i'm don lemon, make sure you go to the "cnn newsroom" blog and go to our social networking sites. i'm don lemon, that's it for me. mr. ali velshi next. good coverage on the tea party, we'll continue it. but we've got breaking news right now. if you felt angry and betrayed how wall street acted before, during, and after the recent financial crisis in history, you'll want to hear this. fraud charges have just been laid against america's largest bank, its ceo at the time of the crisis as well as its chief financial officer. it says, bank of america executives, including former ceo kenneth lewis deliberately misled shareholders and the u.s. government in order to get bonuses for their workers and to get more money for the bank from taxpayers. i've got the civil complaint in my hand. it was filed today in new york by new york attorney general, andrew cuomo. cnn's allan chernoff has, like me, been working the story since day one back in september of 2008.

he joins me live from new york with the latest on this, allan? >> ali, the attorney general in new york is saying that bank of america withheld information it had about massive losses at merrill lynch in order that this deal would go through, norped th in order that the shareholders of bank of america would approve the purchase of merrill lynch and also that bank of america tried to manipulate washington in to bailing out this deal and to putting billions of dollars into the deal so that it would get done. ali, these are very strong charges from the new york state attorney general, charges of fraud against the bank, the former ceo, and the former chief financial officer. >> and this -- the second part you said, first of all, there's something that shareholders need to be concerned about, but let's talk about the rest of us, because we all became shareholders in the major banks because of the t.a.r.p. money, the bailout money that went in. what the attorney general is

alleging is that bank of america threatened to not go through with this deal to purchase merrill lynch unless the government backed the deal to the tune, i think, at the time of about $20 billion. >> that's right. and when the deal was hatched -- let's put it all in perspective. bank of america for years had been trying to buy merrill lynch. merrill lynch had resisted. then, remember, this is all after lehman brothers had collapsed, the financial markets were in total chaos, and indeed merrill lynch did have billions of dollars of losses coming on the books from investments it had made in risky securities. all of a sudden, this deal was put together very, very rapidly. that same weekend when lehman was going under, and the companies wanted to get it done. the government also did want to get it done. later on, ken lewis, the former ceo of bank of america, went to the government and said, we need help to get this done. and the attorney general is saying, well, that amounted to fraud. ali, we should also mention that

bank of america is saying these charges are absolutely without merit, and let me read the statement from bank of america as well. "bank of america and its executives, including ken lewis and joe price, the former cfo, at all times acted in good faith and consistent with their legal and fiduciary obligation, in fact, the s.e.c. had access to this same evidence as the new york attorney general and concluded that there was no basis to enter either a charge of fraud or to charge individuals. the and these executives will vigorously defend ourselves." ali? >> they make an interesting point there. we've invited bank of america on to the show as well as the new york attorney general. let me just ask you about this. it gets confusing as to who is supposed to charge whom. now have the s.e.c. and you have the new york attorney general and then the fbi or the justice department. these charges have come from the new york attorney general's office. why is that important? >> well, the new york attorney

general is taking the action at the very same time that the securities and exchange commission has actually struck a deal with bank of america. bank of america is agreeing to pay a very, very hefty fine of $150 million, and that involves settling charges that it failed to reveal the extent of losses. and also failed to reveal billions of dollars in bonuses that had been agreed to be paid out to merrill lynch employees. $150 million -- >> how big was the circle? you and i both have the complaint, we've been reading through it and you and i have worked on it for so long. how do you square the circle? the s.e.c. says you pay the fine and the problem goes away, and the attorney general has filed charges? >> right. the attorney general of new york certainly has been very aggressive on this front. recall he had some face-to-face meetings with ken lewis, the former chief executive officer,

specifically asking about those bonuses, and he came out of those meetings very, very angry, believing that ken lewis was denying information. bank of america did not want to reveal the full extent of the bonuses, the full extent of when they knew about the merrill lynch plan to pay out those bonuses, and that, clearly, has led to these very, very aggressive charges by the new york state attorney general, the s.e.c., on the other hand, which, keep in mind, can only bring civil charges, is settling over here. so, these are civil -- this is a civil settlement from the securities and exchange commission. >> now, does that mean these charges that are laid are criminal charges by the attorney general's office? >> yeah. well, the attorney general of new york certainly has that right to pursue that. but in this specific example, again, he's charging the fraud. let's see what happens. >> right. >> i mean, we don't know exactly what's going to happen in this situation.

the bank, the former executives, they're saying that they are going to vigorously defend themselves. so, maybe -- maybe a settlement comes out of it. >> right. >> after we have the s.e.c. settlement. >> for all of the stories of this nature that we've covered, over the last couple of years, this one does seem to have the feel of the most high profile, the biggest bank in the country, they've named ken lewis, who a lot of people sort of pointed fingers at. this does seem to be the biggest move yet against anybody who had a role in the financial crisis. >> yet another of the many reamer kups ream things that we are suffering from the fall in 2008, and the repercussions continue, if you look at what the dow is doing even to this day. >> sure. >> it all goes back to the very, very perilous days. >> all right. allan chernoff, you'll stay on

the story, i will as well. thank you very much for joining us on that. just to repeat, fraud charges have been laid against bank of america, its former chief financial officer and its former ceo. we're continuing to dig through those charges and get you some detail as we go on. the other thing we're continuing to dig through is toyota's troubles. we're going to break down information for you. there is a lot of confusion out there. we're going to tell you if your car is part of the recall, and what you do about it, when we come back. thanks for coming.

it was really nice to meet you, a.j. yeah, you too.

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okay. we're going to continue on with this story about toyota and those recalls, and it just keeps on getting worse for toyota. among the latest developments, the national highway traffic safety administration has launched a formal investigation in to the brake issues that we've been hearing about on the 2010 prius hybrid electric model. let me tell you what the recall involves right now. first of all, there are two separate recalls. the prius is not involved in the recall at all. the first recall, which involved the gas pedal getting stuck on a floor mat. let me show you the models involved in that. the 2005 to 2005 avalon. the 2007 to 2010 camry, and the 2009 to 2010 corolla. also the floor mat recall involves the 2008 to 2010 highlander, the 2009 to 2010 matrix or vibe, that's the pontiac vibe. and the 2004 to 2009 prius. they're involved in the floor

mat recall. continuing on the floor mat recall, 2005 to 2010 tacoma. 2007 to 2010 tundra, pickup truck, and 2009 to 2010 venza. those are all the floor mat recalls. now, there's a second recall going on, and that is this accelerator, the gas pedal, that tends to get stuck in -- in an accelerated position, causing problems with stopping. that's a separate recall. let me show you if your car's involved in this. the 2005 to 2010 avalon. the 2009 to 2010 matrix or pontiac vibe. 2008 to 2010 sequoia. 2007 to 2010 tundra. there are more of these. the 2007 to 2010 camry, certain of these models. certain 2009 to 2010 corollas, certain 2010 highlanders and certain 2009 to 2010 rav4s. again it would behoove you to

phone toyota or your dealer to make sure it's -- your car's in the recall and to find out what you're supposed to do. there are some exceptions and cars that are not involved in this recall, but there are, as you can see, many that are. now, what exactly do you do if you do own one of the cars on the list that i just -- i just showed you? well, you contact your toyota dealer, and you'd expect phones to be ringing off the hook right now. so we sent cnn's sues been candiotti to a toyota dealership in new jersey. she's there now for us. susan? >> reporter: hi, ali. well, as you look over my shoulder here, you can see that the service bay here, filled with cars. the thing is, all the ones that see right here are mainly rentals, a few others. and the reason for that is this, toyota only now is starting to instruct all the mechanics on how to make the fixes that you were just describing. so, for example, at this particular dealership, it was only this morning that they sent a couple of their top mechanics

