so many people beating around in the bushes trying to get an interview at a later stage. >> well, joe johns, hold that thought for me, as we look at the live pictures as we are all waiting and hoping to hear and see senator john edwards. and we want to hear from his lead defense attorney. hold that thought. we will be right back. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. introducing the brita bottle with the filter inside. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. [ man ] ♪ trouble ♪ trouble, trouble trouble, trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been doggin' my soul ♪ since the day i was born ♪ worry ♪ oh, worry, worry worry, worry ♪ [ announcer ] when it comes to things you care about, leave nothing to chance. travelers. take the scary out of life. >>> i want to take you back to live breaking news of john edwards out of winston-salem, nc state nshg, and this whole thing started in raleigh, north carolina, where a grand jury indicted him on six charges that he vi

our joe johns picks up the story. >> reporter: t.j., john edwards was one of the last candidates standing in 2008 for the race of nomination. this time standing up in court facing a six-count indictment. the government has charged him with conspiracy, making false statements and taking illegal campaign contributions, hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations from two individuals in order to cover up an affair he had with rielle hunter during a time when his wife elizabeth was sick and dying of cancer. edwards and his defense team signaled quite quickly they were going to fight these charges. first they entered a not guilty plea and then edwards addressed the cameras. >> there's no question that i've done wrong and i take full responsibility for having done wrong. and i will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that i've caused to others. but i did not break the law, and i never, ever thought i was breaking the law. >> reporter: edwards was released on his own recognizance with a few conditions. he's not free to leave the country, had to verndz his passport, and he was

joe johns was in the courtroom. we'll talk with him. and with jeffrey toobin. >>> also tonight, did you see what happened in the courtroom today in the casey anthony trial? she's accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter. her lawyers say her little girl drowned accidentally and they covered it up. either way, casey anthony has been spinning a we believe of lies to cops and her family. she made up a story about a nanny that never existed. we'll show you conversations where the lies flow freely. casey anthony is claiming her father sexually abused her and her lying is a reaction to that abuse. the videos shown in court seem to show their relationship was a good one. >> i miss you, sweetie. >> i know that. i miss you, too. >> i wish i could have been a better dad and better grandfather, you know? >> you've been a great dad and you've been the best grandfather. don't for a second think otherwise. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 absolutely, i mean, these financial services companies tdd# 1-800-345-2550 are still talking about retirement tdd# 1-800-345-

joe johns is live in iowa. >> welcome back. we have two stories.ghanistan, one out of new mexico. we want to begin in kabul. the intercon nennal hotel in the capital city has been attacked. from what we're told, it is still you should attack. we want to go to a journalist on the scene in kabul. she's on the phone with me. and just bring me up to speed. tell me where you are, what you see and how many people have died. >> yes, right now i'm in the same place, a couple hundred meters from the door of the hotel. there were three very large explosions in the last ten minutes. there were two that were successive and then the third one that was the biggest. we're unsure what exactly it was. the security forces that were in contact with right now also don't know. the blast was so large that it almost knocked myself and my colleague off of our feet. there are reports that there are two car bombs driving around the city, and they are waiting to drive into the entrance of the intercontinental hotel and detonate as well. >> hang on. so you're saying somewhere

joe johns, he is back, with political pop. and joe, set this whole thing up and why did it start? right? >> okay. >> but it's hot, you're tired, it's the end of the senate session, the state senate session and then somebody starts talking about your daddy. you know, okay, you have big temperatures in the midwest and the east. and it's probable belie nothing will get anybody hotter under the collar this time of year than utility rates. and that's what the debate was supposed to be about raising the rates to fix up the grid out in illinois. and without going into all the fine print, one state senator mentions that another state senator's father is a lobbyist for utility company that would benefit from the bill before the senate and then it just goes down hill from there so listen to a little bit of the debate. >> the sponsor's father is a registered lobbyist, lobbying for, who else, but com ed. >> my friend across the aisle, my young friend, it's not what you know that gets you in trouble in this building, it's what you don't know that just ain't so. the reason i support this bill i

