tammy duckworth was one of the first women to fly combat missions in 2004 in the iraq war. was shot down she lost both legs and part of her right arm. appearing before her yesterday was braulio castillo, the ceo of an i.t. company that gets preferential treatment because he does business with the government. a house committee investigation claims his story is based on attending a prep school before college. mr. castillo was the quarterback of the prep school's football team and he injured his foot playing football at west point military academy prep school. he recovered from the injured foot and then went on to play quarterback for the university of san diego and then never served in the military. so how is he a veteran? the house oversight committees report explains it this way. normally a cadet is not considered a veteran until he or she graduates from west point, enters active duty and subsequently leaves the duty. time spent at prep school is considered training, not active duty. however, if a person is injured at either school he or she becomes a veteran due to the ser

good for tammy duckworth. that was awesome. >> i admire her and think if anyone would have the credibility to deliver that message it was her. >> bob, is the system so broke a guy with a sprained ankle can get hundreds of oh millions in work? >> you could go across every agency and department of the united states government to find people who are scamming. >> should he go to jail for scamming? >> i think there is now a piece about taxpayer bill of rights that will be enshrined in legislation to give taxpayers the right to take the government to court. before the irs could do whatever they wanted to. i think there could be good out of this. >> did you pay that back? >> suggesting we sue the irs. >> that will turn out well. >> no, no. i think at least under the bill of rights as i understand it they will take it out of the the tax courts and put it in the federal courts. >> why can't we get some of that money back? $500 million? >> it legitimately goeses to businesses run by people with disabilities which makes

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>> senator kirsten gillibrand thank you for joining ussen and joining me now is congresswoman tammy duckworthr veteran. you've served in iraq, and you've sacrificed grievously, you're a double amputee. what is your take on this, this ike? and whether or not the military commanders can themselves prosecute or whether outsiders have to be brought in? >> no, andrea, i think the military has been trying to fix this problem for many years. and because they have continued to fail to fix it, we will have to consider taking it out of the chain of command. i in my time in the military, i had great commanders who would never have tolerated anything like this and i watched them do the right thing. but unfortunately, there are enough failed commanders out there and people making terrible decisions that i just think that if we're going to try to defend our men and women who are the victims of sexual harassment and assault in the military that we do have to consider taking it out of the chain of command. >> one of the arguments that was made to the commanders themselves when the brass was in front of the s

. >> reporter: tammy duckworth is an iraq war veteran who still feels phantom pain from a leg she loster black hawk hit an rv, so she had little sympathy for virginia businessman brauilio castillo. he won a contract for disabled veterans base on an injury. >> does your foot hurt? >> yes, sir. >> your left foot? >> yeah. my feet hurt. in fact, the balls of my feet burn continuously and i feel like there's a nail being hammered into my right heel right now. so i can understand how pain and suffering and service connection can cause long-term, unremi unremitting, unstoppable pain. so i'm sorry that twisting your ankle in high school has now come back to hurt you in such a painful way, if also opportune for you to gain status for business as you were trying to compete for contract. >> reporter: castillo could not recall exactly how he hurt his foot in 1984, though it didn't stop him from going on to play quarterback at the university of san diego. >> i believe the initial injury happened playing football. >> reporter: in an e-mail last year, castillo described his old injuries much more dr

. >> reporter: illinois democrat tammy duckworth is an iraq war veteran who still feels phantom pain from the legs she lost when an r.p.g. hit her black hawk helicopter, so she had little sympathy today for virginia businessman braulio castillo. he won a contracting advantage with the i.r.s. reserved for disabled veterans based on a sports injury from his days at a military prep school. >> your foot hurt? your left foot? >> yes, ma'am. >> it hurt. yeah, my feet hurt, too. in fact, the balls of my feet burn continuously, and i feel like there's a nail being hammered into my right heel right now. so, i can understand pain and suffering and how service connection can actually cause long-term, unremitting, unyielding, unstoppable pain. so, i'm sorry that twisting your ankle in high school has now come back to hurt you in such a painful way, if also opportune for you to gain this status for your business as you were trying to compete for contracts. >> reporter: castillo could not recall exactly how he hurt his foot in 1984, though it didn't stop him from going on to play quarterback at th

