an investigationnexposes a show horses are trained.as brian todd eports in our cover story, this morninge the humane society has released undercover videe to prove its laims oo cruelty. cruelty. it's called the 'big lick'-- an exaggerated gait that's prized at wwlking-horse competitions...sometimes, this ps how trainers get their horses to do that high-step-- it's called 'soring'... the oil-of-mustard, and even ddesel fuel,,to the ankle areas just above theii hooves. it's illegal.this is undercovee video shottlast year, by investigaaors from allegedly showing trainers at a tabll in colliersville, tennessee applying those irritants to show horses... wraaping their ankles withh tape and celllphane to 'cook' theechemicals into heir skin... putting heavy chains on the horses' feet.the animals are clearly in discomfort..the reeult: a big- lift of the feet.but that's not all..brian: "what are they doing here?dane: "this is an example of a practice called stewarringg it's teaching the horse tt stanndstill when they dd a ock inspection of the horse's feet. and if they won't stand still, if they

our brian todd is working the story. >> reporter: this is what the passengers saw, a disabled fishingn the pacific ocean. the passengers were on board "the star princess," a massive cruiseliner that had come win sight of the boat. one of the passengers who spotted it described what a man on the stranded boat was doing. >> you could see him doing this with his shirt, over and over and over. >> reporter: meredith and at least one other passenger, jeff gilligan, who took this photo said they immediately notified the crew member. they say the crew member visually confirmed the distressed boat on his own but the cruise ship never stopped. >> while we were on the ship, the feeling of powerlessness because we would have liked to somehow gone over and rescued them. >> the people on the disabled boat were growing more desperate by the moment. one of them, adrian vasquez, is now suing princess cruises for neglect. he spoke with the web site panamaguide. >> translator: it was a really big boat. it was white and had the name in red. >> reporter: vasquez was on the disabled fishing boat with two c

cnn's brian todd has been on this story and he joins us now from washington. ian, first of all, good morning. and how did this problem come to light? >> reporter: well, the senate armed services committee, martin, has been investigating this for more than a year now and they found thousands of cases of counterfeit parts being used in some very important american military equipment. just in digging through a fairly narrow slice of the supply chain, the committee found more than a million counterfeit parts, mainly for aircraft which hunts for enemy submarines and assists with surface warfare. they found a part with comprised the helicopter's nice vision system contained counterfeit parts. investigators traced that back to china. another aircraft, the navy's version of the 747, it contained a reworked part that never should have been on the plane. that part originally came from china as well. the part was used but made to look new according to investigators. senate armed services committee chairman carl levin talked about that issue when he discussed how widesprea

. >> our own brian todd, over these years has done extensive reporting.going on right now. give us some context of what you have learned over the years. >> wolfe, can you hear me okay? >> we hear you, brian, go ahead and give us some context, you're live on tv right now, brian, i know you have done a lot of work on these suicide bombers over the years. >> reporter: right, wolf, which have taken a look at how they get these bombs implanted in their bodies and we have talked to doctors and terrorism experts about how they might do that. we did some background research on that. u.s. security officials tell cnn of a chilling tactic terrorists might try next. targeting commercial aircraft by implanting bombs inside attackers. >> we are seeing the evolution of what terrorists are starting to do to circumvent our security layers and perhaps defeat societal norms. >> terrorists have a renewed interest in planting bombs in bodies. one man suspected of having involvement in this plot is ibrahims a syria. i asked israel's former security official about surgically im

brian todd is in the google car, which is hidden behind that audi. come on, brian, brian todd., i guess you're behind the wheel but you don't actually drive the car, huh? >> that's right. it's a self-driving car, carol. it's called oscar. this is google's prototype self-driving car. they started developing that in 2008. it's designed so you can program your route, get in the car and the car does pretty much everything until you grab the wheel. once you do that, it's almost like cruise control over the program. i'm going to get in here with dave and cam, two google program managers. we're in the car now. as soon as this light changes, carol, we're going to be cruising across the street towards you. dave will show he has no hands on the vehicle. what we can do is talk about this technology while we're waiting for the light to turn here. you know, this car operates essentially computer operated, sensors all over the car. this thing on topes called a laser scanner. it's there to sense just anything in the environment of the car. the other cars around it, other sensors, cameras, rad

