house memoir as decreed by the white house historical association. the full text is an appendix in the book. it was in 1865 that jennings' memoir was published. so again, i have gotten ahead of myself. let me rewind to 1837. in the book, i start each chapter with what we might call a vignette or scene. the one i would like to read for you opens chapter 5 and finds jennings back in washington after two decades in virginia. it is february 1837 and he is preparing the widow dolly madison's city house for her return to president's square. in the third week of february, judith reeves, the madison's virginia neighbor in washington because of her husband's senate career wrote a letter to dolly madison at montpelier. i took the liberty of going to your house a few weeks ago and walking all about it. on asking a little girl who came to the door if there was anyone there, she said there was a gentleman. then she told me it was only a colored gentleman. good uncle paul stepped forth and quite justified her appalachian by inviting me in and escorting me about in

white house and created this room, they gave them back to the white house. the rest of it, most of it was there, the lamps and things i don't know, but the other things were. the carpet patterns after one in an old drawing. that table in the middle is almost unimaginably weird with cranes carved all over it, that was the roos velts -- the theodore roosevelts thought that was the most beautiful table they'd ever seen. so it was being hauled out to send to the trash and they stopped the cart and made them bring it back in and put it in the house because they loved victorian furniture. so this is now the lincoln bedroom and adjacent to it is the lincoln the right would be the treaty room, which is where the little passage was in lincoln's time. so this is a popular state bedroom created by truman. president hoover actually started the idea because he had the treaty room fixed up for his lincoln collection, and then someone on the staff said, well, mr. lincoln's office was right next door. and hoover said, let's change it. had all the cabinet work moved and to t

white house press secretary is here with us. you also know him as the white guy from every lens crafters commercial. one of his jobs is to keep track of all the hilary rosen said. for all of you unfamiliar, cam, lindsay, she is the woman who said that can run may never worked a day in her life. the administration tried to distance herself from those comments. her name appeared in the white house visitor lot of 35 times. this is where it gets hilarious. he said it wasn't sure it was the same hillary rosen, i perosnally know there of them. where did they all come from? did you put them in the rose in the garden of -- rosen garden? that sounds like president clinton's worst nightmare. is that slut rush limbaugh here? there is a reason he said what he said, and it is percocet. to clear things up, here is the difference between him and bill maher. the people who watch him know he is a -- just in case a spelling bee breaks out, we are covered. numerous members of the print media in attendance. it reminds me of a riddle. what is a blac

bush where she planned and implemented all white house entertaining within the white house complex. and then lastly laurie firestone who is a california native. she served as white house social secretary to george h.w. bush and first lady barbara bush for eight years, at the vice president's residence and four years at the white house. her duties included planning and executing state dinners, luncheons, receptions at the white house and abroad. i know you're going to enjoy this conference, or this panel. thank you. [ applause ] >> this is like a sporting event. >> good morning, everyone. you're in for a treat. we have about half a century of white house history represented here. one of the things that defines the white house social secretary, first of all, it's a job that i think is -- is redefined in some ways with every occupant and with every first lady, but one thing that persists is that a social secretary has a unique relationship and perspective on their first ladies. i recently had the opportunity, thanks to the goodness of the white house historical association, to do an or

in the east room of the white house. this time there was no storm of criticism. congressman de priest served in the 71st, 72nd, and 73rd sessions of congress. he's remembered for courageously challenging segregation and racial discrimination. he fought for blacks to have the right to eat in the house restaurant rather than confined to a separate facility. next to the kitchen in the basement of the house. he fought for the reduction of the number of seats in the house for states that disfranchised blacks. just as congressman white had done. he fought to honor and assist former slaves who were 75 years and older by giving them a federal pension. he fought to authorize federal courts to change the location of a trial of a defendant's right to impartiality was at risk due to matters of race, color or creed as in the scottsboro case. he risked his life speaking ardently all over the country, including the south, to make states and counties responsible for the prevention of lynching. yet even in his home state of illinois, he

