tells us. i am now proud of him. in a community pushed to the edge, his is a story of redemption. arwa damon, cnn, republic of congo. >> excellent reporting. thanks for watching "around the world." "cnn newsroom" starts right now. have a great weekend. right now, we are waiting for a big document-drop in new jersey. the state assembly there is ready to release hundreds of pages of documents on the georgia washington bridge traffic tie-up, the scandal that threatens governor chris christie's political future. and right now about 300,000 virginians don't have access to safe tap water. their supply has been contaminated by a chemical leak. we'll tell you what happened and what the white house is doing to help protect the people there. and right now, wall street isn't quite sure how to react after a surprisingly dismal jobs report. the numbers and why they fell so the numbers and why they fell so short of expectations.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >r hip hi ther> r in for wolf blitzer. we wip we will start with chapter in the chris christie traffic scandal. at any momentp at any mome jersjersey state jersjersey stat assembly i expectp expected expected 9p 900 of pages of docue so-callso-called traffic studyd oour jop our joe johns joi with this. what example . >> reporter: we aren't expecting aranp any bombshells, t pofficia officials suppose release that pages at best, which could shed some light on what happened in the bridge controversy, coming from the same committee in the new jersey legislature that's been at the center of the storm from the start. told not to expect again any bombshells, just a little more

context, perhaps, a little more clarity. >> the big issue here for governor christie is the threat of a criminal investigation. how serious is that? >> well, good question. what we're told is, the united states attorney for new jersey, by the way, this is a job that chris christie held some time ago. >> he did, yeah. >> now there is an obama appointee there. has launched a preliminary investigation. and he's doing that with the help of the fbi. they're looking into whether it's possible that any public corruption laws might have been broken. the fact of the matter is, though, when you talk to a lot of legal experts and so on, they'll suggest it might be a stretch to try to make this into a federal case. >> and that's not the only legal woes. there is also this class action. >> absolutely, right. >> tell us about that. >> this is a group of people who were inconvenienced and may have lost time, may have lost money, while the traffic on the bridge was being held up. they're trying to get class action sort of case. that would mean representing a larger group of individuals who

had a problem. they're alleging a bunch of things, including that the government actually engaged in some type of inappropriate activity. they're allegation conspiracy, and they're also allegation a lot of negligence in there. in other words, the public officials, including the governor, had a duty to avoid this kind of thing for the public, and for some reason or another, they didn't. >> the troubles just branching off this issue. >> right. every direction. >> every direction. joe johns, thank you so much. now just a few hours -- our joe johns just talked about that class action lawsuit over the september traffic slow down. hln legal analyst, joey jackson, joining me on this. what do you think about this, joey? are these people really with a beef? is this opportunism, is this a grass roots start for them? are they just aggravated? is this political? what do you think? >> reporter: gasp, good

afternoon, brianna. there are legitimate claims. it's predicated on federal claims, in addition to state claims, like what? they're arguing in the lawsuit their ability to travel was certainly impeded as a result of this. they're arguing their due process rights under the 14th amendments were violated as a result of this. they're arguing general negligence that the people who were in charge of this certainly should have known better, and should have been trained properly. and, of course, the governor should have adequately supervised what was occurring here. and in addition to that, brianna, you are talking about damages that are real. you're talking about people's ability not to get to work oh. you're talking about a potential panic attack that someone had, who was there. and so that relates to not only damages that are physical in nature, but economic in nature, and emotional in nature, as well. and so we'll see. they'll have the right to defend it and respond to it. but on the face of it, it certainly doesn't look opportunistic. it looks like there are legitimate claims at the root of this lawsuit. >> and i know class action lawsuits are sort of your wheel

house in a way. you would take this case, then. you think they might have a good shot? >> reporter: you know, i think they do. and certainly there will be attorney fees attached to that. so any attorney would be motivated to do something like this. and, of course, if you look at the background of it, brianna, apparently they went to the lawyer back in september when it it did occur. but there was only speculation at that point as to whether or not it was politically motivated with the e-mails having come out. and, of course, the jury will be out on that. everybody has their day in court. but they seem to be suggestive of some type of intentional act of people we hold in positions of authority and that we expect will be responsible and do their job. >> they certainly have some evidence in their corner. one of the other legal headaches for the governor will be this federal criminal investigation. how real is this? what would make this a federal crime? >> reporter: you know, it remains to be seen. but, again, we elect officials, and we expect they behave