brian todd is working the story for us. brian, what are you learning?goes beyond what's obvious. they were going blow that bridge up this week according to law enforcement officials, but authorities say they had tracked the defendants almost the entire way through their planning. they thought about all sorts of plots including blowing up a cargo ship in the kay hogea river running through cleveland. they surveyed the area and planned a google map search and settled on the target, the northfield high level bridge, a major artery connecting two interstates near cliff land. that's according to a criminal complaint accusing five young americans with threatening to blow up the bridge with c-4 explosives. >> the defendants planted the explosives at the base of the bridge. the defendants armed the explosives. the defendants left and went to a remote site and they then sitting there, entered the codes that they thought would blow up a bridge with innocent people traveling over it. >> reporter: but the men who they say are self-proclaimed anarchists with the nic

listen to what a homeland security expert told cnn's brian todd. >> we found something under here, rightunder a lot of bridges. >> many bridges, brian, have oil and gas pipelines. they have fiber-optic cables. that's how our financial system in america works. that's how we communicate. everything from internet to telephone run beneath bridges. you blow up a span, you cut the city off. >> clearly the fbi thought the men were a threat but were they really? we want to talk more about that with david. an author and expert on homegrown terror. david, welcome. >> good morning. >> so obviously the fbi infiltrated this group of five men. they provided them with what they thought were c-4 explosives and these men were going to blow up this bridge. in your mind, does that mean these five men were serious about what they were going to do or were they sort of goated into it? >> it's hard to know without reading the criminal complaint and reading transcripts of the conversations between them and the informant. i do know that in other cases i've looked at, you get a mixed picture. sometimes the suspec

show horses are trained.ain - trained.as brian todd reports in ouu ccverrstory tonight the the humaneiety has released undercover video to prove its claims of rueety. cruelty. it's called the 'big lick''- prized at waaking-hoose competitionss..sometimes, this is how trainers ggt their horses to do that high-step-- application of chemiiaas like oillof-mustard, and even diesel fuel, to the ankle it's illegal.this is undercover video shot last year, by investigators from tte humane society of the u-s.. allegedly shooing trainers at a stable in colllersville,, tennessee applying those irritants to how horses... wrapping their ankles with &ptape ann cllophaneeto 'cook' the chemicals into theer on the horses' feet.the ains - pnimals are learly in discoofort..the result: a big- lift of the eet.but that's not all..brian: "what are they doing herr?dane: "this is an example of a practice called stewarding. it's teaching the po a mock inspection of the ey horse's feet. and iffthey won't stand still, if thhy flinch in respoose to the &ppain, hen they ggt hit in h head. nn it teaches them not to r

our brian todd is digging deeper on this story. brian, what do you have?st reporting as to what we have been digging into the past several months, various plots that's shaping up as a real shadow war between iran and israel. the latest plot is a "washington post" report today, details of this alleged plot to kill americans in the caspian sea nation. the plot involved snipers and -- excuse me snipers with silencer equipped rifles and a car bomb intended to kill employees in the embassy in the capital of baku. the plot vop developed over thet several months. this plot may have been thwarted. the post says that u.s. officials linked this plot to iran. it's not clear who ordered it, whether it came from elements in the government or some of iran's proxies like hezbollah, we tried to reach iran's officials over the weekend. but the iranian government did tell the post it denies any involvement in the plot. >> this is extraordinary because there is kind of a pattern here? >> that's right, we have referred to this shadow war, iran, israel and you can see just the

brian todd, washington. >>> an absolutely gorgeous day in the area. out enjoying the nice weather. the winds died down this evening, but they are expected to pick back up into early tomorrow morning. the high temperatures today, again, warmer than yesterday, especially away from the coastline. 78 in concord. 80s in the north bay as well. closer to the coastline, temperatures in the 60s this afternoon. a look ahead into tomorrow morning, winds will pick up especially around the 4:00 hour. that's when we should see the gusty conditions of winds out of the east. those winds are warmer and drier, and temperatures will warm into tomorrow afternoon. monday will continue the warming trend with more locations in the 80s. into tuesday, the sea breeze winds will return, and cooler conditions, especially closer to the coastline, and patchy fog in the morning. temperatures tomorrow, quite mild in the morning. in the 50s through most of the bay area, but 49 in half-moon bay. 55 in concord, and 55 down in san jose, and warming into the afternoon. the south bay, nea

