and we've got a lot of breaking news today. the jury in the john edwards' federal corruption trial reaches a verdict on just one of the six counts against the one-time presidential hopeful. the defense asks for a mistrial, but the judge tells the jury they've got to keep at it. let's go straight to cnn's senior correspondent, joe johns. he's in greensboro, north carolina. joe, what is going on down there? >> reporter: well, you know, it gets stranger and stranger every minute. quite frankly, just a few minutes ago, gloria, we got the word to stay tuned. it may not be over yet, even for today. the jury just sent yet another note to judge katherine eagles here in greensboro. we're waiting to hear the contents of that note. they've been a very communicatetive juror. it could be they just want to talk about scheduling. usually around 4:30 eastern time is usually when the jury breaks for the day. but recapping, it's been a very unusual and probably most extraordinary day in the entire trial here in greensboro. that is because earlier this afternoon, we got word that the jury had, in fact, reached a verdict in this six-count indictment against john edwards. but when they got into the courtroom, it became clear that they had reached a verdict on only one of the six counts. that would be the third count, which is a count of accepting illegal campaign donations from 2008 from a woman named bunny mellon. rachael bunny mellon from northern virginia, a 101-year-old woman who's very rich, who back in 2008, when john edwards was running for president, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars, ostensibly, for a personal purpose, her friends said. nonetheless, the prosecution has always alleged that this money was intended to keep the campaign aspirations of john edwards alive. as to the other five counts in the indictment, no decision yet. so the judge after conferring with the lawyer, administers what is known as an alan charge. this is a charge, a series of words, a few paragraphs that she reads to tell the jury to try harder, to go back and recan consider your positions, if you feel that's appropriate, and told them to go back to work. that's where we stand right now, but the immediate thing, gloria, is we want to hear what this next note is, whether it has to do with scheduling or some other matter, or if it, in fact, relates to their deliberations and reaching a verdict on some of those other counts. gloria? >> okay, joe, thanks so much for keeping us up to date on that and i'm sure you'll be doing it over the next few hours. let's bring in our senior legal analyst, jeff toobin. jeff, you've called this a mess, which i think is a pretty accurate description. is there any way out of this now without a mistrial? >> oh, sure, there is. i mean, there is plenty of precedent for a jury having struggled, eventually coming together and reaching a full verdict. what's unusual about this situation is that instead of saying, look, we are hopelessly divided on everything, they did reach a verdict on one count. that presents additional complexities, because if there is a verdict on that one count, the jury, there could -- and a mistrial on the remainder, the jury -- the case could be retried on the five counts, but it is very awkward to retry a case where there's been a partial verdict. that's why the strategic situation here is the defense is saying, let's take the verdict, let's end the trial, mistrial, end of story. >> sure. >> they are gambling that they won on the single count. they are gambling on an acquittal in count three. the prosecution is saying, let's send the jury back to work. let's hope to resolve the full case. and so far, at least, the judge has sided with the prosecution, but there's another note that we don't know the contents of, and this story is really changing minute to minute. >> you know, this is a very complex case. it's about campaign finance law, it's very arcane, it's been kind of sordid, but it's a very difficult case to really prosecute here. you're asking these jurors to kind of decide what's a campaign contribution and what isn't a campaign contribution. so i guess we have to ask the question, in asking a jury to really try and do this, and they're clearly working at it, did the prosecution blow it? >> well, i think we need to reserve judgment on that until we see what the jury does. this, i think, was a very marginal case. this was a case that not every u.s. attorney in the country would bring. you know, it is important to remember that 99 out of 100 criminal appeals fail. you know, appeals courts generally affirm jury verdicts. if this case ends in a conviction, i think edwards will have a very serious chance at winning an -- and having his case overturned. there are judge who is simply would not approve of a prosecution like this. the issue is so complicated and the legal question is so difficult that i think there are some appeals courts who would simply just throw this case out. >> well, it's not only that the legal questions are difficult, but what's also been interesting to me to watch is that all of the major players are absent, either because they've died or because edwards is not testifying himself, or because they're aging, like bunny mellon, who's over 100 years old. so that makes it more difficult too, doesn't it? >> gloria, i have never seen a criminal trial with more of the