blumenthal, senator blumenthal showed you the recall notice and you still won't say that everybody who has these cars should get rid of it. even though the recall notice says if your keychain is heavy or you go over rough roads. have you seen this winter? in vermont they had 94 occasions of snow. do you know what that does for the infrastructure? look, you should have said, you're right. the mr. markey, senator markey, a great leader on this, says will you support just making transparent the report to the company that there's a problem with the car? put it out there. oh, no, you can't come you can't answer that either. so then my question in march 2005 gm people said it costs too much to fix these cars. the codeword quote none of the solutions represent an acceptable business case. that was a public document. gm gave that document over. all, you can even talk to that big you don't know anything about anything. and, madam chairman was not to comment on ask unanimous consent to place in the record more pictures of mary theresa car, and what kind of a death follows that kind of crash. you

by the way, richard blumenthal is attending with the family members, so we'll be talking to him later on this hour. >>> now to the massive surge in health care enrollment. that's the headline after a much better than expected response to the open enrollment period that ended at midnight. signups expected to go beyond the initial goal of 7 million. the website saw its biggest enrollment number since the october rollout. still, critics aren't backing off. speaker john boehner again calling for a repeal. here's part of a statement that he released. the president's health care law continues to wreak havoc on american families, small businesses, and our economy, and as i've said many times, the problem was never just about the website, it's the whole law. i want to bring in our company, irin carmon, nicolas compasore. good to see both of you. gosh, a month ago, would anybody say 7 million? the question was, would it reach 6 million. the white house has to be breathing a sigh of relief, but does this change the political equation? >> look, it proves there is a demand for subsidized health c

and blumenthal has suggested a fund for victims of between $3 billion and $8 billion.ch we're talking about a 6 million vehicle recall, 13 deaths that we know of. and there could be collateral deaths from things like the working and that causing air bags not to work. transmission lines, power steering. so it is really voos -- vast. so you can't believe we know the complete scale of what is going on at gm, and if the scale is anything like one could imagine, it would go far above 3 or $8 billion. >> there have been bigger recalls. we took at toyota and the brakes, ford and the broncos, and firestone, they all look really bad when it is happening, and then we sort of get past them. but there is a cultural issue here at gm. certainly the old gm. they are trying to say this is the new gm. >> yeah. the senate hit that point again and again, and it's impossible to believe that all of a sudden gm this company that is over 100 years old is going to wake up one day and turn over a new leaf because of this crisis. you could tell from berra's testimony that that wasn't going to h

now richard blumenthal.oint that mark raised is whether the company can use its bankruptcy filing as a way to negate responsibility from the work of the old gm, what do you think? >> part of the 2009 reorganization. very bad mistake to give it that very broad immunity from legal responsibility, but it bears continuing responsibility for the warnings it has given now. and i asked mary if she would grounded vehicles if there is evidence that the vehicles are unsafe, if there are crashes, even without the key overloaded. i am calling on gm to ground these vehicles and worn the customers now because they will not be shielded from liability for these crashes one forward. neil: i imagine of the claims gets to be such they are just prohibitively higher than the billion dollars have put aside, they will try to use them. if they do, richard blumenthal says what? >> the department of justice ought to compel gm to bear responsibility established a compensation fund. neil: even if it drives them under? if it does potent

senator richard blumenthal was not following his own advice when he was almost clipped by that commuter train! blumenthal and his aide were in the yellow safety strip next to the tracks and the ironic incident happened at a news conference in connecticut to announce fines against a railroad agency for safety violations. the senator moved away from the tracks after that close call. [ laughter ] >>> tonight the nation is marking 19 years since the oklahoma city bombing. a service at the national memorial where the murrah federal building once stood paid tribute to the 168 people killed. musicians performed somber marches. and family and friends read the names of those who died. on the morning of april 19th, 1995, timothy mcveigh parked a rental truck filled with explosives in front of that building. the deadly blast sheared off the north side of the structure. mcveigh was later caught, convicted and executed. his partner terry nichols is serving life without parole. >> the attack that could have easily crippled out city and state. it could have left our people hopeless. but it did not. in

