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tv   Americas Newsroom  FOX News  May 22, 2012 9:00am-11:00am EDT

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before in terms of their financial situation. here it breaks down. 30% say they're not as well as off as four years ago. 53% say things are about the same in their lives as we look at economy. that is how we start this morning. good morning. i'm martha maccallum in "america's newsroom.". >> i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer president obama getting 49%. mitt romney not far behind, 46%. martha: a telling quote from top political analyst, saying at this staple he would rather be in mitt romney's shoes than the president's shoes in this race. stephen hayes joins me, writer for "the weekly standard" and fox news contributor. good morning steve. >> booed morning, martha. martha: let's look at couple more polls. let's pull off the first one in terms of the economy and how it looks. what is the single most important issue in your
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choice for president, economy, jobs, 52%. let's take a look at the next one here which is a deeper look at that. who do you think would do a better job handling the economy, this one has not been looking this way in recent polls, steve. they're in a dead-heat, who would do better for the economy. >> so interesting. in some ways this poll echoes some others we've seen in the past weeks and some ways it different. you have several categories voters seem to be somewhat pessimistic about the past. they look at, you know, the poll that he just showed, are you better off than you were four years ago? by two to one voters saying they're not if they're one way or the other that is a negative, that's negative for the president for sure. there are a couple other findings in this poll that are negatives for the president if you look backwards. if you look forward the president seems to be at least competitive and there are voters who seem to be optimistic if he hasn't solved the problem to this
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point he could solve it going forward. martha: that would indicate a lot of folks think that the president sort of is getting things turned around. it is a slow process. perhaps they are buying the argument that a lot of this was in the cake baked in throughout the course of the first three years. a lot of folks don't feel that way. but when you look at this quote from jay kost, a colleague of yours at "the weekly standard." we want to look at what he had to say. very astute political observer. nobody can win the presidency if they lose the independent vote by 10 to 20 points which is where i reckon things are headed. things could change. he said i would much rather be romney than obama at this stage. read into that for us, a bit, steve. >> first of all i agree with you that jay cost is one of the smartest people who talks about politics in the country. i think he is right. if you look at independents across the nation, but look at independents in the states that will matter the most in places like wisconsin, ohio, maybe iowa, florida certainly,
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independents in those areas seem to be trending toward mitt romney and buying his argument that he is the one who can improve the economy. so i think jay is right and i think he is, that is reason you would rather be mitt romney at this point especially coming out of a bloody primary than you would the president. martha: we have a long way to go. we'll see where it heads. steve hayes, joining us this morning from d.c.. gregg: martha, still on the subject of politics, cory booker now responding to the firestorm over his comments on the obama campaign's assault on mitt romney's business record. the newark mayor saying the attacks were, quote, nauseating but then he quickly backtracked saying the president is entitled to hit romney's background. last night the mayor went even further, saying he felt used by republicans after they released a petition asking americans to quote, stand with cory. booker called it exploitation. he also denies claims that the obama campaign pressured him to clarify his original
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comments. martha: former vice-presidential candidate sarah palin also getting in on the booker controversy. she appeared on sean hannity last night. she thinks mayor should have stood his ground. watch. >> doggone it. it was a shame to see cory back down from what his answer was which was so candid. sean, he was the antithesis of the typical politician. he didn't do this before he spewed his answer to david gregory there. cory in the house, paying alongwith every other american who understands that obama doesn't understand the free market system and he will condemn private equity because he didn't understand the benefits of private equity in job creation. so it was a shame that cory backed out a little bit from that. gregg: now the president himself explaining why he thinks attacks on governor mitt romney's business record is fair game. >> when you're president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then
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you your job is not simply to maximize profits. your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. gregg: really? well that line causing some controversy this morning. so we're going to talk about it in a fair and balanced debate coming up. martha: we've got a fox news alert. we are awaiting a verdict in the john edwards corruption trial. we'll show you a second a live shot at the courthouse in greensboro, north carolina, where the jury asked to see more evidence now from that trial. jonathan serrie is live from the courthouse. jonathan yesterday they asked to see more of the evidence and testimony. what did they look for and what does that tell us about what they're thinking perhaps? >> yeah. hi, martha. they asked to see some additional correspondence between employees or associates of "bunny" mellon and, "bunny" mellon being one of those two wealthy donors that provided fund that allegedly helped to keep john edwards' pregnant
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mistress, rielle hunter, in hiding during the 2008 presidential campaign. in particular we want to show you this one note they requested yesterday. this is from "bunny" mellon's interior decorator friend, brian huffman, sent to edward's came pan aide, andrew young. these notes would often accompany the money he was funneling to young and. as bunny says, for the rescue of america. now the fact that the jury requested this type of evidence suggest that is the jurors may be trying to determine the motivation behind the funds that at least "bunny" mellon was providing to andrew young. were the funds simply intended to help a personal friend in need, or, were they intended to influence the campaign? martha? martha: yeah, that's the whole issue really whether or not it was to cover up
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for him personally with his wife and his family or whether it was to propel his campaign and not to impede it. jonathan, thank you. that will be big story when we get the news when the jury comes in. we'll let you know as soon as that happens. gregg: how about this one, martha. making history with rockets red glare. there it is, the unmanned spacex capsule on a mission to bring supplies to the international space station and also carrying it with it ashes of more than 300 people including mercury astronaut gordon cooper and scotty, from "star trek." the rocket looking to be the very first nongovernmental spacecraft to dock at the orbiting lab. this is example of a private company taking off as a government agency begins to fade. stu varney, fox business network joins us. what do you think of this. >> who build, who fly, who
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operates spacecraft? the answer, gregg, it use to be governments only. now you're seeing a shift towards private companies. it is a shift in the space business so to speak. this spacex company is a private company. it's founded by elon musk. he is the man who made a billion dollars founding paypal. this spacex company is again totally private. it sends up a capsule, 1,000 pounds of equipment for the space station. it docks on friday. comes back to earth, splashes down. it is reusable space week. the -- vehicle. the bottom line here, nasa is contracting out to private enterprise the space business. if this mission is a success, nasa writes a $1.6 billion contract for the spacex company. gregg: right. >> within three to four years, gregg, they will be putting astronauts up on a private enterprise rocket and capsule. gregg: hear is the president's chief science advisor. want to put his comments on the screen. this expanded role for the private sector will free up
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more of nasa's resources to do what nasa does best, tackle the most demanding technological challenges in space. so, stu, if we're contracting this out will american taxpayers in the end save money because our government overall is spending less on space projects? >> yes. the theory is what private enterprise does it will do more efficiently. it will supply the space station more efficiently, therefore more cheaply in the long run than the government would have done it had they had funds available. the answer to your question, gregg, is yes. the hope here is privatization will reduce the cost of supplying the space station and other forms of space travel. gregg: yeah and in the end we're still going to have american astronauts blasting back up in space though with a public/private partnership? >> that's correct. that's how, that's the future of the space business. what you saw last night or very early this morning, that was a revolution, a real shift in space. gregg: really truly amazing.
