i want to bring joe johns back in, live for us in washington. and, john -- joe johns, excuse me.orter: well, we know that there are at least a couple of people who have taken steps after having their names come out in this report that would be kenneth mousen, the former acting director of the federal bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. we're told now that he has gone ahead and retired. a long-serving government official. and the other person has actually resigned that would be jason weinstein, the deputy assistant attorney general for the justice department. he is one of the couple top officials who were named in all of this. and what they have been named for, by the way, brooke, is failure to send information up the line, so that people like the attorney general and others could get a hold of it and failure to inquire. in other words, failure to ask enough questions, the belief of the inspector general was that they had enough information to ask some questions, but apparently did not do it. now, the -- the attorney general, eric holder, has actually put out a statement here

and if you would like to see more on the legal battle over voting rights in florida, joe johns has an hour-long documentary premiering next month. tune i to "who counts" on october 14th at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> yoko ono you'll see there. we're going to talk to one of the husbands of the band. that's next. ♪ you give it bold new styling, unsurpassed luxury and nearly 1,000 improvements. introducing the redesigned 2013 glk. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. flo: every driver is different. we've got great news for them all. you can try snapshot from progressive before you switch your insurance. [ horn honks ] just plug snapshot into your car, and drive like you -- to see if your good driving could save you up to 30%. so try the way to save that's as unique as you are. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. trick question. i love everything about this country! including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this g

but as our joe johns reports, new state laws are making it much more complicated. >> reporter: in the past two years almost every state in the country has introduced or passed some type of chachlk or restriction to the voting laws. 41 out of the 50 states since the last midterm election. we're talking about all kinds of challenges to the voting laws, for early voting, for voter registration, absentee ballots and some of the most controversial changes of all are to laws requiring voters to show photo identification. 11 states have already gotten photo i.d. laws in place. another six states have photo i.d. laws that have now been challenged in the courts and are under review. this is going on mostly in republican-controlled states. with very to say again voter i.d. laws are very popular. they make sense to people. they're needed to avoid voter fraud, but in previous elections and in the primaries this year, we even not seen a significant number of people charged with voter fraud. democrats who are fighting these laws from state to state says it doesn't have anything to do with fraud. th

but as our joe johns reports, new state laws are making it much more complicated. >> reporter: in the past two years almost every state in the country has introduced or passed some type of chachlk or restriction to the voting laws. 41 out of the 50 states since the last midterm election. we're talking about all kinds of challenges to the voting laws, for early voting, for voter registration, absentee ballots and some of the most controversial changes of all are to laws requiring voters to show photo identification. 11 states have already gotten photo i.d. laws in place. another six states have photo i.d. laws that have now been challenged in the courts and are under review. this is going on mostly in republican-controlled states. with very to say again voter i.d. laws are very popular. they make sense to people. they're needed to avoid voter fraud, but in previous elections and in the primaries this year, we even not seen a significant number of people charged with voter fraud. democrats who are fighting these laws from state to state says it doesn't have anything to do with fraud. th

crime and justice correspondent joe johns joins me now. joe, this report is due out later today from the justice department? >> that's true, carol. we're expecting it some time this afternoon. inspector general michael ho horowitz is relatively new to the job. this is his first major report. such a contentious issue and political hot potato. there are a lot of questions you would want to have answered here. whose idea was the fast and furious strategy in the first place? who in the government would say that's okay? how high up did it go? who knew about this thing, and for how long? and why didn't somebody stop it? we'll be watching it closely to see if this report has any definitive answers. this is a story that is badly in need of an honest and impartial broker. the fast and furious story reached its peak in a political atmosphere during a political year. and inspector general's report is always supposed to be about accountability, waste, fraud and abuse. if nothing else, facts. because they may have had information not provided to the oth

