jake tapper, abc news, washington. >> interesting political season, that's for sure. >>> after a day of high-level talks between the president and chancellor merkel, the mood turned to a festive one. on the menu, tuna tartar, salad from the first lady's garden. james taylor provided the evening's entertainment. notables on the 200-person guest list, our own diane sawyer. >>> the new mayor of las vegas is intimately familiar with the man she's replacing. in fact, they've been married for 49 years. caroline goodman, wife of oscar goodman, won yesterday's race with 61% of the vote. oscar was prevented from running again because of term limits. >> inside scoop there. >>> coming up, the nation's top banker says that an economic boost is just months away. >>> then, another woman reveals her online flirting with congressman anthony weiner. >>> and a massive warehouse blaze keeps firefighters pretty busy overnight. >>> the nation's top banker still says the economy will improve this year. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the recent slowdown is the result of temporary factors. high

as jake tapper explains others who have collapsed under the weight of similar humiliation have foundk from ridicule to redemption. >> reporter: three years ago eliot spitzer, then the powerful democratic governor of new york resigned after the revelation that he had a proclivity for prostitutes. now he has his own show on cnn though stories like weiner's can create moments of awkwardness. >> i sympathize with anthony weiner. i know he is going through torment. >> reporter: f. scott fitzgerald said there are no second acts in american lives but that's no longer true. america is a sand of second, third, fourth chances. hugh grant, marv albert, pee-wee herman, kobe bryant, all scandalized, all doing great today. former republican congressman mark foley resigned in 2006 amidst a sexting scandal of his own. he now hosts a radio show in palm beach, florida. then, of course, there is the comeback kid himself former president bill clinton, elected and re-elected and now heralded for his work in developing countries among other causes. >> as a general rule, most people can come back from scan

. >> as we told you this week, jake tapper couldn't find out the cost because its an issue of nationaly. like the code to get into the gym. all right, the answer wasn't good enough for jake. >> reporter: as we discovered the house and senate gymnasiums are kept secret, the public and press are not allowed inside to even see what they look like. >> okay. thank you. >> reporter: only for members. we were told the true costs of the gyms are hidden. buried in various budgets. staffers who work at the house gym and maintain are it are paid out of the house office buildings. power to heat the pools and keep lights and tv's on, from the power plant account. as for the dues members pay, $20 a month for house members. $40 a month for senators those are placed in an architect of the capitol revolving fund which pays for equipment purchases and replacements. that its just a small percentage of the gyms' costs. you the taxpayers pay the rest. if congress this was all on the up and up and legitimate then they should be willing to open their books and show the constituents how they're spending the m

jake tapper, abc news, the capitol. >> yes, so nice they have time to work out. >> that is nice.that's going to raise a lot of eyebrows am that's what's making news in

>> leading us off tonight, jake tapper at the white house. thank you, jake. >>> and, there is an outcry tonight, because of pakistan, and what that country did. pakistan, which receives billions of dollars in u.s. assistance, arrested the people in that country who helped the united states find and take down osama bin laden. word of the arrests came as some of the heroes, the american heroes of that mission, came home, and here's martha raddatz. >> reporter: the american sailors who buried bin laden at sea came home today, greeted as heroes. >> it absolutely is historic and we're proud of that. >> reporter: not so for the some half a dozen pakistanis vital to the mission. their reward? detention by pakistan's top spy agency. the man who owned the safe house, from which cia operatives were able to photograph and monitor movement in the secret bin laden compound. he was detained. the man who copied down the license plates to track those coming and going, especially bin laden's trusty courier, who was the key to finding the terrorist mastermind.

