Transcripts For FOXNEWS America Live 20111216

have concerns about the republican alternatives. fox news' digital politics editor cries stierwalt, host of the power play on foxnews.com live, joins me now. hi chris. >> greetings from sue city, how we doing? >> alisyn: doing well. looks chilly there but you guys did a great job last night. let's talk about this new poll, because it's interesting, it measures how independents feel. as we said, 59 percent of them say they disapprove. what better calculus is there, frankly, as to what's going to happen in 2012, since aren't they the decision makers? >> let's put it into an even larger context. remember that the president has been getting a jump on his republican rivals, whoever that ends up being, since labor day. he has been essentially in a full-time campaign since labor day, and the historic unprecedented kickoff speech to joint session of congress. he's been railing against republican intransigence in the house over and over again, impede blips, and his numbers are worse than when he started, with independents, with the twin state vote theirs he needs to give him a second chance for another term. and that is so telling, that he's in this situation now, and he hasn't been able to take advantage of his jump start on the republican field yet. alisyn: and majority of adults as we said, 52 percent, sthaeu president obama should be voted out. 43 percent say that he deserves another term. and what's interesting, chris, is that since may, the last time that question was asked in this poll, there's an 20-point change, in other words, 10 percent that he should be voted and and -- out and people who think he should stay in has dropped 10 percent, similar to what you were just saying. >> and this comes even as people are slightly more optimistic about the economy. generally people think that the economy is still pretty poor, but they're less panicky about it, and they still are finding less to like about the president when it comes to his economic polices, and he's still struggling with independents. there's a structural problem here for the president, beyond just what democrats have always maintained was if the economy gets better, he'll do better. that's why this is particularly troubling. alisyn: that's right, and why isn't that optimism that we saw this month in terms of the economy transferring to their feelings about how the president is handling it? >> well, there are deeper issues. and also, remember this. when you talk about the economy, the president -- two things, 1s. people don't believe that the stimulus that he enacted upon coming into office was effective. that's problem one. problem two and continues to be the health care law which was unpopular when he passed it, got more unpopular, and he took his eye off the ball with the economy to spend a year and a half on this legislation. al chris stierwalt, you had a busy night last night, great debate. we knee you of course were working behind the scenes seriously on making that all happen. great talking to you, thank you very much for helping us analyze these poll numbers. >> you bet, thank you. alisyn: all right. white house hopeful mitt romney picking up a big endorsement on the tkpaeup trail -- campaign trail from the governor of a key early voting state, nicky haley of south carolina, touting the former massachusetts governor, saying that he is, quote, someone who is not part of the chaos that is washington. meanwhile, romney, touring a steel plant in iowa early they are morning, discussing jobs and how he would improve the economy. let's take a listen: >> i watch our president. i think he's a nice guy. i just think he has no appreciation of what it takes to work in a facility like this, to come up with ideas to create new products, to compete around the world, to be able to sell a product to let's say germany, knowing that kwhraoeupb is also trying to sell the same product. he doesn't understand that -- understand that because he hasn't done it. alisyn: romney is hoping that today's endorsement will help him in south carolina, of course. he's hoping he will outsize his comfort zone in the northeast. meanwhile, you can catch the latest do. s on foxnews.com, get your complete debate download from last night, video, highlights, and more on the campaign trail, click away, foxnews.com, your front row seat to politics. another fox news a-- news alert for you now. we have breaking news from russia, invasion at moscow's airport, radioactive materials seize tpr-d a passenger's seat, 18 metal containers someone was trying to smuggle on to an iran-bound flight. kitty logan is following these developments from london. what's the latest kitty? >> reporter: there is conflicting information, alison, about exactly -- alisyn, about exactly what happened and when it happened. we do know that russian officials announced today they detained this passenger enroute from moscow to tehran, it was a passenger flight, and apparently, he had so much radioactive material, 18 pieces of metal, it was 20 times the normal radiation levels which set off alarms at moscow's airports and prompted this search. now, it's also not clear who this passenger was. there are some reports that he could have been an iranian student. now, the iranians have denying these reports, they say there's no truth in them whatsoever, but the russian news agency has come out with a statement and they say this material could not have come from a nuclear reactor, that it's more likely it was due to be used for medical equipment. now, russia does have, of course, close ties with iran, russia helped iran build a nuclear reactor, but you have to remember that iran does have strict sanctions, u.n. sanctions, in place which prohibits any kind of nuclear material to be imported into the country. russian authorities do say they're looking into this incident, they're going to investigate further, and the state department says they're going to be looking into it, too, alisyn. alisyn: that's troubling stuff. kitty logan, thank you very much for the update. >> new reaction from the white house a. story we first brought you yesterday on "america live", we told you about the iraq transportation minister meeting with president obama. you can see him right here in a second in the spot shadow there. while the visit is controversial -- well, the visit is controversial because this man is reportedly a former commander in iran's revolutionary guard which the u.s. considers a terrorist organization. there is also a federal indictment connecting at least one member of the guard to the 1996 bombing of saudi arabia's kobar towers that killed 19 u.s. air men, and it raises questions about whether the obama administration knowingly hosted a man who may be linked to the murder of those troops. while the obama administration officially now telling fox news they have no evidence that this iraqi official has ever been involved in any violence against americans, they're also calling him a long standing partner of the u.s. government we're going to get reaction to all of this when a survivor of the kobar tower bombing joins us a few minutes from now. and breaking news right now from israel's west bank, sparked by the death of a 28-year-old palestinian protestors who died after being hit in the face with a tear gas canister during a demonstration against israel was security forces. fox's leland vitter is live from the jerusalem bureau. what do you know, leland? >> reporter: wars in the middle east have started over a lot less than the kind of violence we've seen in the past week and the israeli army made it clear today they were not going to tolerate any kind of protest there inside the west bank. things have been relatively quiet now for the past year or so, but the death of this protestor has become a rallying cry over the past week. >> we've got about 300 protestors coming down now with a large picture of the man who was killed in last week's protest. you can feel the tension right here between the soldiers which have obviously come out in full force, and then the palestinians, who are just about 50 yards away. in the past week, not only did we have that young man killed in the protests, there have been a mum of -- number of mosques burned by jewish extremists. this is the tear gas and the wind is blowing it back in our position. this is the other thing the israelis are using to push the palestinians back are the grenades. a number of them end up here on this ridge line, throwing rocks down here at the soldiers on the road. the wind has picked up enough and the tear gas keeps coming back, we have to keep our gas masks on pretty much the whole time. the soldiers have made a clear point, they're not going to allow this protest to come any farther. >> where we were standing on the hill is only about a quarter mile from where the jewish settlement is there inside the west bank and settlers have been responsible for burning down three mosques in the past week, and they promise more violence as well. to give you an idea of just how bad things have gotten here, alisyn, in israel, the prime minister last night said that the israeli army is going to be issuing new rules of engagement to deal with jewish extremists in order to prevent them from sparking what he calls a religious war, once again, in this country. alisyn, back to you. alisyn: leland vitter, you are always in the thick of the action. we appreciate you bringing that video to us today. meanwhile there, are growing questions about the white house, hosting this man, you're about to see, a former iranian guard member who may be connected to a bombing that claimed the lives of 19 u.s. soldiers. we've got more information from the white house, and in three minutes we'll speak to a former staff sergeant who survived that attack. >> a picture worth a thousand words, one policeman's heroic efforts to comfort a woman pinned under a bus. that remarkable story, just ahead. plus, a fox news exclusive. an arizona sheriff, you know him, he's firing back against the department of justice, accusing him and his office of that civil rights violation against latinos. we're going to speak to him live on our show, what he has to say about the allegations. >> their actions -- by their actions today, president obama and the band of his merry men might as well erect their own pink neon sign that the arizona-mexico border -- at the arizona-mexico border and say welcome all illegals to your united states. your home is your home. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! alisyn: let's get back to one of our top stories, the white house now responding to serious questions from survivors of the 1996 bombing of saudi arabia's khobar tower that is killed 19 u.s. air men. some of them out raged after seeing the iraqi transportation minister at the white house, you see him there in the spot shadow, while reports identify that guy as a former commander of the revolutionary guard in iran, which is linked to the attack through a federal indictment. but the obama administration now today saying, quote, we have no evidence of al-amiri's involvement in the khobar towers attacks, nor do we have evidence of hadi al-ameri's involvement in any act of violence against u.s. citizens. minister of transportation and in the decreasesy elected iraqi government, he is an inter location ular of the administration. william skao*y is a survivor of the khobar attack. sergeant, thank you very much for being with us. first tell me what you thought when you aerd that al-amiri had been welcomed to the white house this week >> i think i would say absolute outrage. i was furious. and honestly, just a little bit sick, to think of a betrayal on that level. alisyn: now that you've heard the white house response today, that they have no evidence whatsoever that al-amiri was connected to the khobar towers attack or connected to any violence against u.s. servicemen, what do you think? >> you know, i'm honestly not surprised. i think what i've seen out of this white house again and again is they will tell a lie when the truth is weather, as we say in the air force. alisyn: but i know you don't believe him, but what makes you certainsy connected? >> am i 100 percent certain, no. alisyn: but you have concerns, why? >> i have concerns because i spoke with the gentleman who wrote the article in the washington times. we spoke about this at length. and he was very confident that he was what they claimed he was. alisyn: well, you're not alone. the former director of the fbi, lilly fei, has expressed his concerns and he says, quote, as a senior leader of the revolutionary guard mr. al-amiri would have had to known about khobar and have known the ircg general that conducted the operation. the fbi would love to sit down and talk to him, show him photographs and ask him questions. so clearly the fbi, the former director, at least, has also grave concerns, as does congresswoman iliana roth wat he feltman who wrote a letter to president obama saying she has, quote, grave concerns about the decision to host this man at the white house. what would you like to see happen here? >> again, i've given this a lot of thought in the last couple of days. in my opinion, what the president has done is he's disrespected the 19 men who died at khobar towers, he's disrespected their families, he's disrespected the survivors of khobar tower, and he's also disrespected the phaepbd women who serve under him right now. what i would like to see from the president is i believe he owes the family that is lost family members at khobar towers a public and private apology, an i don't think anything less is sufficient. alisyn: sergeant, obviously the 9/11 terror attacks were so much more a part of our national consciousness than the khobar tower attack, so what would you like the white house to know about what happened that day? >> i think what's most important is khobar towers was like a very small 9/11 and unfortunately in the post-khobar towers world there never was an investigation done thoroughly, the saudi arabians did not cooperate, i think there are too many unknowns. there was too much cya going on, and i think it's time the truth came out. alisyn: yeah, well, we know that you survived, obviously, that terrorist attack, but it wasn't without repercussions for you, and obviously, for the families of the 19 who lost their lives there. thank you for bringing in your concerns and obviously, we will stay on this story and see what tkoels. thank you, sergeant. >> thank you very much. alisyn: there are disturbing new details and accusations of who knew what, when in the child abuse scandal at penn state, assistant football coach mike mccreary testified about what he saw in that locker room nine years ago, when he says that jerry -- jerry sandusky was in the shower with a young boy. david lee miller is live at the courthouse with a live report for you. and this amazing story of courage and compassion, a police officer who risks his own life to comfort a woman after she was pinned under a bus. trace is going to join us with the details. 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[ female announcer ] we never forget the nearly 12 million cancer survivors in america today... and the countless lives lost. we owe it to them to protect funding for cancer research, prevention and access to care. congress, make cancer a priority and give millions of americans what they need most. the pioneers. the aviators. building superhighways in an unknown sky. their safety systems built of brain and heart, transforming strange names from tall tales into pictures on postcards home. and the ones who followed them, who skimmed the edge of space, the edge of heaven, the edge of dreams. and we follow them up there to live by an unbreakable promise, stitched into every uniform of every captain who takes their command: to fly. to serve. alisyn: victoria's secret is vowing to launch investigations that child labor is used to make clothing, they have responding to a report that african children are being forced to plant and pick organic cotton using some of the company's underwear, the company responding if the allegation is true it will take swift action to correct that problem. well, united in tragedy. look at this picture. a utah police officer crawls under a bus to comfort a 24-year-old woman who had just been run over and pinned under the tires of that 15-ton bus. trace gal kpwrer has more from our west coast newsroom. what bravery, trace! tell us more. >> reporter: wow! yeah, arian smith was walking across the street in salt lake city, she was in the crosswalk when that bus made a right hand turn and hit her, pinning her beneath it, officer kevin peck came by a few minutes later and at first didn't see her under the bus but saw her tennis shoe sticking out from beneath the tire. he looked under the bus and crawled underneither, he got on the ground and he says, and i'm quote, i had to go past her leg and i could see her knee and thigh were completely opened up, just peeled back, i could see right into her leg. he went on to say that she was breathing but not moving. so he held her hand and began talking to her about anything to get her mind off of the accident. he says that she was scared. she asked me not to leave. i told her i would stay and stay he did, for several minutes, until see there, the firefighters were actually able to use whrobgs -- blocks and hydraulic equipment to lift the bus off of her. before she went into surgery, she again asked about officer peck so he went and saw her again. he wouldn't say what they talked about but she had very bad injuries to her leg, though she is expected to walk again, and officer peck left us with this quote, saying at times, the job can become mon dane, wen every -- mundane, wen every once in a while touches you, more than others, it reminds you why you became a police officer. all across the country, officers do things like this every day, it is just part of the job, and the witnesses say the officer did one heck of a job making this woman calm as they tried to get this 15-ton bus off of her, ali. alisyn: what a story and what a hero. i also like the part of the story where he said that afterwards he got up and he was a little dazed and he said i should be directing traffic! so he went to doing that. >> >> reporter: back to the job! alisyn: trace, thank you very much. >> okay. alisyn: the gop hopefuls last night, slamming the president on his policy towards iran: >> a strong america is the best ally peace has ever known. this is a president, the spy drone being brought down, he says pretty please? a foreign policy based on pretty please? you got to be kidding. alisyn: in three minutes, our panel debates. is that accurate and what does it mean for the president's approach for our national security? >> a.m. step spwos an elevator and then she dies. how did this accident happen and who's to blame? >> spreading holiday cheer to people who could really use it. you don't want to miss the inspirational story of the mystery kmart santa claus. >> ♪ >> ♪ santa claus is coming to town. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> santa claus is coming to town. >> ♪ >> ♪ i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. alison: brand-new details today in the penn state child sex-abuse scandal. the assistant coach who allegedly witnessed jerry sandusky molest a boy is speaking out. mike mcqueary testifying in a preliminary hearing shedding new light on what he saw and who he told. fox' david lee miller is outside the courthouse in harrisburg, pennsylvania, what did we learn today. >> reporter: there was explosive testimony. mike mcqueary for the first time since the scandal broke testified in open court about what happened in 2002. he previously told a grand jury that he witnessed jerry sandusky sexually molesting a young boy in the showers. he told the grand jury that he told school administrators about it, and that nothing resulted. and now those two administrators are facing trial, accused of perjury and failing to report alleged sexual abuse. during his testimony today mcqueary said, and i quote, there is no question this my mind that i conveyed to them, and by they he means the athletic director of the school and the vice president of finance, that i saw gary in the showers and it was several sexual acts going on, and that it was wrong and over the line. those two school administrators told the grand jury a different story, they came mcqueary came to them describing nothing more than horseplay and there was no indication that a crime had taken place. that is why they are facing possible trial for perjury if the judge green lights that following today's preliminary hearing. the more mcqueary was on the stand, the more he appeared cool and confident of his testimony. at one point he was questioned as to why he didn't go to the police. his answer very interesting, he says he did go to the police, he said he thought he talked to the police when he met with gary schultz, that's because gary schultz the school administrator for finance and business also oversaw the campus police department, and mcqueary explained that when meeting with schultz he presumed the police were going to be informed. also today the former head of the campus police force testified that schultz never came to him with mcqueary's claims of sexual abuse taking place in the showers. joe paterno not testifying today, what is north worthy is we expect this afternoon when court resumes in a few moments time, paterno's grand jury testimony will be re read into the record. the testimony so far devastating to the two administrators and jerry sandusky. alison: so much conflicting information about who was told and when. david lee miller, thank you. let's go back to the campaign trail and a new debate today about a critical part of the president's foreign policy. during last night's fox news debate republicans hit the president hard about his handling of the downed u.s. drone in iran. they were especially unhappy with how the administration asked iran to return the drone. >> we have asked for it back. we'll see how the iranians respond. >> in is a president, with the spy drone being brought down e says pretty please? a northern policy based on pretty please in you've got to be kidding. >> we see this president as mitt and newt both talking about asking the iranians to give us back the drone. we either destroy it or retrieve it. he took the third route, which is the worst and the weakest which is to do nothing. alison: let's debate this with alan colmes with the alan colmes show. and mike gallagher a syndicated radio host. gentlemen, welcome. alan let me start with you. you heard the present, he said he asked for it back we'll see how the iranians respond. have you satisfied with that. >> yes. he did not say pretty please, he said, we tried dip phroep diplomacy. the one guy who had it right on the stage was ron paul. you want to go to war over a drone snow didn't say pretty please, he tried diplomatic channels, and that's exactly what you do. listening to bachmann and perry and romney, would you start a war over this? of course not. i want to know what their plan is, other than saying obama got it wrong, what is the right course? i didn't hear one. alison: maybe mike will give us the answer to that. mike, what is the administration supposed to do about this drone. >> the administration is supposed to demonstrate leadership. >> what does that mean? >> i'll tell you. if you're going to use ron paul as your litmus test, ron paul doesn't want to be at war with anyone. >> he's right. >> you may think he's right, millions of americans support him that we shouldn't be involved in any kind of military contact anywhere in the world. >> unless we're attacked. >> i understand that philosophy. last night's debate was about leadership, leadership, leadership. if you were a college professor and you taught a course on presidential foreign policy it's very unlikely that you would tell ahmadinejad and iran if they shot down one of our drones, well we'll ask for it back and hope they'll give it to us. mitt romney was right and rick perry was even better at that answer. the third course is the wrong course to suggest that we can negotiate or talk with ahmadinejad. you know about ahmadinejad, right? >> ahmadinejad does iran, mullahs run it. he's a figurehead. tell me the answer, you want to start a war? what do you want to do. >> the answer is you don't say please about the drone they shot down. >> what is the positive response? what do you do. >> you're missing the point, you're missing the point. >> what is the other plan. >> i can tell you what you don't do, you don't say may we please have the drone back you shot down. alison: mike, you did here -- i think it was wasrick perry that says you go in and destroy it or go in and retrieve it. >> that would be daunting, i agree it would be very daunting, it would be a challenge. but you don't say please return it. >> what do you do, mike? you haven't answered that question. what do you do? what is the answer? >> i'm not the -- alan i'm not the tk*epbg defense secretary and neither are you. alison: saying we asked for it back and we'll see how they respond. >> they are freezing assets, they have done a number of things. if you want to go and fight him on foreign policy i think would he welcome the debate in the upcoming presidential race. >> do you think the president looks weak when he tells the world that we're asking for a drone back from a place like iran. >> this is not a strongman contest to see whose is bigger than who else's. >> there is the problem. >> this is called diplomacy. the problem is you go in and get it back, is that the policy? alison: alan, when diplomacy doesn't work where it doesn't appear to have then what. >> you gather other nations like we are doing, you freeze assets, isolate them internationally, which is exacting what the administration is doing. alison: are you satisfied with that. >> of course not. >> what do you want to do? >> i think we have to demonstrate a position of strength. >> what is the plan? what action should be taken. >> your plan is what to impose economic anxiouses on iran. >> yes, what action should be taken, you tell me. >> only economic sanctions and that's gone really well, hasn't it? >> you have not answered the question, what action should be taken? >> the terrorists don't respond to economic sanctions. >> what action should be take stphepb. >> i wiltaken? >> i will go with rick perry plans you resteve or destroy it. you admitted you don't want military action any way. alison: we have actually spoken to some military experts here on the show this week who said you can go in and destroy it, obviously covert lee, you go in and destroy it, and they didn't think that iran would actually start a war if you do that sort of thing. >> you can try it. i think it's risky. you have to have the intelligence to know where it is. you have to have the proper intelligence. i don't know if we have that tpofrplt i trust that the president and hi information. i trust that the president has all the possibilities. >> i said rick perry is right. you want to give barack obama for going into pakistan and blowing up osama bin laden. wasn't that an act of war? did we go to war with pakistan when we got osama. >> you supported george w. bush and wanted him to do the very same thing and now has a problem when obama did it. >> you know i give credit. >> you just said we went in there and blew it up. >> i'm glad we did. alison: thanks for the feisty debate. thanks so much. it's been more than four weeks since she was last seen alive, and today there is a new plea for helping in finding missing florida mom michelle parker. why the search for her is moving to a new location, ao new city. and attorney general eric holder vowing to fully enforce civil rights protection following bold accusations that an arizona sheriff is discriminating against latinos. just ahead a fox news exblouse euf witexclusive with sheriff joe arpie owe. >> now with this criminals brought into our jails will go undetected and be ultimately dumped back onto a street near huh. for that you can thank your federal government. he weather oe is frightful ♪ ♪ but the fire is so delightful ♪ nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow ♪ ♪ mom? dad? guys? [ engine turns over ] [ engine revs ] ♪ he'll be fine. [ male announcer ] more people are leaving bmw, mercedes, and lexus for audi than ever before. take advantage of exceptional values during the season of audi event. alison: the family of a woman who went missing after a reality show appearance, they are now making a new public plea for any help in getting information about her disappearance. michelle