and this infuriated illinois congresswoman tammy duckworth because she has served this nation.o she is grilling who said that he was disabled, got a half a billion dollars. this is gripping. watch. >> did you injure that same foot again subsequently in the year since you twisted it in prep school? >> not to my recollection. >> do you fear that the 30% rating you have for the scars and the pain in your foot is accurate to the sacrifices that you made for this nation? that the decision is accurate in your case? >> yes, ma'am, i do. >> you know, my right arm was essentially blown off and reattached. i spent a year with over a dozen surgeries over that time period. and in fact, we thought we would lose my arm and i'm still in danger of possibly losing my arm. i can't feel it. i can't feel my three fingers. my disability rating for that arm is 20%. shaman, mr. ca trio. shaman. you may not have broken any law. you did misrepresent to the sba, but you certainly broke the trust of this great nation. you broke the trust of veterans. iraq and afghanistan veterans are waiting an average o

. >> i love tammy duckworth about the contractor feeding off the va.a good symbol of when you have too much government, people will cheat and increasingly people claim all kinds of back pain, stress disability, and this feeds into the i'm taking from the state attitude, and where better to work than as a contractor ripping off the irs. >> what about danny werfel going up with this report that at one point a lawmaker crumbled up saying this is junk. is there a sense you think that this is going to keep on rolling, that this investigation is going to be a big deal? >> hope so, but is the irs different from all other big government agencies? it encourages people to cover up problems and they have an impossible job, the tax code is so complex. >> today, kirsten, lois lerner decides she can't have fifth amendment rights, that's what the committee decided. listen to the exchange, what she said and trey gowdy. >> i have not done anything wrong. i have not broken any laws. i have not violated any irs rules or regulations and i have not provided false informati

it prompted this reaction from double amputee congresswoman tammy duckworth, iraq war veteran. >> i am glad you would be able to play football again, shame on you, mr. cost 'til oh. >> reporter: his close friend greg roseman, they found kinship in homophobic texting detailed in the report.is still employede irs. >> can you issue a statement by 5:00 today as to how someone that used this language in official capacity as a government employee is still employed and enjoying a paycheck? >> we are having discussions with our general counsel. >> reporter: friday, the committee will vote whether it believes lois lerner waived her fifth amendment rights by claiming the fifth, and moments later proclaiming her innocence. she remains under subpoena. >> we will follow it. thank you. >>> the u.s. economy grew as a slower rate than first thought in the first three months of the year. gdp was up in an annual 1.8% clip. it was first announced to be 2.4%. experts say consumers spent less than estimated. that didn't stop wall street today from a second straight day, positive day. the dow surged 150 poi

. >> an irs contractor gets served by iraq war vet tammy duckworth. >> so i'm sorry that twisting your ankle in high school has now come back to hurt you in such a painful way. my right arm was essentially blown off and reattached. twisting your ankle in prep school is not defending or serving this nation, mr. costello. >> our second trender. anthony weiner's three-way. >> threesome. has martha ever had a threesome? >> maybe. >> maybe? >> our exclusive poll finds weiner leading the crowded democratic primary field. >> the former congressman is on a roll as his bid for mayor continues. >> i'm sure they'll provide some stiff competition. >> this week's top trender, down goes doma. >> marriage is what brings us together today. >> the supreme court has just struck down the federal defense of marriage act. >> while conservatives predict the worst -- >> there's a storm gathering. >> we are becoming a nation that our founders would no longer recognize. >> society itself is at risk. >> haven't you been listening? traditional marriage is dead. everyone has to get gay married. >> i think that wo

