he got into, but it's an interesting insight into just how divisive tony blair became towards the end of his administrationin this -- on this wave of public support. and his decision to go to war with iraq ended up being extremely divisive that was against that war, predominantly. >> stephanie gosk in london for us today, thank you. >>> to syria now, where u.s. special envoy kofi annan arrived in syria this morning. annan said he was quote, shocked and horrified of the killing of more than 100 people in the town of hula friday. and more attacks to tell you about today, with shelling and troops killing at least 24 people in the city of houma. >>> tropical storm beryl makes landfall back here at home, at almost hurricane-strength, it is one of the most powerful storms to ever hit this early in the year. >>> plus, total recall. wisconsin governor scott walker faces a recall election in just eight days. what the results could really mean come november. [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. but they can also hold you back. unless you ask, what's next? [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the

looking into ref s that rupert murdoch -- -- blair testified that he never challenged the british media because doing so would haveffn plunged his administrationinto a politically damaging fight. >> you would have had virtually every part of the media against you in doing it. and i felt the price you would pay for that, would push out a lot of the things i cared more about. >> blair led britain from 1997 to 2007. his labor party government has been criticized for being too close with the country's powerful newspapers. >>> meteorologist mike nicco is ahead with our holiday forecast. >>> a lot more sun, earlier than yesterday still breezy and cooler than average for the rest of the afternoon if you have festivities outside warming trend when it will feel like summer. >>> why authorities in los angeles want to question pop star justin bieber and even his girlfriend selena gomez. >>> southern california city that sent president obama a massive bill for a recent Ñ e . >>> if you missed it or can't get enough here it is again the incredible fireworks show that lit up the sky last night celebrating the golden gate bridge's 75th anniversary. only the

looking into ref s that rupert murdoch -- -- blair testified that he never challenged the british media because doing so would haveffn plunged his administration a politically damaging fight. >> you would have had virtually every part of the media against you in doing it. and i felt the price you would pay for that, would push out a lot of the things i cared more about. >> blair led britain from 1997 to 2007. his labor party government has been criticized for being too close with the country's powerful newspapers. >>> meteorologist mike nicco is ahead with our holiday forecast. >>> a lot more sun, earlier than yesterday still breezy and cooler than average for the rest of the afternoon if you have festivities outside warming trend when it will feel like summer. >>> why authorities in los angeles want to question pop star justin bieber and even his girlfriend selena gomez. >>> southern california city that sent president obama a massive bill for a recent . >>> if you missed it or can't get enough here it is again the incredible fireworks show that lit up the sky last night celebrating the golden gate bridge's 75th anniversary. only the second t

blair left and found himself cut out of the process. that's the kind of generational disputes and tensions that have underlaid this administration since the beginning. at the ultimate of course is obama himself. what can we say about him? first, i need to dispel the idea that he was in some way fundamentally different from other presidents and so i will give you a couple of paragraphs from the book. over the years, far too much has been made of ho obama's ressa and upbringings supposedly affected his thinking about the world. political opponents, diplomats and journalists have sometimes speculated about the impact on obama of his father's roots in kenya or his childhood in indonesia. some the arise that obama had somehow with a colonial perspective and was tossed loyal order of least not sympathetic to british and european traditions. there is little if any evidence to support the theory and it represents an extremely selective interpretation of obama's youth. his post primary education included a prep school in hawaii, private colleges and los angeles and new york city law school at harvard. the secondary higher education and other words

ever system they touch turns to bankruptcy tony blair has defended the spread of private finance initiatives under labor a seven n.h.s. trust face administration as they struggle to repay large debts from p.f. ideals so the scheme saw private firms building hospitals leaving the n.h.s. with basically a mortgage and an annual fee to pay over thirty years the total value of the n.h.s. buildings built by labor under the scheme is eleven point four billion but the bill basically max comes down to seventy billion tonnes i could be extraction. you know they love the system up with debt they pay themselves a huge dividend and then expose the entire system to any fluctuation in interest rates which of course are inevitable and then it goes bankrupt is the philip green model over there arkady if you recall i paid him self a billion pound dividend by loaning the company up with debt paid to his wife in monaco and then of course he was totally exposed to the vagaries of interest rates but when confronted with this information on sky news tony blair said that the contribution p.f. i had made to rebuilding the country's infrastructure was immense he said p