joe johns, thank you.ase and, obviously, following his court appearance going to happen later this afternoon. thank you, joe. >>> here's a chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. today's question, was the auto bailout worth it? carol costello with that question and more. hey, carol. >> interesting question. president obama will visit a chrysler plant in ohio today to tout his auto industry bailout, how it created jobs and save our economy and he's also clearly testing the waters for 2012 when he will be asked again and again what's he done for the economy. republicans are saying, get real, mr. president, with the economy reeling, this is no time for a victory lap. gop front runner mitt romney was never a fan of the auto bailout. in 2008, romney wrote in "the new york times" let detroit go bankrupt. what does chrysler's yee think of the naysayers like mitt romney now? >> whoever tells you that is smoking illegal material. the government stepped in as the actor of last resort. it had to do

thank you so much, joe johns from iowa. >>> sarah palin was not the only one in iowa today.re, as well. the race for the white house is on. where do the candidates and noncandidates stand thus far? chip saltsman former presidential campaign manager for mike huckabee and jennifer palmieri. what kind of message do you think sarah palin is sending to iowa voters by debuting her movie in their state? >> the first message is i'm relevant, i'm in the game. i want to be part of the conversation. you take her being in pella, iowa, today in a red carpet treatment and what she did in new hampshire with mitt romney's announcement. she is going to be part of this conversation and interject herself and the media will cover it because they can't help themselves. the biggest message is sarah palin wants to be part of the 2012 conversation and she is. >> that's different from running, right? do you think she is going to run? big part of the conversation is a different thing. >> i think that's right. i don't think she will run. most people are doing door-to-door and she has a red carpet prem

joe johns is in winston salem, north carolina where john edwards appeared in court today. i spoke with him earlier. >> hi, eliot. well, this was a long day for john edwards and certainly one of the most extraordinary for him and one of the most extraordinary in north carolina politics and perhaps in american politics. this was a guy who was one of the top three contenders in 2008 for the democratic nomination for president and indicted on six counts relating to his activities during that election. so what we had are six counts ranging from conspiracy on one hand and a number of accepting illegal campaign contributions and there was a false statement charge tacked on at the bottom. the information came out here on the docket in winston salem, north carolina, and that's where john edwards showed up this afternoon to face a judge. he came outside after that and talked to reporters for just a minute. he didn't answer any questions outside the court. inside the court he answered only a few and the judge imposed some conditions on him and set him free on his own recognizance. so

. >> joe johnson joins us with jeffrey toobin. you know john edwards.d, your sense of the man today? >> i have to tell you, john, i walked into the courtroom expecting to see john edwards. he was there sitting down in front surrounded by his lawyers. the first thing i was struck by and has sort of stayed with me is here is a guy who was one of the last men standing in the 2008 run for the democratic nomination, remember him from the south carolina primary debates that probably the last time i got a good look at him. today he was stand go up again only this time before a judge with some very serious charges before him and still it looks very much like the same guy but basically a whole lot of trouble, in large part because of his own doing, this illicit if you will extra marital affair with rielle hunter that led to a child. essentially arguing, hey, my relationship with her is something i wanted to try to keep secret and the government saying that he got hundreds of thousands of dollars from two contributors, philanthropist buddy mellon and fred baron a

joe johns is in winston salem, north carolina where john edwards appeared in court today.him earlier. >> hi, eliot. well, this was a long day for john edwards and certainly one of the most extraordinary for him and one of the most extraordinary in north carolina politics and perhaps in american politics. this was a guy who was one of the top three contenders in 2008 for the democratic nomination for president and indicted on six counts relating to his activities during that election. so what we had are six counts ranging from conspiracy on one hand and a number of accepting illegal campaign contributions and there was a false statement charge tacked on at the bottom. the information came out here on the docket in winston salem, north carolina, and that's where john edwards showed up this afternoon to face a judge. he came outside after that and talked to reporters for just a minute. he didn't answer any questions outside the court. inside the court he answered only a few and the judge imposed some conditions on him and set him free on his own recognizance. so it is clear j