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brian todd is gettinghe story for us, gettinghe information. an incredibly huge and complicated project. update our viewers. >> huge, complicated and experts say there are dangers involved, wolf. while the investigation into the captain's conduct is ongoing, the salvaging of the costa concordia will likely begin this week. we're told it's going to take between 30 and 200 workers at a time to get the ship off that reef. >> reporter: nearly 1,000 feet long. weighing close to 50,000 tons. every day on its side is a looming environmental disaster. experts now say they'll salvage the wrecked costa concordia cruise ship in one piece off the coast of italy. one marine expert says it's like raising a floating city. a salvage leader calls it the largest ship removal by weight in history. >> we feel confident that we can do it. and we feel confident that with our partners, we will do it safely and with the least disturbance to the environment and the least disturbance to the economy. >> reporter: american owned titan salvage, its italian partner and the

cnn's brian todd is taking a closer look at who he is. brian? not only tell you who he is but we'll tell you some other plots that he's believed to be behind and what he may be thinking of next just ahead. supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. >>> john edwards' trial enters the third week with more crucial testimony about donations from billionaire rachel mellon. $50 million would be a chip shot for the heiress to endow a foundation he intended to create. >> reporter: the prosecution in the john edwards trial coming off a day that was both very good for the government and not so good at all. their high point came with t

our brian todd is over reagan national airport outside of washington, d.c. eady to go through these body scanning machineses during the reagan commute hour. these machines are now on the front lines of u.s. national security, but this plot has sparked some pretty substantive questions about their effectiveness. a senior administration official tells cnn the device recovered in the alleged plot bomb a plane bound for the u.s. was not made to be implanted in the body. it was an evolution of a bomb smuggled onboard a u.s.-bound plane on christmas day, 2009, a non-metallic device found inside an attacker's underwear. could those full-body imaging machines now in u.s. airports and some overseas have det ekted it? top officials are confident. >> many believe that would have caught this particular device. homeland security secretary janet napolitano says there's a high likelihood the bomb could have been detected if they had tried to slip it past u.s. security. they can see through clothes, reveal contours and prevent prosthesis. a government audit says it is not cl

next, brian todd for us live from washington. tell me about fearless felix.ng to do. >> with nas is ending the shuttle program, with the future of manned space flight uncertain, this may be what we need. he's going to attempt the longest ever free fall from the highest ever altitude. 120,000 feet above sea level, more than 22 miles up. to get there he has to get into a capsule and get to the edge of space in a massive balloon. this is called the red bull strastos project. but this altitude free fall not the only record he's going to break. no one has ever broken the speed of sound accelerating with just the human body joust side a plane or a spacecraft. but if this jump goes as plan pd he is going to break that mark, going 690 miles an hour, brooke. this is going to happen, 500 miles of free fall. no thank you. >> one day i was walking out and i was like, i could totally sleep on this couch. >> he will join me live to talk about his squatting adventures. >> aaron simons has become to be known as the aol squat per .he lived inside aol, dodging security, using

brian todd is on the case.her easily about something as simple as a bug bite. >> aids, the discourage of the post war era killing more than 25 million people over the past three decades. is there a new aids on the horizon? experts worry about a disease affecting millions in latin america. >> i like to call it the most important infection have you never heard about. you have never heard about it because it almost exclusively affects people living in extreme poverty. >> it is a parasitic infection prevalent in poor areas of central and south america. peter hotes is lead author in a respected medical journal and health authorities say roughly 10 million people are infected with shagas. they estimate it kills 20,000 people a year. >> is it difficult or impossible to cure. >> there are two medicine available if you catch the infection early on seem to have some beneficial effect on treating the patient. the problem is once the heart symptoms start, which is the most dreaded complication, the shagas cardio myopathy,

brian todd is working the story for us. what are you finding out?nt, the destruction of this plot is not going deter al qaeda in the arabian peninsula from trying to attack again. the group is closing ranks and the chief bombmaker is still at large. new, ominous signs that the group responsible for this airline bombing attempt will keep targeting america. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and its master bombmaker ibrahim al asiri have captured significant territory in yemen, gained strength and resources. >> they have the money. they attack many banks to secure cash. there's a number of kidnapping operations that are secure and they're using this cash to buy new technology and basically to train more people. so we are facing a major threat coming from yemen. no doubt about it. mustafa alani of the gulf research center was briefed by saudi counterterrorism officials. alani and others think al qaeda in the arabian peninsula may have access to laboratories. it boasted its modest lab was now a modern one. al asiri may have similar bombs ready to target