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stu varney. as always, thanks very much. >> those are just a few of the many stories we've got this morning in "america's newsroom." coming up a super-soaker threat. we'll tell you how one man turned this popular children's toy into a deadly weapon. gregg: and concerns of chaos in congress with lawmakers dead locked over major issues. well some democrats are now asking, hey, where's the president? martha: and cardinal dolan leading catholic groups in a major lawsuit against president obama's health care law. the latest fallout over the contraception mandate, straight ahead. >> it better be serious because we're talking about a very serious issue. we're talking about a constitutional issue. we're talking about religious freedom. so you bet it's serious. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink?
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gregg: well police have made an arrest in the disappearance of a california teenager. 15-year-old, sierra lamar disappeared on the morning
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of march the 16th when she le home for school. it was an eerie story we told you a lot about here in "america's newsroom" and now there are some answers colling forth. remember her handbag and her cell phone were found near her home the next day. they have now arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of kidnapping and murder in this case. the police are saying quote, there is a lot of physical evidence that tie this is suspect to that case. gregg: dozens of catholic institutions now suing the obama administration, all fighting the policy requiring contraception coverage in employee health care plans. this includes schools like notre dame and a long list of archdiocese. >> if you could just eliminate that attempt by a bureau of the federal government to define religion, we'll be, we'll step back because then we'll be able to rejoice in the religious freedom for which
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this country stands. we'll be able to keep up our ministries which we consider to be rather essential to our faith and we'll live happily ever after. it is narrowness, it is the choking nature of these exemptions that hhs has put out. lord knows, i mean this isn't a fight we asked for and it is not a fight that we're relishing. we love to put it behind us and get back to normal and be left alone. gregg: katie monihan, director for the center of human dignity at the family research council and former employee of the health and human services department in both the bush and obama administrations. thank you so much for being with us. if catholic institutions feel that this mandate is contrary to their deeply-held reledge just beliefs, and clearly many do, they do have an alternative, don't they? they can simply drop their coverage and that way they can exercise their religion freely? >> not necessarily because the penalties for dropping coverage, we believe are about $2,000 per person.
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so i mean they would be extraordinarily fined --. gregg: that might be less than providing insurance coverage per person. >> well, for many of these groups it would put them out of business. we're talking social services agencies, catholic charity, et cetera. i don't think this would end up being less than their insurance premiums. gregg: let me point a couple examples to you. "ave maria" university in florida, they dropped their insurance coverage. so they will pay the penalty. fransiscan university in ohio have dropped their coverage as well. there are a bunch of others who say we can't violate our religious beliefs so we'll drop our coverage. >> gregg, the groups you named are universities. i'm not sure the same rules would apply to student coverage as it would be to employee coverage. there is still some sifting that needs to be done to that. gregg: the bishops rejected a compromise put forward by president obama in february. would have insurance coverage provided by insurance companies and not
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the catholic employers. >> to be clear there is no compromise. frankly the obama administration now has put out an advanced notice of proposed rule making. so an initial regulation asking for advice from the public on how people can violate their consciences. they will not collect comments until the middle of june. which means, interestingly, that they will not give feedback about the comments about how this compromise, so-called compromise will actually happen until after the election. gregg: let me bring it back to theprinciple claim, violation of freedom of religion under the first amendment. this was all litigated in state courts here in new york a decade ago when new york legislature passed a law requiring similar contraception coverage. went all the way through the court system. in the end the catholic institutions lost. i'm wondering how is this different? >> okay, first of all the law in new york is extraordinarily different than the federal mandate because it allows --.
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gregg: actually cardinal dolan said it was very similar to use his words. >> similar, except that it allows opt out if prescription coverage is not included. that gives away which organization can get out of it. it is in the ideal by any stretch of the imagination. but listen, this is a war on religious liberty. the constitution absolutely protects our first amendment religious liberty fundamental freedom as americans and the government must be able to prove a few things if they're going to violate that constitutionally protected right. they should be able to prove this is the least-restrict tiff means. they can not do so in that. they also have to prove they have a compelling reason to do that. they can not prove that in either of those situations. gregg: well, i think it is a fascinating intellectual argument and constitutional question that may work its all the way to the supreme court. but a great many catholics in america are looking now to the courts for a solution and thank you very much for
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your thoughts, jean moynihan. >> thanks for having me. martha: her disappearance last fall set off a media frenzy and now there is new information from the parents of baby lisa. what could be a new lead in her case. gregg: plus the student educating the teacher. you're not going to believe this. this teenager says he recorded his teacher saying, you could be arrested for criticizing or slandering the president. now all of you know that is completely untrue. now the teacher is getting a lesson in balance. >> talk trash about one side you have to talk trash about the other. >> let me -- you got to realize, this man is wanting to be what obama already is, okay? there is no comparison.
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gregg: don't you love that music? you know the movie. two would-be crooks trying to pull a heist ocean's 11 style, learning hard way life does not imitate art. tackling the the robber at the bellagio. they're searching for an accomplice. they peppered spray a dealer and tried to walk out with 115,000 bucks worth of chips the botched heist leaving other patrons scratching their heads. >> i'm sure they see them coming i for them to try to get out? >> how would you do something like that? that is crazy. >> "ocean's 14 quote. at that is that a new movie they're putting out.
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carlos rodriguez of north hollywood. i'm betting that andy garcia could find him. martha: that guy will play one of the characters. back to the story that really riveted america's attention more than seven months ago. the search for this little girl known as baby lisa irwin. she was reported missing from her crib in the early morning hours of october 4 this th. her parents, are speaking out again. they say the police are not doing enough to find their daughter. and that a fraudulent debit card charge could be, they believe, a big break in this case. fox's megyn kelly sat down with baby lisa's parents in an emotional interview. watch this. >> how do you move on from something like that? we want answers. we understand they have a job to do. kcpd had a job to do. the fbi had a job to do. it has been eight months since we've seen our daughter. we want answers and we want lisa and we're not going
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away until she comes home. martha: boy. joining me on the phone former homicide detective and fox news contributor rod wheeler. rod, first of all this is a mother who has been questioned in this case. >> that's right. martha: does see seem credible to you, her desire? she put herself back in the public eye with this? >> exactly. martha, this is the same woman who had told people at one point she didn't want folks holding vigils around her home. remember she told people she wanted them to go away. the police will look at this woman, they will look at the husband and look at everybody they have been. they will continue to investigate. they're not just focused solely on her or her husband but they're focused on the entire process. martha: to some extent the fact she put this out there may make her more credible in many people's eyes because she is asking the police to stay on this story and to hopefully find her child. you know one of the things that has come up is this debit card charge. >> right.
