Transcripts For FOXNEWS Happening Now 20111208

misguided and inexcusable. he discussed the program's continuing fallout as america fights to secure the border with mexico. >> guns lost during this operation will continue to show up at crime scenes at both sides of the border. as we work to identify where errors occurred and to insure these mistakes never happen again, we must not lose sight of the critical challenge that this flawed operation has highlighted and that is the battle to stop the flow of guns to mexico. jon: william la jeunesse is live in los angeles for us right now. william, what else has the attorney general had to say? >> reporter: well, jon, you know there are two facets to this hearing. for republicans the central question is leadership and credibility. congressman darrell issa telling the attorney general he is tired of fingerpointing and scapegoating of those at alcohol tobacco and firearms and the u.s. attorney's office and shielding holding blameless his own people at the department of justice. then you have the politics. democrats blaming "fast and furious" on a lack of gun laws, saying the scandal justifies the need for number one, a law against trafficking and number two, a registry of people who buy more than two rifles over one-week period. so the hearing, remains very partisan, democrats and republicans talking past one another. holder today defended his agency said while the bugs stops with him he claims neither he nor his top assistants knew about these tactics, unacceptable tactics of gun walking. >> each of us has a duty to act and rise above partisan divisions and politically motivated gotcha games. the american people deserve better. it is time for a new dialogue about these important issues, one that is respectful, responsible and factual. >> reporter: today congressman james sensenbrenner joined the call yesterday from senator charles grassley that assistant attorney general lanny breuer be fired for misleading and in his words lying to congress. holder claims that brewer didn't lie. he was just inaccurate. jon? jon: what are republicans trying to accomplish? >> reporter: to republicans the question is this. is it plausible the operation the size of "fast and furious" goes across more than a year across international boundaries in violation of the law with a task force involving multiple agencies costing tens of millions of dollars that neither the attorney general nor his staff knew about it despite receiving briefing, updates and signing off on multiple wiretap applications. congressman issa, spear heeding the investigation claims the attorney general is covering up the facts and withholding evidence. >> mr. attorney general, the blame must go to your desk and you must today take the real responsibility. why haven't you terminated the many people involved? why is it that we're still hearing about inconsistencies inconsistencies --. >> reporter: now they're in recess right now. no one has laid a glove, jon on attorney general holder at this point. there is no evidence if you will that he or his deputy brewwer will resign although the evidence is there. the gun rights community is livid with two documents that suggest "fast and furious" was allowed to happen. people werer permitted to die in mexico and obviously the u.s. as a pretexto justify new gun laws. that is the underlying under current in this hearing that has a lot of people very fired up. jon: seems like lots of questions left to answer. william la jeunesse, thank you. as william just mentioned that hearing is in a quick break. they will be starting up again soon. if you want to keep an eye on eric holder's testimony while you're watching, log on to foxnews.com. we have the whole thing for you there streaming live. jenna: now to the 2012 race for the white house and the gingrich surge is apparently forcing some change in the president's re-election strategy. according to some reports today the white house now is setting its sights on the former house speaker, even trying to brand him quote as godfather of gridlock. chris stirewalt is fox news digital politics editor. he hosts power play on foxnews.com. the name of the show is "happening now.". interesting to talk about the godfather of gridlock and talk about what is happening in congress right now being somewhat of gridlock as well. >> just a little bit. you see, if you're newt gingrich, this is good news, that the obama re-election campaign is starting to think about you as a possible actual republican nominee. so it's complimentary in that way. they're testing out this message against him, which unfortunately for gingrich, might be rather effective given the deep frustration american voters have with congress and it can't do stuff and it can't work and gingrich in many ways is credited or blamed being one of the people who established this sort of intentional dysfunction. jenna: the godfather, if you will. we're not sure if that slogan will catch on but something we're paying attention to. >> we had the godfather of pizza now we have the godfather. jenna: polls show out today from quinnipiac why gingrich is getting more attention. the first set i like to look at is between gingrich and romney when it comes to important swing states like pennsylvania, ohio and florida, florida of course being very important and gingrich is winning out when it comes to the polls, when it comes to the swing states. let's not just talk about what it means for the candidate. let's talk about what it means voters want here. what is message coming through voters seeing? >> republicans don't like mitt romney. jenna: period? >> 3/4 of them don't like him or have reservations about whether he is conservative enough or whether he is too much of a flip-flopper, so on, so forth. i think the important thing to remember in all of this newt gingrich is the symptom, not the disease for mitt romney. he is the symptom of mitt romney's problem. if it wasn't newt gingrich, it would be somebody else as it was before, herman cain and as it was before him, rick perry, that the conservatives, people who want not mitt romney will hang their hats on somebody. gingrich has less than a month now until the iowa caucuses. can he stay in the saddle and be that guy or will somebody else slide in and do it? there will be somebody else and mitt romney needs to deal with this issue urgently. jenna: we'll talk with larry sabato coming up in a little bit. he will talk about whether or not, a brand new candidate basically out of nowhere can come into the race and changes things up. whether vice-presidential ticket or race for the president itself. do you think, one, that can happen and number two, will that bring the republican voters you say are still just not convinced by romney, will that bring them back around? >> well, look, it is possible with the vice-presidentialal pick, romney could seek to ameliorate the problem he has with the republican base, so on, so forth. those are all conjecture. what we're looking at right now the heart of all this can gingrich stay in the saddle and if not as you say who emerges out of the dust to come through? you have to keep your eye on ri perry. you have to keep your eye on jon huntsman getting half after second look because he is seen as more constant than gingrich and more conservative than romney. so as the conservatives are sort of grasping around looking for somebody to be their standard-bearer almost anything can happen in these last 30 days. jenna: something to keep in mind. we'll watch the godfather references wherever they come up. you have a show to do. >> yes, ma'am. right over there. jenna: catch pow we're play with cries stirewalt 11:30 a.m. eastern time on foxnews.com. jon? jon: jenna, a house hear something about to get underway on capitol hill looking into how the transportation security administration screens airline passengers. this testimony comes just weeks after three elderly women from florida accused tsa agents of forcing them to strip at new york's jfk airport. there is also some concern about radiation levels from those controversial body scanners. catherine herridge is in washington with more for us. catherine? >> reporter: thank you, jon and good morning. just an hour from now the head of the tsa, john pistol will testify before one of the house homeland security subcommittees. there are several things to watch for this morning that hay in fact make news. the gtsa is pacing one potential lawsuit alleging misconduct by screeners at jfk airport. 85-year-old woman claims the tsa took her to private area after she decided not to pass through the screening machines for fear they would cost problems with her heart defibrillator. once in the private room she was ordered to remove clothing and back brace she said exposing her private areas. >> first they patted me down. i have a defibrillator. so i don't go through the normal machines. so they took me into a private room. pulled my pants down and then pulled my underwear down. >> reporter: tsa sent fox this statement flatly denying zimmerman's claims based on closed-circuit tv footage of the incident in question. quote, a review of cctv indicates that private screening was requested by the passenger. tsa does not include strip searches as part of our security protocals and one was not conducted in this case. we also expect the head of the tsa to take questions on those full-body scanners and the amount of radiation admitted -- emitted during the scans and whether they are in fact at safe levels. recently republican senator susan collins, ranking member of senate homeland security committee asked for review citing questions about the security levels. jon: a lot of people don't like the screenings the way they are conducted. jenna: certainly not lenore, apparently. jon: that is saying, that is the understatement. thank you. go ahead, jenna. >> thank you, jon scott and jon corzine, there we go. this will work together. jon corzine was once considered for treasury secretary. now he is under fire on capitol hill over one of the biggest corporate meltdowns in our history as a country. the question for the former governor today, where is the money, jon? that's a big question. jon: that is the question and we're just a few weeks away now from the iowa caucuses, the first presidential contest in the country. one political guru says it's not too late for another republican to jump into the race and potentially capture the nomination. we'll go in depth. jenna: plus he's at the bottom of the national polls in the gop race for the white house but one group has other presidential plans for jon huntsman. what they are just ahead. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories. then our invisible hearing aids are for you. loaded with our most advanced hearing technologies, our invisible hearing aids are comfortable to wear and are specifically designed to improve hearing in noisy environments, sound more natural, eliminate whistling, and let you talk comfortably on the phone. call... to try invisible hearing aids yourself free for 30 days. choose from 2 great styles. the invisible-in-the-canal rests comfortably inside your ear where no one can see it. the mini receiver-in-canal hides discreetly behind your ears virtually undetectable by others. invisible hearing aids deliver exceptional sound quality yet are so small, only you'll know you're wearing them. call... today to try them free for 30 days. now these hearing aids are truly invisible. you can't tell that i'm wearing them. no one knows that i'm wearing them. call... today to try them free for 30 days. jon: a fox news alert and the vatican is announcing pope benedict is going to make a visit to cuba next year. it is described as a continuation of the historic visit in 1998 by pope john paul ii. cuba has long tried to sort of squelch the catholic church which was not gone over well with the fervent followers of catholicism in that country. it has never cut relations with the vatican but pope benedict is going to be going there. it is going to becoming sometime this spring. vatican officials say the pope is also likely to visit brazil and mexico. kind of an interesting new wrinkle in the race for the white house as a group called americans eis pushing for a third party presidential candidate. one of those poe essentially -- potentially eyed, former ut at that governor jon huntsman. the former governor is already running for the gop nomination. former new jersey christine todd whitman is spearheading the american elect effort. first of all you're a republican. >> right. jon: but you think politics ought to be more bipartisan? zoo absolutely. i'm an american before i'm a republican. i'm a good republican. been a republican all my life. we're not trying to be a third party. we're trying to open up the primary process so everybody has a vice and get a bipartisan ticket. that's the key here. whoever the presidential nominee is they have to pick a member of the other party or registered independent as their vice president and that's the way we feel to break open this hyper partisanship we've been talking about all morning in washington, all the various hearings. listening to talking about eric holder and how the republicans and democrats are talking by each other yet we have serious issue with ounce if on the border. we've got to start solving problems. and so americans elect is an effort to open the primary process to everybody. any registered voter can be a delegate. you can nominate anyone who meets the constitutional requirements as long as they have had executive experience. jon: all right. you so you like jon huntsman the former governor of utah. >> personally i like him. we don't support a candidate. none of the money we raise can go to supporting a candidate or an issue. it has to be about holding the primary. we will have ballot access in every state in the nation. jon: you are quoted as saying maybe this quote isn't accurate but you were quoted as saying you would like to see him mount this third party run? >> i hope if he doesn't make it through the republican process he would consider this because he is someone who i think people would, people who are interested in americans elect would be very interested in it. that will be his decision. he is running as republican now. that wouldn't change that. he would still run as republican. jon: the real clear politics average of the republican candidates for president right now has him pretty close to the bottom of the list. he is at 2.3% or something like that. >> something like that. we find a new flavor of the week just about this primary season. jon: there is the list, with newt gingrich out front. jon huntsman at the back of the pack. what if a third party run by someone like huntsman or some of these other candidates winds up delivering barack obama a second term? ross perot essentially did that to the first george bush, didn't he? >> i don't think you will see that because first of all you have such a high level of dissatisfaction in this country, you have a lot of people who are not happy with the president. not happy with the choices they're seeing on the republican side. a bipartisan ticket chosen by the people, put on the ballot because the majority of the people, there are over 300,000 delegates signed up. anyone go to the website, americans select.com can become a delegate. two million people on the site will be asked questions about the issues that are important. this is a candidate could do it with a low voter turnout or a team that could but in the past barack obama in order to win has to get the centrist vote. these tend to be more of the centrists, people signing up here. so this is a worry for him. you know, this is, worry for both sides. jon: talk about important issues, one of them is energy. the world saw what happened in japan when that fukushima plant went off-line as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. what are your fears about that in this country? should this country have those concerns? >> we should absolutely be concerned and we should feel good about the fact that we have regulated our nuclear industry so heavily in this country. it is the most regulated industry in the nation and probably the most regulated nuclear industry in the world and they're constantly doing upgrades which is something that should be very important to all of us. it is 20% of our energy today. it is almost, over 70% of our clean energy. jon: doesn't contribute to greenhouse gases. >> it doesn't contribute to greenhouse gases or other regulated pollutants. it is a huge jobs producer. it is something should be maintained i believe as the overall energy portfolio. jon: the black eye from fukushima not deserved? >> in this country latest poll done 62% of the american people still believe nuclear can and should be continue to be a part of our energy mix. jon: christine todd whitman, former new jersey governor and former epa head i should add. >> pleasure. jenna: we're awaiting jon corzine to testify about the 8th largest bankruptcy in our history. house members are preparing to grill the former new jersey governor about the collapse of the firm he ran, global global. they will ask him -- mf global. he is expected to say i simply do not know where the money is. we'll see how that goes over in the hearing in just a moment. plus a break in the case of missing florida mom, michelle parker. what police found and can it help them find her? 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[ major nutrition ] new ensure hh protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! jenna: right now we're awaiting jon corzine to testify before a house committee. this is all about the failure of mf global, the firm that he was the head of. it's the largest bankruptcy, one of the largest bankruptcy in our history when it comes to financial firms. after many predicted corzine would take the fifth instead we're getting word he plans to answer some tough questions including where $1.2 billion of his clients money went. let's bring in fox business network peter barnes. tough questioning already head for us, peter. >> reporter: that's right, jenna. and you're correct, we had expected he might take the fifth here so that he would not incriminate himself because he is the subject of investigations here by the justice department, the fbi and regulators because of the collapse and failure and bankruptcy of mf global back in the fall and he will, according to his testimony, 21 pages released by the committee this morning, he will say, quote, i simply do not know where the money is. he will also say that he was himself stunned to learn that $1.2 million of customer funds was missing from mf global when it failed and he will sincerely apologize to customers, employees and investors who are bearing the brunt of the bankruptcy. we also heard from a regulator this morning as well as a trustee in the bankruptcy filing. they are still looking for this money. take a listen. >> i think that there's no real way to overemphasize the complexity here. i mean there's over 38,000 customer position accounts as i understand it, some of the primary bank statements are 3 to 500 pages long. there are thousands of transactions have to be traced from beginning to end because we need to know where every penny of the money went. >> reporter: now former new jersey senator corzine, former governor corzine, former goldman sachs executive jon corzine is expected to get his testimony underway here at about noon. he says, jenna, that he decided to testify rather than take the fifth because he is a former senator, a former member of congress and respects the oversight responsibility of congress and thus felt it was appropriate to testify. back to you. jenna: we'll see if that wins him any points among the members who are asking the questions, peter. it will be interesting to watch. the first time he is speaking since november 3rd, since his resignation. we'll watch for that. peter, thank you very much. we appreciate it as always. we'll be monitoring the hearing closely and bring you any breaking news out of that. it sounds easy, right? you lose your keys, you lose a billion dollars you think you would know where it is. watch this live on the fox business network. they're carrying it. see it streaming live on foxnews.com. jon: it is under the mattress. that's where the money is. there is new information the search for a missing woman in florida. michelle parker's family confirms her cell phone has been found. parker vanished back on november 17th, the same day an episode of "the people's court" with her arguing with her former fiance appeared on television. david lee miller is following these latest developments from our newsroom. david? >> reporter: jon, this could be the break police have been waiting for. the orlando police are now confirming that they have