as jake tapper reports, hovering over the meeting in that room, the stories of cuts already made and their consequences. >> reporter: on monday, first responders in california stood by as a suicidal man walked into the bay. why? due to budget cuts, they no longer train for water rescues. so, they watched 53-year-old raymond zach drown. >> it's damn frustrating. >> you have to make budgetary decisions based on what you have in front of you. >> reporter: riverside, california, has spent $105 million on a new high tech high school, built to alleviate packed classrooms. but come fall, the school will not open. why? >> they don't have enough money. >> reporter: the problem is even bigger on the federal level. in washington, d.c., republicans say with $125 billion in new federal debt each month, the federal government needs to make even deeper cuts. they proposed cutting this year's $35 million from the food safety inspection service, responsible for maintaining the safety of meat, poultry and eggs. and almost $53 million in transportation security grants to cities, which help fund explosi

thank you, jake tapper. >>> and, we turn to another big headline tonight. u.s. intelligence agents have their eye on the new leader of al qaeda. six weeks after the u.s. takedown of osama bin laden, his closest deputy is officially taking his place. ayman al zawahiri now has the job. so, how does this change the terror threat to america? chief investigative correspondent brian ross on the new and shadowy man in charge. >> reporter: the u.s. had hoped to kill zawahiri before he took over, but today, the official line was a studied shrug of the shoulders. >> frankly, it barely matters who runs al qaeda because al qaeda is a bankrupt ideology. >> reporter: still, the key question for americans -- is zawahiri more or less likely to attack the u.s.? >> now that we've killed bin laden, he probably feels a need to retaliate against the united states. >> reporter: but in his dozens of video messages, he seems far more focused on attacks in pakistan, egypt and other muslim countries than on the u.s. >> so, if you are in pakistan, i think you would be afraid of more attac

jake tapper, abc news, the capitol. >> how about that?e signal in the gym, you can tweet your pictures in there. >> you have the privacy. there we are. that was just yesterday. >> apparently i work out with my glasses on. >> i am matching, curl to curl. i will challenge you to an arm wrestling. >>> don't this this coming up, talking about the hef. hugh hefner. >> little heartbreak. >>> and the american idol judge ♪ skinny ♪ so skinny >>> it is time for the skinny. i think i am up first. let's talk about "american idol" and one of the judges, jennifer lopez hinting she may not come back. talking to bbc radio. saying she was sort of on the fence about returning. though she raked in $12 million. got to premier her song "on the floor." which seems to be everywhere these days. and performed "on the floor" as well. just not sure if she wants to come back. you have to wonder if this is a negotiating ploy. >> doesn't this seem to be the case when the contract rolls around. >> what's it worth to you? >> this new lineup of judges they have done a t

he sits down with jake tapper. and also weighs in on the budget talks in d.c.s not all that hopeful about them after president obama's feisty press conference. and does a little handicapping of the republican field, including michele bachmann. so, a lot to get to. >> he does not hold back at all. >>> and get ready. the royal road trip is under way. prince william and kate, they're on their way. their first royal tour. they're coming here to north america. >> a lot of excitement over that. >> there sure is. >>> we begin with what appears totoe a huge breach of airport security. a nigerian man was able to board a plane here in new york with an outdated boarding pass, a stolen i.d., no less. all without getting caught, until he tried to do it again. abc's lisa stark joins us now with exclusive details there in washington. good morning, lisa. >> reporter: good morning, robin. well, this man boarded a virgin america flight at jfk airport. not with just one outdated boarding pass. but he was arrested and found with ten other, as well. all of them in other people's na

our jake tapper is there with the very latest. good morning, jake. >> reporter: good morning, josh.uspiciously. 22-year-old yonathan melaku. he is a naturalized citizen from ooet yoepian decent. he tried to flee from them. in his knapsack, he had four five-pound bags of explosive ammonium nitrate. and notes that mentioned the taliban and al qaeda. they did a sweep of the pentagon and arlington national cemetery. the man is now in custody and being detained. they believe he was acting alone. and thankfully, he did not have a chance to act. josh? >> jake tapper at the pentagon. >>> meanwhile, heavy winds and dry conditions are fanning the flames of several wildfires across the southwest. the fire in arizona is half the size of rhode island and growing. winds could erase reentd progress made by fire crews. >>> meanwhile, overseas 500,000 people have fled their homes to escape flash flooding in eastern china. people were rescued,ing hanging from poles above raging rivers. while dozens have been milled in landslides. in one case, the mountainside gave way, sweeping this truck right off t