blumenthal and his aide were on the yellow safety strip next to the tracks. ironic incident happened at a news conference in connecticut to announce fines against a railroad agency for safety violations. the senator moved away from the tracks right after that close call. >> that's extraordinary video. >>> in the weather the only close call we have is a system coming down from the pacific northwest on monday night and tuesday. showers will fall small time, temperatures will fall big time. in the meantime, we're looking at temperatures in the 60s around the bay area. 67 degrees at concord. oakland 60. and livermore 64 degrees. tomorrow looks nice. it's going to warm up. temperatures will be in the low 80s inland. so all of that is by way of a nice easter sunday forecast. heading out tonight will be chilly. temperatures around 60 degrees by 8:00 tonight around the bay and inland and chillier than that by the coastline but tomorrow dawns sunny and bright and temperatures climb into the low 80s around livermore and concord, walnut creek, into the south bay too lik

chapter in this automobile safety tragedy to have the same ending. >> now we will have senator blumenthal of connecticut. >> thank you for your leadership over many years. not only in government but after your service there. maybe most important, thank you to the families who are sears today -- who are here today. it really has been an inspiration, never easy to come truth to powerak as they are doing today, to tell the stories of their loved ones who deserved better. they deserved better from gm products. richard scott bailey, a man who served his country and deserves better from it. -- we know from gm's experience that concealment can kill. session, tosiness hide a defect. not only to avoid repairing it but to conceal it. fromonceal its not only its customers and for many of its employees, it concealed it from the united states gainedent and thereby the justice system to obtain a complete shield of fraud and blanket immunity from liability for the lethal defects it concealed. today we have to correct that. gm can do the right thing in three specific ways. it can establish a fund to thes

blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. madam president, yesterday's hearing of the commerce committee subcommittee on consumer safety provided a powerful and important moment in our legislative process. and i want to thank my colleague, the chairman of the subcommittee, senator mccaskill, for enabling us to come together, as well as my other colleagues on both sides of the aisle, senators klobuchar and boxer and senator ayotte, for their very insightful and significant questions and comments on a challenge that should unite on both sides of the aisle. tragic events, death and life-changing injuries to unsuspecting drivers who were victims of a defective ignition switch in automobiles manufactured by g.m. a car defect that should have been fixed disclosed and remedied before these deaths occurred. i want to thank the families of the victims of these directive cars for coming forward and being at that h

senator blumenthal is for g.m. to ground all affected automobiles and be up front about the dealerships. the company is getting parts to dealers as quickly as possible, with some detail and reaction, i want to bring in the senator. he joins us now from hartford, connecticut. thank you for being here. let's begin by what you feel is an appropriate response to g.m.'s current position. >> i agree with mary that g.m. should do the right thing, without the compulsion or intervention of the government or the department of justice. and the right thing here is to tell its customers driving its cars that g.m. believes that these cars are unsafe, even when they don't have additional keys on the ignition switch. and mary committed to me during a senate hearing that if there was evidence that those cars are unsafe, if they hit rough roads, or jarring events, as the recall notice says, she would ground them. and now is the time to recognize there. have been events since then that indicate these cars are unsafe to drive until th

quick in response to a question from democratic senator blumenthal of connecticut, mary barra says sheld allow her if to drive a chevy cobalt he only had the ignition key. >> the testing that has been done has been on our proving ground that has extensive capability where the vehicle would be jarred and with just the keyword the key in the ring, it has performed. >> is it your testimony today those cars are a safe as any other car on the road today? again, as you look across all the safety technology that is on vehicles from the past to present, there is variation aced on the technology on cars today. there is variation with across the whole population. as driven cobalt car now, save for your daughters to drive? if my son only had the ignition key, i would allow him to drive it. >> that was gm ceo mary barra being questioned by senator blumenthal of connecticut. i want to bring in joan claybrook to the conversation, former head of the national highway traffic safety administration. ager questions being raised about why the agency did not regulate gm properly. times," "the new york to w

