to linda lee, attorney for robert thomas.h us and you, too, robert. you know, your client, robert thomas, had a series of e-mails back and forth with heene. which were, in my mind, probative not necessarily of the hoax itself, but of his relationship that he did have the relationship he claimed to have with heene. >> that's correct. >> now, he sold those e-mails to gawker.com and faced a lot of criticism for that. i always wonder -- i would never be happy as a prosecutor that a witness sold a story. why does everybody focus on that, that he sold e-mails as opposed to what could be the real crime here? >> well, nancy, i have no idea why they are focusing on that. as a former prosecutor myself, i agree. it's not really about what he did in terms of selling this. believe me, it was a minimal, minimal amount that he received. that was long before i joined the case. however, as a prosecutor, what's more important is justice here. the reality is we now have proof this was a hoax. we have proof that mr. heene is not who he claims to

to linda lee, attorney for robert thomas. s and you, too, robert. you know, your client, robert thomas, had a series of e-mails back and forth with heene. which were, in my mind, probative not necessarily of the hoax itself, but of his relationship that he did have the relationship he claimed to have with heene. >> that's correct. >> now, he sold those e-mails to gawker.com and faced a lot of criticism for that. i always wonder -- i would never be happy as a prosecutor that a witness sold a story. why does everybody focus on that, that he sold e-mails as opposed to what could be the real crime here? >> well, nancy, i have no idea why they are focusing on that. as a former prosecutor, myself, i agree. it's not really about what he did in terms of selling this. believe me, it was a minimal, minimal amount that he received. that was long before i joined the case. however, as a prosecutor, what's more important is justice here. the reality is we now have proof this was a hoax. we have proof that mr. heene is not who he claims to b

robert thomas, have you ever heard that theme song before?pitches? >> that wasn't one of his reality show pitches. i never personally heard that song but did catch a couple clips of his psycience detective videos on the internet. that's why i reached out to him. he seemed to be interested in studying nature and how it could apply to making new technologies to benefit mankind. that was really my goal. >> robert, you said one of his treatments for a reality show is almost identical to this particular stunt that we're showing right now. did you have conversations with him about the stunt? not the one where he claims his kid is up in the air, but prior to that, what was the plan? >> we were just sitting down and getting a bite to eat and were discussing a book i was reading at the time on roswell. when i say roswell i'm referring to the event that took place in 1947. my question for richard was richard, do you think this was real? do you think something actually crashed or do you think this was an elaborate media hoax? i was completely taken to a

what you are seeing here, are you seeing -- i believe the associate, robert thomas, who had been hisd with him a couple months began to see that, so staengs starved and neglect to the family. is that what you are seeing? >> exactly. this is class sdifk narcissistic behavior. everything is about him and how he looks and what will make him look good and doesn't worry about the effects on anyone else, including his family. >> let's listen to that sound bite we have of robert thomas, an associate a couple months, his read on the dad. >> a very creative individual, very hyperactive. unfortunately, i think he's a little driven by fame and really interested in kind of promoting himself. i think he had, you know, the ego from "wife swap" and appearing several times on "wife swap" and really needed to focus on his family. >> a little driven? lisa bloom, obviously we see this like, hey, how are the kids. authorities, how much can they looking a dig and make sure the kids are safe in that varmt? >> you are absolutely right. the sheriff revealed sunday child protective services is doing an inves

you're talking about robert thomas, a student at colorado state university. he had a paid interview with gocker.com and worked for richard heene two months earlier this year. he ended up taking down the heene's reality proposal and one of them sounded like what happened last week. >> re-enacting the roswell u.f.o. phenomenon, launch this weather balloon and make people believe it was a ufo and exploit that controversy as a way to promote this television show. >> one difference here, robin, perhaps thomas said the proposal they discussed did not involve the kids. >> his own kids. well, investigators reportedly called thomas to hear that story firsthand. it looks like they're going to go forward with criminal charges against the heenes. >> yes. >> previously last week they said oh, it could be misdemeanors. we're talking much more now. >> the sheriff plans to recommend three felony charges against he and his wife, conspiracy, contributing to the delinquenciy of a minor. the lawyer says he hasn't seen any evidence, but that the heenes are willing to turn themsel

is that gawker.com, this website, they say they purchased this story from a robert thomas who's a 25-year-old researcher, working with definitely richard heene on developing some sort of science-based reality television show. in their conversations richard had mentioned that he could establish some sort of a publicity stunt on the level of roswell. he's a bit of a ufo guy. and that, you know, could create quite a buzz, quite a stir for the reality show they had been developing. >> right. to dan simon, how long before this stunt actually occurred were these communications? >> reporter: communications between who, nancy? >> between the employee and mr. heene. >> reporter: you know, i really am not sure how long they were talking, but you know, one of the things i think is absolutely fascinating that we heard today is that this balloon, everybody has seen it, when you take a 37 pound boy, they had a physics professor come in and take a look at it. they said it's absolutely no way it could have lifted off the ground. another compelling moment to this bizarre case. >> as it turns out, thos

