cane is back, he has a column for theblaze.com. an all-boy panel this morning. >> you're used to that. >> you know what? i am getting kind of used to it a little bit. our starting point this morning is day two of john edwards' criminal trial. it's going to get under way in about 2 1/2 hours. and back on the stand, his former aide, andrew young. he is the key witness for the prosecution. the issue is did john edwards inappropriately use campaign funds to hide his mistress, rielle hunter? the prosecution called edwards a master manipulator, saying this. if the affair went public, it would have destroyed any chance to become the president, and he knew it and he made a choice to break the law. we're joined by melanie sloan, executive director for citizens of responsibility and ethics in washington. nice to see you, melanie. thanks for talking with us. >> nice to be here. >> walk me through what happened. andrew young will be back on the stand as i mentioned again today. yesterday was his first time on the stand. how did that go? >> i think it went fine for him. he's had an easy time so far. he's the prosecution's main witness, and he's probably going to be on the stand for a couple days walking the jury through his relationship with john edwards from beginning to end. >> they tried to hammer away at his credibility, i thought, a lot yesterday while he was on the stand. what did you think about that? >> well, clearly he has a lot of credibility problems. he's got an immunity agreement with the prosecution. that's why he's testifying to prevent himself from being charged with anything. he's already written a book that goes through his relationship with john edwards. he lied himself to say that he was the father of rielle hunter's baby. so there are a lot of problems with andrew young. he's not a perfect witness by any stretch of the imagination. so it's clear that abby lull, the defense lawyer, will be attacking him throughout. and that's going to be the defense main strategy. they're going to have to undermine andrew young's credibility. and he starts as a difficult witness. >> yeah, i thought the whole thing looks like it's going to come down to sort of liar, liar, pants on fire for everybody. i mean, andrew young, certainly john edwards. there's not a lot of credibility between the two of them. there was also a conversation about whether or not elizabeth edwards knew what was going on. how could that play a role in this case? >> that could play quite a serious role in this case because john edwards' main defense is that he was hiding the affair from his wife, not just from the american people. it wasn't a campaign tactic, it was about keeping the affair from his wife which people can rarely understand because people who have affairs are trying to hide them from their family. but if it turns out she did know about the affair much earlier than currently believed, that could make it more difficult for edwards to say that he wasn't trying to hide it from the american people. it wasn't a campaign tactic. that's what this case really boils down to. were these expenditures made to support rielle hunter, were those campaign yxs or gifts from friends to help hide the affair from elizabeth? >> melanie, how do they do that? that seems like an impossible thing to parse, this 900 plus thousand dollars donated to rielle hunter. how do you parse whether or not that was done to avoid hue hi humiliation or continue his campaign? >> that's why it's going to be such a tough case for the prosecution. remember, this is an unprecedented case. there has never before been a case on facts remotely like this where gifts to third parties are considered campaign contributions. so i think the prosecution has an uphill battle, and i think they're really relying on the fact that the jury will hate john edwards for his despicable conduct. >> listen, richard lowrie of "the national review" had this article which i think was in the "post" this morning. if, in fact, that money, that $900,000 plus was considered to be a campaign expense, then wouldn't it have to be listed as, you know, a line tumult matlmat ultimately, love child, line item number 18. and now the fax paper, line number 17. doesn't he have a point there? >> he does have a point. it is, in fact, ridiculous because not only were the gifts from fred barron and buddy mellon who are the contributors at issue, but if mr. edwards had supported rielle hunter himself, if he had put out money to support her, that, too, would have to be listed as a campaign contribution. and that's ridiculous. also, because in current campaign finance law, candidates are prohibited from using campaign funds for personal use. so you're not allowed to use the money for, say, gym membership or a haircut. but this is saying that you should, in fact, call it a campaign contribution if you're supporting your mistress. this could cause all sorts of politicians problems, really. >> melanie, i have two questions. one, considering that we're hearing terms like witch hunt bandied about all over the place, considering that andrew young's credibility is not exactly stellar, are you beginning to witness a backlash to this backlash against john edwards? and also, couldn't you make the argument since damage control is an expense that all campaigns have to go through, any expenses he sent towards his mistress and child were legitimate campaign expenses? >> missed damage control is what he's saying. >> yes. >> well, certainly i don't believe that expenditures made to support somebody's mistress could possibly be campaign contributions. and i don't think there are any campaign finance lawyers out there who actually do think these are legitimate campaign expenses. i think this is a troubling case for most people. the thing is, everybody also hates john edwards. it's really hard to behave more despicably than cheating on your cancer-stricken wife and lying on television about a baby and saying it's not yours and saying it's a campaign aide. i think the prosecution has really relied all along on how horrible john edwards behaved. in the united states, we prosecute conduct, not character. >> people said this case will go between two and six weeks. melanie sloan this week, nice to see you. other headlines, christine's got those for us. >> thank you. it is primary day here on the east coast. polls are now open in five states, connecticut, new