the white house that we know first came into being, came to be the white in white house. and edith roosevelt -- and theodore roosevelt wanted it to evoke its sort of colonial roots and so it's a very federal, formal white house. the beautiful pillars. the great entryway. the new grand staircase that she put in. it also helps to bolster -- the roosevelts brought in the imperial presidency, a much more regal, formal worldwide presidency. this is when america really moves into the greater world as a power. and this white house was built to command respect for that and to show the power of that presidency. and mrs. roosevelt was in charge of the decoration of that white house. >> and she added a first ladies portrait gallery? >> she did. she consolidated the portraits of the first ladies. commissioned hers to be added to it and established a first ladies portrait gallery on the ground floor of the white house. >> politically, policywise, what is she known for? >> she's a first lady that steps away from policy. certainly is someone that can restrain her husband, and i'm sure h

at the same time, the white house ruled out any misconduct by white house staff members. that was the conclusion of an internal investigation led by the white house legal counsel's office. >> the white house counsel's office has conducted a review of the white house advance team and in concluding that review came to the conclusion that there was no indication that any member of the white house advance team engaged in any improper or conduct or behavior. >> now the controversy moves to capitol hill on wednesday, but homeland security director janet napolitano testifies before a senate judiciary oversight hearing. now, over the weekend, senator joe lieberman was asked about reports that cocaine was found in the room of one of the secret service agents. >> there's a rule that a secret service agent cannot be using what is described as an intoxicate within six hours of when he or she goes on duty. i want to take a look at that. >> the secret service has taken action against 12 agents in what is very much an ongoing investigation. larry? >> all right, many thanks, hampton pear

house and work with communication people at the white house and advance people at the white house. we need to know for sure that what went on within the secret service, 11-13 people, was any of that going on at the white house. that is the purpose of the letter. >> greta: i assume you would agree nobody has greater interest in making sure that the white house is not involved than the white house itself. the president essentially is the greatest goal of the secret service is to protect the president? >> of course, that is what this is all about. to make sure that the president is properly protected, in the future. this is part of the culture of the secret service is the white house have the same problems. is it just an isolated incident or has it been going on? you are worried about the protection of the president. is there any national security issues involved. >> greta: white house thinks it has done. military investigates its own people and white house thinks they have done enough to investigate their people. >> i know they have announced that today. i sent the letter on friday.

them moving into blair house -- not the white house, to blair house. i think i took three photos i was so nervous. it just -- you don't want to intrude on their private time, but you do have to intrude on their private time because it is for all of us. eventually you have to think ten years, 20 years, down the road. this is telling history. >> david, you had won the pulitzer prize at age 25. you were in the white house several years later. did you have to approach the job differently upon landing in the white house? >> i had -- i got to know the fords before the day -- the day i photographed soon-to-be president ford, the day spero agnew resigned. i can say that in this room and most of you know who i'm talking about. i give a lot of lex tours as schools and it's a little dicy. i even have to explain who president ford is sometimes. but i had an ongoing relationship with him starting -- the first "time" cover i ever had was of him when he was designated by nixon to be the replacement for agnew and then "time" had me covering them. i got to know the fam

this is in the white house solarium. mrs. ford is trying to strangle me yet again for a -- she had to put up with a lot from me. and the queen of england. the queen is a recurring theme here among the first ladies and the social secretaries. a very quick story. this is on the second floor of the white house. as queen elizabeth and the prince were going up in the elevator with the fords before the state dinner, the elevator door opened on the family quarters, and jack ford was standing this without his shirt on, one of the -- one of the sons and he was looking for cufflinks in his dad's drawer. and was very embarrassing, and president ford said to the queen, you know, i really apologize for that. don't worry, we have one at home just like him. and mrs. ford was really the cheerleader of the family, as all the first ladies are. i mean, the guys go out and create all this trouble and win and lose elections, and the first ladies are there to make the kids feel better certainly. but this is right after president ford resigned, or

