strings attached. we're keeping them honest tonight. also, in a moment, we'll take you live to a town that's still under warde, and you'll hear from a man who has been stranded by hurricane irene and he says forgotten by fema. rising waters leaving him surrounded. roads are gone. nearby houses gone as well. power is out. supplies are still limited. he says he hasn't seen a government official or fema worker and only local sheriffs trying to deal with the problem. he joins us shortly by phone. breaking news tonight. late word that president obama will hit hard hit patterson new jersey over the weekend. flood warnings in effect for the area up and down the east coast in fact days after rain from hurricane irene first began falling. susan candiotti is in the middle of it in little falls, new jersey. susan, parts of little falls have been evacuated. what's the latest on the flooding there? >> reporter: just to give you a sense of where i am standing on the ledge of one of those vacuum cleaners at a car wash now dipping into the water so you can see how high the water is. putting this piece of paper in there to show you how fast the current is flowing. it's cold here. yeah. there are, like, 18,000 people in new jersey who have remained evacuated. 3,500 of them remain right here in this county. they are out of their homes and they don't like it. anderson, you know what? this is like the third time for some of these people they have been out of their homes this year. first time for a hurricane. two other times because of just bad storms. >> you went around the town in a boat today. what did you see? >> reporter: well, there's a street right down here that's a dead ender and someone who has a rowboat with a motor attached to it, we went down there. you know, the homes have water halfway up in many cases. there are some where you see garages where they left the doors open and it almost looks like the homes are on stilts because the water went all of the way in. we went back there with one man who lived here for about 15 years. he said he's never seen it this bad. i asked him what he saw about seeing his house for the first time, he said i don't have the words to describe it. it's just that bad. >> a lot of people there also have been refusing to evacuate. how are they handling it? >> reporter: yeah. i talked to a lot of those people, too. you know, they say we've been through this. i refuse to leave my house. we have flood insurance. a lot of them are simply worried about looting for both themselves and their neighbors. but there's a strong police presence out here. we've seen police turning people back if it looks like they don't belong. your heart goes out to everyone not leaving. >> any idea when the floodwaters might start to recede or fully go away? >> reporter: they hope it will be by this weekend when people might start to be able to come back in where the waters are the highest. some people already started the cleanup. they are going to have a rough go of it. >> susan, appreciate the reporting. thanks very much. i want to tell you about the situation in vermont now. they haven't seen things this bad since 1927. crews have been working hard reopening dozens of roads but people are still stranded from back on sunday including the man you're about to meet. todd trazaskosis stuck in a small town of gaysville. i spoke to him a short time ago. todd, you say there are a couple hundred people essentially stranded in your area. what's the situation now? >> essentially the same as it has been for the last several days since the water came through. a bunch of the major roads have been cut by the flow and local guys are slowly getting it together, at least around the bridges and culverts that had problems. there's a lot of activity from the local contractors. basically, any farmer way front loader is trying to clear roads. >> it's hard for people who are who aren't familiar with the region to be stuck in an area with roads being impassable. how is everyone holding up? >> caller: generally everyone has been pretty well. i know state troopers organized something where they were getting prescription medicine dropped in. not everyone has a generator. we do. so do the neighbors. that's why people have come up our way. we're housing someone's whose house the river went through and a couple people next door whose bridge went out and there's a landslide up to the house. we emptied the house out yesterday completely because it won't be safe. they're not staying there. it won't stay on the hillside. >> have you heard from fema or state, local officials? >> just local folks. i haven't seen anyone further up the chain than the local persons. i've been out busy doing things. there's a local meeting every day at the end of the bridge now where we get updates. people are calming on their own and trying to talk to insurance people. you know, it's going to be a slow process, because there's not a lot of good cell service in the valley. i'm up on this foot trail that we cut because it's got a good spot where i get a decent signal. we get something at the house but it isn't always reliable. >> you had to hike up a trail to get cell service to talk to us. a lot of the homes in the area were washed away in the flooding. does everyone have some kind