right now boston, new york, philadelphia, all getting hit by that powerful winter storm as it makes its way up the east coast. also right now, a cable tv and internet megamerger has critics crying foul, 33 million american households could be impacted. and right now the white house finally getting some good news on the affordable care act as the troubled program finally turned a corner. hello. i'm wolf blitzer in an extremely snowy nation's capital. a powerful nor'easter is dumping heavy snow from here in washington, d.c. all the way up to new england. schools, businesses, government

offices in the nation's capital, they are closed. roads are a mess. thousands of flights all up and down the east coast have been grounded. this is the same storm system that pounded the southeast with ice, sleet and snow. at least ten deaths are now blamed on the weather. more than 700,000 homes and businesses are without power right now. we have reporters all across the region covering the storm's dramatic impact. let's begin with cnn's don lemon joining us from a very snowy new york city. how bad is it, don? >> oh, it's really bad here, wolf. you know, it's not that cold. it was actually a lot colder yesterday. but it's providing for what everyone's calling a slush, this disgusting slush that you see right now. and this is what you're dealing with. i just walked here across the street from cnn so you're dealing with the slush on every single street and every single road. i just walked across here and really there are -- there's slush about this high. even if you have snow boots on,

it can go inside of those snow boots. five to eight inches of snow so far. it's turning into an icy mix. and they believe it's going to get more ice, possibly turn back over to snow a little bit later on this evening and get as much as 11 to 15 inches of snow. the big issue here of course has been transportation, people getting around. according to the mayor, the mayor says that the sanitation department, the people who plow the streets and sand the streets, that they got a really good start at it overnight and then this morning. but then the rush hour came and people were out on the roads and the sanitation department couldn't get to it and that caused some problems for getting around. also, you know, this is a big transportation hub. so the airports are experiencing delays -- experiencing cancellations. kennedy, newark, la guardia, all experiencing some cancellations and some delays. amtrak as well. a big hub for that northeast corridor going up and down from boston all the way down to washington, d.c. so there are issues there. and then a big issue with the schools. wolf, the schools have only been

closed 11 times since 1978. the mayor did not close them this morning. and he is getting, you know, a little bit of pain from folks. i don't know if you can hear that noise, those are plow trucks going right here around columbus circle. and also there are salt trucks earlier. a little bit of a scare as i was walking over, i don't know if you heard it on ashleigh banfield's live shot, one of those plow trucks on the sidewalks a little bob cat, started backfiring and everybody in new york city started ducking because they weren't sure what it was. so a little bit of chaos here when it comes to that. really, they're urging people here to stay off the roads. but most people, this is new york city, wolf, they went about their business. they may complain about it, but these are new yorkers, they're a hearty bunch. >> why didn't the new york mayor close schools today? >> he said that the storm came in a lot faster and a lot earlier than they thought. he said, listen, this is a snowstorm in new york city. this is the northeast. this is winter. this is what people deal with here.

this is not atlanta where people are not used to these sorts of conditions. it did come in faster than people thought. it may have been a little bit, you know, there was more snow. but this isn't out of the ordinary and extraordinary weather event for the northeast. i mean, wolf, you live in washington, d.c. we have snowstorms every year. the last one i remember that was even close to this -- not even close to this was back in 1996 when we had snow piled up to here. that's a big snowstorm. 12 inches, not that bad. as i said, it's the northeast. it's winter. this is what happens. >> yeah. well, here in washington, don, we're going to have more on this part of the story later, if it even looks like it's going to start snowing they close the schools in d.c., northern virginia, maryland, they don't wait. they just close right away. all right, don, standby. i know it's cold out there. we're going to come back to you. i want to go to erin mcpike right now. she's here in washington on the national mall. erin, the storm has turned the nation's capital really into a ghost town. the federal government's shut

down. >> the federal government is shut down, wolf. d.c. public schools are closed, all the universities in the area are closed, the white house briefing even is canceled, and bus service has been suspended until further notice. now, the mayor of washington did have a press conference within the last hour. and he said that they have put out 30,000 tons of salt -- pounds of salt, rather. 300 snowplows have gone out. but we haven't seen this road, which is right in front of the capital, be plowed more than once in the last six to seven hours. so no wonder that so much of the city is really shut down. there's a starbucks up the road that's been closed all morning too. and, wolf, i want to spin around a little bit so you can get a good shot of the mall. we do see people out here on the mall, so this part of the city isn't quite a ghost town, but look at how heavy this snow is. that's why it's been such a dangerous mess out here.