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martha: $69 was charged on one of their debit cards shortly after she disappeared to a u.k.-based company who does among other things, pay a charge to change a child's name that is pretty eerie, rod. >> it is pretty eerie. that is not unusual. i have heard of cases like that. the only thing that is peculiar in this case why would the charge appear on the husband's credit card? that is what is a little suspicious. i think again, we have good relations with law enforcement agencies all around the world. i'm sure the police department there in tennessee are talking with those law enforcement agencies and they're trying to figure out how and when that charge was actually made. martha: let's listen to another bit from megyn kelly's interview yesterday and more of this will air today and it has to do with the timeline in this case. let's watch that. >> okay. >> i understand how that looks in, people don't get that when you're faced in a room with all these cameras
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and it's not like it is hard to remember you're telling a story. i'm telling the truth. just that sometimes when you're talking to somebody and all these cameras are in the room and everything like that you kind of fumble over your words, that was really an honest mistake. i am not lying. i have not lied this entire time. martha: i'm believe she is referring to the tame lapse when she put the baby to bed. she had a few glasses of wine with her friend on the front porch. how does that hold with you? >> not good at all. martha you and i talked about this back when baby lisa was missing. back then i raised same issue the police investigators raised. there is no consistency in the mother's story. a lot of things she says is not being corroborated by some other events. i think that's why the police kept the focus not only just on the family but others in the area but specifically on that family. this mother's story is not adding up. now the other thing i think is important to note here, martha, why the fact this
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women keep bringing third quarter issue to light and especially now with this business about this credit card charge? because the police didn't bring that up. it was the family that brought that up. i think it would be even more interesting to see what the police thinking is on that right now. martha: that says to me the family really wants them to keep working on this case. we'll see. >> or it could be a diversion, could be a diversion as well. could be just to keep the public's mind thinking they did not have anything to do with it. >> rod, thank you. always good to talk to you. >> thank you, martha. martha: coming up later on "america live" you will see part two of megyn's interview with baby lisa's parents including a powerful story about what up sets them the most all these months later. that on "america live" today. gregg: there is a new threat from al qaeda but this time it's hoping for a different brand of terror. we'll explain it to you. martha: and president obama now saying that attacks on governor romney's business record are fair game. his reason and is he right?
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a fair and balanced debate right after this. >> i think it is important to recognize that this issue is not a quote, distraction. this is part of the debate that we're going to be having in this election campaign.
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bain capital. he's arguing that romney's business career does not qualify him for the white house. listen. >> my opponent, governor romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. he is not going out there touting his experience in massachusetts. he is saying i'm a business guy. i know how to fix it and this is his business. and when you're president as opposed to the head after private equity firm, then you, your job is not simply to maximize profits. your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. martha: so is that what the job is? is that what it's about? not creating jobs but making sure that everybody has got a fair shot. that will be a question for the american people in 2012. julie roginsky joins me now. former communications director for senator jon corzine and fox news contributor. andrea tanteros, daily news
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columnist and cohost of "the five". good morning. is that what it is about the way he is encapsulating this race? >> not exactly. i laugh because this that being romney's only calling card? what was president obama? community organizer? never took a case to trial. i would argue mitt romney has better business backing. look what both of these men have done in their careers, to create jobs, romney has a much better story to tell. and i wish he would be a little more unapologetic about going out and offensively hitting back on the president because actually, martha, the president has been his own venture capitalist with green energy projects and bailouts. he has lost $100 billion of our taxpayer money so i think it is going to be a very hard sell, martha, if this is going to be attack line of the president somehow assume people will get angrier what the president does with our money versus what mitt romney does with his
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own. martha: there is argument to be made, julie you can go to this, in terms of investing people's money for the investors, perhaps the investor is the united states of america. and that people want to see that kind of equity go into this country and create jobs and build companies and do that kind of thing. you say you've known cory booker for many years. you think he was wrong to support private equity in that quote? >> no, no. i think what cory booker did and i think where cory booker was wrong essentially go out there equate the fact that attacks on bain are legitimate this is something mitt romney made a centerpiece of his campaign. don't forget, not like mitt romney hasn't been talk about his record at bain all thee years. this is legitimate issue. what cory booker essentially did equate those attacks comparing attacks on jeremiah wright and barack obama one has nothing to do with the other. obama has not made area may wru write centerpiece of his
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campaign. if mitt romney wants to talk about all the companies he bailed out and all the companies he created jobs where even his republican opponents in the primaries actually his record at bain was incredibly exaggerated, you want to talk about the wealth he created for partners at bain but not so much for the companies that tale actually was involved in, then that's very fair game for obama to discuss as well. that is something romney made a centerpiece of his campaign. that is where cory booker went wrong. what cory booker did was essentially appeal to his own donor base. he raised a lot of money from wall street. >> it is not just cory booker. harold ford, jr. own car czar a number of democrats, julie and hold on i let you speak. the reason why cory booker came out and said reverend wright attacks and attacks on bain capital were bad because he said they're both nauseating. this is such a baseless charge about bain capital and laughable to think that somehow the president is going to win an election going after capitalism and
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he is doing might i add by himself. not getting any air cover. martha: i would point something out too if you follow mayor booker's career you're well aware of this, he has strong relationship with corporate entities in newark. he worked really closely with private sector growth to help the public side in newark and that, so he doesn't want to burn the folks that have helped him to rebuild newark in a very positive way. >> i don't want to get into a fight about cory booker, just not forget cory booker got into the battle with jeff van der beek who built the devil's arena in newark. martha: that is a bad thing, to work with the private sector. >> no, no. isn't fighting with the private sector. quite the opposite. he had a huge blowout with the owner of the devils. martha: the fact remains -- >> let me go back to something andrea said. harold ford, jr., has been a spokesman for wall street. he is an executive at a major wall street investment
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bank. let's not say harmed ford, jr., represents views of average american. >> president obama bailed out wall street? >> no, actually president bush bailed out wall street. >> that's right, he didn't do the second half of the bailout? i think he did. martha: there is an interesting piece in the@atlantic, which raises a question and i think other folks looked at this statement by cory booker gee, that is what barack obama used to sound like, a very sort of refreshing politician who wasn't held to the views of either side in a way that felt like, old inside politics. here is a quote from "the atlantic" from a writer there, graham is his last name. he said booker's comments don't just make it hard for obama to attack romney on bain, they offer uncomfortable reminder how voters used to see the president. interesting. julie, what do you see about that. >> i don't agree. there is profound difference in how obama approached the bain debate versus how cory booker approached the bain
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debate. i think the difference is this. obama believes, as do i, if mitt romney will make the bain capital the centerpiece of his campaign it is legitimate issue for discussion. cory booker doesn't believe that. if cory booker doesn't believe that that's fine but at the same time cory booker is not setting policy for how this campaign is run. he backtracked on his comments yesterday on another station and bottom line i think he is acknowledged that what he said was not something that reflected either his views or the views of the obama campaign. martha: i think the president is absolutely right it does go to the core of what this whole campaign is about and the argument with both sides and how they see corporate america. also future of the economy. >> quickly, martha, that atlantic point, is obama who he said he was in 2008? he is not. it is bigger than bain. much bigger. martha: see you later tonight on "the five.". >> you will. see you at 5:00. gregg: national debt setting records each and every second of every day but wait until you hear what the
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white house just spent $20 million of your money on. martha: he recorded his argument in which a teacher told him he could be arrested for slandering the president. today that teacher pay as price and hunter roblgers is speaking out. my new hearing aids