responsibly. and we expect they're not corrupt in any way. they'll be looking at wire fraud, they'll be looking at mail fraud, they'll be looking at communications that were within the administration between different members of the administration. was there any intent to actually do this. does that intent satisfy the corruption laws which make it illegal to engage in behavior that is criminal and in fact corrupt. were there any payoffs that occurred as a result of this. so we're a long way away. there will be an investigation. at this point on the face of it, is there enough? who knows. but as they continue as the fbi to unfold and, you know, to peel back the onion, as they say, and we know the fbi leaves no stone unturned, who knows what we could be talking about next week, brianna. so joey, before i let you go, i want to ask you this. and chris christie has -- you know, as we heard from joe johns, he has this background of being a federal lawyer. he knows or should know what to do, what not to do. he's talking about kind of doing this, you know, internal look

himself. under the threat of a federal investigation, should he be sort of dallying in that, trying to figure out what went on, or should he just kind of step back and say, you know, what let's let the feds decide if this is an issue. >> reporter: sure, brianna. i know he has wonderful advisers, and they'll advise him accordingly as to what he shut do. but i think there is a political consideration as well as an actual legal and ethical consideration. politically, he has headaches. people much more qualified than me can speak to those issues. legally, i think people want responsible government. and in the event that anyone in his administration did act improperly and inappropriately, the people of new jersey and, of course, throughout the country, you know, may have an interest in knowing that he's weeding that out, and acting in a responsible way as a responsible official will act. and so we are far from done from this. we have just scratched the surface. but i think it may be around, particularly with the lawsuits pending, brianna, for us to be talking about for some time to come. >> it's a hard situation,

certainly, for him to navigate. joey jackson, hln, legal analyst. thank you. >> reporter: pleasure and privilege. now, the justice department has just announced that the federal government will recognize same-sex marriages that were performed for a short time in utah. this is a decision that will affect more than 1,000 gay and lesbian couples. let's go ahead and bring joe johns back in. why did the justice department make this move? >> well, it means the united states federal government is saying the law of the land, which applieses to federal benefits and same-sex marriages, still applies. you can make a case the people over at the justice department saw a need to act, because they already had the supreme court decision called windsor, which allowed for extension of federal benefits to same-sex couples. though with the state of utah asking for gay marriages to be put on hold while the supreme court decides another case, it created an enforcement problem. this was department of justice saying we've got a decision and the court already moving forward

on enforcing that, regardless of what utah does. listen to eric holder's recorded statement. >> the governor has announced the state will not recognize these marriages, pending additional court action. in the meantime, i am confirming today that for purposes of federal law, these marriages will be recognized as lawful and considered eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages. >> on a different level, you can say also that now doj has taken this action, the federal government once again is inserting itself into an issue that's long been the province of the state's, which is regulation of marriage, and in some ways, the decision will only add to the confusion over same-sex marriage, as the states that don't allow it try to come to grips with the states that do have it, along with what the federal government is doing. brianna, this issue remains a moving legal target. >> does it clear up any of the confusion? for instance, if a same-sex couple perhaps in their state,

they cannot wed legally, but they go to a state where you can, what does it mean for them, and how does it sort of -- does it clean up any of the inconsistencies? >> it really doesn't. because it's on hold in utah. so utah is not recognizing the marriages. so that means other states don't necessarily have to, i would think. but it's really hard to say. it's a patchwork that's gone on in the united states. the supreme court probably has got to revisit this, and give a fuller opinion on whether same-sex marriages are valid in the 50 states. >> clear up some of that confusion. >> yeah. >> joe johns, thank you. now, we have learned that the obama administration has fired cgi federal. you remember that? that is the contractor that was hired to create healthcare.gov. the government's health care exchange website that was such a disaster last year. cgi has been working to fix the problems, but will now be replaced. cgi's contract with the government was scheduled to