and we should be getting a little bit more snow later in the afternoon, wolf. >> just what we need, a little bit more snow here in washington. erin, thanks very much. the storm moving up the east coast has already forced more than 5,000 flight cancellations today. renee marsh is over at reagan national airport here in the nation's capital. how bad is this mangled travel situation, renee? >> well, wolf, put it like this, a picture speaks for itself. this plane is not going anywhere. it is parked. take a walk with me over here, you can see these planes are not going anywhere either. they are parked at the gate. and that will be the case. here at reagan national airport it looks a lot like probably what many airports in the northeast look like. not much activity. right now their focus is clearing up the snow from the taxiways as well as from the runways. you can see in the distance there that snow blower try to get the snow out of the way before they deem it safe for planes to actually take off and

land here. at this point we're able to get this kind of access because the runways, they are closed here at reagan. they have been closed since midnight. and they are not ready to reopen them at this point. we do know that dulles, those runways were closed, but we just got word that those runways have since reopened. let's give you some numbers. we know that there are more than 6,000 cancellations at this hour. that is a lot. the areas that really getting hit the hardest, we're talking about atlanta, charlotte and philadelphia. as far as the delays, things don't look good there either. we're talking about more than 3,000 -- nearly 4,000 delays. so, wolf, take it all in. we don't get access like this very often where you did see the planes just sitting there. they are just sitting ducks, essentially, as crews are trying to clear out all of that snow right by the terminal. because not only is the runway the issue, but you have snow right here. so you have to make sure that when things are up and running they're able to move those

planes. so that's what the focus is. that's where the concentration of the work is at this hour. wolf. >> so you're saying washington dulles airport they're getting ready to reopen. the runways have been cleared. what about reagan national, any word when that will reopen? >> you know, they hoped that they would be able to reopen these runways at around noon. however, not the case. no clear indication as to when they think it's safe. look, bottom line is this, wolf, they want to make sure it's safe for these planes to land and take off. we actually spoke with the airport's operation manager. we have a little sound from him. he explains what goes into making that decision whether to reopen the runways or not. take a listen. >> we had to shut down the runway in order to get it safe. and i say safe, if we have slush on the runway, you have to get rid of that so you don't get ice. because you don't want an airplane sliding off the runway -- >> all right. so that is the danger here.

until they believe that those planes can land without skidding off of the runway, they're not going to take any chances. wolf. >> which is smart. rene is over at reagan national airport. thank you. let's go to our jennifer gray. she's at the cnn severe weather center in atlanta. so what do we see for the rest of today? how do we see this storm playing out, jennifer? >> well, it will start to taper off later this evening into the overnight, but this was a nasty storm. some areas north of new york city had snowfall rates of three to four inches per hour, blizzard-like conditions there. and look at these snowfall totals, 15 inches in virginia. we had 13 in philly. 11 in d.c. and 9.5 inches in new york city. some of these numbers will increase as we go through the day. still seeing some snow north of new york. it is starting to change over to rain. same thing for you in boston. d.c., you are quiet now. could see more snow develop as we go through the afternoon hours. but mainly rain now pulling into new york city and boston. this is going to create a very

slushy mess. temperatures will dip below freezing as we go through the overnight hours tonight. and so that is going to mean trouble for the morning commute tomorrow. but these are additional snowfall totals. and away from the coast we could see about a foot of snow -- additional snowfall, as we go through the late evening hours right along the coast. of course the totals aren't quite as much along the i-95 corridor. we could see two to four inches possibly throughout the afternoon. but it's not only the snow, it's also the wind. and this is also adding more stress to those trees and power lines. and this is why we could see more power outages throughout the late afternoon. sustained winds 29 miles per hour this afternoon in new york city. gusts up to 45, 44-mile-per-hour gusts expected in boston. so, wolf, this is far from over. we're going to continue to see the snow, the rain and then possibly switching back over to snow as we go through the late evening hours. >> all right, jennifer, thanks very much. we'll stay in close touch with

you. up next, stranded on the roads, we're going to put you in the car for a drive up what is now a treacherous i-95 corridor along the east coast of the united states. and later, outraged at afghanistan, the country frees dozens of prisoners, some linked to deadly attacks on u.s. troops. so what will this do to the already-strained relationship between the united states and afghanistan? if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage.