you know, we already have a woman combat veteran serving in congress, congresswoman debbie -- tammy duckworth of illinois. she lost both her legs and seriously injured her arm in iraq in 2004. and i should also point out we have seen 150 women killed in combat in iraq and afghanistan. but i say again, it's about time. especially if women -- if women want to serve in those roles, then why shouldn't they? >> i totally agree. i think all americans who raise their hand and say i want to sacrifice, i want to risk my life, i want to be part of the cause, should be able to do it given they can meet the physical standards which are not changing for women so that's an important point. americans agree overwhelmingly that we should allow women into combat and these numbers cross the country, men and women agree, democrats and republicans agree, which is kind of a weird thing for democrats and republicans to agree on anything, but they definitely agree on this. one of the big questions that i've seen looking through military conversations about this is people saying will the missions be compromised? we n

and claimed that as a military disability. >> good grief. >> bill: tammy duckworth jumped all over him i hope that you think twice about the example that you're setting for your children. i hope that you think twice about what you are doing to the nation. this nation's veterans who are willing to die to protect this nation. twisting your ankle in prep school is not defending our serving this nation. >> bill: she was on fire. >> that's hard core. >> bill: this creep twisted his ankle in a high school football game and applied for a contract and got a special contract as a -- disabled veteran. unbelievable. you lie about that. you're pure scum. elizabeth wydra here for the first half hour then we'll be joined by the acting secretary of labor mr. seth harris. a lot to cover. let's get right to it. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> check of other headlines making news on this thursday. the new england patriots took the opportunity yesterday during the big breaking news of the supreme court decisions to quietly dump the news that they were releasing their star ti

host: why did you lead with tammy duckworth? guest: when we saw the tammy duckworth story yesterday, even people in the office who might not normally always agree with tammy, i think everybody was kind of blown away. she earned a lot of respect from conservatives yesterday. with her comments. she got into a debate over disability benefits with huntly a parnle twisted their ank until prep school. she said i had my arm blown off in combat, i think i know more about this than you. it was the bold, direct statement that you don't hear often in washington, d.c. so i think we should always applaud it when it does happen. host: daily call did not have an opinion piece on the gay marriage rulings, did they? guest: we had opinion contributors on the side as an organization we don't take official stances on cases like that. host: is this a big deal? guest: it's a huge deal. i think when you are an activist for any cause are you waiting for that moment that is the tipping point. i think that's what we reached yesterday with this decision.

continued to look at the irs, this man got an irs contract and it was an emotional moment because tammy duckworth also talked about the phantom pain she experiences as an amputee. it was riveting and it got a lot of attention. >> all right. thank you, kelly o'donnell. i'm sure there was a memorable moment. >> it's an afternoon he's never going to forget. no question about it. coming up, new developments on the american ceo, remember him, held captive in china. savannah talked to him yesterday. how did he finally win his freedom overnight? we're live in beijing. >> does your gps guide you the wrong way? a mom's horror story. she ended up in death valley. first this is "today" on nbc. crystal geyser is always bottled at the mountain source. crystal geyser. crystal geyser. crystal geyser. then we deliver it directly to you. >>> coming up, new details in the murder case against nfl star aaron hernandez and the victim's telling final text. >> and then there is new hope on the horizon perhaps for the 36 million americans who suffer from migraines. the latest on the research and talk to somebody who suf

former congressman joe walsh from illinois, you might remember he ran and lost to tammy duckworth, but was a member of the tea party class, he just tweeted, and christie hands the seat to cory booker, not surprised. rhino, rhino meaning republican in name only. that's the kind of criticism that governor christie is going to face, the idea that by not putting a republican in the face, what he's done is made it easier for a democrat in a democratic state to run and win that seat, suzanne. >> and so, it might be criticism for him, but does it come as a surprise to you? it seems like this is pretty consistent with the governor. >> he's running for re-election. and he is somebody who often talks about the citizens of new jersey. you might remember when there was a debate in new jersey about same sex marriage, he talked about this is something that should be voted on by the citizens of new jersey. to me, it is an easier answer to give to the voters that he's facing and, remember, new jersey is blue jersey. this is a democratic state. he's a republican governor. he wants their votes. he's goi