joe johns is here with political pop. joe, really? vegas? >> i know. who knew?litical power couple that actually worked. we're talking about oscar good man and his wife, now the las vegas mayor elect, carol lin goodman. that's right. she was and elected to take over the job now held by her husband. they have actually been married 49 years, call themselves the happiest couple in the universe. it's quite a love story, brooke. >> 49 years. so he's out, she's in. >> right. >> why did oscar goodman want to leave the job? >> term limits. he's actually been term limited. it's been called kind of a figure head job because the city manager does a lot of the lifting. they are keeping it in the family. carolyn won 61% of the vote. now, is he really a pretty much of a character. he would have to be to serve as mayor of las vegas for two terms. he is the kind of guy you'll ever wonder will run for congress. >> imagine their pillow talk at night. very mayoral, i suppose. >> i guess. >> let's ask about jon stewart. we watch the daily show. he goes back quite a ways with congre

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i am joe johns. john king is off. tonight, important news about the war in afghanistan. senior white house official tells cnn president obama is ordering all 33,000 u.s. surge forces to leave afghanistan by summer of 2012, specifically the official tells cnn forces will be withdrawn by no later than september next year. the president will make that announcement in an important speech in about an hour. you will see it live here on cnn. during this hour, we're using cnn's global resources, including correspondents here in washington and afghanistan to give you a closer look at tonight's high stakes in the war on terrorism. for u.s. taxpayers and for the president politically. let's start with what cnn's white house correspondent brianna keeler learned about what the president will say tonight. >> the headlines are the numbers, and the breakdown on bringing the 33,000 troops home from afghanistan, no later than september, 2012, this according to a senior administration official. 10,000 home by end of this year, 2011. remaining 23,000 surge troops coming home no later than s

. >> i'm joe johns, john king is off. a lot of important news both here and in the u.s. as well as overseas. today syrian security forces moved into yet another village only a few hundred yards from the turkish border. not only could syrian troops clearly be seen from the turkish side of the border, the move sent people in a makeshift refugee camp fleeing across the border. secretary of state hillary clinton says the united states is very concerned. >> if true, that aggressive action will only exacerbate the already unstable refugee situation in syria. recent reports are that there are more than 10,500 syrians already sheltered by the turkish red crescent in camps on the border. >> until now the syrian government repeatedly refused cnn's request to be allowed to cover the situation inside the country, but in a dramatic reversal today, the syrians let cnn's arwa damon visit the capital city. she joins us from damascus. it seems like you'd never know there's bloodshed and revolt in other parts of the country from damascus. >> reporter: joe, the image we managed to get here

. >> joe johns from iowa, thanks so much. >>> take you overseas to greece. riot police afraid they are sitting on a powder keg right now. the second day of nationwide protests and there's fears that tensions could explode at any time. lawmakers, as you know, are voting on a desperate five-year package of tax hikes and spending cuts, trying to save that country from bankruptcy. richard quest is on the streets there in athens. richard, set the scene for us at this hour. >> reporter: yes. first of all, obviously, i'm wearing these goggles just to explain because of the enormous amount of tear gas that is swirling around the square. although i probably can, i think, i might just be able to -- it's a bit easy. just let me tell you in the fountain flast few minutes, george papandreou has the votes he needed for austerity. 155 in favor out of the a 300 parliament. we will analyze who voted which way backwards and forwards, but we do now now that the law has been passed and now the implementation laws have to be also passed. what happened in the square -- perhaps wh