the researcher, robert thomas makes claims in a story he sold. the incredible storm chasing heenes of colorado. >> every since the family appeared on wife swap, richard has been obsessed with getting a reality show of his own. heene was cooking up a scheme to get attention for that reality show and involved launching a mysterious balloon that the media would go nuts over. sound familiar? >> richard said how much do you want to bet we could facilitate some sort of a media stunt that would be equally profound as that of roswell and do so nothing more than a weather balloon and controversy. >> the researcher said unlike the alleged hoax we saw, heene's proposal did not involve his kids. that alleged scheme unraveled when falcon suggested on "larry king live" that the whole thing was an act. >> you said that we did this for a show. >> now the future of those kids is becoming a big concern. >> we are hearing that children's protective services are investigating, but police assures us that the kids are not going to be charged. >> the attorney said no o

his name is robert thomas. the gossip website gawker.com paid thomas for an interview about the two months he spent working with heene. in this interview, thomas said heene had been working on a publicity stunt involving a weather balloon because he wanted a reality tv show. well, thomas said the original proposal did not involve the children. everybody the heene's neighborhood a media shot zone for past few days. some neighbors feel betrade by this turn of events. >> i hugged this woman. i was there after the press conference, you know, like, she seemed like, like genuinely frightened, you know, and relieved that her son had been found. then watching the news today and hearing it's a hoax, like i -- everyone is angry over that, everyone is angry. >> so what do you feel now that the entire balloon boy incident may have been a hoax? we'll be hearing your views later in the newscast. >>> listen to this story. a 16-year-old girl is in serious condition after beaten in a street fight in chicago that may have involve

out of this today is that gawker.com, this website, they say they purchased this story from a robert thomas, who's a 25-year-old researcher, who was working with definitely richard heene on developing some sort of science-based reality television show. and in their conversation, richard had mentioned that he established some sort of a publicity stunt on the level of roswell. he's a bit of a ufo guy. and that, you know that could create quite a buzz, quite a stir for the reality show that they had been developing. >> right. to dan simon, how long before this stunt actually occurred were these communications? >> reporter: the communications between who, nancy? >> between the employee and mr. heene? >> reporter: you know, i'm really not sure how long they were talking. but, you know one of the things that i think is absolutely fascinating that we heard today is that this balloon, everybody has seen it when you take a 37-pound boy, they had a physics professor come and take a look at it they said there is absolutely no way it could have even lifted off the ground. >> as it turns out, those conv

robert thomas is his name. he's a student at colorado state university. in that paid interview i was telling you about, he said he worked for richard heene for about two months earlier this year. thomas told the website he ended uptaking down heene's reality show proposals, writing them down for him. one of them sounded a lot like what happened last week. >> the idea that they had proposed was sort of re-enacting the roswell ufo phenomenon. that they would launch this weather balloon and i guess make people believe that it was a ufo and exploit that controversy as a way to promote this television show. >> kind of close there. thomas also saying, robin, the proposal they discussed at that time did not involve the kids, though. >> you know, investigators reportedly called thomas in to hear his story firsthand. it looks like they've been going forward with criminal charges against the heenes, or they intend to can be anyway. >> intend to, right. the sheriff plans to recommend at least three felony charges against heene and his wife including conspiracy, contr

robert thomas says heene had an idea about getting publicity.uote, richard said how much do you want to bet we could facilitate some sort of a media stunt that would be equally profound as roswell and we could do so with nothing more than a weather balloon and some controversy. now, i got to ask russell wetanson, entertainment reporter, is this in a way what reality tv has brought america to? this garbage? that has sucked all of us in? >> it's definitely sucked us all in and in some ways, the answer to that is question. we have seen a lot of people get on reality tv shows for being all kinds of jerks, frankly. we have michael vick, we had rod blagojevich, we have lots of people who had opportunities in reality tv. but until today or this weekend, we thought the best way for a family to get on tv would be to have too many kids. so they're just taking it to a whole new level here. i mean, the thought of launching a spaceship or some sort of flying saucer into the skies, a way to get on reality tv, this is something we have not seen. >> i would agr

robert thomas who worked with heeney claims heeney was scheming to promote his reality show by launching a mysterious balloon. he told his story on "the today show." so, those are the new joining me tonight in hollywood, carlos diaz. and he was mad, wacky and eccentric. the sad thing is, he does kind of have talent. i've done a lot of research on this guy. he had ideas about hurricanes and gravity being affected in the eye of the hurricane. so, he does have a mind. but in the end, this is a man who desperately wanted to be famous and it is a sad mirror on society that people are more thirsty for fame than they are for the talent in which it takes to get to that fame level. >> i was surprised by the amount of new evidence about his seeking fame that we got today. he's trying to contact william shatner. he actually did succeed in reaching out to him. he reached out to jimmy kimmel and now the newly uncovered clips from his crazy wife-swap experiences and now, the astounding fed investigation in the whole balloon hoax. do you think the new sense we're getting with these new revelations, is