to learn how to do that repair. one of those, mike gates, he just finished up that training, and now he is here working on a car. again, these are mainly rentals they are starting to work on now, until they can get the customers in. mike, tell us what exactly ch le looking at -- what you'll be repairing. >> this is the accelerator pedal and we'll put the bar in the back. >> reporter: it was loose. we're coming around to get a better shot of that. let's come around to the other side so we can get a closer look at that replacement bar that he's putting in there, the reinforcement bar, as you put it. all right. so, this is -- first of all, give us -- >> this is where it is in the vehicle. >> reporter: where the foot goes obviously. >> moves like this. >> reporter: got it. >> and it will go right in the back here. >> reporter: and so that reinforcement bar will slip in there. >> slips right in behind that stopper. >> reporter: got it. >> and a customer won't even feel any change in the pedal. it will be the same. >> reporter: and the idea is,

what? to reduce what? >> it reduces the friction inside the pedal. >> reporter: and why don't you want the friction? >> friction causes wear. >> reporter: wear, which in this case -- >> when the parts wore, that's when they were having the sticking issue. >> reporter: starting to stick. now, this whole repair should take you, with practice and time, how long? >> half hour per vehicle. >> reporter: got it. and what do you think the days and weeks are going to be like for you? >> oh, we'll be working some overtime. >> reporter: a lot of overtime. >> yep. >> reporter: i mean, is it tough to try to get that done? >> no. >> reporter: do you feel like you'll be swamped by this? >> no, we'll make some money. work some overtime. >> reporter: that's true, too. are you convinced this will do the trick? >> that's what the engineers say. >> reporter: and you're positive of that -- >> they design the fix and we put it in. >> reporter: and not only that, you're also going to be doing the -- you're talking about the pedal that was sticking. what about the floor mat recall? >> that's where we'll reshape the bottom of the pedal so it doesn't catch on the floor mat when it comes back. >> reporter: you'll be doing

that also? >> we'll be doing that also. >> reporter: thanks for joining us, mike. busy days and weeks, and the owner of this dealership is dennis lazan, i have to ask you first and foremost, i want to talk to you about the brand new nhtsa announcement. they're looking in to starting an investigation now into the prius and possible problems with the brakes. what do you make of this on top of everything else? >> first of all, i don't have all the technical information on it. i haven't been given it. it's not a recall at this point, but i believe they're checking in to a computer glitch. it is less than a second, after you hit the brake or something like that, but i'm not really that technical on that. i don't have that information. >> reporter: what do you think about having to deal with that now on top of everything else? >> might as well -- you know, it's every day, something different. every manufacturer has something probably on a daily basis that goes wrong with some of their products. >> reporter: and what lies ahead? what have your phones been like, especially since transportation secretary, lahood, made his

announcement yesterday? >> that wasn't a wise idea to do yesterday, because it had people in a hysteria. the phones lit up and people had issues with the car, whether it's broken down or a tire repair or whatever, couldn't get through, because we were dealing with people who were hysterical being told not to drive their car, to pull over on the side of the road. really irresponsible on his part, but i don't think he meant to say that, butt that but that came out. >> reporter: and the impact on your sales, finally >> they will come back. toyota is a quality product and they'll take care of their customer. >> reporter: thank you very much for joining us. and they expect this place to be hopping in the coming days and weeks. they're currently making appointments for people to come on and it's up to mike gates and the other mechanics to teach the others, ali? >> we'll be following it. the gas pedal is sticking and the floor mat, some cars qualify

for both recalls but some don't. thank you, susan, for joining us. we'll stay on top of the story about toyota and everything else going on. take a look at the bottom right of your screen. we'll bring it up for you. the stock market is better than it has been for most of the day. the thing that worries me, that's not just happening in the united states. we've seen drop is in the world markets. we'll bring in richard quest, of "quest means business" on cnni, whether you need to be worried and whether it affects you. ( clicking )

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president obama's aunt is facing an immigration judge in a boston courtroom. the kenya native is applying for asylum, she's been in the country illegal since 2004 when the government ordered she be deported. motivational speaker james ray is an arizona courtroom. he was arrested yesterday on three counts of manslaughter. you might remember that he hosted a sweat lodge ceremony near sedona last year where three people died. he could face up to 12 1/2 years in prison on each count. and a bit of a surprise on the job front. the government says about 480,000 people filed for new unemployment claims last week, and that's a jump of about 8,000 claims since last week and the highest since mid-december. the stock market here in the

united states is having a rough day but it's also a rough day globally, and that was a bit of a concern. we want to check in with richard quest, the anchor of "quest means business" on cnn international. she jo he joins us now. we don't get worried about the ups and towns of the stock market, but when there are trends around the world and the numbers and percentages are significant, it's worth checking in. what are you sensing and seeing? >> you are absolutely right, ali, we certainly do not get ourselves hot under the collar of one day's movement, but we should be getting a little bit warm round the neck over what we're seeing in southern europe at the moment. we are basically witnessing a bit of a battle, a war, if you like, between speculators and investors and certain european governments, spain, portugal, greece. greece particularly, and what's happened today, let me tell you, the spanish index, main stock index, down some 6% in madrid.

in milan, down 3.5% to 4%. what it's all about, ali, the investors believe that these governments are eventually going to find they're going to need to be bailed out or they're going to have to pay more for their debt, and so they are hammering away at the market debt, trying to break them, if you will. all the lights on the dashboard are flashing red. cdss, bond yields, stock markets, everything is in the danger zone. and what we're seeing tonight, ali, is the attack is under way. >> and oil is down today. gold is down today. this is a bit of a troublesome, but you and i will keep track of it on both sides of the ocean and break it to our viewers as it becomes important for them to know when to get concerned. right now we are watching the dow is down 215 points, still above 10,000. it hasn't been below that all year, but we're keeping an on it. you'll be on "quest means business" very shortly on cnn international. >> i will. i will.

>> that means i can carry on now that he's rung the bell. all right, you are out of work and you need a job. why not set your sights high? "fortune" magazine is out with its list of the 100 best companies to work for and stephanie elam is breaking it down. see if you can guess the name of this next company. >> reporter: this business wants everyone to take it outside. where can employees ride like the wind in middle of the day? we'll tell you after the break. oh sure, we have plenty of employees that... you can label as "different." like janice. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable. it's open kimono time. looking good, dan. oh, we want to make sure all our ducks in a row. yeah. volume control syndrome. but we focus on the talent and skill that each person... brings to the team.

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it also has health care coverage for part-time employees. workers can test out new products and apply for grants to get equipment from the company for a personal sports challenge. rei is number 14 on "fortune" magazine's list of the 100 best companies to work for. all right. facebook turns 6 today. it's its 6th birthday, something that has had such an impact on so many people's lives is still just a little skid. let's take a look at stats about facebook that i think you'll find very interesting. more than 350 million active users are members of facebook. more than 350 million acstiff users. so, if it were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world behind country which has 1.3 billion and india which has 1.1 billion people, then you'd have facebook and then the usa. so, a lot of people are members of facebook. it's available in more than 70 languages. available to users in more than 180 countries. and it's used for many things. it's used just for social

networking, but it's also used to help people get together, to keep families and businesses and jobs connected. the largest age group using facebook last year, according to a survey by i-strategy labs, was the 18 to 24-year-old age group. no big surprise. the 18 to 24s send to like facebook. today the largest group using facebook, this has changed since last year, 35 to 54-year-olds. now, that interested me. i was a bit surprised by that. users 55 and older grew an incredible 922% over the last year. there were only 950,000 of them. now there are more than 9 million. now, let me give you a sense of this. if you didn't realize six years of facebook had gone by, let's go back to the birth of facebook. back in 2004, facebook was born in the harvard dorm room of mark zuckerberg, and it had -- it had already reached 1 million users by the end of that first year. so, that's its birth.