senator richard blumenthal out with comments.bout this case. he says this -- he goes onto say, gm must correct the public record including ms. barrett's testimony. such evidence indicates a line of inquiry that investigators must pursue vigorously as soon as possible. that was senator richard blumenthal, very critical of gm publicly, and calling for recalls, investigations, comments from him tonight on the new gm documents. this story continues. >>> well onto our user's guide, talking all week about your loved one's college education and how to pay for it. the best way to do that? for filing forms to decoding aid offers. if you missed any of this visit my website, gerri willis.com. don't leave money on the table for college. here with advice on finding the free money is rob franec, senior vice president of publishing at the princeton review and wrote the book the best review of college, which is a good read if you are on the market. >> thank you. gerri: what is the source are in money? where do you get the freeway money? >> there

blumenthal advised the president to deal with the issue only once and by calling for an end of the political divisions. >> perhaps in the daily press of events in the clash of controversy we don't see our own time for what it truly is, a new dawn for america. >> the documents also reveal health care was just as polit politicly divisive back then as now. the republicans swept the 1994 congressional races due in part to the failed health care overhaul and the clinton communications director said at the time we got slaughtered. >>> we wanted to give drivers something to look at during busy commute. >> some people find purpose later in life. >> the bold guy who is not giving up on his spring time vision. >>> the lake tahoe wild life care center has a brand new resident. how cute is he? actually she. the center says they have no idea where she came from. the 10 week old cub was dropped off with no note. she is spending much of her time like that sleeping and learning to walk like that. adorable. >>> in the south bay harley davidson fans held a fundraiser for veterans today. the store organized a

joining me to react in an exclusive interview is senator richard blumenthal.eaction, first of all, just to the news here to these disclosures, and what further steps you'd like to take? >> gm's problems are mounting, and -- and really the best way for gm to go right now, and i mean right now, is to do the right thing, which is to establish a compensation fund, take these defective vehicles off the road. warn people that they should be grounded until they are repaired, and finally make sure that justice is done by establishing not only a compensation fund by doing the right thing and coming clean with all the facts. >> well, to take those three points that you just made, you've called for a compensation fund in the past, but i wonder at this point, this isn't just about pr, this isn't just about, you know, gm regretting the way it handled the situation, it's much, much bigger than that. what do you think a compensation at this point would really achieve is. >> a compensation fund would provide for money, and money won't bring back lives. it won't erase the pain

>> and the photo of this connecticut senator richard murphy and richard blumenthal, quote, the exact selfie stopped being cool. >>> and aaron at the "washington post" joins me for first politics. good morning, aaron, thanks or four being here. >> thanks for having here. >> do you believe in the princeton study that says that america is where the rich rule? >> well, i think this puts into words and studies something that we've all suspected for a while is somewhat true. you know, the advent of the lobbying industry means that people who fund money into politics generally have more of a say in what kind of legislation ultimately gets produced. i'm sure there are plenty members of congress who are concerned about what average americans are wanting and needing in everyday lives. you but there's a lot of money going towards effecting certain provisions and bills and the types of legislation that is ultimately produced. so i think this is really the reflection of increase in lobbying and the amount of money spent on that in washington, d.c. >> and to some, it's probably not a surprise. but

democratic senator richard blumenthal, member of the commerce committee says gm's request should be rejectedhe and other lawmakers are urging to set up a fund for victims and their families. new documents said engineers detected similar problems during pre-production of cadillacs in 2006. meanwhile, gm is saying it's created a new system to order parts for the recalled repairs. the company is saying now it will make things easier for dealers across the country and quicker for drivers of the recalled cars. >>> two lucky, lucky kids had a once in a lifetime opportunity courtesy of pope francis. it all began when pope got out of his pope-mobile yesterday and it's for a group of students then gave him a t-shirt. that's when the pontiff asked if anyone wanted a lift. the fifth graders naturally said yes. the kids hopped in with pope francis who gave them a ride around st. peter's square during his weekly audience. can you imagine? being a fifth grader and the pope saying get in my pope-mobile. come on. how cool. the pope then gave both children a kiss on the cheek at the end of the ride. >>> joe

