as they exchanged gifts and kicked around a potential white house visit, but there were two different versions what have really happened when they met in private for 52 minutes. at a news conference later, president obama offered one version. >> the largest bulk of the time was discussing two central concerns of his. one is the issues of the poor, the marginalized, those without opportunity and growing inequality, and then we spent a lot of time talking about the challenges of conflict and how elusive peace is around the world sdwleks september the version from the vatican never mentioned the word inequality or poverty. >> i think they were hoping that they would be able to detract at the end of the week, look away from the lawsuits and this religious liberty issue that people say they have with the mandate, but obviously it didn't work. the vatican came out with what happened at the meeting, and it wasn't -- it wasn't according to the white house script. >> the official vatican readout agreed with the president that global hot spots like ukraine and middle east peace were key areas of discussion, but the vatican version said over the course of the president's separate meetings with the pope and the vatican secretary of state, cardinal pietro, discussions turned to hot buttons like the exercise of the right to religious freedom, life and immigration reform. the u.s. conference of bishops have battled the obama health care mandate requiring links to employees to provide coverage of contracepti contraceptives, including some they can believe lead to abortions. >> i pledge to continue the dialogue with the u.s. conference of bishops. >> reporter: now, a vatican source told me on poverty clearly it came up between the president and the pope but perhaps the white house made it seem like a longer part of the conversation since they are more in sync on that than on social issues. >> more on this with the panel. ed henry reporting live from rome. ed, thanks for that. congress has passed a bill aiding ukraine and imposing sanctions on russia, but there are increasing concerns tonight about those russian troops massed on ukraine's border. chief washington correspondent james rosen explains. >> reporter: sources told fox news the defense department has briefed congress on an apparent surge in russian troops deployed to the ukraine border from 30,000 to as high as 80,000 within a 72-hour period. nato's supreme allied commander for europe spoke after a closed door session on capitol hill. >> the size of the forces have a message that -- that is not congruous with respecting the borders of ukraine. >> reporter: troops are conducting exercises, but the pentagon says the size and composition of the russian deployment would afford any number of capabilities and that moscow's intentions, possibly including a broader invasion of ukraine, remains unclear. >> we've seen no specific indications that the exercises are taking place. >> i don't believe for a minute that putin is through. those troops are there and there for a reason. we have to assume that he intends to use those troops. >> reporter: in rome, president obama welcomed the international monetary fund's new aid package for the government in kiev worth up to $18 billion, but the u.s. congress also finalized an aid package, mr. obama emphasized the nonmilitary approach the u.s. and its allies have adopted. >> it's also important for us not to promise and then not be able to deliver. there are ways for us to hopefully influence russian decision-making. >> reporter: sanctions have figured in the west's effort in order to contain russian president vladimir putin but putin again swatted at those measures telling russian lawmakers moscow is developing a new credit card system to counter visa and mastercard which are denying services to the clients of the major russian bank hit with u.s. sanctions last week. >> i think this will simply lead to the loss of certain market segments for them, a market which is very profitable. >> reporter: united nations general assembly overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution effectively declaring russia's annexation of crimea illegal. among 11 countries voting no, russia, syria, north korea, cuba and venezuela. chris? >> james, thank you. more hints about the fate of flight 370 today, but still no hard evidence. bad weather cut short the hunt for possible debris fields in the indian ocean. a satellite from thailand spotted around 300 objects in an area 1,700 miles southwest of perth, australia. images from a japanese satellite show about ten objects that might be wreckage. house lawmakers voted today to once again get around a 1997 law calling for a major cut in medicare reimbursements to doctors. meanwhile, political survival instincts are kicking in for some endangered democrats who are now proposing major changes to the president's health care reform law. correspondent doug mcelway has that story. >> reporter: a new fox news poll shows four years after obamacare was sign it had remains unpopular with 56% of americans opposed to it, 40% favoring it, and while the president announced today that 6 million have now signed up through the federal and state exchanges since october 1st, the poll finds a majority, 53%, are not confident that enough will sign up to make it successful. that might explain why a group of centrist democrats is breaking with the president offering its own legislative fix. >> we can't force products into the market where the market is not going to accept them. >> reporter: their proposal would offer a copper plan, lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs than the pricier bronze, silver and gold brands and borrow from a gop plan. >> sell