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the border. what are you seeing? it's been quite a day so far. >> quite a day, wolf. and a lot of treacherous conditions along the i-95 corridor. right now it's a bit of a lull in the storm. we just got hit with a little bit of freezing rain. we're in northeastern maryland near the delaware line heading towards philadelphia and the delaware memorial bridge. but there are treacherous conditions along the i-95 corridor both on i-95 and west of here. we just got word of a four-vehicle accident including two overturned tractor-trailer trucks westbound on the pennsylvania turnpike. that's a long way west of here, but that involved four vehicles in a 65-mile stretch of the pennsylvania turnpike is closed down, we're told on the westbound side, because of that accident. we came upon earlier today two tractor-trailers overturned right on the d.c. beltway because of the snow and ice and that had affected them. i talked to one of the drivers, he didn't want to go on camera, but he said the steering just

got away from him. his truck just completely flipped over, went into a ditch. he had to be rescued from that truck. he had some minor injuries to his hands, but he was okay. the other driver of the other vehicle that we came across just minutes earlier than that same thing, a flipped over tractor-trailer truck closed half of the d.c. beltway off for some time. that driver was okay as well, but very treacherous conditions in the d.c. area. earlier today virginia state officials have said in that state overnight and into this morning they got reports of 840 plus crashes in the state just in the overnight and early morning hours this morning. we were out in virginia south of d.c. on i-95. we came across a guy who had just done a 180, just flipped right toward the oncoming lanes on i-95 south. we stopped and asked if he was okay. he was all right. and we got our towline out and gave him kind of a lift out of his jam there. his name was edwin martinez.

he went on his way. those are some of the conditions we encountered, wolf, on an update on what we're heading towards into pennsylvania. some of the snow and ice is getting compounded there. a lot of the major highways are getting cleared off. we're looking for a second punch, a second punch coming towards philadelphia and the d.c. area in the coming hours. so we may be in a bit of the eye of the storm right now where things are a bit calm, but we're not out of it yet. >> certainly not. i know you're going to be having much more coming up later today in "the situation room" as well. brian, thanks very much. thanks for helping that guy on the washington beltway as well. i'm sure he was deeply, deeply appreciative. just ahead this hour, much more coverage of the breaking news on the snow emergency. the mayor of new york, he's shoveling some snow. he's also facing some serious questions about his decision not to close the schools in new york city today. also coming up, they are accused of attacks that killed u.s. troops in afghanistan, but now these prisoners have been set free. the afghan prisoner release

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the release of dozens of prisoners in afghanistan is triggering outrage here in the united states. the u.s. military says some of those prisoners are directly linked to attacks that killed or wounded american troops. but today the afghan president hamid karzai basically told the united states to butt out. >> afghanistan is a sovereign country. if the afghan judicial authorities decide to release a

prisoner, it is of no concern to the u.s. and should be of no concern to the u.s. and i hope that the united states will stop harassing afghanistan's procedures and judicial authority. and i hope that the united states will now begin to respect afghan sovereignty. >> let's bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, the obama administration, the pentagon, they say these are dangerous insurgents, these were terrorists who killed american and nato troops. you're talking to officials over there. how dangerous are these prisoners, dozens of them, who were released by hamid karzai? >> well, the most dangerous. and even deeper if it's at all possible, a deeper problem than that, wolf, you know this very well. relations with karzai are at a possible all-time low. he is weeks away from an election. he'll be leaving office. the u.s. can't get him to sign a

security agreement that would keep u.s. troops there to help his country after 2014. they believe they had an agreement with karzai that these people would not be released. how mad is the u.s. military? they are calling this a breach of trust. i have 23 pages of u.s. military evidence against these people. the u.s. military very happy to provide it. that's how furious they are about this because they believe they had an agreement. and just a couple of details about these people, some 30% of those released, the u.s. says, were involved in direct attacks killing or wounding u.s. troops/coalition forces. a total of 25 insurgents linked to ied attacks. 33 when captured had explosive residue after being captured tested positive for it.