2005, let's call that the year of its adolescence. it expands into high school networks. that's how you joined facebook, you had to be part of a high school network or a college network. they added the photo application which by the way today makes facebook the biggest home for photographs on the internet and by its year of adolescence, 2005, it already had 5.5 million users. and 2006, let's call that the year of acceptance. it expands to work networks, so you could be a member if you were from a school, from a college or from a place of business, and it allowed anyone to join. so, you didn't actually have to be a part of a network in order to join. look at that. it jumped to 12 million users. let's go to 2007, so this was the year of acceptance, 2007 became the year of accessibility, because facebook went mobile. that's where you could get it on your -- on your phone, and you could -- you could update your status from there. microsoft invested $250 million in the company, and by 2007, 50 million users. that's 2007.

let's go to 2008, we're calling it the year of the world for facebook. it launched in spanish, in french, in german, translated into 21 additional users, and jumps from 50 million users to 100 million users. and then 2009, a year when many of you may have become acquainted with facebook. let's call that the year of its explosion. what a big year. in january, 150 million users. by february, 175 million. by april, 200 million, by july, 250 million, december, 350 million users. let's talk -- let's listen to what mark zuckerberg, who is the founder of facebook, has to say about what it's good for. >> would believe, really deeply, that if people are sharing more, then the world will be a more open place, where people can understand what's going on with the people around them. and that's really what we want to get towards. >> all right. so, a lot of good stuff that facebook has done. it really has been part of the whole social media world and the development of social media that we've all experienced.

it has impacted so many lives in so many different ways, but some of them aren't awl that good. coming up this hour, could living online flat line your privacy? we'll talk about that in a moment. and chad myers is standing by, i want to go over to the weather center. i'm always interested in what chad myers has to say, except this particular weekend what he has to say interests me particularly, because i'm going to up to atlantic city, and the storm you're tracking seems to be heading right to where i'm going. >> how long are you planning on staying? >> you may tell me that. i was planning on staying a night, and if we get snowed in -- >> i would say plan on spending the super bowl there and maybe monday, too. 12 to 20 inches in atlantic city to philadelphia. now, the way it's going to set up, ali, because the way the wind is going to be coming off the ocean, probably right along the beach, right along the pier, there won't be very much snow, because the ocean is above 32. that air coming this is going to be maybe 38, 40 degrees, so you're not going to see as much

at the marina. but you move up to the piney woods and the pinelands and you are going to see 20 inches of snow, you get to harbor degra ai, this is what you'll see. this is why people don't get prepared because of the sunny skies. >> this is what you call the calm before the snow. >> this is atlanta and it's not snowing because it's warm enough to make all rain. there could be enough moisture to make 20 inches of rain all up and down this area, from, i'm going to call it, where you're going, we're going to call that atlantic city. even on toward long island. missing new york city. new york city, you probably get a couple. but back over here to philadelphia. >> right. >> back into fredericksburg, all of the way back down to western virginia and north of richmond, virginia, that area there is 12 plus, and there will definitely be areas in there. pg county, somewhere montgomery county. >> yep. >> probably 20 inches. and we'll talk next hour about how budgets are breaking with this much snow. >> you're right. >> some places like philadelphia, budget zero --

>> right. >> -- for snow removal and hope that they don't get any. they will be pushing $6 million worth of budget shortfall. >> yeah. >> because they've only budgeted zero, and they will have $6 million for removal. >> we'll stay on top of it as you always do, chad. >> i'll see you on thursday! >> i'll make sure i'll be here for work. listen, one of the stories we continue to track is the situation in haiti. karl penhaul is there with the latest update on those ten american missionaries who have been held because they were accused of trying to take babies, children, outside of haiti without proper documentation. stay with us. fancy feast created a way to celebrate any moment. fancy feast appetizers. [dinner bell chimes] simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or sea bass and shrimp in a delicate broth, prepared without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers.

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here on cnn we're sticking with the haiti story and the developments, the rebuilding, in haiti. one of your biggest concerns always is the children, the vulnerable children, left behind in the wake of the -- of the earthquake. let's go to karl penhaul. he's joining me on the phone now from port-au-prince with the story of these ten americans we've been following. ten americans who apparently trying to take haitian children out of haiti through the dominican republic. they were arrested. karl, what's the update? we understand they are in court right now. >> yes, they are down here at the courthouse -- by the prosecutor, and it's the prosecutor who will ultimately decide whether they will be formally charged with charges such as child trafficking or kidnapping, had is what the haitian government is accusing them of, or whether they will be

released. now, what the prosecutor has to do is go through the files, the dossiers that have been drawn up over the last two days. and on the basis of that, he will ask additional questions to the ten americans, both yesterday and the day before, an investigative judge held meetings. first off, with the five american women, and then with the five american men, putting questions to them. that took place at the judicial police headquarters. and so now, based on those investigations over the last two days, the prosecutor is going through the files with the americans, to see what additional questions he has and to see if he's going to formalize the accusations against them. now, the -- the session, the hearing, is now been going on now for probably about an hour and a half or two hours, no saying how long it could last and no real saying on what the outcome may be, although we do spot aboard one of the two trucks that the americans came to the courtroom in that there is a number of boxes and what

appear to be their backpacks in the back of that truck. so, it could quite well mean that they're at least not going back to the judicial police headquarters. could be heading somewhere else. of course, like i say, the prosecutor could always take the decision to release them if he doesn't believe there's enough evidence there, ali. >> karl, i want to ask you, obviously we just looked at video of you speaking to them on monday. what is it they say they were doing? >> i've talked to them now three times in jail, on saturday, on sunday, and again on tuesday night. they, themselves, say that they're on a god-given mission to come and save haitian orphans, but then when you look at the facts on the ground -- and we talked extensively to the interpreters who were working with them, and also to parents who gave their children away to americans -- it is quite clear that the americans must have known that most of these children were not, in fact, orphans. in many cases, it was the parents themselves who gave the children directly to the americans and put them on the

bus. what we also know is that both the haitian government and the dominican consulate warned the americans not to travel without documentation for the children, because they would be stopped. it was illegal, and they would be accused of child trafficking. in spite -- where one of the team leaders of the american backers asked for permission and was refused permission to cross into the dominican republic. four hours after that meeting with the consulate, the whole team was arrested with the children, so it shows they certainly chose to disregard all the information they were given, ali. >> karl, you let us know if there's further development on this story and anything else you've got going on in port-au-prince. karl penhaul in port-au-prince. >> okay. one of the things we've been looking at obviously for the last couple weeks and we're continuing to look at is your tax dollars in work at the stimulus project, that's josh levs and steve brusque at our stimulus desk, i'll be checking in with them in a few minutes,