and so we'll ask the secretary if you can give us an update on that question that senator blumenthal raised. >> yes, sir. >> for the record. >> we can do that. >> we'll ask both the v.a. and the d.o.d. to give us -- as a matter of fact, this will be a good test. we'll ask you to give us a joint report. >> me personally? >> no, i'm talking about the army and the v.a., give us a joint report signed by both of you on this question. that will tell us something about interoperability. >> you're the chairman. >> i'm sorry. it should be d.o.d. can you pass along our request to the d.o.d.? >> i'd be happy to. >> we'll make it directly to take you off something of a hook on that one. >> and if i may just add, mr. chairman, with very sincere thanks for that suggestion, that it be done within the next month, i don't want to put time pressure on you and i know i'm a little bit out of line -- >> no, not at all. >> i can't speak for the department of defense, but obviously this is something the they've been working on diligently. secretary hagel immediately picked up the challenge from secretary p

the pressure is coming from senator richard blumenthal and robert hilliard.ake a listen. >> issue a stronger warning to drivers of recalled vehicles. tell them the truth about the risk. these cars shouldn't be on the road. >> there's a hearing in corpus christi later on today. >> they are safe if the driver doesn't have anything hanging from the key. >> u.s. workers only use half of the paid vacation time. even if they take the time off 6 out of 10 work while on vacation anyway. leaving time on the table means leaving money on the table as well. an average of $1,300 per worker per year. men may not shop as much as women but they certainly buy more. retailers are paying attention. brad dau is triplie -- prada is tripling their men's stores. the some people disagree. i think men don't like to shop so when they do they spend more money to deget what they need. >> get it over with. >> a major controversy is brewing on the baseball field. you got to hear about this one. there's a major league star under serious fire for missing the first two games of the season ju

you.ank we will have senator blumenthal of connecticut. .> thank you thank you for your leadership over many years. government, but for your service. thank you to the families who are here today. the loved ones whose courage and strength of being here today really is an inspiration. it is never easy to come forward and to speak truth to power as they are doing today to tell the story of their loved ones who deserve that are. they deserve better from gm products. richard daley, a man who served his country and who deserves and from gm whose products he used. this marine is the reason we are here today, as are the other families. we know from gm's experience that concealment can kill. business decision to hide the defects not only to avoid repairing it, but to conceal it. he concealed it not only from customers and from many of its employees, but concealed it from the united states government. gaining the justice system to obtain a complete immunityroad blanket on the legal defects that he concealed. today we have to correct that situation. can do the right thing in three specific ways. f

willie, did you see last week -- >> senator blumenthal? >> what?al aid right up along the track. >> is he okay? >> let's back that off the yellow line, senator. >> it's actually scary. >> look at this. whoa! he reaches for it. >> he's fine. simmer down. >> no simmering down, willie. >> that's a little different. >> cat-like quickness. >> that is cat-like quickness. >> he is so nice, by the way. you see that guy? boom. >> what you got, willie? >> this is very special. joining from us washington, the chief national correspondent for the "new york times" magazine, mark liebovitz. >> he's back in black. >> he's got a new story titled "the real house candidates of beverly hills," it's about the battle for california's 33rd congressional district. it's very leibovichian, if that's a turn. henry waxman has head the seat for something like 40 years. he's stepping aside. it's opened up this incredible cast of characters that want to fill the seat. >> there's this pent-up demand to send whoever to congress. you have 18 candidates, this great eclectic mix of

remember when blumenthal told us that gm better not hide under the bankruptcy law?when gm leverage without any liability i say the department of justice sought to compel gm to bear responsibility. neil: i think i heard ralph nader cheering because he is here of the set. up. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. [ male announcer ] when fixed income experts... ♪ ...work with equity experts... ♪ ...who work with regional experts... ♪ ...who work with portfolio management experts, that's when expertise happens. mfs. because there is no expertise without collaboration. does your mouth often feel dry? a dry mouth can be a side effect of many medications but it can also lead to tooth decay and bad breath. that's why there's biotene. available as an oral rin

in just a moment i'll going to be speaking with senator richard blumenthal, a democratic from connecticut he's upset at the pace of the general motors recall. he's going to react to g.m. chief executive who says that recall parts are being shipped to dealers as soon as possible. also i'll introduce you to the president of aol.com which is releasing the new video format for its customers. details. but t,