and here's jake tapper. >> reporter: more than 24 million americans unemployed or underemployed. housing prices slumping to levels not seen in almost a decade. a skyrocketing deficit. and pain at the pump. according to our poll, the percentage of americans who say the economy is in bad shape is 89%. which spills trouble for president obama's re-election and is a vulnerability seized upon by his opponents. >> he can't keep blaming george bush. this is now his economy. >> reporter: including republican front-runner mitt romney, who spent the past few years positioning himself as a leader on this issue, and is now leading president obama for the first time. >> the borrowing and the spending and the $1.6 trillion deficit -- these numbers are his. they're on his back. and it's why he's going to lose. >> reporter: the bad economic numbers mean bad re-election numbers for the president. percentage who disapprove of the president's handling of the economy? 59%. an all-time high. percentage who say the nation is on the wrong track? 66%. >> we've still got work to do. >> reporter: hosting

jake tapper has the latest on what happened today in the story dubbed the newtiny. >> reporter: in his first public comments since the newtiny, the former speaker admitted that he and his wife callista disagreed with his former senior staffers over the direction of the campaign. >> there is a fundamental strategic difference between the traditional consulting community and the kind of campaign i want to run. now, we'll find out over the next year who's right. >> reporter: senior staffers complained that callista wields too much power in the campaign, demanding that the candidate and she go on a week-long cruise in the mediterranean in the thick of the campaign. one republican official described callista sitting in on job interviews and asking almost as many questions as the candidate. >> we make decisions as a couple. >> reporter: callista controls the schedule, and former staffers say too much of it is devoted to their separate projects. book signings and film screenings, like for the film "city upon a hill." >> what is the source of our country's blessing? >> reporter: frustrated, on

blogger and military analyst jake tapper tell. but the question of the u.s. led war effort is one that also frequently comes up on the campaign trail over the weekend many of the republican candidates for president gathered in new orleans for the republican leadership conference to talk about their ideas for how to move the country forward among them congressman ron paul the only candidate who has said from day one that the u.s. should not be involved in any of the work for its and we should withdraw our troops and our money from iraq afghanistan and libya now one time this was an idea that was. radical on the fringe even and it's one that must be registering more and more turns out that ron paul won the straw poll there and while it was barely a contest six hundred twelve to the next in line candidate jon huntsman score three hundred eighty two perceived front runner mitt romney just seventy four votes ron paul in an interview this morning on the today show is that as he has an idea about why he's getting so much the port especially from the young people it'

abc's jake tapper watched it all. >> reporter: it was billed as an official presidential visit, but president obama's trip to an aluminum manufacturing plant in iowa today seemed quite political. >> i know you've been seeing a lot of politicians around lately. >> reporter: with his come from behind victory in the democratic iowa caucuses in 2008, barack obama in many ways owes his presidency to the hawkeye state. and as republicans campaign from sioux center to keokuk over the next seven months, president obama cannot afford for iowans to forget t out him. >> we've got some history together, and together, we're going to make some more history for years to come. >> reporter: and in this first in the nation caucus state, another potential candidate was also on hand today. stoking chatter about a possible run, sarah palin this evening came to an iowa screening of a flattering film about her, "the undefeated." >> sarah had courage to try. >> reporter: palin's not yet announced if she's running, but if she does, congresswoman michele bachmann, who just held her campmpgn kickoff in iowa, may pose a

>> let's go to jake tapper at the white house. bianna talked about the hope in the white house that this is temporary. based on high oil prices, the japan hangover. what are they telling you? >> they say that the numbers are disappointing, but it's net positive job growth. you have to look at several months, and the overall trend. the overall trend is still positive. secondly, there are what one official called wet blankets on the economic recovery. first of all, high energy prices. and second, that disaster in japan, which had an impact on the united states when it came to job creation. no one should get too alarmed by this one month's worth of job numbers. you have to look at the overall trend. they're concerned, that we would settle back into what we had a year ago. almost a pause in the economic recovery. that is what they're concerned about, george. >> thanks, jake. we're going to pause to go to the rest of the network for a special report. >>> this is an abc news special report. >> good morning, everyone. for those of you jo