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♪ all right. checking the headlines. president obama's condemning a proposed law in uganda that would essentially punish people for being gay. his comments came this morning at the national prayer breakfast.sponsors the breakfast, the fellowship foundation, is said to be pushing uganda to pafs the law. the tea party assembly in nashville is organized by a for-profit group, and tickets are pricey, and that's attracting criticism, even from some members of the movement. and some high-profile names have backed out entirely. we'll break all of this down for you at the top of the hour, what's going on with thetary party. one side of the illinois'

governor's race is now set, democrat dan hynes has conceded to incumbent governor pat quinn. he was trailing after tuesday's primary but he didn't bow out until after more votes were counted. the battle between bill brady and kirk dillard is still too close to call. all right, we're back here in the stimulus area that we've been using for the last little while. we've been digging into the money that has been given to stimulus projects and finding out whether jobs have been created. what are you looking at? >> $862 billion in total can, right? and we are looking at clean energy projects, we have video from the president and the vice president meeting with governors from all over the country and they are trying to advance clean energy in lots of different ways. the vice president when they were at the meeting, the vice president made some comments using some numbers. take a listen to this -- >> the announcement i'm making today, mr. president, builds on

an unprecedented investment that the federal government has made, in large part through the recovery act, to deal with investments in clean energy and lessening our dependence on foreign oil, $80 billion. >> so, that $80 billion there he's talking about a combination, basically, of existing funding and also some stimulus funding, so we decided to start looking for those. and we'll zoom in on the map now because i'll take you to texas, because i found an interesting project here. we'll go into an area where the oil fields are, 15 miles outside of odessa, you have an area called penwell, texas, and we're in the oil fields here. they have a project. let me open this up. do you have any idea what this? >> no idea. >> do you have any idea? >> no. >> this is called a gasifier and some people think this might be the future of clean coal technology. >> right. >> we found this company. and basically they've gotten $350 million, and what this project could do, zoom in on

this, what it could do, if it works the way they say it will. it takes the skocoal and strips of carbon emissions, by the time the smoke comes out, they say the emissions wouldn't be there. they say they are building a technology that could get rid of 90% of the bad stuff you don't want in there. they're a place that has gotten a bunch of funding for it. clean coal has a lot of skeptics, many people say there is no such thing. the administration is standing behind it. check out this figure, $350 million to this company, and this is called summit texas clean energy llc, $350 million right there. they are saying they expect to create 1,000 jobs just for constructing this area. and they expect once it's up and running, 120 to 150 permanent jobs once it's up and running. >> this is something you're key on, how many jobs are created, and how many jobs are longer lasting. every time i say clean coal on

television, it doesn't matter what i say, e-mails and all sorts of things we'll get. and tell me how many you get and that term ignites a lot of people. >> we say clean coal and coal, because we don't know if it exists either. >> notice the quotes. >> we don't know if it will ever be a real thing. but this administration says they're ready to invest in the possibility. >> yeah. >> that they could ultimately create that. >> very good. when you're dealing with your credit card and you run out of limit, credit limit, you either have to stop spending or you call up the bank and up your credit limit. the country got an increase in its credit limit, we'll tell you how much and how it goes about doing that. [ female announcer ] it flows across our world.

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all right. let's go to d.c. brianna keilar is there as the house votes to raise the nation's debt ceiling. look at these numbers. brianna, walk us through. that's just an incredible number besides you. how much does that even add up to? >> this is the national debt, ali. and you can see all of the zeros, right? about $12.3 trillion, and this number is quickly closing in on what's called the debt ceiling. it's essentially, you know -- >> that's the credit limit. >> it is on the limit on our credit card, right. so what they are voting to do, what the house is voting to do, to increase it by $1.9 trillion, to this number, the debt ceiling, so the u.s. government can borrow more. it would go to about $14.29 trillion, and this is expected to happen on party line vote,

the republicans against it and the democrats for it. this is important because if they did not increase the debt ceiling they could default on the loans and it who be a disaster. and the reason it's being increased to this huge number, over $14 trillion, it's been increased by $1.9 trillion to make sure that democrats don't really have to deal with this really tough vote again before the november election. >> and sqwe believe the vote is happening right now, it's happened in the senate and we believe it's happening in the house right now. you are looking at it, that is the vote. you can see, 207 democrats are voting for it and not a single republican has voted in favor. 174 so far are against it. now, brianna, 1.9 trillion, that's what they're increasing it to get it to $14.2 trillion which is what you're standing in front of. what do you get for $1.9 trillion? >> if we break it down so

everyone in the u.s. could get their fair chunk of it, it would be $6,100 per person, ali. that is a lot of money. and we actually sort of tried to figure out exactly what that means. that who be food for a year. >> uh-huh. >> for each one of us. we're talking groceries. we're talking going out to eat. all the food you'd have for a year. or -- and i really like this one, it's my personal favorite -- each one of us could rent a private island for a week, ali, and we would still have money leftover to pay for all of the pina coladas that our hearts could desire. >> why is it goes on a party line? how do the democrats deal with it that they are increasing the country's credit limit? how do they fashion up that politically? >> they say they have to deal with it, but the vote on the credit limit is directly tied to something else they are voting on, reinstating paygo rules, pay as you go. and this is like managing a household budget. if you spend too much money in one area of your budget, you

have to cut back in somewhere else or bring in more money. for us it might mean taking in extra shifts, for the u.s. government it means pulling in more money with extra taxes. this is the democrats' way of saying we are being fiscally responsible, but on the flip side, the republicans are saying not so fast, they are calling the paygo as "swiss cheese go" because it is exempt from accounting rules. it's a huge issue. >> it's important that we are constantly reminded about this because we are responsible for the nation's debt, it affects everything we do, including the value of our dollar. brian brianna keilar, thank you. staying on top of the story. the toyota raecall, 5 millin cars recalled for one problem, and then separate recall for other problems. we'll have expert advice on what

you need to know to stay safe if you haven't taken your car in yet, and if one of the problems happens to your car, we'll tell you exactly what to do. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: is ed "too tall" jones too tall? host: could switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance? host: does a ten-pound bag of flour make a really big biscuit?

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informed or called toyota or your local dealer to find out what is go on. we will go to buffalo, because we spoke to lauren fix yesterday who was very good about giving us some specific information about what to do if you find yourself in a car that is subject to the recalls. lauren, now, there are two recalls going on that total more than 5 million cars. one of them involves a floor mat and the gas pedal getting stuck and the other one is a gas pedal getting stuck in an accelerating position without the floor mat being there. what do you do, first of all if you drive a toyota at this point, what are the first steps? >> drive it normally and be aware of what happens. if you are in a car that accelerates people panic and want to hit the brakes. that is the worst thing to do, put your car in neutral and put on the four-way so people know you are having a problem and get over to the side of the road as carefully as possible without hitting anyone and then shut the car off.

if you shut the car off, you cannot steer and brake. yesterday, there were quite a few viewers who sent me e-mails and tried to respond to all of them, but many of them didn't know that, so i am glad that we are able to educate everyone. >> i would love to keep having that conversation until this thing is over, because it is a thing that has panicked people. >> oh, yeah. >> clearly the transport secretary saying and retracted it later, but he said don't drive your car got people panicked, but one of the things he said if you take the context of the comment hes made s he sa hearing, he said it would be simpler than to tell people to put it in neutral and wait to get your car fixed. but if you slam it in neutral when driving and the accelerator is stuck, you will havehave hea more engine noise than ever before. >> yes, because the engine will continue to rev and if you put it in neutral the transmission cannot connect to the wheels to keep it simple. though it is hard to ignore a

engine revving loud, the safest thing is to do to disconnect the engine from the transmission and coast to the side of the road and make sure the four-ways are on, and if someone is driving a toyota and coming up on you quickly, look for an escape route. it is good for people who are more aware on the road, because it is good for safety. >> lauren, you pull over to the side of the road and disengage the engine and over to the side of the road and on the shoulder and safe, and do you drive home or call toyota? >> no, call the toyota dealer and if you are out of town have the roadside assistance tow it to the dealership and they will repair it. many of the dealers have the shims in stock and they would repair it on the side of the road and take care of you, but toyota is giving checks to the dealerships of the people they are taking care of and servicing. the service departments are open