located the missing woman's cell phone but aren't revealing any of the details. i can tell you that authorities did release a picture of the iphone as well as pictures of michelle using it to take a self-portrait. a written statement sent to the media said in part, i quote, we will not disclose data, location where it was discovered. the phone was found in remarkably good condition and currently undergoing forensic testing in the hope it will yield evidence or data that will assist in the investigation. michelle's family was told about the discovery last night. her sister is encouraged by the development although she wasn't told where the phone was located she was disappointed it was not with her still-missing sister. >> i was excited. hopefully something will come of it. hopefully there is something that can be found off of it to help locate where she is or. find out who did this. >> reporter: the day michelle disappeared her brother sent her a text message asking what she was up to. she said one word answer, waterford. an orlando neighborhood. the phone is mini computer as well as gps it could provide valuable information leading to her disappearance. meanwhile michelle's ex-fiance, dale smith remains what police are calling in the prime suspect of the case. he has custody of the michelle's twin daughters. the earlier his parents were question by investigators. no word if anything what they learned. jon: let's hope the cell phone can provide answers. >> reporter: the information may be inside that iphone. jon: wow! thank you. jenna: if you think it is a two-man race for the republican nomination you might want to think again. larry sabato's crystal ball prei can it did -- predicting not to late for someone else entirely to jump into the race and win. we'll talk about what could happen and who could that be? 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[ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. new v8 v-fusion smoothie. so to save some money, i trained mathis team of guinea pigs to brrow this tiny boat. guinea pig: row...row. they generate electricity, which lets me surf the web all day. guinea pig: row...row. took me 6 months to train each one, 8 months to get the guinea pig: row...row. little chubby one to yell row! guinea pig: row...row. that's kind of strange. guinea pig: row...row. such a simple word... row. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. jon: this is the acquisition center here at fox news channel where we bring in satellite feeds from all over the world. let me point you to just a couple of them. right now on remote 262, that's the feed coming in from capitol hill where eric holder is testifying now in front of a senate committee on operation "fast and furious". right below on remote 278, that's the hearing involving former new jersey governor and former senator jon corzine. corzine has not yet spoken as we understand it. but this is all about the collapse of mf global, the firm that he was heading. the house ag committee wants to know more about that. and on remote 23 we are awaiting the president to speak to the daily briefing at the white house. he will be talking to reporters about the fact that his choice for the consumer protection agency that his white house has established, that choice is being held up in the senate. the president not happy about that. the jenna? jenna: jon, there's no way to tell the story other than to tell it restaurant because it is so disturbing on some levels here. u.s. military records show that the air force dumped remains of at least 274 american soldiers in a virginia landfill. and that number is far greater than the military had previously acknowledged. before stopping this secretive practice three years ago. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon with more on this. you take the image of the dump. so many things go through your mind, jennifer. what was the air force doing with the remains of our troops? >> reporter: well, jenna this is the type of story that should rock this building and should cause heads to roll at the air force. i remember when secretary gates found out three years ago that the dover mortuary was taking the cremated remains of servicemembers and cremating them in a pet cemetery mortuary. that it appears was just the tip of the iceberg. what has been revealed in an investigation by "the washington post" is that the air force, which runs dover mortuary, was essentially taking the remains of 274 military personnel as you mentioned. the parts of those, those who had been killed between 2004 and 2008. there were more than 1700 fragments that were cremated and sent to this king george landfill in virginia, essentially a trash dump. the revelations came about after a four-year investigation by the widow of sergeant scott smith. he was in a bomb disposal unit. had been killed in july 2006 and she kept asking questions, kept asking questions of the air force, where are the remains of her husband had gone? eventually she got the answer and when she got the answer she said shared it with "the washington post" and that's how we know about this story. jenna: that is unbelievable. you mentioned this is the type of story that should rock the building that you're in. is it? are we getting that type of reaction from the pentagon? >> reporter: the air force has been slow to react. the defense secretary spokesman i spoke to george little, says the secretary is aware of the story and he is supporting right now a practice that began in 2008 which is to bury cremated remains at sea but the air force says there were some pieces coming back from the war in iraq and, wars in iraq and afghanistan they could not dna match all of those fragments. what i know from my experience when i covered suicide bombings in israel, israel had a very, very quick system to match all the dna of anybody who was killed in a suicide bomb be blast so they could be given a proper jewish burial within 24 hours. the fact that the air force says there wasn't a technique to match those fragments just is not true from my experience, jenna. jenna: really interesting context. very upsetting story. we'll continue to keep our viewers up-to-date on it. jennifer, thank you so much. jon: let's talk a little politics now. if it is thursday it is time to peer into larry sabato's crystal ball. today's prediction? it is not too late for another gop candidate to make a real push for the nomination. is that possible? well with the iowa caucuses just a few weeks away and with mitt romney fighting to take the top spot back from newt gingrich in the polls what would it take for someone new to get into this race? larry sabato is director of the center for politics at the university of virginia, and you've got an interesting piece in the crystal ball this week that says, yeah, i mean, i thought just about every republican in the country was already in this race for president but you say there's still time? >> there is and really it was a surprise to me to see this. a great independent analyst, rhodes cook put this together for us. a list of all the filing deadlines, number of delegates allocated per state under a very new republican system. this is different in 2012 from the past elections. jon: throw out the old playbook? throw out the old' playbook? toss out the old playbook. toss it out. you can enter as late as february and still compete for a majority of the republicans at the republican national convention. winner-take-all which used to be the north for republicans, that doesn't kick in until april 1st. the really big states come after april 1st for the most part. we're stirring the p that's what you do and what i do. we are stirring the pot. we don't know anybody is going to do this but it is a live possibility. jon: all right, so let's think about who might be sitting on the couch hearing your words right now and pondering. some names that have been i can asked around. obviously sarah palin. not everybody is convinced she might not still want to be president. indiana governor mitch daniels, for instance. he was talked about as a possible contender. paul ryan, up-and-coming congressman from wisconsin. maybe even another bush, jeb bush, the former governor of florida. >> that's exactly right. and look, let's suppose january in those key four primaries and caucus, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and finally florida, let's suppose that these two front runners, newt gingrich and mitt romney get really beaten up, black and blue. it is entirely possible. republicans may be looking for an alternative to newt an alternative to mitt, an alternative to both, we don't know yet and some of these people may want to reconsider their earlier decisions not to run. there may be people we're not even thinking about who see an opportunity and decide to take it. jon: but, larry, i mean we spend so much time talking about the iowa caucuses and the new hampshire primary. if somebody gets in february they would have missed both of those events. >> well, that's right, but just a tiny number of delegates are actually at stake in those early contests. even florida had its delegation cut in half because it jumped in line. the vast majority of delegates take place after the first four. they're selected after the first four. so, this could be very interesting. you know, this pattern of republican primaries and the rules, most resemble the contest of 1976 when you will remember president ford and a challenger named ronald reagan fought --. jenna: fox news alert quickly. here's the president. he is speaking about a vote in the senate that voted down the nomination of the head, the man that he wanted to head the consumer financial protection bureau. let's take a listen. >> one of the things that i talked about was the importance of making sure we implement financial reform, wall street reform, that was passed last year and a key component of that was making sure that we have a consumer watchdog in place who can police what mortgage brokers and payday lenders and other non-bank financial entities are able to do when it comes to consumers. this is a big deal. about one in five people use these kinds of mechanisms to finance everything from buying a house to cashing their checks. and we passed a law last year that said we need this consumer watchdog in place to make sure that people aren't taken advantage of. now we have nominated somebody, richard cordray, former