insurance across state lines, more competition and we'll challenge both sides. >> reporter: obamacare is facing an increasing array of complications, the uncertainty compounded which comments from hhs secretary kathleen sebelius last night about the latest tweak. it would extend open enrollment without penalty for anyone who claims they can't sleet the signup by monday. >> this is not an extension of open enrollment. it is just saying, like you do on election day, if you're in line to vote, want to make sure you vote. >> reporter: but the latest extension has no deadline, open-ended despite some democrats' claims to the contrariy. >> the deadline is still march 31st. if you're in line when the voting -- the polls close, can you still sign up, that is, if you've initiated your interest in signing up. >> reporter: critics say there's no proof of that required. it's on an honor system basis. the new tweak has left insurers uncertain how to calculate next year's premiums and fearful loose restrictions will cause healthy people not to sign up until they get sick or injured. >> a little bit like being able to drive your car into a tree and then going back and buying auto insurance. >> reporter: majority leader harry reid has said he won't allow any obamacare changes to come to the floor this year, and republicans may feel no need to offer democrats any vote with control of the senate up for grabs in the mid-terms. chris? >> they will stay on top of it, doug, thank you. stocks were down again today. the dow last 5, s&p 3.5 and nasdaq fell 22, and pessimism from you tonight about the job situation in this country. almost half the participants in the latest fox news poll believe that job situation is getting worse. new jersey governor chris christie has been cleared of wrongdoing in the scandal over traffic jams, but it's the source of that judgment that has critics howling. senior correspondent eric shawn has the story tonight from new york >> reporter: internal investigation paid for by new jersey governor chris christie's office says he did not know. the lead lawyer says no texts, e-mails or phone records implicate him. >> there is not a shred, not a shred of hard evidence that the governor did anything other than what he has publicly said that, he had no knowledge of the lane closures beforehand. >> reporter: report pins the blame on former port authority official-day-old wildsteen, it was wildsteen's idea like so many other crazy ones he had before that never got off the ground. it says fired christie chief of staff bridget ann kelly carried it out. wildsteen suggested he did talk to the governor during the closings with you he says christie does not remember such a conversation with wildsteen or kelly. >> the governor, as our report reflects, does not recall the specifics of that conversation. >> reporter: democratic co-chairs of the legislative committee investigating are critical. quote, lawyers hired by and paid by the christie administration itself to investigate the governor's office who then say the governor and most of his office did nothing wrong will not be the final word on this matter. the report also claims hoboken mayor don zimmer's allegations the citee administration held up superstorm sandy funds in exchange for her support for a construction project were fashlgs but zimmer blasted, that calling the report a, quote, one-sided whitewash. critics also point out both wildsteen and kelly refuse to talk, so what they would say about governor christie remains unknown. chris in. >> eric, thank you. up next, a pro-gun control democrat is charged with gun running in california, but first here's what some of our fox affiliates are covering tonight. fox 4 in dallas with a major victory for pro-life forces in texas. a federal appeals court has upheld new abortion restrictions that shutter many of the abortion clinics in that state. fox 13 in tacoma on dwindling hopes of finding survivors in the washington mudslide. authorities say search crews fund one more body late wednesday, bringing the death toll to 25, and this is a live look at los angeles from fox 11, the big story there tonight, arrests and seizures relating to a month's long investigation into baggage stolen from los angeles airport. los angeles police say most of those arrested were employees or ex-employees of contracting companies hired to handle luggage. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. millions have raised their hand for the proven relief of the purple pill. and that relief could be in your hand. for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms from acid reflux disease. find out how you can save at purplepill.com. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesium levels. side effects may include headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea if you have persistent diarrhea, contact your doctor right away. other serious stomach conditions may exi. avoid if you te clopidogrel. for many, relief is at hand. ask your doctor abouxium. ♪ ♪ ♪ the air force has third nine mid-level nuclear commanders in response to an exam-cheating scandal over two years. none of the fired commanders was directly involved in the cheating, but officials say they failed in their leadershipsibil. dozens of junior officers were also disciplined. about two dozen californians could also be in line for some discipline, as in prison time, and one of the targets of the fbi sting is an influential state senator. correspondent claudia cohen has that story from san francisco. >> senator, anything you have tosy? >> reporter: a rising star in california politics who had his sights set on statewide of course, democratic state senator leland yee of san francisco is facing multiple