expire in february, and ultimately, it was not renewed. the house voted today to approve a new check on that website. the bill requires the administration to notify individuals if their personal information entered on to the website is later compromised. the white house opposed this bill, but stopped short of threatening a veto. the senate still has to vote on it, decide if it will take it up. next week the house is expected to vote on a bill that will require weekly updates on enrollment numbers, which we're only getting monthly at this point. also updates on website problems. chris christie now has an image problem, so why aren't members of his party coming to his defense? we'll be taking a look, next. no matter how busy your morning you can always do something better for yourself. and better is so easy with benefiber. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it.

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that coffee breaks down tooth enamel. thankfully, she uses act restoring mouthwash. it rebuilds tooth enamel, making your teeth two times stronger. act. smile strong. chris christie was riding high as a republican presidential front-runner. here's where he stood in mid december against perceived democratic front-runner, hillary clinton. a two-point lead in the potential 2016 match-up, within the margin of error, so neck and neck. christie was the only republican mentioned who could beat clinton, according to the poll. that poll was taken three days

after he first denied any involvement by his office ft. lee traffic scandal. now has taken responsibility and apologized, even though there is no evidence that he personally ordered anything. but what we haven't heard a lot of from fellow republicans is defense. defending him. and our brian todd is here to talk about that. in fact, we have actually heard some of them come out and kind of slam him a little. >> that's right, brianna. they have. as for those not saying anything, they may be content to let him twist in the wind a little bit. there is real resentment within the republican party toward chris christie. and some are not being so silent. here is a quote from rand paul from yesterday. quote, i've been in traffic before, and i know how angry i am when i'm in traffic and i'm always wondering who did this to me. you know, clearly a little dig at him. but among some conservative voices, even stronger sentiments. here is glenn beck yesterday. here is the good news. i think this is has just ended his political career, according to glenn beck. quote, conservatives need to run

from chris christie. rush limbaugh saying he's a guy who is going to pay you back. those conservative voices very influential are really speaking out now toward him. and you know, it's a long-standing clash on policy. they clash with him on immigration, they clash with him on gun control, the tea party people do, the conservative wing. >> they feel he's not conservative enough. that's right. he's not conservative enough. always clashed with him on that. also, you talk to analysts who followed the 2012 campaign and other things. some of it is personal. one analyst said he has talked to some operatives on who say there is a perception that chris christie's team is tough to work with, he's a real prima donna. and you cannot forget superstorm sandy, the appearances with president obama. you were with the president. >> still kind of fresh in a way, i think, for some republicans. they're so upset that chris christie, you know, was pictured with president obama during that time. >> that's right. and right before the election, they said that romney couldn't bounce back from that. now there's some who say that

romney probably would have lost anyway. but, again, it didn't help them at that point. >> and it's interesting, because, you know, so many people, even though there are a number of people who are kind of coming out, you're not really surprised when there's some folks who may have their eyes on the presidency, as well. kind of knocking him. it's interesting, there are republicans who think he perhaps really has a shot and they don't really know what to say. you don't want to take a side if you're them, i think. >> that's right. >> let's talk about the people who may stand to gain from a christie tumble. who has the most to gain? >> well, i mean, you look at some of the obvious candidates. rand paul spoke out yesterday about this. he is certainly someone who has something to gain from it. he's considered a potential presidential contender in 2016. marco rubio, ted cruz. and i heard james carville mention someone who hasn't been mentioned much recently, jeb bush. lying back, waiting for some of these pegs to fall, maybe. maybe he's going to make his move a little bit later when he sees how some of this shakes out and maybe this is something that will help him make that

decision. so those are the names you're hearing about right now. >> all right. it's amazing, the ramifications. and we'll continue to be able to assess just how much reach this has and how it affects the dominoes. brian todd, thank you so much. there's a lot of people in west virginia who are being warned to stay away from their tap water. we're going to tell you why, next. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