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martha: so here's what's developing right now in "america's newsroom." police in tucson stepping up the search for a missing 6-year-old, returning to the neighborhood and handing out fliers looking for any new signs of little isabel celis. how about this story in the markets? facebook still sliding today on wall street. it was supposed to be the biggest ipo in history, down 9% today in trading after the opening bell. this after closing 11% lower after its initial ipo on monday. that's a big story in the markets today. and a deadly heat wave in phoenix. police say two people have died so far. the mercury topped out at
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the sweltering 108-degree mark. whoa, is it hot out there! very dangerous as well. tough times in the heat in arizona today. gregg: stay cool if you can. all right. hang on to your hats for this one. the teacher who told the student he could be arrested for criticizing president obama reportedly, that teacher suspended from her job at a north carolina high school. here is part of the argument that got the teacher in trouble. >> it is going to stop. that is disrespect. that is disrespect. >> you're disrespecting romney. >> how am i disrespecting -- this man is a presidential candidate. he is not the president. >> but it is -- he is just a man. obama is no god. he is still a man. >> let me tell you something. you will not disrespect the
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president of the united states in this classroom. gregg: there is more. we're going to play it for you. but that is believed to be ard aring from the classroom after a heated political argument, an argument invited by the teacher by the way the student says it happens all the time. >> she always has open discussions about, like the president saying and candidates, she doesn't want to hear anything but what she beliefs. 2 if you disagree you get berated and put down. i finally decided to get proof of it. we asked if president obama had been a bully in high school. she told us she didn't know, not to her knowledge. immediately got defensive and started screaming at me. gregg: it is in president obama's book by the way. kid is right. teacher is wrong. michael graham, joins us, radio talk show host on wtkk in boston. she is not only teaching the
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students blatantly correct information but appears to be forcing her political opinions on them and then threatens this kid because he dared to disagree. >> well, it could be worse. she could be trying to teach the kids grammar. only thing scarier than had teacher's politics her perilous grasp on noun-verb agreement. let everybody know somebody. i am from south carolina. i cropped tobacco not from where this school is. i sat in classrooms with teachers less than masterry of english language. people in suburbs in massachusetts have no quality or lack thereof in average classroom around the country. i'm willing to bet this woman has master's degree. how frightening is that? will you play part of the tape shouting match where they used profanity in the classroom. what, are you kidding me? gregg: tell you what, michael. i want to play another clip. here it is. >> tell you something now about me as a teacher, i'm
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not supposed to allow you to disrespect the president of the united states. i'm not. >> i didn't respect them. asked a question. >> you always do. >> i have difficult beliefs. whenever bush everybody talked [bleep] about bush. everybody did. >> not everybody [bleep]. >> if you ever say -- >> wait, wait. if you said anything bad about bush was in office. >> sit down a minute. do you realize that people were arrested for saying things bad about bush? gregg: slander is a civil wrong. has nothing to do with criminal law. i mean, look, this teacher appears to be utterly ignorant of the law, the government, the first amendment, not to mention the law of defamation. she got suspended but with pay. what do you think of that? >> well, took until monday for her to get suspended. she should have been suspended on the spot. is anyone surprised number one, there is politics in
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the classroom? keep in mind on international testing american students repeatedly perform lower than our counterparts in europe and asia. she is in a classroom think could be learning history and facts and civics instead they're discussing campaigns. of course the discussion is from the left. here in massachusetts we regularly have parents complaining kids are coming home with notes in the backpack they have to support a local tax increase. the teachers union here is 100% in support of democratic candidates. 100% in contested elections. there is obvious political bias. stick with teaching, who was the first president and how many members of the u.s. senate does each state have rather than even getting in this debate in the first place. gregg: her discussion about slander and defamation is really mind-boggling, because there are two defenses to it. one is, the truth. the other is opinion. which is protected speech and clearly this student is expressing protected speech, his opinion. do you think she should be fired?
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>> well obviously she once again this woman does not have the grasp of facts and knowledge to be a teacher. her premise that during the bush era people were being arrested for criticizing, you could have, could have stood in this teacher's class and said i want to find george w. bush and cut off his head with a dull butter knife and she would have said, you go girl. of course it is partisan politics. gregg: what is funny on every issue the student was actually correct. he corrected her, no, you can only get arrested for threatening the president, not expressing an opinion about him. she denied that it is really amazing. michael graham, thanks very much for being with us. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me. gregg: you were appalled by the grammer? martha: i agree with michael. i don't know what is appalling teaching ability or lack of grasp of english language and grammar. gregg: my sister is teacher with a master's degree.
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she is wonderful teacher not at all like that. good for him. martha: this is what we've got coming up for you, folks. al qaeda training its sites on a new u.s. target. we'll tell you what is in the new terror video that was obtained by fox news. gregg: and companies in busting one man for allegedly turning water guns into the real deal. how he did it. we'll tell you. >> this device they're building has to be able to contain the pressure of that explosion and so they're just relying well, maybe this will hold up. well you could be putting a --
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gregg: turning water guns into weapons. cops on high alert for a new crime wave. people making real guns out of plastic super soakers. you know those things. a convicted felon in fresno, california just got busted for one. experts warn it is definitely a dumb and
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dangerous idea because ammunition is explosive. so if the plastic gun can't contain the pressure, well, it could blow up like a grenade. unbelievable. ♪ . martha: calling on volunteers, citizen scientists they want to help them track down signs of life in outer space. claudia cowan is live on this for us in san francisco. hey, claudia. >> reporter: hey, martha. many scientists say it is not if but when we will find evidence of alien intelligence. now anyone can get in on the hunt. the search for alien life, an enduring human endeavor is now as close as your laptop. >> all you need is a computer, internet access and the desire to help out. >> reporter: the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is recruiting citizen scientists to unscramble billions of radio
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signals and isolate those coming from earth or space satellites from sources coming literally out of this world. >> we're looking for a signal that simply says one thing. there is somebody out there clever enough to have built a radio transmitter. >> reporter: right now 42 radio telescopes in northern california are gathering data from star systems scientists have determined could contain earth-like plan etc.. the problem there are too many signals for seti's computers to analyze alone. why the data coming through the telescopes is being posted online, available for free to amateur astronomers or anyone else interested in finding "et.". the scientists say their computer algorithms can't discern anomalies as well as the human eye. space enthusiasts like ellen schwartz can identify odd patterns. >> i see what looks to me like some kind of faint line here. >> reporter: report her findings and just maybe discover long-loss signals from intelligent life beyond
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our galaxy. >> it is just so tantalizing. >> reporter: if enough people identify the same mysterious pattern the telescopes will take a closer look. if you're intrigued it is martha: thanks very much, claudia cowan. gregg: phone home. a $20 million public relations campaign to sell the health care law? the fallout over the new white house plan, and how much money is being spent. that is your money just ahead. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.
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martha: well, we are, of course, in a time of record debt, accounting for every dollar that is spent, and we're now learning that the administration has just signed a $20 million contract with a public relations firm to promote the president's health care law. that's raising some eyebrows this morning, and that's how we get started on a brand new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for
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bill. going to an ad campaign that's supposed to, you know, explain why the benefits mandated under the law are so very important. martha: so let's bring in jonah goldberg a fox news contributor. >> food morning. martha: my first question was, well, how much money has been spent on these programs in the past? >> right. it's one of the depressing things about the age we're in where $20 million you're like, oh, that's not that much, you know? [laughter] it's amazing how little 20 million gets you from the government these days. martha: so you have a problem with this expenditure? >> well, look, i have a problem -- part of what this is going to do is going to be an ad campaign telling people how to live right and live healthy, and i'm not a big nanny state guy. i think part of that's tearily troubling. i also think the timing of this, they decided to spend $20 million in the middle of, you know, a presidential campaign.