counts of corruption, gun running and gang activity, money laundering. his office was raided on wednesday suspecting he accepted illegal campaign contributions. perhaps the most damning allegation in the 137-page criminal complaint is the gun-running. yee is accused of putting an undercover fbi agent in touch with an international arms deal we are access to rocket launchers from a muslim rebel group. all this while crusading for gun control and good government in sacramento. late thursday yee gave up his bid for secretary of state and his senate colleagues. fellow democrats want him out. >> leave. don't burden your colleagues in this great institution with your troubles. leave. >> reporter: 2014 has been a rough year for senate democrats here n.january state senator rod wright was found guilty of vote froumpd the next month state senator juan calderon charged with corruption is now on paid leave. this latest scandal has put california's majority party in damage control mode. >> there's only one answer for democrats. they got to get rid of these guys, but we shouldn't kid ourselves. the damage is done, and it's damage not only to democrats but to people's faith in politics. >> reporter: senator yee whose office is in the state building behind me has not been seen publiclied today, though he is free on bail. his lawyer says he'll plead not guilty to seven counts of corruption and conspiracy, charges that could spend the 65-year-old yee to prison for the rest of his life, if he is convicted. chris? >> quite a story, claudia. thank you. charlotte, north carolina's democratic mayor patrick cannon resigned last night just hours after his arrest on bribery charges. cannon is accused of accepting almost $50,000 from undercover fbi agents posing as businessmen. the investigation began in 2010 when cannon was a member of the charlotte city council. a follow-up now on last night's item about iowa democratic congressman bruce braley's apology for referring to iowa republican senator chuck grassley as a farmer who never went to law school. "the des moines register" reports a defense was released of the candidate's agriculture credentials. he grew up in/with a in rural iowa and worked on iowa farms and detassling and bailing hay. both are misspelled. so much for street, or in this case, farm cred. >> ahead, should college athletes get paid? reaction to a landmark decision. but, first, senator rand paul is riding his criticism of the nsa to the top of the gop presidential conversation. reaction from the nsa's director. co: i've always found you don't know you need a hotel room until you're sure you do. bartender: thanks, captain obvious. co: which is what makes using the hotels.com mobile app so useful. i can book a nearby hotel room from wherever i am. or, i could not book a hotel room and put my cellphone back into my pocket as if nothing happened. hotels.com. i don't need it right now. but with less ergy, moodiness, i had to do something. i saw mdoctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the onlynderarm low t treaent that can restore t vels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especlly those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoidt where axirons applied as unexpected signs reaction from the nsa's or incased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctorbout all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased sk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms, decreased sperm count, ankle, feet or body swelling, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing while sleeping and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, common side effects include skin redness headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. ask your doctor about axiron. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day women's 50+. i can't believe your mom has a mom cave! today i have new campbell's chuy spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. in america's election headquarters tonight, rand paul and the nsa. the "washington post" reports paul has become the first potential gop presidential candidate for 2016 to establish a network in all 50 states. tonight chief political correspondent carl cameron explains how paul's popularity ties in with concerns over government surveillance of american citizens. a tea party darling with a libertarian flair, kentucky u.s. senator rand paul is emerging as a leading candidate among republican presidential hopefuls with his criticism of government surveillance programs. >> what you read or what you send in your e-mail or your text messages is none of their damn business. >> reporter: but the head of the national security agency says paul fails to understand what's really happening. >> if you talk to other members of congress, they will tell you that we're doing the right thing here. from my perspective we aren't doing anything illegal. >> reporter: paul is suing the president, challenging the constitutionality of the surveillance and data collection. national security hawks worry he would scale back the worldwide u.s. leadership role and calls himself a realist, not an isolationist and has won fans outside of the gop's usual circles. >> it's an interesting nexus, republican, democrat, right, left, young, old, coming together on an issue that really goes beyond partisanship. >> reporter: his repeated criticism of his own party has gotten attention from young and independent voters and got rave reviews at the university of california's liberal berkeley campus. >> remember domino's finally admitted they had bad crust? think republican party admitted, okay, bad crust. we need -- we need a different kind of party. >> reporter: pro-life and supports