jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> i want to bring in co-anchor of ""good morning america," "this week," what about is it? is it going to cost the president in november? >> it could. and in key states like ohio, wyoming, and iowa. other the other hand, it could help the voters. and the white house is counting on that. the most part, the white house doesn't want to make a big deal of it. they know most voters don't want to make a big deal. the voters seem to punish whoever seems to bring up the issue the most. >> don't expect romney to bringt up over and over. >> he talked about it gingerly today. >> we heard that the president told robin, how about it? >> this was not a plan. there is no way this was a plan. this is matter of core conviction. i wouldn't send someone else out to make that decision. but it showed -- you couldn't seem to be evolving in an election campaign where it's going to come up in debates and across the trail. >> i speeded it up. >> i want to tell everybody again, you can see more of robin's interview tonight on "nightline" and tomorrow on "good morning ame

here's abc's jake tapper. >> reporter: irvine the golden retriever is not just man's best friend.pen doors. >> yes, good boy. >> reporter: turn on lights. and pick up your wallet. a dollar bill. or a credit card. >> way to go. >> reporter: irvine and other dogs such as 4-month-old puppy cadence are part of a three-year training course to help wounded warriors. troops back from iraq or afghanistan with debilitating injuries. now that in itself is not new. what is new is who is training these service dogs. other wounded warriors. such as sergeant brian bradley from st. mary's, ohio, who lost his right arm in battle in afghanistan in 2010. he says it helps for the dogs to be trained by actual amputees with prosthetic limbs to get used to them. >> and i can do a lot of things with this. and when i first got to the program last year, like some of the puppies were like, what is that? they see the hook moving around and stuff. >> reporter: private first class corey doan from vancouver, washington, lost his leg to an ied in afghanistan in july 2011. he says training these dogs has been a

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> and thank you so much for watching. here at abcnews.com. "nightline" will be along later. and we hope to see you right back here again tomorrow night to close out the week. until then, have a great night. good night. captioned by closed captioning services, inc.

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> and thank you so much for watching. here at abcnews.com. "nightline" will be along later. and we hope to see you right back here again tomorrow night to close out the week. until then, have a great night. good night. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's one thing... to have created an icon and quite another to have done it generation after generation. to the long line of legendary mercedes-benz sl roadsters... ♪ the 2013 sl.

and abc's jake tapper is now going to break down who does and who doesn't by age and ethnicity. starting with the man ready to challenge the president in november. >> reporter: campaigning in oklahoma this afternoon, republican mitt romney says he disagrees with the president's position. >> i believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. that is my own pin. i know people have different views. >> reporter: but he spoke gingerly. >> this is a very tender and sensitive topic as are many social issues. i have the same views i had had since running for office. >> reporter: for supporters including ellen degeneres, they praise the president. on twitter, she praised the president for his words. and andy and todd celebrated with her twins. >> it's a very, very brave move to make and we are extremely grateful. >> we realize what a politically risky position he has put himself in. >> reporter: almost half the country disagrees. a divide generational. poll shows most americans under the age of 40 support same-sex marriage. most over the age of 65 oppose it. a racial gap per

>> reporter: jake tapper, abc news, at the pentagon. >> powerful bond.u here tonight with another image, a young mother, her baby son, and the heart on his father's grave. >>> next at 6:00 another fatal shooting involving police officers. tonight the different stories being told by he investigators and suspect families. >> also, a bay area memorial day tradition for is 44 years. and the veterans of two wars singled out today. >> and unlikely bond between two vets, one they just learned about though they've attended the same church for years. >> a banned chemical used by dry cleaners ending up in too many places it should not be. >> i heard five gunshots. they're boom, boom, that is when i juched on the -- fell on the floor, immediately. >> a frightening chain of events. police officers shoot and kill a man following a car chase. good evening, everyone, i'm carolyn tileler. >> i'm dan ashley. this is the second time in four days the vallejo police officers shot and killed a suspect. investigators say anton bare yet senior died after being rushed to the ho

we go to jake tapper who has all the detail. >> reporter: president obama told top aides that he wanted to spend the anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden with troops, but we didn't know that meant troops in afghanistan until after he had landed safely at bagram airfield. from there he addressed the nation earlier tonight. the president stepped down from air force one in darkness of night. not coincidentally on the anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden. he spoke to the nation, the first president ever to do so from a war zone. >> the time of war began in afghanistan and this is where it will end. >> reporter: taking credit for a strategy in afghanistan he said is succeeding. >> one year ago, our troops launch the operation that killed osama bin laden. the goal that i set, to defeat al qaeda, and to have a chance to rebuild is now within our reach. >> reporter: the president had almost two contradictory messages, to americans that u.s. troops are coming home by the end of 2014. >> we've traveled more than a decade under the dark cloud of war, yet here in the pre-dawn dark