in fact, it's joe johns in for wolf blitzer today. joe, to you. >>> happening now, mitt romney retools his campaign trying to stop his slide in the poll. during this hour, we'll hear live from the three other men at the top of the tickets. president obama's in ohio. joe biden and paul ryan are in iowa. >>> and as their country falls apart and a civil war approaches their city, thousands of syrians have nowhere to hide. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm joe johns. and you're in "the situation room." >>> we begin with mitt romney who's just unveiled a new campaign strategy just 50 days before the election. in a speech this afternoon, romney refocused on the economy and got specific about how he would reduce the size of government. cnn national political correspondent jim acosta is in los angeles where romney spoke to the u.s. hispanic chamber of commerce. jim, today it looks like romney is reaching out to latino voters. >> reporter: that's right, joe. he's doing just that. but he's also according to his campaign unveiling some of the detail

and joe, what are the details of this report? >> hey, johnn fast and furious and related matters revealed a series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment, management failures that permeated atf headquarters and the phoenix field division where all of this was going on, and at the headquarters of the justice department here in washington, d.c. that referral, 14 people for possible disciplinary action. no one was recommended for criminal prosecution. it was just about an hour or less after the report was released, two of the highest-ranking officials named in the report were out. former atf director kenneth nelson, and deputy assistant director general, jason winestein. and also found no evidence that attorney general eric holder knew about operation fast and furious prior to 2011. i asked one of the republican congressman, jason chaffetz, if this meant holder was exonerate, because as you know, holder was cited with contempt of congress for failing to turn over documents to congress. chaffetz essentially said no. >> well, i mean,

back to you. >> all right, joe johns, thank you very much. refs are getting almost as much attention as the nfl games at the games as the players. but have the refs set a new low and how much longer will this go on? don't forget, wherever you go, we do, too. you can watch cnn live on your computer while your at work or even on your smartphone at cnn.com/tv. >>> the nfl replacement refs get more experience every week, but the results don't seem to get any better at all. senior investigative reporter for sports illustrated, good to see you. there you see on the new si, d anthony thomas. monday night's game set a new low. refs couldn't keep order, denver coaches freaking out. have you ever seen anything like this? >> the nfl is such a buttoned-up organization, and then we have these replacement refs and one team gets too many timeouts and one gets too few timeouts. one team got nine yards and still got a first down. the players association had a good point. they had a release the other day that said, look, health and safety of these players is a

joe johns is working the story for us. joe, what have you found out?, it happened in tampa and now it's also happened in charlotte, north carolina. at least, apparently. whenever you have one of these huge events where a lot of people are coming to town, people who are on the edge, absolutely are the ones to suffer. in a tough economy, cheap motels are a refuge for homeless families. here in charlotte, the sunset inn typically offers them rooms for $35 a night, but during the democratic national convention, the rate could skyrocket to $250. resident rosalinde curry says she can't afford it. >> think it's kind of ridiculous. i mean, but, what can i do about it? >> reporter: for the past two months, curry has been living in one of these small rooms with six other people, including her three kids. now she's forced to move out at a time when school is just starting. are your kids school-aged? >> one is. >> reporter: how are you going to work that? >> i have no clue. i don't know. i'm just planning it day by day. i know it's not smart, but i got to do what

joe johns in washington. i know you'll be busy on those monitors and watching that hearing. so thank you for that. >>> i do say for his part, eric holder, and i'm going to quote him, says this. it is unfortunate that some were so quick to make baseless accusations before they possessed the facts, and that's not the last that you've heard on that story. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ and the next great idea could be yours. i i had pain in my abdomen...g. it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning s

here now is joe johns. >> reporter: right after the supreme court's health care decision in june, chief justice john roberts joked to colleagues that he would find an island for tr fortress to escape the political heat. here's how ruth bader ginsburg described the scene. >> some people call it will a quarter of a century. >> reporter: there are no signs of it cooling down. >> the justices are moving from the frying pan right into the fire. they are tackling some of the most difficult legal questions of the day. across the board, probably the biggest term in at least a decade. >> reporter: tackling things like affirmative action, same-sex marriage, abortion are likely to come up this monday. >> there are a lot more in the docket and a lot more in the pipeline that they'll be making a decision on soon. >> reporter: another big set of decisions will bring even more scrutiny on the chief justice. rumors swirled that the health care he authored caused a considerable rift against s scalia. something he denies. >> no, i haven't had a falling out with the chief justice. nothing like that. >> re