traditional marriage but says the gop should disagreo dis agragree on social issues. social conservatives including potential 2016 rivals do disagree with him. >> my views are that we should continue to defend life, and we should continue to defend traditional marriage. >> reporter: but paul buzz is growing neroli voting states like iowa, south carolina and new hampshire where he makes two early visits and two years running he won the straw poll at cpac and has never pulled a punch. >> the gop of old has grown steal and moss-covered. our party is encumbered by an inconsistent approach to freedom. the new gop will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere. >> reporter: in paul's home state of kentucky it's right now illegal to run for two offices at the same time. the senator is up for re-election in 2016, so his supporters are pushing to change kentucky law to let him run for president at the same time. chris? >> carl, thank you. the nsa's outgoing director general keith alexander had plenty to say about senator paul and other nsa critics during his interview with bret baier earlier this week. here is more from that exclusive sit-down. >> senator paul, others have called for a church committee to investigate allegations that snowden brings forward of lawlessness and abuse alleged by him and others. good idea or bad idea? >> well, i think if we had found anything, one thing, anything that this agency or the people here have done wrong that has been illegal or hasn't been reported, then i would say, yeah, we might need to look at it in more detail. >> you're saying there's not an aggrieved party. >> nobody was found doing anything wrong. we go to the court every time we make a mistake. i know people say the court is a rubber stamp. i'll give them my chair the next time because when i go to the court, the answer is we made a mistake, and the judges, these are federal judges. >> this is the facea couisa cou >> these are folks that won't be easy on you. these judges look at me you told me "a" and you did "b" and tell me why that's so. we've been through that. i've been down to that court a number of times, and would i tell you that every time we make a mistake, no matter how uncomfortable it is, we take it to the court. we tell the administration and we tell the congress. >> but you understand where the distrust comes from. i mean, there's a sense in america about sprawling government anyway, and you ask more people in polls, and they -- they don't have great things to say about the u.s. government, and then they look at your agency and don't really know what you're doing but think how can there be a policing of this, so you get the distrust. >> absolutely. >> in fact, you know, this is an issue that we've weighed internally here. how do we express the american people that the folks here, military and civilian, are here for one purpose, to defend this nation and our way of life and support our allies? they are not here to spy on us. they are us. these are the noble people. these are the folks who are doing it right. they every day come to work knowing that they make a difference, and the greatest tragedy of this is that the american people would think they are the bad ones. >> do you think that there has been a -- well, a lack of transparency here obviously that -- that has hurt you with the american people? >> well, i think that's one of the key issues that we have on the table, transparency. how do you do transparency without reveeblg the tools and the capabilities that you have? so the going in logic was we have a body in the court system, the fisa court that is clear. we have committees in congress that are clear, and we have the administration that all work together, that's all three branches of the government, working together to ensure that what we're doing is done correctly. >> do you feel like you could tell -- take rand paul in here and show him around and -- and spread them out? >> well, at least show him the facts. i don't know that you'll ever convince everybody of everything, but i'll tell you this. i would be willing to take a lie detector test any time any place to show you that what we're doing is the right thing, and we do it right, that the other part is that if anybody here breaks the law, we'll hold them accountable, period. but i can't find the hobgoblins that people create over here, but they could be listening to your e-mail, they could be doing this. well, you know, we also get calls about reading people's minds, the tranceivers. >> a major embarrassment for president obama on the list of the world's greatest leaders. the grapevine is next. fighting constipation by eating healthier, drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? s for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on. the political grapevine. there's a notable absence on cnn and "fortune" magazine's list of the world's 50 greatest leaders. pope francis tops the list, angela merkel, warren buffett and bill clinton all make the cut. so does angelina jolie noted for her humanitarian work, and derek jeter whose sterling reputation and role model status landed him at number 11. so who doesn't crack the top 50? president obama. "fortune" says the president wasn't excluded, quote, he simply didn't make this year's list of 50 outstanding indi demonstrated rare leadership, leadership in multiple areas or demonstrated a long history of leading. toronto's embattled mayor rob ford generally avoided his drug and drinking scandal during the first debate of the mayoral campaign last night. the other candidates passed on the chance to hammer the mayor on his crack cocaine use, alcohol abuse and public outbursts. instead sticking to vague references to the