i'm in the white house. i've never been in the white house before. i probably will never be asked back either. but it's -- it's really very cool, actually. >>> all right. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. welcome back. cnn's live coverage of the white house correspondents' dinner. they're showing a video there right now. so we're going to get to the heart of it when the president comes on, when jimmy kimmel comes on. you're going to see all of it live right here at cnn. joining me live, goldie taylor is here in atlanta. darrell hammond, one of the funniest comedians around who did the white house correspondents' dinner in 2001, he joins me. ana navarro, who is a republican strategist, also joins me. we're going to go -- we've got it all covered for you. stand by. more on that in a minute. but first we want to give you some other news here on cnn. >>> one person is dead after violent storms hit st. louis. 16 oth

the white house did an internal investigation and said they did not find any white house personnel implicated in any way shape, or form. >> the president didn't get there until a couple days after the mayhem, and now their trying to say that one of these guys stayed at the same hotel that the president later stayed out and involved him. >> right, clearly there is no involvement by the president. now, is it a legitimate question, and the white house asked this question of themselves. they send advanced people down on a trip, so let's make sure our people are clean, not involved in this thing. they say they have gone through and made sure. so it does sound like a fishing expedition. but the white house better be right on this. >> but grassly, the senator, also pushed -- he practically audits everybody up for office. let's look at chuck grassley who i junction mentioned wrote the secret service director mark sullivan asking if any white house personnel were possibly involved in this scandal. yesterday, jone lieberman was asked about it on "face the nation" let's watch. >> do you have any indicat

they are being shown the white house living room -- white house bedroom, and when i did an edit for this book i did on the ford presidency, i looked back, and i wonder, i forgot that suitcases in the picture, this is right before mrs. ford went out to bethesda naval hospital where she ultimately had a mastectomy, and she never told mrs. johnson that she was going there that day, and this is in the hospital with bob hope. bob hope's name comes up quite a bit. in fact, he was the one who said president ford made golf a contact sport, and -- and mrs. ford recovered nicely from this operation. probably i know she's best known for the betty ford center, people with alcohol and drug dependency, but i -- i can't imagine how many women's lives she saved. happy rockefeller was one of them who got a test because of her. she brought that whole problem out into the open. this is -- we had a very close relationship. this is in the white house solarium. mrs. ford is trying to strangle me yet again for -- she had to put up with a lot from me, and the queen of england, the queen is a recurring theme her

i'm in the white house. i've never been in the white house before. i probably will never be asked back either. but it's -- it's really very cool, actually. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. and now i build them. i am a bigger is better kind of guy. i absolutely love building locomotives. i knew i wanted to design locomotives from when i was very young. [ jahmil ] from the outside it looks like such a simple device. when you actually get down into the bare bones of it, there's so much technology that's submerged. [ rob ] my welds are a signature, i could tell my welds apart from anybody's. you lay down that nice bead and you look at it, i love it. they don't go together by themselves. there are a lot of little parts, and everyone has their job. [ scott ] i'd love to s

but when i read the john dean book i came away feeling like there was a white house within a white house that i didn't know anything about. i didn't even know it existed. and i had come to believe that the white house can be more compartmentalized than you would think. look, i work for two or three years next to -- sitting next to mike dever in the west wing in the reagan administration. i knew mike had a glass of wine. i knew he liked terrific wine. i didn't know he was an alcoholic. i didn't know he had a dependency. there's a tendency i think if you're working in the white house to -- you're so focused on the job at hand and you have so much coming at you so fast that maybe you are blind to some things going on around you. there is a famous experiment psychologists have that putting a group of people in a room and saying we have a ball we're going to ask you to toss back and forth and we want you to toss this as fast as you can and count the number -- see how many times you can do it without dropping it. so you get six or seven people tossing that ball around and about and this has be

he created a whole new realm of transparency by telling everyone who comes to the white house. the whole reason that we know who is on that list is because of a policy that the president put forward. weighened to make sure people had the chance to finds out who is visiting the white house. >> visitor logs. >> if it weren't for that, we wouldn't know. whereas with mitt romney, we don't know who's bundling donations for him. there's a real difference on this and the transparency the president brought to the white house is something no president before him had done. when i was working for him, it was sometimes a real pain to tell these stories who was coming and who was going. it was important to the president he be transparent about his dealings with the american people and he has been and this is the result. >> it certainly does show some line, however inex-electricable it may be between the folks with money in that town or this town and the white house. >> and who is surprised? would anyone please raise their hands, money buys action ses. money has always bought access until yo