of shelter at this point? >> caller: i think everyone at this point has been accounted for. that's the big job we did the first day making sure the neighbors we knew were where they were supposed to be. that they had gotten out safely. even yesterday i got to phone somebody who hadn't been able to talk to the outside. their relatives were, of course, worried, and we've been passing messages for folks. if anybody needs a shower when the generator's running we can get them into the mix. >> todd, i wish you the best. we'll check in with you and i hope the folks that need medication are getting it regularly. as you said, the state troopers were trying to make that happen. we'll check in with you again. thanks, todd. keeping them honest now -- hurricane and flooding damage could break the bank for fema. funding it is turning into a mess. leading congressional republicans say they want to pay for disaster relief by cutting money elsewhere in the budgets. offsets. today governor chris christie of new jersey had sharp words for those in washington with that idea and those who support it. >> nobody was asking about offsetting budget cuts in joplin. i don't want to hear the fact that offsetting budget cuts come first before new jersey citizens are taken care of. so you want to figure out budget cuts, that's fine. you want it to turn into a fiasco like that debt limit thing. where they're fighting with each other for eight or nine weeks and you expect the citizens of my state to wait? they're not going to wait and i'll make sure they don't. >> governor christie is taking aim at house republican leaders mainly majority leader eric cantor pushing for those offsets. >> the federal government does have a role in situations like this when there's a disaster there's an appropriate federal role. we'll find the moneys. we've had discussions about these things before. those moneys will be offset with appropriate savings or cost cutting elsewhere in order to meet the priority of the federal government's role in a situation like this. >> keeping them honest tonight. in other situations like this, congressman cantor has had a very different plan. just give us the money. that was his plan before. this is damage from tropical storm gaston which hit congressman cantor's district in richmond, virginia, back in 2004. the congressman sent out a press release back then after funding arrived with no offset budget cuts. it reads the magnitude of the damage suffered by the richmond area is beyond what the commonwealth can handle and that's is where i asked the president to make federal funds available for the citizens affected by gaston. the president then was george w. bush and the house was controlled by republicans. he wasn't talking about offsets then. a year later after hurricane katrina hit, a got colleague proposed an amendment that would tie relief cut to spending cuts doing precisely what congressman cantor now wants to do. back then, the congressman had a different view and he voted no on putting any strings on disaster relief. what's changed between then and now? between it being in his district and being in new jersey and vermont? well, the budget deficit is also larger and national debt is bigger but the political climate is also different. again, keeping them honest. this has never been much of a partisan political issue before. "the new york times" citing research by senate democrats showing that congress has approved 33 emergency appropriations for fema dating back to 1989, and none of them called for budget cuts elsewhere to pay for them. as for congressman cantor, his office declined our invitation to come on the program tonight and when we asked specifically what the congressman would cut to pay for emergency funding, his spokesman also declined to give an answer. he says any discussion of cuts would be in his words hypothetical. i spoke earlier with republican strategists and democrat strategists. is eric cantor being hypocritical here? back when the hurricane hit his district, he wasn't calling for offset for federal disaster money. >> of course he's being hypocritical. more than that, he's being political. he's a very smart guy. i can't say he's playing this because he's dumb. he must see political angle here. i frankly don't. it's an enormous risk here. not only did he support aid for his district which was necessary when tropical storm gaston hit a couple years ago, he also has voted for, my count, $50 billion of rebuilding aid for iraq and $56 billion of rebuilding aid for afghanistan with no offsets and he's voted for $40 billion over ten years in aid to oil companies. subsidies for oil companies. so i suppose the people who have been hit by the hurricane have two options. either hope that cheney and bush invade them, and then eric cantor will send them aid, or corporate oil companies, because eric cantor supports aid to oil companies as well but not american citizens hit by a hurricane. >> alex, what about that? using fema to push for spending cuts during the debt ceiling fight, this now just the agreed upon tactic of using one issue to fight another battle? is that going to be the way business is done now in washington? >> i'm not sure that it's just a political point or a politically useful issue. i think the president