senator chuck grassley, republican from iowa. you for coming on this morning. >> thank you. >>> nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engle is live with me now. what can you tell me. you have been working the phones. >> seems that most officials in libya are saying that khaddafy is in fact dead, that he was injured and that he has succumbed to his wounds and died. there is one report from a witness. this is a libyan journalist who says that he saw the body of khaddafy being moved out of sirte in an ambulance, that it was a ministry of health ambulance and that khaddafy's body was being taken to an undisclosed location. what we don't know is who kill cad doff, and there are two completely contradicting stories. one, there was a nato air strike earlier on a convoy according to a nato official was maneuvering in the vicinity of sirte early today. nato officials don't know if khaddafy was in that convoy but they do confirm they attacked a convoy of khaddafy loyalest in the sirte vicinity today. the initial reports were coming if

we'll discuss all of that wen senior -- with senator chuck grassley who will be our guest. bill: 2012, now herman cain making a huge leap into the top tier of the candidates for the republican nomination, mr. cain surging now in a gallup poll that's out. he's in second with 18 percent of the vote, up from only 5 percent only a month ago. man, is that fluid. cain is now just two points away from the frontrunner mitt romney in that polling, rick perry meanwhile taking a hit, now in third at 15 percent. now, mr. cain also tieing for second place with rick perry in the "washington post" bloomberg news poll. coming up in a moment the perils of the top tier, herman cain facing harsh criticism from african-americans on the left, cornell west telling cain to, quote, get off the proverbial crack pipe. harry bell fontie calling cain a bad apple. juan williams, what does he think about all of this? we'll get his opinion in minutes. martha: as we watch this as get ready for the next debate tonight. >>> he's accused of trying to blow up a plane on christmas day with explosives sewn into

getting any benefits or indeed what the costs are you know it's an interesting contradiction chuck grassley talking about we can't have national health care it will be government death panels but by the way let's look at government into our lives. not to make it partisan. i know you guys are are that's why i wrote this book because i wrote the book because i think it's very important that the american people begin to focus more on the cost of the tape create act and all of these antiterrorism measures to ordinary americans i don't talk about continental in torture and i think people have the assumption that all of this doesn't affect them if they're not terrorists well it does affect them if they're applying for mortgages or dealing with banks or telephone companies or internet service providers and yet many more you know more obviously issues than i can mention to your viewers right now so i hope they read my book yeah ok there you go susan herman we thank you with you so you thank you so much for being with us thank you so much appreciate it. in two thousand and eight the nation wanted a

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coming up next, senator chuck grassley of iowa. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> because i am a businessman, and just incidently i am very proud formally connected with a large company, in opposition they have attempted to picture me as an opponent of liberalism but i was a liberal before many of those never heard the word and i fought for the reforms of theodore roosevelt and woodrow wilson before another rose about adopted and distorted the word liberal. >> he was a member of the democratic party for over 20 years, switching in 1940, he saw and won the republican nomination for president and although he lost the election, he left his mark on political history, speaking out for civil rights, becoming a foreign ambassador for his former opponent franklin roosevelt. he is one of the 14 men featured on c-span that a new weekly series "the contenders." live, friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> this weekend, six republican presidential candidates travel to d

but today on capitol hill, the iowa republic senator chuck grassley questioned certain aspects of thatsome individuals who are given relief will obtain work authorizations so people with no right to be in the country will be allowed to work here. is that correct? >> well, senator, since around 1986, there has been a process for those who are technically unlawfully in the country may apply for work authorization. >> shepard: secretary knap went on to say that her department is really just trying to unclog the system. let's get to shannon bream on the top story at the bottom of the hour live from d.c. shannon, what specific allegation did secretary napolitano have to answer today? >> well, shep, g.o.p. senators were concerned first about a memo from the director of immigration and customs enforcement or ice, giving immigration officials wide discretion in deciding who they are going to deport and also a letter from napolitano outlining a certain strategy. she says she has no choice. here is her explanation. >> there are 10 million are so illegal ill grants probably in the country. congre

so if that goes into effect, then chuck grassley as a farmer would not get a direct payment. host: next call for senator grassley comes from silver spring, maryland, peggy. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i'm a first time caller. thank you. i'm a bit nervous. i'm an independent but i lean more towards the republican party because i'm very conservative. i have a few comments and few questions. one is regarding the tax rightoff. do you get a rightoff for your cell phone, for mortgage, for gas in your car, investments? farm subsidies? these are the problems. it's the write-offs. it's not we are not being taxed enough. it's the write-offs. number two, the problem is not with social security and medicare. the people who created social security and the medicare system are very smart. the problem is the congress men and senators who have been there forever who become corrupted and not particularly smart. all they do is spend, spend, spend. host: we got your two points there, peggy. senator? guest: well, i don't know whether -- can you tell me was she suggesting we do