remember when blumenthal told us that gm better not hide under the bankruptcy law? when gm leverage without any liability i say the department of justice sought to compel gm to bear responsibility. neil: i think i heard ralph nader cheering because he is here of the set. its i've always had to keep my eye on her... but i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care, i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile, not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still gonna give me a heart attack. innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unedhealthcare. does your mouth often feel dry? a dry mouth can be a side effect of many medications but it can also lead to tooth decay and bad breath. that's why there's biotene. available as an oral rinse, toothpaste, spray or gel, biotene can provide soothing relief, and it helps keep your mouth healthy, too. remember, while your medication is doing you good, a dry mouth i

remember when blumenthal told us that gm better not hide under the bankruptcy law?hen gm leverage without any liability i say the department of justice sought to compel gm to bear responsibility. neil: i think i heard ralph nader cheering because he is here of the set. ♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. ta to a pninvestments finaial advisor today. ♪ why relocating manufacturingpany to utate new york? i tell people it's for the climate. the conditions in new york state are great for business. new york is ranked #22 in the nation for new private sector job creation. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york - dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. you'll get a warm welcome in the new new york. see if your business qualifies at startupny.com a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday del

senator blumenthal show you the recall notice that you still won't say that everybody that has these cars should get rid of it even though the recall notice says if your keychain is heavy or you go over rough roads. do you know what that does to the infrastructure? then senator markey says will uswillyou support making use it for making transparent to support a company that had a problem with the car, put it out there. you can't answer that either. than how much it costs to fix the cars. none of the solutions represent an acceptable business case. that was a public document. they gave the document over. the chairman that isn't here placed more pictures of the car and what kind of a death follows that kind of crash. it's my understanding you are recalling many of the cars now, not all of them but if people want to they can safely is pay for loaders is that correct? that is the right thing to do. but do you support a law that would say cars like yours can no longer be rented or loaned? to you support a law like that? >> if there's a safety issue on the vehicle -- >> do you support a pr

eddie markey has a good bill that he wrote with dick blumenthal, i believe. that when there's a complaint about some car that's sent to gm, they ought to make it transparent, right now they keep it secret. she still opposes all the manufacturers oppose a bill that i wrote that would say you can no longer lease out a car or loan a car out that's under recall. there are many things that we can do. but i have to say this, and i think that chairman mccaskell brawli brought it out. in the private sector, these trial lawyers that dug in and found out the truth. they ought to be praised. lawyers are vilified so much. that lawyer on his own dime found out what went wrong. and there will be justice in the it courts and we will do our best do change the laws. >> senator barbara boxer, very good of you to be here, thank you. >> turning now to day 26 of the search for that missing malaysian airliner and still no sign of the plane. malaysian police say a criminal investigation is now focusinging on the pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft. many passengers are cleared of any

richard blumenthal was at a news conference on railroad safety, on a train platform in milford.s on the yellow warning strip, when a train came through, and barely missed him. aside from getting a very personal lesson in train safety, the senator is fine. that is hard to watch. >> stay off the yellow strip. >> that's what it's for. stay behind it! >> he is an idiot ... then i didn't say that. the weather is looking good. warm temperatures today. right now it's 54. in sugar grove we are at 55. in romeoville is 59. to 91 numbers typical high 60 degrees. yesterday's 79. today back in the mid-70s. tried today this afternoon and this evening good chance of showers even a thunderstorm. chance of rain is really our around lunchtime. it will increase each hour into the evening. a 60 percent chance by 5:00 p.m.. it will be a warm day. 9:00 p.m. we are down to 62. to are not very chilly. a fairly nice wednesday. tomorrow's high temperature is about 56. good chance of showers showers for wednesday. thursday 67 another chance of showers and storms. >> we do have a broken down semi truck cau

conference with the families who lost loved ones in gm cars is in her hour, also senator richard blumenthalogist bill karins. as we go throughout this first day of april, looks nice across the country, late this afternoon into this evening, few thunderstorms could bring hail to kansas city. also on the west coast, more unsettled wo richardson weather with showers and thunderstorms. overall, nice start to april after what was a miserable march. have a great day. this is the first power plant in the country to combine solar and natural gas at the same location. during the day, we generate as much electricity as we can using solar. at night and when it's cloudy, we use more natural gas. this ensures we can produce clean electricity whenever our customers need it. ♪ >>> driving controversy. the general motors' ceo gives her side of the story to congress today after a meeting with victims' families last night. did gm withhold information, or did the oversight fail? >>> ryan-omics, the 2015 of the paul ryan budget will be released this hour. >>> and the plane truth. now we know exactly what was s