here is blaming the atm machine for not giving him any money when he drained the bank account. this is the president who spent $1 trillion on a similar law that didn't work and a health care bill that america doesn't want. now he keeps saying let's spend money we don't have. all republicans say this is important. great. let's take $6 billion we're throwing away on ethanol right now and use it for something more important. >> not all republicans are saying that. mcdonnell and chris christie attacking the candidates, saying now is not the time to start a big fight over spending cuts in terms of disaster assistance. >> in a trillion dollar budget, something in washington has to be less important than helping the people that we saw with homes flood and homes destroyed. i think that's what you can get support for in congress. if it's that important and it is it why did the president spend all the money? >> paul, what about that? what's wrong with an offset for federal spending? >> for emergency spending you don't have an offset because here's the tricky part, it's an emergency, alex. look, there's a regular order of these thing, and we should have budget debates through the normal budget process. should we subsidize oil companies the way that eric cantor wants to do? should we spend billions and billions rebuilding afghanistan and iraq with no offsets but no money rebuilding america. those are the kind of debates you can have in the regular order. when there's an emergency, what do you do? americans drop everything and go to help people who are in need. that's what cantor should be doing. >> paul and i are going to agree on this. you should have money saved away for a rainy day and the president should have thought of that and the democrat shos have thought of that when they spent a trillion on stimulus and a trillion on health care and we didn't have and now that rainy day has come and we don't have it. >> i got to say i helped the president balance the budget -- >> you can tell the atm it's an emergency and it still won't have the money. >> excuse me for talking while you're interrupting. but i helped the president balance the budget. i know what it takes. frankly the republicans don't. they are the ones who squaundrd excuse me. they squandered the clinton surplus. they did it, here's how. tax cuts for the rich which we could easily repeal if we need the money and i think we do. subsidies for oil companies and other corporations. a war against a country, iraq, that was no threat to america. we could -- we should revisit these republican parties. when a republican talks about deficits to me, it's like an arsonist complaining about the fire department. it's not the fault of the people who are hit by a hurricane. come on. >> please, no. it's not fair to say that republicans are saying it's anybody's fault. we're just saying the bank account is drained. let's find the money somewhere. if democrats are going into the next election saying there's nowhere in the federal government that we can find a few dollars to help people in need, that there's nothing that's less important than that, and republicans are going into the next election saying, hey, let's try to act like we're broke because we are, then i think that's the advantage that will go to the republicans. so knock yourself out. >> alex, should eric cantor proposing these offsets, should it be part of his responsibility to least list his priorities for what he would cut in order to do these offsets? >> i think republicans have demonstrated a lot of willingness to do that. anderson, i think that's a good point. >> can we ask cantor's office? they haven't listed specifics. >> but during the debt ceiling debate for example, republicans were more than willing to prioritize spending. i think that would be a great place to get democrats and republicans together on the hill and say, let's prioritize this stuff, because we've run out of money. >> paul, republicans are saying, look, we send democrat controlled senate a fema funding bill and they left town for the month. >> fine. whatever. these people are hurting. we need to help them. i'm serious. no. like, come on. they left on their vacation. seriously, whatever. when a storm hits, people need help. they need help right away. they don't need help because they're democrats. they don't need help because they're republicans. they're american citizens who are suffering damage through no fault of their own. what is really going on i suspect is an insidious thing where the republicans are trying to discredit government. when they ran fema they discredited it and it is run by competent people. by the way, the guy who runs it was an appointee of george bush's brother, jeb bush, and now fema is doing a good job, and they want to defund it. i think really what they want to show is that the government cannot help you when in fact it can when there's an emergency and we need to help our neighbors. >> if i can offer a slightly different point of view. i don't think republicans are trying to discredit government. it's done a good job of that by itself. republicans aren't saying don't help people. they're saying, where's the money? there has to be priorities. it's time for washington to start acting like grown-ups. i'm isha sesay with break