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if this smacks even slightly of politics, i think that's incredibly inappropriate, and i don't have a lot of faith in the obama administration for it not to smack of politics. and lastly, there's a real irony here. everybody is getting all upset about big money in politics, big money in the presidential campaign, and meanwhile the government, the government can drop taxpayer dollars on promoting the signature initiative of this administration in a politicized environment, and everyone thinks, oh, this is just what government does. i mean, it's -- martha: i mean, i think that if anything, you know, it sort of should spark people to ask that question about all of these agencies. i mean, we have a list of what they spend on these public service announcements, and it is unbelievable. i mean, is this a correct expenditure for any administration and, of course, every one of them's going to use the money to promote the things they think will help, they'll say that will help the public and also help them get reelected, but the defense department spent $473 million in
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2011 on expenditures on advertising ro motion, health and human services, $87.6 million. you know, this is a small percentage of the money they're spending. the treasury department, of all places, $50 million to promote their programs and do pr for the department. >> yeah. look, as a guy who's a sort of a slash and burn guy on the budget, i think there's trimming to be done on all of that, but what has two thumbs and likes the constitution? this guy. we have a role for the defense department, we have a role for promoting national security. it's in the constitution. and we have to, you know, a big chunk of that, i assume, is for recruiting people to join the military. the hhs thing is a little different. i mean, part of it is to sell the american people who don't like this law to like this law. part of it is to encourage them to live a healthier lifestyle, but also part of it is part of this larger effort by the government that we've seen for a very long time now of trying to
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sell people on the idea to want more from their government, to sort of turn people into clients of the state. and there's no role for the government to be doing that. that, to me, is sort of ultimately improper. and the things that the government should be doing, it doesn't really need a big advertising campaign for. the things it shouldn't be doing, it does need an advertising campaign for, and that's my big problem with it. martha: interesting. jonah, thank you very much. jonah goldberg with an interesting take. >> thank you. gregg: it really is a lot of money. all right, a senate hearing just getting underway into jpmorgan chase's multibillion dollar trading loss, lawmakers looking into whether wall street banks need tougher oversight to reduce the risk. jpmorgan's losses were due to a complex bet on corporate debt, a lot of derivatives involved. a second hearing is set for early next month. a u.s. senate banking committee chairman also says he's going to invite morgan ceo jamie dimon to
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testify. that should be interesting. martha: yeah. i'm sure he'll look forward to that. in the meantime, the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan is now confirming that he is stepping down. ryan crocker, whose name has been so closely associated with diplomacy in afghanistan and in iraq prior to that, he will now leave his post this summer, a year before his tenure was up. we do not know yet why ambassador crocker has decided to leave at this time. we know there's a lot of negotiations going on right now between the united states and afghanistan about what that pullout agreement will look like. we're going to try to get more for you on that story coming up. gregg: a new al-qaeda threat targeting the united states. fox news obtaining a terror videotape that encourages operatives to use the web to launch a cyber war against our infrastructure. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington with more. catherine, how did the senators, first, learn about this tape? >> >> reporter: thank you, gregg, and good morning.
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the jihadi web video calling for cyber attacks on the u.s. was first brought to their attention about a week act. >> secretary napolitano was meeting with my ranking member, senator susan collins, and me. she had just been shown a video by the fbi of a jihadist tape that they had translated from the arabic which specifically called on people to join an electronic jihad. >> this video is the first evidence that we have that actually gives us the proof. there are. >> reporter: the proof that al-qaeda wants to launch cyber attacks against the united states and these images were pulled from that six-minute video calling for an electronic jihad. it also claims the u.s. is vulnerable to cyber attacks just as airline security was vulnerable to hijackers on 9/11, and the senators are questioning why it took so long to get the
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video to their attention because it appears to be a much larger video of about 40 minutes in length that may have been released late last year. gregg: catherine, is this tape related to other cyber attacks? >> reporter: well, the senators believe a connection cannot be discounted in 2011. there were 100,000 cyber incidents at homeland security, and a fivefold increase in the number of attacks aimed at industrial control systems. they are like the central nervous system of critical infrastructure including power plants and dams. >> it would be naive for us to think that al-qaeda is not responsible for at least some of those attacks. >> reporter: and it's not just al-qaeda. senator lieberman confirmed to fox that iran is investing heavily in cyber attacks and also the human capital it will need to expand its capabilities. gregg: catherine herridge live in washington, thanks. martha: all right. new fallout this morning in the
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information into the -- investigation into the secret service prostitution scandal. new word that the scandal has spread to another u.s. agency. the drug enforcement administration also reportedly caught hiring prostitutes while on official duty in colombia. molly henneberg is live in washington for us. molly, good morning. what are these agents -- where are these agents now? >> reporter: hi, martha, good morning. they've been removed from the their posts in the country of colombia and questioned. according to maine senator susan collins, the ranking republican on the homeland security committee who was briefed on this investigation in early may, these dea agents entertained what she called female foreign national masseuses at the cartagena apartment of one of the agents in april. collins goes on to say in a statement, quote. it's disturbing that we may be uncovering a troubling culture that spans more than one law enforcement agency. the evidence uncovered thus far indicates that this likely was not just a one-time incident.
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senator collins also says she was informed that another secret service agent has been implicated in that probe, bringing the total to 13, but again, that's separate from this dea investigation. martha? martha: so, molly, what does the dea say about this? >> reporter: that during the course of its prostitution investigation, the secret service got some information that it passed along to the dea, and the dea said in a statement that it followed up on that information, quoting making dea employees available to be interviewed by the department of justice's office of inspector general, they take allegations of misconduct very seriously and will take appropriate personnel action if warranted upon the conclusion of that oig investigation. martha, members of congress were asked to keep quiet about this investigation until the dea agents could be questioned, but house homeland security committee chairman, republican congressman pete king, says he's been aware of it for some time. martha: here we go. yet another investigation. molly, thank you very much.
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molly henneberg in d.c. gregg: tempers flare ahead of nuclear talks with iran. >> it's time that we do something to stop this nonsense instead of talking about it and killing everybody with paper. gregg: as new sanctions pass congress and world leaders are set to hold talks with iran, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations john bolton tells us why he thinks this is all for show. martha: plus as gridlock grips congress, some top democrats are asking, where's the president? senator rand paul joins us live, we're going to talk to him about that. gregg: and a woman loses her job at a lingerie store. why she says she was fired and why she's suing. >> it was a, quote, safety, end quote, issue for her because the men of the company would not be able to resist her. whoa.
