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arraigned. >> a producer says strauss-kahn has entered the courtroom and a producer telling me he was escorted out. we don't know why. we do know the look on his face, pensive and tired, haggard looking as he looked throughout the courtroom, as there are dozens of reporters, international reporters, covering this story. covering one of the most powerful leaders of the world, facing court charges. and i want to show you the charges he faces now. this arraignment was scheduled for sunday night, postponed until today, so strauss-kant could submit to a for sentic medical evidence that could incriminate. these are the charges, criminal sex act, attempted rape. if found guilty he faces 20 years in prison, stemming to a maid at a hotel in times square, she says he walked into his $3000 a night suite where he had been staying, thought it was unoccui'd and strauss-kana emerged out of a bathroom, chased her into the bathroom, attempt to rape her and forced her to perform a sex act. according to the police the maid was able to fight him off and reported the incident to holt personnel who immediately called 911. when police arrived strauss-kan was gone, and he left his cell phone. when police learned he was headed to paris the plane was housed at the gate where mr. strauss-kahn was taken into custody, aphelped ten minutes before take yovment here's one of his attorneys who spoke with reporters last night while their high profile client was inside being treated like a common criminal. >> object r our client willingly consented to a scientific and forensic examination. >> what are you saying sir? >> our client consented to an examination at the request of the government. that's being done in light of the hour, we've agreed to postpone the arraignment until tomorrow morning and we expect to be in court with him tomorrow. >> police also say they discovered evidence the the scene, so the reason why this arraignment was post poapped because they wanted to gather as much evidence as possible in order to get these charges to stick. that arraignment scheduled to happen any moment now, and as soon as it does we'll bring it to you. we are told a bail bondsman has said most likely a bail will be set in the millions of dollars. meantime he does not have diplomatic immunity. i should remind you of that. and his passport has been withdrawn. so part of the bail package will also include where he'll be staying. i'm imagining not at soffi hotel. jon: a case that is rocking frabs, that's for sure. -- france, that's for sure. julie, thanks. jenna: a case that also has impact across the globe at economy. simon constable is with us. just explain the significance of the imf and the significance of the head of this organization being arrested in new york city. >> it's particularly important right now because europe, some of the countries in europe have big fiscal problems, italy, ireland, greece, spain, notably portugal and greece are basically looking for bailouts right now. it looks like the portuguese bailout was approved and it comes with imf sort of rules, rules to get the money. the money comes from the rich countries of the world, then it goes to those that need it. the u.s. contributes a lot to this. general jen we're actually the largest contributor. >> yes. jenna: when we talk about the imf giving money or doing bailouts part of that money is our money as well. >> about 18 percent of the money in the imf comes from the united states. it's based on how big your economy is and clearly because the u.s. is the richest economy in the world, then it contributes the most. jenna: a lot of critics of the imf and certainly there have been critics as well of this man. do you think that either the tipping point for this organization, the organization that represents 180 countries across this planet? >> let's hope it's not a tipping point. part of the imf's role is to play the bad guy. when your country is in fiscal dier straights, you -- dire straits you need someone to tell you what to do, otherwise you might not be able to have the political will to get it through your parliament or your government. so in greece right now, they need someone to say you need to tighten your belt, you need fiscal austerity. it's easier to point to someone and blame the imf. jenna: who is managing the money if this guy is behind bars? >> that's the issue. they've got to get someone in on an interim basis or on a permanent basis who is strong. it's very important that everything goes well for europe, because europe is a massive, massive part of the world economy. and if the fiscal woes and getting these countries out of the fiscal woes is not managed right, then we could have big, big, big problems. jenna: we saw that last year, the european debt crisis concerns leading to a selloff in our markets as well and that was something that really rattled investors here. >> one thing we've got to know, everyone is basically saying greece is going to default in some way. that might not be called a default, but how that process is managed is very, very, very important. and you need a strong leader if this all blows away by tomorrow, you know, maybe he's back there. i doubt it, but if that happens -- otherwise you need a strong leader to go, and some point to the family fish ef in israel. jenna: interesting talking about defaults in this country, we're also talking about them here this country with the debt ceiling. thank you very much, simon. jon, over to you. >> jon: right now there are virtual ghost towns up and down louisiana's cajun country as folks move to higher ground to escape a coming deluge, this as the morganza spillway is opened for the first time in four decades. flood waters could reach 20 feet deep in some spots, swamping millions of acres, as part of an effort to try to reduce flood dangers in baton rouge and new orleans. to memphis, tennessee now, still struggling to recovery from the mighty mississippi. president obama gets a firsthand look at the areas. just minutes from now he'll meet with flood victims and some of the state's first responders. >> meantime the mississippi river still on the rise and in vicksburg, the flood waters forcing more road closures, homes in the area, getting swamped. dang springer is live at the flood gates in downtown vicksburg. how high is the water in vicksburg today, dan tion and when is it expected to crest? >> reporter: jon, it's still rising slowly here, the number is 56.7 feet here in vicksburg, expected to crest at 57.5 on thursday. now, that number may not mean much to you but it's at an all time high, the record set in 1927, but this picture will tell you the story. look at this historic railroad station, under about 6 feet of water. as we pan to the left we can show you it is all hands on deck, a team of workers right now at this flood wall downtown, they brought it in a second pump, they really can't keep up with all the water gushing through. we see workers on top of that wall, putting in plastic. i want to tell you, most of the city is on a bluff, but that wall, if it fails, several businesses down in the low lying area of the downtown will be under water. already in vicksburg, about 1200 residents and businesses have been flooded three hundred twenty-eight people, we are told, have applied for help from fema. now, the police are also working on looting cases and there's only been one thankfully in vicksburg but they are very aware that's a danger. yesterday we got on tour of a nice lake community, about 15 miles from here that has been turned into a ghost town. the homes around eagle lake are all dry, but residents were evacuated because all the roads leading to it are flooded. now, there was concern that if the levy failed, 11,000 residents would be killed, so deputies are patrolling the area to protect their property. >> we're protecting the property. we're just want to go make sure when these people do return, they have everything that they had when they left, and we have enough department tes here that we're patrolling this area 24 hours a day, seven days a week. >> we just talked to the mayor of vicksburg, and he says that he's confident all of these levees will hold, but he said katrina showed us very important lesson, that sometimes these man-made levees don't make it through the disasters, and every time that water rises, even an inch, more pressure is exerted against these walls. so they're very cautious, but confident right now, that the walls will hold. big economic impact here, jon. obviously the casinos are closed, they bring about $600,000 a month to the general fund for this city. so with those casinos down and with tax revenues town, -- down, it's going to be a financial impact for months to come. jon. jon: all right, thank you very much. a little distracted here in the newsroom. dan springer, reporting live from vicksburg. jenna: coming up a fox news alert. we just got word from the white house, a very important note with regard to what's happening in syria. the white house is blaming syria for clashes that are happening along the border with israel. you might have seen some of our reports through the morning here. there's been a lot of violent protests along the border of israel, palestinians coming in and protesting essentially the creation of the state of israel. the white house now coming out and