. >> i'm joe johns. john king is off. tonight afghanistan is once again front and center in an agonizing national debate with tense of thousands of u.s. lives and billions of u.s. dollars hanging in the balance. today sources inside congress and the obama administration are telling cnn president obama has decided to bring 30,000 u.s. troops home from afghanistan. he's making the announcement tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern during a speech you can see right here on cnn. 30,000 is a little under one-third of the 100,000 troops there now. but it won't happen quickly. we're told 10,000 will come out this year by the rest of the end of 2012. another source says the pentagon argued for an even smaller drawdown. but robert gates says he understands the president's decision. >> the president has to take into account on any national security issue sustainability here at home both among the public and in the congress. and it goes without saying that there are a lot of reservations in congress about the war in afghanistan and our lev

i'm joe johns. john king is off tonight. >>> we begin with important developments in washington's newest scandal. two senior federal law enforcement sources tell cnn the top man at the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms is expected to resign under pressure in the next day or two. acting director kenneth nelson would be taking the fall for the program called "operation fast and furious." it was supposed to find out how guns purchased legally in the u.s. end up in the hands of mexico's drug gangs. the scandal is two guns from the atf program turned up at the scene when a u.s. border parlor agent was killed in arizona last december. homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve has been working her sources and joins us now. jeanne? >> reporter: joe, this is an embarrassment for the atf. this is an agency that is supposed to stop the illegal trafficking of firearms specifically. in recent years, its mission has been to stop trafficking to mexico. it has had some success in that regard, but when atf

his position was that it was potentially dangerous and he wanted john to remove it. he asked joe whether he had concerns about the project and joe said he was not opposed, and he was also in the real-estate business. with that understanding, john asked me to remove the duct, which i did later that week. removing that had the effect of significantly improving of view and light of at least two units. i have been on the roof many times and i know the conditions well. the only two windows on joe pose a property that have a sideline of the new building are primarily looking on the existing concrete para pit wall of the garage. one of the tenants keeps her curtains drawn during the day so it appears she does not consider the window to have any view. it is clear to me that even with the new addition, and with the proposed sculpting of the addition, joe's tenants' views will be at least as good and possibly better than before the doctor -- duct was removed. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> hi. i have lived on russian hill near the garage for about 20 years. for part of that tim

joe johns is here with the political pop. joe, what's the story? what do you say?nistration said that it was going to put in solar panels at the white house, not a new idea. something jimmy carter did when he was president but when ronald reagan got in, the solar panels came down. president obama comes in and he's going to put them back up, new ones. the expectation was that this was going to be done by spring. summer is here. no local lar panels. this has created some heat for the administration. and environmental groups are saying, if you're not going to do it, who is? >> and what about al gore? >> that's another story. that's, of course, a big story. he actually put a 7,000 -- >> i'm sorry. this is my bad. we reached out to the administration. what have they said in response to the solar panels? >> bureaucratic excuse goes without saying. they basically said, we have to put this through the federal procurement process. in keeping with our commitment and, you know, we look forward to finishing the job and so on, sharing more information, including on the timing o

cnn's joe johns joins me from the political desk in washington. hi there, joe.ehner says american people are, quote, a bit weary about the war in afghanistan. what more do you have on that? >> hearing a lot of that, randi. president obama is hearing it from all sides too in advance of his big speech on afghanistan. we've already heard from a lot of democrats who say they want a big reduction of the boots on the ground. now on the other side of the aisle the republican speaker of the house, john boehner of ohio, weighing in too, urging the president to listen to his commanders and warning that the white house needs to avoid what you might call a dramatic reduction in forces. listen. >> clearly the success that general petraeus outlined is, in fact, a success. we're getting there. but we've got an awful lot invested here. and i'm concerned about any precipitous withdrawal of our troops that would jeopardyize the success that we've made. >> meanwhile, randi, a former house speaker and current republican presidential candidate newt gingrich is telling reporters in a