breaking news -- president obama wants to unvairl his new jobs program but house speaker boehner nixed his request to speak wednesday night. we'll have details on the speech showdown next. breaking news when the president can have his speech. next thursday instead of wednesday, his first choice. after a war of words over the speech request. it started this afternoon when the house speaker snubbed the president of the united states perhaps for the first time in history. this week a spokesman accused the white house of ignoring decades if not centuries of protocol and what republicans call an effort to one-up the gop. in case you wondered what all the gainsmanship and game playing and petty politics is about, jobs. not politics. jobs. new numbers tonight show the private sector created fewer than 100,000 jobs this month. president obama requested time to speak to congress wednesday night to lay out his new jobs plan, but the day he asked for would preempt a gop debate. so speaker boehner's office made a counteroffer for the following night, opening night for the nfl. the white house says speaker boehner was informed about the address. boehner spokesman said he wasn't consulted. now president obama agreed to just move the speech to thursday. joining us with more, chief white house correspondent jessica yellin and on the phone, democratic strategist paul ra gall la and eric ericsson, and jessica, if i can start with you, we heard from white house press secretary jay carney saying wednesday was the day. it was the right day, the right time. now the white house is backing down. what are your sources telling you tonight? >> reporter: first of all, if they're going to address a joint session of congress, there are only two days next week to do it. wednesday or thursday. the only two dates both house, in session. so the white house says they picked the first date. clearly, there is a disadvantage to going thursday, as you point out, the nfl is there, playing then. one white house official says this whole flap was silly. that's what they told me. and they would have been happy to go thursday, had the speaker's office said originally that's what they would have preferred. the bottom line is, this is clearly a case of bad communication, of ugly, bad -- bad communication between them, but also bad feelings between the two offices right now, and not a sign of good things to come as they try to actually work out a jobs plan which as you point out is the main theme here going forward. >> indeed. paul, i've got to ask you. this does it make the president look weak, though? >> reporter: well, yes. but until the speech comes. if the speech is strong the president will look strong. this little tit for tat today, jessica yellin has it right, she's a terrific reporter. it's classic sort of miscommunication. it is the sort of thing that has never happened in my memory. i used to work for the house majority leader who was a democrat when we had a republican president and i worked for a democratic president with a republican speaker. you work these things out. the fact that the speaker right away kind of went to the airwaves and the fact that apparently the president's staff didn't carefully vet the date with the speaker, it really is a shame. it's going to be a great football game, but hopefully the president can get his jobs speech in before kickoff. >> eric erickson, to jessica's point that it doesn't bode well ahead of this jobs plan, isn't this exactly what american people are sick of, this bickering and the lack of bipartisanship in washington? >> yeah, they are sick of it. i think they're sick of politicians in washington flat out giving speeches now regardless of party. i think people are kind of tired of the speeches. yeah, i completely agree with jessica and paul both on this, that it is dined kind of a sill affair. there have been these incidents in the past. the last one i could find was actually woodrow wilson back in the 19-teens, who had given an address to congress in january, february, march and april of 1914 and i think congress had enough of him and didn't want to schedule anymore but hadn't happened since then. these things happen. so he goes, wednesday night on the republican debate or he is thursday night. you don't just have the nfl, oklahoma-arizona, which i'll be watching. >> that's where your attention will be. jessica, any more details coming on the speech itself, what's in this plan? >> reporter: well, they're being very closely held. but people who have been in consultation, and made it quite clear, i'm given to believe we'll hear about a payroll tax cut extension, which is an employee payroll tax cut. also a tax break to possibly employers who hire -- can create new jobs. maybe even an additional could be tax break to people who hire the long-term unemployed, folks who maybe have been out of work for six months or longer. that could be in there. a lot of people think it could also include for example money to renovate dilapidated schools or even money to bring low-income housing up to energy efficiency standards and create new ways for private funding to get into infrastructure investments in cities and states. all of these are ideas that they have talked to outside policymakers about a lot of people think could