and at the same time star scientific is under investigation for securities fraud. you know this just raises red flags one has to wonder what's going on here we have a very short amount of time left but what does this say about the bigger narrative and its lax ethics laws that says virginia needs to toughen their ethics laws nothing else i mean even if you don't want campaign contribution limits at least get a gift ban on the books companies that want to get some sort of favors for the governor's mansion should not be giving free gifts to the governor should not be flying the governor around on their corporate jet and should not be wining and dining the governor at least get a gift ban. they. caution is needed to make a wonderful john grisham novel home and government affairs lobbyist at public citizen thank you for joining us and breaking that all down thank you. well find out of five stars that's what a glowing review looks like on the popular consumer review site and yell from restaurants to clothing stores the site has helped millions get the most bang for their

williams or his company star scientific to give any kind of special benefit to him or his company orfrankly, any othernk person or any other company during the time that i have beee govern are. >> a wedding donation from thedi company to the governor is being questioned. in 2011, a $15,000 donation wass given to the governor's daughter as a gift. the governor claims that hethate didn't report the gift because it wasn't given to him. >>> a talk to talk president foo-- abouttoday trucks was pos. food truck groups were not happy where they limit the number of trucks allowed downtown. >>> creating safer districts in the district.district. they demonstrated how the d.c. pedestrian signals work. a high prevention, known as hawk was installed on northh connecticut avenue in northwestt the hawk signal has a signal beacon and actually talks and d helps pedestrians safely cross busy streets. >> we got to be able to have mechanisms that assure people a safe travel through our streetst and across the city. >> last year there were 19 pacific deaths in the district,, eight were pedestrians, and ma

. >> governor bob mcdonnell answered questions about star scientific ceo, johnny williams, who has given him and his family expensive gifts. >> no one during my administration has been given any special consideration because of their friendships, because of their donations, because of any gifts they have been given. not mr. williams or his company. >> in virginia, gifts to family members don't need to be reported. the governor says that's why he did not report the $15,000 gift from williams to help pay for his daughter's wedding. the fbi is looking into the details of that gift. >> i think that i reported the gift as, i believe, the law required it to be disclosed. the gift to the office holders are required to disclose, but no office holder right now is required to disclose gifts to a spouse, to children in the house, to adult children. >> state senator, chad peterson and scott see it differently. >> i don't think mr. williams would have paid for his daughter's wedding if she hadn't been the governor's daughter. >> i have three daughters and to me, when you're a father and there's a wed

of this nutritional supplement company i think called star scientific which i would probably never do anything that a company with that name manufacturers are gay fifteen thousand dollars to the governor for his daughter's wedding so even if nobody here looks good the questions that are raised about the governor and the attorney general are pretty significant so what exactly is this f.b.i. probe is difficult trying to investigate well i think what's really odd is that there's nothing intrinsically illegal about these gifts according to virginia state law they're actually allowed to take these kind of gifts which is pretty astonishing but the governor and the attorney general did not disclose these gifts and you look at a pattern of this contributor the c.e.o. of star scientific whose company is under investigation whose companies lost money for ten years in a row giving money. to the governor for things like his daughter's wedding taking him on vacations. driving him around in his ferrari so i think what the f.b.i. wants to see is if there was a direct quid pro quo between the governo

this guy from star scientific sn this isn't the only gift at all he has given more than -- he and the have given more than $100,000 worth of the rides onrn the corporate jet to the mcdonald campaign when he rann for governor in 2009 and to his political action committee commi since. and in the last two years 96 --6 more than $9,600 worth of food, lodging and other direct gifts to the governor all of which whh have been disclosed. and interestingly, mcdonald mcda will not say, even though hehouh says he is open now to, you know, having tighter rules on disclosure of gifts to family members. he will not disclose whether orc not there have been other giftss to family members from williams in addition to this money for ne the wedding reception? >> so that also raises eyebrowsy >> very briefly kim cutchineli.i his name has come up. up. >> it's the same company but a a different issue. the main issue is that he did not report when the -- two issues, he did not report thattt he had a stock holding in star r scientific when it went above av the threshold.ethre if you own $10,000 in stock, the