protagonists offstage. >> right. >> the two people who gave the money, what was their intent? that's obviously a critical issue in this case. >> we don't know! >> exactly, we don't know. because bunny mellon's 101 years old and fred baron died suddenly and unexpectedly. elizabeth edwards, alas, as we all know, died. rielle hunter, whose behavior, who is the, in many respects, the protagonist in this case, she wasn't called by the prosecution or the defense, and of course, john edwards, as was his privilege under the fifth amendment, chose not to testify. the only key person who testified in this trial was andrew young, who served essentially as the bag man, the intermediary between the donors of the money -- >> and he's not above reproach, right? > >> to say the least. to say the least. he admitted on the witness stand that some substantial amount of the money that bunny mellon gave went into his pocket and his wife's pocket and went to build their dream house in north carolina. which is a very favorable fact for the defense in this case. because how can it be a campaign contribution if it went to build this guy's house? i mean, again, it's one of the many complexities in this case. but he is the only major figure whom the jury actually heard from in the course of this trial. >> okay, jeff toobin, thanks so much. and of course, we'll be calling you here on-set again, to standby, yeah, to see what happens in this case. it's so interesting and unresolved. thanks a lot, jeff. and president obama's team launches an all-out attack on mitt romney's record and has tough words for anyone who disagrees. >> you can't handle the truth, my friends! that's the problem. >> they are bringing their case to romney's home turf. and to say it got lively is really an understatement. stand by. plus, a gotcha moment, staged by anti-abortion activists and caught on tape. how can it play into the race for the white house? and it kind of felt like a flashback to 2008 in the east room today. former president george w. bush returned to the white house and he had everybody laughing. stay with us. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. and jack cafferty's here with the cafferty file. what do you have, jack? >> good afternoon, gloria. europe's financial crisis, a warning siren for the united states, but many americans aren't paying attention. a new gallup poll shows only 16% of those surveyed say they're following the news about europe's crisis very closely. 33% say somewhat closely, 21% say not too closely, 29%, not at all. the poll also shows even though all americans aren't paying attention, 71% are concerned about the impact of the european financial crisis on our economy. that includes 31% who are very concerned. it's been suggested that american american's concern about europe might be higher if more people were actually paying attention, and it's too bad they're not. what's going on in europe is a big part of the reason why we've seen such volatility in u.s. markets. the dow jones industrial market up only five days for the entire month of of may. that hasn't happened in 43 years. if europe continues to spiral downward, we could see a drop in u.s. exports, less european investment in the united states, u.s. banks could decrease lending here at home due to worries about their exposure in europe. meanwhile, things are going from bad to worse in europe. on top of concerns about greece's debt crisis, spain is dealing with a huge banking crisis. many of spain's large banks are crippled by bad debt, money is fleeing the country in massive amounts. portugal, ireland, and greece have already had to seek international bailouts due to high borrowing costs by their governments. in the case of greece, the citizens made it very clear in the last election, they're not interested in the government spending less money. they want their handouts, come hell or high water. sound familiar? oh, and our government isn't paying attention either. many of the things leading europe deeper into crisis are running rampant right here and washington does nothing. here's the question. most americans aren't too focused on europe's financial crisis. should we be? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog or go to our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. gloria? >> thanks, jack. i think we do need to pay attention to that, but, i'll e-mail you. thanks a lot. a caught-on-tape gotcha moment staged by anti-abortion activists has helped to push house republicans for a new anti-abortion law. that bid was just voted down. but the entire drama may be tied into the battle for the women's vote this november. our senior congressional correspondent dana bash is digging into this. dana, strange story. >> very much so. as you well know, abortion is always a highly emotional and divisive politically issue, but what the house voted on today, which the republicans called gendercide, takes the politics and emotion to a whole new level. what you're looking at is a sting operation. an anti-abortion actor undercover at a texas planned parenthood clinic, pretending to want an abortion if she's having a girl. a planned parenthood staffer helps, giving detailed advice on how to find out the baby's gender. >> but do you think i still just shouldn't worry about telling them that i'm -- that i would be terminating if it's a girl? >> right. >> just keep