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president obama has declared a federal emergency in nine west virginia counties after a potentially dangerous chemical leaked into the water supply. it is a chemical used to wash coal. and it leaked from a storage facility right into the elk river, directly into it. more than 300,000 people are being warned not to use their tap water for drinking, cooking or even washing. two hours passed before the warning went out and emergency rooms were packed with panicked people. the national guard has been called out, fema officials also on-site. but it's still unclear how much of this chemical is in the water. >> obviously, we still have no

quantified amount. we have run some tests and we can detect the material. there is a material present. but we don't know how to quantify it. we don't know that the water is not safe. but i can't say it is safe. >> and our elizabeth cohen is in charleston, west virginia, covering this for us. elizabeth, you actually visited this factory site today. what was it like? >> reporter: you know, i'll tell you, brianna. they told us that this chemical smell is like black licorice. and when we went there, ooh, boy, are they right. there is this overwhelming smell of black licorice and i don't mean that in a yummy way. it is really pretty overpowering and you feel a little nauseous smelling and breathing it in. freedom industries has not returned our phone cause. not only that, they are not even returning the phone calls of the utility of the water company who you just heard from. they said look, we're trying to reach them and they're not talking to us.

what we do know about this chemical, brianna, it can be harmful if you're exposed to it in its undiluted form. if you took a whiff of the chemical, it could hurt you. what we don't know, what happens when you're exposed to it in its diluted form. it went into the water system. we don't know what it can do to you in its diluted for the. brianna. >> so if we don't know that, do we know if anyone has gotten sick from the contamination? >> reporter: brianna, we called around to area hospitals and they all told us, they have no illnesses that they know are linked to this water. they're not seeing people are strange chemical rashes or anything like that. one hospital official or employee told us, we have had some people come into the emergency room feeling nauseous and they say it's from the smell. it's impossible, of course, to link those two. you don't really know why these people are feeling nauseous. >> obviously, a developing story. and we know you'll be following

it there, elizabeth cohen in charleston, west virginia. thank you. we know it looks like a severe flu season is raging as nine people have died in the san francisco bay area. it's so bad there, hospitals have set up triage tents, like this one here. flu season hits its peak in late january, runs through march. and health officials say most who died likely had the h1n1 strain, called swine flu. and that they likely had not been vaccinated. the current flu shot covers swine flu. there is concern, too, that the people who died were relatively young. one, just 23 years old. despite claims on the internet that the polar vortex left niagara falls frozen solid, you can see here that water actually is frozen, or i should say, flowing. that's what i meant, flowing. but, yes, that extreme cold left the falls partially frozen. an amazing sight. and experts point out that parts of the falls actually freeze over every winter. and look at this ice in the

niagara river. officials warn the ice jam could force water over the banks, and lead to flooding. an amazing sight, though. we know that bridge scandal in new jersey is leaving governor chris christie without a key ally. hear how that could impact the race for the white house after the break. she keeps you on your toes. you wouldn't have it any other way. but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow.

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some of the fallout from the new jersey bridge scandal could have a significant and lasting impact on the political career of governor chris christie. and here's why. christie's trusted strategist, who managed his two gubernatorial campaigns, is no longer at his side. christie fired bill steppian after learning about the apparent scheme to block traffic near a busy bridge. peter, how important is steppian to his success? >> this is a big deal that kind of flue under the radar yesterday. everyone focused on bridge yet kelly. >> who said time for traffic problems. >> but steppian's name surfaced, suggesting he was aware of this after it happened. bill steppian flies very under the radar, but he is in chris christie's inner circle. in fact, one of the top three or

four strategists, a lot of people thought this was the guy who was going to manage chris christie's campaign. essential guy, under the rare, in the nuts and bolts of campaigning. basically someone like barack obama's david plouffe. this is a big deal. a lot of people i talked to in trenton yesterday were shocked this happened, because steppian is so close to the governor, travels with him, has his ear. the fact that you could -- he fired steppian, cut him out of his political organization, suggests how seriously christie took this. because this wasn't just some functionary. this is somebody who had his ear and goes way back with christie. >> this is his right-hand man. a lot of people look at what has gone down in new jersey and some people say they're not necessarily surprised. certain places are known for more transactional politics, hard-hitting politics. is that what's going on here? how, i guess, often does something like this happen? >> well, i mean, you know, there's some states that just have a little bit of a rough and

