our chief investigative correspondent brian ross has the report. brian?> reporter: terry, this is the story of how two innocent americans, a mother and her infant daughter, were killed, and how some members of congress say the cia has spent the last nine years covering up its role in their deaths. it all happened a long time ago, but it was only today the full extent of the cia's failures and alleged deceit came to light. there are some who will never forget what happened that day in april 2001, when this plane was shot down in a cia operation in peru. >> when my daughter was shout out of the air and my granddaughter was murdered, as far as i'm concerned, and nobody has had to pay any price for it, it's unbelievable. it's immoral. it's not right. >> reporter: as part of a u.s. effort to stop drug smuggling from south america, the cia aircraft mistakenly identified the aircraft as likely belocking to a drug smulinger. >> we're trying to remain covert. >> reporter: the cia could not have been more wrong about who was on the plane. they were american mission

. >> charlie: then we look at troubles with toyota with brian ross at abc and professor jeffrey liker from the university of michigan. >> they did become the number one car maker in the world. they are critical to the economy of japan and all this now has me back to really hurt them, a boomerang effect here because by expanding and using the same parts everywhere, if one of those parts goes bad, then the problem is everywhere. >> what concerns me is time gaps in responding to customer complaints and responding to nitze complaints. that's the part of it that's distbing me because the company's philosophy really is and they really believe customer always comes first. >> charlie: andrea elliot grew up in alabama and then became a major terrorist in somalia. >> what i think people find so jarrinwith omar is how familiar he is. when most people think about jihaddists, they have this image of these people whore alien, other worldly. >> charlie: can't imagine knowing. >> people you can't imagine knowing, who are at odds with the west. omar just turns that on his head because these really str

brian ross went driving with him today, diane. >> diane seems a lot of people in congress and on the road who still don't buy toyota's claim the 'problem is completely fixed. including the apple co-founder, who think there's a software problem as we you can caught up with him p driving on the freeway. hundreds of toyota owners cosay the same thing. coming from the computer genius it got a lot of attention. steve wozniak said the prias has been taking off on him as he lightly tap on cruise control up to 100 miles an hour. foot off the gas pedal. floor matts not an issue. i think it's software in my case, and i can't cause it every time on every trip. i'm sure it will happen again. >> reporter: wozniak said he can solve the problem by hitting the brakes, but it happens was a surprise. >> i was thinking it shouldn't be happen. >> reporter: waz knee yack said he couldn't get through to toyota, or public safety officials, so now he's gotten public. >> i think my case has some meaning, i think they want to hear me. it's tough to get a phone number for anyone important in the country. >> ch

and tonight, a whistle blower has come forward to abc, telling brian ross this is not the first time toyota hid problems from customers, brian. >> reporter: that's right, diane. toyota has been caught failing to disclose to its customers and the government all it knows about its cars defects. toyota's veil of corporate secrecy may be about to crack. >> it was a culture of hypocrisy and deception. >> reporter: dimitri biller is a former toyota lawyer who handled product liability lawsuits and is now coming forward to say officials in japan repeatedly ordered cover-ups of safety issues. >> they were hiding evidence, concealing evidence, destroying evidence. >> reporter: biller and toyota are now involved in their own lawsuit, with the company claiming he is violating his severance agreement by making unfounded allegations. would toyota lie to the federal government? >> in my view, absolutely. >> reporter: biller says the public needs to know what he saw at toyota, citing the case of an unfavorable engineering report involving deadly car rollovers. >> they buried it and created a new eng

brian ross, abc news, new york. >>> all the bad news for toyota has sent its stock price sliding.high just over two weeks ago. a little perspective, that's nearly the same amount as the entire net worth of several corporate giants, including nike, time warner, and ebay. >>> in haiti, ten american baptist missionaries have been officially charged with kidnapping and conspiracy for trying to take 33 children out of the country illegally. the charges clearly came as a surprise. they arrived at the courthouse with their bags packed and their lawyer had chartered a plane to bring them home. if they are convicted they each face up to 34 years in prison. >>> newly installed massachusetts senator scott brown says fixing the economy is his top priority. shortly after brown was sworn in by vice president biden, he blasted president obama's stimulus bill, claiming it hasn't created one new job. brown is also concerned about terrorist attacks on the u.s. >> we owe the people of america everything we can give them to make sure that we keep them safe from any type of attacks. and i want to be p

