mr. schmidt? >> did i what? >> did you talk to mr. more and his team the group of independent peer review auditors that look at your process and quality control in criminal instigations' did you discuss mr. schmidle's with them about hiring mr. schmidt? >> no i did not. someone may have done so in my behalf but i didn't push on them. >> when my staff spoke with your staff in september my staff said they expected mr. schmidt would be entering into a subcontract with louis free, the former director of the fbi who also works with mr. schmidt of the independent monitor team for chrysler or don learn now. sigar officials say they believe that he was, quote, intimately involved in, quote, the outreach to attorney general holder. was that your understanding? >> that isn't necessarily my understanding and i cannot account for what folks may have communicated to your staff or to anyone else. my intent, senator, is to bring aboard an independent entity to provide a few oversight of the plan of action that we were putting in place to move this e

mr. schmidt.i understand it, the issues of which he may have been accused of doing his tenure as inspector general and this is information i found a subsequent to the senator having raised questions about my decision in hiring this particular contractor. but as i understand it, the issues that were brought up concerning mr. schmidt were not cooperated in the final analysis. >> you understand the reason this even has come up about mr. schmidt is weeded basic investigatory work. and when we did basic investigatory work, we found that senator grassley had a lot of questions about mr. schmidt when he was inspector general dod. and i'm not saying whether senator grassley was right or wrong. i'm saying this very troubling that he would not be aware of those questions before paying someone the amount of $450,000 a year to do work for the federal government. general fields, that is what i'm getting at. this audit agency is careful about who they hire and whether or not there is any appearance of a problem

mr. schmidt that was the only airplane that i know of that an air force general actually asked to remove from the theater from the german because there were getting torn up so bad for the sluggish low rate and very, very flammable your plan so they got yanked out and sent to peripheral theaters but managed to sell under 10,000 of those. we beyond what they sold the british, and that really turned them into that time and medicare plan corporation. >> guest: from the business point of view growth was doing pretty well. early on they rejected north got to design things and once he left the seemed to flounder in terms of getting decent designs. >> host: he had made a huge name for himself but it was fluff and self-promotion. kelly johnson was one of the designers of the p38 that worked out so badly. he stayed on and became a founder of the skunk works that figures in your book important. >> guest: one of his assistants said he looked like fields except without the sense of humor. >> host: i knew him and he tried to convince me of the airplanes and he took me around the sr-71 hangar and gave

mrs. schmidt: thank you for those kind words. mr. speaker, when we talk about abortion, we think of this as a 40-year-old movement. we think about 1973 in roe v. wade and that was the catalyst to move this movement forward. pioneers and leaders have coined the phrase right to life. mr. speaker, we forget that this is not a 21st century issue. this is a century's old issue. it was actually the suffragists who talked about women's rights, the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to speak, the right to run for public office, to also talk about the right to life. to these women, the very concept of femnism demanded the basic rights be extended to everyone without exception including the unborn and rejecting the use of force to control or destroy one another particularly among the most vulnerable and defenseless of the population. so to them, the act of abortion was much more than harm imposed on a woman and her child. it was a frontal assault on womanhood and new assault to the cause -- of the underpinnings of their cause.

mrs. schmidt: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to recognize and honor our colleague, gabby giffords, and to mourn the loss of those that died in tucson on saturday and to also pray for those who have been affected by this great tragedy and to applaud the courage of those who risked their lives so that others might live and to thank the first responders and the health care professionals whose quick action and work saved their lives. you know, madam speaker, nobody ever thought saturday would happen, especially gabby. she was just out there doing her job. and when you think of the 20 families and the community and the nation and how we have been affected by this act of violence, you think of the little girl that went there to meet her congresswoman who never came home. you think about the person that took her, that wonderful neighbor, who now will always think about what if i hadn't have done this. what if i hadn't have said would you like to come? madam speaker, there are so many people affected by this tragedy. . and

mr. obama is under big pressure to rev up the economy while also cutting spending. >> emily schmidt joins us from washington with a preview. good morning, emily. >> reporter: vinita and rob, good morning to you. tonight marks the second time that president obama will give a state of the union address. and this time, those midterm elections reshaped his audience. >> the president of the united states. >> reporter: tonight, president obama will face a congress made up of more republicans than last year. meaning, his theme of how we win the future must first win over those in the room. >> my principal focus, my number one focus, is making sure we are competitive, we are growing and creating jobs. not just now. but well into the future. >> reporter: the president says there's five pillars of his focus. innovation, education, infrastructure, reforming government, and reducing the national debt. some republicans question the plans. >> i can't see how we can possibly spend more money at this point. we really have to have, at least i think, this year, a 10% reduction in spending. >> this is about

mr. obama's programs are helping the economy. it's a five-point jump since september. vinita and rob? >> emily schmidt, with a breakdown of all those numbers. thank you, emily. >>> well it was during the president's visit to tucson that congresswoman gabby giffords first opened her eyes. and now, she is showing even more signs of improvement. doctors say she could move into a rehab facility in weeks, if not days. and in an exclusive interview with abc news, her husband says he is seeing encouraging signs, as well. alex stone has details. >> reporter: during an interview with diane sawyer, gabrielle giffords' husband, astronaut, mark kelly, described a stunning moment. when still not able to speak, she reached over to him. >> she stuck her hand up on the side of my face this morning. i leaned over. and she spent ten minutes, giving me -- this is so typical of her. she's in the icu. gone through this traumatic injury. and she spent ten minutes giving me a neck massage.wouldn'ti'm pretty sure she wouldn't do that for somebody else. and she's looking me in the eye. >> she reached up for you? >> for ten mi

schmidt, abc news. >>> president obama paid tribute to president john f. kennedy on the 50th anniversary of his inauguration. at a gala in washington last night, mr. obama praised his predecessor's vision and influence. and he said, he would not be in the white house today, if it weren't for jfk's impact on the nation. >>> and another milestone in american history was remembered last night in texas. top officials from the first bush administration gathered to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1st gulf war. the former president said it was one of the greatest honors of his life, to liberate kuwait and command u.s.-led forces. >>> we are learning new details about the brutal murder of daniel pearl at the hands of terrorists nine years ago, thanks to a group of intrepid college journalism students. they released the report three years in the making, called the pearl project. martha raddatz has details. ickedly smart reporter, was a about to be a father, when he was kidnapped in 2002. his beheading put on the internet by his captors for the world to see. there have been many investigations since and a hollywood movie. but nothing compares to this. 32 j

mr. schmidt? >> did i what? >> did you talk to mr. more and his team the group of independent peer review auditors that look at your process and quality control in criminal instigations' did you discuss mr. schmidle's with them about hiring mr. schmidt? >> no i did not. someone may have done so in my behalf but i didn't push on them. >> when my staff spoke with your staff in september my staff said they expected mr. schmidt would be entering into a subcontract with louis free, the former director of the fbi who also works with mr. schmidt of the independent monitor team for chrysler or don learn now. sigar officials say they believe that he was, quote, intimately involved in, quote, the outreach to attorney general holder. was that your understanding? >> that isn't necessarily my understanding and i cannot account for what folks may have communicated to your staff or to anyone else. my intent, senator, is to bring aboard an independent entity to provide a few oversight of the plan of action that we were putting in place to move this e