i'm joe johns. you're in "the situation room." >>> we begin with one of the states that in just 41 days could decide the presidential election, ohio, is so important both to president obama and mitt romney campaigning there this afternoon. and there's more of a backdrop than just the early autumn trees. a brand new quinnipiac/cbs "new york times" poll has the president a full ten points ahead of romney in ohio. 53% to 43%. let's begin with cnn white house correspondent dan lothian. >> reporter: joe, even though a new poll shows the president with a double digit lead in ohio, mr. obama continues to push hard in the state. it's a huge priority for the campaign according to a top aide. by our count the president has visited ohio at least 13 times so far this year. this time ahead of early voting, which by the way begins next tuesday. now, today the president was again selling his policies and his record in a state he says has benefitted from the auto bailout. he talked about the thousands of jobs creat

i'm joe johns. you're in "the situation room."

but cnn's joe johns is watching all of this live. he joins me. joe, we watched at the rnc when ann romney kicked off that first night, and it was -- really, it was such a great speech. people will say what they will about a party that they don't like. but she was a great speaker, and she had everybody wrapped. and everybody talked about her in the media the next day, which is really the key when it comes to these conventions. nobody had really heard from her before, but they have heard from michelle obama. so is the pressure higher for mrs. obama to really sort of punch through, get her message out there, and get headlines for tomorrow? >> it's true, people have been listening to michelle obama for four years now, even more than that. but actually, i've got to tell you, a lot of politicians love to say their spouses are their secret weapons. but in this case, it certainly seems to be true for the first family. because if you look at the last cnn orc poll, came out something like june, looked into this, it showed that michelle obama actually has a

i can see abigail adams sitting and clutching her scorching hot cup of joe, john adams saying sit downnd drink your damn coffee, woman. she really was the brains of the outfit. my mother is overworked, tired, but her still solid body stood hard as a rock. i'm not going to cry, as a tear falls down from her face. don't cry, mom, don't cry. [cheers and applause] >> that was her first time ever. yay! and up next we have indiana telepenova. >> a recipe for water. start with the color magenta, a burning asphalt, of beach ball sighing out its life, a garden grown on accident after accident, add a father painting shelves on the cove, a pinch of guilt, statues of isabella butter flisse -- butterflies, and extinct alpha betts, a teaspoon of autumn leaves, a shepard playing with the winds, some animal begging for snow. mix vigorously like the mountain mixes up its slopes. preheat the bed of a star to -- 240 light-years away. thank you. and next is -- [cheers and applause] >> next is robin black. >> hi, robin! >> oh, ok. i had to know. this is called "eviction notice." the police turned us away.

joe johns is monitoring the developments in washington. so the inspector jep ral's report is an autonomous report, autonomous group, and they also as i understand, joe, they have access to some of the legal documents that here to for the american public has not seen? >> that is my understanding they have had access to the documents that perhaps congress could not get its hand nons the s on in t investigation, ashleigh. this could be the day that the air is cleared over fast and furious, because it i contemplating whether the lead investor michael horowitz who will have the answers, and how high up did it go and why didn't somebody stop it? it is an opportunity for an impartial broker which is what the aig is, and to take a hard look at it and tell everybody what he thinks, ashleigh. >> joe, you say it could be an opportunity for the air to be cleared, but could it not be an opportunity to have revelations totir up a whole other political pot. >> well, absolutely. if the questions are not answered to the satisfaction of all of the individual