blaming syria for inciting some of the deadly protests at this border earning the white house press secretary calling it unacceptable. this is a story we're watching closely as we're continuing to watch what happens in syria, the protests against the government there, the white house saying that syria is sending these people to protest around israel to distract everyone from what's happening inside their own country, israel one of our allies in the middle east and a story we're going to be watching closely from here on out. jon, we have the gop presidential field starting to take shape. we're going to take an in depth look at the contenders, and await a big announcement that could come on one high profile person's intentions. >> and the space shuttle endeavor plasts off on its last mission. what made this launch even more emotional. we're live with that story. and jon, i believe you're over at the board with a tease for us about some of that weather we're seeing across the country. jon: that's right. if you want more information about any of these stories we're covering -- we're covering on "happening now", check out fox news.dom. there's the story about the mivment mf official, dominic strauss-kahn, news gingrich with crnt -- with controversial remarks, and the louisiana situation. imagine if you were told to get out of your home and take everything you could with you. what would you take? it's all there for you on foxnews.com, your other news source. >> endeavor, spannedding your knowledge, expanding our lives in space. jon: a beautiful sight, space shuttle endeavor blasting off kennedy space center for the final time early they are morning, just one last shuttle mission remains. it is now slated for july. this endeavor crew headed by commander mark kelly, the astronaut husband of wounded arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. phil keating, i know the congresswoman sent something very personal up on the endeavor. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, according to the staffers of congresswoman gabrielle giffords who by the way right now is adjacent to where we are, having a post- news briefing about the congresswoman's experience. she was watching mark kelly launch on endeavor's last launch ever, blasting off at 8:54 eastern time this morning, and prior to him getting on that van and coming out sometime last night, according to the staff, commander mark kelly and his wife, congresswoman giffords, exchanged their own wedding bands, and he is holding one of hers in one of his astronaut suit pockets as he is now traveling at 18,000 miles an hour on the way to the international space station and she is wearing his wedding band around a necklace, around her neck. but just the fact that she was able to leave the rehabilitation center in houston 2 1/2 weeks ago and then again yesterday, make it out here, is so encouraging for so many people across this country and especially here at kennedy space center where they say she is nasa family. >> she certainly will. you know, the last couple of days are just full of adrenaline and excitement, seeing him for the last time yesterday, saying goodbye, being here in florida, it's nice to take a break from the humdrum of the hospital rehab program, as good as it is, the folks at herman memorial have been terrific, but everybody needs a break, so she is doing really well. >> and they sthai she's also very excited just to be out of the normal routine in houston, the rehabilitation center. she does, of course, have a long road of recovery ahead of her. she is scheduled sometime perhaps this summer to have cranial reconstructive surgery. doctors in january, after she was shot in the head in that assassination attempt in tucson, arizona had to remove part of her skull to go ahead and repair her wounds. so they're going to do surgery to put a plate back on that, and then hopefully, sometime later this year, she might actually be able to be released and then undergo outpatient care. everybody of course just wishing the best. jon: and any issues showing up so far there at the cape that are any cause for concern? >> reporter: they called it basically a flawless launch. everything was looking good. the weather was an issue yesterday. they were concerned about strong winds and a low cloud ceiling. the winds didn't really materialize. if you look at file tape of the launch this morning, it was actually one of the shortest visible launches for spectators in quite some time, perhaps ever. it only lasted about ten seconds, then the space shuttle disappeared into the cloud ceiling and then went on beyond it. so those clouds were thin enough that the range requirements were not violated. so it was a green, green, green, across the board, and it was a spectacular launch. it's now traveling towards the international space station. the pay load on the 16-day mission is a $2 billion physical experiment -- physics experiment, the alpha magnetic spectrometer, it's basically going to shift comes milk rays out in the universe which get broken down once they go through the earth's atmosphere, they're immeshable on plate the earth but scientists, physicists, are hoping to basically finally define what is dark energy and dark matter because according to all of the theories, scientifically speaking, it should be out there, you just can't see it. it could be as revolutionary for physics as the hubel space scope has been for astronomy, jon. jon: what a morning. phil keating at the kennedy space center, thanks. jenna:ets crunch time for the u.s. economy. today is supposed to be the day we officially hit the debt ceiling but uncle sam's account apartments buying a little time here. a key congressman, congressman van hollen weighs in. he's here with us next. denver police, launching an all-out man hunt after a hit and run driver hits this nine-year-old boy. hard to watch. how he's doing, the latest on the search, just ahead. jon: right now, police hunt fog a hit and run driver who struck a nine-year-old boy in denver. the terrifying incident caught on video by a neighbor's security camera. incredibly, the little boy suffered only minor injuries patti an brown is at the breaking news desk with more. >> reporter: tough video to watch. this nine-year-old boy was hit by a car in southwest denver and as we already saw it was caught on tape. eric aguilar can be seen darting out in front of a parked suv right in front of his house, then he is hit and tossed to the curb. thankfully, he is okay. he just has cuts and bruises. but now police are looking for the driver who hit aguilar and drove off. it happened friday at around 8:00 p.m. on the 100 block of south jury ving street. when the driver sped off the boy's father and another driver tried to follow, but they couldn't keep up. it so happens that neighbors of the aguilars have a surveillance system and their camera caught the whole thing. you see the neighbor children playing in front of the houses, then the accident, then the car brakes for a second and then speeds away. it even runs a stop sign. the car is a dark colored sized sedan similar to a chevy malibu or dodge kneon, witnesses say it could have an honda accord. police made out three numbers on the colorado license plate, 357. one believes there may have be a -- have been a passenger in the car. because aguila r's head hits the passenger side mirror, there may be damage to the mirror. anyone with a tip can call crime stoppers: aguilar meanwhile was asked what he wants to say to the driver and he replied, i want them to apologize. jon. jon: one lucky little boy there, that's for sure. patti an brown, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: today is the day the u.s. officially hets the debt ceiling. it's not default yet but accounting tricks begin today. today, the pressurery -- treasury will begin to borrow from pensions to keep the government current. democratic congressman chris van hollen is ranking member of the budget house committee and one of the lawmakers working with the vice president on debt. no easy task there. nice to see gliew good to be with you. jenna: this federal workers pension system, there's two different sides today, one is the fact that we're borrowing from this pension system to help fund our government, but there's also these reports that there are different points of view about what federal workers should contribute to their pensions. republicans, the debt commission, even democratic think tanks say we have to have federal workers contribute more. are you open to negotiations on that, having federal workers contribute more to their pensions to help solve the debt issue? >> well, let's be clear. the republican budget proposed essentially a 5 percent pay cut for federal employees. for everybody, including the folks at the cia that just helped track down bin laden. so no, i'm definitely not in favor of that. now, if you want to look prospectively for new federal employees, we can take a look at that employment system, but when you talk about compensation, remember, there are lots of pieces to it, there are salaries and other benefits, and the bureau of labor statistics has looked the at federal salaries and said in many, many cases they're actually paid less than their private sector counterparts. so we have to be very careful when we're dealing with overall compensation. jenna: i was looking