york, delaware, pennsylvania and rhode island. a total of 204 delegates at stake. presumptive nominee mitt romney is campaigning in pennsylvania this morning. already showing signs of shifting toward the middle by coming out in favor of extending low interest rates on student loans. that plan is backed by president obama and opposed by many republicans. if things don't go well tonight, newt gingrich may bow out of the gop race. the former speaker tells nbc news he'll have to reassess his campaign if he doesn't win the delaware primary. but gingrich also warned romney not to become complacent, insisting his nomination is not inevitable. developing news this morning in the case of the 6-year-old girl who disappeared seemingly without a trace from her bedroom in tucson, arizona. the fbi has now taken over the investigation -- taken over the home, rather, 6-year-old isabel mercedes celis was tucked into bed by her parents on friday night. when her father went to wake her up saturday morning, he says she wasn't there. investigators asked the family to leave their home after specially trained fbi-trained dogs hit on some items around the house. no word on what exactly those items are. police say a screen that was removed from a window may be suspicious. the son of media mogul rupert murdoch testifying this morning at another inquiry into the british phone-hacking scandal. james murdoch insists he had little knowledge about the scale of the hacking at the "news of the world" tabloid. >> i wasn't in the business of deciding, you know, what to put in the newspapers. so it was really there, and then i was given assurances by them that sometimes proved to be wrong that i'm sure we'll go into with respect to -- with respect to the risks that they were taking. >> rupert murdoch, his father, set to testify tomorrow. mindsing your business this morning, u.s. stock futures are up, bouncing back from steep losses yesterday, but those lingering concerns about europe's economy could make for a choppy session. after the closing bell this afternoon, apple reports its first quarter profits. they're expected to top $9.2 billion in just three little months. which is about exactly what the oil giant exxon mobil expects to earn. most of those profits likely from iphone sales. facebook hits 900 million users worldwide. a little context. 900 million users. think of it, that's larger than the populations of u.s., indonesia, brazil and japan combined. the company says its profits fell a little in the first quarter mostly for the money it's spending to gear up for its initial offering. it was a hot pursuit that literally went to the dogs. this one starts with the girlfriend of a man who allegedly robbed a credit union in los angeles, hopping into a stolen minivan. cops on their tail. she's dangling on the side of the van as he speeds away. she gave up quickly in the end, but the driver refused to get out of the van until a police dog appropriately named rambo, by the way, went in after him, dragged him down by his derriere shall we say. all this as a cloud of cash comes out of the driver's side door. so man's best friend was police officer's best friend in that particular pursuit. >> what? i didn't do it. what? there's cash coming out of the van. what? what? i'm a lawyer. >> i found this. >> christine, thank you. still ahead this morning on "starting point," jennifer hudson was holding back tears as she took the stand against the man who's accused of killing her mother, brother and her nephew. some of that devastating testimony is straight ahead. plus, street racers with law on their side. state troopers involved in a death race on the highway with a super bowl champ? we've got details in today's "get real." melanie sloan's playlist, it's the sugar hill gang. who knew? "rapper's delight." you're watching "starting point." wow. this is new. yep, i'm sending the dancing chicken to every store in the franchise to get the word out. that could work. or you could use every door direct mail from the postal service. it'll help you and all your franchisees find the customers that matter most -- the ones in the neighborhood. you print it or we'll help you find a local partner. great. keep it moving, honey. honey? that's my wife. wow. there you go. there you go. [ male announcer ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. er is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. hey, dad, you think i could drive? i'll tell you what -- when we stop to fill it up. ♪ ♪ [ son ] you realize, it's gotta run out sometime. [ male announcer ] jetta tdi clean diesel. the turbo that gets 42 miles per gallon. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ that police chief who handed in his resignation over the trayvon martin shooting is staying on the job this morning. and that is because the city commission refused to accept bill lee's resignation. it's the same commission that voted no confidence in how lee handled the shooting investigation the first time around. listen. >> it is not the sanford residents who have created this firestorm. it is not the sanford residents. it is not art woodruff. it is not francis oliver. it is not all of the other people who live and work here that created this. it was brought in from the outside. >> norton bonaparte is the sanford city manager. he joins us this morning. nice to see you, sir. thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. >> good morning. >> let's walk through what happened. he had offered to resign. you guys had worked out some kind of a deal, and then the city commission who had recently voted no confidence in that exact same police chief then voted 3-2 that he stay. walk me through how that happened. >> basically, what the city commission said is that they want to have more information. in particular, they want to have the results of an independent investigation that would determine what actually took place that night and how the sanford police department acted. did they do things that they shouldn't have done, or did they not do things that they should have done? >> did the two of you work out a deal before you brought it to the city commission, and what were the details of that deal? >> yes. chief lee and i had had several conversations and determined that with the vote of no confidence, it would be very challenging for him to continue as the police chief of the city of sanford. so we worked