was with the white house communications information, not a branch of white house, with you the white house has taken great pains to remind reporters repeatedly, believe me, martha. martha: as you pointed out senator grassley has a lot of remaining questions how the white house could have conducted this investigation so quickly and found itself to be exonerated so quickly. we'll talk to charles grassley a little later in the show. he is wondering all about the details of that internal investigation. he wants to know more and we'll talk to him in "america's newsroom" in the next hour. >>> it is primary day in five states. commit romney and any speculation of a, could there be, mitt romney looks to basically clear all of these states this evening and shut out his remaining opponents. voters go to the polls in new york, in connecticut, in rhode island and delaware and the swing state of pennsylvania. as they head out to do that, today you have 219 delegates, big pull tonight. look at those numbers. highly populated states in the northeast. mitt romney hitting the trail trail in the keyst

white house and created this room, they gave them back to the white house. the rest of it, most of it was there, you know, the lamps and things i don't know, but the other things were, the carpet patterns after one in an old drawing. that table in the middle, which is almost unimaginably weird, with cranes carved all over it, that was the roosevelts -- the theodore roosevelts thought that was the most beautiful table they'd ever seen. so it was being hauled out to send to the trash and they stopped the cart and made them bring it back in and put it in the house because they loved victorian furniture. so this is now the lincoln bedroom, and adjacent to it is the lincoln sitting room and to the right would be the treaty room, which is where the little passage was in lincoln's time. so this is a popular state bedroom created by truman. president hoover actually started the idea because he had the treaty room fixed up for his lincoln collection, and then someone on the staff said, well, mr. lincoln's office was right next door. and hoover said, let's change it.

in the carter white house, ford, reagan white house. there is now a greater separation between speechwriting, it's like a word factory, and the president, you know? carter's speechwriter at a meeting of the judson wellover society once told me "hey, the longest talk i ever had with carter was the day i left." i found that in the modern white houses they all don't see them that much. you read safire's memoir of life with nixon, before the fall, and he said -- as a speechwriter he said -- "i was spun into the vortex and then spun out again." spun in very close to the president, and then out again. and when i read that, i thought "gee, just like it was for me, except i never got in." it had changed, even in 20 years, or 12 years i guess. that is a trend to be discouraged. i think it ought to be like the old days, when judge harry rosenman, and robert sherwood were actually working with fdr, you know? one of the sub-themes of the book was to sort of quietly agitate to going back to the old ways, because there is too much separation. but, in

located even closer to the white house. now such compounds and similar urban slave quarters were found in other cities such as savannah, charleston, mobile, and new orleans, and they were relatively well documented by the historic american building survey in the late 1930s. in his essay "the home of the slave" written in 1901, w.e.b. dubois classified buildings like this and like those at decatur house called town group quarters where he said few house servants were fairly well housed. the slave quarters at decatur house ceased being there for enslaved people before 1862. in late 1861, the u.s. government took possession of

the white house counsel kathy rem ler. there might have been one or two more staff there, but i don't remember and i don't know their names. >> how about within budget? >> at one of the meetings, jeff sooits came through. he's the head of office of management and budget. and also met with danny we areful, da na hide, and those meetings were about policy. we wanted to talk with them about a possible conference policy, travel policy because they are clearly interested in how we can move forward from this kind of event. >> who did you meet with in communications? >> i was in a meeting in the white house counsels office. there were communications people there, jennifer palm area, i believe were there, and there might have been others, but i don't know their names. >> chiefs of staffs office? >> in the meetings, there was representation from the chiefs of staff office, i believe mark childress is in the office. ultimately, i met with jeff lieu as well. >> and in personnel? >> nancy hogan. >> just the two of you? >> no. she was