show up in the speech one way or another. >> paul, the question is, it is ultimately, a big night. opening night of the nfl. you've heard what at least the inside jessica's getting about what's in the speech. will the american people be up for listening to it? >> it may well be. eric makes a great point. the college football game may be better, oklahoma and arizona. there's a great pass sang of there's a great passage of scripture. man meant it for ill but god meant it for good. i think the speaker and the president have sort of stumbled here. maybe the good news is people will watch and there'll be a heightened expectation of producing a serious jobs program for this country. let's hope the president produces something that is big and bold and let's hope the congress passes it. is that how you see it, eric? >> reporter: maybe. so i've got the sneaking suspicion that american people are really done with the speeches. and it doesn't matter which political party. i think they're really done with the speeches. they're done with the bickering. they're done with the arguing over fema funding. they just want either washington to do something or washington to get out of the way and let them do something. and i'm not really sure how many people will tune in on thursday night. >> low expectations. jess, is the white house feeling pressure of expectations? i mean, we're talking about this nfl game. but i mean, what's your sense from them? >> reporter: well, there's no doubt. this is a different kind of speech. it's not about talking to the american people as much as it is laying out -- i mean they want to get their message out but it's laying out for congress a clear plan, very specific, saying, here's my proposal from the white house. now it's your turn to act. and so they're taking it directly to congress. they're going there, because it's his one shot at sort of dlifberring the message to congress, and then it's up to congress to sort it take it, leave it, take pieces of it. it's really out of the president's hands beyond that. and after months of hearing criticism that president's in the been specific enough on issues, here's a night when there are very high expectations that he better be very, very specific so they do know that there's a lot of anticipation for this. and the pressure is on for him to deliver. >> indeed. because although you made the point it is about congress he is aware of the wider audience of people looking for the president to get out in front here. >> reporter: yes, absolutely. and a prime time audience, too, most likely. we have yet to see what time it is. they've not yet said what time it will actually happen on thursday night. >> and why is that? is that just -- >> reporter: they still have to figure it out. then there's the nfl game. so they have to figure out the timing vis-a-vis when the game kicks off. i'm sure paul and eric could explain it all to us. >> i'm sure they could. but i think we'll pass on that. jessica yellin, eric erickson and paul begala, thanks to all of you. now back to anderson. still ahead on 360, muammar gadhafi's sons are speaking out as a do or die deadline approaches for their father's ancestral city. they're not backing down at least not verbally. the latest from tripoli tonight plus, new developments in aruba, where the search for the missing woman from america goes on. why the key suspect, this man right here, gary giordano, won't be going home to maryland anytime soon. 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[ male announcer ] stay smart and book smart. book early and save up to 20% at any holiday inn express. stay you. 11 days after opposition forces stormed the capital and captured moammar gadhafi's compound they're poised tonight about 65 miles outside the sirte. they've given the city until saturday to surrender or face attack. gadhafi's whereabouts remain a mystery. two of gadhafi's sons are speaking out. one defiantly and some may see delusionally. he told a syrian tv station, "we will have victory soon." he said he was speaking from a suburb of tripoli. he didn't reveal where his father is but listen to what he did say. >> reporter: it our leader is fine, and we are fighting and drinking tea and coffee and we are sitting with our families and we are fighting. >> gadhafi called for libyans to rise up against the gangsters, rats, mercenaries attempted to get control of his country. wherever you see the enemy attack them, they are weak they have suffered lots of losses and they are now licking their wounds. he predicted loyalist forces would keep control of sirte and keep loyalists square. his brother's comments were a bit more restrained but suggested there's room to negotiate with opposition forces. nic robertson joins me now from tripoli. we heard from his son when he phoned into that syrian television station. he seemed to insist his father was alive and well. are there any credible reports about where he may be? nic, can you hear me? clearly we're having some trouble getting in touch with nic. we'll try to check in with him in a moment. let's check in with isha sesay. other stories. a grim report from amnesty international. the civil rights group says it documented the deaths of at least 88 detainees in syria during the five-month uprising