blair testified he never challenged the brita media because doing so would have plunged his administrationa drawn out fight. >> you would have had virtually every part of the media against new doing it. i felt the price you would pay for that would push out a lot of the things i cared more about. >> blair led britain from is 997 to 2007, his labor party government has been criticized for being too close with the country's powerful newspapers. >> a vatican spokesman is denying reports that a cardinal is expected in the vatican leak scandal. the pope's butler has been arrested for electric leaking confidence -- confidential corresponds sent to the pope. >> the pope's butler under arrest and accused of stealing confidential dums and leaking them to the italian media. today he said he will collaborate to ascertain the truth. the pope's spokesman says that is not true there is no cardinal under suspension. the leak, which began in january document wide spread corruption in the vatican including personal corresponds to the pope and allegations of money laundering and kickbacks at the secret tiff

blair high school here. more than 30 cabinet level officials from the obama administration are gathered with dozens of peopleom the local, state and county level for this summit here today. now, this, as you said, is the white house's hispanic community summit, it's plenary sessions on issues like health care that affect everyone. the beauty of this summit is that there can be a frank and open discussion among those who carry out and make the policies and those at the local level who are most immediately affected by them. now, the topics include everything from the achievement gap in education to the particular needs of hispanic veterans and military families and, of course, immigration it was only yesterday that the president outlined his policy on immigration. this session was planned well before that announcement was made. yesterday's announcement makes today's session all the more relevant. >> one of the issues on people's mind is the idea of a dream act. for kid who go to school and grow up in this community that they should not be penalized for the decisions their parents made, because these kids, in m

blair told the panel had never challenged the influential british press because doing so would have plunged his administrationnto a long ask damaging fight. and he said he does not believe his government was the first in history to want to, in his words, put the best possible gloss on everything. the protester burst into the proceedings and called blair a war criminal. security officers quickly removed that protester. later as blair left the proceedings in a convoy of range rovers, protesters threw eggs at the vehicles. >>> once a tropical storm, now a tropical depression. beryl hit jacksonville, florida, at near hurricane strength. no reports of any major damage. tens of thousands remain in the dark. the weather channel's mike seidel has the latest from jacksonville beach, florida. >> reporter: although the worst of beryl is over with on the beaches in northeastern florida, the wind xronts the south. we have seen surfers and kite border has been out here testing his physical prowess with these winds which are still gusting 25, 30 miles per hour. up off the ocean. and into the air. at times we have seen him g

obama said lisa blair had broken the door jambs of kishore from the socialist equality party says manning is merely bait to get really expand songe who's been a thorn in the u.s. administration's side. the treatment of manning as a whole is. brutal inhumane according to amnesty international amounting to torture according to many top u.s. legal scholars i mean there's many reasons behind this but i think the u.s. government certainly sees the treatment of manning from the beginning both as an example to anyone who would seek to expose the crimes of american militarism abroad as well as a fairly transparent attempt to get out of songs the founder of wiki leaks they are you know the u.s. government is seeking to eventually extradite a saw and they're certainly trying to trying to go after waking leaks for the release of the documents you know really must be stressed that this is really devastating exposure of the obama administration the treatment of this young man for all the talk of democratic rights and freedom abroad this is how the united states treats opposition here. here at home. the week's headlines in a few moments statements. from. the.

the obama administration has basically -- basically, they are tony blair to george w. bush's margaret thatcher. they have said, we have to keep 98% of the bush tax cuts in place for the betterment of the economy. >> it's so much bigger than that. >> they have won. >> republicans won. >> we have won. tax breaks. >> so to give a couple of percentage points to 2% of people. >> it could be so much bigger because the conversation has been shifted to how do we reduce our deficit. >> brian sullivan, thank you so much. greatly appreciate your insights. thanks for being with us on "way too early." you can catch brian on cnbc's "street signs" at 2:00 p.m. he is the hardest working man in show business, or at least on the other side of the river. >>> coming up this morning, we've got republican senator tom coburn. can't wait to talk to tom. also, tom cole will be here on set. that's great. we're going to ask him what he was thinking last week. i'm joking. congressman. also, democratic senator claire mccaskill. can you believe this? and congressman chris van hollen. also, we're go