brian ross begins with the horrifying encounter nine years ago, all caught on tape. >> reporter: this video tape was made by the cia as one of its jets sneaked up behind what was mistakenly thought to be a drug plane, flying along the border of peru and brazil. they were preparing to have it shot down. >> we are trying to remain covert at this point. >> reporter: the cia could not have been more wrong about who was on the plane. they were american missionaries from michigan, jim and veronica bower. also on board the plane was the bower's then 6-year-old son, cory, and their infant daughter, charity. over the course of one hour and 49 minutes, the cia personnel would never correct their mistake, and in fact, would violate again and again what was thought by the white house to be strict rules of engagement, including verifying the tail number of the plane. that did not happen. >> we can go up and attempt the tail number. but if he is dirty, makes a right turn immediately and we can't chase him. >> reporter: but the air force arrived and issued a warning in spanish, "we will shoot you do

a powerful gesture, but as brian ross tells us, still, a lot of questions. >> reporter: the toyota ceo entered the news conference with a grim look and repeated bows. akio toyoda apologized for the safety crisis. he was asked to explain in english what he would say to toyota owners around the world. >> i am a little bit worried about while they are driving, they feel a little bit cautious. but believe me, toyota's car is safety. >> reporter: his bows and apology were seen in japan as almost mandatory. >> the deemer you bow, the greater respect you show, which would mean you are offering your head. >> reporter: in fact, at least a dozen japanese executives have killed themselves over business issues in the last 12 years. >> i think there's a great consensus in japan that it is not necessarily toyoda's fault. for him, the apology may suffice. >> reporter: but the ceo failed to answer one of the most pressing questions, involving its much touted prius. he said the xeem has yet to decide whether to recall hundreds of thousands of hybrid prius and lexus 2010 models that have brake problems

brian ross, abc news, new york. >>> some medical news this morning.s in boston now link the number one killer of babies to a chemical imbalance in the brain. they say low serotonin levels make make babies susceptible to s.i.d.s. the discovery could lead to serotonin screening problems. >>> did the president dis sin city again? the senate's top democrat thinks so. now, he's slamming the president for singling out las vegas in comments made yesterday in new hampshire. >> you don't go buying a boat when you can barely play your mortgage. you don't blow a bunch of cash on vegas when you're trying to save for college. you prioritize. you make tough choices. >> nevada senator harry reid called on the president to lay off las vegas. the president wrote back explaining he wasn't saying anything negative about the city. you remember last year, mr. obama outraged the city's mayor when he told bank execs they shouldn't be flying off to vegas on the taxpayers' dime. >>> the president didn't apologized. but today, his chief of staff will for something he said last

[inaudible] >> brian ross is the head of the investigative unit for abc news. mr. ross, in "the madoff chronicles," what is new in your? >> i think there's a lot between relationship of the burning and with. what drove him to do, when it started. and his total lack of remorse. also take a look at who else was likely involved. he didn't do this alone, despite his claims that he did. >> did mrs. madoff have a role speak as she deftly had a role. she kept the books when they started in the early 1960s. on a folding card table in. she was the keeping he was arrested she was serving along for the ride. i liken her to bonnie and clyde. maybe bonnie didn't fire any of the guns but was certainly a part of the schemed. >> do you see the story will continue with more trials, et cetera? >> there are more people, sort of the layers of the onion are being until. one of the significant question i think though is the fate of the federal government here. the sec investors were after madoff i again and again from 1992 on. they always missed it. why was that? their defense is they w