against the government. according to the report, at least 52 of the victims' bodies showed evidence of torture. all of the victims were male. some as young as 13. growing tensions in bahrain. protesters say a 14-year-old boy was killed by police today. witnesses said officers fired a tear gas round directly at the child during clashes with protesters. former nba guard javaris crittenton will be returned to georgia to face a murder charge in the death of an atlanta mother. he waived his right to fight extradition today. crittenton was arrested monday in california on a fugitive warrant. a settlement between mel gibson and oksana grigorieva. gibson has agreed to pay his ex-girlfriend $750,000 and share time with their young daughter. thankfully, the agreement requires both parties to not speak about each other publicly. >> a wise idea there. time for the hip hoar couple beyonce and jay-z are expecting. they broke the news at the mtv video music awards. and now the baby to be has its own animation thanks to mma-tv. take a look. >> discussing what to name the baby. i don't know. i don't know how they come up with this stuff there. we'll try to get in touch with nic robertson after the break and the latest on the case of the missing american woman in aruba. the decision today on whether her traveling partner, gary giordano, the main suspect in the case, will be released from custody or if he'll be held for two more months. 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we often heard misleading reports from both sides. >> reporter: you know, the evidence on the ground is that the national transitional council is massing rebel force outside of sirte and they do intend to go there. they have to capture it. it's part of the sort of key strategic coastal highway. they have to get to the highway then they can start pushing south. there's another town on the coast they have to capture, too. that's important. they do intend to do that. the other town saif talked about also sort of thumbing their nose at the national transitional council, some think maybe moammar gadhafi or saif and other members of the family may be in that town. maybe. no one is sure. rebels also gave that until saturday. now saif said go ahead and attack now. it's anyone's bet with when the ntc will actually lead the advance on these towns. >> you're in direct correspondence with another one of gadhafi's sons online through e-mails. he seemed to go back on something he told you earlier before, which is that he's no longer willing to negotiate with opposition forces. why do you think there's that change? >> reporter: i think what's happening here is -- i think what he said on television was consistent with what i was hearing in e-mails. the way that the national transitional council had tried to play what he was saying by saying he was trying to negotiate a surrender. what he said he's willing to do is to negotiate with and talk to national transitional council military commanders. he's not willing to surrender but willing to talk to them about a cease-fire. i mean, what i take away from all this from his sons speaking at the same time, their first public broadcast with a completely divergent message, he is loyal to his father, and various times told to shut up and stay in the corner, and now speaking his mind saying something different. we're seeing the first fractures come within the family. this is an indication that for his part he's trying to look to the future about what he's going to do and he's perceived a weaker link in the chain compared to the rest of the family. i think that's what's happening here. >> interesting stiff. nic robertson, appreciate it. stay safe. crime and punishment next and aruban mystery the american man held there in disappearance of an frern american woman is not free to go yet. a magistrate in aruba has decided that gary giordano could be held for another 60 days. giordano says he was snorkeling with robyn gardner and she was swept out to sea on august 2nd. there have been troubling questions about his story after he told authorities that he's the beneficiary of a $1.5 million insurance policy he took out on gardner. joining us with the latest, giordano has to stay in jail for another 60 days. did the court elaborate on the decision at all? >> reporter: no. we didn't get any elaboration whatsoever. i mean, the judge essentially threw the book at him, so we were expecting some explanation as to what it was the judge heard or saw, but instead the only thing we did get from court observers is this hearing took place at 9:00 in the morning. the answer from the judge didn't come until 4:15 in the afternoon. those who follow the legal system say when it comes to a detainment hearing they've never heard of it taking this long. taking that long for a judge to decide. whether that's some insight, we don't know. >> i don't understand under aruban law which is dutch law if i'm not wrong, they can just continually hold him and then have hearings and then decide to hold him even longer? >> reporter: well, in theory it's not supposed to be so capricious where they say we would like to keep him longer and judge says that's fine, thank you. the way it's supposed to work is every time you go before the detainment judge the level of witness