first you thought it would come from his administration when in fact it was coming -- >> i was very much against the iraqi war and the same feelings with tony blairand. i was outraged we were at war but i said you know, this is about, no matter who's in power, the kennedy center awards are given, america has been so great to me, i cannot turn this down because it's my second home. i love america dearly. it's in my soul. and i did ask him, i think i put it in the book, i said what, can i do anything for you, mr. president. he said yeah, tell the french to give more money. that made me laugh so much. >> you know, the other sense of bipartisanship, senator teddy kennedy, and when you testified, and orrin hatch for republicans and others were there who had done something in terms of getting the money appropriated. >> of course. it's been a bipartisan effort. i testified in front of congress and i think everybody who testified that day made a great impression. i had the greatest time that morning, had breakfast with orrin hatch and ted kennedy. i met so many other people politically. i don't agree with whatever. politics is all about having a differen

administration on this. this was a courageous decision and i support it. >> officials stepped up efforts to push back on claims by critics like bishop blair who claimed to his flock in toledo the new rules mean catholics will be forced to offer their employees health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion inducing drugs and contraception. carney said drugs like hu 486 will not be covered and laws have mandate. >> we want to make sure women have access to good health care no matter where they work. >> a conservative group filed the first lawsuit against the rule, noting the services are already available to women through planned parenthood and others. >> this is really not about access to contraception. what it's really about is forcing these religious groups to pay for it. >> vice president joe biden is a highest ranking catholic in the government. so far has not commented on this decision. we reached out to his office to see if he supports it. so far we have not gotten an answer. >> bret: ed henry, thank you. you've heard it dozens of times. the united states does not negotiate with terrorists. there are questions tonight about whether that is

administration be so certain? >> i'm not going to acknowledge or confirm any of that. dennis blaircks, actually did more harm to national security interests than good. does the white house have any opinion? >> we believe our relationship with pakistan is essential to fighting terrorism and terrorists. >> so that's generally the way to go. >> you know, i'm the only fumbleer military person at the tenially. table. the very first words that i learned in public affairs school in the military was i can neither confirm nor deny. >> you know, the very nature of the enemy today is different than 20 years ago, 40 years ago, certainly 60 years ago. the landscape on which we fight is so markedly different that it calls for a monumental change in how we devise military strategy, the bumgts that we align behind it, the uses of technology out there. so i may be one of the few folks on this panel who favors the idea of targeting egnellmy combatants abroad, nameless or with name for strike. even if they're american citizens who have avowed themselves as an enemy of this country and who are working

. >> tom blair, obama white house says, quote, when there is political travel, we follow all rules and regulations that all other administrationsowed. >> well, the republicans call it fraud, and i think roland is absolutely right. it's jealousy. i would say though i think yesterday the white house perhaps pushed back inappropriately. they pushed back by saying the president needs to get out and chat with real americans to see what their thoughts are about the course of the country, and i would humbly suggest for a lot less money he could fly the same americans into d.c., put them up at the willard, buy them a nice dinner and show tickets at the kennedy center and during intermission he could go over there and see what their thoughts are, but from a practical point of view the presidency comes with unbelievable responsibility, and there's some perks. you walk into a room, they play "hail to the chief." you can go skinny dipping in the white house pool at midnight and you have keys to air force one. and to try to separate politics from presidential duet sis like trying to pull the white off of snow, you can't just do it. >> be ho

that's why this administration is trying to, you know, urge both sides to stop. it's obviously not being very successful. >> you know, tony blairot of political capital in this trying to come up with a peace agreement for the middle east. he spoke about this recently, what he sees is happening. i want to play a little bit for you. >> the single thing that's most important straight away is to try and calm the situation to de-escalate it, and that means that the rockets have got to stop coming out of gaza and then the israeli military action cease and then we can try and find our way forward. >> so, jill, i mean, how many players are involved now? how many people are stepping up and trying to make sure that this doesn't escalate? i mean, is there a sense of faith here that they can pull back a little bit? >> well, on many different sides. certainly here at the state department, at the white house, other countries are certainly doing what they can. there was a call from the united nations from ban ki moon for everyone to do what they can do. probably the best thing is exactly what tony blair was saying there, which would be to hav