first, joe johns lays out how all of this mess began. >> reporter: john edwards, the politician. remember him? >> we have much work to do. because the truth is, we still live in a country where there are two different americas. >> reporter: as it turned out, mr. two americas had two very different faces himself. people close to him said it was the face of betrayal. betrayal of the people closest to him. his late wife, elizabeth, supporters, his staffers, his contributors. grant it, he was a promising politician at first. rich trial lawyer, but a spokesman for the poor. smart but homegrown. talked such a good game, he good picked up as john kerry's running mate in 2004. >> i have chosen a man who understands and defends the values of america. >> reporter: but it didn't work out, so next election cycle, edwards jumped into the race for the white house once again. by early 2008 -- >> it's time for me to step aside. >> reporter: he was out. but not before getting entangled in a messy relationship with a woman named rielle hunter. she eventually gave birth to edwards' child. edwards a

there's a profile of huntsman from cnn's joe johns. >> reporter: good looks, lots of money, popular backrcycle. oh, and his dad's a billionaire. the obama white house thinks huntsman is a star, too, and a threat to re-election. so much so that they actually hired him and sent him off to the other side of the planet as u.s. ambassador to china. almost 7,000 miles away from washington, d.c. though he did not stay for long. now that he's back home, democrats and the president are singing huntsman's praises, hoping his ties to mr. obama will be a turnoff to republican voters. >> that's just part of the report. jon huntsman elbows his way into a crowded field of republican contenders so what does he bring to the field? what does this mean for the other candidates? joining us to talk about that is cnn political contributor and independent conservative, amy holmes. she is co-host of talk radio network's american morning news. great to see you. >> great to see you. >> it's funny in joe's piece, because he says really that common wisdom was that president obama knew that huntsman could be a dark

joe johns, nice to see you. >> you bet. >> remember, everyone, next monday, cnn will host the new hampshire republican presidential debate next monday night at 8:00 eastern only on night at 8:00 eastern only on cnn. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> it is bigger than memphis and kansas city and much bigger than chicago and driven lots of people out of their homes with little hope of ever seeing the homes ever again. it is not yet the biggest wildfire in arizona history, but the so-called wallow fire is still uncontained and the fire can be seen as far away as kansas. we are joined by jim in the town of springerville. jim, any sign they are getting control of this massive fire? >> unfortunately, no, randi. still zero percent contained despite 2,500 firefighters here. they are hiking out to get a handle on the fire, and very few roads up in the area, and they are battling the terrible high winds which is the biggest enemy. 25-mile-an-hour sustained winds and 40-mile-an-hour gusts make it very difficult to

let's go to joe johns with the latest news.d also, how is gingrich responding? >> hey, you know, it feels a lot like when newt gingrich was the speaker of the house. i spoke to one former staffer the other day who said there were three words his communications people absolutely dreaded to hear. newt made news. meaning, they were going to be scrambling around. it could mean anything at all. so check this out. just like the old days, he's got people following him around, shouting questions at him, trying to get a comment. listen to this. >> $200,000 to your for profit company. sir? do you mind answering our questions? sir? >> give me one second. >> all right. so there you go. you heard the question. it's one of the many stories flying around there. the up shot is, the former speaker says he hasn't done anything wrong, obviously. the biggest hurdle former speaker newt gingrich has is losing a bunch of staffers who left him all at once. this comes right after he and his wife calista returned from a vacation, shall we call it curiou

>> cnn's joe johns has more on the newest republican contender and what sets her apart from the gop fieldng, anti-obama fire breather, now congresswoman michele bachmann is ready for an even bigger microphone on a bigger political stage. >> maybe we need to send a change of address form for him to 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> reporter: with sarah palin undecided, balkman may be the only woman among a field of male contenders. she's known for tough talk. >> the powers at be here in washington, d.c., specifically in the white house, have been wrong about a few things. >> wrong about everything. >> wrong about everything, is that it? >> reporter: while seeking support, the 55-year-old minnesota republican will tout her ideology and biography. she and husband marcus have five biological children. she's been a foster mother to 23 others. balkman is chairwoman of the house tea party caucus and often rails against excessive government spending and what critics call obama care, but her message is not always on message, like this gaffe from new hampshire. >> you're the state where the shot was hea