attorney general and treasurer of ohio, who everybody says is highly qualified. the majority of attorney generals, republican and democrat from across the country have said this is somebody who can do the job with integrity, who has a tradition of being a bipartisan individual who looks out for the public interest and is red at this to go and he actually helped set up the consumer finance protection board. this morning senate republicans blocked his nomination. refusing to let the senate even go forward with an up-or-down vote on mr. cordray. this makes absolutely no sense. consumers across-country understand that part of the reason we got into the financial mess that we did was because regulators were not doing their jobs. people were not paying attention to what was happening in the housing market, people weren't paying attention to who was being taken advantage of. there were folks making a lot of money taking advantage of american consumers. this individual's job is to make sure that individual consumers are protected. everybody from seniors to young people who are looking for student loans to members of our armed service who is are probably more vulnerable than just about anybody when it comes to unscrupulous financial practices. there is no reason why mr. cordray should not be nominated and should not be confirmed by the senate and should not be doing his job right away in order to carry out his mandate and his mission. so i just want to send a message to the senate. we are not giving up on this. we are going to keep going at it. we are not going to allow politics as usual on capitol hill to stand in the way of american consumers being protected by unscrupulous financial operators and we're going to keep pushing on this issue. the second thing i want to make clear about, with respect to the payroll tax, you guys have all seen our countdown clock behind us. this is about doing, making sure that everybody is doing their fair share and the middle class does not see their taxes go up by $1,000 in 23 days. we've heard recently some intmations from the senate majority leader and speaker of the house, or the senate minority leader and the speaker of the house they think we should do a payroll tax but the question is what price will they extract from the president in order to get it done. and i just want to make clear. this is not about me. they shouldn't extend the payroll tax cut for me. they shouldn't extend unemployment insurance for me. this is for 160 million people who in 23 days are going to see their taxes go up if congress doesn't act. this is for five million individuals who are out there looking for a job and can't find a job right now in a tough economy who could end up not being able to pay their bills or keep their house if congress doesn't act. so rather than trying to figure out what can they extract politically from me in order to get this thing done, what they need to do is be focused on what is good for the economy, what is good for jobs and what is good for the american people and i made very clear i do not expect congress to go home unless the payroll tax cut is extended and unless unemployment insurance is extended. it would be wrong for families but it would also be wrong for the economy as a whole. with that i'm going to take a couple questions. ben? >> thank you, mr. president. busy time i would like to ask you about two other important issues in the news. republican candidates have taken aim at your approach to foreign policy, particularly the middle east and israel and accused you of appeasement. i want to get your reaction to that? i'm also wondering if you personally intervened in any way halting the sale of the morning-after pill to those under 17 and whether you think politics trumps science in this case? >> ask osama bin laden and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda leaders who have been taken off the field whether i engage in appeasement, who are whoever is left out there, ask them about that. with respect to the plan b, i did not get involved in the process. this was a decision that was made by kathleen sebelius, the secretary of hhs i will say this as the father of two daughters. i think it is important for us to make sure that, you know, we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine and as i understand it, the reason kathleen made this decision was she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old, going to a drugstore should be able, alongside bubble gum or batteries, be able to buy a, a medication that potentially, if not used properly could end up having an adverse effect and i think most parents would probably feel the same way. so, you know, the expectation here is, i think it is very important to understand that for women, for those over 17, this continues to be something that you can go in and purchase from a drugstore. it has been deemed safe by the fda. nobody is challenging that. when it comes to 12-year-olds or 13-year-olds the question is, can we have confidence that they would potentially use plan b properly? and her judgment was that there was not enough evidence that this potentially could be used improperly in a way that had adverse health effects on those young people. >> you fully support the decision? >> i do. >> mr. president, this recess appointment for richard cordray on the table, number one? number two, the italian prime minister, new prime minister indicated he may come to the white house next month. are you and other european leaders stepping up the way you urged them to clear up the debt crisis? >> i will not take any options off the table when it comes to getting richard cordray in as director of the consumer finance protection board. i want to repeat what i said earlier. this is a law that was passed by congress that i signed into law that is design solely to protect american consumers. i don't think there's any consumer out there, i don't think there is any american out there who thinks the reason we got into the big financial mess that we did was because of too much regulation of wall street or the financial services industry. i take it back. i'm sure there are some folks in the financial services industry who make that argument although i'm not sure they make it with a straight face. so, you know, let's take a very specific example. all the families out there who have now lost their home have having paid their mortgage over and over again because they were told that they could afford this home. they didn't understand all the documentation that was involved. this was peddled deliberately to them even though a mortgage broker might have known that there was no way they could keep up with these payments. and now they're out on the street because nobody was making sure that there's fair play and fair dealing in the mortgage industry on -- now, why wouldn't we want to have somebody just to make sure that people are being treated fairly? you know, especially when not only is the family affected but our whole economy is affected. this is part of what i was talking about a couple days ago. we have a congress right now, republicans in congress right now, who seem to have entirely foregotten how we got into this mess. and part of the reason was because we did not empower our regulators to make sure that they were insuring fair play. that's what the consumer finance protection board is designed to do. yet we have holly petraeus, wife of general petraeus who is working to make sure our armed services personnel aren't taken advantage of. they get transferred to a base and, next thing they know they're taking out loans that they think are a good deal but turns out that they're paying 100, 150, 200% interest rates. why wouldn't we want somebody in place to make sure that doesn't happen? it doesn't make any sense. so, so bottom line is, you asked about the recess appointment, we're going to look at all our options. my hope and expectation is that the republicans who blocked this nomination come to their senses. and i know that some of them have made an argument, well, we just want to sort of make some modifications in the law. well, they're free to introduce a bill and get that passed. but part of what's happened over on capitol hill, not just on this issue but on every issue, is they will hold up nominations, well-qualified judges aren't getting a vote. i've got, you know, assistant secretaries to the treasury who get held up for no reason just because they're trying to see if they can use that to reverse some sort of law that has already been passed, and that's part of what gets the american people so frustrated because they don't feel like this thing is on the level. >> european crisis. >> on the european debt crisis. i am obviously very concerned about what's happening in europe. i've expressed those concerns repeatedly to president sarkozy, chancellor merkel, all the key leaders involved. i think they now recognize the urgency of doing something serious and bold. the question is whether they can muster the political will to get it done. look, europe is wealthy enough that there's no reason why they can't solve this problem. it's not as if we're talking about some impoverished country that doesn't have any reap sources and is being buffetted by the world markets and they need to come hat in hand and get help. this is europe with some of the wealthiest countries on earth collectively one the largest markets on earth, if not the largest and so if they muster the political will they have the capacity to settle markets down, make sure that they are acting responsibly and that governments like italy are able to finance their debt and i think that chancellor merkel has made some progress with other european leaders in trying to move towards a fiscal compact where everybody is playing by the same rules and nobody is acting irresponsibly. i think that's all for the good but there is a short-term crisis that has to be resolved to make sure that market haves confidence that europe stands behind the euro and we're going to do everything we can to push them in a good direction on this because it has a huge impact what happens here in the united states. they are our largest trading partner and, you know, we're seeing some positive signs in our economy but if we see europe tank, that sob obviously could have a big impact our impact on jobs in the united states. one question, kristin. thank you. >> thank you. you just called on congress