tumble atmosphere, florida, south carolina. but new jersey is definitely one of them. that's not an understatement. christie's first campaign for free holder, a county office in morris county, he was sued for defamation after that campaign and settled out of court because of a hard-hitting campaign ad he ran. i talked to someone about bill steppian, who we were just talking about, who has this very sort of sharp reputation. and they say that's par for the course in new jersey, how business is done. but, you know, looking ahead for christie's political prospects, this environmental stuff raises questions about, you know, the kind of culture he allows to exist around him. when he took over the republican governor's association, which he did recently, the back story there is that he kind of stepped in and muscled bobby jindal, louisiana governor, out of the way. which kind of took a lot of people in rga circles back, because there is sort of a decorum people abide by and christie just barged in and said i want to run the rga and did it. >> his middle name is not decorum. i think we can say that about chris christie for sure.

one of his vulnerabilities, of course, there are conservative republicans suspicious of him. but one of his strengths as a political candidate, he is a republican in a blue state. so if he were, let's say, by all of this, to be forced out of the race, if he were no longer viable, when you're looking towards 2016, who do republicans have who could -- could help in those blue states and perhaps kind of turn them red? >> right. so if you're looking at that, you kind of have to look at this traditional divide of the republican party. you have your kind of grass roots wing on the right. and sort of your more establishment wing on the left. there is a different sort of ideological tangents going on here, some libertarians and whatever. looking to people who could appeal to moderates, jeb bush, a lot of people, you know, we talked to don't think he's going to run. but he's still very tight with the donor class and wall street and those sort of things. scott walker, wisconsin governor, most americans have no idea who he is, but political insiders think he's someone who

could appeal to your sort of blue collar voters. your hockey moms. in places like new jersey, wisconsin, iowa. so those are two names i think come up a lot. >> and we'll be watching as this develops, as we know it will. peter han bee, thank you. there's a lot of unanswered questions about the bridge scandal and its impact on governor christie and the 2016 presidential race. joining us now from miami, cnn political commentator and democratic strategist, maria cardona and from dallas, cnn political commentator, ben ferguson. christie is adamantly denying he knew anything about this plot to block traffic in ft. lee, new jersey. i'm going to ask you this first, ben. how could such a hands-on guy not know what key staff members are doing? and if he didn't know, what does that say about how his staff does business? >> well, his staff members didn't want him to know they were doing this, because it was a stupid move and a prank by some narcissistic staff members that have no power, without them

being close to the governor. and he runs a massive state. he is not going to be checking his staff's e-mails like they're his children. they did something stupid. he asked everybody if they were involved. they told him no. and as soon as he found out they lied to him, he did the responsible thing and fired them. chris christie is not an idiot, not willing to risk his entire political career over traffic, is the main thing that i think is almost laughable over this. and the other thing is, he's a lawmaker, who also understands investigations, because of his last job. if he lied yesterday, he knows he's going to get busted for it. that's why he had the long press conference, that's why he made it clear he wasn't involved, because he knows he wasn't involved. i believe him on this one and i think it will come out in the end he was telling the truth. >> what do you think, maria? do you think it's enough what he did yesterday, and do you think that's the truth, that he was just sort of ignorant? >> reporter: well, it's certainly not enough, brianna.

this, i think, opens the door for many additional questions that were not answered in yesterday's press conference. and it goes what you mentioned about the culture of the kind of staff that he put together. look, i have worked for many principles in my political career. and there's no question that the closest advisers to a principle absolutely reflect that principle's values. and so for somebody like the deputy chief of staff and others who are close to him who he has now fired, to have done this, gone down this road, they have had -- they have had to think at some point, this is something that the governor will support, this is something that the governor wants. or else they wouldn't have done it. and, yes, i think it was stupid. but i think it indicates a culture and an aura that frankly has set a tone, if you will, that is set at the top. and that's very problematic for the governor. >> and ben, to that appointment,