mayor letting the city down. meanwhile, ford's side-stepped the only question he got about his drug use. >> people have heard this story. it's rewind, rewind, rewind. people know my track record, and i'm first one to say i'm not perfect. >> it's time to take down the circus tent at city hall. rob ford has made toronto an international embarrassment. >> who won the debate is unclear? many found none of the candidates worthy. in fact, one canadian journalist wrote barely capable of stringing a cogent sentence together. ford seemed like the great communicator, if only by comparison. speaking of debates that are painful, one candidate passed a kidney stone during tuesday night's massachusetts governor's debate. a spokesman for state treasurer steve grossman says the democrat was struggling with the stone all day but went on with the debate anyway. grossman's fortitude inspired a parody twitter account. quote, what a crazy ride. i'm grateful i made it out. university administrators may soon be ensuring a sharp pain of their own. a ruling from a government official has the potential to turn the world of big-time college sports upside down. fox business network correspondent rich edson has reaction to the possibility that student athletes may soon be able to join unions. good evening, rich. >> good evening, chris. imagine hours before tipoff of an ncaa final four game the players go on strike, demanding dorm room perks and fewer practice hours. that's a possibility thanks to the national labor relations board, a regional director of the nlrb has ruled scholarship football players at northwestern university are employees and, quote, not primarily students because they often play, practice and train for more hours than full-time workers. the nlrb is ordering an election to allow players the opportunity to unionize. even senate majority leader harry reid is weighing in saying of course college players should have the right to unionize, and one former college and pro player agrees. >> i think it is. i think when you look at college sports at this point and being that college sports is such a big business, it's time to pay players. how much do you pay these players, because on a pay scale, you know, some guys are going to perform way better than others and some guys are overrated so that's what you have to figure out. >> reporter: northwestern says it will appeal the ruling claiming the athletes are primarily students. the unisays, quote, unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate methods to address the concrete concerns raised by student athletes. one labor attorney says regardless of northwestern's appeal, college sports will change. >> this is one of those sort of lightning bolt type developments that shakes up the whole landscape potentially. it isn't a done deal right now, but it opens up all these issues and heightnence the focus on these issues in a highly dramatic way. >> lawyers say the appeal process within the nlrb and potential court challenges could take years. chris? >> rich, thank you. president obama meets with pope francis, and there is some disagreement about what they discussed. our panel tries to sort it out when we come right back. when my son was born, i remember, you know, picking him up and holding him against me. it wasn't just about me anymore. i had to quit. 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chanti is right for you. i had to qt smoking to keep up with this guy. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. we actually didn't talk a whole lot about social schisms in my conversations with his holiness. in fact, that really was not a topic of conversation. >> well, that's one version of president obama's meeting with pope francis today at the vatican but not the only one, and that's only adding interest to what really went on there. time to bring in our panel. judge andrew napolitano, fox news senior judicial analyst, juan williams, columnist with "the hill" newspaper and syndicated columnist charles krauthammerch the president and the pope had two very different readouts of their meeting today. the president came out afterwards and in a news conference he said they talked primarily about income inequality and conflicts around the world, but the vatican had a different read out. let put it up on the screen. they said that the two men discussed the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection meaning the birth control mandate in obamacare and abortion. judge napolitano, how do you explain the apparent contradiction? >> i guess the president didn't want to appear to be chastized by -- by the pope or by the cardinal who is the secretary of state whose office actually issued that statement. look, this is clearly on the mind of the vatican. it's on the mind of the vatican because i cannot tell you a time in american history in the modern era, post-civil war era, when the catholic church has been so aligned uniformly against the incumbent administration, and there's so much litigation, almost all of which is catholic motivation and the administration is not giving an insure. as well it happened a day after, a two-hour oral argument, almost unheard of in the supreme court on this very issue. conscientious objection and religious liberty. if i had to guess, i would guess that the pope mentioned these things and the president decided not to talk to the press about it. >> juan, do you think that in a sense that these were two world leaders each trying to accentuate the positive to their home base? >> no, i think this is a tale of polarized american politics being superimposed on a meeting between the pope and the president, and what you have here is a meeting of two people who if you look at the