how can the administration be so certain -- [ inaudible ] >> not going to acknowledge or confirm any of that. >> the former director of national intelligence, dennis blairterday that drone attacks [ inaudible ] u.s. national security interests than good. does the white house -- any opinion about these drones? >> we believe our relationship with pakistan is essential to fighting terrorism and terrorists. >> jamila, a response to this that i want to get, right after the break. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. o0 c1 oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. cal

administration of george h. w. bush. she was responsible for the blair house agreement, that led --the -- sh she is co-chair of the advisory chair as well as one of our trusties. ambassador clayton yeutter practices law at hogan lovells. he negotiated the u.s.-canada free-trade agreement. in 1989, he was named secretary of agriculture. he steered the farm bill through congress. he has been president of the chicago mercantile exchange. ambassador charlene barshefsky is a senior partner. she was in the clinton administration and was chief negotiator of china's wto agreement and certain telecommunications products. ambassador brock served in the reagan administration and served as president reagan's secretary of labor. he is chairman of the barack offices -- brock offices. susan schwab is with mayer brown and a professor at the university of maryland. she served from 2006 until 2009 and she negotiated -- the bipartisan may 10 deal. she negotiated the u.s. bilateral wto agreement with russia. in addition, she oversaw the government decision to join the trans

administration of president george h. w. bush. during the negotiation of nafta she was responsible for the blair house agreement that broke the impasse with europe on agriculture that led to the conclusion of the round. she's currently chair of the committee on u.s.-china relations of the dialogue and is the co-chair of the offensive board here at csis as well as one of ours. ambassador clayton practices international trade and agriculture and served as the from 1985 to 1989 and the ronald reagan administration where he negotiated the u.s.-canada free trade agreement and launched around in the negotiations to include services and intellectual property in the culture. 1989 ambassador kantor, excuse me, was named secretary of the agriculture and he steered the bill in congress and also served as president and ceo of the exchange. ambassador charlene barshefsky is an international partner reserved from 1997 to 2001 and is also in the clinton administration. she was the chief negotiator of the china wto the agreement as well as the global agreement in many sectors and areas including financial services, telecommunications and high-techno

administration is all a big farce. imagine if george bush were caught off mic saying something to tony blair about, well, tony, we're goingexamine taking out the nuclear sites after the election because this thing is rough right now. so give me some space. the left would be going nuts. they'd be demand to go know what other little deals or what other little offmic conversations are selling out american national security or making big changes in american military policy. it's an outrage! >> brian: this is an opportunity, if a gop candidate really thinks they'll be president, this is a legitimate issue they should bring up today. >> 100%. >> brian: i want to marry what they would do different, what their greatest concern is. >> what else do they talk about behind closed doors that affect the lives of every single american that we should know about today? because he seems very comfortable discussing it with medvedev who don't forget, the russians are helping the iranians right now build their own missile defense in iran. i mean, so the fact that he says, don't worry, i'll tell vladimir about what you're going to say. >> gret

administration's big government tactics helped or hurt the recovery? mitt romney responding. >> don't get fresh with the fresh prince of blair, sometimes reporters don't understand what caused this smack town? how many versions can we work into this? and boom. that's a little love tap? "fox & friends" starts right now. >> there it is, the tough mother competition. obstacle course is on our plaza this morning. that is 8,000 pounds of ice right there. that water is 18 degrees. >> we'll be diving in that water, swimming below that wooden barrier set up there, just part of the tough mudder fun that also includes 10,000 volts of electricity. we will run through that field. i say we, i mean me. >> right. >> because clayton, thus far, though we are asking for your encouragement via twitter, facebook, email. >> omg -- >> i actually thought juliet would do it. i stood up for her yesterday when everyone said she wouldn't do it. i said she will. >> i woke up in a cranky mood today. >> ice would be great for you. >> yes, seriously. pull me down. i totally would have done that. a hundred years ago they used to put me in water. >> there is time, i agree with clayto