to see the last time we looked at federal workers' pensions and it was in 2000, where there was an increase in the federal pension programs by 1.5% or so, so you're saying for any of the federal workers now, you don't want to touch that, but any future employee, you'd be open to renegotiating how much they contribute to their pension? >> i think we should take a fresh look at overought federal employee compensation. there may be some areas where you actually want to increase salaries to recruit certain types of people to the federal government. you can also look at the retirement package as part of an overall look. i think that makes sense, a fresh look. what doesn't make sense is to say to folks who have been relying on a particular salary and benefits structure like the guys who got bin laden, you know, sorry, tough luck, we're going to cut your salary across the board by 5 percent. that's not fair. jenna: what about taxes? are taxes going up as part of a deal that's made as far as spending cuts go? >> every bipartisan group that's looked at the decifit situation has said you need a balanced approach. yes you need to cut but you also need to deal with the revenue side, and there are all sorts of special interest loopholes in the tax code that can be imlated. that's what the simpson bowles commission said, that's what the rit lin domenici commission said. we don't need the oil subsidies. if you're serious about \are you\{^ru}ing the deficit why would you be asking taxpayers to shell out more money to the big oil companies. we need a balanced approach. jenna: tax loophole phos major corporationsing. what about tax loophole phos consumers or the average joe? >> i think you've got to look at the overall tax code, you have to look at rates and the ducks, as well as tax preferences and see what makes sense, but whenever you're talking about decifit reduction, most people who have looked at it say you can't do it all by just cuts. you can't end the medicare guarantee as the republican budget does and slash. you need to look at both sides of the equation. jenna: congressman, we've had the debt commission, we've talked about the gang of six as well, the accept force coming together to try to have a proposal as well. now we have you guys, the seven of you, with the vice president. why is it different with you? why should we have hope that you guys are going to reach a deal and we're not going to go past the debt ceiling, that we're not going to default on our debt that, we're actually going to cut spending and get our country back on track? >> well, we can only hope, and those around the table -- >> jenna: are you confident? displie think we're going to get somewhere. it's early in the process. i don want to be overly confident. we've been focused primarily on the areas of overlap, so we haven't gotten into the sort of politically nuclear issue. jenna: like entitlements. >> we haven't gotten there, but we've begun to branch out into some other more controversial areas, but again, at the end of the day, we got to get to the question you raised, are our republican colleagues willing to do a balanced approach that includes getting rid of some of these big tax subsidies. jenna: we'll see where it goes from here. congressman, nice to have you with us. >> good to be with you in the studio. jenna: really good to have you here face to face, jon. jon: as the budgets battle goes on, this enters into the equation, usama bin laden is dead. does that mean our work in afghanistan is done? what defense secretary robert gates is saying about the situation on the ground, what it means for our troops, and when they can come home. also the bin laden raid sounded like a story straight out of the movies. and it might really be headed for the big screen soon. details on the major entertainment company now trademarking the name seal team six. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your weless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. 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[ male announcer ] six indulgent layered dserts, at 150 calories or less. new temptations. it's the first jell-o that's just for adults. jon: some of the developing stories we are watching right now from the newsroom and from our fox news control room, a successful launch for space shuttle endeavor. we'll be monitoring its final mission, bring you any new pictures and video as we get them in from space. the international criminal court asking for an arrest warrant for libyan leader qaddafi. they say he planned and participated in illegal attacks during the antigovernment protests there. and president obama in memphis right now, he's to meet with first responders and flooding victims. jenna: flooding from the mighty mississippi river wreaking after evacuate on the south. in vicksburg mississippi looking more like rivers there, people using boats to get around. the water is inching closer and they could be underwater in butte larose. ashley webster is live in baton rouge with more. ashley. >> reporter: hi, they opened the morganza spillway this weekend, nine, ten gates open relieving the pressure downstream. here in roupblg r- baton rouge r steady. not good news for the people who live in that basin, cajun country, many of the small towns and communities are fleeing to higher ground. it is relieving the pressure here in baton rouge and areas to the south, from here to new orleans. the decision was made because simply the bigger communities and the threat to commerce. we have oil refineries, eight, nine, ten oil rye fine reese, chemical calm plants. these are the types of things that the corps of engineers had to decide when they said we have to open the spillway, divert the pressure of the water and save the bigger cities downstream, baton rouge being one of those. so far it's holding firm. we did manage to kafrp up with major general michael walsh earlier who told us that while it is good news that it is holding true here in baton rouge and areas south he says the worst of the flooding is still to come. >> the crest is up in arkansas, it's not going to hit vicksburg, mississippi until the middle of next week. the wrest is still coming, we haven't gone through the worst of it at all. the system is under a tremendous amount of stress. i was up in cairo, illinois earlier in the week and people are coming back to that city, the gauges are down three feet but they are at a historic high. folks need to remain vigilant, we need to be on the leveeses making sure we see any under seepage or over topping and need to up jump on those right away. >> reporter: remaining vigilant says major general michael walsh. in baton rouge thinks the main walkway along the banks of the mississippi. they have the orange tubing, the last line of defense. thankfully the river is not close to this at all. it may come up just a little bit. thanks to the morganza spillway that level was not expected to top here. if it did that is about 30 feet below the river. you can imagine if that water came over it would go right into downtown baton rouge back to you. jenna: there is more to come on this story. thank you very much. jon: u.s. troops in afghanistan are battling what the taliban promises to be their fearsist spring offensive ever. many say the killing of usama bin laden could reshape the war and speed up our planned troop withdrawals. defense secretary robert gates saying this about the current situation in afghanistan. >> i would say that we are getting the upper hand. we have over the last 18 months put in place for the first time the resources necessary to insure that this threat does not rrebuild, does not reemerge once we are gone. i think we could be in a position by the end of this year where we have turned the corner in afghanistan. jon: joining us now seth jones the former adviser to commanding general of u.s. special operations forces in afghanistan. seth, you heard the defense secretary there say he thinks we are turning a corner. i know you're just back from there. do you share in that assessment? >> i think the secretary is particularly right about the southern parts of afghanistan. this is really the area that is the center of gravity for the taliban. i would say based on really an interesting approach used by u.s. special operations and marine forces, a bottom up strategy to hrefrpbl tribes, subtribes and chance we have seen a decline of the taliban control in the south. that's problem bleat area they were hit the hardest. jon: is it trying to nail jell-o to a wall. if you force them out of the south don't they top up in the north? >> we've seen them move up into areas in the north, but if they start losing over the next six to eight months they continue to lose in the south, it is their significant center of gravity. it will mean that they have seriously been degraded. so this has actually the makings of a very significant turn if it ends up being consistent. jon: obviously usama bin laden was not taliban, but what does his death due to their morale? >> well, it's unclear right now. some senior officials within al-qaida, includin have a relatp with insurgent groups, so they may continue to fight. i think the u.s. is cap pabl of capturing or killing some of their operatives as well. jon: senator kerry is in pakistan right now the first u.s. official to visit there since usama bin laden's death. what