so here goes. >> joe johns, cnn, washington. >> so can you lift 550 pounds? doubt it. can. the countdown to the special olympics world games begins. that's next [ female announcer ] imagine skin so healthy, it never gets dry again. can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno. >>> 315 world class u.s. athletes, years of training, dedication and perseverance. all of it will the on display at the ultimate competition. the special olympics world summer games in athens in less than two weeks. jermaine eddie is one of the special olympians representing the u.s. you can see he's proving over and over again just how extraordinary he is. he will compete in power lifting in athens. he's already breaking records. take a look at him. he holds the special olympics records in bench press at 265 pounds and dead lift at 550 pounds. jermaine joins us live from new york. with us is tim shriver, the special olympi

first, joe johns. >>> the tsa defends agents who patted down a cancer-stricken 95-year-old woman at therida regional airport. her daughter says agents also made it clear that she couldn't get on the plane unless they could inspect her adult diaper so she took it off. in a statement the tsa said they reviewed the incident and agented followed proper procedure and they did not order removal of the diaper. >>> a victory for video game makers. in a 7-2 ruling the supreme court struck down a california law that would have banned the sale of video games, violent video games to children. the law was called an "infringement on first amendment rights." >>> the los angeles dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection today. owner frank mccourt locked in a bitter divorce, says baseball commissioner bud selig has forced the team into the situation. last week selig refused to approve a $3 billion tv deal for the team saying deal was structured for mccourt's personal needs. >>> and the jacket michael jackson wore in the "fliler" video was auctioned over the weekend with a big price tag. the winning bid? $

our joe johns hassed profile of the republican latest candidate. >> reporter: a guy who could star inr: former utah governor john huntsman might never have gotten into politics if his plan of playing keyboards in a plan had worked out. >> my initial passion in life was to be a rock 'n' roll musician. in my late teens you wouldn't have recognized me. my hair was rod stewart shaggy. i wouldn't wear anything, but super skinny jeans. i ended up leaving high school a bit short of graduation to play with a band called wizard. i thought it was my ticket to fame. >> reporter: wizard didn't make it, but huntsman still has the rock star thing going on. good looks, lots of money, popular back home and knows how to ride a motorcycle, oh, and his dad's a billionaire. huntman is a star, too, and a threat to re-election so much so that they actually hired him and sent him off to the other side of the planet as u.s. ambassador to china, almost 7,000 miles away from washington, d.c., though he did not stay for long. now that he's back home democrats and president are singing huntsman's praise hoping h

joe johns is here with political pop. ow she reacted to that. >> reporter: the twist here is that michele bachmann gets slammed all the time by the media for saying things that need to be cleaned up. but this time the shoe was on the other foot. it was the media guy who said something that needed to be cleaned up. check it out. >> are you a flake? >> well, i think that would be insulting to say something like that because i'm a serious person. >> but you understand when i say that that that's what the rap on you is. >> well, what i would say is i'm 55 years old, i've been married 33 years, i'm not only a lawyer, i have a post doctorate degree in federal tax law from william & mary. i worked in serious scholarship and work in the united states federal tax court. my husband and i raised five kids, 23 foster children. we applied ourselves to education reform. >> reporter: so, i mean, you seat problem here. bachmann does have a strong following. she is seen as a serious candidate out in iowa. so, wallace basically had to figur

joining us our chief political analyst gloria borger and cnn's joe johns as well. he made a lot of people unhappy on the right and on the left. >> yeah he did. i mean, i think there was no way to avoid that. this is a president who says that he promised he would do this. when he called for the surge in december of 2009 in a speech to west point. he said within 18 months we're going to begin drawing down troops. when you talk to the white house they'll say he promised it. this is exactly what he delivered. liberals aren't going to like it because it's not fast enough. conservatives don't like it because they wanted him to listen more to the generals. i think the person that he listened to this time was his vice president, joe biden. the generals really did not want this to happen this quickly but biden, who was against the surge, actually got what he wanted this time. >> this is a big win for biden. >> yes. >> though there are plenty of suspicions out there that biden would have even liked a more accelerated withdrawal. >> absolutely. i mean, it's very volatile, too