parker is the mother of three children. she vanished five weeks ago on the same day that she appeared on a taped episode of the people's court with her exfiance. today her family is handing out fliers in kissimmee, florida, mark fuhrman is a fox news contributor and a former l.a.p.d. homicide detective. mark, why do you think their family has relocated their efforts and search to kissimmee, florida? >> i think the family is in close communication with the investigators in this case. of course we don't know this. but i would have to say by directing their efforts in this area i would think that that would be the direction that smith actually was traveling in some way that the police have documented, and they are hoping that the fliers will give them a clue where they can physically have a witness placing smith somewhere in the vicinity of where they hope they might find the victim's body. alison: when you say smith, of course you're referring to dale smith, that's michelle parker's exfiance. the case is unique because michelle disappeared shortly after that broadcast of the people's court in which they wer squabbling, i guess over her engagement ring. do you think that place into the investigation, the fact that they were both on this show? >> i think it does. there is one thing to film that and there is another to see it months later, and it could have stimulated the rage that we know from the history of the suspect, smith, her exfiance. he actually has demonstrated several times. so there could have been another exchange of words on the day she disappeared and it could have stimulated a fight, a serious fight, her abduction, and possibly her ultimate murder. so i think that is very much the pivotal point in this case. alison: as you know tkaeuf know dale smith has been named sort of the prime suspect, although he has not been charged. are you surprised, mark that more physical evidence has not shown up in this case and maybe suggestive of soupb who did something to michelle may be for skilled at a crime and not a novice. >> not at all. even if a divorce setting, your forensic evidence, hair fiber, trace evidence could still be in the home from when you were married, depending on if that is still the home that he resides in, or possibly she tkoerbgs but it'does, but it's transferred. that type of forensic evidence is sometimes not very useful. evidence of a struggle, recent evidence of blood, saliva, bodily fluids or any kind of damage to an area that could possibly be a crime scene would be helpful, but that doesn't mean that exists, but the forensic evidence that a body could produce is very important in this kind of case, because then that evidence forensic lee might be placed on thforensic lee may be helpful. alison: her iphone was found in water under a bridge, would that be helpful. >> it's very helpful. it places her phone where her body is not. the suspect in this case most probably threw the cellphone off the canal bridge where it was found. it's interesting an iphone can't be taken aeu wart, ther apart. there is no battery that can be taken out and replaced. the odds of producing any results from that is impossible. the oil on your fingers is what produced the fingerprint, so the water destroys that effort. the cellphone pings and talks to the towers constantly trying to maintain contact so you have service. she was last queen at 3:17pm and 8pm when it was powered off. i believe that is the timeline the police are working off with smith and i would probably guess he can't account for any time that is crucial in the case. alison: detective mark fuhrman, we know you are following this case closely. thank you for joining us today. there are new details about a tragic death of a new york city woman. she was killed as she stepped onto an elevator as it suddenly lurched upward. what cit they are learning about the elevator company and what workers were doing hours before. newt gingrich is expected to beat mitt romney in iowa, but can he beat obama? >> you campaigned with ronald reagan, and jack kemp and has 30 years as a conservative is somewhere now not a conservative? my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. we have breaking news. we are getting word that the house has passed a 1 trillion-dollar spending bill that will avoid a government shut down, and fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. so what about that big tax break fight that was involved? we have a live report for you in five minutes. we are also having new developments in the horrific elevator death of a new york city woman. susanne heart was crushed as she stepped out of an elevator in her office building in midtown manhatten. they are looking at the company and workers who serviced the elevator hours before the accident. trace gallagher has an update. >> reporter: they are hoping the maintenance records will let them know if the repair led to the accident. as she walked on the elevator the bottom of the elevator shot up and she fell forward, and at the bottom of the elevator she got trapped at the bottom and the top and that's what gave her the grave injuries. they are looking at all the elevators across new york city, taking a look at the company, the company is called transel elevators. they are now testing others like at carnegie hall and the plaza wh hotel to see if there are problems with them. the building on madison afternoon where the accident happened is old. there are 14 different elevators, and there are 14 violations about those elevators, none of the allegations are for hazardous conditions. the thing in new york city is you can repair an elevator without a license. it is arguably the elevator capitol of the world and you don't need a r-pbs to repair these things. you do need a license to be a plumber. 25 states require elevator repairmen to have licenses. new york is not one of them. places like iowa does. there are 18 billion people who take elevator rides every year and about 25 deaths, and so now new york city is actually looking at a bill to see if they should have their elevator repairmen licensed, but so far it has not got even out of the legislature. that may change now, ali, in the wake of this investigation. alison: it sounds like it. it makes sense. trace gallagher thank you for that update. a major conservative magazine painting a bleak picture of what a gingrich nomination would mean for the republicans in 2012. we'll talk to the author of that article and hear what gingrich himself has to say about his conservative credentials. a new plan to save medicare, what it would mean for seniors. we asked two doctors whether the plan would even work. a murder mystery, a husband and wife found shot to death in this wealthy neighborhood. why they say the mob might be involved. >> the incident appears to be isolated, an isolated act, and we feel there is no further threat to the community. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. >> alisyn: fox news alert for you, because government shutdown has been averted, just moments ago, the house approved a $1 trillion spending bill to avoid a partial shutdown that was set to take effect ten hours from now. it's a brand new hour of "america live", i'm alisyn camarota in for megyn kelly, now attention on whether lawmakers can come together on whether the government will take more money from your paycheck in the new year and will america move quickly to build a new oil pipeline. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live on capitol hill with the latest. what do we know mike? >> reporter: the house was 296-121, we expect the senate will likely vote tomorrow on the government funding issue. even though that is after midnight tonight when technically the government runs out of money senate republican leader mitch mcconnell says it shouldn't be a problem. take a listen: >> but the administration, i'm told by the majority leader, takes the view that if it's passed one house, there will not ab government shutdown, so i think everybody should be reassured that that's not going to happen. >> reporter: still to be worked out is the payroll tax holiday issue. republicans are demanding the keystone xl pipeline which would run from canada to port arthur, texas must be included. they argue it would create tens of thousands of jobs, and it is privately financed so it wouldn't cost the taxpayers a dime. well, not showing his hand, the senate majority leader seemed hopeful final issues would be resolved. >> senator mcconnell and i have just finished a meeting, we're making really good progress on being able to handle the issues that everyone knows are outstanding. we're not there yet, but we're very, very close. >> reporter: now, the interesting dynamic is the speaker of the house and senator mcconnell have made clear republicans will not accept an extension of the payroll tax holiday without the keystone pipeline included. president obama has been against including the pipeline in this payroll tax holiday issue, so all eyes here will be on the white house briefing with jay carney later this hour to see where things stand from their perspective i alisyn: we know you'll be keeping an eye on no as we will and bring everyone the developments. thanks mike. there is scathing new criticism of newt gingrich's conservative credentials and it comes from the iconic magazine, the national review, arguing that giving beginning -- giving gingrich the nomination would be a blown opportunity to win the white house from president obama, a new national review editorial reads in part, quote, gingrich himself has never run for a statewide