do you think he can accomplish? >> i think one of the most significant things senator kerry can accomplish is to try to tie u.s. taxpayer money, remember we are in a very difficult economic situation right now with better results. finding usama bin laden so so ce to a pakistan base, intelligence and locations means that they probably were not as keyed in towards targeting him as they should have been. if we are going to give upwards of $20 billion in assistance as we have done in the past years it better be tied to better results. that's something that senator kerry and the senate foreign relations committee with push. jon: as you well know our troops in afghanistan rely on being supplied blue pakistan, every bullet, every mre, every striker fighting vehicle has to be shipped through pakistan. if you're going to try to put pressure on the pakistanis, can't they just turn off theirer ports? >> they can turn off their ports to some degree. remember that the united states does fly some of its material into afghanistan by air. it also is pushing petroleum and other resources through the northern lines of communication up in central asia. there are ways to amielurate along the southern border. jenna: the walt disney company is looking to cash in on the lewd laud take down. the media giant announcing a trademark application for "seal team six" just days after the elite counter terror unit launched their raid in pakistan. here is dennis neil with more on this. >> reporter: disney actually moved with daring speed in trying to trademark america's newest heros. this is the house of mickey mouse and toy story and cars and they are going to slap that dizzy brand on a team of trained killer who just assassinated the embodiment of evil. the last time an entertainment company tried this it did not work. in 2003 zoneee moved to trademark the assault's official name, shock and awe. after they said it was poor taste sony withdrew the action and called it an exercise of regrettable bad judgment. the key question here is whether this plea eplt tiff strike by disney will ignite a firefight. will we see criticism from the aclu or the clergy or islamic groups, the quakers perhaps. what will the u.s. military say? shouldn't "seal team six" be a term that rightfully belongs to the navy. i have a call into the trademark office of the navy and the guy says they are checking with their lawyers. if disney could tkhraoer the antiaircrafclear it, theycould x office. you could see a big film franchise, video games, toys, sheets, and who knows maybe one day real seals on a mission of their own. jenna: i kind of see you with a navy seal towel, like a beach towel, if you could pick any product. >> they are our newest heros. it's a bold move. jenna: we'll see what comes of it if they can keep it. jon: i would think the navy would have something to say about that. jenna: you would think. jon: i guess as dennis says we'll find out. we are expecting a big announcement from the donald. will mr. trump or will he not run for president? what his decision could mean to the rest of the gop hopefuls, and in-depth look at that coming up. and fox news is america's election headquarters on tv and online. if you want the very latest on the 2012 elections log onto foxnews.com any time of day, just click on the politics link right there on the home page. long before a cummins diesel engine powered a ram truck.. it roared to life out here. and proved itself here, here, and here. and it's now delivering best-in-class towing, here. and unsurpassed torque, here. the ram 5 year 100,000 mile warranty covers you everyere. ram. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands ojobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for oucountry's energy security and our economy. ♪ if you have gout, high uric acid can lead to more attacks. ♪ to help reduce attacks, lower your uric acid. uloric lowers uric acid levels in adus with gout. it's not for the treatment of high uric acid without a history of gout. uloric reduces uric acid to help you reach a healthy level. 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>> it's a great question. here is the answer. i've taken a survey of a lot of smart people and the one poll that's been out and the truth is it's all over the lot. i think at least sep least tempy you'll have every candidate pick up some points. maybe it will be as few as one or two in some cases, it could be more than that in others. as you mentioned governor huckabee was polling 15 to 25% in most of the national surveys, in some individual states he was higher than that. he was the cofrontrunner. that is a lot of new republicans who suddenly don't have an anchor in this race. i think it's going to take a few months before this settles down and we can really see who is going to pick up the most from his support. it's not at all clear today. jon: larry sabado from the university of virginia's center for politics. jenna: thousands march to the border of israel. we have a live report from jerusalem and the very latest from there straight ahead. there's a whole world missing when you search on orbitz. like eve single american airlines flight. orbitz doesn't have them. but you'll find all 3,400 of them at aa.com. every day. jon: right now owners and representatives of the nfl and players are back in mediation in a minneapolis courtroom, a judge saying they should get back together and try to figure out this lockout situation that still could lead to the cancellation of the nfl season. roger goodell the nfl commissioner is one of the people in the room. of course the lockout was ended by a judge earlier, a federal judge, but then that was overruled by an appeals court. right now the nfl season still up in the air, but the players, the owners, and the nfl lead management in a room talking right now in a courthouse in minneapolis. we'll keep you updated if anything comes out of it. jenna: see if they can work it out. brendan rooney, jason lemeux and jason sendel glad wraeuted from columbia university. laura ingle is live. >> reporter: the ceremony is open, a new chapter is beginning for these three men and so many others. when we asked the veterans to compare their time in service to completing courses at klum bee a. they said both were rigorous, both required discipline, and skills that have made off in a very big way, and given them another important bond as they graduated. >> as a buddy i said you need to do this. you don' belong at a school like this. >> reporter: their path to graduation began on the battlefield. veterans of the war on terror. the skill learned asthma reans made it possible to endure rigorous academics. it's a core bud see system, the brotherhood that looks out for each other that got them here and through graduation. >> we keep them in check. a marine has no problem going up to another marine or former marine and saying, how is everything going. your academics going well? >> reporter: brendon was attending columbia and talked jason into applying. he did and got in. in turn jason successfully encouraged 42-year-old kevin to go back to school. >> it's a matter of the people who wind up applying are people who are looking for themselves a little bit harder because that's what they did in the military. >> reporter: this effort to encourage veterans to come to columbia, the ivy league has announced a partnership with the u.s. military. columbia is a founding member of the u.s. marine corps leadership scholar program which helps veterans with their higher education. we are happy to report that all three men are three of 22 veterans who are graduating this year. that is a number that the university hopes to see improve next year. the 22 veterans graduating today, that is up from ten the year before, seven the year before that. with this now partnership with the u.s. military we could be talking about a number, maybe 40, 50 by next year. back to you. jenna: those soldiers look good in their uniform but they look good in that cap and gown too. thank you very much, laura ingle at hraoupl beat klum bee a coula university. jon: investigators have recovered the flight data from recorders that were on board the doomed air france jet. what it could reveal about the plane's final moments. we'll talk with an expert. palestinian protestors breaching the border of israel sparking a violent confrontation with security forces. israel says iran and syria are really behind it all. we'll get into it ahead, "happening now." borthe most rare and magical fruit, which provided for their every financial need. 