not to leave until they resolved this issue over the payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance benefits. can you say definitely that you will postpone your on vacation until these two matters are resolved? and also, on iran, we heard some sharper language from members of your administration about iran. are you intentionally trying to ramp up the pressure on iran and saying no options are off the table to take that to mean you are considering some other options? >> no options off the table means i'm considering all options. >> can you tell us specifically what those options might be? >> no. but what i can say with respect to iran i think it is very important to remember, particularly given some of the political noise out there, that this administration has systematically imposed the toughest sanctions on iraq, on iran ever. when we came into office the world was divided. iran was unified and moving a aggressively on its own agenda. today iran is isolated and the world is unified and applying the toughest sanctions that iran has ever experienced and is having an impact inside iran. and that is as a consequence of the extraordinary work that's been done by our national security team. now, iran understands that they have a choice. they can break that isolation by acting responsibly and foreswearing the development of nuclear weapons which would still allow them to pursue peaceful nuclear power like every other country that's a member of the nonproliferation treaty, or they can continue to operate in a fashion that isolates them from the entire world and if they are pursuing nuclear weapons, then i have said very clearly that is contrary to the national security interests of the united states, it's contrary to the national security interests of our allies, including israel and we are going to work with the world community to prevent that. with respect to my vacation, i would not ask anybody to do something i'm not willing to do myself. so i know some of you might have been looking forward to a little sun and sand but the bottom line is, is that we are going to stay here as long as it takes to make sure that the american people's taxes don't go up on january 1st and to make sure that folks who desperately need unemployment insurance get that help. and there's absolutely no excuse for us not to getting it done. keep in mind on the payroll tax cut, this is something that democrats and republicans agreed to last year with little fanfare. and it was good for the economy and independent economists estimate that for us to not extend it right now, to not extend payroll tax cut, not extend unemployment insurance, would have a significant adverse impact on our economy right at the time when we're supposed to be growing the economy. so, you know, when i hear the speaker or the senate republican leader wanting to dicker, wanting to see, you know, what can they extract from us in order to get this done, my response to them is, just do the right thing. focus on the american people. focus on the economy right now. i know the suggestion right now is that somehow well, this keystone issue will create jobs. that's being determined by the state department right now and there is a process. but here's what i know, however many jobs might be generated by a keystone pipeline, they're going to be a lot fewer than the jobs that are created by extending the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance. get it done. and if not, you know, maybe we'll have a, you know, a white christmas here in washington. and i look forward to spending a lot of time with you guys between now and the new year. all right? thank you, guys. jenna: that was the president, surprise visit from the president. we were expecting the press briefing today as it happens every day around the noon hour but you do have, that is jay carney, the press secretary. he may or may not be answering questions as per usual. here is what the president out today, there was vote in the senate and has to do with the man that the president wants to head the consumer financial protection bureau. his name is richard cordray. he is former attorney general of ohio. he is very much involved in the consume protection bureau so the president wants to see him as head of the bureau. he came out to say, hey, the republicans blocked this. the big question you have why would the republicans want to block this when we heard from president and otherwise in general richard cordray is very well liked? might come down to something else and more specifically comes to the bureau, ed henry bottom in a question whether or not the president would appoint someone. ed, maybe we'll start there. tell us why you asked that question and also why didn't the senate go ahead and approve richard cordray to head or start to approve the process to have him head this bureau? >> good question, jenna. bottom line i asked that because is that. that is the next battle. now that the senate refised to move forward on cordray's nomination the president has power to do a recess appointment once congress recesses for the end of the year. republican leaders like mitch mcconnell have been saying they will keep the senate. the president won't be able to use that executive power? i understand from our producer trish turn iron capitol hill. democrats are looking if there is loophole. one session expires and another starts, can the president do recess appointment? he answered my question pretty directly considering doing that. the bottom line, this is not about richard cordray. you heard few if any republicans attack richard cordray as his credentialal credentialals attorney general chief. this is broad battle. that is why he came out. that is why he took questions. he was saying right there. following on the speech in kansas. he is fighting for the middle class. republicans are trying to block him. it is not just about this one move. in the consumer protection agency. it is. trying to create jobs. republicans are not. that's the fight he is trying to set up here. you heard directly from him at the ind, accusing republicans wanting to dicker in his words. not get some of this done. he had stern warning. get it done. if the payroll tax cut not extended end of the year americans will see their tax go up. democrats see they are winning the argument t puts republicans in a tough position. if they do nothing many millions of americans will see their taxes go up. that looks like a political victory for the president. jenna: will be interesting watch. one of the other headlines the president may be able to stay around. your trip to hawaii might be delayed a little bit. you would miss us. it is a top secret item. somehow iranians apparently have their hands on it. correspondent jennifer griffin live with that. jennifer? >> reporter: jon, this is the first time we've seen images of that downed drone, the rq-170 sentinel. it is a piece of high-tech equipment. iranians have, we knew it was in iranian hands. now we've seen on state television out of iran the first images of that sentinel drone. what they're claiming as the sentinel drone. certainly looks like images that we've seen so far of the rq-170. but what is interesting about these photographs and the video is that it looks as though, the sentinel was intact. is intact and that it did not break up as it hit the ground which is what we've been reporting for several days out of the pentagon. u.s. military officials knew that it was intact when it landed. that's why they came up with the three separate plans to possibly go in and destroy it with special operations forces or call in an airstrike from the air. the drone went down watching those sites. it has very, very valuable sensors. there is great tern at the pentagon and among military officials. now we are seeing the first images of that rq170 centennial broadcast on iran kwraeup eye iranian television. jon: let's talk to someone who really knows the situation with relation to iran. ambassador john bold to bolton is our guest. the former u.n. ambassador from the united states. iran claimed that it shot this thing down. pretty clear from the pictures that didn't happen. whatever brought this drone down was some kind of guidance malfunction it would seem. >> that i think is the most likely outcome. this sort of thing could happen. maybe iran figured out a way to interfere with the guidance system. that would be even more troubling. there is no doubt they now have access to very sensitive american technology. that means the chinese and the russians will probably have access to it, so it's bad news. jon: reverse engineering, i mean figuring out how it works isn't necessarily the danger here. the danger is that they are going to be able to figure out what our capabilities are, what this thing can do. >> right. from the location that they found it, and from other sources of information that they have, this will go to enable them to conceal their nuclear weapons' program and other developments from us better that they don't want us to find out about. it's a risk whenever you use this kind of technology, and we've suffered a set back here. jon: it's not unlike having a cia agent on the ground who gets captured i suppose. >> right. that's why i think the military probably took a very careful look at whether they could destroy the drone, and apparently decided not to. that is unfortunate. but they had to make a tough choice on the balance of risk there. jon: they apparently thought maybe nobody would notice it and nobody would see the thing there. i guess it sort of fell out of the sky, our pentagon seems to be indicating fell out of the sky on its own. >> one would think, without getting into the nitty-gritty we ought to be able to know where these things are if they malfunction. perhaps we weren't able to discern that either. jon: was the pentagon right, in your judgment, in not sending in a seal team, for instance to grab this thing and bring it back to safe harbor or not blow it up? >> i think there is enormous risk when you put people on the ground, and they know a lot that we don't know here, their judgment apparently or the higher political judgment was that it wasn't worth it. i think this shows the gravity with the situation with iran on a whole range of fronts, not just the nuclear weapons program, but their threat in syria, lebanon and elsewhere, and to our bases in the region. jon: are we already, in effect, in a