abc's brian ross went for a drive with apple cofounder steve bossny yak. >> reporter: hundreds of toyota owners have said much the same thing. it got a lot of attention. >> that turned the system on. >> reporter: steve bossny yak says his 2010 prius has been taking off on him. when he lightly taps on his cruise control. up to almost 100 miles an hour. with his foot off the gas pedal, and floor mats not an issue. >> i think it's more likely software in my case that caused it and i can't cause it every time on every trip. but i'm sure it will happen again. >> reporter: wosny yak says he can solve the problem by hitting the brakes. but when it happens it comes as a surprise. >> i was pretty scared the first time wondering, this shouldn't be happening. >> reporter: wosny yak could not get through toyota when he tried to alert them to the problem. now he's gone public. >> i thought, my case has some meaning, i would think they'd want to hear me. it's tough to get through. it's tough to get a phone number for anyone imptant in a company. >> reporter: now the chairman of the house commerce comm

the author, brian ross. >> coming up next book tv presents "after words," an hour-long discussion between a guest host and the author of a new book. this week, john yoo, law professor at the university of california berkeley and deputy assistant attorney general at the justice department's office of legal counsel from 2001-2003. he talked with his latest book, "crisis and command." it looks at the history of executive power going back to president george washington. professor yoo discusses this book with victoria toensing. and a founding partner at the digenova & toensing. >> host: hello, i am victoria tensing, and welcome to "after words." i am interviewing john yoo, law professor. visiting scholar for the american institute, the american enterprise institute. former debian assistant attorney general for the justice department. i had a similar position, but it was a few years before john's. and i was in the criminal division. he was in the office of legal counsel. author of two books on constitutional law and his years in the bush justice department. and now, john, as i read "crisis and

and brian ross is here with the latest.e the japanese executive, bowing, formally apologizing to the public. >> reporter: that's the toyota ceo. he's the grandson of the founder of the company. this is the first time he has folken faormally and publicly. saying he is sorry for the turmoil he has caused to toyota customers around the world. it's a crisis that's blown up in the last week. toyota inherited a year of cost-cutting that many believe led to the problem. the current issue involves the prius. he said they had not decided whether to recall the prius. the prius apparently has a serious electronic problem that causes a glitch in the brakes. according to toyota executives yesterday, they found the problem, made a six in the software in factories. but only yesterday, did they inform owners of the prius there was this problem. so, they had been driving the car without any warning of the possibility of an issue. the u.s. government now with its own investigation. in addition, "the los angeles times" reports this morning th

brian ross with more. >> reporter: federal investigators say they're going to open a new investigation. a fresh review of toyota's computer control systems. despite claims by the president of the company, that there were no electronic problems. now, he, in effect, is being accused of misleading the public about the cause of its runaway cars and whether the problem is completely mixed. talking with abc news and other media outlets this week, toyota usa president, jim repeatedly said, the problem had been mixed. >> all problems are taken care of. >> reporter: there's no electronic problems, sir? >> i'm positive there's no electronic problems. >> reporter: but the chairman of the house congress committee now says that in private, toyota executives told his staff they still don't know what caused all of the runaway cars. >> i want to know what caused the problem. and i don't want just a statement because their statements seem to be at variance from what they said publicly and what they said privately. >> reporter: toyota's public position was also undercut on tuesday, by one of america's m

lentz, brian ross, abc news. the toyota president insisted today the company had been honest. >> there is no cover-up. >> reporter: how long have you known about this problem of runaway cars, not just the sticky gas pedals? >> it's a lot of detail that goes into all this. we've been up front. we're taking care of customers right now. what's most important is that our customers know there is a fix. they're going to be able to get their cars repaired this week. >> reporter: are you saying the problem is completely fixed in are you sure of that? not e lek 2r07bic problems? >> i'm confident there are no electronic problems. >> reporter: but federal investigators are not so confident, saying tonight while they have no evidence so far, they continue to pursue reports from toyota owners that some kind of not-yet-discovered electronic malfunction or computer glitch is also involved. >> okay, brian, i want to remind everybody, you're the one who broke the story. and one other note about toyota, a poll ending yesterday sho