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"happening now" authorities warning people to get out of parts of cajun country as mississippi water gushes from an open flood gate. rick leaf even that you will live in louisiana for us. >> reporter: you're looking at the river which is well over its banks and rising by the hour because of all the water being released upstream from us. outside the town of croft springs which has now been evacuation, undermanned torrey evacuation other 2,000 people had to go. because of rising water you can see it up on the fuel dock and encouraging on a railroad bridge. all that water coming from the e morganza spillway where nine gates are now open. the whole point is to divert the water off into the low lying plains to spare the bigger communities including baton rouge and new orleans. it happened once before in 1973. the towns like butte la rose, they are pack up everything they can carry and leaving homes that will be waist deep in water and buried under 25 feet of river runoff. it's in the path of a man made bayou lake. 20 miles wide and 150 miles lo long. bayou sorrell, their locals tell us the water is ten feet higher than normal and could reach another seven more feet within a week. the good news, jon is that according to the national weather service the crest of the mississippi river is now expected tomorrow. it's a little deceiving though, once it reaches that crest level it's going to stay at that level according to the weather service for two to three weeks and that's why the army corps of engineers is working so hard to open more and more of the gates on the swill way so when all the extra water comes down the river they open more and more the gates to keep the water at 1.5 million cubic feet per second. if it stays at that level it won't come over the sea walls and the levees in baton rouge and new orleans and those communities and people will be protected. some people sacrificing their homes for the benefit of many, many more. jon: so much tension, so much water, rick leventhal, thank you. the white house is blaming syria for what you see on your screen inciting deadly violence along israel's border, the entire region very much on edge. leland vittert reports live to us from jerusalem. >> reporter: jon, what we're seeing here is the anger of the arab spring, all the revolutions in egypt, in syria, tunisia and libya now starting to turn and being focused on israel. and the result yesterday was the worst violence that we have seen here in this country and on the israeli borders since the second intafada began years ago. soldiers opened fire killing at least two of the protestors, but many ended up in the golan heights on the run. the protest caught israeli soldiers off guard. it marks the first time since the 1973 war that it was breached. along the lebanese border ten people died when demonstrators rushed the border while throwing stones at soldiers. thousands of palestinian refugees appeared in villages deep in hezbollah territory before coming down a large hill towards israel. shots rang out from both sides. the u.n. will investigate whether israel or lebanese soldiers fired those deadly shots. massive teargas clouds marked the west bank as palestinian youth tried to march on an army check-point. >> these are the rio rioters, dn toward this check-point here. get down, get down we have all the teargas coming down, we have flash bang grenades. get cover. we are going to get behind where the teargas is. >> reporter: right now things may be changing a little bit, though. obviously a lot of this violence came out of frustration by the palestinians about a lack of a palestinian state. however prime minister benjamin netanyahu just finished up a speech here behind me and as one keen middle east observer said it was a duck speech given by a man in a hawk costume which is unusual, and very unusual ahead of his trip to the united states. he's going to speak privately with press and speak to a session of the congress and speak to the israeli american public affairs lobby. it will be interesting to see if he does start to moderate his tone on the palestinian peace process a little bit, certainly unusual for the prime minister. jon: leland vittert live from gerald. thank you. >> he had his moment. a lot of the air has gone tkout of the balloon. he is very unlikely to be the republican nominee. it may be time to renew that tv show but he'll tell us all. jenna: he will eventually right. that was larry sant sabado talkg about donald trump. when he fire himself and run for the white house as we look at the political landscape taking shape for the 2012 presidential race. watching with us bret bair. donald, donald, donald. mike huckabee said he will not be part of this field. beyond donald who is the next one that has that big personality, that likability as some folks call it. who are you watching besides some of the bigger names. >> reporter: that's a great question. i think we'll learn about donald triumphs decision one way or another soon, he's meeting with nbc as you said earlier. as far as other big names we don't know about yet, mitch daniels the indiana governor that is a big decision that a lot of people are watching and waiting for. former bush administration officials are said to be lining up behind the indiana governor, and he's said to have some flip of a switch kind of grass roots effort if he decided to run but he has been a reluctant candidate. you have chris christie in new jersey who said numerous times that he's not ready to run, doesn't want to run. jenna: do you think he has a chance there? he said that so many times. do you think there may be a chance that he changes his mind? >> reporter: you know it's possible. and i think that any one of these people could be recruited by a field that is running refor a candidate that could get the big money and the big donors in the gop to coalese behind one person. i think the field split and with the mike huckabee action over the weekend it does shakeup the summer. the next debate is in august. jenna: you mentioned big money. money is obviously a big part of any election at this point in our nation's history. have you heard from any of the big donors, or fundraisers about whether or not the money has gone anywhere as of yet or are the big money people still on the side lines waiting to decide what to do with it. there is a lot of money that is right now on the side lines waiting to see either who develops or who comes out of the early horse race, if you will, or who comes in out of the side lines and decides this is the time for that person to run. i think there is still a lot of hesitancy to throw in support behind anyone who is already declared yet for fear that the next big candidate will emerge shortly. i think that the mike huckabee decision really changes the dynamic for a couple of people directly, one michelle bachman in iowa and south carolina, if she runs she would be a force to be reckoned with. rick santorum who is a social conservative who had arguably a good first debate in south carolina. he potentially could pick up some of those votes as well. i think the field is still pretty scattered. jenna: herman cane. they are talking about donald trump making an announcement on the celebrity apprentice. herbert cane is said to be making an announcement before that. he also got pretty good reviews. >> reporter: he did. he is an impressive guy to a lot of folks. his poll numbers continue to rise and he gets a lot of recognition, you know, he's a talk show host down in georgia, a businessman, the former ceo of godfather's pizza, and he was pretty plain spoke tphepb that debate and got high reviews. while while it's believed he is going to run and he may start picking up a lot of attention from folks. don't forget ron paul has his own base. he was on fox news sunday this weekend. it's an interesting split, but it's not really coalesing behind one or two candidates. jenna: we have a huge debate happening on capitol hill as well about the debt ceiling, today the official day that we've broken through the debt ceiling but haven't defaulted as yet. i spoke earlier with congressman van hollen who is working with the vice president to deal with the debt ceiling. >> we everee been focused on the areas of overlap. we haven't got even into the politically nuclear issues. jenna: like even titlement. >> we haven't got even there. we have branched out into other controversial areas. jenna: cautiously optimistic. we've heard some of this from the debt commission, the gang of six and from this group as well. do you think we are actually going to see something before the eleven weeks passed and we are really pushing up against that real reality of defaulting on our debt as a country? >> reporter: i thought it was interesting to hear congressman van hollen say it's early in the process. democrats and particularly the administration have been talking about how dire the situation is and that the treasury secretary sends out this letter saying that the statutory debt limit has been reached as of today, and that he can only move the shells around until early august. that said, it doesn't seem to be a lot of fast tracking, as far as consensus. the going bet here in washington is that the debt limit increase will happen, but there will be strings attached to it, what those strings are they haven't worked out yet. jenna: and those are the important strings indeed. thank you very much. bret baier, anchor of special report 6:00pm eastern time. don't miss it. always nice to have you. jenna: the wife of a prison warden helps a convicted killer escape. those are the charges. was she kidnapped or was this really a bad romance. also the powerful head of the ims facing sexual assault charges in new york city. there is some movement inside the courtroom. we'll bring you up to date on that. why the timing continue be worse. a historic launch today from cape canaveral, jon has more on that. jon: history made a few hours ago as the space shuttle endeavor took off on its final flight. foxnews.com has all the pictures. notice the layer of low clouds. the half million people there to watch it only got to watch seconds of this thing before it punched through a low cloud deck. if you'd like to see more pictures we've got them for you foxnews.com, your other news source. she felt lost... until the combination of three good probiotics in phillips' colon health defended against the bad gas, diarrhea and constipation. ...and? it helped balance her lon. oh, now that's t best part. i love your work. 