i want to bring in barbara starr at the pentagon and dan lothian at the white house. barbara, a very dramatic few hours here. obviously, we knew this launch was coming. it seems to have been a spectacular failure. what can you tell me about it? >> piers, a senior u.s. official just saying those very words to me. an unprecedented record of failure for the north koreans, now one of the third failures in a row of their rocket and missile program. this rocket lifted off the launch pad and very quickly, within about 90 seconds, broke into several pieces. if you look at the map, we are told that the major debris field now is about 165 kilometers west of south korea. so it broke apart in flight. that is a fundamental failure of north korean missile and rocket technology. why does it matter? the north koreans are tough customers, but why do we really care about this? because this is basically, even though they said it was a satellite, this is military technology. they could some day perfect long-range missile technology using these kinds of systems, put a warhead on top, and

let's head to the white house and check in with dan lothian.ing, dan. >> reporter: good morning, how are you? >> good. the president has a busy schedule. >> reporter: he does. it's about reaching out to young people. look back, not too long ago, young people were criticized for getting energized during campaigns but not showing up on election day. it did not happen in 2008. they were at the heart of the grass roots effort to win over john mccain. 66% over john mccain's 32%. the challenge the president is trying to again revive the enthusiasm of the young voters who went for him in 2008. they are a bit older now. those who could not vote at the time. it's a challenge for mitt romney who has been reaching out to young voters. the most recent polls looking at voters 18-34, their choice for president, still president obama, 64%. romney, 32%. the key, though, is to reach them on the level of what they can do to help turn the economy around. they have some of the same concerns older americans have, jobs. those coming out of college having a hard time

our dan lothian is traveling with the president for the summit of the americas and joins us now from colombia. what is the secret service saying about this? >> reporter: well, first of all, pointing out that they take all of these allegations seriously, confirming that, in fact, these secret service personnel were relieved of duty, not confirming specifically that number of a dozen secret service personnel, not confirming what the nature of their actions were, just saying that it was some kind of misconduct. but, you know, i think what is interesting about something like this or perhaps even disturbing, is that when they have these kinds of summits, the white house pretty much comes here with a well scripted agenda. they want to focus on issues of trade, on the economy. this is a region that has been expanding quite significantly over the last decade. and those are the kinds of things that they'd like to focus on. but i think what usually ends up making news is the unexpected. remember back in 2009 the president's first summit of the americas when he was handed that book by chavez fr

lothian. we will get back to you.speaking at the easter egg roll. when they do that, we will bring it to you live. that should happen around 10:30 eastern. >>> now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you today. what should president obama's campaign slogan be? according to the website politico, the 2012 obama campaign has a problem with branding. in 2012, it came so easy with the slogan, change we can believe in. pundits hail the obama campaign team as branding geniuses. later, critics like sarah palin found it easy to pan the president's quote, hopey-changy stuff. i digress. he could take a page from pass slogans, ronald reagan, morning in america, bill clinton, bridge to the 21st century. mitt romney has his slogan, believe in america. >> i believe in the principles this country was founded upon. that's why our phrase is believe in america, believe in the principles that made us the nation we are. >> still, even a great slogan can't win an election. robert zimmerman say

dan lothian, reporting, in cartagenn, &pcolumbia."-----end----- kkee the costs down... down...shop online or at second hand stores.the other costs.ann reunited anddit feels so good.how long it took to briig together this marine... and his beloved four ((break 3)) ♪ okay, so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's a win win. good? [ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours? gives us the most nutritious of gifts. but only when they are ready to be given. that's why green giant picks vegetables at their peak. ...and freezes them fast, locking in nutrients ...for you to unwrap. ♪ ho, ho, ho. green giant those five food groups sound a whole lot better when you put them in a taco shell instead of a pyramid. old el paso. when you gotta have mexican. it's prom sea