joe johns, cnn, washington. >> joe, thank you. >>> a mystery in tennessee. two children are missing after their house was destroyed in a fire. now authorities are asking for the public's help in finding them. when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule. mom's smartphone... dad's tablet... or lauren's smartphone... at&t has a plan built to help make families' lives easier. introducing at&t mobile share. one plan lets you share data on up to 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. add a tablet for only $10 per month. the more data you share, the more you save. at&t. the more data you share, the more you save. ♪ ♪ we're lucky, it's not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. it's hard to see opportunity in today's challenging environment. unless you have the right perspect

i'm joe johns in a very rainy washington, d.c. you're in "the situation room." >>> we begin with the fallout over mitt romney's complaint that 47% of americans will vote for the president no matter what he says. those 47% are "dependent on government, believe they are victims" and in romney's words "my job is not to worry about those people." the remarks are from a nearly hour long of a secretly recorded video of a romney fundraiser last may. the video obtained by the left leaning magazine mother jones that posted the entire interview. let's bring in chief political analyst gloria borger. fascinating story. so much has happened over the last 24 hours. you had quite an article online today. and i just want to read part of that. romney has a businessman's approach to politics which means he sizes up an audience and figures out what he needs to cut the deal and he does it and expects it to work. >> he's a businessman and he wanted them to write checks. what do you do when you ask people to write check sns you tell them what you think

joe johns, we bring him back, he's in washington, he's been flipping through this thing, reading it.at does it say? what does it say about attorney general eric holder specifically? >> reporter: well, it is interesting, there is so much talk about eric holder up on capitol hill and, of course, this is a politically charged season. you have to say that. he's been accused of cover-ups. he's been accused of, you know, not helping congress out in its quest for information. well, here is what the office of inspector general's report says, the oig is supposed to be a fair broker in all of this, holder was not made aware of potential flaws in this operation until february of 2011. this is long after the death of the border agent, brian terry, that sort of brought everything to a halt and made all the signals and alarms start going off. the office found no evidence that the attorney general was informed about it or learned about the tactics employed by atf in the investigation prior to january 31st of 2011. the office of the inspector general found it troubling that in a case of this magnitu

has been investigating the impact of tough new voter laws on the 2012 election and ask you can see joe johnstary, voters in america, who counts, sunday october 14th at 8:00 p.m. >>> with just 38 days to election, battles over voter i.d.s are intensifying in many states. a battle that could mean tens of thousands of you may not have your votes counted in pennsylvania. there the state is trying to prove its new voter i.d. law will not disenfranchise voters and south carolina is appealing a justice department decision stricter voter i.d. requirements. here's what's at stake. as the pennsylvania supreme court prepared to hear arguments on the state's new voter i.d. law recently, the naacp protests what it calls a thinly veiled attempt to suppress the minority vote. >> we have seen more states pass more laws pushing more voters out of the ballot box than we have seen in the past 100 years. >> reporter: it is a scene that's played out in states across the country. civil rights groups pushing back against voter i.d. laws enact aed by republican-controlled legislatures since 2010. >> the effort to a

on tap is joe johns in the middle of all of that, and first of all, joe, tell us the focus of this, the or partisan or kind of labor day celebrations? >> hey, suzanne, i think that i can hear you pretty well. look, this celebration was supposed to start of highlight inclusiveness if you will. the democrats wanted to have a big party in the center of town and invite everybody from charlotte who wanted to come, and here you are in the center of town, and a good idea, right? well, if you think about it though, it is a little interesting, because north carolina is such a right to work state, and having this party on labor day by the party that represents, you know, the president and labor is so, such a supporter of the president, we asked a few people about that, and some union members tell us that they liked the idea and perhaps it is just an excuse, but they say they liked the idea, because it highlights the issue of north carolina and its traditional opposition to organized labor, at least the way they explain it, suzanne. >> joe, i know that there are a lot of musical selections and fun

deb and victor. >> joe johns, thanks. much more ahead this hour. >>> here's what's coming up. >> i can see in his face there was a lot more to her story than even what she was willing to let o on. >> women hold up half the sky, that's the message of a new documentary from "new york times" columnist, nick clkristo in an interview exclusive to cnn, he sits down with the celebrities from the film. >>> the man blamed for the an - anti-islamic film is behind bars but is it just a smoke screen? our legal analyst explains. >>> guns, illegal drugs, some things shaping the presidential race. already we're putting them in focus. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. and two pills for the