24 hours a day, so i would not be surprised if some of the sales department is there to sell you a new car. >> and that is where some of the money is going to help the dealerships. lauren, if it is repetitive, that is okay, because we want to repeat it until everyone knows what to do with their toyota. >> good to hear it. >> lauren fix joining us from detroit. it is the sixth birthday for facebook. we will look on the brief, but booming history and looking ahead when it comes to social media, one of the big issues is privacy and we will talk about that when we get back. i'm robert shapiro. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

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all right. one of the things that we are talking about today is the fact that facebook has turned 6. it is the sixth anniversary of facebook and one of the most important and influential media sites in the world. john able is with wired.com, and he is here to talk about it. john, you are here via skype i see. >> that is right. >> john, you know, i'm fascinated by facebook and fascinated by the social media and we can report endlessly on the good that has come from it, but the one thing that it has challenged is our sense of privacy and our ability to maintain privacy. i want to get your thoughts on it. >> well, sure. there is a sense when you are in your facebook sort of community, that you are dealing with kind of your roommates and people down the hall, but you are not. technically, you are with the

recent changes in the privacy defaults that facebook institutes means that a lot of the things that you putting up there are going to everybody, and as a matter of practical truth anything that you put on there anybody could share with somebody else, and also the issue of owning your information, and it, facebook has it there, but it is really yours, and when you want to leave, it is not so hard to take it with you. >> so what the issue here? something that facebook and social media companies need to adapt to or do we all have to adapt the behavior to the fact that it is now all out there a little bit more than it used to be? >> absolutely. we have to accept the fact that pretty much anything that you say anywhere and especially in a large community like facebook is a matter of public record at some point. but, it is also important for companies to sort of take seriously the fact that you do have some reasonable expectation of privacy, even if the privacy controls are not quite there or

even if you are sort of saying things in public, so we have to be careful, but we also have to hold companies to a higher standard. >> give me a letter grade for facebook's handling of the evolving privacy discussion. >> well, you know, the grade is -- well, i would say that they are definitely trying and it is in no company's interest to sort of make it easy for you to stop using their products and services, and they are competing in a new kind of era here, and this is the twitter era where they are trying to be as public as possible. they are giving it a good try, but think they there is a whole lot more that they can do. >> thank you, john. thank you for the balanced perspective on it, and there are concerns about privacy and some of it lies on our shoulders and some some of it on the shoulders of those who host social media. thank you, john able of

wired.com. he the bureau chief of wired.com. we have been talking about the tea party which is looking more like a political party. in fact, today, it has the first national convention kicking off in nashville. in fact, just now, registration is about to open. you can see that there are people with strong, strong opinions that you can see from effigies and posters. how has this movement grown so kickly? we will talk about that in a minute. ah, you know, we will talk about it right now. first of all, i want to tell you about the tea party movement and where it all started. back in 2009, it was sort of the first most people heard about it. february 10th, 2009, one woman protested wasteful spending in ft. myers, florida. by february 16th of last year, there were dozens of protesters actually, and they were protesting the government stimulus plan which we have been digging into here in seattle. by february 27th, dozens of

rallies had started nationwide and they were dubbed the tea party rallies for the first time which is a reference to the boston tea party and throwing off the yolk of oppression and taxation without representation. by april 15, 2009, thousands rallied how the government uses tax dollars. from september 12th, through the summer, the tea partiers had a march on washington and it drew tens of thousands of people in d.c. alone and of course february 4th, today, the first national tea party convention starts. tickets are soldout, and they are somewhat expensive and as a result of that some people are staying away and some people have backed out feeling that the amount it costs to actually go to the tea party convention is not in keeping with the grass roots approach it was supposed to v. let's go to senior political analyst gloria borger in washington right now. gloria, are we witnessing the

birth of another party in america? >> well, we are witnessing the birth of a passionate movement in many ways defined by what it opposes. it opposes big government. it opposes excessive regulation. itp opposes more taxes, and opposes a higher deficit, and it has grown because there is a vacuum in american politics right now, and politics of course abhors a vacuum and it is in rush of filling it. it is a party in need of leadership and organization, but i might say that the growing number of independent voters out there won't all necessarily be members of the tea party movement, but they are kind of attracted by its independence and the sort of anti-washington nature. >> well, let's just pull up a poll. we have asked people how they identify, and 32% identify as democrats, and 26% as republicans and 42% identify as independents. is that where the tea party is

aiming, or is it actually with the republicans? >> well, it is interesting. i think that if you had to take a look at i right now, you'd say that these folks are neither republican nor democrat, but not the typical independent voter either. lots of independent voters we poll say they are looking for more bipartisanship, and these voters i think have very, very firm ideas about what they believe and what they don't believe. quite frankly, they have been inspired by the fact that they don't see anything that is going on in washington that they like. in the long term, there are lots of republicans at that capitol dome behind me who are worried about the tea party movement, because it could split the republican party and hand elections to democrats. >> and of course, you have a president appealing to a lot of groups. we will come back to talk to gloria about whether or not we

are looking at the impact of the tea party movement on the future of politics in the country. on the right is john avalon who is an independent, and i would like to see if he sees his own face in the tea party or whether it is something foreign to him when we come back. the gmc sierra hybrid. the most fuel-efficient full-size pickup on the road. may the best truck win. [ male announcer ] welcome to the now network, population 49 million.

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the 5-year, 100,000 mile transferable powertrain warranty, from gmc. with roadside assistance and courtesy transportation, it's the best coverage in america. let's continue to discussion about the tea party and what it means and who those people are. we have gloria borger our senior political analyst and john avalon who is the author of "wing nuts, how the lunatic

fringe is attacking america." were you talking about the tea party people when you referred to the lunatic fringe attacking america? >> no. no, the tea partiers are a conservative populist movement and there are extremist and wingnuts among the heroes, but it is a mistake to equate one-on-one and it is a mistake to equate the tea partiers with the independents. as the cnn poll showed independents are the growing group of the electorate. and the tea parties are angry about the cyclical overspending and the dysfunction in washington, but at the end of the day, the tea partyiers are to the right of the republican party and they are populists and want to move the republican party to the right, whereas conservatives feel they are too polarized. >> you hear a member of congress, michele bachmann say that she felt that the tea

partyiers would take over the republican party. >> well, i don't think that is a possibility at this point, but the case has to be made that we can't really underestimate the potency of the public anger out there right now, and i agree with john that, you know, independent voters are very different from these tea party folks who are really defined by certain fiscal issues, and you know, they don't want new taxes, and certainly, they don't want big government. if somebody can harness that and attract independent voters that john is talking about, and some of these angry tea party voters, then you really might have a very viable candidate. >> well, let's look back to 1992 and discuss that for a minute, and discuss the results of the 1992 elections with ross perot pulling in 18.9% of the vote and george bush getting 37.5% of the vote and bill clinton getting

43% of the voechlt and te. and who capitalizes on this? are we ready for a new movement, a new lead snr >> well, there is an independent movement brewing in america for a long time. you start to see it in ross perot's campaign. he is fiscally conservative and libertarian socially, but what was happening, anger at the deficit, and both parties had given up fiscal responsibility, and the sail thing that motivating independents and some tea partyiers today. you have seen an reinsertion of the base politics that have angered people. so folks are angry and given up on politics as usual, but where this story breaks is yet to be written. >> what you saw in the white house right now and what you saw

in the election of barack obama is that he is trying to become that candidate again. a lot of independent voters flocked to barack obama because they thought that he was trepttation of that sort of independent bipartisan politician, and now what you are seeing with the president as he goes and talks about civility and goes to the house republican conference and takes them on, he is trying to reclaim that mantle of ross perot, if you will to a certain degree and say, i'm fiscally responsible and bipartisan and try to get the voters back, other wise, there is a vacuum to which the tea party can jump. >> john, you will bet the tea party convention? >> i will be there. >> a guy like you and in independents in the country don't want to be associated with the signs we saw pictures of recently and don't want to see the ugliness that is growing there, and so if the movement is to grow, do they have to shed some of to fringe? >> well, one thing that has

happened in the last year is that the fringe is blurring with the base. one thing that is going to be interesting to see in the tea party convention is whether they pivot to a positive agenda. a lot of the people that are a part of the movement are a part of the policy program, and we have not seen the pivot yet, and this is a key question, can they pivot to a new positive message or animated by the opposition of president obama. >> and to your point, gloria, can president obama pivot to his more populist message before the tea party catches up to him. >> that is exactly what they are trying to do, and they see it on the horizon and they don't see a natural leader for it, but they also understand that barack obama was able to attract independent voters, sick and angry with politics in the presidential campaign, and he can't be seen as a product of washington anymore. so, he is trying to move outside of that. >> gloria, good to talk to you as always, an enjohn, good to see you.