. >> dan lothian is live in washington, d.c. in 2008, he had the youth in record numbers. other than that the federal student loan program, anything else he's working on? >> well, what you see from the p, he's talking about what his administration has done over the last three-plus years to help young people and you hear him talk about pell grants, about streamlining the process for students in getting loans. and you know, i think what's interesting here. you look back, it wasn't too long ago that many people thought that young people, they could grj niezed around campaigns. what we saw was a big jump of 2 million young people showing up to the polls compared to four years prior to that in 2004. they were at the heart of president's campaign, that grassroots effort. the exit polling showing that the president got 66% of the vote compared to john mccain's percentage of the vote. that's why he's pushing hard to recapture of the glory that the voters who are four years older and also go after those who weren't old enough to vote at the time. mitt romney is also going after the

dan lothian has reaction from the secret service and more on why the president is in colombia in the>> reporter: well, later this morning, president obama will be taking part in the ceo summit, highlighting trade and jobs, a chance for u.s. companies to expand. kicking off the summit, a lavish dinner, leaders dinner last night. but even as that was getting underway, two distractions to this carefully-crafted summit. first of all, there were four explosions, two here in cartagena, two in bogota, near the embassy. law enforcement officials saying minor damage, no injuries, no one claiming responsibility and those two devices in bogata, according to law enforcement officials, were home-made. the other distraction involved the people who are charged with protecting the president, a secret service official confirming to cnn that some of those agents who were here in cartagena were sent home because of misconduct. spokesman edwin donovan telling cnn "there were allegations of misconduct made against personnel prior to the president's trip, because of this, those personnel are being relieve

dan lothian here for us. ing that you for the update. >>> the u.n. may vote on whether to send 30 military monitors to syria next week, but the bloody massacre goes on days after a fragile cease fire went into effect. in homes government forces shelled residential neighborhoods at dawn. they targeted protesters in dura. at least 16 people were killed by syrian security forces across the country today. the u.n. estimates at least 9,000 syrians have been killed since protests began just over a year ago. >>> back here in the u.s. george zimmerman sits in a jail cell. his attorney mark o'meara is working to get him out on bond. he was hired to zee fend him the same day he was charged in the second-degree shooting death of unarmed teen, trayvon martin. o'meara says zimmerman is stressed, nervous, frustrated that he was charged at all. >>> president obama and mitt romney are vying for a key voting block. women voters ahead. there were a few stumbles as they made their case to women. but what we'd rather be making are tee times. tee times are the official s

. >> joining us live, dan lothian. where does this investigation go now? >> reporter: that investigation continues, that internal investigation i am told by one u.s. official they will be conducting a number of interviews, trying to look specifically at who was involved and what happened on wednesday. again, this investigation is still early on. as for service members, we are told by defense department officials they continue to be confined to rooms, not allowed contact with anyone else, still here in country. one military official saying he is, quote, disappointed by the entire incident. >> dan lothian, appreciate your reporting traveling with the president. thank you. >>> the secret service is overseen by department of homeland security. i want to go to the phone where new york congressman peter king is standing by. as chairman of the house committee on homeland security, congressman, you were briefed on this investigation. what do you know. >> yes, thank you. basically my understanding, it was 11 secret service agents. they did bring women back to their

has gone along with this launch. >> a little misstatement, you meant north korea, of course, dan lothian forward to that statement coming through forward for that statement coming through there. >> let's go to jill dougherty over at the state department, where a great deal of the planning has to focus on this u.n. security council meeting tomorrow. >> it does. although that said, you have to say that there's not a lot they can do in terms of sanctions. they can certainly say, we condemn this, it is bad, et cetera, but realistically, what can they do? but i think an interesting moment here is an administration official is telling cnn that whether or not this did fail, it really doesn't change the u.s. response. and that is important, because the principle of this is that north korea, in spite of all of the warnings from the united states and from others, the g-8 ministers today issued a very, very strong statement. they went ahead and did it. so the principle is the problem now. that this missile may have failed, this rocket may have failed, but they decided to, in spite of everything, go

white house correspondent dan lothian has more on that. dan, what's going on over there?ou know, this is the third year in a row that the white house has held this conference. the president from early on in his administration has talked about making issues about women and girls a top priority. so today his administration releasing this 55-page report that they say show cases some of the achievements that various agencies in this administration have done that will benefit women, but as you know, any time you talk about something like this during an election year where the female vote is so important, it's hard to escape questions about politics. at home, the president is surrounded by women. he has strong views on the recent controversy over the all-male augusta national golf club. >> he believe, his personal opinion, is that women should be admitted. >> reporter: and when it comes to science and engineering, closing the pay gap and health care, the president defends his administration's effort in tackling the challenges facing women, even though he told an audience at the