and the level of evidence you have to provide is that much higher. in essence they were going for 60 days. that meant they should have had to provide the judge some very clear proof and some very good persuasive argument as to why gary giordano needs to be held and where their investigation is going. did they do that? we don't know. it was a closed proceeding. that's how it was supposed to be. we assume that's how it happened. >> i want to bring in jean casarez. she's a correspondent on trutv. she joins me now in new york. aruban authorities have got to be feeling a lot of pressure given the natalee holloway. >> they have to be. two women missing. no bodies, and they don't want to repeat what they've done before, but the fact is, when i was in aruba last fall because they found a jawbone and thought it was natalee holloway's, i pressured him about why they didn't file murder charges against joran van der sloot and they said they didn't have a body. they don't have a body here. >> there's no body here and it makes the case -- can they just keep holding him? if they don't find a body, can they still go ahead with charges if there's not a lot of evidence on the beach? >> well, that will be determined. it's very difficult when you don't have a body. what else do they have forensically? we don't know as martin said. it's very secretive there. the fact is they continue to hold him. they didn't do that with joran van der sloot. they kept letting him go and rearresting him. there's a risk of flight here. as martin said at the end of the 60 days, they have to press charges if they want this to go forward or release him and he'll fly back to the u.s. >> at the end of 60 days he could pick up and leave the island if he's not charged? >> reporter: well, in theory, yeah. he could walk out the front gate. his lawyer waiting there to pick him up and they would head off to the airport and he would hop the next flight back to the united states. it is possible, i'm told, that the prosecution might ask for an additional 30 days. if they get that far, they better be ready to go to trial and the question is do they really have enough at this point or in 60 days to go to trial. >> jean, if he's released and comes back to the united states, could he be charged here? >> that's a good question. you know, u.s. officials were never able to charge joryour jo van der sloot in the death of natalee holloway. she was an american girl. this is an american girl. the fbi is helping aruban authorities. they weren't asked to do that with natalee holloway. with the text messages and phone records. are there anything that can provide charges on american soil and what about that life insurance policy? he was the beneficiary. admitted 1.25. fraudulently obtained that? u.s. officials could determine that, i think. >> on that insurance policy, she would have had to know about it, right? >> reporter: right. this is a result of a conversation i had with american express. you can't take a policy out on somebody. you're the beneficiary and they don't know their life was on the line. no. she would have had to sign a document that said i allow for gary giordano to be the beneficiary if something were to happen to me. the question, though, if it was raised is, did she know what she was signing or, perhaps, did someone forge that signature? no proof of anything like that but the question has been raised, did she really know what documents she was signing? >> what is the legal system and law enforcement system like in aruba, jean? you've been down there. are they up to a big investigation? >> that's a good question. i mean, they work with the hague. they work with the dutch authorities. these are not aruban officials. they are from holland and they are circulated and appointed to serve in aruba. that jawbone that washed up on the shore was human. it wasn't natalee holloway's but it was human. i could tell they just really weren't aggressively wanting to find out whose human being jaw bone that was. that was a person that died and no one knows who it was. >> appreciate the reporting. up next, tropical storm katia gaining strength expected to become a hurricane within hours. we'll have the latest on its path. plus, why prince harry will head to america this fall. and snooki's latest wild moment in front of the cameras. it lands all of the networks on the ridiculist because they have missed an opportunity. and, yes, i include cnn and msnbc and alled other folks in on that. we'll be right back. naomi pryce: i am. i'm in the name your own price division. i find empty hotel rooms and help people save - >> - up to 60% off. i am familiar. your name? > naomi pryce. >> what other "negotiating" skills do you have? > i'm a fifth-degree black belt. >> as am i. > i'm fluent in 37 languages. >> (indistinct clicking) > and i'm a master of disguise >> as am i. > as am i. >> as am i. > as am i. >> well played naomi pryce. [♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. katia is now a hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour. that's a category 1 storm. early sunday, the national hurricane center expects katia to become a major hurricane with winds topping 110 miles per hour. it's too early to tell if it will hit land. firefighters are having a tough time battling