but that man, senator chuck grassley said back in january he personally had a conversation with eric"operation fast & furious" and it should be investigated. then in february eric holder called for the inspector general to investigate "operation fast & furious" and yet 2 and a half months later says in front of congress i just learned about it a few weeks before that. janet napolitano is getting heat because border agent brian terry killed in mid-december. she learned about "operation fast & furious" in mid-december and never spoke with eric holder. the reason she says she never spoke with him is there was an inspector general's investigation going on. but that investigation didn't go on until february. she learned in december. now you have got a lot of lawmakers say be there is two months there, a gap that brian terry -- not saying she knew of a "operation fast & furious" weapon was involved in the killing of brian terry, but why not talk about it with the nation's top law enforcement officer it's all about the time line in this case. megyn: she went to the funeral much officer bria

. >> reporter: we heard from senator chuck grassley since the justice department fired back. grassley the ranking member of the senate judiciary committee after the justice department again fired back whether a third gun was found at the scene of border patrol agent brian terry's murder. the doj insists there was no such gun. here is what grassley had to say a few hours ago. excuse me. we'll get that for you a little bit later on. but this the meantime, grassley has said all along what he most wants to do is get answers for the slain border patrol agent, grassley wants to know, quote, who approved a stupid program and make sure it never happens again. back to you. jon: there is also word from an attorney, i understand, who represents an atf official, alcohol tobacco and firearms. what is all that about? >> reporter: that's right. the attorney paul approximately lit tear who represents the agent. who says there is nothing illegal about what the atf did. >> the strategy part of atf policy and strategy for a long time. that is not unusual strategy. it is a typical strategy. it do

joining us is the ranking member of the senate judiciary committee, senator chuck grassley.t will get you any additional answers or information beyond what you have gotten so far? >> is certainly ought to. since we issued the first subpoenas there is a lot more evidence out and a lot more to back up now than we did previously and also we have the inconsistencies of statements that the attorney general made and to save himself some embarrassment you would think he would want to clean those up as much as we can. and then, you know, they keep telling us they want to be cooperative with us or that we have misinterpreted what the attorney general has testified. well, isn't the best way to clean this up for holder and the justice department maybe even the white house would be to make all of these documents available and not have them redacted as they are redacted. >> well, senator, i want to play a little bit of sound from the attorney general this week talking about what he has turned over and the subpoenas as well, the new ones. this have from the press conference talking about

we spoke with republican chuck grassley of senate judiciary committee who is investigating fast and furiousts do prove that somebody in the justice department knew more about it long time before, like you said, july of 2010, as an example. >> reporter: contacted by cnn, a high level justice department official strongly rejected the notion that holder improperly testified. the official said, those memos are routine reports that provide general overviews. none of these reports referenced the controversial tactics that allowed guns to cross the border. fast and furious was an atf program designed to take down big weapons trafficking operations from the u.s. to mexico but atf whistle-blower says, in the process of trying to track weapons, agents were forced to watch as up to 2,000 guns were allowed to be taken into mexico. some wound up at murder scenes. former justice department prosecutor peter toren doesn't believe those memos show any detailed knowledge by holder. how often does he get memos like this that mention program likes fast and furious almost in passing? is it too much for him to r

senator chuck grassley joins us. we'll see you in just a few minutes. pictures and all.helps, doesn't it. it works. see you later. martha? martha: there is an alarming new report out. can taking aspirin affect your eyesight? you need to hear about this. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] butter. love the taste, but want to cut back on f? try smart balance buttery sead. 's heart-healthier than butter. with omega-3s. 64% less saturated fat. andlinically proven to help support healthy cholesterol. ♪ put a little love in your heart ♪ martha: alabama is taking a major hit since its tough new immigration law took effect on thursday. farmers now banding together after mass exodus of migrant workers there. they say fresh crops will likely go unpicked because there is nobody there to take the jobs. they say it could mean serious trouble for their farms. at least one local lawmaker says he believes it is still the right thing to do. >> we won't have enough money to stay afloat. we won't be farming next year if something does not change. >> why can't you do something for these

iowa senator chuck grassley is ranking republican on the judiciary committee, working with congressmanecasts & furious and we've spoken several times, senator. first of all, your reaction to the news today. >> it just says how disenagain uous the people in the justice department and probably -- disingenuous the people in the justice department and probably holder are in explaining how they knew about fast & furious as opposed to gun running generally, because they're always saying they're talking about some other program other than fast & furious but the point is we've got specific statements sayg they knew these guns were crossing the border, and if they knew these guns were actually walking, why didn't they stop it? but i can be even more specific, at least partly to back up everything that's been said by your reporter, is that they just quoted holder there saying he knew about it just a few weeks. well, it was a few months. i know for sure that he knew about it, because he was in my office on january 31st of this year, and i handed him a letter about my investigation of fast & furio