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor about adding niaspan. fight back. fight plaque. love you, daddy. - tired of people telling you to turn down the volume? have trouble hearing in restaurants? then learn more about wireless hearing aids with iris technology. these advanced-feature-rich hearing aids are designed to let you focus on the sounds you want to hear and reduce the sounds you don't. they also stream stereo sound wirelessly fromour tv or radio to your hearing aids, just like headphones. call 888-786-0822 today and ask for wireless hearing aids with iris technology. jon: jury selection underway right tphrou in a weird case, the trial of an oklahoma warden's wife 48-year-old bobby parker accused of helping a convicted killer escape from prison in 1994. she faces up to ten years in prison herself if convicted. patti ann brown following this story from our newsroom. >> reporter: you obviously recall the case of bobby parker. she is accused of helping a killer escape from prison while she herself was married to award even. parker who is now 48 is the wife of a former deputy warden at the oklahoma state reform torrey. back in the 90s, parker was living with her husband randy and their two daughters on prison grounds, when in 1994 a convicted killer, randolph dial escaped from the prison and somehow mrs. parker ended up living with him on a chicken ranch in texas until 2005. her lawyers say dial kidnapped her and held her against her will will you prosecutors say parker fell in love with dial, helped him escape and ran off with hem. the couple acted bike husband and wife for almost a decade at least according to evidence presented at a preliminary hearing, they even shared a bed. dial insisted until he died four years ago that he kidnapped parker at knife point and forced her to drive him from prison. before escaping dial was serving a life sentence tore killing a karate instructor in 1981. as for the case of bobby parker she has pleaded not guilty. she faces up to ten years in prison if convicted. jury selection starts today in magnum, oklahoma and that is expected to last two weeks, and then almost a hundred witnesses will be called during the trial. one of the lawyers has asked the court to pay jurors out of a fund set aside for lengthy trials. that fund allows courts to compensate jurors whosoever more than ten days and aren't fully paid by their employers. so they are obviously expecting the trial of bobby parker to be a long one, jon. jon: like i said that is a weird case. >> reporter: yes indeed. jon: thank you. jenna: a scandal rocking the international monetary fund and really the global markets. dominique strauss-kahn a major player in the global economic recovery accused of sexually assaulting a made at a hotel in new york city. his lawyers and the prosecution arguing right now in a new york courtroom about whether or not the united states gets to keep him in custody. peter barnes from the fox business network is live outside ims headquarters in washington with more on the potential fallout, peter. >> reporter: hey, jenna that's right prosecutors and lawyers for dominique strauss-kahn are arguing right now as to whether he should be able to post bile and leave the jailhouse while the proceedings move forward. so far they are arguing this back and forth and in a five minute recess at this very minute. lawyers for dominique strauss-kahn saying that he denies the charges, that he deserves to get bail, that he is not a flight risk, but prosecutors saying that he is a potential flight risk, that he has the funds, that he is an international figure and a citizen of france which does not have an extradition treaty with the united states. here at the international monetary fund the executive board has appointed john lipski an american who is the first deputy managing director to be the acting managing director while all these proceedings continue in new york. the ims says it remains in full functioning and operations here as it tries to continue its work on bail outs in greece, ireland and potentially portugal. jenna: there has been mention about how this case can interrupt talks with the newly formed government in egypt, the government that is trying to form. what is happening in pakistan right now. the effects of this. explain to us how it involves those other countries as well. >> reporter: well, that's right. but what happens here is the imf sets up teams to go on missions to each of these countries that it is trying to assist, trying to help, and as far as say ireland and greece right now, officials here say that those teams are in place, continuing to do their work. the major decisions have been made by the imf leadership and the board here and so all of these operations continue on course, business as usual, jenna. jenna: for now. we'll continue to watch it peter, peter barnes with fox business thank you very much. jon: in florida another delay in the casey anthony murder trial. jury selection is taking a lot longer than anyone expected. and now the judge wants everyone to wait before opening arguments begin. we'll tell you why. plus spreading unrest across the middle east, landing on israel's doorstep, israel thinks a couple of its neighbors are to blame for the troubles its having.  jenna: new information now on crime stories we've been following closely for you. jury selection resuming in the casey anthony jury trial in florida. opening arguments were set to begin tomorrow. once eight alternates are seated jurors already given a day off first to take a breather before the opening arguments expected to be quite a long case. the "new york post" reporting new nypd officers are being i'd in the long island serial killing case. sources say both officers have got even into trouble in the past for hiring prostitutes. four ever the ten victims found have been identified as such. in massachusetts, opening statements begin today in the manslaughter trial of the brother of olympic skater nancy kerrigan. prosecutors claim mark kerrigan's elderly father died after a violent struggle with his son. the family insists it was due to a heart condition. we'll keep you updated. jon: violent demonstrations bake out on israel's borders along the west bank, gaza, syria, lebanon, jordan. israel blames iran and syria for encourage -rg the protests. we have the senior director of middle eastern affairs and a fellow at the washington institute for near east policy. we have seen anti-government protests in syria especially, not so much iran, but syria has had plenty of problems within its own country. all of a sudden the protests move to its border with israel. is that a coincidence? >> i don't think so. it's hard to imagine that it is. there are protests every year on this day, the the anniversary of israel's founding which palestinians call catastrophe day. and often the protests turn vie lengths. what makes this difference are the attacks on israel's borders. these are essentially military zones, these borders. for the protesters to get up to these fences requires the local security forces in syria or in lebanon to essentially let them do it. so there is good reason here i think to believe that this was done at least with the acquiescence, if not the active organization and prodding of outside forces such as iran and syria. jon: is it those two nations trying to make israel a scape goat for other tensions in the middle east, you know, letting israel take the brunt of people's' displeasure? >> i think this is a classic sort of ploy by extremists and state sponsors by iran and syria. when the going goats rough try to divert international attention to israel. i think that's what's happening here. we've seen extremists come under pressure from the death of usama bin laden. we've seen syria come under pressure from the uprising happening there. this ground swell of peaceful democratic protests in the arab world also puts them under pressure because it's in direct contradiction to their model of violence and sort of religious extremism. they are trying to divert attention to israel and i think that the big concern is that this happens to also coincide with a real low point in the peace process. remember that hamas has just joined the secular palestinian forces in a unity government. the peace process has essentially gone nowhere if not backwards over the past two years. there is frustration amongst palestinians at the stag nation of this thing, which now the extremists and state sponsors are taking advantage of. jon: how does all of this benefit iran. >> i think anything that takes the pressure off of bashar al assad the ruler of syria benefits iran. anything that fuels extremism and instability in the region especially direc directed at isl benefits iran. syria is the key conduit for iranian weapons and funding for groups like hezbollah and hamas and islamic gentleman had. they are based in damascus and there's been some pressure over that in the context of this uprising in