office, let alone a national one and has not run for anything since 1998. that year he was kicked out by his colleagues, the most conservatives ones especially who had lost confidence in him. at the moment, we think it important to urge republicans to have the good sense to reject a hasty marriage to gingrich which would risk dissolving in acrimony. at last night's redate in because gingrich said -- debate, he says the record spends for itself. >> i have a conservative voting record, i paid off $405 billion in debt. pretty conserve twitch, the first wealth entitlement reform in your lifetime, the only one to now is welfare, two out of three people back to work, back to school, pretty conservative, first tax cut in 16 years, largest capital tax gains cut in american history, unemployment came down to 4.2%. pretty conservative. i think on the conservative thing, it's sort of laughable to suggest that somebody who campaigned with ronald reagan and with jack kemp and has had a 30 year record of conservatism is somehow not a conservative. alisyn: rich lowry published that editorial that we were just talking about. he's the editor of the national review and fox news contributor. ri rich. >> hey alisyn, how's it going? >> alisyn: going well. is it laughable as newt gingrich said that anyone would question his conservative credentials as you dared to? >> well look, he's accomplished a lot. he's obviously a hugely talented guy, probably the most talented politician of his generation, right up there with bill clinton. but like billon, he has big flaws, and in the case we try make in this editorial is he'd be very high risk as a general election candidate, without enough upside potential as president in our minds because if there's one guy in this field who might just wake up one day on the wrong side of the bed and decide he's going to cut a grand deal with nancy pelosi it would be newt gingrich. he is a radic by nature, the t.a.r.p. debate a couple of years ago, he was against it, then for it, the libyan intervention, no fly zone, he was for it, then against it, the ryan plan, radical social engineering, no, actually not radical social engineering, no, actually now i don't quite entirely know what my position is. so this would be very bad for the republicans if you had that sort of jumping around in a highly intense general election campaign with barack obama that should be entirely about the president's record and entirely about this country's rush to social democracy, rather than whatever just random things might be coming out of the republicans' nominee's mouth on any given day. alisyn: in that laundry list that you enumerated about different positions he's taken you've left out his relationship with fannie and freddie which has been the source of a lot of skraout tphefplt there was an interesting moment in last night's debate in which i think he was asked about that relationship with fannie and freddie and helping people secure mortgages. let's listen to what he said. >> i'm not going to step back from the idea that in fact we should have as a goal helping as many americans as possible be capable of buying homes and we look at elected membership co-ops and credit unions, there are a lot of government sponsored enterprises that are awfully important and do an awfully good job. alisyn: is that a conservative position? >> well, first of all, he is so hugely impressive on that debate stage, no one else would think of mentioning electric membership co-op, you know, that's newt gingrich, the wonk, but that was really his worst exchange of the night because he cannot defend those payments. he got $1.6 million from freddie mac to influence him, to keep him basically on their team and to pretend as he does that they're giving him this money out of the kindness of his heart because he was an historian is just ridiculous and ron paul and michele bachmann i thought were very effective on hitting him on that point. al but in his defense, you heard him in the first sound bites he played, he says he what's a -- has 590 percent conservative voting record. so maybe he has lots of different ideas and he's an outside the box thinker and he sort of throws out ideas and sees which one sticks to the wall, but when it comes down to voting, you know, where the rubber meets the road, he's conservative. >> yeah, i mean, i don't disagree with that, the voting rating. the question is, we have basically a policy consensus among all the republican candidates. i mean, there's not an ideological fight in the party now. everyone agrees on the basics that need to be done. the question is do you want to throw out there a general election candidate who's randomly throwing spaghetti on the wall every day when the mood strikes him. the latest example of this is the local amnesty boards that are going to go through people and decide -- illegal immigrants and decide whether they're going to stay or not. that's a really creative idea, it's something that deserves to be debated, let's have the think tanks discuss it but do you really want a presidential candidate throwing that out on any given display and you also saw alisyn last night sean asked him in the post-game interview, some people have concerns about your discipline, mr. speaker, and newt said looking i'm very disciplined, i work very hard, so i think is true, and then just a couple minutes later he said but i want to apologize for what i said about mitt romney bankrupting companies, mitt romney's aides got inside my head and i shouldn't have said that. that's an example, if you have that kind of thing going on in a general election campaign, it's going to be a huge distraction, and a huge benefit to president obama. alisyn: so as the voice of conservatives at the moment, what did you hear last night that did impress you on the debate stage? >> well, i thought newt, when he wasn't on freddie, was quite good. i thought bachmann was very good. she's just really perfected this role as the prosecutor in chief, in these debates. don't want her after you. and i thought newt showed a little bit too much irritation with her for his own good. romney was very solid, kind of back on his game after that $10,000 bet moment in the prior debate, which was not his finest moment, and i think ron paul might have hurt himself. he certainly has devoted followers, a core of which are going to be with him no matter what, but i think he may have gone a little too far, showed too much crankiness on iran and the middle east, and if he's going to win in iowa he's really got to win over at least some marginal voters and he might have hurt himself among those voters last night. alisyn: rich lowry, always great to talk to you, thank you very much for your analysis. >> thanks alisyn. alisyn: new details in this double murder mystery of a millionaire couple. the victims were found by their daughter in their sprawling mansion outside of boston earlier this week. police are saying that they were lying head to head, shot in the necks. and all of that points to a well planned crime. trace gallagher is live in our west coast newsroom with more. it's such a well-heeled community in massachusetts. what do we know about it? row reporter not only were jack an jill mcgee found lying head to head but all the shell cases had been picked up. police still will not tell us if there were any signs of a struggle or if the company was robbed, but there was no sign of any forced entry. their bodies were found on wednesday morning by their daughter and grandchildren, but their suv was actually found tuesday night in boston's north end. so it appears the couple had been shot sometime on tuesday night and then the killers stole their suv, drove to the north end and tried to burn all the evidence. boston's north end, we should also mention, has a great deal of mob activity there. the mcgee's were wealthy real estate developers who had built the 6000 square foot home that they lived in, also built the other homes in the neighborhood, and many times in da -- andover, but no history of legal troubles, no domestic violence. jack mcgee had a land dispute eight years ago but he settled that with a large sum of money and their close friends are baffled by this targeted killing allegation, and also, the fact, horrified that their grandchildren and daughter found them. listen: >> she called me as soon as she got in the house, i think she called her husband, and myself, and police, of course, but she just walked in and they were there. but they were home alone when all this transpired. it was just a very big shock >> reporter: ali, you mentioned at the top they had been shot in the neck. they are conducting autopsies on both of the mcgees to make sure that exactly is how they died, police not releasing any word about motive or suspects so far. alisyn: very mysterious. trace, thank you. >> reporter: okay. alisyn: secret santas to the rescue, the inspiring story of strangers bringing tears of joy to holiday shoppers. you don't want to miss this story. now, the so-called barefoot bandit who evaded authorities for two years by stealing both planes and cars to get away is a convicted felon, many times over. how much time could he see behind bars? a bold bipartisan plan to save medicare, can it work where other similar plans have fizzled? we have a fair and balanced debate on that. >> today, republicans and democrats came together with senator wyden and congress man paul ryan to say we have a solution to remove that $62 trillion. this is a big day for our kids and our grandkids. it's an enormous achievement. it means we finally have the prospect for dealing with something which has the potential of crushing our future generations and a good democrat and good republican came together. