the president met with the reverend billy graham on sunday over the weekend. nt to bring up the photo so everybody can see it. you see him right there. reverend graham is clearly getting up in age. the president meets with him. now let's go back in time a little bit. you can see george w. bush meeting there with billie graham and also bill clinton meeting with billy graham. we show you these three, 12 u.s. presidents dating back to harry truman met to the pastorst president as you call him. how important a cultural figure? >> he is an awfully important cultural figure and one i think we're going to miss as time goes on. and it hasn't been a partisan thing. you go there and you pay hommage. you listen to what he has to say. >> more importantly, he is a unifier. there are people from all ideological divides that can, you know, when we look to our faith we look to its history as a big part of how we became a country. i think a lot of people afford that certain level of respect. >> we could use a unifying figure at the moment. >> you're right. >> next, we go out wi

reverend franklin graham, son of billy graham was disinvited as part of a group that was going to hold prayer day for the pentagon. he was disinvited because franklin graham has called islam and evil religion. he said he doesn't like the way -- he loves muslims but he doesn't like the way that the religion treats women, he doesn't like the way that it's encouraged violence. right or wrong? quick answers from both of you? right or wrong that he was disinvite? >> i think it's very unfortunate that he was disinvited. there's not a more spiritual family in america than the family of billy graham. and for this incident to happen because of a statement that was made years ago as well as months ago, i think it's truly unfortunate. >> senator mendez, he backed away from that. he believes that. was it right? >> we should invite all faiths to be able to join in that prayer. we are one country and ultimately i would hope when they make choices like that, they let choices know that we're all praying collectively to one god and we need his protection. >> senator robert menendez and saxby chambliss,

. >> and before attending the miners' memorial, the president visited with billy graham. according to graham's son, the two men chatted about golf and prayed with each other. >>> and now to the environmental threat off the gulf coast, oil is now gushing off that platform that sank last week. it could go from louisiana to florida. matt gutman reports. >> reporter: for the first time, we got a notion of how long this disaster could last. the coast guard says it could take anywhere from 45 to 90 days in order to secure that wellhead. that means 42,000 gallons of oil could keep pumping into the gulf every day. the coast guard says it's going to start sending out 32 skimmers back into the gulf to try to corral that oil as quickly as it can. that slick is still 400 square miles wide, very large to contain. the coast guard and british petroleum is using a three-prong strategy. containers to use skimmers to corral that. and also robots to try to plug the leaks in the pipeline that's leaking the oil. and last, by far, the most expensive endeavor, to bring down new rig down that pi

north carolina this weekend, and before he left for west virginia, he paid a visit to evangelist billy grahamt his home in north carolina. now 91, graham has met ever president since truman. today, president obama became the first to visit graham at his home. from west virginia, the president heads back to washington where he's got a fight on his hands this week ov over financial reform. john harwood joins us tonight from the white house. republicans say they're going to try to block a reform measure. is there a chance, though, of salvaging a bipartisan deal? >> reporter: there will be a deal at the end. they're close, as richard shelby told david gregory on "meet the press" this morning, but it's probably not going to occur tomorrow and democrats don't mind that at all. democrats are enjoying this fight, they think they're winning it, they're not easy to close the deal with concessions and if the headlines on tuesday morning say that republicans block consideration of wall street reform, that's not a problem from the standpoint of the democratic leaders. >> republicans said they were hung up

. >>> president obama also paid a visit to reverend billy graham before ending his vacation this weekendin north carolina. the president and graham talked and had a private moment of prayer. graham has been advising presidents for 50 years. but this time -- this is the first time he's met president obama. >>> coast guard crews are working around the clock to try and stop a massive oil leak in the gulf of mexico. the leak off the coast of new orleans stems from an oil rig that exploded last tuesday. 11 workers are still missing and presumed dead. crews discovered the leak over the weekend. oil is now leaking at a rate of 42,000 gallons a day. now crews are working to drill a relief well. the peer is that if the oil makes its way inland, it could threaten shores from louisiana to florida. >> the impact of drilling impacts more than just the marine environment, it puts coastal communities, beaches, industries such as commercial and recreational fishing at risk. >> the coast guard says the oil should stay about 30 miles off the coast for the next three days. >>> stay with us everyone. "news