he fired his right-hand man, bill steppian. >> and he did -- >> there is this sense -- >> i go back to look at what he's doing. democrats don't care about the truth. they're trying to destroy chris christie. let's be very honest about this. >> sure. and he's a front runner. >> right. and they don't care. >> but let me ask you this. ben, let me ask you this. i hear your point there, and certainly if he's directly involved with it, it's not the same as if he created a can you at your, even though that's bad. let me ask you about this, though. there is legal grounds for this. you can't just be sort of, you know, willfully ignorant. in fact, it's called what i think -- willful blindness, where this could actually be a problem for christie. >> but here's the thing. he wasn't willfully looking the other way. could you tell by his actions. look at this politically. does chris christie want to lose his right-hand man, as important as everyone is now making out that these people around him were? obviously, it would be bad for his future to get rid of people he trusts close to him.

unless they betrayed his trust. so if you look at his actions, he got rid of people he trusted. that's not good for him long-term, politically. the traffic wasn't good for him. that's why i don't believe he knew about it of the he had two bad apples, fired those bad apples. it's going to have to replace people he doesn't know, as well. that's not good for him politically. he didn't want any of this around him. he fired them. maria, what do you say about that? you're talking about he did get rid of a guy who some people said, if chris christie ran for president, and this is the guy who would manage his campaign. that is a big move. >> no question about that, brianna. but he had no choice. at this moment, he had to do that. or it certainly would be the end a lot quicker than what he would want. but here's the problem. his other very close friend, david willstein, i believe is his name, pleaded the fifth yesterday, when he was being

questioned about this. so it might very well be he did that because he didn't want to incriminate himself. but pleading the fifth in somebody who was very close to the governor, also raises a lot of questions. ben may be absolutely right. the governor may have had absolutely nothing to do with this. but then it goes to the question of how competent is he, and how credible is he when he says the buck stops here. and -- >> maria, wish -- >> painting himself as the victim, which is what he did yesterday. as opposed to really finding out what happened there. >> maria, i wish you would have asked these same questions about the president of the united states of america on benghazi, on the irs scandal, on fast & furious, on healthcare.gov. on all of those issues. susan rice walking out and knowingly putting a lie out there on that issue. >> they have. >> no, they haven't. >> yes, of course, they have! >> a number of e-mails, and i've -- obviously, ben, some questions do still persist.

and continue to be some hearings, as well on things like obamacare. but i think this -- we're going to continue to see a lot of these questions that we're discussing right now on this story -- >> such a different situation. >> let me say this. there is no doubt in my mind. i want to make this very clear, chris christie's career is not even close to over if he was telling the truth yesterday, which i totally believe he was. he is going to be just fine in the long-term from this. this is not a career-ender when people around you do something stupid and you fire them. that's being responsible, what we should want from politicians and he did just that. >> and that is the if -- >> i agree. >> maria cardona. >> that's it. it's possible he comes back. >> so nice to end on a note where they agree. he love that. maria cardona, ben ferguson, thanks so much, you guys. >> thanks for having us. >> thanks, brianna. job growth last month not what analysts expected, not even

close. we'll look at the numbers and why they fell so short, coming up.

wall street just isn't quite sure how to react to this morning's jobs report that fell way short of expectations. investors trying to gauge how the numbers will affect the fed's decision to pull back on the stimulus program.

the dow up earlier in the day, but you see right there now, it's down about 29 points. we have more on that jobs report. december saw the weakest job growth since january of 2011. here's christine romans. >> reporter: brianna, hopes dashed for a very strong end of the year for the jobs market. we now know in december, only 74,000 net new jobs created, a big disappointment. economists all week raising their expectations to close to 200,000 jobs, 74,000 big disappointment. it shows weakness in the labor market at the end of the year. the labor department in part blaming cold weather. then you look at this number, the unemployment rate. this is the lowest in years. on paper, this should be a good number. 6.7%. here's the big caveat, the asterisk. they stopped looking. simply stopped looking. hundreds of thousands of people stopped looking. who were getting jobs? high school graduates with no