the u.s. says as these people return to their towns and villages, wherever they're going, if they find them involved in activity again, they will seek to capture them. they will obey the rules they say and turn them back over to afghanistan. if they get into fire fight with them, they will -- some 2,000 u.s. troops killed, some 20,000 wounded. >> the longest war in u.s. history. barbara, thanks very much. let's get some more on the outrage over this prisoner release. joining us is the retired u.s. army lieutenant general jerry boiken, commander of u.s. forces. when you hear about this, general, what goes through your mind? >> well, wolf, like most americans and certainly all veterans, i am absolutely outraged by this. you know, karzai needs to remember that he's in that position today because of the united states. and afghanistan is a sovereign nation today because of the

united states. don't forget that, mr. karzai. >> you know, there's no doubt that the u.s. paid a huge, huge price not only the thousands killed, tens of thousands who've come home from afghanistan injured with long-term disabilities, but hundreds of billions of dollars over these 13 years spent in afghanistan. and they still want to stay there, a lot of u.s. officials say the u.s. should still remain in afghanistan even after all troops are supposed to be out by the end of this year, maybe 10,000 remaining. and they also want to provide billions and billions of dollars to afghanistan to build roads and bridges, infrastructures, schools, hospitals. a lot of the officials, members of congress, are saying maybe the u.s. should spend that money here in the united states rather than in afghanistan. and there will be outrage as a result of what the afghan government did today. >> well, that's right, wolf. and remember, it's not only u.s. troops. these thugs that are being released also killed afghan

national army as well as police. it is my personal view, wolf, that what the united states needs to do is announce a withdrawal that begins tomorrow. i'm telling you, this guy is corrupt. we know he's corrupt. he has been for a long time. and what he's doing is trying to engray shat himself to the taliban. he saw what the taliban did to the president or leader that was left in place by the russians when they pulled out in 1989. they brutalized this guy, they killed him, dragged him through the streets, made a public spectacle of him. and what this guy, karzai, is trying to do is ensure that doesn't happen to him. so he's closing rights with the taliban at the expense of the united states and all that we have done for him. he sees us as no longer a factor in the long-term stability of afghanistan. and i think we ought to start to withdrawal tomorrow. it would be great if we could be out before the election in april

and leave this guy standing on his own. i mean, this is outrageous. there has to be a penalty for this. >> general, thanks very much for joining us. jerry boykin, retired u.s. army lieutenant general. thanks for sharing some thoughts on this very, very sensitive subject. we'll continue our conversation. >> thank you, wolf. so is obamacare on the mend right now? there are new enrollment numbers that are coming in as far as the health care program is concerned. and more people indeed are signing up. we have details. that's coming up later this hour. but up next, the northeast getting pounded and pounded by a very dangerous winter storm. we're live from the snow zone with a fresh look at how the region is coping. [ male announcer ] this is jim. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto jim's on the move.

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let's get back to our top story, the northeast getting hit by a very dangerous storm right now. more than a foot of snow and some areas create huge travel headaches across the area. some more than 6,000 flights canceled today. more than 700,000 homes and businesses, they are without power right now. and at least ten deaths are blamed on this massive, massive storm. new york city is getting hit with the biggest snowfall of the season in the greater new york city area. don lemon is right in the middle of it all. don, new york is obviously a city of 8 million people. so there's a lot at stake when this much snow, this kind of

snowstorm, reaches the metropolitan area. >> a lot of people affected by this, wolf. the issue is, you know, we've seen a lot of snowfall lately. a lot of ice. and then it gets piled up here and people can't really get to where they're going or it's very difficult. look at that. i mean, this is a mountain of ice and snow. and people getting around. where are you from again? this guy just walked by our live shot. where are you from? >> i'm from england. >> are you nuts? >> no, maddogs in england go out in the winter snow. >> good luck. take the snow back to england with you. you can see that guy is running around out here. some of the tourist who is are out and about, they're fine, but people are having to get to where they're going, they're working, they're commuting, it's a little bit tough. wolf, i want to show you this is what we're dealing with because it was really fluffy this morning, right? this is a crosswalk right here at columbus circle. you can see very slushy. very slushy. but check this out. getting over these mounds, and then this stuff becomes really deep.