. >> okay, so let's go straight to jake tapper in washington. jake is filling in for george stephanopoulos on "this week" today. jake, good morning to you. >> good morning, dan. ale alfonsi i said hi. >> jake says hello to you fonsi. >> on a slightly more serious note, the white house thinks it has this limited window of time during which to define mitt romney to the american people before he gets a chance to define himself. what do the people in the white house think the sdrongest line of attack is. >> reporter: there are two. one is a policy attack which you heard. the idea that mitt romney wants to rubber stamp what the republican congress wants, that he wants to take the united states back to the same policies that created the economic meltdown and the other one is a character attack which is that he is out of touch. he's a rich guy who doesn't understand your problems and they are pushing forward with that. they got some help from mitt romney's republican opponents during the primary, i sudden say. >> a lot of material for them to feed on th

jake tapper is filling in for george on "this week." that fragile relationship with pakistan already tested. sentencing a doctor on treason because he confirmed osama bin laden's location. i want to know what was panetta's reaction. >> he was very emotional when i asked him about the doctor who has been sensed to 33 years in prison. the u.s. senate just recently voted to take away $33 million in aid to pakistan. but here's what panetta had to say when i asked him about the doctor's plight. >> it's so difficult to understand and it's so disturbing that they would sentence this doctor to 33 years. for helping in the search for the most notorious terrorist in our times. this doctor was not working against pakistan. he was working against al qaeda. >> that's one of many difficulties that secretary panetta talked about when we discussed the relationship with pakistan. we talked drawing down the war in afghanistan, iran's program to get nuclear weapons and the rising al qaeda threat in yemen. paula? >> thanks for that, jake. and don't miss "t

jake tapper. >> jake tapper. >> bill: story is out that jake tapper may -- who joins us in the briefingovering the white house for abc may be jumping to cnn. anything to it? >> i -- based off of who i've talked to don't believe there's anything to it. >> bill: it is unusual for people to jump from one to the next. >> not at all. >> bill: went from c next n to fox. >> let me say when i say there's not anything to it, i think that jake tapper is probably getting offers all the time. i think he has former abc colleagues at cnn who would love to have him come over to the network. i'm sure -- i wouldn't be surprised if they were willing to make him a generous offer. i think that tapper is sincere when he says that he is extremely happy at abc news. i also think there's some conversation about him being in the line-up to host abc sunday program this week. moving over to cnn right now which is a network that is certainly struggling doesn't seem to me to be the wise move for his career but are they talking? maybe. >> bill: even print people sometimes change jobs like i know somebody who went fr

abc's jake tapper has more. >> reporter: irvine the golden retriever is not just man's best friend., good boy. >> reporter: turn on lights. and pick up your wallet. a dollar bill. or a credit card. >> way to go. >> reporter: irvine and other dogs such as 4-month-old puppy cadence are part of a three-year training course to help wounded warriors. troops back from iraq or afghanistan with debilitating injuries. now that in itself is not new. what is new is who is training these service dogs. other wounded warriors. such as sergeant brian bradley from st. mary's, ohio, who lost his right arm in battle in afghanistan in 2010. he says it helps for the dogs to be trained by actual amputees with prosthetic limbs. to get used to them. >> and i can do a lot of things with this. and when i first got to the program last year, like some of the puppies were like, what is that? they see the hook moving around and stuff. >> reporter: private first class corey doan lost his leg to an ied in afghanistan in july 2011. he says training these dogs has been a life line. >> it's going to be depressing to

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> interesting.troops still there, 68,000 will be left and by the end of september. the goal is to get everyone out by the end of 2014. now that compromise that the president signed will keep us there till 2024, not in a combat role but other ways to aid the country because the lesson is years after the soviets occupied afghanistan, when they left, there was this leadership vacuum that allowed the taliban, that allowed al qaeda to grow and led to 9/11. >> provided the time line which some are criticizing him for. now our enemies know when we're getting out. our friends are concerned we're getting out, but it's been ten years. >> how long can we stay to police -- interesting too. the speech came on the anniversary of president bush's "mission accomplished" speech way back when which seems like a lifetime ago. but shows you how history can kind of twist and turn a little bit, interesting. >> that's right. >>> five people are expected to face serious charges today in connection with the hazing death of