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brian todd talked to the cruise line passengers. >> reporter: this is what passengers saw.led fishing boat adrift in the pacific ocean. the passengers were on board the star princess, a massive cruise liner had a had come within sight of the boat. one of the passengers who spotted it described what a man on the stranded boat was doing. >> you could see him doing this with his shirt. over and over and over. >> reporter: meredith and one other passenger who took this photo said they immediately notified a crew member on star princess cruise ship. they say that crew member visually confirmed the distressed boat on its own but the cruise ship never stopped. >> the feeling of powerlessness because we would have liked to have somehow gone over there and rescued them. >> reporter: the three people on that disabled boat were growing more desperate by the moment. one of them, adrien vasquez is suing princess cruise lines for neglect. >> translator: it was a really big boat. it was white and had the name in red. >> reporter: vasquez was on the disabled fishing boat with two friends.

but as brian todd reports, the ship never stopped to help. >> reporter: this is what the passengers saw. a disabled fishing boat, adrift in the pacific ocean. the passengers were on board the star princess, a massive cruise liner within the boat. one of the passengers who spotted it, judy meredith, described what he was doing. >> you could see him doing this, with his shirt. over and over and over. >> reporter: meredith and at least one other passenger, jeff gilligan, who took this photo, say they immediately notified a crew crewmember on the star cruise ship. they say that member visually confirmed the distressed boat on its own. but the cruise ship never stopped. >> reporter: while we were on the ship, the feeling of powerlessness because we would have liked to have somehow gone over there and rescued them. >> reporter: the three people on that disabled boat were growing more desperate by the home. one of them, adrian vasquez, is suing for neglect. >> reporter: it was a really big boat. it was white. and had the name in red. >> reporter: his lawyers say vasquez survived by drinking ra

you see that shift in public opinion, brian. >> chuck todd from the white house north lawn tonight. chuck, thanks. >>> overseas tonight in france and in greece, voters have delivered a clear message being heard around the world. financial crisis not withstanding, they have had enough belt tightening. in france, sarkozy is out, a socialist is in, and from paris tonight, nbc's jim maceda has our report on both fronts. >> francois hollande swept into office on a wave of anger. voters fed up with too much austerity. france's first socialist president elect in almost 25 years spent his first day at work, but already the honeymoon was over. >> in order to make promises and signals to the left of his party, that is going to scare people. >> and today, from america to asia, markets were jittering, worried about hollande's promise to tax and spend his way to growth and jobs. german chancellor angela merkel who rules over europe's largest economy said she would welcome hollande to berlin with open arms but made it clear she wouldn't budge for an austerity plan for europe signed by 25 countrie

the president did not, brian. >> chuck todd at the white house tonight, with all things political. chuck, thanks. >>> jpmorgan chase had its annual shareholder meeting today, and the timing was not great. coming just after the bank revealed a $2 billion trading loss. cnbc's mary thompson was inside that meeting as the chairman and ceo jamie dimon apologized yet again. >> reporter: the meeting was short on protesters, long on security, and over very, very quickly. the bank's ceo, jamie dimon, addressing the trading losses right up front calling them egregious mistakes, the bank is working hard to correct. among the actions the bank could take, asking some of the traders and executives involved to give back some of their pay. speaking of compensation, shareholders did overwhelmingly approve dimon's $23 million pay package last year, as well as the $15.5 million pay package given to ina drew, the now retired chief investment officer, who oversaw the unit responsible for the trading losses. shareholders at the meeting seemed more angry about the ongoing mortgage mess, saying the losses

brian todd, cnn sh washington. >>> debris from last year's tsunami disaster now piling up on the shoresalaska. it's creating a huge mess, as you see there, and raising fears of contamination and even radiation. >>> and we want all of you to stay connected to cnn, even on the go. so a reminder, go to cnn.com/tv, or on your desktop or laptop, you can also watch cnn live. homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives? as a police chief, i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. if you want to make a difference, you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i am committed to making a difference, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. you do a lot of no.aking? look i'm going through the rapids. okay... i'll take it. sync your card with facebook, foursquare and twitter for savings. that's the membership effect of american express. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they