senator chuck grassley was just reelected with 65% of the i will vote -- of the i will vote. -- of the iowa vote. guest: i have to move to the next committee i was most senior in. i am the first non lawyer to be ranking member of the do this year committee. host: to seize personal proposal or the agriculture committee's proposals to the debt commission, you can go to is website, grassley.senate.gov. thank you for being on the "washington journal." guest: they will find more recommendations. there's a lot of ways we can save specific amounts of money. . >> then heather smith on motivating them people to vote and a discussion on major economic indicators of what is ahead for the u.s. economy. our guest is william caustic -- bostic. "washington journal" is live every day on c-span at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> my working relationship was positive. i have a good deal of responsibility and and attendance. i thought look for the entire weekend schedule online at book tv.org >> senate armed services committee chairman carl levin speaks tomorrow about the challenges in afghanistan and pakistan. you

. >> tomorrow on "washington journal," senator chuck grassley talks about the economy and deficit reduction. congresswoman donna edwards on the democratic agenda, and norman:will discuss how the u.s. would provide medical care to victims of radiation based terrorist attack. washington journal" begins live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> it is very obvious with all the priorities we have, until further notice, every decision the national government makes, every close call should be made in favor of economic growth. everything should be in favor of growth of private sector. >> he worked as an adviser in the reagan white house and as governor of indiana, he implemented spending cuts that produced a billion dollar budget surplus. sunday night, mitch daniels on his new book, the economy, and his decision to not run for president in 2012. at 8 eastern on c-span. >> it is time to get those cameras rolling for this year's studentcam video competition. make a be on that theme, the constitution and you, and get it to c-span by the deadline of january 20 and you could win the grand prize of $5,000.

that's the message to senators such as chuck grassley who wants to know why he's not being punished.rivacy rules, they don't think they have to answer those questions. it's an outrage. >> we'll continue to follow this throughout the day and coming weeks. have a great day. >> thanks. >> coming up on our show, huge news this morning about where independents, the key voting group are putting their support in the upcoming presidential election. we'll talk with bret baier straight ahead about that. simon cowell and brian bring their bromance to tv? is this on camera today? i can hardly wait to see this and you got to see it, too. stick around. ♪ [ female announcer ] erybody loves that cushiony feeling. uh oh. i gotta go. [ female announcer ] and with charmin ultra soft, you can get that same cushiony feeling you love while still using less. charmin ultra ft has extra cushions that are soft and more absorbent. so you can use four times less versus the leading value brand. ah. [ femalennouncer ] using less never felt so good. we all go... why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra soft. if you

guest: maag producer received an anonymous letter that tipped us off that senator chuck grassley was looking into it. what little we knew of it looked quite unbelievable. that is how a lot of stories start out. hard to believe it would be true. at the time the senator's office did not want to help us -- for all reasons they were doing their own investigation. so, i reached out on the blogs that were covering this, something called clean up 80 at and if you insider blogs with agents would communicate directly anonymously. i started making contacts. first with people i did not know what they were and could not report what they said but it led me to be but i could later identify and verify. host: the latest three is " attorney general holder subpoenaed for documents." vivian tweets -- guest: i have not heard him say anything like that. his position last i heard is either he knew something of a -- i believe issa thanks holder would have known about this, or the alternative in maintains that older's attorney-general should have known guns were being moved into a sovereign nation in a huge

on washington journal, chuck grassley and donna edwards on the democratic agenda. and norman coleman will discuss how the u.s. would provide medical care to victims of a radiation-based terrorist attack. live a 7:00 a.m. eastern on c- span. >> six republican candidates travel to the faith and freedom coalition. watch our coverage of herman cain, and rick santorum as well as rick perry and ron paul and michelle bachmann on the road to the white house. middle and high school students, it is time to get the cameras rolling in for the student camera video competition. make a video on the theme, the constitution then you and get it to c-span by the deadline of january 20 and you could win the grand prize. for details, go to studentcam.org. >> on last day of his tour, president obama visited a military base in virginia to talk about employment for veterans he is joined by michelle obama who announced the logistics' association has committed to hiring 25 and thousands -- 25,000 veterans. >> i would like to say good morning to all you all and the fellow service members and

express my appreciation to chairman max baucus and former ranking member of the finance committee, chuck grassley the -- on currency manipulation. we believe that our bill is w.t.o.-compliant, and it is in part because senators baucus and grassley looked at our original bill and worked with us on suggestions as to how to change it to make it just as effective but within the rules of w.t.o. mr. president, today we have an opportunity to help put middle-class americans back to work and, amazingly enough, in a bipartisan way. today we stand together to defend american jobs against market-distorting, job-killing, exchange rate policies that subsidize foreign manufacturers at the expense of american manufacturers. these currency policies artificially raise the price of u.s. exports and suppress the price of chinese imports into the united states. undermining the economic health of american manufacturers and their ability to compete at home and around the globe. china is by far, by far the biggest exploiter of predatory currency practices, but our bill doesn't target china or any one country. our bill