question will president obama be forced to replace senior white house advance staff in the white house that is get that over the next six months before november's election? >> i kind of doubt it. we'll see where it goes. the agents disgraced the country. one of the reasons they are such idiots is the prost cutes come in the hoe -- prostitutes come into the hotel. they leave their id at the front desk. they have all been checked out. there is no indications there is anything beyond you know -- [ laughter ] ancient conduct with the oldest profession. and the el salvador thing are looking into it. the reporter is not revealing his sources. it shouldn't surprise us that men do these sort of things. they should be fired when it does. but i do not think it's a scandal that will reach into the highest echelons of the white house. >> there is a number of agencies here. you have secret service and white house communication agency, then you got the white house advance office and our office ron walker ran that under nixon and we had guys running that under reagan. no one has been implicated in an

the white house can't help themselves. i don't think the white house said anything. >> kimberly: i think they are worried about him. he has a good strong heart and being -- >> bob: worried? >> kimberly: yeah. let him. he has sitting there being subjected to people like yourself. for a long time. >> bob: endorse romney. >> kimberly: you think it would hurt his candidacy. >> greg: is he an unmitigated disaster or mitigated disaster? >> eric: obama? >> greg: yeah. whatever. never heard of unmitigated disaster. >> eric: whatever. i can just talk about dick cheney? >> greg: sure. >> eric: how unbelieve seasonable it the guy got a brand new heart four weeks ago and is able to sit on stage, stand up, make a speech. it's fantastic. says a lot about our medicine in this country, which frankly has done pretty darn good without obama. >> greg: bob, you have to look at this and be going, this is great news for you. you will live another 30 years. >> bob: i will live to see cheney out on the trail again. medicine, more power to it. eve

what a disaster for the white house. i bet a stay-at-home mom would know how to clean this mess up. >> my career choice was to be a mother. all of us need to know we need to respect choices that women make. other women make other choices. to have a career and raise a family, which i think hillary rosen has done herself. i respect that. >> greg: nice. you could go nuts over rose rosen'sdess on stay-at-home moms but don't. be grateful when the lefty reveals its real self. it's like when you see a whistling duck. analyze it. don't be scared. what did we learn? anyone can be a p.r. expert. and folks like rosen and romney is a quaint irrelevant nonentity, nonfeminist choices were never her own. seriously, why would you be a stay-at-home mom when you can mock them on cnn for money in full-time mom is simply blind to her own subservience of pateryiar i can. why in the media hype over sandra fluke, fighting for free abortion pills beats raising children. literally. the left realizes they just undo their own life. but the screw u

white house press secretary jay carney answered this. >> the white house has conducted a review, and in concluding that review came to the conclusion that there is no indication that any member of the white house advance team engaged in any improper conductor behavior. so simply out of due diligence, the last couple days that review was conducted, and it pro duduc no indication of any misconduct. >> two questions to you, what is a legitimate inquiry? i would think it might be patterns of behavior. is this something that's happened in the past that sort of wields up, rings off for a ceremony they had down there which is hardly fun in you're married to one of these people. and the other one is the question of if, in fact, there was some involvement by the communications team which is not bipartisan and not elected by the president. anyone else involved, can you tell, and was there a pattern here? >> so far director sullivan has conducted a thorough investigation, and when a report comes out, he is reporting information as he comes to it. but this is not a political issue, this is about

guest: of the white house. guest: it is helpful to have anita here because there have been misnomers. host: richard, did you want to follow up? caller: in this area of concern about government spending, hello? how much money is wasted? the first lady is not elected. does she deserve the continual god knows how much spending? we are all concerned about paying taxes because most of our taxes are wasted. this represents a significant waste of our money. guest: i will use a quotation that a former president said. we get only one employee in the united states government for free. and that is the first lady. it is not an elected position, not an appointed position. it also gets no salary. it frees up the first lady to do the kinds of things that they care about and without having any statutory requirements. by and large, we can imagine the role and see how much of the contribution they have made to raise the national debate and awareness on issues of concern to everybody in the country. we cannot drive down a highway

nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house for us. vick, unemployment going down and the actual number of jobs added, that was less than expected. >> reporter: that did not meet expectations and in the weeks leading up to this monthly jobs report. over the course of the last year or so, people were holding their

any potential white house involvement in colombia. that secret service prostitution scandal. senator chuck grassley, the ranking member of the judiciary committee is joining us on the phone from iowa right now. you wrote this letter asking for answers. i take it you received no reply from the white house, is that right? >> no reply and we followed it with a couple of e-mails and phone calls today and still don't have an answer, and it took them just two days to come to the conclusion that there were no problems with the colombia situation in the white house like there was in the secret service, and i would think that if it only took two days to do the investigation on their part and come to the conclusion there were no problem, they ought to be able to answer my letter in a matter of seven day, but we do not have an answer. >> the white house earlier in the week after you wrote that letter asking questions, they said that their council's office of the white house had done a review and had found nothing to substantiate suggestions that

the white house counsel conducted its own investigation into whether white house staffers were involved in the scandal. >> there's no information that any member of the white house advance team engaged in improper conduct or behavior. >> reporter: on friday carney told nbc news there was no need for an internal investigation. >> an internal investigation, if you will, and you don't know it? >> i have no reason, as i said yesterday, to believe that there is a need for that. >> reporter: this weekend lawmakers called for the white house to investigate, but the administration says the inquiry was done sirchlly in an attempt to do its own due diligence. nbc news has also learned that that white house communications agency employee is an enlisted army soldier who has been stripped of his duties pending the outcome of the investigation. so far there are six secret service employees who are on their way to being separated from the agency, and that number is expected to increase. brian. >> kristen welker from the white house tonight. thanks. >>> the criminal trial of former democratic senator a

the white house. she greatly enjoyed herself and is greatly delighted." about a month after the affair, mrs. de priest addressed 300 women in the church in chicago about the affair. she was quoted as saying, "the president's wife is a wonderful hostess. i believe she possesses a great soul. she's quite modest, but she has all the dignity her position demands. she went on the say, "the ladies at the party discussed such problems as you and i may discuss on sunday a afternoon in this church. there was no excitement when i entered the white house. all the storm and criticism has been stirred up since and outside of the capital and mostly below the mason dixon line. " two years later on january 29th, 1931, congressman and mrs. de priest, who were still residents of 419 u street northwest were invited to the white house for a reception as guests of the president and first lady hoover. the press reported that they mingled with the speaker of the house long worth and other dignitaries in the white house. thi

guest: the white house. all the staff on the first lady's staff are considered the staff of the president of the united states. assigned to the first lady's office to assist in those duties. guest: it's actually helpful to have anita here. i know there's been some misnomers to what mrs. obama's staff looks like as compared to mrs. bush's staff and the truth is they're identical. host: did you want to follow up? caller: in this era of concern about government spending, hello? guest: yes. caller: yeah. how much money is wasted here? the first lady isn't elected. she's a family member. she deserves civil service protection. but does she deserve this continual god knows how much spending? we're all concerned about paying taxes because most of our taxes are wasted and i think this represents a significant waste of our money. guest: you know, one thing i could actually say -- i'll use a quote that a former president said, ronald reagan said, we get only one employee in the united states government for free. and th

most people would have beelined it to the white house. he said, jerry, go downstairs and we'll swing by and pick you up. he always included, you know, his friends, and that was a big one. and so i go downstairs. ironically, sonny's coming in from memphis, and i see him getting out of the cab with his luggage and i said give it to the bellman because i see the limousine coming through and here's elvis, we're going to the white house. sonny jumped in the car and we took off up the street to the white house. >> so you get to the white house and this time they let you in. >> we got in, yeah. guards were family. >> did they -- you don't expect -- actually, you don't personally expect to go to the oval office. >> no, in fact we were told because elvis was the first one to mention it and only mr. presley can go and it was -- oh, and after elvis left there was some conversation, you know, sonny and i said, you know, elvis is really hard to say no to and the white house aide said, you know, it's not even up to the president and it's a secret servi