these are up to -- look, got to do this again. >> hi. yeah, it's crazy. i don't know. i'm not from new york, but it's crazy. >> all right. good luck. all right. watch your thing there. grab your belt. there you go. so getting into a taxi's really tough, but look at this. see what people are dealing with. look at her. is that nuts? are you all right? >> yeah, iem fine. my socks are all wet now. >> yeah. look at this, wolf. these are up to my calf here. and that's what you're going to have to deal with if you want to get around new york city. not just this corner but pretty much every single corner. it's wet now, it's going to become snow later on, but then it's going to ice over. when the temperature comes back down, this is really going to become a problem. >> people should stay off the roads. don, hold on for a moment. the new mayor of new york city, bill de blasio, he's getting some serious heat for keeping the schools in those five but

boroughs open today. teachers, lawmakers, some very critical of the decision saying it wasn't the right call to keep the schools open during such a severe snowstorm. what's the mayor's response? >> that's exactly right. he is getting some very serious heat on what is a very cold and treacherous day trying to get around the city. but earlier he did defend his decision explaining why he chose to keep the new york city public schools open. >> based on our knowledge of what sanitation can do overnight, we were convinced kids could get to school this morning. and we always emphasize in making these decisions when you think about 1.1 million kids, so many families depend on their schools as a place for their kids to be during the day, a safe place, a place where they are not only taught but they get nutrition and they are safe from the elements. so many families have to go to work, the members of these families have to go to work, they do not have a choice, and they need a safe option for their kids. >> now, it also didn't help that

the mayor's new schools chancellor standsing right by his side actually once the snow had stopped called it a beautiful day. that drew instant criticism as well because there's been so much conflicting information. the new york governor said it's a state of emergency, people should stay home. the mayor telling people don't go on the streets, drivers should not be driving, but he did say take public transportation. but a lot of people said, look, we can't get to the public transportation because the streets aren't plowed, it's difficult to get there. a lot of teachers live outside of the city. and so even though excused lateness -- lateness is going to be excused, absences are not. but it's very dangerous out there. the last time the mayor kept the schools open, only 44% of all the children showed up. most of them were simply warehoused watching movies and just killing time. wolf. >> yeah, but the mayor does make a good point. a lot of those kids, especially they come from poor neighborhoods, they're not going to get a good meal unless they're in school and have a subsidized breakfast or lunch.

that's a fair point that the mayor certainly makes. deb, thanks very much. let's go back to don. don, kelly wallace is with you as well. i know you're both getting serious reaction to the mayor's decision. sort of controversial to keep the schools open. al roker, as you know, he fired back at the mayor's claim that the forecasters predicted lighter snowfall tweeting this, how dare the new york city's mayor's office throw the national weather service under the school bus. forecast was on time and on the money. kelly, let's continue this conversation. the mayor responded directly to al roker. what did he say? >> yeah. well, wolf, you know, he responded he said he respects al roker and said it takes a lot more. it's different to run the city and talk about weather on tv. he respects the national weather service but reaffirmed that this was faster and heavier than expected and therefore they had to adjust. and after the storm had hit, as

you noted, al roker responding to that saying, hey, don't throw the national weather service under the bus. this was expected. you know, the forecast was on the money and really taking issue with the mayor's call to keep the schools open. >> wolf, kelly has been watching all this reaction on social media. kelly's our digital correspondent. but there's also a facebook page now that is saying impeach de blasio because kids want to go to school. one of our other on-air talent who i won't talk about said his kid joined that facebook page mostly because kids don't want to be at school. you have kids, you had to get up and take them to school this morning. quite honestly, wolf, if you're a family, you're not off work today, you don't get a snow day because it's snowing in new york city and it's not a huge catastrophe, you want your kids to be in school. >> you want your kids to be in school. sometimes in these stories the most vocal people, right, might be sometimes the people with the means, the means to stay home from work or have someone watch the kids if they have to go to the office. what about the families who lose