robert thomas who worked with heene claims heene was scheming to promote his reality show by launching a mysterious balloon. he told his story on "the today show." >> a very creative individual. very hyperactive. unfortunately, i think he's driven by his fame and really interested in kind of promoting himself. >> another colleague tells "larry king live" that last week's balloon saga sure sounds like heene. >> it wasn't beyond him to pull a publicity stunt. >> "showbiz tonight" can tell you that he reportedly went all over hollywood with his fame-seeking request. jimmy kimmel's people tell us he approached the late-night talk show host and was promptly blown off. another colleague tells "the new york times" he once talked to william shatner about hosting a show. >> if you're an alien hunter and a mad scientist, i can't think of anyone else you would call other than captain kirk. >> and william shatner tells "showbiz tonight" his story is overblown. he's inflated the amount of contact we've had. channels like tlc and countless production companies are releasing statements that say the s

the researcher, robert thomas makes his claims in a story he sold to gawker.com. >> the incredible storm-chasingolorado. >> reporter: thomas says ever since the heene family appeared on the reality show "wife swap," richard heene has been obsessed with getting a reality show of his own. robert tells gawker that heene was cooking up a scheme to get attention for that proposed reality show a scheme that involved launching a mysterious balloon that the media would go nuts over. sound familiar? >> richard said, how much do you want to bet we could facilitate some sort of a media stunt that would be equally profound as that of roswell and we could do so with nothing more than a weather balloon and some controversy. >> reporter: the researcher says that unlike the alleged hoax we saw last week, heene's proposal did not involve his kids. that alleged scheme unraveled when young falcon suggested on cnn's "larry king live" that the whole thing was an act. >> you guys said that we did this for a show. >> reporter: and now the future of those kids is becoming a big concern. >> we are hearing that children

robert rice, both cnbc contributors. never had we had so much talent since thomas jefferson dined alone. it's quite extraordinary. robert rice, let me begin with you, my friend, is there a silver lining in this report anywhere? >> well, larry, i'm looking for it. i've had a hard time finding it. this is the 21st consecutive month of job loss. we've not seen 21 months of job losses in the last 70 years. if it weren't for the stimulus package the job losses would be substantially higher. we're seeing job losses in every level, every industry and all of the happy talk about wall street, i'll tell you something, consumers are just about tapped out. >> carlos, we're looking at the numbers. if you look at the employment within the government that fell significantly as well, kind of surprising given what robert just said given the stimulus money is the only thing propping things up. what does it mean? >> i agree. that was the only positive part in previous reports and, you know, the fact that it's falling suggests either stimulus has gone through or not getting through. let's just say if the stimulus package is working a

out there today that we all -- we ought to always remind our viewers about, robert gibbs was repeatedly asked from helen thomas about whether we're actually going to pull out of afghanistan. he said, look, we're not pulling out of afghanistan. so the question is, are we going to send more troops there, or is this going to be a new strategy that emphasizes the global war. tomorrow, david, the president is going to the national counterterrorism center. sort of -- if you're a fan of the movie -- the show "the 24," sort of this interagency center where intelligence gets shared internationally, as well as domestically to try to deal with terrorism worldwide. and one of of the things you're going to hear from the president is how they have accomplished attacking members of al qaeda and key cells all over the world from indonesia to east africa to, of course, that fuzzy border in afghanistan and pakistan, david. >> nbc news white house correspondent chuck todd. chuck, thanks as always. fascinating stuff. >> and the bigger picture, the domestic politics over afghanist afghanistan, a bill has been signed to increase tr

thomas harper, delaware. roland burris, illinois. evan by, indiana. benjamin cardin, indiana. robert menendez, new jersey. chuck schumer, new york, kent conrad, sharon brown -- how much time you have? with us now is a 25 year veteran of policy, in the past she has worked with two massachusetts democrats, left side of things. president obama campaign of a public option. that is what he said we would have, that is what we said we wanted. >> it is politics, pure and simple. the reality is that a public option will be provided by private insurance companies, just like nationally. they are going to have one right over here, they cannot afford things, then they will charge a higher rate. that position says that i have to charge you more because i have to pay for everyone else. they do not want to have to show that they can provide the same care for 1% of the population and not everyone else. shepard: in a capitalist system, which you could argue we are in, if we are in a capitalist system and one organization is operating not-for-profit and everything else operate for profit, how can the for-profit companies co

john roberts was not a judge for that long and most of the questions did not concern his decided cases. thomas was not a judge for very long. with justice suiter, it was a state court record. a lot of the questions of this theory in constitutional me carry questions, to what extent are you down to the framers understand [unintelligible] for people who do that for a living, that is a boring question for people who have real jobs. what do you make of that question? are there any enumerated rights? things like that. i have a script. the court has said that will be the script. >> we have reached the point where we want you to join the conversation. we have about eight minutes or so to ask some questions. anybody want to fire away at any member of the panel? >> you all mentioned above the obama administration did not want to expend political capital to maybe come up with a strong liberal to maybe go back and forth with scalia and whoever. but by the same token, the republicans, and obviously it someone who was privy to what was going on, did not want to make -- expend political capital either. in l