let me bring in jake tapper on this, as well. jake, you have news on how the congressman begn to communicate this to his colleagues. >> that's right, george. last night, president obama hosted a picnic for members of congress. it was a bipartisan affair. while minority leader, nancy pelosi, and congressman, steve israel, who is a friend of weiner's, and was at weiner's wedding to huma last year, he is also a congressman and head of the democratic campaign committee, congressman weiner called pelosi and steve israel to tell them he had made the decision he will resign. and he will announce his resignation today. as you and jonathan talking about, this has been a huge distraction for the democratic party. members of congress felt that they had some momentum. they won that election, that special election in new york. and the only good poll numbers, really, in the abc news/"washington post" poll last week, were numbers indicating that president obama and the democrats had really made some points with the american people, when it came

jake tapper is tracking all of them. >> reporter: it was billed as an official presidential visit. trip to an aluminum manufacturing plant in bettendorf, iowa, seems quite political. >> i know you've been seeing a lot of politicians around lately. >> reporter: with his come from behind victory in the democratic iowa caucuses in 2008, barack obama in many ways owes his presidency to the hawkeye state. as republicans campaign from sioux center to keokuk the next seven months, president obama cannot afford for iowans to forget about him. >> we've got some history together. and together we're going to make more history for years to come. >> reporter: in this first in the nation caucus state, another potential candidate was also on hand. stoking chatter about a possible run, sarah palin came to an iowa screening of a flattering film about her. "the undefeated." >> sarah had courage to try. >> reporter: palin has not yet announced if she's running. if she does, congresswoman michele bachmann, who just held her campaign kickoff in iowa, may pose a challenge. according to a fresh gallup po

jake tapper reports. >> reporter: they stood by as a suicidal man walked into the bay. why?cuts they no longer train for water rescues. >> it's frustrating. >> you have to make budgetary decisions based on what you have in front of you. >> reporter: riverside, california has spent $105 million on a new high-tech high school. built to alleviate packed classrooms. but come fall this school will not open. why? >> they don't have enough money. >> reporter: the problem is even bigger on the federal level. in washington, d.c. republicans say with $125 billion in new federal debt each month, the federal government needs to make even deeper cuts. they proposed cutting this year $35 million from the food safety inspection service. responsible for maintaining the safety of meat, poultry and eggs. and almost $53 million in transportation security grants to cities which helped fund explosive screening devices and bomb-sniffing dog teams. house executives met to discuss with president obama in a meeting described as frank. >> i'm a psychologist, i think it was good for them emotionally t

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >>> the man who handled the fall yacht from the monica lewinskycandal has been hired by facebook. he will be the vice president of global communications. ed twoved afacebook has also hd aides of former vice president as lobbyists. >>> there are thousands of old foregotten savings bonds and one of them could be yours. the treasury department is working hard to help collect -- connect consumers with $16 billion worth of unclaimed funds. many date back to the 1950s when there was a big push to sell savings bonds that they became really part of american culture. >> you don't think even for one moment i would force you or any one to buy savings bonds. >> i'll buy. >> this woman recently cashed in an old $50 bond and received a big payout for it. 521 bucks. the treasury department volunteer helped her find it. >> it is very rewarding to feel that you have done something to make somebody happy and perhaps change their life in some way. >> now, if you want to check to see if you or someone in your family is owed bond money go to abc news.com and click on

jake tapper has been following the trail of evidence. >> mr.e white house. >> is that okay? sort of raising some eyebrows. only $5. keeps it sort of under the radar. it's an unusual situation for a recampaign program. >>> congressman anthony weiner sexting scandal has house democratic leaders meeting again today. they'll decide what to do next amid a growing chorus of calls for weiner to resign. meanwhile, another woman is speaking out. former porn star ginger lee says that she wants to set the record straight. >> i did not sext anthony weiner. i did not send photos to him or receive any from him. any time that he would take our communications in a sexual direction, i did not reciprocate. >> now, lee said weiner had also asked her to lie about their contact. after his first photo surfaced. she put out a short statement at his request and then went into hiding until yesterday. >>> congresswoman gabrielle giffords will wake up in her own home later this morning for the first time since she was shot in the head five months ago. we have the latest