>> no this is bad for the white house. carney's defense was bungled. it was a days of our lives story. it was bizarre. i can see why michelle obama is weighing in, the president's weighing in on this. they need moms to come out and vote. the president has gained about 10 points in the gender cap with college educated women. can you imagine how many women she offended and how worried the president got? i think the fact that a feminist, their base, someone they take advice from that goes to the white house, comes out and insults women that a lobbyist thinks she's more in touch with working mothers. but this is how feminists stink. this is what they really feel. last week they exposed themself and the week before when they say pay for our birth control. now they're contradicting themselves. >> eric is a good mystery solver. >> the mystery is this. if as president obama said she was some person on tv, talking about random things, why did messina and axlerod respond within an hour? >> because the campaign, the reelection campaign, had to do that immediately

the white house confirmed it included more than incomes taxes. they added in social security and medicare taxes as well. which some democrats argue is only fair. >> when my republican colleagues talk about taxes and focus on income taxes, they leave out the payroll taxes. >> it is deceptive to mix the income taxes and payroll taxes in a debate over personal incomes taxes. >> critics say they should not be included because taxpayers get the money back. >> pay the taxes in and get a retirement benefit coming out. they will get hundreds of thousands more than they pay in taxes. the idea somehow we don't have a progressive schedule is not true. >> consider this one of the early rounds in what will be a knock-down drag-out election year fight over tax fairness. in washington, jim angle, fox news. >> bret: white house official tells fox the president will renominate christine svinicki to the nuclear commission. reid is said to oppose the move. other senators complained that the action of nrc chairman yasco cowell compromise safety. >>> the space shuttl

nbc white house correspondent christian walker is at the white house with the latest. >> reporter: a week after one of the biggest scandals to hit the secret service in decades. ix six employees are under the process of being removed from the service. also one employee was cleared of serious misconduct but still faces administrative action. and now another agent is under the microscope, leaving five on administrative leave. 11 military personnel are also imp will i kated. nbc's mark potter has details on new video 37. >> investigators are hoping to question all the prostitutes involved in the scandal and also see if any of them are underage. in a video shot thursday, colombia police can be seen arriving at the play club where officials say some of the u.s. agents had been last week. this man says several officers told him the play club and three other clubs were rated in an attempt to locate women identified in the investigation. >> reporter: back in washington, republican senator chuck grassley posted a video on his facebook page, lashing out at the secret service. >> i always said

and i said, send them to the white house. and he says, lady, i'll send them, but you got to tell the president they don't really work. but they were -- the country fairs were a great success. >> laurie, any crystal balls in the first bush white house? >> no, i'm sorry, we didn't get any crystal balls. we would have liked one, but -- >> were there favorite entertainers? >> favorite? >> favorite entertainers? >> well, when you were talking about bob hope, it reminded me he came a couple of times to our state dinners. you know, he would walk in and just act like he owned the place and he'd say i have been here so many times, you weren't even born when i was here, so he was fun, and we did -- we had elizabeth taylor once, which was very exciting, and she, of course, was very glamorous, and we had don johnson and melanie griffith one year, and that was quite interesting. she wrote the cutest note to the president and barbara afterwards saying, my mother never told me what i should wear to the white house, and the reason was that s

the people you see in the white shirts and dark trousers who protect the white house. and also some agents and i think perhaps the most troubling of all for the agency is there were some supervisors who apparently were aware of this and didn't immediately put a stop to it. >> and do the folks tend to be the newer members of the secret service? twl was there any pattern of who these folks are? >> there are some veterans, i haven't gotten basically the call. >> these are the advance people, the people that come ahead of the president, and try to set up the movements, do the reconnaissance, where would we go if this or that happened. it's a serious job, but it's not the actual body men. >> and mark sullivan, how is he viewed in the leadership ashead of the secret service. >> these questions come up so far, at least from what i have heard from talking to administration officials, there doesn't seem to be a bull's-eye on him by any means. >> the report's on napolitano congress will look into it, but the one that really counts is the one that the secret service doing now. >>