it quiet and then come here? >> yeah, i would -- i would probably -- because more than likely, they -- i mean they could even we fuse to see you if you're just going to terminate. >> reporter: planned parenthood released a statement saying it condemns sex selection motivated by gender bias, and it fired its employee caught on tape appearing to do just that. in another video from new york city, an employee doesn't support it, but doesn't condemn it either. >> reporter: it's no secret that lila rose released these edited videos this week. rose carefully coordinated with house republicans, pushing new anti-abortion legislation banning what they call gendercide. >> we are going to allow little girls to be killed before they're born, simply because they are little girls. >> on to the legislation, doctors who knowingly perform abortions chosen because of gender would face up to five years in prison and fines. abortion providers could also be subject to civil penalties, including punitive monetary damages. >> today the three most dangerous words in china and india are, "it's a girl." we can't let that. happen here. >> reporter: republican authors of the bill cite multiple studies claiming evidence of a rising number of u.s. abortions based on the sex of the fetus, but abortion rights advocates take issue with the studies. the reality is, it's hard to know the truth about such a private issue. politically, republicans are trying to turn the democrats' charge that there's a gop war on women on its head. >> this, mr. speaker, is the real war on women. >> reporter: democrats called the legislation a political stunt. >> attempts to restrict or deny access to safe abortions is harmful to women's health and would ultimately take us back to the days of back alley abortions. >> now, the bill got 246 votes, well over a majority of support in the house, but it still didn't pass. why? now, republicans who run the house, they structured this to allow only a limited debate and require a two-thirds majority to win approval. and that didn't happen. so that allowed republican leaders to highlight the issue of abortion, but avoid an extended debate on it, and that, gloria, would take away from the issue that is number one for them politically, which is the my. >> so are you telling me there are political games being played on the house floor? >> are you shocked? >> totally shocked. dana bash, thank you very much. and president obama's re-election team goes into serious attack mode and does it on mitt romney's home turf. but did they expect all of this heckling? and one couple's marriage gets off to a rough and very scary start. what happened that as the husband saying he cried. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna to do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. nothing can stop me now. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. is engineered for comfort. like parts that create your perfect temperature and humidity or the parts that purify the air. together these parts can cut your heating and cooling bills in half. which is quite comforting. and here's the best part... call now to get up to 1,375 dollars in rebates. or zero percent financing for 18 months on select lennox home comfort systems. offer ends june 15th. plus download our free lennox mobile app with an energy-savings calculator to show how much you'll save with a lennox system. if your current system is 10 years or older, start planning now. and take advantage of special financing. so call now to get up to 1,375 dollars in rebates. or zero percent financing for 18 months on select lennox home comfort systems. offer ends june 15th. and download our lennox mobil app -- free. ♪ lennox. innovation never felt so good. several explosions have rocked baghdad. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. lisa, what do you have? >> hi, gloria, at least 14 people are dead and dozens injured from multiple explosions over a three-hour period. the bombs with went off in both shiite and sunni neighborhoods and it's unclear who committed the attacks or even if they're linked. the attacks come after an especially violent april, in which the interior ministry says 126 people were killed. the pakistani taliban are vowing to kill the doctor who helped the u.s. find osama bin laden. a taliban spokesman tells cnn, quote, we will cut him into pieces when we find him. he spied for the u.s. to hunt down our hero, osama bin laden, end quote. a court sentenced shaquille freedi to 33 years in prison, not for helping the u.s., but for his alleged ties to pakistani militant group. and talk about a bad way to start a marriage. a newly married couple was driving down interstate 95 in florida when a six-foot metal pole came crashing through the windshield. the couple was covered in glass, but okay, just terrified when they realized how close the pole came to hitting them. investigators aren't sure where that pole came from. but very, very lucky when you look at those pictures. >> i'd want to know where that pole came from, i tell you. thanks, lisa. and an attack team from the obama campaign runs into some pro-romney hecklers. >> you can shout down speakers, my friends, but it's hard to etch a sketch the truth away. >> can did the democrats make a mistake by launching an expensive in mitt romney's backyard? 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