. >> connecticut democrat senator richard blumenthal tried to make it personal for barra. >> is that cobalt car as driven now safe for your daughters to drive? >> my son, because he is the only one eligible to drive. if he only had the ignition key. >> barra is the new ceo but has been with gm for 33 years, and california democrat barbara boxer questions whether she could have been out of the loop. >> you knew nothing about this when you were executive director of manufacturing and engineering? >> correct. >> something is very strange that such a top employee would know nothing. >> also out of the loop for more than a decade was the government agency, the national highway traffic safety administration, responsible for oversight of automakers. so far, it's faulting gm for not being forthcoming. claire mccaskill suggests there's blame to go around. >> i don't get a sense that you're paying that close of attention to these cases. >> we reached out 98 times to follow up on various claims, death and injury claims associated with these vehicles. >> some republicans are asking why the obama

so mary barra tells senator blumenthal on the senate floor, you show me one instance of this happeningand i will ground the entire fleet in the united states. gerri: tell us about your client. you have somebody who actually experienced this. what happened? >> yeah. i have three of them. i have a client that got the recall letter, took all the weight off the key. was driving to walmart and, suddenly her car died. she had no steering. fortunately she wasn't involved in an accident. so again i sent her statement to the ceo and said, live up to what you said you were going to do. gerri: and you have other clients as well. so, what you're saying is this whole problem has been mischaracterized as an issue of just the heaviness of the key chain. that is all we really heard about, let's face it, causing problems with airbags not deploying, the car essentially going dead and people, 13 deaths, 300 accidents. lots and lots of problems. what do you think should happen? what are you asking this federal district judge to do? >> to order gm to issue a park it now alert. listen, gerri, there are two

nix thing you will have somebody in the senate, blumenthal calling for oversight. wouldn't be surprised if they want public mon to put into this. gerri: mark i have a feeling you want to say something about this right now. >> that is a horrible thing to say, not something i think as a republican strategist you want to put out there, that you don't think 13 people dying is important. >> not only. >> it is important, the fact that general motors covered this up for some years. but more importantly, not that they covered it up from old gm which i kept hearing today about today's gm. today's gm has been in existence for almost five years. and they knew about this. as a matter of fact -- >> mark, you're missing point. these people, these victims can avail themselves of many things. they have courts. they have lawyers. they're all kind of plaintiff lawyers. there are class-action suits. we have 100 things available in the tort system for people to sue when they're injured. that doesn't mean you need congressional oversight. that doesn't mean you need a special victims co

professor u i would like to get back to you to follow back on a question that senator blumenthal asked earlier about regional sports networks. how do you respond to this question in this concern that has been expressed about the rsn that emerged -- a merged entity they may own and the potential for this ownership to be used in an anti-competitive manner. do you see a risk of this? >> i don't for the most part because if for example to use the l.a. lakers, right now the fact that time warner -- previously time warner had owned the l.a. regional sports network and they are bargaining with other l.a. oriented video providers and that company is now co-owned by comcast. it doesn't really change the bargaining leverage of the l.a. lakers network because any of those other l.a. based video distributors. this is again because l.a. programming is only interested in the people in l.a. the fact that it's now co-owned by a person who owns a regional sports network in philadelphia doesn't really change their bargaining power in the l.a. market. >> i suppose you are presupposing that most or all rs