let's collection in with cnn's joe johns back in washington for the news you need to know right now. wolf. democratic sources tell cnn congressman anthony weiner is on the fence about resigning. he's also described as in a state of despair because of the scandal other his sending lewd photos to a number of women. >>> president obama weighed in on the scandal during an interview with nbc news today saying, "i could tell you if that was me, i would resign." >>> secretary of state hillary clinton today asked the nations of the african union to do more than just call for a cease-fire in libya. >> i also urge you to suspend the operations of gadhafi's embassies in your countries to expel pro-gadhafi diplomats and to increase contact and support for the transitional national council. >>> firefighters say a massive fire in eastern arizona is only 10% contained and will very soon rank as the largest fire in state history. it's burned an area larger than the city of houston. >>> the transportation department revealed airline passengers forked over 5,700,000 fees last year. if you paid a reser

our joe johns is live for us in beautiful pella, iowa, this morning. how did the premier go?s is really a summer soap opera, isn't it? not the documentary, but whether or not she's going to run. i can tell you i was sitting inside this theater, the movie is like an hour and 59 minutes or something like that. and all the way through the movie, while you heard this story about her life, her rise in politics, there were people inside who actually thought that by the end of the movie she's going to make some kind of announcement about her presidential intentions. it, of course, did not happen. and when we talk to people later, some people felt it was a little bit unsatisfying and for others it was just about right. let's listen to some of the comments from people who actually saw the movie. >> i think that now in this time period, especially because everything and all the heat she's taken, i do not think that right now would be the correct time for her to run. however, there's definitely other things that i think she would succeed in and just being a rallying point for the tea pa

here is joe johns with the news you need to know right now. >> hey, jess.ment tells cnn three people here in the u.s. likely have been infected by the new potentially deadly strain of e-coli bacteria. all three recently traveled to germany. the world health organization today blamed the germ for killing 16 people across europe. they haven't figured out where it came from. forget the food pyramid. first lady michelle obama today helped introduce a new icon you will be seeing on food packages. it's called my plate and it's supposed to make it easier for eat a healthy meal. >> since i've seen the icon i can't help but look at my own plate a little differently to see whether i have enough fruits and vegetables. and trust me. we are implementing this in our household. >> finally, new jersey governor chris christie told reporters this afternoon he has reimbursed the state for more than $2,000 to take a state police helicopter to his son's baseball game but he isn't apologizing and may do it again. >> i don't use it to joy ride around new jersey. i use it when i a

. >>> president barack obama hit the links today with house speaker john boehner. with joe biden and ohio governor john kasik. no word on any potential political deals out of that. >>> a wildfire has burned more than a half a million acres so far in eastern arizona and look at the flames there. but today crews have the wallow fire under enough control to allow many evacuees to start returning to their home. right now the fire is about 30% contained. >>> senator john mccain surveyed the damage in his home state. another wildfire known as the monument fire is burning in the southern part of arizona. that one is only 15% contained. >>> okay, so, check out the severe weather that hit colorado's eastern plains. look. you know, it made for some real slow going on highway 71 in elbert county. the road was covered with two inches of hail. there were a few funnel clouds spotted earlier, but no damage reported. >>> the picture shared around the world via social media. and the two are speaking out about their kiss during a riot in vancouver. the photo quickly went viral. it turns out

joe johns joins me from washington. s who else is coming to dinner. what's that about? >> reporter: you remember when the vice president got caught off dropping the "f" bomb. biden got a little overexuberant telling the president what a big deal it was. it's now a running political joke. the president dialed up a little reference to this in a web video when he announced that biden is going to join him in a contest for an all-expenses paid

joe johns is here with more on this. joe, talk to me. who is reggie brown?eks and weeks ago, as you said, with this remix of a notorious b.i.g. rap video, and this is something that we thought was very funny, played very well, but we weren't the only people really who sort of looked at this thing and thought it was good. we also noticed over at fox news, those people brought him in and had him debate ron paul. it's all because he looks so much like the president and can really sort of mimic his mannerisms. well, this weekend at the rlc, he is brought in to be a comedian and tell jokes. next thing you know, he's told essentially to get off the stage, and the question is why? obviously, from our perspective, we'd like to know that. the answer apparently is that he was telling racially tinged jokes that were said to be inappropriate. let's just sort of listen to one of them. >> okay. >> my favorite month is february, black history month. see, michelle, she celebrates the full month, and, you know, i celebrate half. >> hmm, okay. so he got yanked, right? >> he g