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! al well, just when you thought washington was hopelessly deadlocked, a possible bipartisan breakthrough to save medicare is getting attention. it it would work by giving seniors more choice, they say, and they can continue with traditional medicare or buy their own private insurance. can this plan really work? the white house is already blasting the plan as, quote, radical. fair and balanced debate now, dr. kathleen lunden, a family practice physician, she's an assistant professor at wile-corneret college and attending f. at new york's presbyterian hospital. dr. marc siegl is a medical a teamer and professor of medicine at nyu's langone medical center. you're obviously both very smart! let's talk about this bipartisan plan, introduced by senator john wyden and paul ryan, republican of wisconsin, saying it would strengthen medicare and expand choices. dr. siegl, does it do that? >> i think it's better than paul ryan's plan alone. i'll tell you what i like about it and don't like it. when you get to be 88 years old and you're demented and can barely see the last thing you want to be told is here's a few dollars, go choose an insurance, so i like the idea that the traditional options remains in this. it has to be in this. because the older patients get -- the more medical problems they have the least i want them shopping for insurance. on the other hand i like the private option here, because let's face it, though i'm not a fan of private insurance companies they're trying to make a profit and the government is not trying to make a profit. so even if they say, administrative costs are lower with the government, i know some of those administrators and i know they're sitting in front of the computer screen all day, i know some of them personally, and they're not there trying to save anybody money. i as a physician order a million tests, sometimes they're necessary, hopefully most of the time they're necessary, but let's face it, a lot of doctors are practicing defensively these days, and unless we have tort reform, this medicare is an out of control freight train that's going to cost close to a trillion dollars by 2025. we've got to reign it in. and adding a private option is a good way to start. alisyn: do you, dr. lunden, thinks this helps to reign in medicare? >> i don't think it addresses the main problem, which there is a lot of waste going on in medicare, not necessarily from the defensive medicine. that's some of it. there's a lot of duplication. and this is where i see it like in my own practice, a patient right now can come see me, then they go to go see dr. siegl, we're in totally different systems, the tests get duplicated. that's the kind of thing that has to stop that needs to be reigned in. alisyn: isn't that called a second opinion? >> if it's just a second opinion, that's fine, but a lot of times it's not and it's unnecessary. we have the ability to do second opinions in a real way. you don't necessarily need to repeat every test. somebody can reread them. and which is a whole different sector of it. this doesn't address it. taking the money that is -- what everyone is saying about government-run things, medicare has a 5 percent administrative overhead, private insurers, anywhere from 15-25 percent administrative overhead, so you're going to take that money, it's going to end up costing more, not less. >> i actually agree with the point she's making, surprisingly. i think all of the insurances have an overa syndrome built n i'd like to see a copay, a higher deductible, health savings accounts. expanded rather than shrunk, the way they in omabacare. we ned a disincentive for overuse because patients are overusing the thing. the other problem is it's geared, this proposal is geared to the idea that you can't outspend the economy, in other words, if the economy goes out of control, we doctors are going to get penalized because we're going to be paid less. the same problem we're having right now with the looming 27 percent cut. we can't underpay doctors and expect them to provide the same service. alisyn: good point. >> that one i agree on, that what they put in as their cap of well, if the private sector doesn't turn around and reign it in, we're going to take it from the providers. hospitals go broke. we've already seen that. we've seen hospitals close. that can't happen. that is not the way to save money here. we need to fundamentally change how we approach. and as much as berkowitz was not liked by the republicans he brought a lot of good things and started to point out a lot of these wastes. >> alisyn: why does the white house call this radical? >> why in the world would you do that? this white house doesn't want to make deals. notice there's a democrat from oregon making a deal with paul ryan? that's a great starting point. why does the white house put the kabash on anything that's a potential deal across the aisle? >> i have to agree in this particular case it's like putting lipstick on a pig. it's not a big change. >> lipstick on a pig, i don't agree. i think it's a fundamental change. al and you think it's a good change. >> it's a good place to start. >> you think it's going to gut medicare. >> it's going to be the destruction of medicare and we know it and that would not be a good thing going forward. >> i want to see the retirement age raised. that's where i would start with this whole thing. >> al thank you for coming in. it's potentially one of the most dangerouses place -- places in the united states, the only place where nuclear material is disassembled, a look at how that material is kept safe. >> and reaction to a justice department report that says a crackdown on illegal immigrant -- immigration by one sheriff violates civil rights. we'll hear from that sheriff, joe arpaio, later in the hour. >> there are actions today, president obama, and the band of his merry men, might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the arizona-mexico border saying welcome all illegals to your united states, our home is your home. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. alisyn: there's new word of a major milestone in japan's recovery from that devastating earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear disaster, japan's prime minister saying the nuclear power plant crippled in the crisis is now stable. but, experts warn it could take decades to remove it from service. three reactors at the plant melted down when the march quake unleashed that tsunami that slammed into the facility. tens of thousands of people who lived near the plant still cannot go home. well, nuclear weapons taken apart and put back together here in the united states. there's only one place in the country that's responsible for that delicate task. it's a risky job. so how do officials go about making sure that these sensitive materials stay safe? well, kris gutierrez is live in dallas with the answers. >> reporter: some 500 security officers make up the security detail that is in charge of securing that pentex facility, in the texas panhandle. take a look here, those officers trained in the $6 million, 360-degree attack simulator. this technology they use is state of the art. computers put these officers through a wide range of scenarios, including potential attacks on that pantax facility. some of the officers have a military or law enforcement background, others do not. they all carry assault rifles, wear bullet proof sr*es and train for combat. >> -- vests and train for combat. >> we communicate and resolve the problems. the weapons themselves function exactly like the real ones. >> since the 1970s this, is the only facility in the u.s. to build and disassemble nuclear weapons. it sits on 18,000 acres just outside of amarillo. all of the cold war weapons will eventually end up here, they also test active weapons, take them apart, putotomy back together and deliver them to the mountain. remember when a nuclear weapon is retired it must be completely disassembled and here's how they do it. >> a lot of it is literally we're shredding parts and tearing them apart so they can't be put back together and itieieo it address, if there's classification with the part it makes it so it's unrecognizable from a classification standpoint as well. >> reporter: they just don't want that top secret information falling into the wrong hands. alisyn, back to you. alisyn: that makes perfect sense. kris, thank you. >> you bet. al rough seas could be ahead for president obama, new polls find indenes bailing onem. -- on him. and a majority for the first time saying he does not deserve a second term. can the president reverse the tide? our political panel, with a critical look at the new numbers. plus, the major action the feds are taking against top executives at fannie and freddie, and america's toughest sheriff, responding to justice department allegations that he discriminates against latinos. what sheriff joe arpaio has to say about that when he joins america live. >> let's keep talking about it, get something done in washington and congress, and resolve this problem. but don't come here and use me as the whipping boy for a national-international problem. eggland's best eggs. the best in nutrition... just got better. now with even more of the vitamins your body needs. like vitamin d. plus omega 3's. there's one important ingredient that hasn't changed: better taste. 