. -- visited the home of evangelist billy graham. >> a man rob an off-duty d.c. police officer at gunpoint saturday night in suitland. a man in a hooded sweatshirt approach to the unidentified officer, took his money, and ran off. if the officer fired at the robber but missed. no one was hurt. a garrett county high school will be closed again today because american decontamination. health inspectors have to make sure the high-school and all of the school buses are free from mercury. a teacher apparel is also students passing the toxic metal around the classroom last wednesday. the school has been shut down since then. >> on this monday morning it is 5:35. uighur duncan stourton project could mean big delays of beltway drivers. -- a week-long construction project. >> a good samaritan help as dozens of people stood by, a video that has people outraged if in a moment. >> back up on the 14th street bridge because of an accident on the other side. these backups can stretch along way in no time. >> kids bring your child to work today. >> good morning, washington. >> th

we called billy graham the late billy graham. he's alive and well. it's one of those days.ur apologies for that. just aheated world's most fame d just ahead, the world's most famous magician accused of assaulting a woman. now his problems have vanished into thin air. next on "kelly's court." take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills! just 2 aleve can last all day... perfect. choose aleve and you could be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just 2 aleve have the strength to relieve arthritis pain all day. megyn: "kelly's court" is back in session. on the docket today, a disappearing act for a woman who says she was sexually assaulted. 23-year-old lacey carroll dropping her lawsuit against the world's most famous magician saying he subjected her to intense scrutiny. copperfield pulled carroll out of a show in 2007, she says he then invited her to his private island in the bahamas, and that's where she claims he sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her. what are

this, withdrawing their invitation to evangelist franklin graham, the son, of course, of reverend billy graham, a watchdog group says that graham's past description of islam as an evil religion, he said that right after september 11th, could stir up muslim extremists and put u.s. troops in danger. graham defended his decision this morning. >> we're in war, and we need to pray for our military, we need to pray for our president and all those in authority. that's what the national day of prayer is all about. it's not about islam versus christianty or whatever, it's about a nation, coming together, and praying for its leadership, and that's what we're going to do on may sixth, national day of prayer, to focus this nation on praying to god, to ask for his help. martha: all right, that was franklin graham this morning, and joining me now is no relation, but he's michael graham, radio talk show host we all know from boston. good to have you with us today, welcome. >> you break my mother's heart every time you remind her that i'm not related to franklin graham! if i were looking for problems with ril

. >>> president obama concluded his north carolina vacation today with a visit to reverend billy grahamident made the short drive to his home. the evangelist has counselled commanders in chief since dwight eisenhower. he has spent most of his time at home since his wife's death two years ago. >>> the nation is remembering dorothy height who passed away at the age of 97. she was a civil rights pioneer. special celebration was held today at union temple baptist church in southeast. on tuesday height will lie in repose at the national council of negro women. her funeral service will be held thursday at the national ka teed rational and burial -- cathedral. >>> on the national mall a celebration of earth day and a push to affect change on capital hill and in your homes. john legend just one of the headliners lending their voice thought climate rally on the mall. fox 5's roz plater was there and shows us why supporters say the event is important. >> reporter: earth day 2010 is a very different celebration than when this all started four decades ago. for one thing the movement has gone global

. >>> the president met with the reverend billy graham while he was in north carolina being his first meeting. they shared a private prayer and conversation. the reverend fwra ham gave the president two bibles, one for the president and one for the first lady. >>> this week, the country will honor the late civil rights leader dr. dorothy height. she died last week at the age of 98. there was a special celebration in her honor yesterday at temple pasttivity church. tomorrow, her body will lie in repose. >>> police are asking for help in the search for two missing people. first, 71-year-old arthur taylor last seen sunday morning near his home in forth washington, maryland. he may be wearing a red and gray jacket, blue jeans and white sneakers. police are concerned because he has medical condition which require medication. >>> also, d.c. police looking for a missing 14-year-old girl. she was last seen friday morning early at 6:45 on brandywine street southeast. she was 4'11" with short brawn brown hair if you have any information on either of these cases, please call police. >>> from tri