. >> it's time now for a cnn political update, joe johns joins me now from washington.ave for us today? >> well, the buzz about utah senator orrin hatch and his re-election campaign just got some new fuel. he's a republican senate institution, he's going for a seventh term, a new survey of utah voters says he could be in a bit of trouble. 38% say it's important to re-elect him because of his seniority. here's the problem. 6 in 10 responded said he's been in office too long. hatch, of course, dismissing it, he says it's too early and incumbentses are often down in the polls this far out from election day. conservatives are hot under the collar today about the telecast of the u.s. open golf tournament. it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that rory mcilroy powered the field. it's because the pledge of allegiance played on the air twice, leaving out the words under god. the network has apologized but hasn't exactly silenced the critics. >> you'll be in the anchor chair for "john king u.s.a." tonight? >> i will be. looking forward to it. >> i know where i'll be 7:00

let's go to joe johns. you didn't have to deal with this at the schoolyard. ealt with it. and house speaker john boehner. their last names -- >> it's tricky. >> little bit tricky. if. >> if you're not familiar, good luck. this is one of the longer running jokes in washington. it kind of got out in the open. the congressional correspondent dinner, it was the end of march. congressman anthony weiner made some jokes about the way house speaker john boehner pronounces his name. take a listen. >> i do the weiner jokes around here, guys. and really who is boehner fooling? am i anthony waner? i'm serious, brother. just embrace it. >> look at everyone laughing. >> there's andrea mitchell. a bunch of people. you were there, i was there. >> no, i was at the white house. >> you were at the white house, okay. so over the weekend -- and now, the shoe goes on the other foot. commencement speech in ohio, speaker boehner, sort of gets the last laugh. listen to this. >> you know, my name looks like beaner, bonner, boner. thank god it's not weiner. >> kind of funny. >> right. t

joe johns joins me from the political desk in washington. joe, who are we talking about here?ey, randi. well, the conservatives have been saying for a while that former utah governor jon huntsman is not an iowa kind of guy, an meaning he would not do well in the caucuses there, and now that he has said that assuming he runs for president, he will skip the caucuses, he is hearing back from the people in iowa who don't think much of that decision. the iowa secretary of state matt schultz says that huntsman needs a lesson in iowa politics and may not be ready for the big dance. huntsman has said he is not interested in going to iowa, because he does not believe in subsidies that prop up corn, so i beans and ethanol which is a risky proposition for someone wanting to run in iowa, but they question if huntsman is afraid to defend some of his stances on other issues. we will hear more about that down to road. >> and what is this threat, joe, we are hearing from sarah palin? >> well, this is very much about sarah palin's ability to suck up all of the media attention wherever she goes

joe johns here with that. goolsbee out? >> hey, brooke, yeah.or right now. he's going back to chicago to teach. the president's statement calls him one of the america's great economic thinkers and helped steer the country out of our economic crisis and so on. when you think about it, this is not the only member of the obama economic team to take a hike recently, not by a long shot. before goolsbee there was christina romer, left and went back to harvard, peter orszag left the office of management and budget and went to citigroup. it's quite a few people leaving. >> something we took note of, worthy of passing along. the next question is, have republicans pounced on this trend yet? >> oh, absolutely. they are calling the job nobody wants. they claim nobody is leaving because the policies are failing. the administration didn't get back to us when we asked specifically the turn over issue and the goolsbee issue goes back to the position that they said many times. the economy is growing, the president's policies are creating millions of jobs and the