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[ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. block the acid with prilosec otc, and don't get heartburn in the first place. available at walmart. alisyn: fox news alert for you now, because the fed is taking major action against those at the center of the housing bust. the security and exchange commission is suing former executives of fannie mae and freddie mac, accusing them of downplaying their exposure to risky mortgages in the runup to the housing crisis. jim angle is live in washington with more. jim, what's the latest? >> reporter: hello alisyn. that's right, the sec is charging six former top executives of fannie mae and freddie mac with securities fraud, accusing them of knowingly misleading investors about how many high risk loans they held. take, for instance, one of freddie mac's annual reports. listen: >> in its annual report for 2006, we allege that freddie mac misrepresented to the public that its subprime holdings were not significant. in fact, the company had $141 billion of subprime exposure to loans it internally described as subprime or subprime-like. >> reporter: now, the sec staff used charts to demonstrate the alleged fraud with the slivers representing the tiny part of subprime loans that were disclosed, with the rest of the pie showing how much actual exposure there was, about 40-70 times greater than what they disclose. the action only involves charges for misleading investors. one analyst says it of the fiction those executives maintained that drew the nation into the housing crisis from which it is still suffering. >> i think that if there had been full disclosure as required by the securities laws, we would not have had a financial crisis, because many people would have bailed out of that market before it grew to be so large. >> reporter: because the information was withheld, the market was unaware of how many risky loans had been made, how overextended the housing market was. had the truth been told analysts would have realized it had to stop. both freddie and fanny are cooperating with the sec in exchange for not getting named in the complaint. listen to this: >> the difficulty for the sec was the fact that fannie and freddie are now basically wards of the government and to the extent that they charge them and collect any fines from them, they're simply collecting it from the taxpayers. >> reporter: so how did all this get to a crisis? many blame the banks or the private sector. wallison argues that's a media fiction that it was congressional policy that dictated how many loans had to be made to people with lower incomes. alisyn. alisyn: jim angle. it feels a little late for this versus! but thanks so much for bringing it up. >> it confirms what we suspected, but it's too late to do anything about it. alisyn: for years. yes, thanks jim. well, there are ominous signs for president obama's reelection chances. there's a new associated press gfk poll finding mr. obama's overall job approval at a new low, especially among americans who call themselves independents. a swing voting block that of course helped put mr. obama in office. nearly 60 percent of them now disapprove of his job performance, and the same poll is finding for the very first time more than half of americans feel that the president should be voted out of office. joining me now is david webb, host of the david webb show, and cofounder of tea party 365, gd bankie, a former white house staffer and dan gersten, democratic strategist and president of gothham ghost writers. so independents leaving the president. aren't they the key group that the president needs to begin reelection in 2012, and what does he do to get them back? >> absolutely. and in manors it's a reflection of two things. one is the state of the economy is horrible, things haven't gotten better and people blame the president when that happens. doesn't matter who the president is, he's going to get the lion's share of the blame. i think the second thing is they still believe that washington is broken, right, fundamentally. independents got hopes raised when president obama got elected it marked a new era, that he was going to at least marginally make things better and with the debt ceiling debacle his numbers with independents got much, much worse, and i think that this frustration is not going to go away. but we got to realize, the frustration is with washington as a whole. he bears it personally becausees president, but you can look at the republican numbers, with independents, their brand is in the toilet as well. alisyn: the polls did reflect that, that it isn't that they think there's some other shining solution to this, they're just quite disenchanted with the president. >> that's exactly right. washington is toxic right now. everything d.c. is bad. you're doomed, and all of the incumbents are going to really seriously -- all of the incumbents are going to have to work hard in their district or go away and obama is in huge trouble right now. here's the thing, the republicans, who we nominate, if we nominate newt beginning retch, not good, because he's a d.c. guy, too. if it's romney or another outsider we're in better shape. alisyn: we talked to chris stierwalt, our guru, and he says this poll comes after the president has been campaigning actively. it's as though americans, the more they've seen him on the campaign trail, he's been very visible, media appearance, that somehow that's causing his numbers to slip. >> and that's consistent with his bus tours, with a number of things he's done to go out. this is a president who tells us he's up talking on message and to us correctly, when his polices have failed. we have essentially a president that's overhis head, and when americans are that far under water, his credibility is gone, his policy credibility. when you look at his losses with independents, with white women, with ages 1-29, and by the way, perceptually, very hard for him, when blacks leave him ten to 11 percent and conservative blacks break out and break out of that mold that people perceive, you go with the loss of credibility, trust and failure of stimulus, when he had three houses he gave us omabacare instead of the jobs, when he told us shovel-ready skwrarbgs we're not so shovel-ready. this is the problem. americans don't believe him and they see the failures and by the way, not skaurt added to this, not exactly -- >> you know, david and i were talking about this off camera. i don't think that it's distrust him. when you say you don't believe, that means people distrust him. i don't think they distrust him. i don't think i don't believe they think he has a plan to turn around the economy. why the numbers haven't improved, it's not that he's out and campaigning that's hurting him, it's that he hasn't moved the needle. >> well, that's what i'm saying. it's results, but it's also the payroll tax, right? the democrats make a big push on that. that helps at the margins. that's not going to fundamentally cause a shift. >> and dan, the fact that you've got a president that doesn't compromise, doesn't want to work with anyone, bills pass the hours, over 15, maybe 17 bills, harry reid doesn't bring it up in the senate. the president said i'm going to veto it. when americans hear that a president is not willing to sit down and work in their best interest, regardless of party, they're going to look at that man and say he's not interested in -- >> but right now -- >> alisyn: obviously the president would say he tried to work with john boehner, there were those meetings they had. >> he has the house and senate in the beginning, he had no problems for two years, so why didn't anything get done there? no excuse. >> the bipartisanship was the objection to bills by democrats. >> right. right. >> that's an important point. >> and it's the holidays and people are just struggling, they can't get their christmas presents, can't go to grandma's house. people are upset and they're like enough already, we are not having a good time here and this president is not producing. time to -- i don't know, to -- >> alisyn: i want to talk about the numbers that david brought up. this is a different poll. this is a national heartland monitor poll that broke down the places where his support is eroding and it's interesting, because it is young people, those 18-29-year-olds who gave them the big unusual 2008. remember the groundswell and internet support and all that. why are they leaving? >> because the economy is horrible and they can't get jobs. i think it's a mix of that and their disappointment that there were such high expectations with them, even though he simply never could have fulfilled them but he hasn't changed expectations about the country. people have a right to be disappointed in him, but if we're going to litigate this as to who is to blame and who is not cooperating, the president is going to destroy republican, because -- >> the republicans -- he goes away, so do the incumbents. >> but david -- >> if you take out the reality of what goes on between both houses, and you get a president that comes out ahead of reed and says i'm going to veto it, people, instead of giving him the credit they look at the top buy saying i'm not going to look at this, that is no president should be in that position and he is. >> congress came out in a more of a debacle. >> but that doesn't mean he's going to get elected. >> david made the point that people blame him for being partisan and not compromising. i don't think that's true. i want to go to another finding in this. >> okay. >> which is if you look at the matchups