money if they don't go to work? or don't have child care? and so that's a bigger issue. obviously safety is number one, but the decision was made, the trains, the buses were moving. we got our kids to school, i said it's a little wacky out here, but we got them to school. it's a tough call. and a lot of people aren't happy, but i always think of the working families who don't really have a choice. that's often what we don't pay attention to. >> wolf, i've been speaking to a lot of people who say, listen, we've been dealing with winters like this forever. one 60-year-old woman came by and said i just want to be able to get on the bus. we've been dealing with this forever. a snowstorm cannot be an excuse for people not to go to work and kids not to go to school. that's what you have to do. we're new yorkers. we're tough. deal with it. >> here's the question, don, and maybe kelly knows, are these kids going to have trouble getting home later this afternoon from school? given some of the problems as far as transportation is concerned. >> they may have trouble, but that's when it's fwoing to be the warmest and the least precipitation. >> and also, wolf, they did

close all after school activities. so a lot of public schools, schools around the city have after school programs -- >> kids right there, look, walking around, getting around, no problem. the school buses are out on the roads this morning as i was walking my dog. >> exactly. they're giving people time for kids to get home after school. >> yeah. >> all right. guys, thanks very much. kelly and don, you guys get inside at some point and warm up. coming up later, a massive cable merger moving forward. it could mean a big change for what you potentially could have to pay to see me on basic cable tv. but up next, new numbers for obamacare, you'll find out how many more people have signed up, what it means. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the dusty basement at 1406 35th street the old dining table at 25th and hoffman. ...and the little room above the strip mall off roble avenue. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored

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encouraging news about the obamacare enrollment. more than 1 million people have signed up for the insurance program under the health care

exchanges in january alone. that brings the total sign-up so far to 3.3 million. these are figures released by the obama administration. the jump in enrollment is a significant shift following the disastrous rollout of the obamacare website. our chief political analyst g gloria borger is joining us. gloria, has the president overcome the crisis to a certain degree? has he turned a corner? >> i was speaking with a senior administration official about this this morning asking that very question, wolf. and i think the way they like to think of it is they started a mile-run and they kind of fell flat on their face in the first lap. and now they've picked up and they're going full speed ahead. what's important about these numbers, wolf, is the demographics of it because 25% of those who signed up were 18 to 34. they're hoping that that number is going to increase because what you need to make this program a success is a mix of

healthier younger people as well as those who are older and more at risk. so they're hoping that first you see kind of sicker people enrolling who need the health care more, then you see the program looking more competent, looking more successful. they're hoping this will encourage more healthier younger people to enroll so they can get the kind of mix they need. because if they don't get that, wolf, then insurance companies are going to take a look at this when they set their premiums next time around, and there could be sticker shock. so it's really important that you get the right demographics in this. >> so if in the coming weeks and months the enrollment continues to grow, the problems with the website are resolved, does that put a major dent in the republican efforts to make this the major issue in the november midterm elections? >> well, there are a lot of ifs there.

you know, the question is what's the mix, do insurance premiums look like they're going to go up, how many enrollees do they have? the congressional budget office has said you need between 6 million and 7 million by the spring in order to make this a success. will people who have enrolled actually start paying for their insurance? so, you know, there are all kinds of questions that are out there. so, look, i think the administration can start making its case saying it is starting to work. and by the way -- and this is their political argument, by the way, why would republicans start telling people they're going to take away insurance that people now finally have? they would argue that's a difficult argument to make. so i think we really don't know the answer to that question yet, wolf. it has to play out for a little bit. >> yeah, we'll find out in november when people actually go and vote and see what plays out. all right, gloria, thank you.

>> yeah. >> senator rand paul is now being accused of plagiarism again. coming up, his nsa lawsuit under the microscope. take a look at this new controversy. also ahead, the cable merger that could change your tv viewing habits. but what will the comcast-time warner deal mean? will it pass muster here in washington? our own jeffrey toobin standing by to weigh-in. [ male announcer ] this is the cat that drank the milk... [ meows ] ...and let in the dog that woke the man who drove to the control room [ woman ] driverless mode engaged.