sort of a covert war with iran? >> i think we're in an intelligence punching game, that is for sure. we've seen a lot of activity related to the nuclear weapons program. we've seen iranian respond by conspiring to assassinate the saudi ambassador to washington. i'm sure there is a lot more going on there and i think that demonstrates the threat that iran constitutes to our interest and how much graver that threat would be if they get nuclear weapons. jon: you think maybe the chinese or somebody else intercepted the drone to bring it down. >> if they can defeat stealth technology a lot of our strategy in the air for combat will be radically undercut. jon: we are out of time for today. ambassador john bolton it's good to have you in. >> thank you. jenna: congress put the former colleague on the hot seat asking him what happened to more than a billion dollars belonging to ranchers and farmers and other clients as well. former new jersey senator john corzine will face some very pointed questions in a moment about all that missing money. in a released statement we know he'll say he's sorry about what happened, he just doesn't know where it all went. the question is how do we find that money and waving happens to john corzine? he resigned from his position but there could be more. chief correspondent james rosen is here. >> reporter: good afternoon. john corzine has not yet taken the witness stand. his statement indicates he feels regret but no culpability in the country's 8th largest bankruptcy. he will testify that the plight of the customers, investors and former employees, more than a thousand of them unemployed weighs on his mind every hour of every day. to the allegation that he over leveraged the firm corzine notes that mf global actually reduced its leverage under his tenure. he explains in highly technical terms why he saw th the investments attractive and prudent. as to why mf global mixed customer funds, and what happened to the $1.2 billion in funds missing he offers no substantive answer. appearing before the committee jill summers, one of the agencies with oversight over mf global fielded lawmakers questions about that egregious shortfall. >> the money could have been embezzled. it could be somewhere that the trustee has not yet located, that part of the investigation is not yet clear. >> that's correct. >> one hopes from the best but from looking at this one expects the worst. >> reporter: i was stunned when i was told on sunday, october 30th that mf global could not account for hundreds of millions of dollars of client money, corzine will testify. i remain deeply concerned about the impact on mf customers and others. as the chief executive officer of mf global i had overall responsibility for the firm. i did not, however, generally involve myself in the mechanics of the firm's matter of cash and collateral, corzine will testify. he concludes i had little experience or expertise in these operational aspects of the business. today's testimony, by the way, marks the first time a former senator has been subpoenaed by congress in over a century. it's been almost that long since we had jenna lee anchoring out of our bureau. jenna: very bunny funny, james. i hope you kept that 20 bucks i length you last time, because a billion dollars is a lot to lose. $20 i can take. a billion dollars is a lot. >> it's in the usual spot. jenna: in the usual spot. absolutely, jon. jon: gunning for someone to blame in the growing outrage over the fast and furious gun running scandal. >> i'm going to make sure where the highest person was that okayed fast and furious and that is a resignation i'm going to call for, whether it's holder or whether it's somebody in the white house, i don't know. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. >> reporter: rick folbaum, new big names testifying on capitol hill. we are all over it. this is one hearing room on the hill. soon we'll be hearing from john corzine the former governor much new jersey, senator from new jersey who was behind that huge bankruptcy, mf global. we will be telephonin testifying about his involvement in that. he's expected to say he has no idea what happened to all that money. that is eric holder the attorney general. he continues his testimony today in that failed disaster, the federal gun running program, fast and furious. you can see he's taking questions from members of congress as well. both of these hearings streaming live right now at foxnews.com. we'll keep you posted on all the developments on capitol hill. back over to jon and je jon and jenna. jenna: the labor department with its numbers today saying applications dropped by 23,000 to just about 381,000 americans filing for unemployment. that is the lowest level in nine months, and it comes as the senate is preparing to vote on another plan to extend payroll tax cuts. when we have fewer people out of work the question that we are raising now is do we really need to payroll tax cut extension if that is about more job creation? if the trend is in our favor do we let it speak for itself. steve moore is with the "wall street journal." >> good news on the unemployment numbers. we might see another dip in a month from now. let's keep our fingers crossed that the trend continues. we're out of the really severe jobs recession that we were in the summer, that is some good news. jenna: can we be confident by the way -- we are seeing fewer americans filing for unemployment. can we be confident that we are seeing people file for work, not just have people drop off not looking for work. >> we did see that on friday showing that the unemployment even came down but a lot of people dropped out of the labor force because they became discouraged workers, they are not even looking for work. we don't know for sure why the number dropped this week, but i think it's a little of both. jenna: take the good news until we are proven otherwise. that is a way to go into the end of the year, we want to see the trend improve. here we are with the payroll tax extension. when we have a trend in our favor for now what does that mean. >> at the end of this year this 2 percentage point reduction that we hadn the payroll tax cut. my feeling is that it didn't produce the jobs that were promised. i don't think this is a big jobs booster this reduction in the payroll tax. that's the point that republicans have been making. but they are behind the eight ball on thisee tore i can lee president obama has been winning the fight on this. he said today just a few minutes ago, he's going to fight to make sure that this happens. i'll make a prediction that before these guys leave a week from now we will see an extensio of that payroll tax. jenna: how, though? we have both sides still, the republicans say they are not raising taxes, temporarily,. >> reporter: it will not include the mail air surtax that president obama wanted. jenna: how will they do it. >> reporter: i talked to a lot of senate republicans who are very high on this deal. take some of the ideas to cut spending that were in the supercommittee that didn't get approved, take some of those cuts, and pay for the payroll tax cut with that spending reduction. jenna: it will be interesting to see if the president would be open to that. it seems sometimes the simplest solution is one that no one seems to find. >> that's why we call this the sanity freeze is on. jenna: the about the had words about the payroll tax extension. we are hearing from the republicans this moment that they may want to attach the keystone pipeline deal into some sort of package to pass the payroll tax extension. here is what the president had to say. >> i know the suggestion right now is that somehow, well this keystone issue will create jobs. that is being determined by the state department right now, and there is a process. but here is what i know, however many jobs might be generated by a keystone pipeline, there are going to be a lot fewer than the jobs that are created by extending the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance. >> i'm not so sure about that. extending unemployment insurance does not create jobs it destroys jobs, it discourages people from seeking jobs. this is one of my pet peeves with what the president is saying. on the keystone we know it will be somewhere between 10 and 20,000 jobs. steelworkers, pipe fitters. these are pretty good jobs, union jobs that pay good salaries. why not do this? i think republicans are very wise to say look we're going to do the payroll tax cut but we'll do something else to create jobs. jenna: do you think the democrats will be open to that? >> probably not but it's not a bad fight to have. jenna: we'll have you back in a week and see how your predictions workout. >> the keystone one is a no-brainer. why wouldn't we want to create 15,000 jobs, union jobs at a time when you have so many people out of work. jenna: the president says the state department is going through a process. >> there is no doubt about this. it will creates jobs. jenna: that's their side. we'll see what happens. we are on a timeframe crunch during the hole days. everyone wants to go on a vacation. jenna: that's when things get done, right before the christmas break. jenna:s pressure is on. always nice to see you. >> thank you. jon: in washington right now the attorney general eric holder is on the hot seat facing tough questions as lawmakers look into that federal program that ended up putting guns in the hands of dangerous criminals. holder admits there were flaws with operation fast and furious. ♪ ♪ ♪ mom? 