pope's history, very concerned about social justice, about inequity and poverty in the world. i don't doubt that they had that discussion, but what we have is a situation where then the vatican puts out a statement that was probably written before the meeting, chris, that was influenced by the american bishops who wanted a statement that would touch on these controversial issues and help them here at home, and i think the vatican was willing to go along, but in terms of the content of the discussion, i don't think there's any question that the two of them touched on issues of concern to the pope. it was his home field, his territory there, and that would include issues like conscientious objection, it would include immigration. the pope is a big supporter on immigration reform. it would concern exactly the notion of empathy as the president said for others and other countries in a way to avoid conflict in the world. this is a pope who even opposed the president's shooting missiles towards syria. i don't think that there's any question that that happened here. >> charles, any question? >> yes, of course it was a conflict of two political objectives, but, one, it's also a conflict of two stories about what actually happened an hour before. now there are a couple of ways that you can answer the contradiction. one is to say on the one hand you've got the bishop of rome, the holy see of whom a billion co-religious believe in his infallibility. on the other hand you have a man who said if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor, so who are you going to choose? now if you're less cynical than i am there is a way to square the circle which the vatican made clear that it was including the conversation with the pope and the one with the secretary of state, whereas obama tried to make it very narrow, just the conversation with the pope, so if you wanted to say they are both right, you would say that the emphasis in obama's conversation with the secretary of state was on the religious issues, the real conflicts between the catholic church and this administration, or to put it rathercism accomplishing the attempt by the administration and the seculars who run the health care program to ram down the throat of nuns, sisters of the poor, contraception mandates. >> sometimes meetings between presidents and popes have big consequences. i think the most famous example of that is when ronald reagan met with pope john paul ii, and apparently we learned years later had a secret agreement that they would work together to try to overthrow or undercut the -- the soviet empire. on the other hand, most tend to be photo-ops, meetings that are suddenly forgotten. >> what do you think this was? >> i think it was a photo-op. the holy father gave the president a copy of his apostolic exhortation called the joy of the gospels, guess what that is about, income inequality, don't foe know if they talked about it, that's income inequality. >> do you think this is a consequential meeting between these two men or a nice photo-op, due respect paid to the hole father and that's about it? >> i would hope that it's more than that. i think the white house intenned it to be more than that. they are hoping that the pope comes to visit here and visit the president at the white house, chris, and they would like for political purposes, if you would like to be totally cynical, to help him -- have him help with advancing the inequality argument and the immediate for income -- somehow income adjustment in this country given the troubles of increasing income division in this society, and i think they see that that is the main message coming from this pope, a message that has caused a great deal of distress among american conservatives who see him as possibly going to the other side, and would i say that given the scandals in the church and the like, i think the pope sees some advantage to having a popular president who has been twice elected, mr. krauthammer, with more than 50% of the american vote. >> all right. >> but that -- well, he's telling me about the pope is this and that. >> just stealing time from the other segment, folks. >> speak to his voracity. >> in the catholic church voracity is impeccable. >> i'm calling a halt to this. let me simply say that if you invite pope francis to the white house, he isn't going to say what you want him to say. he's going to say whatever you want him to say. panel, take a break here. the nsa, president obama and senator rand paul. ♪ ♪ ♪ millions have raised their hand for the proven relief of the purple pill. and that relief could be in your hand. for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms from acid reflux disease. find out how you can save at purplepill.com. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesium levels. side effects may include headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea if you have persistent diarrhea, contact your doctor right away. other serious stomach conditions may exi. avoid if you te clopidogrel. for many, relief is at hand. ask your doctor abouxium. do you feel that you could tell rand paul here and show him around and straighten him out? >> we will show him the facts. >> i don't want to take all the credit for ending this, but i think our lawsuit had something to do with bringing the president to the table. >> nsa director keith alexander and senator rand paul still disagreeing about the government's metadata program to collect call records on all americans. weaver back now with the panel. as we saw in bret baier's interview with general alexander, rand paul's criticism of the nsa and metadata. are you surprised. >> no i'm not surprised. particularly i'm not surprised because rand paul is