all right. first, though, big news today. the trial of the accused underwear bomber begins this morning with earnest with opens statements at the federal courthouse in droit. umar farouk abdulmutallab is charged with trying to blow up a flight on christmas day 2009 with a bomb hidden in his underwear. the defendant is acting as his own attorney. cnn s deb feyerick in live in detroit, where you were the night this all developed and christmas day 2009. deb, what is the situation? reporter: well, ali, christine and carol, we can tell you that he is facing eight charges today. it carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. the charges against him, attempted murder, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and also conspiracy toy commit terrorism. the nigerian grat witt student turned accused suits bomber is acteding as his own attorney and umar farouk abdulmutallab shown he is defind. during jury selection he invoked his meant, jihad mentor, recently killed in an air
favor huntsman over romney, but i don t have a choice in that race. i think that h and the republican stakes now, here s a man who doesn t know who he is. he was for gay marriage when he was governor, now against it. he was for abortion when he was governor. now he s against it. he was what are some of the other things? oh, health care. we modeled our bill to a large degree about what he did in massachusetts. now he s trying to run from that. if someone doesn t know who they are, they shouldn t be president of the united states. to me that s the killer question and issue of the 2012 election. is the republican front-runner an empty suit? he doesn t even know who he is. there s the guy who knows him well, an says he doesn t. i think huntsman running is another statement. romney doesn t know who he is. mark mckinney joins us, daily beast contributor. what a beast you are.
if i had a choice i would favor huntsman over romney, but i don t have a choice in that race. ejáh and the republican stakes now, here s a man who doesn t know who he is. he was for gay marriage when he was governor, now against it. he was for abortion when he was governor. now he s against it. he was what are some of the other things? oh, health care. we modeled our bill to a large degree about what he did in massachusetts. now he s trying to run from that. if someone doesn t know who they are, they shouldn t be president of the united states. to me that s the killer question and issue of the 2012 election. is the republican front-runner an empty suit? he doesn t even know who he is. there s the guy who knows him well, an says he doesn t. i think huntsman running is another statement. romney doesn t know who he is. mark mckinney joins us, daily
favor huntsman over romney, but i don t have a choice in that race. i think that the front-runner and the republican stakes now, here s a man who doesn t know who he is. he was for gay marriage when he was governor, now against it. he was for abortion when he was governor. now he s against it. he was what are some of the other things? oh, health care. we modeled our bill to a large degree about what he did in massachusetts. now he s trying to run from that. if someone doesn t know who they are, they shouldn t be president of the united states. to me that s the killer question and issue of the 2012 election. is the republican front-runner an empty suit? he doesn t even know who he is. there s the guy who knows him well. i think huntsman running is another statement. romney doesn t know who he is. mark mckinney joins us, daily
years since retiring from the state department as the ambassador. he s on the board of american university of cairo, as well. we ll see what happens. we ll follow that. thanks very much for coming in. you re welcome. we ll continue to talk. thanks. we re going to get back to what s happening in egypt in a moment. there s a major vept happening at the white house right now. dan lothian is working the story. dan, it involves the u.s. ambassador to china. tell viewers what you ve learned. ambassador huntsman we are told by two senior administration officials he will be stepping down. a hand-delivered resignation letter was sent to mr. obama today. it takes effect on april 30th. he has played a critical role in this relationship at the united states forging with china. you might recall when he president hu was here at the white house during that press conference, a reporter asked mr. obama about the prospects of mr. huntsman running against him. it was a republican candidate in