college education, who were quitting the labor market? college graduates. that doesn't speak well for what kind of jobs we're creating. quickly on the trend here. as you know, the trend is so important. in november, 241,000 jobs created. that's a solid number. and then boom, december, a real slow down. the big question for this year, looking forward. will we regain some of that momentum? was this somehow a weather-related event and you start to pick up that hiring in january? and do you get the momentum back behind the labor market as we go forward? that's a huge key question for markets, people unemployed, and, frankly, for policy. brianna? >> christine romans, thank you so much. and jobs and jobsness, a big issue in washington. a plan to extend long-term jobless benefits hitting a snag. the resistance now coming from the same senate republicans who gave democrat the votes to begin debate on this very bill in the first place. dana bash with me now. this is pretty complicated,

dana. what happened and why aren't they on board? >> the bottom line is that the republicans are -- six republicans we're talking about, helped democrats earlier this week get this bill on the floor in the first place. democrats were surprised that even happened. so the issue is that most of those democrats are unhappy with a deal we thought maybe would see fruition yesterday. but they're unhappy with it for two reasons. one is the substance of it. they don't think that the way that democrats are proposing paying for about $18 billion of worth of extending these long-term unemployment benefits, that it's really -- that it's the right thing to do. but probably more importantly, they're upset with the process. some of these republicans, dan coats of indiana, susan collins and others, i saw them in the hallway yesterday, asking what do you think of this deal in the works. and they said we don't know anything about it. they feel iced out and they feel that they wanted the ability to offer amendments, which sounds like maybe it's not that important. but it is, and has become much more of an issue for republicans who are in the minority who feel like they don't have a chance to

do that often enough. that's why things are sort oh of a bit of a mess right now. but the republicans who want to get this done, they insist are going to work on it through the weekend and hope they might have some kind of deal by monday. >> because some of these republicans said we do want to debate this, but we kind of want to put our stamp on it. we want to make some of our changes. and now they don't feel like they have their input there. you're hearing from a lot of republicans that are accusing democrats, they're accusing the white house of kind of not really actually -- this is pretty cynical stuff. not wanting this to succeed, so that they can kind of have this issue to kind of knock republicans around in this important midterm election. >> absolutely. i talked to so many senate republicans coming off the senate floor yesterday after it was kind of nasty on the senate floor about this. saying that very thing. saying we just think harry reid, senate majority leader, its to have an issue, and it's clear the way he is handling this. they feel iced out. however, i talked to some democrats today who said, look, from a cynical, political point of view, they insist that it's

better for them to have this as something that actually passes. why? in fact, we have some statistics that came out today that maybe help illustrate this. of the people who still don't have jobs, many of them, 37.7%, are those long-term unemployed. and those are the people who would benefit from this unemployment extension that we're talking about. so what these democrats say is they believe, politically and substantively, that it is much better, much more of an economic stimulus, to get them this money to extend these unemployment benefits. they insist that will create jobs and that is even, if you look at this in a callous, political way, they insist that is the best political tact for them to take. >> all right. dana bash, thank you so much. >> thank you. now target now says that that data breach that compromised the personal information of its customers affected a lot more people than first reported. in fact, tens of millions more. we'll have details, ahead. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer.

and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

you know that data breach at target was pretty big to begin with. originally reported that 40 million customers had personal information stolen in the weeks following thanksgiving. well now the company says that number is actually 70 million. alison kosik joining us from new york. alison, that's a pretty big revision, right? >> reporter: yeah, it's a very big revision, brianna. target is saying this is a new

security breach, but new information that it's discovered as this investigation continues. that 70 million customers were affected instead of 40 million. even worse, on top of the credit and debit card numbers and pin numbers stolen, target said this type of information was stolen. names and mailing addresses and e-mail addresses and phone numbers. what consumer experts are saying at this point is what this extra information does is give more options if they are going to try to access money. watch out for the e-mail scams. if someone is watching for information or impersonating target, don't give them information. the fact that they got more information than first thought is stunning because this really sort of leaves the target shoppers really open season on their credit history. >> i thought allison that at first it was as if they got the