you look like you have something to say. >> i do. look, both parties and i have been given notice, but this should be a wake-up notice for both parties and people are sick and tired of the political fighting, and both parties should be put on notice they are put on notice by the american people. >> thank you, john and gloria. washington is not only watching toyota for the recalls and the retro fits b tow see if there is another recall involved and this time it may involve the prius. i will break it down after this break. joe delaney was a distance cyclist and one day after a workout, he felt severe pain in his shoulders and at 45, he had a quadruple bypass. >> it was a shock to my family and now i eat healthy and practice yoga and take aspirin on a regular basis. so i was the guy who was never going to have the heart attack. i watched what i ate. i worked out.

personally, i thought i was invincible. once it happened, i realized it's a different story. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i was the guy who was doing everything right. i was wrong. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. [ male announcer ] learn more about protecting your heart at iamproheart.com. okay. while we follow the toyota story

and we are following it carefully. we have people at mechanic shops and toyota dealerships finding out exactly what is going on and how the repairs are happening. let's talk a little bit about what is going on. one of the newest discussions into the toyota issue is prius. this goes back to may of 2009, the third-generation prius goes on sale in the u.s. and japan. you will know that as the 2010 model. by july of 2009, there was a complete lag in japan of the braking and the braking would not happen until almost a second after it was tapped. in january of 2010, there was a software update and according to toyota, it was a software update, and that is before it was sold and now we are getting complaints about the braking system. i heard a toyota dealer say it was a second, but i saw a calculation today that if you are going at some speed and the

brake activating of when you tap it and a second can mean 80 or 90 feet which is of course an important distance when you try to stop your car. we will keep you posted on that side of things. we will take a quick look at the recalls right now to make sure that if you have a car that is recalled, you will know that you are in here and you should call toyota or the dealership. but the floor mat recall, and there are two issues, one is the foot pedal getting stuck on the floor mat. you have the avalon, the camry, the corolla and the highlanders and the matrix and the prius, and that is just about the floor mats and the tundra and the tacoma and the separate recall that has to do just with the gas pedals themselves getting stuck. you have the avalon and the matrix and the vibe and the sequoia and the tundra and the camry and the corolla and the rav 4 in those model years. again, call toyota and call your

dealer and get it fixed. we will keep you posted as to any other developments including those having to do with the prius if we get those. checking the headlines, president obama is condemning a proposed law in uganda that would essentially punish people for being gay. his comments came at the national prayer breakfast and the group who sponsors the breakfast the fellowship foundation is said to be pushing uganda to push the law. the new senator from massachusetts officially takes office today. scott brown's election victory was certified today and that clears the way for him to be sworn in this afternoon. brown won a special election to take the seat held by the late ted kennedy and democrats fear that his win could stall some of president obama's initiatives. remembering a civil rights icon on what would have been her birthday. rosa parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger, sparking the civil rights fight.

she died in 2005, and she would have turned 97. all right. we will come back and off of the radar which is what we like to do with chad myers. we are going to look at cities, and he was talking about this earlier, cities who have passed their snow-clearing budget with another big winter storm headed their way. batteries are the sam. consider this: at iowa lakes community college, the students learn to keep america's wind turbines going and to keep them safe, the only battery they trust in their high voltage meters are duracell rechargeables. so whether you're responsible for tomorrow... or enjoying today... it just has to work. duracell smart power. duracell trusted everywhere

what if i told you that that the government has your baby's dna?

well, you will. did you know that newborns in the u.s. are routinely screened for between 28 and 54 different conditions, often without the parents' knowledge or consent. dna samples are stored in state labs for three months to indefinitely and the genetic info is often given to outside researchpers. a state of minnesota study says that more than 120 scientific papers have been published in the united states since year 2000 using newborn blood samples. parents in texas and minnesota have sued claiming that storing the dna could affect their children's ability to get jobs or health insurance later on, but the state governments say that the samples are under rigid privacy controls and that the genetic screening could ultimately save lives. it is a fascinating debate, and we will follow up on it, but we wanted you parents to have that information. more information we want you to have has to do with the weather center. chad meyers is watching the

storm as it moves northeast. >> it is moving from memphis and mississippi and alabama with rain on up to the northeast, and as it does, that it is going to run into the colder air. they come together and the moisture comes up here and the colder air gets here in time and that is going to make a big-time snow event. there is a number of areas of snow and different types of snow and snow in the richmond and delmarva areas and different from what is in d.c. and baltimore. it depends what is in the atmosphere above you. there is a lot of rain to the southeast, but as the storm heads to the northeast, that is where the storm develops into the mid-atlantic states i will call it, where we talk about near the carolinas, you will get north of that line, and that is where it is all going to turn into snow. it starts tomorrow night. d.c. and baltimore could be well into the one-foot category. the good news, it is friday night and people hopefully will go home and stay home and we are hearing some of the bakeries are

working overtime to put it on the bread back on the shelves, because the bread is completely gone. >> so one thing that you do is to track things "off of the radar" and you came up with one kn nexted to storm. >> yes, connected to a lot of storms we have had. i put the numbers together. maryland d.o.t. statewide has spent 46 million and budgeted 29 million. philadelphia hoped for the best and they budgeted zero and they have spent $3.5 million. and the city of baltimore has budgeted $6 million and they have $1 million left. and state of virginia budgeted $79 million and they have spent $84 million, but with more snow, it could be more record-breaking. >> more news coming in? >> yes, just for you. just for you. did you see atlanta city on there? >> yes, that is where i am heading. >> and the next one that is highlighted is blizzard warning. >> yeah, i saw storm watch,

storm warnings, and now a blizzard. >> as the storms get closer to the fact they are really going to start, that is when the weather service will move from watch to warning, and the watch is 46 hours out and we know it is happening. >> i hope you don't have big plans this weekend, because i might be hanging out with you this weekend. >> well, i have an extra bedroom. >> well, thank you, chad. we will keep you posted on a story we are keeping right on top of it and that is the toyota story. in case you see news leaking out, there is not a prius recall under way. toyota is denying reports of a prius recall. in toyota's words we have no information that such a decision has been made, and we are working with nittsu with the picture. if there is a recall that takes place or further developments on toyota, we will bring you every

piece of the story as it continues. another story, we are following is the bank of america charges laid by the new york attorney general and on the other side of the break, i will tell you what that means to you and who has been charged. than a comparable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage than honda cr-v. and chevy malibu has better mileage than accord. however, honda does make something that we just can't compete with. it's self propelled. chevy. compare us to anyone and may the best car win.