. >> so danny, the issue -- dick blumenthal brought up, the criminal aspect of this.ns that there were all sorts of things that were quietly sort of assuaged. and that there were agreements made with the bankruptcy court, knowing full well this damage or at least this faulty switch was there. to create the old company and the new company. and the old company has to handle what happened in those days. and the new company does not. but criminal? and who would be held criminally responsible? this and for what? >> well, first we need to know, corporations can be held criminally liable. but typically that will be based on some individual human who did something criminally. it's really going to come down to this. and is we have to not let emotions prevail, at least the government shouldn't, because if someone did something negligent, not every act of negligence, believe it or not, rises to the level of criminal negligence. -- >> but 13 people who died. >> yes, but ashleigh, not every corporate decision that results in a death is necessarily criminal negligence or even worse

i wanted to show you an exchange between connecticut senator blumenthal and mary barra about whether she would permit her own kids to drive in the cobalt. >> is that cobalt car, as driven now, safe for your daughters to drive? would you allow them to drive? >> i would allow my son and daughter -- well, my son, because he's the only one eligible to drive. if he only had the ignition key. >> the question is whether or not the ignition key, if there's another attachment, a tag of some sort. as almost all of us do with our car keys, whether that extra weight would pull it down, with the original defect cause the ignition to go off. >> well, andrea, ceo mary barra has been very careful on how she's answered this. in facing quite a grilling from those senators today. as you mentioned, the nbc investigative unit has been digging into the story for the last month. several parts of our reporting came up in yesterday's house hearing and today's senate hearing. steve scalise brought up that document we talked about yesterday. the internal signoff form with the lead design engineer for the chevy

connecticut senator richard blumenthal stood on a train platform. they were to talk about the safety of the railroad. standing there talking safety. safety. and just as the mayor utters the word safety, as you know it's paramount, a train pulls into the station nearly taking them out. everyone is okay so we're able to laugh at the fact that it is just so ironic. >> the sign is okay too. >> the sign made it through which is also important. >> don't turn your back on a train platform. >> don't get so close. >> thanks very much. and now here's erica. >> thanks. >>> tensions remain very high in ukraine today where in the eastern part of that country pro-russian forces have taken over and show no signs of releasing their hold on government buildings. this morning ukraine's prime minister is speaking out exclusively to david gregory on "meet the press" saying he's not sure how far president putin will take it. >> president putin has a dream to restore the soviet union. and every day he goes further and further. and god knows where is the final destination

senators richard blumenthal and ed markey's bill would require lawmakers to submit accident reports to nhtsa, when they learn of a fatality, and it would require the agency to make the information available to the public. congressman henry waxman wants every car sold in the u.s. to come with a $3 fee that would fund nhtsa's operations and increase the civil penalties the agency can levy, up to $200 million. well, joining me now, democratic senator claire mccaskill of missouri, who will chair this morning's hearing. senator, i assume you watched the house yesterday, looked at mary barra's testimony. i assume you still have questions unanswered. what's the biggest one in your mind? >> there's a number of them. the notion that there's an old gm and a new gm. it's important in the hearing to actually understand that what had happened at gm since the bankruptcy in terms of this issue, they had one of their lead engineers lie under oath last april and was confronted with the clear evidence that there had been a cover-up, and he had lied. he is still working there today. it took them almost a

. >>> and a close call for connecticut senator richard blumenthal. check this out.pearing at an event at a train station, standing on the yellow line at the edge of the platform, which is never a good idea. an amtrak train went whizzing by. it blew away diagrams and startled the speaker at the press conference. but no one was hurt. he didn't react at all. >>> and, dan, you're looking for a new hair cut. >> looks like mt. rushmore. >> this is a die-hard san antonio spurs man who had his barber buzz cut his favorite players on his head. in case you can't make them out, they include tony parker, tim duncan, manu ginobili and kawhi leonard. actually, i couldn't figure it out. our camera operator pointed that out to us. but you can catch all of the playoffs action here on abc, and our sister station, espn. round one gets under way later this afternoon. with all of the spurs fans, the spurs play on sunday. it's not going to help. i think oklahoma city, okc, is too strong in the west. but if the spurs win the championship, both dan and i will shave our heads on national te