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[ 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. jon: u.s. attorney general eric holder is in front of a house committee today to answer questions about operation fast and furious, the federal gun running sting that allowed weapons to go into the hands of mexican criminals, including smugglers who gunned down u.s. border agent brian terry last year. attorney general holder admits the operation was misguided but he accuses some of his critics of being driven by politics. >> operation fast and furious appears to have been a deeply flawed effort to respond to these very challenges. as we work to avoid future losses and further mistakes it is unfortunate that some have used inflammatory and inappropriate rhetoric about one particular tragedy that occurred near the southwest border in an effort to score political points. jon: with us now is iowa republican senator charles grassley, the ranks member of the senate judiciary committee, not involved in this house hearing today. senator you just heard it there from the attorney general. he says that some of his critics, and he didn't name names, some of his critics are trying to score political points with some of these fast and furious allegations. your response? >> he said that to a letter to me in october, and i take offense to it, because i think in the 30 years that i've been doing oversight work i can't be accused of politics, because i probably have been tougher on reblican presidents than i have on democrat presidents, so obviously i recent that, and it's not factual. jon: you have called on lanny brewer who heads the criminal division of the justice department to step down, right? >> i have. and this is the first resignation i've asked for, and probably the first time in my career i've ever given a speech on the senate floor asking for a resignation. but i came to that conclusion after reviewing documents we got late friday night that said that he knew about fast and furious for a year and a half before he told anybody about it, and if he had acted timely, when he knew that it was a bad thing, we probably could have saved the life of somebody like terry, because 2,000 guns floating around isn't a very good public policy. another big reason for asking for his resignation is, he said he wasn't involved in the first letter that answered my complaints back in february, and we have emails that have been exposed now that said he had seen four copies of that letter, and in one instance telling his staff, who probably wrote the letter, and ran it by him, great work. so he can't say that he didn't know anything about it. and so consequently misleading us through that letter, even though they withdrew the letter, and even after they apologized, but more importantly when he knew about this gun running, and he didn't alert the attorney general, or the deputy attorney general, or the inspector general, or even the chief of staff of the attorney general, he's not doing his work and serving his leaders the way he should be. jon: you have stopped short of urging the attorney general to resign. why? >> well, because, just like lanny brewer, i didn't ask for that resignation until i had a good reason for doing it. my goal is if holder is the one that approved him i'm going to ask for his resignation. i think i have a responsibility to get that proof. my goal is to get the person highest up in the justice department or the white house that approved of fast and furious, get them fired. jon: tough words there from the senator. senator charles grassley, republican from iowa. thank you. >> thank you. jenna: more than a billion dollars missing from customer accounts. where did it all go? it's a big question for former new jersey senator john corzine who ran mf global when that money supposedly just disappeared. he says he doesn't know where it went. we'll talk to one lawmaker about all of this just ahead. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholester. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. all day pain relief diabetes testing? what else is new? you get the blood, hope it's enough, it's-- what's this? freestyle lite® blood glucose test strip. sure, i'll try it, but-- [beep] wow. yep, that's the patented freestyle zipwik™ design. it's like it-- [both] targets the blood. yeah, draws it right in. the test starts fast. you need just a third the blood of one touch.® okay. freestyle test strips. i'll take 'em. sure. call or click-- we'll send you strips and a meter, free. can't i just have these? freestyle lite test strips. call or click today. how do you know which ones to follow? the equity summary score consolidates the ratings up to 10 independent research providers into a single score that's weighted based on how accurate they've been in the past. i'm howard spielberg of fidelity investments. the equity summary score is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today and explore your next investing idea. jon: some extreme december wedding --, weather hitting in the east. heavy rain and snow sparking flood warnings and advisories in several cities. in philadelphia drivers faced dangerous conditions like these. watch the hydroplaning there. now a new storm is bringing snow. meet roll gift -- meteorologist janice dean in the fox extreme weather center and very busy. >> what do you have on your mind, weddings and weather all that kind of stuff. >> the last 48 hours this storm booting it out of the picture. in its wake we saw the snow across the south in portions of tennessee, kentucky, mississippi and alabama. starkville, mississippi, even some flurries for you yesterday but the storm is definitely just offshore but in its wake across the northeast much colder temperatures, even windchills and gusty winds. if you're picking anybody up at the airports you want to check ahead because the winds are fairly blustery. let's look at snow totals. over eight inches in grafton, new york. not a blockbuster storm but i'm sure ski resorts happy with that. east coast rain on the warm side of this, some areas got in excess of two to three even 4 inches of rain, parts of maryland, rhode island. part of these areas already saturated ground. we still have flash flood advisories up for several states across the northeast. temperatures, well we were in the 60s in new york not too long ago. we're in the 40s right now. across portions of the upper midwest that's what we're dealing with. temperatures in the 20s. 34 in bold you are. 47 in dallas, much of the country fee of feeling below average temperatures. i think we have a windchill map. when was the last time you saw this, right? feels like 10 in minneapolis. 10 in rapid city. feels like 15 in denver. certainly bundle up weather, snuggle up weather, john scott. we are into december. jon: even 57 in tampa. that is not exactly warm for that part of the country. >> no. much of the country really feeling the arctic air mass much the jet stream has dipped as as far south as the gulf coast. that's why we're feeling those chilly temperatures. jon: it was a three-blanket night here that's for sure. >> absolutely. jon: janice dean. >> see you soon, bye. scientists say the u.s. was hit by a record number of billion dollar storms this year. now more than a dozen deadly disasters and counting. on the list, hurricane irene which left a trail of destruction up and down the east coast back in august. and scientists are now adding to the tally. wildfires in arizona, news mexico and texas. that state experienced its most destructive fires on record burning more than a million acres. the flames fueled by a persistent drought all across the south. jenna: well, we are, i'm just waiting to find out exactly where we're going next. here we are. we're going to capitol hill next. we have had a few technical difficulties because we really want to get our next guest in because this is all about what is happening with the mf global, former senator, former governor, former goldman sachs ceo jon corzine. he is about to be grilled about the collapse of this firm. it is one of the biggest collapses of a financial firm in the history of our country. corzine is making his first appearance since the firm's failure. he says he was stunned out more than a billion dollars was missing from customers accounts. we know that because he released a statement. that is what he is going to stay in front of this hearing but we also have with us vermont congressman peter welch. he is a democrat on the agricultural committee who will be doing some of the questioning today. congressman welch, big question for all of us and we've been talking here in the studio with the crew, how does anyone lose track of more than a billion dollars? >> well, it is $1.2 billion and that's real money even for mr. corzine and that's really the fundamental questions the cftc will ask and members of the agriculture committee. by the way this is totally bipartisan but what appears to have happened they violated, mf global violated a cardinal rule for financial companies and that is they mixed customer account money with their own problems and you can not cross that line. according to mr. corzine's testimony he says owe doesn't know that that happened or how it happened. i think the obvious question is, if you're in charge, why doesn't you know? because the firm has to have systems in place that absolutely guarantee the customer money will not be used by the company to bail itself out of a jam that it got into. so that is the real question here for mr. corzine. jenna: it is a big question. congressman, just jumping ahead a little bit, what happens after he testifies in front of your group? what are the consequences potentially for him? >> well, obviously everything, he's not going to take the fifth we're told. we originally had been under the impression that was going to happen so obviously he is going to be testifying under oath. he has to speak truthfully and be very careful that he does not stray from the truth. there will be follow-up. this question is the first public coming to account for mr. corzine. obviously this is an enormous fall from grace for him. you gave the introduction, governor, senator, head of goldman sachs and he has lost a lot of money in part by adopting some of these reckless leveraged practices that when he was in politics he was so critical of. so there will be follow-up work not only by the ctc and other cop on the beat organizations but by congress itself. we'll have to go through the paper trail as well. i don't expect we'll get the full answer today but we'll get a sense what mr. corzine knew or should have known. jenna: you know, congressman, here we are 2011. we've been through this incredible financial crisis. we've seen regulation and reform be passed on from washington to wall street to try to make us feel more secure in our investments. we mentioned about this firm has taken money from farmers and ranchers. >> right. jenna: part of the reason why this is in front of the agricultural committee because the way this company was structured and did business. but how, the broader question is, how does this happen now? after so much new regulation, so many new rules, how is it that we can invest in a firm in this country and just a billion dollars could go missing? is there some