. >> i'm dan lothian at the white house.on friday, the president heads overseas to attend the summit of the americas in cartagena, colombia. before departing, the president will host some 30,000 mostly kids here at the white house for the annual easter egg roll. then, on tuesday, the president will fly to florida for the buffett rule. it's a proposal for those making more than $1 million to pay more in taxes. >>> first-quarter earnings season will be coming this week. alcoa will kick things off on tuesday with their earnings. google, jpmorgan chase will also follow. analysts have been downgrading their expectations. and with good reason. gas prices have been high. europe's debt crisis is a concern and growth in china is slowing. this can put a strain on u.s. companies. we'll keep an eye on it for you. >> i'm a.j. hammer. with folks joining us, i'll speak with warnny wilson about her stomach surgery. and will "hunger games" beat "titanic" at the box office? >>> in tulsa, oklahoma, two men have been arrested. jacob england and

. >> dan lothian, who are these people? >> reporter: we don't have a list of who the people are.ionaires and secretaries who pay more in taxes than their bosses will be at the event. we are seeing the president get ahead in the vote that takes place in the senate. the president is trying to put pressure on members of the congress to put in place a system that he believes is fair. it's also an opportunity to draw a contrast in the policies of republicans in particular, his potential running mate, mitt romney, who obviously is a wealthy american, trying to frame it as republicans are there to support wealthy americans. you heard that from the president when he was pushing for the buffett rule in boca raton, florida, where he talked about the budget passed by house republicans and how they were putting in place a system that was providing tax rates for wealthy americans and paying for it by gutting investments in education, medical research and energy. this is a policy push. it's shaping up to be the theme of the president's re-election campaign. >> this so-called buffett rule comes

dan lothian at the white house. mr. obama is heading to florida to pitch this legislation.o florida? >> reporter: a couple of reasons. first of all, the president is there also to attend three fundraisers for his re-election campaign, expected to pull in about $2 million. also if you notice the president's travel schedule recently he's been heading to states that are battleground states, this one florida being a very important one. but the message from the president as you pointed out will to be put pressure on congress senate democrats will be taking up a similar measure next week although it's not expected to go very far but the president's message continues to be one that we've heard now for several months and that is that wealthy americans need to pay more than average americans when it comes to taxes and not as in the case of warren buffett's secretary paying more in taxes than he a billionaire has been paying. but the problem from critics they say is that the kind of revenue that you'll get from something like a buffet rule will not be that significant, will not eat i

let's go to white house correspondent dan lothian.w weighing in on this. >> reporter: that's right. just rewind a little bit wolf, to last week, remember the president was speaking to the women's conference at the white house talking about the role that strong women had played in his own life from his mother to his grandmother and so now some of those same themes we heard from the president that he weighed in on this controversy for the first time in an interview with cnn affiliate casey armingy. >> here's what i know that there's no tougher job than being a mom, and you know, when i think about what michelle's had to do, when i think about my own mom, a single mother raising me and my sister, that's work. so anybody who would argue otherwise, i think, probably needs to re-think their statement. more broadly, i don't have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates. my general view is those of us who are in the public life, we're fair game. our families are civilians. you know, i haven't met miss romney,

. >>> i'm dan lothian at the white house.at is a rarity, president obama is not expected to travel this week but his schedule is full with bill signings and meetings with world leaders. as part of the north american leaders summit on monday, the president will host the president of mexico calderon and the canadian prime minister harper. on wednesday, president obama will sign the act that bans members of congress and their staff from insider trading and the jobs act on thursday. the president and first lady will wrap up the week by marking the start of passover with a seder at the white house on friday. >>> a shortened trading week coming up but investors watching for key economic data set to be released. the latest manufacturing and construction spending numbers as well as march auto sales. the marketed in the u.s. will be closed for good friday but on friday morning we will get the all-important jobs report for the month of march. wall street and main street are both hoping the uptick in job creation we've seen in recent mo