this is senator richard blumenthal standing in the yellow warning strip when the train came a little too close for comfort. the event was meant to call attention to the dismal safety record of the metro- north line, which has had more than one hundred safety violations over the past decade. an unexpected lesson of practice what you preach. an ohio couple married for 70 years dies. just hours apart from each other. 92-year-old helen felumlee and her husband kenneth, who was 91, died just over a week ago. their children say they held hands at breakfast every morning and were inseparable. the couple raised eight kids together and say as soon as their mother died, their dad faded quickly, passing away just 15 hours later. he told his children he didn't want to leave her by herself. and here's a play that this golf champion won't soon forget. matt kuchar was tied for the lead at the 18th hole. he was in the bunker. but amazingly, chipped in to win the championship at the r- b-c heritage in south carolina. kuchar also made up for a four stroke deficit with seven birdies on his first 10 hol

. >> reporter: it got even worse there for mary barra when senator blumenthal of connecticut suggestedom what he's hearing, he thinks it's not just civil liability that gm has to worry about, but criminal liability here that could be on the table for general motors in this whole ignition switch problem. and it might not get any better any time soon for general motors in washington, the committee suggesting it wants to have follow-up hearings where they bring in lower level gm officials who were involved in the decision making here. that was part of their frustration. mary barra saying again and again she wasn't involved, didn't know about it at the time but is trying to find out. >> is there any feeling that perhaps gm is getting particularly grilled, specifically mary barra is getting particularly grilled on this because of the fact they took taxpayer money for the bailout? >> reporter: yeah, that was an undercurrent of the hearing again and again. some of these law makers wanted to know hey, wait a second, tax payers were there for you, are you really being there for your customers a

gerri: lots of people climbing onboard, senator blumenthal saying, hey, you know, you've got -- thisy barra needs to tell what she knows and -- she was running safety at the time. >> and global vehicle teams. so she knew a lot of what was going on. but remember, you were at the top. we're also finding documents -- i spent the weekend do doing lots of research. there's 250,000 documents. i can't read it all, but i did find some other interesting information. gerri: let's hear it. >> first off, there's a gentleman named brian stauffer who was actually at the low end level of engineering who said, jeez, we have this problem, let's research why this is going on. everywhere he went, electrical stopped him, people at engineering stopped him and then, of course, thisty your joe guy got let go -- gerri: what do you mean stopped him? >> they sorted of made it difficult for him to get the facts. gerri: so this was a guy who was searching for an answer and was blocked at every i instance. >> the delay in getting data, we'll get it to you, he didn't get it and as he moved there, he was there for

i'm sure you know that on the senate side, senators markey and blumenthal introduced a bill to give nhtsas of insurance claims made against them and lawsuits about fatal crashes in which they were a defendant. would you support a bill like that? what's the congressional action that should be taken here? >> well, let's look at that, but in the first case that i mentioned, that happened in 2005. the second case happened in 2009. there was plenty of time, and nhtsa, nhtsa commissioned the study on that first accident. i was reviewing their data where it said the airbag did not deploy and the ignition key was in the accessory position, so nhtsa actually had that information in 2006 from a 2005 accident. plenty of time to react to help prevent the accidents that occurred in 2009 and 2010. if nhtsa is not going to take the action when they have the information in front of them, it's hard to see how additional laws will help. perhaps we need a different acting administrator in nhtsa. >> congressman burgess, thank you so much. and we're looking at a live picture of the senate hearing room and saw

blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. in january of this year i came to the floor to talk about and honor one of my constituents, javier martinez, who was killed on december 28 of last year, just as 2013 was ending, he was shot while walking to a friend's house in new haven. he was 18 years old. in the aftermath of that tragedy, i've spoken with javier's family and his friends about his life and legacy. as i said on the senate floor a few months ago, javier was a kind and intelligent young man, well on his way to becoming a leader in his community. he cared a lot about the environment, he worked on the nature conservancy and new haven urban resources initiative to plant trees and protect endangered species. his classmates at the common ground school in new haven would like to plant a tree at the site of his death, and dedicate a garden in his honor because of his interest in the outdoors and the natural resources that enhance the beauty of our world, which he loved so much. yesterday morning i visited some of javier's cla