all of this initially came to light because of a disclosure filing by star scientific. they said -- let me go back to the first screen. the first screen is the company actually announcing that this investigation is taking place. they say -- our company directors and others received subpoenas for the eastern district of virginia seeking documents. then they go on to say -- our present understanding is that the investigation is principally focused on transactions involving our company's securities including certain private placements and related party transactions since 2006. so, guys a lot here to chew over, but the news now that the fbi is looking into this, and that could be good for the mcdonnell camp looking at 2016 on the republican side. >> eamon javers reporting from washington for us. >>> the white house making a new pitch with top business leaders to hire american veterans. the plan and ceo of u.p.s. next on "power lunch," and steve leaseman on the cnbc fed survey, our slice of the market, steve. >> i'm sorry to pour cold water on the eabu yen markets, but our e

reports the feds want to know if the company star scientific benefited in any way from the gift.nell says it did not. he says hes did hes did the dit report the gift because it was to a family member. star scientific has given nearly $80,000 to mcdonnell's political action committee and almost 30,000 to his 2009 campaign. in this time of soaring air fares and tightening budgets, you might be interested to learn about the globe trotting trips lawmakers are taking on the taxpayer's tab. in february texas democrat sheila jackson lee traveled to vietnam cambodia as part of the coalition on adoption. she did not travel with the official delegates. instead, booking separate commercial flights. her transportation cost totaled nearly $20,000 around the world. a spokesman says jackson lee had a prior engagement in her home district that conflicted with the official travel plans. last month, six members of bipartisan delegates traveled to rome for the papal installation. the two day trip cost taxpayers almost $63,000. finally, a tip for the aspiring thieves and con artists out there. when

agents are asking an associate about mcdonnells about gifts provided to the family by star scientific gene executive jon nirks er. williams seniors. actions the republican governor and his wife may have taken that boosted the company. williams covered the $15,000 that catered for the wedding of mcdonnell's daughter. and the mcdonnells family vacationed at a lake house owned by williams and drove the executive's ferrari from the home back to richmond. it was this ferrari, to be exact. and today mcdonnell responded to the news. >> i've been blessed to have a lot of friends, and mr. williams and his wife celeste have been family friends for four or five years. but i think it's important that the people of virginia know that nothing has been done with regard to my relationship with mr. williams or his company star scientific to give any kind of special benefits to him or his company. >> special benefits? that's where things get tricky. williams' company sells this nono non-fda approved dietary supplement. and just three days before their daughter's wedding mrs. mcdonnell flew to florida t

republican state attorney general failed to disclose more than $10,000 in star scientific. the problem has been corrected but in 2011 his office defendeds that company. >>> president obama and his family took a stroll across lafayette park to st. john's church. lewis leon delivered the holiday sermon urging the congregation not to turn back on faith. >>> one member of the first family was not at that easter service but celebrated in his own way. how cute. the white house dog, bo, tweeted this picture of the first dog. the white house did, in fact, bo wearing funny ears and getting in the spirit. >>> and caroline kennedy is out with her tenth book. this time an anthology of poems for young people titled "poems to learn by heart." she went through one of her mother's scrap books for inspiration. it includes entries from her own three children. that, my friends, is your dish of scrambled politics this morning. >>> now for a look at the national weather outside. it is finally here, april fool's, no joke though. >> no. >> nice weather. >> it is a big april fool's for everyone in