syria. so they are really looking to maintain their foothold, their kind of forward operating base there on israel's borders. jon: is there anything the united states can or should do in your view. >> certainly. i think certainly we have to reject this effort to divert international attention to israel and keep the attention focused squarely on the syrian regime shall the iranian regime and what they are doing to their own people. and secondly we need to make very clear to the palestinians that we support palestinian state hood but it has to be a peaceful democratic palestinian state only accomplished through tkpwoerbgtss. that the suggests that maybe mass protests or unilateral movers at the united nations are going to achieve palestinian aspirations are firmly rejected. jon: the israelis have been very quiet about all of this as so many countries have been protesting against their own governments. michael singh. jenna: the national guard warns thousands to leave their homes. we'll be live on the ground in mississippi where a levee is protecting one town from gushing waters there. plus, ever wonder how long you're going to live? ever ask that question? jon: hum. jenna: hum, a brand-new blood test that may be able to tell you exactly how long. dr. manny is next. does he believe it or not, he has a white board and i don't think that is a good sign. the doc is in just ahead. ♪ bottle of wine. if i've been out till quarter to 3:00 would you lock the door? ♪ jon: a fox news alert for you, and the head of the international monetary fund, dominic strauss-kahn, is going to stay in a new york city jail cell until at least may 21 does. he has been remanded back to jail, held without bail, on sexual assault charges. the accusation is that on saturday, he attacked a maid in his $3000 a night suite at a luxury hotel in new york city. this is a guy who was considered possibly the frontrunner to be the next president of france. he has run into problems before with some sexual charges that have been lodged against him, and now, it's day gentleman zoo all over again, as yogi berra would say, this man, the head of the international monetary fund, almost made it out of the country, he was on a plane headed for france, about to take off for france, when police arrested him. he's going to be staying in jail, back in court in about a week. jenna: taking everybody off to chicago now where rahm emanuel goes from being the president's top adviser to being the top adviser for the city of chicago. he's just sworn in as chicago mayor, giving an address right there. first new mayor in two decades. so big day for rahm emanuel. we'll continue to watch him. in the meantime, other news south of illinois that we have to get to as well. jon: a fox news weather alert, jenna. residents in mississippi are preparing for the worst. this as the mississippi river is expected to crest near historic levels today. many houses already are under water but the army corps of engineers expects the levees will hold. jonathan serrie is in greenville, mississippi right now, where everybody is talking about the rising river. jonathan. >> reporter: that's right, jon. right behind me is what remains of the greenville yacht club. you can see some ducks here in what used to be the parking lot of the white house casino. -- the light house casino. the light house restaurant is under water, however, the gaming area is on a barge which floats with the flood waters. all day residents of greenville have been coming to the levy, looking at the river which is at the highest level it's been since the great flood of 1927. during that flood, the levy system was breached, causing severe flooding throughout much of the city of greenville. officials believe it's going to be different this time around. right now we're walking up one of the levees that protects this city from the flood waters of the mississippi river. it's been strengthened over the years, and local officials believe that it is going to continue to hold. as you can see, it's doing a good job now, because on the opposite side of this levy from the river, you can see it's business as usual, the streets are dry, people going about their business, even though this area is below the current level of the mississippi river which is expected to crest somewhere in the neighborhood of 64 -- or 44 1/2 feet sometime tomorrow. jon, back to you. jon: good to be on the dry side of that levy. that's an understatement. >> definitely. jon: jonathan serrie, thank you. jenna: a medical breakthrough, raising some ethical questions as well, it involves cutting edge blood test that could predict how long you live by measuring how fast your dna is aging. again, this could be just available to you and i, just to do on a monday afternoon. manny alvarez is senior managing editor of fox news health.com. >> might as well get your nails done? look, this test is a biological test, it measures the telemeters, the end part of the cells as it divides, and basically, we know in biology that the shorter the telemeter, the shorter the life span of the cell, the longer the telemeter, the longer the life span of the cell, and this is talking about aging, and it can predict more or less how long you're going live. jenna: is it accurate? >> it is very accurate but it has no practical use in medicine. jenna: what if you want to know how long you got? >> it doesn't matter! look, we're all going to die! unfortunately. the key is, you want to die healthy. that's the whole key of life. and that's why prevention is far more important than finding whether you're going to die at # seven, 82, 101, it doesn't matter. jenna: the curiosity out there -- >> oh, look, let me show you. jenna: doctor, the viewers are curious, they say i couldn't help it, if it was there and it costs $650, which is what this test costs, i blood -- >> the answer is you find out you're going to die at the age of 65, you say what the heck -- iom on, listen, everybody is going to die, and as i say, want to die health yevment look, we all start up here, everybody starts with good health, but people that don't take care of themselves, basically their age goes down, down, down, down, down, and this is the quality of life, all the quality of life, then you die. people that take care of themselves, right from the very beginning, they're still going to die but they're going to die very healthy that's that's exactly what want to do. it is the truth. you don't want to be ending in hospitals, with diabetes and people, you know, cutting off parts of your body and things like that. what you want to do is you want to prevent disease. that's the key. forget about when are you going to die. that's -- >> jenna: let me ask you about this other side of the story. some say not only would tests like this when it becomes commercial available affect the antiaging market. >> of course! no, this is huge. jenna: the insurance market, because if the insurance companies knew how long you had, maybe they would change the rates to insure you. >> i don't think that insurance companies are that smart. but i do think that the antiaging people are going to stop saying -- or say here's a way to increase your it'll meter. that's not going to happen. if you have preventative health care, which is what you want, stop smoking, exercise a little bit, eat balanced diets, go to see a regular doctor for prevention care, that ultimately is going to be the key of you living as long as you're supposed to, but living healthy. jenna: all right doc. jon would you take the test? jon: i would like to take the test! and if i have a long life ahead -- >> jon, you belong to this big top curve here. this is you. boom. healthy until the very last minute, then boom! trial to -- time to go! jenna: thank you very much for that. if any of you have any opinionses on this, write us, fox news.com. jon: a fox news alert. we expect to be hearing any minute now from benjamin brothman, one of the most noted new york city defense attorneys, and he is defending that gentleman in the blue shirt that you see there, dominic strauss-kahn, the head of the international monetary fund. this is a scandal that is rocking the worlds of finance and government. a guy who was considered possibly the next president of france, now sitting in a new york city lockup on charges of sexual assault. it all went down over the weekend when he was picked up for trying to allegedly attack the hotel maid who was there to clean his hotel room, his luxury suite. at any rate, he's in jail right now. we'll hear from his attorney shortly and we'll be right back. jenna: we've got breaking news coming up at the top of "america live" and we have an answer! chris stier stierwalt will jointous break down what is turning out to be a fascinating look at the gop race for 2012. also we expect that he'll step in front of the microphones any moment. the lawyer for the head of the imf. there is high drama going on in that courtroom now, the prosecution says the maid has physical evidence of sexual assault and that it is backed up by the hospital report. the head of the imf, who was running to become president of france, is not going to get bail at this hour. we've got breaking news. we're going to follow that breaking story throughout the hour on "america live", we'll get you a live update. this question is whether or not this could possibly be a high