okay. major story we are following right now. if you felt angry and betrayed about how wall street acted before, during and after the biggest financial crisis in history. fraud charges have been laid against america's largest bank

and the ceo at the time of the crisis as well as the former chief financial officer. the charges say that bank of america executives including former ceo kenneth lewis deliberately misled shareholders and the u.s. government in order to secure bonuses and get bailout money for the bank. let's go straight to new york. allan chernoff is working on on this, and our senior correspondent and he has been following this not just today, but since it started in 2008. what have we got here? >> well, ali, very aggressive charges here from the new york state attorney general andrew cuomo who said he is charging the banning and the former chief executive officer and the former chief financial officer with fraud saying that they intentionally hid the extent of losses at merrill lynch in order that bank of america's shareholders would go ahead and approve the purchase of merrill lynch by bank of america, and in addition, they are saying they

hid one over on washington, d.c., that they essentially hid from washington, d.c., the extent of the problems that they said we are going to need a bailout to get this deal done or we are going to back out and the attorney general is saying that not the case, but they deceived washington in order to get the $20 billion bailout. aggressive charges here, ali. >> it seems that the attorney general, andrew cuomo, the attorney general for new york has worked with the special inspector general for t.a.r.p., the bailout in order to come up with these charges. >> that is right. they have worked in concert on this. very interesting, at the same time today, the securities and exchange commission is actually announcing a settlement with bank of america, $150 million, and that is a big amount for an s.e.c. settlement, and the money will go to bank of america shareholders, and they are settling charges that bank of america had hid the extent of losses and also had hid the

bonuses, $3.5 billion in bonuses that were to be paid out to merrill lynch employees. so, an important settlement there from the s.e.c., and ali, also, let me add the response from bank of america and this is the response to the new york state attorney general charges. he is the bank of america is saying that the executives including kenneth lewis and joe price, the former chief financial officer and at all times acted in good faith and assisted with the legal and fiduciary obligations, and the company and the executives will vigorously defend ourselves. ali. >> all right. alan, your sense of how big a deal this is. we have not seen charges laid of this nature at that high of a level throughout the entire financial crisis. they have been smaller and against people in lower positions. how big of a deal is this to the viewers? >> yeah, very important. this has been going on for a

while, and the new york state attorney general has been investigating the bonuses, and he had a face-to-face meeting with the ceo ken, the former ceo ken lewis and also met with the former head of merrill lynch john bane, and so this is going on for a while, and he is clearly dissatisfied with what he has heard, and he is alleging fraud in this case. it is pretty juicy stuff. >> yeah, i have been reading the complaint. >> you don't get this sort of thing everyday. >> it is a 90-page complaint with specific allegations. allan, you are reading through it and i will do the same. allan chernoff our senior correspondent in new york on the latest news of charges filed against the ceo of bank of america and two other chief executives. and you may have heard of a recall on the 2010 prius, but we will go to chris isidore who is following the story. chris, you understand that you have talked to toyota, and they are not issuing a recall on the

prius? >> we are not hearing anything. >> if somebody is with chris, tell him to tell us what he knows about the prius recall. okay. he can't hear me, and we will take a quick break and get back to tell us what chris knows about toyota denying that the prius is in a recall, being recalled. toyota is saying that not the case. we want to get clarify from chris who has just spoken to toyota on the other side of the break. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan. one of car & driver's 10 best for the third year in a row. ♪ and now, cadillac announces the new luxury collection lease.

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okay. you may have heard news trickling out about toyota issuing a recall for the 2010 prius. our chris isidore at cnnmoney.com says that is not true and he has spoken to toyota. what do you know, chris? >> well, the toyota of the united states says they are not aware of any recall and it is in the mid of the night in japan, so unlikely that something has been issued. but something is going to have to be done with prius, because toyota has admitted there is something wrong with the software that is causing problem with the braking and it is more of a when and not if >> there are numbers that came out saying it was 270,000, and somebody reported something specifically, but toyota is saying that is not the case. for the moment, if you own a 2010 prius, it is not under recall. >> it is no under recall, though, toyota has admitted there is a problem with the brakes that control it and say they have fixed it for new

priuses being made, but there are 37 million on the road in the united states which do not have the fixed software. >> and the issue here is drivability versus safety. there are a lot of things that a company offers to fix on a car when they find that it is wrong under the guise of it being drivability issue, when it falls into the area of safety, that is where a recall has to happen. >> right. well, and braking issue is perhaps more serious than an acceleration issue. if the gas pedal is sticking, you should shift into neutral and jam on the brakes and stop the car. but if the brakes are not working properly, there is a potentially more serious problem. >> there is a lag that the customers are complaining about, when they hit the brake, it does not start to brake for a second. i had somebody, and we listened to one dealer today say it is a second and not that big of deal, but you have read the evidence of how serious one-second delay in applying the brake can be. >> well, we know that there are

four accidents and two of them involving injuries, and no fatal tis fortunately. and you have to understand that this is only 37,000 cars out there, and you have already had problems with more than 100 of them. it is percentage wise a much higher incident of problems than in the gas pedal recall where you have millions of cars under recall, but only a couple of thousand have had problems. >> we have been advising people on what to do if they have the gas pedal problem with the floor mat problem or the gas pedal problem on its own, you try to get it into neutral and get to the side of the road and then disengage the engine. we have no advice for people who have a braking problem, right? >> well, you keep the foot on the brake as long and as hard as possible and hope it will brake before you run into something. >> and chris isidore is one of the team of people who follows the auto industry, and he gets a lot of our information from him,

and thank you, chris, for staying on top of this story, along with poppy harlow, and others on the team. we are continuing to follow the story, but for the moment toyota is denying that there is a recall on the prius. we will keep you posted on that. to other news story, motivational speaker and self-help guru james ray is in an arizona courtroom. he was arrested yesterday under three counts of manslaughter. he hosted a sweat lodge near sedona where three people died last year. he could face 12.5 years in prison on each count. and off of the coast of california, a surfer was found bleeding and surrounded by sharks when he was rescued by a lifeguard, but it was too late. it is florida's first fatal shark attack in five years. and mei lan and tai san left

to japan for a breed iing study. there is a update from carl penhaul in haiti about the americans being held there. >> we are seeing the americans riding in high-speed vehicles and we are trying to see where they are being taken. i asked at the exit of the office, i asked one of the prosecutors in on the hearing how the session had gone, and he said, i will talk to you later, outside. but between then and the americans came out, and we are now following them to keep our eye on them, and to see whether they will be taken and to see what decision the panel of three

prosecutors has taken, because what they in fact were dealing with today was listening and hearing the evidence in the case and deciding whether they will formally charge the americans or whether they decide to release them for lack of evidence, ali. >> all right. so they have not been -- they have not been given a decision that they are free to go, but it is just that that could be pending. >> reporter: i have a seen a media report, but it is only a media report that i am seeing right now, that the decision may be to release some of the americans and to hold others, but i would prefer to get back to you with that in a few minutes when we have that absolutely confirmed. like i said, in a few minutes it will be clearer, but what i can tell you is that when the americans were taken out of the prosecutor's office, they were loaded into white suv and into a blue pickup truck. none of them were speaking to the press. i asked them if they had a message for their families, and

knowing that they are very devout christians i asked them what the lord had decided for them today, and there was no response to any of the questions. they certainly look solemn, and when they were loaded up into one of the white suvs, the larger of the two groups, eight of the americans, were in the white suv, and they quietly began to sing a hymn, but certainly no comment, and many of them ant what is happening now. but no tears either. solemn faces, and hymns, but no tears and no comments to the press, ali. >> all right. karl, stay on the story, and if you have a new development, call us in and we will put you on tv to tell us what the new development is with the remaining americans. carl penhaul in port-au-prince, haiti. when we come back, we will go to the white house and ed henry is dressed better than normal there, and he must have peeked into my wardrobe to see

what i am wearing. but he is not only copying me, but maybe he is getting a raise. >> i am going to see the boss. it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. citracal. you can label as "different." like janice. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable. it's open kimono time. looking good, dan. oh, we want to make sure all our ducks in a row. yeah. volume control syndrome. but we focus on the talent and skill that each person... brings to the team. i mean, no one's really concerned about labels. not even mine. labels get in the way. disabilities rarely do.