out a severance agreement. we took it to the city commission, discussed it with them, and last night they decided that they would not accept it. >> the mayor was the deciding vote in all this. and his name is mayor triplette. here's what he had to say. >> i'm not ready to have him come back and run the police department. i'm not. i don't know if i'm ready for this either. and that's the question that i'm going through right now. >> you know, it was interesting listening to these conversations in that city commission meeting. people seemed very tortured and torn about what to do. can you describe for me what the city of sanford is like right now? >> well, it's a little cold today. it's unusual for florida. in terms of the city commission meeting, it was also cold. you had a lot of people at the meeting. you had a lot of police supporters and you have those who say that chief lee should not come back. that's why tensions got pretty hot last night. >> and where do you stand on all this? when we spoke originally about this the first time around and i asked you, are you in a position, if you wanted to, you could fire the chief of police. and i believe you said yes, that is within your powers. where do you stand on what he should do? >> what i have indicated in the past and continue to say is that there should be an independent review of chief lee's actions. however, what has changed is that i'm now getting the sense that with the council's vote of no confidence, it will be challenging for him to come back. and while i asked for a review, it seems as though it will be some time before i can get that information, maybe as much as three months or more. and rather than staying in this limbo, it would be better for us to have a separation. chief lee and i talked and came to an agreement it would be best if he separate from the sanford police department. >> so is a review under way right now, in fact, or are they postponing that review? >> no, we have asked for a review. we've asked the united states department of justice and particularly their division that deals with criminal misconduct in police departments. that, however, will take time. the other consideration is the fact that now it is going forward as a criminal matter, i think there's going to be a lot of evidence that needs to be looked at that probably will not be available to the public because this is an ongoing criminal matter which perhaps could even go to a legal case. >> before i let you go, there was a clip where we heard from one of the commissioners talking really essentially saying that outside agitators are the ones who have really bit at the heart of this conflict. do you agree with that? do you think that a lot of the problems that sanford, florida's, having right now is because people from the outside coming in, or do you think that these are issues that are, in fact, intrinsic to the city? >> i think it's both. i think one of the things that made this such a key point is that people in sanford as well as from around the country felt that there was an example where black life was not being truly valued. and the fact that mr. zimmerman could kill mr. martin and not going to jail struck a nerve. it has struck a nerve in sanford and struck a nerve throughout the united states. >> norton bonaparte is sanford's city manager. nice to see you. thanks for your time. we appreciate it. still ahead on "starting point," our "get real." police in trouble for allegedly clearing the way for porsches and lamborghinis to tear down the highway at speeds of 100 miles an hour, maybe even more. details on that next. and one of the greatest football players of all time, nfl great dan moo reas marino's join us live. and john's playlist, " yeah yeah yeah." you're watching "starting point." your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. ♪ had to cross the state line ♪ texas was our big time you want to tell them what you asked me during the break? >> yeah. if this is what you really listen to. >> do i really listen to this? yes, absolutely. >> the derailers, "all the rage in paris." you never know. it's on will cain's playlist. i have things that i listen to only in the gym or when i'm traveling. >> i thought you were asking me if i was tv acting. >> but i like your paranoia. so instead of pulling over reckless drivers, apparently these state troopers were clearing the way for them. take a look. >> you da the man! >> you the man! that's what people recording this are screaming to the state troopers who are escorting some of the nicest cars you'll ever see. take a look at that. two new jersey state troopers have been suspended now without pay. they're accused of doing this. escorting a pack of porsches and lamborghinis and ferraris. the speeds here, it's obviously hard to tell on this tape, but going about 100 miles an hour or so, 110, or 120 if you believe these guys as they're driving along trying to keep up. it was a death race, they call it had, down the garden state parkway to atlantic city. it happened last month. this is the youtube video of the same race back in 2010. witnesses said the two police cruisers were leading the cars as they were weaving in and out of traffic forcing some vehicles off the road according to one statement. 49ers' running back bran john jacobs who won his second super bowl with the giants last year was reportedly behind the wheel of one of those sports cars. last season he bragged about a fast car being delivered to his home after giants booed him. they interviewed chris christie, the governor. dumb, dumb things. >> shocking in the story to me is they admit jacobs asked for a police escort to go to atlantic city. i didn't know that police escorts were so readily available to those who would ask. maybe you have to be a certain kind of person who gets that granted to you. >> i'm not sure, in new jersey. >> it's shocking that rich, privileged people have special rights in american society. i'm appalled. >> it's available for everybody who asks. >> i'm afraid to do 70 on the turnpike, and these guys get to do 120. >> you don't ask, they can't say no. >> exactly. that's true. i have to remember that. >> it does bring up an important point we must remember, that the new york giants are really a jersey team. people don't know that outside of here. >> it's good to know the most important thing to take away. still ahead, new details about al qaeda