other people responsible for this besides simply one ceo? >> you know, we don't know the answer to that question but you're getting to the heart of what is the challenge. we can not have a functioning financial system if there isn't an element of trust as well as a cop on the beat and this rule that you don't use customer money for your own firm purposes is so bright line that to the extent there's any violation it should be prosecuted very vigorously. so i don't know what the outcome is and what the final facts are but using customer money, that going missing, there is no excuse for that. and mr. lucas, the republican chair, mr. peterson, the democratic ranking member, they both spoke about the importance of a futures market. our farmers need it. our airlines need it but it shouldn't become a casino for mr. corzine to borrow $40 for every dollar he is putting in and not have systems in place where if he does make the wrong bet it is just him, not his customers he is bringing down. jenna: we'll follow this very closely. i know you're working on legislation to introduce, maybe make the system more secure. the others have feeling rules are in place. they have to be enforced. we look forward to talking to you more, congressman. thank you as always. >> thank you. jon: there's a new approach in the fight against breast cancer to tell you about. it could greatly improve the chances of survival for many women. fascinating research to talk about just ahead. plus as the nation struggles with high unemployment one part of the country is booming and can not get enough workers. we're on the job hunt straight ahead. i know the name of eight princesses. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. really? 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. jon: fox news on the job hunt. now while much of the country struggle as stalled economy, north dakota is riding an unprecedented development boom. new and sometimes controversial technology enables that state to tap two billion barrels of oil right under their feet. alicia acuna live in bismarck, north dakota, right now. alicia? >> reporter: listen to this. the unemployment rate in north dakota in october was 2.7%. in some counties it is less than 1%. here it has been said jobs are looking for people. >> largely that's driven by the oil play in what we call the bakken formation. >> reporter: new technology made vast reserves of oil accessible in just the last decade here, a few neighboring states and canada. >> we're very confident that we've got a 20-year oil boom ahead of us and that's driving tens of thousands of jobs. >> every week someone new. >> every sunday i peer out the blind and that is new guy. >> reporter: steven paterson is readying for his second winter what he calls weather like the dark side of the moon. >> i'm loving it out here. >> reporter: thomas jordan got here a week ago after a buddy says this was the place to get a job that paid well. >> did a few inquiries with the recruiters and me and my brother both was hired and here we are. it is everything they said it was and i absolutely love it. >> reporter: according to census figures north dakota saw its population decline for 75 years state and then the boom began. in five years the population climbs back up to make up for all that loss. and the people just keep on coming. the boom has put a strain on emergency services, area roads and housing. so companies are setting up so-called, man camps, small villages of mostly male workers. they have sprung up so fast two counties issued moratoriums on them. some of these man camps have thousands of people living in them but if you are interested in looking for a job here you can go online to jobsnd.com. but be warned. there are people living out of their cars here, jon. you can get a job really ezzie but necessarily can't find a place to live. jon: what is the temperature there right now out of curiosity. >> about 10 degrees. i have that many layers on as well and i'm doing just fine. the people here are so warm makes it nice. jon: they are really good folks in north dakota. yeah, as long as you dress for it, right? you're good. >> yes. jon: alicia acuna, thank you. jenna: makes us a little guilty out here on the east coast. we haven't really gotten below what, 40 degrees recently and it is already december. so many of us have been affected one way or another by this disease. now there is a break-through offering new hope for people with breast cancer, the new drug being called the biggest advancement in treatment for breast cancer in more than a decade. we'll talk about that coming up. plus new video of lava from an erupting volcano flowing through through or toward a housing development. we'll tell you why people in the area just aren't too worried about all this just ahead. le bit of trepidation, not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back. jon: wild pictures to show you. a volcano in hawaii reaching a housing subdivision abandoned back in 1983 because of oncoming lava. so what's next for ha's kilauea scroll cain know. rick folbaum has a look. >> reporter: the volcano has been erupting for 25 years straight. one of the biggest tourist draws. two million a year. it is not a real threat but can be kind of scary. look. wouldn't want that coming anywhere near your house. so scientists are tracking it. they say the volcano is a very long cycle of eruptions. right now it is a relatively minor one, kilauea has been known to get violent with serious eruptions kind of tough to predict. if that were to happen a lot of people would need to be evacuated like what happened before to again them out of harm's way. the worst documented eruption happened back in 1790. record keep something a little tough but it was so long ago but unknown number of people were actually killed from combination of volcanic gas, ash, and lava. when could something like that happen again? that is what geologists are trying to figure out, jon. meantime, something to look at, right. jon: prettier at night than the day. great pictures. rick folbaum, thank you. jenna: this is being described as a new hope in the treatment of breast cancer. two new medications we're just learning about now showing promise when it comes to prolonging a patient's life. with some of us affected by this disease one way or another we wanted to get a little more context with a doctor at the university of maryland school of medicine. doctor, tell us a little bit about two new treatments prolong the patient's life. it sounds great but tell us about it. >> it is for advanced breast cancer. they come pined -- combined it with other therapies. one is a drug they use in organ transplant and one is a brand new experimental drug. when they combined it they saw, it kept the advanced disease at bay. what it meant their advances disease wasn't progresses as much. one, it kept it at bay for seven months versus maybe three months. the other one it kept it kind of at bay for 12 months versus 18 months. jenna: i don't want to downplay the significance of that because if you had four months to live and had an extra three that is monumental. >> right. jenna: at the same time we always ask these questions as well, whether or not we're close to a true? >> this is advanced breast cancer. at this point it isn't really curing it, giving women quality of lifelonger time with quality of life. avastin just taken off the market tried with advanced breast cancer. same thing. the first sties were very promising. people were excited. they fast-tracked it but as we went on we saw some other things. i'm cautiously optimistic about it but you have to take that into account. jenna: this week we heard from a celebrity journalist became more after celebrity herself as well. this is guiliana rancic. has been public with her fight against breast cancer. she recently had a lump peck my. and now doing a double mastectomy to rid her body of the disease. when we're looking for solutions or cures, mastectomy is presented to patients as a way to get rid of the cancer. what do you make of this option for people with breast cancer whether it is situation like giuliana rancic where it didn't work out with the lump ecotmy. >> if it didn't work out you have to take out more breast. it has been shown with radiation with same survival as if you had a mastectomy. more isn't always better. more tumors, invasive tumors through the breast where you do the mastectomy. the thing is, one cell could get out of your breast cancer get into your bloodstream and seed someplace else. you can't just cut it out and prevent it from cutting back. it is hard. people have the emotional feeling, i want it out of my body but not always the best thing. jenna: interesting the good reminder on that because we can understand that emotion but good to have some science behind it. doctor, thanks so much. nice to have you in studio today as always. jon? jon: jenna, in this fox news alert just earlier this hour we got the first video of that downed drone, that spy drone, the rq-170, that the irinaians claim to have shot down. now the u.s. pentagon is confirming that is in fact the real deal. they somehow got their hand on one of our most secret spy and military weapons. it is intact obviously. the pentagon had considered going in with either a bombing raid or maybe a zeal team to try to destroy the drone once they learned it was on the ground in iran. they opted not to do that. now the iranians have it. we'll see what happens next. also this fox news alert. -- [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. 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. jenna: a fox news aexplert a quick headline for you out of virginia. virginia tech says shots were fired near a campus parking lot, and they're telling students to stay inside. of course, this breaking news particularly sensitive because of the campus. there is a suspect being described as a white male wearing gray sweet pants and a hat with a neon green brim. we're going to have much more on this breaking news report of gunshots on the campus of virginia tech top of the hour. jon: and we are getting ready to say good-bye to a fixture at fox news channel. i got a haircut this morning, normally that would not be newsworthy, but today it is because we're saying good-bye to donna monticello. the grand damn -- dame of our o'hare styling team, she's calling it

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