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martha: so we've got some brand new data on the economy that
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just crossed the wires moments ago. sales of existing homes up 3.4% in the month of april. so that's good news, they're up. they're not up at the same pace as january and february though. they think because the weather was so warm in this january and february, they got some of that spring pop a little bit early, so up 3.4%. that brings them to an adjusted rate of 4.62 million. a healthy economy usually you would want to see that monthly number around 6 million, so still well below the existing home sales that they'd like to see for a healthy economy. gregg: gridlock in congress, and now new concerns from top democrats that president obama isn't really doing anything to get traffic moving again. some key policymakers even in the president's own party say they haven't spoken to him in months. joining me now, republican kentucky senator rand paul. senator, thank you so much for being with us. want to put on the screen for our viewers three important
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senate democrats. kent conrad, budget chairman, trying to cut a deal on the nation's fiscal crisis, can't recall the last time he heard from the president. tom harkin, in charge of the president's top priority on student loans, hasn't talked with the president in months. jeff bingaman, go-to guy on gas prices, hasn't spoken with the president much since the previous congress. these are all democrats, senator. what's going on? >> well, you know, i met with the president a year and a half ago, and we talked about entitlement reform, and i offered to work with him. in fact, i told him it would help his re-election if he would work with republicans to save social security and save medicare from the trillions of dollars that they're in the hole, and we don't hear anything. i've sent him letter after letter saying i will work with you. i rode on air force one saying i will work with you, but i think they've given up. i think they've taken the year off, they're going to campaign, but nobody's going to do anything.
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meanwhile, we're borrowing $50,000 a second, it's unsustainable, and where is the president? out on the campaign trail. gregg: right. now, listen, a lot of people say congress is really to blame. in fact, let me quote from in today's column. obama's disengagement is also a sharp reflection of political reality. congress is punting on virtually every major issue until after the election. fair criticism? >> well, i have a budget that would balance in five years, fixes and saves social security, fixes and saves medicare. now, will i compromise? yeah, but they have to come and talk to us. if they want to fix entitlements and they say we'll do it a little bit slower, will you meet us in the middle? i will, but they have abdicated. we haven't had a democrat budget in three years, so they have to show up for the debate. in fact, i think the democrats in the senate ought to give back their salary because they're not showing up for work. gregg: didn't your budget get
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voted on last week, and it went down in defeat, i think it was, what, 83-16? and, yeah, that's 16 more votes than the president got. [laughter] >> yeah. gregg: but till, you couldn't even martial together an important number within your own party, senator. >> well, you know, getting 16 more than the president, though, is an accomplishment. the president got zero which means nobody supports his proposal. my proposal also balances in five years, and that's what the balanced budget amendment requires. and we got all of the republicans to vote for a balanced budget amendment. so i would argue that i'm one that is sincere. i'm not only for the be amendment to the constitution, but i will propose a budget that is consistent with the amendment to the constitution. gregg: yeah. look, a myriad of tax cuts will expire at the end of the year and become $310 billion in tax hikes to the american people. will that wipe out any and all economic growth for next year, and why can't congress resolve this before december?
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>> just the idea that it might be wiped out, that businesses might have this large, maybe the largest tax increase in our history is stifling our growth. is so, yeah, the president wants the economy to grow, he should take the tax increase off the table, say that he's not going to raise taxes in a lame duck session. but the longer he leaves that out there, the more businesses are afraid to invest. gregg: well, the legislation comes, you know, from congress. if you guys could pass something on this, then it's in front of the president for his signature. i mean, why does congress always allow this to be a game of chicken until the very end, maybe the last day in december? >> the reason why we bump up against deadlines, and can it's everybody at the end, oh, we've got to do something, is because the democrats are unwilling to put anything forward. for example, the budget. we're supposed to have the budget and appropriations bills, then we wouldn't have, oh, the government's going to shut down in three days. the reason we do big, huge, continuing resolutions is because we have no budget and no
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appropriations. if you had those, the normal sequence of things you wouldn't have this last minute deadline. gregg: all right. senator rand paul, thank you so much for dropping by our camera there at the toll and talk with us. appreciate it. >> thank you. martha: well, a day at the zoo gets really wild. [laughter] oh, my goodness. a chimp charged -- look at those children. gregg: uh-oh. >> oh, boy. charging at a group of kids. gregg: and ever reach for a sports drink to help you get through a tough workout? listen up to this. dr. segall has some news for you. ♪ [ male announcer ] the inspiring story
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gregg: 22 minutes past the hour. students demanding free education clashing with police on the streets of chile. the country's president promising to raise about $100 million more in taxes for education, but students say it's not enough. healthy men should not get, be getting routine screenings for prostate cancer according to a new government study that finds the blood tests actually do more harm than good. and makers of the popular pomegranate drink pom wonderful are under fire for making false advertising claims. a federal judge now says the label cannot back up its claims that it's effective in treating or preventing any disease. ♪ martha: as we play that eerie
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mad men music to show how much perception in advertising can sometimes be misleading. gregg: they don't drink pomegranate juice on that show? they drink martinis? martha: no, they'll tell you a martini is better for you than fruit juice. gregg: and alan, our senior producer, said two martinis is better than one. [laughter] martha: speaking of advertising and misleading things that you see on the shelves, what about some of the common foods and drink that is you enjoy all the time? is we're finding out in a i new series what all of this stuff actually does to your body. for instance, energy and sports drinks like pom and all of that stuff very popular these days, but a new study says that you should watch out for the shiny cans and the colorful liquids, and dr. marc siegel joins us now, he's a member of our medical a-team, of course. so what's the big news here, doctor, when it comes to these energy drinks and your teeth? >> you know, martha, the doctor
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who i interviewed for this has a saying. she says if it's bad for your teeth, imagine what it's doing to the rest of your body. martha: good point. >> energy drinks, it turns out in a new study she just did, they erode the enamel of the teeth. they took teeth, and they literally put them in these energy drinks, and they found the acid in the drinks from citric acid eroded the enamel. then the sugar in the drinks feeds the bacteria which causes more acid to erode the enamel. let's hear from dr. howard gamble, the president of the academy of general dentistry, on this exact issue. >> the assault on teeth has been going on for a long time either with sugar or acids, basically, the sports drinks and the high acid content. what that does is the acid eats away the enamel structure of the tooth and opens the way for further destruction. >> martha, he has some very
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practical suggestions about what you can actually do. i mean, flossing, brushing your teeth we always talk about, but he says why don't you wash out your mouth after you actually have these drinks? of course, not having them in the first place would be a great idea, but if you literally wash out your mouth right after, you can get rid of a lot of this acid. martha: and the acid is coming from the fruit component of these drinks? >> that's right. the additives to these drinks, the citric acid that's added to these drinks is one reason you've got the acid. the other reason you've got the acid is because the sugar in the drinks feeds bacteria in the mouth which creates more acid. martha, enamel is the hardest substance in the human body, but yet it gets really eroded. and then we don't have enough flour ride because we're drinking a lot of bottled water. let's hear from the study author herself, dr. jane, on what we're doing wrong with our teeth and what she found in the study. >> one thing that i really want to emphasize is that these
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drinks are dangerous for what they contain, sugars and acids. but then, again, they are, you know, it's very important to note that they replace if they become a staple in kids', teenagers' diets, they replace water and milk. >> you know, martha, as an internist i'm always thinking, oh, these energy drinks are bad for the body, and i don't like what they're doing to our teeth. we're going to get more cavities from this. martha: and if it hurts your teeth, what's the impact of these acids and sugars on the inside of your body? >> i think it's very bad for our stomach. we have way too much acid in our stomach, bacteria that feeds on that acid, we're seeing more reflux and diseases like that. i think once it gets past your teeth, it goes into your stomach. it's bad for digest totally. martha: two choices at dinner, water or milk? >> i agree. martha: all right, dr. siegel. we do the sports drinks once in
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a while. >> great to see you, martha. martha: every game you go to, they've got tons of them, they're shooting them into kids' mouths in breaks. gregg: i'm going to have to lay off the dr. brown's cherry soda. it's probably killing me, but i do love it. [laughter] major developments in the iran nuclear showdown as u.s. lawmakers try to take action to prevent iran from getting the bomb. >> if you reach a point when you can't negotiate with tyrants, when you have to stand up and say, look, you stop this stuff because you're endangering humanity. gregg: is hurting tehran on paper really enough? because that's what dan burton has said, that's all we're doing, he says. so we'll talk to ambassador john bolton about that, former ambassador to the u.n. martha: and ever wonder what it's like to be in the cockpit during an air show? we can finally fulfill your need for speed without any danger. wait until you see what we've got coming up. so cool, we'll be right back.