graham son of billy graham was supposed to appear at the pentagon on may 6th, the national day of prayer but complaints about his description of islam as evil as the -- has the military questioning whether they should pull the invitation. the military freedom foundation says it would offend muslim employees at the pentagon and endanger troops by stirring up muslim extremists. >>> president obama says it is very important his next supreme court nominee takes women's ' rights in to account in interpreting the constitution but he said the nominee will not have to past a litmus test on abortion. yesterday president obama and vice president biden met with top senate leaders to discuss the next nominee. the president plans to nominate someone by the end of may at the latest. the coast guard continues to look for 11 workers after their oil platform exploded. survivors are being reunited with their families this morning. more than 120 workers were saved. it's not certain what caused yesterday's explosion off of the coast of louisiana. seven survivors were injured. >>> it is time for another "liv

addition it has hosted concerts, pro wrestling events, religious gatherings, promise keepers, the billy graham crusades. in fact, the first event held in texas stadium. and, of course there's been a lot of music concerts as well. if you think back may 29th allan jackson, george strait, jimmy buffett put on a concert that was later turned into a cd. >> you can remember it that way. i think the explosions are beginning to bring this thing down. as we watch this happen, what's going to replace this space? >> well, that's to be determined at this point because what the city of irving want to do, they want to develop it into a multiuse complex there. so it's pretty much undecided what's going to happen. the state department of transportation is going to lease the site for about $15 million a year and it will occupy it as a construction location for up to ten years. the city has the right to relocate the staging area for a redevelopment opportunity. >> you have to wonder what the guys who hold the records that they made, with just 20 seconds left here, tony dorsett, t.o., terrell owens, troy aikman,

this journey comes after an interesting time spent in north carolina and meeting with reverend billy grahaman idea what took place in their meeting at the graham household? >> really fascinating. i've learned from reverend graham's office while he's known to the pastor to presidents, he's now met with 12 of them from truman to obama, barack obama is actually the first sitting president to ever visit the graham home in north carolina. richard nixon also visited, but while he was a sitting vice president. it shows you that, again, this president trying to show respect to reverend graham who's 91 years old. we're told when then candidate obama in 2008 visited asheville, about 20, 25 minutes away from reverend graham's home, he wanted to meet with him then. the schedules didn't come together. it finally did today. what i've learned from the meeting, from a spokesman for reverend graham, is that the president sort of opened up a little bit about his faith. talked a little bit about the loneliness of the job sometimes. and at the end they prayed together. the president praying for this 91-year-ol

before the president heads to west virginia, though, he'll be meeting with the reverend billy grahamme. this is going to be the first time the president will be meeting face to face with the reverend graham. they've spoken on the phone before. and back in november, when reverend graham turned 91, they decided they'd try to meet face to face as soon as possible. a little bit of news this morning. we don't expect to see any television coverage of that meeting but maybe we'll get a picture later on today. >> thank you very much, athena jones at the white house. >> reporter: thanks. >> speaking of television coverage, msnbc will air the president's remarks at the miners' memorial. our coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. eastern today. >>> we're going to keep you posted on our top story, the aftermath of a deadly tornado in mississippi. we'll go back live in just a moment for that. >>> also, he's back in the public eye, and there's even a new documentary about him. does that mean eliot spitzer is thinking about returning to politics? - is he in? - he's in copenhagen. - oh, well, that's nice. - b

vacation in north carolina, the president visited for the first time with 91-year-old evangelist billy grahama california girl's hope of being the youngest to sail sea low around the world is over. she had to bring her boat into south africa for repairs on the autopilot. she started her trip three months ago. she still plans to complete the voyage. now back to dave price in yazoo city. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it really is spectacular in the worst sense of that word to look back. you can see trees with no tops, buildings which are unidentifiable and heavy pieces of furniture just sitting there which have been strewn all over the place. why? wind speeds up warsd of 200 miles per hour rolled through here. but of course the rest of the nation had much better weather. let's go to the maps, see what will happen during the next it 24 hours or so. let's bring it up full screen. it looks like in the northeast we will see more rain. d.c., new york city, boston, half an inch to an inch. she at the airports probably. the south, you'll dry out, warm and sunny in dallas, new orleans, littl