joe. >> john says that when you love someone with advance dementia, like his father has, you cannot helpey still in there? >> give me a wink. >> although his father cannot communicate, by all indications he is aware. beyond words. he served in the korean war, in an artillery unit, he was a combat medic which may explain his recent behavior here at the veterans nursing-home in long island, a few months ago he started going into the room of another man with the manchester road >> i was wondering what he was doing. >> she is the man's daughter. >> he would rub is that can walk away. >> he would check on him like a medic would do. >> the kids agree, it seemed like he was trying to care for frank, like he was back in the war. but what is even weirder, frank did not seem to mind, a staff eventually move the men into the same room and that is when john started putting the pieces together. >> was looking for something, i had a feeling. >> he started with the pictures on frank's bulletin board and notice something in the old shots, the buildings in the background, he had seen the same buildings f

justice department withheld from them, these things eric holder was held in contempt of congress. >> joe johnsthank for filling in for me as well. always do a good job for me. >> you do a hard job. >> you just found that out? where have you been? [ laughter ] thanks, joe. >>> rarest to happen on video, we're taking a look. [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. o0 c1 chase scene netflix coming soon extra butter tickets swoon penguin journey junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. humans -- sometimes life trips us up. and sometimes, we tri

here's joe johns with more. >> reporter: right after the supreme court health care's decision in june, chief justice john roberts joked to colleagues that he would find an island fortress to escape the heat. here's how ruth termed the spring. >> it's been taxing. some have called it the term of the century. >> reporter: now three months later the court is back and there's no sign of it cooling down. >> the justices are moving right into the fire. they're tackling some of the most legal questions of the day. across the board probably the most biggest term in at least a decade. >> reporter: same-sex marriage, voting rights, and abortion are all likely to come up this term which kicks off monday. >> there are some very exciting cases already on the docket and there's a lot more in the pipeline that the court's going to be making a decision on soon. >> reporter: another set of big decisions will bring more scrutiny on the chiefs justice. rulings that the health care program he offered caused a rift between anton and scalia. >> no, i did not have a falling out with justice roberts. >> loud

i'm joe johns.the situation room." >>> there were empty seats and walkouts at the united nations today ahead of what was expected to be a fiery offensive final speech from the provocative iranian president ahmadinejad. but while some of the usual rhetoric was there, this year's speech had a very different tone. cnn foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty is in new york with the latest. jill. >> reporter: well, joe, it's not what some people expected. it was short on threats, but on bl somadinejad delivered his sn to the u.n. general assembly. >> translator: the curorldre w order is discriminatoran based on injustice. >> reporter: he did manage to work inome o his standard refences to israel. >> translator: continued threats by the uncivilized to resorto military action against our great nation is a clrame of this bitter r: but there were of his usual bombshells. >> transtor: i do not believe that mlims chrxtian, jews, hius, budists and others have ablems amo themselves or are hostile ait eaothe

i want to go to joe johns. he's there right now. hopefully a little cooler than in tampa. hopefully no storms for you. where are you joe and what's happening behind you? >> reporter: this is the intersection of trade and trion. it's a big party. carolina fest. nothing happening on the stage directly behind me. the next big act we expect to see this hour is jeff bridges. the oscar winning actor and his band the abiders. we saw them at sound check. doing great job. the crowd will be looking forward to that. >> music aside, mr. johns, let's talk about the president. president won north carolina in 2008. it was a huge victory for him. a democrat winning a state in the deep south. i want to show this. there's a poll showing north carolina now leading mitt romney. romney leading north carolina by four points. our own polling shows north carolina is pretty much even stephen. my question is does the obama campaign expect to bounce in north carolina by virtue of having the convention in charlotte and why is the convention there in the first place? >> reporter: well, i think that's t