bob mcdonnell says he did not give special treatment to star scientific, a dietary supplemental company. julie carey has more. >> there is nothing going on that in any way impairs my ability to be an effective governor. >> reporter: the virginia governor, bob mcdonnell, defending the position for allowing his daughter to accept a check for her wedding from one of the campaign donors, a check that was never officially disclosed. the information has been in the spotlight in recent weeks. the governor answers questions just hours after "the washington post" reported that the fbi is now looking into the relationship between mcdonnell and williams, mcdonnell told reporters he couldn't answer questions about ongoing investigations. but he stressed williams's check to his daughter didn't buy the company ceo any favors. >> nobody in my administration has been given any special consideration because of their friendships or donations to my campaign. because of any gifts they have been given. >> reporter: the governor also stressed that under virginia law gifts to relatives don't have to be report

the ceo of star scientific paid $50,000 towards catering for the governor's daughter, then made a campaign contribution that exceeded $28,000, and gave personal gifts worth more than $7,000 to the governor. our northern bureau chief julie cary spoke to mcdonald today who defended his actions. >> reporter: well, the governor says it is his policy not to talk about ongoing investigations, but he had plenty to say about the campaign donor and the gift to his daughter. >> there is nothing that is going on that in any way impairs my ability to be an effective governor. >> reporter: governor mcdonald defending his decision regarding the campaign donor, and a check that was never disclosed. the various gifts from the ceo, williams, to mcdonald and ken cuccinelli, were suspect, they say. they are looking at the relationship between mcdonalds and williams, he says he couldn't answer questions about ongoing investigations. but he stressed that his check to his daughter didn't buy the company any favors. >> nobody in my administration has been given special consideration because of their friendships

people close to the mcdonald's as an outgrowth of the security probe into the virginia-based star scientificials are looking into whether they took action to benefit them in exchange for money. he is a major donor who paid for the food at his daughter's wedding. the ex-chef to the governor's mansion alleged that a year ago he gave fbi and state police investigators evidence of wrong-doing and abuse by donald and his family. the chef faces four counts of felony for allegedly stealing from the mansion. developing now, you are looking at live pictures from sanford, florida, where george zrman and his lawyers are in court for a hearing on pretrial issues. we may hear from him at any minute. among the issues slated to be discussed whether he plans to pursue an immunity defense based on the stand your ground law. prosecutors want him to state on the record whether or not he will waive his right to use the controversial statute at trial. also on the docket, several motions filed by the defense including one calling for all the enhanced versions of 911 calls made the night trayvon martin was shot. t

i know that there was a specific question about the scope of the star scientific discussion, but i have countless things out there, whether they are quotes, pictures, or my name on invitations, people have said that i am coming to appear at events -- we do not approve most of those people who use them. doing it today and that will be a in some newspaper or facebook page somewhere else. i do not remember where the picture is taken by clearly -- >> well, thank you. why don't we turn to sequestration. >> that would be a great idea. nationally, we have heard so much discussion about how this federal budget cuts will affect the states. virginia is the poster child, being the home of the most federal spending. if you look at them marginal on employment numbers, -- march unemployment numbers, virginia has fallen at a faster rate, even than the national jobless rate. do you think the impact of sequestration was perhaps overstated, that carmageddon really has not come? >> i do not think we ever thought it was going to be a cliff. sequestration is something, as everyone knows, will take place ove

scientific contrarians, like climatologist pat michaels of the libertarian cato institute. >> every paragraph can be contended. >> hockenberry: willie soon is an astrophysicist who studies the sun and stars. >> ...a mechanism to transport anything from the tropics to the arctic... >> they cannot fit northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere... >> hockenberry: and fred singer, the veteran scientist at these proceedings. he's a retired physicist once responsible for government weather satellites, who tells people the climate needs no help from worried humans. >> climate, to me, has become a non-issue. it's a phantom issue. there's nothing wrong with climate. it will change no matter what we do. it'll get colder, it'll get warmer. we just have to wait a little. >> hockenberry: singer says he's dedicated to explaining his theories about global warming. what keeps you going? what's your motivation? >> basically i like to see good science being done and protected. i think i'm fighting here for scientific truth. that's important to me. >> hockenberry: do you think the science is being hyped on global warming? >> oh, very definitely, yes. >> hockenberry: armed with that conviction, this team o