jake tapper will be following this all week long from the white house. thanks very much. >>> let's bring in josh elliott after his weekend. >> good morning to you, george and robin. and to all of you. we're going to begin with some breaking news. libyan leader moammar gadhafi, now facing his biggest challenge yesterday. today, the international criminal court charged him with war crimes, issuing a warrant for his arrest. abc's jeffrey kofman is in tripoli with the very latest. good morning to you, jeffrey. >> reporter: good morning to you, josh. with this indictment, gadhafi is now an international outlaw. he is now cornered humiliated and isolated. there's very few places he can run as a wanted war criminal. now, there's every reason to believe he will fight to the end and allow himself to be martyred. nato has been bombing libya trying to help the rebels overthrow gadhafi. but slowly the rebels are making progress. they're in the east, south and west. with that in mind, gadhafi's spokesman told us yesterday, they have armed 1.2 million civilians with a

strategist who is the first chair of the democratic committee and abc senior white house correspondent jake tapper. thank you all for being here. s george, is it over for weiner? >> no. we realize that the realization, he said we're going for treatment. he said i didn't do it my disease did it. presumably -- >> interesting you say no. >> his next move would be to say, i cannot -- because i have a disease, i cannot be dispelled because that violates the american with disabilities act. >> jake, you mentioned nancy pelosi has never done this to a fellow democrat. can he hang on? >> he can, legally. you have to be expelled. his case, he has not done anything to violate the law. at least not that we know of as of right now. as jon mentioned, pelosi and other democratic leader, including steve israel who is a good friend of his, and chairman of the national democratic committee all week is pushing him, you have to step down, you have to resign. you can't go into a third week with this dominating the headlines, we want to talk about the republican's medicare plan, we want to talk about the economy. frida

jake tapper joins us from washington. a lot of buzz behind the scenes about the wife, callista. >> reporter: senior staff walked out. calling it a newt-iny. not only because gingrich won't do what it takes to win. but his wife won't. behind in polls, with massive campaign debt, and two months before the iowa straw poll, last week, newt gingrich took his third wife on a week-long luxury cruise to the greek islands. also on the cruise, former model, twiggy. for the campaign staff, it was the last straw in what was a campaign already shaping up to be a greek tragedy. his entire senior staff resigned. the campaign manager, senior advisers in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. and his devoted spokesman of a dozen years, rick tyler, who told abc news, we had a fundamental difference of opinion about the direction of the campaign. specifically about whether newt's schedule would allow him the spend enough time in the states he needs to win. multiple sources complained that the candidate's wife had too much power in the campaig

. >>> also coming up on "good morning america," abc's jake tapper will sit down with former presidenthis global initiative and also about how president obama is doing on the economy. >>> fascinating story here. the tsa may face renewed criticism after a passenger was able to fly cross country with a fake i.d. and a stolen boarding pass and didn't have to pay any fees while doing it. >> when we go through what we go through to get on a plane, how did this happen? that is the big question. agents say a search of his luggage actually turned up more than ten boarding passes, all in different names. he flew from new york to los angeles and was arrested after trying to board an atlanta-bound flight. >> he's now in fbi custody. we'll have much more on this story on "gma" later thi morning. >>> a flying laboratory has been in the air, speaki of aviation, over the raging wildfire at the doorstep of the los alamos national lab. >> this sophisticated plane is just part of a massive monitoring effort to make sure there's no contamination. ryan owens reports from the front lines. >> reporter: on t

jake tapper was there with the president. he's back atathe white house this morning. good morning. >> reporter: president obama sounded very much like a candidate when he spoke in iowa. sarah palin, speaking a few hours after him, said it was still time for her to make up her mind if she wanted to run for president. and if she did, she would commit to the iowa caucuses, 110%. at an all-american heartland barbecue as yet noncandidate sarah palin would not bite. after reporters asked about her dauguger's assertion on fox news that mom had made up her mind. >> what's talked about on the fishing boat stays on the fishing boat. >> reporter: palin had come to pella for a screening of "the undefeated," a documentary packed with praise. >> she was the ceo of 25,000 employees. >> reporter: this is iowa. and campaign season is on. so, just 150 miles away. >> oh, my god. i love you so much. >> i appreciate that. >> reporter: the white house labeled this an official trip. but it sure felt like a candidate on the stump asking for four more years. >> we've got the capacity, not onl