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a major merger is in the works that could potentially change the cable tv landscape in this country. comcast has a deal to buy ti time-warner for $45 billion. they would combine to reach 33 million american households. the deal needs approval from washington. they are not affiliated with the parent company time-warner. our senior legal analyst is joining us. let's talk a little bit about this. it's nice to be approved with this deal. there a lot of variables and antitrust laws. what's your analysis? >> it's a very complicated and interesting problem here because this will be an enormous thing. comcast is not only the biggest cable company with almost 30% of the market, but it's got universal pictures and all of nbc including our competitor msnbc.

the argument might be this is too big. that a company with this much power across the media landscape is too big. comcast responds to all of that. time-warner cable and comcast do not compete directly in any market. there is no loss of consumer choice and they are saying look, you have a lot of choices to get media in your house besides cable companies these days. through a phone company and through satellite tv. so they are saying cable is not your only option. that's the argument. >> i noticed that some people are pointing to tom wheeler, the head of the fcc used to be the top lobbyist for the cable tv industry. is that a conflict of interest. >> it will be interesting to see if he refuses himself. he also is head of the fcc. everybody knew that when he was confirm and this is by far the

biggest subject on the fcc's plate. he will have an interesting question about whether he has to recuse himself. >> how is this likely to play out on consumers who want to pay their bills and watch cable tv including us here on cnn? >> cable bills have been going up anyway. that's unlikely to go in the opposite direction. comcast's big argument and all the pr they put out since the merger is that we are the best company for service and we offer the most innovative technology. we will be able to offer innovative technology to more and more people as a result. plus they say look, we are only 30% or just under 30% of the national market. it's not like we dominated. there will be choice if we don't do a good job. >> it will take a while for this

to play out here in washington. we will see what happens. up next, senator rand paul's nsa lawsuit now coming under increased scrutinimeyscrutiny. we will take a closer look. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums.

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. stocks are up despite negative economic news. stocks are up about 58 points from the new york stock exchange. the markets are higher even though sales did fall in january. unemployment claims were higher than expected. dow jones is 16,021 points. senator rand paul is taking aim at the nsa surveillance program and suing president obama and other high ranking officials and members of the administration over that surveillance program. as joe johns learned, there is

controversy brewing concerning the man who was picked to make the legal argument. >> senator rand paul's lawsuit joined by the tea party umbrella group is the latest effort to put the heat on president obama and the national security agency over collection of television meta data, the numbers dates and times are calls, but not the content. >> this will be a historic lawsuit. it may well be the largest class action lawsuit ever filed on behalf of the bill of rights. >> an unusual lawsuit that goes after the president and director of national intelligence. the nsa and fbi was on behalf of customers, users and subscribers for 2006. paul wants the reports to declare them unconstitutional and order the government to purge the information from the system. the administration insists the

program is legal. >> it is found to be lawful by multiple courts and receives oversight from all three branches of government, including the congress. >> is the lawsuit a good idea? >> our information should be private. >> the idea that anybody could be listening to my private life, it's a little bit creepy. >> it's a stunt to get attention. i doubt anything will happen with the lawsuit. >> there were cases involving the same legal question. whether the program violates your constitutional right. >> no question that the legal question will have to be resolved sometime soon. it doesn't seem like senator paul's suit will be the vehicle through which the courts do it. >> complicating the legal issues is a spat over the alleged hijacking over the attorney's worth. conservative legal scholar had worked on the lawsuit since december, but when released publicly, his name was not on

the document and the attorney general who left office in january was featured as the lead lawyer. when they asked who authored the document, he said it was a legal team including fine and fine would participate in the litigation. he sold cnn he looks forward to working with the others with transparency and no ulterior motives. cnn, washington. >> his wife who is also the spokesman was out raged in comments to the washington post saying they hijacked the arguments that bruce fine didn't give him credit. i have an interview coming up in "the situation room." a live interview with the kentucky senator. rand paul will discuss that and the other issues related to the lawsuit against president obama and other high ranking u.s. officials. that is 5:00 p.m. europe in "the situation room." that's it for me. thanks very much for watching.

5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." you can follow what's going on behind the scenes. follow me on twitter. @twofl blitzer. >> wolf, thank you very much. listen, this is affecting a lot of people. i want to show you the scene at new york city. people were really going through obstacle courses and mountains of snow and slush. it's supposed to get worse and then there is another system coming through. this particular time though, more than 100 million people will be impacted by the catastrophic winter storm by the time it's over. we will take you through all of it. sit where you are if you are at home today or at work. we are going to get you up to date on everything. this storm crippled the entire southeast. it's