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> of course it's going to be dissected over the next few dayslitically. this is not going to do well with older folks, as you saw in the piece. may not play well in the south. the democratic convention is in north carolina. we saw what happened there on tuesday. and also among black voters and hispanic voters in this country, which always shocks me -- >> that is shocking. >> -- because those two groups know a little something about discrimination in this country. it strikes me as a little hypocritical, not to mention some historical amnesia going on. that those two groups just decades from jim crow and segregation, civil rights and separate but equal now say no gays can get married. but ironically, those are the groups that really don't stand with the president on gay marriage. >> i don't think this announcement was risky for him. there are those social conservative republicans who were never going to vote for him anyway. you can't fall off the floor. now he galvanized a large part of his base. he raised a million dollars in 90 minutes after thi

abc's jake tapper has all the details for us tonight. >> reporter: president obama had told top aides that he wanted to spend the anniversary of bin laden's death with u.s. troops. but because of security concerns, we didn't know that until after the president landed at bagram and was safely inside the presidential palace. as he stepped down from air force one onto bagram air field, cloaked in secrecy and darkest night, president obama marked one year since perhaps the most significant national security success of this presidency. >> tonight, i can report to the american people and to the world, the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. >> reporter: but after the spontaneous display of passion and patriotism that night -- the reality of the war in afghanistan continued. since bin laden's death, 367 american troops have been killed and almost 4,500 wounded in afghanistan. >> there are roughly 88,000 troops in afghanistan right now. the u.s. is scheduled to pull out of the country, the last of the president's surge troops by septem

retreat in the mountains of maryland, where they will be tackling the economic crisis and abc's jake tapper has more. >> reporter: the tranquility and rustic beauty of camp david will soon be interremitted by a battle over apocalyptic economic fears. eight world leaders are coming here to fight over how to calm the economic instability in greece. and to keep that chaos from threatening all of europe and therefore the u.s. it's a precarious moment. at camp david, in one camp, the austerity caucus, led by german chancellor angela merkel, who believes the way to economic health is drastic cuts to government employees and pensions, which give greater confidence to markets. in the other camp, president obama leads the stimulus crew, emphasizing economic growth through spending programs, or as the president today put it. >> a strong growth agenda. >> reporter: the american president has a new ally in this crew -- the new president of france, francois hollande. who today affirmed that he and president obama agree on a way forward. hollande brings with him his much more colorful girlfriend, valarie

>> reporter: jake tapper, abc news, at the pentagon. >> powerful bond.u here tonight with another image, a young mother, ler baby son, and the heart on his father' grave. goodnight. hler baby son, and th his father' grave. goodnight. erler baby son, and t on his father' grave. goodnight. baby son, a captioned by closed captioning services, inc. this is "jeopardy!" let's meet today's contestants-- a j.a.g. attorney from lawrence, kansas...

. >>> tomorrow morning on "this week" jake tapper speaks exclusively with defense secretary leon panettabout ending the long war in afghanistan. and, of course, the powerhouse roundtable will weigh in on the week in politics. >>> and now to the 80-year-old woman and the sky dive that has provoked a federal investigation. it started with the highest of expectation but then something went very wrong. abc's clayton sandell has more. >> reporter: laverne everett's 80th birthday was almost her last. >> are you excited to go skydiving? >> i'm real excited. >> whose idea was all this? >> mine! >> reporter: last may, she celebrated by jumping out of an airplane near sacramento, california. hesitating before her instructor pries her hands free. but then a major problem. laverne's harness is too loose. she dangles precariously. her instructor desperately hanging on as they plummet at 125 miles per hour. she spoke to tv station kovr. >> i just held on. you do what you gotta do, you know. >> reporter: finally, the instructor manages to deploy the chute. >> help them, john. help them. >> reporter: th

announcement raises questions among the 89,000 american troops still in afghanistan, and abc's jake tapperrought some of those questions straight to the president today. listen. >> reporter: if this hand-off is premature, what plans are in place if afghanistan starts to fall apart or comes under taliban rule? >> i don't think there's ever going to be an optimal point where we say, this is all done, this is perfect, this is just the way we wanted it, and now we can wrap up all our equipment and go home. there's a process. and it's sometimes a messy process. >> and back here on the home front, president obama was fielding some very different kinds of questions over his campaign and a new ad attacking republican mitt romney. it may have backfired. some of the president's loyal supporters are saying, enough. it's your voice, your vote, and abc's john karl has more on that. >> reporter: the obama campaign unleashed another blistering attack today on mitt romney's record as a businessman. >> to me, mitt romney takes from the poor, the middle-class, and gives to the rich, just the opposite of rob