. >> lothian traveling with the president. dan, i understand you found some information about this scandal and investigation? >> that's right. this information coming from two u.s. government sources who tucked to my colleague john king. early investigation according to the sources several prostitutes brought back to the hotel by these agents. one of those sources telling our john king that it was the same hotel that president obama was to be staying at. at some point at least one of the prostitutes did have a des putin with one of the agents over payment. i should point out that prostitution is legal here in colombia. so that prostitute then called police. now, the number that we have been using is 12, 12 agents sent home. sources saying that number is close to 12 and, quote, in the ballpark. not exactly 12 but in the ballpark of 12 agents who were sent home. also, it's a combination of secret service agents and also secret service uniformed police. now, they were not directly involved, we're told, in the president's security

dan lothian is our man at the white house. tell us more, dan. >> reporter: you know, for weeks now we've been hearing this complaint from the republican national committee in particular because the president has made a lot of trips to battleground states and they believe that with the cost of air force one at about $180,000 per hour, these events that the white house said are official, they believe are mostly campaign sort of events and so you have the head of the republican national committee writing a letter to the government accountability office saying "throughout his administration but particularly in recent weeks, president obama has been passing off campaign travel as official events allowing taxpayers rather than his campaign it pay for his re-election efforts." this is not the first time that we've heard this. there were complaints when president bush was in office and other presidents as well and the white house is making that clear saying that there is a formula for this. the campaign does reimburse the administrati

. >> reporter: i'm dan lothian at white house.the president heads overseas to attend the summit of the america. drugs, cuba and trade are expected to be on the agenda. before departing the president will host some 30,000 mostly kids at the white house for the annual easter egg roll and then he'll sit down with meetings with the president of brazil. finally on tuesday the president will fly for the day to florida to promote the so-called buffet rule, a proposal that calls for those make more than $1 million to pay more in taxes. >> reporter: first-quarter earnings season will be the focus this week. aluminum giant alcoa will kick things off. google, wells fargo and chase follow with their results. overall analysts have been downgrading theiry pectations and with good reason, gas prices high, europe's debt crisis still a concern and growth in europe is all growing. this could put a strain on some u.s. companies. we'll keep an eye for it on cnn your money. >> wilson phillips joins me on monday. i'll speak with carney wilson about her

. >>> a lothian man is arrested in connection with the hit-and- run crash that sends a police officer to shock trauma. charging documents say leo carol slammed his acura into a toyota during a traffic stop, propelling the toyota into the officer. around 9:15 sunday night, carroll faces several charges he is being released on bail. >>> a jury hears testimony from the admitted mastermind from the plot to bomb the new york city subway system. denise has more on the terror trial, under way in manhattan now. denise? >> reporter: prosecutors say the would-be bombers came dangerously close to carrying out the subway attack in 2009. today, one of the alleged conspirators took the witness stand in an attempt to lessen his punishment. he told a federal jury that he and two male friends made an oath to leave their new york city neighborhood and fight alongside the taliban. testimony comes as the trial for adis madujanin who has pled not guilty to conspiracy to sell weapons of mass destruction. >> prosecutors say the terrorists were prepared to kill themselves and everyone around them with suicid

our dan lothian is traveling with the president for the summit of the americas and he joins us now.et service saying at this point about the scandal? >> reporter: well, first of all, they're pointing out that they're taking these allegations seriously, that they acted after initial questioning here on the ground, and sent these personnel back home, and that investigation continues. they have an office that's sort of like an internal affairs office. it's the office of professional responsibility. they are now handling this investigation. additional secret service personnel were sent in to replace those who were sent home, and we're told by the u.s. secret service that in no way was the president's security compromised by this incident. but as you pointed out, this is certainly not only a black eye on the secret service but also a big and serious distraction for the administration, the white house, as they try to focus attention here at the summit on the issues of trade and economy in the region. >> so what's the next step, dan? i mean what will likely happen to these agents? >> repor

thanks very much, dan lothian.ack with you. >>> meanwhile, big news here for the celebrity power couple brangelina. and the latest on the crash involving a motorcycle in president obama's motorcade in florida earlier in the day. we're going to tell you what happened. stay with us cht you're in "the situation room." arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. interviewer: you were there the day the priceline negotiator went down in that fiery bus crash. sister kathleen: we lost a beautiful man that day but we gained the knowledge that priceline has thousands and thousands of hotels on sale everyday so i can choose the perfect one for me without bidding. ooh, my. this one has an infinity pool. i love those. they just...and then drop off... ...kind of like the negotiator. narrator: save right now on thousands and thousands of hotels during the