the president is in trouble, no question, but politics is about matchups on the presidential level. alisyn: recently, mitt romney and newt gingrich have ticked up in polls where they're pitted against the president. >> in the a.p. poll that we're all talking about, obama is beating gingrich by 23 points among independents >> but i mean, these are nationals. >> right. >> these are nationals. there r-7 key states in play and in all those states, obama is in serious trouble. >> very serious trouble. >> five to 7 percent of that state. >> battle ground states. >> again esh -- generic republicans. they're not going to run against generic republicans. >> and the state polls mother matter in the primaries. >> i bet new the swing states obama is beating gingrich by five points. >> it was hope and change and now it's nope and no spare change and living in my parents' basement. not good for young people. alisyn: guys, i appreciate you coming in, thank you very much for coming in. >> thanks. alisyn: speaking of the president, a heads up now on an event that we are streaming on our website that you can check out. president obama is speaking live right now in washington, d.c. he's delivering the keynote address, the biennial convention of the union of reformed judaism. again, if you'd like to listen to the speech,y streaming it live on foxnews.com. we'll keep you up to date as well. for the first time the arizona sheriff is reacting in a live interview to a report by the justice department that accuses him and his office of discriminating against latinos. you can hear what he has to say about it right after this break. plus, a christmas miracle happening not once but twice, repeatedly, i should say, at stores across the country. we'll show you what it is. >> she said that she had money, she wanted to make christmas happy. and it was just like an angel dropped out of the sky. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa. ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. plus veggie nutrition. sometimes life can be, well, a little uncomfortable, but when it's hard or hurts to go to the bathroom, there's dulcolax stool softener. dulcolax stool softener doesn't make you go... it just makes it easier to go. dulcolax stool softener. make yourself comfortable. alisyn: just one day after the justice department accused him of civil rights violations an arizona sheriff is firing back, sheriff joe arpaio giving his first live interview, reacting to the report that says his office discriminated against latinos in his crackdown on illegal immigration. sheriff joe arpaio joins us now. sheriff, thank you very much for being with us. >> yeah, i don't like fighting back on this issue, spending, what, 28 years with the u.s. government justice department, head of the federal drug enforcement in mexico, turkey, texas, arizona, you name it, and i think enough is enough. alisyn: sheriff, i understand. >> enough is enough. alisyn: let's go through the litany of offenses that the justice department says that you and your office are guilty of. let's just start at the beginning. did your deputies pull over people who looked hispanic to check their residency? >> we have a couple isolated incidents that we took care of. it's not the system of policy to do that. it's difficult to fight back. we've been working with the justice department. thousands and thousands of files, we gave them, then they pulled a sneak attack with a press conference yesterday, and did not give us a chance to respond. we're going to fight this. alisyn: you feel blind-slighted -- blind-sided by them. but let me ask you to respond to something else they accuse you of. have you performed sweep necessary latino neighborhoods without any reports of crimes happening? >> no, we go into other neighborhoods. we've done about 20. not just latino neighborhoods. we go in to arrest people that violate the law, in the process, if we come across any illegal aliens, we take action. we don't go after just illegal aliens. we go after other crimes, and we follow through. al sheriff, there's another thing i want to get you to address. do you treat hispanic prisoners in your jail differently than others? a federal grand jury says that your department has failed to adequately investigate more than 400 sexual abuse claims. >> there's no federal grand jury. that's an allegation. this happened 2007, when i found out about that problem, we took action. phoenix police have 2500 they haven't investigated. i don't like throwing stones, but we did have a problem. we corrected it. there is no federal grand jury over that situation. alisyn: all right, now clarifying that. the justice department calls the racial profiling that's gone on in your department the most egregious it's ever seen. do you racial profile? >> that is ridiculous. we're going to fight back. we're going to show the politics involved. september 28th, the president mentioned me in response to some hispanic columnists, why are you finishing this 3 1/2 year investigation. yeah, they had the press conference yesterday, which by the way of the anniversary of our dedicated border patrolman that was killed over fast & furious a year ago, the same day, the assistant attorney general opens up the press conference with baina -- bainas -- buenos dias. we have a democratic congressman and other legislators asking me to resign, they've been criticizing me for 3 1/2 years, fighting illegal immigration. they just took away my authority in the jails that we can investigate those that come in. we've done 44,000, we held, now they're going to be hitting the streets in the future because they're trying to get me one way or the other, not because i've had cain and bachmann to my office to ask me for their support because i like illegal immigration or that i endorse perry. and by the way, why are they getting into this at this time, just before the election? i can go on and on about the politics. alisyn: but you find the timing of all of this very suspicious. is there any chance that because of all the heat on your department, that you would step down? >> are you serious? no way in a million years. we haven't done anything wrong. i've been sheriff almost 20 years. i'm not going to be driven out of office for following the law and being 25 percent of our activity in the whole country has been very successful, and i'm not going to back down because of politics, because the president wants to get the hispanic vote. it's never going to happen. alisyn: what do you want america to know in response to what the justice department is claiming about the offenses in your department? >> i want them to know this. that we've been very successful. i'm enforcing the law, my deputies enforce the law. they're doing a great job, and just because of politics, they're trying to tear me and my office apart. but it's not going to work. the people support me. they know i'm doing the right thing. and i will continue to enforce all the laws in this state. that's what i'm trying to tell the people. alisyn: sheriff joe arpaio, we appreciate you coming on "america live" exclusively with us and explaining yourself. we appreciate it. we will be following it. >> thank you. alisyn: "america live" will be right back. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ alisyn: here's a sweet story for you, it's a story showing the spirit of christmas. santa, getting a big helping hand at kmarts across america. anonymous donor, spreading christmas cheer by paying off strangers' layaway accounts, buying gifts and toys that other families could not afford. trace gallagher is live in los angeles with more. yes, virginia, there is a santa claus, trace! >> >> reporter: and santa claus comes in different forms, in one case, a middle aged woman who walked into a kmart in indianpolis with one goal, to make christmas better for as many as people as possible, so she went to the layaway counter and cleared the balance phos everyone, some 50 accounts, some as high as $800 apiece, one was angie torres who planned on delaying christmas because she couldn't afford to pay off the gifts. but not anymore. listen: >> my credit card, i pay my minimum balance. she said don't pay that. i'm going to pay it for you. >> what can we do for you. she said the only thing you can do for me is to give back. >> i would say thank you so much that she did this for us. i can't believe it. >> reporter: pay it forward, and the unknown woman by the way didn't stop there, she wondero wandered around handing out $50 bills and finally went to the front counter and paid some woman in line with $400 worth of toys and she said she's simply wasn't -- wanted these people to pass along the kindness in the name of her late husband. listen: >> she said that she had money, she wanted to make christmas happy. and it was just like an angel had just dropped out of the sky. >> reporter: dropped out of the sky. by the way, that angel that dropped out of the sky tried to do the same thing at a target and a walmart in indianpolis. they threw her out of the story, they thought she was a little crazy. al that's horrible! >> >> reporter: two other people, one in michigan and one in montana, doing the same thing. they think it was the same guy, ali. alisyn: trace, thank you very much for binging -- for bringing thattous. >> the government accuses him of a massive dump of classified documents online. today it was his defense team. we'll tell you all about it. let me get you a free tank of gas -- how's that sound? progressive saved me money, and i'm saving you money. 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