a wildfire in northern texas. about 7500 acres have burned about 50 miles northwest of dallas fort worth. at least 39 other homes have been destroyed by the flames. also in texas -- polygamist sect leader warren jeffs has been upgraded from critical to serious condition. the decision was made before he was flown from a medical center in tyler to a prison hospital in galveston. the convict child rapist fell ill earlier this week while fasting in prison. the justice department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against at&t. this to block a proposed merger with t-mobile. the deal would create the largest wireless company in the u.s. the government says that would leave just two companies, the merged at&t and verizon wireless dominating more than 75% of the wireless industry. former baseball star barry bonds won't face retrial on perjury charges. federal prosecutors filed a notice of dismissal of the charges today. in april, a jury convicted bonds on a single count of obstructing a grand jury probe into illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs. but the jury couldn't reach a verdict on three perjury counts. bonds is facing up to ten years in prison when he's sentenced on the obstruction conviction in december. and tennis star venus williams has dropped out of the u.s. open saying she's been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue and joint pain. now back to anderson. coming up, snooki is trying out for a new line of work. and like everything else she does, she's really, really good at it. watch out, diane sawyer. you have stiff competition coming up. and the networks? they're on our ridiculist because of it. we'll explain. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. [ indistinct conversations ] [ hissing ] agents, what did we learn here today? that lint balls are extremely flammable! well, yeah. and that 15,000 dryer fires happen every year! that's why it's important to regularly clean and inspect your vents! correct. where did you get that?! i built it. [ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪ time now for the ridiculist. every major news station that's out there, that's right, i'm going there. frankly they have all missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime. fox news, nbc, cnn, cbs news, abc. they put people like diane sawyer, people like your brian williams and me behind the anchor desk when they could have gone in a much different direction. a tiny, tan, poofy-haired muscle-loving direction. >> welcome to the news according to snooki. >> ah! >> now, i have always known that snooki is a renaissance woman. she's so much more than what you see on "the jersey shore". yeah, she drinks, she dances, she parties and smooshes, but she also philosophizes. she also writes best-selling books. she also holds the key to my heart. so i for one am not at all surprised to see that snooki counts anchoring the news among her myriad of talents. >> i've always wanted to be an anchor woman. and hello, i look hot doing it. >> i know what you're thinking. she's no ann curry. but you need to give it a chance. because the news according to snooki has something for everyone. she covers the important current events like hurricane irene knocking out power in the northeast. >> when you're powerless, you can't like straighten your hair, blow dry your hair, go on twitter, go on facebook. you can't do anything. you can't talk on the phone. you just sit there and do nothing. you can't even watch tv. >> oh, believe me, snooki. i know what it's like to be powerless. powerless against your charms. she covers all the important environmental issues like global warming. >> every time i go down to the seaside, i'm sweaty in places i've never sweated before, so obviously the sun is coming closer to earth. >> me, too. she covers medical news with the aplomb with a really buzzed, pint-sized surgeon general dr. gupta. >> the surgeon general calls for health over hair. what the [ expletive ] does this one mean? >> that's actually not a lot of spray for an anchor. she's not afraid to show the lighter side of the news. take it away, wolf blitzer. >> a montana dog becomes a local celebrity for his math skills. supposedly this dog can add, subject. i don't believe that. i mean, i have a dog of my own and she can't even walk straight. i mean, i can't even do math, really. let's get real with that fake story. >> i don't believe that about the dog, either. snooki keeping them honest. she covers news from galaxies far, far away. >> obviously aliens do exist. i've seen spaceships in the air before and i've been abducted by aliens before, because, i'm like, oh, my god. what happened? i wake up the next day and remember being at the club but don't remember getting home or whatever. so obviously they're real. >> you know what i think heaven is like? i think it's like curling for eternity in a big, fluffy cloud made of snooki logic. none of the other anchors have great tag lines compared to what our little katie couric has come up with. [ burping ] >> later, bitches. >> your loss, every news station in the world. your loss. you may never know the audience you could have attracted with snooki on your side but you're still getting great ratings on the ridiculist. we'll be right back.