vacation in north carolina, the president visited for the first time with 91-year-old evangelist billy grahama california girl's hope of being the youngest to sail sea low around the world is over. she had to bring her boat into south africa for repairs on the autopilot. she started her trip three months ago. she still plans to complete the voyage. now back to dave price in yazoo city. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it really is >> reporter: so keep in mind, florida, you'll get the afternoon t storms popping up and clouds building. that's a quick look at our weather picture. back to you in new york. >>> coming up here on the early show, our exclusive interview with two storm chasers who were there when that deadly tornado wiped out yazoo city. >>> also the possible ground breaking new weapon in the battle against prostate cancer. >> we'll tell you about that vaccine. plus, dr. phil here this morning to tell it us how to find out if our spouse is a natural born cheater. you're watching "the early show" on cbs. [ female announcer ] when you're depressed, where do you want to go? nowhe

the white house says president obama will be with reverend billy graham at his home in north carolinathe meeting comes on the heels of his son, franklin, getting disinvited from the pentagon's national day of prayer events for controversial remarks about islam and later today the president will fly to west virginia, to deliver the eulogy for the miners that were killed in the explosion that happened earlier this month and thousands of people are expected to attend the service including vice president joe biden and the service will include prayers and a special tribute to honor the 29 who died in the upper big branch mine. poison singer bret michaels remaining hospitalized in critical condition, this morning, after suffering a brain hemorrhage, according to his official website. the 47-year-old is currently a contestant on donald trump's celebrity apprentice and the medical problems come on the heels of an emergency appendectomy he received after become ill before a concert, and that happened two weeks ago. senate republican elimp yeah snow is calling -- olympia snowe is calling for th

meanwhile, the usa army has uninvited billy graham's son, evangelist franklin graham, from leading atagon prayer service because of graham's recent comments on islam being evil. quote, evil. there's a lot going on there. >> a couple of really interesting stories that we need to dig into. >> absolutely. >> and we will. try to get franklin graham on as well. let's go to willie geist right now. willie, tebow got selected but not by the team i was expecting. >> i don't think it was by the team anybody was expecting. nfl draft was held last night. we'll get to tebow in a second. first pick, no surprise. >> with the first pick in the 2010 nfl drafts, the st. louis rams select sam bradford, quarterback, oklahoma. >> oh, sam. it's going to be a long season in st. louis but he is the number one overall pick out of oklahoma. the eighth quarterback to go number one since 2001. the first oklahoma player selected number one since 1980. the lions took suh out of nebraska. and then the third and fourth picks, two more oklahoma players. all big 12 for the first four picks. that was broken by eric be

the american red cross, billy graham's crusade, family members of previous mine disaster victims and most importantly, our ministers, our pasters, our west virginia council of churches, all who came from all over our great state to counsel, to cry and to call upon god who above all else will guide these families through this healing process. with that inner strength that comes from the west virginia people, we will get through this tragedy together. we will hold accountable those who failed our miners. so help me god. today the house of representatives honors the 29 miners lost in raleigh county last week. we express the condolences of our nation to their families and we recognize above all the valiant efforts of the rescue workers, those who placed their lives on the line to save other lives who answered the call that day. our first responders, our paramedics, our law enforcement personnel all came together. may the good lord keep our lost miners, may he care for those families and bless those rescue personnel who risked their own lives in service to others and may he want over each

pair -- paradoxically it wasn't until the crisis that graham-leach-billy came an important factor in allowing companies like morgan stanley and goldman sachs to be holding companies where they couldn't before that. i don't think if you characterize graham-leach-billy has a deregulating that it was a contributing factor to the problem. >> would it be fair to say that it would make transparency better if you were to be able to perhaps regulate more strongly or at least to reveal more about what the nonbank entities are doing in the financial services sector? >> let me yield another five minutes. >> sure. >> five minutes. >> i think with that question, that's right. >> thank you. just one final question really on the occ reports on citi bank. there were a couple of notations about their failures of the regulatory structure there. i wonder how strongly you took action in the face of those things. do you feel that as an enterprise that you have what you need to be able to put the kinds of muscle behind your recommendations or your observations that you need and you had commented earlier th