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gregg: fox news alert, the united states ambassador to afghanistan saying he is leaving this summer. ambassador ryan crocker came out of retirement to take the post last summer. john bolton is a former u.s. ambassador to the united nations and a fox news contributor. what do you think is the real story behind crocker's resignation? >> well, i have to say i'm very
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surprised to hear this news. my first reaction was that it's a resignation to reflect frustration with the obama administration's retreat from afghanistan. crocker didn't have to do this. he served the country very well. he did tough duty as ambassador in iraq, came back a year ago to do this job in pakistan to help defeat the taliban, and although he hasn't said anything publicly and may never say anything publicly, i think it reflects frustration. gregg: when you say retreat from afghanistan, the obama policy, are you referring to withdrawal in 2014? >> well, that and the cessation of the u.s. lead in military operations next year. i think this is a prescription to give the country back to the taliban and just give up all the sacrifice we've gone through the past ten years. gregg: rendering an 11-year war for naught. >> exactly. it's a great tragedy. gregg: let me transition to a different international story. talks begin in baghdad over
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iran's suspected nuclear program. who gains, who loses out of this? >> well, i'm very worried that the obama administration is about to accept a false deal with iran. that the iranians will throw some dust in our eyes, make some minimal concessions and get u.s. acquiescence to their continueed uranium enrichment program. and all of this will be described as progress, but, in fact, it will be giving the iranians a huge victory. gregg: well, the iaea is now announcing we've got a deal for inspections in some critical sites in iran. what do you think of that? >> well, here's what i think the deal is, that they've agreed on a formula to address the questions that remain outstanding that have been unanswered these past several years. that's not to say iran will answer the questions, but that they'll find a way to try and address them. gregg: even if they gained access to some of the critical sites, for example, the site in which there is a suspected trigger mechanism exercise going on there, testing of that sort
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of thing, i mean, they're pretty smart over there. they could engage in a shell game, couldn't they? >> look, the iranians have learned a lot over the years about how to conceal things, and there's been commercial satellite are imagery showing them excavating dirts and rocks from the site, presumably to remove telltale evidence of radioactivity. so even if they agree to let the aiaea in, there's no guarantee there's anything left for the agency to find. gregg: so when we read these big, splash shi stories talking about how, wow, everybody's truly optimistic because these tough new sakss that began -- sanctions that began in july have really, finally after all of these years, forced tehran to the bargaining table, they will begin to concede? you don't buy it? >> no, not at all. the economic sanctions have cost iran economically. that's not the same thing as being tight enough to get them to give up their nuclear weapons program.
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i think the reason the obama administration is desperate to cut a deal this week is so that we can put pressure on israel not to strike iran's nuclear weapons program preemptively. because i think the obama administration fears an israeli strike more than they fear an iranian nuclear weapon. gregg: how would you handicap an eventual military strike by israel, especially now that netanyahu may have strengthened his hand by calling for few elections? -- new elections? >> israel has not hesitated in the past to strike hostile states with advanced nuclear programs. they attacked iraq in 1981, they destroyed a reactor in syria in 2007. i think a false deal here, if anything, could help convince israel that the obama administration's just not serious about stopping iran. gregg: ambassador john bolton, always a pleasure to speak with you. >> thank you. martha: three terror suspects arrested in a plot to disrupt this weekend's nato summit are making their second appearance in court today. all three men, seen here,
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charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism. prosecutors say the trio had already finished making a number of explosives by the time the police moved in on them. steve brown's on this story outside cook county court in chicago with the latest. so, steve, now are the state terrorism charges, are they state terrorism charges, i should say, or are they going to be federal charges leveled against them? >> reporter: no. we're talking about state terrorism charges, and that's significant. brent betterly, jared chase and brian church have been charged with a trio of counts, conspiracy, material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive quite. they were picked up on wednesday, well in advance of the nato summit, in a bridgeport neighborhood on the south side of chicago, supposedly putting together molotov cocktails intended for use to target rahm emanuel's home and a number of police vehicles. martha: how did the police say they investigated this?
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how did they know what these three were allegedly up to? >> reporter: well, police have been reluctant to say, but court documents suggest there are two informants, one by the name of moe and one by the name of gloves and one police informant who infiltrated this particular apartment. so it does suggest these three gentlemen were targeted for investigation. all of the evidence that police say they gathered up were produced or coerced by these three men, moe, gloves and this police informant. martha? martha: very interesting, steve, thank you very much. steve brown. gregg: all right. taking dress codes to the extreme. why this woman says she was forced to wear a bathrobe at work and, ultimately, lost her job. plus, this shocker: [laughter] martha: a chimp starts monkeying around at the the zoo. who would have thought, right? giving one family a big jolt. more on the charging chimpanzee
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and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. martha: a cheeky chimp gave one family quite a shock at the honolulu zoo. watch. [laughter] the monkey suddenly charged into the glass. yes, there's a barrier there. zoo officials say the kids were never in any danger, and they say it's actually pretty normal behavior for chimps because they love surprises. [laughter] apparently, there was a bag involved and he was playing peek-a-boo, but isn't that what you go to the zoo for? exciting moments? gregg: oh, funnier than a barrel of monkeys. [laughter] okay, moving on now, this is an interesting case where she's just too sexy for her job. a new york woman is suing her former employee saying she was fired for being too hot. those are her words, not ours.