here's abc's jake tapper. >> reporter: hollywood tonight premieres -- starmageddon. billy crystal. robert downey jr. sal ma salma hayek. ed deal murphy and barbra streisand. all turning out for an obama campaign and democratic party fundraiser, catered by wolfgang puck, hosted by george clooney and expected to raise north of $12 million. >> i'm a democrat and i'm a supporter of the president's, so i hope -- i hope he has a very good -- i hope he has a successful election. >> reporter: it's one of three fundraisers the president's attending today. whatever polls in battleground states may say, in gay-friendly hollywood tonight, the president is finding a receptive audience for his support of same sex marriage. even if he was pushed by his chatty vice president, who, on sunday said he was perfectly comfortable with same sex married couples. >> got a little bit over his skis, but out of generosity of spir spirit. >> reporter: the president told robin roberts, he has always intended to announce this change of position. eventually. >> would i have preferred to have done this in my own w

>> reporter: jake tapper, abc news, at the pentagon. >> powerful bond.u here tonight with another image, a young mother, ler baby son, and the heart on his father' grave. goodnight. hler baby son, and th his father' grave. goodnight. erler baby son, and t on his father' grave. goodnight. baby son, and the he this country was built by working people. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪

so for the big picture tonight, i want to bring in our senior white house correspondent jake tapper. we were talking just earlier today about how much you and i are going to be spending out on the campaign trail. these battleground states always play a role. how crucial this year? >> very crucial, david. you and i are going to spend a lot of time in ohio and florida. two things to keep an eye out for. one is the state by state unemployment numbers. you see president obama in the lead in ohio. that's because unemployment is going down in ohio. the other issue of course, president obama spending a lot of time talking about issue, of importance to women voters. that's to focus on those women in swing areas of swing states such as shaker height, ohio, northern virginia, the suburbs of philadelphia, the middle of florida. what's called the i-4 corridor. they're ephhoping even women vos who are ambivalent about the economy will be swayed by some issues they talk about on the trail. >> not surprisingly, the first lady traveling with the president today. a sign of things to come for this tea

let's get to jake tapper at the white house. jake, we've seen the obama campaign, president obama, driving home the point that he made the tough decision. and mitt romney might not have made it? >> reporter: that's right. it's the equivalent of sending in s.e.a.l. team 6, an aggressive charge by the president. an assertion that mitt romney would not have pulled the trigger on that mission, based on a 2007 comment by romney that it wasn't worth pulling out heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars to go after one man. romney's example saying that the jihadist threat was bigger than one man. but the obama team making the charge that he would not have carried out that mission. romney's response is to belittle the tough decision. saying even jimmy carter would have carried out that order. and you have surrogates like john mccain and others making that charge, as well. >> jake, the obama campaign, taking some heat for politicizing this issue. are they worried about overplaying their hand? >> reporter: they are. it's a delicate

. >> let's bring in jake tapper for more on this. we're not going to talk about malia and sasha.he new poll shows that the president has work to do with women. mitt romney polling well with women in the first time. >> reporter: it's a stunning poll, george. in addition to mitt romney having a narrow lead in this poll, he has a lead among women voters. that's a group that president obama needs to win in order to be re-elected. it's a group that he won by 13 points over senator john mccain in 2008. and he needs to, if not at least reach 13 points, at least come close to that in order to be re-elected. but this poll shows some real problems in that area. now, the obama campaign says they challenged the methodology of this poll. but what the romney campaign said all along, women like men, are focused on the economy. and 67% of those polled, in this "new york times" poll, say that the economy is in bad shape. and that is bad news for president obama. >> and some skepticism the way he came to this embrace of same-sex marriage. >> reporter: exactly. 67% also say this decision was made f

. >> there is a big mission still ahaechld i want to bring jake tapper this, comes just six months before the september 11th day this, is a big anniversary for the american people. for the president plit -- plitly as well. and the white house has not been shy about driving home the message. >> it seems clear the obama campaign will make the successful mission against osama bin laden a corner stone of his reelection campaign. it's emerged since last week as a major effort and discussion point, talking point for the campaign. this week, president obama advise the public to take a look at statements by mitt rom fee. and this is about as a candidate from 2007 and 2008 has made about going in to pakistan. about being willing to focus on osama bin laden. when mitt romney made comments suggesting this is a larger issue than just one person. yes, we've not heard the last of it i expect obama will be talking about this for six months. >> and you saw the turn at the end of the season. and we thank you for joining us tonight. we'll return you to your regular programming right now as george said this