stakes political setup. we're going to talk about that as well. also some new polls today show why president obama may have a more uphill battle in 2012 than you might think. some really interesting numbers, and lou dobbs on housing, and he has explosive information on the housing market coming up. what about this? what if you could take a test that would tell you how long you will live? lots to think about on that, right? coming up, top of the hour, we'll see you on "america live". jenna: thank you very much. we do have that announcement from donald trump and here it is, after considerable deliberation and reflection, i've decided not to pursue the office of presidency, this being released by his executive vice president and special counsel, michael cohen. even, from the trump organization, itself, he goes on to say, jon, the decision does not come easily or without regret, but he does say that business is my greatest passion, and i am not ready to leave the private sector. jon: sure, why try to run america when you can run the trump empire? i mean, the casino holdings, the substantial real estate portfolio in new york city, and the areas around new york. a lot of people thought -- i guess i'm one of them, i thought this was mostly about publicity for donald j. trump all loongd now he's making it official he's not going to be running for president. jenna: he is a master of that, isn't he, publicity. one of the other things he's a master at within the business community is keeping his business dealings we close to the vest. he'll talk about being worth billions of dollars but as far as being a public company, he is not. so one of the things that we have talked about in the past on this show as a he got geared up to run for president, one of the things he would have to do is expose some of his financial records and that could be a big question for someone like him about what he would actually expose when he does that. but again, not running for president. that business deal, off. jon: and that big sigh of relief you might hear is coming from the building sort of katty corner to fox, nbc, where presumably the show he owns with mark burnett, the celebrity apprentice, presumably that can continue. had he decided to run for president, it would have had to be forced off the air because of the rules about being a candidate and being on public -- on the public air waves at the same time. so this clears the way for the celebrity apprentice, one of the top rated shows on a network that is certainly struggling, continues to go. jenna: no one says it like trump, jon, i'm going to read a little more of this, this press release. the decision does not come easily or without regret, especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the republican contenders in polls across this country. i maintain the strong conviction that if i were to run, i would be able to win. the primary, and ultimately the general election. jon: that might be a trumpian stretch of the truth! jenna: well, he does his best, right? >> we heard from larry sabato that his poll numbers are down there around number five, ranking with ron paul. so we'll see. jenna: is brett with this guy? the brett we were talking about on the top of the air, if we were going to get a decision. here it is, you said mike huckabee was a big game changer in this race. what about this one? >> well, it's a game changer, but i think a lot of republican party officials are breathe ago sigh of relief, because they believed i think internally that this could potentially present a problem if he, donald trump, ran for the nomination and would cause some issues for candidates they believe would have a better shot at beating president obama. obviously donald trump thinks he could do it as well. he goes on to say issues including getting tough on qulien and other countries that are methodically and systematically taking advantage of the united states were seldom mentioned before i brought them to the forefront of the country's conversation. and in part, he's right. he dominated a lot of the conversation, starting with the birth certificate back and forth and then the president addressed that. he brought up the china currency issue, and it got to the forefront a lot faster and a lot more than any other candidate or any other politician really had managed to get it to the forefront so, some of the things he's talking about are now in the mix, and i think who benefits the most right now, i'd say herman cain, the other businessman who was attracting a lot of attention and outside of donald trump, fits the mold of not being a politician, as mitt romney, who of course is also a businessman but has been in politics for many years. jon: so much of politics is about name recognition, bret. he had obviously better name recognition than anybody else on the republican side. and yet, as we talked to larry sabato earlier, his poll numbers have gone up and then come way down. why? >> well, i think there were a number of issues. you never know with polls. it depends on poll and how you ask it. but you know, he had that appearance out in las vegas where he used some interesting language to three republican women's groups. jon: a couple of f bombs, yes. >> a couple of f bombs, in that, and that raised some eyebrows. i think over time, you had people who were saying is this serious, and it was starting to seep into the collective knowledge about whether trump's candidacy was serious. i believe that he was truly considering it, and judging by his statement out here that it might actually have been a tough call for him, but perhaps he looked at those poll numbers that larry sabato mentioned and also looked at the prospect of potentially winning the republican nomination. the other thing was, an ind -- independent run by donald trump would have been problems for the republicans. >> and some of the color has gone out of that race for you and us. >> it will still be interesting. jenna: we'll see. thank you very much, bret. we'll have more breaking news afteivr the short break.  jenna: for all you celebrity apprentice watchers, you keep to -- you get to keep the trump. larry sabato, director for the center of politics for the university of virginia is back with us. larry, donald trump, certainly a dynamic figure. some of the issues that he touched on -- tund on like china, global competitiveness, job creation, resonated with voters, though. who do you think takes up those issues and thaiks those issues there of the few we see so far? >> jenna, they're all trying to, but i tell you, this creates a great opportunity for another candidate and obviously mitch daniels is the one everybody is waiting on. if not mitch daniels, you're going to see more pressure on chris christie to get in. but donald trump was a place holder as i think almost governor huckabee was and probably people thought he probably wouldn't run. you put trump and huckabee together, you've got almost one third of republican voters who are now uncommitted, because they pick candidates who now aren't running. someone is going to try and swoop in, i think, and scoop them up. jenna: who's your best bet larry? who's your best bet on that? >> i would say if daniels wants to run, almost by accident the conditions have been created that are near perfect for him to jump in. jon: what is it about trump's absence that helps daniels? >> it's the fact that trump was a placeholder for these votees, they weren't attracted to any of the other candidates in the race and that's also true for governor huckabee who after all was doing better than trump in the polls. that's a lot of voters who are now free and available for the other candidates who are already in it, but i think, also, for someone to come in and potentially elect -- electrify republicans and the entire field. jenna: do you think trump is used in the campaign in any way, is that a dangerous thing for future candidates to consider? i'm thinking about the names we know and potentially don't know, the celebrity status for the republicans right now? it isn't very big. won't he be a factor in another way that maybe we're not considering, even if he's not running officially for office? >> we've just seen over the past couple of months that when he wants to, no one dominates the media and the public sphere better than donald trump. so in that sense, if he chooses to go public in a major way for the republican nominee or even one of the candidates for the nomination, sure, he could help that candidate or that nominee. jon: and i think i hear the sound of the other candidates lining up outside his manhattan headquarters to kiss the ring of the donald and try to get an endorsement, huh? >> well, absolutely. of course, they're doing the same thing with governor huckabee and if daniels doesn't run they'll do the same thing with the and if christie doesn't run, they'll do the same thing with him. in fact they've already been doing it with christie. i think at this point, it's a battle among the candidates who are in and the candidates who might jump in to get this third of the republican voters who are now suddenly freed up within 48 hours of one another. jon: larry saab to, from the university of virginia, center for politics, larry, thank you. >> thanks so much. jon: a lot more news ahead. we'll be right back.

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