but that somebody on television according to the laws of the white house, has been to the white house 35 times, jay carney was asked about that today. here is what he said. >> hillary rosen, i know three personally women named hillary rosen. so i'm not sure that those represent the person we're talking about necessarily. so i really can't comment on a number of visits. >> i don't know any other hillary rosen but jay must. you know, it's politics. [ laughter ] >> bret: hillary rosen on the logs apparently met with obama. some hillary rosen five of those times. >> let's say there was a third of those times. clearly she has met with him. in business with the former white house communications director anita dunn. she has been advicing the democratic national committee. the game today has been the romney team has tried to make her seem like president obama's top advisor and democrats and some of the media made it seem like she has never had anything to do with the president of the democratic national committee. the reason that there is this fighting, romney is down depending on the poll, e

the white house correspondents dinner. first of all, people on twitter know i'm not drunk, i'm not inebriated, i'm not hate. i'm just having fun. it's the white house correspondents dinner. come on, lighten up a little bit. and if you're home az said get up and walk your own red carpet. 9:30 we're going to take you there live, continuous coverage. if you're inside this room we're look at, that's the red carpet. but if you're in that room, let me tell you what's happening. oh, tom, oh, my god, i love that story you did on -- you're so aweso awesome. oh, thank you so much. you look so great. look at your shoes. where did you get them? that's what's happening right now. ha, ha, ha, i'm so glad we're here. that's what's going on. is that jon stewart? no? see, if you say there's something there and then -- oh, someone says i'm going to be on jon stewart for doing that. no, i'm just telling the people at home what's happening. a lot of gladhanding. a lot of patting each other on the back, congratulatory things. but it's all real

they are letting them in the white house. mitt romney should have a press conference tomorrow to say this proves that the president mr. obama and mr. biden and mr. donnelan and lew, male heavy white house staff doesn't care about the issues of women. i'm kidding but i'm trying to say how ludicrous the war on women is. and this is a tough policy dealing with the situation they deal with. i don't, i think ultimately the failure to deal with syria and iran is what the administration is going to be judged on with the complicated mini west of different groups of egypt. >> bret: susan, many say the muslim brotherhood said they weren't going to put up a presidential candidate. they did. that is the history and dealing with the group. they say one thing and change down the road in the future. what about this? >> there are reason not to trust the muslim brotherhood. also the case in a country with a revolution, we choose between bad and worse and worse. in this case, there is somebody becoming popular running two is much worse if that

this one, popped by 1600 pennsylvania avenue for a white house tour. why is he here, you ask? he'll be the comedy entertainment at tomorrow night's white house correspondents dinner. well, him and the president, who traditionally makes some jokes, as well. >> matt damon said he was disappointed in my performance. well, matt, i just saw the adjustment bureau, so -- right back at you, buddy. >> i insisted that the president open for me. i'm the headliner here. make no mistake about it, these people are here to see me. >> reporter: who usually opens for you, like eddie murphy's brother? >> something like that. >> reporter: we sat down this afternoon to talk about what's become a right of passage for comedians. this dinner has become something like washington, d.c.'s academy awards. what some call nerd prom. >> a strange mix of people, like, you have the president, you have kim kardashian, you have lindsay lohan and you have general petraeus, you know? this is -- i just hope everyone gets out with their jewelry. >> reporter: recent years have brought some

it is only the white house, and the white house counsel, that is saying they will not make him available. alisyn: doug schoen is fox news contributor and former pollster for president clinton, justin spacey is former spokesman for general gen bush and owner of safety view.com. thank you for being here. >> good morning, alisyn. alisyn: good morning. i'll start with you doug. republican lawmakers investigating foss & furious -- fast & furious want to speak to kevin o'reilly, a former national security staffer, he apparently has some e-mails, he exchanged e-mails that they're interested in looking at. why would the white house block that access? >> i think for very valid reasons, because of executive privilege, because of separation of powers. this is nothing more i think than a fishing expedition in an election year, and i think the white house is exercising what is right, reasonable and appropriate judgment. alisyn: justin, is this a fishing expedition or do they have some indication that the e-mails hold some important information? >> well, there's something very unusual in my view about