about to assemble a unique and unusual coalition of young people. young people. african-americans and computer geeks that normally wouldn't vote republican that are resonating well t his message. the nsa is so unpopular, general alexander said many things to bret baier, one is that we are defending our way of life. general, it is is not our way of life to be on everybody's email and text messages. that's resonating. >> president's proposals doesn't change anything. the nsa has equal access without having to show probable cause. without having to identify the target. even these so-called changes change the law. >> political aspects of this. senator paul clearly and a i think he has the courage of his convictions that he clearly feels this is a way to broaden his appeal out of the tea party, out of the conservative base to young people, to libertarians to a lot of people who are concerned about the government surveillance of all americans in one way, shape, or form. do you think, juan, this is helpful to rand paul specifically in trying to win the republican presidential momtion? >> i do, because i think it settings him apart in a way that allows young people in specific to identify with him and with the party. and it touches on, i think, a very civil libertarian streak in the party that has to do with the notion of going back to fundamentals sort of to basic founding father rights. and in that regard, i think it helps him. now, i will say i disagree with rand paul on this. i agree with my friend judge napolitano. i think that nobody is spawning anybody unless you consider the so-called collection of metadata to be the. there nobody evidence of any abuse. charles, your thoughts on specifically this issue rand paul's pushing of this issue which is i think he feels sincere about is effective specifically for the electorate in republican primaries? >> i think the answer is yes. he is sincere about. this and i think it will help him in many ways politically. he is pushing it as a very clever politician would. the way he did when he stood up and he had that filibuster in the senate on the use of drones. he is trying to hone in on the issue of civil liberties. i think that's a clever way to separate himself and to get some. i'm not sure if he could get the young democrats. he would get a lot of the independents, he would be widening the base of the party where he run ares into political difficulty in a republican nomination is on the broader issue of america's stance in the world. he says i'm not an isolationist. well, let's say is he noninterventionist as a kind way to put it. when he says stuff like ukraine isn't really an issue that we have to be concerned about. he opposes expenses overseas. he may at that point into some consistency. but the wider constituency cares about the america's. there it is a loss to him. it does speak to his sincerity because he pursues it. >> we only have a minute left, judge. get back to this question of the obama reform announced and it has to be approved by congress that all of the metadata information about the call records would be held by the phone records and to specifically get their hands on any of that data that the nsa would have to specifically go to a judge and get those numbers. why is that not a compromise. >> when a government wants information about a person, they are to have probable cause of criminal activity on the part of that person. >> they have to satisfy a judge. >> they have to name the person. if they go to a fisa court, fisa has a different standard. fight zaps standard is do you have any suspicion about this group of people? that is not the standard mandated by the constitution. this changes window dressing only. >> all right. i want to save time for charles. would you like to rebut that? >> look, as a matter of policy, given the post 9/11 world in which we live, in which when you talk to people inside intelligence agencies, their hair stands on end when they look at the number of threats. and we know what is possible. and it would be -- weapons of mass destruction not in the far future. i think it would be worth changing that standard as a way to secure the united states. and i think a majority americans would agree with that. >> that's it for the panel. but, stay tuned to see what happens when a campaign commercial goes very very wrong. in the new new york, we don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com tonight, senator mitch mcconnell is known as a smooth political operator, which is why it came as a shock when one of his campaign ads featured the duke basketball team and not a home team like kentucky or louisville. it turns out his re-election team has been making a number of mistakes. >> i'm mitch mcconnell and i love kentucky. i also love working here, in the u.s. capitol building. i will stand up to president obama, for i'm mitch mcconnell and i approve this message. >> they have got to get their act together. i tell you. that's "special report" for tonight. i'm chris wallace here in washington. "on the record" with greta van susteren is next. this is a fox news alert. finally, a break. it is just after 7:00 a.m. in australia, and the skies are finally cooperating. they are clearing a bit and in a matter of minutes, pilots firing up their engines and taking off to perth, australia, hopefully headed for the massive suspected debris field. thai satellite images showing 300 objects still no proof those 300 objects are bits and pieces of flight 370. at this point it's just pictures and compounding the confusion tonight, it seems every country is releasing satellite pictures. but that's all we have satellite images. thailand says it spotted 300 objects on its satellites. malaysia says fren