would hesitate to make any blanket statements. what i can tell you is that on his first day in office president obama made clear that the people who serve in his administration are keepers of the public trust, and that public service is a privilege. megyn: joining me now leslie marshal a syndicated talk show host and fox news contributor. and lars larsen. a fox news contributor. it s a big government. the president is in charge he sets the tone and obviously nobody was listening to him down at gsa. they are all headed off to vegas to have a great time on the taxpayer s dime. it s pretty shameful and sad when members of the most transparent administration in history have to take the fifth in front of congress. megyn: is that really an adequate response from the white house to say, it s really big. we tried to set the right attitude when we took office, it didn t work. not in the gsa at least. shouldn t we have morey
the debate over this is certain to continue, with the tax breaks first established under president bush set to expire at the end of this year. the second of four congressional hearings will take place on capitol hill today. in the growing scandal over wasteful spending by a government agency. current and former officials from the general services administration will face a new round of questioning this morning, over 2010 conference in las vegas. it follows a tense hearing yesterday where as nbc s lisa myers reports, questions about possible kickbacks and allegations of bribery came up. what happened in vegas ended up on capitol hill. and the gsa official in charge of the lavish conference, jeff neily, asserted his right to remain silent six times. mr. chairman, i respectfully decline to answer any questions here today based upon my fifth amendment constitutional privilege. reporter: but neily seemed less reticent about his vegas
his job title was. what is your title at gsa. mr. chairman on the advice of council i respectfully decline to answer. did you attend the 2010 western regional conference in las vegas. on advice of my council i decline to answer based on my fifth amendment constitutional privilege. six times. what is behind that? he can t answer his own title? it is remarkable and obviously he hawse following the advice of his council which is saying nothing you gain a lot. however, it definitely to the general public appears extremely suspicious. it reeks of scandal that someone cannot even answer the question of what they did in their previous job because they are worried about the legality of it. and that is really what chairman
fun time at the m resort spa and casino outside las vegas. literally soaking up taxpayer funds. judging by these pictures from his wife s google-plus page. it was part of one of the eight scouting and preconference meetings taken by her husband and other officials of the general services administration to plan a conference one year later that the inspector general called excessive and wasteful. neely did not look like he was having as much fun called before a congressional committee. and he certainly did not bear as much. i respectfully decline to answer any questions here today based upon my fifth amendment constitutional privilege. reporter: neely organized the now infamous $823,000 conference in 2010, which included $75,000 spent on a bicycle building exercise. $6,000 for commemorative coins and $3,000 spent on this mind reader/motivational speaker.
peppers, californication i love that. i like it, i like it. joining us is will cain, mark lamont hill, professor at columbia university and john fugelsang, political comedian. i love watching the shuttle take off going into retirement after 39 different flights. even when it s taking off on top of a jumbo jet? yes, will cain. it s amazing, look at how huge that is. i watched it many times from my parents yard in florida. 39 times, more than any other shuttle. it s a piece of history. they ll take the enterprise, which is at the smithsonian now, and was a test model in the 1970s and bring that enterprise to new york, the intrepid museum right near where i live and they ll swap and the discovery will go into the smithsonian so it s a win/win. both enjoy their retirement and hear my jimmy buffett song. papers filed and waiting to hear if the judge in the trayvon martin will remove herself from the case. george zimmerman s defense saying judge jessica rickseidl