visit thinkbeyondthelabel.com to evolve your work force. >> there is nothing against ed henry that the theme song coming into the ed henry segment is referring to a panda bears. it is not referring to ed henry, but the panda bears where they are leaving d.c. to go breed, is that the deal? >> yeah, back to china and on loan to the united states, and we are trying to foster good relations, and a lot of sticky issues that the administration has to deal with involving china. and in a couple of weeks the president is going to meet with the dalai lama, and that is not going to make the chinese happy, but the panda are cute and cuddly and a lot of people were shedding tears. one of the pandas got a following here in washington and from people all around the

country and the world who came to visit, so the panda is a big deal today, ali. >> you are -- i think that the panda's jobs now are to be fostering good relations with each other, right? making more pandas. >> yeah, i'm trying to be diplomatic about it, ali, and you are cutting to it. reproduction is a big part of the panda experience. >> and you don't want to have this discussion right now, because the big boss is right near you watching you? >> yeah, you are putting me in the bad position. >> he thinks that you are the senior white house correspondent, and you are talking about the pandas getting it on. >> you are m cramping my style, and let's cut that out. in one of the old dining rooms up there, the president had business leaders over, with steve balmer over from microsoft, and it is a regular thing to get a sense of what is going on with the job situation and the economy, but among the executives today is none other than jeff bewkes of time warner.

that is why i tried to dress nicer today and get a shot here and hoping he would come out of the west wing at some point and lunch is over, so maybe he went on and moved on without me, but i hope you don't mind if i have to end this signal quickly, because i might have to hail a cab out to pennsylvania avenue to get him a cab, because you know, you want to get in good with the boss and get a raise. >> and the fancy tie. listen, the president this morning and you are talking about the lunch, but this morning he met with tim tebow the quarterback in on that? >> well, it was a funny moment, because the president was giving a serious speech at the annual prayer breakfast and every president since eisenhower has been there speaking about coming together, and tim tebow who gave the final prayer and outspoken about his christianity was there on the platform and it looked like one of the senators was

getting a autograph, so i'm not sure that everybody was paying full attention to what the president had to say, but they are trying to foster bipartisan cooperation and the president is trying to find places to reach out, and the prayer breakfast is a place to do that and also to get a autograph. >> in the interest of fostering cooperation, i invite the viewers to follow ed henry at ed henry.com as well as me, ali velshi. >> and we hope that they will come from the oval office and we have the stakeout, and the sign out there just in case senator reid and speaker pelosi are not on twitter yet. >> in case you don't know, ed henry is on a mission to maintain more twitter followers than i have. we will see how it ends, ed. >> if i have senator reid and speaker pelosi, i have a bigger lead.

>> oh, his mike has just dropped out. we will get back to you, ed. okay. this toyota thing is getting more and more complicated. if you are hearing reports of another recall, the xaeb scompas not so fast. poppy harlow joins me about that news that is not so much news about the prius recall after this break. so many arthritis pain relievers -- i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills.

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all right. straight to new york to cnnmoney.com poppy harlow standing by, and she is on top of the toyota situation along with everyone else. poppy, the latest news and we talked to chris isidore about whether there is or is not a recall now on the 2010 prius. >> all we can go from, ali, is what toyota is saying. this statement says clearly there is not a recall. and keep in mind that in japan as my colleague chris isidore said, it is the middle of the night there, and so there is a statement that says no such decision has been made and we are working with the national highway traffic safety administration on a preliminary evaluation of the issues and complaints. what are those issues? with the brakes on the 2010 hybrid prius. 124 of the complaints here in the united states. prius is very popular model in this country, and 37,000 of them on the road here in the u.s., so 124 complaints is a lot. you have to think that other people may be having issues that have not filed complaints yet,

so it is something to be concerned about. it is obviously something that toyota is looking into. they have talked about the fact that they had a problem with the software for manufacturing those brakes. so they have admit ad problem, but ali to, be clear, no recall. i want to take you through why this is so critical before any of this prius issues even a single one, they had 8.1 million vehicle worldwide, and the company came out and said it will cost them $2 billion and that is not including anything to have any potential problem with the prius, ap they said they haves will have a future $0 future sales lost because of this. autoanalysts i spoke with said that you have major issues beyond the estimated cost, and this is long-running upward for toyota. >> and this is a company who gets the premium on the cars because of the reputation and reliability and the reputation is probably bigger than the

financial hit. we have seen the companies take the financial hits and recover from them, and obviously a gaen of toyota's size, it is manageable, but it is the can they get in front of this thing, and do they have to be last out of the gate with information about repairs or recalls. that seems to be tissue her tos >> i think that is exactly the issue and the company has been talking about it since january 21st when the issue happened with the accelerated brakes and the floor mats, and that i have a major issue and communication issue and major stock investor stock issue. you know the issue well, you see it up here at january 21st, and last two weeks it has fallen precipito precipitously, and it has fallen 21%, and i am looking at the trading now, which is down another 2%. they have issues on the investment froptd and p.r. front and the safety front, because it

was the nhtsa which came out today saying they are opening up a new investigation on the 2010 prius hybrid. >> and toyota is not in front of that and they are responding to something that the government did. >> again. >> and poppy, we have the whole team on, this and you are the front of it b , but we have everybody there at cnnmoney.com. >> yes, chris and peter, and everyone. >> and we will keep on top of this and let you, the viewer, know what is going on with the recalls. again, what to do if you have accelerate problem, but no advice if you have a braking problem, because as krigs isidore said, that is a much more difficult problem. and have you wondered whether it is safe at work? well, you see the camera on you, and the guy in the foreground and the background is in trouble, and now, there is a campaign to save his job. does he deserve a second chance?

i will have the x-y-z of it when we come back.

all right. almost time for rick's list and rick sanchez is standing by and you are talking about haiti. >> have you seen what is going on down there? brooke baldwin and she and i were getting a briefing from the folks over here at the international desk. look, the associated press seems to be, ali, saying that all ten of these baptist missionaries from idaho, right >> but we have not confirmed that and it is important to point out that carl penhaul who is on the ground and he has

jumped in the car and he is following the van with the ten mish nation sionaries and we do whether they are going to the jail or port-au-prince to the airport. >> that is a great point. look, two things are happening, all right. a news service is reporting that they have been charged officially with child trafficking. cnn has not confirmed that, however, one of our best and brightest if i do say carl penhaul is there and you heard him a while ago and he son the phone and he is following the car, and he will have the information for us as we move forward. >> he says the minute he gets it, he will call us. >> one other quick thing, we may have an exclusive with scott brown in the hour. may have an exclusive, but we don't know. >> a filibuster buster. >> hehe story, and if we get the story, you will have it. >> let me tell you something -- >> okay.

if i had a list, this guy would be on it. maybe you are the 1.3 million people who have watched it on youtube. forget the guy talking in the foreground and watch the guy sitting on the computer. you see it right on the left side of the screen and that guy with the head is talking to guy who walked up. the guy sitting down is banker dave kiley and opening up a e-mail with racy photos of a model. australian news caught him in the act as they interviewed this fellow with the front of the screen there, and now the fellow is on leave while the company decides whether to do something about it. but here is the thing, he is getting support on the website. here is the we are the city starting to encourage to plead for the knucklehead's job. >> ali? >> yep. >> you know what, there is a possibility that we might get this scott brown -- let's, ali, i am takin