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her employer, a lingerie company, the woman claims she was told by the orthodox jewish owners of this lingerie company -- that's right -- that it was a safety issue because the men wouldn't be able to resist her. >> i do not feel any employer has the right to impose their religious beliefs on me when i'm working in a business that is not a synagogue, but instead selling thongs with hearts placed in the female genital area and boy shorts for women saying hot in the buttocks area. gregg: orthodox jewish lingerie. all right, here's our legal panel, tom, a criminal defense attorney, former federal prosecutor, and marie mcavoy. thanks for being with us, both of you. tom, let me start with you. i mean, if allegations are from the plaintiff true, my goodness, aren't there all kinds of title vii violations here? >> tremendous. you know, gregg, i'm not a huge fan of gloria allred, but i've
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got to give you credit. she appears to have gotten herself potentially a very profitable lawsuit here. this is egregious. gregg: hostile work environment? >> yeah -- gregg: harassment? >> you can't even refer to it as employment discrimination because it's beyond that. it's harassment. i mean, when i read the part about them making her walk around a professional office with a bathrobe to cover herself, i'm thinking, you know, forget title vii, i'm thinking intentional infliction of emotional distress which you better believe gloria allred's thinking that too. gregg: but you know what, anne marie? there's always two sides of every story. >> that's right. obviously, she's got gloria allred, she's looking for money out of this. could this have been a set up potentially? maybe she went in and maybe she didn't do her work, maybe on top of which it appears she was brought in by a temp agency. so perhaps she was only going to be brought in for a couple of
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days of work. perhaps none of the things she said happened actually happened. we don't know at this point. >> i agree, look, as a criminal defense attorney, you always want to hear both sides. she seems like the type of woman that likes to put herself out there, we all know about gloria allred. but take a look at the quotes from the employers in the paper. they responded by not issuing denials but saying, hey, we're a religious jewish/orthodox firm. somewhere out there is an underwriter reading those comments and putting his head on his forehead -- gregg: yeah. what about that, annemarie? i read those comments also, and i was thinking, don't say that. [laughter] >> i know. >> offer yourself up to a religious discrimination suit too. gregg: yeah. i was thinking about that too. >> it's certainly problematic. although it depends what the requirements were as to what they were looking for when they were hiring her and what she was told when she was brought in
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there. gregg: yeah. >> i mean, there are companies where you have to wear a certain color, you have to wear pants and a certain type of shirt, so there certainly can be requirements placed on employees by the employers. it depends what the set-up was beforehand. gregg: let me transition, if i can, because we're on trial watch down in north carolina as both of you know, day three of jury deliberations in the john edwards campaign violation criminal trial here. he could spend years behind bars, if convicted. they've been asking for more and more documents, tom, about, you know, follow the trail of the bunny money, the main rich donor that gave him money that he says was a gift and the feds say, no, it's a campaign contribution, it's against the law. how's this thing going to end in your judgment? >> i mean, i don't see the whole it was a gift thing selling. i mean, you know, bottom line is if you're not a public figure f you're not a vice presidential candidate or a sparring presidential candidate, people don't give you those type of
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gifts, you know, gregg? you know, i haven't been around as long as john edwards, but i've been around for a while. no one's ever called me and said, hey, tom, we want to give you $100,000. gregg: but, annemarie, what was striking to me is the key piece of evidence, the federal election commission rules, and they specifically state that this kind of money cannot be by definition a campaign contribution, it has to be a gift. and, in fact, edwards' treasurer took the stand, and she said that's why it was a gift and not a campaign donation. i mean, if the jury believes that, acquittal, right? >> yeah. and it's very difficult. they have to show he had the intent to violate the campaign finance laws which there hasn't been evidence of that. we don't have the two people to be able to say what kind of arrangements they made with him or what they thought his understanding was, and nobody testified that he said anything specifically about this money or that he knew specifically other
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than andrew young, and even there it was murky. and he's just lied about so many things, it's a very weak case. gregg: it sounds like a gift. good to see you both. >> thank you. gregg: we're on standby for a verdict in the john edwards trial. thanks very much. >> thanks, gregg. martha: new recommendations have come out today about the deadly air show crash last year. what needs to be done before the next show leaves the ground as a new documentary puts you in the cockpit in the fastest race in the world. >> the rules are simple: fly low, fly fast, turn left. it's a shootout, the fastest plane race. martha: why low, and turn left. the legendary air race like you have never seen it before coming up right after this in "america's newsroom." ♪
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martha: well, a panel of experts reviewed the deadly air show crash that happened last year in nevada. now they have ruled that the competition will, indeed, return this september. as you remember, 11 people were killed last year when a plane crashed into the stands. such a tragedy. and we covered that and that story and the people and their experiences there for some time. so now the panel has made several safety recommendations on this and on the show going forward. meanwhile, there is a brand new documentary that seeks to remember the entire reno air show event and the history of it
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and what it's really like to be in the cockpit in what is called the fastest race in the world. now watch this. ♪ ♪ martha: my goodness. how about that? hundreds of thousands of fans attend the reno air races every year. now a new 3-d movie puts viewers right in the cockpit, and what a ride it is. it brings the feeling and experience of that legendary show and the pilots to the big screen. christian frye is the producer and director, welcome. good to have you here. >> thanks for having me, martha. martha: you know what? it's tough to look at that video from last year of that crash. how much did what happened that day and your desire to sort of
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make sure that people hear the whole story of these races in context, what does that mean to you? >> well, you know, the tragic events of last year certainly impacted everybody who had anything to do with the national championship air races. we had completed filming the year prior. this movie took about three years to produce, so thankfully, i guess on some level, we weren't in production when that crash occurred. but we certainly tried to figure out way to acknowledge the tragic loss of life that occurred last year, and we did that with a dedication at the end of the film. martha: and you say that the motto of the reno air race is to fly low, fly fast and turn left, right? it's basically -- >> that's's very similar in a lot of ways to most motor sports, certainly car motor sports that people would be familiar with. it's an oval track, about nine miles in diameter.
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the race planes fly about 50 feet off the ground, and for the unlimited racers who fly mostly these vintage world war ii fighter planes, they're flying at almost 500 miles an hour. martha: wow. >> wing tip to wing tip, it's an absolutely incredible event. martha: it's unbelievable looking at the video from your film. and i know that one of the changes that they made, this panel that we spoke of of experts for this year, is that in terms of the modifications of these old world war ii planes and how they can be modify bed, right? finish modified, right? >> well, you know, i think and i'm not positive exactly what the blue ribbon panel decided, but modifications are pretty typical in this sport, certainly at the high end of the speed range. when you're pushing 500-plus miles per hour, they do a lot of things to make the plane more aerodynamic, and those modifications have been tried and true for a very long period of time.
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um, and my understanding is that the blue ribbon panel did not address those kinds of structural changes directly. um, so it'll be interesting to see, ultimately, what the final results are of their findings, but it sounds like the races are going to continue which we're, certainly, very happy about. martha: indeed, you are. and the movie looks fascinating, and it really is something i didn't know too much about and really enjoyed, you know, reading it and seeing what the race is really all about. thank you so much for sharing some of it with us, christian. good luck with the film. >> my pleasure. thank you very much, martha. martha: all right, take care. thanks so much. gregg: an historic flight to the international space station. >> 3, 2, 1, 0. and launch of the spacex falcon 9 rocket as nasa turns to -- gregg: and that's a rocket that actually was not launched by nasa, but by a private company. so is in the future of space travel? [ male announcer ] this is genco services --
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>> get this. a new study found most members of congress can only speak at a 10th grade level [laughing] in response congress issued a statement saying that is totridonkulus. >> love fallon. jenna:. martha: that is great. i'm not surprised. >> higher than i thought. that will do it for us. martha: see you in america live a little bit. >> i'll be there. martha: "happening now" starts right now. jon: shots fired outside of a sports arena after an nba playoff game. one the victims a pregnant woman. the latest on the investigation. jenna: some scary moments there. it is supposed to be the next big stock buy in the tech world. so why is facebook getting clobbered on wall street, at leasr


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