numbers and the pin data. that was encrypt and that's not going to be a problem. that's what it was before we found about the personal information? >> right. they stole the debit card numbers and the pin numbers, but those were encrypted. they said don't worry about that because they won't be able to reach into your bank account that way. to maybe steal your identity. >> for target, this must be bad news. are we seeing that this is having an effect on target's business. >> as part of this release of new information, target spelled out what the fourth quarter earnings were going to look like at the end of february. target wound up lowering the expectations and the sales have improved a bit, but people are not shopping there as much

despite the fact that they are fixed with the vulnerability. the confidence is huge for retailers. not only will they spend more if they feel good about the economy, but they need confidence in who they are handing over the plastic to. >> sure they do. that's important. thanks for the update. >> sure. >> we know that the health problems that cigarette smoking with cause, but there were days when smoking was seen as glamorous and good for you. we will have a special report on what caused cigarettes to lose their star power, straight ahead. [ chainsaw whirring ] humans -- sometimes life trips us up. sometimes we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your auto and home insurance.

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. some ex-nba players were in north korea for the exhibition basketball game and left the country and are in beijing today. one talked to reporters about what he thinks they accomplished on the converbal trip. >> we all sat out to use basketball as a great cultural exchange. we accomplished that mission. all the players there and the american tourists and the documentary film crew. i think we all agree that the trip was just simply incredible.

i had an opportunity to meet with the leadership so i will do a live interview at some point soon to discuss the culture and some of their economic strategies. we talked about quite a few things. even some of the concerns. i will do that in a live interview, but the trip was great. >> dennis rodman who led the delegation stayed behind for what is his fourth trip in less than a year. high alert as the nation prepares to host the world for the winter olympics. even security is stepped up in the resort town of sochi. the fbi is sending dozens to protect athletes. there have been three suicide bombings since october and extremists vow vowed to disrupt the games. six bodies were found in cars

and some of them rigged to explode bombs. the games are set to start on february seventh. we have come a long way since the days when doctors and celebrities promoted cigarettes. 50 years ago tomorrow the surgeon general warned that smoking is linked to lung can r cancer. sanjay gupta looks at how cigarette smoking has changed. >> during the hay day in the 1940s and 50s, ads like this were common place. >> the nationwide survey of general practitioners, surge yoons, throat specialists and so on, the brand named most was camel. >> by 1950, american adults were smoking 4,000 cigarettes for every person. every year. in 1952, reader's digest, then the most popular magazine

published a two-page article. cancer by the carton. it was the first time a mainstream publication like this connected smoking to cancer. in 1955, the color trade mission for bade them from making health claims about cigarettes, blocking ads like this from phillip morris. scientifically proved, less irritating to the smoker's nose and throat. >> the federal trade commission and reader's digest have done you a favor. >> it's a moment that launched don draper on amc's mad men. >> we can say anything we want. how do you make your cigarettes some. >> we breathe insect repel act and plant them in the sunshine, grow it, plant it, secure it. toast it. >> there you go.

>> everybody else's tobacco is poison us. lucky strikes is toasted. >> in fact that was an actual lucky strikes slogan. in real life. but evidence of harm became overwhelming. on january 11th, 1964, dr. luther terry issued the first surgeon general's report. >> the strongest relationship between cigarette smoking was held in the fields of lung cancer. >> a strong relationship. how strong? he reported a 70% increase in mortality for smokers. heavy smokers at least 20 times more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers. the first warning on the pack in 1966 was a milestone, but a major under statement. cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health. today, it gets right to the

point. causes lung cancer, heart disease, and more. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting. >> that's it for me. newsroom continues right now with my pal, brooke baldwin. >> brianna keilar, thank you so much. happy friday. i'm brooke baldwin. not exactly a happy friday for a lot of people in west virginia. more than 300,000 people can't use their tap water to bathe, drink, cook, or wash. this is happening in west virginia because of a chemical leak. it infiltrated a nearby water treatment plant in charleston. this is so serious the u.s. attorney is investigating here. look at the map. nine counties in the southwestern part of the state are currently affected. even president obama is stepping in, declaring the incident a federal emergency. let me take you back to yesterda w