cnn's brian todd has the story. >> it's just weeks after the raid that killed osama bin laden. ares in washington to get details on the operation for their upcoming movie. according to a newly released document, a meeting between the filmmakers and top pentagon officials brings promises of great access that critics now say could compromise national security. a transcript of the meeting last july quotes michael vickers under secretary of defense talking to catherine bigelow and a screen writer. they can't speak to the top commanders of the raid, but they'll make a guy available who was involved from the beginning as a planner. a s.e.a.l. team 6 operator and commander. right below that, the name of the special ops planner is mentioned and redacted in the documents. that's dynamite. >> they could give you anything you would want. >> tom heads the conservative watch dog group, judicial watch. they filed a freedom of information transcript. they said the promise from vickers wasn't all that the filmmakers got. >> this is unusual. there's access to a vault at the cia. >> over conserv

let's bring in our own brian todd who has details. what's going on here?pentagon officials giving inside access to the filmmakers. one key republican lawmaker calls it a potentially dangerous collaboration between hollywood and washington. it's just weeks after the raid that called osama bin laden. two hollywood filmmakers are in washington to get details on the operation for their upcoming movie. according to a newly released document, a meeting between the filmmakers and top officials i brings access to that compromise national security. mike vickers talking to oscar winning director katherine big el low. they can't tap to the top guy available. the name is redacted in the documents. the korean writer's response, "that's dynamite." >> he will basically give you everything you want. >> judicial watch filed a freedom of information act lawsuit demanding a transcripts of that pentagon meeting and other documents. he said that access to vickers wasn't all they got. >> they were given access to the cia. >> other conservatives are outraged. republican congress

this is not mitt romney's character, brian. >> chuck todd in d.c., thanks. >>> there was some disturbing news from this nation's largest bank, jpmorgan chase. ceo jamie diamond held a hastily scheduled conference call to announce the company has lost $2 billion in its own trading portfolio and that the losses were the result of a lack of internal controls, errors, sloppiness, and bad judgment. diamond said the company could still lose more money on the trading positions. jpmorgan and other bank stocks fell in after-hours trading. >>> overseas tonight, a bloody day in syria. arguably the worst day in the capital since the start of the struggle for the soul of that country started 14 months ago now. at least 55 were killed, some 372 injured by two powerful car bombs that exploded today in damascus. our chief foreign correspondent richard engle has our report. >> the first bomb drew in the crowds. then a second killed them. this doesn't look like a pro democracy uprising, but like baghdad on a bad day. two suicide bombers in vehicles targeted an intelligence compound in damascus with a ton

also, brian todd and he's got new information about al qaeda in yemen and what's going on in that frontthe day as well. >> defense secretary talking about that at that briefing and we'll look for it, we'll see you seven minutes from now and the reporter was fired not for what she does on the clock, but what she did after hours. she is hiring a well-known attorney claiming sex discrimination. weir on the case. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! [ male announcer ] treat your frequent heartburn by blocking the acid with prilosec otc. and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplem

brian. >> chuck todd at the white house. thanks. >> the prospect, the possibility of politics getting mixed up in this one-year anniversary of the raid is a question we raised in our interview with retired admiral mike mullen, one of those in the picture we heard from earlier who back then was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. >> well, i worried about it just because it's a political season. and from my perspective, the president's support, the decision he made, and obviously, the result stand alone in terms of the kind of call presidents have to make, and he made it. i do worry a great deal that this time of year that somehow this gets spun into election politics. i can assure you that those individuals who risked their lives, the last thing in the world they want is to be spun into that. so i'm hoping that that doesn't happen. >> the former chairman of the joint chiefs went on to say the special operations forces that night were not thinking about politics. they were thinking about just the mission. >>> now to another

brian todd is on that part of the story out of washington.underwear bomber like we saw in 2009? >> it appears it was something maybe similar to that. all u.s. officials are saying is it was some kind of an evolution of that bomb that was found in 2009. they are not saying just exactly what this device was made of or how it differed from that device, but like the earlier device, it appeared to be non-metallic and that means it would have been much harder to detect, even with some of the body scanners at airports. it also may have had that odorless, white powder in it, which again, is hard to detect even with the sophisticated technology that's now use d in some airports. they are working on the underwear bombs, but they have been known to work on bombs planted inside the body. the alleged bomb maker for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has actually done that in the past. he put a bomb inside his own brother. i asked the chief trauma surgeon at washington hospital center about how they go about doing th this, implanting bombs inside bodies. >>